Olav II. Haraldsson
Olav II. Haraldsson (* 995 ; ⚔ July 29, 1030 in the Battle of Stiklestad ), Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae , was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028 and was called the Fat (Olav Digre) during his lifetime . He was canonized after his death and is known to this day as Olav the Saint . His Protestant and Roman Catholic memorial day is July 29 (in Germany, Roman Catholic July 10).
The beginnings
The year of birth is generally assumed to be 995, but this is a very uncertain figure. It is possible that the Saga authors linked the takeover of royal power by Olav Tryggvason in 995 with the birth of Olav Haraldsson. After all, Olav took part in a Viking procession in 1007/1008 . It can be assumed that he was older than 12 years at that time. His father was a Danish sub-king by the Oslofjord by the name of Harald Grenske . His mother's name was Åsta. When Olav was born, his father was already dead. Åsta married Sigurd Syr, a petty king from Ringerike (today's Viken province ), where Olav grew up. Åsta had with Sigurd the son Harald, who also became king and was called Harald Hardråde . In the 12th century Sæmundur fróði and Ari fróði identify him as a descendant of Harald Fairhair . However, this happened at a time when noble descent was of particular importance for the legitimation of power and the authors also had an interest in representing a continuity of dynastic rule. The disputes with the Danish kings at the time the sagas were written suggest this, so that this descent is doubtful.
Initially, Olav Viking was in the Baltic Sea . The skalds call fights in Sweden and Finland. In 1009 he joined a Viking army against England. The army was led for three years by Torkjel Høye , who had already been in the battle of Svolder . The English sources report about him, but not about Olav, so that he should not have had a prominent position. The Hofskalden name Olav, but not Torkjel, which is due to the genre “praise poetry”. Olav was on the train against Canterbury in 1011 ; In 1012 the English paid 48,000 pounds of silver protection money, whereupon the Vikings broke off the military campaign. Olav received a not inconsiderable part of this Danegeld . After that, the Viking army was disbanded and Olav and Torkjel separated. Torkjel went into the service of Æthelred . Olav moved south and invaded France and Spain as well. In 1013 the Danish King Svend Tveskæg led a new military campaign to England. Æthelred and his wife had to flee to France. Olav, who was returning from his campaign in the south, met them in Normandy and joined Æthelred. Olav was baptized in Rouen . In 1014 Svend Tveskæg died and Æthelred returned home, but Knut , Svend Tveskæg's son, prepared for a new attack on England. Snorri now reports that Olav attacked London alongside Æthelred. But the skaldic verses he quotes for it refer in all probability to the futile battle of the Danes for London in 1009, when Olav fought on the side of the Danes. But he must have been in the service of Æthelred. The remark of the skalds that Olav had recaptured areas for Æthelred, the saga authors have expanded so that he has recaptured all of England for Æthelred. This confused the chronology of the saga: the sagas let Svend Tveskæg die in 1008, six years before his actual death, and Olav's services for Æthelred begin too early and take too long. As a result, Snorri lets Olav fight for Æthelred against the Danes at a time when he was actually still in the Danish army.
The climb
In 1015, probably in autumn, he sailed for Norway with two manned Knots . This dating seems certain, because Sigvat Tordsson reports in his Erfidrápa that Olav fell 15 years after his elevation to the rank of King of Norway. The sagas also report that Olav Håkon met Jarl Eiriksson there by chance. His mother was Gyda, the daughter of Svend Tveskæg and thus the sister of Canute the Great . Sigvat, who wrote his poem shortly after the encounter, does not report a fight between the two. However, 7 years after the encounter, Ottar Svarte reports that Olav succeeded in capturing Håkon with his ship and his men. However, he released him against the promise not to fight Olav any more. It is possible that by the time Ottar's poem was written, the political situation had already changed to such an extent that it seemed important in the Olav area that Håkon was in the power of Olav and recognized his supremacy, and that Olav was at the same time generous to show. Most sagas claim that Håkon went to England, the little saga Ágrip , the oldest source, that Håkon received rule over the Suderøy Islands and remained there until the end of his life. The term "Suderøyane" (South Islands) most likely refers to the Hebrides (and not the South Island of Suðuroy in the Faroe Islands ). The Vikings called the Hebrides Suðreyjar (South Islands) and in contrast, they called the Orkney and Shetland Islands as Norðreyjar (North Islands).
The first fight Olav is reported about is the battle of Nesjar ( Vestfold , today the place of Brunlanes belonging to Larvik ) against Jarl Sven , Uncle Håkon on his father's side. The battle took place on Palm Sunday . If it took place in the first spring after Olav's return, it was March 25, 1016. Sven only had a few farmers with him from the interior of Trøndelag . Apparently those from the outer part of Trøndelag and Vestland did not move with them. On the other hand, Olav had a large troop. Sigvat, who was present at the battle, said in his poem Nesjavisur that it was because Olav was generous, but Sven was stingy. Olav came home from England with larger funds, and later even had his own silver coins struck (only two were found in 1924). Sigvat called the Trønder Svens people; but Olav's men came from Oppland and Hedemark . So Olav began his power in the inner east country. Contrary to the saga tradition according to which Olav was chosen voluntarily as king and those who chose him later instigated a treacherous uprising, the skald Ottar reports in detail in his Høfuðlausn about Olav's struggles:
- You fought with the kings hedmarks and gave them what they deserved. All fled except for the one who sat furthest north and whose tongue you had cut out. Now you rule over the vast areas that were previously held by five kings, including the east as far as Eidskog. No king had such a kingdom before.
Ottar wrote his text shortly after 1020 and stated that these fights had taken place forðum , i.e. a long time ago. So the fight took place before he became king. Snorri's intention to portray the good and law-abiding king led to a change in the sequence: the author of the legendary Olav saga had Olav summon the minor kings immediately after he landed and give them the choice of either resigning their royal dignity and becoming his liege-men, or being killed. Most of them would have bowed. According to this author, Olav wanted to enforce Christianity quickly by all means.
If you consider that the Battle of Nesjar took place in the Danish sphere of influence and that Olav had previously fought under Danish generals in England, an enmity between him and the Danish King Knut, as described by Fagrskinna and Snorri in his Olav saga, is unlikely. In both sources, the opposition between Knut and Olav is a consistent motif. According to them, he is said to have fought the Danes even in England. In the later Heimskringla , Snorri lets him fight on the Danish side, but only in an insignificant role. Furthermore, after Svend Tveskægs' wrongly dated death in 1008, he lets Olav immediately and permanently switch to the English, i.e. anti-Danish side. A detailed analysis of the sources shows that Olav must have had a good relationship with Knut, yes that there was probably an agreement between Olav, Knut and Håkon that Olav should keep Norway and Håkon Jarl would stay in England. The crossing with only two merchant ships and the peaceful discussion with Håkon speak for it. Such an arrangement between Knut and Olav would also explain why Sven found so little support for the Battle of Nesjar in 1016 .
The skalds don't say what became of Sven. According to the sagas, he first went to Sweden, then to Russia, where he died.
In 1024 Olav held a church assembly in Mostar with his bishop Grimkjell, an Englishman and nephew of Bishop Sigvard, who had been bishop in Norway under Olav Tryggvason , at which he pushed through the Christianization of the country and the organization of the church in Norway fixed. According to the archaeologically comprehensible burial customs, however, Christianization was already well advanced at this time. His later opponent Erling Skjaldsson was already a Christian, as can be seen from a memorial stone that a priest erected for his master Erling after his fight with Olav.
The decline
1016 was Knut king of England, but needed up to 1020, to prevail finally in England. During this time of Knut's bond with England, Olav was able to establish himself in Norway. After 1020, Olav gradually became a problem for the Danish-English king. After all, the previous kings of Denmark had been the upper kings of Norway. There is a stanza from the skald Sigvat that suggests the conflict in this direction. He reports that the Scottish king came to Canute and brought "his head"; i.e., he submitted as a feudal man. Sigvat continues: "But Olav never gave his head to anyone in this world." That sounds very much like he was asked to. Sigvat came to England from France around 1025, visited King Canute and learned there of the escalating conflict before traveling on to Norway to see Olav, where he was temporarily suspected of having switched sides. So the conflict had already broken out in full. Olav did not wait for Knut's attack, but instead attacked Denmark in 1025 or 1026 in a preemptive strike in Sjælland , while the Swedish king Anund Jakob , Olav's brother-in-law, attacked from the east. Because an overpowering king in the west was a threat to the Swedish king. Knut came from England with his fleet and the battle of Helgeå in Skåne took place , in which Knut was victorious. The battle is mentioned in many sources: the skalds Sigvat, Ottar and Tord Sjáreksson and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle report about it.
In the course of this conflict, Knut made connections with Norwegian chiefs, especially Håkon Eiriksson and Erling Skjalgsson in Sola (near Stavanger). Erling had visited Canute in England before the battle, and in 1027 there was an open rift between him and Olav. Erling was undoubtedly the most powerful man in Norway after the king, if not as powerful. He controlled not only Rogaland , but also large parts of Vestland through family connections and great personal reputation.
Olav also established a network of relationships, but his family connections were limited to the inner eastern part of the country. Olav failed to bind the powerful aristocracy of the west coast to himself, as Knut did when he married his sister to Erling Skjalgsson. Instead, he tried to gain loyal followers outside of these most powerful circles, which were at the peak of their power, which may have angered the aristocracy. But this was not the reason for their resolute action against Olav. Snorri starts the conflict in Norway with an argument between Olav and the Jarl in Trøndelag Asbjørn Sigurdsson. He had disregarded the king's ban on selling grain to northern Norway when it was urgently needed there. The conflict led to Asbjørn killing the royal bailiff on Avaldsnes (near Haugesund ). As Asbjørn's nephew was Erling Skjalgssons, he was drawn into the conflict. After Snorri, however, there was no break between Erling and Olav. Snorri's account has many implausible elements, but no other contemporary sources exist about it. In any case, it is certain that Erling had a position in the 1020s that Olav could not ignore. There was an open conflict with Erling, which ended in a battle in the Boknfjord, which Olav won by luring Erling into a trap. The battle is said to have taken place at Thomas's Mass, on December 21, 1027. According to Snorri, Aslak Fitjaskalle, one of the lesser loyal supporters Olav won, is said to have killed Erling. This is said to have happened against Olav's will, since Erling had surrendered. After Sigvat, Olav killed him himself. After that there seems to have been a general defection from Olav, so that he lost his power over Norway. Sigvat says explicitly that the King of England gathered a large army against Norway, but that Olav had few men and small ships. When Knut came to Norway, Olav fled from Sunnmøre to Oppland and Hedmark and further east via Sweden to Russia and stayed in Novgorod . Knut was honored as the Norwegian king at all thing meetings in the country. Tradition ascribes Olav's decline to the fact that Knut bought the Norwegian aristocrats with large sums of money. This justified the betrayal of Olav. More likely, in addition to the money, the desire to get rid of Olav also played a role. There were also old loyalties between the Ladejarlen and the Danish kings.
The end
Knut did not stay long in Norway, but soon returned to England after handing over the government of Norway to his nephew Håkon Jarl. His ancestors had already held this dignity under Harald Blåtand and Svend Tveskæg . For unknown reasons, Håkon Jarl went to England to see Canute, but died on his return in the North Sea. So there was no king and no jarl in Norway . Olav intended to take advantage of this sudden power vacuum.
He returned to Norway at the beginning of 1030 via Uppsala , where he received 400 men from his brother-in-law King Anund Jakob to support him, but left his six-year-old son Magnus in Novgorod . First he came to Oppland, where he was joined by his half-brother Harald Sigurdsson . The well-trained Swedish division was probably the core force of his army. But that was not enough. Olav moved to Trøndelag in the Verdal and followed the valley to the coast. Meanwhile the opponents gathered their strength. In Stiklestad the peasant army met the king. Olav did not follow the suggestion to burn down Inner-Trøndelag because of the overwhelming power of the peasant army and thus create panic in the peasant army. So on July 29, 1030 the battle of Stiklestad took place . The date has recently been questioned because the skalds report a solar eclipse on the day of the battle, which did not occur until August 31st. But you have to take into account that the report was drawn up only in 1040 and it must have not been a astronomical eclipse, but also a legendary may have been, as the legends had already begun. A replica of the biblical solar eclipse at Christ's death is entirely plausible.
According to the reports, three people are linked to his death: Torstein Knarreson struck him in the leg above the knee, Tore Hund stabbed his body with a spear and Kalv Arnesson struck him in the side of the neck, causing his death. Kalv Arnesson is therefore referred to as the real murderer of the king.
There have been many different attempts to explain the behavior of the farmers from Trøndelag, but none of them are entirely satisfactory. There is only agreement that the available sources do not give the true reasons, neither that pagans fought against Christianity here, nor that peasants bought by Knut committed a criminal revolt against their king. One has tried class struggle theses that the king had allied himself with the peasants against the aristocracy. It is not plausible why the farmers should have turned against him. It was also assumed that the farmers were simply thinking of revenge because of earlier campaigns by the king in Trøndelag.
There is a more recent attempt to explain the actions of the farmers from Trøndelag, whereby later circumstances are used: The Sagas name 16 Trønder manors that were at some point in the time between Håkon the Good and Olav the Holy Centers of resistance against the new kingdom. In the High Middle Ages, 15 of these manors were royal property. This means that it must have been appropriated by a previous king. Harald Hårfagre allegedly declared all land to be royal property, which his successor is said to have reversed. Under his successors resistance was often broken by the fact that the opponents were deprived of their economic basis through confiscation . In Frostathingslov IV, 50th , which was valid in Trøndelag, there is the unusual "Resistance Paragraph" in an editorial office from the 13th century:
- No man must attack another man, neither the king nor anyone else. But if the king does this, then the war arrow (the sign of mobilization) should be sent out. He is to be sent to all eight districts, and the peasants are to go against the king and kill him if they can. But if the king gets away, he must never come back into the country. Those who do not want to pull against him have to pay three marks, just like those who do not pass the arrow on. This would also explain the peculiarity of the battle, namely that it was not fought, as usual, between aristocratic military leaders, but between a king and peasants.
There are the same rules against Jarle and Lehnsmänner . This law was first written in the 11th century. It cannot be determined exactly from what time this regulation originates, but everything points to a time shortly before or at the time of Olav. This provision fits pretty well with what happened at the end of his reign: first the king had to leave the country, and when he returned, the farmers from Trøndelag killed him. But then one can assume that Olav acted against the resistance in Trøndelag in earlier times and confiscated the opponents' lands there. Because one can assume that he did not find approval of the matter for his actions in Trøndelag, so that the expropriation had to appear unlawful. This would also explain Sigvat's judgmental insertion into his memorial poem about Olav about the two armies in the description of the battle: frýk hvorungi = “neither of them is to be reproached”. A poem about your best friend has to show an understanding of his enemies.
What happened to his body is not exactly known. The farmer Þorgils of Stiklestad and his sons are said to have recovered him and later brought him to Nidaros ( see: Nidaros Cathedral ).
Adoration of saints
Soon after his death, Olav was stylized as a martyr . There is no information about how he became a saint. The only thing that is certain is that it happened very quickly. Sigvats Erfidrápa from 1040 already reports of an Olav's mass , a shrine and miracles on his corpse immediately after his death. The sagas show that his adversaries also recognized his holiness immediately after his death.
The cult of Olav spread rapidly across Scandinavia. About 400 churches consecrated to him in Scandinavia are known from the time immediately after his death, 100 of them in Sweden alone. There are also the Olav altars in other churches.
In England in the 60s of the 11th century, the liturgical text of an Olav's mass can be found in the Red Book of Darley from the Sherborne diocese (England), which already contains almost the same prayers that are later to be found in the Missale Nidarosiense of 1519 , and also in a breviary given to his church by Bishop Leofric of Exeter (The Leofric Collectar) , in which Olavs is remembered.
Cult in Norway
In his endeavor to let the story run according to a profane and political plan, Snorri is the only one who gives the canonization a constitutional form: Var þá biskups atkvæði og konungs samþykki og dómur allsherjar að Ólafur væri sannheilagur. ("Then came the bishop's declaration, the king's (Svein) approval and the people's decision that King Olav was holy"). He was then placed in a shrine and this was placed on the high altar of the Klemenskirche in Nidaros. This is said to have happened on August 3, 1031. With this he lays the foundation for his further presentation of the religious and political development. If he has also seen the right line, his presentation should not correspond to the facts. The day is probably right, because its feast day ties in with this translation . But that King Svein should have found this canonization to be good, and even more so that the Danish bishop Sigurd, who was then resident in Nidaros and who hounded against Olav in Stiklestad, is said to have approved this development, is not credible, so it is more likely to go after Sveins Expulsion 1034 or 1035 is to be set. The interest of the church, however, lay in an as early as possible, i.e. backdated, canonization. The people are unlikely to have played a role either. There is no evidence of the cult of saints in Scandinavia during this period. There are some runic inscriptions from the missionary era with prayers to God for the dead, but no intercessory prayers to saints. Olav's bishop Grimkjel came from England, where there were already holy kings. These gave their heirs a special legitimacy of a divinely sanctioned royal salvation, which accommodated dynastic aspirations. Olav's grave soon became a great pilgrimage site, which Adam von Bremen reported for the 11th century.
Around 1030 the Norwegian Church began to celebrate Olav's Mass. In this mass the life and death of Olav was described and the miracles that were attributed to him were mentioned. There are a few at Sigvad Skald . The Skald Einar Skúlason reported 14 miracles in his poem Geisli in 1150 . The liturgy was strongly influenced by the English tradition, which went way back in history. Olav also became a model for Canute the Saint in Denmark and Erik the Saint in Sweden.
Soon a distinct pilgrimage set in , which reached its climax on his feast day. As in all major pilgrimage sites, pilgrimage signs were issued in Nidaros to prove that a believer had actually been there. There are archaeological records of eight different brands, most of which consisted of a lead-tin alloy and were made with the help of models whose relief depicts the seated king.
Cult in Denmark
In Denmark, too, many churches are dedicated to St. Olav was consecrated. Today it is assumed that this happened at the instigation of his son Magnus, who was also King of Denmark and who fought against the Wende. This also applies to the southern part of Sweden, which was then part of Denmark. The seal of the cathedral chapter in Lund had an image of St. Olav in the center. Later St. Olav as church patron occasionally ousted by Knut the Saint (in Odense) or Knut Lavard (in Ringsted). During the time of the Kalmar Union there was then the epiphany cult, in which St. Olav, Canute the Saint and Erik the Saint of Uppsala were added. In Reval ( Tallinn ), the Danish conquerors built the Olaikirche St. Consecrated to Olav. There was also an Olav festival there.
Cult in Iceland
The cult of Olav was also very influential in Iceland. Einar Skúlason, a chief from West Iceland, wrote the poem Geisli , which was recited to Archbishop Jón Birgisson on the occasion of the establishment of the Archbishop's Chair in Nidaros and which referred to Olav. 72 churches in Iceland had Olav as their patron saint, 30 were consecrated to him and named after him. This placed him third behind the Virgin Mary and the Apostle Peter. A parchment from the 14th century depicts the sequence of a festival of Olav, which evidently had very unchristian features. Because the participants are warned of quarrels and brawls and admonished not to boast about fighting acts. Snorri Sturluson's nephew, Sturla Þórðarson, also gives a description of the burlesque Olavsfest, which was held every summer, if not a year of famine. The festival is said to have lasted seven nights. But miracle stories and poems about him are rare in Iceland. Rather, the prose text of Heimskringla dominates , which by no means portrays the king as an exemplary Christian. This results in a split view of Olav: ecclesiastical art and ecclesiastical cult concern a different figure of Olav than that of literature. Because this came about at a time of conflict with the royal power for the freedom of Iceland. It was initially threatened by Olav Tryggvason , who significantly influenced the acceptance of Christianity on the Allthing. Olav Haraldsson took a more diplomatic route, but had the same goal of subjugating Iceland. It is therefore not surprising that the historiography of the time lacked interest in Olav's myth of saints.
Cult in the Faroe Islands
The Olav's Church in Kirkjubøur was built around 1250 and is the oldest preserved and still in use church buildings in the country. The day of his death is still celebrated today as a national holiday ( Ólavsøka ).
Cult in Finland
In Finland, the medieval churches and works of art that refer to Olav the Saint are concentrated in the south-west of the country and the Åland Islands. Most of the churches dedicated to him are in the Satakunta area . In addition, a castle was built on the eastern border of Sweden in Savonlinna , which was soon dedicated to Saint Olav. The original name of the Olavinlinna Castle was Castrum novum. Also in Vyborg Castle , which is located in Karelia , the main tower is named after St. Olav. The cult was stronger on the south-western coast than inland, mainly because of the settlement, and there is no reference to Olav in Lapland . These are the old routes to Sweden and the trade routes on the coast and inland. Some of the Olav sculptures were made in Germany and Gotland, but large parts were also imported from Sweden and Germany, with Lübeck being considered the main place of manufacture. The Hanseatic League, in association with the Dominican Order, was a particular driving force. Olav was also used to strengthen Nordic identity as a counterbalance to Russian influence in the east and the Orthodox Christianity associated with it, especially at the instigation of the Catholic bishop in Åbo-Stift . Therefore, in the representations in the border area, armed armor appears more frequently.
Cult in the Kiev Rus
In the Gotenhof , the trading post of Gotland merchants in Novgorod , there was an Olav church by 1100 at the latest . There was also an Olav church in Ladoga , one of the oldest Russian Varangian settlements .
Modern times
Only in the 1890s did the Olavsfest regain its momentum. The focus here was on religious renewal. The Grundtvigian Christopher Bruun wanted to hold a service in the cathedral, which the cathedral provost refused. Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson then gave a big speech in front of about 6000 people in Ilevållen. In 1997, on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary, the first ecumenical service was held on July 29th by the bishop in Nidaros Finn Wagle, the bishop Sofie Pedersen from Greenland, the bishop David Tustin from Grimsby (England), the Baptist pastor Tor Rønneberg, the Pentecostal pastor Marit Landrø, the Metropolitan of Moscow, Kyrill, and Cardinal Cassidy from Rome. Since then, the Olav Days have been held annually at the beginning of July.
Literary representations
Legends
The figure of Olav is difficult to grasp behind the legends and legends. In the legends he is the representative of Christianity who drove away the trolls and devils and performed miracles.
According to their legend, many churches attribute their construction to Olav, often in such a way that he induced a troll to do so. The same story is told for Olav's Church on Avaldsnes ( Karmøy across from Haugesund) as it is told for Lund Cathedral and uses the Rumpelstiltskin motif: he signs a contract with the troll Sigg that he will build the church for him and, if the king did not guess his name by the time it was completed, the troll would save the king's life. The king accidentally overhears the troll's wife, learns the name and calls the troll by name. When he heard his name and thus lost his wages, he fell forward. His head became the stone that lies next to the church wall.
Many etiologies are also linked to Olav, such as the appearance of special rock formations. Valleys are also attributed to the fact that he took a ship overland between the mountains. These legends have nothing to do with the historical figure.
Medieval writers had to choose whether to write about the saint or the king. Church writers, of course, described Olav as a saint, and they were the earliest. When the historical king later became the subject of the saga, its authors had the problem of critically examining the existing texts. This resulted in various pictures of Olav and also sequences of events, e.g. For example, the question of whether Olav was armed or unarmed in the battle of Stikklestad.
Saints legends
The oldest account of the death Olav found in an English Officium from the 11th century, in which besides the religious festival prayers and small reading pieces are interspersed. There it is said that Olav was unarmed and that instead of an ordinary sword he carried the shield and sword of faith, as Paul demanded in the letter to the Ephesians. The same thing can be read in more recent old Norwegian religious texts. In another legendary saga is said to have worn a sword, but neither helmet nor breastplate . When he was wounded, he threw away the sword and prayed for his enemies. It cannot be assumed that the authors actually believed that the king went into his greatest battle unarmed. Here the saint is portrayed, and the pious authors did not tell what happened, but the reality believed behind the event. So they attached to him the attributes that belonged to a holy martyr.
This stereotype was adopted by Passio Olavi , written in Latin around 1170 . Olav's personal friend, Sigvad skald , described the battle of 1040 in his memorial poem Erfidrápa , which was written in the 12th century. It describes how the king fights with the sword in his well. Snorri, who portrayed the king and not the saint, followed him and described the royal armor.
The “official” life of the saint, the Latin Passio Olavi , uses only 7 pages in the printed version for the biography, but around 59 pages for the miracles. Most miracles are about healing. The many Olav springs in the country are images of the Olav springs in Trondheim Cathedral. Some of the Olav's spring may have originally been a pagan holy spring.
Sagas
Contrary to legend, the saga dealt with the profane King Olav. His time as a Viking was considered as well as his political deeds as a king. However, even the saga author could not completely disregard the status of the saint.
The oldest secular source about Olav was the short royal chronicles written at the beginning of the 12th century. The oldest coherent saga was an Olav saga written in Þingeyrar monastery in Iceland between 1160 and 1180, of which very small fragments have survived, as spines for account books for the period 1638 to 1641, discovered in the Norwegian Imperial Archives.
A “middle saga” is derived from this, which is completely lost. The oldest legendary saga is derived from it, which was written around 1200 and is so called because most of the oral legend has been processed in it. It was also used in the lost Lífssaga Óláfs hins helga by Styrme Káresson (around 1220).
This in turn flowed together with the legendary saga into the saga Óláfs konungs hins helga by Snorri Sturluson and into the Fagrskinna (also around 1220). These two were again processed in Snorris Heimskringla in 1230 .
Apart from the contemporary skaldic poems, the entire tradition offers a distorted picture of Olav's opponents. In the church sources they are enemies, representatives of evil, servants of the devil, evildoers and treacherous traitors. The saga authors also knew this and avoided such wording. Adam von Bremen also emphasizes the opposition between Olav and Knut the Mighty, but he also writes about the uprising of the Norwegian chiefs that they turned against Olav because he had their wives killed for magic. This point of view is a historicizing takeover of the ecclesiastical demonization of Olav's opponents. This trait can be found weakened even further in Snorri's declaration that Olav's murderer Tore Hund obtained magic drugs for 12 men, which made them practically invulnerable. In the description of the battle he then has Tore with 11 men in the front row against Olav, without, however, mentioning the magic drugs at this point. Snorri justifies Olav not religiously, but politically.
In the Latin biography, Olav's goal on his return to Norway is described as concern for the country's future. He wanted to tame arbitrariness through the laws of the nobility and protect the weak from their arbitrariness.
On the other hand, after his return home from England, Snorri Olav gave a programmatic speech that also contained Snorri's presentation guidelines:
- “... Foreigners rule over my property, which my father owned before and my grandfather before him and one before the other of my sex and for which I was born as a legal heir. And they are not even satisfied with that; for they have gradually taken everything that belonged to us relatives, who we descend in a straight line from King Harald Hørfagre. Some of us left a lot, others nothing. Now I would like to tell you what I have been considering for a long time, namely that I want to lay claim to my father's inheritance and that I do not want to go to either the Danish king or the Swedish king and do not want to ask them for anything, although they have for some time declare their property what Harald Hårfagre left as his inheritance. Rather, I want to conquer my legacy with the tip of the sword and ask my relatives and friends and everyone who stands by me for support. And so I think to assert this claim that only two things can happen: Either I will regain and rule the whole empire that they appropriated through the slaughter of my relative Olav Tryggvasons, or I will fall on the inheritance of my family. "
Here the religious point of view is evidently replaced by the national and dynastic point of view. Snorri brings another guideline: His portrayal is that of the “just king”, which he depicts in the opposition of two rulers' traditions in the succession of Harald Hårfagre. This point of view is expressed programmatically in the speech of Rørek, a petty king from the east, to his fellow kings shortly before the election of Olav as King of Norway. There Rørek warns his fellow kings to transfer the rule of the king to Olav by making them aware that although Håkon the Good was in order through a cautious, legally bound exercise of power, Harald Hårfagre, Erik Blodøks and the Erik sons, as soon as they became sole rulers, mutated into unbearable tyrants. And that is to be expected with Olav too. Snorri now allows Olav to rule carefully and always look for a good relationship with the farmers. At Snorri, Olav does not conquer his power militarily, but through general approval in the election of a king. In this way, Olav becomes the morally superior one, and his struggles are directed against law-breaking and rebellious petty kings who are said to have chosen him beforehand. This gives Olav the justification for the violent suppression of the resistance. The renegade’s support for the Danish King Knut also becomes illegal.
Skald songs
The contemporary skald songs offer a more reliable view of Olav. They are quoted in many stanzas in the sagas. There were a number of Icelandic skalds in Olav's entourage. Three of them, Gissur Gullbráskald, Torfinn Munn and Tormod Kolbrunarskald, accompanied him on his escape to Kiev. All three fell at the Battle of Stiklestad . In contrast to Ottar Svarte and Sigvat Tordsson, not much has come down to us about them.
Political aftermath
It is astonishing what importance Olav received in posterity given his short reign. It is therefore questionable whether its meaning during lifetime corresponds to its meaning after his death. First of all, it should be noted that his reign is towards the end of the process of unification, which can be scheduled from 995 to around 1050. Under him the Norwegian Church was established as an institution. The country received a kingship that was more developed than in the time of Harald Hårfagre. Olav Tryggvason and Canute the Great certainly contributed to this. Much of what he set in motion was only completed under Magnus the Good and Harald Hardråde . But even when building the church, the question arises as to whether his initiative was as epoch-making as the sources portray it, or whether he added a step to the steps of his predecessors. At least it should be noted that his downfall had nothing to do with the introduction of Christianity, that he was historically not a martyr. Rather, the country was essentially Christianized. He could therefore easily eradicate the remains of paganism in the first years of his reign. His adversary Erling was himself a Christian. The complete absence of any pagan reaction after his death is sufficient evidence that there was no longer any confrontation between paganism and Christianity. The need of the church to set up a royal martyr as the national saint led to this retrospective presentation. His portrayal as a mild and just king is likely to be exaggerated, although Olav may have already distanced himself from the Viking view of man as the fighting man when, during his stay in Normandy, he saw how church and duke hand in hand the fragmentation and dissolution of the Land successfully fought. But the predatory incursion into Denmark in the absence of Knut shows that he had not yet completely broken away from the past.
Contrary to many representations, he also did not introduce the feudal system. It is in general doubtful whether he even had feudal people. The skalds hardly use the term lendrmaðr . You speak of Hersen throughout . Sigvat applies it to his adversary Erling Skjaldsson, the most powerful man after the king. The final mediatization of the noble families and their integration into the imperial hierarchy only happened later.
Even under his successor Magnus, the idea was developed that Olav must remain closely linked to both the dynasty and the country. Soon poems were written according to which the later kings received their power from Olav the Saint. Stein Herdisson wrote poems in 1070 for King Olav Kyrre and his adversary, the Danish King Sven Estridsson :
- Don't want to Sven
- the strong-fighting prince give his hereditary land
- as long as he sits in Kaupang
- where the holy king dwells.
- Olav wants to treat his gender
- the power in all of Norway.
- Ulv's son (= Sven) is not allowed here
- call yourself heir.
In the middle of the 12th century it became a constitutional principle with the holy king as rex perpetuus Norvegiae .
In 1847 King Oskar I founded the St. Olav Order as an "award for outstanding services to the fatherland and humanity".
In 1874, Norwegian immigrants founded St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota .
The Masonic Lodge St. Johanneslogen St. Olaus til de tre Søiler , founded in 1903, bears his name.
A pilgrimage route dedicated to the memory of King Olav , the “Olavsweg”, was certified in 2010 as a cultural route by the Council of Europe . The route runs from Oslo to Trondheim.
Pictorial medieval representations
Themes from the Olav legends
Olav turns trolls to stone.
Olav sails through a forest and a mountain.
In the middle left: Olav opens a rock while fleeing from Mälar. Right and bottom left: Olav heals a slain monk.
Depictions of Olav's death
The oldest depiction of Olav's death. Death by an ax in the head.
Medieval book illumination. Olav is killed with an ax, spear and sword.
Medieval altarpiece. Same motive.
English psalter. At the top right, while sitting on a horse, Olav receives the ax blow in the knee.
iconography
The cult of Olav spread rapidly across Scandinavia, so that portraits were widely distributed early on. No one has yet been able to conclusively explain the rapid spread of the cult. About 400 churches consecrated to him in Scandinavia are known from the time immediately after his death, 100 of them in Sweden alone. There are also the Olav altars in other churches. In Scandinavia, however, no works of art depicting Olav have survived from the first centuries. The oldest known depiction can be seen in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and dates from shortly after 1153. It is in Byzantine style and bears the inscription "SCS OLAUUS REX: NORWÆGIE". In the middle of the 13th century, the first images from the Olav legends appear in a psalter in East Anglia , a devotional book for private use. The pictures of Olav, which were also handed down from Norway, show him with a golden royal crown, golden halo, brown, red or golden hair and beard, in the later Middle Ages in full armor, God's holy knight. The oldest Swedish picture tradition is a late Romanesque fresco in the church of Kaga from around 1225.
King Olav's hallmark is the ax. It was interpreted as a ruler's insignia, a weapon and a martyr's sign. It is certain that the ax with a silver leaf was one of the rulers' regalia as early as the Middle Ages and only disappeared during the Reformation. But it is controversial whether the ax was part of the Olav's sculptures in the Middle Ages or whether it was added later. It has its origin in the symbol of power and law, just as in the Roman area the fasces of the lictor contained an ax as a symbol of power. Olav's son, Magnus the Good , is said to have already used the silver ax as a standard in the battle on the Lürschauer Heide against the Wends. The ax was also anchored in the Bible:
“The ax is already at the root of the trees. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut out and thrown into the fire. "
The ax did not yet play a dominant role in the poetry and sagas of the Battle of Stiklestad. It was not until Snorri that Torsten Knarrsmed's ax blow into the king's knee initiated his death. This gave the ax cut its central role in iconography in the 14th century. The symbol of power and the sign of martyrs merged. In addition, the otherwise common imperial orb was soon replaced as the ruler's insignia by the ciborium , a symbol of ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
In addition, there is almost always a figure with a human head under his feet. At first it was a human being; At the beginning of the 15th century it became a dragon or beast with a human head. This figure has triggered many attempts at explanation. Some said it was his half-brother Harald, who had remained a staunch heathen. Another explanation said it was Olav's own pagan self, which he had defeated by baptism, or defeated paganism in general.
Marriage and offspring
Since 1019 Olav was married to Astrid of Sweden, illegitimate daughter of King Olaf "lap king " . Your children were:
- Wulfhild of Norway († May 24, 1071), oo 1042 Ordulf Duke of Saxony around 1020 - March 28, 1072
He had the illegitimate son from an extramarital relationship.
- Magnus I the Good (* around 1024; † 1047)
Remarks
- ↑ Grenske = the one coming from Grenland , a region south of Oslo.
- ↑ That was over ten times as much as the Norwegian king received in taxes around 1300 annually. Krag (2011) p. 35 f.
- ↑ Krag (2011) p. 36.
- ↑ There are good reasons to assume that the later battle and battle of Stiklestad can be traced back to this campaign. See below and Frostathingslov IV, 50.
- ↑ Frostathingslov VII, 27
- ↑ This is reminiscent of the so-called "Stavanger Cross", a stone cross with the runic inscription: The priest Alf (geir) erected this stone after Erling his master, who fought against Olav.
- ↑ Sandnes p. 20.
- ↑ Andersson p. 172 ff.
- ^ Nyberg p. 56. p. 55 a map of the distribution of the Olav churches in medieval Denmark, as far as they are still known. After the Reformation, many church patrons fell into oblivion and can no longer be determined.
- ↑ Ásgeirsson p. 84.
- ↑ Ásgeirsson p. 88.
- ↑ Knuutila p. 102.
- ↑ Homepage of the Olavsweg
- ↑ Map of the Olavsweg
- ↑ Lidén p. 28 ff.
- ↑ Lidén p. 36. Knuutila p. 107, on the other hand, says that the ax was added to Olav only after Eystein Erlandson was raised to Archbishopric in 1157, in order to establish him as holy overlord over Norway and its rulers.
- ↑ Knuutila p. 110 f. with further explanations.
literature
- Lars Andersson: "Sankt Olavsmärken och pilgrimskrus i Scandinavia". In: Lars Rumar (ed.): Helgonet i Nidaros. Olavskult och kristnande in the north. No. 1997. pp. 172-185.
- Ólafur Ásgeirsson: "Olav den helige på Iceland". In: Lars Rumar (ed.): Helgonet i Nidaros. Olavskult och kristnande in the north. No. 1997. pp. 83-90.
- Tore Dyrhaug: Slaget på Stiklestad . In: Per Erik Olsen (Ed.): Norges Kriger. Fra Hafrsfjord to Afghanistan . Oslo 2011. ISBN 978-82-8211-107-2 , pp. 42-47.
- Oddgeir Hoftun: Stave churches - and the medieval society of Norway / Text: Oddgeir Hoftun; Photos: Gérard Franceschi; Concept: Asger Jorn; [translated from Danish by Irmelin Mai Hoffer and Reinald Nohal with the assistance of Sarah Majken Hoffer], Cologne 2003: König; ISBN 3-88375-526-5
- Oddgeir Hoftun: Kristningsprosens og herskermaktens ikonografi i nordisk middelalder , Oslo 2008: Solum Forlag. ISBN 978-82-560-1619-8 .
- Jyrki Knuutila: "Sankt Olav i Finlands kyrkliga konst under medeltiden". In: Lars Rumar (ed.): Helgonet i Nidaros. Olavskult och kristnande in the north. No. 1997. pp. 91-114.
- Claus Krag: Vikingtid og rikssamling 800–1130 . In: Aschehougs Norges Historie Vol. 2, Oslo 1995, ISBN 82-03-22015-0 .
- Claus Krag: Olav den bright felttog . In: Per Erik Olsen (Ed.): Norges Kriger. Fra Hafrsfjord to Afghanistan . Oslo 2011. ISBN 978-82-8211-107-2 , pp. 34-41.
- Anne Lidén: “Forms of Saint Olav”. In: Lars Rumar (ed.): Helgonet i Nidaros. Olavskult och kristnande in the north. No. 1997. pp. 26-49.
- Tore Nyberg: "Olavskulten i Danmark under medeltiden". In: Lars Rumar (ed.): Helgonet i Nidaros. Olavskult och kristnande in the north. No. 1997. pp. 53-82.
- Jørn Sandnes "Olav den Hellige - myter og virkelighet". In: Lars Rumar (ed.): Helgonet i Nidaros. Olavskult och kristnande in the north. o. O. 1997. pp. 13-25.
- Nils Petter Thuesen: Norges Historie i Årstall . Oslo 2004, ISBN 82-458-0713-3 .
- Lexicon of the Middle Ages: Volume VI Column 1385
Web links
- Literature by and about Olav II. Haraldsson in the catalog of the German National Library
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Sven Gabelbart |
King of Norway 1015-1028 |
Knut the great |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Olav II. Haraldsson |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Olaf the fat, Olaf the saint |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Norwegian king (1015-1028) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 995 |
| DATE OF DEATH | 29 July 1030 |
| Place of death | Stiklestad |