Saga of Olaf Haroldson

57. KING OLAF'S MESSENGERS.

The same winter (A.D. 1016) came messengers from the Swedish
king, Olaf the Swede, out of Svithjod: and their leaders were two
brothers, Thorgaut Skarde and Asgaut the bailiff; and they, had
twenty-four men with them, when they came from the eastward, over
the ridge of the country down into Veradal, they summoned a Thing
of the bondes, talked to them, and demanded of them scat and
duties upon account of the king of Sweden. But the bondes, after
consulting with each other, determined only to pay the scat which
the Swedish king required in so far as King Olaf required none
upon his account, but refused to pay scat to both. The
messengers proceeded farther down the valley; but received at
every Thing they held the same answer, and no money. They went
forward to Skaun, held a Thing there, and demanded scat; but it
went there as before. Then they came to Stjoradal, and summoned
a Thing, but the bondes would not come to it. Now the messengers
saw that their business was a failure; and Thorgaut proposed that
they should turn about, and go eastward again. "I do not think,"
says Asgaut, "that we have performed the king's errand unless we
go to King Olaf the Thick, since the bondes refer the matter to
him." He was their commander; so they proceeded to the town
(Nidaros), and took lodging there. The day after they presented
themselves to the king, just as he was seated at table, saluted
him, and said they came with a message of the Swedish king. The
king told them to come to him next day. Next day the king,
having heard mass, went to his Thing-house, ordered the
messengers of the Swedish king to be called, and told them to
produce their message. Then Thorgaut spoke, and told first what
his errand was, and next how the Throndhjem people of the
interior had replied to it; and asked the king's decision on the
business, that they might know what result their errand there was
to have. The king answers, "While the earls ruled over the
country, it was not to be wondered at if the country people
thought themselves bound to obey them, as they were at least of
the royal race of the kingdom. But it would have been more just
if those earls had given assistance and service to the kings who
had a right to the country, rather than to foreign kings, or to
stir up opposition to their lawful kings, depriving them of their
land and kingdom. With regard to Olaf the Swede, who calls
himself entitled to the kingdom of Norway, I, who in fact am so
entitled, can see no ground for his claim; but well remember the
skaith and damage we have suffered from him and his relations."

Then says Asgaut. "It is not wonderful that thou art called Olaf
the Thick, seeing thou answerest so haughtily to such a prince's
message, and canst not see clearly how heavy the king's wrath
will be for thee to support, as many have experienced who had
greater strength than thou appearest to have. But if thou
wishest to keep hold of thy kingdom, it will be best for thee to
come to the king, and be his man; and we shall beg him to give
thee this kingdom in fief under him."

The king replies with all gentleness, "I will give thee an
advice, Asgaut, in return. Go back to the east again to thy
king, and tell him that early in spring I will make myself ready,
and will proceed eastward to the ancient frontier that divided
formerly the kingdom of the kings of Norway from Sweden. There
he may come if he likes, that we may conclude a peace with each
other; and each of us will retain the kingdom to which he is
born."

Now the messengers turned back to their lodging, and prepared for
their departure, and the king went to table. The messengers came
back soon after to the king's house; but the doorkeepers saw it,
and reported it to the king, who told them not to let the
messengers in. "I will not speak with them," said he. Then the
messengers went off, and Thorgaut said he would now return home
with his men; but Asgaut insisted still that he would go forward
with the king's errand: so they separated. Thorgaut proceeded
accordingly through Strind; but Asgaut went into Gaulardal and
Orkadal, and intended proceeding southwards to More, to deliver
his king's message. When King Olaf came to the knowledge of this
he sent out his pursuivants after them, who found them at the
ness in Stein, bound their hands behind their backs, and led them
down to the point called Gaularas, where they raised a gallows,
and hanged them so that they could be seen by those who travelled
the usual sea-way out of the fjord. Thorgaut heard this news
before he had travelled far on his way home through the
Throndhjem country; and he hastened on his journey until he came
to the Swedish king, and told him how it had gone with them. The
king was highly enraged when he heard the account of it; and he
had no lack of high words.

58. OLAF AND ERLING RECONCILED.

The spring thereafter (A.D. 1016) King Olaf Haraldson calls out
an army from the Throndhjem land, and makes ready to proceed
eastward. Some of the Iceland traders were then ready to sail
from Norway. With them King Olaf sent word and token to Hjalte
Skeggjason, and summoned him to come to him, and at the same time
sent a verbal message to Skapte the lagman, and other men who
principally took part in the lawgiving of Iceland, to take out of
the law whatever appeared contrary to Christianity. He sent,
besides, a message of friendship to the people in general. The
king then proceeded southwards himself along the coast, stopping
at every district, and holding Things with the bondes; and in
each Thing he ordered the Christian law to be read, together with
the message of salvation thereunto belonging, and with which many
ill customs and much heathenism were swept away at once among the
common people: for the earls had kept well the old laws and
rights of the country; but with respect to keeping Christianity,
they had allowed every man to do as he liked. It was thus come
so far that the people were baptized in the most places on the
sea-coast, but the most of them were ignorant of Christian law.
In the upper ends of the valleys, and in the habitations among
the mountains, the greater part of the people were heathen; for
when the common man is left to himself, the faith he has been
taught in his childhood is that which has the strongest hold over
his inclination. But the king threatened the most violent
proceedings against great or small, who, after the king's
message, would not adopt Christianity. In the meantime Olaf was
proclaimed king in every Law Thing in the country, and no man
spoke against him. While he lay in Karmtsund messengers went
between him and Erling Skjalgson, who endeavoured to make peace
between them; and the meeting was appointed in Whitings Isle.
When they met they spoke with each other about agreement
together; but Erling found something else than he expected in the
conversation: for when he insisted on having all the fiefs which
Olaf Trygvason, and afterwards the Earls Svein and Hakon, had
given him, and on that condition would be his man and dutiful
friend, the king answered, "It appears to me, Erling, that it
would be no bad bargain for thee to get as great fiefs from me
for thy aid and friendship as thou hadst from Earl Eirik, a man
who had done thee the greatest injury by the bloodshed of thy
men; but even if I let thee remain the greatest lenderman in
Norway, I will bestow my fiefs according to my own will, and not
act as if ye lendermen had udal right to my ancestor's heritage,
and I was obliged to buy your services with manifold rewards."
Erling had no disposition to sue for even the smallest thing; and
he saw that the king was not easily dealt with. He saw also that
he had only two conditions before him: the one was to make no
agreement with the king, and stand by the consequences; the other
to leave it entirely to the king's pleasure. Although it was
much against his inclination, he chose the latter, and merely
said to the king, "The service will be the most useful to thee
which I give with a free will." And thus their conference ended.
Erling's relations and friends came to him afterwards, and
advised him to give way, and proceed with more prudence and less
pride. "Thou wilt still," they said, "be the most important and
most respected lenderman in Norway, both on account of thy own
and thy relations' abilities and great wealth." Erling found
that this was prudent advice, and that they who gave it did so
with a good intention, and he followed it accordingly. Erling
went into the king's service on such conditions as the king
himself should determine and please. Thereafter they separated
in some shape reconciled, and Olaf went his way eastward along
the coast (A.D. 1016).

59. EILIF OF GAUTLAND'S MURDER.

As soon as it was reported that Olaf had come to Viken, the Danes
who had offices under the Danish king set off for Denmark,
without waiting for King Olaf. But King Olaf sailed in along
Viken, holding Things with the bondes. All the people of the
country submitted to him, and thereafter he took all the king's
taxes, and remained the summer (A.D. 1016) in Viken. He then
sailed east from Tunsberg across the fjord, and all the way east
to Svinasund. There the Swedish king's dominions begin, and he
had set officers over this country; namely, Eilif Gautske over
the north part, and Hroe Skialge over the east part, all the way
to the Gaut river. Hroe had family friends on both sides of the
river, and also great farms on Hising Island, and was besides a
mighty and very rich man. Eilif was also of great family, and
very wealthy. Now when King Olaf came to Ranrike he summoned the
people to a Thing, and all who dwelt on the sea-coast or in the
out-islands came to him. Now when the Thing was seated the
king's marshal, Bjorn, held a speech to them, in which he told
the bondes to receive Olaf as their king, in the same way as had
been done in all other parts of Norway. Then stood up a bold
bonde by name Brynjolf Ulfalde, and said, "We bondes know where
the division-boundaries between the Norway and Danish and Swedish
kings' lands have stood by rights in old times; namely, that the
Gaut river divided their lands between the Vener lake and the
sea; but towards the north the forests until Eid forest, and from
thence the ridge of the country all north to Finmark. We know,
also, that by turns they have made inroads upon each other's
territories, and that the Swedes have long had power all the way
to Svinasund. But, sooth to say, I know that it is the
inclination of many rather to serve the king of Norway, but they
dare not; for the Swedish king's dominions surround us, both
eastward, southwards, and also up the country; and besides, it
may be expected that the king of Norway must soon go to the
north, where the strength of his kingdom lies, and then we have
no power to withstand the Gautlanders. Now it is for the king to
give us good counsel, for we have great desire to be his men."
After the Thing, in the evening, Brynjolf was in the king's tent,
and the day after likewise, and they had much private
conversation together. Then the king proceeded eastwards along
Viken. Now when Eilif heard of his arrival, he sent out spies to
discover what he was about; but he himself, with thirty men, kept
himself high up in the habitations among the hills, where he had
gathered together bondes. Many of the bondes came to King Olaf,
but some sent friendly messages to him. People went between King
Olaf and Eilif, and they entreated each separately to hold a
Thing-meeting between themselves, and make peace in one way or
another. They told Eilif that they might expect violent
treatment from King Olaf if they opposed his orders; but promised
Eilif he should not want men. It was determined that they should
come down from the high country, and hold a thing with the bondes
and the king. King Olaf thereupon sent the chief of his
pursuivants, Thorer Lange, with six men, to Brynjolf. They were
equipped with their coats-of-mail under their cloaks, and their
hats over their helmets. The following day the bondes came in
crowds down with Eilif; and in his suite was Brynjolf, and with
him Thorer. The king laid his ships close to a rocky knoll that
stuck out into the sea, and upon it the king went with his
people, and sat down. Below was a flat field, on which the
bondes' force was; but Eilif's men were drawn up, forming a
shield-fence before him. Bjorn the marshal spoke long and
cleverly upon the king's account, and when he sat down Eilif
arose to speak; but at the same moment Thorer Lange rose, drew
his sword, and struck Eilif on the neck, so that his head flew
off. Then the whole bonde-force started up; but the Gautland men
set off in full flight and Thorer with his people killed several
of them. Now when the crowd was settled again, and the noise
over the king stood up, and told the bondes to seat themselves.
They did so, and then much was spoken. The end of it was that
they submitted to the king, and promised fidelity to him; and he,
on the other hand, promised not to desert them, but to remain at
hand until the discord between him and the Swedish Olaf was
settled in one way or other. King Olaf then brought the whole
northern district under his power, and went in summer eastward as
far as the Gaut river, and got all the king's scat among the
islands. But when summer (A.D. 1016) was drawing towards an end
he returned north to Viken, and sailed up the Raum river to a
waterfall called Sarp. On the north side of the fall, a point of
land juts out into the river. There the king ordered a rampart
to be built right across the ness, of stone, turf, and wood, and
a ditch to be dug in front of it; so that it was a large earthen
fort or burgh, which he made a merchant town of. He had a king's
house put up, and ordered the building of Mary church. He also
laid out plans for other houses, and got people to build on them.
In harvest (A.D. 1016) he let everything be gathered there that
was useful for his winter residence (A.D. 1017), and sat there
with a great many people, and the rest he quartered in the
neighbouring districts. The king prohibited all exports from
Viken to Gautland of herrings and salt, which the Gautland people
could ill do without. This year the king held a great Yule
feast, to which he invited many great bondes.