Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 2).djvu/160

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Sigurd Ribbung.

The Ribbungs chose me as king of their own free will, whereas 'twas by threats that Dagfinn the Peasant and other Birchlegs^[1] gained for you the name of King.

Håkon.

Ay, so ill had you dealt with Norway that the stock of Sverrë had to claim its right with threats.

Guthorm Ingesson.

I am of the stock of Sverrë as much as you——

Dagfinn.

But not in the true male line.

Bishop Nicholas.

You come on the spindle side, Guthorm.

Guthorm Ingesson.

Yet this I know, that my father, Ingë Bårdsson, was lawfully chosen king of Norway.

Håkon.

Because none knew that Sverrë's grandson was alive. From the day that became known, he held the kingdom in trust for me—not otherwise.

↑ The "Birkebeiner" or Birchlegs were at this period a political faction. They were so called because, at the time of their first appearance, when they seem to have been little more than bandits, they eked out their scanty attire by making themselves leggings of birch-bark. Norway at this time swarmed with factions, such as the "Bagler" or Croziers (Latin, baculus), so called because Bishop Nicholas was their chief, the Ribbungs, the Slittungs, etc., devoted, for the most part, to one or other of the many Pretenders to the crown.

[1] The "Birkebeiner" or Birchlegs were at this period a political faction. They were so called because, at the time of their first appearance, when they seem to have been little more than bandits, they eked out their scanty attire by making themselves leggings of birch-bark. Norway at this time swarmed with factions, such as the "Bagler" or Croziers (Latin, baculus), so called because Bishop Nicholas was their chief, the Ribbungs, the Slittungs, etc., devoted, for the most part, to one or other of the many Pretenders to the crown.

[1]