Knattleikr- Norse Ball Game

Introduction

In the SCA, we’re always looking for new scenarios to test ourselves, and to keep combat entertaining both for the participants and spectators. This has led to dozens of different melee and tourney formats. One that was always a fan favourite was Dogball, or Jugging, a scenario based on the 1989 Rutger Hauer film ‘Blood of Heroes’. In a post-apocalyptic future, jugging is the blood sport of choice. I’ll admit right now that I’ve never seen the film and so I can’t comment on it directly, but what I have gathered is that teams of 5 fought against each other while trying to score points by placing a dog skull in the opponents goal.

Jugging in Blood of Heroes

In the SCA, the game was recreated as teams of 5 each armed in a different fashion. The actual equipment used seems to vary from Kingdom to Kingdom as do the specific rules, but the important part was that it led to a dynamic, fast-paced battle where the crowd had plenty of action to watch and the players had no shortage of violence to inflict.

What does this have to do with history, Vikings, or knattleikr which, the observant amongst you might have noticed is the title of this post? Well, that’s exactly one of the biggest issues we see with dogball: it lacks any historical reference. It’s something that was taken from a movie during the early times of the SCA and just sort of stuck, similar to ring belts and calling everyone -crat. Now, this is all well and good and there’s nothing wrong with wanting something like dogball, but 1989 is sliiiiightly out of period.

Knattleikr

Towards this end, I have been looking at the old Norse game Knattleikr, a ball game about which we have only limited information, but seems like a good place to start for several reasons. First, it’s mentioned in several different sagas (links to the sagas and chapters in the bibliography below), meaning it was a relatively common game. Second, among the equipment used to play were wooden bats which I imagine wouldn’t be too far off from the rattan we use as weapons in the SCA. Third, in the sagas it mentions that play could get bloody and heated.

The game has seen a recent resurgence in popularity in New England due to the research of Dr. William Short and the Hurstwic institute in Massachusetts. Hurstwic is known for their detailed readings of the sagas to bring the Viking age to light. With the hard details on knattleikr being so sparse, there’s a ton of guesswork and speculation in the creation of the game. In the links below, you can see how Dr. Short went about recreating the rules for Knattleikr.

Our rules will be slightly different, since they will be combining the SCA heavy combat rules, and be a slightly more aggressive version of the game played by the people at the Hurstwic Institute. The main focus of the game will still be scoring and running the ball, but fighting will be encouraged as part of the game rather than just a side effect of competition.

Final rundown of the facts that we have about the game from the sagas:

Players at the Hurstwic Institute enjoy Knattleikr

Game was played by teams.
There was a ball which was hard enough to break skin.
There were bats which were sometimes used to swing on the opponents.
Players paired off (although its uncertain if this is just like lining up in football).
The ball could go out of play.
The game was played on a field (some people say the field was marked, which would make sense since the ball went out of play)

What we don't know:
How do you score?
Was hitting frowned upon?
How many players per team?
How long would the game last?
What was the size of the field?

Proposed Rules for SCA Knattleikr

Two evenly matched teams: I am suggesting 5 to make it easier to get two teams.


A ball: I am open to suggestions on this one, but I’ll suggest a softball or similar until something better is found.

Possible design for a period appropriate ball

To score, a player must place the ball in the opposing team’s basket.

Equipment: each player will be armoured in the standards of SCA Heavy Combat, and armed with a single sword.

Blows and Resurrections: Only blows to the head or body will count. As always, these will count as a kill and the person struck will need to go to their goal to resurrect. In Dogball, pinning was allowed, which I think would slow the game down. When you are killed, you must immediately drop the ball if you have it.

Game will end when one team has 10 points.

Play begins with one team serving the ball to the other, sort of like a kick off. To serve, a player will toss the ball in the air and then strike it in the direction of the other team with their bat. The serving team can not touch the ball until it has been claimed by the receiving team or it has come to a full stop without being claimed.

Once the ball has been served, play continues until a team scores with the ball able to change possession depending on kills and/or being dropped.

If the ball goes out of play, the team that was not responsible for it leaving play can throw it in from the sidelines (like soccer).

Field should be about 28.5mx15.25m, the size of a basketball court. (This is one of the things that will require the most testing)

Optional Rules

Dogball weapons- Instead of being armed with a single sword, players can be armed in any fashion in which they’re authorised, except long spear. No two players on a team can be armed the same way. Anyone with weapons in both hands or a two handed weapon can not handle the ball.
Pinning- A player can, after killing an opponent, leave their weapon against them preventing them from walking to their goal.
Crowd throw-ins- Rather than either team throwing the ball in when it leaves play, a spectator can do so.

Conclusion

Hurstwic Player

The truth is that, because of all of the conjecture, these knattleikr rules are only slightly more historical than dogball. I can say that I did my best to keep the spirit of the game intact, and work with what we understand from other games. The biggest hurdle is combining what we see in the sagas with the rules we already have in place in the SCA to keep us safe.

That being said, it isn’t overly unreasonable that knattleikr could have been a combat ball game. We see examples in other cultures around the world; Buzkashi, a game in the Afghanistan region in which riders strike each other with whips is a good example. It’s also supposedly one of the inspirations for dogball. The Mayan ball game is also an example of a combative ball game on a court. We may never know exactly how the ancient Norse played knattleikr, but what we can do is take their example and create a fun game for ourselves.

The goal right now is to play a couple of games to see how the rules work, and if it is as fun as I imagine. If you get the chance to play let me know how it works for you!

Bibliography

Grettir’s Saga - https://www.sagadb.org/grettis_saga.en (Chapter 15)
Egil’s Saga - https://www.sagadb.org/files/html/egils_saga.en.html (Chapter 40)
Eyrbyggja Saga - https://sagadb.org/eyrbyggja_saga.en (Chapter 43)
Hurstwic Recreatoin of Knattleikr - http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/knattleikr.htm

Workout Routine

Nearly ten weeks ago, things started to stabilize a fair bit in my life. I found myself with the drive once again to set out on finding my fitness. For those of you who have been following the blog for a while, you will know that I am very big on balance. As a warrior, you can only be at your best when mind, body, and spirit are in balance and strong. I spent about two years where none of these were strong and everything was out of whack. Thankfully, in April I was able to start finding myself again. I came back to my blog to get my mind and spirit on track, and I started working out every morning to get my body back to fighting fit.

When I began the workouts, I was really concerned; I have always been a decently active person, but the last two years had seen me at my absolute worst. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew the most important thing was to just get started. I was more than a little bit scared that I wouldn't be able to do almost any exercise at all, and I wasn't too far from the truth. Thankfully, I chose to start off slow and let myself build up. The first two days, all I did was basic cardio and strength building (literally the Cardiio app on my iPhone). After that, I added Warclubs and 10lb curls. I have been focused more on endurance across the board rather than strength training, so all my working out has been based on repetition of low weight, or body weight exercises.

While I was prepared for how far off I had been, I was surprised at how good it felt to start again and how quickly my body responded to the workouts, and I was able to increase my counts for almost everything daily. After ten weeks, I’m feeling amazing. Consistency and discipline were the most important to me, which is why I’ve waited so long to write this post. I didn't want to write it and then abandon the work out a short while later.

Time for brutal honesty: I missed 5 of my workouts completely, and 6 times I had to replace the normal workout with something else because of life circumstances. The days that I had to replace the normal workout, I did laps in the pool while I was playing with my kids to make sure I stayed active and kept the muscles aware that things needed to be done.

Cardiio
A few years ago, my wife introduced me to a pretty awesome little app called Cardiio: it’s a handy program that takes your pulse either through your finger or facial scan, and it includes a seven minute workout routine that you can follow along. It’s comprised of 12 exercises for 30 seconds each, with 10 seconds of rest between each one. The routine is pretty full body, and it helps by being short enough to cram into even a busy day.

• Jumping Jacks
• Wall Sit
• Push-Ups
• Crunches
• Step Ups
• Squats
• Plank
• Tricep Dip
• High Knees
• Lunges
• Rotational Push-Ups
• Side Plank

Most of the exercises were pretty easy for me, even being out of shape. The only things that gave me a hard time were the push-ups, rotational push-ups, and side planks. My first day, I failed to even do a single clean push up in the thirty seconds; I had to bring myself down to the ground to be able to get up again. By the end of the first week, I was doing 3, and as of today I’m doing 8 without any problems. Rotational push-ups, for those who may not know, are push-ups where once you get to the top you swing one arm out and up, then come back down to complete the push up; then on the next push up you do the other arm. When I started, I couldn’t do any, but at the end of eight weeks I am able to do three. It’s a bit difficult because it’s just about the last exercise, so I’m good and tired by the time I get there. I believe that's also the reason the side planks are so hard as well, but I am not yet successfully completing those.

I am looking forward to continue growing stronger in each of the exercises over the coming weeks. Once I get to the point where all 12 are easy, or at least reasonable, my plan is to stop using the app and move to one minute for each of these 12 as I am I doing with the other portions of my work out.

War clubs

Indian War Clubs have always been a favourite exercise tool for me, ever since a good friend introduced me to them years ago. This is a strength building exercise that also increases mobility throughout the range rather than the very limited motions you get with most strength exercises. I have found that warclubs also translate well to SCA because of the fact that in addition to normal warclub drills, you can also do SCA drills with them. I added them to my work out after a week of the Cardiio and Curls, which allowed me to continue building upper body strength and start working on the muscle memory that is used in SCA combat. My current war club routine is three exercises for one minute each.

• Alternating Windmills (Also Called Backstroke and Front Stroke)
• Two Hand Internal Rotation Circle
• Pell Drills

My Pell drill is simple enough: just a combination of 4 strikes as I step forward. In one minute, I throw just over 100. Right now, I’m focusing more on footwork and technique than speed. The strikes are serving shot, offside, and then left handed serving shot, left handed offside.

Currently I am using 1lb clubs because it’s what I’ve got, but I’m looking to upgrade to 5lb clubs in the not too distant future. I also want to add another exercise when I upgrade, possibly forward swings or external rotations. I had some shoulder injuries a few years back so my right shoulder is weak; I’ve heard it said that war clubs help strengthen the rotator cuff, which is another reason I am using them.

Curls
Simple enough gym favourite, I am doing alternating curls with a 10lb dumbbell for one minute. Again the goal is more endurance and form rather than strength training. I need my body to be conditioned to long periods of activity rather than maxing out on short sets of max weight. The curls have been easy enough, and I am hoping to acquire some 15lb or 20lb dumbells over the coming months to upgrade this workout as well.

Suicide Sprints

This is my least favourite of the exercises on my current list. They’re exhausting and I feel like I’m about to die when I’m done. For those who may not know, a suicide sprint is a running exercise in which you run to a mark, then run back to start, then to a farther mark, then back to start, then to an even farther mark and back to start. In my case, the marks are at 6yd intervals making the farthest mark at 18yds. Currently I am running the course 3 times, which leads to a total of 216yds. My current run time is around 1:35 seconds.

These sprints help you build explosive energy and acceleration. The hope is that I’ll be able to translate that into closing distance quickly in tourneys, and run on the war field when

needed. Thus far, it gets my heart rate up and hopefully gets me used to bursts of activity.

Conclusion

What are my next steps? I want to continue growing the workout. Right now the total workout is about 21 minutes, which is good for maintaining my current shape, but I am wildly out of shape and I need to get much better. This week, I’m starting a new job which is going to change my routine, and it has also opened up a gym I can use. This means I’ll be getting to work with heavier weights, and most importantly, add my favourite exercise: rowing. In a few months, I’ll check in on my work out and how I am feeling, and we can see what progress has been made.

This past weekend, I got in armour and just about died after just 11 passes. I couldn’t even lift my arms; I’ve never felt so out of shape in the SCA before. I’m hoping it was just the heat and the length of time that has passed since my last time in armour. Because of the change in my schedule from the new job, I will have weekends free after three years, which should allow me to get into armour and attend practice at least twice a month now.

What do you do for workouts? Got any suggestions for how I can improve

Update on my Armour

All right my friends, it’s time once again to get caught up on what I am wearing when I fight. At events, I spend most of my visible time on the field, so the most important thing is to maintain my period presence while out there. I also need to be able to move and fight in such a way that I am not getting my teeth kicked in, like when I first started and my leather breastplate was binding me up terribly.

Over the years, I have made some major changes to my armour kit, and I think right now I’m as close I can be without some serious financial investments.

Helm

I have been using the same helm for about six years now. It isn't a particularly period looking helmet, but since the only extant helms from my time period wouldn't pass the safety requirements, I am ok with this. My helm is essentially the unloved child of a spangenhelm and a barbute, with the t-slit filled in with a really cool face mask pattern. It has weathered the last six years really well with only some dents and rust. I'd like to think my maintenance routine has helped with that. I wipe it down with WD-40 after every use, and clean the rust off of it around once a month. The only change I would do to it at this time is a new chinstrap, since the current setup doesn’t work great with my beard.

I don't see myself changing or replacing my helm anytime soon. It does its job, it looks good, and it was a gift from my wife.

Kidney Belt

About a year and a half ago, I ditched my zoombang. It had worked wonders for me for about 5 years, but through use and washing, several of the pads had exploded or just moved, and the maintenance was just too much to keep up on. Under the suggestion of my knight, I switched to a kidney belt. This is a piece that isn't strictly period for the Viking Age, but it was used by the Celts and we have some statue evidence for it. The term usually used for these thick belts was a warbelt. It is reasonable (although there is no proof) for a well-travelled Norseman to have worn a celtic piece of armour.

This is an example of needing some sort of chest armour, and the armour used in period doesn’t work for SCA combat. In period, an Ulfhednar would have worn no armour, and a wealthy Viking might have worn chainmail. This doesn’t meet the requirements for our combat, as we need rigid protection for the floating ribs and kidneys. Options that might have also been used by a Viking of this time period could be a leather breastplate, a kilbanion (Varangian Lamellar), or something similar. There just isn't very much evidence for rigid upper body armour at the time. For me, the warbelt is comfortable, easy to maintain, and keeps me from overheating in the Trimarian summers.

Gorget

There has been absolutely no change in my gorget since i started in the SCA. It’s nice, simple leather gorget with a snap closure. Gorgets aren't really period for 10c, but they are required for the SCA and not really visible under my helmet. This one was a gift from a friend and has served me really well.

Legs

When last I was blogging, I was using Valkyrie Forge knee cops, and some football pads for my legs. It worked all right, but made it a pain in the butt to armour down in the event that I wanted to do something else in the day. This came to a head at Gulf Wars 2018, when I decided I wanted to fight rapier and heavy: changing out of my heavy kit with the old legs would have taken too long, and wearing them while doing rapier would likely have caused me to miss blows. In swoops my lady wife to the rescue by gifting me a set of plastic articulated legs from Valkyrie Forge. The legs themselves work great; I have only had one minor issue with them, which is that sometimes when I take a blow the articulation blows through,

though it’s easily correctable with a blow in the other direction.

The real issue that I have had with the new armour is that when my wife bought them, she also bought a c-belt made of cotton (possibly canvas). The first belt we got, the buckle broke after the first day of use. The guys at the Valkyrie Forge tent were quick to replace it, but they had run out of belts in my size. They gave me a bigger one, and my wife made me some new holes in the belt so it would fit; it would’ve been a perfect solution if the belt didn't stretch so much once it got wet. I don't know if the stretching is unique to their design or if it's just an issue of fabric c-belts as a whole.

Arms

My purchase of one of my favourite pieces of armour, my Torvaldr bazubands, was entirely accidental. These things are absolutely amazing. Really nice craftsmanship and heavy-duty leather, so there is no way I am getting hurt through them.

Arm protection is another one of those grey areas for early period armour: we know that metal bazubands existed in the Middle East, and we know that the Varangians used splint legs and possibly arms. The issue is that if they had any sort of leather protection, none survived, and in our images of the time we don’t see any in the details. This leaves us to pick either things that are close in appearance or close in period. I think leather bazubands are a great middle ground. They don't blatantly look like metal armour which would be out of period, but they are sturdy enough to keep me fully safe.

Gauntlets

Those of you who have read my other blog posts know that I hate cup hilts: they don't fit in anyway, shape, or form with my persona. I also fight two axe in most tourneys, which means my gauntlets get a ton of use, though even my warshield is strapped to use a gauntlet when I am behind it, which makes it easier to switch between styles as needed.

When I first started out fighting, I had some leather gauntlets which had some issues with sizing and staying in place. At my first war, I switched over to some KISS gauntlets by Bokalo which have served me very well. I have considered painting them black so that they stand out less, but thus far I have seen no reason to. In pictures of my fighting, I don't think they are too bad. Let me know what you guys think down in the comments.

Now that you’ve seen my armour, let me know what you think! Show me your kits, I'd love to see what other people do to get around the minimal armour that Vikings in general and Ulfhednar in specific wore!

Women's Rights in the Viking Age

Over the last few weeks, women’s rights have been under attack from many different sides, and it goes beyond the abortion issue. It is the way that women are being treated when they are upset at their treatment. Now, I’m going to avoid being overly political in the blog, but I will say this much: I am an ally to equal rights for everyone. I have fought for it loudly and occasionally physically. I offer my assistance to anyone who needs aid in these issues. 

Very often, we see two conflicting ideas on the women’s rights movement: first, that women only started fighting for their rights recently. And second, that they have more rights now than ever before.

The first one is patently untrue; the idea of a woman fighting for her rights the world over has been happening since the first time someone else decided to take them from her. The second one is a little trickier; we are taught in school that prior to the coming of civilization and the age of enlightenment, women were second class citizens. That only through the hard work and the eventual permittance from the men in power, women have gained rights in Europe and the US. The truth is that the rights of women were taken away during the 11c and 12c, and it took 600 years for women to start to get them back. In this blog post, I’ll go over women’s rights as they relate to 10c Norse women. For obvious reasons, we will be

Lagertha from Vikings
Vikings may get some things wrong, but Lagertha
was a badass in the show and in history.

speaking about free women and not thralls, although I may do an entire blog post on the life of a thrall in the future.

For the purposes of this blog we are going to focus on three main areas of women’s rights: Body Autonomy, Property Rights, and Life Choices. Body autonomy will include how the Old Norse handled rape, and women’s rights to choose what happened with their own bodies. Property rights will be about what women were allowed to own, and what status they could claim independent of a man. When we get to Life Choices, we’ll discuss how much control women had over their own destiny in life through marital and career choices.

Body Autonomy

Rape
     In Europe during my time period, rape was considered a property crime because a woman was considered the property of her husband or father, which meant that the penalty for rape was repayment for the damage. In some cases, the victim would be forced to marry her assailant, a horrific situation for the woman as she must now serve the person who violated her. However in Iceland, rape and even attempted rape were considered among the most severe crimes, and were punished by being declared an outlaw, which is similar to exile and removed all the rights and protections of the violator. Being an outlaw removed a person’s right to hospitality and even their protections by law, a very dangerous position to be in. Even unwanted advances carried stiff penalties. In Kormak’s Saga, he is fined two ounces of gold and is nearly attacked for kissing a woman four times without her consent. 

Abortion
     This is a modern hot-button issue. In ancient times in Europe, the fetus wasn’t considered a person until it was born, so abortion was treated as an issue only if the mother had the abortion without the father being told. In more rural cultures such as the ancient Norse, children weren’t typically considered people until they were claimed and named. The practice of infanticide for weak or deformed children was still practiced. This practice, while utterly barbaric, was important at a time when there was no way to care for the child, or for the child to help out. In the harsh times of the 10c, a child would be helping around the farmstead as soon as it was old enough to, and anyone that couldn’t was in a rough spot. We also know that the methods of abortion were well known and practiced throughout these times. It seems from my research that the life of the mother was the primary concern, and secondary was whether the household was capable of sustaining another child. 

Sexuality
     Norse women in the Viking age are portrayed as all different kinds of stereotypes, from the sexy seductresses to the badass female warrior to the domestic soft spoken housewife. None of these take into account who women actually were and how they handled their love lives. Information on this is a bit vague, as the Sagas tended to leave the home lives out a little bit. We do know that women were “allowed” to want sex and were not considered sinful or bad if they did. In Gisla’s Saga, we see Asgerdr being refused entry into her husband’s bed until she threatens him with divorce. He was upset with her for having an affair, which shows even more open sexuality, but that’s just more proof on the pile that women had sex and were allowed to enjoy it. The interesting side of this is that in some of my research, I’ve

Sigrid Storrada
A good example of a woman in control.
She denied many suitors including
Olaf Oathbreaker

come across the thought that women couldn’t become pregnant unless they orgasmed. This means that non-reproductive sex might have been unsatisfying, but it also means that when they wanted children (which was more common) the women were well taken care of.

Property Rights

Property rights for women in the Viking age were a little tricky; we know they were allowed to own business and inherit, but they were limited in their ability to claim titles and certain positions within a community. Women also weren’t allowed to vote or attend the Allthing.

So, what were women allowed to own? The quick answer to that is that women controlled nearly all major decisions in regards to the finances of the home. They were also able to inherit a husband’s wealth and title. This, compiled with the fact that there were fewer women than men, gave women a fair amount of behind-the-scenes power, something you see often in the Sagas: women using their positions as the keyholders of the house, or out and out threatening divorce to get their men to do what they felt was necessary. While this isn't direct power, it’s better than in many cultures where women are expected to be seen and not heard.

There’s also evidence of women in the Viking Age owning and running their own businesses. This would give the woman a fair bit of financial independence. These businesses were typically in what were considered womanly crafts: fiber arts, pottery, weaving, and the like. More “manly” trades such as blacksmithing lack any evidence of a woman owning a business, but I would argue that with the laws of an inheritance, we could see a widow taking over a husband's business and being a farris. 

Life Choices

Career
     It seems that in the Viking age, most people lacked any real choice in career: you were

A grave that has had much contention, but
is now accepted to be a female warrior of
renown.

born into something, and with few exceptions this remained the case. One could go and test their luck in raids and battle to earn fortune and glory, but the opportunities were limited. This applied to both genders. Freemen and women had the opportunity to become apprentices and learn a trade, provided their parents supported them and could convince a craftsperson to take the child on.

Romance
     We see over and over again how much free reign women were given in matters of marriage. The ease of divorce and the fact that women were in the minority usually meant that a prospective bride had several choices when it came to choosing a suitor. We also know that unwanted advances were punished. All of this leads me to believe that, while the final say of a union was probably the choice of the father so that he could pick what was best for the family, only a foolish man would lock his daughter into an unhappy marriage. 

Conclusion

Overall l, we see that in many ways women in Viking Age Nordic lands had more rights than women on the mainland of Europe. In fact, more rights than women would have for many years to come. It wasn't perfect, since they had no direct political power, but they were not passive observers in the world around them. This is probably why we have so many strong female characters in the sagas; even the historians knew that they were not to be trifled with. Now, let me be clear: this was not unique to the Norse. The Celts also had their fair share of badass women, as did the Egyptians and the Greeks. My honest opinion is that

Freya by Irenhorror on Deviantart
Freya is the perfect example of a
strong female goddes. Goddess
of Sex, Love, Magic, and War.

cultures that have many deities, and have strong female deities among the pantheon, tend to have better rights for women. They view women as just a part of the society, as opposed to being property or worse. 

I am grateful for all the progress we have made as a society to once again acknowledge the strength and virtues that women add to our lives. Hopefully our current attitudes will catch up and surpass the ideas of our ancestors, who knew that any strong arm could hold a shield regardless of gender.

As always, opinions and discussion are welcome. Do you have additional sources that add or subtract from this? And as always, follow to get notified every time I post!





Bibliography
Icelander in the Viking Age: People of the Sagas - William R Short
Viking Answer Lady
Heimskringla
Poetic Eddas

Norse Household in the SCA - Part 2- Traditions

The Norse people in the 10c had a rich culture based on community and interactions with those around them. This ranged from their in-depth law system to traditions of hospitality and gift giving. No good Norse household would be complete without their own traditions and ways of doing things. Welcome to the second part of my blog on a Norse household based on the 10c!

Before we dive fully into the specifics of what I would see as important things for a house to do together, let’s discuss things that were important for this culture during this time period. The first of these I’ll discuss is boasting. Throughout the Sagas and in Hollywood, you see the Norse portrayed as braggadocious, exaggerating their deeds. While this is mostly true, the difference is where it came from. The boast wasn't just a place for someone to say how amazing they were, it was a way to entertain the listeners and to tell the tale of who the speaker was. There was also a second kind of boasting, one where a speaker would say what they are going to do! Now this actually isn't unique to the Norse; we know that certain tribes of American Indians on the eve before battle would boast about what deeds they would accomplish the next day. The raucous boasts, both of past deeds and of future glories, are a way to bond with others. In a warriors group, or in a community that is self contained, that sort of bonding is crucial and forms a sense of common interest and connection to the others when things are tough. It is my opinion that these types of connections, as much as the laws, is what made communities function as well as they did.

When connection and laws weren't enough to keep the wheels of a community turning smoothly, there were meetings which were called Things. Every year, there was an Allthing where all important matters were discussed. The Allthing was also important because it was a place for grievances to be aired and addressed before they got out of hand. This open

Curedale Hoard in the British Museum. Contains examples
of gifts and armbands.

handling of grievances between parties helped keep issues from escalating. It wasn't always successful, as blood feuds and vengeance were not uncommon during the Viking Age. Beyond all these gubernatorial functions of the Allthing, it was also where people swore their oaths to the Jarl or Hersir that presided over the Allthing. It was a time to renew the bonds of fealty that kept all the separate families together. Typically, these oaths were met with gifts from the person receiving the oath to show their appreciation, and to give the person making the oath something of tangible value for their service. This brings us into the tradition of gift giving, Norse culture, from what I have been able to read, was very much into gift giving. This played into the idea of hospitality, but it was also a subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) way to show off how much a person had. If they could afford a gift, they obviously had plenty. This sort of ties into the boasting attitude that the Norse were known for. It gives them a chance to show off, but also put their money where their mouth is, which are the greatest boasts.

Now, how does this all translate into an SCA household? We clearly aren't Northmen and women living in the wilds of Scandinavia without modern conveniences. We all have lives to go on about, and things that we need to do when not at events and interacting with our households. These traditions would be built into an SCA household in the way events are handled, practices are held, and new members are chosen. Things like hospitality and largess would be integral to the behavior of this kind of household at events. Members would be sworn in at Allthings, and grievances and decisions made clear at the same meetings.

Sjorup Runestone in Scania, Sweden
it is often associated with the Jomsvikings

First, I’ll discuss new member joinings and oaths of fealty. One of the very first pieces of advice that I was given when I first became active in the SCA was “Don't join a house until you have been active at least a year, this way you have the chance to meet several and see which one fits.” It was always followed by “If someone doesn't want to train you or teach you something until you are in their household, it probably isn't a great household.” I personally believe that we are an educational society, and as such we should teach everyone regardless of fealty. That being said, if a person came and wanted to join this household before they had been in a year, they would be given the same advice with the added statement: “You are welcome to train with us and camp with us as you get a feel for the SCA.” Once they’ve passed their year within the SCA, they would be free to petition to join the house proper. The first step would be a probationary period: during this time, they haven’t yet sworn fealty to the house, but they are being taught what it means to be a house member in full, the traditions of the house, and what is expected of its members. In this, I would take a lesson from the Jomsvikings, a group of near legendary mercenaries during the 10th and 11th centuries. They had a clear code of behavior that laid out what was expected of applicants, new recruits, and members. For added flavour, I would wrap the expectations in the Nine Noble Virtues.

Courage- Courage is as much steel in one’s heart during battle as it is speaking out for what is right. We can not allow fear to keep us from doing what is right.

Truth- A person is only as good as his word. When we speak to deceive, we lessen ourselves and make ourselves unreliable to others.

Honour- We fight and live with honour, or not at all. Better to lose a battle or tourney than cheat, better always to be known for being honourable than any other skill.

Fidelity- The household is our chosen family, protect the family and it will protect you. 

Discipline- Only through discipline can we reach our goals. Practice what you wish to master often and the path moves quickly.

Hospitality- Our camp is open to others, welcome them in, offer a drink, make sure that they have what they need.

Self Reliance- A person who can't swim on their own drowns those who try to save them. Carry your own weight so that all can be stronger.

Industriousness- We are a Society that thrives on the service of others. If no one volunteers, then we have no events, no battles, and nowhere to have fun. Service brings us all together.

Perseverance- Regardless of your path, you will fail more times than you succeed. Overcoming failures gives us the strength to succeed and teaches us the path forward.

Now these are nice and poetic, but vague. The concrete requirements would be somewhat more simple. Fighters of the house would be required to be in armour at least once a month (with understanding that life finds a way to mess things up), and fight at any event that they attend where they can. Artisans of the house would be required to actively work on their art; this might be highly subjective depending on the area of study and complexity of projects, but to me two projects a year seems like a reasonable requirement. It would also be beneficial f they entered Art/Sci or sought out input from other Laurels to make sure their growth is well rounded. 

A petitioner to the house would be a probationary member for at least 6 months, more often a year. The period would be shorter for people who camped with the house during their first year. At the end of the probationary period, all full members of the house would be allowed to state their opinions of the candidate and vote. Any vote negative vote means the candidate can not end their probationary period at that time with full membership; depending on the reason for the no, the relationship ends or the probation continues. Once the petitioner has been approved they become either a Drengr or Ambatt, depending on their path. They would then swear their fealty to the house at the Allthing before all other members of the house. 

Once a person becomes a full member, they might want to gain rank within the house. This is not accomplished by a checklist, but rather a matter of the ranking members of the house seeing the growth of the member and deciding they are ready for more responsibility, and testing them as they grow. When it becomes clear they are have shown themselves capable of the new rank, they will be recognized with it at the next Allthing.  This could vary from being given an associate’s belt to being given the freedom to take on subordinates of their own. 

Armrings of this type could be used as more a period
 appropriate substitute for squire or knight chains.
This one is made by Grimfrost.com

All right, let's discuss my opinion of how an SCA Allthing would work. I would honestly split the two most important aspects of the Allthing into: the airing of grievances and handling of house issues, and the swearing of oaths. The reason for the split is that, for me, the oaths should be at an event where everyone is in garb and the mundane world has faded away. In a perfect world, I could see it done at war, followed by feasting and boasting on the first night of war so that everyone knows that the people there have once again reaffirmed the bonds of the household. It would also give the household something to celebrate in the feast, which would allow people to boast about what deeds they would accomplish during the rest of war. Honestly, what could be better than that? The airing of grievances and handling of house business could be conducted at a get-together that is not at an event. This would prevent souring an event with such heaviness, and keep it a private thing for members of the house.

Now obviously, traditions within a household grow organically, and would be added to with time. They would depend on the personalities of the house leaders, the people who join, and what’s best for the house. These are just the ideas I’ve formulated as I read things. Thanks so much for reading, and if you have questions I might return to the topic and do sort of FAQ blog in a month or two when I have gathered enough to make it interesting. As always let me know what you thought of everything, follow, and subscribe so you don't miss out on future posts!

Norse Household in the SCA - Part 1: Organization

++Disclaimer++

This article is not telling anyone how to run their house. I am not claiming to be an expert on how things were done in period or how they are done in the SCA. I myself am not of sufficient rank to have a household of my own. This is an attempt by me to find a way to organize a household in a manner that would fit my persona, while interacting within the confines of the SCA. Some titles have been changed to fit within that framework. If you have ideas on how I can improve this layout, feel free to comment down below.

Introduction

One of the interesting aspects of the SCA in general, and Trimaris in specific, is the prevalence of unofficial groups called households. Oftentimes, these groups are banded together under a Peer of some nature and are comprised of their students and associates. There are an innumerable amount of ways that these households are organized and presented. We have everything from groups of friends who camp together to strict military units. Sometimes they have a joint theme, like a company of crusaders or actors, and sometimes they are just people who enjoy each other’s company. 

As you know, my persona is from the 10th C and is a Kievan Rus of Nordic descent. That being said, the hypothetical household that I am presenting here will be focused on a small clan led by a raider and his wife. To represent this, the house is split in half: the combatants and the non combatants. This is not to say that people can’t have interests that straddle the line, it's just easier to organize it in this fashion.

The Hersir

In the 10c

As the Viking age was starting to draw to a close, the freedom of individuals and minor landowners began to fade. Kings began to claim large areas of land and subjugate the people who had dwelled freely upon them. Those living in the Nordic lands at the time had two choices: join the king, or band together to fight the king. The Hersir on which I am basing my research and the SCA household would have been against the king.This sort of community in the 10c would have been comprised of a small town with some sort of minor fortifications, and then outlying family homes and compounds. We see here almost a sort of fealty in which minor landowners owe allegiance to a more powerful landowner. Unlike traditional fealty, I haven't found any evidence to say that the Thegns and Freemen of the area were beholden to the Hersir in anything except defense. 

Warriors during this time would often have two occupations: viking, and whatever they did during the non-raiding season. During the raiding season, this also meant that the township was run by those who stayed behind. This was not necessarily based on gender, as in recent years we have found more proof to show that women in the Viking Age were also formidable warriors. We also know that not every man was a member of the raiding teams. 

From my current understanding, position on the raiding teams was determined by favour with the Hersir and skill as a warrior. There were only so many spots on the vessels. 

Those that stayed behind had the twofold responsibility of maintaining the town as well as defending it in the event of any issues. This traveling is one of the reasons, I imagine, that

Living Viking Town at Fotevikens

Norse women has so much control over the house. They handled the finances and ran the day to day activity of the home. This was so much the case that one of the main symbols of the lady of the house, and Frigga goddess of the hearth, was a set of keys. 

As there was no true formal army until after the start of the 11c in the Nordic lands, ranking for the army is difficult to determine. My research has shown that more than anything, it was determined by the amount of warriors you could bring to a battle, and that was determined by your family and landholdings. A Hersir, in addition to being a landowner, could muster around 100 troops. 

Since the SCA functions as a much more formal —if voluntary— army, I have chosen to use ranks that are slightly out of period to represent the positions within the household. 

SCA Organization

Ranks 

Vikingar

Jarl or Hersir or Drott: Leader of the House (Knight and possibly Royal Peer)
Thegn: Squire to the Jarl who has been given permission to take his own Men at Arms
Huskarl: Men at Arms in the Ætt of the Thegn 
Lindmaer: Shield Maidens, Female Men at arms of the Thegn
Heimþegar: Squire to the Jarl who has not yet been given permission to take their own Men at Arms. Non-Gender Specific
Drengir (sg Drengr): Men at Arms to the Jarl, Non-Gender Specific

Innangardar

Greifynja or Forstander: Leader of the House (Peer and possibly Royal Peer)
Husfreya: Associate of the Greifynja, who is allowed to take their own students; male equivalent: Husfreyr. 
Nemandi: Student of the Husfreya, Non-Gender Specific
Nemi: Associate of the Greifynja who has not been given the right to take their own students. Non-Gender Specific.
Ambatt: Handmaiden of the Greifynja; male equivalent: Skossveinn. 

Other

Karl, Maer: Someone who is petitioning the house but has not yet sworn in.
Husmadr, Huskona: Someone who is associated with the house through a serious relationship with a house member.

Concept

In general, both branches of the house are organized in a similar fashion: the Peer and their associates laid out in a pyramid structure, with senior associates having students of their own. This structure allows associates to showcase their Peer Like Qualities (PLQs), which lets the leaders of the house get a better idea of how ready they are to be Peers in their own right. 

I’ll not get into tactics and whatnot for the viking side of the house, as that will be a future post for when my ideas are actually being put to the test! For now, here’s an idea as to how the house would interact and do things at events.

Vikingar

The viking side of the house would be laid out in a military fashion. The Drengir would be the footsoldiers of the house, with Heimþegar leading them in the Jarl’s name. The Thegns would lead their Huskarls and Lindmaer all under the leadership of the Jarl directly. This setup would also allow training to be more localized in the event that the household is spread across the Kingdom. 

Innangardr

For this side of the house, since it is based on the other peerages, it is best that relationships are mostly one-on-one or small groups. The pyramid structure allows for few students learning from a master of a given craft. It also allows the group to split large household projects up easily, for example improving the period presence of the household, or perhaps running an event as a household.


I hope you have found this exercise in research and hypothetical useful. This will be the first part of a series of posts on the topic. The next one will cover traditions like the Allthing and handling of disputes. If you already have a Norse household, or have ideas on how to do it let us know down in the comments. We would love to hear other ways to get it done and how it works for others. 

Dictionary

Jarl: In period, this was the rank below the King. In countries such as Norway, there was typically only one Jarl. The earliest use I could find was the 10c, but the etymology of the word seems to date to Roman times. In the SCA, Jarl is the equivalent of a Count.
Hersir: In period, Hersir were landowners and raid leaders that would normally command around 100 warriors. In the SCA this is the equivalent of a Baron or Baroness.
Drott: In period, the leader of a Drottin (warband) of no more than 35 warriors. In the SCA, there is no direct equivalent, but this is the title I feel is closest to Knight. The SCA list of alternate titles has a version of this to be used for Lord, but it seems that a Drott was a commander and leader, whereas an SCA lord is only beginning on his path.
Thegn: Thegn was a title used to distinguish the highest-ranking servants of the Jarl. The word itself means literally “one who serves”. For the purposes of this organization, I think thegn is the perfect title for those squires in the household who have proven themselves worthy of having their own Men at Arm, which we will call Hurkalrs.
Huskarl: Huskarl, or Houseman, is one of the terms most commonly associated with Norse ranks, used to describe the closest servants to the Drott. The Huskarls were freemen who served under a commander willingly. In this house, they are the men who swear loyalty to the house and serve under a thegn.
Heimþegar: In period, heimþegar seems to be a title very close to huskarl. It means “those who receive gifts”. Norse lords were well known for their generosity with the men that serve them, and so those who were known for receiving gifts were their men. In this house, the heimþegar would be the squires who have not yet earned the right to have their own men. Respected men in their own right, but not yet leaders.
Drengir (sg Drengr): Drengr was a term used in period to signify warrior, or member of a ship's crew. It is the lowest rank within a Drottin. It means literally warrior
Greifynja: Many of the SCA alternate titles involve calling a woman “wife of”, “daughter of”, or similar. I decided to go with Greifynja because it’s a title that means Countess, but doesn’t automatically mean Wife of a Count. I am looking for better options, ideally something that shows that the Lady of the House is a force in her own right.
Forstander: I find this title to be close to Mistress or Master. It means principle, as in of first standing.
Husfreya: Husfreya literally translates to Housewoman. I liked the inclusion of the goddess Freya in the title to show that it is a woman of esteem. 
Nemandi: word meaning “Student” from modern Icelandic
Nemi: word meaning “Trainee” from modern Icelandic
Ambatt: This is a term that is used for either a female thrall or a handmaid in period. I am using the context of handmaiden as in lady in waiting.
Maer, Karl: Maiden or Man
Husmadr, Huskona: Literally househusband or housewife. 
Aett: Family or household
Innangardr: Often, this term is used in period and among Asatruar to mean people within your circle. It literally translates to “person within the town” or townsfolk.