Hakon and the Sons of Erik 1 5 7 



raising Hakon to the throne, would turn against him 

 and depose him unless he conformed to their ancient 

 customs. Earl Sigurd came forward as a mediator; 

 and he did his best to persuade Hakon to go through 

 the rites of sacrifice ; but the king performed his part 

 very unwillingly. Both sides left the feast in bad 

 humour; and Hakon swore that he would collect an army 

 and punish the Throndbjem people for their insolence. 



Gunhild and her sons had already begun to bestir 

 themselves to win back the crown of Norway. Their 

 first movement was to seek aid from the King of Den- 

 mark, Harald Bluetooth (Bkitand), the son of Gorm the 

 Old, the first sole king of the country. It is possible 

 that Gunhild was a sister of this monarch, whom Hakon 

 had offended, by plundering his dominions. Harald 

 received the Norse princes kindly, and adopted as his 

 foster-son one of their number, a namesake of his own. 

 But he could do nothing immediately to help to restore 

 Gunhild's sons to what they deemed their rights. There 

 was at present no career open to them, but that which 

 for nearly two centuries had been the career of all dis- 

 possessed men of noble or peasant blood — the career of 

 Vikings. And they spent many years in this pursuit, 

 plundering the coasts of Norway, or of other Baltic 

 lands farther east. 



About the time of the disputes, whereof we have just 

 spoken, between Hakon and his subjects — the news of 

 which was no doubt wafted to the ears of Gunhild and 

 her sons — these last made their first great stroke for 

 the recovery of the Norwegian crown. Hakon had 

 returned in a sullen fit to More (the country lying 

 between Throndhjem and Komsdal), when news reached 



