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{{short description|King of Norway from 1015 to 1028}}{{Redirect|St. Olaf}}{{Redirect|Olaf the Stout|the video game character|The Lost Vikings}}{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}}

factoids

Ringerike (traditional district)>Ringerike, Norway| death_date = 29 July 1030 (aged around 35)| death_place = Battle of StiklestadStiklestad, Norway| place of burial = | spouse = Astrid Olofsdotter of SwedenHouse of St. Olaf>St. Olaf| father = Harald Grenske| mother = Ã…sta Gudbrandsdatter| religion = Christian}}Olaf II Haraldsson ({{circa|995}} – 29 July 1030), also Olav Haraldsson, later known as Saint Olaf and Olaf the Holy, was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway,WEB,nygaard.howards.net/files/189.htm, Harald Grenske (Family Links), 2010-06-02,nygaard.howards.net/files/189.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20101031104404nygaard.howards.net/files/189.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20101031104404nygaard.howards.net/files/189.htm, 2010-10-31, dead, he was posthumously given the title Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae () and canonised at Nidaros (Trondheim) by Bishop Grimketel, one year after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030. His remains were enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral, built over his burial site. His sainthood encouraged the widespread adoption of Christianity by Scandinavia’s Vikings/Norsemen.Pope Alexander III confirmed Olaf’s local canonisation in 1164, making him a recognised saint of the Catholic Church, and Olaf started to be known as Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae – eternal king of Norway. Following the Reformation, he was a commemorated historical figure among some members of the Lutheran and Anglican Communions.NEWS,prayerbook.ca/resources/bcponline/calendar/, The Calendar, 16 October 2013, The Prayer Book Society of Canada, 12 January 2017, 22 October 2019,prayerbook.ca/resources/bcponline/calendar/," title="web.archive.org/web/20191022221459prayerbook.ca/resources/bcponline/calendar/,">web.archive.org/web/20191022221459prayerbook.ca/resources/bcponline/calendar/, dead, The saga of Olav Haraldsson and the legend of Olaf the Saint became central to a national identity. Especially during the period of romantic nationalism, Olaf was a symbol of Norwegian independence and pride. Saint Olaf is symbolised by the axe in Norway’s coat of arms and Olsok (29 July) is still his day of celebration. Many Christian institutions with Scandinavian links as well as Norway’s Order of St. Olav are named after him.WEB,virksommeord.uib.no/taler?id=2442, Olav Haraldsson, Den norske kirkes 900-Ã¥rsjubileum, Fredrik Paasche, 29 July 1930, 1 September 2017,

Name

Olaf’s Old Norse name is Óláfr Haraldsson {{IPA-non|ˈoːlɑːvzÌ  ˈhÉ‘rÉ‘ldsËŒson|}}. During his lifetime he was known as Olaf “the fat” or “the stout“WEB,www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG112993, St Olaf II, King of Norway, British Museum, or simply as Olaf “the big” (Ólafr digri {{IPA-non|ˈdiÉ£re|}}; Modern Norwegian Olav Digre).BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=DnotAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA117, Guðbrandur Vigfússon and Frederick York Powell, York Powell, Frederick, Court Poetry, Corpus Poeticum Boreale, 2, 1883, Oxford, Oxford-Clarendon, 60479029, 117, He was also called Olaf ‘the Lawbreaker’ for his many brutal ways of converting the Norwegian populace. In Norway today,{{when|date=May 2023}} he is commonly called Olav den hellige (BokmÃ¥l; Olaf the Holy) or Heilag-Olav (Nynorsk; the Holy Olaf) in honour of his sainthood.WEB,www.bartleby.com/210/7/294.html, St. Olaus, or Olave, King of Norway, Martyr (Butler’s Lives of the Saints), Bartleby.com, 21 May 2012, Olaf Haraldsson had the given name Óláfr in Old Norse (etymology: Anu- “forefather”, -laibaR —“heir“). Olav is the modern equivalent in Norwegian, formerly often spelt Olaf. His name in Icelandic is Ólafur {{IPA-is|ˈouːlaːvʏrÌ¥|}}, in Faroese Ólavur, in Danish Olav, in Swedish Olof, and in Finnish Olavi. Olave was the traditional spelling in England, preserved in the name of medieval churches dedicated to him. Other names, such as Óláfr hinn helgi, Olavus rex, and Olaf are used interchangeably (see the Heimskringla of Snorri Sturluson). He is sometimes called Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae (), a designation which goes back to the 13th century.WEB,snl.no/Olav_den_hellige, Olav den hellige, Store norske leksikon, Leif Inge Ree Petersen, 1 September 2017,

Background

St. Olaf is attested having been born in Ringerike,“St. Olaf, Patron Saint of Norway”, St. Olaf Catholic Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306232712saintolaf.org/about-us/st-olaf-patron-saint-of-norway/ |date=6 March 2014 }} yet Ringerike must not be conflated with the modern notion of the district named after the legendary Ringerike of Ivar Vidfamne and Sigurd Hring, which may be regarded as the confederation of five petty kingdoms conferring with the five kings that established Olaf Haraldson as their High King at Hringsakri according to Saint Olafs Saga, King HrÅ“rekr, King Guðrøðr, King Hring and two others of less certain identity. Olaf Haraldsson did not become King of Norway until the Battle of Nesjar. St. Olaf was the son of Ã…sta Gudbrandsdatter and Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, whom later Icelandic sagas would describe as a great-great-grandchild of Harald Fairhair (who had unified Norway as one Kingdom, establishing a feudalist structure with the kingship far less dependent of local rulers, earls, herses and the so called petty kings). Harald Grenske died when Ã…sta Gudbrandsdatter was pregnant with Olaf. He was the son of Gudrød Bjørnsson, King Bjørn Farmann in Vestfold, that is, son of King Harald I Fairhair Halvdansson. Ã…sta later married Sigurd Syr, with whom she had other children, including Harald Hardrada, who later reigned as king of Norway.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} The petty kings of Ringerike seem to have had some claims to the High Kingship of the Commonwealth of Uppsala posing a possible threat to the royal House of Munsö under King Olof Skötkonung. The Earls of Hlaðir and the petty kings of Hringerike had been in conflict since at least King Harald Fairhair assumed power of all of Norway.

Saga sources for Olaf Haraldsson

Many texts have information about Olaf Haraldsson.JOURNAL, Bagge, Sverre, 2010, Warrior, King, and Saint: The Medieval Histories about St. Óláfr Haraldsson,www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jenglgermphil.109.3.0281, The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 109, 3, 281–321, 10.5406/jenglgermphil.109.3.0281, 10.5406/jenglgermphil.109.3.0281, 0363-6941, The oldest is the Glælognskviða or “Sea-Calm Poem”, composed by Þórarinn loftunga, an Icelander. It praises Olaf and mentions some of the famous miracles attributed to him. The Norwegian synoptic histories also mention Olaf. These include the ({{Circa|1190}}), the Historia Norwegiae ({{Circa|1160}}–1175) and a Latin text, Historia de Antiquitate Regum Norwagiensium by Theodoric the Monk ({{Circa|1177}}–1188).Lindow, John. “St. Olaf and the Skalds.” In: DuBois, Thomas A., ed. Sanctity in the North. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008. 103–27.Icelanders also wrote extensively about Olaf and there are several Icelandic sagas about him, including Fagrskinna ({{Circa|1220}}) and Morkinskinna ({{Circa|1225–1235}}). Heimskringla ({{Circa|1225}}), by Snorri Sturluson, largely bases its account of Olaf on the earlier Fagrskinna. The sources seem to say that he had been raised in the Norse pagan religion, but converted to Christ early in his adulthood. The Oldest Saga of St. Olaf ({{Circa|1200}}) is important to scholars for its constant use of skaldic verses, many of which are attributed to Olaf himself.Finally, many hagiographic sources describe St. Olaf, but these focus mostly on miracles attributed to him and cannot be used to accurately recreate his life. A notable one is The Passion and the Miracles of the Blessed Olafr.Kunin, Devra, trans. A History of Norway and The Passion and Miracles of the Blessed Olafr. London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 2011.

Reign

{{more citations needed section|date=July 2012}}A widely used account of Olaf’s life is found in Heimskringla from {{Circa|1225}}. Although its facts are dubious, the saga recounts Olaf’s deeds as follows:(File:Norway 1020 AD.png|thumb|upright|Norway in 1020) In 1008, Olaf landed on the Estonian island of Saaremaa (Osilia). The Osilians, taken by surprise, had at first agreed to Olaf’s demands, but then gathered an army during the negotiations and attacked the Norwegians. Olaf nevertheless won the battle.WEB,www.saaremaa.ee/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=277&Itemid=306&lang=en#viking, Saaremaa in written source, Saaremaa.ee, 21 May 2012,www.saaremaa.ee/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=277&Itemid=306&lang=en#viking," title="web.archive.org/web/20160122122432www.saaremaa.ee/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=277&Itemid=306&lang=en#viking,">web.archive.org/web/20160122122432www.saaremaa.ee/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=277&Itemid=306&lang=en#viking, 22 January 2016, dead, It is said that Olaf participated alongside fellow Viking Thorkell the Tall in the siege of Canterbury in 1011.BOOK, Gabriel Turville-Petre, The Heroic Age of Scandinavia, Greenwood Press, 0-8371-8128-3, 142, 1976, Olaf sailed to the southern coast of Finland sometime in 1008.WEB,www.sacred-texts.com/neu/heim/08stolaf.htm, Saga of Olaf Haraldson, sacred-texts.com, 30 April 2016, BOOK, Länsieurooppalaiset ja skandinaaviset Suomen esihistoriaa koskevat lähteet. Suomen väestön esihistorialliset juuret., Gallen, Jarl, 1984, 255–56, BOOK, Fibula, Fabula, Fact: The Viking Age in Finland, Ahola, Joonas, Frog, Tolley, Clive, Studia Fennica, 2014, 422, The journey resulted in the Battle at Herdaler, where Olaf and his men were ambushed by the Finns in the woods. Olaf lost many men but made it back to his boats. He ordered his ships to depart despite a rising storm. The Finns pursued them and made the same progress on land as Olaf and his men made on water. Despite these events they survived. The exact location of the battle is uncertain and the Finnish equivalent of Herdaler is unknown, but it has been suggested that it could be in Uusimaa, probably near present-day IngÃ¥.Suomen museo 2002 ({{ISBN|951-9057-47-1}}), page 78.As a teenager Olaf went to the Baltic, then to Denmark and later to England. Skaldic poetry suggests he led a successful seaborne attack that took down London Bridge, though Anglo-Saxon sources do not confirm this. This may have been in 1014, restoring London and the English throne to Æthelred the Unready and removing Cnut.J. R. Hagland and B. Watson, ‘Fact or folklore: the Viking attack on London Bridge’, London Archaeologist, 12 (2005), pp. 328–33. According to Snorri’s Heimskringla, the attack happened soon after the death of Sweyn Forkbeard with the city being held by Danish forces. Snorri’s account claims that Olaf assisted Æthelred in driving the Danes out of England. Olaf is also said by Snorri to have aided the sons of Æthelred after his death. Olaf is said to have won battles but been unable to assist Æthelred’s sons in driving Cnut out. After this, he set his sights on Norway.Olaf saw it as his calling to unite Norway into one kingdom, as Harald Fairhair had largely succeeded in doing. On the way home he wintered with Duke Richard II of Normandy. Marauding Vikings had conquered this region in 881. Richard was himself an ardent Christian, and the Normans had also previously converted to Christianity. Before leaving, Olaf was baptised in Rouen in the pre-Romanesque Notre-Dame Cathedral by Richard’s brother Robert the Dane, archbishop of Normandy.Olaf returned to Norway in 1015 and declared himself king, obtaining the support of the five petty kings of the Norwegian Uplands.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=62}} In 1016 at the Battle of Nesjar he defeated Earl Sweyn, one of the earls of Lade and hitherto the de facto ruler of Norway. He founded the town of Borg, later known as Sarpsborg, by the waterfall Sarpsfossen in Østfold county. Within a few years he had won more power than any of his predecessors on the throne had enjoyed.Olaf annihilated the petty kings of the south, subdued the aristocracy, asserted his suzerainty in the Orkney Islands, and conducted a successful raid on Denmark.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=62}} He made peace with King Olof Skötkonung of Sweden through Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker, and was for some time engaged to Olof’s daughter, Ingegerd, though without Olof’s approval. In 1019 Olaf married Astrid Olofsdotter, King Olof’s illegitimate daughter and the half-sister of his former fiancée. The union produced a daughter, Wulfhild, who married Ordulf, Duke of Saxony in 1042.BOOK, All the King’s Women: Polygyny and Politics in Europe, 900–1250, Jan, Rudiger, Tim, Barnwell, Brill, 2020, 252, Olaf’s success was short-lived. In 1026 he lost the Battle of the HelgeÃ¥,{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} and in 1029 the Norwegian nobles, seething with discontent, supported the invasion of King Cnut the Great of Denmark. Olaf was driven into exile in Kievan Rus.{{sfn|Chisholm |1911|p=62}} He stayed for some time in the Swedish province of Nerike, where, according to local legend, he baptised many locals. In 1029, King Cnut’s Norwegian regent, Jarl HÃ¥kon Eiriksson, was lost at sea and Olaf seized the opportunity to win back the kingdom. Given military and logistical support by the Swedish king Anund Jacob he tried to bypass the formidable “Øresundfleet” of the Danish king by traveling across the Jämtland-mountains to take Nidaros, the Norwegian capital at the time, in 1030. However, Olaf was killed in Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030,BOOK, On Heroes, Hero Worship, and the Heroic in History, Thomas, Carlyle, David R., Sorenson, Brent E., Kinser, Yale University Press, 2013, 306, where some of his own subjects from central and northern Norway took arms against him. The exact position of Saint Olaf’s grave in Nidaros has been unknown since 1568, due to the effects of the Lutheran iconoclasm in 1536–37.King Cnut, though distracted by the task of governing England, ruled Norway for five years after Stiklestad, with his son Svein and Svein’s mother Ælfgifu (known as Álfífa in Old Norse sources) as regents. But their regency was unpopular, and when Olaf’s illegitimate son Magnus (’the Good’) laid claim to the Norwegian throne, Svein and Ælfgifu were forced to flee.

Christianising

File:Bischofstab Norwegen 1375-1400.JPG|thumb|upright|St. Olaf with his ax on a bishop’s crozierbishop’s crozierOlaf has traditionally been seen as leading the Christianisation of Norway, but most scholars of the period now believe that Olaf had little to do with the process. Olaf brought with him Grimketel, who is usually credited with helping him create episcopal sees and further organising the Norwegian church, but Grimketel was only a member of Olaf’s household and no permanent sees were created until c. 1100. Also, Olaf and Grimketel most likely did not introduce new ecclesiastical laws to Norway; these were ascribed to Olaf at a later date. Olaf most likely did try to bring Christianity to the interior of Norway, where it was less prevalent.Lund, Niels. “Scandinavia, c. 700–1066.” The New Cambridge Medieval History. Ed. Rosamond McKitterick. Cambridge University Press, 1995.Questions have also been raised about the nature of Olaf’s Christianity.WEB, Dead Man Converting {{!, Christian History Magazine |url=https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/dead-man-converting |access-date=2023-07-26 |website=Christian History Institute |language=en}} Modern historians generally agreeBOOK, Bagge, Sverre, From Viking stronghold to Christian kingdom: state formation in Norway, c. 900–1350, 2010, Museum Tusculanum Press, Univ. of Copenhagen, 978-87-635-0791-2, Copenhagen, that Olaf was inclined to violence and brutality, and note that earlier scholars often neglected this side of his character. It seems that, like many Scandinavian kings, Olaf used his Christianity to gain more power for the monarchy and centralise control in Norway. The skaldic verses attributed to Olaf do not speak of Christianity at all, but use pagan references to describe romantic relationships.NEWS,www.nrk.no/trondelag/_-olav-den-hellige-var-en-sadist-1.11844595, Olav den Hellige var en sadist, NRK, NRK, 12 January 2017, In his book The Conversion of Scandinavia, Anders Winroth argues that there was a “long process of assimilation, in which the Scandinavians adopted, one by one and over time, individual Christian practices.“Winroth, Anders. The Conversion of Scandinavia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012. Winroth does not claim that Olaf was not Christian, but argues that we cannot think of any Scandinavians as fully converting as portrayed in the later hagiographies or sagas. Olaf himself is portrayed in later sources as a saintly miracle-working figure to help support this quick view of conversion for Norway, but the historical Olaf did not act this way, as seen especially in the skaldic verses attributed to him.

Sainthood

factoids

Olaf swiftly became Norway’s patron saint; Bishop Grimketel performed his canonisation only a year after his death.{{efn|name=beat|Grimketel initiated the beatification of Olaf on 3 August 1031. This was before the time of the formal canonization process now in use.{{sfn|Delehaye|1911|p=192}}}} The cult of Olaf unified the country and consolidated the Christianisation of Norway. He is also recognized as the patron saint of the Faroe Islands.WEB,weeklyword.eu/en/no-island-is-an-island/, Weekly Word, weeklyword.eu, WEB,yardyyardyyardy.blogspot.com/2011/08/eco-warriors-join-whalers-festival.html, Eco-Warriors Join Whalers’ Festival, 14 August 2011, Owing to Olaf’s later status as Norway’s patron saint, and to his importance in later medieval historiography and in Norwegian folklore, it is difficult to assess the historical Olaf’s character. Judging from the bare outlines of known historical facts, he appears to have been a fairly unsuccessful ruler, whose power was based on an alliance with the much more powerful King Cnut the Great; who was driven into exile when he claimed power of his own; and whose attempt at a reconquest was swiftly crushed.This calls for an explanation of the status he gained after his death. Three factors are important: the later myth surrounding his role in the Christianisation of Norway, the various dynastic relationships among the ruling families, and the need for legitimisation in a later period.WEB,www.viking.no/e/people/st.olav/index.html, Olav Haraldsson – Olav the Stout – Olav the Saint (Viking Network), Viking.no, 21 May 2012,

Conversion of Norway

Olaf Haraldsson and Olaf Tryggvason (Olaf Haraldsson’s godfather) are both traditionally regarded as the driving forces behind Norway’s final conversion to Christianity.Karen Larsen, A History of Norway (Princeton University Press: Princeton, 1948) pp. 95–101. But large stone crosses and other Christian symbols suggest that at least Norway’s coastal areas were deeply influenced by Christianity long before Olaf’s time; with one exception, all of Norway’s rulers since HÃ¥kon the Good (c. 920–961) were Christians (however HÃ¥kon later reverted to Heathenism as an apostate), as was Olaf’s main opponent, Cnut the Great. What seems clear is that Olaf made efforts to establish a church organization on a broader scale than before, among other things by importing bishops from England, Normandy and Germany, and that he tried to enforce Christianity in the inland areas, which had the least communication with the rest of Europe, and which economically were more strongly based on agriculture, so that the inclination to hold on to the former fertility cult was stronger than in the more diversified and expansive western parts of Norway.Many believe Olaf introduced Christian law into Norway in 1024, based upon the Kuli stone, but this stone is hard to interpret. The codification of Christianity as the legal religion of Norway was attributed to Olaf, and his legal arrangements for the Church of Norway came to stand so high in the Norwegian people’s and clergy’s eyes that when Pope Gregory VII attempted to make clerical celibacy binding on the priests of Western Europe in 1074–75, Norwegians largely ignored it, since there was no mention of clerical celibacy in Olaf’s legal code for their church. Only after Norway was made a metropolitan province with its own archbishop in 1153—making the Norwegian church, on the one hand, more independent of its king, but on the other hand, more directly responsible to the Pope—did canon law gain a greater prominence in the life and jurisdiction of the Norwegian church.

Olaf’s dynasty

For various reasons, most importantly the death of King Cnut the Great in 1035 but perhaps also a certain discontent among Norwegian nobles with Danish rule in the years after Olaf’s death in 1030, Olaf’s illegitimate son with the concubine Alvhild, Magnus the Good, assumed power in Norway, and eventually also in Denmark. Numerous Danish churches were dedicated to Olaf during his reign, and the sagas give glimpses of the young king’s efforts to promote the cult of his deceased father. This became typical of Scandinavian monarchies. In pagan times, Scandinavian kings derived their right to rule from their claims of descent from the Norse god Odin, or in the case of the kings of the Swedes at Old Uppsala, from Freyr. In Christian times this legitimation of a dynasty’s right to rule and its national prestige was based on its descent from a saintly king. Thus the kings of Norway promoted the cult of St. Olaf, the kings of Sweden the cult of St. Erik and the kings of Denmark the cult of Saint Canute, just as in England the Norman and Plantagenet kings promoted the cult of St. Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey, their coronation church.WEB,nbl.snl.no/Olav_2_Haraldsson_Den_Hellige, Olav 2 Haraldsson Den Hellige, Konge, Norsk biografisk leksikon, Claus Krag, 1 September 2017,

Saint Olaf

Liturgical cult

File:Olav fra Austevold kirke.jpg|upright|thumb|Statue of St. Olav from Austevoll ChurchAustevoll ChurchFile:St Olave, Seething Lane, London EC3 - East window - geograph.org.uk - 1077535.jpg|thumb|upright|St. Olaf in stained-glass window at St Olave’s Church, Hart StreetSt Olave’s Church, Hart StreetFile:Sankt Olof i Sankt Olof.jpg|thumb|upright|Medieval depictions of Saint Olaf adopted features from Thor. This wooden statue is from Sankt Olofs kyrka in ScaniaScaniaFile:Ulvila.vaakuna.svg|thumb|upright|Saint Olaf in the coat of arms of Ulvila, a medieval town in Satakunta, FinlandFinlandSigrid Undset noted that Olaf was baptised in Rouen, the capital of Normandy, and suggested that Olaf may have used priests of Norman descent for his missionaries. Normans were somewhat familiar with the culture of the people they were to convert and in some cases may have been able to understand the language. Among the bishops Olaf is known to have brought with him from England was Grimketel (). He was probably the only one of the missionary bishops left in the country at the time of Olaf’s death, and he stood behind the translation and beatification of Olaf on 3 August 1031.{{efn|name=beat}} Grimketel later became the first bishop of Sigtuna in Sweden.At this time, local bishops and their people recognised and proclaimed a person a saint, and a formal canonisation procedure through the papal curia was not customary; in Olaf’s case, this did not happen until 1888. But Olaf II died before the East-West Schism and a strict Roman Rite was not well-established in Scandinavia at the time. He is also venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}Grimketel was later appointed bishop in the diocese of Selsey in southeastern England. This is probably why the earliest traces of a liturgical cult of Olaf are found in England. An office, or prayer service, for Olaf is found in the so-called Leofric collectar (c. 1050), which Bishop Leofric of Exeter bequeathed in his last will and testament to Exeter Cathedral. This English cult seems to have been short-lived.Writing around 1070, Adam of Bremen mentions pilgrimage to St. Olaf’s shrine in Nidaros, but this is the only firm trace we have of a cult of St. Olaf in Norway before the mid-12th century. By this time he was also being called Norway’s Eternal King. In 1152/3, Nidaros was separated from Lund as the archbishopric of Nidaros. It is likely that whatever formal or informal veneration of Olaf as a saint may have existed in Nidaros before that was emphasised and formalised on this occasion.Miracles performed by St. Olaf appear for the first time in Þórarinn loftunga’s skaldic poem Glælognskviða, or “Sea-Calm Poem”, from about 1030–34.Margaret Clunies Ross, ‘ Reginnaglar ‘, in News from Other Worlds/Tíðendi ór ǫðrum heimum: Studies in Nordic Folklore, Mythology and Culture in Honor of John F. Lindow, ed. by Merrill Kaplan and Timothy R. Tangherlini, Wildcat Canyon Advanced Seminars Occasional Monographs, 1 (Berkeley, CA: North Pinehurst Press, 2012), pp. 3–21 (p. 4); {{ISBN|0578101742}}. One is the killing and throwing onto a mountain of a sea serpent still visible on the cliffside.Serpent image {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320143322kulturminneatlas.avinet.no/object/dbarticle_preview.aspx?id=745 |date=20 March 2017 }}{{Primary source inline|date=March 2017}} Another took place on the day of his death, when a blind man regained his sight after rubbing his eyes with hands stained with Olaf’s blood.The texts used for the liturgical celebration of St. Olaf during most of the Middle Ages were probably compiled or written by Eystein Erlendsson, the second Archbishop of Nidaros (1161–1189).{{efn|Eysteinn Erlendsson is commonly believed to have written Et Miracula Beati Olaui. This Latin hagiographical work is about the history and work of St. Olaf, with particular emphasis on his missionary work.Eysteinn Erlendsson, Archbishop of Nidaros}} The nine miracles reported in Glælognskviða form the core of the catalogue of miracles in this office.St. Olaf was widely popular throughout Scandinavia. Numerous churches in Norway, Sweden, and Iceland were dedicated to him. His presence was even felt in Finland and many travelled from all over the Norse world in order to visit his shrine.Orrman, Eljas. “Church and society”. In: Prehistory to 1520. Ed. Knut Helle. Cambridge University Press, 2003. Apart from the early traces of a cult in England, there are only scattered references to him outside the Nordic area.Several churches in England were dedicated to him (often as St Olave); the name was presumably popular with Scandinavian immigrants. St Olave’s Church, York, is referred to in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 1055WEB,www.britannia.com/history/docs/1053-55.html, The AngloSaxon Chronicle, Britannia, 21 May 2012,www.britannia.com/history/docs/1053-55.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20160303193223www.britannia.com/history/docs/1053-55.html,">web.archive.org/web/20160303193223www.britannia.com/history/docs/1053-55.html, 3 March 2016, dead, as the place of burial of its founder, Earl Siward. This is generally accepted to be the earliest datable church foundation dedicated to Olaf and is further evidence of a cult of St. Olaf in the early 1050s in England. St Olave Hart Street in the City of London is the burial place of Samuel Pepys and his wife. Another St. Olave’s Church south of London Bridge gave its name to Tooley Street and to the St Olave’s Poor Law Union, later the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey: its workhouse in Rotherhithe became St Olave’s Hospital and then an old people’s home a few hundred metres from St Olav’s Church, which is the Norwegian Church in London. It also led to the naming of St Olave’s Grammar School, which was established in 1571 and was in Tooley Street until 1968, when it moved to Orpington, Kent. The village of St Olaves in Norfolk bears the name as it is the location of the remains of a 13th-century Augustinian priory dedicated to Olaf.St. Olaf was also, together with the Mother of God, the patron saint of the chapel of the Varangians, the Scandinavian warriors who served as the bodyguard of the Byzantine emperor. This church is believed to have been near the church of Hagia Irene in Constantinople. The icon of the (commons:File:Nicopeia.jpg|Madonna Nicopeia),WEB,www.umbc.edu/MA/index/number1/fenl1/fe1_8.htm, The invention of tradition, Umbc.edu, 21 May 2012, presently in St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, which is believed to have been traditionally carried into combat by the Byzantine military forces, is believed to have been kept in this chapel in times of peace. Thus St. Olaf was also the last saint venerated by both the Western and Eastern churches before the Great Schism.The basilica of Sant’Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso in Rome has a Chapel of St Olav. Its altarpiece contains a painting of the saint, shown as a martyr king defeating a dragon, representing victory over his pagan past. It was originally a gift presented to Pope Leo XIII in 1893 for the golden jubilee of his ordination as a bishop by Norwegian nobleman and papal chamberlain Baron Wilhelm Wedel-Jarlsberg. The chapel was restored in 1980 and reinaugurated by Bishop John Willem Gran, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oslo.WEB,www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bgran.html, Bishop John Willem Nicolaysen Gran, O.C.S.O. Deceased, Catholic-Hierarchy, David M. Cheney, 22 August 2015, 1 September 2017, In Germany, there used to be a shrine of St. Olaf in Koblenz. It was founded in 1463 or 1464 by Heinrich Kalteisen at his retirement home, the Dominican Monastery in the Altstadt (“Old City“) neighborhood of Koblenz. He was the Archbishop of Nidaros in Norway from 1452 to 1458. When he died in 1464, he was buried in front of the shrine’s altar.{{in lang|no}} Audun Dybdahl, “Henrik Kalteisen”, in: Norsk biografisk leksikon [ Norwegian Biographical Dictionary ]. Retrieved 24 October 2011. However, the shrine did not last: the Dominican Monastery was secularized in 1802 and bulldozed in 1955. Only the Rokokoportal (“Rococo Portal“), built in 1754, remains to mark the spot.See Harald Rausch, ”Das Ende der Weißergasse”, PAPOO, posted 2 February 2011 {{in lang|de}}, and Reinhard Schmid, ”Koblenz – Dominikanerkloster”, Klöster und Stifte in Rheinland-Pfalz [ Monasteries and Churches in Rhineland-Palatinate ] {{in lang|de}} for more details.In the Faroe Islands, the day of St. Olaf’s death is celebrated as Ólavsøka, a nation-wide holiday.WEB,www.newadvent.org/cathen/11234a.htm, St. Olaf Haraldson (Catholic Encyclopedia), Newadvent.org, 1 February 1911, 21 May 2012, Recently the pilgrimage route to Nidaros Cathedral, the site of St. Olaf’s tomb, has been reinstated. The route is known as The Pilgrim’s Way (Pilegrimsleden). The main route, approximately 640 km long, starts in the ancient part of Oslo and heads north, along Lake Mjosa, up the Gudbrandsdal Valley, over Dovrefjell and down the Orkdal Valley, ending at Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. A Pilgrim’s Office in Oslo gives advice to pilgrims, and a Pilgrim Centre in Trondheim, under the aegis of the Cathedral, awards certificates to pilgrims when they complete their journeys. However, the relics are no longer exposed in the cathedral, and it is not sure where exactly in the cathedral crypt his remains are buried.

Folklore

For centuries, Olaf figured in folk traditions as a slayer of trolls and giants, and as a protector against malicious forces. He was said to have healing power, which attracted people to his shrine, and various springs were claimed to have sprung forth where he or his body had been.BOOK, AstÃ¥s, Reidar, 1993, Óláfr, St., Medieval Scandinavia, an Encyclopedia, Pulsiano, Phillip, NY and London, Garland, 0-8240-4787-7, 446, Around the 12th century, folk traditions and iconography of Olaf absorbed elements of the gods Thor and Freyr from Norse mythology.BOOK, Dumézil, Georges, Georges Dumézil, 1973, Gods of the Ancient Northmen, University of California Press, 0-520-02044-8, 125, Like Freyr, he became associated with fertility, which led to his adoption as a patron saint by farmers, fishermen, sailors and merchants of the Hanseatic League, who turned to him for good yield and protection. From Thor, he inherited the quick temper, physical strength and merits of a giant-slayer.BOOK, 2002, Olaf, Saint, Lindahl, Carl, McNamara, John, Lindow, John, Medieval Folklore: A Guide to Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs, and Customs, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 9780195147711, 299, Popular tradition also made marks in the ecclesiastical material. Early depictions of Olaf portray him as clean-shaven, but after 1200 he appears with a red beard, which may have been absorbed from Thor. The Passio a miracule beati Olavi, the official record of Olaf’s miracles, contains an episode where Olaf helps a man escape from the huldrefolk, the “hidden people” of Norwegian folklore.

In Normandy

In Normandy, Saint Olaf represents an important figure and was chosen unofficially as the patron saint of the Normans, this term mainly designating the inhabitants of continental Normandy and of channel islands, but also on a larger scale the inhabitants of the former Viking territories, namely the Scandinavian countries and, even more so, Norway. This choice can be explained by the time in which Olaf lived and when the exchanges between Normandy and the Scandinavian countries were common. There were also many kinships between the inhabitants of the brand new Norman state, as illustrated by the choice of Archbishop Robert II for the baptism of Olaf.The (:fr:Drapeau normand#Drapeaux à croix scandinave (ou croix de Saint Olaf)|normand flag) with a Scandinavian cross, which recalls the Scandinavian origins of Normandy, has been baptized “Cross of Saint Olav” (or “Cross of Saint Olaf“) in honor of the saint.Baptized in Rouen by the brother of a Duke of Normandy, a church in Rouen is dedicated to Saint-Olaf.WEB, Eglise Norvégienne,www.rouen-histoire.com/Eglises_Rouen/Eglise_Norvegienne.htm, 2021-05-02, www.rouen-histoire.com, The Norwegian Saint-Olaf Church was built in 1926, rue Duguay-Trouin, near the home of the Scandinavian sailors. The Norwegian Seamen’s Mission wanted to build a Lutheran place of worship for visiting sailors.A bone from Saint Olaf’s arm is kept as a relic in the crypt of Rouen Cathedral.WEB, Le millénaire du baptême de Saint-Olav à la cathédrale de Rouen,france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/normandie/2014/10/19/le-millenaire-du-bapteme-de-saint-olav-la-cathedrale-de-rouen-574612.html, 2021-05-02, France 3 Normandie, 19 October 2014, fr-FR, In 2014 the city and the diocese of Rouen celebrated the millennium of the baptism of Saint Olav with the Norwegian representatives of the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway.In Normandy, July 29 is the occasion of local cultural festivals which generally highlight the Norse heritage of Normandy. In some Norman parishes, Mass is celebrated on this day in honor of the saint and to mark the historical links that unite Normandy and Scandinavia.WEB, GChapdelaine, Saint Olaf — Fraternité de l’Abbaye de La Lucerne,www.coutances.catholique.fr/pres-de-chez-vous/fraternite-de-l-abbaye-de-la-lucerne/spiritualite/saint-olaf, 2021-05-02, www.coutances.catholique.fr, 4 June 2017, fr, 17 February 2022,web.archive.org/web/20220217122400/https://www.coutances.catholique.fr/pres-de-chez-vous/fraternite-de-l-abbaye-de-la-lucerne/spiritualite/saint-olaf, dead,

In Epcot

File:Olaf II of Norway.jpg|thumb|alt=Olaf II of Norway statue located in Disney World’s Epcot|Olaf II of Norway statue located in Disney World’s right A statue of a young Olaf Haraldsson can be found erected in front of the Stave Church replica in the Norway Pavilion in Walt Disney World’s Epcot.

Other references to St. Olaf

{{Further|List of churches dedicated to St Olav|label1=List of churches dedicated to St. Olav}}File:Jomala.vapen.svg|thumb|upright|Saint Olaf in the coat of arms of Jomala, Ã…landÃ…land

• St. Olav’s Cathedral, Oslo, the main cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church in Norway
• St. Olav’s Chapel, in Covarrubias, SpainWEB, Saint Olav’s chapel in Spain, pilgrim.info,www.pilgrim.info/en/index.aspx?id=714273,www.pilgrim.info/en/index.aspx?id=714273," title="web.archive.org/web/20080102084629www.pilgrim.info/en/index.aspx?id=714273,">web.archive.org/web/20080102084629www.pilgrim.info/en/index.aspx?id=714273, 2008-01-02,
• Olavshallen Concert Hall in Trondheim
• St. Olaf’s Church, Balestrand in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway
• Sankt Olof situated in Simrishamn Municipality, SkÃ¥ne County, Sweden
• St. Oluf’s Church, now St. Oluf’s Cemetery in Aarhus, Denmark, originates from before 1203, but has been in ruins since 1548.
• St. Olaf’s Church in Jomala, Ã…land
• St. Olaf’s Church, the tallest and possibly oldest church in Tallinn, Estonia
• St. Olaf’s Church in Nõva, Estonia
• St. Olaf’s Church in Vormsi, Estonia
• St. Olaf’s Church ruins in Väike-Pakri, Estonia
• St. Olaf’s Chapel ruins in Suur-Pakri, Estonia
• Saint Olav’s Church in Kirkjubøur, Faroe Islands
• St. Olaf’s Church, Tyrvää in Sastamala, Finland
• St. Olaf’s Castle (Olavinlinna) in Savonlinna, Finland
• St. Olaf College was founded by Norwegian-American immigrant Bernt Julius Muus in Northfield, Minnesota during 1874.
• Saint Olaf Catholic Church in downtown MinneapolisChurch website; Statue of the saint from the sanctuary {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727232741saintolaf.org/wp-content/uploads/2.jpg |date=27 July 2011 }}
• Saint Olaf Catholic Church in Norge, VirginiaWEB,www.stolaf.cc/, St. Olaf Church, Patron of Norway Catholic Church, stolaf.cc, 12 January 2017,
• Saint Olaf Catholic Church and School in Bountiful, UTWEB,stolafut.org/home.html, St Olaf Home Page, Saint Olaf Catholic Church,
• St. Olave’s Anglican Church, Toronto, ON, CanadaWEB,stolaves.ca/, St. Olave’s Anglican Church – Beauty and Tradition in Toronto’s Bloor West Village, 11 April 2019,
• The primary school and GAA club in Balally, Dublin, Ireland, both named for St. OlafWEB,www.stolafs.ie/, St. Olaf’s National School, St. Olaf’s National School,
• Tower of St. Olav, the only remaining tower of Vyborg Castle
• The coat of arms of the Church of Norway contains two axes, the instruments of St. Olaf’s martyrdom.
• The oldest picture of St. Olaf is painted on a column in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
• The Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav was founded in 1847 by Oscar I, king of Norway and Sweden, in memory of the king.{{sfn|Chisholm |1911|p=62}}
• {{ill|T.S.C. Sint Olof|nl}}, a Dutch student organisation with St. Olaf as its patron.
• St Olaf St a secondary street in Lerwick, Shetland
• St Olaf is a character in the Norwegian TV series Beforeigners.
• St Olaf’s Church in Wasdale which is England’s smallest parish church. weblink

See also

• Oldest Saga of St. Olaf
• Legendary Saga of St. Olaf
• Separate Saga of St. Olaf
• Óláfs saga helga
• Rauðúlfs þáttr, short allegorical story involving St. Olaf
• The Saint Olav Drama
• Olavsund in Ny-Hellesund
• Olavinlinna (medieval castle in Savonlinna)
• St Olave’s Grammar School
• St Olaves, village in Norfolk, England
• St. Olave’s Church (disambiguation)
• St. Olav’s Cathedral, Oslo
• Helmet and spurs of Saint Olaf
• St. Olav’s shrine
• Shrine of Manchan, with early representation of St. Olaf
• (Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/July 29|Saint Olaf, patron saint archive)
• List of churches dedicated to St. Olav

Notes

{{notelist}}

References

{{Reflist}}Attribution:

• {{EB1911 |wstitle=Olaf (kings of Norway)Olaf (II.) Haraldssön |display=Olaf § Olaf (II.) Haraldssön |volume=20 |page=62}}

Further reading

• EB1911, Delehaye, Hippolyte, Hippolyte Delehaye, Canonization, 5, 192–93,
• Ekrem, Inger; Lars Boje Mortensen; Karen Skovgaard-Petersen (2000) Olavslegenden og den Latinske Historieskrivning i 1100-tallets Norge (Museum Tusculanum Press) {{ISBN|978-87-7289-616-8}}
• Hoftun, Oddgeir (2008) Kristningsprosessens og herskermaktens ikonografi i nordisk middelalder (Oslo) {{ISBN|978-82-560-1619-8}}
• Hoftun, Oddgeir (200) Stavkirkene – og det norske middelaldersamfunnet (Copenhagen; Borgens Forlag) {{ISBN|87-21-01977-0}}
• Langslet, Lars Roar; ØdegÃ¥rd, Knut (2011) Olav den hellige. Spor etter helgenkongen (Oslo: Forlaget Press) {{ISBN|82-7547-402-7}}
• Lidén, Anne (1999) Olav den helige i medeltida bildkonst. Legendmotiv och attribut (Stockholm) {{ISBN|91-7402-298-9}}
• Myklebus, Morten (1997) Olaf Viking & Saint (Norwegian Council for Cultural Affairs) {{ISBN|978-82-7876-004-8}}
• Passio Olavi (1970) Lidingssoga og undergjerningane Ã¥t den Heilage Olav (Oslo) {{ISBN|82-521-4397-0}}
• Rumar, Lars (1997) Helgonet i Nidaros: Olavskult och kristnande i Norden (Stockhol) {{ISBN|91-88366-31-6}}

External links

{{Commons category|Olaf II of Norway}}

• NIE, Olaf II., x,
• St. Olavs Orden {{in lang|no}}
• Olav den Hellige – Norges evige konge
• www.st-olavsloppet.com/portal/en/" title="archive.today/20130104205521www.st-olavsloppet.com/portal/en/">St. Olavsloppet
• A History of Norway and The Miracles of the Blessed Olafr
• Ny viten om Olav den hellige (Jørgen Haavardsholm. University of Oslo)
• Saint Olave – King of Norway, Olav den Hellige (Karsten Krambs 2018)

{{Monarchs of Norway|state=collapsed}}{{Authority control}}