This book contains two particularly interest episodes: the fight of Harald of the Danes against the Swedes and Goethar and the rule of Jarmarik. Each of those contains plenty of references to the Wends and “kings” of the East. There is also a mention of the Lombards’ founding myth which seems to come from Paul the Deacon although Saxo adds his own spin. Of course, all of this is told from the perspective of a praiser of the Danish monarchy so majority of the storytelling, even if roughly accurate, should be taken with a grain oof salt.
Chapter 1
1. Starkath as well as being a chief pillar of the Swedish war was the first to relate its history in an eloquent compostion in Danish, though it was handed down by word of mouth rather than in writing. Since it is my resolve to describe in Latin the sequence of events which he set out and related according to our country’s custom in the vernacular, I shall start by reviewing the most eminent nobles on either side. I am not seized with any desire to comprehend the entire host, a body which could not even be counted precisely. First my pen shall recount those who stood on Harald’s side, shortly after, the men who served under Ring.
Chapter 2
1. Of the captains who flocked to Harald, the most illustrious are known to have been Sven and Sam, Ambar and Elli, Rathi of Funen, Salgarth, and that Roi whose length of beard gave him his famous nickname. In addition there were Skalk of Scania and Alf, Aggi’s son, who were joined by Olvir the Broad and Gnepia the Old. Also among their number was Garth, the founder of Stangby.
2. Then there were Harald’s kinsmen, Blend, from far-off Iceland. and Brand, whom they called Crumb, together with Torfi and Tyrving, Teit and Hialti. These sailed to Lejre, their bodies equipped for war, excelling in strength of intellect and matching their tail stature with well-trained spirits; they were versed in shooting missiles from long-bows or crossbows, would commonly take on the enemy man to man and could dexterously weave poems in their native speech. So assiduously had they cultivated mind and body.
3. From Lejre, Hort and Burgar went out, as well as Belgi and Begath. Bari and Toll accompanied them.
4. From Schleswig issued Haki Scarface and Tummi the Voyager under their leaders Hetha and Visna, whose female bodies Nature had endowed with manly courage. Vyborg too, instilled with the same spirit, was attended by Bo, Bram’s son, and Brat the Jutlander, who were both longing for the fray. In the same troop were the Englishman Orm, Ubbi the Frisian, Ari the One-eyed, Alf, and Goetar. After these we must count Dal the Fat and Duk from Wendish territory.
5. Visna was a woman hard through and through and a highly expert warrior; her chief followers among the band of Wends who thronged about her are known to have been Barre and Gnisli. The remainder of this company bore small shields in front of their bodies and used very long swords; these sky-coloured shields they pushed round behind them in time of war or gave to their bearers, so that, having cast away all protection from their breasts and exposed their persons to every danger, they would plunge into the fight with blades drawn. Among them the most shining lights were Tolke and Imme. After these, Toki, born in the province of Julin, is known to fame together with Otrik, called the Young.
6. Now Hetha, encircled by ready comrades, brought to the war a century [‘s worth] of armed men. Their captains were Grimar and Grenzli; next, Ger of Livonia, Hama and Hunger, Humli and Biari are remembered as the most courageous of the princes; these would very often wage duels successfully and far and wide win outstanding victories. So the two women I have mentioned, graceful in battle gear, led their land forces to combat. Thus the Danish troops streamed together company by company.
7. The kings from the North were equally talented though differing in their allegiance, some defending Harald, a portion [his opponent] Ring. Those who had joined Harald’s side were Omi and Osathul, Hun, Hasten and Hithin the Slender, Dag, surnamed Grenski, and the Harald whose father was Olaf; from the province of Hadeland, Har and Herlef and Hothbrod, whose nickname was the Unbridled, enlisted in the Danish camp; from the region of lmsland came Hunki and Harald and, journeying from the north to meet them, Haki and sons of Bemuni, Sigmund and Saerk. The king had extended his patronage to all these warriors in a generous and friendly fashion; held in highest honour by him, they received swords chased with gold and the choicest spoils of war.
8. The sons of old Gandalf had also arrived, intimate acquaintances of Harald through their long-standing dependence on him.
9. So thickly did the Danish navy crowd the seas that it seemed as if a bridge had been built connecting Zealand with Scania. The closepacked throng of vessels provided a short cut for anyone who wanted to walk from one province to the other. Not wishing the Swedes to be caught unprepared for war, Harald sent envoys to Ring to make public the breach of peace between them with an open announcement of hostilities; the same men were also instructed to prescribe a site for battle.
Chapter 3
1. Such was the list of Harald’s fighting men; Ring’s party comprised Ulf, Aggi, Vind, Egil the One-eyed, Goetar, Hildir, Guthi, Alf’s son, Styr the Strong, and Sten, who dwelt near the marshes of Vaenern.
2. With them were Gerth the Glad and Glum from Vaermland.
3. Next in the reckoning came Saxi Fletter and Sail the Goeta, both from near the Goeta aelv.
4. Thorth the Hobbler, Thrond Big-nose, Grundi, Othi, Grinder, Tovi, Kol Biarki, Hoegni the Clever, and Rok the Swarthy spurned the fellowship of the masses and formed a single detachment away from the rest of the company.
5. Besides these we may count Rani, whose father was Hild, Liuthbuthi, Sven of the Shorn Crown, Rethir the Hawk, and Rolf the Wife-lover; pressing close to them were Ring, Atil’s son, and Harald who hailed from the district of Toten.
6. These were joined by Valsten from the Vik, Thorulf the Thick, Thengil the Tall, Hun, Sylfa, Birvil the Pale, Burgar, and Skum.
7. But the bravest had come from Telemark, men with maximum courage and a minimum of pride; Thorlaf the Unyielding, Thorkil from Gotland, Gretir the Unjust, hungry for attack, and, hard on their heels, Haddir the Tough and Roald Toe.
8. Those remembered as arriving from Norway were Thrond of Trondelag, Toki of More, Rafn the White, Hafvar, Biarni, Blig, whom men called Snub-nose, Biorn from the district of Sogn, Findar of the Fjords, Bersi, who came from the town of Falu, Sigvarth Swinehead, Erik the Storyteller, Halsten Harki, Rut the Irresolute, and Erling, nicknamed the Snake.
9. From the province of Jaeren Odd the Englishman, Alf the Farwanderer, Enar Big-belly, and Ivar, named Thruvar, set out.
10. From Iceland came Mar Red-head, evidently born and bred in the place called Midfjord village, Glum the Aged, Grani of Bryndal and Grim, who originated in Skagafjord, from the town of Skaer; after that we should take note of Berg the Seer, who brought his companions Bragi and Rafnkel.
11. The most valiant of the Swedes were Ari, Haki, Kaevle-Karl, Krok the Countryman, Guthfast, and Gummi of Gislemark. Indeed, they were kinsmen of the divine Fro and faithful confederates of the gods. The four sons of Alrik, Ingi, Oli, Alver, and Folki, entered Ring’s service, men of ready hand and quick counsel, who cherished their leader in close friendship; these too traced the origin of their race from the god Fro. Also among their number was Sigmund from the town of Sigtuna, a champion of the marketplace, a master in transactions of buying and selling. Then came Frosti, whom they named Oil-lamp, and his comrade from the town of Uppsala, Alf the Proud, who was a skilful javelin-thrower and used to march in the forefront of the battle line.
12. Oli had a bodyguard of seven kings, prompt to lend their strength and advice, namely Holti, Hendil, Holm, Levi, and Hamar with the additional enrolment of Regnald the Ruthenian, grandson of Rathbarth, and Sigvald, who clove the high seas with eleven light ships. Lesi, conqueror of the Pannonians, gilded a fast galley and fitted it with a golden sail. Thryrik rode on a ship with prow and stern twisted into the likeness of a dragon. Tryggi and Tvi-Vivil, sailing separately, brought with them twelve vessels.
13. In Ring’s navy was to be found a total of two thousand five hundred ships. The Gotland flotilla was waiting for the Swedish fleet in the harbour called Garne. Ring therefore led the troops on land, while Oli was ordered to command the naval forces. A site, between Vik and Vaerend, and a time were appointed for the Goetar to encounter the Swedes. You could then see the prows everywhere furrowing the waves, and spreading canvas blocked one’s view of the ocean. The Swedish fleet enjoyed a prosperous voyage, so that it sailed earlier to the location of battle while the Danes were still struggling against foul weather. Ring disembarked his soldiers and, along with those he had brought himself by the overland route, prepared to deploy them by companies in battle array. When they started to spread out rather loosely over the countryside, it was discovered that one wing extended all the way to Vaerend. The king, on horseback, went the rounds of his host, who were disordered in their ranks and stations, and positioned in the van the ablest and best equipped under the leadership of Oli, Regnald, and Tvi-Vivil; then he pressed the remainder of his army into two wings in a sort of arc shape. He detailed Ingi and the other sons of Alrik together with Tryggi to keep an eye on the right, while he instructed the left to take their orders from Lesi. The outlying companies and squadrons were formed mainly from a close-knit troop of Kurlanders and Estlanders. In the rear stood a line of slingers.
Chapter 4
1. Meanwhile the Danish fleet, now that clement breezes were blowing, sailed uninterruptedly for seven days till it came to the town of Kalmar. You would have been amazed to observe the sea everywhere studded with craft blown before the wind and their sails stretched along the yards cutting out the prospect of the sky. The navy, in fact, had been swelled by Wends, Livonians, and seven thousand Saxons. Scanian leaders and guides, well acquainted with the terrain, were assigned to those who were making their way over dry land.
2. When the Danish forces came upon the waiting Swedes, Ring who had instructed his men to bide patiently while Harald arranged his companies in formation, forbade them to blow the battle signal till they perceived the enemy king settled in his chariot near the standards; he said he trusted that troops who depended on a blind general could easily collapse. If greed for another’s empire had seized hold of Harald in his declining years, he was as witless as he was sightless; such a person could not be satisfied with his wealth, even though, were he to consider his age, he ought to be pretty well content with a tomb. The Swedes were under strong compulsion to fight for their freedom, fatherland, and children, whereas their foes had undertaken this war solely through foolhardy arrogance. On the opposing side, moreover, there were actually very few Danes; the majority who stood in the enemy line were Saxons and other girlish peoples. Consequently Swedes and Norwegians should reflect how vastly superior the multitudes of the North had always been to Germans and Wends. Their army, compounded not of solid military timber, so it seemed, but the slimy dregs of humanity, would prove contemptible. This harangue fired high the spirits of his soldiers.
[after this speech by Ring, the battle takes place and despite great losses inflicted upon the Swedes and Goetar, the Danes lose as Odin at this time betrays Harald who perishes].
Chapter 6
2. Yet Oli was addicted to cruelty and played the tyrant so iniquitously that all who had found Hetha’s reign ignominious repented of their previous scorn. Twelve chieftains, either stirred by their country’s adversities or alienated from Oli through some earlier cause, began to devise a plot against his life. Among these twelve were Lenni, Atil, That, and Vithn, the last being connected with the Danes by birth, even though he was a commander among the Wends.
Chapter 7
5. At that same time the maiden Rusla, surpassing a woman’s temperament in her strenuous military activities, had had frequent clashes with her brother Thrond for the throne of Norway. As she could not bear the idea of Omund lording it over the Norwegians, she declared war on all who had given their allegiance to the Danes. When a messenger informed Omund of this, he selected his finest soldiers to quell the rising. But Rusla overcame them and, waxing proud from her victory, her heart transported with extravagant hopes, she set her sights on nothing less than securing the sovereignty of Denmark. First she attacked stretches of Holland, where 0moth and Tola were sent over by their king to meet her; defeated, she ran from the fight and withdrew to her fleet. She then made away over the water with only thirty ships, the rest having been seized by the enemy. While his sister was steering clear of the Danes, Thrond confronted her with his troops, but suffered defeat and was robbed of his whole army, so that he only escaped by travelling on foot over the Dovrefjell without a single companion. So Rusla, though shortly beforehand she had yielded to the Danes, by conquering her brother turned her flight into triumph.
6. Discovering this, Omund first dispatched Omoth and Tola by a short, secret route to rouse the people of Telemark against Rusla’s domination and then took a large navy across to Norway himself. The result was that the common people ejected Rusla from the realm; when the Danes appeared among the islands where she had expected safe refuge, she turned tail without offering resistance. The king hotly pursued her, intercepted her fleet at sea, and destroyed it amid general slaughter; his adversaries suffered almost total annihilation, yet he returned from his conquest with no lives lost and bearing handsome booty. Rusla, however, slipped away with a small number of other vessels, her boat, rowed at high speed, furrowing the waves. While managing to evade the Danes, she ran into her brother, who cut her to pieces. Unforeseen dangers often have more effectual power to harm us, and in many cases the situation makes the evils we fear less more perilous than those we feel threatened by. After Thrond had been granted the governorship for eliminating his sister and the remamder compelled to pay tribute, the king returned to his own country.
7. During this period Thori and Beri, the most energetic of Rusla’s soldiers, were freebooting in Ireland. Becoming acquainted with the death of their mistress, which they had long ago sworn to revenge, they purposefully sought out the king and issued a summons to incite him into combat. At one time it was considered a dishonour for kings to decline such provocations. For the fame of our ancient princes was gauged more by prowess in arms than by riches. Omoth and Tola approached the king to offer to meet his challengers in battle. Omund praised them warmly but at first refused to accept their aid, wishing to avoid disgrace. Finally, however, he yielded to the persistent entreaties of his followers and consented to try his fortune through others’ hands. Tradition tells how Beri fell in the contest, while Thori withdrew from the fight gravely injured. The king first cured the latter of his wounds, shortly afterwards accepted his fealty, and then made him jarl of Norway. Later on, when envoys were dispatched to levy the usual tribute from the Wends not only did they massacre the envoys, but attacked Omund with a Wendish force in Jutland; he overthrew seven kings in the one encounter, a victory which reestablished his customary right to the impost.
Chapter 8
9 [Starkath speaks to Hathar]:
‘By heaven, you didn’t seek to strip me of my sword
on that day when in utmost peril I became
thrice conqueror of Oli’s son. Truly
amid that gathering this hand could break a sabre
or rend any obstacle, so weighty was its blow.
What of the time when first I taught them to run
on wood-shod feet down the shore of Kurland, that path
strewn with countless spikes? When I purposed
to enter those fields thick with iron caltrops,
I armed their torn soles underneath with pattens.
Then I killed Hama, who met me with massive strength;
soon together with Vin, son of the chieftain
Flebak, I crushed the Kurlanders and those races
reared in Estland and in Semgallia. Later,
attacking Telemark I came away with my crown
bloodstained and bruised from the strokes of hammers,
battered by the tools of smiths. Here I first learnt
what power is contained in the implements of anvils
and how much spirit lies in the common people.
The Teutons too were punished at my hand,
when I felled your sons, Sverting, over their cups,
men who were guilty of Frothi’s wicked murder,
the master I avenged. No lesser deed was wrought
when for a precious maid I slaughtered seven
brothers in a single contest, where the wasted
ground, in which the parched sod never gives
birth to new grass, witnessed my entrails escaping.
Soon we subdued Kaerer the commander, as he
designed a war at sea, his ships crammed
with superlative soldiers. Then I dealt death to Vaske,
punished the shameless smith by puncturing his buttocks,
and destroyed Visin with my sword though he blunted weapons
from his snowy cliffs. Next I defeated the four
sons of Ler and the champions of Biarmaland.
After seizing the king of the Irish people,
I ravaged Dublin’s wealth; my courage shall always
remain vivid, from the trophies of Bravalla.
What more? My valiant achievements surpass number,
and if I try to recount and celebrate in their
entirety the feats of this hand, I give up; the total
sum transcends description; my performance
defeats reporting, nor can speech correspond with my actions.’
Chapter 9
[note from Fisher & Friis-Jensen: “The story of King Jarmerik has certain features in common with that of the Ostrogoth leader Ermanaric, who died in 375, but it is not possible to say what kind of sources Saxo may have known. Ermanaric also became a protagonist in Anglo-Saxon and Norse heroic poetry and some of Saxo’s motifs may have reached him through poems.”]
4. Goetar, assuming the business had proceeded under Sigvarth’s instigation, prepared to make armed reprisal for the crime. When Sigvarth had been attacked and defeated by him in Halland and his sister captured by his opponents, he retreated to Jutland. Afterwards he won as much esteem through subduing a mob of Wends, who had ventured battle without a commander, as he had incurred disgrace by fleeing. Nevertheless the same company he had beaten when they were leaderless very soon forced him to yield them victory in Funen after they had found a chief. Though he fought them repeatedly in Jutland, it was with scant success. As a result he was divested of Scania and Jutland, and retained merely the central parts of his kingdom like fragments of a consumed body without the head. His son Jarmerik went as spoil to the enemy along with his two very young sisters; one was sold to the Norwegians, the other to the Germans, for in those days marriageable girls were frequently put up for auction.
5. Thus the Danish kingdom, so bravely extended, decked so gloriously by our forebears, enhanced by so many conquests, through one man’s lassitude sank from the highest splendour of its fortunes and the summit of prosperity to the shame of delivering the tribute it had once exacted. Sigvarth, whose fighting efforts had so often been futile and guilty of odious retreats, could not bear, after the many noble endeavours of his ancestors, to hold the erratic rudder of state and see his country in such a shameful plight; he therefore lost no time in organizing a brilliant soldier’s death for himself, in case an extension of life caused him to lose his last rags of reputation. To recall his mishaps was torture for him, while desire to jettison his grief made him averse to his own safety. The light of day became loathsome, so much did he yearn to wipe out the dishonour. He therefore massed his troops for battle and declared open war on Sime, who governed Scania under Goetar. Prosecuting this with a stubborn, foolhardy strength, he killed Sime and ended his own life, spreading utter carnage among his adversaries; even so, his country could not be freed from the burden of rendering tribute.
Chapter 10
1. Meanwhile Ismar, king of the Wends, had thrown Jarmerik with Gunni, a foster-brother of his own age, into prison, where he lived the life of a captive. Eventually he was released and set to till the fields as an agricultural labourer. Because of the extremely practical way he handled the job he was transferred to be manager of the royal slaves. His honest zeal for the work led to his adoption among the flock oflsmar’s retainers. When by the standards of the court he displayed a surpassing elegance in his manners, he soon moved into the circle of the king’s friends and thence to be his prime favourite, having climbed, as it were, from the lowliest position to the highest pinnacle of esteem on the rungs of his own merits. To avoid spending his youth in spineless inactivity, he accustomed himself to warlike pursuits, augmenting his natural gifts by hard application. Everyone found Jarmerik a likeable character except the queen, who was suspicious of the young man’s temperament.
2. There came an unexpected report that the king’s brother was dead. Ismar meant to give his body a magnificent burial and, to make the funeral honours more splendid, prepared a feast with royal ceremony. But Jarmerik, who at other times was assigned household responsibilities along with the queen, began to contemplate escape, for which the king’s absence seemed to promise opportunity. He realized that even placed amid this wealth he was only a wretched slave of the king’s and his very breath was, so to speak, a loan dependent on another’s goodwill. Apart from that, though he enjoyed pride of place at court, he reckoned freedom preferable to luxury, and burned with a huge longing to revisit his homeland and become acquainted with his kindred. Knowing that the queen had planted adequate guards to stop any prisoners escaping, he saw to it that what he could not attain by force he should rise to through artifice. Consequently he wove a basket of rushes and osiers of the kind that countrymen used to construct in a man’s shape in order to scare birds from the corn, and put a live dog inside; then he removed his clothes and draped the dummy with them to give it a more plausible human likeness. Next he broke open the king’s personal coffers, purloined the treasure, and hid it in places known only to himself.
3. Meanwhile Gunni was instructed to keep his friend’s absence secret; he brought the basket into the palace, goaded the dog into barking, and, when the queen asked him what was happening, replied that Jarmerik was making this racket because he had lost his wits. Misled by the figure’s delusive appearance, she ordered him to throw the madman out of the house. Gunni carried the effigy outside and put it to bed just as if it were his frenzied companion. Towards nightfall he led the guards on to make merry and drink copious draughts of wine at their feasting; when they had fallen asleep, he chopped off their heads and attached them to their groins to make their deaths more unsightly. The queen, roused by the din and anxious to find out the cause, rushed to the doors. As she poked her head out rather unwarily, Gunnl all of a sudden stabbed her with his sword. Collapsing to the floor with a mortal wound, she turned her eyes up to her assassin and said: ‘If I’d been allowed to stay alive, you wouldn’t have got away from this land unpunished, for all your tricks and presences.’ A flood of such threats poured from the dying woman upon her killer.
4. Then Jarmerik together with Gunni, his partner in this famous enterprise, went to the tent in which the king was holding the funeral banquet for his brother; since everyone had been overcome with liquor, they stealthily set it ablaze. However, as the flames spread more extensively, some of the inmates shook off their drunken stupor, untied their horses, and, having discovered who the fire-raisers were, gave chase. The young men at first rode off on beasts they had found, but when their mounts were eventually worn out by the long gallop, the two continued their flight on foot. They were very nearly caught when a river proved their salvation. They had previously sawn through to the middle of the timbers on the bridge to delay pursuit, so that it was now unable to bear loads and on the verge of collapse; this they circumvented and purposely drew off into the dark depths of the water. The Wends, hot on their trail, little foresaw the danger and, incautiously weighting the bridge with their steeds, were unseated and pitched headlong into the river when the boards gave way. As they were swimming clear and making for the bank, they found their path blocked by Gunni and Jarmerik, who either drowned or slaughtered them. With excellent cunning these youths brought off a feat beyond their years, carrying out their intelligent plan efficiently, not like escaped slaves but elders gifted with wisdom. When they came to the coast they stole a random boat and sailed out to the open sea. The pursuing barbarians caught sight of them in the vessel and tried to halloo them back, promising that if they returned, they would become rulers, since an ancient ordinance of the state prescribed that a king’s slayers should succeed to his throne. For a long’while the constant shouts of the Wends deafened their receding ears with these seductive promises.
5. During that period Sigvarth’s brother Buthli was governing the Danes as regent; when Jarmerik returned they compelled Buthli to resign the realm to him and descend from monarch to private citizen. At the same time Goetar accused Sibbi of raping his sister and executed him. Sibbi’s relatives, deeply upset by his death, ran wailing to Jarmerik and promised they would join him in attacking Goetar to avenge their kinsman. Nor were they negligent in fulfilling these pledges. With their aid Jarmerik overthrew Goetar and attained possession of Sweden. Now that he exerted control over two nations, he felt enough confidence in his increased power to attempt battle with the Wends. After capturing forty prisoners he hanged them, each with a wolf tied to his body. He wished to inflict on his enemies a method of punishment at one time reserved for murderers of kinsfolk, to make it plain to observers, from their juxtaposition with such savage creatures, what cruel predators these people were on the Danes. Once he had subdued their territory, he stationed garrisons at suitable points.
6. From there he set out to wreak havoc in Samland, Kurland, and many countries in the East. With the king thus occupied, the Wends reckoned they had a fine opportunity to revolt against him and, having butchered their overlords, ravaged Denmark. On the voyage back from his raiding, Jarmerik chanced to intercept their fleet and annihilated it, an achievement which adorned his previous record of victories. The way he put their nobles to death was pitiful to watch: first piercing their shins with thongs he straight away secured them to the hooves of monstrous bulls; when hunting dogs were set on these animals, they dragged the victims pell-mell through mud and mire. This incident took the edge off the Wends’ spirits and henceforth they acknowledged the king’s rule in fear and trembling.
7. Jarmerik, enriched with the plunder of so many races, wished to make a dwelling which would be safe from ransack; therefore he erected a building of wonderful workmanship on top of a high cliff. He gathered clods of earth to construct a mound, threw in piles of stones for the foundations, and encircled the bottom with a rampart, the middle with balconies, the top with battlements; and all round he posted permanent sentinels. Massive gates at the four points of the compass allowed free access. In this magnificent mansion he collected all the accoutrements of his wealth. When he had settled his home affairs in this way, he once more turned his ambition to matters abroad. Soon after beginning his voyage he encountered at sea four brothers, hardened and zealous pirates from the Hellespont, and lost no time before tackling them in a naval battle. This was waged for three days till he called it off, having settled for betrothal with their sister, together with half the tribute they imposed on those they had vanquished.
8. Following this, Bikki, son of the Livonian king, escaped from captivity under the brothers I have just mentioned and came to Jarmerik still nursing the memory of an outrage, for he had once been robbed of his own brothers by this Danish ruler. Jarmerik received him kindly and in a short time Bikki became the sole confidant of all his secrets. As soon as he perceived that the monarch responded to his advice on every topic, in his role of consultant he incited Jarmerik to the most execrable deeds and drove him to commit shameful crimes. By pretending subservience he sought to discover some device for injuring him. He particularly stirred him against his nearest relations. In this way he endeavoured to achieve fraternal revenge by treachery where he was unable to do it forcibly. Eventually the king renounced virtue for squalid vices and through the savage acts prompted by his insidious guide made himself generally hated. The Wends also rose in rebellion against him. To quash it, Jarmerik captured the leaders, thrust ropes through their calves, and had them torn apart by horses dragging in opposite directions. The execution of the nobles by dismembering was his method of penalizing their stubborn tempers. This measure kept the Wends obedient in their state of unvaried, firm subjugation.
Chapter 13
[note: this is the story of the Lombards]
1. Whether it was because the ground had had insufficient rainfall or been baked too hard, the seed, as I mentioned before, lay dormant and the fields bore only sparse crops; the region, starved of food, was worn down by a weary famine, nor was there any help available to stave off hunger while provisions were so inadequate. At the instigation of Aio and Ibor a motion was passed that old people and infants should be killed, then all who were too young to carry arms be evicted from the realm and the country given over solely to the able-bodied, so that no one but capable soldiers or farmers should stay to dwell at their hearths under the roofs of their forefathers. When these two men brought the news to their mother, Gambaruk, she saw that the authors of the nefarious decree had grounded their own safety on this crime; condemning the assembly’s decision, she denied that it needed the murder of kindred to rescue them from their predicament and declared that it would be a more decent scheme and desirable for the good of their souls and bodies, if they preserved the duty owed to parents and children and selected by lot those who should leave the land. Were this to fall on the aged and infirm, stronger individuals should offer to go into exile in their stead, voluntarily undertaking to endure this burden on behalf of the weak. Such men were not entitled to live who had the heart to buy life with wickedness and impiety, who would persecute their parents and children by such an atrocious edict, who were prepared to administer cruelty instead of affection. Finally, all those in whom love of their own existences weighed more than devotion to their families deserved nothing but ill of their country.
2. The majority voted in favour of this new proposal when it was reported back to the assembly. Everyone’s fate was thrown into the urn and all who were marked out by lot were pronounced exiles. In the end those who had been unwilling to bow to necessity of their own accord were forced to obey the dictate of chance. First they voyaged to Blekinge, then sailed past Moere and put in at Gotland, where, according to Paul [the Deacon], prompted by the goddess Frigg, they are said to have adopted the name of Langobards, whose race they later founded. Eventually they steered their way to Ruegen, left the boats, and began to journey overland; they traversed a great extent of the earth, fighting and plundering as they went, and, after spreading carnage far and wide, finally sought a home in Italy, where they changed the ancient name of the people for their own.
Chapter 16
5. Meanwhile Charlemagne, king of the Franks, after smiting Germany in war, compelled it to adopt the Christian religion and submit to his jurisdiction. Learning of this, Gotrik attacked the peoples who lived on the banks of the Elbe and tried to bring Saxony back to its old acknowledgement of his rule,* even though the inhabitants were happier to accept Charlemagne’s yoke and the armed might of the Holy Roman Empire in preference to that of Denmark. At that time Charlemagne had withdrawn his conquering troops across the Rhine and therefore held back from encounter with this unfamiliar enemy, just as though the river’s intervening barrier restrained him. Although he meant to recross the Rhine and settle the Gotrik business, he was summoned by Leo, the pope of Rome, to defend his city and obeyed the command; his son Pepin was entrusted with the responsibility of carrying on the fight against Gotrik so that, while Charlemagne was dealing with a faraway adversary his son would conduct this operation he had begun against a neighboring foe. Since he was torn with a double anxiety and his powers divided it was necessary to provide a suitable solution on both front.
[*note: “In 808 Godfred invaded the territories of the Abotrites, who lived in northern Germany to the east of the Elbe. A Danish fleet later launched an attack on the islands and coast of Frisia (Friesland, but Godfred’s ambition to fight Charlemagne was cut short when he was murdered by a retainer in 810.”]
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