The intimate connexion all through this period between Scandinavia, Iceland, and Britain can only be realized by reading the Northern Sagas side by side with the chronicles of Great Britain and Ireland, and it is from Norse sources chiefly that I propose to tell the story.
Contents
| THE AGE OF THE VIKINGS | ||
| CHAP. | PAGE | |
| I. | The First Coming of the Northmen | [11] |
| II. | The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrog, or “Hairy-breeks” | [15] |
| III. | The Call for Help | [22] |
| IV. | Alfred the Great | [29] |
| V. | Harald Fairhair, First King of Norway, and the Settlements in the Orkneys | [36] |
| VI. | The Northmen in Ireland | [45] |
| VII. | The Expansion of England | [52] |
| VIII. | King Athelstan the Great | [56] |
| IX. | The Battle of Brunanburh | [65] |
| X. | Two Great Kings trick each other | [78] |
| XI. | King Hakon the Good | [82] |
| XII. | King Hakon forces his People to become Christians | [85] |
| XIII. | The Saga of Olaf Trygveson | [91] |
| XIV. | King Olaf’s Dragon-ships | [100] |
| XV. | Wild Tales from the Orkneys | [108] |
| XVI. | Murtough of the Leather Cloaks | [117] |
| XVII. | The Story of Olaf the Peacock | [122] |
| XVIII. | The Battle of Clontarf | [135] |
| XIX. | Yule in the Orkneys, 1014 | [144] |
| XX. | The Story of the Burning | [157] |
| XXI. | Things draw on to an End | [166] |
| THE DANISH KINGDOM OF ENGLAND | ||
| XXII. | The Reign of Sweyn Forkbeard | [179] |
| XXIII. | The Battle of London Bridge | [186] |
| XXIV. | Canute the Great | [191] |
| XXV. | Canute lays Claim to Norway | [198] |
| XXVI. | Hardacanute | [211] |
| XXVII. | Edward the Confessor | [221] |
| XXVIII. | King Harold, Godwin’s Son, and the Battle of Stamford Bridge | [226] |
| XXIX. | King Magnus Barelegs falls in Ireland | [237] |
| XXX. | The Last of the Vikings | [244] |
| Chronology | [249] | |
| Index | [251] | |
Illustrations
| The Coming of the Northmen | [Frontispiece] |
| FACING PAGE | |
| Ladgerda | [16] |
| Alfred at Ashdune | [26] |
| Harald Fairhair | [42] |
| Olaf Cuaran | [62] |
| Thorolf slays Earl Hring at Brunanburh | [72] |
| The dying King Hakon carried to his Ship | [88] |
| King Olaf’s “Long Serpent” | [102] |
| Murtough on his Journey with the King of Munster in Fetters | [118] |
| “Olaf took the Old Woman in his Arms” | [132] |
| Death of Brian Boru at Clontarf | [152] |
| “The Vision of the Man on the Grey Horse” | [166] |
| “Come thou out, housewife,” called Flosi to Bergthora | [172] |
| The Battle of London Bridge | [188] |
| King Canute and Earl Ulf quarrel over Chess | [214] |
| King Magnus in the Marsh at Downpatrick | [240] |
| MAP | |
| British Isles in the time of the Northmen | [176] |
Authorities
For the Sagas of the Norwegian Kings: Snorri Sturleson’s Heimskringla, or Sagas of the Kings of Norway. Translated by S. Laing and by W. Morris and E. Magnüsson
For Ragnar Lodbrog: Saxo Grammaticus and Lodbrog’s Saga
For Ragnar Lodbrog’s Death Song: Corpus Poeticum Boreale. Vigfusson and York Powell
For the Orkneys: Orkneyinga Saga