Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/422

 406 SORCERY AND OCCULT ARTS. the latter.* Enchanted swords that nothing could resist, en- chanted coats that nothing could penetrate, caps of darkness which, like the Greek helm of Pluto, rendered the wearer invisi- ble, are of frequent occurrence in Norse legendary history. f All this was more or less lawful magic, while the impious sor- cery known as seid or trolldom was based on a knowledge of the evil secrets of nature or the invocation of malignant spirits, such as the Jotuns and their troll-wives. Seid is apparently derived from sjoda, to seethe or boil, indicating that its spells were wrought by boiling in a caldron the ingredients of the witches' hell-broth, as we see it done in Macbeth. It was deemed infa- mous, unworthy of men, and was mostly left to women, known as seid Jconur, or seid wives, and as " riders of the night." In the oldest text of the Salic law, which shows no trace of Christian in- fluence, the only allusion to sorcery is a fine imposed for calling a woman a witch, or for stigmatizing a man as one who carries the caldron for a witch.J Scarce any limit was assigned to the power of these sorcerers. One of their most ordinary feats was the rais- ing and allaying of tempests, and to such perfection was this brought that storm and calm could be enclosed in bags for use by the possessor, like those which yEoIus gave to Ulysses. As Chris- tianity spread, this power gave rise to trials of strength between the old and the new religion, such as we have seen when Constan- tine overcame Licinius. St. Olaf's first expedition to Finland barely escaped destruction from a dreadful tempest excited by the Finnish sorcerers. Olaf Tryggvesson was more fortunate in one of his missionary raids, when he defeated Raud the Strong and drove him to his fastness on Godo Island in the Salten Fiord — a piece of water whose fierce tidal currents were more dreaded than the Maelstrom itself. Repeated attempts to follow him were vain, for, no matter how fair was the weather outside, inside Raud main- tained a storm in which no ship could live. At length Olaf in- voked the aid of Bishop Sigurd, who promised to test whether xxvii. — Sigurdtharkvida Fafnisbana I. 37, 38. t Olaf Haraldsson's Saga, 204, 240 (Laing's Heimskringla). — Volsunga Saga, m. 15. — Keyser, op. cit. p. 294. X Havamal, 157.— Harbardsliod, 20. — L. Salic. Tit. lxiv. (First Text of Par- dessus).
 * Olaf Tryggvesson's Saga, 37 (Laing's Heimskringla). — Volsunga Saga, vn.,