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the remarkable statement attaches, that the people,
after dances and sports, threw themselves headlong
from its top into the lake [1], as the ancients relate
of the Hyperboreans and Scythians [2]. Domestic
legends even inform us, that if a man became
bedridden and frail with age, his kinsmen would
assemble and put him to death with a club [3].
The joys of Valhalla were reserved for the
free-born, and especially the noble and rich warrior.
To arrive in Valhalla with a numerous and
well-approved escort, was honourable. To come with
great property secured happiness; for so much
wealth as a man brought with him to the funeral
pile, or was buried in the earth, the like happiness
lie enjoyed in a future life, and as no inherited but
only acquired treasures were allowed to accompany
the dead man to the grave, it was this belief
which induced the inhabitant of the north to devote
so great a part of his life to robbery and piracy.
On the other hand “it was not good to journey
poor to Odin [4];” so that there was reason to doubt
whether the poor man was considered worthy of a
place in his hall, in case he came not from the
field of battle in the bloody train of a great lord.
Slaves at least were decidedly excluded, and after
death were relegated to Thor [5].
In their capacity of members of the commonwealth,
the people were recognized only as bearing
arms; they were called Sveahär, or the host of
the Swedes [6], and Suithiod means the army-folk.
The great Ting of Upsala was called Allshärjarting,
that is, an assembly of the whole army, whereof
part every year marched to war, after the completion
of the spring sacrifice, under the command of
its princes. Therefore Upland, the chief seat of
Odin’s followers and the first Suithiod, was
preeminently the land of the people or the army, and
embraced the three so-called Folklands. To the
same warlike polity appertained the division into
Hundreds or Härads, words which have the same
meaning [7]; a like arrangement is mentioned by
Tacitus among the Germans [8]. But for the
knowledge of the ancient social fabric of the north, the
best illustrations are supplied by the Icelanders,
among whom we see this constitution again
reviving as it were before our eyes, in a multitude of
small associations united among themselves, and
established, as in the mother-land, for purposes of
common defence, judicature, and worship. When
the first colonist approached the shores of Iceland,
he threw the props of his high seat into the sea,
and vowed to settle in the spot where they should
come to land; and this proceeding, by which the
gods, as in old Suithiod, first took possession of
their new home, was said to be done after the
ancient manner. When a place of abode had been
selected, fire was usually carried round the tract
which was to be occupied, and this was called
‘consecrating the land to oneself.’ The leader now
divided the land he had chosen among his
relatives, friends, and followers. The rank which
he had filled on ship-board among the crew followed
him to land, and remained hereditary to his
descendants, although with some admixture of the
elective principle. From his band of warriors,
now settled around him [9], the hundred was formed;
a temple was erected, and maintained by common
contributions, at which the Ting was held; the
legal oath was taken at the altar on a ring dyed
with the blood of the victim, and with invocations
of the gods [10]; in the public assemblies the chief
wore this ring on his hand; and from his priestly
functions arose his title of Godordsman (the man
of God’s word), that is, speaker in the name of the
gods, and therefore judge and reconciler. In this
description we recognise the chiefs of the Hundred
in old Suithiod, and their Hundred Courts, where,
as among the Greeks of the heroic age, who have
so much in common with the old Scandinavians,
the judges sat under the open sky in a holy circle
upon stones [11]. The old title of this functionary was
Herse [12]; a higher office was that of Jarl. Both
bore the title originally attached to princely rank [13],
and were hence also called kings of the hundred.
Conjointly they formed a kind of nobility; for
Konung denotes in our old language a man of
birth [14]. The kings of Upsala, when this title had
become usual instead of that of drott, were
distinguished from the rest by a paramount sovereign
authority; and it was the attempt to outroot the
various subordinate princes which overturned the
dynasty of the Ynglings. Under that of Ivar they
ceased to exist as rulers, but there was still no
scarcity of kings, for all the sons assumed the title,
even though without the dominion. It was their
prerogative to gather around themselves a retinue
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