Heimskringla

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"Harald and Svein first met as foes,
Where the Nis in the ocean flows;
For Svein would not for peace entreat,
But, strong in ships, would Harald meet.
The Norsemen prove, with sword in hand,
That numbers cannot skill withstand.
Off Halland's coast the blood of Danes
The blue sea's calm smooth surface stains."

Soon the battle began, and became very sharp; both kings urging
on their men. So says Stein Herdison: --

"Our king, his broad shield disregarding,
More keen for striking than for warding,
Now tells his lads their spears to throw, --
Now shows them where to strike a blow.
From fleet to fleet so short the way,
That stones and arrows have full play;
And from the keen sword dropped the blood
Of short-lived seamen in the flood."

It was late in the day when the battle began, and it continued
the whole night. King Harald shot for a long time with his bow.
So says Thiodolf: --

"The Upland king was all the night
Speeding the arrows' deadly flight.
All in the dark his bow-string's twang
Was answered; for some white shield rang,
Or yelling shriek gave certain note
The shaft had pierced some ring-mail coat,
The foemen's shields and bulwarks bore
A Lapland arrow-scat(1) or more."

Earl Hakon, and the people who followed him, did not make fast
their ships in the fleet, but rowed against the Danish ships that
were loose, and slew the men of all the ships they came up with.
When the Danes observed this each drew his ship out of the way of
the earl; but he set upon those who were trying to escape, and
they were nearly driven to flight. Then a boat came rowing to
the earl's ship and hailed him and said that the other wing of
King Harald's fleet was giving way and many of their people had
fallen. Then the earl rowed thither and gave so severe an
assault that the Danes had to retreat before him. The earl went
on in this way all the night, coming forward where he was most
wanted, and wheresoever he came none could stand against him.
Hakon rowed outside around the battle. Towards the end of the
night the greatest part of the Danish fleet broke into flight,
for then King Harald with his men boarded the vessel of King
Svein; and it was so completely cleared that all the crew fell in
the ship, except those who sprang overboard. So says Arnor, the
earls' skald: --

"Brave Svein did not his vessel leave
Without good cause, as I believe:
Oft on his casque the sword-blade rang,
Before into the sea he sprang.
Upon the wave his vessel drives;
All his brave crew had lost their lives.
O'er dead courtmen into the sea
The Jutland king had now to flee."

And when King Svein's banner was cut down, and his ship cleared
of its crew, all his forces took to flight, and some were killed.
The ships which were bound together could not be cast loose, so
the people who were in them sprang overboard, and some got to the
other ships that were loose; and all King Svein's men who could
get off rowed away, but a great many of them were slain. Where
the king himself fought the ships were mostly bound together, and
there were more than seventy left behind of King Svein's vessels.
So says Thiodolf: --

"Svein's ships rode proudly o'er the deep,
When, by a single sudden sweep,
Full seventy sail, as we are told,
Were seized by Norway's monarch bold."

King Harald rowed after the Danes and pursued them; but that was
not easy, for the ships lay so thick together that they scarcely
could move. Earl Fin Arnason would not flee; and being also
shortsighted, was taken prisoner. So says Thiodolf: --

"To the six Danish earls who came
To aid his force, and raise his name,
No mighty thanks King Svein is owing
For mighty actions of their doing.
Fin Arnason, in battle known,
With a stout Norse heart of his own,
Would not take flight his life to gain,
And in the foremost ranks was ta'en."

ENDNOTES:
(1) The Laplanders paid their seat, or yearly tax, in bows and
arrows; and the meaning of the skald appears to be, that as
many as were paid in a year were shot at the foe. -- L.

66. KING SVEIN'S FLIGHT.

Earl Hakon lay behind with his ships, while the king and the rest
of the forces were pursuing the fugitives; for the earls' ships
could not get forward on account of the ships which lay in the
way before him. Then a man came rowing in a boat to the earl's
ship and lay at the bulwarks. The man was stout and had on a
white hat. He hailed the ship, "Where is the earl?" said he.

The earl was in the fore-hold, stopping a man's blood. The earl
cast a look at the man in the hat and asked what his name was.
He answered, "Here is Vandrad: speak to me, earl."

The earl leant over the ship's side to him. Then the man in the
boat said, "Earl, I will accept of my life from thee, if thou
wilt give it."

Then the earl raised himself up, called two men who were friends
dear to him, and said to them, "Go into the boat; bring Vandrad
to the land; attend him to my friend's Karl the bonde; and tell
Karl, as a token that these words come from me, that he let
Vandrad have the horse which I gave to him yesterday, and also
his saddle, and his son to attend him."

Thereupon they went into the boat and took the oars in hand,
while Vandrad steered. This took place just about daybreak,
while the vessels were in movement, some rowing towards the land,
some towards the sea, both small and great. Vandrad steered
where he thought there was most room between the vessels; and
when they came near to Norway's ships the earl's men gave their
names and then they all allowed them to go where they pleased.
Vandrad steered along the shore, and only set in towards the land
when they had come past the crowd of ships. They then went up to
Karl the bonde's farm, and it was then beginning to be light.
They went into the room where Karl had just put on his clothes.
The earl's men told him their message and Karl said they must
first take some food; and he set a table before them and gave
them water to wash with.

Then came the housewife into the room and said, "I wonder why we
could get no peace or rest all night with the shouting and
screaming."

Karl replies, "Dost thou not know that the kings were fighting
all night?"

She asked which had the better of it.

Karl answered, "The Northmen gained."

"Then," said she, "our king will have taken flight."

"Nobody knows," says Karl, "whether he has fled or is fallen."

She says, "What a useless sort of king we have! He is both slow
and frightened."

Then said Vandrad, "Frightened he is not; but he is not lucky."

Then Vandrad washed his hands; but he took the towel and dried
them right in the middle of the cloth. The housewife snatched
the towel from him, and said, "Thou hast been taught little good;
it is wasteful to wet the whole cloth at one time.

Vandrad replies, "I may yet come so far forward in the world as
to be able to dry myself with the middle of the towel."

Thereupon Karl set a table before them and Vandrad sat down
between them. They ate for a while and then went out. The horse
was saddled and Karl's son ready to follow him with another
horse. They rode away to the forest; and the earl's men returned
to the boat, rowed to the earl's ship and told the success of
their expedition.

67. OF KING HARALD.

King Harald and his men followed the fugitives only a short way,
and rowed back to the place where the deserted ships lay. Then
the battle-place was ransacked, and in King Svein's ship was
found a heap of dead men; but the king's body was not found,
although people believed for certain that he had fallen. Then
King Harald had the greatest attention paid to the dead of his
men, and had the wounds of the living bound up. The dead bodies
of Svein's men were brought to the land, and he sent a message to
the peasants to come and bury them. Then he let the booty be
divided, and this took up some time. The news came now that King
Svein had come to Seeland, and that all who had escaped from the
battle had joined him, along with many more, and that he had a
great force.

68. FIN ARNASON GETS QUARTER.

Earl Fin Arnason was taken prisoner in the battle, as before
related; and when he was led before King Harald the king was very
merry, and said, "Fin, we meet here now, and we met last in
Norway. The Danish court has not stood very firmly by thee; and
it will be a troublesome business for Northmen to drag thee, a
blind old man, with them, and preserve thy life."

The earl replies, "The Northmen find it very difficult now to
conquer, and it is all the worse that thou hast the command of
them."

Then said King Harald, "Wilt thou accept of life and safety,
although thou hast not deserved it?"

The earl replies, "Not from thee, thou dog."

The king: "Wilt thou, then, if thy relation Magnus gives thee
quarter?"

Magnus, King Harald's son, was then steering the ship.

The earl replies, "Can the whelp rule over life and quarter?"

The king laughed, as if he found amusement in vexing him. --
"Wilt thou accept thy life, then, from thy she-relation Thorer?"

The earl: "Is she here?"

"She is here," said the king.

Then Earl Fin broke out with the ugly expressions which since
have been preserved, as a proof that he was so mad with rage that
he could not govern his tongue: --

"No wonder thou hast bit so strongly, if the mare was with thee."

Earl Fin got life and quarter and the king kept him a while about
him. But Fin was rather melancholy and obstinate in
conversation; and King Harald said, "I see, Fin, that thou dost
not live willingly in company with me and thy relations; now I
will give thee leave to go to thy friend King Svein."

The earl said, "I accept of the offer willingly, and the more
gratefully the sooner I get away from hence."

The king afterwards let Earl Fin be landed and the traders going
to Halland received him well. King Harald sailed from thence to
Norway with his fleet; and went first to Oslo, where he gave all
his people leave to go home who wished to do so.

69. OF KING SVEIN.

King Svein, it is told, sat in Denmark all that winter, and had
his kingdom as formerly. In winter he sent men north to Halland
for Karl the bonde and his wife. When Karl came the king called
him to him and asked him if he knew him, or thought he had ever
seen him before.

Karl replies, "I know thee, sire, and knew thee before, the
moment I saw thee; and God be praised if the small help I could
give was of any use to thee."

The king replies, "I have to reward thee for all the days I have
to live. And now, in the first place, I will give thee any farm
in Seeland thou wouldst desire to have; and, in the next place,
will make thee a great man, if thou knowest how to conduct
thyself."

Karl thanked the king for his promise, and said he had now but
one thing to ask.

The king asked what that was.

Karl said that he would ask to take his wife with him.

The king said, "I will not let thee do that; but I will provide
thee a far better and more sensible wife. But thy wife can keep
the bonde-farm ye had before and she will have her living from
it."

The king gave Karl a great and valuable farm, and provided him a
good marriage; and he became a considerable man. This was
reported far and wide and much praised; and thus it came to be
told in Norway.

70. OF THE TALK OF THE COURT-MEN.

King Harald stayed in Oslo the winter after the battle at Nis-
river (A.D. 1063). In autumn, when the men came from the south,
there was much talk and many stories about the battle which they
had fought at Nis-river, and every one who had been there thought
he could tell something about it. Once some of them sat in a
cellar and drank, and were very merry and talkative. They talked
about the Nis-river battle, and who had earne'd the greatest
praise and renown. They all agreed that no man there had been at
all equal to Earl Hakon. He was the boldest in arms, the
quickest, and the most lucky; what he did was of the greatest
help, and he won the battle. King Harald, in the meantime, was
out in the yard, and spoke with some people. He went then to the
room-door, and said, "Every one here would willingly be called
Hakon;" and then went his way.

71. OF THE ATTEMPT TO TAKE EARL HAKON.

Earl Hakon went in winter to the Uplands, and was all winter in
his domains. He was much beloved by all the Uplanders. It
happened, towards spring, that some men were sitting drinking in
the town, and the conversation turned, as usual, on the Nis-river
battle; and some praised Earl Hakon, and some thought others as
deserving of praise as he. When they had thus disputed a while,
one of them said, "It is possible that others fought as bravely
as the earl at Nis-river; but none, I think, has had such luck
with him as he."

The others replied, that his best luck was his driving so many
Danes to flight along with other men.

The same man replied, "It was greater luck that he gave King
Svein quarter."

One of the company said to him, "Thou dost not know what thou art
saying."

He replied, "I know it for certain, for the man told me himself
who brought the king to the land."

It went, according to the old proverb, that the king has many
ears. This was told the king, and he immediately ordered horses
to be gathered, and rode away directly with 900 men. He rode all
that night and the following day. Then some men met them who
were riding to the town with mead and malt. In the king's
retinue was a man called Gamal, who rode to one of these bondes
who was an acquaintance of his, and spoke to him privately. "I
will pay thee," said he, "to ride with the greatest speed, by the
shortest private paths that thou knowest, to Earl Hakon, and tell
him the king will kill him; for the king has got to the knowledge
that Earl Hakon set King Svein on shore at Nis-river." They
agreed on the payment. The bonde rode, and came to the earl just
as he was sitting drinking, and had not yet gone to bed. When
the bonde told his errand, the earl immediately stood up with all
his men, had all his loose property removed from the farm to the
forest, and all the people left the house in the night. When the
king came he halted there all night; but Hakon rode away, and
came east to Svithjod to King Steinkel and stayed with him all
summer. King Harald returned to the town, travelled northwards
to Throndhjem district, and remained there all summer; but in
autumn he returned eastwards to Viken.

72. OF EARL HAKON.

As soon as Earl Hakon heard the king had gone north he returned
immediately in summer to the Uplands (A.D. 1063), and remained
there until the king had returned from the north. Then the earl
went east into Vermaland, where he remained during the winter,
and where the king, Steinkel, gave him fiefs. For a short time
in winter he went west to Raumarike with a great troop of men
from Gautland and Vermaland, and received the scat and duties
from the Upland people which belonged to him, and then returned
to Glutland, and remained there till spring. King Harald had his
seat in Oslo all winter (A.D. 1064), and sent his men to the
Uplands to demand the scat, together with the king's land dues,
and the mulcts of court; but the Uplanders said they would pay
all the scat and dues which they had to pay, to Earl Hakon as
long as he was in life, and had forfeited his life or his fief;
and the king got no dues that winter.

73. AGREEMENT BETWEEN KING HARALD AND KING SVEIN.

This winter messengers and ambassadors went between Norway and
Denmark, whose errand was that both Northmen and Danes should
make peace, and a league with each other. and to ask the kings to
agree to it. These messages gave favourable hopes of a peace;
and the matter proceeded so far that a meeting for peace was
appointed at the Gaut river between King Harald and King Svein.
When spring approached, both kings assembled many ships and
people for this meeting. So says a skald in a poem on this
expedition of the kings, which begins thus: --

"The king, who from the northern sound
His land with war-ships girds around,
The raven-feeder, filled the coast
With his proud ships, a gallant host!
The gold-tipped stems dash through the foam
That shakes the seamen's planked home;
The high wave breaks up to the mast,
As west of Halland on they passed,

"Harald whose word is fixed and sure,
Whose ships his land from foes secure,
And Svein, whose isles maintain is fleet,
Hasten as friends again to meet;
And every creek with vessels teems, --
All Denmark men and shipping seems;
And all rejoice that strife will cease,
And men meet now but to make peace."

Here it is told that the two kings held the meeting that was
agreed upon between them, and both came to the frontiers of their
kingdoms. So says the skald: --

"To meet (since peace the Dane now craves)
On to the south upon the waves
Sailed forth our gallant northern king,
Peace to the Danes with him to bring.
Svein northward to his frontier hies
To get the peace his people prize,
And meet King Harald, whom he finds
On land hard used by stormy winds."

When the kings found each other, people began at once to talk of
their being reconciled. But as soon as peace was proposed, many
began to complain of the damage they had sustained by harrying,
robbing and killing men; and for a long time it did not look very
like peace. It is here related: --

"Before this meeting of the kings
Each bende his own losses brings,
And loudly claims some recompense
From his king's foes, at their expense.
It is not easy to make peace,
Where noise and talking never cease:
The bondes' warmth may quickly spread,
And kings be by the people led.

"When kings are moved, no peace is sure;
For that peace only is secure
Which they who make it fairly make, --
To each side give, from each side take.
The kings will often rule but ill
Who listen to the people's will:
The people often have no view
But their own interests to pursue."

At last the best men, and those who were the wisest, came between
the kings, and settled the peace thus: -- that Harald should have
Norway, and Svein Denmark, according to the boundaries of old
established between Denmark and Norway; neither of them should
pay to the other for any damage sustained; the war should cease
as it now stood, each retaining what he had got; and this peace
should endure as long as they were kings. This peace was
confirmed by oath. Then the kings parted, having given each
other hostages, as is here related: --

"And I have heard that to set fast
The peace God brought about at last,
Svein and stern Harald pledges sent,
Who witnessed to their sworn intent;
And much I wish that they and all
In no such perjury may fall
That this peace ever should be broken,
And oaths should fail before God spoken."

King Harald with his people sailed northwards to Norway, and King
Svein southwards to Denmark.

74. KING HARALD'S BATTLE WITH EARL HAKON.

King Harald was in Viken in the summer (A.D. 1064), and he sent
his men to the Uplands after the scat and duty which belonged to
him; but the bondes paid no attention to the demand, but said
they would hold all for Earl Hakon until he came for it. Earl
Hakon was then up in Gautland with a large armed force. When
summer was past King Harald went south to Konungahella. Then he
took all the light-sailing vessels he could get hold of and
steered up the river. He had the vessels drawn past all the
waterfalls and brought them thus into the Wener lake. Then he
rowed eastward across the lake to where he heard Earl Hakon was;
but when the earl got news of the king's expedition he retreated
down the country, and would not let the king plunder the land.
Earl Hakon had a large armed force which the Gautland people had
raised for him. King Harald lay with his ships up in a river,
and made a foray on land, but left some of his men behind to
protect the ships. The king himself rode up with a part of the
men, but the greater part were on foot. They had to cross a
forest, where they found a mire or lake, and close to it a wood;
and when they reached the wood they saw the earl's men, but the
mire was between them. They drew up their people now on both
sides. Then King Harald ordered his men to sit down on the
hillside. "We will first see if they will attack us. Earl Hakon
does not usually wait to talk." It was frosty weather, with some
snow-drift, and Harald's men sat down under their shields; but it
was cold for the Gautlanders, who had but little clothing with
them. The earl told them to wait until King Harald came nearer,
so that all would stand equally high on the ground. Earl Hakon
had the same banner which had belonged to King Magnus Olafson.

The lagman of the Gautland people, Thorvid, sat upon a horse, and
the bridle was fastened to a stake that stood in the mire. He
broke out with these words: "God knows we have many brave and
handsome fellows here, and we shall let King Steinkel hear that
we stood by the good earl bravely. I am sure of one thing: we
shall behave gallantly against these Northmen, if they attack us;
but if our young people give way, and should not stand to it, let
us not run farther than to that stream; but if they should give
way farther, which I am sure they will not do, let it not be
farther than to that hill." At that instant the Northmen sprang
up, raised the war-cry, and struck on their shields; and the
Gautland army began also to shout. The lagman's horse got shy
with the war-cry, and backed so hard that the stake flew up and
struck the lagman on the head. He said, "Ill luck to thee,
Northman, for that arrow!" and away fled the lagman. King Harald
had told his people, "If we do make a clash with the weapons, we
shall not however, go down from the hill until they come nearer
to us;" and they did so. When the war-cry was raised the earl
let his banner advance; but when they came under the hill the
king's army rushed down upon them, and killed some of the earl's
people, and the rest fled. The Northmen did not pursue the
fugitives long, for it was the fall of day; but they took Earl
Hakon's banner and all the arms and clothes they could get hold
of. King Harald had both the banners carried before him as they
marched away. They spoke among themselves that the earl had
probably fallen. As they were riding through the forest they
could only ride singly, one following the other. Suddenly a man
came full gallop across the path, struck his spear through him
who was carrying the earl's banner, seized the banner-staff, and
rode into the forest on the other side with the banner. When
this was told the king he said, "Bring me my armour, for the earl
is alive." Then the king rode to his ships in the night; and
many said that the earl had now taken his revenge. But Thiodolf
sang thus: --

"Steinkel's troops, who were so bold,
Who the Earl Hakon would uphold,
Were driven by our horsemen's power
To Hel, death goddess, in an hour;
And the great earl, so men say
Who won't admit he ran away,
Because his men fled from the ground,
Retired, and cannot now be found."

75. DEATH OF HAL, THE MURDERER OF KODRAN.

The rest of the night Harald passed in his ships; but in the
morning, when it was daylight, it was found that so thick ice had
gathered about the vessels that one could walk around them. The
king ordered his men to cut the ice from the ships all the way
out to the clear water; on which they all went to break the ice.
King Harald's son, Magnus, steered the vessel that lay lowest
down the river and nearest the water. When the people had
cleared the ice away almost entirely, a man ran out to the ice,
and began hewing away at it like a madman. Then said one of the
men, "It is going now as usual, that none can do so much as Hal
who killed Kodran, when once he lays himself to the work. See
how he is hewing away at the ice." There was a man in the crew
of Magnus, the king's son, who was called Thormod Eindridason;
and when he heard the name of Kodran's murderer he ran up to Hal,
and gave him a death-wound. Kodran was a son of Gudmund
Eyjolfson; and Valgerd, who was a sister of Gudmund, was the
mother of Jorun, and the grandmother by the mother's side of this
Thormod. Thormod was a year old when Kodran was killed, and had
never seen Hal Utrygson until now. When the ice was broken all
the way out to the water, Magnus drew his ship out, set sail
directly, and sailed westward across the lake; but the king's
ship, which lay farthest up the river, came out the last. Hal
had been in the king's retinue, and was very dear to him; so that
the king was enraged at his death. The king came the last into
the harbour, and Magnus had let the murderer escape into the
forest, and offered to pay the mulct for him; and the king had
very nearly attacked Magnus and his crew, but their friends came
up and reconciled them.