4 08 THE STK UG GLE BETWEEN PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 



who went in were unarmed ; the king had a gold ornamented 

 staff in his hand. When they came into the temple there was 

 no lack of idols. Thor sat in the middle, and was most wor- 

 shipped ; he was tall, and ornamented all over with gold and 

 silver. The king raised the staff and struck Thor so that he fell 

 down from the altar and was broken ; then the king's men who 

 had entered rushed forward and knocked down all the gods from 

 their altars. While they were in, Jarnskeggi was slain outside 

 the door of the temple by the king's men " (Fornmanna Sogur, 

 c. 166, 167). 



It was so difficult to make any progress in christianizing 

 the people, that they were for a time allowed to perform their 

 rites secretly. The bo3ndr were little satisfied with the religious 

 belief of their king. The eight chiefs who superintended the 

 sacrifices (probably from the eight fylkis of the Thrandheim 

 district) united to exterminate the Christian religion. 



" These eight men who ruled over the sacrifice made an 

 agreement that the four chiefs from outer Trandheim should 

 overthrow Christianity, and the four from inner Thrandheim 

 should force the king to sacrifice " (Hakon the Good's Saga, 

 c. 19). 



" Gunnhild's sons had embraced Christianity in England, but 

 when they began to rule in Norway they could not make any 

 progress in christianising the people ; but wherever they could 

 they tore down the temples and spoiled the sacrifices, and thus 

 became very much disliked by the people. The good years 

 also soon ceased in the land. The kings were many, and each 

 had his bird around him, and therefore spent much and were 

 greedy of property ; so they did not well observe the laws 

 established by King Hakon. They were handsome men, large 

 and strong, and great men of idrottir " l (Fornmanna Sogur, 1). 



" Thorbjorn Ongul (hook) had a foster-mother, Thurid ; she 

 was very old, and people thought her good for little. In 

 heathen times when she was young, she had been very skilled 

 in witchcraft, but she appeared to have forgotten all this. 

 Although Christianity prevailed in the land, there were many 

 traces of heathendom left. It had been the law of the land 

 that it was not forbidden to sacrifice secretly or perform other 

 old customs, but if it was discovered it was to be punished by 

 lesser outlawry " (Gretti's Saga, c. 80). 



The following passage shows how firmly rooted amongst the 



1 Athletic and mental exercises. See vo!. ii., p. 369. 



