» ' ; >P'“: , iy»n^yf»»»»r»g- . ••ryfrr-Vr-f.-T' *••«*> * * <, . ‘ l» -’.)• .*< . ,; . > i> . • ...n , > ^ ^ ^ ' .. 'r^7'j-vV * * ' ''; " :*;-•. •: . -. 1 . 7n .1 s. y., ' ' < '‘I'l...' ' ^l'iu:''‘'M.n:-'i'-y,yy ' /» .;4'\ ^.\ W > M ’' y -‘^1*, ^^-'' • r 'V. -PV:^ ^T. V-T^r^;-, ,j;' . .. ...-«• '*.. • *< ' " nl' •' ' *• '^ ' '•• • • : "V.-‘V. **tt h • , / I ^ -sC*. ' /*SitH'' ^ - s' • a -«J |.» • • •** i 7««i. .-.r^ ..V^ • > *•<•• ?r .>«««iiri«»» ’-w^' I • I* S' •-•fr • fr -* - , \vf =»<f?5Vr=f prT»- . rl^- '* : “T* • I f 1 i‘ < 1 / " 'i; .!' 1, - j: • « *. .- '• ... ' ‘-ii ^ . th;‘-!rpili::r:^:H;,;:.: f .-Uiulrc:-..; ,=:ju . ' I . i e*‘*^ !• *''*.*•1 • • i:*?* JiP ‘i:* . ; • 'v*;fi-’' '" : •iL' l.t:! 1 i: . ^. .^f^. » • * i \’ '• ='iiV’' % '-J^' I t . tr • • .'.r : • ]<. - • *. • * • * , - * • • V.- jT* ' v.-'c’r*. %• r * .S5f>’ I • . • s t,- • h r ' ^ r V l^-. i., */- Pr • • 1 THE HEIMSKRINGLA; CHRO^^ICLE THE KINGS OF NORWAY. TRANSLATED FROM THE ICELANDIC OF SNORRO STURLESON, asaitfi a ^reltminarg Blusertatlon, SAMUEL LAING, ESQ. AUTHOR OF “ A HKSIDKNCE IN NORWAY^* “ A TOUR IN SWEDEN,’* “ NOTES OF A TRAVELLER,” ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. LONDON: FRINTBD FOR LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, PATERNOSTKR-ROW. 1844. ff 9 London t Printed by A. Spottiswoodk, New- Street- Square, CONTENTS OP THE THIRD VOLUME, HEIMSKRINGLA {contimied), PAGE SAGA IX. Saga of Harald Hardrada - - - - 1 SAGA X. Saga of Olaf Kyrre - - - - - 105 SAGA XI. Magnus Barefoot’s Saga - - - - -115 SAGA XH. Saga of Sigurd the Crusader, and his Brothers Eystein and Olaf - - - - - - - 148 SAGA xni. Saga of Magnus the Blind and of Harald Gille - - 205 SAGA XIV. Saga of Sigurd, Inge, and Eystein, the sons of Harald - 233 SAGA XV. Saga of Hakon Herdabreid (Hakon the Broad-shouldered) - 274 SAGA XVI. Magnus Erlingsson’s Saga ----- 300 Appendix ------- 343 Additional Notes - - - - - - 365 -•r • • »S V*' -C $ . •l-.r • : SS.'i .’•• Ik I ( » r — THE OR, CHRONICLE OF THE KINGS OE NORWAY. IX. SAGA OF HARALD HARDRADA.* SAGA IX. HarjVld, son of Sigurd Syr, brother of Olaf the Saint Chapter. I. by the same mother, was at the battle of Stiklestad, Harald escapes and was fifteen years old King Olaf the Saint when from the feU, as before related. Harald was wounded, and battle of Stiklestad. escaped with other fugitives. Of this Thiodolf the scald makes mention in the poem he composed about “ ” King Harald, Avhich he called Sexstefia : At Haugf the fire-sparks from his shield Flew round the king’s head on the field. As blow for blow, for Olaf’s sake. His sword and shield would give and take. Bulgaria’s conqueror J, I ween, Had scarcely fifteen winters seen, "When from his murdered brother’s side His unhelmed head he had to hide.” Ivognvald Brusesson led Harald from the battle, and the night after the fray took him to a bonder 'vvho dAvelt in the forest far from other people. The pea- sant received Harald, and kept him concealed; and Harald was waited upon until he was quite cured of Harald Hardrada (the Stern) reigned from about 1046 to 1066. t Haug is a farm near Stiklestad farm in Vcrdal, Avliere the battle fought. X An allusion to Harald’s exploits in the East with the Vieringers. VOL, III. B 5 ; : ; 2 CIIKONICLP. OF THE SAGA IX. his wounds. Then the bonder’s son attended him on the way east over the ridge of the land, and they went by all the forest paths they could, avoiding the common road. The bonder’s son did not know who riding to- it was he was attending ; and as they were gether between two uninhabited forests, Harald made these verses : — My wounds were bleeding as 1 rode And down below the bonders strode. Killing the wounded with the sword. The followers of their rightful lord. From wood to wood I crept along. Unnoticed by the bonder-throng ‘ Who knows,* I thought, ^ a day may come ” My name will yet be great at home/ He Avent eastward over the ridge through Jemte- land and Helsingialand, and came to SAveden, where he found Rognvald Brusesson, and many others of King Olaf^s men who had fled from the battle at Stiklestad, and they remained there till Avinter was over. Chapter The spring after Harald and Rognvald got ships, II. Harald’s and went east in summer to Russia to King Jarisleif, journey to and were with him all the following winter. So says Constan- tinople* the scald Bolverk, in the poem he composed about King Harald : — The king’s sharp sword lies clean and bright, Prepared in foreign lands to fight Our ravens croak to have their fill. The wolf howls from the distant hill. Our brave king is to Russia gone, — Braver than he on earth there’s none: His sharp sword will carve many a feast To wolf and raven in the East.” King Jarisleif gave Harald and Rognvald a kind reception, and made Harald and Eilif the son of Earl Rognvald chiefs over the land-defence * men of the king. So says Thiodolf; — * Landvarnar-madr konungs — the landwehr men of the king. The landveer or landwehr force appears to have been very early an un- bodied military standing army in every country. ; V KINGS OF NORWAY. 3 Where Eilif was^ one heart and hand SAGA IX. The two chiefs had in their command; In wedge or line their battle order Was ranged by both without disorder. The eastern Vendland* men they drove Into a corner; and they move The Lesians although ill at ease^ To take the laws their conquerors please.’* Ai’nor, the earl’s scald, relates that Rognvalcl Brusesson was for a long time land-defence man in Russia, and fought many battles there ; — “ In Russia, though now grown old. The battle-loving earl, the bold. Of Gondul:]: favoured, in the field Raised in ten fights his battered shield.” Harald remained several years in Russia, and tra- velled far and wide in the Eastern land. Then he began his expedition out to Greece, and had a great suite of men with him and on he to Constanti- ; went nople. So says Bolverk : — Before the cold sea-curling blast The cutter from the land flew past. Her black yards swinging to and fro, Her shield-hung gunwale dipping low. The king saw glancing o’er the bow Constantinople’s metal glow From tower and roof, and painted sails Gliding past towns and wooded vales.” At that time the Greek empire was ruled by the em- CHAPTEa III. press Zoe the Great, and with her Michael Catalactus. Of Harald. Now when Harald came to Constantinople he pre- sented himself to the empress, and Avent into her pay * Vendland people, in its widest sense, appears to have been a name comprehending all the Slavonic race, which then extended to the borders of Holstein on the Trave at Lubeck. East Vendland was the country beyond the Oder, or Poland; and West Vendland was Pomerania, Mecklenburg, &c, I Lesians refers to a people not known, Lazii, Lezilii, are similar names in the^early history of Poland. t Gondul,** one of the Valkyria, who selected the slain for Odin’s hall. B 2 — 4 CIIKONICLE OF TUE SAGA IX. and immediately, in autumn, went on board the gal- leys manned vnth troops which went out to the Greek sea. Harald had his own men along with him. Now Harald had been but a short time in the army before all the Va3ringers^ flocked to him, and they all joined together when there was a battle. It thus came to pass that Harald was made chief of the Vmringers. There was a chief over all the troops who was called Gyrger, and who was a relation of the empress. Gyrger and Harald went round among all the Greek islands, and fought much against the corsairs. Chapter It happened once that Gyrger and theA^^ringerswere IV, Of IJaraUI going through the country, and they resolved to take and Gyr- their night quarters in a wood and as the A^mringers ger casting ; luts. came first to the ground, they chose the place which was best for pitching their tents upon, which was the higliest ground; for it is the nature of the land there to be soft when rain falls, and therefore it is bad to choose a low situation for your tents. Now when Gyrger, the chief of the army, came up, and saw where the Vteringers had set up their tents, he told them to * The Vceringers were the body-guard of the emperors, and were composed mostly of Northmen. Gibbon speaks of them, chap. Iv.; and refers to Boyer, Du Cange, and other authors who have written of the Varangi, orVaragi, at Constantinople. Vceringers,— the defenders, a]>pears to have been the true name of this body-guard, taken from the words AVehr, Veer, Ware, which belong to every branch of the great Northern language in the meaning of active defence. The best proof that this body-guard was composed principally of Northmen is, that almost every year coins of the Greek emperors, Cuftish coins, and gold chains and other ornaments, apparently of Eastern workmanship, are found in Norway about the houses of bonders, being probably the hidden treasures of their forefathers, brought with them from their ser- vice in Constantinople. The number of Greek and Arabic (Cuftish) coins found in these hoards, with scarcely any admixture of Anglo- Saxon or other Northern money, is very considerable. They are to be seen in the museums of Christiania and Copenhagen. The time when Harald joined the Vaeringers, according to Schoning, was about 1034, when Zoe was empress. Her liusband llomanus Argyrus died that year; and after him was Michael Paphlago, who dying 1042 was succeeded by Michael Calaphatcs, who was the husband of Zoe, — called Catalaclus by the saga men.