And Nokve's ship, with glancing sides,
Must fly to the wild ocean's tides,—
Must fly before the king who leads
Norse axe-men on their ocean-steeds"
Chapter X.
Battle at Solskiel.
King Harald moved out with his army from Drontheim, and went southwards to Möre.[1] Hunthiof was the name of the king who ruled over the district of Möre. Solve Ivlofe was the name of his son, and both were great warriors. King Kokve, who ruled over Raumsdal[2], was the brother of Solve's mother. Those chiefs gathered a great force when they heard of King Harald, and came against him. They met at Solskiel[3], and there was a great battle, which was gained by King Harald. Hornklofe tells of this battle:—
"Thus did the hero known to fame,
The leader of the shields, whose name
Strikes every heart with dire dismay,
Launch forth his war-ships to the fray.
Two kings he fought; but little strife
"Was needed to cut short their life.
A clang of arms by the sea-shore,—
And the shields' sound was heard no more."
The two kings were slain, but Solve escaped by flight; and King Harald laid both districts under his power. He staid here long in summer to establish law and order for the country people, and set men to rule them, and keep them faithful to him; and in autumn he prepared to return northwards to Drontheim. Rognvald Earl of More, a son of Eystein Cdumre, had the summer before become one of Harald's men; and the king set him as chief over these two
- ↑ Mæri appears derived from the old northern word Mar, the sea; the same as the Latin mare, and retained by us in moor or morass. It is applied to a flat bordering on the sea; and possibly our Murray shire may have a common root with the two districts of Norway called South and North Möre.
- ↑ Raumsdalr is the present Ramsdal.
- ↑ Solskiel is an island in the parish of Ædo, in North Möre.
