The Heimskringla on Thorberg Arnason

Heimskringla > The Chronicle Of The Kings Of Norway > 148. Stein'S Story.

• attestation: Stein and Thorberg were called strangers to each other -- Stein was a foreigner and not Thorberg's kinsman or foster-brother.

  "I have too much sense to take the cause of a foreigner in hand, and draw upon myself the king's wrath."

• attestation: Thorberg told Ragnhild she relied too much on her noble descent in disregarding King Olaf's authority.

  "thou art reckoning too much, Ragnhild, upon thy descent, in paying so little regard to King Olaf's word."

• attestation: Thorberg refused to send Stein to Erling, fearing it would further enrage the king against Erling.

  "Thorberg said he would not send Stein there; "for there are enough of things besides to enrage the king against Erling.""

• attestation: After Yule, a king's messenger summoned Thorberg to appear before King Olaf before midsummer.

  "After Yule a king's messenger came to Thorberg, with the order that Thorberg should come to him before midsummer; and the order was serious and severe."

• attestation: Thorberg asked his brother Fin Arnason to accompany him to the king, but Fin criticized him for being under his wife's influence.

  "Fin replied, that he thought it foolish to be so completely under woman's influence that he dared not, on account of his wife, keep the fealty and law of his sovereign."

• attestation: Thorberg asked his brother Arne Arnason to accompany him, but Arne refused, criticizing him for sheltering a foreigner.

  "It might be excused if it were thy relation or foster-brother whom thou hadst thus sheltered; but not at all that thou shouldst take up an Iceland man, and harbour the king's outlaw"

• attestation: Thorberg insulted Arne, calling him the worst son of their father and questioning whether to acknowledge him as brother.

  "My father's greatest misfortune evidently was that he had such ill luck in producing sons that at last he produced one incapable of acting"

• relationship: Thorberg, Fin, and Arne were brothers, sons of Arni (Arnason).

  "his brother Fin"

• attestation: Thorberg sent a message to his brother Kalf in Throndhjem, who agreed without hesitation to join him.

  "he sent a message to his brother Kalf in the Throndhjem district, and begged him to meet him at Agdanes; and when the messengers found Kalf he promised, without more ado, to make the journey."

• attestation: The brothers Thorberg, Fin, and Arne each had ships of twenty benches and arrived at the Throndhjem fjord mouth.

  "Thorberg's two brothers, Fin and Arne, were there already, with two ships each of twenty benches."

• attestation: Thorberg noted that his whetstone (insult) had worked on his brothers; Fin replied he seldom needed sharpening for such work.

  "Thorberg met his brothers with joy, and observed that his whetstone had taken effect; and Fin replied he seldom needed sharpening for such work."

• attestation: Kalf and Erling's sons wanted to attack Nidaros by force, but Thorberg, Fin, and Arne preferred negotiation.

  "Kalf and Erling's sons were for attacking the town with all their forces, and leaving the event to fate; but Thorberg wished that they should first proceed with moderation"

• attestation: Fin offered to pay any mulct the king demanded for both Thorberg and Stein, requesting only safety for Thorberg's fiefs and Stein's life.

  "Fin offered to pay mulct for Thorberg, and also for Stein, and bade the king to fix what the penalties should be, however large; stipulating only for Thorberg safety and his fiefs, and for Stein life and limb."

• attestation: Fin warned the king that if he destroyed Thorberg entirely, they would all defect to King Canute the Great.

  "if you will bear down Thorberg altogether, we must all go to King Canute the Great with such forces as we have."

• attestation: Thorberg accepted King Olaf's terms, declaring he had no wish to flee his property or seek foreign masters.

  "I have no wish," says he, "to fly from my property, and seek foreign masters; but, on the contrary, will always consider it an honour to follow King Olaf"

• attestation: The brothers Thorberg, Fin, and Arne swore oaths to King Olaf, fulfilling the agreement.

  "the brothers Thorberg, Fin, and Arne, went on board a vessel, rowed into the fjord, and waited upon the king. The agreement went accordingly into fulfillment, so that the brothers gave their oaths to the king."

Heimskringla > The Chronicle Of The Kings Of Norway > 243. Of Kalf Arnason'S Brothers.

• attestation: Thorberg and Fin's wounds proved not to be deadly; they had fallen from fatigue and the weight of their weapons.

  "When their wounds were examined they were found not to be deadly, and they had fallen from fatigue, and under the weight of their weapons."

Heimskringla > The Chronicle Of The Kings Of Norway > 256. Of The Sons Of Arne.

• attestation: Thorberg Arnason was more moderate in his criticism of Kalf than Fin, but both brothers quickly departed, and Kalf gave them a good longship with full rigging.

  "Thorberg Arnason was much more temperate in his discourse than Fin; but yet he hastened away, and went home to his farm. Kalf gave the two brothers a good long-ship, with full rigging and other necessaries, and a good retinue."