The Sagas of the Icelanders (11 page)
Read The Sagas of the Icelanders Online
Authors: Jane Smilely
Borgarfjord
inherits his farm, he becomes a respected figure of authority himself, and does not engage in feuds in Iceland; his main involvement in a dispute occurs when he rules in his son Thorstein’s favour, acting as a figure of authority rather than of force. However, the trick he plans to humiliate the greedy thingmen in his eighties shows that his relish for provocation has never been entirely lost. At intervals he had been drawn away from Borg to pursue his feud with the Norwegian royal family, which escalates into a sheer battle of personalities with King Eirik Blood-axe and Queen Gunnhild. After their deaths he seems to realize that Norway is gradually changing into a world in which he can never be accepted, and Iceland becomes for him, as for so many other saga heroes, a kind of retirement home for ageing Vikings.
Although the objective style of the sagas does not allow direct revelation of the characters’ thoughts, the portrayal of Egil is exceptionally rich in psychology. His gestures are dramatic, almost ritualistic, as he sulks or broods, suffers personal sorrow in silence, flies into a rage or succumbs to childlike joy on receiving a noble gift. And while the saga is clearly a man’s world in which Egil fears no adversary, he is timid and submissive towards women, as shown by his almost blushing love for his brother’s widow Asgerd, who later becomes his wife, and by the way he allows his daughter Thorgerd to trick him out of his sympathy-seeking act of pining away after the death of his sons.
Scholars have pointed out the psychological tension between the ugly Egil and his ‘exemplary’ brother Thorolf, the jealousy which sometimes manifests itself in irresponsible pranks and then turns into self-reproach after Thorolf’s death in battle. Egil seems to have inherited this jealousy from his father, who was always overshadowed by his own brother, also named Thorolf, in the first part of the saga. Macabre tension between father and son is another psychological theme: Skallagrim even comes close to killing the young Egil once in a savage, shape-shifter’s fury.
Another window into Egil’s psyche is his poetry, which ranks with the most personal as well as the most accomplished in the sagas. We see Egil glorifying his own ugliness as if it were an archetypal landscape, depicting the living forces of nature and mythology in brisk, dramatic strokes, and exalting the values he cherishes most. The scene where Egil saves his life in York by reciting his ‘Head Ransom’ to King Eirik abounds in irony, since the poem has an empty, tongue-in-cheek ring to it compared to his other verse and seems, so to speak, to go over the king’s head anyway. By contrast, the eulogy for Arinbjorn is heartfelt, engaged, stacked with monumental metaphor and tinged with nostalgia for the lost Viking lifestyle. In ‘The Loss of My Sons’ Egil lays his soul bare, delves into thwarted ambition for his family and unrealized affection in the bonds that have been lost, and breaks with the god Odin who has given him gifts in both poetry and war, but deprived him of personal fortune.
Egil ’s Saga
is preserved in a number of vellum manuscripts and fragments dating from the second half of the thirteenth century onwards, although the most important is
Módruvallabók
(AM 132 fol., dated 1330–70). Composed in the second quarter of the thirteenth century, the saga is generally attributed on stylistic and other grounds to Iceland’s greatest medieval historian, Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241), who was a descendant of Egil. If the attribution is correct,
Egil’s Saga
is the only one whose author is known. It is translated here by Bernard Scudder from the version printed in
Íslendinga sögur
, vol. 1 (Reykjavik 1987), and incorporates a number of emendations based on Bjarni Einarsson’s new reading of
MoSruvallabok
and paper manuscripts deriving from it.
1
There was a man named Ulf, the son of Bjalfi and of Hallbera, the daughter of Ulf the Fearless. She was the sister of Hallbjorn Half-troll from Hrafnista, the father of Ketil Haeng. Ulf was so big and strong that no man was a match for him; and he was still only a youth when he became a Viking and went raiding. His companion was Kari from Berle, a man of high birth who had the strength and courage to perform great deeds. Kari was a berserk. He and Ulf shared all they owned and were close friends.
When they gave up plundering, Kari returned to his farm on Berle, a very wealthy man. Kari had three children, two sons called Eyvind Lamb and Olvir Hump, and a daughter named Salbjorg. She was a beautiful woman of firm character. Ulf married her, then he too returned to his farm. He was rich in both lands and possessions. He became a landholder like his ancestors and was a powerful figure.
Ulf is said to have been a very clever farmer. He made a habit of getting up early to inspect what his farmhands or craftsmen were doing and to keep an eye on his cattle and cornfields. Sometimes he would talk to people who were in need of his advice, for he was shrewd and always ready to make useful suggestions. But every day towards evening he would grow so bad-tempered that few people dared even address him. He always went to sleep early in the evening and woke up early in the morning. People claimed he was a shape-shifter and they called him Kveldulf (Night Wolf).
Kveldulf and his wife had two sons. The elder one was named Thorolf and the younger one Grim, and they both grew up to be big, strong men like their father. Thorolf was an attractive and highly accomplished man. He took after his mother’s side of the family, a cheerful, generous man, energetic and very eager to prove his worth. He was popular with everyone. Grim was swarthy and ugly, resembling his father in both appearance and character. He turned out to be an active man; he was gifted at working in wood and iron, and grew to be a great craftsman. In winter he would often set
off on a fishing boat to lay nets for herring, taking many farmhands with him.
When Thorolf was twenty, he made ready to go raiding, and Kveldulf gave him a longship. Kari’s sons Eyvind and Olvir joined him, with a large band of men and another longship. In the summer they went raiding and took plenty of booty which they shared out among themselves. They went raiding for several summers, spending the winters at home with their fathers. Thorolf brought many precious things back to give to his parents, for in those days it was easy to win both wealth and renown. Kveldulf was very old by then, and his sons had reached full manhood.
2
Audbjorn was king of Fjordane at this time. One of his earls was Hroald, who had a son named Thorir.
Atli the Slender, another earl, lived at Gaular and had three sons, Hallstein, Holmstein and Herstein, and a daughter called Solveig the Fair.
One autumn when there was a great gathering at Gaular for the autumn feast, Olvir Hump saw Solveig and began courting her. Later he asked for her hand, but the earl, not considering him worthy enough, would not marry her to him. Afterwards, Olvir composed many love poems and grew so obsessed with her that he gave up raiding, leaving Thorolf and Eyvind to go by themselves.
3
King Harald inherited the titles of his father Halfdan the Black and swore an oath not to cut or comb his hair until he had become sole king of Norway. He was called Harald Tangle-hair.
*
He did battle with the neighbouring kings and defeated them, as is told in long accounts. Afterwards he took over Oppland, and proceeded northwards to Trondheim where he fought many battles before gaining full control of all Trondheim district.
After that he intended to go north to Naumdal and take on the brothers Herlaug and Hrollaug, who were kings there, but when they heard that he was on his way, Herlaug and eleven of his men went into the mound they had spent the past three years building, and had it closed upon them. Hrollaug tumbled from power and took the title of earl instead, then submitted to Harald and handed over his kingdom. King Harald thereby took over Naumdal province and Halogaland and appointed men to govern there in his name.
Leaving Trondheim with his fleet of ships, he went south to More where
he won a battle against King Hunthjof, who was killed there. Then Harald took over North More and Romsdal.
Meanwhile, Hunthjof’s son Solvi Chopper, who had escaped, went to King Arnvid in South More and asked for his help.
‘Although this misfortune has befallen us now,’ he said, ‘it will not be very long before the same happens to you, because I think Harald will be here soon, once he has brought slavery and suffering to everyone he chooses in North More and Romsdal. You will face the same choice we had: either to defend your property and freedom by staking all the men you can hope to muster – and I will provide my forces too against such aggression and injustice – or to follow the course taken by the people of Naumdal who voluntarily entered servitude and became Harald’s slaves. My father felt it an honour to die nobly as king of his own realm rather than become subservient to another king in his old age. I think you will feel the same, and so will any other stalwarts who want to prove their worth.’
Persuaded by such words, the king resolved to muster forces and defend his land. He and Solvi swore an alliance and sent word to King Audbjorn, who ruled Fjordane province, to join forces with them. When the messengers delivered this message to King Audbjorn he discussed it with his friends, all of whom advised him to gather forces and join the people of More as he had been asked. King Audbjorn sent around an arrow of war as a signal to call men to arms throughout his kingdom and dispatched messengers to powerful men asking them to meet him.
But when the messengers told Kveldulf that the king wanted him to bring all the men on his farm to join him, he replied, ‘The king would consider it my duty to go with him if he had to defend his land and battles had to be fought in Fjordane province. But I don’t think it’s any duty of mine to go up north to More and fight there to defend other people’s land. Tell your king straight out when you meet him, that while he rushes off to battle Kveldulf will be staying at home, and will not muster any forces or set off to fight Harald Tangle-hair. I have a feeling Harald has plenty of good fortune in store for him, but our king doesn’t have enough to fill the palm of his hand.’
The messengers went back to the king and told him how their errand had turned out, and Kveldulf stayed at home on his farm.
4
King Audbjorn took the band of men he had gathered and went north to More, where he met King Arnvid and Solvi Chopper, and together they amassed great forces. By then, King Harald had arrived from the north
with his forces, and the two sides clashed on the fjord near Solskjel Island. A fierce battle ensued, with heavy losses on both sides. On Harald’s side, the two earls Asgaut and Asbjorn were killed, along with two of Earl Hakon of Lade’s sons, Grjotgard and Herlaug, and many other great men, while King Arnvid and King Audbjorn were killed on the side from More. Solvi Chopper escaped by fleeing and became a great Viking, and often raided in Harald’s kingdom, which was how he earned his nickname. Afterwards, King Harald conquered South More.
King Audbjorn’s brother Vemund kept control of Fjordane province and became its king. This happened late in autumn, and King Harald’s men advised him not to head south past Stad at that time, so Harald appointed Earl Rognvald to rule North and South More and Romsdal, and returned to Trondheim, keeping a large band of men with him.
The same autumn, Earl Atli’s sons attacked Olvir Hump’s farm, intending to kill him. They had far too many men for Olvir to fend off, so he fled. He went to More, met King Harald and became one of his men, then went north to Trondheim with the king that autumn and became close friends with him. He stayed with the king for a long time and became his poet.
That winter, Earl Rognvald travelled inland across lake Eidesjo and south to Fjordane, and received word about King Vemund’s movements. Rognvald turned up one night at a place called Naustdal where Vemund was at a feast. He stormed the house and burned the king and ninety men inside. Kari from Berle joined Earl Rognvald with a fully manned longship and they went to More together. Rognvald took the ship that King Vemund had owned, and all the possessions he could manage. Then Kari travelled north to Trondheim to meet King Harald, and entered his service.
The following spring King Harald sailed southwards along the coast with his fleet, conquering the Fjordane and Fjaler provinces and appointing his own men to rule them. He put Earl Hroald in charge of Fjordane province.
Once King Harald had taken over the kingdoms he had recently won, he kept a close watch on the landholders and powerful farmers and everyone else he suspected would be likely to rebel, and gave them the options of entering his service or leaving the country, or a third choice of suffering hardship or paying with their lives; some had their arms and legs maimed. In each province King Harald took over all the estates and all the land, habited or uninhabited, and even the sea and lakes. All the farmers were made his tenants, and everyone who worked the forests and dried salt, or hunted on land or at sea, was made to pay tribute to him.
Many people fled the country to escape this tyranny and settled various
uninhabited parts of many places, to the east in Jamtland and Halsingland, and to the west in the Hebrides, the shire of Dublin, Ireland, Normandy in France, Caithness in Scotland, the Orkney Isles and Shetland Isles, and the Faroe Islands. And at this time, Iceland was discovered.