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

wrought
the deed.'
¶ There fell with King Harald the greater number of his men; there,
likewise, fell Arinbiorn the 'hersir.' Fifteen winters had passed since the
fall of Hakon, he that was foster-son to Adalstein, and thirteen since the
fall of Sigurd the Earl of Ladir. The priest Ari Thorgilson saith that Earl
Hakon was for thirteen winters ruler 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 Æsirs 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.'
[Illustration]
¶ 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