Chapter IV: Part II: Tradition (1)

I.

THE SINCLAIR BALLAD.[60]

Herr Sinclair sailed across the sea,
And steered his course to Norway's strand:
'Mid Gudbrands' rocks his grave found he,--
There were broken crowns in Sinclair's band.

Herr Sinclair sailed o'er the blue wave,
That he might fight for Swedish gold:
God help thee, man! thyself now save;
Thou'lt fall before the Norsemen bold.

The moon amid the pale night shone,
The waves around so gently rolled;
A mermaid rose on Sinclair's sight,
And thus prophetic evil told:--

"Turn back, turn back, thou Scottish man,
Or it will surely cost thy life;
For if thou com'st to Norway's strand,
Thou never more shalt join the strife."

"Thy songs are lies, thou witch most foul;
Thou ever sing'st the self-same tune.
Could I but get thee in my power,
In pieces small I'd have thee hewn."

He sailed a day, he sailed three,
With all his mercenary band;
The fourth he Norway's shore did see,--
On Romsdal's coast he leapt to land,

And with him fourteen hundred men:
On mischief all that band were bent;
They spared nor young nor aged then,
But slew and burnt as on they went.

The child they killed at mother's breast,
Nor cared how sweet soe'er its smile;
Of widows' tears they made a jest:
Sorrow's loud cry arose the while.

Throughout the land the wail resounds;
The heaven blazed; the cross of fire
Sped its swift course; and Sinclair soon
Shall feel the vengeful dalesman's ire.

The soldiers of the king are gone;
We must ourselves the land defend.
To shed his blood will ne'er grudge one;
On such may Heaven's wrath descend!

Peasants from Vaage, Lesje, Lom,
With axes sharp on shoulder set,
To parley with the Scots are come,
And now at Bredebygd are met.

There runs a path by mountain side
Which our vale-folk do Kringlen call,
And Laugen's stream beneath doth glide,--
In that shall our fierce foemen fall.

On walls no more our rifles hang;
The rocks are lined with marksmen gray;
The water-sprite lifts up its head,
And waits impatiently its prey.

The first shot pierced Herr Sinclair's breast,--
He groaned, and forth his spirit gave;
And as he fell, each Scot cried out,
"O God, in this our peril save!"

"On, peasants! on, Norwegian men!
Let each foe find a Sinclair's grave!"
The Scots now wished themselves home again,
And only strove their lives to save.

With corpses thick was Kringlen strewn;
High festal did the ravens keep;
The noblest blood that this day flowed
The Scottish maidens long did weep.

And not a soul of that array
To Scotland e'er returned to tell
His countrymen of that dark day,
And how the sad event befell.

'Mid Norway's mountains still there stands
A column raised upon the spot:
Let Norway's foes from other lands
Behold it, and despise it not.
No Norseman sees it rise on high,
But marks it with a flashing eye.

C. H.

Representing arrival, march, and annihilation of Scots, according to
Norwegian tradition.

Executed fifty years ago by an artist from Bergen.]

FOOTNOTE:

[60] By E. Storm, who was born at Vaage, in Gudbrandsdal, in 1742, and died at Copenhagen in 1794. The present translation has been taken, with some slight alterations, from "Over the Dovre Fjeld," by J. S. Shepherd. Henry S. King and Co., 1873. An earlier English version was attached to Calder's "History of Caithness," 1861. A third translation, by Sir H. Pottinger, with an illustration of the death of Sinclair, appeared in _Belgravia_, 1869. The ballad has been set to music in Norway.

II.

NORWEGIAN TRADITIONS COLLECTED BY THE REV. H. P. S. KRAG.[61]

The so-called Calmar War, between Denmark and Sweden, was carried on from the spring of 1611 until the winter of 1613. Christian IV. ruled at that time over the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway; while in Sweden reigned Charles IX., who died at the commencement of the war, leaving its prosecution to his son Gustavus Adolphus, then only seventeen years of age, and who subsequently became so famous.

In 1612 Gustavus caused foreign troops to be enlisted in the Netherlands, in England, and in Scotland, by JOHAN MUNKHAVEN, or Mönnichhofen, a colonel in the Swedish service, and by James Spens, an Englishman. According to the historian Widikindi, the corps thus raised amounted to 2,200 men, while Puffendorff estimates its strength at 2,300.[62] These troops, of which 2,000 had been recruited in Scotland, were transported in ships, forming two squadrons, of which one was commanded by Munkhaven, the other by the Scottish Colonel George Sinclair, or Saint Clair, as his name is also written. Munkhaven, with his 1,400 men, steered into the Trondhjem fiord on the 19th July 1612, and thought he would be able to surprise the city of Trondhjem; but the citizens opposed him and his ships so well from their blockhouses outside the town that he hastened away as quickly as possible, and landed at Stordalen, whence he marched, ravaging and burning, until he reached Sweden.[63] A few weeks after Munkhaven, the other detachment of hired troops, led by Colonel Sinclair, arrived in two Scottish ships.

But Sinclair and his men were not destined to escape so easily as Munkhaven. The Fates ordained that they should all, with the exception of a few, find a grave among the mountains of Norway. The reason why both Munkhaven and Sinclair landed in Norway, instead of proceeding direct to Sweden, was that the approach to the small stretch of Swedish coast on the North Sea was closed to them after the Danes had occupied the fortresses of Elfsborg and Gullberg, at the mouth of the Gotha river. Moreover, the Danish fleet had the mastery on the seas.

There are various statements as to the number of the Scots that accompanied Sinclair. If the total number of troops recruited for Sweden was, as already mentioned, 2,200 or 2,300, of which Munkhaven arrived with 1,400, Sinclair's corps must have amounted to 800 or 900 men, and the latter number is also quoted in the church register of Vaage.[64] Consequently, the number could not have been 1,400, as sung by Storm, nor 600, as stated by Slange. It is, however, probable that Slange was right, as his statement agrees approximately with Kruse's Report, which says that, according to the depositions of the Bönder "who were present at that battle, and who buried and counted the dead and defeated, the Scots must certainly have numbered at least 550." Less probable appears to be the statement of the captured Scots, to the effect that they were "350 men strong at the utmost." One Saga says that Sinclair came into Romsdalen with 1,400 men, and that these were divided at Jora Bridge, in Lessö, after which one division went over the Dovre Fjeld, and subsequently through Österdalen, in order to unite again with the other division which took the road through Gudbrandsdalen. The same Saga says that the division which went through Österdalen came across the Norsemen at the frontier, when a battle ensued, in which those Scots were shot down to the last man. But that Saga is not generally current; and it appears probable that Munkhaven's expedition, or possibly some other event, has been mixed up in the narrative.[65] It appears that Sinclair had calculated on joining the Swedes in Southern Norway, where, however, we know from history there were no Swedes at that time; for Jonas Ramus states[66] that, from Gudbrandsdalen, Sinclair wanted to "unite with the Swedes who were supposed to be in Hedemarken," or, as stated in the entry above quoted from the Vaage church register, at Borge Church, in Smaalenene.

It was on the 19th or 20th August[67] that Sinclair, with all his hired followers, approached the Norwegian coast, and steered into the Romsdal fiord; but a Saga relates that before he entered that fiord he landed on a small island on which dwelt a wealthy man. The wife of the latter is said to have been an intelligent and talkative woman, and Sinclair entered into a jocose conversation with her. Although he had not yet made known that he was an enemy, yet the woman said she well understood the object of his coming; that his expedition into Norway would end badly, and that when he got inland he would come to bite the dust on meeting the hardy men of the glens. This enraged Sinclair, and he left the island with the threat that when he returned victorious, he would seek her out and have her cut to pieces for her flippancy.

It is possible that this and other similar Sagas may have induced the poet Storm to sing about a mermaid. It is also related that the mermaid's name was Ellen. Others say that was the name of Sinclair's wife; for the Sagas say she accompanied him. She went on board with the troops, in disguise, and only made herself known after they had got out to sea. She is said to have given birth to a child on the voyage.

A Bonde called Peder Klognæs, seeing from his _Gaard_ or farm of Klognæs,[68] in the parish of Grytten, in Romsdalen, Sinclair's ships out in the fiord, supposed they were vessels laden with corn, took his purse in which were three dollars, and rowed out to them, with the object of purchasing before the vessels reached Væblungsnæs, towards which Sinclair was steering. As soon as Peder Klognæs got on board, he understood what kind of folk they were; and as they wanted to compel him to pilot the ships to Væblungsnæs, at the head of the Romsdal fiord, he reflected hurriedly, and soon determined what he should do. He made them believe that the water was too low to admit of the vessels sailing further into the fiord, and that all they could do was to land; and Peder Klognæs was forced to accompany them. In order that he should not escape, they fastened a cord to his hair and led him by it. The Scots then disembarked at Skothammer, or Skotkleven (the Scots' Cliff), as the place is now called, in the vicinity of Klognæs gaard (farm). Before they proceeded any further, Peder Klognæs, after much supplication, obtained permission to go first into his house. Although a guard followed him, he found an opportunity of sending a _Budstikke_,[69] announcing the arrival of the enemy, and calling upon the people to take up arms.[70] He gave the letter to his servant-maid, who hid it in one of her stockings, and dressing herself in tattered clothes, pretended she was a beggar as well as idiotic, and in that manner, but with difficulty, she slipped past the Scottish watch. When the latter wanted to prevent her from passing, she said, "Lord, bless us! it is too hard that poor folk should not be able to go their way," on which the watch allowed her to pass. She got safely to the sea-shore, and rowed to Væblungsnæs with the letter (or _Budstikke_), which was sent forward from thence. Meanwhile Peder Klognæs led the Scots two miles[71] out of the way, round the Iisfiord, over mountains and marshes, and through woods in which there were no roads, as well as over rivers where they had to wade, so that, as Peder Klognæs had intended, they were considerably delayed on the march. The Bönder in the several parishes had thus time to save themselves and also their goods from being plundered, and time was moreover gained for the circulation of the message.

It was under these circumstances that Sinclair with his Scots landed in the country in which he thought he was going to play the part of a conqueror; for, according to the Saga, he said that he would "recast" the Norwegian lion into a mole which would not dare to creep out of its hole, and he promised his men that after the conquest of the country they would get "the fairest maidens and the best farms." It was further promised to them that Hedemarken would be to them "a land of Canaan."

There are not many Sagas respecting the behaviour of the Scots, and as to what occurred on their march until they reached Gudbrandsdalen. It is, however, related that on the circuitous and difficult way round the Iisfiord they came to the small farm of Thorvig. Its inhabitants had fled, and had hidden their bedding in a cleft on the fjeld; but the Scots found it, cut holes in it, shook out the feathers, and took the covers with them. They arrived at last at Omdals or Aansdals-næs, where they rested after the fatigues of going round the Iisfiord. Here Peder Klognæs, the guide, found an opportunity of hiding, unobserved, the three dollars already mentioned under some birch bark, where he found them on his return.

According to Kruse's Report, the Scots made two Bönder prisoners in Romsdalen, and employed them as guides; and Slange likewise states that they compelled some Bönder to go in advance and tell the peasantry to supply provisions at certain places and at a time indicated, under threat of killing and burning if this was not done. From Omdals-næs the Scots marched some miles along the ordinary road up the Romsdal. At a cottage called Aagerreiten, on the estate of Aag, close to Omdal, a small building was being erected. The workmen fled when they heard of the enemy's approach. This building still stands, and the date 1611 is to be seen carved on a board near the chimney.

At a farm-house--it is not known which--lower down in Romsdal, the Scots are said to have cut off the feet of a dog which the people, who had run away, had fastened to the door of their store-house, in order that it might let them know when the Scots came. At the farm of Eidet (Ödeeidet) one of the Scots is reported to have been shot from the other side of the river by a man who belonged to a farm called Fiva. From the farm of Maange, a little further up in Romsdal, the inhabitants had fled, but food had been left placed on the table. At Rödstulen farm, a "wild Turk," as the Saga calls him, who accompanied the Scots, was shot. Schöning[72] relates that the Romsdal men assembled and attacked the Scots with sticks and stones, without, however, being able to arrest their advance. The Saga also says that they had intended to attack them at Maangehammer and at Skiri, as well as at Kyllinge Klev and Björnekleven--the latter being a mountain pass where Romsdal joins Gudbrandsdal; but nothing came of it, as the Scots got to those places too early, and the Romsdal men, moreover, lacked both arms and leaders. Sinclair therefore advanced without hindrance, and committed many an act of cruelty on his march. Dread and terror were therefore connected with his name. Many fled to the mountains, but some were seized by the Scots. It is said that girls and young married women were violated and then mutilated, and left in that condition by the Scots. All they were able to find in the way of money--silver or gold--they took with them. Corn-fields and meadows were trodden down, farms were burned, and so forth. Storm describes the frightful conduct of the Scots in powerful language:--

"And with him fourteen hundred men:
On mischief all that band were bent;
They spared nor young nor aged then,
But slew and burnt as on they went.

"The child they killed at mother's breast,
Nor cared how sweet soe'er its smile;
Of widows' tears they made a jest;
Sorrow's loud cry arose the while."[73]

When the Scots got to the head of the Romsdal valley, they did not dare to keep to the road any further, and being afraid of passing the Björnekleven (the "Bears' Cliff"), they took to the mountains. They probably came down again at the farm of Eneboe,[74] in Lessö, Gudbrandsdalen. There is a post at that farm on which the date 1612 is said to have been cut as a memorial of somebody that had been killed there by the Scots. When they got thence to the farm of Skauge, they found that the owner and all the other inhabitants had fled, except the owner's grandmother, who thought she had nothing to fear on account of her advanced age. The Scots killed the old woman and burned the farm. A little to the south of that farm is a plain which was and still is called Mærrasletten, where they encamped and rested a day.[75] It is further related that when they came to the farm of Kjelshuus, in Lessö, they found a meal prepared for them; but on leaving, they emptied a barrel of flour out on the road, and burned the farm. The people had fled to Lordalen, on the west side of the Laagen.[76] At Nordrehuus farm there was a stout-hearted woman called Sönnef, from Lom, married to Nordrehuus. While the Scots were ravaging the valley, she did not run away with the rest, but remained, although she was pregnant; and when the enemy came to the farm, she hid herself in a barn, in order to put out any fire which the Scots might kindle on their departure. She was fortunately not discovered, nor was the farm burned down. At Bjokne farm the house-wife had on her flight forgotten to take with her some valuables, and therefore hurried back to save them. As soon as she had done this, she saw the vanguard of the Scots already approaching the farm; but she got away safely. The man at Töndevold[77] had intended to make a stand at once against the Scots with the people of Lessö, but found they were too weak. He then set out a quantity of food and drink on his table, while he and his wife went up an eminence opposite the farm to watch the fate of their house. The Scots, on reaching the farm, regaled themselves with the viands which they found, and it is said the table on which Sinclair ate is still preserved. After they had eaten, they searched the house for anything that might be worth carrying away; but they only found behind the door of the cow-house a heifer, and they cut off its legs. On leaving, they are said to have set fire to one of the out-houses; but it went out of itself without spreading. Where they found food set out at farms, they were afraid lest the Bönder had poisoned it, and therefore they first gave their dogs to eat of it.

As already stated, the people fled everywhere to the mountains. Amongst other places to which some fled were the Sjonghöiderne (heights), from which they saw the march of the Scots through the parish. When the Scots saw people on the heights, it is reported that they said they would visit those "fjeld cats" after they had conquered the country.

At bridges and cross-ways their guide, Peder Klognæs, was compelled by menaces to tell if any danger need be apprehended, which was the right way, etc. When they got to Bottems Bridge, at Lessö, they burned it, as they feared that the Bönder of that district might fall upon them in the rear; and they then marched to the parish of Dovre. As the road seemed to be too long to Peder Klognæs, who was still obliged to remain with the Scots, and as he had long been tired of their company, he is said to have found at the Kjörum farms an opportunity of leaving them, and was already a short way on the road back when he was overtaken and compelled by cuts and blows to go on with them. When they thus reached Jora Bridge, a short distance thence, the Scots were afraid that some danger might be at hand; consequently they had the bridge examined, and sent out spies. As they found at that bridge two roads,--of which one went southwards, the other eastwards,--and Peder Klognæs having pointed out the former, which they thought was not the right direction, they suspected him of an intention to deceive them; therefore they hung him over the bridge, and ducked him several times in the river, threatening to leave him there if he did not show them the right way. But he kept to his statement, which was really a true one, and said, "If I were to die here--so help me, God!--I know no other road," on which they drew him up and proceeded further. Others allege that this happened at Dovre Bridge. It is said that on their march through Dovre parish, on a plain called Kraakvolden, below the farms of Landhem, they held a feast in a barn (still extant in 1836), and amused themselves with dancing. The people who had fled to the mountains saw them dancing there. It is also related that they here held a day of prayer, on account of the proximity of Rosten, Bægilskleven, and "the high bridge," in order that they might safely pass those dangerous places.[78]

Meanwhile the arrival of the Scots had been reported in the south part of Gudbrandsdalen. The soldiers belonging to that valley were then away on the Swedish frontier fighting the enemy. All the troops that had been stationed in the South Fjeld district had, in fact, been drawn away, partly to the frontier at Bahuus Lehn, partly to the Danish army which had invaded Sweden from Skaane.[79] It was therefore only the Bönder of that valley who could oppose the Scots.

No sooner had the lensmand[80] Lauritz (or Lars) Hage,[81] who lived at Hage farm, in Dovre parish, heard of the arrival of the Scots, than he determined to oppose their march. He quickly caused messages to be sent to the adjoining parishes, whence they were carried further up the valley. It is said that he came into the church at Dovre during divine service, and giving three knocks on the floor with his staff, said, "Give attention! The enemy has come into the country," on which the service was stopped, and the people hurried out of the church. At his summons the Bönder armed themselves and hastened to march a Norwegian mile and a half south to the above-mentioned cliff-road of Rosten, a little north of the post-house of Laurgaard, in Sel. Here they halted, and intended to await the Scots. For that purpose they began to prepare a breast-work, or a construction such as that which was later raised at Kringlen; but the result of a council, at which the men of Dovre and Lessö voted for continuing the work, while the rest were of the opposite opinion, was that they abandoned the work they had commenced, and withdrew further south. But on Lauritz Hage's wise advice, in order to delay the enemy, they first destroyed Rosten Bridge; and consequently, when the Scots got to Rosten they were obliged to take to the fjeld.[82]

When the Bönder got down to Sel, they combined with a number of others, who had come from the south, probably from Froen and Ringebo. Here they remained for the night at Romungaard, Jörgenstad, Olstad, and other farms,[83] which then lay more in a cluster than now. There they got hold of some barrels of beer, and several of the Bönder gave themselves up to carousing during the night. When the morning came, and they had to go further, some of the peasants would not leave their beloved ale. Others were, however, wise enough to spike the beer-casks by knocking in the spigots and then cutting them off close. The carousers could therefore get no more; otherwise they would probably have remained drinking until the Scots came up to them. Nor were the latter far off; for the very day on which the Bönder left, the Scots arrived in the evening, and took up their quarters there for the night. The Bönder then went one and a half mile (Norwegian) southwards, and finally halted at Kringlen, where they determined to await and attack the Scots. This place is situated in Bredenbygd, in Sel's annex to Vaage parish, and is a mountain slope, over which the road goes. At the foot of that slope, which is in many places excessively precipitous, flows the Laagen. At that time the road was only a narrow path or bridle-path, but it has since been altered and enlarged into a highway.[84] Moreover, the ground has undergone some change since 1612, especially in consequence of the landslip of 1789, when it became less precipitous. There was also more wood then than now. The name of the place is generally written "Kringlen," under which designation it has become best known. On the other hand, in the language of the common people the place was called Kringom, or Hög Kringom.[85]

The Bönder who there assembled were from Vaage, Lessö, Froen, and Ringebo. Both Slange and Edv. Storm state that the Bönder from Lom were there too, and it is possible that some may have been present, perhaps, from Garmo, an annex to Lom; but according to a very common tradition current at Lom itself, the men of Lom, although they assembled and marched out, did not take part in the fight. The fact is, that the people from the southern or greater part of Skjager annex went over the Findal Mountains, and down again through Vaage, in order to engage the enemy, but arrived too late. Those of the parish of Lom proper, and of the northern part of Skjager, also went part of the way--namely, within half a Norwegian mile to the east of Lom Church, to a hill in the neighbourhood of Graffer farm; but here they began to deliberate as to what they should do, and the result was that they returned to their several homes, on the advice of the "lads from Skjelqvale,"[86] and more especially after considering that the Scots would not in any case come to Lom, and that the matter, consequently, did not concern them. That hill is to this day called "Raadsbakken,"[87] or Council Hill. In addition to the Bönder assembled at Kringlen, the peasantry of Gusdal and Öiers took up a position in the above-named Bægilsklev, or Bæggersklev, in Ringebo, about five Norwegian miles to the south of Kringlen, under the leadership of Lauritz (or Lars) Gram, the bailie of Gudbrandsdalen, who lived at the farm of Steig, in Froen. That position was probably selected in order to meet the possibility of the Scots escaping from the Bönder posted to the north. The latter were led by Lauritz Hage, lensmand at Dovre (in Lessö?), and Peder Randklev, lensmand in Ringebo. According to some accounts, Guldbrand Sejelstad, of the same parish, was also amongst the leaders.[88]

The Bönder now prepared at Kringlen to meet Sinclair and his Scots. As already stated, the latter had taken to the mountains in order to avoid Rosten, and had descended into the valley at Horgenlien in Nordre Sel, and taken up their quarters there for the night, after the Bönder had retired from that farm in the morning. Sinclair slept at Romungaard, where are still to be found the remains of the room he occupied, and now used as a barn.[89] The Bönder in Nordre Sel had fastened oxen to the fences, in order that the enemy should not burn down their farms. Some say that the Scots remained a day at Sel before they proceeded further. "Now begins prosperity; it will be better still over in Hedemarken," Sinclair is reported to have said to his people. In the morning, before he marched up from Sel, a few hours previous to the battle at Kringlen, he is said to have burned some powder on the palm of his hand, in order to ascertain whether his march would be successful or not. The smoke having gone up against his breast, he is reported to have exclaimed, "This day I shall suffer loss in my men, however great that loss may be." Sinclair was accompanied by a "Veirlöber,"[90] or hound; some called it a "Værkalv," others a "Vildtyrk" or "Tryntyrk",[91] "able to detect the enemy like a hound." It could, they said, scent "Christian blood." It is likewise related that the thick part of its legs had been removed in order that it might run with greater lightness. The _Veirlöber_ was shot the same morning at the farm of Ödegaard. An elderly farm labourer had remained there in order to see what the enemy would do, and hid himself with his steel-bow in a field of hemp; and another, who had likewise remained behind, got into a chimney to give the signal to the archer. After drinking some sour milk in the dairy, the hound came up to them. It is said that the sour milk, together with the smell of the hemp, prevented the nose of the _Veirlöber_ from discovering the man who was concealed, and whose unerring shot stretched him on the ground, so that the sour milk "spouted out of him." A similar _Vildtyrk_, as already stated, had been shot in Romsdalen. The Saga says it was fortunate for the Bönder that these _Vildtyrker_ had been shot, for they were dangerous spies. It is probable that they were nothing more than Sinclair's sleuth-hounds. This is to be inferred both from the descriptions given and from statements respecting the one that was shot at Ödegaard--namely, that he ran about in the fields and barked.

Still shown as that in which the Scots passed the night before the
fight at Kringelen.
_Page 96._]

Still shown as that in which George Sinclair slept the night before
the fight at Kringelen.
_Page 96._]

The Scots then advanced from Sel. It was on the 26th August 1612,[92] a day which has remained so memorable in the history of Gudbrandsdal. It was a Wednesday. To the strains of martial music the whole of the Scottish force marched southwards. Some of them hearing the cries of children on the mountains, to which the mothers had fled, are said to have called out in derision, "Hear the witch-cats how they screech; when we come again we shall visit them." But soon their mockery was to be silenced, and their music to sound for the last time; and the young blood now flowing in their veins was in a few moments to stain the rocky sides of Kringlen and the gray waters of the Laagen. Step by step they approached the spot where this expedition was to end so quickly and sadly. The Bönder at Kringlen were waiting for them. Here, on convenient places above the road, they had raised huge breastworks, and a kind of trap of stones and timber. The trap was laid on logs held together by means of rope, and propped up with supports in such a manner that when the ropes were cut and the props removed, the logs and stones would roll down the whole hill-slope.[93] The object was to let the mass fall down as soon as the enemy got below it, and thereupon to attack the survivors with weapons in hand. The whole of the construction of stones and logs, as well as the Bönder, who stationed themselves behind that awful barricade, were concealed by leafy branches of trees and by fir trees, so as to give the appearance of a small wood. A small body of Bönder concealed themselves a little to the north, and on hearing the noise of the conflict were to have descended into the road, to prevent the enemy from running back. The Bönder also cut down large trees, and made _chevaux-de-frise_ out of them, to be rolled in the front and in the rear of the enemy along the narrow road, in order to shut him in and prevent him from going either forwards or backwards.

In a ballad older than Edvard Storm's poem, undoubtedly composed by a Gudbrandsdal man, and of which there are a few imperfect copies, the position of the Bönder is thus described:--

"There is a cliff in Gudbrandsdal,
Which is called Kringlen;
There lay the men of the valley,
In all near five hundred.
Intrenching there, they built a wall,
And raised up stones many.
They lay in wait as doth a cat
That wants to catch a mouse."

In order to be informed how near the Scots had come, and thus to determine when to expect them, they sent out, says the Saga, as a spy, a Bonde of the name of Audon Skjenna[94] of Sel. He went direct to Skjenna farm, and saw Sinclair reviewing his men on the green outside that farm. When he saw them afterwards passing over Laur Bridge, which spans the Laagen immediately to the north of the Ulen river, he hastened back. The Scots, however, got sight of him, and are said to have called out, "See how the boor is running away on a 'pert.'"[95] It was necessary for the Bönder to divert the attention of the Scots from their ambuscade, and to ascertain when the main force of the enemy was below it, for that would be the time for them to begin the battle. With the latter object one of the Bönder was ordered to remain on an island called Storöen, in the Laagen; and then riding on a white horse out of gunshot of the enemy, he was to keep in a line with the enemy's main force, or with the head of it, and when it reached the appointed place to give notice by suddenly turning round. Some say that, in order the better to divert the enemy's attention, he sat backwards on the horse; while others affirm that, with the same object, he wound a large red plaid round his throat and down the chest of his white horse. Other arrangements were also made to divert the enemy's attention. On the advice of Arne Nedre-Gunstad from Ringebo,[96] the least capable of the men who had met there were stationed on Storöen, in order to deceive the enemy by a feint attack, and thereby to draw off his attention from the place where lay the real force of the Bönder. They further sent a girl of the name of Guri, generally called Pillar Guri, who knew well how to blow a horn,[97] to stand on Selsjordskampen, a mountain point on the left side of the Laagen, from which she could see the surrounding country and the approaching enemy. When the main force of the enemy got between her and the place selected by the Bönder she was to blow the horn, to attract the attention of the enemy towards the point at which she was placed, and which was opposite to the position occupied by the Bönder; and also to signal to the Bönder, who could not see the enemy from their ambuscade, how far they had advanced. It is also related that, likewise by arrangement with the Bönder, she held hanging down in front of her a long white scarf, which she twisted round her arm, and by gradually shortening it signalled to the Bönder the approach of the enemy.

Now came the Scots. Their advanced guard of sixty, according to others one hundred, men, who marched a little ahead, passed unattacked. The girl on the mountain top did not blow her horn, but waited for the main body. It is strange that the advanced guard observed nothing of the Bönder. After that came the main force of the Scots; but the Bönder remained quiet, each ready at his post. Among them was also Berdon or Bardum Sejelstad of Ringebö,[98] who, together with two other skilful marksmen, was one of the leaders chosen to take aim at Sinclair; and Berdon had stipulated that no one should shoot before he did. The Scots thought that the Bönder force was further in advance of them, and expecting no attack there, approached reliantly, and were "cheerful." As soon as they came sufficiently near, they heard the girl play on the horn from the mountain-top. The Scots stopped and listened to the unusual and melancholy strains. Sinclair's band thereupon replied to her with a march. The girl played the same air again, and the Scots replied a second time.[99] After that began the attack from the island. Many shots were fired, but no bullet reached so far. A volley and then several volleys were fired, but with the same result; and the Scots laughed at what they thought was a cowardly attack, and in derision lifted their hats after each discharge. But suddenly the signal was given to the concealed Bönder, and the scene changed. The masses of rock and timber now tumbled down, and at the same moment Sinclair fell at the first shot that was fired. Berdon Sejelstad had taken aim at him from behind some pine trees; and as Sinclair was considered to be a mighty and brave warrior, invulnerable to bullets, Berdon, in order, as he thought, to be more certain of success, took the silver button from the neck of his shirt, chewed it into a lump, and loaded his gun with it.[100] Some say also that the gun missed fire the first time. The bullet is said to have struck Sinclair in the forehead, just over his left eye. As he fell he is said to have exclaimed, "That is Berdon Sejelstad's arquebuse."[101] The place where he fell is still called "Sinclar's Dokken." Immediately after the colonel had fallen it went badly with the rest; and the Bönder threw themselves forward with courage and speed, spreading fear and death by shooting with rifles and hewing with axes. The position of the Scots was bad in the highest degree; for the narrow pass in which they were crowded, and the declivity of the mountain on which they stood, admitted of no battle-array. From north and south, and from above them, the Bönder fell upon the Scots with fury. The above-mentioned ballad says:--

"They were surrounded south and north--
Which they must most have regretted:
There was committed upon them a miserable murder." ...

They attempted to run up the mountain to close with the Bönder, but were hurled down. "Those who were not shot jumped into the river to save themselves, but were there drowned; and those of them who got alive over the river were quickly killed by the Bönder on that side."[102]

In the "Ballad of the Valley" the battle is further described as follows:--

"The colonel rode in the foremost rank,
Right proudly himself he bore;
He was first shot down from his horse,
And became at once quite powerless.
He died and there at once on the spot
With others at that time;
Georgius Sinclar was his name,
Who then was stretched a corpse.

"There staggered many a brave hero,
And danced against his will;
Horse and man to earth were felled,
That is how the Dalesmen entertained them.

"The balls as thick as hail did fly,
Men had to stop there and bide;
There was heard many a shout and cry,
Yes, there ached many a side.
There was sweated much bloody sweat,
Many a cheek was white....

"They tried to climb the mountain steep,
The Norsemen death to deal;
But from the rocks were forced to leap
By logs and stones and steel.
Hard by the precipice there runs a river,
Its waters run so strong
That all who cannot reach the bank
Are borne by the stream along.

"They swam both hither and thither,
On their backs or as best they could;
That art they had diligently learnt;
But they had to go to the bottom.
They were fired at right sharply,
So the water splashed about their ears;
They had to remain on that spot,
And reached not the dry land."

The girl on the mountain crag continued to play her horn during the battle, until she saw the Laagen dyed with blood. She then threw the horn over her head, went away, and changed her song into weeping. Some say that Sinclair's wife was also killed in the fight, together with her child. According to tradition, when the rest went to battle, Kjel Fjerdingreen[103] of Hedalen, a parish annexed to Vaage, was persuaded by his sweetheart, who had a foreboding of misfortune, to remain behind; but when she heard that Sinclair's wife was with him, and that she carried a new-born babe, she became anxious about her fate, and as much as she had previously bid him remain behind, she now bade him go, not to take part in the carnage, but, if possible, to save the child. "You shall not gain my hand, Kjel," she is said to have told him, "before you have saved the child." He therefore accompanied the others. In the tumult of the battle, Kjel rushed forward in order to comply with the touching entreaties of his sweetheart. The child had just been hit by a ball. Kjel found Mrs. Sinclair, who was beside herself with grief, on horseback, and stanching the blood of her child. As he was going to take it (others say that it had fallen from her, she having dropped it in her fright, and that Kjel took it up and handed it to her), she thought he wanted to injure it, and impelled by fear and motherly affection she thrust a dagger into her benefactor's breast. Others say she stuck the dagger into his back as he was stooping to take the child. It is said that one of Kjel's companions then shot Mrs. Sinclair down from her horse, and that her body was afterwards seen in the Laagen. It is stated by others that the Bönder threw her into the Laagen, taking her for a witch, and that she sat (on the water) stanching the blood of her child, and that the Laagen bore her a long way before she was drowned. When the child was killed, and before Mrs. Sinclair fell a prey to the waves, she is said to have struck up a wild song in her despair,--others say in her scorn. The place where she remained for some moments on the surface of the water is said to have been immediately opposite to the most northerly point of Kringlen. Others again say that she was afterwards amongst the prisoners, and that her life was spared. The inscription in the parish register of Vaage[104] states that she survived.

The battle probably took place from a little north of that point to a little south of the highest part of Kringlen, where the wooden post stands. According to Kruse's Report, it lasted an hour and a half. As soon as the battle was over and the victory gained, the Bönder went after the men of the vanguard, whom they had allowed to pass unhindered. These had fled forward when they perceived the defeat of the rest; but they were overtaken on a plain at Solhjem farm, a little to the south of Kringlen. As the Bönder came rushing to the attack with the cry, "Fall to! fall to! here are more of them," and the Scots saw "what would result from it," they at once sent their interpreter forward and said they would surrender as prisoners. Thereupon they laid down their arms; but when they saw that the Bönder were not so many as they had at first thought, they took their arms up again and wanted to fight their way through; but they were now met in such a manner that they were all either shot and cut down or taken prisoners. Peder Klognæs the guide was with the vanguard, and nearly shared its fate; but on the cry, "I am Peder Klognæs, I am Peder Klognæs, and am one of your own people," he escaped, and returned later in safety to his home in Romsdalen.

The strength of the Bönder force which fought at Kringlen was between four hundred and five hundred men,[105] of whom six were killed and some few wounded. According to the ballad--

"When the Dalesmen this had done,
And thus destroyed the foe,
I have been told of a truth
That six of them were killed
In the battle on the cliff;
And there were stretched as corpses,
Beside those who wounded were,
Who are but few to mention."

The Bönder proceeded at once with the prisoners to Qvam, a parish annexed to Froen. After the glory just acquired, the Bönder committed next day a sanguinary deed, which the inhabitants of the valley now speak of with abhorrence, wishing it had never been done. "The principal men among those who were there" wished indeed that the prisoners, whom they had confined in a barn at Klomstad farm, should all be conveyed to Agershuus.

"But this pleased not the Dalesmen
That they should thus take them
Through the long and narrow way,
And give the country trouble."

The majority shouted that the prisoners should all lose their lives, on which, so strong was the general exasperation, they took them out of the barn,[106] one by one, and shot them all, except eighteen or some few more. Five or six whom, owing, it is said, to "magic art," the shots would not affect, were put to death with pikes. The "Ballad of the Valley" says:--

"They minded neither lead nor powder,
It dried upon their brows;
So tough was their flesh and their skin
That lead could not through them go.
Through cunning and magic art,
Which they learned to a nicety,
What was done to them was in vain,--
They did not even hiccough;
So (the Bönder) took to their sharp pikes,
And had to run them through;
Then both skin and flesh were torn,
And they made an end of them.
But of the prisoners there were spared,
I know, one less than twenty.
Amongst them were two captains--
I will not tell a lie--
The one Captain Bruce by name,
The other Captain Ramsey."

Kruse writes respecting the prisoners:--"On the day the battle took place one hundred and thirty-four Scots were taken prisoners, who were straightway the next day killed and shot by the Bönder, with the exception of the above-named eighteen, the Bönder saying to each other that his Royal Majesty had enough to feed in those same eighteen. Some of these were, however, wounded, and some had bullets in their bodies when they arrived here.[107] Of the above-mentioned eighteen soldiers we now send to you[108] the three principal ones, who are a captain of the name of Alexander Ramsay, and his lieutenant of the name of Jacob Mannepenge [James Moneypenny], who has previously been both in Denmark and Sweden, and who on this their expedition served as an interpreter; the third is called Herrich Bryssz [Henry Bruce], who, according to his own statement, has served as a soldier in Holland, Spain, and Hungary. As regards the remaining fifteen persons, some of them have straightway taken service among good folk here in the country, and some who will willingly serve your Royal Majesty in Jörgen Lunge's[109] regiment, I sent at once to Elfsborg." This is alluded to as follows in the Valley Ballad:--

"They were then to the castle brought,
No desire had they to remain....
They could not relish the fare so hard
Which the Gudbrandsdal men gave--
Here are not many hens or sheep--
But lead and powder they got in their insides."

That at least eighteen remained alive can thus be seen from Kruse's Report, and, moreover, that some few remained behind in the valley is recorded by tradition. Storm sings that none of the Scots ever saw their own country again. Nevertheless it is related of at least one of them that "he came home."[110] The place in Qvam parish where the Scots killed at the barn were buried, is still shown a little to the north of the barn, and is called Skothaugen ("The Scot hillock").

The conduct of the Bönder towards their prisoners can certainly not in any way be justified; but so long as there is much that can be pleaded in extenuation, we should, on the other hand, be cautious in pronouncing an unqualified condemnation. According to tradition, they were excited to that deed by Peder Klognæs, who had seen so many cruelties committed by the Scots on the way, and who had himself suffered so much at their hands. It can be imagined that the real state of the case was possibly this: the Bönder, weary after a march of several days, and after the last day's work and fighting, came to Qvam with their prisoners, when they began, it may be supposed, to be weary of leading them further. It was the busy harvest time; they were possibly short of provisions. Perhaps some of them had a debauch, as previously at Sel, and excited by liquor as well as by the account of the cruelties of the Scots, they considered the latter worthy of death, and quickly set to work to slaughter them, notwithstanding that the principal men had opposed such a proceeding. (See _ante._) It may be that the prisoners themselves had given them fresh cause for exasperation during their conveyance or while they were being guarded; and such a supposition is all the more within the range of possibility, since it is otherwise very singular that the Bönder did not kill their prisoners immediately after the affair at Solhjem (since their exasperation was so great on the following day), but conducted them one mile and a half (Norwegian) on the way to Agershuus.

Special circumstances, no longer known, may have occurred as contributory reasons for such conduct. Moreover, before pronouncing judgment on the inhabitants of Gudbrandsdal, we must remember that wars at that time, and the Calmar War as a whole, were conducted with much cruelty, and we must take into consideration the spirit of the age. Nor should we forget that more than two centuries lie between them and us. A far higher stage of culture has been attained of later years, and yet they have produced not a few examples of similar barbarity. We have only to remember what is related respecting the cruelty of the Duke of Cumberland in 1746 after the battle of Culloden in Scotland, General Moreno's murder of General Torrejos and his sixty comrades in misfortune on the plains before Malaga in 1832, General Minas's cruelty at Lacaroz in 1835, and the cruelties of the Carlists towards the English prisoners at Tolosa in 1837, etc.

(_Now in the Anglican Church, Christiania_).--_Page 117._]

Respecting one of the Scottish prisoners who remained alive, tradition relates that when he saw a musket being aimed at him he ran to Ingebrikt Valde[111] of Vaage, and with pitiful gesticulations asked for life and protection, seeking shelter under his horse; whereupon Ingebrikt lifted his axe in defence of the man, threatening to cut down any one who killed him. That Scot is said to have been a glazier, and to have subsequently settled in the country. As a token of his gratitude he sent some windows to Ingebrikt Valde, whom in his letters he always called his "life's father." Of these windows one is still to be seen at Valde farm.[112] Some lines, burnt into one of the panes, form a shield, on which are seen a figure like a crest (perhaps Ingebrikt Valde's seal or signature) and an angel with hands held protectingly over it. Another of the prisoners remained in Vaage, where he got a piece of land to cultivate, and which clearing is now a farm called Skotlien.

Either at the engagement at Kringlen or during the affair at Solhjem one of the Scots is said to have saved himself by swimming over the Laagen, whence he took to the mountains. In the evening (the mountains being only a Norwegian mile across) he came down to Ellingsbö farm in Hedalen, and his appearance bespoke fright and hunger. The farmer, who, according to Gram's Census, was called Christian, placed food before him. While the Scot sat and ate the mowers came home. At the sight of those men and their scythes he thought they were some of those who had been at Kringlen, so he jumped up and showed signs of fear lest his life should be taken; but the Bonde soon quieted him. The Scot remained there four years, went to Oslo,[113] where he settled as a goldsmith, and sent as a present to his benefactor at Ellingsbö silver cups for his children.

From one of the prisoners, who is said to have been a cardmaker, and who married in the country, a family with the surname of Matheson is descended, and several of its members still reside in the province of Trondhjem.[114]

Among the prisoners was also a woman, whom Lars Hage afterwards met at the house of a merchant at Oslo. He recognized her, and she him. The merchant told her to draw a jug of ale for the man. But as he would not drink, she said, "Drink, good man, I have done you no harm;" and the merchant having asked her, "Do you know to whom you are offering that good ale?" she replied, "I know him well enough. They were not 'boors,' but devils, that lay in the bushes."[115]

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