brought the fullest horns & the strongest drink. The third cup was to St. Michael, and this was drunk by all; and thereafter Sigvaldi drank to his father’s memory, & made a vow that before three winters were passed he would go to Norway and slay Eirik, or drive him from the land. Then did his brother Thorkel the Tall swear that he would fare with Sigvaldi, and never shun battle as long as Sigvaldi was fighting there; and Bui the Burly said that he too would go with them to Norway, and not flee before Earl Hakon in battle. Then did Vagn Eirikson swear that he also would accompany him, & not return before he had slain Thorkel Leira and lain abed with his daughter Ingibiorg. ¤ Many other lords made vows anent sundry matters, & all men drank the heirship ale. When the morrow was come and the Jomsborg vikings had slept as long as they were minded, they deemed that they had spoken big words enough & met together to take counsel as to how and when they should proceed with their cruise, and then they covenanted to array their ships and men as speedily as might be. Now this matter was rumoured of far and wide in the lands.
¶ Earl Eirik, the son of Earl Hakon, was at that season in Raumariki, & hearing of these tidings straightway mustered the folk and set forth to the Uplands, and then made his way northwards across the mountains to Throndhjem, to his father Earl Hakon. Of this speaketh Thord Kolbeinson in Eirik’s lay:
‘In good sooth from the south came fearsome tales of war,
Peasants even fear to fight;
And the captain of the ship learned that the long-ships of the Danes
Along their rollers were run out seawards.’
¶ Earl Hakon and Earl Eirik caused war-arrows to be sent throughout the whole of the district around Throndhjem, and sent messengers to South-More, North-More, and Raumsdal; likewise sent they northward to Naumdal and Halogaland, and when this was accomplished had they called out their full muster of men and ships. Thus saith Eirik’s lay:
‘Many a long-ship and bark and great keel
(How the skald’s praise grows apace)
The shield-bearer caused to be run into the sea
(Off-shore was the muster goodly)
So that the warrior could defend the lands of his fathers.’
¶ Earl Hakon went forthwith south to More, to reconnoitre and collect men, while Earl Eirik assembled his host & took it southwards.
¶ The Jomsborg vikings brought their hosts to Limfjord and thence sailed out to sea; sixty ships had they, and they took them across to Agdir whence without tarrying shaped they a course northward to the dominion of Earl Hakon. They sailed off the coast, plundering & burning wheresoever they went. Now there was a certain man named Geirmund who was sailing in a light boat & had but few men with him, & he came to More where he found Earl Hakon, & going in before the Earl as he sate at meat told him that there was an host to the southward which was come from Denmark. The Earl asked if he knew this in good sooth, and Geirmund, holding up one of his arms from which the hand had been severed, said that that was the token that a host was in the land. ¤ Then did the Earl question him closely concerning this host, & Geirmund said that it was the Jomsborg vikings, & that they had slain many men and plundered far & wide: ‘Nevertheless they are travelling speedily and hard. ¤ Methinks it will not be long before they are here.’ ¤ So then the Earl rowed up all the fjords, inwards along one shore and outwards along the other faring night and day, and he sent scouts on to the upper way across the isthmus,§ & south in the Fjords, & likewise north where Eirik was now with his host. ¤ It is of this that Eirik’s lay telleth:
‘War-wise was the Earl who had long-ships on the main
Heading with lofty prows against Sigvaldi,
Mayhap many an oar shook,
But the seamen who rent the sea with strong oar-blades
Feared not death.’
¶ Earl Hakon took his host southwards as speedily as ever he was able.
¶ Sailing northwards with his fleet Earl Sigvaldi rounded Stad, and first put in over against Hereya. Here, although the vikings fell in with the folk of the country, never could they get from them the truth as to the whereabouts of the Earl. Whithersoever they went the vikings pillaged, & in the island of Hod they ran up ashore & plundered the people, taking back with them to their ships both folk and cattle, though all men capable of bearing arms they slew. ¤ Now as they were going down again to their ships an old man approached them—for he was walking nigh to the men of Bui—and unto them said he, ‘Not as warriors go ye here, driving neat and calves down to the shore; better prey would it be for ye to take the bear since ye have come so nigh his lair.’ ¤ ‘What saith the carle?’ they cry, ‘Can ye tell us aught of Earl Hakon?’ The peasant made answer: ‘Yesterday he sailed to Hiorundarfjord having with him one or two ships, or three at most, & at that time he had not heard aught of ye.’ Forthwith ran Bui & his men to their ships, leaving all their booty behind, & Bui called out saying: ‘Let us make the most of having got this news, so that we may be the ones nighest to the victory.’ ¤ And when they had mounted up into their ships straightway rowed they out north of the isle of Hod, and then rounding that island into the fjord.
¶ Earl Hakon and his son Earl Eirik were lying in Hallsvik, with their hosts and one hundred and fifty ships. ¤ Now they had heard by this time that the Jomsborg vikings were lying-to off Hod, and the Earls accordingly rowed northward to seek them, and when they were come to the place which is called Hiorungavag met they one with another. ¤ Both sides then set themselves in array for battle. In the midst of his host was the banner of Earl Sigvaldi and over against this Earl Hakon took up his position; Earl Sigvaldi had twenty ships, and Earl Hakon sixty. ¤ In Earl Hakon’s following were the chiefs Thorir Hart of Halogaland, and Styrkar of Gimsar. As for the battle array, one wing consisted of the twenty ships belonging to Bui the Burly and his brother Sigurd. Against these Earl Eirik Hakonson placed sixty ships, with him being the chiefs Gudbrand the White from the Uplands & Thorkel Leira from Vik. ¤ In the other wing of the array was Vagn Akason with twenty ships, and against him with sixty ships was Svein Hakonson with Skeggi of Uphaug in Yriar, and Rognvald from Ervik in Stad. In Eirik’s lay it is told of thus:
‘And the sea-ships to battle sped towards the Danish ships,
The sea-host sailed the coast along:
From before the vikings cleared the Earl away many at More
The ships drifted amid war-slain heaps.’
And thus saith Eyvind in the Halogaland tale:
‘Hardly was it a tryst of joy in that day’s dawning
For the foemen of Yngvi Frey,
When the land-rulers guided the long-ships across the waste,
And the sword-elf from the south-land
Thrust the sea-steeds against their hosts.’
¶ Then the fleets were brought together and there ensued the grimmest of battles, and many were slain on both sides, albeit the host of Hakon was it which fared the worst, for the Jomsborg vikings fought stoutly both with boldness & dexterity, shooting clean through the shields. So great in number were the missiles which struck Earl Hakon that his shirt of mail became all rent and useless so that he threw it from him. ¤ Of this speaketh Tind Halkelson:
‘The kirtle which gold bedecked women wrought for the Earl
(The sparks from the sword wax brighter)
Could no longer be borne;
Then the mailed hero from off him cast the King’s shirt
(Ready were the steeds of the sea).
Asunder, on the sand, blown from the Earl by the wind
Was the ring-weaved shirt of Sorli
(Thereof bore he the marks).’
¶ Now the ships of the Jomsborg vikings were both larger, and higher in the gunwale, than were those of Earl Hakon,