The Sagas of the Icelanders

by Smilely, Jane

  Egil stayed with Skallagrim for several winters, and looked after the property and ran the farm just as much as Skallagrim did. Egil went balder than ever.

  Then the district began to be settled in many places. Hromund, brother of Grim the Halogalander, was living at Thverarhlid with the crew of his ship. Hromund was the father of Gunnlaug, whose daughter, Thurid Dylla, was the mother of Illugi the Black.

  57 One summer when Egil had been at Borg for many years, a ship arrived in Iceland from Norway, bringing the news that Bjorn the Landowner was dead. It was also reported that Bjorn’s son-in-law, Berg-Onund, had taken all his wealth. He had taken all the valuables to his own home, and had put tenants on the farms and was collecting rent from them. He had also seized all the lands that Bjorn had owned.

  When Egil learned of this, he asked in detail whether Berg-Onund would have done this on his own initiative, or with the backing of more powerful people. He was told that Onund was a good friend of King Eirik, and even closer to Queen Gunnhild.

  Egil let the matter rest for the autumn. But at the end of winter and in early spring, Egil had the ship brought out that he owned and that had been standing in a shed at Langarfoss, equipped it to go to sea and gathered a crew. His wife Asgerd went on the journey, but Thorolf’s daughter Thordis stayed behind. Egil put out to sea when he was ready, and nothing of note happened until he reached Norway. He went straight to see Arinbjorn at the first opportunity. Arinbjorn welcomed Egil and invited him to stay, which he accepted. Asgerd went there with him, along with several people.

  Egil soon brought up the subject with Arinbjorn of collecting the property he laid claim to in that country.

  ‘It does not look too promising,’ Arinbjorn said. ‘Berg-Onund is tough and troublesome, unfair and greedy, and now the king and queen are giving him much support. As you are aware, Gunnhild is your greatest enemy, and she will not urge Onund to settle up.’

  Egil said, ‘The king will allow me to win my lawful rights in this case, and with your support I won’t hesitate about taking Onund to law.’

  They decided that Egil should equip a boat, which he manned with a crew of almost twenty. They headed south for Hordaland, landed at Ask and went to the house to ask for Berg-Onund. Egil presented his case and demanded his share of Bjorn’s inheritance from Onund, saying that both daughters had equal rights to inherit from Bjorn by law.

  ‘Even if it seems to me that Asgerd might be considered of much higher birth than your wife Gunnhild,’ he added.

  ‘You’ve certainly got some nerve, Egil,’ Onund snapped back. ‘You’ve been outlawed by King Eirik, then you come back here to his country to pester his men. You can be sure that I have got the better of plenty of people like you, Egil, even when I have considered there to be much less reason than you with your claim on an inheritance for your wife, because everyone knows she’s the daughter of a slave-woman.’

  Onund delivered a long string of abuse.

  When Egil saw that Onund was not prepared to make any settlement, he summonsed him to appear at an assembly and to be judged according to laws of the Gula Assembly.

  Onund said, ‘I’ll be at the Gula Assembly, and if I have my way you won’t be leaving there in one piece.’

  Egil said he would risk going to the assembly, whatever happened – ‘come what may of our dealings’.

  Egil and his men went away, and when he returned home he told Arinbjorn about his journey and Onund’s answers. Arinbjorn was furious at hearing his aunt Thora called a slave-woman.

  Arinbjorn went to see King Eirik and put the matter to him.

  The king took the matter quite badly, saying that Arinbjorn had taken Egil’s side for a long time: ‘It is for your sake that I have allowed him to stay in this country, but that will prove more difficult if you support him whenever he encroaches on my friends.’

  Arinbjorn said, ‘You should allow us to claim our rights in this case.’

  The king was stubborn about the whole business, but Arinbjorn could tell that the queen was even more averse to it. Arinbjorn went back and said the outlook was quite bleak.

  Winter passed and the time came round to attend the Gula Assembly. Arinbjorn took a large band of men with him, and Egil was among them. King Eirik was there too, and had a large band with him. Berg-Onund and his brothers were in the king’s party, and had many men with them. When the time came to discuss the cases, both sides went to the place where the court was held, to present their testimonies. Onund was bragging.

  The court was held on a flat plain, marked out by hazel poles with a rope around them. This was known as staking out a sanctuary. Inside the circle sat the court, twelve men from the Fjordane province, twelve from Sognefjord province and twelve from Hordaland province. These three dozen men were to rule on all the cases. Arinbjorn selected the members of the Fjordane court, and Thord from Aurland those from Sognefjord, and they were all on the same side.

  Arinbjorn had taken a large band of men to the assembly, a fully-manned fast vessel and many small boats, skiffs and ferries owned by farmers. King Eirik had a large party there too, six or seven longships and many farmers.

  Egil began his statement by demanding that the court rule in his favour against Onund. He recounted his grounds for claiming Bjorn Brynjolfsson’s inheritance. He said that his wife Asgerd deserved to inherit from her father Bjorn, being descended entirely from landowners and ultimately of royal stock. He demanded that the court rule that Asgerd should inherit half of Bjorn’s estate, both money and land.

  When Egil finished his speech, Berg-Onund spoke.

  ‘My wife Gunnhild is the daughter of Bjorn and Olof, Bjorn’s lawful wife,’ he said. ‘Gunnhild is therefore Bjorn’s legal heiress. I claimed ownership of everything Bjorn owned on the grounds that Bjorn had only one other daughter and she had no right to the inheritance. Her mother was captured and made a concubine without her kinsmen’s approval, and taken from one country to another. And you, Egil, want to act as unreasonably and overbearingly here as you do everywhere else you go. But you do not stand to gain by it this time, for King Eirik and Queen Gunnhild have promised me that every case of mine in their realm will be ruled in my favour. I present irrefutable evidence to the king and queen and members of the court to prove that Thora of the Embroidered Hand, Asgerd’s mother, was captured from her brother Thorir’s home and on another occasion from Brynjolf’s in Aurland. She travelled from one country to the next with Bjorn and some Vikings and outlaws who had been exiled by the king, and while she was away she became pregnant with Asgerd by Bjorn. It is astonishing that you, Egil, intend to ignore all King Eirik’s rulings. For a start, you are here in this country after Eirik outlawed you, and what is more, even though you have married a slave-woman, you claim she has a right to an inheritance. I demand of the members of the court that they award me all of Bjorn’s inheritance, and declare Asgerd a king’s slave-woman, because she was begotten when her mother and father were under king’s outlawry.’

  Then Arinbjorn spoke: ‘We will bring forth witnesses who will swear on oath that my father Thorir and Bjorn stated in their settlement that Asgerd, Bjorn and Thora’s daughter, was deemed one of her father’s heiresses, and also that you, king, granted him the right to live in this country, as you know for yourself, and that everything was settled that had once prevented them from reaching an agreement.’

  The king took a long time answering his speech.

  Then Egil spoke a verse:

  25. This man pinned with thorns claims thorns: brooches

  that my wife, who bears my drinking-horn,

  is born of a slave-woman;

  Selfish Onund looks after himself.

  Spear-wielder, my brooch-goddess brooch-goddess: woman, wife

  is born to an inheritance.

  This can be sworn to, descendant

  of ancient kings: accept an oath.

  Arinbjorn then had twelve worthy men testify that they had heard the terms of Thorir and Bjorn’s settlement, and the
y all offered to swear an oath on it for the king and the court. The court wanted to take their oaths, if the king did not forbid it. The king replied that he would neither order it nor forbid it.

  Then Queen Gunnhild spoke: ‘How peculiar of you, King, to let this big man Egil run circles around you. Would you even raise an objection if he claimed the throne out of your hands? You might refuse to make any ruling in Onund’s favour, but I will not tolerate Egil trampling over our friends and wrongly taking this money from Onund. Where are you now, Alf Askmann? Take your men to where the court is sitting and prevent this injustice from coming to pass.’

  Askmann and his men ran to the court and cut the ropes where the sanctuary had been staked out, broke the hazel poles and drove the court away. Commotion broke out at the assembly; no one carried arms there.

  Then Egil said, ‘Can Berg-Onund hear me?’

  ‘I’m listening,’ he replied.

  ‘I challenge you to a duel, here at the assembly. The victor will take all the property, the lands and the valuables, and you will be a figure of public scorn if you do not dare.’

  Then King Eirik said, ‘If you’re looking for a fight, Egil, we can arrange one for you.’

  Egil answered, ‘I’m not prepared to fight the king’s forces and be outnumbered, but I will not run away if I am granted a fight on equal terms. I will give you all the same treatment.’

  Then Arinbjorn said, ‘Let’s leave, Egil. We’ve no business here for the time being.’

  Arinbjorn went away, taking all his men with him.

  Egil turned round and said in a loud voice, ‘Testify to this, Arinbjorn, Thord and all who hear me now, landholders and men of law and common people, that I forbid that the lands once owned by Bjorn Brynjolfsson will be lived on, worked on and used for any purpose. This I forbid you, Berg-Onund, and all other men, foreign or native, of high or low birth, and anyone who does so I pronounce to have broken the laws of the land, incurred the wrath of the gods and violated the peace.’

  After that, Egil left with Arinbjorn. They went to their ships, crossing a hill some distance away which prevented them from being seen in the assembly place.

  When they reached the ships, Arinbjorn addressed his men: ‘You are all aware how this assembly turned out. We failed to win our rights and the king is so furious that I expect him to deal out the harshest treatment to our men if he has the chance. I want everyone to board his ship and go home immediately. Let no man wait for any other.’

  Then Arinbjorn boarded his ship and said to Egil, ‘You board the boat that is tied to the seaward side of the longship and get away as quickly as possible. Travel by night if you can, not by day, and lie low, because the king will try to find a way to make your paths cross. Whatever may happen, come to me when all this is over.’

  Egil did as Arinbjorn had told him. Thirty of them boarded the boat and rowed as fast as they could. It was an exceptionally fast craft. A large number of Arinbjorn’s men rowed out of the harbour in boats and ferries, and the longship commanded by Arinbjorn went last, being the hardest to row. The boat that Egil was in soon went ahead of the others. Then Egil spoke a verse:

  26. Thorn-foot’s false heir ruined

  my claim to the inheritance.

  From him I earn only

  threats and hectoring,

  whenever I may repay his robbing

  my lands where oxen toil.

  We disputed great fields

  that serpents slumber on: gold.

  King Eirik had heard Egil’s departing words to the assembly, and was furious. But since everyone had gone to the assembly unarmed, he did not attack him there. He ordered his men to board their ships, and they did so.

  When they reached the shore, the king arranged a meeting to describe his plan: ‘We will take down the awnings from our ships and row after Arinbjorn and Egil. Then we will execute Egil and spare no one who takes his side.’

  They boarded their ships, quickly made ready to put to sea and rowed to where Arinbjorn’s ships had been moored, but they had already left by then. The king ordered his men to row after them through the northern part of the sound, and when he entered Sognefjord, Arinbjorn’s men were rowing into the Saudungssund sound. He pursued them and caught up with Arinbjorn’s ships in the sound. Drawing up beside them, they called out and the king asked if Egil was on board.

  Arinbjorn replied, ‘Egil is not here, as you will soon find out for yourself, my lord. The men on board are all known to you, and you won’t find Egil below deck if you look there.’

  The king asked Arinbjorn about Egil’s most recent whereabouts. He replied that Egil was on board a boat with thirty men, rowing out to Steinssund.

  Then the king ordered his men to row along the channels that were farthest inland, and try to cut Egil off. They did so.

  There was a man from Oppland called Ketil the Slayer, a member of King Eirik’s court. He navigated and steered the king’s ship. Ketil was a big, handsome man and a relative of the king’s. Many people said there was a close resemblance between them.

  Egil had left his ship afloat and moved the cargo before he went to the assembly. After leaving Arinbjorn, he and his men rowed to Steinssund to their ship, and boarded it. The boat was left to float between ship and shore, with its rudder ready and the oars tied in place in the rowlocks.

  The following morning, when day had scarcely broken, the guards noticed several ships rowing up to them, and when Egil woke up he got straight to his feet and ordered all his men to board the boat. He armed himself quickly, and so did all the others. Egil took the chests of silver that he had been given by King Athelstan and took with him everywhere. They boarded the boat and rowed on the shore side of the warship closest to land; it was King Eirik’s.

  Because all this happened so quickly and there was still little daylight, the ships sailed past each other. When they stood aft to aft Egil threw a spear, striking the helmsman, Ketil the Slayer, through the middle. King Eirik called out an order to his men to row after Egil. When the ships passed the merchant vessel, the king’s men boarded it. All of Egil’s men who had stayed behind there and not boarded the boat were killed, if the king’s men caught them; some fled to land. Ten of Egil’s men died there. Some of the ships rowed after Egil and others plundered the merchant vessel. They took all the valuables they found on board, then burned it.

  The party pursuing Egil rowed vigorously, with two men on each oar. They had plenty of men on board, while Egil had a small crew of eighteen men on his boat, and the king’s men began to catch them up. Inland from the island was a fairly shallow fording-point to another island. It was low tide. Egil and his men headed for the shallow channel, and the warships ran aground there and lost sight of them. Then the king turned back for the south, while Egil headed north to see Arinbjorn. He spoke a verse:

  27. The mighty wielder of swords

  that flame in battle

  has felled ten of our men,

  but I acquitted myself,

  when the stout branch wetted branch: spear

  with the war-goddess’s wound-sea, wound-sea: blood

  dispatched by my hand, flew straight

  between Ketil’s curved ribs.

  Egil went to see Arinbjorn and told him the news.

  Arinbjorn replied that Egil could not have expected anything else from his dealings with King Eirik, ‘But you will not lack for money, Egil. I will compensate you for your ship and give you another that will provide you with an easy passage to Iceland.’

  Asgerd, Egil’s wife, had stayed at Arinbjorn’s house while they were at the assembly.

  Arinbjorn gave Egil a very seaworthy ship and had it loaded with timber. Egil prepared the ship to put out to sea, and had almost thirty men with him again. He and Arinbjorn parted in great friendship, and Egil spoke a verse:

  28. Let the gods banish the king,

  pay him for stealing my wealth,

  let him incur the wrath

  of Odin and the gods.

 
Make the tyrant flee his lands,

  Frey and Njord; may Thor

  the land-god be angered at this foe,

  the defiler of his holy place.

  58 When Harald Fair-hair began to age he appointed his sons as rulers of Norway, and made Eirik king of them all. After he had been king of Norway for seventy years, Harald handed over the kingdom to Eirik. At that time, Gunnhild bore Eirik a son, whom Harald sprinkled with water and named after himself, adding that he should become king after his father if he lived long enough. King Harald then withdrew to live a quieter life, mainly staying at Rogaland or Hordaland. Three years later, King Harald died at Rogaland, and was buried in a mound at Haugesund.

  After his death, a great dispute developed between his sons, for the people of Vik took Olaf as their king, and the people of Trondheim took Sigurd. Eirik killed both of his brothers in battle at Tunsberg a year after Harald’s death. He took his army eastwards from Hordaland to Oslo to fight his brothers the same summer that Egil and Berg-Onund clashed at the Gula Assembly and that the events just described took place.

  Berg-Onund stayed at home on his farm while the king went on his expedition, since he felt wary of leaving it when Egil was still in the country. His brother Hadd was with him.

  There was a man called Frodi, a relative and foster-son of King Eirik. He was a handsome man, young but well built. King Eirik left him behind to provide Berg-Onund with extra support. Frodi was staying at Aarstad, on the king’s farm, and had a band of men there with him.

  King Eirik and Gunnhild had a son called Rognvald. He was ten or eleven years old at this time, a promising and attractive lad. He was staying with Frodi when all this happened.