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Old Norse Online

Lesson 7

Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum

The year 1066 witnessed the great powerplay for control of England. England had been under the control of Edward the Confessor, but he was near death in 1065. The most important question was that of succession. Edward seems to have wanted to cede control to Duke William of Normandy, son of Duke Robert, who had received Edward during his exile under Canute the Great. In recent years, however, Harold, Earl of Wessex, had gained such power that he too might make a bid for the throne. Harold nevertheless undermined his position by taking an oath of loyalty to William when he was sent to the latter's court by Edward to bring confimation of William's succession. Also in the fray was King Harald Sighurtharson of Norway, a viking warrior also known as Harald Hardrada. He had served the Byzantine emperors as a mercenary and subsequently took the throne in Norway in 1047, constantly fighting with King Svein of Denmark for dominance in the region. Harald too had a claim to the throne of England based on a treaty in 1038-39 between Norway's King Magnus and the English Harthacnut. Finally, before his death on 5 January 1066, Edward chose to cede the throne to the strongest power in England, that of Harold. This led to the series of events related below.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is an important source for our knowledge of the events of 1066. The following is an excerpt from that year's entry.

"1066 In this year King Harold came from York to Westminster during Easter, which occured after the midwinter in which the king had died. This Easter was on the 16th day of the kalends of May.

"At that time round all of England were seen portents in heaven such as no man had seen before. Some said that what other men called the 'hairy' star was in fact a comet, and it first showed itself on the eve of the Greater Litany, that is the 8th of the kalends of May, and so shone all seven nights.

"Immediately thereafter Earl Tostig came from overseas to Wight with as great a force as he could muster, and people there gave him supplies and provisions; then he left there and harried the coast wherever he was able, until he arrived at Sandwich. Then someone informed King Harold, who was in London, that his brother Tostig had come to Sandwich. And so he gathered great fleets and armies such as no king had ever assembled on land, since he had been assured that Earl William of Normandy, kin of King Edward, intended to arrive and overrun the land -- just as later would happen.

"When Tostig found out that King Harold was near Sandwich, he departed Sandwich and took with him some of his shipmen -- some willingly, some unwillingly -- and turned north toward the Humber, and there harried Lindsey and killed many good men. When the earls Edwine and Morkere discovered this, they went there and drove them from the land. So he went to Scotland, and the king of the Scots protected him and and gave him provisions, and he remained there the entire summer.

"Then King Harold came to Sandwich and awaited his troop, for it was quite a while before he could get it in place. And when the troop was finally collected, he travelled to Wight and stayed there for the whole summer and autumn; one could find land forces all beside the sea, though in the end it would be of no avail.

"When it came to the Nativity of St. Mary, the men's supplies ran out, and no one could keep them there any longer. So he permitted the men to leave, and the king rode inland, and he drove the ships to London, though many died before they reached there.

"When the ships reached home, King Harold of Norway went north to the Tyne unexpectedly with a fleet quite large and by no means small -- maybe three hundred ships or more -- and Earl Tostig met him with all that he had gathered, just as they had agreed before; and the two went with the entire troop along the Ouse up toward York.

"Then someone informed King Harold in the south, when he stepped off the ship, that King Harold of Norway and Earl Tostig had come up near Sandwich. Then he travelled northward day and night as quickly as he could gather his force. Before the king could arrive there, the earls Edwine and Morkere gathered from their earldom as great a force as they could muster and fought with that army and pitched a fierce battle, and a great part of the English retinue was struck down or drowned or put to flight, and the Norwegians held sway over the battlefield. This battle fell on the eve of St. Matthew the Apostle, which was a Wednesday. And after that battle King Harold of Norway and Earl Tostig went to York with as great a force as seemed fitting to them, and they were given hostages from the town and supplied with provisions; and so from there they went to the fleet, and they agreed that, for complete peace, they all would go south with him and overtake the land.

"Meanwhile Harold, king of the Angles, came with his retinue on Sunday to Tadcaster, and there arrayed his troop, and then went on Monday throughout York. But Harold, king of Norway, and Earl Tostig and their retinue had travelled by ship beyond York to Stamford Bridge, because they were promised with certainty that they would be brought hostages from throughout the shire. Then Harold, king of the Angles, came upon them unexpectedly across the bridge, and they clashed and were engulfed in bitter fighting through the day. There Harold, king of Norway, and Earl Tostig were killed and a countless number of men with them, both of the Norwegians and of the English. The Norwegians who were left were put to flight, and the English behind them struck violently until some reached the ships; some were drowned, some burned, and died in so many ways that there was little left. So the Angles held sway over the battlefield.

"The king gave quarter to Olaf, son of the Norwegian king, and to their bishop and to the earl of Orkney, and to all those who remained on the ships. They went up to our king and swore oaths that they would always maintain peace and friendship toward this land, and the king let them depart with 24 ships.

"These two battles were conducted within five nights."

Reading and Textual Analysis

The following selection comes from Fagrskinna, so named because of the exceptionally beautiful binding of one of the manuscripts (subsequently lost due to fire). The work describes Norwegian history during the period from Halfdan the Black to 1177, and was written by an Icelander for King Hakon of Norway in roughly 1240. The story which follows is an excerpt from the account of the battle at Stamford Bridge, giving a more elaborate portrayal of the events on the battlefield just before the armies clashed.

The text is Norwegian and shows dialectal variation. Chief among these features are Old Norwegian æ where Old Icelandic has e, a lack of u-mutation in certain forms (e.g. takum and sannum), and alternate endings -ir and -it for the 2nd person plural -ið of Old Icelandic. It is common scribal practice to write the spirant g as gh.

On a literary level the passage is far different from its Anglo-Saxon counterpart. The author employs the simple and direct style of other sagas. The ON recension of the events at Stamford Bridge attempts more to craft a story, whereas the Old English Chronicle served merely to record events. The ON version is augmented by the dramatic relating of the dialogue of the main characters, which is capped by moments of poetic recital. The skaldic craft of poetic composition was extremely technical, often interlacing two separate statements in one. When this is done, it is the common practice of modern editors to help the reader by enclosing the words of one of the sentences within parentheses. This practice is followed in the second of the poems below, so that the words in parentheses, when taken together, form a sentence or clause grammatically distinct from the words outside the parentheses.

Haraldr konongr Sighurðarsun ræið svörtum hesti blesóttom firir framan fylking sína ok sá hværsu liðit stóð, ok skipaðe þæim framar er þá villde hann.

Ok í þesse ræið fell hestrenn undir hanum oc konongrenn framm af, oc mællti, "Fall er farar hæill."

Þá mællti Haraldr Ænghla konongr viðr Norðmenn þá er með hanum váro, "Kenndo þér þenn hinn myckla meðr þæim blá kyrtli oc hin faghra hialm, er þer skaut sér af hestinum frem?

Þeir svaraðo, "Kennom vér; þet var Norðmanna konongr." Þá mællti Ænghla konongr, "Mikill maðr oc höfðinghlegr er hann, oc hitt er nú venna at farinn sé at hamingiu."

Nú ríða fram xx riddarar fyrir fylking Norðmanna oc allir albryniaðer. Þá mælti æinn riddarenn, "Hvar er Tósti iarl, hvárt er hann í liði eða æighi?"

Hann svaraðe, "Eighi er því at lõyna, hér munu þér hann finna megha." Þá mællti enn riddarenn: "Haraldr konongr bróðer yðar sændi yðr kvæðiu oc þer meðr þet, at þér skulur hafa grið oc Norðymbraland allt, oc ænn vill hann, hælldr enn þit bæriz, gefa yðr þriðiung ríkis síns meðr sér."

Þá svaraðe iarlenn, "Boðet er þá nöccut annat enn úfriðr oc svívirðinginn sem í vetr, oc en þetta være fyrr boðet, þá være marghr maðr sá hæill oc meðr lífi er nú er æighi, oc þá mun æighi verr standa ríki Englanz. Nú takum vér þenna kost; enn hvat vilir þér nú bióða Haraldi kononge firir sitt starf?"

Þá svaraðe riddarenn: "Sact hæfir hann þer nöcut af hværs hann mun hanom unna af Englande, hann scal hafa vii fæta længð -- oc því længra, sem hann er hærre enn aðrir menn."

Þá svaraðe iarlenn, "Farit nú oc sæghit Haraldi kononge at hann búiz til orrosto, firir því at annat skal sannaz enn þet sem Norðmenn söghðu at Tósti iarl munde svíkia Harald konong oc skiliaz viðr hann, þeghar hann skulde bæriaz um, oc fylla þá flock fiándmanna hans, enn hældr skulum vér nú taca allir æitt ráð, dõya hældr með sõmd eða fá Ængland með sighri."

Nú riðu riddarar aftr. Þá mælti Haralldr konongr Sighurðarsun til iarlsens, "Hvær var þessi hinn snialli maðr?" Þá svaraðe iarlenn, "Þer var Haraldr konongr Goðvinasun."

Þá mælti Haraldr konongr, "Oflængi var ec þesso lõyndr. Þeir váro svá comnir firir lið várt, at æighi munde þesse Haraldr kunna sæghia döuðarorð várra manna."

"Satt er þet, herra," saghðe iarlinn, "úvarlegha fór þvílícr höfðingi oc væra mætti þetta er nú sæghi þér; sannum vér þat, en hann vilde þó bióða brõðr sínum grið oc mikit valld, oc væri ec víst þá callaðr værri höfðingi, þó at þenn cost tõ'kem vér, hældre enn ec biðaðe svá ælli at ec være banamaðr bróðor míns; enn þó er bætra at þiggja bana af brõðr sínum enn væita honom bana."