Gripla - 20.12.2009, Page 62

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selsbani’s fatal expedition to the south, Snorri has described how Óláfr
runs into conflict with one after another of the mightiest men in the coun­
try, a narrative in which the Bjarmaland episode also plays a part (above p.
60). Óláfr’s adversaries rally around King Cnut the Great who arrives in
Norway and is accepted as king over most of the country. After Cnut’s
return, Óláfr, who has remained passive in his stronghold in the east dur­
ing Cnut’s expedition, tries a raid along the coast of Western Norway. He
is pursued by Erlingr, who has a largely superior force, but Óláfr nonethe­
less manages to lay an ambush for Erlingr’s ship which is much faster than
the rest of his fleet. erlingr fights until all his men have been killed, after
which Óláfr offers him quarter. Erlingr lays down his arms but is killed by
one of Óláfr’s men, to whom Óláfr says: “With that blow you struck
Norway out of my hands”.23 Shortly afterwards, Óláfr is forced to leave
the country and finds refuge in Russia.
Thus, the lesson is that clemency brings Óláfr success, whereas killing
an enemy who surrenders leads to disaster. In accordance with what seems
to be Snorri’s general way of thinking, this conclusion is based on political
rather than moral considerations. On both occasions, Óláfr is in a weak
position; he is in desperate need of friends. In a society of feuds and
revenge, killing an enemy makes it more difficult to come to terms with
his clients and relatives. killing Hákon might easily have led to a danger­
ous alliance of his friends and relatives against óláfr. killing erlingr did
lead to Erlingr’s whole network uniting against Óláfr and chasing him out
of the country. Admittedly, óláfr is not responsible for erlingr’s death in
Snorri’s account, although he most probably is in the stanza by Sighvatr,
which Snorri quotes.24 Snorri’s conclusion therefore may be that óláfr
wanted to do the same to Erlingr as to Hákon, but that luck, which had so
emphatically favoured him in his early career, had now deserted him. More
generally, however, both episodes show the importance of support. No
king can rule only by force; he needs the support of the majority of the
leading men in the country. Towards the end of his reign, Óláfr loses this
support, largely through his own fault, in antagonising a number of the
23 “nú hjóttu nóreg ór hendi mér” (Heimskringla II, 406; Hollander, 467).
24 “erlingr fell, en olli/ allríkr skipat slíku/ …bragna konr með gagni”/ “erling fell; that out­
come/ óláf caused … and gained the victory”, Den norsk­islandske Skjaldedigtning, ed. finnur
jónsson (Copenhagen: Rosenkilde og Bagger, 1908–14), B I, 230; cf. Hollander, 468.