much to his people that he penetrated far inland in the country, following and plundering the fugitives. King Edmund had set a king, who was called Olaf, to defend the land; and he gathered an innumerable mass of people, with whom he marched against King Eric. A dreadful battle[1] ensued, in which many Englishmen fell; but for one who fell came three in his place out of the country behind, and when evening came on the loss of men turned on the side of the Northmen, and many people fell. Towards the end of the day, King Eric and five kings with him fell. Three of them were Guttorm and his two sons, Ivar and Harek: there fell, also, Sigurd and Ragnvald; and with them Torf-Einar's two sons, Arnkel and Erlend. Besides these, there was a great slaughter of Northmen; and those who escaped went to Northumbeland, and brought the news to Gunhild and her sons.
Chapter V.
Gunhild and her sons.
When Gunhild and her sons knew for certain that King Eric had fallen, after having plundered the land of the King of England, they thought there was no peace to be expected for them; and they made themselves ready to depart from Northumberland, with all the ships King Eric had left, and all the men who would follow them. They took also all the loose property, and goods which they had gathered partly as taxes in England, partly as booty on their expeditions. With their army they first steered northward to Orkney, where Thorfin Hausaldiffer was earl, a son of Torf-Einar, and took up their station there for a time. Eric's sons subdued these islands and Shetland, took scatt for themselves, and staid there all the winter; but went on viking cruises in summer to the West, and plundered in Scotland and Ireland. About this Glum Geirason sings:—
- ↑ This battle, according to the Saxon Chronicle, took place 944. It mentions the fall of a Regenald—Rognvald—and an Aulaf.
