Oaths and Oath-Taking

There is perhaps no act with as many vital implications to the practitioner of Théodism as the taking of oaths (ON eiðar). If there is one central tenet of the faith, it is that oaths are sacrosanct in a way that transcends modern understanding. Should an oath be foresworn at a later date, one can be sure that the wrath of the Gods will be visited upon the oath-breaker either in this world or the next, and the wrath of the community should fall upon him in this one without fail.

More to the point, when an oath is sworn, one is actually and actively influencing the very fabric of the universe. By swearing a formal oath, ones words are being cast into the well of wyrd, and the skein of the universe is altered with the expectation that the words so oathed will take place. It is possible that they will not, either through the conscious decision of the oath-taker or through simple failure of the attempt to bring the oath to fruition. But the universe (specifically through the agency of the Norns who weave the threads of fate and thereby literally produce the present) resists such; oaths are the most basic form of magic, an effort to influence the world according to our own desires. Oaths do, however, require our active and often single-minded attention to come to fulfillment.

The most formal sort of oath is sworn at thing (a formal gathering held as a sort of council and law-court), but they could also be taken at a hof (temple) or sumbel, and oaths could of course be sworn at any occasion, and with a variety of wordings. In many instances, the exact wording of the oath is preserved for us:

"A ring, weighing twenty aurar or more, was to lie in every head temple on the altar, and every goði was to wear it on his arm at all law-things which he should hold himself, and to redden it in the blood of the cattle which he himself sacrificed there. Every man who had to perform legal duties there had first to take an oath on this ring and name two or more witnesses, and say; ‘I call to witness that I take oath on the ring, a lawful oath, so help me Frey and Njörd, and the Almighty Ás, to defend or prosecute this case, or give the evidence, verdict, or judgment which I know to be most true and right and lawful, and to perform everything as prescribed by law which I have to perform while I am at this thing.’" (Landnámabok IV, 7)

The wording itself was important in the swearing of an oath, but even new formulations are acceptable as long as the basic elements are included:

"The man who was to take a temple oath held in his hand a silver ring which had been reddened in the blood of the bull which had been sacrificed, and it must weigh not less than three aurar. Then Glum said these words; ‘I call Ásgrim and Gizor as witnesses that I take a temple-oath on the ring, and I tell the Æsir that I was not there, and I fought not there, and I did not redden point and edge where Thorvald Krok was slain; now let those who are wise and are present here look to my oath.’ The others could not find fault, and said they had not heard this wording before." (Víga-Glum’s Saga 25)

Often a number of objects, which are traditionally associated with trust, steadfastness, regularity, and trustworthiness, are invoked in the formula of an oath:

"First thou shalt to me swear all oaths at the ship’s side, and at the ship’s edge, at the horse’s foot, and at the sword’s edge, that you did not kill the wife of Völund nor put to death my bride." (Völundarkvida 33)

"Go it thus with you, Atli, as you to Gunnar often did swear oaths and name them of yore. By the south-slanting sun, by the rock of Sigty, by the horse of the bed of rest, by the ring of UllR." (Atlakvida 30)

Note in this last example that it is the God Ull (whom Saxo Grammaticus tells us once took the place of Odin as chief of the Gods for a time) who is said to possess a ring upon which oaths were sworn. Thus his connection with the swearing of oaths, and by extrapolation possibly a role as oath-witness for the rest of the Gods, is seen.

The establishment of a frithstead (that is, a place where peace is declared between all parties, no matter what their grievances with one another), such as was established at the Icelandic Althing, is accomplished through a special class of oath, taken by the host of the gathering and binding on the participants:

[Hafr, who was hosting the gathering, said,] "‘Here I establish peace among all men, especially with regard to this man named Gest [actually the outlawed Gretti in disguise], who sits here; and I include all godordsmenn and good boendr, and the whole mass of men able to fight, and all other heradsmenn of the Hegranesthing district, or wherefrom any may have come with or without name, we give by hand-shaking safety and full peace to the unknown stranger who is called Gest, for games, wrestling, and all kind of merriment, for sea or land or by other conveyance; he shall have peace in every named or unnamed place as long as he needs for a safe return, with observance of the plighted faith. I establish this peace for us, our kinsmen, friends and kindred, men as well as women, thralls and bondwomen, boys and independent men. He who violates the peace or breaks the plighted faith shall be a peace-niðling, and shall be outcast and driven from God and good men in heaven, and from all saints; and shall be received nowhere among men, but be driven away by every man as far as wolves are driven, or wherever Christians go to church, heathens sacrifice in temples, fire burns, earth produces, a speaking child calls its mother, mother bears son, people kindle fires, ships glide, shields glitter, sun shines, snow falls, a Finn runs on skis, fir grows, a hawk flies all the long spring day with a straight fair wind blowing under both wings, heaven encircles, world is settled and wind blows water towards sea, men sow corn; he shall shun churches and Christians, heathen boendr, houses and caves, every home except Hell. Now let us agree and be at peace one with the other in goodwill, whether we meet on mountain or beach, on ship or snow-shoes, on earth or glacier, on the high sea or on horseback, as if one find his friend on water or his brother on the way; agreeing as well one with another as son with father, or father with son, in all dealings. Now we join our hands together all of us, and keep this truce, and all words spoken in this plight of faith witnessed by God and good men.’" (Grettir’s Saga 73)

Although the above version has been Christianized, the formulaic nature of the Oath of Peace is unmistakable. With only minor modifications, it is easily seen how it can be readopted for Heathen use today. Such an oath is particularly sacrosanct, and no matter what the temptation, frith in such circumstances must be upheld at all costs and no matter what the provocation:

"‘It shall be so [said Hjalti Thordarson], let us keep our oath of peace [see above], though we have been outwitted; let us not ourselves set the example of violating the truce we have declared and given. Grettir shall go free wherever he likes, and the truce shall last until he has returned. Then this plighted faith will no longer be in force, whatever may happen between us.’ All thanked him, and thought his opinion chief-like, considering the guilt of the person involved." (Grettir’s Saga 74)

A vow, even one spoken at sumbl,e while it may not have the formality of an oath sworn at thing on an oath-ring, is nevertheless just as binding, and indeed are often boasts of deeds yet to come which will increase the reputation of the individual making the oath:

"The King [Svein] said, ‘I know that it is customary at such celebrations for men to make vows so as to increase their renown. And since you Jómsvíkings are famed in all lands it is likely that your vows will surpass all others. Now I shall make the beginning: I vow that I shall have driven King Æthelræd of England from his kingdom before the beginning of next winter or else have slain him and thus obtained his kingdom. Now it is your turn, Sigvaldi. And make your vow not less.’ [Sigvaldi and his brothers make dangerous oaths to perform certain deeds that will likely get them all killed, but are too drunk to think the wiser of their words.] That was the end of their talks. Then all sought their couches. Sigvaldi went to bed with his wife Ástrid, and he soon fell asleep and slept soundly. When he awoke, Ástrid asked him whether he remembered what vows he had made. He said he remembered nothing. She said, ‘It will not do for you to pretend that you made none.’ And she told him what they were. ‘And we shall need to set all our wits to work.’ Sigvaldi said, ‘What are we to do? You are both wise and resourceful.’ ‘I don’t know,’ she said, ‘but we must contrive something, for you will get few reinforcements from King Svein if you don’t get them now.’" (Jómsvíkingsaga 18)

And so it is seen that even an unwise oath made at table, under the cloud of drink (later in the above-quoted passage, Sigvaldi tries to claim the excuse that ‘one is not responsible for what one said in one’s cups’, but immediately drops the defense knowing it has no merit), must be fulfilled.

Ironically, the most prominent examples we have of individuals breaking sworn oaths are from the tales describing the actions of the Gods. Rather than being seen as standing above the ken of mortal morality (and thus above the responsibility for upholding such oaths), even the Gods are harmed when they fail an oath, no matter what the ultimate good may come therefrom:

"Odin didn’t honor His oath on the ring— what good is any pledge he gives?" (Hávamál 110)

Snorri Sturluson relates an interesting and rare account, where the Gods felt that their oath could be foresworn because of the deception of the person to whom they had sworn it. Having agreed to give the builder of Asgard’s walls the sun, the moon, and the Goddess Freyja, should he succeed within a specified time-limit, and sworn mighty oaths guaranteeing the safety of the giant. However, once Thor returned and learned of the bargain, he ignored the oaths that had been sworn in his absence (at the instigation of the evil Loki, it might be added):

"Thor alone struck, swollen with anger— never idle when he heard such news; vows were broken, promises betrayed. The solemn treaties both sides had sworn." (Völuspá 16)

"But when the Aesir saw for certain that it was a mountain giant that they had there, then the oaths were disregarded and they called upon Thor and he came in a trice and the next thing was that Mjöllnir was raised aloft. Then he paid the builder’s wages and it wasn’t the sun and moon, instead he stopped him from living in Jötunheim and struck the first blow so that his skull shattered into fragments and sent him down beneath Niflhel." (Gylfaginning 42)

Here we have an interesting conundrum. (As an aside, there is indeed a conundrum within a conundrum here, for Loki is said to have "sworn oaths that he would manage things so the builder would forfeit his payment, whatever it cost him to do it." Swearing an oath to make another break an oath that was made at his own instigation? Wheels within wheels…) The implication in Snorri is that the mere fact that the builder was a jötun was sufficient to either let the rest of the Gods declare the oaths null and void, or set Þórr into such a rage that he ignored them (and would thus bring himself and the rest of the Aesir under the cloud of breaking their sworn oaths). Earlier in the passage, Snorri does say that the very reason that the oaths were sworn was that "the giants did not think it safe to be among the Aesir without a guarantee of safety if Thor were to return home…"

It seems as if the Gods were caught in the same sort of trap that had been laid by Grettir for Hafr; they made oaths guaranteeing the safety of their visitor without fully knowing his true nature, and were bound thereby even once that nature was revealed. In the case of the Aesir, they seem to have been willing (or perhaps Thor forced them into their decision by his rash action) to live with the consequences of breaking those oaths. In the case of Hafr’s fellow chieftains, they felt it wiser to stick with the oath and seek restitution at a later date. Of course, Hafr didn’t have Loki manipulating events against him…

It is also said that the Goddess Var, of whom precious little else is known, takes a particular interest in oaths:

[The] ninth [of the Asynjur is] Var: she listens to people’s oaths and private agreements that women and men make between each other. Thus these contracts are called varar. She also punishes those who break them. (Gylfaginning 35)

As an aside, it should be noted that those oaths that have come down to us in the Lore are not conditional. That is, they are not made with any "escape clauses", or any conditional "I'll do X if Y happens". An oath simply is; by swearing an oath, one is aligning cosmic forces, setting up the universe to expect an action to occur. We work against such oaths, once sworn, at our peril. One does not give the universe an "if-then" statement. One simply gives it a "this will be".

The Trúnaðareiðr

A special sort of oath is the trúnaðareiðr ("oath of loyalty"). Such is the oath taken by one who wishes to enter into the service of some lord. It is a binding of the ørlög of the two individuals, and a commitment of the lord to bestow upon the follower the benefits of his luck, and to send forth the power of his hamingja to bestow that luck upon the follower. Too, the lord is expected to be generous to those who enter into his service; it is for this reason that such lords are known as "breakers of rings", for they are renowned for their habit of breaking off pieces of their golden arm-rings and bestowing them as gifts on their men (a custom not lost in contemporary practice; modern-day lords are expected to be similarly materially generous, and those who are unable to be so are generally seen as possessing a luck that is unfit for lordly status in the first place). For his part, the follower is expected to support his lord in all things, even to his own detriment, trusting that the benefits of the lord's luck will more than make up for any short-term loss he may suffer.

Oaths at Court

Finally, it must be said that historically (when the apparatus of the law-court was fully in place and had a definite impact on the people) the oath was often used in the context of legal proceedings. While the full intricacies of Théodish legal procedure are beyond the scope of this article, a (very) brief description of such proceedings is thus; ten men might give evidence against an individual, two of whom must swear oaths to their testimony, and the rest saying that they had heard the accusations but could not prove them. Should ten such individuals be found, the defendant is forced to respond either by oath or ordeal.

If by oath, the defendant swears what is called the dulareiðr ("oath of denial"). Depending on the nature of the crime, up to twelve witnesses are called upon to reinforce his oath of innocence. Alternatively, the defendant could undergo ordeal, by which innocence was proven by the successful undertaking of feats of physical endurance or skill, such as passing beneath a piece of cut sod, thrusting the hands into a cauldron of boiling water, or walking on hot irons. The possibility of settling such a dispute through single combat also existed; known as einvigi or holmgang.

© 2006 JJB, used with permission

New Updates in our Tidings Page (06/26/08)

Click to join Our Email List