London

London — and its bridge — is where, in the tradition attached to the young St Olaf, the Norse pulled down the bridge over the Thames in the Anglo-Danish wars. Joining the sons of King Ethelred to win back England from the Danes, Olaf is said to have rowed his ships up to the Danish-held bridge, fixed cables to its piles, and pulled it down with the tide, toppling its defenders into the river — the deed echoed, some say, in the old rhyme. London is the saga's image of the future saint at war on the great stage — the English city where the young viking-king learned the trade of war in the age's biggest conflict, the bridge whose famous fall places St Olaf, before ever he was a saint, at the centre of the wars for England.