travel thread
The Crusade & the Ends of the Earth
Sixty ships set out from Norway — not a raiding band but a royal crusade, provisioned and led down the whole western edge of Europe. The longest single voyage in the corpus begins.
Sixty ships from the north
Four years after his father's fall, in 1107, King Sigurd sailed from Norway with sixty ships — a fleet of crusaders gathered from the fjords of the far North.[1] He sailed first to England, where Henry, son of William the Conqueror, was king, and wintered there.[2]
The numbers and the route matter: this is no raiding band but a royal expedition, provisioned and led, setting out deliberately along the whole western edge of Europe. The saga tracks it stage by stage, year by year, like a logbook — and in doing so it carries the reader out of the familiar Norse seas entirely, down toward coasts no other journey in this atlas will ever touch. The voyage out is the longest single thread the corpus contains.
The source text · 2
Four years after the fall of King Magnus (A.D. 1107), King Sigurd sailed with his people from Norway. He had then sixty ships. So says Thorarin Stutfeld: --— heimskringla
Sigurd sails from Norway with sixty ships, 1107 (Laing).
King Sigurd sailed in autumn to England, where Henry, son of William the Bastard, was then king, and Sigurd remained with him all winter. So says Einar Skulason: --— heimskringla
Sigurd winters in England with King Henry.
Battles down through Spain: Sigurd storms heathen strongholds along the Iberian coast and fights at Lisbon, on the very dividing line of Christian and Moorish Spain. Crusade as war on the heathen, and plunder as its reward.
Battles down through Spain
From England Sigurd sailed to Valland and wintered in Galicia, and then the fighting began. He stormed the castle of Sintre, held by heathens who would not be baptised, and took it; and then he came to Lisbon, a great city on the very dividing line of Christian and heathen Spain, all the lands west of it held by the heathens, and had his battle there and won great booty.[1]
The saga counts his battles like beads — the third here, the fourth at Alkasse — as Sigurd fought his way down the Iberian coast against the Moors. This is crusade as the age understood it: war on the heathen as an act of faith, and plunder as its reward, both at once. The Norwegian fleet, so far from home, was cutting a path of fire along a frontier the sagas had never seen, the edge where Christendom met al-Andalus.
The source text · 1
After this King Sigurd sailed with his fleet to Lisbon, which is a great city in Spain, half Christian and half heathen; for there lies the division between Christian Spain and heathen Spain, and all the districts which lie west of the city are occupied by heathens. There King Sigurd had his third battle with the heathens, and gained the victory, and with it a great booty. So says Haldor Skvaldre: --— heimskringla
Sigurd's battle at Lisbon, on the line between Christian and heathen Spain (Laing).
The goal itself: Sigurd reaches Jerusalem, and King Baldwin rides with him to the river Jordan — the farthest point the whole corpus ever touches, a Norse king at the place of the Baptism.
Jerusalem and the Jordan
In the summer of 1110 Sigurd sailed across the Greek sea to Palestine and went up to Jerusalem, where he met Baldwin, king of the holy city.[1] Baldwin received him with particular honour and rode with him all the way down to the river Jordan, and back again to Jerusalem.
This is the heart of the whole journey and the farthest point the corpus ever reaches: a king out of the Norse North standing at the Jordan, where John had baptised. In the brothers' boast told later, Sigurd says he swam across the river and twisted a knot of willows on the far bank, leaving it for Eystein to untie — the cheerful gesture of a man who has gone where his stay-at-home brother never will.[2] The settlers' descendants, who fled a king to an empty island, have a king of their own at the centre of the Christian world.
The source text · 2
In the summer (A.D. 1110) King Sigurd sailed across the Greek sea to Palestine, and thereupon went up to Jerusalem, where he met Baldwin, king of Palestine. King Baldwin received him particularly well, and rode with him all the way to the river Jordan, and then back to the city of Jerusalem. Einar Skulason speaks thus of it: --— heimskringla
Sigurd meets King Baldwin at Jerusalem; they ride to the Jordan (Laing).
King Sigurd said: "On this expedition I went all the way to Jordan and swam across the river. On the edge of the river there is a bush of willows, and there I twisted a knot of willows, and said this knot thou shouldst untie, brother, or take the curse thereto attached."— heimskringla
Sigurd's boast: he swam the Jordan and tied a knot of willows.
The treasure carried home: King Baldwin gives Sigurd a splinter of the True Cross, sworn upon by two kings. Norway, so lately heathen, now holds a fragment of the holiest object in Christendom.
The splinter of the True Cross
King Baldwin made a magnificent feast for Sigurd and gave him many holy relics. By the orders of the king and the patriarch a splinter was taken from the True Cross — the very wood, both swore on oath, on which God Himself had been tortured — and given to Sigurd, on the condition that he and twelve others swear to promote Christianity with all their power.[1]
So the crusade brought home a fragment of the holiest object in Christendom, sworn over by two kings. It is the spiritual treasure that justified the whole vast voyage — the relic that made Sigurd Jórsalafari, the Jerusalem-farer, in the eyes of his people forever. Norway, so lately heathen, now possessed a piece of the Cross, carried back by its own king from the place of the Crucifixion: the conversion arc of the whole corpus brought, quite literally, to its source.
The source text · 1
King Baldwin made a magnificent feast for King Sigurd and many of his people, and gave him many holy relics. By the orders of King Baldwin and the patriarch, there was taken a splinter off the holy cross; and on this holy relic both made oath, that this wood was of the holy cross upon which God Himself had been tortured. Then this holy relic was given to King Sigurd; with the condition that he, and twelve other men with him, should swear to promote Christianity with all his power, and erect an archbishop's seat in Norway if he could; and also that the cross should be kept where the holy King Olaf reposed, and that he should introduce tithes, and also pay them himself. After this King Sigurd returned to his ships at Acre; and then King Baldwin prepared to go to Syria, to a heathen town called Saet. On this expedition King Sigurd accompanied him, and after the kings had besieged the town some time it surrendered, and they took possession of it, and of a great treasure of money; and their men found other booty. King Sigurd made a present of his share to King Baldwin. So say Haldor Skvaldre: --— heimskringla
Baldwin gives Sigurd a splinter of the True Cross, sworn upon (Laing).
Into the Great City: Sigurd enters Constantinople in splendour, the shore one unbroken line of castles, the crowds turning out to see the northern king — Miklagard, the eastern pole of the Norse world, reached at last from the south.
Into the Great City
From Cyprus Sigurd sailed at last to Constantinople — Miklagarð, the Great City. He steered close in along the shore, and the land was one unbroken line of burghs and castles and towns; and the people turned out in throngs to see the northern king sail past, his fleet's sails standing so close they seemed one wall.[1] The Emperor Kirjalax had heard of his coming and prepared to receive him.
This is the eastern pole of the Norse world, the city the Varangians guarded and Harald Hardrada had served in two generations before. Where the road east through Russia led Olaf and Magnus, the road south through the Mediterranean led Sigurd — and both roads end here, at Miklagarð, the dazzling Greek capital that stood at the limit of the Norse imagination. Two journeys of this atlas, east and south, meet under the walls of one city.
The source text · 1
When King Sigurd sailed into Constantinople, he steered near the land. Over all the land there are burghs, castles, country towns, the one upon the other without interval. There from the land one could see into the bights of the sails; and the sails stood so close beside each other, that they seemed to form one enclosure. All the people turned out to see King Sigurd sailing past. The Emperor Kirjalax had also heard of King Sigurd's expedition, and ordered the city port of Constantinople to be opened, which is called the Gold Tower, through which the emperor rides when he has been long absent from Constantinople, or has made a campaign in which he has been victorious. The emperor had precious cloths spread out from the Gold Tower to Laktjarna, which is the name of the emperor's most splendid hall. King Sigurd ordered his men to ride in great state into the city, and not to regard all the new things they might see; and this they did. King Sigurd and his followers rode with this great splendour into Constantinople, and then came to the magnificent hall, where everything was in the grandest style.— heimskringla
Sigurd sails into Constantinople past unbroken burghs; crowds turn out (Laing).
And the circle closed: Sigurd gives the emperor his whole fleet and rides home overland, while many of his Northmen stay to join the Varangian Guard — the same imperial service Harald Hardrada had risen through. The crusade ends woven into the farthest fabric of the world.
The fleet given, the road home
When Sigurd prepared to return, he gave the Emperor his entire fleet — and the splendid gilded figureheads of his ships were set up in a church of Constantinople, where they could long be seen.[1] The emperor gave him horses and guides, and Sigurd rode home overland, through Bulgaria and across Europe — while a great many of his Northmen stayed behind and went into the emperor's pay, into the ranks of the Varangian Guard.
The detail closes the eastern circle of the whole corpus. The men who do not sail home with Sigurd melt into the same Varangian service that Harald Hardrada had risen through — the standing Norse presence at the heart of Byzantium. Sigurd came by sea around half the world and went home by land across the other half, leaving his ships, his figureheads, and some of his men permanently in the Great City. The Norwegian Crusade ends with Norway woven, at last, into the farthest fabric of the world.
The source text · 1
King Sigurd soon after prepared for his return home. He gave the emperor all his ships; and the valuable figureheads which were on the king's ships were set up in Peter's church, where they have since been to be seen. The emperor gave the king many horses and guides to conduct him through all his dominions. Then King Sigurd left Constantinople; but a great many Northmen remained, and went into the emperor's pay. Then King Sigurd traveled from Bulgaria, and through Hungary, Pannonia. Suabia, and Bavaria, where he met the Roman emperor, Lotharius, who received him in the most friendly way, gave him guides through his dominions, and had markets established for him at which he could purchase all he required. When King Sigurd came to Slesvik in Denmark, Earl Eilif made a sumptuous feast for him; and it was then midsummer. In Heidaby he met the Danish king, Nikolas, who received him in the most friendly way, made a great entertainment for him, accompanied him north to Jutland, and gave him a ship provided with everything needful. From thence the king returned to Norway, and was joyfully welcomed on his return to his kingdom (A.D. 1110). It was the common talk among the people, that none had ever made so honourable a journey from Norway as this of King Sigurd. He was twenty years of age, and had been three years on these travels. His brother Olaf was then twelve years old.— heimskringla
Sigurd gives the emperor his ships, rides home overland; his men stay as Varangians (Laing).
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