Olaf Trvgvason was chosen at Throndhjem by the General Thing to be the
king over the whole country, as Harald Harfager had been. The whole
public and the people throughout all the land would listen to nothing
else than that Olaf Trygvason should be king. Then Olaf went round the
whole country, and brought it under his rule, and all the people of
Norway gave in their submission; and also the chiefs in the Uplands and
in Viken, who before had held their lands as fiefs from the Danish king,
now became King Olaf's men, and held their hands from him. He went thus
through the whole country during the first winter (A.D. 996) and the
following summer. Earl Eirik, the son of Earl Hakon, his brother Svein,
and their friends and relations, fled out of the country, and went east
to Sweden to King Olaf the Swede, who gave them a good reception. So
says Thord Kolbeinson:--
"O thou whom bad men drove away,
After the bondes by foul play,
Took Hakon's life! Fate will pursue
These bloody wolves, and make them rue.
When the host came from out the West,
Like some tall stately war-ship's mast,
I saw the son of Trygve stand,
Surveying proud his native land."