Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
has asked me about it; but if I may give my opinion, our countrymen
might just as well make themselves at once liable to land-scat to King
Olaf, and submit to all his exactions as he has them among his people in
Norway; and this heavy burden we will lay not only upon ourselves, but
on our sons, and their sons, and all our race, and on all the community
dwelling and living in this land, which never after will be free from
this slavery. Now although this king is a good man, as I well believe
him to be, yet it must be hereafter, when kings succeed each other, that
some will be good, and some bad. Therefore if the people of this country
will preserve the freedom they have enjoyed since the land was first
inhabited, it is not advisable to give the king the smallest spot to
fasten himself upon the country by, and not to give him any kind of scat
or service that can have the appearance of a duty. On the other hand,
I think it very proper that the people send the king such friendly
presents of hawks or horses, tents or sails, or such things which are
suitable gifts; and these are well applied if they are repaid with
friendship. But as to Grimsey Isle, I have to say, that although nothing
is drawn from it that can serve for food, yet it could support a great
war-force cruising from thence in long-ships; and then, I doubt not,
there would be distress enough at every poor peasant's door."
When Einar had thus explained the proper connection of the matter,
the whole community were of one mind that such a thing should not be
permitted; and Thorarin saw sufficiently well what the result of his
errand was to be.
135. THE ANSWER OF THE ICELANDERS.
The day following, Thorarin went again to the Lawhill, and brought
forward his errand in the following words:--"King Olaf sends his message
to his friends here in the country, among whom he reckons Gudmund
Eyjolfson, Snorre Gode, Thorkel Eyjolfson, Skapte the lagman, and
Thorstein Halson, and desires them by me to come to him on a friendly
visit; and adds, that ye must not excuse yourselves, if you regard his
friendship as worth anything." In their answer they thanked the king for
his message and added, that they would afterwards give a reply to it
by Thorarin when they had more closely considered the matter with their
friends. The chiefs now weighed the matter among themselves, and each
gave his own opinion about the journey. Snorre and Skapte dissuaded from
such a dangerous proceeding with the people of Norway; namely, that
all the men who had the most to say in the country should at once leave
Iceland. They added, that from this message, and from what Einar had
said, they had the suspicion that the king intended to use force and
strong measures against the Icelanders if he ruled in the country.
Gudmund and Thorkel Eyjolfson insisted much that they should follow King
Olaf's invitation, and called it a journey of honour. But when they had
considered the matter on all sides, it was at last resolved that they
should not travel themselves, but that each of them should send in
his place a man whom they thought best suited for it. After this
determination the Thing was closed, and there was no journey that
summer. Thorarin made two voyages that summer, and about harvest was
back again at King Olaf's, and reported the result of his mission,
and that some of the chiefs, or their sons, would come from Iceland
according to his message.
136. OF THE PEOPLE OF THE FAREY ISLANDS.
The same summer (A.D. 1024) there came from the Farey Islands to Norway,
on the king's invitation, Gille the lagman, Leif Ossurson, Thoralf of
Dimun, and many other bondes' sons. Thord of Gata made himself ready for
the voyage; but just as he was setting out he got a stroke of palsy,
and could not come, so he remained behind. Now when the people from
the Farey Isles arrived at King Olaf's, he called them to him to a
conference, and explained the purpose of the journey he had made them
take, namely, that he would have scat from the Farey Islands, and also
that the people there should be subject to the laws which the king
should give them. In that meeting it appeared from the king's words that
he would make the Farey people who had come answerable, and would bind
them by oath to conclude this union. He also offered to the men whom he
thought the ablest to take them into his service, and bestow honour and
friendship on them. These Farey men understood the king's words so, that
they must dread the turn the matter might take if they did not submit to
all that the king desired. Although they held several meetings about
the business before it ended, the king's desire at last prevailed.
Leif, Gille, and Thoralf went into the king's service, and became his
courtmen; and they, with all their travelling companions, swore the oath
to King Olaf, that the law and land privilege which he set them should
be observed in the Farey Islands, and also the scat be levied that he
laid upon them. Thereafter the Farey people prepared for their return
home, and at their departure the king gave those who had entered into
his service presents in testimony of his friendship, and they went their
way. Now the king ordered a ship to be rigged, manned it, and sent men
to the Farey Islands to receive the scat from the inhabitants which they
should pay him. It was late before they were ready; but they set off at
last: and of their journey all that is to be told is, that they did not
come back, and no scat either, the following summer; for nobody had come
to the Farey Isles, and no man had demanded scat there.
137. OF THE MARRIAGE OF KETIL AND OF THORD TO THE KING'S SISTERS.
King Olaf proceeded about harvest time to Viken, and sent a message
before him to the Uplands that they should prepare guest-quarters for
him, as he intended to be there in winter. Afterwards he made ready for
his journey, and went to the Uplands, and remained the winter there;
going about in guest-quarters, and putting things to rights where he saw
it needful, advancing also the cause of Christianity wheresoever it was
requisite. It happened while King Olaf was in Hedemark that Ketil Kalf
of Ringanes courted Gunhild, a daughter of Sigurd Syr and of King
Olaf's mother Asta. Gunhild was a sister of King Olaf, and therefore it
belonged to the king to give consent and determination to the business.
He took it in a friendly way; for he know Ketil, that he was of high
birth, wealthy, and of good understanding, and a great chief; and also
he had long been a great friend of King Olaf, as before related. All
these circumstances induced the king to approve of the match, and so it
was that Ketil got Gunhild. King Olaf was present at the wedding. From
thence the king went north to Gudbrandsdal, where he was entertained in
guest-quarters. There dwelt a man, by name Thord Guthormson, on a farm
called Steig; and he was the most powerful man in the north end of the
valley. When Thord and the king met, Thord made proposals for Isrid,
the daughter of Gudbrand, and the sister of King Olaf's mother, as it
belonged to the king to give consent. After the matter was considered,
it was determined that the marriage should proceed, and Thord got
Isrid. Afterwards Thord was the king's faithful friend, and also many of
Thord's relations and friends, who followed his footsteps. From thence
King Olaf returned south through Thoten and Hadaland, from thence to
Ringerike, and so to Viken. In spring (A.D. 1025) he went to Tunsberg,
and stayed there while there was the market-meeting, and a great resort
of people. He then had his vessels rigged out, and had many people about
him.
138. OF THE ICELANDERS.
The same summer (A.D. 1025) came Stein, a son of the lagman Skapte, from
Iceland, in compliance with King Olaf's message; and with him Thorod,
a son of Snorre the gode, and Geller, a son of Thorkel Eyjolfson, and
Egil, a son of Hal of Sida, brother of Thorstein Hal. Gudmund Eyjolfson
had died the winter before. These Iceland men repaired to King Olaf as
soon as they had opportunity; and when they met the king they were well
received, and all were in his house. The same summer King Olaf heard
that the ship was missing which he had sent the summer before to the
Farey Islands after the scat, and nobody knew what had become of it.
The king fitted out another ship, manned it, and sent it to the Farey
Islands for the scat. They got under weigh, and proceeded to sea; but
as little was ever heard of this vessel as of the former one, and many
conjectures were made about what had become of them.
139. HERE BEGINS THE STORY OF CANUTE THE GREAT.
During this time Canute the Great, called by some Canute the Old,
was king of England and Denmark. Canute the Great was a son of
Svein Haraldson Forkedbeard, whose forefathers, for a long course
of generations, had ruled over Denmark. Harald Gormson, Canute's
grandfather, had conquered Norway after the fall of Harald Grafeld,
Gunhild's son, had taken scat from it, and had placed Earl Hakon the
Great to defend the country. The Danish King, Svein Haraldson, ruled
also over Norway, and placed his son-in-law Earl Eirik, the son of Earl
Hakon, to defend the country. The brothers Eirik and Svein, Earl Hakon's
sons, ruled the land until Earl Eirik went west to England, on the
invitation of his brother-in-law Canute the Great, when he left behind
his son Earl Hakon, sister's son of Canute the Great, to govern Norway.
But when Olaf the Thick came first to Norway, as before related, he took
prisoner Earl Hakon the son of Eirik, and deposed him from the kingdom.
Then Hakon proceeded to his mother's brother, Canute the Great, and had
been with him constantly until the time to which here in our saga we
have now come. Canute the Great had conquered England by blows and
weapons, and had a long struggle before the people of the land were
subdued. But when he had set himself perfectly firm in the government of
the country, he remembered that he also had right to a kingdom which he
had not brought under his authority; and that was Norway. He thought he
had hereditary right to all Norway; and his sister's son Hakon, who had
held a part of it, appeared to him to have lost it with disgrace. The
reason why Canute and Hakon had remained quiet with respect to their
claims upon Norway was, that when King Olaf Haraldson landed in Norway
the people and commonalty ran together in crowds, and would hear of
nothing but that Olaf should be king over all the country, although some
afterwards, who thought that the people upon account of his power had
no self-government left to them, went out of the country. Many powerful
men, or rich bondes sons, had therefore gone to Canute the Great, and
pretended various errands; and every one who came to Canute and desired
his friendship was loaded with presents. With Canute, too, could be
seen greater splendour and pomp than elsewhere, both with regard to the
multitude of people who were daily in attendance, and also to the other
magnificent things about the houses he owned and dwelt in himself.
Canute the Great drew scat and revenue from the people who were the
richest of all in northern lands; and in the same proportion as he had
greater revenues than other kings, he also made greater presents than
other kings. In his whole kingdom peace was so well established, that
no man dared break it. The people of the country kept the peace towards
each other, and had their old country law: and for this he was greatly
celebrated in all countries. And many of those who came from Norway
represented their hardships to Earl Hakon, and some even to King Canute
himself; and that the Norway people were ready to turn back to the
government of King Canute, or Earl Hakon, and receive deliverance from