Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
proclaimed at Viken king of all Norway; but the Upland people, on
hearing of King Olaf's death, chose Hakon, Thorer's foster-son, a cousin
of King Magnus, as king. Thereupon Hakon and Thorer went north to the
Throndhjem country, and when they came to Nidaros they summoned the
Eyrathing; and at that Thing Hakon desired the bondes to give him the
kingly title, which was agreed to, and the Throndhjem people proclaimed
him king of half of Norway, as his father, King Magnus, had been before.
Hakon relieved the Throndhjem people of all harbour duties, and gave
them many other privileges. He did away with Yule-gifts, and gained by
this the good-will of all the Throndhjem people. Thereafter Hakon formed
a court, and then proceeded to the Uplands, where he gave the Upland
people the same privileges as the Throndhjem people; so that they also
were perfectly well affected to him, and were his friends. The people in
Throndhjem sang this ballad about him:--
"Young Hakon was the Norseman's pride,
And Steig-Thorer was on his side.
Young Hakon from the Upland came,
With royal birth, and blood, and name.
Young Hakon from the king demands
His royal birthright, half the lands;
Magnus will not the kingdom break,--
The whole or nothing he will take."
2. HAKON'S DEATH.
King Magnus proceeded north to the merchant town (Nidaros), and on his
arrival went straight to the king's house, and there took up his abode.
He remained here the first part of the winter (A.D. 1094), and kept
seven longships in the open water of the river Nid, abreast of the
king's house. Now when King Hakon heard that King Magnus was come to
Throndhjem, he came from the East over the Dovrefield, and thence down
from Throndhjem to the merchant town, where he took up his abode in the
house of Skule, opposite to Clement's church, which had formerly been
the king's house. King Magnus was ill pleased with the great gifts which
Hakon had given to the bondes to gain their favour, and thought it was
so much given out of his own property. This irritated his mind; and he
thought he had suffered injustice from his relative in this respect,
that he must now put up with less income than his father and his
predecessors before him had enjoyed; and he gave Thorer the blame. When
King Hakon and Thorer observed this, they were alarmed for what Magnus
might do; and they thought it suspicious that Magnus kept long-ships
afloat rigged out, and with tents. The following spring, after
Candlemas, King Magnus left the town in the night with his ships; the
tents up, and lights burning in the tents. They brought up at Hefring,
remained there all night, and kindled a fire on the land. Then Hakon and
the men in the town thought some treachery was on foot, and he let the
trumpets call all the men together out on the Eyrar, where the whole
people of the town came to him, and the people were gathering together
the whole night. When it was light in the morning, King Magnus saw the
people from all districts gathered together on the Eyrar; and he sailed
out of the fjord, and proceeded south to where the Gulathing is held.
Hakon thanked the people for their support which they had given him, and
got ready to travel east to Viken. But he first held a meeting in the
town, where, in a speech, he asked the people for their friendship,
promising them his; and added, that he had some suspicions of his
relation, King Magnus's intentions. Then King Hakon mounted his horse,
and was ready to travel. All men promised him their good-will and
support whenever he required them, and the people followed him out
to the foot of Steinbjorg. From thence King Hakon proceeded up the
Dovrefield; but as he was going over the mountains he rode all day after
a ptarmigan, which flew up beside him, and in this chase a sickness
overfell him, which ended in his death; and he died on the mountains.
His body was carried north, and came to the merchant town just half a
month after he left it. The whole townspeople went to meet the body,
sorrowing, and the most of them weeping; for all people loved him with
sincere affection. King Hakon's body was interred in Christ church, and
Hakon and Magnus had ruled the country for two years. Hakon was a man
full twenty-five years old, and was one of the chiefs the most beloved
by all the people. He had made a journey to Bjarmaland, where he had
given battle and gained a victory.
3. OF A FORAY IN HALLAND.
King Magnus sailed in winter (A.D. 1095) eastward to Viken; but when
spring approached he went southwards to Halland, and plundered far and
wide. He laid waste Viskardal and many other districts, and returned
with a great booty back to his own kingdom. So says Bjorn Krephende in
his song on Magnus:--
"Through Halland wide around
The clang and shriek resound;
The houses burn,
The people mourn,
Through Halland wide around.
The Norse king strides in flame,
Through Viskardal he came;
The fire sweeps,
The widow weeps,
The Norse king strides in flame."
Here it is told that King Magnus made the greatest devastation through
Halland.
4. OF THORER OF STEIG.
"There was a man called Svein, a son of Harald Fietter. He was a Danish
man by family, a great viking and champion, and a very clever man, and
of high birth in his own country. He had been some time with King Hakon
Magnuson, and was very dear to him; but after King Hakon's decease
Thorer of Steig, his foster-father, had no great confidence in any
treaty or friendship with King Magnus, if the whole country came into
his power, on account of the position in which Thorer had stood to King
Magnus, and the opposition he had made to him. Thereupon Thorer and
Svein took counsel with each other, which they afterwards carried
into effect,--to raise, with Thorer's assistance, and his men, a troop
against Magnus. But as Thorer was old and heavy, Svein took the command,
and name of leader of the troop. In this design several chiefs took
part, among whom the principal was Egil Aslakson of Aurland. Egil was a
lenderman, and married to Ingebjorg, a daughter of Ogmund Thorbergson, a
sister of Skopte of Giske. The rich and powerful man, Skjalg Erlingson,
also joined their party. Thorkel Hamarskald speaks of this in his ballad
of Magnus:
"Thorer and Egil were not wise,
They aimed too high to win a prize:
There was no reason in their plan,
And it hurt many a udalman.
The stone, too great for them to throw,
Fell back, and hurt them with the blow,
And now the udalmen must rue
That to their friends they were so true."
Thorer and Svein collected a troop in the Uplands, and went down through
Raumsdal into Sunmore, and there collected vessels, with which they
afterwards sailed north to Throndhjem.
5. OF THORER'S ADVENTURES.
The lenderman Sigurd Ulstreng, a son of Lodin Viggiarskalle, collected
men by sending round the war-token, as soon as he heard of Thorer and
the troop which followed him, and had a rendezvous with all the men
he could raise at Viggia. Svein and Thorer also met there with their
people, fought with Sigurd, and gained the victory after giving him a
great defeat; and Sigurd fled, and joined King Magnus. Thorer and his
followers proceeded to the town (Nidaros), and remained there some time
in the fjord, where many people joined them. King Magnus hearing this
news immediately collected an army, and proceeded north to Throndhjem.
And when he came into the fjord Thorer and his party heard of it while
they lay at Herring, and they were ready to leave the fjord; and they
rowed their ships to the strand at Vagnvik, and left them, and came into
Theksdal in Seliuhverfe, and Thorer was carried in a litter over the
mountains. Then they got hold of ships and sailed north to Halogaland.
As soon as King Magnus was ready for sea, he sailed from Throndhjem in
pursuit of them. Thorer and his party went north all the way to Bjarkey;
and Jon, with his son Vidkun, fled from thence. Thorer and his men
robbed all the movable goods, and burnt the house, and a good long-ship
that belonged to Vidkun. While the hull was burning the vessel keeled
to one side, and Thorer called out, "Hard to starboard, Vidkun!" Some
verses were made about this burning in Bjarkey:--
"The sweetest farm that I have seen
Stood on Bjarkey's island green;
And now, where once this farmhouse stood,
Fire crackles through a pile of wood;
And the clear red flame, burning high,
Flashes across the dark-night sky.
Jon and Vidkun, this dark night,
Will not be wandering without light."
6. DEATH OF THORER AND EGIL.
Jon and Vidkun travelled day and night till they met King Magnus. Svein
and Thorer proceeded northwards with their men, and plundered far and
wide in Halogaland. But while they lay in a fjord called Harm, Thorer
and his party saw King Magnus coming under sail towards them; and
thinking they had not men enough to fight him, they rowed away and fled.
Thorer and Egil brought up at Hesjutun; but Svein rowed out to sea, and
some of their people rowed into the fjords. King Magnus pursued Thorer,
and the vessels struck together while they were landing. Thorer stood in
the forecastle of his ship, and Sigurd Ulstreng called out to him, and
asked, "Art thou well, Thorer?" Thorer replied, "I am well in hands, but
ill on my feet."
Then all Thorer's men fled up the country, and Thorer was taken
prisoner. Egil was also taken prisoner, for he would not leave his wife.
King Magnus then ordered both of them to be taken out to Vambarholm;
and when they were leading Thorer from the ship he tottered on his legs.
Then Vidkun called out, "More to the larboard, Thorer!" When he was
being led to the gallows he sang:--
"We were four comrades gay,--
Let one by the helm stay."
When he came to the gallows he said, "Bad counsel comes to a bad end."
Then Thorer was hanged; but when he was hoisted up the gallows tree
he was so heavy that his neck gave way, and the body fell down to the
ground; for Thorer was a man exceedingly stout, both high of stature
and thick. Egil was also led to the gallows, and when the king's thralls
were about hanging him he said, "Ye should not hang me, for in truth
each of you deserves much more to be hanged." People sang these verses
about it:--
"I hear, my girl, that Egil said,
When to the gallows he was led,
That the king's thralls far more than he
Deserved to hang on gallows-tree.
It might be so; but, death in view,
A man should to himself be true,--
End a stout life by death as stout,
Showing no fear; or care, or doubt."
King Magnus sat near while they were being hanged, and was in such a
rage that none of his men was so bold as to ask mercy for them. The king
said, when Egil was spinning at the gallows, "Thy great friends help
thee but poorly in time of need." From this people supposed that the
king only wanted to have been entreated to have spared Egil's life.
Bjorn Krephende speaks of these things:--
"King Magnus in the robbers' gore
Dyed red his sword; and round the shore
The wolves howled out their wild delight,
At corpses swinging in their sight.
Have ye not heard how the king's sword
Punished the traitors to their lord?
How the king's thralls hung on the gallows
Old Thorer and his traitor-fellows?"
7. OF THE PUNISHMENT OF THE THRONDHJEM PEOPLE.
After this King Magnus sailed south to Throndhjem, and brought up in the
fjord, and punished severely all who had been guilty of treason towards
him; killing some, and burning the houses of others. So says Bjorn
Krephende:--
"He who despises fence of shields