Part 88 (1/2)

Hakon relieved the Throndhjem people of all harbour duties, and gave them many other privileges. He did away with Yule-gifts, and gained by this the good-will of all the Throndhjem people. Thereafter Hakon formed a court, and then proceeded to the Uplands, where he gave the Upland people the same privileges as the Throndhjem people; so that they also were perfectly well affected to him, and were his friends. The people in Throndhjem sang this ballad about him:--

”Young Hakon was the Norseman's pride, And Steig-Th.o.r.er was on his side.

Young Hakon from the Upland came, With royal birth, and blood, and name.

Young Hakon from the king demands His royal birthright, half the lands; Magnus will not the kingdom break,-- The whole or nothing he will take.”

2. HAKON'S DEATH.

King Magnus proceeded north to the merchant town (Nidaros), and on his arrival went straight to the king's house, and there took up his abode.

He remained here the first part of the winter (A.D. 1094), and kept seven longs.h.i.+ps in the open water of the river Nid, abreast of the king's house. Now when King Hakon heard that King Magnus was come to Throndhjem, he came from the East over the Dovrefield, and thence down from Throndhjem to the merchant town, where he took up his abode in the house of Skule, opposite to Clement's church, which had formerly been the king's house. King Magnus was ill pleased with the great gifts which Hakon had given to the bondes to gain their favour, and thought it was so much given out of his own property. This irritated his mind; and he thought he had suffered injustice from his relative in this respect, that he must now put up with less income than his father and his predecessors before him had enjoyed; and he gave Th.o.r.er the blame. When King Hakon and Th.o.r.er observed this, they were alarmed for what Magnus might do; and they thought it suspicious that Magnus kept long-s.h.i.+ps afloat rigged out, and with tents. The following spring, after Candlemas, King Magnus left the town in the night with his s.h.i.+ps; the tents up, and lights burning in the tents. They brought up at Hefring, remained there all night, and kindled a fire on the land. Then Hakon and the men in the town thought some treachery was on foot, and he let the trumpets call all the men together out on the Eyrar, where the whole people of the town came to him, and the people were gathering together the whole night. When it was light in the morning, King Magnus saw the people from all districts gathered together on the Eyrar; and he sailed out of the fjord, and proceeded south to where the Gulathing is held.

Hakon thanked the people for their support which they had given him, and got ready to travel east to Viken. But he first held a meeting in the town, where, in a speech, he asked the people for their friends.h.i.+p, promising them his; and added, that he had some suspicions of his relation, King Magnus's intentions. Then King Hakon mounted his horse, and was ready to travel. All men promised him their good-will and support whenever he required them, and the people followed him out to the foot of Steinbjorg. From thence King Hakon proceeded up the Dovrefield; but as he was going over the mountains he rode all day after a ptarmigan, which flew up beside him, and in this chase a sickness overfell him, which ended in his death; and he died on the mountains.

His body was carried north, and came to the merchant town just half a month after he left it. The whole townspeople went to meet the body, sorrowing, and the most of them weeping; for all people loved him with sincere affection. King Hakon's body was interred in Christ church, and Hakon and Magnus had ruled the country for two years. Hakon was a man full twenty-five years old, and was one of the chiefs the most beloved by all the people. He had made a journey to Bjarmaland, where he had given battle and gained a victory.

3. OF A FORAY IN HALLAND.

King Magnus sailed in winter (A.D. 1095) eastward to Viken; but when spring approached he went southwards to Halland, and plundered far and wide. He laid waste Viskardal and many other districts, and returned with a great booty back to his own kingdom. So says Bjorn Krephende in his song on Magnus:--

”Through Halland wide around The clang and shriek resound; The houses burn, The people mourn, Through Halland wide around.

The Norse king strides in flame, Through Viskardal he came; The fire sweeps, The widow weeps, The Norse king strides in flame.”

Here it is told that King Magnus made the greatest devastation through Halland.

4. OF Th.o.r.eR OF STEIG.

”There was a man called Svein, a son of Harald Fietter. He was a Danish man by family, a great viking and champion, and a very clever man, and of high birth in his own country. He had been some time with King Hakon Magnuson, and was very dear to him; but after King Hakon's decease Th.o.r.er of Steig, his foster-father, had no great confidence in any treaty or friends.h.i.+p with King Magnus, if the whole country came into his power, on account of the position in which Th.o.r.er had stood to King Magnus, and the opposition he had made to him. Thereupon Th.o.r.er and Svein took counsel with each other, which they afterwards carried into effect,--to raise, with Th.o.r.er's a.s.sistance, and his men, a troop against Magnus. But as Th.o.r.er was old and heavy, Svein took the command, and name of leader of the troop. In this design several chiefs took part, among whom the princ.i.p.al was Egil Aslakson of Aurland. Egil was a lenderman, and married to Ingebjorg, a daughter of Ogmund Thorbergson, a sister of Skopte of Giske. The rich and powerful man, Skjalg Erlingson, also joined their party. Thorkel Hamarskald speaks of this in his ballad of Magnus:

”Th.o.r.er and Egil were not wise, They aimed too high to win a prize: There was no reason in their plan, And it hurt many a udalman.

The stone, too great for them to throw, Fell back, and hurt them with the blow, And now the udalmen must rue That to their friends they were so true.”

Th.o.r.er and Svein collected a troop in the Uplands, and went down through Raumsdal into Sunmore, and there collected vessels, with which they afterwards sailed north to Throndhjem.

5. OF Th.o.r.eR'S ADVENTURES.

The lenderman Sigurd Ulstreng, a son of Lodin Viggiarskalle, collected men by sending round the war-token, as soon as he heard of Th.o.r.er and the troop which followed him, and had a rendezvous with all the men he could raise at Viggia. Svein and Th.o.r.er also met there with their people, fought with Sigurd, and gained the victory after giving him a great defeat; and Sigurd fled, and joined King Magnus. Th.o.r.er and his followers proceeded to the town (Nidaros), and remained there some time in the fjord, where many people joined them. King Magnus hearing this news immediately collected an army, and proceeded north to Throndhjem.

And when he came into the fjord Th.o.r.er and his party heard of it while they lay at Herring, and they were ready to leave the fjord; and they rowed their s.h.i.+ps to the strand at Vagnvik, and left them, and came into Theksdal in Seliuhverfe, and Th.o.r.er was carried in a litter over the mountains. Then they got hold of s.h.i.+ps and sailed north to Halogaland.

As soon as King Magnus was ready for sea, he sailed from Throndhjem in pursuit of them. Th.o.r.er and his party went north all the way to Bjarkey; and Jon, with his son Vidkun, fled from thence. Th.o.r.er and his men robbed all the movable goods, and burnt the house, and a good long-s.h.i.+p that belonged to Vidkun. While the hull was burning the vessel keeled to one side, and Th.o.r.er called out, ”Hard to starboard, Vidkun!” Some verses were made about this burning in Bjarkey:--

”The sweetest farm that I have seen Stood on Bjarkey's island green; And now, where once this farmhouse stood, Fire crackles through a pile of wood; And the clear red flame, burning high, Flashes across the dark-night sky.

Jon and Vidkun, this dark night, Will not be wandering without light.”

6. DEATH OF Th.o.r.eR AND EGIL.