The Kings of Norway
Olaf Kyrre — the Quiet King
The son who came home from Stamford Bridge
Olaf was the son of Harald Hardrada, and he had been there at the end — at Stamford Bridge in 1066, where his father, the last great viking king, threw away his life and his army reaching for the throne of England. Olaf survived the rout, was given quarter, and sailed the broken remnant of the fleet home.[1] When his brother Magnus died a few years later, Olaf became sole king of Norway.
It matters that this king began at a catastrophe. He had watched the greatest warrior of the age die for nothing on an English field, and seen the flower of Norway's army destroyed; and the saga suggests he drew the obvious lesson. Everything in his long reign is, in a sense, the answer to Stamford Bridge — a deliberate turning-away from the glory-and-death creed his father lived and died by. The peace-king was made by witnessing the price of war.
The source text · 1
Olaf remained sole king of Norway after the death (A.D. 1069) of his brother King Magnus. Olaf was a stout man, well grown in limbs; and every one said a handsomer man could not be seen, nor of a nobler appearance. His hair was yellow as silk, and became him well; his skin was white and fine over all his body; his eyes beautiful, and his limbs well proportioned. He was rather silent in general, and did not speak much even at Things; but he was merry in drinking parties. He loved drinking much, and was talkative enough then; but quite peaceful. He was cheerful in conversation, peacefully inclined during all his reign, and loving gentleness and moderation in all things. Stein Herdison speaks thus of him: --— heimskringla
Olaf sole king of Norway after his brother Magnus's death (Laing).
A handsomer man could not be seen
The saga pauses, unusually, to dwell on the man himself: Olaf was tall and well-made, and everyone said a handsomer man could not be seen — his hair yellow as silk, his skin fair, his eyes beautiful, his bearing noble.[1] He was cheerful and given to drink and talk, mild in manner, beloved.
It is a portrait of a king at ease in his own court rather than on a battlefield — and the contrast with his fierce father is the whole point. Where Heimskringla usually measures a king by his wars, here it lingers on grace, good looks, and good company. Olaf is the saga's experiment in a different kind of greatness: the king as host and ornament of a peaceful realm, whose reign is remembered not for what he conquered but for how pleasant he made the country.
The source text · 1
Olaf remained sole king of Norway after the death (A.D. 1069) of his brother King Magnus. Olaf was a stout man, well grown in limbs; and every one said a handsomer man could not be seen, nor of a nobler appearance. His hair was yellow as silk, and became him well; his skin was white and fine over all his body; his eyes beautiful, and his limbs well proportioned. He was rather silent in general, and did not speak much even at Things; but he was merry in drinking parties. He loved drinking much, and was talkative enough then; but quite peaceful. He was cheerful in conversation, peacefully inclined during all his reign, and loving gentleness and moderation in all things. Stein Herdison speaks thus of him: --— heimskringla
Olaf the handsomest of men, silk-yellow hair, noble bearing (Laing).
Chimneys and the high bench
Olaf changed the very way Norwegians lived. In the old fashion the king's high-seat had stood in the middle of a long bench with the ale handed across the open hearth-fire — but Olaf built his high-seat on a raised cross-bench, put proper chimney-places in the rooms so the smoke no longer filled the hall, and had the floors strewn with rushes summer and winter.[1] He brought in, from the courts of foreign kings, the fashion of a cup-bearer standing before the table.
These sound like small things, and the saga's loving attention to them is itself remarkable — a king remembered for chimneys. But they mark a real shift: the rough hall-life of the viking age giving way to courtly refinement, comfort, ceremony. Olaf's Norway became a more civilised place to live in, room by room, custom by custom. It is domestic history of a kind the sagas almost never record, and it is Olaf's true monument.
The source text · 1
It was the fashion in Norway in old times for the king's high-seat to be on the middle of a long bench, and the ale was handed across the fire;.mw-parser-output .wst-sup{font-size:66%;vertical-align:0.6em;line-height:0}1 but King Olaf had his high-seat made on a high bench across the room; he also first had chimney-places in the rooms, and the floors strewed both summer and winter. In King Olaf's time many merchant towns arose in Norway, and many new ones were founded. Thus King Olaf founded a merchant town at Bergen, where very soon many wealthy people settled themselves, and it was regularly frequented by merchants from foreign lands. He had the foundations laid for the large Christ church, which was to be a stone church; but in his time there was little done to it. Besides, he completed the old Christ church, which was of wood. King Olaf also had a great feasting-house built in Nidaros, and in many other merchant towns, where before there were only private feasts; and in his time no one could drink in Norway but in these houses, adorned for the purpose with branches and leaves, and which stood under the king's protection. The great guild-bell in Throndhjem, which was called the pride of the town, tolled to call together to these guilds. The guild-brethren built Margaret's church in Nidaros of stone. In King Olaf's time there were general entertainments and hand-in-hand feasts. At this time also much unusual splendour and foreign customs and fashions in the cut of clothes were introduced; as, for instance, costly hose plaited about the legs. Some had gold rings about the legs, and also used coats which had lists down the sides, and arms five ells long, and so narrow that they must be drawn up with ties, and lay in folds all the way up to the shoulders. The shoes were high, and all edged with silk, or even with gold. Many other kinds of wonderful ornaments were used at that time.— heimskringla
Olaf introduces the cross-bench high-seat, chimneys, strewn floors (Laing).
The court of the peace-king
Olaf gave Norway a court on the foreign model: a hundred and twenty men-at-arms, sixty pursuivants, sixty house-servants, with cup-bearers and candle-bearers and a steward of the table — a settled, ceremonious household such as the kingdom had never kept.[1] The merchant towns grew under him, and the guilds; the whole apparatus of a peaceful, prospering state took shape.
This is what peace buys, and the saga shows it accumulating: not plunder but institutions, not glory but a working kingdom. Olaf was a strict ruler for all his mildness, the saga says — wise, and quick to see what served the country's good. The viking kings had won Norway and Christianised it; Olaf was the first who simply, patiently ran it, and made it rich. The unglamorous work of governance gets, in this journey, its due.
The source text · 1
King Olaf had 120 courtmen-at-arms, and 60 pursuivants, besides 60 house-servants, who provided what was wanted for the king's house wherever it might be, or did other work required for the king. When the bondes asked why he kept a greater retinue than the law allowed, or former kings kept when they went in guest-quarters or feasts which the bondes had to provide for them, the king answered, "It does not happen that I rule the kingdom better, or produce greater respect for me than ye had for my father, although I have one-half more people than he had. I do not by any means do it merely to plague you, or to make your condition harder than formerly."— heimskringla
Olaf's great court — 120 men-at-arms, pursuivants, household officers (Laing).
Christ Church over the saint
Olaf raised in Nidaros a great church of stone, on the very spot where St Olaf's body had first been buried, setting the altar directly over the place of the grave.[1] It was consecrated as Christ Church, and the shrine of the saint was moved into it before the altar, where many miracles were told — and where, in time, the cathedral of Norway would rise.
So the peace-king gave the cult of St Olaf its permanent home. Where Olaf Tryggvason and St Olaf had forced the faith on a heathen people, Olaf Kyrre housed it — built it into stone, made it the spiritual centre of the kingdom. The journey of the conversion, which runs through so many of the king-sagas in this atlas, reaches a kind of rest here: the martyr-king enshrined in a stone church by his own peaceful descendant, the new faith no longer fought for but simply, solidly, at home.
The source text · 1
King Olaf had a church of stone built in Nidaros, on the spot where King Olaf's body had first been buried, and the altar was placed directly over the spot where the king's grave had been. This church was consecrated and called Christ Church; and King Olaf's shrine was removed to it, and was placed before the altar, and many miracles took place there. The following summer, on the same day of the year as the church was consecrated, which was the day before Olafsmas, there was a great assemblage of people, and then a blind man was restored to sight. And on the mass-day itself, when the shrine and the holy relics were taken out and carried, and the shrine itself, according to custom, was taken and set down in the churchyard, a man who had long been dumb recovered his speech again, and sang with flowing tongue praise-hymns to God, and to the honour of King Olaf the Saint. The third miracle was of a woman who had come from Svithjod, and had suffered much distress on this pilgrimage from her blindness; but trusting in God's mercy, had come travelling to this solemnity. She was led blind into the church to hear mass this day; but before the service was ended she saw with both eyes, and got her sight fully and clearly, although she had been blind fourteen years. She returned with great joy, praising God and King Olaf the Saint.— heimskringla
Olaf builds the stone Christ Church over St Olaf's grave at Nidaros (Laing).
The best harvests since Fairhair
The saga makes the boldest claim it can for a peaceful reign: in Olaf's days there were bountiful harvests and many good things, and in no man's life had times been so good in Norway since the days of Harald Fairhair.[1] Olaf softened many of the harsh measures his father Harald Hardrada had enforced with severity, ruling generously though strictly, a wise man who knew the country's good.
That comparison — the best since Fairhair, the founder — is the saga's verdict, and it is striking. The greatest thing said of this king is not a battle won but a country at peace and plenty for a generation. Where the old sacral idea held the king answerable for the harvest, here the good seasons are credited to a king who simply kept the peace and governed wisely. Olaf is proof, inside Heimskringla's long catalogue of war, that the quiet reign can be the great one.
The source text · 1
In the days of King O1af there were bountiful harvests in Norway and many good things. In no man's life had times been so good in Norway since the days of Harald Harfager. King O1af modified for the better many a matter that his father had inaugurated and maintained with severity. He was generous, but a strict ruler, for he was a wise man, and well understood what was of advantage to the kingdom. There are many stories of his good works. How much he loved and how kind he was to the people may be seen from the following words, which he once spoke at a large banquet. He was happy and in the best of spirits, when one of his men said, "It pleases us, sire, to see you so happy." He answered: "I have reason to be glad when I see my subjects sitting happy and free in a guild consecrated to my uncle, the sainted King Olaf. In the days of my father these people were subjected to much terror and fear; the most of them concealed their gold and their precious things, but now I see glittering on his person what each one owns, and your freedom is my gladness. In his reign there was no strife, and he protected himself and his realm against enemies abroad; and his nearest neighbours stood in great awe of him, although he was a most gentle man, as is confirmed by the skald.— heimskringla
The best harvests and times since Harald Fairhair; Olaf softens his father's severity (Laing).
He would not go to England
Peace was a choice, and Olaf had to keep choosing it. His friend and brother-in-law Canute the Holy of Denmark pressed him to join a great joint expedition west to England, to take the revenge they were owed there — the very enterprise Olaf's father had died attempting.[1] Olaf gave Canute ships and men for the venture, but would not lead it himself, and let the war pass by.
It is the quiet climax of his reign — the moment the peace-king is offered the great war and declines it. He had stood at Stamford Bridge; he would not sail that road again. The saga does not call him a coward — he was no coward — but a man who had measured the cost and chosen otherwise. In a literature that almost always rewards the bold expedition, Olaf's refusal to chase England is its own kind of courage: the harder discipline of not going to war.
The source text · 1
King Olaf Kyrre was a great friend of his brother-in-law, the Danish king, Canute the holy. They appointed a meeting and met at the Gaut river at Konungahella, where the kings used to have their meetings. There King Canute made the proposal that they should send an army westward to England on account of the revenge they had to take there; first and foremost King Olaf himself, and also the Danish king. "Do one of two things," said King Canute, -- "either take sixty ships, which I will furnish thee with, and be thou the leader; or give me sixty ships, and I shall be the leader." Then said King Olaf, "This speech of thine, King Canute, is altogether according to my mind; but there is this great difference between us; your family has had more luck in conquering England with great glory, and, among others, King Canute the Great; and it is likely that this good fortune follows your race. On the other hand, when King Harald, my father, went westward to England, he got his death there; and at that time the best men in Norway followed him. But Norway was so emptied then of chosen men, that such men have not since been to find in the country; for that expedition there was the most excellent outfit, and you know what was the end of it. Now I know my own capacity, and how little I am suited to be the leader; so I would rather you should go, with my help and assistance."— heimskringla
Canute the Holy proposes a joint war on England; Olaf declines to lead it (Laing).
The crow and the horse
The saga keeps one long, sly anecdote to show Olaf's wit. Travelling his estates, he came to a wise old bonde's farm and, testing the man, had a horse killed at his door — telling him to pilot the royal ship round the ness.[1] As the old man rowed before the king, a crow flew over screeching, then a second, then a third, each louder; and the bonde grew troubled, until the king pressed him to say what the crows were telling him.
The old man answered in a verse hinting, slyly, that the king who took his horse was something of a thief — and Olaf, far from angry, laughed, gave the bonde good gifts, and remitted all the rent of his farm. It is a small comic gem, the kind of story a people tells only about a king they were fond of: the powerful man who can take a joke at his own expense and reward the wit that makes it. The peace-king's reign was relaxed enough to leave room for laughter, even at the throne.
The source text · 1
One summer, when King Olaf's men had gone round the country collecting his income and land dues, it happened that the king, on their return home asked them where on their expedition they had been best entertained. They said it was in the house of a bonde in one of the king's districts. "There is an old bonde there who knows many things before they happen. We asked him about many things, which he explained to us; nay, we even believe that he understands perfectly the language of birds." The king replies, "How can ye believe such nonsense?" and insisted that it was wrong to put confidence in such things. It happened soon after that the king was sailing along the coast; and as they sailed through a Sound the king said, "What is that township up in the country?"— heimskringla
The crow-anecdote: Olaf tests the old bonde and rewards his wit (Laing).
Twenty-six years of peace
Olaf died in his bed on one of his estates after a short illness, having been king of Norway for twenty-six years — and was buried in the Christ Church he had built at Nidaros.[1] No king of Norway had reigned so long, or so quietly; the by-name kyrri, the Quiet, the Peaceful, was the truest summary a king could have.
And then the wheel turned again at once: his son was Magnus Barefoot, who could not abide the peace and went straight back to war in the western isles. Olaf Kyrre sits exactly between two whirlwinds — the father who died for England, the son who died for Ireland — a single generation of calm in a dynasty of viking deaths. His journey is Heimskringla's proof that the chronicle of kings has room for one who simply kept the peace, built well, and was loved for it. The quietest king is not the least.
The source text · 1
King Olaf lived principally in his domains on his large farms. Once when he was east in Ranrike, on his estate of Haukby, he took the disease which ended in his death. He had then been king of Norway for twenty-six years (A.D. 1068-1093); for he was made king of Norway the year after King Harald's death. King Olaf's body was taken north to Nidaros, and buried in Christ church, which he himself had built there. He was the most amiable king of his time, and Norway was much improved in riches and cultivation during his reign.— heimskringla
Olaf dies after 26 years' reign, buried in Christ Church (Laing).
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