Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen

“ When the old man had finished, Einar Thambarskelver arose and thanked him and all the peasants for their friendly disposition toward King Magnus. This was more than King Harold could endure. He sprang up and cried angrily: "Loftily dost thou wear thy helmet now, Einar, and always thou showest thyself as my opponent. Happy will the day be when thy helmet shall be laid low. As thou now art a head taller than others, thou shalt then be a head shorter." ”

“ Far greater honor it is to be called a peasant and have the peasants say when they come together, that Högne is the foremost among them."
It is this sturdy sense of independence among peasants which makes Norwegian history unlike the history of any other country, and Norway the fountain-head of constitutional liberty in Europe. It was upon this rock that feudalism was wrecked in Norway, while it sailed triumphant down the current of history in Sweden, in Denmark, and all other European lands. ”

“ God rules over my life. Never will I flee; for he is no king who shuns his foes because of fear."
The whole hostile fleet now rowed forward from behind the island, and it seemed as if the sea was covered with ships as far as the eye could reach. King Sweyn, with his sixty galleys, became first visible.
"What chieftain is that right opposite to us?" asked King Olaf.
"That is King Sweyn with the Danish army," answered one of his men.
"I have no fear of them," said the king. "Never yet have Danes beaten Norsemen, and they will not beat us to-day. ”

“ When thou, King Haakon, didst call thy first assembly here in Drontheim, and we took thee for our king, we believed that heaven itself had descended upon us; but now we do not know whether it was liberty we gained, or whether thou wishest to make us thralls once more, by thy strange demand that we shall forsake the faith which our fathers and all their forefathers have had before us. * * * They were sturdier men than we are; and yet their faith has done well enough for us. We have learned to love thee well, and we have allowed thee to share with us the administration of law and justice. ”

“ With a recklessness which in so prudent a man is inconceivable (except under high religious excitement) , he burned his ships, landed with his army on the coast of Sweden, and marched northward, ravaging the land with fire and sword. A broad track of blood and desolation followed his destructive progress. Even in the Norwegian province Viken, which Harold Bluetooth had given to Sweyn Forkbeard, he continued his devastations in pure wantonness, as if to advertise his defiance of the Danish king and all that belonged to him. ”

“ He therefore took a hood and pulled it over the helmet. Eyvind Skreyja, who was just rushing forward to meet the king, thereby lost sight of him, and he cried out: "What has become of the king of the Norsemen? Does he hide himself, or is he afraid? No more do I see the golden helmet?" "Keep on as thou art steering, if thou wishest to find the king of the Norsemen," shouted Haakon, and throwing away his shield, seized his sword with both hands, and sprang forward where all could see him. ”

“ Never did a man meet a more horrible death with more heroic equanimity. Sigurd Slembedegn had the stuff in him for a great king, and if Sigurd the Crusader had sat upon the throne, when he advanced his claim, instead of the Irishman, Harold Gilchrist, the history of Norway would have taken a different turn, and his might have been one of the great names in its pages. ”

“ Being, however, compelled to protect himself from his machinations, he sent Rörek to Iceland, where, a few years later, he died. All the shire-kings had now lost their power, and for the first time in the history of Norway, no one had royal title in all the country except the king. It was as the representatives of a narrow local patriotism, which was shared by a large number of the people, that these men had been formidable, and to weld all the scattered tribes into one nation would have been impossible, without first breaking their power. ”

“ When the father of gods and men rides to battle he wears a helmet of gold and a suit of mail, which shines dazzlingly from afar. He carries also his spear Gungner, which he sends forth whenever he wishes to arouse men to warfare and strife. But, besides being the god of war, Odin also delights in poetry and sage counsel. He is the god of the scalds or poets; for he had drunk of Suttung's mead, which imparted the gift of song. He is well skilled in sorcery, and has taught men the art of writing runes. ”

“ To this an old peasant named Egil Uldsaerk (Woolsark) made answer: "I have been in many battles with thy father, King Harold. Sometimes he fought with a stronger and sometimes with a weaker foe. But he was always victorious. Never have I heard him ask counsel of his friends as to whether he should run; nor will we give thee such counsel. For we think that we have in thee a brave chieftain, and trusty aid shalt thou receive from us." ”

“ There was a maid named Gyda, the daughter of King Erik of Hördaland; she was being fostered by a rich yeoman in Valders. When Harold heard of her beauty, he sent his men to her and asked her to become his mistress. The maid's eyes flashed with anger while she listened to this message, and throwing [53] her head back proudly she answered: "Tell your master that I will not sacrifice my maidenly honor for a king who has only a few counties to rule over. Strange it seems to me that there is no king here who can conquer all Norway, as King Erik has conquered Sweden and King Gorm Denmark." ”

“ When he landed in Tröndelag, people flocked about him, and he won the chieftains for his cause by friendliness and promises which he afterwards conscientiously kept. He took part in the games of the young, and in the serious discussions of the old, excelled in all manly sports, and won admiration no less by his beauty than by his intelligence and generous disposition. The rumor of his arrival spread like fire in withered grass, and people said that old King Harold had come back once more to his people, gentler and more generous than before, but no less mighty and beautiful. ”

“ When his brother-in-law, the Swedish king, Valdemar, begged him for help against his brother Magnus, who had deprived him of the greater part of his kingdom, preparations were indeed made for a grand campaign, but after several futile meetings and much talk, the Norwegian fleet was ordered home again and the Swedish king was left to his fate. To a proud and adventurous people like the Norsemen, jealous of their dignity at home and abroad, this unconquerable reluctance to draw the sword must have appeared humiliating. ”

“ We have seen that Christianity did not advance in Norway during the mild and lax government of the earls. Olaf Tryggvesson, with all his zeal and vigor, could not in the short space of five years eradicate paganism from the Norsemen's hearts; and after his death a great number of those whom he had compelled to profess the Christian name relapsed into their former practices. It was not until King Olaf Haroldsson by his life, and still more by his death, took the imagination of the Norsemen captive, that Christianity became securely established in the land. ”

“ He left one son, Haakon, who was but an infant and was fostered by Thore of Steig. No one put forth any claim to the kingdom in his name, and Olaf thus became king of the whole country.
With the exception of the little ripple of martial excitement during the first years after his accession, Olaf Haroldsson's reign of twenty-seven years presents not a single warlike event. His saga is a saga of peace—a long and honorable record of achievements in the service of civilization. ”

“ Earl Erik, in whom King Sweyn's recent taunt was rankling, replied: "Even if Olaf Tryggvesson had no larger ship than this, Sweyn, with all his army of Danes, could not win it from him."
When at last "The Long Serpent" reared its flaming prow against the horizon, shooting long beams in the sun, the three princes marvelled at its beauty. Many a one trembled, too, with fear, when he saw the majestic ship approaching, and the dense rows of polished shields and swords flashing from afar.
"This glorious ship," said Earl Erik, "is fitting for such a king as Olaf Tryggvesson ”

“ The depredations committed by the Danish nobles, during the reign of Christian III., defy description. It was the darkest period in the history of Norway, and, as far as the people were concerned, very nearly the darkest, too, in the history of Denmark. The power of the nobles reached such a height that the king himself was merely the tool of their will and was used by them, as an instrument for the most cruel and heartless oppression. ”

“ Men may yet see the earthworks and other great enterprises he undertook; and yet he was not too proud to listen to people who had necessary things to say to him. Thorgny, my father, was for a long time with King Björn, and knew his manner of behaving. In Björn's time, the kingdom was very powerful and suffered no loss; he was very easy to get along with, to his friends. I can myself remember King Erik the Victorious, and I was with him in many a war. He increased the realm of the Swedes and bravely defended it. ”

“ In the summer of 1136 came a man, named Sigurd, to Norway, who also claimed to be a son of Magnus Barefoot. Sigurd was a man of great intelligence, courage, and ambition; and in those respects, at least, a much worthier pretender than the weak, vicious Harold Gille. He had led a very adventurous life, played an important role in the feuds between the Earls of the Orkneys, visited Rome and the Holy Land, and bathed in the Jordan. The ability of Harold Hard-Ruler and the restless and enterprising spirit of Magnus Barefoot seemed to be united in him. ”

“ The separatistic tendencies of the old tribal magnates had triumphed over the national idea represented by King Olaf. It was they and not King Knut who, in order to gratify their own greed for power, had destroyed the national unity. In order to secure their own independence, each in his own shire, they sacrificed the national independence. It was natural that Knut, who based his dominion upon their support, should make them large concessions. He flattered Einar Thambarskelver, hinting that if Earl Haakon had not been his nephew he would have made Einar regent of Norway. ”

“ Vehement as he was by temperament, brooking no argument, he wasted no time in weighing the probabilities of success or failure, but in the conviction of the sanctity of his cause stormed resistlessly onward and by his impetuosity and ardor, bore down all opposition. His first appearance as the champion of the new religion was in Viken, where he called his relations and adherents together and told them, that it was his intention to convert the whole kingdom of Norway to faith in Christ the White, even though he were to lose his life in the attempt. ”

“ The feudal state, which, with all its defects, is yet the indispensable basis of a higher civilization, has its root in the [31] Germanic instinct of loyalty—of mutual allegiance between master and vassal; and the noble spirit of independence which restrains and limits the power of the ruler, and at a later stage leads to constitutional government, is even a more distinctly Norse than Germanic characteristic. While Norway, up under the pole, has developed a democracy, Germany, coming at too early a period into contact with Rome, has developed a military despotism under constitutional forms. ”

“ To these intrepid men Norway owes the position she occupies to-day. For, if they had been meek and conciliatory, accepting gratefully what the king was pleased to grant them, their country would inevitably have sunk into a provincial relation to Sweden, as it had formerly to Denmark. The manly ring and fearless self-assertion, which resound through the debates of those early Storthings, show that the ancient strength was still surviving, and could, indeed, never have been dead. ”

“ His noble heart and his clear-sighted intelligence led him invariably to choose the right. He was therefore a great king, without being necessarily a great man, unless a well-balanced combination of all average good qualities constitutes in itself greatness. His enemy, Duke Skule, was in many respects a more brilliant personality, and yet what a misfortune it would have been to Norway, if Skule had displaced Haakon! ”

“ It has often been questioned whether Magnus acted wisely in refusing to draw the sword to preserve the integrity of his kingdom. That the Scottish isles already had cost Norway more in blood and treasure than they were worth, is generally conceded; and the chances were that, as Scotland increased in power, still greater efforts would be required to assert the sway of Norway over the remote dependencies. Moreover, as England later rose to become a European power and absorbed Scotland, it was merely a question of time when Norway would be compelled to relax its hold upon the islands. ”

“ When we held thing the last time, at Frosten, I demanded of the peasants that they should accept baptism; and they, on the other hand, demanded of me that I should sacrifice with them, as Haakon, Ethelstan's foster-son, had done. I made no objection to this, but promised to be present at the sacrificial feast at Möre. However, if I am to sacrifice with you, then I am minded to make a sacrifice of the biggest kind that has ever been made. I will not take thralls and criminals; but I will sacrifice the most high-born men and the mightiest peasants. ”

“ There was not always a king, but a chief there was always, and sometimes more than one. To the king belonged the leadership in war. He was in some district called a jarl or earl, though this name came [8] in later times to mean not an independent ruler, but rather a land-grave, a royal governor. The king could not tax the peasants for his support, nor impose any burden upon them which they did not of their own free choice accept. As a rule, his dignity was inherited by his son, though the people were at liberty, in case they disapproved of the heir, to select another. ”

“ An inclination is visible in King Magnus' legislation to break with the democratic past, and to remodel Norway, as nearly as possible, after foreign patterns. It was particularly England, with its feudal institutions, which seemed to him and his surroundings worthy of imitation. Although it was by no means a pure democracy which had prevailed in Norway hitherto, there had yet been a recognition of the people as the source of power, and the old stubborn sense of independence which characterized the peasantry had never been eradicated. ”

“ The right to hold one's head high; to feel proud of one's history and one's country, is a precious privilege, without which no race ever achieved great things. King Magnus, by lessening the prestige which the country [450] had enjoyed during the reign of his father, therefore contributed much toward the decadence which followed.
Physically as well as mentally, signs of degeneracy are beginning to be perceptible in the royal race of Norway. King Magnus was, indeed, endowed with a good intellect and his morals were blameless. ”

“ A civil war and particularly a war of classes, such as this was, arouses fiercer hates and passions than international contests, and must therefore continue, until one party or the other is utterly humbled or destroyed. The Norse magnates, who formed the bone and sinew of the Bagler party, hated Sverre, not only because they believed him to be an upstart and an adventurer, but as the destroyer of the old oligarchic government, in which they had secured the lion's share of power. ”

“ With a nature like his, however, no goal is final. The ease with which he had managed Harold Bluetooth and his nephew—using them as tools for his own ends—had, no doubt, inspired him with a supreme confidence in his ability, and a corresponding contempt of those whose shrewdness was inferior to his own. The purpose therefore soon matured in his mind to repudiate his obligations to the Danish king, and make himself the independent ruler of Norway. ”

“ When they caught sight of the royal banner they knew that King Haakon was not far away. Strangely enough, though they saw him storming forward, every moment exposing himself to danger, nay, even rushing on ahead of his men, they were not eager to kill him. They feared that the duke's cause was lost, and though they fought bravely, they had no hope of victory. The duke fled and was pursued by the Birchlegs; but they did not succeed in overtaking him. Many men fell in that fight, but many more sought refuge in the churches and were pardoned. ”

“ The prospect was thus opened to any ambitious adventurer, skilled in mendacity and the use of arms, to snatch the crown at the point of the sword. The mere fact that a doubt existed in the minds of many, as to Sverre's origin, was in itself demoralizing. It destroyed that bond of loyalty which had hitherto bound the people to the descendants of Harold the Fairhaired, and made it easy for unscrupulous pretenders, by the prospect of booty, to entice men into rebellion. ”