August 1, 2023 • 27 mins
In Old Icelandic,'hús-brenna' means 'house burning', and it was a form of homicide by arson used to settle a vendetta, and sometimes used during political conflicts in medieval Scandinavia. Its sole purpose, make no mistake, was assassination. And it's terrifying.
Executive Producers: Maria Trimarchi and Holly Frey
Producer & Editor: Casby Bias
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Arson is a very accessible crime because fire setting requires
very little effort and very few tools, whether you're talking
about today or thousands of years ago. We're traveling back
to medieval Scandinavia in this episode, around the time between
the tenth and the thirteenth centuries to understand not about
the tools they used to do it, but about the
(00:37):
concept of what's called hoshbrena in Old Icelandic. The word
means house burning, which sounds like something we would want
to know more about this season, so we took a
look and it's terrifying. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
And I'm a Holly Fry. Just a word up front,
Icelandic is a hard language, so we will struggle with
some of these pronunciations. We are doing our very very best.
I will say, having been fortunate enough to spend time
in Iceland, everyone there had incredible grace about people and
their poor pronunciation, so I hope you will extend that
(01:15):
grace if you are a native speaker. And now moving
on with our story, Who'sprenna was? A form of homicide
by arson that was used to settle vendettas, sometimes used
during political conflicts. Its sole purpose, make no mistake, was assassination.
It was well planned murder. If you've been listening along
(01:39):
during this season of firebugs, it probably comes as no surprise.
Humans have been burning things for a very long time.
Man made fires can define human relationships for centuries and beyond.
We've used fire viciously to destroy what doesn't belong to us,
and sometimes what does. It can be you used as
(02:00):
an act of terror. Arson can be a criminal individual act,
and it can be an effective means of collective violence
as well. And in medieval Scandinavia it was used as
an act of homicide and revenge.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
To really get a good look at Jus Brenna, we
need to turn to the sagas. In Icelandic saga means history,
but it can also mean story. The sagas aren't historical record,
but they are considered historical stories. They're based on historical events,
but the telling is assumed to have been embellished over time.
(02:38):
There may be a ghost or tube, but the plot
is grounded in real life. The sagas of Icelanders were
spoken in oral tradition long before the stories were written down.
That didn't happen until the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The
written stories are considered the recorded oral history of events
that took place between the ninth and the eleventh centuries
(03:00):
in Iceland. Their source materials come from a few places.
Oral tradition and legend are a big piece. As we
just said, They also rely on the Book of Settlements,
which deals with medieval lawsuits, and the Book of the Icelanders,
which chronicles the growth of Christianity throughout Iceland at that time.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
You'll find house burning in a few sagas, some in
great detail, while others more in passing. The most descriptive
and developed story about arson as revenge in the sagas
is the story of Nyao, also called the Saga of
the Burning of Nal or the Story of Burnt Yaw.
It describes events between nine sixty and ten twenty, and
(03:43):
like other sagas of Icelanders, its writer is anonymous. Were
these characters real well? Probably? For instance, the deaths of
the two main characters in the story of Niow are
also referred to in other sources, and that's led a
lot of acts to believe that they were real people
rather than a composite or a work of fiction. Is
(04:06):
their story in the saga factual? Again, maybe, but their
story does describe something that was very real. There are
three main episodes in this saga, including the Death of Gunner,
the Birth of y'all, and the Revenge of Corey. Each
episode is rich and full of many characters and subplots,
(04:28):
but of them we are most interested in Neil.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
There are a few more things to note about the sagas.
Not all translations are equal, but the main plot holds.
So if our version sounds a little different than the
one you know, that's probably why. And also, people interpret
these stories in the sagas in many different ways, such
as all fact or all fiction, or as a political
(04:55):
statement about the era you name it. To talk about
Neil's story, I first have to talk a little about
Gunner's story. If you're familiar with this saga, you'll see
very quickly that we're staying very high level. This is
a story of a hero warrior named Gunner of Hildorindi
and his friend, an influential politician and lawyer named Neille Thorgerson.
(05:17):
As the plot unfolds. Gunner's wife, Hilgard, instigates a feud
that turns out to cause the deaths of several people,
including Gunner and Yelle. It's a story about the consequences
of feud violence and of using vengeance as a defense,
and in particular in defense of your or your family's honor.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
We're going to take a break here for a word
from our sponsor, and when we return we'll get into
the story of these men as well as just a
whole bunch of murder.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's meet Neil and Gunner and
their families.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Nil was the son of thorgeir Geling. He lived at
Borghorgsnol with his wife berg Thora, who was described as
brave hearted and hard tempered. The two had three biological sons,
though some tellings of the story suggest they also had
three daughters as well. Neil was very active fostering other
(06:27):
children and young adults too. It said that Neil was
wealthy and handsome. Descriptions of him call him out for
not wearing a beard, which was unusual most of his
peers did. His saga story describes him as a wise
man and a lawyer who gave solid counsel. He was
also called a quote gentle and a generous man. He
(06:51):
was influential in the rise of Christianity in the region,
and he was also influential with the All Thing, which
was founded in the year nine thirty and today d
eight that is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in
the world.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
In this saga, Gunner and Nail's families are feuding. As
we mentioned before the break, we need to begin with
Gunner before we talk about the burning of Nil. Their
stories are tightly woven together. Gunner's story sets Nail's death
in motion. The family feud began after Bergthora made a
perceived to be rude remark to Hailguard. The insult, as
(07:28):
Hellguard saw it, was specifically that Bergthora asked her to
move a few seats over to accommodate arriving guests at
their table, but if Hailguard moved to a different chair,
it meant she'd then be seated at a lower ranking
position at the table, and that request was so offensive
to her that things escalated to murder. Seven murders in fact,
(07:53):
in retaliation for the comment, Hailguard's scheme to have one
of berg Dora's servants killed in an act of revenge.
Jora then sought out her own revenge by arranging six killings.
Six of Haillguard's servants died, and each murder is described
as worse than the one before it. The husband's paid
financial settlements to the families according to the status of
(08:14):
each of the victims. As was the law, there were
two basic types of settlements or punishments, outlining and fines.
Though the Scandinavian medieval era was violent, it wasn't chaos.
There were established laws applied in a lawlike code of conduct. Manner, Gunner,
and Yille, perhaps amazingly, remained friends through this.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Not too long after the murder spree, famine struck the area. Gunner,
the story goes, reached out to his neighbor, a man
named Ukel Scarfson, for help. Perhaps he could spare some
food or hey, but Utkel refused the request, and in retaliation,
Halgard sent a servant to steal food in Haye from him,
(09:00):
with instructions to also burned down Otkell's shed. Gunnar, when
he finds this out, was, as you can imagine, angry.
His attempts to make amends with his neighbor with compensation
as by law were rebuffed. We're kind of speeding our
way through Gunnar's story, but it's pretty clear things just
kept getting worse. One day, Otkel, still not talking to
(09:24):
his neighbor, lost control of one of his horses, and
Gunnar was accidentally injured. In response, Otkell's friend, a man
named Scomko, started up a rumor that this powerful warrior
Gunnar cried when he was accidentally cut in a horse accident. Well,
I mean that kind of insult just cannot be left alone.
(09:46):
In an act of revenge for his honor, Gunnar, with
his brother, who often fought alongside him, killed them both
and paid for it in silver. At the Alting, Neil
immediately prophesied that if Gunner killed two members of the
same family, he would die, and he reportedly told Gunner quote,
(10:06):
this will be the beginning of your many slaves.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Nefarious plots to get Gunner to kill Atkel's son, Thorgeir
in order for Nail's prophecy to be fulfilled quickly went
into motion. Some translations we read suggest before any of
those acts of revenge could come to pass, Gunner was
exiled from Iceland for three years as settlement for murder.
Other translations are more detailed and suggest he was exiled
(10:33):
for the murder of Thorgair. It turns out though he
didn't actually leave, He started on his way but then
just went home to his farm. It wasn't as peaceful
as it may sound, though. Not leaving Iceland meant he
was considered an outlaw, and that meant anyone could legally
kill him.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
And, perhaps unsurprisingly, given this circumstance, he was ambushed for
a while. He was able to defend himself in his
home until his bowstring was cut and Halgard refused to
give him a hair from her head to fix it.
According to the saga, this was her act of retaliation
for Gunnar's anger at her after she stole from Uttkel.
(11:15):
Some of those who were trying to kill Gunnar proposed
burning him in his home, the act of host Brenna,
but others agreed it would be shameful to do so
to a great warrior. Eventually, they decided to remove the
roof from his home to extract him. They did this,
and then they killed him. After Gunnar killed two men
(11:36):
and wounded eight more in this fight for his life,
some of his enemies wondered if they should have maybe
just burned him inside of his house instead, saying it
would have actually saved lives. His killing was arbitrated at
the all thing. By law, no compensation could be given
for Gunnar's death, but the Nielsen's that simply means Neil's
(11:58):
sons to seek blood vengeance.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Gunner's death was really disturbing to Neielle the two had
been friends for a really long time. As a peacemaker
in his region. He argued only a few of the
murderers be killed in retaliation, and that there was no
point in killing all of them as revenge. Gunnar's spirit
appeared to Niell and his sons, reiterating his life's charge
(12:23):
that he'd quote rather die than surrender. Neil's eldest son,
scarp Hadden, known to be hot headed with a violent streak,
considered it a quote message for us. It was a message,
for sure, but that didn't mean it was a directive,
so let's keep going.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Two of Neill's sons barely escaped with their lives while
on a trip to Norway with a companion friends Cigtizen,
and upon returning home, they blamed the whole ordeal on
Threm Thren was Gunner's uncle, and as part of a
settlement between families, Neill had been fring Hosgold, Thrend's son
(13:02):
for years. It was said that Hosgold resembled Neil more
than some of his biological children, in that he was
quote soft spoken and generous, a calm man, yet very
skilled with arms. He never spoke ill of anyone. Neil,
always the peacemaker, suggested that they should make amends with
Thrend's family and his son's well. They gave it a try,
(13:27):
but they were met with insults. As things seemed to
do in the story of Neil, things escalated, and that's
because this is what would have been considered an illegal slander.
The feud came to a head between the Nielsen's and
Thren on an ice floe. Scarfnon his ice axe in
(13:47):
his hand, as he slid toward Thren on the ice river,
swung and delivered a crushing blow. He beheaded him, splitting
Thren's skull down to the jaw.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Neil gets on into feuds through no fault of his own,
and this time it was through the actions of his sons.
It's Valguard, the gray and unlikable and unpopular man who
initiates a plot to kill Nell and his family. Why well,
when Valguard returned from travel abroad, he found that his
(14:19):
chieftaincy was failing under his son Mord, and he saw
that Nell's foster son, Hoschold was flourishing as a priest.
Seeing that his power was falling and Hoscolds was growing,
he vowed revenge on Hoskoald and Nell's family. With Volguard's
plan in motion, it was Moored who went to work
(14:40):
turning the Nielsens against their foster brother, telling them that
Hoskual was their father's favorite and that Hostal was plotting
to kill them, and then vice versa. He told Hoskal
that the Nielsens, the family that had been his very
own for years, planned to kill him, But Hoskold wasn't
actually so sure of this, after all, he'd been friends
(15:02):
with Scarputten for a very long time. But it did
work on the Nielsens. We're going to take a break
for a word from our sponsor, and when we return,
we'll get right back to how Nil's sons murdered their
foster brother.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about how the burning
of Neil comes to an end, and then one more
story of Hosprena to share.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Nielsen's traveled to Hoskolt's farm with murder on their minds,
and they killed him as he was working in his fields.
One character in the saga stated of the incident quote,
Hoskolt was killed for less than no reason. Neil, unaware
of the unfolding events, was devastating by his son's actions
(16:01):
and foretold, as he did with Gunner, that they would
die as a consequence.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
The case was called to the all Thing to determine
the settlement. Neil pled to the court that he would
rather his biological sons had died than Hoskold, whom he loved.
He begged for a monetary settlement to be made. A
man named thorhl Asgrimson, who had been fostered in Neil's
home and learned law from him, defended the Nielsen's and
(16:30):
it should have destroyed the prosecution's case when he let
drop that Mord didn't reveal himself as an assailant in
the killing of Hoskuld. But it didn't matter. It turned
out to be a crime settled outside the all Thing
about one hundred men, friends, allies, and kinsmen took the
matter into their own hands. They were led by a
(16:51):
man named Flossi Thorersen, a powerful chieftain who did not
like Niel and who also happened to be Hoskold's uncle
by marriage.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Pelose didn't immediately volunteer as the ringleader of a homicidal gang.
After Hoskell's death, Felosi told his niece Hildegan that he
was willing and able to settle her husband's death honorably
with silver, saying quote, I shall press your claims to
the limit of the law, or else conclude a settlement
which will satisfy all good men and the demands of honor. Hildegan, however,
(17:25):
insisted the debt be paid with blood vengeance. When Flosi
consults with Hoskal's uncles, they want vengeance against the Nielsens too,
although one was willing to reconcile.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
So it was decided to burn the house, which they
surrounded so that no one could escape the blaze. Flosi
initially said that any women could leave before they ignited
the dwelling, and then he also invited Neil and Bergthora,
who had stayed, to leave, but they replied basically that
they had accepted the consequences of their family's actions, and
(17:59):
they refuse the offer. They chose to die together with
their sons and their grandson Thord. In the end, eleven
people died to restore another's honor in this act of Hosprena.
People were outraged by this assassination. Flossi, despite his role
in the violence, also did not celebrate the punishment, saying quote,
(18:23):
this burning will lead to many of our deaths, and
others will lose all their wealth, and he was right
that did all come to pass.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
This isn't the only saga featuring Jusbrena. One of the
most infamous incidents can be found in the Strelungo saga,
which mostly covers the history of Iceland between the years
eleven seventeen and twelve sixty four. It includes the story
of Fluemiri, which is often called the best known example
(18:53):
of this type of arson. Also known as Phlugamira Brenna
or the fire at Flugamiri, this act of fiery homicide
happened on October twenty second, twelve fifty three, and it's
considered to be the worst single act of brutality in
the age of the Stlungs. This time, the mid thirteenth
century was a bloody period in Icelandic history, marked by
(19:16):
numerous conflicts among local chieftains, and it followed the era's
obsession with honor and blood feud.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
This story has lived on in folk tales for centuries.
Phlugamedi was an ancient manner on a farm in Bluntos
during the age of the Stlungs. A chieftain named Gissar Thwolson,
who later became the only Icelandic earl, called the place home. Gisser,
who belonged to the clan of Hakka Delor, was an
(19:45):
enemy of the clan of Stirlingar, and the families had
a long and violent history between them. In this part
of the Phlugemiti story, though, we find Gisser trying to
make peace and stem the tide of bloodshed, but his
tempts at reconciliations were fruitless.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Unlike its sir, the Sterlungs weren't interested in any kind
of reconciliation. There was too much bad blood between the families.
When his eldest son Hallower, as part of the attempted reconciliation,
married the daughter of Sterling Thorderson, head of the Sterling family.
They attempted to assassinate Guesser during the two day wedding feast.
(20:26):
It's said to have happened after the wedding guests had left,
but some translations note that as many as thirty people
may have been inside. A group of about forty men
surrounded the dwelling and ignited it.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
In the end, twenty five people died. The bride was
able to escape. The groom jumped out of a window,
but the gang attacked him, hitting him on the head
and nearly severing one of his legs. He survived the
night because a nearby monk brought him to a neighboring church,
literally dragged him to it, but despite that monk's efforts,
(21:02):
Haller died the next morning. While Giveser was able to
escape by hiding in a barrel of yogurt or perhaps,
as some versions say, a barrel of whey, His wife, Groa,
and their sons died in the fire after such an
act of terror. There are still remnants of an old
fort from the age of the Sturlungs at the site,
(21:23):
which today is home to a horse farm that, yes,
you can visit if you so choose.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Right, what a man, I am.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
So ready for a bit of lighter fluids.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
I am too what a story.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
So, as I mentioned at the top of the show,
I have been lucky enough to visit Iceland and I
quite fell in love with it. And I will say,
if you have ever been to Iceland, you would know
that it would be downright criminal to make a cocktail
inspired by an Icelandic story and not use a spirit
that is can be a little hard to come by,
so I have backups, just you know. But it's it's
(22:07):
called Brennevin and it is the national spirit of Iceland,
and it is, depending on who you ask, sub category
of aquavit. It's very similar in taste or very different
from aquavite, depending but it is one thousand percent delicious.
(22:28):
I don't usually like to do those. Hey that's not
a real number, but it's that good. I love it.
It tastes like very strongly of care Away, Oh, which
is very interesting and delicious, very interesting. I also like aquavite,
which I know not everybody loves these, but Aquavit is
your backup if you cannot get Brenevan where you live.
I will say, if you live like in the US
(22:49):
and you're in the northeast, you're probably gonna find Brenevan.
It's not that hard. I did some searching online before
we got in here, and I definitely found lots of
liquor stores in like New York, DC, Boston, those areas.
You got it. Go get your Brenevan because it's amazing.
And in Iceland you'll often drink it just ice cold,
like a shot, like straight, but in the way that
(23:14):
I usually do. While traveling. I try to make friends
with bartenders and hopefully not be an irritant, but just
be a cool customer. And in talking to one of
the bartenders in our hotel in Rikiavik, we were discussing Brenevan,
and I was like, oh, I'm so tempted to put
it in every single cocktail. And I had been drinking
(23:35):
a lot of Moscow mules, as had my friends. Wonderful
bartender said we should try putting it in a mule.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, he was right, Oh really, that's excellent.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
That is what we're having today is a mule that
I am calling level headed, because gosh, I wish all
these people had been a little more level headed. And
I will say, if you doubt the deliciousness of the
Brennevan mule. I had it, and then I got back
to our table. We were there with five other people,
and then everybody tasted my mule, and then we had
(24:04):
to order six more. Like it was so good. People
that were not in our immediate group were like, what
are you drinking? Started to spread. So this is a
very easy one to make. You just make it right
in the glass. You can use, you know, a mule mug.
Those those copper mugs. Those are used for moscow mules
because theoretically they keep everything super super cold a little
(24:28):
bit longer. If you also have a double walled cocktail glass,
that also works great. But really, just like you're going
to drink it so fast, it's not going to matter.
This is the very easiest. You are going to put
in a half ounce of lime juice over your ice,
and then an ounce and a half of your Brenevan
or aquavite, and then top it with ginger beer. So
(24:52):
we're talking like four ounces or so of ginger beer.
It's so good.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
I love when ginger beer shows up.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
We use a lot of it because I like it anyway,
But this is really like a magical combination. Yeah, It's
very ummy. I could drink these all the time. Unfortunately,
Brenevan hard to get here in Atlanta, but I'm making
it happen. Listen, I'm jumping through hoops, but it's going
to get here. Here is how I would do the
mocktail on. This is super easy because we have done
(25:19):
it before where I have used aquavi in things. This
is just make caraway tea. So you're just gonna grind
up like a tablespoon of caraway seeds your mortar and
pestle if you have one. If you don't, you can
just mush them in a whatever receptacle you want with
like a spoon, a wooden spoon. You're just gonna pour
hot water over and let it steep for a little while.
(25:40):
Strain that off. You could also do it if you
want to simmer it in the pan. However, you like
to make tea, make your carraway tea and then strain
those off, let it cool, and then use it for this.
That is like a great thirst quencher in hot weather,
which we are having in abundance in the US right now.
Most of us are in the triple digits at least
on real feel, if not in actual tempts. So you
(26:02):
want a lot of cool and delicious and refreshing things,
and this will fit the bill. I almost guarantee it.
So I hope that you have a level head and
maybe drink a level headed so desire. And I want
to thank everybody again for spending time with us, especially
who all these fires so much vengeance. I know I
(26:23):
don't have the time or energy. I'm over here making cocktails.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
One terrible story after another.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
So the good news is you won't have a whole
lot of fire left with us. We're going to be
onto a new season soon, but we will be right
back here next week to chat with you some more,
and we hope you join us. Criminalia is a production
(26:50):
of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen into your favorite shows.
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Arson is a very accessible crime because fire setting requires
very little effort and very few tools, whether you're talking
about today or thousands of years ago. We're traveling back
to medieval Scandinavia in this episode, around the time between
the tenth and the thirteenth centuries to understand not about
the tools they used to do it, but about the
(00:37):
concept of what's called hoshbrena in Old Icelandic. The word
means house burning, which sounds like something we would want
to know more about this season, so we took a
look and it's terrifying. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
And I'm a Holly Fry. Just a word up front,
Icelandic is a hard language, so we will struggle with
some of these pronunciations. We are doing our very very best.
I will say, having been fortunate enough to spend time
in Iceland, everyone there had incredible grace about people and
their poor pronunciation, so I hope you will extend that
(01:15):
grace if you are a native speaker. And now moving
on with our story, Who'sprenna was? A form of homicide
by arson that was used to settle vendettas, sometimes used
during political conflicts. Its sole purpose, make no mistake, was assassination.
It was well planned murder. If you've been listening along
(01:39):
during this season of firebugs, it probably comes as no surprise.
Humans have been burning things for a very long time.
Man made fires can define human relationships for centuries and beyond.
We've used fire viciously to destroy what doesn't belong to us,
and sometimes what does. It can be you used as
(02:00):
an act of terror. Arson can be a criminal individual act,
and it can be an effective means of collective violence
as well. And in medieval Scandinavia it was used as
an act of homicide and revenge.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
To really get a good look at Jus Brenna, we
need to turn to the sagas. In Icelandic saga means history,
but it can also mean story. The sagas aren't historical record,
but they are considered historical stories. They're based on historical events,
but the telling is assumed to have been embellished over time.
(02:38):
There may be a ghost or tube, but the plot
is grounded in real life. The sagas of Icelanders were
spoken in oral tradition long before the stories were written down.
That didn't happen until the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The
written stories are considered the recorded oral history of events
that took place between the ninth and the eleventh centuries
(03:00):
in Iceland. Their source materials come from a few places.
Oral tradition and legend are a big piece. As we
just said, They also rely on the Book of Settlements,
which deals with medieval lawsuits, and the Book of the Icelanders,
which chronicles the growth of Christianity throughout Iceland at that time.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
You'll find house burning in a few sagas, some in
great detail, while others more in passing. The most descriptive
and developed story about arson as revenge in the sagas
is the story of Nyao, also called the Saga of
the Burning of Nal or the Story of Burnt Yaw.
It describes events between nine sixty and ten twenty, and
(03:43):
like other sagas of Icelanders, its writer is anonymous. Were
these characters real well? Probably? For instance, the deaths of
the two main characters in the story of Niow are
also referred to in other sources, and that's led a
lot of acts to believe that they were real people
rather than a composite or a work of fiction. Is
(04:06):
their story in the saga factual? Again, maybe, but their
story does describe something that was very real. There are
three main episodes in this saga, including the Death of Gunner,
the Birth of y'all, and the Revenge of Corey. Each
episode is rich and full of many characters and subplots,
(04:28):
but of them we are most interested in Neil.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
There are a few more things to note about the sagas.
Not all translations are equal, but the main plot holds.
So if our version sounds a little different than the
one you know, that's probably why. And also, people interpret
these stories in the sagas in many different ways, such
as all fact or all fiction, or as a political
(04:55):
statement about the era you name it. To talk about
Neil's story, I first have to talk a little about
Gunner's story. If you're familiar with this saga, you'll see
very quickly that we're staying very high level. This is
a story of a hero warrior named Gunner of Hildorindi
and his friend, an influential politician and lawyer named Neille Thorgerson.
(05:17):
As the plot unfolds. Gunner's wife, Hilgard, instigates a feud
that turns out to cause the deaths of several people,
including Gunner and Yelle. It's a story about the consequences
of feud violence and of using vengeance as a defense,
and in particular in defense of your or your family's honor.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
We're going to take a break here for a word
from our sponsor, and when we return we'll get into
the story of these men as well as just a
whole bunch of murder.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's meet Neil and Gunner and
their families.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Nil was the son of thorgeir Geling. He lived at
Borghorgsnol with his wife berg Thora, who was described as
brave hearted and hard tempered. The two had three biological sons,
though some tellings of the story suggest they also had
three daughters as well. Neil was very active fostering other
(06:27):
children and young adults too. It said that Neil was
wealthy and handsome. Descriptions of him call him out for
not wearing a beard, which was unusual most of his
peers did. His saga story describes him as a wise
man and a lawyer who gave solid counsel. He was
also called a quote gentle and a generous man. He
(06:51):
was influential in the rise of Christianity in the region,
and he was also influential with the All Thing, which
was founded in the year nine thirty and today d
eight that is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in
the world.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
In this saga, Gunner and Nail's families are feuding. As
we mentioned before the break, we need to begin with
Gunner before we talk about the burning of Nil. Their
stories are tightly woven together. Gunner's story sets Nail's death
in motion. The family feud began after Bergthora made a
perceived to be rude remark to Hailguard. The insult, as
(07:28):
Hellguard saw it, was specifically that Bergthora asked her to
move a few seats over to accommodate arriving guests at
their table, but if Hailguard moved to a different chair,
it meant she'd then be seated at a lower ranking
position at the table, and that request was so offensive
to her that things escalated to murder. Seven murders in fact,
(07:53):
in retaliation for the comment, Hailguard's scheme to have one
of berg Dora's servants killed in an act of revenge.
Jora then sought out her own revenge by arranging six killings.
Six of Haillguard's servants died, and each murder is described
as worse than the one before it. The husband's paid
financial settlements to the families according to the status of
(08:14):
each of the victims. As was the law, there were
two basic types of settlements or punishments, outlining and fines.
Though the Scandinavian medieval era was violent, it wasn't chaos.
There were established laws applied in a lawlike code of conduct. Manner, Gunner,
and Yille, perhaps amazingly, remained friends through this.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Not too long after the murder spree, famine struck the area. Gunner,
the story goes, reached out to his neighbor, a man
named Ukel Scarfson, for help. Perhaps he could spare some
food or hey, but Utkel refused the request, and in retaliation,
Halgard sent a servant to steal food in Haye from him,
(09:00):
with instructions to also burned down Otkell's shed. Gunnar, when
he finds this out, was, as you can imagine, angry.
His attempts to make amends with his neighbor with compensation
as by law were rebuffed. We're kind of speeding our
way through Gunnar's story, but it's pretty clear things just
kept getting worse. One day, Otkel, still not talking to
(09:24):
his neighbor, lost control of one of his horses, and
Gunnar was accidentally injured. In response, Otkell's friend, a man
named Scomko, started up a rumor that this powerful warrior
Gunnar cried when he was accidentally cut in a horse accident. Well,
I mean that kind of insult just cannot be left alone.
(09:46):
In an act of revenge for his honor, Gunnar, with
his brother, who often fought alongside him, killed them both
and paid for it in silver. At the Alting, Neil
immediately prophesied that if Gunner killed two members of the
same family, he would die, and he reportedly told Gunner quote,
(10:06):
this will be the beginning of your many slaves.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Nefarious plots to get Gunner to kill Atkel's son, Thorgeir
in order for Nail's prophecy to be fulfilled quickly went
into motion. Some translations we read suggest before any of
those acts of revenge could come to pass, Gunner was
exiled from Iceland for three years as settlement for murder.
Other translations are more detailed and suggest he was exiled
(10:33):
for the murder of Thorgair. It turns out though he
didn't actually leave, He started on his way but then
just went home to his farm. It wasn't as peaceful
as it may sound, though. Not leaving Iceland meant he
was considered an outlaw, and that meant anyone could legally
kill him.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
And, perhaps unsurprisingly, given this circumstance, he was ambushed for
a while. He was able to defend himself in his
home until his bowstring was cut and Halgard refused to
give him a hair from her head to fix it.
According to the saga, this was her act of retaliation
for Gunnar's anger at her after she stole from Uttkel.
(11:15):
Some of those who were trying to kill Gunnar proposed
burning him in his home, the act of host Brenna,
but others agreed it would be shameful to do so
to a great warrior. Eventually, they decided to remove the
roof from his home to extract him. They did this,
and then they killed him. After Gunnar killed two men
(11:36):
and wounded eight more in this fight for his life,
some of his enemies wondered if they should have maybe
just burned him inside of his house instead, saying it
would have actually saved lives. His killing was arbitrated at
the all thing. By law, no compensation could be given
for Gunnar's death, but the Nielsen's that simply means Neil's
(11:58):
sons to seek blood vengeance.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Gunner's death was really disturbing to Neielle the two had
been friends for a really long time. As a peacemaker
in his region. He argued only a few of the
murderers be killed in retaliation, and that there was no
point in killing all of them as revenge. Gunnar's spirit
appeared to Niell and his sons, reiterating his life's charge
(12:23):
that he'd quote rather die than surrender. Neil's eldest son,
scarp Hadden, known to be hot headed with a violent streak,
considered it a quote message for us. It was a message,
for sure, but that didn't mean it was a directive,
so let's keep going.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Two of Neill's sons barely escaped with their lives while
on a trip to Norway with a companion friends Cigtizen,
and upon returning home, they blamed the whole ordeal on
Threm Thren was Gunner's uncle, and as part of a
settlement between families, Neill had been fring Hosgold, Thrend's son
(13:02):
for years. It was said that Hosgold resembled Neil more
than some of his biological children, in that he was
quote soft spoken and generous, a calm man, yet very
skilled with arms. He never spoke ill of anyone. Neil,
always the peacemaker, suggested that they should make amends with
Thrend's family and his son's well. They gave it a try,
(13:27):
but they were met with insults. As things seemed to
do in the story of Neil, things escalated, and that's
because this is what would have been considered an illegal slander.
The feud came to a head between the Nielsen's and
Thren on an ice floe. Scarfnon his ice axe in
(13:47):
his hand, as he slid toward Thren on the ice river,
swung and delivered a crushing blow. He beheaded him, splitting
Thren's skull down to the jaw.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Neil gets on into feuds through no fault of his own,
and this time it was through the actions of his sons.
It's Valguard, the gray and unlikable and unpopular man who
initiates a plot to kill Nell and his family. Why well,
when Valguard returned from travel abroad, he found that his
(14:19):
chieftaincy was failing under his son Mord, and he saw
that Nell's foster son, Hoschold was flourishing as a priest.
Seeing that his power was falling and Hoscolds was growing,
he vowed revenge on Hoskoald and Nell's family. With Volguard's
plan in motion, it was Moored who went to work
(14:40):
turning the Nielsens against their foster brother, telling them that
Hoskual was their father's favorite and that Hostal was plotting
to kill them, and then vice versa. He told Hoskal
that the Nielsens, the family that had been his very
own for years, planned to kill him, But Hoskold wasn't
actually so sure of this, after all, he'd been friends
(15:02):
with Scarputten for a very long time. But it did
work on the Nielsens. We're going to take a break
for a word from our sponsor, and when we return,
we'll get right back to how Nil's sons murdered their
foster brother.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about how the burning
of Neil comes to an end, and then one more
story of Hosprena to share.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Nielsen's traveled to Hoskolt's farm with murder on their minds,
and they killed him as he was working in his fields.
One character in the saga stated of the incident quote,
Hoskolt was killed for less than no reason. Neil, unaware
of the unfolding events, was devastating by his son's actions
(16:01):
and foretold, as he did with Gunner, that they would
die as a consequence.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
The case was called to the all Thing to determine
the settlement. Neil pled to the court that he would
rather his biological sons had died than Hoskold, whom he loved.
He begged for a monetary settlement to be made. A
man named thorhl Asgrimson, who had been fostered in Neil's
home and learned law from him, defended the Nielsen's and
(16:30):
it should have destroyed the prosecution's case when he let
drop that Mord didn't reveal himself as an assailant in
the killing of Hoskuld. But it didn't matter. It turned
out to be a crime settled outside the all Thing
about one hundred men, friends, allies, and kinsmen took the
matter into their own hands. They were led by a
(16:51):
man named Flossi Thorersen, a powerful chieftain who did not
like Niel and who also happened to be Hoskold's uncle
by marriage.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Pelose didn't immediately volunteer as the ringleader of a homicidal gang.
After Hoskell's death, Felosi told his niece Hildegan that he
was willing and able to settle her husband's death honorably
with silver, saying quote, I shall press your claims to
the limit of the law, or else conclude a settlement
which will satisfy all good men and the demands of honor. Hildegan, however,
(17:25):
insisted the debt be paid with blood vengeance. When Flosi
consults with Hoskal's uncles, they want vengeance against the Nielsens too,
although one was willing to reconcile.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
So it was decided to burn the house, which they
surrounded so that no one could escape the blaze. Flosi
initially said that any women could leave before they ignited
the dwelling, and then he also invited Neil and Bergthora,
who had stayed, to leave, but they replied basically that
they had accepted the consequences of their family's actions, and
(17:59):
they refuse the offer. They chose to die together with
their sons and their grandson Thord. In the end, eleven
people died to restore another's honor in this act of Hosprena.
People were outraged by this assassination. Flossi, despite his role
in the violence, also did not celebrate the punishment, saying quote,
(18:23):
this burning will lead to many of our deaths, and
others will lose all their wealth, and he was right
that did all come to pass.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
This isn't the only saga featuring Jusbrena. One of the
most infamous incidents can be found in the Strelungo saga,
which mostly covers the history of Iceland between the years
eleven seventeen and twelve sixty four. It includes the story
of Fluemiri, which is often called the best known example
(18:53):
of this type of arson. Also known as Phlugamira Brenna
or the fire at Flugamiri, this act of fiery homicide
happened on October twenty second, twelve fifty three, and it's
considered to be the worst single act of brutality in
the age of the Stlungs. This time, the mid thirteenth
century was a bloody period in Icelandic history, marked by
(19:16):
numerous conflicts among local chieftains, and it followed the era's
obsession with honor and blood feud.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
This story has lived on in folk tales for centuries.
Phlugamedi was an ancient manner on a farm in Bluntos
during the age of the Stlungs. A chieftain named Gissar Thwolson,
who later became the only Icelandic earl, called the place home. Gisser,
who belonged to the clan of Hakka Delor, was an
(19:45):
enemy of the clan of Stirlingar, and the families had
a long and violent history between them. In this part
of the Phlugemiti story, though, we find Gisser trying to
make peace and stem the tide of bloodshed, but his
tempts at reconciliations were fruitless.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Unlike its sir, the Sterlungs weren't interested in any kind
of reconciliation. There was too much bad blood between the families.
When his eldest son Hallower, as part of the attempted reconciliation,
married the daughter of Sterling Thorderson, head of the Sterling family.
They attempted to assassinate Guesser during the two day wedding feast.
(20:26):
It's said to have happened after the wedding guests had left,
but some translations note that as many as thirty people
may have been inside. A group of about forty men
surrounded the dwelling and ignited it.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
In the end, twenty five people died. The bride was
able to escape. The groom jumped out of a window,
but the gang attacked him, hitting him on the head
and nearly severing one of his legs. He survived the
night because a nearby monk brought him to a neighboring church,
literally dragged him to it, but despite that monk's efforts,
(21:02):
Haller died the next morning. While Giveser was able to
escape by hiding in a barrel of yogurt or perhaps,
as some versions say, a barrel of whey, His wife, Groa,
and their sons died in the fire after such an
act of terror. There are still remnants of an old
fort from the age of the Sturlungs at the site,
(21:23):
which today is home to a horse farm that, yes,
you can visit if you so choose.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Right, what a man, I am.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
So ready for a bit of lighter fluids.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
I am too what a story.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
So, as I mentioned at the top of the show,
I have been lucky enough to visit Iceland and I
quite fell in love with it. And I will say,
if you have ever been to Iceland, you would know
that it would be downright criminal to make a cocktail
inspired by an Icelandic story and not use a spirit
that is can be a little hard to come by,
so I have backups, just you know. But it's it's
(22:07):
called Brennevin and it is the national spirit of Iceland,
and it is, depending on who you ask, sub category
of aquavit. It's very similar in taste or very different
from aquavite, depending but it is one thousand percent delicious.
(22:28):
I don't usually like to do those. Hey that's not
a real number, but it's that good. I love it.
It tastes like very strongly of care Away, Oh, which
is very interesting and delicious, very interesting. I also like aquavite,
which I know not everybody loves these, but Aquavit is
your backup if you cannot get Brenevan where you live.
I will say, if you live like in the US
(22:49):
and you're in the northeast, you're probably gonna find Brenevan.
It's not that hard. I did some searching online before
we got in here, and I definitely found lots of
liquor stores in like New York, DC, Boston, those areas.
You got it. Go get your Brenevan because it's amazing.
And in Iceland you'll often drink it just ice cold,
like a shot, like straight, but in the way that
(23:14):
I usually do. While traveling. I try to make friends
with bartenders and hopefully not be an irritant, but just
be a cool customer. And in talking to one of
the bartenders in our hotel in Rikiavik, we were discussing Brenevan,
and I was like, oh, I'm so tempted to put
it in every single cocktail. And I had been drinking
(23:35):
a lot of Moscow mules, as had my friends. Wonderful
bartender said we should try putting it in a mule.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, he was right, Oh really, that's excellent.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
That is what we're having today is a mule that
I am calling level headed, because gosh, I wish all
these people had been a little more level headed. And
I will say, if you doubt the deliciousness of the
Brennevan mule. I had it, and then I got back
to our table. We were there with five other people,
and then everybody tasted my mule, and then we had
(24:04):
to order six more. Like it was so good. People
that were not in our immediate group were like, what
are you drinking? Started to spread. So this is a
very easy one to make. You just make it right
in the glass. You can use, you know, a mule mug.
Those those copper mugs. Those are used for moscow mules
because theoretically they keep everything super super cold a little
(24:28):
bit longer. If you also have a double walled cocktail glass,
that also works great. But really, just like you're going
to drink it so fast, it's not going to matter.
This is the very easiest. You are going to put
in a half ounce of lime juice over your ice,
and then an ounce and a half of your Brenevan
or aquavite, and then top it with ginger beer. So
(24:52):
we're talking like four ounces or so of ginger beer.
It's so good.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
I love when ginger beer shows up.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
We use a lot of it because I like it anyway,
But this is really like a magical combination. Yeah, It's
very ummy. I could drink these all the time. Unfortunately,
Brenevan hard to get here in Atlanta, but I'm making
it happen. Listen, I'm jumping through hoops, but it's going
to get here. Here is how I would do the
mocktail on. This is super easy because we have done
(25:19):
it before where I have used aquavi in things. This
is just make caraway tea. So you're just gonna grind
up like a tablespoon of caraway seeds your mortar and
pestle if you have one. If you don't, you can
just mush them in a whatever receptacle you want with
like a spoon, a wooden spoon. You're just gonna pour
hot water over and let it steep for a little while.
(25:40):
Strain that off. You could also do it if you
want to simmer it in the pan. However, you like
to make tea, make your carraway tea and then strain
those off, let it cool, and then use it for this.
That is like a great thirst quencher in hot weather,
which we are having in abundance in the US right now.
Most of us are in the triple digits at least
on real feel, if not in actual tempts. So you
(26:02):
want a lot of cool and delicious and refreshing things,
and this will fit the bill. I almost guarantee it.
So I hope that you have a level head and
maybe drink a level headed so desire. And I want
to thank everybody again for spending time with us, especially
who all these fires so much vengeance. I know I
(26:23):
don't have the time or energy. I'm over here making cocktails.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
One terrible story after another.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
So the good news is you won't have a whole
lot of fire left with us. We're going to be
onto a new season soon, but we will be right
back here next week to chat with you some more,
and we hope you join us. Criminalia is a production
(26:50):
of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen into your favorite shows.
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Holly Frey
Maria Trimarchi
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