If the insulted one comes and not he who has spoken, then he shall cry ' Niðingr!' three times and make a mark in the ground, and he is worse who spoke what he dared not keep. If he who has spoken comes and not the insulted one, then he shall be as he's been called: no right to swear oaths, no right to bear witness, may it concern man or woman. If someone speaks insults to another man ('You're not the like of a man, and not a man in your chest!' – 'I’m a man like you!'), they shall meet where three roads meet. The Swedish Hednalagen, or Pagan law, a fragment from a 13th-century document from Västergötland, Sweden, stipulates the conditions for a holmgang: Sometimes a capable warrior could volunteer to fight in the place of a clearly outclassed friend. In effect, if someone was unwilling or unable to defend their claim, they had no honor. If the offended party did not turn up for the holmgang, they were deemed niðingr, and could have been sentenced to outlawry. If the person challenged did not turn up for the holmgang, the other man was considered just in his challenge. Holmgangs were fought 3–7 days after the challenge. This could be a matter of honor, ownership or property, demand of restitution or debt, legal disagreement or intention to help a wife or relative or avenge a friend. The name holmgang (literally ' holm-going') may derive from the combatants' dueling on a small island, or holm, as they do in the saga of Egill Skallagrímsson.Īt least in theory, anyone offended could challenge the other party to holmgang regardless of their differences in social status. It was a legally recognized way to settle disputes. Holmgang ( hólmganga in Old Norse and modern Icelandic, holmgång in Swedish, holmgang in Danish and Norwegian bokmål and nynorsk) is a duel practiced by early medieval Scandinavians.

Egill Skallagrímsson engaging in holmgang with Berg-Önundr, painting by Johannes Flintoe

Ck2 how to duel