第247章

Thereafter King Sigurd proceeded on his expedition, and came to an island called Iviza (Ivica), and had there his seventh battle, and gained a victory.So says Haldor Skvaldre: --"His ships at Ivica now ride, The king's, whose fame spreads far and wide;And hear the bearers of the shield Their arms again in battle wield."Thereafter King Sigurd came to an island called Manork (Minorca), and held there his eighth battle with heathen men, and gained the victory.So says Haldor Skvaldre: --"On green Minorca's plains The eighth battle now he gains:

Again the heathen foe Falls at the Norse king's blow."8.DUKE ROGER MADE A KING.

In spring King Sigurd came to Sicily (A.D.1109), and remained a long time there.There was then a Duke Roger in Sicily, who received the king kindly, and invited him to a feast.King Sigurd came to it with a great retinue, and was splendidly entertained.Every day Duke Roger stood at the company's table, doing service to the king; but the seventh day of the feast, when the people had come to table, and had wiped their hands, King Sigurd took the duke by the hand, led him up to the high-seat, and saluted him with the title of king; and gave the right that there should be always a king over the dominion of Sicily, although before there had only been earls or dukes over that country.

9.OF KING ROGER.

King Roger of Sicily was a very great king.He won and subdued all Apulia, and many large islands besides in the Greek sea; and therefore he was called Roger the Great.His son was William, king of Sicily, who for a long time had great hostility with the emperor of Constantinople.King William had three daughters, but no son.One of his daughters he married to the Emperor Henry, a son of the Emperor Frederik; and their son was Frederik, who for a short time after was emperor of Rome.His second daughter was married to the Duke of Kipr.The third daughter, Margaret, was married to the chief of the corsairs; but the Emperor Henry killed both these brothers-in-law.The daughter of Roger the Great, king of Sicily, was married to the Emperor Manuel of Constantinople; and their son was the Emperor Kirjalax.

10.KING SIGURD'S EXPEDITION TO PALESTINE.

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: --"Good reason has the skald to sing The generous temper of the king, Whose sea-cold keel from northern waves Ploughs the blue sea that green isles laves.

At Acre scarce were we made fast, In holy ground our anchors cast, When the king made a joyful morn To all who toil with him had borne."And again he made these lines: --"To Jerusalem he came, He who loves war's noble game, (The skald no greater monarch finds Beneath the heaven's wide hall of winds)All sin and evil from him flings In Jordan's wave: for all his sins (Which all must praise) he pardon wins."King Sigurd stayed a long time in the land of Jerusalem (Jorsalaland) in autumn, and in the beginning of winter.

11.SIDON TAKEN.

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: --

"He who for wolves provides the feast Seized on the city in the East, The heathen nest; and honour drew, And gold to give, from those he slew."Einar Skulason also tells of it: --"The Norsemen's king, the skalds relate, Has ta'en the heathen town of Saet:

The slinging engine with dread noise Gables and roofs with stones destroys.

The town wall totters too, -- it falls;

The Norsemen mount the blackened walls.

He who stains red the raven's bill Has won, -- the town lies at his will."Thereafter King Sigurd went to his ships and made ready to leave Palestine.They sailed north to the island Cyprus; and King Sigurd stayed there a while, and then went to the Greek country, and came to the land with all his fleet at Engilsnes.Here he lay still for a fortnight, although every day it blew a breeze for going before the wind to the north; but Sigurd would wait a side wind, so that the sails might stretch fore and aft in the ship; for in all his sails there was silk joined in, before and behind in the sail, and neither those before nor those behind the ships could see the slightest appearance of this, if the vessel was before the wind; so they would rather wait a side wind.

12.SIGURD'S EXPEDITION TO CONSTANTINOPLE.