Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
one word and barked two. A collar and chain of gold and silver were
made for him, and his courtiers carried him on their shoulders when the
weather or ways were foul. A throne was erected for him, and he sat
upon a high place, as kings are used to sit. He dwelt on Eyin Idre (Idre
Isle), and had his mansion in a place now called Saurshaug. It is told
that the occasion of his death was that the wolves one day broke into
his fold, and his courtiers stirred him up to defend his cattle; but
when he ran down from his mound, and attacked the wolves, they tore
him into pieces. Many other extraordinary things were done by this
King Eystein against the Throndhjem people, and in consequence of this
persecution and trouble, many chiefs and people fled and left their udal
properties.
14. JAMTALAND AND HELSINGJALAND.
Ketil Jamte, a son of Earl Onund of Sparabu, went eastward across the
mountain ridge, and with him a great multitude, who took all their
farm-stock and goods with them. They cleared the woods, and established
large farms, and settled the country afterwards called Jamtaland.
Thorer Helsing, Ketil's grandson, on account of a murder, ran away from
Jamtaland and fled eastward through the forest, and settled there. Many
people followed, and that country, which extends eastward down to the
seacoast, was called Helsingjaland; and its eastern parts are inhabited
by Swedes. Now when Harald Harfager took possession of the whole country
many people fled before him, both people of Throndhjem and of Naumudal
districts; and thus new settlers came to Jamtaland, and some all the way
to Helsingjaland. The Helsingjaland people travelled into Svithiod for
their merchandise, and thus became altogether subjects of that country.
The Jamtaland people, again, were in a manner between the two countries;
and nobody cared about them, until Hakon entered into friendly
intercourse with Jamtaland, and made friends of the more powerful
people. Then they resorted to him, and promised him obedience and
payment of taxes, and became his subjects; for they saw nothing but what
was good in him, and being of Norwegian race they would rather stand
under his royal authority than under the king of Sweden: and he gave
them laws, and rights to their land. All the people of Helsingjaland did
the same,--that is, all who were of Norwegian race, from the other side
of the great mountain ridge.
15. HAKON SPREADS CHRISTIANITY.
King Hakon was a good Christian when he came to Norway; but as the whole
country was heathen, with much heathenish sacrifice, and as many
great people, as well as the favour of the common people, were to be
conciliated, he resolved to practice his Christianity in private. But
he kept Sundays, and the Friday fasts, and some token of the greatest
holy-days. He made a law that the festival of Yule should begin at
the same time as Christian people held it, and that every man, under
penalty, should brew a meal of malt into ale, and therewith keep the
Yule holy as long as it lasted. Before him, the beginning of Yule, or
the slaughter night, was the night of mid-winter (Dec. 14), and Yule was
kept for three days thereafter. It was his intent, as soon as he had set
himself fast in the land, and had subjected the whole to his power,
to introduce Christianity. He went to work first by enticing to
Christianity the men who were dearest to him; and many, out of
friendship to him, allowed themselves to be baptized, and some laid
aside sacrifices. He dwelt long in the Throndhjem district, for the
strength of the country lay there; and when he thought that, by the
support of some powerful people there, he could set up Christianity he
sent a message to England for a bishop and other teachers; and when
they arrived in Norway, Hakon made it known that he would proclaim
Christianity over all the land. The people of More and Raumsdal referred
the matter to the people of Throndhjem. King Hakon then had several
churches consecrated, and put priests into them; and when he came to
Throndhjem he summoned the bondes to a Thing, and invited them to accept
Christianity. They gave an answer to the effect that they would defer
the matter until the Frosta-thing, at which there would be men from
every district of the Throndhjem country, and then they would give their
determination upon this difficult matter.
16. ABOUT SACRIFICES.
Sigurd, earl of Hlader, was one of the greatest men for sacrifices, and
so had Hakon his father been; and Sigurd always presided on account of
the king at all the festivals of sacrifice in the Throndhjem country.
It was an old custom, that when there was to be sacrifice all the bondes
should come to the spot where the temple stood and bring with them all
that they required while the festival of the sacrifice lasted. To this
festival all the men brought ale with them; and all kinds of cattle, as
well as horses, were slaughtered, and all the blood that came from
them was called "hlaut", and the vessels in which it was collected were
called hlaut-vessels. Hlaut-staves were made, like sprinkling brushes,
with which the whole of the altars and the temple walls, both outside
and inside, were sprinkled over, and also the people were sprinkled with
the blood; but the flesh was boiled into savoury meat for those present.
The fire was in the middle of the floor of the temple, and over it hung
the kettles, and the full goblets were handed across the fire; and he
who made the feast, and was a chief, blessed the full goblets, and
all the meat of the sacrifice. And first Odin's goblet was emptied for
victory and power to his king; thereafter, Niord's and Freyja's goblets
for peace and a good season. Then it was the custom of many to empty the
brage-goblet (1); and then the guests emptied a goblet to the memory of
departed friends, called the remembrance goblet. Sigurd the earl was an
open-handed man, who did what was very much celebrated; namely, he made
a great sacrifice festival at Hlader of which he paid all the expenses.
Kormak Ogmundson sings of it in his ballad of Sigurd:--
"Of cup or platter need has none
The guest who seeks the generous one,--
Sigurd the Generous, who can trace
His lineage from the giant race;
For Sigurd's hand is bounteous, free,--
The guardian of the temples he.
He loves the gods, his liberal hand
Scatters his sword's gains o'er the land--"
ENDNOTES: (1) The brage-goblet, over which vows were made.--L.
17. THE FROSTA-THING.
King Hakon came to the Frosta-thing, at which a vast multitude of people
were assembled. And when the Thing was seated, the king spoke to the
people, and began his speech with saying,--it was his message and
entreaty to the bondes and householding men, both great and small, and
to the whole public in general, young and old, rich and poor, women as
well as men, that they should all allow themselves to be baptized, and
should believe in one God, and in Christ the son of Mary and refrain
from all sacrifices and heathen gods; and should keep holy the seventh
day, and abstain from all work on it, and keep a fast on the seventh
day. As soon as the king had proposed this to the bondes, great was the
murmur and noise among the crowd. They complained that the king wanted
to take their labour and their old faith from them, and the land could
not be cultivated in that way. The labouring men and slaves thought that
they could not work if they did not get meat; and they said it was
the character of King Hakon, and his father, and all the family, to be
generous enough with their money, but sparing with their diet. Asbjorn
of Medalhus in the Gaulardal stood up, and answered thus to the king's
proposal:--
"We bondes, King Hakon, when we elected thee to be our king, and got
back our udal rights at the Thing held in Throndhjem, thought we had got
into heaven; but now we don't know whether we have really got back our
freedom, or whether thou wishest to make vassals of us again by this
extraordinary proposal that we should abandon the ancient faith which
our fathers and forefathers have held from the oldest times, in the
times when the dead were burnt, as well as since that they are laid
under mounds, and which, although they were braver than the people of
our days, has served us as a faith to the present time. We have also
held thee so dear, that we have allowed thee to rule and give law and
right to all the country. And even now we bondes will unanimously hold
by the law which thou givest us here in the Frosta-thing, and to which
we have also given our assent; and we will follow thee, and have thee
for our king, as long as there is a living man among us bondes here in
this Thing assembled. But thou, king, must use some moderation towards
us, and only require from us such things as we can obey thee in, and are
not impossible for us. If, however, thou wilt take up this matter with
a high hand, and wilt try thy power and strength against us, we
bondes have resolved among ourselves to part with thee, and to take to
ourselves some other chief, who will so conduct himself towards us
that we can freely and safely enjoy that faith that suits our own
inclinations. Now, king, thou must choose one or other of these
conditions before the Thing is ended."
The bondes gave loud applause to this speech, and said it expressed
their will, and they would stand or fall by what had been spoken. When
silence was again restored, Earl Sigurd said, "It is King Hakon's will
to give way to you, the bondes, and never to separate himself from your
friendship." The bondes replied, that it was their desire that the king
should offer a sacrifice for peace and a good year, as his father was
want to do; and thereupon the noise and tumult ceased, and the Thing was
concluded. Earl Sigurd spoke to the king afterwards, and advised him
not to refuse altogether to do as the people desired, saying there was
nothing else for it but to give way to the will of the bondes; "for
it is, as thou hast heard thyself, the will and earnest desire of the
head-people, as well as of the multitude. Hereafter we may find a good
way to manage it." And in this resolution the king and earl agreed (A.D.
950).
18. KING HAKON OFFERS SACRIFICES.
The harvest thereafter, towards the winter season, there was a festival
of sacrifice at Hlader, and the king came to it. It had always been his
custom before, when he was present at a place where there was sacrifice,
to take his meals in a little house by himself, or with some few of
his men; but the bondes grumbled that he did not seat himself in his
high-seat at these the most joyous of the meetings of the people. The
earl said that the king should do so this time. The king accordingly
sat upon his high-seat. Now when the first full goblet was filled, Earl
Sigurd spoke some words over it, blessed it in Odin's name, and drank to
the king out of the horn; and the king then took it, and made the sign
of the cross over it. Then said Kar of Gryting, "What does the king mean
by doing so? Will he not sacrifice?" Earl Sigurd replies, "The king is
doing what all of you do, who trust to your power and strength. He is
blessing the full goblet in the name of Thor, by making the sign of his
hammer over it before he drinks it." On this there was quietness for
the evening. The next day, when the people sat down to table, the bondes
pressed the king strongly to eat of horse-flesh (1); and as he would on
no account do so, they wanted him to drink of the soup; and as he would
not do this, they insisted he should at least taste the gravy; and on
his refusal they were going to lay hands on him. Earl Sigurd came and
made peace among them, by asking the king to hold his mouth over the