Olaf I

King of Norway (r. 995-1000)

• Born: c. 968
• Birthplace: In the area of the Oslo fjord, Norway
• Died: September 9, 1000
• Place of death: Svolder, probably near Rügen in the Baltic (now in Germany)

Olaf’s reign as king brought about a temporary unification and Christianization of Norway, and his exploits later made him a national hero and legend for his people.

Early Life

Olaf Tryggvason, named after his grandfather, was a great grandson of Harald Fairhair, who had made himself king of most of Norway (r. 872-930). Fairhair, who had at least four wives, had numerous descendants who sought to rule his domain after his death. The country was rife with conflict, and in the midst of this turmoil, Olaf was born. His father, Tryggve Olafson, king of a small portion of Norway, was killed around the time of Olaf’s birth. The attackers were sons of Eric Bloodaxe, whom Fairhair had designated as his legitimate heir. Olaf’s mother, Astrid, left the Oslo fjord area with her young son to escape those who had killed her husband. She did not fear for her daughters, but her son was the heir to Tryggve’s domain. Consequently, Olaf, if he lived, could one day challenge the sons of Eric Bloodaxe.

Astrid took Olaf and went to live with her relatives among the Swedish Vikings in Russia. Her brother was a powerful man in the service of King Vladimir I, whose court was in Novgorod. The saga accounts of Olaf’s being sold into slavery while crossing the Baltic with his mother are almost certainly fictional.

Olaf was reared among the Vikings in Russia as a warrior and an athlete. Maturing physically at a young age, he grew large and strong. He was ambidextrous; not only could he throw a spear with either hand, he could launch spears with both hands simultaneously. He was known for his ability to juggle three swords, and reputedly more. His athletic prowess was widely acclaimed. An example of his agility was his alleged ability to walk on the oars outside his boat while his crew rowed.

Besides possessing immense physical strength, Olaf was reputed to be one of the most handsome, playful, and forgiving of men, yet the gruesome side of the Viking character was also evident in him. He tormented his foes and on various occasions burned them, let wild hounds devour them, or threw them from high mountains.

Life’s Work

Separating the actual life of Olaf from the myth and legend that surround him is quite difficult. Though his life was a favorite subject of medieval historians and poets, almost two centuries passed after his death before the first saga about him was compiled. Skaldic poetry provides much of the information about Olaf, but few of these poems have survived in their entirety. Nevertheless, it is clear that Olaf left Russia to pursue opportunities further west. If he was ever to regain his ancestral territory in Norway, he needed to acquire wealth, fame, and an army of his own. As a Viking chieftain, he participated in raids along the Baltic coast, the Netherlands, and Ireland and eventually in Danish invasions of England.

Whether or not Olaf participated in the 991 Danish attack on England, he profited from the inability of England’s King Ethelred II, the Unready. In alliance with Sweyn Forkbeard, a son of the king of Denmark, Olaf helped lead a large-scale raid on southern England in 994; the nursery rhyme “London bridge is falling down” may have originated from this assault. Although driven off in their attempt to seize London, they pillaged the countryside. Desperate, Ethelred finally responded by bribing them with a payment, or Danegeld, of sixteen thousand pounds of silver. Sweyn returned to Denmark with his share. Olaf, however, after taking English hostages to his ships to ensure his own safety, decided to let an English bishop baptize him. When Olaf accepted Christianity, none other than King Ethelred was his sponsor. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (compiled c. 890 to c. 1150; English translation, 1953) asserts that when Olaf was confirmed, he vowed never to return to England with hostile intent. This vow, whether he made it or not, was fulfilled, for he never returned.

Along with his newly acquired wealth and faith, Olaf took his ships and veteran warriors to Norway to reclaim his father’s territory. He returned to Norway aware that the time might be ripe to seize control of Tr ndelag. Haakon Sigurdsson, earl of Lade, ruled that territory. Haakon was not a king, but he governed central Norway on behalf of the Danish king. The free farmers, usually called“bonders,” were the backbone of Norwegian society. They did not fight to prevent foreign rule, and some actually preferred rule by a foreign king because a distant ruler made it easier to avoid taxes. Apparently, Haakon’s support had declined among the people because of his treatment of female subjects. Whatever the causes of unrest, Haakon’s overthrow coincided closely with Olaf’s arrival.

Stepping into the void in Tr ndelag, Olaf asserted control over Haakon’s territory as the local population initially welcomed him. He acquired the territory in the Oslo fjord his father once held, as well as lands in western and southwestern Norway. In the last two areas, the personal ties of his step-brother and mother were important. The demands of being a king were many, and Olaf met the challenge of consolidating the realm of his kingship. During his reign, he was almost entirely on the offensive, maintaining or expanding his control.

Olaf was the first effective missionary king in Norway. He rapidly baptized most of the people on the eastern and western coasts, but his methods met strong resistance in the pagan strongholds of Tr ndelag and north Norway. Yet whether he was a genuine Crusader for Christianity or was using the religion to bring more territory under his control is difficult to determine. For years, many Norse traders were “temporary Christians” while in Christian lands, reverting to paganism when they left. The Christian lands tended to be more populous and better armed than the pagan Norse lands. An international religion, Christianity offered the prospect of economic and strategic ties.

To help subdue the defiant people in Tr ndelag, Olaf founded the city of Nidaros in the middle of Tr ndelag’s fertile farmlands in 997. Olaf established his capital in the new city. Located on the Nid River in an easily defensible position, the site may have reminded him of either London or Dublin. Now known as Trondheim, the city boasts Scandinavia’s grandest medieval cathedral.

Olaf’s zest and energy were sufficient to win his subjects’ respect, ensure obedience to his mass baptisms, and make him a popular king. Yet his kingdom was not a national unit but merely the land he conquered and owned, limited in scope and unstable in nature. The people’s intrinsic loyalty was to family rather than any national grouping. As their settlements were isolated among the fjords, residents were inclined to consider anyone not from their locality as a foreigner.

Olaf gained his kingdom by sea power, and without sea power his kingdom was doomed. At Trondheim, therefore, he ordered construction of new ships for his fleet. The Long Serpent was his most famous ship, considered one of the greatest ships in the north. Leif Eriksson , son of Erik the Red, came to the city to trade while this ship was being built. Olaf met Leif, converted him to Christianity, and encouraged him to take a priest with him when he returned to Greenland in the spring. Leif ventured into North America before his travels were finished.

For such a handsome and prominent man, Olaf apparently had excessive trouble with women. The sagas tell of several different marriages and thwarted romantic encounters. Perhaps Olaf’s most detrimental encounter was with a woman he did not marry. Sigrid the Proud, the queen of Sweden, was a recent widow whom Olaf wanted to marry. The queen was a good political match, and she seemed willing. According to the sagas, however, when he insisted that Sigrid become Christian, she refused. After he insulted her, she replied that his words could well cause his death. Marrying the king of Denmark, she urged him and her son, now Sweden’s king, to go to war against Olaf.

The sagas vividly describe Olaf’s final battle at Svolder in 1000. The exact location remains uncertain, but the naval battle probably took place in the Baltic. He faced his former comrade Sweyn Forkbeard, now Denmark’s king, who joined forces with the king of Sweden and the Norwegian earl Erik, son of Earl Haakon. Even if they were not motivated by Sigrid’s anger, Olaf’s opponents certainly coveted the various territories under his control. Though outnumbered, Olaf was determined to fight. Defeated at sea, he jumped overboard, refusing to be captured alive. Afterward, rumors lingered that he had managed to swim away to safety, but he was never seen in Norway again. His reign as king had lasted only five years.

Significance

Though Olaf died in his thirties, his legend has persisted for more than one thousand years. He was perhaps the quintessential Viking, and his life and kingship, influenced by Christianity, marked the beginning of the end of the Viking era. His namesake and distant relative Olaf II, later Saint Olaf, completed the transition. Not only is Olaf I credited with bringing Christianity to Norway, but some credit him with the conversion of Iceland, the Faroe and the Orkney Islands, the Shetland Islands, and Greenland; however, such claims embellish Olaf’s record too much. At any rate, his conversion was one of the sword, not the soul, and he did not establish an institutional church to maintain the faith of those he converted.

In the short term after Olaf’s death, it was as if he had never existed. Left defenseless after his defeat, his kingdom was divided between his conquerors. The southern provinces went to Denmark. The Swedish king took the southeast lands, central and southern Tr ndelag. Erik and Sweyn, sons of Haakon, ruled the rest of Norway for fifteen years, allowing it to lapse into pagan practices. Yet the earls of Lade ultimately lost the battle for control of Norway to Harald Fairhair’s descendants.

An Icelandic poet who happened to be Olaf’s godson wrote that Olaf’s death left the northern lands empty and dull. A fierce warrior and destroyer of heathen sanctuaries, he hastened the pace of the western Scandinavians’ assimilation of the culture and faith of Christianity. He owed his accomplishments to his ability to obtain and keep many supporters. While some followed him out of admiration and friendship, others complied out of fear. In the more mundane tasks of establishing efficient and effective governmental administration, however, Olaf was neither interested nor successful.

Kings of Norway, 680-1387

Reign

• Ruler

680-710

• Olaf the Tree Hewer

710-750

• Halfdan I

750-780

• Oystein (Eystein) I

780-800

• Halfdan II White Legs

800-810

• Gudrod the Magnificent

810-840

• Olaf Geirstade

840-863

• Halfdan III the Black

863-872

• Civil War

872-930/33

• Harald I Fairhair

933-934

• Erik I Bloodaxe

934-961

• Hákon I the Good

961-970

• Harold II Grayfell

970-995

• Earl (Jarl) Hákon

995-1000

• Olaf I Tryggvason

1000-1015

• Erik I

1016-1028

• Saint Olaf II Haraldsson

1028-1035

• Canute the Great

1035-1047

• Magnus I the Good

1047-1066

• Harald III Hardrada

1066-1069

• Magnus II

1069-1093

• Olaf III the Peaceful

1093-1103

• Magnus III the Barefoot

1103-1122

• Oystein (Eystein) II

1103-1130

• Sigurd I the Crusader

1130-1135

• Magnus IV the Blinded

1130-1136

• Harald IV Gillechrist

1136-1155

• Sigurd II

1136-1161

• Inge I

1142-1157

• Oystein (Eystein) III

1161-1162

• Hákon II

1163-1184

• Magnus V

1184-1202

• Sverre Sigurdsson

1202-1204

• Hákon III

1204-1217

• Inge II

1217-1263

• Hákon IV

1263-1281

• Magnus VI

1281-1299

• Erik II Magnusson

1299-1319

• Hákon V

1320-1343

• Magnus VII (II of Sweden)

1343-1380

• Hákon VI

1376-1387

• Olaf IV (V of Denmark)

1380

• Unification of Norway and Denmark

Bibliography

Foote, Peter G., and David M. Wilson. The Viking Achievement: The Society and Culture of Early Medieval Scandinavia. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1980. Describes the society and culture of medieval Scandinavia during the Viking Age in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Iceland. Gives an understanding of daily life before, during, and after Olaf’s time.

Franklin, Simon, and Jonathan Shepard. The Emergence of Rus, 750-1200. New York: Longman, 1996. A comprehensive work on the Viking eastward expansion. Maps, extensive bibliography, list of genealogies, and excellent index.

Gibson, Charles. The Two Olafs of Norway with a Cross on Their Shields. London: Dobson, 1968. Following the basic stories of the sagas, this historical novel discusses the lives of Olaf I and Saint Olaf, and gives background discussion of earlier pagan Viking kings of Norway.

Howard, Ian. Swein Forkbeard’s Invasions and the Danish Conquest of England, 991-1017. Rochester, N.Y.: Boydell and Brewer, 2003. Discusses propaganda and legend surrounding, and possible explanations for, the Danish invasions of England during Olaf’s time.

Larsen, Karen. A History of Norway. 1948. Reprint. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1974. Provides a general history of Norway from the Vikings to modern times. Discusses Olaf and his contemporaries.

Roesdahl, Else. The Vikings. 2d ed. Translated by Susan M. Margeson and Kirsten Williams. New York: Penguin Books, 1998. Provides a solid, meticulous survey of Viking expansion in the east. Includes maps, illustrations, an extensive bibliography, and index.

Snorri Sturluson. From the Sagas of the Norse Kings. Oslo: Dreyer, 1967. A selected compilation of the essence of the great sagas of the Norse kings. Edited to reduce the use of old Norse names and terms. The most extensive selections pertain to Olaf I and Saint Olaf.

Wernik, Robert. The Vikings. Volume 7. The Seafarers. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1979. A still-popular account of the Viking era, with many pictures and illustrations. Contains several references to Olaf, including a discussion of the construction of the Long Serpent.