Part 53
"Fiona isle, once green and fair, Lies black and reeking through the air: The red fog rises, thick and hot, From burning farm and smouldering cot. The gaping thralls in terror gaze On the broad upward-spiring blaze, From thatched roofs and oak-built walls, Their murdered masters' stately halls.
"Svein's men, my girl, will not forget That thrice they have the Norsemen met, By sea, by land, with steel, with fire, Thrice have they felt the Norse king's ire. Fiona's maids are slim and fair, The lovely prizes, lads, we'll share: Some stand to arms in rank and row, Some seize, bring off, and fend with blow."
After this the people of Denmark submitted to King Magnus, and during the rest of the winter, there was peace. King Magnus then appointed some of his men to govern Denmark; and when spring was advanced he sailed northwards with his fleet to Norway, where he remained a great part of the summer.
34. BATTLE AT HELGANES
Now, when Svein heard that King Magnus had gone to Norway he rode straight down, and had many people out of Svithjod with him. The people of Scania received him well, and he again collected an army, with which he first crossed over into Seeland and seized upon it and Fyen, and all the other isles. When King Magnus heard of this he gathered together men and ships, and sailed to Denmark; and as soon as he knew where Svein was lying with his ships King Magnus sailed to meet him. They met at a place called Helganes, and the battle began about the fall of day. King Magnus had fewer men, but larger and better equipt vessels. So says Arnor, the earls' skald:--
"At Helganes--so goes the tale-- The brave wolf-feeder, under sail, Made many an ocean-elk (1) his prey, Seized many a ship ere break of day. When twilight fell he urged the fight, Close combat--man to man all night; Through a long harvest night's dark hours, Down poured the battle's iron showers."
The battle was very hot, and as night advanced the fall of men was great. King Magnus, during the whole night, threw hand-spears. Thiodolf speaks of this:--
"And there at Helganes sunk down, Sore wounded, men of great renown; And Svein's retainers lost all heart, Ducking before the flying dart. The Norsemen's king let fly his spears, His death-wounds adding to their fears; For each spear-blade was wet all o'er, Up to the shaft in their life-gore."
To make a short tale, King Magnus won the victory in this battle, and Svein fled. His ship was cleared of men from stem to stern; and it went so on board many others of his ships. So says Thiodolf:--
"Earl Svein fled from the empty deck, His lonely ship an unmann'd wreck; Magnus the Good, the people's friend, Pressed to the death on the false Svein. Hneiter (2), the sword his father bore, Was edge and point, stained red with gore; Swords sprinkle blood o'er armour bright,
When kings for land and power fight."
And Arnor says:--
"The cutters of Bjorn's own brother Soon changed their owner for another; The king took them and all their gear; The crews, however, got off clear."
A great number of Svein's men fell, and King Magnus and his men had a vast booty to divide. So says Thiodolf:--
"Where the Norsemen the Danish slew, A Gautland shield and breast-plate true Fell to my share of spoil by lot; And something more i' the south I got: (There all the summer swords were ringing) A helm, gay arms, and gear worth bringing, Home to my quiet lovely one I sent--with news how we had won."
Svein fled up to Scania with all the men who escaped with him; and King Magnus and his people drove the fugitives up through the country without meeting any opposition either from Svein's men or the bondes. So says Thiodolf:--
"Olaf's brave son then gave command, All his ships' crews should quickly land: King Magnus, marching at their head, A noble band of warriors led. A foray through the land he makes; Denmark in every quarter shakes. Up hill and down the horses scour, Carrying the Danes from Norsemen's power."
King Magnus drove with fire and sword through the land. So says Thiodolf:--
"And now the Norsemen storm along, Following their banner in a throng: King Magnus' banner flames on high, A star to guide our roaming by. To Lund, o'er Scania's peaceful field, My shoulder bore my useless shield; A fairer land, a better road, As friend or foe, I never trod."
They began to burn the habitations all around, and the people fled on every side. So says Thiodolf:--
"Our ice-cold iron in great store, Our arms, beside the king we bore: The Scanian rogues fly at the view Of men and steel all sharp and true. Their timbered houses flame on high, Red flashing over half the sky; The blazing town flings forth its light, Lighting the cowards on their flight."
And he also sang:--
"The king o'er all the Danish land Roams, with his fire-bringing band: The house, the hut, the farm, the town, All where men dwelt is burned down. O'er Denmark's plains and corn-fields, Meadows and moors, are seen our shields: Victorious over all, we chase Svein's wounded men from place to place.
"Across Fiona's moor again, The paths late trodden by our men We tread once more, until quite near, Through morning mist, the foes appear. Then up our numerous banners flare In the cold early morning air; And they from Magnus' power who fly Cannot this quick war-work deny."
Then Svein fled eastwards along Scania, and King Magnus returned to his ships, and steered eastwards also along the Scanian coast, having got ready with the greatest haste to sail. Thiodolf sings thus about it:--
"No drink but the salt sea On board our ships had we, When, following our king, On board our ships we spring. Hard work on the salt sea, Off Scania's coast, had we; But we laboured for the king, To his foemen death to bring."
Svein fled to Gautland, and then sought refuge with the Swedish king, with whom he remained all winter (A.D. 1046), and was treated with great respect.
ENDNOTES: (1) Ship.--L. (2) This was the name of Saint Olaf's sword, which Magnus had recovered.--L.
35. OF KING MAGNUS'S CAMPAIGN.
When King Magnus had subdued Scania he turned about, and first went to Falster, where he landed, plundered, and killed many people who had before submitted to Svein. Arnor speaks of this:--
"A bloody vengeance for their guile King Magnus takes on Falster Isle; The treacherous Danes his fury feel, And fall before his purpled steel. The battle-field is covered o'er, With eagle's prey from shore to shore; And the king's courtmen were the first To quench with blood the raven's thirst."
Thereafter Magnus with his fleet proceeded to the isle of Fyen, went on land, plundered, and made great devastation. So says Arnor, the earls' skald:--
"To fair Fiona's grassy shore His banner now again he bore: He who the mail-shirt's linked chains Severs, and all its lustre stains,-- He will be long remembered there, The warrior in his twentieth year, Whom their black ravens from afar Saluted as he went to war."
36. OF KING MAGNUS'S BATTLES.
King Magnus remained in Denmark all that winter (A.D. 1046), and sat in peace. He had held many battles, and had gained the victory in all. So says Od Kikinaskald:--
"'Fore Michaelmas was struck the blow, That laid the Vindland vikings low; And people learned with joy to hear The clang of arms, and leaders' cheer. Short before Yule fell out the day, Southward of Aros, where the fray, Though not enough the foe to quell, Was of the bloodiest men can tell."
And Arnor says:--
"Olaf's avenger who can sing? The skald cannot o'ertake the king, Who makes the war-bird daily drain The corpse-blood of his foemen slain. Four battles won within a year,-- Breaker of shields! with swords and spear, And hand to hand, exalt thy fame Above the kings of greatest name."
King Magnus had three battles with Svein Ulfson. So says Thiodolf:--
"To our brave Throndhjem sovereign's praise The skald may all his skaldcraft raise; For fortune, and for daring deed, His song will not the truth exceed. After three battles to regain What was his own, unjustly ta'en, Unjustly kept, and dues denied, He levied dues in red-blood dyed."
37. OF KING MAGNUS, AND THORFIN AND RAGNVALD, EARLS OF ORKNEY.
While King Magnus the Good, a son of King Olaf the Saint, ruled over Norway, as before related, the Earl Ragnvald Brusason lived with him. Earl Thorfin Sigurdson, the uncle of Ragnvald, ruled then over Orkney. King Magnus sent Ragnvald west to Orkney, and ordered that Thorfin should let him have his father's heritage. Thorfin let Ragnvald have a third part of the land along with him; for so had Erase, the father of Ragnvald, had it at his dying day. Earl Thorfin was married to Ingebjorg, the earl-mother, who was a daughter of Fin Arnason. Earl Ragnvald thought he should have two-thirds of the land, as Olaf the Saint had promised to his father Bruse, and as Bruse had enjoyed as long as Olaf lived. This was the origin of a great strife between these relations, concerning which we have a long saga. They had a great battle in Pentland Firth, in which Kalf Arnason was with Earl Thorfin. So says Bjarne Gullbrarskald:--
"Thy cutters, dashing through the tide, Brought aid to Earl Thorfin's side, Fin's son-in-law, and people say Thy aid made Bruse's son give way. Kalf, thou art fond of warlike toil, Gay in the strife and bloody broil; But here 'twas hate made thee contend Against Earl Ragnvald, the king's friend."
38. OF KING MAGNUS'S LETTER TO ENGLAND.
King Magnus ruled then both over Denmark and Norway; and when he had got possession of the Danish dominions he sent ambassadors over to England to King Edward, who brought to him King Magnus's letter and seal. And in this letter there stood, along with a salutation from King Magnus, these words:--"Ye must have heard of the agreement which I and Hardaknut made,--that he of us two who survived the other should have all the land and people which the deceased had possessed. Now it has so turned out, as ye have no doubt heard, that I have taken the Danish dominions as my heritage after Hardaknut. But before he departed this life he had England as well as Denmark; therefore I consider myself now, in consequence of my rights by this agreement, to own England also. Now I will therefore that thou deliver to me the kingdom; otherwise I will seek to take it by arms, both from Denmark and Norway; and let him rule the land to whom fate gives the victory."
39. KING EDWARD'S ANSWER TO KING MAGNUS'S LETTER.
Now when King Edward had read this letter, he replied thus: "It is known to all men in this country that King Ethelred, my father, was udal-born to this kingdom, both after the old and new law of inheritance. We were four sons after him; and when he by death left the throne my brother Edmund took the government and kingdom; for he was the oldest of us brothers, and I was well satisfied that it was so. And after him my stepfather, Canute the Great, took the kingdom, and as long as he lived there was no access to it. After him my brother Harald was king as long as he lived; and after him my brother Hardaknut took the kingdoms both of Denmark and England; for he thought that a just brotherly division that he should have both England and Denmark, and that I should have no kingdom at all. Now he died, and then it was the resolution of all the people of the country to take me for king here in England. So long as I had no kingly title I served only superiors in all respects, like those who had no claims by birth to land or kingdom. Now, however, I have received the kingly title, and am consecrated king. I have established my royal dignity and authority, as my father before me; and while I live I will not renounce my title. If King Magnus come here with an army, I will gather no army against him; but he shall only get the opportunity of taking England when he has taken my life. Tell him these words of mine." The ambassadors went back to King Magnus, and told him the answer to their message. King Magnus reflected a while, and answered thus: "I think it wisest, and will succeed best, to let King Edward have his kingdom in peace for me, and that I keep the kingdoms God has put into my hands."
SAGA OF HARALD HARDRADE.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
Harald, son of Sigurd Syr, was born in the year A.D. 1015, and left Norway A.D. 1030. He was called Hardrade, that is, the severe counsellor, the tyrant, though the Icelanders never applied this epithet to him. Harald helped the Icelanders in the famine of A.D. 1056, and sent them timber for a church at Thingvol. It was the Norwegians who gave him the name tyrant in contrast to the "debonairete" of Magnus. He came to Norway in A.D. 1046, and became sole king in A.D. 1047. He died in A.D. 1066, and his son and successor Magnus died in A.D. 1069.
His saga is to be compared with "Agrip", "Fagrskinna", and "Morkinskinna".
The skalds quoted are: Thiodolf, Bolverk, Illuge Bryndalaskald, Stuf the skald, Thorarin Skeggjason, Valgard o' Val, Od Kikinaskald, Grane Skald, Thorleik the Fair, Stein Herdison, Ulf the Marshal, Arnor the earls' skald, Thorkel Skallason, and King Harald Hardrade himself.
1. HARALD ESCAPES FROM THE BATTLE OF STIKLESTAD.
Harald, son of Sigurd Syr, brother of Olaf the Saint, by the same mother, was at the battle of Stiklestad, and was fifteen years old when King Olaf the Saint fell, as was before related. Harald was wounded, and escaped with other fugitives. So says Thiodolf:--
"At Haug the fire-sparks from his shield Flew round the king's head on the field, As blow for blow, for Olaf's sake, His sword and shield would give and take. Bulgaria's conqueror, I ween, Had scarcely fifteen winters seen, When from his murdered brother's side His unhelmed head he had to hide."
Ragnvald Brusason led Harald from the battle, and the night after the fray took him to a bonde who dwelt in a forest far from other people. The peasant received Harald, and kept him concealed; and Harald was waited upon until he was quite cured of his wounds. Then the bonde's son attended him on the way east over the ridge of the land, and they went by all the forest paths they could, avoiding the common road. The bonde's son did not know who it was he was attending; and as they were riding together between two uninhabited forests, Harald made these verses:
"My wounds were bleeding as I rode; And down below the bondes strode, Killing the wounded with the sword, The followers of their rightful lord. From wood to wood I crept along, Unnoticed by the bonde-throng; 'Who knows,' I thought, 'a day may come My name will yet be great at home.'"
He went eastward over the ridge through Jamtaland and Helsingjaland, and came to Svithjod, where he found Ragnvald Brusason, and many others of King Olaf's men who had fled from the battle at Stiklestad, and they remained there till winter was over.
2. HARALD'S JOURNEY TO CONSTANTINOPLE.
The spring after (A.D. 1031) Harald and Ragnvald got ships, and went east in summer to Russia to King Jarisleif, and were with him all the following winter. So says the skald Bolverk:--
"The king's sharp sword lies clean and bright, Prepared in foreign lands to fight: Our ravens croak to have their fill, The wolf howls from the distant hill. Our brave king is to Russia gone,-- Braver than he on earth there's none; His sharp sword will carve many feast To wolf and raven in the East."
King Jarisleif gave Harald and Ragnvald a kind reception, and made Harald and Ellif, the son of Earl Ragnvald, chiefs over the land-defence men of the king. So says Thiodolf:--
"Where Ellif was, one heart and hand The two chiefs had in their command; In wedge or line their battle order Was ranged by both without disorder. The eastern Vindland men they drove Into a corner; and they move The Lesians, although ill at ease, To take the laws their conquerors please."
Harald remained several years in Russia, and travelled far and wide in the Eastern land. Then he began his expedition out to Greece, and had a great suite of men with him; and on he went to Constantinople. So says Bolverk:--
"Before the cold sea-curling blast The cutter from the land flew past, Her black yards swinging to and fro, Her shield-hung gunwale dipping low. The king saw glancing o'er the bow Constantinople's metal glow From tower and roof, and painted sails Gliding past towns and wooded vales."
3. OF HARALD.
At that time the Greek empire was ruled by the Empress Zoe the Great, and with her Michael Catalactus. Now when Harald came to Constantinople he presented himself to the empress, and went into her pay; and immediately, in autumn, went on board the galleys manned with troops which went out to the Greek sea. Harald had his own men along with him. Now Harald had been but a short time in the army before all the Varings flocked to him, and they all joined together when there was a battle. It thus came to pass that Harald was made chief of the Varings. There was a chief over all the troops who was called Gyrger, and who was a relation of the empress. Gyrger and Harald went round among all the Greek islands, and fought much against the corsairs.
4. OF HARALD AND GYRGER CASTING LOTS.
It happened once that Gyrger and the Varings were going through the country, and they resolved to take their night quarters in a wood; and as the Varings came first to the ground, they chose the place which was best for pitching their tents upon, which was the highest ground; for it is the nature of the land there to be soft when rain falls, and therefore it is bad to choose a low situation for your tents. Now when Gyrger, the chief of the army, came up, and saw where the Varings had set up their tents, he told them to remove, and pitch their tents elsewhere, saying he would himself pitch his tents on their ground. Harald replies, "If ye come first to the night quarter, ye take up your ground, and we must go pitch our tents at some other place where we best can. Now do ye so, in the same way, and find a place where ye will. It is, I think, the privilege of us Varings here in the dominions of the Greek emperor to be free, and independent of all but their own commanders, and bound only to serve the emperor and empress." They disputed long and hotly about this, and both sides armed themselves, and were on the way to fight for it; but men of understanding came between and separated them. They said it would be better to come to an agreement about such questions, so that in future no dispute could arise. It came thus to an arbitration between them, at which the best and most sagacious men should give their judgment in the case. At this arbitration it was determined, with the consent of all parties, that lots should be thrown into a box, and the Greeks and Varings should draw which was first to ride, or to row, or to take place in a harbour, or to choose tent ground; and each side should be satisfied with what the drawing of the lots gave them. Accordingly the lots were made and marked. Harald said to Gyrger, "Let me see what mark thou hast put upon thy lot, that we may not both mark our lots in the same way." He did so. Then Harald marked his lot, and put it into the box along with the other. The man who was to draw out the lots then took up one of the lots between his fingers, held it up in the air, and said, "This lot shall be the first to ride, and to row, and to take place in harbour and on the tent field." Harald seized his band, snatched the die, and threw it into the sea, and called out, "That was our lot!" Gyrger said, "Why did you not let other people see it?" Harald replies, "Look at the one remaining in the box,--there you see your own mark upon it." Accordingly the lot which was left behind was examined, and all men saw that Gyrger's mark was upon it, and accordingly the judgment was given that the Varings had gained the first choice in all they had been quarrelling about. There were many things they quarrelled about, but the end always was that Harald got his own way.
5. HARALD'S EXPEDITION IN THE LAND OF THE SARACENS (SERKLAND).
They went out all on a campaign in summer. When the whole army was thus assembled Harald kept his men out of the battle, or wherever he saw the least danger, under pretext of saving his men; but where he was alone with his own men only, he fought so desperately that they must either come off victorious or die. It thus happened often that when he commanded the army he gained victories, while Gyrger could do nothing. The troops observed this, and insisted they would be more successful if Harald alone was chief of the whole army, and upbraided the general with never effecting anything, neither himself, nor his people. Gyrger again said that the Varings would give him no assistance, and ordered Harald to go with his men somewhere else, and he, with the rest of his army, would win what they could. Harald accordingly left the army with the Varings and the Latin men, and Gyrger on his side went off with the Greek troops. Then it was seen what each could do. Harald always gained victories and booty; but the Greeks went home to Constantinople with their army, all except a few brave men, who, to gain booty and money, joined themselves to Harald, and took him for their leader. He then went with his troops westward to Africa, which the Varings call Serkland, where he was strengthened with many men. In Serkland he took eighty castles, some of which surrendered, and others were stormed. He then went to Sicily. So says Thiodolf:--
"The serpent's bed of glowing gold He hates--the generous king, the bold! He who four score towers laid low, Ta'en from the Saracenic foe. Before upon Sicilian plains, Shield joined to shield, the fight he gains, The victory at Hild's war game; And now the heathens dread his name."
So says also Illuge Bryndala-skald:--
"For Michael's empire Harald fought, And southern lands to Michael brought; So Budle's son his friendship showed When he brought friends to his abode."