the earl told him how it had been with him and King Olaf, and that now he would assemble men to go out against King Olaf, and fight him. Einar answers, "We should go to work cautiously, and find out what King Olaf intends doing; and not let him hear anything concerning us but that we are quiet. It may happen that if he hears nothing about our assembling people, he may sit quietly where he is in Steinker all the Yule; for there is plenty prepared for him for the Yule feast: but if he hears we are assembling men, he will set right out of the fiord with his vessels, and we shall not get hold of him." Einar's advice was taken; and the earl went to Stjoradal, into guest-quarters among the bondes. When King Olaf came to Steinker he collected all the meat prepared for the Yule feast, and made it be put on board, procured some transport vessels, took meat and drink with him, and got ready to sail as fast as possible, and went out all the way to Nidaros. Here King Olaf Trygveson had laid the foundation of a merchant town, and had built a king's house; but before that Nidaros was only a single house, as before related. When Earl Eirik came to the country,' he applied all his attention to his house. of Lade, where his father had had his main residence, and he neglected the houses which Olaf had erected at the Nid; so that some were fallen down, and those which stood were scarcely habitable. King * The present city of Throndhjem, of about 24,000 inhabitants. Nidaros is the mouth of the Nid, the river-mouth at which it is situated.-L. † Lade is a farm near Throndhjem, on the opposite side of the bay.-L. Olaf went now with his ships up the Nid, made all the houses to be put in order directly that were still standing, and built anew those that had fallen down, and employed in this work a great many people. Then he had all the meat and drink brought on shore to the houses, and prepared to hold Yule there; so Earl Svein and Einar had to fall upon some other plan. CHAPTER XLI.-Of Sigvat the Skald. There was an Iceland man called Thord Sigvaldaskald, who had been long with Earl Sigvalde, and afterwards with the earl's brother, Thorkel the Tall; but after the earl's death Thord had become a merchant. He met King Olaf on his viking cruise in the west, and entered into his service, and followed him afterwards. He was with the king when the incidents above related took place. Thord had a son called Sigvat fostered in the house of Thorkel at Apavatn, in Iceland. When he was nearly a grown man he went out of the country with some merchants; and the ship came in autumn to the Throndhjem country, and the crew lodged in the hered (district). The same winter King Olaf came to Throndhjem, as just now related by us. Now when Sigvat heard that his father Thord was with the king, he went to him, and stayed a while with him. Sigvat was a good skald at an early age. He made a lay in honour of King Olaf, and asked the king to listen to it. The king said he did not want poems composed about him, and said he did not understand the skald's craft. Then Sigvat sang : "Rider of dark-blue ocean's steeds! Allow one skald to sing thy deeds; For should the king despise all others, Yet I may all men's favour claim, Who sing still of our great king's fame." King Olaf gave Sigvat as a reward for his verse a gold ring that weighed half a mark, and Sigvat was made one of King Olaf's court-men. Then Sigvat sang: "I willingly receive this sword By land or sea, on shore, on board, Just what best suits them by this trade." Earl Svein had, according to custom, taken one half of the harbour-dues from the Iceland shiptraders about autumn [1014]; for the Earls Eirik and Hakon had always taken one half of these and all other revenues in the Throndhjem country. Now when King Olaf came there, he sent his men to demand that half of the tax from the Iceland traders; * The reward of a skald was called Bragar-laun-the pay of Brage; who, according to the Edda, was one of the Asa gods, and presided over poetry. Our English word brag seems derived from this origin, the meaning corresponding to the character of Brage.-L. + A harbour or landing due was a revenue first collected by Harald Harfager from every Norwegian who went to Iceland. It was afterwards changed into a tax paid by every Icelander who came to Norway. It was called in the Old Norse land-aurar = land-dues. See also ch. 71. and they went up to the king's house, and asked He went to the king, and Sigvat to help them. sang : "My prayer, I trust, will not be vain— All that the king himself here wins CHAPTER XLII.—Of Earl Svein. Earl Svein and Einar Tambaskelfer gathered a large armed force, with which they came by the upper road into Gaulardal, and so down to Nidaros, with nearly 2000 † men. King Olaf's men were out upon the Gaular ridge, and had a guard on horseback. They became aware that a force was coming down the Gaulardal, and they brought word of it to the king about midnight. The king got up immediately, ordered the people to be wakened, and they went on board of the ships, bearing all their clothes and arms on board, and all that they could take with them, and then rowed out of the river. Then came the earl's men to the town at the same moment, took all the Christmas provision, and set fire to the houses. King Olaf went out of the fiord down to Orkadal, and there landed the men from their ships. From Orkadal they went up to the mountains, and over * The harbour or anchorage dues were paid in skins, or other products of Iceland.-L. + 2400. the mountains eastwards into Gudbrandsdal. In the lines composed about Kleng Brusason, it is said that Earl Eirik burned the town of Nidaros : "The king's half-finished hall, Is burned down by the river's side; CHAPTER XLIII.-Of King Olaf. King Olaf went southwards through Gudbrandsdal, and thence out to Hedemark. In the depth of winter [1015] he went about in guest-quarters; but when spring returned he collected men, and went to Viken. He had with him many people from Hedemark, whom the kings had given him; and also many powerful people from among the bondes joined him, among whom Ketil Kalf from Ringunes. He had also people from Raumarike. His stepfather, Sigurd Syr, gave him the help also of a great body of men. They went down from thence to the coast, and made ready to put to sea from Viken. The fleet, which was manned with many fine fellows, went out then to Tunsberg. CHAPTER XLIV.-Of Earl Svein's Forces. After Yule [1015] Earl Svein gathers all the men of the Throndhjem country, proclaims a levy for an expedition, and fits out ships. At that time there were in the Throndhjem country a great number of The lines are composed by the skald Thord Siarekson. |