The Revenge Raid from Omd
“Gylogr jarl lét fara suðr með her ok fann Jǫrund konungsson í Oddsundi í Limafirði. Hann lét hann taka ok hengja.” (Jarl Gyllaug went south with an army and found Jørund, king’s son, in Oddasund in the Limfjord. He ordered him taken and hanged.) – Hålogøytal
The revenge expedition of the ruler Gyllaug Gudlaugsson, discussed by Gustav Heber in the article Our Military Leaders, is the first coherent historical account in Northern Norwegian tradition of something resembling a viking raid. Gyllaug Gudlaugsson was king of Omd and jarl of Hålogaland, and this is presented as his first act as supreme military commander.
The immediate cause was the killing of Gyllaug’s father. Heber argues that this could not remain unavenged without the office of jarl losing its authority. In a society where power, protection, and economic control were directly connected, revenge was a public duty. It had to be carried out quickly, clearly, and with enough force to create a lasting effect.
The target of the expedition was Jørund, son of the Swedish king Yngve Alreksson. According to tradition, Jørund was staying at Oddasund, in the western part of the Limfjord. The choice of both target and destination shows that the raid was not random. Gyllaug knew both whom he sought and where he could find him. The journey went south along the Norwegian coast and then toward Danish waters, following a route already known through trade and earlier travel.
Heber gives no exact figures for the size of the force, but describes the expedition as carried out with “a sufficiently strong fleet of longships.” This implies several ships, not a single vessel, and fully equipped war crews. In its historical context, this probably meant a force of several dozen, possibly more than one hundred, armed men under unified command. The expedition therefore appears as a regular military operation rather than a small-scale assault.
The advance was made with longships, and the voyage was undertaken early in the spring, as soon as conditions allowed sailing. The combination of sails and oars gave the longships high mobility and made it possible to strike quickly. However, no archaeological finds confirm the use of sails at this early date. If sails were not used, it would have been an extremely long distance to row — approximately 2000 kilometers. We may therefore assume that they had knowledge of currents that helped them on the journey.
Upon arrival at Oddasund, Gyllaug’s men boarded Jørund’s ship. Jørund was overpowered, taken prisoner, and brought ashore, where he was hanged on a gallows that Gyllaug had ordered erected. The execution was deliberately public and highly symbolic. It was meant to be seen and remembered.
The result was not only Jørund’s death. Heber emphasizes that the act had wider consequences for the balance of power in the north. The fear it created meant that byrding-ships (cargo ships with high sides and crews of 10–20 men) and knarr-ships (Viking Age merchant ships that were broader, shorter, and deeper than longships) from Hålogaland could later travel more freely when escorted by longships. The role of the Hålogaland jarl thus developed to include active control over sea routes and maritime traffic.
This also explains why the jarls’ power gradually sought to extend southward beyond Vinnjarsund: not as territorial conquest, but as control over coastlines, traffic, and economic flows.
As sources, Gustav Heber based his account on dynastic tradition, especially Håleygjatal by Eyvind Skaldaspillir as preserved by Snorri, supplemented by later Icelandic traditions. Heber treats the material not as legend, but as evidence of an early political and military reality in which naval power was already institutionalized.
The revenge raid from Omd appears in Heber’s interpretation as one of the earliest clear examples of a Viking expedition in the functional sense: a planned, seaborne attack carried out by an established ruler in order to avenge, intimidate, and secure control. It does not mark the beginning of the Viking Age, but shows that the structures that made Viking raids possible were already in place.
Estimated Size of the Force
Within what would have been realistic for the period — and within Heber’s own logic — the phrase “a sufficiently strong fleet of longships” may be understood roughly as follows:
It means more than one ship, and enough vessels that the force clearly outmatched its opponent and could impose its will without serious risk.
In practical terms, the wording suggests:
- 3-5 longships as the most likely range
- Around 30-40 men per ship, meaning 90-200 men in total
- Fully battle-ready crews, not undermanned vessels
- One unified command (Gyllaug himself)
Why not 1-2 ships?
Because Heber would otherwise have used words such as “ship” or “vessel.” By writing “fleet”, he signals:
- Numerical superiority
- Ability to blockade, surround, and dominate
- Sufficient strength to create lasting fear afterward, not merely win a single battle
Why not 10–20 ships?
Because:
- This was before the leidang system existed on a full scale
- Omd/Hålogaland could muster significant power, but not a royal mass fleet
- The goal of the expedition was one person, not territorial conquest
Functionally, the phrase therefore means:
A force large enough to make resistance meaningless, and the act itself unquestionable.