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FORNǪLD · Track 9

Síðasti Víkingr

Old Icelandic

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Lyrics

Þegar Haraldr féll féll öldin með honum en hún féll standandi Tvö hundruð ára stormur braust úr norðri Lindisfarne til Miklagarðs heimurinn lærði óttann Og ek var síðasta aldan af því mikla hafi allt sem víkingar voru brann í mínum æðum Skáld og hermaður kaupmaður og konungr allt sem við vorum bar ek einn að lokum Síðasti víkingr síðasta seglið við sjónarrönd Síðasti víkingr en aldrei á hnjánum Það sem við vorum gleymist aldrei Norðrið mótaði heiminn og heimurinn man Síðasti víkingr síðasta seglið við sjónarrönd Síðasti víkingr en aldrei á hnjánum Það sem við vorum gleymist aldrei Norðrið mótaði heiminn og heimurinn man Ek sá keisaradæmi austurs ek sá steppur Garðaríkis ek sá Noreg sameinast undir minni hendi Þrjú hundruð skip að lokum sigldu vestur með mér Ekki til að rána heldur til að enda sem konungr Skáld og hermaður kaupmaður og konungr allt sem við vorum bar ek einn að lokum Síðasti víkingr síðasta seglið við sjónarrönd Síðasti víkingr en aldrei á hnjánum Það sem við vorum gleymist aldrei Norðrið mótaði heiminn og heimurinn man Síðasti víkingr síðasta seglið við sjónarrönd Síðasti víkingr en aldrei á hnjánum Það sem við vorum gleymist aldrei Norðrið mótaði heiminn og heimurinn man Eftir mig engir víkingar framar aðeins sögur aðeins söngvar En segið mér hvað er meira ódauðlegt en saga vel sögð Síðasti víkingr öldin er búin sagan er eilíf

When Haraldr fell the age fell with him but it fell standing Two hundred years of storms burst from the north Lindisfarne to Constantinople the world learned fear And I was the last wave of that great sea all that Vikings were burned in my veins Skald and warrior merchant and king all that we were I carried alone at last The last Viking the last sail on the horizon The last Viking but never on his knees What we were will never be forgotten The North shaped the world and the world remembers The last Viking the last sail on the horizon The last Viking but never on his knees What we were will never be forgotten The North shaped the world and the world remembers I saw the empires of the east I saw the steppes of Garðaríki I saw Norway united under my hand Three hundred ships at last sailed west with me not to plunder but to end as a king Skald and warrior merchant and king all that we were I carried alone at last The last Viking the last sail on the horizon The last Viking but never on his knees What we were will never be forgotten The North shaped the world and the world remembers The last Viking the last sail on the horizon The last Viking but never on his knees What we were will never be forgotten The North shaped the world and the world remembers After me no more Vikings only stories only songs But tell me what is more immortal than a story well told The last Viking the age is over the story is eternal

Story Behind The Song

Haraldr Sigurðarson, known as harðráði (hard ruler), lived what the sagas describe as the most complete Viking Age life of anyone. He fought at the Battle of Stiklestad in Norway at fifteen, escaped to Kievan Rus, then served for years as a mercenary commander in the Byzantine Varangian Guard in Constantinople. He led campaigns across the Mediterranean, Anatolia, and possibly as far as Jerusalem, then returned to Scandinavia, contested the Danish throne, and eventually became king of Norway. He ruled for twenty years. In 1066, after the death of King Edward the Confessor of England, Haraldr pressed a claim to the English throne and invaded with a large fleet. He defeated a northern English force at Fulford Gate and received the submission of York, then was caught without armor at Stamford Bridge on September 25, 1066, when King Harold Godwinson marched north faster than anyone expected. Haraldr Sigurðarson was killed, an arrow through the throat. Of the fleet that had brought his army, only a fraction of ships made the return journey. The Battle of Stamford Bridge is traditionally taken as the end of the Viking Age. The song gives the moment entirely to Haraldr: a man who contained in his own life everything the age had been, and who died on a bridge in Yorkshire nineteen days before a Norman fleet changed England in a different way.