After the battle in Sognesund King Svein returned to Throndhjem; but his stay there was not of long duration. He met the people at a Thing, and heard their complaints, but no understanding could be reached. Shortly afterward the situation became so strained that King Svein and his mother found it necessary to remove to the southern part of the country to spend the winter. During this winter Einar Thambaskelfer and Kalf Arneson had many consultations in Nidaros with the other chiefs, and the result was that in the spring a deputation of prominent chiefs, including Einar Thambaskelfer and Kalf Arneson, proceeded east to King Jaroslav in Russia to offer the throne of Norway to Magnus, the son of Olaf the Saint, who had been raised at King Jaroslav’s court. They asked and received full forgiveness for having fought against Magnus’s father at Stiklestad. They thereupon swore allegiance to Magnus, who, on the other hand, promised them under oath that he would be true and faithful to them all when he got the dominions and kingdom of Norway. Einar and Kalf were to act as his foster-fathers and counsellors. Magnus returned with them to Norway and was welcomed with great joy. At Oere-Thing he was proclaimed king over the whole land. When King Svein heard this news he tried to raise an army; but nobody would listen to him, and he and his mother were obliged to flee to Denmark. Here Svein died in the year 1036; his father Canute dying a short time before him.
CHAPTER XVIII
Magnus the Good (1035-1047)
MAGNUS was a natural child of Olaf the Saint, his mother being a girl by the name of Alfhild, who was usually called the king’s slave-woman, although she was of good descent. She was a very handsome girl and lived in King Olaf’s court. It is said that when Magnus was born she was very sick, and it was some time after the birth before it could be discovered whether the boy was alive. A priest, who was present, requested Sigvat the Skald (poet) to hasten to the king and tell him of the event; but Sigvat refused, as the king had strictly forbidden anybody to awaken him in the middle of the night. As the child was very weak, however, they decided to baptize it, and Sigvat the Skald named the boy Magnus. The next morning the king demanded to know why they had named the boy Magnus, since there was no such name in his family. Sigvat said: “I called him after King Carl Magnus (Emperor Charlemagne), who, I knew, had been the best man in the world.” This satisfied the king.
Magnus was only eleven years old when he was proclaimed king at the Oere-Thing. In the beginning he allowed Kalf Arneson and Einar Thambaskelfer to take care of all government matters in his name; but he soon developed into a clever, intelligent young man with a great deal of independence. Hardeknut, who was then king of Denmark, was inclined to press his claims to Norway, which he had inherited from his father, Canute the Great, and collected an army. King Magnus also armed himself, and they were about to meet in battle at the Gaut River. However, the chiefs on both sides, who very much desired to avoid war, made overtures for peace, and the result was a friendly meeting between the kings at the Brenn Islands at the mouth of the Gaut River. They arranged for a brotherly union, under oath, to keep the peace with each other to the end of their lives; and if one of them should die without leaving a son, the survivor should succeed to both countries. Twelve of the principal men in each kingdom swore to the kings that this treaty should be observed.
After the conciliation at the Brenn Islands Magnus was in undisputed possession of his father’s throne. During his stay in the southern part of the country he had come in contact with his father’s former friends and faithful adherents, who had a great deal to say about the actions of the Throndhjem people toward King Olaf. Magnus listened with great eagerness to this talk, and, before he really understood it, he had become possessed of a bitter feeling against those men who had been his father’s opponents. He especially began to dislike Kalf Arneson, who, according to common belief, had dealt King Olaf the last deadly blow at Stiklestad. One day the king was at a feast at the Haug estate in Verdalen. At the table he said to Einar Thambaskelfer: “Let us ride to-day over to Stiklestad. I wish to see the different reminders of the battle.” Einar replied: “Well, I know little about how matters went there; but take Kalf with thee: he can give thee information about all that took place.” When the tables were removed, the king made himself ready, and said to Kalf: “Thou must go with me to Stiklestad.” After repeating this command the king went out. Kalf put on his riding clothes in all haste, and said to his foot-boy: “Ride immediately to Eggja, and order my house-servants to have all my property on board my ship before sunset.”
The king and Kalf now rode over to Stiklestad. They alighted from their horses, and went to the place where the battle had been. “Where did the king fall?” asked Magnus. Kalf pointed with his spear, and said: “There he lay when he fell.” The king further asked: “And where wast thou then, Kalf?” “Here, where I am now standing,” answered Kalf. The king turned red as blood in the face, and said: “Then thy axe could well have reached him.”
Kalf replied: “My axe did not come near him.” Then he immediately went to his horse, and rode away with all his men, while the king returned to Haug. When Kalf reached home he found his ship ready, and immediately sailed for the Orkneys. The king confiscated the Eggja estate and other possessions which Kalf left behind him.
Magnus commenced to severely punish many of those who had borne arms against Saint Olaf. He drove some of them out of the country, took large sums of money from others, and had the cattle of others slaughtered for his use. Thorer Hund had escaped punishment by making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem shortly after Olaf’s fall, and it is said that he never came back. Harek of Thiotta was killed with the king’s consent by Asmund Grankelson, whose father had been killed by Harek. The people soon began to murmur, and the discontent spread throughout the country. In Sogn the people even gathered an armed force, and were determined to fight, if Magnus came into their district. When the young impetuous king heard of this, and made up his mind to punish the rebellious Sognings, his friends, who knew that the disaffection was widely spread through the country, decided to warn him of his danger. Twelve of his friends came together, and determined, by casting lots, which one of them should inform the king of the discontent of the people, and the lot fell upon Sigvat the Skald.
Sigvat then composed a poem, which he called “The Free-speaking Song” (Bersöglisvísur), in which he reminded the king of the promises he made when he was proclaimed king, and advised him to be guided by that respect for the laws and the rights of the people which his predecessors had shown. He blamed him for his severity, and warned him of the danger threatening him and his country.