"**.. \ THE NORTHMEN IN BRITAIN " There is no man so high-hearted over earth, nor so good in gifts, nor so keen in youth, nor so brave in deeds, nor so loyal to his lord, that he may not have alirays sad yearning towards the sea-faring, for what the Lord will give him there. " His heart is not for the harp, nor receiving cf rings, nor delight in a wife, nor the joy of the world, nor about any- thing else but the rolling of the waves. And he hath ever longing who wishethfor the Sea." " The Seafarer " (Old English Poem). Fr. The Coming of the Northmen THE NORTHMEN IN BRITAIN BT Eleanor Hull author of 'the poem-book of the gael ' * cuchulain, the hound of ulster ' 'pagan Ireland' 'early christian Ireland' etc. WITH SIXTEEN FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS BY M. Meredith Williams NEW YORK THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY PUBLISHERS *1 ~/f Turnbull &* Spears, Printers, Edinburgh Foreword TWO great streams of Northern immigration met on the shores of Britain during the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries. The Norsemen from the deep fiords of Western Norway, fishing and raiding along the coasts, pushed out their adventurous boats into the Atlantic, and in the dawn of Northern history we find them already settled in the Orkney and Shetland Isles, whence they raided and settled south- ward to Caithness, Fife, and Northumbria on the east, and to the Hebrides, Galloway, and Man on the western coast. Fresh impetus was given to this outward movement by the changes of policy introduced by Harald fairhair, first king of Norway (872-933). Through him a nobler type of emigrant succeeded the casual wanderer, and great lords and kings' sons came over to consolidate the settlements begun by humbler agencies. Iceland was at the same time peopled by a similar stock. The Dane, contemporaneously with the Norseman, came by a different route. Though he seems to have been the first to invade Northumbria (if Ragnar and his sons were really Danes), his movement was chiefly round the southern shores of England, passing over by way of the Danish and Netherland coast up the English Channel, and round to the west. Both streams met in Ireland, where a sharp and lengthened contest was fought out between the two nations, and where both 6 The Northmen in Britain took deep root, building cities and absorbing much of the commerce of the country. The viking was at first simply a bold adventurer, but a mixture of trading and raiding became a settled practice with large numbers of Norsemen, who, when work at home was slack and the harvest was sown or reaped, tilled up the time by pirate inroads on their own or neighbouring lands. Hardy sailors and fearless fighters they were : and life would have seemed too tame had it meant a continuous course of peaceful farming or fishing. New possessions and new conquests were the salt of life. " Biorn went sometimes on viking but sometimes on trading voyages," we read of a man of position in Egibs Saga, and the same might be said of hundreds of his fellows. It was out of these viking raids that the Dano-Norse Kingdoms of Dublin and Northmnbria grew, the Duke- dom of Normandy, and the Earldom of Orkney and the Isles. The Danish descents seem to have been more directly for the purpose of conquest than those of the Norse, and they ended by establishing on the throne of England a brief dynasty of Danish kings in the eleventh century, remarkable only from the vigour of Canute's reign. The intimate connexion all through this period between Scandinavia, Iceland, and Britain can only be realized by reading the Northern Sagas side by side with the chronicles of Great Britain and Ireland, and it is from Norse sources chiefly that I propose to tell the story. Contents THE AGE OF THE VIKINGS CHAP. I. The First Comino of the Northmen II. The Saga of Ragnar Lodbroo, or " Hairy-dreeks III. The Call for Help .... IV. Alfred the Great .... V. Harald Fairhair, First King of Norway, and the Settlements in the Orkneys VI. The Northmen in Ireland . VII. The Expansion of England . VIII. King Athelstan the Great . IX. The Battle of Brunanburh X. Two Great Kings trick each other XI. Kino Hakon the Good XII. King Hakon forces his People to becom Christians . XIII. The Saga of Olaf Trygveson XIV. King Olaf's Dragon-ships XV. Wild Tales from the Orkneys XVI. Murtough of the Leather Cloaks XVII. The Story of Olaf the Peacock TAG It 11 15 22 29 36 45 52 56 65 78 82 85 91 100 108 117 122 8 The Northmen in Britain XVIII. The Battle of Clontarf XIX. Yule in the Orkneys, 1014 . XX. The Story of the Burning . XXI. Things draw on to an End . PACK 135 144 157 166 THE DANISH KINGDOM OF ENGLAND XXII. The Reign of Sweyn Eorkbeard XXI II. The Battle of London Bridge XX I \ . Canute the Great .... XXV. Canute lays Claim to Norway XXVI. Hardacanute ..... XXVII. Edward the CoNFESSOB XXVIII. King Harold, Godwin's Son, and the Battle of Stamford Bridge .... XXIX. King Magnus Barelegs falls in Ireland . XXX. The Last of the Vikings Chronology ..... Index ...... 170 186 191 108 211 221 226 237 244 240 251 Illustrations The Coming ok the Northmen . Ladgerda .... Alfred at Ashdune Harald Fairuair Olaf Cuaran Thorolf slays Earl Hring at Brunanbuhh The dying King Hakon carried to his Ship King Olaf's "Long Serpent". Murtough on his Journey with the King of Munster in Fetters .... "Olaf took the Old Woman in his Arms" Death of Brian Boru at Clontarf . "The Vision of the Man on the Grey Horse' 5 " Come thou out, housewife," called Flosi to Bergthora The Battle of London Bridge King Canute and Earl Ulf quarrel over Chkss King Magnus in the Marsh at Downpatrick Frontispiece FAfllN'i I'AUK 16 26 42 62 72 88 102 118 132 152 166 172 188 214 240 MAP British Isles in the time of the Northmen 176 Authorities For the Sagas of the Norwegian Kings : Snorri Sturleson's Heims- kringla, or Sagas of the Kings of Norway. Translated by S. Laing and by W. Morris and E. Magniisson For Ragnar Lodbrog : Saxo Gramniaticus and Lodbrvg's Saga For Ragnar Lodbrog's Death Song : Corpus Poeticum Boreale. Vigfusson and York Powell For the Orkneys : Orknei/inga Saga For the Battle of Brunanburh : Egil Skallagriinson's Saga. Translated by W. C. Green For the Story of Olaf the Peacock and Unn the Deep-minded : Laxdada Saga. Translated by Mrs Muriel Press For the Story of the Burning : Nial's Saga. Translated by G. W, Dasent For the Battle of Clontarf : Wars of the Gael and Gall. Edited by J. H. Todd ; Xial's Saga, and Thorstein's Saga For Murtough of the Leather Cloaks: The bard Cormacan's Poem. Edited by J. O'Donovan (Irish Arch. Soc.) English Chronicles: The English Chronicle ; William of Malmes- bury's, Henry of Huntingdon's, Florence of Worcester's Chronicles; Asser's Life of Alfred Irish Chronicles : Annals of the Four Masters ; of Ulster; Chrom- atin Sectarian ; Three Fragments of Annals, edited by J. O'Donovan I desire to thank Mrs Muriel Press and Mr W. C. Green for kind permission to make use of portions of their translations of Laxda^la and Egil's Sagas ; also Mr W. G. Collingwood for his consent to my adoption in my map of some of his boundaries from a map published in his Scandinavian Britain (S.P.C.K.) ; and to the Secretary of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge for giving his sanction to this. 10 The Northmen in Britain THE AGE OF THE VIKINGS Chapter I The First Coming of the Northmen THE first actual descent of the Northmen is chronicled in England under the year 787, and in Ireland, upon which country they commenced their descents about the same time, under the year 795 ; but it is likely, not only that they had visited and raided the coasts before this, but had actually made some settlements in both countries. The Ynglinga Saga tells us that Ivar Vidfadme or " Widefathom " had taken possession of a fifth part of England, i.e. Northumbria, before Harald Fairhair ruled in Norway, or Gorm the Old in Denmark ; that is to say, before the history of either of these two countries begins. Ivar Vidfadme is evidently Ivar the Boneless, son of Ragnar Lodbrog, who conquered Northumbria before the reign of Harald Fairhair. There are traces of them even earlier, for a year after the first coming of the Northmen to Northumbria mentioned in the English annals we find that they called a synod at a place named Fin- gall, or " Fair Foreigners," the name always applied to 11 12 The Northmen in Britain the Norse in our Irish and sometimes in our English chronicles. Now a place would not have been so named unless Norse people had for some time been settled there, and we may take it for granted that Norse settlers had made their home in Northumbria at some earlier period. We find, too, at quite an early time, that Norse and Irish had mingled and intermarried in Ireland, forming a distinct race called the Gall-Gael, or " Foreigners and Irish," who had their own fleets and armies ; and it is said that on account of their close family connexion many of the Christian Irish forsook their religion and relapsed into the paganism of the Norse who lived amongst them. We shall find, as we go on in the history, that generally the contrary was the case, and that contact with Christianity in these islands caused many Norse chiefs and princes to adopt our faith ; indeed, it was largely through Irish and English influence that Iceland and Norway became Christian. Though we may not always approve of the way in which this was brought about, the fact itself is interesting. The first settlers in Iceland were Irish hermits, who took with them Christian books, bells, and croziers, and the first Christian church built on the island was dedicated to St Columba, the Irish founder of the Scottish monastery of Iona, through whom Christianity was brought to Scotland. Yet there is no doubt that the coining of the Northmen was looked upon with dread by the English, and there is a tone of terror in the first entry in the chronicles of their arrival upon the coast. This entry is so important that we will give it in the words of one of the old historians : " Whilst the pious King Bertric [King of Wessex] was reigning over the western First Coming of the Northmen 13 parts of the English, and the innocent people spread through the plains were enjoying themselves in tran- quillity and yoking their oxen to the ploughs, suddenly there arrived on the coast a fleet of Danes, not large, but of three ships only : this was their first arrival. When this became known, the King's officer, who was already stopping in the town of Dorchester, leaped on his horse and galloped forwards with a few men to the port, thinking that they were merchants rather than enemies, and commanding them in an authoritative tone, ordered them to go to the royal city ; but he was slain on the spot by them, and all who were with him." 1 This rude beginning was only a forecast of what was to follow. We hear of occasional viking bands arriving at various places on the coast from Kent to Northumbria, and ravaging wherever they appeared. At first they seem to have wandered round the coast without thought of remaining anywhere, but about sixty years after their first appearance (in 851), we find them settling on the warmer and more fertile lands of England during the winter, though they were off again when the summer came, foraging and destroying. This became a regular habit with these visitors, and led gradually to permanent settlements, especially in Northumbria. The intruders became known as " the army," and the appearance of " the army " in any district filled the inhabitants with terror. Our first definite story of the Northmen in England is connected with the appearance of " the army " in Yorkshire a.d. 867. We learn from the English chronicles that violent internal discord was troubling Northumbria at this time. The king of the Northumbrians was Osbert, 1 Kthelwerd's Chronicle, a.d. 786 (recte 707). 14 The Northmen in Britain but the people had risen up and expelled him, we know not for what reason, 1 and had placed on the throne a man named iElla, " not of royal blood," who seems to have been the leader of the people. Just at this moment, when the country was most divided, the dreaded pagan army advanced over the mouth of the Humber from the south-east into Yorkshire. In this emergency all classes united for the common defence, and we find Osbert, the dethroned king, nobly marching side by side with his rival to meet the North- men. Hearing that a great army was approaching, the Northmen shut themselves up within the walls of York, and attempted to defend themselves behind them. The Northumbrians succeeded in making a breach in the walls and entering the town ; but, inspired by fear and necessity, the pagans made a fierce sally, cutting down their foes on all sides, inside and outside the walls alike. The city was set on fire, those who escaped making peace with the enemy. From that time onward the Northmen were seldom absent from North- umbria. York became one of their chief headquarters, and the constant succession of Norse ships along the coast gradually brought a considerable influx of Norse inhabitants to that part of England. It became, in fact, a viking kingdom, under the sons of Ragnar Lodbrog, whose story we have now to tell. This was in the time of the first Ethelred, when Alfred the Great was about twenty years of age. Ethelred was too much occupied in warring with the pagans in the South of England to be able to give any aid to the Northumbrians. 1 Saxo's Danish annals speak of Hame, the father of iElla, as King of Northunibria (see p. 18), but he is unknown to the English Chronicles. Chapter II The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrog, or " Hairy-breeks " ACCORDING to the Danish and Norse accounts, the leader of the armies of the Northmen on the occasion we have just referred to was the famous Ragnar Lodbrog, one of the earliest and most terrible of the Northern vikings. The story of Ragnar stands just on the borderland between mythology and history, and it is difficult to tell how much of it is true, but in some of its main outlines it accords with the rather scanty information we get at this time from the English annals. An old tradition relates how Ragnar got his title of Lodbrog, or " Hairy-breeks." It is said that the King of the Swedes, who was fond of hunting in the woods, brought home some snakes and gave them to his daughter to rear. Of these curious pets she took such good care that they multiplied until the whole countryside was tormented with them. Then the King, repenting his foolish act, proclaimed that whosoever should destroy the vipers should have his daughter as his reward. Many warriors, attracted by the adventure, made an attempt to rid the country of the snakes, but without much success. Ragnar also deter- mined to try to win the princess. He caused a dress to be made of woolly material and stuffed with hair to protect him, and put on thick hairy thigh-pieces that the snakes 15 1 6 The Northmen in Britain could not bite. Then he plunged his whole body, clad in this covering, into Breezing water, so that it froze on him, and became bard and impenetrable. Thus attired, he approached the door of the palace alone, his sword tied to bis side and bis spear lashed in his hand. As he went forward an enormous snake glided up in front, and others, equally large, attacked him in the rear. 'The King and bis courtiers, who were looking on, fled to a safe shelter, watching the struggle from afar like affrighted little girls. But Ragnar. trusting to the hardness of his fro/en dress, attacked the vipers boldly, and drove them back, killing many of them with his spear. Then the King came forward and looked closely at the dress which bad withstood the venom of the serpents. He saw that it was rough and hairy. and he laughed loudly at the sbaggv breeches, which gave Ragnar an uncouth appearance, lie called him in jest Lodbrog (Lod-brokr), or " llairy-breeks." and the nickname stuck to him all his life. Having laid aside his shaggy raiment and put on bis kingly attire, Ragnar received the maiden as the reward of his victory. He had several sons, of whom the youngest, lvar. was well known in after years in Britain and Ireland, and left a race of rulers there. Meanwhile the ill-disposed people of his own kingdom, which seems to have included the districts we now know as Zealand or Jutland, one of those small divisions into which the Northern countries were at that time broken up. 1 during the absence of Ragnar stirred up the inhabi- tants to depose him and set up one Harald as king. Ragnar, hearing of this, and having few men at his command, sent envoys to Norway to ask for assistance. 1 This is the account of Saxo ; the Norse accounts differ from him as to the district over which Ragnar ruled. Ladserda 16 The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrog 1 7 They gathered a small host together, of weak and strong, young and old, whomsoever they could get, and had a hard fight with the rebels. It is said that Ivar, though he was hardly seven years of age, fought splendidly, and seemed a man in courage though only a boy in years. Siward, or Sigurd Snake-eye, Ragnar's eldest son, received a terrible wound, which it is said that Woden, the father of the gods of the North, came himself to cure. The battle would have gone against Ragnar but for the courage of a noble woman named Ladgerda, who, " like an Amazon possessed of the courage of a man," came to the hero's assistance with a hundred and twenty ships and herself fought in front of the host with her loose hair flying about her shoulders. All marvelled at her matchless deeds, for she had the spirit of a warrior in a slender frame, and when the soldiers began to waver she made a sally, taking the enemy unawares on the rear, so that Harald was routed with a great slaughter of his men. This was by no means the only occasion in the history of these times that we hear of women- warriors ; both in the North and in Ireland women often went into battle, sometimes forming whole female battalions. The women of the North were brave, pure, and spirited, though often fierce and bitter. They took their part in many ways beside their husbands and sons. About this time Thora, Ragnar's wife, died suddenly of an illness, which caused infinite sorrow to her husband, who dearly loved his spouse. He thought to assuage his grief by setting himself some heavy task, which would occupy his mind and energies. After arranging for the administration of justice at home, and training for war all the young men, feeble or strong, who came to him, he determined to cross over to Britain, since [8 The Northmen in Britain he had heard of the dissensions that were going on, and the weakness of the country. This was before the time of .lllla, when, as the Danish annals tell- us, his father, Hame. " a most noble youth." was reigning in Northumbria. This king, Ragnar attacked and killed, and then, leaving his young and favourite son to rule the Danish settlers of Northumbria, he went north to Scotland, conquered parts of Pictland, or the North of Scotland, and of the Western Isles, where he made two others of his sons, Siward Snake-eye and Radbard, governors. Having thus formed for himself a kingdom in the British Isles, and left his sons to rule over it, Ragnar departed for a time, and the next few years were spent in repressing insurrections in his own kingdom of Jut- land, and in a long series of viking raids in Sweden, Saxony. Germany, and France. His own sons were con- tinually making insurrections against him. Ivar only, who seems to have been recalled and made governor of Jutland, took no part in his brothers' quarrels, but remained throughout faithful to his father, by whom he was held in the highest honour and affection. Another son. I'bba. of whom we hear in the English chronicles, alternately rebelled against his father and was received into favour by him. Then, again. Ragnar turned his thoughts to the West, and, descending on the Orkneys, ravaged there, planting some of those viking settlements of which we hear at the opening of Scottish history as being established on the coasts and islands. But two of his sons were slain, and Ragnar returned home in grief, shutting himself up in his house and bemoaning their loss, and that of a wife whom he had recently married. He was soon awakened from his sorrow bv the news that lvar. whom he had left in The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrog 1 9 Northumbria, had been expelled from the country, and had arrived in Denmark, his own people having made him My when /Mlla was set up as king. 1 Ragnar immediately roused himself from his dejeetion, gave orders for the assembling of his fleet, and sailed down on Northumbria, disembarking near York. He took Ivar with him to guide his forces, as he was now well acquainted with the country. Here, as we learn from the English chronicles, the battle of York was fought, lasting three days, and costing much blood to the English, but comparatively little to the Danes. The only real difference between the Danish and English accounts is that the Northern story says that yElla was not killed, but had to fly for a time to Ireland, and it is probable that this is true. Ragnar also extended his arms to Ireland, after a year in Northumbria, besieged Dublin, and slew its king, Maelbride (or Mclbrik, as the Norse called him), and then, filling his ships with the wealth of the city, which was very rich, he sailed to the Hellespont, winning victories everywhere, and gaining for himself the title of the first of the great viking kings. But it was fated to Ragnar that he was to die in the country he had conquered, and when he returned to Northumbria from his foreign expeditions he was taken prisoner by TElla, and cast into a pit, where serpents were let loose upon him and devoured him. No word of com- plaint came from the lips of the courageous old man while he was suffering these tortures ; instead, he recounted in fine verse the triumphs of his life and the dangers of his career. This poem we still possess. Only 1 The Northern chronicles here throw much light on the internal affairs of Northuinhria, which are only hrie/ly dealt with in the English chronicles. I$nt the general outline of events fits well into the English account. 20 The Northmen in Britain when the serpents were gnawing at his heart he was heard to exclaim i " If the Little pigs knew the punish- ment of the old boar, surely they would break into the sty and loose him from his woe«" Those words were related to .Vila, who thought from them that some of Ragnar's sons, whom he called the M little pigs,*' must still iu> alive; and ho bade the executioners stop the torture and bring Ragnar out of the pit. But when they ran to do so they found that Ragnar was dead : his f:\oo scarred by pain, but steadfast as in life. Death had taken him out of the hand of the king. In Ragnar Lodbrog's death-song he recites in succession his triumphs and gallant deeds, his wars and battles, in England, Scotland, Mona, tho Isio of Alan. Ireland, and abroad. Each stanza begins, '" We hewed with our swords!'* Here are the final verses, as the serpents, winding around him. oamo ever nearer to his heart, Kao.nak Lodbrog's Death-song ^ i' ': kOW >v. frith Ottt 50 01 *v a most dree our weird. Kow oon osoopo tho binding - of fate, 1 tie drootted 1 th.it o'er my days hy ."Klla would ho ended ' what time 1 filled tho blood hawks with his slain, what time 1 Led tm - ivem, what time we jjorirtnl the boosts of pro j along the Scottish boys u e bow od e ith out so oi - is i "out :'.i:!:;v COnSOlettOO tor my spirit; the hoard ot B*lder*s sire [M to the brove! Soon from tho se of \t oden wo shall quaff Dooth hlanoh.es not the brove dteriag 1 ».f*. the boras tho his wos qooSodj ■■ the » o>i antlers of reindt i i.e. " the ^ anderer," another name for W oden. The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrog 2 1 We hewed with our swords ! Soon would the sons of Aalaug ' come armed with their flaming brands to wake revenge; did they but know of our mischance ; even that a swarm ofvipera, big with venom, sting my aged body. I sought a noble mother for my children, one who might impart adventurous hearts to our posterity. Wo hewed with our swords ! Now is my life nigh done. Grim arc tho terrors of the adder ; Serpents nestle within my heart's recesses. Vet it is the cordial of my soul that Woden's wand. 2 shall soon stick last in JElla ! My sons will swell with vengeance at their parent's doom ; those generous youths will fling away the sweets of peace and come to avenge my loss. We hewed with our swords ! Full fifty times have I, the harbinger of war, fought hloody fights; no king, methoughtj should ever pass me l>y. It was the pastime of my boyish days to tinge my spear with blood ! The immortal Arises 3 will call me to their company ; no dread shall e'er disgrace my death. I willingly depart ! Sec, tho bright maids sent from the hall of Woden, Lord of Hosts, invito me home ! There, happy on my high raised seat among tho Anses, I'll quaff tho mellow ale. The moments of my life- are fled, but laughing will I die ! 1 i.e. his sons, the children of Aslaug, his second wife. 1 i.e. the sword of Woden. The prophecy was shortly afterwards fulfilled; for Lodbrog's sons returned to Northumbria, dethroned iftlla, and put him to a cruel death. 3 i.e. the High GodSj who dwelt in Valhalla, or the home of the immortals. Chapter III The Call for Help IT seemed, toward the elose of the ninth century, that England would gradually pass into the power of the Danes and cease to be an independent country. They had established themselves not only in Northumbria, but in East Anglia and parts of Mercia. We have to think of England at this period not as one united kingdom, but as a number of separate princi- palities, ruled by different kings. The most powerful of these principalities was Mercia, which occupied the whole central district of England, from Lincolnshire in the north to Oxford and Buckingham in the south, and west to the borders of Wales. It was governed by a king named Burhred, who found great difficulty in holding his own against incursions from the Welsh on the one hand and from the Danes of Northumbria on the other. 1 In the south the kingdom of Wessex was coming into prominence. During the reigns of Alfred and his brother, Edward the Elder, Wessex not only held back the Danes from their tide of progress, but gave its kings to the larger part of England. The kingdom of Wessex extended from Sussex in the east to Devon in the west, and included our present counties of Hants, 1 The great province of Northumbria extended from the H umber to the Firth of Forth. 22 The Call for Help 23 Dorset, Somerset, Berks, and Wilts. It was from this small district that the saviour of England was to come, who, by his courage, perseverance, and wisdom, broke the power of the Danes and kept them back from the conquest of the whole country, which at one time seemed so probable. This saviour of England was Alfred the Great. We know the history of Alfred intimately, for it was written for us during the King's lifetime by his teacher and friend, Asser, who tells us that he came to Alfred " out of the furthest coasts of western Britain." He was Bishop of St David's, in South Wales. The account of his coming at Alfred's request to give him instruction and to act as his reader must be told in his own interesting words. He tells us that at the command of the King, who had sent in many directions, even as far as Gaul, for men of sound knowledge to give him and his sons and people instruction, he had come from his western home through many intervening provinces, and arrived at last in Sussex, the country of the Saxons. Here for the first time he saw Alfred, in the royal " vill " in which he dwelt, and was received with kindness by the King, who eagerly entered into conversa- tion with him, and begged him to devote himself to his service and become his friend. Indeed, so anxious was he to secure Asser's services, that he urged him then and there to resign his duties in Wales and promise never to leave him again. He offered him in return more than all he had left behind if he would stay with him. Asser nobly replied that he could not suddenly give up those who were dependent on his ministrations and permanently leave the country in which he had been bred and where his duties lay ; upon which the 24 The Northmen in Britain King replied : " If you cannot accede to this, at least let me have part of your service ; stay with me here for six months and spend the other six months in the West with your own people." To this Asser, seeing the King so desirous of his services, replied that he would return to his own country and try to make the arrangement which Alfred desired ; and from this time there grew up a lifelong friendship between these two interesting men, one learned, simple, and conscientious, the other eager for learning, and bent upon applying all his wisdom for the benefit of the people over whom he ruled. From the life of Alfred, written by his master, we might imagine that the chief part of the monarch's time was devoted to learning and study. " Night and day," Asser tells us, " whenever he had leisure, he commanded men of learning to read to him ; " so that he became familiar with books which he was himself unable to read. He loved poetry, and caused it to be introduced into the teaching of the young. He with great labour (for his own education had been sadly neglected) translated Latin works on history and religion, so that his people might read them. He kept what he called a " Manual " or " Handbook," because he had it at hand day and night, in which he wrote any passage they came upon in their reading which especially struck his mind. Asser tells us in a charming way how he began this custom. He says that they were sitting together in the King's chamber, talking, as usual, oi. all kinds of subjects, when it happened that the master read to him a quotation out of a certain book. " He listened to it attentively, with both his ears, and thought- fully drew out of his bosom a book wherein were written the daily psalms and prayers which he had read in his The Call for Help 25 youth, and he asked me to write the quotation in that book. But I could not find any empty space in that book wherein to write the quotation, for it was already full of various matters. Upon his urging me to make haste and write it at once, I said to him : ' Would you wish me to write the quotation on a separate sheet ? For it is possible that we may find one or more other extracts which will please you ; and if this should happen, we shall be glad that we have kept them apart.' " ' Your plan is good,' he said ; and I gladly made haste to get ready a fresh sheet, in the beginning of which I wrote what he bade me. And on the same day, as I had anticipated, I wrote therein no less than three other quotations which pleased him, so that the sheet soon became full. He continued to collect these words of the great writers, until his book became almost as large as a psalter, and he found, as he told me, no small consolation therein." But, studious as was naturally the mind of Alfred, only a small portion of his life, and that chiefly when he became aged, could be given to learning. His career lay in paths of turmoil and war, and his earlier days were spent in camps and among the practical affairs of a small but important kingdom. Already as a child of eight or ten he had heard of battles and rumours of war all around him. He heard of " the heathen men," as the Danes were called, making advances in the Isle of Wight, at Canterbury and London, and creeping up the Thames into new quarters in Kent and Surrey. There his father, King Ethelwulf, and his elder brothers had met and defeated them with great slaughter at Aclea, or Ockley, " the Oak-plain," and they returned home to Wessex with the news of a complete victory. It was probably to keep his favourite child out of the 26 The Northmen in Britain way of warfare and danger that Ethehvulf sent him twice to Rome : the second time he himself accompanied him thither, and they returned to find that one of Alfred's elder brothers, Ethelbald, had made a con- spiracy against his own father, had seized the kingdom, and would have prevent oil Ethehvulf from returning had he been able. But the warm love of his people, who gathered round him, delighted at his return, pre- vented this project from being carried into effect, and the old man. desiring only peace in his family, divided the kingdom between his two eldest sons; but on the death of Ethelbald. soon after, Ethelbcrt joined the two divisions together, including Kent, Surrey, and Sussex in the same kingdom with Wessex. When Alfred was eighteen years of age this brother also died, and for five years more a third brother, Ethelred, sat on the throne of Wessex. It was at this time, when Alfred was growing up to manhood, that the troubles in Northumbria of which we have already given an account took place. The reign of .Ella, and his horrible death at the hands of Lodbrog's sons, was followed by the advance of the pagan army into Mereia, and it was here that Alfred came for the first time face to face with the enemy against whom much of his life was to be spent in conflict. Burhred. King of the Mercians, sent to Ethelred and Alfred to beg their assistance against the pagan army. They im- mediately responded by marching to Nottingham with a large host, all eager to tight the Danes : but the pagans, shut up safely within the walls of the castle, declined to tight, and in the end a peace was patched up between the Danes and the Mercians, and the two Wessex princes returned home without a battle. It was not long, however, before the army was needed Alfred at Ashdune 26 The Call for Help 27 again ; for, three years later, in the year 871, when Alfred was twenty -three years of age, " the army of the Danes of hateful memory," as Asser calls it, entered Wessex itself, coming up from East Anglia, where they had wintered. After attacking the then royal city of Reading, on the Thames, they entrenched themselves on the right of the town. Ethelred was not able to come up with them at so short notice, but the Earl of Berkshire, gathering a large army, attacked them in the rear at Englefield Green, and defeated them, many of them taking to flight. Four days afterwards the two princes of Wessex, Ethelred and Alfred, came up, and soon cut to pieces the Danes that were defending the city outside ; but those Danes who had shut them- selves in the city sallied out of the gates, and after a long and hot encounter the army of Wessex fled, the brave Earl of Berkshire being among the slain. Roused by this disaster, the armies of Wessex, in shame and indignation, collected their whole strength, and within four days they were ready again to give battle to the Danes at Ashdune (Aston), " the Hill of the Ash," in the same county. They found the Danes drawn up in two divisions, occupying high ground ; while the army of Wessex was forced to attack from below. Both parties began to throw up defences, and the Danes were pressing forward to the attack ; but Alfred, who was waiting for the signal to begin the battle, found that his elder brother, Ethelred, was nowhere to be seen. He sent to inquire where he was, and learned that he was hearing mass in his tent, nor would he allow the service to be interrupted or leave his prayers till all was finished. It had been arranged that Alfred with his troops should attack the smaller bodies of the Danes, while Ethelred, who was to lead the centre, took the general command ; 2 8 The Northmen in Britain but the enemy were pushing forward with such eagerness that Alfred, having waited as long as he dared for his brother, was forced at length to give the signal for a general advance. He bravely led the whole army forward in a close phalanx, without waiting for the King's arrival, and a furious battle took place, concen- trating chiefly around a stunted thorn-tree, standing alone, which, Asser tells us, he had seen with his own eyes on the spot where the battle was fought. A great defeat was inflicted on the Danes ; one of their kings and five of their earls were killed, and the plain of Ashdune was covered with the dead bodies of the slain. The whole of that night the pagans fled, closely followed by the victorious men of Wessex, until weariness and the darkness of the night brought the conflict to an end. Chapter IV Alfred the Great (born 849; reigned 871-901) IT was in the midst of incessant warfare that Alfred ascended the throne of Wessex. Ethelred, his brother, died a few months after the battle of Ashdune, and in the same year, that in which Alfred came to the throne, no less than nine general battles were fought between Wessex and the Danes. Both armies were exhausted, and a peace was patched up between them, the Danish army withdrawing to the east and north, and leaving Wessex for a short time in peace. But they drove King Burhred out of Mercia, and overseas to Rome, where he soon afterwards died. He was buried in the church belonging to an English school which had been founded in the city by the Saxon pilgrims and students who had taken refuge in Rome from the troubles in England. It would seem that Alfred's chief troubles during the years following were caused by the fierce sons of Ragnar Lodbrog, brothers of Ivar the Boneless of Northumbria. These three brothers, Halfdene, Ivar, and Ubba, overran the whole country, appearing with great rapidity at different points, so that, as one historian says, they were no sooner pushed from one district than they reappeared in another. Alfred tried by every means to disperse the Danish army. He made them 29 30 The Northmen in Britain swear over holy relics to depart, but their promise was hardly given before it was broken again ; he raised a fleet after their own pattern and attacked them at sea ; and he laid siege to Exeter, where they had entrenched themselves, cutting off their provisions and means of retreat. It was like fighting a swarm of flies ; however many were killed, more came overseas to take their place. " For nine successive years," writes William of Malmesbury, " he was battling with his enemies, some- times deceived by false treaties, and sometimes wreaking his vengeance on the deceivers, till he was at last reduced to such extreme distress that scarcely three counties, that is to say, Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Somerset, stood fast by their allegiance." He was compelled to retreat to the Isle of Athelney, where, supporting himself by fishing and forage, he, with a few faithful followers, led an unquiet life amid the marshes, awaiting the time when a better fortune should enable them to recover the lost kingdom. One hard-won treasure they had with them in their island fortress. This was the famous Raven Banner, the war-flag which the three sisters of Ivar and Ubba, Lodbrog's daughters, had woven in one day for their brothers. It was believed by them that in every battle which they undertook the banner would spread like a flying raven if they were to gain the victory ; but if they were fated to be defeated it would hang down motionless. This flag was taken from the brothers in Devon at the battle in which Ubba was slain, and much booty with it. No doubt it was cherished as an omen of future victory by the followers of the unfortunate Alfred in their retreat. But Alfred was not idle. Slowly but surely he gathered around him a devoted band, and his public reappearance Alfred the Great 3 1 in Wiltshire some months afterwards, in the spring or summer of 878, was the signal for the joyous return to him of a great body of his subjects. With a large army he struck camp, meeting the foe at Eddington or Ethandun, and there defeated the pagans in so decisive a battle that after fourteen days of misery, " driven by famine, cold, fear, and last of all by despair, they prayed for peace, promising to give the King as many hostages as he desired, but asking for none in return." " Never before," writes Asser, " had they concluded such an ignominious treaty with any enemy," and the king, taking pity on them, received such hostages as they chose to give, and what was more important, a promise from them that they would leave the kingdom immediately. Such promises had been given by the Danes before, and had not been kept. But the Danish chief or prince with whom Alfred was now dealing was of a dif- ferent type from the sons of Ragnar. He was a man of high position and character ; not a viking in the usual sense, for he had been born in England, where his father had settled and been baptized, and Alfred knew that in Gorm, or Guthrum, he had a foe whom he could both respect for his courage and depend on for his fidelity. This Gorm is called in the Northern chronicles, " Gorm the Englishman," on account of his birth and long sojourn in this country. Though a prince of Denmark, he had spent a great part of his life in England, and he had held the Danes together, and been their leader in many of their victories against Alfred. It was during his absence from England, when he had been forced to go back to Denmark to bring things into order in his own kingdom, that the English had gathered courage, under Alfred's leadership, to revolt against him. His- absence was short, but he was unable 32 The Northmen in Britain on his return to recover his former power, and the result was the great defeat of the Danes of which we have just spoken. It had been one of Alfred's stipulations thai Gorm, or Guthrum (as he was called in England), should become a Christian : this he consented to do, the more inclined, perhaps, because his father had been baptized before him; accordingly, three weeks after the battle. King Gorm, with about thirty of his most distinguished followers, repaired to Alfred at a place near Athelney. where he was baptized, Alfred himself acting as his godfather. After his baptism, he remained for twelve days with the King at the royal seat of Wedmore : and Alfred gave him and his followers many gifts, and they parted as old friends. His bap- tismal name was Atheist an. For a time he seems to have remained in East Anglia, and settled that country : but soon afterwards he returned to his own kingdom, where the attachment of his people seems to have been all the greater on account of his ill-lnck in England. Though he irretrievably lost, his hold on this country, he remained firmly seated on the throne of Denmark. He was the ancestor of Canute the Great, joint King of Denmark and of England, who regained all, and more than all. that his great-grandfather had lost in this country, tor Canute ruled, not over a portion of England, but over an undivided kingdom. Gorm died in 890. The latter part of Alfred's reign was devoted to the affairs of his country. lie gave his people good laws ; dividing the kingdom into divisions called " hundreds " and "tythings," which exercised a sort of internal jurisdiction over their own affairs. He rebuilt London, and over the whole of his kingdom he caused houses to be built, good and dignified beyond any that had hitherto been known in the land. He encouraged Alfred the Great 33 industries of all kinds, and had the artificers taught new and better methods of work in metals and gold. He encouraged religion and learning, inviting good and learned men from abroad or wherever he could hear of them, and richly rewarding their efforts. He devoted much time to prayer ; but his wise and sane mind prevented him from becoming a bigot, as his activity in practical affairs prevented him from becoming a mere pedant. One of his most lasting works was the establishment of England's first navy, to guard her shores against the attacks of foreigners. All these great reforms were carried out amid much personal suffering, for from his youth he had been afflicted with an internal complaint, beyond the surgical knowledge of his day to cure, and he was in constant pain of a kind so excruciating that Asser tells us the dread of its return tortured his mind even when his body was in compara- tive rest. There is in English history no character which combines so many great qualities as that of Alfred. Within and without he found his kingdom in peril and misery, crushed down, ignorant and without religion ; he left it a flourishing and peaceful country, united and at rest. When his son, Edward the Elder, succeeded him on the throne, not only Wessex but the whole North of England, with the Scots, took him " for father and lord " ; that is, they accepted him, for the first time in history, as king of a united England. This great change was the outcome of the many years of patient building up of his country which Alfred had brought about through wise rule. He was open-handed and liberal to all, dividing his revenue into two parts, one half of which he kept for his own necessities and the uses of the kingdom and for building noble edifices ; the other for the poor, the encouragement of learning, c 34 The Northmen in Britain and the support and foundation of monasteries. He took a keen interest in a school for the young nobles which he founded and endowed, determining that others should not, in their desire for learning, meet with the same difficulties that he had himself experienced. In his childhood it had not been thought necessary that even princes and men of rank should be taught to read ; and the story is familiar to all that he was enticed to a longing for knowledge by the promise of his stepmother Judith, daughter of the King of the Franks, who had been educated abroad, that she would give a book of Saxon poetry which she had shown to him and his brother to whichever of them could first learn to read it and repeat the poetry by heart. Alfred seems to have learned Latin from Asser, for he translated several famous books into Saxon, so that his people might attain a knowledge of their contents without the labour through which he himself had gone. When we consider that he was also, as William of Malmesbury tells us, " present in every action against the enemy even up to the end of his life, ever daunting the invaders, and inspiring his subjects with the signal display of his courage," we may well admire the indomitable energy of this man. In his old age he caused candles to be made with twenty-four divisions, to keep him aware of the lapse of time and help him to allot it to special duties. One of his atten- dants was always at hand to warn him how his candle was burning, and to remind him of the special duty he was accustomed to perform at any particular hour of the day or night. The latter years of Alfred were comparatively free from incursions by the Danes or Norsemen ; this was the period during which the attention of the Norse was attracted in other directions. The conquests of Alfred the Great 35 Rollo or Rolf the Ganger or " the Walker " in the North of France were attracting a large body of the more turbulent spirits to those shores which in after-times they were to call Normandy, or the land of the North- men. After Gorm the Englishman's submission to Alfred many of the Danes from England seem to have joined these fresh bands of marauders, advancing up the Seine to Paris, and devastating the country as far as the Meuse, the Scheldt, and the Marne on the east and Brittany on the west. In time to come, under Rollo's descendant, William the Conqueror, these people were once more to pour down upon English shores and reconquer the land that their fore- fathers had lost through Alfred's bravery and states- manship. Rollo overran Normandy for the first time in the year 876, 1 and William the Conqueror landed at Pevensey in 1066, nearly two hundred years later. William's genealogy was as follows : — He was son of Robert the Magnificent, second son of Richard the Good, son of Richard the Fearless, son of William Longsword, son of Rollo or Rolf the Walker — six generations. The direct connexion between the Anglo- Norman houses was through Emma, daughter of Richard the Fearless, who married first Ethelred the Unready, King of England, and afterwards his enemy and successor, Canute the Great. It was on account of this connexion that William the Conqueror laid claim to the Crown of England. 1 The English Chronicle, (luting his rule in Normandy from this, his first expedition thither, gives him a reign of fifty years ; he actually reigned from 1)11-927 a.i>- (see p. 110). Chapter A" Harald Fairhair, First King of Norway, and the Settlements in the Orkneys THERE were yet other directions toward which the Norse viking-hosts had already turned their eyes. Not far out from the Sts ol Norway lay the Orkney and Shetland Islands, and beyond them again the Faroe Isles rose bleak and t reeless from t he wat CTS of t he nort hern sea. The shallow boats of the "Norsemen, though they dreaded the open waters of the Atlantic, were yet able, in favourable weather, to push their way from one set of islands to another, and from the earliest times of which we know- any thing about them they had already made some settlements on these roek\ shores. To the Norse- man, accustomed to a hardy life and brought up to wring a scanty livelihood afanos cliff itself, even the Orkney and Shetland Isles had attractions. Those who have seen the tiny stead of the Norwegian farmer to-day. perched up on what appears from bdon to be a perfectly i] cessibte eliff, with only a few feet of soil on which to raise his scanty crop, solitary all the year ro save for the occasional visit of a coasting s... will the less wonder that the islands on the S« sh< proved attractive to his viking a. in ssdng that stormy sea, the adventurous erev Harald Fairhair ^j watery grave, or encountered such tempests that the viking boat was almost knocked to pieces ; but on the whole these hardy seamen passed and repassed over the North Sea with a frequency that surprises us, especially when we remember that their single-sailed boats were open, covered in only at the stem or stern, 1 and rowed with oars. We hear of these settlers on our coasts before Norwegian history can be said to have begun ; and from early times, also, they carried on a trade with Ireland : we hear of a merchant in the Icelandic " Book of the Settlements " named Hrafn, who was known as the " Limerick trader," because he carried on a flourishing business with that town, which later grew into importance under the sons of Ivar, who settled there and built the chief part of the city. But during the latter years of Alfred's reign and^for many years after his death a great impetus was given to the settlements in the North of Scotland by the coming to the throne of Norway of the first king who reigned over the whole country. Harald Fairhair. He estab- lished a new form of rule which was very unpopular among his great lords and landowners, and the conse- quence of this was that a large number of his most powerful earls or %i jarls " left the country with their families and possessions and betook themselves to Iceland, the Orkneys and Hebrides, and to Ireland. They did not go as marauders, as those who went before them had done, but they went to settle, and establish new homes for themselves where they would be free from what they considered to be Harald Fairhair's oppressive laws. Before his time each of these jarls had been his own master, ruling his own district as an 1 In hot weather a tent was erected over the boat. 38 The Northmen in Britain independent lord, but paying a loose allegiance to the prince who chanced at the time to prove the most powerful. From time to time some more ambitious prince arose, who tried to subdue to his authority the men of consequence in his own part of the country, but hitherto it had not come into the mind of any one of them to try to make himself king over the whole land. The idea of great kingdoms was not then a common one. In England up to this time no king had reigned over the whole country ; there had been separate rulers for East Anglia, Wessex, Northumbria, etc., sometimes as many as seven kings reigning at the same time in different parts of the country, in what was called the " Heptarchy." It was only when the need of a powerful and capable ruler was felt, and there chanced to be a man fitted to meet this need, as in Alfred's time and that of his son, Edward the Elder, that the kingdoms drew together under one sovereign. But even then it was not supposed that things would remain perma- nently like this ; under a weaker prince they might at any moment split up again into separate dynasties. In Ireland this system remained in force far longer, for centuries indeed, the country being broken up into independent and usually warring chiefdoms. Abroad, none of the Northern nations had united themselves into great kingdoms up to the time of Harald Fairhair, but about this date a desire began to show itself to consolidate the separate lordships under single dynasties, partly because it chanced that men of more than usual power and ambition happened to be found in them, and partly for protection from neighbouring States ; in the case of Harald himself, his pride also led him to desire to take a place in the world as important Harald Fairhair 39 as that of the neighbouring kings. In Sweden King Eirik and in Denmark King Gorm the Old were estab- lishing themselves on the thrones of united kingdoms. The effort of Harald to accomplish the same task in Norway was so important in its effects, not only on the future history of his own country, but on that of portions of our own, that it is worth while to tell it more in detail. Harald was son of Halfdan the Black, with whose reign authentic Norwegian history begins. Halfdan ruled over a good part of the country, which he had gained by conquest, and he was married to Ragnhild, a wise and intelligent woman, and a great dreamer of dreams. It is said that in one of her dreams she fore- told the future greatness of her son Harald Fairhair. She thought she was in her herb-garden, her shift fastened with a thorn ; she drew out the thorn with her hand and held it steadily while it began to grow downward, until it finally rooted itself firmly in the earth. The other end of it shot upward and became a great tree, blood-red about the root, but at the top branching white as snow. It spread until all Norway was covered by its branches. The dream came true when Harald, who was born soon afterwards, subdued all Norway to himself. Harald grew up strong and remarkably handsome, very expert in all feats, and of good understanding. It did not enter his head to extend his dominions until some time after his father's death, for he was only ten years old at that time, and his youth was troubled by dissensions among his nobles, who each wanted to possess himself of the conquests made by Halfdan the Black ; but Harald subdued them to himself as far south as the river Raum. Then he set his affections 40 The Northmen in Britain on a girl of good position named Gyda, and sent messengers to ask her to be his wife. But she was a proud and ambitious girl, and declared that she would not marry any man, even though he were styled a king, who had no greater kingdom than a few districts. " It is wonderful to me that while in Sweden King Eirik has made himself master of the whole country and in Denmark Gorm the Old did the same, no prince in Norway has made the entire kingdom subject to himself. And tell Harald," she added, " that when he has made himself sole King of Norway, then he may come and claim my hand ; for only then will I go to him as his lawful wife." The messengers, when they heard this haughty answer, were for inflicting some punishment upon her, or carrying her off by force ; but they thought better of it and returned to Harald first, to learn what he would say. But the King looked at the matter in another light. " The girl," he said, " has not spoken so much amiss as that she should be punished for it, but on the contrary I think she has said well, for she has put into my mind what it is wonderful that I never before thought of. And now I solemnly vow, and I take God, who rules over all things, to witness, that never will I clip or comb my hair until I have subdued Norway, with scat, 1 dues, and dominions to myself ; or if I succeed not, I will die in the attempt." The messengers, hearing this, thanked the King, saying that " it was royal work to fulfil royal words." After this, Harald set about raising an army and 1 Scat was a land-tax paid to the king in money, malt, meal, or flesh- meat, and was adjudged to each king on his succession hy the ft Thing," or assemhiy of lawgivers. Harald Fairhair 41 ravaging the country, so that the people were forced to sue for peace or to submit to him ; and he marched from place to place, fighting with all who resisted him, and adding one conquest after another to his crown ; but many of the chiefs of Norway preferred death to subjection, and it is stated of one king named Herlaug that when he heard that Harald was coming he ordered a great quantity of meat and drink to be brought and placed in a burial-mound that he had erected for himself, and he went alive into the mound and ordered it to be covered up and closed. A mound answering to this description has been opened not far north of Trondhjem, near where King Herlaug lived, and in it were found two skeletons, one in a sitting posture, while in a second chamber were bones of animals. It is believed that this was Herlaug's mound where he and a slave were entombed ; it had been built for himself and his brother King Hrollaug, to be their tombs when they were dead, but it became the sepulchre of the living. As for Hrollaug, he determined to submit to Harald, and he erected a throne on the summit of a height on which he was wont to sit as king, and ordered soft beds to be placed below on the benches on which the earls were accustomed to sit when there was a royal council. Then he threw himself down from the king's seat into the seat of the earls, in token that he would resign his sovereignty to Harald and accept an earldom under him ; and he entered the service of Harald and gave his kingdom up to him, and Harald bound a shield to his neck and placed a sword in his belt and accepted his service ; for it was his plan, when any chief submitted to him, to leave him his dominions, but to reduce him to the position of a jarl, holding his rights from himself and owning fealty to him. 42 The Northmen in Britain In many ways the lords were richer and better off than before, not only because they had less cause to fight among themselves, being all Harald's men, but because they were made collectors of the land dues and fines for the King, and out of all dues collected the earl received a third part for himself ; and these dues had been so much increased by Harald that the earls had greater revenues than before ; only each earl was bound to raise and support sixty men-at-arms for the King's service, while the chief men under them had also to bring into the field their quota of armed men. Thus Harald endeavoured to establish a feudal system in Norway similar to that introduced into England by William the Conqueror, and in time the whole country was subdued outwardly to his service, and Harald won his bride. But although he cut off or subdued his opponents and there was outward peace, a fierce dis- content smouldered in the minds of many of the nobles who hitherto had been independent lords, and they would not brook the authority of Harald, but fled over- sea, or joined the viking cruisers, so that the seas swarmed with their vessels and every land was infested with their raids. It was at this time that Iceland and the Faroe Islands were colonized by people driven out of Norway, and others went to Shetland and the Orkneys and Hebrides and joined their countrymen there ; others settled in Ireland, and others, again, lived a roving life, marauding on the coasts of their own country in the summer, and in other lands in the winter season ; so that Norway itself was not free from their raids. King Harald fitted out a fleet and searched all the islands and wild rocks along the coast to clear them of the vikings. This he did during three summers, and wherever he came the vikings took to flight, steering Humid Fairhair 42 Harald Fairhair 43 out into the open sea ; but no sooner was the King gone home again than they gathered as thickly as before, devastating up into the heart of Norway to the north ; until Harald grew tired of this sort of work, and one summer he sailed out into the western ocean, following them to Shetland and the Orkneys, and slaying every viking who could not save himself by flight. Then he pushed his way southward along the Hebrides, which were called the Sudreys x then, and slew many vikings who had been great lords in their time at home in Norway ; and he pursued them down to the Isle of Man ; but the news of his coming had gone before him and he found all the inhabitants fled and the island left entirely bare of people and property. So he turned north again, himself plundering far and wide in Scotland, and leav- ing little behind him but the hungry wolves gathering on the desolate sea-shore. He returned to the Orkneys, and offered the earldom of those islands to Ragnvald, one of his companions, the Lord of More, who had lost a son in the war ; but Ragnvald pre- ferred to return with Harald to Norway, so he handed the earldom of Orkney and the Isles over to his brother Sigurd. King Harald agreed to this and confirmed Sigurd in the earldom before he departed for Norway. When King Harald had returned home again, and was feasting one day in the house of Ragnvald, Earl of More, he went to a bath and had his hair combed and dressed in fulfilment of his vow. For ten years his hair had been uncut, so that the people called him Lufa or " Shockhead " ; but when he came in with his 1 The bishop of the islands is still styled Bishop of Sodor (i.e. the Sudreys) and Man. Up to the fifteenth century these bishops had to go to Trondhjem in Norway for consecration. 46 The Northmen in Britain Soon after this there arrived in Ireland another chief, named Olaf the White, who chose Dublin, then a small town on the river Liffey, as his capital, building there a fortress, and establishing a " Thing-mote," or place of meeting and lawgiving, such as he was accus- tomed to at home. From this date the importance of Armagh waned, and Dublin became not only the Norse capital of Ireland and an important city, but also the centre from which many Norse and Danish kings ruled over Dublin and Northumbria at once. We shall see when we come to the time of Athelstan, and the story of Olaf Cuaran, or Olaf o' the Sandal, who claimed kingship over both Ireland and Northumbria, how close was the connexion between the two. The Danes, who succeeded the Norwegians, first came to Ireland in the year 847, probably crossing over from England. They had heard much of the successes of the Northmen or Norwegians in Ireland, and they came over to dispute their conquests with them and try to take from them the fruit of their victories. They did not at first think of warring with the Irish them- selves, but only with their old foes, the Norsemen, whom they were ready to fight wherever they could find them ; but as time went on we find them fighting sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other, mixing them- selves up in the private quarrels of the Irish chiefs and kings, often for their own advantage. On the other hand, the Irish chiefs were often ready enough to take advantage of their presence in the country to get their help in fighting with their neighbours. The Kings of Dublin in the later time were Danish princes, who passed on to other parts of Ireland, building forts in places which had good harbours and could easily be fortified, such as Limerick and Waterford, The Northmen in Ireland 47 which were for long Danish towns, ruled by Danish chiefs, most of them of the family of Ivar of Northumbria. Though their hold on their settlements was at all times precarious, and they met with many reverses, and several decisive defeats from the Irish, the Danes gradually succeeded in building up their Irish and Northumbrian kingdom. The official title of these rulers was " King of the Northmen of all Ireland and Northumbria." The story we have now to tell is connected with a prince who probably was not a Dane, but a Norseman, or a " Fair-foreigner," as the Irish called them, to distinguish them from the Danes, or " Dark-foreigners." This was Olaf the White, who came to Ireland in 853. In the course of a warring life he succeeded in making himself King of the Norse in Dublin. He seems to have been of royal descent, and he was married to Aud, or Unn, daughter of Ketill Flatnose, a mighty and high- born lord in Norway. Aud is her usual name, but in the Laxdaela Saga, where we get most of her history, she is named Unn the Deep-minded or Unn the Very- wealthy. All this great family left their native shores after King Harald Fairhair came to the throne, and they settled in different places, Ketill himself in the Orkney Isles, where some of his sons accompanied him ; but his son Biorn the Eastman and Helgi, another son, said they would go to Iceland and settle there. Sail- ing up the west coast, they entered a firth which they called Broadfirth. They went on shore with a few men, and found a narrow strip of land between the fore- shore and the hills, where Biorn thought he would find a place of habitation. He had brought with him the pillars of his temple from his home in Norway, as many of the Icelandic settlers did, and he flung them over- 48 The Northmen in Britain board, as was the custom with voyagers, to see where they would come ashore. "When they were washed up in a little creek he said that this must be the place where he should build his house ; and he took for himself all the land between Staff River and Lava Firth, and dwelt there. Ever after it was called after him Biorn Haven. But Ketill and most of his family went to Scotland, except Unn the Deep-minded, his daughter, who was with her husband, Olaf the White, in Dublin, though after Olaf's death she joined her father's family in the Hebrides and Orkneys, her son, Thorstein the Red, harrying far and wide through Scotland. He was always victorious, and he and Earl Sigurd subdued Caithness, Sutherland, and Ross between them, so that they ruled over all the north of Scotland. 1 Troubles arose out of this, for the Scots' earl did not care to give up his lands to foreigners, and in the end Thorstein the Red was murdered treacherously in Caithness. When his mother, Unn the Deep -minded, heard this, she thought there would be no more safety for her in Scotland ; so she had a ship built secretly in a wood, and she put great wealth into it, and provisions ; and she set off with all her kinsfolk that were left alive ; for her father had died before that. Many men of worth went with her ; and men deem that scarce any other, let alone a woman, got so much wealth and such a following out of a state of constant war as she had done ; from this it will be seen how remarkable a woman she was. She steered her ship for the Faroe Islands, and stayed there for a time, and in every place at which she stopped she married off one of her granddaughters, 1 See chap, xv., " Wild Tales from the Orkneys," p. 108. The Northmen in Ireland 49 children of her son, Thorstein the Red, so that his descendants are found still in Scotland and the Faroes. But in the end she made it known to her shipmates that she intended to go on to Iceland. So they set sail again, and came to the south of Iceland, to Pumice- course, and there their good ship went on the rocks, and was broken to splinters, but all the sea-farers and goods were saved. All that winter she spent with Biorn, her brother, at Broadfirth, and was entertained in the best manner, as no money was spared, and there was no lack of means ; for he knew his sister's large-mindedness. But in the spring she set sail round the island to find lands of her own ; she threw her high-seat temple pillars into the sea, and they came to shore at the head of a creek, so Unn thought it was well seen that this was the place where she should stay. So she built her house there, and it Was afterwards called Hvamm, and there she lived till her old age. When Unn began to grow stiff and weary in her age she wished that the last and youngest of Thorstein the Red's children, Olaf Feilan, would marry and settle down. She loved him above all men, for he was tall and strong and goodly to look at, and she wished to settle on him all her property at Hvamm before she died. She called him to her, and said : " It is greatly on my mind, grandson, that you should settle down and marry." Olaf spoke gently to the old woman, and said he would lean on her advice and think the matter over. Unn said : " It is on my mind that your wedding- feast should be held at the close of this summer, for that is the easiest time to get in all the provision that is needed. It seems to me a near guess that our friends 50 The Northmen in Britain will come in great numbers, and I have made up my mind that this is the last wedding-feast that shall be set out by me." Olaf said that he would choose a wife who would neither rob her of her wealth nor endeavour to rule over her ; and that autumn Olaf chose as his wife Alfdis, and brought her to his home. Unn exerted herself greatly about this wedding-feast, inviting to it all their friends and kinsfolk, and men of high degree from distant parts. Though a crowd of guests were present at the feast, yet not nearly so many could come as Unn asked, for the Iceland firths were wide apart and the journeys difficult. Old age had fallen fast on Unn since the summer, so that she did not get up till midday, and went early to bed. She would allow no one to come to disturb her by asking advice after she had gone to sleep at night ; but what made her most angry was being asked how she was in health. On the day before the wedding, Unn slept somewhat late ; yet she was on foot when the guests came, and went to meet them, and greeted her friends with great courtesy, and thanked them for their affection in coming so far to see her. After that she went into the hall, and the great company with her, and when all were seated in the hall every one was much struck by the lordliness of the feast. In the midst of the banquet Unn stood up and said aloud : " Biorn and Helgi, my brothers, and all my other kinsmen and friends, I call as witnesses to this, that this dwelling, with all that belongs to it, I give into the hands of my grandson, Olaf, to own and to manage." Immediately after that Unn said she was tired and would return to the room where she was accustomed The Northmen in Ireland 51 to sleep, but bade everyone amuse himself as was most to his mind, and ordered ale to be drawn out for the common people. Unn was both tall and portly, and as she walked with a quick step out of the hall, in spite of her age, all present remarked how stately the old lady was yet. They feasted that evening joyously, till it was time to go to bed. But in the morning Olaf went to see his grandmother in her sleeping-chamber, and there he found Unn sitting up against her pillow, dead. When he went into the hall to tell these tidings, those present spoke of the dignity of Unn, even to the day of her death. They drank together the wedding- feast of Olaf and funeral honours to Unn, and on the last day of the feast they carried Unn to the burial-mound that they had raised for her. They laid her in a viking- ship within the cairn, as they were wont to bury great chiefs ; and they laid beside her much treasure, and closed the cairn, and went their ways. One of the kinsmen was Hoskuld, father of Olaf the Peacock, whose story will be told later on. Chapter VII The Expansion of England WHILE Harald Fairhair was occupied in settling the Hebrides and Orkneys with inhabitants from Norway, and Rollo and his successors were possessing themselves of the larger part of the North of France, England and Ireland were enjoying a period^ of comparative repose. The twenty-three years of Edward the Elder's reign were devoted largely to building up the great kingdom which his father, Alfred, had founded, but not consolidated ; he brought Mercia more immediately into his power, and sub- dued East Anglia and the counties bordering on the kingdom of Wessex ; before his death Northumbria, both English and Danish, had invited him to reign over them, and he was acknowledged lord also of Strathclyde Britain, then an independent princedom, and of the greater part of Scotland. In all his designs Edward was supported by the powerful help of his sister, Ethelfled, " the Lady of the Mercians," as her people called her, a woman great of soul, beloved by her subjects, dreaded by her enemies, who not only assisted her brother with advice and arms, but helped him in carrying out his useful projects of building and strengthening the cities in his dominions, a matter which had also occupied the attention of their father. This woman had inherited the high spirit of Alfred ; she was the The Expansion of England 53 widow of Ethelred, Prince of Mercia, and she ruled her country with vigour after her husband's death, building strong fortresses at Stafford, Tamworth, Warwick, and other places ; she bravely defended herself at Derby, of which she got possession after a severe fight in which four of her thanes were slain. The following year she became possessed of the fortress of Leicester, and the greater part of the army submitted to her ; the Danes of York also pledged themselves to obey her. This was her last great success, for in 922 the Lady of Mercia died at Tamworth, after eight years of successful rule of her people. She was buried amid the grief of Mercia at Gloucester, at the monastery of St Peter's, which she and her husband had erected, on the spot where the cathedral now stands. The most severe attack of the Danes in Edward the Elder's reign was made by two Norse or Danish earls who came over from the new settlements in Normandy and endeavoured to sail up the Severn, devastating in their old manner on every hand. They were met by the men of Hereford and Gloucester, who drove them into an enclosed place, Edward lining the whole length of the Severn on the south of the river up to the Avon, so that they could not anywhere find a place to land. Twice they were beaten in fight, and only those got away who could swim out to their ships. They then took refuge on a sandy island in the river, and many of them died there of hunger, the rest taking ship and going on to Wales or Ireland. One of the great lords of the Northern army, well known in the history of his own country, Thorkill the Tall, of whom we shall hear again, submitted to Edward, with the other Norse leaders of Central England, in or about Bedford and Northampton. Two years afterwards we read that Thorkill the Tall, 54 The Northmen in Britain " with the aid and peace of King Edward," went over to France, together with such men as he could induce to follow him. Great changes had been brought about in England during the reigns of Edward and his father. Every- where large towns were springing up, overshadowed by the strong fortresses built for their protection, many of which remain to the present day. Commerce and education everywhere increased, and there was no longer any chance of young nobles and princes growing up without a knowledge of books. Edward's large family all received a liberal education, in order that " they might govern the state, not like rustics, but like philosophers " ; and his daughters also, as old William of Malmesbury tells us, " in childhood gave their whole attention to literature," afterwards giving their time to spinning and sewing, that they might pass their young days usefully and happily. This was a change of great importance. The ruler who succeeded Edward, his son, the great and noble- minded Athelstan, was a man of superior culture, and the daughters of Edward and Athelstan sought their husbands among the reigning princes of Europe. England was no longer a mere group of petty states, always at war with each other, or endeavouring to preserve their existence against foreign pirates ; it was a kingdom recognized in the world, and its friendship was anxiously sought by foreign princes. Another thing which we should remark is that it was at this time that the Norse first came into close contact with England. Hitherto her enemies had been Danes, and the kingdom of Northumbria seems to have been a Danish kingdom. But Thorkill the Tall, King Hakon, the foster-son of Athelstan, King Olaf Trygveson, who The Expansion of England 5 5 all came into England at this period, were Norsemen ; and henceforth, until the return of the Danish kings under Sweyn and Canute the Great and their successors, it is principally with the history of the Kings of Norway that we shall have to deal, in so far as these kings were connected with the history of England. Hitherto the connexion between Great Britain and Norway had been confined to the settlements of the Norse in the Western Isles and in Northern Scotland ; but the partial retirement of the Danes from the South of England, and the importance to which the country had recently grown, brought her into closer relationship with the North of Europe generally, and with Norway in particular. This we shall see as our history proceeds. Chapter VIII King Athelstan the Great (925-940) ENGLAND was fortunate in having three great kings in succession at this critical period, all alike bent upon strengthening and advancing the prosperity of the kingdom. Athelstan, who came to the throne on the death of his father Edward, had been a favourite grandson of Alfred, and people said that he resembled his grand- father in many ways. When he was only a little fellow, x\lfred, delighted with his beauty and graceful manners, had affectionately embraced him, and prayed for the happiness of his future reign, should he ever come to the crown of England. He had presented him at an early age with a scarlet cloak, a belt studded with brilliants, and a Saxon sword with a golden scabbard, thus, as was customary among many nations at this time, calling him even in boyhood to prepare himself for war and admitting him into the company of the King's own pages. Alfred then placed him with his daughter Ethellled, the " Lady of Mercia," to be brought up in a fitting way for the future care of the kingdom. The young prince could not have had a better instruc- tress. Ethelfled's liberal spirit, high courage, and good understanding were passed on to her pupil. William King Athelstan the Great 57 of Malmesbury, who had a great admiration for this prince and gives us an excellent account of his reign, tells us that there was a strong persuasion among the English that one more just and learned never governed the kingdom ; all his acts go to show that this praise was well deserved. He was of a good height and slight in person, with fair hair that seemed to shine with golden threads. Beloved by his subjects, he was feared and respected by his enemies. He obliged the warlike tribes of Wales and Cumberland to pay him tribute, " a thing that no king before him had even dared to think of," and he forced them to keep within limits west of the Wye, as he forced the Cornish Britons to retire to the western side of the Tamar, fortifying Exeter as a post of strength against them. Not long after his consecration at Kingston-on-Thames, in 925, amid the happy plaudits of the nation, Athelstan received from abroad many marks of the esteem in which he was held by foreign princes. Among others, Harald Fairhair sent him as a gift a ship with a golden prow and a purple sail, furnished with a close fence of gilded shields. This splendid present was received by Athelstan in state at York, and the envoys who presented the gift were richly rewarded by him, and sent home with every mark of respect and friendliness. There are two events in Athelstan's reign that are of great importance to us in connexion with Norse history in these islands, the first being his wars in Northumbria, the second his accepting Hakon, Harald Fairhair's son, as his foster-child, and bringing him up in England under his own charge and tuition. We will deal with these two events in separate chapters. It was part of Athelstan's fixed policy, when coming to the throne, to bring into subjection to himself those 58 The Northmen in Britain outlying portions of England which up to that time had stood aloof as determined enemies to the central power and as absolutely independent kingdoms. Nothing would induce the Welsh or Cornishmen to yield, and we have seen that Athelstan was reduced to penning them up, as far as he could, into their own districts, beyond rivers which he endeavoured to make the borders of their respective countries. But in the north he had yet a harder task in his endeavour to reduce the Danish kingdom of Northumbria to submission. At this time the kingdom of Northumbria was ruled by two of the fiercest and most renowned of all the Danish chiefs who at different times made England their home. The names of these chiefs were Sitric Gale, or " The One-eyed," and his son and successor, Olaf Cuaran, or " Olaf o' the Sandal," both men of wild and romantic careers. Some think that the old romance of " Havelok the Dane " really describes the history of Olaf Cuaran, but this I myself do not think to be likely, although Havelok also is called Cuaran in the story. But the name in his legend seems to mean a " kitchen-boy," because he was at one time so poor and needy that he was forced to act as messenger to an earl's cook, whereas Olaf's title is an Irish word, meaning " a sandal." We do not know exactly why he was so named. It would seem that at the beginning of his reign, Athelstan endeavoured by a friendly alliance to bring Northumbria back to English rule. It was a favourite and wise plan of his to make alliances by marriage with foreign princes, and it shows in what esteem he was held that men of power and position were ready to unite themselves with his family. One of his sisters he married to the Emperor Otto, the restorer of the King Athelstan the Great 59 Roman Empire, and another he offered in marriage to Sitric Gale, after a friendly meeting arranged by the two kings at Tamworth on the 3rd of February in the year in which Athelstan came to the throne (925). With Sitric Athelstan made a close and, as he hoped, a lasting covenant ; but alas ! Sitric died hardly more than a year afterwards, and on his death Athelstan, evidently in consequence of the arrangement made between them, claimed the throne of Northumbria, where he seems to have been peacefully received by the inhabitants. He spent this year in the north in active endeavours to quell the last disaffected portions in the realm. There is no doubt that at this time Athelstan designed to unite the whole of Britain under his own sway. He at first drove Howel, King of Wales, and then Constantine, King of the Scots, from their kingdoms ; but not long after, if we are to believe his admirer William of Malmesbury, moved with commisera- tion, he restored them to their original state, saying that " it was more glorious to make than to be a king." However, he obliged both these princes to accept their crowns as underlords to himself, thus establishing a suzerainty over them. But his plans did not suit the turbulent Danish princes. Godfrey, brother to Sitric, was at the time of Sitric's death reigning as King of Dublin, but on hearing of Athelstan's succession to the sovereignty of Northumbria he came over hastily and claimed the kingdom. He was, however, a man hated both in Northumbria and in Ireland, and Athelstan was strong enough to drive him out and send him back to Dublin with his Danes in the year 927. But a more formidable foe than Godfrey was in the field. This was Olaf o' the Sandal (called Anlaf in the 60 The Northmen in Britain English Chronicle), son of Sitric Gale, who seems to have been in Northumbria at the time, but who was expelled with his uncle Godfrey, and went back with the Danes to Dublin. Godfrey died soon after, as the Irish annals tell us, " of a grievous disease," and for ten years Olaf nursed his wrath against Athelstan and awaited his opportunity to revenge himself upon him. He went to Athelstan's enemy, the Scottish King, Constantine, and entered into a treaty with him, marrying his daughter ; and Constantine never ceased to urge him on to war with the King of England, pro- mising to support him in every way. Olaf remained long in Scotland, and was so much mixed up with Scottish affairs, that some Scandinavian historians call him " King of the Scots." It was in the year 937 that their preparations were at length completed, and one of the most formidable combinations ever formed against England came to a head. The battle of Brunanburh, or Brumby, fought in this year, is chronicled in the Irish and Norse annals, and the Saga of Egil Skalligrimson gives us a detailed account both of the battle itself and of the Norsemen who took part in it. The English Chronicle breaks out into a wild, spirited poem when describing this battle, and we are told by one English annalist that many years afterwards people spoke of the greatness of this fight. The battle was probably fought not far from the Humber, though the exact spot is not now known. From the north marched down the Scottish King and his son, of whom the latter fell in the fight, Olaf o' the Sandal taking charge of a fleet of 115 ships, with which he sailed into the Humber. From Dublin the whole force of the Danish host in Ireland set sail to join and Kinor Athelstan the Great 61 support their fellow-countrymen from Scotland, Strath- clyde, and Northumbria. This formidable host met the forces of Athelstan and his brother, Edmund, and was completely overthrown. Five kings lay dead on the field, and five of Olaf's earls. King Olaf 1 himself escaped to his ships and back to Ireland, with the shattered remnant of his magnificent army, there to become a source of trouble and terror in days yet to come. The poem in the English Chronicle thus describes his flight : — " There was made flee by need constrained the Northmen's chief 2 with his little band to the ship's prow. The bark drove afloat, the king- departed on the fallow flood, his life preserved. The Northmen departed in their nailed barks ; on roaring ocean o'er the deep water Dublin to seek, back to Ireland, shamed in mind." William of Malmesbury tells us a romantic story of Olaf Cuaran on the night before the battle. It may very well be true ; it accords with all we know of his adventurous character. The chronicler relates that on hearing of the arrival of the Danes and Scots in the North Athelstan purposely feigned a retreat. Olaf, who was still quite young and absolutely fearless, 1 Probably Olaf, son of Godfrey, King of Dublin. 2 i.e. Olaf Cuaran. 62 The Northmen in Britain wishing to discover the exact strength of Athelstan's forces and how they were disposed, assumed the char- acter of a spy. Laying aside the emblems of royalty, he dressed as a minstrel, and taking a harp in his hand, he proceeded to the King's tent. Singing before the entrance, and touching the strings of his harp in har- monious cadence, he was readily admitted, and he entertained the King and his companions for some time with his musical performance. All the time he was present he was carefully observing all that was said and done around him. When the feast was over, and the King's chiefs gathered round for a conference about the war, he was ordered to depart. The King sent him a piece of money as the reward of his song ; but one of those present, who was watching him closely (for he had once served under Olaf, though now he was gone over to the side of Athelstan), observed that the minstrel flung the coin on the ground and crushed it into the earth with his foot, disdaining to take it with him. When Olaf was well away this person communicated what he had seen to the King, telling him that he sus- pected that the minstrel was none other than the leader of his foes. " Why, then, if you thought this," said Athelstan angrily, " did you not warn us in time to capture the Dane ? " " Once," said the man, " O King, I served in the army of Olaf, and I took to him the same oath of fidelity that I afterwards swore to yourself. Had I broken my oath to him and betrayed him to you, you might rightly have thought that I would another time act in the same way toward yourself. But now I pray you, O King, to remove your tent to another place, and to endeavour to delay the battle till your other troops come up." Olaf Cuaran 62 King Athclstan the Great 63 The King approved of this, and removed his tent to another part of the field. Well it was that he did so, for that night, while Athelstan was still awaiting the remainder of his army, Olaf and his host fell upon him in the darkness of the night, the chief himself making straight for Athelstan's tent, and slaying in mistake for him a certain bishop who had joined the army on the night before and, ignorant of what had passed, had pitched his tent on the spot from which the King's tent had been removed. Olaf, coming thus suddenly in the darkness of the night, found the whole army unprepared and deeply sleeping. Athelstan, who was resting after the labours of the day, hearing the tumult, sprang up and rushed into the darkness to arouse and prepare his people, but in his haste his sword fell by chance from its sheath, nor could he find it again in the gloom and confusion ; but it is said that, when placing his hand on the scabbard, he found in it another sword, which he thought must have come there by miracle, and which he kept ever after in remembrance of that night. It is probable that in the hurry of dressing he had laid his hand on a weapon belonging to one of the chiefs who fought on his side. Thus in the darkness of night and in wild confusion began the battle which, in spite of all, was to end victoriously for Athelstan and disastrously for his enemies. The Northern story of the fight, which we are now about to tell, occurs in the Saga of Egil, son of one Skalligrim, an old man who had betaken him- self to Iceland with most of his family, from the rule of Harald Fairhair, and who stoutly opposed him on every occasion. Skalligrim had two strong, warlike sons, Thorolf and Egil. They found the life in Iceland wearisome, for they 64 The Northmen in Britain preferred the turmoil of war ; so they left old Skalligrim, their father, to his seal-fishing and whale-hunting and his shipbuilding and smith-work, for he was a man with many trades, and able and crafty, and careful in saving his money, and went off to fight in Norway and in England. Before the battle of Brunanburh they had offered their services to Athelstan, for the Norse were ever ready to war against the Danes, and they were in the fight of Brunanburh on his side, each of them commanding a troop of Norwegian soldiers, and did much, as the Saga will show, to help in winning the battle for the English. Here is the story from Egil Skalligrimson's Saga. Chapter IX The Battle of Brunanburh THE account of the battle of Brunanburh in Egil's Saga begins by describing the strong combination made against Athelstan by the princes of the north of England with the Scots and Welsh and the Irish Danes, of whom we have already spoken. They thought to take advantage of Athelstan's youth and inexperience, for he was at this time only thirty years old. Olaf o' the Sandal is here called Olaf the Red, which may have been the title by which he was known in Norway. He marched into Northumbria, " advancing the shield of war." Athelstan, having laid claim to Northumbria, set over it two earls, Alfgeir and Gudrek, to defend it against the Irish and Scots, and they mustered all their forces and marched against Olaf. But they were powerless against his great army, and Earl Gudrek fell, while Alfgeir fled with the most part of his followers behind him. When Alfgeir reported his defeat to Athelstan he became alarmed, and sum- moned his army together ; he sent messengers in every direction to gather fresh forces, and among those who heard that he wanted men and came to his assistance were the brothers Thorolf and Egil, who were coasting about the shores of Flanders. Athelstan received them gladly, for he saw that they were trained fighting-men and brought a good following ; but he wished them to v 65 66 The Northmen in Britain be '* prime-signed," in order that the Norse of his own army might fight on good terms with them. It was a custom in those days, when pagan men traded with Christian countries, or when they took arms for them, that they should allow themselves to be signed with the cross, which was called " prime- signing," for then they could hold intercourse with Christ ians and pagans alike, though they did not thereby give up their pagan faith, and usually returned to their own worship when they went home to Norway or Iceland. Egil and Thorolf consented to this, for England was at that time a Christian country. They entered the King's army, and three hundred men-at-arms with them. But the victory of Olaf had so strengthened his cause that Athelstan heard tidings from every quarter that his earls and subjects were falling away from him and joining Olaf. Even the two princes of the Welsh or Britons who had sworn allegiance to Athelstan, and who had the right to inarch to battle before the royal standard, passed over with their troops to the army of his foe. When the King received this bad news he summoned a conference of his captains and counsel- lors, and put before them point by point what he had been told. They advised that Athelstan should go back to the south of England, levy all the troops that he could get together and march with them to the north ; for they felt that only the personal influence of the King could save his kingdom against such a combination as that which Olaf had gathered together. While he was gone south the King appointed Thorolf and Egil chiefs over his mercenary troops, and gave them the general direction of his army. They were commanded to send a message to Olaf, giving him tidings that Athelstan would offer battle to him on Yin-heath in The Battle of Brunanburh 67 the north, and that he intended to " enhazel " the battle-field there ; he appointed a week from that time for the conflict, and whoever should win the battle would rule England as his reward. When a battlefield was " enhazelled " it was con- sidered a shameful act to harry in the country until the battle was over. Olaf accepted the challenge, and brought his army to a town north of Vin-heath and quartered the troops there, awaiting the date of the battle, while collecting provisions for his men in the open country round. But he sent forward a detachment of his army to encamp beside Vin-heath, and there they found the ground already marked out and " enhazelled " for the battle. It was a large level plain, whereon a great host could manoeuvre without difficulty. A river flowed at one side, and on the outskirts on the other hand was an extensive wood, and between the wood and the river the tents of Athelstan were pitched. All round the space hazel-poles were set up, to mark the ground where the battle was to be ; this was called " enhazelling the field." Only a few of the King's men had arrived, but their leaders wished them to pass for a great host, to deceive King Olaf. They planted the tents in front very high, so that it could not be seen over them whether they stood many or few in depth ; in the tents behind one out of every three was full of soldiers, so that the men had a difficulty in entering, and had to stand round the doors ; but in every third tent there were only one or two men, and in the remaining third none at all. Yet when Olaf's soldiers came near them they managed things so that Athelstan's men seemed to be swarming before the tents, and they gave out that the tents were over-full, so that they had not nearly room enough. Olaf's troops, who were pitched 68 The Northmen in Britain outside the hazel-poles, imagined that a great host must be there, and they feared the return of the King himself with the succours he was collecting in the South. Meanwhile, through every part of his dominions At hoist an sent out the war-arrow, summoning to battle. From place to place his messengers sped, passing the arrow from hand to hand, for it was the law that the war-arrow might never stop once it was gone out, nor be dropped by the way. From day to day men Hocked to the standard from all quarters, and at last it was given out that At heist an was coming or had come to the town that lay south of the heath. But when the appointed time had expired and Olaf was busking him for battle and setting his army in array, purposing to attack, envoys came to him from the leaders of Athelstan's host, saying: "King Athelstan is ready for battle, and hath a mighty host. But he sends to King Olaf these words, for he desires not to cause such carnage as seems likely ; he is willing to come to terms with King Olaf, and offers him his friendship, with a gilt as his ally of one shilling of silver from every plough through all his realm, if Olaf will return quietly to Scotland." Now this was all a ruse, for in fact Athelstan had not yet arrived, and his captains were only seeking more time, so that the battle might not be begun by Olaf until the King and his fresh troops were come. Olaf and his captains were divided as to accepting these terms ; some were against postponing the right, and others said that if Athelstan had offered so much at first he woidd offer yet more if they held out for higher terms ; others, again, thought the gift so great that they would do well to be satisfied with it and return home at once. When they heard that there was division among Olaf's counsellors, the messengers The Battle of Brunanburh 69 were well pleased, and they sent word that if Olaf would give more time they would return to King Athelstan and try if he would raise his terms for peace. They asked for three days' further truce, and Olaf granted this. At the end of the third day the envoys returned, saying that the King was so well pleased to have quiet in the realm that he would give, over and above the terms already offered, a shilling to every frceborn man in Olaf's forces, a gold mark to every captain of the guard, and five gold marks to every earl. Again the offer was laid before the forces, and again opinions were divided, some saying the offer should be taken and some that it should be refused. Finally King Olaf said he would accept these terms, if Athelstan would add to them that Olaf should have undisputed authority over the kingdom of Northumbria, with the dues and tributes thereof, and be permitted to settle down there in peace. Then he would disband his army. Again the envoys demanded a three days' truce that they might bear the message to the King, and get his reply ; when this was granted, the messengers returned to the camp. Now during this delay Athelstan had arrived close to the enhazelled ground with all his host, and had taken up his quarters south of the field, in the nearest town. His captains laid the whole matter of their treaties with Olaf before the King, and said that they had made those treaties in order to delay the battle until he returned. Athelstan's answer was sharp and short. " Return to King Olaf," said he, " and tell him that the leave we give him is to return at once to Scotland with all his forces ; but before he goes he must restore to us all the property he has wrongfully taken in this land. jo The Northmen in Britain Further, be it understood that Olaf becomes our vassal, and holds Scotland henceforth under us, as under-king. If this is carried out, then we will make terms of peace, that neither shall harry in the other's country. Go back and give him our terms." The same evening the envoys appeared again before King Olaf, arriving at midnight in his camp. The King had to be waked from his sleep in order to hear the message from King Athelstan. Straightway he sent for his captains and counsellors, to place the matter before them. They discovered, too, that Athelstan had come north that very day, and that the former messages had not been sent by himself but by his captains. Then out spake Earl Adils, who had gone over from Athelstan's side to the side of the Scottish King : " Now, methinks, O King, that my words have come true, and that ye have been tricked by these English. While we have been seated here awaiting the answer of the envoys they have been busy assembling a host. My counsel is that we two brothers ride forward this very night with our troop, and dash upon them unawares before they draw up their line of battle, so we may put a part of them to flight before their King be come up with them, and so dishearten the others ; and you with the rest of the army can move forward in the morning." The King thought this good advice, and the council broke up. In the earliest grey of the dawn the leaders of Athelstan's host were warned that the sentries saw men approaching. The war-blast was blown immedi- ately, and word was sent out that the soldiers were to arm with all speed and fall into rank. Earl Alfgeir commanded one division, and the standard was borne The Battle of Brunanburh 7 1 before him, surrounded by a " shield-burgh " of soldiers with linked shields to protect it. The second division, which was not so large, was commanded by Thorolf and Egil. Thus was Thorolf armed. He had a red war-shield on his arm, for the shields in time of peace were white, but in time of war they were red. His shield was ample and stout, and he had a massive helmet on his head. He was girded with the sword he called " Long," a weapon large and good. In his hand he had a halberd, with a feather-shaped blade two ells in length, ending in a four-edged spike ; the blade was broad above, the socket both long and thick. The shaft stood just high enough for the hand to grasp the socket, and was remarkably thick. The socket fitted with an iron prong on the shaft, which was also wound round with iron. Such weapons were called mail-piercers. Egil was armed in the same way as Thorolf. He was girded with the right good sword which he called the " Adder." Neither of the captains wore coats of mail. All the Norwegians who were present were gathered round their standard, and were armed with mail at every point ; they drew up their force near the wood, while Alfgeir's moved along the river on their right. When the captains of Olaf's party saw that their advance was observed, they halted and dreAv up their force in two divisions, one under Earl Adils, which was opposed to Earl Alfgeir, the other under Earl Hring, which stood opposite to Thorolf and Egil. The battle began at once, and both parties charged with spirit. The men of Earl Adils pressed on with such force that Alfgeir gave ground, and then the men pressed twice as boldly. In the end Alfgeir's division was broken and he himself fled south, past the town 72 The Northmen in Britain in which Athelstan lay. " I deem," he said to his followers, v * the greeting wo should get from the King Mould ho a cool one. We got sharp -words enough after our defeat by Olaf in Northumbria, and he will not think the better of us now, when we are in flight again before him. Let us keep clear of the town." So he rode night and day till he came to the coast. and there he found a ship which took him over to Prance, and he never returned to England. The captains who had fought with him thought him no loss, for he was something of a coward, and his own opinion o^ himself was ever better than that other men had of him. and they had not approved when the King had forgiven him his first flight and set him again as captain in his army. Now when Adils turned back from pursuing Alfgeir and his men. he came to where Thorolf was making his stand against Karl Hring's detachment, and joined his forces to theirs. When Thorolf saw that the enemy had received reinforcements he said to Egil : " Let us move over to the wood, so that we may have it at our backs, that we be not attacked on all sides at once." They did so. drawing up under cover of the trees. A furious onset was made upon them there, and furiously they repelled it : so that though the odds of numbers were great, more of Adils' men fell than of Egil's. Then his " berserking fury " 1 came upon Thorolf. and he became so furious that he bit the iron rim of his shield for rage : then he thing his shield on his back. and. grasping his halberd in both hands, he bounded forward, cutting and thrusting on every 1 A sort of fury of war which attacked the Northmen when engaged in battle, ami made thorn half-mail with ferocity. Tkorolf slays Earl 11 ring at Brunanburh 72 The Battle of Brunanburh 73 side. He shouted like a wild animal, and men sprang away from him, so terrified were they ; but he cleaved his path to Earl Hring's standard, slaying many on his way, for nothing could stop him. He slew the man who bore the earl's standard and hewed down the standard-pole. Then he lunged at the breast of the earl with his halberd, driving it right through his body, so that it came out at his shoulders ; and he raised the halberd with the earl empaled upon its end over his head, and planted the butt-end in the ground. There, in sight of friends and foes, the earl breathed out his life, expiring in agony. Then, drawing his sword, Thorolf charged at the head of his men, scattering the Scots and Welsh in all directions. Thorolf and Egil pursued the flying foe till nightfall ; and Earl Adils, seeing his brother fall, took shelter in the wood with his company ; he lowered his standard that none might recognize his men from others. The night was falling when Athelstan on the one side and Olaf on the other came up with the fighting contingent ; but as it was too dark to give battle, both armies encamped for the night ; and it was told to Olaf that both his earls Hring and Adils were fallen, for no one knew what had become of Adils and his men. At break of day King Athelstan called a conference, and he thanked Thorolf and Egil for their brave fight on the day before, and placed Egil as leader of his own division in the van with the foremost men in the host around him. " Thorolf," he said, " shall be opposed to the Scots, who ever fight in loose order ; they dash forward here and there with bravery, and prove dangerous if men are not wary, but they are unsteady in the fight if boldly faced." Egil liked not to be separated from his brother, and said that he thought 74 The Northmen in Britain ill-luck would come of it, and that in time to come he often would rue the separation, but Thorolf said : lg Leave it with the King to place us as he likes best ; we will serve him wherever he desires us to be." After this they formed up in the divisions as the Kino- ruled, Egil's division occupying the plain toward the river, and Thorolf 's the higher ground beside the wood. Olaf also ranged his troops in two divisions, his own standard being opposite the van of Athelstan's army, and his second division, the Scots, commanded by their own chiefs, opposite to Thorolf. Each had a large army ; there was no great difference on the score of numbers. Soon the forces closed and the battle waxed fierce. Thorolf thought to turn the Scottish flank by pressing between them and the wood and attacking them from behind. He pushed on with such energy that few of his followers were able to keep up with him ; and just when he was least on his guard, and all his mind was fixed upon the army on his right, Earl Adils, who all the night had lain concealed among the trees, leaped out upon him with his troop, and thrust at him so suddenly that he fell, pierced by the points of many halberds. The standard-bearer, seeing the earl fall, retreated with the banner among those that came on behind. From his position at the other side of the fighting- field Egil heard the shout given by the Scots when Thorolf fell, and saw the banner in retreat. Leaving the fierce combat in which he was engaged with Olafs troops, he hewed his way across the plain until he came amidst the flying Norsemen. Rallying them with his shouts, he turned them back and fell with them upon the enemy. Not long was it ere Earl Adils met The Battle of Brunanburh 75 his death at Egil's hand, and then his followers wavered ; one after another they turned to fly before the fearful onslaught, each following his fellow ; and Egil, pur- suing them, swept round behind and attacked the troops of Olaf's first division from the back. Thus, caught between two dangers, the force recoiled, and havoc overtook them. King Olaf was wounded, and the greater part of his troops were destroyed. Thus King Athelstan gained a great victory. When Egil returned from pursuing the flying foe he found the dead body of his brother Thorolf. He caused a grave to be dug, and laid Thorolf therein with all his weapons and raiment. Before he parted from him, Egil clasped on either wrist a golden bracelet, and then they piled earth and stones upon his grave. Then Egil sought the King's tent, where he and his followers were feasting after the battle, with much noise and merriment. When the King saw Egil enter the hall he caused the high seat opposite to himself to be cleared for him ; Egil sat him down there, and cast his shield on the ground at his feet. He had his helm on his head and laid his sword across his knees ; now and again he half drew it, then clashed it back into the sheath. He sat bolt upright, but as taking no notice of anything, and with his head bent forward. The King observed him, but said nothing. He thought the tall, rough warrior before him was angry. Egil was well made, but big-shouldered beyond other men, and with wolf-grey hair. Like his father he was partly bald, swarthy and black-eyed. His face was broad and his features large and hard, and just now he looked grim to deal with. He had a curious trick, when he was angry, of drawing one eyebrow down j6 The Northmen in Britain toward his cheek, and the other upwards toward the roots of his hair, twitching them up and down, which gave him a ferocious appearance. The horn was borne to him, but he would not drink. King Athelstan sat facing him, his sword too laid across his knees. At last he drew his sword from the sheath, and took from his arm a ring of gold, noble and good. He placed the ring on the sword's point, stood up and reached it over the fire to Egil. At that Egil rose up and walked across the floor, striking his own sword within the ring and drawing it to him. Then both went back to their places, and Egil drew the massive ring on his arm, and his face cleared somewhat, and his eyebrows returned to their natural place. He laid down his sword and helmet and drank off at one draught the horn of wine they brought him. Then he sang a stave to the King : — " Mailed Monarch, lord of battles, The shining circlet passeth, His own ri^lit arm forsaking, To hawk-hung wrist of mine ; The red gold gleameth gladly Upon my arm brand-wielding, About war-falcon's feeder ' Its twisted folds entwine." After they had supped, the King sent for two chests of silver that he had by him in the tent, and handed them to Egil, saying, " These, O Egil, I give thee to take to thy father in Iceland, in satisfaction for his son Thorolf, slain in my service ; and to thee, in satis- faction for thy brother. If thou wilt abide with me I will give thee such honour and dignities as thou 1 i.e. the dead bodies of the warriors whom his arm had slain fed the falcons, or c.irriou-birds. The Battle of Brunanburh 77 mayest thyself name." Then Egil grew more cheerful, and he thanked the King, and said he would stay with him that winter, but that in the spring he must hie him home to Iceland, to tell the tidings to his father. He must go also to Norway, to see to the family of Thorolf and how they fared. So he stayed that winter with the King, and gat much honour from him, and in the spring he took a large warship, and on board of it a hundred men, and put out to sea. He and King Athelstan parted with great friendship, and the King begged Egil to return as soon as might be. And this Egil promised that he would do. Chapter X Two Great Kings trick each other IT was, as we saw, part of Athelstan's policy of consolidation to ally his family with foreign princes. After marrying one sister to Sitric Gale, King of the Danes of Northumbria, and another sister to Otto, who became Emperor of the West in 962, his next thought was how he could mingle his country to his country's advantage with the affairs of Norway, which under Harald Fairhair was grow- ing into a powerful kingdom. An opportunity soon occurred, and Athelstan was not slow to make use of it. King Harald Fairhair, who was then an old man of seventy years of age, had a son born in 919. The mother was a woman of good family named Thora, and at the time when the child was born she was on her way to meet King Harald in a ship belonging to the great Earl Sigurd, one of Harald's wisest coun- sellors ; but before they could reach the place where the King was staying the boy was born at a cove where the ship had put into harbour for the night, up among the rocks, not far from the ship's gangway. It was the custom in the old Norse religion of Odin or Woden to pour water over a child after birth and give it a name, something after the manner of Christian baptism ; when the child was of high birth some 78 Two Kings trick each other 79 person of distinction was chosen to do this, for it was a matter of importance and a solemn ceremony. We hear of Harald himself, and of Olaf Trygveson, Magnus, and other kings, being thus baptized, and now Earl Sigurd " poured water " over the new-born babe, and called him Hakon, after the name of his own father. 1 The boy grew sturdy and strong, handsome, and very like his father, King Harald, and the King- kept him close to himself, the mother and child being both in the King's house as long as he was an infant. Shortly after Hakon was born Athelstan had sent messengers to King Harald to present him with a sword, gold-handled, in a sheath of gold and silver, set thickly with precious jewels. Harald was much pleased with this, thinking that it was a mark of respect to himself, but Athelstan had another intention. When the ambassadors presented the sword to the King, they handed him the sword-hilt ; but on the King taking it into his hands, they exclaimed : " Now thou hast taken the sword by the hilt, according to our King's desire, and as thou hast accepted his sword, thou art become his subject and owe him sword- service." Harald was very angry at Athelstan's attempt to entrap him in this way, for he would be subject to no man. But he remembered that it was his rule, whenever he was very angry about anything, to keep himself quiet and let his passion abate, and 1 Unnecessary doubt has been thrown upon this practice of pagan baptism, but the instances are too numerous to be set aside. Baptism is a widespread custom among different races. In pagan Ireland also there are instances recorded of a sort of child-naming, com- bined with christening, by pouring water over the child. Baptism was not invented by Christianity ; it was adopted from the Jewish faith into the new religion. So The Northmen in Britain when he became cool to consider the matter calmly. He did this now, and consulted his friends, who ad- vised him to let the ambassadors go safely away in the fust place and afterwards consider what he would do to avenge the insult put upon him. So Ilarald con- sented to this, and the messengers went back to England in safety. Hut Ilarald did not forget what had happened. The next summer he (it led out a ship for England, ami gave the command of it to Hank llaabrok, a greal warrior and very dear to the Kino-. Into his hands he gave his son Hakon. Now it was considered in those days that a man who fostered another man's son was lower in authority and consideration than the father of the child, and it was llarald's intention to make Athelstan take his son Hakon as foster-son, and thus pay him back in his own coin. The ship proceeded to England, and they found the Kino- in London, where feasts and entertainments were going forward. Hank and the child and thirty followers obtained leave to come into the hall where the King was seated at the feast, llauk had told his men how they should behave. He said they should march into the hall and stand in a line at the table, at equal distance from each other, each man having his sword at his side, but Fastened beneath his cloak, so that it could not be seen. They were to go out in the same order as they had come in. This they carried out, and llauk went up to the King and saluted him in llarald's name, and Athelstan bade him welcome. Then llauk, who was leading Hakon by the hand, took the child in his arms and placed him on the King's knee. Athelstan looked at the boy, and asked the meaning of this. " It means," said llauk. Two Kings trick each other 81 " that King Harald sends thee his child to foster." The King was in great anger, and seized a sword that lay beside him, and drew it, as though he would slay the child. " Thou hast borne him on thy knee," said Hauk, " and thou mayest murder him if thou wilt ; but I warn thee there are other sons of Harald behind who will not let his death go unavenged." Then without another word Hauk marched out of the hall, his men following him in order ; they went straight down to the ship and put out to sea, for all was ready for their departure, and back they went to King Harald. Harald was highly pleased when they told him what they had done, for it made Athelstan, in the opinion of many people, subject to him ; but in truth neither was subject to the other, or less than the other, for each was supreme in his own kingdom till his dying day. When Athelstan began to talk to the boy, and found him a brave, manly child, well brought up and open in his ways, he took a liking to him, and had him baptized with Christian baptism, and brought up in the Christian faith and in good habits, and made him skilful in all sorts of exercises ; and the end of it was that he loved Hakon above all his own relatives ; and Hakon was beloved of all men. King Athelstan gave the lad a gold-hilted sword, with the best of blades. It was called " Quern- biter," because to try it Hakon cut through a quern or mill-stone to the centre. Never came better blade into Norway, and Hakon kept it to the end, and it was with that sword he was fighting on the day when he got the wound that brought him to his death. Chapter XI King Hakon the Good WHEN he was fifteen years old news came to Hakon in England that his father Harald Fairhair had died. He had resigned his crown three years before his death, for he had become feeble and heavy and unable to travel through the country or carry out the duties of a king. So he had parted the kingdom between his sons and lived in retirement on one of his great farms. He was eighty - three years of age when he died, and he was buried under a mound in Kormsund with a gravestone thirteen and a half feet high over his grave. The stone and the mound are still to be seen at Gar, in the parish of Kormsund. No sooner was Harald dead than dissensions broke out between his sons, and they went to war with each other, each one desiring to be sole king, as their father had been. The chief of these sons was King Eric Bloodaxe, whose after-history is much mixed up with that of England. He fought his brothers, and two of them fell in battle ; but the country was disturbed because of these quarrels. Eric was a stout and fortunate man of war, but bad-minded, gruff, unfriendly, and morose. Gunhild, his wife, was a most beautiful woman, clever and lively ; but she had a false and cruel disposition. They had 82 King Hakon the Good 83 many children, who played their part in English history. Hakon heard of all that was going on in Norway, and he thought that the time had come when he should return to his own country. King Athelstan gave him all he needed for his journey, men, and a choice of good ships fitted out most excellently. In harvest-time he came to Norway, and heard that King Eric was at Viken, and that two of his brothers had been slain by him. Hakon went to his old friend and fosterer, Sigurd, Earl of Lade, who was counted the ablest man in Norway. Greatly did Sigurd rejoice to see Hakon again, grown a handsome, stalwart man, as his father had been before him ; and they made a league thereupon mutually to help each other. But Hakon had not much need of help, for when they called together a " Thing," or parliament of the people of that district, and Hakon stood up and proposed himself as their king, the people said to each other, "It is Harald Fairhair come again, but grown young " ; and it was not long before they acclaimed him king with one consent. Hakon promised to restore their right to own the land on which they lived (called " udal-right "), which his father had taken from them when he made them his vassals ; and this speech met with such joyful applause that the whole assembly cried aloud that they would take him as their king. So it came about that at fifteen Hakon became king, and the news flew from mouth to mouth through the whole land, like fire in dry grass ; and from every district came messages and tokens from the people that they would become his subjects. Hakon re- ceived the messengers thankfully, and went through all the land, holding a " Thing " in each district, and 84 The Northmen in Britain everywhere they acclaimed him ; for the more they hated King Eric the more they were ready to replace him by taking King Hakon. They called him Hakon the Good. At last, seeing that he could not withstand his brother. King Eric got a Beet together and sailed out to the Orkneys, and then south to England, plundering as he went. A.thelstan sent messengers to him. saying that as King llarald Fairhair, his father, had been his friend, he would act kindly toward his son, and he offered to make him King of Northnmbria if he would defend it against other vikings and Danes and keep it quiet ; for Northnmbria was by that time almost wholly peopled by Northmen, and the names of many towns and villages were Danish or Norse, and are so to this day. Eric gladly accepted this offer, allowing himself to be baptized, with his wife and children and his followers, and settled down at York: and this continued till Athelstan's death. Chapter XII King Hakon forces his People to become Christians IT seemed that all would have gone well in Norway with King Hakon the Good after King Erie Bloodaxe left the country, but that he had it in his mind to make the people Christians whether they would or no. Hitherto they had sacrificed to Odin, or Woden, who gives his name to our Wednes- day — i.e. Woden's Day ; and they had other gods and goddesses, such as Thor, the God of Thunder, from whom we get the name Thursday, or Trior's Day, and Freya, a goddess, who gives her name to our Friday. They had many special festivals, but the chief of all was Yule, in mid-winter, when the Yule log was brought in from the forests and burned with great rejoicings, and cattle and horses were slaughtered in sacrifice, and their blood sprinkled on the altars and temple walls, and on the people besides. A large fire was kindled in the middle of the temple floor, on which the flesh was roasted, and full goblets were handed across the fire, after being blessed by the chiefs. Odin's goblet was first emptied for victory and power to the king, and afterwards Freya's goblet for peace and a good season, and after that the "re- membrance-goblet " was emptied to the memory of departed friends. It was a time of great joy and 85 86 The Northmen in Britain festivity. In Scotland and other places the night of mid-winter is still called Hogmanay night, that is, the Norse " Hoggn-nott," or slaughter night, from the hogging or hewing down of the cattle for sacrifice, and many Hogmanay songs are still sung in this country. The first thing King Hakon did was to order that the festival of Yule should begin at the same time as Christmas did in Christian lands, as is the case at this day ; and this displeased the people, for they did not like to change the day on which they and their forefathers had held their feast. Then Hakon sent for a bishop and priests from England to instruct the people in Christianity. Hitherto there had been no priests in Norway, but every man was priest in his own house ; and the chief man of each place conducted the sacrifices for his neighbours. The people were against giving up their own religion and adopting a religion which they did not understand and which was foreign to them ; but because they loved their King they at first made no outcry, but deferred consideration of the matter to the meeting of the chief " Thing," * which they called the " Froste Thing," where men from every part of the country would be present. When the " Froste Thing " met, both they and the King made speeches, and Earl Sigurd begged the King not to press the matter, as it was plain the people were against it ; and at first he seemed to consent to this. But the next harvest, which was the time of the summer sacrifice, the nobles watched the King closely to see what he would do. Earl Sigurd, 1 The "Thing" was a convention or parliament of the people assembled to make laws or come to decisions on important matters. There were both local and general "Things." The place where the "Thing" was held was called the "Thing-mote." King Hakon and his People 8j who was a staunch pagan, made the feast, and the King came to it. When the Odin goblet was filled, Earl Sigurd blessed it in Odin's name, and drank to the King, and then he handed the goblet to the King to drink. The King took the goblet in his hand, and made the sign of the cross over it before he put it to his lips. " What is the King doing ? " said a lord who stood near him. " He is making the sign of Thor's hammer 1 over the cup, as each of you would do," said Earl Sigurd, thinking to shield the King. For the moment this satisfied the people, but next day when the sacrifices were offered, and horse- flesh was eaten, as was always done at a solemn feast, Hakon utterly refused to join in the heathen festival, nor would he touch even the gravy of the dish. Great discontent was aroused at this, both the King and the people being very ill-pleased with each other, and on the next occasion it threatened to develop into war. From time to time Earl Sigurd came between the King and the people and kept them at peace, but neither loved the other as before. The latter years of Hakon's reign were disturbed by the return of Eric Bloodaxe's sons, and their attempts to take the crown. For years they had been marauding on the coasts, but Hakon had driven them off ; and he had conquered them in the great sea-fight of Augvaldsness, after which they went south to Denmark, and rested there. King Hakon put all his sea-coast subjects under tribute that they should raise and sustain in each district a certain number of ships to defend the coast, and that they should erect beacons on every hill and headland, which were 1 The hammer of Thor was somewhat like a Greek cross. 88 The Northmen in Britain to be lighted when the fleet of Eric's sons appeared, so that by the lighting of the beacons the whole country could speedily be warned of the coming of the enemy. But when Eric's sons actually came at last with an overwhelming host, provided for them by the King of Denmark, the beacons were not lighted, because they came by an unexpected route, where they were not looked for. The beacons also had so often been lighted by the country-people whenever they saw a ship-of-war or viking boat cruising about on the coast, thinking that it brought Eric's sons, that King Hakon had become angry at the waste of trouble and money without any purpose, and had heavily punished those who gave the false alarm. Thus it happened that when Eric's sons' host really came in sight no one was ready, and they had sailed far north before anyone was aware of their presence. The people were afraid to give warning to the King, because of his anger if they gave a false alarm. So they watched the great fleet making its way north- ward and turning in toward the island where the King lay, and none of them dared go to inform him of its coming. The King was supping in the house of one of his bondes named Eyvind, when at length one of the country-people took courage to come to the house and beg that Eyvind would come outside at once, for it was very needful. Eyvind went up a little height, and there he saw the great armed fleet that lay in the fiord. With all haste he entered the house, and, placing himself before the King, he cried : " Short is the hour for action, but long the hour for feasting." " What now is forward, Eyvind ? " said the King, for he saw that something of import was in the air. Then Eyvind cried : The dying King Hakon carried to his Ship 88 / King Hakon and his People 89 " Up, King ! the avengers are at hand ! Eric's hold sons approach the land ! They come well armed to seek the fight. ( ) mighty King, thy wrath he light ( )n him who calls thee from thy rest To put thee to the battle-test. Gird on thy armour ; take thy stand Here where thy foes are come to land. Quernbiter now shall bite again And drive the intruder o'er the main ' " Then said the King : " Thon art too brave a fellow, Eyvind, to bring us a false alarm of war." He ordered the tables to be removed, and went out to look at the ships ; and the King asked his men what resolution they would take, to give battle there and then, or to sail away northwards and escape. They gave their voice for war, for they knew that this was what the King would choose, and made them ready speedily. A great battle was fought that day, but in the end Eyvind was killed and the King received an arrow through his shoulder, and though he fought on, his blood ebbed out until he had no strength left, and he had to be carried to his ship. They sailed on awhile toward King Hakon's house at Alrekstad, but when he came as far as Hakon's Hill he was nearly lifeless ; so they put in to shore, and he died there by the shoreside, at the little hill beside which he had been born. They buried his body in a mighty mound, in which they laid him in full armour and in his kingly robes ; that mound is to be seen not far from Bergen at this day. So great was the sorrow at his death that he was lamented alike by his friends and his enemies ; for they said that never again would Norway see such a king. For all he was a Christian, 90 The Northmen in Britain they spake over his grave wishing him a good recep- tion in Valhalla, the home of Odin and the gods. It was in the year 960 that the battle of Stord and the death of King Hakon took place. The men who had fallen in his army were buried in mounds along the sea-shore, each great man among them laid in his armour, and one of the enemy's ships turned bottom up over him, and the whole covered in with earth and stones. These were called w " ship-burial " mounds, and many of them have been found in Norway. After Hakon's fall the sons of Eric Bloodaxe ruled over Norway. Chapter XIII The Saga of Olaf Trygveson ONE of the greatest Kings of Norway was named Olaf Trygveson (i.e. the son of Trygve), who became King of Norway in 99.5. He had an adventurous career, part of it being connected with the British Isles, where he spent ten years in hiding in his youth, only returning to his native country when his people called on him to take the crown. His father, Trygve, had been treacherously put to death shortly before he was born, and his mother had fled away with a few faithful followers, and had taken refuge in a lonely island in a lake ; here Olaf was born in 963, and baptized with heathen baptism, and called after his grandfather, a son of Harald Fairhair. During all that summer Astrid, his mother, stayed secretly in the island ; but when the days grew shorter, and the nights colder, she was obliged to leave the damp island and take refuge on the mainland, in the house of her father, reaching it by weary night-marches, for they feared to be seen if they travelled by day. But soon news reached them that their enemies were searching for them, and they dared not stay longer, but clothed themselves in mean clothing and went on again, meeting with many rebuffs, until at last ai 92 The Northmen in Britain they got out of the kingdom, and were protected for three years by Hakon the Old, King oi Sweden, Now Astrid had a brother in Russia in the service of the Russian King, and she thought that Olaf would be safer if she went thither with him; so they set sail in a ship provided by Hakon the Old, but again ill — luck overtook them, for they were captured by pirates in the Baltic, and the little lad was separated from his mother, and sold as a slave into Russia. But there a better fortune came to him, for he fell in with his cousin, his mother's nephew, win) bought him from his master, and took him to the King's palace, and commended him to the care of the Queen. There Olaf grew up. and men favoured him, for he was stout and strong, and a handsome man, and accomplished in manly exercises. Rut he dared not go back to his own country, so he took ship and sailed to England, and ravaged wide around the borders. He sailed right round Britain, and down to the coast of France, laying the land waste with tire and sword wherever he came. After that he came to the Scilly Isles, and lay there, for he was weary after his four years' cruise. This was in OSS. He did not wish it to be known who he was, so he called himself Ole instead of Olaf, and gave out that he was a Russian. One day he heard that a clever fortune-teller was in the place, and he sent one of his company to him, pretending that this man was himself. But the fortune-teller knew at once that this was not so, and he said : " Thou art not the King, but I advise thee to be faithful to thy king." And no more at all would he say to him than that. Then Olaf went to him himself, and asked what luck he would have if he should attempt to regain his kingdom. The hermit replied that he would become a The Saga of Olaf Trygveson 93 renowned king, and that he ought to adopt the Christian religion and suffer himself to be baptized ; and he told him many things regarding his future. That autumn a summons was sent through the country for a great Thing-mote, or meeting of the Danes in the South of England ; and Olaf went to the Thing in disguise, wearing his bad-weather clothes and a coarse cloak, and keeping apart with his people from the rest. There was also at the Thing a lady called Gyda, who was sister of Olaf Cuaran, or Olaf o' the Sandal, Danish King of Dublin. She had been married to a great English earl, and after his death she ruled all his property. She had in her territory a strong, rough champion, named Alfvine, who wooed her in marriage, but she did not favour his suit, saying she would only marry again as she pleased. She said he should have his answer at the Thing, so he came in his best, sure that the Lady Gyda would soon be his wife. But Gyda went all round the company, looking in each man's face, to see whom she would choose ; but she chose none until she came where Olaf stood. She looked him straight in the face, and in spite of his common clothing she thought the face good and handsome. So she said to him : " Who are you, and what do you here ? " " My name is Ole," he replied ; " but I am a stranger here." " In spite of that," she said ; " wilt thou have me for thy wife, if I ask thee ? " "I do not think I would say no to that," he answered ; " but tell me of what country you are, for I am, as I said, a stranger here." " I am called Gyda," said she ; " and I am sister of the Danish King of Ireland. But I was married to an earl in this country. Since his death many 94 The Northmen in Britain have asked for my hand, but I did not choose to marry any of them." Then Olaf saw that she was a young and very handsome woman, and he liked her well, and they talked a. long while together, and after that they were betrothed. Alfvine was furious when he heard this, and he challenged Olaf to fight, but Olaf and his followers struck down Alfvine and his men, and he ordered Alfvine to leave the country and never iot urn again. Then he and Gyda were wedded, and they lived sometimes in England and sometimes in Ireland. It was in Ireland that Olaf got his wolf-hound, Vige. The Irish dogs were famous all over the world for their great size and intelligence : they were large, smooth hounds, and the constant companions of men. One day Olaf and his men were sailing along the east coast of Ireland, when, growing short of provisions, they made a foray inland, his men driving down a herd of cattle to the water's edge. One of their owners, a peasant, came up and begged Olaf to give him back his own cows, which he said were all the property he possessed. Olaf. looking at the large herd of kine on the strand, told him laughingly that he might take back his own cows, if he could distinguish them in the herd. tk But be quick about it," he added, " for we cannot delay our march for you." He thought that out of such a number of cattle it would be impossible to tell which were owned by any single person. But the man called his hound and bade him go amongst the hundreds of beasts and bring out his own. In a few minutes the dog had gathered into one group exactly the number of cows that the peasant said he owned, all of them marked with the same mark. Olaf was so surprised at the The Saga of Olaf Trygveson 95 sagacity of the dog that he asked the peasant if he would sell him to him. " Nay," said the peasant, " but as you have given me back my cattle, I will gladly give him to you : his name is Vige, and he will, I hope, be as good a dog to you as he is to me." Olaf thanked the man, and gave him a gold ring in return, and promised him his protection. From that time forth Olaf went nowhere without his dog Vige ; he was the most sagacious of dogs, and remained with Olaf till the day of his death. Once when Olaf was fighting in Norway, and driving his enemies before him, Thorer, their leader, ran so fast that he could not come up with him. His dog Vige was beside him, and he said, " Vige ! Vige ! catch the deer ! " In an instant Vige came up with Thorer, who turned and struck at him with his sword, giving him a great wound ; but Olaf's spear passed through Thorer at the same instant and he fell dead. But Vige was carried wounded to the ships. Long after- wards, when Olaf disappeared after the battle of Svold, Vige was, as usual, on his master's ship, the Long Serpent. One of the chiefs went to him, and said : " Now we have no master, Vige ! " whereupon the dog began to howl, and would not be comforted. When the Long Serpent came near to land he sprang on shore, and ran to a burial-mound which he thought was Olaf's grave and stretched himself upon it, refusing to take food. Great tears fell from his eyes, and there he died, in grief for the loss of his master. Now it began to be whispered about in Norway that to the westward, over the Northern Sea, was a man called Ole, whom some people thought to be a king. At that time a powerful earl, named Hakon, 96 The Northmen in Britain ruled in Norway, and the land prospered under him, but he himself was a man of unruly passions, and his people, especially the great lords, hated him for his exactions and cruelties, and were ready enough to turn against him. Earl Hakon became alarmed lest this Ole, of whom men spoke, should turn out to belong to Norway, and should some day dispute the sovereignty of the kingdom with him. He recalled that he had heard that King Trygve had had a son, who had gone east to Russia, having been brought up there by King Valdemar, and he had his suspicions that this Ole might prove to be Trygve's son. So he called a friend of his, called Thorer Klakka, who went often on viking expeditions, and sometimes also on merchant voyages, and who was well known everywhere, and he bade him make a trading voyage to Dublin, as many were in the habit of doing, and there to inquire carefully who Ole was. If it should prove that he was indeed Olaf Trygveson, he was to persuade him to come to Norway, and by some means to ensnare him into the earl's power. So Thorer sailed west to Ireland, and found that Olaf was in Dublin with his wife's father, Olaf o' the Sandal ; then he went to do business with Olaf, and, being a clever, plausible man, they became acquainted. Thus gradually he learned from Olaf who he was, and that he had some thoughts of going back to try to recover his kingdom ; for his heart turned often toward his native land. Thorer encouraged him in every way, praising him highly and telling him that Earl Hakon was disliked and that it would be easy for one of Harald Fairhair's race to win the country to his side. As he talked thus Olaf began more and more to wish to return. But Thorer's words were spoken deceit- The Saga of Olaf Trygveson 97 fully, for he intended, if he could persuade Olaf to return to Norway, to give Hakon warning, so that Olaf would at once be taken prisoner and put to death. In the end Olaf decided to go, and they set out by way of the Orkneys, with five ships ; he sailed straight out to sea eastward and gained the coast of Norway, travelling in such haste that no one was well aware that he was coming. As they came close to land tidings reached them that Hakon was near, and that his bondes or farmers and great men were all in disaccord with him. Thorer Klakka had not thought of this, for when he left Norway the people were at peace with Hakon ; now he saw that things might turn out in a very different way from what he expected. At that very moment Earl Hakon was flying from his lords, who were determined to kill him, and it did not comfort him to hear that Olaf Trygveson was come overseas and was anchored in the fiord. He fled away with only one servant, named Kark, and took refuge with a woman whom he knew, named Thorer, begging her to conceal him from his pursuers. She did not know where she could hide him to prevent his being discovered, for it was well known by all that she was a friend of his. " They will hunt for you here, both inside my house and out," she said. " I have only one safe place, where they would never expect to find you, and that is in the pig-sty ; but it is not a pleasant place for a man like you." " Well," said the earl, " the first thing we need is our life ; let it be made ready for us." So the slave dug a hole beneath the sty, and laid wood over the place where he had dug out the earth, and then the earl and Kark went into the hole, and Thorer covered it with earth and dung and drove 98 The Northmen in Britain in the swine round the great stone that was in the centre of the sty. When Olaf sailed with his five ships into the fiord all the bondes gathered joyfully to him, and readily agreed to make him King of Norway. They set forth at once to seek Earl Hakon, in order to put him to death ; and it so chanced that they went straight to the house where Hakon lay, and searched inside and out, but they could not find him. Hakon, from under the sty, could hear them searching, and could dimly see their forms moving about, and he was full of fear, for he was not a very brave man. Then, close by the great stone, Olaf held a council, and he stood upon the stone and made a speech to them, promising a great reward to the man who should find and kill the earl. All this was heard by Hakon and by Kark, his man. " Why art thou so pale at one moment, and again as black as death ? " said the earl to Kark. " Is it thy intention to win that reward by betraying me ? " " By no means whatever," said Kark. " We were born on the same night," said the earl, " and I think there will not be much more difference between the time of our deaths." King Olaf went away that evening. When night came the earl kept himself awake, for he was afraid of Kark ; but Kark slept a disturbed sleep. The earl at last woke him and asked him what he was dreaming about. " I dreamed I was at Lade, and Olaf Trygveson was laying a gold ring round my neck." kk It will be a red and not a gold ring that Olaf will put about thy neck if ever he catches thee," said the carl ; " take you care of that. It is only from me The Saga of Olaf Trygveson 99 that yon wiD enjoy good, so beware that you betray me not." From that time each of them kept himself awake, watching the other, until toward daybreak the earl's head fell forward, and he dropped asleep, for the air was close and he was weary. But his sleep was so unquiet that he suddenly screamed out loudly, and drew himself together, as if to spring up. On this Kark, dreadfully alarmed, drew a large knife out of his belt and struck at the earl, and in a moment he fell dead, with his head severed from his body. Then in the early morning Kark got out of the hole with Hakon's head and ran with it to Olaf, telling what had befallen them. But Olaf had him taken out and beheaded. Soon after that Olaf was elected King of Norway at a general Thing, as his great-grandfather, Harald Fairhair, had been. This was in the year 995. Chapter XIV King Olaf s Dragon-ships IT does not concern us here to follow the story of Olaf Trygveson point by point. Much of his history is taken up with attempts to force Christianity upon his people, as King Hakon had done. Having learned the doctrines of Christianity in England and been baptized there, he was determined that all his people should follow his example and be baptized also. But the chief doctrine of Christianity, the love of all men as brothers and the forgiveness of foes, he had not learned ; and when he proclaimed abroad that " all Norway should be Christian or die " he was far from the spirit of the Christian life. His persecutions of his people stain an otherwise great and humane reign ; and he was not content with forc- ing his religion on Norway, but sent a priest of much the same temper as his own to convert Iceland to Christianity by similar means, stirring up strife and bringing misery upon a nation that heretofore had been prosperous and peaceable. For though it may have been well for these countries to forsake their old religion and embrace Christianity, it was an evil thing to force it upon the people in such a way. Otherwise the reign of Olaf was a happy one ; he was loved by his friends and feared by his foes. But, as was usual when things went well, enemies began 100 King Olaf's Dragon-ships 101 to gather about him, and a coalition was formed between the Danish King Sweyn Fork-beard, and the Swedish King, who was his brother-in-law, to fight Olaf, and drive him out of his kingdom. It was Sweyn's wife, Sigrid the Haughty, who urged him on to this. She had once been betrothed to Olaf, but the betrothal had come to an end because Olaf in- sisted that she should be baptized before he married her. When he spake thus to her she had replied : "It is for you to choose whatever religion suits you best ; but as for me, I will not part from my own faith, which was the faith of my forefathers before me." Olaf was enraged at that, and he struck her face with his glove in his passion, and rose up saying, " Why should I care to marry thee, an aged woman and a heathen ? " and with that he left her. Sigrid the Haughty had never forgiven the insult put on her by Olaf, and when she was married to Sweyn she thought her time was come to be revenged ; so she stirred him up to make war on Olaf. Olaf was very fond of having fine war-vessels built for him, of greater size and height than any that had been built hitherto. He had a fleet of over seventy vessels, all good craft, to meet King Sweyn, but chief of these were his own three ships, the Crane, the Long Serpent, and the Short Serpent. These were the finest vessels that had been planned in Norway, and were known all over the world. The lighter craft sailed first, and got out to sea, Olaf with his great ships follow- ing more slowly behind. Along with him was Earl Sigvalde, whom he thought to be his friend, but who was secretly in the pay of King Sweyn ; he had induced Olaf to postpone sailing on one pretence or another, until he heard that Sweyn had collected his whole 102 The Northmen in Britain army and fleet together, and was lving under the island of Svold, in the Baltic, awaiting Olaf Trygveson. The Swedish King, together with Earl Eirik were, with all their forces, watching anxiously for the coming of Olaf's fleet. The weather was fine, with clear sunshine, and they went upon the island to see the vessels coming in from the open sea, sailing close together. They saw among them one large and shining ship. The two kings said : " That is a large and very beautiful vessel ; that will be the Long Serpent." But Earl Eirik replied : " That is not the Long Serpent ; the vessel in which Olaf sails is greater still than that." Soon they saw another vessel following, much larger than the first, but no figure-head on her prow. " That," said King Sweyn. ** must be Olaf's ship, but it is evident that he is afraid of us, for he has taken the dragon off his prow, that we may not recognize his ship." Eirik said again : " That is not yet the King's ship, for his ship has striped sails. It must be Erling Skialgson's ship. Let it pass on, that it may be separated from Olaf's fleet." Next came up Earl Sigvalde the traitor's ships, which were in league with the enemy ; they turned in and moored themselves under the island, for they did not intend to fight for Olaf. After that came three ships moving swiftly along under full sail, all of great size, but one larger than the rest. " Get your arms in your hands," said King Sweyn, " man the boats, for this must be Olaf's Long Serpent." " Wait a little," said Eirik again ; " many other great vessels have they besides the dragon ship." Then all Sweyn's followers began to grumble, thinking that King Olqf's " Long Serpent " King Olafs Dragon-ships 103 Eirik made excuses to prevent them from going to war, for he had been Olafs vassal at one time, and they were doubtful of his fidelity. But as they com- plained, Eirik pointed with his finger out to sea. And there upon the horizon they saw four splendid ships bearing proudly along, the one in the centre having a large dragon-head, richly gilt. Then Sweyn stood up and said : " That dragon shall bear me high to-night, for I shall be its steersman." And they all cried : " The Long Serpent is indeed a wonderful ship, and the man who built it must be great of mind." But in his excitement Eirik forgot where he was, and he cried aloud so that the King himself heard him : " If there were no other vessels with King Olaf but only this one, King Sweyn would never with the Danish forces alone be able to take it from him." Then all the sailors and men-at-arms rushed to their ships and took down the coverings or tents that sheltered them on board, and got them ready for fighting. Earl Eirik's vessel, which he used on his viking expeditions, was a large ship with an iron comb or spiked top on both sides to protect it, and it was iron-plated right down to the gunwale. When King Olaf sailed into the Sound, with the Short Serpent and the Crane attending on him, the other boats were lying by under the island, following in the wake of the traitor, Earl Sigvalde, with their sails reefed, and drifting with the tide. On the other side of the Sound were the fleet of the enemy, trimmed and in full battle array, rowing out into the Sound ; the fleets of Sweden and Denmark united together. When some of Olafs men saw this, they begged him to sail at full speed out of the Sound into the open sea again, and not risk battle with so great a force. 104 The Northmen in Britain But the King, standing on his qnartcr-deck. in view of all his host, exclaimed: "Strike the sails. No man shall ever learn of me to By before the enemy. Never yet have 1 tied from battle, nor ever will. Let Cod dispose as lie thinks best, but flight 1 never shall attempt." Then he ordered his war-horns to be sounded and the ships to elose up to each other, and lash themselves together, side by side, under the island, as the Norse were wont to do in battle: thus no ship could forsake the others, but all fought side by side to the end. The King's ship lay in the middle of the line, with the Crane on one side and the Little Serpent on the other, all fastened together at the head : but the dragon ship was so long that it stood out behind the others : and when the King saw this he called out to his men to lay his Long Serpent, the dragon ship, more in advance. so that its stern should lie even with the other ships behind. " We shall have hot work of it here on the forecastle, if the King's ship stands out beyond the rest," said I If the Red. " 1 did not think I had a forecastle man who would grow red with dread." said the King, punning on Ulf's name. " I hope you will defend the quarter-deck as well as 1 defend the forecastle," replied Ulf, who was vexed at Olaf's sneer. There was a bow in the King's hands, and he fixed an arrow on the string to take aim at Ulf. " Shoot the other way. King," said Ulf, " where it is needed more : maybe you will need my arm to-day." King Olaf stood on the quarter-deck, high above all. lie had a orilt shield and a helmet inlaid with King Olaf's Dragon-ships 105 gold ; over his armour he wore a short red cloak, so that it was easy to distinguish him from other men. He asked one who stood by him : " Who is the leader of the force right opposite to us ? " " King Sweyn, with the Danish fighting-men," was the reply. The King replied : " We have no fear of those soft Danes, for there is no bravery in them. Who are the troops on the right of the Danes ? " " King Olaf the Swede, with his troops," was the answer. " It were better for these Swedes to be sitting at home killing pagan sacrifices, than venturing so near the weapons of the Long Serpent" said the King. " But who owns the large ships on the larboard side ? " " Earl Eirik Hakonson," said they. " Ah," said the King, " it is from that quarter we may expect the sharpest conflict, for his men are Norsemen like ourselves." The battle of Svold was fought in September, in the year 1000, and it was one of the hardest sea-conflicts ever known in the North. King Sweyn laid his ship against the hong Serpent, and on either side of him the King of Sweden and Earl Eirik attacked the Little Serpent and the Crane. The forecastle men on Olaf's ships threw out grappling- irons and chains to make fast King Sweyn's ship, and they fought so hotly there that the King had to escape to another ship, and Olaf's men boarded the vessel and cleared the decks. King Olaf the Swede fared no better, for when he took Sweyn's place he found the battle so hot that he too had to get away out of range. But it was a different story with Earl Eirik, as Olaf 106 The Northmen in Britain had said. In the forehold of his ship he had had a parapet of shields set up to protect his men ; and as fast as one man fell another would come up to take his place, and there he fought desperately with every kind of weapon. So many spears and arrows were cast into the Long Serpent that the shields could scarce receive them, for on all sides the vessel was surrounded by the enemy. Then King Olaf's men grew so mad with rage that they ran on board the enemies' ships, to get at the people with stroke of sword at close quarters, but many of them missed their footing and went overboard, and sank in the sea with the weight of their weapons. The King himself stood in the gang- way shooting all day, sometimes with his bow, but more often casting two spears at once. Once, when he st ooped down and stretched out his right hand, the men beside him saw that blood was running down under his steel glove, though he had told no one that he was wounded. Einar Tambaskelfer, one of the sharpest of bow-men, stood by the mast, and aimed an arrow at Earl Eirik. The arrow hit the tiller end just above the earl's head with such force that it sank into the wood up to the shaft. The earl looked that way, and asked if they knew who made that shot, but just as he was speaking another arrow flew between his hand and his side, and fixed itself into the stuffing of his stool, so that the barb stood far out on the other side. " Shoot that tall man standing by the mast for me," said the carl to one who stood beside him. The man shot, and the arrow hit the middle of Einar's bow just as he was drawing it, and the bow split into two parts " What is that," cried King Olaf, " that broke with such a noise ? " King Olaf's Dragon-ships 107 " Norway, King, from thy hands," said Einar. Not long after this the fight became so fierce that it seemed as though none of Olaf's men would be left alive. Twice Earl Eirik boarded the Long SerjpenU and twice he was driven off again, but so many of the fighting-men fell that in many places the ships' sides were quite bare of defenders. At length Earl Eirik with his men boarded her again, and filled the ship from stem to stern with his own host, so that Olaf saw that all was lost. Then Olaf and his marshal sprang together overboard ; but the earl's men had laid boats around the dragon ship, to kill all who fell overboard. They tried to seize Olaf alive to bring him to Earl Eirik ; but King Olaf threw his shield over his head and sank beneath the waters. Many tales were told of the King, for none would believe that he was dead. Some said that he had cast off his coat of mail beneath the water and had swum, diving under the long ships, and so had escaped ; only one thing is certain, that he never came back to Norway or to his kingdom again. The poet Halfred speaks thus about him : — " Does Olaf live ? or is lie dead ? Hath he the hungry ravens fed ? I scarcely know what I should say, For many tell the tale each way. This I can say, nor fear to lie, That he was wounded grievously — So wounded in this hloody strife, He scarce could come away with life.' Chapter XV Wild Tales from the Orkneys THE wildest of all the vikings were those who settled in the Orkney Isles and carried on their raids from there. After Ragnvald had given up his possessions in the Isles to Karl Sigurd. the earl made himself a mighty chief; he joined with Thorstein the Red. son of Olaf the White of Dublin and I nn the Deep-minded, and together they harried and WOH, as we have seen, all Caithness, and Moray and Uoss. 1 so that they united the northern part of Scotland to the Orkney and Shetland Isles. The Scottish earl of those lands was ill-pleased at this, and he arranged that he and Sigurd should meet and diseuss their differences and the limits of both their lands. Melbrigd the Toothy was the name of the Seots' earl, because his teeth protruded from his jaws : and they arranged to meet at a certain plaee. eaeh with forty men. But Sigurd suspected treachery, and he caused eighty of his men to mount on forty horses. As they rode to the plaee of meeting Melbrigd said : " I shrewdly suspect that Sigurd hath cheated us : I think I see two men's feet at eaeh side of the horses : thus, they are twice as many as we. Let us. however, do our best, and see that eaeh man of us can answer for a man of them before we die." So they marshalled 1 l hap. vi., pace 18. MM Wild Tales from the Orkneys 109 themselves to fight, and when Sigurd saw this he ordered one half of his men to dismount and attack from behind, while the other half set on them in front. They had a good tussle after that, and Earl Melbrigd fell with all his men, and Sigurd's men cut off their heads and fastened them to their horses' cruppers, and set off home boasting of their victory. The bleeding heads dangled behind them ; and as he rode, Earl Sigurd, intending to kick his horse with his foot to urge him on, scratched his leg against a tooth of Melbrigd which stuck out from his head, and the wound became so swollen and painful that in the end he died of it. Sigurd the Mighty is buried in a " howe," or burial-mound, on the banks of the Oikel, in Sutherlandshire. When Earl Ragnvald heard that his possessions in Orkney were again without a lord, and that Sigurd his brother was dead, he sent one of his sons, Hallad, to take his place ; but vikings went prowling all over those lands, plundering the headlands and committing depredations on the coast. The yeomen brought their complaints to Hallad, but he did not do much to right them ; he soon grew tired of the whole business, resigned his earldom, and went back to Norway to take up his own property. When his father heard of this, he was by no means well pleased. All men mocked at Hallad, and Ragnvald said his sons were very unlike their ancestors. His eldest son, Rolf, was away in Normandy, plundering and conquering. He was a mighty viking, and he was so stout that no horse could carry him, and whithersoever he went he must walk on foot ; hence he was called Rolf Ganger, or Rolf the Walker. He was the conqueror of Normandy, and from him the Dukes of Normandy and Kings of i i o The Northmen in Britain England were descended. King Harald drove him out of Norway because he had one summer made b cattle foray on the coast of Yiken. and plundered there. King Harald happened to be in the neigh- bourhood, and he heard of it. and it put him into the greatest fury ; for he had forbidden, under heavy penalties, that anyone should plunder within the bounds of his territories. Rolf's mother. Ilild. inter- ceded for him. but it was of no avail. She made these lines : — *• Think*st thou. King Harald, in thine anger. To drive away my brave Rolf Ganger, Like a mad wolf, from out the Land? Why, Harald, raise thy mighty hand? Bethink thee, Monarch, it is ill With sach a wolf at wolf to play. Who driven to wild wood* away. May make the King's best deer his prey ! What she had predicted came to pass, for C anger- Rolf went west over the sea to the Hebrides, and thence to the west coast of France, which the Norse- men called Valland. where he conquered and sub- dued to himself a great earldom, which he peopled with Northmen, from which it was called Normandy. lie was ancestor of William the Conqueror, King of England, and ruled in Normandy from 911 to 927. Karl Ragnvald had three other sons living at home with him. and after llallad's return from Orkney he called them to him and asked which of them would like to co to the islands; for he heard that two Wild Tales from the Orkneys 1 1 1 Danish vikings were settling down on his lands and taking possession of them. Thorir said that he would go if his father wished. But Ragnvald replied that he thought he had need of him at home, and that his property and power would be greatest there where he was. Then the second, Hrollaug, said : " Father, would you like me to go ? " The earl said : "I think your way lies toward Iceland ; there you will increase your race, and become a famous man ; but the earldom is not for you." Then Einar, the youngest, came forward ; he was a tall, ugly man, with only one eye, yet very keen- sighted, and no favourite with his father. What he said was : " Would you wish me to go to the islands ? One thing I will promise you that I know will please you ; it is that I will never come back. Little honour do I enjoy at home, and it is hardly likely that my success will be less anywhere else than it is here." Earl Ragnvald said : " Never knew I any man less likely for a chief than yourself, for your mother's people come of thralls ; but it is true enough that the sooner you go and the longer you stay the better pleased I shall be. I will fit out for you a ship of twenty benches, 1 fully manned, and I will get for you from King Harald the title of Earl of Orkney in my place." So this was settled, and Einar sailed west to Shetland and gathered the people round him, for they were glad to get rid of the vikings. They slew them both in a battle in the Orkneys, and Einar took possession 1 Twenty benches probably meant forty rowers, besides other fight- ing men. Two rowers at least would sit to each bench. [12 The Northmen in Britain of theii lands. He was the first man who found out how to cut turf for fuel, for firing was scarce on those islands and there was little wood ; but after that men used peat : and they called him Torf- Kinar, en- Turf- Kinar, on account of that. The chief difficulty that Torf-Einar had was from King Harald Fairhair's sons, who were now grown to be men. They were overbearing and turbulent, for they thought their father ought to have given his lands to them and not to his earls, and the} set themselves to revenge their wrongs (as they thought them) on the King's friends. They came down suddenly on Earl Ragnvald and surrounded his house and burnt him in it and sixty with him. The King was so angry at this that one of them, llalfdan Long-legs, had to tlv before his wrath, and he rushed on shipboard and sailed west, appearing suddenly in the Orkneys. When it became known that a son of King llarald was come, the liegemen were full of fear, and Karl Kinar tied to Scotland to gather forces to resist him. But later in the year, about harvest -time, he came back and fought llalfdan. and gained the victory over him. llalfdan slipped overboard in the dusk of eventide and swam to land, and a few followers after him. ami they concealed themselves in the rocks and cliffs of the islands. Next morning, as soon as it was light. Kinar's men went to search the islands for runaway vikings, and each man who was found was slain wIc.tc he stood. Then Torf-Kinar began to search himself, and he saw something moving in the island of Ronald* Say, very far off. for he was more keen-sight ed than most men. lie said: M What is that I see on the hill- side in Etonaldsay ? Is it a man or is it a bird ? Some- times it raises itself up and sometimes it lays itself Wild Tales from the Orkneys 1 1 3 down. We will go over there." There they found Half dan Long-legs, and they cut a spread-eagle on his back, and killed him there, and gave him to Odin as an offering for their victory ; and Einar sang a song of triumph over him, and raised a cairn over him, and left him there. 1 But when this news reached Norway it was taken very ill by Ilalfdan's brothers and King Harald, and the King himself ordered out a levy, and proceeded west- ward to Orkney. When he heard that Harald was coming, Torf-Einar fled to Caithness, but in the end the quarrel was made up between them, on condition that the isles should pay the King sixty marks of gold. The people were so poor that they could not meet the fine, but Einar undertook the whole payment himself, on condition that they should make over to him their allodial holdings, or freeholds. They had no choice but to submit to this, and from that time till the time of Earl Sigurd the Stout the earls possessed the pro- perties ; but Sigurd restored most of them to their original owners. 2 Then King Harald went home to Norway, and Earl Einar ruled the Orkneys till his death. It was a bad time for the Orkneys during the stay of Eric Bloodaxe and his sons in England. He ruled from York, which had been the capital of Northumbria ever since the half-mythical days of Ragnar Lodbrok. Every summer Eric and his band of followers from Norway, bold and reckless men like himself, went on a cruise, plundering in the Hebrides and Orkneys, and 1 This cruel method of putting 1 a foe to death was also practised on JFA\n of Northumbria ; it was probably, as here, a sacrifice to Odin. - There are still a few udal, or allodial properties, in Orkney. H i 14 The Northmen in Britain as far as Ireland or Iceland. Wherever they appeared the people fled before them. In the Orkneys they com- mitted great excesses and were much dreaded. This Mas in the time of Thorfin Skull-splitter, Torf-Einar*s son, and of Karl lllodver. his son. the father of Karl Sigurd the Stent, who fell at the battle of Clontarf. Sigurd's mother -was Kit hue. or Andna. an Irish princess, daughter of Karval. King of Dublin (87'2-SS?). It was she who worked the raven-banner that was carried before the earl at Clontarf, which brought its bearers ill-luck. 1 She was a very wise and courageous woman, and people thought she was a witch on account of her knowledge. Karl Sigurd the Stout was a powerful man and a great warrior. While he was Karl of Orkney. Olaf Trygveson made a raid upon the Orkney Isles on his way to recover his kingdom of Norway. The earl had gathered his forces for a war expedition, and was lying in a harbour near the Kent land Firth, for the weather was too stormy to cross the channel. As it happened, Olaf. or. as he was then called, Ole (for he was still in hiding), ran into the same harbour for shelter. When he heard that Sigurd the Stout was lying there he hail him called, and addressed him thus : " You know. Karl Sigurd, that the country over which you rule was the possession of llarald Kairhair, who con- quered the Orkneys and Shetland (then called lljalt- land), and plaeed earls over them. Now these countries 1 claim as my right and inheritance. You have now COme into my power, and you have to ehoose between two alternatives. One is that you, with all your subjects, embrace the Christian faith, be baptized, and become my men : in which ease you shall have 1 See pp. L62-3. Wild Tales from the Orkneys 1 1 5 honour from me, and retain your earldom as my subject. The other is that you shall be slain on the spot, and after your death I will scud fire and sword through the Orkneys, burning homesteads and men. Choose now which you will do." Though Sigurd saw well what a position he was in and that he was in 01 af Trygveson's power, he replied at once : " I will tell you, King Olaf, that I have absolutely resolved I will not, and dare not, renounce the faith which my kinsmen and forefathers had before me, because I am not wiser than they ; moreover, I know not that the faith you preach is better than that which we have had and held all our lives. This is my reply." When the King saw the determination of the earl he caught hold of his young son, who was with his father, and who had been brought up in the islands. The King carried the boy to the forepart of the ship, and, drawing his sword, said : " Now I will show you, Earl Sigurd, that I will spare no one who will not listen to my words. Unless you and your men will serve my God, I shall with this sword kill your son this instant. I shall not leave these islands until you and your son and your people have been baptized and I have completely fulfilled my mission." In the plight in which the earl found himself, he saw that he must do as the King desired ; so he and his people were baptized, and he became the earl of King Olaf, and gave him his son in hostage. The boy's name was Whelp, or Hound, but Olaf had him baptized by the name of Hlodver, and took him to Norway with him ; the boy lived but a short time, however, and after his death Earl Sigurd paid no more homage to King Olaf. It was fourteen years after the death of 1 1 6 The Northmen in Britain Olaf that the earl went to Ireland, and was slain at the battle of Clontarf in Dublin. Note. — Olaf Trygveson reigned in Norway from 905-1000; Sigurd the Stout ruled in the Orkneys (according to Munch) from 980-1014. The Icelandic annals say that he was earl for sixty-two years, which would put his accession back to ;»,">:!. Chapter XVI Murtough of the Leather Cloaks IRELAND as well as Norway and the Orkneys had her saga-tales of the events of the viking period. About the middle of the tenth century two princes, one in the north of Ireland and one in the south, are noted for their wars against the Norse. Both had strange and romantic careers, and of both we have full details told by their own poets or chroniclers. These two contemporary princes were Murtough of the Leather Cloaks, in Ulster, and Callaghan of Cashel, in Munster. The career of the former concerns us most. Murtough was a prince of the O'Neills, and he ruled his clans from an immense fortress called Aileach, in North Londonderry, whose walls, with secret passages in their thicknesses, remain to the present day to testify to the massive strength of the old fortifications. He was son of a brave king of Ireland, Niall Glundubh or " Black-knee," who had fallen in fight with the Danes of Dublin after a short but vigorous reign, spent in warring against his country's foes. Murtough had been brought up in the tradition of resistance to the common enemy, and well did he answer to the call of duty. No doubt he was determined to avenge his father's fall. Again and again he gathered together the clans over whom he ruled and endeavoured to push 117 Ii8 The Northmen in Britain back the invader. His career is a brilliant succession of victories. We tirst hear of him in full chase of Godfrey and the Dublin Danes during one of their raids on Armagh. Muitough stole up behind, coining on their track at fall of night, and only a few of the enemy escaped in the glimmering twilight, because they could not be seen by the Irish. Four years after- wards he dealt them another severe blow on Carlingford Lough, in the middle of winter, which seems to have been Muitough's favourite time for warfare, and here eight hundred were killed, and the remainder besieged for a week, so that they had to send to Dublin for assistance. King Godfrey came to their aid. and raised the siege : but these defeats seem to have discouraged the foreigners, for soon after this Godfrey left Dublin to claim the throne of Northumbria. left vacant by the retirement of Sit rio Gale, and Muitough took advantage of his absence to make a descent on Dublin with Donagh. the King of Ireland, raiding south to Kildare. A misfortune overtook Muitough soon after his return home. The Northern foreigners laid siege to his fortress, and succeeded in taking him prisoner, and carrying him off to their ships. The prince was ran- somed by his people, and took his revenge by penetrating with his fleet to the Hebrides, and carrying off much booty from their Norse inhabitants. This successful foreign expedition so much increased his fame that we find him soon afterwards making a warlike circuit of the entire country, and taking hostages of all the provincial kings of Ireland, li was this circuit through Ireland that gained him his title of " Muitough of the Leather Cloaks." from the warm cloaks of rough hide or leather which he and his attendants wore to protect them £$$JKVii,'! '■'!■--■■■•''' &£: ^ yjt*f *r** *■ OOfl?eRp&ithTPi/;/gTT»sl Murtough on his J on run/ with the King of Minister in Fetters i iS Murtough of the Leather Cloaks 119 from the cold. The famous journey was performed in the depth of the winter of 942, after his return from " Insi-Gall," or the Isles of the Foreigners, aS the Hebrides were frequently called. He summoned all the clans over whom he ruled, and chose out of them a bodyguard of a thousand picked men, with whom he proceeded eastward into Antrim, then south to Dublin, thence into Leinster and Munster, and home- ward through Connaught to Ulster again. Leinster and Munster threatened to oppose him, but the sight of his thousand chosen warriors seems to have deterred them. Murtough took with him his clan bard, who has written in verse which still exists an account of their journey. Their leather cloaks they used for wraps by day and for tents by night. Snow often lay deep on the ground on which they had to sleep, but they would " dance to music on the plain, keeping time to the heavy shaking of their cloaks." Murtough returned home with an imposing array of princes as his hostages, for none dare refuse to acknowledge his supremacy. Sitric, a Danish lord of Dublin, was delivered to him by the Northmen ; a prince of Leinster followed, and a young son of Tadhg of the Towers, King of Connaught, who alone went unfettered, while all the others were in chains. But his most audacious stroke was the demand that Callaghan, King of Cashel, in Munster, should be delivered to him fettered. Such an unheard-of demand was not easily acquiesced in ; but Murtough would accept no other hostage, and at length, apparently at the King's own request, he was delivered into the hands of the proud prince of the North. This fettering of a King of Munster caused a sensation at the time and was the burthen of many poems. 120 The Northmen in Britain After his triumphal entry into his palace with hi* princely hostages, rejoicings and feastings went on for the space of five months, the hostages taking part in all the festivities and being royally entertained. The Queen herself waited on them and saw to all their wants. Before their arrival messengers had been sent forward to tell the Queen to send out her maidens to cut fresh rushes for the floor and to bring in kine and oxen for the feast. The Queen on her own behalf, to show her joy, supplied them all with food, and her banquets " banished the hungry look from the army." When the season of rejoicing was past Murtough led the captive princes out of his castle, and lest he should seem to be assuming glory and rights not properly his own. he sent them under escort to the High-King of Ireland, begging him, in eourtly language, to receive them in token of his submission and respeet. His message runs thus : '" Receive, Donagh, these noble princes, for there is none in Erin so greatly exalted as thyself." But Donagh, King of Ireland, would not aeeept so great a token of submission at Murtough's hands. He replied : ** Now thou art a greater prince than I, O King ! Thy hand it was that took these princes captive ; in all Ireland is there none thine equal." So the captives were sent back, and apparently set free, with the blessing of the King of Ireland. Only one year afterwards, in 943, Murtough again met the angry Northmen at the ford of Ardee. on the River Boyne, and fell by the sword of Blaeaire. son of Godfrey, lord of the Foreigners. There is something romantic and unusual in every act of this Northern prince of the O'Neills, and we feel inclined to echo Risffl«^>itblBi//iaTnS The Battle of London Bridge 188 Murtough of the Leather Cloaks 121 the despairing words of the old chronicler who records his death : " Since Murtough does not live the country of the Gael is for ever oppressed." It would seem to have been a daughter of this brave Murtough whose story we find in the Icelandic Laxdsela Saga, and who in these troublous times was carried away by the Norse out of her own country and sold as a slave in Northern Europe, eventually being pur- chased by an Icelander and carried away to Iceland. Her story is so interesting in itself and throws so much light on the conditions of the time that we will now tell it at length. If it was really Murtough of the Leather Cloaks who was father to this poor enslaved princess, torn from her home in Ireland and carried far overseas, never to return, we cease to wonder at the persistent hatred with which Murtough pursued the foes at whose hand he had received so great injuries as the death of his father and the loss of his daughter. In this case he was the grandfather of the famous Icelandic chief, Olaf Pa, or Olaf the Peacock. Chapter XVII The Story of Olaf the Peacock (From Laxd-ela Saga) SLAVERY was commonly practised in the days of which we are writing, and slaves taken in war were often carried from the British Isles to Ice- land or Norway. There are many accounts of slaves with Irish or Scottish names in the Icelandic " Book of the Settlements " ; they appear often to have given great trouble to their foreign masters. But it is less common to find a lady of high rank, an Irish princess, carried off from her people and sold as a slave in open market. The lady was named Melkorka, and her story is found in Laxdala Saga, from which Saga we have already taken our account of the life and death of Unn the Deep-minded. 1 Parts of this Saga are closely connected with Irish affairs. There was in the tenth century in Iceland a young man whose name was Hoskuld. He was of good position and held in much esteem both in Norway and at his own home in Iceland. He was appointed one of the bodyguard of King Hakon, and he stayed each year, turn and turn about, at Hakon's Court in Norway and at his own home in Iceland, which he called Hoskuld- stead. He was married to a handsome, proud, and 1 Chap. vi. p. 4". 122 The Story of Olaf the Peacock 123 extremely clever woman, named Jorunn, who, the saga says, " was wise and well up in things, and of manifold knowledge, though rather high-tempered at most times." Hoskuld and she loved each other well, though in their daily ways they made no show of their love. Hoskuld, with his wife's money joined to his own, became a great chieftain, for Jorunn was daughter of the wealthiest land-owner in all that part of the country, and his house and family stood in great honour and renown. Now there came a time when the King, attended by his followers, went eastward at the beginning of summer, to a meeting at which matters of international policy were discussed and settled between Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. From all lands men came to attend the meeting, and Hoskuld, who at that time was staying with his kinsfolk in Norway, went along with the rest. There was a great fair going on in the town, with eating and drinking and games and every sort of entertainment, and crowds passed to and fro along the streets. Hoskuld met many of his kinsfolk who were come from Denmark, and one day, as they went out to disport themselves, he marked a stately tent far away from the other booths, with a man in costly raiment and wearing a Russian hat on his head presiding at the door of the tent. Hoskuld asked his name. He said his name was Gilli ; 1 " but most men call me Gilli the Russian," he added, " and maybe you know me by that name." Hoskuld said he knew him well, for he was esteemed the richest man of all the guild of merchants. " Perhaps," he said, " you 1 The name Gilli is evidently either Scotch or Irish, which explains the fact that he had an Irish girl among his slaves. He either was an inhabitant of these countries pretending to he a Russian merchant, or he was a Russian who had lived in Scotland. 124 The Northmen in Britain have things to sell which we might wish to buy." Gilli asked what sort of things he might be looking for, and Hoskuld said he was needing a bondswoman, if he had one to sell. " There," said the man, " I see that you mean to give me trouble by asking for things you don't expect me to have in stock ; but after all perhaps I can satisfy you." Then Hoskuld noticed that right across the back of the booth there was a curtain drawn ; when the man drew the curtain, Hoskuld saw that there were twelve women seated behind it in a line across the booth. Gilli said that Hoskuld might examine the women if he chose. Then Hoskuld looked carefully at them, and he saw one woman seated on the outskirts of the tent, a little apart from the rest, very poor and ill-clad, but, so far as he could judge, fair to look upon. Then he asked : " What is the price of this woman if I should wish to buy her ? " kk Three silver pieces must be weighed out to me for that woman," Gilli replied. " It seems to me," said Hoskuld, " that you charge highly for this woman, for that is the price of three." " Choose any of the other women," said Gilli, " and you shall have them at the price of one silver mark ; but this bondswoman I value more highly than the other eleven." " I must see," said Hoskuld, " how much silver I have in the purse in my belt ; take you the scales while I search my purse and see what I have to spend." Then Gilli said : " As you seem to wish to have this woman, Hoskuld, I will deal frankly with you in the matter. There is a great drawback to her which I wish to let you know about before the bargain is struck between us." Hoskuld was surprised, and he asked what it was. " The woman," said Gilli, " is dumb. I have tried in every way to persuade her to talk, but The Story of Olaf the Peacock 125 not a word have I ever got out of her, and sure I am that she knows not how to speak." " Bring out the scales, nevertheless," said Hoskuld, " and weigh my purse, that we may see how much silver is in it." Then the silver was poured out, and it came to just three marks. " Now," said Hoskuld, " our bargain is concluded, for the marks are yours, and I will have the woman. I take it that you have behaved honestly in this affair, and have had no wish to deceive me therein." When he brought her home, Hoskuld said to her : " The clothes Gilli the Rich gave you do not appear to be very grand, though it is true that it was more of a business for him to dress twelve women than for me to dress one." With that he opened a chest and took out some fine women's clothes and gave them to her ; and when she was dressed every one was surprised to see how fair and noble she looked in her handsome array. She was still quite young, for she had been taken prisoner of war and carried away to Europe when she was only fifteen winters old, and it was remarked by all that she was of high birth and breeding, and that, in spite of her want of speech, she was no fool. When Hoskuld brought his slave home to Iceland, Jorunn, his wife, asked the name of the girl whom he had brought with him. " You will think I am mocking you," said Hoskuld, " when I tell you that I do not know her name." " In that you must be deceiving me," said Jorunn ; " for it is impossible that you have been all this time with this girl without inquiring even her name." So Hoskuld told her the truth, that the girl was deaf and dumb, and he prayed that she might be kindly treated, more especially on that account. Jorunn said she had no mind to ill-use her, least of all if she was dumb. But nevertheless she treated [26 The Northmen in Britain the poor girl with disdain, and made a waiting-maid of her, and one day it is told that while Afelkorka (for that was the woman's name) "was aiding her mistress to undress, Jorunn seised the stockings that were lying on the floor and smote her about the head. Melkorka got angry at this, and Hoskuld had to eonie in and part them, lie soon saw that the mistress and maid could not live happily together, therefore he pre- pared to send Melkorka away to a dwelling he had bought for her up in Salmon-river-dale, on the waste land south of the Salmon River. And all the time the desolate girl, either from pride and despair or because she COUld speak no language but her native tongue, kept up the illusion that she was deaf and dumb. Neither kind nor unkind treatment could force her to open her lips. There came a time when Melkorka had a son. a very beautiful boy. who at two years old could run about and talk like boys of four. And Hoskuld often visited the two. for he was proud of the boy. and he named him Olaf. Early one morning, as Hoskuld had gone out to look about his manor, the weather being tine, and the sun but little risen in the sky and shining brightly, it happened that he heard some voices of people talking : so he went down to where a little brook ran past the home-field slope, and he saw two people there whom he recognised as the boy Olaf and his mother: then he discovered for the tirst time that she was not speechless, for she was talking a great deal to her son. It was in Irish that she was talking. Then Hoskuld went to her and asked her name, and said it was useless to try ami hide it any longer. They sat down together on the edge of the field, and she told him of her birth The Story of Olaf the Peacock i 27 and history. Ilia! h