The Hof or temple was often of large size, and the Sagas give us examples of their appearance, some of them being of great splendour; they were generally if not always rectangular buildings,[[244]] with a rounded addition at one end like the apse of a church. Some had two parts: an inner or more sacred one, where the images of the gods were placed; and an outer one, where the sacrificial feasts were held. At the blotveitsla or sacrificial feast the people seem to have remained standing, high seats existing only for the blotgodi (sacrificing priest). At the farther end the God (god-idols) stood on their stall (altar).
“Olaf sailed to Hladir, and had the temple broken down, and all the property and ornaments taken out of it and off the gods. He took a large gold ring from the temple door, which Hakon Jarl had made, and then had the temple burnt.
“Olaf sent the large gold ring which he had taken from the temple door to Queen Sigrid, Storrada (the Proud) in Sweden (he wanted to marry her). She had it broken, and brass was found inside. She got angry, and said that Olaf was likely to be false in more things than this” (Olaf Tryggvason, 65, 66).
Sometimes these buildings were magnificently furnished and adorned with costly and precious metals; their walls were hung with tapestries, and otherwise ornamented,[[245]] and on the door was a golden ring.[[246]] Many of them must have been the property of powerful and wealthy bœndr,[[247]] as may be inferred from the fact that some chiefs when they left the country tore them down and took them away, together with the temple mould on which they stood, which was holy.
“Ketilbjörn, a famous man in Norway, went to Iceland, and dwelt at Mosfell. He was so rich in personal property that he told his sons to make a cross-beam of silver in the temple which they were building. As they would not, he with his thrall Haki and his bondmaid Bót drove the silver up on the mountain with two oxen; they hid it so that it has never been found since; then he killed Haki in Hakaskard, and Bót in Bótarskard” (Landnama v. 12).
“Thorhad the old was temple-priest in Thrandheim, in Mœri. He wished to go to Iceland, but first took down the temple, and carried with him the temple mould and the altars. He came into Stödvar-fjord and made the whole fiord as holy as the temple place in Mœri, and allowed nothing to be slain there except homestead cattle. He lived there all his life afterwards; the Stodfirdings are descended from him”[[248]] (Landnama).
The hof-godi or temple-priest was occasionally a woman.
“Steinvör was a priestess, and took care of the head temple; to this all bœndr had to pay temple tax. Steinvör went to the chief Broddhelgi, for she was related to him, and told him her trouble, that Thorleif, the Christian, did not pay temple tax like other men. Broddhelgi said he would take up this case for her against Thorleif.”[[249]]
A tax, as we have seen, was said to have been imposed in Odin’s time for the support of the temple; in the time of Frey a change took place, according to the sagas, and certain lands and properties in the several districts called Uppsala-Aud (Uppsala wealth) were set apart for this purpose; but in later times again, in Norway at least, and probably in other parts of the North, the bœndr had to pay taxes for the support of the temples, some of which seem to have been the private property of the godi.
The temples were considered so holy that any one damaging them or entering them armed was declared an outlaw, and no one who had committed an offence punishable by law was allowed to enter; such person was called Varg i Veum (wolf in the sanctuary). The grove or fields surrounding the temples were often regarded as inviolate, so that no act of violence would be permissible within their precincts. This was expressed by the ancient name of Ve (sanctuary, sacred place), which was extended so as to embrace the Thing-place, which was also regarded as sacred, while the Thing was going on.