Heimskringla, or the Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Part 16

25. OLAF TRYGVASON'S WAR EXPEDITION.

Olaf Trygvason had been all winter (A.D. 980) in Vindland, as before related, and went the same winter to the baronies in Vindland which had formerly been under Queen Geira, but had withdrawn themselves from obedience and payment of taxes. There Olaf made war, killed many people, burnt out others, took much property, and laid all of them under subjection to him, and then went back to his castle. Early in spring Olaf rigged out his s.h.i.+ps and set off to sea. He sailed to Skane and made a landing. The people of the country a.s.sembled, and gave him battle; but King Olaf conquered, and made a great booty. He then sailed eastward to the island of Gotland, where he captured a merchant vessel belonging to the people of Jamtaland. They made a brave defence; but the end of it was that Olaf cleared the deck, killed many of the men, and took all the goods. He had a third battle in Gotland, in which he also gained the victory, and made a great booty. So says Halfred Vandredaskald:--

"The king, so fierce in battle-fray, First made the Vindland men give way: The Gotlanders must tremble next; And Scania's sh.o.r.es are sorely vexed By the sharp pelting arrow shower The hero and his warriors pour; And then the Jamtaland men must fly, Scared by his well-known battle-cry."

26. OTTA AND HAKON IN BATTLE.

The Emperor Otta a.s.sembled a great army from Saxland, Frakland, Frisland, and Vindland. King Burizleif followed him with a large army, and in it was his son-in-law, Olaf Trygvason. The emperor had a great body of hors.e.m.e.n, and still greater of foot people, and a great army from Holstein. Harald, the Danish king, sent Earl Hakon with the army of Northmen that followed him southwards to Danavirke, to defend his kingdom on that side. So it is told in the "Vellekla":--

"Over the foaming salt sea spray The Norse sea-horses took their way, Racing across the ocean-plain Southwards to Denmark's green domain.

The gallant chief of Hordaland Sat at the helm with steady hand, In casque and s.h.i.+eld, his men to bring From Dovre to his friend the king.

He steered his war-s.h.i.+ps o'er the wave To help the Danish king to save Mordalf, who, with a gallant band Was hastening from the Jutes' wild land, Across the forest frontier rude, With toil and pain through the thick wood.

Glad was the Danish king, I trow, When he saw Hakon's galley's prow.

The monarch straightway gave command To Hakon, with a steel-clad band, To man the Dane-work's rampart stout, And keep the foreign foemen out."

The Emperor Otta came with his army from the south to Danavirke, but Earl Hakon defended the rampart with his men. The Dane-work (Danavirke) was constructed in this way:--Two fjords run into the land, one on each side; and in the farthest bight of these fjords the Danes had made a great wall of stone, turf, and timber, and dug a deep and broad ditch in front of it, and had also built a castle over each gate of it. There was a hard battle there, of which the "Vellekla" speaks:--

"Thick the storm of arrows flew, Loud was the din, black was the view Of close array of s.h.i.+eld and spear Of Vind, and Frank, and Saxon there.

But little recked our gallant men; And loud the cry might be heard then Of Norway's brave sea-roving son-- 'On 'gainst the foe! On! Lead us on!"

Earl Hakon drew up his people in ranks upon all the gate-towers of the wall, but the greater part of them he kept marching along the wall to make a defence wheresoever an attack was threatened. Many of the emperor's people fell without making any impression on the fortification, so the emperor turned back without farther attempt at an a.s.sault on it. So it is said in the "Vellekla":--

"They who the eagle's feast provide In ranked line fought side by side, 'Gainst lines of war-men under s.h.i.+elds Close packed together on the fields, Earl Hakon drive by daring deeds The Saxons to their ocean-steeds; And the young hero saves from fall The Danavirke--the people's wall."

After this battle Earl Hakon went back to his s.h.i.+ps, and intended to sail home to Norway; but he did not get a favourable wind, and lay for some time outside at Limafjord.

27. HARALD AND HAKON ARE BAPTIZED.

The Emperor Otta turned back with his troops to Slesvik, collected his s.h.i.+ps of war, and crossed the fjord of Sle into Jutland. As soon as the Danish king heard of this he marched his army against him, and there was a battle, in which the emperor at last got the victory. The Danish king fled to Limafjord and took refuge in the island Ma.r.s.ey. By the help of mediators who went between the king and the emperor, a truce and a meeting between them were agreed on. The Emperor Otta and the Danish king met upon Ma.r.s.ey. There Bishop Poppo instructed King Harald in the holy faith; he bore red hot irons in his hands, and exhibited his unscorched hands to the king. Thereafter King Harald allowed himself to be baptized, and also the whole Danish army. King Harald, while he was in Ma.r.s.ey, had sent a message to Hakon that he should come to his succour; and the earl had just reached the island when the king had received baptism. The king sends word to the earl to come to him, and when they met the king forced the earl to allow himself also to be baptized. So Earl Hakon and all the men who were with him were baptized; and the king gave them priests and other learned men with them, and ordered that the earl should make all the people in Norway be baptized.

On that they separated; and the earl went out to sea, there to wait for a wind.

28. HAKON RENOUNCES CHRISTIANITY.

When a wind came with which he thought he could get clear out to sea, he put all the learned men on sh.o.r.e again, and set off to the ocean; but as the wind came round to the south-west, and at last to west, he sailed eastward, out through Eyrarsund, ravaging the land on both sides. He then sailed eastward along Skane, plundering the country wherever he came. When he got east to the skerries of East Gautland, he ran in and landed, and made a great blood-sacrifice. There came two ravens flying which croaked loudly; and now, thought the earl, the blood-offering has been accepted by Odin, and he thought good luck would be with him any day he liked to go to battle. Then he set fire to his s.h.i.+ps, landed his men, and went over all the country with armed hand. Earl Ottar, who ruled over Gautland, came against him, and they held a great battle with each other; but Earl Hakon gained the day, and Earl Ottar and a great part of his men were killed. Earl Hakon now drove with fire and sword over both the Gautlands, until he came into Norway; and then he proceeded by land all the way north to Throndhjem. The "Vellekla" tells about this:--

"On the silent battle-field, In viking garb, with axe and s.h.i.+eld, The warrior, striding o'er the slain, Asks of the G.o.ds 'What days will gain?'

Two ravens, flying from the east, Come croaking to the b.l.o.o.d.y feast: The warrior knows what they foreshow-- The days when Gautland blood will flow.

A viking-feast Earl Hakon kept, The land with viking fury swept, Harrying the land far from the sh.o.r.e Where foray ne'er was known before.

Leaving the barren cold coast side, He raged through Gautland far and wide,-- Led many a gold-decked viking s.h.i.+eld O'er many a peaceful inland field.

Bodies on bodies Odin found Heaped high upon each battle ground: The moor, as if by witchcraft's power, Grows green, enriched by b.l.o.o.d.y shower.

No wonder that the G.o.ds delight To give such luck in every fight To Hakon's men--for he restores Their temples on our Norway sh.o.r.es."

29. THE EMPEROR OTTA RETURNS HOME.

The Emperor Otta went back to his kingdom in the Saxon land, and parted in friends.h.i.+p with the Danish king. It is said that the Emperor Otta stood G.o.dfather to Svein, King Harald's son, and gave him his name; so that he was baptized Otta Svein. King Harald held fast by his Christianity to his dying day.

King Burizleif went to Vindland, and his son-in-law King Olaf went with him. This battle is related also by Halfred Vandredaskald in his song on Olaf:--

"He who through the foaming surges His white-winged ocean-coursers urges, Hewed from the Danes, in armour dressed, The iron bark off mail-clad breast."

30. OLAF'S JOURNEY FROM VINDLAND.

Olaf Trygvason was three years in Vindland (A.D. 982-984) when Geira his queen fell sick, and she died of her illness. Olaf felt his loss so great that he had no pleasure in Vindland after it. He provided himself, therefore, with wars.h.i.+ps, and went out again a plundering, and plundered first in Frisland, next in Saxland, and then all the way to Flaemingjaland (Flanders). So says Halfred Vandredaskald:--

"Olaf's broad axe of s.h.i.+ning steel For the shy wolf left many a meal.

The ill-shaped Saxon corpses lay Heaped up, the witch-wife's horses' (1) prey.

She rides by night: at pools of blood.

Where Frisland men in daylight stood, Her horses slake their thirst, and fly On to the field where Flemings lie.

The raven-friend in Odin's dress-- Olaf, who foes can well repress, Left Flemish flesh for many a meal With his broad axe of s.h.i.+ning steel."

ENDNOTES: (1) Ravens were the witches' horses.--L.

31. KING OLAF'S FORAYS.

Thereafter Olaf Trygvason sailed to England, and ravaged wide around in the land. He sailed all the way north to Northumberland, where he plundered; and thence to Scotland, where he marauded far and wide.

Then he went to the Hebrides, where he fought some battles; and then southwards to Man, where he also fought. He ravaged far around in Ireland, and thence steered to Bretland, which he laid waste with fire and sword, and all the district called c.u.mberland. He sailed westward from thence to Valland, and marauded there. When he left the west, intending to sail to England, he came to the islands called the Scilly Isles, lying westward from England in the ocean. Thus tells Halfred Vandraskald of these events:--

The brave young king, who ne'er retreats, The Englishman in England beats.

Death through Northumberland is spread From battleaxe and broad spearhead.

Through Scotland with his spears he rides; To Man his glancing s.h.i.+ps he guides: Feeding the wolves where'er he came, The young king drove a b.l.o.o.d.y game.

The gallant bowmen in the isles Slew foemen, who lay heaped in piles.

The Irish fled at Olaf's name-- Fled from a young king seeking fame.

In Bretland, and in c.u.mberland, People against him could not stand: Thick on the fields their corpses lay, To ravens and howling wolves a prey."

Olaf Trygvason had been four years on this cruise (A.D. 985-988), from the time he left Vindland till he came to the Scilly Islands.