Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
handle of the kettle, upon which the fat smoke of the boiled horse-flesh
had settled itself; and the king first laid a linen cloth over the
handle, and then gaped over it, and returned to the high-seat; but
neither party was satisfied with this.
ENDNOTES: (1) This eating of horse-flesh at these religious festivals
was considered the most direct proof of paganism in the
following times, and was punished by death or mutilation by
Saint Olaf. It was a ceremony apparently commemorative of
their Asiatic origin and ancestors.
19. FEAST OF THE SACRIFICE AT MORE.
The winter thereafter the king prepared a Yule feast in More, and eight
chiefs resolved with each other to meet at it. Four of them were from
without the Throndhjem district--namely, Kar of Gryting, Asbjorn
of Medalhus, Thorberg of Varnes, and Orm from Ljoxa; and from the
Throndhjem district, Botolf of Olvishaug, Narfe of Staf in Veradal,
Thrand Hak from Egg, and Thorer Skeg from Husaby in Eyin Idre. These
eight men bound themselves, the four first to root out Christianity in
Norway, and the four others to oblige the king to offer sacrifice to the
gods. The four first went in four ships southwards to More, and killed
three priests, and burnt three churches, and then they returned. Now,
when King Hakon and Earl Sigurd came to More with their court, the
bondes assembled in great numbers; and immediately, on the first day of
the feast, the bondes insisted hard with the king that he should offer
sacrifice, and threatened him with violence if he refused. Earl Sigurd
tried to make peace between them, and brought it so far that the king
took some bits of horse-liver, and emptied all the goblets the bondes
filled for him without the sign of the cross; but as soon as the feast
was over, the king and the earl returned to Hlader. The king was very
ill pleased, and made himself ready to leave Throndhjem forthwith with
all his people; saying that the next time he came to Throndhjem, he
would come with such strength of men-at-arms that he would repay the
bondes for their enmity towards him. Earl Sigurd entreated the king not
to take it amiss of the bondes; adding, that it was not wise to threaten
them, or to make war upon the people within the country, and especially
in the Throndhjem district, where the strength of the land lay; but the
king was so enraged that he would not listen to a word from anybody. He
went out from Throndhjem, and proceeded south to More, where he remained
the rest of the winter, and on to the spring season (A.D. 950); and when
summer came he assembled men, and the report was that he intended with
this army to attack the Throndhjem people.
20. BATTLE AT OGVALDSNES.
But just as the king had embarked with a great force of troops, the news
was brought him from the south of the country, that King Eirik's sons
had come from Denmark to Viken and had driven King Trygve Olafson from
his ships at Sotanes, and then had plundered far and wide around in
Viken, and that many had submitted to them. Now when King Hakon heard
this news, he thought that help was needed; and he sent word to Earl
Sigurd, and to the other chiefs from whom he could expect help, to
hasten to his assistance. Sigurd the earl came accordingly with a great
body of men, among whom were all the Throndhjem people who had set upon
him the hardest to offer sacrifice; and all made their peace with the
king, by the earl's persuasion. Now King Hakon sailed south along the
coast; and when he came south as far as Stad, he heard that Eirik's sons
were come to North Agder. Then they advanced against each other, and
met at Kormt. Both parties left their ships there, and gave battle at
Ogvaldsnes. Both parties had a great force, and it was a great battle.
King Hakon went forward bravely, and King Guthorm Eirikson met him with
his troop, and they exchanged blows with each other. Guthorm fell, and
his standard was cut down. Many people fell around him. The army of
Eirik's sons then took flight to their ships and rowed away with the
loss of many a man. So says Guthorm Sindre:--
"The king's voice waked the silent host
Who slept beside the wild sea-coast,
And bade the song of spear and sword
Over the battle plain be heard.
Where heroes' shields the loudest rang,
Where loudest was the sword-blade's clang,
By the sea-shore at Kormt Sound,
Hakon felled Guthorm to the ground."
Now King Hakon returned to his ships, and pursued Gunhild's sons. And
both parties sailed all they could sail, until they came to East Adger,
from whence Eirik's sons set out to sea, and southwards for Jutland
(A.D. 950). Guthorm Sindre speaks of it in his song:--
"And Guthorm's brothers too, who know
So skilfully to bend the bow,
The conquering hand must also feel
Of Hakon, god of the bright steel,--
The sun-god, whose bright rays, that dart
Flame-like, are swords that pierce the heart.
Well I remember how the King
Hakon, the battle's life and spring,
O'er the wide ocean cleared away
Eirik's brave sons. They durst not stay,
But round their ships' sides hung their shields
And fled across the blue sea-fields."
King Hakon returned then northwards to Norway, but Eirik's sons remained
a long time in Denmark.
21. KING HAKON'S LAWS.
King Hakon after this battle made a law, that all inhabited land over
the whole country along the sea-coast, and as far back from it as
the salmon swims up in the rivers, should be divided into ship-raths
according to the districts; and it was fixed by law how many ships there
should be from each district, and how great each should be, when the
whole people were called out on service. For this outfit the whole
inhabitants should be bound whenever a foreign army came to the country.
With this came also the order that beacons should be erected upon the
hills, so that every man could see from the one to the other; and it is
told that a war-signal could thus be given in seven days, from the most
southerly beacon to the most northerly Thing-seat in Halogaland
22. CONCERNING EIRIK'S SONS.
Eirik's sons plundered much on the Baltic coasts and sometimes, as
before related, in Norway; but so long as Hakon ruled over Norway there
was in general good peace, and good seasons, and he was the most beloved
of kings. When Hakon had reigned about twenty years in Norway (A.D.
954), Eirik's sons came from Denmark with a powerful army, of which
a great part consisted of the people who had followed them on their
expeditions; but a still greater army of Danes had been placed at their
disposal by King Harald Gormson. They sailed with a fair wind from
Vendil, and came to Agder; and then sailed northwards, night and day,
along the coast. But the beacons were not fired, because it had been
usual to look for them lighted from the east onwards, and nobody had
observed them from the east coast; and besides King Hakon had set
heavy penalties for giving false alarm, by lighting the beacons without
occasion. The reason of this was, that ships of war and vikings cruised
about and plundered among the outlying islands, and the country people
took them for Eirik's sons, and lighted the beacons, and set the whole
country in trouble and dread of war. Sometimes, no doubt, the sons of
Eirik were there; but having only their own troops, and no Danish army
with them, they returned to Denmark; and sometimes these were other
vikings. King Hakon was very angry at this, because it cost both trouble
and money to no purpose. The bondes also suffered by these false alarms
when they were given uselessly; and thus it happened that no news of
this expedition of Eirik's sons circulated through the land until they
had come as far north as Ulfasund, where they lay for seven days. Then
spies set off across Eid and northwards to More. King Hakon was at that
time in the island Frede, in North More, at a place called Birkistrand,
where he had a dwelling-house, and had no troops with him, only his
bodyguard or court, and the neighbouring bondes he had invited to his
house.
23. OF EGIL ULSERK.
The spies came to King Hakon, and told him that Eirik's sons, with a
great army, lay just to the south of Stad. Then he called together
the most understanding of the men about him, and asked their opinion,
whether he should fight with Eirik's sons, although they had such
a great multitude with them, or should set off northwards to gather
together more men. Now there was a bonde there, by name Egil Ulserk, who
was a very old man, but in former days had been strong and stout beyond
most men, and a hardy man-at-arms withal, having long carried King
Harald Harfager's banner. Egil answered thus to the king's speech,--"I
was in several battles with thy father Harald the king, and he gave
battle sometimes with many, sometimes with few people; but he always
came off with victory. Never did I hear him ask counsel of his friends
whether he should fly--and neither shalt thou get any such counsel from
us, king; but as we know we have a brave leader, thou shalt get a trusty
following from us." Many others agreed with this speech, and the king
himself declared he was most inclined to fight with such strength as
they could gather. It was so determined. The king split up a war-arrow,
which he sent off in all directions, and by that token a number of men
was collected in all haste. Then said Egil Ulserk,--"At one time the
peace had lasted so long I was afraid I might come to die the death of
old age (1), within doors upon a bed of straw, although I would rather
fall in battle following my chief. And now it may so turn out in the end
as I wished it to be."
ENDNOTES: (1) In all the sagas of this pagan time, the dying on a bed of
sickness is mentioned as a kind of derogatory end of a man
of any celebrity.--L.
24. BATTLE AT FREDARBERG.
Eirik's sons sailed northwards around Stad; as soon as the wind suited;
and when they had passed it, and heard where King Hakon was, they
sailed to meet him. King Hakon had nine ships, with which he lay under
Fredarberg in Feeysund; and Eirik's sons had twenty ships, with which
they brought up on the south side of the same cape, in Feeysund. King
Hakon sent them a message, asking them to go upon the land; and telling
them that he had hedged in with hazel boughs a place of combat at
Rastarkalf, where there is a flat large field, at the foot of a long
and rather low ridge. Then Eirik's sons left their ships, and went
northwards over the neck of land within Fredarberg, and onward to
Rastarkalf. Then Egil asked King Hakon to give him ten men with ten
banners, and the king did so. Then Egil went with his men under the
ridge; but King Hakon went out upon the open field with his army, and
set up his banner, and drew up his army, saying, "Let us draw up in a
long line, that they may not surround us, as they have the most men."
And so it was done; and there was a severe battle, and a very sharp
attack. Then Egil Ulserk set up the ten banners he had with him, and
placed the men who carried them so that they should go as near the
summit of the ridge as possible, and leaving a space between each of
them. They went so near the summit that the banners could be seen over
it, and moved on as if they were coming behind the army of Eirik's
sons. Now when the men who stood uppermost in the line of the troops of
Eirik's sons saw so many flying banners advancing high over the edge of
the ridge, they supposed a great force must be following, who would
come behind their army, and between them and their ships. They made each
other acquainted with what was going on in a loud shout, and the whole
took to flight; and when the king saw it, they fled with the rest. King