EXPEDITIONS TO ENGLAND AM) SCOTLAND. 1C7 



quent, and a good Christian ' : (Olaf Tryggvason's Saga, 

 vol. i. ; Fms.). 



We see how insecure at the time of ^Ethelstan was the 

 position of a king or a sub-king, and how much they depended 

 on the help of the powerful and independent warriors by 

 whom they were surrounded, and without whom they could 

 not have ruled. 



" When Eirik (blood-axe), a Norwegian, saw that he could not 

 resist the host of (his brother) Hakon, he sailed westwards across 

 the sea with those who wished to follow him ; he went first to 

 the Orkneys, and took many men with him thence. Then he 

 sailed to England and made warfare in Scotland wherever he 

 landed ; he also made warfare in the North of England. Adal- 

 stein, king of the English, sent word to Eirik offering him a 

 realm in England, as his father King Haralcl had been a great 

 friend of his, and he wished to show that to his son. They 

 made an agreement, so that King Eirik got Nordinibraland 

 (Northumberland), in order to keep it for King Adalsteiu, 

 and defend it against the Danir and other vikings. Eirik was 

 to be baptized, and his wife and his children, and all the 

 men that had followed him there. Eirik agreed, was baptized, 

 and adopted the true belief Nordimbraland is one-fifth of 

 England. He sat in JorviJc (York), where the sons of 

 Kagnar Lodbrok are said to have sat before. Nordimbraland 

 is for the most part inhabited by Northmen, since the 

 sons of Eagnar won it; the Danir and the Northmen often 

 attacked the land after they had lost it. Many of the names 

 of the land are in the Norrtena (Northern tongue) : Grimsbser 

 (Grimsbyj, and Hauksfljot (Hauks-fleet), and many others " 

 (Heimskringla, Hakoii the Good, c. 3). 



" King Eirik bloodaxe kept many Northmen, who had come 

 westward with him, and his friends continued to come from 

 Norway. As he had little land, he went on warfare during the 

 summer, ravaged in Scotland and the Hebrides, Ireland, and 

 Bretland, and thus won property. ^Ethelstau died on a sick- 

 bed (A.D. 940) ; he had been king fourteen winters, eight \\ <!<* 

 and three days. Thereupon his brother Edmund became King 

 of England ; he did not like the Northmen, and was not fond 

 of Eirik, and it was said that he wished to place another king 

 over Northumberland. When Eirik heard this he went on a 

 western viking expedition, taking with him Ariikel and Erlend, 

 the sons of Torf-Einar, from the Orkneys. Then he sailed 

 to the Hebrides, and there many vikings and hostkings joined 

 him. He went first to Ireland, then he crossed to l.retland. 



