About Vingulmark. The name is believed to mean “impenetrable forest” on account of the forests that covered the area at that time. According to the sagas, the district, or fylke, of Vingulmark was given to King Trygvi by King Hakon Haraldsson (aka Hakon the Good) to rule. On Jel Island (or Jeløya), there are signs of inhabitants going back to the Iron Age, especially in the area around Thordruga, which is today called Torderød Gård, or Torderød Estate. There is no record of a borg on the hill where I placed Torolv's hall, but Jel Island was known as a stronghold in Vingulmark and so it seemed plausible enough to put something there.
Erik Bjodaskalli from Oprostadir is purported to be the father of Queen Astrid. It is believed his nickname means the “bald-head of Bjodar.” The footnote about this in the Finlay and Faulkes translation of Heimskringla is “The nickname Bjodaskalli may refer to a farm called Bjodar, and this place is recorded in Hordaland.” Hordaland is far to the west in Norway. Yet, the sagas also state that he is from Oprostadir, which is the name of a farm in Agder in southern Norway. All of this would suggest Astrid's father lived in western or southern Norway.
When Trygvi is killed in eastern Norway, the sagas state that Astrid fled to her father. It would make little sense for Astrid to flee west or south to her father's lands in Hordaland or Agder, respectively, and then flee again east to Sweden. Hence, I have made Oprostadir a place called Oppegard in eastern Norway, close to the path that Astrid takes to escape through Sweden. There is another reason, too, that I have changed Oprostadir to Oppegard in east Norway. Erik Bjodaskalli is said to have had sons with “estates in the east of the land,” while Astrid had brothers who “dwelt east in the Vik.” Since Erik Bjodaskalli's sons all seemed to have lived in the east of Norway, it is hard for me to imagine that Erik Bjodaskalli would live in the west or south, i.e., Hordaland or Agder.
My characters flee east from Norway into Sweden, pursued by an agent of Gunnhild. The pursuer in the sagas is named Hakon. Given the number of Hakons in my stories, I changed his name to Holger.
The fleeing group travels past Lake Vanern and through a small town called Ormsbro. Today, the town is called Örebro. There is no indication that it was once named after a fictitious founder, Orm, or even existed during this time period. The earliest we know of it is from roughly the thirteenth century, when it was called Örebro.
I also have my characters pass a tar production area in their flight to Sweden. Recent excavations have unearthed large-scale tar manufacturing areas in Sweden that seemed to have appeared in the eighth century. With the Viking maritime activities, tar production increased and tar became an important trade commodity. I added that historical nugget, not just to add a little spice to the story but also to point out that the Vikings may have been more advanced or industrialized in their pursuits than originally thought.
Regarding Olaf's capture by the Estlanders. Heimskringla mentions that Olaf was sold by Klerkon to a man named Klerk, and then to a churl named Reas for a cloak. In that account, Reas has a wife named Rekon and a son named Rekoni. The names are different in Oddr Snorrason's account, which is written earlier than Heimskringla. In his tale, the churl's name is Heres. His wife's name is Rekon. His son's name is Reas. I chose to use the names from Oddr's account since they were less similar and hopefully, less confusing. I also omitted Klerk from the story since nothing is known of him and he could very well have been the same person as Klerkon.
Furthermore, in Heimskringla it is stated of Olaf's time on Reas's (or Heres's) farm: “There tarried Olaf long and it fared well with him, and always was he mightily beloved by the churl.” He may have been beloved by the churl, but I have a hard time believing that the son of a nobleman would have been overly excited to be the thrall of a churl, so I took creative license with that portion of the story.
About bog iron there has been much research. Most domestically produced iron in the Viking era was produced from bogs. There were usually two ways for people to find iron in bogs. In streams and bog pools, bog iron leaves an iridescent oily film on the surface of the water indicating that bog iron lies in the muddy depths somewhere nearby. Bog iron could also lie beneath peat in bogs. Using poles and turf knives, people located the small nodules of bog iron beneath the surface and harvested them for smelting. It was a painstaking, backbreaking process.
The harvested bog iron was smelted in carefully constructed furnaces to produce what is called the bloom, a mixture of low-carbon iron, slag, and charcoal. Repeated folding of the bloom drove out the impurities to create the final result: a billet or bar of malleable low-carbon iron, ready to be forged into tools and weapons. Because of the time-consuming processes used to create it, smelted iron was valuable. Rough iron bars were used as trade goods and even currency, and from them, weapons and other tools were created.
A study written by historian Andres Tvauri titled “The Migration Period, Pre-Viking Age, and Viking Age in Estonia” indicates that, since the Viking Age, the most “definite article of export” from Estonia was iron — a raw material that was in short supply all over Europe in the Iron and the Middle Ages. Iron from Saaremaa had low phosphor content, making it “especially high quality,” and thus “a highly appreciated raw material.” That historical tidbit became the basis for the thrall experience of Olaf and Torgil on Saaremaa.
According to the sagas, Olaf happened upon Klerkon in a marketplace in Holmgard (Novgorod) and drove a hand axe into the man's head to exact his vengeance for Torolv's death and his mother's enslavement. I wanted Torgil to be part of the action and I didn't want the encounter to be something that happened by chance. Hence, I kept the axe but changed the setting and action surrounding the encounter.
Which brings me to Klerkon's lair. Research unearthed a place called Linnamae pold, which in the Est tongue meant hill-fort field and was located just inland from an ancient burial ground on Saaremaa. There is no record as to who ruled in the fort, but excavations have discovered some riches there, suggesting it was a seat of power through the earlier days of Saaremaa. I chose that “hidden” fort to be Klerkon's seat of power.
Olaf and Torgil have now escaped the clutches of their masters and are headed to Holmgard (aka Novgorod), where more adventures await.
Other Books by Eric Schumacher
Eric Schumacher has also written a trilogy about Hakon Haraldsson (also known as Hakon the Good), which is available on Amazon, Audible, and other bookstores worldwide.
Hakon's Saga
Book 1 – God's Hammer
Book 2 – Raven's Feast
Book 3 – War King
Novella – Mollebakken: The Rise of Bloodaxe
About the Author
Eric Schumacher was born in Los Angeles in 1968. In addition to Forged by Iron, Schumacher is the author of three other historical fiction novels — God's Hammer, Raven's Feast, and War King — and one novella titled Mollebakken: The Rise of Bloodaxe. The trilogy and novella tell the story of the first Christian king of Viking Norway, Hakon Haraldsson, and his struggles to gain and hold the High Seat of his realm.
Schumacher's fascination with Vikings and medieval history began at a young age, though exactly why is not clear. While Los Angeles has its own unique history, there are no ancient monasteries or Viking burial sites or hidden hoards buried in fields. Still, from the earliest age, he was drawn to books about medieval kings and warlords and was fascinated by their stories and the turbulent times in which they lived. He is also certain that Tolkien helped feed his imagination with his Norse-infused stories of Middle Earth.
Schumacher now resides in Santa Barbara with his wife and two children and is busy working on his next book.
He can be found here:
Website: ericschumacher.net
Facebook: www.facebook.com/EricSchumacherAuthor
Twitter: @DarkAgeScribe
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