Looking for some Icelandic legal advice. Help me, Godi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.
Viglund (son of the Godi) and Bryndis (local Seidkona) went to Egil’s house. Egil, being a rich local fisherman, invited them in and drank mead with Viglund. Bryndis took leave and disappeared outside. Moments later, Bryndis was shouting for help and Viglund rushed outside. When Egil followed, he found Viglund and his Huscarl Thorolf fighting in the street. Viglund killed Thorolf. Olaf (Egil’s Thrall) said that Bryndis lured Thorolf into a trap and that it was a set-up, the Huscarl was murdered! Bryndis was hurt in the process and is currently unconscious, recovering. Viglund claims that he was there to give back some money that Thorolf gave Bryndis in an attempt to woo her, and that she felt like he was going to hurt her, so she enlisted him to come and give the gift back and reject Thorolf’s advances, but Olaf claims that it was all a setup – that Bryndis enticed Thorolf but that it was all just to kill Thorolf for some perceived crime against her former lover, Steinar (recently slain in a viking raid).
What’s the process, here? There’s likely to be a trial, but Thorolf has no family to speak of and the only actual witnesses are Bryndis and the Thrall, Olaf. What do you think, O sages?
cc: Jason Morningstar
Later, padawan
Jason Morningstar I’m curious about Icelandic ideas regarding conflict-of-interest. Considering that Bryndis and Viglund are half-siblings (same mom) and Orm is both the local Godi and Viglund’s father. Also, there’s a new Godi in town who is whipping people into a frenzy over this whole mess when the folks of the region would prefer to just sweep it under the rug (they were all kind of scared of Thorolf anyway and Orm is old and much-beloved).
So Viglund accepted Egil’s hospitality and then killed his huscarl? And injured a woman in the process? Is this correct?
Jason Morningstar would it make it more or less confusing to know what actually happened?
(also, yes, that’s what it looks like from the outside. Bryndis getting injured was a side-effect of her trying to stop Viglund from going all berserker and killing Thorolf, but didn’t go so well for her.)
Avedan Raggio should weigh in on this!
From my perspective it looks pretty grim for Viglund. If he was the rich man in this situation maybe he could mount an effective case but unless he can find a Goði to stand for him (and, given the circumstances, who would?) I think he’s in bad trouble. Egil’s been grievously insulted and Thorulf’s family will want compensation Viglund can’t provide.
Thankfully, Viglund is pretty flush from a very successful raid and has some blood-brothers who’ll pay for him, but it’s going to be a tragedy if he has to leave Iceland now, with his half-sister dying of a stab wound HE inflicted and his father a very old man.
Does Egil stand in as father for Thorolf if the murdered Huscarl has no family in Iceland?
Also, if Bryndis says that Thorolf tried to assault her (he did) but Olaf says otherwise, how does that balance out, socially? Olaf is a Norseman in Thrall to Egil over some debts and Bryndis is a woman and sort of unliked by the community.
Nobody is supposed to care what a thrall thinks about anything, but unofficially that might even out.
Egil is the one who’ll go to law over the killing, and it is very unlikely that Thorulf has no family anywhere. If Viglund is loaded he could find a Go∂i to speak on his behalf and then it is a matter of persuasion, but Egil going to law over this makes him look weak. Unless he literally cannot call in the resources to punish Viglund beneath his own roof (which he has every right to do) he should attend to that as a man who has been insulted first. Somebody accepted his hospitality and then killed his fucking huscarl. Start there and work outward. This same monster stabbed a woman. Viglund is beneath contempt.
Regarding your initial question about conflict of interest, Avedan Raggio might know better but I suspect the public face of this is that personal honor is enough to mitigate its effects and privately anything goes.
I’m loving this.
I love the idea of Viglund bringing in an outside Go∂i to speak for him. I’m totally using that. Egil is a total fucker and is actually getting Christianized by his slave, Weylin. So, this might shock him back into proper behaviour, too. Iiiiiinteresting.
It’d be easy to turn around with the right Go∂i and enough money and armed dudes. Bryndis is practicing evil magic, after all, that’s a fact.
Stakes questions:
– Will Viglund’s guilt overwhelm his sense of self-preservation?
– Who will the new Godi be?
– How bad will it hurt when Viglund has to turn on Bryndis to save his own skin?
Oh jeez.
Thanks for the shout-out! My thoughts are as follows: Thorolf serves Egil, which means that they have a relationship in which their honor is reciprocal–any bad action that Thorolf does reflects poorly on Egil, who accepted Thorolf as his huscarl, and vice versa. If Thorolf behaved badly towards a woman and picked a fight with Viglund and died as a result, the offence to Bryndis and Thorolf has been paid for with Thorolf’s death. Egil, being responsible for his huscarl’s behavior, might offer compensation to Thorolf in recompense, but all this assumes that Thorolf was the bad guy throughout. If Thorolf was tricked or goaded into the fight, then Thorolf, as the killer, is responsible for making reparations to Egil. It is, as the sagas would say, a difficult situation. And if it were a saga or medieval Iceland, Egil and Thorolf’s friends and supporters would rally together, make a settlement, and pay from their own pockets if that was what was needed to make everyone feel better.
The seidkona character is one I have difficulty with, because (as far as I have read) there are no positive seidr practitioners in the sagas, and the only positive aspect of seidr magic is prophecy, and that only because it is a magic that is used to benefit the community, as opposed to the rest of seidr, which is to harm and destroy.
Gotta go to archery, but I’ll be back with more. Hope this is useful.
Dear Bryndis. Didn’t see that coming, did you?
Avedan Raggio thank you! I think that’s the grey area here, too. Thorolf is known for his viciousness but is not generally believed to be a rapist. Though in this situation, he had attempted to woo Bryndis and when she rejected him, he did attempt to take her by force. Only, the only witness is a) a thrall and b) hates Bryndis already so would likely not tell the truth. Viglund himself doesn’t even know what happened, only that Bryndis was in trouble and he reacted.
I suppose it’ll depend on how the people react – because in the long run, Thorolf was bad for the community, Viglund is seen as a good man and unless Egil REALLY makes a stink, he can afford to pay the weregild to make all this go away. Only, we have a Godi power struggle going on and I don’t think it’ll all just vanish. Very cool.