Saga of Harald Hardrade

85. KING HARALD'S DREAM.

King Harald also dreamt one night that he was in Nidaros, and met
his brother, King Olaf, who sang to him these verses: --

"In many a fight
My name was bright;
Men weep, and tell
How Olaf fell.
Thy death is near;
Thy corpse, I fear,
The crow will feed,
The witch-wife's steed."

Many other dreams and forebodings were then told of, and most of
them gloomy. Before King Harald left Throndhjem, he let his son
Magnus be proclaimed king and set him as king over Norway while
he was absent. Thora, the daughter of Thorberg, also remained
behind; but he took with him Queen Ellisif and her two daughters,
Maria and Ingegerd. Olaf, King Harald's son, also accompanied
his father abroad.

86. BATTLE AT SCARBOROUGH.

When King Harald was clear for sea, and the wind became
favourable, he sailed out into the ocean; and he himself landed
in Shetland, but a part of his fleet in the Orkney Islands. King
Harald stopped but a short time in Shetland before sailing to
Orkney, from whence he took with him a great armed force, and the
earls Paul and Erlend, the sons of Earl Thorfin; but he left
behind him here the Queen Ellisif, and her daughters Maria and
Ingegerd. Then he sailed, leaving Scotland and England westward
of him, and landed at a place called Klifland. There he went on
shore and plundered, and brought the country in subjection to him
without opposition. Then he brought up at Skardaburg, and fought
with the people of the place. He went up a hill which is there,
and made a great pile upon it, which he set on fire; and when the
pile was in clear flame, his men took large forks and pitched the
burning wood down into the town, so that one house caught fire
after the other, and the town surrendered. The Northmen killed
many people there and took all the booty they could lay hold of.
There was nothing left for the Englishmen now, if they would
preserve their lives, but to submit to King Harald; and thus he
subdued the country wherever he came. Then the king proceeded
south along the land, and brought up at Hellornes, where there
came a force that had been assembled to oppose him, with which he
had a battle, and gained the victory.

87. OF HARALD'S ORDER OF BATTLE.

Thereafter the king sailed to the Humber, and up along the river,
and then he landed. Up in Jorvik were two earls, Earl Morukare,
and his brother, Earl Valthiof, and they had an immense army.
While the army of the earls was coming down from the upper part
of the country, King Harald lay in the Usa. King Harald now went
on the land, and drew up his men. The one arm of this line stood
at the outer edge of the river, the other turned up towards the
land along a ditch; and there was also a morass, deep, broad, and
full of water. The earls let their army proceed slowly down
along the river, with all their troops in line. The king's
banner was next the river, where the line was thickest. It was
thinnest at the ditch, where also the weakest of the men were.
When the earls advanced downwards along the ditch, the arm of the
Northmen's line which was at the ditch gave way; and the
Englishmen followed, thinking the Northmen would fly. The banner
of Earl Morukare advanced then bravely.

88. THE BATTLE AT THE HUMBER.

When King Harald saw that the English array had come to the ditch
against him, he ordered the charge to be sounded, and urged on
his men. He ordered the banner which was called the Land-ravager
to be carried before him, and made so severe an assault that all
had to give way before it; and there was a great loss among the
men of the earls, and they soon broke into flight, some running
up the river, some down, and the most leaping into the ditch,
which was so filled with dead that the Norsemen could go dry-foot
over the fen. There Earl Morukare fell. So says Stein Herdison:
--

"The gallant Harald drove along,
Flying but fighting, the whole throng.
At last, confused, they could not fight,
And the whole body took to flight.
Up from the river's silent stream
At once rose desperate splash and scream;
But they who stood like men this fray
Round Morukare's body lay."

This song was composed by Stein Herdison about Olaf, son of King
Harald; and he speaks of Olaf being in this battle with King
Harald, his father. These things are also spoken of in the song
called "Harald's Stave": --

"Earl Valthiof's men
Lay in the fen,
By sword down hewed,
So thickly strewed,
That Norsemen say
They paved a way
Across the fen
For the brave Norsemen."

Earl Valthiof, and the people who escaped, fled up to the castle
of York; and there the greatest loss of men had been. This
battle took place upon the Wednesday next Mathias' day (A.D.
1066).

89. OF EARL TOSTE.

Earl Toste had come from Flanders to King Harald as soon as he
arrived in England, and the earl was present at all these
battles. It happened, as he had foretold the king at their first
meeting, that in England many people would flock to them, as
being friends and relations of Earl Toste, and thus the king's
forces were much strengthened. After the battle now told of, all
people in the nearest districts submitted to Harald, but some
fled. Then the king advanced to take the castle, and laid his
army at Stanforda-bryggiur (Stamford Bridge); and as King Harald
had gained so great a victory against so great chiefs and so
great an army, the people were dismayed, and doubted if they
could make any opposition. The men of the castle therefore
determined, in a council, to send a message to King Harald, and
deliver up the castle into his power. All this was soon settled;
so that on Sunday the king proceeded with the whole army to the
castle, and appointed a Thing of the people without the castle,
at which the people of the castle were to be present. At this
Thing all the people accepted the condition of submitting to
Harald, and gave him, as hostages, the children of the most
considerable persons; for Earl Toste was well acquainted with all
the people of that town. In the evening the king returned down
to his ships, after this victory achieved with his own force, and
was very merry. A Thing was appointed within the castle early on
Monday morning, and then King Harald was to name officers to rule
over the town, to give out laws, and bestow fiefs. The same
evening, after sunset, King Harald Godwinson came from the south
to the castle with a numerous army, and rode into the city with
the good-will and consent of the people of the castle. All the
gates and walls were beset so that the Northmen could receive no
intelligence, and the army remained all night in the town.

90. OF KING HARALD'S LANDING.

On Monday, when King Harald Sigurdson had taken breakfast, he
ordered the trumpets to sound for going on shore. The army
accordingly got ready, and he divided the men into the parties
who should go, and who should stay behind. In every division he
allowed two men to land, and one to remain behind. Earl Toste
and his retinue prepared to land with King Harald; and, for
watching the ships, remained behind the king's son Olaf; the
earls of Orkney, Paul and Erlend; and also Eystein Orre, a son of
Thorberg Arnason, who was the most able and best beloved by the
king of all the lendermen, and to whom the king had promised his
daughter Maria. The weather was uncommonly fine, and it was hot
sunshine. The men therefore laid aside their armour, and went on
the land only with their shields, helmets and spears, and girt
with swords; and many had also arrows and bows, and all were very
merry. Now as they came near the castle a great army seemed
coming against them, and they saw a cloud of dust as from horses'
feet, and under it shining shields and bright armour. The king
halted his people, and called to him Earl Toste, and asked him
what army this could be. The earl replied that he thought it
most likely to be a hostle army, but possibly it might be some of
his relations who were seeking for mercy and friendship, in order
to obtain certain peace and safety from the king. Then the king
said, "We must all halt, to discover what kind of a force this
is." They did so; and the nearer this force came the greater it
appeared, and their shining arms were to the sight like glancing
ice.