Olaf Haraldsson is one of those historical figures who becomes more difficult to understand the more you learn about him.
Born around 995, he spent his youth fighting and raiding, became king of Norway, used force to impose royal and Christian authority, lost his kingdom, returned with an army, died violently in battle and was recognised as a saint barely a year later. By the Middle Ages, the former Viking had become Saint Olaf, Norway’s patron saint and one of the most important holy figures in northern Europe.
That transformation is remarkable, but it can also distort the man behind it. Olaf was neither the spotless Christian monarch of later medieval tradition nor simply a religious fanatic with a sword. He was an ambitious eleventh-century ruler operating in a world where kingship, Christianity, warfare and personal loyalty were tangled together almost beyond separation.
I find him fascinating precisely because he refuses to fit comfortably into either the hero or villain category. Medieval history is rarely considerate enough to give us those.
Who Was Olaf Haraldsson?
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Old Norse name | Óláfr Haraldsson |
| Also known as | Olaf II, Olaf the Holy, Saint Olaf |
| Born | c. 995 |
| Father | Harald Grenske |
| Mother | Åsta Gudbrandsdatter |
| King of Norway | 1015 to 1028 |
| Wife | Astrid Olofsdotter of Sweden |
| Son | Magnus the Good |
| Half-brother | Harald Hardrada |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Died | 29 July 1030 |
| Place of death | Stiklestad, Norway |
| Cause of death | Wounds received in battle |
| Recognised as a saint | 1031 |
| Feast day | 29 July |
Olaf’s family alone places him at the centre of Scandinavian politics. His father Harald Grenske was a regional ruler, while Olaf later claimed descent from Harald Fairhair. His half-brother was Harald Sigurdsson, better known as Harald Hardrada, who would die at Stamford Bridge in 1066. Olaf’s son Magnus became Magnus the Good, king of Norway and Denmark.
This was a family with a rather alarming tendency to make European history.
What Do We Actually Know About Olaf?
Writing a biography of Olaf requires a little caution.
Much of the colourful material about his life comes from texts written generations after his death. Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla, particularly the Saga of Olaf Haraldsson, is enormously important, but it was composed in the thirteenth century.
Other traditions survive in works including Historia Norwegie, Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum, skaldic poetry and ecclesiastical accounts associated with Olaf’s cult.
The problem is obvious. By the time some of the fullest stories were written, Olaf had ceased to be merely a dead king. He was a saint.
His biography had therefore become theology, royal propaganda, national memory and history all at once.
Skaldic poetry composed close to his lifetime is particularly valuable because parts of it preserve contemporary or near-contemporary political traditions. Even then, court poets were not investigative journalists. They were employed to make powerful men sound powerful.
The sensible approach is to distinguish between the broad historical outline, which is reasonably secure, and the wonderful details involving miracles, prophetic dreams and conveniently symbolic deaths.
Early Life
Olaf was probably born around 995, although neither his precise birth year nor birthplace can be established with certainty. He was the son of Harald Grenske and Åsta Gudbrandsdatter.
His father died before Olaf could inherit anything resembling a secure kingdom.
Young Scandinavian aristocrats could establish themselves through warfare, alliances and maritime expeditions, and Olaf followed that route. Later traditions depict him embarking on Viking expeditions while still remarkably young.
Whatever the exact chronology, Olaf spent important formative years outside Norway.
Those experiences mattered. He saw wealthy kingdoms, organised royal government and an increasingly confident Latin Christian Church. When he eventually returned to Norway, he brought back considerably more than stories about raiding.
Olaf the Viking
Before Saint Olaf there was very definitely Viking Olaf.
He operated in the Baltic and western Europe and became involved in the complicated wars surrounding England during the reign of Æthelred II.
England at this point was a particularly attractive destination for ambitious Scandinavian warriors. It possessed prosperous towns, silver, political instability and rulers willing to pay Scandinavian armies either to fight for them or, rather optimistically, to go away.
Olaf appears eventually to have fought on Æthelred’s side against Danish power. Later traditions associate him with campaigns in England and continental Europe.
This period probably taught him a great deal about military leadership. Viking warfare depended on far more than enthusiasm for axes. A successful commander required ships, supplies, silver, experienced followers and the ability to keep a warband loyal when somebody wealthier appeared over the horizon.
Those were precisely the skills Olaf would later need to make himself king.
Olaf and the Attack on London
One famous tradition associates Olaf with an attack on London Bridge during Æthelred’s struggle to recover his kingdom.
According to later saga material, Scandinavian warriors serving Æthelred supposedly covered their ships with protective structures, rowed beneath the bridge and dragged down its supports.
It is a magnificent story.
It is also one historians should handle carefully.
The episode has sometimes been linked to the nursery rhyme London Bridge Is Falling Down, but there is no convincing evidence that the rhyme preserves a memory of Olaf’s attack. The historical connection makes for excellent pub conversation, which is not quite the same thing as evidence.
Conversion to Christianity
Olaf’s relationship with Christianity probably developed during his years abroad.
Tradition places his baptism at Rouen in Normandy in 1014, following a period in which he had been exposed to Christian rulers and clergy. Nidaros Cathedral’s historical account likewise identifies Rouen in 1014 as the place and date of his baptism.
His Christianity should not be imagined in modern private terms. For an eleventh-century ruler, religion was inseparable from political legitimacy.
Christian kingship offered Olaf a framework in which the monarch was more than the strongest regional warlord. He could present himself as a divinely sanctioned ruler presiding over a Christian realm.
That was an extremely useful idea if you happened to be trying to persuade independently minded Norwegian magnates that they should start obeying you.
The Return to Norway
Olaf returned to Norway around 1015.
Norway was not yet a neatly centralised kingdom. Regional aristocrats exercised considerable power, local assemblies remained important and Danish rulers maintained interests in the country.
Olaf nevertheless claimed the kingship.
His position was strengthened by military success, particularly the Battle of Nesjar in 1016, where he defeated forces associated with Sveinn Hákonarson.
The victory was politically decisive. Olaf gradually established himself across much of Norway and received recognition from the regional assemblies.
Calling him “king of Norway” is therefore accurate, but it is worth remembering what kingship meant. He did not possess a modern state with an obedient bureaucracy. His authority rested upon personal relationships, military strength, religious legitimacy and cooperation with local elites.
And cooperation with local elites was about to become something of a problem.
Olaf as King
Olaf ruled Norway from approximately 1015 until 1028.
His reign pursued two closely connected objectives:
- strengthening royal authority
- establishing Christianity throughout the kingdom
Both challenged existing power structures.
Local chieftains had accumulated wealth and authority through landholding, kinship, religious patronage and control of regional networks. A king attempting to centralise justice, taxation and religion inevitably threatened them.
Olaf was therefore building a kingdom while simultaneously upsetting many of the people whose cooperation he required to govern it.
There is a certain timeless quality to that political error.
The Christianisation of Norway
Christianity had reached Norway before Olaf was born. Missionaries, merchants and earlier rulers, particularly Olaf Tryggvason, had already encouraged conversion.
Olaf Haraldsson’s importance lies less in introducing Christianity than in embedding it into royal government and law.
The traditional watershed came at the Moster assembly, usually dated to around 1024. Olaf and his English bishop Grimkjell are associated with the development of a Christian legal framework for the kingdom. The legislation concerned churches, clergy, religious observance and the suppression of non-Christian religious practices.
This was a profound change.
Christianity was becoming part of the legal structure of Norway rather than simply the personal religion of individual rulers.
Was Olaf’s Conversion of Norway Violent?
Yes, at least according to the traditions surrounding his reign, but the scale and detail are difficult to reconstruct.
Saga accounts describe Olaf destroying pagan sacred sites, punishing those who resisted conversion and using armed force against communities that rejected royal demands.
Some stories were undoubtedly shaped by later Christian writers who had their own reasons for portraying paganism being dramatically defeated.
Yet there is little reason to imagine Olaf’s consolidation of power as peaceful.
Conversion and royal expansion reinforced one another. Resistance to Christianity could become resistance to the king, while resistance to Olaf could subsequently be characterised as opposition to Christianity.
This is where the saintly image becomes uncomfortable.
The later Saint Olaf represents Christian justice. The living Olaf appears to have been perfectly willing to employ coercion.
Both belong to his history.
Olaf’s Government and Law
Olaf’s importance extends beyond religious conversion.
His reign forms part of the longer transition from regional Scandinavian lordship towards a more institutional monarchy. Royal representatives increasingly became involved in administration, justice and the organisation of the king’s household and military following.
Later law codes attribute important Christian legislation to Olaf. We cannot simply assume every law carrying his name originated during his reign, because surviving manuscripts are considerably later. Some provisions, however, may preserve genuinely early material.
The broader transformation is more convincing than every individual attribution.
Norway was becoming a Christian kingdom with increasingly formal ideas about what kings were entitled to do.
Conveniently for Olaf, those ideas generally involved kings having more power.
Marriage, Family and Scandinavian Politics
Olaf married Astrid Olofsdotter, daughter of the Swedish king Olof Skötkonung, around 1019.
The marriage helped stabilise relations with Sweden after earlier tensions.
Olaf also fathered Magnus, apparently outside his marriage. Magnus would later become one of the most important beneficiaries of his father’s posthumous reputation, ruling Norway as Magnus the Good.
His daughter Ulvhild married into the Saxon nobility.
Family connections mattered enormously in this period. Royal marriages were diplomacy conducted through households, inheritance and children. Romance was welcome, presumably, but geopolitics usually got first choice of seating.
Arms and Armour
No surviving sword or helmet can securely be identified as having belonged to Olaf Haraldsson.
That does not prevent us reconstructing the military equipment available to a wealthy Norwegian warrior of his generation.
Swords
Olaf’s elite followers could have carried late Viking Age swords with broad double-edged blades, relatively short guards and distinctive multi-part pommels.
Typologically, swords corresponding to late forms within Jan Petersen’s classification were in circulation during Olaf’s lifetime. High-quality blades could be imported or produced using continental steel and fitted with Scandinavian hilts.
A sword was an expensive weapon and a powerful symbol of status.
Spears
The spear was probably more common on the battlefield than the sword.
Both thrusting and throwing spears were used, with iron heads mounted on wooden shafts. Spears were comparatively economical to manufacture and extremely effective in close formations.
Axes
Axes ranged from practical fighting axes to increasingly formidable long-shafted weapons. The great Danish axe became particularly associated with elite Scandinavian warriors during the eleventh century.
Interestingly, the axe later became one of Saint Olaf’s principal attributes in medieval art. It refers to his martyrdom rather than necessarily representing his favourite personal weapon.
Shields
Round wooden shields remained characteristic, generally constructed from planks and fitted with a central iron boss.
By Olaf’s lifetime Scandinavian military equipment was evolving, and longer shields would become increasingly common during the eleventh century.
Armour
Wealthy warriors could wear mail shirts, while helmets were probably iron and relatively simple compared with the spectacular fantasy equipment regularly inflicted upon Vikings on television.
There is no good evidence that Viking warriors routinely wore horned helmets.
I remain professionally delighted every time history allows me to ruin that particular image.
Olaf’s Military Ability
Olaf was clearly an experienced commander.
His youth had exposed him to maritime warfare, raiding, campaigning and service abroad. His seizure of Norway demonstrates considerable political and military ability.
Yet his career also exposes the limitations of military power.
Olaf could defeat enemies in battle. What he struggled to do was maintain enough support among Norway’s leading families to prevent those enemies multiplying.
That distinction matters.
A successful battlefield commander is not automatically a successful king.
The Rise of Cnut the Great
Olaf’s greatest external opponent was Cnut the Great, ruler of England and Denmark.
By the 1020s Cnut possessed resources on a scale Olaf could not easily match. His North Sea empire gave him enormous wealth and influence, and Norwegian aristocrats dissatisfied with Olaf had an extremely powerful alternative patron.
Cnut exploited those divisions.
Several important Norwegian magnates abandoned Olaf, whether through political calculation, hostility to his centralising policies, personal grievances or Cnut’s financial persuasion.
Probably all four. Medieval aristocrats were admirably flexible when presented with silver.
Exile in 1028
In 1028 Olaf’s political position collapsed.
Cnut asserted control over Norway and Olaf fled eastwards through Sweden into the territories of the Rus.
He eventually reached the court of Yaroslav the Wise, ruler of Novgorod and later Kyiv. Yaroslav was connected to Scandinavian royalty through marriage and provided an appropriate refuge for an exiled Norwegian king.
Olaf’s son Magnus remained in the east when Olaf eventually attempted his return.
The exile was a humiliating reversal.
Only a few years earlier Olaf had appeared to be creating a durable Christian monarchy. Now he was a king without a kingdom.
Why Did Olaf Return?
Cnut’s Norwegian regime did not produce universal satisfaction.
When political circumstances shifted, Olaf decided to reclaim his throne.
Later Christian tradition gave the decision spiritual dimensions, including prophetic dreams. The political explanation is rather simpler. Olaf believed there was an opportunity.
In 1030 he travelled through Sweden, gathered supporters and crossed towards Norway through Jämtland.
His force remained relatively small.
Waiting for him was a much larger coalition of Norwegian opponents.
The confrontation would take place at Stiklestad.
The Battle of Stiklestad
The Battle of Stiklestad was fought on 29 July 1030 in Trøndelag.
Olaf’s army confronted a large force associated with Norwegian landowners and regional leaders, including men who had previously supported him.
The battle has acquired enormous symbolic importance, but the precise details are difficult to separate from later saga tradition.
According to the traditional narrative, Olaf was wounded several times. Torstein Knarresmed struck him above the knee with an axe. Tore Hund then drove a spear beneath his mail, and Olaf finally received another wound to the neck.
He died on the battlefield.
The king’s attempt to recover Norway had failed.
Militarily, Stiklestad was a defeat.
Historically, it was the making of him.
Did Miracles Occur at Stiklestad?
Later accounts surround Olaf’s death with supernatural events.
The sun supposedly darkened. His blood healed wounds. His body resisted decay. Miracles began to be reported around his burial place.
An eclipse did occur in 1030, which undoubtedly helped later storytelling, although its timing does not neatly support every version of the saga narrative.
This does not mean medieval people were cynically inventing miracles.
For them, miraculous events were evidence through which divine favour could be understood. Once Olaf’s reputation for sanctity began developing, memories of his death were inevitably interpreted through that religious framework.
History and belief became intertwined remarkably quickly.
From Defeated King to Saint
Olaf’s body was taken to Nidaros, modern Trondheim, and buried near the River Nidelva.
Stories of miracles soon circulated.
In 1031 his grave was opened under the authority of Bishop Grimkjell. Tradition claimed that the body had not decayed and that Olaf’s hair and nails had continued growing.
Olaf was proclaimed holy and his remains were placed in a shrine.
Calling this a “canonisation” requires a little qualification. The highly centralised papal canonisation process familiar from later medieval Catholicism did not yet exist in the same form. Recognition of saints could develop locally through episcopal authority, popular devotion and cult.
Olaf’s sanctity therefore grew from Norway rather than arriving as a declaration from Rome.
Why Did Olaf Become a Saint So Quickly?
This is perhaps the most interesting question of his entire life.
Olaf had been expelled from Norway partly because Norwegian elites opposed him. Yet shortly after killing him, Norway embraced his cult.
Political circumstances changed.
Danish rule became unpopular, while Olaf’s death could increasingly be interpreted as martyrdom rather than military failure. His supporters promoted his sanctity, miracle stories spread and the Church gained an immensely useful royal saint.
His former enemies could also accommodate themselves to the new cult.
Dead kings can be surprisingly convenient. They no longer demand taxes or turn up with armies.
Olaf became a symbol around whom Norwegian monarchy, Christianity and identity could unite.
Magnus the Good and Olaf’s Dynasty
Olaf’s son Magnus returned from the Rus lands and became king of Norway in 1035.
His accession strengthened the connection between Olaf’s sanctity and Norwegian kingship.
The father who had lost his throne now provided sacred legitimacy to his descendants.
Later Norwegian kings could present themselves as successors to Saint Olaf rather than simply successful warlords. The concept eventually developed that Olaf remained Norway’s eternal king, with reigning monarchs exercising authority beneath his spiritual protection.
That is an extraordinary posthumous victory for someone who died after losing a rebellion.
The Cult of Saint Olaf
Olaf’s cult spread far beyond Norway.
Churches dedicated to him appeared across Scandinavia, the British Isles and Baltic regions. His feast on 29 July became an important religious observance known as Olsok in Norway.
Pilgrims travelled to his shrine at Nidaros.
By the high Middle Ages, Saint Olaf had become one of northern Europe’s most recognisable royal saints. His imagery usually includes:
- a crown
- an axe
- a royal orb or other symbol of authority
- a dragon or defeated figure beneath his feet
The axe became particularly important because it represented both royal justice and the weapon associated with his martyrdom.
Nidaros Cathedral and Olaf’s Shrine
Olaf’s burial place transformed Nidaros.
A church developed around the site and construction of what became Nidaros Cathedral began around 1070. Over the following centuries it grew into one of Scandinavia’s great medieval religious buildings.
Olaf’s shrine became its spiritual centre.
Pilgrims travelled along routes from across Scandinavia to venerate his relics. The cathedral’s architecture eventually developed around the cult, with the octagonal eastern end particularly associated with the saint’s shrine.
The building still dominates Trondheim.
Standing there today, it is difficult not to appreciate the irony. Cnut defeated Olaf politically. Olaf got the cathedral.
What Happened to Saint Olaf’s Body?
The fate of Olaf’s relics after the medieval period is uncertain.
His shrine stood in Nidaros Cathedral until the Reformation transformed Norwegian religious life in the sixteenth century. The shrine disappeared and the public cult of the saint was suppressed.
The exact fate of Olaf’s remains has subsequently generated considerable debate and speculation.
Claims occasionally surface regarding possible locations for his bones, but no remains have been conclusively authenticated as those of Olaf Haraldsson.
For historians, this is mildly frustrating.
For anyone hoping for a future archaeological mystery, it is excellent news.
Archaeology and the Search for Olaf’s World
Archaeology cannot verify most of the personal stories told about Olaf, but it can reconstruct the society in which he lived.
Excavations in Trondheim have revealed extensive evidence for the development of medieval Nidaros. Archaeological work around the Archbishop’s Palace alone has produced around 160,000 finds and more than 100 building remains, although much of this material belongs to periods after Olaf.
At Stiklestad, archaeology and landscape research continue to inform interpretation of the battlefield and the settlement environment surrounding the events of 1030.
The important distinction is between archaeology from Olaf’s period and objects belonging to Olaf personally.
We have plenty of the former.
We have essentially none of the latter that can be demonstrated with confidence.
That distinction is less exciting than claiming every rusty axe was once waved at a king, but considerably better history.
Stiklestad Church
Stiklestad remained intimately connected with Olaf’s death.
The stone church standing there today dates from approximately 1150 to 1200. Tradition maintains that its altar was constructed over the location where Olaf fell.
Whether the precise location was remembered accurately across the generations cannot be proved.
The tradition itself is historically important, however. It demonstrates how the battlefield became sacred landscape.
A place where a king had been defeated became a place where a martyr was remembered.
The Olav Frontal
One of the most evocative surviving medieval objects connected with Saint Olaf is the Olav Frontal, an altar frontal dating from the first half of the fourteenth century.
It depicts episodes surrounding Olaf’s death and sanctity and was probably produced in Nidaros.
Its imagery consciously presents Olaf’s suffering in a manner reminiscent of the Passion of Christ.
This is enormously revealing.
By this period the historical Viking warrior had been thoroughly transformed. Medieval worshippers were not primarily being shown an ambitious eleventh-century politician.
They were looking at a martyr.
Saint Olaf in Medieval Art
Medieval artists developed a recognisable visual language for Olaf.
He commonly appears crowned, richly dressed and holding an axe.
Frequently he stands upon a dragon-like creature. Intriguingly, the creature can sometimes possess human characteristics or even features resembling Olaf himself.
The symbolism allows for several interpretations. The defeated creature can represent paganism, Satan or evil, but it may also represent Olaf overcoming his own sinful past.
I particularly like the last interpretation.
It is considerably more psychologically interesting than pretending the Viking warrior simply disappeared when the saint appeared.
Olaf and the Norwegian Coat of Arms
Norway’s national coat of arms depicts a crowned golden lion holding an axe.
The axe has traditionally been interpreted in connection with Saint Olaf.
The association developed during the Middle Ages as Olaf became intertwined with ideas of Norwegian monarchy and national identity.
His iconography therefore survived even when the medieval cult itself was disrupted by the Reformation.
Few eleventh-century warriors have managed quite such an impressive career in graphic design.
Olaf’s Reputation After the Reformation
The Protestant Reformation of 1537 ended the official Catholic cult of Saint Olaf in Norway.
Pilgrimage declined, ecclesiastical institutions were reorganised and the cathedral suffered a long period of deterioration.
Olaf nevertheless refused to disappear.
He survived in folklore, historical writing, local traditions and national memory.
During the nineteenth century, as Norwegian nationalism developed, medieval history acquired renewed importance. Nidaros Cathedral itself became a major symbol of national restoration, with extensive reconstruction beginning in 1869.
The saint had become a national historical figure even for people who had no interest in venerating saints.
Olaf the Saint Versus Olaf the Man
The two Olafs are difficult to reconcile.
The saint is a Christian lawgiver, martyr and protector of Norway.
The historical king was an ambitious military ruler who used coercion, fought rivals, expanded royal authority and apparently showed little hesitation in punishing opposition.
But perhaps separating them too cleanly misses the point.
Medieval sainthood did not necessarily require the gentle personality modern readers might expect. Royal saints could be warriors. Christian kings could employ violence. A ruler’s defence and expansion of Christianity could itself be interpreted as holy work.
Olaf’s contemporaries and medieval admirers were judging him according to values that were not ours.
Understanding that difference does not require us to excuse brutality. It simply stops us from turning the eleventh century into the twenty-first century wearing mail.
Olaf Haraldsson in Vikings: Valhalla
Modern audiences may know Olaf through Vikings: Valhalla, where he is played by Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson.
The series draws upon the historical Olaf’s Christianity, political ambition and rivalry with other Scandinavian leaders, but it rearranges chronology, relationships and events extensively.
The real Olaf Haraldsson was already dead by 1030. Harald Hardrada, who features prominently within the same dramatic world, was Olaf’s much younger half-brother and was still a teenager at Stiklestad.
The television Olaf’s intense Christian militancy has a historical foundation, but the character should not be treated as a straightforward biography.
That would be rather unfair to both history and television writers, who have very different problems to solve.
Where to Follow Olaf Haraldsson’s History Today
The best place to understand Olaf is Norway itself.
Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim stands over the traditional location of his burial and became the centre of his medieval cult. The neighbouring Archbishop’s Palace museum contains archaeological material and the remarkable fourteenth-century Olav Frontal.
Stiklestad National Cultural Centre interprets the battle, Olaf’s death and Norway’s conversion to Christianity. The historic landscape and Stiklestad Church make it particularly valuable because the events are presented where the traditions actually developed.
Moster is equally important for understanding Olaf the lawgiver. The assembly traditionally associated with the Christian law of around 1024 represents one of the key moments in Norway’s institutional Christianisation.
For anyone interested in Olaf, I would choose Stiklestad and Trondheim over searching museums for a supposed “Sword of Saint Olaf”. The landscape, churches and archaeology tell a much stronger story than an attractive weapon with a hopeful label ever could.
How Important Was Olaf Haraldsson?
Olaf’s greatest historical achievement may have occurred after his death.
He did not single-handedly unite Norway. He did not introduce Christianity to an entirely pagan country. He did not create the Norwegian state from nothing.
Those are attractive simplifications.
What he did was accelerate several transformations already under way.
He strengthened Christian kingship, helped formalise Christian law, challenged regional aristocratic power and contributed to the development of a more coherent Norwegian monarchy.
Then he died.
His cult accomplished what his army could not.
Saint Olaf provided medieval Norway with a sacred monarch around whom kingship, religion and eventually national identity could gather. His shrine made Nidaros one of northern Europe’s major pilgrimage centres, while his image spread across an extraordinary geographical area.
The Historical Verdict
Olaf Haraldsson is difficult to admire without qualification, but equally difficult to dismiss.
He could be ruthless. His programme of Christianisation was entangled with coercion and political power. His attempt to centralise Norway created enemies powerful enough to drive him from his kingdom and eventually defeat him at Stiklestad.
Yet his reign belongs to one of the defining transitions in Scandinavian history.
The Viking world of competing warlords, regional cults and raiding armies was giving way to Christian kingdoms connected with the political and religious institutions of medieval Europe. Olaf stood directly in the middle of that transition.
Perhaps that is why his story became so powerful.
The warrior became a king. The king became an exile. The exile returned as an invader of his own former kingdom. The defeated invader became a martyr. The martyr became a saint. And the saint became the eternal king of the country that had once thrown him out.
History occasionally produces irony with almost indecent enthusiasm.
Olaf Haraldsson is one of its better examples.
Sources and Further Reading
Useful primary and historical sources for studying Olaf include Heimskringla, Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum, Historia Norwegie, contemporary and near-contemporary skaldic poetry, and the medieval Passio et miracula beati Olavi. The latter developed Olaf’s saintly tradition and became an important source for his medieval cult.
For modern interpretation, the historical resources of Nidaros Cathedral, Stiklestad National Cultural Centre and Store norske leksikon provide particularly useful Norwegian perspectives.
