Icelandic Sagas Vol. 3
91. Earl Rognvald busked him that summer to leave the Orkneys, and he was
rather late boun, for they had a long while to wait for Eindrid, as his ship
did not come from Norway which he had let be made there the winter before. But
when they were boun, they held on their course away from the Orkneys in fifteen
big ships. These were then the ship-captains; earl Rognvald, bishop William,
Erling wry-neck, Aslak Erlend's son, Gudorm, Mjola-pate of Helgeland, Magnus
Havard's son, Sweyn Hroald's son, Eindrid the young, John Peter's son limpleg,
and those five whose names are not told. They were Eindrid's men. They sailed
away from the Orkneys, and south to Scotland, and so on to England, and as they
sailed by Northumberland, off Humbermouth, Armod sang a song:
“The sea was high off HumbermouthThey sailed thence south round England and to France. (1) Nothing is said of their voyage before that they came to that seaburg which is named Nerbon. (2) There these tidings had happened, that the earl who before had ruled the town was dead; his name was Germanus; he left behind him a daughter young and fair, whose name was Ermingerd. She kept watch and ward over her father's inheritance with the counsel of the most noble men of her kinsfolk. They gave that counsel to the queen that she should bid the earl to a worthy feast, and said that by that she would be famous if she welcomed heartily such men of rank who had come so far to see her, and who would bear her fame still further. The queen bade them see to that. And when this counsel had been agreed on by them, men were sent to the earl and he was told that the queen bade him to a feast with as many of his men as he chose to bring with him. The earl of his men bidding with thanks; he chose out all his best men for this journey with him. And when they came to the feast, there was the best cheer, and nothing was spared which could do the earl more honour than he had ever met before. One day it happened as the earl sat at the feast that the queen came into the hall and many women with her, she held a beaker of gold in her hand. She was dressed in the best clothes, had her hair loose as maidens wont to have, and had put a golden band round her brow. She poured the wine into the earl's cup, but her maidens danced before them. The earl took her hand and the beaker too and set her on his knee, and they talked much that day. Then the earl sang a song:
When our ships were beating out,
Bends the mast and sinks the land
'Neath our lee off Vesla-sand;
Wave with veil of foam that rises
Drives not in the eyes of him
Who now sits at home; the stripling
From the meeting rideth dry.”
“Sure it is, O lady lovely,The earl stayed there very long in the best of cheer. The townsmen pressed the earl to settle down there, and spoke out loudly about how they would give him the lady to wife. The earl said he would fare on that voyage which he had purposed, but said he would come thither as he fared back, and then they could carry out their plan [or not] as they pleased. After that the earl busked him away thence with his fellow voyagers. And as they sailed west of Thrasness they have a good wind; then they sat and drank and were very merry. Then the earl sang a song:
That thy stature far outvies
Form of women whose attire
Gleams well fringed with Frodi's meal; (3)
Locks as soft as yellow silk,
Lets the maiden downward fall
On her shoulders; I have reddened
Eager eagles' crooked claws.”
“Noble youth will long rememberThis Armod sang:
Words which Ermingerda spoke;
Brave bride wills that we should ride
O'er Ran's home to Jordan's stream;
But when back the water-horse's
Woods (4) fare north across the wave,
He will cut the whale-land then
Home to Nerbon at the fall.”
“Unless changes my fate hard,Oddi the little sang a song:
I shall fair Ermingerd
Ne'er meet again;
Many nurseth for that noble maiden his pain;
Were I not blessed in slumbering ---
'Twere luck past all numbering ---
One night by her side;
The fairest of faces hath surely that bride.”
“We are scarcely, as I ween,
Worthy of fair Ermingerd;
Well I know that noble crown-land
May be called the king of queens;
For it well befits that goddess
Of the ringfield's fire to find
A better husband altogether;
May she live blest 'neath seat of sun.”
92. They fared till they came west to Galicialand in the winter before Yule, and meant to sit there Yule over. They dealt with the landsmen and begged them to set them a market to buy food; for the land was barren and bad for food; for the land was barren and bad for food, and the landsmen thought it hard to feed that host of men. Now these tidings had happened there, that in that land sat a chief, who was a stranger, in a castle, and he had laid on the landsmen very heavy burdens. He harried them on the spot if they did not agree at once to all that he asked, and he offered them the greatest tyranny and oppression. And when the earl spoke to the landsmen about bringing him food to buy, they made him that offer, that they would set them up a market thenceforth on till Lent, but they must rid them in some way or other of the men in the castle; but earl Rognvald was to bear the brunt in return for the right of having all the goods that were gotten from them. The earl laid this bare before his men, and sought counsel from them as to which choice he should take, but most of them were eager to fall on the castlemen, and thought it bid fair for spoil. And so earl Rognvald and his host went into that agreement with the landsmen. But when it drew near to Yule, earl Rognvald called his men to a talk and said: “Now have we sat here awhile, and yet we have had nothing to do with the castlemen, but the landsmen are getting rather slack in their dealings with us; methinks they think that what we promised them will have no fulfilment; but still that is not manly not to turn our hands to what we have promised. Now, kinsman Erling will I take counsel from you in what way we shall win the castle, for I know that ye are here some of you the greatest men for good counsel; but still I will beg all those men who are here that each will throw in what [he thinks] is likeliest to be worth trying.” Erling answered the earl's speech: “I will not be silent at your bidding, but I am not a man for counsel; and it would be better rather to call on those men for that who have seen more, and are more wont to such exploits, as is Eindrid the young. But here it will be as the saying goes, 'You must shoot at a bird before you get him.' And so we will try to give some counsel whatever comes of it. We shall today, if it seems to you not bad counsel or to the other shipmasters, go all of us to the wood, and bear each of us three shoulder-bundles of faggots on our backs under the castle; for it seems to me as though the lime will not be trusty if a great fire is brought to it. We shall let this go on for the three next days and see what turn things take.” They did as Erling bade. And when that toil was over, it was come right on to Yule. The bishop would not let them make their onslaught while the Yule high feast stood over them.
That chief's name was Godfrey who dwelt in the castle; he was a wise man and somewhat stricken in years. He was a good clerk, and had fared far and wide, and knew many tongues. He was a grasping man and a very unfair man. He calls together his men when he saw their [Rognvald's] undertakings, and said to them: “This scheme seems to me clever and harmful to us which the Northmen have taken in hand; it will befall us thus if fire is borne against us, that the stone wall round the castle will be untrusty, but the Northmen are strong and brave; we shall have to look for a sharp fight from them if they get a chance. I will now take counsel with you what shall be done in this strait which has befallen us.” But his men all bade him see to that for them. Then he began to speak, and said: “My first counsel is that ye shall bind a cord round me and let me slide down the castle wall tonight. I shall have on bad clothes and fare into the camp of the Northmen, and know what I can find out.” This counsel was taken as he had laid it down. And when Godfrey came to earl Rognvald, and said he was an old beggar carle, and spoke in Spanish; they understood that tongue best. He fared about among all the booths and begged for food. He found out that there was great envy and splitting into parties amongst the Northmen. Eindrid was the head of one side, but the earl of the other. Godfrey came to Eindrid and got to talk with him, and brought that before him that the chief who held the castle had sent him thither. “He will have fellowship with thee, and he hopes that thou wilt give him peace if the caste be won; he would rather that thou shouldst have his treasures, if thou wilt do so much in return for them, than those who would rather see him a dead man.” Of such things they talked and much besides. But the earl was kept in the dark; all this went on by stealth at first. And when Godfrey had stayed a while with the earl's men, then he turned back to his men. But this was why they did not flit what they owned out of the castle, because they did not know whether the storm would take place at all; besides they could not trust the landfolk.
93. It was the tenth day of Yule that earl Rognvald rose up. The weather was good. Then he bade his men put on their arms, and let the host be called up to the castle with the trumpet. Then they drew the wood towards it, and piled a bale (5) round about the wall; the earl drew up his men for the onslaught where each of them should go. The earl goes against it from the south with the Orkneyingers; Erling and Aslak from the west; John and Gudorm from the east; Eindrid the young from the north, with his followers. And when they were boun for the storm they cast fire into the bale. Then the earl sang:
“Ermingerd's white handmaid boreNow they begin to press on fast both with fire and weapons. Then they shot hard into the work, for they could not reach them by any other attack. The castlemen stood loosely here and there on the wall, for they had to guard themselves against the shots. They poured out too burning pitch and brimstone, and the earl's men took little harm by that. Now it turned out, as Erling had guessed, that the castle wall crumbled before the fire when the lime would not stand it, and there were great breaches in it. Sigmund angle was the name of a man in the earl's body-guard; he was Sweyn Asleif's son's stepson; he pressed on faster than any man to the castle, and ever went on before the earl; he was then scarcely grown up. And when the storm had lasted awhile, then all men fled from the castle wall. The wind was on from the south, and the reek of the smoke lay towards Eindrid and his men. And when the fire began to spread very fast, then the earl made them bring water, and cool the rubble that was burned. And then there was a lull in the assault. (6) Then earl Rognvald sang a song:
Wine to men, the goddess bright
Of driven snow, so fair she seemed
To my vision when we met;
Now the warrior band resolves
To rush onward and attack
Castle-garrison with fire;
Sharp-swords spring from out the sheaths.”
“Aye shall I that Yule remember,And again he sang:
Warrior! which we spent at Agdir,
East among the fells with Solmund,
Steward strong of Norway's king;
Now again at that same season
Of another year as then
Stunning din of swords I make
On the castle's southern verge.”
“Well pleased was I when the wine-tree (7)Then Sigmund angle sang this:
Listened to my winning words;
Past all hope then was I given
At harvest to the foreign maid;
Now again I sate the eagles,
Since full well we love the girl
Nobly born; and now the freestone
Set in mortar must give way.”
“Bear these words back when the spring comesAfter that the earl made ready to storm, and Sigmund angle with him. There was then but a little struggle, and they got into the castle. There many men were slain, but those who would take life gave themselves up to the earl's power. There they took much goods, but they did not find the chief, and scarcely any precious things. Then there was forthwith much talk how Godfrey could have got away; and then at once they had the greatest doubt of Eindrid the young, that he must have passed him away somehow, and that he [Godfrey] must have gone away under the smoke to the wood.
To the goddess needle-plying,
Wearing gems from fell-side won,
Bear them o'er the sea to Orkney;
That no warrior, though he were
Wight of elder years, went farther
Forward 'neath the castle walls,
When strokes sung high at early morn.”
After that earl Rognvald and his host stayed there a short time in Galicialand, and held on west off Spain. They harried wide in that part of Spain which belonged to the heathen, and got there much goods. They ran up into a thorpe there, as the earl told them. But those who dwelt in the thorpe ran together and made ready to battle; then there was a hard struggle, and the landfolk fled at last, but many were slain. Then the earl sang a song:
“Lady-meeting now I long for;After that they sailed west off Spain, and got there a great storm, and lay three days at anchor, so that they shipped very much water, and it lay near that they had lost their ships. Then the earl sang:
Out away in Spain was driven
Foe in speedy flight, and many
Ring-trees (8) panting rushed before me;
We were worthy Ermingerda,
For that then sweet songs were chaunted
In our praises to the people;
Corses covered all the field.”
“Cool fields goddess! (9) never shall IAfter that they hoisted their sails, and beat out to Njorfa Sound (10) with a very cross wind. (11) Then Oddi the little sang:
Free afraid in wintry storm
If along the good ship's sides
Hemp and cable do not snap;
To the white-hued clad in linen,
To lady proud my word when sailing
South I gave; and now the wind
To the Sound soon bears my ship.”
“Hearty friend of men, who drinkethAnd as they were just beating into the Sound, the earl sang:
Mead in-doors, hath often spent
Seven much more cheerful days
With the captain of the sound-tree; (12)
But today the high-souled Rognvald,
With his band of shielded men,
On his bright-hued wooden horse
Ran for Njorvi's narrow Sound.”
“Eastern wind hath borne alongThey sailed through Njorfa Sound, and then the weather began to get better. And then as they bore out of the Sound, Eindrid the younger parted company from the earl with six ships. He sailed over the sea to Marseilles, but Rognvald and his ships lay behind at the Sound, and men talked much about it, how Eindrid helped Godfrey away. Then the earl made them hoist their sails; they sailed on the main, and steered a south course along Sarkland. (13) Then Rognvald sang a song:
Our ships at winter-tide
Far from the French lady's hands;
Come, run out our boom to tack;
We shall have to gird our sea-stag
Half-mast high off Spain today;
Soon to Svidrir's stormy Sound,
Speeds the gale our ships along.”
“North away the land still trends,Nothing is told of the voyage of the earl and his men before they came south off Sarkland, and lay in the neighbourhood of Sardinia, and knew not what land they were near. The weather had turned out in this wise, that a great calm set in and mists and smooth seas --- though the nights were light --- and they saw scarcely at all from their ships, and so they made little way. One morning it happened that the mist lifted. Men stood up and looked about them. Then the earl asked if men saw anything new. They said they saw naught but two islets, little and steep; and when they looked for the islets the second time, then one of the islets was gone. They told this to the earl; he began to say: “That can have been no islets, that must be ships which men have out here in this part of the world, which they call Dromonds; (15) those are ships big as holms to look on. But there where the other Dromond lay a breeze must have come down on the sea, and they must have sailed away, but these must be wayfaring men, either chapmen or faring in some other way on their business.” After that the earl lets them call to him the bishop and all the shipmasters; then he began to say: “I call you together for this, lord bishop and Erling my kinsman; see ye any scheme or chance of ours that we may win victory in some way over those who are on the Dromond.” The bishop answers: “Hard, I guess, will it be for you to run your longships under the Dromond, for ye will have no better way of boarding than by grappling the bulwarks with a broad axe, but they will have brimstone and boiling pitch to throw under your feet and over your heads. Ye may see, earl, so wise as ye are, that it is the greatest rashness to lay one's self and one's men in such risk.” Then Erling began to speak: “Lord bishop,” he says, “likely it is that ye are best able to see this that there will be little hope of victory in rowing against them. But somehow it seems to me that though we try to run under the Dromond, so methinks it will be that the greatest weight of weapons will fall beyond our ships, if we hug her close, broadside to broadside. But if it be not so, then we can put off from them quickly, for they will not chase us in the Dromond.” The earl began to say: “That is spoken like a man and quite to my mind. I will now make that clear to the shipmasters and all the crews, that each man shall busk him in his room, and arm himself as he best can. After that we will row up to them. But if they are Christian chapmen, then it will be in our power to make peace with them; but if they are heathen, as I feel sure they are, then Almighty God will yield us that mercy that we shall win the victory over him. But of the war-spoil which we get there, we shall give the fiftieth penny to poor men.” After that men got out their arms and heightened the bulwarks of their ships, and made themselves ready according to the means which they had at hand. The earl settles where each of his ships should run in. Then they made an onslaught on her by rowing, and pulled up to her as briskly as they could.
Brave ship spares not now the wave,
Nor shall now this man be slow
To break out in burst of song;
This soft belt of earth (14) I cut
Off the Spanish shore today;
With thin keel, this hateful bight
To a lazy longshoreman.”
Notes:
1. France] Valland in its widest sense means all the Romano-Celtic nations in the west of Europe, and is used just as the Germans speak of Welschland. In a more restricted sense it is used of the north-west of France, or of Brittany and Normandy. Fm. S. iv. 59. Here it seems to include both France and Spain. [Back]
2. This is probably the best reading: The “seaburg” might be Bilbao on the “Nerbion” or “Nervion.” [Back]
3. A periphrasis for “gold.” [Back]
4. A periphrasis for “ships.” [Back]
5. bale] The old meaning of the word was a heap of fuel for a fire, a pyre, whence all the other meanings of the word and its compounds, as “baleful” and “balefire” are derived. [Back]
6. M.O. reads thus: “and cool the grit that had run (been fused by the heat) before they made ready to the storm. But while the lull lasted the earl sang this song.” [Back]
7. A periphrasis for “woman.” [Back]
8. Ring-trees, a periphrasis for men. [Back]
9. Cool fields goddess, a periphrasis for lady, i.e. Ermengarda. [Back]
10. The Gut of Gibraltar. [Back]
11. The Danish Translation reads, “for the wind was very much on one side.” Fl. reads “a very fair wind.” [Back]
12. A periphrasis for “a ship.” [Back]
13. Barbary. [Back]
14. A periphrasis for “sea.” [Back]
15. Also called “Dromons” from the Greek “dromwn,” used at first for a swift ship of war, and afterwards for any large vessel. See Du Cange, s.v. “Dromones.” [Back]
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