II
THE JOMSVIKINGS
Jomsborg, which sits picturesquely on the Island, near the mouth of the rushing Oder, was, at the close of the tenth century, the stronghold of the Jomsvikings. If the ordinary Norse vikings were bold and adventurous, the piratical Jomsvikings were even greater adventurers. Here on their Island, they gathered; bound by stern oaths to their chief, Earl Sigvalde, and obeying, without questioning, their own stern laws. They loved danger and laughed at death. To women, they gave only a passing, contemptuous thought; and none of the gentler sex were ever allowed to enter the sacred precincts of Jomsborg. Such of the Jomsvikings as claimed any feminine association, wives or mothers or sisters, secluded them on the mainland; and none ever dared allow the profanation of a female foot upon their stronghold. The chief of the Jomsvikings, Earl Sigvalde, had at Nidaros a gentle, devoted wife, and a peaceful, well-ordered home, very different from the tumultuous surroundings of his wild realm on the banks of the Oder. The Lady Aastrid, the wife of Earl Sigvalde, was of the same name and was a kinswoman of the mother of the wandering King Olaf.
