Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Note on the Text
- Introduction
- 1 Confession and Penance
- 2 Life's Journey towards Salvation: Salvation and the Biographical Pattern
- 3 Betrayal
- 4 Outlaws and Marginal Figures
- 5 Salvation, Damnation and the Visible World
- 6 The Hour of Death
- 7 Last Things and Judgement Day
- Bibliography
- Index
- Studies in Old Norse Literature
7 - Last Things and Judgement Day
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2018
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Note on the Text
- Introduction
- 1 Confession and Penance
- 2 Life's Journey towards Salvation: Salvation and the Biographical Pattern
- 3 Betrayal
- 4 Outlaws and Marginal Figures
- 5 Salvation, Damnation and the Visible World
- 6 The Hour of Death
- 7 Last Things and Judgement Day
- Bibliography
- Index
- Studies in Old Norse Literature
Summary
This study has explored narrative motifs and patterns relating to final things and new beginnings – the damnation and salvation of the soul. Instead of a traditional summary or conclusion I have chosen to end by exploring how our principal themes feature in the most celebrated of the Icelandic sagas. Christian themes in Njáls saga have, of course, been studied and accordingly I shall refrain as much as possible from covering familiar ground. My aim is to show how some of the principal patterns, themes, and motifs highlighted in previous chapters feature in Njáls saga. This work reveals how a late-thirteenth-century author could creatively apply these to a uniquely long and complex saga.
We begin with the relatively minor figure of Kolskeggr, the brother of Gunnarr Hámundarson. Kolskeggr's most notable role is to ride with Gunnarr to the ship that waits to take the hero abroad after he has been judged an outlaw. Famously, however, Gunnarr decides to return to his farmstead and confront his fate. Knowing well that this choice portends Gunnarr's certain death, Kolskeggr seeks to change his brother's mind but to no avail. We next encounter Kolskeggr in Denmark at the court of Sveinn tjúguskeggr. One night he dreams that a man, illuminated in brightness, commands Kolskeggr to arise and follow him. The figure promises him a bride and that he will become his knight (‘riddari minn’). A wise man interprets the dream as foretelling that he will go south and become God's knight (‘guðs riddari’). Kolskeggr accepts baptism in Denmark but spends the rest of his career as commander in the Varangian Guard in Constantinople. Thus one of the first Icelanders in Njáls saga to convert to Christianity leaves Iceland never to return. Kolbeinn's path to salvation steers him away from the blood-feud of his home country, albeit here to defend Christendom rather than reside in a cloister.
The fate of Kolskeggr (who now disappears from the story) manifestly contrasts with Gunnarr's fate.
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- Information
- Damnation and Salvation in Old Norse Literature , pp. 211 - 230Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2018