Forseti: Norse God Of Justice And Lawmaker Who Lived In A Shining House

Ellen Lloyd - AncientPages.com - Little is known about Forseti, the Norse god of justice. His name means "Chairman" or "President" in Old Norse, and he is mentioned only twice in Norse literature.

The first mention comes from the 15th stanza of the Grímnismál, one of the poems in the Poetic Edda.

Credit: Adobe Stock - danielegay

Forseti is described as a person who has excellent skills in mediation. He lived in a Glitnir house in Asgard, the realm of the mighty Norse gods.

Forseti's dwelling is marvelous. The house has a silver roof and golden pillars. It was also the place where he settled disputes. Forseti was the divine equivalent of and model for the human "lawspeaker" (lögsögumaðr), the ceremonial head of the þing, the Scandinavian legal assembly. The lawspeaker often acted as a judge who decided the outcome of disputes following the law.

Tracing the history of Forseti is difficult. The sole other mention of Foresti in Old Norse literature comes from the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson, who wrote Forseti as the son of Baldr and Nanna.

Forseti Seated in Judgment (1881) by Carl Emil Doepler

This Norse god of justice is generally identified with Fosite, a god of the Frisians, a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany.

In one medieval account of the origin of Frisian law, twelve lawmakers were set adrift at sea as a punishment by Charles the Great. They prayed to the Christian god for assistance, and their prayers were answered when a thirteenth man carrying a golden ax mysteriously appeared among them. He used his ax to row the ship to land, and when they reached land, he threw the ax on the ground, and a spring gushed forth from where it landed. This thirteenth man taught them the laws they needed to know. Then he vanished never to be seen again.

According to Alcuin's eighth-century Life of St. Willibrord, Willibrord once visited an island between Denmark and Frisia. There was a holy spring on the island from which people obtained water, and they did so in silence due to the holiness of the place. The Life records that the island was named Fositesland after the god was worshipped there.

In eastern Norway, there is also a farm in the parish of Onsøy ('Odins Island'). The first element in its name Forsetlund suggests the Norse god Forseti was worshipped there.

Updated on February 1, 2023

Written by - Ellen Lloyd – AncientPages.com

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