User:Haukurth/Death of Óláfr Tryggvason

Oddr Snorrason
When Jarl Eiríkr and his men reached the forecastle, there was tough resistance and a fierce battle. As King Olaf's men fell and his forces thinned along the gunwales, they pulled back to the poopdeck, and there was a great heap of fallen men there. Those who were still standing on the Serpent were sorely fatigued. When King Olaf saw where Jarl Eiríkr was with a large force, he aimed three short-shafted spears at the jarl, hurling with both hands. But they did not fly as they were wont, for none of them struck the jarl. One flew over his head, the second missed him on the right side, and the third missed him on the left. Thus all these casts were to no avail.

When King Olaf saw this, he marveled greatly and said: "Great good fortune is on the side of the jarl, and God now wiwshes him to have the kingdom and the land." As he said that, everyone who was there, both his adversaries who followed the jarl and the king's men who remained alive, saw a heavenly light descend on the poopdeck. Jarl Eiríkr's men struck into the light, thinking to slay the man whom God honored with His light.

When the light vanished, they could not see the king anywhere, and they searched for him everywhere in the ship and around the ship on the chance that he was in the water. But they did not find him. At the same moment the eight men who were left standing on the Serpent leaped overboard. They included Einarr þambarskelfir, Kolbjörn from Upplönd, Þorsteinn oxafótr, Björn from Stuðla, Ásbjörn from Mostr, Þrándr inn skjálgi, and Ögmundr from Sandr. They were all pulled up into the ship.

Some people claim that King Olaf leaped overboard and escaped in this way and was later seen in foreign parts. Others claim that he fell in this battle. But wherever his life ended, it is probable that God took his soul unto Himself, considering the effort he devoted to strengthening Christianity and all those matters redounding to God's honor. - Oddr Snorrason, p. 131.

If God permits, I will recount as truthfully as I know how what the men who were in the battle reported and what they saw last of King Olaf. Skúli Þorsteinsson said that when he boarded the king's ship, "the dead men lay so thick underfoot," he said, "that it was hardly possible to go forward." Then he saw the king on the poopdeck, but he looked away and cleared the bodies from under the jarl's feet and his own. When he looked again, he did not see the king.

Einarr þambarskelfir said that he saw blood dripping slowly from the king's helmet and down on the king's face. When he wanted to look closely at what he was doing, Einarr received a great blow on the head from a stone so that he fell down and nearly lost consciousness. Some moments later he jumped up and remembered the king but did not see him.

Kolbjörn reported that as the king was shooting during the day, blood was running out from under his byrnie sleeve. But when he looked at the jarl's company that was b oarding the ship, he became rather apprehensive and ran to the place where the king had been standing. When he did not see him, he jumped overboard into the sea. And when he hit the water, he felt a shield floating under him, a shield that belonged to King Olaf. It was a very fine shield and gilt. He had the impression that under the shield King Olaf himself was swimming. Then Kolbjörn let go of this shield.

Subsequently his enemies saw that he had a helmet similar to the king's and was swimming among his ships. They thought that it was probably King Olaf, and they were delighted. Then they fished him out of the water, but when they discovered that the man was not King Olaf, they spared his life.

As we said before, the king's men made a careful search for the king but did not find him. Then some men in the jarl's force said that a man in a red tunic had been swimming toward the Wendish ship, and when he was taken into the ship, it made off immediately. All the Wendish ships that had been there during the day sailed away and south along the coast. - p. 133-4

Historia Norwegie
Nevertheless, in the end their strength was exhausted so that, as the foe entered their ships, none raised a hand to oppose them and all whose bodies still had warm blood eft in their veins were put to death at the edge of the sword; all, that is, with the exception of King Olav, who could be seen at the last, standing high up in the stern.

When the battle was over he could not be traced, dead or alive, from which some maintain that he sank in his armour beneath the waves. But certain folk also claimed to have seen him after a long lapse of time in a particular monastery. How he reached firm soil through the hazards of the seas (whether it were by swimming on his own or being transported in a small boat or by the attendance of angelic spirits), or whether indeed he was drowned then and there is unknown, I believe, to all our contemporaries. For this reason it would be more creditable to omit something so unsettled than give a false explanation of such a doubtful matter, and I shall pass over it. - Ekrem, p. 99.

Íslendingabók
En Óláfr Tryggvason fell it sama sumar at sögu Sæmundar prests. Þá barðist hann við Svein Haraldsson Danakonung ok Óláf inn sænska, Eiríksson at Uppsölum Svíakonungs, ok Eirík, er síðan var jarl at Norvegi, Hákonarson. Þat var hundrað ok þremr tigum vetra eftir dráp Eadmundar, en þúsund eftir burð Krists at alþýðu tali. - Ari

Nóregs konungatal
24. Vas Óláfr alls at landi fimm at eins fáfnis galla, áðr Eirekr með ofrliði ræsi þann rómu beiddi.

25. Sú vas alls, áðr Ormr ryddisk, hrotta hríð hörð ok lengi ; þar hefr öld, es Óláfr fell, Svölðrar vág síðan kallat. -

Ágrip
But of the fall of King Óláfr nothing was known. It was seen that as the fighting lessened he stood, still alive, on the high-deck astern on the Long Serpent, which had thirty-two rowing places. But when Eiríkr went to the stern of the sihp in search of the king, a light flashed before him as though it were lightning, and when the light disappeared, the king himself was gone. Some suppose he got away in a boat and say that he was seen afterwards in a monastery in the Holy Land, but others think that he fell overboard. But whatever ended his life, it is likely that God has the soul. - Driscoll, p. 35.

Theodoricus
In the fifth year of Óláfr Tryggvason's reign which was also his last, King Sveinn of Denmark, King Óláfr of Sweden and Eiríkr the son of Hákon 'the evil' went to war against him, and caught him, alas, too unprepared. For itis said that with only eleven ships he engaged in battle against seventy. In the end, because the enemy could constantly relieve on another and put in fresh men for those who were wounded, our king's army was not so much defeated as worn away. His opponents, however, by no means carried off an unbloody victory, for every one of their doughtiest warriors had either fallen in the battle or come away severly wounded. Some say that the king then escaped from there in a skiff, and made his way to foreign parts to seek salvation for his soul. Some, on the other hand, say that he plunged headlong into the sea in full armour. I dare not say which of these accounts is the truer. I like to believe only this: that he now enjoys perpetual peace with Christ. - Theodoricus monachus - p. 18.

Heimskringla + Hallfreðr
Kolbjörn stallari gékk upp í lypting til konungs; þeir höfðu mjök líkan klæðabúnað ok vápna. Kolbjörn var ok allra manna mestr ok fríðastr. Varð nú enn í fyrirrúminu hin snarpasta orrosta. En fyrir þá sök at þá var svá mikit fólk komit upp á Orminn af liði jarls, sem vera mátti á skipinu, en skip hans lögðu at öllum megin utan at Orminum, en lítit fjölmenni til varnar móti svá miklum her, nú þótt þeir menn væru bæði sterkir ok frœknir, þá féllu nú flestir á lítilli stundu. En Ólafr konungr sjálfr ok þeir Kolbjörn báðir hljópu þá fyrir borð, ok á sitt borð hvárr. En jarls menn höfðu lagt utan at smáskútur, ok drápu þá er á kaf hljópu. Ok þá er konungr sjálfr hafði á kaf hlaupit, vildu þeir taka hann höndum ok fœra Eiríki jarli. En Ólafr konungr brá yfir sik skildinum ok steyptist í kaf; en Kolbjörn stallari skaut undir sik skildinum ok hlífði sér svá við vápnum, er lagt var af skipum þeim er undir lágu, ok féll hann svá á sjáinn, at skjöldrinn varð undir honum, ok komst hann því eigi í kaf svá skjótt, ok varð hann handtekinn ok dreginn upp í skútuna, ok hugðu þeir, at þar væri konungrinn. Var hann þá leiddr fyrir jarl. En er þess varð jarl varr, at þar var Kolbjörn en eigi Ólafr konungr, þá váru Kolbirni grið gefin. En í þessi svipan hljópu allir fyrir borð af Orminum, þeir er þá váru á lífi, Ólafs konungs menn; ok segir Hallfreðr svá, at Þorkell nefja, konungs bróðir, hljóp síðast allra manna fyrir borð: Úgrœðir sá auða armgrjóts Trönu fljóta, hann rauð geir at gunni glaðr, ok báða naðra, áðr hjaldrþorinn héldi hugframr í böð ramri snotr af snœris vitni sunds Þorketill undan. 120 (130). Frá Vindasnekkjunni.

Svá var fyrr ritat, at Sigvaldi jarl kom til föruneytis við Ólaf konung í Vindlandi ok hafði 10 skip, en þat hit ellifta, er á váru menn Ástríðar konungsdóttur, konu jarls. En þá er Ólafr konungr hafði fyrir borð hlaupit, þá œpti herinn allr sigróp, ok þá lustu þeir árum í sjá, Sigvaldi jarl ok hans menn, ok reru till bardaga. Þess getr Halldórr úkristni: Drógusk vítt at vági Vinda skeiðr, ok gíndu Þriðja hauðrs á þjóðir þunn gálkn járnmunnum. Gnýr varð á sjá sverða, sleit örn gera beitu, dýrr vá drengja stjóri, drótt kom mörg á flótta. En sú Vindasnekkjan, er Ástríðar menn váru á, reri brott ok aptr undir Vindland, ok var þat margra manna mál þegar, at Ólafr konungr mundi hafa steypt af sér brynjunni í kafi ok kafat svá út undan langskipunum, lagzt síðan til Vindasnekkjunnar, ok hefði menn Ástríðar flutt hann til lands. Ok eru þar margar frásagnir um ferðir Ólafs konungs gervar síðan af sumum mönnum. En á þessa leið segir Hallfreðr: Veit ek hitt hvárt heita hungrdeyfi skal ek leyfa dynsæðinga dauðan dýrbliks eða þó kvikvan, alls sannliga segja, sárr mun gramr at hváru, hætt er til hans at frétta, hvártveggja mér seggir. En hvernug sem þat hefir verit, þá kom Ólafr konungr Tryggvason aldregi síðan til ríkis í Noregi. En þó segir Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld á þessa leið: Samr var árr um ævi, oddbragðs hinn, er þat sagði at lofða gramr lifði, læstyggs sonar Tryggva. Vera kveðr öld or éli Ólaf kominn stála; menn geta máli sönnu, mjök er verr en svá, ferri. Ok enn þetta: Mundut þess, alls þegnar þróttharðan gram sóttu, frá ek, með lýða líði landherðar sköp verða, at mundjökuls myndi margdýrr koma stýrir, geta þykkjask þess gotnar glíkligs, or her slíkum.

Enn segir auðar kenni austr í málma gnaustan seggr frá sárum tiggja sumr eða brott um komnum. Nú er sannfregit sunnan siklings or styr miklum, kann ek eigi mart við manna, morð, veifanar orði

Helgisagan
En þat er sact at .vi. vætrum siðar anndaðezc Svæinn konongr tiuguskægg væstr a Ænglande en Olafr Tryguason felle. oc hafðe aðr lact undir sic Ængland oc reket Aðalrað konong or lande. Olafr Harallzson var .vii. vætra gamall þa er Olafr Tryguason fell. -