Viking Legacy by Titlestad Torgrim

Author:Titlestad, Torgrim
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788291640945
Publisher: The Saga Publishing Company
Published: 2018-06-21T16:00:00+00:00

Aslak Fitjaskalle – Erling’s new rival

After the Kvitsøy agreement Olav installed Aslak Fitjaskalle as lendmann over South Hordaland, a part of Erling’s erstwhile domains. Aslak was Erling’s second cousin. At Avaldsnes Olav appointed the former slave Tore Sel (Seal) as (årmann) steward. A steward might be of low status, and could even be a freedman. He answered directly to the king and was entirely dependent on his support. For that reason stewards were often the king’s most reliable servants, but they were looked down on by members of the local aristocracy. In those circumstances, the stewards would feel even greater loyalty to the king. They oversaw the daily business of the farms for him, and exercised a sort of police power. They watched over their regions and made certain the king was kept informed about political currents in the district.

As a lendmann, Aslak Fitjaskalle enjoyed a much higher status than Tore Sel. His job was to undermine Erling’s existing power in Hordaland. Olav made yet another move that proved a provocation to Erling. Avaldsnes had functioned as an important link in Erling’s network of alliances in Rogaland. He had fostered his daughter there, with one of the magnates along the Karmsund.391 Now Olav degraded Erling’s allied chieftain to the status of steward. The name of this man is unknown, but the title of årmann was a slap in the face to him. Shortly thereafter Olav sent this newly-created steward north, probably to Storfosna at the mouth of Trondheimsfjord392 replacing him on Karmøy with the loyal Tore Sel. His true purpose was to reduce Erling to the status of being “merely” the leader of South Rogaland, a fraction of his previous domains.

The result was that Erling came to despise the new king. Olav’s treatment of Erling reinforces Andreas Holmsen’s words that Olav was no glorious and all-victorious model ruler. His temperament appears to have been both prickly and vengeful, as well as obsessive, down to the smallest detail.393

Olav’s “centralized” rule constituted a major challenge to Erling’s fundamental political ideas. Erling’s “political philosophy” was based on petty kingdoms with a loose, shared system of leadership exercised through an annual SUPRA-Thing (the Gula Thing) which served as its highest arena of business.

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