After these unexpected successes, Harald thought that he might aspire to the favours of any princess in the north. Hearing of the charms of Gyda, daughter of Eric, jarl or king of Hordaland, he sent messengers to her, not with the offer of his hand, but of his heart. The reply of the lady, if any faith is to be reposed in tradition, was unequalled for its pride. So far from being the mistress, she would not be the wife, of one whose territory consisted in a few insignificant provinces; she would never marry any one beneath the dignity of a monarch,—who did not, like Eric of Sweden, and Gorm of Denmark, hold absolute sway over the whole country. The answer of the heroine being brought to the king, he admired her ambition, and vowed to the gods that he would never cut or comb his hair until he had subdued the whole of Norway—until its revenues and authority were his: and if he failed in his attempt, the penalty should be his life. All this is fable: Harald needed not a woman’s advice to enter on a career which he had long meditated, and which his father had, probably, meditated before him. He might, however, make the vow. In pursuance of that vow, which was highly pleasing to Guthrum, he enlisted all the forces he could, and marched towards the north, through Godbrandsdalia, having the Dofrafeld mountains on his left. The inhabitants fled at his approach into the uplands; some into Orkadal, others into Ganlardal, others into the recesses of the mountains; but many—perhaps the greater number—preferred his yoke to exile and ruin: they did homage, and were unmolested. Pursuing his way into Orkadal, which lay beyond the Dofrafeld chain, in the modern province of Drontheim, he defeated an army, there assembled to oppose him, received the homage of the royal general, and annexed Orkadal, as he had done the intervening regions, to the other dependencies of his crown. Nor must it be forgotten that he was the great champion of the feudal system. Wherever he conquered, he abolished the allodial law of inheritance, and converted all lands into fiefs, to be held from him alone, on the usual obligations. But he did more: he insisted that all rents should be paid in kind; that one third of the portion accruing to the crown should be set apart for the support of the local government. Over each province he placed a jarl, whose duties were, to defend it against all enemies, to collect the revenues, to preside over the local administration. Associated with each jarl were four, at least two, herser or councillors, whose office was at once military and administrative; and to each was awarded a benefice of twenty marks in yearly value. In time of war each jarl was to support sixty, each of the herser twenty, armed men, at his own expense. So ample were the revenues of each province, that the jarls were more wealthy and more powerful than many royal chiefs of the period. Hence the dignity was an object of ambition, and he who could bestow it did not want applicants for it: in the hope of obtaining it, most of the nobles hastened to join him whenever he entered a province.[[171]]
|867 to 882.|
From Orkadal Harald transferred his arms to Ganlardal, which is now also a portion of Drontheim, immediately to the east of the Swedish province of Jamtland. In this expedition he is said to have been joined by Hako, a powerful jarl, by whose aid he subdued the whole province, and the adjoining one of Strinda. In reward for this timely service he placed Hako over the new conquest, with the dignity and rights of jarl. Proceeding still to the north, the conqueror subdued Stiordal, Veradal, Scaunia, and Sparbyggia, all situated in the modern government of Drontheim. The islands in the west were, at the same time, subjected to his sway. Still Harald proceeded to the north, and the two kings of Naumdal submitted, one of them being invested with the dignity of jarl. Thinking that he had now penetrated far enough into the north, since there was nothing beyond Naumdal but vast marshes and trackless forests, scarcely habitable by men[[172]], Harald returned into Drontheim, where he resolved to await the return of spring, before pursuing his conquests in the south. In that province he fixed his abode, and built a town, which he resolved to make his usual seat of government. There he forgot Gyda, so far as to marry Asa, the daughter of jarl Hako; but perhaps he was merely tired of celibacy, and relied on his royal prerogative of obtaining another wife whenever he pleased. He did not, however, pass this season in mere indulgence; most of it was spent in constructing new vessels, and in the discipline of his followers. No one, says the historian, was allowed to enter his palace, except such as excelled in bodily strength or courage. To them he committed the building of his ships, and the command when built. The rewards which he held out to all champions were so ample that hundreds flocked to his standard. When spring arrived he had a formidable fleet, and a large army,—large, we mean, in comparison of those which northern kings usually brought into the field. The first people were the Möre Fylke, or the maritime inhabitants immediately south of Drontheim. Here he had to oppose two kings, and, as usual, victory shone on his banners,—both chiefs being sent to Odin’s hall. With the two provinces over which they had presided he adopted the same policy as with those of the east and north; that is, he subjected them to feudal obligations. They were intrusted as fiefs to jarl Rognevald, and with them both ships and men to defend the coast no less than the interior. This Rognevald was celebrated alike for valour and wisdom, and was the father of Rollo, first duke of Normandy, to whose exploits we shall advert in a future chapter. The summer and autumn were passed in consolidating their conquests; the winter was spent in Drontheim in preparing for new wars; nor did Harald affect to conceal his intention of subduing Sunmore, a province immediately south of Raumadal, as Raumadal was south of Nordmore,—both subject to Rognevald. In one respect this announcement of his views—this manifest approach to universal empire—was imprudent, since it enabled the king of Sunmore to form alliances with the neighbouring reguli, whom the same common danger served to unite. But before the confederation could acquire much strength, he met and defeated the three chiefs who had brought their powers to oppose him. Sunmore was the reward of this victory. The king of the Fiords was next vanquished, and the two districts added to the two other conquests by jarl Rognevald. Not that these conquests were obtained without bloodshed. They were sometimes dearly purchased by the loss of his valiant jarls and bravest followers. Sometimes, too, the ambition of those chiefs was injurious to the progress of the royal arms. Thus Hako, the father-in-law of Harald, and another jarl, contended with each other for the government of Sogne (Sygna-fylke); and one died in the field; the other received a mortal wound, and died soon afterwards.[[173]]
|882 to 884.|
The success of Harald gave equal umbrage and alarm to Eric, the son of Emund, king of the Swedes.[[174]] Taking the field, the latter subdued Vermeland, and placed over it a jarl, whose jurisdiction should extend to Swinasund in the south. Nor was he satisfied with this acquisition: on the contrary, he asserted that he would not lay down his arms until he had incorporated with his dominions Westfold, Raumarik, and the whole of southern Norway as far as the ocean,—possessions which he claimed on the pretext that they had once belonged to his ancestors. This was an unexpected blow to Harald; but he hoped to arrest its consequences by negotiation; and for this purpose he solicited an interview with Eric, in Vermeland. As he had reason, far more than suspicion, that some of the chiefs in these provinces were in communication with Eric, he assembled the Thing, or provincial assembly, in each, and complained of the traitors. Some cleared themselves by the ordeal; some redeemed themselves by the ordinary pecuniary mulct; others were punished in various ways. From these states he hastened to Vermeland, to the house of Aki, a vassal of his, celebrated alike for his riches and dignity, who had readily undertaken to be the host of the two kings. On this occasion Aki is said to have adopted the strange expedient of lodging Eric in old apartments, and Harald in new ones; and of making the same distinction between the plate, the furniture, and drinking horns. The interview was not satisfactory to Eric, and, perhaps, brought no advantage to Harald; but the latter was grateful for the hospitality of Aki, while the former resented the manner in which he had been treated. Having seen Harald on horseback, and, as if he had a presentiment of his fate, confided to that king the interests of his son, he next attended Eric to the neighbouring wood. Being asked by this monarch the reason of the distinctions which he had made, he replied that he hoped king Eric had no reason to complain of ill-treatment; that, because Eric was an elderly and Harald a young man, he had thus acted. This reply did not lessen the anger of Eric, who reminded Aki that he had once been his vassal. “I have not forgotten that,” replied Aki, “and I also remember that thou wast once mine.”[[175]] The king immediately drew his sword, and killed the man whose hospitality he had so lately shared. Harald, being informed of the deed, rode in pursuit of Eric, whom, had he overtaken him, he would certainly have sacrificed to his vengeance. This unfortunate circumstance embittered the enmity already subsisting between the rivals. From year to year hostilities were renewed, chiefly in Gothland, or the confines of Vermeland; but they were not of importance enough to recall Harald from the east and centre of Norway, especially after he had placed his uncle Guthrum as jarl over all the regions which he held in Sweden.[[176]]
|885.|
On his return to Drontheim, where he passed the following winter, Harald found that the reguli of the provinces were still unconquered; and even many of the chiefs who lay within his hereditary jurisdiction were confederating to crush, or, at least, to resist him. It was, indeed, a formidable confederacy. To crush it, Harald, with his usual celerity, collected his forces, both maritime and land, and proceeded towards the south. The armament which he encountered in the bay of Hafursfiord was very different from those which he had hitherto encountered: here were more kings, more vassals, more men, among whom were the greatest heroes of Norway. The fate of that country manifestly depended upon the fate of the ensuing battle. It was a struggle between monarchy and aristocracy,—between the sovereign power and a multitude of independent states,—between an established government and perpetual anarchy,—between society and domestic piracy. They whose ancestors had for ages been accustomed to the piratical life, and had considered it their proudest calling, were eager to fight for what they deemed their privileges. The struggle was worthy of the occasion; prodigies of valour were performed on both sides; but, in the end, victory declared for Harald. Long was this victory celebrated in the north. It was held equal to the most celebrated in ancient times. It was the subject of several poems, among which is one by Hornkloft, the Icelandic bard attached to the court of Harald, whose metrical history was of such service to Snorro, the compiler of Heimskringla.[[177]]
|885.|
After this victory, Norway was unable to resist the conqueror. The reguli, and jarls, and native chiefs, who refused to submit, were driven into exile. Some, preferring liberty, or rather an unbridled licence, to an established government, voluntarily exiled themselves. From this year may be dated the colonisation, by Norwegian settlers, of the Orkneys, the Hebrides, the Shetlands, the Feroes, Iceland; the depredations on the coasts of Great Britain, and Ireland, and Spain; the invasion of Russia and Normandy by successful hordes of pirates. So great an emigration might, one would suppose, greatly weaken the physical resources of Harald; but this does not appear to have been the fact: on the contrary, he spared numerous families to people the wilds of Jamta, Helsingia, and other regions more to the north, which, prior to his time, are said to have been wholly or partially desert. But if Norway was thus his, he had no idle life. The pirates whom he had banished infested his coasts, until he, in person, must dislodge them from their strong holds in the islands of the western ocean. To their and his maritime transactions we shall advert on a future occasion.—Harald, being now the monarch of Norway, says the Saga, remembered that he had accomplished his vow, and that his hair might be cut and combed. It was surely high time, if, as we are told, he had resembled, previously, a wild beast rather than a man, and had been called Harald Lufa, or “Harald with the Horrid Hair.” When this deformity was removed,—when the shears and the bath had done their work,—he obtained the epithet of Harfager, or Fair-hair. And he now remembered the saying of the maiden who had excited him to all his successes. Sending for her, he made her the partner of his throne; and by her had a daughter and four sons.—All this is fabulous, but unequal to what follows, which appears to have occurred some years before this marriage. One winter, the king hastened to the uplands to hold the festivities of Yule; and he ordered the banquet to be prepared in the villa of Thopte. The evening before the opening of the feast, as he sat at table, a domestic advanced to say that a Finn, waiting at the door, wished to see him. At this bold message the anger of the king and the surprise of all present may be conceived, and an indignant answer was returned. But Swaso was resolute: he bade Harald be informed that he was the Finn whose hut was on the other side of the mountain, and whom he had promised to visit. The monarch went to the door, and immediately said that he would accompany him to the hut. On their entrance, the daughter of Swaso—a wondrous beauty—arose, and presented a horn of mead to the royal visitor. It was a magic drink, designed to make the king amorous, and it had its effect. He wished to take her as his mistress; but she had too much art for this; she would be the affianced bride, or nothing. That ceremony was promptly and easily performed, and the royal wish was gratified. So much was he captivated with the beautiful Snæfrida, that for years, though he visited, he forgot his country, capital, his subjects, his throne, his very existence. Four sons were the issue of this connection,—Sigurd, Halfdan, Gudred, Rognevald. She then died; but her corpse preserved the same spotless white as when living. Corruption could not take hold of it. During three whole years he sat by the corpse, thinking that every moment life would revisit it; and his subjects deeply bewailed his infatuation. To dissolve the spell was the work of Thorleif the Wise, one of his jarls. The corpse was removed from the bed on which it lay, when suddenly the most offensive odour was emitted by it. It was hastily borne to the funeral pile: serpents, and lizards, and toads, and every species of venomous reptile continued to issue from it; yet the king did not regain his sound mind until the corpse was consumed. Ashamed of his weakness, he resumed his royal duties, and at once became the pride of his people. Magic drinks, we need scarcely observe, are of perpetual occurrence in the annals of the ancient north. Saxo alludes to many; but none surely was ever so potent as this,—none before or since, in the wildest dreams of fancy, could preserve the empire of love for three years after the death of its object.[[178]]
This fable has been noticed that the reader may be prepared for the dissensions which soon took place among the sons of Harald. The four whom Snæfrida had borne him he learned to detest, through hatred of the mother; and at length he dismissed them from his palace, with the resolution to see them no more. After some time, however, one of them, Gudred, went to Hiodulf, the jarl, who was in great power, and besought him to procure him an interview with the king. Both proceeded to the royal palace, which they reached late in the evening, and they sat on the benches outside the doors unknown to everybody. Harald happened to be walking on the pavement in the court-yard—probably to enjoy the nightly breeze—and his eyes carelessly wandered over the seats. But the two strangers attracted his notice, and he asked the elder what had brought him there? Uncovering his head, Hiodulf was immediately recognised and welcomed. The veteran now pleaded for the exiled sons. He observed that if the mother’s race was bad, the father’s was not; and that the excellency of the one might more than counter-balance the evil of the other. The king was persuaded; Gudred was received into the palace; the three brothers were sent into the provinces and occupied in military exercises, in which they excelled other men.[[179]]