Читать книгу History of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway (Vol. 1&2) - S. A. Dunham - Страница 12

Table of Contents

ABOUT A.C. 70 TO A.D. 1030.

NEW KINGDOM OF THE YNGLINGS IN VERMELAND.—KINGS FROM OLAF TRÆTELIA TO HALFDAN THE BLACK.—HALFDAN THE TRUE FOUNDER OF THE NORWEGIAN MONARCHY.—HARALD HARFAGER.—ERIC OF THE BLOODY AXE.—HAKO THE GOOD.—HARALD GRAAFELD.—HAKO THE JARL.—SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF OLAF TRYGVESON.—HIS EARLY PIRATICAL EXPLOITS.—HIS ROMANTIC FORTUNES.—HE BECOMES KING OF NORWAY.—HIS DESTRUCTION OF THE IDOLS.—HIS INTOLERANT BIGOTRY AND CRUEL PERSECUTIONS.—HIS TRAGICAL DEATH, OR, ACCORDING TO SOME WRITERS, HIS MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE FROM THE WORLD.—OLAF THE SAINT.—HIS ADVENTURES OF A PIRATE.—HIS ACCESSION TO THE CROWN OF NORWAY.—HIS PERSECUTING CHARACTER.—HIS QUARRELS AND SUBSEQUENT ALLIANCE WITH SWEDEN.—IS DRIVEN INTO EXILE BY CANUTE THE GREAT.—HE RETURNS, AND IS SLAIN.—HIS PRETENDED SANCTITY.

That Norway had its chiefs with the regal title, if not prior to our Saviour’s birth, many centuries before the fall of the Ynglings in Sweden, is undoubted. We find allusions to them in Danish and Swedish history, and in chronicles which, though of a later period, were derived from sources now lost. The country was full of them. Most of them, as we have already observed^[159], boasted of their descent from an old Finnish race, which, though half mythologic, had, in primeval times, produced many chiefs of illustrious name. But of their deeds we have no evidence beyond the little supplied by the uncertain voice of tradition; and that little is so exaggerated by fable as to be useless. We will not rescue their names from oblivion: our narrative must accompany the fates of the Ynglings from their first settlement in Vermeland in Sweden, to their conquest of Norway. In regard to the latter country, we shall only observe that when Olaf Trætelia laid the foundation of a new power, it had as many reguli as at any former period. To subjugate them in succession, and to incorporate their petty states into one great monarchy, was the constant aim of his successors.^[160]

|630 to 640.|

The province of Vermeland, to which Olaf Trætelia retired, and in which he laid the foundation of a new state, was, as we have before observed, situated to the north of the Vener Lake. Here the assiduity with which he and his followers cleared the ground of its forests procured him, at Upsal, the scornful application of Trætelia, or Wood-cutter. But he despised the ridicule, and persevered. By degrees, many thousands of the people, whom attachment to the Ynglings, or the hope of greater freedom in the woods, rendered discontented at Upsal, or Sigtuna, or Birca, hastened to join him. Some writers assert that he returned for a season to his capital, and ruled the Swedes as his ancestors had done. But this statement is unsupported by any ancient authority, and is hostile to reason. Vermeland might well be confounded with Upland, for both were and are Swedish provinces. But the very circumstance which should have fortified him against the power of his enemies occasioned his death. The number of new comers was so great that the region, which was yet imperfectly cultivated, was unable to support them; the colony became a prey to famine, and the visitation was, as usual, ascribed to the king. According to the religious notions of the Swiar, every public misfortune was a proof that the gods were offended: but they could not be offended without a cause; and, as the monarch was the representative of the whole society, he was held responsible for the calamity. Besides, Olaf was not very zealous in the observances of religion; he seldom offered sacrifices; and his blood only could propitiate the deities. By a large body of his subjects his house was surrounded, set on fire, and consumed with him—a meet sacrifice to Odin for an abundant year. This prince deserved a better fate. His name will be held in remembrance, not only as the founder of a new kingdom, but as one who laboured with much zeal for the welfare of his people. By his marriage with Solveig, the daughter of Halfdan, king of Soleyr, a state lying to the west of Vermeland, and founded about a century before his own, he left to his successors a claim on that province.^[161]

|640 to 840.|

Olaf left two sons, Halfdan and Ingiald. The former, on the tragical death of his father, was with his grandfather in Soleyr, but he was followed by the Swedes, and demanded from the old king. The latter, however, having no desire to surrender his grandson to the murderers of the father, resisted, and a battle ensued, in which he lost his life. Halfdan was raised to the government of both states, and, with the aid of both, he subdued Raumarik, a country west of Soleyr. The three formed a compact and scarcely accessible kingdom, which, when governed by chiefs of enterprise and policy, could not fail to extend its limits to the west and north. Like his father, Halfdan studied how to promote the interest of his new state by a matrimonial alliance. North of Raumarik lies Hedmark, a small province subject to a king named Eystein. Its situation was so convenient in respect to Raumarik and Soleyr, that Halfdan eagerly sought and obtained the hand of Esa, daughter of Eystein. This union affording him a pretext for interfering in the affairs of that province, half of it, by force or policy, he soon added to his other states; and he afterwards subdued a considerable portion of Westfold, which he claimed in right of Hilda, princess of Westfold, the wife of his son. He died at Thotnia, one of his new acquisitions; but his body was carried to Westfold, and there interred. Over Vermeland was his brother Ingiald; and after the death of this chief the province was administered by jarls.

|730 to 840.|

Eystein, the son of Halfdan, succeeded to the united crowns of Raumarik and Westfold. As the latter province was maritime, Eystein built vessels, and followed the ordinary as well as most honourable profession of his time—that of piracy. According to the tradition which the poet Thiodulf perpetuated, he perished in one of his expeditions. He had the temerity to disembark on the coast of Varnia—the king of which was a great magician—to lay waste the region bordering on the sea; to carry to his ships everything upon which he could lay his hands, and to slaughter the cattle on the sea-shore. Scarcely had he embarked, when the wizard king arrived. The latter knew how to be avenged. Shaking his mantle in the air, and blowing from his mouth, another vessel suddenly appeared close to that of Eystein, and the spar which was used for distending the sails striking the king, who was sitting at the helm, he was thrown overboard. The sailors flew to his aid, but could not rescue him from the waves until the vital spark had fled. Halfdan II., the son of Eystein, is noted for a strange inconsistency in his conduct. To his followers—and as a piratical chief he had many—he gave, in the shape of wages, as many golden as other kings gave silver pieces of money; yet he almost starved them for want of food.^[163] The sceptre was now swayed by Gudred, the son of Halfdan, who, from his chief pursuit, was called the hunter king. He was also called Gudred the Magnificent, probably from the extent of his dominions, no less than from his wealth. None of his predecessors understood better the art of profiting by matrimonial alliances. His first wife was Alfhilda, daughter of the king of Alfheim; and with her he received, as dowry, a part of Vingulmark. As this province was bounded on the north by Raumarik, on the west by Westfold—both on the southern confines of Norway and Sweden—it was a valuable acquisition. On her death, in looking round where his dominions could be most conveniently extended, the maritime coast of Agder, which lay to the south of Westfold, and which, like that province, is now a portion of Christiania, as Raumarik is of Aggerhus, he demanded Asa, daughter of that king. On the refusal of Harald to bestow the princess on him—probably from a knowledge of his ulterior policy—he equipped a fleet, sailed to the coast of Agder, disembarked, hastened to the royal abode, and assailed king Harald, who fell in the battle, together with the heir of the province. Agder therefore became an easy prey to this ambitious monarch. But it was his doom to fall by the hand of a domestic, at the instigation of his second wife, Asa, many years after. His states were now divided between Olaf and Halfdan; the former his son by Alfhilda, the latter by Asa: the one reigned in the east (Vermeland), the other in the south. Vermeland, at this time, was tributary to the Swedish kings; its contiguity, indeed, to Upsal, rendered it too liable to conquest by the successors of Ivar Torfœus, Historia Norvegica, tom. i. Vidfadme; and its geographical posture placed it within the limits of Sweden rather than those of Norway, into which the dominions of Gudred were now extending. It is to Halfdan, the son of Gudred, that our narrative must chiefly remain, especially as his glory was doomed to eclipse that of all his predecessors.^[164]

|840 to 850.|

Such was the state of the kingdom when Halfdan the Black, by the tragical death of his father, became sovereign of one portion. Probably, however, the superiority over the whole rested with his elder brother, Olaf. But when his father died he was only a year old; and his brother Olaf, or his kinsmen, seized the administration of the whole kingdom, except his maternal inheritance of Agder. His position was, therefore, not enviable; and no one, at this moment, could have predicted his future success. To his mother, who, during his minority, undertook the government of Agder, and who raised him under her own eye, he was probably indebted for many advantages. On reaching his eighteenth year he assumed the government of Agder, and hastened into Westfold to demand from his brother Olaf some portion of his inheritance. It was on this occasion that the partition of the province took place, probably to the dissatisfaction of Olaf; but Halfdan had a strong body of troops, and the provincial states, whose authority was superior to that of the crown, were not regardless of justice. But other provinces, the administration of which had been usurped, were yet to be recovered; and events soon proved that he was likely to sustain the interests of his house. With the force at his command he hastened to Vingulmark, to claim the portion of that province formerly held by his father. Though he encountered resistance enough, he attained his object, namely, one half of the province. He next marched into Raumarik, which he recovered. This act brought him into hostility with Sigtrug, king of Hedmark, son of Eystein, who, like other monarchs of the time, had committed the fatal error of dividing his states. Halfdan was victorious; and Sigtrug compelled to flee, wounded by an arrow. Another son of Eystein, who also ruled in Hedmark, attempted to continue the war; and, during the absence of Halfdan in Westfold, invaded Raumarik. The latter hastily returned, defeated this new enemy, and pursued him into Hedmark, which he also subdued. But the resources of Eystein were not exhausted: twice was he enabled by his royal allies in the north to remove the warfare; yet he was twice vanquished. Seeing that there was no hope from hostilities, he threw himself on the mercy of Halfdan, who, says the historian, granted to the kinsman what he had refused to the enemy, namely, one half of Hedmark. Two districts more, bordering on Hedmark—small in extent, but convenient for their site—were soon added by him to his other possessions.^[165]

|850.|

Here Halfdan paused in his career of victory, to try what could be gained by marriage. Sogne lay contiguous to one of his districts; its king had, fortunately, no son, but a marriageable daughter; and he obtained her hand. The offspring of this union was a prince, Harald by name, who, according to the manner of the times, was sent in his boyhood to be educated at the court of his maternal grandfather. On the death of that relative, young Harald was hailed as the future sovereign; but the mother and the prince soon followed him to the tomb, and Halfdan had only to march to Sogne to take possession of it, as the nearest heir to all three. At this time the princes who reigned over a portion of Vingulmark endeavoured to surprise him amidst the darkness of night; and though they failed in this purpose, they were able, through their numerical superiority, to defeat him. This check, however, was but temporary: he soon collected a large force, and was the victor in his turn. The whole of Vingulmark soon yielded at his summons.^[166]

|852 to 863.|

Halfdan was too regardful of his interests to pass a long widowhood. The ample province of Ringarik lay immediately west of Westfold. It was ruled by Sigurd, surnamed Hiort, or the Stag, from his addiction to the chase. Besides a daughter, this prince had a son; but the latter was yet an infant, and the chances were in favour of the daughter becoming the sole heiress. The circumstances preceding and attending this second marriage are illustrative of social manners. Sigurd was of large proportions, of indomitable bravery, and of great success in duels, which at the age were so common. In his twelfth year he is said to have vanquished a noted berserk, and eleven of his fellows, in succession. But his delight was to ride alone into the most solitary forests and the scarcely accessible mountains of Norway, to fight with beasts of prey. One day, as he was wandering in quest of his four-footed enemies on the confines of Hadaland, he fell in with Hako, a noted berserk, accompanied by thirty more. A combat followed, which proved fatal to Sigurd; but twelve of Hako’s company fell before him, and that chief lost a hand and received some dangerous wounds. He was carried immediately into the neighbouring kingdom of Ringarik, to the residence of the deceased Sigurd. According to the manner of the times, he took Ragnilda, the daughter, and Guthrum, the son, of Sigurd, with an immense prey, and returned into Hadaland, where he had considerable lands. His dearest object was to celebrate his marriage with Ragnilda, but the severity of his wounds rendered some delay unavoidable. His nuptial day was never to come. Halfdan no sooner heard of this event than he ordered Harek, one of his chiefs, to fetch the princess to his palace. Accompanied by a hundred men, Harek hastened to the residence of Hako, approached it during the silence of night, broke into the place, seized Ragnilda and her brother, and, setting fire to the house, returned with the illustrious captives. Hako, indeed, had strength enough to rise and pursue the fugitives. In vain: before he could reach the lake which lay in the path, and which, as it was the yule season, was frozen over, they were far before him. In despair he fell upon his own sword, and was buried on the margin of the lake. Halfdan was on the other bank; and no sooner did he perceive the vehicle moving over the distant ice than he knew his commands had been successfully obeyed. He therefore ordered a banquet to be prepared, and guests to be invited from every part of his own country. That very day, in presence of his assembled guests, the nuptials were celebrated. The issue was the famous Harald, surnamed Harfager, or Fair-haired. We have no wish to record the dreams which, previous to the birth of the prince, raised the anxiety of the two parents. Such portents are always invented in regard to men whom fortune has elevated above their fellows.^[167]

|863.|

Halfdan the Black was, for his age, a superior prince. He made some laws, and, what is much better, he caused them to be observed. His legislation, of course, was truly Gothic; that is, crimes were visited with pecuniary mulcts, varied according to the rank of the culprit and of the person injured. He was not so fond of his youthful son Harald as was the mother, Ragnilda; yet the qualities of the boy were such as to excite the admiration of an heroic age. The death of this king was, in the superstitious opinion of the times, preceded by a wonderful circumstance. As he was sitting at table with a multitude of guests, to celebrate the yule festival, the meats and drinks suddenly disappeared. The latter, alarmed at the portent, quitted the table, and left the king alone. What could be the meaning? A Finnish magician was seized, put to the torture, and commanded to say what the portent indicated. But he could or would say nothing; and he besought prince Harald to procure his liberation. Harald applied to the king; but finding him inexorable, he allowed the poor Finn to escape, and was the companion of his flight. At this time, Harald was only ten years of age; and he was to see his father no more. Immediately after this event Halfdan returned, on a sledge, towards another part of his dominions. In his way was a lake, which was to be crossed over the ice. But holes had been made in it, for the cattle to be watered; a thaw had commenced, and the king had not proceeded far before the ice gave way, and he was engulfed in the cold abyss; most of his attendants perishing with him. Thus ended the short but memorable career of Halfdan the Black. His memory was always dear to Norway; and during his life he was always reverenced as one of the greatest benefactors of his people. A prodigious crowd arrived to honour his funeral; but they would not allow the body to be interred in Raumarik. During his reign the land had been so fertile that he was believed to be an especial favourite of the gods. Wherever he was, dead or alive, prosperity was expected; and the warriors from the different states of his kingdom demanded that he should be buried in their district. The dispute, we are told, was ended by the division of his body into four parts, corresponding with the four shires of Raumarik, Ringarik, Hedmark, and Westfold. The head was buried in Ringarik, the other members in each of the other districts. Hence, says the historian, the number of sepulchres which are still called the tombs of Halfdan.^[168]

|863.|

As Harald Harfager was but a child when his father was drowned, the neighbouring reguli, under the pretext of recovering what their predecessors had lost, hastened to divide his ample inheritance. One party invaded Hedmark, a second Westfold, a third advanced towards the residence of Harald, to make him prisoner. But he had a noble defender in his uncle, Guthrum^[169], whom he made general of his troops, and his minister. This chief collected troops, and, with the young king, marched against the invader of Westfold, whom he defeated and left dead in the field. The place where this great victory was achieved was called Hakadal, or Hako’s Dale, from the name of the chief who fell there. Another invader of that province, Gandulf, was defeated; but, more fortunate than Hako, he contrived to escape with life. Seeing the fate of these two battles, the remaining princes determined not to fight singly, but in concert; and a meeting was appointed in the rock mountains of the upland province of Hedmark. But the intention was soon known to the two heroes; and, proceeding, without loss of time, to the appointed place, they fell, at midnight, on the outposts of the camp, while two of the chiefs were sleeping, and in the skirmish which ensued, sent two other kings to join them in the hall of Odin. The fruits of this victory were not only the recovery of all which had been invaded, but the acquisition of several districts to the north and west of his hereditary possessions. When Gandulf returned to the charge, he was again defeated, and sent to drink mead, to feed on the grisly boar, and to fight with the dark shades of Odin’s warrior ghosts: his dominions as far as the river Raum became the prize of the victor.^[170]

|865 to 868.|

After these unexpected successes, Harald thought that he might aspire to the favours of any princess in the north. Hearing of the charms of Gyda, daughter of Eric, jarl or king of Hordaland, he sent messengers to her, not with the offer of his hand, but of his heart. The reply of the lady, if any faith is to be reposed in tradition, was unequalled for its pride. So far from being the mistress, she would not be the wife, of one whose territory consisted in a few insignificant provinces; she would never marry any one beneath the dignity of a monarch—who did not, like Eric of Sweden, and Gorm of Denmark, hold absolute sway over the whole country. The answer of the heroine being brought to the king, he admired her ambition, and vowed to the gods that he would never cut or comb his hair until he had subdued the whole of Norway—until its revenues and authority were his: and if he failed in his attempt, the penalty should be his life. All this is fable: Harald needed not a woman’s advice to enter on a career which he had long meditated, and which his father had, probably, meditated before him. He might, however, make the vow. In pursuance of that vow, which was highly pleasing to Guthrum, he enlisted all the forces he could, and marched towards the north, through Godbrandsdalia, having the Dofrafeld mountains on his left. The inhabitants fled at his approach into the uplands; some into Orkadal, others into Ganlardal, others into the recesses of the mountains; but many—perhaps the greater number—preferred his yoke to exile and ruin: they did homage, and were unmolested. Pursuing his way into Orkadal, which lay beyond the Dofrafeld chain, in the modern province of Drontheim, he defeated an army, there assembled to oppose him, received the homage of the royal general, and annexed Orkadal, as he had done the intervening regions, to the other dependencies of his crown. Nor must it be forgotten that he was the great champion of the feudal system. Wherever he conquered, he abolished the allodial law of inheritance, and converted all lands into fiefs, to be held from him alone, on the usual obligations. But he did more: he insisted that all rents should be paid in kind; that one third of the portion accruing to the crown should be set apart for the support of the local government. Over each province he placed a jarl, whose duties were, to defend it against all enemies, to collect the revenues, to preside over the local administration. Associated with each jarl were four, at least two, herser or councillors, whose office was at once military and administrative; and to each was awarded a benefice of twenty marks in yearly value. In time of war each jarl was to support sixty, each of the herser twenty, armed men, at his own expense. So ample were the revenues of each province, that the jarls were more wealthy and more powerful than many royal chiefs of the period. Hence the dignity was an object of ambition, and he who could bestow it did not want applicants for it: in the hope of obtaining it, most of the nobles hastened to join him whenever he entered a province.^[171]