Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 2.djvu/24

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16
CHRONICLE OF THE

16 CHRONICLE OF THE sa ga v n. Norway; first Hakon's sons Eric and Swend, and afterwards Eric's sons Hakon and Swend. Hakon was a sister's son of King Canute, the son of Swend. During this time there were two earls in Valland*, William and Robert ; their father was Richard earl of Rouen. They ruled over Normandy, f Their sister was Queen Emma, whom the English king Ethelred had married ; and their sons were Edmund, Ed- ward the Good, Edwy, and Edgar. Richard the earl of Rouen was a son of Richard the son of William Long Spear who was the son of Gange Rolfe, the earl who first conquered Normandy ; and he again was a son of Rognvald the Mighty, earl of More, as before related. From Gange Rolf are descended the earls of Rouen, who have long reckoned themselves of kin to the chiefs in Norway, and hold them in such respect that they always were the greatest friends of the Northmen; and every Northman found a friendly country in Normandy, if he required it. To Normandy King Olaf came in autumn, and remained all winter in the river Seine J in good peace and quiet. Chapter After Olaf Tryggvesson's fall, Earl Eric gave ofEinar peace to Einar Tambarskelver, the son of Eindred skXe" Styrkarsson ; and Einar went north with the earl to Norway. It is said that Einar was the strongest man and the best archer that ever was in Norway. His shooting was sharp beyond all others ; for with a blunt arrow he shot through a raw, soft ox-hide,

  • Valland, as before noticed, means the whole west coast of France.

t Normandy was that part of Valland formerly called Neustria ; which, about the year 912, was ceded by Charles the Simple to Rolf Ganger, who gave it the name of Normandy, from its being occupied by the Northmen. The chief town was Ruda or Rudaburg, now Rouen; from which the earls of Normandy were called Ruda-jarlar — the Rouen earls, not earls of Normandy. The title appears to have been personal, at least among the Northmen, not attached to land pos- sessing peculiar rights or burdens as an earldom. J Signa is evidently the river Seine.