Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
Erling was often out in summer on plundering expeditions, and procured
for himself means of living; for he continued his usual way of high and
splendid living, although now he had fewer and less convenient fiefs
than in the time of his brother-in-law King Olaf Trygvason. Erling was
one of the handsomest, largest, and strongest men; a better warrior than
any other; and in all exercises he was like King Olaf himself. He was,
besides, a man of understanding, jealous in everything he undertook, and
a deadly man at arms. Sigvat talks thus of him:--
"No earl or baron, young or old,
Match with this bonde brave can hold.
Mild was brave Erling, all men say,
When not engaged in bloody fray:
His courage he kept hid until
The fight began, then foremost still
Erling was seen in war's wild game,
And famous still is Erling's name."
It was a common saying among the people, that Erling had been the most
valiant who ever held lands under a king in Norway. Erlings and Astrid s
children were these--Aslak, Skialg, Sigurd, Lodin, Thorer, and Ragnhild,
who was married to Thorberg Arnason. Erling had always with him ninety
free-born men or more, and both winter and summer it was the custom in
his house to drink at the mid-day meal according to a measure (1), but
at the night meal there was no measure in drinking. When the earl was in
the neighbourhood he had 200 (2) men or more. He never went to sea with
less than a fully-manned ship of twenty benches of rowers. Erling had
also a ship of thirty-two benches of rowers, which was besides, very
large for that size, and which he used in viking cruises, or on an
expedition; and in it there were 200 men at the very least.
ENDNOTES: (1) There were silver-studs in a row from the rim to the
bottom of the drinking born or cup; and as it went round each drank
till the stud appeared above the liquor. This was drinking
by measure.--L.
(2) I.e., 240.
22. OF THE HERSE ERLING SKIALGSON.
Erling had always at home on his farm thirty slaves, besides other
serving-people. He gave his slaves a certain day's work; but after it he
gave them leisure, and leave that each should work in the twilight and
at night for himself, and as he pleased. He gave them arable land to sow
corn in, and let them apply their crops to their own use. He laid upon
each a certain quantity of labour to work themselves free by doing it;
and there were many who bought their freedom in this way in one year, or
in the second year, and all who had any luck could make themselves free
within three years. With this money he bought other slaves: and to some
of his freed people he showed how to work in the herring-fishery, to
others he showed some useful handicraft; and some cleared his outfields
and set up houses. He helped all to prosperity.
23. OF EARL EIRIK.
When Earl Eirik had ruled over Norway for twelve years, there came a
message to him from his brother-in-law King Canute, the Danish king,
that he should go with him on an expedition westward to England; for
Eirik was very celebrated for his campaigns, as he had gained the
victory in the two hardest engagements which had ever been fought in
the north countries. The one was that in which the Earls Hakon and Eirik
fought with the Jomsborg vikings; the other that in which Earl Eirik
fought with King Olaf Trygvason. Thord Kolbeinson speaks of this:--
"A song of praise
Again I raise.
To the earl bold
The word is told,
That Knut the Brave
His aid would crave;
The earl, I knew,
To friend stands true."
The earl would not sleep upon the message of the king, but sailed
immediately out of the country, leaving behind his son Earl Hakon to
take care of Norway; and, as he was but seventeen years of age, Einar
Tambaskelfer was to be at his hand to rule the country for him.
Eirik met King Canute in England, and was with him when he took the
castle of London. Earl Eirik had a battle also to the westward of
the castle of London, and killed Ulfkel Snilling. So says Thord
Kolbeinson:--
"West of London town we passed,
And our ocean-steeds made fast,
And a bloody fight begin,
England's lands to lose or win.
Blue sword and shining spear
Laid Ulfkel's dead corpse there,
Our Thingmen hear the war-shower sounding
Our grey arrows from their shields rebounding."
Earl Eirik was a winter in England, and had many battles there. The
following autumn he intended to make a pilgrimage to Rome, but he died
in England of a bloody flux.
24. THE MURDER OF EDMUND.
King Canute came to England the summer that King Ethelred died, and had
many battles with Ethelred's sons, in which the victory was sometimes
on one side, sometimes on the other. Then King Canute took Queen Emma in
marriage; and their children were Harald, Hardacanute, and Gunhild. King
Canute then made an agreement with King Edmund, that each of them should
have a half of England. In the same month Henry Strion murdered King
Edmund. King Canute then drove all Ethelred's sons out of England. So
says Sigvat:--
"Now all the sons of Ethelred
Were either fallen, or had fled:
Some slain by Canute,--some they say,
To save their lives had run away."
25. OLAF AND ETHELRED'S SONS.
King Ethelred's sons came to Rouen in Valland from England, to their
mother's brother, the same summer that King Olaf Haraldson came from
the west from his viking cruise, and they were all during the winter in
Normandy together. They made an agreement with each other that King Olaf
should have Northumberland, if they could succeed in taking England from
the Danes. Therefore about harvest, Olaf sent his foster-father Hrane to
England to collect men-at-arms; and Ethelred's sons sent tokens to their
friends and relations with him. King Olaf, besides, gave him much money
with him to attract people to them. Hrane was all winter in England, and
got promises from many powerful men of fidelity, as the people of the
country would rather have native kings over them; but the Danish power
had become so great in England, that all the people were brought under
their dominion.
26. BATTLE OF KING OLAF.
In spring (A.D. 1014) King Olaf and King Ethelred's sons set out
together to the west, and came to a place in England called Jungufurda,
where they landed with their army and moved forward against the castle.
Many men were there who had promised them their aid. They took the
castle; and killed many people. Now when King Canute's men heard of this
they assembled an army, and were soon in such force that Ethelred's sons
could not stand against it; and they saw no other way left but to return
to Rouen. Then King Olaf separated from them, and would not go back
to Valland, but sailed northwards along England, all the way to
Northumberland, where he put into a haven at a place called Valde;
and in a battle there with the townspeople and merchants he gained the
victory, and a great booty.
27. OLAF'S EXPEDITION TO NORWAY.
King Olaf left his long-ships there behind, but made ready two ships of
burden; and had with him 220 men in them, well-armed, and chosen people.
He sailed out to sea northwards in harvest, but encountered a tremendous
storm and they were in danger of being lost; but as they had a chosen
crew, and the king s luck with them, all went on well. So says Ottar:--
"Olaf, great stem of kings, is brave--
Bold in the fight, bold on the wave.
No thought of fear
Thy heart comes near.
Undaunted, 'midst the roaring flood,
Firm at his post each shipman stood;
And thy two ships stout
The gale stood out."
And further he says:--
"Thou able chief! with thy fearless crew
Thou meetest, with skill and courage true,
The wild sea's wrath
On thy ocean path.
Though waves mast-high were breaking round.
Thou findest the middle of Norway's ground,
With helm in hand
On Saela's strand."
It is related here that King Olaf came from the sea to the very middle
of Norway; and the isle is called Saela where they landed, and is
outside of Stad. King Olaf said he thought it must be a lucky day for
them, since they had landed at Saela in Norway; and observed it was a
good omen that it so happened. As they were going up in the isle,
the king slipped with one foot in a place where there was clay, but
supported himself with the other foot. Then said he "The king falls."
"Nay," replies Hrane, "thou didst not fall, king, but set fast foot
in the soil." The king laughed thereat, and said, "It may be so if God
will." They went down again thereafter to their ships, and sailed to
Ulfasund, where they heard that Earl Hakon was south in Sogn, and was
expected north as soon as wind allowed with a single ship.
28. HAKON TAKEN PRISONER BY OLAF.
King Olaf steered his ships within the ordinary ships' course when he
came abreast of Fjaler district, and ran into Saudungssund. There he
laid his two vessels one on each side of the sound with a thick cable
between them. At the same moment Hakon, Earl Eirik's son, came rowing
into the sound with a manned ship; and as they thought these were but
two merchant-vessels that were lying in the sound, they rowed between
them. Then Olaf and his men draw the cable up right under Hakon's ship's
keel and wind it up with the capstan. As soon as the vessel's course was
stopped her stern was lifted up, and her bow plunged down; so that the
water came in at her fore-end and over both sides, and she upset. King
Olaf's people took Earl Hakon and all his men whom they could get hold
of out of the water, and made them prisoners; but some they killed with
stones and other weapons, and some were drowned. So says Ottar:--
"The black ravens wade
In the blood from thy blade.
Young Hakon so gay,
With his ship, is thy prey:
His ship, with its gear,
Thou hast ta'en; and art here,
Thy forefather's land
From the earl to demand."
Earl Hakon was led up to the king's ship. He was the handsomest man that
could be seen. He had long hair, as fine as silk, bound about his bead
with a gold ornament.
When he sat down in the fore-hold, the king said to him, "It is not
false what is said of your family, that ye are handsome people to look
at; but now your luck has deserted you."
Hakon the earl replied, "It has always been the case that success is
changeable; and there is no luck in the matter. It has gone with your
family as with mine, to have by turns the better lot. I am little
beyond childhood in years; and at any rate we could not have defended
ourselves, as we did not expect any attack on the way. It may turn out
better with us another time."
Then said King Olaf, "Dost thou not apprehend that thou art in that
condition that, hereafter, there can be neither victory nor defeat for
thee?"
The earl replies, "That is what thou only canst determine, king,
according to thy pleasure."
Olaf says, "What wilt thou give me, earl, if for this time I let thee
go, whole and unhurt?"
The earl asks what he would take.
"Nothing," says the king, "except that thou shalt leave the country,
give up thy kingdom, and take an oath that thou shalt never go into
battle against me."
The earl answered, that he would do so. And now Earl Hakon took the oath
that he would never fight against Olaf, or seek to defend Norway against
him, or attack him; and King Olaf thereupon gave him and all his men
life and peace. The earl got back the ship which had brought him there,
and he and his men rowed their way. Thus says Sigvat of him:--
"In old Saudungs sound
The king Earl Hakon found,