The Story of Norway

by Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen

CHURCH AT EGILÖ, OR EGIL'S ISLAND (ONE OF THE ORKNEYS); SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN BUILT BEFORE THE VIKING AGE.

The oldest surviving brother, Harold, surnamed Graafeld (Grayfell) resembled, in appearance his father, Erik Blood-Axe. He was haughty, avaricious, and revengeful; tall of stature, finely built, and of lordly presence, but for all that a weak and vacillating character. He lacked entirely that kindliness and bonhommie which had made his uncle Haakon the Good beloved of all the people. Of the other brothers we have no definite knowledge; they seem, however, all to have inherited their share of the traits which made their parents odious. Two of them, Gudröd and Sigurd Sleva, proved themselves worthy sons of the malicious Gunhild. The others are usually spoken of collectively, and their names are variously given.

It may have been the sense of his unpopularity which induced Harold Grayfell to make overtures to the former courtiers of King Haakon. Several of them, it appears, entered his service, but felt themselves ill at ease among the foreign warriors who enjoyed his favor and confidence. Jealousies and petty bickerings were the order of the day; every allusion to King Haakon's virtues gave offence, and when the song of Eyvind Scald-Spoiler, praising his former lord, reached the king's ears, he exclaimed angrily: "You love King Haakon yet, and it is best that you follow him and become his men."

The men then departed, not suddenly, but one by one, and made the names of the sons of Gunhild still more detested throughout the land. Eyvind Scald-Spoiler in a noble verse refused to be King Harold's court poet, and after his departure made a song in which he compared Haakon with Harold, much to the latter's disadvantage. There was in that year (962) a great dearth of food in the land; crops and fisheries failed, and the cattle had to be fed with leaf-buds instead of grass. In some districts snow fell in the middle of summer. The people who believed that the gods had sent these evil times because of their anger at the kings, gave vent to their discontent in loud murmuring. Harold Grayfell and his brothers, it appears, had been baptized in their youth in England and were nominally Christians. They refrained from sacrificing, and broke down and destroyed many heathen temples. But they made no effort to enlighten the people regarding the new religion; and probably considered questions of faith as being of small moment. Surrounded, as they were, by enemies on all sides, their first ambition was naturally to re-conquer the kingdom which Harold the Fairhaired had bequeathed to their father. It became, therefore, a political necessity to break the power of Earl Sigurd of Hlade, as well as of Tryggve Olafsson and Gudröd Björnsson in Viken. To do this in open warfare was out of the question; and Gunhild, therefore, persuaded her sons to resort to treachery. By flattery and promises, Harold bribed Grjotgard Haakonsson, a younger brother of Earl Sigurd, to send him word when a favorable opportunity should present itself for killing the earl. At the same time the king sent messengers with gifts and friendly assurances to the intended victim, but failed for awhile to lead him into any trap. At last, when these repeated protestations of friendship had, perhaps, made him relax his vigilance, Harold Grayfell and his brother Erling, having received notice from Grjotgard, surprised the earl in the night, while he was away from home, and burned him and all his retinue. By this deed, however, they raised up against themselves an enemy who proved more dangerous to them than the one they had slain. Earl Sigurd's son, Haakon, was twenty-five years old, when his father died, and a man splendidly equipped in body and mind. He was a great warrior, handsome in person, sagacious, resolute, and friendly and affable in his demeanor. His family was, in some respect, as good as any king's; for he belonged to the old tribal aristocracy which had maintained its authority in Tröndelag from the earliest Germanic times. When he was born, King Haakon the Good, who happened just then to be his father's guest, had poured water upon his head and given him his own name.

When the intelligence of Earl Sigurd's death reached him, Haakon called the Trönders together, and a great multitude responded to his summons. They clamored for vengeance upon the treacherous sons of Gunhild, confirmed Haakon in the dignity which his father had possessed, and declared themselves ready to follow him. With a great fleet he sailed out of the Drontheim fiord; but the sons of Gunhild fled southward and did not venture to give battle. The Trönders, having given their allegiance to Earl Haakon, refused to pay taxes to Harold Grayfell, who, after some indecisive fights, was compelled virtually to recognize his rival's independence. Haakon, however, was well aware what such a concession must have cost the haughty king, and he knew, too, that his independence would last only so long as he was able to defend it. With a view to strengthening his position, he therefore formed an alliance with the two kings in Viken, which only had the effect of speedily bringing down upon the latter the vengeance of Gunhild's sons. Harold Grayfell and his brother Gudröd made a pretence of quarrelling, and feigned a furious hostility to each other. A viking cruise which they were about to undertake together was accordingly deferred, and Gudröd, complaining of his brother's conduct, sent a friendly message to Tryggve Olafsson, begging him to accompany him on his cruise. Tryggve accepted the invitation, and on arriving at the appointed place of meeting was foully murdered with all his men. King Gudröd Björnsson (the son of Björn the Merchant) was about the same time surprised at a banquet by Harold Grayfell, and slain after a desperate resistance. After these exploits, Harold and Gudröd re-united and took possession of Viken. They hastened to King Tryggve's dwelling in the hope of exterminating his whole race. But Tryggve's widow, Aastrid, anticipating their intention, had fled with her foster-father, Thorolf Luse-skjegg, (Lousy-Beard), and a few attendants. She was then with child, and on a little islet in the Rand's fiord, where she was hiding, she bore her son Olaf Tryggvesson. Wherever she went Gunhild's spies pursued her. Hearing that she had borne a son, the wily queen spared no effort to get her in her power. During the entire summer Aastrid was compelled to remain on the solitary islet, venturing out only in the night, and hiding among the underbrush in the daytime. When toward autumn the nights began to grow darker, she went ashore with her attendants, travelling only when the darkness protected them. After many hardships she reached her father Erik Ofrestad's estate in the Oplands; but even here the wily Gunhild left her no peace. A man named Haakon was despatched with thirty armed attendants to search for her and her child; but Erik of Ofrestad got news of their mission in time to send his daughter and grandson away. Disguised as beggars, Aastrid and Thoralf Lousy-Beard travelled on foot from farm to farm, and came toward evening to the house of a man named Björn. They asked for food and shelter, but were rudely driven away by the inhospitable peasant. At a neighboring farm, however, they were kindly received by a peasant named Thorstein. Gunhild's emissaries, having searched in vain at Ofrestad, got on the track of the fugitives, and learned at the house of Björn that a handsome woman in poor attire, bearing a babe in her arms, had applied for shelter early in the evening. This conversation one of Thorstein's servants happened to overhear, and on arriving home, related it to his master. Thorstein immediately, with loud chiding and pretended wrath, roused the supposed beggars from their sleep, and drove them out into the night. This he did in order to deceive the servants and other listeners. But when Aastrid and Thoralf were well under way, he told them that Gunhild's hired assassins had arrived at the neighboring farm, and that his only desire was to save them. He also gave them a trusted attendant who could show them the best hiding-places in the forest. At the shores of a lake they concealed themselves among the tall bulrushes.

SCISSORS AND ARROW-HEADS OF IRON.

Thorstein, in the meanwhile, sent their pursuers in the opposite direction, and led them a dance through forest and field in a vain search for the fugitives. The next night, when Haakon and his men had given up the search, he sent food and clothes to Aastrid, and furnished her with an escort to Sweden, where she found a place of refuge with a friend of her father's named Haakon the Old. Gunhild, however, was not to be discouraged. She sent two embassies to King Erik of Sweden, demanding the surrender of Olaf Tryggvesson, and received each time permission to capture the child, without interference on the part of the king. But Haakon the Old was a mighty man, and determined to defend his guests. The threats of Gunhild's embassador did not frighten him. While the latter was speaking, a half-witted thrall, named Buste, seized a dung-fork, and rushed at him, threatening to strike. The embassador, fearing to be soiled, took to his heels, and was pursued by the thrall. How the queen received him on his return is not recorded.

Of the internal enemies of Gunhild's sons, Earl Haakon of Hlade now alone remained; and it was not an unnatural desire on their part to reduce him to subjection. Anticipating, as usual, their action, the earl was on the look-out for them; but having ascertained the size of their fleets, he saw the hopelessness of his cause, and forthwith sailed to Denmark, where he was well received by King Harold Bluetooth (964). It will thus be seen that the friendship between Harold Grayfell and the Danish king had not endured the strain of diverging interests. The former, as soon as he felt secure in his power, refused to recognize the latter's claim to Viken, and paid him no taxes. Harold Bluetooth, therefore, allied himself with Earl Haakon, the bitterest enemy of the sons of Gunhild, hoping, by his aid, to regain his lost dominion. What particularly encouraged him in this expectation was the continued dearth which prevailed in Norway, and the resulting unpopularity of the kings which, with every year, grew more pronounced. It was of no avail that Harold Grayfell almost every summer went on viking cruises, gaining a great fame as a warrior and bringing home rich treasures. The people hated him only less than they hated his mother Gunhild. An exploit of his brother Sigurd Sleva aroused a demonstration of wrath which came near culminating in open rebellion. Sigurd Sleva had paid a visit to a mighty yeoman named Klypp Thorsson, and had, in the absence of the master of the house, been hospitably received by his beautiful wife Aaluf. He had become enamoured of his hostess, and had grievously insulted her. Klypp, on his return, learned what had occurred; and swore to avenge the shame which had been brought upon him by Gunhild's son. When Harold Grayfell and Sigurd, in the autumn of 964, held a thing at Vors, they were attacked by the enraged peasants, and had to save themselves by flight. Klypp, with a number of his friends, pursued Sigurd, slew him with his own hand, and was himself slain by one of Sigurd's men.