108. Sacrifice

The sacrifice is of this nature: of every living thing that is male, they offer nine heads with the blood of which it is customary to placate gods of this sort.  The bodies they hang in the sacred grove that adjoins the temple. Mow this grove is so sacred in the eyes of the heathen that each and every tree in it is believed divine because of the death or putrefaction of the victims. Even dogs and horses hang there with men.--Adam of Bremen, History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen

This episode deals with a very bloody part of Viking history and culture.  The sacrifices at Uppsala ad other sacred sites are some of the most interesting bits of accounts because of how absolutely horrified Christian travellers were to see them.  

Adam of Bremen was a historian who chronicled the deed of the clergy and pagans living in northern Europe and Scandinavia.  He travelled with different missionaries, lived in the court of Sweyn Estridson (a Danish king) and eventually was in charge of all the missions in Scandinavia.  He wrote a book called the Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum (which is a mouthful that basically means 'stuff that bishops did in Hamburg') which chronicled his experiences.  It includes a wonderful account of the mass-sacrifices in Uppsala.

The sacrificed bodies they hung in the great tree, which Adam describes as "a very large tree with wide-spreading branches, always green winter and summer.  What kind it is, nobody knows." He also says that the pagans would throw a live man into a deep spring.  If he doesn't resurface, their wishes will be granted.

Look, Timmy's bubbles stopped!  Now everyone wish for a pizza party.

Oh, and an interesting note... Adam's book is the first mention of North America (Vinland in that time) in European literature.

But, of course, it wasn't the only account of sacrifice at Uppsala.  Our old pal, Snorri, wrote about it in his Saga of St. Olaf, found in the Heimskringla.  He writes: 

In Svithjod it was the old custom, as long as heathenism prevailed, that the chief sacrifice took place in Goe month at Upsala. Then sacrifice was offered for peace, and victory to the king; and thither came people from all parts of Svithjod. All the Things of the Swedes, also, were held there, and markets, and meetings for buying, which continued for a week: and after Christianity was introduced into Svithjod, the Things and fairs were held there as before. After Christianity had taken root in Svithjod, and the kings would no longer dwell in Upsala, the market-time was moved to Candlemas, and it has since continued so, and it lasts only three days.

Uppsala was also not the only place to sacrifice someone.  There was a temple in the Danish city of Lejre, where Thietmar of Merseberg visited in the early 11th century.  The city was supposed to be grand and beautiful, and generations of kings dwelt there.  It's said that Ragnar's sons lived there for a time as well.  Heck, they've dug up a bunch of feasting halls decorated with an insane amount of gold, and modern scholars think that Lejre is the location of Heorot--the mead-hall that Beowulf saves from the monster, Grendel.

So, it's a pretty important place to early Scandinavia.

Thietmar visits and writes about the sacrifices, where "...every ninth year, in the month of January, somewhat later than our Christian Yuletide, they assemble together and sacrifice to their gods 99 men and as many horses, dogs, and cocks or hawks, believing that these will be of service to them in the realm of the dead and atone for their misdeeds."

Why nine?  Why 99?  What's the significance of that number?

Well, this all emulates the nine days that Odin spent on the tree of life.  He sacrificed himself to himself on Yggdrasill after cutting his stomach with a spear to let his blood flow out.  When he did this, he was able to learn the runes and then teach them to the other gods, who in turn taught them to men.  The original story itself isn't so exciting, but I really like how Neil Gaiman tells it in his book American Gods.  In this book, one of the characters tries to go through Wednesday's sacrifice and it details the experience pretty fantastically, while managing to follow pretty closely what the sagas say.

Actually... if you're interested in any sort of mythology at all you should just read American Gods.  Mostly because it rocks.

Also, let me make a quick note on something about Uppsala that is 100% inaccurate.  Here is a picture of the temple in the show.  

Oooh, imposing!  With the dark mountains, the waterfall, the possible fjord nearby... yes, I can see exactly why the Vikings would think a place like this was holy.  Walking through the dark, thick forest, feeling like you could touch the clouds...

Oh.  Erm. Or not.  Turns out real-life Uppsala is pretty flat, and just a nicely central location.  Of course there's that magical, always-green tree to mark it as a special spot, but the show certainly took some liberties with geography there.

This is also the episode where we are introduced to King Horik.  Horik is indeed based off of a real man, who lived about the time Ragnar Lothbrok.  Their stories intertwined for a short time and I *really really* want to say how, but the way the show is going, I know they're going to be doing some of the actions so I feel like I shouldn't spoil it.

UGH.

Anyways, Horik was the king of Denmark from 827 to 854.  He was a pagan who focused on attacking churches and missionaries in order to stop conversion and proselytizing.  One of his last attacks in Europe was against the St. Mary's Cathedral in 845 (the same year Ragnar sieged Paris).  He burned the wooden church to the ground and destroyed most of the surrounding town.

I can say that in real life, Horik did NOT like or approve of Ragnar in the least.  Really hated him, because he wanted to be the only king or ruler of Denmark.  Kings back then didn't work like they did later.  Rather than being king simply because of blood, you were more like a super-powerful Jarl who needed supporters and the allegiance of other Jarls.  If someone else took your supporters away, it was easy for the title of King to be transferred, or for there to be a war.  This war never happened, but some other stuff did that I'm sure I'll talk about in a later season.

And, lastly, I'm going to mention Huldra, because I'm fairly sure Aethelstan nearly met one.  Remember the scene where he's high and wandering around the big orgy?  Of course you do.  Who lightly forgets an orgy?  Well, as he's wandering, he puts a hand out on a woman's back.  Her back slowly morphs into the bark of a tree.

"Baby, you need to moisturize."

This reminds me of one of the nature-spirits that the Vikings believed in, called the Huldra.  There were many different kinds, but they all basically wanted to seduce men so they could find a way to kill them.  The Huldra kind of sucked.  They appeared to be stunningly beautiful women, who were naked with long hair.  But their secret was their back.  It would either be hollow and filled with rotted flesh, or it would be made of bark.

This was really more of a northern Sweden thing, though.  Most other parts of Scandinavia thought the Huldra's secret was her tail.

In any case, if you discovered her nasty-ass back, she would fly into a rage and kill you.  There were ways that you could tell her about it, if you were extremely polite.  And the Huldra who didn't have the weird back were usually much nicer to people, sometimes even marrying normal folk.  But your best bet, as when dealing with any emotionally unstable woman, was to politely ignore the flaws and back away slowly with a smile.

Until next time, when we discuss Aslaug and how a Viking settlement would do to stave off disease.