A HISTORY of SCANDINAVIAN TRADITIONAL FOLK WRESTLING by Tyr Neilsen

ILLUSTRATION: THOR WRESTLES ELLI BY LORENZ FRØLICH

Throughout history, different forms of survival fighting skills have been developed all over the world, including hand-to-hand combat, designed for warfare situations when a warrior lost his weapon.

Without a weapon, a warrior could use his striking and wrestling skills for attack and defense or to hurt or kill an opponent. The most effective way for the weaponless warrior to defend himself, and attack, was by striking, seizing, off-balancing, and tripping or throwing the opponent to the ground.

These martial (war) techniques often inluded wrestling skills that could be used as sport. Over time they became traditional folk wrestling, which not only kept men fit and strong, but also became a source of entertainment, pleasure and play.

Wrestling was a big part of the Norse people's martial art. When used for fun, this wrestling became the most popular sport in Viking Age Scandinavia.

The earliest sources we have regarding Viking wrestling and Viking armed and unarmed combat are found in Norse poetry from the 9th century, a 12th century Icelandic manuscript known as the Younger Edda, and the Icelandic sagas. 

According to the Icelandic Jónsbók lovboken (Jonsbok lawbook), compiled by Jón Einarsson in  1281, and based on earlier Norwegian Laws, the original settlers of Iceland took Viking wrestling and Viking combat techniques with them from their homeland, where they have been preserved as forms of folk-wrestling ever since. 

TYPES of VIKING WRESTLING

There are 3 forms of Viking Wrestling that were practiced as íþrótt, which means sport in Old Norse. These forms of sport wrestling are defined by their grips; Lausatök, Hryggspenna, and Brókartök.

Lausatök in Old Norse means loose-grip, or free-grip. Lausatök is freestyle wrestling with rules. Lausatök was a liberal form of wrestling where all grips were permitted. Tricks were applied with the feet, hands and all other parts of the body. Various hand-grips, at least 27 of them, where also permitted. The contestant who remained standing won, if both contestants fell, the one who was quicker up again was the winner.

Lausatök is the basis for the armed and unarmed self-defense/combat martial art used by the Vikings. Lausatök was also used as the basis of Råbryting (raw wrestling) which was the most brutal form of sport wrestling in the Viking Age.

Lausatök was widely practiced in Iceland, until it was banned there in 1916 for being too dangerous. Lausatök remained popular in other Scandinavian countries, and in Norway, it continued to be more common than any other form of Nordic traditional folk wrestling. Today lausatök is the most popular form of Viking wrestling in Norway, Europe and USA.

Hryggspenna in Old Norse is back-grip. Hryggspenna is similar to back-hold wrestling, the most popular form of folk wrestling in Scotland, of which many regions were under Norwegian rule or colonization until the 15th century. 

Viking hryggspenna relies on brute strength, and there are no throws, swings or any maneuvers which off-balance the opponent that are allowed. The wrestlers clasp their hands behind the opponent's back and they then try to sway the opponent back until he falls. Hryggspenna is a contest of strength, not of skillful techniques and agility.

Brókartök in Old Norse means trouser-grip. Brókartök is a form of rigid wrestling that has a permanent trouserbelt-grip. Brókartök is the most popular form of traditional folk wrestling in Sweden and Denmark, and a modern version of this is the national sport of Iceland. 

Axlatök (shoulder-grip) is the name of a style from a single source (Þorsteinn Einarsson, 1984). According to this source, axlatök resembles Scottish back-hold in that axlatök wrestlers stand chest to chest overlooking each other’s right shoulder and clasp their hands high on each other’s backs. In axlatök, no other hand-grips or any hand-tricks are allowed, only swinging and foot tricks.

THE MYTH OF THOR IN THE SNORRA EDDA IS FOUND IN CHAPTERS 44–47 OF GYLFAGINNING. ( CHAPTER 46 MENTIONS GLÍMA )

The earliest introduction to Viking wrestling is found in the myth of Thor's journey to Utgard Loki, as it is told in ancient Viking poetry from the 9th century, by Bragi Hinn Gamli Boddason (790-850) and Kveldúlfr Bjálfason (820-878), both of Norwegian ancestry. Thor’s wrestling match is a highlight in this story, and the name of a technique is mentioned.

The oldest manuscript that mentions this myth is the Prose Edda, written by Snorri Sturluson (1178-1241) an Icelandic historian. According to Codex Upsaliensis, from the 14th century, Snorri's Edda is from around 1220. In the Norse myth, the thunder god Thor has a wrestling match with an old woman named Elli, which means "old age". She is described as an experienced wrestler and it is said that she has defeated stronger men than Thor. Elli uses throwing techniques called bragð, against Thor’s feet. When Thor starts to lose his balance, Elli tries to defeat him with very hard throw called sviptingar.

Thor falls down on one knee, and by touching the ground with the knee the fight is called as over by the judge Utgard Loki, who orders them to stop. We know this was a standing wrestling match, by the fact that the match was lost when anything other than feet touched the ground. This also tells us that there were rules and that wrestling was practiced also a sport/game.

Vikings loved all kinds of sports, but the best loved sport in Viking Age Scandinavia, was by far, wrestling. Wrestling was so important in Viking Age society, that their most popular god, Thor, was also the god of wrestling. 

FANG - CATCH WRESTLING

There are references to Viking wrestling in the Icelandic law book Grágás, from the year 1117. The legal text makes it clear that everyone trains at their own risk, and that no athlete cannot blame others for damages incurred during training, unless an opponent has been proven as trying to hurt another opponent.

Viking wrestling is also mentioned in the Icelandic saga of Grettir the strong, where the combat is closely linked to the Nordic honor concept.

Viking wrestling is mentioned in eleven other Icelandic Sagas, such as Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu and Víga-Glúmssaga. In Finnboga saga ramma and in Gunnars saga Keldugnúpsfífls, there are stories of wrestling matches that took place indoors.

Before Egils saga, written around the year 1240, Viking wrestling is only mentioned by the name fang or fangbrögð in written sources. Fang in Old Norse means to catch, capure, embrace or hold.

Famntag, favnetag and favnetak were Swedish, Danish and Norwegian names for wrestling and have the same meaning as fang. 

Taka fang in Old Norse means to take hold, which according to Snorra Edda, meant that opponents took one of the several fixed holds that would start a wrestling match. 

At the annual Alþing (All-thing), a Viking Age assembly in Iceland where legal matters were settled, men wrestled for sport at Fangabrekka  (Wrestling slope).

Some Viking wrestling matches were duel-like and fought to the death. Kjalnesinga saga tells of a wrestling match in Norway attended by the king. The fight took place on a wrestling field which contained a fanghella, a flat stone set on end, on which an opponent's back could be broken.  

Medieval law-books are very good sources to find quality information about the laws and customs of society in that period. In the 11th century, the male population in Scandinavia was expected to be ready for military activities for their kings, and be competent in basic hand to hand combat and weapon combat, according leiðangr, the people's maritime military force, founded in Norway around the year 940. In this book Viking wrestling is defined as leikfang, which mean wrestling as play.  

Leidangen was still in use until the 13th century, and there are references to the Viking martial art fighting style in the Norwegian Konungs skuggsjá, (King's Mirror) an educational text referred to politics and morals, published in the year 1250, and Hirðskrá, 'The book of the hird', a collection of laws regulating many aspects of the royal retinue from the end of 13th century Norway.

In the first part of the 1270's at the order of King Magnus VI, the Hirðskrá states that practical knowledge of martial arts is the most important virtue of a warrior.

In Heimskringla (the circle of the world) from Snorri's Old Norse kings' sagas, written in 1222, it is mentioned that Viking warriors were supposed to be vigr, meaning "able in battle" in Old Norse, at least until they were 60 years old. 

ICELANDIC CHURCH and VIKING WRESTLING

In Egils saga, written around the years 1220-1240, the word glímur is mentioned. The noun glíma and the verb að glíma also appear in Finnboga saga (written in the early 13th century).

At this time, all styles of Viking wrestling, or fang, were practiced as sport or for fun, but Lausatök could be used to maim or kill, and was considered evil by the Icelandic church.

One source says that the name Glíma, an Old Norse word meaning joy, is believed to have been given to Viking wrestling by the clergy in the 11th century, in order to eradicate the remains of the heathen customs.

To be rid of the pagan sport/martial art, only brókartök, the trouser-grip version was acknowledged in Iceland. When glima is mentiooned in the Finnboga saga, it refers only to brókartök. Since then, brókartök has been made a gentler sport over time, and known as glíma in Iceland.

Viking wrestling had traditionally been practiced outdoors, and training in cold and icy conditions are part of what gave Viking wrestling its distinct grounded footwork and sharp movement. 

Icelandic brókartök glima developed into a game that could be played indoors, where there was very limited space.

When glima was practiced in any natural place that gave shelter or indoors, these places were referred to as Glímuholl, meaning "Glima Hall".

THORLACIUS

From the medieval Edda manuscripts, and more recent historical combat manuals, all descriptions of Viking wrestling are presented as styles where arm techniques are as important as footwork, and the use of bragð (trick), kast (throw) as well as sviptingar (hard throw) and røsking (tugging techniques) are mentioned.

Through historical documents, we can see which Viking fighting techniques were still in use in the 1600’s, 1700’s and 1800’s.

The first scholar who wrote in detail about Viking wrestling, was the Icelander Skúli Þórđarson Thorlacius (1741-1815), who uses the term lausa-tauk when writing of Lausatök.

His work, Thorlacius' Borealium Veterum matrimonio, or 'the old Scandinavian customs of marriage' published in 1784, provides a thorough description of the ancient physical activities.

It is the fourth part of Antiqvitatum Boealium Observationes miscellaneæ or ‘miscellaneous observations of ancient Scandinavia’ that was published in seven parts 1778–1801 for the university students of Denmark.

Thorlacius separated these physical activities into three main groups - Ludi, Exercitia militaria and Pugnæ; Traditional games/sport, military exercises and combat.

Lucta, or wrestling, was the only activity belonging to both "Ludi" and "Pugnæ".

In his text, Thorlacius uses the terms fáng and glíma as the major expressions of Viking wrestling, the same words as used in Snorri's Edda manuscripts.

Thorlacius talks about two types of standing Viking wrestling forms; Lousatök (loose-grip/Free-grip), and rett glíma/fang (straight wrestling/trapping). He stressed the importance of sviptingar and braugd, and tells us that sviptingar belong to lousatök, and braugd to glíma/fang.

Fang has been translated as an Old Norse expression meaning ‘to wrestle’, which can be seen in the Scandinavian translations of Snorri’s Edda from the earliest 17th century editions.

‘Fang’ is a versatile word which could mean ‘trapping’, ‘catching’ or ‘fetching’ as an expression for grappling where a part of an opponent’s body is held, or an arm is trapped against the body.

Snorri’s Edda gives a clear idea of what ‘fang / glima’ is. Glima wrestling starts when the opponents ‘taka fang’ with each other. This indicates that grips or holds are to be taken when the opportunity presents itself. It also means that catching/fetching/embracing/trapping are its major action.

Thorlacius claims that straight glima/trapping differs from the others Viking wrestling styles because it relies more on ‘magis agilitate & exerciti’ (agility and exercise), instead of ‘qvam viribus nitens’ – through trials of strength.

‘Trick’ was a term used to describe martial arts techniques until the late 20th century. Thorlacius wrote that braugd were ‘varias supplantandi artes’, various tricks to trip the feet, that ‘strophas ac technas luctatorias habuit’ wrestling masters used.

Thorlacius also wrote about ‘Lucta brachialis’ meaning wrestling with the arms, which makes clear that this was wrestling that included leg and arm techniques.

Thorlacius also made it clear that this way of fighting is very versatile as contained ‘pancratii species fuit’, meaning wrestling and striking, and ‘impellendo raptandoqve’ , meaning  offensive moves with brutal tugging, called sviptingar.

The aim of this style of wrestling was to be ‘adeoqve robore corpis maxime constabat’ (unwavering and to maximize the utilization of body strength).

In lucta ordinaria (straight glima/trapping wrestling), technical skills are favored above strength and aggressiveness which are found in lousat¨k. In the straight style, beinfeiinger (leg-sweeps) or braugder (tricks) play a major role.

The less restrictive style of lousatök (loose-grip/free-grip/freestyle) focuses on the offensive possibilities of the arms and the violent tugging movements, which can be done by a grip as well as by striking blow or kick.

Thorlacius wrote that lousatök was a form of pancratii, or combat style where every technique was used; wrestling as well as striking and other means.

Combat techniques from Scandinavian wrestling from the late 1700’s and early 1800’s shows that Thorlacius and Von Heidenstam had similar opinions on what Viking wrestling was all about.

Firstly, Scandinavian wrestling contains an arsenal of slagteknikker (strike techniques and powerful push techniques) against the chest, the throat and the neck, and that the throat, neck and chest are the main targets when striking above the waist.

A spark (kick) is used whenever possible, and the calf is the goal of both the sidespark (side-kick) and skyvespark (side and front thrust-kicks).

Beinfellinger (leg takedowns) are the most common leg techniques, such as beinkroker (leg hooks) and feiinger (leg-sweeps).

In wrestling situations using arms, the focus is set on attacking the legs. This means holding a leg or both legs with both arms, lifting the leg/legs to the side, and powerfully pulling the leg or legs upward.

Another arm technique that is also used is grabbing behind the knees and pulling, so that an opponent goes backwards to the ground. ‘Fattar hans lår med båda sina armar … lyfta det ena benet åt sidan … fattar hans venstra lår, och drar det strakt till sig ... fatta tag i venstra ben i knä vecket och rycka omkull honom’.

Thorlacius underlines the importance of glíma/fáng being seen both as a sport and a combat form. Thorlacius also identifies lousatök as a Viking wrestling style where everything is allowed and that the grappling action of combat glima as brutal and no nonsense.

Thorlacius demonstrated the basic principles and characteristics of glima, noted that the ancient Scandinavian form of glima was separated into two forms; sport and combat, and wrote: ‘lucta brachtialis, Borealibus lausa-tauk audiebat ... sic antiqvior’ (Lousatök is the oldest style of glima in the Scandinavian countries).

Thorlacius also confirmed that lousatök and rett glíma were still practiced in his time, 1741-1815.

LING

Per Henrik Ling (1776-1839) was master swordsman at Lund University 1805-1813 and Kalberg Military School from 1813 to 1826. In 1813, Ling founded Gymnastic Central Institute in Stockholm, which later became gymnastikk och idrettshøgkolan, the oldest school of its kind in the world.

In 1818 and 1835, Ling was appointed by the Swedish King as member of the prestigious Svenska Skolan, also known as "the eighteen", because of the very limited membership.

The Swedish and Norwegian military adopted the martial art system Ling based on traditional Scandinavian lousatök wrestling and combat techniques, and used them for bajonettkamp, (bayonet-fighting). This form of combat was directly related to Viking spear fighting.

HEIDENSTAM

In the years 1841-1842, the Swedish fencing champion Gustaf Daniel von Heidenstam (1785-1850) wrote a manual about Scandinavian wrestling titled Brottning (About Wrestling).

This wrestling manual was published in a limited edition in 1946 by Ling expert Carl August Wester Sheet (1873-1955).

Here, Von Heidestam wrote that Viking wrestling was a versatile and all-encompassing martial art. Von Heidestam wrote the manual in memory of his martial arts teacher, Per Henrik Ling.

Von Heidestam became the swordmaster at Kalberg Militærskole (Kalberg Military School) in 1808, until Ling took over in 1813. Von Heidestam was appointed swordmaster at Uppsala University the same year and held this position until his death in 1850 (University of Uppsala is the same university that owns the oldest Snorre Edda manuscript).

BALCK

Vikingbryting (Viking wrestling/Scandinavian wrestling) has always been practiced for combat in realistic situations, a fact mentioned in Illustrerad Idrottsbok (the illustrated sports book), published in three parts in 1886-1888 by Viktor Balck (1844-1928).

Balck was educated by Ling’s successor at Gymnasistiska Central Institute in Stockholm and is known as a founding member of the International Olympic Committee in 1894. When it came to the Viking/Scandinavian wrestling, Balck stressed the “importance of fair play, and that it should be done under strict rules”.

Balck also stressed that it should be “taken from a self-defense stance where all control techniques and techniques that could lead to throwing an opponent should be allowed and practiced".   

Johannes Josefsson

ICELANDIC GLÍMA

Brókartök glíma (Trouser-grip glima) has been the official national sport in Iceland since 1906 and each year the winner receives the championship Grettís-beltí, (Grettis belt) named after the saga of Grettís, famous for its depiction of a glima battle in which two men fight against one.

The most famous Icelandic Glima Champion is probably Johannes Josefsson, Islands glima champion in 1907 and 1908. Josefsson represented Iceland at the 1908 Olympics in Greco-Roman wrestling.

Josefsson also went on to take part in a series of open martial arts tournaments, challenge matches, and had glima and wrestling demonstrations for royalty and for paying audiences worldwide.

Unbeaten in his lifetime, Josefsson wrote a technique-manual for Icelandic wrestling in 1908, describing many Glima moves.

GLÍMA AT OLYMPICS - STOCKHOLM 1912

By the 20th century, glima was not only the national sport of Iceland, but it was part of the school curriculum.

There was a demonstration of Icelandic glima in the 1912 Summer Olympics held in Stockholm Sweden. It was an introduction of sport glima to the world, and Olympic officials consented to making glima an official Olympic sport.

The Olympic committee planned to include glima at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, but Icelandic sport officials cancelled their participation in the Olympics. It was decided it was more important to offer the King of Denmark a spectacle of Icelands best glima wrestlers when the king arrived in Iceland at the same time as the Antwerp Olympics. But when the Danish king postponed his journey to Iceland by a year, glima missed its chance of being in the Olympics.

The Viking wrestling styles used in Scandinavia came under overwhelming competition in the late 1800's and early 1900’s, when modern sports broke through internationally.

French-Finnish wrestling was renamed as Greco-Roman wrestling, and became more popular in Scandinavia than the original styles of Scandinavian folk wrestling.

Due to the gaining popularity of other sports such as judo, jiu-jitsu, wrestling and mixed martial arts, Scandinavian traditional folk wrestling became almost extinct towards the end of the 1900's.

Between 1910 and 1930, the Icelandic Sports Association made glima officially less dangerous and more like a sport. At this time, masters of lousatök self-defense and combat were accused of being 'unsportsmanlike'.

In 1916 lousatök was made illegal in Iceland, when the government wanted all dangerous techniques banned, and wanted Icelandic glima to be seen as a modern sport.

Despite all this, the knowledge and skills about loustaök were preserved by ordinary people, especially farmers, in Norway, Sweden, and Iceland.

Two glima masters who kept lousatök alive in Iceland were Þorsteinn Kristjánsson (1901-1991) and Þorsteinn Einarsson (1911-2001).

In 1930 Þorsteinn Kristjánsson was awarded the title as the best glima wrestler in the world. At Iceland's millennium celebration of their Alþingi, Kristjánsson was rewarded with a great drinking horn from the Danish King at an official outdoor ceremony with thousands of guests.

Þorsteinn Einarsson was an expert in the historical development of glima, and was Island’s inspector for sports and traditional games between 1941 and 1981.

In this capacity, Einarsson visited all farms, towns and cities in Island, no matter how remote they were, and studied which Scandinavian traditional folk wrestling styles were still being practiced.

According to Einarsson, regular work clothing was used in lousatök training, and this clothing was used to apply louastök wrestling techniques.

Techniques were often called tricks. Hand-tricks had names like Hnykkurinn (hand-pull-jerk), Hnykkir (hand-pull-snap). 

Foot tricks had names like Músabragð (foot-lift), Tábragð (step-on-toes) and Draugasveifla (leg-sweep). 

Other Viking wrestling technique names were ; Veltibragð (reaping-throw), Skessutak (side-drop), Bolahnykkur (bull lift-throw), Bolabragð (bull ankle-throw), Skussabragð (side-whirl), Skessubragð (sommersault-throw),  Sveifla (swing), Grikkur (2 arm-clip), Bakbragð (back-lift-throw), and Hálsbragð (neck-throw). 

In Norway, Sweden and Iceland, all forms of traditional wrestling were practiced mostly as a sport. Viking wrestling has had many names through the centuries, but in the 20th century, it was known as Scandinavian wrestling, Scandinavian Folk-wrestling, Norwegian Folk-wrestling, Nordic wrestling and Bonde-bryting (Farmer wrestling).

All forms of Svandinavian traditional folk wrestling were popular with children and adults alike, but especially so with farmers. There are existing photographs from around Scandinavia that show farmers wrestling in work clothes, and Scandinavians in national dress performing their traditional folk wrestling.

Lousatök was popular with Norwegian and Swedish schoolchildren after the Second World War, and has survived as something everyone could take part in at gatherings such as folk markets through to this day.

The resurgence of interest in historical periods in the late 20th century led to Viking markets and Viking festivals, which in turn led to keen interest in the Viking martial arts.

Historical reenactment is the educational and entertaining activity where people use ‘authentic’ clothing and equipment and do ‘authentic’ handcrafts in order to recreate aspects of a historical period.

For the last 40 years, Viking arrangements have provided a place for re-enactors to practice historical martial arts and show them to the general public.

Lousatök is the foundation for all forms of armed Viking combat, which has become very popular around the world. There are thousands of re-enactors who practice regularly with all forms of Viking weapons, with the Viking sword being the most popular weapon.

At some arrangements there are hundreds of Viking re-enactors who take part in mock ‘Viking’ battles. These arrangements have rules and security measures, which means there are only ‘taps’ made with blunted weapons, and strikes are relegated to overarm, torso and thigh areas.

In some places, such as Wolin in Poland, there is a Viking festival held each year where over 500 ‘Vikings’ from around the world meet up to have ‘real’ Viking battles.

Here there are little or no rules, and everyone who participates has to wear full armor, because in the Wolin battles, everyone can hit, stab or cut, as hard as they want, with blunted Viking weapons.

Viking wrestling has also become increasingly popular at Viking markets and festivals, and for many years there have been lousatök competitions at such arrangements.

There are national and international sport lousatök competitions held indoors in modern sports halls in Norway, Sweden and Iceland. The Academy of Viking Martial Arts is honored to have been a part of Norwegian louastök competitions including the the Norwegian Lousatök Championship.  

Information in the Viking Age was passed down as an oral tradition, and therefore difficult to record. Historical research of written and illustrated documentation is very important for the credibility of ancient or traditional folk wrestling/martial art such as lousatök, and this information needs to be recorded in each age for its survival.

I have been practicing Lousatök for over 3 decades, and have had the opportunity to work with glima historian and practitioner Lars Magnar Enoksen. Over a period of years when I was a consulting for some of his Viking culture and glima articles and books, Lars and I exchanged a great amount of information regarding Viking wrestling. Without his research into historical documents which he generously shared with me, this article, as it is, would not have been possible.

Written documents, especially with illustrations, are great sources of information, but as with all sports and martial arts, lousatök cannot be learned only from a book. A deep understanding of nuances and variations in techniques and balance, can only be transferred physically, with the help of a master, or a good teacher and competent training partner.

I have had the unique privilege of having been taught by great teachers and legends in the martial arts. I have had the unique privilege of having been taught louastök by a master of balance and technique.

I have had the unique privilege of working with the foremost innovators in modern Viking fighting, and the foremost lousatök champions and practitioners. All of this has given me a unique insight into the martial art of the Vikings, and the opportunity to pass on this information. For this I am truly grateful.     

Til árs ok friðar

Tyr Neilsen

Some links to other sources of information about the history of glima:

http://www.glima.is/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Glima-the-icelandic-wrestling-a-brief-history.pdf

https://skemman.is/bitstream/1946/12161/1/History%20of%20martial%20arts%20in%20Iceland%20and%20their%20image%20in%20Icelandic%20media.pdf

https://ejmas.com/jwma/articles/2000/jwmaart_kautz_0100.htm

GLIMA - A BRIEF HISTORY by Þorsteinn Einarsson

Foreword:

Þorsteinn Einarsson was Iceland’s inspector for sports and traditional games between 1941 and 1981.

In this capacity, Einarsson had the resposibility to collect information from all over Iceland regarding the country's history of sport.

Over the course of his 40 year career, Einarsson documented the history of traditional folk wrestling in Iceland, and wrote a document about the different forms in "Glima the Icelandic wrestling".

Þorsteinn Einarsson

This document by Einarsson covers how Icelandic glima was developed from the types of wrestling brought to Iceland from Norway in The Viking Age, the differences from the forms of wrestling, their origin, and the connection between Viking wrestling and the Icelandic law books.

It also covers Viking wrestling’s use in warfare, combat, daily life, pleasure, play and competition.

The following is a copy of the document given to the Olympic Committee by the Olympic committee of Iceland. Here is the English translation and illustrations from the original document.

Tyr Neilsen

President of the Norwegian Laustak Federation

1. tHINGVELLIR

GLIMA

The Icelandic Wrestling

An ancient form of wrestling developed from the forms of combat brought to Iceland by its settlers in the Viking Age and practiced by their decendents for the last 11 centuries

A BRIEF HISTORY

Presented to the international Olympic committee by the Olympic committee of Iceland.

Author Thorsteinn Einarsonn

Glímusaband Íslands (Icelands Glima Association) Reykjavik 1984

Revised by the author in 1987

New English translation 1988

In 1874 the Icelandic people celebrated the 1000th anniversary of the settlement of their country. The main festival was held at Thingvellir (1) a plain on the shore of a lake surrounded by sheets of lava some 50 km northeast of Reykjavik, where the nation had convened each june to attend their legislative and judicial duties from 930 to 1798 A.D. One of the many and distinguished foreign guests at the 1874 celebraton was Christian IX, the King of Denmark.

On the first day of the festival, the king rose early and strolled out to the fields where the Icelanders had pitched their tents for the night. Most of them were out of their tents, playing games to warm themselves. One of the games that caught the king’s eye was a wrestling match. He showed such interest in this vigorous sport and the nimble contestants that two men recognized the best wrestlers of the time were brought before him to demonstrate the game at its best. The name of the noble game was glima, the Icelandic word for a national form of wrestling.

(1) The Althingi, Iceland’s Parliament, was founded in 930 AD. The place selected for its meetings was known as Thingvellir (lit. “The Assembly plains”), a site of stunning natural beauty. It is situated a short distance from Reykjavik, and here the Altingi held its meetings in the open air until 1798.

Various ancient forms of wrestling have been preserved by nations as diverse as Switzerland, Korea, Japan, india, Russia, Turkey, etc. Ancient wrestling styles are also found in various parts of the British Isles, e.g. Westmoreland/Cumberland, Scotland, Cornwall and Devon. The same is true of Bretagne in France, the Canary Islands, among the nomadic shepards of Mongolia, the Moaris in New Zealand, the Indians of the Amazon region etc.

The modern styles of wrestling such as the Greco-Roman styles and freestyle have little in common with these folkloric styles.

Nor has Judo, which was modernized as a form of competition wrestling in Japan in the last century, being derived from ancient national styles formerly used in war and self.defence.

The settlers of Icelander mostly came from Norway, but also the British Isles, most of the latter being of Celtic origin. These settlers brought with them a form of wrestling which they resorted to when they lost their weapon in battle. But there were other forms as well, which they indulged in for exercise and amusement.

Wrestling (fang)2 is a form of combat in which two opponents face each other unarmed and either naked or wearing special wrestling attire, and in some cases belts or trousers designed for gripping. Each wrester then strives to lay the other on his back, seizing the opponent by his clothing or part of his body, belt or trousers and/or by tripping him with the feet or legs by means of special wrestling tricks (or “chips”, as they are called in back-hold).

2 “Fang” means “catching” in the sense of obtaining control or possession of something. “Fang” is also the Icelandic word for the area of the body between a man’s arms. A man who is another’s “fang” is held between his arms.

Wrestling is considered to be among the oldest sports practiced by the erect human being.

In Iceland, wrestling (fang) developed to serve a threefold purpose:

(1)  In warfare:  

For attack and defence. When a warrior lost his weapon in combat he could resort to his wrestling skills. Either in attack or in defence of his life. He might thus attempt to bring an opponent into a position of disadvantage on the ground with a view of maiming or killing him, e.g. by planting his knee in the opponents belly and biting or cutting his throat.

(2)  In daily life: 

In order to restore warmth and circulation to the body after a long time on horseback in cold weather or during periods of inactivity when shorebound at fishing stations due to adverse weather conditions, or when resting during long shifts of tending and herding sheep in remote regions.

(3)  For pleasure, play and competition:   

Wherever people gathered, at schools, churches, fishing stations, at shepard’s gatherings in the autumn when sheep were braught down to the sheep pens from summer pasture in the highlands, at other seasonal festivities and at any festive occasion.  

Forms of competition:

(1)  Team competitions

(2)   Classification matches (contestants paired off according to ability or rank for two bouts and a tiebreaker if necessary).

The following forms of wrestling have been known in Iceland.

All belong to the category of fang although those which were intended for recreation, joy and competition were, according to a paragraph in the lawbook dating from 1281, defined as leikfang, or “game wrestling”, leikur being the Icelandic word for game and fang the word for wrestling.

A. In earnest (in deadly combat):

All available grips (holds) on the opponent were employed, including tricks with the feet and the legs, designed to bring the opponent under for the purpose of maiming or killing him.

In ancient legends there are accounts of epic wrestling matches fought by famous wrestling champions whose names are still household words in Iceland and they were ferocious when they fought blåmenn and berserkers. 3.

In these accounts the participants dressed in wrestling tunics which their opponents could grasp. Although they were cases when they seized another by the torso.   

In the field of combat there was a waist-high tapered slab, the wrestling or slaying slab, to which a wrestler endeavored to bring his opponent in order to break his back or to fell him so abruptly, front downward, that his rib cage would break.

B. In the play or to preserve or restore warmth:

Leikfang (wrestling for amusement).

1.    Loose-grips.

Wrestlers wore ordinary clothing. Hand-grips were on the front of the jacket and/or the sleeves, and on the collar about the neck-line. Tricks were applied with the feet (foot-tricks) and hands (hand-tricks).

All known tricks in glima (“correct wrestling”) could be used, but on applying tricks, with either or both hands, a competitor might resort to gripping his opponent’s clothes at other places other than the shoulder or collar in order to gain tha advantage, for instance at the bend of the knee.

The hand-grips not permitted in “correct wrestling” but used in loose grips were as follows:

-  Bolabragð (bull ankle-throw); Bolahnykkur (bull-lift throw); hálsbragð (neck-touch); draugasveifla (leg-whirl – lit,  “ghost leg-whirl)); draugabragð (floating throw lit, “ghost throw”); skrekkutak (side-drop); skussabragð (side-shirl): skeggubragð (somersault throw); Veltibragð (reaping throw); músabragð (foot-lift); tábragð (step-on toes); sveifla (swing); knébragð (knee-throw); grikkur (two-arm slip); magabragð (rear hip-throw); bakbragð (back-lift throw); hnykkurrin (the hand-jerk or pull); hnykkir (ten kinds of hand-snapping motions intended to unbalance the opponent and throw him).

These ten hand-grips had no names, but basically they consisted of using either hand to grip or strike the opponent’s left or right side all the way down to the bend or side of the knee followed by a pushing, jerking, snapping or swinging motion.  -The advantage this gained could then be followed up by a conventional glima-trick to complete the victory.

There are at least 27 of these wrestling tricks which were initiated by means of one or both hands. The victor was the contestant who remained on his feet when his opponent had fallen on the ground, or, if both contestants fell and touched the ground with their torsos, the first to rise to his feet.

Loose-grips were widely practiced in Iceland, and in some areas they were even more common than the traditional wrestling (glima).

In cold weather, especially when clothing was wet or damp due to rain or snow, loose-grips were well suited for play and the preservation of warmth. In piercing cold and wet conditions, employing glima-grips on the thick and stiff homespun trousers must have been difficult indeed.

It is clear from written scources, however, that there was a clear distinction between the “correct” glima on the one hand and the “liberal” loose-grips wrestling on the other, the difference being that in the latter, contestants “did not wrestle by means of correct grips.”

Thus, when “correct” wrestling matches (glima matches) were held, the rules of wrestling were recited beforehand and it was specified that hand-grips were not permitted.    

2.    The Icelandic Wrestling Glima

In the course of time, most nations have developed some form of traditional wrestling. Contrary to the form of hand-to-hand combat which pertained to warfare and were designed to main or kill an opponent, these traditional forms were intended for the entertainment, pleasure and play, i.e. they were of a sporting nature. The Icelandic form of wrestling belongs to this latter category.

By the 12th century, at the latest, this type of glima (“game of gladness”), a word entymogically related to the English word “glee” (Anglo Saxon “gleo”). Thus, the Icelantic wrestling was a sport of gladness and joy as opposed to the deadly combat of warfare.

The features of glima which distinguish it from other national wrestling forms include the following:

1)    Fixed grips on the opponent’s waistband and the outside of his trouser’s leg.

2)    The upright position of the contestants.

3)    The circular movement of the wrestlers between the application or attempted application of wrestlingtricks, the so called stigandi (glima-steps or treading)

4)    Distinctive tricks applied by means of the feet, legs and hips.

For centuries there were two types of holds. The one was a hold with the right hand on the waistband of the opponent at his left hip and under his left arm, and with the left hand on the right leg of his trousers at about the middle of the thigh and over his right arm. In the other type the holds were inverted.

In modern wrestling, the former is the rule. The position of the feet (the glima-stance) and the circular movement (treading) varied according to the holds. When the right hand was held at the waist band, the right foot was advanced and the wrestlers stepped to the right (stignandi).

The method of treading, so characteristic of Iceland wrestling, is thought to have developed with the sport in the form it took when practiced during winter in the halls of Icelandic farmhouses.

The contest would take place in front of the woman’s platform in the space ectending from the platform to the edge of the central fireplace (the so-called long-fire characteristic of Icelandic communal halls in old times) when the dinner tables had been cleared away and stored on top of the beams above.

Activity had to be confined to this restricted space, and the result was the slow circling of the participants, either clockwise or counter-clockwise. Since this kind of fixed circular movement is not to be found in the national wrestling styles of other peoples, the glima-step may be regarded as a characteristic unique to Icelandic wrestling.

In the Icelandic sagas there are numerous references to wrestling, but the term is often used to denote an entirely different form of wrestling where the contestants clasp hands behind each other’s back and exert pressure, sometimes violently and with intent to bend the opponent’s back and do him injury, or where the wrestlers took grips on each other’s clothes and applied tricks by means of the hands, feet and torso. But there are also descriptions of a sportsmanlike game in which contestants took firm hold on each others trousers, engaged in a series of three bouts and employed tricks using their legs, feet and hips. That was glima.

In the schools of the episcopal seats at Hólar and Skálholt, and later at the Hólavalla school in Reykjavik and the nearby Bessastaðir school (1805 -1846) Icelandic wrestling, or glima, reached its highest stage of development as an independent sport.

Here, as in the communal hills of earlier times, there was a limited indoor space. As a result, glima became the prevailing form of wrestling since loose-grips were better suited for outdoors practice where cold and wet weather conditions and heavy clothing rendered the “correct” grips more difficult and where there was more space. The form of competition was the glima-match which was judged in accordance with the wrestling rules recited to the competitors beforehand. In this way, glima was preserved in Icelandic society up to the present time.

The victor in a glima contest was the contestant who managed to fell his opponent in such a way that his torso touched the ground or in such a way that his opponent touched the ground two (-three) times with one or both knees or in such a way that his opponent fell once, either backwards or forwards, on both hands.

In 1905 Icelandic wrestlers began to use gripping straps consisting of a leather strap around the right thigh, and this strap soon developed into the full wrestling harness, the “glima” belt, now in use. From this point trouser grips were discontinued entirely in Icelandic competition wrestling.

In 1916 the Icelandic Sports Federation laid down rules of competition for Icelandic wrestling. According to these rules the match was commenced from a standstill and a combatant was said to be fallen if he touched the field or floor with any part of the body above the knees or elbow.

These provisions were amended in 1951 to conform with traditional wrestling laws.

An amateur association of Icelandic wrestlers named Grettir after one of the most famous wrestlers of ancient times, was established in 1906. The association had an engraved silver belt made, and in 1906 a competition named “the Icelandic Glima Championship” was established, awarding the title of “Iceland’s Glima Champion” to be the winner. This is the oldest prize still being contested in Iceland.  

3.    Wrestling forms in which the contestants take hold by clasping hands behind each other’s back.

A.    Back-spanning (hryggspenna)

1.    With intent to injure: Hands clasped behind the opponent’s back, each contestant maneuvering for the most advantageous position either by getting both arms under those of the other (under-grip) or around the, (over-grip), and thereupon trying to sway the opponent back while at the same time applying swings and wrestling tricks or causing pain by pressing his chin against the opponent’s shoulder and forcing his knuckles into his back.

2.    For entertainment: as a game or competition.

Hands gripped together round the opponent’s waist, the right arm underneath the opponent’s left on (under-grip), and the left arm over the opponent’s arm (over-grip). Wide stance. It is permissible to shift forwards and backwards, to either side and in a circle. Swings are forbidden as well as all wrestling tricks. Applying the chin to the opponent’s shoulder is prohibited, nor may the knuckles be pressed against his back in order to cause pain. The object is to sway the opponent back until he fails.  

B.    Shoulder grip – The Icelandic back-hold (Axlatök)

The wrestlers stood chest to chest, a little to the left of each other so that they looked over each other’s right shoulder. On taking hold, the grasped around the opponent’s torso near the height of the shoulders with the finger hooked together, and each placed his right arm under the opponent’s left arm (undergrip). The contestants took a stance with the right foot slightly in front and to the right. At the beginning of the contest the wrestlers moved to the right (clockwise) around each other. No other hand-grips were allowed, and no hand-tricks were permitted. Swinging was allowed, as were all Icelandic wrestling-tricks (glima tricks). It is not clear what constituted a victory, but it is assumed that the contestant who touched the ground with any part of his body apart from the sole of the foot was the loser.

At Thingvallir, the site where Iceland’s parliament convened annually for more than 800 years, there is an area known as the wrestling slope (Fangbrekka). The topography of the area indicates that the wrestling itself (the fang) took place in a centrally located level piece of ground while the spectators sat at the slope of the rising ground above.

A number of idiomatic phrases in the Icelandic language leave no doubt that fang occupied a prominent place in the daily life of Icelanders.

The phrase “að hafa undirtökin” (“have the undergrip”) is a common idiom for “having the advantage;” “að ljá fangstað á sër” (“allow a hold to be taken”) is a common phrase meaning “to place onseself at a disadvantage;” the word “viðfangsefni” (lit. “matter to wrestle with”) is a common word meaning “problem;” and as in English, the Icelandic language uses the phrase “fast/glíma við eitthvað” to mean “wrestle with a problem.” The difference being that the phrase is much more common in Icelandic than in English.

Many further instances could be given to illustrate how fang has influenced the Icelandic language. Already in the Icelandic sagas, which were written down on parchment in the 11th through the 13th centuries, mostly describing events taking place in the 9th to the 12th centuries, it can be seen that there was a distinctive style of wrestling for amusement, where the combatants took hold of each other by the waistbelt of the trousers with one hand and the other side of the trouser leg with the other.

It seems indisputable then, that Icelanders have practiced glima through nine centuries or more in a more or less unaltered form apart from the relatively recent introduction of the wrestling belt (1905 – 1909).

Basic rules of glima.

The two wrestlers (glimumenn) stand nearly erect, each a little to the left of the other with a slightly wide stance and the right foot slightly advanced. They look over each other’s right shoulder, but never down at the feet, the reason for this rule being that the wrestlers are to wrestle by tough and feel and not by slight.

Once the wrestlers have taken their holds and adopted the required stance they begin to step to their right.

Then, at a signal, they begin to apply the tricks. Each contestant seeks to throw the other by causing him to lose his balance. Each tries to hook a foot around the other’s foot or place his foot behind or in front of the other’s in order to trip him. A contestant may also try to heave his opponent into the air and by skillful use of the feet, legs, or hips, prevent him from landing on his feet, causing him instead to fall on the ground in such a manner that he touches it with some part of his torso.

There are eight main kinds of tricks (bragð)4 designed to fell (topple) the adversary, and each trick can be executed in a number of different ways (approx. 50).

The eight main tricks of glima are as follows:

1.    The outside stroke (leggjarbragð).

2.    a) the inside-click (innanfótar hælkrókur hægri á vinstri)

b) the cross-click (innafótar hælkrókur hægri á hægri)

c) the back-heel (hælkrókur báða).

3.    a) the twist over the knee (hnéhnykkur)

b) the outside hipe (hnéhnykkur á lofti)

4.    The hook (krækja).

5.    The cross buttock (sniðglíma)

6.    The inside-hipe (klofbragð).

7.    The cross-buttock aloft (lausamjöðm).

8.    The full or half buttock aloft (mjaðmarhnykkur).

In modern glima competition the wrestlers wear special wrestling attire (glimuföt), consisting of special shoes and a combination of pants and shirt with a protective cover around the groin.

Each wrestler wears three leather belts, one around each thigh and one around the waist, the thigh belts being fastened by straps to the waist belt. The two wrestlers enter the arena, which is a smooth, bare timber floor, and greet each other with the right hand, and with the left hand grasps the belt round the opponent’s thigh. Only then can the combat or glima begin.

4.

There is no exact equivalent in English for the word “bragð”. The Oxford Icelandic-English dictionary of Guðbrandur Vigfússon and Richard Cleasby says: “the fundamental notion is that of a sudden motion . . . in wrestling “bragð” or the prlural “brögð” is the technical phrase for wrestlers’ tricks or sleights,“ But in reality they are more than tricks or sleights; they are various ways in which the art and technique of glima are gracefully and skillfully carried out.

There are two current theories on the development of the sport glima and the origin of its name. One holds that when the people of Iceland adopted Christianity they abolished many heathen customs, including those connected with warfare. The form of wrestling which was practiced in a friendly spirit was allowed, however, and given the name “glíma,” i.e. “gladness.”

The other theory holds that glima was brought to the ancient seats of learning at Hólar (1107) and Skáholt (1056) by students who converged there from farms in all parts of the country. From all the different styles brought together by the students that style selected which was exclusively for amusement and which required the least space, and in order to please the members of the clergy the sport was given the name derived from gladness rather than violence or killing.

The students who congregated at these schools were mostly young men, and in spite of the strict discipline of the Church, they engaged in various kinds of sports and amusement. The popularity of glima in these schools can be attributed to three main reasons. The youths quite naturally wished to test their strength and skill. They sought means to amuse themselves. And, last but not least, wrestling was an ideal way to keep warm in houses that were poorly heated or mostly unheated.

When schools were formally established at the episcopal seats at Hólar (1552) and Skáholt (1553), these became veritable breeding grounds for practisers of glíma. There is ample evidence to show that students at these schools became skilled masters of glíma during their school terms and that they were respected and even revered as such in addition to what was due them on account of their wisdom and learning.

We have already mentioned that due to the lack of space, the style of wrestling characterized by treading and fixed grips gained precedence, and the popularity of wrestling in schools contributed to the spread of this style. A point worth mentioning also is that two different styles developed in the schools, the difference being that in one school the left hand was used to grip the waistband, while in the other school the opposite was the case, and this difference has been perpetuated to the present century despite the fact that the two schools ceased to exist about two centuries ago.

A later school was founded at Bessastaðir, the present presidential residence near Reykjavik, and there is no question that the students there played an important part in the popularization of glima in Iceland. One can almost say that glima was one of the compulsory subjects of study at the school, and many students there became well known masters of the sport.

They were even better known as such than they were for their mastery of these arts which formed part of their formal education. When they subsequently took up duties as officials of State or Church their mastery pf glíma was passed on to many youngsters who were only too eager to learn, and these youths then became renowned as skillful glíma-champions.

The following four illustrations taken from accounts of daily life in Iceland about two generations ago will suffice to demonstrate the role played by glíma in the Icelandic national consciousness for a millennium or more.  

1.    Two shepherd-boys from neighbouring farmsteads are watching over their flocks, one on each side of a little vale. They cross the river to visit each other. They exchange news and stories, erect shepherds’ huts and play at farming using sheeps’ bones for livestock. Then they go on to practice their wrestling and even stage a match on a level grass plot on the bank of the river.

For a good portion of the day they match their skills, or they may practice some special “bragð” (glima trick) or dexterous move in throwing the opponent which they have seen their elders practice after church or at some other public gathering. Many an Icelander who has tended sheep in his youth will have vivid recollections from his shepherd-days when he wrestled other shepherds of the vicinity. This the tending of sheep became a school in which one of the subjects was the glíma.

2.    From January until May each year, many young men were engaged in fishing, rowing out to sea in their open boats. The fishermen would establish camps on the seashore at places where the distance out to the good fishing grounds was not too great. Such camps were known as “ver”. The crews of each boat would live together in huts or booths known as “búðir.”5

Thus, the crew of each boat formed a separate unit or organization. When bad weather rendered it impossible to row out to sea, it became necessary to devise some form of entertainment to keep warm and busy. The main sport, of course, was glíma. Sometimes the wrestling would be free (lausaglíma), individuals cometing with anyone willing to accept their challenge. But at other times the crew of one boat would issue a challenge to the crew of another. This latter form of competition was called “bændaglíma” (team-wrestling)6    

3.    On various occasions a number of people from two or more parishes would gather together for entertainment. At such gatherings there would be singing, dancing, story-telling and wrestling. The best wrestler of each parish would select wrestlers for his team from his parish. This team-wrestling provided excellent entertainment which was enjoyed by men and women alike, young or old. Often these great wrestling contests would be discussed on later occasions as historic events.

4. In former days when Sunday’s religious services were practically the only regular social gatherings, it was a common sight to see young men in groups on a mound or hillock near the church matching their skill and strength in a game of glíma, often both before and after hearing the gospel from the clergymen. Thus it was that gíma flourished among the Icelandic people from age to age and passed from generation to generation down to the present time. The glíma is as much a part of Iceland’s heritage as the language, literature and history.

Glíma is now being introduced in other countries where exhibitions matches are staged to promote this sport. It is manly and it embraces all the good qualities of true sport. It exercises all the muscles of the body, develops courage and endurance, demands quick thinking and stimulates alertness, speed and quickness.

The Icelandic Glíma Association is a member of the International Federation of Celtic Wrestling, participating in mutual cooperation with those who practice national wrestling in Bretagne (France), The Lake District and Cornwall (England) and Scotland for the preservation of their cultural heritage.            

Thorsteinn Einarsson - Glima_the-Icelandic-Wrestling

Original PDF file of document presented to the International Olympic Committee in 1984 by the Olympic committee of Iceland.

The document was written by Þorsteinn Einarsson, who was Iceland’s inspector for sports and traditional games between 1941 and 1981.

In this capacity, Einarsson had the resposibility to collect information from all over Iceland regarding the country's history of sport.

Over the course of his 40 year career, Einarsson documented the history of glima in Iceland, and wrote a document about the different forms in "Glima the Icelandic wrestling".