________________________________________________
_ Note 1
NILS FINN. "There has hardly been written later so excellent a
continuation of the old Norwegian humorous ballad as this poem (from
the winter of 1856-57),written originally in the Romsdal dialect
with which Björnson wished 'to astonish the Danes.'" (Collin, ii,
147.)
Note 2.
VENEVIL. Midsummer Day=sanktehans=Saint John's (Feast), on June 24,
next to Christmas the chief popular festival in Norway; the time
when nature and human life have fullest light and power.
Note 3.
OVER THE LOFTY MOUNTAINS. "Really Björnson's first patriotic song.
... Describes one of the main motive forces in all the history of
the Norwegian people, the inner impulse to expansion and the
adventurous longing for what is great and distant. ... Written in
the narrow, hemmed-in Eikis valley." (Collin, ii, 308, 309)
Note 4.
OUR COUNTRY. Written for the celebration of the Seventeenth of May
in Bergen in the year 1859. This is Norway's Constitution Day,
corresponding to our Fourth of July, the anniversary of the day in
1814 when at Eidsvold (see Note 5) a representative convention
declared the country's independence and adopted a Constitution. The
celebration day was instituted as a result of King Karl Johan's
proposals for changes in the Constitution during the years 1821 to
1824, especially in favor of an absolute veto. It was taken up in
Christiania in 1824, and spread rapidly to all the cities in the
land, was opposed by the King and omitted in 1828, taken up by the
students of the University in 1829, and soon after 1830 made by
Henrik Wergeland (see Note 78) the chief of Norwegian patriotic
festivals. In 1870 Björnson conceived and put into practice the
"barnetog" or children's procession on this day, when the children
march also, each carrying a flag. Bauta, prehistoric, uncut,
narrow, tall, memorial stone, from the bronze age.
Hows, burial mounds, barrows.
Note 5.
SONG FOR NORWAY. Written in the summer of 1859 in connection
with the tale Arne, but not included in that book. The people of
Norway have adopted this poem as their national hymn, because
it is vigorous, picturesque summary of the glorious history of the
country in whose every line patriotic love vibrates.
Stanza 2. Harald Fairhair (860-933) was the first to unite all
Norway in one kingdom as a sort of feudal state. His success in his
struggles with the petty kings who opposed him was made complete by
his victory over viking forces in the battle on the waters of
Hafursfjord, 872. Many of the rebels emigrated, a movement which led
to the settlement of Iceland front 874 on. Haakon the Good (935-
961) was the youngest son of Harald Fairhair, born in the latter's
old age. He was reared in England with King Ethelstane, who had him
taught Christianity and baptized. When he was well settled on the
throne in Norway, he tried to introduce Christianity, but without
success. He improved the laws and organized the war forces of the
land.
Eyvind Finnsson, uncle of Haakon, was a great skald, who sang his
deeds and Norway's sorrow over his death.
Olaf the Saint (1015-1030) was a man of force and daring, as shown
by his going on viking expeditions when only twelve years old. He
became a Christian in Normandy. Returning to Norway in 1015, he
established himself as King and spread his authority as a stern
ruler. With more or less violence he Christianized the whole land.
This and his sternness led to an uprising, which was supported by
the Danish King, Knut the Great. Olaf died a hero's death in the
battle of Stiklestad, and not long after became Norway's patron
saint, to whose grave pilgrimages were made from all the North. His
son, Magnus the Good, (see Note 6), was chosen King in 1035.
Sverre (1182-1202) was a man of unusual physical and mental
powers,calm and dignified, and wonderfully eloquent. Yet he was a
war king, and the civil conflicts of his time were a misfortune for
Norway, although he bravely defended the royal prerogatives and the
land against the usurpation of temporal power by the Church of Rome,
and put an end to ecclesiastical rule in Norway.
Stanza 3. About five centuries of less renown for Norway are passed
over, and this and the following stanza refer to the time of the
Great Northern War, 1700-21, and the danger arising from Charles XII
of Sweden. From 1319 to 1523 Norway was in union with Denmark and
Sweden; from 1523 with Denmark only. In this war, waged by Denmark-
Norway, Russia, and Saxony-Poland against Charles XII, in order to
lessen the might which Sweden had gained by the Thirty Years' War,
Norwegian peasants, men and women, took up arms against the Swedes.
Peasant is in this volume the usual rendering of the word "bonde"
in the original; for its fuller significance see Note 78.
Tordenskjold, Peter (1691-1720), a great Norwegian naval hero,
whose original name was Wessel, and who was born in Trondhjem. He
received the name Tordenskjold when he was ennobled. By his
remarkable achievements he contributed much to the favorable issue
of the Great Northern War; he often had occasion to ravage the coast
of Sweden and to protect that of Norway.
Stanza 4. Fredrikshald. Here, on September 11, 1718, Charles XII met
his death on his second invasion of Norway. The citizens had
earlier burned the City, so that it might not afford shelter to the
Swedes against the cannon of the fortress Fredriksten.
Stanzas 5 and 6. Again a rather long period of peace is passed over.
In 1807 Denmark was induced by Napoleon to join the continental
system. England bombarded Copenhagen and captured it and the Danish
fleet. The war lasted seven years for Norway also, which was
blockaded by the English fleet and suffered sorely for lack of the
necessaries of life. But the nations sense of independence grew,
and when the Peace of Kiel in January, 1814, separated Norway from
Denmark, Norway refused to be absorbed by Sweden, and through a
representative assembly at Eidsvold declared its independence,
adopted a Constitution on May 17, 1814, and chose as King, Prince
Christian Frederik, the later King Christian VIII of Denmark. The
Swedish Crown Prince Karl Johan led an invasion of Norway in July,
and there was fighting until the Convention of Moss, August 14, in
which he approved the Norwegian Constitution in return for the
abdication of Christian Frederik. Negotiations then led to the
federation of Norway as an independent kingdom with Sweden in a
union. This was formally concluded on November 4, 1815, by the
adoption of the Act of Union, and the election of the Swedish King
Karl XIII as King of Norway.
The last four lines of stanza 6 refer to "Scandinavism," i.e., a
movement beginning some time before 1848 to bring about a close
federation or alliance of the three Northern kingdoms (see Note 21).
Note 6.
ANSWER FROM NORWAY. First printed in a newspaper, April 7, 1860,
with the title "Song for the Common People," this poem refers to a
stage of the long conflict over the question of a viceroy in Norway,
so important in the history of the union of Sweden and Norway. The
Norwegian Constitution gave to the King power to send a viceroy to
reside in Norway, and to name as such either a Swede or a Norwegian.
Until about 1830 the viceroy had always been a Swede, thereafter always
a Norwegian. On December 9, 1859, the Norwegian Storting
voted to abolish this article in a proposed revision of the
Constitution. The matter was discussed in Sweden with vehemence and
passion. The storm of feeling raged most violently in March, 1860,
when on the 17th, in Stockholm, this revision was rejected.
However, no viceroy was appointed alter 1859, and in 1873 the
question was amicably settled as Norwegians desired.
While the situation was tense, an unfounded rumor had spread, that
on one occasion the Norwegian flag had been raised over the
residence of the Swedish-Norwegian Minister in Vienna. This caused
loud complaints in Sweden, that "the Norwegian colors had displaced
the Swedish," while in the House of Nobles a member declared that
Norway ought to be "an accessory" to Sweden; that "young,
inexperienced" Norway's demand of equality with Sweden was like a
commoner's importunity for equality with a nobleman. He went on to
say that the Swedish nation must crave again its (pure) flag: "For
in our ancient blue-yellow Swedish flag, that waved over Lützen's
blood-drenched battlefield, are our honor, our memories, and
thousand-fold deaths."
The (pure, i.e., without the mark of union) Swedish flag consists
of a yellow cross on a blue ground, the (pure) Norwegian flag of a
blue cross within a white border on a red ground; in each the cross
extends to the four margins. At the date of this poem each flag
showed a mark of union, a diagonal combination of the colors of
both, in the upper field nearest the staff. (For a brief history of
the flag of Norway, see Note 66.)
Stanza 2. Magnus the Good, son of Olaf the Saint, reigned from 1035
till his death in 1047. He was victorious in conflict with the
Danish King Knut the Hard, and by agreement received Denmark after
his death. Magnus died in Denmark on one of several successful
expeditions against the rebellious Svein Jarl.
Fredrikshald, see Note 5.
Ad(e)ler, Kort Sivertsen (1622-1675), was a distinguished admiral,
born in Norway. He reorganized the Danish-Norwegian fleet, which
late in the seventeenth century several times defeated the Swedish.
Stanza 3. Lützen. In the battle of Lützen, November 16, 1632,
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden was killed.
Grandsire's ancient seat, symbol of Norway's ancient power and
glory. In one of the Swedish speeches were these words: "If Norway
had had a Gustavus Adolphus, a Torstenson, a Charles the Twelfth, if
its name like ours had gone forth victorious in history, no Swede
would deny its right to stand before us. This, however, is not the
case. ..."
Stanza 4. Sverre Priest, see Note 5. When young he was a priest.
Stanzas 5 and 6. Christie, Y. F. K. (1779-1849), was a vice-
president of the convention of Eidsvold, April 10-May 20, 1814, and
president of the first extraordinary Storting after the convention
of Moss, August, 1814. To him more than any other man was due the
securing of Norway's independence and welfare in the framing and
adoption of the Constitution and the Act of Union. In a sense he
was the real founder of Norway's liberty (see Note 5).
Stanza 7. Wessel=Tordenskjold, see Note 5.
Stanza 8. Torgny. At the Ting in Upsala, February, 1018, when the
Swedish King Olaf refused peace and his daughter's hand to the
Norwegian King, Olaf the Saint, the aged and revered peasant lawman,
Torgny, the wisest and most influential man in the land, rebuked the
King, declaring that the peasants wished peace with Norway, and
concluding thus: "If you will not do what we say, we shall attack
and kill you and not suffer from you breach of peace and law." The
King yielded, and made a promise which he afterwards broke.
Note 7.
JOHAN LUDVIG HEIBERG (December 14, 1791-August 25, 1860), the
leading Danish dramatist and critic of his time, an esthetic genius,
with, however, the stamp of the man of the world always on his life
and works. He early studied mathematics and natural science,
medicine and philology, Danish and foreign literature, and was also
very musical. He was uncertain whether to become a poet and esthetic
critic, a physician, or a natural scientist, or a surveyor, or -- a
diplomat. From about 1824 he studied and adopted the Hegelian
philosophy, on which based his esthetics, and for which he was the
first spokesman in Denmark. In the years 1825 to 1836 he founded the
Danish vaudeville, in which his aim was to recreate the national
drama. His vaudeville was a lighter musical-dramatic genre,
a situation-play with loosely-sketched characters and the addition
of music to concentrate the mood. In it he sought a union with the
national comedy, and like Holberg to treat subjects from his own age
and land. From 1830 to 1836 Heiberg was professor of logic,
esthetics, and Danish literature in the Military School. From 1839 on,
censor of the Royal Theater, of which he was director from 1849
to 1856, without great success because of circumstances beyond his
control. In the year 1840 he began to deeply interested in the study
of acoustics, optics, and astronomy, and soon fitted up a small
astronomical observatory at his residence; he published an
astronomical manual, 1844-46. In 1831 Heiberg married Johanne Louise
Pätges (1812-1890). The daughter of poor parents, she became a pupil
of the dancing-school of the Royal Theater in 1820, but went over to
the drama in 1826. Wonderfully gifted, she developed rapidly and
became Denmark's greatest actress. Her last appearance on the
stage was in 1864. She favored the performance of Björnson's and
Ibsen's earlier dramas on the stage in Copenhagen, with management
of which she had official connection from 1867 to 1874.
"New Year" ringing o'er the Northland. Shortly before Christmas,
1816, Heiberg published his polemical romantic comedy Yule Jests and
New Year's Jokes, a brilliant revelation of his superiority as a wit
and a satirist. Attacking the excessive sentimentality of Danish
literature and taste at that time, it made a sensation and led to
the improvement of both.
Note 8.
THE OCEAN. Arnljot Gelline, a man of prowess, from Tiundaland, the
Region about Upsala. When Olaf the Saint went from Sweden to Norway
in 1030, Arnljot Gelline was present in his army at Stiklestad, and
after baptism was assigned to a place nearest in front of the royal
standard. He fought stoutly, but fell early in the battle.
Vikar, a brother of Arnljot Gelline, who sailed with Olaf
Trygvason on the Long Serpent, and died fighting in his post of
honor on the prow. (See notes below.)
Note 9.
ALONE AND REPENTANT. This poem was first printed in 1865, but was
probably written in 1861 or 1862 in Germany or Italy. The friend
was Ivar Bye, whom Björnson had saved from distress and social
ostracism in Christiania before 1857, when Bye went as an actor with
Björnson to the theater in Bergen. He was no great actor but an
unusual man, for whom Björnson had deep respect and warm sympathy.
Björnson described his character and life-experience in the study
"Ivar Bye," first published in 1894, in which he said: "Our
literature possesses a memorial of his way of receiving what was
confided to him. It lies in the poem: 'A friend I possess.' I
wrote it far away from him,--not that he might have it, his name is
not mentioned, and he never had it, but because at that time things
were hard for me."
Note 10.
OLAF TRYGVASON. Grandson of Harald Fairhair, and King from 995 to
1000. On one of his viking expeditions to England he was converted
to Christianity. Returning to Norway to win back his ancestral
inheritance from Haakon Jarl (see Note 14), he had fortune with
him; for as he steered into the Trondhjem Fjord, he received the
tidings of the successful uprising of the peasants against Haakon.
He founded Nidaros, the present city of Trondhjem, established
Christianity in a large part of the country, and soon became dearer
to the people than any other Norwegian King. But he had powerful
enemies outside of the land: the Danish King, Svein Forkbeard,
the Swedish King, Olaf, and Erik, son of Haakon Jarl. By a large
sea-force under these he was attacked off the island Svolder (near
the island of Ringen), and there lost his life. Erling Skjalgsson,
a great chieftain, holding large fiefs from Olaf and married to his
sister, lived at Sole in southwestern Norway. With a large number of
the smaller ships of Olaf Trygvason he had been allowed to sail away
in advance and did not know of the battle at Svolder.
Long Serpent was the name of the large fighting ship that Olaf had
built for this expedition. It held six hundred men.
Note 11.
BERGLIOT. Einar Tambarskelve was one of the most powerful men in
Norway during the first half of the eleventh century. His mastery of
the bow gave him the epithet Tambarskelve, "bow-string-shaker." He
fought, when eighteen years old, on the Long Serpent at Svolder.
After Erik and Svein were established in power as a result of that
battle, Einar became reconciled and married their sister Bergliot.
In 1023 he went to King Knut the Great in England, who was also King
of Denmark, and urged him to conquer Norway. Knut did so in 1028 and
made his son Svein King of Norway. Einar opposed this, and Magnus
the Good (see Note 6) was called to rule, whose most faithful
vassal Einar became. He followed King Magnus and his co-regent
Harold Hardruler to Denmark, where Magnus died. Here and in Norway
Einar, as the champion of all that was good, opposed many of the
illegal and unrighteous deeds and plans of Harald, and incurred the
latter's bitter enmity. In the year 1055, under the pretext of
reconciliation, Harold lured Einar with his wife and son Eindride
(pronounced as three syllables) to Nidaros (Trondhjem), where
the murder was committed within the hall of the royal residence, as
related in the poem.
Haakon Ivarson was a man of force and influence.
Harald Hardruler was a half brother of Olaf the Saint. Late in the
reign of Magnus the Good, after adventurous wanderings in Russia and
the Orient, he returned to Norway and demanded a share in the
kingdom. By agreement they divided the royal power and their
wealth. Before his death Magnus determined that Harald should be
King of Norway, but Svein Estridson King of Denmark. Harald,
however, tried unsuccessfully to conquer Denmark. He died in
England, being slain at the battle of Stanford Bridge in 1066. His
harshness as King secured him his epithet. The murder of Einar
brought him much hate.
Ting-peace. The spelling "ting" is adopted in place of "thing."
Peasants, for this word see Note 78.
Gimle, the heaven of the new Christian faith.
Heath of Lyrskog, in Jutland. Magnus the Good, at the time also
King of Denmark, won a decisive victory here in 1043 over a much
larger invading army of Wends. (See also Note 23.)
Trönder, one from the region about Trondhjem.
Haakon from Hjörungavaag. Haakon Jarl (970-995) was the last
pagan King in Norway. His defeat in 986 of the Jomsborg vikings,
allies of King Harald Bluetooth of Denmark, in a naval engagement at
Hjörungavaag, a bay in western Norway, was the greatest naval battle
ever fought in that country.
Valhall, the hall where those slain in battle dwell after death.
Note 12.
TO MY WIFE. Written in Rome in 1861 or 1862, first printed in 1865.
Björnson's wife was Karoline Reimers, born December 1, 1835. They
were married on September 11, 1858; she is still living (June,
1915). At the celebration of their golden wedding Björnson
addressed touching words of gratitude to her, saying at the close:
"I know that you will live longer than I. It will be your lot to
cover the sheet over me. There is much in a man that needs to be
covered over. Of our life, Karoline, you shall have the honor. See
also the poem Those with Me, and notes thereto.
Note 13.
IN A HEAVY HOUR. Written in Italy rather late in 1861, after
Björnson received tidings of the sharp criticism of his drama King
Sverre and of its lack of success on the stage in Christiania, where
it was first performed on October 9. In a letter from Hans
Christian Andersen Björnson wrote on December 10, 1861: "At a time
when I was in a mood to write the following verses, which perhaps
tell so much that I need not tell more [the poem is quoted],--at a
time when I, the man, nay, the product of friendship, was in a mood
to write this, it came just like a Christmas hymn among strangers, to
hear that you had dedicated to me your last four Tales. You ...,
you had a heart to remember me, when many friends from tested times
did not."
Note 14.
KAARE'S SONG. Helga was the daughter of Maddad, a prominent and
wealthy man at Katanes. She came to Orkney, where the ruler, Haakon
Earl, fell in love with her and made her his mistress. She bore him
a son, Harald, and lived at Orkney sixteen years in spite of the
hate and disdain showed her by so many, especially by the Earl's
lawful wife. She and her sister Frakark exerted an evil influence
over Haakon Earl, inciting him among other things to murder his co-
ruler and kinsman Magnus Erlendson. It was believed that Haakon
Earl became crazy when he first saw Helga. This song, which Kaare,
one of the Earl's men, sings, describes this first meeting and was
commonly sung by Helga's enemies.
Note 15.
IVAR INGEMUNDSON'S LAY. In the first half of the twelfth century an
Icelandic skald of this name lived and sang at the court of King
Eystein in Norway. He loved a young Icelandic girl, but had not
declared his love. When his brother was going home to Iceland, Ivar
asked him to tell her of his love and beg her to wait for him. But
on his later coming to Iceland, she met him as that brother's wife.
Ivar returned Norway and was thereafter always melancholy and
thoughtful. When Harald Gille became King, Ivar lived at his court,
but sympathized warmly with the able and bold Sigurd Slembe, who
claimed to be Magnus Barefoot's son and Harald Gille's half-brother.
After many years of hardship Sigurd came to Harald Gille and asked
him to recognize him. Harald was a good-natured, but weak and
ignorant man, entirely controlled by his chieftains, who persuaded
him to have Sigurd imprisoned, with the intention of killing him.
Sigurd, however, escaped and fled.
Note 16.
MAGNUS THE BLIND. Magnus was born in 1115, and became King in 1130.
He had Harald Gille as co-regent. Their agreement was that Harald
could not demand a larger share in the kingdom as long as Magnus
lived. But Magnus made himself hated by his own deeds, and in 1131
a breach resulted between the Kings. The chieftains were on Harald's
side. He seized Magnus in 1135, had him blinded and castrated, and
sent him into the monastery at Nidarholm. Sigurd Slembe, who made
war on Harald and conquered him, freed Magnus from the monastery
and caused him to fight in his army. He died in the sea-battle of
Holmengraa.
Note 17.
SIN, DEATH. Written during the latter half of 1862 in Munich, and
possibly, according to an oral statement of Björnson's, under
impressions received from German ecclesiastical art: "It is only
natural that in Munich symbolical poems should present themselves."
Note 18.
FRIDA. This poem was first printed March 24, 1863, soon after the
death, at the age of twenty-two, of her whom it commemorates. She
was a younger sister of the leading Danish literary critic, Clemens
Petersen, born 1834. He became Björnson's friend in 1856 and aided
greatly in opening the way for him in Denmark. Until 1868 Petersen
had much influence on public opinion. Soon after that he came to
America, and did not return to Copenhagen until 1904. He was a
follower of Heiberg, but more liberal.
Note 19.
BERGEN. Written in 1863 for a musical festival in which Björnson and
Ibsen took part. Bergen's unusually favorable situation made it for
a long time Norway's first city in commerce; it has only recently
fallen behind Christiania. It has ever had a large local fleet and
great traffic in its harbor. Founded about 1070 by King Olaf the
Quiet, Bergen was very important in the older history of the land,
as the residence of the Kings, until about 1350, when Hanseatic
control began, continuing until late in the sixteenth century. In
the seventeenth century Bergen was incomparably the first commercial
city in the Danish-Norwegian monarchy; in the eighteenth it was
surpassed by Copenhagen. The people of Bergen have always been
distinctly liberal in thought and feeling.
Holberg, Ludvig (1684-1754), was born in Bergen, but resided in
most of his life in Denmark. His comedies, which founded modern
Danish-Norwegian literature, are indeed immortal.
Dahl, John Christian Clausen (1788-1857), a Norwegian landscape
painter, who, though born in Bergen, went in 1811 to Copenhagen and
from 1818 resided in Dresden. As subjects he preferred water, rock,
and strand, and showed a realistic tendency in his light-effects.
Welhaven, see Note 36.
Ole Bull (1810-1880), a violinist of world-wide renown. In his
later life he passed most of his time in the United States, but
every year he returned to the home which he maintained near Bergen,
at a distance of about two hours by steamer. Carrying out a plan
conceived in 1848, he established in Bergen with his own means the
first Norwegian National Theater, which was opened January 2, 1850.
Collin says that the last line of the poem sums up Björnson's view
of Norway's historical memories as motive power for new achievement.
This seems realized in Bergen's recent development,--it now had the
largest steam-fleet of all the cities in Norway.
Note 20.
P. A. MUNCH. Peter Andreas Munch (born in Christiania, December 15,
1810; died in Rome, May 25, 1863) became professor of history in
1841 and Keeper of the Archives in 1861. He was not only one of the
greatest historians of Norway, but also a philologist, an
ethnographer, an archaeologist, a geographer, and a publicist. His
chief field was the prehistoric age and the medieval period.
He traveled much in the Scandinavian lands and elsewhere in Europe,
made several long stays in Rome, and was buried there. His main and
best known work is the History of the Norwegian People, in eight
large volumes, published from 1851 to 1863. This and his other
writings greatly strengthened the national self-consciousness and
sense of independence. Munch had a phenomenal memory, marked talent
for music and drawing, playful humor, incredible capacity for work,
rare intuition for epoch-making discoveries. In a speech in 1892
Björnson placed Munch by the side of Wergeland (see Note 78) as a
fosterer of national self-consciousness and faith in the future: "We
can remember when we were young, how P. A. Munch's History came out
in parts, and how he fought with the Danish professors, to get
Norway brought home again from Danish captivity in history also,
--we can remember how eventful it was for us, and how it had its
share in molding us. ... He had his large share in what our
generation has done. I put his work in this way by the side of
Wergeland's."
Through provincial Asian forests, etc. These lines refer to the
so-called "immigration-theory" advanced by Rudolf Keyser and
elaborated by Munch, which maintained that the remote ancestors of
the Swedes and the Norwegians migrated from the northeast into the
Scandinavian peninsula about 300 B.C.: the Swedes from Finland and
the Northmen through Lapland. These scholars also held that Old
Norse literature, as being the product of Norway and Iceland, was
distinctly Norse, and not "Northern" or joint-Scandinavian.
When I call, paraphrase of Isaiah xlviii, 13
Who again shall reunite fit? Munch left no peer in international
reputation. Coursed the sea-ways toward his standard. Not only was
Munch honored throughout Europe, but he was the first to secure for
Norwegian history its rightful place in European history. _
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