31. Religious Troubles

These were difficult times in Iceland. Olaf Tryggvesson was King of Norway now. He had been a fierce viking, harrying other lands, until the English king Ethelred converted him to Christianity. Now he spread his faith everywhere, using all the ferocity he had learned raiding. He sent another missionary to Iceland, a Frankish priest named Thangbrand who killed three men who opposed the new faith. Thangbrand’s ship was wrecked and people said that Thor had done it, but Thangbrand and his crew reached shore and he killed another man before leaving Iceland. No one spoke of Thor then.

People were anxious and distraught. There were reports of hauntings and walking dead. Ominous portents showed in the sky. People muttered prayers to whatever god they followed, then looked over their shoulder to see if anyone had heard them. Some men tore down temples and wrecked idols. Others attacked them for doing so. Some men refused to pay temple-tax to their godis. People spoke against the gods and a law was passed forbidding blasphemy. Hjalti Skeggason was sentenced to lesser outlawry when he said:

“I don’t mean to blaspheme

But to me it seems

Freya’s a bitch all the same.”

So the country was in turmoil over large matters, but most people still had to deal with the more usual common concerns. Colm didn’t trouble himself over religion. Though he had been nominally a Christian when he was taken into slavery, he scarcely thought about that now. He seldom thought of the Norse gods, either. He shared the meat at sacrifices and made toasts in broth across the fire, but he never prayed. There were many like Colm in Iceland, men who tended their farms and paid little attention to religion. A few said they believed in no gods at all but trusted only their own strength. Others just shrugged and said that if there were any gods, then they believed in them. They attended sacrifices and enjoyed the celebration but it can’t be said that they worshipped.