Olaf and the Earls Hakon and Svein 209 



difficulty lay in the Throndhjem country, where the 

 family of the Earls of Lade had been great landowners 

 and great chiefs as long as any of the race of Harald Fair- 

 hair had held the crown in Norway. Since the battle 

 of Svold, moreover, and the partition treaty of the three 

 leaders, who had united to destroy Olaf Tryggvason, 

 the Swedish borders had been advanced ; so that many 

 of the bonders of the upper country who once paid 

 taxes to the Norse king now paid them to the Swede. 

 The Kino- of Sweden at this time was the same who 

 had taken part at Svold, another Olaf called Olaf the 

 Swede by the Sagas, and also Olaf Skattkonung, Olaf 

 the Tribute-kino'. 



Though Hakon had been disposed of. Earl Svein, his 

 uncle, still remained. Svein, so soon as he heard what 

 this new-comer was doing in the south, collected an army 

 and a fleet, and sailed round towards the southern fjords 

 to look for liim. It is strange to find in the party 

 opposed to Olaf Haraldsson some of the men who had 

 been the most famous of the adherents of Olaf the son 

 of Tryggvi, men such as Einar Tanibarskelfir, who had 

 drawn the bow so well at Svold, and Erling Skjalgsson, 

 Olaf Tryggvason's brother-in-law, who was reckoned 

 the strongest and bravest man in Norway, But so it 

 is. And it must have added not a little to the diffi- 

 culties of the new aspirant to the throne to discover 

 that such famous warriors had reconciled themselves 

 to the party of the earls. 



At first there was some manoeuvring between the 

 rival hosts. When Svein approached from the sea, 

 Olaf passed into the Uplands : neither party seemed 

 ready to risk an engagement. But at length, on Palm 







