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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY

FROM THE TENTH TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

BY THOMAS B. WILLSON, M.A.

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BRABBORY, AOStW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND TONBKIIK3E

PREFACE.

English readers are more or less familiar with the most striking events in the history of Norway in the heroic days, but so far as I have been able to discover, no English writer has endeavoured to trace the history of the Church in Norway, from its foundation in the time of Olaf Tryg- vess0n, down to the period of the Eeformation. If I am correct in this, the omission seems a strange one, as the Church in Norway was the only daughter of that of England to be found in Europe. Her missionaries, it is true, laboured in many parts of the Continent, but I think that in no country, except Norway, could it be said, that they helped to fouud and nurture a national Church, where none before existed.

Under these circumstances, I have for a long time wished to supply English readers with a history of this Church; and a close acquaintance with Norway, extending over thirty years, makes it, I hope, not altogether presumptuous to attempt the task. With this object in view, 1 obtained, some ten years ago (through my friend, the late Pastor Andreas Hansen), the kind permission of Dr. A. Chr. Bang, now Bishop of Christiania, to translate his valuable Udsigt over den Norske Kirkes Histone under Katholicisinen. Further consideration, however, showed me that this work presupposed an acquaintance with the history of the Norwegian Church, such as few English readers possessed, and which was necessary in order fully to appreciate this valuable survey. I felt, therefore, that a history of the Church on broad lines, and avoiding mere technical details,

vi PREFACE.

might prove of interest, and so the present work was undertaken.

Further study of the subject led me to call this book a " History of the Church and State in Norway," as I think it will be found that in Norway, Church and State were more closely connected than in any other country in Europe. As the work is indeed primarily a history of Norway from its ecclesiastical side, I have therefore not followed more closely than it seemed necessary, the various purely civil events and the warlike expeditions to other lands in the early days.

The main object I have had in view was to trace the history of the growth, development, vigorous life, and subsequent decline and fall of that Church, of which the foundations were mainly laid by the English fellow-helpers of Olaf Trygvess0n and Olaf the Saint, at the end of the tenth and besrinninof of the eleventh centuries. I have further wished to show the way in which that Church was related to the State, and the strugrorle which it had for supremacy, closely akin to that carried on about the same time in other countries of Europe.

The story is a deeply interesting one, and in this I hope the reader will agree with me. If not, then the fault is that of the narrator, and not of the events narrated.

Elsewhere will be found a fairly comprehensive list of authorities employed ; but I wish to acknowledge fully my obligations to my predecessors who have written on this subject in modern times, especially to the writings of such wonderful learning and research as those of the late Professor Rudolf Keyser in Den Norske Kirkes Histoid under Katholicismen, Dr. Konrad Maurer in Die Bekehrung des Norwegischen Stammes zum Christenthume, and to the more recent works of Bishop Bang, Absalon Taranger, A. D. J0rgensen, and the late Professor Dr. R. T. Nissen.

PREFACE. vii

Lastly, I must express my gratitude to those who have assisted me in the preparation of this work, especially to Professor Dr. Yngvar Nielsen, Rector of the University of Christiania, for advice respecting original authorities and also for much useful information ; to Pastor S. Hoist Jensen, for reading the proofs of the entire work, and for many valuable suggestions and corrections ; to the Very Rev. G. W. Kitchen, D.D., Dean of Durham, for advice on many points ; to Mr. Clement 0. Skilbeck, for his admirable picture for the title page, of St. Olaf and his design for the cover ; to Herr Konservator H. Schetelig and the autho- rities of the Bergen Museum, for permission to photograph some of their antiquarian treasures ; to my son, Mr, Olaf Willson, B.A., for many references in English and foreign authorities, for his appendix on the Norwegian stavkirker, and for the index ; and above all, to my vnie, without whose unfailing aid and encouragement this work would probably never have been completed.

T. B. WILLSON.

Shooter's Hill, Kekt, March, 1903.

TABLE OF CONTENTS,

PREFACE .... LIST OP PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES

PAOE V

xi

CHAPTER

I.

II.

III.

IV.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

HEATHEN NORWAY

THE FOUNDING OP THE KINGDOM ....

THE FIRST CONTACT WITH CHRISTIANITY.

HAAKON THE GOOD AND THE FIRST ATTEMPT TO

INTRODUCE CHRISTIANITY

HARALD GRAAFELL AND THE HEATHEN REACTION

UNDER HAAKON JARL

OLAF TRYGVES30N AND THE TRIUMPH OP "THE

WHITE CHRIST"

ST. OLAF, KING AND MARTYR ....

MAGNUS THE GOOD AND HARALD HAARDRAADE OLAF KYRRE TO THE DEATH OF SIGURD JORSALFARER CHURCH ORGANIZATION IN THE EARLIEST TIMES MISSION OF CARDINAL NICHOLAS BREAKSPEARE SVERRB AND THE GREAT STRUGGLE WITH THE CHURCH HAAKON SVERRESS0N TO THE DEATH OF HAAKON

HAAKONSS0N .......

MAGNUS LAGAB0TER AND THE T0N8BERG CONCORDAT

HAAKON V .

MAGNUS ERIKSS0N AND THE BLACK DEATH

THE CHURCH UNDER MARGARET AND ERIK

ERIK, TO THE DEATH OP KRISTOFER OF BAVARIA .

NORWAY UNDER DANISH KINGS ....

KRI8TIAN II. AND FREDERICK I, — THE BEGINNING

OF THE END .......

1—9

10—16 17—21

22—30

31—38

39—57 58—90 91—104 105—116 117—131 132—155 156—184

185—208 209—224 225—234 235—251 252—264 265—274 275—294

295—327

X

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAQE

XXI. THE INTERREGNUM TO THE SIEGE OP COPENHAGEN 328 — 337 XXII. THE church's DOWNFALL AND LOSS OP NATIONAL

INDEPENDENCE 338 — 353

APPENDIX I. — " 8IGEFRIDUS NORWEQENSIS EPISCOPUS " . 355 — 357

APPENDIX II. — THE NORWEGIAN Stavkivker AND THEIR ORIGIN 358 — 364 APPENDIX III. — LIST OF BISHOPS AND ARCHBISHOPS OF

NiDAROS 365 — 367

GENEALOGICAL TABLES

368—369

LIST OF ILLU

STRATIONS.

TRONDHJEM CATHEDRAL ST. OLAF (by C. O. SKILBECK) ST. SUNNIVA, FROM AUSTE\OLD THE CHURCH OF MOSTER KING EYSTEIN .

borgund Stavkirke

ALTAR PIECE FROM LUR0

ST. OLAF, FROM FJELD

RELIQUARY AT HEDAL.

RUINS ON SELJE

MARIA KIRKE IN BERGEN

AKERSHUS AT OSLO

RUINS OF HAMAR CATHEDRAL

Frontispiece.

Title page.

To face p. 46

72

112

132

186

208

246

258

282

322

348

MAP OF THE THREE SCANDINAVIAN KINGDOMS.

LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES.

In the following list will be found the principal authorities, both mediaeval and modern, used in this history. The list is not, however, by any means an exhaustive one.

The HeimsTcringla of Suorre Sturlass0n (b. 1178, d. 1241). From the

earhest times down to the battle of Re, 1177. The Sverre^s Saga, Jlaakofi's, Gufhorm's and Inge's Saga, Haakon

Haakonss^n's Saga, by Karl Jonsspn, Sturla Thords80n and others.

From 1177 to 1263. Fagrskinna. A history from Halfdan the Black to Sverre. Agrip. A fragment of great value, probably from 1190. From Halfdan

to Sigurd Jorsalfarer. Flateyarhok. A MS. from the island of Flatey (Iceland) : a collection of

various Sagas to 1395. Saga of OJaf Trygvess^n, by Odd, a monk of Thing0re, in Iceland. Olaf cUn helUges Saga, edited by Munch and Unger (Christiania), 1853. Bishop Arne's Saga, and Bishop Laurentius's Saga. 13th century. Danorum Historice, by Saxo-Grammaticus. Historia de Antiquitate regum Nor ivegiens turn, by Theodoricus Monachus :

in Langebek's Scriptores rerum Danicarum, Vol. V. Gesta Bammaburgensis Ecclesuc Pontificum, by Adam of Bremen.

The following Chronicles in places referring to Norway : — Anglo-Saxon Chronicle : Florence of Worcester, "WilUam of Malmesbury, Simeon of Durham, Roger de Hoveden, Matthew Paris, William of Jumieges.

NorgesGamleLove (The Old Laws of Norway), Vols. I. — V. (Christiania), 1846 — 95. A collection of the ancient ecclesiastical and civil legislation, and other documents, from the earliest times to 1387.

Diplomaiarium Norvegicum. A collection of documents relating to Norway ; first volume issued in 1849, and the remainder at intervals since that date.

xii LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES.

Del Korske Folkfi Hisfon'p, by P. A. Munch, in eight vols. (Christiania),

the two last relating to the union period. Norges Historie to 1387, by Rudolf Keyser, two vols. (Christiania). Udsi^t over def Norshe Folks \ ^ ^ j,_ g^^ (Christiania).

Hisiorie, four vols. )

lUmtreret Norges Historie, by 0. A. 0verland (Christiania). De f^sfe Konger af den Olden- '

borgske Slmgt ■ By C. Paludan-Miiller (Copenhagen).

Gr evens Feide

DetNorskeKirkesHistone wider} „ -d i ,« ir /ni. • t- • \

\^ ,. ,. . ^ 1 f By Rudolf Kevser (Christiania).

Kathoheismen, two vols. ) *' .^ v

Die Bekehrung des Norwegisclmi Stammes | By Dr. Kourad Maurer

zum Christen fhwne, tv^OYols. ) (Miinchen).

Udsif/t over den Norske Kirkes Historie \ By Bishop Dr. A. Chr. Bang

under Katholicismen j (Christiania).

De Nordiske Kirkers Historie, by R. T. Nissen (Christiania). Den Nordiske Kirkes Grnndtmiqelse ) r. * tv t /n i, \

Ofifmto Udrmn, \ By ^- ^- •'"■•S*"'^'' (Copenhagen).

Dm A«gelsaMske Kirken Inflydehe J ^^^^^^ ^^ (Christiania).

jma den Norske. ) •'

De Norske Klosfres Historie, by C. C. A. Lange (Christiania). Den Dansjce^ Kirkes Historie ) ^ ^ (Copenhagen).

/(jyr Reformalwnen ) -' » v r

No-rges HeJr/e>ier, by Prof. Ludvig Daae (Christiania). Passio et miraxula heati Olaui, edited by F. Metcalfe, M.A. (Oxford,

Clarendon Press). Throndhjem i Fortid og Nutid (997—1897). Various authors. B^gmfra de ^Idsfe Tider ] ^^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^ ^.^^^^

tndttl Nutmen. ) •'

Den Sorte Ddd i del Wde Aarhundrede, by Dr. A. L. Faye (Christiania). The introduction to Laing's translation of the " Heimskringla," by Rasmus B. Anderson, in four vols. (London), 1889.

CHAPTEE I.

HEATHEN NORWAY IN THE EARLIEST TIMES.

The Coming of the Northmen — Their Religion — Temples — Festivals — Geographical Divisions — Local Government.

The Norwegians are a branch of the great stream of Teutonic migration, which flowed from its original home in Asia over the northern part of Europe. At what time these invaders displaced the aboriginal inhabitants of the Scandinavian peninsula, we have no certain means of ascertaining:, thouo:h some have afiirmed that Odin was an historical personage who, some three centuries before the Christian era, led his victorious hosts across Europe. We may take it, however, that about that time these Teutonic tribes crossed the narrow seas between the Scandinavian and North German lands, and established themselves on the great peninsula. Gradually they drove back the primitive peoples they found thinly scattered over the country, men most probably of Mongolian origin, and whose descendants still survive in the wandering Finns and Lapps of the far north of Norway and Sweden.

The entire Scandinavian peninsula was at that time largely covered with dense forests, and in these the invaders established themselves, and gradually clearing open spaces, in time proceeded to cultivate the land. Eventually they worked their way down to the western and north-western coasts, and quickly became expert in seamanship, and in reaping the rich harvest which the well-stocked waters of the North Sea afi'orded them. The acquaintance thus gained with the ocean, and especially the tempestuous

C.S.N. B

2 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

North Sea, soon made tliem the most skilled sailors in Europe, and the way in which this sea power was in later centuries developed, can easily be traced in European history.

Like the other Teutonic nations of whom Tacitus tells us, they were all free men, and had with them slaves or thralls, who were generally captives taken in war. These were mere chattels, and their lives were at their masters' disposal, but they might, and sometimes did, obtain their freedom.

The settlers did not live in towns or villages, but each man had his own farm or gaard, though, for protection's sake in earlier times, they were usually not very far off from one another. This absence of towns, and division of the land into freeholds, was a characteristic of the Nor- wegians, and exercised a very remarkable influence over their subsequent history ; for it was always the country parts, and not the towns, where the preponderating political power lay, and the free landowners, unfettered by feudalism, and practically without an aristocracy (the chiefs were only the larger landowners), controlled and directed the policy of the nation, meeting in the assemblies, or Things, where all free men had an equal voice.

In religion they were practically the same as many of the other Germanic tribes, but we have the advantage of possessing a full account of their theories of the Universe and the gods, in the very remarkable early literature of Iceland which has been preserved for us. In the older Edda, which is chiefly concerned with the mythology of the North, we have the V0luspaa poem, one of the earliest and most picturesque accounts of the faith of the Northmen.

As the heathen beliefs and practices must naturally have much to do with the beginnings of Christianity in Norway, it is necessary we should have some knowledge of them.

HEATHEN NORWAY. 8

The universe, in the old Norse mythology, was divided into Muspelheim and Niffelheim, the former the abode of light and fire, and the latter a dark and gloomy land of ice and snow. Between these lay Ginnungagap, a swellino- deep " without form and void," and in which there was no life. Deep down in Niffelheim there was a well from which an ice-cold stream sprang, and flowed into Ginnun- gagap, and the spray from this, meeting the warmth and fire of Muspelheim, produced the Giant or Jotun, Ymer and his cow Audhumbla. On the milk of this cow the Jotun lived, and the evil race of the Jotuns sprang from him. The cow licked the salt from the rocks, whence sprang Bure, whose grandson was Odin. The Giant Ymer was killed by 0dm and his brothers, and from his dead body, which was cast into Ginnungagap, the world was formed. His flesh was the earth, his blood the sea, his hair the trees, his bones the mountains, etc. All of the race of Jotuns were drowned in Ymer's blood, except one who with bis wife escaped in a boat ; their descendants were allowed to live beyond the utmost bounds of the sea in Jotunheim. The interior of the earth was peopled by dwarfs or Trolds, usually malign spirits.

The earth having been created there were yet no men upon it, so Odin and his two companions, H0ner and Ldder, went down to it, and finding two trees, formed from them the first man and woman. Ask and Embla.

The home of the Gods was Asgaard, with its beautiful hall Valhalla, where they feasted and where the Valkyries attended on them, and did their bidding. The gods were known as the ^ser, or Aser, a name said to be derived from a word signifying a spiritual being, and the belief in the gods was called the Asatro.

At the head of the gods was Odin, the all-father, whose wife was Frigg, the all-nourishing. Their son was Thor, the Thunderer, the benefactor of the world, and the friend

b2

4 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

of mankind, to whom the Norwegians seem to have assigned a higher rank than Odin, to whom the other Teutonic tribes gave the highest place. Thor was the relentless foe of the Trolds and Jotuns, against whom he waged war with his far-famed hammer Mj0lnir.

The other chief ^ser were Ni0rd, the giver of riches and the ruler of the winds and protector of sailors. His daughter was Freya, the Venus of the North. Then there was Baldur the Beautiful, the Sun God, who was killed by the evil Loki, one of the race of the Jotuns, whom the gods had taken as one of themselves. Braga, the son of Odin, was the god of the spirits of the dead.

In addition to these and many others, there were local gods and household gods, held in veneration in certain places, and not universally reckoned amongst the inhabitants of Asgaard, and only worshipped by certain families. These survived in Norway for centuries after the introduction of Christianity, though of course only worshipped in secret, and the household divinities actually survived down to our own day, and may possibly still exist.

We must not lose sight of the Trolds, the spirits of the mountains and the forests, whose power was always dreaded, and whom the people were always ready to propitiate with oflerings. Against them, as we have seen, Thor waged war, and when the faith of the "white Christ" vanquished the Asatro, we find St. Olaf takes the place of the Thunderer as their opponent and conqueror. Troldom was always in Christian times an offence of the greatest magnitude, and we find constant ecclesiastical legislation on the subject.

The worship of the gods was probably in the earliest days conducted in the open air, and in a grove of trees, but later we know temples or Hovs were built, and these we frequently meet with in the first days of Christianity in Norway,

The temples were in shape very much the same as the

HEATHEN NORWAY. 5

earlier Christian churches, and there seems little doubt that some of them were adapted to Christian worship on the overthrow of the heathen gods. The sites of the temples, at any rate, were utilized for building churches which survive down to our own day.

The Hov usually consisted of what we might call a nave and chancel or apse. In the nave there was one, or sometimes two doors which were placed in the long side of the building, and not in what we would call the west wall. In the centre of this nave there was a large flat fireplace, where the flesh of the sacrifice was cooked and eaten, the smoke of the fire escaping through holes in the roof. Along the side of the walls ran benches, and in the middle of these, or sometimes near the door, were what were called the h0is(Bde (high seats) with their stolper or pillars, where the chief sat who officiated at the sacrificial rites. In the partially enclosed apse or chancel, stood the altar of sacrifice which was placed on a slight elevation above the floor of the building. On this altar the victim, usually an animal, sometimes a human being, was slain and the blood caught in copper bowls kept for the purpose. This blood was then sprinkled on the altar, the walls, the images, and the worshippers.

On the altar was a golden ring which the officiant carried during the ceremonies, and on it all oaths were sworn at the Thing. Behind the altar was the image of the principal god, usually Thor, and ranged in a semi-circle were other images.

When the sacrifice was over, the flesh of the victim was cooked in great pots which hung over the fire, and the feast began. The people brought their own supplies of beer as well as the animals used in sacrifice. There were no priests as a separate caste (a fact which had a very important influence afterwards in the spread of Christianity), but the chief man of the district acted in

6 CHURCH AXD STATE IN NORWAY.

that capacity.* TVTien the feasting began the horns were filled with beer, and were blessed in honour of the gods. Then the skaals were drunk, to Odin or Thor for victory ; to Ni0rd and Freya for good crops and peace ; and to Braga for the souls of the dead.

There were three great festival blots, or sacrifices, held every year : the winter blot, on October 14th, the mid- winter, or Jul, at first on January 12th, afterwards transferred to Christmas ; f and lastly, the summer blot, on April 14th.

In addition to the regular temples built of wood, there were also altars which were erected in the open air ; these were called Il0rg, and the word still sui'vives in the names of several places in Norway. J

The temples were of two classes, the public and the private ones. The former w^ere the Hovs, belonging to each f/jlke or division of the country, and these w^ere again divided into herreds, where there were also temples.

The other class consisted of what might be called private chapels, where some w^ealthy chief kept one up at his own expense. The public ones were supported by landed property assigned to them, and partly by taxation.

The temples were sacred, and any one desecrating them or breaking the peace in them w^as liable to outlawry. This w^as not uncommon, as the feasting and frequent skaals drunk, often led to very deadly quarrels in the course of the celebration of the blots.

Pilgrimages were made to the more famous temples, and were undertaken in later days even from so great a distance as Iceland.

Such was the religion of the Norwegians in the ancient times, and we have given these particulars with regard to it, as it is necessary we should bear them in mind when

* These offerings might also be made by women.

t See p. 26.

X lu Voss and Hordaland, also in names of mountains.

HEATHEN NORWAY. 7

we come to deal with the struggle between the forces of heathenism and Christianity. We shall see that the early- Christian missionaries were fully conscious of the advis- ability of adapting as far as they could the heathen customs to Christian usages, and making the transition as easy as possible for their rude converts.

In order to follow the course of events in the history of Norway, we should understand something of the geo- graphical divisions of the country in mediaeval times, and carefully study the map.

In the early days the whole country was divided into what were called fylker, literally " folk land," the districts inhabited by certain folk. These districts were mostly greater than the largest of the English shires in modern times, but they varied considerably in area. They corre- sponded somewhat to the amis into which Norway is now divided. These fylker had mostly a petty king or chief over them, usually the largest and most powerful land- owner, but to him the people paid no taxes — he was only their chief and leader in time of war. The fylker were again subdivided into herreds or hundreds, and the chief man there was the Herse.

The population consisted of the B0nder and their thralls. It is difficult to find an English word which will accurately render the meaning of the word Bonde, the singular of B0nder. To translate it as some have done, by the word peasant, conveys an entirely incorrect meaning. The Norwegian Bonde was a free man dwelling on his own land, having no lord over him to whom he was under any of the obligations of feudalism. His obligations were to defend the country when attacked, and to contribute to the support of the Hov, This tenure of the land was called Odel, and any attempts to interfere with it met with the strongest opposition. The Bonder, however, sometimes let out a portion of their land which they might not

g CHURCH AXD STATE IN NORWAY.

require, to others, but these Leilcendinger, as they were called, were also free men.

In all the subsequent history, it is important to bear in mind that B0nder were really the depositaries of all political power, and that they formed a class which was in many respects unique in Europe. In later days their power was curtailed and reduced, but the absence in Norway of the feudalism which prevailed over the most of Europe gave them an influence in the history of their land which was very remarkable.

Local self-government prevailed in Norway from the earliest times. The B0nder met in councils called Things, where the affairs of the district were settled. There were Things for each fylke and herred, to decide the more local questions, and there were also the greater assemblies of the people, in centres where many of the fylker were grouped tosether, and where the laws were made. Thus we find for the northern fylker there was the great Frosta Thing, which met at Frosta on the Trondhjem Fjord, and which legislated for Tr0ndelagen and Haalogaland ; the Gula Thing for the western and southern fylker; and the Eidsiva Thing for the more central parts. These gatherings were the parliaments of Norway ; at them the kings were chosen, and we find that, in order to secure uniformity in the laws proposed by the early Christian kings, they were obliged to have the consent of each of these assemblies of the free men of Norway.

In the early days the northern /^/Z^'er, and especially the fertile district of Tr0ndelagen, enjoyed the greatest political power, and the candidate for the crown who secured the adherence of the Frosta Thing was almost certain to be successful with the other assemblies. Tr0ndelagen was also the stronghold of heathenism, and the two Olafs met there with more opposition in their efi'orts on behalf of Christianity than in any other part of the land.

HEATHEN NORWAY. 9

The far north of Norway, with its sparse population of Lapps and Finns, had practically no part in the history of the country ; it remained heathen for centuries after the rest of the land had been converted, and afforded an outlet for the crusading zeal of the kings, in the days when the Saracens were left in undisturbed possession of the Holy Land, and the fierce enthusiasm of the eleventh and twelfth centuries had passed away.

CHAPTER II. THE FOUNDING OF THE KINGDOM.

Halfdan the Black — Harald Haarfagre — The Consolidation of the Kingdom — Internal Government — Repressive Measures and their Results — Harald's Sons — Erik Bloodaxe — Haakon — Harald's Death and Creed.

It is not until the middle of the ninth century that we begin to emerge from the mythical period of Norwegian history, and come to the reign of Halfdan Svarte, or Halfdan the Black, who was a petty king over the region lying to the west and north of what is now the Christiania Fjord, but at that time known as Vestfold.

His father was Halfdan Hvitbein (the white leg), who came of the mythical race of the Ynglinger, said to have been descended from the goddess Freya. This race came from Sweden and settled in that part of Norway before mentioned. Halfdan Hvitbein was a prudent chief, and encouraged commerce and agriculture in his dominions. Halfdan the Black increased his father's possessions to a considerable extent in a northern direction, and was the originator of the famous Eidsiva law, which was, for many generations, the law for that part of Norway, as the Frosta law was for Tr0ndelae:en. This collection of laws derived its name from having been promulgated at the Thing held at Eidsvold, a spot close to the southern end of the great Mi0sen lake, and where the present constitution of Norway was drawn up in 1814.

In 860, Halfdan was returning from a feast at Hadeland in the spring of the year, and when crossing the Rands Fjord at Eokenvik, the ice, which was then beginning to

THE FOUNDING OF THE KINGDOM. 11

thaw, gave way under the royal sledge. His retainers, rushing to his rescue, only made matters worse, and the king and his immediate followers were drowned. His death was the cause of much grief to his people, who had enjoyed under his rule a time of great prosperity, and a succession of good harvests, a manifest proof of the favour of the gods. In order to secure a continuance of these benefits, they decided to divide his body into four portions, and to bury them in different parts of his dominions.

Halfdan left behind him an only son, named Harald, then a child of only ten years of age. His mother was Raguhild, a wise and prudent woman, and granddaughter of Harald Klak, King of Jutland. Before her son's birth she dreamt that she was holding a thorn in her hand, which grew to be a great tree which struck its roots deep down into the earth, and the top of which reached to heaven. It had wide-spreading branches, which covered the whole of Norway and the countries around it. The lower part of the tree was red as blood, and the branches above were white as snow.

The child whose future greatness was thus foreshadowed by the dream was the far-famed Harald Haarfagre, the founder of the kingdom of Norway, and progenitor of a race of kings which, with a few brief interruptions, ruled over Norway for close upon four hundred years.

The early days of Harald were passed under the wise guidance and direction of his uncle Guthorm, who skilfully piloted the youthful monarch through the various dangers to which he was exposed, and reduced to submission many of the neighbouring petty kings.

When Harald grew to manhood he sought as his wife the beautiful Gyda, daughter of King Erik of Hordaland. She declined his advances, and declared she would marry none of these petty kings. She told the king's messengers to carry back to him her final decision : "I will not be his

12 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

wife until, for my sake, he has conquered the whole of Norway." When Harald received this message he declared that Gyda had spoken well. " I call God, who made me, to witness," he said, " that never will I have my hair cut or combed until I have conquered the whole of Norway, with skat, duties, and lordships, or die in the attempt."

Harald kept his word. Aided by his uncle and the famous Jarl, Ragnvald of M0re (the district now known as Nordm0re, Romsdal, and S0ndm0re), and his own great courage and strength, he rapidly conquered one petty kingdom after another, and defeating the jarls or kings who ruled over them, soon consolidated his kingdom. It was not, however, until after the great naval battle of Hafrsfjord, near Stavanger (872), that the opposition of the local rulers was crushed and Harald everywhere acknowledged as overlord of Norway. Immediately after the battle his long and matted hair was cut by Ragnvald Jarl, and his bright golden locks gained him the name of the Fair-haired, or Haarfagre. Soon after this he claimed the hand of the scornful beauty who had declined his suit in his earlier days.

When he had established his kingdom he quickly made his power everywhere felt ; lawlessness of all kinds was repressed with a stern hand, and the poor and the oppressed looked up to the king with gratitude, and were ready to defend him agjainst all comers.

Harald, however, decided to introduce changes which were distasteful to both the B0nder and the Jarls, and the enforcement of which led to very important results for other nations besides his own. The land of Norway, as we have seen, was held by what was called Odel tenure ; in other words, the owners were free from payment of skat, and were only obliged, when called upon, to follow their leaders in the defence of the land from the attacks of enemies.

The king wished them to hold their land as fiefs from

THE FOUNDING OF THE KINGDOM. 13

the crown, and this naturally provoked much hostility. Over each fyU:e, or group of fylker, the king appointed a jarl, and extorted from the unwilling people the payment of skat, or tribute. He also further compelled the chief men in the districts to take service under him, and become a part of his immediate following.

Changes of this nature were not likely to be quietly acquiesced in by a people so independent as the hardy Norwegian Bonder, but the power of the king was too great to admit of successful resistance, and the alternative lay between submission to the royal authority or migration. Many of the chiefs and principal men chose the latter. They took ship and left their native land, and established themselves in the Shetlands, Orkneys, and Hebrides. Otiiers went further and, after various raids, founded a kingdom in Dublin, and settlements in various places on the Irish coast as well as the Isle of Man. They also established themselves on the Faeroe Islands, where pre- viously Irish monks had made a home for themselves. The most important settlement, however, was made in Iceland, where an independent state was founded, which in later years became famous for its learning and literature, and from whence the colonization of Greenland and part of the coast of North America was carried out.

Another of Harald Haarfagre's reforms led to results which may be said to have permanently affected the history of Europe. It was customary for those who fitted out Viking expeditions to levy enforced contributions in money and kind from the people along the coast ; these extortions were known as strandhug. Harald, with the intention of protecting his people, sternly forbade the prac- tice, and decreed outlawry as the punishment for a breach of his law. A notable offender was soon forthcominor.

o

Kagnvald Jarl, the king's greatest supporter, and the champion of his early days, had a son named Rolf, who,

14 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

from his oreat size and weio;ht, and because none of the small Norwegian horses or ponies could carry him, received the surname of the Ganger, or walker. This man was one of the boldest spirits in the Viking days, and on one occasion, when coming home from an expedition, he allowed his followers to make a raid on the cattle and goods of the farmers in Viken. A weaker king might have hesi- tated to enforce the law against the son of his old friend. But Harald did not hesitate. The law must be obeyed ; and Rolf the Ganger was banished from Norway. He went to what was then known as Neustria, and extorted the concession of a " Danelag " from Charles III. A century and a half later his descendant, William Duke of Normandy, sat on the throne of England. Had strandhug not been illegal, or had a weaker monarch than Harald Haarfagre ruled over Norway, how different might have been the history and destiny of England !

Harald had a numerous family by his different wives, and towards the end of his long reign he adopted the very unwise expedient of dividing his kingdom among them, but leaving his eldest and favourite son Erik, who was sur- named Blod0kse {Bloodaxe),from his prowess in war, as over- lord of the various smaller kingdoms. Such an arrangement led to its natural results. Erik determined to overthrow the power of his brothers, and caused Bjorn Farmand (the Merchant), who ruled over the district about Tdnsberg, to be treacherously murdered. He proceeded to attack Halfdan, who was king in Tr0ndelagen, but the latter was warned in time, and collecting men and ships, made so good a defence that Erik was forced to go to his father for pro- tection. After this a truce was arranged by friends on both sides, and thus for a time things resumed a more peaceful condition.

In 921, Harald in his old age, had a son by a mistress named Tliora of Moster, who, from her great height, was

THE FOUNDING OF THE KINGDOM. 15

known as Moster stang, or pole. This son was named Haakon, and his appearance on the scene was naturally- displeasing to the other sons of the king, who had grown to man's estate, and were to divide the kingdom between them. Harald saw the danger to which the boy's life would be exposed if he allowed him to remain in Norway, so he sent him to England, while still a very little child, to the court of Athelstan, where he remained until his father's death. In England the child was baptized and brought up as a Christian, and afterwards was the means of first bringing Christianity into Norway.

In 930, at the age of eighty, the old King decided to surrender all his authority into the hands of Erik, and to carry into force the arrangement which he had made before. Three years afterwards he died at his residence at Hauge, close to the present town of Haugesund, a little to the north of Stavanger. Where he died, there he was buried. On a mound overlooking the sea, and swept by the winds of the Northern Ocean, the greatest man that Norway had yet seen was laid to rest. On the top of the mound which was heaped over the body of the great warrior and ruler, the usual bautasten, or memorial stone, was erected ; and in after days, when his descendants sailed along the coast in their war ships to battle against foreign enemies or rebellious subjects, they saw it from afar, and remembered the man who had welded into one the divided kingdoms of Norway, and made it for the first time one of the nations of Europe. In days of anarchy and oppression, when Danish or other races sought for supremacy over Norway, men turned to the descendants of Harald the Fair-haired, thinking that of his line there must ever be a ruler and a chief, who would bring back to them again, the days when justice to all would be neither " sold, delayed, or denied," and when Norway would be united under its own king.

During the long reign of Harald, Norway remained

16 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

altogether pagan. The king himself seems to have had but little faith in the old gods, though he conformed to all the usages connected with the heathen sacrifices at the three great feasts of the year — in January, April, and October. He had doubtless heard and known of the Christian faith from his intercourse with England and Denmark ; but he seems, if the Sagas are to be trusted, to have had a comparatively simple and characteristic creed : " He believed in the God who was the strongest and had created all thinscs and ruled all thinors."

CHAPTER III.

THE FIRST CONTACT WITH CHRISTIANITY.

The Religious Results of Viking Cruises— Northmen in the British Isles — Enforced Baptism — Half Christianity— The Missions from Hamburg and Bremen — Ansgar's Life and "Work.

In order to understand the way in which the heathen Norwegians first learned of the Christian faith, it is necessary to retrace our steps. It was in the last quarter of the eighth century, or about eighty or ninety years before the accession of Harald Haarfagre, that the Viking expeditions began, which, for nearly three hundred years, made the Northmen the terror of North-Western Europe, and of certain districts in the Mediterranean as well. The adven- turous chiefs from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark set forth in their long ships, each rowed by from twenty to forty men, and passing quickly over the waters of the North Sea, began to harry the coasts of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Northern France.

Readers of English history are familiar with the entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the year 7S7, which tells of the first appearance of these dreaded foes ; and we know the way in which, from being at first mere marauding expedi- tions, they were continued until settlements and kingdoms were established in the north-east of England, the Ork- neys and Shetlands, Dublin, and the Isle of Man. We are, however, not concerned so much with the poHtical as the religious results of these expeditions, for they were the means by which, as far as we can learn, the heathen Norwegians were first brought in contact with Christianity.

In England and Ireland they came to countries where,

c.s.x. c

18 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

especially in the latter, the Christian faith had for some centuries entirely possessed the land, and had to a con- siderable extent tamed the wilder passions of the Saxon and Keltic races. When the warriors catne ashore from their ships the churches and monasteries naturally offered a tempting prey on account of their unprotected state, and the Northmen quickly availed themselves of the treasure which they found there. They also undoubtedly learned of the Christian faith from the captives they had taken, and from seeing something, as they often did, during more peaceful visits, of the stately worship and ritual of the Church, which was not without its influence on the fierce Northmen.

The tenets of Christianity, however, did not naturally commend themselves to those who placed fighting in the very forefront of the duty of man, and to whom the clash of arms and the carnage of the battle would appeal more forcibly than the most stately service of the Church, with all the accessories of music and banners.

In places where the invaders settled for the winter, instead of returning back, or where, for one or another cause, they were detained, there were not wanting faithful priests, who, taking their lives in their hands, tried to win the fierce Vikings to the faith of Christ, at least, so far as to consent to be baptized, or if they would not do that, to allow themselves to be what was called primsigne [prima signatio), signed with the cross, a sort of half-way house to Christianity.

In these efforts they were not infrequently successful, but it must be borne in mind that compliance with the entreaties of the priests and others, did not at all necessarily imply the acceptance of a real faith in Christianity. On the contrary, we know that when the Viking marauders found themselves in a position from which they could not well extricate themselves, and were surrounded by their

FIRST CONTACT WITH CHRISTIANITY. 19

enemies, it was not at all uncommon for the chief and his followers to allow themselves to be baptized en masse, as it usually offered a way of escape, and further enriched them with presents of handsome baptismal robes. Indeed, it appears an undoubted fact that it was not an unknown thing for Viking chiefs and their followers to be baptized several times over in different countries or places.

It is, of course, true that there were genuine conversions to Christianity among the Norwegians, but many of the earliest baptisms were of the nature described.

When, however, after some years the Norwegians and Northmen settled themselves in districts they had con- quered, then real progress was made in the propagation of the faith, and they became, as in Dublin, in Cumbria, and the Danelag, as faithful and earnest Christians as those who had taught them the faith.

This, however, was outside the Norwegian kingdom. In Norway it only helped to break down the ancient faith in the gods. Many of the great men, like King Harald Haarfagre, were indifferent to the old religion, and only believed in the God who was the strongest and ruled all.

Some of the Vikings followed a middle course, like that adopted by the colonists whom the kings of Assyria placed in the cities of Samaria. They were baptized and they took Christ into their worship. The Sagas tell us of one of these, Helge the Thin, of Iceland, who had thus been converted. When he was ashore on his farm he worshipped Christ, but when he was at sea, or in any position of danger, he ofiered his prayers and sacrifices to Thor.

It may be wondered why it was that Christianity did not first come to Norway from the South, instead of from the British Isles ; but the explanation is not a difficult one. The latter countries had already been christianized, while between Norway and the Christianity of the revived Western

c2

20 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

Empire there was still a solid mass of heathenism. The Kaiser, Karl the Great, after reducing the Saxons to submission, was anxious to bring the Northern nations to Christianity, partly from religious and partly from political motives, so that he might be made more secure from attack. Nothing, however, seems to have been done in his day, but under Ludvig the Pious an attempt was made to evange- lize the Danes, and he appealed to Ebbo, the Archbishop of Eheims, to send a missionary to them. The Pope (Paschal I.) also wrote a letter commending the work. Such, however, was the terror which spread over the north-west of Europe at the ravages of the Vikings, that at first no one was found to volunteer, until at last the famous Ansgar, " the Apostle of the North," a monk of Corvei, near Amiens, undertook the task.

He began his work in Holstein, accompanied by his faithful friend Autbert. After two years' labours he was obliged to flee to the court of the Emperor, and the work appeared to have failed. Just at that time, however, Bjorn, the King of Sweden, sent a messenger to the Kaiser asking for a Christian teacher, and Ansgar was sent in 830. After various adventures and dangers, Ansgar reached Birk (Sigtuna), and laboured with much success for a year and a half, when he returned with a letter to the Kaiser. Ludvig saw the importance of establishing an episcopal see near to the mission field, and selected Hamburg as the spot, and in 834 Ansgar was consecrated as Arch- bishop by the Archbishop of Metz and several other prelates. Shortly afterwards Gautbert was consecrated Bishop of Sweden.

Thus the work progressed, but troubles were yet to come. In 845 the heathen King Erik, of Jylland, in Denmark, attacked Hamburg and burned the cathedral, library, and monastery to the ground, and Ansgar escaped only with his life. The Swedes at the same time attacked Gautbert

FIRST CONTACT WITH CHRISTIANITY. 21

and destroyed his mission. Ludvig the Pious was now dead, and his sons divided the Empire, Ludvig the German having the portion which most concerned Ansgar.

At this time the bishopric of Bremen was vacant, and Ludvig decided to transfer the archiepiscopal see to that town in 849, and it was made the metropolitan see for the Northern nations, and independent of Koln, in which it was formerly situated.

The work again prospered. King Erik, the destroyer of Hamburg, became favourable to Christianity, and granted a place for a church in Slesvig, where, in 850, the first church in Denmark w^as erected, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. In 856 Ansgar's active life ended at the comparatively early age of sixty-four.

Thus it happened that Christianity had gained a hold in Sweden and Denmark a considerable time before it first appeared in Norway ; but it is strange that there was practically no attempt made to christianize Norway from either Denmark or Sweden. To the British Isles, to England especially, the honour of having brought the faith of Christ to Norway is almost entirely due, and the Church in Norway was a daughter of the Anglo-Saxon Church.

A notice of the foundation of the metropolitan see of Bremen is necessary here, as it was for a considerable period the province in which the Norwegian Church was situated ; and to the famous Chronicle of Adam of Bremen we are indebted for many interesting references to early Christianity in Norway.

CHAPTER IV.

HAAKON THE GOOD AND THE FIRST ATTEMPT TO INTRODUCE CHRISTIANITY.

Erik and Gunhild's unpopularity — Coming of Haakon — Erik driven out — Haakon a Christian — His tentative Efforts on behalf of the Faith — Formal Attempt at the Frosta Thing — Its Failure — Haakon's Lapse, his Death, and Burial.

On the death of Harald Haarfagre, in 933, his eldest son, Erik Blodokse, became overlord of Norway, in accordance with the arrangement made by his father. He was a cruel and overbearing man, but of undoubted courage in battle, as his surname implies. He was never popular with the people, and the murder of his brother BJ0rn made it plain that he intended, when he had the opportunity, to murder or drive away his other brothers from the small kingdoms their father had allotted to them, and to become, as his father had been before him, the sole king in the land.

The unpopularity of Erik was increased tenfold by reason of his queen Guuhild, whom he had married several years before. She was a native of Haalogaland and renowned for her beauty, and Erik had met her in one of his northern journeys. In addition to her beauty, she is said to have possessed the very doubtful recommendation of a knowledge of sorcery, which she had learned from the Finns of the North, and this did not tend to increase her popularity. There can ])e no doubt whatever, that she was a wicked and ambitious woman, who, playing the part of a Northern Jezebel in the royal court, proved the king's evil genius.

The tyrannical rule of Erik, and the universal hatred with which his wife was regarded, provoked discontent on

HAAKON THE GOOD. 23

all sides, and in little more than a year lie was driven from the land.

When King Harald Haarfagre died, there was living at the court of Athelstan his youngest son Haakon, who, as we have seen, had been disjDatched thither for safety by the old king. During his residence in England he had been baptized and brought up in the Christian faith. When his father died, in 933, he was a lad of about fourteen, but tall and handsome, and bearing a very striking resemblance to his fair-haired father. When tidicgs of Harald's death reached England, Athelstan at once deter- mined to supply his foster-son with the equipment necessary to enable him to proceed to Norway and claim his share in his father's kingdom. Among the many gifts bestowed by the king upon the young prince, we read of a magni- ficent sword, with a hilt of gold and a blade of such strength and temper, that it would cleave a millstone ; from this fact it was given the name of Kvernhit (the quern cutter), and it never failed Haakon in any battle during the whole of his long and adventurous career. With ships and men supplied by the English king, the young chief set sail for his native land and proceeded at once to Tr0ndelagen, to the great chief Sigurd Jarl of Hlade, a spot close to the present city of Trondhjem, which at that time was not yet in existence.

The powerful jarl at once espoused the cause of Haakon, from whom he received the promise of greatly extended power, when he obtained the kingdom. The first step to be taken was to summon the Thing to meet, which Sigurd lost no time in doing. When the b0nder were assembled, Sigurd addressed them on Haakon's behalf, and presented the young prince to them. When he began to speak the older men at once recognized him as a true son of Haar- fagre, and cried out with joy that it was the old monarch who had become young once more.

24 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

Haakon, doubtless under the wise guidance of Sigurd, promised the people that if they helped him to gain the kingdom, he would restore the much-prized Odel rights, of which they had been deprived by his father, whose action in this respect had been most unpopular among the b0nder, and which only the strong hand of Harald had been able to enforce.

The promise of this great concession settled the matter, with one accord the people at the Thing took him as king. With the help of Si.gurd Jarl the conflict did not last long ; the hatred of King Erik, and especially of Queen Gunhild, was so intense that few were found to defend his cause, and in little more than a year, in 935, Erik and Gunhild were driven from Norway, and took refuge at first in Denmark. From thence Erik passed into England, and received the kinordom of Northumbria from Athelstan, and afterwards (in the reign of Edmund) fell in the battle of Stainmoor, the exact date of which is uncertain, but it was probably fous^ht between 950 and 954.'''''

When Haakon's authority as overlord of Norway was everywhere accepted, and he had made the people happy and contented by the removal of their grievances, he felt the time had come to attempt the formal introduction of Christianity into Norway, by securing its recognition at the Things.

In many ways it was a favourable moment. The Viking expeditions had made Christianity known to many, and if they were not prepared to accept the new faith, at any rate their belief in the old gods of their forefathers was shaken, and the great personal popularity of the king was much in his favour. It is true that his chief supporter, the great Jarl of Hlade, was still a zealous heathen, but his loyalty to his young monarch was undoubted, and in the subsequent

* " The Battle of Stainmoor," by W. G. Collingwood, in the Cumber- land and Westmoreland Antiquarian Society's " Transactions," Vol. II.

HAAKON THE GOOD. 25

struggles he saved him in many moments of great personal danger.

It seems most reasonable to believe that amongst the retinue with which his English foster-father had supplied him, there would probably have been found at least one priest, who would carry on the religious instruction of the young prince, and also that a considerable number, if not all, of his English supporters were Christians. When Haakon's power was established, very likely many of these returned to England, and the kin or was left with but a few Christians in his immediate following. The personal influence of Haakon seems to have induced a few of his heathen subjects to be baptized, and to abandon the old sacrifices.

When this was done Haakon took a more decisive step. He sent a message to England to ask that a bishop and priests should be sent out to Norway to aid him in his work.

We have no certain means of knowing whether a bishop responded to this invitation, but there is a list given by William of Malmesbury in " De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae," of bishops who had been monks of that famous foundation; amongst them we find the name of " Sigefridus Norwegensis Episcopus." There are many conflicting opinions as to the identity of this man with Haakon's helper. Three other bishops have been claimed as William's " Norwegensis Episcopus." *

It is plainly stated by Snorre that Haakon had churches built, and placed priests to minister in them, and these churches were erected in the More and Romsdal districts where Haakon chiefly resided. They were probably only wooden churches, and they quickly perished after the failure of Haakon to procure the recognition of Christianity. The bishop and priests were either murdered or fled back again to England.

At the commencement of his reisrn Haakon had not taken

* See Appendix I.

26 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

any official part in the usual sacrifices to the gods, but this did not excite suspicion because it was understood that being only a lad he wished those duties to be performed by deputy, which was accordingly done. Haakon, however, did nothing rashly, and wisely decided not to force Christianity on his people all at once. Among various tentative measures he secured (apparently without opposi- tion) the transference of the great Julefest, held early in January, to the time of the Christian festival of Christmas, and made its duration the same.

Thus the years passed by, and Haakon waited for his opportunity. In or about the year 950, after having reigned for sixteen years, and having had for some time the government in his own hands, he felt he was strong enough to make the attempt. His first step was to bring the question before the local Things in M0re and Romsdal districts, in which he frequently resided, and where he felt his personal influence would be considerable. These assemblies, however, seeing the importance of the question, excused themselves on the ground that it lay beyond their powers, and should be considered by the great Frosta Thing to whose laws they were subject. To this Haakon agreed, and prepared to bring the matter before the great assembly of the North. The Frosta Thing was usually held at mid- summer, when the days were longest, and night in those regions practically unknown. From all the eight fylker of Tr0ndelagen the people flocked to the yearly meeting, and the gathering on this occasion was unusually large. The Thing having been opened with the usual formalities. King Haakon rose and addressed the people. The critical moment so long looked forward to by the king, had now come, and the first formal attempt to procure the recognition of Christianity in Norway was now to be made.

Haakon began with an earnest appeal to the people to embrace the faith in which he had been brought up, to

HAAKOX THE GOOD. 27

permit themselves to be baptized, to believe in the one God and His Son Jesus Christ. The people listened in silence. Had the king stopped there, it is possible he might have met with, at any rate, a partial success ; but when he proceeded to tell them they must not work on Sundays, and that, further, they must be prepared to follow the Christian usage and fast on Fridays, then the cries of dissent broke out. The idea of abstinence from food was not at all an acceptable one to the Northmen, and to abstain from work on Sundays might often mean the partial loss of the hay harvest, or failure in securing a good haul of fish. Haakon, however, was very plain in setting before them all that the acceptance of Christianity would entail.

When the king had ended, there stood up in the council one Asbj0rn of Medalhus, a wealthy bonde from a place now called Melhus in Guldal, near Trondhjem. He told the kiug that the people willingly acknowledged the benefits which had come to them from his wise and kindly rule, especially in the restoration to them of their Odel rights and privileges. But he declared in no uncertain tones that they would not give up the faith of their fathers, and accept the thraldom which it seemed the king wished to force upon them. If he insisted on this, then they would choose another king, but they had no desire to quarrel with him so long as they were left to worship the gods of their forefathers. This speech was received with shouts of applause by the people, and it was at once apparent that the assembly was entirely hostile to Haakon's proposed innovations.

Then Sigurd Jarl stood up in defence of the young monarch. He hastened to explain to the people that they were under a mistake in supposing that Haakon wished to force his views on them, or to cause any break in the friendship which existed between them. With this he

28 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

quieted the people, and the proceedings terminated, the victory remaining with the heathen party.

Having thus thwarted the king, the believers in the old gods were determined to press home their advantage, and an opportunity for this soon presented itself. At the usual festival held in October, when the winter sacrifices were ofiered, the Odin's mindehceger (the horn of beer to be drunk to Odin) was handed to the king. Before drinking it he made the sisn of the cross over it. At this the watchful heathen protested, but the wily Jarl Sigurd explained that the king, believing in his own strength, dedicated the horn to Thor instead of Odin, by making over it the sign of Mj0lnir (Thor's hammer), and so the incident passed.

The crisis, however, soon came. At the Julefest the heathen party resolved there should be no more tem- porizing. They made it clear to the king that either he must join in the heathen ceremonies or forfeit his crown. Sigurd Jarl saw the danger, and with difficulty persuaded Haakon to give way. The feast was held, and the king ate some of the horse-flesh and drank of all the necessary horns of beer to the gods, this time without making the sign of the cross, and thus openly sealed his adherence to the Asa faith. But he left the feast heavy and displeased, and intending to come back with a powerful force and revenge himself on the bdoder, but for the time the triumph of Odin and Thor over " the White Christ " was complete.

It is easy for us to condemn Haakon for his apostacy, but we must remember the position in which he was placed. Cut off" from the support of those in England among whom he had been brought up, surrounded by heathen, many of whom he had good cause to love, and with the certainty of losing his kingdom, if not his life, if he refused to join in the idol feasts, his kind-heartedness and good-nature, as well as the pressure of circumstances,

HAAKON THE GOOD. 29

all combined to make him yield an outward compliance with the demands of the heathen party. All through the rest of his life he seems to have felt deeply his abandon- ment of the faith, and his failure to spread it in his kingdom. He was doubtless sincere in his intention to make another effort on behalf of Christianity when a con- venient opportunity presented itself, but the " convenient season" never came.

After these events, fresh trouble was in store for Haakon and his kingdom. His brother, Erik Bloodaxe of North- umberland, was slain in battle, and his sons determined to attempt to regain the kingdom from which their father had been driven by Haakon. Queen Gunhild went with them to Denmark, where the king, Harald GormssOn, was ready to give them assistance. They made several descents upon Norway, and Haakon was obliged to summon to his aid all his available forces, and he dared not weaken his strength by any question of religion.

The attacks of Gunhild's sons were repulsed with great loss to them, but they only retired to Denmark for fresh help, and appeared again and again on the coast. This state of things lasted till the close of Haakon's life.

In 960 the king was paying a visit at Fitjar, on the large island of Stord, in S0ndhordland, off the entrance to the great Hardanger Fjord. While there, with but a small force, he was surprised by the fleet of Harald Graafell, the eldest of Erik's sons. The enemy were in overwhelming force, but Haakon and his men disdained to seek safety in flight. A fierce battle ensued, in which, after a desperate struggle, Harald Graafell's forces were defeated and forced to fly. Just at the very end of the battle Haakon was mortally wounded by an arrow. Before his death, having no son, he named his nephew Harald as his successor. Then, we are told, the sorrow for his abandonment of the faith filled the king's mind. " If life is granted to me,"

30 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

he said to his followers, " 1 will betake myself to a land of Christian men, and do penance and atone for my sin against God, but if I die here in heathenism, then bury me as you wish yourselves."

His men, with tears, told him they would carry his body over to England, and give it Christian burial. But the dying king shook his head. " I am not worthy of it," he said. " I have lived as a heathen, and, therefore, as a heathen should I be buried."

As a heathen he was laid to rest. He was buried on his estate at Saeheim, in Nordhordland. All men mourned for him, friends and foes alike, and "men said such a good king would never come to Norway again." The love and veneration of his people marked him out among the kings as Haakon the Good.

CHAPTER V.

HARALD GRAAFELL; AND THE HEATHEN REACTION UNDER HAAKON JARL.

Norway under Gunhild's Sons — Graafell murdered in Denmark — Haakon Jarl rules Norway under Harald Blaatand of Denmark — Haakon Jarl's enforced Baptism — Danish Missionaries in Viken — Adam of Bremen's Testimony — The Results of this Work — Norwegian Church a Daughter of the English Church — Haakon Jarl and the Jomsvikings — The Battle at Livaag — Haakon's Evil Deeds and the Coming Deliverer,

The death of Haakon the Good was followed by a period of anarchy and struggles with foreign foes, which lasted for some thirty -five years, and caused much suffering and want in the land.

Haakon, on his deathbed, had expressed the wish that his nephew Harald, surnamed Graafell, should succeed him. He was the eldest of the five sons of Erik Blodokse, and with them he shared the portions of Norway ruled over by Haakon, namely, the northern and north-western divisions, for it must be remembered that the grandsons of Harald Haarfagre held the petty kingdoms in Viken (the country around the Christiania Fjord), which he had bestowed on their fathers.

Harald Graafell, however, was the overlord of the portions where his brothers ruled. As they were mainly guided by the universally detested Gunhild, they soon became very unpopular. Following the example of their father, they endeavoured to extend their authority by the treacherous murder of King Trygve,* the son of Olaf, and

* The father of the gi-eat Olaf Trygvess0n, who at the time of this murder was not yet born, see p. 40.

32 CHUECH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

Gudrod, the son of their father's victim, Bjorn, both kings in Viken. Sigurd Jarl was another obstacle in their way, and he, too, was slain. The people of Trdndelagen imme- diately supported his son, Haakon Jarl, and Gunhild's sons soon found to their cost what a mistake they had made in killing his father. At first, however, they were partially successful, and Haakon Jarl was obliged to take refuge with Harald Blaatand (blue tooth), king of Denmark.

Harald Graafell and his brothers were nominal Chris- tians, as they had been baptized when in England, and in Norway during their time the ancient heathen system was still further weakened. The brothers do not seem to have attempted to obtain any ofiicial recognition of Christianity from the Tilings, as Haakon did — indeed, their zeal for the propagation of the faith was of a ver}' negative character, and manifested itself chiefly in the destruction and plunder of the heathen temples wherever they went, and enriching themselves and their followers with the spoils. No attempt was made to force Christianity on the people, nor were, as far as we can see, any churches erected or rebuilt in any part of Norway. Men were free to worship as they thought fit, and the example of the sons of Gunhild was not likely to prepossess the heathen in favour of the faith which they nominally professed. These were years of bad harvests, and distress was everywhere prevalent; the fish forsook the shores, and famine and sickness stalked through the land. In these calamities the people saw the WTath of the gods whose temples had been destroyed, and who were not propitiated with sacrifices. Universal discontent prevailed.

About the year 970 (the exact date is doubtful) Harald Graafell was treacherously induced to visit Denmark, and when there was attacked and slain. This was the oppor- tunity which Harald Blaatand was looking for to assert his supremacy over Norway. He at once set sail with a powerful fleet to Tr0ndelagen ; and, as there was no one to

HARALD GRAAFELL. 83

oppose him (two of Harald Graafell's brothers were already dead, and Gunhild and the others fled to the Orkneys), he had no difficulty in having himself acknowledged as king. Haakon Jar] was left as governor over the north and westernfylker, and the district of Yiken was under Harald's immediate care. Haakon was, as a vassal, bound to assist his overlord Harald whenever called upon.

Now came, in the region ruled over by Haakon, a veritable heathen reaction. The jarl was a devout adherent of the ancient faith, and set to work immediately to rebuild the temples and to celebrate once more the heathen festivals at the appointed seasons. The first year of Haakon's rule was signalized by the return of the herrings to the coast, which they had forsaken, and a prosperous harvest ; so the people recognized in this that the anger of the gods was appeased and the evil averted from the land.

It was not long before Harald Blaatand had to summon his vassal Haakon to his aid. The young Kaiser Otto II., who had succeeded his father in 973, invaded Denmark in 975, in order to bring that kingdom more completely into subjection (as Harald had designs of rejecting the suzerainty which Otto I. had imposed on him), and also for the purpose of forcibly advancing Christianity in Denmark. Consider- able progress had been made, as we have seen, under Ansgar, the Archbishop of Bremen, and a church had been erected at Slesvig ; but the king still remained a heathen.

In obedience to Harald's call, Haakon Jarl raised an army and fleet, and came to the aid of his overlord. After a short resistance, however, Harald was defeated, and the Kaiser ofi"ered him terms of peace on condition that he should be baptized. We are told that the holy Bishop Poppo preached to the king and his army, and the result was that both Harald and all his forces were baptized.

The Danish king, ha^ing thus accepted Christianity, decided that his vassal must do the same, and sent for

C.S.N. D

81

CHURCH AXD STATE IN NORWAY.

Haakon, who had taken refuge in his ships, and oblig also to be baptized. Then, having supplied him "with and other learned men," he dispatched him to Norw;

Whatever may have l)een the sincerity of Hai embracing Christianity, Haakon soon made it clear i still remained a heathen. He set sail, and at tl possible opportunity put his ccclesiaBtics aahore and 1 thecoa.st of Sweden until he came to Norway, ai ' Harald at defiance, went ovt-rland to Trondclaj revenge for this, the Danish king invaded tlie west < Norway and ravaged the countr}' with fire and swor when Hjuikon had collected his fleet and came to the attack, Harald saih/d back again into Denmark.

It is nece.s8ar)* at this jKjint to advert to the mifr efforts which wen- made in the district of Viken, at th directly subject to the Danish Crown. Harald, al- conversion to the faith under the persuasive elocjuen miracles of Bishop Poppo, did all in * vcr to p

the christianizing of his heathen subj th in Di

and Norway. For some details of this we are in' to the "Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesise Pontificu Adam of Bremen, a chronicle of great value in ' with the early history of Christianity in the NoiLL being naturally a very zealous supporter of the Bremen, it is probable that he may have been incbi^ estimate more highly than it deserved, the work missionaries sent from Bremen to Nonvay ; and p also, to look with a not altogether impartial eye • English Church's missionaries, to whose efforts mainly, shall see, the spread of the faith in Norway is due.

Adam mentions that Liafdag, who in 948 was crated to the see of Ribe, in Denmark, was the most f ^ among the early bishops and renowned for his miraclt that he had preached " beyond the sea, that is in S and Norway."

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HARALT) GRAAFELL.

85

;i ;

-r re mentions tliat Harald, after hU conversion, sent,

<] t other men, " two jarU to Norway, who were to

nity; which was also done in Viken, where

, .. . H power |.r. ' .n..,| " Xliere they bjiptized

1- !i, hut after Hiir.i ith they relapsetl. Snorro

»t give us the namex of the«o " jarls," hut in the

I f the JomKvikingH they are mentioned! under the

ntt; r. un-A of I'rputhrjotr and Brimi^kjarr. Who

u re we have no means of knowing. It

il if they were jarU at all. Some flupj^oso

jarU were sent, they liad prieatu with them, who

•' ilw' ' ' ' been jarl.«t.

• '" .11- i . .."I.. 'I "...IV .1 i.i.ii there wort, iK^fore i v^;v»'ft.'Hin'H day a certain amount <)f missionary k n Viken which waa not altogether destitute of i but that thin was not a Uttle magnitieil by the •I 1 authorities latex on, wh«'n the gn^at work of the '1 lushojw and pri»'*»t.'<, im-hr thr two Ulafa, was i' i)aiiifi'«t-

: tlKLMt of Adam nays, Hjteaking of the laliours of ; \ _:v«'*won'H binliop : " Though l)efort' him our

? ♦"' ' ' V ".. and Odinkar, ha<l pr ' 1

•ly : our miiwioniiricH 1 1

' Kngli^h entereil into their lal)ourK"* It is only

uld that Adam himself takes a more lil)eral view

\c says, with '" e to the work of the two

OS : "Tin* m .. . lurch of Hamburg l)ears no

1 if even forci^'ners have done goo<l to her children,

f with the apostle : f ' Q^titl<tm pnwfiu-ani per invidiam

' '">M<?m, ijuidfim nutrm pn>j>tcr bwian% t\>!untatcni

'*i(*'ni. Qfttd fViirn / Ihtvi omni nxodo sivr per

lem t«ir ^n^r vrritnttin Cln'ijttts anuufuriftur, el

gaudeo et yftudebo'" (Phil. I., 16-18).

* Adjun, 8cboIiMt« 142. t Adjun II.. c. Hb.

l}$

94: CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

Haakon, who had taken refuge in his ships, and obliged him also to be baptized . Then, having supplied him "with priests and other learned men," he dispatched him to Norway.

Whatever may have been the sincerity of Harald in embracing Christianity, Haakon soon made it clear that he still remained a heathen. He set sail, and at the first possible opportunity put his ecclesiastics ashore and harried the coast of Sweden until he came to Norway, and, setting Harald at defiance, went overland to Tr0ndelagen. In revenge for this, the Danish king invaded the west coast of Norway and ravaged the country with fire and sword ; but when Haakon had collected his fleet and came to resist the attack, Harald sailed back again into Denmark.

It is necessary at this j)oint to advert to the missionary eff"orts which were made in the district of Viken, at this time directly subject to the Danish Crown. Harald, after his conversion to the faith under the persuasive eloquence and miracles of Bishop Poppo, did all in his power to promote the christianizing of bis heathen subjects both in Denmark and Norway. For some details of this we are indebted to the "Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesise Pontificum " of Adam of Bremen, a chronicle of great value in connection with the early history of Christianity in the North ; but, being naturally a very zealous supporter of the see of Bremen, it is probable that he may have been inclined to estimate more highly than it deserved, the work of the missionaries sent from Bremen to Norway; and possibly, also, to look with a not altogether impartial eye on the EngHsh Church's missionaries, to whose efforts mainly, as we shall see, the spread of the faith in Norway is due.

Adam mentions that Liafdag, who in 948 was conse- crated to the sec of Elbe, in Denmark, was the most famous among the early bishops and renowned for his miracles, and that he had preached " beyond the sea, that is in Sweden and Norway."

HARALD GRAAFELL. 35

Snorre mentions that Harald, after his conversion, sent, amongst other men, " two jarls to Norway, who were to preach Christianity ; which was also done in Viken, where King Harald's power prevailed." There they baptized many men, but after Harald's death they relapsed. Snorre does not give us the names of these "jarls," but in the Saga of the Jomsvikings they are mentioned under the very uncouth names of Urguthrj0tr and Brimiskjarr. Who these "jarls" were we have no means of knowing. It seems doubtful if they were jarls at all. Some suppose that if jarls were sent, they had priests with them, who were subsequently credited with having been jarls.

There seems no doubt whatever that there was, before Olaf Trygvess0n's day a certain amount of missionary work in Viken which was not altogjether destitute of results, but that this was not a little magnified by the Bremen authorities later on, when the great work of the English bishops and priests, under the two Olafs, was made manifest.

The scholiast of Adam says, speaking of the labours of Olaf Trygvess0n's bishop : " Though before him our missionaries, Liafdag, Poppo, and Odinkar, had preached to that nation. This can we say : our missionaries laboured, and the English entered into their labours."'"' It is only fair to add that Adam himself takes a more liberal view when he says, with reference to the work of the two Churches : " The mother-Church of Hamburg bears no grudge if even foreigners have done good to her children, saying with the apostle : f * Quidam prcedicant 'per invidiam et contentionem, quidam auteni p7vpter honam voluntatem et caritatem. Quid enimf Dum omni modo sive per occasionem sive per veritatem Cliristus annuncietur, et in hoc gaudeo et gaudeho ' " (Phil. I., 16-18).

* Adam, Scholiast, 142. t Adam II., c. oo.

d2

36 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

It would be altogether unfair to fail to recognize the work of the missionaries sent forth by the see of Bremen to evangelize the North, But it seems pretty clear that the result of their efforts in Viken (the only part of Norway where they claim to have laboured) were not of a very lasting character, and that no attempt was made to organize the Church there, on any stable foundation, as St. Olaf did in his work throughout Norway. The claim of Bremen to have founded what might be called a rival Church to that established by the English missionaries cannot, indeed, be seriously considered. The Christianity of Viken seems, openly at least, to have disappeared under the heathen rule of Haakon Jarl ; and, later on, the severing of the connection with the Danish Crown, when the district was incorporated in Olaf Trygvess0n's kingdom, brought Viken, like the rest of Norway, into the organiza- tion founded by the English missionaries ; and the efforts of those sent forth from the see of Bremen were confined, for a considerable time at least, to the two other Scandi- navian kingdoms.

The question seems to be fairly summed up by Keyser in the following words : " The direct and indirect results of the efforts of the German- Bremen Church in Norway were confined to individual conversions, or attempts at conversion, in Viken, whilst they never succeeded in form- ing any special Church community. On the other hand, Christianity over the whole of Norway, both with respect to the permanent conversion of the people and ecclesias- tical organization, proceeded exclusively from England ; in other words, the Norivegian Church tvas wholly and completely a daughter of the English Church.'" *

Harald Blaatand did not long survive his failure to coerce his rebellious vassal Haakon Jarl. His death was the result of a wound, received in a battle fought against * Keyser, Dm Norske Kirkes Historie^ Vol. I., p. 32.

HAEALD GRAAFELL. 37

his son Svein Tjugeskjaeg (the forked beard), who had raised an insurrection against him. On his father's death, Svein was accepted as king of Denmark. The new king did not forsfet the fact that his father had been the overlord of Norway, and at once decided to take steps to bring Haakon to submission to his authority. For this purpose he called to his assistance the famous Joms^nkings.

This very remarkable guild of fighting men lived, when ashore, in their stroDghold at Jom, or Jumne, in Pomerania. They were the heathen prototypes of the military orders of later days, and lived under very strict rules and discip- line. No one over fifty years, or under eighteen, was admitted into their company, and women were strictly excluded from their fortress. Around it there grew up a town, with some considerable trade. The Jomsvikings were very zealous heathen, and made it a distinct con- dition that none should come to the town who intended to preach Christianity. Adam of Bremen, however, bears witness to the fact that with this exception "no more honest or kindly race could be found." The fierce courage and endurance of these Vikinsjs made their assistance much sought for in local warfare.

The chief of the Jomsvikings at this time was Sigvald Jarl, and to him Svein addressed himself. After the usual negotiations Sigvald undertook within three 5'ears to kill or to drive away from Norway, the rebellious Haakon Jarl.

At the close of 978 the Jomsvikings set sail with a powerful fleet, and reached the neighbourhood of Eogaland at the time of the Julefest. Meanwhile Haakon had received tidings of the approach of these formidable foes, but nothing daunted he assembled a powerful fleet and determined to defend his land. The Jomsviking force sailed north, and, doubling the peninsula of Stadt, finally came to battle with Haakon in the bay of Livaag, on the

38 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

island of Hareidland, which lies a little to the south of the present town of Aalesund. There ensued one of the most sanguinary battles ever fought in Norway. Haakon Jarl and his son Erik fought with dauntless courage, but were able to make little impression on the fierce Jomsvikings. As the fight went on it seemed as if victory must rest with the invaders. Then Haakon, in his extremity, adopted a desperate and horrible expedient, the truth of which there seems no reason to doubt, as we know such practices were found among the heathen Norsemen. Following the example of the king of Moab, he sought to propitiate the gods with a human sacrifice. Leaving his men to fight, he went hurriedly ashore, and there offered up his little seven-year-old son Erling as a sacrifice to the gods. Then followed a terrible storm, and the hail beat with violence in the faces of the Vikings, and at last they began to give way. Finally fortune declared itself for Haakon, and the redoubtable Sigvald Jarl was forced to fly with only twenty-five ships.

Haakon was now free from attack from Denmark, and his authority was supreme over the north and west, and it seemed as if he would be able to establish his family as overlords of Norway as Harald Haarfagre had done. But after the great victory at Livaag, when his power was at its height, he became careless and secure, and soon his cruelties and lust displeased even his heathen subjects, and the land was filled with discontent. The forcible seizure of the beautiful wife of Orm Lyrgia, one of the most powerful of the bonder in Tr0ndelagen, brought matters to a crisis, A deliverer of the race of the fair-haired Harald was found in Olaf Trygvesson, the most striking and heroic character presented to us in the history of the introduction of Christianity into Norway.

CHAPTER VL

OLAF TRYGVESS0X, AXD THE TRIUMPH OF THE WHITE CHRIST.

Olaf the Founder of the Church — His Birth and Early Years — His Baptism and Confirmation — Haakon Jarl tries to lure him to Norway — Olaf Sails from Dublin — Lands at Moster — Finds Insurrec- tion against Haakon — Death of Haakon — Olaf chosen King — His Character — Begins the Spread of the Faith in Viken — He Proceeds round the Coast — St. Sunniva and Selje — Olaf founds Nidaros — Fails at Frosta Thing to procure Acceptance of Chris- tianity— He works Craftily — Destroys the Idols at Maeren — Olaf in the North — Olaf's Enemies in Denmark — His Expedition to Yend- land— The Battle of Svolder and Death of Olaf— The Christianizing of Iceland.

Olaf Trygvess0n may well be called the founder of the Norwegian Church, though the work of organization was carried out by the more widely-known Olaf the Saint. He was not, it is true, the first Christian king in the land, for Haakon the Good, and Harald Graafell, were both nominal Christians, and the former, before his lapse, had made a very sincere effort to induce his people to receive the faith. But he lacked what Olaf possessed, the burning zeal of a gi'eat missionary, albeit this zeal was at times evinced in a manner more suo;o:estive of the followers of Mahomet than of Christ — and also (what was of no small importance) the strong argument of fighting men and ships, without which, it must be confessed, Olaf's conversions to Christianity would but seldom have taken place.

The early life of Olaf Trygvesson, as recorded in the Sagas, is full of the strangest adventures, and it is difficult to determine how much of it is legendary. It is unnecessary

40 CHUECH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

for our purpose to follow all the incidents of his early- days as set forth there ; it is enough to confine ourselves to the principal events about which there is not much doubt.

Olaf Trygvess0n was, as his name indicates, the son of Trygve (the grandson of Harald Haarfagre), and one of the smaller kings who ruled in Viken. Trygve was, as we know, murdered by Gunhild's sons about the year 963. On her husband's death his wife, Astrid, fled for her life and took refuge on an island in the Randsfjord, a large lake in Hadeland, accompanied by her faithful foster-father, Torolv Luseskjseg. Soon after she gave birth to a son, who was named Olaf after his grandfather.* For some years Astrid and her child were pursued from place to place by the remorseless malignity of Queen Gunhild, and were often in extreme peril of their lives. Finding it unsafe to remain any longer in Norway, she eventually took refuge with her brother Sigurd, who had been for some time one of the principal men at the court of King Valdemar of Gardarike, a large district of Western Russia, at that time in Scandinavian hands.

Here Olaf remained until about his eighteenth year, when, in accordance with the practice of those times, he started on a Viking cruise with other adventurous spirits. He went to Vendland and Denmark, and soon collected a body of followers who acknowledged him as their chief. England, at this time under the feeble rule of Ethelred H., the Redeless, ofifered a very tempting field for Viking raids, and to that country and to the coasts of Scotland and Ireland Olaf and his followers accordingly went. He, in common with others, received from Ethelred considerable sums of money to abstain from plundering. After several years spent around the coasts of the British Isles, he came

* The heathen Norsemen had a ceremony resembling baptism, in which water was poured upon the child when he was named.

OLAF TRYGyESS0N. 41

to the Scilly Isles, where, we are told, he was baptized by a holy man, probably a hermit, who foretold his future greatness, and instructed him in the Christian faith. He then went back to England, having made peace with Ethelred. This was in 994. Florence of Worcester tells us that this agreement was after some severe fighting, and adds a notice of another important event in Olaf's life. "-<Elfheah (St. Alphege), Bishop of AVinchester, and the noble ealdorman Ethel ward, went to King Olaf by order of King Ethelred, and having given hostages, conducted him with honour to the royal vill of Andover, where the king was residing. The king treated him with great distinction, and, causing him to be confirmed by the bishop, adopted him as his son and made him a royal present. He on his part promised King Ethelred he would never again invade England, and afterwards returning to his fleet, sailed for his own kingdom at the beginning of summer and faithfully kept his promise." He did not, however, return immediately to Norway, for early the next year we find him in Dublin with his brother-in-law, Olaf Kvaran, who ruled over the kingdom the Northmen had founded there.

It was not likely that tidings of such a mighty warrior as Olaf had proved himself to be, would fail to come to the ears of Haakon Jarl, now in the height of his power, and remembering; that he was the great -errand son of Harald Haarfagre, and therefore heir to the crown of Norway, the crafty jarl determined, if possible, to decoy him to hLs native land, and make away with him. For this purpose he accordingly dispatched an emissary. There Klakka, to Dublin in order to see if he could induce him to go to Norway. There was a very plausible man, and answered all Olaf's questions in a manner which gained him his confidence. He insinuated that as Haakon was disliked, the people would willingly welcome a descendant of Haarfagre as a deliverer. After a good many interviews

42 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

he induced Olaf to make the attempt, which the young chief was nothing loth to do, and with five ships he set sail from Dublin accompanied by the traitorous Tbore Klakka.

Sailing north, Olaf paid a passing visit to the Orkneys, where he had the good fortune to surprise the jarl, Sigurd Lodvess0n, who, not expecting such a visitor, had only one ship with him.

What followed was a typical example of the method which Olaf adopted in spreading the faith. He sent a courteous message to the jarl inviting him to come on board his ship. After conversing for some time on various topics and hospitably entertaining the jarl, Olaf explained to his guest that the time had now come for him to be baptized. It was only natural that the jarl should demur at first to this unusual proposal, but Olaf explained with equal clearness that the only alternative was his immediate execution. Under such circumstances Sigurd did not hesitate any longer, and was then and there bap- tized with all his followers, and swearing allegiance to Olaf, gave his son over as a hostage for his good faith.

After this promising beginning, Olaf continued his voyage to Norway. Instead of sailing direct to Trondelagen he made for the west coast, and landed on the eastern side of the small island of Moster, which Hes south of the great island of Stord, and inside the marvellous skjcergaardy or island belt, which almost everywhere protects the coast of Norway from the North Sea. There, close to the place where the present village of Mosterhavn and the ancient stone church stand, Olaf Trygvess0n again set foot upon his native land. We are told that his first act upon landing was to have mass sung in a tent which he erected on the shore, on the spot where the church now stands, thus emphasizing by this ceremony the missionary side of his expedition. He had with him his friend and counsellor Bishop Sigurd, a man of English race, and several priests who were selected

OLAF TEYGYESS0N. 43

for their acquaintance mth tlie language of the Northmen, but all trained up in the ways of Anglo-Saxon Christianity.

From Moster they sailed north to TrOndelagen, where, instead of the power of the jarl Haakon being at its height, as the traitor Klakka had imagined, they found that his violations of the homes of the bonder, had raised the whole district in rebellion against him.

The great-grandson of Harald Haarfagre was welcomed as a deliverer, and accepted as a leader of the insurrection. The end of the jarl was not long in coming. He took refuore with a sinsjle thrall in the house of his mistress Thora, in Guldalen. When Olaf and his men arrived there in search of the jarl, she concealed him under the pigsty, where he was murdered by his ser\''ant, who brought the jarl's head to Olaf, and was rewarded by having his own head immediately cut off.

Thus perished miserably the last great heathen ruler of Norway. We cannot fail to recognize the courage and ability which Haakon manifested, especially in the earlier part of his rule. Nor can we deny to him the credit of a sincere attachment to the faith of the old gods of his fore- fathers. His enforced baptism in Denmark, he at once showed, had been merely a compliance with yb7'ce majeure, and in no way binding on him. Had he restrained his evil passions in his later days and not excited against himself the hostility of his fellow heathen, it is quite possible that the attack of Olaf might not have been successful, and that for a much longer period heathenism might have retained its hold in the North. But his crimes and outrages everywhere raised opposition, and at a gTcat Tiling for all the fylJcey^ of TrOndelagen, held immediately after Haakon's death, Olaf was unanimously chosen as king, and began in 995 the short but remarkable reign which had so much to do with the future history of his native land.

Almost immediately after his being chosen king in

44 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

Tr0ndelageii, Olaf 's authority was accepted throughout the land. One Thing after another welcomed him, and even those provinces in the south-east, which had been subject to the Danish Crown, renounced their allegiance to it, and all the petty kings of Norway accepted Olaf as their over- lord. Thus in one short year the extraordinary "magnetic attractiveness " of Olaf Trygvess0n once more welded Norway into a single nation. Olaf was indeed a born leader of men, and a typical representative of a Norseman in the heroic days. Tall and unmatched in all athletic exercises, his skill in arms was also unequalled, and his dauntless courage won everywhere for him, the devotion of his followers and the respect and fear of his foes. His failings were those of the times in which he lived. There can be no denying that on many occasions he was guilty of permitting very horrible cruelty to be practised on those who had fallen into his hands, and this, when done in the propagation of the faith, showed that, in common with most of the Christian kings of Europe in his day, his missionary spirit was more in consonance with the Old than the New Testament. His dealings with the opposite sex were not always free from blame — indeed, there seems no reason to doubt that he had more than one wife living at the same time — but in this also he only reflected the life of the age in which he lived. He is to be judged by the standard of the tenth century, and not of the twentieth, and, bearing that in mind, we cannot fail to recognize him as a great and noble man, and a most sincere and devoted believer in the faith of Christ. In many ways he was superior to his more famous namesake Olaf the Saint, but he lacked the great gifts of organization which Olaf Haraldss0n possessed, and which left its impress on all the subsequent history of the Church in Norway.

When Olaf had established his authority, he was ready to begin his work of spreading Christianity over the country.

OLAF TRYGyESS0N. 45

He had very wisely kept that iii the background at first, and indeed we may wonder that the people of Tr0ndelagen, who had been always the chief supporters of the old gods, had not extracted conditions from Olaf before electing him as king, for they must have known that he was a Christian, and had Bishop Sigurd and his priests along with him.

Such, however, was the hatred which the crimes of Haakon Jarl had aroused, that they were only too glad to take Olaf as their king, especially when his great popularity and immediate descent from Harald Haarfagre, had in it so much to commend him to them.

Olaf further showed his wisdom in commencing his work of christianizing the people in Viken instead of Trondelagen. This he did for two reasons. First, because Viken was the district where the missionaries sent out from Bremen had worked ; and although the results of their labours were not very great, and what they had accomplished was mostly swept away in the heathen reaction under Haakon Jarl, still there was a certain amount of familiarity with the facts of Christianity still surviving among the people. Secondly, however, there was a stronger reason. In Viken the king was among his own people, and in the district where his father and grandfather had ruled. Olaf rightly estimated that the ties of relationship and family connection, when supported by the glamour of his name and his might in battle, would help him most materially.

In this he was not disappointed. His kinsmen to whom he explained his intention of christianizing Norway were ready to fall in with his plans and were at once baptized.'"' This example on the part of the chiefs was quickly

* Amongst these, according to one account, was Sigurd Syr, the chief or king of Ringerike and stepfather of St. Olaf ; and on a subsequent "vdsit in 998 it is said that the future king and saint, then two years old, was baptized, Olaf Trygvess0n standing as his godfather. On this point, however, see p. GL

46 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

followed by the general body of their adherents, and in a short time all had been baptized, and nominally accepted Christianity.

After this good beginning, Olaf decided to work north- wards along the coast. The people of Agder and Hordaland agreed after some persuasion. At Eogaland the people came to the Thing fully armed, and intending to resist the king ; but the Saga records with great joy, that one after anothei", the three principal men who were chosen as spokesmen for the heathen party, and deputed to reply to the king, all broke down the moment they attempted to speak, and, there being no one to defend heathenism, the result was that all were baptized.

Then Olaf proceeded to meet the Gula Thing, the great assembly of the West of Norway, as the Frosta Thing was for Tr0ndelagen, and the Eidsiva for the central parts. This was usually held at Evenvik, in a fertile valley on the rocky coast, just south of the entrance of the great Sogne Fjord. At that time the valleys and mountain sides were clothed with great forests, where all is now bare and devoid of trees, and only the roots of great pines which are from time to time dug up, attest the different character which the face of the country at that time presented.

When the Tiling was " set," as the expression was, the king was listened to, while he made his customary appeal to the people on behalf of the faith. 01mod the Old was the spokesman of the chiefs, and declared that if the king intended to use force they would resist to the uttermost, but if he wished to be friendly they would on their part keep on good terms with him, and he concluded by suggesting that the king should give his sister Astrid in marriage to Erling Skjalgss0u. To this Olaf agreed, and after some difficulty persuaded Astrid to consent, and the result was finally that the chiefs and people were all baptized.

The next Thing was that held at Dragseid, a spot situated

Fi\iin a Pliotorjraph hij] [T Olaf Willsoii.

PART OF AN ALTAR PIECE FROM AUSTEVOLD CHURCH, NORDHORDLAND.

(loth Century.)

St Suiiniva in the centre, with St. Peter and St. Mary Magdalene. Now in Bergen Museum

IFo face p. i6.

OLAF TRYGVESS0N. 47

on tlie neck of the great peninsula of Stadt, a little north of the Nordfjord. This Tiling was attended by the people of S0ndm0re and the Romsdal, as well as by those from the Firda fylkei% the country between Nordfjord and Sogne Fjord. Here Olaf was apparently more peremptory. He gave them the simple alternative of baptism or fighting, and as he was the strongest the b0nder agreed to be baptized.

Close to Dragseid is the small island of Selje. According to some accounts, it was at this time that the king discovered, or was informed of, the existence of the body of St. Sunniva, who had met her death on this island. As the saint was subsequently recognized as one of the three patrons of Norway, it is well to relate her story here.

According to the "Acta Sanctorum in Selio," it was in the time of the Kaiser Otto I. (936—973) that "Sweet Sunniva the blessed " lived. She was the daughter of an Irish king, and to escape marriage with a heathen prince, she fled from her home and embarked in three ships with a number of men, women, and children, who along with her desired to escape " from the raging storms of an evil world." Without oars or ship-gear they committed themselves to the sea, and the storm and tempest carried them across the North Sea* and finally landed them on the little island of Selje. The people on the mainland saw the strangers, and proceeded to attack them. Sunniva and her companions fled for refuge to a cave on the island, and prayed that death might come to deliver them from their heathen foes. The prayer was heard, and a stenskred (stone avalanche) fell and closed the entrance to the cave and all perished. Later on some merchants sailing past the island, saw a light, and going ashore found a human head, which emitted a

* It is not a little remarkable that an exactly similar instance to this, occurred in our own day, in the case of Elizabeth Mouath, who was blown across the North Sea in a fishing-smack from the Shetlands to the island of Leps0, a little north of Selje.

48 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

fragrant odour. They went to Olaf Trygvess0n and told the tale. The king then with Bishop Sigurd went to the island, and after searching they discovered the body of St. Sunniva perfectly preserved. A church was erected on the island and a cloister established, and from Selje later on, many teachers went out to spread the faith. It seems most probable, on the whole, that the visit of Olaf and Bishop Sigurd to Selje, took place after he had gone to Nidaros, and when his work of christianizing the north was further advanced. Selje was subsequently the seat of a bisho|)ric, which was transferred to Bergen at the end of the eleventh century ; but it remained an important monastic centre down to the sixteenth century, and may well be called the " holy isle " of Norway.

Olaf was now rapidly approaching Trdndelagen, where the first real opposition to his efforts to spread the faith was to be encountered. Sailing with his fleet into the Trondhjem Fjord, the king made at once for Hlade, where the famous heathen temple stood, on the estate of his predecessor Haakon Jarl.

His movements seem to have taken the people by surprise ; the district was the stronghold of heathenism, and the inhabitants, though the most powerful in Norway, were unprepared to defend their gods. Olaf acted with his usual promptitude; landing his men, they plundered and destroyed the temple, and the king carried off in triumph a gold ring which Haakon Jarl had placed on the temple door. This open attack on the religion of the people immediately roused the district. The bdnder at once sent round the hcerpil, or war arrow, and the people flocked to defend their gods. Not finding himself strong enough, Olaf decided to move north to Haalogaland (the district along the coast, north of Namsos) and see what he could do with the inhabitants there ; but they had been warned, and their three chiefs, Haarek of Thjotta, Hjort of Vaage, and Eivind

OLAF TRYGYESS0X. 49

Kinnriva, collected their forces to withstand the king, and finding himself thus foiled Olaf sailed southwards. When he reached the Trondhjem Fjord the b0nder had gone back again to their farms.

Olaf at this time (996 — 7) founded the town of Nidaros, the present city of Trondhjem. He selected as the site, the spot where the Nid flows into the fjord. At this place the river takes a great bend before entering the sea, and the king with much wisdom placed the buildings in such a position, that the river formed on almost two sides a natural moat which would protect them from attack by a land force. Here he built a rough kind of palace, and here also he erected a church, most likely of timber, and dedicated it to St. Clement, bishop of Rome. The king by his founding of the town shewed that he felt the importance of attracting traders to the country, and raising up a force which might be useful against the power of the bdnder.

Olaf now considered he was strong enough to summon a meeting of the Thing at Frosta in the autumn of 996. The b0nder, however, were not to be caught napping. They came to the gathering fully armed, and having as their leader and speaker, the powerful chief who was known as Jernskjsegge (the iron beard) of Upphaug. The Tiling being set, Olaf rose and addressed them, and urged the acceptance of Christianity. At once cries of dissent were heard, and they tried to stop the king, reminding him of the way in which Haakon the Good's similar proposal was met at the same place.

Olaf quickly saw that he was not strong enough to resist the power of the bonder on this occasion, and so he began to speak kindly to them, and skilfully averted an outbreak, promising that he would meet them at Mseren later on, and join in the great hlot, or sacrificial feast, held there in the January following. After this the Thing broke up, and Olaf and his men went back to Hlade, on the outskirts

C.S.N. E

50 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

of his newly-founded town of Nidaros, and the b0nder returned to their farms.

The king, however, had no idea of abandoning his crusade

against heathenism, but he went to work craftily. When

the time approached for the hlot at Maeren, he invited to a

feast all the principal men of the districts close to Nidaros,

and they responded to the invitation, apparently without

suspicion. Olaf had taken the precaution of having a

number of ships and picked men ready close at hand. The

chiefs were received with great cordiality by the king, and,

as was customary, all drank heavily at the feast. Next

morning the king was up early and had Mass said, and then

brougjht his men ashore. When the chiefs had awakened

after their night's carouse, Olaf called them to a meeting.

Then the humour of the king was seen. With a delightful

appearance of sincerity he gravely explained to them that

at the Frosta Thing they had insisted he should follow the

example of Haakon and sacrifice to the gods ; he was

therefore resolved that the forthcoming festival should be

one of no ordinary grandeur and solemnity. Hitherto they

had been accustomed to offer a miserable thrall as a sacrifice

to the gods, but he intended to do better than that.

Then to the horror of his guests he mentioned the names of

six of the principal men before him, and announced his

intention to off'er them up as a sacrifice. We can well

imagine the terror of the chiefs when they found themselves

in the king's power. They at once begged for mercy, and

Olaf readily promised it on condition, that they were all

then and there baptized, and further that they would give

hostages for their future good behaviour. These terms they

willingly accepted, and they were sent away. The opposition

of the inner Trondhj em district was thus practically broken.

In January, 997, came the great gathering at Maeren,

where Olaf had promised to take part in the sacrifices.

Both sides came fully armed. The Thing assembled, and

OLAF TRYaYESS0X. 51

the people demanded that the king should keep his promise. Olaf then proceeded with Jernskjsegge and others to the hov or temple ; all who entered were unarmed, but the king placed outside a body of men fully armed to be ready for emergencies. In his hand Olaf bore a golden staff; when they came to the image of Thor, the king with this staff struck down the idol. At once his men, taking this as a signal, overturned the other idols. In the confusion which arose, Jernskjsegge sought to escape, but when he came out of the temple he was killed by the king's men. Then Olaf came out and addressed the excited multitude, giving them the usual alternative baptism or immediate battle. The heathen, seeing their leader slain and having no hope of success, chose baptism, and they were, as usual, at once baptized and sent to their homes. After this there seems to have been no open resistance in Tr0ndelagen to Olaf s efforts on behalf of Christianity.

In order to conciliate the bdnder it was arranged that the king should marry Jernskjaegge's daughter Gudrun, but as she attempted to assassinate him on the evening of the marriage, she was put away. Then, it seems, Olaf sought the hand of the proud and ambitious Sigrid, the widow of Erik of Sweden. He did his wooing by deputy, and sent her as a gift the gold ring he had taken from Haakon Jarl's hov at Hlade. The queen accepted the offering ; but on dis- covering that the ring was not pure gold, but only copper gilt, she was very angry. A meeting with Olaf was, how- ever, arranged to be held at Konghelle. The queen found that the Norwegian monarch expected that she would, as a preliminary step, be baptized, but to this she indignantly declined to submit. Olaf was very angry, and exclaimed, " Why should I marry a heathen hound like you ? " and so far forgot himself as to strike her on the face with his glove. ** This will be your bane," said the furious queen as they parted. Her words came true, as we shall see. Soon after

£2

.F..JB'

^jfif

6S

CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

she married Svein Tjugeskja^g, the king of Demnai who was quite ready to dispute Olafa possession of Nrway, from whence his jarl had been driven by the com g of Olaf ill 995.

llaviut,' upturned heathenism in Trondelagen, < f In 998 and 999 turned his attention again to llaal where the chiefs ha<l resisted his first attempt By a stratagem he got Haarek of Thjotta into his power a ' 1 1 him baptized, and on his promising to be faithful • a sent him back to the north. Ihuirek repaid the k l: v capturing Eivind Kinnriva and sending him to h arcs. The king's threats were of no avail against thl- i heathen, and the consequence waa he was put to dt horrible cruelty. Now there were but two heathen ( ; Kaud of Godo, and Hjort, and the king went nonl. them ; tliey were soon defeated. Hjort was, ai r an exciting chase, shot by the king himself when he ha • brought to bay by Olaf's famous dog Vige, and Rai: ^j was taken prisoner, and followed the example of viud, was barbarously put to death. So ended the open 1 Uhen resistance in the north. Before this expedition Oit had spent the winter in Viken, and seems to have a' 1

to christianize the Oplands, the countr}' around ul . ..a of the Miosen lake, but did not do much there, and ti tmal uprooting of heathenism in that part was the v.rk of

St. Olaf.

In the space of al>out four years Norway, thro- *^ e vigorous meiisures of King Olaf, had thus practical!) e

Christian. The methods adopted were not such a'-'.vould commend themselves to us at the present day, an there cAn be no doubt that as the work went on, and tli f

of the king increased, he became much more cruel -^

those who resisted him. One could wish that for t .^^e of Olafs name the accounts of the cruelties whic were perpetrated in Haalogaland were not true; but ther seems

r^»

Iff -. ■ c-:i-;

711

n&K« c^

>•*

K> m

OLAF TRYGVESSON'.

58

DO re m to doubt them for a moment, and the writers of

1^ rT],,r!.d in them as marks of the king's power

Ml tii. ;r point of view, as acceptable to God.

lort and brilliant reign of Olaf Tryg^'csson was now

to a close. We have seen how the rejected Queen

id vowed vt ' ' on the kinir, and almost im-

V after the lii. i.-iit narrated aljovo, had married

ein of Denmark. Just at that time Olaf had

Thyra, the sister of King Svein, who had been

. King Burislaf of Vendland, but had separated from

^jTo ill Norway. Thin marriage much

...... ..:. i his union with Sigrid made another

•r Olaf in the Danish court.

1 Thyra'fl insLstancc on her husl>and making an ex-

• \* .1 t«) recover s^nne of her estates, waa

_ l.iu. ■ "-led by the king ; but at last he gave

I in the r of the year 1000 he set out with

a iH) rful fleet, and, without encountering opposition, ':- V.-. .^ ;■ .-.-rty.

. uj.o for which Svein and Sigrid were

,, ai.i \v : i h Erik Jarl (son of Haakon) and his Svein hailed h.-^ an opportunity for avenging their death. When Olaf was retuniiug home— by the oUH advice of Sigvald the Jomsviking. who was i>y King Svein — he was induced to allow his fleet r, and was attacked, when he had only eleven ships,

by th fleet of the Danish king and Enk Jarl.

" - of the enemy were lying in wait l>e.*sidc the

1'' of Svolder, near liiigen, and when the advance

' ' it 3 fleet had passed out of sight, emerged from ••Iter and attacked the king and the ten aliips which th him. A fierce fight ensued. Olaf fought with intless courage which had ever sustained him, but is were overwhelming. Nearly all his men were

slain he king himself waa wounded, and, seeing that all

52 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

she married Svein Tjugeskjaeg, the king of Denmark, who was quite ready to dispute Olafs possession of Norway, from whence his jarl had been driven by the coming of Olaf in 995.

Having upturned heathenism in Trdndelagen, Olaf in 998 and 999 turned his attention again to Haalogaland, where the chiefs had resisted his first attempt. By a stratagem he got Haarek of Thjotta into his power and had him baptized, and on his promising to be faithful to him sent him back to the north. Haarek repaid the king by capturing Eivind Kinnriva and sending him to Nidaros. The kinsf's threats were of no avail against this brave heathen, and the consequence was he was put to death with horrible cruelty. Now there were but two heathen chiefs left, Raud of God0, and Hjort, and the king went north against them; they were soon defeated. Hjort was, after an exciting chase, shot by the king himself when he had been brought to bay by Olafs famous dog Vige, and Raud, who was taken prisoner, and followed the example of Eivind, was barbarously put to death. So ended the open heathen resistance in the north. Before this expedition Olaf had spent the winter in Yiken, and seems to have attempted to christianize the Oplands, the country around and north of the Micisen lake, but did not do much there, and the final uprooting of heathenism in that part was the work of St. Olaf.

In the space of about four years Norway, through the vigorous measures of King Olaf, had thus practically become Christian. The methods adopted were not such as would commend themselves to us at the present day, and there can be no doubt that as the work went on, and the power of the king increased, he became much more cruel towards those who resisted him. One could wish that for the sake of Olafs name the accounts of the cruelties which were perpetrated in Haalogaland were not true ; but there seems

OLAF TRYGYESS0X. 53

no reason to doubt them for a moment, and the writers of the Sagas gloried in them as marks of the king's power and, from their point of view, as acceptable to God.

The short and brilliant reign of Olaf Trygvessdn was now drawing to a close. We have seen how the rejected Queen Sigrid had vowed vengeance on the king, and almost im- mediately after the incident narrated above, had married King Svein of Denmark. Just at that time Olaf had married Thyra, the sister of King SveiD, who had been wife of King Burislaf of Vendland, but had separated from him and taken refuge in Norway. This marriage much incensed Svein, and his union with Sigrid made another enemy for Olaf in the Danish court.

Queen Thyra's insistance on her husband making an ex- pedition to Vendland to recover some of her estates, was for a long time disregarded by the king ; but at last he gave way, and in the summer of the year 1000 he set out with a powerful fleet, and, without encountering opposition, secured his wife's property.

This was the chance for which Svein and Siojrid were watching, and which Erik Jarl (son of Haakon) and his brother Svein hailed as an opportunity for avenging their father's death. When Olaf was returning home — by the treacherous advice of Sigvald the Jomsviking, who was bribed by King Svein — he was induced to allow his fleet to scatter, and was attacked, when he had only eleven ships, by the fleet of the Danish king and Erik Jarl.

The ships of the enemy were lying in wait beside the little island of Svolder, near Riigen, and when the advance part of Olaf s fleet had passed out of sight, emerged from their shelter and attacked the king and the ten ships which were with him. A. fierce fight ensued. Olaf fought with that dauntless courage which had ever sustained him, but the odds were overwhelming. Nearly all his men were slain, the king himself was wounded, and, seeing that all

54 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

was lost and he was in danger of being taken prisoner, he with his devoted friend Kolbj0rn Stallare, sprang overboard, one from each side of the ship. Kolbj0rn held his shield under him and was picked up at once by Erik's men, who mistook him for the king, but Olaf, who held his shield over his head, disappeared and was seen no more. There can be no manner of doubt that the king was drowned ; but his body was never recovered, and tradition had it that he escaped and went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and died in extreme old age in a Syrian monastery.

Thus ended the life of this remarkable man, who in such a short space had ejffected so great a change in the history of his native land. Of his character and methods we have already spoken, and of the results which followed from his missionary efforts we shall speak further on, when we come to the reign of his famous namesake. His death was a fitting close to his strange and eventful life. He passed away as the Norsemen of old thought it noblest to do, in the midst of the fight. Like Frederick Barbarossa, like other great warriors and kings, famous in history or legend, the mystery of his ending threw a glamour of romance about his name ; and often in after days it may have been that many a Norseman looked for an hour when the hero of the race of the fair-haired Harald would come back again, and lead them to victory against the enemies of the " White Christ " and of the land which they loved so well.

Before closing this chapter it is necessary to allude to the work of spreading Christianity in Iceland, which was mostly accomplished under the king's direction ; for though Iceland was then an independent State, it was in closest connection with Norway, from whence its earliest Norse inhabitants had come in the reign of Harald Haarftigre.

The first Christians in Iceland were the Irish monks who had sought refuge there about the eighth century, at

OLAF TRYaYESS0N. 55

a time when Ireland was the great missionary church of the West, and had sent its missionaries to spread the faith all over the Continent, as well as in Scotland and the north of England. St. Gall, labouring in Switzerland, and St. Columbanus at Bobbio, in the north of Italy, had carried the light of the Gospel among the barbarian races who had established themselves in the land of the fallen Western Empire.

The Irish hermits found in Iceland a quiet resting-place in dark and troublous times, and when the freedom-loving Northmen, who declined to submit to the rule of Harald Haarfagre, came to Iceland they found before them some of these pious men, who had braved the perils of the unknown seas and settled there.

These Northmen were of course heathen, and carried with them the worship of their forefathers, and soon erected their temples to Odin and Thor, and drove the hermits to seek some other retreat.

The first eflforts to evangelize the new settlers were made, some fifteen years before the accession of Olaf Trygvess0n, by an Icelander named Thorvald Kodranss0n, who had been a Viking, but who had come under the influence of Bishop Frederick of Saxony, who baptized him. This man induced the bishop to accompany him to Iceland in 981, and together they did a good deal of work in the part of the country lying in the east and north. At first there does not seem to have been much opposition, but when they tried to induce the Altlimg to accept the faith, the heathen chiefs, as in the Things of Norway, were at once violent in their opposition. The controversy at one gathering became so acute that Thorvald in rage slew two of his opponents, and was then driven from the country.

No further attempt seems to have been made until after Olaf had been accepted as king in Norway, when he sent one of his men, an Icelander, named Stefner Thorgilss0n,

CHURCH AND OTATE N NORWAY.

to resume the work. He conn south and west ; hut his zeal ar- was haiiishcd from the land, an Kinpr Olaf. Meanwhile the kin baptized any Icelanders whom h sent them hack pledged to ad\ own country.

Olaf now sent a missionary of first came to Norway he ha<l w with Bishop Sigunl, a man nan 8axon priest, said to l>o the son ■ was first acquainted v-*' m' *- - followed his adventui man and a very eloquent .'-, temper, and acted in many wayp to his calling. After 995 he w.i church which had l)ecn en ' ■ ^ Hordaland, and there « i "apostolic blows and knocks," , more as a Viking than a Clir

Tidings of his mis. ' him 4o Nidaros and Li :......

hrand was much alarmed, an-i to atone for his evil deeds by \ and dangerous work. Thereii ■ ' Iceland. When he got r» considerable effect ; but 'I was also called, soon broke oi

'li-^ labours in the

hen, and he

• Norway to

'iit' usual way,

th in Norway, and

ristianity in their

.r,fT,..i. Vird. When he

-T the priests

:, who was a

n. This man

!ig days, and

i i :: was a clever

f a most violent

r \ t^ry contrary

in charge of the

' ^ -f Moster, in

- with many

rns to have lived

f". and he sent for f wr.v^|4fy Teod-

' o allow him

me difficult

Tfd him at once to

and zeal had

_'' rand, as he

.1 killed two

of his antagonists, and in 998—9 itumed to Norway to the king, i^ gpi^^, ^^^^-^^ unwortl- m-. Phristianity

continued to make progress in ( the influence

ottwoofthechiefs,GissurtheWhi; ^ Skjseggess0n,

tl ^ T/^^^ Christians, was so ^eat that in the year . , ^/^"'^uigr accepted Christiaity as the religion of

f *

•

^^ tSXL

»^*».h,^^

TRYOVESSGN.

57

• m

4«4C-

The inhnlr Sigmund V»r<

It was u\h> land and Gre»'i America kno- vine grew v. thought to ha first discovered l»y first explorer ■ to Gnenl.iij'! wind. Afi«r wa.s finally .ii of North Ani' : Eriksson, not ' regarded a^ t'

In thi^ *"■ Adam of Br i centuf)', mm! (or repon) . grow there \. abounds then- "non faliul" Danorum " ( ' -

• The nun. Qndoul>te<llv or cattle, i ^

I T-' •! -l-^,* under their chief

. -ia. ...1 Liirij<tianity,

^0 that the Northmen from Ice-

rnpted to colonize the part of North

as Vinland, no called because the

Thia region, * ' ' rally

of the New L ~ . was

Ksflon, son of Elrik the Red (the

nd), who, returning frum Norway

of his course by a gale of

' •' • ••* a Nors** colony, it

ige of the continent

ys survived in Iceland, and Leif

18, has the right to be

■* of America,

p sting to note that

the second half of the eleventh

id. H of it as ** an island

is cal land because vines

" '"" I wine, and fruit

cd " ; then he adds,

> sed certA comperiraus rutione

r V.t. Pont., Bk. IV.. c 38).

ts th«

ODc, and

i.i :p — ixuii'l of sheep Ituiidi " ifl a plconaun.

*

/

^.-'

.— ":

66 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

to resume the work. He commenced his labours in the south and west ; but his zeal aroused the heathen, and he was banished from the land, and returned to Norway to King Olaf. Meanwhile the king had, in the usual way, baptized any Icelanders whom he met with in Norway, and sent them back pledged to advance Christianity in their own country.

Olaf now sent a missionary of another kind. When he first came to Norway he had with him, among the priests with Bishop Sigurd, a man named Teodbrand, who was a Saxon priest, said to be the son of a nobleman. This man was fii'st acquainted with Olaf in his early Viking days, and followed his adventurous life before 994. He was a clever man and a very eloquent speaker, but of a most violent temper, and acted in many ways in a manner very contrary to his calling. After 995 he was placed in charge of the church which had been erected on the island of Moster, in Hordaland, and there enforced his doctrines with many "apostolic blows and knocks," and seems to have lived more as a Viking than a Christian priest.

Tidings of his misconduct came to Olaf, and he sent for him to Nidaros and lectured him with great severity. Teod- brand was much alarmed, and asked the king to allow him to atone for his evil deeds by undertaking some difficult and dangerous work. Thereupon Olaf ordered him at once to Iceland. When he got there his eloquence and zeal had considerable effect ; but Teodbrand, or Thangbrand, as he was also called, soon broke out again and killed two of his antagonists, and in 998 — 9 returned to Norway to the king. In spite of this unworthy missionary, Christianity continued to make progress in Iceland, and the influence of two of the chiefs, Gissur the White and Hjalte SkJ9eggess0n, who had become Christians, was so great that in the year 1000 the Althing accepted Christianity as the religion of the island.

OLAF TRYGVESS0N. 57

The inhabitants of the Fseroe Islands,* under their chief Sigmund Bretess0n, also embraced Christianity.

It was about the year 1000 that the Northmen from Ice- land and Greenland, attempted to colonize the part of North America known to them as Vinland, so called because the vine grew wild there. This region, which is generally thought to have been one of the New Eng-land States, was first discovered by Leif Erikss0n, son of Erik the Ked (the first explorer of Greenland), who, returning from Norway to Greenland, was driven out of his course by a gale of wind. After a precarious existence as a Norse colony, it was finally abandoned, but the knowledge of the continent of North America always survived in Iceland, and Leif Erikss0n, not Christopher Columbus, has the right to be regarded as the undoubted Discoverer of America.

In this connection, it is most interesting to note that Adam of Bremen, in the second half of the eleventh century, mentions Vinland. He speaks of it as " an island (or region) . . . which is called Vinland because vines grow there wild, producing excellent wine, and fruit abounds there which has not been planted " ; then he adds, "non fabulosa opinione sed certa comperimus ratione Danorum" (Gesta Hamm. Eccles. Pont., Bk. IV., c. 38).

* The name here given is the conventional English one, and undoubtedly incorrect. It should be FcBr<i>erne F8er0 = island of sheep or cattle. 0erne = the islands. " Faeroe Islands " is a pleonasm.

CHAPTER VII.

ST. OLAF, KING AND MARTYK.

The Interregnum after Svolder — Olaf's Birth and Early Days — His Coming to England — Goes to Normandy — Baptized at Rouen — Olaf Sails for Norway to Claim the Throne — Accepted in Ringerike — First Partial Success — The Crowning Victory of Nesje — Olaf as King of Norway — His Character and Personal Appearance — The State of the Country as to Christianity — Olaf's two Great Aims — His Fellow-helpers — Olaf as an Ecclesiastical Law-giver — The Scope of Olaf's Kristenret — The Systematic Work throughout Norway — Olaf's Appeal to Bremen — Knut the Great claims Norway — Popular Discontent against Olaf — Knut wins Norway without a Sword-stroke — Olaf's Flight to Sweden and Gardarike — He Returns to Sweden, and again Enters Norway — The Journey to V^erdalen — The King's Forces and the Rebels — The Rebel Leaders — The Court Bishop Sigurd — The Battle of Stiklestad and the Martyrdom — The Difficulty as to the Exact Date — The King's Body brought to Nidaros and Buried in the Sand.

The events of the fifteen years which elapsed between the battle of Svolder and the coming of Olaf Haraldss0n to claim the inheritance of the race of Harald Haarfagre, need not, from a purely ecclesiastical point of view, detain us long.

After the death of Olaf Trygvess0n, Norway reverted to a position similar to that of the days of Haakon Jarl. It ceased to be a kingdom, and became a vassal State of Denmark. The allies who compassed the death of Olaf divided the spoil. Erik Jarl got the lion's share, and practically held all the west of Norway from Haalogaland to Lindesnaes. Olaf of Sweden (the son of Queen Sigrid), who had helped at Svolder, received the country east and south of the present city of Christiania, called Ranrike,

ST. OLAF, KING AND MARTYR. 59

and also four fylker in the north. Svein of Denmark obtained Viken and Agder. Svein, Erik Jarl's brother, held the parts of the country allotted to the kings of Sweden and Denmark, and so the two brothers between them ruled the whole of Norway.

The two jarls were (unlike their father) Christians, and they seemed to have ruled well in their several districts ; but they made no efforts to spread Christianity, and in their time every man did that which was right in his own eyes in all matters of religion. They had only one rival in the land, and that was Erling SkjalgssOn, who had married Astrid, sister of King Olaf, and resided at Sole, in Jaederen, a few miles from the present city of Stavanger. His authority extended over a large part of the surrounding country, and the brothers did not deem it prudent to attack him.

Erik Jarl had as his great supporter in the north, Einar Thamberskj elver, a noted archer, who had fought alongside King Olaf at Svolder, but had accepted the alliance offered him by Erik, and the compact was cemented by his marriage with Bergliot, the sister of the jarl.

After the death of Svein in 1013 Knut the Great called on his vassal Erik for aid in his invasion of England, and to this call he responded, leaving his son Haakon in his place, with his uncle Einar as his guardian.

Such was briefly the state of affairs when Olaf Haraldss0n made his appearance to claim his kingdom. We must now, however, retrace our steps and consider the early life of the future saint of Norway.

Harald Grenske, the father of Olaf, was one of the petty kings who ruled in Yestfold, the country to the west of the Christiania Fjord. He was grandson of Bjorn Farmand, and therefore great-grandson of the mighty Haarfagre. He received the name of Grenske from having been brought up in the district called GrOnland (now part of the

60 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

Telemark), where, in his early days, he had as his foster- sister the future far-famed Queen Sigrid. Harald married Aasta Gudbrandsdatter, a wise and prudent woman; but she does not seem to have had much influence over her rather worthless husband. When Queen Sigrid was first left a widow, Harald Grenske, although his wife was living, at once became a suitor for her hand. After first receiving his advances favourably, the haughty queen had the house in which Harald was staying burned down one night, and he perished in the flames, Sigrid remarking that she did not •want any of these small kings !

Very soon after her faithless husband's death, Aasta gave birth to Olaf, who thus, like his namesake, the son of Trygve, was born after his father's violent death. Some little time after this Aasta married Sigurd Syr, petty king of Piingerike, and another great-grandson of Harald Haarfagre.

In his stepfather's home Olaf grew up a strong and active lad. At the early age of twelve years he, as was then customary, started on a Viking cruise (1007). In this, his first voyage, which was to the Baltic, he had as his instructor in the art of war his foster-father Eane. After a time the scene of their exploits was changed to England, then a promising field for the Northmen, who were eager for plunder. In 1009 Olaf seems to have been in England with Thorkel the Tall, and to have joined in the various attacks which were made on that unfortunate country durincc the reio^n of Ethelred II.

In 1012, however, we find him and his friend fighting on the side of Ethelred in the defence of London against the attack of Svein, and it was on that occasion that " London bridge was broken down," in accordance with the stratagem of Olaf, who, protecting his ships from the Danes who manned the bridge, destroyed the piles which supported it and finally broke it in two. Notwithstanding this, the

ST. OLAF, KING AND MAJRTYR. 61

cause of Svein at last triumphed; Ethelred was obliged to fly to Normandy, and Olaf, faithful to his ally, followed him to that country, and was soon at home among the Norwegian settlers there. Svein died in 1014, and Ethelred was recalled to England.

It would seem most probable that it was during his stay in Normandy that Olaf was baptized. It is true that Snorre states that the future saint had received that sacra- ment when a child of " three winters old," during the visit paid by Olaf Trygvess0n to Ringerike about the year 997, when a number of people in that part of the country were baptized. Snorre's account seems reasonable enouo-h at first sight, but we have, however, evidence to the contrary, which renders it more probable that his baptism was deferred until his visit to Noimandy. That he was a believer in the Christian faith when he came to England is most probable, but that he had not yet been baptized seems equally clear.

William of Jumieges, in his Chronicle, says : " The Duke [Richard] . . . called to his aid two kings, with an army of Pagans — Olaf, King of the Norwegians, and Lacman, King of the Swedes." Then he mentions their going to Rouen, " where the Duke Richard welcomed them royally. . . . Then King Olaf, being attracted by the Christian religion, as were also some of his followers ; and on the exhortation of Robert Archbishop [of Rouen], was converted to the faith of Christ, was washed in baptism and anointed with holy oil by the archbishop, and, full of joy at the grace he had received, returned straightway to his own kingdom."

In the " Passio et Miracula Beati Olaui," * the work of the great Archbishop Eystein, the same statement meets us : " He, when he had learned the truth of the Gospel in England, confessed the faith with all his heart, and with

* Cap. I.

62 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

zealous devotion of mind hastened to seek the grace of baptism in the city of Rouen. Then, being purified by the font of Salvation, he was immediately changed to another man ; and, as the apostle says, he was buried with Christ by baptism into Death. ... He despised every sort of vain pleasure, and the glory of an earthly kingdom became as dross in comparison with the sweetness of the heavenly one. Although he held a kingly position, he was poor in spirit."

In " Breviarium Nidrosiense," these words just quoted formed the first lection which was used in the service appointed for July 28th, the vigil of St. Olaf. It seems clear, therefore, that the Norwegian Church believed that Olaf was baptized during this visit to Normandy.

His baptism, and confirmation which must have immedi- ately followed it, undoubtedly served to deepen the religious feelings of Olaf, and filled him with the desire to carry on and complete the work which his great kinsman and name- sake had begun in his native land ; but just at the moment there seemed no immediate prospect of a successful attempt to claim the throne of Norway, and so he waited.

According to one account, he meditated passing some time on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but was warned in a dream that he should desist and, instead of this, assert his claim to the inheritance of his fathers.

Olaf was a man of very great discretion, and was not ready to endanger his chances of success by any premature move. He felt sure, from what he knew of the position of affairs both in Denmark and England, that the time would not be long before he would have a chance of asserting his claims. And in this he was not wrong.

The opportunity for which Olaf was waiting soon came. Knut the Great, who had succeeded his father Svein, summoned Erik Jarl to aid him in his invasion of England, and Olaf felt that this was the time to attempt to take

ST. OLAF, KING AXD MARTYE. 63

possession of the kingdom of his great ancestor Harald Haarfagre. He returned to England, and sailed along the coast to Northumbria, plundering as he went. Finally he set sail with two large ships and two hundred and sixty picked men. After a stormy passage they came safely to the island of Selje without meeting any opposition. On landing, Olaf stumbled and fell on one knee. " I have fallen," he cried to his followers. " You have not fallen, 0 King," said his foster-father Rane ; " you have only taken a firm hold of the land." " So be it if God wills," said Olaf.

As a Heaven-sent leader, Olaf proved to be singularly fortunate at the outset. He was proceeding south from Selje, and when a little north of the Sogne Fjord he had the good luck to capture the young jarl Haakon Eriksson, who was not expecting the invader in that part of the country. Instead of putting the young man to death, as some advised, Olaf set him free, having first obliged him to swear that he would never oppose his claims on Norway. This generous treatment was, for the time at least, rewarded, and the young jarl went at once to his uncle. King Knut. How far he kept the promise we shall see later on.

After this encouraging beginning, Olaf continued his journey round the coast until he came to Viken, where he was received with open arms by his amiable stepfather, Sigurd Syr. This petty king at once called a Thing, and at it Olaf was chosen as king without any opposition. He was still, however, very far from the overlordship of Norway.

Leaving Viken with a small but resolute body of men, he went north in the winter, and crossing over the Dovre Fjeld, appeared suddenly at Nidaros, to the astonishment of the Jarl Svein, who, after a narrow escape of being taken prisoner, fled to the south. The people of Trdndelagen, however, were deeply attached to the family of the jarl of

64 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

Hlade, and, recovering from their first surprise, attacked Olaf at Nidaros and forced him to return again to Viken. He then saw that if he was to be ultimately successful, he must set to work in a more systematic manner.

Seeing how essential it was to have the supremacy at sea, he spent the winter of 1015 — 16 in getting together a fleet and equipping it with a body of trained men. His opponent Jarl Svein did the same thing in the north, and, when the spring was come, sailed south to attack his darinsf invader.

The two fleets encountered each other at Nesjar, or Nesje, at the entrance of the Langesund, near the present town of FrederiksvcTern. There, on Palm Sunday, April 3rd, 1016, a decisive battle was fought and the jarl, being signally defeated, fled to Sweden, intending to fit out a fresh fleet, but died soon after his arrival in that country.

The victory at Nesje secured Norway to Olaf. Knut was then too busy with the conquest of England to be able to send men to support his vassal's cause in Norway, and in a very short time Thing after Thirig acknowledged Olaf's authority, and he became undisputed monarch of the whole land ; and once more, as in the days of Olaf Trygvess0n, Norway was ruled by the firm hand of one man.

It was not to be expected that Olaf, king of Sweden, would at once acquiesce in this new state of affairs. He sent his men to collect taxes in those provinces which Jarl Svein had held under him. This Olaf Haraldss0n promptly resented, and the unfortunate officials were either killed or driven away. Matters appeared for a time to be in a very critical state ; but the people of neither nation wished for war, and at a great Thing held at Upsala matters were for a time peaceably arranged.

To strengthen the defences of Norway on the side of Sweden, Olaf founded the town of Borg (or Sarpsborg, as it is

ST. OLAF, KIXG Am) MARTYR. 65

now called), at the mouth of the Glommen, near the Swedish frontier, and there he built a church. Thus, political diffi- culties being for the time settled, Olaf was able to devote himself to the internal affairs of his country, and to the com- pletion of the work which Olaf TrygvessOn had begun, in the establishment, on a firm basis, of Christianity in Norway.

Olaf Haraldsson was now in his twenty-second year — a very youthful monarch, it is true, but one of very varied experience. He had begun his active life and shared in war at the very early age of twelve years, so that when he became king he had a wider knowledge of the world and its ways, than that which fell to the lot of most of his contemporaries in the North.

In person. King Olaf was not of the commanding stature of most of the Norsemen. He was of middle height, but very strongly built, and inclined to stoutness, which led his enemies to bestow on him the nickname of Olaf Digre. Like most of the chiefs of his time, he was very skilful in the use of weapons. His hair was auburn in colour, inclin- ing to red, and indeed the description of David answers very much to that of Olaf — " he was ruddy and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look upon." His eyes (all the writers of the Sagas remark) were very piercing, and when he was angry his men dared not look him in the face.* In his inflexible will and determination to carry out whatever he had undertaken he resembled his

* Sigvat the Skald thus describes the effect of Olaf 's glance on his rebellious subjects, in his last fight at Stiklestad : —

" I think I saw them shrink with fear : Who would not shrink from foeman's spear, When Olaf's lion-eye was cast On them, and called up all the past ?

" Clear as the serpent's eye his look, No Trondhjem man could stand but shook Beneath its glance, and skulked away Knowing his king, and cursed the day."

(Laing's Translation of the fleimskringla.) C.S.N. F

66 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

great ancestor Haarfagre. Very generous to his friends, and often to his enemies when they fell into his power, he was nevertheless sometimes very cruel to those who resisted his will, especially where Christianity was con- cerned. Of the depth and sincerity of his belief in the Christian faith, his life and death gave proof, and although a vast amount of legend has gathered round the " Royal Saint " of Norway, we can, notwithstanding, very easily form an accurate estimate of the character of the man.

It is well here to consider what was the state of the country with respect to Christianity when Olaf was ready to commence his work.

We have seen the way in which Olaf Trygvess0n went through the length and breadth of the land, giving the people the alternative of baptism or the sword, and that after a very few years the great majority of his subjects had been baptized. It is perfectly clear that in cases of enforced baptism, it would have exercised no influence whatever on the lives of those who had received it, except in the comparatively few districts where the king had had churches built and priests (more spiritually-minded, let us hope, than Thangbrand) placed to teach the people the faith.

At first sight, it seems to us almost incredible that in such a short space of time a large body of heathen should have submitted, even nominally, to receive Christianity, although backed up by force of arms. There is, however, one important consideration which must not be overlooked, and to which we have before alluded.* There was no regular heathen priesthood to organize the opposition to the efforts of the king. The priestly offices at the hlots were performed by the head of the family, or the chief of the district. This absence of a priestly caste was an immense help in the rapid spread of Christianity. When, therefore, the chief, or some of the principal b0nder of the * Chap, i., p. G.

ST. OLAF, KING AND MARTYR. 67

fylhe had been baptized, most of their people followed like a flock of sheep. If the chief allowed the hov to be demolished there was no other place in which the worship of the gods could take place.

We may wonder why it was that Olaf Trygvess0n and Olaf the Saint, who had at any rate some fair instruction in the Christian faith, and were accompanied in their journeys and work by such good men as Bishops Sigurd and Grim- kell, should have acted in a way which might naturally seem to us now, to actually profane the sacrament of holy baptism. We must, however, remember that in acting in this way they were only following exactly, the precedent set before them by the restorer of the Western Empire, Karl the Great, in his dealings with the Saxons and other heathen nations of northern Europe.

In those days, and in the minds of the two Olafs and their teachers, holy baptism, even when thus administered, was regarded as (to quote the words of St. Paul) "a trans- lation from the kingdom of darkness." They felt that if it could be accomplished, either by fair means or fou], the power of Thor and Odin — a power they did not attempt to despise — was at once broken ; and so they believed with all sincerity, that no matter how it was brought about, whether by persuasion or torture, if the people could be baptized the battle was practically won.

In a sense this was true, because those who had been baptized had at any rate their faith shaken in the power of the gods their fathers worshipped. Might was the thing which appealed most strongly to the heathen Norsemen, and when they saw that their gods were not able to give them the victory over their Christian antagonists, they were ready to fall in with the creed of Harald Haarfagre, and to believe in the God that was the strongest.

Then, again, with many of the heathen, who were of a very superstitious mind, they felt that their baptism, whether

f2

68 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

it was done willingly or by yielding to force, was an act which cut them off entirely from the old gods, and made a return to the former state of things an impossibility. It was a Rubicon, which when once crossed, retreat was out of the question. There were, it is true, heathen of a sterner mould, like Haakon Jarl, who almost immediately after his baptism, put his priests ashore and at once proceeded to sacrifice to the gods ; but with the majority it was not so, and their baptism left the ground cleared, as it were, for the reception of real Christianity.

The wholesale destruction of temples and idols by Olaf Trygvess0n (and before his time, by Erik's sons, for the purpose of plunder) was an object-lesson for the Northmen of precisely the same kind as that afforded by Gideon to the people of Orphra* in connection with the worship of Baal. If Thor and Odin were the powerful gods they had beheved them to be, how was it they did not resent the destruction of the temples and of their images ? It was clear " the White Christ " was the strongest, and therefore they would be safe to follow Him. The early Christian teachers did not attempt to deny altogether the existence of the old gods, but they taught the people they were devils and powers of evil, which Christ came to cast down and destroy ; and our Lord's declaration, " All ])ower is given unto Me in heaven and in earth," was the one which perhaps impressed the heathen Northman, and led him to be baptized, much more than any promise to the weary and heavy laden, which, with other nations and at other times, has drawn men to the Son of Man.f

* Judges vi., 25-32.

t The work of Olaf Trygve8S0n, as compared with that of Olaf narald880n (the saint), has been admirably summed up by the Icelandic monk Odd when he says : " Olaf Trygvess0n prepared and laid the foundation of Christianity, but St. Olaf built the walls ; Olaf Trygvess0n planted the vineyard, but St. Olaf trained up the vine covered with fair flowei's and much fruit."

ST. OLAF, KING AND MARTYR. 69

Such was, in brief, the religious condition of Norway when Olaf was chosen king ; for the interval between the death of Olaf Trygvessdn and the coming of Olaf Haraldssdn was so short that no material change had taken place, and there was not (as in the time of Haakon Jarl) any heathen reaction under the Jarls Erik and Svein.

King Olaf s rule in Norway was guided by two leading principles, which w^ere manifested in all his actions — First, the completion and development of the work which Olaf Trygvess0n had begun in christianizing the country ; and, Secondly, the consolidation of his kingdom by the establish- ment of the rule of a single monarch, making it, what Harald Haarfagre had designed it to be, one kingdom, under one king, and the subjection of the petty kingdoms which that great man in his old age, to the manifest injury of the land, had established. These two principles are to be seen in all the actions which marked the eventful reign of King Olaf. They were so closely connected that, as we read the history of the time, it is hard to say whether the king's journeys through Norway, more nearly resembled an episcopal \dsitation or a royal progress.

Olafs chief advisers in all ecclesiastical matters were Bishops Grimkell and Sigurd, and along with them there were of course priests.* Of their names we have no very certain knowledge, though two, Rudolf f and Bernhard, are mentioned, but it is probable that Iceland, and not Norway, was the scene of their labours. There seems no doubt whatever that both Grimkell and Sigurd belonged

* Adam of Bremen, Book II., Chap. Iv., says : " He (Olaf) had with him many bishops and priests from England, by whose admonition and doctrine he himself prepared his heart for God, and intrusted his people to be guided by them. Amongst these Sigafrid, Grimkell, Rudolf, and Bernhard were renowned for their teaching and virtues."

t This Rudolf seems to have returned to England in 1050, and to have become abbot of the Monastery of Abingdon.

70 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

to the English Church, and were either Englishmen by birth or bringing-up. In any case their connection and inclinations lay in the way of Anglo-Saxon, and not German, Christianity. In England at that time there were of course, in the eastern counties, a large number of clergy of Norse extraction, and naturally Olaf would have selected them to accompany him to Norway, on account of their knowledge of the language and customs of the Northmen. Political reasons also, at the time of Olafs adventurous journey to Norway, would have prevented his applying to Bremen, the metropolitan see of the North of Europe, for it was in close connection with Denmark, where Knut the Great ruled, and whose authority over Norway, Olaf went to dispute. Later on in Olafs reign, it is true, he had to apply to Bremen for help in his work, but the reason for that was again political, and not eccle- siastical. His enemy Knut was in power in England, and supplies from that country were, to a certain extent at any rate, practically stopped, as the English bishops would not have wished to consecrate or ordain men, for service under the rule of the antagonist of such a powerful king as Knut the Great.

It is best perhaps at this point to speak of the work of Olaf as a Church lawgiver. We have no certain informa- tion as to the exact period in which he drew up his Christian code, but it was doubtless within the first ten years of his reign. He was too wise and far-seeing to have postponed it longer than was absolutely necessary, but he had first to establish his power in the land before he began the great work of his life. Olaf saw clearly from the commencement of his reign, that if heathenism was to be entirely eradicated from among his people, it was necessary that the laws of the land should be brought into conformity with Christian usages and customs. He there- fore set to work to draw up a Christian code. Snorre tells

ST OLAP, KING AND MARTYR. 71

us that he had often read to him the laws which Haakon the Good had given to TrOndelagen, but these had not any direct reference to Christianity. Then he decided that a new code should be drawn up, which would embody all those points in which Christianity affected the life of the people. It would seem likely that for this purpose Olaf called together an assembly of his bishops, clergy, and other learned men at Moster, a spot sacred as the place where his great predecessor, Olaf Trygvess0n, had landed, and where he had built a church. This gathering does not appear to have been an ordinary Tiling, but partook some- what of the nature of a synod, at which the laity were represented equally with the clergy. The code there agreed upon was known as Olaf's Kristenret, and it is always spoken of as the joint work of Olaf and Bishop Grimkell. This Kristenret Olaf seems to have taken round the country with him, and, having been read and explained, it was adopted by the great Tilings, and thus became a part of the law of the land. The original form of this law has not survived. What we now possess dates from the time of Magnus Erlingssdn (1155 — 1184), though possibly it may belong to the reign of Eystein (1103 — 1123). There can be no doubt, however, that it embodies, with but little deviation, the original law which Olaf pro- mulgated, which had been preserved both orally and in written form.

The scope of this law we give below, but it is interesting to note that it always claims the name and authority of the royal saint and his famous adviser, and the phrase is reiterated throughout " as King Olaf and Bishop Grimkell appointed at the Moster Tiling."

Much of this law was in accordance with the principles of the canon law, with which the king's English-bred bishops and priests must have been familiar, and in dealing with heathen practices the advice given by Gregory the

72 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

Great to the Abbot Mellitus "' was followed and heathen customs as far as possible christianized.

It is important to note carefully the lines upon which this ecclesiastical legislation of Olaf proceeded, as in later times much controversy arose between the kings and the Church in connection with the Kristenret, and the former, at the commencement of their reigns, swore to observe the Kristenret " as given by Olaf the Saint."

The new law did not aim at making any change in the methods of government or civil duties, except in so far as they were heathen.

We may note them under different heads —

I. Purely ecclesiastical matters.

{a) The building and maintenance of churches.

{h) Church officials : their rights and duties.

(c) The observance of the Holy days and Fast days.

* Quoted by Bede, " Eccles. Hisfc." : — " I have upon mature delibera- tion determined that the temples of the idols in that nation should not be destroyed, but let the idols that are in them be destroyed. Let holy water be prepared and sprinkled in the said temple, let altars be erected and relics placed, for if these temples are well built it is requisite that they be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God. That the nation seeing that their temples are not destroyed, may remove error from their hearts, and knowing and adoring the true God may the more familiarly resort to the places to which they have been accustomed. And because they have been used to slaughter many oxen in sacrifice to devils, some solemnity must be exchanged for them on this account, as that on the day of dedication, on the nativities of holy martyrs whose relics are there deposited, they may build themselves huts of the boughs of trees about those churches which have been turned to that use from temples, and celebrate the solemnity with religious feasting and no more offer beasts to the devil, but kill cattle to the praise of God in their eating, and return thanks to the Giver of all things for their sustenance ; to the end that while some gratifications are outwardly permitted them they may more easily consent to the inward consolations of the grace of God." (Bk. 1, c. 30.)

It is not a little remarkable that nearly 500 years after the above we

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ST. OLAF, KING AND MARTYR. 73

(d) Holy Baptism and the briDging up of Children.

Exposing infants forbidden, except in case of monstrosities, who were to be brought to the church and primsujned, and then either killed or left outside the church to die.

(e) Burials. All except outlaws and suicides were to

be buried in the churchyard. (/) Marriage, and the forbidden degrees.

II. Heathenism: thetvorship of the gods and witchcraft, or Troldom.

All this forbidden under the severest penalties.

III. Heathen social customs.

The reforms in this respect dwelt largely with the assemblies known as 0lgerdir, social gatherings at which beer was solemnly drunk in honour of the gods. In former days these took place in the heathen temples after the great blots, when the presiding chief, or whoever conducted the ceremonial, gave the skaal or toast in honour of Thor, Freya, &c. In accordance with the guiding principle of the English mission, it was decided not to suppress these social events, but to give them the sanction and approval of the Church. The law provided for their continuance, and directed that where three families could meet together and have a common feast, skaals were to be drunk (the beer having been first blessed) " in honour of Christ and the Blessed Virgin for good years and peace." Fines were imposed for a breach ^of these regulations. The 0lgerdir were usually held at stated times, but it is not certain whether they were held exactly at the same time as the

find the custom of building booths survived in the north of England. In the " Boldon Book " it is mentioned that villeins near Auckland were bound as part of their services to their Lord (the bishop) to erect eighteen booths {hothas) at the fair of St. Cuthbert.

74 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

old heathen hlots^ or, according to some authorities, on All Saints' day, Christmas, and St. John the Baptist's day.

IV. Abolition of slavery.

In the olden days it was the custom to offer up thralls as sacrifices to the gods before the Tiling began, and there was doubtless a great deal of cruelty practised towards the slaves. But the coming of Christianity to Norway, as elsewhere, soon made a change in this respect. Instead of sacrificing a thrall at the Thing, the law provided that one should be set free. This was to take place on the first Sunday during the meeting of the Thing. It was also provided that one should be liberated every Christmas.

Such is an outline of the legislation which Olaf and his advisers introduced in order to make the laws in harmony with Christianity. We must not think that exactly the same law was accepted over the whole land. Modifica- tions were made in different districts, as, for example, in the south-eastern part of Norway, in Viken, where we do not find the laws respecting the 0lgerdir, or the liberation of thralls. The reason for this very possibly is, that in that part of the country the work of the earliest missionaries had rendered such legislation unnecessary."^

We are now able to resume the history of Olaf's work after this long, but necessary, digression.

Having thus made preparations for bringing the law of the land into conformity with Christianity, Olaf determined to carry out his work in a thoroughly systematic manner,

* A remarkable collection of the ancient laws of Norway is now to be found in the Noryes Gamle Love, in five large volumes, published by the Norwegian Government at intervals between 1846 and 1895. They contain all that now remains of the laws of the early part of the middle ages, including the law of older Gula, Frosta, Eidsiva, and Borgar Things and various Krisienrelter ; and also a vast variety of documents relatins to both Church and State.

ST. OLAF, KING AND MARTYR. 75

and to leave no part of Norway, from Haalogaland to Lindesnses, without the knowledge of the Christian faith, without a church and without a teaching priest.

To give a detailed account of all these journeys, and the way in which he often coerced his unwilling people, w^ould occupy too great a space, as it is a subject on which the writers of the Sagas have given most abundant information. It is impossible, however, to pass it over, as the history of his reign is essentially the history of the foundation and organization of the Church of Norway. But as there is so much similarity between the incidents recorded in the struggle against heathenism, it will be sufficient only to describe the most strikinsc scenes in the conflict.

After being formally accepted as king, he began his systematic work in Viken, the same district w^here his famous namesake wisely made his first attempt. Little or no opposition was encountered in this part, as the inhabitants had, for a very considerable period, been more or less under Christian influences.

At the close of the year 1017 he passed from his newly- founded town of Borg (Sarpsborg) to the district known as the Oplands, that part of Norway lying around the Mi03en, the largest lake in the country. Here he found abundant scope for his labours, for those parts of Norway which lay away from the coast line, had been but little afi'ected by the efi"orts of Olaf Trygvess0n, and the Oplands, Gudbrandsdal and Valders were the last to receive Christianity.

In the Oplands, Olaf acted with extreme severity, and indeed barbarity, against those who refused to be baptized — death or horrible mutilations awaited those who resisted the king. The same treatment was bestowed on all, high and low alike.

"While this was going on a dangerous conspiracy was hatched against the king. In the Oplands there still remained five petty kings or chiefs, and they quickly saw

76 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

that it was the intention of Olaf to get rid of all royal power except his own. They had consented to Olaf's accession to the overlordshij), and hoped to have been left in peace. The chief conspirator was R0rek, who had his home at Ringsaker, on the Mi0sen. The plot was betrayed to the king, who, by a rapid move, secured the five kings. E0rek was blinded, another had his tongue cut out, and the other three were banished. The only remaining petty king in Norway was now the harmless Sigurd Syr, Olaf's stepfather; but in the winter of 1018 he died, and from that time onwards there were no more of these kings. Sigurd Syr had by his marriage with Olaf's mother, a son who was after- wards to play an important part in the history of Norway, and we shall meet with him asrain as Harald Haardraade.

King Olaf remained in the south for a considerable time, as the state of affairs with Sweden demanded his attention. The Swedish king had become so unpopular with his subjects that he was forced to accept his young son, Aanund Jacob, as under-king. After prolonged negotiations a permanent peace was arranged between Norway and Sweden, and the former country received back again the provinces which had fallen to Olaf of Sweden's share, after the division of Norway between Svein Tjugeskjseg and the two jarls, which was his reward for the help given at the battle of Svolder. The peace with Sweden was further cemented by the marriage of Olaf to Astrid, the daughter of the Swedish king. These matters interrupted for a time King Olaf's crusade against heathenism, and it was the summer of 1019 before he was able to go north to Nidaros. That year and the one following were devoted to the districts north of Trondhjem, Namdalen, and Haalogaland, where he made systematic investigations, built churches, and appointed priests to minister to the people, and at the various Things which he called, he had the Kristenret accepted.

ST. OLAF, KING AND MARTYR. 77

The harvests in these years had been very bad, and the king had reason to suspect that the b0nder, seeing in their misfortunes the wrath of the old gods (as they had formerly noticed in the days when Harald Graafell and his brothers destroyed the temples for their spoils), had begun again to offer sacrifices at the old appointed times. In this he was not wrons^, and the evil was not far off. At the northern end of the Trondhjem Fjord was the place of the great heathen gathering (Mseren), w^here Olaf Tryg\"ess0n had destroyed the image of Thor and where Jernskjsegge had been slain. The chief man in that part was now 01ve of Egg, and Olaf sent for him demanding an explanation of the rumours which had reached him. 01ve was a very astute man, and contrived to satisfy the king with a plau- sible explanation as to the gatherings at Mseren. This was in October of 1020, and as^ain after the January feast he seems to have been able to give reasons which at any rate the king listened to, and took no further steps. It was, however, quite true that the old heathen rites had been revived and sacrifices offered. Olaf was by no means satisfied that all was well, and kept a careful watch, and when the time of the sommer hlot (which was held in April) came round, he made a sudden descent on Mseren and caught the crafty 01ve and a large number of the bonder in the very act of sacrificing. 01ve w^as promptly put to death, along with others, and his property confiscated, and the rest were severely punished and afterwards feared to resist the king's will.

Olaf now resumed his work in the central parts of Norway. He sailed from Nidaros, and leaving his ships at the entrance to the Eomsdal, went over into the great Gudbrandsdal, which at that time was ruled with almost royal authority, by the famous chief. Dale Gudbrand, w^hose family had given the name to the valley. At Hundthorp the chief resided, and it was a centre of heathen worship.

78 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

A long and picturesque account is given in the Sagas of the way in which Olaf and his men destroyed the image of Thor and conquered the antagonism of the b0nder, but it is unnecessary to give it in detail. The result was the same as in other places — they were all baptized and a church was built, and a priest left to teach the people.

From Gudbrandsdal he went south and east, everywhere spreading the faith and laying the foundation for future work.

It would seem likely that it is about this period that we must place Olaf 's application to Archbishop Unwan of Bremen for help in his work, by sending to him clergy to minister to his people. The reasons which led Olaf to take this step we have already noted. All, or nearly all, of his first clerical helpers came from England ; but at this time the authority of Knut the Great was firmly established, and as that monarch regarded Olaf as an intruder who declined to recognize his overlordship, it was practically impossible for the Norwegian monarch to receive any longer the help which he had at the beginning. Under these circumstances the king had to look elsewhere, and the nearest and most convenient place was the great Metropolitan see of the North at Bremen. It is curious that the Norwegian authorities at this time are silent on this point, and it is to Adam of Bremen alone that we are indebted for the information. There seems no reason to doubt the fact, which is so plainly stated by Adam, especially when we know that there was practically no other course open to Olaf, but to apply to Bremen.

Just about the time of Olaf 's expedition to Norway, Arch- bishop Libentius died (1013), and his successor was Unwan, who held the see from 1013 to 1029. He was a monk of Paderborn, and was much liked, especially by his clergy. It was to this man that Olaf turned for help. Adam, without clearly indicating the date, says : " He (Olaf) sent also ambassadors to our Archbishop (Unwan) with gifts,

ST. OLAF, KING AND MARTYR. 79

praying that he should receive these bishops kindly, and would send some of his own bishops to him, who should strengthen and confirm the rude Norwegians in the faith." How far the petition of King Olaf was answered by the Bremen Archbishop we have no certain means of knowing, and it would appear that not long after it was preferred, Olaf himself was a fugitive from his native land, and only returned to meet his death on the fatal field of Stiklestad. In 1023 we find him in the south and west, from whence he passed to the districts of Sogn and Yalders. The last named was a region more isolated than other parts of Norway, as the vast mountain district, now known as the Jotunheim, cut it ofl" from the north, and wild moun- tain ranges from the west and south. "With his customary rapidity Olaf reached the Lille Mipsen lake, and called a Thing where his proposals with regard to Christianity were very unfavourably received, but the king with great skill managed to avert an outbreak and set the bonder quarrelling among themselves. Then at night he seized their boats and began to attack and burn the farms, each man rushed ofi" to save his own, and when their forces were divided, the king was able to bring them to terms. Then he followed the long chain of lakes which extends throuorh the district, not beinof strong^ enough in men, to risk the land journey, but everywhere carrying out the purpose he had in hand, and providing Christian teachers to carry on the work.

The next year, 1024, may be said to have witnessed the completion of Olaf 's great work. Norway, from one end to the other, was at any rate nominally Christian ; the laws had been brought into conformity with the new faith, and only in secret could sacrifices be ofi'ered to Odin and Thor. "There was no remote valley or outlying island in his kingdom," says the Saga, " where a heathen man could be found."

80 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

We must now turn to the events which led up to the fall of Olaf's power in Norway, his expulsion and subse- quent return and martyrdom. It was not to be expected that such a powerful and ambitious monarch as Knut the Great, would be content to lose the supremacy which he claimed over Norway without an effort to regain it. In the earlier years of Olaf's reign, however, Knut was too much occupied in consolidating his authority in England, though he did not forget his claim on Norway. In the year 1025 he sent a messenger to Olaf ordering him to appear before him in England and receiving back Norway as a fief from the Danish king, to render the tribute which the jarls had paid to Svein. We can well imagine how such a message would have filled Olaf with rage, for, next to the spread of Christianity, the consolidation and independence of his kingdom was the great object of his life. He heard the ambassadors to [the end, and then dismissed them with his answer to the mighty Knut. *' Bring him my words," he said ; " I will defend Norway hill and dale as long as life is granted to me, and I will pay skat to no man for my kingdom."

After this Olaf saw that he must prepare to defend his crown, and he knew well the mighty power which Knut could wield. He accordingly formed a defensive alliance with his brother-in-law, Aanund Jacob of Sweden, and got his fleet together.

Knut the Great was in Eome, on his pilgrimage, in 1026, so just then they felt safe from attack. The allies decided to strike the first blow, and with their united fleets they made a descent on Denmark. On the approach of Knut they retired, and a fierce but indecisive battle was fought at Helgeaaen, in Skaane. The Swedish fleet dispersed, and Olaf, not finding himself strong enough to resist Knut alone, left his ships in Skaane, and went overland to Viken. Knut had been at work for some time in endeavouring to

ST. OLAF, KING AND MARTYR. 81

seduce the great chiefs in Norway from their allegiance to Olaf. In the north Haarek of Thjotta, Einar Thamber- skj elver, Thore Hund, and Kalv Arness0n were all ready to take part against their king ; the latter had received from Olaf the land of the heathen 01ve of Egg, and was a very powerful chief, who owed much to the king. In the south, the great Erling Skjalgss0n of Sole was also ready to join with the king's enemies. Thus we see all the most prominent men in the country, who had felt the severity with which Olaf ruled, and who knew that in his justice he had the same law for rich and poor, were all united against him, and ready to sacrifice their national independence for the hope of personal gain and power.

There was also at this time in the land, among the people generally, a feeling of hostility against the king. The extreme severity of the way in which he had treated those who resisted his efforts in spreading Christianity had raised up enemies on all sides, and many of the b0nder thouojht that a chansre miorht let them have their own way a little more. Indeed, a very decided reaction had set in. Olaf's early popularity was on the wane, but the feeling of hostility was not directed, as we might have supposed, so much against Christianity, as against the king personally.

When, then, Knut, with a great fleet, sailed for Nidaros in 1028, there was no one to stand against him, and Olaf did not dare to resist. Knut was recognized as overlord, and Haakon Eriksson (the last of the great jarls of Hlade), in spite of his oath to Olaf in 1016, became governor under Knut. Then the conqueror sailed to Borg, and meeting with no resistance, thus " won Norway without a sword stroke." While this was happening in the summer of 1028 Olaf, with a few men and ships, lay at Drammen, but Knut did not apparently think it politic to attack him. When Knut had left the country, and the winter came on,

C.S.N. Gt

82 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

Olaf emerged from liis retreat and sailed round the coast. As he went along, he had the good fortune to capture in Bukken Fjord, the old chief Erling Skjalgssdn, and intended to hold him as a hostage, but one of the king's men, most unfortunately for Olaf, slew the captured chief. This act raised all that part in arms against the king, and he sailed further north, and had reached S0ndm0re when he learned of the approach of a superior force from Nidaros. Seeing he could neither advance nor retreat, the king sailed up the Slyngs Fjord as far as Sylte, and there left his ships, and with a handful of devoted followers started in the depth of winter over the mountains. After great hardships he came at last to Einabu, in the Gudbrandsdal, and from thence to Hedemarken. He had now no alternative but to leave Norway, and taking his wife and two children with him, and his faithful friend Bishop Grimkell, he went to his brother-in-law in Sweden, where he spent the winter. When the spring of 1029 came, he left his family in Sweden, and proceeded to his other brother-in-law, Jaroslav, who was king in Gardarike, and there remained for some time.

Meanwhile the government of Norway seems to have gone on quietly enough under Haakon Jarl, as Knut's representative. In the summer of 1029 he went to England, where he was married, and in the autumn set sail on his return home ; but nothing more was ever heard of him or the ship, and it is supposed that he perished in a storm. Thus ended the male line of the great jarls of Hlade, who, for close upon a hundred years, had played such an important part in the history of their country. The death of the jarl under such pecuhar circumstances, was regarded by many of the people as a judgment of Heaven upon him, for the breach of the oath which he had taken, never to oppose the right of King Olaf to the throne of Norway.

ST. OLAF, KING AND MAHTYR. 83

After the death of Haakon, Einar Thamberskj elver was DOW the greatest chief in the land, and he had been allowed by Knut to cherish hopes of being ruler of the country under the king. When the loss of Haakon and his ship became known, Einar at once sailed for England, and, to his intense chagrin, learned that he was not to be jarl in Norway, for Knut intended to place his son Svein there as governor.

While these events were happening, the fugitive, King Olaf, remained at the court of Jaroslav in Gardarike. He seems at first to have made up his mind to abandon all thought of returning to Norway, and to have contemplated a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to be followed by retire- ment to a reliofious life. There is no doubt that durino- the time he spent in Piussia the natural religious bent of his mind was much deepened, and the enforced period of inactivity enabled him to learn something more of the true spirit of the faith, for the outward establishment of which he had been so zealous. He must have regretted the many acts of cruelty of which he had been guilty towards the heathen, and have seen that there was a better way than the sword and mutilation, of advancing the cause which he had so much at heart. That a real change in him took place in this respect, is most evident by his actions in his last campaign.

Notwithstanding his wish for a pilgrimage, he could not forget Norway : ever and anon his thoughts went back to his much-loved native land. In a dream he seemed to see his great predecessor Olaf Trygvessdn, who urged him not to abandon the w^ork which he had undertaken, and a longing seized him to return to it. At this time the tidings came that Haakon Jarl was lost, and Norway was again without a ruler. In the spring of 1030 he decided to make an effort to regain his crown. I^eaving Gardarike, he returned to Sweden to Aanund Jacob, who allowed him

g2

84 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

to collect men for the purpose of the invasion. He went to Jsemtland, in the northern part of Sweden, and was joined by a number of men (some of them were outlaws), who were attracted by the hope of plunder ; which, however, was not realized. Crossing the mountains, he descended towards the Vaerdal, a wide and open valley which goes from the neighbourhood of the present town of Levanger towards the Swedish frontier. On his way he was joined by his young half-brother Harald, the son of Sigurd Syr, who brouojht a welcome reinforcement of some five hundred men from Viken.

The last few weeks of Olaf's life are related with much minuteness by the waiters of the Sagas, and are full of episodes which are probably inaccurate, and added in later times to enhance the glories of the national saint ; but there is undoubtedly in the romantic story, a very large element of truth as well, and which coincides with what we know of the king's character. We are told that good Bishop Sigurd came to him and foretold his approaching death, but Olaf's purpose was not to be shaken. In a dream on the day of the battle, he saw a ladder set up on earth and the top reaching to heaven, and he himself just on the point of gaining the highest rung, when he was awakened. He seems clearly to have foreseen that the struggle in which he was now engaged was to be the last of his life.

When the forces of the king had crossed the mountains he set himself to number his army, and found he had with him about 3,600 men. Further investigation revealed the fact that of these, no less than 900 wxre heathen. Olaf at once made it clear that all under his banner must be Christians — he offered them the alternative of being baptized or leaving his host. " We will," said he, " not rely on our numbers, but place our trust in God, who by His power and mercy can give us the victory, but I will not mix heathen folk with my men." Of the nine hundred, four hundred were

ST. OLAF, KING AND MARTYR. 85

at once baptized and confirmed, and the others left the kinor's force.

Olaf s adherents at once urged on him the importance of harrying the country around them in the customary way, in order to strike terror into the land, but the king sternly forbade them. He pointed out that where he had done this before, it was because they had resisted the true faith. "We had then," he said, "God's law to defend, but now they have broken faith ^^dth me and acted treasonably against me, and that deserves much slighter punishment. . . . There is much greater reason to show leniency towards those who wronged me, than to those who showed their hatred of God."

Meanwhile the supporters of Knut had not been idle. Tidings of the projected invasion had reached Norway, but it was not at first known from what point the attack would be made, and preparations were begun in the south, in case hostilities should commence in that direction. When, however, it was discovered that Olaf was approaching from the north-east, at once all the chiefs who supported Knut, went with their men to Trdndelagen. The principal leaders of the rebels against Olaf, were Thore Hund, Kalv Arness0n and Haarek of Thjotta,"^ and they got together a very con- siderable body of men (largely out-numbering the king's force), and estimated at no less than 14,400. It seems, however, that this total must have been largely in excess of the actual fio-ure.

o

It must not be imagined that the coming battle was one entirely between Christians and heathen, for as we have already seen, Olaf had almost altogether expelled heathenism from the land, at least the open profession of it.

But those who opposed the king were in the main the survivors of the old heathen party ; the chiefs hostile to Olaf had, however, on their side an ecclesiastic in the person

• Einar Thamberskjelver prudently held aloof at this critical time.

86 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

of Bishop Sigurd, who had officially been attached by Knut to the retinue of his son, as court bishop. He was a man of most violent temper, and with the most bitter invective urged on the b0nder to attack the king, painting Olaf and his men as monsters of iniquity, and wound up with telling them that " the only' thing to be done is to advance against these inhuman monsters, and to slay them, casting them forth for the eagles and the wolves, leaving them where they have fallen, unless you di'ag away their bodies into remote corners of the woods, and let no man dare to carry them to the church, for they are all Vikings and men of evil deeds."

This atrocious advice was happily not carried out after the battle, though at the time it was given, it was greeted with applause by the bonder.

The rebels now held a conference of their chiefs to select a leader to command their army, and it was first proposed that Haarek of Thjotta should lead the host, but he declined, and finally the choice fell on Kalv Arness0n.

The armies of the king and the rebellious bonder drew near to each other, at a spot called Stiklestad, in the Vserdal, not very far from the place where the river, which flows through the valley, enters the Trondhjem Fjord. Olafs army seems now to have numbered somewhat over 3,000 men, but the forces of the rebels were much more numerous. The king divided his men into three divisions — he himself commanded the centre, the Swedish contingent was on the right, and the rest, under Dag Hriugssdn, on the left. The forces of the bonder were similarly arranged — Kalv ArnessOn and Thore Hund in the centre, the men from Eogaland, Horda- land and Sogn on the left, and those of Romsdal, Namdal, and Mseren on the right.

Olaf did not forget that he came as a champion of the faith, and not merely a king striving to recover his temporal power. He chose as the battle-cry of his army, " Christ's

ST. OLAF, KING AND MAETYE. 87

men! Cross men! King's men!" ; while the rebels' cry was, "Fram, fram (onward, onward), b0nder!" In the early morninor all Olaf's army made their confession and received the Communion, It is said that the king at this time gave a sum of money in order that, after the battle, prayers should be offered for the souls of his enemies who might fall in the fray.

Before the actual conflict began, and when the armies stood facing one another, Olaf made a final but ineffectual appeal to the leaders of the bonder who had sworn allegiance to him, to return to their duty. We are also told that he made the offer to his own men, that if they had relations m the rebel army against whom they desired not to fight, they could, even then, leave the ranks. No one accepted this generous offer, though one man on the king's side had two sons in the opposite army.

Then the battle joined and raged fiercely. The royal army was, as we have seen, greatly out-numbered, and to add to their misfortunes, a large part of the men under Dag Hrino:ss0n's command did not come into action until the issue was practically decided. The king fought with his usual courage in the thickest of the fray, and his men fell all around him. In the ranks of his foes was a man named Thorstein, who had sworn to be avenged on the king for the capture of a trading vessel which he had owned. Pressing forward he struck Olaf a severe blow on the knee. Unable to stand, the king leaned against a rock and prayed to God for help. Then his foes closed around him. Kalv Arness0n is supposed to have given the next blow, which fell upon the king's neck, and then Thore Hund thrust his spear into Olaf, inflictinor a mortal wound from which he almost at once expired.

"When the king fell, the battle practically ended. The remains of the king's army sought refuge in the woods, whence they escaped. A remarkable change seems to have come

88 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

over the victors. Their previous intense animosity suddenly- died down, they refrained even from plundering the slain, and gave them Christian burial.

Thus fell Olaf, king and martyr, on a day long to be remembered in his native land. With his death his passing unpopularity ended, and his memory was ever after held in grateful remembrance in the country for which he had done so much.

Strange as it may seem, the exact date of the battle is rather difficult to determine. The Sagas appear to be unanimous that it was fought on Wednesday, July 29th, 1030, and the 29th of July was kept as the festival of the sainted king, from within a very short time of his death. But there is, before accepting this implicitly, an important point to be considered. The same authorities which fix July 29th as the date of the battle, are equally clear in stating that the sun (which when the battle began had been shining in a cloudless sky) became darkened, and a blackness as of night, for a time prevailed. This of course betokened an eclipse of the sun, and we know for a certainty, that a total eclipse of the sun took place on Monday, August 31st, 1030, which was I'mt^em Vcerdalen.

It is clear, therefore, that if the eclipse took place during the battle, the date of it must be August 31st, and not July 29th. But then how was it possible that an error of a whole month took place, and the date fixed as July 29th by the very men who had taken part in the struggle ? There seems, however, a possibility of reconciling these two statements. It may be taken that the traditional date of July 29th is the correct one, not August 31st, and for this reason. We shall see later that the saintship of Olaf very rapidly seized hold of the popular imagination, and that, for political purposes, it was encouraged to the utmost, by the chiefs like Einar Thamberskj elver, and therefore the writers of the life of the saint, and of the narrative of his death or

ST. OLAF, KING AND MARTYR. 89

martyrdom, would not be likely to omit what (to a super- stitious, and only half-Christian people) would be such a manifest sign of Divine displeasure as an eclipse. They therefore incorporated into the narrative of the battle, the mysterious darkness of the total eclipse which fell over the north of Norway, just a month after the king had been slain. This may very possibly be the explanation, and it seems the only way by which the traditional, and by the Church universally accepted, date can be vindicated.

Meanwhile Thore Hund and the leaders of the rebel army, had pursued after the scattered remnants of the kiug's forces, which were retreating as rapidly as possible to the forests. It was their intention on their return to secure the body of Olaf, and either to burn it or cast it into the fjord.

When evening fell, a bonde of Stiklestad named Thorgil and his son Grim, found the body of the king and determined to save it from indignity. They carried it away and hid it under some fuel in a barn ; before concealing the corpse they washed it, and were struck with its extraordinary life-like appearance. Having hidden it, they returned to their house hard by. Meanwhile a blind man, who was seeking shelter for the night, crept into the barn and accidentally wet his hands with the water on the floor, where the corpse had been washed, and touched his eyes with his hands. Find- ing the place too small and damp he came out, and discovered that his sisjht was restored to him ao;ain. Goino- to the house he told the story, which filled all with wonder as to what could be in the barn. Thorgil and his son were alarmed lest the body should be found, and hurriedly took it away into another place.

Thore Hund on his return sought everywhere for the king, but being unsuccessful left the place. The faithful Thorgil and his son now resolved that the king's body should be conveyed to Nidaros, but knowing the danger

90 CHQRCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

which attended such a course, they went to work warily. Two coffins were made ; in one he placed the king, and in the other stones and sand of the weight of a man. Then with the aid of friends on whom they could rely, they hid the coffin containing the royal body under the boards of the boat, but placed the other coffin where all men could see it. Then they rowed down the fjord to Nidaros.

On reaching the town Thorgil sent word at once to Bishop Sigurd, that he had brought the body of Olaf. This unlovable prelate was delighted to hear the news. He at once dispatched his men in a boat to meet them, and when they had got the coffin with the stones and sand in it, they rowed out into the fjord and threw it overboard, and returned to their master with the information that their errand had been accomplished. Then Thorgil and his friends rowed their boat a short way up the Nid, and in the night-time secretly conveyed the coffin with the body of the king to land, and hid it in a hut on the river bank. Here it remained for a short time, but knowiug well it would not be safe, and finding no one who would dare to take charge of it, they dug a hole in the sand on the river bank, and in it they placed the body. Carefully marking the spot, they started again before daybreak, and quickly made their way back to Stiklestad.

CHAPTEE VIII.

MAGNUS THE GOOD AND HARALD HAARDRAADE— THE CONFLICT WITH THE SEE OF BREMEN.

Svein and MUgifn as Knut's Representatives — Discontent in Norway — King Olaf 's Body Disinterred — His Saintship Proclaimed — Growth of the Cult — Magnus brought to Norway — Independence secured again — Reign of Magnus — His Death — Harald Haardraade — Murder of Einar — Foundation of Oslo — St. Halvard — Conflict with the See of Bremen — Letter of Pope Alexander II.

AViTH the fall of Olaf at the battle of Stiklestad, it seemed as if the forces of disintegration had triumphed, and the cause for which the king had worked so laboriously during the eventful years of his reign had come to nought. Once more Norway was to become subservient to Denmark, and both Church and State were deprived of the strong hand which had built up the one, and guided the destinies of the other. But it was not so. Of Olaf the Saint it might well be said that " the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life," and far from the destruction of the cause for which his life was given, it gained in a very short time a fresh power and impetus, and the name and fame of the royal martyr was carried far beyond the limits of the northern kingdom, even, it is said, to the capital of the Eastern Empire.

Knut the Great had sent his young son Svein as Governor to Norway, in the place of the last jarl of Hlade. As Svein was but a lad, he was accompanied by his mother, Alfiva or ^Elfgifu, an imperious and overbearing English- woman, who but little understood the independent spirit which actuated the Norwegian bduder. They landed in Viken about the time of the battle of Stiklestad, and shortly

92 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

after arrived at Nidaros, where Svein was accepted as king. The rule which the young prince instituted, under the du'ection of his mother and the Danish chiefs who ac- companied him, was at once very distasteful to the people, and the imposition of new taxes made them very unpopular. If there was one thing more than another to which the Norwegians clung, it was the laws which had been passed by the great assemblies at Frosta and other places, and the b0nder found that if Olaf had ruled with a strong arm, he had, at any rate, ruled them under their own laws and customs, and not according to Danish law and usages, and they soon began bitterly to repent of their rebellion against him. The great chiefs, like Einar Thamberskj elver, Kalv Arness0n and others, found also that the change had done them no good, and their privileges were no more than, and indeed in some ways not so great as, they had been under their native king. Discontent spread everywhere, but none of the chiefs were ready to risk an open rebellion. The man who seemed the natural leader was Einar, who, as has been mentioned, took no part in the battle of Stik- lestad, and who, in his early days, had been a devoted adherent of the race of Haarfagjre.

The discontented chiefs, however, thought it prudent to attain their ends by religious and not political means. The Danish court bishop Sigurd had done his best to bring the Norwegian Church into close connection with Denmark, and therefore with the see of Bremen, and it was probably during the short time that he was at Nidaros, that the Benedictine Monastery at Nidarholm (a small island in the Trondhjem Fjord, close to the town, now called Munkholmen) was first established. Sigurd, however, was so unpopular, that by the influence of Einar Thamberskj elver, he was obliged to leave Norway, and Bishop Grimkell, the com- panion and fellow-worker with Olaf, was brought back again. The National party, as we may term them, now

MAGNUS AND HARALD. 93

decided that the time had come to declare King Olaf to be a saint and martyr, and for this purpose they obtained formal permission from Knut to re-inter the body of the king. We have seen how Thorgil of Stiklestad had managed to convey it safely to Nidaros, and had secretly buried it in the sand on the bank of the Nid, the exact place being of course, carefully noted.

On August 3rd, 1031, the principal men, including Bishop Grimkell and Einar, in the presence of the young prince and his mother Alfiva, had the body disinterred. On the coffin being opened the body of Olaf was found to be perfectly preserved ; his hair and nails had grown, his colour was lifelike, and a beautiful odour pervaded the air. All these things were clear proofs of saintship, and the on- lookers were filled with wonder and amazement. The only sceptic was Alfiva, who maintained that a body buried in sand would not decay. The bishop, however, ofi'ered to test the matter by cutting off" some of Olaf's hair and placing it in the fire, where, if it remained unconsumed, there could then be no doubt of the saintship. This was done with con- secrated fire, and, surviving the test, all were forced to admit that the late monarch must indeed be a saint. Then the body was carried with great state into the church of St. Clement, which Olaf Trygvess0n had built, and there buried before the altar.

The cult of St. Olaf then proceeded with amazing rapidity, helped on as far as possible by Einar and others for political purposes, and the young king and his mother dared not openly oppose it, as the disinterment and reburial after the proved sanctity, had been done with their formal consent. The usual miracles were soon everywhere reported ; the blind saw, the lame walked, and the sick were healed.

Thore Hund, who had given the king his death blow in the battle, was struck with contrition for his heinous off'ence, and endeavoured to expiate his crime by going on a

94 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

pilgrimage to the Holy Land, from whence he never returned. Olaf was declared to be a saint by Bishop Grimkell, and the verdict of the Church was formally ratified by the law of the land. Two days were set apart in St. Olaf s honour — July 29th as the day of the martyrdom, and August 3rd as, what we may call, the Translation of St. Olaf, being the day on which the body was disinterred from the sand and brought for burial to the church of St. Clement. It may be well to mention here the curious number of changes which were made in a short period, before the final resting-place in the Dom Kirke was reached. From St. Clement's it was moved to a church dedicated to Olaf by his son Magnus, which was built on the spot where the body of the saint lay for one night on its arrival in Nidaros. In the next reign, that of the saint's half-brother, Harald, it was moved to a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, built by that king on the bank of the Nid, where Olaf had been buried for a year. Then Olaf Kyrre built another church, known as Christ Church (close to the Maria Kirke of Harald), and the body was taken to it. Finally, when the present cathedral was built, during the time of Archbishop Eystein (1157 — 87), both of the latter churches were incorporated in it, and the body was placed in a magnificent shrine at the high altar, a.nd there it remained until the time of the Eeformation. The actual spot of the year-long burial is supposed to be where St. Olaf s well is now shown in the cathedral of Trondhjem.

After the formal acknowledgment of Olaf s claim to be regarded as a saint, things went on in about the same way for a couple of years ; but the hatred of Danish rule deepened in the minds of the people, and all their love for the race of Harald Haarfagre returned in greater force, when they saw how badly they had treated one, who was not merely a king of his line, but also one of the saints of God. Still, however, Einar and the other chiefs played a waiting game, and felt

MAGNUS AND HARALD. 95

that the time had not come to make a move. In 1033 a passing disturbance was caused by an adventurer who claimed to be a son of Olaf Trygvess0n, and who raised the standard of rebellion in the south, but he was soon defeated and slain in a battle fought in Sondhordland. Shortly after this, a violent altercation between the Danish party and Einar, which broke out at a Thing held at Nidaros, led to the departure of Svein and Alfiva to the south, as they felt it was unsafe for them to remain in Tr0ndelagen. Then Einar, who had rightly gauged the popular feeling, called the people together to a Thing and proposed that Magnus, the young son of St. Olaf, should be chosen as king. This was unanimously agreed upon, and Einar and Kalv Amess0n were deputed to go to Gardarike to the Court of King Jaroslav and bring back the young prince to Norway. Their mission was successful, and they returned through Sweden, where Olaf's widowed queen was then residing with her brother. Young Magnus was at this time only eleven years old, but he was everywhere received with open arms by the delighted people. Svein and his mother first intended to resist the newcomer, but finding that the country was entirely hostile to them, they took refuge in Denmark, and thus in 1034 the Danish supremacy was once more swept away.

Knut the Great died in England in 1035, and was succeeded by his son Harald ; Svein died in Denmark in 1036, and for a time the rule of Magnus over Norway was undisputed.

The early years of King Magnus's reign passed quietly under the wise guidance of Einar and Kalv Arness0n, and the abolition of the harsh laws and exactions of the Danish king made the people contented. Meanwhile Hardeknut had succeeded his father Knut as king of Denmark, and made an effort to regain the lost power over Norway. Before matters went very far, the leading men

96 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.

on both the Danish and Norwegian side arranged, after a conference held at the Gotha river, that whichever of the two kings survived, should have the two kingdoms. This dangerous compact might have made the subservience of Norway to Denmark again an accomplished fact, but the death of Hardeknut in 1042 changed the situation, and Norway and not Denmark became the sovereign State. The political result of this was unfortunate for Norway, as it meant a great waste of blood and treasure, and though for a time it exalted the position of the northern State among the nations of Europe, it was but a drawback to the prosperity of the country. When Magnus took the govern- ment into his own hands he embarked on the very unwise course, of attempting to be avenged on those who had taken part in the rebellion against St. Olaf. The old chief, Haarek of Thjotta was killed, and Kalv ArnessOn, who by his zeal for Magnus's succession might have been thought to have atoned for his share in Stiklestad, was obliged to fly to the Orkneys. But after a time Magnus had the sense to see how unwise and unfair his action was, and abandoned his thoughts of revenge. By his just and kindly rule he became more beloved by his people than any king since the days of Haakon, and the epithet "The Good," which the former had won, was everywhere accorded to Magnus.

One very important work was accomplished in his time. He reduced the laws of the Frosta Thing to writing. Formerly it would seem, that these laws were more of the nature of customs, and were preserved orally, but Magnus had