The Story of Norway

by Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen

When Thorkell Leira observed that Earl Erik was in a forgiving mood, he grew very wroth. Fearing that he might be thwarted in his vengeance on Vagn Aakesson, he sprang past the remaining men and, with his axe raised above his head, rushed toward his enemy. One of the men on the log, however, seeing his chief's danger, flung himself forward so that Thorkell stumbled over his body and dropped his axe. Instantly Vagn was on his feet, seized the axe and dealt Thorkell such a blow that the axe went through the neck, and the blade was buried in the earth. Thus Vagn Aakesson was the only one of the Jomsvikings who accomplished what he had vowed to do. Earl Erik, full of admiration of his feat, now had his bonds removed and gave him his liberty. The other prisoners who were yet alive were also set free at the earl's command.

Not far from the spot where this occurred sat Earl Haakon with many of his chieftains. Suddenly the loud twang of a bow-string was heard, and in the same instant Gissur the White, from Valders, who sat next to the earl and was more magnificently dressed than he, fell dead, pierced by an arrow. Many men hastened down to the ship whence the arrow had come, and found Haavard the Hewer, who, half dazed with loss of blood, stood on his knees with his bow in his hands. "Tell me, lads," he said, "did any one fall over there at the tree?"

He was told that Gissur the White had fallen.

"Then I was not so much in luck as I had hoped," he remarked; "for that arrow was meant for the earl."

It was plain that the favorable result of this great battle was due chiefly to the intrepidity and circumspection of Earl Erik. His father would perhaps have recognized this fact, if the son had not apparently superseded his authority in sparing the life of so important a man as Vagn Aakesson without consultation with the commander-in-chief. He did not, however, venture to disregard Earl Erik's pardon, but loudly expressed his discontent, and parted from his son in anger. Vagn followed his rescuer southward, and became his familiar friend and companion.

Earl Haakon's power was now so well confirmed that no one ventured to dispute his supremacy. Crops and fisheries were good. The people enjoyed many years of peace and contentment. The earls of the Orkneys paid Haakon tribute, as if he had been a king, and a king he was in every thing except the name. His family had always been associated with the ancient temple and earldom of Hlade; and it was a matter of pride with him to retain his ancestral dignity. This is significant when we consider how he was in all things a man of the old dispensation. At a time when heathenism was slowly crumbling away, and the faith in the old gods was losing its hold upon the upper classes, Haakon was a devout and sincere heathen. The continual intercourse of Norway with England and the lands of the South had half imperceptibly weakened the old superstitions and made the legends of Odin and Thor appear to many like nursery tales which grown-up men could scarcely be expected to believe. Repudiation of all supernaturalism and a proud reliance upon his own good sword was at this time characteristic of the Norse viking, who prided himself upon his knowledge of the world and his deeds in distant lands. For all that the Asa faith as later events will prove, had yet a sufficient number of sincere believers to make the progress of the new faith slow and sanguinary. Nevertheless so atrocious an act as the sacrifice of one's own child could not have failed to arouse indignation even among the worshippers of Odin and Thor. Such horrors were tolerated far back in the gloom of primeval antiquity, but must have been felt in the tenth century as a hideous anachronism. How much Earl Haakon's heathen fanaticism contributed to his downfall is difficult to determine. The sacrifice of Erling during the battle with the Jomsvikings, though it was generally regarded as a fact, was not the original cause of the rebellion which cost the earl his throne and his life. The vices by which he forfeited his early popularity were of a kind which assert their sway over men, irrespective of religions.

In the year 995 Earl Haakon was travelling in Gauldale, collecting taxes. His son Erlend, of whom he was very fond, lay with some ships out in the fiord, waiting to receive the treasure. One evening the earl sent a company of thralls to the house of the powerful peasant Brynjulf, commanding him to send him his wife, who was renowned for her beauty. Brynjulf refused, and the earl in great anger sent the thralls back with this message to the indignant husband, that he had the choice between death and the surrender of his wife. The peasant was obliged to yield, and with a heavy heart let his wife depart with the thralls. But no sooner was she gone than he recovered his manhood and swore vengeance. He summoned the inhabitants of the valley from far and near, and told them of the shame the earl had put upon him. All promised him their help, and resolved to hold themselves in readiness, awaiting the first opportunity for attacking the daring profligate. The earl, in the meanwhile, being quite ignorant of their designs, played into their hands. Very soon after his adventure with Brynjulf's wife, he sent a message of similar purport to Orm Lyrgja, whose wife Gudrun, on account of her beauty, was surnamed "Lundarsol" (the Sun of Lunde).[A] Orm, who was a man of great authority in his valley, sent word to all his neighbors, and after having feasted the earl's thralls, in order to detain them, refused to comply with their demand. Gudrun, who saw them depart, cried jeeringly after them: "Give the earl my greeting, and tell him that I will not go to him unless he sends Thora of Rimul to fetch me." Thora of Rimul was one of the earl's mistresses, whom his favor had made rich and powerful.

[A] Lund means a grove, and her name might thus be rendered: "The Sun of the Grove."

War-summons was now sent from farm to farm and a great band of armed peasants came together, and marched toward Medalhus where Haakon was staying. He sent in haste a message to his son Erlend, to meet him at Möre, whither he intended to go, as soon as the army of the peasants had dispersed. Then his time for vengeance would be at hand. In the meanwhile he would be obliged to dismiss his men and hide, until the excitement should have subsided. With a single thrall named Kark, whom he had received as tooth-gift[A] and who had been his playmate in his boyhood, he fled across the Gaul river, rode his horse into a hole, and left his cloak upon the ice, in order that his pursuers might believe that he had been drowned. Then he hastened to his mistress, Thora of Rimul, who hid him and the thrall in a deep ditch under her pigsty. Food, candles, and bedclothes, were given them, whereupon the ditch was covered with boards and earth, and the pigs were driven out over it. As it happened, Olaf Tryggvesson, whose young life Queen Gunhild had vainly endeavored to destroy, had just then landed in Tröndelag and had slain the earl's son Erlend. The peasants, hearing that he was of the race of Harold the Fairhaired, received him with delight and accompanied him to Rimul, where they thought it likely that the earl must be hidden.

[A] It was customary to give to infants of high birth a thrall or some other valuable gift when it got its first tooth. This gift was called a tooth-gift.