Viking King Domalde: The Curse and the Bloody Altar
King Domalde was one of the most obscure Viking kings in the legends. But the story about his life and his reign was interesting to read about. He was born to get cursed and get killed as a sacrifice to the gods.
Domalde was the son of Visbur one of the Viking kings of the House of Ynglings. His mother was the second wife of Visbur. And the trouble of Domalde did stem from his father's love affairs.
Visbur first married the daughter of Aude the Rich. He did give her the largest bride price to bring her home. Together they had two sons. But the heart of a king would never rest on one woman. Visbur went on his expeditions meeting many other beautiful women and fell for his second wife who was also the mother of Domalde.
Coming back home, Visbur brought his second wife with him and divorced the first wife abandoning his sons as well.
Viking divorce
The poor wife and the sons left Visbur and harbored hatred towards the father. They vowed to take what belonged to them. When the sons came up their age, around thirteen, they came to the place of Visbur and demanded power and wealth both of which were supposed to belong to them. But the father refused to give and told them to get rid of his house. Mother and sons then used witchcraft to curse the son of Visbur and his second wife as well as to kill Visbur.
On one night, the sons came to Visbur's home and set everything on fire. In the Viking belief, setting one's house on fire without them knowing and in the middle of the night was the cowardly deed.
When the father was gone, Domalde came to take control of the kingdom. He became the beloved king for his people for his nice and generous reign.
Kind as he might be to his people, the king was cursed by the first wife of father. The woman cursed him to be tied with bad luck. And indeed, during his reign, there was no rain at all. Although the Vikings loved summer and sunshine for agricultural purpose, too much sun was no good.
No crops meant no food. No food meant death. Domalde's people suffered from famine and tons of other things. According to their culture, they had to make sacrifice for their gods who would help them.
In the first year, they sacrificed cattle and many of treasures for the gods. But nothing good happened to them.
Viking sacrifice to gods
In the second year, they sacrificed slaves and some villagers who volunteered to die for the sake of their clan. But nothing good happened either.
The luck of one kingdom was believed to be tied with that of their king. And this made his people came into a decision to kill their king.
And in the third year, the whole kingdom took Domalde to the altar and killed him. Once the blood of the king was shed, the whole kingdom changed. There were rain and food for everyone.
