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Heimskringla

S >> Snorri Sturlson >> Heimskringla



Heimskringla

or

The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway

by

Snorri Sturlson
(c.1179-1241)

Originally written in Old Norse, app. 1225 A.D., by the poet and
historian Snorri Sturlson.


This electronic edition was edited, proofed, and prepared by
Douglas B. Killings (DeTroyes@AOL.COM), April 1996.

*****************************************************************

PREPARER'S NOTE:

The "Heimskringla" of Snorri Sturlason is a collection of sagas
concerning the various rulers of Norway, from about A.D. 850 to
the year A.D. 1177.

The Sagas covered in this work are the following:

1. Halfdan the Black Saga
2. Harald Harfager's Saga
3. Hakon the Good's Saga
4. Saga of King Harald Grafeld and of Earl Hakon Son of Sigurd
5. King Olaf Trygvason's Saga
6. Saga of Olaf Haraldson (St. Olaf)
7. Saga of Magnus the Good
8. Saga of Harald Hardrade
9. Saga of Olaf Kyrre
10. Magnus Barefoot's Saga
11. Saga of Sigurd the Crusader and His Brothers Eystein and Olaf
12. Saga of Magnus the Blind and of Harald Gille
13. Saga of Sigurd, Inge, and Eystein, the Sons of Harald
14. Saga of Hakon Herdebreid ("Hakon the Broad-Shouldered")
15. Magnus Erlingson's Saga

While scholars and historians continue to debate the historical
accuracy of Sturlason's work, the "Heimskringla" is still
considered an important original source for information on the
Viking Age, a period which Sturlason covers almost in its
entirety.


*****************************************************************

PREFACE OF SNORRE STURLASON.

In this book I have had old stories written down, as I have heard
them told by intelligent people, concerning chiefs who have have
held dominion in the northern countries, and who spoke the Danish
tongue; and also concerning some of their family branches,
according to what has been told me. Some of this is found in
ancient family registers, in which the pedigrees of kings and
other personages of high birth are reckoned up, and part is
written down after old songs and ballads which our forefathers
had for their amusement. Now, although we cannot just say what
truth there may be in these, yet we have the certainty that old
and wise men held them to be true.

Thjodolf of Hvin was the skald of Harald Harfager, and he
composed a poem for King Rognvald the Mountain-high, which is
called "Ynglingatal." This Rognvald was a son of Olaf
Geirstadalf, the brother of King Halfdan the Black. In this
poem thirty of his forefathers are reckoned up, and the death and
burial-place of each are given. He begins with Fjolner, a son of
Yngvefrey, whom the Swedes, long after his time, worshipped and
sacrificed to, and from whom the race or family of the Ynglings
take their name.

Eyvind Skaldaspiller also reckoned up the ancestors of Earl Hakon
the Great in a poem called "Haleygjatal", composed about Hakon;
and therein he mentions Saeming, a son of Yngvefrey, and he
likewise tells of the death and funeral rites of each. The lives
and times of the Yngling race were written from Thjodolf's
relation enlarged afterwards by the accounts of intelligent
people.

As to funeral rites, the earliest age is called the Age of
Burning; because all the dead were consumed by fire, and over
their ashes were raised standing stones. But after Frey was
buried under a cairn at Upsala, many chiefs raised cairns, as
commonly as stones, to the memory of their relatives.

The Age of Cairns began properly in Denmark after Dan Milkillate
had raised for himself a burial cairn, and ordered that he should
be buried in it on his death, with his royal ornaments and
armour, his horse and saddle-furniture, and other valuable goods;
and many of his descendants followed his example. But the
burning of the dead continued, long after that time, to be the
custom of the Swedes and Northmen. Iceland was occupied in the
time that Harald Harfager was the King of Norway. There were
skalds in Harald's court whose poems the people know by heart
even at the present day, together with all the songs about the
kings who have ruled in Norway since his time; and we rest the
foundations of our story principally upon the songs which were
sung in the presence of the chiefs themselves or of their sons,
and take all to be true that is found in such poems about their
feats and battles: for although it be the fashion with skalds to
praise most those in whose presence they are standing, yet no one
would dare to relete to a chief what he, and all those who heard
it, knew to be a false and imaginary, not a true account of his
deeds; because that would be mockery, not praise.

OF THE PRIEST ARE FRODE

The priest Are Frode (the learned), a son of Thorgils the son of
Geller, was the first man in this country who wrote down in the
Norse language narratives of events both old and new. In the
beginning of his book he wrote principally about the first
settlements in Iceland, the laws and government, and next of the
lagmen, and how long each had administered the law; and he
reckoned the years at first, until the time when Christianity was
introduced into Iceland, and afterwards reckoned from that to his
own times. To this he added many other subjects, such as the
lives and times of kings of Norway and Denmark, and also of
England; beside accounts of great events which have taken place
in this country itself. His narratives are considered by many
men of knowledge to be the most remarkable of all; because he was
a man of good understanding, and so old that his birth was as far
back as the year after Harald Sigurdson's fall. He wrote, as he
himself says, the lives and times of the kings of Norway from the
report of Od Kolson, a grandson of Hal of Sida. Od again took
his information from Thorgeir Afradskol, who was an intelligent
man, and so old that when Earl Hakon the Great was killed he was
dwelling at Nidarnes -- the same place at which King Olaf
Trygvason afterwards laid the foundation of the merchant town of
Nidaros (i.e., Throndhjem) which is now there. The priest Are
came, when seven years old, to Haukadal to Hal Thorarinson, and
was there fourteen years. Hal was a man of great knowledge and
of excellent memory; and he could even remember being baptized,
when he was three years old, by the priest Thanghrand, the year
before Christianity was established by law in Iceland. Are was
twelve years of age when Bishop Isleif died, and at his death
eighty years had elapsed since the fall of Olaf Trygvason. Hal
died nine years later than Bishop Isleif, and had attained nearly
the age of ninety-four years. Hal had traded between the two
countries, and had enjoyed intercourse with King Olaf the Saint,
by which he had gained greatly in reputation, and he had become
well acquainted with the kingdom of Norway. He had fixed his
residence in Haukadal when he was thirty years of age, and he had
dwelt there sixty-four years, as Are tells us. Teit, a son of
Bishop Isleif, was fostered in the house of Hal at Haukadal, and
afterwards dwelt there himself. He taught Are the priest, and
gave him information about many circumstances which Are
afterwards wrote down. Are also got many a piece of information
from Thurid, a daughter of the gode Snorre. She was wise and
intelligent, and remembered her father Snorre, who was nearly
thirty-five years of age when Christianity was introduced into
Iceland, and died a year after King Olaf the Saint's fall. So it
is not wonderful that Are the priest had good information about
ancient events both here in Iceland, and abroad, being a man
anxious for information, intelligent and of excellent memory, and
having besides learned much from old intelligent persons. But
the songs seem to me most reliable if they are sung correctly,
and judiciously interpreted.



HALFDAN THE BLACK SAGA.


PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

Of this saga there are other versions found in "Fagrskinna" and
in "Flateyjarbok". The "Flateyjarbok" version is to a great
extent a copy of Snorre. The story about Halfdan's dream is
found both in "Fagrskinna" and in "Flateyjarbok". The
probability is that both Snorre and the author of "Fagrskinna"
must have transcribed the same original text. -- Ed.



1. HALFDAN FIGHTS WITH GANDALF AND SIGTRYG.

Halfdan was a year old when his father was killed, and his mother
Asa set off immediately with him westwards to Agder, and set
herself there in the kingdom which her father Harald had
possessed. Halfdan grew up there, and soon became stout and
strong; and, by reason of his black hair, was called Halfdan the
Black. When he was eighteen years old he took his kingdom in
Agder, and went immediately to Vestfold, where he divided that
kingdom, as before related, with his brother Olaf. The same
autumn he went with an army to Vingulmark against King Gandalf.
They had many battles, and sometimes one, sometimes the other
gained the victory; but at last they agreed that Halfdan should
have half of Vingulmark, as his father Gudrod had had it before.
Then King Halfdan proceeded to Raumarike, and subdued it. King
Sigtryg, son of King Eystein, who then had his residence in
Hedemark, and who had subdued Raumarike before, having heard of
this, came out with his army against King Halfdan, and there was
great battle, in which King Halfdan was victorious; and just as
King Sigtryg and his troops were turning about to fly, an arrow
struck him under the left arm, and he fell dead. Halfdan then
laid the whole of Raumarike under his power. King Eystein's
second son, King Sigtryg's brother, was also called Eystein, and
was then king in Hedemark. As soon as Halfdan had returned to
Vestfold, King Eystein went out with his army to Raumarike, and
laid the whole country in subjection to him



2. BATTLE BETWEEN HALFDAN AND EYSTEIN.

When King Halfdan heard of these disturbances in Raumarike, he
again gathered his army together; and went out against King
Eystein. A battle took place between them, and Halfdan gained
the victory, and Eystein fled up to Hedemark, pursued by Halfdan.
Another battle took place, in which Halfdan was again victorious;
and Eystein fled northwards, up into the Dales to the herse
Gudbrand. There he was strengthened with new people, and in
winter he went towards Hedemark, and met Halfdan the Black upon a
large island which lies in the Mjosen lake. There a great battle
was fought, and many people on both sides were slain, but Halfdan
won the victory. There fell Guthorm, the son of the herse
Gudbrand, who was one of the finest men in the Uplands. Then
Eystein fled north up the valley, and sent his relation Halvard
Skalk to King Halfdan to beg for peace. On consideration of their
relationship, King Halfdan gave King Eystein half of Hedemark,
which he and his relations had held before; but kept to himself
Thoten, and the district called Land. He likewise appropriated
to himself Hadeland, and thus became a mighty king.



3. HALFDAN'S MARRIAGE

Halfdan the Black got a wife called Ragnhild, a daughter of
Harald Gulskeg (Goldbeard), who was a king in Sogn. They had a
son, to whom Harald gave his own name; and the boy was brought up
in Sogn, by his mother's father, King Harald. Now when this
Harald had lived out his days nearly, and was become weak, having
no son, he gave his dominions to his daughter's son Harald, and
gave him his title of king; and he died soon after. The same
winter his daughter Ragnhild died; and the following spring the
young Harald fell sick and died at ten years of age. As soon as
Halfdan the Black heard of his son's death, he took the road
northwards to Sogn with a great force, and was well received. He
claimed the heritage and dominion after his son; and no
opposition being made, he took the whole kingdom. Earl Atle
Mjove (the Slender), who was a friend of King Halfdan, came to
him from Gaular; and the king set him over the Sogn district, to
judge in the country according to the country's laws, and collect
scat upon the king's account. Thereafter King Halfdan proceeded
to his kingdom in the Uplands.



4. HALFDAN'S STRIFE WITH GANDALF'S SONS.

In autumn, King Halfdan proceeded to Vingulmark. One night when
he was there in guest quarters, it happened that about midnight a
man came to him who had been on the watch on horseback, and told
him a war force was come near to the house. The king instantly
got up, ordered his men to arm themselves, and went out of the
house and drew them up in battle order. At the same moment,
Gandalf's sons, Hysing and Helsing, made their appearance with a
large army. There was a great battle; but Halfdan being
overpowered by the numbers of people fled to the forest, leaving
many of his men on this spot. His foster-father, Olver Spake
(the Wise), fell here. The people now came in swarms to King
Halfdan, and he advanced to seek Gandalf's sons. They met at
Eid, near Lake Oieren, and fought there. Hysing and Helsing
fell, and their brother Hake saved himself by flight. King
Halfdan then took possession of the whole of Vingulmark, and Hake
fled to Alfheimar.



5. HALFDAN'S MARRIAGE WITH HJORT'S DAUGHTER.

Sigurd Hjort was the name of a king in Ringerike, who was stouter
and stronger than any other man, and his equal could not be seen
for a handsome appearance. His father was Helge Hvasse (the
Sharp); and his mother was Aslaug, a daughter of Sigurd the worm-
eyed, who again was a son of Ragnar Lodbrok. It is told of
Sigurd that when he was only twelve years old he killed in single
combat the berserk Hildebrand, and eleven others of his comrades;
and many are the deeds of manhood told of him in a long saga
about his feats. Sigurd had two children, one of whom was a
daughter, called Ragnhild, then twenty years of age, and an
excellent brisk girl. Her brother Guthorm was a youth. It is
related in regard to Sigurd's death that he had a custom of
riding out quite alone in the uninhabited forest to hunt the wild
beasts that are hurtful to man, and he was always very eager at
this sport. One day he rode out into the forest as usual, and
when he had ridden a long way he came out at a piece of cleared
land near to Hadeland. There the berserk Hake came against him
with thirty men, and they fought. Sigurd Hjort fell there, after
killing twelve of Hake's men; and Hake himself lost one hand, and
had three other wounds. Then Hake and his men rode to Sigurd's
house, where they took his daughter Ragnhild and her brother
Guthorm, and carried them, with much property and valuable
articles, home to Hadeland, where Hake had many great farms. He
ordered a feast to be prepared, intending to hold his wedding
with Ragnhild; but the time passed on account of his wounds,
which healed slowly; and the berserk Hake of Hadeland had to keep
his bed, on account of his wounds, all the autumn and beginning
of winter. Now King Halfdan was in Hedemark at the Yule
entertainments when he heard this news; and one morning early,
when the king was dressed, he called to him Harek Gand, and told
him to go over to Hadeland, and bring him Ragnhild, Sigurd
Hjort's daughter. Harek got ready with a hundred men, and made
his journey so that they came over the lake to Hake's house in
the grey of the morning, and beset all the doors and stairs of
the places where the house-servants slept. Then they broke into
the sleeping-room where Hake slept, took Ragnhild, with her
brother Guthorm, and all the goods that were there, and set fire
to the house-servants' place, and burnt all the people in it.
Then they covered over a magnificent waggon, placed Ragnhild and
Guthorm in it, and drove down upon the ice. Hake got up and went
after them a while; but when he came to the ice on the lake, he
turned his sword-hilt to the ground and let himself fall upon the
point, so that the sword went through him. He was buried under a
mound on the banks of the lake. When King Halfdan, who was very
quick of sight, saw the party returning over the frozen lake, and
with a covered waggon, he knew that their errand was accomplished
according to his desire. Thereupon he ordered the tables to be
set out, and sent people all round in the neighbourhood to invite
plenty of guests; and the same day there was a good feast which
was also Halfdan's marriage-feast with Ragnhild, who became a
great queen. Ragnhild's mother was Thorny, a daughter of
Klakharald king in Jutland, and a sister of Thrye Dannebod who
was married to the Danish king, Gorm the Old, who then ruled over
the Danish dominions.



6. OF RAGNHILD'S DREAM.

Ragnhild, who was wise and intelligent, dreamt great dreams. She
dreamt, for one, that she was standing out in her herb-garden,
and she took a thorn out of her shift; but while she was holding
the thorn in her hand it grew so that it became a great tree, one
end of which struck itself down into the earth, and it became
firmly rooted; and the other end of the tree raised itself so
high in the air that she could scarcely see over it, and it
became also wonderfully thick. The under part of the tree was
red with blood, but the stem upwards was beautifully green and
the branches white as snow. There were many and great limbs to
the tree, some high up, others low down; and so vast were the
tree's branches that they seemed to her to cover all Norway, and
even much more.



7. OF HALFDAN'S DREAM.

King Halfdan never had dreams, which appeared to him an
extraordinary circumstance; and he told it to a man called
Thorleif Spake (the Wise), and asked him what his advice was
about it. Thorleif said that what he himself did, when he wanted
to have any revelation by dream, was to take his sleep in a
swine-sty, and then it never failed that he had dreams. The king
did so, and the following dream was revealed to him. He thought
he had the most beautiful hair, which was all in ringlets; some
so long as to fall upon the ground, some reaching to the middle
of his legs, some to his knees, some to his loins or the middle
of his sides, some to his neck, and some were only as knots
springing from his head. These ringlets were of various colours;
but one ringlet surpassed all the others in beauty, lustre, and
size. This dream he told to Thorleif, who interpreted it thus:
-- There should be a great posterity from him, and his
descendants should rule over countries with great, but not all
with equally great, honour; but one of his race should be more
celebrated than all the others. It was the opinion of people
that this ringlet betokened King Olaf the Saint.

King Halfdan was a wise man, a man of truth and uprightness --
who made laws, observed them himself, and obliged others to
observe them. And that violence should not come in place of the
laws, he himself fixed the number of criminal acts in law, and
the compensations, mulcts, or penalties, for each case, according
to every one's birth and dignity (1).

Queen Ragnhild gave birth to a son, and water was poured over
him, and the name of Harald given him, and he soon grew stout and
remarkably handsome. As he grew up he became very expert at all
feats, and showed also a good understanding. He was much beloved
by his mother, but less so by his father.


ENDNOTES:

(1) The penalty, compensation, or manbod for every injury, due
the party injured, or to his family and next of kin if the
injury was the death or premeditated murder of the party,
appears to have been fixed for every rank and condition,
from the murder of the king down to the maiming or beating a
man's cattle or his slave. A man for whom no compensation
was due was a dishonored person, or an outlaw. It appears
to have been optional with the injured party, or his kin if
he had been killed, to take the mulct or compensation, or to
refuse it, and wait for an opportunity of taking vengeance
for the injury on the party who inflicted it, or on his kin.
A part of each mulct or compensation was due to the king;
and, these fines or penalties appear to have constituted a
great proportion of the king's revenues, and to have been
settled in the Things held in every district for
administering the law with the lagman. -- L.



8. HALFDAN'S MEAT VANISHES AT A FEAST

King Halfdan was at a Yule-feast in Hadeland, where a wonderful
thing happened one Yule evening. When the great number of guests
assembled were going to sit down to table, all the meat and all
the ale disappeared from the table. The king sat alone very
confused in mind; all the others set off, each to his home, in
consternation. That the king might come to some certainty about
what had occasioned this event, he ordered a Fin to be seized who
was particularly knowing, and tried to force him to disclose the
truth; but however much he tortured the man, he got nothing out
of him. The Fin sought help particularly from Harald, the king's
son, and Harald begged for mercy for him, but in vain. Then
Harald let him escape against the king's will, and accompanied
the man himself. On their journey they came to a place where the
man's chief had a great feast, and it appears they were well
received there. When they had been there until spring, the chief
said, "Thy father took it much amiss that in winter I took some
provisions from him, -- now I will repay it to thee by a joyful
piece of news: thy father is dead; and now thou shalt return
home, and take possession of the whole kingdom which he had, and
with it thou shalt lay the whole kingdom of Norway under thee."



9. HALFDAN S DEATH.

Halfdan the Black was driving from a feast in Hadeland, and it so
happened that his road lay over the lake called Rand. It was in
spring, and there was a great thaw. They drove across the bight
called Rykinsvik, where in winter there had been a pond broken in
the ice for cattle to drink at, and where the dung had fallen
upon the ice the thaw had eaten it into holes. Now as the king
drove over it the ice broke, and King Halfdan and many with him
perished. He was then forty years old. He had been one of the
most fortunate kings in respect of good seasons. The people
thought so much of him, that when his death was known and his
body was floated to Ringerike to bury it there, the people of
most consequence from Raumarike, Vestfold, and Hedemark came to
meet it. All desired to take the body with them to bury it in
their own district, and they thought that those who got it would
have good crops to expect. At last it was agreed to divide the
body into four parts. The head was laid in a mound at Stein in
Ringerike, and each of the others took his part home and laid it
in a mound; and these have since been called Halfdan's Mounds.



HARALD HARFAGER'S SAGA.


1. HARALD'S STRIFE WITH HAKE AND HIS FATHER GANDALF.

Harald (1) was but ten years old when he succeeded his father
(Halfdan the Black). He became a stout, strong, and comely man,
and withal prudent and manly. His mother's brother, Guthorm, was
leader of the hird, at the head of the government, and commander
(`hertogi') of the army. After Halfdan the Black's death, many
chiefs coveted the dominions he had left. Among these King
Gandalf was the first; then Hogne and Frode, sons of Eystein,
king of Hedemark; and also Hogne Karuson came from Ringerike.
Hake, the son of Gandalf, began with an expedition of 300 men
against Vestfold, marched by the main road through some valleys,
and expected to come suddenly upon King Harald; while his father
Gandalf sat at home with his army, and prepared to cross over the
fiord into Vestfold. When Duke Guthorm heard of this he gathered
an army, and marched up the country with King Harald against
Hake. They met in a valley, in which they fought a great battle,
and King Harald was victorious; and there fell King Hake and most
of his people. The place has since been called Hakadale. Then
King Harald and Duke Guthorm turned back, but they found King
Gandalf had come to Vestfold. The two armies marched against
each other, and met, and had a great battle; and it ended in King
Gandalf flying, after leaving most of his men dead on the spot,
and in that state he came back to his kingdom. Now when the sons
of King Eystein in Hedemark heard the news, they expected the war
would come upon them, and they sent a message to Hogne Karuson
and to Herse Gudbrand, and appointed a meeting with them at
Ringsaker in Hedemark.

ENDNOTES:
(1) The first twenty chapters of this saga refer to Harald's
youth and his conquest of Norway. This portion of the saga
is of great importance to the Icelanders, as the settlement
of their Isle was a result of Harald's wars. The second
part of the saga (chaps. 21-46) treats of the disputes
between Harald's sons, of the jarls of Orkney, and of the
jarls of More. With this saga we enter the domain of
history. -- Ed.



2. KING HARALD OVERCOMES FIVE KINGS.

After the battle King Harald and Guthorm turned back, and went
with all the men they could gather through the forests towards
the Uplands. They found out where the Upland kings had appointed
their meeting-place, and came there about the time of midnight,
without the watchmen observing them until their army was before
the door of the house in which Hogne Karuson was, as well as that
in which Gudbrand slept. They set fire to both houses; but King
Eystein's two sons slipped out with their men, and fought for a
while, until both Hogne and Frode fell. After the fall of these
four chiefs, King Harald, by his relation Guthorm's success and
powers, subdued Hedemark, Ringerike, Gudbrandsdal, Hadeland,
Thoten, Raumarike, and the whole northern part of Vingulmark.
King Harald and Guthorm had thereafter war with King Gandalf, and
fought several battles with him; and in the last of them King
Gandalf was slain, and King Harald took the whole of his kingdom
as far south as the river Raum.

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