The Saga of the Jomsvikings

by Lee M Hollander

  Tova, the daughter of Earl Strút-Harold, said to Sigurd, her husband: “This I shall ask of you, that you follow your brother Búi as best you can. He has shown me many kindnesses, and I shall try to make a small return for them. I have here two men whom I will give you, Búi. One is called Hávard the Hewing, the other, Áslák Holmskalli.”

  Búi accepted the gift of the two men and thanked her for it. He straightway gave Áslák to his kinsman Vagn.

  Notes

  42 Æthelræd’s rule (978–1016) was one long warfare against the Scandinavian invaders.

  43 Leira means “mudflat.”

  44 Assuming the average crew of a warship to have been fifty men, it will be seen that considerable forces were engaged in the later battle.

  19. GEIRMUND ESCAPES AND WARNS EARL HÁKON

  Now the banquet came to an end, and the Jómsvíkings immediately prepared to leave. Then they set sail with one hundred and twenty large ships. They had a favorable breeze and soon made Víken45 in Norway. Late in the evening they arrived at the town of Túnsberg, and took it by surprise.

  Geirmund the White was the name of the magistrate who had charge of the defense of Túnsberg. When the Jómsvíkings entered the town they laid it waste almost completely. They killed many and plundered an immense amount of property, so that the townsmen had a sad awakening.

  Geirmund awoke, and also those men who slept in the quarters nearest to his. They ran up into a loft that they thought could be defended longest. Then the Jómsvíkings rushed to the loft and chopped at it most furiously.46 Geirmund saw that the defenders could not hold out there long, so he quickly made up his mind—he jumped down from the loft into the street, landing on his feet. Vagn happened to be standing right there and straightway slashed out with his sword and cut off Geirmund’s hand, and there was a gold ring on the hand.

  Geirmund escaped to the forests and traveled through them for six days. Then he came out to inhabited places and journeyed in a northerly direction as fast as he could, both day and night. He learned that Earl Hákon with a following of one hundred and twenty men was banqueting at an estate called á Skugga.47 He arrived there late in the evening and found the earl at table drinking.

  Geirmund went up to him and greeted him. The earl asked him who he was, and Geirmund told him. The earl asked if he had any news.

  Geirmund said: “Small news, as yet; but it may become big news.”

  The earl said: “What is it?”

  Geirmund said: “An army has come to the land east in Víken, and it is spreading death and destruction.”

  Then the earl said: “I know that you would not tell news of war unless it was the truth. Who commands this army?”

  “Sigvaldi is the name of the commander,” Geirmund answered, “and I heard mentioned the names of Búi and Vagn. And I have a reminder of all this.” He lifted up his arm, showing the stump.

  The earl said: “A nasty trick they have played on you. Do you know who gave you this wound?”

  Geirmund said: “I can make a very likely guess, because when the man who did it picked up the ring that was on the hand they said, “There you made a haul, Vagn’—so they said. And I believe that this is the host called the Jómsvíkings.”

  “You are likely to be right about that,” the earl said. “And it is the last thing I could wish.”

  The earl at once left the banquet and made for Raumsdale. He sent men in all directions with the war-arrow.48 Also he sent messengers north to Drontheim to tell his son Svein to gather forces in that district. And his son Earl Eric journeyed north to Naumudale and then north by the sea around North Möre and the islands. The army was to gather at the island called Hod. Erling, another son of the earl, went about Rogaland district, and Earl Hákon himself, around South Möre and Raumsdale. Then they gathered their forces near Hod in the bay called Hjórunga,49 and there were more than three hundred and sixty ships. Then they laid their plans.

  Notes

  45 The present Oslofjord.

  46 Many of the houses were erected on stout wooden pillars, as is still the case with the Norwegian stabbur or provision houses.

  47 That is (freely), “Shady-Side.”

  48 The war-arrow was borne from farm to farm as a token of summons to war service.

  49 Located in the district of South Möre. The description of the locale of the battle tallies with geographical fact.

  20. PREPARATIONS FOR THE BATTLE

  Now it is to be told of the Jómsvíkings that they sailed from the south along the land, and everyone fled from them who could. Still they killed a great many people and made great depredations on the shore. Then they sailed north around the promontory of Stad50 and landed at the Herey Islands, because they were in need of provisions. At that time they had as yet heard nothing of Earl Hákon.

  Vagn then sailed with his galley to the island of Hod. There he encountered a man who was driving three cows and twelve goats. Vagn asked his name, and he said it was Ulf. Then Vagn said: “You men, drive this livestock down to the shore.”

  “Who is this man?” asked Ulf.

  They told him. Then Ulf said: “It would seem to me that if you are the Jómsvíkings you could find bigger cattle for slaughter, and not far away.”

  Vagn said: “Tell us about the earl if you can, and you shall get back both your cows and your goats.”

  Ulf said: “He lay here yesterday evening with one ship behind the island in Hjórunga Bay.”

  Then Vagn said: “You shall go along with us and show us the way.”

  Ulf went aboard Vagn’s ship and, together with some of the force, they sailed at once for the Herey Islands. The Jómsvíkings made ready for battle, even though Ulf made light of any resistance. Then Ulf feared that they suspected there were more ships than he had told of. He leapt overboard and swam off. Vagn seized a javelin and drove it through his middle, and thus Ulf lost his life.

  Then the Jómsvíkings saw that the inlet was all covered with ships. They straightway put their fleet in battle array. Sigvaldi posted himself in the middle of the fleet, with his brother Thorkel on one side. Búi and his brother Sigurd were stationed on the northern wing, and Vagn Ákason and Bjorn the Welshman on the southern wing.

  In Hjórunga Bay a skerry lies in the middle, and north of the reef an island called Primsigned;51 the island of Horund lies to the south.

  Now the earl and his sons saw that the Jómsvíkings had lined up their ships in battle array against them. Svein, the son of Earl H´kon, together with Gudbrand from the Dales, was to engage Sigvaldi; and Stýrkar from Gymsar, Sigvaldi’s brother Thorkel. Yrjarskeggi and Sigurd Steikling from H´logaland52 and Thorir Hart were to face Búi. Thorkel Midlong, Hallstein Kerling, and Thorkel Leira were arrayed against Sigurd Cape; Arnmód and his sons Arni and Finn, against Vagn. Earl Eric, the son of Earl Hákon, and Erling from Skuggi, together with Geirmund the White, faced Bjorn the Welshman. [Also]53 Einar the Small and Hávard from Flydruness. Earl Hákon was to hold himself in reserve and lend support wherever necessary.

  There were four Icelanders in the fleet of Hákon and his sons. One was Einar,54 the son of the Skald-maid. He leapt on to the landing stage and said: “To Sigvaldi I shall go, this earl gives grudgingly.” And then he spoke this verse:

  “Up, to join the earl who

  adds to wolves’ feast55 boldly!

  Forth, to join his fleet and

  fight with Earl Sigvaldi!

  Nor will the wand-of-wounds’56 strong

  wielder, when I find him—

  fast my shield to his ship I’ll

  shift—reward begrudge me.”

  Earl Hákon saw that Einar wanted to leave him, and he asked Einar to come and talk with him. Then the earl took some precious scales which were made of burnt silver, all gilded. Two weights belonged with them, one of gold and the other of silver. On each weight was the figure of a man, and they were called “lots,” and their nature was such that when the earl laid them on the scales and said what each was to stand
for, then if the one came up which he wanted to come up, the lot lying on that side stirred so that there was a tinkling.57 The earl gave Einar these scales, and he rejoiced. Thereafter he was called Einar Tinkle-Scales.

  Another skald was Vígfús, the son of Vígna-Glúm. The name of a third one was Thord the Left-Handed. The fourth was Thorleif Skúma, the son of Thorkel from Dýrafirth. Thorleif Skúma got himself a root bole in the forest and burned it in the fire. This he brought along as a weapon, and he boarded the ship of Earl Eric.

  The earl said: “What do you want to do with that big club?” Thorleif said:

  “In my hand I hold

  for Búi’s head

  a bone-breaker,

  baleful for Sigvaldi,

  a woe for Víkings,

  a weapon for Hákon.

  If life be granted,

  most loathful will be

  this oaken club

  to untold Danes.”

  Vígfús also was on Earl Eric’s ship. He took his spear and whetted it and spoke this verse:

  “Fiercest fight—at home while

  fondles the craven his buxom

  wife—waxes apace now

  Vithri’s-weather—58 awaits us.

  Safe, I say, the weakling

  sleeps, no trouble expecting,

  warm in his wife’s embraces;

  we sharpen spears for battle.”

  Notes

  50 The westernmost point of land on the Norway mainland.

  51 Primsigned literally means “marked with the cross.” The prima signatio was the religious act preliminary to baptism. Just why the name was applied to the island is not known.

  52 On the west coast of northern Norway.

  53 There is an evident lacuna in the text here.

  54 The most noted of the skalds at the court of Earl Hákon. He is the author of “Vellekla,” one of the best-known skaldic poems, which celebrates the martial deeds of the earl and is prophetic of the prosperity of the country under him. For a translation of “Vellekla” see The Skalds, Hollander (Princeton University Press for the American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1945), chap. 5.

  55 Kenning for “carnage, battle.” (A kenning is a periphrastic expression used in Old Germanic, especially Old Norse, poetry, instead of the simple name of a person or thing.)

  56 Kenning for “sword.”

  57 A difficult passage in the original.

  58 Vithri was one of the many names of Ódin. His “weather” or “storm” was the battle.

  21. THE BATTLE

  Thereupon the two fleets joined battle and fought fiercely, nor was there need to goad them on. We are told that where Sigvaldi fought against Earl Hákon and Earl Svein, there it was a draw and neither party yielded ground with their ships. Also, Earl Eric proved to be a match for Vagn. But where Búi and his brother pushed the attack, they were found to deal weighty blows and it seemed better to give ground: Earl Hákon’s men let their ships drift back, and Búi made a big dent in the battle array of the earls. There was much shouting and a terrific blowing of trumpets.

  Earl Eric saw how affairs stood. He rowed to the spot and attacked Búi, and there arose the fiercest fighting. The earl managed to restore his battle line, but no more. Then there was heard a mighty whoop where Vagn and his ships were stationed. The earl rowed there. Vagn had made a clean sweep through the battle array and put that whole wing to flight. And when Earl Eric saw that, he laid his iron-prowed ship alongside Vagn’s dragon, and then the battle began anew. And it is common report that there never was a more spirited fight. And right then Vagn and Áslák Holmskalli leapt up on the prow of Eric’s iron-beaked ship, and each plowed forward on either side of the ship, clearing the deck, so that everybody fell back. Áslák wore no helmet on his bald pate, but though men struck his skull with their swords they no more harmed him than if they had hit with whalebone.59

  The weather was good, with hot sunshine, and many shed their clothing. Vagn and Áslák slew many a man. Then Earl Eric urged his men on with fiery words to the attack. Vígfús, the son of Víga-Glúm, seized a large, sharp-pointed anvil and flung it at Áslák’s head, and the point forthwith sank into Áslák’s skull and he fell down dead. But Vagn on his side of the ship waded forward, killing men savagely. Thorleif Skúma ran to attack him and hit him with his oaken club. The blow landed on Vagn’s helmet and was so heavy that the helmet split. But Vagn leaned against the railing and hurled his sword at Thorleif, then forthwith leapt overboard and onto his own warship and kept on fighting furiously.

  Earl Eric now withdrew his ship from the battle line, because its fore part back to the mast was almost cleared of warriors. By that time Earl Hákon had moved his whole fleet to the land. There was a lull in the fighting, and Earl Hákon and his sons all met together.

  Earl Hákon said: “It seems to me that the battle is beginning to go against us. I had thought it a bad thing to have to fight these men, and so indeed it turns out. Now this will not do. We must bethink ourselves of some wise course. I shall go up on land, and you are to look after the fleet meanwhile, in case they attack.”

  Thereupon the earl went up on the island of Primsigned, and away into a forest, and fell on his knees60 and prayed, looking northward. And in his prayer he called upon his patron goddess, Thorgerd Holgabrúd. But she would not hear his prayer and was wroth.61 He offered to make her many a sacrifice, but she refused each one, and he thought his case desperate. In the end he offered her a human sacrifice, but she would not have it. At last he offered her his own seven-year-old son; and that she accepted. Then the earl put the boy in the hands of his slave Skopti,62 and Skopti slew him.

  Afterwards the earl returned to his ships and urged his men on to make renewed attack; “for I know now surely that the victory will be ours. Press the attack all the more vigorously, because I have invoked for victory both the sisters, Thorgerd and Irpa.”

  Then the earl boarded his ship and prepared for the fight, and the fleet rowed to the attack, and again there was the most furious battle. And right soon the weather began to thicken in the north and clouds covered the sky and the daylight waned. Next came flashes of lightning and thunder, and with them a violent shower.63 The Jómsvíkings had to fight facing into the storm, and the squall was so heavy that they could hardly stand up against it. Men had cast off their clothes, earlier, because of the heat, and now it was cold. Nevertheless, no one needed to be urged on to do battle. But although the Jómsvíkings hurled stones and other missiles and threw their spears, the wind turned all their weapons back upon them, to join the shower of missiles from their enemies.

  Hávard the Hewing was the first to see Thorgerd Holgabrúd in the fleet of Earl Hákon, and then many a second-sighted man saw her. And when the squall abated a little they saw that an arrow flew from every finger of the ogress, and each arrow felled a man. They told Sigvaldi, and he said: “It seems we are not fighting men alone, but still it behooves us to do our best.”

  And when the storm lessened a bit Earl Hákon again invoked Thorgerd and said that he had done his utmost. And then it grew dark again with a squall, this time even stronger and worse than before. And right at the beginning of the squall Hávard the Hewing saw that two women were standing on the earl’s ship, and both were doing the same thing that Thorgerd had done before.

  Then Sigvaldi said: “Now I am going to flee, and let all men do so. I did not vow to fight against trolls, and it is now worse than before, as there are two ogresses.”

  Then he severed the hawsers that fastened his ship to the others and shouted to Búi and Vagn to flee too. Vagn cried: “Go ahead, wretch that you are.” And in that tumult Thorkel Midlong leapt from his ship on to that of Búi and at once hewed at Búi—all this happened in a trice—cutting his lip and chin all the way down so that the teeth flew out of his head.

  Then Búi said: “Less pleasant will it seem now for the Danish maiden to kiss me on Bornholm.”

  Then Búi returned the blow against Thorkel; it was slippery on
the deck, so that Thorkel fell against the gunwale in trying to ward off the blow. The blow struck him in the middle, and he was cut in two against the gunwale.

  At that moment Sigmund Brestisson, a great fighter, attacked Búi on his ship, and it ended with Sigmund cutting off both of Bús hands at the wrists. Then Búi stuck the stumps into the handles of his chests and called out aloud: “Overboard all of Búi’s men,” and leaped overboard with the chests.

  At that time Sigvaldi was drawing back from the fleet. Then Vagn spoke this verse:

  “Into danger drew us,

  daring all, Sigvaldi:

  chapfallen, the churl now

  chases home to Denmark;

  fain would the hero fondly

  fold in his arms his leman

  whilst o’er bucklered broadside64

  Búi leaped, stout-hearted.”

  Sigvaldi had become chilled, so he took to the oars and rowed while another man steered.65 Then Vagn hurled a spear at Sigvaldi, but it struck the man at the rudder and pinned him against the gunwale.

  Thorkel the Tall at once abandoned the fight when Sigvaldi fled, and so did Sigurd Cape when Búi had leapt overboard; and both considered themselves to have lived up to their vow. They had twenty-four ships and sailed back to Denmark.

  Now it is to be told of Vagn that he renewed the defence in brave fashion, and so did all his men, and all still capable of bearing arms went aboard his warship. But Earl Eric and many other chieftains attacked it, and there was a fierce fight. The end is told by the saying “one man can’t stand up against many.” So many of Vagn’s men had fallen that hardly eighty were left, but these still defended the raised afterdeck of the warship. Then it became so dark with nightfall that no one could longer see to fight. Thereupon Earl Eric had all the rigging taken from that ship as well as from others, and he rowed away. The earl’s men stood watch over the ships that night, and put up their tents, and now could boast of a great victory.

  Then they weighed the hailstones on scales to see what power Thorgerd and Irpa had, and one hailstone weighed an ounce.66