The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway/Volume 1/Saga 4

by Snorri Sturluson

IV.

HAKON THE GOOD'S SAGA.

Chapter I.
Hakon chosen king.

Hakon^[1], Athelstan's foster-son, was in England at the time he heard of his father King Harald's death, and he immediately made himself ready to depart. King Athelstan gave him men, and a choice of good ships, and fitted him out for his journey most excellently. In harvest time he came to Norway, where he heard of the death of his brothers, and that King Eric was then in Viken. Then Hakon sailed northwards to Drontheim, where he went to Sigurd earl of Lade, who was the ablest man in Norway. He gave Hakon a good reception; and they made a league with each other, by which Hakon promised great power to Sigurd if he was made king. They assembled then a numerous Thing, and Sigurd the earl recommended Hakon's cause to the Thing^[2], and proposed him to the bonders as king. Then Hakon himself stood up and spoke; and the people said to each other, two and two, as they heard him, " Harald Haarfager is come again, and grown young." The beginning of Hakon's speech was, that he offered himself to the bonders as king, and desired from them the title of king, and aid and forces to defend the kingdom. He promised, on the other hand, to make all the bonders udalholders, and give every man udal rights to the land he lived on. This speech met such joyful applause, that the whole public cried and shouted that they would take him to be king. And so it was that the Drontheim people took Hakon, who was then fifteen years old, for king; and he took a court or body-guard, and servants, and proceeded through the country. The news reached the Uplands that the people in Drontheim had taken to themselves a king, who in every respect was like King Harald Haarfager,—with the difference, that Harald had made all the people of the land vassals^[3], and unfree; but this Hakon wished well to every man, and offered the bonders to give them their udal rights again, which Harald had taken from them. All were rejoiced at this news, and it passed from mouth to mouth,—it flew, like fire in dry grass, through the whole land, and eastward to the land's end. Many bonders came from the Uplands to meet King Hakon. Some sent messages, some tokens; and all to the same effect—that his men they would be: and the king received all thankfully.

Chapter II.
King Hakon's progress through the country.

Early in winter, the king went to the Uplands, and summoned the people to a Thing; and there streamed all to him who could come. He was proclaimed king at every Thing; and then he proceeded eastward to Yiken, where his brother's sons, Tryggve and Gudrod, and many others, came unto him, and complained of the sorrow and evil his brother Eric had wrought. The hatred to King Eric grew more and more, the more liking all men took to King Hakon; and they got more boldness to say what they thought. King Hakon gave Tryggve and Gudrod the title of kings, and the dominions which King Harald had bestowed on their fathers.^[4] Tryggve got Ranrige and Vingul mark, and Gndrod Westfold; but as they were young, and in the years of childhood, he appointed able men to rule the land for them. He gave them the country on the same conditions as it had been given before,— that they should have half of the scatt and revenues with him. Towards spring King Hakon returned north, over the Uplands, to Drontheim.

Chapter III.
Eric's departure from the country.

King Hakon, early in spring, collected a great army at Drontheim, and fitted out ships. The people of Yiken had also a great force on foot, and intended to join Hakon. King Eric also levied people in the middle of the country; but it went badly with him to gather people, for the leading men left him, and went over to Hakon. As he saw himself not nearly strong enough to oppose Hakon, he sailed out to the West sea with such men as would follow him. He first sailed to Orkney, and took many people with him from that country; and then went south towards England, plundering in Scotland, and in the north parts of England, wherever he could land. Athelstan, the king of England, sent a message to Eric, offering him dominions under him in England; saying that King Harald his father was a good friend of King Athelstan, and therefore he would do kindly towards his sons. Messengers passed between the two kings; and it came to an agreement that King Eric should take Northumberland as a fief from King Athelstan, and which land he should defend against the Danes or other vikings. Eric should let himself be baptized, together with his wife and children, and all the people who had followed him. Eric accepted this offer, and was baptized, and adopted the right faith. Northumberland is called a fifth part of England. Eric had his residence at York, where Lodbrolds sons, it was said, had formerly been, and Northumberland was principally inhabited by Northmen. Since Lodbrolds sons had taken the country, Danes and Northmen often plundered there, when the power of the land was out of their hands. Many names of places in the country are Norwegian; as Grimsby^[5], Haukfliot, and many others.

Chapter IV.
Eric's death.

King Eric had many people about him, for he kept many Northmen who had come with him from the East; and also many of his friends had joined him from Norway. But as he had little land, he went on a cruise every summer, and plundered in Shetland, the Hebrides, Iceland, and Bretland, by which he gathered property. King Athelstan died on a sick bed, after a reign of fourteen years, eight weeks, and three days.^[6] After him his brother Jatmund^[7] was king of England, and he was no friend to the Northmen. King Eric, also, was in no great favour with him; and the word went about that King Edmund would set another chief over Northumberland. Now when King Eric heard this, he set off on a viking cruise to the westward; and from the Orkneys took with him the Earls Arnkel and Erlend, the sons of Earl TorfEinar. Then he sailed to the. Hebrides, where there were many vikings and troop-kings, who joined their men to his. With all this force he steered to Ireland first, where he took with him all the men he could, and then to Bretland, and plum dered; and sailed thereafter south to England^[8], and marauded there as elsewhere. The people fled before him wherever he appeared. As King Eric was a bold warrior, and had a great force, he trusted so much to his people that he penetrated far inland in the country, following and plundering the fugitives. King Edmund had set a king, who was called Olaf, to defend the land; and he gathered an innumerable mass of people, with whom he marched against King Eric. A dreadful battle^[9] ensued, in which many Englishmen fell; but for one who fell came three in his place out of the country behind, and when evening came on the loss of men turned on the side of the Northmen, and many people fell. Towards the end of the day, King Eric and five kings with him fell. Three of them were Guttorm and his two sons, Ivar and Harek: there fell, also, Sigurd and Ragnvald; and with them Torf-Einar's two sons, Arnkel and Erlend. Besides these, there was a great slaughter of Northmen; and those who escaped went to Northumbeland, and brought the news to Gunhild and her sons.

Chapter V.
Gunhild and her sons.

When Gunhild and her sons knew for certain that King Eric had fallen, after having plundered the land of the King of England, they thought there was no peace to be expected for them; and they made themselves ready to depart from Northumberland, with all the ships King Eric had left, and all the men who would follow them. They took also all the loose property, and goods which they had gathered partly as taxes in England, partly as booty on their expeditions. With their army they first steered northward to Orkney, where Thorfin Hausaldiffer was earl, a son of Torf-Einar, and took up their station there for a time. Eric's sons subdued these islands and Shetland, took scatt for themselves, and staid there all the winter; but went on viking cruises in summer to the West, and plundered in Scotland and Ireland. About this Glum Geirason sings:—

"The hero who knows well to ride
The sea-horse^[10] o'er the foaming tide,—
He who in boyhood wild rode o'er
The seaman's horse to Scania's shore,
And showed the Danes his galley's bow,
Right nobly scours the ocean now.
On Scotland's coast he lights the brand
Of flaming war; with conquering hand
Drives many a Scottish warrior tall
To the bright seats in Odin's hall.
The fire-spark, by the fiend of war
Fanned to a flame, soon spreads afar.
Crowds trembling fly,—the southern foes
Fall thick beneath the hero's blows:
The hero's blade drips red with gore,
Staining the green sward on the shore."

Chapter VI.
Battle in Jutland.

When King Eric had left the country, King Hakon, Athelstan's foster-son, subdued the whole of Norway. The first winter he visited the western parts, and then went north, and settled in Drontheim. But as no peace could be reasonably looked for so long as King Eric with his forces could come to Norway from the Westsea, he set himself with his men-at-arms in the middle of the country,—in the Fiorde district, or in Sogn, or Hordaland, or Kogaland. Hakon placed Sigurd earl of Lade over the whole Drontheim district, as he and his father had before had it under Harald Haarfager. When King Hakon heard of his brother Eric's death, and also that his sons had no footing in England, he thought there was not much to fear from them, and he went with his troops one summer eastward to Viken. At that time the Danes plundered often in Viken, and wrought much evil there; but when they heard that King Hakon was come with a great army, they got out of the way,—some to Sealand, or to Halland^[11]; and those who were nearest to King Hakon went out to sea, and over to Jutland. When the king heard of this, he sailed after them with all his army. On arriving at Jutland he plundered all round; and when the country people heard of it, they assembled in a great body, and determined to defend their land, and fight. There was a great battle; and King Hakon fought so boldly, that he went forward before his banner without helmet or coat of mail. King Hakon won the victory, and drove the fugitives far up the country. So says Guttorm Sindre, in his song of Hakon:—

" Furrowing the deep-blue sea with oars,
The king pursues to Jutland's shores.
They met; and in the battle storm
Of clashing shields, full many a form
Of goodly warrior on the plain,
Full many a corpse by Hakon slain,
Glutted the ravens, who from far,
Scenting the banquet-feast of war,
Came in black flocks to Jutland's plains
To drink the blood-wine from the veins."

Chapter Then Hakon steered southwards with his fleet to Battle in seek the vikings, and so on to Sealand. He rowed the Sound. two cutters into the Sound, where he found eleven viking ships, and instantly attacked them. It ended in his gaining the victory, and clearing the viking ships of all their men. So says Guttorm Sindre:—

Hakon the Brave, whose skill all know
To bend in battle storm the how,
Rushed o'er the waves to Sealand's tongue,
His two war-ships with gilt shields hung,
And cleared the decks with his blue sword
That rules the fate of war, on hoard
Eleven ships of the Vendland men,—
Famous is Hakon's name since then."

Chapter VIII.
King Hakon's expedition in Denmark.

Thereafter King Hakon carried war far and wide in Sealand; plundering some, slaying others, taking some prisoners of war, taking ransom from others,—and all without opposition. Then Hakon proceeded along the coast of Scania, pillaging every where, levying taxes and ransoms from the country, and killing all vikings, both Danish and Yendish.^[12] He then went eastwards to the island of Gotland, marauded there, and took great ransom from the country. So says Guttorm Sindre:—

"Hakon, who midst the battle shock
Stands like a firmly-rooted oak,
Subdued all Sealand with the sword;
From Vendland vikings the sea-bord
Of Scania swept; and, with the shield
Of Odin clad, made Gotland yield
A ransom of the ruddy gold,
Which Hakon to his war-men hold
Gave with free hand, who in his feud
Against the arrow-storm had stood."

King Hakon returned back in autumn with his army and an immense booty; and remained all the winter in Yiken to defend it against the Danes and Gotlanders, if they should attack it.

Chapter IX.
Of King Tryggve.

In the same winter King Tryggve Olafsson returned from a viking cruise in the West sea, having before ravaged in Scotland and Ireland. In spring King Hakon went north, and set his brother's son, King Tryggve, over Viken ^[13] to defend that country against, enemies. He gave him also in property all that he could reconquer of the country in Denmark^[14], which the summer before King Hakon had subjected to payment of scatt to him. So says Guttorm: —

"King Hakon, whose sharp sword dyes red
The bright steel cap on many a head,
Has set a warrior brave and stout
The foreign foeman to keep out,—

To keep that green land safe from war
Which black Night bore to dwarf Onar.^[15]
For many a carle whose trade's to wield
The battle-axe, and swing the shield,
On the swan's ocean-scates^[16] has come,
In white-winged ships, across the foam,—
Across the sea, from far Ireland,
To war against the Norseman's land."

Chapter X.
Of Gunhild's sons.

King Harald Gormson ruled over Denmark at that time. He took it much amiss that King Hakon had made war in his dominions, and the report went that he would take revenge; but this did not take place so soon. When Gunhild and her sons heard there was enmity between Denmark and Norway, they began to turn their course from the West. They married King Eric's daughter, Ragnhild, to Arnfin, a son of Torfin Hausakliffer; and as soon as Eric's sons went away, Thorfin took the earldom again over the Orkney Islands. Gamle Ericson was somewhat older than the other brothers, but still he was not a grown man. When Gunhild and her sons came from the westward to Denmark, they were well received by King Harald. He gave them great fiefs in his kingdom, so that they could maintain themselves and their men very well. He also took Harald Ericson to be his foster-son, set him on his knee ^[17], and thereafter he was brought up at the Danish king's court. Some of Eric's sons went out on viking expeditions as soon as they were old enough, and gathered property, ravaging all around in the East sea. They grew up quickly to be handsome men, and far beyond their years in strength and perfection. Glum Geirason tells of one of them in the Graafeld song:—

"I've heard that, on the Eastland coast,
Great victories were won and lost.
The king, whose hand is ever graced
With gift to scald, his banner placed
On, and still on; while, midst the play
Of swords, sung sharp his good sword's sway.
As strong in arm as free of gold,
He thinn'd the ranks of warriors bold"

Then Eric's sons turned northwards with their troops to Yiken; hut King Tryggve kept troops on foot with which he met them, and they had many a battle, in which the victory was sometimes on one side, and sometimes on the other. Sometimes Eric's sons plundered in Yiken, and sometimes Tryggve in Sealand and Halland.

Chapter XI.
King Hakon's disposition and government.

As long as Hakon was king in Norway, there was good peace between the bonders and merchants; so that none did harm either to the life or goods of the other. Good seasons also there were, both by sea and land. King Hakon was of a remarkably cheerful disposition, clever in words, and very condescending. He was a man of great understanding also, and bestowed attention on lawgiving. He gave out the Gula Thing's laws on the advice of Thorlief the Wise; also the Froste Thing's laws on the advice of Earl Sigurd, and of other Drontheim men of wisdom. Eidsvold Thing laws were first established in the country by Halfdan the Black, the father of Harald Haarfager.^[18]

Chapter XII.
The birth of Earl Hakon the Great.

King Hakon kept Yule at Drontheim, and Earl Sigurd had made a feast for him at Lade. The night of the first day of Yule the earl's wife, Bergliot, was brought to bed of a boy-child, which afterwards King Hakon poured water over, and gave him his own name. The boy grew up, and became in his day a mighty and able man, and was earl after his father, who was King Hakon's dearest friend.

Chapter XIII.
Of Eystein the Bad.

Eystein, a king of the Uplands, whom some called the Great, and some the Bad, once on a time made war in Drontheim^[19] and subdued Eyna district and Sparbo district, and set his own son Onund over them; but the Drontheim people killed him. Then King Eystein made another inroad into Drontheim, and ravaged the land far and wide, and subdued it. He then offered the people either his slave, who was called Thorer Faxe, or his dog, whose name was Sauer, to be their king. They preferred the dog, as they thought they would sooner get rid of him. Now the dog was, by witchcraft, gifted with three men's wisdom; and when he barked, he spoke one word and barked two. A collar and chain of gold and silver were made for him, and his courtiers carried him in their hands when the weather or ways were foul. A throne was erected for him, and he sat upon a high place, as kings are used to sit. He dwelt in Inderoen, and had his mansion in a place now called Saurshoug. It is told that the occasion of his death was that the wolves one day broke into his fold, and his courtiers stirred him up to defend his cattle; but when he ran down from his mound, and attacked the wolves, they tore him to pieces. Many other extraordinary things were done by this King Eystein against the Drontheim people, and in consequence of this persecution and trouble, many chiefs and people fled and left their udal properties.

Chapter XIV.
The colonising of Jemteland and Helsingland.

Ketil Jemte, a son of Earl Onund of Sparbo, went eastward across the mountain ridge, and with him a great multitude, who took all their farm-stock and goods with them. They cleared the woods, and established large farms, and settled the country afterwards called Jemteland. Thorer Helsing, Ketil's grandson, on account of a murder, ran away from Jemteland, and fled eastward through the forest, and settled there. Many people followed; and that country, which extends eastward down to the sea-coast, was called Helsingland; and its eastern parts are inhabited by Swedes. Now when Harald Haarfager took possession of the whole country many people fled before him, both people of Drontheim and of Numedal districts; and thus new settlers came to Jemteland, and some all the way to Helsingland. The Helsingland people travelled into Sweden for their merchandise, and thus became altogether subjects of that country. The Jemteland people, again, were in a manner between the two countries; and nobody cared about them, until Hakon entered into friendly intercourse with Jemteland, and made friends of the more powerful people. Then they resorted to him, and promised him obedience and payment of taxes, and became his subjects; for they saw nothing but what was good in him, and being of Norwegian race they would rather stand under his royal authority than under the king of Sweden: and he gave them laws, and rights to their land. All the people of Helsingland did the same,—that is, all who were of Norwegian race, from the other side of the great mountain ridge.

Chapter XV.
King Hakon upholds and spreads Christianity.

King Hakon was a good Christian when he came to Norway; but as the whole country was heathen, with much heathenish sacrifice, and as many great people, as well as the favour of the common people, were to be conciliated, he resolved to practise his Christian ty in private. But he kept Sundays, and the Friday fasts, and some token of the greatest holy days. He made a law that the festival of Yule should begin at the same time as Christian people held it, and that every man, under penalty, should brew a meal^[20] of malt into ale, and therewith keep the Yule holy as long as it lasted. Before him, the beginning of Yule, or the slaughter night^[21] was the night of mid-winter, and Yule was kept for three days thereafter. It was his intent, as soon as he had set himself fast in the land, and had subjected the whole to his power, to introduce Christianity. He went to work first by enticing to Christianity the men who were dearest to him; and many, out of friendship to him, allowed themselves to be baptized, and some laid aside sacrifices. He dwelt long in the Drontheim district, for the strength of the country lay there; and when he thought that, by the support of some powerful people there, he could set up Christianity, he sent a message to England for a bishop and other teachers; and when they arrived in Norway, Hakon made it known that he would proclaim Christianity over all the land. The people of More and Baunisdal referred the matter to the people of Drontheim. King Hakon then had several churches consecrated, and put priests into them; and when he came to Drontheim he summoned the bonders to a Thing, and invited them to accept Christianity. They gave an answer to the effect that they would defer the matter until the Froste Thing, at which there would be men from every district of the Drontheim country, and then they would give their determination upon this difficult matter.

Chapter XVI.
About sacrifices.

Sigurd, earl of Lade, was one of the greatest men for sacrifices, and so had Hakon his father been; and Sigurd always presided on account of the king at all the festivals of sacrifice in the Drontheim country. It was an old custom, that when there was to be sacrifice all the bonders should come to the spot where the temple stood, and bring with them all that they required while the festival of the sacrifice lasted. To this festival all the men brought ale with them; and all kinds of cattle, as well as horses, were slaughtered, and all the blood that came from them was called laut, and the vessels in which it was collected were called laut-vessels. Laut-staves were made, like sprinkling brushes, with which the whole of the altars and the temple walls, both outside and inside, were sprinkled over, and also the people were sprinkled with the blood; but the flesh was boiled into savoury meat for those present. The fire was in the middle of the floor of the temple, and over it hung the kettles, and the full goblets were handed across the fire; and he who made the feast, and was a chief, blessed the full goblets, and all the meat of the sacrifice. And first Odin’s goblet was emptied for victory and power to his king; thereafter, Niord’s and Freya’s goblets for peace and a good season. Then it was the custom of many to empty the braga-goblet^[22]; and then the guests emptied a goblet to the memory of departed friends, called the remembrance-goblet. Sigurd the earl was an open-handed man, who did what was very much celebrated; namely, he made a great sacrifice festival at Lade, of which he paid all the expenses. Kormak Ogmundson sings of it in his ballad of Sigurd:—

"Of cup or platter need has none
The guest who seeks the generous one,—
Sigurd the Generous^ who can trace
IIis lineage from the giant race;
For Sigurd’s hand is bounteous, free,—
The guardian of the temples he.

He loves the gods,—his liberal hand
Scatters his sword's gains o'er the land,"

Chapter XVII.
The Thing at Froste.

King Hakon came to the Froste Thing, at which a vast multitude of people were assembled. And when the Thing was seated, the king spoke to the people, and began his speech with saying,—it was his message and entreaty to the bonders and householding men, both great and small, and to the whole public in general, young and old, rich and poor, women as well as men, that they should all allow themselves to be baptized, and should believe in one God, and in Christ the son of Mary; and refrain from all sacrifices and heathen gods; and should keep holy the seventh day, and abstain from all work on it, and keep a fast on the seventh day. As soon as the king had proposed this to the bonders, great was the murmur and noise among the crowd. They complained that the king wanted to take their labour and their old faith from them, and the land could not be cultivated in that way. The labouring men and slaves thought that they could not work if they did not get meat; and they said it was the character of King Hakon, and his father, and all the family, to be generous enough with their money, but sparing with their diet. Asbiorn of Midalhouse in the Gaulardal stood up, and answered thus to the king's proposal:—

"We bonders, King Hakon, when we elected thee to be our king, and got back our udal rights at the Thing held in Drontheim, thought we had got into heaven; but now we don't know whether we have really got back our freedom, or whether thou wishest to make vassals of us again by this extraordinary proposal—that we should abandon the ancient faith which our fathers and forefathers have held from the oldest times, in the times when the dead were burnt, as well as since that they are laid under mounds, and which, although they were braver than the people of our days, has served us as a faith to the present time, We have also held thee so dear, that we have allowed thee to rule and give law and right to all the country. And even now we bonders will unanimously hold by the law which thou givest us here in the Froste Thing, and to which we have also given our assent^[23]; and we will follow thee, and have thee for our king, as long as there is a living man among us bonders here in this Thing assembled. But thou, king, must use some moderation towards us, and only require from us such things as we can obey thee in, and are not impossible for us. If, however, thou wilt take up this matter with a high hand, and wilt try thy power and strength against us, we bonders have resolved among ourselves to part with thee, and to take to ourselves some other chief, who will so conduct himself towards us that we can freely and safely enjoy that faith that suits our own inclinations. Now, king, thou must choose one or other of these conditions before the Thing is ended."

The bonders gave loud applause to this speech, and said it expressed their will, and they would stand or fall by what had been spoken. When silence was again restored, Earl Sigurd said, "It is King Hakon's will to give way to you, the bon ders, and never to separate himself from your friendship." The bonders replied, that it was their desire that the king should offer a sacrifice for peace and a good year, as his father was wont to do; and there-upon the noise and tumult ceased, and the Thing was concluded. Earl Sigurd spoke to the king afterwards, and advised him not to refuse altogether to do as the people desired, saying there was nothing else for it but to give way to the will of the bonders; "for it is, as thou hast heard thyself, the will and earnest desire of the head-people, as well as of the multitude. Hereafter we may find a good way to manage it." And in this resolution the king and earl agreed.

Chapter XVIII.
The peasants force King Hakon to offer sacrifices.

The harvest thereafter, towards the winter season, there was a festival of sacrifice at Lade, and the king came to it. It had always been his custom before, when he was present at a place where there was sacrifice, to take his meals in a little house by himself, or with some few of his men; but the bonders grumbled that he did not seat himself on his throne at these the most joyous of the meetings of the people. The earl said that the king should do so this time. The king accordingly sat upon his throne. Now when the first full goblet was filled, Earl Sigurd spoke some words over it, blessed it in Odin's name, and drank to the king out of the horn; and the king then took it, and made the sign of the cross over it. Then said Kaare of Gryting, "What does the king mean by doing so? Will he not sacrifice?" Earl Sigurd replies, "The king is doing what all of you do, who trust to your power and strength. He is blessing the full goblet in the name of Thor, by making the sign of his hammer over it before he drinks it." On this there was quietness for the evening. The next day, when the people sat down to table, the bonders pressed the king strongly to eat of horse-flesh^[24]; and as he would on no account do so, they wanted him to drink of the soup; and as he would not do this, they insisted he should at least taste the gravy; and on his refusal they were going to lay hands on him. Earl Sigurd came and made peace among them, by asking the king to hold his mouth over the handle of the kettle, upon which the fat smoke of the boiled horse-flesh had settled itself; and the king first laid a linen cloth over the handle, and then gaped over it, and returned to the throne; but neither party was satisfied with this.

Chapter XIX.
Feast of the sacrifice at Möre.

The winter thereafter the king prepared a Yule feast in Möre, and eight chiefs resolved with each other to meet at it. Four of them were from without the Drontheim district—namely, Kaare of Gryting, Asbiorn of Midalhouse, Thorberg of Varnæs, and Grin from Lyra; and from the Drontheim district, Blotolf of Olvishoug, Narfe of Staf in Værdal, Thrand Hake from Egge, and Thorer Skeg from Husaboe in Inderöen. These eight men bound themselves, the four first to root out Christianty in Norway, and the four others to oblige the king to offer sacrifice to the gods. The four first went in four ships southwards to Möre, and killed three priests, and burnt three churches, and then they returned. Now, when King Hakon and Earl Sigurd came to Möre with their court, the bonders assembled in great numbers; and immediately, on the first day of the feast, the bonders insisted hard with the king that he should offer sacrifice, and threatened him with violence if he refused. Earl Sigurd tried to make peace between them, and brought it so far that the king took some bits of horse-liver, and emptied all the goblets the bonders filled for him; but as soon as the feast was over, the king and the earl returned to Lade. The king was very ill pleased, and made himself ready to leave Drontheim forthwith with all his people; saying that the next time he came to Drontheim, he would come with such strength of men-at-arms that he would repay the bonders for their enmity towards him. Earl Sigurd entreated the king not to take it amiss of the bonders; adding, that it was not wise to threaten them, or to make war upon the people within the country, and especially in the Drontheim district where the strength of the land lay; but the king was so enraged that he would not listen to a word from any body. He went out from Drontheim, and proceeded south to More where he remained the rest of the winter, and on to the spring season; and when summer came he assembled men, and the report was that he intended with this army to attack the Drontheim people.

Chapter 20
Battle at Augvaldsness.

But just as the king had embarked with a great force of troops, the news was brought him from the south of the country, that King Eric's sons had come from Denmark to Viken, and had driven King Tryggve Olafsson from his ships at Sotangess, and then had plundered far and wide around in Viken, and that many had submitted to them. Now when King Hakon heard this news, he thought that help was needed; and he sent word to Earl Sigurd, and to the other chiefs from whom he could expect help, to hasten to his assistance. Sigurd the earl came accordingly with a great body of men, among whom were all the Drontheim people who had set upon him the hardest to offer sacrifice; and all made their peace with the king, by the earl's persuasion. Now King Hakon sailed south along the coast; and when he came south as far as Stad, he heard that Eric's sons were come to North Agder. Then they advanced against each other, and met at Kormt. Both parties left their ships there, and gave battle at Augvalds-ness. Both parties had a great force, and it was a great battle. King Hakon went forwards bravely, and King Guttorm Ericson met him with his troop, and they exchanged blows with each other. Guttorm fell, and his standard was cut down. Many people fell around him. The army of Eric's sons then took flight to their ships, and rowed away with the loss of many a man. So says Guttorm Sindre:—

"The king's voice waked the silent host
Who slept beside the wild sea-coast,
And bade the song of spear and sword
Over the battle plain he heard.
Where heroes' shields the loudest rang,
Where loudest was the sword-blade's clang,
By the sea-shore at Kormt Sound,
Hakon felled Guttorm to the ground."

Now King Hakon returned to his ships, and pursued Gunhild's sons.^[25] A And both parties sailed all they could sail, until they came to Easter Agder^[26], from whence Eric's sons set out to sea, and southwards for Jutland. Guttorm Sindre speaks of it in his song:—

"And Guttorm's brothers too, who know
So skilfully to bend the bow,
The conquering hand must also feel
Of Hakon, god of the bright steel,—
The sun-god, whose bright rays, that dart
Flame-like, are swords that pierce the heart.
Well I remember how the King
Hakon, the battle's life and spring,
O'er the wide ocean cleared away
Eric's brave sons. They durst not stay,
But round their ships' sides hung their shields,
And fled across the blue sea-fields."

King Hakon returned then northwards to Norway, but Eric's sons remained a long time in Denmark.

Chapter XXI.
King Hakon's laws.

King Hakon after this battle made a law, that all inhabited land over the whole country along the seacoast, and as far back from it as the salmon swims up in the rivers, should be divided into ship-raths according to the districts; and it was fixed by law how many ships there should be from each district, and how great each should be, when the whole people were called out on service. For this outfit the whole inhabitants should be bound, whenever a foreign army came to the country. With this came also the order that beacons should be erected upon the hills, so that every man could see from the one to the other; and it is told that a war-signal could thus be given in seven days, from the most southerly beacon to the most northerly Thing-seat in Halogaland.

Chapter. XXII.
Concerning Eric's sons.

Eric's sons plundered much on the Baltic coasts, and sometimes, as before related, in Norway; but so long as Hakon ruled over Norway there was in general good peace, and good seasons, and he was the most beloved of kings. When Iiakon had reigned about twenty years in Norway, Eric's sons came from Denmark with a powerful army, of which a great part consisted of the people who had followed them on their expeditions; but a still greater army of Danes had been placed at their disposal by King Harald Gormson. They sailed with a fair wind from Yindesyssel^[27], and came to Agder; and then sailed north¬ wards, night and day, along the coast. But the beacons were not fired, because it had been usual to look for them lighted from the east onwards, and nobody had observed them from the east coast; and besides King Hakon had set heavy penalties for giving false alarm, by lighting the beacons without occasion. The reason of this was, that ships of war and vikings cruised about and plundered among the outlying islands, and the country people took them for Eric's sons, and lighted the beacons, and set the whole country in trouble and dread of war. Sometimes, no doubt, the sons of Eric were there; but having only their own troop, and no Danish army with them, they returned to Denmark; and sometimes these were only small vikings. King Hakon was very angry at this, because it cost both trouble and money to no purpose. The bonders also suffered by these false alarms when they were given uselessly; and thus it happened that no news of this expedition of Eric's sons circulated through the land until they had come as far north as Ulvesound, where they lay for seven days. Then spies set off across the upper neck of land and northwards to More. King Hakon was at that time in the island Ersede, in North More, at a place called Birkestrand, where he had a dwelling-house, and had no troops with him, only his bodyguard or court, and the neighbouring bonders he had invited to his house.

Chapter XXIII.
Of Egil Ullsrerk.

The spies came to King Hakon, and told him that Eric's sons, with a great army, lay just to the south of Stad. Then he called together the most understanding of the men about him, and asked their opinion, whether he should fight with Eric's sons, although they had such a great multitude with them, or should set off northwards to gather together more men. Now there was a bonder there, by name Egil Ullsserk, who was a very old man, but in former days had been strong and stout beyond most men, and a hardy man-at-arms withal, having long carried King Harald's banner. Egil answered thus to the king's speech,—" I was in several battles with thy father Harald the king, and he gave battle sometimes with many, sometimes with few people; but he always came off with victory. Never did I hear him ask counsel of his friends whether he should fly,—and neither shalt thou get any such counsel from us, king; but as we know we have a brave leader, thou shalt get a trusty following from us." Many others agreed with this speech, and the king himself declared he was most inclined to fight with such strength as they could gather. It was so determined. The king split up a war-arrow, which he sent off in all directions, and by that token a number of men was collected in all haste. Then said Egil Ullsaerk,—"At one time the peace had lasted so long I was afraid I might come to die the death of old age ^[28], within doors upon a bed of straw, although I would rather fall in battle following my chief. And now it may so turn out in the end as I wished it to be."

Chapter XXIV.
Battle at Fraadarberg.

Eric's sons sailed northwards around Stad, as soon as the wind suited; and when they had passed it, and heard where King Hakon was, they sailed to meet him. King Hakon had nine ships, with which he lay under Frgedarberg in Freyarsund; and Eric's sons had twenty ships, with which they brought up on the south side of the same cape, in Freyar Sound. King Hakon sent them a message, asking them to go upon the land; and telling them that he had hedged in with hazel boughs a place of combat at Rastarkalf, where there is a flat large field, at the foot of a long and rather low ridge. Then Eric's sons left their ships, and went northwards over the neck of land within Ersedarberg, and onward to Kastarkalf. Then Egil asked King Hakon to give him ten men with ten banners, and the king did so. Then Egil went with his men under the ridge; but King Hakon went out upon the open field with his army, and set up his banner, and drew up his army, saying, "Let us draw up in a long line, that they may not surround us, as they have the most men." And so it was done; and there was a severe battle, and a very sharp attack. Then Egil Ullsserk set up the ten banners he had with him, and placed the men who carried them so that they should go as near the summit of the ridge as possible, and leaving a space between each of them. They went so near the summit that the banners could be seen over it, and moved on as if they were coming behind the army of Eric's sons. Now when the men who stood uppermost in the line of the troops of Eric's sons saw so many hying banners advancing high over the edge of the ridge, they supposed a great force must be following, who would come behind their army, and between them and their ships. They made each other acquainted with what was going on in a loud shout, and the whole took to flight; and when the kings saw it, they fed with the rest. King Hakon now pushes on briskly with his people, pursuing the flying, and killing many.

Chapter XXVI.
King Gamle and Ullsærk fall.

When Gamle Ericsson came up the ridge of the Chapter hill he turned round, and he observed that not more 0f King people were following than his men had been engaged Gain|ep the with already, and he saw it was but a stratagem of war; so he ordered the war-horns to be blown, his banner to be set up, and he put his men in battle order. On this, all his Northmen stood, and turned with him, but the Danes fled to the ships; and when King Hakon and his men came thither, there was again a sharp conflict; but now Hakon had most people. At last the Eric's sons' force fled, and took the road south about the hill; but a part of their army retreated upon the hill southwards, followed by King Hakon. There is a flat field east of the ridge which runs westward along the range of hills, and is bounded on its west side by a steep ridge. Gamle's men retreated towards this ground; but Hakon followed so closely that he killed some, and others ran west over the ridge, and were killed on that side of it. King Hakon did not part with them till the last man of them was killed.

Chapter XXVI.
King Gamle and Ullsærk fall.

Gamle Ericsson fled from the ridge down upon the plain to the south of the hill. There he turned himself again, and waited until more people gathered to him. All his brothers, and many troops of their men, assembled there. Egil Ullsserk was in front, and in advance of Hakon's men, and made a stout attack. He and King Gamle exchanged blows with each other, and King Gamle got a grievous wound;but Egil fell, and many people with him. Then came Hakon the king with the troops which had followed him, and a new battle began. King Hakon pushed on, cutting down men on both sides of him, and killing the one upon the top of .the other. So sings Guttorm Sindre:—

"Scared, by the sharp swords' singing sound,
Brandished in air, the foe gave ground.
The boldest warrior cannot stand
Before King Hakon's conquering hand;
And the king's banner ever flies
Where the spear-forests thickest rise.
Altho' the king had gained of old
Enough of Freya's tears of gold,^[29]
He spared himself no more than tho'
He'd had no well-filled purse to show."^[30]

When Eric's sons saw their men falling all round, they turned and fled to their ships; but those who had sought the ships before had pushed off some of them from the land, while some of them were still hauled up and on the strand. Now the sons of Eric and their men plunged into the sea, and betook themselves to swimming. Gamle Ericsson was drowned; but the other sons of Eric reached their ships, and setsail with what men remained. They steered southwards to Denmark, where they stopped a while, very ill satisfied with their expedition.

Chapter XXVII.
Egil Ullscerk's burial-ground.

King Hakon took all the ships of the sons of Eric that had been left upon the strand, and had them drawn quite up, and brought on the land. Then he ordered that Egil Ullseerk, and all the men of his army who had fallen, should he laid in the ships, and covered entirely over with earth and stones. King Hakon made many of the ships to be drawn up to the field of battle, and the hillocks over them are to be seen to the present day a little to the south of Freydarberg. At the time when King Hakon was killed, when Glum Geirason, in his song, boasted of King Hakon's fall, Eyvind Skaldaspiller composed these verses on this battle: —

"Our dauntless king with Gamle's gore
Sprinkled his bright sword o'er and o'er;
Sprinkled the gag that holds the mouth
Of the fell demon Fenri's wolf.^[31]
Proud swelled our warriors' hearts when he
Drove Eric's sons out to the sea,
With all their Gotland host: hut now
Our warriors weep—Hakon lies low!"

Chapter XXVIII.
News of war comes to King Hakon.

High standing stones^[32]mark Egil Ullsserk's grave. When King Hakon, Athelstan's foster-son, had been king for twenty-six years after his brother Eric had left the country, it happened that he was at a feast in the house of Fitiar at Stord, and he had with him at the feast his court and many of the peasants. And just as the king was seated at the supper-table, his watchmen who were outside observed many ships coming sailing along from the south, and not very far from the island. Now, said the one to the other, they should inform the king that they thought an armed force was coming against them; but none thought it advisable to be the bearer of an alarm of war to the king, as be bad set heavy penalties on those who raised such alarms falsely, yet they thought it unsuitable that the king should remain in ignorance of what they saw.^[33] Then one of them went into the room and asked Eyvind Finsson to come out as fast as possible, for it was very needful. Eyvind immediately came out, and went to where he could see the ships, and saw directly that a great army was on the way; and he returned in all haste into the room, and, placing himself before the king, said, " Short is the hour for acting, and long the hour for feasting." The king cast his eyes upon him, and said, u What now is in the way?" Eyvind said —

"Up, king! the avengers are at hand!
Eric's bold sons approach the land!
The judgment of the sword they crave
Against their foe. Thy wrath I brave;
Tho' well I know 'tis no light thing
To bring war-tidings to the king,
And tell him 'tis no time to rest.
Up! gird your armour to your breast:
Thy honour's dearer than my life;
Therefore I say, up to the strife!"

Then said the king, " Thou art too brave a fellow, Eyvind, to bring us any false alarm of war." The others all said it was a true report. The king ordered the tables to be removed, and then he went out to look at the ships; and when it could be clearly seen that these were ships of war, the king asked his men what resolution they should take—whether to give battle with the men they had, or go on board ship and sail away northwards along the land. "For it is easy to see," said he, "that we must now fight against a much greater force than we ever had against us before; although we thought just the same the last time we fought against Gunhild's sons."! No one was in a hurry to give an answer to the king; but at last Eyvind replied to the king's speech:—

"Thou who in the battle-plain
Hast often poured the sharp spear-rain!
Ill it beseems our warriors brave
To fly upon the ocean wave:
To fly upon the blue wave north,
When Harald from the south comes forth,
With many a ship riding in pride
Upon the foaming ocean-tide;
With many a ship and southern viking,—
Let us take shield in hand, brave king!"

The king replied, "Thy counsel, Eyvind, is manly, and after my own heart; but I will hear the opinion of others upon this matter." Now as the king's men thought they discerned what way the king was inclined to take, they answered that they would rather fall bravely and like men, than fly before the Danes; adding, that they had often gained the victory against greater odds of numbers. The king thanked them for their resolution, and bade them arm themselves; and all the men did so. The king put on his armour, and girded on his sword Quernbiter, and put a gilt helmet upon his head, and took a spear in his hand, and a shield by his side. He then drew up his courtmen and the bonders in one body, and set up his banner.

Chapter XXIX.
The armament of Eric's sons.

After Gamle's death King Harald, Eric's son, was the chief of the brothers, and he had a great army with him from Denmark. In their army were also their mother's brothers,—Eyvind Skreya, and AlfAskmand, both strong and able men, and great man-slayers. The sons of Eric brought up with their ships off the island, and it is said that their force was not less than six to one,—so much stronger in men were Eric's sons.

Chapter XXX.
King Hakon's battle array.

When King Hakon had drawn np his men, it is told of him that he threw off his armour before the battle began. So sings Eyvind Skaldaspiller:—

"They found Biorne's brother^[34] bold
Under his banner as of old,
Ready for battle. Foes advance,—
The front rank raise the shining lance;
And now begins the bloody fray!
Now! now begins Hildur's wild play!^[35]
Our noble king, whose name strikes fear
Into each Danish heart,—whose spear
Has single-handed spilt the blood
Of many a Danish noble,—stood
Beneath his helmet's eagle wing^[36]
Amidst his guards; but the brave king
Scorned to wear armour, while his men
Bared naked breasts against the rain
Of spear and arrow. Off he flung
His coat of mail, his breast-plate rung
Against the stones; and, blithe and gay,
He rushed into the thickest fray.
With golden helm, and naked breast,
Brave Hakon played at slaughter's feast."

King Hakon selected willingly such men for his guard or court-men as were distinguished for their strength and bravery, as his father King Harald also used to do; and among these was Thoralf Skolinson the Strong, who went on one side of the king. He had helmet and shield, spear and sword; and his sword was called by the name of Footbreadth. It was said that Thoralf and King Hakon were equal in strength. Thord Siarekson speaks of it in the poem he composed concerning Thoralf: —

"The king's men went with merry words
To the sharp clash of shields and swords,
When these wild rovers of the sea
At Fitiar fought. Stout Thoralf he Next to the Northmen's hero came.
Scattering wide round the battle flame
For in the storm of shields not one
Ventured like him with brave Hakon."

When both lines met there was a hard combat, and much bloodshed. The combatants threw their spears, and then drew their swords. Then King Hakon, and Thoralf with him, went in advance of the banner, cutting down on both sides of them. So says Eyvind Skaldaspiller: —

"The body-coats of linked steel,
The woven iron coats of mail,
Like water fly before the swing
Of Hakon's sword—the champion-king.
About each Gotland war-man's head
Helm splits, like ice beneath the tread,
Cloven by the axe or sharp sword-blade.
The brave king, foremost in the fight,
Dyes crimson-red the spotless white
Of his bright shield with foemen's gore,—
Amidst the battle wild uproar,
Wild pealing round from shore to shore."

Chapter XXXI.
The fall of Eyvind Skreya and of Alf Askmand.

King Hakon was very conspicuous among other men, and also when the sun shone his helmet glanced, and thereby many weapons were directed at him. Then Eyvind Finnson took a hat and put it over the king's helmet. Now Eyvind Skreya called out, "Does the king of the Horsemen hide himself, or has he fled? Where is now the golden helmet? " Then Eyvind, and his brother Alf with him, pushed on like fools or mad-men. The king said, " Come on as ye are coming, and ye will find the king of the Norsemen." So says Eyvind Skaldaspiller:—

"The raiser of the storm of shields,
The conqueror in battle fields,—
Hakon the brave, the warrior's friend,
Who scatters gold with liberal hand,
Heard Skreya's taunt, and saw him rush
Amidst the sharp spears' thickest push,
And loudly shouted in reply —
'If thou wilt for the victory try,
The Norseman's king thou soon shalt find!
Hold onwards, friend! Hast thou a mind?'"

It was also but a short space of time before Eyvind did come up swinging his sword, and made a cut at the king; but Thoralf thrust his shield so hard against Eyvind that he tottered with the shock. Now the king takes his sword Quernbiter with both hands, and hewed Eyvind through helm and head, and clove him down to the shoulders. Thoralf also slew Alf Askmand. So says Eyvind Skaldaspiller:—

" With both his hands the gallant king
Swung round his sword, and to the chin
Clove Eyvind down: his faithless mail
Against it could no more avail,
Than the thin plank against the shock
When the ship's side beats on the rock.
By his bright sword with golden haft
Thro' helm, and head, and hair, was cleft
The Danish champion; and amain,
With terror smitten, fled his men."

After this fall of the two brothers, King Hakon pressed on so hard that all men gave way before his assault. Now fear came over the army of Eric's sons, and the men began to fly; and King Hakon, who was at the head of his men, pressed on the flying, and hewed down oft and hard. Then flew an arrow, one of the kind called flein, into Hakon's arm, into the muscles below the shoulder; and it is said by many people that Gunhild's shoe-boy, whose name was Kisping, ran out and forwards amidst the confusion of arms, and called out "Make room for the kingkiller." Others again say that nobody could tell who shot the king, which is indeed the most likely; for spears, arrows, and all kinds of missiles flew as thick as a snow-drift. Many of the people of Eric's sons were killed, both on the field of battle and on the way to the ships, and also on the strand, and many threw themselves into the water. Many also, among whom were Eric's sons, got on board their ships, and rowed away as fast as they could, and Hakon's men after them. So says Thord Siarekson:—

"The wolf, the murderer, and the thief,
Fled from before the people's chief:
Few breakers of the peace grew old
Under the Northmen's king so hold.
When gallant Hakon lost his life
Black was the day, and dire the strife.
It was had work for Gunhild's sons,
Leading their pack of hungry Danes
From out the south, to have to fly,
And many a bonder leave to die,
Leaning his heavy wounded head
On the oar-bench for feather-bed,
Thoralf was nearest to the side
Of gallant Hakon in the tide
Of battle; his the sword that best
Carved out the raven's bloody feast:
Amidst the heaps of foemen slain,
He was named bravest on the plain."

Chapter XXXII.
Hakon's death.

When King Hakon came out to his ship he had his wound bound up; but the blood ran from it so much and so constantly, that it could not be stopped; and when the day was drawing to an end his strength began to leave him. Then he told his men that he wanted to go northwards to his house at Alrekstad^[37]; but when he came north, as far as Hakon's Hill^[38], they put in towards the land, for by this time the king was almost lifeless. Then he called his friends around him, and told them what he wished to be done with regard to his kingdom. He had only one child, a daughter, called Thora, and had no son. Now he told them to send a message to Eric's sons, that they should be kings over the country; but asked them to hold his friends in respect and honour. u And if fate," added he, " should prolong my life, I will, at any rate, leave the country, and go to a Christian land, and do penance for what I have done against God; but should I die in heathen land, give me any burial you think fit." Shortly afterwards Hakon expired, at the little hill on the shoreside at which he was born. So great was the sorrow over Hakon's death, that he was lamented both by friends and enemies; and they said that never again would Norway see such a king. His friends removed his body to Seaheim ^[39], in North Hordaland, and made a great mound, in which they laid the king in full armour and in his best clothes, but with no other goods. They spoke over his grave, as heathen people are used to do, and wished him inYalhalla. Eyvind Skaldaspiller composed a poem on the death of King Hakon, and on how well he was received in Valhalla. The poem is called " Hakonarmal: " —

"In Odin's hall an empty place
Stands for a king of Yngve's race;
Go, my valkyriars,' Odin said,
Go forth, my angels of the dead,
Gondul and Skogul, to the plain
Drenched with the battle's bloody rain,
And to the dying Hakon tell,
Here in Valhalla he shall dwell.'
At Stord, so late a lonely shore,

"Was heard the battle's wild uproar;
The lightning of the flashing sword
Burned fiercely at the shore of Stord.
From levelled halberd and spear-head
Life-blood was dropping fast and red;
And the keen arrows' biting sleet
Upon the shore at Stord fast heat.

"Upon the thundering cloud of shield
Flashed bright the sword-storm o'er the field;
And on the plate-mail rattled loud
The arrow-shower's rushing cloud,
In Odin's tempest-weather, there
Swift whistling through the angry air;
And the spear-torrent swept away
Ranks of brave men from light of day.

"With batter'd shield, and hlood-smear'd sword,
Sits one beside the shore at Stord,
With armour crushed and gashed sits he,
A grim and ghastly sight to see;
And round about in sorrow stand
The warriors of his gallant hand:
Because the king of Doglin's race
In Odin's hall must fill a place.

"Then up spake Gondul, standing near.
Resting upon his long ash spear,—
'Hakon! the gods' cause prospers well,
And thou in Odin's halls shalt dwell!'
The king beside the shore of Stord
The speech of the valkyriar heard,
Who sat there on his coal-black steed,
With shield on arm and helm on head.

"Thoughtful, said Hakon, 'Tell me why,
Ruler of battles, victory
Is so dealt out on Stord's red plain?
Have we not well deserved to gain?'
'And is it not as well dealt out?'
Said Gondul. 'Hearest thou not the shou?
The field is cleared—the foemen run —
The day is ours—the battle wo!'

"Then Skogul said, 'My coal-black steed,
Home to the gods I now must speed,
To their green home, to tell the tiding
That Hakon's self is thither riding.'
To Her mod and to Braga then
Said Odin, 'Here, the first of men,
Brave Hakon comes, the Norsemen's king,—
Go forth, my welcome to him bring.'

"Fresh from the battle-field came in,
Dripping with blood, the Norsemen's king.
'Methinks,' said he, 'great Odin's will
Is harsh, and bodes me further ill:
Thy son from off the field to-day
From victory to snatch away!'
But Odin said, 'Be thine the joy
Valhalla gives, my own brave boy!'

"And Braga said, 'Eight brothers here
Welcome thee to Valhalla's cheer,
To drain the cup, or fights repeat
Where Hakon Eric's earls beat.'
Quoth the stout king, 'And shall my gear,
Helm, sword, and mail-coat, axe and spear,
Be still at hand? 'Tis good to hold
Fast by our trusty friends of old.'

"Well was it seen that Hakon still
Had saved the temples from all ill;^[40]
For the whole council of the gods
Welcomed the king to their abodes.
Happy the day when men are horn
Like Hakon, who all base things scorn,—
Win from the brave an honoured name,
And die amidst an endless fame.

"Sooner shall Fenri's wolf^[41] devour
The race of man from shore to shore,
Than such a grace to kingly crown
As gallant Hakon want renown.
Life, land, friends, riches, all will fly,
And we in slavery shall sigh.^[42]
But Hakon in the blessed abodes
For ever lives with the bright gods."

1. Hakon the Good, Athelstan's foster-son, reigned from about the year 937 to the year 961.
2. This reference to a Thing appears from the saga to have been necessary, whatever the claim from hereditary right by succession may have been to the kingdom.
3. The policy of Harald Haarfager had evidently been to introduce the feudal system into his kingdom, and it failed by his sons requiring their udal right to equal shares in the kingdom.
4. Tryggve and Gudrod were grandsons of Haarfager.
5. Grimsbæ is no doubt Grimsby. Haukfliot is not now the name of any place known generally.
6. According to the Saxon Chronicle, Athelstan died in the year 941, after a reign of fourteen years and ten weeks. Florence of Whitehorn, who lived about the year 1110, places his death in 940, after a reign of sixteen years.
7. Jatmund, Edmund, Eadmund, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,—a difference in pronunciation of the same name.
8. England is applied to the parts occupied by the Anglo-Saxons, and Bretland to the parts occupied by the Welsh and ancient Britons.
9. This battle, according to the Saxon Chronicle, took place 944. It mentions the fall of a Regenald—Rognvald—and an Aulaf.
10. The sea-horse, the ocean steed, &c., are common expressions for a ship,—probably from many having had the figure-head of a horse on the bow.
11. Halland was part of the present Sweden. Denmark extended over the provinces of Scania, Halland, and Bleiking, on the north or Swedish side of the Sound, in the earliest times, and down to a late period.
12. Vendland and Vender mean the country and people along the Baltic coast from Saxland and Holstein eastwards; and seems to have included Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and Prussia on the Baltic.
13. Viken, the country north of the Gotha river, forming the great bight of the coast of Norway.
14. Scania, on the Swedish side of the Sound, was called Denmark, as well as the islands and Jutland.
15. The dwarf Onar was the husband of Night, and Earth was their daughter.
16. Figurative expressions for ships.
17. Setting the child on the knee of the foster-father appears to have been the symbol of adoption.
18. Owing to the different means of subsistence in so vast an extent of country, each of the five great Law Things appears to have had laws suitable for its own locality; and the District Things, with their lagman, to have administered these laws.
19. Drontheim here, and in all the sagas, means not the present town of Drontheim, which was not founded until Olaf Trygvesson's reign, and is always called Nidaros,—that is, the mouth of the river Nid,—and sometimes, as if contemptuously, the Kiopstad, the merchant town; but Drontheim means the whole district on each side of the Drontheim fiord, which is 120 miles in length.
20. A maling, or meat is a measure of grain still used in Orkney.
21. Hoggn nott, or mid-win ter night at which the Yule of Odin worshippers began, is supposed by Olavius to have taken its name from the slaughtering, hogging, or hewing down cattle on that night for the festival. Hogmaney night is still the name in Edinburgh for the first night of Yule among the common people.
22. The braga-goblet, over which vows were made.
23. Our yea. The assent of the people in old times to the laws and the power of the Froste Thing, are as well defined as in our Parliament in this speech.
24. This eating of horse-flesh at these religious festivals was considered the most direct proof of paganism in the following times, and was punished by death or mutilation by Saint Olaf. It was a ceremony apparently commemorative of their Asiatic origin and ancestors. In Norway, or in Iceland, where horse-flesh also was eaten at these pagan festivals, the horse is not an animal that could ever have been in common use for food, as in the plains of Asia; because it cannot, as in Asia, he easily reared and subsisted. This is perhaps the strongest proof of the truth of the saga tradition of Odin having come into Scandinavia from the hanks of the Don—the Tanais.
25. Eric's sons are often called Gunhild's sons, from their mother.
26. Easter Agder appears to have been the district up to Christian-sand; and West or North Agder from thence to about Flikkefiord.
27. The end of Jutland, to the north of Lymfiord.
28. In all the sagas of this pagan time, the dying on a bed of sickness is mentioned as a kind of derogatory end of a man of any celebrity.
29. Freya's husband was Odd; and her tears, when she wept at the long absence of her husband, were tears of gold. Odd's wife's tears is the scald's expression here for gold—understood, no doubt, as readily as any allusion to Plutus would convey the equivalent meaning in modern poetry.
30. Wealth, the acquisition of wealth, appears then to have been the stimulus to enteiprise, as much as in our times; and wealth gained, and liberally used, the great subject of the scalds' praises.
31. The Wolf of Fenri, one of the children of Lok begotten with a giantess, was chained to a rock, and gagged by a sword placed in his mouth, to.prevent him devouring mankind. Fenri's wolf's-gag is a scaldic expression for a sword.
32. The stones set on end in the ground, and 10 or 12 feet high or more, are called standing stones in the Orkney Isles, and other places held by the Scandinavians; and the oblong tumuli found on the coast have very probably been cast over small ships turned bottom up over the bodies of the slain, as described in this chapter, and are called ship mounds, to distinguish them from other mounds, by the Norwegian antiquaries.
33. A curious instance of the discipline and deference for the king of these Northmen, and which accounts for their success against the people they invaded, and is also singularly in contrast with what follows—the reference by the king to his men for approving his plan of giving battle, and not retreating. This strict discipline and freedom united accounts for the success of their predatory expeditions.
34. King Hakon.
35. Hildur's play was battle,
36. The helm was adorned with eagle's feathers, or with the figure of an eagle.
37. Alrekstad is now called Aarstad, in the neighbourhood of Bergen.
38. Hakon's Hill is now called Hoakhella,—the hill or hella on the mainland south of Alviste, in Asko parish.
39. At Sseheimr, now Sem, in a parish north of Bergen, the mound is still remaining, and called Hakon's. This battle at Stord and Hakon's death took place in 963, according to Schoning.
40. Hakon, although a Christian, appears to have favoured the old religion, and spared the temples of Odin; and therefore a place in Valhalla is assigned him.
41. The wolf of Fenri is kept in chains and gagged with a sword until the end of the world, when he is to devour mankind.
42. This is supposed to allude to the successor of Hakon, one of Eric's sons, whose government was tyrannical and disliked.