MAGNUS was a natural child of Olaf the Saint, his mother being a girl by the name of Alfhild, who was usually called the king’s slave-woman, although she was of good descent. She was a very handsome girl and lived in King Olaf’s court. It is said that when Magnus was born she was very sick, and it was some time after the birth before it could be discovered whether the boy was alive. A priest, who was present, requested Sigvat the Skald (poet) to hasten to the king and tell him of the event; but Sigvat refused, as the king had strictly forbidden anybody to awaken him in the middle of the night. As the child was very weak, however, they decided to baptize it, and Sigvat the Skald named the boy Magnus. The next morning the king demanded to know why they had named the boy Magnus, since there was no such name in his family. Sigvat said: “I called him after King Carl Magnus (Emperor Charlemagne), who, I knew, had been the best man in the world.” This satisfied the king.

Magnus was only eleven years old when he was proclaimed king at the Oere-Thing. In the beginning he allowed Kalf Arneson and Einar Thambaskelfer to take care of all government matters in his name; but he soon developed into a clever, intelligent young man with a great deal of independence. Hardeknut, who was then king of Denmark, was inclined to press his claims to Norway, which he had inherited from his father, Canute the Great, and collected an army. King Magnus also armed himself, and they were about to meet in battle at the Gaut River. However, the chiefs on both sides, who very much desired to avoid war, made overtures for peace, and the result was a friendly meeting between the kings at the Brenn Islands at the mouth of the Gaut River. They arranged for a brotherly union, under oath, to keep the peace with each other to the end of their lives; and if one of them should die without leaving a son, the survivor should succeed to both countries. Twelve of the principal men in each kingdom swore to the kings that this treaty should be observed.

After the conciliation at the Brenn Islands Magnus was in undisputed possession of his father’s throne. During his stay in the southern part of the country he had come in contact with his father’s former friends and faithful adherents, who had a great deal to say about the actions of the Throndhjem people toward King Olaf. Magnus listened with great eagerness to this talk, and, before he really understood it, he had become possessed of a bitter feeling against those men who had been his father’s opponents. He especially began to dislike Kalf Arneson, who, according to common belief, had dealt King Olaf the last deadly blow at Stiklestad. One day the king was at a feast at the Haug estate in Verdalen. At the table he said to Einar Thambaskelfer: “Let us ride to-day over to Stiklestad. I wish to see the different reminders of the battle.” Einar replied: “Well, I know little about how matters went there; but take Kalf with thee: he can give thee information about all that took place.” When the tables were removed, the king made himself ready, and said to Kalf: “Thou must go with me to Stiklestad.” After repeating this command the king went out. Kalf put on his riding clothes in all haste, and said to his foot-boy: “Ride immediately to Eggja, and order my house-servants to have all my property on board my ship before sunset.”

The king and Kalf now rode over to Stiklestad. They alighted from their horses, and went to the place where the battle had been. “Where did the king fall?” asked Magnus. Kalf pointed with his spear, and said: “There he lay when he fell.” The king further asked: “And where wast thou then, Kalf?” “Here, where I am now standing,” answered Kalf. The king turned red as blood in the face, and said: “Then thy axe could well have reached him.”

Kalf replied: “My axe did not come near him.” Then he immediately went to his horse, and rode away with all his men, while the king returned to Haug. When Kalf reached home he found his ship ready, and immediately sailed for the Orkneys. The king confiscated the Eggja estate and other possessions which Kalf left behind him.

Magnus commenced to severely punish many of those who had borne arms against Saint Olaf. He drove some of them out of the country, took large sums of money from others, and had the cattle of others slaughtered for his use. Thorer Hund had escaped punishment by making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem shortly after Olaf’s fall, and it is said that he never came back. Harek of Thiotta was killed with the king’s consent by Asmund Grankelson, whose father had been killed by Harek. The people soon began to murmur, and the discontent spread throughout the country. In Sogn the people even gathered an armed force, and were determined to fight, if Magnus came into their district. When the young impetuous king heard of this, and made up his mind to punish the rebellious Sognings, his friends, who knew that the disaffection was widely spread through the country, decided to warn him of his danger. Twelve of his friends came together, and determined, by casting lots, which one of them should inform the king of the discontent of the people, and the lot fell upon Sigvat the Skald.

Sigvat then composed a poem, which he called “The Free-speaking Song” (BersÖglisvÍsur), in which he reminded the king of the promises he made when he was proclaimed king, and advised him to be guided by that respect for the laws and the rights of the people which his predecessors had shown. He blamed him for his severity, and warned him of the danger threatening him and his country.

Sigvat’s song made a deep impression on the young king, and from now on he was an entirely changed man. He consulted the most prudent men, and revised the laws, repealing such of Svein Alfifuson’s laws as were most obnoxious to the people. He codified the laws in a written book called “The Gray Goose” (Graagaasen).7 It was only a short time before King Magnus became very popular, and was beloved by all the country people, who now called him Magnus the Good.

The Danish king, Hardeknut, who was also king of England, died of apoplexy at a wedding-feast at Lambeth, England, in June, 1042. This was the end of Danish rule in England. After the death of Hardeknut, his half-brother, Edward the Good, a son of the English king Ethelred and Queen Emma, was chosen king of England.

When King Magnus heard of Hardeknut’s death, he immediately sent word to Denmark that he intended to claim the Danish throne in accordance with the agreement made between himself and Hardeknut at their meeting at the Gaut River. Shortly afterward King Magnus proceeded to Denmark with a fine fleet of seventy ships. He was well received, and at a Thing assembled at Viborg, Jutland (where the Danes always elected their king), he was proclaimed king of all the Danish dominions. He remained in Denmark during the summer (1042), and wherever he came he was received with enthusiasm. He divided the country into districts and appointed administrative officers, gave fiefs to influential men, and took all steps to secure himself in power. In the autumn he returned to Norway.

Among the Danes who swore allegiance to King Magnus was Svein, commonly called Svein Estridson, a son of Earl Ulf. His mother was Estrid (Astrid), a daughter of King Svein Tjuguskeg. She was a sister of Canute the Great by the father’s side, and of the Swedish king Olaf by the mother’s side, her mother being Queen Sigrid the Haughty. One day, as King Magnus was sitting in his high-seat with a large number of men around him, and with Svein Estridson sitting on a footstool before him, the king made a speech, in which he said that he had promised the Danes a chief who could defend and rule the country in the absence of the king. “And,” he continued, “I know no better man fitted, in all respects, for this than Svein. I will therefore make him my earl, and give him the government of my Danish dominions while I am in Norway, just as King Canute the Great set his father, Earl Ulf, over Denmark while he was in England.” Einar Thambaskelfer, who was with the king, was very ill-pleased with this appointment, as he put no faith in Svein, and said to the king: “Too great an earl, too great an earl, my foster-son!”

King Magnus had an early opportunity to regret his choice, for, the same winter in which Svein was given the administration of the government of Denmark as earl, he successfully courted the friendship of the most influential men, and assumed the title of King of Denmark. King Magnus heard this news, and at the same time that the people of Vendland had a large army with which they plundered in Denmark. He then gathered a large force, with which he sailed to Denmark. There he summoned the people to come to him, and drew together a great army in Jutland. Ordulf, the duke of Brunswick, who the year before had married Ulfhild, the daughter of King Olaf the Saint, and the half-sister of King Magnus,8 also came to his aid with a great force. King Magnus met the Vends in battle at Lyrskog Heath in Schleswig and gained a great victory. It was generally reported in the army that King Magnus had a vision the night before the battle, in which Olaf the Saint had appeared and had given the king advice. “It is the common saying,” says the saga, “that there never was so great a slaughter of men in the northern lands, since the time of Christianity, as took place among the Vendland people on Lyrskog Heath.” This was on the 28th of September, 1043. King Magnus followed up his victory, and sailed to Vendland, attacked and captured the fortress of Jomsborg. A great many of the people of Vendland submitted to King Magnus, while others fled the country.

After this King Magnus turned his attention to Earl Svein. A battle was fought, and Svein had to flee to his relatives in Sweden. But as soon as Magnus went to Norway, Svein would return to Denmark and strengthen himself with the Danes, and Magnus had continual wars with his earl. Among the principal battles were those at Aaros (now Aarhus) and Helganes.

When King Magnus came back to Norway in the autumn of 1045, after one of his battles with Svein, he heard that his relative, Harald Sigurdson, had come to Sweden on his way to Norway, and that Harald and Svein had come to an understanding, and intended to endeavor to subdue both Denmark and Norway. King Magnus then ordered a general levy over all Norway, and he soon collected a great army with which to meet the intruder. The relatives and friends of both Harald and Magnus, however, said that it would be a great misfortune if there should be war between them, and the result was a friendly meeting, where Magnus gave Harald half of his kingdom. They were to rule together on equal terms; but whenever they were together in one place King Magnus was to be “the first man in seat, service and salutation.” King Magnus died the following year (1047) on one of his expeditions to Denmark. Before his death King Magnus declared that Svein Estridson was to have Denmark, while Harald should rule over Norway.