III.
HARALD HAARFAGER'S SAGA.[1]
Chapter I.
Harald's strife with Hako and his father Gandalf.
Harald was but ten years old when he succeeded his father (Halfdan the Black). He became a stout, strong, and comely man, and withal prudent and manly. His mother's brother, Guttorm, was regent over the court and country, and commander of the men-at-arms of the court,[2] After Halfdan the Black's death, many chiefs coveted the dominions he had left. Among these King Gandalf was the first; then Hogne and Frode, sons of Eystein, king of Hedemark; and also Hogne Karason came from Ringerige. Hako, the son of Gandalf, began with an expedition of 300 men against Westfold, marched round the head of and over some valleys, and expected to come suddenly upon King Harald; while his father Gandalf sat at home with his army, and prepared to cross over the fiord into Westfold. When Guttorm heard of this he gathered an army, and marched up the country with King Harald against Hako. They met
- ↑ Harald Haarfager reigned from about the year 861 to about the year 931. Pinkerton thinks Torfseus dates his reign thirty years too far back, and that Harald Haarfager's reign began in 900 or 910. As he agrees, however, in placing his death in 931 or 936, the only difference between the two antiquaries is, that Torfseus begins to reckon Harald's reign from his father's death, and Pinkerton from the subjugation of the small kings, by which he became sole king of Norway.
- ↑ A court or herd about the king's person were men-at-arms of the court or herd, kept in pay, and holding guard by night, even on horseback (see Chapter 4. of the preceding Saga); and appear to have been an establishment coeval with the kingly power itself. This kind of paid standing army must have existed from the earliest period, where no feudal rights over vassals or retainers could give the king or his nobles a constant command of armed followers.
