Saga of Hakon Herdebreid

17. KING INGE'S SPEECH.

Thereupon King Inge went with his army out on the ice, and he
drew it up in order of battle in front of the town. Simon Skalp
was in that wing of the array which was towards Thraelaberg; and
on the other wing, which was towards the Nunnery, was Gudrod, the
king of the South Hebudes, a son of Olaf Klining, and Jon, a son
of Svein Bergthor Buk. When King Hakon and his army came near to
King Inge's array, both sides raised a war-shout. Gudrod and Jon
gave King Hakon and his men a sign, and let them know where they
were in the line; and as soon as Hakon's men in consequence
turned thither, Gudrod immediately fled with 1500 men; and Jon,
and a great body of men with him, ran over to King Hakon's army,
and assisted them in the fight. When this news was told to King
Inge, he said, "Such is the difference between my friends. Never
would Gregorius have done so in his life!" There were some who
advised King Inge to get on horseback, and ride from the battle
up to Raumarike; "where," said they, "you would get help enough,
even this very day." The king replied, he had no inclination to
do so. "I have heard you often say, and I think truly, that it
was of little use to my brother, King Eystein, that he took to
flight; and yet he was a man distinguished for many qualities
which adorn a king. Now I, who labour under so great
decrepitude, can see how bad my fate would be, if I betook myself
to what proved so unfortunate for him; with so great a difference
as there is between our activity, health, and strength. I was in
the second year of my age when I was chosen king of Norway, and I
am now twenty-five; and I think I have had misfortune and sorrow
under my kingly dignity, rather than pleasure and peaceful days.
I have had many battles, sometimes with more, sometimes with
fewer people; and it is my greatest luck that I have never fled.
God will dispose of my life, and of how long it shall be; but I
shall never betake myself to flight."

18. KING INGE'S FALL.

Now as Jon and his troop had broken the one wing of King Inge's
array, many of those who were nearest to him fled, by which the
whole array was dispersed, and fell into disorder. But Hakon and
his men went briskly forwards; and now it was near daybreak. An
assault was made against King Inge's banner, and in this conflict
King Inge fell; but his brother Orm continued the battle, while
many of the army fled up into the town. Twice Orm went to the
town after the king's fall to encourage the people, and both
times returned, and went out again upon the ice to continue the
battle. Hakon's men attacked the wing of the array which Simon
Skalp led; and in that assault fell of King Inge's men his
brother-in-law, Gudbrand Skafhogson. Simon Skalp and Halvard
Hikre went against each other with their troops, and fought while
they drew aside past Thraelaberg; and in this conflict both Simon
and Halvard fell. Orm, the king's brother, gained great
reputation in this battle; but he at last fled. Orm the winter
before had been contracted with Ragna, a daughter of Nikolas
Mase, who had been married before to King Eystein Haraldson; and
the wedding was fixed for the Sunday after Saint Blasius's mass,
which was on a Friday. Orm fled east to Svithjod, where his
brother Magnus was then king; and their brother Ragnvald was an
earl there at that time. They were the sons of Queen Ingerid and
Henrik Halte, who was a son of the Danish king Svein Sveinson.
The princess Kristin took care of King Inge's body, which was
laid on the stone wall of Halvard's church, on the south side
without the choir. He had then been king for twenty-three years
(A.D. 1137-1161). In this battle many fell on both sides, but
principally of King Inge's men. Of King Hakon's people fell Arne
Frirekson. Hakon's men took all the feast and victuals prepared
for the wedding, and a great booty besides.

19. OF KING HAKON AND QUEEN KRISTIN.

Then King Hakon took possession of the whole country, and
distributed all the offices among his own friends, both in the
towns and in the country. King Hakon and his men had a meeting
in Halvard's church, where they had a private conference
concerning the management of the country. Kristin the princess
gave the priest who kept the church keys a large sum of money to
conceal one of her men in the church, so that she might know what
Hakon and his counsellors intended. When she learnt what they
had said, she sent a man to Bergen to her husband Erling Skakke,
with the message that he should never trust Hakon or his men.

20. OF OLAF'S MIRACLE.

It happened at the battle of Stiklestad, as before related, that
King Olaf threw from him the sword called Hneiter when he
received his wound. A Swedish man, who had broken his own sword,
took it up, and fought with it. When this man escaped with the
other fugitives he came to Svithjod, and went home to his house.
From that time he kept the sword all his days, and afterwards his
son, and so relation after relation; and when the sword shifted
its owner, the one told to the other the name of the sword and
where it came from. A long time after, in the days of Kirjalax
the emperor of Constantinople, when there was a great body of
Varings in the town, it happened in the summer that the emperor
was on a campaign, and lay in the camp with his army. The
Varings who had the guard, and watched over the emperor, lay on
the open plain without the camp. They changed the watch with
each other in the night, and those who had been before on watch
lay down and slept; but all completely armed. It was their
custom, when they went to sleep, that each should have his helmet
on his head, his shield over him, sword under the head, and the
right hand on the sword-handle. One of these comrades, whose lot
it was to watch the latter part of the night, found, on awakening
towards morning, that his sword was gone. He looked after it,
and saw it lying on the flat plain at a distance from him. He
got up and took the sword, thinking that his comrades who had
been on watch had taken the sword from him in a joke; but they
all denied it. The same thing happened three nights. Then he
wondered at it, as well as they who saw or heard of it; and
people began to ask him how it could have happened. He said that
his sword was called Hneiter, and had belonged to King Olaf the
Saint, who had himself carried it in the battle of Stiklestad;
and he also related how the sword since that time had gone from
one to another. This was told to the emperor, who called the man
before him to whom the sword belonged, and gave him three times
as much gold as the sword was worth; and the sword itself he had
laid in Saint Olaf's church, which the Varings supported, where
it has been ever since over the altar. There was a lenderman of
Norway while Harald Gille's sons, Eystein, Inge, and Sigurd
lived, who was called Eindride Unge; and he was in Constantinople
when these events took place. He told these circumstances in
Norway, according to what Einar Skulason says in his song about
King Olaf the Saint, in which these events are sung.

21. OLAF'S MIRACLE IN FAVOUR OF THE VARINGS.

It happened once in the Greek country, when Kirjalax was emperor
there, that he made an expedition against Blokumannaland. When
he came to the Pezina plains, a heathen king came against him
with an innumerable host. He brought with him many horsemen, and
many large waggons, in which were large loop-holes for shooting
through. When they prepared for their night quarters they drew
up their waggons, one by the side of the other, without their
tents, and dug a great ditch without; and all which made a
defence as strong as a castle. The heathen king was blind. Now
when the Greek king came, the heathens drew up their array on the
plains before their waggon-fortification. The Greeks drew up
their array opposite, and they rode on both sides to fight with
each other; but it went on so ill and so unfortunately, that the
Greeks were compelled to fly after suffering a great defeat, and
the heathens gained a victory. Then the king drew up an array of
Franks and Flemings, who rode against the heathens, and fought
with them; but it went with them as with the others, that many
were killed, and all who escaped took to flight. Then the Greek
king was greatly incensed at his men-at-arms; and they replied,
that he should now take his wine-bags, the Varings. The king
says that he would not throw away his jewels, and allow so few
men, however bold they might be, to attack so vast an army. Then
Thorer Helsifig, who at that time was leader of the Varings
replied to the king's words, "If there was burning fire in the
way, I and my people would run into it, if I knew the king's
advantage required it." Then the king replied, "Call upon your
holy King Olaf for help and strength." The Varings, who were 450
men, made a vow with hand and word to build a church in
Constantinople, at their own expense and with the aid of other
good men, and have the church consecrated to the honour and glory
of the holy King Olaf; and thereupon the Varings rushed into the
plain. When the heathens saw them, they told their king that
there was another troop of the Greek king's army come out upon
the plain; but they were only a handful of people. The king
says, "Who is that venerable man riding on a white horse at the
head of the troop?" They replied, "We do not see him." There
was so great a difference of numbers, that there were sixty
heathens for every Christian man; but notwithstanding the Varings
went boldly to the attack. As soon as they met terror and alarm
seized the army of the heathens, and they instantly began to fly;
but the Varings pursued, and soon killed a great number of them.
When the Greeks and Franks who before had fled from the heathens
saw this, they hastened to take part, and pursue the enemy with
the others. Then the Varings had reached the waggon-
fortification, where the greatest defeat was given to the enemy.
The heathen king was taken in the flight of his people, and the
Varings brought him along with them; after which the Christians
took the camp of the heathens, and their waggon-fortification.