Eric's sons, four or five of them, with a Harald at the top, now at once
got Norway in hand, all of it but Trondhjem, as king and under-kings;
and made a severe time of it for those who had been, or seemed to be,
their enemies. Excellent Jarl Sigurd, always so useful to Hakon and his
country, was killed by them; and they came to repent that before very
long. The slain Sigurd left a son, Hakon, as Jarl, who became famous
in the northern world by and by. This Hakon, and him only, would the
Trondhjemers accept as sovereign. "Death to him, then," said the sons
of Eric, but only in secret, till they had got their hands free and
were ready; which was not yet for some years. Nay, Hakon, when actually
attacked, made good resistance, and threatened to cause trouble. Nor did
he by any means get his death from these sons of Eric at this time, or
till long afterwards at all, from one of their kin, as it chanced. On
the contrary, he fled to Denmark now, and by and by managed to come
back, to their cost.
Among their other chief victims were two cousins of their own, Tryggve
and Gudrod, who had been honest under-kings to the late head-king, Hakon
the Good; but were now become suspect, and had to fight for their lives,
and lose them in a tragic manner. Tryggve had a son, whom we shall hear
of. Gudrod, son of worthy Bjorn the Chapman, was grandfather of Saint
Olaf, whom all men have heard of,--who has a church in Southwark even,
and another in Old Jewry, to this hour. In all these violences, Gunhild,
widow of the late king Eric, was understood to have a principal hand.
She had come back to Norway with her sons; and naturally passed for the
secret adviser and Maternal President in whatever of violence went on;
always reckoned a fell, vehement, relentless personage where her own
interests were concerned. Probably as things settled, her influence on
affairs grew less. At least one hopes so; and, in the Sagas, hears less
and less of her, and before long nothing.
Harald, the head-king in this Eric fraternity, does not seem to have
been a bad man,--the contrary indeed; but his position was untowardly,
full of difficulty and contradictions. Whatever Harald could accomplish
for behoof of Christianity, or real benefit to Norway, in these cross
circumstances, he seems to have done in a modest and honest manner. He
got the name of _Greyfell_ from his people on a very trivial account,
but seemingly with perfect good humor on their part. Some Iceland trader
had brought a cargo of furs to Trondhjem (Lade) for sale; sale being
slacker than the Icelander wished, he presented a chosen specimen,
cloak, doublet, or whatever it was, to Harald; who wore it with
acceptance in public, and rapidly brought disposal of the Icelander's
stock, and the surname of _Greyfell_ to himself. His under-kings and he
were certainly not popular, though I almost think Greyfell himself, in
absence of his mother and the under-kings, might have been so. But here
they all were, and had wrought great trouble in Norway. "Too many of
them," said everybody; "too many of these courts and court people,
eating up any substance that there is." For the seasons withal, two or
three of them in succession, were bad for grass, much more for grain;
no _herring_ came either; very cleanness of teeth was like to come in
Eyvind Skaldaspillir's opinion. This scarcity became at last their share
of the great Famine Of A.D. 975, which desolated Western Europe (see the
poem in the Saxon Chronicle). And all this by Eyvind Skaldaspillir, and
the heathen Norse in general, was ascribed to anger of the heathen gods.
Discontent in Norway, and especially in Eyvind Skaldaspillir, seems to
have been very great.
Whereupon exile Hakon, Jarl Sigurd's son, bestirs himself in Denmark,
backed by old King Blue-tooth, and begins invading and encroaching in a
miscellaneous way; especially intriguing and contriving plots all round
him. An unfathomably cunning kind of fellow, as well as an audacious and
strong-handed! Intriguing in Trondhjem, where he gets the under-king,
Greyfell's brother, fallen upon and murdered; intriguing with Gold
Harald, a distinguished cousin or nephew of King Blue-tooth's, who had
done fine viking work, and gained, such wealth that he got the
epithet of "Gold," and who now was infinitely desirous of a share in
Blue-tooth's kingdom as the proper finish to these sea-rovings. He even
ventured one day to make publicly a distinct proposal that way to King
Harald Blue-tooth himself; who flew into thunder and lightning at the
mere mention of it; so that none durst speak to him for several days
afterwards. Of both these Haralds Hakon was confidential friend; and
needed all his skill to walk without immediate annihilation between such
a pair of dragons, and work out Norway for himself withal. In the end
he found he must take solidly to Blue-tooth's side of the question; and
that they two must provide a recipe for Gold Harald and Norway both at
once.
"It is as much as your life is worth to speak again of sharing this
Danish kingdom," said Hakon very privately to Gold Harald; "but could
not you, my golden friend, be content with Norway for a kingdom, if one
helped you to it?"
"That could I well," answered Harald.
"Then keep me those nine war-ships you have just been rigging for a new
viking cruise; have these in readiness when I lift my finger!"
That was the recipe contrived for Gold Harald; recipe for King Greyfell
goes into the same vial, and is also ready.
Hitherto the Hakon-Blue-tooth disturbances in Norway had amounted to but
little. King Greyfell, a very active and valiant man, has constantly,
without much difficulty, repelled these sporadic bits of troubles; but
Greyfell, all the same, would willingly have peace with dangerous old
Blue-tooth (ever anxious to get his clutches over Norway on any terms)
if peace with him could be had. Blue-tooth, too, professes every
willingness; inveigles Greyfell, he and Hakon do; to have a friendly
meeting on the Danish borders, and not only settle all these quarrels,
but generously settle Greyfell in certain fiefs which he claimed in
Denmark itself; and so swear everlasting friendship. Greyfell joyfully
complies, punctually appears at the appointed day in Lymfjord Sound,
the appointed place. Whereupon Hakon gives signal to Gold Harald, "To
Lymfjord with these nine ships of yours, swift!" Gold Harald flies to
Lymfjord with his ships, challenges King Harald Greyfell to land and
fight; which the undaunted Greyfell, though so far outnumbered, does;
and, fighting his very best, perishes there, he and almost all his
people. Which done, Jarl Hakon, who is in readiness, attacks Gold
Harald, the victorious but the wearied; easily beats Gold Harald, takes
him prisoner, and instantly hangs and ends him, to the huge joy of King
Blue-tooth and Hakon; who now make instant voyage to Norway; drive
all the brother under-kings into rapid flight to the Orkneys, to any
readiest shelter; and so, under the patronage of Blue-tooth, Hakon, with
the title of Jarl, becomes ruler of Norway. This foul treachery done on
the brave and honest Harald Greyfell is by some dated about A.D. 969, by
Munch, 965, by others, computing out of Snorro only, A.D. 975. For there
is always an uncertainty in these Icelandic dates (say rather, rare and
rude attempts at dating, without even an "A.D." or other fixed "year
one" to go upon in Iceland), though seldom, I think, so large a
discrepancy as here.