In order to give this story a broader base, I have interpreted Aurland’s local and national history in the unique setting of fjords and mountains. For many years I have been interested Aurland’s medieval history, especially the period 800-1350 AD. We find that our local history quite often has ties to our national history, and vice versa. They overlap and supplement each other.
This has entailed both advantages and disadvantages: an advantage when the sources can support each other, and a disadvantage when the national historians did not have access to materials available locally.
A careful study of local topography would have been desirable both for local and national history. Numerous mistakes could have been avoided if the historians had known more about the local history and topography. [The field names and family farm names often tell their own story. For that reason, a short interpretation of the names has sometimes been included in this translation].
The name Grimsete in the lower Låven Valley is a source of abundant local history. [Grim is an Old Norse name meaning a masked or helmeted parson Sete means living-place, in recent centuries used mostly for seasonal mountain farming]. It must have been a strategic point for hunters because of its location. From there the hunters could observe and control the reindeer herds while grazing, as well as when they were moving swiftly long their regular runs. There was no better observation point, as they could see the entire Låven Valley, both the north and the south sides, where the Lyngvellene (fields of heather shrubs) and Knutseggi (Knut’s Ridge) had a large number of animal traps, pitfalls, bow and arrow positions [low stone walls behind which the hunters lay ready to kill reindeer] and deer cliffs [over which the animals could be driven].
This was also the case on the north side of the Aurland River, where the hunting grounds around Blåskavlen (the Blue Snow Pack/Glacier) also have a multitude of reindeer traps, especially around Leimseggi, where there must have been extensive hunting. [Leimseggi probably should have been Leinseggi, in which case it would mean 'slope ridge'. In Old Norse lein was spelled hlein, which is a cognate of English lean (Old English hlinian) and the cline in incline 'upward slope', from Latin]. Here quite a few, perhaps a whole neighborhood of farmers, have hunted together. The hunting grounds around Blåskavlen are equal to, perhaps even larger than, those around the Låven Valley. At the foot of this hunting field we find that the farms Skjerdal (Skirdal), Ty, Kvam, Aas, Gjerlå, Vinjum, Skaim, Tero, and the farms in Vassbygdi form a half-circle around this mountain massif (a group of connected mountains that form a mountain range), which rises 1809 meters (5935 feet) above sea level. These big hunting grounds are divided in two by the Aurland River.
How do we know that the Buna family of Aurland have hunted here before the 880s, when Harald the Fairhaired [the king who united Norway to one kingdom about 885] started to persecute and expel old leaders and chieftans who refused to be subjugated and to pay tax? Here the saga of Aud the Deep-minded can be of help. But first we must look at the serious division of the Buna Family, The old chieftans did not want to accept a king as an overlord. If they could not beat King Harald in battle, they preferred to leave the country–and indeed they did. They settled in Ireland, Scotland (Caithness), Shetland, Orkneys, the Faroe Islands and finally in Iceland. Things went well in Ireland and Scotland to begin with, but finally they had to flee from the Kelts. Both Aud’s husband, King Olaf the White, and her son Thorstein the Red fell in battle. Aud gave two of Thorstein’s daughters (her granddaughters) in marriage in the Faroe Islands. She herself ended up in Iceland, where she became one of the most influential early settlers and parceled out land to her family and friends and called her farm Kvam (Hvammur). [The pronounciation/spelling of kv and hv have fluctuated in Iceland and Norway since Old Norse times. The name designates a hollow or dip sheltered by hills and not visible from a distance. Norsk Ordbok, Vol 6, 2007].
We infer from the sagas that Aud never quite could forget Aurland and the Kvam farm, where she had grown up. I believe that this bond to Kvam and to Aurland is the background for the delegation she recommended from Iceland to Aurland, in which her grandson Höskuld was the leader. [It needs to be noted that the Icelandic sagas do not agree about where Aud and her famous father Ketil Flat-nose grew up. However, the Eyrbyggja Saga, Chapter I, which seems quite reliable, states that Ketil Flat-nose was "a noble lord in Norway. He was the son of Bjørn Buna, the son of Grim, a lord of Sogn"].
Probably, at the urging of Aud, they did not sail by Kyrkjebø [on the north side of the Sognefjord about half-way between Aurland and the entrance to the Sogn Sea] because King Harald’s loyalists had assumed control of that area. Therefore, they sailed straight to Bergen, and put their ships ashore there. It would have been dangerous to sail in the Sognefjord also because King Harald’s people were in control of the royal farm at Husabø in Systrond (Leikanger). There they had full control of all the comings and goings on the fjord. Aud must have asked them to put the ships ashore and take the main-traveled water route (fjords, river and lakes) from Bergen to Voss, and the mountain path from there to Flåm and on to Kvam in Aurland. This trip seems to have been successful. [Here it should be noted that if Höskuld traveled to Aurland via Voss, he would probably not have left his ships in Bergen, but sailed east on the Oster Fjord and all the way to Bolstadøyri, now in the municipality of Voss. We know that when the famous Viking Egil Skallagrimsson earlier visited king Harald the Fairhaired in Voss he used that route (King Harald died about 930). I walked part of that mountain route often in my youth, and it would have taken Höskuld and his people less than half the time to use that route compared to rowing the Sognefjord. The Laxdöla Saga reports that Höskuld's delegation visited "important kinsmen, … although they are not mentioned by name". Although they had more than half a year at their disposal, they did not go to visit the king (Haakon the Good 935-965) near Oslo, but they remained with their kinsmen "who received them with open arms"].
The Kvam farm in Aurland must have been the main farm of the Buna family, before half of them had to flee the country. From here they had an excellent view of the Aurland Fjord north-east toward the main Sognefjord and south toward Flåm. Besides, this farm had good soil, which is old fjord bottom, and, as mentioned earlier, excellent hunting grounds around Blåskavlen and eastward. The Buna family could choose whichever farm they wanted, and Kvam on the slopes of northern Aurland had a lot to offer.
It looks like the Buna family, since time immemorial, had been hunters who lived in the mountains. About two thousand years ago they started to descend into the valleys and formed neighborhoods and settlements. There the rivers were teeming with salmon and trout, and they could grow grain and raise cattle. There they no longer needed to track the reindeer in the high mountains. The mountains could now be used for the domestic animals during the summer. That was the beginning of the use of the seter (in western Norway called støl). The hunter was about to find a new way of sustenance. However, hunting continued to be important. We are told that the farms situated high up on the slopes were the oldest, and the farmers there continued enjoying the mountains. The valleys, however, also had much to offer.
Gradually, the nomadic hunters became more permanent residents. The Norwegian word for farmer, bonde is derived from an older word búandi, a present participle of búa, “living (in permanent settlements)”. They found that tilling the soil along with animal husbandry was easier and more valuable than hunting in the mountains. This change ocurred gradually, because today the residents still enjoy hunting and fishing. Many of our west Norwegian farms combine agriculture, mountain farming and fishing.
The people of Aurland still hunt reindeer every fall. Some hunt for additional food supply, but for many it is probably mainly a sport. The people along the coast of Norway have combined farming and fishing. Those who live in the fjord and mountain areas have combined regular farming, summer mountain farming and hunting. Inland fishing has increased in recent years.
Archaeological specimens in Danish swamps and bogs from the time 200-500 AD have been a sensation. Large amounts of weapons, swords, riding saddles and horse bits must have been equipment for large armies. Many of the weapons have been inlaid with silver and gold. The Danish archaeologist Jørgen Illerup believes that many of these warriors came from western Norway, and that Avaldsnes (in Karmøy) must have been a center. They raided both Jutland in Denmark and southern Sweden. It seems they have even had contact with the Roman Empire.
The Danish archaelogical bog finds tell about an extensive activity during the first 500 years of our era, and it is tempting to believe that the Buna family has participated in these raids, which may also have been commercial journeys. Bog iron and weapon production have surely also been objects of trade. How much members of the Buna family have participated in raids or commercial excursions is difficult to say, but we know that the family was divided when Harald the Fair-haired wreaked havoc in the second half of the 800s. The saga farm Hvammur and Kvam in Aurland have a common name. Aurland must have been a center for the Buna family. It is tempting to believe that the Buna family members have more or less participated in the old Viking raids as well as in peaceful trade.
As we have mentioned, many of the richest and the strongest chieftans of Aurland fled Norway when Harald the Fairhaired assumed total power. How was life for those who remained in Aurland? Brynjulv Bjørnson became their leader. They must have had their main location on the south side of the valley where the farm Sult (Ohnstad) was the center. It appears from Aud the Deep-minded’s story that the chieftans Kjetil, his daughter Aud and the son Bjørn Buna must have had their headquarter on the north side of the valley, probably with Kvam (Hvammur) as their senter. After their departure, Brynjulf became the leader of those who remained. It is quite likely that Brynjulv and his people took over the properties and hunting rights of those who left.
This part of the Buna family developed more and more of a center in Aurland generally, where the old family farm Sult was a center. On that farm we still find the Tinghaug (mound from which civil and criminal justice was announced), Leikvollen (play ground), which indicate local juditial matters as well as playful activity, From Aurland the distance was relatively a short to Bergen and there were connections eastward both through Hallingdal and Valdres.
Sult was a center until the 1800s. However, in the 1870s, this center was more and more moved to the holy site of Vangen The old name Sult was more and more abandoned, and the name Unestad—Onstad (Ohnstad)—named after the rural estate owner Une, came into use. The name Sult still survives in place names like Sulthella (Salthella), Sultøyri and Sultadalen by Håvasete (high mountain summer farm) in the Frondal Valley.