[Footnote 1: Pebersvend (literally pepper 'prentice) is the term still
jocosely applied to elderly bachelors in Denmark.]
[Footnote 2: The name of a part of Russia in the middle ages.]
[Footnote 3: Frode according to the Icelandic historians, the third
king of Denmark, surnamed "The Peaceful," although he seems rather to
have deserved the title of "The Victorious," as he is said to have
brought Sweden, Hungary, England, and Ireland under his sway. The
history of Frode as related by the marvel-loving Saxo Grammaticus,
contains, as might be expected from the writer and the age, no slight
mixture of fable.--_Translator_.]
[Footnote 4: Snorro Sturlesen, born 1178, died 1241, the author of the
"Heims Kringla," or the history of the Norwegian kings, and the
compiler of the Younger Edda, also called "Snorro's Edda." The Elder
Edda is the compilation of Saemund Frode, or "the learned," who
was born in Iceland, 1054, and died a priest at Odde, in his 78th year.
Both the Eddas are collections of religious and mythic poems, and the
chief sources whence the knowledge of the northern mythology is
derived. The Elder Edda was first known in the middle of the 17th
century. It has been translated into Danish by Professor Finn
Magnussen.--_Translator_.]
[Footnote 5: Snorro Sturlesen, the Norwegian historian, thus pourtrays
the character of this monarch,--"King Olaf was a noble prince,
possessed of shining virtues and great piety. When driven by Knud
(Canute the Great) from Norway, and compelled to take refuge with
Jarislaf of Moscow, he bore his exile with patience, and spent his time
in prayer and acts of devotion. While in this situation his peace of
mind was only disturbed by the apprehension lest the Christian faith,
which he had so carefully implanted in Norway, should suffer from the
kingdom having passed into the hands of other rulers, and it was
chiefly on this account that he made an attempt to regain his crown,
and with that purpose once more repaired to Norway, where he was
received by many good and true men who desired his return, and were
ready to sacrifice their lives in his service. The armies of Canute and
Olaf met at Sticklestad in the year 1030. Ere the engagement began,
Olaf addressed his troops in a pious and touching discourse. He ordered
them to make use of one common watchword, and shout when they attacked
the enemy, 'On! Christian men! Chosen men! Kings men!' The battle was
fought with equal bravery and obstinacy on both sides, but at last Olaf
was slain by one of his own traitorous subjects, who had deserted to
Canute's army. Vide _Holberg's Hist. of Denmark_, vol. i.--_Translator_.]
[Footnote 6: An old Danish ballad entitled "King Birger and his
brothers," records the crimes of the former, and the melancholy fate of
the Swedish dukes. After years of strife between the brothers, Sweden
was at last partitioned off into three kingdoms, and possessed three
sovereigns and three distinct courts. In 1317, King Birger invited his
brothers to visit him at the castle of Nykioping, on the plea of
renewing the fraternal intercourse which had been so unhappily
interrupted, and the dukes unsuspectingly accepted the king's
invitation. On the evening of their arrival, however, after being
received with the greatest cordiality by the king, and sumptuously
entertained, they were seized by his order, bound hand and foot, and
thrown into the dungeon of the castle. This act of treachery soon
became known, and the king, fearing the interference of the people in
behalf of the dukes, fled from the castle, having first thrown the keys
of the dungeon into the deepest part of the river, and given orders
that the doors of the dungeon should not be opened until he returned.
On his departure Nykioping was instantly besieged, and crowds flocked
thither from all quarters, but ere the castle was taken the dukes had
expired. Eric died on the third day of his captivity, from the wounds
he had received in defending himself against his captors; but Valdemar
lived till the twelfth day without food.--_Translator_.]
[Footnote 7: Holberg thus relates the fate of this able and upright
statesman:--"After a long period of civil war and discord, the feud
between King Birger and his brothers was at last accommodated, through
the mediation of their mutual counsellors; but on the conclusion of the
treaty, the Swedish dukes did their utmost to bring Thorkild Knudsen
into discredit with the king, to whom he was represented by them as
having been the instigator of the disturbances which had prevailed
throughout the country, as well as having stirred up strife among the
members of the royal family, and as having abused the confidence of the
crown. King Birger, who was glad of any pretext for escaping the blame
he himself deserved, turned his back upon his faithful servant, and
permitted him to be brought to trial. Thorkild ably defended his
rightful cause, but his innocence and eloquence were of no avail. He
had been marked out as a victim, was doomed to death as a traitor, and
beheaded at Stockholm in the year 1306. It was not without difficulty
that his friends obtained permission to inter the body in consecrated
ground. Thorkild's treacherous foe, Drost Johan Brunke, continued his
career of political intrigue until the year 1318, when he and his
partizans were seized in the king's absence, by the opposite faction,
and put to death. Brunke's body was exposed on the wheel on a hill
without the city, which since that time has borne the name of Brunke's
Hill." Vide _Holberg's Hist. of Denmark_, vol. i.--_Trans_.]
[Footnote 8: The subject of the ballad of Ribehuus is the taking of the
castle of Ribe, which had fallen into the hands of the outlaws during
the minority of Eric, by a party of fifty loyal knights, headed by
Count Gerhard and Drost Hessel. In the middle ages it was not unusual
for the knights to join in the public festivities of the burghers. At
one of these, the king's knights took the opportunity of joining a
dance by torch lights to be led according to usage through the streets
up to the castle. The ballad describes the long row of dancers, as
being kept in a straight file by a chain of wreathed green leaves and
roses. Each knight held a lady in his left hand and a lighted torch in
the right, their drawn swords being carefully concealed under their
scarlet mantles. The castle bridge was lowered and the gates thrown
open to admit the dancers by permission of the commandant, who in a few
minutes found himself a prisoner, and the castle (which was wholly
unprepared for the attack) in the hands of King Eric's adherents. The
ballad concludes as follows;--
"Thus danced we into the castle hall,
With unsheathed sword 'neath scarlet pall,
The castle it is won!
Ne'er saw I before a castle by chance,
Won by rose-wreaths and the knightly dance,
For young Eric the feat was done!"--_Translator_.]
[Footnote 9: Bohemia.]
[Footnote 10: Rosmer. An allusion to an old Danish ballad, the hero of
which is called "Rosmer the Merman."--_Translator_.]
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