Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
the time that had passed since his fall. Thereupon King Svein, and all
the chiefs who were at the place, went out to see King Olaf's body. Then
said Alfifa, "People buried in sand rot very slowly, and it would not
have been so if he had been buried in earth." Afterwards the bishop took
scissors, clipped the king's hair, and arranged his beard; for he had
had a long beard, according to the fashion of that time. Then said the
bishop to the king and Alfifa, "Now the king's hair and beard are such
as when he gave up the ghost, and it has grown as much as ye see has
been cut off." Alfifa answers, "I will believe in the sanctity of his
hair, if it will not burn in the fire; but I have often seen men's hair
whole and undamaged after lying longer in the earth than this man's."
Then the bishop had live coals put into a pan, blessed it, cast incense
upon it, and then laid King Olaf's hair on the fire. When all the
incense was burnt the bishop took the hair out of the fire, and showed
the king and the other chiefs that it was not consumed. Now Alfifa
asked that the hair should be laid upon unconsecrated fire; but Einar
Tambaskelfer told her to be silent, and gave her many severe reproaches
for her unbelief. After the bishop's recognition, with the king's
approbation and the decision of the Thing, it was determined that King
Olaf should be considered a man truly holy; whereupon his body was
transported into Clement's church, and a place was prepared for it near
the high altar. The coffin was covered with costly cloth, and stood
under a gold embroidered tent. Many kinds of miracles were soon wrought
by King Olaf's holy remains.
259. OF KING OLAF'S MIRACLES.
In the sand-hill where King Olaf's body had lain on the ground
a beautiful spring of water came up and many human ailments and
infirmities were cured by its waters. Things were put in order around
it, and the water ever since has been carefully preserved. There was
first a chapel built, and an altar consecrated, where the king's body
had lain; but now Christ's church stands upon the spot. Archbishop
Eystein had a high altar raised upon the spot where the king's grave had
been, when he erected the great temple which now stands there; and it is
the same spot on which the altar of the old Christ church had stood. It
is said that Olaf's church stands on the spot on which the empty house
had stood in which King Olaf's body had been laid for the night. The
place over which the holy remains of King Olaf were carried up from the
vessel is now called Olaf's Road, and is now in the middle of the town.
The bishop adorned King Olaf's holy remains, and cut his nails and hair;
for both grew as if he had still been alive. So says Sigvat the skald:--
"I lie not, when I say the king
Seemed as alive in every thing:
His nails, his yellow hair still growing,
And round his ruddy cheek still flowing,
As when, to please the Russian queen,
His yellow locks adorned were seen;
Or to the blind he cured he gave
A tress, their precious sight to save."
Thorarin Loftunga also composed a song upon Svein Alfifason, called the
"Glelogn Song", in which are these verses:--
"Svein, king of all,
In Olaf's hall
Now sits on high;
And Olaf's eye
Looks down from heaven,
Where it is given
To him to dwell:
Or here in cell,
As heavenly saint,
To heal men's plaint,
May our gold-giver
Live here for ever!
"King Olaf there
To hold a share
On earth prepared,
Nor labour spared
A seat to win
From heaven's great King;
Which he has won
Next God's own Son.
"His holy form,
Untouched by worm,
Lies at this day
Where good men pray,
And nails and hair
Grow fresh and fair;
His cheek is red,
His flesh not dead.
"Around his bier,
Good people hear
The small bells ring
Over the king,
Or great bell toll;
And living soul
Not one can tell
Who tolls the bell.
"Tapers up there,
(Which Christ holds dear,)
By day and night
The altar light:
Olaf did so,
And all men know
In heaven he
From sin sits free.
"And crowds do come,
The deaf and dumb,
Cripple and blind,
Sick of all kind,
Cured to be
On bended knee;
And off the ground
Rise whole and sound.
"To Olaf pray
To eke thy day,
To save thy land
From spoiler's hand.
God's man is he
To deal to thee
Good crops and peace;
Let not prayer cease.
"Book-prayers prevail,
If, nail for nail (1),
Thou tellest on,
Forgetting none."
Thorarin Loftunga was himself with King Svein, and heard these great
testimonials of King Olaf's holiness, that people, by the heavenly
power, could hear a sound over his holy remains as if bells were
ringing, and that candles were lighted of themselves upon the altar as
by a heavenly fire. But when Thorarin says that a multitude of lame, and
blind, and other sick, who came to the holy Olaf, went back cured, he
means nothing more than that there were a vast number of persons who at
the beginning of King Olaf's miraculous working regained their health.
King Olaf's greatest miracles are clearly written down, although they
occurred somewhat later.
ENDNOTES: (1) Before the entrance of the temples or churches were posts
called Ondveigis-sulor, with nails called Rigin-naglar--
the gods' nails--either for ornament, or, as Schoning
suggests, to assist the people in reckoning weeks, months,
festivals, and in reckoning or keeping tale of prayers
repeated, and to recall them to memory, in the same way as
beads are used still by the common people in Catholic
countries for the same purpose.--L.
260. OF KING OLAF'S AGE AND REIGN.
It is reckoned by those who have kept an exact account, that Olaf the
Saint was king of Norway for fifteen years from the time Earl Svein left
the country; but he had received the title of king from the people of
the Uplands the winter before. Sigvat the skald tells this:--
"For fifteen winters o'er the land
King Olaf held the chief command,
Before he fell up in the North:
His fall made known to us his worth.
No worthier prince before his day
In our North land e'er held the sway,
Too short he held it for our good;
All men wish now that he had stood."
Saint Olaf was thirty-five years old when he fell, according to what
Are Frode the priest says, and he had been in twenty pitched battles. So
says Sigvat the skald:--
"Some leaders trust in God--some not;
Even so their men; but well I wot
God-fearing Olaf fought and won
Twenty pitched battles, one by one,
And always placed upon his right
His Christian men in a hard fight.
May God be merciful, I pray,
To him--for he ne'er shunned his fray."
We have now related a part of King Olaf's story, namely, the events
which took place while he ruled over Norway; also his death, and how his
holiness was manifested. Now shall we not neglect to mention what it
was that most advanced his honour. This was his miracles; but these will
come to be treated of afterwards in this book.
261. OF THE THRONDHJEM PEOPLE.
King Svein, the son of Canute the Great, ruled over Norway for some
years; but was a child both in age and understanding. His mother Alfifa
had most sway in the country; and the people of the country were her
great enemies, both then and ever since. Danish people had a great
superiority given them within the country, to the great dissatisfaction
of the people; and when conversation turned that way, the people of
the rest of Norway accused the Throndhjem people of having principally
occasioned King Olaf the Holy's fall, and also that the men of Norway
were subject, through them, to the ill government by which oppression
and slavery had come upon all the people, both great and small; indeed
upon the whole community. They insisted that it was the duty of the
Throndhjem people to attempt opposition and insurrection, and thus
relieve the country from such tyranny; and, in the opinion of the common
people, Throndhjem was also the chief seat of the strength of Norway at
that time, both on account of the chiefs and of the population of
that quarter. When the Throndhjem people heard these remarks of their
countrymen, they could not deny that there was much truth in them, and
that in depriving King Olaf of life and land they had committed a great
crime, and at the same time the misdeed had been ill paid. The chiefs
began to hold consultations and conferences with each other, and the
leader of these was Einar Tambaskelfer. It was likewise the case with
Kalf Arnason, who began to find into what errors he had been drawn by
King Canute's persuasion. All the promises which King Canute had made
to Kalf had been broken; for he had promised him the earldom and the
highest authority in Norway: and although Kalf had been the leader
in the battle against King Olaf, and had deprived him of his life and
kingdom, Kalf had not got any higher dignity than he had before. He felt
that he had been deceived, and therefore messages passed between the
brothers Kalf, Fin, Thorberg, and Arne, and they renewed their family
friendship.
262. OF KING SVEIN'S LEVY.
When King Svein had been three years in Norway (A.D. 1031-33), the news
was received that a force was assembled in the western countries, under
a chief who called himself Trygve, and gave out that he was a son of
Olaf Trygvason and Queen Gyda of England. Now when King Svein heard that
foreign troops had come to the country, he ordered out the people on a
levy in the north, and the most of the lendermen hastened to him; but
Einar Tambaskelfer remained at home, and would not go out with King
Svein. When King Svein's order came to Kalf Arnason at Eggja, that he
should go out on a levy with King Svein, he took a twenty-benched ship
which he owned, went on board with his house-servants, and in all haste
proceeded out of the fjord, without waiting for King Svein, sailed
southwards to More, and continued his voyage south until he came to
Giske to his brother Thorberg. Then all the brothers, the sons of Arne,
held a meeting, and consulted with each other. After this Kalf returned
to the north again; but when he came to Frekeysund, King Svein was lying
in the sound before him. When Kalf came rowing from the south into the
sound they hailed each other, and the king's men ordered Kalf to bring
up with his vessel, and follow the king for the defence of the country.
Kalf replies, "I have done enough, if not too much, when I fought
against my own countrymen to increase the power of the Canute family."
Thereupon Kalf rowed away to the north until he came home to Eggja.
None of these Arnasons appeared at this levy to accompany the king. He
steered with his fleet southwards along the land; but as he could not
hear the least news of any fleet having come from the west, he steered
south to Rogaland, and all the way to Agder; for many guessed that
Trygve would first make his attempt on Viken, because his forefathers
had been there, and had most of their strength from that quarter, and he
had himself great strength by family connection there.
263. KING TRYGVE OLAFSON'S FALL.
When Trygve came from the west he landed first on the coast of
Hordaland, and when he heard King Svein had gone south he went the same
way to Rogaland. As soon as Svein got the intelligence that Trygve had
come from the west he returned, and steered north with his fleet; and
both fleets met within Bokn in Soknarsund, not far from the place where