Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
together the stems and sterns of their own ships, forming
them thus into a compact body as soon as the fleets came
within fighting distance, or within spears' throw. They
appear to have fought principally from the forecastles; and
to have used grappling irons for dragging a vessel out of
the line, or within boarding distance.--L.
114. OF KING OLAF.
King Olaf stood on the Serpent's quarterdeck, high over the others. He
had a gilt shield, and a helmet inlaid with gold; over his armour he had
a short red coat, and was easy to be distinguished from other men. When
King Olaf saw that the scattered forces of the enemy gathered themselves
together under the banners of their ships, he asked, "Who is the chief
of the force right opposite to us?"
He was answered, that it was King Svein with the Danish army.
The king replies, "We are not afraid of these soft Danes, for there is
no bravery in them; but who are the troops on the right of the Danes?"
He was answered, that it was King Olaf with the Swedish forces.
"Better it were," says King Olaf, "for these Swedes to be sitting at
home killing their sacrifices, than to be venturing under our weapons
from the Long Serpent. But who owns the large ships on the larboard side
of the Danes?"
"That is Earl Eirik Hakonson," say they.
The king replies, "He, methinks, has good reason for meeting us; and we
may expect the sharpest conflict with these men, for they are Norsemen
like ourselves."
115. THE BATTLE BEGINS.
The kings now laid out their oars, and prepared to attack (A.D. 1000).
King Svein laid his ship against the Long Serpent. Outside of him Olaf
the Swede laid himself, and set his ship's stern against the outermost
ship of King Olaf's line; and on the other side lay Earl Eirik. Then a
hard combat began. Earl Sigvalde held back with the oars on his ships,
and did not join the fray. So says Skule Thorsteinson, who at that time
was with Earl Eirik:--
"I followed Sigvalde in my youth,
And gallant Eirik, and in truth
The' now I am grown stiff and old,
In the spear-song I once was bold.
Where arrows whistled on the shore
Of Svold fjord my shield I bore,
And stood amidst the loudest clash
When swords on shields made fearful crash."
And Halfred also sings thus:--
"In truth I think the gallant king,
Midst such a foemen's gathering,
Would be the better of some score
Of his tight Throndhjem lads, or more;
For many a chief has run away,
And left our brave king in the fray,
Two great kings' power to withstand,
And one great earl's, with his small band,
The king who dares such mighty deed
A hero for his skald would need."
116. FLIGHT OF SVEIN AND OLAF THE SWEDE.
This battle was one of the severest told of, and many were the people
slain. The forecastle men of the Long Serpent, the Little Serpent, and
the Crane, threw grapplings and stem chains into King Svein's ship, and
used their weapons well against the people standing below them, for they
cleared the decks of all the ships they could lay fast hold of; and
King Svein, and all the men who escaped, fled to other vessels, and laid
themselves out of bow-shot. It went with this force just as King Olaf
Trygvason had foreseen. Then King Olaf the Swede laid himself in their
place; but when he came near the great ships it went with him as with
them, for he lost many men and some ships, and was obliged to get away.
But Earl Eirik laid his ship side by side with the outermost of King
Olaf's ships, thinned it of men, cut the cables, and let it drive. Then
he laid alongside of the next, and fought until he had cleared it of men
also. Now all the people who were in the smaller ships began to run into
the larger, and the earl cut them loose as fast as he cleared them of
men. The Danes and Swedes laid themselves now out of shooting distance
all around Olaf's ship; but Earl Eirik lay always close alongside of the
ships, and used hid swords and battle-axes, and as fast as people fell
in his vessel others, Danes and Swedes, came in their place. So says
Haldor, the Unchristian:--
"Sharp was the clang of shield and sword,
And shrill the song of spears on board,
And whistling arrows thickly flew
Against the Serpent's gallant crew.
And still fresh foemen, it is said,
Earl Eirik to her long side led;
Whole armies of his Danes and Swedes,
Wielding on high their blue sword-blades."
Then the fight became most severe, and many people fell. But at last it
came to this, that all King Olaf Trygvason's ships were cleared of men
except the Long Serpent, on board of which all who could still carry
their arms were gathered. Then Earl Eirik lay with his ship by the side
of the Serpent, and the fight went on with battle-axe and sword. So says
Haldor:--
"Hard pressed on every side by foes,
The Serpent reels beneath the blows;
Crash go the shields around the bow!
Breast-plates and breasts pierced thro' and thro!
In the sword-storm the Holm beside,
The earl's ship lay alongside
The king's Long Serpent of the sea--
Fate gave the earl the victory."
117. OF EARL EIRIK.
Earl Eirik was in the forehold of his ship, where a cover of shields (1)
had been set up. In the fight, both hewing weapons, sword, and axe, and
the thrust of spears had been used; and all that could be used as weapon
for casting was cast. Some used bows, some threw spears with the hand.
So many weapons were cast into the Serpent, and so thick flew spears and
arrows, that the shields could scarcely receive them, for on all sides
the Serpent was surrounded by war-ships. Then King Olaf's men became so
mad with rage, that they ran on board of the enemies ships, to get at
the people with stroke of sword and kill them; but many did not lay
themselves so near the Serpent, in order to escape the close encounter
with battle-axe or sword; and thus the most of Olaf's men went overboard
and sank under their weapons, thinking they were fighting on plain
ground. So says Halfred:--
"The daring lads shrink not from death;--
O'erboard they leap, and sink beneath
The Serpent's keel: all armed they leap,
And down they sink five fathoms deep.
The foe was daunted at the cheers;
The king, who still the Serpent steers,
In such a strait--beset with foes--
Wanted but some more lads like those."
ENDNOTES: (1) Both in land and sea fights the commanders appear to have
been protected from missile weapons,--stones, arrows,
spears,--by a shieldburg: that is, by a party of men
bearing shields surrounding them in such a way that the
shields were a parapet, covering those within the circle.
The Romans had a similar military arrangement of shields in
sieges--the testudo.--L.
118. OF EINAR TAMBARSKELVER.
Einar Tambarskelver, one of the sharpest of bowshooters, stood by the
mast, and shot with his bow. Einar shot an arrow at Earl Eirik, which
hit the tiller end just above the earl's head so hard that it entered
the wood up to the arrow-shaft. The earl looked that way, and asked
if they knew who had shot; and at the same moment another arrow flew
between his hand and his side, and into the stuffing of the chief's
stool, so that the barb stood far out on the other side. Then said the
earl to a man called Fin,--but some say he was of Fin (Laplander) race,
and was a superior archer,--"Shoot that tall man by the mast." Fin shot;
and the arrow hit the middle of Einar's bow just at the moment that
Einar was drawing it, and the bow was split in two parts.
"What is that," cried King Olaf, "that broke with such a noise?"
"Norway, king, from thy hands," cried Einar.
"No! not quite so much as that," says the king; "take my bow, and
shoot," flinging the bow to him.
Einar took the bow, and drew it over the head of the arrow. "Too weak,
too weak," said he, "for the bow of a mighty king!" and, throwing the
bow aside, he took sword and shield, and fought Valiantly.
119. OLAF GIVES HIS MEN SHARP SWORDS.
The king stood on the gangways of the Long Serpent, and shot the greater
part of the day; sometimes with the bow, sometimes with the spear,
and always throwing two spears at once. He looked down over the ship's
sides, and saw that his men struck briskly with their swords, and yet
wounded but seldom. Then he called aloud, "Why do ye strike so gently
that ye seldom cut?" One among the people answered, "The swords are
blunt and full of notches." Then the king went down into the forehold,
opened the chest under the throne, and took out many sharp swords, which
he handed to his men; but as he stretched down his right hand with them,
some observed that blood was running down under his steel glove, but no
one knew where he was wounded.
120. THE SERPENT BOARDED.
Desperate was the defence in the Serpent, and there was the heaviest
destruction of men done by the forecastle crew, and those of the
forehold, for in both places the men were chosen men, and the ship was
highest, but in the middle of the ship the people were thinned. Now when
Earl Eirik saw there were but few people remaining beside the ship's
mast, he determined to board; and he entered the Serpent with four
others. Then came Hyrning, the king's brother-in-law, and some others
against him, and there was the most severe combat; and at last the earl
was forced to leap back on board his own ship again, and some who
had accompanied him were killed, and others wounded. Thord Kolbeinson
alludes to this:--
"On Odin's deck, all wet with blood,
The helm-adorned hero stood;
And gallant Hyrning honour gained,
Clearing all round with sword deep stained.
The high mountain peaks shall fall,
Ere men forget this to recall."
Now the fight became hot indeed, and many men fell on board the Serpent;
and the men on board of her began to be thinned off, and the defence to
be weaker. The earl resolved to board the Serpent again, and again he
met with a warm reception. When the forecastle men of the Serpent saw
what he was doing, they went aft and made a desperate fight; but so many
men of the Serpent had fallen, that the ship's sides were in many places
quite bare of defenders; and the earl's men poured in all around into
the vessel, and all the men who were still able to defend the ship
crowded aft to the king, and arrayed themselves for his defence. So says
Haldor the Unchristian:--
"Eirik cheers on his men,--
'On to the charge again!'
The gallant few
Of Olaf's crew
Must refuge take
On the quarter-deck.
Around the king
They stand in ring;
Their shields enclose
The king from foes,
And the few who still remain
Fight madly, but in vain.
Eirik cheers on his men--
'On to the charge again!'"
121. THE SERPENT'S DECKS CLEARED.
Kolbjorn the marshal, who had on clothes and arms like the kings,
and was a remarkably stout and handsome man, went up to king on the
quarter-deck. The battle was still going on fiercely even in the
forehold (1). But as many of the earl's men had now got into the Serpent
as could find room, and his ships lay all round her, and few were the
people left in the Serpent for defence against so great a force; and in
a short time most of the Serpent's men fell, brave and stout though they
were. King Olaf and Kolbjorn the marshal both sprang overboard, each on
his own side of the ship; but the earl's men had laid out boats around
the Serpent, and killed those who leaped overboard. Now when the king
had sprung overboard, they tried to seize him with their hands, and