When King Inge and his men saw that Gregorius was aground, he encouraged
his crew to row to his assistance. "It was," he said, "the most
imprudent advice that we should remain lying here, while our friends are
in battle; for we have the largest and best ship in all the fleet. But
now I see that Gregorius, the man to whom I owe the most, is in need of
help; so we must hasten to the fight where it is sharpest. It is also
most proper that I should be in the battle; for the victory, if we win
it, will belong to me. And if I even knew beforehand that our men were
not to gain the battle, yet our place is where our friends are; for I
can do nothing if I lose the men who are justly called the defence of
the country, who are the bravest, and have long ruled for me and my
kingdom." Thereupon he ordered his banner to be set up, which was done;
and they rowed across the river. Then the battle raged, and the king
could not get room to attack, so close lay the ships before him. First
he lay under the East-country trading ship, and from it they threw down
upon his vessel spears, iron-shod stakes, and such large stones that
it was impossible to hold out longer there, and he had to haul off. Now
when the king's people saw that he was come they made place for him, and
then he laid alongside of Eindride Jonson's ship. Now King Hakon's men
abandoned the small ships, and went on board the large merchant vessels;
but some of them sprang on shore. Erling Skakke and his men had a
severe conflict. Erling himself was on the forecastle, and called his
forecastlemen, and ordered them to board the king's ship; but they
answered, this was no easy matter, for there were beams above with an
iron comb on them. Then Erling himself went to the bow, and stayed there
a while, until they succeeded in getting on board the king's ship: and
then the ship was cleared of men on the bows, and the whole army gave
way. Many sprang into the water, many fell, but the greater number got
to the land. So says Einar Skulason:--
"Men fall upon the slippery deck--
Men roll off from the blood-drenched wreck;
Dead bodies float down with the stream,
And from the shores witch-ravens scream.
The cold blue river now runs red
With the warm blood of warriors dead,
And stains the waves in Karmt Sound
With the last drops of the death-wound.
"All down the stream, with unmann'd prow,
Floats many an empty long-ship now,
Ship after ship, shout after shout,
Tell that Kign Hakon can't hold out.
The bowmen ply their bows of elm,
The red swords flash o'er broken helm:
King Hakon's men rush to the strand,
Out of their ships, up through the land."
Einar composed a song about Gregorius Dagson, which is called the
River-song. King Inge granted life and peace to Nikolas Skialdvarson
when his ship was deserted, and thereupon he went into King Inge's
service, and remained in it as long as the king lived. Eindride Jonson
leaped on board of King Inge's ship when his own was cleared of men, and
begged for his life. King Inge wished to grant it; but Havard Klining's
son ran up, and gave him a mortal wound, which was much blamed; but he
said Eindride had been the cause of his father's death. There was much
lamentation at Eindride's death, but principally in the Throndhjem
district. Many of Hakon's people fell here, but not many chiefs. Few of
King Inge's people fell, but many were wounded. King Hakon fled up the
country, and King Inge went north to Viken with his troops; and he, as
well as Gregorius, remained in Viken all winter (A.D. 1160). When King
Inge's men, Bergliot and his brothers, sons of Ivar of Elda, came from
the battle to Bergen, they slew Nickolas Skeg, who had been Hakon's
treasurer, and then went north to Throndhjem.
King Hakon came north before Yule, and Sigurd was sometimes home at
Reyr; for Gregorius, who was nearly related to Sigurd, had obtained for
him life and safety from King Inge, so that he retained all his estates.
King Hakon was in the merchant-town of Nidaros in Yule; and one evening
in the beginning of Yule his men fought in the room of the court, and in
this affray eight men were killed, and many were wounded. The eighth
day of Yule, King Hakon's man Alf Rode, son of Ottar Birting, with about
eighty men, went to Elda, and came in the night unexpectedly on the
people, who were very drunk, and set fire to the room; but they went
out, and defended themselves bravely. There fell Bergliot, Ivar's son,
and Ogmund, his brother, and many more. They had been nearly thirty
altogether in number. In winter died, north in the merchant-town, Andres
Simonson, King Hakon's foster-brother; and his death was much deplored.
Erling Skakke and Inge's men, who were in Bergen, threatened that in
winter they would proceed against Hakon and his men; but it came to
nothing. Gregorius sent word from the east, from Konungahella, that
if he were so near as Erling and his men, he would not sit quietly in
Bergen while Hakon was killing King Inge's friends and their comrades in
war north in the Throndhjem country.