Hill, Thomas D. The evisceration of Bróðir in Brennu-Njáls saga
- Author: Hill, Thomas D.
- Title: The Evisceration of Bróðir in ‘Brennu-Njáls Saga’
- Place, Publisher: Traditio, Vol. 37
- Year: 1981
- Pages: 437-444
- E-text: JSTOR <http://www.jstor.org/stable/27831104>
- Reference: Hill, Thomas D. “The Evisceration of Bróðir in ‘Brennu-Njáls Saga’,Traditio 37
(1981): 437-44
- Key words: Bróðir, religion, miracles, morality, apostate, evisceration
Annotation
This article is a reading of the evisceration of Bróðir the apostate priest, in light of the hagiographical conventions present in the portrayal of the deaths of Njáll and King Brían. In medieval hagiographical literature, miracles surrounding the body of a good man or woman indicated saintliness, whereas evisceration was a fate for traitors, heretics, and apostates, exemplified by Judas and Arius. Thus, Hill argues, Bróðir’s evisceration is not merely a portrayal of archaic Viking Age brutality intended to titillate the audience. Instead, this episode was to be understood as a suitable end for an apostate traitor, resonating with the Christian literary and moral conventions that inform Njáls saga as a whole.
Lýsing
See also
References
Chapter 132, p. 343: [L]íkami Njáls og ásjóna sýnist mér svo bjartur að eg hefi engis dauðs manns líkama séð jafnbjartan. ‘The extraordinary preservation of the body of a holy man is a hagiographic commonplace; and the significance of this event, which is in fact meaningful only in terms of hagiographic conventions, is crucial for the interpretation of Njáls saga as a whole.’ (p. 439)
Chapter 157, p. 453: Var þá Bróðir höndum tekinn. Úlfur hræða reist á honum kviðinn og leiddi hann um eik og rakti svo úr honum þarmana og dó hann eigi fyrr en allir voru úr honum raktir. ‘As a kind of epitome of evil in the saga, it is suitable that Bróðir should die as a new Judas, a new Arius risen again to strike at what is true and holy.’ (p. 444)
Links
- Written by: Kathryn Haley-Halinski
- Icelandic/English translation:
