The Northmen in Britain

Front matter

THE

NORTHMEN IN BRITAIN

" There is no man so high-hearted over earth, nor so good in gifts, nor so keen in youth, nor so brave in deeds, nor so loyal to his lord, that he may not have alirays sad yearning towards the sea-faring, for what the Lord will give him there.

Foreword

TWO great streams of Northern immigration met on the shores of Britain during the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries. The Norsemen from the deep fiords of Western Norway, fishing and raiding along the coasts, pushed out their adventurous boats into the Atlantic, and in the dawn of Northern history we find them already settled in the Orkney and Shetland Isles, whence they raided and settled southward to Caithness, Fife, and Northumbria on the east, and to the Hebrides, Galloway, and Man on the western coast. Fresh impetus was given to this outward movement by the changes of policy introduced by Harald fairhair, first king of Norway (872-933). Through him a nobler type of emigrant succeeded the casual wanderer, and great lords and kings' sons came over to consolidate the settlements begun by humbler agencies. Iceland was at the same time peopled by a similar stock. The Dane, contemporaneously with the Norseman, came by a different route. Though he seems to have been the first to invade Northumbria (if Ragnar and his sons were really Danes), his movement was chiefly round the southern shores of England, passing over by way of the Danish and Netherland coast up the English Channel, and round to the west. Both streams met in Ireland, where a sharp and lengthened contest was fought out between the two nations, and where both took deep root, building cities and absorbing much of the commerce of the country.

The viking was at first simply a bold adventurer, but a mixture of trading and raiding became a settled practice with large numbers of Norsemen, who, when work at home was slack and the harvest was sown or reaped, tilled up the time by pirate inroads on their own or neighbouring lands. Hardy sailors and fearless fighters they were : and life would have seemed too tame had it meant a continuous course of peaceful farming or fishing. New possessions and new conquests were the salt of life. " Biorn went sometimes on viking but sometimes on trading voyages," we read of a man of position in Egibs Saga, and the same might be said of hundreds of his fellows.

It was out of these viking raids that the Dano-Norse Kingdoms of Dublin and Northmnbria grew, the Dukedom of Normandy, and the Earldom of Orkney and the Isles.

The Danish descents seem to have been more directly for the purpose of conquest than those of the Norse, and they ended by establishing on the throne of England a brief dynasty of Danish kings in the eleventh century, remarkable only from the vigour of Canute's reign.

The intimate connexion all through this period between Scandinavia, Iceland, and Britain can only be realized by reading the Northern Sagas side by side with the chronicles of Great Britain and Ireland, and it is from Norse sources chiefly that I propose to tell the story.

Contents

THE AGE OF THE VIKINGS

CHAP.

I. The First Comino of the Northmen II. The Saga of Ragnar Lodbroo, or " Hairy-dreeks

Chapter I The First Coming of the Northmen

THE first actual descent of the Northmen is chronicled in England under the year 787, and in Ireland, upon which country they commenced their descents about the same time, under the year 795 ; but it is likely, not only that they had visited and raided the coasts before this, but had actually made some settlements in both countries. The Ynglinga Saga tells us that Ivar Vidfadme or " Widefathom " had taken possession of a fifth part of England, i.e. Northumbria, before Harald Fairhair ruled in Norway, or Gorm the Old in Denmark ; that is to say, before the history of either of these two countries begins. Ivar Vidfadme is evidently Ivar the Boneless, son of Ragnar Lodbrog, who conquered Northumbria before the reign of Harald Fairhair. There are traces of them even earlier, for a year after the first coming of the Northmen to Northumbria mentioned in the English annals we find that they called a synod at a place named Fingall, or " Fair Foreigners," the name always applied to the Norse in our Irish and sometimes in our English chronicles. Now a place would not have been so named unless Norse people had for some time been settled there, and we may take it for granted that Norse settlers had made their home in Northumbria at some earlier period. We find, too, at quite an early time, that Norse and Irish had mingled and intermarried in Ireland, forming a distinct race called the Gall-Gael, or " Foreigners and Irish," who had their own fleets and armies ; and it is said that on account of their close family connexion many of the Christian Irish forsook their religion and relapsed into the paganism of the Norse who lived amongst them. We shall find, as we go on in the history, that generally the contrary was the case, and that contact with Christianity in these islands caused many Norse chiefs and princes to adopt our faith ; indeed, it was largely through Irish and English influence that Iceland and Norway became Christian. Though we may not always approve of the way in which this was brought about, the fact itself is interesting.

The first settlers in Iceland were Irish hermits, who took with them Christian books, bells, and croziers, and the first Christian church built on the island was dedicated to St Columba, the Irish founder of the Scottish monastery of Iona, through whom Christianity was brought to Scotland.

Yet there is no doubt that the coining of the Northmen was looked upon with dread by the English, and there is a tone of terror in the first entry in the chronicles of their arrival upon the coast. This entry is so important that we will give it in the words of one of the old historians : " Whilst the pious King Bertric [King of Wessex] was reigning over the western

First Coming of the Northmen 13

parts of the English, and the innocent people spread through the plains were enjoying themselves in tranquillity and yoking their oxen to the ploughs, suddenly there arrived on the coast a fleet of Danes, not large, but of three ships only : this was their first arrival. When this became known, the King's officer, who was already stopping in the town of Dorchester, leaped on his horse and galloped forwards with a few men to the port, thinking that they were merchants rather than enemies, and commanding them in an authoritative tone, ordered them to go to the royal city ; but he was slain on the spot by them, and all who were with him." 1

This rude beginning was only a forecast of what was to follow. We hear of occasional viking bands arriving at various places on the coast from Kent to Northumbria, and ravaging wherever they appeared. At first they seem to have wandered round the coast without thought of remaining anywhere, but about sixty years after their first appearance (in 851), we find them settling on the warmer and more fertile lands of England during the winter, though they were off again when the summer came, foraging and destroying. This became a regular habit with these visitors, and led gradually to permanent settlements, especially in Northumbria. The intruders became known as " the army," and the appearance of " the army " in any district filled the inhabitants with terror. Our first definite story of the Northmen in England is connected with the appearance of " the army " in Yorkshire a.d. 867. We learn from the English chronicles that violent internal discord was troubling Northumbria at this time. The king of the Northumbrians was Osbert, 1 Kthelwerd's Chronicle, a.d. 786 (recte 707).

but the people had risen up and expelled him, we know not for what reason, 1 and had placed on the throne a man named iElla, " not of royal blood," who seems to have been the leader of the people.

Just at this moment, when the country was most divided, the dreaded pagan army advanced over the mouth of the Humber from the south-east into Yorkshire. In this emergency all classes united for the common defence, and we find Osbert, the dethroned king, nobly marching side by side with his rival to meet the Northmen. Hearing that a great army was approaching, the Northmen shut themselves up within the walls of York, and attempted to defend themselves behind them. The Northumbrians succeeded in making a breach in the walls and entering the town ; but, inspired by fear and necessity, the pagans made a fierce sally, cutting down their foes on all sides, inside and outside the walls alike. The city was set on fire, those who escaped making peace with the enemy. From that time onward the Northmen were seldom absent from Northumbria. York became one of their chief headquarters, and the constant succession of Norse ships along the coast gradually brought a considerable influx of Norse inhabitants to that part of England. It became, in fact, a viking kingdom, under the sons of Ragnar Lodbrog, whose story we have now to tell. This was in the time of the first Ethelred, when Alfred the Great was about twenty years of age. Ethelred was too much occupied in warring with the pagans in the South of England to be able to give any aid to the Northumbrians.

1 Saxo's Danish annals speak of Hame, the father of iElla, as King of Northunibria (see p. 18), but he is unknown to the English Chronicles.

Chapter II The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrog, or " Hairy-breeks "

ACCORDING to the Danish and Norse accounts, the leader of the armies of the Northmen on the occasion we have just referred to was the famous Ragnar Lodbrog, one of the earliest and most terrible of the Northern vikings. The story of Ragnar stands just on the borderland between mythology and history, and it is difficult to tell how much of it is true, but in some of its main outlines it accords with the rather scanty information we get at this time from the English annals. An old tradition relates how Ragnar got his title of Lodbrog, or " Hairy-breeks."

It is said that the King of the Swedes, who was fond of hunting in the woods, brought home some snakes and gave them to his daughter to rear. Of these curious pets she took such good care that they multiplied until the whole countryside was tormented with them. Then the King, repenting his foolish act, proclaimed that whosoever should destroy the vipers should have his daughter as his reward. Many warriors, attracted by the adventure, made an attempt to rid the country of the snakes, but without much success. Ragnar also determined to try to win the princess. He caused a dress to be made of woolly material and stuffed with hair to protect him, and put on thick hairy thigh-pieces that the snakes could not bite. Then he plunged his whole body, clad in this covering, into Breezing water, so that it froze on him, and became bard and impenetrable. Thus attired, he approached the door of the palace alone, his sword tied to bis side and bis spear lashed in his hand. As he went forward an enormous snake glided up in front, and others, equally large, attacked him in the rear. 'The King and bis courtiers, who were looking on, fled to a safe shelter, watching the struggle from afar like affrighted little girls. But Ragnar. trusting to the hardness of his fro/en dress, attacked the vipers boldly, and drove them back, killing many of them with his spear.

Then the King came forward and looked closely at the dress which bad withstood the venom of the serpents. He saw that it was rough and hairy. and he laughed loudly at the sbaggv breeches, which gave Ragnar an uncouth appearance, lie called him in jest Lodbrog (Lod-brokr), or " llairy-breeks." and the nickname stuck to him all his life. Having laid aside his shaggy raiment and put on bis kingly attire, Ragnar received the maiden as the reward of his victory. He had several sons, of whom the youngest, lvar. was well known in after years in Britain and Ireland, and left a race of rulers there.

Meanwhile the ill-disposed people of his own kingdom, which seems to have included the districts we now know as Zealand or Jutland, one of those small divisions into which the Northern countries were at that time broken up. 1 during the absence of Ragnar stirred up the inhabitants to depose him and set up one Harald as king. Ragnar, hearing of this, and having few men at his command, sent envoys to Norway to ask for assistance.

1 This is the account of Saxo ; the Norse accounts differ from him as to the district over which Ragnar ruled.

Ladserda

The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrog 1 7

They gathered a small host together, of weak and strong, young and old, whomsoever they could get, and had a hard fight with the rebels. It is said that Ivar, though he was hardly seven years of age, fought splendidly, and seemed a man in courage though only a boy in years. Siward, or Sigurd Snake-eye, Ragnar's eldest son, received a terrible wound, which it is said that Woden, the father of the gods of the North, came himself to cure. The battle would have gone against Ragnar but for the courage of a noble woman named Ladgerda, who, " like an Amazon possessed of the courage of a man," came to the hero's assistance with a hundred and twenty ships and herself fought in front of the host with her loose hair flying about her shoulders. All marvelled at her matchless deeds, for she had the spirit of a warrior in a slender frame, and when the soldiers began to waver she made a sally, taking the enemy unawares on the rear, so that Harald was routed with a great slaughter of his men. This was by no means the only occasion in the history of these times that we hear of womenwarriors ; both in the North and in Ireland women often went into battle, sometimes forming whole female battalions. The women of the North were brave, pure, and spirited, though often fierce and bitter. They took their part in many ways beside their husbands and sons.

About this time Thora, Ragnar's wife, died suddenly of an illness, which caused infinite sorrow to her husband, who dearly loved his spouse. He thought to assuage his grief by setting himself some heavy task, which would occupy his mind and energies. After arranging for the administration of justice at home, and training for war all the young men, feeble or strong, who came to him, he determined to cross over to Britain, since he had heard of the dissensions that were going on, and the weakness of the country. This was before the time of .lllla, when, as the Danish annals tell- us, his father, Hame. " a most noble youth." was reigning in Northumbria. This king, Ragnar attacked and killed, and then, leaving his young and favourite son to rule the Danish settlers of Northumbria, he went north to Scotland, conquered parts of Pictland, or the North of Scotland, and of the Western Isles, where he made two others of his sons, Siward Snake-eye and Radbard, governors.

Having thus formed for himself a kingdom in the British Isles, and left his sons to rule over it, Ragnar departed for a time, and the next few years were spent in repressing insurrections in his own kingdom of Jutland, and in a long series of viking raids in Sweden, Saxony. Germany, and France. His own sons were continually making insurrections against him. Ivar only, who seems to have been recalled and made governor of Jutland, took no part in his brothers' quarrels, but remained throughout faithful to his father, by whom he was held in the highest honour and affection. Another son. I'bba. of whom we hear in the English chronicles, alternately rebelled against his father and was received into favour by him. Then, again. Ragnar turned his thoughts to the West, and, descending on the Orkneys, ravaged there, planting some of those viking settlements of which we hear at the opening of Scottish history as being established on the coasts and islands. But two of his sons were slain, and Ragnar returned home in grief, shutting himself up in his house and bemoaning their loss, and that of a wife whom he had recently married. He was soon awakened from his sorrow bv the news that lvar. whom he had left in

The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrog 1 9

Northumbria, had been expelled from the country,

and had arrived in Denmark, his own people having made him My when /Mlla was set up as king. 1 Ragnar immediately roused himself from his dejeetion, gave orders for the assembling of his fleet, and sailed down on Northumbria, disembarking near York. He took Ivar with him to guide his forces, as he was now well acquainted with the country. Here, as we learn from the English chronicles, the battle of York was fought, lasting three days, and costing much blood to the English, but comparatively little to the Danes. The only real difference between the Danish and English accounts is that the Northern story says that yElla was not killed, but had to fly for a time to Ireland, and it is probable that this is true. Ragnar also extended his arms to Ireland, after a year in Northumbria, besieged Dublin, and slew its king, Maelbride (or Mclbrik, as the Norse called him), and then, filling his ships with the wealth of the city, which was very rich, he sailed to the Hellespont, winning victories everywhere, and gaining for himself the title of the first of the great viking kings.

But it was fated to Ragnar that he was to die in the country he had conquered, and when he returned to Northumbria from his foreign expeditions he was taken prisoner by TElla, and cast into a pit, where serpents were let loose upon him and devoured him. No word of complaint came from the lips of the courageous old man while he was suffering these tortures ; instead, he recounted in fine verse the triumphs of his life and the dangers of his career. This poem we still possess. Only

1 The Northern chronicles here throw much light on the internal affairs of Northuinhria, which are only hrie/ly dealt with in the English chronicles. I$nt the general outline of events fits well into the English account.

when the serpents were gnawing at his heart he was heard to exclaim i " If the Little pigs knew the punishment of the old boar, surely they would break into the sty and loose him from his woe«" Those words were related to .Vila, who thought from them that some of Ragnar's sons, whom he called the M little pigs,*' must still iu> alive; and ho bade the executioners stop the torture and bring Ragnar out of the pit. But when they ran to do so they found that Ragnar was dead : his f:\oo scarred by pain, but steadfast as in life. Death had taken him out of the hand of the king.

In Ragnar Lodbrog's death-song he recites in succession his triumphs and gallant deeds, his wars and battles, in England, Scotland, Mona, tho Isio of Alan. Ireland, and abroad. Each stanza begins, '" We hewed with our swords!'* Here are the final verses, as the serpents, winding around him. oamo ever nearer to his heart,

Kao.nak Lodbrog's Death-song

- of fate, 1 tie drootted 1 th.it o'er my days hy ."Klla would

ho ended ' what time 1 filled tho blood hawks with his slain, what time 1 Led tm - ivem, what time we jjorirtnl the

boosts of pro j along the Scottish boys

u e bow od e ith out so oi -

is i "out :'.i:!:;v COnSOlettOO tor my spirit; the hoard ot

B*lder*s sire [M to the brove! Soon from tho

dteriag

1 ».f*. the boras tho his wos qooSodj ■■ the

» o>i antlers of reindt i

i.e. " the ^ anderer," another name for W oden.

The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrog 2 1

We hewed with our swords !

Soon would the sons of Aalaug ' come armed with their flaming brands

to wake revenge; did they but know of our mischance ; even that

a swarm ofvipera, big with venom, sting my aged body. I sought

a noble mother for my children, one who might impart adventurous

hearts to our posterity.

Wo hewed with our swords !

Now is my life nigh done. Grim arc tho terrors of the adder ; Serpents nestle within my heart's recesses.

Vet it is the cordial of my soul that Woden's wand. 2 shall soon stick last in JElla ! My sons will swell with vengeance at their parent's doom ; those generous youths will fling away the sweets of peace and come to avenge my loss.

We hewed with our swords !

Full fifty times have I, the harbinger of war, fought hloody fights; no king, methoughtj should ever pass me l>y. It was the pastime of my boyish days to tinge my spear with blood ! The immortal Arises 3 will call me to their company ; no dread shall e'er disgrace my death.

I willingly depart !

Sec, tho bright maids sent from the hall of Woden, Lord of Hosts, invito me home ! There, happy on my high raised seat among tho Anses, I'll quaff tho mellow ale. The moments of my lifeare fled, but laughing will I die !

1 i.e. his sons, the children of Aslaug, his second wife.

1 i.e. the sword of Woden. The prophecy was shortly afterwards fulfilled; for Lodbrog's sons returned to Northumbria, dethroned iftlla, and put him to a cruel death.

3 i.e. the High GodSj who dwelt in Valhalla, or the home of the immortals.

Chapter III The Call for Help

IT seemed, toward the elose of the ninth century, that England would gradually pass into the power of the Danes and cease to be an independent country. They had established themselves not only in Northumbria, but in East Anglia and parts of Mercia. We have to think of England at this period not as one united kingdom, but as a number of separate principalities, ruled by different kings. The most powerful of these principalities was Mercia, which occupied the whole central district of England, from Lincolnshire in the north to Oxford and Buckingham in the south, and west to the borders of Wales. It was governed by a king named Burhred, who found great difficulty in holding his own against incursions from the Welsh on the one hand and from the Danes of Northumbria on the other. 1

In the south the kingdom of Wessex was coming into prominence. During the reigns of Alfred and his brother, Edward the Elder, Wessex not only held back the Danes from their tide of progress, but gave its kings to the larger part of England. The kingdom of Wessex extended from Sussex in the east to Devon in the west, and included our present counties of Hants,

1 The great province of Northumbria extended from the H umber to the Firth of Forth. 22

The Call for Help 23

Dorset, Somerset, Berks, and Wilts. It was from this small district that the saviour of England was to come, who, by his courage, perseverance, and wisdom, broke the power of the Danes and kept them back from the conquest of the whole country, which at one time seemed so probable. This saviour of England was Alfred the Great.

We know the history of Alfred intimately, for it was written for us during the King's lifetime by his teacher and friend, Asser, who tells us that he came to Alfred " out of the furthest coasts of western Britain." He was Bishop of St David's, in South Wales.

The account of his coming at Alfred's request to give him instruction and to act as his reader must be told in his own interesting words. He tells us that at the command of the King, who had sent in many directions, even as far as Gaul, for men of sound knowledge to give him and his sons and people instruction, he had come from his western home through many intervening provinces, and arrived at last in Sussex, the country of the Saxons.

Here for the first time he saw Alfred, in the royal " vill " in which he dwelt, and was received with kindness by the King, who eagerly entered into conversation with him, and begged him to devote himself to his service and become his friend. Indeed, so anxious was he to secure Asser's services, that he urged him then and there to resign his duties in Wales and promise never to leave him again. He offered him in return more than all he had left behind if he would stay with him. Asser nobly replied that he could not suddenly give up those who were dependent on his ministrations and permanently leave the country in which he had been bred and where his duties lay ; upon which the

King replied : " If you cannot accede to this, at least let me have part of your service ; stay with me here for six months and spend the other six months in the West with your own people." To this Asser, seeing the King so desirous of his services, replied that he would return to his own country and try to make the arrangement which Alfred desired ; and from this time there grew up a lifelong friendship between these two interesting men, one learned, simple, and conscientious, the other eager for learning, and bent upon applying all his wisdom for the benefit of the people over whom he ruled.

From the life of Alfred, written by his master, we might imagine that the chief part of the monarch's time was devoted to learning and study. " Night and day," Asser tells us, " whenever he had leisure, he commanded men of learning to read to him ; " so that he became familiar with books which he was himself unable to read. He loved poetry, and caused it to be introduced into the teaching of the young. He with great labour (for his own education had been sadly neglected) translated Latin works on history and religion, so that his people might read them. He kept what he called a " Manual " or " Handbook," because he had it at hand day and night, in which he wrote any passage they came upon in their reading which especially struck his mind. Asser tells us in a charming way how he began this custom. He says that they were sitting together in the King's chamber, talking, as usual, oi. all kinds of subjects, when it happened that the master read to him a quotation out of a certain book. " He listened to it attentively, with both his ears, and thoughtfully drew out of his bosom a book wherein were written the daily psalms and prayers which he had read in his

The Call for Help 25

youth, and he asked me to write the quotation in that book. But I could not find any empty space in that book wherein to write the quotation, for it was already full of various matters. Upon his urging me to make haste and write it at once, I said to him : ' Would you wish me to write the quotation on a separate sheet ? For it is possible that we may find one or more other extracts which will please you ; and if this should happen, we shall be glad that we have kept them apart.'

" ' Your plan is good,' he said ; and I gladly made haste to get ready a fresh sheet, in the beginning of which I wrote what he bade me. And on the same day, as I had anticipated, I wrote therein no less than three other quotations which pleased him, so that the sheet soon became full. He continued to collect these words of the great writers, until his book became almost as large as a psalter, and he found, as he told me, no small consolation therein."

But, studious as was naturally the mind of Alfred, only a small portion of his life, and that chiefly when he became aged, could be given to learning. His career lay in paths of turmoil and war, and his earlier days were spent in camps and among the practical affairs of a small but important kingdom. Already as a child of eight or ten he had heard of battles and rumours of war all around him. He heard of " the heathen men," as the Danes were called, making advances in the Isle of Wight, at Canterbury and London, and creeping up the Thames into new quarters in Kent and Surrey. There his father, King Ethelwulf, and his elder brothers had met and defeated them with great slaughter at Aclea, or Ockley, " the Oak-plain," and they returned home to Wessex with the news of a complete victory. It was probably to keep his favourite child out of the way of warfare and danger that Ethehvulf sent him twice to Rome : the second time he himself accompanied him thither, and they returned to find that one of Alfred's elder brothers, Ethelbald, had made a conspiracy against his own father, had seized the kingdom, and would have prevent oil Ethehvulf from returning had he been able. But the warm love of his people, who gathered round him, delighted at his return, prevented this project from being carried into effect, and the old man. desiring only peace in his family, divided the kingdom between his two eldest sons; but on the death of Ethelbald. soon after, Ethelbcrt joined the two divisions together, including Kent, Surrey, and Sussex in the same kingdom with Wessex. When Alfred was eighteen years of age this brother also died, and for five years more a third brother, Ethelred, sat on the throne of Wessex.