Dan and Danp
Own costly halls,
A higher odal
Than you have;
They know well
To ride the keel,
To teach the edges
To cut wounds.”
Towards the end of the Pagan era the grades of the people were Konung, Jarl, Hersir or Lend mann, Hauld, Bondi, Leysingi, and Thrall.
The Hersir.—The dignity of Hersir was hereditary and of great antiquity, but was not as ancient as that of the Drottin or Godi.[[482]] The records in regard to his functions are very meagre. He was the leader of the her (host, or community), their chief in war and in the administration of justice; high “priest (Godi)” in regard to worship, and as such took care of the temple, superintended the sacrifices and other religious ceremonies. As a godi he held the farms and estates belonging to the temple, and sometimes received a temple-tax from the bœndr for the maintenance of the temple and sacrifices. In most instances the temple property from time immemorial belonged to the Hersir who presided at the Thing. The change of the name of the ruler from that of Godi to that of Hersir seems to point to the time when the temporal and spiritual authority were united, but we have no knowledge how it came to pass—probably it did so very gradually and insidiously.