|1044 to 1045.|
No sooner was this enemy vanquished, than another appeared in the pagan bands, who occupied all the eastern shores of the Baltic, that are now comprised in the Russian monarchy. These men, scarcely less ferocious than their allies the Jomsberg pirates, invaded Sleswic, wasting every thing with fire and sword. Magnus flew to oppose them, and, after a severe struggle, triumphed. During his absence, Sweyn returned from Sweden, reduced Scania, and passing into Zealand and Funen was again acknowledged by the people. Victory, in two or three successive actions, still declared for the monarch. Yet the cause of Sweyn was not destroyed. In the assistance of the Swedish king, in the adventurers on all the maritime coasts of the Baltic, and still more, in the attachment of the Danes, he had resources which even the power of Magnus was not wholly able to destroy.
|1045.| A third enemy now appeared in Harald, surnamed Hardrade, or the Stern, the son of Sigurd, and the half-brother of St. Olaf. If there be any truth in the ancient sagas, his adventures were most extraordinary. He was present at the last fatal scene of Olaf’s life; and from Norway he fled to the court of the Russian duke Jaroslaf, whose service he entered. With Elisif (Elizabeth), daughter of Jaroslaf, he became deeply enamoured; but his suit being unsuccessful[[139]], he repaired to Constantinople, and was admitted amongst the Varangians, or Scythian guards of the emperors. By his valour, and his birth, he obtained at length the command of that formidable, though small body, and by his exploits invested his name with much lustre. Heading an expedition against the pirates of the African coast, he was the victor in several battles, and the owner of immense booty, a portion of which he sent to his friends in Russia. He was afterwards employed in Sicily, in Italy, and in a journey to the Holy Land. In all this, there is no great improbability; but what follows is too romantic to be credited. As the reward of his services, Harald had demanded the hand of a princess of the imperial family, and had been refused. “Those Væringjar,” says Snorro, “who were in Miklagard, and received rewards for their services during the war, have said since their return home to the North, that they were told in Greece by wise and grave men of that country, that queen Zoe herself wished for Harald as her husband, and that this in truth was the cause of her resentment, and of his wishing to leave Miklagard, though other reports were spread among the people. For these reasons the king Constantinus Monomachus, who ruled the empire jointly with queen Zoe, ordered Harald to be cast into prison. On his way thither, St. Olaf appeared to him, and promised him protection; and on that same street, a chapel has been since erected, which is standing at this day. Here was Harald imprisoned with Halldór and Ulfr his men. The following night there came a noble lady, with two attendants, who let down a cord into the dungeon, and drew up the prisoners. This lady had been before healed by St. Olaf, the king, who revealed to her that she should relieve his brother from captivity. This being done, Harald immediately went to the Væringjar, who all rose up at his approach, and received him with joy. They seized their arms, and went to the chamber where the king slept, and put out his eyes. The same night, Harald went, with his companions, to the chamber in which Maria slept, and carried her away by force. They afterwards proceeded to the place where the gallies of the Væringjar are kept, and, seizing two vessels, rowed into the Bosphorus (Sævidar-sund). When they came to the iron chains which are drawn across the sound, Harald ordered all his men who were not employed in rowing, to crowd to the stern with their baggage, and when the gallies struck upon the chains, to rush forward to the prow, so as to impel the gallies over the chains. The galley in which Harald embarked was carried quite over on to the other side, but the other vessel struck upon the chains, and was lost. Some of her crew perished in the water, but others were saved. In this manner, Harald escaped from Miklagard, and entered the Black Sea, where he set the virgin on shore, with some attendants, to accompany her back to Miklagard, requesting her to tell her cousin, queen Zoe, how little her power could have availed to prevent his carrying off the virgin, if he had been so minded.” The anxiety of Harald was occasioned by the intelligence that his nephew Magnus had ascended the thrones of Norway and Denmark. Proceeding through Russia, he married the daughter of Jaroslaf; and with her returned to Norway through Sweden.[[140]]
|1045, 1046.|
On reaching Sweden, where the fame of his riches had preceded him, he entered into a league with Sweyn. The objects of this league are not very clearly defined; but we may infer that one of them was to place Harald on the Norwegian, Sweyn on the Danish throne. The wealth of Harald hired numerous adventurers; and by the two princes the coasts of Denmark were ravaged. Again Magnus prepared an armament to oppose them; but his surer recourse was policy. To detach the celebrated Varangian chief from the cause of the Dane, he offered him half of the Norwegian kingdom (and also no doubt the eventual succession), on the condition of Harald’s allowing in like manner a division of his treasure. The latter eagerly accepted the proposal; he forsook Sweyn, repaired to Norway, divided the treasure, the amount of which is described as wonderfully large, and was admitted to a share in the administration. Contrary to the usual experience of rulers so placed in regard to each other, they lived in harmony to the death of Magnus in the following year. By this defection, or rather by this conversion of an ally into an enemy, Sweyn was compelled to retire. But he had his partisans in Denmark, and Magnus, at his death, had the generosity to declare him his successor in that kingdom. To Harald was left the Norwegian throne. Thus the two adventurers became kings, in little more than a year after the arrival of Harald in the North.
The surname of Harald the Good, sufficiently establishes his character. He was indeed an admirable king and a virtuous man. Much praise is awarded to a code of laws which he compiled; but they no longer exist in their original form.
SWEYN II.
1047–1076.
|1047.|
As with Harda-Canute had ended the ancient male line of Denmark—a line that traced itself to Odin—Sweyn II. may be called the founder of a new dynasty. That dynasty occupied the throne to the extinction of its male line in Valdemar IV., when it was succeeded by the reigning house of Oldenburg.