LENGTH OF BETROTHAL. 9 



Then the thingmen shall make him an outlaw, and he is called 

 a runaway (fudflogi) " (Gulath., 51). 



" If a man wants a better match, the father shall betroth his 

 daughter himself if she is a maiden, and the brother shall do 

 it if the father is dead. If the father will not give his daughter 

 to the man to whom she has been betrothed, he shall be sum- 

 moned home and a day be fixed on which he shall have his 



/ 



betrothed. If the betrother will not let him have her, he shall 

 demand the dowry of his betrothed, and summon him to the 

 Tiling for robbery ; then the thingmen have to outlaw him. 

 The maiden has no power in this matter, if she does not draw 

 back from the marriage herself. The man who has charge 

 of the betrothed woman may keep her from the betrothed man 

 for a twelvemonth. A widow may betroth herself, but shall 

 take the advice of her kinsmen ; then she cannot break her 

 troth. If she has not taken the advice of her kinsmen, she 

 may break it and pay three marks for the breach of faith to 

 the one who was betrothed to her. If a man betroths to a 

 man a woman over whom he has no betrothing power, he shall 

 pay three marks to the one who was betrothed to her. Two or 

 more brothers shall have power over their sister; if one ol 

 them betroths her to a man, and the others object, then they 

 shall draw lots who of them shall rule ; if the one who 

 betrothed her draws the lot, the betrothal shall be kept, 

 otherwise not, and then the betrother shall pay three marks 

 for breach of faith " (Earlier Gulathing's Law, c. 51) 



The length of the betrothal, if no special agreement had 

 been made, was limited to twelve months, that being the 

 longest time that a woman's guardian could defer a marriage 

 against the will of her future husband. Three years seems 

 to have been the longest delay allowed ; during that time the 

 woman was said to sit as betrothed, if the suitor was away and 

 did not return within that time the agreement was void, and 

 the woman was free to marry another man. 



" Bjorn now rode to Borg to see his kinsman Skiili. When 

 they met, Bjorn told him that he wished above all to get 

 Oddny Thorkel's daughter before he left. Skuli asked if he 

 had said anything about it to her. Bjorn answered he had 

 certainly done so. Then let us go, said Skiili ; and they went. 

 They came to Hjorsey, and saw Thorkel and his daughter 

 Oddny. Bjorn then told him the state of his feelings, and 

 asked Oddny in marriage. Thorkel took it well, and referred 



