Olaf was only twelve years old when he got his first war-ship and set out a-foraying in Sweden and Denmark. He met there Thorkill the Tall, who was come over from England to raise more troops, and entered into alliance with him, and together they sailed to England, just before the death of Sweyn.
Olaf seems to have been sailing in the English Channel when Sweyn died, for as soon as he heard that Ethelred wanted troops to aid him in recovering his kingdom he joined himself to him, hoping, no doubt, to reap some advantage from the war, and to inflict a defeat on the Danes, whose kingdom it was always the desire of the Norsemen to add to the crown of Norway.[34]
Together he and Ethelred set sail, steering direct for London, which had always been faithful to its king; but they found the Danish force strongly ensconced behind deep ditches and a high bulwark of stone, timber, and turf in their castle opposite Southwark, which the Danes called Sudvirke or, Southern Town, a great place of trade. King Ethelred sailed up the Thames, and ordered a general assault, but the Danes defended themselves bravely, and Ethelred could make nothing of it.
The Battle of London Bridge
Between the Danish castle, which afterwards was known as the Tower of London, and Southwark, was old London Bridge, which was broad enough for two wagons to pass each other on it. The Danes had strongly fortified it with barricades and towers, and wooded parapets along the sides, breast-high, and behind this the soldiers, who thickly covered the bridge, stood shooting down upon Ethelred’s fleet of boats beneath them. King Ethelred was very anxious to get possession of the bridge, but it was not clear how this was to be done. Then Olaf the Thick said he would attempt to bring his fleet up alongside the bridge, if the others would do the same. This was his plan. He first ordered his men to land and pull down some old wooden houses that were near the river, and with the wood he made great platforms tied together with hazel withes, so strong that stones would not penetrate them. These he placed over his ships on high pillars so that they stretched out on each side of the boats, and it was possible for his men to fight freely beneath them. The English ships did not take any precautions, but rowed up as they were to the bridge: but so smart a shower of weapons and great stones was shot down upon them that they were forced to retreat, many of them badly damaged and their men wounded; for neither helmet nor shield could hold out against such a storm of missiles. But Olaf’s vessels rowed up quite safely beneath the bridge, where they were sheltered from the enemy above; and when they came under the bridge they tied their cables firmly round the wooden piles upon which the bridge was built, and then rowed off as hard as they could go down-stream, the force of the river and of their oars alike pulling at the piles until they were loosened at the bottom, and dragged out of their place. Now as the bridge was crowded with armed troops, and heavy heaps of stones and weapons were collected upon it, when the piles beneath were loosened it gave way with a great crash, and most of those who were on it fell into the water, the others flying to either side, some to the castle and some into Southwark for safety. Then Olaf’s troops landed on the Southwark side, and stormed and took the place; and when the people in the castle opposite saw that the bridge and the city of Southwark were in the hands of the enemy, to save more bloodshed they surrendered, for they saw that they could no longer hinder the passage of the fleet up and down the river Thames. So Ethelred became their king; and Olaf remained with him until the King died, commanding all his forces and fighting many battles, of which one was at Canterbury, where the castle was burned and many people killed. Olaf fought also a great battle in East Anglia or Essex, and came off victorious; indeed, he was so successful wherever he went that the saga says that Ethelred entrusted him with the whole land defence of England, and he sailed round the country with his ships of war! But the “Thing-men” or bodies of men-at-arms, who were trained soldiers and cared for little but fighting, still kept the field, and the Danes held many of the castles. When Ethelred died Olaf stood out to sea, and went harrying in Normandy.
King Olaf always took his poet Sigvat, who was called his skald, with him wherever he went. Sigvat sang the praises of his battles, and it is partly from his songs that the history of the time is known. After the battle of London Bridge he sang a song, a form of which is still common among us, and which children sing in their singing-games, “London bridge is broken down.”
Here is a verse of Sigvat’s song, which he made in the year 1014, and which is still known to-day, though few people remember when it was made, or why:
“London Bridge is broken down—
Gold is won, and bright renown.