The Aristocracy
Snorri gives several titles for members of the aristocracy, both before and after Haraldr hárfagri's conquest of the whole country. Having described this conquest, he gives a brief account of Haraldr's system of government: Haraldr put one earl in each district called fylki as its supreme judge, who was to have one-third of the royal incomes in his district. Under him there were to be four magnates of lower rank (hersar ) with fixed veitslur —twenty marks—in income. Both the earls and the hersar were required to muster a certain number of men for the king's army. According to this description, the aristocracy consisted of royal officials, organized as a hierarchy (HHárf . chap. 6). Later he tells that this arrangement was upheld for a long time, and that Earl Hákon of Lade had sixteen earls under him (OT chap. 45—with reference to a scaldic stanza). Under Haraldr harðráði he refers to a custom, introduced by St. Óláfr and Magnús góði, of having only one earl at a time in the country (HHarð . chap. 48). Though this alleged rule may be introduced for the sake of the story Snorri was just then telling, it conforms better with Snorri's account of actual practice than the system of one earl in each fylki , as he only mentions a small number of earls at any one period (see Bøe, 1962: 560 f.). Nor does the number of hersar in Snorri's story actually conform to the enormous number that must have existed if Haraldr's rule had been practiced. To Snorri and other Icelandic saga writers, the term hersir seems to have been equivalent to lendr maðr , which is the usual term from the saga of St. Óláfr on (Bøe, 1965: 498 ff.). Snorri implies that these positions were not hereditary, although custom favored certain kins.
The real aristocracy is not confined to men with these titles. In his narrative, Snorri repreatedly refers to men as esteemed, mighty, and so forth, who have a strong position in their regions and act as spokesmen for the people and local leaders. Such men may or may not be attached to the king's service as lendir menn . The term "magnate," which I have used frequently above, is meant to include these men as well as those holding formal titles. In this way, the aristocracy is vaguely separated from the king on the one side and the people on the other. Though titles are not without importance, they are clearly insufficient to distinguish Snorri's aristocracy from the rest of the population. We may note, however, that in contrast to the office of goði in the society to which Snorri himself belonged, medieval Iceland, there was no formal office for local leaders, except those distributed by the king.
Despite the rather vague lines of distinction between the categories, there is no real doubt of the tripartite structure in itself. As is evident both from the discussion above and from Sandvik's analysis, the magnates are the clue to the whole system. They are the intermediate category, with connections to the king above them and the people below. Sandvik emphasizes their function as leaders of the people in opposition to the king, in my opinion too strongly. As we have seen, his and Koht's picture of an almost constant conflict between the latter and the people is hardly correct. Still, the contrast between the magnates' almost completely harmonious relationship to the people and their frequent conflicts with the king is striking and demands an explanation. Before we turn to that, however, we shall have a closer look at the foundation of their power.
We can distinguish between four elements as the foundation of a magnate's power: (1) kin; (2) wealth; (3) charisma; (4) office bestowed by the king. All four can be illustrated in the person of Erlingr Skjálgsson. Erlingr was a descendant of Hordakari[*] , who was an important man in Western Norway in the mid-tenth century, and whose kinswoman Þóra became Haraldr hárfagri's mistress and the mother of King Hákon góði. His son, Klyppr hersir, killed King Sigurðr Eiríksson for having raped his wife (HGráf . chap. 14). Snorri gives Erlingr's genealogy in connection with Óláfr Tryggvason's visit to Western Norway to convert this region. Hordakari's kin is presented as the mightiest there (OT chap. 54). Under their leader
Erlingr is thus elected to succeed
him. Theoretically, this might indicate some sort of primogeniture within each generation of the clan. But there is no trace of such principles in Snorri's own Icelandic society (see n. 16), nor does Snorri refer to it in this case. He clearly states that Erlingr is elected because of personal qualities, that is, charisma .
Snorri normally seems to imply that the magnates have inherited their position, and he often gives their genealogies, usually when introducing them. Sometimes he does so in order to trace the descent of men who have played an important part recently or in his own time, such as Archbishop Eysteinn and his own friend Duke Skúli (HHarð . chaps. 37, 98: 219). Modern scholars, who have tried to establish genealogies on the basis of Snorri and other historians, have succeeded in linking together a number of leading magnates from various epochs, which gives the general impression that there was a considerable continuity in the aristocracy from the time of St. (Óláfr until the latter half of the twelfth century.[22] The self-esteem of the old aristocracy is evident from the reaction of Hárekr at Tjøtta against King Óláfr's promotion of Ásmundr Grankellsson, which in Hárekr's opinion means reducing the status of the old aristocracy in favor of a "new man."[23] In the same way, the position of the low-born Selþórir is an extreme provocation of Erlingr Skjálgsson. But Snorri does not always point out the links that must have existed, which indicates that he is less interested in genealogy than in other criteria of aristocratic status.
There is some connection between charisma and descent: noble blood will normally produce a noble character. The idea is directly expressed by Earl Rognvaldr[*] of Møre, who says to his son Einarr that he will hardly bring any honor to his kinsmen, because his mother was a slave.[24] In this case, Rognvaldr is actually proved wrong: Einarr defeats the Vikings who have driven his half-brother away from the Orkneys, establishes himself as earl there, and becomes a mighty ruler. His words do not therefore necessarily express Snorri's own opinion. Snorri even gives an example of a slave becoming king by rebelling and deposing the right king.[25] However, Snorri's characterizations are best interpreted in the light of some belief in a general connection between noble blood and noble character, though Snorri does not necessarily mean that this always holds true: this idea is balanced by a rather matter of fact consideration concerning courage: younger and less established people with more to gain are likely to be braver than the great magnates (OH, chap. 90: 167).
With the relatively vague distinction between the magnates and the rest of the population, what kind of blood is considered noble? When Snorri refers to a man as gofugr[*] (great, prominent) or ættstórr (highborn) he probably refers to the fact that his ancestors have been wealthy and mighty men in a particular region over some generations. One
qualification, however, seems to be particularly important, namely connection with the royal family. In his remark on the great power of the lendir menn at the beginning of St. Óláfr's reign, he explicitly mentions that many of them were descended from kings or earls (OH chap. 46). This is borne out by individual examples of men who are related to the king or the earls of Lade through kinship or marriage, such as Erlingr Skjálgsson, Einarr þambarskelfir, and Hárekr at Tjøtta. When the latter complains about Óláfr's promotion of the "new man" Ásmundr Grankellsson, he may very well have this in mind. Ásmundr's father is characterized as an auðigr bóandi (a wealthy farmer), a former Viking chieftain and a hermaðr mikill (a great warrior) (OH chap. 106), whereas Hárekr is himself something of a newcomer as far as wealth is concerned (OH chap. 104). The great difference between the two is apparently that Hárekr is related to the royal family, whereas Ásmundr is not. Membership in the royal family is in itself a sign of prominence, whereas families who rise to prominence through wealth and their own efforts will sooner or later end up with being married into it.
Snorri repeatedly refers to Erlingr's great wealth. Erlingr is sufficiently wealthy to be the leading man in Western Norway even without the king's veitslur (OH chap. 22). His wealth evidently consists in large estates, to which Snorri refers in the story of his allowing his slaves to buy themselves free through extra working (OH chap. 23; see also chap. 117). In one sense this is a further indication of the importance of birth for aristocratic status, as landed estates were hereditary. But Norwegian and to some extent Icelandic rules of divided inheritance made it less likely than in systems of primogeniture that the position of a particular family or kin would be maintained (see n. 15). Besides, Snorri also mentions other methods of acquiring wealth, above all Viking expeditions. Though one probably had to hold a prominent position within one's region to become the leader of such an expedition, its success or failure very much depended on luck and personal ability. Such expeditions must therefore have contributed to some degree of social mobility. The civil wars of the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries may have had the same effect.[26] Even landed estates might be acquired through personal efforts, as the example of Hárekr at Tjøtta shows.[27] In Erlingr Skjálgsson's case, Viking expeditions compensated for his loss of royal veitslur after the death of Óláfr Tryggvason. Politically, wealth served two purposes: to keep a numerous and well-equipped army of retainers and to attract adherents and allies through generosity.
The importance of charisma appears from Snorri's description of Erlingr, which makes him a sort of popular hero among Snorri's readers even today. His old kinsman
tant sister (OT chap. 56). Snorri repeatedly stresses his skill at arms, bravery, and attractive personality, which makes him a number of friends. His last battle is one of the great "scenes" of Heimskringla , with Erlingr standing alone on his ship after all his men have been killed, defending himself "so nobly that no one could remember any one man having stood off the attack of so many so long" ("svá prúðliga, at engi maðr vissi doemi, at einn maðr hefði staðit svá lengi fyrir jammargra manna atsókn") (OH chap. 176: 405). In his narrative, Snorri often implies that a magnate's ability to win adherents and thus to improve his position in society depends on qualities like eloquence, wisdom, bravery, and so forth.
Erlingr's position under the earls and Óláfr serves as an example of a magnate managing to be extremely powerful even without the king's support. This should not, however, be taken as evidence that the king is normally of marginal importance for the position of the magnates or that there is usually a conflict of interest between them. Snorri clearly implies that Erlingr is an exception in this respect. His counterpart in Trøndeiag, Einarr þambarskelfir, is apparently without veitslur after his reconciliation with Óláfr. He is still a very rich man but plays no political role until after Óláfr's exile (OH, chaps. 121, 144, 171, 194). In other cases, such as in most of Óláfr's alliances with "new men," the king's support is decisive in promoting people to high rank in society, though it is clearly not a question of raising men from the dust. Snorri even expresses this point in a more general way: Haraldr hárfagri's conquest and his new arrangement of government gave his "officials" more wealth and power than the petty kings had had before, thus leading many magnates to Haraldr's service. Even Erlingr is to a considerable extent an example of a man promoted by the king. During the negotiations between Óláfr Tryggvason and Erlingr's kinsmen about his marriage with Óláfr's sister Ástríðr Ástríðr, first refuses to marry Erlingr because he is an útíginn maðr , that is, a man without aristocratic rank. Óláfr offers to make him earl, but Erlingr refuses, not wanting a higher name than that of his kinsmen before him, who have been hersar . But he wants Óláfr to make him the mightiest hersir in the country, which Óláfr in fact does. Erlingr in reality becomes the prince of most of Western Norway and is able to maintain this position against Óláfr's successors. Even great magnates, like Þórir hundr and Hárekr at Tjøtta, to some extent owe their position to the king.[28] Another interesting example is Kálfr Árnason, whom Óláfr gives the estate of the former local leader Olvi[*] at Egge and who has apparently no difficulty in maintaining his position as the leading magnate of Inner Trøndelag.
It is difficult to form an exact opinion on the relative importance of Snorri's various criteria for aristocratic status. Snorri does not treat the question systematically, nor is he sufficiently specific in his detailed nar-
rative to allow us to weigh their importance, for instance the size of income derived from royal veitslur versus "private property," the importance of hereditary position versus "appointment" by the king or the people. The previous examples are, however, sufficient to reject Sandvik's view of the magnates as exclusively popular leaders. Snorri implies that they derive a considerable part of their power from the king: to be appointed lendr maðr by the king means a clear promotion compared to other men of equal wealth and status and even gives considerable economic resources. And membership in the royal family by kinship or marriage is the highest expression of aristocratic status. Snorri thus regards the magnates as mediators between the king and the people rather than exclusively popular leaders.