travel thread
The Road East — Austrvegr
It begins in captivity: the boy Olaf Tryggvason, fleeing east toward his uncle at King Valdemar's court, is taken by Baltic vikings and sold as a slave. The road east opens not with glory but with a royal child in bondage on a foreign shore.
Taken on the Baltic
Astrid had a brother, Sigurd, who had gone east years before and risen high in Russia — in Garðaríki, the land of the Rus — in the service of King Valdemar.[1] When Astrid resolved to take her boy to that safe and distant court, she set out east across the Baltic with merchants. But the sea-road east was a viking road too: off the coast they were taken by raiders of Esthonia, who made booty of the people aboard and split them up. The three-year-old Olaf was carried off into slavery.[2]
Here is the first turn of the Austrvegr, the road east, that runs through the whole corpus: the same river-and-sea highway that carried Norse traders to riches carried this royal child into bondage. The boy who would command the greatest ship in the North was, for a span of years, a thrall passed from hand to hand on a foreign shore — sold, the saga says, for a good cloak.
The source text · 2
Astrid had a brother called Sigurd, a son of Eric Biodaskalde, who had long been abroad in Russia with King Yaldemar, and was there in great consideration. Astrid had now a great inclination to travel to her brother there. Hakon the Old gave her good attendants, and what was needful for the journey, and she set out with some merchants. She had then been two years with Hakon the Old, and Olaf was three years of age. As they sailed out into the Baltic, they were captured by vikings of Esthonia, who made booty both of the people and goods, killing some, and dividing others as slaves. Olaf was separated from his mother, and an Esthonian man called Klerkon got him as his share along with Thoralf and Thorkils. Klerkon thought that Thoralf was too old for a slave, and that there was not much work to be got out of him, so he killed him; but took the boys with him, and sold them to a man called Klierk for a stout and good ram. A third man, called Reas, bought Olaf for a good cloak. Reas had a wife called Rekon, and a son by her whose name was Rekoni. Olaf was long with them, was treated well, and was much beloved by the people. Olaf was six years in Esthonia in this banishment.— heimskringla
Sigurd long in Russia with King Valdemar, in great consideration (Laing).
Astrid had a brother called Sigurd, a son of Eric Biodaskalde, who had long been abroad in Russia with King Yaldemar, and was there in great consideration. Astrid had now a great inclination to travel to her brother there. Hakon the Old gave her good attendants, and what was needful for the journey, and she set out with some merchants. She had then been two years with Hakon the Old, and Olaf was three years of age. As they sailed out into the Baltic, they were captured by vikings of Esthonia, who made booty both of the people and goods, killing some, and dividing others as slaves. Olaf was separated from his mother, and an Esthonian man called Klerkon got him as his share along with Thoralf and Thorkils. Klerkon thought that Thoralf was too old for a slave, and that there was not much work to be got out of him, so he killed him; but took the boys with him, and sold them to a man called Klierk for a stout and good ram. A third man, called Reas, bought Olaf for a good cloak. Reas had a wife called Rekon, and a son by her whose name was Rekoni. Olaf was long with them, was treated well, and was much beloved by the people. Olaf was six years in Esthonia in this banishment.— heimskringla
Astrid's ship taken by Esthonian vikings; Olaf carried off.
Ransomed in the Estonian slave-market by his uncle — Valdemar's tax-man out of Holmgard (Novgorod) — Olaf is carried up the river-road to be raised at the court of Garðaríki. The east gives a future king back to himself.
Ransomed in the slave-market
Years later, his uncle Sigurd came into Esthonia out of Holmgard — Novgorod — on King Valdemar's business, to collect the king's taxes, travelling as a great man with a magnificent following.[1] In the market-place his eye fell on a remarkably handsome boy who was plainly a foreigner. He asked the child his name and family, and the boy answered that he was Olaf, son of Tryggve Olafsson, and that Astrid, daughter of Eric, was his mother.
So uncle and nephew met by chance across a slave-market, and Sigurd bought the boy's freedom and his foster-brother's, and brought them home with him to Holmgard.[2] It is one of the saga's quiet miracles of fate: the whole future of Norway's faith turned on a tax-collector recognising a face in a foreign crowd. The captive prince was free, and he was now a child of the eastern court — the road east had given him back.
The source text · 2
Sigurd, the son of Eric (Astrid's brother), came into Esthonia from Hovogorod, on King Yaldemar's business to collect the king's taxes and rents. Sigurd came as a man of consequence, with many followers and great magnificence. In the market-place he happened to observe a remarkably handsome boy; and as he could distinguish that he was a foreigner, he asked him his name and family. He answered him, that his name was Olaf; that he was a son of Tryggve Olafsson; and Astrid, a daughter of Eric Biodaskalde, was his mother. Then Sigurd knew that the boy was his sister's son, and asked him how he came there. Olaf told him minutely all his adventures, and Sigurd told him to follow him to the peasant Beas'. When he came there he bought both the boys, Olaf and Thorgils, and took them with him to Novogorod. But, for the first, he made nothing known of Olaf's relationship to him, but treated him well.— heimskringla
Sigurd comes into Esthonia from Holmgard on King Valdemar's tax business (Laing).
Sigurd, the son of Eric (Astrid's brother), came into Esthonia from Hovogorod, on King Yaldemar's business to collect the king's taxes and rents. Sigurd came as a man of consequence, with many followers and great magnificence. In the market-place he happened to observe a remarkably handsome boy; and as he could distinguish that he was a foreigner, he asked him his name and family. He answered him, that his name was Olaf; that he was a son of Tryggve Olafsson; and Astrid, a daughter of Eric Biodaskalde, was his mother. Then Sigurd knew that the boy was his sister's son, and asked him how he came there. Olaf told him minutely all his adventures, and Sigurd told him to follow him to the peasant Beas'. When he came there he bought both the boys, Olaf and Thorgils, and took them with him to Novogorod. But, for the first, he made nothing known of Olaf's relationship to him, but treated him well.— heimskringla
Sigurd recognises and ransoms his nephew Olaf in the marketplace.
A generation on, the road shelters a saint: St Olaf, driven from Norway by Canute's silver, flees east to King Jarisleif (Yaroslav the Wise) and Queen Ingegerd at Kyiv, who offer the exiled king a realm of his own in Russia.
The road east, to Yaroslav's court
Driven out, Olaf took the road east. He fled through Sweden and into Russia — Garðaríki — to the court of King Jarisleif (Yaroslav the Wise) and Queen Ingegerd at Kyiv and Novgorod, the great Christian power on the river-road.[1] There he was received with all honour, and the offer was real and generous: Jarisleif and Ingegerd pressed him to stay and take a kingdom of his own within their dominions — a heathen land called Vulgaria that he might rule and convert.
Here the two great currents of the corpus cross in one exiled king. Olaf the Christianiser sits in Christian Kyiv, weighing whether to build a new realm in the east rather than risk death for the old one in the west. The Austrvegr — the road east that carried Norse traders and the boy Olaf Tryggvason before him — now shelters Norway's future saint. For a winter, the king of Norway is a guest-king of the Rus.
The source text · 1
After King Olaf came to Russia he was very thoughtful, and weighed what counsel he now should follow. King Jarisleif and Queen Ingegerd offered him to remain with them, and receive a kingdom called Vulgaria, which is a part of Russia, and in which land the people were still heathen. King Olaf thought over this offer; but when he proposed it to his men they dissuaded him from settling himself there, and urged the king to betake himself to Norway to his own kingdom: but the king himself had resolved almost in his own mind to lay down his royal dignity, to go out into the world to Jerusalem, or other holy places, and to enter into some order of monks. But yet the thought lay deep in his soul to recover again, if there should be any opportunity for him, his kingdom in Norway. When he thought over this, it recurred to his mind how all things had gone prosperously with him during the first ten years of his reign, and how afterwards every thing he undertook became heavy, difficult, and hard; and that he had been unlucky, on all occasions in which he had tried his luck. On this account he doubted if it would be prudent to depend so much upon his luck, as to go with so little strength into the hands of his enemies, seeing that all the people of the country had taken part with them to oppose King Olaf. Such cares he had often on his mind, and he left his cause to God, praying that He would do what to Him seemed best. These thoughts he turned over in his mind, and knew not what to resolve upon; for he saw how evidently dangerous that was which his inclination was most bent upon.— heimskringla
Olaf in Russia; Jarisleif and Ingegerd offer him a kingdom (Vulgaria) (Laing).
He leaves behind the seed of the next reign: when Olaf turns home to his death, he leaves his young son Magnus fostered at Yaroslav's court. The road that took the father in will have to give the son back.
He leaves his son and turns home
Then came the dream — a vision Olaf took for God's own will that he should go back and reclaim his kingdom, whatever the odds.[1] Jarisleif and Ingegerd argued against it: stay, take the power we offer, do not throw yourself at your enemies with so few men. But Olaf had decided.
So, just after Yule, with only about two hundred of his men, he made ready. Jarisleif gave him horses and all he needed, and the king and queen parted from him with honour — and Olaf left behind, in their keeping, his young son Magnus.[2] That single act stitches the next reign to this one: the boy fostered at Kyiv would be brought home from the east to rule. Olaf rode west toward his death and left his future in Russian hands; the road east would carry his son home as it had carried the father into shelter.
The source text · 2
When King Olaf had resolved on his return home, he made known his intention to King Jarisleif and Queen Ingegerd. They dissuaded him from this expedition, and said he should receive as much power in their dominions as he thought desirable; but begged him not to put himself within the reach of his enemies with so few men as he had. Then King Olaf told them of his dream; adding, that he believed it to be God's will and providence that it should be so. Now when they found he was determined on travelling to Norway, they offered him all the assistance to his journey that he would accept from them. The king thanked them in many fine words for their good will; and said that he accepted from them, with no ordinary pleasure, what might be necessary for his undertaking.— heimskringla
Olaf's dream resolves him to return; Jarisleif and Ingegerd dissuade him (Laing).
Immediately after Yule (A.D. 1080), King Olaf made himself ready; and had about 200 of his men with him. King Jarisleif gave him all the horses, and whatever else he required; and when he was ready he set off. King Jarisleif and Queen Ingegerd parted from him with all honour; and he left his son Magnus behind with the king. The first part of his journey, down to the sea-coast, King Olaf and his men made on the ice; but as spring approached, and the ice broke up, they rigged their vessels, and when they were ready and got a wind they set out to sea, and had a good voyage. When Olaf came to the island of Gotland with his ships he heard the news -- which was told as truth, both in Svithjod, Denmark, and over all Norway -- that Earl Hakon was missing, and Norway without a head. This gave the king and his men good hope of the issue of their journey. From thence they sailed, when the wind suited, to Svithjod, and went into the Maelar lake, to Aros, and sent men to the Swedish King Onund appointing a meeting. King Onund received his brother-in-law's message in the kindest manner, and went to him according to his invitation. Astrid also came to King Olaf, with the men who had attended her; and great was the joy on all sides at this meeting. The Swedish king also received his brother-in-law King Olaf with great joy when they met.— heimskringla
Olaf sets off with 200 men, leaving his son Magnus with King Jarisleif.
And it does: the boy Magnus is fetched home down the river-road — from Novgorod to Ladoga and across to Sweden — by the very chiefs who killed his father, to be made king. The Austrvegr runs both ways, and this time toward a crown.
Fetched home down the river-road
Within a few years the chiefs who had killed St Olaf could not stomach the rule of Canute's son Svein and his mother Alfifa, and they repented their victory. In the spring Einar Tambaskelfer and Kalf Arnason — Kalf himself one of the men of Stiklestad — made ready with a great and chosen retinue and went east, through Sweden and across to Russia, and came in autumn to Ladoga; from there they sent up to Novgorod to fetch the boy.[1]
And so, after Yule, Magnus began his own journey — out of the East, from Novgorod to Ladoga, where he rigged out his ships as soon as the spring ice loosened, and sailed west.[2] The saga marks the route precisely because it matters: the same Austrvegr that carried Norse traders to Miklagarð and carried his hunted father into exile now carries the son home to a crown. The road east runs both ways, and this time it runs toward Norway.
The source text · 2
Early in spring (A.D. 1034) Einar Tambaskelfer and Kalf Arnason made themselves ready for a journey, with a great retinue of the best and most select men that could be found in the Throndhjem country. They went in spring eastward over the ridge of the country to Jamtaland, from thence to Helsingjaland, and came to Svithjod, where they procured ships, with which in summer they proceeded east to Russia, and came in autumn to Ladoga. They sent men up to Novgorod to King Jarisleif, with the errand that they offered Magnus, the son of King Olaf the Saint, to take him with them, follow him to Norway, and give him assistance to attain his father's heritage and be made king over the country. When this message came to King Jarisleif he held a consultation with the queen and some chiefs, and they all resolved unanimously to send a message to the Northmen, and ask them to come to King Jarisleif and Magnus; for which journey safe conduct was given them. When they came to Novgorod it was settled among them that the Northmen who had come there should become Magnus's men, and be his subjects; and to this Kalf and the other men who had been against King Olaf at Stiklestad were solemnly bound by oath. On the other hand, King Magnus promised them, under oath, secure peace and full reconciliation; and that he would be true and faithful to them all when he got the dominions and kingdom of Norway. He was to become Kalf Arnason's foster-son; and Kalf should be bound to do all that Magnus might think necessary for extending his dominion, and making it more independent than formerly.— heimskringla
Einar and Kalf sail east to Russia, reach Ladoga, send to Novgorod for Magnus (Laing).
After Yule Magnus Olafson began his journey from the East from Novgorod to Ladoga, where he rigged out his ships as soon as the ice was loosened in spring (A.D. 1035). Arnor, the earls' skald, tells of this in the poem on Magnus: --— heimskringla
Magnus journeys from the East, Novgorod to Ladoga, and sails west.
The most famous traveller of the road begins as a fugitive: the boy Harald escapes the slaughter at Stiklestad and flees east — the journey to Byzantium starts on a Norwegian battlefield.
The boy who escaped Stiklestad
Harald enters the saga as a fifteen-year-old at the worst possible moment: fighting at Stiklestad, in the host of his half-brother King Olaf — the battle where, as the kings' sagas have already told, St Olaf fell and became a saint.[1]
Harald was wounded but got away, smuggled to safety and then out of the country, a hunted boy with royal blood and nothing else. It is the hinge that ties this saga to the one before it: where the Kings of Norway journey ended with St Olaf's martyrdom, this one begins with the survivor of that same field — the dead king's young brother, carrying the family's claim east into exile. He would be gone from the North for years, and come back the richest and most formidable man of his age.
The source text · 1
Harald, son of Sigurd Syr, brother of Olaf the Saint, by the same mother, was at the battle of Stiklestad, and was fifteen years old when King Olaf the Saint fell, as was before related. Harald was wounded, and escaped with other fugitives. So says Thiodolf: --— heimskringla
Harald, wounded at Stiklestad, escapes into exile (Laing 1844).
Harald rises to command the Varangian Guard of the Greek emperor at Constantinople — the Norseman at the heart of the richest empire of the age, gathering the gold and fame that will buy him Norway.
Varangian of the Greek emperor
Harald's road led east — through Russia and on to Constantinople, the Miklagarðr of the Norse, greatest city in the world, where the Greek emperor kept a guard of Northmen: the Varangians. Harald rose high among them, leading campaigns by land and sea across the Mediterranean and beyond, in the service of the Empress and her emperors.[1]
The saga delights in his exploits there — sieges taken by cunning, towns won by stratagem, and above all the staggering wealth he amassed and sent north for safekeeping. This is the eastern reach of the whole Norse world at its farthest: the same Constantinople where Grettir's brother Þorsteinn went to avenge him, where Bolli and Kjartan's kinsmen served. Harald is the supreme example of the Norseman who went to Byzantium and came home a king-in-waiting, his fortune made in the emperor's wars.
The source text · 1
At that time the Greek empire was ruled by the Empress Zoe the Great, and with her Michael Catalactus. Now when Harald came to Constantinople he presented himself to the empress, and went into her pay; and immediately, in autumn, went on board the galleys manned with troops which went out to the Greek sea. Harald had his own men along with him. Now Harald had been but a short time in the army before all the Varings flocked to him, and they all joined together when there was a battle. It thus came to pass that Harald was made chief of the Varings. There was a chief over all the troops who was called Gyrger, and who was a relation of the empress. Gyrger and Harald went round among all the Greek islands, and fought much against the corsairs.— heimskringla
Harald and the Varangians in the Greek empire (Laing 1844).
And the road's far terminus reached from the other side: Sigurd the Crusader sails into Miklagard from the south, and the Emperor Kirjalax holds the games of the Hippodrome in his honour. East through Russia or south through the Mediterranean, every road ends at the Great City — and Norsemen guard its walls.
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).
You’ve followed The Road East — Austrvegr across the corpus.
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