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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1932-h.zip b/1932-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f64b21b --- /dev/null +++ b/1932-h.zip diff --git a/1932-h/1932-h.htm b/1932-h/1932-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..61db92a --- /dev/null +++ b/1932-h/1932-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4362 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Early Kings of Norway, by Thomas Carlyle + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Early Kings of Norway, by Thomas Carlyle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Early Kings of Norway + +Author: Thomas Carlyle + +Release Date: October 10, 2008 [EBook #1932] +Last Updated: November 30, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY *** + + + + +Produced by Ron Burkey, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY. + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + by Thomas Carlyle + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <div class="mynote"> + <p> + Transcriber's Note: The text has been taken from volume 19 of the + "Sterling Edition" of Carlyle's complete works. All footnotes have been + collected as endnotes. The pound (currency) symbol has been replaced by + the word "pounds". + </p> + <br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + The Icelanders, in their long winter, had a great habit of writing; and + were, and still are, excellent in penmanship, says Dahlmann. It is to this + fact, that any little history there is of the Norse Kings and their old + tragedies, crimes and heroisms, is almost all due. The Icelanders, it + seems, not only made beautiful letters on their paper or parchment, but + were laudably observant and desirous of accuracy; and have left us such a + collection of narratives (<i>Sagas</i>, literally "Says") as, for quantity + and quality, is unexampled among rude nations. Snorro Sturleson's History + of the Norse Kings is built out of these old Sagas; and has in it a great + deal of poetic fire, not a little faithful sagacity applied in sifting and + adjusting these old Sagas; and, in a word, deserves, were it once well + edited, furnished with accurate maps, chronological summaries, &c., to + be reckoned among the great history-books of the world. It is from these + sources, greatly aided by accurate, learned and unwearied Dahlmann, <a + href="#linknote-1" name="linknoteref-1" id="linknoteref-1"><small>1</small></a> + the German Professor, that the following rough notes of the early Norway + Kings are hastily thrown together. In Histories of England (Rapin's + excepted) next to nothing has been shown of the many and strong threads of + connection between English affairs and Norse. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> HARALD + HAARFAGR. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> ERIC + BLOOD-AXE AND BROTHERS. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. + </a> HAKON THE GOOD. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> + CHAPTER IV. </a> HARALD GREYFELL AND BROTHERS. <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> HAKON JARL. <br /><br /> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> OLAF TRYGGVESON. + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a> REIGN + OF OLAF TRYGGVESON. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. + </a> JARLS ERIC AND SVEIN. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0009"> + CHAPTER IX. </a> KING OLAF THE THICK-SET'S VIKING DAYS. <br /><br /> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a> REIGN OF KING OLAF + THE SAINT. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a> MAGNUS + THE GOOD AND OTHERS. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. + </a> OLAF THE TRANQUIL, MAGNUS BAREFOOT, AND SIGURD THE + CRUSADER. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. </a> MAGNUS + THE BLIND, HARALD GYLLE, AND MUTUAL EXTINCTION OF THE HAARFAGRS. <br /><br /> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. </a> SVERRIR AND + DESCENDANTS, TO HAKON THE OLD. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> + CHAPTER XV. </a> HAKON THE OLD AT LARGS. <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. </a> EPILOGUE. <br /><br /> + <a href="#link2H_FOOT"> FOOTNOTES: </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. HARALD HAARFAGR. + </h2> + <p> + Till about the Year of Grace 860 there were no kings in Norway, nothing + but numerous jarls,—essentially kinglets, each presiding over a kind + of republican or parliamentary little territory; generally striving each + to be on some terms of human neighborhood with those about him, but,—in + spite of "<i>Fylke Things</i>" (Folk Things, little parish parliaments), + and small combinations of these, which had gradually formed themselves,—often + reduced to the unhappy state of quarrel with them. Harald Haarfagr was the + first to put an end to this state of things, and become memorable and + profitable to his country by uniting it under one head and making a + kingdom of it; which it has continued to be ever since. His father, + Halfdan the Black, had already begun this rough but salutary process,—inspired + by the cupidities and instincts, by the faculties and opportunities, which + the good genius of this world, beneficent often enough under savage forms, + and diligent at all times to diminish anarchy as the world's worst + savagery, usually appoints in such cases,—conquest, hard fighting, + followed by wise guidance of the conquered;—but it was Harald the + Fairhaired, his son, who conspicuously carried it on and completed it. + Harald's birth-year, death-year, and chronology in general, are known only + by inference and computation; but, by the latest reckoning, he died about + the year 933 of our era, a man of eighty-three. + </p> + <p> + The business of conquest lasted Harald about twelve years (A.D. 860-872?), + in which he subdued also the vikings of the out-islands, Orkneys, + Shetlands, Hebrides, and Man. Sixty more years were given him to + consolidate and regulate what he had conquered, which he did with great + judgment, industry and success. His reign altogether is counted to have + been of over seventy years. + </p> + <p> + The beginning of his great adventure was of a romantic character.—youthful + love for the beautiful Gyda, a then glorious and famous young lady of + those regions, whom the young Harald aspired to marry. Gyda answered his + embassy and prayer in a distant, lofty manner: "Her it would not beseem to + wed any Jarl or poor creature of that kind; let him do as Gorm of Denmark, + Eric of Sweden, Egbert of England, and others had done,—subdue into + peace and regulation the confused, contentious bits of jarls round him, + and become a king; then, perhaps, she might think of his proposal: till + then, not." Harald was struck with this proud answer, which rendered Gyda + tenfold more desirable to him. He vowed to let his hair grow, never to cut + or even to comb it till this feat were done, and the peerless Gyda his + own. He proceeded accordingly to conquer, in fierce battle, a Jarl or two + every year, and, at the end of twelve years, had his unkempt (and almost + unimaginable) head of hair clipt off,—Jarl Rognwald (<i>Reginald</i>) + of More, the most valued and valuable of all his subject-jarls, being + promoted to this sublime barber function;—after which King Harald, + with head thoroughly cleaned, and hair grown, or growing again to the + luxuriant beauty that had no equal in his day, brought home his Gyda, and + made her the brightest queen in all the north. He had after her, in + succession, or perhaps even simultaneously in some cases, at least six + other wives; and by Gyda herself one daughter and four sons. + </p> + <p> + Harald was not to be considered a strict-living man, and he had a great + deal of trouble, as we shall see, with the tumultuous ambition of his + sons; but he managed his government, aided by Jarl Rognwald and others, in + a large, quietly potent, and successful manner; and it lasted in this + royal form till his death, after sixty years of it. + </p> + <p> + These were the times of Norse colonization; proud Norsemen flying into + other lands, to freer scenes,—to Iceland, to the Faroe Islands, + which were hitherto quite vacant (tenanted only by some mournful hermit, + Irish Christian <i>fakir</i>, or so); still more copiously to the Orkney + and Shetland Isles, the Hebrides and other countries where Norse squatters + and settlers already were. Settlement of Iceland, we say; settlement of + the Faroe Islands, and, by far the notablest of all, settlement of + Normandy by Rolf the Ganger (A.D. 876?). <a href="#linknote-2" + name="linknoteref-2" id="linknoteref-2"><small>2</small></a> + </p> + <p> + Rolf, son of Rognwald, <a href="#linknote-3" name="linknoteref-3" + id="linknoteref-3"><small>3</small></a> was lord of three little islets + far north, near the Fjord of Folden, called the Three Vigten Islands; but + his chief means of living was that of sea robbery; which, or at least + Rolf's conduct in which, Harald did not approve of. In the Court of + Harald, sea-robbery was strictly forbidden as between Harald's own + countries, but as against foreign countries it continued to be the one + profession for a gentleman; thus, I read, Harald's own chief son, King + Eric that afterwards was, had been at sea in such employments ever since + his twelfth year. Rolf's crime, however, was that in coming home from one + of these expeditions, his crew having fallen short of victual, Rolf landed + with them on the shore of Norway, and in his strait, drove in some cattle + there (a crime by law) and proceeded to kill and eat; which, in a little + while, he heard that King Harald was on foot to inquire into and punish; + whereupon Rolf the Ganger speedily got into his ships again, got to the + coast of France with his sea-robbers, got infestment by the poor King of + France in the fruitful, shaggy desert which is since called Normandy, land + of the Northmen; and there, gradually felling the forests, banking the + rivers, tilling the fields, became, during the next two centuries, + Wilhelmus Conquaestor, the man famous to England, and momentous at this + day, not to England alone, but to all speakers of the English tongue, now + spread from side to side of the world in a wonderful degree. Tancred of + Hauteville and his Italian Normans, though important too, in Italy, are + not worth naming in comparison. This is a feracious earth, and the grain + of mustard-seed will grow to miraculous extent in some cases. + </p> + <p> + Harald's chief helper, counsellor, and lieutenant was the above-mentioned + Jarl Rognwald of More, who had the honor to cut Harald's dreadful head of + hair. This Rognwald was father of Turf-Einar, who first invented peat in + the Orkneys, finding the wood all gone there; and is remembered to this + day. Einar, being come to these islands by King Harald's permission, to + see what he could do in them,—islands inhabited by what miscellany + of Picts, Scots, Norse squatters we do not know,—found the + indispensable fuel all wasted. Turf-Einar too may be regarded as a + benefactor to his kind. He was, it appears, a bastard; and got no coddling + from his father, who disliked him, partly perhaps, because "he was ugly + and blind of an eye,"—got no flattering even on his conquest of the + Orkneys and invention of peat. Here is the parting speech his father made + to him on fitting him out with a "long-ship" (ship of war, "dragon-ship," + ancient seventy-four), and sending him forth to make a living for himself + in the world: "It were best if thou never camest back, for I have small + hope that thy people will have honor by thee; thy mother's kin throughout + is slavish." + </p> + <p> + Harald Haarfagr had a good many sons and daughters; the daughters he + married mostly to jarls of due merit who were loyal to him; with the sons, + as remarked above, he had a great deal of trouble. They were ambitious, + stirring fellows, and grudged at their finding so little promotion from a + father so kind to his jarls; sea-robbery by no means an adequate career + for the sons of a great king, two of them, Halfdan Haaleg (Long-leg), and + Gudrod Ljome (Gleam), jealous of the favors won by the great Jarl + Rognwald, surrounded him in his house one night, and burnt him and sixty + men to death there. That was the end of Rognwald, the invaluable jarl, + always true to Haarfagr; and distinguished in world history by producing + Rolf the Ganger, author of the Norman Conquest of England, and Turf-Einar, + who invented peat in the Orkneys. Whether Rolf had left Norway at this + time there is no chronology to tell me. As to Rolf's surname, "Ganger," + there are various hypotheses; the likeliest, perhaps, that Rolf was so + weighty a man no horse (small Norwegian horses, big ponies rather) could + carry him, and that he usually walked, having a mighty stride withal, and + great velocity on foot. + </p> + <p> + One of these murderers of Jarl Rognwald quietly set himself in Rognwald's + place, the other making for Orkney to serve Turf-Einar in like fashion. + Turf-Einar, taken by surprise, fled to the mainland; but returned, days or + perhaps weeks after, ready for battle, fought with Halfdan, put his party + to flight, and at next morning's light searched the island and slew all + the men he found. As to Halfdan Long-leg himself, in fierce memory of his + own murdered father, Turf-Einar "cut an eagle on his back," that is to + say, hewed the ribs from each side of the spine and turned them out like + the wings of a spread-eagle: a mode of Norse vengeance fashionable at that + time in extremely aggravated cases! + </p> + <p> + Harald Haarfagr, in the mean time, had descended upon the Rognwald scene, + not in mild mood towards the new jarl there; indignantly dismissed said + jarl, and appointed a brother of Rognwald (brother, notes Dahlmann), + though Rognwald had left other sons. Which done, Haarfagr sailed with all + speed to the Orkneys, there to avenge that cutting of an eagle on the + human back on Turf-Einar's part. Turf-Einar did not resist; submissively + met the angry Haarfagr, said he left it all, what had been done, what + provocation there had been, to Haarfagr's own equity and greatness of + mind. Magnanimous Haarfagr inflicted a fine of sixty marks in gold, which + was paid in ready money by Turf-Einar, and so the matter ended. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. ERIC BLOOD-AXE AND BROTHERS. + </h2> + <p> + In such violent courses Haarfagr's sons, I know not how many of them, had + come to an untimely end; only Eric, the accomplished sea-rover, and three + others remained to him. Among these four sons, rather impatient for + property and authority of their own, King Harald, in his old days, tried + to part his kingdom in some eligible and equitable way, and retire from + the constant press of business, now becoming burdensome to him. To each of + them he gave a kind of kingdom; Eric, his eldest son, to be head king, and + the others to be feudatory under him, and pay a certain yearly + contribution; an arrangement which did not answer well at all. Head-King + Eric insisted on his tribute; quarrels arose as to the payment, + considerable fighting and disturbance, bringing fierce destruction from + King Eric upon many valiant but too stubborn Norse spirits, and among the + rest upon all his three brothers, which got him from the Norse populations + the surname of <i>Blod-axe</i>, "Eric Blood-axe," his title in history. + One of his brothers he had killed in battle before his old father's life + ended; this brother was Bjorn, a peaceable, improving, trading economic + Under-king, whom the others mockingly called "Bjorn the Chapman." The + great-grandson of this Bjorn became extremely distinguished by and by as + <i>Saint</i> Olaf. Head-King Eric seems to have had a violent wife, too. + She was thought to have poisoned one of her other brothers-in-law. Eric + Blood-axe had by no means a gentle life of it in this world, trained to + sea-robbery on the coasts of England, Scotland, Ireland and France, since + his twelfth year. + </p> + <p> + Old King Fairhair, at the age of seventy, had another son, to whom was + given the name of Hakon. His mother was a slave in Fairhair's house; slave + by ill-luck of war, though nobly enough born. A strange adventure connects + this Hakon with England and King Athelstan, who was then entering upon his + great career there. Short while after this Hakon came into the world, + there entered Fairhair's palace, one evening as Fairhair sat Feasting, an + English ambassador or messenger, bearing in his hand, as gift from King + Athelstan, a magnificent sword, with gold hilt and other fine trimmings, + to the great Harald, King of Norway. Harald took the sword, drew it, or + was half drawing it, admiringly from the scabbard, when the English + excellency broke into a scornful laugh, "Ha, ha; thou art now the + feudatory of my English king; thou hast accepted the sword from him, and + art now his man!" (acceptance of a sword in that manner being the symbol + of investiture in those days.) Harald looked a trifle flurried, it is + probable; but held in his wrath, and did no damage to the tricksy + Englishman. He kept the matter in his mind, however, and next summer + little Hakon, having got his weaning done,—one of the prettiest, + healthiest little creatures,—Harald sent him off, under charge of + "Hauk" (Hawk so called), one of his Principal, warriors, with order, "Take + him to England," and instructions what to do with him there. And + accordingly, one evening, Hauk, with thirty men escorting, strode into + Athelstan's high dwelling (where situated, how built, whether with logs + like Harald's, I cannot specifically say), into Athelstan's high presence, + and silently set the wild little cherub upon Athelstan's knee. "What is + this?" asked Athelstan, looking at the little cherub. "This is King + Harald's son, whom a serving-maid bore to him, and whom he now gives thee + as foster-child!" Indignant Athelstan drew his sword, as if to do the gift + a mischief; but Hauk said, "Thou hast taken him on thy knee [common symbol + of adoption]; thou canst kill him if thou wilt; but thou dost not thereby + kill all the sons of Harald." Athelstan straightway took milder thoughts; + brought up, and carefully educated Hakon; from whom, and this singular + adventure, came, before very long, the first tidings of Christianity into + Norway. + </p> + <p> + Harald Haarfagr, latterly withdrawn from all kinds of business, died at + the age of eighty-three—about A.D. 933, as is computed; nearly + contemporary in death with the first Danish King, Gorm the Old, who had + done a corresponding feat in reducing Denmark under one head. Remarkable + old men, these two first kings; and possessed of gifts for bringing Chaos + a little nearer to the form of Cosmos; possessed, in fact, of loyalties to + Cosmos, that is to say, of authentic virtues in the savage state, such as + have been needed in all societies at their incipience in this world; a + kind of "virtues" hugely in discredit at present, but not unlikely to be + needed again, to the astonishment of careless persons, before all is done! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. HAKON THE GOOD. + </h2> + <p> + Eric Blood-axe, whose practical reign is counted to have begun about A.D. + 930, had by this time, or within a year or so of this time, pretty much + extinguished all his brother kings, and crushed down recalcitrant spirits, + in his violent way; but had naturally become entirely unpopular in Norway, + and filled it with silent discontent and even rage against him. Hakon + Fairhair's last son, the little foster-child of Athelstan in England, who + had been baptized and carefully educated, was come to his fourteenth or + fifteenth year at his father's death; a very shining youth, as Athelstan + saw with just pleasure. So soon as the few preliminary preparations had + been settled, Hakon, furnished with a ship or two by Athelstan, suddenly + appeared in Norway got acknowledged by the Peasant Thing in Trondhjem "the + news of which flew over Norway, like fire through dried grass," says an + old chronicler. So that Eric, with his Queen Gunhild, and seven small + children, had to run; no other shift for Eric. They went to the Orkneys + first of all, then to England, and he "got Northumberland as earldom," I + vaguely hear, from Athelstan. But Eric soon died, and his queen, with her + children, went back to the Orkneys in search of refuge or help; to little + purpose there or elsewhere. From Orkney she went to Denmark, where Harald + Blue-tooth took her poor eldest boy as foster-child; but I fear did not + very faithfully keep that promise. The Danes had been robbing extensively + during the late tumults in Norway; this the Christian Hakon, now + established there, paid in kind, and the two countries were at war; so + that Gunhild's little boy was a welcome card in the hand of Blue-tooth. + </p> + <p> + Hakon proved a brilliant and successful king; regulated many things, + public law among others (<i>Gule-Thing</i> Law, <i>Frost-Thing</i> Law: + these are little codes of his accepted by their respective Things, and had + a salutary effect in their time); with prompt dexterity he drove back the + Blue-tooth foster-son invasions every time they came; and on the whole + gained for himself the name of Hakon the Good. These Danish invasions were + a frequent source of trouble to him, but his greatest and continual + trouble was that of extirpating heathen idolatry from Norway, and + introducing the Christian Evangel in its stead. His transcendent anxiety + to achieve this salutary enterprise was all along his grand difficulty and + stumbling-block; the heathen opposition to it being also rooted and great. + Bishops and priests from England Hakon had, preaching and baptizing what + they could, but making only slow progress; much too slow for Hakon's zeal. + On the other hand, every Yule-tide, when the chief heathen were assembled + in his own palace on their grand sacrificial festival, there was great + pressure put upon Hakon, as to sprinkling with horse-blood, drinking + Yule-beer, eating horse-flesh, and the other distressing rites; the whole + of which Hakon abhorred, and with all his steadfastness strove to reject + utterly. Sigurd, Jarl of Lade (Trondhjem), a liberal heathen, not openly a + Christian, was ever a wise counsellor and conciliator in such affairs; and + proved of great help to Hakon. Once, for example, there having risen at a + Yule-feast, loud, almost stormful demand that Hakon, like a true man and + brother, should drink Yule-beer with them in their sacred hightide, Sigurd + persuaded him to comply, for peace's sake, at least, in form. Hakon took + the cup in his left hand (excellent hot <i>beer</i>), and with his right + cut the sign of the cross above it, then drank a draught. "Yes; but what + is this with the king's right hand?" cried the company. "Don't you see?" + answered shifty Sigurd; "he makes the sign of Thor's hammer before + drinking!" which quenched the matter for the time. + </p> + <p> + Horse-flesh, horse-broth, and the horse ingredient generally, Hakon all + but inexorably declined. By Sigurd's pressing exhortation and entreaty, he + did once take a kettle of horsebroth by the handle, with a good deal of + linen-quilt or towel interposed, and did open his lips for what of steam + could insinuate itself. At another time he consented to a particle of + horse-liver, intending privately, I guess, to keep it outside the gullet, + and smuggle it away without swallowing; but farther than this not even + Sigurd could persuade him to go. At the Things held in regard to this + matter Hakon's success was always incomplete; now and then it was plain + failure, and Hakon had to draw back till a better time. Here is one + specimen of the response he got on such an occasion; curious specimen, + withal, of antique parliamentary eloquence from an Anti-Christian Thing. + </p> + <p> + At a Thing of all the Fylkes of Trondhjem, Thing held at Froste in that + region, King Hakon, with all the eloquence he had, signified that it was + imperatively necessary that all Bonders and sub-Bonders should become + Christians, and believe in one God, Christ the Son of Mary; renouncing + entirely blood sacrifices and heathen idols; should keep every seventh day + holy, abstain from labor that day, and even from food, devoting the day to + fasting and sacred meditation. Whereupon, by way of universal answer, + arose a confused universal murmur of entire dissent. "Take away from us + our old belief, and also our time for labor!" murmured they in angry + astonishment; "how can even the land be got tilled in that way?" "We + cannot work if we don't get food," said the hand laborers and slaves. "It + lies in King Hakon's blood," remarked others; "his father and all his + kindred were apt to be stingy about food, though liberal enough with + money." At length, one Osbjorn (or Bear of the Asen or Gods, what we now + call Osborne), one Osbjorn of Medalhusin Gulathal, stept forward, and + said, in a distinct manner, "We Bonders (peasant proprietors) thought, + King Hakon, when thou heldest thy first Thing-day here in Trondhjem, and + we took thee for our king, and received our hereditary lands from thee + again that we had got heaven itself. But now we know not how it is, + whether we have won freedom, or whether thou intendest anew to make us + slaves, with this wonderful proposal that we should renounce our faith, + which our fathers before us have held, and all our ancestors as well, + first in the age of burial by burning, and now in that of earth burial; + and yet these departed ones were much our superiors, and their faith, too, + has brought prosperity to us. Thee, at the same time, we have loved so + much that we raised thee to manage all the laws of the land, and speak as + their voice to us all. And even now it is our will and the vote of all + Bonders to keep that paction which thou gavest us here on the Thing at + Froste, and to maintain thee as king so long as any of us Bonders who are + here upon the Thing has life left, provided thou, king, wilt go fairly to + work, and demand of us only such things as are not impossible. But if thou + wilt fix upon this thing with so great obstinacy, and employ force and + power, in that case, we Bonders have taken the resolution, all of us, to + fall away from thee, and to take for ourselves another head, who will so + behave that we may enjoy in freedom the belief which is agreeable to us. + Now shalt thou, king, choose one of these two courses before the Thing + disperse." "Whereupon," adds the Chronicle, "all the Bonders raised a + mighty shout, 'Yes, we will have it so, as has been said.'" So that Jarl + Sigurd had to intervene, and King Hakon to choose for the moment the + milder branch of the alternative. <a href="#linknote-4" + name="linknoteref-4" id="linknoteref-4"><small>4</small></a> At other + Things Hakon was more or less successful. All his days, by such methods as + there were, he kept pressing forward with this great enterprise; and on + the whole did thoroughly shake asunder the old edifice of heathendom, and + fairly introduce some foundation for the new and better rule of faith and + life among his people. Sigurd, Jarl of Lade, his wise counsellor in all + these matters, is also a man worthy of notice. + </p> + <p> + Hakon's arrangements against the continual invasions of Eric's sons, with + Danish Blue-tooth backing them, were manifold, and for a long time + successful. He appointed, after consultation and consent in the various + Things, so many war-ships, fully manned and ready, to be furnished + instantly on the King's demand by each province or fjord; watch-fires, on + fit places, from hill to hill all along the coast, were to be carefully + set up, carefully maintained in readiness, and kindled on any alarm of + war. By such methods Blue-tooth and Co.'s invasions were for a long while + triumphantly, and even rapidly, one and all of them, beaten back, till at + length they seemed as if intending to cease altogether, and leave Hakon + alone of them. But such was not their issue after all. The sons of Eric + had only abated under constant discouragement, had not finally left off + from what seemed their one great feasibility in life. Gunhild, their + mother, was still with them: a most contriving, fierce-minded, + irreconcilable woman, diligent and urgent on them, in season and out of + season; and as for King Blue-tooth, he was at all times ready to help, + with his good-will at least. + </p> + <p> + That of the alarm-fires on Hakon's part was found troublesome by his + people; sometimes it was even hurtful and provoking (lighting your + alarm-fires and rousing the whole coast and population, when it was + nothing but some paltry viking with a couple of ships); in short, the + alarm-signal system fell into disuse, and good King Hakon himself, in the + first place, paid the penalty. It is counted, by the latest commentators, + to have been about A.D. 961, sixteenth or seventeenth year of Hakon's + pious, valiant, and worthy reign. Being at a feast one day, with many + guests, on the Island of Stord, sudden announcement came to him that ships + from the south were approaching in quantity, and evidently ships of war. + This was the biggest of all the Blue-tooth foster-son invasions; and it + was fatal to Hakon the Good that night. Eyvind the Skaldaspillir + (annihilator of all other Skalds), in his famed <i>Hakon's Song</i>, gives + account, and, still more pertinently, the always practical Snorro. Danes + in great multitude, six to one, as people afterwards computed, springing + swiftly to land, and ranking themselves; Hakon, nevertheless, at once + deciding not to take to his ships and run, but to fight there, one to six; + fighting, accordingly, in his most splendid manner, and at last gloriously + prevailing; routing and scattering back to their ships and flight homeward + these six-to-one Danes. "During the struggle of the fight," says Snorro, + "he was very conspicuous among other men; and while the sun shone, his + bright gilded helmet glanced, and thereby many weapons were directed at + him. One of his henchmen, Eyvind Finnson (<i>i.e.</i> Skaldaspillir, the + poet), took a hat, and put it over the king's helmet. Now, among the + hostile first leaders were two uncles of the Ericsons, brothers of + Gunhild, great champions both; Skreya, the elder of them, on the + disappearance of the glittering helmet, shouted boastfully, 'Does the king + of the Norsemen hide himself, then, or has he fled? Where now is the + golden helmet?' And so saying, Skreya, and his brother Alf with him, + pushed on like fools or madmen. The king said, 'Come on in that way, and + you shall find the king of the Norsemen.'" And in a short space of time + braggart Skreya did come up, swinging his sword, and made a cut at the + king; but Thoralf the Strong, an Icelander, who fought at the king's side, + dashed his shield so hard against Skreya, that he tottered with the shock. + On the same instant the king takes his sword "quernbiter" (able to cut <i>querns</i> + or millstones) with both hands, and hews Skreya through helm and head, + cleaving him down to the shoulders. Thoralf also slew Alf. That was what + they got by such over-hasty search for the king of the Norsemen. <a + href="#linknote-5" name="linknoteref-5" id="linknoteref-5"><small>5</small></a> + </p> + <p> + Snorro considers the fall of these two champion uncles as the crisis of + the fight; the Danish force being much disheartened by such a sight, and + King Hakon now pressing on so hard that all men gave way before him, the + battle on the Ericson part became a whirl of recoil; and in a few minutes + more a torrent of mere flight and haste to get on board their ships, and + put to sea again; in which operation many of them were drowned, says + Snorro; survivors making instant sail for Denmark in that sad condition. + </p> + <p> + This seems to have been King Hakon's finest battle, and the most + conspicuous of his victories, due not a little to his own grand qualities + shown on the occasion. But, alas! it was his last also. He was still + zealously directing the chase of that mad Danish flight, or whirl of + recoil towards their ships, when an arrow, shot Most likely at a venture, + hit him under the left armpit; and this proved his death. + </p> + <p> + He was helped into his ship, and made sail for Alrekstad, where his chief + residence in those parts was; but had to stop at a smaller place of his + (which had been his mother's, and where he himself was born)—a place + called Hella (the Flat Rock), still known as "Hakon's Hella," faint from + loss of blood, and crushed down as he had never before felt. Having no son + and only one daughter, he appointed these invasive sons of Eric to be sent + for, and if he died to become king; but to "spare his friends and + kindred." "If a longer life be granted me," he said, "I will go out of + this land to Christian men, and do penance for what I have committed + against God. But if I die in the country of the heathen, let me have such + burial as you yourselves think fittest." These are his last recorded + words. And in heathen fashion he was buried, and besung by Eyvind and the + Skalds, though himself a zealously Christian king. Hakon the <i>Good</i>; + so one still finds him worthy of being called. The sorrow on Hakon's + death, Snorro tells us, was so great and universal, "that he was lamented + both by friends and enemies; and they said that never again would Norway + see such a king." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. HARALD GREYFELL AND BROTHERS. + </h2> + <p> + Eric's sons, four or five of them, with a Harald at the top, now at once + got Norway in hand, all of it but Trondhjem, as king and under-kings; and + made a severe time of it for those who had been, or seemed to be, their + enemies. Excellent Jarl Sigurd, always so useful to Hakon and his country, + was killed by them; and they came to repent that before very long. The + slain Sigurd left a son, Hakon, as Jarl, who became famous in the northern + world by and by. This Hakon, and him only, would the Trondhjemers accept + as sovereign. "Death to him, then," said the sons of Eric, but only in + secret, till they had got their hands free and were ready; which was not + yet for some years. Nay, Hakon, when actually attacked, made good + resistance, and threatened to cause trouble. Nor did he by any means get + his death from these sons of Eric at this time, or till long afterwards at + all, from one of their kin, as it chanced. On the contrary, he fled to + Denmark now, and by and by managed to come back, to their cost. + </p> + <p> + Among their other chief victims were two cousins of their own, Tryggve and + Gudrod, who had been honest under-kings to the late head-king, Hakon the + Good; but were now become suspect, and had to fight for their lives, and + lose them in a tragic manner. Tryggve had a son, whom we shall hear of. + Gudrod, son of worthy Bjorn the Chapman, was grandfather of Saint Olaf, + whom all men have heard of,—who has a church in Southwark even, and + another in Old Jewry, to this hour. In all these violences, Gunhild, widow + of the late king Eric, was understood to have a principal hand. She had + come back to Norway with her sons; and naturally passed for the secret + adviser and Maternal President in whatever of violence went on; always + reckoned a fell, vehement, relentless personage where her own interests + were concerned. Probably as things settled, her influence on affairs grew + less. At least one hopes so; and, in the Sagas, hears less and less of + her, and before long nothing. + </p> + <p> + Harald, the head-king in this Eric fraternity, does not seem to have been + a bad man,—the contrary indeed; but his position was untowardly, + full of difficulty and contradictions. Whatever Harald could accomplish + for behoof of Christianity, or real benefit to Norway, in these cross + circumstances, he seems to have done in a modest and honest manner. He got + the name of <i>Greyfell</i> from his people on a very trivial account, but + seemingly with perfect good humor on their part. Some Iceland trader had + brought a cargo of furs to Trondhjem (Lade) for sale; sale being slacker + than the Icelander wished, he presented a chosen specimen, cloak, doublet, + or whatever it was, to Harald; who wore it with acceptance in public, and + rapidly brought disposal of the Icelander's stock, and the surname of <i>Greyfell</i> + to himself. His under-kings and he were certainly not popular, though I + almost think Greyfell himself, in absence of his mother and the + under-kings, might have been so. But here they all were, and had wrought + great trouble in Norway. "Too many of them," said everybody; "too many of + these courts and court people, eating up any substance that there is." For + the seasons withal, two or three of them in succession, were bad for + grass, much more for grain; no <i>herring</i> came either; very cleanness + of teeth was like to come in Eyvind Skaldaspillir's opinion. This scarcity + became at last their share of the great Famine Of A.D. 975, which + desolated Western Europe (see the poem in the Saxon Chronicle). And all + this by Eyvind Skaldaspillir, and the heathen Norse in general, was + ascribed to anger of the heathen gods. Discontent in Norway, and + especially in Eyvind Skaldaspillir, seems to have been very great. + </p> + <p> + Whereupon exile Hakon, Jarl Sigurd's son, bestirs himself in Denmark, + backed by old King Blue-tooth, and begins invading and encroaching in a + miscellaneous way; especially intriguing and contriving plots all round + him. An unfathomably cunning kind of fellow, as well as an audacious and + strong-handed! Intriguing in Trondhjem, where he gets the under-king, + Greyfell's brother, fallen upon and murdered; intriguing with Gold Harald, + a distinguished cousin or nephew of King Blue-tooth's, who had done fine + viking work, and gained, such wealth that he got the epithet of "Gold," + and who now was infinitely desirous of a share in Blue-tooth's kingdom as + the proper finish to these sea-rovings. He even ventured one day to make + publicly a distinct proposal that way to King Harald Blue-tooth himself; + who flew into thunder and lightning at the mere mention of it; so that + none durst speak to him for several days afterwards. Of both these Haralds + Hakon was confidential friend; and needed all his skill to walk without + immediate annihilation between such a pair of dragons, and work out Norway + for himself withal. In the end he found he must take solidly to + Blue-tooth's side of the question; and that they two must provide a recipe + for Gold Harald and Norway both at once. + </p> + <p> + "It is as much as your life is worth to speak again of sharing this Danish + kingdom," said Hakon very privately to Gold Harald; "but could not you, my + golden friend, be content with Norway for a kingdom, if one helped you to + it?" + </p> + <p> + "That could I well," answered Harald. + </p> + <p> + "Then keep me those nine war-ships you have just been rigging for a new + viking cruise; have these in readiness when I lift my finger!" + </p> + <p> + That was the recipe contrived for Gold Harald; recipe for King Greyfell + goes into the same vial, and is also ready. + </p> + <p> + Hitherto the Hakon-Blue-tooth disturbances in Norway had amounted to but + little. King Greyfell, a very active and valiant man, has constantly, + without much difficulty, repelled these sporadic bits of troubles; but + Greyfell, all the same, would willingly have peace with dangerous old + Blue-tooth (ever anxious to get his clutches over Norway on any terms) if + peace with him could be had. Blue-tooth, too, professes every willingness; + inveigles Greyfell, he and Hakon do; to have a friendly meeting on the + Danish borders, and not only settle all these quarrels, but generously + settle Greyfell in certain fiefs which he claimed in Denmark itself; and + so swear everlasting friendship. Greyfell joyfully complies, punctually + appears at the appointed day in Lymfjord Sound, the appointed place. + Whereupon Hakon gives signal to Gold Harald, "To Lymfjord with these nine + ships of yours, swift!" Gold Harald flies to Lymfjord with his ships, + challenges King Harald Greyfell to land and fight; which the undaunted + Greyfell, though so far outnumbered, does; and, fighting his very best, + perishes there, he and almost all his people. Which done, Jarl Hakon, who + is in readiness, attacks Gold Harald, the victorious but the wearied; + easily beats Gold Harald, takes him prisoner, and instantly hangs and ends + him, to the huge joy of King Blue-tooth and Hakon; who now make instant + voyage to Norway; drive all the brother under-kings into rapid flight to + the Orkneys, to any readiest shelter; and so, under the patronage of + Blue-tooth, Hakon, with the title of Jarl, becomes ruler of Norway. This + foul treachery done on the brave and honest Harald Greyfell is by some + dated about A.D. 969, by Munch, 965, by others, computing out of Snorro + only, A.D. 975. For there is always an uncertainty in these Icelandic + dates (say rather, rare and rude attempts at dating, without even an + "A.D." or other fixed "year one" to go upon in Iceland), though seldom, I + think, so large a discrepancy as here. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. HAKON JARL. + </h2> + <p> + Hakon Jarl, such the style he took, had engaged to pay some kind of + tribute to King Blue-tooth, "if he could;" but he never did pay any, + pleading always the necessity of his own affairs; with which excuse, + joined to Hakon's readiness in things less important, King Blue-tooth + managed to content himself, Hakon being always his good neighbor, at + least, and the two mutually dependent. In Norway, Hakon, without the title + of king, did in a strong-handed, steadfast, and at length, successful way, + the office of one; governed Norway (some count) for above twenty years; + and, both at home and abroad, had much consideration through most of that + time; specially amongst the heathen orthodox, for Hakon Jarl himself was a + zealous heathen, fixed in his mind against these chimerical Christian + innovations and unsalutary changes of creed, and would have gladly + trampled out all traces of what the last two kings (for Greyfell, also, + was an English Christian after his sort) had done in this respect. But he + wisely discerned that it was not possible, and that, for peace's sake, he + must not even attempt it, but must strike preferably into "perfect + toleration," and that of "every one getting to heaven or even to the other + goal in his own way." He himself, it is well known, repaired many heathen + temples (a great "church builder" in his way!), manufactured many splendid + idols, with much gilding and such artistic ornament as there was,—in + particular, one huge image of Thor, not forgetting the hammer and + appendages, and such a collar (supposed of solid gold, which it was not + quite, as we shall hear in time) round the neck of him as was never seen + in all the North. How he did his own Yule festivals, with what magnificent + solemnity, the horse-eatings, blood-sprinklings, and other sacred rites, + need not be told. Something of a "Ritualist," one may perceive; perhaps + had Scandinavian Puseyisms in him, and other desperate heathen notions. He + was universally believed to have gone into magic, for one thing, and to + have dangerous potencies derived from the Devil himself. The dark heathen + mind of him struggling vehemently in that strange element, not altogether + so unlike our own in some points. + </p> + <p> + For the rest, he was evidently, in practical matters, a man of sharp, + clear insight, of steadfast resolution, diligence, promptitude; and + managed his secular matters uncommonly well. Had sixteen Jarls under him, + though himself only Hakon Jarl by title; and got obedience from them + stricter than any king since Haarfagr had done. Add to which that the + country had years excellent for grass and crop, and that the herrings came + in exuberance; tokens, to the thinking mind, that Hakon Jarl was a + favorite of Heaven. + </p> + <p> + His fight with the far-famed Jomsvikings was his grandest exploit in + public rumor. Jomsburg, a locality not now known, except that it was near + the mouth of the River Oder, denoted in those ages the impregnable castle + of a certain hotly corporate, or "Sea Robbery Association (limited)," + which, for some generations, held the Baltic in terror, and plundered far + beyond the Belt,—in the ocean itself, in Flanders and the opulent + trading havens there,—above all, in opulent anarchic England, which, + for forty years from about this time, was the pirates' Goshen; and + yielded, regularly every summer, slaves, Danegelt, and miscellaneous + plunder, like no other country Jomsburg or the viking-world had ever + known. Palnatoke, Bue, and the other quasi-heroic heads of this + establishment are still remembered in the northern parts. <i>Palnatoke</i> + is the title of a tragedy by Oehlenschlager, which had its run of + immortality in Copenhagen some sixty or seventy years ago. + </p> + <p> + I judge the institution to have been in its floweriest state, probably now + in Hakon Jarl's time. Hakon Jarl and these pirates, robbing Hakon's + subjects and merchants that frequented him, were naturally in quarrel; and + frequent fightings had fallen out, not generally to the profit of the + Jomsburgers, who at last determined on revenge, and the rooting out of + this obstructive Hakon Jarl. They assembled in force at the Cape of Stad,—in + the Firda Fylke; and the fight was dreadful in the extreme, noise of it + filling all the north for long afterwards. Hakon, fighting like a lion, + could scarcely hold his own,—Death or Victory, the word on both + sides; when suddenly, the heavens grew black, and there broke out a + terrific storm of thunder and hail, appalling to the human mind,—universe + swallowed wholly in black night; only the momentary forked-blazes, the + thunder-pealing as of Ragnarok, and the battering hail-torrents, + hailstones about the size of an egg. Thor with his hammer evidently + acting; but in behalf of whom? The Jomsburgers in the hideous darkness, + broken only by flashing thunder-bolts, had a dismal apprehension that it + was probably not on their behalf (Thor having a sense of justice in him); + and before the storm ended, thirty-five of their seventy ships sheered + away, leaving gallant Bue, with the other thirty-five, to follow as they + liked, who reproachfully hailed these fugitives, and continued the now + hopeless battle. Bue's nose and lips were smashed or cut away; Bue + managed, half-articulately, to exclaim, "Ha! the maids ('mays') of Funen + will never kiss me more. Overboard, all ye Bue's men!" And taking his two + sea-chests, with all the gold he had gained in such life-struggle from of + old, sprang overboard accordingly, and finished the affair. Hakon Jarl's + renown rose naturally to the transcendent pitch after this exploit. His + people, I suppose chiefly the Christian part of them, whispered one to + another, with a shudder, "That in the blackest of the thunder-storm, he + had taken his youngest little boy, and made away with him; sacrificed him + to Thor or some devil, and gained his victory by art-magic, or something + worse." Jarl Eric, Hakon's eldest son, without suspicion of art-magic, but + already a distinguished viking, became thrice distinguished by his style + of sea-fighting in this battle; and awakened great expectations in the + viking public; of him we shall hear again. + </p> + <p> + The Jomsburgers, one might fancy, after this sad clap went visibly down in + the world; but the fact is not altogether so. Old King Blue-tooth was now + dead, died of a wound got in battle with his unnatural (so-called + "natural") son and successor, Otto Svein of the Forked Beard, afterwards + king and conqueror of England for a little while; and seldom, perhaps + never, had vikingism been in such flower as now. This man's name is Sven + in Swedish, Svend in German, and means boy or lad,—the English + "swain." It was at old "Father Bluetooth's funeral-ale" (drunken + burial-feast), that Svein, carousing with his Jomsburg chiefs and other + choice spirits, generally of the robber class, all risen into height of + highest robber enthusiasm, pledged the vow to one another; Svein that he + would conquer England (which, in a sense, he, after long struggling, did); + and the Jomsburgers that they would ruin and root out Hakon Jarl (which, + as we have just seen, they could by no means do), and other guests other + foolish things which proved equally unfeasible. Sea-robber volunteers so + especially abounding in that time, one perceives how easily the + Jomsburgers could recruit themselves, build or refit new robber fleets, + man them with the pick of crews, and steer for opulent, fruitful England; + where, under Ethelred the Unready, was such a field for profitable + enterprise as the viking public never had before or since. + </p> + <p> + An idle question sometimes rises on me,—idle enough, for it never + can be answered in the affirmative or the negative, Whether it was not + these same refitted Jomsburgers who appeared some while after this at Red + Head Point, on the shore of Angus, and sustained a new severe beating, in + what the Scotch still faintly remember as their "Battle of Loncarty"? + Beyond doubt a powerful Norse-pirate armament dropt anchor at the Red + Head, to the alarm of peaceable mortals, about that time. It was thought + and hoped to be on its way for England, but it visibly hung on for several + days, deliberating (as was thought) whether they would do this poorer + coast the honor to land on it before going farther. Did land, and + vigorously plunder and burn south-westward as far as Perth; laid siege to + Perth; but brought out King Kenneth on them, and produced that "Battle of + Loncarty" which still dwells in vague memory among the Scots. Perhaps it + might be the Jomsburgers; perhaps also not; for there were many pirate + associations, lasting not from century to century like the Jomsburgers, + but only for very limited periods, or from year to year; indeed, it was + mainly by such that the splendid thief-harvest of England was reaped in + this disastrous time. No Scottish chronicler gives the least of exact date + to their famed victory of Loncarty, only that it was achieved by Kenneth + III., which will mean some time between A.D. 975 and 994; and, by the + order they put it in, probably soon after A.D. 975, or the beginning of + this Kenneth's reign. Buchanan's narrative, carefully distilled from all + the ancient Scottish sources, is of admirable quality for style and + otherwise quiet, brief, with perfect clearness, perfect credibility even, + except that semi-miraculous appendage of the Ploughmen, Hay and Sons, + always hanging to the tail of it; the grain of possible truth in which can + now never be extracted by man's art! <a href="#linknote-6" + name="linknoteref-6" id="linknoteref-6"><small>6</small></a> In brief, + what we know is, fragments of ancient human bones and armor have + occasionally been ploughed up in this locality, proof positive of ancient + fighting here; and the fight fell out not long after Hakon's beating of + the Jomsburgers at the Cape of Stad. And in such dim glimmer of wavering + twilight, the question whether these of Loncarty were refitted Jomsburgers + or not, must be left hanging. Loncarty is now the biggest bleach-field in + Queen Victoria's dominions; no village or hamlet there, only the huge + bleaching-house and a beautiful field, some six or seven miles northwest + of Perth, bordered by the beautiful Tay river on the one side, and by its + beautiful tributary Almond on the other; a Loncarty fitted either for + bleaching linen, or for a bit of fair duel between nations, in those + simple times. + </p> + <p> + Whether our refitted Jomsburgers had the least thing to do with it is only + matter of fancy, but if it were they who here again got a good beating, + fancy would be glad to find herself fact. The old piratical kings of + Denmark had been at the founding of Jomsburg, and to Svein of the Forked + Beard it was still vitally important, but not so to the great Knut, or any + king that followed; all of whom had better business than mere thieving; + and it was Magnus the Good, of Norway, a man of still higher anti-anarchic + qualities, that annihilated it, about a century later. + </p> + <p> + Hakon Jarl, his chief labors in the world being over, is said to have + become very dissolute in his elder days, especially in the matter of + women; the wretched old fool, led away by idleness and fulness of bread, + which to all of us are well said to be the parents of mischief. Having + absolute power, he got into the habit of openly plundering men's pretty + daughters and wives from them, and, after a few weeks, sending them back; + greatly to the rage of the fierce Norse heart, had there been any means of + resisting or revenging. It did, after a little while, prove the ruin and + destruction of Hakon the Rich, as he was then called. It opened the door, + namely, for entry of Olaf Tryggveson upon the scene,—a very much + grander man; in regard to whom the wiles and traps of Hakon proved to be a + recipe, not on Tryggveson, but on the wily Hakon himself, as shall now be + seen straightway. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. OLAF TRYGGVESON. + </h2> + <p> + Hakon, in late times, had heard of a famous stirring person, victorious in + various lands and seas, latterly united in sea-robbery with Svein, Prince + Royal of Denmark, afterwards King Svein of the Double-beard ("<i>Zvae + Skiaeg</i>", <i>Twa Shag</i>) or fork-beard, both of whom had already done + transcendent feats in the viking way during this copartnery. The fame of + Svein, and this stirring personage, whose name was "Ole," and, recently, + their stupendous feats in plunder of England, siege of London, and other + wonders and splendors of viking glory and success, had gone over all the + North, awakening the attention of Hakon and everybody there. The name of + "Ole" was enigmatic, mysterious, and even dangerous-looking to Hakon Jarl; + who at length sent out a confidential spy to investigate this "Ole;" a + feat which the confidential spy did completely accomplish,—by no + means to Hakon's profit! The mysterious "Ole" proved to be no other than + Olaf, son of Tryggve, destined to blow Hakon Jarl suddenly into + destruction, and become famous among the heroes of the Norse world. + </p> + <p> + Of Olaf Tryggveson one always hopes there might, one day, some real + outline of a biography be written; fished from the abysses where (as + usual) it welters deep in foul neighborhood for the present. Farther on we + intend a few words more upon the matter. But in this place all that + concerns us in it limits itself to the two following facts first, that + Hakon's confidential spy "found Ole in Dublin;" picked acquaintance with + him, got him to confess that he was actually Olaf, son of Tryggve (the + Tryggve, whom Blood-axe's fierce widow and her sons had murdered); got him + gradually to own that perhaps an expedition into Norway might have its + chances; and finally that, under such a wise and loyal guidance as his + (the confidential spy's, whose friendship for Tryggveson was so + indubitable), he (Tryggveson) would actually try it upon Hakon Jarl, the + dissolute old scoundrel. Fact second is, that about the time they two set + sail from Dublin on their Norway expedition, Hakon Jarl removed to + Trondhjem, then called Lade; intending to pass some months there. + </p> + <p> + Now just about the time when Tryggveson, spy, and party had landed in + Norway, and were advancing upon Lade, with what support from the public + could be got, dissolute old Hakon Jarl had heard of one Gudrun, a Bonder's + wife, unparalleled in beauty, who was called in those parts, "Sunbeam of + the Grove" (so inexpressibly lovely); and sent off a couple of thralls to + bring her to him. "Never," answered Gudrun; "never," her indignant + husband; in a tone dangerous and displeasing to these Court thralls; who + had to leave rapidly, but threatened to return in better strength before + long. Whereupon, instantly, the indignant Bonder and his Sunbeam of the + Grove sent out their war-arrow, rousing all the country into angry + promptitude, and more than one perhaps into greedy hope of revenge for + their own injuries. The rest of Hakon's history now rushes on with extreme + rapidity. + </p> + <p> + Sunbeam of the Grove, when next demanded of her Bonder, has the whole + neighborhood assembled in arms round her; rumor of Tryggveson is fast + making it the whole country. Hakon's insolent messengers are cut in + pieces; Hakon finds he cannot fly under cover too soon. With a single + slave he flies that same night;—but whitherward? Can think of no + safe place, except to some old mistress of his, who lives retired in that + neighborhood, and has some pity or regard for the wicked old Hakon. Old + mistress does receive him, pities him, will do all she can to protect and + hide him. But how, by what uttermost stretch of female artifice hide him + here; every one will search here first of all! Old mistress, by the + slave's help, extemporizes a cellar under the floor of her pig-house; + sticks Hakon and slave into that, as the one safe seclusion she can + contrive. Hakon and slave, begrunted by the pigs above them, tortured by + the devils within and about them, passed two days in circumstances more + and more horrible. For they heard, through their light-slit and + breathing-slit, the triumph of Tryggveson proclaiming itself by + Tryggveson's own lips, who had mounted a big boulder near by and was + victoriously speaking to the people, winding up with a promise of honors + and rewards to whoever should bring him wicked old Hakon's head. Wretched + Hakon, justly suspecting his slave, tried to at least keep himself awake. + Slave did keep himself awake till Hakon dozed or slept, then swiftly cut + off Hakon's head, and plunged out with it to the presence of Tryggveson. + Tryggveson, detesting the traitor, useful as the treachery was, cut off + the slave's head too, had it hung up along with Hakon's on the pinnacle of + the Lade Gallows, where the populace pelted both heads with stones and + many curses, especially the more important of the two. "Hakon the Bad" + ever henceforth, instead of Hakon the Rich. + </p> + <p> + This was the end of Hakon Jarl, the last support of heathenry in Norway, + among other characteristics he had: a stronghanded, hard-headed, very + relentless, greedy and wicked being. He is reckoned to have ruled in + Norway, or mainly ruled, either in the struggling or triumphant state, for + about thirty years (965-995?). He and his seemed to have formed, by chance + rather than design, the chief opposition which the Haarfagr posterity + throughout its whole course experienced in Norway. Such the cost to them + of killing good Jarl Sigurd, in Greyfell's time! For "curses, like + chickens," do sometimes visibly "come home to feed," as they always, + either visibly or else invisibly, are punctually sure to do. + </p> + <p> + Hakon Jarl is considerably connected with the <i>Faroer Saga</i> often + mentioned there, and comes out perfectly in character; an altogether + worldly-wise man of the roughest type, not without a turn for practicality + of kindness to those who would really be of use to him. His tendencies to + magic also are not forgotten. + </p> + <p> + Hakon left two sons, Eric and Svein, often also mentioned in this Saga. On + their father's death they fled to Sweden, to Denmark, and were busy + stirring up troubles in those countries against Olaf Tryggveson; till at + length, by a favorable combination, under their auspices chiefly, they got + his brief and noble reign put an end to. Nay, furthermore, Jarl Eric left + sons, especially an elder son, named also Eric, who proved a sore + affliction, and a continual stone of stumbling to a new generation of + Haarfagrs, and so continued the curse of Sigurd's murder upon them. + </p> + <p> + Towards the end of this Hakon's reign it was that the discovery of America + took place (985). Actual discovery, it appears, by Eric the Red, an + Icelander; concerning which there has been abundant investigation and + discussion in our time. <i>Ginnungagap</i> (Roaring Abyss) is thought to + be the mouth of Behring's Straits in Baffin's Bay; <i>Big Helloland</i>, + the coast from Cape Walsingham to near Newfoundland; <i>Little Helloland</i>, + Newfoundland itself. <i>Markland</i> was Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and + Nova Scotia. Southward thence to Chesapeake Bay was called <i>Wine Land</i> + (wild grapes still grow in Rhode Island, and more luxuriantly further + south). <i>White Man's Land</i>, called also <i>Great Ireland</i>, is + supposed to mean the two Carolinas, down to the Southern Cape of Florida. + In Dahlmann's opinion, the Irish themselves might even pretend to have + probably been the first discoverers of America; they had evidently got to + Iceland itself before the Norse exiles found it out. It appears to be + certain that, from the end of the tenth century to the early part of the + fourteenth, there was a dim knowledge of those distant shores extant in + the Norse mind, and even some straggling series of visits thither by + roving Norsemen; though, as only danger, difficulty, and no profit + resulted, the visits ceased, and the whole matter sank into oblivion, and, + but for the Icelandic talent of writing in the long winter nights, would + never have been heard of by posterity at all. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. REIGN OF OLAF TRYGGVESON. + </h2> + <p> + Olaf Tryggveson (A.D. 995-1000) also makes a great figure in the <i>Faroer + Saga</i>, and recounts there his early troubles, which were strange and + many. He is still reckoned a grand hero of the North, though his <i>vates</i> + now is only Snorro Sturleson of Iceland. Tryggveson had indeed many + adventures in the world. His poor mother, Astrid, was obliged to fly, on + murder of her husband by Gunhild,—to fly for life, three months + before he, her little Olaf, was born. She lay concealed in reedy islands, + fled through trackless forests; reached her father's with the little baby + in her arms, and lay deep-hidden there, tended only by her father himself; + Gunhild's pursuit being so incessant, and keen as with sleuth-hounds. Poor + Astrid had to fly again, deviously to Sweden, to Esthland (Esthonia), to + Russia. In Esthland she was sold as a slave, quite parted from her boy,—who + also was sold, and again sold; but did at last fall in with a kinsman high + in the Russian service; did from him find redemption and help, and so + rose, in a distinguished manner, to manhood, victorious self-help, and + recovery of his kingdom at last. He even met his mother again, he as king + of Norway, she as one wonderfully lifted out of darkness into new life and + happiness still in store. + </p> + <p> + Grown to manhood, Tryggveson,—now become acquainted with his birth, + and with his, alas, hopeless claims,—left Russia for the one + profession open to him, that of sea-robbery; and did feats without number + in that questionable line in many seas and scenes,—in England + latterly, and most conspicuously of all. In one of his courses thither, + after long labors in the Hebrides, Man, Wales, and down the western shores + to the very Land's End and farther, he paused at the Scilly Islands for a + little while. He was told of a wonderful Christian hermit living strangely + in these sea-solitudes; had the curiosity to seek him out, examine, + question, and discourse with him; and, after some reflection, accepted + Christian baptism from the venerable man. In Snorro the story is involved + in miracle, rumor, and fable; but the fact itself seems certain, and is + very interesting; the great, wild, noble soul of fierce Olaf opening to + this wonderful gospel of tidings from beyond the world, tidings which + infinitely transcended all else he had ever heard or dreamt of! It seems + certain he was baptized here; date not fixable; shortly before poor + heart-broken Dunstan's death, or shortly after; most English churches, + monasteries especially, lying burnt, under continual visitation of the + Danes. Olaf such baptism notwithstanding, did not quit his viking + profession; indeed, what other was there for him in the world as yet? + </p> + <p> + We mentioned his occasional copartneries with Svein of the Double-beard, + now become King of Denmark, but the greatest of these, and the alone + interesting at this time, is their joint invasion of England, and + Tryggveson's exploits and fortunes there some years after that adventure + of baptism in the Scilly Isles. Svein and he "were above a year in England + together," this time: they steered up the Thames with three hundred ships + and many fighters; siege, or at least furious assault, of London was their + first or main enterprise, but it did not succeed. The Saxon Chronicle + gives date to it, A.D. 994, and names expressly, as Svein's co-partner, + "Olaus, king of Norway,"—which he was as yet far from being; but in + regard to the Year of Grace the Saxon Chronicle is to be held + indisputable, and, indeed, has the field to itself in this matter. Famed + Olaf Tryggveson, seen visibly at the siege of London, year 994, it throws + a kind of momentary light to us over that disastrous whirlpool of miseries + and confusions, all dark and painful to the fancy otherwise! This big + voyage and furious siege of London is Svein Double-beard's first real + attempt to fulfil that vow of his at Father Blue-tooth's "funeral ale," + and conquer England,—which it is a pity he could not yet do. Had + London now fallen to him, it is pretty evident all England must have + followed, and poor England, with Svein as king over it, been delivered + from immeasurable woes, which had to last some two-and-twenty years + farther, before this result could be arrived at. But finding London + impregnable for the moment (no ship able to get athwart the bridge, and + many Danes perishing in the attempt to do it by swimming), Svein and Olaf + turned to other enterprises; all England in a manner lying open to them, + turn which way they liked. They burnt and plundered over Kent, over + Hampshire, Sussex; they stormed far and wide; world lying all before them + where to choose. Wretched Ethelred, as the one invention he could fall + upon, offered them Danegelt (16,000 pounds of silver this year, but it + rose in other years as high as 48,000 pounds); the desperate Ethelred, a + clear method of quenching fire by pouring oil on it! Svein and Olaf + accepted; withdrew to Southampton,—Olaf at least did,—till the + money was got ready. Strange to think of, fierce Svein of the + Double-beard, and conquest of England by him; this had at last become the + one salutary result which remained for that distracted, down-trodden, now + utterly chaotic and anarchic country. A conquering Svein, followed by an + ably and earnestly administrative, as well as conquering, Knut (whom + Dahlmann compares to Charlemagne), were thus by the mysterious destinies + appointed the effective saviors of England. + </p> + <p> + Tryggveson, on this occasion, was a good while at Southampton; and roamed + extensively about, easily victorious over everything, if resistance were + attempted, but finding little or none; and acting now in a peaceable or + even friendly capacity. In the Southampton country he came in contact with + the then Bishop of Winchester, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, + excellent Elphegus, still dimly decipherable to us as a man of great + natural discernment, piety, and inborn veracity; a hero-soul, probably of + real brotherhood with Olaf's own. He even made court visits to King + Ethelred; one visit to him at Andover of a very serious nature. By + Elphegus, as we can discover, he was introduced into the real depths of + the Christian faith. Elphegus, with due solemnity of apparatus, in + presence of the king, at Andover, baptized Olaf anew, and to him Olaf + engaged that he would never plunder in England any more; which promise, + too, he kept. In fact, not long after, Svein's conquest of England being + in an evidently forward state, Tryggveson (having made, withal, a great + English or Irish marriage,—a dowager Princess, who had voluntarily + fallen in love with him,—see Snorro for this fine romantic fact!) + mainly resided in our island for two or three years, or else in Dublin, in + the precincts of the Danish Court there in the Sister Isle. Accordingly it + was in Dublin, as above noted, that Hakon's spy found him; and from the + Liffey that his squadron sailed, through the Hebrides, through the + Orkneys, plundering and baptizing in their strange way, towards such + success as we have seen. + </p> + <p> + Tryggveson made a stout, and, in effect, victorious and glorious struggle + for himself as king. Daily and hourly vigilant to do so, often enough by + soft and even merry methods, for he was a witty, jocund man, and had a + fine ringing laugh in him, and clear pregnant words ever ready,—or + if soft methods would not serve, then by hard and even hardest he put down + a great deal of miscellaneous anarchy in Norway; was especially busy + against heathenism (devil-worship and its rites): this, indeed, may be + called the focus and heart of all his royal endeavor in Norway, and of all + the troubles he now had with his people there. For this was a serious, + vital, all-comprehending matter; devil-worship, a thing not to be + tolerated one moment longer than you could by any method help! Olaf's + success was intermittent, of varying complexion; but his effort, swift or + slow, was strong and continual; and on the whole he did succeed. Take a + sample or two of that wonderful conversion process:— + </p> + <p> + At one of his first Things he found the Bonders all assembled in arms; + resolute to the death seemingly, against his proposal and him. Tryggveson + said little; waited impassive, "What your reasons are, good men?" One + zealous Bonder started up in passionate parliamentary eloquence; but after + a sentence or two, broke down; one, and then another, and still another, + and remained all three staring in open-mouthed silence there! The + peasant-proprietors accepted the phenomenon as ludicrous, perhaps partly + as miraculous withal, and consented to baptism this time. + </p> + <p> + On another occasion of a Thing, which had assembled near some heathen + temple to meet him,—temple where Hakon Jarl had done much repairing, + and set up many idol figures and sumptuous ornaments, regardless of + expense, especially a very big and splendid Thor, with massive gold collar + round the neck of him, not the like of it in Norway,—King Olaf + Tryggveson was clamorously invited by the Bonders to step in there, + enlighten his eyes, and partake of the sacred rites. Instead of which he + rushed into the temple with his armed men; smashed down, with his own + battle-axe, the god Thor, prostrate on the ground at one stroke, to set an + example; and, in a few minutes, had the whole Hakon Pantheon wrecked; + packing up meanwhile all the gold and preciosities accumulated there (not + forgetting Thor's illustrious gold collar, of which we shall hear again), + and victoriously took the plunder home with him for his own royal uses and + behoof of the state. In other cases, though a friend to strong measures, + he had to hold in, and await the favorable moment. Thus once, in beginning + a parliamentary address, so soon as he came to touch upon Christianity, + the Bonders rose in murmurs, in vociferations and jingling of arms, which + quite drowned the royal voice; declared, they had taken arms against king + Hakon the Good to compel him to desist from his Christian proposals; and + they did not think King Olaf a higher man than him (Hakon the Good). The + king then said, "He purposed coming to them next Yule to their great + sacrificial feast, to see for himself what their customs were," which + pacified the Bonders for this time. The appointed place of meeting was + again a Hakon-Jarl Temple, not yet done to ruin; chief shrine in those + Trondhjem parts, I believe: there should Tryggveson appear at Yule. Well, + but before Yule came, Tryggveson made a great banquet in his palace at + Trondhjem, and invited far and wide, all manner of important persons out + of the district as guests there. Banquet hardly done, Tryggveson gave some + slight signal, upon which armed men strode in, seized eleven of these + principal persons, and the king said: "Since he himself was to become a + heathen again, and do sacrifice, it was his purpose to do it in the + highest form, namely, that of Human Sacrifice; and this time not of slaves + and malefactors, but of the best men in the country!" In which stringent + circumstances the eleven seized persons, and company at large, gave + unanimous consent to baptism; straightway received the same, and abjured + their idols; but were not permitted to go home till they had left, in + sons, brothers, and other precious relatives, sufficient hostages in the + king's hands. + </p> + <p> + By unwearied industry of this and better kinds, Tryggveson had trampled + down idolatry, so far as form went,—how far in substance may be + greatly doubted. But it is to be remembered withal, that always on the + back of these compulsory adventures there followed English bishops, + priests and preachers; whereby to the open-minded, conviction, to all + degrees of it, was attainable, while silence and passivity became the duty + or necessity of the unconvinced party. + </p> + <p> + In about two years Norway was all gone over with a rough harrow of + conversion. Heathenism at least constrained to be silent and outwardly + conformable. Tryggveson, next turned his attention to Iceland, sent one + Thangbrand, priest from Saxony, of wonderful qualities, military as well + as theological, to try and convert Iceland. Thangbrand made a few + converts; for Olaf had already many estimable Iceland friends, whom he + liked much, and was much liked by; and conversion was the ready road to + his favor. Thangbrand, I find, lodged with Hall of Sida (familiar + acquaintance of "Burnt Njal," whose Saga has its admirers among us even + now). Thangbrand converted Hall and one or two other leading men; but in + general he was reckoned quarrelsome and blusterous rather than eloquent + and piously convincing. Two skalds of repute made biting lampoons upon + Thangbrand, whom Thangbrand, by two opportunities that offered, cut down + and did to death because of their skaldic quality. Another he killed with + his own hand, I know not for what reason. In brief, after about a year, + Thangbrand returned to Norway and king Olaf; declaring the Icelanders to + be a perverse, satirical, and inconvertible people, having himself, the + record says, "been the death of three men there." King Olaf was in high + rage at this result; but was persuaded by the Icelanders about him to try + farther, and by a wilder instrument. He accordingly chose one Thormod, a + pious, patient, and kindly man, who, within the next year or so, did + actually accomplish the matter; namely, get Christianity, by open vote, + declared at Thingvalla by the general Thing of Iceland there; the roar of + a big thunder-clap at the right moment rather helping the conclusion, if I + recollect. Whereupon Olaf's joy was no doubt great. + </p> + <p> + One general result of these successful operations was the discontent, to + all manner of degrees, on the part of many Norse individuals, against this + glorious and victorious, but peremptory and terrible king of theirs. + Tryggveson, I fancy, did not much regard all that; a man of joyful, cheery + temper, habitually contemptuous of danger. Another trivial misfortune that + befell in these conversion operations, and became important to him, he did + not even know of, and would have much despised if he had. It was this: + Sigrid, queen dowager of Sweden, thought to be amongst the most shining + women of the world, was also known for one of the most imperious, + revengeful, and relentless, and had got for herself the name of Sigrid the + Proud. In her high widowhood she had naturally many wooers; but treated + them in a manner unexampled. Two of her suitors, a simultaneous Two, were, + King Harald Graenske (a cousin of King Tryggveson's, and kind of king in + some district, by sufferance of the late Hakon's),—this luckless + Graenske and the then Russian Sovereign as well, name not worth + mentioning, were zealous suitors of Queen Dowager Sigrid, and were + perversely slow to accept the negative, which in her heart was inexorable + for both, though the expression of it could not be quite so emphatic. By + ill-luck for them they came once,—from the far West, Graenske; from + the far East, the Russian;—and arrived both together at Sigrid's + court, to prosecute their importunate, and to her odious and tiresome + suit; much, how very much, to her impatience and disdain. She lodged them + both in some old mansion, which she had contiguous, and got compendiously + furnished for them; and there, I know not whether on the first or on the + second, or on what following night, this unparalleled Queen Sigrid had the + house surrounded, set on fire, and the two suitors and their people burnt + to ashes! No more of bother from these two at least! This appears to be a + fact; and it could not be unknown to Tryggveson. + </p> + <p> + In spite of which, however, there went from Tryggveson, who was now a + widower, some incipient marriage proposals to this proud widow; by whom + they were favorably received; as from the brightest man in all the world, + they might seem worth being. Now, in one of these anti-heathen onslaughts + of King Olaf's on the idol temples of Hakon—(I think it was that + case where Olaf's own battle-axe struck down the monstrous refulgent Thor, + and conquered an immense gold ring from the neck of him, or from the door + of his temple),—a huge gold ring, at any rate, had come into Olaf's + hands; and this he bethought him might be a pretty present to Queen + Sigrid, the now favorable, though the proud. Sigrid received the ring with + joy; fancied what a collar it would make for her own fair neck; but + noticed that her two goldsmiths, weighing it on their fingers, exchanged a + glance. "What is that?" exclaimed Queen Sigrid. "Nothing," answered they, + or endeavored to answer, dreading mischief. But Sigrid compelled them to + break open the ring; and there was found, all along the inside of it, an + occult ring of copper, not a heart of gold at all! "Ha," said the proud + Queen, flinging it away, "he that could deceive in this matter can deceive + in many others!" And was in hot wrath with Olaf; though, by degrees, again + she took milder thoughts. + </p> + <p> + Milder thoughts, we say; and consented to a meeting next autumn, at some + half-way station, where their great business might be brought to a happy + settlement and betrothment. Both Olaf Tryggveson and the high dowager + appear to have been tolerably of willing mind at this meeting; but Olaf + interposed, what was always one condition with him, "Thou must consent to + baptism, and give up thy idol-gods." "They are the gods of all my + forefathers," answered the lady, "choose thou what gods thou pleasest, but + leave me mine." Whereupon an altercation; and Tryggveson, as was his wont, + towered up into shining wrath, and exclaimed at last, "Why should I care + about thee then, old faded heathen creature?" And impatiently wagging his + glove, hit her, or slightly switched her, on the face with it, and + contemptuously turning away, walked out of the adventure. "This is a feat + that may cost thee dear one day," said Sigrid. And in the end it came to + do so, little as the magnificent Olaf deigned to think of it at the + moment. + </p> + <p> + One of the last scuffles I remember of Olaf's having with his refractory + heathens, was at a Thing in Hordaland or Rogaland, far in the North, where + the chief opposition hero was one Jaernskaegg ("ironbeard") Scottice + ("Airn-shag," as it were!). Here again was a grand heathen temple, Hakon + Jarl's building, with a splendid Thor in it and much idol furniture. The + king stated what was his constant wish here as elsewhere, but had no + sooner entered upon the subject of Christianity than universal murmur, + rising into clangor and violent dissent, interrupted him, and Ironbeard + took up the discourse in reply. Ironbeard did not break down; on the + contrary, he, with great brevity, emphasis, and clearness, signified "that + the proposal to reject their old gods was in the highest degree + unacceptable to this Thing; that it was contrary to bargain, withal; so + that if it were insisted on, they would have to fight with the king about + it; and in fact were now ready to do so." In reply to this, Olaf, without + word uttered, but merely with some signal to the trusty armed men he had + with him, rushed off to the temple close at hand; burst into it, shutting + the door behind him; smashed Thor and Co. to destruction; then reappearing + victorious, found much confusion outside, and, in particular, what was a + most important item, the rugged Ironbeard done to death by Olaf's men in + the interim. Which entirely disheartened the Thing from fighting at that + moment; having now no leader who dared to head them in so dangerous an + enterprise. So that every one departed to digest his rage in silence as he + could. + </p> + <p> + Matters having cooled for a week or two, there was another Thing held; in + which King Olaf testified regret for the quarrel that had fallen out, + readiness to pay what <i>mulct</i> was due by law for that unlucky + homicide of Ironbeard by his people; and, withal, to take the fair + daughter of Ironbeard to wife, if all would comply and be friends with him + in other matters; which was the course resolved on as most convenient: + accept baptism, we; marry Jaernskaegg's daughter, you. This bargain held + on both sides. The wedding, too, was celebrated, but that took rather a + strange turn. On the morning of the bride-night, Olaf, who had not been + sleeping, though his fair partner thought he had, opened his eyes, and + saw, with astonishment, the fair partner aiming a long knife ready to + strike home upon him! Which at once ended their wedded life; poor + Demoiselle Ironbeard immediately bundling off with her attendants home + again; King Olaf into the apartment of his servants, mentioning there what + had happened, and forbidding any of them to follow her. + </p> + <p> + Olaf Tryggveson, though his kingdom was the smallest of the Norse Three, + had risen to a renown over all the Norse world, which neither he of + Denmark nor he of Sweden could pretend to rival. A magnificent, + far-shining man; more expert in all "bodily exercises" as the Norse call + them, than any man had ever been before him, or after was. Could keep five + daggers in the air, always catching the proper fifth by its handle, and + sending it aloft again; could shoot supremely, throw a javelin with either + hand; and, in fact, in battle usually throw two together. These, with + swimming, climbing, leaping, were the then admirable Fine Arts of the + North; in all which Tryggveson appears to have been the Raphael and the + Michael Angelo at once. Essentially definable, too, if we look well into + him, as a wild bit of real heroism, in such rude guise and environment; a + high, true, and great human soul. A jovial burst of laughter in him, + withal; a bright, airy, wise way of speech; dressed beautifully and with + care; a man admired and loved exceedingly by those he liked; dreaded as + death by those he did not like. "Hardly any king," says Snorro, "was ever + so well obeyed; by one class out of zeal and love, by the rest out of + dread." His glorious course, however, was not to last long. + </p> + <p> + King Svein of the Double-Beard had not yet completed his conquest of + England,—by no means yet, some thirteen horrid years of that still + before him!—when, over in Denmark, he found that complaints against + him and intricacies had arisen, on the part principally of one Burislav, + King of the Wends (far up the Baltic), and in a less degree with the King + of Sweden and other minor individuals. Svein earnestly applied himself to + settle these, and have his hands free. Burislav, an aged heathen + gentleman, proved reasonable and conciliatory; so, too, the King of + Sweden, and Dowager Queen Sigrid, his managing mother. Bargain in both + these cases got sealed and crowned by marriage. Svein, who had become a + widower lately, now wedded Sigrid; and might think, possibly enough, he + had got a proud bargain, though a heathen one. Burislav also insisted on + marriage with Princess Thyri, the Double-Beard's sister. Thyri, + inexpressibly disinclined to wed an aged heathen of that stamp, pleaded + hard with her brother; but the Double-Bearded was inexorable; Thyri's + wailings and entreaties went for nothing. With some guardian + foster-brother, and a serving-maid or two, she had to go on this hated + journey. Old Burislav, at sight of her, blazed out into marriage-feast of + supreme magnificence, and was charmed to see her; but Thyri would not join + the marriage party; refused to eat with it or sit with it at all. Day + after day, for six days, flatly refused; and after nightfall of the sixth, + glided out with her foster-brother into the woods, into by-paths and + inconceivable wanderings; and, in effect, got home to Denmark. Brother + Svein was not for the moment there; probably enough gone to England again. + But Thyri knew too well he would not allow her to stay here, or anywhere + that he could help, except with the old heathen she had just fled from. + </p> + <p> + Thyri, looking round the world, saw no likely road for her, but to Olaf + Tryggveson in Norway; to beg protection from the most heroic man she knew + of in the world. Olaf, except by renown, was not known to her; but by + renown he well was. Olaf, at sight of her, promised protection and asylum + against all mortals. Nay, in discoursing with Thyri Olaf perceived more + and more clearly what a fine handsome being, soul and body, Thyri was; and + in a short space of time winded up by proposing marriage to Thyri; who, + humbly, and we may fancy with what secret joy, consented to say yes, and + become Queen of Norway. In the due months they had a little son, Harald; + who, it is credibly recorded, was the joy of both his parents; but who, to + their inexpressible sorrow, in about a year died, and vanished from them. + This, and one other fact now to be mentioned, is all the wedded history we + have of Thyri. + </p> + <p> + The other fact is, that Thyri had, by inheritance or covenant, not + depending on her marriage with old Burislav, considerable properties in + Wendland; which, she often reflected, might be not a little behooveful to + her here in Norway, where her civil-list was probably but straitened. She + spoke of this to her husband; but her husband would take no hold, merely + made her gifts, and said, "Pooh, pooh, can't we live without old Burislav + and his Wendland properties?" So that the lady sank into ever deeper + anxiety and eagerness about this Wendland object; took to weeping; sat + weeping whole days; and when Olaf asked, "What ails thee, then?" would + answer, or did answer once, "What a different man my father Harald Gormson + was [vulgarly called Blue-tooth], compared with some that are now kings! + For no King Svein in the world would Harald Gormson have given up his own + or his wife's just rights!" Whereupon Tryggveson started up, exclaiming in + some heat, "Of thy brother Svein I never was afraid; if Svein and I meet + in contest, it will not be Svein, I believe, that conquers;" and went off + in a towering fume. Consented, however, at last, had to consent, to get + his fine fleet equipped and armed, and decide to sail with it to Wendland + to have speech and settlement with King Burislav. + </p> + <p> + Tryggveson had already ships and navies that were the wonder of the North. + Especially in building war ships, the Crane, the Serpent, last of all the + Long Serpent, <a href="#linknote-7" name="linknoteref-7" id="linknoteref-7"><small>7</small></a>—he + had, for size, for outward beauty, and inward perfection of equipment, + transcended all example. + </p> + <p> + This new sea expedition became an object of attention to all neighbors; + especially Queen Sigrid the Proud and Svein Double-Beard, her now king, + were attentive to it. + </p> + <p> + "This insolent Tryggveson," Queen Sigrid would often say, and had long + been saying, to her Svein, "to marry thy sister without leave had or asked + of thee; and now flaunting forth his war navies, as if he, king only of + paltry Norway, were the big hero of the North! Why do you suffer it, you + kings really great?" + </p> + <p> + By such persuasions and reiterations, King Svein of Denmark, King Olaf of + Sweden, and Jarl Eric, now a great man there, grown rich by prosperous sea + robbery and other good management, were brought to take the matter up, and + combine strenuously for destruction of King Olaf Tryggveson on this grand + Wendland expedition of his. Fleets and forces were with best diligence got + ready; and, withal, a certain Jarl Sigwald, of Jomsburg, chieftain of the + Jomsvikings, a powerful, plausible, and cunning man, was appointed to find + means of joining himself to Tryggveson's grand voyage, of getting into + Tryggveson's confidence, and keeping Svein Double-Beard, Eric, and the + Swedish King aware of all his movements. + </p> + <p> + King Olaf Tryggveson, unacquainted with all this, sailed away in summer, + with his splendid fleet; went through the Belts with prosperous winds, + under bright skies, to the admiration of both shores. Such a fleet, with + its shining Serpents, long and short, and perfection of equipment and + appearance, the Baltic never saw before. Jarl Sigwald joined with new + ships by the way: "Had," he too, "a visit to King Burislav to pay; how + could he ever do it in better company?" and studiously and skilfully + ingratiated himself with King Olaf. Old Burislav, when they arrived, + proved altogether courteous, handsome, and amenable; agreed at once to + Olaf's claims for his now queen, did the rites of hospitality with a + generous plenitude to Olaf; who cheerily renewed acquaintance with that + country, known to him in early days (the cradle of his fortunes in the + viking line), and found old friends there still surviving, joyful to meet + him again. Jarl Sigwald encouraged these delays, King Svein and Co. not + being yet quite ready. "Get ready!" Sigwald directed them, and they + diligently did. Olaf's men, their business now done, were impatient to be + home; and grudged every day of loitering there; but, till Sigwald pleased, + such his power of flattering and cajoling Tryggveson, they could not get + away. + </p> + <p> + At length, Sigwald's secret messengers reporting all ready on the part of + Svein and Co., Olaf took farewell of Burislav and Wendland, and all gladly + sailed away. Svein, Eric, and the Swedish king, with their combined + fleets, lay in wait behind some cape in a safe little bay of some island, + then called Svolde, but not in our time to be found; the Baltic tumults in + the fourteenth century having swallowed it, as some think, and leaving us + uncertain whether it was in the neighborhood of Rugen Island or in the + Sound of Elsinore. There lay Svein, Eric, and Co. waiting till Tryggveson + and his fleet came up, Sigwald's spy messengers daily reporting what + progress he and it had made. At length, one bright summer morning, the + fleet made appearance, sailing in loose order, Sigwald, as one acquainted + with the shoal places, steering ahead, and showing them the way. + </p> + <p> + Snorro rises into one of his pictorial fits, seized with enthusiasm at the + thought of such a fleet, and reports to us largely in what order + Tryggveson's winged Coursers of the Deep, in long series, for perhaps an + hour or more, came on, and what the three potentates, from their knoll of + vantage, said of each as it hove in sight, Svein thrice over guessed this + and the other noble vessel to be the Long Serpent; Eric, always correcting + him, "No, that is not the Long Serpent yet" (and aside always), "Nor shall + you be lord of it, king, when it does come." The Long Serpent itself did + make appearance. Eric, Svein, and the Swedish king hurried on board, and + pushed out of their hiding-place into the open sea. Treacherous Sigwald, + at the beginning of all this, had suddenly doubled that cape of theirs, + and struck into the bay out of sight, leaving the foremost Tryggveson + ships astonished, and uncertain what to do, if it were not simply to + strike sail and wait till Olaf himself with the Long Serpent arrived. + </p> + <p> + Olaf's chief captains, seeing the enemy's huge fleet come out, and how the + matter lay, strongly advised King Olaf to elude this stroke of treachery, + and, with all sail, hold on his course, fight being now on so unequal + terms. Snorro says, the king, high on the quarter-deck where he stood, + replied, "Strike the sails; never shall men of mine think of flight. I + never fled from battle. Let God dispose of my life; but flight I will + never take." And so the battle arrangements immediately began, and the + battle with all fury went loose; and lasted hour after hour, till almost + sunset, if I well recollect. "Olaf stood on the Serpent's quarter-deck," + says Snorro, "high over the others. He had a gilt shield and a helmet + inlaid with gold; over his armor he had a short red coat, and was easily + distinguished from other men." Snorro's account of the battle is + altogether animated, graphic, and so minute that antiquaries gather from + it, if so disposed (which we but little are), what the methods of Norse + sea-fighting were; their shooting of arrows, casting of javelins, pitching + of big stones, ultimately boarding, and mutual clashing and smashing, + which it would not avail us to speak of here. Olaf stood conspicuous all + day, throwing javelins, of deadly aim, with both hands at once; + encouraging, fighting and commanding like a highest sea-king. + </p> + <p> + The Danish fleet, the Swedish fleet, were, both of them, quickly dealt + with, and successively withdrew out of shot-range. And then Jarl Eric came + up, and fiercely grappled with the Long Serpent, or, rather, with her + surrounding comrades; and gradually, as they were beaten empty of men, + with the Long Serpent herself. The fight grew ever fiercer, more furious. + Eric was supplied with new men from the Swedes and Danes; Olaf had no such + resource, except from the crews of his own beaten ships, and at length + this also failed him; all his ships, except the Long Serpent, being beaten + and emptied. Olaf fought on unyielding. Eric twice boarded him, was twice + repulsed. Olaf kept his quarterdeck; unconquerable, though left now more + and more hopeless, fatally short of help. A tall young man, called Einar + Tamberskelver, very celebrated and important afterwards in Norway, and + already the best archer known, kept busy with his bow. Twice he nearly + shot Jarl Eric in his ship. "Shoot me that man," said Jarl Eric to a + bowman near him; and, just as Tamberskelver was drawing his bow the third + time, an arrow hit it in the middle and broke it in two. "What is this + that has broken?" asked King Olaf. "Norway from thy hand, king," answered + Tamberskelver. Tryggveson's men, he observed with surprise, were striking + violently on Eric's; but to no purpose: nobody fell. "How is this?" asked + Tryggveson. "Our swords are notched and blunted, king; they do not cut." + Olaf stept down to his arm-chest; delivered out new swords; and it was + observed as he did it, blood ran trickling from his wrist; but none knew + where the wound was. Eric boarded a third time. Olaf, left with hardly + more than one man, sprang overboard (one sees that red coat of his still + glancing in the evening sun), and sank in the deep waters to his long + rest. + </p> + <p> + Rumor ran among his people that he still was not dead; grounding on some + movement by the ships of that traitorous Sigwald, they fancied Olaf had + dived beneath the keels of his enemies, and got away with Sigwald, as + Sigwald himself evidently did. "Much was hoped, supposed, spoken," says + one old mourning Skald; "but the truth was, Olaf Tryggveson was never seen + in Norseland more." Strangely he remains still a shining figure to us; the + wildly beautifulest man, in body and in soul, that one has ever heard of + in the North. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. JARLS ERIC AND SVEIN. + </h2> + <p> + Jarl Eric, splendent with this victory, not to speak of that over the + Jomsburgers with his father long ago, was now made Governor of Norway: + Governor or quasi-sovereign, with his brother, Jarl. Svein, as partner, + who, however, took but little hand in governing;—and, under the + patronage of Svein Double-Beard and the then Swedish king (Olaf his name, + Sigrid the Proud, his mother's), administered it, they say, with skill and + prudence for above fourteen years. Tryggveson's death is understood and + laboriously computed to have happened in the year 1000; but there is no + exact chronology in these things, but a continual uncertain guessing after + such; so that one eye in History as regards them is as if put out;—neither + indeed have I yet had the luck to find any decipherable and intelligible + map of Norway: so that the other eye of History is much blinded withal, + and her path through those wild regions and epochs is an extremely dim and + chaotic one. An evil that much demands remedying, and especially wants + some first attempt at remedying, by inquirers into English History; the + whole period from Egbert, the first Saxon King of England, on to Edward + the Confessor, the last, being everywhere completely interwoven with that + of their mysterious, continually invasive "Danes," as they call them, and + inextricably unintelligible till these also get to be a little understood, + and cease to be utterly dark, hideous, and mythical to us as they now are. + </p> + <p> + King Olaf Tryggveson is the first Norseman who is expressly mentioned to + have been in England by our English History books, new or old; and of him + it is merely said that he had an interview with King Ethelred II. at + Andover, of a pacific and friendly nature,—though it is absurdly + added that the noble Olaf was converted to Christianity by that extremely + stupid Royal Person. Greater contrast in an interview than in this at + Andover, between heroic Olaf Tryggveson and Ethelred the forever Unready, + was not perhaps seen in the terrestrial Planet that day. Olaf or "Olaus," + or "Anlaf," as they name him, did "engage on oath to Ethelred not to + invade England any more," and kept his promise, they farther say. + Essentially a truth, as we already know, though the circumstances were all + different; and the promise was to a devout High Priest, not to a crowned + Blockhead and cowardly Do-nothing. One other "Olaus" I find mentioned in + our Books, two or three centuries before, at a time when there existed no + such individual; not to speak of several Anlafs, who sometimes seem to + mean Olaf and still oftener to mean nobody possible. Which occasions not a + little obscurity in our early History, says the learned Selden. A thing + remediable, too, in which, if any Englishman of due genius (or even + capacity for standing labor), who understood the Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon + languages, would engage in it, he might do a great deal of good, and bring + the matter into a comparatively lucid state. Vain aspirations,—or + perhaps not altogether vain. + </p> + <p> + At the time of Olaf Tryggveson's death, and indeed long before, King Svein + Double-Beard had always for chief enterprise the Conquest of England, and + followed it by fits with extreme violence and impetus; often advancing + largely towards a successful conclusion; but never, for thirteen years + yet, getting it concluded. He possessed long since all England north of + Watling Street. That is to say, Northumberland, East Anglia (naturally + full of Danish settlers by this time), were fixedly his; Mercia, his + oftener than not; Wessex itself, with all the coasts, he was free to + visit, and to burn and rob in at discretion. There or elsewhere, Ethelred + the Unready had no battle in him whatever; and, for a forty years after + the beginning of his reign, England excelled in anarchic stupidity, + murderous devastation, utter misery, platitude, and sluggish + contemptibility, all the countries one has read of. Apparently a very + opulent country, too; a ready skill in such arts and fine arts as there + were; Svein's very ships, they say, had their gold dragons, top-mast + pennons, and other metallic splendors generally wrought for them in + England. "Unexampled prosperity" in the manufacture way not unknown there, + it would seem! But co-existing with such spiritual bankruptcy as was also + unexampled, one would hope. Read Lupus (Wulfstan), Archbishop of York's + amazing <i>Sermon</i> on the subject, <a href="#linknote-8" + name="linknoteref-8" id="linknoteref-8"><small>8</small></a> addressed to + contemporary audiences; setting forth such a state of things,—sons + selling their fathers, mothers, and sisters as Slaves to the Danish + robber; themselves living in debauchery, blusterous gluttony, and + depravity; the details of which are well-nigh incredible, though clearly + stated as things generally known,—the humor of these poor wretches + sunk to a state of what we may call greasy desperation, "Let us eat and + drink, for to-morrow we die." The manner in which they treated their own + English nuns, if young, good-looking, and captive to the Danes; buying + them on a kind of brutish or subter-brutish "Greatest Happiness Principle" + (for the moment), and by a Joint-Stock arrangement, far transcends all + human speech or imagination, and awakens in one the momentary red-hot + thought, The Danes have served you right, ye accursed! The so-called + soldiers, one finds, made not the least fight anywhere; could make none, + led and guided as they were, and the "Generals" often enough traitors, + always ignorant, and blockheads, were in the habit, when expressly + commanded to fight, of taking physic, and declaring that nature was + incapable of castor-oil and battle both at once. This ought to be + explained a little to the modern English and their War-Secretaries, who + undertake the conduct of armies. The undeniable fact is, defeat on defeat + was the constant fate of the English; during these forty years not one + battle in which they were not beaten. No gleam of victory or real + resistance till the noble Edmund Ironside (whom it is always strange to me + how such an Ethelred could produce for son) made his appearance and ran + his brief course, like a great and far-seen meteor, soon extinguished + without result. No remedy for England in that base time, but yearly asking + the victorious, plundering, burning and murdering Danes, "How much money + will you take to go away?" Thirty thousand pounds in silver, which the + annual <i>Danegelt</i> soon rose to, continued to be about the average + yearly sum, though generally on the increasing hand; in the last year I + think it had risen to seventy-two thousand pounds in silver, raised yearly + by a tax (Income-tax of its kind, rudely levied), the worst of all + remedies, good for the day only. Nay, there was one remedy still worse, + which the miserable Ethelred once tried: that of massacring "all the Danes + settled in England" (practically, of a few thousands or hundreds of them), + by treachery and a kind of Sicilian Vespers. Which issued, as such things + usually do, in terrible monition to you not to try the like again! Issued, + namely, in redoubled fury on the Danish part; new fiercer invasion by + Svein's Jarl Thorkel; then by Svein himself; which latter drove the + miserable Ethelred, with wife and family, into Normandy, to wife's + brother, the then Duke there; and ended that miserable struggle by Svein's + becoming King of England himself. Of this disgraceful massacre, which it + would appear has been immensely exaggerated in the English books, we can + happily give the exact date (A.D. 1002); and also of Svein's victorious + accession (A.D. 1013), <a href="#linknote-9" name="linknoteref-9" + id="linknoteref-9"><small>9</small></a>—pretty much the only benefit + one gets out of contemplating such a set of objects. + </p> + <p> + King Svein's first act was to levy a terribly increased Income-Tax for the + payment of his army. Svein was levying it with a stronghanded diligence, + but had not yet done levying it, when, at Gainsborough one night, he + suddenly died; smitten dead, once used to be said, by St. Edmund, whilom + murdered King of the East Angles; who could not bear to see his shrine and + monastery of St. Edmundsbury plundered by the Tyrant's tax-collectors, as + they were on the point of being. In all ways impossible, however,—Edmund's + own death did not occur till two years after Svein's. Svein's death, by + whatever cause, befell 1014; his fleet, then lying in the Humber; and only + Knut, <a href="#linknote-10" name="linknoteref-10" id="linknoteref-10"><small>10</small></a> + his eldest son (hardly yet eighteen, count some), in charge of it; who, on + short counsel, and arrangement about this questionable kingdom of his, + lifted anchor; made for Sandwich, a safer station at the moment; "cut off + the feet and noses" (one shudders, and hopes not, there being some + discrepancy about it!) of his numerous hostages that had been delivered to + King Svein; set them ashore;—and made for Denmark, his natural + storehouse and stronghold, as the hopefulest first thing he could do. + </p> + <p> + Knut soon returned from Denmark, with increase of force sufficient for the + English problem; which latter he now ended in a victorious, and + essentially, for himself and chaotic England, beneficent manner. Became + widely known by and by, there and elsewhere, as Knut the Great; and is + thought by judges of our day to have really merited that title. A most + nimble, sharp-striking, clear-thinking, prudent and effective man, who + regulated this dismembered and distracted England in its Church matters, + in its State matters, like a real King. Had a Standing Army (<i>House + Carles</i>), who were well paid, well drilled and disciplined, capable of + instantly quenching insurrection or breakage of the peace; and piously + endeavored (with a signal earnestness, and even devoutness, if we look + well) to do justice to all men, and to make all men rest satisfied with + justice. In a word, he successfully strapped up, by every true method and + regulation, this miserable, dislocated, and dissevered mass of bleeding + Anarchy into something worthy to be called an England again;—only + that he died too soon, and a second "Conqueror" of us, still weightier of + structure, and under improved auspices, became possible, and was needed + here! To appearance, Knut himself was capable of being a Charlemagne of + England and the North (as has been already said or quoted), had he only + lived twice as long as he did. But his whole sum of years seems not to + have exceeded forty. His father Svein of the Forkbeard is reckoned to have + been fifty to sixty when St. Edmund finished him at Gainsborough. We now + return to Norway, ashamed of this long circuit which has been a truancy + more or less. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. KING OLAF THE THICK-SET'S VIKING DAYS. + </h2> + <p> + King Harald Graenske, who, with another from Russia accidentally lodging + beside him, got burned to death in Sweden, courting that unspeakable + Sigrid the Proud,—was third cousin or so to Tryggve, father of our + heroic Olaf. Accurately counted, he is great-grandson of Bjorn the + Chapman, first of Haarfagr's sons whom Eric Bloodaxe made away with. His + little "kingdom," as he called it, was a district named the Greenland (<i>Graeneland</i>); + he himself was one of those little Haarfagr kinglets whom Hakon Jarl, much + more Olaf Tryggveson, was content to leave reigning, since they would keep + the peace with him. Harald had a loving wife of his own, Aasta the name of + her, soon expecting the birth of her and his pretty babe, named Olaf,—at + the time he went on that deplorable Swedish adventure, the foolish, fated + creature, and ended self and kingdom altogether. Aasta was greatly + shocked; composed herself however; married a new husband, Sigurd Syr, a + kinglet, and a great-grandson of Harald Fairhair, a man of great wealth, + prudence, and influence in those countries; in whose house, as favorite + and well-beloved stepson, little Olaf was wholesomely and skilfully + brought up. In Sigurd's house he had, withal, a special tutor entertained + for him, one Rane, known as Rane the Far-travelled, by whom he could be + trained, from the earliest basis, in Norse accomplishments and arts. New + children came, one or two; but Olaf, from his mother, seems always to have + known that he was the distinguished and royal article there. One day his + Foster-father, hurrying to leave home on business, hastily bade Olaf, no + other being by, saddle his horse for him. Olaf went out with the saddle, + chose the biggest he-goat about, saddled that, and brought it to the door + by way of horse. Old Sigurd, a most grave man, grinned sardonically at the + sight. "Hah, I see thou hast no mind to take commands from me; thou art of + too high a humor to take commands." To which, says Snorro, Boy Olaf + answered little except by laughing, till Sigurd saddled for himself, and + rode away. His mother Aasta appears to have been a thoughtful, prudent + woman, though always with a fierce royalism at the bottom of her memory, + and a secret implacability on that head. + </p> + <p> + At the age of twelve Olaf went to sea; furnished with a little fleet, and + skilful sea-counsellor, expert old Rane, by his Foster-father, and set out + to push his fortune in the world. Rane was a steersman and counsellor in + these incipient times; but the crew always called Olaf "King," though at + first, as Snorro thinks, except it were in the hour of battle, he merely + pulled an oar. He cruised and fought in this capacity on many seas and + shores; passed several years, perhaps till the age of nineteen or twenty, + in this wild element and way of life; fighting always in a glorious and + distinguished manner. In the hour of battle, diligent enough "to amass + property," as the Vikings termed it; and in the long days and nights of + sailing, given over, it is likely, to his own thoughts and the + unfathomable dialogue with the ever-moaning Sea; not the worst High School + a man could have, and indeed infinitely preferable to the most that are + going even now, for a high and deep young soul. + </p> + <p> + His first distinguished expedition was to Sweden: natural to go thither + first, to avenge his poor father's death, were it nothing more. Which he + did, the Skalds say, in a distinguished manner; making victorious and + handsome battle for himself, in entering Maelare Lake; and in getting out + of it again, after being frozen there all winter, showing still more + surprising, almost miraculous contrivance and dexterity. This was the + first of his glorious victories, of which the Skalds reckon up some + fourteen or thirteen very glorious indeed, mostly in the Western and + Southern countries, most of all in England; till the name of Olaf + Haraldson became quite famous in the Viking and strategic world. He seems + really to have learned the secrets of his trade, and to have been, then + and afterwards, for vigilance, contrivance, valor, and promptitude of + execution, a superior fighter. Several exploits recorded of him betoken, + in simple forms, what may be called a military genius. + </p> + <p> + The principal, and to us the alone interesting, of his exploits seem to + have lain in England, and, what is further notable, always on the + anti-Svein side. English books do not mention him at all that I can find; + but it is fairly credible that, as the Norse records report, in the end of + Ethelred's reign, he was the ally or hired general of Ethelred, and did a + great deal of sea-fighting, watching, sailing, and sieging for this + miserable king and Edmund Ironside, his son. Snorro says expressly, + London, the impregnable city, had to be besieged again for Ethelred's + behoof (in the interval between Svein's death and young Knut's getting + back from Denmark), and that our Olaf Haraldson was the great engineer and + victorious captor of London on that singular occasion,—London + captured for the first time. The Bridge, as usual, Snorro says, offered + almost insuperable obstacles. But the engineering genius of Olaf contrived + huge "platforms of wainscoting [old walls of wooden houses, in fact], + bound together by withes;" these, carried steadily aloft above the ships, + will (thinks Olaf) considerably secure them and us from the destructive + missiles, big boulder stones, and other, mischief profusely showered down + on us, till we get under the Bridge with axes and cables, and do some good + upon it. Olaf's plan was tried; most of the other ships, in spite of their + wainscoting and withes, recoiled on reaching the Bridge, so destructive + were the boulder and other missile showers. But Olaf's ships and self got + actually under the Bridge; fixed all manner of cables there; and then, + with the river current in their favor, and the frightened ships rallying + to help in this safer part of the enterprise, tore out the important piles + and props, and fairly broke the poor Bridge, wholly or partly, down into + the river, and its Danish defenders into immediate surrender. That is + Snorro's account. + </p> + <p> + On a previous occasion, Olaf had been deep in a hopeful combination with + Ethelred's two younger sons, Alfred and Edward, afterwards King Edward the + Confessor: That they two should sally out from Normandy in strong force, + unite with Olaf in ditto, and, landing on the Thames, do something + effectual for themselves. But impediments, bad weather or the like, + disheartened the poor Princes, and it came to nothing. Olaf was much in + Normandy, what they then called Walland; a man held in honor by those + Norman Dukes. + </p> + <p> + What amount of "property" he had amassed I do not know, but could prove, + were it necessary, that he had acquired some tactical or even strategic + faculty and real talent for war. At Lymfjord, in Jutland, but some years + after this (A.D. 1027), he had a sea-battle with the great Knut himself,—ships + combined with flood-gates, with roaring, artificial deluges; right well + managed by King Olaf; which were within a hair's-breadth of destroying + Knut, now become a King and Great; and did in effect send him instantly + running. But of this more particularly by and by. + </p> + <p> + What still more surprises me is the mystery, where Olaf, in this + wandering, fighting, sea-roving life, acquired his deeply religious + feeling, his intense adherence to the Christian Faith. I suppose it had + been in England, where many pious persons, priestly and other, were still + to be met with, that Olaf had gathered these doctrines; and that in those + his unfathomable dialogues with the ever-moaning Ocean, they had struck + root downwards in the soul of him, and borne fruit upwards to the degree + so conspicuous afterwards. It is certain he became a deeply pious man + during these long Viking cruises; and directed all his strength, when + strength and authority were lent him, to establishing the Christian + religion in his country, and suppressing and abolishing Vikingism there; + both of which objects, and their respective worth and unworth, he, must + himself have long known so well. + </p> + <p> + It was well on in A.D. 1016 that Knut gained his last victory, at Ashdon, + in Essex, where the earth pyramids and antique church near by still + testify the thankful piety of Knut,—or, at lowest his joy at having + <i>won</i> instead of lost and perished, as he was near doing there. And + it was still this same year when the noble Edmund Ironside, after forced + partition-treaty "in the Isle of Alney," got scandalously murdered, and + Knut became indisputable sole King of England, and decisively settled + himself to his work of governing there. In the year before either of which + events, while all still hung uncertain for Knut, and even Eric Jarl of + Norway had to be summoned in aid of him, in that year 1015, as one might + naturally guess and as all Icelandic hints and indications lead us to date + the thing, Olaf had decided to give up Vikingism in all its forms; to + return to Norway, and try whether he could not assert the place and career + that belonged to him there. Jarl Eric had vanished with all his war forces + towards England, leaving only a boy, Hakon, as successor, and Svein, his + own brother,—a quiet man, who had always avoided war. Olaf landed in + Norway without obstacle; but decided to be quiet till he had himself + examined and consulted friends. + </p> + <p> + His reception by his mother Aasta was of the kindest and proudest, and is + lovingly described by Snorro. A pretty idyllic, or epic piece, of <i>Norse</i> + Homeric type: How Aasta, hearing of her son's advent, set all her maids + and menials to work at the top of their speed; despatched a runner to the + harvest-field, where her husband Sigurd was, to warn him to come home and + dress. How Sigurd was standing among his harvest folk, reapers and + binders; and what he had on,—broad slouch hat, with veil (against + the midges), blue kirtle, hose of I forget what color, with laced boots; + and in his hand a stick with silver head and ditto ring upon it;—a + personable old gentleman, of the eleventh century, in those parts. Sigurd + was cautious, prudentially cunctatory, though heartily friendly in his + counsel to Olaf as to the King question. Aasta had a Spartan tone in her + wild maternal heart; and assures Olaf that she, with a half-reproachful + glance at Sigurd, will stand by him to the death in this his just and + noble enterprise. Sigurd promises to consult farther in his neighborhood, + and to correspond by messages; the result is, Olaf resolutely pushing + forward himself, resolves to call a Thing, and openly claim his kingship + there. The Thing itself was willing enough: opposition parties do here and + there bestir themselves; but Olaf is always swifter than they. Five + kinglets somewhere in the Uplands, <a href="#linknote-11" + name="linknoteref-11" id="linknoteref-11"><small>11</small></a>—all + descendants of Haarfagr; but averse to break the peace, which Jarl Eric + and Hakon Jarl both have always willingly allowed to peaceable people,—seem + to be the main opposition party. These five take the field against Olaf + with what force they have; Olaf, one night, by beautiful celerity and + strategic practice which a Friedrich or a Turenne might have approved, + surrounds these Five; and when morning breaks, there is nothing for them + but either death, or else instant surrender, and swearing of fealty to + King Olaf. Which latter branch of the alternative they gladly accept, the + whole five of them, and go home again. + </p> + <p> + This was a beautiful bit of war-practice by King Olaf on land. By another + stroke still more compendious at sea, he had already settled poor young + Hakon, and made him peaceable for a long while. Olaf by diligent quest and + spy-messaging, had ascertained that Hakon, just returning from Denmark and + farewell to Papa and Knut, both now under way for England, was coasting + north towards Trondhjem; and intended on or about such a day to land in + such and such a fjord towards the end of this Trondhjem voyage. Olaf at + once mans two big ships, steers through the narrow mouth of the said + fjord, moors one ship on the north shore, another on the south; fixes a + strong cable, well sunk under water, to the capstans of these two; and in + all quietness waits for Hakon. Before many hours, Hakon's royal or + quasi-royal barge steers gaily into this fjord; is a little surprised, + perhaps, to see within the jaws of it two big ships at anchor, but steers + gallantly along, nothing doubting. Olaf with a signal of "All hands," + works his two capstans; has the cable up high enough at the right moment, + catches with it the keel of poor Hakon's barge, upsets it, empties it + wholly into the sea. Wholly into the sea; saves Hakon, however, and his + people from drowning, and brings them on board. His dialogue with poor + young Hakon, especially poor young Hakon's responses, is very pretty. + Shall I give it, out of Snorro, and let the reader take it for as + authentic as he can? It is at least the true image of it in authentic + Snorro's head, little more than two centuries later. + </p> + <p> + "Jarl Hakon was led up to the king's ship. He was the handsomest man that + could be seen. He had long hair as fine as silk, bound about his head with + a gold ornament. When he sat down in the forehold the king said to him: + </p> + <p> + <i>King.</i> "'It is not false, what is said of your family, that ye are + handsome people to look at; but now your luck has deserted you.' + </p> + <p> + <i>Hakon.</i> "'It has always been the case that success is changeable; + and there is no luck in the matter. It has gone with your family as with + mine to have by turns the better lot. I am little beyond childhood in + years; and at any rate we could not have defended ourselves, as we did not + expect any attack on the way. It may turn out better with us another + time.' + </p> + <p> + <i>King.</i> "'Dost thou not apprehend that thou art in such a condition + that, hereafter, there can be neither victory nor defeat for thee?' + </p> + <p> + <i>Hakon.</i> "'That is what only thou canst determine, King, according to + thy pleasure.' + </p> + <p> + <i>King.</i> "'What wilt thou give me, Jarl, if, for this time, I let thee + go, whole and unhurt?' + </p> + <p> + <i>Hakon.</i> "'What wilt thou take, King?' + </p> + <p> + <i>King.</i> "'Nothing, except that thou shalt leave the country; give up + thy kingdom; and take an oath that thou wilt never go into battle against + me.'" <a href="#linknote-12" name="linknoteref-12" id="linknoteref-12"><small>12</small></a> + </p> + <p> + Jarl Hakon accepted the generous terms; went to England and King Knut, and + kept his bargain for a good few years; though he was at last driven, by + pressure of King Knut, to violate it,—little to his profit, as we + shall see. One victorious naval battle with Jarl Svein, Hakon's uncle, and + his adherents, who fled to Sweden, after his beating,—battle not + difficult to a skilful, hard-hitting king,—was pretty much all the + actual fighting Olaf had to do in this enterprise. He various times met + angry Bonders and refractory Things with arms in their hand; but by + skilful, firm management,—perfectly patient, but also perfectly + ready to be active,—he mostly managed without coming to strokes; and + was universally recognized by Norway as its real king. A promising young + man, and fit to be a king, thinks Snorro. Only of middle stature, almost + rather shortish; but firm-standing, and stout-built; so that they got to + call him Olaf the Thick (meaning Olaf the Thick-set, or Stout-built), + though his final epithet among them was infinitely higher. For the rest, + "a comely, earnest, prepossessing look; beautiful yellow hair in quantity; + broad, honest face, of a complexion pure as snow and rose;" and finally + (or firstly) "the brightest eyes in the world; such that, in his anger, no + man could stand them." He had a heavy task ahead, and needed all his + qualities and fine gifts to get it done. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. REIGN OF KING OLAF THE SAINT. + </h2> + <p> + The late two Jarls, now gone about their business, had both been baptized, + and called themselves Christians. But during their government they did + nothing in the conversion way; left every man to choose his own God or + Gods; so that some had actually two, the Christian God by land, and at sea + Thor, whom they considered safer in that element. And in effect the mass + of the people had fallen back into a sluggish heathenism or + half-heathenism, the life-labor of Olaf Tryggveson lying ruinous or almost + quite overset. The new Olaf, son of Harald, set himself with all his + strength to mend such a state of matters; and stood by his enterprise to + the end, as the one highest interest, including all others, for his People + and him. His method was by no means soft; on the contrary, it was hard, + rapid, severe,—somewhat on the model of Tryggveson's, though with + more of <i>bishoping</i> and preaching superadded. Yet still there was a + great deal of mauling, vigorous punishing, and an entire intolerance of + these two things: Heathenism and Sea-robbery, at least of Sea-robbery in + the old style; whether in the style we moderns still practise, and call + privateering, I do not quite know. But Vikingism proper had to cease in + Norway; still more, Heathenism, under penalties too severe to be borne; + death, mutilation of limb, not to mention forfeiture and less rigorous + coercion. Olaf was inexorable against violation of the law. "Too severe," + cried many; to whom one answers, "Perhaps in part <i>yes</i>, perhaps also + in great part <i>no</i>; depends altogether on the previous question, How + far the law was the eternal one of God Almighty in the universe, How far + the law merely of Olaf (destitute of right inspiration) left to his own + passions and whims?" + </p> + <p> + Many were the jangles Olaf had with the refractory Heathen Things and + Ironbeards of a new generation: very curious to see. Scarcely ever did it + come to fighting between King and Thing, though often enough near it; but + the Thing discerning, as it usually did in time, that the King was + stronger in men, seemed to say unanimously to itself, "We have lost, then; + baptize us, we must burn our old gods and conform." One new feature we do + slightly discern: here and there a touch of theological argument on the + heathen side. At one wild Thing, far up in the Dovrefjeld, of a very + heathen temper, there was much of that; not to be quenched by King Olaf at + the moment; so that it had to be adjourned till the morrow, and again till + the next day. Here are some traits of it, much abridged from Snorro (who + gives a highly punctual account), which vividly represent Olaf's posture + and manner of proceeding in such intricacies. + </p> + <p> + The chief Ironbeard on this occasion was one Gudbrand, a very rugged + peasant; who, says Snorro, was like a king in that district. Some days + before, King Olaf, intending a religious Thing in those deeply heathen + parts, with alternative of Christianity or conflagration, is reported, on + looking down into the valley and the beautiful village of Loar standing + there, to have said wistfully, "What a pity it is that so beautiful a + village should be burnt!" Olaf sent out his message-token all the same + however, and met Gudbrand and an immense assemblage, whose humor towards + him was uncompliant to a high degree indeed. Judge by this preliminary + speech of Gudbrand to his Thing-people, while Olaf was not yet arrived, + but only advancing, hardly got to Breeden on the other side of the hill: + "A man has come to Loar who is called Olaf," said Gudbrand, "and will + force upon us another faith than we had before, and will break in pieces + all our Gods. He says he has a much greater and more powerful God; and it + is wonderful that the earth does not burst asunder under him, or that our + God lets him go about unpunished when he dares to talk such things. I know + this for certain, that if we carry Thor, who has always stood by us, out + of our Temple that is standing upon this farm, Olaf's God will melt away, + and he and his men be made nothing as soon as Thor looks upon them." + Whereupon the Bonders all shouted as one man, "Yea!" + </p> + <p> + Which tremendous message they even forwarded to Olaf, by Gudbrand's + younger son at the head of 700 armed men; but did not terrify Olaf with + it, who, on the contrary, drew up his troops, rode himself at the head of + them, and began a speech to the Bonders, in which he invited them to adopt + Christianity, as the one true faith for mortals. + </p> + <p> + Far from consenting to this, the Bonders raised a general shout, smiting + at the same time their shields with their weapons; but Olaf's men + advancing on them swiftly, and flinging spears, they turned and ran, + leaving Gudbrand's son behind, a prisoner, to whom Olaf gave his life: "Go + home now to thy father, and tell him I mean to be with him soon." + </p> + <p> + The son goes accordingly, and advises his father not to face Olaf; but + Gudbrand angrily replies: "Ha, coward! I see thou, too, art taken by the + folly that man is going about with;" and is resolved to fight. That night, + however, Gudbrand has a most remarkable Dream, or Vision: a Man surrounded + by light, bringing great terror with him, who warns Gudbrand against doing + battle with Olaf. "If thou dost, thou and all thy people will fall; wolves + will drag away thee and thine; ravens will tear thee in stripes!" And lo, + in telling this to Thord Potbelly, a sturdy neighbor of his and henchman + in the Thing, it is found that to Thord also has come the self same + terrible Apparition! Better propose truce to Olaf (who seems to have these + dreadful Ghostly Powers on his side), and the holding of a Thing, to + discuss matters between us. Thing assembles, on a day of heavy rain. Being + all seated, uprises King Olaf, and informs them: "The people of Lesso, + Loar, and Vaage, have accepted Christianity, and broken down their + idol-houses: they believe now in the True God, who has made heaven and + earth, and knows all things;" and sits down again without more words. + </p> + <p> + "Gudbrand replies, 'We know nothing about him of whom thou speakest. Dost + thou call him God, whom neither thou nor any one else can see? But we have + a God who can be seen every day, although he is not out to-day because the + weather is wet; and he will appear to thee terrible and very grand; and I + expect that fear will mix with thy very blood when he comes into the + Thing. But since thou sayest thy God is so great, let him make it so that + to-morrow we have a cloudy day, but without rain, and then let us meet + again.' + </p> + <p> + "The king accordingly returned home to his lodging, taking Gudbrand's son + as a hostage; but he gave them a man as hostage in exchange. In the + evening the king asked Gudbrand's son What their God was like? He replied + that he bore the likeness of Thor; had a hammer in his hand; was of great + size, but hollow within; and had a high stand, upon which he stood when he + was out. 'Neither gold nor silver are wanting about him, and every day he + receives four cakes of bread, besides meat.' They then went to bed; but + the king watched all night in prayer. When day dawned the king went to + mass; then to table, and from thence to the Thing. The weather was such as + Gudbrand desired. Now the Bishop stood up in his choir-robes, with + bishop's coif on his head, and bishop's crosier in his hand. He spoke to + the Bonders of the true faith, told the many wonderful acts of God, and + concluded his speech well. + </p> + <p> + "Thord Potbelly replies, 'Many things we are told of by this learned man + with the staff in his hand, crooked at the top like a ram's horn. But + since you say, comrades, that your God is so powerful, and can do so many + wonders, tell him to make it clear sunshine to-morrow forenoon, and then + we shall meet here again, and do one of two things,—either agree + with you about this business, or fight you.' And they separated for the + day." + </p> + <p> + Overnight the king instructed Kolbein the Strong, an immense fellow, the + same who killed Gunhild's two brothers, that he, Kolbein, must stand next + him to-morrow; people must go down to where the ships of the Bonders lay, + and punctually bore holes in every one of them; <i>item</i>, to the farms + where their horses wore, and punctually unhalter the whole of them, and + let them loose: all which was done. Snorro continues:— + </p> + <p> + "Now the king was in prayer all night, beseeching God of his goodness and + mercy to release him from evil. When mass was ended, and morning was gray, + the king went to the Thing. When he came thither, some Bonders had already + arrived, and they saw a great crowd coming along, and bearing among them a + huge man's image, glancing with gold and silver. When the Bonders who were + at the Thing saw it, they started up, and bowed themselves down before the + ugly idol. Thereupon it was set down upon the Thing field; and on the one + side of it sat the Bonders, and on the other the King and his people. + </p> + <p> + "Then Dale Gudbrand stood up and said, 'Where now, king, is thy God? I + think he will now carry his head lower; and neither thou, nor the man with + the horn, sitting beside thee there, whom thou callest Bishop, are so bold + to-day as on the former days. For now our God, who rules over all, is + come, and looks on you with an angry eye; and now I see well enough that + you are terrified, and scarcely dare raise your eyes. Throw away now all + your opposition, and believe in the God who has your fate wholly in his + hands.' + </p> + <p> + "The king now whispers to Kolbein the Strong, without the Bonders + perceiving it, 'If it come so in the course of my speech that the Bonders + look another way than towards their idol, strike him as hard as thou canst + with thy club.' + </p> + <p> + "The king then stood up and spoke. 'Much hast thou talked to us this + morning, and greatly hast thou wondered that thou canst not see our God; + but we expect that he will soon come to us. Thou wouldst frighten us with + thy God, who is both blind and deaf, and cannot even move about without + being carried; but now I expect it will be but a short time before he + meets his fate: for turn your eyes towards the east,—behold our God + advancing in great light.' + </p> + <p> + "The sun was rising, and all turned to look. At that moment Kolbein gave + their God a stroke, so that he quite burst asunder; and there ran out of + him mice as big almost as cats, and reptiles and adders. The Bonders were + so terrified that some fled to their ships; but when they sprang out upon + them the ships filled with water, and could not get away. Others ran to + their horses, but could not find them. The king then ordered the Bonders + to be called together, saying he wanted to speak with them; on which the + Bonders came back, and the Thing was again seated. + </p> + <p> + "The king rose up and said, 'I do not understand what your noise and + running mean. You yourselves see what your God can do,—the idol you + adorned with gold and silver, and brought meat and provisions to. You see + now that the protecting powers, who used and got good of all that, were + the mice and adders, the reptiles and lizards; and surely they do ill who + trust to such, and will not abandon this folly. Take now your gold and + ornaments that are lying strewed on the grass, and give them to your wives + and daughters, but never hang them hereafter upon stocks and stones. Here + are two conditions between us to choose upon: either accept Christianity, + or fight this very day, and the victory be to them to whom the God we + worship gives it.' + </p> + <p> + "Then Dale Gudbrand stood up and said, 'We have sustained great damage + upon our God; but since he will not help us, we will believe in the God + whom thou believest in.' + </p> + <p> + "Then all received Christianity. The Bishop baptized Gudbrand and his son. + King Olaf and Bishop Sigurd left behind them teachers; and they who met as + enemies parted as friends. And afterwards Gudbrand built a church in the + valley." <a href="#linknote-13" name="linknoteref-13" id="linknoteref-13"><small>13</small></a> + </p> + <p> + Olaf was by no means an unmerciful man,—much the reverse where he + saw good cause. There was a wicked old King Raerik, for example, one of + those five kinglets whom, with their bits of armaments, Olaf by stratagem + had surrounded one night, and at once bagged and subjected when morning + rose, all of them consenting; all of them except this Raerik, whom Olaf, + as the readiest sure course, took home with him; blinded, and kept in his + own house; finding there was no alternative but that or death to the + obstinate old dog, who was a kind of distant cousin withal, and could not + conscientiously be killed. Stone-blind old Raerik was not always in + murderous humor. Indeed, for most part he wore a placid, conciliatory + aspect, and said shrewd amusing things; but had thrice over tried, with + amazing cunning of contrivance, though stone-blind, to thrust a dagger + into Olaf and the last time had all but succeeded. So that, as Olaf still + refused to have him killed, it had become a problem what was to be done + with him. Olaf's good humor, as well as <i>his</i> quiet, ready sense and + practicality, are manifested in his final settlement of this Raerik + problem. Olaf's laugh, I can perceive, was not so loud as Tryggveson's but + equally hearty, coming from the bright mind of him! + </p> + <p> + Besides blind Raerik, Olaf had in his household one Thorarin, an + Icelander; a remarkably ugly man, says Snorro, but a far-travelled, + shrewdly observant, loyal-minded, and good-humored person, whom Olaf liked + to talk with. "Remarkably ugly," says Snorro, "especially in his hands and + feet, which were large and ill-shaped to a degree." One morning Thorarin, + who, with other trusted ones, slept in Olaf's apartment, was lazily dozing + and yawning, and had stretched one of his feet out of the bed before the + king awoke. The foot was still there when Olaf did open his bright eyes, + which instantly lighted on this foot. + </p> + <p> + "Well, here is a foot," says Olaf, gayly, "which one seldom sees the match + of; I durst venture there is not another so ugly in this city of Nidaros." + </p> + <p> + "Hah, king!" said Thorarin, "there are few things one cannot match if one + seek long and take pains. I would bet, with thy permission, King, to find + an uglier." + </p> + <p> + "Done!" cried Olaf. Upon which Thorarin stretched out the other foot. + </p> + <p> + "A still uglier," cried he; "for it has lost the little toe." + </p> + <p> + "Ho, ho!" said Olaf; "but it is I who have gained the bet. The <i>less</i> + of an ugly thing the less ugly, not the more!" + </p> + <p> + Loyal Thorarin respectfully submitted. + </p> + <p> + "What is to be my penalty, then? The king it is that must decide." + </p> + <p> + "To take me that wicked old Raerik to Leif Ericson in Greenland." + </p> + <p> + Which the Icelander did; leaving two vacant seats henceforth at Olaf's + table. Leif Ericson, son of Eric discoverer of America, quietly managed + Raerik henceforth; sent him to Iceland,—I think to father Eric + himself; certainly to some safe hand there, in whose house, or in some + still quieter neighboring lodging, at his own choice, old Raerik spent the + last three years of his life in a perfectly quiescent manner. + </p> + <p> + Olaf's struggles in the matter of religion had actually settled that + question in Norway. By these rough methods of his, whatever we may think + of them, Heathenism had got itself smashed dead; and was no more heard of + in that country. Olaf himself was evidently a highly devout and pious man;—whosoever + is born with Olaf's temper now will still find, as Olaf did, new and + infinite field for it! Christianity in Norway had the like fertility as in + other countries; or even rose to a higher, and what Dahlmann thinks, + exuberant pitch, in the course of the two centuries which followed that of + Olaf. Him all testimony represents to us as a most righteous no less than + most religious king. Continually vigilant, just, and rigorous was Olaf's + administration of the laws; repression of robbery, punishment of + injustice, stern repayment of evil-doers, wherever he could lay hold of + them. + </p> + <p> + Among the Bonder or opulent class, and indeed everywhere, for the poor too + can be sinners and need punishment, Olaf had, by this course of conduct, + naturally made enemies. His severity so visible to all, and the justice + and infinite beneficence of it so invisible except to a very few. But, at + any rate, his reign for the first ten years was victorious; and might have + been so to the end, had it not been intersected, and interfered with, by + King Knut in his far bigger orbit and current of affairs and interests. + Knut's English affairs and Danish being all settled to his mind, he seems, + especially after that year of pilgrimage to Rome, and association with the + Pontiffs and Kaisers of the world on that occasion, to have turned his + more particular attention upon Norway, and the claims he himself had + there. Jarl Hakon, too, sister's son of Knut, and always well seen by him, + had long been busy in this direction, much forgetful of that oath to Olaf + when his barge got canted over by the cable of two capstans, and his life + was given him, not without conditions altogether! + </p> + <p> + About the year 1026 there arrived two splendid persons out of England, + bearing King Knut the Great's letter and seal, with a message, likely + enough to be far from welcome to Olaf. For some days Olaf refused to see + them or their letter, shrewdly guessing what the purport would be. Which + indeed was couched in mild language, but of sharp meaning enough: a notice + to King Olaf namely, That Norway was properly, by just heritage, Knut the + Great's; and that Olaf must become the great Knut's liegeman, and pay + tribute to him, or worse would follow. King Olaf listening to these two + splendid persons and their letter, in indignant silence till they quite + ended, made answer: "I have heard say, by old accounts there are, that + King Gorm of Denmark [Blue-tooth's father, Knut's great-grandfather] was + considered but a small king; having Denmark only and few people to rule + over. But the kings who succeeded him thought that insufficient for them; + and it has since come so far that King Knut rules over both Denmark and + England, and has conquered for himself a part of Scotland. And now he + claims also my paternal bit of heritage; cannot be contented without that + too. Does he wish to rule over all the countries of the North? Can he eat + up all the kale in England itself, this Knut the Great? He shall do that, + and reduce his England to a desert, before I lay my head in his hands, or + show him any other kind of vassalage. And so I bid you tell him these my + words: I will defend Norway with battle-axe and sword as long as life is + given me, and will pay tax to no man for my kingdom." Words which + naturally irritated Knut to a high degree. + </p> + <p> + Next year accordingly (year 1027), tenth or eleventh year of Olaf's reign, + there came bad rumors out of England: That Knut was equipping an immense + army,—land-army, and such a fleet as had never sailed before; Knut's + own ship in it,—a Gold Dragon with no fewer than sixty benches of + oars. Olaf and Onund King of Sweden, whose sister he had married, well + guessed whither this armament was bound. They were friends withal, they + recognized their common peril in this imminence; and had, in repeated + consultations, taken measures the best that their united skill (which I + find was mainly Olaf's but loyally accepted by the other) could suggest. + It was in this year that Olaf (with his Swedish king assisting) did his + grand feat upon Knut in Lymfjord of Jutland, which was already spoken of. + The special circumstances of which were these: + </p> + <p> + Knut's big armament arriving on the Jutish coasts too late in the season, + and the coast country lying all plundered into temporary wreck by the two + Norse kings, who shrank away on sight of Knut, there was nothing could be + done upon them by Knut this year,—or, if anything, what? Knut's + ships ran into Lymfjord, the safe-sheltered frith, or intricate long + straggle of friths and straits, which almost cuts Jutland in two in that + region; and lay safe, idly rocking on the waters there, uncertain what to + do farther. At last he steered in his big ship and some others, deeper + into the interior of Lymfjord, deeper and deeper onwards to the mouth of a + big river called the Helge (<i>Helge-aa</i>, the Holy River, not + discoverable in my poor maps, but certainly enough still existing and + still flowing somewhere among those intricate straits and friths), towards + the bottom of which Helge river lay, in some safe nook, the small combined + Swedish and Norse fleet, under the charge of Onund, the Swedish king, + while at the top or source, which is a biggish mountain lake, King Olaf + had been doing considerable engineering works, well suited to such an + occasion, and was now ready at a moment's notice. Knut's fleet having idly + taken station here, notice from the Swedish king was instantly sent; + instantly Olaf's well-engineered flood-gates were thrown open; from the + swollen lake a huge deluge of water was let loose; Olaf himself with all + his people hastening down to join his Swedish friend, and get on board in + time; Helge river all the while alongside of him, with ever-increasing + roar, and wider-spreading deluge, hastening down the steeps in the + night-watches. So that, along with Olaf or some way ahead of him, came + immeasurable roaring waste of waters upon Knut's negligent fleet; + shattered, broke, and stranded many of his ships, and was within a trifle + of destroying the Golden Dragon herself, with Knut on board. Olaf and + Onund, we need not say, were promptly there in person, doing their very + best; the railings of the Golden Dragon, however, were too high for their + little ships; and Jarl Ulf, husband of Knut's sister, at the top of his + speed, courageously intervening, spoiled their stratagem, and saved Knut + from this very dangerous pass. + </p> + <p> + Knut did nothing more this winter. The two Norse kings, quite unequal to + attack such an armament, except by ambush and engineering, sailed away; + again plundering at discretion on the Danish coast; carrying into Sweden + great booties and many prisoners; but obliged to lie fixed all winter; and + indeed to leave their fleets there for a series of winters,—Knut's + fleet, posted at Elsinore on both sides of the Sound, rendering all egress + from the Baltic impossible, except at his pleasure. Ulf's opportune + deliverance of his royal brother-in-law did not much bestead poor Ulf + himself. He had been in disfavor before, pardoned with difficulty, by + Queen Emma's intercession; an ambitious, officious, pushing, stirring, + and, both in England and Denmark, almost dangerous man; and this + conspicuous accidental merit only awoke new jealousy in Knut. Knut, + finding nothing pass the Sound worth much blockading, went ashore; "and + the day before Michaelmas," says Snorro, "rode with a great retinue to + Roeskilde." Snorro continues his tragic narrative of what befell there: + </p> + <p> + "There Knut's brother-in-law, Jarl Ulf, had prepared a great feast for + him. The Jarl was the most agreeable of hosts; but the King was silent and + sullen. The Jarl talked to him in every way to make him cheerful, and + brought forward everything he could think of to amuse him; but the King + remained stern, and speaking little. At last the Jarl proposed a game of + chess, which he agreed to. A chess-board was produced, and they played + together. Jarl Ulf was hasty in temper, stiff, and in nothing yielding; + but everything he managed went on well in his hands: and he was a great + warrior, about whom there are many stories. He was the most powerful man + in Denmark next to the King. Jarl Ulf's sister, Gyda, was married to Jarl + Gudin (Godwin) Ulfnadson; and their sons were, Harald King of England, and + Jarl Tosti, Jarl Walthiof, Jarl Mauro-Kaare, and Jarl Svein. Gyda was the + name of their daughter, who was married to the English King Edward, the + Good (whom we call the Confessor). + </p> + <p> + "When they had played a while, the King made a false move; on which the + Jarl took a knight from him; but the King set the piece on the board + again, and told the Jarl to make another move. But the Jarl flew angry, + tumbled the chess-board over, rose, and went away. The King said, 'Run thy + ways, Ulf the Fearful.' The Jarl turned round at the door and said, 'Thou + wouldst have run farther at Helge river hadst thou been left to battle + there. Thou didst not call me Ulf the Fearful when I hastened to thy help + while the Swedes were beating thee like a dog.' The Jarl then went out, + and went to bed. + </p> + <p> + "The following morning, while the King was putting on his clothes, he said + to his footboy, 'Go thou to Jarl Ulf and kill him.' The lad went, was away + a while, and then came back. The King said, 'Hast thou killed the Jarl?' + 'I did not kill him, for he was gone to St. Lucius's church.' There was a + man called Ivar the White, a Norwegian by birth, who was the King's + courtman and chamberlain. The King said to him, 'Go thou and kill the + Jarl.' Ivar went to the church, and in at the choir, and thrust his sword + through the Jarl, who died on the spot. Then Ivar went to the King, with + the bloody sword in his hand. + </p> + <p> + "The King said, 'Hast thou killed the Jarl?' 'I have killed him,' said he. + 'Thou hast done well,' answered the King." I + </p> + <p> + From a man who built so many churches (one on each battlefield where he + had fought, to say nothing of the others), and who had in him such depths + of real devotion and other fine cosmic quality, this does seem rather + strong! But it is characteristic, withal,—of the man, and perhaps of + the times still more. <a href="#linknote-14" name="linknoteref-14" + id="linknoteref-14"><small>14</small></a> In any case, it is an event + worth noting, the slain Jarl Ulf and his connections being of importance + in the history of Denmark and of England also. Ulf's wife was Astrid, + sister of Knut, and their only child was Svein, styled afterwards "Svein + Estrithson" ("Astrid-son") when he became noted in the world,—at + this time a beardless youth, who, on the back of this tragedy, fled + hastily to Sweden, where were friends of Ulf. After some ten years' + eclipse there, Knut and both his sons being now dead, Svein reappeared in + Denmark under a new and eminent figure, "Jarl of Denmark," highest + Liegeman to the then sovereign there. Broke his oath to said sovereign, + declared himself, Svein Estrithson, to be real King of Denmark; and, after + much preliminary trouble, and many beatings and disastrous flights to and + fro, became in effect such,—to the wonder of mankind; for he had not + had one victory to cheer him on, or any good luck or merit that one sees, + except that of surviving longer than some others. Nevertheless he came to + be the Restorer, so called, of Danish independence; sole remaining + representative of Knut (or Knut's sister), of Fork-beard, Blue-tooth, and + Old Gorm; and ancestor of all the subsequent kings of Denmark for some 400 + years; himself coming, as we see, only by the Distaff side, all of the + Sword or male side having died so soon. Early death, it has been observed, + was the Great Knut's allotment, and all his posterity's as well;—fatal + limit (had there been no others, which we see there were) to his becoming + "Charlemagne of the North" in any considerable degree! Jarl Ulf, as we + have seen, had a sister, Gyda by name, wife to Earl Godwin ("Gudin + Ulfnadsson," as Snorro calls him) a very memorable Englishman, whose son + and hers, King Harald, <i>Harold</i> in English books, is the memorablest + of all. These things ought to be better known to English antiquaries, and + will perhaps be alluded to again. + </p> + <p> + This pretty little victory or affront, gained over Knut in <i>Lymfjord</i>, + was among the last successes of Olaf against that mighty man. Olaf, the + skilful captain he was, need not have despaired to defend his Norway + against Knut and all the world. But he learned henceforth, month by month + ever more tragically, that his own people, seeing softer prospects under + Knut, and in particular the chiefs of them, industriously bribed by Knut + for years past, had fallen away from him; and that his means of defence + were gone. Next summer, Knut's grand fleet sailed, unopposed, along the + coast of Norway; Knut summoning a Thing every here and there, and in all + of them meeting nothing but sky-high acclamation and acceptance. Olaf, + with some twelve little ships, all he now had, lay quiet in some safe + fjord, near Lindenaes, what we now call the Naze, behind some little + solitary isles on the southeast of Norway there; till triumphant Knut had + streamed home again. Home to England again "Sovereign of Norway" now, with + nephew Hakon appointed Jarl and Vice-regent under him! This was the news + Olaf met on venturing out; and that his worst anticipations were not + beyond the sad truth all, or almost all, the chief Bonders and men of + weight in Norway had declared against him, and stood with triumphant Knut. + </p> + <p> + Olaf, with his twelve poor ships, steered vigorously along the coast to + collect money and force,—if such could now anywhere be had. He + himself was resolute to hold out, and try. "Sailing swiftly with a fair + wind, morning cloudy with some showers," he passed the coast of Jedderen, + which was Erling Skjalgson's country, when he got sure notice of an + endless multitude of ships, war-ships, armed merchant ships, all kinds of + shipping-craft, down to fishermen's boats, just getting under way against + him, under the command of Erling Skjalgson,—the powerfulest of his + subjects, once much a friend of Olaf's but now gone against him to this + length, thanks to Olaf's severity of justice, and Knut's abundance in gold + and promises for years back. To that complexion had it come with Erling; + sailing with this immense assemblage of the naval people and populace of + Norway to seize King Olaf, and bring him to the great Knut dead or alive. + </p> + <p> + Erling had a grand new ship of his own, which far outsailed the general + miscellany of rebel ships, and was visibly fast gaining distance on Olaf + himself,—who well understood what Erling's puzzle was, between the + tail of his game (the miscellany of rebel ships, namely) that could not + come up, and the head or general prize of the game which was crowding all + sail to get away; and Olaf took advantage of the same. "Lower your sails!" + said Olaf to his men (though we must go slower). + </p> + <p> + "Ho you, we have lost sight of them!" said Erling to his, and put on all + his speed; Olaf going, soon after this, altogether invisible,—behind + a little island that he knew of, whence into a certain fjord or bay (Bay + of Fungen on the maps), which he thought would suit him. "Halt here, and + get out your arms," said Olaf, and had not to wait long till Erling came + bounding in, past the rocky promontory, and with astonishment beheld + Olaf's fleet of twelve with their battle-axes and their grappling-irons + all in perfect readiness. These fell on him, the unready Erling, + simultaneous, like a cluster of angry bees; and in a few minutes cleared + his ship of men altogether, except Erling himself. Nobody asked his life, + nor probably would have got it if he had. Only Erling still stood erect on + a high place on the poop, fiercely defensive, and very difficult to get + at. "Could not be reached at all," says Snorro, "except by spears or + arrows, and these he warded off with untiring dexterity; no man in Norway, + it was said, had ever defended himself so long alone against many,"—an + almost invincible Erling, had his cause been good. Olaf himself noticed + Erling's behavior, and said to him, from the foredeck below, "Thou hast + turned against me to-day, Erling." "The eagles fight breast to breast," + answers he. This was a speech of the king's to Erling once long ago, while + they stood fighting, not as now, but side by side. The king, with some + transient thought of possibility going through his head, rejoins, "Wilt + thou surrender, Erling?" "That will I," answered he; took the helmet off + his head; laid down sword and shield; and went forward to the forecastle + deck. The king pricked, I think not very harshly, into Erling's chin or + beard with the point of his battle-axe, saying, "I must mark thee as + traitor to thy Sovereign, though." Whereupon one of the bystanders, Aslak + Fitiaskalle, stupidly and fiercely burst up; smote Erling on the head with + his axe; so that it struck fast in his brain and was instantly the death + of Erling. "Ill-luck attend thee for that stroke; thou hast struck Norway + out of my hand by it!" cried the king to Aslak; but forgave the poor + fellow, who had done it meaning well. The insurrectionary Bonder fleet + arriving soon after, as if for certain victory, was struck with + astonishment at this Erling catastrophe; and being now without any leader + of authority, made not the least attempt at battle; but, full of + discouragement and consternation, thankfully allowed Olaf to sail away on + his northward voyage, at discretion; and themselves went off lamenting, + with Erling's dead body. + </p> + <p> + This small victory was the last that Olaf had over his many enemies at + present. He sailed along, still northward, day after day; several + important people joined him; but the news from landward grew daily more + ominous: Bonders busily arming to rear of him; and ahead, Hakon still more + busily at Trondhjem, now near by, "—and he will end thy days, King, + if he have strength enough!" Olaf paused; sent scouts to a hill-top: + "Hakon's armament visible enough, and under way hitherward, about the Isle + of Bjarno, yonder!" Soon after, Olaf himself saw the Bonder armament of + twenty-five ships, from the southward, sail past in the distance to join + that of Hakon; and, worse still, his own ships, one and another (seven in + all), were slipping off on a like errand! He made for the Fjord of Fodrar, + mouth of the rugged strath called Valdal,—which I think still knows + Olaf and has now an "Olaf's Highway," where, nine centuries ago, it + scarcely had a path. Olaf entered this fjord, had his land-tent set up, + and a cross beside it, on the small level green behind the promontory + there. Finding that his twelve poor ships were now reduced to five, + against a world all risen upon him, he could not but see and admit to + himself that there was no chance left; and that he must withdraw across + the mountains and wait for a better time. + </p> + <p> + His journey through that wild country, in these forlorn and straitened + circumstances, has a mournful dignity and homely pathos, as described by + Snorro: how he drew up his five poor ships upon the beach, packed all + their furniture away, and with his hundred or so of attendants and their + journey-baggage, under guidance of some friendly Bonder, rode up into the + desert and foot of the mountains; scaled, after three days' effort (as if + by miracle, thought his attendants and thought Snorro), the well-nigh + precipitous slope that led across, never without miraculous aid from + Heaven and Olaf could baggage-wagons have ascended that path! In short, + How he fared along, beset by difficulties and the mournfulest thoughts; + but patiently persisted, steadfastly trusted in God; and was fixed to + return, and by God's help try again. An evidently very pious and devout + man; a good man struggling with adversity, such as the gods, we may still + imagine with the ancients, do look down upon as their noblest sight. + </p> + <p> + He got to Sweden, to the court of his brother-in-law; kindly and nobly + enough received there, though gradually, perhaps, ill-seen by the now + authorities of Norway. So that, before long, he quitted Sweden; left his + queen there with her only daughter, his and hers, the only child they had; + he himself had an only son, "by a bondwoman," Magnus by name, who came to + great things afterwards; of whom, and of which, by and by. With this + bright little boy, and a selected escort of attendants, he moved away to + Russia, to King Jarroslav; where he might wait secure against all risk of + hurting kind friends by his presence. He seems to have been an exile + altogether some two years,—such is one's vague notion; for there is + no chronology in Snorro or his Sagas, and one is reduced to guessing and + inferring. He had reigned over Norway, reckoning from the first days of + his landing there to those last of his leaving it across the Dovrefjeld, + about fifteen years, ten of them shiningly victorious. + </p> + <p> + The news from Norway were naturally agitating to King Olaf and, in the + fluctuation of events there, his purposes and prospects varied much. He + sometimes thought of pilgriming to Jerusalem, and a henceforth exclusively + religious life; but for most part his pious thoughts themselves gravitated + towards Norway, and a stroke for his old place and task there, which he + steadily considered to have been committed to him by God. Norway, by the + rumors, was evidently not at rest. Jarl Hakon, under the high patronage of + his uncle, had lasted there but a little while. I know not that his + government was especially unpopular, nor whether he himself much + remembered his broken oath. It appears, however, he had left in England a + beautiful bride; and considering farther that in England only could bridal + ornaments and other wedding outfit of a sufficiently royal kind be found, + he set sail thither, to fetch her and them himself. One evening of + wildish-looking weather he was seen about the northeast corner of the + Pentland Frith; the night rose to be tempestuous; Hakon or any timber of + his fleet was never seen more. Had all gone down,—broken oaths, + bridal hopes, and all else; mouse and man,—into the roaring waters. + There was no farther Opposition-line; the like of which had lasted ever + since old heathen Hakon Jarl, down to this his grandson Hakon's <i>finis</i> + in the Pentland Frith. With this Hakon's disappearance it now disappeared. + </p> + <p> + Indeed Knut himself, though of an empire suddenly so great, was but a + temporary phenomenon. Fate had decided that the grand and wise Knut was to + be short-lived; and to leave nothing as successors but an ineffectual + young Harald Harefoot, who soon perished, and a still stupider + fiercely-drinking Harda-Knut, who rushed down of apoplexy (here in London + City, as I guess), with the goblet at his mouth, drinking health and + happiness at a wedding-feast, also before long. + </p> + <p> + Hakon having vanished in this dark way, there ensued a pause, both on + Knut's part and on Norway's. Pause or interregnum of some months, till it + became certain, first, whether Hakon were actually dead, secondly, till + Norway, and especially till King Knut himself, could decide what to do. + Knut, to the deep disappointment, which had to keep itself silent, of + three or four chief Norway men, named none of these three or four Jarl of + Norway; but bethought him of a certain Svein, a bastard son of his own,—who, + and almost still more his English mother, much desired a career in the + world fitter for him, thought they indignantly, than that of captain over + Jomsburg, where alone the father had been able to provide for him + hitherto. Svein was sent to Norway as king or vice-king for Father Knut; + and along with him his fond and vehement mother. Neither of whom gained + any favor from the Norse people by the kind of management they ultimately + came to show. + </p> + <p> + Olaf on news of this change, and such uncertainty prevailing everywhere in + Norway as to the future course of things, whether Svein would come, as was + rumored of at last, and be able to maintain himself if he did,—thought + there might be something in it of a chance for himself and his rights. + And, after lengthened hesitation, much prayer, pious invocation, and + consideration, decided to go and try it. The final grain that had turned + the balance, it appears, was a half-waking morning dream, or almost ocular + vision he had of his glorious cousin Olaf Tryggveson, who severely + admonished, exhorted, and encouraged him; and disappeared grandly, just in + the instant of Olaf's awakening; so that Olaf almost fancied he had seen + the very figure of him, as it melted into air. "Let us on, let us on!" + thought Olaf always after that. He left his son, not in Russia, but in + Sweden with the Queen, who proved very good and carefully helpful in wise + ways to him:—in Russia Olaf had now nothing more to do but give his + grateful adieus, and get ready. + </p> + <p> + His march towards Sweden, and from that towards Norway and the passes of + the mountains, down Vaerdal, towards Stickelstad, and the crisis that + awaited, is beautifully depicted by Snorro. It has, all of it, the + description (and we see clearly, the fact itself had), a kind of pathetic + grandeur, simplicity, and rude nobleness; something Epic or Homeric, + without the metre or the singing of Homer, but with all the sincerity, + rugged truth to nature, and much more of piety, devoutness, reverence for + what is forever High in this Universe, than meets us in those old Greek + Ballad-mongers. Singularly visual all of it, too, brought home in every + particular to one's imagination, so that it stands out almost as a thing + one actually saw. + </p> + <p> + Olaf had about three thousand men with him; gathered mostly as he fared + along through Norway. Four hundred, raised by one Dag, a kinsman whom he + had found in Sweden and persuaded to come with him, marched usually in a + separate body; and were, or might have been, rather an important element. + Learning that the Bonders were all arming, especially in Trondhjem + country, Olaf streamed down towards them in the closest order he could. By + no means very close, subsistence even for three thousand being difficult + in such a country. His speech was almost always free and cheerful, though + his thoughts always naturally were of a high and earnest, almost sacred + tone; devout above all. Stickelstad, a small poor hamlet still standing + where the valley ends, was seen by Olaf, and tacitly by the Bonders as + well, to be the natural place for offering battle. There Olaf issued out + from the hills one morning: drew himself up according to the best rules of + Norse tactics, rules of little complexity, but perspicuously true to the + facts. I think he had a clear open ground still rather raised above the + plain in front; he could see how the Bonder army had not yet quite + arrived, but was pouring forward, in spontaneous rows or groups, copiously + by every path. This was thought to be the biggest army that ever met in + Norway; "certainly not much fewer than a hundred times a hundred men," + according to Snorro; great Bonders several of them, small Bonders very + many,—all of willing mind, animated with a hot sense of intolerable + injuries. "King Olaf had punished great and small with equal rigor," says + Snorro; "which appeared to the chief people of the country too severe; and + animosity rose to the highest when they lost relatives by the King's just + sentence, although they were in reality guilty. He again would rather + renounce his dignity than omit righteous judgment. The accusation against + him, of being stingy with his money, was not just, for he was a most + generous man towards his friends. But that alone was the cause of the + discontent raised against him, that he appeared hard and severe in his + retributions. Besides, King Knut offered large sums of money, and the + great chiefs were corrupted by this, and by his offering them greater + dignities than they had possessed before." On these grounds, against the + intolerable man, great and small were now pouring along by every path. + </p> + <p> + Olaf perceived it would still be some time before the Bonder army was in + rank. His own Dag of Sweden, too, was not yet come up; he was to have the + right banner; King Olaf's own being the middle or grand one; some other + person the third or left banner. All which being perfectly ranked and + settled, according to the best rules, and waiting only the arrival of Dag, + Olaf bade his men sit down, and freshen themselves with a little rest. + There were religious services gone through: a matins-worship such as there + have been few; sternly earnest to the heart of it, and deep as death and + eternity, at least on Olaf's own part. For the rest Thormod sang a stave + of the fiercest Skaldic poetry that was in him; all the army straightway + sang it in chorus with fiery mind. The Bonder of the nearest farm came up, + to tell Olaf that he also wished to fight for him "Thanks to thee; but + don't," said Olaf; "stay at home rather, that the wounded may have some + shelter." To this Bonder, Olaf delivered all the money he had, with solemn + order to lay out the whole of it in masses and prayers for the souls of + such of his enemies as fell. "Such of thy enemies, King?" "Yes, surely," + said Olaf, "my friends will all either conquer, or go whither I also am + going." + </p> + <p> + At last the Bonder army too was got ranked; three commanders, one of them + with a kind of loose chief command, having settled to take charge of it; + and began to shake itself towards actual advance. Olaf, in the mean while, + had laid his head on the knees of Finn Arneson, his trustiest man, and + fallen fast asleep. Finn's brother, Kalf Arneson, once a warm friend of + Olaf, was chief of the three commanders on the opposite side. Finn and he + addressed angry speech to one another from the opposite ranks, when they + came near enough. Finn, seeing the enemy fairly approach, stirred Olaf + from his sleep. "Oh, why hast thou wakened me from such a dream?" said + Olaf, in a deeply solemn tone. "What dream was it, then?" asked Finn. "I + dreamt that there rose a ladder here reaching up to very Heaven," said + Olaf; "I had climbed and climbed, and got to the very last step, and + should have entered there hadst thou given me another moment." "King, I + doubt thou art <i>fey</i>; I do not quite like that dream." + </p> + <p> + The actual fight began about one of the clock in a most bright last day of + July, and was very fierce and hot, especially on the part of Olaf's men, + who shook the others back a little, though fierce enough they too; and had + Dag been on the ground, which he wasn't yet, it was thought victory might + have been won. Soon after battle joined, the sky grew of a ghastly brass + or copper color, darker and darker, till thick night involved all things; + and did not clear away again till battle was near ending. Dag, with his + four hundred, arrived in the darkness, and made a furious charge, what was + afterwards, in the speech of the people, called "Dag's storm." Which had + nearly prevailed, but could not quite; victory again inclining to the so + vastly larger party. It is uncertain still how the matter would have gone; + for Olaf himself was now fighting with his own hand, and doing deadly + execution on his busiest enemies to right and to left. But one of these + chief rebels, Thorer Hund (thought to have learnt magic from the + Laplanders, whom he long traded with, and made money by), mysteriously + would not fall for Olaf's best strokes. Best strokes brought only dust + from the (enchanted) deer-skin coat of the fellow, to Olaf's surprise,—when + another of the rebel chiefs rushed forward, struck Olaf with his + battle-axe, a wild slashing wound, and miserably broke his thigh, so that + he staggered or was supported back to the nearest stone; and there sat + down, lamentably calling on God to help him in this bad hour. Another + rebel of note (the name of him long memorable in Norway) slashed or + stabbed Olaf a second time, as did then a third. Upon which the noble Olaf + sank dead; and forever quitted this doghole of a world,—little + worthy of such men as Olaf one sometimes thinks. But that too is a + mistake, and even an important one, should we persist in it. + </p> + <p> + With Olaf's death the sky cleared again. Battle, now near done, ended with + complete victory to the rebels, and next to no pursuit or result, except + the death of Olaf everybody hastening home, as soon as the big Duel had + decided itself. Olaf's body was secretly carried, after dark, to some + out-house on the farm near the spot; whither a poor blind beggar, creeping + in for shelter that very evening, was miraculously restored to sight. And, + truly with a notable, almost miraculous, speed, the feelings of all Norway + for King Olaf changed themselves, and were turned upside down, "within a + year," or almost within a day. Superlative example of <i>Extinctus + amabitur idem.</i> Not "Olaf the Thick-set" any longer, but "Olaf the + Blessed" or Saint, now clearly in Heaven; such the name and character of + him from that time to this. Two churches dedicated to him (out of four + that once stood) stand in London at this moment. And the miracles that + have been done there, not to speak of Norway and Christendom elsewhere, in + his name, were numerous and great for long centuries afterwards. Visibly a + Saint Olaf ever since; and, indeed, in <i>Bollandus</i> or elsewhere, I + have seldom met with better stuff to make a Saint of, or a true World-Hero + in all good senses. + </p> + <p> + Speaking of the London Olaf Churches, I should have added that from one of + these the thrice-famous Tooley Street gets its name,—where those + Three Tailors, addressing Parliament and the Universe, sublimely styled + themselves, "We, the People of England." Saint Olave Street, Saint Oley + Street, Stooley Street, Tooley Street; such are the metamorphoses of human + fame in the world! + </p> + <p> + The battle-day of Stickelstad, King Olaf's death-day, is generally + believed to have been Wednesday, July 31, 1033. But on investigation, it + turns out that there was no total eclipse of the sun visible in Norway + that year; though three years before, there was one; but on the 29th + instead of the 31st. So that the exact date still remains uncertain; + Dahlmann, the latest critic, inclining for 1030, and its indisputable + eclipse. <a href="#linknote-15" name="linknoteref-15" id="linknoteref-15"><small>15</small></a> + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. MAGNUS THE GOOD AND OTHERS. + </h2> + <p> + St. Olaf is the highest of these Norway Kings, and is the last that much + attracts us. For this reason, if a reason were not superfluous, we might + here end our poor reminiscences of those dim Sovereigns. But we will, + nevertheless, for the sake of their connection with bits of English + History, still hastily mention the Dames of one or two who follow, and who + throw a momentary gleam of life and illumination on events and epochs that + have fallen so extinct among ourselves at present, though once they were + so momentous and memorable. + </p> + <p> + The new King Svein from Jomsburg, Knut's natural son, had no success in + Norway, nor seems to have deserved any. His English mother and he were + found to be grasping, oppressive persons; and awoke, almost from the + instant that Olaf was suppressed and crushed away from Norway into Heaven, + universal odium more and more in that country. Well-deservedly, as still + appears; for their taxings and extortions of malt, of herring, of meal, + smithwork and every article taxable in Norway, were extreme; and their + service to the country otherwise nearly imperceptible. In brief their one + basis there was the power of Knut the Great; and that, like all earthly + things, was liable to sudden collapse,—and it suffered such in a + notable degree. King Knut, hardly yet of middle age, and the greatest King + in the then world, died at Shaftesbury, in 1035, as Dahlmann thinks <a + href="#linknote-16" name="linknoteref-16" id="linknoteref-16"><small>16</small></a>,—leaving + two legitimate sons and a busy, intriguing widow (Norman Emma, widow of + Ethelred the Unready), mother of the younger of these two; neither of whom + proved to have any talent or any continuance. In spite of Emma's utmost + efforts, Harald, the elder son of Knut, not hers, got England for his + kingdom; Emma and her Harda-Knut had to be content with Denmark, and go + thither, much against their will. Harald in England,—light-going + little figure like his father before him,—got the name of Harefoot + here; and might have done good work among his now orderly and settled + people; but he died almost within year and day; and has left no trace + among us, except that of "Harefoot," from his swift mode of walking. Emma + and her Harda-Knut now returned joyful to England. But the violent, idle, + and drunken Harda-Knut did no good there; and, happily for England and + him, soon suddenly ended, by stroke of apoplexy at a marriage festival, as + mentioned above. In Denmark he had done still less good. And indeed,—under + him, in a year or two, the grand imperial edifice, laboriously built by + Knut's valor and wisdom, had already tumbled all to the ground, in a most + unexpected and remarkable way. As we are now to indicate with all brevity. + </p> + <p> + Svein's tyrannies in Norway had wrought such fruit that, within the four + years after Olaf's death, the chief men in Norway, the very slayers of + King Olaf, Kalf Arneson at the head of them, met secretly once or twice; + and unanimously agreed that Kalf Arneson must go to Sweden, or to Russia + itself; seek young Magnus, son of Olaf home: excellent Magnus, to be king + over all Norway and them, instead of this intolerable Svein. Which was at + once done,—Magnus brought home in a kind of triumph, all Norway + waiting for him. Intolerable Svein had already been rebelled against: some + years before this, a certain young Tryggve out of Ireland, authentic son + of Olaf Tryggveson, and of that fine Irish Princess who chose him in his + low habiliments and low estate, and took him over to her own Green Island,—this + royal young Tryggve Olafson had invaded the usurper Svein, in a fierce, + valiant, and determined manner; and though with too small a party, showed + excellent fight for some time; till Svein, zealously bestirring himself, + managed to get him beaten and killed. But that was a couple of years ago; + the party still too small, not including one and all as now! Svein, + without stroke of sword this time, moved off towards Denmark; never + showing face in Norway again. His drunken brother, Harda-Knut, received + him brother-like; even gave him some territory to rule over and subsist + upon. But he lived only a short while; was gone before Harda-Knut himself; + and we will mention him no more. + </p> + <p> + Magnus was a fine bright young fellow, and proved a valiant, wise, and + successful King, known among his people as Magnus the Good. He was only + natural son of King Olaf but that made little difference in those times + and there. His strange-looking, unexpected Latin name he got in this way: + Alfhild, his mother, a slave through ill-luck of war, though nobly born, + was seen to be in a hopeful way; and it was known in the King's house how + intimately Olaf was connected with that occurrence, and how much he loved + this "King's serving-maid," as she was commonly designated. Alfhild was + brought to bed late at night; and all the world, especially King Olaf was + asleep; Olaf's strict rule, then and always, being, Don't awaken me:—seemingly + a man sensitive about his sleep. The child was a boy, of rather weakly + aspect; no important person present, except Sigvat, the King's Icelandic + Skald, who happened to be still awake; and the Bishop of Norway, who, I + suppose, had been sent for in hurry. "What is to be done?" said the + Bishop: "here is an infant in pressing need of baptism; and we know not + what the name is: go, Sigvat, awaken the King, and ask." "I dare not for + my life," answered Sigvat; "King's orders are rigorous on that point." + "But if the child die unbaptized," said the Bishop, shuddering; too + certain, he and everybody, where the child would go in that case! "I will + myself give him a name," said Sigvat, with a desperate concentration of + all his faculties; "he shall be namesake of the greatest of mankind,—imperial + Carolus Magnus; let us call the infant Magnus!" King Olaf, on the morrow, + asked rather sharply how Sigvat had dared take such a liberty; but excused + Sigvat, seeing what the perilous alternative was. And Magnus, by such + accident, this boy was called; and he, not another, is the prime origin + and introducer of that name Magnus, which occurs rather frequently, not + among the Norman Kings only, but by and by among the Danish and Swedish; + and, among the Scandinavian populations, appears to be rather frequent to + this day. + </p> + <p> + Magnus, a youth of great spirit, whose own, and standing at his beck, all + Norway now was, immediately smote home on Denmark; desirous naturally of + vengeance for what it had done to Norway, and the sacred kindred of + Magnus. Denmark, its great Knut gone, and nothing but a drunken + Harda-Knut, fugitive Svein and Co., there in his stead, was become a weak + dislocated Country. And Magnus plundered in it, burnt it, beat it, as + often as he pleased; Harda-Knut struggling what he could to make + resistance or reprisals, but never once getting any victory over Magnus. + Magnus, I perceive, was, like his Father, a skilful as well as valiant + fighter by sea and land; Magnus, with good battalions, and probably backed + by immediate alliance with Heaven and St. Olaf, as was then the general + belief or surmise about him, could not easily be beaten. And the truth is, + he never was, by Harda-Knut or any other. Harda-Knut's last transaction + with him was, To make a firm Peace and even Family-treaty sanctioned by + all the grandees of both countries, who did indeed mainly themselves make + it; their two Kings assenting: That there should be perpetual Peace, and + no thought of war more, between Denmark and Norway; and that, if either of + the Kings died childless while the other was reigning, the other should + succeed him in both Kingdoms. A magnificent arrangement, such as has + several times been made in the world's history; but which in this + instance, what is very singular, took actual effect; drunken Harda-Knut + dying so speedily, and Magnus being the man he was. One would like to give + the date of this remarkable Treaty; but cannot with precision. Guess + somewhere about 1040: <a href="#linknote-17" name="linknoteref-17" + id="linknoteref-17"><small>17</small></a> actual fruition of it came to + Magnus, beyond question, in 1042, when Harda-Knut drank that wassail bowl + at the wedding in Lambeth, and fell down dead; which in the Saxon + Chronicle is dated 3d June of that year. Magnus at once went to Denmark on + hearing this event; was joyfully received by the headmen there, who + indeed, with their fellows in Norway, had been main contrivers of the + Treaty; both Countries longing for mutual peace, and the end of such + incessant broils. + </p> + <p> + Magnus was triumphantly received as King in Denmark. The only unfortunate + thing was, that Svein Estrithson, the exile son of Ulf, Knut's + Brother-in-law, whom Knut, as we saw, had summarily killed twelve years + before, emerged from his exile in Sweden in a flattering form; and + proposed that Magnus should make him Jarl of Denmark, and general + administrator there, in his own stead. To which the sanguine Magnus, in + spite of advice to the contrary, insisted on acceding. "Too powerful a + Jarl," said Einar Tamberskelver—the same Einar whose bow was heard + to break in Olaf Tryggveson's last battle ("Norway breaking from thy hand, + King!"), who had now become Magnus's chief man, and had long been among + the highest chiefs in Norway; "too powerful a Jarl," said Einar earnestly. + But Magnus disregarded it; and a troublesome experience had to teach him + that it was true. In about a year, crafty Svein, bringing ends to meet, + got himself declared King of Denmark for his own behoof, instead of Jarl + for another's: and had to be beaten and driven out by Magnus. Beaten every + year; but almost always returned next year, for a new beating,—almost, + though not altogether; having at length got one dreadful smashing-down and + half-killing, which held him quiet for a while,—so long as Magnus + lived. Nay in the end, he made good his point, as if by mere patience in + being beaten; and did become King himself, and progenitor of all the Kings + that followed. King Svein Estrithson; so called from Astrid or Estrith, + his mother, the great Knut's sister, daughter of Svein Forkbeard by that + amazing Sigrid the Proud, who <i>burnt</i> those two ineligible suitors of + hers both at once, and got a switch on the face from Olaf Tryggveson, + which proved the death of that high man. + </p> + <p> + But all this fine fortune of the often beaten Estrithson was posterior to + Magnus's death; who never would have suffered it, had he been alive. + Magnus was a mighty fighter; a fiery man; very proud and positive, among + other qualities, and had such luck as was never seen before. Luck + invariably good, said everybody; never once was beaten,—which + proves, continued everybody, that his Father Olaf and the miraculous power + of Heaven were with him always. Magnus, I believe, did put down a great + deal of anarchy in those countries. One of his earliest enterprises was to + abolish Jomsburg, and trample out that nest of pirates. Which he managed + so completely that Jomsburg remained a mere reminiscence thenceforth; and + its place is not now known to any mortal. + </p> + <p> + One perverse thing did at last turn up in the course of Magnus: a new + Claimant for the Crown of Norway, and he a formidable person withal. This + was Harald, half-brother of the late Saint Olaf; uncle or half-uncle, + therefore, of Magnus himself. Indisputable son of the Saint's mother by + St. Olaf's stepfather, who was, himself descended straight from Harald + Haarfagr. This new Harald was already much heard of in the world. As an + ardent Boy of fifteen he had fought at King Olaf's side at Stickelstad; + would not be admonished by the Saint to go away. Got smitten down there, + not killed; was smuggled away that night from the field by friendly help; + got cured of his wounds, forwarded to Russia, where he grew to man's + estate, under bright auspices and successes. Fell in love with the Russian + Princess, but could not get her to wife; went off thereupon to + Constantinople as <i>Vaeringer</i> (Life-Guardsman of the Greek Kaiser); + became Chief Captain of the Vaeringers, invincible champion of the poor + Kaisers that then were, and filled all the East with the shine and noise + of his exploits. An authentic <i>Waring</i> or <i>Baring</i>, such the + surname we now have derived from these people; who were an important + institution in those Greek countries for several ages: Vaeringer + Life-Guard, consisting of Norsemen, with sometimes a few English among + them. Harald had innumerable adventures, nearly always successful, sing + the Skalds; gained a great deal of wealth, gold ornaments, and gold coin; + had even Queen Zoe (so they sing, though falsely) enamored of him at one + time; and was himself a Skald of eminence; some of whose verses, by no + means the worst of their kind, remain to this day. + </p> + <p> + This character of Waring much distinguishes Harald to me; the only + Vaeringer of whom I could ever get the least biography, true or half-true. + It seems the Greek History-books but indifferently correspond with these + Saga records; and scholars say there could have been no considerable + romance between Zoe and him, Zoe at that date being 60 years of age! + Harald's own lays say nothing of any Zoe, but are still full of longing + for his Russian Princess far away. + </p> + <p> + At last, what with Zoes, what with Greek perversities and perfidies, and + troubles that could not fail, he determined on quitting Greece; packed up + his immensities of wealth in succinct shape, and actually returned to + Russia, where new honors and favors awaited him from old friends, and + especially, if I mistake not, the hand of that adorable Princess, crown of + all his wishes for the time being. Before long, however, he decided + farther to look after his Norway Royal heritages; and, for that purpose, + sailed in force to the Jarl or quasi-King of Denmark, the often-beaten + Svein, who was now in Sweden on his usual winter exile after beating. + Svein and he had evidently interests in common. Svein was charmed to see + him, so warlike, glorious and renowned a man, with masses of money about + him, too. Svein did by and by become treacherous; and even attempted, one + night, to assassinate Harald in his bed on board ship: but Harald, + vigilant of Svein, and a man of quick and sure insight, had providently + gone to sleep elsewhere, leaving a log instead of himself among the + blankets. In which log, next morning, treacherous Svein's battle-axe was + found deeply sticking: and could not be removed without difficulty! But + this was after Harald and King Magnus himself bad begun treating; with the + fairest prospects,—which this of the $vein battle-axe naturally + tended to forward, as it altogether ended the other copartnery. + </p> + <p> + Magnus, on first hearing of Vaeringer Harald and his intentions, made + instant equipment, and determination to fight his uttermost against the + same. But wise persons of influence round him, as did the like sort round + Vaeringer Harald, earnestly advised compromise and peaceable agreement. + Which, soon after that of Svein's nocturnal battle-axe, was the course + adopted; and, to the joy of all parties, did prove a successful solution. + Magnus agreed to part his kingdom with Uncle Harald; uncle parting his + treasures, or uniting them with Magnus's poverty. Each was to be an + independent king, but they were to govern in common; Magnus rather + presiding. He, to sit, for example, in the High Seat alone; King Harald + opposite him in a seat not quite so high, though if a stranger King came + on a visit, both the Norse Kings were to sit in the High Seat. With + various other punctilious regulations; which the fiery Magnus was + extremely strict with; rendering the mutual relation a very dangerous one, + had not both the Kings been honest men, and Harald a much more prudent and + tolerant one than Magnus. They, on the whole, never had any weighty + quarrel, thanks now and then rather to Harald than to Magnus. Magnus too + was very noble; and Harald, with his wide experience and greater length of + years, carefully held his heat of temper well covered in. + </p> + <p> + Prior to Uncle Harald's coming, Magnus had distinguished himself as a + Lawgiver. His Code of Laws for the Trondhjem Province was considered a + pretty piece of legislation; and in subsequent times got the name of <i>Gray-goose</i> + (Gragas); one of the wonderfulest names ever given to a wise Book. Some + say it came from the gray color of the parchment, some give other + incredible origins; the last guess I have heard is, that the name merely + denotes antiquity; the witty name in Norway for a man growing old having + been, in those times, that he was now "becoming a gray-goose." Very + fantastic indeed; certain, however, that Gray-goose is the name of that + venerable Law Book; nay, there is another, still more famous, belonging to + Iceland, and not far from a century younger, the Iceland <i>Gray-goose.</i> + The Norway one is perhaps of date about 1037, the other of about 1118; + peace be with them both! Or, if anybody is inclined to such matters let + him go to Dahlmann, for the amplest information and such minuteness of + detail as might almost enable him to be an Advocate, with Silk Gown, in + any Court depending on these Gray-geese. + </p> + <p> + Magnus did not live long. He had a dream one night of his Father Olaf's + coming to him in shining presence, and announcing, That a magnificent + fortune and world-great renown was now possible for him; but that perhaps + it was his duty to refuse it; in which case his earthly life would be + short. "Which way wilt thou do, then?" said the shining presence. "Thou + shalt decide for me, Father, thou, not I!" and told his Uncle Harald on + the morrow, adding that he thought he should now soon die; which proved to + be the fact. The magnificent fortune, so questionable otherwise, has + reference, no doubt, to the Conquest of England; to which country Magnus, + as rightful and actual King of <i>Denmark</i>, as well as undisputed heir + to drunken Harda-Knut, by treaty long ago, had now some evident claim. The + enterprise itself was reserved to the patient, gay, and prudent Uncle + Harald; and to him it did prove fatal,—and merely paved the way for + Another, luckier, not likelier! + </p> + <p> + Svein Estrithson, always beaten during Magnus's life, by and by got an + agreement from the prudent Harald to <i>be</i> King of Denmark, then; and + end these wearisome and ineffectual brabbles; Harald having other work to + do. But in the autumn of 1066, Tosti, a younger son of our English Earl + Godwin, came to Svein's court with a most important announcement; namely, + that King Edward the Confessor, so called, was dead, and that Harold, as + the English write it, his eldest brother would give him, Tosti, no + sufficient share in the kingship. Which state of matters, if Svein would + go ahead with him to rectify it, would be greatly to the advantage of + Svein. Svein, taught by many beatings, was too wise for this proposal; + refused Tosti, who indignantly stepped over into Norway, and proposed it + to King Harald there. Svein really had acquired considerable teaching, I + should guess, from his much beating and hard experience in the world; one + finds him afterwards the esteemed friend of the famous Historian Adam of + Bremen, who reports various wise humanities, and pleasant discoursings + with Svein Estrithson. + </p> + <p> + As for Harald Hardrade, "Harald the Hard or Severe," as he was now called, + Tosti's proposal awakened in him all his old Vaeringer ambitious and + cupidities into blazing vehemence. He zealously consented; and at once, + with his whole strength, embarked in the adventure. Fitted out two hundred + ships, and the biggest army he could carry in them; and sailed with Tosti + towards the dangerous Promised Land. Got into the Tyne and took booty; got + into the Humber, thence into the Ouse; easily subdued any opposition the + official people or their populations could make; victoriously scattered + these, victoriously took the City of York in a day; and even got himself + homaged there, "King of Northumberland," as per covenant,—Tosti + proving honorable,—Tosti and he going with faithful strict + copartnery, and all things looking prosperous and glorious. Except only + (an important exception!) that they learnt for certain, English Harold was + advancing with all his strength; and, in a measurable space of hours, + unless care were taken, would be in York himself. Harald and Tosti + hastened off to seize the post of Stamford Bridge on Derwent River, six or + seven miles east of York City, and there bar this dangerous advent. Their + own ships lay not far off in Ouse River, in case of the worst. The battle + that ensued the next day, September 20, 1066, is forever memorable in + English history. + </p> + <p> + Snorro gives vividly enough his view of it from the Icelandic side: A ring + of stalwart Norsemen, close ranked, with their steel tools in hand; + English Harold's Army, mostly cavalry, prancing and pricking all around; + trying to find or make some opening in that ring. For a long time trying + in vain, till at length, getting them enticed to burst out somewhere in + pursuit, they quickly turned round, and quickly made an end, of that + matter. Snorro represents English Harold, with a first party of these + horse coming up, and, with preliminary salutations, asking if Tosti were + there, and if Harald were; making generous proposals to Tosti; but, in + regard to Harald and what share of England was to be his, answering Tosti + with the words, "Seven feet of English earth, or more if he require it, + for a grave." Upon which Tosti, like an honorable man and copartner, said, + "No, never; let us fight you rather till we all die." "Who is this that + spoke to you?" inquired Harald, when the cavaliers had withdrawn. "My + brother Harold," answers Tosti; which looks rather like a Saga, but may be + historical after all. Snorro's history of the battle is intelligible only + after you have premised to it, what he never hints at, that the scene was + on the east side of the bridge and of the Derwent; the great struggle for + the bridge, one at last finds, was after the fall of Harald; and to the + English Chroniclers, said struggle, which was abundantly severe, is all + they know of the battle. + </p> + <p> + Enraged at that breaking loose of his steel ring of infantry, Norse Harald + blazed up into true Norse fury, all the old Vaeringer and Berserkir rage + awakening in him; sprang forth into the front of the fight, and mauled and + cut and smashed down, on both hands of him, everything he met, + irresistible by any horse or man, till an arrow cut him through the + windpipe, and laid him low forever. That was the end of King Harald and of + his workings in this world. The circumstance that he was a Waring or + Baring and had smitten to pieces so many Oriental cohorts or crowds, and + had made love-verses (kind of iron madrigals) to his Russian Princess, and + caught the fancy of questionable Greek queens, and had amassed such heaps + of money, while poor nephew Magnus had only one gold ring (which had been + his father's, and even his father's <i>mother's</i>, as Uncle Harald + noticed), and nothing more whatever of that precious metal to combine with + Harald's treasures:—all this is new to me, naturally no hint of it + in any English book; and lends some gleam of romantic splendor to that dim + business of Stamford Bridge, now fallen so dull and torpid to most English + minds, transcendently important as it once was to all Englishmen. Adam of + Bremen says, the English got as much gold plunder from Harald's people as + was a heavy burden for twelve men; <a href="#linknote-18" + name="linknoteref-18" id="linknoteref-18"><small>18</small></a> a thing + evidently impossible, which nobody need try to believe. Young Olaf, + Harald's son, age about sixteen, steering down the Ouse at the top of his + speed, escaped home to Norway with all his ships, and subsequently reigned + there with Magnus, his brother. Harald's body did lie in English earth for + about a year; but was then brought to Norway for burial. He needed more + than seven feet of grave, say some; Laing, interpreting Snorro's + measurements, makes Harald eight feet in stature,—I do hope, with + some error in excess! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. OLAF THE TRANQUIL, MAGNUS BAREFOOT, AND SIGURD THE CRUSADER. + </h2> + <p> + The new King Olaf, his brother Magnus having soon died, bore rule in + Norway for some five-and-twenty years. Rule soft and gentle, not like his + father's, and inclining rather to improvement in the arts and elegancies + than to anything severe or dangerously laborious. A slim-built, + witty-talking, popular and pretty man, with uncommonly bright eyes, and + hair like floss silk: they called him Olaf <i>Kyrre</i> (the Tranquil or + Easygoing). + </p> + <p> + The ceremonials of the palace were much improved by him. Palace still + continued to be built of huge logs pyramidally sloping upwards, with + fireplace in the middle of the floor, and no egress for smoke or ingress + for light except right overhead, which, in bad weather, you could shut, or + all but shut, with a lid. Lid originally made of mere opaque board, but + changed latterly into a light frame, covered (<i>glazed</i>, so to speak) + with entrails of animals, clarified into something of pellucidity. All + this Olaf, I hope, further perfected, as he did the placing of the court + ladies, court officials, and the like; but I doubt if the luxury of a + glass window were ever known to him, or a cup to drink from that was not + made of metal or horn. In fact it is chiefly for his son's sake I mention + him here; and with the son, too, I have little real concern, but only a + kind of fantastic. + </p> + <p> + This son bears the name of Magnus <i>Barfod</i> (Barefoot, or Bareleg); + and if you ask why so, the answer is: He was used to appear in the streets + of Nidaros (Trondhjem) now and then in complete Scotch Highland dress. + Authentic tartan plaid and philibeg, at that epoch,—to the wonder of + Trondhjem and us! The truth is, he had a mighty fancy for those Hebrides + and other Scotch possessions of his; and seeing England now quite + impossible, eagerly speculated on some conquest in Ireland as next best. + He did, in fact, go diligently voyaging and inspecting among those Orkney + and Hebridian Isles; putting everything straight there, appointing + stringent authorities, jarls,—nay, a king, "Kingdom of the Suderoer" + (Southern Isles, now called <i>Sodor</i>),—and, as first king, + Sigurd, his pretty little boy of nine years. All which done, and some + quarrel with Sweden fought out, he seriously applied himself to visiting + in a still more emphatic manner; namely, to invading, with his best skill + and strength, the considerable virtual or actual kingdom he had in + Ireland, intending fully to enlarge it to the utmost limits of the Island + if possible. He got prosperously into Dublin (guess A.D. 1102). + Considerable authority he already had, even among those poor Irish Kings, + or kinglets, in their glibs and yellow-saffron gowns; still more, I + suppose, among the numerous Norse Principalities there. "King Murdog, King + of Ireland," says the Chronicle of Man, "had obliged himself, every + Yule-day, to take a pair of shoes, hang them over his shoulder, as your + servant does on a journey, and walk across his court, at bidding and in + presence of Magnus Barefoot's messenger, by way of homage to the said + King." Murdog on this greater occasion did whatever homage could be + required of him; but that, though comfortable, was far from satisfying the + great King's ambitious mind. The great King left Murdog; left his own + Dublin; marched off westward on a general conquest of Ireland. Marched + easily victorious for a time; and got, some say, into the wilds of + Connaught, but there saw himself beset by ambuscades and wild Irish + countenances intent on mischief; and had, on the sudden, to draw up for + battle;—place, I regret to say, altogether undiscoverable to me; + known only that it was boggy in the extreme. Certain enough, too certain + and evident, Magnus Barefoot, searching eagerly, could find no firm + footing there; nor, fighting furiously up to the knees or deeper, any + result but honorable death! Date is confidently marked "24 August, 1103,"—as + if people knew the very day of the month. The natives did humanely give + King Magnus Christian burial. The remnants of his force, without further + molestation, found their ships on the Coast of Ulster; and sailed home,—without + conquest of Ireland; nay perhaps, leaving royal Murdog disposed to be + relieved of his procession with the pair of shoes. + </p> + <p> + Magnus Barefoot left three sons, all kings at once, reigning peaceably + together. But to us, at present, the only noteworthy one of them was + Sigurd; who, finding nothing special to do at home, left his brothers to + manage for him, and went off on a far Voyage, which has rendered him + distinguishable in the crowd. Voyage through the Straits of Gibraltar, on + to Jerusalem, thence to Constantinople; and so home through Russia, + shining with such renown as filled all Norway for the time being. A King + called Sigurd Jorsalafarer (Jerusalemer) or Sigurd the Crusader + henceforth. His voyage had been only partially of the Viking type; in + general it was of the Royal-Progress kind rather; Vikingism only + intervening in cases of incivility or the like. His reception in the + Courts of Portugal, Spain, Sicily, Italy, had been honorable and + sumptuous. The King of Jerusalem broke out into utmost splendor and + effusion at sight of such a pilgrim; and Constantinople did its highest + honors to such a Prince of Vaeringers. And the truth is, Sigurd + intrinsically was a wise, able, and prudent man; who, surviving both his + brothers, reigned a good while alone in a solid and successful way. He + shows features of an original, independent-thinking man; something of + ruggedly strong, sincere, and honest, with peculiarities that are amiable + and even pathetic in the character and temperament of him; as certainly, + the course of life he took was of his own choosing, and peculiar enough. + He happens furthermore to be, what he least of all could have chosen or + expected, the last of the Haarfagr Genealogy that had any success, or much + deserved any, in this world. The last of the Haarfagrs, or as good as the + last! So that, singular to say, it is in reality, for one thing only that + Sigurd, after all his crusadings and wonderful adventures, is memorable to + us here: the advent of an Irish gentleman called "Gylle Krist" + (Gil-christ, Servant of Christ), who,—not over welcome, I should + think, but (unconsciously) big with the above result,—appeared in + Norway, while King Sigurd was supreme. Let us explain a little. + </p> + <p> + This Gylle Krist, the unconsciously fatal individual, who "spoke Norse + imperfectly," declared himself to be the natural son of whilom Magnus + Barefoot; born to him there while engaged in that unfortunate "Conquest of + Ireland." "Here is my mother come with me," said Gilchrist, "who declares + my real baptismal name to have been Harald, given me by that great King; + and who will carry the red-hot ploughshares or do any reasonable ordeal in + testimony of these facts. I am King Sigurd's veritable half-brother: what + will King Sigurd think it fair to do with me?" Sigurd clearly seems to + have believed the man to be speaking truth; and indeed nobody to have + doubted but he was. Sigurd said, "Honorable sustenance shalt thou have + from me here. But, under pain of extirpation, swear that, neither in my + time, nor in that of my young son Magnus, wilt thou ever claim any share + in this Government." Gylle swore; and punctually kept his promise during + Sigurd's reign. But during Magnus's, he conspicuously broke it; and, in + result, through many reigns, and during three or four generations + afterwards, produced unspeakable contentions, massacrings, confusions in + the country he had adopted. There are reckoned, from the time of Sigurd's + death (A.D. 1130), about a hundred years of civil war: no king allowed to + distinguish himself by a solid reign of well-doing, or by any continuing + reign at all,—sometimes as many as four kings simultaneously + fighting;—and in Norway, from sire to son, nothing but sanguinary + anarchy, disaster and bewilderment; a Country sinking steadily as if + towards absolute ruin. Of all which frightful misery and discord Irish + Gylle, styled afterwards King Harald Gylle, was, by ill destiny and + otherwise, the visible origin: an illegitimate Irish Haarfagr who proved + to be his own destruction, and that of the Haarfagr kindred altogether! + </p> + <p> + Sigurd himself seems always to have rather favored Gylle, who was a + cheerful, shrewd, patient, witty, and effective fellow; and had at first + much quizzing to endure, from the younger kind, on account of his Irish + way of speaking Norse, and for other reasons. One evening, for example, + while the drink was going round, Gylle mentioned that the Irish had a + wonderful talent of swift running and that there were among them people + who could keep up with the swiftest horse. At which, especially from young + Magnus, there were peals of laughter; and a declaration from the latter + that Gylle and he would have it tried to-morrow morning! Gylle in vain + urged that he had not himself professed to be so swift a runner as to keep + up with the Prince's horses; but only that there were men in Ireland who + could. Magnus was positive; and, early next morning, Gylle had to be on + the ground; and the race, naturally under heavy bet, actually went off. + Gylle started parallel to Magnus's stirrup; ran like a very roe, and was + clearly ahead at the goal. "Unfair," said Magnus; "thou must have had hold + of my stirrup-leather, and helped thyself along; we must try it again." + Gylle ran behind the horse this second time; then at the end, sprang + forward; and again was fairly in ahead. "Thou must have held by the tail," + said Magnus; "not by fair running was this possible; we must try a third + time!" Gylle started ahead of Magnus and his horse, this third time; kept + ahead with increasing distance, Magnus galloping his very best; and + reached the goal more palpably foremost than ever. So that Magnus had to + pay his bet, and other damage and humiliation. And got from his father, + who heard of it soon afterwards, scoffing rebuke as a silly fellow, who + did not know the worth of men, but only the clothes and rank of them, and + well deserved what he had got from Gylle. All the time King Sigurd lived, + Gylle seems to have had good recognition and protection from that famous + man; and, indeed, to have gained favor all round, by his quiet social + demeanor and the qualities he showed. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII. MAGNUS THE BLIND, HARALD GYLLE, AND MUTUAL EXTINCTION OF THE + HAARFAGRS. + </h2> + <p> + On Sigurd the Crusader's death, Magnus naturally came to the throne; Gylle + keeping silence and a cheerful face for the time. But it was not long till + claim arose on Gylle's part, till war and fight arose between Magnus and + him, till the skilful, popular, ever-active and shifty Gylle had entirely + beaten Magnus; put out his eyes, mutilated the poor body of him in a + horrid and unnamable manner, and shut him up in a convent as out of the + game henceforth. There in his dark misery Magnus lived now as a monk; + called "Magnus the Blind" by those Norse populations; King Harald Gylle + reigning victoriously in his stead. But this also was only for a time. + There arose avenging kinsfolk of Magnus, who had no Irish accent in their + Norse, and were themselves eager enough to bear rule in their native + country. By one of these,—a terribly stronghanded, fighting, + violent, and regardless fellow, who also was a Bastard of Magnus + Barefoot's, and had been made a Priest, but liked it unbearably ill, and + had broken loose from it into the wildest courses at home and abroad; so + that his current name got to be "Slembi-diakn," Slim or Ill Deacon, under + which he is much noised of in Snorro and the Sagas: by this Slim-Deacon, + Gylle was put an end to (murdered by night, drunk in his sleep); and poor + blind Magnus was brought out, and again set to act as King, or King's + Cloak, in hopes Gylle's posterity would never rise to victory more. But + Gylle's posterity did, to victory and also to defeat, and were the death + of Magnus and of Slim-Deacon too, in a frightful way; and all got their + own death by and by in a ditto. In brief, these two kindreds (reckoned to + be authentic enough Haarfagr people, both kinds of them) proved now to + have become a veritable crop of dragon's teeth; who mutually fought, + plotted, struggled, as if it had been their life's business; never ended + fighting and seldom long intermitted it, till they had exterminated one + another, and did at last all rest in death. One of these later Gylle + temporary Kings I remember by the name of Harald Herdebred, Harald of the + Broad Shoulders. The very last of them I think was Harald Mund (Harald of + the <i>Wry-Mouth</i>), who gave rise to two Impostors, pretending to be + Sons of his, a good while after the poor Wry-Mouth itself and all its + troublesome belongings were quietly underground. What Norway suffered + during that sad century may be imagined. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV. SVERRIR AND DESCENDANTS, TO HAKON THE OLD. + </h2> + <p> + The end of it was, or rather the first abatement, and <i>beginnings</i> of + the end, That, when all this had gone on ever worsening for some forty + years or so, one Sverrir (A.D. 1177), at the head of an armed mob of poor + people called <i>Birkebeins</i>, came upon the scene. A strange enough + figure in History, this Sverrir and his Birkebeins! At first a mere + mockery and dismal laughing-stock to the enlightened Norway public. + Nevertheless by unheard-of fighting, hungering, exertion, and endurance, + Sverrir, after ten years of such a death-wrestle against men and things, + got himself accepted as King; and by wonderful expenditure of ingenuity, + common cunning, unctuous Parliamentary Eloquence or almost Popular + Preaching, and (it must be owned) general human faculty and valor (or + value) in the over-clouded and distorted state, did victoriously continue + such. And founded a new Dynasty in Norway, which ended only with Norway's + separate existence, after near three hundred years. + </p> + <p> + This Sverrir called himself a Son of Harald Wry-Mouth; but was in reality + the son of a poor Comb-maker in some little town of Norway; nothing heard + of Sonship to Wry-Mouth till after good success otherwise. His Birkebeins + (that is to say, <i>Birchlegs;</i> the poor rebellious wretches having + taken to the woods; and been obliged, besides their intolerable scarcity + of food, to thatch their bodies from the cold with whatever covering could + be got, and their legs especially with birch bark; sad species of fleecy + hosiery; whence their nickname),—his Birkebeins I guess always to + have been a kind of Norse <i>Jacquerie</i>: desperate rising of thralls + and indigent people, driven mad by their unendurable sufferings and + famishings,—theirs the <i>deepest</i> stratum of misery, and the + densest and heaviest, in this the general misery of Norway, which had + lasted towards the third generation and looked as if it would last + forever:—whereupon they had risen proclaiming, in this furious dumb + manner, unintelligible except to Heaven, that the same could not, nor + would not, be endured any longer! And, by their Sverrir, strange to say, + they did attain a kind of permanent success; and, from being a dismal + laughing-stock in Norway, came to be important, and for a time + all-important there. Their opposition nicknames, "<i>Baglers</i> (from + Bagall, <i>baculus</i>, bishop's staff; Bishop Nicholas being chief + Leader)," "<i>Gold-legs</i>," and the like obscure terms (for there was + still a considerable course of counter-fighting ahead, and especially of + counter-nicknaming), I take to have meant in Norse prefigurement seven + centuries ago, "bloated Aristocracy," "tyrannous-<i>Bourgeoisie</i>,"—till, + in the next century, these rents were closed again! + </p> + <p> + King Sverrir, not himself bred to comb-making, had, in his fifth year, + gone to an uncle, Bishop in the Faroe Islands; and got some considerable + education from him, with a view to Priesthood on the part of Sverrir. But, + not liking that career, Sverrir had fled and smuggled himself over to the + Birkebeins; who, noticing the learned tongue, and other miraculous + qualities of the man, proposed to make him Captain of them; and even + threatened to kill him if he would not accept,—which thus at the + sword's point, as Sverrir says, he was obliged to do. It was after this + that he thought of becoming son of Wry-Mouth and other higher things. + </p> + <p> + His Birkebeins and he had certainly a talent of campaigning which has + hardly ever been equalled. They fought like devils against any odds of + number; and before battle they have been known to march six days together + without food, except, perhaps, the inner barks of trees, and in such + clothing and shoeing as mere birch bark:—at one time, somewhere in + the Dovrefjeld, there was serious counsel held among them whether they + should not all, as one man, leap down into the frozen gulfs and + precipices, or at once massacre one another wholly, and so finish. Of + their conduct in battle, fiercer than that of <i>Baresarks</i>, where was + there ever seen the parallel? In truth they are a dim strange object to + one, in that black time; wondrously bringing light into it withal; and + proved to be, under such unexpected circumstances, the beginning of better + days! + </p> + <p> + Of Sverrir's public speeches there still exist authentic specimens; + wonderful indeed, and much characteristic of such a Sverrir. A comb-maker + King, evidently meaning several good and solid things; and effecting them + too, athwart such an element of Norwegian chaos-come-again. His + descendants and successors were a comparatively respectable kin. The last + and greatest of them I shall mention is Hakon VII., or Hakon the Old; + whose fame is still lively among us, from the Battle of Largs at least. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV. HAKON THE OLD AT LARGS. + </h2> + <p> + In the Norse annals our famous Battle of Largs makes small figure, or + almost none at all among Hakon's battles and feats. They do say indeed, + these Norse annalists, that the King of Scotland, Alexander III. (who had + such a fate among the crags about Kinghorn in time coming), was very + anxious to purchase from King Hakon his sovereignty of the Western Isles, + but that Hakon pointedly refused; and at length, being again importuned + and bothered on the business, decided on giving a refusal that could not + be mistaken. Decided, namely, to go with a big expedition, and look + thoroughly into that wing of his Dominions; where no doubt much has fallen + awry since Magnus Barefoot's grand visit thither, and seems to be inviting + the cupidity of bad neighbors! "All this we will put right again," thinks + Hakon, "and gird it up into a safe and defensive posture." Hakon sailed + accordingly, with a strong fleet; adjusting and rectifying among his + Hebrides as he went long, and landing withal on the Scotch coast to + plunder and punish as he thought fit. The Scots say he had claimed of them + Arran, Bute, and the Two Cumbraes ("given my ancestors by Donald Bain," + said Hakon, to the amazement of the Scots) "as part of the Sudoer" + (Southern Isles):—so far from selling that fine kingdom!—and + that it was after taking both Arran and Bute that he made his descent at + Largs. + </p> + <p> + Of Largs there is no mention whatever in Norse books. But beyond any + doubt, such is the other evidence, Hakon did land there; land and fight, + not conquering, probably rather beaten; and very certainly "retiring to + his ships," as in either case he behooved to do! It is further certain he + was dreadfully maltreated by the weather on those wild coasts; and + altogether credible, as the Scotch records bear, that he was so at Largs + very specially. The Norse Records or Sagas say merely, he lost many of his + ships by the tempests, and many of his men by land fighting in various + parts,—tacitly including Largs, no doubt, which was the last of + these misfortunes to him. "In the battle here he lost 15,000 men, say the + Scots, we 5,000"! Divide these numbers by ten, and the excellently brief + and lucid Scottish summary by Buchanan may be taken as the approximately + true and exact. <a href="#linknote-19" name="linknoteref-19" + id="linknoteref-19"><small>19</small></a> Date of the battle is A.D. 1263. + </p> + <p> + To this day, on a little plain to the south of the village, now town, of + Largs, in Ayrshire, there are seen stone cairns and monumental heaps, and, + until within a century ago, one huge, solitary, upright stone; still + mutely testifying to a battle there,—altogether clearly, to this + battle of King Hakon's; who by the Norse records, too, was in these + neighborhoods at that same date, and evidently in an aggressive, high kind + of humor. For "while his ships and army were doubling the Mull of Cantire, + he had his own boat set on wheels, and therein, splendidly enough, had + himself drawn across the Promontory at a flatter part," no doubt with + horns sounding, banners waving. "All to the left of me is mine and + Norway's," exclaimed Hakon in his triumphant boat progress, which such + disasters soon followed. + </p> + <p> + Hakon gathered his wrecks together, and sorrowfully made for Orkney. It is + possible enough, as our Guide Books now say, he may have gone by Iona, + Mull, and the narrow seas inside of Skye; and that the <i>Kyle-Akin</i>, + favorably known to sea-bathers in that region, may actually mean the Kyle + (narrow strait) of Hakon, where Hakon may have dropped anchor, and rested + for a little while in smooth water and beautiful environment, safe from + equinoctial storms. But poor Hakon's heart was now broken. He went to + Orkney; died there in the winter; never beholding Norway more. + </p> + <p> + He it was who got Iceland, which had been a Republic for four centuries, + united to his kingdom of Norway: a long and intricate operation,—much + presided over by our Snorro Sturleson, so often quoted here, who indeed + lost his life (by assassination from his sons-in-law) and out of great + wealth sank at once into poverty of zero,—one midnight in his own + cellar, in the course of that bad business. Hakon was a great Politician + in his time; and succeeded in many things before he lost Largs. Snorro's + death by murder had happened about twenty years before Hakon's by broken + heart. He is called Hakon the Old, though one finds his age was but + fifty-nine, probably a longish life for a Norway King. Snorro's narrative + ceases when Snorro himself was born; that is to say, at the threshold of + King Sverrir; of whose exploits and doubtful birth it is guessed by some + that Snorro willingly forbore to speak in the hearing of such a Hakon. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI. EPILOGUE. + </h2> + <p> + Haarfagr's kindred lasted some three centuries in Norway; Sverrir's lasted + into its third century there; how long after this, among the neighboring + kinships, I did not inquire. For, by regal affinities, consanguinities, + and unexpected chances and changes, the three Scandinavian kingdoms fell + all peaceably together under Queen Margaret, of the Calmar Union (A.D. + 1397); and Norway, incorporated now with Denmark, needed no more kings. + </p> + <p> + The History of these Haarfagrs has awakened in me many thoughts: Of + Despotism and Democracy, arbitrary government by one and self-government + (which means no government, or anarchy) by all; of Dictatorship with many + faults, and Universal Suffrage with little possibility of any virtue. For + the contrast between Olaf Tryggveson, and a Universal-Suffrage Parliament + or an "Imperial" Copper Captain has, in these nine centuries, grown to be + very great. And the eternal Providence that guides all this, and produces + alike these entities with their epochs, is not its course still through + the great deep? Does not it still speak to us, if we have ears? Here, + clothed in stormy enough passions and instincts, unconscious of any aim + but their own satisfaction, is the blessed beginning of Human Order, + Regulation, and real Government; there, clothed in a highly different, but + again suitable garniture of passions, instincts, and equally unconscious + as to real aim, is the accursed-looking ending (temporary ending) of + Order, Regulation, and Government;—very dismal to the sane onlooker + for the time being; not dismal to him otherwise, his hope, too, being + steadfast! But here, at any rate, in this poor Norse theatre, one looks + with interest on the first transformation, so mysterious and abstruse, of + human Chaos into something of articulate Cosmos; witnesses the wild and + strange birth-pangs of Human Society, and reflects that without something + similar (little as men expect such now), no Cosmos of human society ever + was got into existence, nor can ever again be. + </p> + <p> + The violences, fightings, crimes—ah yes, these seldom fail, and they + are very lamentable. But always, too, among those old populations, there + was one saving element; the now want of which, especially the unlamented + want, transcends all lamentation. Here is one of those strange, piercing, + winged-words of Ruskin, which has in it a terrible truth for us in these + epochs now come:— + </p> + <p> + "My friends, the follies of modern Liberalism, many and great though they + be, are practically summed in this denial or neglect of the quality and + intrinsic value of things. Its rectangular beatitudes, and spherical + benevolences,—theology of universal indulgence, and jurisprudence + which will hang no rogues, mean, one and all of them, in the root, + incapacity of discerning, or refusal to discern, worth and unworth in + anything, and least of all in man; whereas Nature and Heaven command you, + at your peril, to discern worth from unworth in everything, and most of + all in man. Your main problem is that ancient and trite one, 'Who is best + man?' and the Fates forgive much,—forgive the wildest, fiercest, + cruelest experiments,—if fairly made for the determination of that. + </p> + <p> + "Theft and blood-guiltiness are not pleasing in their sight; yet the + favoring powers of the spiritual and material world will confirm to you + your stolen goods, and their noblest voices applaud the lifting of Your + spear, and rehearse the sculpture of your shield, if only your robbing and + slaying have been in fair arbitrament of that question, 'Who is best man?' + But if you refuse such inquiry, and maintain every man for his neighbor's + match,—if you give vote to the simple and liberty to the vile, the + powers of those spiritual and material worlds in due time present you + inevitably with the same problem, soluble now only wrong side upwards; and + your robbing and slaying must be done then to find out, 'Who is worst + man?' Which, in so wide an order of merit, is, indeed, not easy; but a + complete Tammany Ring, and lowest circle in the Inferno of Worst, you are + sure to find, and to be governed by." <a href="#linknote-20" + name="linknoteref-20" id="linknoteref-20"><small>20</small></a> + </p> + <p> + All readers will admit that there was something naturally royal in these + Haarfagr Kings. A wildly great kind of kindred; counts in it two Heroes of + a high, or almost highest, type: the first two Olafs, Tryggveson and the + Saint. And the view of them, withal, as we chance to have it, I have often + thought, how essentially Homeric it was:—indeed what is "Homer" + himself but the <i>Rhapsody</i> of five centuries of Greek Skalds and + wandering Ballad-singers, done (i.e. "stitched together") by somebody more + musical than Snorro was? Olaf Tryggveson and Olaf Saint please me quite as + well in their prosaic form; offering me the truth of them as if seen in + their real lineaments by some marvellous opening (through the art of + Snorro) across the black strata of the ages. Two high, almost among the + highest sons of Nature, seen as they veritably were; fairly comparable or + superior to god-like Achilleus, goddess-wounding Diomedes, much more to + the two Atreidai, Regulators of the Peoples. + </p> + <p> + I have also thought often what a Book might be made of Snorro, did there + but arise a man furnished with due literary insight, and indefatigable + diligence; who, faithfully acquainting himself with the topography, the + monumental relies and illustrative actualities of Norway, carefully + scanning the best testimonies as to place and time which that country can + still give him, carefully the best collateral records and chronologies of + other countries, and who, himself possessing the highest faculty of a + Poet, could, abridging, arranging, elucidating, reduce Snorro to a + polished Cosmic state, unweariedly purging away his much chaotic matter! A + modern "highest kind of Poet," capable of unlimited slavish labor withal;—who, + I fear, is not soon to be expected in this world, or likely to find his + task in the <i>Heimskringla</i> if he did appear here. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_FOOT" id="link2H_FOOT"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FOOTNOTES: + </h2> + <p> + <a name="linknote-1" id="linknote-1"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 1 (<a href="#linknoteref-1">return</a>)<br /> [ J. G. Dahlmann, <i>Geschichte + von Dannemark</i>, 3 vols. 8vo. Hamburg, 1840-1843.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-2" id="linknote-2"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 2 (<a href="#linknoteref-2">return</a>)<br /> [ "Settlement," dated 912, by + Munch, Henault, &c. The Saxon Chronicle says (anno 876): "In this year + Rolf overran Normandy with his army, and he reigned fifty winters."] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-3" id="linknote-3"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 3 (<a href="#linknoteref-3">return</a>)<br /> [ Dahlmann, ii. 87.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-4" id="linknote-4"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 4 (<a href="#linknoteref-4">return</a>)<br /> [ Dahlmann, ii. 93.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-5" id="linknote-5"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 5 (<a href="#linknoteref-5">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Laing's Snorro</i>, i. + 344.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-6" id="linknote-6"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 6 (<a href="#linknoteref-6">return</a>)<br /> [ G. Buchanani <i>Opera Omnia</i>, + i. 103, 104 (Curante Ruddimano, Edinburgi, 1715).] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-7" id="linknote-7"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 7 (<a href="#linknoteref-7">return</a>)<br /> [ His Long Serpent, judged by + some to be of the size of a frigate of forty-five guns (Laing).] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-8" id="linknote-8"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 8 (<a href="#linknoteref-8">return</a>)<br /> [ This sermon was printed by + Hearne; and is given also by Langebek in his excellent Collection, <i>Rerum + Danicarum Scriptores Medii AEri.</i> Hafniae. 1772-1834.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-9" id="linknote-9"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 9 (<a href="#linknoteref-9">return</a>)<br /> [ Kennet, i. 67; Rapin, i. + 119, 121 (from the <i>Saxon Chronicle</i> both).] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-10" id="linknote-10"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 10 (<a href="#linknoteref-10">return</a>)<br /> [ Knut born A.D. 988 + according to Munch's calculation (ii. 126).] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-11" id="linknote-11"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 11 (<a href="#linknoteref-11">return</a>)<br /> [ Snorro, Laing's + Translation, ii. p. 31 et seq., will minutely specify.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-12" id="linknote-12"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 12 (<a href="#linknoteref-12">return</a>)<br /> [ Snorro, ii. pp. 24, 25.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-13" id="linknote-13"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 13 (<a href="#linknoteref-13">return</a>)<br /> [ Snorro, ii. pp. 156-161.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-14" id="linknote-14"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 14 (<a href="#linknoteref-14">return</a>)<br /> [ Snorro, ii. pp. 252, + 253.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-15" id="linknote-15"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 15 (<a href="#linknoteref-15">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Saxon Chronicle</i> + says expressly, under A.D. 1030: "In this year King Olaf was slain in + Norway by his own people, and was afterwards sainted."] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-16" id="linknote-16"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 16 (<a href="#linknoteref-16">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Saxon Chronicle</i> + says: "1035. In this year died King Cnut.... He departed at Shaftesbury, + November 12, and they conveyed him thence to Winchester, and there buried + him."] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-17" id="linknote-17"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 17 (<a href="#linknoteref-17">return</a>)<br /> [ Munch gives the date 1038 + (ii. 840), Adam of Bremen 1040.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-18" id="linknote-18"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 18 (<a href="#linknoteref-18">return</a>)<br /> [ Camden, Rapin, &c. + quote.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-19" id="linknote-19"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 19 (<a href="#linknoteref-19">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Buchanani Hist.</i> i. + 130.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-20" id="linknote-20"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 20 (<a href="#linknoteref-20">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Fors Clavigera</i>, + Letter XIV. Pp. 8-10.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Early Kings of Norway, by Thomas Carlyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY *** + +***** This file should be named 1932-h.htm or 1932-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/1932/ + +Produced by Ron Burkey, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Early Kings of Norway + +Author: Thomas Carlyle + +Posting Date: October 10, 2008 [EBook #1932] +Release Date: October, 1999 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY *** + + + + +Produced by Ron Burkey + + + + + +EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY. + +by Thomas Carlyle + + +Transcriber's Note: The text has been taken from volume 19 of the +"Sterling Edition" of Carlyle's complete works. All footnotes have been +collected as endnotes. The pound (currency) symbol has been replaced by +the word "pounds". + + + +The Icelanders, in their long winter, had a great habit of writing; and +were, and still are, excellent in penmanship, says Dahlmann. It is to +this fact, that any little history there is of the Norse Kings and their +old tragedies, crimes and heroisms, is almost all due. The Icelanders, +it seems, not only made beautiful letters on their paper or parchment, +but were laudably observant and desirous of accuracy; and have left +us such a collection of narratives (_Sagas_, literally "Says") as, +for quantity and quality, is unexampled among rude nations. Snorro +Sturleson's History of the Norse Kings is built out of these old +Sagas; and has in it a great deal of poetic fire, not a little faithful +sagacity applied in sifting and adjusting these old Sagas; and, in a +word, deserves, were it once well edited, furnished with accurate +maps, chronological summaries, &c., to be reckoned among the great +history-books of the world. It is from these sources, greatly aided by +accurate, learned and unwearied Dahlmann, [1] the German Professor, that +the following rough notes of the early Norway Kings are hastily thrown +together. In Histories of England (Rapin's excepted) next to nothing has +been shown of the many and strong threads of connection between English +affairs and Norse. + + + +CHAPTER I. HARALD HAARFAGR. + +Till about the Year of Grace 860 there were no kings in Norway, nothing +but numerous jarls,--essentially kinglets, each presiding over a kind of +republican or parliamentary little territory; generally striving each +to be on some terms of human neighborhood with those about him, but,--in +spite of "_Fylke Things_" (Folk Things, little parish parliaments), +and small combinations of these, which had gradually formed +themselves,--often reduced to the unhappy state of quarrel with them. +Harald Haarfagr was the first to put an end to this state of things, and +become memorable and profitable to his country by uniting it under +one head and making a kingdom of it; which it has continued to be ever +since. His father, Halfdan the Black, had already begun this rough but +salutary process,--inspired by the cupidities and instincts, by the +faculties and opportunities, which the good genius of this world, +beneficent often enough under savage forms, and diligent at all times to +diminish anarchy as the world's worst savagery, usually appoints in +such cases,--conquest, hard fighting, followed by wise guidance of the +conquered;--but it was Harald the Fairhaired, his son, who conspicuously +carried it on and completed it. Harald's birth-year, death-year, and +chronology in general, are known only by inference and computation; but, +by the latest reckoning, he died about the year 933 of our era, a man of +eighty-three. + +The business of conquest lasted Harald about twelve years (A.D. +860-872?), in which he subdued also the vikings of the out-islands, +Orkneys, Shetlands, Hebrides, and Man. Sixty more years were given him +to consolidate and regulate what he had conquered, which he did with +great judgment, industry and success. His reign altogether is counted to +have been of over seventy years. + +The beginning of his great adventure was of a romantic +character.--youthful love for the beautiful Gyda, a then glorious and +famous young lady of those regions, whom the young Harald aspired to +marry. Gyda answered his embassy and prayer in a distant, lofty manner: +"Her it would not beseem to wed any Jarl or poor creature of that kind; +let him do as Gorm of Denmark, Eric of Sweden, Egbert of England, +and others had done,--subdue into peace and regulation the confused, +contentious bits of jarls round him, and become a king; then, perhaps, +she might think of his proposal: till then, not." Harald was struck with +this proud answer, which rendered Gyda tenfold more desirable to him. +He vowed to let his hair grow, never to cut or even to comb it till this +feat were done, and the peerless Gyda his own. He proceeded accordingly +to conquer, in fierce battle, a Jarl or two every year, and, at the end +of twelve years, had his unkempt (and almost unimaginable) head of hair +clipt off,--Jarl Rognwald (_Reginald_) of More, the most valued and +valuable of all his subject-jarls, being promoted to this sublime barber +function;--after which King Harald, with head thoroughly cleaned, and +hair grown, or growing again to the luxuriant beauty that had no equal +in his day, brought home his Gyda, and made her the brightest queen +in all the north. He had after her, in succession, or perhaps even +simultaneously in some cases, at least six other wives; and by Gyda +herself one daughter and four sons. + +Harald was not to be considered a strict-living man, and he had a great +deal of trouble, as we shall see, with the tumultuous ambition of his +sons; but he managed his government, aided by Jarl Rognwald and others, +in a large, quietly potent, and successful manner; and it lasted in this +royal form till his death, after sixty years of it. + +These were the times of Norse colonization; proud Norsemen flying into +other lands, to freer scenes,--to Iceland, to the Faroe Islands, which +were hitherto quite vacant (tenanted only by some mournful hermit, +Irish Christian _fakir_, or so); still more copiously to the Orkney and +Shetland Isles, the Hebrides and other countries where Norse squatters +and settlers already were. Settlement of Iceland, we say; settlement +of the Faroe Islands, and, by far the notablest of all, settlement of +Normandy by Rolf the Ganger (A.D. 876?). [2] + +Rolf, son of Rognwald, [3] was lord of three little islets far north, +near the Fjord of Folden, called the Three Vigten Islands; but his +chief means of living was that of sea robbery; which, or at least Rolf's +conduct in which, Harald did not approve of. In the Court of Harald, +sea-robbery was strictly forbidden as between Harald's own countries, +but as against foreign countries it continued to be the one profession +for a gentleman; thus, I read, Harald's own chief son, King Eric that +afterwards was, had been at sea in such employments ever since his +twelfth year. Rolf's crime, however, was that in coming home from one of +these expeditions, his crew having fallen short of victual, Rolf landed +with them on the shore of Norway, and in his strait, drove in some +cattle there (a crime by law) and proceeded to kill and eat; which, in a +little while, he heard that King Harald was on foot to inquire into and +punish; whereupon Rolf the Ganger speedily got into his ships again, got +to the coast of France with his sea-robbers, got infestment by the poor +King of France in the fruitful, shaggy desert which is since called +Normandy, land of the Northmen; and there, gradually felling the +forests, banking the rivers, tilling the fields, became, during the next +two centuries, Wilhelmus Conquaestor, the man famous to England, and +momentous at this day, not to England alone, but to all speakers of the +English tongue, now spread from side to side of the world in a wonderful +degree. Tancred of Hauteville and his Italian Normans, though important +too, in Italy, are not worth naming in comparison. This is a feracious +earth, and the grain of mustard-seed will grow to miraculous extent in +some cases. + +Harald's chief helper, counsellor, and lieutenant was the +above-mentioned Jarl Rognwald of More, who had the honor to cut Harald's +dreadful head of hair. This Rognwald was father of Turf-Einar, who first +invented peat in the Orkneys, finding the wood all gone there; and +is remembered to this day. Einar, being come to these islands by King +Harald's permission, to see what he could do in them,--islands +inhabited by what miscellany of Picts, Scots, Norse squatters we do not +know,--found the indispensable fuel all wasted. Turf-Einar too may be +regarded as a benefactor to his kind. He was, it appears, a bastard; +and got no coddling from his father, who disliked him, partly perhaps, +because "he was ugly and blind of an eye,"--got no flattering even on +his conquest of the Orkneys and invention of peat. Here is the parting +speech his father made to him on fitting him out with a "long-ship" +(ship of war, "dragon-ship," ancient seventy-four), and sending him +forth to make a living for himself in the world: "It were best if thou +never camest back, for I have small hope that thy people will have honor +by thee; thy mother's kin throughout is slavish." + +Harald Haarfagr had a good many sons and daughters; the daughters he +married mostly to jarls of due merit who were loyal to him; with the +sons, as remarked above, he had a great deal of trouble. They were +ambitious, stirring fellows, and grudged at their finding so little +promotion from a father so kind to his jarls; sea-robbery by no means +an adequate career for the sons of a great king, two of them, Halfdan +Haaleg (Long-leg), and Gudrod Ljome (Gleam), jealous of the favors won +by the great Jarl Rognwald, surrounded him in his house one night, and +burnt him and sixty men to death there. That was the end of Rognwald, +the invaluable jarl, always true to Haarfagr; and distinguished in world +history by producing Rolf the Ganger, author of the Norman Conquest of +England, and Turf-Einar, who invented peat in the Orkneys. Whether Rolf +had left Norway at this time there is no chronology to tell me. As to +Rolf's surname, "Ganger," there are various hypotheses; the likeliest, +perhaps, that Rolf was so weighty a man no horse (small Norwegian +horses, big ponies rather) could carry him, and that he usually walked, +having a mighty stride withal, and great velocity on foot. + +One of these murderers of Jarl Rognwald quietly set himself in +Rognwald's place, the other making for Orkney to serve Turf-Einar in +like fashion. Turf-Einar, taken by surprise, fled to the mainland; but +returned, days or perhaps weeks after, ready for battle, fought with +Halfdan, put his party to flight, and at next morning's light searched +the island and slew all the men he found. As to Halfdan Long-leg +himself, in fierce memory of his own murdered father, Turf-Einar "cut an +eagle on his back," that is to say, hewed the ribs from each side of the +spine and turned them out like the wings of a spread-eagle: a mode of +Norse vengeance fashionable at that time in extremely aggravated cases! + +Harald Haarfagr, in the mean time, had descended upon the Rognwald +scene, not in mild mood towards the new jarl there; indignantly +dismissed said jarl, and appointed a brother of Rognwald (brother, notes +Dahlmann), though Rognwald had left other sons. Which done, Haarfagr +sailed with all speed to the Orkneys, there to avenge that cutting of an +eagle on the human back on Turf-Einar's part. Turf-Einar did not resist; +submissively met the angry Haarfagr, said he left it all, what had been +done, what provocation there had been, to Haarfagr's own equity and +greatness of mind. Magnanimous Haarfagr inflicted a fine of sixty marks +in gold, which was paid in ready money by Turf-Einar, and so the matter +ended. + + + +CHAPTER II. ERIC BLOOD-AXE AND BROTHERS. + +In such violent courses Haarfagr's sons, I know not how many of them, +had come to an untimely end; only Eric, the accomplished sea-rover, and +three others remained to him. Among these four sons, rather impatient +for property and authority of their own, King Harald, in his old days, +tried to part his kingdom in some eligible and equitable way, and retire +from the constant press of business, now becoming burdensome to him. To +each of them he gave a kind of kingdom; Eric, his eldest son, to be head +king, and the others to be feudatory under him, and pay a certain yearly +contribution; an arrangement which did not answer well at all. Head-King +Eric insisted on his tribute; quarrels arose as to the payment, +considerable fighting and disturbance, bringing fierce destruction from +King Eric upon many valiant but too stubborn Norse spirits, and among +the rest upon all his three brothers, which got him from the Norse +populations the surname of _Blod-axe_, "Eric Blood-axe," his title in +history. One of his brothers he had killed in battle before his old +father's life ended; this brother was Bjorn, a peaceable, improving, +trading economic Under-king, whom the others mockingly called "Bjorn +the Chapman." The great-grandson of this Bjorn became extremely +distinguished by and by as _Saint_ Olaf. Head-King Eric seems to have +had a violent wife, too. She was thought to have poisoned one of her +other brothers-in-law. Eric Blood-axe had by no means a gentle life +of it in this world, trained to sea-robbery on the coasts of England, +Scotland, Ireland and France, since his twelfth year. + +Old King Fairhair, at the age of seventy, had another son, to whom was +given the name of Hakon. His mother was a slave in Fairhair's house; +slave by ill-luck of war, though nobly enough born. A strange adventure +connects this Hakon with England and King Athelstan, who was then +entering upon his great career there. Short while after this Hakon came +into the world, there entered Fairhair's palace, one evening as Fairhair +sat Feasting, an English ambassador or messenger, bearing in his hand, +as gift from King Athelstan, a magnificent sword, with gold hilt and +other fine trimmings, to the great Harald, King of Norway. Harald +took the sword, drew it, or was half drawing it, admiringly from the +scabbard, when the English excellency broke into a scornful laugh, "Ha, +ha; thou art now the feudatory of my English king; thou hast accepted +the sword from him, and art now his man!" (acceptance of a sword in that +manner being the symbol of investiture in those days.) Harald looked +a trifle flurried, it is probable; but held in his wrath, and did +no damage to the tricksy Englishman. He kept the matter in his mind, +however, and next summer little Hakon, having got his weaning done,--one +of the prettiest, healthiest little creatures,--Harald sent him off, +under charge of "Hauk" (Hawk so called), one of his Principal, warriors, +with order, "Take him to England," and instructions what to do with him +there. And accordingly, one evening, Hauk, with thirty men escorting, +strode into Athelstan's high dwelling (where situated, how built, +whether with logs like Harald's, I cannot specifically say), into +Athelstan's high presence, and silently set the wild little cherub upon +Athelstan's knee. "What is this?" asked Athelstan, looking at the little +cherub. "This is King Harald's son, whom a serving-maid bore to him, and +whom he now gives thee as foster-child!" Indignant Athelstan drew his +sword, as if to do the gift a mischief; but Hauk said, "Thou hast taken +him on thy knee [common symbol of adoption]; thou canst kill him if thou +wilt; but thou dost not thereby kill all the sons of Harald." Athelstan +straightway took milder thoughts; brought up, and carefully educated +Hakon; from whom, and this singular adventure, came, before very long, +the first tidings of Christianity into Norway. + +Harald Haarfagr, latterly withdrawn from all kinds of business, died +at the age of eighty-three--about A.D. 933, as is computed; nearly +contemporary in death with the first Danish King, Gorm the Old, who had +done a corresponding feat in reducing Denmark under one head. Remarkable +old men, these two first kings; and possessed of gifts for bringing +Chaos a little nearer to the form of Cosmos; possessed, in fact, of +loyalties to Cosmos, that is to say, of authentic virtues in the savage +state, such as have been needed in all societies at their incipience in +this world; a kind of "virtues" hugely in discredit at present, but not +unlikely to be needed again, to the astonishment of careless persons, +before all is done! + + + +CHAPTER III. HAKON THE GOOD. + +Eric Blood-axe, whose practical reign is counted to have begun about +A.D. 930, had by this time, or within a year or so of this time, pretty +much extinguished all his brother kings, and crushed down recalcitrant +spirits, in his violent way; but had naturally become entirely unpopular +in Norway, and filled it with silent discontent and even rage against +him. Hakon Fairhair's last son, the little foster-child of Athelstan in +England, who had been baptized and carefully educated, was come to +his fourteenth or fifteenth year at his father's death; a very +shining youth, as Athelstan saw with just pleasure. So soon as the few +preliminary preparations had been settled, Hakon, furnished with a ship +or two by Athelstan, suddenly appeared in Norway got acknowledged by +the Peasant Thing in Trondhjem "the news of which flew over Norway, like +fire through dried grass," says an old chronicler. So that Eric, with +his Queen Gunhild, and seven small children, had to run; no other shift +for Eric. They went to the Orkneys first of all, then to England, and +he "got Northumberland as earldom," I vaguely hear, from Athelstan. +But Eric soon died, and his queen, with her children, went back to +the Orkneys in search of refuge or help; to little purpose there or +elsewhere. From Orkney she went to Denmark, where Harald Blue-tooth took +her poor eldest boy as foster-child; but I fear did not very faithfully +keep that promise. The Danes had been robbing extensively during the +late tumults in Norway; this the Christian Hakon, now established there, +paid in kind, and the two countries were at war; so that Gunhild's +little boy was a welcome card in the hand of Blue-tooth. + +Hakon proved a brilliant and successful king; regulated many things, +public law among others (_Gule-Thing_ Law, _Frost-Thing_ Law: these +are little codes of his accepted by their respective Things, and had a +salutary effect in their time); with prompt dexterity he drove back the +Blue-tooth foster-son invasions every time they came; and on the whole +gained for himself the name of Hakon the Good. These Danish invasions +were a frequent source of trouble to him, but his greatest and continual +trouble was that of extirpating heathen idolatry from Norway, and +introducing the Christian Evangel in its stead. His transcendent anxiety +to achieve this salutary enterprise was all along his grand difficulty +and stumbling-block; the heathen opposition to it being also rooted +and great. Bishops and priests from England Hakon had, preaching and +baptizing what they could, but making only slow progress; much too slow +for Hakon's zeal. On the other hand, every Yule-tide, when the chief +heathen were assembled in his own palace on their grand sacrificial +festival, there was great pressure put upon Hakon, as to sprinkling +with horse-blood, drinking Yule-beer, eating horse-flesh, and the other +distressing rites; the whole of which Hakon abhorred, and with all +his steadfastness strove to reject utterly. Sigurd, Jarl of Lade +(Trondhjem), a liberal heathen, not openly a Christian, was ever a wise +counsellor and conciliator in such affairs; and proved of great help +to Hakon. Once, for example, there having risen at a Yule-feast, loud, +almost stormful demand that Hakon, like a true man and brother, should +drink Yule-beer with them in their sacred hightide, Sigurd persuaded him +to comply, for peace's sake, at least, in form. Hakon took the cup in +his left hand (excellent hot _beer_), and with his right cut the sign +of the cross above it, then drank a draught. "Yes; but what is this with +the king's right hand?" cried the company. "Don't you see?" answered +shifty Sigurd; "he makes the sign of Thor's hammer before drinking!" +which quenched the matter for the time. + +Horse-flesh, horse-broth, and the horse ingredient generally, Hakon all +but inexorably declined. By Sigurd's pressing exhortation and entreaty, +he did once take a kettle of horsebroth by the handle, with a good deal +of linen-quilt or towel interposed, and did open his lips for what of +steam could insinuate itself. At another time he consented to a particle +of horse-liver, intending privately, I guess, to keep it outside the +gullet, and smuggle it away without swallowing; but farther than this +not even Sigurd could persuade him to go. At the Things held in regard +to this matter Hakon's success was always incomplete; now and then it +was plain failure, and Hakon had to draw back till a better time. Here +is one specimen of the response he got on such an occasion; curious +specimen, withal, of antique parliamentary eloquence from an +Anti-Christian Thing. + +At a Thing of all the Fylkes of Trondhjem, Thing held at Froste in that +region, King Hakon, with all the eloquence he had, signified that it was +imperatively necessary that all Bonders and sub-Bonders should become +Christians, and believe in one God, Christ the Son of Mary; renouncing +entirely blood sacrifices and heathen idols; should keep every seventh +day holy, abstain from labor that day, and even from food, devoting the +day to fasting and sacred meditation. Whereupon, by way of universal +answer, arose a confused universal murmur of entire dissent. "Take away +from us our old belief, and also our time for labor!" murmured they in +angry astonishment; "how can even the land be got tilled in that way?" +"We cannot work if we don't get food," said the hand laborers and +slaves. "It lies in King Hakon's blood," remarked others; "his father +and all his kindred were apt to be stingy about food, though liberal +enough with money." At length, one Osbjorn (or Bear of the Asen or Gods, +what we now call Osborne), one Osbjorn of Medalhusin Gulathal, +stept forward, and said, in a distinct manner, "We Bonders (peasant +proprietors) thought, King Hakon, when thou heldest thy first Thing-day +here in Trondhjem, and we took thee for our king, and received our +hereditary lands from thee again that we had got heaven itself. But +now we know not how it is, whether we have won freedom, or whether thou +intendest anew to make us slaves, with this wonderful proposal that we +should renounce our faith, which our fathers before us have held, and +all our ancestors as well, first in the age of burial by burning, and +now in that of earth burial; and yet these departed ones were much our +superiors, and their faith, too, has brought prosperity to us. Thee, at +the same time, we have loved so much that we raised thee to manage all +the laws of the land, and speak as their voice to us all. And even now +it is our will and the vote of all Bonders to keep that paction which +thou gavest us here on the Thing at Froste, and to maintain thee as king +so long as any of us Bonders who are here upon the Thing has life left, +provided thou, king, wilt go fairly to work, and demand of us only such +things as are not impossible. But if thou wilt fix upon this thing with +so great obstinacy, and employ force and power, in that case, we Bonders +have taken the resolution, all of us, to fall away from thee, and to +take for ourselves another head, who will so behave that we may enjoy +in freedom the belief which is agreeable to us. Now shalt thou, king, +choose one of these two courses before the Thing disperse." "Whereupon," +adds the Chronicle, "all the Bonders raised a mighty shout, 'Yes, +we will have it so, as has been said.'" So that Jarl Sigurd had to +intervene, and King Hakon to choose for the moment the milder branch of +the alternative. [4] At other Things Hakon was more or less successful. +All his days, by such methods as there were, he kept pressing forward +with this great enterprise; and on the whole did thoroughly shake +asunder the old edifice of heathendom, and fairly introduce some +foundation for the new and better rule of faith and life among his +people. Sigurd, Jarl of Lade, his wise counsellor in all these matters, +is also a man worthy of notice. + +Hakon's arrangements against the continual invasions of Eric's sons, +with Danish Blue-tooth backing them, were manifold, and for a long time +successful. He appointed, after consultation and consent in the various +Things, so many war-ships, fully manned and ready, to be furnished +instantly on the King's demand by each province or fjord; watch-fires, +on fit places, from hill to hill all along the coast, were to be +carefully set up, carefully maintained in readiness, and kindled on any +alarm of war. By such methods Blue-tooth and Co.'s invasions were for a +long while triumphantly, and even rapidly, one and all of them, beaten +back, till at length they seemed as if intending to cease altogether, +and leave Hakon alone of them. But such was not their issue after all. +The sons of Eric had only abated under constant discouragement, had not +finally left off from what seemed their one great feasibility in +life. Gunhild, their mother, was still with them: a most contriving, +fierce-minded, irreconcilable woman, diligent and urgent on them, in +season and out of season; and as for King Blue-tooth, he was at all +times ready to help, with his good-will at least. + +That of the alarm-fires on Hakon's part was found troublesome by his +people; sometimes it was even hurtful and provoking (lighting your +alarm-fires and rousing the whole coast and population, when it was +nothing but some paltry viking with a couple of ships); in short, the +alarm-signal system fell into disuse, and good King Hakon himself, +in the first place, paid the penalty. It is counted, by the latest +commentators, to have been about A.D. 961, sixteenth or seventeenth year +of Hakon's pious, valiant, and worthy reign. Being at a feast one day, +with many guests, on the Island of Stord, sudden announcement came +to him that ships from the south were approaching in quantity, and +evidently ships of war. This was the biggest of all the Blue-tooth +foster-son invasions; and it was fatal to Hakon the Good that night. +Eyvind the Skaldaspillir (annihilator of all other Skalds), in his famed +_Hakon's Song_, gives account, and, still more pertinently, the always +practical Snorro. Danes in great multitude, six to one, as people +afterwards computed, springing swiftly to land, and ranking themselves; +Hakon, nevertheless, at once deciding not to take to his ships and +run, but to fight there, one to six; fighting, accordingly, in his +most splendid manner, and at last gloriously prevailing; routing and +scattering back to their ships and flight homeward these six-to-one +Danes. "During the struggle of the fight," says Snorro, "he was very +conspicuous among other men; and while the sun shone, his bright gilded +helmet glanced, and thereby many weapons were directed at him. One of +his henchmen, Eyvind Finnson (_i.e._ Skaldaspillir, the poet), took a +hat, and put it over the king's helmet. Now, among the hostile first +leaders were two uncles of the Ericsons, brothers of Gunhild, great +champions both; Skreya, the elder of them, on the disappearance of the +glittering helmet, shouted boastfully, 'Does the king of the Norsemen +hide himself, then, or has he fled? Where now is the golden helmet?' And +so saying, Skreya, and his brother Alf with him, pushed on like fools or +madmen. The king said, 'Come on in that way, and you shall find the king +of the Norsemen.'" And in a short space of time braggart Skreya did +come up, swinging his sword, and made a cut at the king; but Thoralf the +Strong, an Icelander, who fought at the king's side, dashed his shield +so hard against Skreya, that he tottered with the shock. On the same +instant the king takes his sword "quernbiter" (able to cut _querns_ +or millstones) with both hands, and hews Skreya through helm and head, +cleaving him down to the shoulders. Thoralf also slew Alf. That was what +they got by such over-hasty search for the king of the Norsemen. [5] + +Snorro considers the fall of these two champion uncles as the crisis of +the fight; the Danish force being much disheartened by such a sight, and +King Hakon now pressing on so hard that all men gave way before him, +the battle on the Ericson part became a whirl of recoil; and in a few +minutes more a torrent of mere flight and haste to get on board their +ships, and put to sea again; in which operation many of them were +drowned, says Snorro; survivors making instant sail for Denmark in that +sad condition. + +This seems to have been King Hakon's finest battle, and the most +conspicuous of his victories, due not a little to his own grand +qualities shown on the occasion. But, alas! it was his last also. He was +still zealously directing the chase of that mad Danish flight, or whirl +of recoil towards their ships, when an arrow, shot Most likely at a +venture, hit him under the left armpit; and this proved his death. + +He was helped into his ship, and made sail for Alrekstad, where his +chief residence in those parts was; but had to stop at a smaller place +of his (which had been his mother's, and where he himself was born)--a +place called Hella (the Flat Rock), still known as "Hakon's Hella," +faint from loss of blood, and crushed down as he had never before felt. +Having no son and only one daughter, he appointed these invasive sons +of Eric to be sent for, and if he died to become king; but to "spare his +friends and kindred." "If a longer life be granted me," he said, "I will +go out of this land to Christian men, and do penance for what I have +committed against God. But if I die in the country of the heathen, let +me have such burial as you yourselves think fittest." These are his +last recorded words. And in heathen fashion he was buried, and besung by +Eyvind and the Skalds, though himself a zealously Christian king. Hakon +the _Good_; so one still finds him worthy of being called. The sorrow on +Hakon's death, Snorro tells us, was so great and universal, "that he +was lamented both by friends and enemies; and they said that never again +would Norway see such a king." + + + +CHAPTER IV. HARALD GREYFELL AND BROTHERS. + +Eric's sons, four or five of them, with a Harald at the top, now at once +got Norway in hand, all of it but Trondhjem, as king and under-kings; +and made a severe time of it for those who had been, or seemed to be, +their enemies. Excellent Jarl Sigurd, always so useful to Hakon and his +country, was killed by them; and they came to repent that before very +long. The slain Sigurd left a son, Hakon, as Jarl, who became famous +in the northern world by and by. This Hakon, and him only, would the +Trondhjemers accept as sovereign. "Death to him, then," said the sons +of Eric, but only in secret, till they had got their hands free and +were ready; which was not yet for some years. Nay, Hakon, when actually +attacked, made good resistance, and threatened to cause trouble. Nor did +he by any means get his death from these sons of Eric at this time, or +till long afterwards at all, from one of their kin, as it chanced. On +the contrary, he fled to Denmark now, and by and by managed to come +back, to their cost. + +Among their other chief victims were two cousins of their own, Tryggve +and Gudrod, who had been honest under-kings to the late head-king, Hakon +the Good; but were now become suspect, and had to fight for their lives, +and lose them in a tragic manner. Tryggve had a son, whom we shall hear +of. Gudrod, son of worthy Bjorn the Chapman, was grandfather of Saint +Olaf, whom all men have heard of,--who has a church in Southwark even, +and another in Old Jewry, to this hour. In all these violences, Gunhild, +widow of the late king Eric, was understood to have a principal hand. +She had come back to Norway with her sons; and naturally passed for the +secret adviser and Maternal President in whatever of violence went on; +always reckoned a fell, vehement, relentless personage where her own +interests were concerned. Probably as things settled, her influence on +affairs grew less. At least one hopes so; and, in the Sagas, hears less +and less of her, and before long nothing. + +Harald, the head-king in this Eric fraternity, does not seem to have +been a bad man,--the contrary indeed; but his position was untowardly, +full of difficulty and contradictions. Whatever Harald could accomplish +for behoof of Christianity, or real benefit to Norway, in these cross +circumstances, he seems to have done in a modest and honest manner. He +got the name of _Greyfell_ from his people on a very trivial account, +but seemingly with perfect good humor on their part. Some Iceland trader +had brought a cargo of furs to Trondhjem (Lade) for sale; sale being +slacker than the Icelander wished, he presented a chosen specimen, +cloak, doublet, or whatever it was, to Harald; who wore it with +acceptance in public, and rapidly brought disposal of the Icelander's +stock, and the surname of _Greyfell_ to himself. His under-kings and he +were certainly not popular, though I almost think Greyfell himself, in +absence of his mother and the under-kings, might have been so. But here +they all were, and had wrought great trouble in Norway. "Too many of +them," said everybody; "too many of these courts and court people, +eating up any substance that there is." For the seasons withal, two or +three of them in succession, were bad for grass, much more for grain; +no _herring_ came either; very cleanness of teeth was like to come in +Eyvind Skaldaspillir's opinion. This scarcity became at last their share +of the great Famine Of A.D. 975, which desolated Western Europe (see the +poem in the Saxon Chronicle). And all this by Eyvind Skaldaspillir, and +the heathen Norse in general, was ascribed to anger of the heathen gods. +Discontent in Norway, and especially in Eyvind Skaldaspillir, seems to +have been very great. + +Whereupon exile Hakon, Jarl Sigurd's son, bestirs himself in Denmark, +backed by old King Blue-tooth, and begins invading and encroaching in a +miscellaneous way; especially intriguing and contriving plots all round +him. An unfathomably cunning kind of fellow, as well as an audacious and +strong-handed! Intriguing in Trondhjem, where he gets the under-king, +Greyfell's brother, fallen upon and murdered; intriguing with Gold +Harald, a distinguished cousin or nephew of King Blue-tooth's, who had +done fine viking work, and gained, such wealth that he got the +epithet of "Gold," and who now was infinitely desirous of a share in +Blue-tooth's kingdom as the proper finish to these sea-rovings. He even +ventured one day to make publicly a distinct proposal that way to King +Harald Blue-tooth himself; who flew into thunder and lightning at the +mere mention of it; so that none durst speak to him for several days +afterwards. Of both these Haralds Hakon was confidential friend; and +needed all his skill to walk without immediate annihilation between such +a pair of dragons, and work out Norway for himself withal. In the end +he found he must take solidly to Blue-tooth's side of the question; and +that they two must provide a recipe for Gold Harald and Norway both at +once. + +"It is as much as your life is worth to speak again of sharing this +Danish kingdom," said Hakon very privately to Gold Harald; "but could +not you, my golden friend, be content with Norway for a kingdom, if one +helped you to it?" + +"That could I well," answered Harald. + +"Then keep me those nine war-ships you have just been rigging for a new +viking cruise; have these in readiness when I lift my finger!" + +That was the recipe contrived for Gold Harald; recipe for King Greyfell +goes into the same vial, and is also ready. + +Hitherto the Hakon-Blue-tooth disturbances in Norway had amounted to but +little. King Greyfell, a very active and valiant man, has constantly, +without much difficulty, repelled these sporadic bits of troubles; but +Greyfell, all the same, would willingly have peace with dangerous old +Blue-tooth (ever anxious to get his clutches over Norway on any terms) +if peace with him could be had. Blue-tooth, too, professes every +willingness; inveigles Greyfell, he and Hakon do; to have a friendly +meeting on the Danish borders, and not only settle all these quarrels, +but generously settle Greyfell in certain fiefs which he claimed in +Denmark itself; and so swear everlasting friendship. Greyfell joyfully +complies, punctually appears at the appointed day in Lymfjord Sound, +the appointed place. Whereupon Hakon gives signal to Gold Harald, "To +Lymfjord with these nine ships of yours, swift!" Gold Harald flies to +Lymfjord with his ships, challenges King Harald Greyfell to land and +fight; which the undaunted Greyfell, though so far outnumbered, does; +and, fighting his very best, perishes there, he and almost all his +people. Which done, Jarl Hakon, who is in readiness, attacks Gold +Harald, the victorious but the wearied; easily beats Gold Harald, takes +him prisoner, and instantly hangs and ends him, to the huge joy of King +Blue-tooth and Hakon; who now make instant voyage to Norway; drive +all the brother under-kings into rapid flight to the Orkneys, to any +readiest shelter; and so, under the patronage of Blue-tooth, Hakon, with +the title of Jarl, becomes ruler of Norway. This foul treachery done on +the brave and honest Harald Greyfell is by some dated about A.D. 969, by +Munch, 965, by others, computing out of Snorro only, A.D. 975. For there +is always an uncertainty in these Icelandic dates (say rather, rare and +rude attempts at dating, without even an "A.D." or other fixed "year +one" to go upon in Iceland), though seldom, I think, so large a +discrepancy as here. + + + +CHAPTER V. HAKON JARL. + +Hakon Jarl, such the style he took, had engaged to pay some kind of +tribute to King Blue-tooth, "if he could;" but he never did pay any, +pleading always the necessity of his own affairs; with which excuse, +joined to Hakon's readiness in things less important, King Blue-tooth +managed to content himself, Hakon being always his good neighbor, at +least, and the two mutually dependent. In Norway, Hakon, without +the title of king, did in a strong-handed, steadfast, and at length, +successful way, the office of one; governed Norway (some count) for +above twenty years; and, both at home and abroad, had much consideration +through most of that time; specially amongst the heathen orthodox, for +Hakon Jarl himself was a zealous heathen, fixed in his mind against +these chimerical Christian innovations and unsalutary changes of creed, +and would have gladly trampled out all traces of what the last two kings +(for Greyfell, also, was an English Christian after his sort) had done +in this respect. But he wisely discerned that it was not possible, and +that, for peace's sake, he must not even attempt it, but must strike +preferably into "perfect toleration," and that of "every one getting to +heaven or even to the other goal in his own way." He himself, it is well +known, repaired many heathen temples (a great "church builder" in his +way!), manufactured many splendid idols, with much gilding and such +artistic ornament as there was,--in particular, one huge image of Thor, +not forgetting the hammer and appendages, and such a collar (supposed of +solid gold, which it was not quite, as we shall hear in time) round the +neck of him as was never seen in all the North. How he did his own +Yule festivals, with what magnificent solemnity, the horse-eatings, +blood-sprinklings, and other sacred rites, need not be told. Something +of a "Ritualist," one may perceive; perhaps had Scandinavian Puseyisms +in him, and other desperate heathen notions. He was universally believed +to have gone into magic, for one thing, and to have dangerous potencies +derived from the Devil himself. The dark heathen mind of him struggling +vehemently in that strange element, not altogether so unlike our own in +some points. + +For the rest, he was evidently, in practical matters, a man of sharp, +clear insight, of steadfast resolution, diligence, promptitude; and +managed his secular matters uncommonly well. Had sixteen Jarls under +him, though himself only Hakon Jarl by title; and got obedience from +them stricter than any king since Haarfagr had done. Add to which +that the country had years excellent for grass and crop, and that the +herrings came in exuberance; tokens, to the thinking mind, that Hakon +Jarl was a favorite of Heaven. + +His fight with the far-famed Jomsvikings was his grandest exploit in +public rumor. Jomsburg, a locality not now known, except that it was +near the mouth of the River Oder, denoted in those ages the impregnable +castle of a certain hotly corporate, or "Sea Robbery Association +(limited)," which, for some generations, held the Baltic in terror, and +plundered far beyond the Belt,--in the ocean itself, in Flanders and the +opulent trading havens there,--above all, in opulent anarchic England, +which, for forty years from about this time, was the pirates' Goshen; +and yielded, regularly every summer, slaves, Danegelt, and miscellaneous +plunder, like no other country Jomsburg or the viking-world had +ever known. Palnatoke, Bue, and the other quasi-heroic heads of this +establishment are still remembered in the northern parts. _Palnatoke_ +is the title of a tragedy by Oehlenschlager, which had its run of +immortality in Copenhagen some sixty or seventy years ago. + +I judge the institution to have been in its floweriest state, probably +now in Hakon Jarl's time. Hakon Jarl and these pirates, robbing Hakon's +subjects and merchants that frequented him, were naturally in quarrel; +and frequent fightings had fallen out, not generally to the profit of +the Jomsburgers, who at last determined on revenge, and the rooting out +of this obstructive Hakon Jarl. They assembled in force at the Cape of +Stad,--in the Firda Fylke; and the fight was dreadful in the extreme, +noise of it filling all the north for long afterwards. Hakon, fighting +like a lion, could scarcely hold his own,--Death or Victory, the word on +both sides; when suddenly, the heavens grew black, and there broke out +a terrific storm of thunder and hail, appalling to the human +mind,--universe swallowed wholly in black night; only the momentary +forked-blazes, the thunder-pealing as of Ragnarok, and the battering +hail-torrents, hailstones about the size of an egg. Thor with his hammer +evidently acting; but in behalf of whom? The Jomsburgers in the +hideous darkness, broken only by flashing thunder-bolts, had a dismal +apprehension that it was probably not on their behalf (Thor having a +sense of justice in him); and before the storm ended, thirty-five of +their seventy ships sheered away, leaving gallant Bue, with the other +thirty-five, to follow as they liked, who reproachfully hailed these +fugitives, and continued the now hopeless battle. Bue's nose and lips +were smashed or cut away; Bue managed, half-articulately, to exclaim, +"Ha! the maids ('mays') of Funen will never kiss me more. Overboard, all +ye Bue's men!" And taking his two sea-chests, with all the gold he had +gained in such life-struggle from of old, sprang overboard accordingly, +and finished the affair. Hakon Jarl's renown rose naturally to the +transcendent pitch after this exploit. His people, I suppose chiefly the +Christian part of them, whispered one to another, with a shudder, "That +in the blackest of the thunder-storm, he had taken his youngest little +boy, and made away with him; sacrificed him to Thor or some devil, and +gained his victory by art-magic, or something worse." Jarl Eric, Hakon's +eldest son, without suspicion of art-magic, but already a distinguished +viking, became thrice distinguished by his style of sea-fighting in this +battle; and awakened great expectations in the viking public; of him we +shall hear again. + +The Jomsburgers, one might fancy, after this sad clap went visibly down +in the world; but the fact is not altogether so. Old King Blue-tooth was +now dead, died of a wound got in battle with his unnatural (so-called +"natural") son and successor, Otto Svein of the Forked Beard, afterwards +king and conqueror of England for a little while; and seldom, perhaps +never, had vikingism been in such flower as now. This man's name is Sven +in Swedish, Svend in German, and means boy or lad,--the English "swain." +It was at old "Father Bluetooth's funeral-ale" (drunken burial-feast), +that Svein, carousing with his Jomsburg chiefs and other choice spirits, +generally of the robber class, all risen into height of highest robber +enthusiasm, pledged the vow to one another; Svein that he would conquer +England (which, in a sense, he, after long struggling, did); and the +Jomsburgers that they would ruin and root out Hakon Jarl (which, as +we have just seen, they could by no means do), and other guests other +foolish things which proved equally unfeasible. Sea-robber volunteers +so especially abounding in that time, one perceives how easily the +Jomsburgers could recruit themselves, build or refit new robber fleets, +man them with the pick of crews, and steer for opulent, fruitful +England; where, under Ethelred the Unready, was such a field for +profitable enterprise as the viking public never had before or since. + +An idle question sometimes rises on me,--idle enough, for it never can +be answered in the affirmative or the negative, Whether it was not these +same refitted Jomsburgers who appeared some while after this at Red Head +Point, on the shore of Angus, and sustained a new severe beating, in +what the Scotch still faintly remember as their "Battle of Loncarty"? +Beyond doubt a powerful Norse-pirate armament dropt anchor at the Red +Head, to the alarm of peaceable mortals, about that time. It was thought +and hoped to be on its way for England, but it visibly hung on for +several days, deliberating (as was thought) whether they would do this +poorer coast the honor to land on it before going farther. Did land, and +vigorously plunder and burn south-westward as far as Perth; laid siege +to Perth; but brought out King Kenneth on them, and produced that +"Battle of Loncarty" which still dwells in vague memory among the Scots. +Perhaps it might be the Jomsburgers; perhaps also not; for there were +many pirate associations, lasting not from century to century like the +Jomsburgers, but only for very limited periods, or from year to year; +indeed, it was mainly by such that the splendid thief-harvest of England +was reaped in this disastrous time. No Scottish chronicler gives the +least of exact date to their famed victory of Loncarty, only that it was +achieved by Kenneth III., which will mean some time between A.D. 975 and +994; and, by the order they put it in, probably soon after A.D. 975, or +the beginning of this Kenneth's reign. Buchanan's narrative, carefully +distilled from all the ancient Scottish sources, is of admirable quality +for style and otherwise quiet, brief, with perfect clearness, perfect +credibility even, except that semi-miraculous appendage of the +Ploughmen, Hay and Sons, always hanging to the tail of it; the grain of +possible truth in which can now never be extracted by man's art! [6] In +brief, what we know is, fragments of ancient human bones and armor +have occasionally been ploughed up in this locality, proof positive of +ancient fighting here; and the fight fell out not long after Hakon's +beating of the Jomsburgers at the Cape of Stad. And in such dim glimmer +of wavering twilight, the question whether these of Loncarty were +refitted Jomsburgers or not, must be left hanging. Loncarty is now the +biggest bleach-field in Queen Victoria's dominions; no village or hamlet +there, only the huge bleaching-house and a beautiful field, some six or +seven miles northwest of Perth, bordered by the beautiful Tay river +on the one side, and by its beautiful tributary Almond on the other; a +Loncarty fitted either for bleaching linen, or for a bit of fair duel +between nations, in those simple times. + +Whether our refitted Jomsburgers had the least thing to do with it is +only matter of fancy, but if it were they who here again got a good +beating, fancy would be glad to find herself fact. The old piratical +kings of Denmark had been at the founding of Jomsburg, and to Svein of +the Forked Beard it was still vitally important, but not so to the great +Knut, or any king that followed; all of whom had better business than +mere thieving; and it was Magnus the Good, of Norway, a man of still +higher anti-anarchic qualities, that annihilated it, about a century +later. + +Hakon Jarl, his chief labors in the world being over, is said to have +become very dissolute in his elder days, especially in the matter of +women; the wretched old fool, led away by idleness and fulness of bread, +which to all of us are well said to be the parents of mischief. Having +absolute power, he got into the habit of openly plundering men's pretty +daughters and wives from them, and, after a few weeks, sending them +back; greatly to the rage of the fierce Norse heart, had there been any +means of resisting or revenging. It did, after a little while, prove the +ruin and destruction of Hakon the Rich, as he was then called. It opened +the door, namely, for entry of Olaf Tryggveson upon the scene,--a very +much grander man; in regard to whom the wiles and traps of Hakon proved +to be a recipe, not on Tryggveson, but on the wily Hakon himself, as +shall now be seen straightway. + + + +CHAPTER VI. OLAF TRYGGVESON. + +Hakon, in late times, had heard of a famous stirring person, victorious +in various lands and seas, latterly united in sea-robbery with Svein, +Prince Royal of Denmark, afterwards King Svein of the Double-beard +("_Zvae Skiaeg_", _Twa Shag_) or fork-beard, both of whom had already +done transcendent feats in the viking way during this copartnery. The +fame of Svein, and this stirring personage, whose name was "Ole," and, +recently, their stupendous feats in plunder of England, siege of London, +and other wonders and splendors of viking glory and success, had gone +over all the North, awakening the attention of Hakon and everybody +there. The name of "Ole" was enigmatic, mysterious, and even +dangerous-looking to Hakon Jarl; who at length sent out a confidential +spy to investigate this "Ole;" a feat which the confidential spy did +completely accomplish,--by no means to Hakon's profit! The mysterious +"Ole" proved to be no other than Olaf, son of Tryggve, destined to blow +Hakon Jarl suddenly into destruction, and become famous among the heroes +of the Norse world. + +Of Olaf Tryggveson one always hopes there might, one day, some real +outline of a biography be written; fished from the abysses where (as +usual) it welters deep in foul neighborhood for the present. Farther on +we intend a few words more upon the matter. But in this place all that +concerns us in it limits itself to the two following facts first, that +Hakon's confidential spy "found Ole in Dublin;" picked acquaintance with +him, got him to confess that he was actually Olaf, son of Tryggve (the +Tryggve, whom Blood-axe's fierce widow and her sons had murdered); got +him gradually to own that perhaps an expedition into Norway might have +its chances; and finally that, under such a wise and loyal guidance +as his (the confidential spy's, whose friendship for Tryggveson was so +indubitable), he (Tryggveson) would actually try it upon Hakon Jarl, the +dissolute old scoundrel. Fact second is, that about the time they two +set sail from Dublin on their Norway expedition, Hakon Jarl removed to +Trondhjem, then called Lade; intending to pass some months there. + +Now just about the time when Tryggveson, spy, and party had landed in +Norway, and were advancing upon Lade, with what support from the public +could be got, dissolute old Hakon Jarl had heard of one Gudrun, a +Bonder's wife, unparalleled in beauty, who was called in those parts, +"Sunbeam of the Grove" (so inexpressibly lovely); and sent off a couple +of thralls to bring her to him. "Never," answered Gudrun; "never," her +indignant husband; in a tone dangerous and displeasing to these Court +thralls; who had to leave rapidly, but threatened to return in better +strength before long. Whereupon, instantly, the indignant Bonder and his +Sunbeam of the Grove sent out their war-arrow, rousing all the country +into angry promptitude, and more than one perhaps into greedy hope of +revenge for their own injuries. The rest of Hakon's history now rushes +on with extreme rapidity. + +Sunbeam of the Grove, when next demanded of her Bonder, has the whole +neighborhood assembled in arms round her; rumor of Tryggveson is fast +making it the whole country. Hakon's insolent messengers are cut in +pieces; Hakon finds he cannot fly under cover too soon. With a single +slave he flies that same night;--but whitherward? Can think of no safe +place, except to some old mistress of his, who lives retired in that +neighborhood, and has some pity or regard for the wicked old Hakon. Old +mistress does receive him, pities him, will do all she can to protect +and hide him. But how, by what uttermost stretch of female artifice hide +him here; every one will search here first of all! Old mistress, by the +slave's help, extemporizes a cellar under the floor of her pig-house; +sticks Hakon and slave into that, as the one safe seclusion she can +contrive. Hakon and slave, begrunted by the pigs above them, tortured by +the devils within and about them, passed two days in circumstances +more and more horrible. For they heard, through their light-slit +and breathing-slit, the triumph of Tryggveson proclaiming itself by +Tryggveson's own lips, who had mounted a big boulder near by and was +victoriously speaking to the people, winding up with a promise of +honors and rewards to whoever should bring him wicked old Hakon's head. +Wretched Hakon, justly suspecting his slave, tried to at least keep +himself awake. Slave did keep himself awake till Hakon dozed or slept, +then swiftly cut off Hakon's head, and plunged out with it to the +presence of Tryggveson. Tryggveson, detesting the traitor, useful as the +treachery was, cut off the slave's head too, had it hung up along with +Hakon's on the pinnacle of the Lade Gallows, where the populace pelted +both heads with stones and many curses, especially the more important of +the two. "Hakon the Bad" ever henceforth, instead of Hakon the Rich. + +This was the end of Hakon Jarl, the last support of heathenry in Norway, +among other characteristics he had: a stronghanded, hard-headed, very +relentless, greedy and wicked being. He is reckoned to have ruled in +Norway, or mainly ruled, either in the struggling or triumphant state, +for about thirty years (965-995?). He and his seemed to have formed, +by chance rather than design, the chief opposition which the Haarfagr +posterity throughout its whole course experienced in Norway. Such +the cost to them of killing good Jarl Sigurd, in Greyfell's time! For +"curses, like chickens," do sometimes visibly "come home to feed," as +they always, either visibly or else invisibly, are punctually sure to +do. + +Hakon Jarl is considerably connected with the _Faroer Saga_ often +mentioned there, and comes out perfectly in character; an altogether +worldly-wise man of the roughest type, not without a turn for +practicality of kindness to those who would really be of use to him. His +tendencies to magic also are not forgotten. + +Hakon left two sons, Eric and Svein, often also mentioned in this Saga. +On their father's death they fled to Sweden, to Denmark, and were busy +stirring up troubles in those countries against Olaf Tryggveson; till at +length, by a favorable combination, under their auspices chiefly, they +got his brief and noble reign put an end to. Nay, furthermore, Jarl Eric +left sons, especially an elder son, named also Eric, who proved a sore +affliction, and a continual stone of stumbling to a new generation of +Haarfagrs, and so continued the curse of Sigurd's murder upon them. + +Towards the end of this Hakon's reign it was that the discovery of +America took place (985). Actual discovery, it appears, by Eric the Red, +an Icelander; concerning which there has been abundant investigation and +discussion in our time. _Ginnungagap_ (Roaring Abyss) is thought to be +the mouth of Behring's Straits in Baffin's Bay; _Big Helloland_, the +coast from Cape Walsingham to near Newfoundland; _Little Helloland_, +Newfoundland itself. _Markland_ was Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and +Nova Scotia. Southward thence to Chesapeake Bay was called _Wine Land_ +(wild grapes still grow in Rhode Island, and more luxuriantly further +south). _White Man's Land_, called also _Great Ireland_, is supposed +to mean the two Carolinas, down to the Southern Cape of Florida. In +Dahlmann's opinion, the Irish themselves might even pretend to have +probably been the first discoverers of America; they had evidently got +to Iceland itself before the Norse exiles found it out. It appears to be +certain that, from the end of the tenth century to the early part of the +fourteenth, there was a dim knowledge of those distant shores extant +in the Norse mind, and even some straggling series of visits thither +by roving Norsemen; though, as only danger, difficulty, and no profit +resulted, the visits ceased, and the whole matter sank into oblivion, +and, but for the Icelandic talent of writing in the long winter nights, +would never have been heard of by posterity at all. + + + +CHAPTER VII. REIGN OF OLAF TRYGGVESON. + +Olaf Tryggveson (A.D. 995-1000) also makes a great figure in the _Faroer +Saga_, and recounts there his early troubles, which were strange and +many. He is still reckoned a grand hero of the North, though his _vates_ +now is only Snorro Sturleson of Iceland. Tryggveson had indeed many +adventures in the world. His poor mother, Astrid, was obliged to fly, on +murder of her husband by Gunhild,--to fly for life, three months before +he, her little Olaf, was born. She lay concealed in reedy islands, fled +through trackless forests; reached her father's with the little baby in +her arms, and lay deep-hidden there, tended only by her father himself; +Gunhild's pursuit being so incessant, and keen as with sleuth-hounds. +Poor Astrid had to fly again, deviously to Sweden, to Esthland +(Esthonia), to Russia. In Esthland she was sold as a slave, quite parted +from her boy,--who also was sold, and again sold; but did at last +fall in with a kinsman high in the Russian service; did from him find +redemption and help, and so rose, in a distinguished manner, to manhood, +victorious self-help, and recovery of his kingdom at last. He even met +his mother again, he as king of Norway, she as one wonderfully lifted +out of darkness into new life and happiness still in store. + +Grown to manhood, Tryggveson,--now become acquainted with his birth, +and with his, alas, hopeless claims,--left Russia for the one profession +open to him, that of sea-robbery; and did feats without number in that +questionable line in many seas and scenes,--in England latterly, and +most conspicuously of all. In one of his courses thither, after long +labors in the Hebrides, Man, Wales, and down the western shores to +the very Land's End and farther, he paused at the Scilly Islands for +a little while. He was told of a wonderful Christian hermit living +strangely in these sea-solitudes; had the curiosity to seek him out, +examine, question, and discourse with him; and, after some reflection, +accepted Christian baptism from the venerable man. In Snorro the story +is involved in miracle, rumor, and fable; but the fact itself seems +certain, and is very interesting; the great, wild, noble soul of fierce +Olaf opening to this wonderful gospel of tidings from beyond the world, +tidings which infinitely transcended all else he had ever heard or +dreamt of! It seems certain he was baptized here; date not fixable; +shortly before poor heart-broken Dunstan's death, or shortly after; most +English churches, monasteries especially, lying burnt, under continual +visitation of the Danes. Olaf such baptism notwithstanding, did not quit +his viking profession; indeed, what other was there for him in the world +as yet? + +We mentioned his occasional copartneries with Svein of the Double-beard, +now become King of Denmark, but the greatest of these, and the alone +interesting at this time, is their joint invasion of England, and +Tryggveson's exploits and fortunes there some years after that adventure +of baptism in the Scilly Isles. Svein and he "were above a year in +England together," this time: they steered up the Thames with three +hundred ships and many fighters; siege, or at least furious assault, of +London was their first or main enterprise, but it did not succeed. The +Saxon Chronicle gives date to it, A.D. 994, and names expressly, as +Svein's co-partner, "Olaus, king of Norway,"--which he was as yet far +from being; but in regard to the Year of Grace the Saxon Chronicle is +to be held indisputable, and, indeed, has the field to itself in this +matter. Famed Olaf Tryggveson, seen visibly at the siege of London, +year 994, it throws a kind of momentary light to us over that disastrous +whirlpool of miseries and confusions, all dark and painful to the +fancy otherwise! This big voyage and furious siege of London is Svein +Double-beard's first real attempt to fulfil that vow of his at Father +Blue-tooth's "funeral ale," and conquer England,--which it is a pity he +could not yet do. Had London now fallen to him, it is pretty evident all +England must have followed, and poor England, with Svein as king over +it, been delivered from immeasurable woes, which had to last some +two-and-twenty years farther, before this result could be arrived at. +But finding London impregnable for the moment (no ship able to get +athwart the bridge, and many Danes perishing in the attempt to do it by +swimming), Svein and Olaf turned to other enterprises; all England in +a manner lying open to them, turn which way they liked. They burnt and +plundered over Kent, over Hampshire, Sussex; they stormed far and wide; +world lying all before them where to choose. Wretched Ethelred, as the +one invention he could fall upon, offered them Danegelt (16,000 pounds +of silver this year, but it rose in other years as high as 48,000 +pounds); the desperate Ethelred, a clear method of quenching fire +by pouring oil on it! Svein and Olaf accepted; withdrew to +Southampton,--Olaf at least did,--till the money was got ready. Strange +to think of, fierce Svein of the Double-beard, and conquest of England +by him; this had at last become the one salutary result which remained +for that distracted, down-trodden, now utterly chaotic and anarchic +country. A conquering Svein, followed by an ably and earnestly +administrative, as well as conquering, Knut (whom Dahlmann compares +to Charlemagne), were thus by the mysterious destinies appointed the +effective saviors of England. + +Tryggveson, on this occasion, was a good while at Southampton; and +roamed extensively about, easily victorious over everything, if +resistance were attempted, but finding little or none; and acting now +in a peaceable or even friendly capacity. In the Southampton country +he came in contact with the then Bishop of Winchester, afterwards +Archbishop of Canterbury, excellent Elphegus, still dimly decipherable +to us as a man of great natural discernment, piety, and inborn veracity; +a hero-soul, probably of real brotherhood with Olaf's own. He even made +court visits to King Ethelred; one visit to him at Andover of a very +serious nature. By Elphegus, as we can discover, he was introduced into +the real depths of the Christian faith. Elphegus, with due solemnity of +apparatus, in presence of the king, at Andover, baptized Olaf anew, and +to him Olaf engaged that he would never plunder in England any more; +which promise, too, he kept. In fact, not long after, Svein's conquest +of England being in an evidently forward state, Tryggveson (having made, +withal, a great English or Irish marriage,--a dowager Princess, who had +voluntarily fallen in love with him,--see Snorro for this fine romantic +fact!) mainly resided in our island for two or three years, or else in +Dublin, in the precincts of the Danish Court there in the Sister Isle. +Accordingly it was in Dublin, as above noted, that Hakon's spy found +him; and from the Liffey that his squadron sailed, through the Hebrides, +through the Orkneys, plundering and baptizing in their strange way, +towards such success as we have seen. + +Tryggveson made a stout, and, in effect, victorious and glorious +struggle for himself as king. Daily and hourly vigilant to do so, often +enough by soft and even merry methods, for he was a witty, jocund man, +and had a fine ringing laugh in him, and clear pregnant words ever +ready,--or if soft methods would not serve, then by hard and even +hardest he put down a great deal of miscellaneous anarchy in Norway; was +especially busy against heathenism (devil-worship and its rites): this, +indeed, may be called the focus and heart of all his royal endeavor in +Norway, and of all the troubles he now had with his people there. For +this was a serious, vital, all-comprehending matter; devil-worship, a +thing not to be tolerated one moment longer than you could by any method +help! Olaf's success was intermittent, of varying complexion; but his +effort, swift or slow, was strong and continual; and on the whole he did +succeed. Take a sample or two of that wonderful conversion process:-- + +At one of his first Things he found the Bonders all assembled in +arms; resolute to the death seemingly, against his proposal and him. +Tryggveson said little; waited impassive, "What your reasons are, +good men?" One zealous Bonder started up in passionate parliamentary +eloquence; but after a sentence or two, broke down; one, and then +another, and still another, and remained all three staring in +open-mouthed silence there! The peasant-proprietors accepted the +phenomenon as ludicrous, perhaps partly as miraculous withal, and +consented to baptism this time. + +On another occasion of a Thing, which had assembled near some heathen +temple to meet him,--temple where Hakon Jarl had done much repairing, +and set up many idol figures and sumptuous ornaments, regardless of +expense, especially a very big and splendid Thor, with massive gold +collar round the neck of him, not the like of it in Norway,--King Olaf +Tryggveson was clamorously invited by the Bonders to step in there, +enlighten his eyes, and partake of the sacred rites. Instead of which +he rushed into the temple with his armed men; smashed down, with his own +battle-axe, the god Thor, prostrate on the ground at one stroke, to set +an example; and, in a few minutes, had the whole Hakon Pantheon wrecked; +packing up meanwhile all the gold and preciosities accumulated there +(not forgetting Thor's illustrious gold collar, of which we shall hear +again), and victoriously took the plunder home with him for his own +royal uses and behoof of the state. In other cases, though a friend to +strong measures, he had to hold in, and await the favorable moment. Thus +once, in beginning a parliamentary address, so soon as he came to touch +upon Christianity, the Bonders rose in murmurs, in vociferations and +jingling of arms, which quite drowned the royal voice; declared, they +had taken arms against king Hakon the Good to compel him to desist from +his Christian proposals; and they did not think King Olaf a higher man +than him (Hakon the Good). The king then said, "He purposed coming to +them next Yule to their great sacrificial feast, to see for himself +what their customs were," which pacified the Bonders for this time. The +appointed place of meeting was again a Hakon-Jarl Temple, not yet done +to ruin; chief shrine in those Trondhjem parts, I believe: there should +Tryggveson appear at Yule. Well, but before Yule came, Tryggveson made a +great banquet in his palace at Trondhjem, and invited far and wide, all +manner of important persons out of the district as guests there. Banquet +hardly done, Tryggveson gave some slight signal, upon which armed men +strode in, seized eleven of these principal persons, and the king said: +"Since he himself was to become a heathen again, and do sacrifice, it +was his purpose to do it in the highest form, namely, that of Human +Sacrifice; and this time not of slaves and malefactors, but of the best +men in the country!" In which stringent circumstances the eleven seized +persons, and company at large, gave unanimous consent to baptism; +straightway received the same, and abjured their idols; but were not +permitted to go home till they had left, in sons, brothers, and other +precious relatives, sufficient hostages in the king's hands. + +By unwearied industry of this and better kinds, Tryggveson had trampled +down idolatry, so far as form went,--how far in substance may be greatly +doubted. But it is to be remembered withal, that always on the back of +these compulsory adventures there followed English bishops, priests and +preachers; whereby to the open-minded, conviction, to all degrees of it, +was attainable, while silence and passivity became the duty or necessity +of the unconvinced party. + +In about two years Norway was all gone over with a rough harrow of +conversion. Heathenism at least constrained to be silent and outwardly +conformable. Tryggveson, next turned his attention to Iceland, sent one +Thangbrand, priest from Saxony, of wonderful qualities, military as +well as theological, to try and convert Iceland. Thangbrand made a few +converts; for Olaf had already many estimable Iceland friends, whom he +liked much, and was much liked by; and conversion was the ready road +to his favor. Thangbrand, I find, lodged with Hall of Sida (familiar +acquaintance of "Burnt Njal," whose Saga has its admirers among us even +now). Thangbrand converted Hall and one or two other leading men; +but in general he was reckoned quarrelsome and blusterous rather than +eloquent and piously convincing. Two skalds of repute made biting +lampoons upon Thangbrand, whom Thangbrand, by two opportunities that +offered, cut down and did to death because of their skaldic quality. +Another he killed with his own hand, I know not for what reason. In +brief, after about a year, Thangbrand returned to Norway and king Olaf; +declaring the Icelanders to be a perverse, satirical, and inconvertible +people, having himself, the record says, "been the death of three men +there." King Olaf was in high rage at this result; but was persuaded by +the Icelanders about him to try farther, and by a wilder instrument. He +accordingly chose one Thormod, a pious, patient, and kindly man, who, +within the next year or so, did actually accomplish the matter; namely, +get Christianity, by open vote, declared at Thingvalla by the general +Thing of Iceland there; the roar of a big thunder-clap at the right +moment rather helping the conclusion, if I recollect. Whereupon Olaf's +joy was no doubt great. + +One general result of these successful operations was the discontent, +to all manner of degrees, on the part of many Norse individuals, against +this glorious and victorious, but peremptory and terrible king of +theirs. Tryggveson, I fancy, did not much regard all that; a man of +joyful, cheery temper, habitually contemptuous of danger. Another +trivial misfortune that befell in these conversion operations, and +became important to him, he did not even know of, and would have much +despised if he had. It was this: Sigrid, queen dowager of Sweden, +thought to be amongst the most shining women of the world, was also +known for one of the most imperious, revengeful, and relentless, and had +got for herself the name of Sigrid the Proud. In her high widowhood she +had naturally many wooers; but treated them in a manner unexampled. Two +of her suitors, a simultaneous Two, were, King Harald Graenske (a cousin +of King Tryggveson's, and kind of king in some district, by sufferance +of the late Hakon's),--this luckless Graenske and the then Russian +Sovereign as well, name not worth mentioning, were zealous suitors of +Queen Dowager Sigrid, and were perversely slow to accept the negative, +which in her heart was inexorable for both, though the expression of +it could not be quite so emphatic. By ill-luck for them they came +once,--from the far West, Graenske; from the far East, the Russian;--and +arrived both together at Sigrid's court, to prosecute their importunate, +and to her odious and tiresome suit; much, how very much, to her +impatience and disdain. She lodged them both in some old mansion, which +she had contiguous, and got compendiously furnished for them; and there, +I know not whether on the first or on the second, or on what following +night, this unparalleled Queen Sigrid had the house surrounded, set on +fire, and the two suitors and their people burnt to ashes! No more of +bother from these two at least! This appears to be a fact; and it could +not be unknown to Tryggveson. + +In spite of which, however, there went from Tryggveson, who was now a +widower, some incipient marriage proposals to this proud widow; by +whom they were favorably received; as from the brightest man in all the +world, they might seem worth being. Now, in one of these anti-heathen +onslaughts of King Olaf's on the idol temples of Hakon--(I think it +was that case where Olaf's own battle-axe struck down the monstrous +refulgent Thor, and conquered an immense gold ring from the neck of him, +or from the door of his temple),--a huge gold ring, at any rate, had +come into Olaf's hands; and this he bethought him might be a pretty +present to Queen Sigrid, the now favorable, though the proud. Sigrid +received the ring with joy; fancied what a collar it would make for her +own fair neck; but noticed that her two goldsmiths, weighing it on their +fingers, exchanged a glance. "What is that?" exclaimed Queen Sigrid. +"Nothing," answered they, or endeavored to answer, dreading mischief. +But Sigrid compelled them to break open the ring; and there was found, +all along the inside of it, an occult ring of copper, not a heart of +gold at all! "Ha," said the proud Queen, flinging it away, "he that +could deceive in this matter can deceive in many others!" And was in hot +wrath with Olaf; though, by degrees, again she took milder thoughts. + +Milder thoughts, we say; and consented to a meeting next autumn, at some +half-way station, where their great business might be brought to a happy +settlement and betrothment. Both Olaf Tryggveson and the high dowager +appear to have been tolerably of willing mind at this meeting; but Olaf +interposed, what was always one condition with him, "Thou must consent +to baptism, and give up thy idol-gods." "They are the gods of all my +forefathers," answered the lady, "choose thou what gods thou pleasest, +but leave me mine." Whereupon an altercation; and Tryggveson, as was his +wont, towered up into shining wrath, and exclaimed at last, "Why should +I care about thee then, old faded heathen creature?" And impatiently +wagging his glove, hit her, or slightly switched her, on the face with +it, and contemptuously turning away, walked out of the adventure. "This +is a feat that may cost thee dear one day," said Sigrid. And in the end +it came to do so, little as the magnificent Olaf deigned to think of it +at the moment. + +One of the last scuffles I remember of Olaf's having with his refractory +heathens, was at a Thing in Hordaland or Rogaland, far in the North, +where the chief opposition hero was one Jaernskaegg ("ironbeard") +Scottice ("Airn-shag," as it were!). Here again was a grand heathen +temple, Hakon Jarl's building, with a splendid Thor in it and much idol +furniture. The king stated what was his constant wish here as elsewhere, +but had no sooner entered upon the subject of Christianity than +universal murmur, rising into clangor and violent dissent, interrupted +him, and Ironbeard took up the discourse in reply. Ironbeard did not +break down; on the contrary, he, with great brevity, emphasis, and +clearness, signified "that the proposal to reject their old gods was in +the highest degree unacceptable to this Thing; that it was contrary +to bargain, withal; so that if it were insisted on, they would have to +fight with the king about it; and in fact were now ready to do so." In +reply to this, Olaf, without word uttered, but merely with some signal +to the trusty armed men he had with him, rushed off to the temple close +at hand; burst into it, shutting the door behind him; smashed Thor and +Co. to destruction; then reappearing victorious, found much confusion +outside, and, in particular, what was a most important item, the rugged +Ironbeard done to death by Olaf's men in the interim. Which entirely +disheartened the Thing from fighting at that moment; having now no +leader who dared to head them in so dangerous an enterprise. So that +every one departed to digest his rage in silence as he could. + +Matters having cooled for a week or two, there was another Thing held; +in which King Olaf testified regret for the quarrel that had fallen out, +readiness to pay what _mulct_ was due by law for that unlucky homicide +of Ironbeard by his people; and, withal, to take the fair daughter of +Ironbeard to wife, if all would comply and be friends with him in other +matters; which was the course resolved on as most convenient: accept +baptism, we; marry Jaernskaegg's daughter, you. This bargain held on +both sides. The wedding, too, was celebrated, but that took rather a +strange turn. On the morning of the bride-night, Olaf, who had not been +sleeping, though his fair partner thought he had, opened his eyes, and +saw, with astonishment, the fair partner aiming a long knife ready +to strike home upon him! Which at once ended their wedded life; poor +Demoiselle Ironbeard immediately bundling off with her attendants home +again; King Olaf into the apartment of his servants, mentioning there +what had happened, and forbidding any of them to follow her. + +Olaf Tryggveson, though his kingdom was the smallest of the Norse Three, +had risen to a renown over all the Norse world, which neither he +of Denmark nor he of Sweden could pretend to rival. A magnificent, +far-shining man; more expert in all "bodily exercises" as the Norse call +them, than any man had ever been before him, or after was. Could keep +five daggers in the air, always catching the proper fifth by its handle, +and sending it aloft again; could shoot supremely, throw a javelin with +either hand; and, in fact, in battle usually throw two together. These, +with swimming, climbing, leaping, were the then admirable Fine Arts of +the North; in all which Tryggveson appears to have been the Raphael and +the Michael Angelo at once. Essentially definable, too, if we look +well into him, as a wild bit of real heroism, in such rude guise and +environment; a high, true, and great human soul. A jovial burst of +laughter in him, withal; a bright, airy, wise way of speech; dressed +beautifully and with care; a man admired and loved exceedingly by those +he liked; dreaded as death by those he did not like. "Hardly any king," +says Snorro, "was ever so well obeyed; by one class out of zeal and +love, by the rest out of dread." His glorious course, however, was not +to last long. + +King Svein of the Double-Beard had not yet completed his conquest of +England,--by no means yet, some thirteen horrid years of that still +before him!--when, over in Denmark, he found that complaints against +him and intricacies had arisen, on the part principally of one Burislav, +King of the Wends (far up the Baltic), and in a less degree with the +King of Sweden and other minor individuals. Svein earnestly applied +himself to settle these, and have his hands free. Burislav, an aged +heathen gentleman, proved reasonable and conciliatory; so, too, the King +of Sweden, and Dowager Queen Sigrid, his managing mother. Bargain in +both these cases got sealed and crowned by marriage. Svein, who had +become a widower lately, now wedded Sigrid; and might think, possibly +enough, he had got a proud bargain, though a heathen one. Burislav also +insisted on marriage with Princess Thyri, the Double-Beard's sister. +Thyri, inexpressibly disinclined to wed an aged heathen of that stamp, +pleaded hard with her brother; but the Double-Bearded was inexorable; +Thyri's wailings and entreaties went for nothing. With some guardian +foster-brother, and a serving-maid or two, she had to go on this hated +journey. Old Burislav, at sight of her, blazed out into marriage-feast +of supreme magnificence, and was charmed to see her; but Thyri would not +join the marriage party; refused to eat with it or sit with it at all. +Day after day, for six days, flatly refused; and after nightfall of the +sixth, glided out with her foster-brother into the woods, into by-paths +and inconceivable wanderings; and, in effect, got home to Denmark. +Brother Svein was not for the moment there; probably enough gone to +England again. But Thyri knew too well he would not allow her to stay +here, or anywhere that he could help, except with the old heathen she +had just fled from. + +Thyri, looking round the world, saw no likely road for her, but to Olaf +Tryggveson in Norway; to beg protection from the most heroic man she +knew of in the world. Olaf, except by renown, was not known to her; but +by renown he well was. Olaf, at sight of her, promised protection +and asylum against all mortals. Nay, in discoursing with Thyri Olaf +perceived more and more clearly what a fine handsome being, soul and +body, Thyri was; and in a short space of time winded up by proposing +marriage to Thyri; who, humbly, and we may fancy with what secret joy, +consented to say yes, and become Queen of Norway. In the due months they +had a little son, Harald; who, it is credibly recorded, was the joy of +both his parents; but who, to their inexpressible sorrow, in about a +year died, and vanished from them. This, and one other fact now to be +mentioned, is all the wedded history we have of Thyri. + +The other fact is, that Thyri had, by inheritance or covenant, not +depending on her marriage with old Burislav, considerable properties in +Wendland; which, she often reflected, might be not a little behooveful +to her here in Norway, where her civil-list was probably but straitened. +She spoke of this to her husband; but her husband would take no hold, +merely made her gifts, and said, "Pooh, pooh, can't we live without old +Burislav and his Wendland properties?" So that the lady sank into +ever deeper anxiety and eagerness about this Wendland object; took to +weeping; sat weeping whole days; and when Olaf asked, "What ails thee, +then?" would answer, or did answer once, "What a different man my father +Harald Gormson was [vulgarly called Blue-tooth], compared with some that +are now kings! For no King Svein in the world would Harald Gormson +have given up his own or his wife's just rights!" Whereupon Tryggveson +started up, exclaiming in some heat, "Of thy brother Svein I never was +afraid; if Svein and I meet in contest, it will not be Svein, I believe, +that conquers;" and went off in a towering fume. Consented, however, +at last, had to consent, to get his fine fleet equipped and armed, and +decide to sail with it to Wendland to have speech and settlement with +King Burislav. + +Tryggveson had already ships and navies that were the wonder of the +North. Especially in building war ships, the Crane, the Serpent, last +of all the Long Serpent, [7]--he had, for size, for outward beauty, and +inward perfection of equipment, transcended all example. + +This new sea expedition became an object of attention to all neighbors; +especially Queen Sigrid the Proud and Svein Double-Beard, her now king, +were attentive to it. + +"This insolent Tryggveson," Queen Sigrid would often say, and had long +been saying, to her Svein, "to marry thy sister without leave had or +asked of thee; and now flaunting forth his war navies, as if he, king +only of paltry Norway, were the big hero of the North! Why do you suffer +it, you kings really great?" + +By such persuasions and reiterations, King Svein of Denmark, King +Olaf of Sweden, and Jarl Eric, now a great man there, grown rich by +prosperous sea robbery and other good management, were brought to take +the matter up, and combine strenuously for destruction of King Olaf +Tryggveson on this grand Wendland expedition of his. Fleets and forces +were with best diligence got ready; and, withal, a certain Jarl Sigwald, +of Jomsburg, chieftain of the Jomsvikings, a powerful, plausible, +and cunning man, was appointed to find means of joining himself to +Tryggveson's grand voyage, of getting into Tryggveson's confidence, and +keeping Svein Double-Beard, Eric, and the Swedish King aware of all his +movements. + +King Olaf Tryggveson, unacquainted with all this, sailed away in summer, +with his splendid fleet; went through the Belts with prosperous winds, +under bright skies, to the admiration of both shores. Such a fleet, with +its shining Serpents, long and short, and perfection of equipment and +appearance, the Baltic never saw before. Jarl Sigwald joined with new +ships by the way: "Had," he too, "a visit to King Burislav to pay; how +could he ever do it in better company?" and studiously and skilfully +ingratiated himself with King Olaf. Old Burislav, when they arrived, +proved altogether courteous, handsome, and amenable; agreed at once to +Olaf's claims for his now queen, did the rites of hospitality with a +generous plenitude to Olaf; who cheerily renewed acquaintance with that +country, known to him in early days (the cradle of his fortunes in the +viking line), and found old friends there still surviving, joyful to +meet him again. Jarl Sigwald encouraged these delays, King Svein and Co. +not being yet quite ready. "Get ready!" Sigwald directed them, and they +diligently did. Olaf's men, their business now done, were impatient to +be home; and grudged every day of loitering there; but, till Sigwald +pleased, such his power of flattering and cajoling Tryggveson, they +could not get away. + +At length, Sigwald's secret messengers reporting all ready on the part +of Svein and Co., Olaf took farewell of Burislav and Wendland, and +all gladly sailed away. Svein, Eric, and the Swedish king, with their +combined fleets, lay in wait behind some cape in a safe little bay of +some island, then called Svolde, but not in our time to be found; the +Baltic tumults in the fourteenth century having swallowed it, as some +think, and leaving us uncertain whether it was in the neighborhood of +Rugen Island or in the Sound of Elsinore. There lay Svein, Eric, and Co. +waiting till Tryggveson and his fleet came up, Sigwald's spy messengers +daily reporting what progress he and it had made. At length, one bright +summer morning, the fleet made appearance, sailing in loose order, +Sigwald, as one acquainted with the shoal places, steering ahead, and +showing them the way. + +Snorro rises into one of his pictorial fits, seized with enthusiasm at +the thought of such a fleet, and reports to us largely in what order +Tryggveson's winged Coursers of the Deep, in long series, for perhaps an +hour or more, came on, and what the three potentates, from their knoll +of vantage, said of each as it hove in sight, Svein thrice over guessed +this and the other noble vessel to be the Long Serpent; Eric, always +correcting him, "No, that is not the Long Serpent yet" (and aside +always), "Nor shall you be lord of it, king, when it does come." The +Long Serpent itself did make appearance. Eric, Svein, and the Swedish +king hurried on board, and pushed out of their hiding-place into +the open sea. Treacherous Sigwald, at the beginning of all this, had +suddenly doubled that cape of theirs, and struck into the bay out of +sight, leaving the foremost Tryggveson ships astonished, and uncertain +what to do, if it were not simply to strike sail and wait till Olaf +himself with the Long Serpent arrived. + +Olaf's chief captains, seeing the enemy's huge fleet come out, and +how the matter lay, strongly advised King Olaf to elude this stroke of +treachery, and, with all sail, hold on his course, fight being now on so +unequal terms. Snorro says, the king, high on the quarter-deck where +he stood, replied, "Strike the sails; never shall men of mine think of +flight. I never fled from battle. Let God dispose of my life; but flight +I will never take." And so the battle arrangements immediately began, +and the battle with all fury went loose; and lasted hour after hour, +till almost sunset, if I well recollect. "Olaf stood on the Serpent's +quarter-deck," says Snorro, "high over the others. He had a gilt shield +and a helmet inlaid with gold; over his armor he had a short red coat, +and was easily distinguished from other men." Snorro's account of the +battle is altogether animated, graphic, and so minute that antiquaries +gather from it, if so disposed (which we but little are), what the +methods of Norse sea-fighting were; their shooting of arrows, casting +of javelins, pitching of big stones, ultimately boarding, and mutual +clashing and smashing, which it would not avail us to speak of here. +Olaf stood conspicuous all day, throwing javelins, of deadly aim, with +both hands at once; encouraging, fighting and commanding like a highest +sea-king. + +The Danish fleet, the Swedish fleet, were, both of them, quickly dealt +with, and successively withdrew out of shot-range. And then Jarl Eric +came up, and fiercely grappled with the Long Serpent, or, rather, with +her surrounding comrades; and gradually, as they were beaten empty of +men, with the Long Serpent herself. The fight grew ever fiercer, more +furious. Eric was supplied with new men from the Swedes and Danes; Olaf +had no such resource, except from the crews of his own beaten ships, and +at length this also failed him; all his ships, except the Long Serpent, +being beaten and emptied. Olaf fought on unyielding. Eric twice boarded +him, was twice repulsed. Olaf kept his quarterdeck; unconquerable, +though left now more and more hopeless, fatally short of help. A tall +young man, called Einar Tamberskelver, very celebrated and important +afterwards in Norway, and already the best archer known, kept busy with +his bow. Twice he nearly shot Jarl Eric in his ship. "Shoot me that +man," said Jarl Eric to a bowman near him; and, just as Tamberskelver +was drawing his bow the third time, an arrow hit it in the middle +and broke it in two. "What is this that has broken?" asked King Olaf. +"Norway from thy hand, king," answered Tamberskelver. Tryggveson's men, +he observed with surprise, were striking violently on Eric's; but to no +purpose: nobody fell. "How is this?" asked Tryggveson. "Our swords are +notched and blunted, king; they do not cut." Olaf stept down to his +arm-chest; delivered out new swords; and it was observed as he did it, +blood ran trickling from his wrist; but none knew where the wound was. +Eric boarded a third time. Olaf, left with hardly more than one man, +sprang overboard (one sees that red coat of his still glancing in the +evening sun), and sank in the deep waters to his long rest. + +Rumor ran among his people that he still was not dead; grounding on some +movement by the ships of that traitorous Sigwald, they fancied Olaf had +dived beneath the keels of his enemies, and got away with Sigwald, as +Sigwald himself evidently did. "Much was hoped, supposed, spoken," says +one old mourning Skald; "but the truth was, Olaf Tryggveson was never +seen in Norseland more." Strangely he remains still a shining figure to +us; the wildly beautifulest man, in body and in soul, that one has ever +heard of in the North. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. JARLS ERIC AND SVEIN. + +Jarl Eric, splendent with this victory, not to speak of that over the +Jomsburgers with his father long ago, was now made Governor of Norway: +Governor or quasi-sovereign, with his brother, Jarl. Svein, as partner, +who, however, took but little hand in governing;--and, under the +patronage of Svein Double-Beard and the then Swedish king (Olaf his +name, Sigrid the Proud, his mother's), administered it, they say, with +skill and prudence for above fourteen years. Tryggveson's death is +understood and laboriously computed to have happened in the year 1000; +but there is no exact chronology in these things, but a continual +uncertain guessing after such; so that one eye in History as regards +them is as if put out;--neither indeed have I yet had the luck to find +any decipherable and intelligible map of Norway: so that the other +eye of History is much blinded withal, and her path through those wild +regions and epochs is an extremely dim and chaotic one. An evil that +much demands remedying, and especially wants some first attempt at +remedying, by inquirers into English History; the whole period from +Egbert, the first Saxon King of England, on to Edward the Confessor, +the last, being everywhere completely interwoven with that of their +mysterious, continually invasive "Danes," as they call them, and +inextricably unintelligible till these also get to be a little +understood, and cease to be utterly dark, hideous, and mythical to us as +they now are. + +King Olaf Tryggveson is the first Norseman who is expressly mentioned +to have been in England by our English History books, new or old; and of +him it is merely said that he had an interview with King Ethelred II. at +Andover, of a pacific and friendly nature,--though it is absurdly added +that the noble Olaf was converted to Christianity by that extremely +stupid Royal Person. Greater contrast in an interview than in this +at Andover, between heroic Olaf Tryggveson and Ethelred the forever +Unready, was not perhaps seen in the terrestrial Planet that day. +Olaf or "Olaus," or "Anlaf," as they name him, did "engage on oath to +Ethelred not to invade England any more," and kept his promise, they +farther say. Essentially a truth, as we already know, though the +circumstances were all different; and the promise was to a devout High +Priest, not to a crowned Blockhead and cowardly Do-nothing. One other +"Olaus" I find mentioned in our Books, two or three centuries before, +at a time when there existed no such individual; not to speak of several +Anlafs, who sometimes seem to mean Olaf and still oftener to mean nobody +possible. Which occasions not a little obscurity in our early History, +says the learned Selden. A thing remediable, too, in which, if any +Englishman of due genius (or even capacity for standing labor), who +understood the Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon languages, would engage in +it, he might do a great deal of good, and bring the matter into a +comparatively lucid state. Vain aspirations,--or perhaps not altogether +vain. + +At the time of Olaf Tryggveson's death, and indeed long before, King +Svein Double-Beard had always for chief enterprise the Conquest of +England, and followed it by fits with extreme violence and impetus; +often advancing largely towards a successful conclusion; but never, for +thirteen years yet, getting it concluded. He possessed long since all +England north of Watling Street. That is to say, Northumberland, East +Anglia (naturally full of Danish settlers by this time), were fixedly +his; Mercia, his oftener than not; Wessex itself, with all the coasts, +he was free to visit, and to burn and rob in at discretion. There or +elsewhere, Ethelred the Unready had no battle in him whatever; and, +for a forty years after the beginning of his reign, England excelled in +anarchic stupidity, murderous devastation, utter misery, platitude, and +sluggish contemptibility, all the countries one has read of. Apparently +a very opulent country, too; a ready skill in such arts and fine arts +as there were; Svein's very ships, they say, had their gold dragons, +top-mast pennons, and other metallic splendors generally wrought for +them in England. "Unexampled prosperity" in the manufacture way not +unknown there, it would seem! But co-existing with such spiritual +bankruptcy as was also unexampled, one would hope. Read Lupus +(Wulfstan), Archbishop of York's amazing _Sermon_ on the subject, [8] +addressed to contemporary audiences; setting forth such a state of +things,--sons selling their fathers, mothers, and sisters as Slaves to +the Danish robber; themselves living in debauchery, blusterous gluttony, +and depravity; the details of which are well-nigh incredible, though +clearly stated as things generally known,--the humor of these poor +wretches sunk to a state of what we may call greasy desperation, "Let us +eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." The manner in which they treated +their own English nuns, if young, good-looking, and captive to the +Danes; buying them on a kind of brutish or subter-brutish "Greatest +Happiness Principle" (for the moment), and by a Joint-Stock arrangement, +far transcends all human speech or imagination, and awakens in one the +momentary red-hot thought, The Danes have served you right, ye accursed! +The so-called soldiers, one finds, made not the least fight anywhere; +could make none, led and guided as they were, and the "Generals" often +enough traitors, always ignorant, and blockheads, were in the habit, +when expressly commanded to fight, of taking physic, and declaring that +nature was incapable of castor-oil and battle both at once. This +ought to be explained a little to the modern English and their +War-Secretaries, who undertake the conduct of armies. The undeniable +fact is, defeat on defeat was the constant fate of the English; during +these forty years not one battle in which they were not beaten. No gleam +of victory or real resistance till the noble Edmund Ironside (whom it +is always strange to me how such an Ethelred could produce for son) +made his appearance and ran his brief course, like a great and far-seen +meteor, soon extinguished without result. No remedy for England in that +base time, but yearly asking the victorious, plundering, burning and +murdering Danes, "How much money will you take to go away?" Thirty +thousand pounds in silver, which the annual _Danegelt_ soon rose to, +continued to be about the average yearly sum, though generally on the +increasing hand; in the last year I think it had risen to seventy-two +thousand pounds in silver, raised yearly by a tax (Income-tax of its +kind, rudely levied), the worst of all remedies, good for the day only. +Nay, there was one remedy still worse, which the miserable Ethelred +once tried: that of massacring "all the Danes settled in England" +(practically, of a few thousands or hundreds of them), by treachery and +a kind of Sicilian Vespers. Which issued, as such things usually do, in +terrible monition to you not to try the like again! Issued, namely, in +redoubled fury on the Danish part; new fiercer invasion by Svein's +Jarl Thorkel; then by Svein himself; which latter drove the miserable +Ethelred, with wife and family, into Normandy, to wife's brother, the +then Duke there; and ended that miserable struggle by Svein's becoming +King of England himself. Of this disgraceful massacre, which it would +appear has been immensely exaggerated in the English books, we can +happily give the exact date (A.D. 1002); and also of Svein's victorious +accession (A.D. 1013), [9]--pretty much the only benefit one gets out of +contemplating such a set of objects. + +King Svein's first act was to levy a terribly increased Income-Tax +for the payment of his army. Svein was levying it with a stronghanded +diligence, but had not yet done levying it, when, at Gainsborough one +night, he suddenly died; smitten dead, once used to be said, by St. +Edmund, whilom murdered King of the East Angles; who could not bear +to see his shrine and monastery of St. Edmundsbury plundered by the +Tyrant's tax-collectors, as they were on the point of being. In all ways +impossible, however,--Edmund's own death did not occur till two years +after Svein's. Svein's death, by whatever cause, befell 1014; his fleet, +then lying in the Humber; and only Knut, [10] his eldest son (hardly +yet eighteen, count some), in charge of it; who, on short counsel, and +arrangement about this questionable kingdom of his, lifted anchor; +made for Sandwich, a safer station at the moment; "cut off the feet and +noses" (one shudders, and hopes not, there being some discrepancy about +it!) of his numerous hostages that had been delivered to King Svein; +set them ashore;--and made for Denmark, his natural storehouse and +stronghold, as the hopefulest first thing he could do. + +Knut soon returned from Denmark, with increase of force sufficient for +the English problem; which latter he now ended in a victorious, and +essentially, for himself and chaotic England, beneficent manner. Became +widely known by and by, there and elsewhere, as Knut the Great; and is +thought by judges of our day to have really merited that title. A most +nimble, sharp-striking, clear-thinking, prudent and effective man, who +regulated this dismembered and distracted England in its Church matters, +in its State matters, like a real King. Had a Standing Army (_House +Carles_), who were well paid, well drilled and disciplined, capable of +instantly quenching insurrection or breakage of the peace; and piously +endeavored (with a signal earnestness, and even devoutness, if we look +well) to do justice to all men, and to make all men rest satisfied with +justice. In a word, he successfully strapped up, by every true method +and regulation, this miserable, dislocated, and dissevered mass +of bleeding Anarchy into something worthy to be called an England +again;--only that he died too soon, and a second "Conqueror" of us, +still weightier of structure, and under improved auspices, became +possible, and was needed here! To appearance, Knut himself was capable +of being a Charlemagne of England and the North (as has been already +said or quoted), had he only lived twice as long as he did. But his +whole sum of years seems not to have exceeded forty. His father Svein +of the Forkbeard is reckoned to have been fifty to sixty when St. Edmund +finished him at Gainsborough. We now return to Norway, ashamed of this +long circuit which has been a truancy more or less. + + + +CHAPTER IX. KING OLAF THE THICK-SET'S VIKING DAYS + +King Harald Graenske, who, with another from Russia accidentally lodging +beside him, got burned to death in Sweden, courting that unspeakable +Sigrid the Proud,--was third cousin or so to Tryggve, father of our +heroic Olaf. Accurately counted, he is great-grandson of Bjorn the +Chapman, first of Haarfagr's sons whom Eric Bloodaxe made away with. His +little "kingdom," as he called it, was a district named the Greenland +(_Graeneland_); he himself was one of those little Haarfagr kinglets +whom Hakon Jarl, much more Olaf Tryggveson, was content to leave +reigning, since they would keep the peace with him. Harald had a loving +wife of his own, Aasta the name of her, soon expecting the birth of her +and his pretty babe, named Olaf,--at the time he went on that deplorable +Swedish adventure, the foolish, fated creature, and ended self and +kingdom altogether. Aasta was greatly shocked; composed herself however; +married a new husband, Sigurd Syr, a kinglet, and a great-grandson of +Harald Fairhair, a man of great wealth, prudence, and influence in those +countries; in whose house, as favorite and well-beloved stepson, little +Olaf was wholesomely and skilfully brought up. In Sigurd's house he had, +withal, a special tutor entertained for him, one Rane, known as Rane the +Far-travelled, by whom he could be trained, from the earliest basis, in +Norse accomplishments and arts. New children came, one or two; but +Olaf, from his mother, seems always to have known that he was the +distinguished and royal article there. One day his Foster-father, +hurrying to leave home on business, hastily bade Olaf, no other being +by, saddle his horse for him. Olaf went out with the saddle, chose the +biggest he-goat about, saddled that, and brought it to the door by way +of horse. Old Sigurd, a most grave man, grinned sardonically at the +sight. "Hah, I see thou hast no mind to take commands from me; thou art +of too high a humor to take commands." To which, says Snorro, Boy Olaf +answered little except by laughing, till Sigurd saddled for himself, and +rode away. His mother Aasta appears to have been a thoughtful, prudent +woman, though always with a fierce royalism at the bottom of her memory, +and a secret implacability on that head. + +At the age of twelve Olaf went to sea; furnished with a little fleet, +and skilful sea-counsellor, expert old Rane, by his Foster-father, +and set out to push his fortune in the world. Rane was a steersman and +counsellor in these incipient times; but the crew always called Olaf +"King," though at first, as Snorro thinks, except it were in the hour of +battle, he merely pulled an oar. He cruised and fought in this capacity +on many seas and shores; passed several years, perhaps till the age +of nineteen or twenty, in this wild element and way of life; fighting +always in a glorious and distinguished manner. In the hour of battle, +diligent enough "to amass property," as the Vikings termed it; and in +the long days and nights of sailing, given over, it is likely, to his +own thoughts and the unfathomable dialogue with the ever-moaning Sea; +not the worst High School a man could have, and indeed infinitely +preferable to the most that are going even now, for a high and deep +young soul. + +His first distinguished expedition was to Sweden: natural to go thither +first, to avenge his poor father's death, were it nothing more. Which +he did, the Skalds say, in a distinguished manner; making victorious and +handsome battle for himself, in entering Maelare Lake; and in getting +out of it again, after being frozen there all winter, showing still more +surprising, almost miraculous contrivance and dexterity. This was the +first of his glorious victories, of which the Skalds reckon up some +fourteen or thirteen very glorious indeed, mostly in the Western and +Southern countries, most of all in England; till the name of Olaf +Haraldson became quite famous in the Viking and strategic world. He +seems really to have learned the secrets of his trade, and to have been, +then and afterwards, for vigilance, contrivance, valor, and promptitude +of execution, a superior fighter. Several exploits recorded of him +betoken, in simple forms, what may be called a military genius. + +The principal, and to us the alone interesting, of his exploits seem +to have lain in England, and, what is further notable, always on the +anti-Svein side. English books do not mention him at all that I can +find; but it is fairly credible that, as the Norse records report, +in the end of Ethelred's reign, he was the ally or hired general of +Ethelred, and did a great deal of sea-fighting, watching, sailing, and +sieging for this miserable king and Edmund Ironside, his son. Snorro +says expressly, London, the impregnable city, had to be besieged again +for Ethelred's behoof (in the interval between Svein's death and young +Knut's getting back from Denmark), and that our Olaf Haraldson was +the great engineer and victorious captor of London on that singular +occasion,--London captured for the first time. The Bridge, as usual, +Snorro says, offered almost insuperable obstacles. But the engineering +genius of Olaf contrived huge "platforms of wainscoting [old walls +of wooden houses, in fact], bound together by withes;" these, carried +steadily aloft above the ships, will (thinks Olaf) considerably secure +them and us from the destructive missiles, big boulder stones, and +other, mischief profusely showered down on us, till we get under the +Bridge with axes and cables, and do some good upon it. Olaf's plan +was tried; most of the other ships, in spite of their wainscoting and +withes, recoiled on reaching the Bridge, so destructive were the boulder +and other missile showers. But Olaf's ships and self got actually under +the Bridge; fixed all manner of cables there; and then, with the river +current in their favor, and the frightened ships rallying to help in +this safer part of the enterprise, tore out the important piles and +props, and fairly broke the poor Bridge, wholly or partly, down into +the river, and its Danish defenders into immediate surrender. That is +Snorro's account. + +On a previous occasion, Olaf had been deep in a hopeful combination with +Ethelred's two younger sons, Alfred and Edward, afterwards King Edward +the Confessor: That they two should sally out from Normandy in strong +force, unite with Olaf in ditto, and, landing on the Thames, do +something effectual for themselves. But impediments, bad weather or the +like, disheartened the poor Princes, and it came to nothing. Olaf was +much in Normandy, what they then called Walland; a man held in honor by +those Norman Dukes. + +What amount of "property" he had amassed I do not know, but could prove, +were it necessary, that he had acquired some tactical or even strategic +faculty and real talent for war. At Lymfjord, in Jutland, but some +years after this (A.D. 1027), he had a sea-battle with the great Knut +himself,--ships combined with flood-gates, with roaring, artificial +deluges; right well managed by King Olaf; which were within a +hair's-breadth of destroying Knut, now become a King and Great; and did +in effect send him instantly running. But of this more particularly by +and by. + +What still more surprises me is the mystery, where Olaf, in this +wandering, fighting, sea-roving life, acquired his deeply religious +feeling, his intense adherence to the Christian Faith. I suppose it +had been in England, where many pious persons, priestly and other, were +still to be met with, that Olaf had gathered these doctrines; and that +in those his unfathomable dialogues with the ever-moaning Ocean, they +had struck root downwards in the soul of him, and borne fruit upwards to +the degree so conspicuous afterwards. It is certain he became a deeply +pious man during these long Viking cruises; and directed all his +strength, when strength and authority were lent him, to establishing +the Christian religion in his country, and suppressing and abolishing +Vikingism there; both of which objects, and their respective worth and +unworth, he, must himself have long known so well. + +It was well on in A.D. 1016 that Knut gained his last victory, at +Ashdon, in Essex, where the earth pyramids and antique church near by +still testify the thankful piety of Knut,--or, at lowest his joy at +having _won_ instead of lost and perished, as he was near doing there. +And it was still this same year when the noble Edmund Ironside, after +forced partition-treaty "in the Isle of Alney," got scandalously +murdered, and Knut became indisputable sole King of England, and +decisively settled himself to his work of governing there. In the year +before either of which events, while all still hung uncertain for Knut, +and even Eric Jarl of Norway had to be summoned in aid of him, in that +year 1015, as one might naturally guess and as all Icelandic hints +and indications lead us to date the thing, Olaf had decided to give +up Vikingism in all its forms; to return to Norway, and try whether he +could not assert the place and career that belonged to him there. Jarl +Eric had vanished with all his war forces towards England, leaving only +a boy, Hakon, as successor, and Svein, his own brother,--a quiet man, +who had always avoided war. Olaf landed in Norway without obstacle; but +decided to be quiet till he had himself examined and consulted friends. + +His reception by his mother Aasta was of the kindest and proudest, and +is lovingly described by Snorro. A pretty idyllic, or epic piece, of +_Norse_ Homeric type: How Aasta, hearing of her son's advent, set all +her maids and menials to work at the top of their speed; despatched a +runner to the harvest-field, where her husband Sigurd was, to warn him +to come home and dress. How Sigurd was standing among his harvest folk, +reapers and binders; and what he had on,--broad slouch hat, with veil +(against the midges), blue kirtle, hose of I forget what color, with +laced boots; and in his hand a stick with silver head and ditto ring +upon it;--a personable old gentleman, of the eleventh century, in those +parts. Sigurd was cautious, prudentially cunctatory, though heartily +friendly in his counsel to Olaf as to the King question. Aasta had a +Spartan tone in her wild maternal heart; and assures Olaf that she, with +a half-reproachful glance at Sigurd, will stand by him to the death in +this his just and noble enterprise. Sigurd promises to consult farther +in his neighborhood, and to correspond by messages; the result is, Olaf +resolutely pushing forward himself, resolves to call a Thing, and +openly claim his kingship there. The Thing itself was willing enough: +opposition parties do here and there bestir themselves; but Olaf +is always swifter than they. Five kinglets somewhere in the +Uplands, [11]--all descendants of Haarfagr; but averse to break the +peace, which Jarl Eric and Hakon Jarl both have always willingly allowed +to peaceable people,--seem to be the main opposition party. These five +take the field against Olaf with what force they have; Olaf, one night, +by beautiful celerity and strategic practice which a Friedrich or a +Turenne might have approved, surrounds these Five; and when morning +breaks, there is nothing for them but either death, or else instant +surrender, and swearing of fealty to King Olaf. Which latter branch of +the alternative they gladly accept, the whole five of them, and go home +again. + +This was a beautiful bit of war-practice by King Olaf on land. By +another stroke still more compendious at sea, he had already settled +poor young Hakon, and made him peaceable for a long while. Olaf by +diligent quest and spy-messaging, had ascertained that Hakon, just +returning from Denmark and farewell to Papa and Knut, both now under way +for England, was coasting north towards Trondhjem; and intended on or +about such a day to land in such and such a fjord towards the end of +this Trondhjem voyage. Olaf at once mans two big ships, steers through +the narrow mouth of the said fjord, moors one ship on the north shore, +another on the south; fixes a strong cable, well sunk under water, to +the capstans of these two; and in all quietness waits for Hakon. Before +many hours, Hakon's royal or quasi-royal barge steers gaily into this +fjord; is a little surprised, perhaps, to see within the jaws of it two +big ships at anchor, but steers gallantly along, nothing doubting. Olaf +with a signal of "All hands," works his two capstans; has the cable +up high enough at the right moment, catches with it the keel of poor +Hakon's barge, upsets it, empties it wholly into the sea. Wholly into +the sea; saves Hakon, however, and his people from drowning, and brings +them on board. His dialogue with poor young Hakon, especially poor young +Hakon's responses, is very pretty. Shall I give it, out of Snorro, and +let the reader take it for as authentic as he can? It is at least +the true image of it in authentic Snorro's head, little more than two +centuries later. + +"Jarl Hakon was led up to the king's ship. He was the handsomest man +that could be seen. He had long hair as fine as silk, bound about his +head with a gold ornament. When he sat down in the forehold the king +said to him: + +_King._ "'It is not false, what is said of your family, that ye are +handsome people to look at; but now your luck has deserted you.' + +_Hakon._ "'It has always been the case that success is changeable; and +there is no luck in the matter. It has gone with your family as with +mine to have by turns the better lot. I am little beyond childhood in +years; and at any rate we could not have defended ourselves, as we did +not expect any attack on the way. It may turn out better with us another +time.' + +_King._ "'Dost thou not apprehend that thou art in such a condition +that, hereafter, there can be neither victory nor defeat for thee?' + +_Hakon._ "'That is what only thou canst determine, King, according to +thy pleasure.' + +_King._ "'What wilt thou give me, Jarl, if, for this time, I let thee +go, whole and unhurt?' + +_Hakon._ "'What wilt thou take, King?' + +_King._ "'Nothing, except that thou shalt leave the country; give up thy +kingdom; and take an oath that thou wilt never go into battle against +me.'" [12] + +Jarl Hakon accepted the generous terms; went to England and King Knut, +and kept his bargain for a good few years; though he was at last driven, +by pressure of King Knut, to violate it,--little to his profit, as we +shall see. One victorious naval battle with Jarl Svein, Hakon's uncle, +and his adherents, who fled to Sweden, after his beating,--battle not +difficult to a skilful, hard-hitting king,--was pretty much all the +actual fighting Olaf had to do in this enterprise. He various times +met angry Bonders and refractory Things with arms in their hand; but by +skilful, firm management,--perfectly patient, but also perfectly ready +to be active,--he mostly managed without coming to strokes; and was +universally recognized by Norway as its real king. A promising young +man, and fit to be a king, thinks Snorro. Only of middle stature, almost +rather shortish; but firm-standing, and stout-built; so that they got +to call him Olaf the Thick (meaning Olaf the Thick-set, or Stout-built), +though his final epithet among them was infinitely higher. For the +rest, "a comely, earnest, prepossessing look; beautiful yellow hair in +quantity; broad, honest face, of a complexion pure as snow and rose;" +and finally (or firstly) "the brightest eyes in the world; such that, +in his anger, no man could stand them." He had a heavy task ahead, and +needed all his qualities and fine gifts to get it done. + + + +CHAPTER X. REIGN OF KING OLAF THE SAINT. + +The late two Jarls, now gone about their business, had both been +baptized, and called themselves Christians. But during their government +they did nothing in the conversion way; left every man to choose his own +God or Gods; so that some had actually two, the Christian God by land, +and at sea Thor, whom they considered safer in that element. And in +effect the mass of the people had fallen back into a sluggish heathenism +or half-heathenism, the life-labor of Olaf Tryggveson lying ruinous or +almost quite overset. The new Olaf, son of Harald, set himself with +all his strength to mend such a state of matters; and stood by his +enterprise to the end, as the one highest interest, including all +others, for his People and him. His method was by no means soft; on +the contrary, it was hard, rapid, severe,--somewhat on the model of +Tryggveson's, though with more of _bishoping_ and preaching superadded. +Yet still there was a great deal of mauling, vigorous punishing, and an +entire intolerance of these two things: Heathenism and Sea-robbery, at +least of Sea-robbery in the old style; whether in the style we moderns +still practise, and call privateering, I do not quite know. But +Vikingism proper had to cease in Norway; still more, Heathenism, under +penalties too severe to be borne; death, mutilation of limb, not to +mention forfeiture and less rigorous coercion. Olaf was inexorable +against violation of the law. "Too severe," cried many; to whom one +answers, "Perhaps in part _yes_, perhaps also in great part _no_; +depends altogether on the previous question, How far the law was the +eternal one of God Almighty in the universe, How far the law merely +of Olaf (destitute of right inspiration) left to his own passions and +whims?" + +Many were the jangles Olaf had with the refractory Heathen Things and +Ironbeards of a new generation: very curious to see. Scarcely ever did +it come to fighting between King and Thing, though often enough near it; +but the Thing discerning, as it usually did in time, that the King was +stronger in men, seemed to say unanimously to itself, "We have lost, +then; baptize us, we must burn our old gods and conform." One new +feature we do slightly discern: here and there a touch of theological +argument on the heathen side. At one wild Thing, far up in the +Dovrefjeld, of a very heathen temper, there was much of that; not to be +quenched by King Olaf at the moment; so that it had to be adjourned till +the morrow, and again till the next day. Here are some traits of it, +much abridged from Snorro (who gives a highly punctual account), which +vividly represent Olaf's posture and manner of proceeding in such +intricacies. + +The chief Ironbeard on this occasion was one Gudbrand, a very rugged +peasant; who, says Snorro, was like a king in that district. Some days +before, King Olaf, intending a religious Thing in those deeply heathen +parts, with alternative of Christianity or conflagration, is reported, +on looking down into the valley and the beautiful village of Loar +standing there, to have said wistfully, "What a pity it is that so +beautiful a village should be burnt!" Olaf sent out his message-token +all the same however, and met Gudbrand and an immense assemblage, +whose humor towards him was uncompliant to a high degree indeed. Judge +by this preliminary speech of Gudbrand to his Thing-people, while Olaf +was not yet arrived, but only advancing, hardly got to Breeden on the +other side of the hill: "A man has come to Loar who is called Olaf," +said Gudbrand, "and will force upon us another faith than we had before, +and will break in pieces all our Gods. He says he has a much greater +and more powerful God; and it is wonderful that the earth does not burst +asunder under him, or that our God lets him go about unpunished when +he dares to talk such things. I know this for certain, that if we carry +Thor, who has always stood by us, out of our Temple that is standing +upon this farm, Olaf's God will melt away, and he and his men be made +nothing as soon as Thor looks upon them." Whereupon the Bonders all +shouted as one man, "Yea!" + +Which tremendous message they even forwarded to Olaf, by Gudbrand's +younger son at the head of 700 armed men; but did not terrify Olaf with +it, who, on the contrary, drew up his troops, rode himself at the head +of them, and began a speech to the Bonders, in which he invited them to +adopt Christianity, as the one true faith for mortals. + +Far from consenting to this, the Bonders raised a general shout, smiting +at the same time their shields with their weapons; but Olaf's men +advancing on them swiftly, and flinging spears, they turned and ran, +leaving Gudbrand's son behind, a prisoner, to whom Olaf gave his life: +"Go home now to thy father, and tell him I mean to be with him soon." + +The son goes accordingly, and advises his father not to face Olaf; but +Gudbrand angrily replies: "Ha, coward! I see thou, too, art taken by +the folly that man is going about with;" and is resolved to fight. That +night, however, Gudbrand has a most remarkable Dream, or Vision: a Man +surrounded by light, bringing great terror with him, who warns Gudbrand +against doing battle with Olaf. "If thou dost, thou and all thy people +will fall; wolves will drag away thee and thine; ravens will tear +thee in stripes!" And lo, in telling this to Thord Potbelly, a sturdy +neighbor of his and henchman in the Thing, it is found that to Thord +also has come the self same terrible Apparition! Better propose truce to +Olaf (who seems to have these dreadful Ghostly Powers on his side), and +the holding of a Thing, to discuss matters between us. Thing assembles, +on a day of heavy rain. Being all seated, uprises King Olaf, and informs +them: "The people of Lesso, Loar, and Vaage, have accepted Christianity, +and broken down their idol-houses: they believe now in the True God, who +has made heaven and earth, and knows all things;" and sits down again +without more words. + +"Gudbrand replies, 'We know nothing about him of whom thou speakest. +Dost thou call him God, whom neither thou nor any one else can see? But +we have a God who can be seen every day, although he is not out to-day +because the weather is wet; and he will appear to thee terrible and very +grand; and I expect that fear will mix with thy very blood when he comes +into the Thing. But since thou sayest thy God is so great, let him make +it so that to-morrow we have a cloudy day, but without rain, and then +let us meet again.' + +"The king accordingly returned home to his lodging, taking Gudbrand's +son as a hostage; but he gave them a man as hostage in exchange. In +the evening the king asked Gudbrand's son What their God was like? He +replied that he bore the likeness of Thor; had a hammer in his hand; was +of great size, but hollow within; and had a high stand, upon which he +stood when he was out. 'Neither gold nor silver are wanting about him, +and every day he receives four cakes of bread, besides meat.' They then +went to bed; but the king watched all night in prayer. When day dawned +the king went to mass; then to table, and from thence to the Thing. The +weather was such as Gudbrand desired. Now the Bishop stood up in his +choir-robes, with bishop's coif on his head, and bishop's crosier in his +hand. He spoke to the Bonders of the true faith, told the many wonderful +acts of God, and concluded his speech well. + +"Thord Potbelly replies, 'Many things we are told of by this learned man +with the staff in his hand, crooked at the top like a ram's horn. But +since you say, comrades, that your God is so powerful, and can do so +many wonders, tell him to make it clear sunshine to-morrow forenoon, and +then we shall meet here again, and do one of two things,--either agree +with you about this business, or fight you.' And they separated for the +day." + +Overnight the king instructed Kolbein the Strong, an immense fellow, +the same who killed Gunhild's two brothers, that he, Kolbein, must +stand next him to-morrow; people must go down to where the ships of the +Bonders lay, and punctually bore holes in every one of them; _item_, to +the farms where their horses wore, and punctually unhalter the whole of +them, and let them loose: all which was done. Snorro continues:-- + +"Now the king was in prayer all night, beseeching God of his goodness +and mercy to release him from evil. When mass was ended, and morning was +gray, the king went to the Thing. When he came thither, some Bonders had +already arrived, and they saw a great crowd coming along, and bearing +among them a huge man's image, glancing with gold and silver. When +the Bonders who were at the Thing saw it, they started up, and bowed +themselves down before the ugly idol. Thereupon it was set down upon the +Thing field; and on the one side of it sat the Bonders, and on the other +the King and his people. + +"Then Dale Gudbrand stood up and said, 'Where now, king, is thy God? I +think he will now carry his head lower; and neither thou, nor the man +with the horn, sitting beside thee there, whom thou callest Bishop, are +so bold to-day as on the former days. For now our God, who rules over +all, is come, and looks on you with an angry eye; and now I see well +enough that you are terrified, and scarcely dare raise your eyes. Throw +away now all your opposition, and believe in the God who has your fate +wholly in his hands.' + +"The king now whispers to Kolbein the Strong, without the Bonders +perceiving it, 'If it come so in the course of my speech that the +Bonders look another way than towards their idol, strike him as hard as +thou canst with thy club.' + +"The king then stood up and spoke. 'Much hast thou talked to us this +morning, and greatly hast thou wondered that thou canst not see our God; +but we expect that he will soon come to us. Thou wouldst frighten us +with thy God, who is both blind and deaf, and cannot even move about +without being carried; but now I expect it will be but a short time +before he meets his fate: for turn your eyes towards the east,--behold +our God advancing in great light.' + +"The sun was rising, and all turned to look. At that moment Kolbein gave +their God a stroke, so that he quite burst asunder; and there ran out +of him mice as big almost as cats, and reptiles and adders. The Bonders +were so terrified that some fled to their ships; but when they sprang +out upon them the ships filled with water, and could not get away. +Others ran to their horses, but could not find them. The king then +ordered the Bonders to be called together, saying he wanted to speak +with them; on which the Bonders came back, and the Thing was again +seated. + +"The king rose up and said, 'I do not understand what your noise and +running mean. You yourselves see what your God can do,--the idol you +adorned with gold and silver, and brought meat and provisions to. You +see now that the protecting powers, who used and got good of all that, +were the mice and adders, the reptiles and lizards; and surely they do +ill who trust to such, and will not abandon this folly. Take now your +gold and ornaments that are lying strewed on the grass, and give them to +your wives and daughters, but never hang them hereafter upon stocks and +stones. Here are two conditions between us to choose upon: either accept +Christianity, or fight this very day, and the victory be to them to whom +the God we worship gives it.' + +"Then Dale Gudbrand stood up and said, 'We have sustained great damage +upon our God; but since he will not help us, we will believe in the God +whom thou believest in.' + +"Then all received Christianity. The Bishop baptized Gudbrand and his +son. King Olaf and Bishop Sigurd left behind them teachers; and they who +met as enemies parted as friends. And afterwards Gudbrand built a church +in the valley." [13] + +Olaf was by no means an unmerciful man,--much the reverse where he saw +good cause. There was a wicked old King Raerik, for example, one +of those five kinglets whom, with their bits of armaments, Olaf by +stratagem had surrounded one night, and at once bagged and subjected +when morning rose, all of them consenting; all of them except this +Raerik, whom Olaf, as the readiest sure course, took home with him; +blinded, and kept in his own house; finding there was no alternative but +that or death to the obstinate old dog, who was a kind of distant cousin +withal, and could not conscientiously be killed. Stone-blind old Raerik +was not always in murderous humor. Indeed, for most part he wore a +placid, conciliatory aspect, and said shrewd amusing things; but +had thrice over tried, with amazing cunning of contrivance, though +stone-blind, to thrust a dagger into Olaf and the last time had all but +succeeded. So that, as Olaf still refused to have him killed, it had +become a problem what was to be done with him. Olaf's good humor, as +well as _his_ quiet, ready sense and practicality, are manifested in his +final settlement of this Raerik problem. Olaf's laugh, I can perceive, +was not so loud as Tryggveson's but equally hearty, coming from the +bright mind of him! + +Besides blind Raerik, Olaf had in his household one Thorarin, an +Icelander; a remarkably ugly man, says Snorro, but a far-travelled, +shrewdly observant, loyal-minded, and good-humored person, whom Olaf +liked to talk with. "Remarkably ugly," says Snorro, "especially in +his hands and feet, which were large and ill-shaped to a degree." +One morning Thorarin, who, with other trusted ones, slept in Olaf's +apartment, was lazily dozing and yawning, and had stretched one of his +feet out of the bed before the king awoke. The foot was still there when +Olaf did open his bright eyes, which instantly lighted on this foot. + +"Well, here is a foot," says Olaf, gayly, "which one seldom sees the +match of; I durst venture there is not another so ugly in this city of +Nidaros." + +"Hah, king!" said Thorarin, "there are few things one cannot match if +one seek long and take pains. I would bet, with thy permission, King, to +find an uglier." + +"Done!" cried Olaf. Upon which Thorarin stretched out the other foot. + +"A still uglier," cried he; "for it has lost the little toe." + +"Ho, ho!" said Olaf; "but it is I who have gained the bet. The _less_ of +an ugly thing the less ugly, not the more!" + +Loyal Thorarin respectfully submitted. + +"What is to be my penalty, then? The king it is that must decide." + +"To take me that wicked old Raerik to Leif Ericson in Greenland." + +Which the Icelander did; leaving two vacant seats henceforth at Olaf's +table. Leif Ericson, son of Eric discoverer of America, quietly managed +Raerik henceforth; sent him to Iceland,--I think to father Eric himself; +certainly to some safe hand there, in whose house, or in some still +quieter neighboring lodging, at his own choice, old Raerik spent the +last three years of his life in a perfectly quiescent manner. + +Olaf's struggles in the matter of religion had actually settled that +question in Norway. By these rough methods of his, whatever we may think +of them, Heathenism had got itself smashed dead; and was no more heard +of in that country. Olaf himself was evidently a highly devout and pious +man;--whosoever is born with Olaf's temper now will still find, as Olaf +did, new and infinite field for it! Christianity in Norway had the like +fertility as in other countries; or even rose to a higher, and what +Dahlmann thinks, exuberant pitch, in the course of the two centuries +which followed that of Olaf. Him all testimony represents to us as a +most righteous no less than most religious king. Continually vigilant, +just, and rigorous was Olaf's administration of the laws; repression +of robbery, punishment of injustice, stern repayment of evil-doers, +wherever he could lay hold of them. + +Among the Bonder or opulent class, and indeed everywhere, for the poor +too can be sinners and need punishment, Olaf had, by this course of +conduct, naturally made enemies. His severity so visible to all, and +the justice and infinite beneficence of it so invisible except to a very +few. But, at any rate, his reign for the first ten years was victorious; +and might have been so to the end, had it not been intersected, and +interfered with, by King Knut in his far bigger orbit and current of +affairs and interests. Knut's English affairs and Danish being all +settled to his mind, he seems, especially after that year of pilgrimage +to Rome, and association with the Pontiffs and Kaisers of the world on +that occasion, to have turned his more particular attention upon Norway, +and the claims he himself had there. Jarl Hakon, too, sister's son of +Knut, and always well seen by him, had long been busy in this direction, +much forgetful of that oath to Olaf when his barge got canted over +by the cable of two capstans, and his life was given him, not without +conditions altogether! + +About the year 1026 there arrived two splendid persons out of England, +bearing King Knut the Great's letter and seal, with a message, likely +enough to be far from welcome to Olaf. For some days Olaf refused to see +them or their letter, shrewdly guessing what the purport would be. Which +indeed was couched in mild language, but of sharp meaning enough: a +notice to King Olaf namely, That Norway was properly, by just heritage, +Knut the Great's; and that Olaf must become the great Knut's liegeman, +and pay tribute to him, or worse would follow. King Olaf listening to +these two splendid persons and their letter, in indignant silence till +they quite ended, made answer: "I have heard say, by old accounts +there are, that King Gorm of Denmark [Blue-tooth's father, Knut's +great-grandfather] was considered but a small king; having Denmark only +and few people to rule over. But the kings who succeeded him thought +that insufficient for them; and it has since come so far that King Knut +rules over both Denmark and England, and has conquered for himself a +part of Scotland. And now he claims also my paternal bit of heritage; +cannot be contented without that too. Does he wish to rule over all the +countries of the North? Can he eat up all the kale in England itself, +this Knut the Great? He shall do that, and reduce his England to a +desert, before I lay my head in his hands, or show him any other kind +of vassalage. And so I bid you tell him these my words: I will defend +Norway with battle-axe and sword as long as life is given me, and will +pay tax to no man for my kingdom." Words which naturally irritated Knut +to a high degree. + +Next year accordingly (year 1027), tenth or eleventh year of Olaf's +reign, there came bad rumors out of England: That Knut was equipping an +immense army,--land-army, and such a fleet as had never sailed before; +Knut's own ship in it,--a Gold Dragon with no fewer than sixty benches +of oars. Olaf and Onund King of Sweden, whose sister he had married, +well guessed whither this armament was bound. They were friends withal, +they recognized their common peril in this imminence; and had, in +repeated consultations, taken measures the best that their united skill +(which I find was mainly Olaf's but loyally accepted by the other) could +suggest. It was in this year that Olaf (with his Swedish king assisting) +did his grand feat upon Knut in Lymfjord of Jutland, which was already +spoken of. The special circumstances of which were these: + +Knut's big armament arriving on the Jutish coasts too late in the +season, and the coast country lying all plundered into temporary wreck +by the two Norse kings, who shrank away on sight of Knut, there was +nothing could be done upon them by Knut this year,--or, if anything, +what? Knut's ships ran into Lymfjord, the safe-sheltered frith, or +intricate long straggle of friths and straits, which almost cuts Jutland +in two in that region; and lay safe, idly rocking on the waters there, +uncertain what to do farther. At last he steered in his big ship and +some others, deeper into the interior of Lymfjord, deeper and deeper +onwards to the mouth of a big river called the Helge (_Helge-aa_, the +Holy River, not discoverable in my poor maps, but certainly enough still +existing and still flowing somewhere among those intricate straits and +friths), towards the bottom of which Helge river lay, in some safe nook, +the small combined Swedish and Norse fleet, under the charge of Onund, +the Swedish king, while at the top or source, which is a biggish +mountain lake, King Olaf had been doing considerable engineering works, +well suited to such an occasion, and was now ready at a moment's notice. +Knut's fleet having idly taken station here, notice from the Swedish +king was instantly sent; instantly Olaf's well-engineered flood-gates +were thrown open; from the swollen lake a huge deluge of water was +let loose; Olaf himself with all his people hastening down to join his +Swedish friend, and get on board in time; Helge river all the while +alongside of him, with ever-increasing roar, and wider-spreading deluge, +hastening down the steeps in the night-watches. So that, along with Olaf +or some way ahead of him, came immeasurable roaring waste of waters +upon Knut's negligent fleet; shattered, broke, and stranded many of his +ships, and was within a trifle of destroying the Golden Dragon herself, +with Knut on board. Olaf and Onund, we need not say, were promptly there +in person, doing their very best; the railings of the Golden Dragon, +however, were too high for their little ships; and Jarl Ulf, husband +of Knut's sister, at the top of his speed, courageously intervening, +spoiled their stratagem, and saved Knut from this very dangerous pass. + +Knut did nothing more this winter. The two Norse kings, quite unequal to +attack such an armament, except by ambush and engineering, sailed away; +again plundering at discretion on the Danish coast; carrying into Sweden +great booties and many prisoners; but obliged to lie fixed all winter; +and indeed to leave their fleets there for a series of winters,--Knut's +fleet, posted at Elsinore on both sides of the Sound, rendering all +egress from the Baltic impossible, except at his pleasure. Ulf's +opportune deliverance of his royal brother-in-law did not much bestead +poor Ulf himself. He had been in disfavor before, pardoned with +difficulty, by Queen Emma's intercession; an ambitious, officious, +pushing, stirring, and, both in England and Denmark, almost dangerous +man; and this conspicuous accidental merit only awoke new jealousy in +Knut. Knut, finding nothing pass the Sound worth much blockading, went +ashore; "and the day before Michaelmas," says Snorro, "rode with a great +retinue to Roeskilde." Snorro continues his tragic narrative of what +befell there: + +"There Knut's brother-in-law, Jarl Ulf, had prepared a great feast for +him. The Jarl was the most agreeable of hosts; but the King was silent +and sullen. The Jarl talked to him in every way to make him cheerful, +and brought forward everything he could think of to amuse him; but the +King remained stern, and speaking little. At last the Jarl proposed a +game of chess, which he agreed to. A chess-board was produced, and they +played together. Jarl Ulf was hasty in temper, stiff, and in nothing +yielding; but everything he managed went on well in his hands: and he +was a great warrior, about whom there are many stories. He was the most +powerful man in Denmark next to the King. Jarl Ulf's sister, Gyda, was +married to Jarl Gudin (Godwin) Ulfnadson; and their sons were, Harald +King of England, and Jarl Tosti, Jarl Walthiof, Jarl Mauro-Kaare, and +Jarl Svein. Gyda was the name of their daughter, who was married to the +English King Edward, the Good (whom we call the Confessor). + +"When they had played a while, the King made a false move; on which the +Jarl took a knight from him; but the King set the piece on the board +again, and told the Jarl to make another move. But the Jarl flew angry, +tumbled the chess-board over, rose, and went away. The King said, 'Run +thy ways, Ulf the Fearful.' The Jarl turned round at the door and said, +'Thou wouldst have run farther at Helge river hadst thou been left to +battle there. Thou didst not call me Ulf the Fearful when I hastened to +thy help while the Swedes were beating thee like a dog.' The Jarl then +went out, and went to bed. + +"The following morning, while the King was putting on his clothes, he +said to his footboy, 'Go thou to Jarl Ulf and kill him.' The lad went, +was away a while, and then came back. The King said, 'Hast thou killed +the Jarl?' 'I did not kill him, for he was gone to St. Lucius's church.' +There was a man called Ivar the White, a Norwegian by birth, who was the +King's courtman and chamberlain. The King said to him, 'Go thou and kill +the Jarl.' Ivar went to the church, and in at the choir, and thrust +his sword through the Jarl, who died on the spot. Then Ivar went to the +King, with the bloody sword in his hand. + +"The King said, 'Hast thou killed the Jarl?' 'I have killed him,' said +he. 'Thou hast done well,' answered the King." I + +From a man who built so many churches (one on each battlefield where +he had fought, to say nothing of the others), and who had in him such +depths of real devotion and other fine cosmic quality, this does seem +rather strong! But it is characteristic, withal,--of the man, and +perhaps of the times still more. [14] In any case, it is an event worth +noting, the slain Jarl Ulf and his connections being of importance +in the history of Denmark and of England also. Ulf's wife was Astrid, +sister of Knut, and their only child was Svein, styled afterwards "Svein +Estrithson" ("Astrid-son") when he became noted in the world,--at this +time a beardless youth, who, on the back of this tragedy, fled hastily +to Sweden, where were friends of Ulf. After some ten years' eclipse +there, Knut and both his sons being now dead, Svein reappeared in +Denmark under a new and eminent figure, "Jarl of Denmark," highest +Liegeman to the then sovereign there. Broke his oath to said sovereign, +declared himself, Svein Estrithson, to be real King of Denmark; and, +after much preliminary trouble, and many beatings and disastrous flights +to and fro, became in effect such,--to the wonder of mankind; for he had +not had one victory to cheer him on, or any good luck or merit that one +sees, except that of surviving longer than some others. Nevertheless +he came to be the Restorer, so called, of Danish independence; sole +remaining representative of Knut (or Knut's sister), of Fork-beard, +Blue-tooth, and Old Gorm; and ancestor of all the subsequent kings +of Denmark for some 400 years; himself coming, as we see, only by the +Distaff side, all of the Sword or male side having died so soon. Early +death, it has been observed, was the Great Knut's allotment, and all his +posterity's as well;--fatal limit (had there been no others, which +we see there were) to his becoming "Charlemagne of the North" in any +considerable degree! Jarl Ulf, as we have seen, had a sister, Gyda by +name, wife to Earl Godwin ("Gudin Ulfnadsson," as Snorro calls him) a +very memorable Englishman, whose son and hers, King Harald, _Harold_ +in English books, is the memorablest of all. These things ought to be +better known to English antiquaries, and will perhaps be alluded to +again. + +This pretty little victory or affront, gained over Knut in _Lymfjord_, +was among the last successes of Olaf against that mighty man. Olaf, the +skilful captain he was, need not have despaired to defend his Norway +against Knut and all the world. But he learned henceforth, month by +month ever more tragically, that his own people, seeing softer prospects +under Knut, and in particular the chiefs of them, industriously bribed +by Knut for years past, had fallen away from him; and that his means of +defence were gone. Next summer, Knut's grand fleet sailed, unopposed, +along the coast of Norway; Knut summoning a Thing every here and +there, and in all of them meeting nothing but sky-high acclamation and +acceptance. Olaf, with some twelve little ships, all he now had, lay +quiet in some safe fjord, near Lindenaes, what we now call the Naze, +behind some little solitary isles on the southeast of Norway there; +till triumphant Knut had streamed home again. Home to England again +"Sovereign of Norway" now, with nephew Hakon appointed Jarl and +Vice-regent under him! This was the news Olaf met on venturing out; +and that his worst anticipations were not beyond the sad truth all, or +almost all, the chief Bonders and men of weight in Norway had declared +against him, and stood with triumphant Knut. + +Olaf, with his twelve poor ships, steered vigorously along the coast to +collect money and force,--if such could now anywhere be had. He himself +was resolute to hold out, and try. "Sailing swiftly with a fair wind, +morning cloudy with some showers," he passed the coast of Jedderen, +which was Erling Skjalgson's country, when he got sure notice of an +endless multitude of ships, war-ships, armed merchant ships, all kinds +of shipping-craft, down to fishermen's boats, just getting under way +against him, under the command of Erling Skjalgson,--the powerfulest of +his subjects, once much a friend of Olaf's but now gone against him to +this length, thanks to Olaf's severity of justice, and Knut's abundance +in gold and promises for years back. To that complexion had it come with +Erling; sailing with this immense assemblage of the naval people and +populace of Norway to seize King Olaf, and bring him to the great Knut +dead or alive. + +Erling had a grand new ship of his own, which far outsailed the general +miscellany of rebel ships, and was visibly fast gaining distance on Olaf +himself,--who well understood what Erling's puzzle was, between the tail +of his game (the miscellany of rebel ships, namely) that could not come +up, and the head or general prize of the game which was crowding all +sail to get away; and Olaf took advantage of the same. "Lower your +sails!" said Olaf to his men (though we must go slower). + +"Ho you, we have lost sight of them!" said Erling to his, and put on all +his speed; Olaf going, soon after this, altogether invisible,--behind a +little island that he knew of, whence into a certain fjord or bay (Bay +of Fungen on the maps), which he thought would suit him. "Halt here, and +get out your arms," said Olaf, and had not to wait long till Erling came +bounding in, past the rocky promontory, and with astonishment beheld +Olaf's fleet of twelve with their battle-axes and their grappling-irons +all in perfect readiness. These fell on him, the unready Erling, +simultaneous, like a cluster of angry bees; and in a few minutes cleared +his ship of men altogether, except Erling himself. Nobody asked his +life, nor probably would have got it if he had. Only Erling still +stood erect on a high place on the poop, fiercely defensive, and very +difficult to get at. "Could not be reached at all," says Snorro, "except +by spears or arrows, and these he warded off with untiring dexterity; +no man in Norway, it was said, had ever defended himself so long alone +against many,"--an almost invincible Erling, had his cause been good. +Olaf himself noticed Erling's behavior, and said to him, from the +foredeck below, "Thou hast turned against me to-day, Erling." "The +eagles fight breast to breast," answers he. This was a speech of the +king's to Erling once long ago, while they stood fighting, not as now, +but side by side. The king, with some transient thought of possibility +going through his head, rejoins, "Wilt thou surrender, Erling?" "That +will I," answered he; took the helmet off his head; laid down sword and +shield; and went forward to the forecastle deck. The king pricked, I +think not very harshly, into Erling's chin or beard with the point of +his battle-axe, saying, "I must mark thee as traitor to thy Sovereign, +though." Whereupon one of the bystanders, Aslak Fitiaskalle, stupidly +and fiercely burst up; smote Erling on the head with his axe; so that +it struck fast in his brain and was instantly the death of Erling. +"Ill-luck attend thee for that stroke; thou hast struck Norway out of my +hand by it!" cried the king to Aslak; but forgave the poor fellow, who +had done it meaning well. The insurrectionary Bonder fleet arriving soon +after, as if for certain victory, was struck with astonishment at this +Erling catastrophe; and being now without any leader of authority, +made not the least attempt at battle; but, full of discouragement and +consternation, thankfully allowed Olaf to sail away on his northward +voyage, at discretion; and themselves went off lamenting, with Erling's +dead body. + +This small victory was the last that Olaf had over his many enemies +at present. He sailed along, still northward, day after day; several +important people joined him; but the news from landward grew daily more +ominous: Bonders busily arming to rear of him; and ahead, Hakon still +more busily at Trondhjem, now near by, "--and he will end thy days, +King, if he have strength enough!" Olaf paused; sent scouts to a +hill-top: "Hakon's armament visible enough, and under way hitherward, +about the Isle of Bjarno, yonder!" Soon after, Olaf himself saw the +Bonder armament of twenty-five ships, from the southward, sail past in +the distance to join that of Hakon; and, worse still, his own ships, one +and another (seven in all), were slipping off on a like errand! He +made for the Fjord of Fodrar, mouth of the rugged strath called +Valdal,--which I think still knows Olaf and has now an "Olaf's Highway," +where, nine centuries ago, it scarcely had a path. Olaf entered this +fjord, had his land-tent set up, and a cross beside it, on the small +level green behind the promontory there. Finding that his twelve poor +ships were now reduced to five, against a world all risen upon him, he +could not but see and admit to himself that there was no chance left; +and that he must withdraw across the mountains and wait for a better +time. + +His journey through that wild country, in these forlorn and straitened +circumstances, has a mournful dignity and homely pathos, as described +by Snorro: how he drew up his five poor ships upon the beach, packed all +their furniture away, and with his hundred or so of attendants and their +journey-baggage, under guidance of some friendly Bonder, rode up into +the desert and foot of the mountains; scaled, after three days' effort +(as if by miracle, thought his attendants and thought Snorro), the +well-nigh precipitous slope that led across, never without miraculous +aid from Heaven and Olaf could baggage-wagons have ascended that path! +In short, How he fared along, beset by difficulties and the mournfulest +thoughts; but patiently persisted, steadfastly trusted in God; and was +fixed to return, and by God's help try again. An evidently very pious +and devout man; a good man struggling with adversity, such as the gods, +we may still imagine with the ancients, do look down upon as their +noblest sight. + +He got to Sweden, to the court of his brother-in-law; kindly and nobly +enough received there, though gradually, perhaps, ill-seen by the now +authorities of Norway. So that, before long, he quitted Sweden; left his +queen there with her only daughter, his and hers, the only child they +had; he himself had an only son, "by a bondwoman," Magnus by name, who +came to great things afterwards; of whom, and of which, by and by. With +this bright little boy, and a selected escort of attendants, he moved +away to Russia, to King Jarroslav; where he might wait secure against +all risk of hurting kind friends by his presence. He seems to have been +an exile altogether some two years,--such is one's vague notion; for +there is no chronology in Snorro or his Sagas, and one is reduced to +guessing and inferring. He had reigned over Norway, reckoning from the +first days of his landing there to those last of his leaving it across +the Dovrefjeld, about fifteen years, ten of them shiningly victorious. + +The news from Norway were naturally agitating to King Olaf and, in the +fluctuation of events there, his purposes and prospects varied much. +He sometimes thought of pilgriming to Jerusalem, and a henceforth +exclusively religious life; but for most part his pious thoughts +themselves gravitated towards Norway, and a stroke for his old place and +task there, which he steadily considered to have been committed to him +by God. Norway, by the rumors, was evidently not at rest. Jarl Hakon, +under the high patronage of his uncle, had lasted there but a little +while. I know not that his government was especially unpopular, nor +whether he himself much remembered his broken oath. It appears, however, +he had left in England a beautiful bride; and considering farther that +in England only could bridal ornaments and other wedding outfit of a +sufficiently royal kind be found, he set sail thither, to fetch her and +them himself. One evening of wildish-looking weather he was seen +about the northeast corner of the Pentland Frith; the night rose to be +tempestuous; Hakon or any timber of his fleet was never seen more. Had +all gone down,--broken oaths, bridal hopes, and all else; mouse and +man,--into the roaring waters. There was no farther Opposition-line; the +like of which had lasted ever since old heathen Hakon Jarl, down to this +his grandson Hakon's _finis_ in the Pentland Frith. With this Hakon's +disappearance it now disappeared. + +Indeed Knut himself, though of an empire suddenly so great, was but a +temporary phenomenon. Fate had decided that the grand and wise Knut was +to be short-lived; and to leave nothing as successors but an ineffectual +young Harald Harefoot, who soon perished, and a still stupider +fiercely-drinking Harda-Knut, who rushed down of apoplexy (here in +London City, as I guess), with the goblet at his mouth, drinking health +and happiness at a wedding-feast, also before long. + +Hakon having vanished in this dark way, there ensued a pause, both on +Knut's part and on Norway's. Pause or interregnum of some months, till +it became certain, first, whether Hakon were actually dead, secondly, +till Norway, and especially till King Knut himself, could decide what to +do. Knut, to the deep disappointment, which had to keep itself silent, +of three or four chief Norway men, named none of these three or four +Jarl of Norway; but bethought him of a certain Svein, a bastard son of +his own,--who, and almost still more his English mother, much desired a +career in the world fitter for him, thought they indignantly, than +that of captain over Jomsburg, where alone the father had been able to +provide for him hitherto. Svein was sent to Norway as king or vice-king +for Father Knut; and along with him his fond and vehement mother. +Neither of whom gained any favor from the Norse people by the kind of +management they ultimately came to show. + +Olaf on news of this change, and such uncertainty prevailing everywhere +in Norway as to the future course of things, whether Svein would +come, as was rumored of at last, and be able to maintain himself if he +did,--thought there might be something in it of a chance for himself +and his rights. And, after lengthened hesitation, much prayer, pious +invocation, and consideration, decided to go and try it. The final +grain that had turned the balance, it appears, was a half-waking morning +dream, or almost ocular vision he had of his glorious cousin Olaf +Tryggveson, who severely admonished, exhorted, and encouraged him; and +disappeared grandly, just in the instant of Olaf's awakening; so that +Olaf almost fancied he had seen the very figure of him, as it melted +into air. "Let us on, let us on!" thought Olaf always after that. He +left his son, not in Russia, but in Sweden with the Queen, who proved +very good and carefully helpful in wise ways to him:--in Russia Olaf had +now nothing more to do but give his grateful adieus, and get ready. + +His march towards Sweden, and from that towards Norway and the passes +of the mountains, down Vaerdal, towards Stickelstad, and the crisis +that awaited, is beautifully depicted by Snorro. It has, all of it, +the description (and we see clearly, the fact itself had), a kind of +pathetic grandeur, simplicity, and rude nobleness; something Epic or +Homeric, without the metre or the singing of Homer, but with all the +sincerity, rugged truth to nature, and much more of piety, devoutness, +reverence for what is forever High in this Universe, than meets us +in those old Greek Ballad-mongers. Singularly visual all of it, too, +brought home in every particular to one's imagination, so that it stands +out almost as a thing one actually saw. + +Olaf had about three thousand men with him; gathered mostly as he fared +along through Norway. Four hundred, raised by one Dag, a kinsman whom he +had found in Sweden and persuaded to come with him, marched usually in +a separate body; and were, or might have been, rather an important +element. Learning that the Bonders were all arming, especially in +Trondhjem country, Olaf streamed down towards them in the closest order +he could. By no means very close, subsistence even for three thousand +being difficult in such a country. His speech was almost always free +and cheerful, though his thoughts always naturally were of a high and +earnest, almost sacred tone; devout above all. Stickelstad, a small +poor hamlet still standing where the valley ends, was seen by Olaf, and +tacitly by the Bonders as well, to be the natural place for offering +battle. There Olaf issued out from the hills one morning: drew himself +up according to the best rules of Norse tactics, rules of little +complexity, but perspicuously true to the facts. I think he had a clear +open ground still rather raised above the plain in front; he could see +how the Bonder army had not yet quite arrived, but was pouring forward, +in spontaneous rows or groups, copiously by every path. This was thought +to be the biggest army that ever met in Norway; "certainly not much +fewer than a hundred times a hundred men," according to Snorro; great +Bonders several of them, small Bonders very many,--all of willing +mind, animated with a hot sense of intolerable injuries. "King Olaf had +punished great and small with equal rigor," says Snorro; "which appeared +to the chief people of the country too severe; and animosity rose to the +highest when they lost relatives by the King's just sentence, although +they were in reality guilty. He again would rather renounce his dignity +than omit righteous judgment. The accusation against him, of being +stingy with his money, was not just, for he was a most generous man +towards his friends. But that alone was the cause of the discontent +raised against him, that he appeared hard and severe in his +retributions. Besides, King Knut offered large sums of money, and the +great chiefs were corrupted by this, and by his offering them greater +dignities than they had possessed before." On these grounds, against the +intolerable man, great and small were now pouring along by every path. + +Olaf perceived it would still be some time before the Bonder army was +in rank. His own Dag of Sweden, too, was not yet come up; he was to have +the right banner; King Olaf's own being the middle or grand one; some +other person the third or left banner. All which being perfectly ranked +and settled, according to the best rules, and waiting only the arrival +of Dag, Olaf bade his men sit down, and freshen themselves with a little +rest. There were religious services gone through: a matins-worship such +as there have been few; sternly earnest to the heart of it, and deep as +death and eternity, at least on Olaf's own part. For the rest Thormod +sang a stave of the fiercest Skaldic poetry that was in him; all the +army straightway sang it in chorus with fiery mind. The Bonder of the +nearest farm came up, to tell Olaf that he also wished to fight for him +"Thanks to thee; but don't," said Olaf; "stay at home rather, that the +wounded may have some shelter." To this Bonder, Olaf delivered all the +money he had, with solemn order to lay out the whole of it in masses +and prayers for the souls of such of his enemies as fell. "Such of thy +enemies, King?" "Yes, surely," said Olaf, "my friends will all either +conquer, or go whither I also am going." + +At last the Bonder army too was got ranked; three commanders, one of +them with a kind of loose chief command, having settled to take charge +of it; and began to shake itself towards actual advance. Olaf, in +the mean while, had laid his head on the knees of Finn Arneson, his +trustiest man, and fallen fast asleep. Finn's brother, Kalf Arneson, +once a warm friend of Olaf, was chief of the three commanders on the +opposite side. Finn and he addressed angry speech to one another from +the opposite ranks, when they came near enough. Finn, seeing the enemy +fairly approach, stirred Olaf from his sleep. "Oh, why hast thou wakened +me from such a dream?" said Olaf, in a deeply solemn tone. "What dream +was it, then?" asked Finn. "I dreamt that there rose a ladder here +reaching up to very Heaven," said Olaf; "I had climbed and climbed, +and got to the very last step, and should have entered there hadst thou +given me another moment." "King, I doubt thou art _fey_; I do not quite +like that dream." + +The actual fight began about one of the clock in a most bright last day +of July, and was very fierce and hot, especially on the part of Olaf's +men, who shook the others back a little, though fierce enough they too; +and had Dag been on the ground, which he wasn't yet, it was thought +victory might have been won. Soon after battle joined, the sky grew of +a ghastly brass or copper color, darker and darker, till thick night +involved all things; and did not clear away again till battle was near +ending. Dag, with his four hundred, arrived in the darkness, and made a +furious charge, what was afterwards, in the speech of the people, called +"Dag's storm." Which had nearly prevailed, but could not quite; victory +again inclining to the so vastly larger party. It is uncertain still how +the matter would have gone; for Olaf himself was now fighting with his +own hand, and doing deadly execution on his busiest enemies to right +and to left. But one of these chief rebels, Thorer Hund (thought to have +learnt magic from the Laplanders, whom he long traded with, and made +money by), mysteriously would not fall for Olaf's best strokes. Best +strokes brought only dust from the (enchanted) deer-skin coat of the +fellow, to Olaf's surprise,--when another of the rebel chiefs rushed +forward, struck Olaf with his battle-axe, a wild slashing wound, and +miserably broke his thigh, so that he staggered or was supported back to +the nearest stone; and there sat down, lamentably calling on God to +help him in this bad hour. Another rebel of note (the name of him long +memorable in Norway) slashed or stabbed Olaf a second time, as did then +a third. Upon which the noble Olaf sank dead; and forever quitted this +doghole of a world,--little worthy of such men as Olaf one sometimes +thinks. But that too is a mistake, and even an important one, should we +persist in it. + +With Olaf's death the sky cleared again. Battle, now near done, ended +with complete victory to the rebels, and next to no pursuit or result, +except the death of Olaf everybody hastening home, as soon as the big +Duel had decided itself. Olaf's body was secretly carried, after dark, +to some out-house on the farm near the spot; whither a poor blind +beggar, creeping in for shelter that very evening, was miraculously +restored to sight. And, truly with a notable, almost miraculous, speed, +the feelings of all Norway for King Olaf changed themselves, and were +turned upside down, "within a year," or almost within a day. Superlative +example of _Extinctus amabitur idem._ Not "Olaf the Thick-set" any +longer, but "Olaf the Blessed" or Saint, now clearly in Heaven; such the +name and character of him from that time to this. Two churches dedicated +to him (out of four that once stood) stand in London at this moment. +And the miracles that have been done there, not to speak of Norway and +Christendom elsewhere, in his name, were numerous and great for long +centuries afterwards. Visibly a Saint Olaf ever since; and, indeed, in +_Bollandus_ or elsewhere, I have seldom met with better stuff to make a +Saint of, or a true World-Hero in all good senses. + +Speaking of the London Olaf Churches, I should have added that from one +of these the thrice-famous Tooley Street gets its name,--where those +Three Tailors, addressing Parliament and the Universe, sublimely styled +themselves, "We, the People of England." Saint Olave Street, Saint Oley +Street, Stooley Street, Tooley Street; such are the metamorphoses of +human fame in the world! + +The battle-day of Stickelstad, King Olaf's death-day, is generally +believed to have been Wednesday, July 31, 1033. But on investigation, it +turns out that there was no total eclipse of the sun visible in Norway +that year; though three years before, there was one; but on the 29th +instead of the 31st. So that the exact date still remains uncertain; +Dahlmann, the latest critic, inclining for 1030, and its indisputable +eclipse. [15] + + + +CHAPTER XI. MAGNUS THE GOOD AND OTHERS. + +St. Olaf is the highest of these Norway Kings, and is the last that much +attracts us. For this reason, if a reason were not superfluous, we might +here end our poor reminiscences of those dim Sovereigns. But we will, +nevertheless, for the sake of their connection with bits of English +History, still hastily mention the Dames of one or two who follow, +and who throw a momentary gleam of life and illumination on events and +epochs that have fallen so extinct among ourselves at present, though +once they were so momentous and memorable. + +The new King Svein from Jomsburg, Knut's natural son, had no success in +Norway, nor seems to have deserved any. His English mother and he were +found to be grasping, oppressive persons; and awoke, almost from the +instant that Olaf was suppressed and crushed away from Norway into +Heaven, universal odium more and more in that country. Well-deservedly, +as still appears; for their taxings and extortions of malt, of herring, +of meal, smithwork and every article taxable in Norway, were extreme; +and their service to the country otherwise nearly imperceptible. In +brief their one basis there was the power of Knut the Great; and that, +like all earthly things, was liable to sudden collapse,--and it suffered +such in a notable degree. King Knut, hardly yet of middle age, and +the greatest King in the then world, died at Shaftesbury, in 1035, as +Dahlmann thinks [16],--leaving two legitimate sons and a busy, intriguing +widow (Norman Emma, widow of Ethelred the Unready), mother of the +younger of these two; neither of whom proved to have any talent or any +continuance. In spite of Emma's utmost efforts, Harald, the elder son of +Knut, not hers, got England for his kingdom; Emma and her Harda-Knut +had to be content with Denmark, and go thither, much against their will. +Harald in England,--light-going little figure like his father before +him,--got the name of Harefoot here; and might have done good work among +his now orderly and settled people; but he died almost within year and +day; and has left no trace among us, except that of "Harefoot," from his +swift mode of walking. Emma and her Harda-Knut now returned joyful +to England. But the violent, idle, and drunken Harda-Knut did no good +there; and, happily for England and him, soon suddenly ended, by stroke +of apoplexy at a marriage festival, as mentioned above. In Denmark he +had done still less good. And indeed,--under him, in a year or two, the +grand imperial edifice, laboriously built by Knut's valor and wisdom, +had already tumbled all to the ground, in a most unexpected and +remarkable way. As we are now to indicate with all brevity. + + + +Svein's tyrannies in Norway had wrought such fruit that, within the four +years after Olaf's death, the chief men in Norway, the very slayers of +King Olaf, Kalf Arneson at the head of them, met secretly once or twice; +and unanimously agreed that Kalf Arneson must go to Sweden, or to Russia +itself; seek young Magnus, son of Olaf home: excellent Magnus, to be +king over all Norway and them, instead of this intolerable Svein. Which +was at once done,--Magnus brought home in a kind of triumph, all Norway +waiting for him. Intolerable Svein had already been rebelled against: +some years before this, a certain young Tryggve out of Ireland, +authentic son of Olaf Tryggveson, and of that fine Irish Princess who +chose him in his low habiliments and low estate, and took him over to +her own Green Island,--this royal young Tryggve Olafson had invaded the +usurper Svein, in a fierce, valiant, and determined manner; and though +with too small a party, showed excellent fight for some time; till +Svein, zealously bestirring himself, managed to get him beaten and +killed. But that was a couple of years ago; the party still too small, +not including one and all as now! Svein, without stroke of sword this +time, moved off towards Denmark; never showing face in Norway again. His +drunken brother, Harda-Knut, received him brother-like; even gave him +some territory to rule over and subsist upon. But he lived only a short +while; was gone before Harda-Knut himself; and we will mention him no +more. + +Magnus was a fine bright young fellow, and proved a valiant, wise, and +successful King, known among his people as Magnus the Good. He was only +natural son of King Olaf but that made little difference in those times +and there. His strange-looking, unexpected Latin name he got in this +way: Alfhild, his mother, a slave through ill-luck of war, though nobly +born, was seen to be in a hopeful way; and it was known in the King's +house how intimately Olaf was connected with that occurrence, and +how much he loved this "King's serving-maid," as she was commonly +designated. Alfhild was brought to bed late at night; and all the world, +especially King Olaf was asleep; Olaf's strict rule, then and always, +being, Don't awaken me:--seemingly a man sensitive about his sleep. The +child was a boy, of rather weakly aspect; no important person present, +except Sigvat, the King's Icelandic Skald, who happened to be still +awake; and the Bishop of Norway, who, I suppose, had been sent for in +hurry. "What is to be done?" said the Bishop: "here is an infant in +pressing need of baptism; and we know not what the name is: go, Sigvat, +awaken the King, and ask." "I dare not for my life," answered Sigvat; +"King's orders are rigorous on that point." "But if the child die +unbaptized," said the Bishop, shuddering; too certain, he and everybody, +where the child would go in that case! "I will myself give him a name," +said Sigvat, with a desperate concentration of all his faculties; "he +shall be namesake of the greatest of mankind,--imperial Carolus Magnus; +let us call the infant Magnus!" King Olaf, on the morrow, asked rather +sharply how Sigvat had dared take such a liberty; but excused Sigvat, +seeing what the perilous alternative was. And Magnus, by such accident, +this boy was called; and he, not another, is the prime origin and +introducer of that name Magnus, which occurs rather frequently, not +among the Norman Kings only, but by and by among the Danish and Swedish; +and, among the Scandinavian populations, appears to be rather frequent +to this day. + +Magnus, a youth of great spirit, whose own, and standing at his +beck, all Norway now was, immediately smote home on Denmark; desirous +naturally of vengeance for what it had done to Norway, and the sacred +kindred of Magnus. Denmark, its great Knut gone, and nothing but a +drunken Harda-Knut, fugitive Svein and Co., there in his stead, was +become a weak dislocated Country. And Magnus plundered in it, burnt it, +beat it, as often as he pleased; Harda-Knut struggling what he could to +make resistance or reprisals, but never once getting any victory over +Magnus. Magnus, I perceive, was, like his Father, a skilful as well +as valiant fighter by sea and land; Magnus, with good battalions, and +probably backed by immediate alliance with Heaven and St. Olaf, as +was then the general belief or surmise about him, could not easily be +beaten. And the truth is, he never was, by Harda-Knut or any other. +Harda-Knut's last transaction with him was, To make a firm Peace and +even Family-treaty sanctioned by all the grandees of both countries, who +did indeed mainly themselves make it; their two Kings assenting: That +there should be perpetual Peace, and no thought of war more, between +Denmark and Norway; and that, if either of the Kings died childless +while the other was reigning, the other should succeed him in both +Kingdoms. A magnificent arrangement, such as has several times been +made in the world's history; but which in this instance, what is very +singular, took actual effect; drunken Harda-Knut dying so speedily, and +Magnus being the man he was. One would like to give the date of this +remarkable Treaty; but cannot with precision. Guess somewhere about +1040: [17] actual fruition of it came to Magnus, beyond question, in +1042, when Harda-Knut drank that wassail bowl at the wedding in Lambeth, +and fell down dead; which in the Saxon Chronicle is dated 3d June of +that year. Magnus at once went to Denmark on hearing this event; was +joyfully received by the headmen there, who indeed, with their fellows +in Norway, had been main contrivers of the Treaty; both Countries +longing for mutual peace, and the end of such incessant broils. + +Magnus was triumphantly received as King in Denmark. The only +unfortunate thing was, that Svein Estrithson, the exile son of Ulf, +Knut's Brother-in-law, whom Knut, as we saw, had summarily killed twelve +years before, emerged from his exile in Sweden in a flattering form; +and proposed that Magnus should make him Jarl of Denmark, and general +administrator there, in his own stead. To which the sanguine Magnus, in +spite of advice to the contrary, insisted on acceding. "Too powerful a +Jarl," said Einar Tamberskelver--the same Einar whose bow was heard to +break in Olaf Tryggveson's last battle ("Norway breaking from thy hand, +King!"), who had now become Magnus's chief man, and had long been +among the highest chiefs in Norway; "too powerful a Jarl," said Einar +earnestly. But Magnus disregarded it; and a troublesome experience had +to teach him that it was true. In about a year, crafty Svein, bringing +ends to meet, got himself declared King of Denmark for his own behoof, +instead of Jarl for another's: and had to be beaten and driven out by +Magnus. Beaten every year; but almost always returned next year, for a +new beating,--almost, though not altogether; having at length got one +dreadful smashing-down and half-killing, which held him quiet for a +while,--so long as Magnus lived. Nay in the end, he made good his point, +as if by mere patience in being beaten; and did become King himself, +and progenitor of all the Kings that followed. King Svein Estrithson; +so called from Astrid or Estrith, his mother, the great Knut's sister, +daughter of Svein Forkbeard by that amazing Sigrid the Proud, who +_burnt_ those two ineligible suitors of hers both at once, and got a +switch on the face from Olaf Tryggveson, which proved the death of that +high man. + +But all this fine fortune of the often beaten Estrithson was posterior +to Magnus's death; who never would have suffered it, had he been alive. +Magnus was a mighty fighter; a fiery man; very proud and positive, +among other qualities, and had such luck as was never seen before. Luck +invariably good, said everybody; never once was beaten,--which proves, +continued everybody, that his Father Olaf and the miraculous power of +Heaven were with him always. Magnus, I believe, did put down a great +deal of anarchy in those countries. One of his earliest enterprises +was to abolish Jomsburg, and trample out that nest of pirates. Which +he managed so completely that Jomsburg remained a mere reminiscence +thenceforth; and its place is not now known to any mortal. + +One perverse thing did at last turn up in the course of Magnus: a new +Claimant for the Crown of Norway, and he a formidable person withal. +This was Harald, half-brother of the late Saint Olaf; uncle or +half-uncle, therefore, of Magnus himself. Indisputable son of the +Saint's mother by St. Olaf's stepfather, who was, himself descended +straight from Harald Haarfagr. This new Harald was already much heard of +in the world. As an ardent Boy of fifteen he had fought at King Olaf's +side at Stickelstad; would not be admonished by the Saint to go away. +Got smitten down there, not killed; was smuggled away that night from +the field by friendly help; got cured of his wounds, forwarded to +Russia, where he grew to man's estate, under bright auspices and +successes. Fell in love with the Russian Princess, but could not get +her to wife; went off thereupon to Constantinople as _Vaeringer_ +(Life-Guardsman of the Greek Kaiser); became Chief Captain of the +Vaeringers, invincible champion of the poor Kaisers that then were, +and filled all the East with the shine and noise of his exploits. An +authentic _Waring_ or _Baring_, such the surname we now have derived +from these people; who were an important institution in those Greek +countries for several ages: Vaeringer Life-Guard, consisting of +Norsemen, with sometimes a few English among them. Harald had +innumerable adventures, nearly always successful, sing the Skalds; +gained a great deal of wealth, gold ornaments, and gold coin; had even +Queen Zoe (so they sing, though falsely) enamored of him at one time; +and was himself a Skald of eminence; some of whose verses, by no means +the worst of their kind, remain to this day. + +This character of Waring much distinguishes Harald to me; the only +Vaeringer of whom I could ever get the least biography, true or +half-true. It seems the Greek History-books but indifferently correspond +with these Saga records; and scholars say there could have been no +considerable romance between Zoe and him, Zoe at that date being 60 +years of age! Harald's own lays say nothing of any Zoe, but are still +full of longing for his Russian Princess far away. + +At last, what with Zoes, what with Greek perversities and perfidies, and +troubles that could not fail, he determined on quitting Greece; packed +up his immensities of wealth in succinct shape, and actually returned +to Russia, where new honors and favors awaited him from old friends, and +especially, if I mistake not, the hand of that adorable Princess, crown +of all his wishes for the time being. Before long, however, he decided +farther to look after his Norway Royal heritages; and, for that purpose, +sailed in force to the Jarl or quasi-King of Denmark, the often-beaten +Svein, who was now in Sweden on his usual winter exile after beating. +Svein and he had evidently interests in common. Svein was charmed to see +him, so warlike, glorious and renowned a man, with masses of money about +him, too. Svein did by and by become treacherous; and even attempted, +one night, to assassinate Harald in his bed on board ship: but Harald, +vigilant of Svein, and a man of quick and sure insight, had providently +gone to sleep elsewhere, leaving a log instead of himself among the +blankets. In which log, next morning, treacherous Svein's battle-axe was +found deeply sticking: and could not be removed without difficulty! But +this was after Harald and King Magnus himself bad begun treating; with +the fairest prospects,--which this of the $vein battle-axe naturally +tended to forward, as it altogether ended the other copartnery. + +Magnus, on first hearing of Vaeringer Harald and his intentions, made +instant equipment, and determination to fight his uttermost against +the same. But wise persons of influence round him, as did the like +sort round Vaeringer Harald, earnestly advised compromise and peaceable +agreement. Which, soon after that of Svein's nocturnal battle-axe, +was the course adopted; and, to the joy of all parties, did prove +a successful solution. Magnus agreed to part his kingdom with Uncle +Harald; uncle parting his treasures, or uniting them with Magnus's +poverty. Each was to be an independent king, but they were to govern in +common; Magnus rather presiding. He, to sit, for example, in the High +Seat alone; King Harald opposite him in a seat not quite so high, though +if a stranger King came on a visit, both the Norse Kings were to sit +in the High Seat. With various other punctilious regulations; which the +fiery Magnus was extremely strict with; rendering the mutual relation a +very dangerous one, had not both the Kings been honest men, and Harald +a much more prudent and tolerant one than Magnus. They, on the whole, +never had any weighty quarrel, thanks now and then rather to Harald +than to Magnus. Magnus too was very noble; and Harald, with his wide +experience and greater length of years, carefully held his heat of +temper well covered in. + +Prior to Uncle Harald's coming, Magnus had distinguished himself as a +Lawgiver. His Code of Laws for the Trondhjem Province was considered +a pretty piece of legislation; and in subsequent times got the name of +_Gray-goose_ (Gragas); one of the wonderfulest names ever given to a +wise Book. Some say it came from the gray color of the parchment, some +give other incredible origins; the last guess I have heard is, that +the name merely denotes antiquity; the witty name in Norway for a man +growing old having been, in those times, that he was now "becoming a +gray-goose." Very fantastic indeed; certain, however, that Gray-goose is +the name of that venerable Law Book; nay, there is another, still more +famous, belonging to Iceland, and not far from a century younger, the +Iceland _Gray-goose._ The Norway one is perhaps of date about 1037, the +other of about 1118; peace be with them both! Or, if anybody is inclined +to such matters let him go to Dahlmann, for the amplest information and +such minuteness of detail as might almost enable him to be an Advocate, +with Silk Gown, in any Court depending on these Gray-geese. + +Magnus did not live long. He had a dream one night of his Father Olaf's +coming to him in shining presence, and announcing, That a magnificent +fortune and world-great renown was now possible for him; but that +perhaps it was his duty to refuse it; in which case his earthly life +would be short. "Which way wilt thou do, then?" said the shining +presence. "Thou shalt decide for me, Father, thou, not I!" and told his +Uncle Harald on the morrow, adding that he thought he should now +soon die; which proved to be the fact. The magnificent fortune, so +questionable otherwise, has reference, no doubt, to the Conquest +of England; to which country Magnus, as rightful and actual King of +_Denmark_, as well as undisputed heir to drunken Harda-Knut, by treaty +long ago, had now some evident claim. The enterprise itself was reserved +to the patient, gay, and prudent Uncle Harald; and to him it did prove +fatal,--and merely paved the way for Another, luckier, not likelier! + +Svein Estrithson, always beaten during Magnus's life, by and by got an +agreement from the prudent Harald to _be_ King of Denmark, then; and end +these wearisome and ineffectual brabbles; Harald having other work to +do. But in the autumn of 1066, Tosti, a younger son of our English +Earl Godwin, came to Svein's court with a most important announcement; +namely, that King Edward the Confessor, so called, was dead, and that +Harold, as the English write it, his eldest brother would give him, +Tosti, no sufficient share in the kingship. Which state of matters, if +Svein would go ahead with him to rectify it, would be greatly to the +advantage of Svein. Svein, taught by many beatings, was too wise for +this proposal; refused Tosti, who indignantly stepped over into +Norway, and proposed it to King Harald there. Svein really had acquired +considerable teaching, I should guess, from his much beating and hard +experience in the world; one finds him afterwards the esteemed friend +of the famous Historian Adam of Bremen, who reports various wise +humanities, and pleasant discoursings with Svein Estrithson. + +As for Harald Hardrade, "Harald the Hard or Severe," as he was now +called, Tosti's proposal awakened in him all his old Vaeringer ambitious +and cupidities into blazing vehemence. He zealously consented; and at +once, with his whole strength, embarked in the adventure. Fitted out two +hundred ships, and the biggest army he could carry in them; and sailed +with Tosti towards the dangerous Promised Land. Got into the Tyne and +took booty; got into the Humber, thence into the Ouse; easily subdued +any opposition the official people or their populations could make; +victoriously scattered these, victoriously took the City of York in a +day; and even got himself homaged there, "King of Northumberland," +as per covenant,--Tosti proving honorable,--Tosti and he going with +faithful strict copartnery, and all things looking prosperous and +glorious. Except only (an important exception!) that they learnt for +certain, English Harold was advancing with all his strength; and, in +a measurable space of hours, unless care were taken, would be in York +himself. Harald and Tosti hastened off to seize the post of Stamford +Bridge on Derwent River, six or seven miles east of York City, and +there bar this dangerous advent. Their own ships lay not far off in +Ouse River, in case of the worst. The battle that ensued the next day, +September 20, 1066, is forever memorable in English history. + +Snorro gives vividly enough his view of it from the Icelandic side: A +ring of stalwart Norsemen, close ranked, with their steel tools in hand; +English Harold's Army, mostly cavalry, prancing and pricking all around; +trying to find or make some opening in that ring. For a long time trying +in vain, till at length, getting them enticed to burst out somewhere +in pursuit, they quickly turned round, and quickly made an end, of that +matter. Snorro represents English Harold, with a first party of these +horse coming up, and, with preliminary salutations, asking if Tosti were +there, and if Harald were; making generous proposals to Tosti; but, +in regard to Harald and what share of England was to be his, answering +Tosti with the words, "Seven feet of English earth, or more if he +require it, for a grave." Upon which Tosti, like an honorable man and +copartner, said, "No, never; let us fight you rather till we all die." +"Who is this that spoke to you?" inquired Harald, when the cavaliers had +withdrawn. "My brother Harold," answers Tosti; which looks rather like a +Saga, but may be historical after all. Snorro's history of the battle is +intelligible only after you have premised to it, what he never hints at, +that the scene was on the east side of the bridge and of the Derwent; +the great struggle for the bridge, one at last finds, was after the +fall of Harald; and to the English Chroniclers, said struggle, which was +abundantly severe, is all they know of the battle. + +Enraged at that breaking loose of his steel ring of infantry, Norse +Harald blazed up into true Norse fury, all the old Vaeringer and +Berserkir rage awakening in him; sprang forth into the front of the +fight, and mauled and cut and smashed down, on both hands of him, +everything he met, irresistible by any horse or man, till an arrow cut +him through the windpipe, and laid him low forever. That was the end of +King Harald and of his workings in this world. The circumstance that +he was a Waring or Baring and had smitten to pieces so many Oriental +cohorts or crowds, and had made love-verses (kind of iron madrigals) to +his Russian Princess, and caught the fancy of questionable Greek queens, +and had amassed such heaps of money, while poor nephew Magnus had +only one gold ring (which had been his father's, and even his father's +_mother's_, as Uncle Harald noticed), and nothing more whatever of that +precious metal to combine with Harald's treasures:--all this is new to +me, naturally no hint of it in any English book; and lends some gleam of +romantic splendor to that dim business of Stamford Bridge, now fallen +so dull and torpid to most English minds, transcendently important as it +once was to all Englishmen. Adam of Bremen says, the English got as +much gold plunder from Harald's people as was a heavy burden for twelve +men; [18] a thing evidently impossible, which nobody need try to believe. +Young Olaf, Harald's son, age about sixteen, steering down the Ouse at +the top of his speed, escaped home to Norway with all his ships, and +subsequently reigned there with Magnus, his brother. Harald's body did +lie in English earth for about a year; but was then brought to Norway +for burial. He needed more than seven feet of grave, say some; +Laing, interpreting Snorro's measurements, makes Harald eight feet in +stature,--I do hope, with some error in excess! + + + +CHAPTER XII. OLAF THE TRANQUIL, MAGNUS BAREFOOT, AND SIGURD THE +CRUSADER. + +The new King Olaf, his brother Magnus having soon died, bore rule in +Norway for some five-and-twenty years. Rule soft and gentle, not like +his father's, and inclining rather to improvement in the arts and +elegancies than to anything severe or dangerously laborious. A +slim-built, witty-talking, popular and pretty man, with uncommonly +bright eyes, and hair like floss silk: they called him Olaf _Kyrre_ (the +Tranquil or Easygoing). + +The ceremonials of the palace were much improved by him. Palace still +continued to be built of huge logs pyramidally sloping upwards, with +fireplace in the middle of the floor, and no egress for smoke or ingress +for light except right overhead, which, in bad weather, you could shut, +or all but shut, with a lid. Lid originally made of mere opaque board, +but changed latterly into a light frame, covered (_glazed_, so to speak) +with entrails of animals, clarified into something of pellucidity. All +this Olaf, I hope, further perfected, as he did the placing of the court +ladies, court officials, and the like; but I doubt if the luxury of a +glass window were ever known to him, or a cup to drink from that was +not made of metal or horn. In fact it is chiefly for his son's sake I +mention him here; and with the son, too, I have little real concern, but +only a kind of fantastic. + +This son bears the name of Magnus _Barfod_ (Barefoot, or Bareleg); and +if you ask why so, the answer is: He was used to appear in the streets +of Nidaros (Trondhjem) now and then in complete Scotch Highland dress. +Authentic tartan plaid and philibeg, at that epoch,--to the wonder of +Trondhjem and us! The truth is, he had a mighty fancy for those Hebrides +and other Scotch possessions of his; and seeing England now quite +impossible, eagerly speculated on some conquest in Ireland as next +best. He did, in fact, go diligently voyaging and inspecting among +those Orkney and Hebridian Isles; putting everything straight there, +appointing stringent authorities, jarls,--nay, a king, "Kingdom of the +Suderoer" (Southern Isles, now called _Sodor_),--and, as first king, +Sigurd, his pretty little boy of nine years. All which done, and some +quarrel with Sweden fought out, he seriously applied himself to visiting +in a still more emphatic manner; namely, to invading, with his best +skill and strength, the considerable virtual or actual kingdom he had +in Ireland, intending fully to enlarge it to the utmost limits of the +Island if possible. He got prosperously into Dublin (guess A.D. 1102). +Considerable authority he already had, even among those poor Irish +Kings, or kinglets, in their glibs and yellow-saffron gowns; still more, +I suppose, among the numerous Norse Principalities there. "King Murdog, +King of Ireland," says the Chronicle of Man, "had obliged himself, every +Yule-day, to take a pair of shoes, hang them over his shoulder, as your +servant does on a journey, and walk across his court, at bidding and in +presence of Magnus Barefoot's messenger, by way of homage to the said +King." Murdog on this greater occasion did whatever homage could be +required of him; but that, though comfortable, was far from satisfying +the great King's ambitious mind. The great King left Murdog; left his +own Dublin; marched off westward on a general conquest of Ireland. +Marched easily victorious for a time; and got, some say, into the wilds +of Connaught, but there saw himself beset by ambuscades and wild Irish +countenances intent on mischief; and had, on the sudden, to draw up for +battle;--place, I regret to say, altogether undiscoverable to me; known +only that it was boggy in the extreme. Certain enough, too certain and +evident, Magnus Barefoot, searching eagerly, could find no firm footing +there; nor, fighting furiously up to the knees or deeper, any result but +honorable death! Date is confidently marked "24 August, 1103,"--as if +people knew the very day of the month. The natives did humanely give +King Magnus Christian burial. The remnants of his force, without further +molestation, found their ships on the Coast of Ulster; and sailed +home,--without conquest of Ireland; nay perhaps, leaving royal Murdog +disposed to be relieved of his procession with the pair of shoes. + +Magnus Barefoot left three sons, all kings at once, reigning peaceably +together. But to us, at present, the only noteworthy one of them was +Sigurd; who, finding nothing special to do at home, left his brothers +to manage for him, and went off on a far Voyage, which has rendered him +distinguishable in the crowd. Voyage through the Straits of Gibraltar, +on to Jerusalem, thence to Constantinople; and so home through Russia, +shining with such renown as filled all Norway for the time being. A +King called Sigurd Jorsalafarer (Jerusalemer) or Sigurd the Crusader +henceforth. His voyage had been only partially of the Viking type; +in general it was of the Royal-Progress kind rather; Vikingism only +intervening in cases of incivility or the like. His reception in +the Courts of Portugal, Spain, Sicily, Italy, had been honorable and +sumptuous. The King of Jerusalem broke out into utmost splendor and +effusion at sight of such a pilgrim; and Constantinople did its +highest honors to such a Prince of Vaeringers. And the truth is, Sigurd +intrinsically was a wise, able, and prudent man; who, surviving both his +brothers, reigned a good while alone in a solid and successful way. He +shows features of an original, independent-thinking man; something +of ruggedly strong, sincere, and honest, with peculiarities that are +amiable and even pathetic in the character and temperament of him; +as certainly, the course of life he took was of his own choosing, and +peculiar enough. He happens furthermore to be, what he least of all +could have chosen or expected, the last of the Haarfagr Genealogy that +had any success, or much deserved any, in this world. The last of the +Haarfagrs, or as good as the last! So that, singular to say, it is in +reality, for one thing only that Sigurd, after all his crusadings and +wonderful adventures, is memorable to us here: the advent of an +Irish gentleman called "Gylle Krist" (Gil-christ, Servant of Christ), +who,--not over welcome, I should think, but (unconsciously) big with the +above result,--appeared in Norway, while King Sigurd was supreme. Let us +explain a little. + +This Gylle Krist, the unconsciously fatal individual, who "spoke Norse +imperfectly," declared himself to be the natural son of whilom Magnus +Barefoot; born to him there while engaged in that unfortunate "Conquest +of Ireland." "Here is my mother come with me," said Gilchrist, "who +declares my real baptismal name to have been Harald, given me by that +great King; and who will carry the red-hot ploughshares or do any +reasonable ordeal in testimony of these facts. I am King Sigurd's +veritable half-brother: what will King Sigurd think it fair to do with +me?" Sigurd clearly seems to have believed the man to be speaking truth; +and indeed nobody to have doubted but he was. Sigurd said, "Honorable +sustenance shalt thou have from me here. But, under pain of extirpation, +swear that, neither in my time, nor in that of my young son Magnus, +wilt thou ever claim any share in this Government." Gylle swore; and +punctually kept his promise during Sigurd's reign. But during Magnus's, +he conspicuously broke it; and, in result, through many reigns, and +during three or four generations afterwards, produced unspeakable +contentions, massacrings, confusions in the country he had adopted. +There are reckoned, from the time of Sigurd's death (A.D. 1130), about a +hundred years of civil war: no king allowed to distinguish himself by a +solid reign of well-doing, or by any continuing reign at all,--sometimes +as many as four kings simultaneously fighting;--and in Norway, from sire +to son, nothing but sanguinary anarchy, disaster and bewilderment; +a Country sinking steadily as if towards absolute ruin. Of all which +frightful misery and discord Irish Gylle, styled afterwards King +Harald Gylle, was, by ill destiny and otherwise, the visible origin: an +illegitimate Irish Haarfagr who proved to be his own destruction, and +that of the Haarfagr kindred altogether! + +Sigurd himself seems always to have rather favored Gylle, who was a +cheerful, shrewd, patient, witty, and effective fellow; and had at first +much quizzing to endure, from the younger kind, on account of his Irish +way of speaking Norse, and for other reasons. One evening, for example, +while the drink was going round, Gylle mentioned that the Irish had a +wonderful talent of swift running and that there were among them people +who could keep up with the swiftest horse. At which, especially from +young Magnus, there were peals of laughter; and a declaration from the +latter that Gylle and he would have it tried to-morrow morning! Gylle in +vain urged that he had not himself professed to be so swift a runner +as to keep up with the Prince's horses; but only that there were men in +Ireland who could. Magnus was positive; and, early next morning, Gylle +had to be on the ground; and the race, naturally under heavy bet, +actually went off. Gylle started parallel to Magnus's stirrup; ran like +a very roe, and was clearly ahead at the goal. "Unfair," said Magnus; +"thou must have had hold of my stirrup-leather, and helped thyself +along; we must try it again." Gylle ran behind the horse this second +time; then at the end, sprang forward; and again was fairly in ahead. +"Thou must have held by the tail," said Magnus; "not by fair running was +this possible; we must try a third time!" Gylle started ahead of Magnus +and his horse, this third time; kept ahead with increasing distance, +Magnus galloping his very best; and reached the goal more palpably +foremost than ever. So that Magnus had to pay his bet, and other +damage and humiliation. And got from his father, who heard of it soon +afterwards, scoffing rebuke as a silly fellow, who did not know the +worth of men, but only the clothes and rank of them, and well deserved +what he had got from Gylle. All the time King Sigurd lived, Gylle seems +to have had good recognition and protection from that famous man; and, +indeed, to have gained favor all round, by his quiet social demeanor and +the qualities he showed. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. MAGNUS THE BLIND, HARALD GYLLE, AND MUTUAL EXTINCTION OF +THE HAARFAGRS. + +On Sigurd the Crusader's death, Magnus naturally came to the throne; +Gylle keeping silence and a cheerful face for the time. But it was not +long till claim arose on Gylle's part, till war and fight arose between +Magnus and him, till the skilful, popular, ever-active and shifty Gylle +had entirely beaten Magnus; put out his eyes, mutilated the poor body +of him in a horrid and unnamable manner, and shut him up in a convent as +out of the game henceforth. There in his dark misery Magnus lived now +as a monk; called "Magnus the Blind" by those Norse populations; King +Harald Gylle reigning victoriously in his stead. But this also was only +for a time. There arose avenging kinsfolk of Magnus, who had no Irish +accent in their Norse, and were themselves eager enough to bear rule +in their native country. By one of these,--a terribly stronghanded, +fighting, violent, and regardless fellow, who also was a Bastard of +Magnus Barefoot's, and had been made a Priest, but liked it unbearably +ill, and had broken loose from it into the wildest courses at home and +abroad; so that his current name got to be "Slembi-diakn," Slim or Ill +Deacon, under which he is much noised of in Snorro and the Sagas: by +this Slim-Deacon, Gylle was put an end to (murdered by night, drunk in +his sleep); and poor blind Magnus was brought out, and again set to act +as King, or King's Cloak, in hopes Gylle's posterity would never rise to +victory more. But Gylle's posterity did, to victory and also to defeat, +and were the death of Magnus and of Slim-Deacon too, in a frightful way; +and all got their own death by and by in a ditto. In brief, these two +kindreds (reckoned to be authentic enough Haarfagr people, both kinds of +them) proved now to have become a veritable crop of dragon's teeth; +who mutually fought, plotted, struggled, as if it had been their life's +business; never ended fighting and seldom long intermitted it, till they +had exterminated one another, and did at last all rest in death. One +of these later Gylle temporary Kings I remember by the name of Harald +Herdebred, Harald of the Broad Shoulders. The very last of them I +think was Harald Mund (Harald of the _Wry-Mouth_), who gave rise to two +Impostors, pretending to be Sons of his, a good while after the poor +Wry-Mouth itself and all its troublesome belongings were quietly +underground. What Norway suffered during that sad century may be +imagined. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. SVERRIR AND DESCENDANTS, TO HAKON THE OLD. + +The end of it was, or rather the first abatement, and _beginnings_ of +the end, That, when all this had gone on ever worsening for some forty +years or so, one Sverrir (A.D. 1177), at the head of an armed mob of +poor people called _Birkebeins_, came upon the scene. A strange enough +figure in History, this Sverrir and his Birkebeins! At first a mere +mockery and dismal laughing-stock to the enlightened Norway public. +Nevertheless by unheard-of fighting, hungering, exertion, and endurance, +Sverrir, after ten years of such a death-wrestle against men and things, +got himself accepted as King; and by wonderful expenditure of ingenuity, +common cunning, unctuous Parliamentary Eloquence or almost Popular +Preaching, and (it must be owned) general human faculty and valor +(or value) in the over-clouded and distorted state, did victoriously +continue such. And founded a new Dynasty in Norway, which ended only +with Norway's separate existence, after near three hundred years. + +This Sverrir called himself a Son of Harald Wry-Mouth; but was in +reality the son of a poor Comb-maker in some little town of Norway; +nothing heard of Sonship to Wry-Mouth till after good success otherwise. +His Birkebeins (that is to say, _Birchlegs;_ the poor rebellious +wretches having taken to the woods; and been obliged, besides their +intolerable scarcity of food, to thatch their bodies from the cold with +whatever covering could be got, and their legs especially with birch +bark; sad species of fleecy hosiery; whence their nickname),--his +Birkebeins I guess always to have been a kind of Norse _Jacquerie_: +desperate rising of thralls and indigent people, driven mad by their +unendurable sufferings and famishings,--theirs the _deepest_ stratum +of misery, and the densest and heaviest, in this the general misery of +Norway, which had lasted towards the third generation and looked as if +it would last forever:--whereupon they had risen proclaiming, in this +furious dumb manner, unintelligible except to Heaven, that the same +could not, nor would not, be endured any longer! And, by their Sverrir, +strange to say, they did attain a kind of permanent success; and, from +being a dismal laughing-stock in Norway, came to be important, and for +a time all-important there. Their opposition nicknames, "_Baglers_ (from +Bagall, _baculus_, bishop's staff; Bishop Nicholas being chief Leader)," +"_Gold-legs_," and the like obscure terms (for there was still a +considerable course of counter-fighting ahead, and especially of +counter-nicknaming), I take to have meant in Norse prefigurement seven +centuries ago, "bloated Aristocracy," "tyrannous-_Bourgeoisie_,"--till, +in the next century, these rents were closed again! + +King Sverrir, not himself bred to comb-making, had, in his fifth year, +gone to an uncle, Bishop in the Faroe Islands; and got some considerable +education from him, with a view to Priesthood on the part of Sverrir. +But, not liking that career, Sverrir had fled and smuggled himself +over to the Birkebeins; who, noticing the learned tongue, and other +miraculous qualities of the man, proposed to make him Captain of them; +and even threatened to kill him if he would not accept,--which thus at +the sword's point, as Sverrir says, he was obliged to do. It was after +this that he thought of becoming son of Wry-Mouth and other higher +things. + +His Birkebeins and he had certainly a talent of campaigning which has +hardly ever been equalled. They fought like devils against any odds +of number; and before battle they have been known to march six days +together without food, except, perhaps, the inner barks of trees, and in +such clothing and shoeing as mere birch bark:--at one time, somewhere in +the Dovrefjeld, there was serious counsel held among them whether +they should not all, as one man, leap down into the frozen gulfs and +precipices, or at once massacre one another wholly, and so finish. Of +their conduct in battle, fiercer than that of _Baresarks_, where was +there ever seen the parallel? In truth they are a dim strange object to +one, in that black time; wondrously bringing light into it withal; and +proved to be, under such unexpected circumstances, the beginning of +better days! + +Of Sverrir's public speeches there still exist authentic specimens; +wonderful indeed, and much characteristic of such a Sverrir. A +comb-maker King, evidently meaning several good and solid things; +and effecting them too, athwart such an element of Norwegian +chaos-come-again. His descendants and successors were a comparatively +respectable kin. The last and greatest of them I shall mention is Hakon +VII., or Hakon the Old; whose fame is still lively among us, from the +Battle of Largs at least. + + + +CHAPTER XV. HAKON THE OLD AT LARGS. + +In the Norse annals our famous Battle of Largs makes small figure, or +almost none at all among Hakon's battles and feats. They do say indeed, +these Norse annalists, that the King of Scotland, Alexander III. (who +had such a fate among the crags about Kinghorn in time coming), was +very anxious to purchase from King Hakon his sovereignty of the Western +Isles, but that Hakon pointedly refused; and at length, being again +importuned and bothered on the business, decided on giving a refusal +that could not be mistaken. Decided, namely, to go with a big +expedition, and look thoroughly into that wing of his Dominions; where +no doubt much has fallen awry since Magnus Barefoot's grand visit +thither, and seems to be inviting the cupidity of bad neighbors! "All +this we will put right again," thinks Hakon, "and gird it up into a safe +and defensive posture." Hakon sailed accordingly, with a strong fleet; +adjusting and rectifying among his Hebrides as he went long, and landing +withal on the Scotch coast to plunder and punish as he thought fit. +The Scots say he had claimed of them Arran, Bute, and the Two Cumbraes +("given my ancestors by Donald Bain," said Hakon, to the amazement +of the Scots) "as part of the Sudoer" (Southern Isles):--so far from +selling that fine kingdom!--and that it was after taking both Arran and +Bute that he made his descent at Largs. + +Of Largs there is no mention whatever in Norse books. But beyond any +doubt, such is the other evidence, Hakon did land there; land and fight, +not conquering, probably rather beaten; and very certainly "retiring to +his ships," as in either case he behooved to do! It is further certain +he was dreadfully maltreated by the weather on those wild coasts; and +altogether credible, as the Scotch records bear, that he was so at Largs +very specially. The Norse Records or Sagas say merely, he lost many +of his ships by the tempests, and many of his men by land fighting in +various parts,--tacitly including Largs, no doubt, which was the last +of these misfortunes to him. "In the battle here he lost 15,000 men, say +the Scots, we 5,000"! Divide these numbers by ten, and the excellently +brief and lucid Scottish summary by Buchanan may be taken as the +approximately true and exact. [19] Date of the battle is A.D. 1263. + +To this day, on a little plain to the south of the village, now town, +of Largs, in Ayrshire, there are seen stone cairns and monumental heaps, +and, until within a century ago, one huge, solitary, upright stone; +still mutely testifying to a battle there,--altogether clearly, to this +battle of King Hakon's; who by the Norse records, too, was in these +neighborhoods at that same date, and evidently in an aggressive, high +kind of humor. For "while his ships and army were doubling the Mull +of Cantire, he had his own boat set on wheels, and therein, splendidly +enough, had himself drawn across the Promontory at a flatter part," no +doubt with horns sounding, banners waving. "All to the left of me is +mine and Norway's," exclaimed Hakon in his triumphant boat progress, +which such disasters soon followed. + +Hakon gathered his wrecks together, and sorrowfully made for Orkney. +It is possible enough, as our Guide Books now say, he may have gone +by Iona, Mull, and the narrow seas inside of Skye; and that the +_Kyle-Akin_, favorably known to sea-bathers in that region, may actually +mean the Kyle (narrow strait) of Hakon, where Hakon may have dropped +anchor, and rested for a little while in smooth water and beautiful +environment, safe from equinoctial storms. But poor Hakon's heart was +now broken. He went to Orkney; died there in the winter; never beholding +Norway more. + +He it was who got Iceland, which had been a Republic for four centuries, +united to his kingdom of Norway: a long and intricate operation,--much +presided over by our Snorro Sturleson, so often quoted here, who indeed +lost his life (by assassination from his sons-in-law) and out of great +wealth sank at once into poverty of zero,--one midnight in his own +cellar, in the course of that bad business. Hakon was a great Politician +in his time; and succeeded in many things before he lost Largs. Snorro's +death by murder had happened about twenty years before Hakon's by broken +heart. He is called Hakon the Old, though one finds his age was +but fifty-nine, probably a longish life for a Norway King. Snorro's +narrative ceases when Snorro himself was born; that is to say, at the +threshold of King Sverrir; of whose exploits and doubtful birth it is +guessed by some that Snorro willingly forbore to speak in the hearing of +such a Hakon. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. EPILOGUE. + +Haarfagr's kindred lasted some three centuries in Norway; Sverrir's +lasted into its third century there; how long after this, among the +neighboring kinships, I did not inquire. For, by regal affinities, +consanguinities, and unexpected chances and changes, the three +Scandinavian kingdoms fell all peaceably together under Queen Margaret, +of the Calmar Union (A.D. 1397); and Norway, incorporated now with +Denmark, needed no more kings. + +The History of these Haarfagrs has awakened in me many thoughts: Of +Despotism and Democracy, arbitrary government by one and self-government +(which means no government, or anarchy) by all; of Dictatorship with +many faults, and Universal Suffrage with little possibility of +any virtue. For the contrast between Olaf Tryggveson, and a +Universal-Suffrage Parliament or an "Imperial" Copper Captain has, in +these nine centuries, grown to be very great. And the eternal Providence +that guides all this, and produces alike these entities with their +epochs, is not its course still through the great deep? Does not it +still speak to us, if we have ears? Here, clothed in stormy enough +passions and instincts, unconscious of any aim but their own +satisfaction, is the blessed beginning of Human Order, Regulation, +and real Government; there, clothed in a highly different, but again +suitable garniture of passions, instincts, and equally unconscious as +to real aim, is the accursed-looking ending (temporary ending) of Order, +Regulation, and Government;--very dismal to the sane onlooker for the +time being; not dismal to him otherwise, his hope, too, being steadfast! +But here, at any rate, in this poor Norse theatre, one looks with +interest on the first transformation, so mysterious and abstruse, of +human Chaos into something of articulate Cosmos; witnesses the wild +and strange birth-pangs of Human Society, and reflects that without +something similar (little as men expect such now), no Cosmos of human +society ever was got into existence, nor can ever again be. + +The violences, fightings, crimes--ah yes, these seldom fail, and they +are very lamentable. But always, too, among those old populations, there +was one saving element; the now want of which, especially the unlamented +want, transcends all lamentation. Here is one of those strange, +piercing, winged-words of Ruskin, which has in it a terrible truth for +us in these epochs now come:-- + +"My friends, the follies of modern Liberalism, many and great though +they be, are practically summed in this denial or neglect of the quality +and intrinsic value of things. Its rectangular beatitudes, and spherical +benevolences,--theology of universal indulgence, and jurisprudence which +will hang no rogues, mean, one and all of them, in the root, incapacity +of discerning, or refusal to discern, worth and unworth in anything, +and least of all in man; whereas Nature and Heaven command you, at your +peril, to discern worth from unworth in everything, and most of all in +man. Your main problem is that ancient and trite one, 'Who is best man?' +and the Fates forgive much,--forgive the wildest, fiercest, cruelest +experiments,--if fairly made for the determination of that. + +"Theft and blood-guiltiness are not pleasing in their sight; yet the +favoring powers of the spiritual and material world will confirm to you +your stolen goods, and their noblest voices applaud the lifting of Your +spear, and rehearse the sculpture of your shield, if only your robbing +and slaying have been in fair arbitrament of that question, 'Who is best +man?' But if you refuse such inquiry, and maintain every man for his +neighbor's match,--if you give vote to the simple and liberty to the +vile, the powers of those spiritual and material worlds in due time +present you inevitably with the same problem, soluble now only wrong +side upwards; and your robbing and slaying must be done then to find +out, 'Who is worst man?' Which, in so wide an order of merit, is, +indeed, not easy; but a complete Tammany Ring, and lowest circle in the +Inferno of Worst, you are sure to find, and to be governed by." [20] + +All readers will admit that there was something naturally royal in these +Haarfagr Kings. A wildly great kind of kindred; counts in it two Heroes +of a high, or almost highest, type: the first two Olafs, Tryggveson and +the Saint. And the view of them, withal, as we chance to have it, I have +often thought, how essentially Homeric it was:--indeed what is "Homer" +himself but the _Rhapsody_ of five centuries of Greek Skalds and +wandering Ballad-singers, done (i.e. "stitched together") by somebody +more musical than Snorro was? Olaf Tryggveson and Olaf Saint please me +quite as well in their prosaic form; offering me the truth of them as +if seen in their real lineaments by some marvellous opening (through +the art of Snorro) across the black strata of the ages. Two high, almost +among the highest sons of Nature, seen as they veritably were; fairly +comparable or superior to god-like Achilleus, goddess-wounding Diomedes, +much more to the two Atreidai, Regulators of the Peoples. + +I have also thought often what a Book might be made of Snorro, did there +but arise a man furnished with due literary insight, and indefatigable +diligence; who, faithfully acquainting himself with the topography, +the monumental relies and illustrative actualities of Norway, carefully +scanning the best testimonies as to place and time which that +country can still give him, carefully the best collateral records and +chronologies of other countries, and who, himself possessing the highest +faculty of a Poet, could, abridging, arranging, elucidating, reduce +Snorro to a polished Cosmic state, unweariedly purging away his much +chaotic matter! A modern "highest kind of Poet," capable of unlimited +slavish labor withal;--who, I fear, is not soon to be expected in this +world, or likely to find his task in the _Heimskringla_ if he did appear +here. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: J. G. Dahlmann, _Geschichte von Dannemark_, 3 vols. 8vo. +Hamburg, 1840-1843.] + +[Footnote 2: "Settlement," dated 912, by Munch, Henault, &c. The Saxon +Chronicle says (anno 876): "In this year Rolf overran Normandy with his +army, and he reigned fifty winters."] + +[Footnote 3: Dahlmann, ii. 87.] + +[Footnote 4: Dahlmann, ii. 93.] + +[Footnote 5: _Laing's Snorro_, i. 344.] + +[Footnote 6: G. Buchanani _Opera Omnia_, i. 103, 104 (Curante Ruddimano, +Edinburgi, 1715).] + +[Footnote 7: His Long Serpent, judged by some to be of the size of a +frigate of forty-five guns (Laing).] + +[Footnote 8: This sermon was printed by Hearne; and is given also by +Langebek in his excellent Collection, _Rerum Danicarum Scriptores Medii +AEri._ Hafniae. 1772-1834.] + +[Footnote 9: Kennet, i. 67; Rapin, i. 119, 121 (from the _Saxon +Chronicle_ both).] + +[Footnote 10: Knut born A.D. 988 according to Munch's calculation (ii. +126).] + +[Footnote 11: Snorro, Laing's Translation, ii. p. 31 et seq., will +minutely specify.] + +[Footnote 12: Snorro, ii. pp. 24, 25.] + +[Footnote 13: Snorro, ii. pp. 156-161.] + +[Footnote 14: Snorro, ii. pp. 252, 253.] + +[Footnote 15: _Saxon Chronicle_ says expressly, under A.D. 1030: "In +this year King Olaf was slain in Norway by his own people, and was +afterwards sainted."] + +[Footnote 16: _Saxon Chronicle_ says: "1035. In this year died King +Cnut.... He departed at Shaftesbury, November 12, and they conveyed him +thence to Winchester, and there buried him."] + +[Footnote 17: Munch gives the date 1038 (ii. 840), Adam of Bremen 1040.] + +[Footnote 18: Camden, Rapin, &c. quote.] + +[Footnote 19: _Buchanani Hist._ i. 130.] + +[Footnote 20: _Fors Clavigera_, Letter XIV. Pp. 8-10.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Early Kings of Norway, by Thomas Carlyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY *** + +***** This file should be named 1932.txt or 1932.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/1932/ + +Produced by Ron Burkey + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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All +footnotes have been collected as endnotes, with their positions in the +text indicated by bracketed numbers, such as [2]. The pound +(currency) symbol has been replaced by the word "pounds". + + + + + +EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY. + +by Thomas Carlyle + + + + +The Icelanders, in their long winter, had a great habit of writing; +and were, and still are, excellent in penmanship, says Dahlmann. It +is to this fact, that any little history there is of the Norse Kings +and their old tragedies, crimes and heroisms, is almost all due. The +Icelanders, it seems, not only made beautiful letters on their paper +or parchment, but were laudably observant and desirous of accuracy; +and have left us such a collection of narratives (_Sagas_, literally +"Says") as, for quantity and quality, is unexampled among rude +nations. Snorro Sturleson's History of the Norse Kings is built out +of these old Sagas; and has in it a great deal of poetic fire, not a +little faithful sagacity applied in sifting and adjusting these old +Sagas; and, in a word, deserves, were it once well edited, furnished +with accurate maps, chronological summaries, &c., to be reckoned among +the great history-books of the world. It is from these sources, +greatly aided by accurate, learned and unwearied Dahlmann,[1] the +German Professor, that the following rough notes of the early Norway +Kings are hastily thrown together. In Histories of England (Rapin's +excepted) next to nothing has been shown of the many and strong +threads of connection between English affairs and Norse. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HARALD HAARFAGR. + +Till about the Year of Grace 860 there were no kings in Norway, +nothing but numerous jarls,--essentially kinglets, each presiding over +a kind of republican or parliamentary little territory; generally +striving each to be on some terms of human neighborhood with those +about him, but,--in spite of "_Fylke Things_" (Folk Things, little +parish parliaments), and small combinations of these, which had +gradually formed themselves,--often reduced to the unhappy state of +quarrel with them. Harald Haarfagr was the first to put an end to +this state of things, and become memorable and profitable to his +country by uniting it under one head and making a kingdom of it; which +it has continued to be ever since. His father, Halfdan the Black, had +already begun this rough but salutary process,--inspired by the +cupidities and instincts, by the faculties and opportunities, which +the good genius of this world, beneficent often enough under savage +forms, and diligent at all times to diminish anarchy as the world's +worst savagery, usually appoints in such cases,--conquest, hard +fighting, followed by wise guidance of the conquered;--but it was +Harald the Fairhaired, his son, who conspicuously carried it on and +completed it. Harald's birth-year, death-year, and chronology in +general, are known only by inference and computation; but, by the +latest reckoning, he died about the year 933 of our era, a man of +eighty-three. + +The business of conquest lasted Harald about twelve years (A.D. +860-872?), in which he subdued also the vikings of the out-islands, +Orkneys, Shetlands, Hebrides, and Man. Sixty more years were given +him to consolidate and regulate what he had conquered, which he did +with great judgment, industry and success. His reign altogether is +counted to have been of over seventy years. + +The beginning of his great adventure was of a romantic +character.--youthful love for the beautiful Gyda, a then glorious and +famous young lady of those regions, whom the young Harald aspired to +marry. Gyda answered his embassy and prayer in a distant, lofty +manner: "Her it would not beseem to wed any Jarl or poor creature of +that kind; let him do as Gorm of Denmark, Eric of Sweden, Egbert of +England, and others had done,--subdue into peace and regulation the +confused, contentious bits of jarls round him, and become a king; +then, perhaps, she might think of his proposal: till then, not." +Harald was struck with this proud answer, which rendered Gyda tenfold +more desirable to him. He vowed to let his hair grow, never to cut or +even to comb it till this feat were done, and the peerless Gyda his +own. He proceeded accordingly to conquer, in fierce battle, a Jarl or +two every year, and, at the end of twelve years, had his unkempt (and +almost unimaginable) head of hair clipt off,--Jarl Rognwald +(_Reginald_) of More, the most valued and valuable of all his +subject-jarls, being promoted to this sublime barber function;--after +which King Harald, with head thoroughly cleaned, and hair grown, or +growing again to the luxuriant beauty that had no equal in his day, +brought home his Gyda, and made her the brightest queen in all the +north. He had after her, in succession, or perhaps even +simultaneously in some cases, at least six other wives; and by Gyda +herself one daughter and four sons. + +Harald was not to be considered a strict-living man, and he had a +great deal of trouble, as we shall see, with the tumultuous ambition +of his sons; but he managed his government, aided by Jarl Rognwald and +others, in a large, quietly potent, and successful manner; and it +lasted in this royal form till his death, after sixty years of it. + +These were the times of Norse colonization; proud Norsemen flying into +other lands, to freer scenes,--to Iceland, to the Faroe Islands, which +were hitherto quite vacant (tenanted only by some mournful hermit, +Irish Christian _fakir_, or so); still more copiously to the Orkney +and Shetland Isles, the Hebrides and other countries where Norse +squatters and settlers already were. Settlement of Iceland, we say; +settlement of the Faroe Islands, and, by far the notablest of all, +settlement of Normandy by Rolf the Ganger (A.D. 876?).[2] + +Rolf, son of Rognwald,[3] was lord of three little islets far north, +near the Fjord of Folden, called the Three Vigten Islands; but his +chief means of living was that of sea robbery; which, or at least +Rolf's conduct in which, Harald did not approve of. In the Court of +Harald, sea-robbery was strictly forbidden as between Harald's own +countries, but as against foreign countries it continued to be the one +profession for a gentleman; thus, I read, Harald's own chief son, King +Eric that afterwards was, had been at sea in such employments ever +since his twelfth year. Rolf's crime, however, was that in coming +home from one of these expeditions, his crew having fallen short of +victual, Rolf landed with them on the shore of Norway, and in his +strait, drove in some cattle there (a crime by law) and proceeded to +kill and eat; which, in a little while, he heard that King Harald was +on foot to inquire into and punish; whereupon Rolf the Ganger speedily +got into his ships again, got to the coast of France with his sea- +robbers, got infeftment by the poor King of France in the fruitful, +shaggy desert which is since called Normandy, land of the Northmen; +and there, gradually felling the forests, banking the rivers, tilling +the fields, became, during the next two centuries, Wilhelmus +Conquaestor, the man famous to England, and momentous at this day, not +to England alone, but to all speakers of the English tongue, now +spread from side to side of the world in a wonderful degree. Tancred +of Hauteville and his Italian Normans, though important too, in Italy, +are not worth naming in comparison. This is a feracious earth, and +the grain of mustard-seed will grow to miraculous extent in some +cases. + +Harald's chief helper, counsellor, and lieutenant was the +above-mentioned Jarl Rognwald of More, who had the honor to cut +Harald's dreadful head of hair. This Rognwald was father of +Turf-Einar, who first invented peat in the Orkneys, finding the wood +all gone there; and is remembered to this day. Einar, being come to +these islands by King Harald's permission, to see what he could do in +them,--islands inhabited by what miscellany of Picts, Scots, Norse +squatters we do not know,--found the indispensable fuel all wasted. +Turf-Einar too may be regarded as a benefactor to his kind. He was, +it appears, a bastard; and got no coddling from his father, who +disliked him, partly perhaps, because "he was ugly and blind of an +eye,"--got no flattering even on his conquest of the Orkneys and +invention of peat. Here is the parting speech his father made to him +on fitting him out with a "long-ship" (ship of war, "dragon-ship," +ancient seventy-four), and sending him forth to make a living for +himself in the world: "It were best if thou never camest back, for I +have small hope that thy people will have honor by thee; thy mother's +kin throughout is slavish." + +Harald Haarfagr had a good many sons and daughters; the daughters he +married mostly to jarls of due merit who were loyal to him; with the +sons, as remarked above, he had a great deal of trouble. They were +ambitious, stirring fellows, and grudged at their finding so little +promotion from a father so kind to his jarls; sea-robbery by no means +an adequate career for the sons of a great king, two of them, Halfdan +Haaleg (Long-leg), and Gudrod Ljome (Gleam), jealous of the favors won +by the great Jarl Rognwald. surrounded him in his house one night, +and burnt him and sixty men to death there. That was the end of +Rognwald, the invaluable jarl, always true to Haarfagr; and +distinguished in world history by producing Rolf the Ganger, author of +the Norman Conquest of England, and Turf-Einar, who invented peat in +the Orkneys. Whether Rolf had left Norway at this time there is no +chronology to tell me. As to Rolf's surname, "Ganger," there are +various hypotheses; the likeliest, perhaps, that Rolf was so weighty a +man no horse (small Norwegian horses, big ponies rather) could carry +him, and that he usually walked, having a mighty stride withal, and +great velocity on foot. + +One of these murderers of Jarl Rognwald quietly set himself in +Rognwald's place, the other making for Orkney to serve Turf-Einar in +like fashion. Turf-Einar, taken by surprise, fled to the mainland; +but returned, days or perhaps weeks after, ready for battle, fought +with Halfdan, put his party to flight, and at next morning's light +searched the island and slew all the men he found. As to Halfdan +Long-leg himself, in fierce memory of his own murdered father, +Turf-Einar "cut an eagle on his back," that is to say, hewed the ribs +from each side of the spine and turned them out like the wings of a +spread-eagle: a mode of Norse vengeance fashionable at that time in +extremely aggravated cases! + +Harald Haarfagr, in the mean time, had descended upon the Rognwald +scene, not in mild mood towards the new jarl there; indignantly +dismissed said jarl, and appointed a brother of Rognwald (brother, +notes Dahlmann), though Rognwald had left other sons. Which done, +Haarfagr sailed with all speed to the Orkneys, there to avenge that +cutting of an eagle on the human back on Turf-Einar's part. +Turf-Einar did not resist; submissively met the angry Haarfagr, said +he left it all, what had been done, what provocation there had been, +to Haarfagr's own equity and greatness of mind. Magnanimous Haarfagr +inflicted a fine of sixty marks in gold, which was paid in ready money +by Turf-Einar, and so the matter ended. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +ERIC BLOOD-AXE AND BROTHERS. + +In such violent courses Haarfagr's sons, I know not how many of them, +had come to an untimely end; only Eric, the accomplished sea-rover, +and three others remained to him. Among these four sons, rather +impatient for property and authority of their own, King Harald, in his +old days, tried to part his kingdom in some eligible and equitable +way, and retire from the constant press of business, now becoming +burdensome to him. To each of them he gave a kind of kingdom; Eric, +his eldest son, to be head king, and the others to be feudatory under +him, and pay a certain yearly contribution; an arrangement which did +not answer well at all. Head-King Eric insisted on his tribute; +quarrels arose as to the payment, considerable fighting and +disturbance, bringing fierce destruction from King Eric upon many +valiant but too stubborn Norse spirits, and among the rest upon all +his three brothers, which got him from the Norse populations the +surname of _Blod-axe_, "Eric Blood-axe," his title in history. One of +his brothers he had killed in battle before his old father's life +ended; this brother was Bjorn, a peaceable, improving, trading +economic Under-king, whom the others mockingly called "Bjorn the +Chapman." The great-grandson of this Bjorn became extremely +distinguished by and by as _Saint_ Olaf. Head-King Eric seems to have +had a violent wife, too. She was thought to have poisoned one of her +other brothers-in-law. Eric Blood-axe had by no means a gentle life +of it in this world, trained to sea-robbery on the coasts of England, +Scotland, Ireland and France, since his twelfth year. + +Old King Fairhair, at the age of seventy, had another son, to whom was +given the name of Hakon. His mother was a slave in Fairhair's house; +slave by ill-luck of war, though nobly enough born. A strange +adventure connects this Hakon with England and King Athelstan, who was +then entering upon his great career there. Short while after this +Hakon came into the world, there entered Fairhair's palace, one +evening as Fairhair sat Feasting, an English ambassador or messenger, +bearing in his hand, as gift from King Athelstan, a magnificent sword, +with gold hilt and other fine trimmings, to the great Harald, King of +Norway. Harald took the sword, drew it, or was half drawing it, +admiringly from the scabbard, when the English excellency broke into a +scornful laugh, "Ha, ha; thou art now the feudatory of my English +king; thou hast accepted the sword from him, and art now his man!" +(acceptance of a sword in that manner being the symbol of investiture +in those days.) Harald looked a trifle flurried, it is probable; but +held in his wrath, and did no damage to the tricksy Englishman. He +kept the matter in his mind, however, and next summer little Hakon, +having got his weaning done,--one of the prettiest, healthiest little +creatures,--Harald sent him off, under charge of "Hauk" (Hawk so +called), one of his Principal, warriors, with order, "Take him to +England," and instructions what to do with him there. And +accordingly, one evening, Hauk, with thirty men escorting, strode into +Athelstan's high dwelling (where situated, how built, whether with +logs like Harald's, I cannot specifically say), into Athelstan's high +presence, and silently set the wild little cherub upon Athelstan's +knee. "What is this?" asked Athelstan, looking at the little cherub. +"This is King Harald's son, whom a serving-maid bore to him, and whom +he now gives thee as foster-child!" Indignant Athelstan drew his +sword, as if to do the gift a mischief; but Hauk said, "Thou hast +taken him on thy knee [common symbol of adoption]; thou canst kill him +if thou wilt; but thou dost not thereby kill all the sons of Harald." +Athelstan straightway took milder thoughts; brought up, and carefully +educated Hakon; from whom, and this singular adventure, came, before +very long, the first tidings of Christianity into Norway. + +Harald Haarfagr, latterly withdrawn from all kinds of business, died +at the age of eighty-three--about A.D. 933, as is computed; nearly +contemporary in death with the first Danish King, Gorm the Old, who +had done a corresponding feat in reducing Denmark under one head. +Remarkable old men, these two first kings; and possessed of gifts for +bringing Chaos a little nearer to the form of Cosmos; possessed, in +fact, of loyalties to Cosmos, that is to say, of authentic virtues in +the savage state, such as have been needed in all societies at their +incipience in this world; a kind of "virtues" hugely in discredit at +present, but not unlikely to be needed again, to the astonishment of +careless persons, before all is done! + + + +CHAPTER III + +HAKON THE GOOD. + +Eric Blood-axe, whose practical reign is counted to have begun about +A.D. 930, had by this time, or within a year or so of this time, +pretty much extinguished all his brother kings, and crushed down +recalcitrant spirits, in his violent way; but had naturally become +entirely unpopular in Norway, and filled it with silent discontent and +even rage against him. Hakon Fairhair's last son, the little +foster-child of Athelstan in England, who had been baptized and +carefully educated, was come to his fourteenth or fifteenth year at +his father's death; a very shining youth, as Athelstan saw with just +pleasure. So soon as the few preliminary preparations had been +settled, Hakon, furnished with a ship or two by Athelstan, suddenly +appeared in Norway got acknowledged by the Peasant Thing in Trondhjem +"the news of which flew over Norway, like fire through dried grass," +says an old chronicler. So that Eric, with his Queen Gunhild, and +seven small children, had to run; no other shift for Eric. They went +to the Orkneys first of all, then to England, and he "got +Northumberland as earldom," I vaguely hear, from Athelstan. But Eric +soon died, and his queen, with her children, went back to the Orkneys +in search of refuge or help; to little purpose there or elsewhere. +From Orkney she went to Denmark, where Harald Blue-tooth took her poor +eldest boy as foster-child; but I fear did not very faithfully keep +that promise. The Danes had been robbing extensively during the late +tumults in Norway; this the Christian Hakon, now established there, +paid in kind, and the two countries were at war; so that Gunhild's +little boy was a welcome card in the hand of Blue-tooth. + +Hakon proved a brilliant and successful king; regulated many things, +public law among others (_Gule-Thing_ Law, _Frost-Thing_ Law: these +are little codes of his accepted by their respective Things, and had a +salutary effect in their time); with prompt dexterity he drove back +the Blue-tooth foster-son invasions every time they came; and on the +whole gained for himself the name of Hakon the Good. These Danish +invasions were a frequent source of trouble to him, but his greatest +and continual trouble was that of extirpating heathen idolatry from +Norway, and introducing the Christian Evangel in its stead. His +transcendent anxiety to achieve this salutary enterprise was all along +his grand difficulty and stumbling-block; the heathen opposition to it +being also rooted and great. Bishops and priests from England Hakon +had, preaching and baptizing what they could, but making only slow +progress; much too slow for Hakon's zeal. On the other hand, every +Yule-tide, when the chief heathen were assembled in his own palace on +their grand sacrificial festival, there was great pressure put upon +Hakon, as to sprinkling with horse-blood, drinking Yule-beer, eating +horse-flesh, and the other distressing rites; the whole of which Hakon +abhorred, and with all his steadfastness strove to reject utterly. +Sigurd, Jarl of Lade (Trondhjem), a liberal heathen, not openly a +Christian, was ever a wise counsellor and conciliator in such affairs; +and proved of great help to Hakon. Once, for example, there having +risen at a Yule-feast, loud, almost stormful demand that Hakon, like a +true man and brother, should drink Yule-beer with them in their sacred +hightide, Sigurd persuaded him to comply, for peace's sake, at least, +in form. Hakon took the cup in his left hand (excellent hot _beer_), +and with his right cut the sign of the cross above it, then drank a +draught. "Yes; but what is this with the king's right hand?" cried +the company. "Don't you see?" answered shifty Sigurd; "he makes the +sign of Thor's hammer before drinking!" which quenched the matter for +the time. + +Horse-flesh, horse-broth, and the horse ingredient generally, Hakon +all but inexorably declined. By Sigurd's pressing exhortation and +entreaty, he did once take a kettle of horsebroth by the handle, with +a good deal of linen-quilt or towel interposed, and did open his lips +for what of steam could insinuate itself. At another time he +consented to a particle of horse-liver, intending privately, I guess, +to keep it outside the gullet, and smuggle it away without swallowing; +but farther than this not even Sigurd could persuade him to go. At +the Things held in regard to this matter Hakon's success was always +incomplete; now and then it was plain failure, and Hakon had to draw +back till a better time. Here is one specimen of the response he got +on such an occasion; curious specimen, withal, of antique +parliamentary eloquence from an Anti-Christian Thing. + +At a Thing of all the Fylkes of Trondhjem, Thing held at Froste in +that region, King Hakon, with all the eloquence he had, signified that +it was imperatively necessary that all Bonders and sub-Bonders should +become Christians, and believe in one God, Christ the Son of Mary; +renouncing entirely blood sacrifices and heathen idols; should keep +every seventh day holy, abstain from labor that day, and even from +food, devoting the day to fasting and sacred meditation. Whereupon, +by way of universal answer, arose a confused universal murmur of +entire dissent. "Take away from us our old belief, and also our time +for labor!" murmured they in angry astonishment; "how can even the +land be got tilled in that way?" "We cannot work if we don't get +food," said the hand laborers and slaves. "It lies in King Hakon's +blood," remarked others; "his father and all his kindred were apt to +be stingy about food, though liberal enough with money." At length, +one Osbjorn (or Bear of the Asen or Gods, what we now call Osborne), +one Osbjorn of Medalhusin Gulathal, stept forward, and said, in a +distinct manner, "We Bonders (peasant proprietors)thought, King Hakon, +when thou heldest thy first Thing-day here in Trondhjem, and we took +thee for our king, and received our hereditary lands from thee again +that we had got heaven itself. But now we know not how it is, whether +we have won freedom, or whether thou intendest anew to make us slaves, +with this wonderful proposal that we should renounce our faith, which +our fathers before us have held, and all our ancestors as well, first +in the age of burial by burning, and now in that of earth burial; and +yet these departed ones were much our superiors, and their faith, too, +has brought prosperity to us. Thee, at the same time, we have loved +so much that we raised thee to manage all the laws of the land, and +speak as their voice to us all. And even now it is our will and the +vote of all Bonders to keep that paction which thou gavest us here on +the Thing at Froste, and to maintain thee as king so long as any of us +Bonders who are here upon the Thing has life left, provided thou, +king, wilt go fairly to work, and demand of us only such things as are +not impossible. But if thou wilt fix upon this thing with so great +obstinacy, and employ force and power, in that case, we Bonders have +taken the resolution, all of us, to fall away from thee, and to take +for ourselves another head, who will so behave that we may enjoy in +freedom the belief which is agreeable to us. Now shalt thou, king, +choose one of these two courses before the Thing disperse." +"Whereupon," adds the Chronicle, "all the Bonders raised a mighty +shout, 'Yes, we will have it so, as has been said.'" So that Jarl +Sigurd had to intervene, and King Hakon to choose for the moment the +milder branch of the alternative.[4] At other Things Hakon was more +or less successful. All his days, by such methods as there were, he +kept pressing forward with this great enterprise; and on the whole did +thoroughly shake asunder the old edifice of heathendom, and fairly +introduce some foundation for the new and better rule of faith and +life among his people. Sigurd, Jarl of Lade, his wise counsellor in +all these matters, is also a man worthy of notice. + +Hakon's arrangements against the continual invasions of Eric's sons, +with Danish Blue-tooth backing them, were manifold, and for a long +time successful. He appointed, after consultation and consent in the +various Things, so many war-ships, fully manned and ready, to be +furnished instantly on the King's demand by each province or fjord; +watch-fires, on fit places, from hill to hill all along the coast, +were to be carefully set up, carefully maintained in readiness, and +kindled on any alarm of war. By such methods Blue-tooth and Co.'s +invasions were for a long while triumphantly, and even rapidly, one +and all of them, beaten back, till at length they seemed as if +intending to cease altogether, and leave Hakon alone of them. But +such was not their issue after all. The sons of Eric had only abated +under constant discouragement, had not finally left off from what +seemed their one great feasibility in life. Gunhild, their mother, +was still with them: a most contriving, fierce-minded, irreconcilable +woman, diligent and urgent on them, in season and out of season; and +as for King Blue-tooth, he was at all times ready to help, with his +good-will at least. + +That of the alarm-fires on Hakon's part was found troublesome by his +people; sometimes it was even hurtful and provoking (lighting your +alarm-fires and rousing the whole coast and population, when it was +nothing but some paltry viking with a couple of ships); in short, the +alarm-signal system fell into disuse, and good King Hakon himself, in +the first place, paid the penalty. It is counted, by the latest +commentators, to have been about A.D. 961, sixteenth or seventeenth +year of Hakon's pious, valiant, and worthy reign. Being at a feast +one day, with many guests, on the Island of Stord, sudden announcement +came to him that ships from the south were approaching in quantity, +and evidently ships of war. This was the biggest of all the +Blue-tooth foster-son invasions; and it was fatal to Hakon the Good +that night. Eyvind the Skaldaspillir (annihilator of all other +Skalds), in his famed _Hakon's Song_, gives account, and, still more +pertinently, the always practical Snorro. Danes in great multitude, +six to one, as people afterwards computed, springing swiftly to land, +and ranking themselves; Hakon, nevertheless, at once deciding not to +take to his ships and run, but to fight there, one to six; fighting, +accordingly, in his most splendid manner, and at last gloriously +prevailing; routing and scattering back to their ships and flight +homeward these six-to-one Danes. "During the struggle of the fight," +says Snorro, "he was very conspicuous among other men; and while the +sun shone, his bright gilded helmet glanced, and thereby many weapons +were directed at him. One of his henchmen, Eyvind Finnson (_i.e._ +Skaldaspillir, the poet), took a hat, and put it over the king's +helmet. Now, among the hostile first leaders were two uncles of the +Ericsons, brothers of Gunhild, great champions both; Skreya, the elder +of them, on the disappearance of the glittering helmet, shouted +boastfully, 'Does the king of the Norsemen hide himself, then, or has +he fled? Where now is the golden helmet?' And so saying, Skreya, and +his brother Alf with him, pushed on like fools or madmen. The king +said, 'Come on in that way, and you shall find the king of the +Norsemen.'" And in a short space of time braggart Skreya did come up, +swinging his sword, and made a cut at the king; but Thoralf the +Strong, an Icelander, who fought at the king's side, dashed his shield +so hard against Skreya, that he tottered with the shock. On the same +instant the king takes his sword "quernbiter" (able to cut _querns_ or +millstones) with both hands, and hews Skreya through helm and head, +cleaving him down to the shoulders. Thoralf also slew Alf. That was +what they got by such over-hasty search for the king of the +Norsemen.[5] + +Snorro considers the fall of these two champion uncles as the crisis +of the fight; the Danish force being much disheartened by such a +sight, and King Hakon now pressing on so hard that all men gave way +before him, the battle on the Ericson part became a whirl of recoil; +and in a few minutes more a torrent of mere flight and haste to get on +board their ships, and put to sea again; in which operation many of +them were drowned, says Snorro; survivors making instant sail for +Denmark in that sad condition. + +This seems to have been King Hakon's finest battle, and the most +conspicuous of his victories, due not a little to his own grand +qualities shown on the occasion. But, alas! it was his last also. He +was still zealously directing the chase of that mad Danish flight, or +whirl of recoil towards their ships, when an arrow, shot Most likely +at a venture, hit him under the left armpit; and this proved his +death. + +He was helped into his ship, and made sail for Alrekstad, where his +chief residence in those parts was; but had to stop at a smaller place +of his (which had been his mother's, and where he himself was born)--a +place called Hella (the Flat Rock), still known as "Hakon's Hella," +faint from loss of blood, and crushed down as he had never before +felt. Having no son and only one daughter, he appointed these +invasive sons of Eric to be sent for, and if he died to become king; +but to "spare his friends and kindred." "If a longer life be granted +me," he said, "I will go out of this land to Christian men, and do +penance for what I have committed against God. But if I die in the +country of the heathen, let me have such burial as you yourselves +think fittest." These are his last recorded words. And in heathen +fashion he was buried, and besung by Eyvind and the Skalds, though +himself a zealously Christian king. Hakon the _Good_; so one still +finds him worthy of being called. The sorrow on Hakon's death, Snorro +tells us, was so great and universal, "that he was lamented both by +friends and enemies; and they said that never again would Norway see +such a king." + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +HARALD GREYFELL AND BROTHERS. + +Eric's sons, four or five of them, with a Harald at the top, now at +once got Norway in hand, all of it but Trondhjem, as king and +under-kings; and made a severe time of it for those who had been, or +seemed to be, their enemies. Excellent Jarl Sigurd, always so useful +to Hakon and his country, was killed by them; and they came to repent +that before very long. The slain Sigurd left a son, Hakon, as Jarl, +who became famous in the northern world by and by. This Hakon, and +him only, would the Trondhjemers accept as sovereign. "Death to him, +then," said the sons of Eric, but only in secret, till they had got +their hands free and were ready; which was not yet for some years. +Nay, Hakon, when actually attacked, made good resistance, and +threatened to cause trouble. Nor did he by any means get his death +from these sons of Eric at this time, or till long afterwards at all, +from one of their kin, as it chanced. On the contrary, he fled to +Denmark now, and by and by managed to come back, to their cost. + +Among their other chief victims were two cousins of their own, Tryggve +and Gudrod, who had been honest under-kings to the late head-king, +Hakon the Good; but were now become suspect, and had to fight for +their lives, and lose them in a tragic manner. Tryggve had a son, +whom we shall hear of. Gudrod, son of worthy Bjorn the Chapman, was +grandfather of Saint Olaf, whom all men have heard of,--who has a +church in Southwark even, and another in Old Jewry, to this hour. In +all these violences, Gunhild, widow of the late king Eric, was +understood to have a principal hand. She had come back to Norway with +her sons; and naturally passed for the secret adviser and Maternal +President in whatever of violence went on; always reckoned a fell, +vehement, relentless personage where her own interests were concerned. +Probably as things settled, her influence on affairs grew less. At +least one hopes so; and, in the Sagas, hears less and less of her, and +before long nothing. + +Harald, the head-king in this Eric fraternity, does not seem to have +been a bad man,--the contrary indeed; but his position was untowardly, +full of difficulty and contradictions. Whatever Harald could +accomplish for behoof of Christianity, or real benefit to Norway, in +these cross circumstances, he seems to have done in a modest and +honest manner. He got the name of _Greyfell_ from his people on a +very trivial account, but seemingly with perfect good humor on their +part. Some Iceland trader had brought a cargo of furs to Trondhjem +(Lade) for sale; sale being slacker than the Icelander wished, he +presented a chosen specimen, cloak, doublet, or whatever it was, to +Harald; who wore it with acceptance in public, and rapidly brought +disposal of the Icelander's stock, and the surname of _Greyfell_ to +himself. His under-kings and he were certainly not popular, though I +almost think Greyfell himself, in absence of his mother and the +under-kings, might have been so. But here they all were, and had +wrought great trouble in Norway. "Too many of them," said everybody; +"too many of these courts and court people, eating up any substance +that there is." For the seasons withal, two or three of them in +succession, were bad for grass, much more for grain; no _herring_ came +either; very cleanness of teeth was like to come in Eyvind +Skaldaspillir's opinion. This scarcity became at last their share of +the great Famine Of A.D. 975, which desolated Western Europe (see the +poem in the Saxon Chronicle). And all this by Eyvind Skaldaspillir, +and the heathen Norse in general, was ascribed to anger of the heathen +gods. Discontent in Norway, and especially in Eyvind Skaldaspillir, +seems to have been very great. + +Whereupon exile Hakon, Jarl Sigurd's son, bestirs himself in Denmark, +backed by old King Blue-tooth, and begins invading and encroaching in +a miscellaneous way; especially intriguing and contriving plots all +round him. An unfathomably cunning kind of fellow, as well as an +audacious and strong-handed! Intriguing in Trondhjem, where he gets +the under-king, Greyfell's brother, fallen upon and murdered; +intriguing with Gold Harald, a distinguished cousin or nephew of King +Blue-tooth's, who had done fine viking work, and gained, such wealth +that he got the epithet of "Gold," and who now was infinitely desirous +of a share in Blue-tooth's kingdom as the proper finish to these +sea-rovings. He even ventured one day to make publicly a distinct +proposal that way to King Harald Blue-tooth himself; who flew into +thunder and lightning at the mere mention of it; so that none durst +speak to him for several days afterwards. Of both these Haralds Hakon +was confidential friend; and needed all his skill to walk without +immediate annihilation between such a pair of dragons, and work out +Norway for himself withal. In the end he found he must take solidly +to Blue-tooth's side of the question; and that they two must provide a +recipe for Gold Harald and Norway both at once. + +"It is as much as your life is worth to speak again of sharing this +Danish kingdom," said Hakon very privately to Gold Harald; "but could +not you, my golden friend, be content with Norway for a kingdom, if +one helped you to it?" + +"That could I well," answered Harald. + +"Then keep me those nine war-ships you have just been rigging for a +new viking cruise; have these in readiness when I lift my finger!" + +That was the recipe contrived for Gold Harald; recipe for King +Greyfell goes into the same vial, and is also ready. + +Hitherto the Hakon-Blue-tooth disturbances in Norway had amounted to +but little. King Greyfell, a very active and valiant man, has +constantly, without much difficulty, repelled these sporadic bits of +troubles; but Greyfell, all the same, would willingly have peace with +dangerous old Blue-tooth (ever anxious to get his clutches over Norway +on any terms) if peace with him could be had. Blue-tooth, too, +professes every willingness; inveigles Greyfell, he and Hakon do; to +have a friendly meeting on the Danish borders, and not only settle all +these quarrels, but generously settle Greyfell in certain fiefs which +he claimed in Denmark itself; and so swear everlasting friendship. +Greyfell joyfully complies, punctually appears at the appointed day in +Lymfjord Sound, the appointed place. Whereupon Hakon gives signal to +Gold Harald, "To Lymfjord with these nine ships of yours, swift!" +Gold Harald flies to Lymfjord with his ships, challenges King Harald +Greyfell to land and fight; which the undaunted Greyfell, though so +far outnumbered, does; and, fighting his very best, perishes there, he +and almost all his people. Which done, Jarl Hakon, who is in +readiness, attacks Gold Harald, the victorious but the wearied; easily +beats Gold Harald, takes him prisoner, and instantly hangs and ends +him, to the huge joy of King Blue-tooth and Hakon; who now make +instant voyage to Norway; drive all the brother under-kings into rapid +flight to the Orkneys, to any readiest shelter; and so, under the +patronage of Blue-tooth, Hakon, with the title of Jarl, becomes ruler +of Norway. This foul treachery done on the brave and honest Harald +Greyfell is by some dated about A.D. 969, by Munch, 965, by others, +computing out of Snorro only, A.D. 975. For there is always an +uncertainty in these Icelandic dates (say rather, rare and rude +attempts at dating, without even an "A.D." or other fixed "year one" +to go upon in Iceland), though seldom, I think, so large a discrepancy +as here. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +HAKON JARL. + +Hakon Jarl, such the style he took, had engaged to pay some kind of +tribute to King Blue-tooth, "if he could;" but he never did pay any, +pleading always the necessity of his own affairs; with which excuse, +joined to Hakon's readiness in things less important, King Blue-tooth +managed to content himself, Hakon being always his good neighbor, at +least, and the two mutually dependent. In Norway, Hakon, without the +title of king, did in a strong-handed, steadfast, and at length, +successful way, the office of one; governed Norway (some count) for +above twenty years; and, both at home and abroad, had much +consideration through most of that time; specially amongst the heathen +orthodox, for Hakon Jarl himself was a zealous heathen, fixed in his +mind against these chimerical Christian innovations and unsalutary +changes of creed, and would have gladly trampled out all traces of +what the last two kings (for Greyfell, also, was an English Christian +after his sort) had done in this respect. But he wisely discerned +that it was not possible, and that, for peace's sake, he must not even +attempt it, but must strike preferably into "perfect toleration," and +that of "every one getting to heaven or even to the other goal in his +own way." He himself, it is well known, repaired many heathen temples +(a great "church builder" in his way!), manufactured many splendid +idols, with much gilding and such artistic ornament as there was,--in +particular, one huge image of Thor, not forgetting the hammer and +appendages, and such a collar (supposed of solid gold, which it was +not quite, as we shall hear in time) round the neck of him as was +never seen in all the North. How he did his own Yule festivals, with +what magnificent solemnity, the horse-eatings, blood-sprinklings, and +other sacred rites, need not be told. Something of a "Ritualist," one +may perceive; perhaps had Scandinavian Puseyisms in him, and other +desperate heathen notions. He was universally believed to have gone +into magic, for one thing, and to have dangerous potencies derived +from the Devil himself. The dark heathen mind of him struggling +vehemently in that strange element, not altogether so unlike our own +in some points. + +For the rest, he was evidently, in practical matters, a man of sharp, +clear insight, of steadfast resolution, diligence, promptitude; and +managed his secular matters uncommonly well. Had sixteen Jarls under +him, though himself only Hakon Jarl by title; and got obedience from +them stricter than any king since Haarfagr had done. Add to which +that the country had years excellent for grass and crop, and that the +herrings came in exuberance; tokens, to the thinking mind, that Hakon +Jarl was a favorite of Heaven. + +His fight with the far-famed Jomsvikings was his grandest exploit in +public rumor. Jomsburg, a locality not now known, except that it was +near the mouth of the River Oder, denoted in those ages the +impregnable castle of a certain hotly corporate, or "Sea Robbery +Association (limited)," which, for some generations, held the Baltic +in terror, and plundered far beyond the Belt,--in the ocean itself, in +Flanders and the opulent trading havens there,--above all, in opulent +anarchic England, which, for forty years from about this time, was the +pirates' Goshen; and yielded, regularly every summer, slaves, +Danegelt, and miscellaneous plunder, like no other country Jomsburg or +the viking-world had ever known. Palnatoke, Bue, and the other +quasi-heroic heads of this establishment are still remembered in the +northern parts. _Palnatoke_ is the title of a tragedy by +Oehlenschlager, which had its run of immortality in Copenhagen some +sixty or seventy years ago. + +I judge the institution to have been in its floweriest state, probably +now in Hakon Jarl's time. Hakon Jarl and these pirates, robbing +Hakon's subjects and merchants that frequented him, were naturally in +quarrel; and frequent fightings had fallen out, not generally to the +profit of the Jomsburgers, who at last determined on revenge, and the +rooting out of this obstructive Hakon Jarl. They assembled in force +at the Cape of Stad,--in the Firda Fylke; and the fight was dreadful +in the extreme, noise of it filling all the north for long afterwards. +Hakon, fighting like a lion, could scarcely hold his own,--Death or +Victory, the word on both sides; when suddenly, the heavens grew +black, and there broke out a terrific storm of thunder and hail, +appalling to the human mind,--universe swallowed wholly in black +night; only the momentary forked-blazes, the thunder-pealing as of +Ragnarok, and the battering hail-torrents, hailstones about the size +of an egg. Thor with his hammer evidently acting; but in behalf of +whom? The Jomsburgers in the hideous darkness, broken only by +flashing thunder-bolts, had a dismal apprehension that it was probably +not on their behalf (Thor having a sense of justice in him); and +before the storm ended, thirty-five of their seventy ships sheered +away, leaving gallant Bue, with the other thirty-five, to follow as +they liked, who reproachfully hailed these fugitives, and continued +the now hopeless battle. Bue's nose and lips were smashed or cut +away; Bue managed, half-articulately, to exclaim, "Ha! the maids +('mays') of Funen will never kiss me more. Overboard, all ye Bue's +men!" And taking his two sea-chests, with all the gold he had gained +in such life-struggle from of old, sprang overboard accordingly, and +finished the affair. Hakon Jarl's renown rose naturally to the +transcendent pitch after this exploit. His people, I suppose chiefly +the Christian part of them, whispered one to another, with a shudder, +"That in the blackest of the thunder-storm, he had taken his youngest +little boy, and made away with him; sacrificed him to Thor or some +devil, and gained his victory by art-magic, or something worse." Jarl +Eric, Hakon's eldest son, without suspicion of art-magic, but already +a distinguished viking, became thrice distinguished by his style of +sea-fighting in this battle; and awakened great expectations in the +viking public; of him we shall hear again. + +The Jomsburgers, one might fancy, after this sad clap went visibly +down in the world; but the fact is not altogether so. Old King +Blue-tooth was now dead, died of a wound got in battle with his +unnatural (so-called "natural") son and successor, Otto Svein of the +Forked Beard, afterwards king and conqueror of England for a little +while; and seldom, perhaps never, had vikingism been in such flower as +now. This man's name is Sven in Swedish, Svend in German, and means +boy or lad,--the English "swain." It was at old "Father Bluetooth's +funeral-ale" (drunken burial-feast), that Svein, carousing with his +Jomsburg chiefs and other choice spirits, generally of the robber +class, all risen into height of highest robber enthusiasm, pledged the +vow to one another; Svein that he would conquer England (which, in a +sense, he, after long struggling, did); and the Jomsburgers that they +would ruin and root out Hakon Jarl (which, as we have just seen, they +could by no means do), and other guests other foolish things which +proved equally unfeasible. Sea-robber volunteers so especially +abounding in that time, one perceives how easily the Jomsburgers could +recruit themselves, build or refit new robber fleets, man them with +the pick of crews, and steer for opulent, fruitful England; where, +under Ethelred the Unready, was such a field for profitable enterprise +as the viking public never had before or since. + +An idle question sometimes rises on me,--idle enough, for it never can +be answered in the affirmative or the negative, Whether it was not +these same refitted Jomsburgers who appeared some while after this at +Red Head Point, on the shore of Angus, and sustained a new severe +beating, in what the Scotch still faintly remember as their "Battle of +Loncarty"? Beyond doubt a powerful Norse-pirate armament dropt anchor +at the Red Head, to the alarm of peaceable mortals, about that time. +It was thought and hoped to be on its way for England, but it visibly +hung on for several days, deliberating (as was thought) whether they +would do this poorer coast the honor to land on it before going +farther. Did land, and vigorously plunder and burn south-westward as +far as Perth; laid siege to Perth; but brought out King Kenneth on +them, and produced that "Battle of Loncarty" which still dwells in +vague memory among the Scots. Perhaps it might be the Jomsburgers; +perhaps also not; for there were many pirate associations, lasting not +from century to century like the Jomsburgers, but only for very +limited periods, or from year to year; indeed, it was mainly by such +that the splendid thief-harvest of England was reaped in this +disastrous time. No Scottish chronicler gives the least of exact date +to their famed victory of Loncarty, only that it was achieved by +Kenneth III., which will mean some time between A.D. 975 and 994; and, +by the order they put it in, probably soon after A.D. 975, or the +beginning of this Kenneth's reign. Buchanan's narrative, carefully +distilled from all the ancient Scottish sources, is of admirable +quality for style and otherwise quiet, brief, with perfect clearness, +perfect credibility even, except that semi-miraculous appendage of the +Ploughmen, Hay and Sons, always hanging to the tail of it; the grain +of possible truth in which can now never be extracted by man's art![6] +In brief, what we know is, fragments of ancient human bones and armor +have occasionally been ploughed up in this locality, proof positive of +ancient fighting here; and the fight fell out not long after Hakon's +beating of the Jomsburgers at the Cape of Stad. And in such dim +glimmer of wavering twilight, the question whether these of Loncarty +were refitted Jomsburgers or not, must be left hanging. Loncarty is +now the biggest bleach-field in Queen Victoria's dominions; no village +or hamlet there, only the huge bleaching-house and a beautiful field, +some six or seven miles northwest of Perth, bordered by the beautiful +Tay river on the one side, and by its beautiful tributary Almond on +the other; a Loncarty fitted either for bleaching linen, or for a bit +of fair duel between nations, in those simple times. + +Whether our refitted Jomsburgers had the least thing to do with it is +only matter of fancy, but if it were they who here again got a good +beating, fancy would be glad to find herself fact. The old piratical +kings of Denmark had been at the founding of Jomsburg, and to Svein of +the Forked Beard it was still vitally important, but not so to the +great Knut, or any king that followed; all of whom had better business +than mere thieving; and it was Magnus the Good, of Norway, a man of +still higher anti-anarchic qualities, that annihilated it, about a +century later. + +Hakon Jarl, his chief labors in the world being over, is said to have +become very dissolute in his elder days, especially in the matter of +women; the wretched old fool, led away by idleness and fulness of +bread, which to all of us are well said to be the parents of mischief. +Having absolute power, he got into the habit of openly plundering +men's pretty daughters and wives from them, and, after a few weeks, +sending them back; greatly to the rage of the fierce Norse heart, had +there been any means of resisting or revenging. It did, after a +little while, prove the ruin and destruction of Hakon the Rich, as he +was then called. It opened the door, namely, for entry of Olaf +Tryggveson upon the scene,--a very much grander man; in regard to whom +the wiles and traps of Hakon proved to be a recipe, not on Tryggveson, +but on the wily Hakon himself, as shall now be seen straightway. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +OLAF TRYGGVESON. + +Hakon, in late times, had heard of a famous stirring person, +victorious in various lands and seas, latterly united in sea-robbery +with Svein, Prince Royal of Denmark, afterwards King Svein of the +Double-beard ("_Zvae Skiaeg_", _Twa Shag_) or fork-beard, both of whom +had already done transcendent feats in the viking way during this +copartnery. The fame of Svein, and this stirring personage, whose +name was "Ole," and, recently, their stupendous feats in plunder of +England, siege of London, and other wonders and splendors of viking +glory and success, had gone over all the North, awakening the +attention of Hakon and everybody there. The name of "Ole" was +enigmatic, mysterious, and even dangerous-looking to Hakon Jarl; who +at length sent out a confidential spy to investigate this "Ole;" a +feat which the confidential spy did completely accomplish,--by no +means to Hakon's profit! The mysterious "Ole" proved to be no other +than Olaf, son of Tryggve, destined to blow Hakon Jarl suddenly into +destruction, and become famous among the heroes of the Norse world. + +Of Olaf Tryggveson one always hopes there might, one day, some real +outline of a biography be written; fished from the abysses where (as +usual) it welters deep in foul neighborhood for the present. Farther +on we intend a few words more upon the matter. But in this place all +that concerns us in it limits itself to the two following facts first, +that Hakon's confidential spy "found Ole in Dublin;" picked +acquaintance with him, got him to confess that he was actually Olaf, +son of Tryggve (the Tryggve, whom Blood-axe's fierce widow and her +sons had murdered); got him gradually to own that perhaps an +expedition into Norway might have its chances; and finally that, under +such a wise and loyal guidance as his (the confidential spy's, whose +friendship for Tryggveson was so indubitable), he (Tryggveson) would +actually try it upon Hakon Jarl, the dissolute old scoundrel. Fact +second is, that about the time they two set sail from Dublin on their +Norway expedition, Hakon Jarl removed to Trondhjem, then called Lade; +intending to pass some months there. + +Now just about the time when Tryggveson, spy, and party had landed in +Norway, and were advancing upon Lade, with what support from the +public could be got, dissolute old Hakon Jarl had heard of one Gudrun, +a Bonder's wife, unparalleled in beauty, who was called in those +parts, "Sunbeam of the Grove" (so inexpressibly lovely); and sent off +a couple of thralls to bring her to him. "Never," answered Gudrun; +"never," her indignant husband; in a tone dangerous and displeasing to +these Court thralls; who had to leave rapidly, but threatened to +return in better strength before long. Whereupon, instantly, the +indignant Bonder and his Sunbeam of the Grove sent out their +war-arrow, rousing all the country into angry promptitude, and more +than one perhaps into greedy hope of revenge for their own injuries. +The rest of Hakon's history now rushes on with extreme rapidity. + +Sunbeam of the Grove, when next demanded of her Bonder, has the whole +neighborhood assembled in arms round her; rumor of Tryggveson is fast +making it the whole country. Hakon's insolent messengers are cut in +pieces; Hakon finds he cannot fly under cover too soon. With a single +slave he flies that same night;--but whitherward? Can think of no +safe place, except to some old mistress of his, who lives retired in +that neighborhood, and has some pity or regard for the wicked old +Hakon. Old mistress does receive him, pities him, will do all she can +to protect and hide him. But how, by what uttermost stretch of female +artifice hide him here; every one will search here first of all! Old +mistress, by the slave's help, extemporizes a cellar under the floor +of her pig-house; sticks Hakon and slave into that, as the one safe +seclusion she can contrive. Hakon and slave, begrunted by the pigs +above them, tortured by the devils within and about them, passed two +days in circumstances more and more horrible. For they heard, through +their light-slit and breathing-slit, the triumph of Tryggveson +proclaiming itself by Tryggveson's own lips, who had mounted a big +boulder near by and was victoriously speaking to the people, winding +up with a promise of honors and rewards to whoever should bring him +wicked old Hakon's head. Wretched Hakon, justly suspecting his slave, +tried to at least keep himself awake. Slave did keep himself awake +till Hakon dozed or slept, then swiftly cut off Hakon's head, and +plunged out with it to the presence of Tryggveson. Tryggveson, +detesting the traitor, useful as the treachery was, cut off the +slave's head too, had it hung up along with Hakon's on the pinnacle of +the Lade Gallows, where the populace pelted both heads with stones and +many curses, especially the more important of the two. "Hakon the +Bad" ever henceforth, instead of Hakon the Rich. + +This was the end of Hakon Jarl, the last support of heathenry in +Norway, among other characteristics he had: a stronghanded, +hard-headed, very relentless, greedy and wicked being. He is reckoned +to have ruled in Norway, or mainly ruled, either in the struggling or +triumphant state, for about thirty years (965-995?). He and his +seemed to have formed, by chance rather than design, the chief +opposition which the Haarfagr posterity throughout its whole course +experienced in Norway. Such the cost to them of killing good Jarl +Sigurd, in Greyfell's time! For "curses, like chickens," do sometimes +visibly "come home to feed," as they always, either visibly or else +invisibly, are punctually sure to do. + +Hakon Jarl is considerably connected with the _Faroer Saga_ often +mentioned there, and comes out perfectly in character; an altogether +worldly-wise man of the roughest type, not without a turn for +practicality of kindness to those who would really be of use to him. +His tendencies to magic also are not forgotten. + +Hakon left two sons, Eric and Svein, often also mentioned in this +Saga. On their father's death they fled to Sweden, to Denmark, and +were busy stirring up troubles in those countries against Olaf +Tryggveson; till at length, by a favorable combination, under their +auspices chiefly, they got his brief and noble reign put an end to. +Nay, furthermore, Jarl Eric left sons, especially an elder son, named +also Eric, who proved a sore affliction, and a continual stone of +stumbling to a new generation of Haarfagrs, and so continued the curse +of Sigurd's murder upon them. + +Towards the end of this Hakon's reign it was that the discovery of +America took place (985). Actual discovery, it appears, by Eric the +Red, an Icelander; concerning which there has been abundant +investigation and discussion in our time. _Ginnungagap_ (Roaring +Abyss) is thought to be the mouth of Behring's Straits in Baffin's +Bay; _Big Helloland_, the coast from Cape Walsingham to near +Newfoundland; _Little Helloland_, Newfoundland itself. _Markland_ was +Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Southward thence to +Chesapeake Bay was called _Wine Land_ (wild grapes still grow in Rhode +Island, and more luxuriantly further south). _White Man's Land_, +called also _Great Ireland_, is supposed to mean the two Carolinas, +down to the Southern Cape of Florida. In Dahlmann's opinion, the +Irish themselves might even pretend to have probably been the first +discoverers of America; they had evidently got to Iceland itself +before the Norse exiles found it out. It appears to be certain that, +from the end of the tenth century to the early part of the fourteenth, +there was a dim knowledge of those distant shores extant in the Norse +mind, and even some straggling series of visits thither by roving +Norsemen; though, as only danger, difficulty, and no profit resulted, +the visits ceased, and the whole matter sank into oblivion, and, but +for the Icelandic talent of writing in the long winter nights, would +never have been heard of by posterity at all. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +REIGN OF OLAF TRYGGVESON. + +Olaf Tryggveson (A.D. 995-1000) also makes a great figure in the +_Faroer Saga_, and recounts there his early troubles, which were +strange and many. He is still reckoned a grand hero of the North, +though his _vates_ now is only Snorro Sturleson of Iceland. +Tryggveson had indeed many adventures in the world. His poor mother, +Astrid, was obliged to fly, on murder of her husband by Gunhild,--to +fly for life, three months before he, her little Olaf, was born. She +lay concealed in reedy islands, fled through trackless forests; +reached her father's with the little baby in her arms, and lay +deep-hidden there, tended only by her father himself; Gunhild's +pursuit being so incessant, and keen as with sleuth-hounds. Poor +Astrid had to fly again, deviously to Sweden, to Esthland (Esthonia), +to Russia. In Esthland she was sold as a slave, quite parted from her +boy,--who also was sold, and again sold; but did at last fall in with +a kinsman high in the Russian service; did from him find redemption +and help, and so rose, in a distinguished manner, to manhood, +victorious self-help, and recovery of his kingdom at last. He even +met his mother again, he as king of Norway, she as one wonderfully +lifted out of darkness into new life and happiness still in store. + +Grown to manhood, Tryggveson,--now become acquainted with his birth, +and with his, alas, hopeless claims,--left Russia for the one +profession open to him, that of sea-robbery; and did feats without +number in that questionable line in many seas and scenes,--in England +latterly, and most conspicuously of all. In one of his courses +thither, after long labors in the Hebrides, Man, Wales, and down the +western shores to the very Land's End and farther, he paused at the +Scilly Islands for a little while. He was told of a wonderful +Christian hermit living strangely in these sea-solitudes; had the +curiosity to seek him out, examine, question, and discourse with him; +and, after some reflection, accepted Christian baptism from the +venerable man. In Snorro the story is involved in miracle, rumor, and +fable; but the fact itself seems certain, and is very interesting; the +great, wild, noble soul of fierce Olaf opening to this wonderful +gospel of tidings from beyond the world, tidings which infinitely +transcended all else he had ever heard or dreamt of! It seems certain +he was baptized here; date not fixable; shortly before poor +heart-broken Dunstan's death, or shortly after; most English churches, +monasteries especially, lying burnt, under continual visitation of the +Danes. Olaf such baptism notwithstanding, did not quit his viking +profession; indeed, what other was there for him in the world as yet? + +We mentioned his occasional copartneries with Svein of the +Double-beard, now become King of Denmark, but the greatest of these, +and the alone interesting at this time, is their joint invasion of +England, and Tryggveson's exploits and fortunes there some years after +that adventure of baptism in the Scilly Isles. Svein and he "were +above a year in England together," this time: they steered up the +Thames with three hundred ships and many fighters; siege, or at least +furious assault, of London was their first or main enterprise, but it +did not succeed. The Saxon Chronicle gives date to it, A.D. 994, and +names expressly, as Svein's co-partner, "Olaus, king of +Norway,"--which he was as yet far from being; but in regard to the +Year of Grace the Saxon Chronicle is to be held indisputable, and, +indeed, has the field to itself in this matter. Famed Olaf +Tryggveson, seen visibly at the siege of London, year 994, it throws a +kind of momentary light to us over that disastrous whirlpool of +miseries and confusions, all dark and painful to the fancy otherwise! +This big voyage and furious siege of London is Svein Double-beard's +first real attempt to fulfil that vow of his at Father Blue-tooth's +"funeral ale," and conquer England,--which it is a pity he could not +yet do. Had London now fallen to him, it is pretty evident all +England must have followed, and poor England, with Svein as king over +it, been delivered from immeasurable woes, which had to last some +two-and-twenty years farther, before this result could be arrived at. +But finding London impregnable for the moment (no ship able to get +athwart the bridge, and many Danes perishing in the attempt to do it +by swimming), Svein and Olaf turned to other enterprises; all England +in a manner lying open to them, turn which way they liked. They burnt +and plundered over Kent, over Hampshire, Sussex; they stormed far and +wide; world lying all before them where to choose. Wretched Ethelred, +as the one invention he could fall upon, offered them Danegelt (16,000 +pounds of silver this year, but it rose in other years as high as +48,000 pounds); the desperate Ethelred, a clear method of quenching +fire by pouring oil on it! Svein and Olaf accepted; withdrew to +Southampton,--Olaf at least did,--till the money was got ready. +Strange to think of, fierce Svein of the Double-beard, and conquest of +England by him; this had at last become the one salutary result which +remained for that distracted, down-trodden, now utterly chaotic and +anarchic country. A conquering Svein, followed by an ably and +earnestly administrative, as well as conquering, Knut (whom Dahlmann +compares to Charlemagne), were thus by the mysterious destinies +appointed the effective saviors of England. + +Tryggveson, on this occasion, was a good while at Southampton; and +roamed extensively about, easily victorious over everything, if +resistance were attempted, but finding little or none; and acting now +in a peaceable or even friendly capacity. In the Southampton country +he came in contact with the then Bishop of Winchester, afterwards +Archbishop of Canterbury, excellent Elphegus, still dimly decipherable +to us as a man of great natural discernment, piety, and inborn +veracity; a hero-soul, probably of real brotherhood with Olaf's own. +He even made court visits to King Ethelred; one visit to him at +Andover of a very serious nature. By Elphegus, as we can discover, he +was introduced into the real depths of the Christian faith. Elphegus, +with due solemnity of apparatus, in presence of the king, at Andover, +baptized Olaf anew, and to him Olaf engaged that he would never +plunder in England any more; which promise, too, he kept. In fact, +not long after, Svein's conquest of England being in an evidently +forward state, Tryggveson (having made, withal, a great English or +Irish marriage,--a dowager Princess, who had voluntarily fallen in +love with him,--see Snorro for this fine romantic fact!) mainly +resided in our island for two or three years, or else in Dublin, in +the precincts of the Danish Court there in the Sister Isle. +Accordingly it was in Dublin, as above noted, that Hakon's spy found +him; and from the Liffey that his squadron sailed, through the +Hebrides, through the Orkneys, plundering and baptizing in their +strange way, towards such success as we have seen. + +Tryggveson made a stout, and, in effect, victorious and glorious +struggle for himself as king. Daily and hourly vigilant to do so, +often enough by soft and even merry methods, for he was a witty, +jocund man, and had a fine ringing laugh in him, and clear pregnant +words ever ready,--or if soft methods would not serve, then by hard +and even hardest he put down a great deal of miscellaneous anarchy in +Norway; was especially busy against heathenism (devil-worship and its +rites): this, indeed, may be called the focus and heart of all his +royal endeavor in Norway, and of all the troubles he now had with his +people there. For this was a serious, vital, all-comprehending +matter; devil-worship, a thing not to be tolerated one moment longer +than you could by any method help! Olaf's success was intermittent, +of varying complexion; but his effort, swift or slow, was strong and +continual; and on the whole he did succeed. Take a sample or two of +that wonderful conversion process:-- + +At one of his first Things he found the Bonders all assembled in arms; +resolute to the death seemingly, against his proposal and him. +Tryggveson said little; waited impassive, "What your reasons are, good +men?" One zealous Bonder started up in passionate parliamentary +eloquence; but after a sentence or two, broke down; one, and then +another, and still another, and remained all three staring in +open-mouthed silence there! The peasant-proprietors accepted the +phenomenon as ludicrous, perhaps partly as miraculous withal, and +consented to baptism this time. + +On another occasion of a Thing, which had assembled near some heathen +temple to meet him,--temple where Hakon Jarl had done much repairing, +and set up many idol figures and sumptuous ornaments, regardless of +expense, especially a very big and splendid Thor, with massive gold +collar round the neck of him, not the like of it in Norway,--King Olaf +Tryggveson was clamorously invited by the Bonders to step in there, +enlighten his eyes, and partake of the sacred rites. Instead of which +he rushed into the temple with his armed men; smashed down, with his +own battle-axe, the god Thor, prostrate on the ground at one stroke, +to set an example; and, in a few minutes, had the whole Hakon Pantheon +wrecked; packing up meanwhile all the gold and preciosities +accumulated there (not forgetting Thor's illustrious gold collar, of +which we shall hear again), and victoriously took the plunder home +with him for his own royal uses and behoof of the state. +In other cases, though a friend to strong measures, he had to hold in, +and await the favorable moment. Thus once, in beginning a +parliamentary address, so soon as he came to touch upon Christianity, +the Bonders rose in murmurs, in vociferations and jingling of arms, +which quite drowned the royal voice; declared, they had taken arms +against king Hakon the Good to compel him to desist from his Christian +proposals; and they did not think King Olaf a higher man than him +(Hakon the Good). The king then said, "He purposed coming to them +next Yule to their great sacrificial feast, to see for himself what +their customs were," which pacified the Bonders for this time. The +appointed place of meeting was again a Hakon-Jarl Temple, not yet done +to ruin; chief shrine in those Trondhjem parts, I believe : there +should Tryggveson appear at Yule. Well, but before Yule came, +Tryggveson made a great banquet in his palace at Trondhjem, and +invited far and wide, all manner of important persons out of the +district as guests there. Banquet hardly done, Tryggveson gave some +slight signal, upon which armed men strode in, seized eleven of these +principal persons, and the king said: "Since he himself was to become +a heathen again, and do sacrifice, it was his purpose to do it in the +highest form, namely, that of Human Sacrifice; and this time not of +slaves and malefactors, but of the best men in the country!" In which +stringent circumstances the eleven seized persons, and company at +large, gave unanimous consent to baptism; straightway received the +same, and abjured their idols; but were not permitted to go home till +they had left, in sons, brothers, and other precious relatives, +sufficient hostages in the king's hands. + +By unwearied industry of this and better kinds, Tryggveson had +trampled down idolatry, so far as form went,--how far in substance may +be greatly doubted. But it is to be remembered withal, that always on +the back of these compulsory adventures there followed English +bishops, priests and preachers; whereby to the open-minded, +conviction, to all degrees of it, was attainable, while silence and +passivity became the duty or necessity of the unconvinced party. + +In about two years Norway was all gone over with a rough harrow of +conversion. Heathenism at least constrained to be silent and +outwardly conformable. Tryggveson, next turned his attention to +Iceland, sent one Thangbrand, priest from Saxony, of wonderful +qualities, military as well as theological, to try and convert +Iceland. Thangbrand made a few converts; for Olaf had already many +estimable Iceland friends, whom he liked much, and was much liked by; +and conversion was the ready road to his favor. Thangbrand, I find, +lodged with Hall of Sida (familiar acquaintance of "Burnt Njal," whose +Saga has its admirers among us even now). Thangbrand converted Hall +and one or two other leading men,; but in general he was reckoned +quarrelsome and blusterous rather than eloquent and piously +convincing. Two skalds of repute made biting lampoons upon +Thangbrand, whom Thangbrand, by two opportunities that offered, cut +down and did to death because of their skaldic quality. Another he +killed with his own hand, I know not for what reason. In brief, after +about a year, Thangbrand returned to Norway and king Olaf; declaring +the Icelanders to be a perverse, satirical, and inconvertible people, +having himself, the record says, "been the death of three men there." +King Olaf was in high rage at this result; but was persuaded by the +Icelanders about him to try farther, and by a wilder instrument. He +accordingly chose one Thormod, a pious, patient, and kindly man, who, +within the next year or so, did actually accomplish the matter; +namely, get Christianity, by open vote, declared at Thingvalla by the +general Thing of Iceland there; the roar of a big thunder-clap at the +right moment rather helping the conclusion, if I recollect. Whereupon +Olaf's joy was no doubt great. + +One general result of these successful operations was the discontent, +to all manner of degrees, on the part of many Norse individuals, +against this glorious and victorious, but peremptory and terrible king +of theirs. Tryggveson, I fancy, did not much regard all that; a man +of joyful, cheery temper, habitually contemptuous of danger. Another +trivial misfortune that befell in these conversion operations, and +became important to him, he did not even know of, and would have much +despised if he had. It was this: Sigrid, queen dowager of Sweden, +thought to be amongst the most shining women of the world, was also +known for one of the most imperious, revengeful, and relentless, and +had got for herself the name of Sigrid the Proud. In her high +widowhood she had naturally many wooers; but treated them in a manner +unexampled. Two of her suitors, a simultaneous Two, were, King Harald +Graenske (a cousin of King Tryggveson's, and kind of king in some +district, by sufferance of the late Hakon's),--this luckless Graenske +and the then Russian Sovereign as well, name not worth mentioning, +were zealous suitors of Queen Dowager Sigrid, and were perversely slow +to accept the negative, which in her heart was inexorable for both, +though the expression of it could not be quite so emphatic. By +ill-luck for them they came once,--from the far West, Graenske; from +the far East, the Russian;--and arrived both together at Sigrid's +court, to prosecute their importunate, and to her odious and tiresome +suit; much, how very much, to her impatience and disdain. She lodged +them both in some old mansion, which she had contiguous, and got +compendiously furnished for them; and there, I know not whether on the +first or on the second, or on what following night, this unparalleled +Queen Sigrid had the house surrounded, set on fire, and the two +suitors and their people burnt to ashes! No more of bother from these +two at least! This appears to be a fact; and it could not be unknown +to Tryggveson. + +In spite of which, however, there went from Tryggveson, who was now a +widower, some incipient marriage proposals to this proud widow; by +whom they were favorably received; as from the brightest man in all +the world, they might seem worth being. Now, in one of these +anti-heathen onslaughts of King Olaf's on the idol temples of +Hakon--(I think it was that case where Olaf's own battle-axe struck +down the monstrous refulgent Thor, and conquered an immense gold ring +from the neck of him, or from the door of his temple),--a huge gold +ring, at any rate, had come into Olaf's hands; and this he bethought +him might be a pretty present to Queen Sigrid, the now favorable, +though the proud. Sigrid received the ring with joy; fancied what a +collar it would make for her own fair neck; but noticed that her two +goldsmiths, weighing it on their fingers, exchanged a glance. "What +is that?" exclaimed Queen Sigrid. "Nothing," answered they, or +endeavored to answer, dreading mischief. But Sigrid compelled them to +break open the ring; and there was found, all along the inside of it, +an occult ring of copper, not a heart of gold at all! "Ha," said the +proud Queen, flinging it away, "he that could deceive in this matter +can deceive in many others!" And was in hot wrath with Olaf; though, +by degrees, again she took milder thoughts. + +Milder thoughts, we say; and consented to a meeting next autumn, at +some half-way station, where their great business might be brought to +a happy settlement and betrothment. Both Olaf Tryggveson and the high +dowager appear to have been tolerably of willing mind at this meeting; +but Olaf interposed, what was always one condition with him, "Thou +must consent to baptism, and give up thy idol-gods." "They are the +gods of all my forefathers," answered the lady, "choose thou what gods +thou pleasest, but leave me mine." Whereupon an altercation; and +Tryggveson, as was his wont, towered up into shining wrath, and +exclaimed at last, "Why should I care about thee then, old faded +heathen creature?" And impatiently wagging his glove, hit her, or +slightly switched her, on the face with it, and contemptuously turning +away, walked out of the adventure. "This is a feat that may cost thee +dear one day," said Sigrid. And in the end it came to do so, little +as the magnificent Olaf deigned to think of it at the moment. + +One of the last scuffles I remember of Olaf's having with his +refractory heathens, was at a Thing in Hordaland or Rogaland, far in +the North, where the chief opposition hero was one Jaernskaegg +("ironbeard") Scottice ("Airn-shag," as it were!). Here again was a +grand heathen temple, Hakon Jarl's building, with a splendid Thor in +it and much idol furniture. The king stated what was his constant +wish here as elsewhere, but had no sooner entered upon the subject of +Christianity than universal murmur, rising into clangor and violent +dissent, interrupted him, and Ironbeard took up the discourse in +reply. Ironbeard did not break down; on the contrary, he, with great +brevity, emphasis, and clearness, signified "that the proposal to +reject their old gods was in the highest degree unacceptable to this +Thing; that it was contrary to bargain, withal; so that if it were +insisted on, they would have to fight with the king about it; and in +fact were now ready to do so." In reply to this, Olaf, without word +uttered, but merely with some signal to the trusty armed men he had +with him, rushed off to the temple close at hand; burst into it, +shutting the door behind him; smashed Thor and Co. to destruction; +then reappearing victorious, found much confusion outside, and, in +particular, what was a most important item, the rugged Ironbeard done +to death by Olaf's men in the interim. Which entirely disheartened +the Thing from fighting at that moment; having now no leader who dared +to head them in so dangerous an enterprise. So that every one +departed to digest his rage in silence as he could. + +Matters having cooled for a week or two, there was another Thing held; +in which King Olaf testified regret for the quarrel that had fallen +out, readiness to pay what _mulct_ was due by law for that unlucky +homicide of Ironbeard by his people; and, withal, to take the fair +daughter of Ironbeard to wife, if all would comply and be friends with +him in other matters; which was the course resolved on as most +convenient: accept baptism, we; marry Jaernskaegg's daughter, you. +This bargain held on both sides. The wedding, too, was celebrated, +but that took rather a strange turn. On the morning of the +bride-night, Olaf, who had not been sleeping, though his fair partner +thought he had, opened his eyes, and saw, with astonishment, the fair +partner aiming a long knife ready to strike home upon him! Which at +once ended their wedded life; poor Demoiselle Ironbeard immediately +bundling off with her attendants home again; King Olaf into the +apartment of his servants, mentioning there what had happened, and +forbidding any of them to follow her. + +Olaf Tryggveson, though his kingdom was the smallest of the Norse +Three, had risen to a renown over all the Norse world, which neither +he of Denmark nor he of Sweden could pretend to rival. A magnificent, +far-shining man; more expert in all "bodily exercises" as the Norse +call them, than any man had ever been before him, or after was. Could +keep five daggers in the air, always catching the proper fifth by its +handle, and sending it aloft again; could shoot supremely, throw a +javelin with either hand; and, in fact, in battle usually throw two +together. These, with swimming, climbing, leaping, were the then +admirable Fine Arts of the North; in all which Tryggveson appears to +have been the Raphael and the Michael Angelo at once. Essentially +definable, too, if we look well into him, as a wild bit of real +heroism, in such rude guise and environment; a high, true, and great +human soul. A jovial burst of laughter in him, withal; a bright, +airy, wise way of speech; dressed beautifully and with care; a man +admired and loved exceedingly by those he liked; dreaded as death by +those he did not like. "Hardly any king," says Snorro, "was ever so +well obeyed; by one class out of zeal and love, by the rest out of +dread." His glorious course, however, was not to last long. + +King Svein of the Double-Beard had not yet completed his conquest of +England,--by no means yet, some thirteen horrid years of that still +before him!--when, over in Denmark, he found that complaints against +him and intricacies had arisen, on the part principally of one +Burislav, King of the Wends (far up the Baltic), and in a less degree +with the King of Sweden and other minor individuals. Svein earnestly +applied himself to settle these, and have his hands free. Burislav, +an aged heathen gentleman, proved reasonable and conciliatory; so, +too, the King of Sweden, and Dowager Queen Sigrid, his managing +mother. Bargain in both these cases got sealed and crowned by +marriage. Svein, who had become a widower lately, now wedded Sigrid; +and might think, possibly enough, he had got a proud bargain, though a +heathen one. Burislav also insisted on marriage with Princess Thyri, +the Double-Beard's sister. Thyri, inexpressibly disinclined to wed an +aged heathen of that stamp, pleaded hard with her brother; but the +Double-Bearded was inexorable; Thyri's wailings and entreaties went +for nothing. With some guardian foster-brother, and a serving-maid or +two, she had to go on this hated journey. Old Burislav, at sight of +her, blazed out into marriage-feast of supreme magnificence, and was +charmed to see her; but Thyri would not join the marriage party; +refused to eat with it or sit with it at all. Day after day, for six +days, flatly refused; and after nightfall of the sixth, glided out +with her foster-brother into the woods, into by-paths and +inconceivable wanderings; and, in effect, got home to Denmark. +Brother Svein was not for the moment there; probably enough gone to +England again. But Thyri knew too well he would not allow her to stay +here, or anywhere that he could help, except with the old heathen she +had just fled from. + +Thyri, looking round the world, saw no likely road for her, but to +Olaf Tryggveson in Norway; to beg protection from the most heroic man +she knew of in the world. Olaf, except by renown, was not known to +her; but by renown he well was. Olaf, at sight of her, promised +protection and asylum against all mortals. Nay, in discoursing with +Thyri Olaf perceived more and more clearly what a fine handsome being, +soul and body, Thyri was; and in a short space of time winded up by +proposing marriage to Thyri; who, humbly, and we may fancy with what +secret joy, consented to say yes, and become Queen of Norway. In the +due months they had a little son, Harald; who, it is credibly +recorded, was the joy of both his parents; but who, to their +inexpressible sorrow, in about a year died, and vanished from them. +This, and one other fact now to be mentioned, is all the wedded +history we have of Thyri. + +The other fact is, that Thyri had, by inheritance or covenant, not +depending on her marriage with old Burislav, considerable properties +in Wendland; which, she often reflected, might be not a little +behooveful to her here in Norway, where her civil-list was probably +but straitened. She spoke of this to her husband; but her husband +would take no hold, merely made her gifts, and said, "Pooh, pooh, +can't we live without old Burislav and his Wendland properties?" So +that the lady sank into ever deeper anxiety and eagerness about this +Wendland object; took to weeping; sat weeping whole days; and when +Olaf asked, "What ails thee, then?" would answer, or did answer once, +"What a different man my father Harald Gormson was [vulgarly called +Blue-tooth], compared with some that are now kings! For no King Svein +in the world would Harald Gormson have given up his own or his wife's +just rights!" Whereupon Tryggveson started up, exclaiming in some +heat, "Of thy brother Svein I never was afraid; if Svein and I meet in +contest, it will not be Svein, I believe, that conquers;" and went off +in a towering fume. Consented, however, at last, had to consent, to +get his fine fleet equipped and armed, and decide to sail with it to +Wendland to have speech and settlement with King Burislav. + +Tryggveson had already ships and navies that were the wonder of the +North. Especially in building war ships, the Crane, the Serpent, last +of all the Long Serpent,[7]--he had, for size, for outward beauty, and +inward perfection of equipment, transcended all example. + +This new sea expedition became an object of attention to all +neighbors; especially Queen Sigrid the Proud and Svein Double-Beard, +her now king, were attentive to it. + +"This insolent Tryggveson," Queen Sigrid would often say, and had long +been saying, to her Svein, "to marry thy sister without leave had or +asked of thee; and now flaunting forth his war navies, as if he, king +only of paltry Norway, were the big hero of the North! Why do you +suffer it, you kings really great?" + +By such persuasions and reiterations, King Svein of Denmark, King Olaf +of Sweden, and Jarl Eric, now a great man there, grown rich by +prosperous sea robbery and other good management, were brought to take +the matter up, and combine strenuously for destruction of King Olaf +Tryggveson on this grand Wendland expedition of his. Fleets and +forces were with best diligence got ready; and, withal, a certain Jarl +Sigwald, of Jomsburg, chieftain of the Jomsvikings, a powerful, +plausible, and cunning man, was appointed to find means of joining +himself to Tryggveson's grand voyage, of getting into Tryggveson's +confidence, and keeping Svein Double-Beard, Eric, and the Swedish King +aware of all his movements. + +King Olaf Tryggveson, unacquainted with all this, sailed away in +summer, with his splendid fleet; went through the Belts with +prosperous winds, under bright skies, to the admiration of both +shores. Such a fleet, with its shining Serpents, long and short, and +perfection of equipment and appearance, the Baltic never saw before. +Jarl Sigwald joined with new ships by the way: "Had," he too, "a +visit to King Burislav to pay; how could he ever do it in better +company?" and studiously and skilfully ingratiated himself with King +Olaf. Old Burislav, when they arrived, proved altogether courteous, +handsome, and amenable; agreed at once to Olaf's claims for his now +queen, did the rites of hospitality with a generous plenitude to Olaf; +who cheerily renewed acquaintance with that country, known to him in +early days (the cradle of his fortunes in the viking line), and found +old friends there still surviving, joyful to meet him again. Jarl +Sigwald encouraged these delays, King Svein and Co. not being yet +quite ready. "Get ready!" Sigwald directed them, and they diligently +did. Olaf's men, their business now done, were impatient to be home; +and grudged every day of loitering there; but, till Sigwald pleased, +such his power of flattering and cajoling Tryggveson, they could not +get away. + +At length, Sigwald's secret messengers reporting all ready on the part +of Svein and Co., Olaf took farewell of Burislav and Wendland, and all +gladly sailed away. Svein, Eric, and the Swedish king, with their +combined fleets, lay in wait behind some cape in a safe little bay of +some island, then called Svolde, but not in our time to be found; the +Baltic tumults in the fourteenth century having swallowed it, as some +think, and leaving us uncertain whether it was in the neighborhood of +Rugen Island or in the Sound of Elsinore. There lay Svein, Eric, and +Co. waiting till Tryggveson and his fleet came up, Sigwald's spy +messengers daily reporting what progress he and it had made. At +length, one bright summer morning, the fleet made appearance, sailing +in loose order, Sigwald, as one acquainted with the shoal places, +steering ahead, and showing them the way. + +Snorro rises into one of his pictorial fits, seized with enthusiasm at +the thought of such a fleet, and reports to us largely in what order +Tryggveson's winged Coursers of the Deep, in long series, for perhaps +an hour or more, came on, and what the three potentates, from their +knoll of vantage, said of each as it hove in sight, Svein thrice over +guessed this and the other noble vessel to be the Long Serpent; Eric, +always correcting him, "No, that is not the Long Serpent yet" (and +aside always), "Nor shall you be lord of it, king, when it does come." +The Long Serpent itself did make appearance. Eric, Svein, and the +Swedish king hurried on board, and pushed out of their hiding-place +into the open sea. Treacherous Sigwald, at the beginning of all this, +had suddenly doubled that cape of theirs, and struck into the bay out +of sight, leaving the foremost Tryggveson ships astonished, and +uncertain what to do, if it were not simply to strike sail and wait +till Olaf himself with the Long Serpent arrived. + +Olaf's chief captains, seeing the enemy's huge fleet come out, and how +the matter lay, strongly advised King Olaf to elude this stroke of +treachery, and, with all sail, hold on his course, fight being now on +so unequal terms. Snorro says, the king, high on the quarter-deck +where he stood, replied, "Strike the sails; never shall men of mine +think of flight. I never fled from battle. Let God dispose of my +life; but flight I will never take." And so the battle arrangements +immediately began, and the battle with all fury went loose; and lasted +hour after hour, till almost sunset, if I well recollect. "Olaf stood +on the Serpent's quarter-deck," says Snorro, "high over the others. +He had a gilt shield and a helmet inlaid with gold; over his armor he +had a short red coat, and was easily distinguished from other men." +Snorro's account of the battle is altogether animated, graphic, and so +minute that antiquaries gather from it, if so disposed (which we but +little are), what the methods of Norse sea-fighting were; their +shooting of arrows, casting of javelins, pitching of big stones, +ultimately boarding, and mutual clashing and smashing, which it would +not avail us to speak of here. Olaf stood conspicuous all day, +throwing javelins, of deadly aim, with both hands at once; +encouraging, fighting and commanding like a highest sea-king. + +The Danish fleet, the Swedish fleet, were, both of them, quickly dealt +with, and successively withdrew out of shot-range. And then Jarl Eric +came up, and fiercely grappled with the Long Serpent, or, rather, with +her surrounding comrades; and gradually, as they were beaten empty of +men, with the Long Serpent herself. The fight grew ever fiercer, more +furious. Eric was supplied with new men from the Swedes and Danes; +Olaf had no such resource, except from the crews of his own beaten +ships, and at length this also failed him; all his ships, except the +Long Serpent, being beaten and emptied. Olaf fought on unyielding. +Eric twice boarded him, was twice repulsed. Olaf kept his +quarterdeck; unconquerable, though left now more and more hopeless, +fatally short of help. A tall young man, called Einar Tamberskelver, +very celebrated and important afterwards in Norway, and already the +best archer known, kept busy with his bow. Twice he nearly shot Jarl +Eric in his ship. "Shoot me that man," said Jarl Eric to a bowman +near him; and, just as Tamberskelver was drawing his bow the third +time, an arrow hit it in the middle and broke it in two. "What is +this that has broken?" asked King Olaf. "Norway from thy hand, king," +answered Tamberskelver. Tryggveson's men, he observed with surprise, +were striking violently on Eric's; but to no purpose: nobody fell. +"How is this?" asked Tryggveson. "Our swords are notched and +blunted, king; they do not cut." Olaf stept down to his arm-chest; +delivered out new swords; and it was observed as he did it, blood ran +trickling from his wrist; but none knew where the wound was. Eric +boarded a third time. Olaf, left with hardly more than one man, +sprang overboard (one sees that red coat of his still glancing in the +evening sun), and sank in the deep waters to his long rest. + +Rumor ran among his people that he still was not dead; grounding on +some movement by the ships of that traitorous Sigwald, they fancied +Olaf had dived beneath the keels of his enemies, and got away with +Sigwald, as Sigwald himself evidently did. "Much was hoped, supposed, +spoken," says one old mourning Skald; "but the truth was, Olaf +Tryggveson was never seen in Norseland more." Strangely he remains +still a shining figure to us; the wildly beautifulest man, in body and +in soul, that one has ever heard of in the North. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +JARLS ERIC AND SVEIN. + +Jarl Eric, splendent with this victory, not to speak of that over the +Jomsburgers with his father long ago, was now made Governor of Norway: +Governor or quasi-sovereign, with his brother, Jarl. Svein, as +partner, who, however, took but little hand in governing;--and, under +the patronage of Svein Double-Beard and the then Swedish king (Olaf +his name, Sigrid the Proud, his mother's), administered it, they say, +with skill and prudence for above fourteen years. Tryggveson's death +is understood and laboriously computed to have happened in the year +1000; but there is no exact chronology in these things, but a +continual uncertain guessing after such; so that one eye in History as +regards them is as if put out;--neither indeed have I yet had the luck +to find any decipherable and intelligible map of Norway: so that the +other eye of History is much blinded withal, and her path through +those wild regions and epochs is an extremely dim and chaotic one. An +evil that much demands remedying, and especially wants some first +attempt at remedying, by inquirers into English History; the whole +period from Egbert, the first Saxon King of England, on to Edward the +Confessor, the last, being everywhere completely interwoven with that +of their mysterious, continually invasive "Danes," as they call them, +and inextricably unintelligible till these also get to be a little +understood, and cease to be utterly dark, hideous, and mythical to us +as they now are. + +King Olaf Tryggveson is the first Norseman who is expressly mentioned +to have been in England by our English History books, new or old; and +of him it is merely said that he had an interview with King Ethelred +II. at Andover, of a pacific and friendly nature,--though it is +absurdly added that the noble Olaf was converted to Christianity by +that extremely stupid Royal Person. Greater contrast in an interview +than in this at Andover, between heroic Olaf Tryggveson and Ethelred +the forever Unready, was not perhaps seen in the terrestrial Planet +that day. Olaf or "Olaus," or "Anlaf," as they name him, did "engage +on oath to Ethelred not to invade England any more," and kept his +promise, they farther say. Essentially a truth, as we already know, +though the circumstances were all different; and the promise was to a +devout High Priest, not to a crowned Blockhead and cowardly +Do-nothing. One other "Olaus" I find mentioned in our Books, two or +three centuries before, at a time when there existed no such +individual; not to speak of several Anlafs, who sometimes seem to mean +Olaf and still oftener to mean nobody possible. Which occasions not a +little obscurity in our early History, says the learned Selden. A +thing remediable, too, in which, if any Englishman of due genius (or +even capacity for standing labor), who understood the Icelandic and +Anglo-Saxon languages, would engage in it, he might do a great deal of +good, and bring the matter into a comparatively lucid state. Vain +aspirations,--or perhaps not altogether vain. + +At the time of Olaf Tryggveson's death, and indeed long before, King +Svein Double-Beard had always for chief enterprise the Conquest of +England, and followed it by fits with extreme violence and impetus; +often advancing largely towards a successful conclusion; but never, +for thirteen years yet, getting it concluded. He possessed long since +all England north of Watling Street. That is to say, Northumberland, +East Anglia (naturally full of Danish settlers by this time), were +fixedly his; Mercia, his oftener than not; Wessex itself, with all the +coasts, he was free to visit, and to burn and rob in at discretion. +There or elsewhere, Ethelred the Unready had no battle in him +whatever; and, for a forty years after the beginning of his reign, +England excelled in anarchic stupidity, murderous devastation, utter +misery, platitude, and sluggish contemptibility, all the countries one +has read of. Apparently a very opulent country, too; a ready skill in +such arts and fine arts as there were; Svein's very ships, they say, +had their gold dragons, top-mast pennons, and other metallic splendors +generally wrought for them in England. "Unexampled prosperity" in the +manufacture way not unknown there, it would seem! But co-existing +with such spiritual bankruptcy as was also unexampled, one would hope. +Read Lupus (Wulfstan), Archbishop of York's amazing _Sermon_ on the +subject,[8] addressed to contemporary audiences; setting forth such a +state of things,--sons selling their fathers, mothers, and sisters as +Slaves to the Danish robber; themselves living in debauchery, +blusterous gluttony, and depravity; the details of which are well-nigh +incredible, though clearly stated as things generally known,--the +humor of these poor wretches sunk to a state of what we may call +greasy desperation, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." The +manner in which they treated their own English nuns, if young, +good-looking, and captive to the Danes; buying them on a kind of +brutish or subter-brutish "Greatest Happiness Principle" (for the +moment), and by a Joint-Stock arrangement, far transcends all human +speech or imagination, and awakens in one the momentary red-hot +thought, The Danes have served you right, ye accursed! The so-called +soldiers, one finds, made not the least fight anywhere; could make +none, led and guided as they were, and the "Generals" often enough +traitors, always ignorant, and blockheads, were in the habit, when +expressly commanded to fight, of taking physic, and declaring that +nature was incapable of castor-oil and battle both at once. This +ought to be explained a little to the modern English and their +War-Secretaries, who undertake the conduct of armies. The undeniable +fact is, defeat on defeat was the constant fate of the English; during +these forty years not one battle in which they were not beaten. No +gleam of victory or real resistance till the noble Edmund Ironside +(whom it is always strange to me how such an Ethelred could produce +for son) made his appearance and ran his brief course, like a great +and far-seen meteor, soon extinguished without result. No remedy for +England in that base time, but yearly asking the victorious, +plundering, burning and murdering Danes, "How much money will you take +to go away?" Thirty thousand pounds in silver, which the annual +_Danegelt_ soon rose to, continued to be about the average yearly sum, +though generally on the increasing hand; in the last year I think it +had risen to seventy-two thousand pounds in silver, raised yearly by a +tax (Income-tax of its kind, rudely levied), the worst of all +remedies, good for the day only. Nay, there was one remedy still +worse, which the miserable Ethelred once tried: that of massacring +"all the Danes settled in England" (practically, of a few thousands or +hundreds of them), by treachery and a kind of Sicilian Vespers. Which +issued, as such things usually do, in terrible monition to you not to +try the like again! Issued, namely, in redoubled fury on the Danish +part; new fiercer invasion by Svein's Jarl Thorkel; then by Svein +himself; which latter drove the miserable Ethelred, with wife and +family, into Normandy, to wife's brother, the then Duke there; and +ended that miserable struggle by Svein's becoming King of England +himself. Of this disgraceful massacre, which it would appear has been +immensely exaggerated in the English books, we can happily give the +exact date (A.D. 1002); and also of Svein's victorious accession (A.D. +1013),[9]--pretty much the only benefit one gets out of contemplating +such a set of objects. + +King Svein's first act was to levy a terribly increased Income-Tax for +the payment of his army. Svein was levying it with a stronghanded +diligence, but had not yet done levying it, when, at Gainsborough one +night, he suddenly died; smitten dead, once used to be said, by St. +Edmund, whilom murdered King of the East Angles; who could not bear to +see his shrine and monastery of St. Edmundsbury plundered by the +Tyrant's tax-collectors, as they were on the point of being. In all +ways impossible, however,--Edmund's own death did not occur till two +years after Svein's. Svein's death, by whatever cause, befell 1014; +his fleet, then lying in the Humber; and only Knut,[10] his eldest son +(hardly yet eighteen, count some), in charge of it; who, on short +counsel, and arrangement about this questionable kingdom of his, +lifted anchor; made for Sandwich, a safer station at the moment; "cut +off the feet and noses" (one shudders, and hopes not, there being some +discrepancy about it!) of his numerous hostages that had been +delivered to King Svein; set them ashore;--and made for Denmark, his +natural storehouse and stronghold, as the hopefulest first thing he +could do. + +Knut soon returned from Denmark, with increase of force sufficient for +the English problem; which latter he now ended in a victorious, and +essentially, for himself and chaotic England, beneficent manner. +Became widely known by and by, there and elsewhere, as Knut the Great; +and is thought by judges of our day to have really merited that title. +A most nimble, sharp-striking, clear-thinking, prudent and effective +man, who regulated this dismembered and distracted England in its +Church matters, in its State matters, like a real King. Had a +Standing Army (_House Carles_), who were well paid, well drilled and +disciplined, capable of instantly quenching insurrection or breakage +of the peace; and piously endeavored (with a signal earnestness, and +even devoutness, if we look well) to do justice to all men, and to +make all men rest satisfied with justice. In a word, he successfully +strapped up, by every true method and regulation, this miserable, +dislocated, and dissevered mass of bleeding Anarchy into something +worthy to be called an England again;--only that he died too soon, and +a second "Conqueror" of us, still weightier of structure, and under +improved auspices, became possible, and was needed here! To +appearance, Knut himself was capable of being a Charlemagne of England +and the North (as has been already said or quoted), had he only lived +twice as long as he did. But his whole sum of years seems not to have +exceeded forty. His father Svein of the Forkbeard is reckoned to have +been fifty to sixty when St. Edmund finished him at Gainsborough. We +now return to Norway, ashamed of this long circuit which has been a +truancy more or less. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +KING OLAF THE THICK-SET'S VIKING DAYS, + +King Harald Graenske, who, with another from Russia accidentally +lodging beside him, got burned to death in Sweden, courting that +unspeakable Sigrid the Proud,--was third cousin or so to Tryggve, +father of our heroic Olaf. Accurately counted, he is great-grandson +of Bjorn the Chapman, first of Haarfagr's sons whom Eric Bloodaxe made +away with. His little "kingdom," as he called it, was a district +named the Greenland (_Graeneland_); he himself was one of those little +Haarfagr kinglets whom Hakon Jarl, much more Olaf Tryggveson, was +content to leave reigning, since they would keep the peace with him. +Harald had a loving wife of his own, Aasta the name of her, soon +expecting the birth of her and his pretty babe, named Olaf,--at the +time he went on that deplorable Swedish adventure, the foolish, fated +creature, and ended self and kingdom altogether. Aasta was greatly +shocked; composed herself however; married a new husband, Sigurd Syr, +a kinglet, and a great-grandson of Harald Fairhair, a man of great +wealth, prudence, and influence in those countries; in whose house, as +favorite and well-beloved stepson, little Olaf was wholesomely and +skilfully brought up. In Sigurd's house he had, withal, a special +tutor entertained for him, one Rane, known as Rane the Far-travelled, +by whom he could be trained, from the earliest basis, in Norse +accomplishments and arts. New children came, one or two; but Olaf, +from his mother, seems always to have known that he was the +distinguished and royal article there. One day his Foster-father, +hurrying to leave home on business, hastily bade Olaf, no other being +by, saddle his horse for him. Olaf went out with the saddle, chose +the biggest he-goat about, saddled that, and brought it to the door by +way of horse. Old Sigurd, a most grave man, grinned sardonically at +the sight. "Hah, I see thou hast no mind to take commands from me; +thou art of too high a humor to take commands." To which, says +Snorro, Boy Olaf answered little except by laughing, till Sigurd +saddled for himself, and rode away. His mother Aasta appears to have +been a thoughtful, prudent woman, though always with a fierce royalism +at the bottom of her memory, and a secret implacability on that head. + +At the age of twelve Olaf went to sea; furnished with a little fleet, +and skilful sea-counsellor, expert old Rane, by his Foster-father, and +set out to push his fortune in the world. Rane was a steersman and +counsellor in these incipient times; but the crew always called Olaf +"King," though at first, as Snorro thinks, except it were in the hour +of battle, he merely pulled an oar. He cruised and fought in this +capacity on many seas and shores; passed several years, perhaps till +the age of nineteen or twenty, in this wild element and way of life; +fighting always in a glorious and distinguished manner. In the hour +of battle, diligent enough "to amass property," as the Vikings termed +it; and in the long days and nights of sailing, given over, it is +likely, to his own thoughts and the unfathomable dialogue with the +ever-moaning Sea; not the worst High School a man could have, and +indeed infinitely preferable to the most that are going even now, for +a high and deep young soul. + +His first distinguished expedition was to Sweden: natural to go +thither first, to avenge his poor father's death, were it nothing +more. Which he did, the Skalds say, in a distinguished manner; making +victorious and handsome battle for himself, in entering Maelare Lake; +and in getting out of it again, after being frozen there all winter, +showing still more surprising, almost miraculous contrivance and +dexterity. This was the first of his glorious victories, of which the +Skalds reckon up some fourteen or thirteen very glorious indeed, +mostly in the Western and Southern countries, most of all in England; +till the name of Olaf Haraldson became quite famous in the Viking and +strategic world. He seems really to have learned the secrets of his +trade, and to have been, then and afterwards, for vigilance, +contrivance, valor, and promptitude of execution, a superior fighter. +Several exploits recorded of him betoken, in simple forms, what may be +called a military genius. + +The principal, and to us the alone interesting, of his exploits seem +to have lain in England, and, what is further notable, always on the +anti-Svein side. English books do not mention him at all that I can +find; but it is fairly credible that, as the Norse records report, in +the end of Ethelred's reign, he was the ally or hired general of +Ethelred, and did a great deal of sea-fighting, watching, sailing, and +sieging for this miserable king and Edmund Ironside, his son. Snorro +says expressly, London, the impregnable city, had to be besieged again +for Ethelred's behoof (in the interval between Svein's death and young +Knut's getting back from Denmark), and that our Olaf Haraldson was the +great engineer and victorious captor of London on that singular +occasion,--London captured for the first time. The Bridge, as usual, +Snorro says, offered almost insuperable obstacles. But the +engineering genius of Olaf contrived huge "platforms of wainscoting +[old walls of wooden houses, in fact], bound together by withes;" +these, carried steadily aloft above the ships, will (thinks Olaf) +considerably secure them and us from the destructive missiles, big +boulder stones, and other, mischief profusely showered down on us, +till we get under the Bridge with axes and cables, and do some good +upon it. Olaf's plan was tried; most of the other ships, in spite of +their wainscoting and withes, recoiled on reaching the Bridge, so +destructive were the boulder and other missile showers. But Olaf's +ships and self got actually under the Bridge; fixed all manner of +cables there; and then, with the river current in their favor, and the +frightened ships rallying to help in this safer part of the +enterprise, tore out the important piles and props, and fairly broke +the poor Bridge, wholly or partly, down into the river, and its Danish +defenders into immediate surrender. That is Snorro's account. + +On a previous occasion, Olaf had been deep in a hopeful combination +with Ethelred's two younger sons, Alfred and Edward, afterwards King +Edward the Confessor: That they two should sally out from Normandy in +strong force, unite with Olaf in ditto, and, landing on the Thames, do +something effectual for themselves. But impediments, bad weather or +the like, disheartened the poor Princes, and it came to nothing. Olaf +was much in Normandy, what they then called Walland; a man held in +honor by those Norman Dukes. + +What amount of "property" he had amassed I do not know, but could +prove, were it necessary, that he had acquired some tactical or even +strategic faculty and real talent for war. At Lymfjord, in Jutland, +but some years after this (A.D. 1027), he had a sea-battle with the +great Knut himself,--ships combined with flood-gates, with roaring, +artificial deluges; right well managed by King Olaf; which were within +a hair's-breadth of destroying Knut, now become a King and Great; and +did in effect send him instantly running. But of this more +particularly by and by. + +What still more surprises me is the mystery, where Olaf, in this +wandering, fighting, sea-roving life, acquired his deeply religious +feeling, his intense adherence to the Christian Faith. I suppose it +had been in England, where many pious persons, priestly and other, +were still to be met with, that Olaf had gathered these doctrines; and +that in those his unfathomable dialogues with the ever-moaning Ocean, +they had struck root downwards in the soul of him, and borne fruit +upwards to the degree so conspicuous afterwards. It is certain he +became a deeply pious man during these long Viking cruises; and +directed all his strength, when strength and authority were lent him, +to establishing the Christian religion in his country, and suppressing +and abolishing Vikingism there; both of which objects, and their +respective worth and unworth, he, must himself have long known so +well. + +It was well on in A.D. 1016 that Knut gained his last victory, at +Ashdon, in Essex, where the earth pyramids and antique church near by +still testify the thankful piety of Knut,--or, at lowest his joy at +having _won_ instead of lost and perished, as he was near doing there. +And it was still this same year when the noble Edmund Ironside, after +forced partition-treaty "in the Isle of Alney," got scandalously +murdered, and Knut became indisputable sole King of England, and +decisively settled himself to his work of governing there. In the +year before either of which events, while all still hung uncertain for +Knut, and even Eric Jarl of Norway had to be summoned in aid of him, +in that year 1015, as one might naturally guess and as all Icelandic +hints and indications lead us to date the thing, Olaf had decided to +give up Vikingism in all its forms; to return to Norway, and try +whether he could not assert the place and career that belonged to him +there. Jarl Eric had vanished with all his war forces towards +England, leaving only a boy, Hakon, as successor, and Svein, his own +brother,--a quiet man, who had always avoided war. Olaf landed in +Norway without obstacle; but decided to be quiet till he had himself +examined and consulted friends. + +His reception by his mother Aasta was of the kindest and proudest, and +is lovingly described by Snorro. A pretty idyllic, or epic piece, of +_Norse_ Homeric type: How Aasta, hearing of her son's advent, set all +her maids and menials to work at the top of their speed; despatched a +runner to the harvest-field, where her husband Sigurd was, to warn him +to come home and dress. How Sigurd was standing among his harvest +folk, reapers and binders; and what he had on,--broad slouch hat, with +veil (against the midges), blue kirtle, hose of I forget what color, +with laced boots; and in his hand a stick with silver head and ditto +ring upon it;--a personable old gentleman, of the eleventh century, in +those parts. Sigurd was cautious, prudentially cunctatory, though +heartily friendly in his counsel to Olaf as to the King question. +Aasta had a Spartan tone in her wild maternal heart; and assures Olaf +that she, with a half-reproachful glance at Sigurd, will stand by him +to the death in this his just and noble enterprise. Sigurd promises +to consult farther in his neighborhood, and to correspond by messages; +the result is, Olaf resolutely pushing forward himself, resolves to +call a Thing, and openly claim his kingship there. The Thing itself +was willing enough: opposition parties do here and there bestir +themselves; but Olaf is always swifter than they. Five kinglets +somewhere in the Uplands,[11]--all descendants of Haarfagr; but averse +to break the peace, which Jarl Eric and Hakon Jarl both have always +willingly allowed to peaceable people,--seem to be the main opposition +party. These five take the field against Olaf with what force they +have; Olaf, one night, by beautiful celerity and strategic practice +which a Friedrich or a Turenne might have approved, surrounds these +Five; and when morning breaks, there is nothing for them but either +death, or else instant surrender, and swearing of fealty to King Olaf. +Which latter branch of the alternative they gladly accept, the whole +five of them, and go home again. + +This was a beautiful bit of war-practice by King Olaf on land. By +another stroke still more compendious at sea, he had already settled +poor young Hakon, and made him peaceable for a long while. Olaf by +diligent quest and spy-messaging, had ascertained that Hakon, just +returning from Denmark and farewell to Papa and Knut, both now under +way for England, was coasting north towards Trondhjem; and intended on +or about such a day to land in such and such a fjord towards the end +of this Trondhjem voyage. Olaf at once mans two big ships, steers +through the narrow mouth of the said fjord, moors one ship on the +north shore, another on the south; fixes a strong cable, well sunk +under water, to the capstans of these two; and in all quietness waits +for Hakon. Before many hours, Hakon's royal or quasi-royal barge +steers gaily into this fjord; is a little surprised, perhaps, to see +within the jaws of it two big ships at anchor, but steers gallantly +along, nothing doubting. Olaf with a signal of "All hands," works his +two capstans; has the cable up high enough at the right moment, +catches with it the keel of poor Hakon's barge, upsets it, empties it +wholly into the sea. Wholly into the sea; saves Hakon, however, and +his people from drowning, and brings them on board. His dialogue with +poor young Hakon, especially poor young Hakon's responses, is very +pretty. Shall I give it, out of Snorro, and let the reader take it +for as authentic as he can? It is at least the true image of it in +authentic Snorro's head, little more than two centuries later. + +"Jarl Hakon was led up to the king's ship. He was the handsomest man +that could be seen. He had long hair as fine as silk, bound about his +head with a gold ornament. When he sat down in the forehold the king +said to him: + +_King._ "'It is not false, what is said of your family, that ye are +handsome people to look at; but now your luck has deserted you.' + +_Hakon._ "'It has always been the case that success is changeable; +and there is no luck in the matter. It has gone with your family as +with mine to have by turns the better lot. I am little beyond +childhood in years; and at any rate we could not have defended +ourselves, as we did not expect any attack on the way. It may turn +out better with us another time.' + +_King._ "'Dost thou not apprehend that thou art in such a condition +that, hereafter, there can be neither victory nor defeat for thee?' + +_Hakon._ "'That is what only thou canst determine, King, according to +thy pleasure.' + +_King._ "'What wilt thou give me, Jarl, if, for this time, I let thee +go, whole and unhurt?' + +_Hakon._ "'What wilt thou take, King?' + +_King._ "'Nothing, except that thou shalt leave the country; give up +thy kingdom; and take an oath that thou wilt never go into battle +against me.'"[12] + +Jarl Hakon accepted the generous terms; went to England and King Knut, +and kept his bargain for a good few years; though he was at last +driven, by pressure of King Knut, to violate it,--little to his +profit, as we shall see. One victorious naval battle with Jarl Svein, +Hakon's uncle, and his adherents, who fled to Sweden, after his +beating,--battle not difficult to a skilful, hard-hitting king,--was +pretty much all the actual fighting Olaf had to do in this enterprise. +He various times met angry Bonders and refractory Things with arms in +their hand; but by skilful, firm management,--perfectly patient, but +also perfectly ready to be active,--he mostly managed without coming +to strokes; and was universally recognized by Norway as its real king. +A promising young man, and fit to be a king, thinks Snorro. Only of +middle stature, almost rather shortish; but firm-standing, and +stout-built; so that they got to call him Olaf the Thick (meaning Olaf +the Thick-set, or Stout-built), though his final epithet among them +was infinitely higher. For the rest, "a comely, earnest, +prepossessing look; beautiful yellow hair in quantity; broad, honest +face, of a complexion pure as snow and rose;" and finally (or firstly) +"the brightest eyes in the world; such that, in his anger, no man +could stand them." He had a heavy task ahead, and needed all his +qualities and fine gifts to get it done. + + + +CHAPTER X. + +REIGN OF KING OLAF THE SAINT. + +The late two Jarls, now gone about their business, had both been +baptized, and called themselves Christians. But during their +government they did nothing in the conversion way; left every man to +choose his own God or Gods; so that some had actually two, the +Christian God by land, and at sea Thor, whom they considered safer in +that element. And in effect the mass of the people had fallen back +into a sluggish heathenism or half-heathenism, the life-labor of Olaf +Tryggveson lying ruinous or almost quite overset. The new Olaf, son +of Harald, set himself with all his strength to mend such a state of +matters; and stood by his enterprise to the end, as the one highest +interest, including all others, for his People and him. His method +was by no means soft; on the contrary, it was hard, rapid, +severe,--somewhat on the model of Tryggveson's, though with more of +_bishoping_ and preaching superadded. Yet still there was a great +deal of mauling, vigorous punishing, and an entire intolerance of +these two things: Heathenism and Sea-robbery, at least of Sea-robbery +in the old style; whether in the style we moderns still practise, and +call privateering, I do not quite know. But Vikingism proper had to +cease in Norway; still more, Heathenism, under penalties too severe to +he borne; death, mutilation of limb, not to mention forfeiture and +less rigorous coercion. Olaf was inexorable against violation of the +law. "Too severe," cried many; to whom one answers, "Perhaps in part +_yes_, perhaps also in great part _no_; depends altogether on the +previous question, How far the law was the eternal one of God Almighty +in the universe, How far the law merely of Olaf (destitute of right +inspiration) left to his own passions and whims?" + +Many were the jangles Olaf had with the refractory Heathen Things and +Ironbeards of a new generation: very curious to see. Scarcely ever +did it come to fighting between King and Thing, though often enough +near it; but the Thing discerning, as it usually did in time, that the +King was stronger in men, seemed to say unanimously to itself, "We +have lost, then; baptize us, we must burn our old gods and conform." +One new feature we do slightly discern: here and there a touch of +theological argument on the heathen side. At one wild Thing, far up +in the Dovrefjeld, of a very heathen temper, there was much of that; +not to be quenched by King Olaf at the moment; so that it had to be +adjourned till the morrow, and again till the next day. Here are some +traits of it, much abridged from Snorro (who gives a highly punctual +account), which vividly represent Olaf's posture and manner of +proceeding in such intricacies. + +The chief Ironbeard on this occasion was one Gudbrand, a very rugged +peasant; who, says Snorro, was like a king in that district. Some +days before, King Olaf, intending a religious Thing in those deeply +heathen parts, with alternative of Christianity or conflagration, is +reported, on looking down into the valley and the beautiful village of +Loar standing there, to have said wistfully, "What a pity it is that +so beautiful a village should be burnt!" Olaf sent out his +message-token all the, same, however, and met Gudbrand and an immense +assemblage, whose humor towards him was uncompliant to a high degree +indeed. Judge by this preliminary speech of Gudbrand to his +Thing-people, while Olaf was not yet arrived, but only advancing, +hardly got to Breeden on the other side of the hill: "A man has come +to Loar who is called Olaf," said Gudbrand, "and will force upon us +another faith than we had before, and will break in pieces all our +Gods. He says he has a much greater and more powerful God; and it is +wonderful that the earth does not burst asunder under him, or that our +God lets him go about unpunished when he dares to talk such things. I +know this for certain, that if we carry Thor, who has always stood by +us, out of our Temple that is standing upon this farm, Olaf's God will +melt away, and he and his men be made nothing as soon as Thor looks +upon them." Whereupon the Bonders all shouted as one man, "Yea!" + +Which tremendous message they even forwarded to Olaf, by Gudbrand's +younger son at the head of 700 armed men; but did not terrify Olaf +with it, who, on the contrary, drew up his troops, rode himself at the +head of them, and began a speech to the Bonders, in which he invited +them to adopt Christianity, as the one true faith for mortals. + +Far from consenting to this, the Bonders raised a general shout, +smiting at the same time their shields with their weapons; but Olaf's +men advancing on them swiftly, and flinging spears, they turned and +ran, leaving Gudbrand's son behind, a prisoner, to whom Olaf gave his +life: "Go home now to thy father, and tell him I mean to be with him +soon." + +The son goes accordingly, and advises his father not to face Olaf; but +Gudbrand angrily replies: "Ha, coward! I see thou, too, art taken by +the folly that man is going about with;" and is resolved to fight. +That night, however, Gudbrand has a most remarkable Dream, or Vision: +a Man surrounded by light, bringing great terror with him, who warns +Gudbrand against doing battle with Olaf. "If thou dost, thou and all +thy people will fall; wolves will drag away thee and thine; ravens +will tear thee in stripes!" And lo, in telling this to Thord +Potbelly, a sturdy neighbor of his and henchman in the Thing, it is +found that to Thord also has come the self same terrible Apparition! +Better propose truce to Olaf (who seems to have these dreadful Ghostly +Powers on his side), and the holding of a Thing, to discuss matters +between us. Thing assembles, on a day of heavy rain. Being all +seated, uprises King Olaf, and informs them: "The people of Lesso, +Loar, and Vaage, have accepted Christianity, and broken down their +idol-houses: they believe now in the True God, who has made heaven +and earth, and knows all things;" and sits down again without more +words. + +"Gudbrand replies, 'We know nothing about him of whom thou speakest. +Dost thou call him God, whom neither thou nor any one else can see? +But we have a God who can be seen every day, although he is not out +to-day because the weather is wet; and he will appear to thee terrible +and very grand; and I expect that fear will mix with thy very blood +when he comes into the Thing. But since thou sayest thy God is so +great, let him make it so that to-morrow we have a cloudy day, but +without rain, and then let us meet again.' + +"The king accordingly returned home to his lodging, taking Gudbrand's +son as a hostage; but he gave them a man as hostage in exchange. In +the evening the king asked Gudbrand's son What their God was like? He +replied that he bore the likeness of Thor; had a hammer in his hand; +was of great size, but hollow within; and had a high stand, upon which +he stood when he was out. 'Neither gold nor silver are wanting about +him, and every day he receives four cakes of bread, besides meat.' +They then went to bed; but the king watched all night in prayer. When +day dawned the king went to mass; then to table, and from thence to +the Thing. The weather was such as Gudbrand desired. Now the Bishop +stood up in his choir-robes, with bishop's coif on his head, and +bishop's crosier in his hand. He spoke to the Bonders of the true +faith, told the many wonderful acts of God, and concluded his speech +well. + +"Thord Potbelly replies, 'Many things we are told of by this learned +man with the staff in his hand, crooked at the top like a ram's horn. +But since you say, comrades, that your God is so powerful, and can do +so many wonders, tell him to make it clear sunshine to-morrow +forenoon, and then we shall meet here again, and do one of two +things,--either agree with you about this business, or fight you.' +And they separated for the day." + +Overnight the king instructed Kolbein the Strong, an immense fellow, +the same who killed Gunhild's two brothers, that he, Kolbein, must +stand next him to-morrow; people must go down to where the ships of +the Bonders lay, and punctually bore holes in every one of them; +_item_, to the farms where their horses wore, and punctually unhalter +the whole of them, and let them loose: all which was done. Snorro +continues:-- + +"Now the king was in prayer all night, beseeching God of his goodness +and mercy to release him from evil. When mass was ended, and morning +was gray, the king went to the Thing. When he came thither, some +Bonders had already arrived, and they saw a great crowd coming along, +and bearing among them a huge man's image, glancing with gold and +silver. When the Bonders who were at the Thing saw it, they started +up, and bowed themselves down before the ugly idol. Thereupon it was +set down upon the Thing field; and on the one side of it sat the +Bonders, and on the other the King and his people. + +"Then Dale Gudbrand stood up and said, 'Where now, king, is thy God? +I think he will now carry his head lower; and neither thou, nor the +man with the horn, sitting beside thee there, whom thou callest +Bishop, are so bold to-day as on the former days. For now our God, +who rules over all, is come, and looks on you with an angry eye; and +now I see well enough that you are terrified, and scarcely dare raise +your eyes. Throw away now all your opposition, and believe in the God +who has your fate wholly in his hands.' + +"The king now whispers to Kolbein the Strong, without the Bonders +perceiving it, 'If it come so in the course of my speech that the +Bonders look another way than towards their idol, strike him as hard +as thou canst with thy club.' + +"The king then stood up and spoke. 'Much hast thou talked to us this +morning, and greatly hast thou wondered that thou canst not see our +God; but we expect that he will soon come to us. Thou wouldst +frighten us with thy God, who is both blind and deaf, and cannot even +move about without being carried; but now I expect it will be but a +short time before he meets his fate: for turn your eyes towards the +east,--behold our God advancing in great light.' + +"The sun was rising, and all turned to look. At that moment Kolbein +gave their God a stroke, so that he quite burst asunder; and there ran +out of him mice as big almost as cats, and reptiles and adders. The +Bonders were so terrified that some fled to their ships; but when they +sprang out upon them the ships filled with water, and could not get +away. Others ran to their horses, but could not find them. The king +then ordered the Bonders to be called together, saying he wanted to +speak with them; on which the Bonders came back, and the Thing was +again seated. + +"The king rose up and said, 'I do not understand what your noise and +running mean. You yourselves see what your God can do,--the idol you +adorned with gold and silver, and brought meat and provisions to. You +see now that the protecting powers, who used and got good of all that, +were the mice and adders, the reptiles and lizards; and surely they do +ill who trust to such, and will not abandon this folly. Take now your +gold and ornaments that are lying strewed on the grass, and give them +to your wives and daughters, but never hang them hereafter upon stocks +and stones. Here are two conditions between us to choose upon: +either accept Christianity, or fight this very day, and the victory be +to them to whom the God we worship gives it.' + +"Then Dale Gudbrand stood up and said, 'We have sustained great damage +upon our God; but since he will not help us, we will believe in the +God whom thou believest in.' + +"Then all received Christianity. The Bishop baptized Gudbrand and his +son. King Olaf and Bishop Sigurd left behind them teachers; and they +who met as enemies parted as friends. And afterwards Gudbrand built a +church in the valley."[13] + +Olaf was by no means an unmerciful man,--much the reverse where he saw +good cause. There was a wicked old King Raerik, for example, one of +those five kinglets whom, with their bits of armaments, Olaf by +stratagem had surrounded one night, and at once bagged and subjected +when morning rose, all of them consenting; all of them except this +Raerik, whom Olaf, as the readiest sure course, took home with him; +blinded, and kept in his own house; finding there was no alternative +but that or death to the obstinate old dog, who was a kind of distant +cousin withal, and could not conscientiously be killed. Stone-blind +old Raerik was not always in murderous humor. Indeed, for most part +he wore a placid, conciliatory aspect, and said shrewd amusing things; +but had thrice over tried, with amazing cunning of contrivance, though +stone-blind, to thrust a dagger into Olaf and the last time had all +but succeeded. So that, as Olaf still refused to have him killed, it +had become a problem what was to be done with him. Olaf's good humor, +as well as _his_ quiet, ready sense and practicality, are manifested +in his final settlement of this Raerik problem. Olaf's laugh, I can +perceive, was not so loud as Tryggveson's but equally hearty, coming +from the bright mind of him! + +Besides blind Raerik, Olaf had in his household one Thorarin, an +Icelander; a remarkably ugly man, says Snorro, but a far-travelled, +shrewdly observant, loyal-minded, and good-humored person, whom Olaf +liked to talk with. "Remarkably ugly," says Snorro, "especially in +his hands and feet, which were large and ill-shaped to a degree." One +morning Thorarin, who, with other trusted ones, slept in Olaf's +apartment, was lazily dozing and yawning, and had stretched one of his +feet out of the bed before the king awoke. The foot was still there +when Olaf did open his bright eyes, which instantly lighted on this +foot. + +"Well, here is a foot," says Olaf, gayly, "which one seldom sees the +match of; I durst venture there is not another so ugly in this city of +Nidaros." + +"Hah, king!" said Thorarin, "there are few things one cannot match if +one seek long and take pains. I would bet, with thy permission, King, +to find an uglier." + +"Done!" cried Olaf. Upon which Thorarin stretched out the other +foot. + +"A still uglier," cried he; "for it has lost the little toe." + +"Ho, ho!" said Olaf; "but it is I who have gained the bet. The _less_ +of an ugly thing the less ugly, not the more!" + +Loyal Thorarin respectfully submitted. + +"What is to be my penalty, then? The king it is that must decide." + +"To take me that wicked old Raerik to Leif Ericson in Greenland." + +Which the Icelander did; leaving two vacant seats henceforth at Olaf's +table. Leif Ericson, son of Eric discoverer of America, quietly +managed Raerik henceforth; sent him to Iceland,--I think to father +Eric himself; certainly to some safe hand there, in whose house, or in +some still quieter neighboring lodging, at his own choice, old Raerik +spent the last three years of his life in a perfectly quiescent +manner. + +Olaf's struggles in the matter of religion had actually settled that +question in Norway. By these rough methods of his, whatever we may +think of them, Heathenism had got itself smashed dead; and was no more +heard of in that country. Olaf himself was evidently a highly devout +and pious man;--whosoever is born with Olaf's temper now will still +find, as Olaf did, new and infinite field for it! Christianity in +Norway had the like fertility as in other countries; or even rose to a +higher, and what Dahlmann thinks, exuberant pitch, in the course of +the two centuries which followed that of Olaf. Him all testimony +represents to us as a most righteous no less than most religious king. +Continually vigilant, just, and rigorous was Olaf's administration of +the laws; repression of robbery, punishment of injustice, stern +repayment of evil-doers, wherever he could lay hold of them. + +Among the Bonder or opulent class, and indeed everywhere, for the poor +too can be sinners and need punishment, Olaf had, by this course of +conduct, naturally made enemies. His severity so visible to all, and +the justice and infinite beneficence of it so invisible except to a +very few. But, at any rate, his reign for the first ten years was +victorious; and might have been so to the end, had it not been +intersected, and interfered with, by King Knut in his far bigger orbit +and current of affairs and interests. Knut's English affairs and +Danish being all settled to his mind, he seems, especially after that +year of pilgrimage to Rome, and association with the Pontiffs and +Kaisers of the world on that occasion, to have turned his more +particular attention upon Norway, and the claims he himself had there. +Jarl Hakon, too, sister's son of Knut, and always well seen by him, +had long been busy in this direction, much forgetful of that oath to +Olaf when his barge got canted over by the cable of two capstans, and +his life was given him, not without conditions altogether! + +About the year 1026 there arrived two splendid persons out of England, +bearing King Knut the Great's letter and seal, with a message, likely +enough to be far from welcome to Olaf. For some days Olaf refused to +see them or their letter, shrewdly guessing what the purport would be. +Which indeed was couched in mild language, but of sharp meaning +enough: a notice to King Olaf namely, That Norway was properly, by +just heritage, Knut the Great's; and that Olaf must become the great +Knut's liegeman, and pay tribute to him, or worse would follow. King +Olaf listening to these two splendid persons and their letter, in +indignant silence till they quite ended, made answer: "I have heard +say, by old accounts there are, that King Gorm of Denmark +[Blue-tooth's father, Knut's great-grandfather] was considered but a +small king; having Denmark only and few people to rule over. But the +kings who succeeded him thought that insufficient for them; and it has +since come so far that King Knut rules over both Denmark and England, +and has conquered for himself a part of Scotland. And now he claims +also my paternal bit of heritage; cannot be contented without that +too. Does he wish to rule over all the countries of the North? Can +he eat up all the kale in England itself, this Knut the Great? He +shall do that, and reduce his England to a desert, before I lay my +head in his hands, or show him any other kind of vassalage. And so I +bid you tell him these my words: I will defend Norway with battle-axe +and sword as long as life is given me, and will pay tax to no man for +my kingdom." Words which naturally irritated Knut to a high degree. + +Next year accordingly (year 1027), tenth or eleventh year of Olaf's +reign, there came bad rumors out of England: That Knut was equipping +an immense army,--land-army, and such a fleet as had never sailed +before; Knut's own ship in it,--a Gold Dragon with no fewer than sixty +benches of oars. Olaf and Onund King of Sweden, whose sister he had +married, well guessed whither this armament was bound. They were +friends withal, they recognized their common peril in this imminence; +and had, in repeated consultations, taken measures the best that their +united skill (which I find was mainly Olaf's but loyally accepted by +the other) could suggest. It was in this year that Olaf (with his +Swedish king assisting) did his grand feat upon Knut in Lymfjord of +Jutland, which was already spoken of. The special circumstances of +which were these: + +Knut's big armament arriving on the Jutish coasts too late in the +season, and the coast country lying all plundered into temporary wreck +by the two Norse kings, who shrank away on sight of Knut, there was +nothing could be done upon them by Knut this year,--or, if anything, +what? Knut's ships ran into Lymfjord, the safe-sheltered frith, or +intricate long straggle of friths and straits, which almost cuts +Jutland in two in that region; and lay safe, idly rocking on the +waters there, uncertain what to do farther. At last he steered in his +big ship and some others, deeper into the interior of Lymfjord, deeper +and deeper onwards to the mouth of a big river called the Helge +(_Helge-aa_, the Holy River, not discoverable in my poor maps, but +certainly enough still existing and still flowing somewhere among +those intricate straits and friths), towards the bottom of which Helge +river lay, in some safe nook, the small combined Swedish and Norse +fleet, under the charge of Onund, the Swedish king, while at the top +or source, which is a biggish mountain lake, King Olaf had been doing +considerable engineering works, well suited to such an occasion, and +was now ready at a moment's notice. Knut's fleet having idly taken +station here, notice from the Swedish king was instantly sent; +instantly Olaf's well-engineered flood-gates were thrown open; from +the swollen lake a huge deluge of water was let loose; Olaf himself +with all his people hastening down to join his Swedish friend, and get +on board in time; Helge river all the while alongside of him, with +ever-increasing roar, and wider-spreading deluge, hastening down the +steeps in the night-watches. So that, along with Olaf or some way +ahead of him, came immeasurable roaring waste of waters upon Knut's +negligent fleet; shattered, broke, and stranded many of his ships, and +was within a trifle of destroying the Golden Dragon herself, with Knut +on board. Olaf and Onund, we need not say, were promptly there in +person, doing their very best; the railings of the Golden Dragon, +however, were too high for their little ships; and Jarl Ulf, husband +of Knut's sister, at the top of his speed, courageously intervening, +spoiled their stratagem, and saved Knut from this very dangerous pass. + +Knut did nothing more this winter. The two Norse kings, quite unequal +to attack such an armament, except by ambush and engineering, sailed +away; again plundering at discretion on the Danish coast; carrying +into Sweden great booties and many prisoners; but obliged to lie fixed +all winter; and indeed to leave their fleets there for a series of +winters,--Knut's fleet, posted at Elsinore on both sides of the Sound, +rendering all egress from the Baltic impossible, except at his +pleasure. Ulf's opportune deliverance of his royal brother-in-law did +not much bestead poor Ulf himself. He had been in disfavor before, +pardoned with difficulty, by Queen Emma's intercession; an ambitious, +officious, pushing, stirring, and, both in England and Denmark, almost +dangerous man; and this conspicuous accidental merit only awoke new +jealousy in Knut. Knut, finding nothing pass the Sound worth much +blockading, went ashore; "and the day before Michaelmas," says Snorro, +"rode with a great retinue to Roeskilde." Snorro continues his tragic +narrative of what befell there: + +"There Knut's brother-in-law, Jarl Ulf, had prepared a great feast for +him. The Jarl was the most agreeable of hosts; but the King was +silent and sullen. The Jarl talked to him in every way to make him +cheerful, and brought forward everything he could think of to amuse +him; but the King remained stern, and speaking little. At last the +Jarl proposed a game of chess, which he agreed to. A chess-board was +produced, and they played together. Jarl Ulf was hasty in temper, +stiff, and in nothing yielding; but everything he managed went on well +in his hands: and he was a great warrior, about whom there are many +stories. He was the most powerful man in Denmark next to the King. +Jarl Ulf's sister, Gyda, was married to Jarl Gudin (Godwin) Ulfnadson; +and their sons were, Harald King of England, and Jarl Tosti, Jarl +Walthiof, Jarl Mauro-Kaare, and Jarl Svein. Gyda was the name of +their daughter, who was married to the English King Edward, the Good +(whom we call the Confessor). + +"When they had played a while, the King made a false move; on which +the Jarl took a knight from him; but the King set the piece on the +board again, and told the Jarl to make another move. But the Jarl +flew angry, tumbled the chess-board over, rose, and went away. The +King said, 'Run thy ways, Ulf the Fearful.' The Jarl turned round at +the door and said, 'Thou wouldst have run farther at Helge river hadst +thou been left to battle there. Thou didst not call me Ulf the +Fearful when I hastened to thy help while the Swedes were beating thee +like a dog.' The Jarl then went out, and went to bed. + +"The following morning, while the King was putting on his clothes, he +said to his footboy, 'Go thou to Jarl Ulf and kill him.' The lad +went, was away a while, and then came back. The King said, 'Hast thou +killed the Jarl?' 'I did not kill him, for he was gone to St. +Lucius's church.' There was a man called Ivar the White, a Norwegian +by birth, who was the King's courtman and chamberlain. The King said +to him, 'Go thou and kill the Jarl.' Ivar went to the church, and in +at the choir, and thrust his sword through the Jarl, who died on the +spot. Then Ivar went to the King, with the bloody sword in his hand. + +"The King said, 'Hast thou killed the Jarl?' 'I have killed him,' +said he. 'Thou hast done well,' answered the King." I + +From a man who built so many churches (one on each battlefield where +he had fought, to say nothing of the others), and who had in him such +depths of real devotion and other fine cosmic quality, this does seem +rather strong! But it is characteristic, withal,--of the man, and +perhaps of the times still more.[14] In any case, it is an event worth +noting, the slain Jarl Ulf and his connections being of importance in +the history of Denmark and of England also. Ulf's wife was Astrid, +sister of Knut, and their only child was Svein, styled afterwards +"Svein Estrithson" ("Astrid-son") when he became noted in the +world,--at this time a beardless youth, who, on the back of this +tragedy, fled hastily to Sweden, where were friends of Ulf. After +some ten years' eclipse there, Knut and both his sons being now dead, +Svein reappeared in Denmark under a new and eminent figure, "Jarl of +Denmark," highest Liegeman to the then sovereign there. Broke his +oath to said sovereign, declared himself, Svein Estrithson, to be real +King of Denmark; and, after much preliminary trouble, and many +beatings and disastrous flights to and fro, became in effect such,--to +the wonder of mankind; for he had not had one victory to cheer him on, +or any good luck or merit that one sees, except that of surviving +longer than some others. Nevertheless he came to be the Restorer, so +called, of Danish independence; sole remaining representative of Knut +(or Knut's sister), of Fork-beard, Blue-tooth, and Old Gorm; and +ancestor of all the subsequent kings of Denmark for some 400 years; +himself coming, as we see, only by the Distaff side, all of the Sword +or male side having died so soon. Early death, it has been observed, +was the Great Knut's allotment, and all his posterity's as +well;--fatal limit (had there been no others, which we see there were) +to his becoming "Charlemagne of the North" in any considerable degree! +Jarl Ulf, as we have seen, had a sister, Gyda by name, wife to Earl +Godwin ("Gudin Ulfnadsson," as Snorro calls him) a very memorable +Englishman, whose son and hers, King Harald, _Harold_ in English +books, is the memorablest of all. These things ought to be better +known to English antiquaries, and will perhaps be alluded to again. + +This pretty little victory or affront, gained over Knut in _Lymfjord_, +was among the last successes of Olaf against that mighty man. Olaf, +the skilful captain he was, need not have despaired to defend his +Norway against Knut and all the world. But he learned henceforth, +month by month ever more tragically, that his own people, seeing +softer prospects under Knut, and in particular the chiefs of them, +industriously bribed by Knut for years past, had fallen away from him; +and that his means of defence were gone. Next summer, Knut's grand +fleet sailed, unopposed, along the coast of Norway; Knut summoning a +Thing every here and there, and in all of them meeting nothing but +sky-high acclamation and acceptance. Olaf, with some twelve little +ships, all he now had, lay quiet in some safe fjord, near Lindenaes, +what we now call the Naze, behind some little solitary isles on the +southeast of Norway there; till triumphant Knut had streamed home +again. Home to England again "Sovereign of Norway" now, with nephew +Hakon appointed Jarl and Vice-regent under him! This was the news +Olaf met on venturing out; and that his worst anticipations were not +beyond the sad truth all, or almost all, the chief Bonders and men of +weight in Norway had declared against him, and stood with triumphant +Knut. + +Olaf, with his twelve poor ships, steered vigorously along the coast +to collect money and force,--if such could now anywhere be had. He +himself was resolute to hold out, and try. "Sailing swiftly with a +fair wind, morning cloudy with some showers," he passed the coast of +Jedderen, which was Erling Skjalgson's country, when he got sure +notice of an endless multitude of ships, war-ships, armed merchant +ships, all kinds of shipping-craft, down to fishermen's boats, just +getting under way against him, under the command of Erling +Skjalgson,-- the powerfulest of his subjects, once much a friend of +Olaf's but now gone against him to this length, thanks to Olaf's +severity of justice, and Knut's abundance in gold and promises for +years back. To that complexion had it come with Erling; sailing with +this immense assemblage of the naval people and populace of Norway to +seize King Olaf, and bring him to the great Knut dead or alive. + +Erling had a grand new ship of his own, which far outsailed the +general miscellany of rebel ships, and was visibly fast gaining +distance on Olaf himself,--who well understood what Erling's puzzle +was, between the tail of his game (the miscellany of rebel ships, +namely) that could not come up, and the head or general prize of the +game which was crowding all sail to get away; and Olaf took advantage +of the same. "Lower your sails!" said Olaf to his men (though we must +go slower). + +"Ho you, we have lost sight of them!" said Erling to his, and put on +all his speed; Olaf going, soon after this, altogether +invisible,--behind a little island that he knew of, whence into a +certain fjord or bay (Bay of Fungen on the maps), which he thought +would suit him. "Halt here, and get out your arms," said Olaf, and +had not to wait long till Erling came bounding in, past the rocky +promontory, and with astonishment beheld Olaf's fleet of twelve with +their battle-axes and their grappling-irons all in perfect readiness. +These fell on him, the unready Erling, simultaneous, like a cluster of +angry bees; and in a few minutes cleared his ship of men altogether, +except Erling himself. Nobody asked his life, nor probably would have +got it if he had. Only Erling still stood erect on a high place on +the poop, fiercely defensive, and very difficult to get at. "Could +not be reached at all," says Snorro, "except by spears or arrows, and +these he warded off with untiring dexterity; no man in Norway, it was +said, had ever defended himself so long alone against many,"--an +almost invincible Erling, had his cause been good. Olaf himself +noticed Erling's behavior, and said to him, from the foredeck below, +"Thou hast turned against me to-day, Erling." "The eagles fight +breast to breast," answers he. This was a speech of the king's to +Erling once long ago, while they stood fighting, not as now, but side +by side. The king, with some transient thought of possibility going +through his head, rejoins, "Wilt thou surrender, Erling?" "That will +I," answered he; took the helmet off his head; laid down sword and +shield; and went forward to the forecastle deck. The king pricked, I +think not very harshly, into Erling's chin or beard with the point of +his battle-axe, saying, "I must mark thee as traitor to thy Sovereign, +though." Whereupon one of the bystanders, Aslak Fitiaskalle, stupidly +and fiercely burst up; smote Erling on the head with his axe; so that +it struck fast in his brain and was instantly the death of Erling. +"Ill-luck attend thee for that stroke; thou hast struck Norway out of +my hand by it!" cried the king to Aslak; but forgave the poor fellow, +who had done it meaning well. The insurrectionary Bonder fleet +arriving soon after, as if for certain victory, was struck with +astonishment at this Erling catastrophe; and being now without any +leader of authority, made not the least attempt at battle; but, full +of discouragement and consternation, thankfully allowed Olaf to sail +away on his northward voyage, at discretion; and themselves went off +lamenting, with Erling's dead body. + +This small victory was the last that Olaf had over his many enemies at +present. He sailed along, still northward, day after day; several +important people joined him; but the news from landward grew daily +more ominous: Bonders busily arming to rear of him; and ahead, Hakon +still more busily at Trondhjem, now near by, "--and he will end thy +days, King, if he have strength enough!" Olaf paused; sent scouts to +a hill-top: "Hakon's armament visible enough, and under way +hitherward, about the Isle of Bjarno, yonder!" Soon after, Olaf +himself saw the Bonder armament of twenty-five ships, from the +southward, sail past in the distance to join that of Hakon; and, worse +still, his own ships, one and another (seven in all), were slipping +off on a like errand! He made for the Fjord of Fodrar, mouth of the +rugged strath called Valdal,--which I think still knows Olaf and has +now an "Olaf's Highway," where, nine centuries ago, it scarcely had a +path. Olaf entered this fjord, had his land-tent set up, and a cross +beside it, on the small level green behind the promontory there. +Finding that his twelve poor ships were now reduced to five, against a +world all risen upon him, he could not but see and admit to himself +that there was no chance left; and that he must withdraw across the +mountains and wait for a better time. + +His journey through that wild country, in these forlorn and straitened +circumstances, has a mournful dignity and homely pathos, as described +by Snorro: how he drew up his five poor ships upon the beach, packed +all their furniture away, and with his hundred or so of attendants and +their journey-baggage, under guidance of some friendly Bonder, rode up +into the desert and foot of the mountains; scaled, after three days' +effort (as if by miracle, thought his attendants and thought Snorro), +the well-nigh precipitous slope that led across, never without +miraculous aid from Heaven and Olaf could baggage-wagons have ascended +that path! In short, How he fared along, beset by difficulties and +the mournfulest thoughts; but patiently persisted, steadfastly trusted +in God; and was fixed to return, and by God's help try again. An +evidently very pious and devout man; a good man struggling with +adversity, such as the gods, we may still imagine with the ancients, +do look down upon as their noblest sight. + +He got to Sweden, to the court of his brother-in-law; kindly and nobly +enough received there, though gradually, perhaps, ill-seen by the now +authorities of Norway. So that, before long, he quitted Sweden; left +his queen there with her only daughter, his and hers, the only child +they had; he himself had an only son, "by a bondwoman," Magnus by +name, who came to great things afterwards; of whom, and of which, by +and by. With this bright little boy, and a selected escort of +attendants, he moved away to Russia, to King Jarroslav; where he might +wait secure against all risk of hurting kind friends by his presence. +He seems to have been an exile altogether some two years,--such is +one's vague notion; for there is no chronology in Snorro or his Sagas, +and one is reduced to guessing and inferring. He had reigned over +Norway, reckoning from the first days of his landing there to those +last of his leaving it across the Dovrefjeld, about fifteen years, ten +of them shiningly victorious. + +The news from Norway were naturally agitating to King Olaf and, in the +fluctuation of events there, his purposes and prospects varied much. +He sometimes thought of pilgriming to Jerusalem, and a henceforth +exclusively religious life; but for most part his pious thoughts +themselves gravitated towards Norway, and a stroke for his old place +and task there, which he steadily considered to have been committed to +him by God. Norway, by the rumors, was evidently not at rest. Jarl +Hakon, under the high patronage of his uncle, had lasted there but a +little while. I know not that his government was especially +unpopular, nor whether he himself much remembered his broken oath. It +appears, however, he had left in England a beautiful bride; and +considering farther that in England only could bridal ornaments and +other wedding outfit of a sufficiently royal kind be found, he set +sail thither, to fetch her and them himself. One evening of +wildish-looking weather he was seen about the northeast corner of the +Pentland Frith; the night rose to be tempestuous; Hakon or any timber +of his fleet was never seen more. Had all gone down,--broken oaths, +bridal hopes, and all else; mouse and man,--into the roaring waters. +There was no farther Opposition-line; the like of which had lasted +ever since old heathen Hakon Jarl, down to this his grandson Hakon's +_finis_ in the Pentland Frith. With this Hakon's disappearance it now +disappeared. + +Indeed Knut himself, though of an empire suddenly so great, was but a +temporary phenomenon. Fate had decided that the grand and wise Knut +was to be short-lived; and to leave nothing as successors but an +ineffectual young Harald Harefoot, who soon perished, and a still +stupider fiercely-drinking Harda-Knut, who rushed down of apoplexy +(here in London City, as I guess), with the goblet at his mouth, +drinking health and happiness at a wedding-feast, also before long. + +Hakon having vanished in this dark way, there ensued a pause, both on +Knut's part and on Norway's. Pause or interregnum of some months, +till it became certain, first, whether Hakon were actually dead, +secondly, till Norway, and especially till King Knut himself, could +decide what to do. Knut, to the deep disappointment, which had to +keep itself silent, of three or four chief Norway men, named none of +these three or four Jarl of Norway; but bethought him of a certain +Svein, a bastard son of his own,--who, and almost still more his +English mother, much desired a career in the world fitter for him, +thought they indignantly, than that of captain over Jomsburg, where +alone the father had been able to provide for him hitherto. Svein was +sent to Norway as king or vice-king for Father Knut; and along with +him his fond and vehement mother. Neither of whom gained any favor +from the Norse people by the kind of management they ultimately came +to show. + +Olaf on news of this change, and such uncertainty prevailing +everywhere in Norway as to the future course of things, whether Svein +would come, as was rumored of at last, and be able to maintain himself +if he did,--thought there might be something in it of a chance for +himself and his rights. And, after lengthened hesitation, much +prayer, pious invocation, and consideration, decided to go and try it. +The final grain that had turned the balance, it appears, was a +half-waking morning dream, or almost ocular vision he had of his +glorious cousin Olaf Tryggveson, who severely admonished, exhorted, +and encouraged him; and disappeared grandly, just in the instant of +Olaf's awakening; so that Olaf almost fancied he had seen the very +figure of him, as it melted into air. "Let us on, let us on!" thought +Olaf always after that. He left his son, not in Russia, but in Sweden +with the Queen, who proved very good and carefully helpful in wise +ways to him:--in Russia Olaf had now nothing more to do but give his +grateful adieus, and get ready. + +His march towards Sweden, and from that towards Norway and the passes +of the mountains, down Vaerdal, towards Stickelstad, and the crisis +that awaited, is beautifully depicted by Snorro. It has, all of it, +the description (and we see clearly, the fact itself had), a kind of +pathetic grandeur, simplicity, and rude nobleness; something Epic or +Homeric, without the metre or the singing of Homer, but with all the +sincerity, rugged truth to nature, and much more of piety, devoutness, +reverence for what is forever High in this Universe, than meets us in +those old Greek Ballad-mongers. Singularly visual all of it, too, +brought home in every particular to one's imagination, so that it +stands out almost as a thing one actually saw. + +Olaf had about three thousand men with him; gathered mostly as he +fared along through Norway. Four hundred, raised by one Dag, a +kinsman whom he had found in Sweden and persuaded to come with him, +marched usually in a separate body; and were, or might have been, +rather an important element. Learning that the Bonders were all +arming, especially in Trondhjem country, Olaf streamed down towards +them in the closest order he could. By no means very close, +subsistence even for three thousand being difficult in such a country. +His speech was almost always free and cheerful, though his thoughts +always naturally were of a high and earnest, almost sacred tone; +devout above all. Stickelstad, a small poor hamlet still standing +where the valley ends, was seen by Olaf, and tacitly by the Bonders as +well, to be the natural place for offering battle. There Olaf issued +out from the hills one morning: drew himself up according to the best +rules of Norse tactics, rules of little complexity, but perspicuously +true to the facts. I think he had a clear open ground still rather +raised above the plain in front; he could see how the Bonder army had +not yet quite arrived, but was pouring forward, in spontaneous rows or +groups, copiously by every path. This was thought to be the biggest +army that ever met in Norway; "certainly not much fewer than a hundred +times a hundred men," according to Snorro; great Bonders several of +them, small Bonders very many,--all of willing mind, animated with a +hot sense of intolerable injuries. "King Olaf had punished great and +small with equal rigor," says Snorro; "which appeared to the chief +people of the country too severe; and animosity rose to the highest +when they lost relatives by the King's just sentence, although they +were in reality guilty. He again would rather renounce his dignity +than omit righteous judgment. The accusation against him, of being +stingy with his money, was not just, for he was a most generous man +towards his friends. But that alone was the cause of the discontent +raised against him, that he appeared hard and severe in his +retributions. Besides, King Knut offered large sums of money, and the +great chiefs were corrupted by this, and by his offering them greater +dignities than they had possessed before." On these grounds, against +the intolerable man, great and small were now pouring along by every +path. + +Olaf perceived it would still be some time before the Bonder army was +in rank. His own Dag of Sweden, too, was not yet come up; he was to +have the right banner; King Olaf's own being the middle or grand one; +some other person the third or left banner. All which being perfectly +ranked and settled, according to the best rules, and waiting only the +arrival of Dag, Olaf bade his men sit down, and freshen themselves +with a little rest. There were religious services gone through: a +matins-worship such as there have been few; sternly earnest to the +heart of it, and deep as death and eternity, at least on Olaf's own +part. For the rest Thormod sang a stave of the fiercest Skaldic +poetry that was in him; all the army straightway sang it in chorus +with fiery mind. The Bonder of the nearest farm came up, to tell Olaf +that he also wished to fight for him "Thanks to thee; but don't," said +Olaf; "stay at home rather, that the wounded may have some shelter." +To this Bonder, Olaf delivered all the money he had, with solemn order +to lay out the whole of it in masses and prayers for the souls of such +of his enemies as fell. "Such of thy enemies, King?" "Yes, surely," +said Olaf, "my friends will all either conquer, or go whither I also +am going." + +At last the Bonder army too was got ranked; three commanders, one of +them with a kind of loose chief command, having settled to take charge +of it; and began to shake itself towards actual advance. Olaf, in the +mean while, had laid his head on the knees of Finn Arneson, his +trustiest man, and fallen fast asleep. Finn's brother, Kalf Arneson, +once a warm friend of Olaf, was chief of the three commanders on the +opposite side. Finn and he addressed angry speech to one another from +the opposite ranks, when they came near enough. Finn, seeing the +enemy fairly approach, stirred Olaf from his sleep. "Oh, why hast +thou wakened me from such a dream?" said Olaf, in a deeply solemn +tone. "What dream was it, then?" asked Finn. "Idreamt that there +rose a ladder here reaching up to very Heaven," said Olaf; "I had +climbed and climbed, and got to the very last step, and should have +entered there hadst thou given me another moment." "King, I doubt +thou art _fey_; I do not quite like that dream." + +The actual fight began about one of the clock in a most bright last +day of July, and was very fierce and hot, especially on the part of +Olaf's men, who shook the others back a little, though fierce enough +they too; and had Dag been on the ground, which he wasn't yet, it was +thought victory might have been won. Soon after battle joined, the +sky grew of a ghastly brass or copper color, darker and darker, till +thick night involved all things; and did not clear away again till +battle was near ending. Dag, with his four hundred, arrived in the +darkness, and made a furious charge, what was afterwards, in the +speech of the people, called "Dag's storm." Which had nearly +prevailed, but could not quite; victory again inclining to the so +vastly larger party. It is uncertain still how the matter would have +gone; for Olaf himself was now fighting with his own hand, and doing +deadly execution on his busiest enemies to right and to left. But one +of these chief rebels, Thorer Hund (thought to have learnt magic from +the Laplanders, whom he long traded with, and made money by), +mysteriously would not fall for Olaf's best strokes. Best strokes +brought only dust from the (enchanted) deer-skin coat of the fellow, +to Olaf's surprise,--when another of the rebel chiefs rushed forward, +struck Olaf with his battle-axe, a wild slashing wound, and miserably +broke his thigh, so that he staggered or was supported back to the +nearest stone; and there sat down, lamentably calling on God to help +him in this bad hour. Another rebel of note (the name of him long +memorable in Norway) slashed or stabbed Olaf a second time, as did +then a third. Upon which the noble Olaf sank dead; and forever +quitted this doghole of a world,--little worthy of such men as Olaf +one sometimes thinks. But that too is a mistake, and even an +important one, should we persist in it. + +With Olaf's death the sky cleared again. Battle, now near done, ended +with complete victory to the rebels, and next to no pursuit or result, +except the death of Olaf everybody hastening home, as soon as the big +Duel had decided itself. Olaf's body was secretly carried, after +dark, to some out-house on the farm near the spot; whither a poor +blind beggar, creeping in for shelter that very evening, was +miraculously restored to sight. And, truly with a notable, almost +miraculous, speed, the feelings of all Norway for King Olaf changed +themselves, and were turned upside down, "within a year," or almost +within a day. Superlative example of _Extinctus amabitur idem._ Not +"Olaf the Thick-set" any longer, but "Olaf the Blessed" or Saint, now +clearly in Heaven; such the name and character of him from that time +to this. Two churches dedicated to him (out of four that once stood) +stand in London at this moment. And the miracles that have been done +there, not to speak of Norway and Christendom elsewhere, in his name, +were numerous and great for long centuries afterwards. Visibly a +Saint Olaf ever since; and, indeed, in _Bollandus_ or elsewhere, I +have seldom met with better stuff to make a Saint of, or a true +World-Hero in all good senses. + +Speaking of the London Olaf Churches, I should have added that from +one of these the thrice-famous Tooley Street gets its name,--where +those Three Tailors, addressing Parliament and the Universe, sublimely +styled themselves, "We, the People of England." Saint Olave Street, +Saint Oley Street, Stooley Street, Tooley Street; such are the +metamorphoses of human fame in the world! + +The battle-day of Stickelstad, King Olaf's death-day, is generally +believed to have been Wednesday, July 31, 1033. But on investigation, +it turns out that there was no total eclipse of the sun visible in +Norway that year; though three years before, there was one; but on the +29th instead of the 31st. So that the exact date still remains +uncertain; Dahlmann, the latest critic, inclining for 1030, and its +indisputable eclipse.[15] + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MAGNUS THE GOOD AND OTHERS. + +St. Olaf is the highest of these Norway Kings, and is the last that +much attracts us. For this reason, if a reason were not superfluous, +we might here end our poor reminiscences of those dim Sovereigns. But +we will, nevertheless, for the sake of their connection with bits of +English History, still hastily mention the Dames of one or two who +follow, and who throw a momentary gleam of life and illumination on +events and epochs that have fallen so extinct among ourselves at +present, though once they were so momentous and memorable. + +The new King Svein from Jomsburg, Knut's natural son, had no success +in Norway, nor seems to have deserved any. His English mother and he +were found to be grasping, oppressive persons; and awoke, almost from +the instant that Olaf was suppressed and crushed away from Norway into +Heaven, universal odium more and more in that country. +Well-deservedly, as still appears; for their taxings and extortions of +malt, of herring, of meal, smithwork and every article taxable in +Norway, were extreme; and their service to the country otherwise +nearly imperceptible. In brief their one basis there was the power of +Knut the Great; and that, like all earthly things, was liable to +sudden collapse,--and it suffered such in a notable degree. King +Knut, hardly yet of middle age, and the greatest King in the then +world, died at Shaftesbury, in 1035, as Dahlmann thinks[16],--leaving +two legitimate sons and a busy, intriguing widow (Norman Emma, widow +of Ethelred the Unready), mother of the younger of these two; neither +of whom proved to have any talent or any continuance. In spite of +Emma's utmost efforts, Harald, the elder son of Knut, not hers, got +England for his kingdom; Emma and her Harda-Knut had to be content +with Denmark, and go thither, much against their will. Harald in +England,--light-going little figure like his father before him,--got +the name of Harefoot here; and might have done good work among his now +orderly and settled people; but he died almost within year and day; +and has left no trace among us, except that of "Harefoot," from his +swift mode of walking. Emma and her Harda-Knut now returned joyful to +England. But the violent, idle, and drunken Harda-Knut did no good +there; and, happily for England and him, soon suddenly ended, by +stroke of apoplexy at a marriage festival, as mentioned above. In +Denmark he had done still less good. And indeed,--under him, in a +year or two, the grand imperial edifice, laboriously built by Knut's +valor and wisdom, had already tumbled all to the ground, in a most +unexpected and remarkable way. As we are now to indicate with all +brevity. + + + +Svein's tyrannies in Norway had wrought such fruit that, within the +four years after Olaf's death, the chief men in Norway, the very +slayers of King Olaf, Kalf Arneson at the head of them, met secretly +once or twice; and unanimously agreed that Kalf Arneson must go to +Sweden, or to Russia itself; seek young Magnus, son of Olaf home: +excellent Magnus, to be king over all Norway and them, instead of this +intolerable Svein. Which was at once done,--Magnus brought home in a +kind of triumph, all Norway waiting for him. Intolerable Svein had +already been rebelled against: some years before this, a certain +young Tryggve out of Ireland, authentic son of Olaf Tryggveson, and of +that fine Irish Princess who chose him in his low habiliments and low +estate, and took him over to her own Green Island,--this royal young +Tryggve Olafson had invaded the usurper Svein, in a fierce, valiant, +and determined manner; and though with too small a party, showed +excellent fight for some time; till Svein, zealously bestirring +himself, managed to get him beaten and killed. But that was a couple +of years ago; the party still too small, not including one and all as +now! Svein, without stroke of sword this time, moved off towards +Denmark; never showing face in Norway again. His drunken brother, +Harda-Knut, received him brother-like; even gave him some territory to +rule over and subsist upon. But he lived only a short while; was gone +before Harda-Knut himself; and we will mention him no more. + +Magnus was a fine bright young fellow, and proved a valiant, wise, and +successful King, known among his people as Magnus the Good. He was +only natural son of King Olaf but that made little difference in those +times and there. His strange-looking, unexpected Latin name he got in +this way: Alfhild, his mother, a slave through ill-luck of war, +though nobly born, was seen to be in a hopeful way; and it was known +in the King's house how intimately Olaf was connected with that +occurrence, and how much he loved this "King's serving-maid," as she +was commonly designated. Alfhild was brought to bed late at night; +and all the world, especially King Olaf was asleep; Olaf's strict +rule, then and always, being, Don't awaken me:--seemingly a man +sensitive about his sleep. The child was a boy, of rather weakly +aspect; no important person present, except Sigvat, the King's +Icelandic Skald, who happened to be still awake; and the Bishop of +Norway, who, I suppose, had been sent for in hurry. "What is to be +done?" said the Bishop: "here is an infant in pressing need of +baptism; and we know not what the name is: go, Sigvat, awaken the +King, and ask." "I dare not for my life," answered Sigvat; "King's +orders are rigorous on that point." "But if the child die +unbaptized," said the Bishop, shuddering; too certain, he and +everybody, where the child would go in that case! "I will myself give +him a name," said Sigvat, with a desperate concentration of all his +faculties; "he shall be namesake of the greatest of mankind,--imperial +Carolus Magnus; let us call the infant Magnus!" King Olaf, on the +morrow, asked rather sharply how Sigvat had dared take such a liberty; +but excused Sigvat, seeing what the perilous alternative was. And +Magnus, by such accident, this boy was called; and he, not another, is +the prime origin and introducer of that name Magnus, which occurs +rather frequently, not among the Norman Kings only, but by and by +among the Danish and Swedish; and, among the Scandinavian populations, +appears to be rather frequent to this day. + +Magnus, a youth of great spirit, whose own, and standing at his beck, +all Norway now was, immediately smote home on Denmark; desirous +naturally of vengeance for what it had done to Norway, and the sacred +kindred of Magnus. Denmark, its great Knut gone, and nothing but a +drunken Harda-Knut, fugitive Svein and Co., there in his stead, was +become a weak dislocated Country. And Magnus plundered in it, burnt +it, beat it, as often as he pleased; Harda-Knut struggling what he +could to make resistance or reprisals, but never once getting any +victory over Magnus. Magnus, I perceive, was, like his Father, a +skilful as well as valiant fighter by sea and land; Magnus, with good +battalions, and probably backed by immediate alliance with Heaven and +St. Olaf, as was then the general belief or surmise about him, could +not easily be beaten. And the truth is, he never was, by Harda-Knut +or any other. Harda-Knut's last transaction with him was, To make a +firm Peace and even Family-treaty sanctioned by all the grandees of +both countries, who did indeed mainly themselves make it; their two +Kings assenting: That there should be perpetual Peace, and no thought +of war more, between Denmark and Norway; and that, if either of the +Kings died childless while the other was reigning, the other should +succeed him in both Kingdoms. A magnificent arrangement, such as has +several times been made in the world's history; but which in this +instance, what is very singular, took actual effect; drunken Harda- +Knut dying so speedily, and Magnus being the man he was. One would +like to give the date of this remarkable Treaty; but cannot with +precision. Guess somewhere about 1040:[17] actual fruition of it came +to Magnus, beyond question, in 1042, when Harda-Knut drank that +wassail bowl at the wedding in Lambeth, and fell down dead; which in +the Saxon Chronicle is dated 3d June of that year. Magnus at once +went to Denmark on hearing this event; was joyfully received by the +headmen there, who indeed, with their fellows in Norway, had been main +contrivers of the Treaty; both Countries longing for mutual peace, and +the end of such incessant broils. + +Magnus was triumphantly received as King in Denmark. The only +unfortunate thing was, that Svein Estrithson, the exile son of Ulf, +Knut's Brother-in-law, whom Knut, as we saw, had summarily killed +twelve years before, emerged from his exile in Sweden in a flattering +form; and proposed that Magnus should make him Jarl of Denmark, and +general administrator there, in his own stead. To which the sanguine +Magnus, in spite of advice to the contrary, insisted on acceding. +"Too powerful a Jarl," said Einar Tamberskelver--the same Einar whose +bow was heard to break in Olaf Tryggveson's last battle ("Norway +breaking from thy hand, King!"), who had now become Magnus's chief +man, and had long been among the highest chiefs in Norway; "too +powerful a Jarl," said Einar earnestly. But Magnus disregarded it; +and a troublesome experience had to teach him that it was true. In +about a year, crafty Svein, bringing ends to meet, got himself +declared King of Denmark for his own behoof, instead of Jarl for +another's: and had to be beaten and driven out by Magnus. Beaten +every year; but almost always returned next year, for a new +beating,--almost, though not altogether; having at length got one +dreadful smashing-down and half-killing, which held him quiet for a +while,--so long as Magnus lived. Nay in the end, he made good his +point, as if by mere patience in being beaten; and did become King +himself, and progenitor of all the Kings that followed. King Svein +Estrithson; so called from Astrid or Estrith, his mother, the great +Knut's sister, daughter of Svein Forkbeard by that amazing Sigrid the +Proud, who _burnt_ those two ineligible suitors of hers both at once, +and got a switch on the face from Olaf Tryggveson, which proved the +death of that high man. + +But all this fine fortune of the often beaten Estrithson was posterior +to Magnus's death; who never would have suffered it, had he been +alive. Magnus was a mighty fighter; a fiery man; very proud and +positive, among other qualities, and had such luck as was never seen +before. Luck invariably good, said everybody; never once was +beaten,--which proves, continued everybody, that his Father Olaf and +the miraculous power of Heaven were with him always. Magnus, I +believe, did put down a great deal of anarchy in those countries. One +of his earliest enterprises was to abolish Jomsburg, and trample out +that nest of pirates. Which he managed so completely that Jomsburg +remained a mere reminiscence thenceforth; and its place is not now +known to any mortal. + +One perverse thing did at last turn up in the course of Magnus: a new +Claimant for the Crown of Norway, and he a formidable person withal. +This was Harald, half-brother of the late Saint Olaf; uncle or +half-uncle, therefore, of Magnus himself. Indisputable son of the +Saint's mother by St. Olaf's stepfather, who was, himself descended +straight from Harald Haarfagr. This new Harald was already much heard +of in the world. As an ardent Boy of fifteen he had fought at King +Olaf's side at Stickelstad; would not be admonished by the Saint to go +away. Got smitten down there, not killed; was smuggled away that +night from the field by friendly help; got cured of his wounds, +forwarded to Russia, where he grew to man's estate, under bright +auspices and successes. Fell in love with the Russian Princess, but +could not get her to wife; went off thereupon to Constantinople as +_Vaeringer_ (Life-Guardsman of the Greek Kaiser); became Chief Captain +of the Vaeringers, invincible champion of the poor Kaisers that then +were, and filled all the East with the shine and noise of his +exploits. An authentic _Waring_ or _Baring_, such the surname we now +have derived from these people; who were an important institution in +those Greek countries for several ages: Vaeringer Life-Guard, +consisting of Norsemen, with sometimes a few English among them. +Harald had innumerable adventures, nearly always successful, sing the +Skalds; gained a great deal of wealth, gold ornaments, and gold coin; +had even Queen Zoe (so they sing, though falsely) enamored of him at +one time; and was himself a Skald of eminence; some of whose verses, +by no means the worst of their kind, remain to this day. + +This character of Waring much distinguishes Harald to me; the only +Vaeringer of whom I could ever get the least biography, true or +half-true. It seems the Greek History-books but indifferently +correspond with these Saga records; and scholars say there could have +been no considerable romance between Zoe and him, Zoe at that date +being 60 years of age! Harald's own lays say nothing of any Zoe, but +are still full of longing for his Russian Princess far away. + +At last, what with Zoes, what with Greek perversities and perfidies, +and troubles that could not fail, he determined on quitting Greece; +packed up his immensities of wealth in succinct shape, and actually +returned to Russia, where new honors and favors awaited him from old +friends, and especially, if I mistake not, the hand of that adorable +Princess, crown of all his wishes for the time being. Before long, +however, he decided farther to look after his Norway Royal heritages; +and, for that purpose, sailed in force to the Jarl or quasi-King of +Denmark, the often-beaten Svein, who was now in Sweden on his usual +winter exile after beating. Svein and he had evidently interests in +common. Svein was charmed to see him, so warlike, glorious and +renowned a man, with masses of money about him, too. Svein did by and +by become treacherous; and even attempted, one night, to assassinate +Harald in his bed on board ship: but Harald, vigilant of Svein, and a +man of quick and sure insight, had providently gone to sleep +elsewhere, leaving a log instead of himself among the blankets. In +which log, next morning, treacherous Svein's battle-axe was found +deeply sticking: and could not be removed without difficulty! But +this was after Harald and King Magnus himself bad begun treating; with +the fairest prospects,--which this of the $vein battle-axe naturally +tended to forward, as it altogether ended the other copartnery. + +Magnus, on first hearing of Vaeringer Harald and his intentions, made +instant equipment, and determination to fight his uttermost against +the same. But wise persons of influence round him, as did the like +sort round Vaeringer Harald, earnestly advised compromise and +peaceable agreement. Which, soon after that of Svein's nocturnal +battle-axe, was the course adopted; and, to the joy of all parties, +did prove a successful solution. Magnus agreed to part his kingdom +with Uncle Harald; uncle parting his treasures, or uniting them with +Magnus's poverty. Each was to be an independent king, but they were +to govern in common; Magnus rather presiding. He, to sit, for +example, in the High Seat alone; King Harald opposite him in a seat +not quite so high, though if a stranger King came on a visit, both the +Norse Kings were to sit in the High Seat. With various other +punctilious regulations; which the fiery Magnus was extremely strict +with; rendering the mutual relation a very dangerous one, had not both +the Kings been honest men, and Harald a much more prudent and tolerant +one than Magnus. They, on the whole, never had any weighty quarrel, +thanks now and then rather to Harald than to Magnus. Magnus too was +very noble; and Harald, with his wide experience and greater length of +years, carefully held his heat of temper well covered in. + +Prior to Uncle Harald's coming, Magnus had distinguished himself as a +Lawgiver. His Code of Laws for the Trondhjem Province was considered +a pretty piece of legislation; and in subsequent times got the name of +_Gray-goose_ (Gragas); one of the wonderfulest names ever given to a +wise Book. Some say it came from the gray color of the parchment, +some give other incredible origins; the last guess I have heard is, +that the name merely denotes antiquity; the witty name in Norway for a +man growing old having been, in those times, that he was now "becoming +a gray-goose." Very fantastic indeed; certain, however, that +Gray-goose is the name of that venerable Law Book; nay, there is +another, still more famous, belonging to Iceland, and not far from a +century younger, the Iceland _Gray-goose._ The Norway one is perhaps +of date about 1037, the other of about 1118; peace be with them both! +Or, if anybody is inclined to such matters let him go to Dahlmann, for +the amplest information and such minuteness of detail as might almost +enable him to be an Advocate, with Silk Gown, in any Court depending +on these Gray-geese. + +Magnus did not live long. He had a dream one night of his Father +Olaf's coming to him in shining presence, and announcing, That a +magnificent fortune and world-great renown was now possible for him; +but that perhaps it was his duty to refuse it; in which case his +earthly life would be short. "Which way wilt thou do, then?" said the +shining presence. "Thou shalt decide for me, Father, thou, not I!" +and told his Uncle Harald on the morrow, adding that he thought he +should now soon die; which proved to be the fact. The magnificent +fortune, so questionable otherwise, has reference, no doubt, to the +Conquest of England; to which country Magnus, as rightful and actual +King of _Denmark_, as well as undisputed heir to drunken Harda-Knut, +by treaty long ago, had now some evident claim. The enterprise itself +was reserved to the patient, gay, and prudent Uncle Harald; and to him +it did prove fatal,--and merely paved the way for Another, luckier, +not likelier! + +Svein Estrithson, always beaten during Magnus's life, by and by got an +agreement from the prudent Harald to _be_ King of Denmark, then; and +end these wearisome and ineffectual brabbles; Harald having other work +to do. But in the autumn of 1066, Tosti, a younger son of our English +Earl Godwin, came to Svein's court with a most important announcement; +namely, that King Edward the Confessor, so called, was dead, and that +Harold, as the English write it, his eldest brother would give him, +Tosti, no sufficient share in the kingship. Which state of matters, +if Svein would go ahead with him to rectify it, would be greatly to +the advantage of Svein. Svein, taught by many beatings, was too wise +for this proposal; refused Tosti, who indignantly stepped over into +Norway, and proposed it to King Harald there. Svein really had +acquired considerable teaching, I should guess, from his much beating +and hard experience in the world; one finds him afterwards the +esteemed friend of the famous Historian Adam of Bremen, who reports +various wise humanities, and pleasant discoursings with Svein +Estrithson. + +As for Harald Hardrade, "Harald the Hard or Severe," as he was now +called, Tosti's proposal awakened in him all his old Vaeringer +ambitious and cupidities into blazing vehemence. He zealously +consented; and at once, with his whole strength, embarked in the +adventure. Fitted out two hundred ships, and the biggest army he +could carry in them; and sailed with Tosti towards the dangerous +Promised Land. Got into the Tyne and took booty; got into the Humber, +thence into the Ouse; easily subdued any opposition the official +people or their populations could make; victoriously scattered these, +victoriously took the City of York in a day; and even got himself +homaged there, "King of Northumberland," as per covenant,--Tosti +proving honorable,--Tosti and he going with faithful strict +copartnery, and all things looking prosperous and glorious. Except +only (an important exception!) that they learnt for certain, English +Harold was advancing with all his strength; and, in a measurable space +of hours, unless care were taken, would be in York himself. Harald +and Tosti hastened off to seize the post of Stamford Bridge on Derwent +River, six or seven miles east of York City, and there bar this +dangerous advent. Their own ships lay not far off in Ouse River, in +case of the worst. The battle that ensued the next day, September 20, +1066, is forever memorable in English history. + +Snorro gives vividly enough his view of it from the Icelandic side: A +ring of stalwart Norsemen, close ranked, with their steel tools in +hand; English Harold's Army, mostly cavalry, prancing and pricking all +around; trying to find or make some opening in that ring. For a long +time trying in vain, till at length, getting them enticed to burst out +somewhere in pursuit, they quickly turned round, and quickly made an +end, of that matter. Snorro represents English Harold, with a first +party of these horse coming up, and, with preliminary salutations, +asking if Tosti were there, and if Harald were; making generous +proposals to Tosti; but, in regard to Harald and what share of England +was to be his, answering Tosti with the words, "Seven feet of English +earth, or more if he require it, for a grave." Upon which Tosti, like +an honorable man and copartner, said, "No, never; let us fight you +rather till we all die." "Who is this that spoke to you?" inquired +Harald, when the cavaliers had withdrawn. "My brother Harold," +answers Tosti; which looks rather like a Saga, but may be historical +after all. Snorro's history of the battle is intelligible only after +you have premised to it, what he never hints at, that the scene was on +the east side of the bridge and of the Derwent; the great struggle for +the bridge, one at last finds, was after the fall of Harald; and to +the English Chroniclers, said struggle, which was abundantly severe, +is all they know of the battle. + +Enraged at that breaking loose of his steel ring of infantry, Norse +Harald blazed up into true Norse fury, all the old Vaeringer and +Berserkir rage awakening in him; sprang forth into the front of the +fight, and mauled and cut and smashed down, on both hands of him, +everything he met, irresistible by any horse or man, till an arrow cut +him through the windpipe, and laid him low forever. That was the end +of King Harald and of his workings in this world. The circumstance +that he was a Waring or Baring and had smitten to pieces so many +Oriental cohorts or crowds, and had made love-verses (kind of iron +madrigals) to his Russian Princess, and caught the fancy of +questionable Greek queens, and had amassed such heaps of money, while +poor nephew Magnus had only one gold ring (which had been his +father's, and even his father's _mother's_, as Uncle Harald noticed), +and nothing more whatever of that precious metal to combine with +Harald's treasures:--all this is new to me, naturally no hint of it in +any English book; and lends some gleam of romantic splendor to that +dim business of Stamford Bridge, now fallen so dull and torpid to most +English minds, transcendently important as it once was to all +Englishmen. Adam of Bremen says, the English got as much gold plunder +from Harald's people as was a heavy burden for twelve men;[18] a thing +evidently impossible, which nobody need try to believe. Young Olaf, +Harald's son, age about sixteen, steering down the Ouse at the top of +his speed, escaped home to Norway with all his ships, and subsequently +reigned there with Magnus, his brother. Harald's body did lie in +English earth for about a year; but was then brought to Norway for +burial. He needed more than seven feet of grave, say some; +Laing, interpreting Snorro's measurements, makes Harald eight feet in +stature,--I do hope, with some error in excess! + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +OLAF THE TRANQUIL, MAGNUS BAREFOOT, AND SIGURD THE CRUSADER. + +The new King Olaf, his brother Magnus having soon died, bore rule in +Norway for some five-and-twenty years. Rule soft and gentle, not like +his father's, and inclining rather to improvement in the arts and +elegancies than to anything severe or dangerously laborious. A +slim-built, witty-talking, popular and pretty man, with uncommonly +bright eyes, and hair like floss silk: they called him Olaf _Kyrre_ +(the Tranquil or Easygoing). + +The ceremonials of the palace were much improved by him. Palace still +continued to be built of huge logs pyramidally sloping upwards, with +fireplace in the middle of the floor, and no egress for smoke or +ingress for light except right overhead, which, in bad weather, you +could shut, or all but shut, with a lid. Lid originally made of mere +opaque board, but changed latterly into a light frame, covered +(_glazed_, so to speak) with entrails of animals, clarified into +something of pellucidity. All this Olaf, I hope, further perfected, +as he did the placing of the court ladies, court officials, and the +like; but I doubt if the luxury of a glass window were ever known to +him, or a cup to drink from that was not made of metal or horn. In +fact it is chiefly for his son's sake I mention him here; and with the +son, too, I have little real concern, but only a kind of fantastic. + +This son bears the name of Magnus _Barfod_ (Barefoot, or Bareleg); and +if you ask why so, the answer is: He was used to appear in the +streets of Nidaros (Trondhjem) now and then in complete Scotch +Highland dress. Authentic tartan plaid and philibeg, at that +epoch,--to the wonder of Trondhjem and us! The truth is, he had a +mighty fancy for those Hebrides and other Scotch possessions of his; +and seeing England now quite impossible, eagerly speculated on some +conquest in Ireland as next best. He did, in fact, go diligently +voyaging and inspecting among those Orkney and Hebridian Isles; +putting everything straight there, appointing stringent authorities, +jarls,--nay, a king, "Kingdom of the Suderoer" (Southern Isles, now +called _Sodor_),--and, as first king, Sigurd, his pretty little boy of +nine years. All which done, and some quarrel with Sweden fought out, +he seriously applied himself to visiting in a still more emphatic +manner; namely, to invading, with his best skill and strength, the +considerable virtual or actual kingdom he had in Ireland, intending +fully to enlarge it to the utmost limits of the Island if possible. +He got prosperously into Dublin (guess A.D. 1102). Considerable +authority he already had, even among those poor Irish Kings, or +kinglets, in their glibs and yellow-saffron gowns; still more, I +suppose, among the numerous Norse Principalities there. "King Murdog, +King of Ireland," says the Chronicle of Man, "had obliged himself, +every Yule-day, to take a pair of shoes, hang them over his shoulder, +as your servant does on a journey, and walk across his court, at +bidding and in presence of Magnus Barefoot's messenger, by way of +homage to the said "King." Murdog on this greater occasion did +whatever homage could be required of him; but that, though +comfortable, was far from satisfying the great King's ambitious mind. +The great King left Murdog; left his own Dublin; marched off westward +on a general conquest of Ireland. Marched easily victorious for a +time; and got, some say, into the wilds of Connaught, but there saw +himself beset by ambuscades and wild Irish countenances intent on +mischief; and had, on the sudden, to draw up for battle;--place, I +regret to say, altogether undiscoverable to me; known only that it was +boggy in the extreme. Certain enough, too certain and evident, Magnus +Barefoot, searching eagerly, could find no firm footing there; nor, +fighting furiously up to the knees or deeper, any result but honorable +death! Date is confidently marked "24 August, 1103,"--as if people +knew the very day of the month. The natives did humanely give King +Magnus Christian burial. The remnants of his force, without further +molestation, found their ships on the Coast of Ulster; and sailed +home,--without conquest of Ireland; nay perhaps, leaving royal Murdog +disposed to be relieved of his procession with the pair of shoes. + +Magnus Barefoot left three sons, all kings at once, reigning peaceably +together. But to us, at present, the only noteworthy one of them was +Sigurd; who, finding nothing special to do at home, left his brothers +to manage for him, and went off on a far Voyage, which has rendered +him distinguishable in the crowd. Voyage through the Straits of +Gibraltar, on to Jerusalem, thence to Constantinople; and so home +through Russia, shining with such renown as filled all Norway for the +time being. A King called Sigurd Jorsalafarer (Jerusalemer) or Sigurd +the Crusader henceforth. His voyage had been only partially of the +Viking type; in general it was of the Royal-Progress kind rather; +Vikingism only intervening in cases of incivility or the like. His +reception in the Courts of Portugal, Spain, Sicily, Italy, had been +honorable and sumptuous. The King of Jerusalem broke out into utmost +splendor and effusion at sight of such a pilgrim; and Constantinople +did its highest honors to such a Prince of Vaeringers. And the truth +is, Sigurd intrinsically was a wise, able, and prudent man; who, +surviving both his brothers, reigned a good while alone in a solid and +successful way. He shows features of an original, +independent-thinking man; something of ruggedly strong, sincere, and +honest, with peculiarities that are amiable and even pathetic in the +character and temperament of him; as certainly, the course of life he +took was of his own choosing, and peculiar enough. He happens +furthermore to be, what he least of all could have chosen or expected, +the last of the Haarfagr Genealogy that had any success, or much +deserved any, in this world. The last of the Haarfagrs, or as good as +the last! So that, singular to say, it is in reality, for one thing +only that Sigurd, after all his crusadings and wonderful adventures, +is memorable to us here: the advent of an Irish gentleman called +"Gylle Krist" (Gil-christ, Servant of Christ), who,--not over welcome, +I should think, but (unconsciously) big with the above +result,--appeared in Norway, while King Sigurd was supreme. Let us +explain a little. + +This Gylle Krist, the unconsciously fatal individual, who "spoke Norse +imperfectly," declared himself to be the natural son of whilom Magnus +Barefoot; born to him there while engaged in that unfortunate +"Conquest of Ireland." "Here is my mother come with me," said +Gilchrist, "who declares my real baptismal name to have been Harald, +given me by that great King; and who will carry the red-hot +ploughshares or do any reasonable ordeal in testimony of these facts. +I am King Sigurd's veritable half-brother: what will King Sigurd +think it fair to do with me?" Sigurd clearly seems to have believed +the man to be speaking truth; and indeed nobody to have doubted but he +was. Sigurd said, "Honorable sustenance shalt thou have from me here. +But, under pain of extirpation, swear that, neither in my time, nor in +that of my young son Magnus, wilt thou ever claim any share in this +Government." Gylle swore; and punctually kept his promise during +Sigurd's reign. But during Magnus's, he conspicuously broke it; and, +in result, through many reigns, and during three or four generations +afterwards, produced unspeakable contentions, massacrings, confusions +in the country he had adopted. There are reckoned, from the time of +Sigurd's death (A.D. 1130), about a hundred years of civil war: no +king allowed to distinguish himself by a solid reign of well-doing, or +by any continuing reign at all,--sometimes as many as four kings +simultaneously fighting;--and in Norway, from sire to son, nothing but +sanguinary anarchy, disaster and bewilderment; a Country sinking +steadily as if towards absolute ruin. Of all which frightful misery +and discord Irish Gylle, styled afterwards King Harald Gylle, was, by +ill destiny and otherwise, the visible origin: an illegitimate Irish +Haarfagr who proved to be his own destruction, and that of the +Haarfagr kindred altogether! + +Sigurd himself seems always to have rather favored Gylle, who was a +cheerful, shrewd, patient, witty, and effective fellow; and had at +first much quizzing to endure, from the younger kind, on account of +his Irish way of speaking Norse, and for other reasons. One evening, +for example, while the drink was going round, Gylle mentioned that the +Irish had a wonderful talent of swift running and that there were +among them people who could keep up with the swiftest horse. At +which, especially from young Magnus, there were peals of laughter; and +a declaration from the latter that Gylle and he would have it tried +to-morrow morning! Gylle in vain urged that he had not himself +professed to be so swift a runner as to keep up with the Prince's +horses; but only that there were men in Ireland who could. Magnus was +positive; and, early next morning, Gylle had to be on the ground; and +the race, naturally under heavy bet, actually went off. Gylle started +parallel to Magnus's stirrup; ran like a very roe, and was clearly +ahead at the goal. "Unfair," said Magnus; "thou must have had hold of +my stirrup-leather, and helped thyself along; we must try it again." +Gylle ran behind the horse this second time; then at the end, sprang +forward; and again was fairly in ahead. "Thou must have held by the +tail," said Magnus; "not by fair running was this possible; we must +try a third time!" Gylle started ahead of Magnus and his horse, this +third time; kept ahead with increasing distance, Magnus galloping his +very best; and reached the goal more palpably foremost than ever. So +that Magnus had to pay his bet, and other damage and humiliation. And +got from his father, who heard of it soon afterwards, scoffing rebuke +as a silly fellow, who did not know the worth of men, but only the +clothes and rank of them, and well deserved what he had got from +Gylle. All the time King Sigurd lived, Gylle seems to have had good +recognition and protection from that famous man; and, indeed, to have +gained favor all round, by his quiet social demeanor and the qualities +he showed. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +MAGNUS THE BLIND, HARALD GYLLE, AND MUTUAL EXTINCTION OF THE +HAARFAGRS. + +On Sigurd the Crusader's death, Magnus naturally came to the throne; +Gylle keeping silence and a cheerful face for the time. But it was +not long till claim arose on Gylle's part, till war and fight arose +between Magnus and him, till the skilful, popular, ever-active and +shifty Gylle had entirely beaten Magnus; put out his eyes, mutilated +the poor body of him in a horrid and unnamable manner, and shut him up +in a convent as out of the game henceforth. There in his dark misery +Magnus lived now as a monk; called "Magnus the Blind" by those Norse +populations; King Harald Gylle reigning victoriously in his stead. +But this also was only for a time. There arose avenging kinsfolk of +Magnus, who had no Irish accent in their Norse, and were themselves +eager enough to bear rule in their native country. By one of +these,--a terribly stronghanded, fighting, violent, and regardless +fellow, who also was a Bastard of Magnus Barefoot's, and had been made +a Priest, but liked it unbearably ill, and had broken loose from it +into the wildest courses at home and abroad; so that his current name +got to be "Slembi-diakn," Slim or Ill Deacon, under which he is much +noised of in Snorro and the Sagas: by this Slim-Deacon, Gylle was put +an end to (murdered by night, drunk in his sleep); and poor blind +Magnus was brought out, and again set to act as King, or King's Cloak, +in hopes Gylle's posterity would never rise to victory more. But +Gylle's posterity did, to victory and also to defeat, and were the +death of Magnus and of Slim-Deacon too, in a frightful way; and all +got their own death by and by in a ditto. In brief, these two +kindreds (reckoned to be authentic enough Haarfagr people, both kinds +of them) proved now to have become a veritable crop of dragon's teeth; +who mutually fought, plotted, struggled, as if it had been their +life's business; never ended fighting and seldom long intermitted it, +till they had exterminated one another, and did at last all rest in +death. One of these later Gylle temporary Kings I remember by the +name of Harald Herdebred, Harald of the Broad Shoulders. The very +last of them I think was Harald Mund (Harald of the _Wry-Mouth_), who +gave rise to two Impostors, pretending to be Sons of his, a good while +after the poor Wry-Mouth itself and all its troublesome belongings +were quietly underground. What Norway suffered during that sad +century may be imagined. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SVERRIR AND DESCENDANTS, TO HAKON THE OLD. + +The end of it was, or rather the first abatement, and _beginnings_ of +the end, That, when all this had gone on ever worsening for some forty +years or so, one Sverrir (A.D. 1177), at the head of an armed mob of +poor people called _Birkebeins_, came upon the scene. A strange +enough figure in History, this Sverrir and his Birkebeins! At first a +mere mockery and dismal laughing-stock to the enlightened Norway +public. Nevertheless by unheard-of fighting, hungering, exertion, and +endurance, Sverrir, after ten years of such a death-wrestle against +men and things, got himself accepted as King; and by wonderful +expenditure of ingenuity, common cunning, unctuous Parliamentary +Eloquence or almost Popular Preaching, and (it must be owned) general +human faculty and valor (or value) in the over-clouded and distorted +state, did victoriously continue such. And founded a new Dynasty in +Norway, which ended only with Norway's separate existence, after near +three hundred years. + +This Sverrir called himself a Son of Harald Wry-Mouth; but was in +reality the son of a poor Comb-maker in some little town of Norway; +nothing heard of Sonship to Wry-Mouth till after good success +otherwise. His Birkebeins (that is to say, _Birchlegs;_ the poor +rebellious wretches having taken to the woods; and been obliged, +besides their intolerable scarcity of food, to thatch their bodies +from the cold with whatever covering could be got, and their legs +especially with birch bark; sad species of fleecy hosiery; whence +their nickname),--his Birkebeins I guess always to have been a kind of +Norse _Jacquerie_: desperate rising of thralls and indigent people, +driven mad by their unendurable sufferings and famishings,--theirs the +_deepest_ stratum of misery, and the densest and heaviest, in this the +general misery of Norway, which had lasted towards the third +generation and looked as if it would last forever:--whereupon they had +risen proclaiming, in this furious dumb manner, unintelligible except +to Heaven, that the same could not, nor would not, be endured any +longer! And, by their Sverrir, strange to say, they did attain a kind +of permanent success; and, from being a dismal laughing-stock in +Norway, came to be important, and for a time all-important there. +Their opposition nicknames, "_Baglers_ (from Bagall, _baculus_, +bishop's staff; Bishop Nicholas being chief Leader)," "_Gold-legs_," +and the like obscure terms (for there was still a considerable course +of counter-fighting ahead, and especially of counter-nicknaming), I +take to have meant in Norse prefigurement seven centuries ago, +"bloated Aristocracy," "tyrannous-_Bourgeoisie_,"--till, in the next +century, these rents were closed again! + +King Sverrir, not himself bred to comb-making, had, in his fifth year, +gone to an uncle, Bishop in the Faroe Islands; and got some +considerable education from him, with a view to Priesthood on the part +of Sverrir. But, not liking that career, Sverrir had fled and +smuggled himself over to the Birkebeins; who, noticing the learned +tongue, and other miraculous qualities of the man, proposed to make +him Captain of them; and even threatened to kill him if he would not +accept,--which thus at the sword's point, as Sverrir says, he was +obliged to do. It was after this that he thought of becoming son of +Wry-Mouth and other higher things. + +His Birkebeins and he had certainly a talent of campaigning which has +hardly ever been equalled. They fought like devils against any odds +of number; and before battle they have been known to march six days +together without food, except, perhaps, the inner barks of trees, and +in such clothing and shoeing as mere birch bark:--at one time, +somewhere in the Dovrefjeld, there was serious counsel held among them +whether they should not all, as one man, leap down into the frozen +gulfs and precipices, or at once massacre one another wholly, and so +finish. Of their conduct in battle, fiercer than that of _Baresarks_, +where was there ever seen the parallel? In truth they are a dim +strange object to one, in that black time; wondrously bringing light +into it withal; and proved to be, under such unexpected circumstances, +the beginning of better days! + +Of Sverrir's public speeches there still exist authentic specimens; +wonderful indeed, and much characteristic of such a Sverrir. A +comb-maker King, evidently meaning several good and solid things; and +effecting them too, athwart such an element of Norwegian +chaos-come-again. His descendants and successors were a comparatively +respectable kin. The last and greatest of them I shall mention is +Hakon VII., or Hakon the Old; whose fame is still lively among us, +from the Battle of Largs at least. + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +HAKON THE OLD AT LARGS. + +In the Norse annals our famous Battle of Largs makes small figure, or +almost none at all among Hakon's battles and feats. They do say +indeed, these Norse annalists, that the King of Scotland, Alexander +III. (who had such a fate among the crags about Kinghorn in time +coming), was very anxious to purchase from King Hakon his sovereignty +of the Western Isles, but that Hakon pointedly refused; and at length, +being again importuned and bothered on the business, decided on giving +a refusal that could not be mistaken. Decided, namely, to go with a +big expedition, and look thoroughly into that wing of his Dominions; +where no doubt much has fallen awry since Magnus Barefoot's grand +visit thither, and seems to be inviting the cupidity of bad neighbors! +"All this we will put right again," thinks Hakon, "and gird it up into +a safe and defensive posture." Hakon sailed accordingly, with a +strong fleet; adjusting and rectifying among his Hebrides as he went +long, and landing withal on the Scotch coast to plunder and punish as +he thought fit. The Scots say he had claimed of them Arran, Bute, and +the Two Cumbraes ("given my ancestors by Donald Bain," said Hakon, to +the amazement of the Scots) "as part of the Sudoer" (Southern Isles): +--so far from selling that fine kingdom!--and that it was after taking +both Arran and Bute that he made his descent at Largs. + +Of Largs there is no mention whatever in Norse books. But beyond any +doubt, such is the other evidence, Hakon did land there; land and +fight, not conquering, probably rather beaten; and very certainly +"retiring to his ships," as in either case he behooved to do! It is +further certain he was dreadfully maltreated by the weather on those +wild coasts; and altogether credible, as the Scotch records bear, that +he was so at Largs very specially. The Norse Records or Sagas say +merely, he lost many of his ships by the tempests, and many of his men +by land fighting in various parts,--tacitly including Largs, no doubt, +which was the last of these misfortunes to him. "In the battle here +he lost 15,000 men, say the Scots, we 5,000"! Divide these numbers by +ten, and the excellently brief and lucid Scottish summary by Buchanan +may be taken as the approximately true and exact.[19] Date of the +battle is A.D. 1263. + +To this day, on a little plain to the south of the village, now town, +of Largs, in Ayrshire, there are seen stone cairns and monumental +heaps, and, until within a century ago, one huge, solitary, upright +stone; still mutely testifying to a battle there,--altogether clearly, +to this battle of King Hakon's; who by the Norse records, too, was in +these neighborhoods at that same date, and evidently in an aggressive, +high kind of humor. For "while his ships and army were doubling the +Mull of Cantire, he had his own boat set on wheels, and therein, +splendidly enough, had himself drawn across the Promontory at a +flatter part," no doubt with horns sounding, banners waving. "All to +the left of me is mine and Norway's," exclaimed Hakon in his +triumphant boat progress, which such disasters soon followed. + +Hakon gathered his wrecks together, and sorrowfully made for Orkney. +It is possible enough, as our Guide Books now say, he may have gone by +Iona, Mull, and the narrow seas inside of Skye; and that the +_Kyle-Akin_, favorably known to sea-bathers in that region, may +actually mean the Kyle (narrow strait) of Hakon, where Hakon may have +dropped anchor, and rested for a little while in smooth water and +beautiful environment, safe from equinoctial storms. But poor Hakon's +heart was now broken. He went to Orkney; died there in the winter; +never beholding Norway more. + +He it was who got Iceland, which had been a Republic for four +centuries, united to his kingdom of Norway: a long and intricate +operation,--much presided over by our Snorro Sturleson, so often +quoted here, who indeed lost his life (by assassination from his +sons-in-law) and out of great wealth sank at once into poverty of +zero,--one midnight in his own cellar, in the course of that bad +business. Hakon was a great Politician in his time; and succeeded in +many things before he lost Largs. Snorro's death by murder had +happened about twenty years before Hakon's by broken heart. He is +called Hakon the Old, though one finds his age was but fifty-nine, +probably a longish life for a Norway King. Snorro's narrative ceases +when Snorro himself was born; that is to say, at the threshold of King +Sverrir; of whose exploits and doubtful birth it is guessed by some +that Snorro willingly forbore to speak in the hearing of such a Hakon. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +EPILOGUE. + +Haarfagr's kindred lasted some three centuries in Norway; Sverrir's +lasted into its third century there; how long after this, among the +neighboring kinships, I did not inquire. For, by regal affinities, +consanguinities, and unexpected chances and changes, the three +Scandinavian kingdoms fell all peaceably together under Queen +Margaret, of the Calmar Union (A.D. 1397); and Norway, incorporated +now with Denmark, needed no more kings. + +The History of these Haarfagrs has awakened in me many thoughts: Of +Despotism and Democracy, arbitrary government by one and +self-government (which means no government, or anarchy) by all; of +Dictatorship with many faults, and Universal Suffrage with little +possibility of any virtue. For the contrast between Olaf Tryggveson, +and a Universal-Suffrage Parliament or an "Imperial" Copper Captain +has, in these nine centuries, grown to be very great. And the eternal +Providence that guides all this, and produces alike these entities +with their epochs, is not its course still through the great deep? +Does not it still speak to us, if we have ears? Here, clothed in +stormy enough passions and instincts, unconscious of any aim but their +own satisfaction, is the blessed beginning of Human Order, Regulation, +and real Government; there, clothed in a highly different, but again +suitable garniture of passions, instincts, and equally unconscious as +to real aim, is the accursed-looking ending (temporary ending) of +Order, Regulation, and Government;--very dismal to the sane onlooker +for the time being; not dismal to him otherwise, his hope, too, being +steadfast! But here, at any rate, in this poor Norse theatre, one +looks with interest on the first transformation, so mysterious and +abstruse, of human Chaos into something of articulate Cosmos; +witnesses the wild and strange birth-pangs of Human Society, and +reflects that without something similar (little as men expect such +now), no Cosmos of human society ever was got into existence, nor can +ever again be. + +The violences, fightings, crimes--ah yes, these seldom fail, and they +are very lamentable. But always, too, among those old populations, +there was one saving element; the now want of which, especially the +unlamented want, transcends all lamentation. Here is one of those +strange, piercing, winged-words of Ruskin, which has in it a terrible +truth for us in these epochs now come:-- + +"My friends, the follies of modern Liberalism, many and great though +they be, are practically summed in this denial or neglect of the +quality and intrinsic value of things. Its rectangular beatitudes, +and spherical benevolences,--theology of universal indulgence, and +jurisprudence which will hang no rogues, mean, one and all of them, in +the root, incapacity of discerning, or refusal to discern, worth and +unworth in anything, and least of all in man; whereas Nature and +Heaven command you, at your peril, to discern worth from unworth in +everything, and most of all in man. Your main problem is that ancient +and trite one, 'Who is best man?' and the Fates forgive much,--forgive +the wildest, fiercest, cruelest experiments,--if fairly made for the +determination of that. + +Theft and blood-guiltiness are not pleasing in their sight; yet the +favoring powers of the spiritual and material world will confirm to +you your stolen goods, and their noblest voices applaud the lifting of +Your spear, and rehearse the sculpture of your shield, if only your +robbing and slaying have been in fair arbitrament of that question, +'Who is best man?' But if you refuse such inquiry, and maintain every +man for his neighbor's match,--if you give vote to the simple and +liberty to the vile, the powers of those spiritual and material worlds +in due time present you inevitably with the same problem, soluble now +only wrong side upwards; and your robbing and slaying must be done +then to find out, 'Who is worst man?' Which, in so wide an order of +merit, is, indeed, not easy; but a complete Tammany Ring, and lowest +circle in the Inferno of Worst, you are sure to find, and to be +governed by."[20] + +All readers will admit that there was something naturally royal in +these Haarfagr Kings. A wildly great kind of kindred; counts in it +two Heroes of a high, or almost highest, type: the first two Olafs, +Tryggveson and the Saint. And the view of them, withal, as we chance +to have it, I have often thought, how essentially Homeric it +was:--indeed what is "Homer" himself but the _Rhapsody_ of five +centuries of Greek Skalds and wandering Ballad-singers, done (i.e. +"stitched together") by somebody more musical than Snorro was? Olaf +Tryggveson and Olaf Saint please me quite as well in their prosaic +form; offering me the truth of them as if seen in their real +lineaments by some marvellous opening (through the art of Snorro) +across the black strata of the ages. Two high, almost among the +highest sons of Nature, seen as they veritably were; fairly comparable +or superior to god-like Achilleus, goddess-wounding Diomedes, much +more to the two Atreidai, Regulators of the Peoples. + +I have also thought often what a Book might be made of Snorro, did +there but arise a man furnished with due literary insight, and +indefatigable diligence; who, faithfully acquainting himself with the +topography, the monumental relies and illustrative actualities of +Norway, carefully scanning the best testimonies as to place and time +which that country can still give him, carefully the best collateral +records and chronologies of other countries, and who, himself +possessing the highest faculty of a Poet, could, abridging, arranging, +elucidating, reduce Snorro to a polished Cosmic state, unweariedly +purging away his much chaotic matter! A modern "highest kind of +Poet," capable of unlimited slavish labor withal;--who, I fear, is not +soon to be expected in this world, or likely to find his task in the +_Heimskringla_ if he did appear here. + + + +Footnotes: +_______________________________ + +[1] J. G. Dahlmann, _Geschichte von Dannemark_, 3 vols. 8vo. +Hamburg, 1840-1843. + +[2] "Settlement," dated 912, by Munch, Henault, &c. The Saxon +Chronicle says (anno 876): "In this year Rolf overran Normandy +with his army, and he reigned fifty winters." + +[3] Dahlmann, ii. 87. + +[4] Dahlmann, ii. 93. + +[5] _Laing's Snorro_, i. 344. + +[6] G. Buchanani _Opera Omnia_, i. 103, 104 (Curante Ruddimano, +Edinburgi, 1715). + +[7] His Long Serpent, judged by some to be of the size of a frigate of +forty-five guns (Laing). + +[8] This sermon was printed by Hearne; and is given also by +Langebek in his excellent Collection, _Rerum Danicarum Scriptores +Medii AEri._ Hafniae. 1772-1834. + +[9] Kennet, i. 67; Rapin, i. 119, 121 (from the _Saxon Chronicle_ +both). + +[10] Knut born A.D. 988 according to Munch's calculation (ii. +126). + +[11] Snorro, Laing's Translation, ii. p. 31 et seq., will minutely +specify. + +[12] Snorro, ii. pp. 24, 25. + +[13] Snorro, ii. pp. 156-161. + +[14] Snorro, ii. pp. 252, 253. + +[15] _Saxon Chronicle_ says expressly, under A.D. 1030: "In this +year King Olaf was slain in Norway by his own people, and was +afterwards sainted." + +[16] _Saxon Chronicle_ says: "1035. In this year died King Cnut. ... +He departed at Shaftesbury, November 12, and they conveyed him thence +to Winchester, and there buried him." + +[17] Munch gives the date 1038 (ii. 840), Adam of Bremen 1040. + +[18] Camden, Rapin, &c. quote. + +[19] _Buchanani Hist._ i. 130. + +[20] _Fors Clavigera_, Letter XIV. Pp. 8-10. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext Early Kings of Norway, by Thomas Carlyle + diff --git a/old/knrwy10.zip b/old/knrwy10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..97c1580 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/knrwy10.zip |