Olaf the Glorious: A Story of the Viking Age

by Robert Leighton

  CHAPTER XI: WEST-OVER-SEA.

  Now when Earl Sigvaldi, finding that the chances of war were going sodirectly against him, fled from the battle, many of the vikingsfollowed him in the belief that he was but intending to make a newrally and to presently return to the fray. That the chief of Jomsburgcould be guilty of mean cowardice surpassed their understanding;moreover, they were bound by their oaths to obey him in all things.Some twenty of his ships followed him out of the bay, and the captainswatched him, ready to turn back with him at his first signal. ButSigvaldi made no signal whatsoever, and only showed, by his extremehaste, that he was indeed bent upon making an unworthy and cowardlyretreat.

  Justin and Guthmund, two of the viking captains who were sailing in thechief's wake, turned their ships and cried aloud to their neighbours togo back with them to the battle and to the rescue of the brave men whohad been so heedlessly deserted; and many put about their prows. Butalready it was too late: not only were the fortunes of the fight nowentirely in the hands of the Norwegians, but the storm of hail andwind, which was growing every moment more severe, made it impossiblefor the ships to make headway against its fury. All who followedSigvaldi were therefore ever afterwards accused of cowardice,notwithstanding that the larger number of them were both willing andanxious to return.

  Southward before the wind sailed Sigvaldi in all haste, until heentered one of the wider channels; and then the storm ceased assuddenly as it had begun. In the evening the ships took shelter underthe lee of one of the islands, and there they were anchored, so thatthe decks might be cleared and put in good order. That night, unknownto the chief, a council was held, and the captains, headed by Guthmund,decided that they would no longer serve or obey a leader who had so farforgotten the strict laws of the vikings as to show fear in the face ofan enemy.

  In the early morning, therefore, when Earl Sigvaldi hoisted hisstandard and made out for the open sea, none followed him. He quicklyguessed the reason, and, instead of attempting to win over his formerfriends, he had his sail set to the wind and sped out westward acrossthe sea.

  Guthmund was then elected commander of the twenty longships, and whenSigvaldi's vessel had passed out of sight the anchors were weighed andthe little fleet moved southward among the isles. Here, where thechannels were narrow, and dangerous with hidden rocks, sails were oflittle use, and the men, wearied with fighting and smarting from theirwounds, had little strength left for labouring at the oars, so thatprogress was slow.

  The ships were still but a few miles to the south of Ulfasound veryearly on the third morning, when they fell in with a small sailing boatfar out beyond the sight of land. The boat had only one man in it, andhe sat at the stern, holding the sheet in one hand and the tiller inthe other. His head was bowed, and his chin rested on his chest. He wassound asleep.

  Guthmund, whose ship was nearest, called aloud to him, asking if he hadcaught any fish that night. But the boatman still slept. Then Guthmundtook up an arrow and fired it so that it struck the boat's mast. In aninstant the man started to his feet, threw off his cloak, and stood up.The morning sunlight shone on his head of tangled gold hair and on partof his coat of chain mail. He looked very noble and beautiful, and allthe shipmen stared at him in amazement.

  "By the ravens of Odin! It is young Ole the Esthonian!" cried Guthmund.And he called to Olaf to come aboard.

  Olaf at first refused, saying that although he had been without foodfor two days and was also sick and weak from loss of blood and the wantof rest, yet he would never demean himself by taking the hospitality ofmen who had deserted their comrades in the heat of battle.

  "Where is Earl Sigvaldi?" he cried. "Let me see him that I may tell himto his face that he is a coward!"

  "We have broken off from him, and are no longer his men," answeredGuthmund. "He has sailed west over the sea towards the Orkneys. We arenow without a chief, and would be very well satisfied if you, who are awell proved champion, would take the command over us; and we will oneand all take oath to serve you and follow you wheresoever you maychoose to lead us."

  "If that be so, and if there are none but brave men among you," saidOlaf, "then I will do as you suggest."

  And he brought his boat to the quarter and climbed on board.

  When he had taken drink and food and had washed himself and combed hishair, he told of how the battle had ended and of how he had escaped.

  Now the vikings were well pleased to have such a chief as OlafTriggvison, for not only had they the fullest confidence in hisprowess, in his skill as a leader of men, and in his unfailing bravery,but they also remembered that he was the owner of the squadron ofbattleships which had been left in Jutland in charge of KolbiornStallare; and they rightly guessed that Olaf, with these combinedfleets, would not rest long ere he should start on some new and warlikeexpedition.

  During the southward voyage nothing was said by Olaf concerning hisplans. But when he joined his other fleet in Lyme Firth, he wentstraightway on board his dragonship and held council with Kolbiorn.Glad was Kolbiorn to see his master once again, and they greeted eachother as brothers.

  "It seems to me," said Kolbiorn, when Olaf had told him of the defeatof the Jomsvikings, "that now with these forty ships that are ours wemight very well fare to Norway, and take vengeance upon Earl Hakon. Ifwe could take him unawares our chance of defeating him would be great,and who can tell but you would succeed where Sigvaldi failed, and somake yourself the King of Norway?"

  But Olaf shook his head.

  "Not so," said he; "Earl Hakon is a much greater man than you think,Kolbiorn. His power is well established in the land, and his people arewell content and prosperous under his rule. I am not afraid to meet himin battle. But our forces are very small compared with the great hostof men and ships that Hakon could muster at any moment, and to attemptthis journey you propose would only mean disaster. A better plan have Ibeen nursing in my mind these three days past."

  "What plan is that?" Kolbiorn asked.

  Olaf answered: "When we were at King Sweyn's inheritance feast the oaththat Sweyn made was, that he meant to fare across the seas to Englandand drive King Ethelred from his realm. Now it appears to me thatEngland offers a far easier conquest than Norway, or Sweyn Forkbeardwould never have resolved to make such an attempt. I have heard thatKing Ethelred is but a youth--five years younger than myself--that heis not a fighting man, but a weak fool. Certain it is that he has veryfew ships to defend his coasts. Moreover, the people of England areChristians, and it seems to me that we should be doing a great serviceto Odin and Thor, and all others of our own gods, if we were to sweepaway all the Christian temples and restore the worship of the gods ofAsgard. Whereas, if we make war in Norway we fight against those whoworship as we ourselves worship, we slay men who speak the same tongueas we speak, whose blood is our own blood, and whose homes are thehomes of our own birthland. Many Norsemen have reaped great plunder inEngland and have made great settlements on the English coasts. Whyshould not we follow their example?--nay, why should we not conquer thewhole kingdom?"

  Kolbiorn strode to and fro in the cabin without at first expressing anyopinion on this bold scheme.

  "We have now between seven and eight thousand men," continued Olaf.

  "A small enough force with which to invade a great nation such asEngland," said Kolbiorn. "I think there would be a far greater chanceof success if we joined with Sweyn Forkbeard."

  "My experience with Earl Sigvaldi has already taught me that I canmanage with better success when I am my own master," said Olaf."Moreover, King Sweyn is at present at enmity with the Danish people,and it would not be easy for him to go a-warring in foreign landswithout the risk of losing his own throne. The glory or the failure ofthis expedition must be ours alone, and so soon as we can make readyour ships I intend to set sail."

  Now it was at about this time that Olaf Triggvison's followers gave himthe name of king. It was a title which the sea rovers of the northoften gave to the man whom they had chosen as their chief, and itimplied that h
e was a leader who ruled over warriors and who hadacquired a large number of warships. Not often did such a king possesslands. His realm was the sea--"Ran's land"--and his estates were hisships. In the English chronicles and histories of this period, Olaf isreferred to as King of the Norwegians; but he was not yet a king in thesense that Sweyn Forkbeard was King of Denmark or Ethelred King ofEngland. The fact that he was of royal birth was held a secret untillong after his invasion of England and his subsequent friendship withKing Ethelred. Nevertheless, his companions called him King Ole, andthe name clung to him throughout all his wanderings.

  There were many wounded men on board the ships, and, while Olaf wasstill lying in Lyme Firth, some of them died; others, whose limbs werelamed and who were no longer able to work at the oars or to engage inbattle, were left behind in Jutland. Only those who were in every wayfit and strong were allowed to remain in the fleet. When all was readyOlaf hoisted his standard and arrayed his war shields and set out tosea.

  To Saxland first he sailed. There he harried along the coasts and got agood store of cattle and corn, and won many men and two other ships tohis following. Then about Friesland and the parts that are now coveredby the Zuyder Zee, and so right away south to the land of the Flemings.By this time the autumn was far advanced, and Olaf thought that hewould seek out some creek or river in Flanders where he might lie upfor the winter.

  On a certain sunny evening he was out upon the deeper sea in one of hisfast sailing skiffs. He chanced to look across the water in thedirection of the setting sun, and far away on the line of the horizonhe espied a ridge of white cliffs. Thorgils Thoralfson was at his side,and the foster brothers spoke together concerning this land that theysaw. They presently determined that it could be no other country thanEngland. So they put about their skiff and returned to the fleet.

  At noon on the following day the forty-two ships were within a fewmiles of the North Foreland of Kent. The cliffs stood out white as snowagainst the gray autumn sky, and where the line of the headland dippedthe grassy slopes of a fertile valley could be seen dotted over withbrowsing sheep.

  Olaf Triggvison steered his dragonship down the coast, until at lengthhe saw a film of blue smoke that rose in the calm air above the littleseaport of Sandwich. The town stood at the mouth of a wide creek whosebanks sloped backward into sandy dunes and heather covered knolls. Theriver lost itself in a forest of beech trees that still held theirtrembling leaves that the summer sun had turned to a rich russet brown.Across one of the meadows a herd of cattle was being driven home to thesafety of one of the farmsteads. Olaf turned his ship's head landwardand blew a loud blast of his war horn. The shrill notes were echoedfrom the far off woods. His fleet closed in about his wake, and he ledthe way inward to the creek, rowing right up to the walls thatencircled the town. A few arrows were fired. But already the folk hadfled from their homes alarmed at the sight of so large a force, and theinvaders landed without the shedding of a drop of blood.

  When the ships had been safely moored in the harbour, with their mastslowered and their figureheads taken down, Olaf had his tents sentashore, and he made an encampment along the margin of the river and inthe shelter of the beech woods. His armourers built their forges andhis horsemen their stables. A small temple was formed of heavy stonesand dedicated to Odin; and so the northmen made ready their winterquarters and prepared to follow their daily lives in accordance withold time customs. There was pure water to be got in abundance from thehigher parts of the river, while fish could be got near hand from outthe sea. When corn and meat fell short, it was an easy matter to make aforaging raid upon some inland farm or monastery. At such times Olafwould send forth one of his captains, or himself set out, with acompany of horsemen, and they would ride away through Kent, or eveninto Surrey, pillaging and harrying without hindrance, and returning tothe camp after many days driving before them the cattle and swine thatthey had taken, each bullock and horse being loaded with bags of cornor meal.

  These journeys were undertaken only for the sake of providing food forthe vikings and not with the thought of conquest. And, indeed, Olafwould often give ample payment to the folk who were discreet enough toshow him no resistance, for he had a great store of gold and richlywrought cloth upon his ships, and his heart was always generous. But atthe monasteries and holy places he made no such return, for he vas agreat enemy of Christianity.

  All through that winter he remained unmolested, in peaceful possessionof the two towns of Sandwich and Richborough.

  Now the monks of Canterbury and Rochester were greatly annoyed by thenear presence of the heathen pirates, and they sent messengers to theirking, telling him that the Norsemen had made this settlement upon hiscoasts and imploring his protection. It was no great news to KingEthelred, however. The Danes and Norwegians had so often made descentsupon the English shores that it seemed to him useless to oppose them;so he sent word back to the monks that if their monasteries andchurches were in danger it would be well to build them stronger, butthat, for his own part, he had quite enough to trouble him withoutraising armies to fight against a pack of wolves. As well, he said,fight against the sea birds that eat the worms upon our fields.

  This calm indifference of the English king only gave greater boldnessto Olaf Triggvison, who very naturally considered that the monarch whowould thus allow an alien foe to settle upon his shores must be a verychild in weakness--a man with no more spirit than a shrew mouse.

  Not without cause was King Ethelred nicknamed The Unready. The namestands not as meaning that he was unprepared, but that he was withoutcounsel, or "redeless". His advisers were few and, for the most part,traitorous and unworthy; they swayed him and directed him just as itsuited their own ends, and he had not the manly strength of will thatwould enable him to act for himself. Of energy he had more than enough,but it was always misplaced. In personal character he was one of theweakest of all the kings of England, and his reign was the worst andmost shameful in English history. In the golden days of his father,Edgar the Peaceable, all things had gone exceeding well in the land.There was a strong and well disciplined navy to protect the coasts, andall intending invaders were held in defiance. Edgar did much for thegood order and prosperity of his kingdom, and he personally saw to theadministration of justice and the forming of good laws; trade andhusbandry were encouraged by him, and commerce with foreign lands wasincreased. Archbishop Dunstan was his friend and counsellor. After thedeath of Edgar came the short reign of Edward the Martyr, whose murderat Corfe Castle brought about the fall of Dunstan and the enthronementof Ethelred.

  Ethelred was but ten years old on his coronation at Kingston. Little istold of the early years of his reign, and nothing to the young king'scredit. Already the great fleet raised by Edgar had disappeared, andthe vikings of the north had begun once more to pillage the coasts.There were other troubles, too. London was burnt to the ground, a greatmurrain of cattle happened for the first time in the English nation,and a terrible plague carried off many thousands of the people. Forsome unknown reason Ethelred laid siege to Rochester, and, failing totake the town, ravaged the lands of the bishopric. And now, with thecoming of Olaf Triggvison, a new danger was threatening.

  Olaf was the first of the vikings to attempt anything like a plannedinvasion on a large scale, and his partial success was the signal for ayet greater descent of the northmen, which had for its object theconquest of the whole kingdom. It was Olaf Triggvison who, if he failedin his own attempt, at least pointed out the way by which King Sweyn ofDenmark and his greater son Canute at length gained possession of thethrone of England and infused the nation with the blood which now flowsin the veins of every true born Briton. The ocean loving vikings of thenorth were the ancestors of the English speaking people of today. Ourlove of the sea and of ships, the roving spirit that has led us to makegreat colonies in distant lands, our skill in battle, our love of manlysports, even perhaps our physical strength and endurance--all thesetraits have come to us from our forefathers of Scandinavia. Nor must itbe forgotten that th
e Normans, who conquered England just five andseventy years after the landing of Olaf, were themselves the sons ofthe vikings. Rolf the Ganger was a famous warrior in the service ofKing Harald Fairhair. Exiled by Harald from Norway, he made asettlement in northern France, whither many of his countrymen followedhim. That part of France was thereafter named Normannia, orNormandy--the land of the Norsemen. Rolf was there made a duke. His sonWilliam was the father of Richard the Fearless, who was the grandfatherof the great William the Conqueror.

  Now, when that same wintertide had passed, and when the new buds wereshowing on the trees, Olaf Triggvison arrayed his ships ready for thesea. Leaving some of his older men in occupation of Sandwich, he stoodout northward past Thanet and across the mouth of the Thames towardsEast Anglia, where, as he understood, the bravest of the English peopledwelt. His four best dragonships were commanded by himself, Kolbiorn,Guthmund, and Justin. His foster brother Thorgils had command of one ofthe longships. The fleet numbered forty sail, and each ship was mannedby some two hundred warriors and seamen. When the men were landed tofight, one third of the company remained behind to guard the ships.Thus the forces that Olaf usually took ashore with him numbered betweenfive and six thousand warriors.

  The first place at which the vikings landed was at the mouth of a widevik, leading far inland. A man named Harald Biornson was the first toleap ashore. Olaf named the place Harald's vik, but it is in these daysspelled Harwich. Olaf followed the banks of the river for many miles,pillaging some steads, and carrying off much treasure from a certainmonastery. The monks and friars fought well against him, but were soondefeated, and their houses and barns were left in flames. Fartherinland the northmen went until they came to a made road, which crossedthe river by a stone bridge. Olaf thought that this road must lead tosome large town, so he took his forces over it northward into Suffolk,and at length he came within sight of Ipswich, and he resolved toattack the place. But he was not then prepared to enter battle, as manyof his men had come ashore without their body armour and shields,deeming these too heavy to carry in sunny weather. So they returned tothe ships and approached the town by way of the sea. They sailed up theOrwell river, and fell upon the town first with arrow and spear andthen with sword and axe. The men of Ipswich met their foes in themiddle of the town, and there was a great fight. But ere the sun wentdown Olaf had got the victory. He pillaged the houses and churches, andhaving emptied them of all that was worth taking he carried off thebooty to his ships. He found that this was a good place to harbour hisfleet in for a time, so he remained in Ipswich until the blossom hadfallen from the trees.