Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
The earl had most men, but the king had a chosen crew in his ship, who
had followed him in all his wars; and, besides, they were so excellently
equipped, as before related, that each man had a coat of ring-mail, so
that he could not be wounded. So says Sigvat:--
"Our lads, broad-shouldered, tall, and hale,
Drew on their cold shirts of ring-mail.
Soon sword on sword was shrilly ringing,
And in the air the spears were singing.
Under our helms we hid our hair,
For thick flew arrows through the air.
Right glad was I our gallant crew,
Steel-clad from head to foot, to view."
48. EARL SVEIN'S FLIGHT.
When the men began to fall on board the earl's ships, and many appeared
wounded, so that the sides of the vessels were but thinly beset with
men, the crew of King Olaf prepared to board. Their banner was brought
up to the ship that was nearest the earl's, and the king himself
followed the banner. So says Sigvat:--
"'On with the king!' his banners waving:
'On with the king!' the spears he's braving!
'On, steel-clad men! and storm the deck,
Slippery with blood and strewed with wreck.
A different work ye have to share,
His banner in war-storm to bear,
From your fair girl's, who round the hall
Brings the full mead-bowl to us all.'"
Now was the severest fighting. Many of Svein's men fell, and some sprang
overboard. So says Sigvat:--
"Into the ship our brave lads spring,--
On shield and helm their red blades ring;
The air resounds with stroke on stroke,--
The shields are cleft, the helms are broke.
The wounded bonde o'er the side
Falls shrieking in the blood-stained tide--
The deck is cleared with wild uproar--
The dead crew float about the shore."
And also these lines:--
"The shields we brought from home were white,
Now they are red-stained in the fight:
This work was fit for those who wore
Ringed coats-of-mail their breasts before.
Where for the foe blunted the best sword
I saw our young king climb on board.
He stormed the first; we followed him--
The war-birds now in blood may swim."
Now defeat began to come down upon the earl's men. The king's men
pressed upon the earl's ship and entered it; but when the earl saw how
it was going, he called out to his forecastle-men to cut the cables
and cast the ship loose, which they did. Then the king's men threw
grapplings over the timber heads of the ship, and so held her fast to
their own; but the earl ordered the timber heads to be cut away, which
was done. So says Sigvat:--
"The earl, his noble ship to save,
To cut the posts loud order gave.
The ship escaped: our greedy eyes
Had looked on her as a clear prize.
The earl escaped; but ere he fled
We feasted Odin's fowls with dead:--
With many a goodly corpse that floated
Round our ship's stern his birds were bloated."
Einar Tambaskelfer had laid his ship right alongside the earl's. They
threw an anchor over the bows of the earl's ship, and thus towed her
away, and they slipped out of the fjord together. Thereafter the whole
of the earl's fleet took to flight, and rowed out of the fjord. The
skald Berse Torfason was on the forecastle of the earl's ship; and as it
was gliding past the king's fleet, King Olaf called out to him--for he
knew Berse, who was distinguished as a remarkably handsome man, always
well equipped in clothes and arms--"Farewell, Berse!" He replied,
"Farewell, king!" So says Berse himself, in a poem he composed when he
fell into King Olaf's power, and was laid in prison and in fetters on
board a ship:--
"Olaf the Brave
A 'farewell' gave,
(No time was there to parley long,)
To me who knows the art of song.
The skald was fain
'Farewell' again
In the same terms back to send--
The rule in arms to foe or friend.
Earl Svein's distress
I well can guess,
When flight he was compelled to take:
His fortunes I will ne'er forsake,
Though I lie here
In chains a year,
In thy great vessel all forlorn,
To crouch to thee I still will scorn:
I still will say,
No milder sway
Than from thy foe this land e'er knew:
To him, my early friend, I'm true."
49. EARL SVEIN LEAVES THE COUNTRY.
Now some of the earl's men fled up the country, some surrendered at
discretion; but Svein and his followers rowed out of the fjord, and the
chiefs laid their vessels together to talk with each other, for the earl
wanted counsel from his lendermen. Erling Skialgson advised that they
should sail north, collect people, and fight King Olaf again; but as
they had lost many people, the most were of opinion that the earl should
leave the country, and repair to his brother-in-law the Swedish King,
and strengthen himself there with men. Einar Tambaskelfer approved also
of that advice, as they had no power to hold battle against Olaf. So
they discharged their fleet. The earl sailed across Folden, and with
him Einar Tambaskelfer. Erling Skialgson again, and likewise many other
lendermen who would not abandon their udal possessions, went north to
their homes; and Erling had many people that summer about him.
50. OLAF'S AND SIGURD'S CONSULTATION.
When King Olaf and his men saw that the earl had gathered his ships
together, Sigurd Syr was in haste for pursuing the earl, and letting
steel decide their cause. But King Olaf replies, that he would first see
what the earl intended doing--whether he would keep his force together
or discharge his fleet. Sigurd Syr said, "It is for thee, king, to
command; but," he adds, "I fear, from thy disposition and wilfulness,
that thou wilt some day be betrayed by trusting to those great people,
for they are accustomed of old to bid defiance to their sovereigns."
There was no attack made, for it was soon seen that the earl's fleet was
dispersing. Then King Olaf ransacked the slain, and remained there some
days to divide the booty. At that time Sigvat made these verses:--
"The tale I tell is true
To their homes returned but few
Of Svein's men who came to meet
King Olaf's gallant fleet.
From the North these warmen came
To try the bloody game,--
On the waves their corpses borne
Show the game that Sunday morn.
The Throndhjem girls so fair
Their jeers, I think, will spare,
For the king's force was but small
That emptied Throndhjem's hall.
But if they will have their jeer,
They may ask their sweethearts dear,
Why they have returned shorn
Who went to shear that Sunday morn."
And also these:--
"Now will the king's power rise,
For the Upland men still prize
The king who o'er the sea
Steers to bloody victory.
Earl Svein! thou now wilt know
That our lads can make blood flow--
That the Hedemarkers hale
Can do more than tap good ale."
King Olaf gave his stepfather King Sigurd Syr, and the other chiefs
who had assisted him, handsome presents at parting. He gave Ketil of
Ringanes a yacht of fifteen benches of rowers, which Ketil brought up
the Raum river and into the Mjosen lake.
51. OF KING OLAF.
King Olaf sent spies out to trace the earl's doings (A.D. 1015); and
when he found that the earl had left the country he sailed out west, and
to Viken, where many people came to him. At the Thing there he was taken
as king, and so he proceeded all the way to the Naze; and when he heard
that Erling Skialgson had gathered a large force, he did not tarry
in North Agder, but sailed with a steady fair wind to the Throndhjem
country; for there it appeared to him was the greatest strength of the
land, if he could subdue it for himself while the earl was abroad. When
Olaf came to Throndhjem there was no opposition, and he was elected
there to be king. In harvest (A.D. 1015) he took his seat in the town
of Nidaros, and collected the needful winter provision (A.D. 1016). He
built a king's house, and raised Clement's church on the spot on which
it now stands. He parcelled out building ground, which he gave to
bondes, merchants, or others who he thought would build. There he sat
down with many men-at-arms around him; for he put no great confidence
in the Throndhjem people, if the earl should return to the country. The
people of the interior of the Throndhjem country showed this clearly,
for he got no land-scat from them.
52. PLAN OF SVEIN AND THE SWEDISH KING.
Earl Svein went first to Svithjod to his brother-in-law Olaf the Swedish
king, told him all that had happened between him and Olaf the Thick, and
asked his advice about what he should now undertake. The king said that
the earl should stay with him if he liked, and get such a portion of his
kingdom to rule over as should seem to him sufficient; "or otherwise,"
says he, "I will give thee help of forces to conquer the country again
from Olaf." The earl chose the latter; for all those among his men who
had great possessions in Norway, which was the case with many who were
with him, were anxious to get back; and in the council they held about
this, it was resolved that in winter they should take the land-way over
Helsingjaland and Jamtaland, and so down into the Throndhjem land;
for the earl reckoned most upon the faithful help and strength of the
Throndhjem people of the interior as soon as he should appear there. In
the meantime, however, it was determined to take a cruise in summer in
the Baltic to gather property.
53. EARL SVEIN'S DEATH.
Earl Svein went eastward with his forces to Russia, and passed the
summer (A.D. 1015) in marauding there; but on the approach of autumn
returned with his ships to Svithjod. There he fell into a sickness,
which proved fatal. After the earl's death some of the people who had
followed him remained in Svithjod; others went to Helsingjaland, thence
to Jamtaland, and so from the east over the dividing ridge of the
country to the Throndhjem district, where they told all that had
happened upon their journey: and thus the truth of Earl Svein's death
was known (A.D. 1016).
54. OF THE THRONDHJEM PEOPLE.
Einar Tambaskelfer, and the people who had followed him went in winter
to the Swedish king, and were received in a friendly manner. There were
also among them many who had followed the earl. The Swedish king took it
much amiss that Olaf the Thick had set himself down in his scat-lands,
and driven the earl out of them, and therefore he threatened the king
with his heaviest vengeance when opportunity offered. He said that Olaf
ought not to have had the presumption to take the dominions which the
earl had held of him; and all the Swedish king's men agreed with him.
But the Throndhjem people, when they heard for certain that the earl was
dead. and could not be expected back to Norway, turned all to obedience
to King Olaf. Many came from the interior of the Throndhjem country,
and became King Olaf's men; others sent word and tokens that they would
service him. Then, in autumn, he went into the interior of Throndhjem,
and held Things with the bondes, and was received as king in each
district. He returned to Nidaros, and brought there all the king's scat
and revenue, and had his winter-seat provided there (A.D. 1016).
55. OF KING OLAF'S HOUSEHOLD.
King Olaf built a king's house in Nidaros, and in it was a large room
for his court, with doors at both ends. The king's high-seat was in the
middle of the room; and within sat his court-bishop, Grimkel, and next
him his other priests; without them sat his counsellors; and in the
other high-seat opposite to the king sat his marshal, Bjorn, and next