Sigvart Sörensen

“ From above comes the all-powerful one, he who rules everything, and whose name no one dares utter. All those who were virtuous and pure of heart will gather in Gimle in everlasting happiness, while the evil ones will go to Naastrand at the well Hvergelmer to tie tortured by Nidhugger. A new earth, green and beautiful, shall rise from the ocean. The gods awake to new life and join Vidar and Vale, and the sons of Thor, Mode and Magne, who have survived the great destruction and who have been given their father’s hammer, because there is to be no more war. ”

“ When Olaf saw him, he said: “True it is what has been said of your family: you are handsome people; but now your luck has deserted you.” Haakon replied: “It is always so, that sometimes one is victorious, and sometimes another. I am little beyond childhood in years; besides, we did not expect any attack. It may turn out better with me another time.” “But dost thou not fear that thou art now in such a condition that, hereafter, there will be neither victory nor defeat for thee?” asked the king. ”

“ When Earl Haakon had succeeded in establishing himself firmly as a ruler with the help of the people, he became so hard and overbearing toward them that they could no longer tolerate him. They killed him, and raised to the kingly power Olaf Trygvason, who was udal-born to the kingdom, and in every way well qualified to be a chief. The whole country’s wish was to make him supreme king, and raise again the kingdom which Harald the Fairhaired had established. But when King Olaf had become secure in his power, no man could manage his own affairs for him. ”

“ When Olaf Trygvason sailed in toward the island, the whole fleet of the enemy came out against him. When his chieftains saw this superior force they begged the king to proceed on his way, and not risk a battle against such odds. But the king, standing high on the quarter-deck of the “Long Serpent,” replied: “Strike the sails; never shall men of mine think of flight. I never fled from battle. Let God dispose of my life, but flight I shall never take.”
King Olaf ordered the ships to close up to each other. ”

“ The dignity of the king was usually inherited by his son, but if the heir was not to the liking of the peasants or people, they chose another. No man, however clear his right of succession, would think of assuming the title or power of a king except by the vote of a Thing. There he was presented to the people by a free peasant, and his right must be confirmed by the Thing before he could exert any act of kingly power. The king had a number of free men in his service, who had sworn allegiance to him, and who served him in war and in peace. ”

“ During his stay in the southern part of the country he had come in contact with his father’s former friends and faithful adherents, who had a great deal to say about the actions of the Throndhjem people toward King Olaf. Magnus listened with great eagerness to this talk, and, before he really understood it, he had become possessed of a bitter feeling against those men who had been his father’s opponents. He especially began to dislike Kalf Arneson, who, according to common belief, had dealt King Olaf the last deadly blow at Stiklestad. ”

“ One day, as King Magnus was sitting in his high-seat with a large number of men around him, and with Svein Estridson sitting on a footstool before him, the king made a speech, in which he said that he had promised the Danes a chief who could defend and rule the country in the absence of the king. “And,” he continued, “I know no better man fitted, in all respects, for this than Svein. I will therefore make him my earl, and give him the government of my Danish dominions while I am in Norway, just as King Canute the Great set his father, Earl Ulf, over Denmark while he was in England.” ”

“ On one of these occasions, when the two kings were feasting together at one of Eystein’s estates, they had what was called a “man-measuring,” or comparison of merits. The saga says that in the evening, when the people began to drink, the ale was not good, so that the guests were very quiet and still. Then said King Eystein: “Why are the people so silent? It is more proper in parties that people are merry, so let us find some jest over our ale that will amuse us; for surely, brother Sigurd, all will like to see us happy.” ”

“ That the king could believe that the Norwegian people will voluntarily surrender, and that he could believe me base enough to desert them now—indeed, I do not understand it. People would be justified in throwing stones after me, if ever I were able to deceive a nation which loves me and places its trust in me. ”

“ Halfdan became the ancestor of the royal race of Norway, his son, Harald the Fairhaired, being the first king of united Norway. According to tradition, when Queen Ragnhild was with child she dreamed that she was standing in her herb-garden, and she took a thorn out of her chemise, and while she was holding it in her hand it grew into a great tree, one end of which struck roots into the earth, while the other raised itself in the air until she could hardly see the top or the end of its widely spread branches. ”

“ The next Christmas Haakon went to King Harald to ask the fulfilment of the pledges given him. The king said that he, for his part, would adhere to the whole agreement; but as for Ragnhild it would be necessary for Haakon to ask her consent himself. When Haakon came to Ragnhild, and paid his addresses to her, she answered: “I have no fault to find with thee, for thou art a handsome man, expert in all exercises. But thou must remember I am a king’s daughter, while thou art only a lenderman. Had my father, King Magnus, lived he would have found that no man less than a king was suitable for me ”

“ King Olaf stood on the quarter-deck of the “Serpent,” high over the others. He had a gilt shield, and a golden helmet, and over his armor he had a short red jacket, so that he was easily distinguished from the others. When he saw the enemy’s ships drawing up for battle, he asked: “Who is the chief of the force right ahead of us?” The answer came that it was King Svein with the Danish army. The king said; “We are not afraid of these soft Danes, for there is no courage in them. ”

“ But the king we now have allows no one to talk with him of anything but what he himself desires to hear. He wants to have Norway laid under him, which no Swedish king before him ever desired, and thereby causes many men to be alarmed. But now it is the will expressed by us peasants that thou, King Olaf, make peace with the king of Norway, and give him thy daughter Ingegerd in marriage. If thou wilt reconquer the countries on the Baltic which thy relations and ancestors had there, we will all go with thee. ”

“ At Hordaland he heard that Erling Skialgson had left the country with a great force and several ships, and had sailed westward to England to Canute the Great. King Olaf proceeded eastward and then south to Denmark, where he first ravaged the coast of Seeland, and afterward met King Anund Jacob of Sweden, and with him harried the coast of Skåne (Scania, then a part of Denmark, now belonging to Sweden) . They proclaimed to the people that they intended to conquer Denmark, and asked the support of the people for this purpose. ”

“ In the spring King Magnus sailed southward with his fleet, and collected men from all districts, telling the people that he wanted to take the kingly dignity from Harald and give him such a part of the country as might be suitable. Harald proceeded from Throndhjem overland to the Uplands and Viken, and, when he heard what Magnus was doing, he also collected an army. At Fyrileif in Viken a battle was fought, and Magnus, who had a much superior force, won a decisive battle. Harald’s army was put to flight, and he himself barely escaped to his ships. ”

“ During the distressing years of war, when a foreign fleet intercepted the communication with Denmark, many Norwegians had become convinced that the union with Denmark was a very unnatural one. Many able and patriotic men believed that a union or a strong defensive alliance with Sweden would be much more advantageous to the country, and no doubt many considered such a union among the future probabilities, when the beloved Prince Christian August was elected Crown Prince of Sweden. The sorrow that was felt in Norway at the sudden death of Christian August was universal. ”

“ A Russian army was sent into Mecklenburg with orders to advance on Holstein, where an army of 70,000 Danish and Norwegian soldiers had been drawn together. The armies lay within a few miles of each other, when the conflict was suddenly averted by the news that Peter III. had been deposed, and, shortly afterward, murdered by his wife (July, 1762) . The empress, Catherine II., who succeeded her husband, had always been averse to the war, and a treaty of peace was concluded with her, principally as the result of the able diplomacy of the king’s adviser, Count Johan Hartvig Bernstorf. ”

“ A great murmur ran through the crowd of peasants, who complained that the king wanted to deprive them of their work and their old faith, and the mighty peasant, Asbiorn of Medalhus, arose and made a speech to the king, in which he said that they had had great faith in him when they chose him for their king, but now they had made up their minds to part with him and choose another if they were not left free to retain the religion they believed in. ”

“ The brave young Einar Thambaskelfer was won over by their giving him great fiefs in Orkadal, so that he became one of the most powerful and esteemed men in all the Throndhjem country. They also gave him their proud sister Bergliot in marriage. One mighty man, however, they tried in vain to conciliate. That was Erling Skialgson, the brother-in-law of Olaf Trygvason. He could not forgive Earl Erik for having joined the Swedes and Danes in an unexpected attack on Olaf Trygvason and causing his death. He managed to maintain a firm hold on the dominions his brother-in-law had given him. ”

“ He urges that a Norwegian culture and literature cannot be created out of nothing; that to promote their development it is absolutely necessary to continue the associations which have hitherto been common to both Norway and Denmark, and thus to keep in rapport with the general literature of Europe. When a solid foundation has in this manner been laid, the necessary materials for a literature would surely not be wanting, for they are found in abundance, both in the antiquities and in the popular life of Norway. ”