Lodin, a Norwegian trader, once was at a market in Eistland.
“There he saw a woman who had been sold as thrall, and when he looked at her he recognised in her Astrid, Eirik’s daughter, the widow of King Tryggvi, and then she was unlike what she had been the last time he saw her. She was pale and lean, and badly dressed. He went to her and asked how it was with her. She answered: ‘Heavy is it to tell that. I have been sold into slavery and taken hither for sale.’ Then they knew each other, and Astrid also him. She asked him to buy her and take her home to her kinsmen. ‘I will,’ answered he, ‘take thee to Norway if thou wilt marry me.’ And because she was then hardly situated, and knew that Lodin was a man of great kin, brave and wealthy, she promised him this to get away. Then Lodin bought Astrid and took her home to Norway, and married her there with the consent of her kinsmen” (Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga, Heimskringla, c. 58).
Sigurd, Astrid’s brother, came to Eistland to gather taxes for the King of Hólmgard.
“He saw on a market-place a very fine boy, who seemed to him a foreigner, and asked for his name and family. He said he was called Olaf, and his father Tryggvi Olafsson, and his mother Astrid, daughter of Eirik Bjódaskalli. Sigurd recognised in him his sister’s son, and asked why he was here. Olaf told him what had happened. Sigurd took him to Reas’ bóndi and bought the boys Olaf and Thorgils, and took them to Hólmgard”[[496]] (Olaf Tryggvason, c. 6).
“One day Olaf was in the market-place, which was crowded. There he recognised Klerkon, who had slain his foster-father Thórólf Lúsaskegg; he had a small axe in his hand, and went up to Klerkon and cut his head down to the brains. Thereupon he at once ran home and told his kinsman Sigurd. Sigurd took him to the room of Queen Allogia (Olga, which is a corruption of the Northern name Helga) with these tidings, and asked her to help the boy. She looked at him, and said, ‘Such a handsome boy must not be slain;’ and ordered all her men to come thither fully armed. In Hólmgard there was such great fridhelgi (peace-holiness), that the law bade that any one who slew another, not condemned, should himself be slain. Therefore the people rushed forward according to their custom and laws to search for Olaf and take his life, as the law bad. It was said that he was in the queen’s house, and that there was a fully armed host to defend him. When the king heard this he quickly went thither with his hird, and as he did not want them to fight, first procured a truce, and then a settlement. He adjudged a fine for the murder, which was paid by the queen. It was the law in Gardariki that there should be no king-born men except with the king’s permission. Therefore Sigurd told the queen of what family Olaf was, and also why he had come thither, that he could not remain in his own country on account of the hostility (and persecution) of his enemies. Sigurd asked her to tell this to the king, and beg him to help this king’s son, who had been so ill-treated. She did so, and he assented to her request. He therefore took Olaf under his protection, and treated him well, as befitted a king’s son. Olaf remained in Gardariki nine winters (years) with King Valdimar. He was handsome, larger and stronger than most others, and in idrottir superior to all other Northern men of whom the Sagas tell” (Olaf Tryggvason, Fornmanna Sögur, i., p. 81).
Daughters of foreign kings and other beautiful women who were often prisoners of war were generally made concubines, and called kings’ thrall-women, and became bones of contention in the household circle.
“Olaf, King of Sweden, son of Eirik, had a concubine Edla, a daughter of the Jarl of Vindland, who had been taken in war, and was therefore called the king’s thrall-woman” (St. Olaf, c. 72).
“Ketil Thrym, a settler (in Iceland), went abroad and was with Vedorm, the son of Vemund the old. He bought from Vedorm, Arneid, daughter of Jarl Asbjörn Skerjablesi, whom Hólmfast, son of Vedorm, had captured when he and Grim, the nephew of Vedorm, killed Asbjörn Jarl in Sudreyjar (Hebrides). Ketil Thrym bought Arneid two parts dearer than Vedorm valued her at first; when the bargain was made he married her” (Landnáma, iv., c. 2).
Thralls, who were considered chattels, and had no personal rett,[[497]] being regarded as the exclusive property of the master and classed among his kvikfé or live goods, could not acquire anything for themselves unless allowed by their owner; but this permission seems to have often been granted, as they generally had property, and even seem to have possessed weapons, of which the master had not the right to arbitrarily deprive them.[[498]]
“If cattle damages cattle, horn or hoof or thrall, it shall be paid at half value” (Bjarkey Law, 140).