ABSTRACT
THE cause, beginning, progress, and outcome of the very fierce battle between Håkon Ring, king of the Swedes and Götar, and Harald Hildetann, king of the Danes, has been handed on and made famous to all successive ages by Saxo of Sjaelland, that most distinguished writer of Danish history, in his eighth book. 1 After Saxo, and now fifty years ago, Albert Krantz touched incidentally on the same battle, 2 and most recently my dearest brother and predecessor, Johannes Magnus, archbishop of Uppsala, has written an account of this enormous and unparalleled war (a subject he could hardly avoid) in his History of the Goths and Swedes with the truth that befits a trustworthy historian. 3 I think that it concerns me to make at least some mention here of a 245terrifying clash of this kind between champions and giants, especially since in no battle of the northern kingdoms, and scarcely ever even in the whole of Europe, can you read that so many gallant men met in battle, leaders of forces that were each very powerful both on land and sea. For seven years they had groomed themselves for war with strong eagerness and passion, as the authors I have mentioned faithfully set down in their closely corresponding accounts of these countries and kings.
King Håkon
King Harald
Saxo
Krantz
Johannes, archbishop of Uppsala
Scarcely any greater battle in Europe War prepared for seven years
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