508 SLAVERY THRALDOM. 



the queen. It was the law in Gardariki that there should be 

 no king-born men except with the king's permission. There- 

 fore 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, Fornnianna 

 Sogur, 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 conten- 

 tion in the household circle. 



" Olaf, King of Sweden, son of Eirik, had a concubine Edla, 

 a daughter of the Jar! of Vindland, who had been taken in war, 

 and was therefore called the king's thrall-woman " (St. Olaf, 

 c. 72). 



" Ketil Thryni, a settler (in Iceland), went abroad and was 

 with Vedorm, the son of Vemuncl the old. He bought from 

 Vedorm, Arneid, daughter of Jarl Asbjorn Skerjablesi, whom 

 Holmfast, son of Vedorm, had captured when he and Grim, 

 the nephew of Vedorm, killed Asbjorn 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" (Landnama, iv., c. 2). 



Thralls, who were considered chattels, and had no per- 

 sonal rett, 1 being regarded as the exclusive property of the 

 master and classed among his Jcvikfe 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. 2 



1 Claim, rights, law, atonement for injury, see j>. 544. 2 Cf. Gisli Siirsson. 



