A Story for the Ages

(Note: This review is based on the early translation by Charles Archer and J. S. Scott.)

            The best, most satisfying, truest novel I have ever read! Actually, the best three novels, for Kristin Lavransdatter, by the Norwegian author Sigrid Undset, is a trilogy, and together they tell the story of a woman with a life-long desire to please God coupled with an even more powerful desire to please herself, and of the amazing way that she discovers grace and redemption in the midst of her failures.

            The story is set in fourteenth century Norway. Kristin Lavransdatter, the oldest of three daughters of Lavrans Björgulfsön and his wife Ragnfrid, was engaged by her father to Simon Andressön when she was 15 and he was 20. At first she accepted this and tried to get to know him, but after a troubling incident in which Kristin was attacked by a wayward priest, her father and Simon agreed that it would be good if she spend a year in a convent. And so Kristin joined the Sisters of Nonneseter at their convent in Oslo, not to take vows as a nun but as a sort of finishing school for daughters of pious families.

            Unfortunately, the convent did not shield Kristin from the temptations of the world. One day she and her roommate, Ingebjörg, were allowed to attend a local fair with an old peasant as an escort. Some wild animals escaped – or so it was rumored – and the crowd panicked. Kristin and Ingebjörg ran into the woods, got lost, and were attacked by some rough men. Just as Kristin struck and pushed back one of the men who had grabbed her, their rescuers arrived, led by Erlend Nikulaussön of Husaby, a tall handsome knight with a noble lineage but a tarnished background – he had lived in adultery for many years with Eline Ormsdatter and had two children with her.

            Kristin falls in love with Erlend, and manages to see him alone, but he seduces her when they take refuge from a storm in a hay-filled barn. They pledge to marry each other, although they both know her father will be against it. Kristin confronts Simon and begs him to release her from their engagement; he consults with Lavrans, who reluctantly breaks the engagement and brings Kristin home from the convent. But he will not give her permission to marry Erlend until, after a long battle of wills, he finally gives in to her and, against his better judgment, agrees to their marriage.

            By the time of the wedding, Kristin is pregnant, having slept with Erlend, apparently against her will, once during the betrothal celebration. After the wedding Lavrans gets drunk and tells Ragnfrid he never should have given Kristin to that "weakling boy, that hath made waste of himself and her." He moans that "now have I given her that I loved dearest, honourless, to an untrusty and a witless man."

            In the second book of the trilogy, the married couple journey to Erlend's family estate, Husaby, which they find somewhat rundown and neglected. Kristin takes charge of the household as Mistress of Husaby, earns the respect of the servants and neighbors, and soon Husaby begins to look better. But Kristin was in great agony and fear, first because she could not feel the child that she knew was within her, and then because she imagined that it would be born deformed because of her sin. Erlend, who didn't know she was pregnant, reacted angrily when he found out, and the two of them discover that their real struggles are with themselves and with each other. Kristin is strong-willed and highminded; Erlend is also strong-willed, but more impetuous. Kristin is haunted by her sins and grieves over them, but deep down in her heart she knows she has not truly repented, and that she would still choose Erlend against her father.

            Erlend's illegitimate children by Eline, his son Orm and daughter Margret, come to live with them at Husaby. Kristin comes to really like Orm, but she has a harder time with haughty Margret, who looks like her mother and reminds Kristin of things she'd rather forget. Erlend's brother, Gunnulf, a priest, comes to visit them at Husaby. He explains to Kristin how Erlend was spoiled by their mother, whom he adored, and had a troubled relationship with their father. Kristin recounts to Gunnulf her sinful ways with Erlend, leading to Eline's death, until he finally rebukes her, '"Kristin," said the priest sternly, "dare you think in your wicked pride that sin of yours can be so great that God's lovingkindness is not greater?"'

            After a horrible childbirth scene, their little boy, Naakve, is born, the first of seven sons for Erlend and Kristin. At Gunnulf's urging, Erlend sets out alone for Jörundgaard, a three-days' journey on skis, to tell Kristin's parents the news. Ragnfrid had guessed their daughter's pregnancy, and Lavrans at least had suspicions, but they welcomed Erlend and tried to celebrate the baby's birth by announcing it to the servants and bringing out strong ale, but there was not much merriment in Jörundgaard. When it was time for Erlend to return to Husaby, Lavrans insisted on accompanying him, though he had a hard time keeping up with the younger man on skis.

            When she regained her strength, Kristin, to fulfil a vow apparently made to St. Olav while she was fearful for her unborn child, walked 20 miles to Nidaros, alone and barefooted, to seek absolution for her sin from the Archbishop.

            Much of the rest of volume two involves Erlend's political scheming, which lands him in prison for treason and could have cost him his life except for the intervention of Kristin's former betrothed, Simon Andressön, who after Kristin's rejection married her sister, Ramborg. As it turned out, Erland's life was spared but he forfeited all his property to the Crown, and was forced to move to Jörundgaard, the estate Kristin inherited from her parents. Kristin remained loyal to her husband while he was in prison, but when they were together she often displayed a cold and hardhearted spirit and continually reproached him for his earlier sins. Erlend, on the other hand, held no grudges but reacted to Kristin's rejection by having an affair with Lady Sunniva.

            So there are no plaster saints in this book. But Simon is a good man who truly believes, and Kristin's father, Lavrans Björgulfsön, is a sincere and devout Christian, a great role model, though he also loves a good party and sometimes drinks too much. When Kristin goes back home to visit after the birth of Naakve, she sees that her father has aged and that he does not seem as joyous. "Quiet, sedate and thoughtful he had always been, and she knew that from childhood up he had followed the commands of Christ with a rare zeal, had loved masses and prayers in the Roman tongue, and ever sought the church as the place where he found his best solace." A bit of symbolism stays with Kristin: "There was a picture which always hung dim and half-remembered in his daughter's mind – her father on that night when the church was burned. He stood beneath the crucifix that he had saved from the flames, bearing the cross and staying himself by it."

            Of course, the Christianity in this novel is medieval Roman Catholicism, but Lavrans, at least, understands that true faith rests on the grace of God. On this visit he said to Kristin:

For I have seen it more and more with each year I have lived ─ no worthier work can there be for a human soul that has found grace to conceive somewhat of God's loving-kindness, than to serve Him and watch and pray for those men whose sight is still darkened by the shadow of the things of this world.

            Book 3, The Cross, opens with Erlend and Kristin living on Jörundgaard, although Erlend cares nothing about farming, and is always taking their older sons hunting, while Kristin keeps the farm understaffed to induce her boys, if not Erlend, to be involved in the work. Here Kristin and Erlend begin to grow apart. Erlend does not try to get to know the neighbors, and he and their sons and even Kristin herself are soon living like strangers among those Kristin grew up with.

            Sickness and injuries are so scary because remedies are so few. Late one night Simon Andressön, Kristin's former betrothed, comes riding to Jörundgaard to get Kristin to nurse his son, Andres, who appears to be dying with the "throat sickness". Kristin, "with her leech-wife's gear, ... brewed a sweating-drink for the boy and opened a vein in his foot to draw the humours somewhat away from his breast."

            But when Andres grew worse, and Simon had all but given up hope, Kristin tried a desperate remedy – she went to the graveyard behind the church, took a piece of turf, wrapped it in linen, and left behind a gold ring with rubies buried in the ground as a payment to the elves or spirits. She covered Andres' face and breast with the linen cloth, on which she placed the piece of turf ... and after a time Andres did recover. However, Kristin and Simon, who perceived what she was doing, knew this was sinful; it was appealing to spiritual beings to oppose the will of God, and this experience haunts the conscience of both of them. They want so much to please God but often find themselves powerless to do so.

            As much as Kristin loves her husband, she never forgets Erlend's sins against her. As he says, "I wot well you are more godly in such-like things than I can ever be – yet, Kristin, 'tis hard for me to see how it should be a right reading of God's word to go on, as your way is, ever storing up wrath and never forgetting." Perhaps Kristin is still trying to make her husband into what her father was. Erlend admired Lavrans, but knows he could never be like him.

            When Kristin expressed concern about their oldest son, Naakkve, who was almost drawn into the service of a traveling knight who apparently was homosexual, Erlend reminds her: "You must mind, Kristin – your father of happy memory prayed for our children, as he prayed for all of us, early and late. And I deem, most sure and firmly, it avails for deliverance from much – from the worst things of all – so good a man's intercession –“ But this just embitters Kristin further; she insinuates an unfavorable comparison between Erlend and her father, and reminds him of his adultery with Sunniva Olavsdatter.

            Finally Erlend walks out of the room, climbs on his horse before dawn, and rides away from Jörundgaard. Their spiritual and emotional separation had ripened into a physical separation.

            Now the battle of wills intensified. Erlend went to his "hill farm" up north, while Kristin brooded over him with sorrow and anger. She sought out her old parish priest, Sira Eirik, and poured out her troubles to him. He talked about purgatory but then reminded her of what she learned from her father at a young age: "Sinless, God's Son died upon the cross to atone for our transgressions against himself –"

            Shortly afterwards Simon Andressön dies, at 42, of a little scratch wound he suffered while trying to separate some drunken men who were brawling in an ale-tap. Kristin comes and tends to him while he is dying, and Simon speaks to her of her duty to be reunited with her husband. On his deathbed, after the priest had shrived him and given him the last oil and viaticum, Simon asked Kristin to make the sign of the cross over him. He reflected that he had not given much thought when he had crossed himself or set the cross upon his house and goods, but in the end he seemed to understand its real significance: "And for the rest he must put his trust in God, who judges a man, not according to his worth, but of His own grace – "

            Kristin tries to make up with Erlend. She seeks him out, intending to "proffer him my hand and my mouth and pray him for forgiveness," but when he refuses to return to Jörundgaard with her, Kristin reluctantly goes back alone to take care of their sons, especially the youngest two, Lavrans and Munan. But she is not discouraged, for her brief stay with Erlend results in yet another pregnancy, and she was confident that Erlend would come to her soon, especially when he heard that she was going to have what she hoped would be a daughter for him. Erlend seems to have had more insight into their natures. "We must see, then," he had said when they parted, "which of us two is the more stubborn, my sweet Kristin."

            And so Kristin's hopes were dashed. Erlend sent back word that she was always welcome where he was, but that he would not come back to Jörundgaard. The baby was born – a boy – and to the consternation of all Kristin named him Erlend. But he was a sickly child, and he died before he was three months old. Kristin was in a torment this whole time. She believed it was her refusal to forgive Erlend that was the cause of the baby's ill health. " – But in the depths of her heart she felt not that she had forgiven Erlend. She could not, for she would not."

            Soon there is another opportunity for reconciliation, at the confirmation of their youngest son, Munan, but this too is blown away in a scene of great violence and pathos. In a bizarre development, the estranged wife of Ulf, their former hired man and friend, comes to see the bishop at the confirmation and accuses her husband of fathering a child out of wedlock – with Kristin. Kristin tried to defend herself but none would believe her. Her older sons ride down, armed, to meet with the bishop; a fight breaks out, and young Lavrans slips out to ride to his father for help.

            And here comes Erlend – ta tum ta tum ta tum – riding furiously to rescue his estranged wife and his sons, who have been put under house arrest for instigating the fight. He meets her and whispers, "Kristin ... my Kristin – I am come home to you," but her heart is hard and she rejects him. Erlend angrily starts to ride away; two farmers grab Kristin's arms and tell her not to speak that way to her husband; Erlend is enraged and swings his axe and struck one of the men, whereupon the man's son thrust a spear into Erlend's side and another man stabbed Soten, his horse. Erlend ordered Soten, who was down on the ground and frothing blood, killed and Kristin ran up and threw her arms around Erlend in a rush of weeping. But it was too late. Erlend died with Kristin stretched over him while their sons sat nearby weeping.

            Now Kristin felt herself alone and old, although she was only 40 years old. She rebuffed efforts to find her a new husband; she watched Munan, her youngest son, die of disease, and Björgulf go blind. Björgulf and his oldest brother, Naakkve, decide to become monks and leave for the monastery. Still another son, Gaute, followed in his father's footsteps by wooing and carrying off the daughter of a wealthy family against the wishes of her father. This led to a dramatic confrontation and parley at Jörundgaard, which was resolved only when Jofrid, who had borne Gaute's son, walked in with the child in her arms. At that her father broke down in tears and the parley was over.

            Holding her little illegitimate grandson, Kristin reflects on how short a time it seemed since her children were babies, and she thought of her own mother. "Now she understood that her mother's heart had been scored deep with memories of her daughter, memories of thoughts for her child from the time it was unborn and from all the years a child remembers nothing of, memories of fear and hope and dreams that children never know have been dreamed for them, until their own time comes to fear and hope and dream in secret – "

            So Kristin thinks often about her deceased husband and her sons, now full grown and independent; she herself has no will to live. But when her subservient but strong-willed daughter-in-law Jofrid turns away a group of beggers, that triggered a new start for Kristin. She resolved on a pilgrimage, and left on foot to go to Saint Olav's feast at Nideros. Along the way, hiking with a crowd of mostly poor farmers and a couple of Franciscan monks, she reflects on God's incredible mercy to her, and her own willfulness:

And she herself – not many women of her age, nigh to half a hundred years, were blessed with such health; she had marked it well on her journey across the mountains. Lord, give me but this and this and this – then will I thank Thee and crave no more than this and this and this – ...

Never, it seemed to her, had she prayed to God for aught else than that He might grant her her own will. And she had got always what she wished – most. And now she sat here with a bruised spirit – not because she had sinned against God, but because she was miscontent that it had been granted her to follow the devices of her own heart to the journey's end.

She had not come to God with her garland, nor with her sins and her sorrows – not so long as the world still held a drop of sweetness to mix in her cup. But she came now, now she had learned that the world is like a tavern – where he who has naught more to spend from is cast out at the door.

            And so Kristin is brought low, and she decides to enter Rein Cloister, a nunnery, to live out her days. Or was it decided for her? "She felt no joy in her resolve [to enter the nunnery] – but it seemed to Kristin that 'twas not herself who had resolved. The poor beggers who came in to her house had come to bid her go forth. Another will than her own had set her in the company of the poor and sick, and bidden her go with them, away from the home where she had been the mistress and had ruled as the mother of men."

            Kristin settles in at Rein Cloister as a "commoner" and tries to serve the other nuns as best she can. Her goal is to "take the veil" and become a nun herself. But this would not be a quiet, contemplative, winding down of life. Soon after entering the nunnery the "black death" swept through the land. The nuns worked tirelessly with the priest, Sira Eiliv, to minister to the dying. Mealtimes and working routines were abandoned, although they kept the hours of prayer. Then a nun fell sick, and Lady Ragnhild, the abbess, too, though she survived. When only a few nuns and the priest were left, and it seemed that the plague was lessening throughout the parish, a little girl who was in the convent hall with some other children revealed that she had overheard some men planning to sacrifice a little boy to drive out the plague.

            Kristin and the abbess then led the trembling nuns down to the graveyard by the church, where they found some men gathered. Kristin rushed through the group of men and found a little boy in the bottom of an open grave. She lifted him out and tried to order the men home. Some started to leave, but one shrieked, "Is't not better than one be offered up than that we should all perish –? This child here who is owned by none –"

            They managed to save the little boy but it cost Kristin literally everything. When Kristin learned that the little boy's mother had died of the black death and no one had brought her body to holy ground, she and her old family friend Ulf Haldorssön set out to do what everyone else was afraid to do. They found the woman's body and were struggling to carry it back when they were met by a throng of men coming to help. Kristin suddenly threw up blood and Ulf had to carry her to the cloister. The next day she awoke cold and sweaty, lying in a bed in the dormitory, and the nuns began their vigil. Kristin dozed, then woke again, and her "last clear thought" was this:

It seemed to her to be a mystery that she could not fathom, but which she knew most surely none the less, that God had held her fast in a covenant made for her without her knowledge by a love poured out upon her richly – and in despite of her self-will, in despite of her heavy, earthbound spirit, somewhat of this love had become part of her, had wrought in her like sunlight in the earth, had brought forth increase which not even the hottest flames of fleshly love nor its wildest bursts of wrath could lay waste wholly. A handmaiden of God had she been – a wayward, unruly servant, oftenest an eye-servant in her prayers and faithless in her heart, slothful and neglectful, impatient under correction but little constant in her deeds – yet had he held her fast in his service ....

            She knew her King was coming, to give her freedom and salvation. And so, after sore fits of blood-vomiting and burning fever, Kristin Lavransdatter died, peaceful – a redeemed sinner.