Saga of Sigurd the Crusader and His Brothers Eystein and Olaf

6. BATTLE IN THE ISLAND FORMINTERRA.

King Sigurd then proceeded on his voyage, and came to Norfasund;
and in the sound he was met by a large viking force, and the king
gave them battle; and this was his fifth engagement with heathens
since the time he left Norway. He gained the victory here also.
So says Haldor Skvaldre: --

"Ye moistened your dry swords with blood,
As through Norfasund ye stood;
The screaming raven got a feast,
As ye sailed onward to the East."

King Sigurd then sailed eastward along the coast of Serkland, and
came to an island there called Forminterra. There a great many
heathen Moors had taken up their dwelling in a cave, and had
built a strong stone wall before its mouth. They harried the
country all round, and carried all their booty to their cave.
King Sigurd landed on this island, and went to the cave; but it
lay in a precipice, and there was a high winding path to the
stone wall, and the precipice above projected over it. The
heathens defended the stone wall, and were not afraid of the
Northmen's arms; for they could throw stones, or shoot down upon
the Northmen under their feet; neither did the Northmen, under
such circumstances, dare to mount up. The heathens took their
clothes and other valuable things, carried them out upon the
wall, spread them out before the Northmen, shouted, and defied
them, and upbraided them as cowards. Then Sigurd fell upon this
plan. He had two ship's boats, such as we call barks, drawn up
the precipice right above the mouth of the cave; and had thick
ropes fastened around the stem, stern, and hull of each. In
these boats as many men went as could find room, and then the
boats were lowered by the ropes down in front of the mouth of the
cave; and the men in the boats shot with stones and missiles into
the cave, and the heathens were thus driven from the stone wall.
Then Sigurd with his troops climbed up the precipice to the foot
of the stone wall, which they succeeded in breaking down, so that
they came into the cave. Now the heathens fled within the stone
wall that was built across the cave; on which the king ordered
large trees to be brought to the cave, made a great pile in the
mouth of it, and set fire to the wood. When the fire and smoke
got the upper hand, some of the heathens lost their lives in it;
some fled; some fell by the hands of the Northmen; and part were
killed, part burned; and the Northmen made the greatest booty
they had got on all their expeditions. So says Halder Skvaldre:
--

"Forminterra lay
In the victor's way;
His ships' stems fly
To victory.
The bluemen there
Must fire bear,
And Norsemen's steel
At their hearts feel."

And also thus:--

"'Twas a feat of renown, --
The boat lowered down,
With a boat's crew brave,
In front of the cave;
While up the rock scaling,
And comrades up trailing,
The Norsemen gain,
And the bluemen are slain."

And also Thorarin Stutfeld says:--

"The king's men up the mountain's side
Drag two boats from the ocean's tide;
         The two boats lay,
         Like hill-wolves grey.
Now o'er the rock in ropes they're swinging
Well manned, and death to bluemen bringing;
         They hang before
         The robber's door."

7. OF THE BATTLES OF IVIZA AND MINORCA.

Thereafter King Sigurd proceeded on his expedition, and came to
an island called Iviza (Ivica), and had there his seventh battle,
and gained a victory. So says Haldor Skvaldre: --

"His ships at Ivica now ride,
The king's, whose fame spreads far and wide;
And hear the bearers of the shield
Their arms again in battle wield."

Thereafter King Sigurd came to an island called Manork (Minorca),
and held there his eighth battle with heathen men, and gained the
victory. So says Haldor Skvaldre: --

"On green Minorca's plains
The eighth battle now he gains:
Again the heathen foe
Falls at the Norse king's blow."

8. DUKE ROGER MADE A KING.

In spring King Sigurd came to Sicily (A.D. 1109), and remained a
long time there. There was then a Duke Roger in Sicily, who
received the king kindly, and invited him to a feast. King
Sigurd came to it with a great retinue, and was splendidly
entertained. Every day Duke Roger stood at the company's table,
doing service to the king; but the seventh day of the feast, when
the people had come to table, and had wiped their hands, King
Sigurd took the duke by the hand, led him up to the high-seat,
and saluted him with the title of king; and gave the right that
there should be always a king over the dominion of Sicily,
although before there had only been earls or dukes over that
country.

9. OF KING ROGER.

King Roger of Sicily was a very great king. He won and subdued
all Apulia, and many large islands besides in the Greek sea; and
therefore he was called Roger the Great. His son was William,
king of Sicily, who for a long time had great hostility with the
emperor of Constantinople. King William had three daughters, but
no son. One of his daughters he married to the Emperor Henry, a
son of the Emperor Frederik; and their son was Frederik, who for
a short time after was emperor of Rome. His second daughter was
married to the Duke of Kipr. The third daughter, Margaret, was
married to the chief of the corsairs; but the Emperor Henry
killed both these brothers-in-law. The daughter of Roger the
Great, king of Sicily, was married to the Emperor Manuel of
Constantinople; and their son was the Emperor Kirjalax.

10. KING SIGURD'S EXPEDITION TO PALESTINE.

In the summer (A.D. 1110) King Sigurd sailed across the Greek sea
to Palestine, and thereupon went up to Jerusalem, where he met
Baldwin, king of Palestine. King Baldwin received him
particularly well, and rode with him all the way to the river
Jordan, and then back to the city of Jerusalem. Einar Skulason
speaks thus of it: --

"Good reason has the skald to sing
The generous temper of the king,
Whose sea-cold keel from northern waves
Ploughs the blue sea that green isles laves.
At Acre scarce were we made fast,
In holy ground our anchors cast,
When the king made a joyful morn
To all who toil with him had borne."

And again he made these lines: --

"To Jerusalem he came,
He who loves war's noble game,
(The skald no greater monarch finds
Beneath the heaven's wide hall of winds)
All sin and evil from him flings
In Jordan's wave: for all his sins
(Which all must praise) he pardon wins."

King Sigurd stayed a long time in the land of Jerusalem
(Jorsalaland) in autumn, and in the beginning of winter.