'The Old Heathen Laws'

[@ravinnox2640]

Waking up to a Jackson Crawford video...it's a good day

[@MissKellyBean]

I guess the timestamp is a kind thing to do, but I never skip the Old Norse. Even though I don't know a word of it, I enjoy the sound of it, and it makes the text feel more...significant? sometimes poetic?...somehow to hear it as it was written.

[@ScribblebytesWorldwide]

Yeah, I'm Zulu and I listened to the Norse. I had a dream about this so maybe the reading will satisfy the Viking spirits haha

[@klausolekristiansen2960]

More authentic, maybe.

[@kelleyeasterling]

That is a beautiful sounding language ❤️

[@recoveringsoul755]

I just loved listening to him read it.

[@jamessimpson9385]

Having my coffee now. Thanks Doc Crawford. Cheers.

[@canadianryan2359]

Another GREAT video! I need to order myself a "Dr. Jackson Crawford" coffee mug, for these early morning publishing's to view during coffee hour. Lol 😉 🍻

[@Darkurge666]

The first instance of criminal court is still today called a "ting", or "tingsrätt" ("thing court") in Swedish.

[@dwarfzerker9686]

Just when I thought Doctor Crawford couldn't get any prettier, he pulls out them specs and starts talking about old heathen laws :)

[@MrAndre2022]

Crawford you are amazing! love from Norway!

[@baelischthebard682]

NOT skipping the translation. That said, I've have both your books on the way, hopefully will replace them in the future with hardcovers, New subsriber here, Thank you for all you do.

[@asaholcombe3595]

Nice glasses Jackson, and thanks for the videos. Here’s a timestamp for the English part 4:10

[@JosephWiess]

I listened to the Original with my eyes closed, and I could swear that I understood some of it. Keep up the good work....

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

Glasses and stunning scenery. Not just a video to listen to.

[@vulpesinculta3238]

This "surprise exposition" thing about the role of religion in law happens in the Lex Frisionum as well. That particular legal text goes on and on about fines and criminal damages and how they vary between territories and castes of people, but then it veers off course and ends with: "De Honore templorum - Qui fanum effregerit, et ibi aliquid de sacris tulerit, ducitur ad mare, et in sabulo, quod accessus maris operire solte, finduntur aures eius, et castratur, et immolatur Diis quorum templa violavit." Or: "On the honour of the temple - If anyone breaks into a shrine and steals sacred items from there, he shall be taken to the sea, and on the sand, which will be covered by the flood, his ears will be cleft, and he will be castrated and sacrified to the god, whose temple he dishonoured." The interesting thing about the Lex Frisionum is that it was written in the closing years of the eighth century on the orders of Charlemagne to codify the customary laws in the area. You wouldn't think they'd include a law about pagan temples, but they did.

[@Virginia-er9si]

Great video Dr. Crawford. Thanks a lot for this new extended reading. I've been watching this video sitting in the café of an overcrowded european capital, saturday afternoon. In the comparison your land is incredibly beautiful, I would never get tired to learn more of its history and habits, really another world. In a very respectful way I must admitt you are so lucky!

[@SSgtPayne-jv3qv]

I recently bought your Poetic Edda. I cannot wait to get it!

[@faramund9865]

I feel like this is one of the few reliable things we get on paper about society and way of life in pre-christian Europe. 'Indiculus superstitionum et paganiarum' WOULD have been a great source if we actually had the material that the index speaks of. But of course Christians probably destroyed the text or are holding it back somewhere.

[@KingoftheJuice18]

Professor Crawford, you made an interesting comment about the amount of extant Old Norse material there is to translate. I've wondered about that in the past. Could you do a video illustrating or visualizing how much material we possess overall in that language?

[@softmettle]

what a lovely video to go to bed to. thank you for your passion

[@nordfreiheit]

This is really interesting. We get to see the actual laws of the society, which gives us insight into cultural values, religious ideas, and of course legal institutions.

[@wes6363]

What if the almighty One of the Æsir was referring to Týr? We have evidence that he USED to be the primary deity in Germanic paganism before Óðinn, and if I'm correct, Týr is also associated with Justice, which corresponds to a trial or hearing in a thing.

[@kingbeauregard]

Good point. We're used to thinking of Odin as some sort of wise sky father, but based on these videos, I get the feeling Odin was, at least for much of his history, more like a scary old biker who spent his time on the road in shady pursuits (summoning the ghosts of witches and the like).

[@MagnusItland]

I assumed that the oath was given its current form during the transition period when some people still held Tyr as the Skyfather, while others had begun to see Odin in that role. To avoid conflict, the obvious solution was to use this formula instead. You really did not want a religious quarrel and enmity to spring up at the Thing of all places.

[@sirnukesalot24]

I was just about to make that case myself. It seems a little odd that we would raise our right hand up to God Almighty when we swear an oath on the Bible if it wasn't, as I heard so many years ago, a hybridized belief alluding to Tyr's lost hand.

[@Tina06019]

If I were a guessing woman, I’d guess they were referring to Týr. The phrase sounds more like it is describing Týr than Oðin.

[@resonantone3284]

I so wish this video uad been out 6 months ago. Would really have helped with my Thing scene in my novels. Although alternate history fantasy, I try to maintain strong ties to historical post pagan viking culture, what little I can find without speaking the language. Thank you for all your work, Dr Crawford, this goes a long way for helping me flesh out a splinter culture of "what if" by providing excellent information to use as it's foundation. Keep up the great videos.

[@johanrunfeldt7174]

I almost cracked into laughter at "rettast ok sannast ok helzt at logum", because in my Swedish ears that translated to "rightest and truest, and preferrably lawfully". At the same time, this is so typical for the Old Norse, to seek whats right first and worry about the law second.

[@dungeoneering1974]

Nothing like sipping a hot cup of delicious Uncompahgre coffee while enjoying some Old Norse.

[@toffthe]

You're a superstar Dr Crawford.

[@Battleschnodder]

I really like those simple glasses

[@jonwhite9069]

A great video, really interesting. Thank you

[@kaimelo.mclark9288]

Waking up, drinking some hot tea and watching jackson crawford....what a day⛅⛅⛅

[@jamesanderson4946]

My father grew up on a farm about a mile from the Black Canyon. Beautiful country. Am presently reading and enjoying your Poetic Edda book.

[@charlotterosetta3063]

Thx for translations ❤️ we need you

[@WizardOfAtlantis]

Can't give enough thumbs up. That Old Norse really calls beyond the ear.

[@susysnakegirl]

Amazing reading, and beautiful setting! Wow! Thank you, Dr. Crawford!

[@emilbecker8970]

The video's keep getting better and more interesting can't wait for the wanderers Havamal greetings from norway

[@jennpipp26]

My favorite kinds of laws! ❤️

[@ignominius3111]

I love this business. I studied Old English and Old Icelandic under Geoffrey Russom at Brown University in 1971-1975. Kept it up!

[@Alk_Nonymo]

Greetings. I'm clearly not active on your channel despite the fact I really appreciate your content. I want to thank you for you great work.. and for your integrity concerning sponsors and such. We certainly all would support any choice of yours if it could help you keeping up with the great work, but I myself certainly appreciate how you deal with this matter so far. Well.. Good vibes from south west France, sir!

[@SpeakViking]

The gorge behind is a good stand-in for Lögberg. Great pronunciation Dr. Crawford!

[@swallowsbreath]

Would love a video on getting into historical linguistics. Especially PIE studies.

[@sunshinesilverarrow5292]

Thank you! 🌞

[@juliaconnell]

'there's more old norse literature to translate than I could possibly publish' - wow - & here was I thinking there was really only 3 sources - this is good (*really* good) & this is interesting - especially 'not have a ship with a head on the bow' fascinating, truly - esp in terms of 'modern depictions not just of vikings 'raiders' (pirates) in general. much prefer truth, fact. I don't care if it is mundane facts - the more *facts* (true knowledge not just fantasy) we have the better

[@Tina06019]

Julia Connell I agree

[@abbydabbs5519]

Never disappointed to see what you’ve made!

[@chainsawlady]

I have been very interested in irish history and for some reason u came up in my search but loved listening to this

[@faramund9865]

Each quarter has nine temples, of course!

[@sirseigan]

Interestingly in Jämtland (Sweden) you have Frösön (Frey's Island), Nordön (Njord's Island) and Odensala (The hall/temple of Odin) - pretty much the same as mentioned in the "Heathen Laws" - and on all three places there is confirmed cult-sites. Frösön was the central place (it is also placed in the middle) and it was also there you had the lands thing of Jämtland, called Jamtamót ("Jamt-meet").

[@nirfz]

Cool, at least the word Landnámabók is understandable for german speakers today, could be written as "Landnahmebuch" and still having the meaning of describing the settlement of land.

[@ulfhedin8728]

The part "-nám" in the word "Landnám" has nothing to do with the word "nahme". The word for "nahme" or in english "name" in old norse is "nafn". "-nám" means to take, so a direct translation would be the "the Land-take-book", but Dr. Crawford's translation to "the Book of the Settlers" is a more elegant way to convey the original meaning.

[@ulfhedin8728]

@highks I see. That's embarrassing (for me). It' seems we're all in agreement on the the meaning of the word -nám and it's modern germanic cognates. Well I have to apologize then to nirfz for misunderstanding him/her because of my at best rusty german skills.

[@nirfz]

@@ulfhedin8728 no problem.

[@MysteriousAsteria]

@@ulfhedin8728 Ehm, no. German native speaker here, the poster before was right. "Nahme" is the noun form of the verb "nehmen", High German for "take", so it is cognate with -nám. It has nothing to do with "name" as you suggest, which would be "Name" (without an h!) in German.

[@melange6]

Black Canyon of the Gunnison...Nice!

[@recoveringsoul755]

He's always got the best scenery

[@leonardorivera8349]

Thank you Doctor..

[@gurunpetreagunnarsdottir8192]

Gaman af þessu..takk fyrir 🤗 gangi þér vel !

[@FalkaRiannon]

I'm currently reading through the translation of the poetic edda and I must say it is a really fun and understandable read even though english is my second language. I tried to read a translation into my native tongue before but it was a really hard read. So if anyone reads this and is on the fence I hope this will help your decision making in some way. (Maybe I should have used the word read a few more times XD)

[@neroulfgrimr9323]

I bought your book the poetic edda, I'm going to buy the saga of the volsungs too

[@Vikingjack1]

Awesome

[@VagaBohn]

Hey I just stood there last week on vacation! Road was a bit too scary for my gf so we didn’t get to do the whole rim drive. (Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park North Rim I believe.)

[@rayganrambles]

You are correct! Such a beautiful canyon.

[@VagaBohn]

Raygan Earl really is. I loved all the parks in Colorado.

[@Tina06019]

Don Bohn You have a smart girlfriend. Here is clear evidence to explain the reason that married men live longer than single men, lol.

[@МаксимГригорьев-ъ7ф]

Somehow I expected Dr. Crawford to have a different shape of glasses. This one makes him look more like wise older man, while I always looked at him like a kind of "Awesome Uncle who tells interesting stories". Not a point of judgement though! He is a teacher, anyway :D

[@VikingTokyo]

WOW! What a powerful loccation!

[@jeffreyadamo]

I’d like to see a dramatization of lokasenna where Dr Crawford plays Loki.

[@ungratefulpeasant8085]

Excellent translation, Thank You for sharing.

[@kingbeauregard]

Not sure who the guy is at the start of the video (i.e. up to the coffee ad), but he's pretty good too.

[@tracieh215]

I know who should be sponsoring your videos - your local Chamber of Commerce. By filming outdoors and showing us how beautiful your state is, it's making people like me DROOL and wish we could relocate there

[@tsangarisjohn]

Awesome views. Thanks for the knowledge you share 👍🏻

[@Goosebear77]

He may well be talking about Thor here. Mjölner was used to consecrate and bless marriage, births and possibly funerals. It may have also been used to confirm contracts. That's just conjecture based on a few bits of information in the Eddas and Saxo. A pet theory of mine is that Mjölner, used in an official or judicial context could be the origin of the Judge's Gavel used in Court Rooms and Auction Houses today. Just a pet theory ;-)

[@Roikat]

You're probably right about the gavel. I vaguely recall a reference to a lawspeaker banging a hammer on a table, but my saga knowledge is too fragmentary and incomplete to quote "chapter and verse" on that.

[@Goosebear77]

The law speaker thing is rattling around in my head too. I don't have my books with me to double check. Not gonna Google it :-D I've been studying Norse history and Mythology since I was 10 or 11. I've been a Security Officer for 20 years so I go on the available information to draw a conclusion. That experience really helps with studying this subject. It helps with me being the Skald for the Viking Reenactment group I'm in. Extrapolating from incomplete information for what we do can be hard but logic usually prevails.

[@AmericanHeathen1]

Thats awesome

[@andrewlange5941]

Thanks for another tidbit of knowledge about how people lived back then. It would get expensive to sacrifice a steer every time you have to provide legal services. Also, the first time you got to wear the bloody arm ring would be a great honor, but I imagine it would get old sacrificing steers and wearing a bloody arm ring after several years. Would be easy to misplace your arm ring too as you travel around from your alters to your legal cases. Best to keep a few spares around :)

[@nirfz]

not sure he is saying you have to sacrifice one ever time, but to sacrifice one "beforehand" possibly meaning befor doing it at all, so when gaining this position. (Any maybe when by any circumstances the blood get washed off....)

[@jonrolfson1686]

Appropriately presented in front of a place which resembles my mental image of Iceland's Þingvellir.

[@lewisoliverleo]

Fantastic

[@1.1797]

I still can't get over the fact that the big meeting was called thing. Lol.

[@DakotaBrantMacDonald]

"I'm sorry, the defendant requests WHAT instead of swearing on the Bible?"

[@AndyTernay]

Black canyon of the Gunnison National Park. My favorite place in the world.

[@AndyTernay]

The north side of the canyon.

[@HRJParanormalAdventures]

👍👍

[@shantanutilak9195]

To your speculation on who 'the almighty Áss' might be, where you mentioned that it could be either Odin or Thor, I'd also throw in Ullr's name here given his association with oath rings?

[@Looter92]

Alex Jones used to make a mint selling 'Patriot' Coffee for 20$/lb

[@stevemackelprang8472]

We are talking " transparent" government here.

[@jayfutz6721]

After getting out of the air force I'm back at college. I'm at a City college until I can transfer. Unfortunately I'll never be able to go to Colorado. Do you offer any online courses? If not do you have any recommendations? I may never get to study ancient Scandinavia but I'm grateful for finding your chanel. So informative, thank you for sharing

[@Paddy_Nithuigim]

I have never been able to find a list of the names of Latinized Old Norse alpha bet (e.g. "thorn" and "eth"). Where could I find this (or could you list them)? Love your videos! It's an amazing subject.

[@talitek]

Hi Dr Crawford. Where would I be able to find sections of Landnámabók (in ON) online? I found Sturlubók through Wikipedia but I'm struggling to find any of the others. Cheers for another great video!

[@WigfridoftheWood]

Nice glasses mate!

[@juliaconnell]

interesting - (Yes Dr Crawford - we've reached an agreement about Almighty Johnsons (which you're not interested in watching (& yet - consultant on Frozen... & American Gods..... just saying...) - I so much *PREFER* true facts & knowledge - yet Almighty Johnsons still has a special place in my heart (you brought up the "thing" - was a whole comedic "thing")

[@iceomistar4302]

Knowing a little Old English and Old Frisian, I try.so hard to understand what tou are saying but I cannot.

[@nbattey42]

Black Canyon of the Gunnison?

[@rayganrambles]

Yup!

[@joetrimble7953]

I thought Professor Jones looked good lecturing in his glasses. Leave it to Jackson to add to his stylish ensemble to enhance his scholarly image.

[@EasytheGoon]

Who skips the old Norse translation?

[@baelischthebard682]

Not me!

[@njordmannen]

I would sugjest the allmighty æsir is Tyr.

[@maxbuckley9300]

Couldnt it be argued that it could possibly mean tyr as he stands for judgement and truth .. Being fair and equal? If im wrong please tell me why i just throught to put it out there as Odin / Thor are more war based gods

[@monkeyseatcatfood]

Professor Crawford kinda looks like an older Daniel Radcliffe when he wears glasses. Good video as always.

[@Carl-vu5tm]

Any insights into why a steer specifically?

[@TulilaSalome]

I shows you the secret ways to Mordor...

[@sirnukesalot24]

Even more hilarious when you remember he can do that voice!

[@inregionecaecorum]

Fascinating, although I can only understand the odd word here and there the language does not really sound that alien. The oaths sworn don't seem a million miles away from the oaths sworn in courts today.

[@bandit5272]

Since when do you wear glasses?

[@Rehvidepaigaldus]

new camera?

[@heathenwolf4997]

People may not know this, English language originated in the Scandinavian/Germanic area.

[@Ravynwulf]

♥️😂♥️

[@eavaharris3519]

Don't get too GD adorable, now...

[@cathyrae3415]

Is it true you are not heathen?

[@noahthoresen6999]

is it difficult to get rid of the american accent when pronouncing old norse words? your reconstructed pronunciation is pretty good, but it's at every point unmistakably american...

[@habibikebabtheiii2037]

Fix your collar