|1014.|
When Sigurd drew near his house, he perceived the ensign of Olaf advancing in the opposite direction. The prince, followed by a hundred companions, all in magnificent costume, he kindly saluted, and invited to share his hospitality. The mother received the royal guest with a kiss; and freely offered him and his followers all the worldly substance that she had,—her house, and lands, and servants. Thanking both parents, Olaf, with his chiefs, was led into the hall. The feast was prepared, and Sigurd, who was invested with the regal title, ascended the chief seat, which was at the head of the table, and was much higher than the rest. But Olaf did not visit his parents for idle parade; and in a day or two after his arrival, he invited Sigurd, his mother, Asta, and Rane, his preceptor, to counsel him as to his future proceedings. In a discourse of some length, he expatiated on his past dangers, on the rights of his family, on his own claims to both the inheritance of his father and of Olaf Trygveson; and expressed his resolution to obtain empire, or to die. Sigurd, like a prudent man, replied, that for one so young, and with so few resources, he had entered on a rash path; that to defy such men as the kings of Sweden and Denmark was not the part of wisdom; that little dependence was to be placed on popular applause; that the present attempt was above his abilities and his means. He concluded, however, by observing that, if the other chiefs of the uplands—kings as he called them—were favourably disposed to his cause, he would not be wanting in the support which his fortune might enable him to give; and he even proposed to accompany Olaf in a visit to those chiefs. Asta, whose turn it was next to advise, spoke like a true descendant of fair-haired Harald. She advised him to persevere in his undertaking; and added, that she would rather see him in possession of empire, were he to enjoy it briefly, as the son of Trygve, than that he should grow old, a powerless king, like Sigurd. When this council was over, Olaf and his father-in-law went to meet the upland kings. “There were many at this period,” says Snorro,—a proof that the destruction of the supreme power by the death of Olaf Trygveson was hurrying the kingdom into all the anarchy from which it had been extricated by Harald Harfager. The sway of Eric and Sweyn, sons of Hako, had been so mild, or rather so loose, that the country was become again the prey of numerous independent chiefs.[[235]]
|1014.|
In the assembly of upland kings, Sigurd showed that he was no enemy to the elevation of his step-son; on the contrary, he exalted the valour, the enterprise, the success of Olaf, in so many parts of Europe; and besought them to assist him alike by their arms and counsel. The first chief who replied was not favourable to the proposed enterprise; his motive was evident: he feared that if a monarch of vigour, such as Olaf promised to be, ascended the throne of Norway, there would soon be an end of the provincial kings. The next voted for the insurrection. If they must have a chief ruler, better was one of their own country and of their own blood, than a Dane or a Swede. In the end, many of the assembled princes, but not the majority, offered him their aid on the condition of his respecting their existing privileges. The states of the upland province were next assembled: the claims of Olaf were laid before them; the chiefs recommended it to their support; and with one voice he was acknowledged monarch of Norway. With three hundred armed followers, he proceeded into the neighbouring districts; and he everywhere found the people willing to acknowledge him. He now hastened into Drontheim, the suffrage of which, as he well knew, would influence the rest of Norway. At his approach, the arrow was sent forth, and the rustics assembled in arms; but he had the address to draw them over to his own party. Though naturally furious and irritable, he had sufficient command over himself to control his bad passions; and every one that approached him left him with a full conviction of his exceeding good nature. As he drew near Nidaros,—the present city of Drontheim,—Sweyn, the son of Hako, prepared a vessel to leave the port. At this moment, two of Olaf’s vessels were entering, and Sweyn, to avoid recognition, steered farther to the north, cut down some trees which were near the coast, placed them by the sides of his vessel in such a manner that he could not be seen, and boldly returned through the bay, on his way to the north. The men of Olaf saw the vessel, and, believing it to be a cargo of timber, made no effort to detain it. Landing at Froste, the seat of his government, which he preferred to Drontheim, he counselled with Eric about the steps which were now to be taken,—whether he should collect forces and risk the fate of a battle, or have recourse to policy. The result was, that he should, if possible, wait until the yule festival, when so many thousands would be gathered together, and made the umpires between him and Olaf. But the course of events hurried both parties on; they collected troops, and with a body of two thousand proceeded towards Drontheim. About the middle of the night Olaf was awakened by the news that his outposts had discovered a strong hostile column approach. Hastily rising from bed, the king took all the provisions he could find, and, accompanied by a small body of followers, went on board the vessels which lay in the river. He had scarcely stood out to sea when the army of Sweyn entered the city and set it on fire.[[236]]
|1015.|
This, to Olaf, was an unexpected disaster, and it was one that ordinary prudence might have avoided. He now was under the humiliating necessity of retiring to the uplands to acquaint his kindred that he had been driven from his capital by the son of Hako. But he was better received than he expected or deserved. Several of the chiefs supplied him with men and provisions; and Sigurd Syr, his step-father, showed as much zeal in his cause as any of his blood, and more effectually served him. When spring approached he repaired to Tunsberg, where new forces daily joined him. On his part, Sweyn, during the whole winter, was no less active in raising ships and men, and he was equally successful. The day before Palm Sunday, the two armaments were off the coast of Vikia, near to each other. One hundred vessels accompanied Olaf; those of his enemies were not inferior in number. Early on the morning of Sunday, Olaf, with the banner of the cross displayed from his own ship, led the attack. The battle was long and doubtfully contested: if Sweyn had a larger force, that of Olaf was better disciplined. At length victory declared for the king; many of the enemy submitted; the rest fled. Among the latter was Sweyn, who hastened to the court of his father-in-law, the king of Sweden, to solicit reinforcements; while Erling remained to harass the victor. From Sweden the jarl never returned. The king offered him troops; but he preferred a peaceful government in that country, until the course of events in Norway were more favourable to his views. After a piratical expedition to the coast of Gardarik, he fell sick and died. From this time, Olaf may be more truly called the monarch of Norway. The people of Drontheim, who had been much attached to the jarl, now transferred their allegiance to him. Erling, indeed, held out another year, and some of the smaller chiefs were tardy in the payment of tribute; but when he submitted, there remained only the two foreign powers who could trouble the king.[[237]]
|1016.|
After these successes Olaf began the work of legal reformation. The laws which Hako the Good had introduced were often neglected; some of them were no longer applicable, and new ones were demanded by the necessities of the people. The manner in which he proceeded in this object evinces his good sense. At a certain hour he met the wisest of his people as well as the noblest,—the low as well as the high,—clergy and laity,—all in whose judgment he could place any confidence. He then caused one of Hako’s laws to be recited, and asked their opinion of its justice no less than its fitness. Sometimes it was rejected; but generally some improvements were made in it by common consent. At other times he propounded new ones; but it may be doubted whether any of them were obligatory until they had received the formal sanction of the Thing. Ecclesiastical matters next occupied the royal attention. Such portions of the canon law as were applicable to the circumstances of a barbarous, half-pagan kingdom were gradually introduced. His great object was to abolish what yet remained of paganism—a religion which had been considerably observed since the death of Olaf Trygveson. He would not tolerate it; wherever his jurisdiction extended he caused the temples to be destroyed, and rude wooden churches to be built on their ruins. Nor was he regardless of the spiritual wants of the Orkneys, Iceland, and other dependencies of his kingdom. To them he despatched missionaries, and inculcated on all the necessity of zeal, of perseverance, of unwearied industry. His own conduct was, in this respect, a lesson to his people. He rose early, heard matins and mass before he entered on public business or broke his fast. It was his regular attendance on public worship which, more than any other cause, led to his subsequent canonisation. He was, indeed, the first of the Norwegian kings that punctually observed the ordinances of religion. Hako the Good was as well disposed; but Hako, as we have shown, was compelled to revert into idolatry. Olaf, the son of Trygve, was too fond of the mead cup, and of continuing his potations into the silence of night, to attend early prayers. The present Olaf was, therefore, the first whom the clergy could decently canonise. Not that he was without his faults. He was vindictive, hasty, intemperate, exacting the severest vengeance from those who disputed his commands, and not sparing of human blood. Yet he was affable, indulgent to his dependents, and liberal to such as he had reason to esteem.[[238]]
|1016.|
That the kings of Sweden and Denmark should make no effort to recover their Norwegian possessions, was not to be expected. In about a year after Olaf’s accession, two ambassadors, with a suitable retinue, arrived at Drontheim from the former kingdom. On their way, however, and immediately after passing the mountain barrier, between the two states, they had endeavoured to prevail on the rustic landholders to pay tribute, not to Olaf, but to the Swedish king. Little do the majority of any country care for the reigning sovereign; the rustics of Norway no more than any other people. They professed their willingness to pay the foreign king, provided Olaf would not require the same taxes a second time. This conduct was treasonable. One of the ambassadors felt that it was so, and proposed that they should return into Sweden; but, constrained by the other, both proceeded to Olaf’s court. Here the same man acted still more insolently: he advised the king to become the vassal of his Swedish namesake, for no inferior step could screen him from the vengeance of a monarch so much greater than he. The king so far restrained himself as to bid them depart and announce to their master his willingness to meet him on the frontiers of the two countries. They left the palace, but soon returned, demanding, with much insolence, to see the monarch, who was then at table. The porters were commanded to drive them from the door. This conduct, which could not have been borne even by a private individual, was deeply offensive to Olaf. When he heard that, instead of retiring into Sweden, one of them remained in the provinces to collect tribute, he sent a small armed band in pursuit of them; and the ambassador, with his suite, were suspended from a public gallows. To guard himself against the vengeance of his rival, Olaf now went through the whole of his kingdom, holding assemblies of the people in every province, receiving the homage of all, propounding new laws, and laying more solidly the foundations of the new church. Finding that the districts bordering on Sweden were claimed by that power,—that the limits of the two kingdoms were not observed by it,—he slew the governor of West Gothland, the lieutenant of the Swedish king, who had been long harassing the Norwegian subjects of the frontier. To prevent all future mistake as to that frontier, he caused a ditch to be dug, and a parallel mound to be raised along the disputed line; and, to protect the colonists, he remained there with a considerable force during the whole of the following winter. To avenge these insults, the Swedish king began to arm. He threatened to subdue the whole of Norway, and to drive the sea king into exile.[[239]]