Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
that time he will find he cannot do without thee in this part of the
country. It will be to thy own future honour, therefore, to agree to
this."
Sveinke replies, "What condition is better than this? Tell the king that
I shall not vex him longer with my presence here, and accept of my goods
and estates on this condition."
Thereupon he went home with his men, and set off directly; for he had
prepared everything beforehand. Kolbjorn remains behind, and makes
ready a feast for King Magnus, which also was thought of and prepared.
Sveinke, on the other hand, rides up to Gautland with all the men he
thought proper to take with him. The king let himself be entertained in
guest-quarters at his house, returned to Viken, and Sveinke's estates
were nominally the king's, but Kolbjorn had them under his charge. The
king received guest-quarters in Viken, proceeded from thence northwards,
and there was peace for a while; but now that the Elfgrims were without
a chief, marauding gangs infested them, and the king saw this eastern
part of the kingdom would be laid waste. It appeared to him, therefore,
most suitable and advisable to make Sveinke himself oppose the stream,
and twice he sent messages to him. But he did not stir until King Magnus
himself was south in Denmark, when Sveinke and the king met, and made
a full reconciliation; on which Sveinke returned home to his house and
estates, and was afterwards King Magnus's best and trustiest friend,
who strengthened his kingdom on the eastern border; and their friendship
continued as long as they lived.
9. KING MAGNUS MAKES WAR ON THE SOUTHERN HEBUDES.
King Magnus undertook an expedition out of the country, with many fine
men and a good assortment of shipping. With this armament he sailed out
into the West sea, and first came to the Orkney Islands. There he took
the two earls, Paul and Erlend, prisoners, and sent them east to Norway,
and placed his son Sigurd as chief over the islands, leaving some
counsellors to assist him. From thence King Magnus, with his followers,
proceeded to the Southern Hebudes, and when he came there began to burn
and lay waste the inhabited places, killing the people and plundering
wherever he came with his men; and the country people fled in all
directions, some into Scotland-fjord, others south to Cantire, or out to
Ireland; some obtained life and safety by entering into his service. So
says Bjorn Krephende:--
"In Lewis Isle with fearful blaze
The house-destroying fire plays;
To hills and rocks the people fly,
Fearing all shelter but the sky.
In Uist the king deep crimson made
The lightning of his glancing blade;
The peasant lost his land and life
Who dared to bide the Norseman's strife.
The hunger battle-birds were filled
In Skye with blood of foemen killed,
And wolves on Tyree's lonely shore
Dyed red their hairy jaws in gore.
The men of Mull were tired of flight;
The Scottish foemen would not fight,
And many an island-girl's wail
Was heard as through the isles we strife sail."
10. OF LAGMAN, KING GUDROD'S SON.
King Magnus came with his forces to the Holy Island (Iona), and gave
peace and safety to all men there. It is told that the king opened the
door of the little Columb's Kirk there, but did not go in, but instantly
locked the door again, and said that no man should be so bold as to go
into that church hereafter; which has been the case ever since. From
thence King Magnus sailed to Islay, where he plundered and burnt;
and when he had taken that country he proceeded south around Cantire,
marauding on both sides in Scotland and Ireland, and advanced with his
foray to Man, where he plundered. So says Bjorn Krephende:--
"On Sandey's plain our shield they spy:
From Isla smoke rose heaven-high,
Whirling up from the flashing blaze
The king's men o'er the island raise.
South of Cantire the people fled,
Scared by our swords in blood dyed red,
And our brave champion onward goes
To meet in Man the Norseman's foes."
Lagman (Lawman) was the name of the son of Gudrod, king of the Hebudes.
Lawman was sent to defend the most northerly islands; but when King
Magnus and his army came to the Hebudes, Lawman fled here and there
about the isles, and at last King Magnus's men took him and his ship's
crew as he was flying over to Ireland. The king put him in irons to
secure him. So says Bjorn Krephende:--
"To Gudrod's son no rock or cave,
Shore-side or hill, a refuge gave;
Hunted around from isle to isle,
This Lawman found no safe asyle.
From isle to isle, o'er firth and sound,
Close on his track his foe he found.
At Ness the Agder chief at length
Seized him, and iron-chained his strength."
11. OF THE FALL OF EARL HUGE THE BRAVE.
Afterwards King Magnus sailed to Wales; and when he came to the sound of
Anglesey there came against him an army from Wales, which was led by
two earls--Hugo the brave, and Hugo the Stout. They began immediately to
give battle, and there was a severe conflict. King Magnus shot with the
bow; but Huge the Brave was all over in armour, so that nothing was bare
about him excepting one eye. King Magnus let fly an arrow at him, as
also did a Halogaland man who was beside the king. They both shot at
once. The one shaft hit the nose-screen of the helmet, which was bent by
it to one side, and the other arrow hit the earl's eye, and went through
his head; and that was found to be the king's. Earl Huge fell, and the
Britons fled with the loss of many people. So says Bjorn Krephende:--
"The swinger of the sword
Stood by Anglesey's ford;
His quick shaft flew,
And Huge slew.
His sword gleamed a while
O'er Anglesey Isle,
And his Norsemen's band
Scoured the Anglesey land."
There was also sung the following verse about it:--
"On the panzers arrows rattle,
Where our Norse king stands in battle;
From the helmets blood-streams flow,
Where our Norse king draws his bow:
His bowstring twangs,--its biting hail
Rattles against the ring-linked mail.
Up in the land in deadly strife
Our Norse king took Earl Huge's life."
King Magnus gained the victory in this battle, and then took Anglesey
Isle, which was the farthest south the Norway kings of former days had
ever extended their rule. Anglesey is a third part of Wales. After
this battle King Magnus turned back with his fleet, and came first to
Scotland. Then men went between the Scottish king, Melkolm and King
Magnus, and a peace was made between them; so that all the islands lying
west of Scotland, between which and the mainland he could pass in a
vessel with her rudder shipped, should be held to belong to the king of
Norway. Now when King Magnus came north to Cantire, he had a skiff
drawn over the strand at Cantire, and shipped the rudder of it. The
king himself sat in the stern-sheets, and held the tiller; and thus he
appropriated to himself the land that lay on the farboard side. Cantire
is a great district, better than the best of the southern isles of the
Hebudes, excepting Man; and there is a small neck of land between it and
the mainland of Scotland, over which longships are often drawn.
12. DEATH OF THE EARLS OF ORKNEY.
King Magnus was all the winter in the southern isles, and his men went
over all the fjords of Scotland, rowing within all the inhabited and
uninhabited isles, and took possession for the king of Norway of all
the islands west of Scotland. King Magnus contracted in marriage his son
Sigurd to Biadmynia, King Myrkjartan's daughter. Myrkjartan was a son of
the Irish king Thialfe, and ruled over Connaught. The summer after, King
Magnus, with his fleet, returned east to Norway. Earl Erland died of
sickness at Nidaros, and is buried there; and Earl Paul died in Bergen.
Skopte Ogmundson, a grandson of Thorberg, was a gallant lenderman, who
dwelt at Giske in Sunmore, and was married to Gudrun, a daughter of
Thord Folason. Their children were Ogmund, Fin, Thord, and Thora, who
was married to Asolf Skulason. Skopte's and Gudrun's sons were the most
promising and popular men in their youth.
13. QUARRELS OF KING MAGNUS AND KING INGE.
Steinkel, the Swedish king, died about the same time (A.D. 1066) as the
two Haralds fell, and the king who came after him in Svithjod was called
Hakon. Afterwards Inge, a son of Steinkel, was king, and was a good
and powerful king, strong and stout beyond most men; and he was king of
Svithjod when King Magnus was king of Norway. King Magnus insisted that
the boundaries of the countries in old times had been so, that the
Gaut river divided the kingdoms of the Swedish and Norwegian kings, but
afterwards the Vener lake up to Vermaland. Thus King Magnus insisted
that he was owner of all the places lying west of the Vener lake up
to Vermaland, which are the districts of Sundal, Nordal, Vear, and
Vardyniar, with all the woods belonging thereto. But these had for a
long time been under the Swedish dominion, and with respect to scat were
joined to West Gautland; and, besides, the forest-settlers preferred
being under the Swedish king. King Magnus rode from Viken up to Gautland
with a great and fine army, and when he came to the forest-settlements
he plundered and burnt all round; on which the people submitted, and
took the oath of fidelity to him. When he came to the Vener lake,
autumn was advanced and he went out to the island Kvaldinsey, and made
a stronghold of turf and wood, and dug a ditch around it. When the work
was finished, provisions and other necessaries that might be required
were brought to it. The king left in it 300 men, who were the chosen of
his forces, and Fin Skoptason and Sigurd Ulstreng as their commanders.
The king himself returned to Viken.
14. OF THE NORTHMEN.
When the Swedish king heard this he drew together people, and the report
came that he would ride against these Northmen; but there was delay
about his riding, and the Northmen made these lines:--
"The fat-hipped king, with heavy sides,
Finds he must mount before he rides."
But when the ice set in upon the Vener lake King Inge rode down, and had
near 300 men with him. He sent a message to the Northmen who sat in the
burgh that they might retire with all the booty they had taken, and go
to Norway. When the messengers brought this message, Sigurd Ulstreng
replied to it; saying that King Inge must take the trouble to come, if
he wished to drive them away like cattle out of a grass field, and said
he must come nearer if he wished them to remove. The messengers returned
with this answer to the king, who then rode out with all his army to
the island, and again sent a message to the Northmen that they might
go away, taking with them their weapons, clothes, and horses; but
must leave behind all their booty. This they refused. The king made an
assault upon them, and they shot at each other. Then the king ordered
timber and stones to be collected, and he filled up the ditch; and
then he fastened anchors to long spars which were brought up to the
timber-walls, and, by the strength of many hands, the walls were broken
down. Thereafter a large pile of wood was set on fire, and the lighted
brands were flung in among them. Then the Northmen asked for quarter.
The king ordered them to go out without weapons or cloaks. As they went
out each of them received a stroke with a whip, and then they set off
for Norway, and all the forest-men submitted again to King Inge. Sigurd
and his people went to King Magnus, and told him their misfortune.
15. KING MAGNUS AND GIPARDE.
When King Magnus was east in Viken, there came to him a foreigner called