Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
With many a well-plied car,
Across the Baltic foam is dancing.--
Shields, and spears, and helms glancing!
Hoist high the swelling sail
To catch the freshening gale!
There's food for the raven-flight
Where thy sail-winged ship shall light;
Thy landing-tread
The people dread;
And the wolf howls for a feast
On the shore-side in the east."
5. OLAF'S FIRST BATTLE.
The same autumn Olaf had his first battle at Sotasker, which lies in the
Swedish skerry circle. He fought there with some vikings, whose leader
was Sote. Olaf had much fewer men, but his ships were larger, and he
had his ships between some blind rocks, which made it difficult for the
vikings to get alongside; and Olaf's men threw grappling irons into the
ships which came nearest, drew them up to their own vessels, and cleared
them of men. The vikings took to flight after losing many men. Sigvat
the skald tells of this fight in the lay in which he reckons up King
Olaf's battles:--
"They launch his ship where waves are foaming--
To the sea shore
Both mast and oar,
And sent his o'er the seas a-roaming.
Where did the sea-king first draw blood?
In the battle shock
At Sote's rock;
The wolves howl over their fresh food."
6. FORAY IN SVITHJOD.
King Olaf steered thereafter eastwards to Svithjod, and into the Lag
(the Maelar lake), and ravaged the land on both sides. He sailed all
the way up to Sigtuna, and laid his ships close to the old Sigtuna.
The Swedes say the stone-heaps are still to be seen which Olaf had laid
under the ends of the gangways from the shore to the ships. When autumn
was advanced, Olaf Haraldson heard that Olaf the Swedish king was
assembling an army, and also that he had laid iron chains across
Stoksund (the channel between the Maelar lake and the sea), and had laid
troops there; for the Swedish king thought that Olaf Haraldson would
be kept in there till frost came, and he thought little of Olaf's force
knowing he had but few people. Now when King Olaf Haraldson came to
Stoksund he could not get through, as there was a castle west of the
sound, and men-at-arms lay on the south; and he heard that the Swedish
king was come there with a great army and many ships. He therefore dug a
canal across the flat land Agnafit out to the sea. Over all Svithjod all
the running waters fall into the Maelar lake; but the only outlet of it
to the sea is so small that many rivers are wider, and when much rain or
snow falls the water rushes in a great cataract out by Stoksund, and
the lake rises high and floods the land. It fell heavy rain just at
this time; and as the canal was dug out to the sea, the water and stream
rushed into it. Then Olaf had all the rudders unshipped and hoisted all
sail aloft. It was blowing a strong breeze astern, and they steered with
their oars, and the ships came in a rush over all the shallows, and
got into the sea without any damage. Now went the Swedes to their king,
Olaf, and told him that Olaf the Great had slipped out to sea; on which
the king was enraged against those who should have watched that Olaf did
not get away. This passage has since been called King's Sound; but large
vessels cannot pass through it, unless the waters are very high. Some
relate that the Swedes were aware that Olaf had cut across the tongue of
land, and that the water was falling out that way; and they flocked to
it with the intention to hinder Olaf from getting away, but the water
undermined the banks on each side so that they fell in with the people,
and many were drowned: but the Swedes contradict this as a false report,
and deny the loss of people. The king sailed to Gotland in harvest, and
prepared to plunder; but the Gotlanders assembled, and sent men to the
king, offering him a scat. The king found this would suit him, and
he received the scat, and remained there all winter. So says Ottar
Svarte:--
"Thou seaman-prince! thy men are paid:
The scat on Gotlanders is laid;
Young man or old
To our seamen bold
Must pay, to save his head:
The Yngling princes fled,
Eysvssel people bled;
Who can't defend the wealth they have
Must die, or share with the rover brave."
7. THE SECOND BATTLE.
It is related here that King Olaf, when spring set in, sailed east to
Eysyssel, and landed and plundered; the Eysyssel men came down to the
strand and grave him battle. King Olaf gained the victory, pursued those
who fled, and laid waste the land with fire and sword. It is told that
when King Olaf first came to Eysvssel they offered him scat, and when
the scat was to be brought down to the strand the king came to meet it
with an armed force, and that was not what the bondes there expected;
for they had brought no scat, but only their weapons with which they
fought against the king, as before related. So says Sigvat the skald:--
"With much deceit and bustle
To the heath of Eysyssel
The bondes brought the king,
To get scat at their weapon-thing.
But Olaf was too wise
To be taken by surprise;
Their legs scarce bore them off
O'er the common test enough."
8. THE THIRD BATTLE.
After this they sailed to Finland and plundered there, and went up the
country. All the people fled to the forest, and they had emptied their
houses of all household goods. The king went far up the country, and
through some woods, and came to some dwellings in a valley called
Herdaler,--where, however, they made but small booty, and saw no people;
and as it was getting late in the day, the king turned back to his
ships. Now when they came into the woods again people rushed upon them
from all quarters, and made a severe attack. The king told his men to
cover themselves with their shields, but before they got out of the
woods he lost many people, and many were wounded; but at last, late
in the evening, he got to the ships. The Finlanders conjured up in the
night, by their witchcraft, a dreadful storm and bad weather on the sea;
but the king ordered the anchors to be weighed and sail hoisted, and
beat off all night to the outside of the land. The king's luck prevailed
more than the Finlanders' witchcraft; for he had the luck to beat round
the Balagard's side in the night, and so got out to sea. But the Finnish
army proceeded on land, making the same progress as the king made with
his ships. So says Sigvat:--
"The third fight was at Herdaler, where
The men of Finland met in war
The hero of the royal race,
With ringing sword-blades face to face.
Off Balagard's shore the waves
Ran hollow; but the sea-king saves
His hard-pressed ship, and gains the lee
Of the east coast through the wild sea."
9. THE FOURTH BATTLE IN SUDERVIK.
King Olaf sailed from thence to Denmark, where he met Thorkel the Tall,
brother of Earl Sigvalde, and went into partnership with him; for he was
just ready to set out on a cruise. They sailed southwards to the Jutland
coast, to a place called Sudervik, where they overcame many viking
ships. The vikings, who usually have many people to command, give
themselves the title of kings, although they have no lands to rule over.
King Olaf went into battle with them, and it was severe; but King Olaf
gained the victory, and a great booty. So says Sigvat:--
"Hark! hark! The war-shout
Through Sudervik rings,
And the vikings bring out
To fight the two kings.
Great honour, I'm told,
Won these vikings so bold:
But their bold fight was vain,
For the two brave kings gain."
10. THE FIFTH BATTLE IN FRIESLAND.
King Olaf sailed from thence south to Friesland, and lay under the
strand of Kinlima in dreadful weather. The king landed with his men; but
the people of the country rode down to the strand against them, and he
fought them. So says Sigvat:--
"Under Kinlima's cliff,
This battle is the fifth.
The brave sea-rovers stand
All on the glittering sand;
And down the horsemen ride
To the edge of the rippling tide:
But Olaf taught the peasant band
To know the weight of a viking's hand."
11. DEATH OF KING SVEIN FORKED BEARD.
The king sailed from thence westward to England. It was then the case
that the Danish king, Svein Forked Beard, was at that time in England
with a Danish army, and had been fixed there for some time, and had
seized upon King Ethelred's kingdom. The Danes had spread themselves
so widely over England, that it was come so far that King Ethelred
had departed from the country, and had gone south to Valland. The same
autumn that King Olaf came to England, it happened that King Svein died
suddenly in the night in his bed; and it is said by Englishmen that
Edmund the Saint killed him, in the same way that the holy Mercurius
had killed the apostate Julian. When Ethelred, the king of the English,
heard this in Flanders, he returned directly to England; and no sooner
was he come back, than he sent an invitation to all the men who would
enter into his pay, to join him in recovering the country. Then many
people flocked to him; and among others, came King Olaf with a great
troop of Northmen to his aid. They steered first to London, and sailed
into the Thames with their fleet; but the Danes had a castle within. On
the other side of the river is a great trading place, which is called
Sudvirke. There the Danes had raised a great work, dug large ditches,
and within had built a bulwark of stone, timber, and turf, where they
had stationed a strong army. King Ethelred ordered a great assault;
but the Danes defended themselves bravely, and King Ethelred could make
nothing of it. Between the castle and Southwark (Sudvirke) there was a
bridge, so broad that two wagons could pass each other upon it. On the
bridge were raised barricades, both towers and wooden parapets, in the
direction of the river, which were nearly breast high; and under the
bridge were piles driven into the bottom of the river. Now when the
attack was made the troops stood on the bridge everywhere, and defended
themselves. King Ethelred was very anxious to get possession of the
bridge, and he called together all the chiefs to consult how they should
get the bridge broken down. Then said King Olaf he would attempt to lay
his fleet alongside of it, if the other ships would do the same. It was
then determined in this council that they should lay their war forces
under the bridge; and each made himself ready with ships and men.
12. THE SIXTH BATTLE.
King Olaf ordered great platforms of floating wood to be tied together
with hazel bands, and for this he took down old houses; and with these,
as a roof, he covered over his ships so widely, that it reached over the
ships' sides. Under this screen he set pillars so high and stout, that
there both was room for swinging their swords, and the roofs were strong
enough to withstand the stones cast down upon them. Now when the fleet
and men were ready, they rode up along the river; but when they came
near the bridge, there were cast down upon them so many stones and
missile weapons, such as arrows and spears, that neither helmet nor
shield could hold out against it; and the ships themselves were so
greatly damaged, that many retreated out of it. But King Olaf, and the
Northmen's fleet with him, rowed quite up under the bridge, laid their
cables around the piles which supported it, and then rowed off with all
the ships as hard as they could down the stream. The piles were thus
shaken in the bottom, and were loosened under the bridge. Now as the
armed troops stood thick of men upon the bridge, and there were likewise