The men of Mull were tired of flight;
The Scottish foemen would not fight, And many an island-girl's wail Was heard as through the isles we strife sail."10.OF LAGMAN, KING GUDROD'S SON.
King Magnus came with his forces to the Holy Island (Iona), and gave peace and safety to all men there.It is told that the king opened the door of the little Columb's Kirk there, but did not go in, but instantly locked the door again, and said that no man should be so bold as to go into that church hereafter; which has been the case ever since.From thence King Magnus sailed to Islay, where he plundered and burnt; and when he had taken that country he proceeded south around Cantire, marauding on both sides in Scotland and Ireland, and advanced with his foray to Man, where he plundered.So says Bjorn Krephende: --"On Sandey's plain our shield they spy:
From Isla smoke rose heaven-high, Whirling up from the flashing blaze The king's men o'er the island raise.
South of Cantire the people fled, Scared by our swords in blood dyed red, And our brave champion onward goes To meet in Man the Norseman's foes."Lagman (Lawman) was the name of the son of Gudrod, king of the Hebudes.Lawman was sent to defend the most northerly islands;but when King Magnus and his army came to the Hebudes, Lawman fled here and there about the isles, and at last King Magnus's men took him and his ship's crew as he was flying over to Ireland.The king put him in irons to secure him.So says Bjorn Krephende: --"To Gudrod's son no rock or cave, Shore-side or hill, a refuge gave;Hunted around from isle to isle, This Lawman found no safe asyle.
From isle to isle, o'er firth and sound, Close on his track his foe he found.
At Ness the Agder chief at length Seized him, and iron-chained his strength."11.OF THE FALL OF EARL HUGE THE BRAVE.
Afterwards King Magnus sailed to Wales; and when he came to the sound of Anglesey there came against him an army from Wales, which was led by two earls -- Hugo the brave, and Hugo the Stout.
They began immediately to give battle, and there was a severe conflict.King Magnus shot with the bow; but Huge the Brave was all over in armour, so that nothing was bare about him excepting one eye.King Magnus let fly an arrow at him, as also did a Halogaland man who was beside the king.They both shot at once.
The one shaft hit the nose-screen of the helmet, which was bent by it to one side, and the other arrow hit the earl's eye, and went through his head; and that was found to be the king's.Earl Huge fell, and the Britons fled with the loss of many people.So says Bjorn Krephende: --"The swinger of the sword Stood by Anglesey's ford;His quick shaft flew, And Huge slew.
His sword gleamed a while O'er Anglesey Isle, And his Norsemen's band Scoured the Anglesey land."There was also sung the following verse about it: --"On the panzers arrows rattle, Where our Norse king stands in battle;From the helmets blood-streams flow, Where our Norse king draws his bow:
His bowstring twangs, -- its biting hail Rattles against the ring-linked mail.
Up in the land in deadly strife Our Norse king took Earl Huge's life."King Magnus gained the victory in this battle, and then took Anglesey Isle, which was the farthest south the Norway kings of former days had ever extended their rule.Anglesey is a third part of Wales.After this battle King Magnus turned back with his fleet, and came first to Scotland.Then men went between the Scottish king, Melkolm and King Magnus, and a peace was made between them; so that all the islands lying west of Scotland, between which and the mainland he could pass in a vessel with her rudder shipped, should be held to belong to the king of Norway.
Now when King Magnus came north to Cantire, he had a skiff drawn over the strand at Cantire, and shipped the rudder of it.The king himself sat in the stern-sheets, and held the tiller; and thus he appropriated to himself the land that lay on the farboard side.Cantire is a great district, better than the best of the southern isles of the Hebudes, excepting Man; and there is a small neck of land between it and the mainland of Scotland, over which longships are often drawn.
12.DEATH OF THE EARLS OF ORKNEY.
King Magnus was all the winter in the southern isles, and his men went over all the fjords of Scotland, rowing within all the inhabited and uninhabited isles, and took possession for the king of Norway of all the islands west of Scotland.King Magnus contracted in marriage his son Sigurd to Biadmynia, King Myrkjartan's daughter.Myrkjartan was a son of the Irish king Thialfe, and ruled over Connaught.The summer after, King Magnus, with his fleet, returned east to Norway.Earl Erland died of sickness at Nidaros, and is buried there; and Earl Paul died in Bergen.
Skopte Ogmundson, a grandson of Thorberg, was a gallant lenderman, who dwelt at Giske in Sunmore, and was married to Gudrun, a daughter of Thord Folason.Their children were Ogmund, Fin, Thord, and Thora, who was married to Asolf Skulason.
Skopte's and Gudrun's sons were the most promising and popular men in their youth.
13.QUARRELS OF KING MAGNUS AND KING INGE.