View source for Hestavíg

[[File:Njal saga - Hestatingshol.jpg|thumb|240px|''Hestavíg'', [[Andreas Bloch]] (1898).]]
'''Hestavíg''' was an entertainment activity during the [[Viking Age]] in the [[Icelandic Commonwealth]] (930–1262), presumably a sport consisting of a brutal and bloody [[Organized horse fighting|confrontation between two stallions]], egged on by their masters, which mainly served to choose the best specimens for breeding.<ref>William R. Short (2010), ''Icelanders in the Viking Age: The People of the Sagas'', ed. McFarland, {{ISBN|0786456078}} p. 218.</ref> It was a cultural event of great importance and sometimes behaved verbal and physical confrontations among the spectators. The triumph of a champion or the other could impact socially and politically in the pacts and alliances between [[goði]] (chieftains) and [[bóndi]] (homesteaders), as testified in the [[Norse saga]]s.<ref>Edwards, Elwyn Hartley (1994), ''The Encyclopedia of the Horse'', New York, ed. Dorling Kindersley. {{ISBN|1-56458-614-6}} pp. 194–195.</ref> The site where these battles held was a neutral place used to strengthen friendship or treat issues among rivals. It was also an opportunity for courtship between young couples.<ref>Martin, John D. (2003), ''Sports and Games in Icelandic Saga Literature''. Scandinavian Studies 75: 27–32.</ref> Sometimes rivalries raised among participants and ended in bloody conflicts.<ref>''Laxdæla Saga'', Penguin Classics, 1975, {{ISBN|0-14044-218-9}} p. 130–131 footnote.</ref> Some examples appear in the ''[[Njáls saga]]'' (chapter 59) and  ''[[Víga-Glúms saga]]'' (chapters 13-14).<ref>Byock, Jesse (1993), ''Feud in the Icelandic Saga'', University of California Press, {{ISBN|0520082591}} p. 243.</ref>
The origin of the activity came possibly from [[Norway]]. Sometimes Icelanders exported stallions specially trained for competitions on the continent.<ref>''Hrafnkel's Saga and Other Histories'', Penguin Classics, {{ISBN|978-0-14-044238-0}} p. 73 footnote.</ref>
== Skeið ==
''Skeið'' was another activity related to horses. It was a popular race competition from mainland [[Scandinavia]].<ref>Svale Solheim (1956), ''Horse-fight and Horse-race in Norse Tradition'', ed. H. Aschehoug, pp. 45, 46, 162.</ref>
==Popular culture==
Hestavíg is featured in the Icelandic viking film ''[[In the Shadow of the Raven]]''.
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
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[[Category:Viking practices]]
[[Category:Obsolete blood sports]]
[[Category:Horses in culture]]
[[Category:Early Germanic culture]]
[[Category:Animal cruelty incidents]]
[[Category:Animal combat organized by humans]]