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Saint Olav died in the Battle of Stiklestad on July 29, 1030. You and I probably learned it in school. The battle marks an important turning point in our history. It is considered the beginning of Christianity and Norway as we know it today.
But is that true?
In the new “Olav” series, Kristofer Hivju and his wife Gry Molvær Hivju try to find answers about the mythical Viking king. In their search, they find at least 17 different sources, telling 17 different versions of what happened that summer day in Trøndelag almost 1000 years ago.
Some speak of a magnificent battle with thousands of men, while others wonder if Olav died in Stiklestad or if he was killed in an ambush.
We will now take a closer look at some of the sources, hoping to get closer to an answer.
Dominated by an army
We started with the oldest source we have, namely Sigvat Tordsson, which was called Sigvat Skald. He composed a tribute poem to Olav the Saint in 1040, about 10 years after the Battle of Stiklestad. It says that Olav encountered an army of men.
But Sigvat Skald was not in Stiklestad when Olav died. He was on a pilgrimage to Europe and had a bad conscience for leaving his king. When he wrote the tribute poem ten years later, he had become the poet of Magnus the Good, who was the son of Olav the Holy and now King of Norway. It is not certain that he managed to be completely neutral when recreating the story of the father of the father.
The question is, how much can we really trust the bald old quatrains?
– The old bald quatrains are believed to be authentic. They are composed in a very special way and followed strict construction rules. So it was difficult to change them when he told them more, says medieval historian Tore Skeie.
You know what you’re talking about. In 2018, he published the book Hvitekrist, which is about Olav the Saint and his time, and is the first volume of a larger work on the Viking Age and medieval history.
– There is no doubt that it was a battle in Stiklestad. Skaldekvadene tells of a brutal battle, with battle cries, arrows, wounded and dead, also Olav himself. But they do not say that it was necessarily a great battle with thousands of warriors, as later tradition presents.
There is no physical evidence that there has ever been a major battle at Stiklestad, according to NTNU archaeologist Axel Christophersen.
– We have not found spearheads or other items from the battle. This is not so strange, because there was a great landslide here in 1823, which completely changed the landscape, he says.
Therefore, we cannot know for sure where the battle was or how big it really was.
But several foreign sources ask if there was a battle at Stiklestad in 1030.
Secret ambush
First written The source that mentions the battle is Adam of Bremen in the year 1070. He was a German priest, author and historian. Throw up three possible scenarios on how Olav died:
- Olav was killed in battle
- Olav was publicly mocked and killed by infidels
- Olav was assassinated on behalf of the Danish king
He is supported by Florence of Worcester, a twelfth-century English monk and chronicler. Worcester writes that Olav was killed in an ambush.
Can they be right?
Professor Randi Bjørshol Wærdahl from NTNU’s Department of History and Classical Studies does not think so.
– The close tradition of the Nordic saga is very strong. Foreign sources distanced themselves from the facts: they weren’t as aware of what was happening in Norway at the time and they also wrote it down afterwards, he says.
We are now approaching the core of this mystery. All the stories about Olav’s death were written. then that he had been established as the saint of the church.
The presentation of actual events may have changed, and this is important to keep in mind when we go to the next source.
Stone symbols
In one of our oldest and most famous royal sagas, called Ågrip, it says that Olav loses his sword, leans on a stone with open arms, and prays before he dies.
This stone on which Olav is said to have leaned is on display today on the altar of the Stiklestad church. It was found during a restoration of the church in 1929. The only problem is that it may not have been exactly this stone.
– No, it has been examined by geologists from the National Heritage Board and probably does not originate from this area. This stone is also made to at least lean on, says archaeologist Axel Christophersen.
Troubled whispering game
Snorre ‘Heimskringla’ from approx. 1220 has been a kind of official version that describes the battle of Stiklestad, and that Olav the Saint was killed there.
But here there is also a problem. Snorre wrote the story 200 years after the battle. And as we all know, many stories can happen that are told from person to person over 200 years. If you’ve ever tried to play the whisper game, you know what I mean.
Thus, there is little evidence that there really was a battle at Stiklestad, and how Olav the Saint died will likely remain a mystery forever.
