Sending messages and bidding sticks

In a large country with scattered settlements, it was essential to have an effective way to convey important messages. The earlier provincial laws inform us that sending bidding sticks was a widespread form of communication as early as the late Viking Era.

Bidding sticks announced important events and summoned people to assemblies, council meetings and joint efforts. Bidding sticks were used for military, ecclesiastical, judicial, and civilian purposes, and they are mentioned in the Laws of the Land in many contexts: military mobilization, notification of murder, prosecution of looters, launching and landing of military and civilian ships, road works, etc.

The way of sending messages is described in the Land Tenancy section. Bidding sticks followed a fixed route between settlements, and the recipients were obliged to pass them on to the next place along the route. This was basically the responsibility of the husband or the housewife if he was not present, or else the highest in rank among those present at home. If no one of legal age was at home, the bidding stick was placed visibly next to the head seat of the table or above the door. Punishment awaited those who intercepted or ignored a bidding stick, ranging from being fined to being declared an outlaw, depending on how important the message was.

A bidding stick was a piece of wood that served as a message. Some of them, called arrows and crosses, probably had a specific shape or were marked in some way but likely they did not bear runes or any other script. The message itself was delivered orally along with the bidding stick.

In case of hostilities, so-called war arrows were to be sent out throughout the country, both at sea and along the main roads, and from there to the villages, to mobilize the army. They were to be carried day and night and accompanied by several people. Arrow bidding sticks were also sent out in cases of looting raids, killings, and serious violent incidents. It is reasonable to assume that these bidding sticks indeed looked like arrows. It is unknown whether there was something that distinguished arrow bidding sticks for different purposes.

Unfortunately, no bidding sticks dating from the Middle Ages have been identified. The oldest known ones bear the monogram of King Christian V of Denmark–Norway, who reigned from 1670 until 1699. These were cylindrical and hollowed out to hold a written message and had a spike at one end so that they could be attached to a visible place. The bidding stick from the exhibition illustrated here is of this type and is embossed with the monogram of King Carl Johan of Sweden and Norway, who reigned from 1818 to 1844.

Bidding sticks were used in Norway until the beginning of the 20th century. To this day, several newspapers include the word “budstikke” (bidding stick) in their names simply because they spread news.