When Harald Gille had been six years king of Norway, Sigurd Slembe came to the country, and claimed that he too was a son of Magnus Barefoot. Sigurd was in his childhood kept at his book, became a clergyman, and was consecrated a deacon. He showed early traces of a haughty, ungovernable spirit, and was therefore called Slembidjakn (i.e., the bad deacon). When he heard that he was the son of Magnus Barefoot, he laid aside all clerical matters and set out on trading expeditions. In Denmark he claimed to have established his parentage by the iron ordeal in the presence of five bishops, and when he arrived in Bergen he requested Harald Gille to acknowledge him as his brother. King Harald, however, accused him of being an accomplice in a murder case, and attempted to capture him. Sigurd escaped and afterward arranged a conspiracy, in which many of Harald’s court-men took part. On St. Lucia’s night, December 13, 1136, they came to the house where Harald was sleeping with his mistress, Thora, Guthorm’s daughter, killed the guardsmen outside, broke into the house, and killed the king in bed. Sigurd and his men then took a boat and rowed out in front of the king’s house. It was then just beginning to be daylight. Standing in his boat Sigurd spoke to the men on the king’s pier, avowed the killing of Harald, and requested them to choose him as chief according to his birth. But all replied with one voice, that they would never give obedience to a man who had murdered his own brother. “And if thou art not his brother, thou hast no claim by descent to be king.” Thereupon they outlawed Sigurd and all his men. Sigurd and his men saw it was best for them to get away, and fled northward to North Hordaland.
King Harald Gille was thirty-two years old when he was slain. He was buried in the old Christ Church in Bergen. It was a few months before his death that pirates from Vendland, under their king, Rettibur, pillaged and burned the town of Konungahella (Konghelle). The town was afterward rebuilt, but never rose to the importance it had had before.
CHAPTER XXIV
Sigurd Mund, Eystein, and Inge Krokryg, the Sons of Harald Gille (1136-1161)
QUEEN INGERID, the widow of Harald Gille, immediately after her husband’s death held a consultation with the liegemen and court-men, and they decided to send a fast sailing vessel to Throndhjem to request the people there to take Harald’s son (with Thora, Guthorm’s daughter), Sigurd, for king. Sigurd, who was then in his fourth year, was being fostered by Gyrd Baardson. The people of Throndhjem assembled at a Thing and proclaimed Sigurd king. Queen Ingerid herself proceeded to Viken, where her son with Harald, the one year old Inge, was fostered by Aamunde Gyrdson. A Borgar-Thing (Thing at Borg or Sarpsborg) was called, at which Inge was chosen king. “Thus,” it is related in the saga, “almost the whole nation submitted to the brothers, and principally because their father was considered holy; and the country took the oath to them, that the kingly power should not go to any other man as long as any of King Harald’s sons were alive.” It was agreed that the chief liegemen should rule in the name of the brothers while they were in their infancy.
Sigurd Slembe proceeded north to Nidaros, and took Magnus the Blind out of the cloister in the hope that, by making common cause with him, he could secure a better following. In this he succeeded to some extent, many of King Magnus’s old friends joining him. With quite a force they went south to the mouth of Raumsdal Fjord. Here Sigurd and Magnus divided their forces, Sigurd sailing westward to the Orkneys to seek aid. Magnus proceeded with his force through Raumsdal over to the Uplands, where he remained during the winter and collected an army. When it was rumored in Viken that Magnus the Blind had come to the Uplands, Thiostolf Aaleson and the other chiefs who were with King Inge gathered a great army and proceeded up to Lake Miosen, and met the forces of Magnus at Minne (1137). A great battle was fought, and Magnus was defeated. It is related that Thiostolf Aaleson carried the child-king, Inge, in his tucked-up cloak during the battle; but Thiostolf was hard pressed by fighting, and it was said that King Inge suffered an injury there, which he retained as long as he lived. His back was knotted into a hump, and one leg was shorter than the other. Hence he was afterward called Inge Krokryg, i.e., Inge the Hunchback. Magnus fled eastward to Gautland, where he received aid from the Swedes, but being again defeated at Krokaskog he fled to Denmark.
Magnus the Blind was well received by the Danish king, Erik Emune, who collected a force and sailed north to Norway with two hundred and forty ships. Attacks were made at different places, and the town of Oslo was burned, including St. Halvard’s Church; but King Erik soon returned to Denmark after having suffered great losses, and the expedition was pronounced a total failure.
Sigurd Slembe about this time returned from the West, and made cruises against the pirates in Vendland, and occasionally harried the coasts of Norway. In the fall of 1139 Sigurd Slembe and Magnus the Blind came up to Norway from Denmark with thirty ships manned by Danes and Northmen. They met the fleet of kings Sigurd and Inge at Holmengraa (the gray holm), where a battle was fought. After the first assault, the Danes fled home to Denmark with eighteen ships, and thus Sigurd had to fight against a greatly superior force. One after another of his ships was cleared. The blind and crippled Magnus lay in his bed and could do nothing to defend himself. When his ship was almost entirely bare of men, his old and faithful court-man, Reidar Griotgardson, took King Magnus in his arms and tried to leap over to another ship with him. But just then he was struck between his shoulders by a spear, which went through him and also killed King Magnus. Reidar fell backward on the deck and Magnus upon him. Everybody afterward spoke of how honorably he had followed his master and rightful sovereign. “Happy are they who are given such praise after death,” adds the writer of the saga. Sigurd Slembe leaped overboard and would probably have escaped, if he had not been betrayed by one of his own men. He was captured and put to death with the most horrible tortures. The men who took upon themselves to kill him, and who had personal grievances to avenge, broke his shin-bones and arms with an axe-hammer. Then they stripped him and flogged him, broke his back, and finally hanged him. He bore the tortures with great fortitude. He never moved and never altered his voice, but spoke in a natural tone until he gave up the ghost, occasionally singing hymns. Sigurd’s friends afterward came from Denmark for his body, took it with them and interred it in Mary Church in Aalborg.
When Sigurd was dead, it was acknowledged by all, both enemies and friends, that he was the most remarkable and most gifted man that had lived in Norway within memory of anybody living; “but in some respects he was an unlucky man,” says the saga. Magnus the Blind was twenty-five years old when he fell. Thiostolf Aaleson transported his body to Oslo and buried it in St. Halvard’s Church, beside King Sigurd, his father.
Norway now had peace for some years. About six years after Sigurd and Inge had been proclaimed kings, a third son of Harald Gille, named Eystein, came from Scotland accompanied by his mother, Biadok, and by three men of high standing. They immediately proceeded to Throndhjem, and at the Oere-Thing Eystein was chosen king and given a third of the country with his brothers, Sigurd and Inge. King Harald himself had spoken to his men about this son, so that Eystein did not have to resort to the ordeal of iron in order to prove his right. A fourth son of Harald Gille, Magnus, who was being fostered by the great chief Kyrpinga-Orm at Studla, was also given the title of king, so that for a short time there were nominally four kings; but Magnus was deformed, lived but a short time, and died in his bed.