Icelandic Sagas Vol. 3
8. Now next after this we must turn back to the holy Magnus the hero of our Saga; for a little before ye heard how virtuous he was in all his behaviour, and unlike other young men in his growing up. But for that many turn their customs after those with whom they live, and whosoever toucheth tar is defiled of it; so when Magnus had come to be about fullgrown of age, placed among grim and wicked men who were illwilled against good habits, unstable in the faith, opposed to right laws, stiff-necked in learning, yielding to evil habits, gainsayers and disobedient to God's commandments; he seemed for some winters like wicked men, and as a viking with robbers and warriors he lived by robbery and plunder, and stood by at manslaughters along with others. But it is to be believed that he did this more from the wickedness and egging on of bad men than from his own badness. Men think it likeliest that Magnus did this at that time when he and Hacon and Erling his kinsmen were all together in the Orkneys, for afterwards no time can be found for it. About this his behaviour master Robert thus speaks, who has composed the story. "Ho ho! I wonder," says he, "how unspeakable is the deepness of the riches of godly knowledge and of the Lord's wisdom; how inexplicable are his decrees, and how inscrutable are his ways to the race of man. Why did the allruling God allow this his servant to let himself be greedy for robbery and manslaughter, and to be defiled by so manifold sins and misdeeds? Why did God's goodness suffer his knight and martyr to let himself fall so fearfully, which from the beginning elected to crown him sublimely in heaven? With joy and gladness God enriched him, and turned his dust into heavenly glory, and gave him everlasting comfort after this world's woe; the cloak of good fortune and praise after the stripes of the heart. What is this? but that which we have seen every day as manifestly as gloriously, that God raises up and makes sons to Abraham out of stones, righteous out of wrong-doers, honest out of sinners, glorious out of mortals --- (stones) smooth and polished, and four-cornered, with four main virtues, that they may be made to fit into the heavenly edifice, as strong and steadfast cornerstones in Jesus Christ our head stone of the corner; of one mind with him, and of the same temper with everlasting affection and the link of endless love. For the Lord Jesus is the son of the great builder, who made and makes the world, and all that is therein, and rules it after his will; and he changes the vessels of his wrath into vessels of mercy, polishing them with the file of the Holy Spirit; and he receives sinful men into the widest bosom of his pity and mercy, all those who leave off their naughtiness and turn to him with their whole heart. For it belongs to the great glory and mercy of the Lord that he lets the abundance of his mercy there be shown, where before the great weight of our wretchedness is in the way; and he tendeth and healeth all the more powerfully when the sickness already more hotly attacks the sick man, and he makes them all whole and holpen who look to him for help. See at last, how the holy Magnus, though he was entangled in such sins, yet came to leave off those pursuits, and followed his father and brother and the liegemen in the Orkneys."
9. At that time which we have reached in the story of king Magnus barelegs came from the east out of Norway, with a countless multitude of ships and force of warriors. Him followed many of his liegemen; Vidkun Johnson, Sark of Sogn, Kali of Agdir the son of Seabear, and Kol his son, and many other chiefs. The king meant in this voyage to lay under him and to harry the western lands, England and Ireland, as was before mentioned. When king Magnus came to the Orkneys, he seized the earls Erlend and Paul, and forced them away from the isles, and sent them east to Norway; but he set his son Sigurd over the Orkneys, and gave him councillors, for he was not older than nine winters. King Magnus settled that the sons of the earls should fare with and attend him; Magnus and Erling the sons of Erlend, and Hacon Paul's son. Magnus the son of earl Erlend was a tall man of growth, quick and gallant, and strong of body, fair to look on, lighthued, and well-limbed, noble in aspect, and the most courteous in all his behaviour; him king Magnus made his waiting-swain, and he always served at the king's board. King Magnus fared out of the Orkneys to the Southern isles, and he won in that voyage all the Southern Isles under his sway, and seized Logman the son of Godred, king of the Southern isles. Thence he fared south under Wales, and had there a great battle in Anglesea-sound, with two Welch earls, Hugh the stout, and Hugh the proud. But when men were getting out their weapons, and busked them to battle, then Magnus Erlend's son sat him down in the foreroom, where he was wont to be, and did not arm himself. The king asked him why he did so. Saint Magnus answers, "I have here no quarrel with any man, and that is why I will not fight." "Get away then," says the king, "down under the planks, but do not lie here under the feet of men if thou darest not to fight, for I do not think that faith drives thee to do this." Magnus the earl's son sat in the same place, and took a psalter, and sung out of it during the battle, but did not shield himself. This battle was both hard and long. But at last Hugh the proud fell, but the Welchmen fled, and king Magnus got the victory, but he had lost many good men, and a number were wounded. Kali Seabear's son had got many and great wounds. Magnus the son of Erlend had not been wounded in the battle, though he had not shielded himself, and all may see that it was the fairest token that in so thick flights of arrows, and strong showers of shafts, he should not be wounded, though on all sides of him armed men fell. And now this need not be wondered at, for God has kept him for a greater crown and victory than to fall there. King Magnus was not moved by aught of these things, and he laid great feud and dislike on Magnus the earl's son for this. And when saint Magnus saw that it would neither be for his honour nor for his soul's help to be any longer with king Magnus, then he took another counsel for himself to do that which God taught him.
10. It fell on a night when king Magnus lay off Scotland, that Magnus Erlend's son stole off from the king's ship, and so made up his berth that it seemed as though a man lay there. But next morning when the king was clad, he asked whether Magnus Erlend's son were sick. Then enquiry was made for him, and he was missed. The king made them look for him, and still he was not found. Then the king let the slot hounds run loose on land. Magnus, the earl's son had hurt his foot when he was running on land, and the slot-hounds had found the trail at once. Magnus had taken to the wood, and he had got up into a tree. The hounds came to the oak, and stood upon their hindlegs round it. Then Magnus smote one of them with a staff, which he had hold of, but they betook them to flight at once, and laid their tails behind them, and ran off to the ships. Magnus Erlend's son hid himself in the wood while the king's men hunted for him. After that he fared up the country, and came forth at the court of Malcolm, the Scot-king, and stayed there awhile, but sometimes he was in Wales with a certain bishop. That same autumn king Magnus fared back to the Southern isles, and was there the winter over. That winter Kali Seabear's son breathed his last of his wounds. Next spring, early, king Magnus fared to the Orkneys. There he heard of the deaths of the earls out of Norway; Erlend had died in Drontheim, and was there buried, but Paul at Bergen. Then king Magnus gave away in marriage Gunnhilda, earl Erlend's daughter, the sister of Saint Magnus, to Kol the son of Kali, as an atonement for the loss of his father, together with great possessions in the Orkneys. Then Kol became the liegeman of the king; their son was Rognvald-Kali. Some men say that Erling, the son of Erlend, brother of Saint Magnus, has fallen in Anglesea-sound, but Snorri Sturluson says he has fallen in Ulster with king Magnus. For when king Magnus had ruled Norway nine winters, he fared west to Ireland with a great host, and the summer after he fell in Ulster on the feast of Saint Bartholomew. But Sigurd his son fared straightway out of the Orkneys east to Norway, and was there taken to be king with his brothers Eystein and Olaf.
11. Now ye heard in the former chapter how Almighty God is ready to have mercy, whose especial goodness is ever to pity and to turn trouble to comfort and help; and how he kept this his chosen champion from the woes and worry of the world, to reveal to him, and to show him how great things it behoved him to suffer for his name; and that he who had often stood by at great manslayings, should at last become an offering of the Holy Spirit, and give to God his own blood with life and body. And that was why he came out of the power of the greedy king as was read before.
When the holy Magnus was in Scotland he learnt the death of earl Erlend his father, and those other tidings which before were written. And when he had been such time at the court of the Scot-king as liked him, honoured of the king with gifts and noble company, he fared to Caithness, and was there worthily received of all, kept and cared for, and at once chosen and honoured with the title "earl," beloved and worshipful to all the friends of God.
12. And next to that without tarrying the saint earl Magnus became Paul out of Saul, a preacher out of a manslayer, and he avenged it on himself that he had lived an ill life. He fell to weeping himself dead to sin with daily wailing and steadfast remorse; and he now took fitting vengeance in manifold penance on the sinful lusts of his wretched flesh. Then he seemed to become a new man, who is changed into what is honourable to God; and he turned into another man, into a good from a bad man, into a sober from a sinful, into a saint from a sinner, into a blessed and pure man from a defiled man. This is the conversion of thy right hand, Almighty God. Thou art strong to strengthen, gracious to help, ready to better, excellent to keep. In this wise was the holy Magnus changed into a saintly man. He began to ear the earth of his heart with the sharp share of confession. Then he slew his unlucky adversary and hid him under the sand. Then he buried Laban's idols under the treeroots. He tore up out of himself sins and defilements, and clad him in sublime strength in godly desires with manful steadfastness. Then he began to wax as an olivetree, and was uplifted in all good things and worthy works. Just as the cypress is above other trees, so waxed the holy Magnus, that he might be as "magnus," that is "great," in godliness, as he was in name, uprising in good fortune and holiness.
13. One winter or two after the fall of king Magnus barelegs, Hacon Paul's son came from the west across the sea to Norway, and the king gave him the title of earl and such power as his birth might claim. Then he fared west over the sea, and took under him all the realm in the Orkneys with so much greed and aggression that he slew the guiltless steward of the king of Norway, who held and looked after that half of the isles which Saint Magnus owned, and in that way laid under him all the Orkneys with violence; for half the isles fell to Saint Magnus by inheritance from his father. Now when Saint Magnus heard of such tumult, that his first cousin Hacon was taking under him his inheritance with open wrong, he held counsel with his men what should be done. It was agreed with them that he shall bide for a time till the wrath and greed of his kinsman Hacon were soothed, and that it should not be shown that he sought his inheritance after warriors' wise, but rather as the friend and dear lover of law and justice.
14. But when that time is come that Saint Magnus will seek his heritage, then he fares with a goodly company from Caithness to the Orkneys, and friends and kinsmen are alike glad to see him. Then he begged to take his father's heritage. That was well pleasing to the freemen, for he was blessed with many friends; he had many kinsmen and connexions who were ready to support him to power. His mother Thora was then married to that man whose name was Sigurd, they had a great homestead in Paplay. When earl Hacon heard that Magnus was come into the isles, he gathered force to him, and would not give up the realm, but rather defend it. Then the friends of both came between them and tried to reconcile them. Then it so came about by the help of good men and true, that it was agreed that earl Hacon sould give up half the realm, if that were the award of the kings of Norway. Then Magnus Erlend's son fared at once east to Norway to seek king Eystein, for king Sigurd had then set out for Jewry. King Eystein received lord Magnus excellently well, and gave up to him his father's inheritance, half the Orkneys, and with that he took the title of earl from the king, together with the most honourable gifts. And after that lord Magnus the earl fared west over the sea to his realm; and his friends and kinsfolk, and along with them all the people were fain of him. Then the kinship of Hacon and Magnus was very close many winters, so long as their friends took part in it. There was then peace and plenty in the Orkneys while their friendship lasted. Those kinsmen, lord Magnus the earl and Hacon, had both together the wardship of the land for some while, so that they were well agreed. It is so said in those songs which have been made on them, that they fought with that viking who harried their realm, whose name was Dufnjal; he was one degree further off than the earl's first cousin, and he fell before them. Thorbjorn was the name of a man mighty and noble for family's sake, but poor in good works, whom they cut off in Burrafirth in Shetland for good cause. And again they wrought many tidings which the songs point to, that they shared both together, though we cannot speak plainly of them. These things Saint Magnus hath done not as a viking or robber, but rather as lawful ruler of the realm and a keeper of the laws, the lover of peace, to restrain bad customs of men and to chastise wrongdoing, to free and relieve his subjects and his realm from the pride and onslaughts of wicked men, who aye lay in wait to spoil the peace.
15. Lord Magnus was the most famous man in his chieftainship, of good habits and counsel, a fast friend and bold in fight, well skilled in arms, and victorious in battle, meek-tempered in peace, and yet fit to rule, humble in speech and merciful, a sage in wit, and having the praise of every one. He was generous of money, and open-handed to chiefs, he gave daily great help to poor men for God's love. He chastised much plunder and stealing, he let vikings and ill-doers be slain, as well powerful as poor. He was not given to side with his friends in his judgments; he set more store by God's law than the distinctions of rank. In all things he kept firmly God's commandments, and was unsparing towards himself. Many and famous were his virtues which he showed to God himself but hid from men. But for that the earl Saint Magnus had rule and government over worldly folk, so he would be like worldly chiefs in the customs of this life; he took and betrothed unto himself a high-born lady and the purest maid of the noblest stock of Scotland's chiefs, and brought her home to him, and entered into wedlock with her. This the blessed Magnus did, as it was proved, by the deep-set plan of godly mercy, for the sake of damping the lusts of his body, for he was holpen by godly mercy, for the sake of damping the blithe temptations of this world, rather than to fulfil the lusts of his body, for he was holpen by godly guardianship and heavenly power. He abode ten winters by this maid pure and thoroughly lotless of all sins of defilement. But when he felt temptation coming on him to bodily lusts, then he went into cold water and prayed for help from God.
<< Previous Page Next Page >>
© 2004-2007 Northvegr.
Most of the material on this site is in the public domain. However, many people have worked very hard to bring these texts to you so if you do use the work, we would appreciate it if you could give credit to both the Northvegr site and to the individuals who worked to bring you these texts. A small number of texts are copyrighted and cannot be used without the author's permission. Any text that is copyrighted will have a clear notation of such on the main index page for that text. Inquiries can be sent to info@northvegr.org. Northvegr™ and the Northvegr symbol are trademarks and service marks of the Northvegr Foundation.
|