Very few from the Viking Age have had more of an impact on historical events than Eirik ( also Erik or Eric ) Haakonsson, the bastard son of Jarl Haakon Sigurdsson. And yet hardly anyone speaks or writes about him these days which is perplexing to a student of history like myself. It is not as though there are not enough sources that speak of his accomplishments and feats ! He is mentioned in Fagrskinna, Heimskringla, The Saga of the Jomsvikings, Grettis Saga, Knytlinga Saga, and the English Encomium Emmae. I will try to at least peak everyone's interest at least a little with this article about a wonderful warrior, and leader of the Norwegian peoples. 

His mother is known only from the Sagas as a " woman of low birth " , and is not spoken of much in the written record. Jarl Haakon himself did not have any feelings for his illegitimate son, and literally gave him to a friend to raise in their household. In Bandadrapa it reveals this indifference out to be almost dislike when Eirik is told by his father to move his ship, which was berthed next to his, so that his friend Skopti, could tie his ship along side the Jarl's vessel. Eirik obeyed, really what else could he do, but he never forgot this humiliating incident. The very next year he out - sailed Skopti' s ship and  killed him in battle. Young Eirik was only 13 years old at the time. 

Later he sailed to Denmark and met with King Harald Bluetooth, who took a liking to the young man. So much so that King Harald made him a Jarl in Southern Norway. In the year 986 Eirik sided with his father against the Christian Danes, which his father Jarl Haakon of course hated, and commanded, according to the Sagas, as many as 60 ships at the Battle of Hjorungavagr. The Danish fleet was defeated, and against his father's wishes, Eirik released many of the Jomsvikings who fought against them including my favorite Jomsviking warrior Vagn Akason, who I have written about previously.

In around 995 A.C.E. Olaf Tryggvason seized power, and forced many of the Jarls to flee Norway. Eirik took refuge in Sweden where he allied himself with the Swedish King Olaf whose daughter, Gytha, he married. After raiding the lands of the Rus Eirik together with King Olaf of Sweden, and King Swein of Denmark attacked Olaf Tryggvason off of the coast of the Island of Svolder. This battle lead to the death of King Olaf, apparently by suicide, when he jumped overboard with his full armor on to flee capture. Having just written about this I will not go into further detail . 

Next : Jarl Eirik : Ruler of Southern Norway, and the conquest of England.

Glenn Bergen

Go with Odin's wisdom, Freyja's love, and Thor' s protection ! 

        

Unverified Personal Gnosis is another one of those issues in our religion that no one can seem to agree on. The amount of tolerance for U. P. G. ' s range from total acceptance to absolute rejection. Actually sometimes I wonder what people do believe in our religion . Some do not believe in the Eddas and Sagas because they were written after the Viking Age; some don't believe in modernizing our religious beliefs, but instead want to try and reconstruct the religion based on what we know our ancestors practiced ( which is not much ), and some want to use only the archaeological record to explain our religious beliefs. I actually had an argument with one our folk recently who tries to explain everything in our religion using logic..... pure logic. Anyone who thinks you can explain believing in, speaking to, and honoring Gods who reside in another world or plane of existence with logic is in my opinion being illogical. That is why it is called " Faith " in the Aesir my friends. But I digress.

U. P. G. ' s, however,  are harder to place into the context of our religious beliefs. We cannot throw away established ideas and practices of our ancestor' s faith simply because one, or maybe even a few people, have been given a message or a vision by the Gods and Goddesses. On the other hand we should not totally dismiss U. P. G. ' s without at least hearing about the individuals experience first. We also have to take that information, not at face value, but as it pertains to the overall context of our religion. For instance: The Gods and Goddesses have never shown me a war - like, or violent nature in my contacts with them, but that does not mean that I should change my entire view of the Aesir - Vanir pantheon of Gods just because they do not come to me in the violent way that they are written about in the Eddas. Freyja is a good example for me to speak of because she has shown me only love, and has eased the pain I have carried within me, and opened my heart to others. Although I have never sensed a  violent side to her I do sense that she is immensely powerful and not someone who is to be trifled with. She is easily as powerful as any of her counterparts in the Aesir. I guess what I am trying to point out is that the Gods and Goddesses come to different people in different ways, and one experience cannot be used as a blanket description for each God, and therefore cannot be used to determine the direction of an entire religion.


Having said that...... one thing we should all think long and hard about is this question : " What if the first few of our folk centuries ago either dismissed, or refused to share their religious experience, U. P. G. with others in their community ? " If this had happened our religion, our very faith would not exist my friends. A religion springs forth from the U. P. G. of the folk in the society, and spreads as an acceptable " fact " , usually an experience shared by more than one individual in the community, is then incorporated into the established religion as a TRU experience or factual occurrence . If all U.P.G. are dismissed then a religion cannot evolve and progress, and it becomes stagnant, and unfulfilling. The way that Christianity is slowly losing members because their religion does not speak to the youth of today is a prime example of this. 


I am by no means saying that we should believe every instance of U. P. G. that is place before us, but I do feel that we need to be more tolerant, and at least listen to these individuals experiences with the Gods and Goddesses without criticizing or demeaning them. If enough of our folk have similar experiences, ( especially if they are from different parts of the world and have never had contact with each other ), then maybe that experience or insight into our Gods should be taken seriously and possibly included into our religious beliefs. It bothers me when some in our religion are so enthusiastic and willing to accept what others have written a thousand years ago, but reject anything that is written today. The Gods spoke to our ancestors and they still speak to us today. The question is will we accept what they teach us now ?


Glenn Bergen


Go with Odin' s wisdom, Freyja' s love, and Thor's protection !