Iceland's Bell (44 page)

18

At one place in Almannagjá the Öxará River turns back upon itself as if in consternation, then breaks crosswise out of the ravine. There it forms the great women’s pool, Drekkingarhylur, and a little further out there is a footpath up between the sheer cliff walls.

Sitting below the footpath upon a grassy patch near the pool were several criminals, rubbing the sleep from their eyes in the morning sun. Nothing stirred in the aristocrats’ booths, but on the plain to the east black horses were being driven toward the bishop’s booth. A man wearing a Danish jacket and a hat, his boots hanging over his shoulder, comes up over the low ravine-slope from the south and is greeted by the sight of the morning sun shining down on the drowsy criminals alongside Drekkingarhylur.

Their eyes open wide. “Can I believe my eyes? Is it really Jón Hreggviðsson come home from the king? With a new hat? And wearing a jacket?”

He had arrived in Eyrarbakki the day before, and when he heard that there was only one day left in the assembly at Öxará he had someone in Flói make him some shoes, then he slung his boots over his shoulder and walked all night.

It seemed to him that his old friends’ luck, if it could be called that, had taken a turn for the worse, since the lawbreakers now had to lie around under the open sky. Years ago, when he had spent a night here just like them, the king had lodged him in a tent imprinted with the crown and the king’s servants had brought him tea.

But they weren’t complaining. The Lord had been as merciful to them now as always. Sentences had been passed at the Alþingi yesterday. The new madam at Skálholt, the wedded wife of the bishop-elect Sigurður Sveinsson and daughter of our dear departed magistrate, had during the previous summer inveigled royal permission to have her father’s case retried before Iceland’s high court: yesterday Beyer, the regent at Bessastaðir, was convicted along with the vice-magistrate and twenty-four other authorities involved in the case. The departed magistrate Eydalín was acquitted of all charges brought against him by the royal envoy Arnæus and the deceased’s name was exonerated. His estates, amongst them the sixty farms that the king had seized, were restored to him and thereby made the lawful inheritance of Snæfríður, the bishop’s wife. The so-called Commissarial Verdict in the case against the magistrate was declared null and void, and the commissary himself, Arnas Arnæus, was ordered to pay pecuniary penalties to the crown for his violence toward and desecration of the law. Most of the people acquitted by Arnæus were once again convicted by the high court, excluding Jón Hreggviðsson, who had been granted beneficium paupertatis* to appeal his case before the Supreme Court in Denmark. Eydalín’s judgments in the so-called execrable cases, which the commissary had annulled, were either reinstated or pronounced unfit for hearing by any worldly court, amongst them the case of the pregnant woman who had sworn that she was a virgin: such cases were left to the spirits to pursue. The only other verdicts annulled were the ones that the blessed magistrate had pronounced in cases that in reality lay beyond the bounds of his jurisdiction.

“God be praised that a man has someone to look up to again,” said the old sorrow-bitten criminal who several years ago had lamented seeing dragged before the court some of the good bailiffs who’d ordered him flogged.

The saint who’d stolen from the poor box said:

“No man is blessed but the one who has served his sentence—”

“—and the one who’s recovered his criminality,” said the man who’d been deprived of his criminality for some time.

This man had been a criminal for ten years before the authorities ruled that it was an entirely different woman and an entirely different man who had had the child that his sister had been drowned in the pool for having had with him. Up until then everyone had given him alms. But after he was acquitted of the crime he was scorned throughout all of Iceland. Not one person ever threw him a single bite of fish. People sicked their dogs on him. Now the case had been retried before a new judge: he had unquestionably committed this hideous crime and was once again a true lawbreaker before God and man.

“Now I know that no one in Iceland will laugh at me any longer,” he said. “The dogs won’t be sicked on me, and they’ll throw me bits of codfish. God be praised.”

The blind criminal who’d been sitting silently on the outskirts of the group now spoke up like the others: “Our crime is that we’re not men even though we’re called men. What does Jón Hreggviðsson say?”

“Nothing except that I plan to walk over Leggjabrjótur today, home,” he said. “When I came home from my first trip my daughter was lying on her bier. The daughter who was standing in the doorway when I left for my latest trip might still be alive. Maybe she’s had a son who’ll tell her grandson the story of their grandsire Jón Hreggviðsson from Rein and his friend and lord, Master Arnas Arnæus.”

Now the sound of hoofbeats came from beyond the eastern wall of the ravine, and when the criminals walked out through the rocks they saw a man and a woman riding in a great group of horses and attendants along the earthen pathways over the plain toward Kaldidalur, the boundary between the country’s quarters. They were both darkly clad and all of their horses were black.

“Who’s that riding by?” asked the blind man.

They answered: “Snæfríður Iceland’s sun rides in black; as does her husband Sigurður Sveinsson the Latin poet, bishop-elect in Skálholt. They’re on their way west to appraise her inheritance, which she recovered from the king.”

And the criminals stood beneath the cliffs and watched the bishop and his lady ride by; and the dew-drenched, black-maned horses glistened in the dawn of the day.

NOTES

The events of the novel take place during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, at a time when Iceland was severely oppressed by famine, plague, and the Danish monopoly on trade. Most of the characters in the novel, including officials, criminals, scholars, and farmers, are based on actual historical figures. The farmer Jón Hreggviðsson lived at Efri-Reynir on Akranes and undertook almost the same sort of difficulties as described in the novel in order to clear himself of the charge of murdering the king’s hangman (the flogging described here took place in 1683, and he was finally acquitted of the murder charge in 1715). Arnas Arnæus is based on the great scholar and book collector Árni Magnússon (b. 1663); the manuscripts that he collected are stored now at institutes bearing his name in Copenhagen and Reykjavík. Snæfríður Björnsdóttir Eydalín is loosely based on a woman named Þórdís Jónsdóttir, the sister of the wife (Sigríður Jónsdóttir) of the bishop of Skálholt (Jón Vídalín), and the wife of the historical Magnús Sigurðsson from Bræðratunga. The supposed affair between Árni Magnússon and Þórdís Jónsdóttir became the grounds for extensive legal wrangling between Árni and Magnús, similar to how this legal case is described in the novel. The characters whom Jón Hreggviðsson meets in Copenhagen, Jón Grindvicensis and Jón Marteinsson, are based, respectively, on Jón Guðmundsson from Grunnavík and on two or three other individuals who worked for Árni Magnússon (including one actually named Jón Marteinsson). The Great Fire in Copenhagen occurred in 1728, and while it is realized now that the damage to Árni Magnússon’s collection was not nearly as extensive as first thought, it was a tragic blow to him and precipitated his death in 1730.

There were two “official” languages in Iceland during the time when the events of this novel took place: Danish and Latin, used respectively for secular and ecclesiastical affairs. Learned Icelanders often interspersed their own Icelandic with words or phrases from these two languages, as can be seen in historical documents from the time period (such as Árni Magnússon’s letters). Laxness occasionally mirrors this linguistic potpourri in
Iceland’s Bell,
sprinkling people’s speech with Latin words and phrases where appropriate, or using or having certain speakers use different forms of proper or place names, such as Danish Joen Joensen for Icelandic Jón Jónsson, Icelandic Jes Ló for Danish Jens Loy, Danish Sívert Snorresen (with an Icelandic diacritical í) for Sigurður Snorrason, Danish Bessested for Icelandic Bessastaðir. Similarly, when Jón Hreggviðsson travels throughout northern Europe, he encounters both a wide variety of languages and people who can speak a wide variety of languages, and his own name is occasionally transformed by various speakers ( Joen Regvidsen for example). The various forms of names have not been specifically noted, but the reader should be aware that the spelling variants are intentional.

p. 3
Þingvellir: The site of the Alþingi, the general assembly that was held for two weeks in June throughout most of Iceland’s history (it was held for the last time at Þingvellir in 1798; after being held in Reykjavík in 1799 and 1800 it was abandoned, until it was reconvened in Reykjavík starting in 1845). Lawsuits were settled and laws enacted beneath the cliffs of Almannagjá, a dramatic ravine formed by the separation of tectonic plates. Öxará is a river that runs partly through Almannagjá and empties into Þingvallavatn, Þingvellir Lake. The area around Þingvellir, to the north and east, was in older days given the name Bláskógar, from the birchwood copse growing there (
skógur
meaning “copse” or “forest”); in the novel Magistrate Eydalín says that the copse bears the name Bláskógar or Bláskógaheiði, and on maps Bláskógaheiði is the extensive heath running northward from Þingvellir, on the western side of Ármannsfell, toward the passes Uxahryggir and Kaldidalur. Peaks that can be seen from Þingvellir include Ármannsfell, Hrafnabjörg, Súlur or Botnssúlur, Skjaldbreiður, and Hengill.

At the time that this story takes place, the king of Denmark had absolute power over Iceland (absolute monarchy was established in 1662 by Frederik III, who reigned 1648–1670; Christian V was king from 1670–1699, and Frederik IV from 1699–1730). Iceland’s government was controlled by the Danish
Rentekammer
(Ministry of Finance) and the
Kancelli
(Chancery). Answering to these ministries was the stiftamtmaður, the highest governmental authority in Iceland (the post was actually established in 1684); following him, in descending order of executive power, were the amtmaður (established in 1688), the
landfógeti
(established 1683), the
sýslumenn,
umboðsmenn sýslumanna,
and
hreppstjórar
. In
Iceland’s Bell,
Gyldenløve performs the function of the stiftamtmaður, although he is called lénsherra,
landstjóri,
or
gouverneur;
thus his title has been translated as “governor.” Laxness refers to the character Páll Beyer variously as
landfógeti
and amtmaður (combining the two separate offices), and as he reports directly to Gyldenløve, or acts as Gyldenløve’s representative in the governor’s absence (he is also called at times the umboðsmaður lénsherrans, or “governor’s representative”), both landfógeti and amtmaður have been translated as “regent.” The
sýslumenn
are district authorities who have executive and judicial authority; these are rendered as “bailiffs.”
Umboðsmenn sýslumanna,
or representatives of the bailiffs, are not really seen in this novel; mention is made, however, of
hreppstjórar,
the authorities of
hreppar,
or parishes; this term is translated as “parish administrators.”

The
Kancelli
was in charge of the ecclesiastical government of Iceland; in the latter part of the seventeenth century Iceland’s highest ecclesiastical authorities, the bishops of Skálholt and Hólar, answered to the bishop of Sjaelland in Denmark. Below the bishops on the hierarchical ladder in Iceland were the
prófastar
(deans) and then
prestar
(priests); Reverend Sigurður Sveinsson occupies a somewhat unique position in this novel as the
dómkirkjuprestur,
or archpriest (literally, “cathedral priest”), the assistant to the bishop.

The legislative and judicial branches of Iceland’s government also answered directly to the king of Denmark; the main legislative assembly in Iceland was the Alþingi, with eighty-four representatives, thirty-six of them serving in the
lögrétta
, or judiciary body. The highest native Icelandic legislative and judicial authority was the lögmaður, literally “lawman”; in Iceland’s Bell the lögmaður is shown primarily in his role as a judge, and he has been given the exclusive title “magistrate.” Two men could hold the office of lögmaður at this time and Arnæus mentions that the “second magistrate’s office was not filled,” although later he appoints a second lögmaður to help him judge Magistrate Eydalín; this office is called by Laxness vísilögmaður or “vice-magistrate.” The highest court in Iceland, which was subordinate to the Danish Supreme Court (
hæstiréttur
), was the
yfirdómur
(translated as Iceland’s “high court”), consisting of twenty-four
lögréttumenn
(“legislators” or “jurists”) and under the control of the amtmaður. After this was the lög
mannsdómur
(magistrate’s court), consisting of six, twelve, or twenty-four lögréttumenn chosen by the lögmaður, and then the héraðsdómur (district court), with dómsmenn (judges) appointed by the sýslumaður (bailiff). Jón Hreggviðsson’s case obviously goes through all of these courts, beginning with district court and ending up in the Supreme Court in Denmark.

In 1602 the king of Denmark established a monopoly over trade in Iceland. In 1620 the Iceland trade company (
Det Islandske Kompagni,
called in the novel “Compagniet” and translated “the Company”) was set up and given the opportunity to pay rents to do business in Iceland. In 1662 Iceland was divided into four commercial districts, and the number of these districts was increased in 1684. Each district was controlled by a Danish kaupmaður, translated here as “merchant.” The value of goods and the taxes imposed on them fluctuated during the seventeenth century; prior to 1684 merchants had to pay a high tax on Icelandic wool and other domestic products but not on fish, and had to sell grain for a price less than could be made elsewhere; hence the Icelanders could sell little and there was little grain to be bought. After 1684 taxes on goods imported into Iceland were raised and on domestic goods for export lowered (as is mentioned in the novel), which was another policy that provided no benefit to the Icelanders. Further harmful policies at this time included laws preventing the Icelanders from trading with foreigners other than the Danes (such as the Dutch or English), as well as from doing any commercial business outside of their own district; examples of these various prohibitions are found in the novel.

p. 4
Gunnar of Hlíðarendi is one of the heroes of
Njáls saga
(also known as
Brennu-Njáls saga
), which is considered by many to be the greatest of the medieval Icelandic sagas. Gunnar was regarded as the peerless hero of his age; he is renowned for his prowess and elegance, as well as for his dramatic death.

p. 4
Bessastaðir, just south of Reykjavík, was the site of the Danish headquarters in Iceland, and is the current residence of the president of Iceland. The Þrælakista was a workhouse for criminals.

p. 5
Hólmship: A ship that sailed to and from the trading station of Hólmur (Hólmurinn), which was set up at Reykjavík.

p. 6
There was no farm named Fíflavellir in the Þingvellir area listed in the Icelandic census of 1703, though apparently there was a farm of that name, near Skjaldbreiður, at an earlier time.

p. 6
The
Elder Ballad of Pontus:
Beginning in the fourteenth century, balladry, the composition and singing of heroic or romantic epic poems, was the most popular literary form in Iceland. Icelandic ballads were characterized by the use of intricate language and complex meters. The
Ballad of Pontus
(Icelandic
Pontusrímur
) was composed in the sixteenth century by Magnús prúði (“the Courteous”), with additions by the legislator Pétur Einarsson and Reverend Ólafur Halldórsson. The ballad is based on the fourteenth-century French romantic epic
Ponthus et la belle Sidoine.
In this epic (which is derived from the older Anglo-Norman poem
Horn et Rimenhild
), King Thibour of Galicia is defeated by a sultan’s son, but Thibour’s son Ponthus, along with other noblemen’s children, are sent into hiding in Brittany. Ponthus grows up at the court of the king of Brittany and falls in love with the king’s daughter, Sidoine, but in order to win her hand, and recover his kingdom in Galicia, he must undergo a number of dangerous adventures. The
Elder Ballad of Pontus
referred to in
Iceland’s Bell
is a creation of Laxness: Jón Hreggviðsson is inspired by the heroic Pontus, but the verses he sings are taken mostly, and anachronistically, from other nineteenth-century ballads.

p. 6
Axlar-Björn is an infamous Icelandic criminal who lived at Öxl on Snæfellsnes. He killed eighteen people, mostly travelers to whom he had granted hospitality, and sunk their bodies in a pond near his homefield; he was executed in 1596.

p. 8
The westernmost point on the Akranes peninsula, where the town of Akranes is now located, had the old name of Skagi (later changed to Skipaskagi). Modern residents of Akranes are often called “Skagamenn” (people from Skagi). In
Iceland’s Bell
Akranes and Skagi, as well as the name of Jón Hreggviðsson’s farm, Rein, are used interchangeably as the names of Jón Hreggviðsson’s home. When Laxness writes of Jón Hreggviðsson going “out to Skagi” he means the farmer goes west from his farm toward the headland.

p. 8
The “six-cow inventory” (in Icelandic,
sex kvígildi
) is a term for the value of the farm. The farm that Jón Hreggviðsson inherits comes with chattel to the value of six cows, that is, either six cows or thirty-six sheep, or a combination of both.

p. 8
Skálholt (in southern Iceland), where much of the action of the novel takes place (especially in the second part), is the site of the episcopal see in Iceland, established in 1056 by Iceland’s first bishop, Ísleifur Gizurarson. A second episcopal see was established at Hólar in the north in 1106 by Ísleifur’s son Gizurr.

p. 10
Rixdollar (Danish
rigsdaler
): A type of Danish silver currency.

p. 12
Wadmal (Icelandic vaðmál): Thick, woolen homespun cloth (used as payment in Scandinavian countries before coined gold and silver came into use).

p. 13
Brennivín: A distilled spirit flavored with angelica root or caraway seeds.

p. 18
Beneficium (Latin): Assistance.

p. 19
Njáll Þorgeirsson is the eponymous hero of
Njáls saga.
He was a great lawyer and, according to the saga, tried everything he could to maintain peace in Iceland, though in the year 1011 he was finally burned alive in his own home along with his family.

p. 19
The
Graduale
is a book of plainsong that gives the words and music to the parts of the mass sung by the choir. The
Kross School Hymns
were actually composed by Reverend Jón Einarsson in the late seventeenth century. The character of Reverend Halldór from Presthólar is also based upon the well-known psalmist Reverend Sigurður Jónsson of Presthólar (1590–1661).

p. 20
Örvar-Oddur is the eponymous hero of
Örvar-Odds saga
(
Arrow-Oddur’s saga
), one of the so-called legendary sagas (in Icelandic,
fornaldarsögur;
these are mainly fantastical tales composed during the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries). He traveled widely, battling with giants and sorcerers, and did indeed live to be three hundred years old. Haraldur
hilditönn
(Danish
hildetand,
“Battletooth”) was a semi-legendary eighth-century Danish king who was purportedly killed by the god Óðinn at the Battle of Bråvalla; for the story, see for instance the
Gesta Danorum
of Saxo Grammaticus (ca. 1150–ca. 1220).