Opening Passage:
Gorm was the name of a king who ruled over Denmark and was called the Childless. He was a mighty king, and popular with his subjects. He had long governed his kingdom when the events to be told happened. At that time there was in Saxland an earl called Arnfinn, who held his land in fief from King Charlemagne. Arnfinn and King Gorm were good friends and had been on viking expeditions together. The earl had a beautiful sister, and he was fonder of her than he should have been and begot a child with her; the child was kept hidden, and then the earl sent men away with it but bade them not to desert it before they knew what would befall it.
They came to Denmark and to a forest. They were aware that King Gorm was in the forest hunting with his followers. They laid the child under a tree and hid themselves. (pp. 27-28)
Summary: King Gorm discovers a child, whom he names Knut, in the forest, and arranges to have him fostered and eventually makes him heir to the kingdom; when Knut becomes king, he has a son, also named Gorm, who becomes king. In the second Gorm's day there was an earl, known as Klak-Harold, who had a daughter, Thyra, who was able to interpret dreams. Gorm had several dreams, and Thyra was able to interpret them (as foretelling the decline of Denmark, but not yet); in return, Gorm married Thyra, and they had two sons, Knut and Harold; by the happenstance of events, Knut dies and Harold becomes the new king. King Harold Gormsson and one of his earls, Earl Hakon, plot against the king of Norway (also called Harold), and it is within the context of this conflict that the rest of the tale takes place. This stage-setting is not mere stage-setting; part of the anonymous author's point, I think, is that the broader context is playing a significant role in the story. This is specifically a tale of Norway versus Denmark, and we are learning how Denmark sets itself up to fail at the same time that it appears to be succeeding.
King Harold Gormsson gets involved in a feud between two brothers named Fiolnir Tokason and Aki Tokason, leading to the death of the latter; the youngest brother, Palnir, is perplexed as to how to get vengeance for Aki's death given that the perpetrator is king of Denmark, and thus one of the most powerful people in the known world; but the woman he marries, Ingeborg, has a dream that suggests that King Harold will, along with many others die. They have a son, Palnatoki, who grows up and makes important connections. He also is clever to take up any opportunity that might come about; he discovers an illegitimate child of the king's, named Svein, and sees to his fostering. Svein grows up to be a thorn in King Harold's side, and in the disputes between them Palnatoki is able to seize a chance to kill King Harold in secret. Svein becomes king, but when he discovers that Palnatoki killed his father, he attemps to arrest him. (King Svein definitely does not want people to think that he was behind the regicide, and he even more definitely does not want people to think that regicide can be rewarded.) Palnatoki leaves, and because of his connections is able to mass a significant fleet. They harry some islands in the Baltic and the local king, Burisleif, recognizes that this cannot go on; King Burisleif offers Palnatoki a deal: he will give Palnatoki the island and fortress of Jomsborg, on the condition that Palnatoki will defend the king's lands. Thus is the beginning of the Jomsvikings, a military fraternity devoted to battle and deeds of extraordinary martial courage.
We then get the tale of some of the famous last members of the Jomsvikings -- the violent prodigy Vagn, who at the age of twelve is so competent in battle that he convinces the Jomsvikings to make an exception to their rule that no one can join before the age of eighteen; Sigvaldi and Thorkel, devious and cunning brothers who have come to test their mettle; bold Bui, famous for his resoluteness and brazenness. After Palnatoki's death, Sigvaldi becomes administrator of the laws of the Jomsvikings, but he is too devious by half and his scheming in an attempt to get a marriage to Burisleif's daughter leads him to kidnapping King Svein. It ends well, but of course it is a red flag that things are not too stable. When the father of Sigvalid and Thorkel dies, King Svein uses the occasion to pressure Sigvaldi and others into making terrible vows while drunk. However, vows are vows, and Sigvaldi intends to follow threw on his vow, which is to seize Earl Hakon's lands, or kill Earl Hakon, or die himself; the other Jomsvikings intend also to follow through on their related vows, and King Svein pledges twenty ships to help them. They intend to set upon Earl Hakon before he knows what's happening, but Hakon is alerted to the impending invasion, so it becomes a straightforward sea battle.
The Jomsvikings might well have won under most circumstances, but Earl Hakon makes a pact with the pagan goddesses, Thorgerd and Irpa. We don't really know anything about Thorgerd and Irpa, although they show up occasionally throughout Scandinavian literature; they seem to have been goddesses who were particularly open to making a deal, or at least giving a bit of luck to those who make the right sacrifice for it. Earl Hakon sacrifices his seven-year-old son to them, which seems to have been the right sacrifice for what he wanted, because a storm comes up whose winds, rain, and hail put the Jomsvikings at a disadvantage, and the goddesses show up themselves sending forth arrows from their fingers that kill man after man after man. Sigvaldi and his followers and allies withdraw. The rest of the Jomsvikings are defeated, and the leaders are seized and begin to face execution. But each one dies fearlessly with a joke on his lips, and Vagn even manages to impress them so much that he wins life for himself and those who haven't died yet. We then get the 'what happened after' to the survivors: Vagn becomes wildly successful, Sigvaldi becomes successful, Bui becomes a dragon. Earl Hakon rules Norway, but not for long, for things are changing: Olaf Trygvasson comes along, Earl Hakon is murdered, and eventually King St. Olaf converts Norway to Christianity, and a new and different age begins.
The whole story, particularly where concerned with the battle, is well done. No one in this tale is what you could call a good person; every one of them is a nasty piece of work. Some of them, like Vagn, seem sociopathic. But they are not without their admirable features, and the sacrifice of Earl Hakon gives a twist that makes them almost heroic despite their obvious vices. Before, the Jomsvikings were basically ruthless pirates, admirable only for their competence and brotherhood, but they fight gods fearlessly, they face death fearlessly, and they laugh in the face of anyone who attempts to intimidate them. They are folk heroes, not because they are good but because they are, even in hopeless defeat, humanity at its most indomitable. It's a very Scandinavian-saga attitude; most of our sagas were written by Christians who pretty clearly admired the pagan indomitability of their ancestors despite recognizing that Christianity had improved life overall. The author of this saga seems particularly taken with the idea of the Fearless Viking. He is also a skillful enough to convey what is attractive about it to the reader, which is an impressive feat.
Favorite Passage:
Then Palnatoki established laws for Jomsborg, with the assistance of wise men, to the end that the renown fo the men of Jomsborg should spread most widely and their power should wax greatly. The first of their laws was that no one might join the company who was over fifty or under eighteen. All members were to be between these ages. Kinship must not weight when considering for membership a man who wished to join. No member was to flee from any man who was his equal in bravery and as well armed as himself. Each member must avenge any other member as though he were his brother. No one was to utter words of fear or be afraid of anything, however hopeless matters looked. All the booty brought in from their expeditions was to be carried to the standard -- of whatever value, big or small -- and anyone not abiding by this rule was to start a quarrel. And if news of importance came to any man's knowledge he was not to have the temerity to make it known to all, because Palnatoki was to announce all news. No one was to have a woman within the fort, and no one was to be away for more than three days. And if it became known after a man had been admitted into the company that he had earlier slain the father or brother or some other near kinsman of a member, Palnatoki was to be the judge, as he was to be also of whatever other differences arose among them. (pp. 63-64)
Recommendation: Recommended.
****
The Saga of the Jomsvikings, Hollander, tr., University of Texas Press (Austin: 2022).
