[243]. The kings of medieval Norway seem to have engaged quite actively in the mercantile profession. The trade with the Finns was made a royal monopoly at least as early as the tenth century; later the trade with Greenland also passed into the king’s hands.
[244]. Such meetings of two or three of the kings of the North were occasionally held all through the later middle ages. The conferences were often held at some point near the mouth of the Göta River, on the southwest coast of modern Sweden. See above, p. 30.
[245]. It is impossible to determine what style of beard this jaðarskegg was; if we may judge from contemporary German illustrations, the German mode was a smooth-shaven face. See also Weiss, Kostumekunde, II, 581.
[246]. Skjaðak. The translation is uncertain; possibly some sort of weed is meant.
[247]. In this chapter the author has summed up the history of Norwegian kingship in the twelfth century, when minorities were frequent and joint kingships almost the rule. Three boys were proclaimed kings in 1103; two kings shared the power in 1130; the royal title fell to three children in 1136. At no time was the realm actually divided, the theory being that the administration and the revenues might be divided, while the monarchy remained a unit. The century was a period of great calamities; pretenders were numerous; and civil war raged at intervals. For a fuller discussion of the theory of Norwegian kingship in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, see above, pp. 35 ff.
[248]. The gambison (panzari) was a form of defensive armor made of cloth padded and quilted. It is described on page 217 as being made “of soft linen thoroughly blackened.” Usually it was worn under the coat of mail, but it could also be worn outside. See Annaler for nordisk Oldkyndighed, 1867, 74 ff. (Blom.); Falk, Altnordische Waffenkunde, 181-182.
[249]. The staff sling was a sling fastened to the end of a stick; it was an earlier form which was not used much in the thirteenth century.
[250]. The wedge-shaped column (svínfylking, perhaps so named from a fancied resemblance to a boar’s head) was a common form of battle array among the Northern peoples as well as among the early Germans generally.
[251]. As the shield was born on the left arm, the front edge would be the right edge.
[252]. These scythes were apparently used to catch and hold the hostile ships and perhaps also to cut the ropes on the ship. See the Sorö edition, 388.