The Sagas of Olaf Tryggvason and of Harald The Tyrant (Harald Haardraade) Part 25

'An hundred King's own court-men The warrior had burned In hottest fire (to the men An eve of singeing was it).

'Tis said that the men 'Neath the wolf's claw must lie; Gray steed of the troll-quean Gave victuals to the swords.'

-- Thereon caused William himself to be proclaimed King of England, and thereafter sent he to Earl Walthiof proffering him peace & appointing a truce so that a meeting might take place betwixt them. The Earl fared to it with but few men, and when he was come on the heath north of the castle bridge two of the King's bailiffs advanced upon him with a band of men, and when they had taken him they put him in chains; thereafter he was beheaded.-- The English call him sainted. Thus saith Thorkel:

''Tis doubtless that manly Walthiof By William (he who from the south Across the chill main came) Is bewrayed in his trusting.

Sooth is that long 'twill be Ere ends the slaying of men In England (swift was my master.

No prince like him doth live).'

-- Afterwards lived William as King of England for one and twenty winters, and ever since have his descendants ruled as Kings of England.

-- Now Olaf the son to King Harald Sigurdson took his men and fared away from England, sailing forth from Ravenseer whence they came in autumn to the Orkneys, & there learned they the tidings that Maria the daughter of King Harald Sigurdson had died of a sudden death on the self-same day and in that same hour as her father King Harald had perished. Olaf tarried in the Orkneys the winter through but the summer thereafter fared he east to Norway, and was made King there together with his brother Magnus.

Queen Ellisif journeyed eastward with her step-son Olaf and her daughter Ingigerd.

Skuli also, he who was afterwards called King's-fosterer, & his brother Ketil Crook, likewise fared overseas with Olaf. The twain of them were doughty men, and n.o.ble in England, and both were very sage and well-beloved by the King. Ketil Crook fared northward to Halogaland and King Olaf gat him a good marriage, and from him are descended many great men. Skuli, King's-fosterer, was a wise and strong man, very fair to behold; he became captain of King Olaf's body-guard, lent his counsel at the Things, and ruled with the King in all governances of the land. King Olaf desired to give Skuli a province in Norway, whichever he was minded to have, with all the incomes and dues that the King held disposition over, but Skuli thanked him for this offer and said that he would liefer ask for other things because should there be a change of kings perchance the gift would be taken back: 'I will,' said he, 'accept certain domains which lie nigh to the towns, where ye, Sire, are wont to be, and where the Yule feasts are held.' So King Olaf gave him his word thereon, and made over to him lands in the east at Konungah.e.l.la, and at Oslo, at Tunsberg, at Borg, at Bergen, and in the north at Nidaros. They were nigh upon the best estates at each place, and they have ever since been the possessions of men of the lineage of Skuli.

King Olaf married Skuli to his kinswoman Gudrun Nefsteinsdotir, whose mother was Ingirid the daughter of King Sigurd Sow and his wife Asta.

Asta was own sister of King Olaf the Saint & of King Harald. The son of Skuli and Gudrun was Asolf of Reini who was wedded to Thora the daughter of Skopti Ogmundson. The son of Asolf and Thora was Guthorm of Reini, the father of Bard, the father of King Ingi and Duke Skuli.

-- On a winter after the fall of King Harald was his body transported from England to Nidaros and interred there in the Church of St. Mary, that selfsame church the which he himself had caused to be builded.

It was allowed by all that King Harald had exceeded other men in wisdom & resourcefulness, both when he had been fain to act swiftly or had debated long, either for himself or others. The most valiant of all men was he, and victorious withal, even as hath been set forth this while:

'The waster of Zealand's dwellers In boldness ne'er was lacking; Mind ruleth half of victory, And soothly Harald proveth it.'

-- King Harald was stately and goodly to behold, fair hair and a fair beard had he, and a long moustache; of his eyebrows the one was somewhat higher than the other, & he had large hands and feet, but either shapely. Five ells was he in stature. Towards his foes was he cruel, and when withstood revengeful. Thus saith Thiodolf:

'Sage Harald doth arrogance In his thanes chastise; Methinks the King's men bear But that which they mete out.

Such burdens bear they As for themselves they care to have (The law is used for each against the other); Thus doth Harald change revenge.'

-- King Harald vastly loved power & all worldly advantages, but towards his friends, even to those whom he liked well, was he very bountiful.

Thiodolf telleth us as followeth:

'Of s.h.i.+ps'-battle the awakener For my work a mark bestowed; To praise vouchsafeth he Each one who proveth him thereof worthy.'

-- King Harald was fifty years of age when he fell. We have no tales of count regarding his up-growing, or ever he was fifteen winters old and was at Stiklastad, in the battle, with his brother King Olaf. Thereafter lived he for five and thirty years, and during all that time had ever turmoil and strife. King Harald never fled from any battle, but oft-times sought he expedients when the odds of war were against him.

All men who followed him in battle or warfare avowed that when he found himself hard pressed or was obliged to make a swift resolution, he chose that course which afterwards all men saw to be the likeliest to avail.

-- Halldor, the son of Bryniolf the Camel, hight likewise the Old, was a wise man and a great lord, and thus spake he when he heard the conversation of men in respect to the very different natures of King Olaf the Saint and his brother King Harald.

'I was with both brothers,' said he, 'and high in favour, and I wotted the natures of both: never did I find two men so alike at heart. Both were very wise and valiant men, loving possessions and power, masterful, not lowly-hearted, overbearing, haughty, and quick to chastise. King Olaf constrained the people of the land to Christianity and the true Faith, but punished harshly those who turned a deaf ear to his commands.

The chiefs of the land who would not suffer his even-handed dispensation of justice rose up against him and slew him in his own land, and it is for that reason he is called saintly.

But King Harald harried for renown and dominion, bringing under his yoke all people that he could bring under it, and he fell in the land of other kings.

Both these brothers in normal life were men of religion and had regard for their honour; they were likewise travelled & vigorous in mind, & it is from such-like qualities that they waxed so far-famed.'

-- King Magnus Haraldson ruled Norway the first winter after the fall of King Harald, but thereafter ruled he the land for two winters together with his brother King Olaf, and there were then two kings together, Magnus having dominion in the northern half of the land & Olaf in the eastern half. King Magnus had a son who was hight Hakon & his foster-father was Steig-Thorir; a youth of promise was he.

-- After the death of King Harald Sigurdson, Svein, the Danish King, gave out that peace was at an end betwixt Norwegians and Danes, for the pact was made to endure only as long as both kings lived. So then were men mustered in both realms; King Harald's sons called out a general-host and s.h.i.+ps from Norway, and King Svein fared northward with the host of the Danes.

And so it was that messengers were thereafter despatched betwixt the kings with offers of peace, and the Norwegians said that they would either keep to the covenant which had been made aforetime or fight. For that reason the following verse was sung:

'With threats and words of peace Olaf his land defended, So that no one from the King Durst claim a right thereto.'

And thus saith Stein Herdason in the lay of Olaf:

'His heritage 'gainst Svein The warlike King defended In that merchant town where resteth (Great is he) the saintly King.'

-- But a compact was come to betwixt the kings at the time of this mustering, & peace ensued in the lands. King Magnus was afterwards stricken with a sickness, the rift-worm sickness, and when he had lain abed for some time died he at Nidaros, and there was buried. He was a King right well-beloved of all the people.

NOTES

These notes, with few exceptions, are taken from Professor Gustav Storm's Norwegian version of the Heimskringla, from which this translation of the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason and of Harald Hardrad (Harald the Tyrant) is made.

ETHEL H. HEARN.

[Transcriber's Note:

For this e-text, the word or phrase referenced in the note is shown in {braces} before the page-and-line citation. Moved markers are individually noted.

"Translator" refers to the English translation (the present text).]

{King Valdamar} Page 12, line 11. Vladimir the Great of Russia (980-1015) became Grand Duke of Novgorod in 970.

[Marker printed after "high favour" on following page.]

{'hersir'} Page 19, line 25. The head of a 'her,' _i.e._, a hundred families. The territory inhabited by them was called a 'herath.' The 'hersir' seems to have combined the offices of commander in time of war, and religious head of his tribe. --Translator.

{the Fjords} _Ibid._ Nordfiord and Sondfiord.

{war-fine} Page 20, line 1. Those who absented themselves when the s.h.i.+ps were called out for war, or who came to a wrong place of meeting, or at a wrong time, were compelled to pay a war-fine.