256 



Their sanctity will detain us longer. We find them almost uniyer- 

 sally as an ornament and sacred utensil of the JSTorthern Germanic and 

 Scandinavian temples, for the purpose of administering oaths or receiv- 

 ing the prayers of the votaries. Por this reason Hauptmann von Led- 

 ebur, in his account of the Eoyal Museum of Patherland antiquities at 

 Eerlin, describing the valuable ring found at Stahelwih in Silesia, 

 adopts justly the opinion of Professor Biisching, in calling them Schwur- 

 ringe, rings of adjuration. This example is possibly the heaviest and 

 most valuable of its kind yet discovered, weighing 227 ducats of the 

 purest 24 carats gold : it is oval in form, and its interior diameter 3|" 

 to 2^", wide enough to introduce the hand and get it over the wrist, but 

 with no signs of ever having been so worn, which, by the softness of 

 the metal, must have been evident, had it ever been so used : it is, 

 however, certain, that it could never have been used as a fibula, for, 

 though the ends are beautifully chased into lion and dragon heads, 

 whose manes form an elegant ornament some way down the back, they 

 are not sufficiently prominent to bear the weight of a garment as a 

 button, nor is the interval or opening betwixt the two figure-heads 

 sufficient to admit conveniently any kind of web or cloth to have served 

 as a covering. Yon Ledebur farther remarks (p. 51), similar gold rings, 

 although not equal to this in weight, have been often found in Denmark 

 and Sweden, and are now preserved in the royal collections at Copen- 

 hagen and Stockholm. 



Por the frequency of these sacred emblems, in Iceland and the north, 

 we quote from ^'Mallet's ^Torthern Antiquities" (p. 291) : — ''The Thing- 

 stead was always near the temple, in which one of the sacerdotal 

 magistrates performed a sacrifice, and sprinkled the walls of the edifice, 

 as well as the bystanders, with the blood of the victims : holding in his 

 hand, on this as on every other solemn occasion, a massive silver ring, with 

 which the altar of every temple ivas furnished.''^ The ring in the hand 

 of a priest was the symbol of sacrifice, as in those of the laity a sign of 

 truth, just as at the present day oaths are taken on the Testament, which 

 serves in the pulpit for public supplication and prayer. 



Wheaton, in his "History of the Northmen" (p. 32), is more specific 

 on the subject of their attesting sanctity in Iceland : — 



" Thorolf landed where the columns of the temple of the god Thor, 

 when thrown into the sea, came to land, and took formal possession of 

 that part of the coast in the ancient accustomed manner, by walking 

 with a burning firebrand in his hand round the lands he intended to 

 occupy, and marking the boundaries by setting fire to the grass. He 

 then built a large dwelling-house on the shores of what was afterwards 

 called the Hofs-vag, or Temple Bay, and erected a spacious temple to 

 Thor, having an entrance door on each side, and towards the inner end 

 were erected the sacred columns of the former temple (in Norway), in 

 which the reginalar, or the nails of the divinity, were fixed. Within 

 these columns was a sanctuary, in which he placed a silver ring, two ounces 

 in iveight, which was used in the ministration of every solemn oath, and 

 adorned the person of the pontiff chieftain in every public assembly, 



