The Kings of Norway
St Olaf — the Saint Who Fell at Stiklestad
The boy who saddled a goat
The saga marks Olaf Haraldsson's temper before it marks his greatness. As a boy, told by his stepfather King Sigurd to saddle a riding-horse, the wilful child went to the pen and saddled the largest he-goat instead, and brought it round — a small act of defiance the saga keeps because it shows the man already in the boy.[1] He grew middle-sized but very strong, with piercing eyes that men feared to meet when he was angry.[2]
This is the king Norway would canonise: not a gentle saint but a hard, proud, dangerous man, sharpened from childhood. Heimskringla never pretends otherwise. The holiness, when it comes, is laid over a viking's iron — and the saga's whole power lies in holding the two together, the saint and the killer in one body.
The source text · 2
It happened one day that King Sigurd wanted to ride from home, but there was nobody about the house; so he told his stepson Olaf to saddle his horse. Olaf went to the goats' pen, took out the he-goat that was the largest, led him forth, and put the king's saddle on him, and then went in and told King Sigurd he had saddled his riding horse. Now when King Sigurd came out and saw what Olaf had done, he said "It is easy to see that thou wilt little regard my orders; and thy mother will think it right that I order thee to do nothing that is against thy own inclination. I see well enough that we are of different dispositions, and that thou art far more proud than I am." Olaf answered little, but went his way laughing.— heimskringla
The boy Olaf saddles a he-goat in defiance of his stepfather (Laing).
When Olaf Haraldson grew up he was not tall, but middle-sized in height, although very thick, and of good strength. He had light brown hair, and a broad face, which was white and red. He had particularly fine eyes, which were beautiful and piercing, so that one was afraid to look him in the face when he was angry. Olaf was very expert in all bodily exercises, understood well to handle his bow, and was distinguished particularly in throwing his spear by hand: he was a great swimmer, and very handy, and very exact and knowing in all kinds of smithwork, whether he himself or others made the thing. He was distinct and acute in conversation, and was soon perfect in understanding and strength. He was beloved by his friends and acquaintances, eager in his amusements, and one who always liked to be the first, as it was suitable he should be from his birth and dignity. He was called Olaf the Great.— heimskringla
Olaf's strength and his piercing, fearsome eyes.
Made king on a warship at twelve
Olaf was twelve years old when he first went aboard a ship of war. His mother Asta got the seasoned warrior Hrane, 'the foster-father of kings', to command the vessel and take the boy under his charge; and the moment Olaf had a ship and a crew, the men gave him the title of king — for it was the custom that those of royal race took the king's name as soon as they commanded troops.[1]
So Olaf entered history as a child-king of the sea before he held a foot of land. For years he was a viking in the old style, harrying the coasts of the Baltic and the West, learning war the hard way. The future patron saint of Norway spent his youth exactly as Olaf Tryggvason had — as a raider — and the saga makes the parallel deliberately: two vikings who would each turn their violence to the conversion of the North.
The source text · 1
Olaf Haraldson was twelve years old when he, for the first time, went on board a ship of war (A.D. 1007). His mother Asta got Hrane, who was called the foster-father of kings, to command a ship of war and take Olaf under his charge; for Hrane had often been on war expeditions. When Olaf in this way got a ship and men, the crew gave him the title of king; for it was the custom that those commanders of troops who were of kingly descent, on going out upon a viking cruise, received the title of king immediately although they had no land or kingdom. Hrane sat at the helm; and some say that Olaf himself was but a common rower, although he was king of the men-at-arms. They steered east along the land, and came first to Denmark. So says Ottar Svarte, in his lay which he made about King Olaf: --— heimskringla
Asta fits out Olaf's first warship under Hrane; at twelve he is given the king's title (Laing).
The wars in England
The young king's wandering carried him into the great Anglo-Danish wars. In 1014 Olaf joined the sons of King Ethelred, returning from exile in Normandy to win back England from the Danes, and fought with them — landing, storming a fortified place, killing many, and drawing the army of Canute down upon them.[1]
It is to these campaigns that the famous tradition attaches: that Olaf's men rowed up the Thames and pulled down London Bridge with ropes and the pull of the tide, toppling the Danish defenders into the river — the deed echoed, some say, in the old rhyme. True or embroidered, the saga places the future saint at the centre of the age's biggest war, learning the trade of kings on the largest stage in the West before he turned for home.
The source text · 1
In spring (A.D. 1014) King Olaf and King Ethelred's sons set out together to the west, and came to a place in England called Jungufurda, where they landed with their army and moved forward against the castle. Many men were there who had promised them their aid. They took the castle; and killed many people. Now when King Canute's men heard of this they assembled an army, and were soon in such force that Ethelred's sons could not stand against it; and they saw no other way left but to return to Rouen. Then King Olaf separated from them, and would not go back to Valland, but sailed northwards along England, all the way to Northumberland, where he put into a haven at a place called Valde; and in a battle there with the townspeople and merchants he gained the victory, and a great booty.— heimskringla
Olaf and Ethelred's sons campaign in England against Canute's men (Laing).
The claim to Norway
Olaf came home with a purpose: to make himself sole king of a Norway that had fallen, since Harald Fairhair, into the hands of earls and the overlordship of Denmark. The old blind king Hrorek names the wound aloud — that Harald Fairhair's kingdom had gone to decay, with none of his race supreme over Norway, and the people sick of foreign and divided rule.[1]
Into that vacuum Olaf pressed his descent from Harald and his own hard will. District by district he offered the farmers a stark choice — submit to him as king, or fight.[2] By war and by the threat of war he gathered Norway into his hand as no one had since Fairhair himself, restoring the single crown that Olaf Tryggvason's death at Svolder had scattered. The saint-to-be was first a state-builder, and not a gentle one.
The source text · 2
Then King Hrorek says, "True it is that Harald Harfager's kingdom has gone to decay, none of his race being supreme king over Norway. But the people here in the country have experienced many things. When King Hakon, Athelstan's foster-son, was king, all were content; but when Gunhild's sons ruled over the country, all were so weary of their tyranny and injustice that they would rather have foreign men as kings, and be themselves more their own rulers; for the foreign kings were usually abroad and cared little about the customs of the people if the scat they laid on the country was paid. When enmity arose between the Danish king Harald and Earl Hakon, the Jomsborg vikings made an expedition against Norway; then the whole people arose, and threw the hostilities from themselves; and thereafter the people encouraged Earl Hakon to keep the country, and defend it with sword and spear against the Danish king. But when he had set himself fast in the kingdom with the help of the people, he became so hard and overbearing towards the country-folks, that they would no longer suffer him. The Throndhjem people killed him, and raised to the kingly power Olaf Trygvason, who was of the udal succession to the kingdom, and in all respects well fitted to be a chief. The whole country's desire was to make him supreme king, and raise again the kingdom which Harald Harfager had made for himself. But when King Olaf thought himself quite firmly seated in his kingdom, no man could rule his own concerns for him. With us small kings he was so unreasonable, as to take to himself not only all the scat and duties which Harald Harfager had levied from us, but a great deal more. The people at last had so little freedom under him, that it was not allowed to every man to believe in what god he pleased. Now since he has been taken away we have kept friendly with the Danish king; have received great help from him when we have had any occasion for it; and have been allowed to rule ourselves, and live in peace and quiet in the inland country, and without any overburden. I am therefore content that things be as they are, for I do not see what better rights I am to enjoy by one of my relations ruling over the country; and if I am to be no better off, I will take no part in the affair."— heimskringla
Hrorek on the decay of Harald Fairhair's kingdom (Laing).
The king spoke well, and long; and ended by proposing to the bondes two conditions -- either to go into his service and be subject to him, or to fight him. Thereupon the twelve bondes went back to their people, and told the issue of their errand, and considered with the people what they should resolve upon. Although they discussed the matter backwards and forwards for a while, they preferred at last to submit to the king; and it was confirmed by the oath of the bondes. The king now proceeded on his journey, and the bondes made feasts for him. The king then proceeded to the sea-coast, and got ships; and among others he got a long-ship of twenty benches of rowers from Gunnar of Gelmin; another ship of twenty benches he got from Loden of Viggia; and three ships of twenty benches from the farm of Angrar on the ness which farm Earl Hakon had possessed, but a steward managed it for him, by name Bard White. The king had, besides, four or five boats; and with these vessels he went in all haste into the fjord of Throndhjem.— heimskringla
Olaf offers the bondes the choice to submit or fight.
Dale-Gudbrand's broken god
With the crown won, Olaf drove Christianity into the inland valleys that still held to the old gods — and the saga's great set-piece of conversion is his confrontation with Dale-Gudbrand and the heathen men of the Dales, who brought out their huge wooden idol of Thor to face the king at the assembly.[1] While the people looked to the morning sun, Olaf's man Kolbein smashed the great image with a club, and out of it ran the mice and adders and toads that had fattened on the food laid before the god.
The lesson was brutal and complete: their god could not even defend itself. Gudbrand stood and admitted it — they had taken great damage on their god, and since he would not help them, they would believe in the king's God instead — and all received Christianity; the bishop baptised Gudbrand and his son.[2] It is conversion as demonstration, the new faith proved by the old god's helplessness, and it stands for the whole hard campaign by which Olaf changed the soul of Norway.
The source text · 2
Then Dale-Gudbrand stood up and said, "We have sustained great damage upon our god; but since he will not help us, we will believe in the God thou believest in."— heimskringla
Dale-Gudbrand's idol of Thor confronted and broken (Laing).
Then all received Christianity. The bishop baptized Gudbrand and his son. King Olaf and Bishop Sigurd left behind them teachers, and they who met as enemies parted as friends; and Gudbrand built a church in the valley.— heimskringla
Gudbrand and his people baptised after the idol is destroyed.
The chiefs turn
But a hard king makes hard enemies. Olaf had broken the power of the great chiefs to make himself supreme, and Canute the Great — now lord of England and Denmark — reached into Norway with the one weapon Olaf could not match: silver.[1] Canute's messengers moved among the lendermen with heaps of money and great promises, and bought the loyalty of men like Bjorn away from their own king.
The saga is clear-eyed about how a kingdom is lost: not in one battle but in a slow corrosion of trust, chief after chief turning as the foreign gold flowed. Olaf found the ground going soft beneath him, his support melting toward the richer king across the sea. When at last the chiefs rose in open alliance with Canute, Olaf could not hold Norway — and the king who had taken the country by the sword had to leave it by the sea.
The source text · 1
By the heap of money, the fine promises, and the great presents, he was led by covetousness, took the money, went into King Canute's service, and gave the oaths of fealty to King Canute and Earl Hakon, and then the messengers departed.— heimskringla
Canute's silver buys the loyalty of Olaf's chiefs (Laing).
The road east, to Yaroslav's court
Driven out, Olaf took the road east. He fled through Sweden and into Russia — Garðaríki — to the court of King Jarisleif (Yaroslav the Wise) and Queen Ingegerd at Kyiv and Novgorod, the great Christian power on the river-road.[1] There he was received with all honour, and the offer was real and generous: Jarisleif and Ingegerd pressed him to stay and take a kingdom of his own within their dominions — a heathen land called Vulgaria that he might rule and convert.
Here the two great currents of the corpus cross in one exiled king. Olaf the Christianiser sits in Christian Kyiv, weighing whether to build a new realm in the east rather than risk death for the old one in the west. The Austrvegr — the road east that carried Norse traders and the boy Olaf Tryggvason before him — now shelters Norway's future saint. For a winter, the king of Norway is a guest-king of the Rus.
The source text · 1
After King Olaf came to Russia he was very thoughtful, and weighed what counsel he now should follow. King Jarisleif and Queen Ingegerd offered him to remain with them, and receive a kingdom called Vulgaria, which is a part of Russia, and in which land the people were still heathen. King Olaf thought over this offer; but when he proposed it to his men they dissuaded him from settling himself there, and urged the king to betake himself to Norway to his own kingdom: but the king himself had resolved almost in his own mind to lay down his royal dignity, to go out into the world to Jerusalem, or other holy places, and to enter into some order of monks. But yet the thought lay deep in his soul to recover again, if there should be any opportunity for him, his kingdom in Norway. When he thought over this, it recurred to his mind how all things had gone prosperously with him during the first ten years of his reign, and how afterwards every thing he undertook became heavy, difficult, and hard; and that he had been unlucky, on all occasions in which he had tried his luck. On this account he doubted if it would be prudent to depend so much upon his luck, as to go with so little strength into the hands of his enemies, seeing that all the people of the country had taken part with them to oppose King Olaf. Such cares he had often on his mind, and he left his cause to God, praying that He would do what to Him seemed best. These thoughts he turned over in his mind, and knew not what to resolve upon; for he saw how evidently dangerous that was which his inclination was most bent upon.— heimskringla
Olaf in Russia; Jarisleif and Ingegerd offer him a kingdom (Vulgaria) (Laing).
The healing in the east
It was in Russia, the saga says, that Olaf's holiness first showed. A poor widow's son lay dying of a great festering boil on his neck, unable to swallow; the mother brought the boy to Queen Ingegerd, who knew no cure, but sent her to Olaf — 'he is the best physician here'.[1] The exiled king took the dying boy, worked the swelling with his hands, and put healing bread into his mouth, and the boy was cured.
The saga places this miracle deliberately in the east, in the years of exile, before Stiklestad — so that the sanctity is shown to precede and explain the death, not merely to follow it. The man the chiefs had cast out was already, unknowing, a saint; the healing hands that mended a widow's son in Kyiv are the same that would work greater wonders from the grave. Olaf's holiness, like his kingship, came to him on the road east.
The source text · 1
It is related that once upon a time, while King Olaf was in Russia, it happened that the son of an honest widow had a sore boil upon his neck, of which the lad lay very ill; and as he could not swallow any food, there was little hope of his life. The boy's mother went to Queen Ingegerd, with whom she was acquainted, and showed her the lad. The queen said she knew no remedy for it. "Go," said she, "to King Olaf, he is the best physician here; and beg him to lay his hands on thy lad, and bring him my words if he will not otherwise do it." She did as the queen told her; and when she found the king she says to him that her son is dangerously ill of a boil in his neck, and begs him to lay his hand on the boil. The king tells her he is not a physician, and bids her go to where there were physicians. She replies, that the queen had told her to come to him; "and told me to add the request from her, that you would would use the remedy you understood, and she said that thou art the best physician here in the town." Then the king took the lad, laid his hands upon his neck, and felt the boil for a long time, until the boy made a very wry face. Then the king took a piece of bread, laid it in the figure of the cross upon the palm of his hand, and put it into the boy's mouth. He swallowed it down, and from that time all the soreness left his neck, and in a few days he was quite well, to the great joy of his mother and all his relations. Then first came Olaf into the repute of having as much healing power in his hands as is ascribed to men who have been gifted by nature with healing by the touch; and afterwards when his miracles were universally acknowledged, this also was considered one of his miracles.— heimskringla
Ingegerd sends the dying boy to Olaf, 'the best physician'; Olaf heals him (Laing).
He leaves his son and turns home
Then came the dream — a vision Olaf took for God's own will that he should go back and reclaim his kingdom, whatever the odds.[1] Jarisleif and Ingegerd argued against it: stay, take the power we offer, do not throw yourself at your enemies with so few men. But Olaf had decided.
So, just after Yule, with only about two hundred of his men, he made ready. Jarisleif gave him horses and all he needed, and the king and queen parted from him with honour — and Olaf left behind, in their keeping, his young son Magnus.[2] That single act stitches the next reign to this one: the boy fostered at Kyiv would be brought home from the east to rule. Olaf rode west toward his death and left his future in Russian hands; the road east would carry his son home as it had carried the father into shelter.
The source text · 2
When King Olaf had resolved on his return home, he made known his intention to King Jarisleif and Queen Ingegerd. They dissuaded him from this expedition, and said he should receive as much power in their dominions as he thought desirable; but begged him not to put himself within the reach of his enemies with so few men as he had. Then King Olaf told them of his dream; adding, that he believed it to be God's will and providence that it should be so. Now when they found he was determined on travelling to Norway, they offered him all the assistance to his journey that he would accept from them. The king thanked them in many fine words for their good will; and said that he accepted from them, with no ordinary pleasure, what might be necessary for his undertaking.— heimskringla
Olaf's dream resolves him to return; Jarisleif and Ingegerd dissuade him (Laing).
Immediately after Yule (A.D. 1080), King Olaf made himself ready; and had about 200 of his men with him. King Jarisleif gave him all the horses, and whatever else he required; and when he was ready he set off. King Jarisleif and Queen Ingegerd parted from him with all honour; and he left his son Magnus behind with the king. The first part of his journey, down to the sea-coast, King Olaf and his men made on the ice; but as spring approached, and the ice broke up, they rigged their vessels, and when they were ready and got a wind they set out to sea, and had a good voyage. When Olaf came to the island of Gotland with his ships he heard the news -- which was told as truth, both in Svithjod, Denmark, and over all Norway -- that Earl Hakon was missing, and Norway without a head. This gave the king and his men good hope of the issue of their journey. From thence they sailed, when the wind suited, to Svithjod, and went into the Maelar lake, to Aros, and sent men to the Swedish King Onund appointing a meeting. King Onund received his brother-in-law's message in the kindest manner, and went to him according to his invitation. Astrid also came to King Olaf, with the men who had attended her; and great was the joy on all sides at this meeting. The Swedish king also received his brother-in-law King Olaf with great joy when they met.— heimskringla
Olaf sets off with 200 men, leaving his son Magnus with King Jarisleif.
Coming down from the mountains
The saga gives the return a strange, hushed grandeur. Coming from the east, Olaf crossed the keel-ridge of the mountains and descended the western slope toward the sea, with many riding before and behind him and a free space kept around the king.[1] He rode silent through most of the day, looking at nothing, while his men watched him — a man riding knowingly toward his end.
Word came that the rebel host was gathering, and that battle was certain and near.[2] Along the way Olaf insisted that only baptised, Christian men fight under his banner, turning away even brave heathens unless they took the faith first — so that the coming battle should be, in his mind, a Christian army's stand. The descent from the mountains is the saga's threshold: the exile is over, the homeland is in sight, and death is waiting in it.
The source text · 2
Now when King Olaf, coming from the east, went over the keel-ridge and descended on the west side of the mountain, where it declines towards the sea, he could see from thence far over the country. Many people rode before the king and many after, and he himself rode so that there was a free space around him. He was silent, and nobody spoke to him, and thus he rode a great part of the day without looking much about him. Then the bishop rode up to him, asked him why he was so silent, and what he was thinking of; for, in general, he was very cheerful, and very talkative on a journey to his men, so that all who were near him were merry. The king replied, full of thought, "Wonderful things have come into my mind a while ago. As I just now looked over Norway, out to the west from the mountains, it came into my mind how many happy days I have had in that land. It appeared to me at first as if I saw over all the Throndhjem country, and then over all Norway; and the longer this vision was before my eyes the farther, methought, I saw, until I looked over the whole wide world, both land and sea. Well I know the places at which I have been in former days; some even which I have only heard speak of, and some I saw of which I had never heard, both inhabited and uninhabited, in this wide world." The bishop replied that this was a holy vision, and very remarkable.— heimskringla
Olaf, coming from the east, rides silent down from the mountains (Laing).
King Olaf got certain intelligence now that it would be but a short time until he had a battle with the bondes; and after he had mustered his men, and reckoned up the force, he had more than 3000 men, which appears to be a great army in one field. Then the king made the following speech to the people: "We have a great army, and excellent troops; and now I will tell you, my men, how I will have our force drawn up. I will let my banner go forward in the middle of the army, and my-court-men, and pursuivants shall follow it, together with the war forces that joined us from the Uplands, and also those who may come to us here in the Throndhjem land. On the right hand of my banner shall be Dag Hringson, with all the men he brought to our aid; and he shall have the second banner. And on the left hand of our line shall the men be whom the Swedish king gave us, together with all the people who came to us in Sweden; and they shall have the third banner. I will also have the people divide themselves into distinct flocks or parcels, so that relations and acquaintances should be together; for thus they defend each other best, and know each other. We will have all our men distinguished by a mark, so as to be a field-token upon their helmets and shields, by painting the holy cross thereupon with white colour. When we come into battle we shall all have one countersign and field-cry, -- `Forward, forward, Christian men! cross men! king's men!' We must draw up our meal in thinner ranks, because we have fewer people, and I do not wish to let them surround us with their men. Now let the men divide themselves into separate flocks, and then each flock into ranks; then let each man observe well his proper place, and take notice what banner he is drawn up under. And now we shall remain drawn up in array; and our men shall be fully armed, night and day, until we know where the meeting shall be between us and the bondes." When the king had finished speaking, the army arrayed, and arranged itself according to the king's orders.— heimskringla
Olaf learns the battle is near.
The morning of Stiklestad
At Stiklestad Olaf saw the farmers' army spread out all around, in numbers far beyond his own.[1] The night before, when his small force could not sleep, the skald Thormod recited the ancient Bjarkamál, the old summons to die well beside one's lord, and the army woke heartened and thanked him for it. In the morning Olaf armed himself: a gold-mounted helmet, a white shield with the holy cross inlaid in gold, the sword Hneiter at his belt.[2]
The saga lingers on these details because they are the iconography of a martyr being made — the cross on the shield, the named sword, the old heroic poem turned to Christian sacrifice. Olaf drew up his line with a wall of shields and waited for the host of his own countrymen, led by chiefs he had broken, to come and kill their king.
The source text · 2
King O1af led his army farther down through the valley, and Dag and his men went another way, and the king did not halt until he came to Stiklestad. There he saw the bonde army spread out all around; and there were so great numbers that people were going on every footpath, and great crowds were collected far and near. They also saw there a troop which came down from Veradal, and had been out to spy. They came so close to the king's people that they knew each other. It was Hrut of Viggia, with thirty men. The king ordered his pursuivants to go out against Hrut, and make an end of him, to which his men were instantly ready. The king said to the Icelanders, "It is told me that in Iceland it is the custom that the bondes give their house-servants a sheep to slaughter; now I give you a ram to slaughter.1 The Icelanders were easily invited to this, and went out immediately with a few men against Hrut, and killed him and the troop that followed him. When the king came to Stiklestad he made a halt, and made the army stop, and told his people to alight from their horses and get ready for battle; and the people did as the king ordered. Then he placed his army in battle array, and raised his banner. Dag was not yet arrived with his men, so that his wing of the battle array was wanting. Then the king said the Upland men should go forward in their place, and raise their banner there. "It appears to me advisable," says the king, "that Harald my brother should not be in the battle, for he is still in the years of childhood only." Harald replies, "Certainly I shall be in the battle, for I am not so weak that I cannot handle the sword; and as to that, I have a notion of tying the sword-handle to my hand. None is more willing than I am to give the bondes a blow; so I shall go with my comrades." It is said that Harald made these lines: --— heimskringla
Olaf reaches Stiklestad and sees the farmers' army all around (Laing).
King Olaf was armed thus: -- He had a gold-mounted helmet on his head; and had in one hand a white shield, on which the holy cross was inlaid in gold. In his other hand he had a lance, which to the present day stands beside the altar in Christ Church. In his belt he had a sword, which was called Hneiter, which was remarkably sharp, and of which the handle was worked with gold. He had also a strong coat of ring-mail. Sigvat the skald, speaks of this: --— heimskringla
Olaf armed with the cross-inlaid shield and the sword Hneiter.
The king falls
The battle was desperate. Olaf fought in the front, and the saga shows him at his most terrible — cutting down the chief Thorgeir of Kviststad with a stroke that clove the head below the eyes, reminding the dying man of his own prophecy that he would not be the victor.[1] Then the rebel leaders closed on the king: Thorer Hund, whose reindeer-skin coat the king's famed sword would not bite, struck at him; Kalf Arnason and the others pressed in.[2]
Wounded again and again, the king at last fell among his enemies — slain by his own countrymen on his own soil. The single crown he had built, the faith he had forced, the kingdom he had crossed half the world to reclaim: all of it seemed to die with him in the press at Stiklestad. By every ordinary measure, Olaf had lost everything.
The source text · 2
King Olaf fought most desperately. He struck the lenderman before mentioned (Thorgeir of Kviststad) across the face, cut off the nose-piece of his helmet, and clove his head down below the eyes so that they almost fell out. When he fell the king said, "Was it not true, Thorgeir, what I told thee, that thou shouldst not be victor in our meeting?" At the same instant Thord stuck the banner-pole so fast in the earth that it remained standing. Thord had got his death-wound, and fell beneath the banner. There also fell Thorfin Mun, and also Gissur Gullbrarskald, who was attacked by two men, of whom he killed one, but only wounded the other before he fell. So says Hofgardaref: --— heimskringla
Olaf in the front, cuts down Thorgeir of Kviststad (Laing).
Thorer struck at the king, and they exchanged some blows; but the king's sword would not cut where it met the reindeer skin, although Thorer was wounded in the hands. Sigvat sang thus of it: --— heimskringla
Thorer Hund strikes the king; the sword will not bite the reindeer skin.
The blood on the killer's hand
And then, at the very moment of defeat, the saga turns. Thorer Hund — one of the men who had killed him — went to where the king's body lay, took care of it, and laid it straight; and when he wiped the blood from the dead king's face, it was beautiful, with red in the cheeks as if he only slept.[1] The king's blood ran onto Thorer's wounded hand, and the wound healed at once.
That is the first miracle, granted to the very hand that helped slay him — and the saga's most daring stroke. The dead king begins to undo his enemies from the grave. Thormod the skald, mortally wounded, composed his last verse and died on his feet; the body of the king was hidden and carried away by a farmer and his son for safekeeping.[2] The defeat at Stiklestad has already, in its first night, begun to become a victory of another kind.
The source text · 2
Thorer Hund went to where King Olaf's body lay, took care of it, laid it straight out on the ground, and spread a cloak over it. He told since that when he wiped the blood from the face it was very beautiful; and there was red in the cheeks, as if he only slept, and even much clearer than when he was in life. The king's blood came on Thorer's hand, and ran up between his fingers to where he had been wounded, and the wound grew up so speedily that it did not require to be bound up. This circumstance was testified by Thorer himself when King Olaf's holiness came to be generally known among the people; and Thorer Hund was among the first of the king's powerful opponents who endeavoured to spread abroad the king's sanctity.— heimskringla
The king's blood heals Thorer Hund's hand; the dead face is beautiful (Laing).
Thorgils Halmason and his son Grim went to the field of battle towards evening when it was dusk, took King Olaf's corpse up, and bore it to a little empty houseman's hut which stood on the other side of their farm. They had light and water with them. Then they took the clothes off the body, swathed it in a linen cloth, laid it down in the house, and concealed it under some firewood so that nobody could see it, even if people came into the hut. Thereafter they went home again to the farmhouse. A great many beggars and poor people had followed both armies, who begged for meat; and the evening after the battle many remained there, and sought lodging round about in all the houses, great or small. It is told of a blind man who was poor, that a boy attended him and led him. They went out around the farm to seek a lodging, and came to the same empty house, of which the door was so low that they had almost to creep in. Now when the blind man had come in, he fumbled about the floor seeking a place where he could lay himself down. He had a hat on his head, which fell down over his face when he stooped down. He felt with his hands that there was moisture on the floor, and he put up his wet hand to raise his hat, and in doing so put his fingers on his eyes. There came immediately such an itching in his eyelids, that he wiped the water with his fingers from his eyes, and went out of the hut, saying nobody could lie there, it was so wet. When he came out of the hut he could distinguish his hands, and all that was near him, as far as things can be distinguished by sight in the darkness of light; and he went immediately to the farm-house into the room, and told all the people he had got his sight again, and could see everything, although many knew he had been blind for a long time, for he had been there, before, going about among the houses of the neighbourhood. He said he first got his sight when he was coming out of a little ruinous hut which was all wet inside. "I groped in the water," said he, "and rubbed my eyes with my wet hands." He told where the hut stood. The people who heard him wondered much at this event, and spoke among themselves of what it could be that produced it: but Thorgils the peasant and his son Grim thought they knew how this came to pass; and as they were much afraid the king's enemies might go there and search the hut, they went and took the body out of it, and removed it to a garden, where they concealed it, and then returned to the farm, and slept there all night.— heimskringla
The king's body taken up and hidden by Thorgils and his son.
The king who won the country forever
Within the year the dead king conquered. Through that winter many in the Throndhjem land began to declare Olaf a holy man, and his sanctity was confirmed by miracle after miracle — the sick healed, prayers answered, a beautiful spring rising where his body had lain, over which a chapel and then Christ Church were raised.[1] He was proclaimed a saint; Olaf the Saint, who had been king fifteen years and was thirty-five when he fell, became Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae, Norway's eternal king.[2]
And his enemies' victory curdled at once. Canute's young son Svein and his mother Alfifa, set to rule Norway, were so hated that the chiefs who had killed Olaf soon repented — and in the spring Kalf Arnason, who had fought against him, sailed east with Einar to Russia to fetch Olaf's son Magnus home to be king. The road east that had sheltered the father now carried back the son. The next reign begins where this one's exile did — at Yaroslav's court in Kyiv.
The source text · 2
This winter (A.D. 1031) many in the Throndhjem land began to declare that Olaf was in reality a holy man, and his sanctity was confirmed by many miracles. Many began to make promises and prayers to King Olaf in the matters in which they thought they required help, and many found great benefit from these invocations. Some in respect of health, others of a journey, or other circumstances in which such help seemed needful.— heimskringla
Olaf declared holy; miracles confirm his sanctity (Laing).
Early in spring (A.D. 1034) Einar Tambaskelfer and Kalf Arnason made themselves ready for a journey, with a great retinue of the best and most select men that could be found in the Throndhjem country. They went in spring eastward over the ridge of the country to Jamtaland, from thence to Helsingjaland, and came to Svithjod, where they procured ships, with which in summer they proceeded east to Russia, and came in autumn to Ladoga. They sent men up to Novgorod to King Jarisleif, with the errand that they offered Magnus, the son of King Olaf the Saint, to take him with them, follow him to Norway, and give him assistance to attain his father's heritage and be made king over the country. When this message came to King Jarisleif he held a consultation with the queen and some chiefs, and they all resolved unanimously to send a message to the Northmen, and ask them to come to King Jarisleif and Magnus; for which journey safe conduct was given them. When they came to Novgorod it was settled among them that the Northmen who had come there should become Magnus's men, and be his subjects; and to this Kalf and the other men who had been against King Olaf at Stiklestad were solemnly bound by oath. On the other hand, King Magnus promised them, under oath, secure peace and full reconciliation; and that he would be true and faithful to them all when he got the dominions and kingdom of Norway. He was to become Kalf Arnason's foster-son; and Kalf should be bound to do all that Magnus might think necessary for extending his dominion, and making it more independent than formerly.— heimskringla
Kalf and Einar sail east to Russia to fetch Magnus home to be king.
4 connection questions mark the end of this journey — and earn its keepable artifact.
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