Chapter 48
Chapter 48 of History of the Norwegian People, Volume 1 by Kjellnit Gershut. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Reign of Harald Hardrada Olaf Tryggvason and Olaf Haraldsson had to win the throne as a prize in armed conflict with the aristocracy. But Harald Sigurdsson Hardrada became king of Norway without opposition, though he was very unpopular.
Since St. Olaf's time, a complete change had taken place in the people's attitude towards the centralized power of monarchical government. Kingship was now looked upon as a fully legitimated national institution, and Harold succeeded to the throne by right of inheritance or odal, which no one ventured to challenge. There was no longer any organized opposition to the king. The aristocracy had accepted the new form of government and submitted loyally to the king's authority when it was exercised with proper moderation.
They had given King Magnus their undivided support in all his undertakings, and he was very popular and highly beloved by all. But his rule had been benign, and the nobles had exercised a great influence in public affairs. During his minority, Karl Varnasson had acted as regent, and later Einar Tamborskelver became his chief counsellor. Magnus was not a tool in the hands of the nobles, but he listened to their advice and showed them no unnecessary effrontery.
King Harald Hardrada was of a different type. He was harsh and greedy, not always conscientious as to the means which he employed, disposed to be arbitrary and to have slight regard for others. His character was of the kind that breeds discord, and quarrels with recalcitrant nobles were numerous in his reign. But he was able and ambitious, and came to the throne with the fixed purpose of making the royal power supreme in church and state, and of extending full
authority over all the lands which belonged or which had belonged to the Norwegian crown. He was a most able and energetic ruler, who brooked no interference from nobles at home or from powers abroad. He loved independence as passionately as he coveted renown, and wielded the sword of state with a grim recklessness, like a soldier's broadsword, to gain for himself and his kingdom the greatest possible prestige and power. From the outset he met with considerable opposition and ill will, caused by his own greed and harshness.
He was greatly chagrined by what he considered the arrogant behavior of some of the chieftains. One of the principal offenders was Einar Tambrskjelver in Tryndelaggen, who acted as the spokesman of the people, and on more than one occasion forced the king to recede from his harsh and sometimes unjust demands. King Harald had a suspicion that many of the chieftains were carrying on secret negotiations with King Svein of Denmark. In order to test their loyalty, he engaged spies who claimed to be secret agents sent by King Sven to offer the Norwegian nobles riches and great honors if they would aid him against King Harald.
When these spies came to Einar Tambraskeller, he told them that although he was not Harald's friend, he would do everything in his power to aid him in defending the kingdom against King Sven. The king praised Einar for his loyalty and invited him to a festive gathering in Nideros. It now looked as if old differences would be forgotten, that peace and friendship would finally be established between them. But King Harald gave the great noble new offense,
as if from pure love of mischief. The old enmity was still further aggravated, and Einar and his son Eindrida were treacherously murdered at the instigation of the king. This wanton deed caused the greatest resentment in Trandilagin, and the people threatened to rise in open rebellion. Einar's widow, Burgliot, sent word to her powerful relative, Håkon Iverson, in Oplanana, and asked him to avenge Einar's death. Harald sent Finn Arneson to Håkon,
who promised to remain loyal if the king would give him Ragnhild, the daughter of Magnus, in marriage, together with a dowry suitable to her rank. This was promised him, and the threatened uprising was averted. Finn Arneson, who had been St. Olaf's special friend, and who had adhered no less faithfully to his successor, was not much better rewarded than Aenor Tomberskelder. His brother Kalf, who at Finn's request had been permitted to return from his exile,
accompanied Harald on an expedition against Denmark, but the king sent him against the enemy with a handful of men, and he was overpowered and slain. Finn felt so aggrieved that he abandoned both his king and his country, and went to King Sven in Denmark, who made him jarl over the Danish province of Holland, on the southwest coast of Sweden. After some time, Håkon Iverson asked King Harald to fulfill his promise of giving him Rognhild, King Magnus's daughter, in marriage.
Harald said that he had no objection, but Håkon would have to obtain the maiden's own consent. Håkon agreed to do this, but he was unsuccessful in his courtship. Rognhild told him that although he was a handsome and noble-looking man, she, being a princess, could not marry him so long as he was only a lendermand. he then asked harald to give him the rank of jarl so that he could marry ragnhild but this he would not do it had been a rule he said ever since the time of st olav not to have more than one jarl in the kingdom at one time or meilifsen was now jarl and he could not deprive him of his title and dignity
This strange answer convinced Håkon that Harald did not intend to keep his promise, and he went to King Sven in Denmark, where he was well received. He was later reconciled to King Harald and married Ragenhild, who had learned to love him and now accepted him without interposing any conditions. Harald promised to raise him to the rank of Jarl on the death of Orm Eilfson, but when Orm died, he again failed to keep his promise, and Håkon and Roggenhild returned to Denmark to King Sven, who invited them to stay at his court and welcomed St. Olaf's granddaughter with special fondness. Håkon was made Jarl of Holland to
succeed Finn Arneson, who had died. It is quite clear from these and other similar episodes that Harald Hordrada was bent on destroying the power of the aristocracy, and he could ill conceal his feeling of satisfaction when the powerful nobles one after another disappeared. He is even said to have stated in skaldic verse that he had caused the death of thirteen men, but who they were is not mentioned. It cannot be doubted that by pursuing such a policy of removing the old
chieftains who possessed sufficient prestige to be able to offer resistance, the king gradually strengthened his own power. He possibly even gave the throne increased stability, but this practice weakened Harald in his foreign wars. It deprived him of the aid of many of the ablest men. Some left the country to use their influence in stirring up opposition to him, both at home and abroad, and many who remained at home gave him but a half-hearted support. The enmity between Harold
and King Sven developed into a feature of European politics, and shaped Harold's attitude in the administration of church affairs. In order to strengthen his position, Sven allied himself more closely with Archbishop Aldebert of Bremen and with the German Emperor, while Harold continued in the old friendship with the Saxon dukes. He severed all connections with Archbishop Aldebert, received bishops from the Greek church, and maintained friendly relations with Byzantium.
The Norwegian bishops were no longer consecrated by the Archbishop of Bremen, but in Rome, England, France, or in the Orient. Archbishop Aldebert protested to Pope Alexander II against Harold's flagrant disregard of the authority of the Archbishop over the Church of Norway, and the Pope wrote a letter reprimanding the King. Adelbert also sent messengers to Harold to protest against his course of action, and threatened him with ban and other punishments.
But Harold replied, I know of no archbishop in Norway except myself, King Harold. He maintained the independence of the Church of Norway throughout his whole reign with such unbending pertinacity that he was accused of all sorts of vile practices by his angry opponents. Adam von Bremen, who stayed at the court of Archbishop Aldebert, indulges in the bitterest invectives against Harold, whom he pictures as the most cruel and unprincipled tyrant. This is not history,
but the expression of acrimony as partisan spirit. Conrad Maurer quotes the following from Kemble, Every wise and powerful government has treated with deserved disregard the complaint that the spouse of Christ was in bondage. Boniface, himself an Englishman, papal beyond all his contemporaries, laments that no church is in greater bondage than the English, a noble testimony to the nationality of the institution, the common sense of the people, and the vigor of the state. The hostility
existing between Harald Hardrada and King Sven seems to have led Harald to establish the city of Oslo, now incorporated in the city of Christiania, on the folded fjord in Viken. Here he would be within more easy reach of Denmark, and in better position to defend the country than if stationed in the faraway Nidaros. A new national sanctuary was established in the city to give it greater prestige, as Harold seems to have entertained the hope that Oslo might become
to southern Norway what Nidaros and the shrine of St. Olaf was to Trondelagen. The saint interred in the new city was Halvart, a native of the district, and a cousin of the king. He is said to have been the son of a landed proprietor, Vabjorn, and his wife Torny, a sister of Asta, the mother of St. Olaf and King Harold Horvada. Already in his youth he was noted for great piety and purity of life. His father was a merchant, and Halvard assisted him in his work,
but he was so conscientious that he made two weights, a lighter one for weighing the part which he himself was to receive, and a heavier for weighing his brother's part. One day, as he left home to go across the Dramansfjord, a woman came running to him, beseeching him to rescue her. She was pursued by three men who claimed that she had committed theft in their brother's house. She protested her innocence, and Halvard took her into his boat and started
across the lake, but the pursuers soon caught up with them. In vain he pleaded for the woman. When he refused to give her up, they killed both him and her, fastened two millstones to his body, and lowered it into the lake. Sometime afterward, his body, with the millstones still fastened to it, was found floating on the lake, and twigs, which had been used in searching for the corpse, budded several times in succession. The Icelandic annals state that St. Halvard was slain in 1043,
and Adam von Bremen says that many miraculous cures occurred at his grave. He must, therefore, have been generally regarded as a saint at the time when Adam von Bremen wrote, about 1070, but when and in what way he was proclaimed a saint is not known. His body was probably interred in the St. Mary's Church erected by King Harold. In the 12th century, a new cathedral church, dedicated to St. Halvard, was erected at Oslo. King Harold also built a St. Mary's Church in
Nidaros, in which the shrine of St. Olaf was deposited. As the city had grown and private houses were erected around the St. Clemens Church in the royal hall, the king selected for the new church a location farther from the center of the city. Here he also erected a new royal residence. He completed the St. Olaf's church which King Magnus had begun, and the unfinished royal hall from King Magnus's time was remodeled into a church dedicated to St. Gregorius. King Harald
maintained the supremacy over the colonies with energy and firmness. Thorfinn, the powerful jarl of the Orkney and Shetland Islands, who had remained independent since the death of St. Olaf, hastened to Norway as soon as he heard of the death of Magnus the Good, and was well received at the court. It must be inferred that he submitted to Harald, and that these island colonies returned to their old allegiance as dependencies under the king's overlordship.
Thorfinn seems to have been the more willing to offer his submission, because King Macbeth of Scotland, with whom he was closely associated, was threatened by Malcolm Canmore, the son of Thorfinn's cousin, King Duncan. Thorfinn was sure to be involved in the struggle in Scotland, and he would not risk the possibility of coming into collision with King Harald. Hostilities between Macbeth and Malcolm began in 1054. Aided by his foster father,
the powerful Earl Seward of Northumbria, Malcolm defeated Macbeth at Dunsinane the same year, and in 1057 Macbeth was slain in the Battle of Lumpfanon. What part Thorfinn played in the struggle cannot be stated, but it is quite certain that he aided his old friend Macbeth. Thorfinn had also added the Hebrides, Sudris, to his dominions, and when he submitted to the king, they became a Norwegian dependency. Karl Varnason acted as governor in the islands till his return
to Norway in Harald Hordrada's reign. The Faroe Islands remained in firm allegiance to Norway. Since Liev Assersund was made governor by King Magnus after the death of Trondi Gathe, no attempt was again made by the colony to assert its independence. Harald also made earnest efforts to attach Iceland more closely to the crown. He sought by rich gifts to attain the goodwill of the leading men, and when a famine occurred in Iceland he sent several shiploads of provisions.
Many Icelandic scalds became his herdmen and were shown great honors. As a result of these favors, the Icelanders held Harald in high esteem, but they did not formally acknowledge themselves subject to the King of Norway. The intercourse with the colonies in Greenland was well maintained, and voyages were made every year across the Atlantic directly from Norway to Greenland. Harald refused to abide by the arrangement made by King Magnus that Sven Estredsen should receive
the Kingdom of Denmark, and continued to claim the Danish throne. He repeatedly harried the coasts of Denmark, but as these attacks, which seemed to have been mere raids, proved unavailing, Harald finally challenged Sven to a pitched battle. The challenge was accepted, and a naval engagement was fought off Nyssa, near the mouth of the Goethe River, on the 9th of August 1062. Throughout the whole bright summer night, the combat raged.
Harald gained the victory, but he was returned to Norway immediately afterwards, and this battle was as barren of results as former expeditions. King Anand Jakob of Sweden had died, and his successor, Steinkill Ragnvaldsen, had granted Wermland to Håkon Iversen, who had been made Jarl of Holland by King Sven. At the head of an army, Håkon entered Ringorika in southeastern Norway,
and collected taxes as if he were a Jarl. Håkon was popular in these districts, while Harald was disliked, because he levied excessive taxes and deprived the people of many old rights and privileges. A serious uprising seemed imminent, and Harald finally decided to make peace with Denmark, 1064. King Sven was henceforth left in undisturbed possession of the Danish throne. Harald attacked and defeated Jarl Håkon, and the uprising in Oplenene was speedily put down.
End of chapter 48
