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Nilla-Settling of Iceland

Started by Nilla, February 03, 2020, 06:22:12 AM

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Nilla

Next spring, Gudrun gave birth to her third daughter. She had been disappointed, wanting an heir but Ballace seemed to be pleased about another daughter and loved his little girls above all. That spring he accompanied the men to the regional things meeting. It was the first time that Aurelious didn't go with them. He felt too old for the long ride across the mountains. After they had set camp, Gudrun's brother Sturla and a couple of her cousins came over to the Pelika camp. Sturla congratulated Ballace for another daughter and asked if they should send someone to help to finally get Gudrun pregnant with a son. He was obviously not man enough to father a boy. One insult came after the other and Ballace became furious and hit Sturla with his fist right over the mouth so a couple of teeth broke. Sturla answered with a hit, breaking Ballaces nose. Soon men arrived and dragged the two fighters apart.

At things meetings, there was a law of peace; every fight or insult during the thing was punished hard. There had been many witnesses to the fight between Sturla and Ballace and most of them agreed that the insults from Sturla had been against the law but so had the blow from Ballace. The fathers of the combatants, Delma and Ulf both wanted to settle the matter between the families but breaking the peace of the thing was a severe crime. The leader of the thing, Thorgier Ljosvetningagode, said that if that's what the families wanted, they could decide about fines for insults, broken teeth and nooses themselves but their sons must stand responsible for breaking the peace of the thing. This must be a lesson for all young men. If they weren't able to control their actions, elder, more sensible men should leave them at home. Sturla who had started with his insults were banned from Iceland for 3 years and Ballace for 1 year for paying back with his fists.

Ballace was devastated. How could he be so stupid to be so provoked by that idiot? What would happen now? What would Gudrun say about him fighting her brother? After the first hard time, they had learned to know and appreciate each other and he couldn't imagine a life without her and his little girls. He now must go away, probably to England, he knew that Sturla had relatives in Norway and would most likely go there and he wanted to be as far away from him as possible. But would Gudrun stay by him after this? And what would Aurelious and his father say? His father hadn't said much to him about it, yet, among all the people. But that didn't mean he wasn't furious. Could this event put the peace with Gudrun's family in danger and the fighting start over again? It would all be his fault.

Suddenly a man spoke to him. Ballace was in a bad mood and didn't want to speak to anyone. But the man said that he had a proposition for him. He was looking for good men and men who fought against that family were good in his eyes. They had caused the ban of his father when he was a child. They had to emigrate and had discovered a new country up north, called Grönland. Ballace had heard of Grönland and that it was discovered by the famous fighter Erik Röde but he didn't know that it was because of a feud against Gudruns' family. He became curious and asked the man to tell more. He said his name is Leif Eriksson and like his father, he wanted to discover new lands. Last year, he had bought the ship from a man called Bjarne. He had told him about a trip he had made. With bad winds, he had missed Grönland, instead, he had come to a coast further west. The wind had changed so Bjarne had turned his ship and sailed back to Grönland without hitting land. But now Leif wanted to sail in that direction and see if he could find that land. Did Delma want to come with him? The expedition could very well take a year and would be much more interesting than going to Norway, England or wherever he was supposed to go.

Ballace said that it indeed sounds more interesting than serving in some small kings army in England. But he had no experience sailing oversea but from the many trips on the river, at least he knew how to handle an ore. And if they would meet some unfriendly people at their destination, he was better with sword and arrow than most men in his neighbourhood. Leif had planned to sail back to Grönland as soon as he had settled the business, he had come to the thing for. Delma would just have time to go home, say goodbye to his wife and get his things; winter clothes and some extra weapon would be needed.

When he got home, Gudrun was angry but only with her brother. She said that someone finally had to stop his evil tongue and one year isn't long. She would manage to take care of the farm. He shouldn't worry. Ballace felt he had to go to Aurelious and confess what he had done. He was a bit scared of the head of the family. But Aurelious hadn't been as hard to him as he had expected. At first, he wasn't keen on his decision to go with Leif but when he heard that Leif was Christian and about to bring two priests from Norway to Grönland on his ship, he changed his mind. He also said that it wouldn't be a good idea to go to England and join some army there. The Danish king Sven Tveskägg was raging there and to fight against his strong Danes was something you should possibly avoid. When the other men returned from the thing, Ballace was gone. When he came back the next spring, he had a lot to tell about the new country, Vinland in the far west.

Nilla

The year 1000 came. Aurelious and his priests tried harder than ever to convince the pagan relatives to be Christians before the end of the world. Pelika now had two priests. Some years ago Aurelious had sent one of his grandsons to England to be a priest. He had now returned and was helping Father Willibald. Some relatives were baptised but not all of them. Delma was one of those who refused. Everywhere in the country, there were fights between Christians and those who followed the Asa gods. Old hostilities were blown to life and new were added.

The allting meeting that year was at risk to turn into chaos or worse, into open fighting. Some powerful Christian chieftains wanted to have a Christian law but those who weren't Christians couldn't let their lives be ruled by such a law. It came to long discussions, most intense abut the ban to eat horsemeat. Finally, the thing decided to make two laws, one for Christians and one for the others. Hall Thorsteinson should tell the Christian law and Thorgeir Ljosvetningagode the law for the others.

Aurelious was very upset about this. Two laws wouldn't put an end to the fights, rather divide the country and increase the killing. He went over to Hall who greeted him friendly, asking his advice for the new Christian law. But Aurelious said he didn't want a Christian law; he had tried to follow the Holy Bible for more than 50 years, that's all the law he had needed. But of course, he always had priests to help him and explain the will of God. A larger number of priests in the country to guide the Christians would be better than a law; good, peaceful priests who knew their language, like his grandson Windel or his Father Willibald. This work to make two different laws must stop. Hall wasn't happy about the situation either and asked what he should do. He had got the assignment to tell a Christian law. Aurelious answered that he could resign from this mission and let Thorgeir make the law for everyone. He was a wise, peace-loving man, who would make a law everyone could live with.

Both men went to Thorgeir and Hall said that he would like him to make one law for everyone, a law that everyone could accept. Aurelious gave him a small bag of silver, saying that he would get the double amount if he was satisfied with the new law. Hall didn't want to be seen as a less good man than Aurelious, so he too, gave Thorgeir a bag of silver, promising the same. Thorgeir accepted the silver and said that he now will be left in peace to think. He went to his bed and covered himself with a large sheepskin. When they left, Aurelious told Hall that he'd known Thorgeir many years and if there's one thing he loves more than justice and peace, it's silver.

When Aurelious had told Delma about this, Delma said that Thorgeir is a powerful priest who can talk to the gods. Beneath that skin, he could consult their will. He was now sure, this would be a good law. But Aurelious got nervous when he heard that. Maybe this would lead to disaster. But it was too late to do anything about it now, they only had to wait and pray for the best.

Thorgeir lay under that skin rest of the day and the whole night. When he finally came out the next morning, Thorgeir went to the place of the speaker and asked if everyone would accept his suggestions for a common law. Everyone swore, even if some of the Christians, like Aurelious, weren't very enthusiastic. Thorgeir went on, they can't have two religions, it would lead to chaos. Everyone should be baptized and be Christian. Now there was a roar, everyone wanted to speak but Thorgeir held his hands up and everyone was silent. He continued; those who also like to honour the old goods could continue to do their sacrifices, but in private, not openly in big gatherings. It was allowed to eat horsemeat and to set out newborn babies. The rest of the law remained.

This was a surprise. This well-seen, powerful priest to the Asa gods wants them all to be Christians. Delma was sure that Thorgeir had spoken to the gods and that this was their will. It looks like they had been beaten by the more powerful Christian God and were now his vassals. He was sure that they still had a lot of power, especially in remote areas, like where he lived but obviously, they ruled with the goodwill of Christ. He spoke with other, not yet baptized men and it was their opinion, too. It wasn't stranger than after king Olav of Norway recently had been killed in a big battle at sea against the Danish king Sven and the Svea king Olof, Sven's son-in-law, Erik Jarl sat on Norway's throne as his vassal.

Aurelious was happy. Now there would be time to baptise the whole family before the end of the world. He would make the largest fiest ever heard of, as soon as possible and let everyone be baptised. Delma promised to come with his whole family. He also asked if he could borrow Windel for some time after that, to baptise and teach the people in his area. An Icelander and family member would probably be more accepted by the distrustful mountain men than a foreigner. Aurelious agreed.

Before the next local things meeting at Foresbo, Delma had moved the Tor idol to a more remote place. (Halli had moved her Freja years ago.) He said that from now on, no sacrifices would be performed at the things meetings. Instead, everyone was free to go to the idols and make his sacrifices alone. Delma would sacrifice before and after the meeting himself. They would also start and end the meeting with some prayers to Christ, he had learned from his cousin Father Windel. He would build a chapel as soon as he got the time and try to hire or lend a priest to teach them about the will of Christ.

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This is the end of this story. If we look at history, these family feuds will go on for another couple of 100 years. There will be years of famine, volcanic eruptions, epidemics and finally the loss of this kind of freedom (for the rich and powerful). For over half a millennium, Iceland will be marginalized as a poor, remote part of Norway or Denmark, exploited by merchant companies and foreign kings.


This story became much longer than I planned from the beginning but it made me a lot of fun to write and to think out the plots. There are several historical (or half historical/mythical) events from this time, where I wanted my characters to participate in a logical way and that made the story longer, too. Like, how can I let one of those inland farmers participate in the discovery of America?

It has been a rather heated debate on this webpage about the originality of a story. I declare; this is not a unique story! It has a lot of sources for inspiration. I've even stolen small parts, characters and names here and there from some real authors. First, and the most important source is the Island saga literature, above all Íslendingabók and Njal's saga (Njal himself who according to his saga lived at this time, is even briefly mentioned as an hommage). But I have also other, more contemporary inspiration sources like Frans G Bengtsson's, Röde Orm, Jan Guillou's Arn trilogy and even the movie The Goodfather. This society was a mafia society. Influential families had the power and fought against each other. I've sometimes seen Aurelious as Marlon Brando and Delma as Al Pachino. ;)

I know now that this story is at the wrong place. It would have been better off under the headline Fan Fiction. But when I started a long time ago, I had no idea where this would lead.

angainor88

Thank you for writing this! It was a lot of fun to follow along (and I have very little knowledge of the actual history of Iceland).

Nilla

It made a lot of fun to write. I'm happy you like it @angainor88.