Hakon the Good's Saga

4. EIRIK'S DEATH.

King Eirik had many people about him, for he kept many Northmen
who had come with him from the East; and also many of his friends
had joined him from Norway. But as he had little land, he went
on a cruise every summer, and plundered in Scotland, the
Hebrides, Ireland, and Bretland, by which he gathered property.
King Athelstan died on a sick bed, after a reign of fourteen
years, eight weeks, and three days. After him his brother
Jatmund was king of England, and he was no friend to the
Northmen. King Eirik, also, was in no great favour with him; and
the word went about that King Jatmund would set another chief
over Northumberland. Now when King Eirik heard this, he set off
on a viking cruise to the westward; and from the Orkneys took
with him the Earls Arnkel and Erlend, the sons of Earl Torfeinar.
Then he sailed to the Hebrides, where there were many vikings and
troop-kings, who joined their men to his. With all this force he
steered to Ireland first, where he took with him all the men he
could, and then to Bretland, and plundered; and sailed thereafter
south to England, and marauded there as elsewhere. The people
fled before him wherever he appeared. As King Eirik was a bold
warrior, and had a great force, he trusted so much to his people
that he penetrated far inland in the country, following and
plundering the fugitives. King Jatmund had set a king, who was
called Olaf, to defend the land; and he gathered an innumerable
mass of people, with whom he marched against King Eirik. A
dreadful battle ensued, in which many Englishmen fell; but for
one who fell came three in his place out of the country behind,
and when evening came on the loss of men turned on the side of
the Northmen, and many people fell. Towards the end of the day,
King Eirik and five kings with him fell. Three of them were
Guthorm and his two sons, Ivar and Harek: there fell, also,
Sigurd and Ragnvald; and with them Torfeinar's two sons, Arnkel
and Erlend. Besides these, there was a great slaughter of
Northmen; and those who escaped went to Northumberland, and
brought the news to Gunhild and her sons (A.D. 941).

5. GUNHILD AND HER SONS.

When Gunhild and her sons knew for certain that King Eirik had
fallen, after having plundered the land of the King of England,
they thought there was no peace to be expected for them; and they
made themselves ready to depart from Northumberland, with all the
ships King Eirik had left, and all the men who would go with
them. They took also all the loose property, and goods which
they had gathered partly as taxes in England, partly as booty on
their expeditions. With their army they first steered northward
to Orkney, where Thorfin Hausakljufer was earl, a son of
Torfeinar, and took up their station there for a time. Eirik's
sons subdued these islands and Hjaltland, took scat for
themselves, and staid there all the winter; but went on viking
cruises in summer to the West, and plundered in Scotland and
Ireland. About this Glum Geirason sings: --

"The hero who knows well to ride
The sea-horse o'er the foamingtide, --
He who in boyhood wild rode o'er
The seaman's horse to Skanea's shore.
And showed the Danes his galley's bow,
Right nobly scours the ocean now.
On Scotland's coast he lights the brand
Of flaming war; with conquering hand
Drives many a Scottish warrior tall
To the bright seats in Odin's hall.
The fire-spark, by the fiend of war
Fanned to a flame, soon spreads afar.
Crowds trembling fly, -- the southern foes
Fall thick beneath the hero's blows:
The hero's blade drips red with gore,
Staining the green sward on the shore."

6. BATTLE IN JUTLAND.

When King Eirik had left the country, King Hakon, Athelstan's
foster-son, subdued the whole of Norway. The first winter (A.D.
936) he visited the western parts, and then went north, and
settled in Throndhjem. But as no peace could be reasonably
looked for so long as King Eirik with his forces could come to
Norway from the West sea, he set himself with his men-at-arms in
the middle of the country, -- in the Fjord district, or in Sogn,
or Hordaland, or Rogaland. Hakon placed Sigurd earl of Hlader
over the whole Throradhjem district, as he and his father had
before had it under Harald Harfager. When King Hakon heard of
his brother Eirik's death, and also that his sons had no footing
in England, he thought there was not much to fear from them, and
he went with his troops one summer eastward to Viken. At that
time the Danes plundered often in Viken, and wrought much evil
there; but when they heard that King Hakon was come with a great
army, they got out of the way, to Halland; and those who were
nearest to King Hakon went out to sea, and over to Jotland
(Jutland). When the king heard of this, he sailed after them
with all his army. On arriving in Jutland he plundered all
round; and when the country people heard of it, they assembled in
a great body, and determined to defend their land, and fight.
There was a great battle; and King Hakon fought so boldly, that
he went forward before his banner without helmet or coat of mail.
King Hakon won the victory, and drove the fugitives far up the
country. So says Guthorm Sindre, in his song of Hakon: --

"Furrowing the deep-blue sea with oars,
The king pursues to Jutland's shores.
They met; and in the battle storm
Of clashing shields, full many a form
Of goodly warrior on the plain,
Full many a corpse by Hakon slain,
Glutted the ravens, who from far,
Scenting the banquet-feast of war,
Came in black flocks to Jutland's plains
To drink the blood-wine from the veins."

7. BATTLE IN EYRARSUND (THE SOUND).

Then Hakon steered southwards with his fleet to seek the vikings,
and so on to Sealand. He rowed with two cutters into the
Eyrarsund, where he found eleven viking ships, and instantly
attacked them. It ended in his gaining the victory, and clearing
the viking ships of all their men. So says Guthorm Sindre: --

"Hakon the Brave, whose skill all know
To bend in battle storm the bow,
Rushed o'er the waves to Sealand's tongue,
His two war-ships with gilt shields hung,
And cleared the decks with his blue sword
That rules the fate of war, on board
Eleven ships of the Vindland men. --
Famous is Hakon's name since then."

8. KING HAKON'S EXPEDITION TO DENMARK.

Thereafter King Hakon carried war far and wide in Sealand;
plundering some, slaying others, taking some prisoners of war,
taking ransom from others, and all without opposition. Then
Hakon proceeded along the coast of Skane, pillaging everywhere,
levying taxes and ransome from the country, and killing all
vikings, both Danish and Vindish. He then went eastwards to the
district of Gautland, marauded there, and took great ransom from
the country. So says Guthorm Sindre: --

"Hakon, who midst the battle shock
Stands like a firmly-rooted oak,
Subdued all Sealand with the sword:
From Vindland vikings the sea-bord
Of Scania swept; and, with the shield
Of Odin clad, made Gautland yield
A ransom of the ruddy gold,
Which Hakon to his war-men bold
Gave with free hand, who in his feud
Against the arrow-storm had stood."

King Hakon returned back in autumn with his army and an immense
booty; and remained all the winter (A.D. 946) in Viken to defend
it against the Danes and Gautlanders, if they should attack it.

9. OF KING TRYGVE.

In the same winter King Trygve Olafson returned from a viking
cruise in the West sea, having before ravaged in Ireland and
Scotland. In spring (A.D. 946) King Hakon went north, and set
his brother's son, King Trygve, over Viken to defend that country
against enemies. He gave him also in property all that he could
reconquer of the country in Denmark, which the summer before
King Hakon had subjected to payment of scat to him. So says
Guthorm: --

"King Hakon, whose sharp sword dyes red
The bright steel cap on many a head,
Has set a warrior brave and stout
The foreign foeman to keep out, --
To keep that green land safe from war
Which black Night bore to dwarf Annar (1).
For many a carle whose trade's to wield
The battle-axe, and swing the shield,
On the swan's ocean-skates has come,
In white-winged ships, across the foam, --
Across the sea, from far Ireland,
To war against the Norseman's land."

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