Chapter 31

When Olav (Tryggvasson) was in the Scilly Isles (Sicily) he learned that there was on the island a soothsayer who foretold forthcoming tidings, and many believed that things often went according to his words. Olav had a list to prove this man's soothsaying; so he sent the most handsome and biggest of his men, clad as finely as possible, and bade him say that he was the king, for Olav was known all over the land in that he was more handsome, bolder and bigger than all other men. But after he went from Russia he used no other name than to say he was called Ole and that he was a Russian. And when the messenger came to the soothsayer and told him he was the king, he got this answer: "Thou art not the king: but this is my counsel that thou be true to thy king." He said no more to the man. The messenger went back to the king and told Olav, who now had a much greater list to find this man, when he had such an answer from him. He now had no doubt that he was a true soothsayer. Olav then went to him and asked what he foretold about Olav's future, if he would have kingdoms or other luck. The hermit answered with holy soothsaying: "Thou shalt be a glorious king and bring forth glorious work. Thou shalt bring many men to the truth and to become Christian. Thereby shalt thou help thyself and many others, and that thou shalt not have doubt about my answer, thou canst have this evidence: near to thy ships wilt thou meet treachery and foes and wilt come to battle; thou wilt lose some of thy men and thou thyself wilt be wounded. From that wound thou shalt near be dead and be borne on the shields to thy ship; but from that wound thou wilt be well in seven nights and shortly after wilt thou be baptised." After that, Olav went down to his ships and there he met foes, who would slay him and his men. But the meeting ended as the hermit had told him, so that Olav was borne wounded out to his ship and likewise was he well after seven nights. Then it seemed clear to Olav that this man had told him the truth and that he was a true soothsayer, from whom he had this foretelling. Olav then went again to find the man, spoke much with him and asked carefully whence he had this wisdom by which he foretold the future. The hermit said that the God of Christian men let him know all he wished, and then he told Olav of many great works of God and after all these words Olav agreed to be baptised, and so it came about that Olav and all his following were baptised. He stayed there very long and learned the right faith and took with him from there priests and other learned men.

(King Olav established Christianity as the state religion of Norway in the years 995- 1000. Olav's father,Tryggve, who had been a minor chieftain in southern Norway, was killed in a political feud shortly before Olav was born [c. 964], and the family then took refuge with family at the court of Vladimir 'the Saint' in Kiev. As a young man Olav went to England, where he led Viking raiding bands and in 994 commanded a Danish army in an attack on London. Upon the conclusion of the war, Olav was confirmed as a member of the Christian church; his former enemy, the Saxon Aethelred II of England, was his sponsor in the ceremony.

Danish warriors walk ashore from their dragonships.

In 995 Olav returned to his homeland. The Norwegian ruler, Haakon Jarl, had become unpopular with his subjects and Olav easily seized the throne for himself.

He right away set out to unify the Norwegians in government and in religion; he began extensive Christian missionary activities, while at the same time attempting to extend firm authority over the powerful Norse aristocracy. He imported monks from England to help with his evangelizing efforts, and as the saga explains, spared no efforts to obtain his goal, using persuasion, coersion, treachery, torture and murder.

Snorri Sturlasson [1179-1242] was born into a prominent Icelandic family, and he became an historical writer and a politician; later in life he served as chief justice of the high court of Iceland and as royal Norwegian ambassador to the almost 400-year-old republic. About 1235 he completed the Heimskringla ['the twisting and turning of the Earth']. He became involved in a dispute with King Haakon IV, who was determined to incorporate Iceland under the crown, and was murdered by one of the king's men.)

Chapter 53

When Olav Tryggvasson became king of Norway, he stayed a long time during the summer at Viken (in southeastern Norway). There came to him many of his kinsmen, some were allied to him, and many who had been his father's good friends. He welcomed them with great love. Olav then called to him his (close relatives)--.

And with the greatest warmth he put before them a matter which they should take up with him and afterwards help on with all their skill, namely, that he intended to have Christianity throughout the whole of his kingdom. He said he would set out to convert all Norway to Christianity or otherwise die. "I shall make you all great and mighty men, for I trust you most on the grounds of kinship and friendship." All these men agreed to do as he bade and, together with those who would follow their advice, to help him in everything he wished. King Olav straight way opened the matter with the common folk, that he would ask all men in his kingdom to become Christian. Those who had already promised to do so, agreed first to that behest, and they were the mightiest present: all the others followed them. Thereupon all the men in the east of Viken were baptised. Now the king went north in Viken and bade all men take up Christianity, and those who spoke against it he dealt with hard; some he slew, some he maimed and some he drove away from the land. So it came about far and wide over all the kingdom which his father King Tryggve had formerly ruled and likewise over that which his kinsman (cousin) Harald Grenske had had, that all the folk took up Christianity as Olav bade. And in that summer and the following winter the folk in the whole of Viken were all converted to Christianity.

Chapter 54

Early in the spring, King Olav went out of Viken and had many men with him: he went north (west) to Agder and at every place where he held a thing with the bonders (free land-owning peasants), he bade men be baptised and all men took up Christianity, for none of the bonders dared oppose the king and wherever he went the folk were baptised. In Hordaland there were many bold men who were come from the stock of Horda-Kaare. This family was the greatest and noblest in Hordaland. And when these kinsmen learned of the hard tidings, that the king was going from the east through the land with a great army and was breaking the old laws, and that all who spoke against him were marked out for torments and mishandling, then the kinsmen arranged to hold a meeting amongst themselves to take common counsel, for they knew well that the king would soon come there. And they were of one mind about going with a great strength of men to the Gulathing (assembly of bonders who lived around the Gulenfiord in central Norway) and arranging there to meet King Olav Tryggvasson.

Chapter 55

Olav called the thing as soon as he came to Rogaland; and when the behest came to the bonders, they gathered together in great force and were fully weaponed. When they came together they held talk and made plans, and then they chose three men who were the fairest spoken in their gathering to answer King Olav at the thing and speak against him and to make it known that they would not undergo lawlessness, even if the king himself bade it. And when the bonders came to the thing and the thing was set, King Olav stood up and first spoke blithely to the bonders. Yet it seemed from his speech that he wished them to take up Christianity; first with fair words he bade them do it, but at length he vowed that they who spoke against him and would not fall in with his behest should have from him wrath and torment and hard dealing everywhere. And when the king ended his speech, there stood up among the bonders one who was the best-spoken and was first chosen to answer King Olav. And when he wished to speak, there came upon him such a cough and choking in the chest that he could not bring forth one word and he sat himself down. Then stood up the second bonde and he would not let his answer fall flat even though things went badly with the first. But when he began to speak he stammered so much that he could not bring forth a word and all who heard it began to laugh: the bonde then sat down. Then the third man stood up to speak against King Olav, but when he began to speak he was so hoarse and thick of his speech that no one could hear what he said, and he had to sit down. Then was there no one of the bonders to speak against the king. And when the bonders had no one to answer the king, no one rose up to withstand him. And it came about that all agreed to what the king bade, and all the folk at the thing were baptised, before the king parted from them.

Chapter 56

King Olav proceeded with his folk to the Gulathing, for the bonders had sent word that there they would answer this matter of his. And when both parties of men came to the thing, the king wished first to have a talk with the chiefs. When they were all gathered, he put forth his errand and bade them be baptised according to his behest. Then said Olmod the Old (son of Horda-Kaare): "We kinsmen have spoken about this matter between ourselves and we all shall be of one counsel. If thou, O king, thinkest to drive us kinsmen to such things, to break our laws and break us under thee by force, then shall we withstand thee with all our might and may fate then decide the victory. But if thou, O king, wilt give us kinsmen some useful gifts, then wilt thou do a right thing and we shall all turn to thee in full obedience." The king said: "What will ye crave of me, that our peace may be of the best?" Then said Olmod: "First, that thou wilt wed thy sister Astrid to our kinsman Erling Skjalgson (great grandson of Horda-Kaare), whom we reckon the most hopeful of all the young men in Norway." The king said that it seemed likely that it would be a good wedding, as Erling was of good lineage and of goodly looks, but still, he said, Astrid herself must answer that matter. Thereupon the king spoke with his sister about it. "Little good I get," she said, "of being a king's daughter and a king's sister, if I have to be wed to a man without the name of prince. I would rather bide a few more winters for another wedding," and therewith for the time being they ended their talking.

Chapter 57

Olav had a hawk taken, which Astrid owned, and had all the feathers plucked out of it and sent it back to her. Then said Astrid "Wroth now is my brother!" After this she stood up and went to the king who greeted her in a friendly way. Astrid said that she wished the king would arrange about her wedding just as he desired. "I thought," said the king, "that I should get might enough in the land here to make whomsoever I will an earl." The king then called Olmod and Erling and all their kinsmen to a meeting; a marriage was talked about, and the end of it was that Astrid was betrothed to Erling. Then the king called the thing and bade the bonders take up Christianity. Olmod and Erling were the foremost men in promoting this matter of the king and with them were all their kinsmen. No one had spoken against it and so all the folk were baptised and converted to Christianity.

Chapter 58

Erling Skjalgson held his wedding in the summer and a great many folk were present. King Olav was also there and he offered to give Erling an earldom. But Erling said: "Hersers (district chiefs) have my kinsmen always been and I will have no higher rank than they. Yet this will I take from thee, O king, if thou will let me be the greatest of that name in this land." The king promised him that and at their parting he gave his brother-in-law Erling the land north from Sognsjø, and as far east as Lindesnes, to rule in such a manner as Harald Fairhair (860-930) had given land to his sons, as is written already.

Chapter 59

The same harvest King Olav called a thing of four shires north in Stad at Dragseid, and to it the Sognings, the Fjordings, the South Morings and Romsdalers were to come. King Olav went there with a great following of men, whom he had brought with him from the east of the land and with them also some who had come to him in Rogaland and Hordaland. And when King Olav came to the thing, he bade them take Christianity as he had done in other places. And since the king had there a very great strength of men, they were afraid of this; and at last the king gave them two choices, either that they should take up Christianity and let themselves be baptised, or otherwise that they should hold battle with him. And when the bonders saw no hope in fighting with the king, the former choice was taken, so that all the folk were baptised. King Olav went with his army to North Møre and baptised that folk. After this he sailed into Lade and had the temple broken down and took all the goods and ornaments from the temple and from the god. And from the temple door he took a great gold ring which Haakon Earl (963-95) had caused to be made: then King Olav had the temple burned down. And when the bonders became aware of that, they sent out the war arrow to all the folks, called out the army and intended going against the king. King Olav sailed out with his army along the fiord and stood by on the north side of the land and thought he would go north to Haalogaland to baptize that district. But when he came to Bjørnør, he learned from Haalogaland that they had an army out and were minded to guard their land against the king. The chiefs of that army were Haarek from Tjøtta, Thore the Hart from Vaagan and Eyvind Roughchin. When Olav heard this he turned back on the way and sailed south along the land. And as he came south round Stad, he went more slowly, but still he came right east to Viken by the beginning of the winter.

Chapter 60

Queen Sigrid of Sweden, who was called 'Storraade' or the Strong-minded, was living on her estates, and during the winter men went between King Olav and Queen Sigrid, and for King Olav they begged Queen Sigrid's hand. She took the offer kindly and the matter was agreed upon. King Olav then sent Queen Sigrid a big gold ring he had taken from the door of the temple at Lade and it seemed to be a very costly gift. And about this matter there was to be a meeting at the landmark by the Elv. And when this ring, which King Olav had sent Queen Sigrid, was much praised by all men, there were with the queen two of her smiths, who were brothers. But when they took the ring, felt its weight in their hands and talked alone by themselves, the queen had them called and asked them why they were mocking over the ring. They denied it. But she said that they must needs let her know what they had found out about the ring. They said that there were falseness about it. After this she had the ring broken asunder and there was brass inside it. Then the queen was wroth and said that Olav would even betray in more things than this. That same winter Olav went up to Ringerike and converted everybody to Christianity there. Shortly after the death of Harald Grenske, Aasta Gudbrandsdotter (his widow), had married a man called Sigurd Syr, who was king of Ringerike. He was the son of Halvdan, who was the son of Sigurd the Giant, the son of Harald Fairhair. At that time, Olav (the future St.Olav), her son by Harald Grenske, was with Aasta. In his childhood, Olav had been brought up with his step-father Sigurd Syr. And when King Olav Tryggvasson came to Ringerike to bid them become Christian, Sigurd Syr let himself be baptised along with Aasta his wife and her son Olav, to whom Olav Tryggvasson was godfather at the baptism and who was then three winters old. King Olav then went back to Viken and was there during the winter; and that was the third year he had been king over Norway.

Chapter 61

Early in the spring, King Olav went east to Konungahella (by the Gota River, in Sweden) to meet Queen Sigrid. And when they met they spoke about the matter which had been discussed during the winter, that they should be married, and things were progressing well. Then King Olav said that Sigrid should be baptised and take the true faith. She answered, "I will not go from the faith I have had before, and my kinsmen before me. I will not say anything against thee if thou believe in the god that pleases thee." King Olav was very wroth and answered hastily, "Why should I wed thee, thou heathen bitch?" and he struck her in the face with the glove he was holding in his hand. After that he stood up and she likewise and Sigrid said, "This may well be thy death!" They parted, and the king went north to Viken and the queen east into Sweden.

(Sigrid Storraade was the widow after the Swedish King Eric Segersaell ['the Victorious'] who died about 994. Another account of her final encounter with the Norwegian king explains how Olav met with her at the Gota River and invited her on board his ship. A gang plank was put out and when the queen stepped onto this it was pulled out under her [supposedly by the order of her suitor who had tired of her and by now hoped to be married to the young virgin daughter of the king of Denmark]. Sigrid fell into the water and everyone on the Norwegian ship laughed and taunted the humiliated queen. Only Sigrid and her Swedish retinue did not share in the merriment, and that was when she swore revenge.)

Chapter 62

King Olav went to Tønsberg and there again he held a thing, at which he bade all the men who were openly or secretly dealing with wizardry and troll craft to go away from the land. The king made them search for such men in the districts which were in the neighborhood, and he bade them all come before him. And when they came, there was amongst them a man called Eyvind Kelde, who was the grandson of Ragnvald Rettlebone, the son of Harald Fairhair. Eyvind was a wizard and very troll-wise. King Olav had all these men gathered in a room and had it all well laid out; he made a great feast for them and gave them strong drink; and when they were drunk Olav had the place set on fire and burned it and all the folk who were therein, except Eyvind Kelde, who got away through the smoke hole. And when he had got far away, he met on the road the men who were going to the king and bade them tell the king that Eyvind Kelde had escaped the fire and he would never again come into King Olav's power, and he would always continue in the same way as he had always done, with all his magic arts. And when these men came to King Olav, they told him such things as Eyvind had bid them. The king was full of wrath that Eyvind was not dead.

Chapter 63

When spring came, King Olav went out along Viken and held feasts on his big estates, and he sent bidding over all Viken that he would have an army out in the summer and would go north in the land. After that he went northwest to Agder, and when Lent was nearly over, he sailed north to Rogaland and came on Easter Eve to Avaldsnes in Karmøy. There an Easter feast was made ready for him and he had close to 300 men. The same night Eyvind Kelde came to the island and he had a longship fully manned with wizards and troll-wise folk. Eyvind and his following went up from the ship and practiced their craft. Eyvind made by magic so great a darkness through fog that the king and his men could not see them. But when they came near to the houses at Avaldsnes, it had become daylight and things went otherwise than Eyvind had wished: the darkness which he had made by magic came over him and his folk so that they could no more see with their eyes than with their necks, and they went round and round in rings. And the king's watchmen saw where they were going but knew not what folk they were. The king was told, and he and all his men rose and clothed themselves. And when the king saw where Eyvind and all his folk were going, he bade his men arm themselves and go and see what folk they were. When the king's men there recognized Eyvind, they took him and all the others prisoner and brought them before the king. Then Eyvind told all that had befallen on his journey. The king had them all taken out and brought to a skerry (a rock) which was under water at high tide and he had them bound there. Eyvind and the others thus lost their lives. The skerry was afterwards called Scrat-Skerry (troll skerry).

Chapter 64

Thus it is said that when King Olav was at the feast at Avaldsnes there came one evening an old man of wise words, who had a broad hat and was one-eyed (Odin, the king of the gods in Norse mythology, had only one eye); the man could tell of all lands. He happened to talk with the king, who found much fun in his talk; the king asked him about many things and the guest gave answer to all the questions; the king sat with him for a long time in the evening. Then the king asked him if he knew who Ogvald had been, after whom the ness and the estate were called. The guest said that Ogvald was a king and a great warrior and he sacrificed mostly to a cow, which he had with him wherever he went; it seemed good for his health always to drink her milk; "King Ogvald fought with a king called Varin and in that battle King Ogvald fell. He was buried in a howe (a dell) here a short way from this house and the howe stones were set up which are still standing. And at a spot close by the cow was also buried in a howe." Such things and many others he told about the kings and about other old tidings. And when they had sat far into the night, the bishop minded the king that it was time to go to sleep and the king did so. And when he was undressed and laid himself upon his bed, the guest sat on the footboard and again talked long with the king. The bishop then spoke to the king and said that it was now time to go to sleep. The king did so and the guest went out. A little later the king woke up and asked after the guest and bade him be called to him. But the guest was nowhere to be found. So next morning the king called to him his cook and his butler and asked them if some unknown man had come to them. They said that when they were getting the meat ready a man came and said that they were cooking the flesh badly for the king's table and thereupon he gave them two thick, fat flitches of meat and they cooked them with the other flesh. Then the king said that all that meat should be wasted and that this guest was no human being, but it must have been Odin in whom the heathen had so long believed; and he said that Odin should have no chance of betraying them.

Chapter 65

King Olav that summer drew a great army together from the east of the land and sailed north with it to Trondheimen and first lay in by Nidaros. He sent bidding all round the fiord that he would hold a thing and called a thing of eight shires at Frosta; but the bonders turned his bidding to the thing into an arrow of war meeting, and all the men from over Trondheimen gathered together. And when the king came to the thing, the body of bonders were come there fully weaponed. When the thing met, the king spoke to the folk and bade them take up Christianity. And when he had spoken for a little time the bonders shouted and bade him be quiet, saying that otherwise they would go against him and drive him away. "Thus we did," they said "with Haakon (son of Harald Fairhair) the foster son of Athelstan, when he came to us with such behest and we think no more of thee than of him." And when King Olav saw the heated temper of the bonders and likewise that they had so great an army that he could not withstand them, he changed his speech and turned in assent with the bonders: he said, "I wish that we shall be friends again, as we have formerly agreed between ourselves. I will go there where ye have your greatest offering and see you worship. Then shall we all take counsel about what worship we shall have and we shall all be as one about it." And when the king spoke mildly to the bonders, they were softened in their minds and all their talk was reasonable and peaceful, and it was at last agreed that there should be a midsummer offering at Maeren, and thither were all the chiefs and mighty bonders to come, as was their wont, and thither also was King Olav to come.

Chapter 66

There was a man named Skegge, a mighty bonde who was also known as Iron-Skegge, and he dwelt at Opphaug in Yrjar. Skegge was the first man at the thing to speak against King Olav and he was the bonders' foremost speaker against Christianity. In this way, the thing was dissolved; the bonders went home and the king went over to Lade.

Chapter 67

King Olav lay with his ships in the River Nid and he had thirty ships and many bold men; the king himself was often in Lade with his own guard. And when the time drew nigh for the offering to be made at Maeren, King Olav held a great feast in Lade; and he had sent bidding into Strinda and up into Gauldale, calling to him the chiefs and other great bonders. But when the feast was ready, and the bidden guests were come, there was great feasting the first evening: the drink was good and they became very drunk. And the night after all the men slept peacefully. Next day, when the king was clad, he had Mass sung, and when it was over he had a husthing (house-thing) called by bugle; all his men went up from the ships to the thing. And when it was met, the king stood up and spoke thus: "We held a thing in Frosta and I bade the bonders let themselves be baptised; but they bade mew turn myself to sacrificing with them, just as King Haakon the foster son of Athelstan had done. Then we came to an agreement between ourselves to meet at Maeren and there make a great offering. But if I turn to the offering with you, then I will have you make the greatest sacrifice that can be made, and sacrifice men. Nor will I choose thralls (slaves) or evil men (criminals), but as gifts to the gods we must choose the best men and to that end I name Orm Lygra of Medalhus, Styrkar of Gimsar, Kaar of Gryting, Asbjørn Torbergson of Vaernes, Orm of Ljoksa and Haldor of Skerdingstad," and there besides he named five others who were of the noblest; he said that he would offer them for good seasons and peace, and bade his men fall on them straightway. And when the bonders saw that they had no strength of men to meet the king, then they begged for peace and put all their rule in the king's hands. Then it was agreed that all the bonders who were come there should be baptised, and they swore oaths to the king to keep the true faith and put aside all sacrificing. The king then kept all these men at his feast, until they gave their sons or brothers or other near kinsmen as hostages to the king.

Chapter 68

King Olav went with all his army into Trondheimen, and when he came to Maeren, all those chiefs of the Tronds were there who had most withstood Christianity, and they had with them all the great bonders who had formerly held the offerings in that place. There was a great number present, in the same way as there had formerly been at the Frosta thing. The king had the thing called and both troops went to it fully weaponed. And when the thing was met, the king spoke and bade the men become Christian. Iron-Skegge answered the king's speech on the bonders' behalf and said that the bonders wished the king as before not to break down their laws. "We wish thee, O king," he said, "to sacrifice as other kings have done here before thee." To this speech the bonders gave a great applause and said they wished everything to be just as Skegge had said. The king said he would go into the temple and see their worship when they sacrificed. That pleased the bonders well, and so both troops went to the temple.

Chapter 69

King Olav now went into the temple with a few of his men and a few of the bonders, and when he came thither where the gods were, he saw (a statue of) Thor sitting there, the most honored of all the gods and adorned with gold and silver. King Olav then heaved up a gold-chased spike-axe that he had in his hand and struck at Thor so that he fell from his place. The king's men leaped up and thrust down all the gods from their places; and whilst the king was in the temple Iron-Skegge was slain outside the temple door; the king's men did it. When the king came out to his men, he bade the bonders choose between two things: one was that they should all take up Christianity, and the other was that they should hold battle with him. But after the fall of Skegge there was no leader in the bonders' army to raise the standard against King Olav, so what they chose was to go to the king and do as he bade. King Olav had all the folk who were there baptised, and took hostages of the bonders that they should hold to Christianity. After that, King Olav let his men go round all the folk districts in Trondheimen; no man spoke against Christianity and all the folk in Trondlaw were baptised.

Chapter 70

King Olav went out with his army to Nidaros and he had houses built on the banks of the Nid and arranged that there should be a market place. He gave men tofts (building lots) for them to build themselves houses, and he had a king's house built above Skipekrok. Thither in the autumn he caused to be moved all the goods which would be needed for settling there for the winter and he had a great number of folk.

Chapter 71

King Olav arranged to meet Iron-Skegge's kinsmen and offered them compensation. And there were many noble men to answer. Iron-Skegge had a daughter who was called Gudrun and it was at last agreed that King Olav should wed her. When the bridal night came, King Olav and Gudrun both got into one bed. And the first night they lay together she drew out a knife as soon as the king was asleep and wished to stick it in him. But the king was aware of it; he took the knife from her, got up from the bed and went to his men, saying what had happened. Gudrun and all the men who had followed her then took their belongings and went away; Gudrun never came back to the same bed as King Olav.

Chapter 72

The same autumn King Olav had a great longship built on the shores of the Nid; it was a cutter and on it the king had many shipwrights working. And when the ship was ready at the beginning of the winter she had thirty rowing seats and a high stem and stern but was not big otherwise. The king called the ship the Crane.

After Iron-Skegge's death, his body was moved out to Yrjar and it lies now in Skeggehowe on Austraatt.

Chapter 73

When King Olav Tryggvasson had been king in Norway for two years there was with him a Saxon priest (from England) called Tangbrand. He was a powerful but murderous man, but a good scholar and a bold man. But on the grounds that he was a wild man, the king would not have him with him; so he gave him an errand to go and preach Christianity in Iceland. He received a merchant ship and of his journey it is said that he came to Iceland in the Eastfiords in South Alptafiord, and the winter after he was with Hall of Sida. Tangbrand preached Christianity in Iceland and after his words Hall let himself and all his folk and many other chiefs be baptised. But there were many who spoke against it. Thorvald the Wily and Veterlidi the Scald made scurvy rimes about Tangbrand, but he slew them both. Tangbrand stayed two years in Iceland and he was the death of three men before he went away.

Chapter 74

There was a man called Sigurd and another called Hauk. They were from Haalogaland and were often on trade journeys. One summer they had been west to England, and when they came back to Norway they sailed along the land and in North Møre they met King Olav's men. When the king was told that certain heathen men were come from Haalogaland, he had the steersmen called before him. He asked them if they would let themselves be baptised, but to that they answered 'nay'. After this the king spoke to them in many ways, but it was of no use; he then vowed them death or maiming, but they did not yield for that. So he had them clapped in irons and had them with him for some time thus held in chains. The king often talked to them, but it availed naught. One night they got away, but no one learned anything of them or how they had got away. But in the autumn they came north to Haarek of Tjøtta; he greeted them well and they were well kept by him during the winter.

Chapter 75

One fine day in spring, Haarek was at home on his farm; he had few men with him and time fell heavy on him. Sigurd asked him if they should row out a little and amuse themselves. That pleased Haarek well. They went down to the shore and drew forth a six-oared boat; Sigurd took from the boathouse such sails and tackle as belonged to the ship, for they were often wont to have a sail with them when they went out to amuse themselves. Haarek went out in the boat and fixed the rudder. Sigurd and his brother went fully weaponed, just as they were wont to do at home with the bonder. They were both strong men. Before they had gone out in the ship, they threw in some butter and a bread basket, and between them they carried a great barrel of beer out to the ship. Then they rowed from the land; and when they were away from the island, the brothers hoisted the sail and Haarek steered and they quickly went from the island. The brothers then moved over to where Haarek was sitting and Sigurd said to the bonde: "Now shalt thou choose between certain things: one is that thou lettest us brothers be master of this journey and its course; the second is that thou lettest us bind thee; and the third is that we slay thee." Haarek saw how things were arranged for him. He could not be a match for more than one of the brothers, even if they were likewise armed. He therefore chose what seemed to him most reasonable, to let them manage the journey. He swore them oaths thereon, and gave them his troth. After that Sigurd went to the rudder and steered south along the land. The brothers took good care not to meet other folk and they had a very good wind. They did not stop in the journey ere they came south to Trondheimen and went into Nidaros and there found King Olav. After that, King Olav had Haarek called to talk with him and he bade him be baptised, but Haarek spoke against it. The king and Haarek talked about it for many a day, sometimes in the company of men, sometimes alone; but they were not agreed. And at last the king said to Haarek: "Now shalt thou go home and I will do thee no ill this first time. One reason is that there is close kinship between us, and another is that thou mayest say that I got thee by treachery. But know it for a truth that I think to come north in the summer and I shall seek ye Haaleygers. Ye shall then learn if I can punish those who withstand Christianity." Haarek thought himself lucky to get away from there as quickly as possible. King Olav gave him a good boat, which was rowed by ten or twelve men on either side, and he had the ship fitted out with the best of things that were needed. He let him take with him thirty men, bold and well armed.

Chapter 76

Haarek of Tjøtta went away from the town as quickly as he could, but Hauk and Sigurd stayed with the king and let themselves be baptised. Haarek went his way till he came to Tjøtta. He sent a messenger to his friend Eyvind Rough-chin and bade him tell Eyvind that Haarek had found King Olav, and that he had not let himself be cowed into taking up Christianity. Haarek also bade the messenger tell Eyvind that Olav thought of going against them with an army in the summer and that they must show wariness, and he bade Eyvind come to him as soon as possible. And when these tidings were borne to Eyvind he said that no king should get the upper hand over them. So Eyvind went as quickly as possible with a light skiff and a few men in it. And when he came to Tjøtta, Haarek greeted him well; and Haarek and he straightway fell to talking on the other side of the farm. And when they had talked together for a short time, there came Olav's men who had followed Haarek north; they took Eyvind prisoner, put him in the ship with them and went away to the south with him. They did not stop their journey until they came to Trondheimen, and found King Olav in Nidaros. Eyvind was then brought to a talk with King Olav, who bade him be baptised like other men. To that Eyvind answered 'nay'. The king then bade him with many blithe words take up Christianity and told him many good grounds for it, and the bishop did likewise. But Eyvind did not agree. The king then offered him gifts and great land rents, but Eyvind turned everything from him. So the king vowed him injury or death, but Eyvind did not give way. After that the king had a bowl brought in, full of glowing cinders, and set it on Eyvind's stomach, and very soon the stomach burst asunder. Then said Eyvind: "Take the bowl from me: I will speak some words ere I die"; and so it was done. Then the king asked him, "Eyvind, wilt thou now believe in Christ?" "Nay," he said, "I cannot receive baptism; I am a spirit quickened in man's body by the wizardry of the Finns (sorceres), for my father and mother had not child before that was done." After this Eyvind died and he had been the most troll-wise of men.

Chapter 77

The next spring Olav had his ships and men fitted out. The king himself had the Crane, and a great and very fine army. And when he was ready he sailed with it out of the fiord, then north by Byrda and so north into Haalogaland. And wherever he came to land he held things and bade all the folk there take baptism and the true faith. No one had the strength to speak against him and all the land became Christian wherever he went. King Olav was at Tjøtta as the guest of Haarek, who with all his men was baptised. Haarek gave the king gifts at parting, became his man (took oath of allegiance) and got from the king both the land rents and the title of district chief.

Chapter 78

Raud the Strong was the name of a bonde who lived in Godøy in the fiord called Salten. He was a very rich man and had many huscarls (bodyguards), he was a mighty man and there followed him a great number of Finns whenever he had need of them. Raud was an ardent sacrificer and very troll-wise. He was a good friend to the man aforenamed Thore the Hart, and they were both mighty chiefs. And when they learned that King Olav was going about in Haalogaland with an army, they gathered an army, ordered out ships and got many men. Raud's ship had a great dragon with golden heads; she had thirty rowing seats and was spacious for her size. Thore the Hart also had a great ship. They sailed with their army to the south against King Olav, and when they met they went to battle against the king. It was a hard fight and there was soon a great number slain, but the loss of life turned on the army of the Haaleygers, their ships were cleared and at last fright and terror came over them. Raud then rowed with his dragon ship out to sea and hoisted his sail. He always had the wind where he wished to sail and it came by wizardry. To speak shortly of Raud's journey, it may be said that he sailed home to Godøy. Thore the Hart fled inland and there they leaped from their ships. But King Olav followed them, and his men also leaped from their ships, followed the others and slew them. The king was again foremost as always when such things were done. He saw where Thore the Hart was running, and Thore was fleet footed. The king ran after him, followed by his hound Vige. Then said the king, "Vige, take the Hart!" Vige ran forth after Thore and straightway leaped upon him. Thore had to stop. The king shot a spear after him and Thore struck at the dog with his sword and gave it a great wound; but at that same moment the king's spear flew under Thore's hand, so that it went through him and stuck out on the other side. There Thore lost his life and Vige was borne wounded to the ships. King Olav gave peace to all those men who asked for it and who would take up Christianity.

Chapter 79

King Olav sailed with his army north along the land and baptised all the folk wherever he went. But when he came north into Salten he wished to go into the fiord to find Raud, but stormy weather and a strong wind hung over the fiord and the king put in there for a week. The same stormy weather continued in the fiord, though outside there was a fresh wind for sailing north along the land. The king then sailed north as far as Omd (Hinnøy) and there all the folk took up Christianity. After this the king turned his journey to the south, but when he came to Salten, there was stormy weather and a rough sea in the fiord. He lay there some nights, but the weather was still the same. The king then spoke to Bishop Sigurd and asked if he could give it any counsel as to how to counteract it. The bishop said he would try whether God would grant him help to overcome this work of the devil.

Chapter 80

Bishop Sigurd now took all his mass ornaments (vestments and vessels) and went forth into the stem of the king's ship; he had candles lighted and bore forth incense; he set up a rood cross in the stem and there read the gospel and many other prayers and he sprinkled holy water over the whole ship. He then bade them take down the awnings and row into the fiord. The king then bade them call to the other ships to row after them. And when the rowing began in the Crane, she went into the fiord and the men who rowed the ship felt no wind against them, and in the wake of the ship the sea was calm, but on both sides the sea foam rose so high that the fells on the side of the fiord could not be seen. Then every ship rowed after the other in calm weather and so they went the whole day and night and a little before day they came to the Godøyers. And when they came before Raud's house, his great dragon ship floated there near the land. King Olav with his men went straight up to the house and fell upon the loft where Raud slept, and his men broke the door down and rushed in. Raud was seized and bound, and of the other men who were inside some were slain and others taken prisoner. Thereupon the king's men went to the shieling (temporary shelters in the pasture) where Raud's huscarls slept and there some were slain, some bound and others beaten. The king had Raud brought before him and bade him let himself be baptised: "I will not," said the king, "take from thee thy possessions, but rather will I be thy friend, if thou art worthy of it." Raud shouted against this and said that he would never believe in Christ, and he blasphemed against God. The king was wroth and said that Raud should have the worst of deaths. He had him taken and bound by the back to a pole, and he had a bit of wood set between his teeth and thus kept open his mouth. Then the king took a lingworm (an eel-like fish) and put it to Raud's mouth; but the worm would not enter the mouth and turned away from it because Raud breathed against it. The king then got a hollow stalk of angelica (a small flowering plant) and put it in Raud's mouth (though some say that the king took his horn and put it in Raud's mouth), and stuck the worm in it. He then brought a red-hot iron after it and the worm went into Raud's mouth, down his neck and bored itself out through his side: Raud lost his life. King Olav then took a great quantity of goods in gold and silver and other loose treasures, weapons and many kinds of costly things. He made all the men who had followed Raud be baptised, but those who would not, he caused to be slain or tormented. He then took the dragon which Raud had had and sailed it himself, for it was a much greater and finer ship than the Crane; at the bow there was a dragon's head, and in the stern a crook fashioned at the end like a dragon's tail, and both sides of the neck and the whole stem were overlaid with gold. The king called the ship the Serpent, because when the sail was hoisted it was like the dragon's wing; it was the finest ship in the whole of Norway. The islands on which Raud dwelt were called Gylling and Haering, but altogether they were called the Godøyers, whilst the Godøystrøm was to the north between them and the mainland. King Olav christened the whole fiord and afterwards went his way to the south along the land, and on that journey much happened that is told of in folk tales, how trolls and evil spirits tempted his men and sometimes himself. But we will rather write about the things that befell when Olav christened Norway or those other lands (Iceland and Greenland) to which he had brought Christianity. The same autumn King Olav came with his army to Trondheimen; he steered to Nidaros and there he settled for the winter.

(King Olav Tryggvasson was killed the next year, on September 9, 1000, in a naval engagement at 'Svold' in the Danish Sound (Øresund) where he fought a combined fleet led by rebellious Norwegian chieftains and the kings of Denmark and Sweden. Sigrid Storraade of Sweden had in the meantime married the Danish King Svend 'Forkbeard' and had convinced her new husband and her son of first marriage, Olof 'Skoetkonung' ['Tax King'], to avenge the tort she had suffered by Olav. After the death of Olav, it was not until the reign of his nephew, King Olav II 'the Saint' [1016-28], that Christianity was once again championed and finally introduced in Norway.)

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