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mark as an already existing kingdom, and also speaks of the
different states of the Götar and Svear, which, however, hy the 9th cent,
had become united, the Svear, or Swedes, being dominant.
The same poem refers to ‘Norvegr’ and ‘Nordmenn’, i.e. Norway
and the Northmen, but throws no light on their history. It
is, however, certain that the consolidation of Norway took place
much later than that of Denmark and Sweden, and doubtless after
many severe struggles. To the mythical period must be relegated
the picturesque stories of the early Y’nglingar kings, beginning
with Olaf Tratelje, or the ‘tree-hewer’; but they are probably not
without some foundation in fact, and it is at any rate certain that the
migrations and piratical expeditions of the Northmen, which soon
affected the whole of the north of Europe, began about this time
(7th-8th cent. A. D.). The predatory campaigns of the Danish King
Hugleikr, which are mentioned both in the Beowulf and by Frankish
chroniclers, are doubtless a type of the enterprises of the vikings
(from Vik, ‘creek), which continued down to the 11th century. The
Swedes directed their attacks mainly against Finland, Kurland,
Esthonia, and Russia, which last derived its name and its political
organisation from Sweden; the Danes undertook expeditions against
France and England, and the Norwegians chiefly against the north
of England, Scotland, the Orkney and Shetland Islands, and the
Hebrides.
Norway before the Union.
From the semi-mythical Ynglingar and Olaf Trætelje, who is
said to have flourished about the middle of the 7th cent., Halfdan
Svarte, king of a part of Norway corresponding with the present
Stift of Christiania, professed to trace his descent. His son Harald
Haarfager (‘fair-haired’), after several severe conflicts, succeeded
in uniting the whole of Norway under his sceptre after the
decisive battle of the Hafrsfjord near Stavanger in 872. The final
consolidation of the kingdom, however, was not effected until a
century later. The kingdom was repeatedly attacked by the petty
kings who had been banished, while great numbers of the
peasantry, to escape the burdens of taxation, emigrated to the Orkney
and Shetland Islands, to Iceland, and even to the Hebrides. In
this weakened condition Harald transmitted the crown to his
favourite son Eirfkr Blod’ox. whose exploits as a viking had gained for
him the sobriquet of ‘bloody axe’. After having slain several of
his brothers, Eric was expelled about the year 935 by Haakon the
Good, who in his turn was defeated and slain by Eric’s sons at
the battle of Fitjar in 961. Among the sons of Eric, several of
whom were put to death by their own subjects, the most
distinguished was Harald Graafeld, who was, however, at length defeated
by the Jarl (earl) of Lade in the district of Throndhjem, with the
aid of Harald Gormsson, king of Denmark (970). At this period
a number of petty kings still maintained themselves on the fjords
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