CHAPTER XVIII.-Fifteenth Battle.

After this appearance to him he turned about, and came to Poitou, where he plundered and burnt a merchant town called Varrande.

speaks :

"Our young king, blythe and gay,

Is foremost in the fray :

Of this Ottar

Poitou he plunders, Tuskland + burns,—
He fights and wins where'er he turns."

And also Sigvat says:

"The Norsemen's king is on his cruise,
His blue steel staining,

Rich booty gaining,

And all men trembling at the news.

The Norsemen's king is up the Loire :

Rich Parthenay

In ashes lay;

Far inland reached the Norsemen's spear."

CHAPTER XIX.-Of the Earls of Rouen.

King Olaf had been two summers and one winter in the west in Valland on this cruise; and thirteen years had now passed since the fall of King Olaf Trygveson. During this time earls had ruled over Norway; first Hakon's sons Eirik and Svein, and afterwards Eirik's sons Hakon and Svein. Hakon was a sister's son of King Canute, the son of Svein. During this time there were two earls in Valland,‡ *Peituland is Poitou. Varrande is supposed to be the town Par thenay.-L.

Tuskaland is the land of Tours on the Loire.-L.

Valland, as before noticed, means the whole west coast of France.-L.

William and Robert; their father was Richard earl of Rouen. They ruled over Normandy." Their sister was Queen Emma, whom the English king Ethelred had married; and their sons were Edmund, Edward the Good, Edwy, and Edgar. Richard the earl of Rouen was a son of Richard the son of William Long Spear, who was the son of Rolf Ganger, the earl who first conquered Normandy; and he again was a son of Ragnvald the Mighty, earl of More, as before related. From Rolf Ganger are descended the earls of Rouen, who have long reckoned themselves of kin to the chiefs in Norway, and hold them in such respect that they always were the greatest friends of the Northmen; and every Northman found a friendly country in Normandy, if he required it. To Normandy King Olaf came in autumn [1013], and remained all winter [1014] in the river Seine ‡ in good peace and quiet.

*

Normandy was that part of Valland formerly called Neustria ; which, about the year 912, was ceded by Charles the Simple to Rolf Ganger, who gave it the name of Normandy, from its being occupied by the Northmen. The chief town was Ruda or Ruduborg, now Rouen; from which the earls of Normandy were called Ruda-jarlar-the Rouen earls, not earls of Normandy. The title appears to have been personal, at least among the Northmen, not attached to land possessing peculiar rights or burdens as an earldom.-L.

Snorre's statements are faulty. The chronology is, Rolf, 912-927; his son William Long Spear, 927-943; William's son Richard, 943-996. Richard had a daughter Emma, the wife of Ethelred and afterwards of Canute, and a son Richard the Good, 996-1026. After him come his sons, first Richard III., 1026–1028; then Robert the Devil, the father of William the Conqueror. Edmund, Edwy, and Edgar were Ethelred's sons by his first wife, Emma; his second wife bore him Edward the Confessor and a son by name Alfred.

Signa is evidently the river Seine.-L.

CHAPTER XX.-Of Einar Tambaskelfer.

After Olaf Trygveson's fall, Earl Eirik gave peace to Einar Tambaskelfer, the son of Eindride Styrkarson; and Einar went north with the earl to Norway. It is said that Einar was the strongest man and the best archer that ever was in Norway. His shooting was sharp beyond all others; for with a blunt arrow he shot through a raw, soft ox-hide, hanging over a beam. He was better than any man at running on snow-shoes, was a great man at all exercises, was of high family, and rich. The earls Eirik and Svein married their sister Bergliot to Einar. Their son was named Eindride. The earls gave Einar great fiefs in Orkadal, so that he was one of the most powerful and able men in Throndhjem country, and was also a great friend of the earls, and a great support and aid to them.

CHAPTER XXI.-Of Erling Skialgson.

When Olaf Trygveson ruled over Norway, he gave his brother-in-law Erling half of the land scat, and royal revenues between the Naze and Sogn. His other sister he married to the Earl Ragnvald Ulfson, who long ruled over West Gautland. Ragnvald's father, Ulf, was a brother of Sigrid the Haughty, the mother of Olaf the Swedish king. Earl Eirik was ill pleased that Erling Skialgson had so large a dominion, and he took to himself all the

king's estates, which King Olaf had given to Erling. But Erling levied, as before, all the land scat in Rogaland; and thus the inhabitants had often to pay him the land scat, otherwise he laid waste their land. The earl made little of the business, for no bailiff of his could live there, and the earl could only come there in guest-quarters, when he had a great many people with him. So says Sigvat:

"Olaf the king

Thought the bonde Erling.
A man who would grace

His own royal race.

One sister the king

Gave the bonde Erling;

And one to an earl,

And she saved him in peril."

Earl Eirik did not venture to fight with Erling, because he had very powerful and very many friends, and was himself rich and popular, and kept always as many retainers about him as if he held a king's court. Erling was often out in summer on plundering expeditions, and procured for himself means of living; for he continued his usual way of high and splendid living, although now he had fewer and less convenient fiefs than in the time of his brother-in law King Olaf Trygveson. Erling was one of the handsomest, largest, and strongest men; a better warrior than any other; and in all exercises he was like King Olaf himself. He was, besides, a man of understanding, zealous in everything he undertook, and a deadly man at arms. Sigvat talks thus of him :

"No earl or baron, young or old,

Match with this bonde brave can hold.
Mild was brave Erling, all men say,
When not engaged in bloody fray;
His courage he kept hid until
The fight began, then foremost still
Erling was seen in war's wild game,
And famous still is Erling's name."

It was a common saying among the people, that Erling had been the most valiant who ever held lands under a king in Norway. Erling's and Astrid's children were these-Aslak, Skialg, Sigurd, Lodin, Thorer, and Ragnhild, who was married to Thorberg Arnason. Erling had always with him ninety freeborn men or more; and both winter and summer it was the custom in his house to drink at the mid-day meal according to a measure, but at the night meal there was no measure in drinking.

*

When the earl

200 † men or

was in the neighbourhood he had more. He never went to sea with less than a fullymanned ship of twenty benches of rowers. Erling had also a ship of thirty-two benches of rowers, which was, besides, very large for that size, and which he used in viking cruises, or on an expedition; and in it there were 200 men at the very least.

CHAPTER XXII.-Of the Herse Erling Skialgson.

Erling had always at home on his farm thirty slaves, besides other serving-people. He gave his slaves a

There were silver studs in a row from the rim to the bottom of the drinking horn or cup; and as it went round each drank till the stud appeared above the liquor. This was drinking by measure.-L.

† 240.