HEMINGS ÞÁTTRHEMINGS ÞÁTTR
translated by

ANTHONY FAULKESTHORISDAL
DUNDEE

2016

CONTENTSINTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 6
HEMINGS ÞÁTTR .........................................................................9

INDEX ................................................................................................... 46

INTRODUCTION

Hemings þáttr (The Story of Hemingr) was probably written in Icelandin the thirteenth century. The chief manuscripts are Hrokkinskinna (therelevant part of which was written in the sixteenth century), Flateyjarbók(the relevant part of which was written in the second half of the fifteenth
century), and Hauksbók (written by the Icelandic Lawman Haukr
Erlendsson in the first decade of the fourteenth century). None of thesemanuscripts contains the whole story. The text in Flateyjarbók has the firstpart, as far as the end of Hemingr’s testing by King Haraldr (breaking off
just before the chapter heading on p. 21), while the text in Hrokkinskinna,
which is considerably shortened compared with that in Flateyjarbók,
breaks off just before King Haraldr’s expedition to England in 1066 (p. 28).
Hauksbók has only the last part of the text, beginning just before the textof Hrokkinskinna breaks off, though the first leaf of the text in Hauksbók
is now lost and has to be supplied from a copy made by Ásgeir Jónsson in
1697–8, when parts of the leaf were already illegible.
There is no reason to doubt that the text as reconstructed from these threemanuscripts represents more or less the content of the original story, though thecentral section, based on the Hrokkinskinna text, besides being shortened, hasa large lacuna (from 32/9 to 35/11 in the EA edition). This can be filled from anumber of copies of the Hrokkinskinna text made in the seventeenth century
or later; some late manuscripts also contain additional passages that may havebeen omitted from Hrokkinskinna or derived from some other source.
The historical background to Hemings þáttr has been constructed from
Icelandic Kings’ Sagas, chiefly Morkinskinna and Snorri Sturluson’s
Heimskringla. Some details may also have been derived from Fagrskinna
and Knýtlinga saga; also Ragnars saga loðbrókar, Laxdœla saga (for theidea of the swimming contest between the hero and the king) and perhaps
other Sagas of Icelanders. Accounts of Haraldr Godwineson’s survivalof the Battle of Hastings are also found in Oddr Snorrason’s Óláfs saga
Tryggvasonar and Játvarðar saga (The Saga of Edward the Confessor). There
are also several English sources that preserve this legend, which is also foundin Geraldus Cambrensis, Itinerary through Wales II.xi; see E. A. Freeman,
The History of the Norman Conquest of England, second edition, III (1875),
785–7, and Margaret Ashdown, ‘An Icelandic Account of the Survival of
Harold Godwinson’, The Anglo-Saxons, ed. Peter Clemoes, 1959, 122–36.
It does not, however, seem likely that the author of Hemings þáttr knew any
English sources at first hand, or, indeed any specifically Norwegian sources
independent of the Icelandic ones. Nor is any source known for the life of
Hemingr himself, who is probably not a historical character, though most of

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7

the King Haraldr’s Icelandic companions are. There are, though, several wellknown analogues to this story of a skilful archer in conflict with a tyrannicalruler. In Iceland, Eindriða þáttr, about the Icelander Eindriði and King Óláfr
Tryggvason of Norway, found in the Greatest Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason, may
well have been inspired directly by Hemings þáttr. The Danish Historian Saxo
Grammaticus (late twelfth century) tells a similar story of Toko (perhaps thesame as Pálna-Tóki in Jómsvíkinga saga) and King Haraldr Bluetooth of
Denmark (died c. 985) in Book X. Close to this is the account of A. Krantz in
Chronica regnorum aquilonari Daniæ, Svetiæ, Norvagiæ (1546), IV 149–50.
Another Danish story from 1472 tells of Henning Wulf and Christian I of
Denmark. The Norwegian Þiðreks saga, probably based on German sources,
tells of the archer Egill, brother of Velent (Wayland the Smith), who also
turns up in Vǫlundarkviða in the Poetic Edda and on the Anglo-Saxon Franks
Casket. The king in his story is the legendary Níðungr (Níðuðr, Niðhad).
A folk-story from Rorbach in Germany tells a similar story of Puncher inabout 1420 (see Jacob Grimm, Teutonic Mythology I (1900), 380–83, IV(1888), 1393. The best known, but by no means the oldest story of this type
is that of William Tell, the earliest account of whom is in The White Book of
Obwalden, 1471–2. There is a thoroughly English version of the story, firstrecorded in the sixteenth century, but probably at least as old as the fifteenth,in the ballad Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough and William of Cloudesly, inwhich William demonstrates his skill in archery to the king of England (TheEnglish and Scottish Popular Ballads, ed. F. J. Child, No. 116, III 14–39).
The story of Hemingr himself was extraordinarily popular in Scandinavia.
One set of rímur was composed in sixteenth-century Iceland, another by
Benedikt Sigurðsson in 1729, a third by Magnús Jónsson in 1808. A prose
paraphrase of the second of these, Æfintýr af Hemingi Áslákssyne, wasmade before 1750. Further rímur by Sigurður Breiðfjörð (1798–1846) andDavíð Guðmundsson (nineteenth century) have not survived. An ending forthe incomplete text of Flateyjarbók was provided in the eighteenth century.
Two Icelandic historians, Arngrímur Jónsson (1568–1648) and Þormóður
Torfason (Torfæus, 1636–1719) included Latin paraphrases of the story
in their histories, Supplementum Historiæ Norvegiæ (1597) and Historia
Rerum Norvegicarum (1711), II 365–72. There are several versions of a
Norwegian ballad (Harald kongin og Heming unge, Heming og gyvre)
and a Faeroese ballad (Geyti Áslaksson), and traces of the story in Sweden
too (A. I. Arwidsson, Svenska fornsånger (1834–42), I 123, no. 13; A. A.
Afzelius, Svenska folkets sago-häfder (1844–68), I 43).
The standard edition, with an extensive but not always clear introduction,
is Hemings þáttr Áslákssonar, ed. Gillian Fellows Jensen (Editiones
Arnamagnæanæ B3), 1962.

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hemings þáttr

Hemings þáttr is unique among the many Icelandic stories aboutsubsidiary episodes during Haraldr harðráði’s reign over Norway (1046–
66), that are attached to various versions of the Kings’ Sagas, in that themain character is a (fictitious) Norwegian rather than, like most of theminor characters in this story, Icelandic; and also in that the first part of thestory is based on an international folk tale. This was about a great archer
in conflict with a ruler who is made to shoot an apple or other small object
from someone’s head (see The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, ed.
F. J. Child, No. 116, III 16–22).

I

HEMINGS ÞÁTTR

T IS THE BEGINNING of this account that King Haraldr was rulingover Norway, son of Sigurðr sýr and Óláfr the Saint’s mother Ásta. King
Haraldr was for twenty winters king over Norway. He was two and thirty
winters old when he became king in Norway. He was married to Silkisif
Haki’s daughter.1 He left her behind in Hólmgarðr. He said he would comefor her, and left behind a great deal of money as a pledge. This was a goatskinflayed with the horns still on. It was full of pure silver and he said she could
keep this wealth if he had not asked her for it when fifteen winters were past.
And each of them pledged the other their troth.
Their daughter was Maria, who had been the finest of women and a girlof the best kind. But when the king was back in his own country, then hegot married a second time, and wedded Þóra, daughter of Þorbergr Árnason
and Ragnhildr, daughter of Erlingr Skjálgsson of Jaðarr. Their sons werethese, Óláfr kyrri (the Quiet) and Magnús father of Hákon whom SteigarÞórir fostered.
King Haraldr was a big man in stature, the most courteous of men. He
was intelligent and well spoken. There were lots of manly fellows withhim. Nikulás Þorbergsson was with him, his brother-in-law, a most highly
respected person. Secondly an Icelandic man, Halldórr Snorrason, andBǫðvarr son of Eldjárn son of Arnórr kerlinganef (Crone’s Nose), and OddrÓfeigsson from Melr in Miðfjǫrðr. Also there was Hjǫrtr Óláfsson andÞórarinn Nefúlfsson. They were highly regarded by the king.
The king was accustomed to this, to receive hospitality for every summer
and winter alternately in either the north of the country or in the south.2 One
autumn he is receiving hospitality in the north of the country. Áslákr was
the name of a landowner who dwelt on the island that is known as in Torgar.
This island lies off the northerly part of Norway.
Áslákr was a very wise man. He was head man over the island. He hada son who was called Bjǫrn. Bjǫrn was a most splendid person. The kingsends Áslákr word from where he was a guest and said he wanted to meethim. Áslákr responded quickly and goes to see the king and comes before
the king. The king received his greeting kindly. The king begins to speak:‘You shall make me a banquet with my following of a hundred men, andI shall stay at it three nights.’
Hrokkinskinna correctly calls Haraldr’s queen Ellisif (Elizabeth) and adds that she
was daughter of King Jarizleifr of Hólmgarðr.
2
The kings of Norway at this time had no fixed capital, but would go on a ‘progress’
round the country receiving hospitality from landowners for themselves and theirfollowers as a form of taxation.
1

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hemings þáttr

He answers: ‘I am unable to make you a banquet. But I shall give money
to provide for you no less than you will use up at your banquet and on topof that I will choose gifts for you just as I would if I had provided it.’
The king asks: ‘What is the reason for your drawing back from making
me a banquet?’‘I do not feel I have a room for it,’ says Áslákr. ‘I know little about how
to entertain people of rank.’
Then the king spoke: ‘We shall not let that stand in the way.’‘I have no furnishings,’ says Áslákr, ‘and I would like to be excused fromproviding you with this banquet.’
The king answers: ‘Make whatever objections you like, yet will I comefor this banquet.’‘Then shall I also not excuse myself,’ says Áslákr. ‘When will you be
coming?’
The king says: ‘No later than tomorrow.’Áslákr told him to do as he wished, then.
Áslákr went home with things as they were, and the king comes in themorning. Áslákr goes out to meet him and welcomed the king very warmly.
They were taken into a hall and arranged in their seats. The hall there was all
fitted out with shields and inside it was arranged most stylishly in every way.1
Then the king asks: ‘Is there anything else you feel you are lacking forthe banquet besides the furnishings?’‘What I think is,’ says Áslákr, ‘that other things must be lacking even more.
But yet I think that the fare would be more plentiful if more were available;
and yet I have hung everything on my own pegs and not got anything on loan.’
The king said he was pleased with this. Áslákr had the entertainment proceedand everyone there agreed that they had never received a better banquet.
The night passed, and in the morning after church, then they were all
drinking together. They talked with each other, the king and Áslákr. The
king asks:‘How well do you know the laws that King Óláfr the Saint son of Haraldr
established? You are said to be a a great lawyer.’‘I think I know something about them,’ says Áslákr.
‘What has he laid down about this,’ says the king, ‘if someone has his
son fostered secretly?’Áslákr says: ‘It is not known to me that a man may not have his children
fostered wherever he wishes.’
The king answers: ‘I have heard of another pronouncement of his about
it than that.’‘What have you heard about it?’ says Áslákr.
1

It was customary in aristocratic halls to hang shields round the walls.

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11

Then says the king: ‘That he shall forfeit land and life.’‘Why must he be sentenced so harshly?’ says Áslákr.
The king replies: ‘The king cannot enlist someone for his support or
defence of his land when he does not know that he exists, and he cannot
beware of someone when he does not know that he exists.’‘I do not wish to discuss this,’ says Áslákr. ‘It does not apply to me.’
‘I have been told the contrary,’ says the king, ‘that you will be having ason fostered in secret.’‘Who says that?’ says Áslákr.
‘Nikulás Þorbergsson told me,’ says the king.
‘Is that what you say, Nikulás?’ says Áslákr.
‘It is going to be hard for me to sail between the rock and the wave,’1 says
Nikulás. ‘I dare not accuse the king of lying, and moreover I cannot carry
it off the island with dry feet2 that I have not spoken of it. I remember this,’says Nikulás, ‘that I was here in Torgar at the age of ten and was considered
by no one anything other than rather a fine fellow. But at that time you had
the son called Hemingr. And the two of us played children’s games together,and I have seen no one else like him, and in every way he had greater strength
at the age of six than I at the age of ten. And he remained here after we left,
and since then I have never heard anything of him. Now I have said nothing
more than that to the king,’ says Nikulás.’
Then the king asks: ‘What has become of that person?’‘So it is as Nikulás says, that I had a son who was called Hemingr, andhe seemed to me very promising-looking,’ he says, ‘but later on he lost hiswits, and I sent him away from Torgar, and so far from other people that noone should hear about him, and I have never enquired about him since and
I do not know whether he is alive or dead.’
Then the king asks Áslákr: ‘You shall not have a long period of expenseon our account for the time being. We shall now set off and you will not haveto receive us again before next year at the same time. You must then haveyour son come here whether he has more wits or less at his command, andeven if he is dead, yet I want to see his bones,’ says the king.
‘That is no problem,’ says Áslákr.’Now they part. The king returns home and stays at home that year and all
was peaceful in the land, and the following year the king comes to Áslákr
for his banquet in Torgir. Áslákr receives them well and magnificently. So
when the night had passed, then they talk together, the king and Áslákr.
The king asks:
i.e. between Scylla and Charybdis; he is in a dilemma.
þurrt af hálmi (for hólmi?) bera ‘carry dry from the straw (or island)’, i.e. getaway with saying.
1
2

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hemings þáttr

‘Do you remember at all what we talked about together last autumn?’‘I have not thought about it,’ says Áslákr.
‘Your son, whom you have been so secretive about,’ says the king, ‘must
have come here by now.’‘I have never thought about it,’ says Áslákr, ‘and I cannot get him here.
He is staying much too far away.’‘I shall not be as angry with you as you deserve,’ says the king. ‘We shall
now go away from your banquet and be away for two months and you will
not be pleased with your lot if Hemingr is not here by that time.’Áslákr answers: ‘You do not need to make such a fuss about this, it is nobother for me to have him come here before the time has passed that you
have specified.’
The angry mood of the king was obvious to everyone, and they part for
the time being. The king receives hospitality on the mainland until a monthof the winter has passed. Then the king makes his way out to Torgir. Áslákr
has prepared a banquet ready for him and was very cheerful, and it seemedto them that no more decent banquet had ever been put on than this one.
During the day the king asks Áslákr again whether Hemingr ‘has now comehere, whom you have for a very long time been reluctant to let me meet.’Áslákr replies: ‘Your business has again slipped from my mind.’‘There is no need for us to exchange many words together. But I can tell
you what I intend. Do not send for your son any sooner that you wish, but
we are now going to stay here until he comes. But if your resources fail first,
then you will not make any further banquets, nor your son Bjǫrn.’‘That will have to be up to you,’ says Áslákr.
They break off their conversation for the time being. As soon as Áslákr
gets away from there, then he calls twelve of his men to speak with him.
‘I have planned a mission for you,’ says Áslákr.
They say they are willing to go wherever he wishes.
‘You must go aboard a ship,’ he says. ‘You must row north past Snǫs andland on the ness that is called on Framnes. Five men are to go ashore there.’
Kálfr was the name of the one he calls on for this expedition. He was incharge of the messengers.
‘The others are to look after the ship. You must go inland from thesettlement into the wood. There you will find a path in front of you throughthe forest. This path will get broader the further you have walked along it.
You will have to go on for four days even if you walk fairly briskly. Then
you will walk on out of the wood late in the day. Then there will lie before
you a valley. It is closed in by cliffs and woods. But it cannot be seen until
you get to the end of the valley. There before you there will be a farmstead.
Go up to it. There will be no one else there except a man and a woman.

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13

They will ask where you are from, and you tell the truth about this. They
will offer you all hospitality. You must accept this and take a rest there. Havethe arrangements for your stay made early. You will lie in the living room.
One of you men must keep watch. Then I guess that someone will come inwhen part of the night has past, fine and tall and prosperous-looking. The
fires there will be made up. He will sit down by the fire. I will not deny that
he may be more intelligent-looking than I have described him. Then Kálfr
must stand up and and greet Hemingr and give him my greetings and invite
him to come and see me, and if he seems hesitant about it, then tell him to
make up his own mind and say that my life depends upon it, and that of myson Bjǫrn, though it looks more likely that he will manage to escape. But
tell him that I think that his life will be at stake if he comes. Now tell him
to choose the course he thinks best.’
Now he bids them farewell. Now they set off in accordance with Áslákr’s
instructions. Kálfr went ashore and the group of five, and nothing worth
telling about happened on their expedition until they reach the man’s house.
They were given a good reception as soon as the couple knew where they
were from. Now their accommodation is got ready for them to retire, andthey go to bed, but the man and his wife sit by the fire. And then she begins
to speak:‘It is getting late for our foster-son now,’ she says.
The man replies: ‘I have little wealth, but yet I would give it for him notto come home this week.’‘Why is that?’ she says.
‘It is because I am afraid that these men may be sent to fetch Hemingr,’
he says.
‘I do not know how it will turn out for me then if I have to part with myfoster-son,’ says the old woman.
‘I would be well pleased about it,’ says the man, ‘if I were sure that hewas choosing the better course. And I am no less anxious about this thanabout parting from him.’
Then there is a short while to wait before there are footsteps outside anda man comes in there in a red tunic with the skirts tucked up under his
belt. He had a gold band round his head, while his hair fell down onto hisshoulders. Kálfr thought he had never seen a manlier-looking person or one
better built in every way.
The couple stand up and welcomed their foster-son Hemingr. He responds
well to their greeting and sits himself down by the fire. The man asks whatgame he had found. He replies:‘I did not see many birds, but it was up to me whether or not to take thoseI saw.’

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hemings þáttr

He asks what has turned up. The old woman replies:‘Your father’s men are come here and we are afraid they may be sent tofetch you. Many will say this, that it would not be too soon.’
Now it shall be told about Kálfr, that he stands up and goes up to him
and greets him. Hemingr responds well to his greeting and asks where hehas come from.
‘I am sent from your father with this message, that he invites you to cometo see him, and wishes you to come.’‘Indeed there must be something up of great importance,’ he says, ‘when
he is just now sending word to me. I think I have a right to decide for myself,and I am going to stay at home,’ he says.
‘I think now,’ says Kálfr, ‘that there is no need to hammer a hollow ring
about this,1 that Áslákr bade you decide,’ telling him now what his father
had said about it. Hemingr replies:‘Then go straight away in the morning and do not stop before you cometo the ship,’ he says. ‘And if you see no sign of me coming, then go backhome, and you will not then need to expect me.’Then they break off their conversation. And straight away in the morning
Kálfr and his party set off on their journey and do not stop until at theirship, and launch the ship, and when they were ready, then they see where
Hemingr is travelling on skis down from the land. He boards the ship. Kálfr
asks when he left home. He said:‘I left home this morning.’
Nothing is told of their journey until they come to Torgar. Áslákr welcomed
his son. Then the morning was so far advanced that men were going to church.
So after church, when the king had gone and sat down, then Hemingr goes
before the king and greets him. The king responded kindly and asked who
he was. Hemingr tells him his name.
‘I would not like to see the hide that you are the back leg (hemingr) of,’says the king.
‘Not everyone’s name indicates his nature. But the reason I am comehere is that I would like to offer you everything that you wish to receivefrom me. Though I have little support to offer, I put it at your service if
you wish to make use of me for it,’ he says. ‘I will become your follower
if you want me to. But if you want to debase me further, then I will offer
you my exile to redeem my father and other kinsmen,’ says Hemingr.
‘And even if you want to condemn me to death, even then I will not run
away,’ says Hemingr.
The king asked: ‘Are you at all a person of any special abilities?’1

i.e. ‘question this’. Gold rings were tapped with a hammer to see if they were solid.

hemings þáttr

15

Hemingr says: ‘The old man and woman seemed to think I could do manythings well. But I have not displayed my accomplishments to other people.
And I guess they would not impress you greatly. There is one skill that I
could demonstrate to you,’ says Hemingr.
The king asks: ‘What is that?’‘Skiing I do not care whom I compete with at, for no one will be able tooutdo me at that.’
The king answers: ‘We will watch your performance and see what we
think you can achieve in it.’Hemingr answers: ‘I will attempt to perform whatever you have someone
else perform first.’‘We shall now go out,’ says the king, ‘and compete with each other.’Áslákr now went up to the king and says: ‘I have made arrangements foryour transport away by ship, if you wish, for it seems to us time now for
the games to end.’
The king answers: ‘We shall stay for today.’
Then everyone went outside. The island was thickly wooded and people
went to the wood. The king took a spear and sticks the point of the spear
down in the ground. Then he puts an arrow to the string and shoots it up in
the air. The arrow turned in the air and the point of the arrow comes down
onto the tail of the spear and stood straight upp. Hemingr puts an arrow to
the string and shoots after him and this arrow was lost to sight up in the air along time and the point of the arrow comes down there in the string-notch of
the other arrow. Then the king takes up the spear and shoots it from his hand.
He shoots so hard and far that every one remarked on it, and yet straight.
Then he told Hemingr to shoot at it after him. Hemingr shoots after him andright past it so that the socket of the arrowhead lay on the point of the king’s
spear. The king takes up the spear and shoots a second time and shoots thewhole spear past Hemingr’s shot.
‘Now I would like not to shoot again after that,’ says Hemingr, ‘for I see
that I cannot do it.’‘You shall shoot,’ says the king, ‘and make an honest attempt to shootfurther if you can.’‘It is the truest of all sayings that every man is cross if he doesn’t win withthe weapons he has got. Now I shall shoot, come what may,’ says Hemingr.
Now he shoots, and very much further.
Then the king puts an arrow to the string and he took a knife and stuck itin this oak. He shoots at the back of the haft of the knife so that the arrow
stands fast. Then Hemingr takes his arrows. The king stood by his side.
‘Your arrows are bound with gold, and you are a very ambitious man,’says the king.

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hemings þáttr

‘I did not have any of these arrows made for me. They were given to me,
and I have not taken off any of their fittings.’
Hemingr shot after him and it struck the haft of the knife and the haftsprang apart. The point of the arrow stood in the tang.
Then the king spoke: ‘We shall now shoot a greater distance.’
And he took an arrow and looked very angry, and puts an arrow to thestring and draws the bow so that the tips seemed to touch. The arrow flew
from the bow a very long way and comes to rest in a very slender twig. Theneveryone said they thought it the most excellent shot. Then Hemingr shoots
and somewhat further and the arrow stuck through a nut. All those that were
present were amazed. The king said:‘Now the nut shall be taken and put on your brother Bjǫrn’s head, andyou shall hit the nut there. You shall shoot from no nearer than before. But
if you miss, then your life shall be the penalty for it.’‘Life is at your discretion. But I will not shoot this shot,’ says Hemingr.’Bjǫrn spoke: ‘Rather shall you shoot than bring death upon yourself, foreveryone is obliged to extend his life as long as he can.’‘Are you resolved to stand still and not to dodge at all if I shoot at the nut?’‘Yes, absolutely,’ says Bjǫrn.
‘Then let the king stand next to you,’ says Hemingr, ‘and note whether I hit
the nut.’
The king answers: ‘It is next to you I am going to stand,’ and called on
Oddr Ófeigsson to do it. He went up and said it was a suitable test of his
reliability for him to make an honest judgment about this. Then Hemingr
goes to where the king wants him to stand and crosses himself.
‘I call on God to witness that I place all the responsibility into the king’s
hands, that I shall not wilfully do harm to my brother.’
Then Hemingr shoots. The shaft1 travels fast and passes back over thecrown of his head and touches beneath the nut and he was not scratched.
The nut rolled back off his head, while the shaft flew on and only came torest when it came down on the ground. Then the king came up and asks
whether it hit the nut.
‘Are you going to trust what I say about it at all?’ says Oddr.
The king answers: ‘The one who knows must bear witness.’‘It seemed to me better than if he had hit it,’ says Oddr, ‘as he shot beneaththe nut, and it rolled down, and he was not harmed.’‘It doesn’t seem to me that he shot as I told him to,’ says the king.
And they sleep through the night. So in the morning Áslákr goes to speak
to the king.

Flateyjarbók has spjótit ‘the spear’ here and in the next sentence, though surely
it ought to be ‘the arrow’. Hrokkinskinna does not say what weapon is used.
1hemings þáttr

17‘Again I have made arrangements for your travel, if you want to go to
the mainland.’The king answers: ‘We shall stay here today.’And when the drinking period was ended, then the king summons themoutside and they go down to the sea. Then the king came to talk to Halldórr
Snorrason.
‘I intend you to beat Hemingr at swimming today.’Halldórr replies: ‘That would be beyond those who are more capablethan I.’
Then he calls on Bǫðvarr Eldjárnsson to do it. He answers:‘Though I had the accomplishments of all the people that are here, yet I
would not trouble him at all, and least of all when I know that I am inferior
to him in every way.’
Then the king spoke to Nikulás Þorbergsson: ‘You shall compete with
Hemingr at swimming.’
Nikulás answers:‘I do not know how it will go, but I can try if you wish.’The king summoned them both to swimming. Hemingr spoke:‘I do not need to hold back now, for it is with him I would most like tocompete if I had to with anyone.’Now they get undressed and go swimming. Then Nikulás asked: ‘Shall
we compete at ducking or at distance swimming?’‘There will be an opportunity,’ he says, ‘to compete at ducking when you
have first beaten me at the other.’
Then Hemingr swam off away from the shore. Nikulás then asks, when
they had swum for a long time:‘Do you not think we should turn back?’
Hemingr answers: ‘Further on I guess that you in-laws of the king would
like to make your turning point.’
He swims on as before. Nikulás swims on a little while after and asks alittle later:‘Are you determined to swim further?’He answers: ‘I would have thought you were capable of going on yourown, even if you wanted to go back to the shore, but I am going further.’‘I think that is a good idea. I shall have a go at turning back.’
Nikulás turns back at that point and has not swum far before his swimming
weakened, and the point is reached that Hemingr swims over to him andasks how his swimming is going.’‘That’s nothing to do with you. You can go on your way.’
Hemingr answers: ‘I would have thought that was what you deserve. But
yet we may as well now both help each other along together.’‘I shall not oppose that,’ says Nikulás.

18

hemings þáttr

‘Hold onto my back now and support yourself like that.’
And thus they carry each other to land. Nikulás himself goes up ashore andhad got very stiff, but Hemingr sat down on a stone out at the tideline. The
king asks Nikulás how it had gone with the swimming. Nikulás answers:‘I would have brought no tidings ashore if Hemingr had not been more
decent to me than you.’‘Now you, Halldórr, must overcome Hemingr.’‘That I will not do,’ says Halldórr. ‘It seems to me that the one has achievedvery little that previously competed at swimming.’
The king threw off his clothes. But Áslákr goes to see Hemingr and says:‘Be off,’ he says, ‘and save yourself. Now the king wants your life. But it
is only a little way to the wood,’ says Áslákr.
Hemingr answers: ‘Face to face shall eagles claw each other. But the onethat God wishes to raise cannot be sunk. Let him come when he wishes.’
Then Hemingr rose from the stone [and leapt into the water], and the king[did the same] in a different place. And when they meet, then the king swims
at him and forces him under the water. Then the others saw nothing of theirencounter but the sea getting so rough above them. Then the evening began
to close in and when it was not long to nightfall, then the sea grows calm
and the king swims to land. He was so angry-looking that no one dared to
speak to him. The king was given dry clothes. But none of them saw Hemingr
and they all thought him dead, but no one dared to ask. The king goes backhome, and his men. There was little merriment there with the drinking. The
king was depressed by anger, but Áslákr was depressed by grief. Lights werekindled in the hall and the king [was] come to his seat.
Then Hemingr goes into the hall before the king and lays a knife on his
knees, the one that the king had been wearing on his belt. They all assumed
that he must have taken the knife off him.
Now the night passed, and in the morning, then Áslákr speaks with the king.
‘We have made arrangements for your departure, if you wish to leave.’
The king says: ‘Now we shall not stay. But Hemingr will come with us
to the mainland.’Now they set out and cross to the mainland. They landed by a great
mountain. It fell steeply down to the sea’s edge there, and there was a way
up if one went on foot along the side and there lay a single track path there
and a precipice below and a high mountain above, and there was no moreof a ledge than would take one man riding along.
The king answers: ‘Now you shall entertain us with your skiing.’
Hemingr says: ‘It is not a good time for skiing, for,’ he says, ‘there is nosnow now and there are sheets of ice and the ground is very hard on themountain.’hemings þáttr

19

The king replies: ‘It would be no test of skiing if conditions were all attheir best.’‘As you wish.’Hemingr put on skis and slides over the slope alternately up or down andthey all say that no one had they seen anyone ski with such agility. He slides
up to the king and speaks:‘I would like to stop skiing now.’
The king says: ‘You shall not do it more than just this once. You shall now
go across here up onto the mountain and ski down, and take care that you
stop yourself if you can out on the edge of the cliffs.’
Then says Hemingr: ‘If you want my death, then you do not need to put
it off.’‘If you will not do as I ask,’ says the king, ‘then you shall meet your death.’‘There will not be much postponement of my death for me in that. Yet
everyone is obliged to extend his life [as long as he can]. So that is what I
shall do too.’Áslákr goes to the king and offers all his possessions for Hemingr to bethen less threatened by death than before. The king said he did not want
his money.
‘Moreover he shall not be pushed further, but he shall undertake this run,’says the king.
Hemingr said no one was to try to get him off. He goes off away from therest. Oddr Ófeigsson [goes] with him and speaks:‘This is a bad farewell to a good fellow, and I shall demonstrate to you
in one matter that I wished that you might live. I have here a linen cloth
which has long ago been the holy Stephen’s cloth. I shall put this round you,for I know of no kind of living creature that has died that has had the clothround itself. But if you slide down over the cliff and die, then I will think
the cloth no better than any other cloth. But if you are granted life, even if
we do not meet each other, yet you must take good care of it, because I am
not making a gift of it to you.’He replies: ‘It may be that you will not be properly rewarded, but it shallnot be worse than nothing.’
Now they part for the time being. No one knew what had passed between
them. The king goes out onto the cliff-edge, and all his men. The king had ona red cloak with ties and a spear in his hand. He undoes the pin from the cloak
and leans over on the blade of the spear. Nikulás Þorbergsson stood at his backand held him by putting his arms round his middle, and so on one behind theother. So Hemingr goes up onto the mountain and puts on his skis and slides
down over the mountain. He went so fast that it was incredible. He was neverthrown about so much that the skis did not end up beneath him. And next he20hemings þáttr

comes down there where they were and he pushes down on the ski poles when
he comes out to the cliff-edge and leaps up in the air. The skis run forward fromunder him. He gets his feet under him on the edge of the cliff. He is rocking
violently. He grabbs at the king’s cloak, but the king ducks his head down
and throws his cloak off to the front. Then Hemingr flies down over the cliff.
The king spoke: ‘Now parted here the doomed and the undoomed.’
Oddr answers: ‘It would not have been the case that you would both havegone the same way, even if you had both died.’‘What lodging place do you foresee for each of us?’ says the king.
‘I would like,’ says Oddr, ‘to go to the lodging place that I think is preparedfor Hemingr. But I think that Christ must not wish the devil to be so pleased
with you as to receive you this evening.’‘I could not grant you less,’ says the king, ‘than for you to get to that good
lodging place that Hemingr has come to.’
Then he tells them to take him and throw him down over the cliff. Then
Halldórr Snorrason replies:‘Either all we Icelanders will now die, or else none of us. And yet we allof us intend to have something as payment for us.’‘This shall be done for your sake, Halldórr,’ says the king, ‘that Oddr may
go from me and be in peace this winter, and go to Iceland in the spring. But assoon as Oddr is away, then I shall make him an outlaw throughout Norway.’
Oddr answers: ‘What is past must be put up with. But it does not seem to
me to be a bad thing that we should part.’
Now Oddr is off straight away. Now the king goes on to where a banquet
has been prepared for him, and he stays there for the time being. But thisis to be told about Oddr, that he went out to Iceland in the summer, and hewill come into this account later.
Now it is to be told about Hemingr that he flew down over the cliff. But
it happened for him as happens for others that jump [out off cliffs], that all
his clothes billowed out from him. Now the cloth blows out and drifted into
the cliff and catches on a boulder, and there he hangs and is unconscious.
And when he came to, then he was filled with panic and fear, and as his
awareness increased, then the fear was drawn out of his breast. Then hespoke on his own to himself:‘How can it have so turned out that I should be stuck here? But it will not
be any more trouble for God to let me get away than to let me be come here
unscathed. Now I will make a vow and promise all my possessions, that ishalf of all the wealth in Torgar. This wealth shall be divided into three thirds:
I shall give one to the holy King Óláfr. The second third shall be donatedto pilgrims on the road to Rome and to people in need, and the third I shallgive to the holy Stephen, and this money I shall put out for interest until Ihemings þáttr

21

find Oddr Ófeigsson. And I intend for myself to go on pilgrimage to Rome,
if God is willing that I should get away from here and be present as close to
the king’s death as he thought himself to be to mine just now.’
It was now the darkest night when he sees a great light come above him
and he sees a man walking along the cliff top. This man takes hold of hishand and and pulls Hemingr up onto the cliff top, and he speaks with him.
‘Here is come Óláfr the Saint to meet with you, because I did not want you
to be destroyed in such a way that King Haraldr’s responsibilities would be
increased by it. But you must carry out your vow and go on pilgrimage toRome. But if you you come across strangers, you must call yourself Leifr
while King Haraldr is alive. You shall be granted what you prayed for, thatyou will be involved when King Haraldr dies. But I do not think you will
be rewarding me properly for the gift of your life if you take a major part init. Now we shall part for the time being.’
Now Hemingr saw the king rise up in the air from him with the light. But
he sees a boat and rows out to Torgir. He goes to church and sees there many
candles burning and they were lying there in prayer, Áslákr and Bjǫrn.1 ThenBjǫrn spoke, when Hemingr came to the church doors:‘Father,’ he says, ‘a great miracle! Here is come my brother Hemingr.’
Hemingr answers: ‘This is no miracle, because I am alive just as it seems
to you.’And he tells them everything that had happened. They become more
pleased than words can express. Hemingr stayed there in secret over the
winter. And in the spring he divided up his wealth as he had vowed. Afterthat Hemingr went to England and took with him the third part of his wealthwhich belonged to the holy Stephen and arranged for it to be taken care ofthere while he went on pilgrimage to Rome.
Of Oddr Ófeigsson
In England at this time there was the king who was known as Játvarðr theGood, son of Aðalráðr. He had no child. Leifr went to see him and the kingwelcomed him. And when he had been there a while, then he sent word
secretly to Oddr Ófeigsson that he should come to see him as soon as hecould. And as soon as Oddr heard this news he gets his ship ready andsails first to Orkney and so to England and there meets Leifr in London.
And he welcomed Oddr, and he stayed there the winter. He had two bells
founded. He took charge of the wealth that Hemingr had given to the holy
Stephen to save his life, and also of the cloth, and Hemingr asked Oddr tohave a church built with it.2 But a little while before Oddr was ready [to12Here Flateyjarbók breaks off. The text continues from Hrokkinskinna.
i.e. with the wealth.

22

hemings þáttr

leave], then he was at a well-attended assembly that the king was holding.
There he saw a tall man in a cloak, a sword with gold fittings in his hand.
Oddr went up to this man and asked him his name, and he said his namewas Aðalbrigt. Oddr spoke:‘Where did you get these fine things, the sword and the cloak? For I knowthat my brother owned these things and he travelled from Iceland on a shipand nothing has been heard of him since.’
He says he had bought the things. Leifur went up and said:‘You will have to tell the truth, for the king has a sword that is called
Skírteinn (Proof), and you shall be struck with it. And it has this nature thatit causes the death of any man that lies, but on the man that tells the truth it
causes no wound. Adalbrigt answers:‘It will cause a wound on me, then, for there were many of us on board
ship and we captured a ship and the crew defended themselves bravely, andwe murdered them all, and I do not deny this, that I was the death of theman you are speaking of; and I commit myself to God’s hands and yours.’
Oddr spoke: ‘I do not wish to have your life, but the king has the power
to decide whether you may stay in this country. But you shall pay me ahundred marks in pure silver.’
Adalbrigt gladly agrees to this. After that Oddr sets off and received many
honours from the king and Leifr. He sails out to sea. A storm forces him
to Norway and they reach a harbour there that is called Eikundarsund andlay there a few nights. Late one evening King Haraldr came there with fiveships. The king got to know that Oddr was come there. It was now dark in
the night. The king then has his ships berthed in the sound round outside
Oddr’s ship and had the ships tied together there. But he himself had a tent on
shore, so Oddr was trapped in between. The crew became uneasy. Oddr said:‘Do not be uneasy, for I am telling you the truth, that Hemingr is alive andhe had got in greater danger than we are in, and we shall look for safety forourselves to where he did, to almighty God. And I will vow this, to have achurch built at Melr, as I have been asked, and I shall endow it with money
and set up a foundation there and give for it all the goods that are on board
here. You must all promise something too.’And so they did, and when that was done then the wind dropped. Oddr thentold them to weigh the anchors and hoist the sail. Then a bit of wind gets up.
Those that are on shore laugh and they asked if Oddr was planning to sailoverland or out over the ships. Oddr steers out onto the cables between theships and sails out to sea and brings his ship into Miðfjǫrðr and went home
to Melr and had a church raised raised there and it was dedicated to the holy
Stephen. And the cloth that Hemingr had round himself is still there today.1
1

i.e. probably in the late thirteenth century.

hemings þáttr

23

Now the story must be taken up where the earl was ruling Northumberland
who was called Guðni. He was married to Þorgils sprakaleggr’s daughter
Ingiríðr. She was King Sveinn Úlfsson of the Danes’ father’s sister. Guðni had
many children. His son was called Haraldr, the second Tósti tréspjót (Wooden
Spear), the third Mǫrukári, the fourth Valþjófr. His daughter was called Veigerða.
One autumn King Játvarðr rode to Skarðaborg and received a banquet
from Jarl Guðni. The king invited Haraldr to visit him and he accompanied
the king and when he got back home the king assigned him a place in thesecond high seat next to Leifr.
‘He knows most skills and he shall teach them to you.’
Leifr did all he could to teach Haraldr skills, and he alone knows all about
Leifr’s life in England. And when five winters were passed, the only thingthat Haraldr lacked of skills compared with Leifr was that he was less strong.
And when Haraldr demonstrated his abilities before people, then everyone
was amazed about where he could have have learned such arts, for no one
knew that Leifur knew so many skills.
Haraldr was then eighteen winters old1 when he went from England west
to Valland2 with twelve ships. Robert Rúðujarl was ruler there. He had ason who was called Vilhjálmr and was known as Bastard. He was greater insize than very many other men. Vilhjálmr was married to a woman who wascalled Móǫld. Their sons were these, Heinrekr and Róbjartr, a most civilised
and tall man. Vilhjálmr invited Haraldr to stay with him, and he was there
during the winter. And in the spring they entered a partnership together withregard to present and future acquisitions, and also whichever of them camein for or inherited territorial power, it was to belong to both of them. Andeach of them was to provide the other with support in all undertakings andeach to avenge the other as if he was his brother. So they went on raids withfive and twenty ships, and they kept up this activity for six seasons. Haraldr
was the more popular of the two.
Heinrekr was the name of a jarl of Glotesti in England. His son was
called Helgi, a tall man and strong. He was a sensible man and ambitious.
He gathers an army together and raids on King Játvarðr’s realm. The kinggathers an army against him. The man who led the king’s army was called
Jón. They meet by Bónólfr’s Stone, and there a fierce battle takes place andthe jarl was victorious and Jón fell. So the men that fled went to see the king.
Then the king puts in charge of the army the leader who was called Ótti.
He was son of Birgir Berti’s Champion. He takes the army against the jarl.
Here begins a lacuna in Hrokkinskinna. The next part of the text is supplied
from various late manuscripts derived from Hrokkinskinna when it was complete.
2
i.e. ‘to the west of France’ or ‘to France in the west’ (from the standpoint of
Norway or central France), though Valland may mean Normandy here.
1

24

hemings þáttr

They meet at Hrútsserkr. They fight for two days. Ótti fell there, but the jarlsubjected the country to himself. The king hears of this. He sent men forboth Haraldr Guðinason and Leifr, and meanwhile assembles a force. The
messengers came to see Haraldr and tell him what the king had said. Haraldr
tells Vilhjálmr that he wants to give support to the king. Vilhjálmr replies:‘I am not parting from my army.’
Haraldr answers: ‘Then we must divide up our wealth and troops.’
Vilhjálmr answers: ‘You can go if you like. But there is going to be nodivision of wealth.’
Haraldr answers: ‘There shall be either the one or the other, that we shalldivide the wealth, or else we shall both go to fight.’
It turned out in the end that the division of wealth took place. It is said
that there came to be too much friendliness between the pair, Haraldr andQueen Móǫld, and when Vilhjálmr accused Haraldr of this, he denied it. And
afterwards Móǫld and Haraldr adopted this scheme, that he asked for Móǫld
and Vilhjálmr’s daughter’s hand in marriage. And this was decided, that heshould be betrothed to her before he went to England and their wedding was
to be in Rúða in twelve months time, and they parted now as friends forthe time being. Haraldr makes for England and goes to see King Játvarðr.
The king now gathers an army together and marches against Jarl Heinrekr
and they meet by the river that is called the Lodda, and there immediately
takes place there a very fierce battle. The king had arranged that Haraldr
should attack the jarl from the rear with his men. And when the battle had
been going on for a little while, Haraldr came with a huge number of men
behind the jarl’s battle line, and there were a lot of casualties there. And
next flight breaks out among the jarl’s men, and this jarl is captured and ahundred men with him. Afterwards the jarl was killed, and thirty men withhim, while others were made slaves.
A certain farmer went before the king and spoke:‘Here is one man, young
and strong, him I would like you, lord, to give to me, and I will make him
my slave.’
The king answers: ‘He looks to me as though he is scarcely one for you to
get the mastery of. So if he runs away, then you shall pay for it. But if you
get no work out of him, then bring him back to me.’
The farmer said he had no fear of not being able to bow his spirit. Afterthat they went back home. The farmer spoke to this man:
‘We shall make a good bargain with each other: I shall treat you well, andyou will work hard.’
The newcomer answers: ‘I am not going to work.’
The farmer spoke: ‘You shall be put in a room on your own and be starved
to death there if you will not work.’hemings þáttr

25‘You can do as you please about that,’ said Gestr (the newcomer).
The farmer puts him in a room and starves him all the time. He beats Gestr
so that he can hardly walk, and sometimes he flogs him so that blood lay on
the floor. Sometimes he offers him money to get him to work. Gestr refused
that. So on one occasion Gestr spoke to the farmer:‘Stop torturing me to make me work, for I tell you once and for all that you
will not make me into a slave like that along with all your other workmen.’
The farmer answers: ‘Then I shall take you to the king.’
Gestr answers: ‘The king shall not make a slave of me any more than you
have, though he may have more of a chance than you.’
The farmer answers: ‘You will also have good treatment from him.’‘I had intended,’ says Gestr, ‘not to ask many favours of you, but I would
like to be able to decide at what time we shall come before the king.’
The farmer agrees to this. Gestr said:‘Then it shall be on Christmas Day when the king is going to High Mass.’
And that is what they do. The farmer greets the king and spoke:‘Here is the man you gave me in the autumn, and I cannot make a slaveout of him, for it is easier to soften a hard stone than his heart.’
The king spoke: ‘Kill him then.’Gestr spoke: ‘I am entitled to have a truce for today.’
The king goes on to church. Gestr spoke:‘Go home, farmer, and be pleased if we part without more ado.’
And when Mass had been sung, then Gestr goes before the king and spoke:‘I am told that you grant everyone a truce for Christmas, even if you haveserious charges against him.’
The king spoke: ‘You may have a truce if someone will stand surety foryou.’
Gestr goes into the hall with the king and goes up to Hemingr and asks
him to guarantee his truce with the king, and he does that, he obtains a truce
for Gestr on over the Christmas period. So when the Christmas period wasover, then Gestr asked Hemingr for help for himself. Hemingr answers:‘I cannot wholeheartedly plead for you if I do not know who you are.’Gestr says: ‘If there is little hope of your giving me help while you do not
know, then there will be no hope after you find out what kind of man I am.’Hemingr answers: ‘I would not help you if you think yourself too goodto tell me who you are.’Gestr spoke: ‘You shall have your way, but I am called Helgi, son of Jarl
Heinrekr, and I exchanged arms with my shield bearer during the flight andhe fell and they thought they had killed me.’Hemingr goes before the king and asks for Gestr the right of abode in the
country and the king grants this for his sake.

26

hemings þáttr

Now as time passes King Játvarðr gets sick in the first part of one winter, andhe is confined to bed on over the Christmas period. After this he had a wellattended assembly called and had himself carried to the assembly, and said:[‘May this be clearly and without concealment understood by everyone,
the nature and condition of my illness and sickness, which is that I discoverand note that I am on the point of passing on as a result of it, on account of
which I would like this kingdom after me to be given proper supervisionand good government. Therefore, since here in my kingdom I know of noone available of your leading men better suited than Haraldr Guðnason, who
has been my follower for some time and turned out well in all difficulties,
and who has also become widely famed for his abilities and skills, in which
I believe him to be not inferior to most kings and leaders, so I appoint him
today to each and every royal status which I have previously among you
had and held, asking and instructing each and every one of you to grant andmake available to him royal rank and obedience as befits his rank and isappropriate to your submission.’
A little while after this the king died.]1
After the death of King Játvarðr, Haraldr Guðnason succeeded to the
kingdom in England in the manner as is told in the saga of King Haraldr
Sigurðarson. It also says there that Tósti and other brothers of HaraldrGuðnason wanted to share power in England with him and did not get it.
Then Jarl Tósti went to Denmark to see his kinsman King Sveinn, and he
was welcomed there. Tósti asked King Sveinn whether he has some claim
to power in England. The king answers:‘I do not deny that I thought I had. But it seems to me to have turned out
very well now that my kinsman King Haraldr rules there, for we are cousins.’
Tósti answers: ‘Many people in that country and his council say this, that
I and my brothers possess a third of the land.’The king answers: ‘Then it does not seem to me that Haraldr is sole kingin England if you possess one third.’
Tósti spoke: ‘What I want is that if you would like to go to conquer theland, I and my brothers will give you help and all our support if you wish
to be in charge, on condition that if we conquer the land you shall make us
kings over the country. We will pay you tribute and put the country at yourdisposal if you ever need it.’
The king answers: ‘I must consider my reply to this.’And he said he was to stay with him over the winter. Tósti wanted to know
the outcome of his mission as soon as possible. It happened on one occasionin the autumn when the king was riding round his banquets, and Tósti with
1
The passage in square brackets is supplied from AM 326c 4to. It appears to be a lateinvention to fill part of the gap in Hrokkinskinna, the text of which resumes at this point.

hemings þáttr

27

him—it was while they were resting out by a bridge and eating—the kinghad a sheepdog that was travelling with him. The dog was given a small loafof bread. The dog runs onto the bridge and sees his reflection in the waterand it seems to him that another dog was down there and that he has anotherloaf in his mouth. He leaps out from the bridge and dives into the water andthought he would get the loaf off the dog. Now when he got into the water,then he loses everything, and so went back to the bank with nothing. The
king spoke to Tósti:‘Did you see how my dog got on just now?’
Tósti spoke: ‘I wasn’t watching very closely.’
The king spoke: ‘The dog thought he saw another dog in the water, withbread in his mouth, and thought he would be able to take the loaf off him,
but he was jumping at his own reflection and brought neither loaf to thebank. Thus, I know, it will happen to me if I now go to England, then I
will be seeing my reflection, and even if I manage to get back here, thenit may be that King Haraldr will be here first and then I shall not keep thiskingdom. I shall now give you a decision on your business, that I shall notcome to England, because in Denmark shall I be king as long as God wills,
for it behoves me now never to covet more. But you, Tósti, can go to King
Haraldr. And that is what he did.
The autumn before Tósti came to Norway Steigar-Þórir dreamed a dreamand told his men and asked them to interpret it. He said that he dreamed hewas present at an assembly that King Haraldr was present at. He was sitting
on a seat so large that it reached over the whole of Norway, and the king was
so large that he extended out over the seat in all directions. I dreamed a man
went up to him and kissed him. And I dreamed that such a big fly flew out of
this man’s mouth into the king’s mouth, like a raven. Thereupon I dreamed
that a raven’s beak grew upon the king. With this beak I dreamed that hestruck the head of everyone that was at the assembly except for us men of
Steig. I dreamed that from this many died, but everyone suffered from it. Then
I was afraid that he would strike us men of Steig. At that point I awoke. Now
I shall myself interpret it. When we were present at an assembly and the kingwas sitting on a seat, this was his throne. And when he extended out overthe seat in all directions, so his ambition extends out in all directions fromhis realm. And where I dreamed there was a raven’s beak on him, then I am
afraid that he will come to face a raven’s beak1 and the raven will drink his
blood. Where I dreamed he was striking men’s heads with his beak, I guess
it will fall on their heads so that many will meet their deaths because of it,
but yet it will go worse for those that are with him. But we men of Steig are
not going to accompany him.’
1i.e. die in battle and be attacked by birds of prey.

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hemings þáttr

. . . learned1 from reliable people that there is a different king over England.
Now in the Christmas period when . . . comes . . . [I would therefore be] most[happy] for you to have this power. Tósti now also demanded the same fieffrom Haraldr as from Sveinn if the land was conquered. Tósti tells him alsothat King Sveinn would not accede to his demands. The king says that heshall take counsel with his men as to how this shall be responded to. Tósti
now stayed with the king over the winter.
Earlier that winter King Haraldr had sent Þórarinn Nefúlfsson and Hjǫrtr eastto Hólmgarðr to fetch the goatskin that he had left behind there with Queen
Ellisif, as was told above, and they were not to come back unless they got theskin and the valuables that were in it. They came back when Tósti had beenwith the king a short while. Hjǫrtr went before the king and greeted him andsays that Ellisif greeted the king, but he was so involved with his talk with Tósti
that he takes no notice of those that had arrived. Then Hjǫrtr spoke a verse:
Grabs gold,
the ruler, hard in heaps,[Sýr’s] son2
gives small coin;little land should
Dangle-skin3 have;then would to [us] warriors
Haraldr reply.
‘How little?’ says the king.
‘No more,’ says Hjǫrtr, ‘than you could lie on.’The king smiles, and asks: ‘How has it gone, Icelander?’4Hjǫrtr spoke:
There is a white goatout in the yard;
he leers with his eyes,
has a big beard.
He stamps his hooves,wants to snatch children.
This nanny-goat’s son
wants to cause trouble.5

Hrokkinskinna breaks off after a few more lines (down to footnote no. 4), witha very abbreviated text. The remainder of the story is from the Hauksbók version,
beginning with a copy of a now lost leaf of Hauksbók.
2
Haraldr’s father Sigurðr was nicknamed Sýr (‘sow’). See Two Icelandic Stories 86.
3‘Laf-Hamðir’: apparently an insulting name for Tósti, who is asking Haraldr forland to rule over.
5
This stanza is said to be a nursery rhyme.
1hemings þáttr

29

The king told them to have the wealth brought in. Then the goatskin isbrought in before the king. Then he asks whether she had remained silent,
who had handed over the money. Þorarinn said she had made no comment.
The king said:‘Then he must be asked, that is more truthful. What have you to say,Hjǫrtr?’He answers: ‘This I say, that she spoke a verse.’
The king spoke: ‘How did it go?’Hjǫrtr said:
He will not this springwest with warships,
cowardly, over the sea
Haraldr sail.
So the paralysed kingwill be for longlacking all,both England and glory.
Then Tósti said: ‘This is a prophecy, they are asking you to go to England.
Is there no likelihood of your going there?’
The king [answers]: ‘You shall go to the shrine of the holy King Óláfr andyou shall swear an oath that you will tell the whole truth about the forces[of the king of the English] and then I shall raise an army to go abroad toconquer England. But I insist on having sole command of the army.’
Tósti said he would swear the oaths. ‘But if for any reason yourexpedition is broken off, then these oaths will be on your head.’
The king said it should be so. After that the king sends letters all over
Norway and summoned out a full levy. Then Eysteinn orri (Heathcock),son of Þorbergr Árnason, came to the king and then was betrothed toMaria, daughter of King Haraldr and Ellisif, daughter of King Jarizleifr ofHólmgarðr. Her mother was Ingigerðr, daughter of King Óláfr the Swedish.
Nikulás Þorbergsson was at this time an official in the most northerly
assembly district in Hálogaland. This army all assembled at Sólundar.
There was come there the king and Jarl Tósti and more than fifty landed
men.1 And one morning, while the king was waiting for a favourable wind,
he told Tósti of a dream he had had, in which he dreamed that a man cameaboard his ship and he thought he recognised there his brother King Óláfr.
‘He looked very angry,’ he said, ‘and he spoke a verse:’
For the renowned king, the stout one [St Óláfr],most victories brought glory.
1

Landed men were men holding land in fief from the king.

30

hemings þáttr

When I fell to the earth I was in state of grace,
not having ventured out from my own dominions.
I fear for the king’s final undertaking;I feel that your fate awaits you:
You will provide its fill to the greedy troll-wife’s horse [wolf];
This expedition does not have God’s blessing.
Tósti replied: ‘It won’t have been King Óláfr who recited the verse, butrather I suspect it was the sorcery of the Englishmen.’‘I am convinced,’ says the king, ‘that no one is so skilled in magic thatthey can assume the form of King Óláfr.’‘A good man was King Óláfr,’ says Tósti, ‘and yet magicians haveappeared in the forms of men who are no less holy than he.’The king answers: ‘I will go with you to England to try to bring about apeaceful reconciliation, but for no other purpose.’
Tósti answers: ‘The oaths will fall on your head if you dismiss the levy.’
The king says: ‘I shall not put myself in danger of that.’
It is said that when the king was sailing out past Þrándheimr, and he [waslying at . . .] a man [rowed out] to his ship in a boat and asked the king tosail to land and help his sick wife. The king asked what sickness she had.
The husband said that she had fallen asleep near a [certain] spring [andwoke to find] that she felt a sort of [swelling] in her mouth.
‘And since then she continually wants to drink water.’
The king says that the ship is to sail to land. ‘And then you will realisethat you have not got a proud king, though he be called hard and mean.’
The king goes ashore, and the poet Þjóðólfr with him. They come to thewoman and the king ordered that the woman should be carried to the same
spring where she contracted the sickness. He ordered that she should be turned
face downwards and put with her lips down to the stream. The king sat next toher and had a pair of forceps in his hand. He had a small fire lit by his side. The
woman wept bitterly and begged to be given a drink, but the king would notallow her to get any water. Then the cause of her suffering is forced up into her
throat. Then her mouth opens and a worm’s head comes out. The king took theforceps and took hold of the worm’s head and drew out of her a live worm andthrows it on the fire. Afterwards the woman is taken home and soon recovered.
Afterwards the king goes to his ship and sails south down the coast with thewhole of the army that had now joined him from the north of the country.
It is said that while the king was lying in Súlundar, there sailed in fromthe sea a ship from Greenland. In charge of this ship was a man who wascalled Líka-Loðinn (Corpse-Loðinn) because he had carried the corpses ofFinnr feginn (the Glad) and his crew from Finnsbúðir east of the glaciershemings þáttr

31

in Greenland at the request of King Óláfr the holy, for Finnr was the sonof Ketill kálfr (Calf) of Hringunes in Heiðmǫrk and King Óláfr’s sister
Gunnildr. They launch a boat and row to the king’s ship, and Loðinn greeted
the king. The king asked how long they had been at sea. Loðinn answers:‘Seven nights.’
The king asked: ‘Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?’Loðinn answers: ‘I don’t think now that there was anything exceptional.’
Then his companions turned the boat round. Then the king spoke:‘Your men don’t think you are telling the truth, so tell it now.’Loðinn answers: ‘When we had been sailing two nights away from land,
we saw a fire burning. It was so long that we could not see past either end. It
was dark like a flame. We had a very favourable wind and it was impossible tosail round it. I decided to sail into the fire at the place we had encountered it,
and where the flames were lowest. We [felt a great deal of] heat from the fireand both sheets [of the sail] were burned, and [we had to replace] the sheets
and the leeches [of the sail] with new Greenland cloth. And when we had
sailed [for three days, there appeared] a dark bank of cloud above our ship.
With it came such complete darkness that one couldn’t see one’s hands. Then
we heard a great crash and I looked up. The bank of cloud had then broken in
two and blood flowed from each [part] in a great cataract, and this stream ofblood came down into our ship, and I had [a cauldron] put underneath and theblood can still be seen here. It has now congealed since it cooled, for it was
warm when it came down. And when we had sailed another three days, weheard a great din. Then we saw a lot of birds flying, for which I know there
are names there in Norway. The ones that were [biggest] flew nearest to us.
They screamed and chattered with great joy. This flight lasted for three hours,
so that one could not see clear sky because of it, and yet they were never thesame [birds] flying. Afterwards we sailed for another whole day before wecame to land yesterday evening. Then we saw the same birds flying over thesea from the west [from the direction of England]. Now all the biggest birds
were missing. Now they all flew in silence and as if they were sorrowful.
And when they came to land they scattered and alighted each on its own.
Now I have no more to tell you.’
The king spoke: ‘You tried to conceal this from me, since you claimed
you had seen nothing.’Loðinn answers: ‘What I said was, lord, that I did not now think there was any-​
thing strange in this, since I know you have decided on an expedition abroad.’‘Why is that?’ said the king.
Loðinn spoke: ‘Because you will not return. It is to be expected that agreat omen should be seen before the death of such important men.’
The king spoke: ‘Will you go with me?’32

hemings þáttr

Loðinn replies: ‘You must decide, but I could fetch back the bodies of
those of your men who die.’[The king answers]: ‘I shall have a better choice of men while I am alive,
but you shall go for this reason, that you claim to know what will happen
on our expedition.’ Then the king spoke: ‘Don’t you think, Tósti, that thisis rather a remarkable thing?’
Tósti says: ‘If it had appeared before a reliable person then it would havebeen unusual.’Loðinn says: ‘It would be worth a lot that you, Tósti, should not tell morelies on your travels than I.’
The king gave Loðinn leave to depart.
The priest Hugi’s dream
There was a priest called Hugi who served at Avaldsnes on Kǫrmt. He
dreamed one night that he was looking into the churchyard and it seemed tohim that all the people that were buried there were up and about. They had
one man amongst them whom they were pushing away from themselves,and on the other side of the church they had another man, and this one
they were all pulling at. There came out from among them a woman who
approached the priest; she was naked. The priest asked what all the turmoil
there was about. She replied:‘A corpse is coming to the church this morning when the sun is in thesouth-east which neither party wants to receive. But one will be coming at
midday, which everyone wants to get hold of. But the corpse that comes
first I would like to be buried on the east side of the churchyard, but the onethat comes afterwards I would like to be buried to the north where the nave
and the choir meet, and there you will find a person’s bones, and I would
like these to be piled round the corpse on all sides, for they are my bones.’‘Tell me then,’ says the priest, ‘how will our king fare abroad?’
She replies: ‘He will fall.’
The priest asked: ‘Who will rule the kingdom then?’‘Fri[ð]leifr (Peaceful),’ she says.
‘How long will he rule?’ says the priest.
‘Seven winters and twenty,’ she says.
‘What will happen then?’ he says.
‘Styrlaugr (Strifeful) will come then,’ she says.
‘How long will he rule?’ says the priest.
‘Ten winters,’ she says.
‘What will happen then?’ he says.
‘Góðráðr (Good Ruler) and Góðvili (Goodwill) and Harðráðr (Harsh
Ruler),’ she says.

hemings þáttr

33‘Which of them will be the longest lived?’‘Harðráðr,’ she says.
‘How long will he rule?’ says the priest.
‘Five winters and twenty,’ she says, ‘but after him there will come to pass
many evil deeds. And now I shall not tell any further.’
The priest wakes up, and the corpses come during the day, just as she
said. And it was Óláfr kyrri (the Peaceful) there whom she called Friðleifr,
and Magnús berfœttr (Bare-Leg) where she named Styrlaugr, Eysteinn
where she named Góðráðr, and Óláfr where she named Góðvili, andJórsala-Sigurðr where it was Harðráðr. But God forbade that she shouldtell of the evil deeds which were done afterwards.
Haraldr harðráði lands in EnglandNow the story has to be taken up where King Haraldr sails to sea with hisarmy. First he came to Orkney, and left behind there his daughter Maria andmany other people. From there the king sails to England and they came toSkarðaborg. Then the wind dropped to a dead calm and they lay there forthe night. Men awoke at a chanting that was in the air, and it seemed to eachof them as if it were above his ship. They all looked up and saw a troll-wife
riding a wolf in the sky. She had a trough on her knees, full of blood andhuman limbs. She chanted these three verses:
It is certain that the king is eager
to go from the east westwards,
a rendezvous to make with many fine bones;
that is to my advantage.
There the corpse-grouse [raven] will pick out meatfrom Gjúki’s [sea-king] stem-horses [ships],
he knows he’ll find food enough.
I am always present there,
I am always present there.
Great mountains begin to fall;
sickness spreads among mankind;peace is destroyed, born
is enmity between lands.
I shall be called the weird [fate]
among you as among other nations,
singing sad laments.
The she-wolf swallows blood in the south,
The she-wolf swallows blood in the south.

34

hemings þáttr

The killer makes the red shield shine
when battle draws near.
The wife of Aurnir’s offspring [troll-wife]
sees clearly misfortune awaiting the king.
The swarthy lady takes away
men’s blood1 with her chops.
The ferocious woman colours
The wolf’s mouth within with blood,
The wolf’s mouth within with blood.
The king asked Tósti whether he is awake. Tósti answers:‘I was woken up by this chant.’
The king spoke: ‘Do you think all that meant anything?’‘Nothing,’ says Tósti.
‘Then you are dead in your heart,’ says the king, ‘for I have taken part inmany battles, and I never saw omens like these before.’
They reach land and go ashore there in the district called Kliflǫnd. The
king asks Tósti:‘What is that little hill called over there to the north of the area?’
Tósti says: ‘Not every hillock here is given a name.’
The king says: ‘But this one is sure to have a name, and you must tell me it.’Tósti says: ‘It is the grave-mound of Ívarr the Boneless.’
The king replies: ‘There are few who have conquered England who havecome across his grave mound first.’
Tósti says: ‘It is sheer superstition now to believe such things.’
They go ashore with the army, but some stay on guard by the ships.
The brothers Jarl Mǫrukári and Jarl Valþjófr and their brother-in-law Áki
gather an army together as soon as they hear about the army of Northmen.
They met at the river called the Ouse and there a very fierce battle begins
which continues until none (3 pm). By then Eysteinn had penetrated theEnglish lines and killed Áki the Tall. Then he sees that Mǫrukári has goneround to the rear of Tósti’s lines. Then he brings his own men round behindMǫrukári’s lines. And when the Jarl Mǫrukári sees this, he tells his men
to stand back to back and defend themselves well and valiantly. And in
the end his men broke into flight and they flee out into the river, and JarlMǫrukári is killed there with the greater part of his army. Many were also
drowned.
While this was going on King Haraldr had captured Jarl Valþjófr. Then
Tósti goes up to the king and spoke:‘Let the brothers go the same way.’1‘flesh’ in the version of the verse in Heimskringla.

hemings þáttr

35

The king answers: ‘You shall kill those that you capture, but I will decide
his fate.’
The king spoke to Valþjófr: ‘I will let you go free if you will swear neverto fight against me and to give me information the same day if you know of
any treachery being planned against me.’Valþjófr says: ‘I will not swear oaths and I will not save my life by nothelping my brother Haraldr as long as I can, but I will give you information
if I know of any treachery planned against you, and this I will do to save mylife. But I will not swear any oath, for it seems to me that Tósti is not going
to let me have much of my inheritance.’
The king set Valþjófr free to go wherever he wished. Tósti says:‘It is a foolish trick to let a man go free who thinks himself too good toswear you oaths.’
The king spoke: ‘I consider his word more reliable than your guarantee.’
Tósti spoke: ‘Let’s take our army to London and lay waste the country
with fire and sword and spare no one, neither women nor children.’This was done. And after that they return to their ships and sail south
down the coast and sail their ships up to Rafnseyrr. Then they find before
them in the villages neither people nor animals, so swiftly everything flees
away. And one day, when the king was lying in a certain harbour, then awoman rode from the land down to the shore and asked for the king of theNorthmen. The king told her who he was. She spoke:‘I have a land-tent that I want to give you.’Tósti spoke: ‘Accept the tent and have it burnt afterwards.’
The king spoke: ‘Burn what is given to you, but I haven’t noticed thatyour countrymen have been giving you any tokens of respect.’
He orders the tent to be erected. And everyone agreed that no one hadseen such a fine tent. The king asks what reward she desires for the tent.
She says: ‘I have two sons, and I would like to receive assurance that they
will both live.’
The king said that both her people and her property would be spared if heknew where it was. After that she rode away. So the king sleeps in the tent thatnight. And in the morning the king tells the poet Þjóðólfr that he thinks that
Tósti had been right when he said that the tent would not be free from sorcery.
‘For up to now I seem to have seen seven plans to meet every eventuality,
but now I don’t seem to have any idea what course to take.’Þjóðólfr answers: ‘We will nevertheless look at your counsels.’
The king spoke: ‘Our plans shall now be changed. We shall go ashorewith twenty hundreds of men, and sixty hundreds shall stay with the ships.
In charge of these shall be the brothers Eysteinn and Nikulás. Tósti shallgo with me.’36

hemings þáttr

What the king does is go ashore and burn and plunder. And when
he reaches the town that is called in York, then the citizens send him amessage, offering to surrender to him. They confirm this with oaths. The
king accepts their offer. Afterwards he returns to his ships. So the nextmorning he was to go ashore to install his men in charge of the city, and the
king stayed at the ships for the following night. And when morning came,the king prepares to go ashore to the city. They wear shields and helmets,
but no coats of mail, except for a hundred men who wore very light armour.
Tósti spoke:‘It is very inadvisable to go into the hands of one’s enemies almost unarmed,
for it will be no good trusting the English if they get you in their power, andthe housewife’s gift of the tent has not done you much good, king.’
The king spoke: ‘Are you afraid now, Tósti?’
He says: ‘I think it is much more to be feared that you have lost yoursenses than for poems to have been chanted at us.’
‘We shall nevertheless do as I say,’ says the king.
Tósti was so unpopular with the Northmen that no one would listen tohim. The same evening, as King Haraldr was going back to the ships withthe army of Northmen, King Haraldr Guðini’s son came up from the southof England with an overwhelming army to York, and there learned the true
facts about the Northmen. And when the citizens knew that the king wascome, then they broke all their promises to the Northmen and joined King
Haraldr’s army. And immediately the next morning the king moved hisarmy down to Steinfurða Bridge, which is now called Stamford, and soboth armies advanced on each other. King Haraldr Sigurðarson spoke:‘Is that a whirlwind or the dust from horses that can be seen up inland?’Tósti answers: ‘It is dust from horses for sure, and now you can see how
reliable the men of this country are.’
The king halts his army and waits, and soon sees that an overwhelming
army in full armour is advancing on them. At that moment a man came riding
up and asked for King Haraldr. He was told where he was. Tósti spoke:‘This is now my brother Valþjófr, so kill him.’
The king forbids this. Valþjófr rides up to the king and greets him andtells him to turn back as quickly as possible to his ships.
‘For my brother, King Haraldr, is advancing on you with an overwhelming
army and you have not the numbers to resist him, even if you were armed,
but even less as you are.’
The king spoke: ‘Farewell, Valþjófr, and stand by your brother well. You
have kept your word well.’
The king then asked what course they should take, and the majority asked
the king to go back to the ships for the rest of his men. The king answers:

hemings þáttr

37‘I have never yet fled without a battle, and I shall not do so now, for I do
not want to give the English the triumph of both chasing me and killing me.’Then he sends men to the ships to tell Eysteinn orri that he needs
reinforcements, and he has the trumpets blown and arranges his lines ofbattle. Then the English army also halts and arranges its lines. And there
was now little more than the distance of two arrow-shots between them.
And just then three men ride up to the ranks of the Northmen and asked
whether Jarl Tósti could hear what they said. One of them, the one who
spoke, was not a very big man, and slight in build, and most gentlemanlike,
and wore a gilded helmet and a red shield with a hawk painted on it in gold.
The second man was very big and strong-looking and a most fine figure of aman. The third was a tall man, slim at the waist and broad-shouldered. This
one rode last. Tósti told him to say what he wished. The horseman spoke:‘Your brother Haraldr has sent you God’s blessing and has offered you
terms of peace.’
Tósti says: ‘What further concessions does he offer now than before?’
The horseman says: ‘He considers you now deserve fewer concessions inview of what you have done against him.’
Tósti says: ‘We are not going to make up for that by paying compensation.
But what is his offer now?’
The horseman says: ‘He offered that you should have a fifth of England,
and his brother remain unatoned for. But the damage you have brought
about in the country, that he says he would compensate himself.’
Tósti says: ‘I do not accept these terms.’
The horseman spoke: ‘I shall not conceal what he said should be offeredin the last resort, which is that he would rather offer you half England thanthat you should fight it out in battle, and in addition [he offers you] thename of king.’‘What will he offer King Haraldr of Norway then?’
The horseman says: ‘Because he was not satisfied with his own kingdom,
then I shall give him the territory in England equal to three and a half ells in
length, or as much more as he is of more than average height.1 But he will
not get any more here, for I am under no obligation to him.’
Tósti spoke: ‘These offers have been made too late. But I have often heard
Northmen say that if good terms were offered me I would immediately
abandon their cause, but this is not now going to happen.’
The horseman spoke: ‘Then the king said that the whole responsibility
should be on your shoulders,’ and afterwards turns away.
King Haraldr Sigurðarson was riding on a horse with a black head and

The standard ell varied in the Middle Ages between approximately 48 and 57
cm. The viking ell is said to have been 46 cm. 3½ ells would then be about 5ft 3in.
1

38

hemings þáttr

a white mark on its forehead, and was giving directions about the battle
formation while this conversation was going on. While he was doing thisthe king’s horse stumbled under him three times in a row. The king spoke:‘Why do you do that, brother Óláfr?’ he says.
Tósti laughs and spoke: ‘Do you think that King Óláfr is causing yourhorse to stumble under you?’
He says: ‘I shall not have anyone else to thank for it more than you if heturns his favour from me.’
He dismounts and walks in among the ranks. The king spoke to Tósti:‘Who was that horseman who was speaking to you?’Tósti says: ‘My brother King Haraldr.’‘Why have you said this so late?’ says the king.
Tósti says: ‘I did not want to betray him when he came forward trusting
in my good faith.’[The king said:] ‘He is a courteous man and decent-looking, and hestands well in his stirrups, and yet he will not be ruler of lands for long. But
who was it on each side of him?’
Tósti says: ‘Helgi Heinreksson was one and the other is called Bíar-Leifr.’1‘I little expected this man to be here,’ [says the king,] ‘for I recognise theman, and I would not have brought an invasion over here if I had known
he was alive.’
Tósti says: ‘That is none of our business.’
Then King Haraldr Guðini’s son asked Leifr who the big man was whose
horse stumbled under him. Leifr answers:‘That was the king of the Northmen.’
The king says: ‘He is a fierce-looking man, and has the look of one who
has not long to live, for I guess that his days are now up.’
The king of Norway had arranged his line of battle so that those of his
men that had shields should stand in a circle and all face outwards.
‘But those that are without shields shall stand inside and strike theirblows out past the others.’
So when the two lines met, the Englishmen surrounded the formationof Northmen. Hemingr had revealed his name and everything that had
happened to him before he went into battle. Then the Englishmen raise
their battle-cry. Then King Haraldr Sigurðarson spoke a verse:
Let us go forward
against the phalanxes
under the dark blades
without byrnies.
1

In some versions Bæjar-Leifr, ‘Town-Leifr’; a variant of Hemingr’s pseudonym Leifr.

hemings þáttr

39

I have not mine,
but helmets shine.
Now our fine arraylies down at the ships.
‘That was not very good poetry,’ says the king, ‘and I will improve upon it.’
We do not crouch down behind
our curved shield before the clash
of weapons in the battle; so did
the discreet hawk’s land’s [arm’s] Hildr [lady] command;necklace-plate [woman] bade me long ago
carry helmet-support [head]high in metal-clash [battle]
where battle-ice [sword] meets skull.
King Haraldr Sigurðarson told his men not to fight recklessly, but to keep
in line and not panic. Then the English began the attack, but the Northmen
defended themselves so well that it didn’t get anywhere. Then King HaraldrGuðini’s son said to Helgi Heinreksson:‘What strategy shall we employ to break down their stand? For it is likely
they will soon be getting reinforcements from the ships, and then the attack
is not likely to go well, when it is not even succeeding now, while they have
only a small detachment of men.’‘We shall attack,’ said Helgi, ‘as bravely as we can, and if that is no good,then we shall retreat, and perhaps they will think we are fleeing. Then they
will break their ranks and chase us, and then we shall turn round againstthem again as quickly as possible.’
So they did this. And when the Northmen saw that they were turning away,
then they pursued them, and when the others turned back again, then they
were unable to get back into position again. The battle now became bloody.
But where they, King Haraldr and Tósti, were standing the attack was not
being very successful. Then King Haraldr Guðini’s son spoke to Hemingr:‘What good is the accuracy and effectiveness of your shooting, if you
don’t shoot the king, when only you can recognise him?’
Hemingr says: ‘I do not deny that I recognise him, but I dare not shoothim because of King Óláfr.’‘I don’t know,’ says King Haraldr, ‘what you came to the battle for if you
won’t do anything to help. Now you shoot so that I can see which is him,
because I am not afraid to shoot him because of King Óláfr.’Then Hemingr shoots at the king with a barbed arrow and it hit his cheekand the arrow fastened itself in the skin. The king immediately cut thearrow out. But because of this the king could easily be recognised. Then40

hemings þáttr

Haraldr Guðini’s son shoots King Haraldr in the throat. Then the king sits
down. He spoke to the poet Þjóðólfr:‘Come here and support my head. I have for a long time held up yourhead.’
Tósti went up to the king and asked if he was wounded. The king answers:‘A small piece of iron was sent me, and I presume it was not forged to no
purpose. I want you to agree to terms with your brother, but I will accept
the amount of the kingdom that was offered me this morning.’
Tósti says: ‘We shall both be the guests of the same fellow tonight.’
The king says: ‘Now you are speaking of the fellow whose hospitality
I wanted never to accept.’
And after that the king died. Then the Englishmen raise a cheer and saythat the king of the Northmen has fallen and they offer Tósti terms. Then
Tósti took hold of the standard and says that they will discover that not all
the leaders of the Northmen have fallen, ‘as long as I can fight.’
And Tósti kept the battle going for a while. Then Hemingr spoke:‘Why don’t you urge me to shoot now, lord?’
The king answers: ‘Because I don’t want to bring about the death of myown brother.’Hemingr answers: ‘It is strange that you are willing to let your men be cut
down, and I will send him a little present, if you do not forbid it.’
The king says: ‘I will not demand blood-vengeance, though harm should
be done him.’
Then Hemingr shoots Tósti in the eye. Then Tósti spoke, when the shot
hit him:‘This one marked me for God,’ and died immediately.
Then King Harold offers the Northmen quarter. At that moment Eysteinn
orri arrived and asked the poet Þjóðólfr what had happened there. Þjóðólfr
spoke:
Men have suffered heavy loss;
now I say the army has been caught.
On a vain journey Haraldr
has led men from the east.
So has ended the lifeof the valiant king that we all
are in a parlous state;
the famed king suffered life-hurt.
Eysteinn spoke: ‘Let us go forward bravely. We shall not spare ourselves,
even though we had intended the result of our expedition to be somethingother than our burial here.’hemings þáttr

41

They charged forward so hard that the whole of the Englishmen’s ranks
were forced to retreat. They tell the king that it was more than humanbeings they were fighting against now. The king answers:‘They are human, and they have got guts.’
When they had been fighting for a long time, then Nikulás spoke:‘We can’t keep up this attack for long for weariness.’
Eysteinn answers: ‘That is true. And so we shall resort to strategy. We
shall retreat to the forest, and the Englishmen will not bother much about
pursuing us, for they will be glad of any respite they can get. Then we shalltake off our armour and after that take up the attack again, and each of us
shall fight to win glory, but not to preserve our lives.’
Everyone said they were more than ready to do this. And so they carryout this plan. Then the English raise a cheer and offer the Northmen
quarter. Then Eysteinn charges forward with the Northmen and they saythat they will find that the Northmen have no wish to be spared. Then thebattle begins afresh. The Englishmen desert the king in their hundreds.
Nikulás Þorbergsson fights with Helgi Heinreksson, and Nikulás presses
him so hard that Helgi cannot do anything else but give ground and ward
off the blows. And Eysteinn orri directs his attack at the king and Valþjófr.
This battle was so hard, that the term ‘orrahríð’ (Orri’s storm) has always
been used since in England to describe a situation of great danger. Then
there is a great number of casualties, especially among the Northmen,
for they were without protection. Then Hemingr sees that Helgi has
been overcome by Nikulás. Then Hemingr shoots Nikulás in the lower
abdomen, so that it came out the other side. Then Nikulás and the poetÞjóðólfr and a great number of Northmen fell. Eysteinn kept the battle
going and got so near the king that he killed his standard-bearer. Hemingrsees this and shoots through Eysteinn’s armpit, piercing his heart, and hefell with great honour. All the Northmen who could manage it fled as soon
as Eysteinn had fallen. But the Englishmen did not pursue their flight.
Then King Haraldr rode to London with no more troops than five hundred
men. He appointed men to take the bodies of the men who had fallen, theNorthmen as well as his own men, to church. He also gave permissionfor Óláfr Haraldsson to sail from Rafnseyrr with all the Northmen who
survived.
Viljálmr Bastard
Viljálmr Bastard was ruling over Valland, as has been mentioned before. He
hears about King Haraldr’s invasion of England. He sends messengers allover his kingdom and summons to himself a great army. Then he addresses
them and says:

42

hemings þáttr

‘You are aware what became of the fellowship between me and HaraldrGuðini’s son. Now I hear that an army is invading his kingdom. I now
intend to go with this army here to avenge him if anything has happened tohim. Moreover, there will never be another time when it will be easier totake vengeance on Haraldr for the dishonour he has done me, and to stake
my claim to England, even if he has been victorious, for all his bravest men
will be wounded and battle-weary.’
Now on the day that Viljálmr rode out of Rúðuborg, then his queen went
up to him just as he had mounted his horse and took hold of his stirrup,
wanting to speak to him. But he drives his spurs into the horse and she falls
in front of the horse and the horse tramples over her and she was killed
instantly. He spoke:‘Evil happenings are portents of good to follow. It is very likely that our
expedition will turn out well.’After that they board ship and sail to England, and he starts to ravage the landas soon as he enters the country. It is said that he had Ívarr the Boneless crematedbefore he began to plunder. King Haraldr hears about this and summons his
men together. His people were just now in the worst condition. The king tells
them to clear out of the country if they thought themselves unable to support
him, but they all said they wanted to support him. The king says:‘You will be handing me over [to our enemies] if you don’t support meloyally.’
They said they would never desert him. He advances with his army
against Viljálmr and a fierce battle takes place there. This was nineteennights after King Haraldr Sigurðarson fell. There are many casualties thereamong the Englishmen, for there were many took part in the battle thatwere not fit for anything. They fight the whole day, and in the evening King
Haraldr Guðini’s son fell. But they, Hemingr and Helgi and Valþjófr, getinto a wedge-shaped formation and here their opponents are making noheadway. Then Viljálmr spoke:‘I will spare you, Valþjófr, if you will swear me an oath of loyalty. Then
you may keep your inheritance and your jarldom.’Valþjófr says: ‘I won’t swear you any oaths. But I will promise to be true
to you, if you will do as you say.’‘We shall make peace on these terms,’ said Viljálmr.
Valþjófr asked: ‘What terms shall Hemingr and Helgi have, if they makepeace?’
Viljálmr answers: ‘Helgi shall keep his inheritance and jarldom. He shallswear loyalty to me, and advise me on all matters about which he can see
more clearly than I. And Hemingr shall stay with me, and if he is true to me,then I shall honour him most highly.’hemings þáttr

43Valþjófr asks: ‘What do you both want to do?’Helgi answers: ‘Let Hemingr decide.’
Hemingr answers: ‘I know that you Englishmen must think it about time
to bring an end to all this warfare, but I shall take no pleasure in life after thisbattle. But nevertheless I will not force you to risk your lives any longer than
you wish. But it is my opinion that the truce will be short-lived for Valþjófr.’Valþjófr answers: ‘It is better for us to be overthrown than to refuse totrust anyone, and no more men shall die on my account.’
They give up the battle and accept a truce. Then Viljálmr was made kingand they rode thence to London. Valþjófr asked leave to go home and received
it, and rode away in a party of twelve. The king glanced after them and said:‘It is inadvisable to let a man ride off scot-free who refuses to swear us
oaths, so ride after him and kill him.’
And they did so. Valþjófr dismounted and forbade his companions to
defend him. He went to a church and was killed there and there he is buried.
And people think of him as a saint.
King Haraldr Guðini’s son healed
The night after King Haraldr Guðini’s son had fallen, then a certain peasantand his wife drove to where the dead lay to strip the dead and get themselves
some wealth. They see there great heaps of dead. They see there a bright
light. They discuss this together and say that there must be a saintly man
there among the dead. They now begin to clear away the corpses from
where they saw the light. They see a man’s arm lift up from among thecorpses and there was a large gold ring on it. The peasant took hold of thehand and asked whether the man was alive. He answers:‘I am alive.’
The old woman spoke: ‘Clear off the corpses: I think this is the king.’
They lifted the man up and ask if it is possible for him to be healed. The
king says:‘I do not deny that I could be healed, but you cannot do it.’
The woman spoke: ‘We shall have a go.’
They picked him up and put him in their cart and drive home with him.
The woman spoke:‘You must strip the flesh off the carthorse and cut off its ears. And if
anyone comes to you looking for the king’s corpse, then you must say that
I have gone mad, and that wolves have torn your horse to pieces.’
They cleanse the king’s wounds and dress them and keep him with themin secret. A little later King Viljálmr’s men come there and ask why he hadtaken King Haraldr home with him, whether he was alive or dead. The old
man answers:

44

hemings þáttr

‘I have not done that.’
They answered: ‘It’s no use denying it, for there is the trail of blood
leading to your pemises.’
The man says: ‘I am not at all concerned about the loss of your king. I am
more concerned about the loss of my carthorse, that wolves tore to pieces
the other night when the battle had taken place.’
They answered: ‘That is no doubt true, for we saw the horse here torn topieces. But even so we intend to go in here and find out what is going on.’The man spoke: ‘Misfortunes never cease to come upon me. My wife
went mad from hearing the trumpets and battle-cries.’
They insist on going in all the same. And when they get inside, there was
the old woman sitting by the fire eating coal. And when she sees the men,she jumps up and grabs a carving knife and swears and threatens to kill them.
They go out laughing at her and go home without more ado, and tell the kingthey cannot find King Haraldr’s corpse. But the old woman and her husband
heal the king in secret until he was better. Then the king sends the old woman
to Hemingr and she tells him where the king was. Hemingr says:‘I hope, grandma, that you know what you are saying now.’
The old woman answers: ‘I was not mad.’The next day Hemingr comes to the king and there took place there avery joyful reunion. They talk together the whole of that day. Hemingr
offers the king to go all over the country collecting an army together.
‘And you could soon get the kingdom back from Viljálmr.’
The king spoke: ‘I realise that this may be possible, but then too many
will become perjurers. And I don’t want so much evil to happen on myaccount. Now I am going to follow the example of King Óláfr Tryggvason,
who, after he was defeated off Vinðland, decided then not to return to his
kingdom, but instead went out to Greece and there served God as long as helived. Now I am going to have a hermit’s cell made for me in Kantarabyrgi,
where I shall be able see King Viljálmr as often as possible in the church.
And the only food I shall have is what you bring me.’Hemingr agrees to this. The king gives the old man and his wife asuitable reward, and afterwards goes into a hermitage. He stays there forthree years without anyone knowing who he is except Hemingr and thepriest that confessed him. And one day when Hemingr came to see Haraldr,
then he tells him that he has caught a sickness that will bring about his
death. And one day, when King Viljálmr was sitting at table, bells were
heard ringing all over the town. The king asks why such a fine peal is being
rung. Hemingr answers:‘I guess that a certain monk, who was called Haraldr, has died.’‘What Haraldr is he?’ says the king.

hemings þáttr

45‘Guðini’s son,’ says Hemingr.
‘Who has kept him hidden?’ says the king.
Hemingr answers: ‘I have done it.’‘If this is true,’ says the king, ‘then you shall die for it. But we shall lookat his corpse.’
After that he goes into the cell where the body lay. It was then stripped.
Everyone then recognised King Haraldr. The corpse was beautiful andpleasant to look at, and people smelt there a sweet smell, so that everyonepresent there realised that he was a truly saintly man. Then the king asked
Hemingr what he would undertake to do to earn a reprieve.
Hemingr asked: ‘What do you require me to do, king?’‘I want you to swear me this, that you will be as loyal to me in every way
as you have been to King Haraldr, and to serve me as you have done him.’
Hemingr says: ‘I would rather die with him than live with you. But I
could have betrayed you long ago if I had wanted to.’‘It is very true,’ said the king, ‘that England will be the poorer by one of
the bravest men if you are killed. Now I will offer to make you the noblest
baron in England, and to make you a member of my personal following,
and put you in sole charge of it; alternatively, if you do not want this, I will
give you an annuity of three hundred pounds every twelve months, and you
may live wherever you like in England.’Hemingr thanked the king for his offers and spoke: ‘I will accept youroffer to let me stay in England, but I have no desire to possess wealth fromnow on. But this request I make of you, that you will give me permission
and let me have this same cell, and in it I will end my days.’
The king was silent for a long time, and then spoke: ‘Because this request
is made with purity of intention, it shall be granted you.’Afterwards Viljálmr had the body of King Haraldr clothed in royal robes
and gave him a most fitting funeral. And he was buried with the greatest
honour. Soon after Hemingr entered the afore-mentioned cell and there
served God until his old age, and finally became blind, and he died in thathermitage.
And that is the end now of the story of Hemingr.

INDEX
Gjúki, a sea-king (in verse, in a kenning forAðalbrigt 22
ships) 33
Aðalráðr (Æþelred II) Játgeirsson (sonof Eadgar I), king of the English (978– Glotesti (Gloucester) 23
Góðráðr (Eysteinn Magnússon) 32, 33
1016) 21Góðvili (Óláfr Magnússon) 32, 33
Áki the Tall 34
Arnórr kerlingarnef (Crone’s Nose) 9. See Greece (Grecia) 44
Svaða þáttr ok Arnórs kerlingarnefs in Greenland (Græn(a)land) 30; Greenland
cloth (Grœnlenzka) 31
Flateyjarbók
Guð(i)ni (Guðini Úlfnaðrsson), English
Áslákr 9–16, 18, 19, 21
jarl (Earl Godwine son of Wulfnoð)Ásta Guðbrandsdóttir, mother of St
23Óláfr, married to Sigurðr sýr 9
Gunnildr, daughter of Sigurðr sýr, (half-)
Avaldsnes (Ǫgvaldsnes, on Kǫrmt) 32
sister of King Óláfr the Saint 31
Bíar-Leifr (Bæjar-Leifr, ‘Town-Leifr’) 38
Birgir Berti’s Champion (Bertakappi; or Hákon Magnússon, king in Norway(1093–94) 9
Breta-, ‘Champion of the British’?) 23
Halldórr, son of Snorri goði 9, 17, 18,Bjǫrn, son of Áslákr 9, 12, 13, 16, 21
20–22,
Bónólfr’s Stone (unidentified place in
Hálogaland, northern Norway 29
England) 23
Bǫðvarr son of Eldjárn Arnórsson 9, 17 Haraldr grenski, father of St Óláfr 10
Haraldr Guð(i)ni’s son (Guð(i)nason)
Christ (Kristr) 20,(Haraldr Godwine’s son), king of theDanes (Danir) 23,
English (died 1066) 23, 24, 26, 35–45
Denmark (Danmǫrk) 26, 27
Eikundarsund (Egersund), Jaðarr, south- Haraldr harðráði (the Harsh Ruler)
Sigurðarson, king of Norway (1046–
west Norway 2266) 9, 10, 26–29, 33, 36–42
Eldjárn son of Arnórr kerlingarnef 9, 17
Ellisif, daughter of King Jarizleifr 9n., Harðráðr (Jórsala-Sigurðr) 32, 33
Heiðmǫrk (Hedmark, district in eastern28, 29. Cf. Silkisif
Norway) 31
England 21, 23, 24, 26–31, 33, 34, 36,
Heinrekr, jarl of Glotesti 23–25
37, 41, 42, 45
Heinrekr, son of Viljálmr Bastard, kingEnglish, the 29, 34, 36, 37, 39, 41of the English (Henry I, son of William
Englishmen 30, 38, 40–43
the Conqueror, 1100–35) 23, 38
Erlingr Skjálgsson of Jaðarr 9
Eysteinn Magnússon, king in Norway Helgi son of Jarl Heinrekr 38, 39, 41
Hemingr Ásláksson 11–22, 25, 38–45(1103–23) 33
Eysteinn orri (Heathcock) (or Orri) Hjǫrtr Óláfsson 9, 28, 29
Hólmgarðr (Novgorod) 9, 28, 29
Þorbergsson 29, 34, 35, 37, 40, 41
Finnr feginn (the Glad), son of Ketill Hringunes (Ringnes) in Heiðmǫrk 31
Hrútsserkr (unidentified place in England)kálfr 30
24
Finnsbúðir (unidentified place in GreenHugi, a priest 32
land) 30
Iceland 20, 22
Framnes (Nord-Trøndelag, Norway) 12
Icelanders, Icelandic 9, 20, 28
Fri(ð)leifr (Óláfr kyrri) 32, 33
Gestr (‘the newcomer’), assumed name Ingigerðr, daughter of King Óláfr the
Swedish 29
of Helgi, son of Jarl Heinrekr 25

index

47

Ingiríðr (Gyða), daughter of Þorgils Northumberland (Norðhumruland) 23
sprakaleggr 23
Norway (Noregr) 8, 9, 20, 22, 23, 27, 29,Ívarr the Boneless (beinlausi), leader
31, 37, 38of the Great Heathen Army which Oddr Ófeigsson 9, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22.
invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
Cf. Odds þáttr Ófeigssonar, Íslensk
of England, starting in 865; according
fornrit VII 367–74
to Ragnars saga loðbrókar, he was a Óláfr inn helgi (the Saint) Haraldsson,
son of Ragnar loðbrók 34, 42king of Norway (1015–28, died 1030)
Jaðarr (Jæren, district in south-west
9, 10, 20, 21, 29–31, 38, 39
Norway) 9Óláfr kyrri (the Quiet or the Peaceful)
Jarizleifr Valdamarsson, King of Garðar
Haraldsson, king of Norway (c. 1050–(Russia) (Jaroslav I, Grand Prince of93) 9, 33, 41
Kiev, died 1054) 9n., 29Óláfr son of Magnús berfœttr, king of
Játvarðr the Good (Eadward the
Norway (1103–15) 33
Confessor), son of Aðalráðr, king of Óláfr the Swedish Eiríksson, king of thethe English (died 1066) 21, 23, 24, 26
Swedes (c. 995–c. 1022) 29
Jón, leader of King Játvarðr´s army 23 Óláfr Tryggvason, king of Norway
Jórsala-Sigurðr (Sigurðr Jórsalafari,(995–1000) 44
Jerusalem-Farer) Magnússon, king of Orkney 21, 33
Norway (1103–30) 33
Ótti, son of Birgir Berti’s Champion 23,
Kálfr 12–14
24
Kantarabyrgi (Canterbury) 44
Ouse, River in Yorkshire 34
Ketill kálfr (Calf) of Hringunes 31
Rafnseyrr or Hrafnseyrr (Ravenseer), by
Kliflǫnd (Cleveland, ‘cliff land, hilly
the mouth of the Humber 35, 41
country’, area in North Riding of Ragnhildr, daughter of Erlingr Skjálgs. 9
Yorkshire) 34
Robert Rúðujarl (Róðbjartr Ríkarðarson,Kǫrmt (Karmøy, island in south-west
jarl in Normandy; Robert I, 1027–35,
Norway) 32
father of William the Conqueror) 23
Leifr, assumed name for Hemingr 21–24, Róbjartr, son of Viljálmr Bastard (Robert
38
II Curthose, Duke of Normandy, died
(Líka-)Loðinn (Copse-Loðinn) 30–32
1134) 23
Lodda (perhaps the River Lud in Rome 20, 21
Lincolnshire) 24Rúða, Rúðuborg (Rouen) 23, 24, 42
London 21, 35, 41, 43
Sigurðr sýr (sow) Hálfdanarson, father
Magnús berfœttr (Barelegs) Óláfsson,of Haraldr harðráði 9, 28n.
king of Norway (1093–1103) 33
Silkisif (= Ellisif) 9
Magnús Haraldsson, king in Norway Skarðaborg (Scarborough, Yorkshire)(1066–69), father of Hákon 9
23, 33
Maria daughter of King Haraldr Skírteinn, a sword 22
Sigurðarson 9, 29, 33
Snǫs (Snåsa, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway) 12
Melr in Miðfjǫrðr 9, 22
Sólundar, Súlundar (Solundøyar, islandsMiðfjǫrðr (Iceland) 22
at the entrance to Sognefjord on theMóǫld (Matilda) 23, 24
west coast of Norway) 29, 30
Mǫrukári 23, 34
Stamford (Bridge), Yorkshire 36
Nikulás Þorbergsson 11
Steig (Steigen), in Ǫngull (Engeløy, island
Northmen (Norwegians) 34–41
in Vestfjorden, Hálogaland), men of 27

48

hemings þáttr

Veigerða (v. l. Velgerða), daughter of
Steigar-Þórir (Þórir of Steig) 9, 27
Guð(n)i (Godwine) 23
Steinfurða Bridge (Steinfurðubryggja,
Stanforðabryggjur, Stamford Bridge, Viljálmr Bastard (bastarðr) (Róðbjartsson,
William the Conqueror, died 1087)
Yorkshire) 36
41–45
Stephen, St, protomartyr (died c. 35)
Vinðland (Wendland, on the southern
19–22
coast of the Baltic) 44
Styrlaugr (Magnús berfœttr) 32, 33
Sveinn Úlfsson, king of Denmark York 36
Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Icelandic poet,(1047–74/76) 23, 26, 28
eleventh century 30, 35, 40, 41
Torgar, Torgir (Torget island in Brønnøy
municipality in Nordland county, Þóra, daughter of Þorbergr Árnason 9Þórarinn Nefúlfsson (presumably the
Norway) 9, 11, 12, 14, 21
Þórarinn Nefjólfsson of Heimskringla
Tósti
tréspjót(WoodenSpear)II) 9, 28, 29
Guð(i)nason, jarl (Tostig Godwineson,
earl of Northumberland, died 1066) Þorbergr Árnason 9, 29
Þorgils sprakaleggr (Break-Leg; it is23, 26–30, 32, 34–40
thought likely that Þorgils was son ofValland (France, or perhaps sometimes
an English­man called Spracling, andNormandy) 23, 41
that sprakaleggr is a corruption of thatValþjófr jarl Guð(i)nason (Walþeof
name) 23
was actually son of Sigurðr, jarl inNorthumber­land, and was probably a Þrándheimr, district of northern Norway,
modern Trøndelag 30
Dane) 35, 36, 41–43