Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 1.djvu/102

 scarcely doubt but that the Northmen had higher notions of a future state than that of drinking ale in Valhalla.

The temples of Odin appear to have been but thinly scattered. We hear but of the one at Mære, and one at Lade, in the Drontheim district. A mound of earth alone remains at Mære which was the principal temple in the north of Norway: houses or halls, constructed of wood, for receiving the people who came together to eat, drink, and transact their business, have probably been all the structures. The temple at Upsal, or Upsalr (the up-halls or great halls), should have left some traces of former magnificence; for it was the residence of Odin himself,—the head-quarters, the Rome of the Odin religion; and in part, at least, was constructed of stone. Adam of Bremen, who lived about the time Christianity was first introduced into Sweden, namely, about 1064, says, "Nobilissimum ilia gens templum habet quod Upsala dicitur, non longe positum a Sictona civitate vel Birka. In hoc templo, quod totum ex auro paratum est, statua trium deorum veneratur populus, ita ut potentissimus eorum Thor in medio solum habeat triclinium, hinc et inde locum possident Woden et Fricco." In this passage from a contemporary Christian writer, who, as canon in the cathedral of Bremen,—under the bishop of which all the northern bishops stood at first,—must have had the best opportunity of becoming acquainted with the paganism of the North, Thor is stated to be seated on the throne as the supreme deity, and Odin and Friggia on each side as the minor deities in this pagan trinity; and the temple is stated to have been most noble, and adorned with gold. This temple was converted into a Christian church by Olaf the Swede about 1026; and Severin, an Englishman, was the first bishop. It was plundered of all its wealth, pagan and Christian, by King Stenkil, the son of King Ingve,