Abstract
Laxdoela saga provides two instances of cross-dressing that lead to divorce. First Guðrún accuses her husband Þorvaldr of wearing a women’s shirt that exposes his nipples (ch. 34), then her lover Þórðr accuses his wife Auðr of wearing men’s breeches (ch. 35). Unlike Þorvaldr, Auðr does not accept spousal chicanery and attacks Þórðr one night: she wounds his right arm and gashes him across both nipples - a unique incident in the Sagas of Icelanders (1.). - There is a pagan Irish custom of swearing loyalty, allegiance or friendship by sucking a superior man’s nipples. The most important literary sources are St. Patrick’s Confessio (sugere mammellas) and Echtra Fergusa maic Leti (dide a chiche-som). Of further interest are two bog bodies dating to the Mid-Iron Age: both the Clonycavan Man and the Oldcroghan Man belonged to the social elite and were obviously the victims of ritual killings. In addition to the letal injuries, their nipples were partially cut through, thus branding the two men ineligible for rulership (2.). - The two divorce scenes in Laxdoela saga are literarily arranged and do not reflect historical reality. The Auðr-Þórðr episode outlines female masculinity and dominance - the saga author had obviously knowledge that, according to old Irish ideas, cutting men’s nipples entails loss of power; Laxdoela saga bears traces of Irish influence in other respects as well. The saga is an ‘Icelander’s literary creation of the 13th century’ (Rolf Heller), and the account on Þórðr’s injury a badum geirvǫrtum seems to be an example of the saga author’s approach (3.)
