Heimskringla

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252. OF THE BEGINNING OF KING SVEIN ALFIFASON'S GOVERNMENT.

Svein, a son of King Canute, and of Alfifa, a daughter of Earl
Alfrin, had been appointed to govern Jomsborg in Vindland. There
came a message to him from his father King Canute, that he should
come to Denmark; and likewise that afterwards he should proceed
to Norway, and take that kingdom under his charge, and assume, at
the same time, the title of king of Norway. Svein repaired to
Denmark, and took many people with him from thence, and also Earl
Harald and many other people of consequence attended him.
Thorarin Loftunga speaks of this in the song he composed about
King Svein, called the "Glelogn Song": --

"'Tis told by fame,
How grandly came
The Danes to tend
Their young king Svein.
Grandest was he,
That all could see;
Then, one by one,
Each following man
More splendour wore
Than him before."

Then Svein proceeded to Norway, and his mother Alfifa was with
him; and he was taken to be king at every Law-thing in the
country. He had already come as far as Viken at the time the
battle was fought at Stiklestad, and King Olaf fell. Svein
continued his journey until he came north, in autumn, to the
Throndhjem country; and there, as elsewhere, he was received as
king.

253. OF KING SVEIN'S LAWS.

King Svein introduced new laws in many respects into the country,
partly after those which were in Denmark, and in part much more
severe. No man must leave the country without the king's
permission; or if he did, his property fell to the king. Whoever
killed a man outright, should forfeit all his land and movables.
If any one was banished the country, and all heritage fell to
him, the king took his inheritance. At Yule every man should pay
the king a meal of malt from every harvest steading, and a leg of
a three-year old ox, which was called a friendly gift, together
with a spand of butter; and every house-wife a rock full of
unspun lint, as thick as one could span with the longest fingers
of the hand. The bondes were bound to build all the houses the
king required upon his farms. Of every seven males one should be
taken for the service of war, and reckoning from the fifth year
of age; and the outfit of ships should be reckoned in the same
proportion. Every man who rowed upon the sea to fish should pay
the king five fish as a tax, for the land defence, wherever he
might come from. Every ship that went out of the country should
have stowage reserved open for the king in the middle of the
ship. Every man, foreigner or native, who went to Iceland,
should pay a tax to the king. And to all this was added, that
Danes should enjoy so much consideration in Norway, that one
witness of them should invalidate ten of Northmen (1).

When these laws were promulgated the minds of the people were
instantly raised against them, and murmurs were heard among them.
They who had not taken part against King Olaf said, "Now take
your reward and friendship from the Canute race, ye men of the
interior Throndhjem who fought against King Olaf, and deprived
him of his kingdom. Ye were promised peace and justice, and now
ye have got oppression and slavery for your great treachery and
crime." Nor was it very easy to contradict them, as all men saw
how miserable the change had been. But people had not the
boldness to make an insurrection against King Svein, principally
because many had given King Canute their sons or other near
relations as hostages; and also because no one appeared as leader
of an insurrection. They very soon, however, complained of King
Svein; and his mother Alfifa got much of the blame of all that
was against their desire. Then the truth, with regard to Olaf,
became evident to many.

ENDNOTES:
(1) This may probably have referred not to witnesses of an act,
but to the class of witnesses in the jurisprudence of the
Middle Ages called compurgators, who testified not the fact,
but their confidence in the statements of the accused; and
from which, possibly, our English bail for offenders arose.
-- L.

254. OF KING OLAF'S SANCTITY.

This winter (A.D. 1031) many in the Throndhjem land began to
declare that Olaf was in reality a holy man, and his sanctity was
confirmed by many miracles. Many began to make promises and
prayers to King Olaf in the matters in which they thought they
required help, and many found great benefit from these
invocations. Some in respect of health, others of a journey, or
other circumstances in which such help seemed needful.

255. OF EINAR TAMBASKELFER.

Einar Tambaskelfer was come home from England to his farm, and
had the fiefs which King Canute had given him when they met in
Throndhjem, and which were almost an earldom. Einar had not been
in the strife against King Olaf, and congratulated himself upon
it. He remembered that King Canute had promised him the earldom
over Norway, and at the same time remembered that King Canute had
not kept his promise. He was accordingly the first great person
who looked upon King Olaf as a saint.

256. OF THE SONS OF ARNE.

Fin Arnason remained but a short time at Eggja with his brother
Kalf; for he was in the highest degree ill-pleased that Kalf had
been in the battle against King Olaf, and always made his brother
the bitterest reproaches on this account. Thorberg Arnason was
much more temperate in his discourse than Fin; but yet he
hastened away, and went home to his farm. Kalf gave the two
brothers a good long-ship, with full rigging and other
necessaries, and a good retinue. Therefore they went home to
their farms, and sat quietly at home. Arne Arnason lay long ill
of his wounds, but got well at last without injury of any limb,
and in winter he proceeded south to his farm. All the brothers
made their peace with King Svein, and sat themselves quietly down
in their homes.

257. BISHOP SIGURD'S FLIGHT.

The summer after (A.D. 1031) there was much talk about King
Olaf's sanctity, and there was a great alteration in the
expressions of all people concerning him. There were many who
now believed that King Olaf must be a saint, even among those who
had persecuted him with the greatest animosity, and would never
in their conversation allow truth or justice in his favour.
People began then to turn their reproaches against the men who
had principally excited opposition to the king; and on this
account Bishop Sigurd in particular was accused. He got so many
enemies, that he found it most advisable to go over to England to
King Canute. Then the Throndhjem people sent men with a verbal
message to the Uplands, to Bishop Grimkel, desiring him to come
north to Throndhjem. King Olaf had sent Bishop Grimkel back to
Norway when he went east into Russia, and since that time Grimkel
had been in the Uplands. When the message came to the bishop he
made ready to go, and it contributed much to this journey that
the bishop considered it as true what was told of King Olaf's
miracles and sanctity.

258. KING OLAF THE SAINT'S REMAINS DISINTERRED.

Bishop Grimkel went to Einar Tambaskelfer, who received him
joyfully. They talked over many things, and, among others, of
the important events which had taken place in the country; and
concerning these they were perfectly agreed. Then the bishop
proceeded to the town (Nidaros), and was well received by all the
community. He inquired particularly concerning the miracles of
King Olaf that were reported, and received satisfactory accounts
of them. Thereupon the bishop sent a verbal message to
Stiklestad to Thorgils and his son Grim, inviting them to come to
the town to him. They did not decline the invitation, but set
out on the road immediately, and came to the town and to the
bishop. They related to him all the signs that had presented
themselves to them, and also where they had deposited the king"s
body. The bishop sent a message to Einar Tambaskelfer, who came
to the town. Then the bishop and Einar had an audience of the
king and Alfifa, in which they asked the king's leave to have
King Olaf's body taken up out of the earth. The king gave his
permission, and told the bishop to do as he pleased in the
matter. At that time there were a great many people in the town.
The bishop, Einar, and some men with them, went to the place
where the king's body was buried, and had the place dug; but the
coffin had already raised itself almost to the surface of the
earth. It was then the opinion of many that the bishop should
proceed to have the king buried in the earth at Clement's church;
and it was so done. Twelve months and five days (Aug. 3, A.D.
1031), after King Olaf's death his holy remains were dug up, and
the coffin had raised itself almost entirely to the surface of
the earth; and the coffin appeared quite new, as if it had but
lately been made. When Bishop Grimkel came to King Olaf's opened
coffin, there was a delightful and fresh smell. Thereupon the
bishop uncovered the king's face, and his appearance was in no
respect altered, and his cheeks were as red as if he had but just
fallen asleep. The men who had seen King Olaf when he fell
remarked, also, that his hair and nails had grown as much as if
he had lived on the earth all the time that had passed since his
fall. Thereupon King Svein, and all the chiefs who were at the
place, went out to see King Olaf's body. Then said Alfifa,
"People buried in sand rot very slowly, and it would not have
been so if he had been buried in earth." Afterwards the bishop
took scissors, clipped the king's hair, and arranged his beard;
for he had had a long beard, according to the fashion of that
time. Then said the bishop to the king and Alfifa, "Now the
king's hair and beard are such as when he gave up the ghost, and
it has grown as much as ye see has been cut off." Alfifa
answers, "I will believe in the sanctity of his hair, if it will
not burn in the fire; but I have often seen men's hair whole and
undamaged after lying longer in the earth than this man's." Then
the bishop had live coals put into a pan, blessed it, cast
incense upon it, and then laid King Olaf's hair on the fire.
When all the incense was burnt the bishop took the hair out of
the fire, and showed the king and the other chiefs that it was
not consumed. Now Alfifa asked that the hair should be laid upon
unconsecrated fire; but Einar Tambaskelfer told her to be silent,
and gave her many severe reproaches for her unbelief. After the
bishop's recognition, with the king's approbation and the
decision of the Thing, it was determined that King Olaf should be
considered a man truly holy; whereupon his body was transported
into Clement's church, and a place was prepared for it near the
high altar. The coffin was covered with costly cloth, and stood
under a gold embroidered tent. Many kinds of miracles were soon
wrought by King Olaf's holy remains.

259. OF KING OLAF'S MIRACLES.

In the sand-hill where King Olaf's body had lain on the ground a
beautiful spring of water came up and many human ailments and
infirmities were cured by its waters. Things were put in order
around it, and the water ever since has been carefully preserved.
There was first a chapel built, and an altar consecrated, where
the king's body had lain; but now Christ's church stands upon the
spot. Archbishop Eystein had a high altar raised upon the spot
where the king's grave had been, when he erected the great temple
which now stands there; and it is the same spot on which the
altar of the old Christ church had stood. It is said that Olaf's
church stands on the spot on which the empty house had stood in
which King Olaf's body had been laid for the night. The place
over which the holy remains of King Olaf were carried up from the
vessel is now called Olaf's Road, and is now in the middle of the
town. The bishop adorned King Olaf's holy remains, and cut his
nails and hair; for both grew as if he had still been alive. So
says Sigvat the skald: --

"I lie not, when I say the king
Seemed as alive in every thing:
His nails, his yellow hair still growing,
And round his ruddy cheek still flowing,
As when, to please the Russian queen,
His yellow locks adorned were seen;
Or to the blind he cured he gave
A tress, their precious sight to save."

Thorarin Loftunga also composed a song upon Svein Alfifason,
called the "Glelogn Song", in which are these verses: --

"Svein, king of all,
In Olaf's hall
Now sits on high;
And Olaf's eye
Looks down from heaven,
Where it is given
To him to dwell:
Or here in cell,
As heavenly saint,
To heal men's plaint,
May our gold-giver
Live here for ever!

"King Olaf there
To hold a share
On earth prepared,
Nor labour spared
A seat to win
From heaven's great King;
Which he has won
Next God's own Son.

"His holy form,
Untouched by worm,
Lies at this day
Where good men pray,
And nails and hair
Grow fresh and fair;
His cheek is red,
His flesh not dead.

"Around his bier,
Good people hear
The small bells ring
Over the king,
Or great bell toll;
And living soul
Not one can tell
Who tolls the bell.

"Tapers up there,
(Which Christ holds dear,)
By day and night
The altar light:
Olaf did so,
And all men know
In heaven he
From sin sits free.

"And crowds do come,
The deaf and dumb,
Cripple and blind,
Sick of all kind,
Cured to be
On bended knee;
And off the ground
Rise whole and sound.

"To Olaf pray
To eke thy day,
To save thy land
From spoiler's hand.
God's man is he
To deal to thee
Good crops and peace;
Let not prayer cease.

"Book-prayers prevail,
If, nail for nail (1),
Thou tellest on,
Forgetting none."

Thorarin Loftunga was himself with King Svein, and heard these
great testimonials of King Olaf's holiness, that people, by the
heavenly power, could hear a sound over his holy remains as if
bells were ringing, and that candles were lighted of themselves
upon the altar as by a heavenly fire. But when Thorarin says
that a multitude of lame, and blind, and other sick, who came to
the holy Olaf, went back cured, he means nothing more than that
there were a vast number of persons who at the beginning of King
Olaf's miraculous working regained their health. King Olaf's
greatest miracles are clearly written down, although they
occurred somewhat later.

ENDNOTES:
(1) Before the entrance of the temples or churches were posts
called Ondveigis-sulor, with nails called Rigin-naglar --
the gods' nails -- either for ornament, or, as Schoning
suggests, to assist the people in reckoning weeks, months,
festivals, and in reckoning or keeping tale of prayers
repeated, and to recall them to memory, in the same way as
beads are used still by the common people in Catholic
countries for the same purpose. -- L.

260. OF KING OLAF'S AGE AND REIGN.

It is reckoned by those who have kept an exact account, that Olaf
the Saint was king of Norway for fifteen years from the time Earl
Svein left the country; but he had received the title of king
from the people of the Uplands the winter before. Sigvat the
skald tells this: --

"For fifteen winters o'er the land
King Olaf held the chief command,
Before he fell up in the North:
His fall made known to us his worth.
No worthier prince before his day
In our North land e'er held the sway,
Too short he held it for our good;
All men wish now that he had stood."

Saint Olaf was thirty-five years old when he fell, according to
what Are Frode the priest says, and he had been in twenty pitched
battles. So says Sigvat the skald: --

"Some leaders trust in God -- some not;
Even so their men; but well I wot
God-fearing Olaf fought and won
Twenty pitched battles, one by one,
And always placed upon his right
His Christian men in a hard fight.
May God be merciful, I pray,
To him -- for he ne'er shunned his fray."

We have now related a part of King Olaf's story, namely, the
events which took place while he ruled over Norway; also his
death, and how his holiness was manifested. Now shall we not
neglect to mention what it was that most advanced his honour.
This was his miracles; but these will come to be treated of
afterwards in this book.

261. OF THE THRONDHJEM PEOPLE.

King Svein, the son of Canute the Great, ruled over Norway for
some years; but was a child both in age and understanding. His
mother Alfifa had most sway in the country; and the people of the
country were her great enemies, both then and ever since. Danish
people had a great superiority given them within the country, to
the great dissatisfaction of the people; and when conversation
turned that way, the people of the rest of Norway accused the
Throndhjem people of having principally occasioned King Olaf the
Holy's fall, and also that the men of Norway were subject,
through them, to the ill government by which oppression and
slavery had come upon all the people, both great and small;
indeed upon the whole community. They insisted that it was the
duty of the Throndhjem people to attempt opposition and
insurrection, and thus relieve the country from such tyranny;
and, in the opinion of the common people, Throndhjem was also
the chief seat of the strength of Norway at that time, both on
account of the chiefs and of the population of that quarter.
When the Throndhjem people heard these remarks of their
countrymen, they could not deny that there was much truth in
them, and that in depriving King Olaf of life and land they had
committed a great crime, and at the same time the misdeed had
been ill paid. The chiefs began to hold consultations and
conferences with each other, and the leader of these was Einar
Tambaskelfer. It was likewise the case with Kalf Arnason, who
began to find into what errors he had been drawn by King Canute's
persuasion. All the promises which King Canute had made to Kalf
had been broken; for he had promised him the earldom and the
highest authority in Norway: and although Kalf had been the
leader in the battle against King Olaf, and had deprived him of
his life and kingdom, Kalf had not got any higher dignity than he
had before. He felt that he had been deceived, and therefore
messages passed between the brothers Kalf, Fin, Thorberg, and
Arne, and they renewed their family friendship.

262. OF KING SVEIN'S LEVY.

When King Svein had been three years in Norway (A.D. 1031-33),
the news was received that a force was assembled in the western
countries, under a chief who called himself Trygve, and gave out
that he was a son of Olaf Trygvason and Queen Gyda of England.
Now when King Svein heard that foreign troops had come to the
country, he ordered out the people on a levy in the north, and
the most of the lendermen hastened to him; but Einar Tambaskelfer
remained at home, and would not go out with King Svein. When
King Svein's order came to Kalf Arnason at Eggja, that he should
go out on a levy with King Svein, he took a twenty-benched ship
which he owned, went on board with his house-servants, and in all
haste proceeded out of the fjord, without waiting for King Svein,
sailed southwards to More, and continued his voyage south until
he came to Giske to his brother Thorberg. Then all the brothers,
the sons of Arne, held a meeting, and consulted with each other.
After this Kalf returned to the north again; but when he came to
Frekeysund, King Svein was lying in the sound before him. When
Kalf came rowing from the south into the sound they hailed each
other, and the king's men ordered Kalf to bring up with his
vessel, and follow the king for the defence of the country. Kalf
replies, "I have done enough, if not too much, when I fought
against my own countrymen to increase the power of the Canute
family." Thereupon Kalf rowed away to the north until he came
home to Eggja. None of these Arnasons appeared at this levy to
accompany the king. He steered with his fleet southwards along
the land; but as he could not hear the least news of any fleet
having come from the west, he steered south to Rogaland, and all
the way to Agder; for many guessed that Trygve would first make
his attempt on Viken, because his forefathers had been there, and
had most of their strength from that quarter, and he had himself
great strength by family connection there.

263. KING TRYGVE OLAFSON'S FALL.

When Trygve came from the west he landed first on the coast of
Hordaland, and when he heard King Svein had gone south he went
the same way to Rogaland. As soon as Svein got the intelligence
that Trygve had come from the west he returned, and steered north
with his fleet; and both fleets met within Bokn in Soknarsund,
not far from the place where Erling Skjalgson fell. The battle,
which took place on a Sunday, was great and severe. People tell
that Trygve threw spears with both hands at once. "So my
father," said he, "taught me to celebrate mass." His enemies had
said that he was the son of a priest; but the praise must be
allowed him that he showed himself more like a son of King Olaf
Trygvason, for this Trygve was a slaughtering man. In this
battle King Trygve fell, and many of his men with him; but some
fled, and some received quarter and their lives. It is thus
related in the ballad of Trygve: --

"Trygve comes from the northern coast,
King Svein turns round with all his host;
To meet and fight, they both prepare,
And where they met grim death was there.
From the sharp strife I was not far, --
I heard the din and the clang of war;
And the Hordaland men at last gave way,
And their leader fell, and they lost the day."

This battle is also told of in the ballad about King Svein, thus:
--

"My girl! it was a Sunday morn,
And many a man ne'er saw its eve,
Though ale and leeks by old wives borne
The bruised and wounded did relieve.
'Twas Sunday morn, when Svein calls out,
`Stem to stem your vessels bind;'
The raven a mid-day feast smells out,
And he comes croaking up the wind."

After this battle King Svein ruled the country for some time, and
there was peace in the land. The winter after it (A.D. 1034) he
passed in the south parts of the country.

264. OF THE COUNSELS OF EINAR TAMBASKELFER AND KALF ARNASON.

Einar Tambaskelfer and Kalf Arnason had this winter meetings and
consultations between themselves in the merchant town (1). Then
there came a messenger from King Canute to Kalf Arnason, with a
message to send him three dozen axes, which must be chosen and
good. Kalf replies, "I will send no axes to King Canute. Tell
him I will bring his son Svein so many, that he shall not think
he is in want of any."

ENDNOTES:
(1) Nidaros, or Throndhjem, is usually called merely the
merchant town. -- L.

265. OF EINAR TAMBASKELFER AND KALF ARNASON'S JOURNEY.

Early in spring (A.D. 1034) Einar Tambaskelfer and Kalf Arnason
made themselves ready for a journey, with a great retinue of the
best and most select men that could be found in the Throndhjem
country. They went in spring eastward over the ridge of the
country to Jamtaland, from thence to Helsingjaland, and came to
Svithjod, where they procured ships, with which in summer they
proceeded east to Russia, and came in autumn to Ladoga. They
sent men up to Novgorod to King Jarisleif, with the errand that
they offered Magnus, the son of King Olaf the Saint, to take him
with them, follow him to Norway, and give him assistance to
attain his father's heritage and be made king over the country.
When this message came to King Jarisleif he held a consultation
with the queen and some chiefs, and they all resolved unanimously
to send a message to the Northmen, and ask them to come to King
Jarisleif and Magnus; for which journey safe conduct was given
them. When they came to Novgorod it was settled among them that
the Northmen who had come there should become Magnus's men, and
be his subjects; and to this Kalf and the other men who had been
against King Olaf at Stiklestad were solemnly bound by oath. On
the other hand, King Magnus promised them, under oath, secure
peace and full reconciliation; and that he would be true and
faithful to them all when he got the dominions and kingdom of
Norway. He was to become Kalf Arnason's foster-son; and Kalf
should be bound to do all that Magnus might think necessary for
extending his dominion, and making it more independent than
formerly.

SAGA OF MAGNUS THE GOOD.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

Magnus reigned from A.D. 1035 to 1047, when he died. During the
last year of his reign his half-brother Harald Sigurdson was his
co-regent.

The history of Magnus is treated in "Agrip.", ch. 28-32; in
"Fagrskinna", ch. 119-146; in "Fornmannasogur", part vi., and in
"Knytlinga Saga".