The Sagas of Olaf Tryggvason and of Harald The Tyrant (Harald Haardraade) | Page 7

of his heritage in Throndhjem before the death of Harald Grey-cloak; & that during the last six winters of Harald Grey-cloak's life, saith Ari, the sons of Gunnhild and Hakon fought against one another, & in turn fled the country.
? Earl Hakon and Gold Harald met not long after the fall of Harald Grey-cloak, & straightway Earl Hakon joined battle with Gold Harald. Therein Hakon gained the victory; moreover Harald was taken prisoner, and Hakon had him hanged upon the gallows. Thereafter fared Hakon to the Danish King, and easily made his peace with him for the slaying of his kinsman Gold Harald. King Harald then called out a host from the whole of his kingdom and sailed with six hundred ships, and there went with him Earl Hakon and Harald the Grenlander, who was a son of King Gudrod, and many other great men who had fled from their free lands in Norway before the sons of Gunnhild.
The Danish King set his fleet in sail up from the south to Vik, and when he was come to Tunsberg great numbers flocked to him.
And King Harald gave the whole of the host which had come to him in Norway into the hands of Earl Hakon, making him ruler over Rogoland and Hordaland, Sogn, the Fjords, South More, Raumsdal, and North More. These seven counties gave he to Earl Hakon to rule over, with the same rights as Harald Fair-hair had given to his sons; only with this difference, that not only was Hakon there as well as in Throndhjem to have all the King's manors and land-dues, but he was moreover to use the King's money and estates according to his needs should there be war in the land. To Harald the Grenlander gave King Harald Vingulmark, Vestfold, and Agdir as far as Lidandisness (the Naze) with the title of King, and gave him dominion thereof with all such rights as his kin had had aforetime, & as Harald Fair-hair had given to his sons. Harald the Grenlander was in these days eighteen winters old, & became thereafter a famous man. Then did Harald the Danish King hie him home with all the might of his Danish host.
? Earl Hakon fared with his men northward along the coast, and when Gunnhild and her sons heard these tidings gathered they together an host, but found obstacles to enrolling men at arms. So they took the same resolution as before, to wit to sail westward across the main with such men as would go with them, and thus fared they to the Orkneys and tarried there a while. Thorfinn Skull-cleaver's sons were now earls there-- Hlodvir, Arnvid, Liot, and Skuli. Forthwith did Earl Hakon subdue all the land and that winter abode he in Throndhjem. Of this speaketh Einar Jingle-scale in the Vellekla:
'The Earl that on his noble brow A silken fillet binds Counties seven hath he enthralled With their chattels, lands, and hinds.'
Now when Earl Hakon in the summer-time fared northward along the coast, & the people there made their submission to him, issued he proclamation that all temples and blood-offerings should be maintained throughout his dominions; and it was done accordingly. Thus it is said in the Vellekla:
'Seeing that he was wise The folk-leader commanded that be sacred kept The temple-lands of Thor and other Gods. Home to glory across the billows Did the shield-bearer steer the ship, It was the Gods that led him. 'And the men-loving ?sirs gloat on the offerings Whereby the shield-bearer is made of more account. Bountifully doth the earth give forth her sustenance When its lord builds temples for the Gods.' All that is northward to Vik lies under the heel of the Earl; Wide is the sway that he holds, mightily waxed by victories.'
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? That self-same first winter wherein King Hakon ruled over Norway came the herring up along the coast, and before that in the autumn had the corn grown wheresoever it had been sown; in the spring men gat themselves seed-corn and the greater number of the peasants sowed their fields, and soon there was promise of a good harvest.
? King Ragnfrod, son unto Gunnhild, and Gudrod, he that was another son to her, these two were now the only sons of Eirik and Gunnhild who were still alive.
Thus saith Glum Geirason in Grey-cloak's lay:
'Half is my hope of wealth downfallen since the strife, The strife in which the life of the chief was lost, The death of Harald weigheth me down, Albeit his brethren twain have good things promised me, And to them all men look for their welfare.'
? Now when Ragnfrod had abode one winter in the Orkneys made he him ready in the spring and thence shaped a course eastward to Norway, & with him were a chosen