LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

kingdom became the prize of the victor. But Attil I., the son of Hodbrod, by marrying the daughter of Helge, and, still more, by the bravery of the Goths, was raised to the throne. The issue of this marriage, Hoder, became, in the sequel, king of Scania, no less than of Gothland. This is the Hoder of whom Saxo—so absurd in his chronology—makes the contemporary and rival of Balder, the son of Odin.^[145] Ruric, the son of Hoder, was also monarch of both states. He, as we have before related, was the grandfather of Hamlet, through the marriage of his daughter with Horwendil, prince of Jutland.^[146] He governed Denmark through his viceroys, and always remained in Gothland; for this reason, he has been often omitted in the list of Danish kings. Of Attil II. we merely know that he was assassinated by a Danish emissary; of Hogmor and Hogrin, who reigned conjointly, that they perished in a battle with the Danes. But Alaric, their successor, appears to have been identical with Elrec, prince of the Swedes, the brother of Eric^[147]; and this conjecture is confirmed by the statement of the Swedish historians—that the Goths and Swedes were at this time united. Probably Elrec ruled one nation, Eric another. In the Swedish annals, too, Eric ranks as the brother and successor of Alaric;—a confusion of chronology common enough in the historians of this period. Halfdan (or Halden) succeeded, who was, probably, the Alf of Snorro.^[148] This conjecture, too, is strengthened by the statement of the same Norwegian authority, that Yngve and Alf shared the government of the Swedes. Both would scarcely reign at Upsal; and we have strong reason for inferring that, while Yngve held that throne, Alf, or Halfdan, reigned over the Goths. And there is another confirmation in the fact that, on the death of Alf, the two people obeyed different rulers. In the reigns of Siward, Eric, Halfdan II., Ragnald, Asmund, and Haquin (or Hako), we observe few points of coincidence between the history of the Goths and the Swedes: probably they were kings of the former people only, with the occasional superiority over Scania. But the name of Hako must not be dismissed without adverting to an incident which the author of Macbeth has admitted into the greatest of his dramas. Hako, resolved to avenge the death of his brothers who had been assassinated at the Danish court, descended with a strong armament on the coast of Zealand, and marched towards the residence of the Danish king. On his way, to avoid observation, he passed through the woods; and when the path diverged into the open plain, he ordered his men each to cut down a large branch, that the paucity of his followers might not be discovered. Great was the wonder of the sentinel, to see a forest approaching the royal fortress, and he immediately carried the information to the king. The latter inquired how far the moving wood was distant from the walls; and, being answered that it was near, he felt that his last hour was also at hand. Issuing from the fortress to meet the foe on the open plain, he met the fate which he had foreseen.^[149]

      |448 to 623.|

      We now approach historic ground. Egil Auniff, the next king of the Goths, is, beyond all doubt, Egil, the son of Aun, whose exploits we have recorded in a former page of this chapter.^[150] Those exploits are the same, both in the narration of Snorro, and in that of later historians of the country: the cause and the result were the same. Egil, therefore, was king of the Goths and the Swedes. The Gothar of the Swedish writers, the successor of Egil, is also the Ottar of Snorro: the circumstances of their lives are identical.^[151] Adel is the Adils, Ostan the Eystein, of the Heimskringla: in both histories, as the former was killed by the fall of his horse, so the latter was burned to death.^[152] The only difference in the relation is the circumstance that led to the death of Eystein; the Norwegian authority attributing it to Solve, a Jutish pirate; the Swedish, to the rebellion of a Gothland chief. The Ingvar of the Swedish writers is indisputably the Yngvar of Snorro; and the Asmund of the former is the Onund, or Braut-Onund of the latter. In this latter reign, we perceive the same encouragement of industry; but the death of the king is variously related. Snorro, as we have before related, attributes it to an avalanche^[153]; but the Swedish writers make him fall in battle against a body of rebels. Of the two next rulers mentioned by the Swedish writers—Siward and Hirvt—we have no mention in the annals of the Ynglings. The reason is, that they were kings of Gothland only, and, probably, dependent on the monarchs of Upsal: the latter, indeed, is expressly called the king of the Goths. Ingel, the next sovereign in the Swedish annals, is, beyond all doubt, the Ingiald Illrada of Snorro Sturleson, who was king of the Goths and the Swedes: his exploits, and tragical death, are the same.^[154]

      We have thus brought down the contemporary monarchy of the Goths, from the century before Christ to the conquest of Sweden by Ivar Vidfadme, in or about the year 623. By regarding these dynasties as separate, and endeavouring to distinguish kings whom all preceding historians have confounded, we have made the subject intelligible to the reader. The path, in which we have been the first to venture, will, we have no doubt, be traversed by other writers, until it is as well known as any other part of ancient Scandinavian history. It is yet a dark one; and criticism, aided by an extensive use of manuscript authorities, can alone enlighten it.

      |623 to 794.|

      The four next monarchs of the Swedes and the Goths were also kings of the Danes. Of these, Ivar Vidfadme, the conqueror of Ingiald Illrada, was one of the most celebrated. The saga relates of him that he subdued all Sweden, which he joined with Denmark; a great part of Saxland, all Estland, and a fifth part of England. There is, doubtless, some exaggeration in this statement; but this very exaggeration establishes the fact of his conquests. The part of England to which the saga alludes, is said to be Northumbria. No mention, indeed, of such a descent is to be found in the Saxon chronicle, or in Bede; and the silence of this Northumbrian historian, especially, may be a strong argument against its truth. Still, in the troubled state of the times, while the Saxons were struggling with the native Britons for the possession of the territory, the arrival of a new chief might well be overlooked, especially if the conquests of Ivar were confined to that part of Northumbria which lies north of the Tweed. It could not well be south of that river in the time of St. Oswald. But, whether this prince was in England, or not, no doubt can be entertained of his courage. His hereditary domain comprehended Scania only; Jutland he soon added to the rest; but we have no proof that he ever sat on the throne of Ledra. As king of Gothland and Sweden, however, without including his conquests on the coasts of the Baltic, he was a powerful monarch. “From him,” says Snorro, “henceforth descend the kings of the Danes and the Swedes.” On his death, the sceptre of these states was inherited by Harald, his grandson, surnamed Hildetand, or the Golden-toothed. This monarch far exceeded the former in glory. He appears, from the relation of Saxo, to have had some trouble with the Goths, and also with the Swedes; and for his success over them he was, according to the same veracious authority, indebted to the councils of Odin, who honoured him with a personal interview. From several passages in this historian, and in the sagas of a later age, we may infer that the Goths, dissatisfied at once with the Danes and the Swedes, repeatedly proclaimed their independence. They belonged not to the divine race of Odin; and the freedom which their ancestors had enjoyed before the arrival of “that wizard king,” was often the stimulant to bold deeds. As they had revolted from the Swedes, so they were equally troublesome to the Danes during the four reigns which are now before us. But Harald triumphed, and governed both nations through his royal kinsman. Other parts of the world witnessed his valour: but it was his fate to die in battle, and in his old age, against his nephew Sigurd Ring, who wished to expel him from the throne of Denmark. In the north of Europe, the battle of Bravalla is celebrated as any in ancient or modern times. Saxo, with much care, enumerates the royal chiefs who fought on both sides; but their number, no less than that of the common men, exceeds all belief. The aged and blind Harald was carried about in a war chariot; and, from time to time, he inquired how the battle proceeded. Above all, he was struck with the admirable manner in which Sigurd Ring had drawn up the hostile ranks; and he expressed his conviction that this arrangement was not the result of mortal science, but of Odin’s peculiar favour. The charioteer whom he addressed was no other than Odin, under the form of a Danish chief; and, by the hands of that deity, he received a deadly blow, and was thrown on the ground. According to Saxo, he was succeeded by Olo and Omund, in succession; but the Icelandic authorities, who make the conqueror Sigurd, or Siward Ring, his successor, are more entitled to credit. Probably Olo and

Скачать книгу