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    Heimskringla: or, The Lives of the Norse Kings
    Heimskringla: or, The Lives of the Norse Kings
    Heimskringla: or, The Lives of the Norse Kings
    Ebook1,522 pages18 hours

    Heimskringla: or, The Lives of the Norse Kings

    By Snorri Sturluson

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    Great classic by Icelandic poet/chieftain chronicles the reigns of 16 high kings descended from the warrior-wizard god Odin. Major section on 15-year reign of Olav II Haraldson, patron saint of Norway. Based on earlier histories, oral traditions, plus new material by author, all presented with intelligence, warmth and objectivity. Over 130 illustrations and 5 maps.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateDec 3, 2012
    ISBN9780486137872
    Heimskringla: or, The Lives of the Norse Kings
    Author

    Snorri Sturluson

    SNORRI STURLUSON was a poet, historian, poet, and politician in Iceland. This book is a critical source of the tales and beliefs that makeup Norse mythology.

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      Heimskringla - Snorri Sturluson

      This Dover edition, first published in 1990, is an unabridged republication of the work originally published by W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd., Cambridge, England, in 1932 (the copy used for reproduction had Heffer on the spine but no imprint whatsoever on the title page). The location of some of the plates has been changed. Two errata indicated on an inserted slip in the original have been corrected directly in the text of the present edition.

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Snorri Stressless, 1179?-1241.

      [Heimskringla. English]

      Heimskringla, or The lives of the Norse kings / by Sunnier Sturlason ; edited with notes by Erling Monsen and translated into English with the assistance of A. H. Smith.

      p. cm.

      Translated from the Old Norse.

      Reprint. Originally published: Cambridge : W. Heffer, 1932.

      9780486137872

      1. Scandinavia—History. I. Monsen, Erling. II. Smith, A. H. (Albert Hugh), 1903-1967. III. Title. IV. Title: Lives of the Norse kings.

      PT7277-E5L3 1990

      839’.61—dc20

      89-25924

      CIP

      Table of Contents

      Title Page

      Copyright Page

      INTRODUCTION - TO THE TRANSLATION OF SNORRE’S HISTORY OF THE NORSE KINGS

      SNORRE STURLASON’S PREFACE

      ABBREVIATIONS

      I - YNGLINGA SAGA

      II - THE HISTORY OF HALVDAN THE BLACK

      III - THE HISTORY OF HARALD HAIRFAIR

      IV - THE HISTORY OF HACON THE GOOD

      V - THE HISTORY OF ERIC’S SONS

      VI - THE HISTORY OF HACON THE JARL

      VII - THE HISTORY OF OLAV TRYGVASON

      VIII - THE HISTORY OF ST OLAV

      IX - THE HISTORY OF MAGNUS THE GOOD

      X - THE HISTORY OF HARALD HARDRADE

      XI - THE HISTORU OF OLAV KYRRE (OR THE PEACEFULL) (1067–93: sole king from 1069)

      XII - THE HISTORY OF MAGNUS BAREFOOT (1093–1103)

      XIII - THE HISTORY OF SIGURD THE CRUSADER AND HIS BROTHERS EYSTEIN AND OLAV

      XIV - THE HISTORY OF MAGNUS THE BLIND AND HARALD GILLI (GILCHRIST) 1130–36

      XV - THE HISTORY OF SIGURD, INGE, AND EYSTEIN, THE SONS OF HARALD GILLI (1136–57)

      XVI - THE HISTORY OF HACON BROAD-SHOULDER (1157–61)

      XVII - THE HISTORY OF MAGNUS ERLINGSON (1161–77)

      INDEX

      A CATALOG OF SELECTED DOVER BOOKS IN ALL FIELDS OF INTEREST

      DOVER BOOKS ON LITERATURE AND DRAMA

      FACSIMILE OF A PAGE IN THE FLATEYJARBÓK

      Reproduced by kind permission of Levin and Munksgaard, Copenhagen

      INTRODUCTION

      TO THE TRANSLATION OF SNORRE’S HISTORY OF THE NORSE KINGS

      I. SNORRE’S LIFE

      SNORRE STURLASON belonged to a powerful family of Icelandic chiefs, and could reckon several distinguished men amongst his earlier ancestors. It was Snorre’s paternal grandfather, Tord Gilson, who first rose to the rank of leadership. But Tord’s mother was the maternal granddaughter of Haldor Snorrason of Hjardarholt (cf. ‘History of Harald Hardrade’, chapter 9) and Tord himself had married a great-great-granddaughter of the same Haldor. Tord’s son Sturla Tordson of Hvamm (A.D. 1115-83) was the father of the Sturlungs by his marriage. His wife, Gudny, on her father’s side was descended from the Myra-men, the famous family of scalds to which Egil Skallagrimson and Einar Skulason belonged; through her paternal grandmother, Gudny was also a descendant of the famous lawyer and scald, Markus Skeggjason. Sturla was described as wise and shrewd, vindictive and ambitious. In his later years he quarrelled with Paul Salveson of Reykjaholt, a powerful priest and leader, but Sturla was worsted, for John Loftson of Odda (mentioned in ‘History of Magnus the Blind’, chapter 9, and in ‘History of Magnus Erlingson’, chapter 21), the strongest and most renowned man in the island, took up Paul’s case and secured him justice. To reconcile Sturla to his defeat, John offered to bring up his three-year-old son, Snorre—an honour which Sturla found flattering and which knit the bonds of friendship between the family of Odda and the Sturlungs.

      When Sturla died in 1183 he divided his wealth amongst his three sons; the two elder, Tord and Sigvat, at once took over their share, whilst Snorre, then only five years old, who throughout his boyhood lived with his foster-father, had his mother as guardian of his share. John Loftson’s homestead at Odda (in the Southland) was a centre of culture. His paternal grandfather, Sæmund the Wise, had been famed as a learned priest with a remarkable knowledge of the earlier history of Iceland and Norway. He had kept a private school for the training of priests which was continued by his son Loft, likewise a priest. Loft’s son John had also had an ecclesiastical training and was consecrated a deacon. At Odda, Snorre no doubt had an ecclesiastical education; he had learned to read and write, and knew probably a good deal of Latin, and he soon occupied himself with the historical writings which were to be found in the homestead. Poetic composition was also to be found in John Loftson’s circle. Thus even in his early days Snorre received impulses towards the activity he displayed later as an author and historian. Here, too, he studied the law, such as secular chiefs needed when they had to act as judges at the quarter sessions and as members of the law-giving and adjudicating gatherings at the Althing. He also learned to understand the chiefs of Iceland and became intimate with their characters and individual qualities.

      After John’s death in 1197, Snorre, who was now 19 years old, still stayed on at Odda with John’s eldest son Sæmund, who even allowed Snorre to appear on his behalf in a legal action. Snorre was then comparatively poor, for his mother had wasted his heritage. In 1199, however, he made a marriage with Herdis, the rich daughter of Bersi of Borg.

      The fortune that Snorre had acquired by his marriage he knew how to use wisely; like his father and brothers he was a very enterprising and energetic landowner; like them he was eager for wealth and power. It is clear that at an early date he had gained possession of many big and goodly estates in the west and south of Iceland; to him belonged Hvamm, Stafaholt, Bessastadir and many others. At Reykjaholt, Snorre established himself as the virtual owner, although the estate was only left to his management; he built houses and enlarged them, raised a protective wall as well as a timber-hall, and the old bathing-place, which had already been in use in the tenth century, was most probably renovated by Snorre, as it is still called Snorralaug (Snorre’s bath).

      To the east of the garth lies Skrifla (pron. Skribla), one of the hot springs frequent in Iceland. From the spring there runs a partly covered-in water-race of masonry (about 110 yards long). The water-race opens out below the garth into a circular open bath, about 4 yards in diameter, built of flat rectangular blocks of stone, I yard deep. The temperature of the water is 97° centigrade, but it drops to 65° on its way to the bath. In order to get a temperature suitable for a hot bath it is only necessary to put a stone at the outlet of the water-race, whereby the water is diverted into a side-channel; if the stone is put there in the evening the water in the bath will be cooled to a proper temperature the morning after. This bath still exists in Iceland.

      Snorre at an early age was noticed as a clever scald and a man well versed in the law. His earliest known poem was a drapa about King Inge’s half-brother, Hacon theJarl. This poem (which is now lost) Snorre wrote down and sent written copies to Norway. Hacon the Jarl received it with great pleasure, and bade him also compose a poem about his Swedish wife, Kristin, which Snorre did. Snorre had already been summoned by the Archbishop of Trondheim in 1211 and he now thought seriously of going to Norway in the summer of 1214, but in the spring it was reported in Iceland that the jarl had died in January of the same year, and he therefore put off the journey. He was now so well known as a lawyer that in 1215 he was chosen as Speaker (i.e. lögsögumann) of the Althing.

      In 1218 Snorre carried out his former plan of going to Norway. The object of the journey was twofold: to gain honour and standing as a poet with the Norse rulers and to get to know the land, the history of whose kings had long occupied him. He went to Bergen in the autumn and from there he went along the coast to the Vik where he met King Hacon and Skuli the Jarl, just as the final peace was concluded between the Birchlegs and the Baglers, and the latter had submitted to the king. The winter he spent with the jarl in Tönsberg and he probably then composed a poem for him. In the spring Snorre went to Gautland to visit Hacon the Jarl’s widow, who had married Eskil the Lawman. Kristin greeted Snorre well and thanked him for the poem he had written about her. In the autumn of 1219 Snorre returned to Norway and during the winter he was with Skuli the Jarl, who was then in Trondheim with King Hacon.¹ This winter Snorre was engaged at the king’s court, not as one of the bodyguard, but as a gentleman-in-waiting (chamberlain), the highest rank in the court. On this occasion Snorre had sworn allegiance to the Norse king; but as the king’s power did not extend to Iceland, he pledged his oath to the king only for the time he was in Norway and afterwards to grant the king only such services in Iceland as would not curtail his personal independence.

      In the autumn of 1220 Snorre returned to Iceland and landed in the Southland. The report about his stay at the king’s court, his new title and his task as peacemaker aroused distrust. But happily for Snorre an internal dissension broke out in the Southland and this impaired Sæmund Johnson’s power.

      So far he had kept his promise to the Norse king and the jarl, and in 1221 he also sent his son John to Norway, where the latter was taken into the court of Skuli the Jarl.

      But Snorre had done little or nothing to bring about the submission of his countrymen to the Norse king, and there is no doubt that he was constrained by circumstances to let himself be bound to such a promise. It also looks as though Skuli the Jarl after the division of the kingdom between the king and himself had released Snorre from his oath, for in 1224 the jarl let Snorre’s son go home to Iceland.

      In the autumn of 1222 Sæmund Johnson died. That summer Snorre had again agreed to be chosen as Speaker at the Althing. Snorre also sought to establish his powerful position by a clever family and marriage policy which was not unknown amongst the great men of Iceland and Norway. After Sæmund’s death Snorre thought of marrying Sæmund’s wealthy daughter Solveig, but his nephew, Sturla Sigvatson, forestalled him and married her in the spring of 1223. This resulted in enmity amongst the Sturlungs. The discord continued for several years, but it did not come to a straight fight between Snorre and Sturla. Thus when Snorre’s son-in-law, Torvald of Vatsfjord, was slain in 1228 by Sturla’s supporters, and Torvald’s sons by an earlier marriage tried to kill Sturla, it was believed that Snorre had known of the plan. Not even when Sturla avenged himself by attacking and slaying Torvald’s son Tord (1232) was there a break between Sturla and Snorre; on the contrary, they were easily reconciled. Snorre had a clear advantage by Tord’s death, for Snorre’s infant grandson Einar (born 1227) was now the heir to Vatsfjord, and Snorre took charge of his inheritance, so that he had also temporary power at any rate in the West-fjords in the north-western part of the land.

      Snorre soon saw that the time had come when he must vindicate his position by force of arms. He gathered troops, and put Bodvar Tordson his nephew with an armed following to winter in Reykjaholt; and he sent word to his son Urökja who also provided himself with men and was ready to fight for his father. But when it came to the point, his courage deserted Snorre, who was neither warlike nor used to fighting; he made an offer of terms to Sturla and Sigvat and bade Urökja send his men home. But Sigvat and Sturla would no longer hear of peace; they came down to Borgarfjord with an army of 1000 men, and Snorre left everything and fled from Borgarfjord south to Bessastadir. Sigvat and Sturla seized all Snorre’s possessions in Borgarfjord, whilst Snorre now felt no longer secure in Bessastadir and pushed on to the Eastland, where he spent the summer as the guest of one of the local chiefs.

      Urökja upheld his father’s party by carrying on a kind of sea warfare in the West-fjords, but he had soon no power to continue the fight. A peace meeting was now arranged and in the meantime Urökja was able to return to Stafaholt. From there Sturla treacherously enticed him to Reykjaholt, where he was taken prisoner and forced to promise to go to Norway. This he did. Meantime, Snorre summoned up his courage to continue the fight, and he got help from his powerful cousin, Torleiv Tordson, but it was too late. With eight hundred men they went north to Borgarfjord, but when Torleiv would not follow out Snorre’s plan of battle, Snorre left him, and Torleiv had to fight the battle out alone. In the battle Torleiv was defeated and had to submit to Sturla, who ordered him and many of his supporters to go to Norway. Snorre also thought it best to go to Norway. He found an excuse for this in a summons which the king, Skuli the Jarl and the Archbishop had sent out to Iceland in the spring of 1237 calling the Icelandic chiefs to Norway; the king and the jarl wished to bring about peace between the chiefs, and the Archbishop wanted to clear up the confused ecclesiastical conditions. Like a broken man, almost in flight, Snorre had this time to leave Iceland, in contrast to his departure nineteen years before, when he went to Norway to win honour and repute.

      In Norway Snorre found things much changed. Many of his former friends such as Dagfinn Bonde were dead; his powerful patron Skuli was no longer lord of the land but a vassal under his former ward, King Hacon, who had by degrees made himself a strong ruler. The king had planned amongst other things to subdue Iceland to Norway’s rule and as his tool he had chosen Sturla, not Snorre, whom he found too weak. Snorre must also have felt himself to be in disfavour with the king, and when soon after his arrival he saw the opposition smouldering between Skuli and the king he had no other choice but to fall in with Skuli. During the winter (1237-8) the Icelanders were in Trondheim, and Snorre was the guest of Skuli’s son Peter, and the following summer he was with the duke with whom he lived and who showed him much friendship. The following autumn news came from Iceland that Sturla Sigvatson, who after Snorre’s departure had started an open fight with Gissur Torvaldson about the lordship, had forced the latter into a pact with Kolbein the Young in Skagafjord, which had resulted in a decisive battle between them at Örlygstadir (Aug. 1238) where the old Sigvat Sturlason fell and Sturla was slain by Gissur’s own hand. Snorre, it is said, was deeply moved by the death of his near kinsman and he expressed his sorrow in a verse which he sent to Sturla’s brother Tord in Bergen. On the other hand, now that Sturla was dead, his hopes of regaining his power and wealth revived, and he at once decided to go back to Iceland together with his son Urökja and his cousin Torleiv. But as King Hacon had now lost his spokesman in Iceland he would not allow Snorre to work against him, and in early spring in 1239 he sent word to Trondheim that Snorre and the other Icelanders were not to leave the land before it was agreed what their business should be. At the same time the king also called the duke to a meeting in Bergen. The duke did not openly refuse to present himself, but despite the king’s orders he gave Snorre leave to go and moreover got him a place on a ship which belonged half to himself and half to the Northlander Gudleik of Skartastadir, who was called ‘Snorre’s friend’. It appeared too that Skuli had blessed Snorre’s plans of revolt and had promised to make him jarl of Iceland if he won the fight. On hearing that the Icelanders were all making ready to go, the king again sent a letter to Trondheim, which expressly forbade the Icelanders to leave that summer; they received it when they were lying off Nidarholm ready to sail, but when the letter was shown to Snorre, he took no notice of it and left.

      Snorre and his friends arrived safely in Iceland and Snorre was greeted on his arrival by Halveig, his second wife; they went together to Reykjaholt where Snorre again took up residence. Torleiv and Urökja went to Stafaholt. Snorre now appeared as Sturla’s avenger and at the same time he and Torleiv demanded the punishment of those who had fought against them at Bær. It was not long before Snorre took up his former powerful position in Borgarfjord and the surrounding parishes. Peace was this time broken by King Hacon who was greatly enraged at Snorre’s disloyalty, and after Duke Skuli’s death the king decided upon revenge. He chose Gissur Torvaldson as his agent and in 1240 he sent Arne Ureida, Snorre’s former son-in-law, and the Norseman Eyvind Bratt to Iceland with a letter to Gissur which bade him send Snorre over to Norway whether he liked it or no—or else slay him, for he had gone out to Iceland against the king’s orders. Gissur accepted the king’s task but kept it secret, and, as for Snorre, he only arranged a meeting for the next summer (1241) at the Althing, where they were to come to terms about the fines for the slaying of Sturla and Sigvat. Both came to the meeting, Snorre with but one hundred and twenty men; he clearly suspected nothing. But suddenly Gissur’s ally, Kolbein the Young, appeared at the thing with an army of six hundred men. Snorre had to flee quickly into the church at Thingvold, but he drew up his men outside and they presented such a warlike array that Kolbein dared not come to grips with them and drew back. Gissur was then forced to come to terms with Snorre and everything seemed to end in a friendly way. But a short time afterwards Halveig, Snorre’s wife, died, and Snorre, who grieved much over her death, had now to proceed to the disagreeable task of sharing her estate with his step-sons. The latter made claims to half the joint estate, whilst Snorre protested that the manors of Reykjaholt and Bessastadir with others were not included in the estate. It was then agreed that to start with they would share the movable property and the books, whilst the sharing of the rest should be delayed. The step-sons Klæing and Orm now sought the help of their uncle Gissur, and the latter gladly accepted this pretext for throwing himself upon Snorre. He held a meeting up in the fells (towards the Northland) with Kolbein the Young and arranged an attack; he then summoned his supporters and submitted the king’s letter, saying he by no means wished to oppose the king’s order to take Snorre prisoner. Klæing joined Gissur, but Orm his younger brother, who had been brought up by Snorre, would take no part in the attack and turned home. Snorre had received warning in a letter, written in secret characters, and from this he saw that he must protect himself. Whilst Kolbein was coming in from the north against Snorre’s supporters in the Westland, Gissur came unexpectedly to Reykjaholt with seventy men; they passed unopposed into the garth and broke into the house where Snorre slept; Snorre, however, escaped down into the cellar. They found him, and by Gissur’s orders five men went down into the cellar. There was no talk of peace and Gissur’s servant, Simon Knut, straightway bade one of the men, Arne Beisk by name, to strike Snorre. Accustomed as he was to commanding, Snorre tried to overawe his murderer by saying, Thou shalt not strike! But Simon repeated his order and the fatal blow fell. At his death, in September 1241, Snorre was sixty-three years old.

      King Hacon declared afterwards that it had not been his intention to punish Snorre by death, if he had submitted.

      We have no notion of Snorre’s outward appearance, for the Sturlunga Saga gives no information thereof. As to his character, P. A. Munch says of him that he was avaricious, ambitious and aspiring, but nowhere is it said that he was cruel and bloodthirsty as were most of the chieftains of his time; his victories were not marked, as were those of others, by the maiming or killing of the vanquished, and eager as he may have been for power, it is clear that he was greatly trusted. The sons of Sæmund Johnson chose him to divide their inheritance, and it is specially mentioned in his favour that he was always on a friendly footing with such a man as Rafn Sveinbjörnson. Indeed, his unshaken attachment to the irrational though well-meaning Bishop Gudmund shows that his piety could be stronger than his statesmanship. And lastly his patriotism stands out more plainly and more strongly than did that of most of his countrymen.

      II. SNORRE’S WRITINGS

      It has already been mentioned that Snorre Sturlason had from his youth been engaged in literary work and had appeared as a poet before the contemporary Norse rulers. But literary work was essentially historical composition—poems in honour and in memory of rulers—and from olden times poets were historians, and history became the most important subject for Snorre’s study. We have seen that books formed such a conspicuous part of his possessions that his library was mentioned in the division of his wealth amongst his step-sons. He had begun to collect books at an early age and it is certainly a well-founded conjecture to suppose that he had already inherited books from John Loftson, his step-father, and that he had likewise got many more by his marriage with Halveig, John’s granddaughter. It is quite clear that he had by him almost everything that Icelandic literature had produced up to his own time; this is shown by his ability to cite so many verses of older and younger poets and by the fact that he could make so good a selection from what he had read. Besides this he was certainly conversant with foreign chronicles written in Latin. He first appears as an author rather late in life, for his first chief work, the Edda, was completed about 1220, and his second, the History of the Norse Kings, was written probably ten or fifteen years later.

      The Edda² is a primer for young poets, showing how poetic diction and forms are to be applied. It is in three parts, and was perhaps written at different periods, though they form a unity. The first part is called Gylfaginning (that is, the beguiling of Gylfi). The second part is called Skaldskapar-mal (i.e. poetic diction).

      The third part is called Hattatal (that is, list of verse-forms) and contains a poem of one hundred and twenty verses, composed by Snorre for Skuli the Jarl and King Hacon. Hattatal is accompanied by a learned prose exposition of the rules and different applications of the verse-forms.

      Snorre’s Edda is a unique work, without any predecessors or parallel.

      As the author of the History of the Norse Kings, Snorre has had many imitators, but he rises above them all and his work is the most complete of its kind. Icelandic historical writings are considered to have began with the priest Ari Torgilson the Wise (1067–1148) who soon after 1120 wrote the older history of his country in his Islendinga-bok, where he also gives a short sketch of the history of the mother-country, Norway. This book was lost long ago, but it is known in an abbreviated form. Ari was a conscientious and accurate scholar who strove to discriminate between truth and fiction.

      In Norway also short Latin chronicles were written about the kings of Norway, partly from Icelandic sources. Tjodrek, a monk in Nidarholm (Trondheim) covers the period from Harald Hairfair to the death of Sigurd the Crusader, and Historia Norvegiœ, written by a Bergen priest, perhaps went farther, but only the part down to St Olav’s time has survived.

      Snorre knew and valued the work of Tjodolv of Kvin, a poet contemporary with Halvdan the Black and Harald Hairfair, who had told of the whole succession of Halvdan’s forefathers right back to the old gods.

      Snorre, when he comes to the period of Harald Hairfair, was guided by the writings of Ari the Wise. From Ari the Wise he also probably borrowed his chronology.

      With the help of Tjodolv of Kvin and Ari the Wise, Snorre tested the work of his predecessors and selected from them for his purpose. Besides this, he had probably gathered much material on his two journeys to Norway and Sweden.

      The historical saga was principally concerned with biography. Snorre’s work is a collection of biographies with description of character as an outstanding feature. The special quality of his work is the skilful composition by which all irrelevant matter is kept out and each detail belongs to a whole. His collection of biographies of the Norse kings has therefore become a family history, where each single member stands out with his own distinctive stamp of character.

      When reading these narratives the same question must occur to everybody: How can those parts of the accounts which were handed down from man to man (and not taken from written accounts or foreign chronicles) have been so well remembered, and how is it possible that they can have been truthfully related? What wonderful memories these men must have had! To this we have no hesitation in answering that there can be little doubt that their memories were highly developed, much more so than in modern days when we employ endless historical books, newspapers, dictionaries, etc., for constantly refreshing our knowledge of the past. It may almost be said that we do not need a memory for history nowadays! But it was essential to the scalds and historians of the Viking Age. Snorre touches upon the subject of memory in his preface, also upon the truthfulness of the narratives. He says: No one would dare tell the king himself such deeds of his as all listeners and the king himself knew to be lies and loose talk; that would be mockery, but not praise.

      Not only must these men have had trained memories, inherited through generations, but they were trustworthy and had a keen sense of honour.

      III. THE MANUSCRIPTS

      The copies of Snorre’s History of the Norse Kings were known both in Iceland and Norway. The oldest known copy on parchment was called Kringla. It includes Skaldatal. The latter gives an account of all the court scalds known in historical times, mentioning the Norse kings and princes for whom they composed. The list of scalds ends with Olav Hvitaskald (d. 1259) and Sturla Tordson (d. 1284), Snorre’s nephews. It is not unlikely that Sturla Tordson had taken the book with him to Norway, when he went there in 1263; at any rate it is certain that Kringla came to Norway at an early date and was kept in or near Bergen till the end of the sixteenth century. Later on the book was sent from Bergen to the University Library in Copenhagen; but it had then lost its first page, and the second page (which was now the first) began with the words Kringla heimsins (the world’s circle); after this the book has been called Heimskringla. At the end of the seventeenth century two well-executed copies were made of Heimskringla, one in 1682 by Jon Eggertson, an Icelander in Swedish service who took his copy to Stockholm; the second by the Icelander Asgeir Jonsson. It was done just in time, for in 1728 the book was burned together with most of the University Library’s treasures in the great fire of Copenhagen. One leaf of it was saved, however, as Jon Eggertson had taken it with him to Stockholm, where it was handed over to the Royal Library.

      IV. PREVIOUS TRANSLATIONS

      The first complete translation of the History of the Norse Kings into Norwegian and Danish was made by a Norwegian clergyman, Peder Claussön, who became Archdeacon of the Cathedral at Stavanger (b. 1545; d. 1614). He had frequented a high ecclesiastical school at Stavanger and came into possession of some written copies of the sagas. In 1599 he commenced translating Snorre at the request of Axel Gyldenstjerne, the Governor-General of Norway.

      By order of the Swedish king, Charles XI, Johan Peringskiold translated Heimskringla into Swedish and Latin. His book was printed in Stockholm in 1697. The O.N. text is also given. Peringskiold was probably the first to call Snorre’s book Heimskringla, a name it has retained ever since.

      In Copenhagen a Norwegian historian, Gerhard Schöning, made another translation of Heimskringla into Danish by order of the Danish and Norwegian Crown Prince Frederick (later Frederick VI). Schöning’s book was printed in 1777, and gives the O.N. text as well as a Latin translation.

      Peringskiold’s and Schöning’s books contain practically the same number of chapters, but the spelling of the O.N. text is somewhat different. The well-known Norwegian historian, P. A. Munch, printed in 1859 his translation of Heimskringla, and forty years later Gustav Storm made another translation of the book by order of the Norwegian Government. Munch has left out the scalds’ poems, which he considered would lose their beauty if they were translated. Storm followed a different course. He has admirably translated the scalds’ poems into modern Norwegian, but decided to leave out a number of interesting chapters—most of these belonging to the second half of his book. He also left out three chapters in the ‘History of Olav Trygvason’, and one chapter in the ‘ History of Magnus the Good’. Both Munch and Storm leave out eight chapters concerning the Norsemen’s voyages to America (Vinland), although they are printed in Peringskiold’s and Schöning’s editions. These chapters describe in detail the voyages to Vinland by Leif Ericson and others, whilst Eric the Red’s discovery of Greenland and Leif Ericson’s discovery of Vinland are recorded elsewhere in the book without any particulars. That others besides Leif Ericson should have attempted to go to America is highly probable, considering the short distance between Greenland and the North American coast. It was an age when the spirit of adventure among the Norsemen stood at its zenith, and to discover new lands and form new colonies had a powerful attraction for these enterprising men. The two versions of Eric the Red’s Saga were in existence when Snorre Sturlason wrote his book and it may safely be assumed that he knew all the details of the voyages and that chapters 97 to 104 formed part of Heimskringla in accordance with Johan Peringskiold and Gerhard Schöning’s editions. As these accounts, however, are written in a somewhat different style from the rest of the book, they may have been inserted in a later handwritten copy by Snorre or his clerical scribes after the first dictation was finished. This would explain the altered style and character, also why they do not quite seem to fit in where they are placed. It has often been contended that the eight chapters are interpolations by Peringskiold, but no convincing argument in support of this has ever been put forward. At the end of chapter 104, p. 202, occurs the following remark: Nobody has given a clearer account than Karlsefni of the happenings on these voyages, of which something has here been told. This is an observation typical of Snorre, but most of the other contents do not resemble Snorre and may have been to a large extent taken from Eric the Red’s Saga. It is, of course, true that Snorre or his clerical scribes could have made a slight addition to chapter 96 by stating that the following chapters give all the details of the Vinland voyages. This would have brought chapter 96 into line with what follows (excepting for Biarne Herjulfson’s meeting with Eric the Jarl). But if the narratives were inserted after Snorre had finished his first dictation, the first written text was probably on purpose left unaltered.

      The first translation of the History of the Norse Kings into English was made by Samuel Laing, whose book was printed in London in 1844 in three volumes. It is an admirable work, most conscientiously executed. In his notes and explanations Laing mentions that he has obtained great assistance from Jacob Aal, who made a Norwegian translation, printed in 1838. Laing was born at Kirkwall (Orkneys) in 1780. He had an enthusiastic admiration for the old vikings, and spared no pains in testifying to the great influence which the Nordic races have had upon the British people, an influence which was yet to be further cemented by the Normans who sprang from the same race. Laing might justly be called the father of the Nordic cult in the British Isles. Carlyle and Longfellow were so impressed by the Norse sagas that Carlyle wrote his well-known book The Early Kings of Norway, and included St Olav in his Heroes and Hero-Worship; and Longfellow wrote some of his best poems on the subject. Another edition of Laing’s book was issued in 1889 by Rasmus B. Anderson, at one time United States Minister to Denmark. A third edition of Laing has recently been issued by Dent, in ‘Everyman’s Library’.

      Another English translation of Heimskringla was made by William Morris and Eiríkr Magnússon, printed in London in four volumes in 1893. This is a magnificent literary work. The text is translated into English direct from O.N. and a number of old-fashioned English words are used, so as to bring out Snorre Sturlason’s forceful and vivid style. The historical part is not much in evidence until one reaches the fourth volume, but in this volume a very complete index with explanations is given. The names of historical persons, however, have often been translated directly into English in such a way as to make them almost unrecognisable. But apart from this defect it is a book that should appeal to all British lovers of the sagas. That William Morris was another true enthusiast of the Nordic cult can be seen from the following words which he writes in connection with the mythical Volsunga Saga: This is the great story of the north, which should be to all our race what the tale of Troy was to the Greeks: to all our race first, and afterwards when the change of the world has made our race nothing more than a name of what has been—a story too—then should it be to those that come after us no less than the tale of Troy has been to us.

      The subject of the Volsunga Saga had also an irresistible attraction for Richard Wagner, the greatest musical genius the world has ever seen. The old German poem Nibelungenlied or Nibelunge Nôt is to a great extent based on the Volsunga Saga. In fact, it is difficult to understand the former thoroughly without reference to the latter. But it is doubtful whether the legend in the German versions has ever been given such a dramatic and heroic rendering as in the original Norse form.

      V. CHARACTER AND CUSTOMS OF THE NORDIC RACES

      In 1889 Paul du Chaillu, the explorer, published in London in two volumes The Viking Age, or the Early History, Manners and Customs of the Ancestors of the English-speaking Nations. This book deals with archæology as well as mythology and history and goes far to prove that the old Nordic people were, judging by the standard of the time, a highly cultured race. Numerous illustrations of archæological finds are given, and du Chaillu writes with conviction of what he calls the archæological wealth of the north.

      We still cling to the mistaken idea that these people were barbarians and pirates, but is it not time that we in our enlightened age should commence to revise our opinions about them? They were, according to modern ideas, pirates, but it must not be forgotten that piracy was considered a serious business in those days, and was practised by every country whose inhabitants had acquired the sea sense. The vikings held for several centuries the mastery of the sea and there was nobody to dispute this right. It enabled them to colonise other countries, and we should be living in a different world at present if this process had not taken its course. We still talk of the cruel Danes and the cruel Norsemen, but were they really so cruel? Certainly not when they are again compared with the standard of the time in which they lived. They punished with cruelty; but so did every other nation in Europe, and this was continued by other nations for many centuries after the Viking Age. Even in our civilised age cruelties have sometimes been committed for political and other offences which would appal and dismay the most hard-hearted viking. Snorre’s Heimskringla gives many instances in which the vikings showed great clemency towards their enemies, and we hear of no mass murders. They were attached to their kinsmen and faithful to their friends. It may be surprising to read that they gave way to grief at the funerals of their kings and leaders—in fact Snorre tells us that they even shed tears. It has been handed down to us that they often exclaimed during raids: Kill not the bairns. How can they therefore have been such brutes as they are depicted to us? No other people in the north of Europe had the vikings’ understanding of literature or their love for poetry (scaldcraft); and the respect in which they held their womenfolk evinces probably more than anything else their high intellectual discipline. They harried other countries and fought against the inhabitants because it was a question of killing others or of being killed themselves. This was not cruelty, but probably cleaner warfare than that which is waged in modern times! They invaded the north of Germany, the Baltic Provinces and Russia as well as Holland, Belgium and the north of France; but it was the British Isles which had the greatest attraction for them. These islands were more vulnerable on account of the long coast line, and the sea was always a safe road for retreat. The German historians have for years been in the habit of telling us that the Nordic people are part of the Germanic race and that they originated in the plains of Germany, but the Nordic people had little in common with the Celtic and Slavonic races in Germany, excepting the relationship which Snorre Sturlason alleges to exist between them (cf. ‘Ynglinga Saga,’ p. 3). It is, however, generally acknowledged that over-population in the barren countries of the north was the cause of many Scandinavians settling in North Germany, after the invasions by the Goths and Huns had spent their force. This mixture of races has made the Germans the most intellectual people in Europe. After the passing of the Viking Age the German people in their turn commenced exercising a great influence upon the customs and manners of the Scandinavian peoples, and many Germans settled in the north. Before that time the Nordic people had for centuries developed their race in the hard and frosty climate of the northern countries, among their mountains, fjords and extensive coast lines, and it was in these surroundings that the people acquired their strong physique, their sea sense and independence of character. It was also here that the Nordic mythology became firmly established.

      VI. THE ORIGIN OF THE NORDIC RACES; THE NORSE KINGS

      Snorre Sturlason tells us in the ‘Ynglinga Saga’ where the chief branch of the Nordic people originated. It contains legends and myths, a fact which Snorre does not deny; but when everything is considered, this saga still stands forth, giving us much food for thought and guidance for further research work. When we come to the sagas of the kings Snorre Sturlason is on more sure ground and it is evident from the narrative that he is anxious to tell us the history of the kings and the people, as he had it related to him by wise and truthful men, and as he had read about it in old books and foreign chronicles. The word ‘history’, being of Latin origin, was not in use among the Icelandic writers, who principally wrote in O.N. They used the O.N. word saga (sing.), sögur (plur.), both for historical, mythical and fictitious writings. As Heimskringla is essentially historical we have in this translation used the word ‘history’ instead of ‘saga’, as being more consistent with present ideas about historical writings.

      The narratives of the Norse kings from Halvdan the Black (839–60) until Magnus Erlingson (1161–77) contain all the principal events that happened during each king’s reign and give a vivid description of battles both on land and sea. Snorre also gives a certain amount of information about settlements in foreign countries, but it is obvious that he was in possession of only scant knowledge of the numerous raiding and colonising expeditions undertaken by the Norsemen. Doubtless of many he knew nothing, whilst others he did not consider worth while mentioning. The most important colonising expedition of which he tells us is Rolf the Ganger’s conquest of the north of France, which ever since has retained its name of ‘Normandy’, after the invaders. The French called him Rollon or Rou as in Robert Wace’s Roman de Rou. Snorre tells us that he came from Norway, and with his usual thoroughness he gives a full account of Rolf’s family. In this is included his half-brother Einar (Turf-Einar) who became Earl of Orkney, and from whom many subsequent Earls of Orkney have descended. This is all dealt with in the ‘History of Harald Hairfair’. The well-known English chronicler William of Malmesbury, who lived about 1090–1143 (or a hundred years before Snorre), corroborates Snorre’s information about Rolf’s origin, and agrees with Snorre’s statement that Rolf was banished from Norway by command of the king. About Rolf and the origin of his followers there is further evidence in the chronicles written by Roger de Hoveden, another well-known English chronicler, who lived about the same time as Snorre. Hoveden writes the following passage of William the Conqueror: For he [i.e. William] stated that his ancestors and those of nearly all the Barons of Normandy had been Norwegians and had formerly come from Norway.

      La Cronique d’Alberic (in the 9th volume of the Histoires de France) speaks thus about Rolf’s origin: Rollone duce qui de nobili, sed per vetustatem obsoletá prosapia Noricorum editus, regis præcepto patria pulsus, multos quos æs alienum vel conscientia scelerum agitabat, magnis speciebus sollicitans, ditatos secum abduxit.

      Le Moine de Fontanelle also writes that Rolf was expelled from Norway.

      It may further be mentioned that the eminent English historian John Richard Green in A Short History of the English People, and the well-known French historian G. B. Depping (1784–1853) in Histoire des Expéditions Maritimes des Normands, after verifying the various English and French chroniclers, consider it proved beyond doubt that Rolf was a Norseman. Most of the English and French chroniclers give the Norsemen and Danes who settled in Britain and France the collective name of Danes. Hence the confusion that has often arisen as to the origin of Rolf and his followers.

      The Norsemen have left their unmistakable mark on the population of Normandy. This is to-day probably more pronounced than it was a thousand years ago. Now the Nordic element is prevalent in the cottages, whereas at that time the Norse rulers were obviously in the minority. Numerous personal and place names are of Norse origin. G. B. Depping, in the work mentioned above, states that in most place names ending with ‘ville’ the first part of the name is of Norse origin. The reason is simple to find in the fact that Rolf the Ganger divided the land among his men, who gave their names to the farms or holdings, adding the Latin name ‘villa’ instead of ‘ham’, ‘by’, or ‘tun’. Depping mentions names from Seine-Inférieure such as Froberville, Beuzeville, Gauzeville, Rouville, Rolleville, Triguerville, Houppeville, Tancarville, Norville, Normanville, Varengeville, Guizorville. Rolf gave lands to Arngaut, Biorn, Folkvard, Geirmund, Harald and Grani, and their homesteads were called Angoville, Borneville, Foucarville, Grimondville, Heronville, and Granville. The ending bec meaning in O.N. ‘little river’, is found in place names such as Bolbec, le Bec, Caudebec, Foulbec, Holbec, Robec, etc. The old name for Harfleur was Herosfluet or Harflue. For Barfleur, Robert Wace wrote Barbeflue and Barbeflot. Here is the O.S. ending fljot, i.e. ‘river’ (the same as fleet in English). The old name for Painbeuf was Penteboe (from O.N. bö, bœr) and in Seine-Inférieure two places are called Grandes Dalles and Petites Dalles respectively. Other names ending with dale are Oudale near Beaucamp, Crodale, Danestal (Calvados), Dieppedale, Croixdal and Bruquedalle (Seine-Inférieure). The name gard (or garth) is also found in the villages of Normandy. For instance Auppegard and Epegard (Depart. de l’Eure). The Cape La Hogue or Hogue is the Scand. haug (howe). The name ness is found in names such as Blancnez, Grisnez and Nez de Carteret. Le Houlme near Rouen is the Nordic holme, and Havre and Dieppe are probably also of Scand. origin. Cherbourg, called at times Chierisburch, is obviously Skerriesbourgh or O.S. Skerjaborg (on account of its skerries outside the harbour). In Guernsey, Jersey and Chausey we have the O.S. ey meaning ‘island’. It may be asked, how is it that the old French chroniclers have shown such disregard for the influence which the Nordic people exercised upon the north of France and wrote as little as possible about them? Only when they rose to be the rulers of the land and built and endowed churches did the chroniclers write about them and praise their actions. The reason can only be found in the altered conditions of religious life in France and other countries from the time when the vikings first made their appearance. A new religion had come into being and the Roman Church was bent upon suppressing the knowledge of these pirates and of depreciating the influence which the heathens exercised. A similar policy was adopted in England, and this indifference shown them by the early teachers of history has been handed down to us to this day.

      The history of Rolf the Ganger has led us into a somewhat lengthy digression on place names and Nordic influence in the north of France, and now we return to the Norse kings. We shall first mention Halvdan the Black (839–860). He was the father of Harald Hairfair (860–933) who united the whole of Norway into one kingdom by conquering all the lesser kings. Rolf was outlawed by Harald and it was this circumstance that made him settle in Normandy.

      After Harald Hairfair comes the fascinating history of his son Hacon the Good, also called Hacon Athelstan’s foster-son, as he was brought up by King Athelstan from boyhood. This famous English king and his grandfather King Alfred should rank side by side as the two greatest rulers in England before the Conquest. Hacon left England for Norway on the death of his father in 933. The English chroniclers do not mention Athelstan’s foster-sons; but besides fostering Hacon the Good, as Snorre tells us, we hear from French sources that he also fostered Louis d’Outremer, who afterwards became King Louis IV of France, and Alan de Bretagne. Hacon was the first to introduce Christianity into Norway; but the people would not give up their old and trusted gods, and Hacon was forced to allow them to keep to their old faith. After Hacon the Good, his half-brothers succeeded to the kingship; but they were tyrannical and therefore unpopular, and finally Hacon the Jarl—the strong warrior jarl who lived in the county of Trondheim—virtually became the ruler of the country, though without the kingly title, as he was not of royal stock. Then we come to Olav Trygvason, the glorious sea-king who had lived for years in foreign countries and at last arrived home to claim his heritage. There is no more picturesque king in the sagas than Olav Trygvason. He was the embodiment of sportsmanship, bravery and strength combined at times with recklessness; and the vivid account of his last battle at Svold—the finest description given by Snorre of any sea battle—goes far to depict the proud and ambitious spirit of this great king.

      The next great king is Olav Haraldson (St Olav) and Snorre’s history of him excels all the other sagas. It is evident that Snorre was in possession of numerous details of this king, who must have appealed to him both as a brave warrior and as a prudent and sagacious ruler. As the champion of Christianity—which he finally established in Norway—he obtained more renown than any other king and after his death was made a saint. He fought many battles both in foreign countries and in Norway, and, as often happens with geniuses living before their time, he received full recognition only after his death. He fell at the battle of Stiklestad (near Trondheim) in 1030. Many tales of miracles were told about him, and Snorre relates some of them, but without comment. It is now nine hundred years since St Olav fell, and commemoration services were held last year all over Norway and also in the churches dedicated to him which still exist in England.

      St Olav’s son was Magnus the Good. He made a treaty with King Hardicanute by which he had the right to succeed to the thrones of Denmark and England should Hardicanute die before him. On the death of Hardicanute, Magnus went to Denmark and was elected king by the Danes. Later he sent messengers to Edward the Confessor claiming the English Crown. Magnus finally decided to let Edward have his realm in peace, and to hold fast to the kingdoms which God has let me win.

      After Magnus, his uncle Harald Hardrade became King of Norway. Among all the hero kings of Norway he must be placed in the front rank. He had for many years been the leader of the Værings (the Greek emperor’s warriors at Constantinople) and fought all the enemies of the Greek emperors in the Mediterranean. Coming home to Norway via Russia he married the daughter of the Russian monarch, and became a most powerful king. In the end his ambitious nature had the better of him and he consented at the request of Earl Tosti (the brother of Harold Godwinson, the last of the O.E. kings) to bring an army to England and try to conquer the country for himself and Earl Tosti. This was not such an impossible enterprise as we may think, because on the death of Edward the Confessor England was left without a legitimate ruler, and the Norsemen spoke practically the same language as the English. They were not foreigners in the same sense as the Normans, who spoke Norman French and were not liked by the common people. Harald defeated the English army outside York and became so elated by his victory that he and his men took few precautions and went to battle against Harold Godwinson without wearing the usual armour. The chroniclers relate that it was the fiercest battle ever fought in England, and in the end the Norsemen were defeated and Earl Tosti and Harald Hardrade were slain. It may be said that they paved the way for William the Conqueror, who landed at Pevensey four days afterwards, but we have no reason to believe that William worked in conjunction with Harald Hardrade. Norway had now seen enough of fighting, and Harald Hardrade’s son Olav Kyrre (or the Peaceful) decided to live on friendly terms with his neighbours, but matters took a different course when his son Magnus Barefoot (or Bareleg, because he wore a kilt) came to the throne. He was inspired by his grandfather’s ambition and fighting spirit, and Norway again suffered by the calling up of levies for war. Henry the First (the son of the Conqueror) was now the powerful monarch of England, and Magnus thought it most fitting to avenge his grandfather’s death by attacking England from the west and by way of Ireland. Ordericus Vitalis gives lengthy descriptions of Magnus Barefoot’s expeditions to England and Ireland, some of which are mentioned in the footnotes. Magnus was slain by treachery in Ireland in 1103.

      Another picturesque king, Sigurd the Crusader, now came to the throne of Norway. He was Earl of Orkney for a few years and went back to Norway on the death of his father, Magnus Barefoot. He is best known for his voyage to Jerusalem and Constantinople, of which Snorre Sturlason gives full details. After his death in 1130 the various pretenders to the throne fight between themselves and civil warfare becomes the order of the day. One king succeeds the other and each king is kept busy in maintaining his position and right to the throne. The last king in this book is Magnus Erlingson, who ruled until 1184, but Snorre’s history of him finishes in 1177. He had no legal right to the throne, because he descended from the royal stock only through his mother. The Viking Age was now gradually fading away; in fact it began to die with Sigurd the Crusader in 1130. But Norse history (written by Snorre’s successors) tells us of two more prominent kings who held the realm of Norway—King Sverre and Hacon Haconson. The latter has become notorious because he led the last army that landed in Britain from abroad. He quarrelled with the Scottish King Alexander and fought him at the battle of Largs in 1263. The battle was indecisive and Hacon left for Kirkwall, where he died the same winter. Three years afterwards his son Magnus made peace with the Scots and sold the Hebrides and Isle of Man to the Scottish king for 4000 marks, which were never paid. The Norsemen had now lost two important strategical points, but it was not till 1468 that they parted with their last two possessions in the British Isles, viz. the Orkney and Shetland Isles. These islands were in that year pledged by King Christian the First to the Scottish Crown as security for his daughter’s dowry, which was not redeemed. For strategical as well as commercial purposes the islands had long since lost their importance to Norway, and it may be considered a blessing in disguise that they were ceded in this way and that they did not cause any further fighting and bloodshed.

      VII. THE JUTES, ANGLES AND SAXONS

      If the Norse, and to a lesser degree the Swedish, elements played an important role in the Midlands and Scotland, in Ireland and in the Northern and Western Isles, the Danes concentrated their energy in the south. According to the English chroniclers the first Nordic people to land in England were the Jutes from Jutland. They were invited by Vortigern to help him against the Picts and Scots after the Romans, almost to the last man, had left the country in 410 in order to rescue Rome. Under their leaders Hengest and Horsa the Jutes landed at Ebbsfleet in 449 and were given the Isle of Thanet by the ancient Britons. Finally they possessed themselves of the whole of Kent. The chroniclers tell us further of other races that soon afterwards invaded England, viz. the Angles and the Saxons. As a district immediately to the north-east of Sleswick is still called Angeln or Angel-land, the tradition is that the Angles came from this part of Denmark, and it is generally assumed that the Saxon tribes lived round the River Elbe (the mouth of which was partly Danish) and the River Weser. The Saxon tribes must have been closely allied to the Danes or to that part of the Danish nation which occupied the land between Sleswick and Hamburg. Living round the coasts of Denmark and North-west Germany the invaders were familiar with the sea and any excess of population had to look abroad for its livelihood. It was over two hundred years after these races had settled down in England, before any other recorded invasions took place. They were mostly Norsemen and Danes, but Swedes, Frisians and Flemings also came across. The chroniclers tell us of ‘the army’ which made its appearance year after year during the ninth century, and King Alfred’s treaty of Wedmore in 878, concluded with all the Scandinavians settled in England, did not stop new forces from landing. John Richard Green in his Short History of the English People deals at length with the English invasions and characterises the Nordic race as follows: No other race has ever shown a greater power of absorbing all the nobler characteristics of the people with whom they came in contact, or of infusing their own energy into them. Dr John Beddoe in his book, The Races of Britain, writes as follows in connection with Normandy: The Scandinavian conquerors were partly Norwegian and partly Danish, the former specially numerous about the Seine, where Rollo’s companions chiefly settled, the latter in the Cotentin, where Harald Bluetooth’s army found land to their liking. Physically, they must have been among the purest specimens among that restless, roving, adventurous type of men, blond or rufous, with straight profile and elliptical head, which evermore crops up among the people of the west of Europe whenever deeds of adventurous daring have to be done.

      VIII. ENGLAND’S DANISH KINGS

      We have briefly in this introduction named some of the most important Norse kings mentioned in the Heimskringla, and now we come to two Danish kings who were destined to play a great role in the history of the British Isles, viz. Swein Forkbeard and Canute the Great, of whom Snorre has a good deal to say.

      Swein Forkbeard appears, according to the chroniclers, to have arrived in England in the first instance in 994 in company with Olav Trygvason (who soon afterwards became King of Norway), but Snorre is silent about this joint expedition and writes all the time about Olav’s enmity to Swein, which ended with the battle of Svold related in the ‘History of Olav Trygvason’. Swein harried in England for several years and went back to Denmark at intervals. In 1003 he brought his army across again and this time apparently in order to avenge the massacre of the Danes on St Brice’s Day the previous year, when his sister Gunhild was among the victims. From now onwards he fights continually to wrest the English Crown

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