The Sagas of Olaf Tryggvason and of Harald The Tyrant (Harald Haardraade) Part 23

Astonished am I that thou who foughtest fifteen winters for Denmark will not take England which is lying at thy hand.' King Harald pondered with care over what the Earl had said to him, and well wot he that in great measure had he said sooth; and added thereto conceived he the wish to conquer that kingdom.

Thereafter the King and the Earl talked long & oft together, & in the end covenanted they an agreement that come the summer they would fare to England and conquer the country. King Harald sent round the whole of Norway calling out a levy, one half of the general war-muster.

Now all this was much spoken of by men, and many were the guesses as to how things would go on the faring. Some reckoned & counted up all deeds of valour, swearing how naught would be impossible of King Harald, but said others that England would be difficult to conquer inasmuch as the people were exceeding numerous, & those warriors who were called the Thingmanna-host-- so doughty that one of them was better than two of Harald's best men.

Thus answered Ulf the Marshal:

'Never would the marshals Of the King (uncompelling Ever gat I riches) Turn them to the King's stern-hold n.o.ble woman, an twain should be pressed back by One Thingman (other than That when young I learned me).'

-- That spring Ulf the Marshal died, & Harald when he stood by his grave said ere he quitted it: 'Here lies he that was ever the most faithful & the most dutiful to his lord.' To Flanders also sailed Earl Tosti in springtide so that he should meet the men the which had followed him from England, with those others also who were to join him from England and likewise from Flanders.

-- The host to King Harald was gathered together in Solundir-- and when all things were made ready and he was about to set sail from Nidaros went he to the shrine of King Olaf, and thrusting his hands into the sanctuary cut he off the hair and the nails pertaining to the saint, and thereafter turned he the key once of the shrine and then threw that same key into the Nid; and since that time forsooth hath the shrine of the holy King Olaf never been opened.

Five and thirty winters had been encompa.s.sed since his fall, and five and thirty years had he lived in the world.

Then King Harald and the men that were with him gat them a course southward to meet his host; or ever that time it was a mighty force that met together, and it is told among men that to King Harald were nigh upon two hundred-- keels, besides victualling s.h.i.+ps and smaller craft.

When they were lying off Solundir a certain man named Gyrd, who was on the own s.h.i.+p to the King, dreamed a dream, and to him it seemed as though he stood on that same s.h.i.+p and beheld up on the isle a great troll-woman, & in one hand held she a short sword and in the other a trough. And to him also did it appear that he was looking at all the other s.h.i.+ps, and on the prow to each was perched a fowl of the air, and all of those same fowl were either eagles or ravens.

The troll-woman sang:

'King from the east in sooth To battle inciteth Many a warrior westward, (Joyful am I therefor); There may the raven find For itself food on the s.h.i.+ps (It knows enow there is); With thee will I ever fare.'

-- Now a certain man hight Thord abode on one of the s.h.i.+ps nigh to the own s.h.i.+p of the King, and on a night dreamed he that he saw the fleet to King Harald faring landward, and he seemed to wot that to England were they coming.

Then he saw on the land a vast host of men & both hosts were making them ready for battle, and for each were many banners held on high. Before the host of the men of the land rode a swarth troll-woman, sitting on a wolf, and the wolf had the body of a man in its mouth, & blood flowed from the corners thereof. And when it had eaten the man she threw yet another into its mouth, and thereafter threw she one man after another, but notwithstanding made it scant ado at swallowing them all. And so she sang:

'The troll makes the red s.h.i.+eld gleam when war comes nigh.

Bride of the giant-brood mishap to the King foretells.

The quean with the jaws flings flesh of fallen warriors; Raging the wolf's mouth she dyes red with blood.'

-- Furthermore it befell that King Harald dreamed one night and in his vision lo he was in Nidaros, and there met he his brother, King Olaf, who chanted a verse to him:

'The burly King in many fights with honour conquered.

I gat (because at home I stayed) a holy fall to earth.

Still of this I fear me that death is nigh thee, King; The greedy wolves thou fill'st; Ne'er was this caused by G.o.d.'

-- Men spake low of many other dreams and omens of divers kinds, and the bulk of them were of ill import. Or ever King Harald left Throndhjem caused he his son Magnus to be accepted as King, and made he him ruler over the kingdom of Norway.

Thora, the daughter of Thorberg, also remained behind, but Queen Ellisif fared forth with King Harald and with them likewise her daughters Mary and Ingigerd; Olaf the son to King Harald also fared with him from the land.

-- When King Harald was ready, and a favourable wind had sprung up, sailed he out to sea & came to land at the Shetlands, but some of his s.h.i.+ps went on to the Orkneys. King Harald lay at these isles a while or ever set he sail for the Orkneys, & from these latter took he with him many men & the Earls Paal and Erling, twain sons to Thorfin the Earl, but behind him left he there Queen Ellisif & their daughters Mary & Ingigerd. Thereafter sailed he southward alongside Scotland, & then alongside England, and went ash.o.r.e there where it is called Cleveland.

And being come on land forthwith harried he the countryside, bringing it into subjection under him, & withal encountering no resistance.

Thereafter went King Harald into Scarborough, & fought there with the men of the town, and he went up on to the cliff there and ordered a vast bonfire to be made and a light thereto put, and when it was ablaze, his men took large forks and with them rolled it down into the town, and then one house after the other began to burn, so that there was naught for the townsmen to do save to surrender. There slew the Norwegians many men, and took all the goods whereon they could lay hands. No choice had then the Englishmen, an they wished to keep their lives, save to make submission to King Harald.

Wheresoever he fared brought he the land into subjection, and he continued on his way southward off the coast with the whole of his host, bringing-to at Holderness, and there a band came against him, and King Harald did battle with them and gained the day.

-- Now having come thus far on his journey King Harald fared south to the Humber and went up that river and lay in it beside the banks.

At that time there were up in Jerirk (York) Earl Morcar and his brother Earl Walthiof and with them was a vast host. King Harald was lying in the Ouse when the host of the Earls swooped down against him.

And King Harald went ash.o.r.e and set to arraying his host, and one arm of the array was ranked on the banks of the river, whereas the other stretched up inland over towards a certain d.y.k.e, and a deep marsh was there, both broad, and full of water.

The Earls bade the whole mult.i.tude of their array slink down alongside the river.

Now the banner to the King was nigh unto the river and there the ranks were serried, but near the d.y.k.e were they more scattered, and the men thereof also the least trustworthy.

The Earls then came down along by the d.y.k.e, and that arm of the battle-array of the Norwegians which faced the d.y.k.e gave way, and thereon the English pushed forward after them and deemed that the Norwegians would flee. Therefore did the banner of Morcar fare forward.

-- But when King Harald saw that the array of the English had descended alongside the d.y.k.e and was coming right toward them, then commanded he the war-blast to be sounded, and eagerly encouraged his men, and let the banner 'Land-waster' be carried forward; and even so fierce was their advance on the English, that all were repulsed and there fell a many men in the host of the Earls.

This host was even soon routed, and some fled up beside the river and some down, but the most of the folk ran right out into the d.y.k.e, and there the fallen lay so thick that the Norwegians could walk dry-shod across the marsh.

There too fell Earl Morcar.-- Thus saith Stein Herdason:

'Many in the river sank (The sunken men were drowned); All round about young Morcar of yore lay many a lad.

To flight the chieftain put them; The host to swiftest running Olaf the Mighty is.'--

-- The song that followeth was wrought by Stein Herdason about Olaf ye son to King Harald, and he saith, the which also we wot of that Olaf was in the battle with his father. This is told likewise in 'Haraldsstikka:'

'There the dead lay Down in the marsh Walthiof's fighters Weapon-bitten, So that they might The war-wonted hors.e.m.e.n There wend their way On corses only.'

-- Earl Walthiof and those men that contrived to make their escape from out the battle fled even up to the town of York, and there it was that the greatest slaughter took place. This battle was on the Wednesday-- or ever St. Matthew's Day.

-- Earl Tosti had come west (south) from Flanders to King Harald, and being even come to England joined himself with the Earl so that he had his part in all three battles. And now things came to pa.s.s even as he had told Harald at their meeting they would come to pa.s.s, to wit, that a number of men would flock to them in England, and these were both kinsmen and friends to Tosti; and their company added greatly to the strength of the King.

After the battle whereof we have but now heard related, all the men of the countryside hailed King Harald, albeit some few fled. And now set King Harald forth to take the city, and placed he his host by Stanford Bridge,-- but for the reason that the King had won so fair a victory over great lords and overwhelming odds were the people dismayed & deemed it hopeless to withstand him. Then took the citizens council together, & they were of one mind to send word to the King giving themselves and likewise the town into his power. This same was proffered even at such time that on the Sunday[--] fared King Harald and his men to the city, and there they held a council of war without the walls, and the citizens came out and were present at the council.

Then did all the folk promise obedience to King Harald; and gave him as hostages the sons of great men even according as Tosti chose, for the Earl knew all men in this town; and in the evening fared the King to his s.h.i.+ps elated with the victory he had won and withal was very joyful.

It was furthermore covenanted there should be held a Thing in the city-- early on that Monday when would King Harald appoint governors and grant fiefs and rights. Now that self-same evening, after the sun had gone down, approached King Harald G.o.dwinson with a vast host the city from the south, and rode he into the city by the will and consent of all the citizens.

Then were men posted at all the gates, and at all the roads, so that to the Norwegians there might get no tidings of what had befallen, and this host pa.s.sed the night within the walls.

-- On the Monday,[--] when Harald Sigurdson had eaten his fill at dinner, ordered he a blast to be sounded for a landing. And thereon made he ready his host and parted them, some to fare and some to tarry; and of each company he let two men go up for every one left behind.

And Tosti the Earl prepared him to go up with his company, but to guard his s.h.i.+p there tarried behind Olaf own son to the King, Paal and Erling the Orkney Earls, and Eystein Blackc.o.c.k, the son of Thorberg Arnason, who was in those days the man of most renown and withal dearest to the King of all feudatories, & King Harald had at that time promised him the hand of his daughter Maria. Very fine was the weather with warm suns.h.i.+ne, and wherefore because of this left the men their s.h.i.+rts of mail behind them and went with their s.h.i.+elds and helms and spears, with their swords girded on; and many had likewise bows and arrows, and withal were they very merry. But as they advanced on the city, behold a great host rode out towards them and they saw the smoke of horses, and here and there fair s.h.i.+elds and white coats of mail. Then halted the King his host and summoned Earl Tosti to him, and asked what manner of host this was like to be.