Norway 5: Olaf Tryggvason

Question 1

What does 995 mark?

Answer 1

995 marks the beginning of a 30 year period in which the territorial unification of Norway would be largely complete and christianity would become the only accepted religion
— this phase was begun by olaf tryggvason, despite him only ruling for 5 years

Question 2

What happened when Tryggvason was a child?

Answer 2

His father was killed by the sons of Eirik Bloodaxe and so his mother took him to Russia for their safety

Question 3

What do we know about Tryggvason’s time in russia as a young man?

Answer 3

we have limited knowledge of his time in russia but we can assume that he grew up there. He also probably joined a band of vikings when he was old enough and went racing around northern europe

Question 4

What did olaf do in 991?

Answer 4

Turns up in england with an army and harries kent (according to the ASC)
– by this point he was already an experienced military commander and raider

Question 5

What did olaf do in 994?

Answer 5

He joined his forces with that of King Sweyn Forkbeard of denmark and the two of them tried to conquer london.
Æthelred paid them off but then divided them by inviting Olaf to be his ally instead of Sweyn’s. Olaf let himself be baptised with ethelred as his godfather and olaf accepted gifts and promised never to attack england again.

Question 6

What did Olaf take back to norway with him from england?

Answer 6

took danegeld, mint masters and missionaries

Question 7

Why did ethelred want Olaf to be on his side?

Answer 7

Ethelred benefited from having a ‘family member’ on the norwegian throne, in that it would make england less likely to be attacked from norway whilst also potentially weakening denmark’s position

Question 8

What contributed to Olaf’s quick succession/ takeover in 995?

Answer 8

Support from ethelred seems to have contributed substantially to loaf’s quick success

Question 9

where did Olaf’s power base come from?

Answer 9

both loaf’s military and financial power base, to a large extent, came from outside of Norway

Question 10

The notion that Tryggvason was a descendent of Fairhair…. discuss

Answer 10

Tryggvason probably didn’t come from any of the old petty kingdoms but despite this, there is a tradition that he was the grandson of Fairhair.
BUT contemporary skaldic poetry makes no reference to him being Fairhair’s grandson AND Fairhair’s territory was mainly in the west, whereas Tryggvason’s was in the east of Norway

Question 11

significant actions of Olaf during his reign?

Answer 11

1) Founded a town close to the earl’s seat at Lade; this was called Niðaros
2) formed alliances with the local rulers in Viken and southwestern Norway through marrying his sisters to men in their families

Question 12

Discuss Niðaros

Answer 12

Archaeologically we see that trade and cultural activities were not particularly important in the early period of the town, and its main function was as a ‘port of faith’ placed deliberately in the rich pagan heartlands of Trøndelag and the evidence of chrisitan burial dates back to the earliest layer of the town

Question 13

Why was earl Hakon forced out?

Answer 13

Not clear
some skaldic verse suggest he was tyrannical
Snorri features an account of Hakon’s unusual promiscuity which could be linked to cult activity

Question 14

What happened to earl Hakon?

Answer 14

Recived sudden death for treachery about the same time as Olaf arrived in Norway
Earl Hakon’s son, Eirik, fled to Sweden

Question 15

How did Olaf come into rule?

Answer 15

Through direct conquest and he took up the position which had traditionally been occupied by the earls of Lade as trondelag had become the economic and strategical heartland of the north

Question 16

Who are the ‘conversion kings’ and what do they all have in common?

Answer 16

Hakon the Good, Olaf Tryggvason and Olaf Haraldsson

– They all converted to christianity abroad and saw that it could be used to break down societal resistance to the king

Question 17

Introduce christianity/ conversion in tryggs reign

Answer 17

During Tryggvasons reign Christianity can be said to entrée a phase of establishment = king and church cooperated in establishing towns as places of continuous christian cult at strategic locations

Question 18

When did conflict tend to arise over religion?

Answer 18

from about the mid 10th century paganism and christianity must have existed side by side, perhaps peacefully

conflict only tended to really arise when conversion was enforced

As christianity became more established, missionary activity increased in strength, which probably explains the increased resistance to christianity in the 2nd half of the 900s

Question 19

Olaf’s use of christianity

Answer 19

Olaf does seem to have been a sincere christian but he also undoubtedly used the conversion to try for a political advantage

• -He established churches at strategically located central locations on the norwegian coast around Trondheimsfjord for maximum control of the area and its travel routes
• • The missionary church was primarily led by the king and the bishops were members of the kings retinue

Question 20

Where did olaf have little control?

Answer 20

In the southern or inland region and so the spread of chrisitanity does not appear to have been well received by the people there

Question 21

Olaf and Iceland…what happened?

Answer 21

The icelandic sources of Islendingabok and Olaf’s sagas say that it was Olaf who sent the first missionary, Thrangbrand, to Iceland
He had some success but returned after two years and said to king Olaf that Christianity would never flourish there and Olaf became furious with the icelanders, but some icelanders managed to calm his wrath and persuaded him to allow them to convert their own country, which they did eventually

Question 22

Why did olaf want to make iceland christian?

Answer 22

Olaf was probably using the conversion of Iceland for political reasons as well as piety, as a land that had to be conquered and converted by force lost its sovereignty
– but chrisitanity was accepted by the iclanders at the althing in 999/1000

Question 23

Who had Olaf put himself in direct competition with?

Answer 23

The kingdom of Denmark
– Olaf’s attempt to bring christianity, at least to trondelag, and western norway, must have weakened Denmark’s position in those parts of the country

Question 24

Introduce Adam of Bremen as a source for Olaf Tryggvason

Answer 24

One may think that Adam of Bremen’s account, wiring 75 years after, would have access to accurate information but that isn’t what we get; Adam’s account is quite vitriolic

Question 25

What does Adam say about Olaf Trggvason

Answer 25

adam says that Tryggvason committed suicide by throwing himself in the sea.
he doesn’t say for definite that Olaf was a christian, but does pass on the common report that olaf was skilled in divination and cast lots to predict the will of the gods — BUT this practise is mentioned in the Vita Anskarii (which Adam would have had access to) and so he may have got that from there

Question 26

Why didn’t Adam of Bremen like Tryggvason and why present him in such a bad light?

Answer 26

Hamberg Bremen claimed lordship over all the churches in Scandinavia, but Olaf kept with his baptism and ignored their claims, keeping his english bishops— Adam would not have liked the fact that Olaf sent Thrangbrand to Iceland, essentially to get rid of him.

He also probably had little to go on and his informants were likely to be danes, who had been converted by hamberg Bremen, and thus enemies of the norwegians

Question 27

Who were tryggvason’s main opponents and why?

Answer 27

• Sweyn Forkbeard (who he had deserted)- tryggvason’s taking of the norwegian throne also violated the overlordship of norway which bluetooth had established
• Earl Hakon’s sons Eirik and Svein ( as Trggvason had replaced their father as ruler)
• Olaf -Tribute-King (the king of sweden)- owing to marriage alliances, he was also with Svein

Question 28

What happens in 1000?

Answer 28

The viking war leader that Olaf was, he sailed out to take battle to his enemies but is defeated in a naval battle

Question 29

What happened after the death of olaf Tryggvason?

Answer 29

Svein forkbreard became the overlord of Norway and Erik (earl hakon’s son) became earl of Lade, whilst his brother Svein ruled western Norway and married into the swedish royal family.
— from 1019 onwards, Cnut looked at Norway as a rightful part of his empire

Question 30

The situation for sources for Olaf Trggvason

Answer 30

There are few contemporary sources for Olaf Tryggvason– very few skaldic verses and the ASC is not that useful.

— Everything else is impacted by Haraldsson being made a saint – all non contemporary sources in some way reflect the fact that his successor was a saint; this reflection could be negative (as in Adam) or positive (as in the icelandic sources)

Question 31

one way in which Olaf Haraldsson affects the sources for Tryggvason

Answer 31

Just as the history of the world was divided into two halves, so too the history of norway was, with the beginning of the christian age signalled by the martyr like death of Haraldsson

Question 32

Example of Tryggvason being written about typologically

Answer 32

in the prologue to the saga written by the icelandic cleric Oddor Snorrason, who compares Olaf Tryggvason to john the baptist– hence why we must be cautious about the sources that mention him
– despite the fact that Tryggvason was never really a candidate for deification, a number of texts were written to illustrate his piety and especially his role as the spiritual leader/ father of the icelanders

Question 33

Why did Iceland adopt Tryggvason as their own saint?

Answer 33

Haraldsson was considered the special protector/ saint of Norway and the Icelanders were attracted to the idea of having a saint, but promoting Haraldsson would send the wrong political message
SO… icelanders turn to Tryggvason ‘the missionary king’ who had started the conversion as their own patron.

Although Trygg had not performed any miracles, he must have had a special relationship with god and easy to fit him into a christian view of history through typology