It is reckoned by those who have kept an exact account, that Olaf the Saint was king of Norway for fifteen years from the time Earl Svein left the country; but he had received the title of king from the people of the Uplands the winter before.Sigvat the skald tells this: --"For fifteen winters o'er the land King Olaf held the chief command, Before he fell up in the North:
His fall made known to us his worth.
No worthier prince before his day In our North land e'er held the sway, Too short he held it for our good;All men wish now that he had stood."Saint Olaf was thirty-five years old when he fell, according to what Are Frode the priest says, and he had been in twenty pitched battles.So says Sigvat the skald: --"Some leaders trust in God -- some not;Even so their men; but well I wot God-fearing Olaf fought and won Twenty pitched battles, one by one, And always placed upon his right His Christian men in a hard fight.
May God be merciful, I pray, To him -- for he ne'er shunned his fray."We have now related a part of King Olaf's story, namely, the events which took place while he ruled over Norway; also his death, and how his holiness was manifested.Now shall we not neglect to mention what it was that most advanced his honour.
This was his miracles; but these will come to be treated of afterwards in this book.
261.OF THE THRONDHJEM PEOPLE.
King Svein, the son of Canute the Great, ruled over Norway for some years; but was a child both in age and understanding.His mother Alfifa had most sway in the country; and the people of the country were her great enemies, both then and ever since.Danish people had a great superiority given them within the country, to the great dissatisfaction of the people; and when conversation turned that way, the people of the rest of Norway accused the Throndhjem people of having principally occasioned King Olaf the Holy's fall, and also that the men of Norway were subject, through them, to the ill government by which oppression and slavery had come upon all the people, both great and small;indeed upon the whole community.They insisted that it was the duty of the Throndhjem people to attempt opposition and insurrection, and thus relieve the country from such tyranny;and, in the opinion of the common people, Throndhjem was also the chief seat of the strength of Norway at that time, both on account of the chiefs and of the population of that quarter.
When the Throndhjem people heard these remarks of their countrymen, they could not deny that there was much truth in them, and that in depriving King Olaf of life and land they had committed a great crime, and at the same time the misdeed had been ill paid.The chiefs began to hold consultations and conferences with each other, and the leader of these was Einar Tambaskelfer.It was likewise the case with Kalf Arnason, who began to find into what errors he had been drawn by King Canute's persuasion.All the promises which King Canute had made to Kalf had been broken; for he had promised him the earldom and the highest authority in Norway: and although Kalf had been the leader in the battle against King Olaf, and had deprived him of his life and kingdom, Kalf had not got any higher dignity than he had before.He felt that he had been deceived, and therefore messages passed between the brothers Kalf, Fin, Thorberg, and Arne, and they renewed their family friendship.
262.OF KING SVEIN'S LEVY.
When King Svein had been three years in Norway (A.D.1031-33), the news was received that a force was assembled in the western countries, under a chief who called himself Trygve, and gave out that he was a son of Olaf Trygvason and Queen Gyda of England.
Now when King Svein heard that foreign troops had come to the country, he ordered out the people on a levy in the north, and the most of the lendermen hastened to him; but Einar Tambaskelfer remained at home, and would not go out with King Svein.When King Svein's order came to Kalf Arnason at Eggja, that he should go out on a levy with King Svein, he took a twenty-benched ship which he owned, went on board with his house-servants, and in all haste proceeded out of the fjord, without waiting for King Svein, sailed southwards to More, and continued his voyage south until he came to Giske to his brother Thorberg.Then all the brothers, the sons of Arne, held a meeting, and consulted with each other.
After this Kalf returned to the north again; but when he came to Frekeysund, King Svein was lying in the sound before him.When Kalf came rowing from the south into the sound they hailed each other, and the king's men ordered Kalf to bring up with his vessel, and follow the king for the defence of the country.Kalf replies, "I have done enough, if not too much, when I fought against my own countrymen to increase the power of the Canute family." Thereupon Kalf rowed away to the north until he came home to Eggja.None of these Arnasons appeared at this levy to accompany the king.He steered with his fleet southwards along the land; but as he could not hear the least news of any fleet having come from the west, he steered south to Rogaland, and all the way to Agder; for many guessed that Trygve would first make his attempt on Viken, because his forefathers had been there, and had most of their strength from that quarter, and he had himself great strength by family connection there.
263.KING TRYGVE OLAFSON'S FALL.