_Magnus the Good (1035-1047)_
Magnus was a natural child of Olaf the Saint, his mother being a girl
by the name of Alfhild, who was usually called the king's slave-woman,
although she was of good descent. She was a very handsome girl and
lived in King Olaf's court. It is said that when Magnus was born she
was very sick, and it was some time after the birth before it could
be discovered whether the boy was alive. A priest, who was present,
requested Sigvat the Skald (poet) to hasten to the king and tell him
of the event; but Sigvat refused, as the king had strictly forbidden
anybody to awaken him in the middle of the night. As the child was
very weak, however, they decided to baptize it, and Sigvat the Skald
named the boy Magnus. The next morning the king demanded to know why
they had named the boy Magnus, since there was no such name in his
family. Sigvat said: "I called him after King Carl Magnus (Emperor
Charlemagne), who, I knew, had been the best man in the world." This
satisfied the king.
Magnus was only eleven years old when he was proclaimed king at
the Oere-Thing. In the beginning he allowed Kalf Arneson and Einar
Thambaskelfer to take care of all government matters in his name; but
he soon developed into a clever, intelligent young man with a great
deal of independence. Hardeknut, who was then king of Denmark, was
inclined to press his claims to Norway, which he had inherited from
his father, Canute the Great, and collected an army. King Magnus also
armed himself, and they were about to meet in battle at the Gaut River.
However, the chiefs on both sides, who very much desired to avoid war,
made overtures for peace, and the result was a friendly meeting between
the kings at the Brenn Islands at the mouth of the Gaut River. They
arranged for a brotherly union, under oath, to keep the peace with each
other to the end of their lives; and if one of them should die without
leaving a son, the survivor should succeed to both countries. Twelve of
the principal men in each kingdom swore to the kings that this treaty
should be observed.
After the conciliation at the Brenn Islands Magnus was in undisputed
possession of his father's throne. During his stay in the southern part
of the country he had come in contact with his father's former friends
and faithful adherents, who had a great deal to say about the actions
of the Throndhjem people toward King Olaf. Magnus listened with great
eagerness to this talk, and, before he really understood it, he had
become possessed of a bitter feeling against those men who had been
his father's opponents. He especially began to dislike Kalf Arneson,
who, according to common belief, had dealt King Olaf the last deadly
blow at Stiklestad. One day the king was at a feast at the Haug estate
in Verdalen. At the table he said to Einar Thambaskelfer: "Let us ride
to-day over to Stiklestad. I wish to see the different reminders of
the battle." Einar replied: "Well, I know little about how matters went
there; but take Kalf with thee: he can give thee information about all
that took place." When the tables were removed, the king made himself
ready, and said to Kalf: "Thou must go with me to Stiklestad." After
repeating this command the king went out. Kalf put on his riding
clothes in all haste, and said to his foot-boy: "Ride immediately to
Eggja, and order my house-servants to have all my property on board my
ship before sunset."
The king and Kalf now rode over to Stiklestad. They alighted from their
horses, and went to the place where the battle had been. "Where did the
king fall?" asked Magnus. Kalf pointed with his spear, and said: "There
he lay when he fell." The king further asked: "And where wast thou
then, Kalf?" "Here, where I am now standing," answered Kalf. The king
turned red as blood in the face, and said: "Then thy axe could well
have reached him."
Kalf replied: "My axe did not come near him." Then he immediately
went to his horse, and rode away with all his men, while the king
returned to Haug. When Kalf reached home he found his ship ready, and
immediately sailed for the Orkneys. The king confiscated the Eggja
estate and other possessions which Kalf left behind him.
Magnus commenced to severely punish many of those who had borne
arms against Saint Olaf. He drove some of them out of the country,
took large sums of money from others, and had the cattle of others
slaughtered for his use. Thorer Hund had escaped punishment by making
a pilgrimage to Jerusalem shortly after Olaf's fall, and it is said
that he never came back. Harek of Thiotta was killed with the king's
consent by Asmund Grankelson, whose father had been killed by Harek.
The people soon began to murmur, and the discontent spread throughout
the country. In Sogn the people even gathered an armed force, and were
determined to fight, if Magnus came into their district. When the
young impetuous king heard of this, and made up his mind to punish the
rebellious Sognings, his friends, who knew that the disaffection was
widely spread through the country, decided to warn him of his danger.
Twelve of his friends came together, and determined, by casting lots,
which one of them should inform the king of the discontent of the
people, and the lot fell upon Sigvat the Skald.
Sigvat then composed a poem, which he called "The Free-speaking Song"
(_Bersöglisvísur_), in which he reminded the king of the promises
he made when he was proclaimed king, and advised him to be guided
by that respect for the laws and the rights of the people which his
predecessors had shown. He blamed him for his severity, and warned him
of the danger threatening him and his country.
Sigvat's song made a deep impression on the young king, and from now on
he was an entirely changed man. He consulted the most prudent men, and
revised the laws, repealing such of Svein Alfifuson's laws as were most
obnoxious to the people. He codified the laws in a written book called
"The Gray Goose" (_Graagaasen_).[7] It was only a short time before
King Magnus became very popular, and was beloved by all the country
people, who now called him Magnus the Good.
[7] "The Gray Goose," so called probably from the color of the
parchment on which it is written, is one of the most curious relics
of the Middle Ages, and gives us an unexpected view of the social
condition of the Northmen in the eleventh century. Law appears to
have been so far advanced among them that the forms were not merely
established, but the slightest breach of the legal forms of proceeding
involved the loss of the case. "The Gray Goose" embraces subjects not
dealt with probably by any other code in Europe at that period. The
provision for the poor, the equality of weights and measures, police
of markets and of sea havens, provision for illegitimate children of
the poor, inns for travellers, wages of servants and support of them
in sickness, protection of pregnant women and even of domestic animals
from injury, roads, bridges, vagrants, beggars, are subjects treated of
in this code. (S. Laing.)
The Danish king, Hardeknut, who was also king of England, died of
apoplexy at a wedding-feast at Lambeth, England, in June, 1042. This
was the end of Danish rule in England. After the death of Hardeknut,
his half-brother, Edward the Good, a son of the English king Ethelred
and Queen Emma, was chosen king of England.
When King Magnus heard of Hardeknut's death, he immediately sent word
to Denmark that he intended to claim the Danish throne in accordance
with the agreement made between himself and Hardeknut at their meeting
at the Gaut River. Shortly afterward King Magnus proceeded to Denmark
with a fine fleet of seventy ships. He was well received, and at a
Thing assembled at Viborg, Jutland (where the Danes always elected
their king), he was proclaimed king of all the Danish dominions. He
remained in Denmark during the summer (1042), and wherever he came he
was received with enthusiasm. He divided the country into districts and
appointed administrative officers, gave fiefs to influential men, and
took all steps to secure himself in power. In the autumn he returned to
Norway.
Among the Danes who swore allegiance to King Magnus was Svein, commonly
called Svein Estridson, a son of Earl Ulf. His mother was Estrid
(Astrid), a daughter of King Svein Tjuguskeg. She was a sister of
Canute the Great by the father's side, and of the Swedish king Olaf
by the mother's side, her mother being Queen Sigrid the Haughty. One
day, as King Magnus was sitting in his high-seat with a large number of
men around him, and with Svein Estridson sitting on a footstool before
him, the king made a speech, in which he said that he had promised the
Danes a chief who could defend and rule the country in the absence of
the king. "And," he continued, "I know no better man fitted, in all
respects, for this than Svein. I will therefore make him my earl, and
give him the government of my Danish dominions while I am in Norway,
just as King Canute the Great set his father, Earl Ulf, over Denmark
while he was in England." Einar Thambaskelfer, who was with the king,
was very ill-pleased with this appointment, as he put no faith in
Svein, and said to the king: "Too great an earl, too great an earl, my
foster-son!"
King Magnus had an early opportunity to regret his choice, for,
the same winter in which Svein was given the administration of the
government of Denmark as earl, he successfully courted the friendship
of the most influential men, and assumed the title of King of Denmark.
King Magnus heard this news, and at the same time that the people of
Vendland had a large army with which they plundered in Denmark. He
then gathered a large force, with which he sailed to Denmark. There he
summoned the people to come to him, and drew together a great army in
Jutland. Ordulf, the duke of Brunswick, who the year before had married
Ulfhild, the daughter of King Olaf the Saint, and the half-sister of
King Magnus,[8] also came to his aid with a great force. King Magnus
met the Vends in battle at Lyrskog Heath in Schleswig and gained a
great victory. It was generally reported in the army that King Magnus
had a vision the night before the battle, in which Olaf the Saint had
appeared and had given the king advice. "It is the common saying," says
the saga, "that there never was so great a slaughter of men in the
northern lands, since the time of Christianity, as took place among the
Vendland people on Lyrskog Heath." This was on the 28th of September,
1043. King Magnus followed up his victory, and sailed to Vendland,
attacked and captured the fortress of Jomsborg. A great many of the
people of Vendland submitted to King Magnus, while others fled the
country.
[8] From this union descended, in direct line, the royal house of
Brunswick and Saxony, whose members until lately occupied the thrones
of Hanover and Brunswick and still reign in England.
After this King Magnus turned his attention to Earl Svein. A battle was
fought, and Svein had to flee to his relatives in Sweden. But as soon
as Magnus went to Norway, Svein would return to Denmark and strengthen
himself with the Danes, and Magnus had continual wars with his earl.
Among the principal battles were those at Aaros (now Aarhus) and
Helganes.
When King Magnus came back to Norway in the autumn of 1045, after
one of his battles with Svein, he heard that his relative, Harald
Sigurdson, had come to Sweden on his way to Norway, and that Harald and
Svein had come to an understanding, and intended to endeavor to subdue
both Denmark and Norway. King Magnus then ordered a general levy over
all Norway, and he soon collected a great army with which to meet the
intruder. The relatives and friends of both Harald and Magnus, however,
said that it would be a great misfortune if there should be war between
them, and the result was a friendly meeting, where Magnus gave Harald
half of his kingdom. They were to rule together on equal terms; but
whenever they were together in one place King Magnus was to be "the
first man in seat, service and salutation." King Magnus died the
following year (1047) on one of his expeditions to Denmark. Before his
death King Magnus declared that Svein Estridson was to have Denmark,
while Harald should rule over Norway.