The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason

The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason
ISLANDICA
A SERIES RELATING TO ICELAND AND THE
FISKE ICELANDIC COLLECTION
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
Edited by Kristin Bragadottir
VOLUME LII

By Oddr Snorrason
Translated with Introduction and Notes by

Theodore M. Andersson
Oddr Snorrason
Translated from the Icelandic
with Introduction and Notes by
THEODORE M. ANDERSSON
Cornell University Press
Ithaca and London

Copyright © 2003 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts
thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing
from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press,
Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
First published 2003 by Cornell University Press
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Oddr Snorrason, 12th cent.
[Olafs saga Tryggvasonar. English]
The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason / by Oddr Snorrason ; translated with introduction and
notes by Theodore M. Andersson.
p. cm. — (Islandica ; 52)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8014-4149-8 (cloth)
1. Oddr Snorrason, 12th cent. Olafs saga Tryggvasonar. I. Andersson, Theodore
Murdock, 1934- II. Title. III. Series.
PT7279.O71E5 2003
839'.63—dc21 2003051471
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Contents
Preface vii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
Contents of the Saga 31

The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason 35
Notes to the Text 137
Appendix: Olaf Tryggvason in the Synoptic Histories 151
Bibliography 167
Index 173
V
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Preface
Oddr Snorrason's Oldfs saga Tryggvasonar has a claim to being the first full-
length saga in Iceland, but it has not enjoyed the accessibility or popularity of
the perennial favorites among the sagas. Written in Latin, it was soon translated
into Icelandic, perhaps around 1200, and was clearly well known in Iceland and
Norway through the thirteenth and into the fourteenth century, but modern
readers have preferred Snorri Sturluson's abridged and streamlined version in
Heimskringlafrom ca. 1230. Beginning in the late seventeenth century the text
was translated into Latin, Swedish, Danish, and, more recently, Norwegian, but
none of these versions is readily available. This volume makes the first attempt
in English. My object has been to produce as readable a text as possible. I have
therefore consistently opted for my sense of idiomatic English rather than try-
ing to reproduce the idiosyncracies of the Icelandic original.
There are nonetheless features of the original that I impose on the reader,
most prominently the exotic names. Rather than trying to convert them into
awkward English equivalents, I have left them in the original Old Icelandic, in-
cluding the nominative endings. The exception to the rule is that I have an-
glicized the more familiar kings' names such as Olaf (not Olafr) Tryggvason,
Olaf Haraldsson, Harald Fairhair, and a few others. I have also left in place the
nicknames that are such a notable feature of the Icelandic sagas, and have not
burdened the apparatus with doubtful meanings; I refer the curious reader to
the lexicographical works by Finnur Jonsson and E. H. Lind listed in the bibli-
ography for discussion of such names as Qzurr toti, Porolfr lusarskegg, Bjgrn
eitrkveisa, Porir klakka, Eyvindr kinnrifa, Porkell dy5rill, Ormr lygra, Porkell
trefill, Porkell nefja, and the last-stand warriors listed in Chapter 71. The ex-
ception to this rule is that when the cognomen is a simple adjective, rather than
an opaque noun or compound, I have allowed myself to translate it (thus Ulfr
the Red).
My introduction covers the main points about the author, the sources, the
interpretation of the text, and previous editions and translations. The reader
should bear in mind that on some of these matters the views are my own and
may differ from the consensus. The endnotes are not so much explication—
vii
viii Preface
Oddr's text is straightforward—as a registration of what has been written about

the saga. Such an update seemed called for because the annotated editions
(Reenhjelm, Munch, Groth) are now quite antiquated.
It remains to acknowledge a most helpful reading by an anonymous referee
for the Cornell Press. The referee did an exceptionally conscientious job of
combing the translation, offering many improvements and not a few correc-
tions, as well as suggesting valuable bibliographic supplements. But translation
and annotation are never done, and the informed reader will find plenty of
critical opportunities. I am furthermore greatly indebted to the chair of my for-
mer department, Rob Robinson, and the chair of my more recent department,
Kari Ellen Gade, for generous grants toward the cost of publishing this volume.
In addition, I am especially grateful to Patrick Stevens and the Fiske Collection
for a very substantial subvention.
THEODORE M. ANDERSSON
Woodside, California
Abbreviations
Ag Agrip afNoregs konunga SQgum. In Fagrskinna — Noregs konunga tal. Ed.

Bjarni Einarsson. If 29. Reykjavik: Hi6 Islenzka Fornritafelag, 1984.
ANOH Aarb0gerfor nordisk oldkyndighed og historic.
ANF Arkivjb'r nordisk filologi.
Finnurjonsson Finnurjonsson. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historic. 3 vols. 2nd
1920-24 ed. Copenhagen: Gad, 1920-24.
HN Historia Norwegiae, In MHN, pp. 71-124.
IB Islensk bokmenntasaga. Vol. 1. Gu5run Nordal, Sverrir Tomasson, and
Vesteinn Olason. Reykjavik: Mai og Menning, 1992.
IF Islenzk fornrit. Reykjavik: Hi5 Islenzka Fornritafelag, 1933-.
KLNM Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder. 22 vols. Ed. Lisjacobsen et
al. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger, 1956-78.
Mesta Oldfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta. Ed. Olafur Halldorsson. 3 vols. Copen-
hagen: Munksgaard, 1958, 1961, 2000.
MHN Monumenta Historica Norvegiae: Latinske kildesknfter tilNorges historie i mid-
delalderen. Ed. Gustav Storm. Christiania: A. W. Br0gger, 1880; rpt. 1973.
NN Ernst Albin Kock. Notationes Norroenae: Anteckningar till Edda och skalde-
digtning. Lunds universitets arsskrift, n.s., sec. 1, vols. 19-39. Lund:
Gleerup, 1923-44.
PL J.-P. [Jacques-Paul] Migne. Patrologiae Cursus Completus: Series Latina.
Vols. 1-221. Paris: Gamier, 1844-1905.
Skj Finnurjonsson, ed. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. Vols. AI-II: Tekst
efter hdndsknfterne; vols. BI-II: Rettet tekst. 1908-15. Rpt. Copenhagen:
Rosenkilde & Bagger, 1967-73.
STUAGNL Samfund til udgivelse af gammel nordisk litteratur.
Th Theodoricus Monachus. Historia de Antiquitate Regum Norwagiensium. In
MHN, pp. 3-68.
ix
Introduction
The Author
It is unusual for a saga author to be identified in any way, but the information
on Oddr Snorrason is surprisingly abundant. The main manuscript (AM 310,
4to) concludes the narrative as follows:
Here ends the saga of King Olaf Tryggvason, who may rightly be called the apos-
tle of the Norwegians. Thus wrote the monk Oddr, who was at Pingeyrar and a
priest by ordination, for the glory of Almighty God and to secure preservation in
memory for those who come later, although the writing is not carried out in a skill-
ful style.
The fragmentary Uppsala manuscript expands the concluding section consid-

erably but abbreviates the mention of Oddr and even omits the location at Ping-
eyrar. The Stockholm manuscript, however, adds a somewhat defective but
interesting personal insight into the author's work:
Here ends the saga of King Olaf, who may truly be called the apostle of the Nor-
wegians. The monk Oddr composed these sentences [literally "verses"] at Ping-
eyrar. He was an esteemed man and very devoted to God. It is told that he
experienced ( . . . ) visions. According to the report of wise men he saw King Olaf
in a vision, and in addition it is reported that he ( . . . ) himself when he was de-
pressed and wished to leave the monastery. When he entered the church, he saw
( . . . ) spreading his arms and inclining his head. He spoke sorrowfully: "You may
now see here ( . . . ) ! have suffered for your sake, and I think you will wish to en-
dure your trials for the sake of my name." Then ( . . . ) he did not in such hard-
ship as before and gave thanks to God.
Stockholm 18, 4to, is judged to be an Icelandic manuscript from around 1300

or a little later, and there is no way of telling whether the anecdote on Oddr's
dissatisfaction and recovery is original or true. It does, however, reinforce the
1
2Introduction 2 Introduction
association with Pingeyrar, the most important literary center in Iceland at the
end of the twelfth century (Turville-Petre 1953, 190-96).
The association is further confirmed by the long version of Oldfs saga Tryggva-
sonar (Mesta). Here Oddr and Gunnlaugr Leifsson—who is identified (ed. Ola-
fur Halldorsson, 3:57) as "the monk Gunnlaugr at Pingeyrar, an honorable
cleric of good repute" and the author of another saga about Olaf Tryggvason—
are mentioned together. The compiler of Mesta tells us the story of the life and
death of Bishop Sigur5r, who accompanied Olaf to Norway. At the conclusion
of the story (3:64) Oddr and Gunnlaugr are cited: "It is told as follows by Oddr,
who composed at greatest length in Latin, next after Gunnlaugr, about King
Olaf Tryggvason." There follows a genealogical account of Bishop Sigur5r's
family. How this genealogical information is to be traced is again uncertain,
but there seems little reason to doubt that Oddr and Gunnlaugr each wrote a
life of Olaf Tryggvason.
A little later still more information is forthcoming (Mesta, 3:66):
The brothers Gunnlaugr and Oddr report that the following people provided
most [Flateyjarbok of what they then set down and put in narrative form] concern-
ing King Olaf Tryggvason: Gellir Porgilsson, Asgrimr Vestli5ason, Bjarni BergJ)6rsson,
Arngunn [Ingunn?] Arnorsdottir, Herdis Da5ad6ttir, and PorgerSr Porsteinsdottir.
Later Gunnlaugr said that he showed the saga of King Olaf to Gizurr Hallsson and
that the said Gizurr kept the book for two years. When it was returned to Brother
Gunnlaugr, he himself emended wherever Gizurr thought it necessary.
This information also found its way into a passage appended to the main
manuscript, AM 310, 4to (Finnur Jonsson, 1932, 247):
I was told this story by Abbot Asgrimr VestliSason, the priest Bjarni Bergj)6rs-
son, Gellir Porgilsson, Herdis Da5adottir, PorgerSr Porsteinsdottir, and Ingu5r
Arnorsdottir. These people instructed me in the saga of King Olaf Tryggvason
as it is now told. I showed the book to Gizurr Hallsson and corrected it with his
counsel.
Finnur Jonsson (1920-24, 2:392-93) and Bjarni A5albjarnarson (1936, 85-

86) judged that the list of informants originally belonged only in Gunnlaugr's
saga and was carried over from that source into Oddr's saga. Bjarni A5al-
bjarnarson attached particular importance to the fact that according to Mesta,
only Gunnlaugr showed his book to Gizurr Hallsson, but we will see presently
that it is not unlikely that Oddr did the same. It is inherently plausible that two
monks in the same monastery at Pingeyrar, writing on the same historical fig-
ure, would have used more or less the same informants. The listing in any event
suggests that there were especially respected historical authorities at the end
The Author 3
of the twelfth century just as there were at the beginning of the century at the
time of Ari Porgilsson, who also identified his sources.
Finnur Jonsson began his second paragraph on Oddr Snorrason (1920-24,
2:385) with the confident statement: "We have only one saga by Oddr, the one
about Olaf Tryggvason." Eighty years later we can no longer be so confident.
Yngvars saga vid/Qrla also concludes with an attribution to an Oddr the Wise,
who is likely to be identical with Oddr Snorrason. That attribution was dis-
allowed for a century or so because Yngvars saga was judged to be a late adven-
ture story in the style of the legendary sagas, but in 1981 Dietrich Hofmann
made a powerful case for crediting the attribution. It may therefore be more ap-
propriate to view Yngvars saga, which tells the story of two expeditions into Rus-
sia, ca. 1040, not in the context of the legendary sagas but rather in line with
the early exploration sagas typified by Eiriks saga rauda and Grcenkndinga saga.
Yngvars saga concludes with the following remarks on its composition:
We heard and wrote this saga according to the model of the book that the monk
Oddr the Wise had caused to be written based on the telling of the wise men whom
he himself mentions in the letter that he sent to Jon Loptsson and Gizurr Halls-
son. But let those who believe they know more precisely supplement at the points
where there seems to be a deficiency. The monk Oddr said that he heard the saga
told by a priest named Isleifr, in the second place by Glumr Porgeirsson, and in
the third place by a man named Porir. He took what he thought to be most sig-
nificant from their accounts. Isleifr said that he had heard Yngvars saga from a mer-
chant, who in turn said that he had heard it in the retinue of the king of the
Swedes. Glumr had learned the story from his father. Porir had heard it told by his
older kinsmen. And here we end this saga.
Against the supposition that the list of informants in AM 310, 4to, belonged to
Oddr, Bjarni A5albjarnarson (1936, 86) cited Bjorn M. Olsen (1893, 282) to
the effect that Oddr was not in the habit of referring to his oral informants;
but if the epilogue to Yngvars saga is to be believed, Oddr did precisely that,
and in considerable detail. He also submitted his text to the same authority
cited for Gunnlaugr's Oldfs saga Tryggvasonar—that is, Gizurr Hallsson—along
with Jon Loptsson. If Gunnlaugr submitted his text to Gizurr Hallsson and
Oddr submitted his Yngvars saga to the same authority, it is not altogether un-
likely that Oddr also submitted his Oldfs saga Tryggvasonar to Gizurr.
Gizurr died in 1206, Jon Loptsson in 1197. These termini ante quos assure that
Oddr wrote his Yngvars saga before 1197 and Gunnlaugr his Oldfs saga Trygg-
vasonar before 1206. Since Oddr submitted Yngvars saga to Jon Loptsson, but
there is no indication that either Oddr or Gunnlaugr submitted their sagas on
Olaf Tryggvason to Jon, it could be imagined that Jon had died by that time
and was no longer available for consultation. That would place both versions
4 Introduction
of the saga between 1197 and 1206, but such a conclusion from silence is quite
uncertain. Both sagas could have been written considerably earlier but, for one
reason or another, were not reviewed by Jon.
Exactly how early Oddr could have written his saga has been a matter of dis-
pute. Parallels between Theodoricus's Historia de Antiquitate Regum Norwagien-
sium and Oddr's text have suggested that one used the other, and most critics
have been inclined to believe that Theodoricus wrote first (e.g., Bjarni A5al-
bjarnarson 1936, 69-76). De Antiquitate must have been written before 1188
when the dedicatee, Archbishop Eysteinn, died. A date around 1180 is there-
fore frequently chosen (e.g., Nordal 1914, 8-9). More recently, Peter Foote in-
clines toward 1177-78 (Theodoricus 1998, xiii). That would place Oddr's saga
between 1180 and 1206. In any case Oddr cannot have written his saga before
1177 if the reference to King Sverrir in Chapter 71 (Finnurjonsson, 1932, 226)
is original and not an interpolation. It was in that year that Sverrir ascended
the throne and could be referred to as "king." The period for the composition
of Oddr's saga would therefore be the thirty-year span from 1177 to 1206, al-
though it is likely that King Sverrir would not have been referred to until a few
years into his reign. It also seems likely that Oddr wrote before Gunnlaugr and
therefore not at the very end of Gizurr Hallsson's life. One could perhaps nar-
row the available period to ca. 1180-1200.
A decade ago, however, Gudrun Lange (1989, 125-33) reversed the se-
quence of texts and argued that Theodoricus made use of Oddr's saga. She
therefore assigned Oddr's composition to the period 1177-88. Her dating
runs counter to the general supposition that the brief historical epitomes, such
as Theodoricus's De Antiquitate and Agrip afNoregs konunga sggum, were written
before the longer biographies, but that supposition is based perhaps only on a
typological instinct. We cannot prove that longer biographies, such as the old-
est Oldfs saga hins helga, were written before ca. 1200, but neither can we prove
that they were not.
There is a further difficulty in arriving at an approximate date. I myself have
argued (Andersson 1979) that there may be no direct connection between
Theodoricus and Oddr and that the common phrasing may derive from Ari
Porgilsson's lost konunga cevi (kings' lives). That explanation would serve to re-
move Theodoricus from the dating calculation altogether and leave no way to
refine the available period 1180-1200. Critics have generally chosen to aver-
age the difference and fix Oddr's book around 1190 (e.g., Nordal 1914, 37),
but that may be no better than a guess. The guess is difficult to improve on be-
cause we do not know enough about Oddr himself, although there is an ac-
counting of his ancestry in Landndmabok. Sturlubok 163 and Hauksbok 132 (IF,
1:1.199) provide his paternal ancestry, and Sturlubok 173 (IF, 1:1.211-12) pro-
vides the ancestry on his mother's side. Taken together they yield the follow-
ing genealogy:
The Author 5
Porolfr fasthaldi Steingrimr
Eyjarr Porir
Eyjolfr Halldorr
P6r5r Porvaldr aurgoSi
Gamli Bitru-Oddi
Skeggi skammhgndungr Steindorr
Gamli Oddr
\lfrlii; Gizur died in 1206, Jon Lopts on in 1 97. These termini ante quos as ure that
Oddr PC >rolfr Porarinn rosti
Oddr's brother Porarinn rosti is mentioned in connection with Gu5mundr

Arason's famous shipwreck in September of 1180 (Sturlunga saga, ed. Ornolfur
Thorsson ed. 1988,1:111), but that does not circumscribe Oddr's dates. Chap-
ter 84 in Grettis saga (IF 7:269-70) also makes mention of Oddr's ancestry. It
states that after Grettir's death his mother Asdis took over the farm at Bjarg
and that after her death it was in turn taken over by Skeggi skammhgndungr.
His son was Gamli, the father of Skeggi at SkarfstaSir and Asdis, the mother of
Oddr munkr. This genealogy matches the one in Sturlubok 173, apart from the
fact that Oddr's mother is named Asdis rather than Alfdis, but the generations
are surprisingly dilated. Grettir is calculated to have died ca. 1030, perhaps at
the age of thirty-five. By 1050 his mother Asdis, who is calculated to have been
born ca. 965, would have been a very old woman. Even if we push Skeggi
skammhgndungr's takeover at Bjarg down to 1050 (at what age we do not
know), we would still have to imagine that his son Gamli was born very late
(1070-80?) in order to explain so few generations over so many years. Asdis
must also have been born quite late in Gamli's life, perhaps between 1115 and
1125. She could then have given birth to Oddr between 1140 and 1150. But
this is again nothing more than guesswork.
More interesting than Oddr's genealogy would be information on his liter-
ary connections, which seem to have extended beyond Pingeyrar to Jon Lopts-
son at Oddi, the grandson of the historian Saemundr Sigfusson, and Gizurr
Hallsson in Haukadalr. The last has been suggested as the author of Veraldar
saga, perhaps in the 1180s or even earlier (Hofmann 1986; but see also Sturl-
unga saga 1988, 3:lxxxv-lxxxvi and IB, 1:406). Unfortunately, we can say no
more with any degree of certainty than that he was part of the contemporary
network of learned men and, as the list of informants for Oldfs saga Tryggva-
sonar indicates, learned women.
6 Introduction
The Sources
As noted above, the most persistently alleged source for Oddr is Theodoricus's
De Antiquitate. The specific parallels cited by Bjarni ASalbjarnarson (1936, 71-
72) in support of this contention are the following (in my translations):
Theodoricus (Chapter 6): Eventually he summoned Olaf's uncles, that is, the broth-
ers of his mother AstriSr, Josteinn and KarlshgfuS, threatening them with death
unless they obeyed his commands.
Oddr (Chapter 19): The jarl said that they would be choosing a much worse and
less desirable alternative if they turned this one down—"because you will suffer a
quick death if you do not do what I want."
Theodoricus (Chapter 6): Then he sent them to England with an old traitor named
Porir klakka, who had once spent some time with Olaf.
Oddr (Chapter 19): We are told that this Porir had been together with Olaf before
and had been his sworn brother.
Theodoricus (Chapter 6): Thus he ordered them to announce his death to Olaf, say-
ing that the whole country awaited his arrival, so that he should hasten lest some-
thing unexpected should intervene.
Oddr (Chapter 19): He took him [Porir] aside at the assembly and said that he
wished to send him east to Russia with a report of his own death and the news that
Norway now had no leader and that it was everyone's wish to confer the kingdom
on Olaf Tryggvason.
Theodoricus (Chapter 10): Thereafter, when the slave brought the head of his lord,
the king ordered that he be killed by the noose as a reward for the crime com-
mitted against his lord.
Oddr (Chapter 21): He brought Olaf Tryggvason the jarl's head, and when Olaf
recognized that this was Jarl Hakon's head, he felt anger toward the slave and or-
dered him to be hanged.
Each reader will have to evaluate the force of these similarities independently,
but it should be pointed out that in the first three sets (from Chapters 6 in
Theodoricus and 19 in Oddr) the sequences are in reverse order: 1-2-3 in
Theodoricus but 3-2-1 in Oddr. In other words, if Oddr was making use of
Theodoricus, he did not follow the order in his source.
In the second set of parallel texts Oddr adds the information that Porir had
been Olaf's sworn brother. He must therefore have had information on the
relationship that was independent of Theodoricus and, in effect, made Theo-
doricus superfluous. In the third set of parallels Hakon sends the uncles to En-
gland to deceive Olaf, according to Theodoricus, but according to Oddr he
sends Porir to Russia for the same purpose. Once again Oddr seems not to be
The Sources 7
fully dependent on Theodoricus. In the fourth set of parallels (from Chapters

10 and 21) the similarity is only narrative, notverbal: Karkr brings Olaf thejarl's
head and is hanged. That may not be sufficient to demonstrate a textual de-
pendence. On the whole, then, I am still inclined to believe, as I did in 1979,
that the similarities between Theodoricus and Oddr can be explained by com-
mon sources rather than direct borrowing.
But what was the overall shape of the underlying sources? A tabular summary
of the sequence of events in Theodoricus's version (Chapters 4-14) may be
compared with the equivalent chapters in Oddr's account (right-hand col-
umn):
Theodoricus Oddr
4. the killing of King Tryggvi 1
the search for the infant Olaf 2-4
5. Jarl Hakon and Harald Bluetooth 8212 M Q\
V-io;
A\j. tVif HfntVi of f~Vi i TI n Vi 1 1 H T 8212
Harald Bluetooth converted by Otto 8212 n^^
\10)
7. Olaf in Russia 6-9

the miracle in Denmark 12
baptism on the Scilly Isles 14
the alias AH in England 14
Olaf lured to Norway 19
8. Olaf 's return to Norway with clergy 26
9. conversion of Jarl SigurSr of Orkney 26
10. forgiveness for Olaf 's uncles 19
Olaf proclaimed king 23
Jarl Hakon 's last days 20-21
11. forcible conversions 24, etc.
the burning of 80 sorcerers 36
12. conversion of the Icelanders 40-41
13. Olaf 's sisters married to local leaders S22-S24
baptism of Olaf Haraldsson Prologue
14. the alliance against Olaf 62
the battle at SvglSr 67-73
the mystery of Olaf 's disappearance 67-73
tV»f siihsfniifnt Hi vision nf XTr»rwQ\/ 8212
Observe first of all that Oddr duplicates virtually all the narrative material
found in Theodoricus's history. There are only two exceptions: Oddr omits the
death of Gunnhildr and the division of Norway after the Battle of SvglSr. These
moments are not strictly pertinent to Olaf's life and could have been omitted
8 8212
for that reason. In addition, Olaf's baptism of Olaf Haraldsson is noted in the
Prologue and can therefore be dropped in the later sequence.
Even more striking than the narrative convergence is the largely matching
chronology. The only deviations, apart from Oddr's early mention of Olaf Har-
aldsson's baptism, are found in the central chapters, in which Oddr appears to
have decided that Olaf was proclaimed king only after Jarl Hakon's death and
that after his initial success Olaf left Norway to convert Orkney and recruit
clergy. Otherwise, it looks as though Oddr may have had a source rather simi-
lar in coverage and sequence to what Theodoricus used.
It was once believed that Theodoricus had no recourse to written sources
aside from an otherwise unknown *Catalogus Regum Norwagiensium men-
tioned in Chapter 20, but the view has shifted (Bjarni Gu5nason 1977; Anders-
son 1979). It is now conceded that Theodoricus could have made use of the
written texts by Ari Porgilsson and Saemundr Sigfusson (Lange 1989, 98-120),
and since Oddr refers to both these writers, they may have provided the skele-
ton of his account as well. But it was surely only a skeleton, extensively fleshed
out by Oddr. The procedure that he seems to have followed was to track the
skeleton as far as it went and then to insert supplementary chapters along
the way. These additions are quite modest in the first half of the saga, up to the
conversion of the Icelanders (Chapters 40-41).
For the early years, Oddr adds information on AstriSr's escape to and so-
journ in Sweden (Chapter 5). After Olaf's coming of age in Russia, Oddr adds
in his marriage to Geira in Wendland (Chapters 10-11). After the miracle in
Denmark that prepares Olaf for Christianity, Oddr adds his primesigning in
Greece and his role in the conversion of the king and queen in Russia (Chap-
ter 13). This expanded conversion activity is followed up, after Olaf's baptism
on the Scilly Isles, by the idea that he aided Emperor Otto II in the conversion
of Denmark (Chapter 15). Whether Olaf's precocious proselytizing had any
foothold in tradition or was merely an enthusiastic embroidery attributable to
Oddr or his informants cannot be known, but free speculation seems likely.
Oddr also extends Olaf's activity in the West: his acquisition of the dog Vigi
in Ireland and his defeat of the champion Alpin (Alvin) and marriage to Gy5a
in England (Chapters 16-17). Vigi's reappearances in the story suggest that
there must have been some popular tradition about him. Gy5a too may have a
place in tradition as the mother of a son Tryggvi named in a "Tryggvaflokkr"
attributed to Sigvatr P6r5arson by Snorri (Skj, BI:231). In his Oldfs saga helga
(Hdmskringla 1991, 2:553-54), Snorri recounts that Tryggvi fell in a battle
against Sveinn Knutsson in 1033.
At this point in Chapter 18 there is material that is more familiar from, and
more logically located in, Jomsvikinga saga, including the Battle of Hjgrunga-
vagr. Along with portions of Chapters 15 and 34, Bjarni A5albjarnarson (1936,
The Sources 9
61) considered this material to be interpolated from Jomsvikinga saga, and the
text goes on at such length about matters not relevant to Olaf's life that inter-
polation seems quite likely.
Having accounted for Olaf's youthful adventures, Oddr goes on to relate his
succession to the throne (Chapters 19-30 plus S22-S24). In this section there
are three learned digressions: one on the topography of Norway (Chapter 22),
one on the problem of Olaf's chronology (Chapter 25), and a third on the an-
chorites of Selja (Chapters 28-30), a narrative related to the "Acta Sanctorum
in Selio" (MHN, 147-52). The section also includes Olaf's first appearances as
a missionary king in Norway (Chapters 24 and 27). The second of these ap-
pearances, on Mostr, is not mentioned by Theodoricus, but it is found in Agrip
(Chapter 19) and may well have been inherited from the skeletal source. A fur-
ther preaching episode at Sta5r on Dragsei5 in Chapter 35 is specifically as-
cribed to Saemundr Sigfusson in Chapter 36 and is therefore more or less
guaranteed for the skeletal source.
Before the episode at Sta5r, Oddr introduces another capital theme: Olaf's
relationship to the Swedish queen SigriSr the Imperious. Chapter 32 reports
her first marriage to King Eirikr the Victorious of Sweden. Chapter 33 reports
Olaf's ill-fated marriage proposal, which is short-circuited when the betrothal
ring he presents to his bride turns out to be no more than gilt iron. King Eirikr
the Victorious and SigriSr also figure at the beginning of Yngvars saga. It there-
fore seems likely that Oddr had access to informants who could provide details
on the Swedish situation in general and SigriSr in particular.
SigriSr returns to the stage in Chapter 38, when Olaf makes renewed mar-
riage overtures. Once again the negotiations founder when SigriSr refuses to
become a Christian and Olaf slaps her with his glove. She is now permanently
angered, and when she later marries King Sveinn of Denmark, she incites him
vehemently against King Olaf. She therefore has a crucial role in Olaf's demise.
If Oddr had information about SigriSr's marriage to Eirikr the Victorious, it is
not unlikely that he also had access to information about her later entangle-
ments. Her nickname "the Imperious" suggests how tradition may have viewed
her, but it is not possible to surmise how the story of her conspiracy against
King Olaf arose. In any case her relegation from the scene in Chapter 38 makes
way for Olaf's celebrated queen Pyri, who is introduced in Chapter 39.
That portion of the text which appears to be guided by what I have referred
to as the skeletal source (Chapters 1-41) is in relatively good order and is not
overly disrupted by intrusions from other sources or digressions. It follows
Olaf's birth, boyhood, and early adventures along an extended but easily trace-
able trajectory from Norway to Sweden to Russia to the Baltic to the British
Isles and finally back to Norway. What follows in Chapters 42-61 is by contrast
anything but clearly plotted, but before turning to that section, we must cast a
10 Introduction
glance at two other "synoptic histories" that supplement Theodoricus (Th), the
Historia Norwegiae (HN), and Agrip afNoregs konunga sQgum (Ag). They have
much in common (see the appendix). To facilitate the comparison, I again re-
sort to a tabular summary under thirty-seven points.
1. Th the death of King Tryggvi

HN the death of King Tryg vi HN the death of King Tryggvi
Ag the death of King Tryggvi
2. Th the search for the infant Olaf

HNJarlHakon'splotagainstOlaf HN the death of King Tryggvi
Ag HN the death of King Tryggvi
3. Th Jarl Hakon's dealings with Harald Bluetooth

HN 3. Th Jarl Hakon's dealings with Harald Bluetooth
Ag 3. Th Jarl Hakon's dealings with Harald Bluetooth
4. Th the death of Gunnhildr

HN 4. Th the death of Gunnhildr
Ag 4. Th the death of Gunnhildr
5. Th Emperor Otto's conversion of Harald Bluetooth

HN 3. Th Jarl Hakon's dealings with Harald Bluetooth
Ag 3. Th Jarl Hakon's dealings with Harald Bluetooth
6. Th HN the death of King Tryg

HNPor lfrkiledandOlafenslaved HN Porolfr killed and Olaf enslaved
Ag Astri6r's escape to Orkney
7. Th 3. Th Jarl Hakon's dealings with Harald Bluetoo

HNPor lfrkiledandOlafenslaved Ag Olaf brought to Sweden by Porolfr lusarskegg
Ag Olaf brought to Sweden by Porolfr lusarskegg

HNPor lfrkiledandOlafenslaved HN Porolfr killed and Olaf enslaved
Ag Porolfr killed and Olaf enslaved
9. Th Olaf in Russia
HNOlafred emedandbrought oRus ia HN Olaf redeemed and brought to Russia
Ag Olaf redeemed and brought to Russia

The Sources 11
HN Olaf's vengeance for his foster father

Ag Olaf's vengeance for his foster father
11. Th Ag Olaf protected by the queen

HN Ag Olaf protected by the queen
Ag Olaf protected by the queen
12. Th HN Olaf's raids in the Baltic and winter in Jomne

HN Olaf's raids in the Baltic and winter in Jomne
Ag Olaf given troops with which to harry
13. Th HN Olaf's raids in the Baltic and winter in Jomne

HN Olaf's raids extended to Frisia, Flanders, England, Scotland, and
Ireland
Ag Olaf's raids extended to Wendland, Flanders, England, Scotland,
Ireland, etc.
14. Th Ag Olaf protected by the queen

Ag Olaf's wintering in Wendland at Jomsborg
15. Th the miracle in Denmark

HN Ag Olaf protected by the q
Ag Ag Olaf protected by the q
16. Th Olaf baptized on the Scilly Isles

HN Olaf converted by a hermit
Ag Olaf converted by a hermit
17. Th Olaf in England under the pseudonym Ali

AgOlafprotec dbytheque n Ag Olaf protected by the queen
18. Th Olaf lured to Norway

HN Ag Olaf protected by th
Ag Ag Olaf protected by th
19. Th Olaf's arrival in Norway with clergy

HN Olaf's arrival in Norway with clergy
Ag Olaf's arrival in Norway with clergy
20. Th Olaf's conversion of Jarl SigurSr in Orkney

12 Introduction
HN Ag Olaf protected by th
Ag Ag Olaf protected by th
21. Th Olaf acclaimed as king

HN Olaf acclaimed as king
Ag HN Olaf acclaimed as kin
22. Th HN Olaf acclaimed as kin

HN Olaf's conversion activity
Ag assembly on Mostr and conversion activity
23. Th Jarl Hakon's last days

HN Karkr's murder of Jarl Hakon and his execution
24. Th Olaf's forcible conversions

HN more conversion activity
Ag HN Olaf acclaimed as ki
25. Th Olaf's burning of eighty sorcerers

HN HN Olaf acclaimed as kin
26. Th Olaf's conversion of the Icelanders

27. Th the marriage of Olaf's sisters to leading Norwegians

HN 27. Th the marriage of Olaf's sisters to leading Norwegians
Ag 27. Th the marriage of Olaf's sisters to leading Norwegians
28. Th Olaf's baptizing of Olaf Haraldsson

29. Th HN Olaf acclaimed as kin

HN Olaf's marriage to f>yri
Ag Olaf's marriage to Pyri (who had previously been unwillingly
betrothed in Wendland)
30. Th 27. Th the marriage of Olaf's sisters to leading Norwegians

HN the withholding of Pyri's dowry by King Sveinn
Ag the withholding of I>yri's dowry by King Sveinn
The Sources 13
31. Th an alliance formed against Olaf

HN Olaf's preparations to attack the Danes
Ag Olaf's preparations to attack the Danes

HN Olaf abandoned by his men
Ag the delay of Olaf's men

HN Olaf's hope to raise troops among the Slavs
Ag Olaf's attempt to raise troops in Wendland
34. Th Olaf attacked in successive waves at Svgl5r

HN Olaf attacked in successive waves off Zealand
Ag Olaf attacked in successive waves off Zealand
35. Th the question of whether Olaf escaped

HN Olaf's disappearance and later sightings
Ag Olaf's disappearance and later sightings

HN f>yri's death from grief
37. Th the subsequent division of Norway

HN the subsequent division of Norway
It emerges from this comparison that HNand Ag correspond with each other
much more closely than they do with Theodoricus. This is evident both because
they are frequently missing information found in Theodoricus (e.g., in points
3-5, 15-18, 20, 25-28) and even more palpably because they frequently co-
incide against Theodoricus (e.g., in points 6-10, 12-13, 29-30, and 32-33).
Their special correspondence has been attributed to the use of a common writ-
ten source: Bjarni ASalbjarnarson (1936) left the source unidentified; Svend
Elleh0j (1965) argued that it was Ari's konunga <zvi. It would lead too far from
Oddr to explore that question here, but it should be evident from the synopses
above that Oddr is more clearly aligned with Theodoricus than with the other
two synoptics or their common source.
Nevertheless, there are also a few special correspondences between Oddr
and one or both of the other synoptics. Thus Oddr has much to say about
Olaf's escape to Sweden, servitude in Estonia, redemption by a relative, and
14 Introduction
vengeance for his foster father (points 7-11)—matters not covered by Theo-
doricus. The information is perhaps too copious to be explained by a skeletal
written source and is likely to be based on still living oral sources related to the
synoptics. Again, Theodoricus says nothing about Olaf's early experience in
Wendland, but both HN (point 12) and Ag (point 14) register that Olaf win-
tered there. Oddr makes a great deal of this interlude, and we must return to
it presently. Of special interest is Oddr's echoing of the assembly at Mostr (Ag,
point 22), which cannot be found in Theodoricus or HN. Finally, Theodoricus
has nothing on Pyri, who becomes such a prominent figure for Oddr, but her
death from grief is noted in HN (point 36).
Despite these links to the branch of information represented by HN and
Agrip it seems clear that Oddr is fundamentally aligned with the story summa-
rized by Theodoricus. The emphasis on the search for the infant Olaf, the mir-
acle in Denmark, the identification of the Scilly Isles, the pseudonym Ali, the
special interest in Jarl Hakon's luring of Olaf to Norway, the conversion of
Orkney by threat, the burning of sorcerers, the attention to the conversion of
the Icelanders, and the marriage of Olaf's sisters to local chieftains all point to
a specific affiliation.
We may therefore conclude that the first forty-one chapters of Oddr's text
are shaped by a source (or sources), undoubtedly written, which also served as
a model for Theodoricus. But Oddr clearly supplemented that source from
oral narratives, especially in the Swedish and Russian sequences. One episode
of particular interest, because it cannot be explained from any synoptic or com-
mon written source, relates Olaf's marriage to Queen Geira in Wendland.
Queen Geira
Olaf's meeting with and marriage to Geira is narrated at some length in Chap-
ters 10-11. According to HN (point 12) and Agrip (point 14), Olaf wintered in
Wendland, but at the end of Chapter 8, Oddr tells us that he regularly wintered
in Russia with King Valdimarr. One autumn, however, as he heads for Russia,
he is overtaken by heavy weather and diverts his ships to Wendland. It appears
that Olaf does not know the area, nor does he know that it is ably ruled by
Queen Geira with the assistance of her faithful lieutenant Dixin. Olaf appears
to come to anchor quite coincidentally "not far from her capital."
Lars Lonnroth (1975) has quite rightly noted that what follows is uncharac-
teristically romantic. One day Dixin runs across Olaf's ships and returns to re-
port to his queen. After a curiously stichomythic exchange he launches into a
long account of his experience, praising the appearance and nobility of the for-
eign leader, in whom he suspects royal blood. He urges that the stranger be in-
vited to spend the winter and suggests, without much ado, that he might be the
right husband for Geira. The invitation is duly tendered and accepted, and a
splendid hall is prepared for Olaf and his men. At a great Yule celebration Olaf
The Sources 15
and Geira occupy the same highseat, and Dixin works on each in turn to real-
ize his marriage plan. "When he had sown this verbal seed in their breasts, it
began to take root and become firm in both."
Olaf now offers to recapture any towns that Geira may have lost, a service he
has already performed for King Valdimarr in Russia. He campaigns with great
success, capturing at least two towns. The second is alleged to be Jomsborg, also
mentioned as Olaf's site in Ag (point 14). No specific mention of marriage is
made, but it is probably to be understood; the Stockholm manuscript (see
Chapter 12, note 1) refers to Geira as Olaf's wife. After three years the queen
suddenly dies, and Olaf departs in grief.
Lonnroth (1975, 39) explains this romantic interlude as being possibly in-
fluenced by the Norse versions of the Vie romancee de Charlemagne and the
Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle, but I suggest a different source. A great future king
blown off course by a storm and coming to anchor in a strange land ruled by
a queen in a "capital" with splendid buildings, a queen with whom he becomes
promptly enamored, is reminiscent of Dido and Aeneas. Geira, like Dido, is a
widow. Olaf, like Aeneas, is breathtakingly handsome. Venus breathes bright-
ness into Aeneas's eyes (Aeneidl.59l), and Olaf has "eyes that are so sharp and
fair that never have I seen such a noble man." Both are godlike. Aeneas is "sim-
ilar to a god with respect to countenance and frame" (1.589), and Olaf im-
presses Dixin as more than human: "This man appears to me to exceed human
norms and human nature." In the Aeneid Venus brokers the match, and in the
saga Dixin is the matchmaker, but both avail themselves of the convivial aus-
pices and the warm intimacy of a feast.
Despite Virgil's ubiquity in the Middle Ages, it is difficult to trace residues of
the Aeneidin Iceland (see Mager0y 1998; Wiirth 1998, 38, 48, 56, 59, 71, 82; An-
dersson 2001, 282-83). If, however, Breta sqgur, which includes a summary of
the Aeneid, is correctly attributed to Gunnlaugr Leifsson, we could assume
some knowledge of Virgil at Pingeyrar around the time that Oddr was active.
Why Oddr, who is otherwise dependent on one or more written sources and
related oral traditions, should diverge from them to invent a romantic episode
in Wendland is a separate question. Stanza 12 in Chapter 73 of the saga refers
to Olaf as "slayer of the Wends," presumably based on early raids in that area,
but it is generally assumed that Oddr would not have included the dwttkvcett
(court meter) stanzas in his Latin original because of the difficulties of trans-
lation (see Bjarni A5albjarnarson 1936, 58). He may nonetheless have known
a number of the stanzas or the information they incorporated. Both fflVand
Agrip (point 33) indicate that Olaf had hopes of an armed alliance with the
Wends before the Battle of SvglSr. It might make sense for an author like Oddr
to build this kind of hint into an early alliance with the Wends, even a mar-
riage alliance, but such inventiveness is hard to identify elsewhere in Oddr's
text.
It is also tempting to speculate that Geira adumbrates the "right" queen Pyri,
16 Introduction
just as Dido is the deceptive precursor of Lavinia, but this sort of ingenuity is
also difficult to document in Oddr's text. Perhaps the suggestive similarity lay
only in a great king's being repatriated to his rightful realm after early wan-
derings and a romantic entanglement.
Whatever the explanation, the Geira episode is a minor deviation from an
apparently predetermined sequence of events, most of which can be followed
in Theodoricus's narrative. The lost common source appears to have defined
the structure of the story, but this guidance remains in effect only up to the
conversion of the Icelanders in Chapters 40-41. At that point the story begins
to ramble, and it is difficult to identify a narrative thread until the prelude to
the Battle of SvglSr in Chapter 62.
Miscellaneous Episodes
Structural deterioration is signaled in Chapter 37, even before the conversion
of the Icelanders. Here Olaf, after overcoming magic winds set against him,
tries to convert the powerful Hroaldr on Go5ey, but finding him obstinate, he
hangs him. The peculiarity of this episode is that it is a duplicate of Chapter
55, in which Hroaldr in Moldafjgr5r (far to the south of GoSey) practices the
same magic, is similarly obstinate, and dies an unspecified death at the hands
of Olaf. It looks as though Oddr had two variants of a conversion episode and
decided to record them both. He also appears to have spaced them as far apart
as possible, as if to disguise the repetition.
The Hroaldr account is typical of the conversion anecdote, the most fre-
quent sort of episode in this middle section of the saga. Such anecdotes occur
in Chapters 42, 44, 45, 54, and 56 as well. Several of them are best described as
atrocity conversions because they relate forcible conversions which, when they
fail, result in bizarre executions (Chapters 44, 45, 56). How these anecdotes
originated and were transmitted is impossible to say, but there are two indica-
tions in Theodoricus's book that they were in circulation. The first is connected
with the conversion of Orkney in Chapter 9:
When he [Jarl SigurSr] had resisted for a long time, we are told that Olaf seized
his son from the place where he was being fostered (the little boy was three years
of age and named Thorfinn), saying that he would sacrifice him before the eyes
of his father, and threatening perpetual enmity in addition, unless he gave his con-
sent. At this point the jarl (as it is written—"Shame and panic be always theirs, dis-
grace and death; and let them know this" [Psalms 83.17]), fearing both Olaf's just
wrath and the death of his son and acceding rather more than believing, was bap-
tized together with the whole people under his rule.
The second indication is found in Chapter 11 of Theodoricus:

The Sources 17
He [Olaf ] pressed hard with prayers and preaching, sometimes adding threats and
terror. For he saw that the savage hearts of the pagans could not be freed, except
by a strong hand, from the ingrained foulness of disbelief and, as it were, a con-
genital worship of demons, which they almost seem to have imbibed with their
mothers' milk, and because they were not much persuaded by words, he often
added blows as well, in imitation of his Lord, who not only applied oil and wine to
the wounds of the injured but also this good word [Luke 14.23]: "Force people to
come in to make sure my house is full."
These accounts suggest strongly that Olaf's violent conversion tactics circu-
lated in tradition and could have been picked up from word of mouth by Oddr.
But whereas Theodoricus attempts to gloss over the atrocities with scriptural
authority, Oddr makes no such attempt.
A number of other episodes pertain to the religious domain as well. Olaf ex-
periences visitations from pagan demons, Odin in Chapter 43 and Thor in
Chapter 59. The confabulation of demons in Naumudalr witnessed by two of
Olaf's retainers (Chapter 60) belongs in the same category. But Olaf also ex-
periences angelic visions (Chapters 51 and 52), and there is one episode of idol
destruction (Chapter 47).
Some episodes are devoted to Olaf's secular accomplishments, his ship-
building (Chapters 39, 45, 53), or his physical prowess. Chapter 49 recounts
his rescue of a retainer off the face of a cliff, and Chapter 50 summarizes his
swimming skills, agility in battle, and luck as a sailor. A few other chapters have
more political import. Chapter 46 reports Olaf's marriage to I>yri; Chapter 48,
SigriSr's marriage to King Sveinn of Denmark. Chapter 58 describes a ruse em-
ployed by Olaf's faithful retainers to stave off a coup staged by Gu6r06r, the
son of Erik Bloodax. Finally, Chapter 61 reports the death of Olaf's young son
by Pyri. Only one episode stands completely apart, the account in Chapter 57
of how the Icelander Sigur6r is killed when Olaf sets Vigi on him and how the
king repents of this deed.
What is remarkable is that these episodes are set down in no identifiable
order and according to no identifiable principles. They are randomly inter-
spersed as if the author wrote them more or less in the order he received them
and not according to thematic or chronological criteria. Oddr's sense of com-
position in the first part of the saga was no doubt imposed by a written source
or sources, and there is a more dramatic narrative style in the third part, but
the central section of the saga is no more than an omnium gatherum.
The Battle of SvglSr

The prelude to the Battle of SvglSr begins with a long chapter (62) in which
King Sveinn of Denmark marries SigriSr the Imperious. Sigri5r is still nursing
18 Introduction
her animosity toward the Norwegian king and incites Sveinn against him be-
cause, as she alleges, Sveinn was not properly consulted when Olaf married his
sister Pyri. The plan she suggests is that Jarl Sigvaldi be sent on a mission to in-
duce Olaf to attend a meeting of the kings of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden
at the traditional meeting place of northern kings. Sigvaldi carries out the mis-
sion, and Olaf agrees to the meeting. Walter Baetke (1970, 305-7) argues that
Sigvaldi's role was Oddr's invention, but if stanza 1 in Chapter 65 is correctly
attributed to Stefnir Porgilsson, Sigvaldi's deceitful mission has a basis in tra-
dition.
The motivation is compounded in the following chapter, however, when Pyri
urges Olaf to recover the dowry owed to her by her brother King Sveinn. As a
consequence Olaf gathers a "great army" (Chapter 64), but before setting sail
he puts in at Mostr and has an encounter with a blind farmer who prophesies
four national losses: Olaf himself, his queen Pyri, the Long Serpent, and the
dog Vigi. At this point the motivation becomes quite problematical. Olaf sails
off with his "great army," presumably to confront the Danes and recover Pyri's
property. But no, he sails to the meeting place to which he has been summoned
by Sigvaldi. The kings of Denmark and Sweden do not appear at the scheduled
time, but if they had appeared, what would they have thought of Olaf's mas-
sive army?
It seems clear that two contradictory motivations are being combined. The
same contradiction emerges from point 31 above. According to Theodoricus,
an alliance is formed against Olaf, and that matches Oddr's account in Chap-
ter 62. But according to fflVand Ag, Olaf wishes to recover Pyri's property and
prepares to attack the Danes; that matches Oddr's account in Chapter 63. In
one version Olaf is the victim of a conspiracy; in the other he is the aggressor.
The victim theory is guaranteed for tradition by Stefnir's stanza and Theodor-
icus; the aggressor theory is guaranteed by HN and Ag. Instead of making a
clear choice between the versions, Oddr tries to combine them. The most ob-
vious resulting anomaly is that Olaf shows up with a huge fleet at what is sup-
posed to be a peaceable meeting of the northern kings. A second anomaly is
that the kings of Denmark and Sweden fail to appear at the ambush they them-
selves have contrived to trap Olaf. No explanation is offered. Oddr is unable
to reconcile his sources convincingly.
When the meeting comes to nothing, Olaf sails on to Wendland, but the
problems persist. Why does he not attack Denmark as planned? In Wendland,
Olaf asks King Burizleifr for properties owed to Pyri, and Burizleifr willingly
complies. Thus the properties in Denmark are dropped from the discussion,
and different properties in Wendland, which have not been mentioned in
Chapter 63, are introduced. Nothing more is heard of the claim in Denmark.
In the meantime, in Chapter 65, King Sveinn and King Olafr of Sweden, hav-
ing failed to attend the previous meeting, convene a new meeting with Jarl
The Sources 19
Eirikr and plan to ambush Olaf on his return from Wendland. Jarl Sigvaldi ap-
parently attends the meeting as well and is dispatched to put Olaf's mind at
rest about rumors of an ambush. It is not explained why Olaf, who has previ-
ously been summoned by Sigvaldi to a meeting that never materialized, should
now have any faith in his words.
In Chapter 66 there are new difficulties. Stanza 3 (Halldorr okristni's) states
clearly that Olaf sailed "from the south" (presumably from Wendland) with sev-
enty-one ships. Oddr may or may not have been aware of Halldorr's statement
on the number of ships, but he certainly knew of the tradition that most of
Olaf's men departed before he set sail and were therefore not available at the
subsequent battle. That tradition is documented in slightly differing forms in
both HNand Ag (point 32 above).
The following chapter (67), undoubtedly Oddr's most famous, describes the
magnificent procession of Olaf's great ships and the repeated misidentifica-
tion of each one as the Long Serpent. This is the passage often compared to
the approach of Charlemagne's army at Pavia in the biography by the Monk of
St. Gall. Oddr could have used that passage as a model for his naval procession,
especially since the scene is not supported by skaldic verse or adumbrated in
the synoptic histories. On the other hand, the rich deployment of parallelism,
retardation, and escalation suggest some narrative refinement in oral tradi-
tion. This is the sort of scene on which inventionists and traditionalists will al-
most inevitably disagree.
The details of the battle in Chapters 68-73 are almost certainly grounded in
tradition. They recount the successive waves of attacks by Danes, Swedes, and
Jarl Eirikr's Norwegians, which are outlined in good agreement in all three syn-
optic histories. As in the procession of Olaf's ships, the narrative and dialogue
are dramatic. There is stinging repartee between Olaf and his forecastleman
Ulfr in Chapter 68, complete with a reference to oral authority: "Most people
claim that it was Ulfr who spoke those words to the king." Chapter 69 makes use
of the technique, ubiquitous in the later sagas, of sentimentalizing a hero soon
to die: Olaf makes special provision for the protection of I>yri. In Chapter 70 he
solidifies his role as conversion king by delivering a final biting condemnation
of the heathen Swedes. Chapter 71 contains a long list of the last survivors on
the Long Serpent, which in all likelihood comes from a written source, but that
source must ultimately derive from an oral report. Chapter 72 offers even-
handed treatment of the two Norwegians, Eirikr and Olaf, and Chapter 73 gives
Eirikr the edge only by virtue of a special mechnical device without which vic-
tory would not have been possible. It culminates with the bursting of Einarr
{>ambarskelfir's celebrated bow and Olaf's final, and suitably pious, words.
Chapters 74-75 also follow the example of the three synoptic histories in
exploring the circumstances of Olaf's disappearance and the possibility that
he survived. Oddr is quite specific on what Skuli Porsteinsson, Einarr f)amb-
20 Introduction
arskelfir, and Kolbjgrn the Marshal reported, but what sort of tradition would
have preserved these reports is hard to surmise. Chapter 76 expatiates on I>yri's
death, only briefly mentioned in HN. Chapter 77 similarly details Vigi's death,
and Chapter 78 further probes the possibility that Olaf swam to safety and was
later seen in a monastery, a matter alluded to in HN and Ag and much more
fully related in the conclusion of the Uppsala MS.
Looking at the saga as a whole, one may conclude that it falls into three sec-
tions: a linear account of Olaf's birth, youth, accession, and accomplishments
(Chapters 1-41), a supplementary miscellany on further activities (Chapters
42-61), and a concluding section on the motivations and preliminaries lead-
ing up to his fall at Svgl5r (Chapters 62-78). For the first section Oddr had a
written source (or sources) most faithfully reflected in Theodoricus's history,
but he also made use of oral sources that allowed him to expand the story. For
the middle section he seems to have gathered oral material and recorded it
loosely, with no attempt at imposing order. In the third section he seems to
have used oral tradition that was contradictory on the matter of motivation,
but when it came to the actual details of the battle, the story may well have been
precast as a dramatic oral narrative.
Interpreting the Text
The most interesting interpretive discussion of Oddr's saga was written by the
distinguished scholar of Germanic religion Walter Baetke (1970, 1-18; rpt.
1973, 301-18). Baetke chose as his point of departure the general biblical pat-
terning of the narrative but focused specifically on the curious stanza attrib-
uted to Stefnir Porgilsson and preserved in Oddr's original Latin in both the
main manuscripts:
Nee nominabo, pene monstrabo:

curvus est deorsum nasus in apostata,
qui Sveion regem de terra seduxit
et filium Tryggva traxit in dolo.
Munkat ek nefna, naer munk stefna:

ni6rbjugt es nef a ni5ingi,
J)anns Svein konung sveik or landi,
ok Tryggva son a talar dro.
(I won't name the name, but I'll take dead aim: the nose is curved down on the
apostate who lured King Sveinn from land and drew Tryggvi's son into a treacher-
ous ambush.)
Interpreting the Text 21
Baetke, true to his life-long inventionist tenets, noted that the Stockholm
manuscript introduces the Latin version with the words "Ok JDetta hefir gert
Oddr munkr a latino" (the monk Oddr "did" this in Latin). Baetke took the
verb "did" to mean "composed" rather than "translated." The immediate prob-
lem is that the Stockholm manuscript follows up with the further information
"Petta kva5 Stefnir islenzkr maSr um Sigvalda" (Stefnir, an Icelander, com-
posed and recited this about Sigvaldi). Baetke resolves the conflict between
Oddr's and Stefnir's authorship by assuming that the second comment is not
original but rather an interpolation from another source, which Baetke ulti-
mately identifies as a fiction added in when Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Oddr's fellow
monk at Mngeyrar, wrote his version of Olaf's saga. The episode of Stefnir and
his slandering of Sigvaldi is thus explained away as Gunnlaugr's invention, al-
though Baetke does not account for the reasons that might have led Gunnlaugr
to deviate so explicitly from Oddr's version.
The tale of Stefnir and his calumny, however, survives not only in Oddr's saga
but also in "Kristni saga" (ed. Kahle 1905, 16-19, 43-44). Here Stefnir is cred-
ited with missionary work in Iceland and extensive travels that take him as far
as Jerusalem, Constantinople, and Kiev. Only then are we told that Stefnir re-
turns to Denmark, where he recites the incriminating stanza at Sigvaldi's ex-
pense. The author of "Kristni saga," who may be Sturla PorSarson (see Jon
Johannesson 1941, 70-71), adds: "A })eiri visu {)6ttiz Sigvaldi jarl kenna mark
sitt ok fyrir J>a sgk let hann drepa Stefni, sva hefir Ari inn gamli sagt" (Jarl Sig-
valdi thought he could recognize himself in the stanza, and for that reason [or
"legal cause"] he had Stefnir killed—so said Ari the Old).
To have the story authenticated by no less a figure that Ari Porgilsson, the
author of Iceland's oldest extant history, is striking. It is also a blow to the idea
that Stefnir and his stanza are a mere fiction. Baetke (1973, 315) therefore ar-
gues that the authentication is also a fiction, maintaining that there would have
been no place for a Danish event (the abduction of King Sveinn) in Ari's lost
history of the Norwegian kings. The Danish event is, however, only an inci-
dental reference in Stefnir's stanza; the main point is the betrayal of King Olaf,
a central event in Norwegian history that would certainly have been touched
on by Ari. There is also explicit evidence that Oddr knew Ari and would have
been familiar with the story of Stefnir from that source. It is therefore easier to
accept the Stefnir anecdote as historical rather than to pile hypothetical fiction
on hypothetical fiction in order to discredit the evidence of AM 310, 4to, of
Stockholm 18, 4to, and of "Kristni saga." These accounts are similar enough to
reinforce one another without being so close as to suggest that they merely
copied each other.
Even if Stefnir cannot be explained away as a fiction from the pen of
Gunnlaugr Leifsson, there is much to be said for the drift of Baetke's inter-
pretation. His main point is that Sigvaldi was borrowed from Jomsvikinga saga
22 Introduction
and became Oddr's instrument for a tale of treachery based onjudas's betrayal
of Jesus. He cites the prose just before the Stefnir anecdote (Chapter 65) as
a guide to Oddr's thinking: "King Olaf believed Sigvaldi's words because Al-
mighty God allowed it to transpire in those days that King Olaf was tricked and
betrayed by a spirit of animosity and falsehood so that he lost his realm invol-
untarily. Betrayed by his enemies, he no longer ruled his earthly realm, so that
he might soon thereafter be revealed as a heavenly man rather than an earthly
one." Baetke's interpretation invites us to view this as a recapitulation of
Christ's life on earth. It certainly reflects Oddr's thinking, since he is con-
cerned from the outset with the problem that Olaf is not technically a saint on
a level with Olaf Haraldsson but is nonetheless a precursor and a close ap-
proximation. It is very much in harmony with Oddr's spirit to lend Olaf Christ-
like qualities.
The Judas parallel can in fact be reinforced by looking at Stefnir's stanza
more closely. In the Icelandic version Sigvaldi is called nidingr (vicious traitor)
and in the Latin version apostata. That may amount to the same thing. Julian
the Apostate appears asjulianus nidingr in Old Icelandic (Heilagra manna s0gur
1:28.4 ("Ambrosius saga") andHre ogjyrretyve. . . pr0ver, p. 96.6 (Veraldar saga).
I have not located a reference to Judas as nidingr, but he is regularly referred
to as apostatain patristic texts. For example, Bede, in his "In Marci Evangelium
Expositio" (PL 92: col. 234) punningly comments: "Multi autem erunt primi
novissimi, et novissimi primi. Vide enim Judam de apostolo in apostatam ver-
sum." (Many of the first will be last, and the last first. Take note of Judas, who
changed from an apostle into an apostate.)
An aspect of the stanza that, to my knowledge, has not been commented
on is the physical description of the nidingr or "apostate." According to the
Icelandic text his nefis nidrbjugt (turned down), and according to the Latin,
"curvus est deorsum naso in apostata" (the nose of the apostate is turned down-
ward) . A first glance at the stanza may suggest that Stefnir is simply noting a
distinguishing feature that will allow his listeners to identify the butt of his slan-
der more easily, but since everything else in the stanza is pointedly disparag-
ing, we may be led to suspect that the down turned nose is not a neutral feature.
The words nidrbjugt erne/are clearly disparaging in "Rigsf)ula" 10 and have been
treated as a source for Stefnir (Dronke 1997, 2: 220), but given the uncertain
dating of "RigsjDula," it is difficult to know which way the influence might have
run (cf. Dronke 1997, 2: 202-8; and von See et al., 3:479-88). A little explo-
ration into the iconography of the nose in fact reveals that a downturned or
hooked nose is a standing attribute of Judas.
The material was surveyed as long ago as Wilhelm Forte's Jena dissertation
(1883, esp. 34, 60, 81, and 87). In the world of art his tor y Judas's physiognomy
has figured more recently in Ruth Mellinkoff's researches. In her opulently pro-
duced book Outcasts she writes (1993,1:135): "Portrayals of Judas had in fact be-
come paradigms of Jewish caricature. Martin Schongauer [ca. 1480-1490] por-

trayed Judas as a Jewish stereotype both in the Betrayal and Arrest of Christ. . . (fig.
II.5) and in a Last Supper (fig. VI.53). In each case Judas's profiled face displays
an enlarged, bulging eye, a hooked nose, and thick pouting lips."
Mellinkoff pursues her researches in a later book, this time more in the con-
text of the caricatured Jew, and provides one telling caricature of Judas from a
Last Supper in a German ivory booklet from ca. 1330-50 (1999, 134: fig. 67).
In addition, she notes a portrait of Cain (the other arch villain along with Ju-
das) in the English Huth Psalter, ca. 1280, a Cain with "a huge, hooked nose"
(24: no fig.)- Broadening the horizon to include caricatured noses in general
is an Execution of St. Stephen from ca. 1220 (133: fig. 66), an example somewhat
closer in date to Oddr Snorrason's period if not to Stefnir's. To be sure, there
remains a leap of two hundred years back to the early eleventh century when
Stefnir would have composed his slander and undergone the consequences.
But even granting that the iconographic tradition of the Judas nose goes
back that far in time, can one suppose that an Icelander in the remote North
would have known about the tradition? No demonstration is possible, but
Stefnir was both a zealous Christian, who in the first flush may have directed
special animosity toward Christ's enemies—-just as King Olaf did—and a well-
traveled man who had been to Jerusalem and Constantinople. It is therefore
possible that he would have seen examples of the unflattering iconography in
question. Yet the reference to the Judas nose may have been quite opaque for
most of his listeners. It may have been a sort of inside joke—quite in the tra-
dition of nid, the Icelandic art of character assassination; nid is supposed to be
subtly injurious rather than crassly overt.
It is in any event certain that Sigvaldi got the point, whether on his own or
with a little art-historical coaching. That much we know because he responded
instantaneously and with maximum ferocity. We must therefore also believe
that the stanza was calculated for maximum effect. It would certainly sting to
be labeled a traitor plain and simple, but when the charge was escalated to the
point of calling Sigvaldi a Judas, one can understand his violent reaction. In
sum, though I cannot subscribe to Baetke's view that the Judas comparison
originated with Oddr, I certainly agree that it is the gist of the stanza. Indeed,
it was presumably implicit in the stanza from the outset, although Oddr may
have exploited it with particular relish.
If, as at least one critic has supposed (Ellehoj 1965, 50-51), the stanza was
already cited in Ari Porgilsson's konunga cevi, how would Ari have construed the
episode? His interpretation may not in fact have been very different from
Oddr's. He makes much of Olaf Tryggvason's conversion efforts in his extant
Islendingabok and would certainly have shared the view that Olaf was a devout
Christian betrayed by his enemies, in effect a martyr. On the other hand, if the
style of his konunga cevi was akin to Islendingabok, it is safe to surmise that he
24 Introduction
would not have engaged in the special pleading on behalf of Olaf's piety that
appears in Oddr's account. Half a century of hagiographic writing in Iceland
between Ari and Oddr would have reinforced the clerical tonalities. Nonethe-
less, the idea that Olaf succumbed to a Judas-like betrayal was part and parcel
of Stefnir's stanza and would have been as familiar to Ari as it was to Oddr. Oddr
merely elaborated the Christian framework.
Alongside the Christian model there is, however, a more secular perspec-
tive on Olaf's demise. Baetke focuses exclusively on the Judas betrayal, but the
traitor who brings down the hero by deceit is also a stock figure in heroic lit-
erature. Lonnroth (1975, 43) has compared Sigvaldi's betrayal of Olaf to
Ganelon's betrayal of Roland. More broadly, treachery as a motivation for de-
feat is traditional in two varieties, either national or personal betrayal; the myth
is as common in modern times as in ancient. A nation does not readily believe
that it has been defeated, only that it has been tricked. Thus Olaf Tryggvason's
defeat is explained away by an accumulation of perfidies: he is tricked by a plan
concocted by the Danes and the Swedes, as well as a Norwegian rival who at
least has the excuse of vengeance for his father; he is misled by Sigvaldi's men-
dacity on two occasions; and, finally, he is prematurely abandoned by his own
men.
That a nation can be defeated only by trickery is an idea that can be traced
back as far as the Trojan War. Thus Virgil, positing that the Romans are de-
scended from the Trojans, unabashedly describes the Trojans as "undefeated"
(Aeneidl 1.306), and Servius's commentary duly explains (Servii. . . Commentarii
ed. Thilo and Hagen, 2:516): "Varro and others say that the Trojans were un-
defeated because they were overcome by trickery; they affirm that [only] those
are defeated who surrender to the enemy." That the enemy, the practitioners
of trickery, are perfidious by nature becomes a commonplace of Roman liter-
ature, and it is applied to virtually all of Rome's antagonists (Heinze 1915, 10;
Taylor 1939, 19-21).
The perfida gens commonplace persists in medieval literature, but it appears
not to have made its way across the cultural and linguistic divide between cen-
tral and northern Europe. It is not a feature of Norse-Icelandic literature, and
even in Oddr's Latin original it is unlikely that there were references to the "in-
fidi Dani" or the "gens perfida Sueonum." This does not mean that Oddr was
above national stereotyping; in an explicitly nationalistic passage he brands the
Danes as people incapable of winning a naval battle and the Swedes as pagans
too busy licking out their sacrificial bowls to bother fighting. On the whole,
however, Oddr focuses more on the treacherous individual Sigvaldi than on
the treacherous peoples he serves.
This emphasis is by no means exceptional, because the traitor is a stock fig-
ure in tales of fallen heroes. The motif is traced in a lively book by the folklorist
Bruce Rosenberg (1974). Troy falls by treachery, a treachery embodied to
some extent in Ulysses' equine ambush but in more personalized terms in the
figure of the detestable Sinon, who persuades the Trojans to drag the horse
within their walls. Treachery operates in turn against the Greeks in the story
of how Ephialtes betrays Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans at Ther-
mopylae by informing the Persians of a secret path that allows Xerxes to bypass
the Spartan position and attack from the rear. But Rosenberg focuses in par-
ticular on the modern tale of General George Custer, whose defeat at Little
Bighorn was attributed almost immediately by the popular press to the cow-
ardice of his second-in-command, Major Marcus Reno. That version gained
such instant credence that Reno was obliged to ask for a special board of in-
quiry, which ultimately cleared him (1974, 10).
Part of Rosenberg's argument is that such exculpatory stories arise very
quickly. If, as I argue here, Stefnir's stanza condemning Sigvaldi was composed
within a few years of the Battle of Svgl5r, we may identify a quite similar case in
which a national defeat was promptly explained away by personal treachery.
In Olaf's case the rationalization combined a national conspiracy on the part
of the Danes and the Swedes with Sigvaldi's individual betrayal. Olaf is, ac-
cording to Stefnir's stanza, a quasi saint replicating the life of Christ, but he is
also a fallen national hero betrayed by his neighbors. These alternative and per-
haps contradictory characterizations have recently been located at the center
of a debate about the genre to which Oddr's saga should be assigned. Tradi-
tionally, it has been classified as a king's saga, a classification that would tend
to privilege the political aspects. More recently, the Icelandic scholar Sverrir
Tomasson has argued that it is really a saint's life (1988, 261-79; cf. Zernack
1998,78).
A middle course might be preferable, because it is difficult to assign a pri-
ority of one model over the other. We have seen that the Judas motif is as old
as Stefnir's stanza, but Olaf is also recalled as king and national leader in the
contemporary verse of Olaf's court poet HallfreSr, who in stanzas 4 and 5
(Chapter 68) notes that "the valiant king fought alone against two bold kings
and ajarl as third" and records "the courageous words of the bench-compan-
ion of the people." The first of these stanzas also records the crucial absence
of Olaf's men from Proendalpg: that is, the idea of a national defection in Olaf's
hour of need. To be sure, these stanzas were in all probability not to be found
in Oddr's Latin original, but he would no doubt have been aware of the tradi-
tion they embodied.
That the saga is in fact a bipolar composition with a split religious and po-
litical identity is reflected in its mixed style. The early portions, which focus on
Olaf's escape from a Herod-like pursuit into an Egypt-like indenture prefacing
a return to Norway in the capacity of preacher and prosyletizer, read very much
like a saint's life. But the concluding chapters leading up to the great Battle of
Svgl6r, the greatest naval battle of Scandinavian antiquity, read like a hero tale,
26 Introduction
having much in common with the later heroic sagas in both style and compo-
sitional technique.
It may seem indecisive to embrace both competing alternatives, but bear in
mind that Oddr wrote for a mixed community. On the one hand, he wrote un-
der the influence of the hagiographic literature that held sway in twelfth-cen-
tury Iceland and for his fellow clerics in monasteries such as Pingeyrar. On the
other hand, he wrote under the influence of the popular traditions about Olaf,
conveyed by such informants as the ones listed in Mesta; he therefore also re-
flected their interests and intended to meet their expectations. We have seen
that his editorial policy was inclusive rather than selective, and his interpretive
policy may well have been the same. He wrote to satisfy both the narrower
monastic audience and the wider secular audience that had learned to revere
Olaf as a hero-king.
Manuscripts, Editions, and Translations
There is no complete manuscript of Oddr's Oldfs saga Tryggvasonar. The text

must therefore be pieced together from two manuscripts, with a small sup-
plement from a third. The most complete is AM 310, 4to (manuscript A), a
Norwegian manuscript judged by the editor, Finnur Jonsson, to be from the
second half or third quarter of the thirteenth century and copied from an
Icelandic exemplar. Since the first three leaves are missing, that text must be
supplied from another manuscript. Thus the A manuscript does not begin
until the fifth paragraph of Chapter 4 in this book, but it carries through to
the end of the saga and, as printed by Finnur Jonsson, is the basis for my trans-
lation. After the conclusion (at the end of Chapter 78), AM 310, 4to, adds
four additional chapters (Finnur Jonsson 1932, 243-48), but the consensus
is that they do not belong to Oddr's text; they are therefore not translated
here (see Finnur Jonsson 1932, edition, xvii-xviii; and Bjarni A5albjarnarson
1936,55).
The second important manuscript is Stockholm 18, 4to (manuscript S), pre-
served in the Royal Library in Stockholm. Finnur Jonsson judges it to be an
Icelandic manuscript from ca. 1300 or the first quarter of the fourteenth cen-
tury. In the introduction to his edition of the saga (viii-xix) he makes a quite
detailed case for believing that S is a substantially abbreviated version of the
same Icelandic archetype used by the copyist of A. Bjarni A5albjarnarson 1936,
57-68) reached similar conclusions. The S text is printed below the A text in
Finnur Jonsson's edition.
The third manuscript is a fragment of two leaves from the de la Gardie Col-
lection 4-7, fol., in Uppsala. These leaves set in at the end of the saga and cover
the last phase of the Battle of SvglSr. Finnur Jonsson locates the manuscript in
Manuscripts, Editions, and Translations 27
the same area of southwestern Norway as AM 810, 4to, and dates it to the mid-
dle of the thirteenth century. The text is closer to A than to S but also abbre-
viates. Of greatest interest is the final chapter (Finnur Jonsson ed. 259-61),
which deviates radically from both A and S. It is translated as the first note to
Chapter 78 in this volume.
Besides Finnur Jonsson's (1932), there are editions by Jacob Reenhjelm
(1691), Peter Andreas Munch (1853), P. Groth (1895), and a normalized edi-
tion by Gu5ni Jonsson (1957). They are all listed in the bibliography. Reen-
hjelm and Groth follow manuscript A; Munch reproduces S, its lacunae
supplemented from A in his notes. Finnur Jonsson provides the full text of all
three manuscripts. Gu6ni Jonsson has normalized A through Chapter 78 and
supplemented it from S at the beginning. There is also a photographic repro-
duction of AM 310, 4to, introduced by Anne Holtsmark (1974).
Hardly ever mentioned is Jacob Reenhjelm's edition of 1691, although it is
exceptionally ambitious for the time. Reenhjelm relied on AM 310, 4to, and
since the Stockholm MS was not available to him, his text begins in midstory
in chapter 4. He printed the Icelandic text in the left column, a Swedish trans-
lation in the right column, and a Latin translation at the foot of the page. Text
and translations occupy 272 pages. Reenhjelm marked "finis" at the end of
Chapter 78 but went on to include the additional four chapters from AM 310,
4to. There is a glossary of key words with translations into Swedish and Latin
(pp. 273-85) and a twenty-five-page index of names (unpaginated). Following
two pages of errata and a two-page dedication to Queen Christina, Reenhjelm
then provides 116 pages of notes to the text in Latin, with abundant quotations
in Icelandic, also translated into Latin. These notes would make an interesting
study in the level of knowledge about Old Norse-Icelandic history and litera-
ture in the latter part of the seventeenth century.
In more recent times the tireless saga translater N. M. Petersen provided a
fluent translation of AM 310, 4to, into Danish (1836), and in the twentieth cen-
tury Magnus Rindal translated the saga into New Norwegian with brief but
helpful notes (1977). When in doubt, I have made grateful use of Rindal's
translation.
Contents of the Saga
Prologue 35
1 . The Beginning of the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason 36
2. About the Birth of King Olaf 38
3. Concerning Eirikr 39
4. Gunnhildr's Search 39
5. Concerning Gunnhildr and Hakon 42
6. Concerning the King of Russia and His Mother 44
7. Concerning Olaf Tryggvason and His Mother AstriSr 44
8. Concerning Olaf Tryggvason 45
9. Concerning King Olaf 49
10. Concerning Olaf Tryggvason and a Certain Lady 49
13 Concerning King Olaf 's Dream 53
15. Concerning Hakon and Ali 56
16. Concerning Olaf Tryggvason 61
17. Concerning Olaf Tryggvason and the Champion Alpin 62
18. Concerning Jarl Hakon 63
19. Concerning Jarl Hakon's Treachery against Olaf Tryggvason 64
20. Concerning Jarl Hakon the Powerful 67
2 1 . Concerning Olaf Tryggvason 68
22. Concerning the Division of the Districts 71
23. Concerning the Acceptance of Olaf as King 72
24. Concerning King Olaf 's Preaching of the True Faith 72
25. Concerning King Olaf Tryggvason 73
28. Concerning the Discovery of Mortal Remains on Selja 76
30. Concerning Sunnefa 77
31
32 Contents of the Saga
S22. Concerning King Olaf s Conversion of Hgr5aland 79

S23. The King Marries Off His Sisters 80
S24. The Chieftains Accept the Faith 80
32. Concerning King Eirikr in Sweden 81
33. Concerning Olaf Tryggvason and Queen Sigri5r 82
34. Concerning Sigvaldi's Capture of King Sveinn 82
35. Concerning King Olaf 's Assembly 84
36. Concerning the Sorcerers 85
37. Concerning Hroaldr 86
38. Concerning the Men from Halogaland 87
40. Tale of the Icelanders 88
41. Concerning King Olaf and the Priest Pangbrandr 90
44. Concerning King Olaf and Eyvindr kelda 94
46. The Marriage of King Burizleifr 97
47. Concerning the Destruction of Idols 99
48. The Marriage of King Sveinn of the Danes 99
53. Concerning Ormr inn langi [the Long Serpent] 103
54. Concerning the Appearance of King Olaf 104
55. Concerning King Olaf and Hroaldr 105
57. How King Olaf Loosed Dogs on a Man 106
58. Concerning King Gu5r06r and the Two Brothers 107
59. Concerning King Olaf and Thor 108
60. A Tale of Demons 109
62. Concerning King Sveinn and Queen SigriSr 110
65. Concerning the Sons of Jarl Hakon 115
66. Concerning King Olaf 's Granting of Leave to His Men
to Return Home 116
67. Concerning King Olaf 's Voyage 118
69. How King Sveinn Joined Battle against King Olaf 123
Contents of the Saga 33
70. Now the Swedish King Joined Battle 123

71. The Names of the Men on the Long Serpent 124
72. Concerning the Consultation of the Chieftains 125
75. [un titled] 133
76. Concerning Jarl Eirikr 134
77. Concerning Vigi 135
Oddr Snorrason's Saga of Olaf Tryggvason
Prologue
Hear me, oh Christian brothers and fathers! I assert before God and the saints
that it gladdens me to exalt the most beneficent king Olaf Tryggvason, and
gladly would I honor him with my words. You too should honor King Olaf, who
is the root of your salvation and baptism and of all your welfare, the namesake
of Saint Olaf, King Olaf Haraldsson, who then built up and adorned Chris-
tianity. In the fifth year of his reign King Olaf held his namesake under the wa-
ter of baptism and raised him from the holy font just as John the Baptist did
with the Lord.1 And as John was His precursor, so was King Olaf Tryggvason
the precursor of the sainted King Olaf.2 They maintained their kinship as
everyone should, with holy strength and glorious deeds. It then came to pass
as John said to the Lord: "You are destined to grow and I to diminish."3
It is known to all that after his life the sainted King Olaf shone brightly with
miracles, but the renowned King Olaf Tryggvason was not known to men for
the making of miracles after his death.4 Still, we believe him to be a glorious
man and outstandingly devoted to God. He was deemed to be unlike all men
in accomplishments as long as he lived, although after his death it was not re-
vealed that he was a man of such powers. But we should not inquire into God's
hidden secrets. Let us remember the words of the apostle Peter, to honor our
king but fear God.5 In truth those things coincide here: let us praise the king
who gave us prosperity, and thank God for giving us such a leader. It is proper
for us to honor our king with mortal praise, since God exalts him with heav-
enly praise. It is better to listen to such things with pleasure than to listen to
stepmother tales told by shepherd boys, in which one never knows whether
there is truth because they always count the king least in their stories.
I ask worthy men not to scorn this narrative and not to be more skeptical or
doubt the story more than is appropriate, for wise men have told us some part
of his great deeds but little about the nature of his outstanding accomplish-
ments. It can often happen that false matters are mixed with the truth and
we will not say much about that, but we think that these [informants] will not
35
36 The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason
prove to be wrong. But we will be thankful to those who can make improve-
ments, but if people begin to condemn rather than improve and have no proof
to offer in support of an alternative, then their contributions seem valueless
and insignificant to us, because wise men think that a story is foolishly dis-
credited if a man calls the story a lie but has no proof.6 But now we should lis-
ten to the great deeds of King Olaf Tryggvason and the the great things that
he accomplished.
1. The Beginning of the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason
The saga begins at the point when the Norwegian realm was ruled by the sons
of King Erik Bloodax, King Harald Graycloak, and Gu6r06r. At that time almost
all the people in Norway were pagan. Harald ruled along the coast, but there
were district kings in the inland areas of Upplgnd from the end of Harald
Fairhair's reign, and these district kings remained right down to the time of
Saint Olaf. During this time the Norwegians adhered to such superstitious be-
liefs that some of them sacrificed to idols and some to woods or lakes.
It was said that the sons of Gunnhildr had accepted baptism in England, but
even so they were not advocates of Christianity. They allowed everyone to be
whatever they wanted, Christian or pagan. At that time there was a great famine
and bad harvests.1 Gunnhildr's sons were unruly and aggressive men. Gunn-
hildr was the daughter of a distinguished man from the north in Halogaland,
Qzurr toti. Harald Graycloak was an outstanding man, handsome and highly
accomplished.
At that time Hringariki (Ringerike in Norway) was ruled by Haraldr grenski,
who was descended from Gu5r05r, Bjorn, and Harald Fairhair and was the fa-
ther of Saint Olaf; and by Tryggvi, who was descended from Olafr and Harald
Fairhair and was the father of Olaf Tryggvason. They thought they had no less
a claim to kingship than the sons of Gunnhildr. One summer the four chief-
tains Haraldr grenski, Tryggvi, Hakon SigurSarson, and Gull-Haraldr, son of
Knutr Darling of the Danes, joined forces and harried during the summer.2
They acquired a great quantity of booty, and in the autumn they returned to
Upplgnd and divided their booty.
After that the four chieftains sat down together in private so that no one
apart from them knew what they were saying. That troubled Gunnhildr and
aroused her curiosity, and it occurred to her that it was likely to involve her
sons. She sacrificed to the gods and was given the intelligence that the nature
of their conversation was indeed what she thought. This is what people assert,
but no one knows whether she was justifiably accused [scil., of communing with
the gods]. After that she informed her sons, and they planned their course of
action with great cunning.
When Gunnhildr's sons were at a feast given by a wealthy man in Sogn, we

are told that there was an ample provision of food and drink and that
Gunnhildr's sons drank deeply. They became very garrulous and disputed
loudly among themselves about who was king. They had a lot to say about that
and began to exchange hard words, and before it was over, each had spoken ill
of the other. Then they resorted to weapons and were about to do combat.
Their friends intervened and begged them not to do that but rather to con-
sider what was becoming and what befitted their royal status and bonds of kin-
ship. During the night a watch was maintained over them, and when they went
to table in the morning, they renewed the evening's conversation once again,
and it came to the point that they again reached for their weapons. That was
brought to the queen's attention.
She arrived on the spot and said that she was obligated to judge her sons'
case; she asked them to abide by the decision she would reach. She said that
the most fitting thing was for her to reconcile them, and that is how it turned
out. Then she said: "My decision in your case is that Haraldr will have the rule
over the Norwegian realm because I judge him to be the first among you broth-
ers. But I wish him to compensate Gu5r05r with thirty ships all provided with
good tackle, weapons, and crew. If your luck suffices, you may gain great power
and honor." After her declaration they were easily reconciled and promised to
observe this settlement.
Then troops were assembled in great numbers, and Gu5r05r lay at anchor
in VeggjaSarsund.3 He dispatched men to his kinsman King Tryggvi in Hringa-
riki; the leaders were P6r5r Ingileifarson and PorSr Êgileifarson.4 Gu6r05r
told them to speak with friendly words to Tryggvi and let him know that he
wished to seal friendship with him and that he wished them to be partners.
Tryggvi would command a third of the force if he had ten ships [for the un-
dertaking] , and he would have half of all the booty they could take from the
vikings.
When they met up with Tryggvi and told him of Gu5r06r's words and pro-
posal of a partnership, King Tryggvi said: "The matter seems to me not with-
out promise, and it may be a good option if it is motivated by no malice.
Gunnhildr's sons have a reputation for that, but you have shown yourselves to
be good and just men." They stated that they believed that they were proceed-
ing truthfully. Tryggvi agreed to the proposal and then equipped ten ships.
They [the two contingents] cast anchor on opposite sides of a promontory
called Sotanes.5 King Tryggvi's wife Astri5r, the daughter of a distinguished
man at Ofrusta6ir6 named Eirikr, spoke as follows: "My lord," she said, "I do
not have a good feeling about your undertaking. I dreamed that I had a great
gold ring on my arm, and then I saw the ring broken in two with blood drip-
ping from both parts. I think that this reveals your fate and that you are being
betrayed." The king said: "I attach no importance to this. The two P6r5rs would
38 The Saga of Olaf Trygguason
not bear this message unless it were true." And he proceeded to prepare his
ships and weapons for the voyage.
One day Gu5r06r sent men to King Tryggvi to bid him go up onto the
promontory with twenty men in all. He said that he would come with the same
number of men to have a friendly meeting about arms and battle preparations.
When the message reached King Tryggvi, he said he would come as his cousin
Gu6r06r requested.
Then Gu5r05r addressed his men: "It is a strange thing that we should exert
ourselves to gain great power at the risk of life and property but not to seize
the power that is free for the taking with no danger. We should now go up onto
the promontory with forty men so that we can make a division of King Tryggvi's
realm." Then the two P6r6rs spoke up: "You sons of Gunnhildr have no shame,
since you treacherously seize the realm of those who are your retainers and
kinsmen. No honorable men will serve you, and we will take our leave and
never come to your assistance." Gu5r05r said that they could do as they wished
but that he would proceed as planned. The P6r5rs sailed away with two ships.
Then they went up onto the promontory with forty men and met King Tryggvi
there with his group of twenty men. As soon as they met, they attacked them
with arms, and even though King Tryggvi was a redoubtable man, this took him
by surprise, and his resistance was short-lived. It ended with the fall of King
Tryggvi and his men. He is buried in a cairn there on the promontory, and
there are monument stones to mark his head and feet. It is called Tryggvi's
Cairn.7
After that Gu5r06r took over the realm. AstriSr became a fugitive, and she
was pregnant at the time. Her foster father was named Porolfr lusarskegg, and
he had a young son named Porgils. They were now in hiding and stayed clear
of Gunnhildr and her sons. Gunnhildr and her sons thus accomplished the
plan they had designed and were on the lookout for AstriSr. Gu5r05r took a
dislike to both the P6r6rs when they sailed away without his leave.
2. About the Birth of King Olaf
AstriSr was now in hiding and in mourning, and when she realized that the
time was approaching for her to give birth, they came to a lake called Rgnd.1
There they stayed in a little boatshed, where she gave birth to a child. It was
wrapped in swaddling and given a name and was sprinkled with water. They
called the boy Olaf, and when she was able to leave her bed, they traveled in
beggarly guise until they came one evening to the residence of Eirikr at
OfrustaSir. He gave them a good reception, though in secret, and they stayed
in an outbuilding, where he himself provided for them. Few of the farmwork-
ers knew they were there.
3. Concerning Eirikr
When spring came, Eirikr awoke them one morning and wanted them to leave:
"It is more a matter of necessity than because I think you are overstaying your
welcome here. Gunnhildr now knows through her sorcery that you have taken
refuge here, and I would not wish you to be captured. We will encounter Hakon
Sigur5arson today because his fetches have appeared.11 am going to send you
east to Sweden to my friend Hakon gamli, who is the worthiest man there apart
from the king. We are good friends and harried together. Since then we have
harbored men with each other and given full protection to those in their com-
pany. I think you will then be safe, but I think that Gunnhildr and her sons
would like the boy to have the same fate as his father." When they were ready
for the road in wretched clothing and were headed for the east with guides as-
signed to them, he embraced them and bade them go in peace.
Then they followed the road straight ahead to the district of Skaun.2 They
formed a tight group and saw a large residence ahead of them. It was the
dwelling of a great and powerful man named Bjgrn eitrkveisa, a haughty and
ill-natured man. They arrived in beggar's garb and asked for lodging for the
night. He drove them away, saying that he had a loathing for all beggars. They
departed and came to a dwelling called i Vizum.3 It was the home of a man
named Porsteinn, a poor but good man. He gave them a good reception, and
they stayed the night.
4. Gunnhildr's Search
The story now turns to Gunnhildr. She conducted a close inquiry into Astri6r's
whereabouts, but no one could inform her. She felt certain that Astri5r was with
child, and she thought that could bring harm to herself and her sons. She sum-
moned Hakon Sigur5arson and spoke harsh words to him. She said that he de-
served to be killed for his treachery against her sons and that he was no less
deserving of death than King Tryggvi, who had lost his life. She said that he
was guilty of much faithlessness in their dealings and that his only reprieve was
to bring her the boy Olaf who had spent a winter with Eirikr at OfrustaSir.1
When Hakon saw that his life and property were in their power, he wanted to
save himself from their hostility.
He set out with some men and sought out Eirikr. He accused him of having
harbored Astri5r and her son during the winter. Eirikr made no secret of the
fact that they had been there, but he said that they were not there now. A search
was made and nothing was found even though every bed was broken into.
Then he departed and met with Gunnhildr, saying that the boy could not be
found. She spoke: "Make haste, for now I see where they are going; they are on
the road to Skaun, where they will be tonight." Then they set out thirty men
strong, well clothed and armed, and approached Bjgrn's dwelling. When he
saw men of good appearance coming, he went out to meet them and invited
them to stay. That they accepted.
Then Hakon asked whether any poorly clad men had come there, a woman
and an old man with a child on his back and another boy walking alongside.
He said that Gunnhildr, the queen of Norway, wished to take the child into her
care and honor him and his mother.2 Bjgrn said: "They were probably the ones
who came here, and I would not have turned them away if I had known this.
Tonight they are probably with my neighbor Porsteinn, but you3 do not need
to search them out or visit them until tomorrow morning."
It happened that same evening that Bjgrn's shepherd went to meet with
Porsteinn's shepherd to ask about his sheep. They began to talk about this and
that. Porsteinn was nearby and overheard their conversation. Porsteinn's
worker asked what guests Bjgrn had that evening, and he said that distin-
guished men had arrived, Hakon jarl SigurSarson and thirty men, and that they
were being entertained there: "I heard the jarl telling Bjgrn about his mission,
that it was Queen Gunnhildr's charge to send him after Astri6r and her son
and bring them to her. He intends to come here in the morning on his mis-
sion." That was the end of their conversation, and Porsteinn was privy to every-
thing they had said.
At dawn Porsteinn went to the house where they slept and told them to get
up quickly and depart with all haste. He cried out in a loud voice, but they got
ready at a leisurely pace. Porsteinn proceeded vehemently, carrying a big
switch in his hand and acting as if he would beat them mercilessly if they did
not get moving immediately. Then they went out, and he followed them, bran-
dishing the switch. In this way they got to the gate with Porsteinn threatening
them all the way.4
When they had gotten out of the yard, he addressed Astri5r and her com-
panions, asking her to forgive him for all the words he had spoken to them:
"You have patiently borne scornful words though you are guilty of nothing at
all. I did not threaten you by reason of contempt or hardheartedness. Now I
wish to ask forgiveness for what I said and let you hear why I did it."
Then he told them what Bjgrn's worker had reported: "I want you to depart
in all haste from my house so that you will not be captured." As they parted, he
told them to go to a forest a short way from the settlement and to stay out of
sight until they got to the lake called Mjgrs.5 They were to follow the shore un-
til they saw a little island in the lake. He told them to wade out to it, saying that
the water was no deeper than to the middle of their thighs and that it would
not reach as high as the wicker backpack in which Porolfr was carrying the boy.
He told them to hide on the island so that they could not be seen from land.
"But I will turn back now, and when Hakon comes to me, I will volunteer for
the search with him, and it may be that with my contrivance you will not be
found, and I will do everything I can to help you. You should stay on the island
until morning and wait for my arrival." AstriSr did everything just as he told
her, but he himself turned back.6
When he got back home to the settlement and was crossing the yard, Jarl
Hakon arrived with a large company of men. Porsteinn went to meet them and
gave the jarl a good reception. He issued an invitation to him and all his men,
saying that it was time to eat.
"That is a good invitation," said the jarl, "but it is not yet necessary to eat or
drink so early in the day. I will ride to Bjgrn's house later."
Porsteinn then asked: "What is your business, lord?"
He replied: "Gunnhildr, the queen of all Norway, has sent me to search out
AstriSr and her son, whom she wishes to foster lovingly." And he asked whether
they had been there during the night.
"Lord, there were some poor people here whom I did not know. They received
food from me, but I had no knowledge of who they were. They were sleeping
when I left the house before you arrived. I think they are probably still asleep."
Then he entered the houses and searched for them in all the buildings and
was a long time about it, two or three hours. He finally emerged and said that
he had searched for them in all the buildings and wherever else seemed likely,
but he had not found them. The jarl told them to search the settlement and
all the farmyards. That was done, but they were not found. Porsteinn advised
that the forest near the settlement be searched, saying that there were many
places for them to hide in the forest: "It may be that they have hidden the boy
under the roots of some tree and then made their escape. We should therefore
give heed to whether we hear the crying of a child."
Now they separated into two groups to search the forest, and it happened
that Porsteinn found himself alone. He ran back quickly to the settlement in
secret and took the son of one of the servant women and brought him to the
forest, where he laid him under the roots of a tree. When an hour or so had
passed, they all heard the crying of a child. Porsteinn was the last to come. They
all talked about what boy that might be. Then Porsteinn said: "This is not a
king's child, and this planting of a child has been done to mock and deride
us." When they had searched until midafternoon [nones] without success, they
abandoned hope of finding anything. Then Porsteinn bade them turn back,
saying that it was time to eat. This they did.
That very night Porsteinn came to them as he had promised and brought
three horses loaded with food, and in addition a man to be their guide to Swe-
den. Then he bade them go in peace. They thanked him for his beneficence
and they parted on friendly terms. They traveled to Sweden and approached
Hakon gamli. He received them with delight and kindness, and they were well
provided for there.
5. Concerning Gunnhildr and Hakon
The following autumn Gunnhildr drove Hakon from his lands and said that he
was to be outlawed from Norway as a just reprisal unless he did everything that
she had prescribed before. Then Hakon left Norway and went east to Sweden,
and his daughter AuSr,1 who was the fairest of women, went with him. King
Eirikr gave him a good reception.
At that time his marriage with Sigri5r storra5a, the daughter of Skgglar-Tosti,
was dissolved. The cause was, according to some people, that she was imperi-
ous to the point of being domineering, and the king would not suffer her ar-
rogance. But others say that she did not want to stay with him because it was
the law of the land that if spouses died at different times, the wife was to be
buried in a barrow with her husband. But she knew that it was the king's fate
not to live longer than ten years because he had made that pact in the interest
of being victorious when he did battle against Styrbjgrn, to wit that he would
not live longer than ten years.
When Hakon came east to Sweden, so we are told, King Eirikr wooed his
daughter and was given her hand in marriage. For that reason the king valued
Hakon greatly, and he spent the winter there in great honor. During the win-
ter after Yuletide, Jarl Hakon besought King Eirikr to give him a hundred
armed men, saying that he wished to visit Hakon gamli. The king assented.
But Rggnvaldr, the son of Hakon gamli, was at the king's court, and as soon
as he heard this, he made preparations to leave. He traveled in haste to his fa-
ther's residence and told him that Hakon SigurSarson was on his way to see
him. When Hakon gamli heard this, he had three hundred men armed; they
were all in his employ and were well maintained by him. Thus they waited for
Hakon to arrive in a great state of preparedness. They were by no means fear-
ful and drank in good cheer.
When Jarl Hakon's following was sighted, Hakon gamli went out to meet him
and bade him welcome and invited him to a feast, demonstrating great happi-
ness and delight at his arrival. Hakon replied: "I came here for a reason other
than to eat and drink, and it will be time enough to eat and drink when we get
home." Then Hakon gamli asked: "What brings you to my house?" He answered:
Queen Gunnhildr sent me here with the message that she wishes to invite the son
of King Tryggvi, whom she believes to be here in your power. She wishes to foster
him in great honor as a consolation for his mother AstriSr and his other kin. She
bade me convey and present this matter because she regrets that his father was
killed, and she wishes to make reparation first to the gods and then to men and to
make good for the son the wrong that was committed against his father. She thinks
that the greatest honor she can confer is to foster his son lovingly and make him
her own foster son.
Then Hakon garnli replied:
The boy's mother suspects that this is not true. She believes rather that Gunnhildr
will let him go the same way his father went if she has her way. For that reason she
fled Norway and left her kinsmen and her native soil and sought me out. Now nei-
ther I nor she believes Gunnhildr because we believe her to be full of deceit and
trickery and skilled in the ways of treachery. I can tell you, Hakon, that this boy
will never get into your hands or Gunnhildr's as long as the matter is in my power,
unless I am so forcefully overcome that I am otherwise minded than I am now.
Hakon made no headway and departed without achieving anything. On his

return, King Eirikr asked how matters had turned out for the two Hakons.
Hakon told him what had happened [and Eirikr responded]:
I told you before that your trip would be fruitless if you tried to have your way
against Hakon gamli, for in many ways he is more powerful than we, and it has not
been long since he had the better of it when we contested matters between our-
selves.
When the Yule month and the term for the duration of the feast was over
and everyone had returned to their homes, Hakon set out again with a great
force and was minded to meet his namesake. The king gave him two hundred
men, a well-armed contingent. When the namesakes met and addressed one
another, their words soon became heated, contentious, and wrathful. Hakon
said that the boy would go with him whether Hakon gamli was so minded or
not. Hakon gamli said he would not.
Then a big, strong man named Bursti went up to Hakon Sigur5arson. He was
Hakon gamli's slave and worker, and he was responsible for the most menial
work. He carried on his shoulder a huge dungfork, and there was no lack of
dung on it. He strode up to Hakon SigurSarson and said:
Who is this arrogant foreigner who speaks such words to our chieftain? Now either
you will leave on the spot and stop this arrogant and shameful talk to our chief-
tain or else I will give you a blow with this dungfork that will ruin your reputation
forever. Get out of this village as quick as you can unless you want to suffer the
greatest disgrace. Never before has a man as reckless as you come here.
This man was a fieldworker. He was exceedingly strong and unpleasant to

deal with. Hakon surmised that he would be well advised not to risk what the
man might do. He saw that the shame would stick to him forever if he suffered
disgrace at his hands and allowed the lowest slave to humiliate him; that would
finish his reputation. Then he left the settlement and rode back to King Eirikr,
where he stayed the summer. From there he traveled to Denmark and stayed
for a long time with King Haraldr Gormsson, and there is much to tell about
that.2
6. Concerning the King of Russia and His Mother
At this time King Valdimarr ruled Russia with great honor. We are told that his
mother was a prophetess, and that is called in books a Pythian spirit when hea-
then men prophesied.1 Things turned out much as she predicted. At that time
she was aged. It was their custom on the first evening of Yule to carry her on a
chair to the king's throne, and before the drinking began, the king asked his
mother whether she could see any peril or threat looming over his realm, or
whether any war or other grounds for fear were in the offing, or whether other
men coveted his possessions. She replied:
I do not see anything, my son, that I think will turn out ill for you or your realm,
nor do I see anything that will shake your good fortune. But I do see a great and
momentous sight. At this time in this year has been born a prince in Norway who
will be fostered in this land. He will become a distinguished man and a glorious
leader, and he will do no harm to your realm. But rather he will give it manifold
increase on your behalf. Then he will return to his land still young in years and ac-
quire the kingdom he is born to rule. He will be a king and shine brightly, and he
will come to the aid of many men in the northern regions of the world. But his
rule over Norway will be of short duration. And now carry me away, for I will say
no more. Enough has been said already.
This Valdimarr was the father of King Yaroslav.
7. Concerning Olaf Tryggvason and His Mother Astridr
When Olaf and Astri6r had spent two years with Hakon gamli, he made hon-
orable arrangements for their journey and placed them in the care of mer-
chants who intended to travel to Russia. It was his plan to send them to
AstriSr's brother SigurSr, who enjoyed great honor at the court of the Russian
king. Hakon gamli provided them with everything they needed for this jour-
ney and did not take leave of them until they were on shipboard and in good
company.
Then they set sail, but during the voyage they were attacked by pirates, who
seized all their money, killed some of the men, and took others to various des-
tinations into slavery and servitude. Here Olaf was separated from his mother,
and she was sold from country to country. Like the other captured men, Olaf
was also sold into slavery. In the course of his captivity he had three masters.
The first who bought him was named Klerkon, who killed his foster father be-
fore his very eyes.1 A little later he sold Olaf to a man named Klerkr and got in
exchange for him an excellent billy goat. For a time he was in this man's pos-
session.
But that God who does not wish the glory and honor of his followers to be
hidden, just as the light cannot be hidden in the dark, honored the young man
greatly and released him from this captivity just as he released Joseph of old.
The man who had Olaf in his power sold him to a man named Heres and re-
ceived a precious garment in exchange, what we call a vesl [cloak] or slagningr
[mantle] in our language. The master who had now bought him was a native
of heathen lands. His wife was named Rekon, and their son was named Reas.
Together with him Heres bought his foster brother, who was named Porgils and
was the son of Porolfr. He was older than Olaf, and they spent six years in this
hardship.
8. Concerning Olaf Tryggvason
At this time Valdimarr ruled Russia. He had a queen named Allogia, and she
was a very wise woman. AstriSr's brother SigurSr enjoyed such great honor at
the hands of the king that he received many lands and a great fief. The king
put him in charge of his affairs and appointed him to collect the king's dues
from far-flung regions. His word was law everywhere in the king's realm.
Olaf was nine years old when it happened that his uncle SigurSr came to the
place where Olaf was. The master had gone to the fields with his workmen.
SigurSr rode into the settlement with a great retinue of men and an honorable
following. Olaf was playing with the other boys. He was so well loved by his mas-
ter that he was not enslaved or held in thrall but was treated like a foster son.
He deprived him of nothing that he asked for. He entertained himself every-
day in the way he thought best.
Olaf welcomed SigurSr warmly and with great courtesy. SigurSr responded
kindly to his words and said: "I see, young fellow, that you do not have the way
of the natives here, neither in appearance nor speech. Tell me your name and
from what country and family you come."
He replied: "My name is Olaf, and Norway is my native country. I am of royal
blood."
SigurSr then asked: "What are the names of your father and mother?"
He answered: "My father was named Tryggvi and my mother AstriSr."
SigurSr asked: "Whose daughter was your mother?"
He answered: "She was the daughter of Eirikr of OfrustaSir, a powerful man."
When Sigur5r heard this, he dismounted and greeted him warmly and kissed
him, telling him that he was his uncle: "And this is surely a joyful day on which
we have found each other." Then Sigur5r asked about Olaf's travels and how
he had come there and how long he had suffered this plight. He recounted his
travels and what had happened.
After that, Sigur5r asked: "Do you wish, kinsman, that I should purchase you
from your master so that you will no longer be enslaved in his service?"
He replied: "I am well off," he said, "compared with what went before, but I
would be glad to be released if my foster brother were also released from slav-
ery and could depart with me." Sigur5r said that he would be glad to do that
and would spare no expense.
Then the master Heres came home and gave SigurSr a good reception be-
cause it was his job to collect land dues from those districts and from each
house and to ensure that everything was duly paid. Finally SigurSr broached
the subject of whether the master would sell the boys for what they were worth:
"I will immediately pay over the price."
Heres replied: "I will sell the older boy at a price we agree on, but the younger
boy is not for sale because he is both wiser and fairer. I love him much more
and it would grieve me greatly to lose him. I would not sell him except at a very
high price." When Sigur5r heard this, he asked what the price might be, but
the master kept putting him off. Sigur5r pressed the case all the harder, and
the upshot of this bargaining was that the older boy went for a gold mark but
the younger for nine gold marks. The master was, however, more grieved to
lose the latter boy.
After that Sigur5r departed with his kinsman Olaf and returned to Russia. It
was the law there that no foreign or distant prince should be raised there with-
out the knowledge of the king. Sigur5r took Olaf home with him to his resi-
dence and kept him there in hiding, with the knowledge of very few people but
nonetheless in good style.
Time passed, and one day Olaf went from his lodging together with his fos-
ter brother but without the knowledge of his kinsman SigurSr. They went in se-
cret out into a street. There Olaf recognized his enemy, the man who had killed
his foster father before his very eyes six years earlier and had sold him into slav-
ery and servitude. When he saw him, he turned red as blood and became
swollen with emotion. He was greatly affected by the sight and returned home
quickly to his lodging.
A little later SigurSr came from the marketplace, and when he saw his kins-
man Olaf swollen with rage, he asked him what the trouble was. He reported
the cause and asked SigurSr to lend him support in avenging his foster father:
"Considering what grief and manifold shame that man has inflicted on me, I
wish now to avenge my foster father." SigurSr said that he would support him.
They now made ready and set out with a large following of men, with Olaf
leading the way to the market. When Olaf saw the man, they seized him and
led him out of town. Then the young boy Olaf went forward and prepared to
avenge his foster father. He was handed a great broad ax with which to execute
the man. At that time Olaf was nine years old. Then Olaf raised the ax, brought
it down on his neck, and severed the head. This was considered to be a great
deed for so young a man.1
At this time there were many seers in Russia who could see clearly into the
future. On the basis of their prophetic powers they said that the fetches of a
distinguished, albeit youthful, man had arrived in the country. Never before
had they seen brighter or fairer fetches of any man. They confirmed that at
length, but they could not tell where he was. But they said that his genius was
so great that the light that shone above it extended over all Russia and broadly
over the eastern half of the world.
Since, as we have said before, Queen Allogia was a very wise woman, she
thought these matters were of great significance. She urged the king with fair
words to summon an assembly so that men could gather from all the adjacent
districts. She said that she would attend and make the disposition that seemed
best to her. The king did so, and a great multitude of men arrived.
Now the queen ordered that a circle be formed by the multitude: "Each man
shall stand next to his neighbor so that I have a clear look at each man's face
and appearance, especially the eyes. I expect that I can distinguish the host of
this genius if I can see the pupils of his eyes. Whoever partakes of this nature
will not be able to make a secret of it."2
The king was now attentive to her advice. The well-attended assembly lasted
for two days, and the queen inspected each man and looked closely at his ap-
pearance, but she found no man who seemed to her likely to possess such a
powerful genius. When the assembly had lasted two days and the third day was
at hand, the attendance was increased still further, and men gathered at his
command because failure to do so incurred a penalty.
The people were once more formed in a circle while this great woman and
famous queen inspected each man's face and appearance. As time passed, she
came to where a young boy stood before her in poor clothes. He was muffled
in a cowled garment with a hood thrown back over his shoulders. She looked
at his eyes and knew immediately that he was the host of this exalted genius.
She led him before the king and revealed to everyone that the man she had
long sought had been found.
The boy was now taken into the king's care. He made known to the king what
his ancestry and rank were and that he was not a slave. On the contrary, it was
now revealed that he was distinguished by royal descent. The king and queen
fostered Olaf lovingly and with great attentiveness. They showered him with
many benefits as if he were their own son. He grew up in Russia and was pre-
cocious in strength and intelligence. He matured for a long time according to
the dictates of age, with the result that in a very few years he was far in advance
of his contemporaries in every way that adorns an excellent chieftain.3 And
when he began to demonstrate his superior qualities, he set himself apart
in many ways. In a short time he had learned all the ways of chivalry and mili-
tary skill, to the level of those who are boldest and most courageous in this
calling.
In this way he acquired great honor and distinction, first of all from the king
and queen and in addition from everyone else, both the powerful and the
humble. He grew to manhood there and prospered both in intelligence and
years and in all manner of deeds that distinguish an outstanding chieftain.
Valdimarr soon advanced him to the first position in his retinue to lead the war-
riors who were charged to win honor for the king. He achieved many deeds in
Russia and far and wide in the East, even though little is recorded here.
When he was twelve years old, he asked the king if there were any towns or
districts that had once belonged to his realm but had been detached by hea-
then men who now encroached on his lands and honor. The king replied, say-
ing that there were indeed some towns and settlements that had been in his
possession but that others had appropriated them by war and added them to
their territory.
Olaf then spoke: "Give me some troops and ships at my command so that I
can find out whether I can retake the territory that is lost. For I am eager to
harry and do battle against those who have disgraced you. In the process I will
avail myself of your luck and good fortune,4 and it may turn out that I will ei-
ther kill them or they will retreat before my forces."
The king responded favorably and gave him the force that he requested.
Now it was confirmed, as we said before, how bold he was in all knightly and
military matters. He was able to deploy his troops as briskly as if that had always
been his calling. He made headway with this force and fought many battles,
winning a great victory over his enemies. He won back all the towns and
fortresses that had once belonged to the Russian king. And he subjected many
foreign peoples to the rule of King Valdimarr.
In the autumn he returned with a fair victory and splendid booty. He had
many treasures in gold and precious fabrics and precious stones to bring the
king and queen, and that won him renewed honor. Everyone welcomed him
with the greatest delight. He continued his harrying every summer and ac-
complished many great deeds, but the winters he spent with King Valdimarr.
When he was basking in such glory, we are told that as he was returning to
Russia after a great victory, they sailed with such splendor and courtliness that
their ships carried sails of precious fabrics, and their tenting was similarly fine.5
This is an indication of the wealth he acquired from the great deeds he ac-
complished in eastern lands.
9. Concerning King Olaf
Wise and knowledgeable men report that Olaf never sacrificed to idols and al-
ways set his mind against this practice. Still, he was in the habit of frequently
accompanying the king to the temple, but he never entered. Instead he stood
outside by the door. One time the king spoke to him and told him not to do
that, "because it may be that the gods will be angered at you and that you will
lose the bloom of your youth. I would like you to show them humility because
I fear that they may visit great wrath on you, and you have much at stake."
He replied: "I have no fear of those gods who have no hearing or sight or
wit.1 I can tell that they have no intelligence. And I can distinguish what sort
of creatures they are because you always have a fair appearance except at those
times when you are at the temple and offer the gods sacrifices. At those times
it appears to me that you have an ill-favored look. From that I can tell that the
gods you worship govern darkness."
We are told that when Olaf enjoyed such honor, some people became more
envious than well disposed and slandered him to the king. He became the ob-
ject of the slander of many high-standing men, and for that reason he de-
parted. He had a great army and campaigned against heathen peoples and was
always victorious. He marched far and wide in the east and subjected the peo-
ple. When he tired of this activity, winter was approaching and he wished to re-
turn to Russia. At that time they encountered severe weather; it blew in their
faces so that it blocked their progress for the time being. He then turned to
Wendland with his army and brought his ships to anchor.
10. Concerning Olaf Tryggvason and a Certain Lady
At that time King Burizleifr, a great chieftain, ruled over Wendland.1 He had
four daughters. Subsequently, Olaf married one, Jarl Sigvaldi the second, and
Sveinn tjuguskegg [Forkbeard], the king of the Danes, the third. The districts
where Olaf had made land were ruled by the king's daughter, Queen Geira.2
She had a large realm and governed it well. Olaf had arrived with his army not
far from her capital. She was powerful and maintained her widowhood hon-
orably. She had a worthy and faithful lieutenant who guarded her honor and
high repute. This man was named Dixin.
One day he came on some needful mission close to where Olaf's ships lay at
anchor. After that he returned home. The queen asked where he was coming
from and what news he had. He replied: "I came from the coast, my lady."
"What have you learned or seen?" she asked.
"Mark this, your majesty," he said. "I will tell you what you wish to know, mat-
ters that are both astonishing and of high import, and have just now been re-
vealed."
"What are they?" she asked.
Dixin replied:
In the harbor many ships have arrived. They are outstandingly well equipped with
all imaginable war gear. They are also outfitted with precious fabrics and many
treasures, and the men themselves are handsome and armed with the best
weapons. Such men will not have been seen here often. But there is one who far
outstrips the other men, and I believe for a certainty that he is a king in disguise,
for he must be of great distinction and have a miraculous nature. He is tall and
well built, and he has a distinguished countenance and a handsome frame. He also
has eyes that are so sharp and fair that never before have I seen such a noble man.
I can truly tell you that this man appears to me to exceed human norms and hu-
man nature. I believe he has at his disposal great intelligence and extraordinary
insight. Beneath this distinguished exterior I believe there is hidden the nobility
of royal rank. If you are so disposed, my lady, I would wish you to do as your honor
dictates: go to meet him honorably with all your men and offer him good hospi-
tality. I think he will respond positively if he is invited courteously and with good
will. I heard his men say that they would like to spend the winter here in this coun-
try. It is my belief that something good will come of this man's arrival if we pro-
ceed correctly. And if, your majesty, you are minded to find a man to share your
royal rank who can be the leader of your realm and defender of the land and can
save the country from the hostility of your enemies, what man can you find nobler
and fairer than this one? Never again will you be able to find such a breastwork
against your enemies. In truth I can tell you with all the insight that is given me
that I believe that you will never find such a man in your land, all the more so if
you search among all the men born under the heavens. Among all of them you
will still choose this one alone because you will not find his peer.
The queen replied: "If you think this is appropriate to my rank, then go to
meet him and tell him on my behalf that I invite him to come here with his
whole army."
Dixin replied: "If you give me leave, lady, I will go gladly."
Then he went to the ships with many men, and in the hearing of all the
chieftains and the whole army he delivered the queen's message with great
eloquence. When Olaf heard this invitation and the friendly words that
accompanied it, he was happy and requited her generosity with fair words of
his own. When Olaf's ships had been drawn up and the men were ready, Olaf
proceeded to the town with all his men. The queen rode out to meet him with
great pomp and welcomed Olaf, who by all rights might be called a king. She
received him with every mark of kindness and inquired first into his name and
then his rank. And when he had responded to all her questions, the queen gave
him a splendid hall together with many servants, both men and women, and
hall furnishings.
Queen Geira ruled in the area bordering on Germania in the west, where
the nature of both the land and the people is better. Their realm now flour-
ished greatly, and Olaf resided in this hall. As Yule approached, there were
great preparations, and a great multitude of people were invited. When the
feast was ready, the queen went with a large company to invite Olaf to drink
with her in the hall in which she was accustomed to drink with her retinue. He
accepted graciously, and the feast was a famous occasion. Olaf and the queen
occupied the same highseat, and they drank both mead and wine from splen-
did vessels.
The chieftain Dixin spoke to them each in turn with great wisdom. He told
her what great strength and honor would accrue to her if she had such a man
governing her realm. To him he expressed the view that it would be desirable
to rule a realm that was in such a flourishing state. But he emphasized espe-
cially how different she was from other women in her conduct and nature and
her whole comportment. He said that even if both sought a match over the
whole world, neither would find greater honor than he in taking her as a wife
or she in taking him as a husband.
When he had sown this verbal seed in their breasts, it began to take root and
become firm in both. It seemed desirable and auspicious to them. The feast
was then augmented with the best provisions, and it lasted for many days, go-
ing from good to better so that each day the entertainment was more lavish
than the day before and sustained with all the best provisions that were avail-
able, as is proper for a powerful king.
Olaf now partook of great honor and delight. And one time when he was sit-
ting in conversation with the queen, he asked: "Are there any towns or districts
or properties that you should have possession of but have been alienated from
you because robbers and vikings have taken them from you wrongly?"
The queen replied: "Lord, I can name for you the towns that have escaped
from our control; we have suffered their arrogance for a long time."
After that Olaf prepared his army to set out and had a great force. He sought
out the towns that belonged to the queen, and when he besieged the towns, he
gave them two choices, whether they wished to pay the proper tax and render
the service and obedience they owed or whether he should attack them: "In
the latter case, there is a greater expectation that you will have the option of
neither truce nor property." But those who spoke for the [first] town were
much opposed; they said they would not surrender but would resist with all
their might.
After that he besieged the town and did battle and brought up catapults and
employed many ruses as warriors are in the habit of doing. He proceeded with
such energy that no resistance was possible, and he subdued the town, entered
with his army, and seized enormous booty. All those who had resisted and spo-
ken high and mighty words were now defeated and disgraced. All those who
did not humbly beg for mercy were killed, and Olaf got whatever terms he
wished.
He now went to a second town and besieged it and offered these people the
same terms as before. They replied: "We have heard how impetuous your rule
is and how little those prosper who oppose your will. We will choose a wiser
course of action than our neighbors. We will surrender to you and permit you
to enter the town." Olaf accepted courteously; they opened their gates and he
entered the town.
Then all the chieftains and the powerful men and common people joined
together and urged each other on with great vehemence. They ordered that
no one be allowed to escape, whether he was great or humble. When Olaf dis-
covered this betrayal and saw that a numberless horde was approaching from
every direction, he went out to a place on the town wall and called aloud to his
companions standing by the wall: "I see one recourse available to us," he said,
"to climb over the town wall. I will go first and catch you as you jump down. No
one will be injured because the earth is soft below."
Then he jumped down, and it turned out as he said. He urged them to fol-
low him even though they thought it was a long way down. They did so and
jumped from the wall, and with his help they all survived. Then they all be-
sieged the town and launched such a vigorous attack that they broke great
breaches in the wall and entered one and all. There was no lack of hard fight-
ing, and they attacked the townsmen mercilessly, giving them reason to have a
painful memory of their misdeeds; they killed every living soul and seized all
the money. They leveled the town and concluded by burning it.
After this victory Olaf returned and brought the queen gold and silver and
precious objects. People claim that the town that Olaf besieged and where peo-
ple sought to betray him and where he was trapped with sixty men was Joms-
borg.
When Olaf had been in Wendland for three years, it came about that the queen
suddenly died. That caused Olaf great grief, and he bore the loss with over-
whelming sorrow. After these grievous tidings he could no longer bear to be in
that realm. He had ruled the country so brilliantly that everyone loved him
The Saga of Olaf Trygguason 53
dearly, but even so he could not be consoled. He prepared his army to leave
the country, and he thought that in this way he could be more quickly recon-
ciled with the grief he had suffered.1
He planned to go to Russia, but when he arrived in Denmark, they disem-
barked and went onto the land. They provisioned themselves with the local live-
stock, as is customary, seized many animals, and drove them to the shore. The
local men gathered forces and pursued them energetically. When they looked
back and saw a great multitude of men well armed, they fled toward their ships.
But because they had penetrated far inland and it was a long way to their ships,
their enemies had gotten near enough so that they were not far apart. They
had come to a small woods where there was a little cover for them. They went
to a place where the shadow of the woods might conceal them. Then Olaf
spoke:
I know, he said, that there is a powerful god who rules the heavens, and I have
heard that he has a victory token in which there is great power. It is called a cross.
Let us now call on him to save us. Let us fall on our knees and humble ourselves.
Let us take two branches and lay them over us in the shape of a cross. You should
all do as you see me do.
This they did. They lay down and took two branches and laid them over them-
selves in the shape of a cross.
Their enemies now reached the forest with tumult and war cries. They
thought they would capture them because they had just had a clear view of
them. They overran them and trod them under foot, but they did not find
them. Thus the symbol of the cross sheltered them with the help of the Lord
Jesus Christ, so that they were not seen by their enemies although they had
nearly fallen into their hands. They turned back in great bewilderment.
When Olaf and his men saw that, they leaped up and thought to reach their
ships. Their enemies saw this and pursued them a second time. There was no
remedy for it but to lie down on the open field a second time. Even so, they
were helped by divine intervention; it came about miraculously that as they lay
on the open field, those who were looking for them did not see them. They
searched as thoroughly as they could but did not find them. They returned
again with neither honor nor victory. And thus the holy cross rescued Olaf from
peril both on an open field and in a thick forest. Olaf returned to his ships and
thanked God for his escape.
13. Concerning King Olaf's Dream
After this, Olaf sailed his ships away east to Russia. The king received him very
warmly, and he remained there during the winter. At one time he had a note-
worthy vision. He saw a great rock and seemed to be climbing high up on it un-
til he reached the top. It seemed to him that he had been raised up above the
clouds. And when he lifted his eyes, he saw fair and splendid places and bright
men who dwelled in them. He perceived a sweet fragrance and all sorts of beau-
tiful flowers, and it seemed to him that there was more splendor there than his
mind sufficed to relate. He heard a voice speaking to him:
Hear me, you who promise to be a good man, for you never worshiped gods or
paid them any reverence. But rather you disgraced them, and for that reason your
works will be multiplied for good and profitable ends. Still you are very deficient
in those qualities that would allow you to be in these regions and make you de-
serving to live here in eternity, because you do not know your Creator and you do
not know who the true God is.
When he had heard these things, he was very fearful and spoke as follows:
"Who are you, lord, that I may believe in you?"
The voice answered:
Go to Greece, and there the name of the Lord your God will be made known to
you. And if you obey His commandments, you will have eternal life and bliss. When
you have the true belief, you will turn many others away from error and toward sal-
vation, for God has assigned you to convert many peoples to Him.
And when he had heard and seen these things, he intended to descend from
the rock. As he descended, he saw horrible places full of flames and torments,
and at the same time he heard pitiful laments and many horrendous things.
He could make out many men who had believed in idols, both friends and
chieftains. He could grasp that this torment awaited King Valdimarr and the
queen. He was so affected that when he awoke, he was all dissolved in tears and
started up in great terror.
After that, Olaf ordered his army to prepare for departure: "I wish now to
sail to Greece," and so he did. He was accompanied by a fair wind and arrived
in Greece. There he met excellent and devout teachers who taught him the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was now instructed in the faith that had pre-
viously been commended to him in his dream. Then he met with an excellent
bishop and asked him to administer holy baptism, which he had long desired,
so that he could be in the community of Christian men. Then he was prime-
signed.1
After that he asked the bishop to travel with him to Russia and preach the
name of God to heathen peoples. The bishop said that he would undertake the
journey provided that Olaf himself also went, "because in that case the king
and the other leading chieftains will put up less resistance and will rather lend
support so that the mission may prosper and God's Christianity be strength-
ened."
Then Olaf departed and returned to Russia, and now as before he was
warmly welcomed and resided there for a time. He often spoke to the king and
queen, bidding them do what befitted them, "and it is a much fairer practice
to believe in the true God and our Creator, who made heaven and earth and
everything pertaining to them." He said how dishonorable it was for powerful
men to go astray in such great darkness and believe in a god that can afford no
help,2 and devote all their time and effort to this: "You can perceive with your
own power of understanding that what we tell you is true. Nor will I ever cease
to convey the true faith and God's word to you, so that you can promote
Almighty God."
Although the king resisted for a long time and declined to abandon his re-
ligion and his belief in the gods, with God's mercy he was able to understand
that there was a great difference between his religion and the religion that Olaf
preached. It was often brilliantly brought home to him that what they had be-
lieved before was a false faith in sacrifice and a superstition, and that Christians
had a better and fairer faith. With the queen's propitious advice, which she
gave in support of God's mercy, the king and all his men accepted holy bap-
tism and the true faith, and all the people converted to Christianity.3
When this was done, Olaf departed, and wherever he went, great fame ac-
companied him, not only in Russia but everywhere in the north. His fame and
the news of the splendid works that he accomplished every day spread as far as
Norway.
We are told that Olaf heard reports of a distinguished man on a certain island
called Scilly, not far from Ireland. He was gifted with great natural ability and
the prophetic spirit of Almighty God. Olaf directed his ships to that island. He
had six of them. The man who lived on the island knew of their coming
through his gift of intelligence. He bade all the monks who were there dress
magnificently and go to the beach with all their holy relics. Many monks, cler-
ics, and servants of God were there, and they were all dressed in fine cloaks. It
was early in the morning.
At this moment Olaf disembarked and saw a great company coming down
to the shore. The morning sun shone on their precious garb. When Olaf saw
that they came in peace, the men from the ships advanced to meet them.
When they met, Olaf gave them a good reception. This abbot was the chief
man of the island. Each group greeted the other cordially. Then the abbot
spoke:
A short time ago it was revealed to me who you are and what sort of man you will
become. And I have come for the purpose of teaching you the true faith and
preaching the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the baptism that will afford you,
and all those who maintain the true faith at your behest, salvation.
Then he began to preach God's word to him and told him of the merciful deeds
of Almighty God. Then he baptized Olaf and all his followers and sanctified
them with holy baptism.1
After that they remained on the island until they put away their baptismal
robes, and they were strengthened each day with holy teachings. Olaf learned
many things, and in answer to his prayers he was enabled by God to become
the enlightener of many minds. After that, Olaf gave his men leave to go on
trading expeditions wherever they liked but said that they should go to En-
gland before he left there. With leave granted, they went on trading expedi-
tions, but Olaf set his course for England.
When he arrived there, he heard that there was a jarl named SigurSr ruling
over Northumbria.2 Olaf made for this destination, and when he approached
land, he sailed up a fjord in great style. The jarl had just returned from a raid-
ing expedition and was anchored in the fjord with three ships. And now they
saw these splendid ships running extremely well, with handsome men aboard
in especially fine raiment. They saw that one man was much taller and fairer
than they had ever seen before. He was in silken clothing and steered the fairest
of the ships. They made for shore and let the ships run under bare poles into
port as the sails were lowered, then headed boldly for the anchorage. There
they tented their ships and readied everything.
The jarl was much taken by their bold demeanor and asked the worthy man
who he was and where he had come from. He said that his name was Ali the
Wealthy and that he was a merchant—"and we have all come from Russia."
They had not talked long before they joined forces and combined their ships
and companies. It was their plan to campaign against vikings and robbers and
wicked peoples who had appropriated large tracts far and wide. They con-
firmed between themselves that they would subdue these people with all their
might and main.
15. Concerning Hakon and Ali
At the time when Olaf Tryggvason and Jarl Sigur5r allied themselves, Emperor
Otto was ruling Saxony and Poitou. He was called Otto the Red. There is men-
tion of two of hisjarls, UrguJ)jotr and Brimisskjarr. They were great chieftains.
Emperor Otto swore an oath that he would convert Denmark before three
years were up.1
At that time King Haraldr Gormsson ruled Denmark. Jarl Hakon SigurSar-
son was obligated to come to the support of King Haraldr Gormsson if he was
forced to defend his country after he had betrayed Gull-Haraldr. That was part
of the settlement. Emperor Otto prepared his army to move against Denmark.
King Haraldr learned of this and sent messengers to Jarl Hakon in Norway, ask-
ing Hakon to come to his assistance. Hakon responded quickly with a hundred
ships.
He arrived in Denmark and met with King Haraldr. They took counsel to-
gether and agreed to raise troops against the emperor. They advanced against
him, and a battle was engaged in which many men fell on both sides. It ended
with the emperor's taking flight with his forces, and when he came to his ships,
he had a gold-inlaid spear in his hand, and it was covered with blood. He thrust
it into the sea, named God as his witness, and spoke thus: "When I come to
Denmark the next time, I will either convert it or lay down my life." Then he
proceeded home to Saxony. King Haraldr and Jarl Hakon ordered a great wall
to be constructed which is called "Danavirki."2 It is built across the land be-
tween the mouth of the Schlei and the Eider. Jarl Hakon then went to Norway.
Emperor Otto now gathered a great army during these three years. Then he
proceeded to Denmark with a much larger force than before. His jarls went
with him this time. King Haraldr learned of this news and sent men to Norway
to ask for Jarl Hakon's aid. Jarl Hakon responded swiftly and deemed that the
necessity was compelling. He proceeded to Denmark with a large force. The
jarl went to meet King Haraldr with twelve men, and the king was very pleased.
"Now your army should be sent for," said the king.
The jarl replied: "We should first have a little talk before this is done. You
have me and these twelve men who accompany me at your disposal, for we have
already come before with the promised force."
"That is true," said the king," but it was my expectation," he said, "that you
would let me have the benefit of this force."
Jarl Hakon replied: "I do not have the authority over my men because they
are obligated to defend me and my country, but they feel no obligation to de-
fend your country."
"What must I do," asked the king, "for you and your men so that you will lend
me assistance?"
"There is one way to facilitate this," said the jarl, "and that is for you to sur-
render all your revenue in Norway. But if that is not your wish, all those men
who have come here will return home except for me and these twelve men you
see before you."
"It is true," said the king, "that you surpass all men in wisdom and planning,
for now I am faced with two difficult choices."
"Take into consideration," said the jarl, "the fact that the revenue from Nor-
way will do you little good if you are slain here in Denmark."
"I will make my choice without delay," said the king. "As long as you lend me
aid, I will accept what you,demand."
Men were then dispatched to the jarl's assembled force. They sealed this bar-
gain. Then they marched against the emperor with their whole army. The king
went to the Eider with his force, and Jarl Hakon went with his to the mouth of
the Schlei.
Emperor Otto learned that Jarl Hakon had arrived in Denmark and in-
tended to do battle against him. The emperor dispatched his jarls Urgujyotr
and Brimisskjarr to Norway. They had twelve cargo ships, laden with men and
arms, and were charged to convert Norway while Jarl Hakon was absent. But
first we should tell of the emperor and his army. They went ashore and saw the
Danavirki, and they had the impression that it was not easy to breach. At this
point Emperor Otto and King Haraldr met, and they engaged in battle imme-
diately. They fought on their ships, and many of King Haraldr's men fell. For
that reason he broke off.
After that the emperor approached the land on the other side of the mouth
of the Schlei. Jarl Hakon was there, and they closed on each other. Here the
going was harder for the emperor, and he lost many men. Then he broke off
and made for shore at an unspecified place. There he met up with warriors on
six ships, all of them large. The emperor asked who was in command. That man
identified himself as Ali. The emperor asked him whether he was a Christian
or not. He said that he was a Christian and had converted in Ireland. Then Olaf
offered his service to the emperor. The emperor said that he was eager to ac-
cept "because you have a lucky look about you." He now joined the emperor's
forces with three hundred men.3
The emperor, Olaf, and the other chieftains now took counsel because they
were confronting the difficulty that the army was without provisions. Their
animals had all been driven away and could not be replaced by coastal raids.
They felt they had a twofold difficulty to deal with, either to depart with noth-
ing more accomplished or to slaughter their horses for food. Both alternatives
seemed bad, but the emperor did not wish to withdraw on any account.
He was now very downcast about his quandary. He summoned Ali to meet
with him, and when he came, the emperor gave him a good reception and
asked him to devise a plan that would avail in this situation, so that they would
not have to withdraw with nothing more accomplished and would not have to
eat horseflesh or any other forbidden food. Ali replied:
May God provide. But I have enough confidence in my remedies that I wish my
proposal to be accepted. I counsel first of all that we eat no forbidden food, no
matter what the cost.
"I will agree to that," said the emperor, "and to whatever else you propose." Ali
then spoke:
We should call on Almighty God to give us victory. I also propose that the whole
army should go to the forest today and that each man should procure a load of
wood and take it to the wall; then let us see what can be done.
Now it was done as he said. A moat ten fathoms across and similarly deep ran
along the wall, and strong points were placed over the gates. When they had
dragged the wood to the wall, they made large ramps across the moat. Then
they took their water casks and filled them with wood shavings and tar. They
set them ablaze and rolled the casks, charged in this way, toward the wall.
There was a sharp wind from the south and dry weather. The fire began to
burn the casks and the kindling. Then it spread to the wall, and one thing ig-
nited another until the whole of the Danavirki was burned down that very
night. When the morning broke, such a rain descended that people could
hardly remember such an inundation coming from the heavens. As a result the
whole conflagraton was extinguished, and the men could immediately cross
the wall, as they were unlikely to have done if it had not rained.
When King Haraldr andjarl Hakon learned of this, they were overcome by
fear and fled to their ships. But Emperor Otto and Ali crossed the ramps, hav-
ing fasted four days for victory. Now they acquired plenty of food. The emperor
thought that Ali's plan had turned out well and asked him where he came from.
He replied: "I shall no longer make a secret of it—my name is Olaf and I am
the son of King Tryggvi in Norway."
The emperor and Olaf now pursued King Haraldr andjarl Hakon, and they
fought three battles. There were great casualties, and each time, King Haraldr
and Jarl Hakon took flight. The emperor and Olaf pursued them across the
country, and wherever they went, they urged everyone to convert, with the un-
derstanding that they would be granted amnesty. The greatest number chose
what was more fitting and accepted the faith, but those who refused were killed.
With that they won a great and fair victory.
Jarl Hakon and King Haraldr retreated and realized that their fortunes were
increasingly diminished as the people were converted. They now met together
and had the feeling that they were in a very tight corner. They abandoned their
ships and agreed to dispatch men to the emperor to ask for a truce, saying they
would not refuse to convert.
The messengers went to the emperor and presented their message. The em-
peror responded favorably and wished to convene a plenary assembly. The
messengers returned and reported how things stood. Then they all gathered
at an assembly that was the best attended that had ever been held in Denmark.
A bishop named Poppa, who was in the emperor's company, stood up at the as-
sembly. He preached the faith to them at length and eloquently. When King
Haraldr had heard the speech, he said: "It is not to be expected that I will yield
to your words alone unless I see that there is more power in the faith you preach
than in the one we already have."
The bishop then spoke:
You should not be without a chance to test our faith. I will take a piece of iron and
make it red hot, and I will carry it nine feet in the palm of my hand if the Almighty
[. . . ] preserves me from burning so that my hand remains unaffected. If so, your
army [ . . . ] will accept the faith.
Both the king and the jarl and all their men agreed to this.
Then the bishop bore the iron, and it did not burn him. Thus did God shield
him, and when King Haraldr saw this, he accepted the faith together with all
his men because everyone was deeply impressed by this sign. Then the whole
Danish army was baptized.4
But Jarl Hakon was more resistant to the faith, though the opposite course
seemed hard, but he eventually relented and accepted baptism. As soon as that
was done, the jarl asked leave to return home, and that was granted by the em-
peror, but he stipulated that the jarl should maintain Christianity in Norway
and preach the faith to others on pain of surrendering his realm.
Now he departed, but on the way he came to Gautland and harried there.
He sent back the priests whom the emperor had sent with him. Then the jarl
learned of a temple in which were housed a hundred gods, and it was dedi-
cated to Thor. The jarl went there and destroyed the temple and took all the
treasure. He plundered far and wide and acquired great riches. Then he re-
turned to his ships.
Jarl Ottarr, who then ruled Gautland, was quick to react and marched
against the jarl. But he did not catch him because he was already gone. Jarl
Ottarr then convened an assembly and outlawed Hakon, who was declared
"wolf in the sanctuary"5 because he had destroyed the greatest temple in Gaut-
land.
When this news got abroad, the jarls Urgujyotr and Brimisskjarr learned of
Hakon's activity and thought it did not signal peace. They left Norway with all
their ships, in addition to another eight that were all laden with men and
money, and they did not wait for the jarl.
When Jarl Hakon learned what the jarls had been about and that they had
converted all of Vik, he became very wrathful at the news. He sent word around
Vik that it would profit no one to subscribe to this religion. When they heard
this, those who did not wish to repudiate Christianity fled, but some relapsed
into heathendom.
The jarl also reverted to heathendom and built as many temples as had been
destroyed. He was now at peace and was sole ruler of all Norway. He paid no
tribute to King Haraldr, and their friendship declined greatly.
The emperor, King Haraldr, and Olaf now came together at a feast, and be-
fore they parted, King Haraldr promised that all his men would maintain the
faith. He kept the promise. Then they exchanged gifts. And after that, the em-
peror returned home to his realm with a brilliant victory. He invited Olaf Tryggva-
son to accompany him, but he preferred to go elsewhere and harry against
heathen people. They parted on good terms.
Next Olaf and his men proceeded to harry the Britons, Irish, and Scots;
they harried heathen peoples [but allowed]1 Christians to go in peace. The
arrangement between Olaf and Jarl SigurSr was that each of Olaf's men
should have two shares [but]2 thejaiTs men only one. Olaf himself was to have
three shares and the jarl one. The division was made in this way because at the
outset Olaf and his men earned a larger share by virtue of their toughness and
boldness.
It happened that when they were in Ireland and had taken the sort of booty
that they could often boast of, they were driving innumerable herds to their
ships, oxen, sheep, and goats, with which to feed themselves. A poor, ill-clad
cotter approached Olaf and asked to be given the herd that he could claim as
his own, so that he could drive it home again. Olaf replied: "I cannot grant what
you request because you cannot single out your herd from such a multitude;
you will not be able to identify or collect them, and there is no man who could
manage that."
The cotter replied: "Be merciful and allow me to have the animals that my
dog separates out."
Olaf said: "If you have such an intelligent dog as you say and he can separate
out your sheep and cattle and distinguish them from the rest of the herd with
his instinct and skill, I will grant your request. But mind that your dog does not
cause any delay."
Then at the cotter's bidding the dog ran forward into the innumerable
flocks that made up the larger herd and did the search. In less than half an
hour he had separated out all the cotter's animals and driven them away from
the other flocks. Olaf and his men were astonished, and Olaf now inquired
about the nature and intelligence of the dog. The cotter said that he was
more like wise shepherds than dumb beasts, "because he has a man's intelli-
gence."
Olaf made much of the dog and thought him a great treasure. He asked the
cotter whether he would make him a gift of the dog, and the cotter complied
immediately. Olaf gave the cotter a heavy gold ring and in addition something
of even greater value: to wit, his friendship, and they parted as friends. The
dog's name was Vigi, and it is everyone's opinion that there has never been a
greater treasure of this kind than this dog.
17. Concerning Olaf Tryggvason and the Champion Alpin
We are told that when Olaf came to England, there was a champion there
named Alpin. He was a very strong man and much given to single combat. He
was very rich, though by ill-gotten gains, and an arrogant man in every way,
though handsome.
In England there was a distinguished widow, in the first place because of her
family's standing but also because she was personally outstanding. Her name
was Gy5a, and she was very propertied. The champion Alpin wooed her, but
she answered that she would convene an assembly—"and there I will choose
the man I want as husband." The champion agreed to this.
Olaf and the vikings learned what the queen had told the champion. Many
of them got ready for the assembly and adorned themselves with fine clothes,
thinking that they might be chosen. Many had indeed distinguished them-
selves previously in perilous adventures. Olaf went too and dressed in such a
way that he was wearing a loden cloak and hid his head with a broad hood. And
now he set out for the assembly with his men.
The queen also came to the assembly and with her, thirty women. They rode
from the town in a fine procession, but she was the finest of them all. The cham-
pion Alpin sat on a chair in worthy attire of the most precious fabric adorned
with gold and gems, as though an idol had been set on the altar.1 The beauti-
ful women processed by him, seated on their horses. The champion spoke up
immediately: "Hear me, distinguished lady. It is my bidding that you dismount
from your horse, choose a seat here next to me, and choose me as your hus-
band and lover."
This powerful woman was the sister of Olafr, king of the Scots, called Olafr
kvaran. She now saw a large crowd on both sides and many distinguished and
well-dressed men. She could also see that Alpin was very handsomely dressed.
She rode around the circle of men and inspected all those who had come, with
an eye to both appearance and raiment. But she did not find the one she was
looking for and would suit her. She went through the same process a second
time, riding around and observing each man's countenance and appearance.
The third time she made the circuit, she came to a place where there was a
large man in a loden cloak. When she saw his eyes, she said: "Here is the man
whom I choose as my husband among all those who have assembled here."2
When Alpin saw that he had been rejected and disgraced and deprived of this
desirable match, and this other man had been chosen in his place, he howled
furiously and said that the man would not enjoy his marriage for long.
The assembly was now dissolved and a great and splendid feast arranged.
The word spread far and wide. When Olaf was to marry this woman, Jarl SigurSr
first of all, and many other chieftains as well, attended. As Olaf sat at the feast,
the champion Alpin approached in great wrath and challenged him to com-
The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason63 63
bat. He said that he should test himself in both strength and courage. It was
the second day of the feast that Olaf was challenged to do combat. He said that
he would come.
The next day at dawn Olaf went to the combat site with eleven men. The
champion came with twenty-four men. Then they joined battle, and twenty-two
of the champion's men fell. Olaf then put down his weapons, rushed at the
champion, seized him in his arms, and threw him to the ground. After that he
bound tightly all those who were alive, set the champion on the horse facing
backward toward the tail, and drove him ahead back to the town. When the jarl
and the other chieftains saw this, they thought this deed that Olaf had done
was the most splendid victory, including how the champion was basely humil-
iated and shamefully disgraced. Then the jarl declared his contempt for them,
saying that he would have none of their aggressiveness, and he bade the cham-
pion depart from the land. This he did. Olaf spent some time there, and he
and GySa had a son named Tryggvi.3 He later fought against Sveinn Alfifuson
three nights before Christmas.
18. Concerning Jarl Hakon
We now turn to the time when Jarl Hakon SigurSarson, who has already been
mentioned, was ruling Norway. SigurSr was the son of Hakon Grj6tgar5sson.
The Hakon referred to here was powerful and resourceful. With his devices
and deceptions he overcame Haraldr Gunnhildarson at Hals in the Limfjord.1
His second victim was Gull-Haraldr, whom he himself slew as a favor to the king
of the Danes. In this way the two realms of Norway and Denmark were joined,
and Hakon got the great gold treasure that his kinsman had possessed. Then
King Haraldr installed Hakon as ruler and jarl over Norway, but he was to pay
the king of the Danes tribute every year.
Thus thirteen years passed during which the Norwegians were tributary to
the Danes. In the thirteenth year Emperor Otto waged battle against the Danes,
and as a result King Haraldr and Jarl Hakon fled to the Limfjord. Then Jarl
Hakon fled to Norway and never again paid tribute to the king of the Danes.
A few years later, in the midwinter season, thejomsvikingar came to Norway
with 170 ships and fought a battle with Jarl Hakon and his son Eirikr at Hjgrunga-
vagr. They fought so fiercely that there are few examples of such a battle in the
North. They fought all day, but Jarl Hakon went ashore now and then and
brought sacrifices to his gods and appealed to them loudly. On that day his en-
treaties were fruitless; many of his men fell, but few of the Jomsvikingar.
On the second day beginning at dawn they resumed battle and fought until
the sun was in the south. Then Hakon went ashore and invoked PorgerSr
Hglgabru5r for victory, and before his prayer was over, he sacrificed his
nine-year-old son to her.2 Then she went into battle with him, and there was a
frightful battle in the teeth of a hailstorm. Manyjomsvikingar fell, and Eirikr
Hakonarson attacked fiercely, slaying many men. At that pointJarl Sigvaldi fled
with thirty ships to Denmark. But Bui remained and said that it was better to
fall with his manhood intact than to flee in abject terror.
On the third day there was a terrifying engagement. But because many men
came to the support of Jarl Hakon, whereas the Jomsvikingar lost many men
and had a long distance from which to gather reserves, they could not main-
tain their resistance. When Bui saw his men falling and the ranks thinning
around him and boarding parties advancing, he took his chests of gold, each
in one arm, having fought very bravely up to that point; he set about it in such
a way that he hooked the stumps of his arms into the chest handles and called
out "overboard all of Bui's men"—then he plunged overboard.3
19. Concerning Jarl Hakon's Treachery against Olaf Tryggvason
Now we pick up the story at a time when Jarl Hakon began to hear of the great
fame that Olaf Tryggvason had won far and wide in many battles and with many
stratagems. Then he began to turn over in his mind how to avert the possibil-
ity that he might deprive him or his sons of the realm with some sudden or un-
expected trick. He reflected on various ways to avoid losing his realm, and
preferred rather to devise some deception with which to deprive Olaf of his an-
cestral lands or his life.
He convened a well-attended assembly to which many chieftains came.
There was a man named Porir klakka, a great friend of the jarl's. He took him
aside at the assembly and said that he wished to send him east to Russia with a
report of his own death and the news that Norway now had no leader and that
it was everyone's wish to confer the kingdom on Olaf Tryggvason: "Two uncles
of Olaf Tryggvason will confirm and verify this message."1 Porir was told to say
that he had been sent to escort him honorably to the country of his birth.
Olaf's uncles were to swear formally not to inform Olaf of this deception until
they set foot in Norway. Then it would be permitted.2
We are also told that this Porir had been together with Olaf before and had
been his sworn brother. But nonetheless he had committed himself to this
treacherous ambush against Olaf Tryggvason and, succumbing to the jarl's gifts
of money and persuasion, had sworn firmly to do the jarl's bidding.
Now the jarl sent for the king's two kinsmen. One was named KarlshgfuS and
the other Josteinn.3 When they came into the jarl's presence, he revealed to
them the treacherous plan that he had conceived. They refused to do what they
were told and said that this was a very unseemly plan to hatch against their kins-
man. The jarl said that they would be choosing a much worse and less desir-
able alternative if they turned this one down, "because you will suffer a quick
death if you do not do what I want." At this point they did not dare to do oth-
erwise than he prescribed.
They now prepared for the journey. Each was in command of a ship. Then
they sailed to England, and when they arrived, they learned that Olaf had
gone east to Russia. They also sailed east, and when they arrived, he received
them with great warmth and prepared a fine feast for his kinsmen. Porir pro-
ceeded to deliver his treacherous message and told Olaf everything that we
have mentioned. Olaf then asked his uncles whether what he said was true.
They looked at the ground and gave a subdued answer with a melancholy look,
but they said it was true. Olaf now believed that they were telling the truth
because they all confirmed it. But Olaf and many others wondered why the
brothers KarlshgfuS and Josteinn were so downcast while seated at such a
splendid occasion.
They spent the winter there, and when spring came, Olaf headed west with
six ships over and above the three ships that they had brought east. These ships
were laden with many precious objects, gold, gems, precious fabrics, and all
sorts of cargo seldom seen in northern lands. He proceeded in ignorance of
his kinsmen's duplicity, and he undertook the voyage with no suspicions.
They sailed now with a good breeze and in high spirits. They made landfall
at a place in Norway called Pjalfahellir and tented their ships.4 When the men
were asleep, Josteinn and his brother went aboard Olaf's ship quietly and in all
deference, and they asked him to go ashore. He did so. They sat down a short
distance from the landing plank and conversed. They spoke simultaneously:
"We both deserve to be killed by you, and for that reason we now place our lives
in your hands because of our crime of treachery." In tears they recounted the
whole matter, saying: "In this place, kinsman, you are meant to be killed."
Then Olaf spoke: "I will spare your lives and forgive what you have done, but
advise me on what to do now."
They replied: "We know that there is a Lapp who has a dwelling in the moun-
tains here, and he can foresee many things that are to come. Let us go to meet
him and ask what we should do. We should request that he give us some good
counsel."
Olaf replied: "I am loath and little disposed to meet with men of this kind
and seek their help. But because it pleases you, let it be God's will and ours."
They proceeded in the dark during the night, and the going was very unfirm
and marshy. Olaf sank into the marsh over his knees, but they took hold of him
and dragged him out of the marsh.
Then Olaf said: "The reason for this is that I got my just deserts, and it was
revealed that it is unseemly to seek help or assistance from Lapps. This was just
as I deserved."
They responded: "It is an old saying that it gets worse before it gets better."
The Lapp had foreseen their trip and opened the door of his house so that
they could find his dwelling. When they saw the light from it, they found their
way. The Lapp spoke from inside and said: "I know, Olaf, who you are, what
you are looking for, and what you will be. But you do not need to enter my
house, for I have had a dire foreboding today since you landed, and you are
not preceded by insignificant fetches. Accompanying you are bright spirits, and
I cannot endure their presence because I am of a different nature.5 For that
reason you should say what you have to say outside."
Then Olaf spoke: "Tell us, Lapp, what we should do and what is likely to hap-
pen, and whether or not I am likely to acquire this realm."
The Lapp replied:
Early tomorrow morning Porir will take you aside and ask you to go ashore to have
a confidential talk. He will ask you to sit down and will try to sit a little higher than
you. But you will not wish to allow that because two of his men will be hidden in
the forest, and as soon as he gives them a sign, they will rush out and kill you. But
you should have two of your men posted in the forest in such a way that, when you
give them a sign, they will rush forth and kill Porir. In this way Porir will be trapped
in the snare that he has laid for you, and that is as it should be.
A little later Hakon will be killed, and you will acquire the realm. And when what
I am now saying happens and you are ruling Norway, you will proclaim a new and
unknown religion in this country. Before you die the great majority of your fol-
lowers will accept your mission. If what I say turns out to be true, you should not
urge another religion on me, other than the one I already have, and you should
not coerce me because I cannot convert to other practices or to another form of
existence. I do not see that I can honor you or your rank in anyway unless it should
happen that your dog is wounded. Then you should send him to me and I will heal
him.
Then they departed and went to their ships. They boarded the ships quietly
so that the men did not wake up. Everything turned out as the Lapp had said.
As Olaf and Porir discussed their seating and each wanted to be farther uphill,
Olaf waved his glove with his right hand. Four men ran out of the forest—two
of them were Josteinn and KarlshgfuS. They ran ahead of the others to the
place where Olaf and Porir were sitting. They both struck at Porir at the same
time, and that was how his life ended. When Porir's men saw this, they fled. The
men on the ships asked for quarter, and Olaf granted it to all those who agreed
to convert to Christianity and submit to his command. They accepted these
terms with thanks.
When Olaf saw how he had been deceived with such trickery but had none-
theless been saved by God's mercy, he gave thanks to God. And now we have
said enough about this matter for the time being.
20. Concerning Jarl Hakon the Powerful
The next thing to tell about is that as Jarl Hakon's life advanced, he became
harder on the people because of his arrogance and greed. He was also uncon-
trolled in sexual matters, because he thought he had a claim to all women who
came into his hands, whether they were sisters, mothers, or daughters. They
stayed with him for whatever time it pleased him to have them.1
He then began to bear down hard on the common people. The people be-
came ill disposed toward him and many called him Hakon the Bad. We are told
that an Icelander composed a long and derogatory poem about him, studded
with many negative and outrageous matters.2
Hakon had more faith in sacrifices than most people, and this practice be-
came so exaggerated that his libido was overheated to the point of licentious-
ness, and he kept men's wives, even those of good family, and many maidens
with him for a week or a month, then sent them back in disgrace to their fa-
thers and mothers.
There was a man named Brynjolfr who lived in Gaulardalr. He was a power-
ful and very wealthy man with a beautiful wife. One night Jarl Hakon sent his
thralls there and told them to bring away his wife. When they came to the es-
tate, Brynjolfr had gone to bed with his wife. They delivered their message and
said that the jarl ordered him to let his wife go with them. Brynjolfr replied:
"This jarl thinks there isn't much he can't say or do; he is proceeding so in-
temperately that it will be no surprise when a salutary reversal comes and his
rule collapses miserably. Our people are now in terrible straits." Brynjolfr be-
came infuriated and drove the jarl's messengers away in great wrath.
They came before the jarl and told him what had happened. Then the jarl
sent a larger company of men with the message that he should let his wife go
whether he wished to or not and that otherwise they would kill him. When they
came to Brynjolfr and told him of the jarl's words, Brynjolfr said: "I do not
know now what will happen or which of us will emerge victorious over the
other." He leaped up, but they took his wife, and she went with them.
Brynjolfr went to the nearby farms and raised men. He said what need com-
pelled him, so that this evil would no longer oppress them. He incited the men
vehemently to do battle against the jarl. He said that it was not he alone who
was in need but all of them. Because he was powerful and popular and of dis-
tinguished ancestry, many men flocked to him in fierce opposition to the jarl.
They were a tough contingent and well armed, and they advanced with great
clamor and tumult.
They went in over the Gaul Ridge and headed for Hla5ir, where the jarl's
chief residence was. That was also the location of the chief temple, the great-
est in Norway. All were agreed to kill the jarl or burn him in his residence. The
jarl was present at Hla5ir, which was the capital of his whole realm, and his an-
cestors had also had their chief residence there. He had dedicated the great
temple that stood there to innumerable gods.
Although we have harsh and negative things to say about Jarl Hakon, it is
nonetheless said of him that his rule lasted for a long time and was popular at
first, but as his life advanced, his rule became harsher and more aggressive to
live under. It is also told of him that he was a very handsome man and very wise,
and in many ways the most preeminent among all those of his rank. He was in
addition a great warrior.
His legitimate sons were Sveinn and Erlendr. Eirikr was not the son of his
wife and was both like and unlike his father, alike in his intelligence and mar-
tial qualities but not alike in his appearance and disposition. He was kindly and
generous with counsel and very intent on reconciling the chieftains with the
people. He was easygoing except toward his enemies, to whom he was fierce
and stubborn. Eirikr and Sveinn were not in the country when these events
took place.
Early in the morning some men entered the jarl's lodging and told him that
a large force was approaching from every direction. When the jarl heard this
news, he had a fair idea that it would do no good to seek help in the local dis-
tricts because all the men who lived there would oppose him, so that no help
could be expected from that quarter. He therefore fled to the ships that were
a short way from the jarl's residence out in the fjord. His son Erlendr and his
retainers went with him.
They now took two ships and hastily set sail, thinking to take refuge at sea,
since there was no hope on land. When the jarl had gotten not far from shore,
he saw that nine ships were sailing up the fjord directly toward him. When they
saw the ships, they were much amazed, and they began to look back astern.
They saw many ships coming down the fjord full tilt and with a lot of shouting.
They both sailed and rowed with great exertion and every hostile intention,
bent on not letting the jarl escape.
After Porir klakka was killed, Olaf Tryggvason commanded all the ships that
they had brought from the east and sailed north along the coast. At this mo-
ment he was headed in from Ag5anes toward the two ships sailing down the
fjord that we have already mentioned. Olaf ordered his men to lay alongside
these ships: "I want to know what men these are"—he said this without know-
ing who was sailing toward them.
When Jarl Hakon saw what a tight spot he was in, he realized that he would
have to suffer the judgment his enemies imposed on him. He addressed his
son Erlendr: "I want you to launch a small boat, and I will get into it with a few
men and head for shore, but you should stay behind, for I believe that because
of your popularity your life will be spared. Many people are well disposed to-
ward you, and no one will attack you if I am not present."
This is the way it was done. The jarl reached shore and saved himself by run-
ning into the forest. When he got into the forest, he realized that there were
ambushes everywhere. He headed in an easterly direction with his men toward
the place called Gaulardalr, thinking to save himself and escape his enemies.
But the men pursued vigorously. They found these two ships and encircled
them from every direction. When Erlendr saw that he was at the mercy of his
enemies, he jumped overboard with some of his men and started swimming.
At that moment Olaf Tryggvason arrived and was sitting at the tiller of his ship.
He saw the young man swimming away from the ships. Olaf asked the remain-
ing ship's crew who this young man was who was swimming from the ships. He
was told that it was the jarl's son Erlendr, and when he heard that, he flung the
tiller handle that he was holding and struck him a blow on the head that was
the death of him.
Then Olaf asked what all the tumult and contention was about. They told
him what the situation was. Then they asked who the distinguished and noble
man was who was speaking with them. He identified himself as Olaf, saying that
he was the son of Tryggvi. When the Prcendir heard that, they gave him a good
reception and addressed kind words to him: "You will certainly be welcome
here, because we have wished for you for a long time. We are eager to accept
you as our king, as you are entitled by birth. Let us now all pursue the jarl to-
gether and kill him. We wish to have your help in bringing this about. After he
is overcome, you will assume the rule of Norway in its entirety, for we wish to
elect you as king of all Norway." Olaf Tryggvason rejoiced at these words and
answered that he would undertake the venture and lend them his help.
Then they brought all their ships to shore and formed all the men into a sin-
gle battalion. Next they began the search for the jarl and divided the force into
companies for the search. When the jarl learned that Olaf Tryggvason had ar-
rived and that the force was advancing on him, he was very fearful of the pur-
suit and fled at top speed. The men who were with him fled one by one so that
finally there was nobody with the jarl except for his slave Karkr.1 The jarl fled
on horseback and came to a large river, which he crossed. He had a silk cloak
on, which he took off his shoulders and cast into the river. Then they fled to
Gaulardalr and searched for a hideaway.
They came to a farm called Rimull, the home of a good and distinguished
woman.2 She greeted the jarl and gave him a good reception. The jarl ad-
dressed her: "Listen, good woman," he said, "I am a fugitive from my enemies,
who are after me in hot pursuit. Tell me whether you know of any hideout
where I can take refuge. Do this in your wisdom and for the sake of our friend-
ship, as it is fitting for you to treat your lord."
She replied: "If I were searching for a noble man, where would I be less likely
to look for him than in a pigsty?"
The jarl replied: "That is resourceful advice. Order your slaves to prepare a
secret recess for us."
She did so and ordered them to dig a large trench and cover it with wood
and close it off carefully so that there were no signs of recent work. Then the
jarl and his slave entered the recess, and when they were inside, it was closed
carefully. Then they raked dirt over it and covered it with manure and drove
the pigs inside. They trampled down the manure.
Olaf Tryggvason now pressed the pursuit of the jarl and arrived with a large
company of men at the aforementioned river and saw the cloak washed up on
a spit of land. It was retrieved, and they recognized that it belonged to the jarl.
Many of them said that the jarl had probably succumbed there, so that there
was no need to search for him.
Then an old man said: "No, you don't know the jarl's guile if you think he
perished in this river. It is a trick of his to have thrown off the cloak so you would
think that he died here."
They believed this was true and continued to search until they finally came
to Gaulardalr and the farm Rimull. They searched every building on the farm.
They went into the pigsty too but did not find him. Before they departed, how-
ever, Olaf spoke aloud: "If any man brings me the jarl's head, I will give him a
large reward." When he had said that, he broke off the search and departed
with all his men.
The jarl heard his words, and the slave too. The jarl was much amazed by the
man's speech and spoke as follows: "This man Olaf is most impressive and has
a powerful delivery. Never before have a man's words so gripped me and pen-
etrated my heart, though I have been in numerous and great perils. I am very
troubled and haunted at the sound of these words."
They had light and food and drink with them, and they were eating together.
The jarl looked at his slave and saw that his face looked very dark. He deduced
from this that his thinking veered this way and that, and that he was of two
minds. He suspected now that the slave would betray him, and he did not trust
him in the event that he should fall asleep. He was therefore on his guard and
intended to stay awake during the night. On the other hand, the slave slept
long and hard.
When he awoke, he saw that the jarl was awake and he said: "I had a dream,
lord."
"What did you dream?" asked the jarl.
He replied: "I will tell you," he said, "but you should interpret the dream."
The jarl said: "Now tell me."
"It seemed to me that we were in a boat and that I was sitting at the tiller."
Then the jarl said: "Consider that you have my life, for that matter both our
lives, in your hands. You should be faithful now so that you may enjoy many
good days in the future."
"I had a second dream, and it seemed to me that a very large, dark, and ill-
favored man was standing next to the house. He spoke the words, 'Now Urli
has been killed.'"
The jarl said: "Then my son Erlendr has probably been killed."
Then the slave fell asleep. When he woke up, he saw that the jarl was awake,
and he said: "I had another dream. I dreamed I saw a big man going down from
the mountains saying, 'Now all the sounds are frozen over.'"
The jarl said: "You are saying that we do not have many days to live."
The slave said: "I had yet another dream. Olaf gave me an enormous horse."
The jarl said: "Then he will string you up on the highest gallows he can find.
Take care not to betray me, because [if you do] you will not have much time
to live."
Then the slave fell asleep, and the jarl continued to stay awake. As the night
advanced and dawn approached, the jarl could no longer stay awake. But the
slave was awake by then, and when he saw the jarl sleeping, he took a very sharp
knife and brought it up into his throat, inflicting a great wound. Then he cut
off his head and ran away from the hideout until he arrived at Hla5ir early in
the morning of the following day. He brought Olaf Tryggvason the jarl's head,
and when Olaf recognized that this was Jarl Hakon's head, he felt anger toward
the slave and ordered him to be hanged. He said that he should have a just re-
ward for treachery against his lord: "He betrayed Jarl Hakon, and he will be-
tray me if he can. This is the way to discourage the betrayal of a lord."3
22. Concerning the Division of the Districts
Formerly there was a king named Nori who first inhabited Norway. South of
Norway is Denmark, and Sweden is to the east. To the west is England. North
of Norway lies Finnmgrk. Norway is shaped with three promontories. The
length of the land from the southwest northward is from the Gautelfr [Gotaalv]
north to Veggistafr.1 The breadth and width from east to west is from the
EiSaskogr to the English Sea.
The land is divided and known by the following names: Vik, HgrSaland,
Upplgnd, Prandheimr, Halogaland, Finnmgrk. In these provinces there are
many regions and districts and countless islands. We are told that later the dis-
tinguished king Harald Fairhair acquired all of Norway. He subdued it with a
great exercise of power and kept his hold on it until the day of his death. He
is buried in Rogaland, where he died.
After him there were many kings descended from him. They ruled over re-
gions, large realms, or islands. But we mention only those who ruled on the
coast along the sea and who were supreme kings of the land, for in Upplgnd
and the mountain districts there were district kings descended from Harald
and exercising authority. These realms were separated in many places in the
country by mountains and forests. Among these kings the most distinguished
and famous descended from King Harald were King Tryggvi, the father of the
Olaf we have told about and the son of Olafr Haraldsson; and Haraldr grenski,
the father of Saint Olaf, who was later sole monarch of all Norway.
23. Concerning the Acceptance of Olaf as King
When the news flew across the land and it was learned that Jarl Hakon had
been killed and that Olaf Tryggvason had come in his place, all the chieftains
and wise counselors came from Prcendalgg. That included all those of rank and
all the common people as well. They came with the consensus that all the peo-
ple wanted him as their king and asked him to rule over all. He called at the
outset on the Prcendir and the Gauldcelir, and they combined, asking him to
support and reinforce them againstJarl Eirikr and Jarl Sveinn, because the jarls
had many friends and kinsmen, even though many were also enemies.
But Olaf had suffered enough hardship to counterbalance this advantage;
his father had been killed and deprived of all his claim to rule, and Olaf him-
self had been banished for a long time in his childhood from his kin and his
ancestral lands. Furthermore, the farmers had a great deal of support to lend
the king, large numbers and much military force in support of the kingdom.
In exchange the king was obligated to give them eminent leadership in all vi-
cissitudes and battles.
This [convergence of interests] brought about their agreement. They then
proclaimed Olaf Tryggvason king at the EyrarJDing, and he swore in exchange
to uphold the laws and the land's legal institutions. Each should now be ob-
ligated to promote the interests of the other. He proceeded to rule the king-
dom with fame and favor. He became the sole monarch of Norway, and he
subdued all the land from the home of the Lapps in the north down to Den-
mark in the south. He became a powerful and illustrious man. He had to con-
tend with many hardships and difficulties while he ruled the land. He was the
first of the Norwegian kings to maintain the proper belief in God, and under
his rule Norway was fully converted, but a great deal happened before Chris-
tianity triumphed.
24. Concerning King Olaf's Preaching of the True Faith
We are told that he preached this royal mission to all the people. He made
many speeches with great eloquence, urging them to abandon their former
practices, which were so detrimental to the soul, since they believed that they
could be helped by sacrificing to stocks and stones.1 He bade them with fair
words abandon that foolish and shameful custom, which deceived them with
manifold perils. He bade them instead worship the true God who rules in the
bliss of heaven. He, alone and triune, is the true God who bestows all benefits
on men. He bade them observe all the wisest men in the land and consider the
practice of the English or the Saxons or the Danes, who had recently accepted
the faith. He bade them with fair words abandon their sacrifices and follow the
example of such men, follow the right path, and believe in the true God in
heaven. He explained how unequal was the service to Almighty God and to the
devil. He recounted much about the bliss of just and saintly men, and by con-
trast what wicked men can expect by way of terrors in the torments of hell.
He presented this with great power and the assistance of God, but the chief-
tains spoke against him and left the assembly, and each went home to his dis-
trict where he had his property. But nonetheless the king kept many men in
place and preached God's word, and they all admired his eloquence greatly.
He did not cease until all who stayed behind at the assembly had accepted holy
baptism from the bishop and held a true belief in their Creator henceforward.
On their own initiative they destroyed their idols and abandoned all their su-
perstition. In its place they maintained a true belief and God's command-
ments, and God's Christianity prospered greatly.
25. Concerning King Olaf Tryggvason
It can be found in the account of Ari the Wise, and there are others who con-
firm it, that Olaf Tryggvason was twenty-two years old when he came ashore
and assumed the rule, and that he ruled for five years. But still there are some
wise men who claim and maintain the belief that he was thirty-two years old
when he assumed power, and we shall verify how they reckon.
They say that when his father Tryggvi was killed, Olaf was in his mother's
womb and was born that [same year].1 He spent one year with his maternal
grandfather and his mother in hiding. Then he went east to Sweden to Hakon
gamli because of the enmity of Jarl Hakon and Gunnhildr. There he crossed
wilderness areas and forests and spent two years with Hakon gamli. When he
departed, he was three years old.
When he was on board ship and was captured on his way to Russia, heathens
seized him and those with him, and he was in bondage for six years. And they
say that he was in Russia and the East for eleven years and in Wendland for
three. Then he traveled to Denmark and Ireland, where he took holy baptism
from an abbot who was full of the holy spirit. He spent nine years in the west-
ern lands.
After that he left England at the age of thirty-two. Then a snare was set for
Olaf by Porir klakka, and they sailed for Norway as has been told. Porir was
killed according to the prophecy of the Lapp, and a little later Jarl Hakon too.
Saemundr the Wise and Ari the Wise, who are both to be believed, agree with
the calculation that Hakon ruled the realm for thirty-three years after Harald
Graycloak fell. And that seems to accord very well with the present story.2
People say that Olaf Tryggvason's life was divided into three periods. During
the first he was unfree and in great oppression and disgrace. The second pe-
riod of his life shone with great brightness and good fortune. The third was a
time of honor and fame, and a great desire to do reparations for many wrongs.3
But it may be that Einarr JDambarskelfir or Olaf's sister Astri5r, who was mar-
ried to Erlingr at Soli, did not consider his nine years of thralldom, since many
believed that he was dead. But subsequently it was this same man, whom his
friends and kinsmen found as if risen from the dead, and for this reason they
credited him with twenty-seven years.4 To me it seems worthwhile to consider
the testimony of both, and to understand what seems to have been omitted
from such accounts.5
We are told that from the first moment when Harald Fairhair took power, 148
years passed from the time his reign began until the time when Olaf Tryggva-
son departed from this his country with five ships and went west to England af-
ter he had been king in Norway for one year. He returned to Norway in the
fall. He was accompanied by Bishop Jon and many priests, the priests Pang-
brandr and Porm65r and many other servants of God, to whom he entrusted
the mission of reinforcing and building up God's Christianity and teaching
those who formerly had a false faith to follow the right path.1 He taught them
that the true light came from Almighty God.
When King Olaf was ready, they sailed to the Orkney Islands. The ruler there
was Jarl SigurSr Hlg5visson, who was distinguished in many respects, powerful,
and popular. King Olaf preached the true faith to him and urged him with
many fair words, both early and late, and with great fervor. He also told
SigurSr's followers about the pains of hell and perpetual fire and frost and
many other frightful torments. He urged him with all possible fervor to beware
of these things, and he said that they could in no way save themselves from
these torments unless they destroyed their idols and worshiped their Creator,
Almighty God, who rules everything: "He is the one you should worship."
The jarl spoke strongly in opposition. He said he would not abandon his re-
ligion and that of his kinsmen: "I know of no better religion or better way than
the one that my ancestors and the most distinguished among my kinsmen have
had." When Olaf saw how stubbornly he wished to cling to his superstition, Olaf
took the jarl's young son, who was named Hvelpr and had been raised with lov-
ingkindness. King Olaf laid him on the prow of his ship and drew his sword and
asked the jarl to choose whether he preferred to see his son beheaded before
his very eyes, if he refused the faith, or whether he wished to be reconciled in
friendship with him and to take back his son and at the same time receive Chris-
tianity. "But I tell you that the alternative is that your realm will be wrecked and
wasted."
Now the jarl agreed to both Christianity and the king's friendship. The jarl
and his whole retinue were then baptized. King Olaf and his men proceeded
to Norway with a favorable wind. He sailed joyfully, and there you might have
observed fair ships and spirited racing.
When King Olaf came east, he anchored by the Norwegian island that is called
Mostr.1 That night he was visited by the sainted Bishop Martin, who addressed
him as follows: "Here in this country it has been the custom to celebrate drink-
ing feasts for Thor, Odin, and the other Êsir. But now I wish you to make a
change in such a way that the drinking feast is for me and that the previous cus-
tom is abandoned.2 But I will promise you in return that I will lend you speech
tomorrow and strengthen your delivery, for there are many who intend to op-
pose you."3
The following day a numerous assembly was convened. A great crowd of peo-
ple confronted the king and intended to oppose his message. Three of the
most gifted men at the assembly were chosen to speak against the king, and
they were the most distinguished of all those assembled, both in intelligence
and eloquence. They had arranged to oppose him if he preached the name of
God.
King Olaf stood on an elevated rock so that he could easily be seen by all and
easily heard. That rock still stands there as a reminder. Then King Olaf began
to speak to the people and preach the Lord's name, in order to win them over
with fair words and suppress the superstition that they had previously main-
tained.
When he had spoken eloquently for a long time, the man who was appointed
to answer him first arose. He cast his gaze over the crowd for a long time with
a proud bearing and intended to speak with great eloquence and skill, but he
was overcome by such a cough and breathlessness that he could not get a sin-
gle word out and was obliged to sit down without speaking in opposition.
Then another man arose to oppose the king in great anger, but that man
stammered so badly that one could not hear what he was saying, and the man
who had arisen with pride and arrogance sat down with shame and ridicule.
Then the third man arose and intended to avenge his companions with the
eloquence of his words, but to him it happened that he became so hoarse and
choked so badly that one could not hear what he said. Because the three of
them were overcome by such power, many accepted the faith and abandoned
their former superstition and followed the king's command.
From there the king sailed north with his men past StaSr and then north to
Prandheimr. He then established his chief residence at Hla6ir as the previous
kings had done.
28. Concerning the Discovery of the Mortal Remains on Selja
At the beginning of King Olaf's reign it happened that two men set out on a
journey. One was named P6r5rJ6runnarson and the other P6r5r Êgileifarson.
They were powerful men and great chieftains. They owned estates in Fir5afylki
and intended to visit Jarl Hakon because they had not learned of the change
of ruler. As they crossed Ulfasund and headed north to the island of Selja, they
saw a beautiful sight, a brilliant light shining down on the sea from the heav-
ens, close to the land itself and farther on to the island of Selja. They were
greatly astonished by this and were curious to know what this sight might be
and what it might portend.
They directed their ships to the island, and where they had seen the light
shine they found the head of a man. They noted a sweet fragrance and took
the head along with them with veneration, though with terror. They intended
to bring it to Jarl Hakon, expecting that in his wisdom he would recognize and
understand what this meant.
They then proceeded on their way, and it was not long before they learned
that the jarl had been killed and that he had been replaced by the distinguished
chieftain King Olaf Tryggvason. But undeterred, they went to meet with the
king, since everyone spoke highly of his nobility and goodness. They arrived at
HlaSir, and as soon as the king learned that these men wished to see him, he
gave them a kind reception and prepared a banquet for them.
As they were sitting in great delight and conviviality, the king began to en-
treat these worthy men with kindness and fair words to abandon their faith and
believe in the true God. "I have heard," said the king, "many good things told
of your actions, and for that reason I ask you to convert to Christianity." Right
away these men were so impressed by the king's speech that they agreed to do
his bidding and were willing to abandon their errors.
Bishop Jon, who was also known as SigurSr,1 was then brought and they were
baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity and were dedicated to Almighty God.
When they were baptized, everyone was delighted. The king had them seated
in great honor at his very own table, for it seemed to him appropriate that those
men who had accepted their share in the heritage of heaven at his behest
should also partake with him of convivial delight and royal feasting and friend-
ship.
As they sat and drank and partook of good cheer, they told the king and the
bishop and all the men who were present of the beautiful sight they had seen,
both about the light and the head they had found. They related this attentively
and in detail. The king asked them to show him and the bishop the head, and
they did so. When he had seen it, he said: "This is surely the head of a holy
man." Then he showed it to all the best men and told the story with great joy.
After that the men went home, and strengthened in the holy faith they went
on their way gladly and honorably, and thereafter they faithfully obeyed the
king's commands.
It happened at one time that a pious and innocent farmer came to the island
of Selja and then went to meet with King Olaf. He told him that it had come
about that his mare had disappeared, and he had searched for her for a long
time, "and finally I saw where she was standing on an island not far from the
sound, on the outer coast. On the western part of the island there were high
cliffs. I went there, lord, and there on that day and in that place I saw a great
light, and since then I have seen it often."
When the king and the bishop heard this, they hastened to make a trip to
this island. They searched it carefully with the farmer as their guide. On the
western part of the island they found high cliffs, and they saw that there had
once been large caves that had collapsed not long before. They searched care-
fully around the place and found a lot of bones with a sweet fragrance among
the stones. The bones were gathered at the behest of king and bishop and care-
fully preserved on the island. At the request of the bishop and the command
of the king a church was built there and dedicated to the men of God who were
there. In that place Almighty God bestows many mercies in recognition of the
goodness of the men who rest there, down to the present day.
There are also many signs on another island called Kinn. There are also holy
relics of the same community as on Selja. In honor of both, God performs many
miracles in his graciousness and mercy.
30. Concerning Sunnefa
We are told that in the days of Jarl Hakon it happened that there was a princess
in Ireland named Sunnefa. She received from her father an inheritance and
extensive properties. A certain marauding viking began to harry there and

straiten her circumstances. He offered her two choices, either to do battle
against him or otherwise to marry him. She did not wish on any account to
marry him, because he was a heathen. She assembled her men and urged them
to accommodate her by taking the option of abandoning their homeland
rather than shedding the blood of so many men for her sake, "for I do not wish
to commit myself to so great a peril as living with a heathen viking." Many chose
the option of following her because she was their queen.
Her brother Albanus and many servants, both women and children, set out
with her. Pro sustentacione racio [nem?] assumunt. [They make a plan for their
provisioning].1 She now demonstrated that she had more confidence in God
than in worldly aid, and she commended herself to Almighty God.2 They had
no equipment or armor or weapons, and they asked God to show them the path
He wished them to follow. They were driven about on the sea for a long time,
but God revealed their glory in the North, and they came to the aforemen-
tioned islands. There they stayed for a long time and served God and were
nourished by the fish that were in the waters.
Around the island there was a large settlement. It came about, as can often
happen, that the herds that people kept on the island could not all be collected
because of the accidents that can occur, the predation of wild animals, and
other things. When people were spotted on the island, it was thought likely that
they might be bandits. They sought out Jarl Hakon and told him about these
people and the damage they were doing to the local population. They asked
him to set out with a large and well-armed force and kill them.
When these good people saw what was coming, they retreated into their
caves and made ready, praying to God that He not allow evil men to kill them.
Then the caves collapsed over them and they lost their lives and gained heav-
enly bliss. But they could not be reached because the rocks covered them, and
the jarl and his men departed.
But Christians gathered the bones and gave them a splendid burial. They
found a jutting rock recently split, and there they found intact the holy remains
of Sunnefa and her brother Albanus. They were laid to rest in a reliquary and
have been worshiped by all the people until this very day. And so it will be in
perpetuity as long as the North is inhabited, and many miracles mark the place.
Later, Sunnefa was brought to Bergen, but Albanus rests on Selja, where his
chief church is located, with a monastery. There one can find a great founda-
tion, much splendor, and many caskets. In the glorious cave that collapsed is
now built a chapel, which they call the "hall." On one side the cave forms a
wall, and on the other side the wall is built of stone. In the cliff wall there is a
ledge from which a little stream falls. There many people are healed. An altar
has been erected in this chapel, which is higher up the cliff from the main
church.
This community is similarly worshipped on Kinn. On Selja there are five

churches: the district church, Christ Church, St. Mary's Church, St. Michael's
Church, and the Churches of Albanus and Sunnefa.3 The anniversary of their
death is celebrated on the Eighth Ides of July [July 8th], and we call that the
Mass of the People of Selja.4
S22.1 Concerning King Olaf's Conversion of Hgrdaland
King Olaf sailed south with his squadron all the way to the Gulajnngslgg in
HgrSaland. When the people there learned of this and were informed of Olaf's
arrival, the most distinguished men in all those regions gathered a great as-
sembly and convened the Gulajnng. Their leader was a man named Qlm65r,
the son of HgrSakari and the brother of Porleifr inn spaki.2 Their father
HgrSakari had been so powerful that he vanquished nine kings with his forces.
QlmoSr arose at the assembly and spoke:
You know that a powerful king is on his way to this region and this assembly. He
will want to make us his subjects. The king pleases us in some ways, but in other
ways his practices displease us. We are pleased by his strength and eminence, and
with respect to these qualities it would be a good thing to serve such a king. But
his foreign customs displease us greatly.
Therefore I ask you, my friends and chieftains well tested in many estimable mat-
ters and great enterprises, that we join together in agreeing to my advice. Let us
not accept the practice that he urges on us unless he accommodates us in one ma-
jor respect. I understand that he has a sister by the same mother named AstriSr.
Her father is LoSinn, who rescued her mother with manliness and valor from hea-
then peoples, among whom she was in dire distress.3 He then won her hand in
honorable marriage.
Now, if the king is willing to marry AstriSr to our kinsman Erlingr, who is stand-
ing here with us and who is commended by many good qualities and eminent lin-
eage, then it would seem advisable to me to give his words a good reception, and
his religion as well, which I believe to be a good one. Let him reveal his faith to us
with powerful signs.
This was pleasing to all because it was spoken by a very wise man.
Then the king arrived at the assembly and was well received. He asked them
to accord him the obedience that they owed a king and that other people ac-
corded him. The king delivered God's message with fair words, but the chief-
tains opposed the idea of abandoning the religion of their ancestors and said
that he would have to grant no small thing in return.
The king replied: "What is it that you ask?"
They asked him to marry his sister to Erlingr, who was not wanting in good
lineage.
"I have heard him credited with good and distinguished qualities, and if such
a good bargain can be struck and you are willing to submit readily to God's
mercy, and if such a great increase can be won, then I accept this option."
After that he converted many hundreds of men and the whole region. Then
Erlingr proceeded to marry Astridr and with her took possession of extensive
lands. After that, Olaf led his forces east, all the way to Vik, with priests, chief-
tains, and retainers.
S23. The King Marries Off His Sisters
In that region the two brothers Hyrningr and Porgeirr ruled. There too a great
assembly was convened from all the districts. When a great crowd had gathered,
the king arrived and preached the words of God and urged all present to con-
sider their own best interests. He delivered a long speech on God's law with fair
words.
Then the brothers spoke:
Lord, you weave fair words together, and it is likely that you deliver a good and
true message. In exchange, if we are to abandon the faith of our kinsmen, we
brothers wish to have your favor and to have your sisters Ingigerdr and Ingiri5r in
marriage. If you make us such powerful men, we will commit all our honor and ef-
fort to promoting your authority.
When the king saw what a great increase could be achieved and that many
men would follow their lead and that they were men of great lineage, he gave
them an honorable response. All the people accepted the faith and offered to
do his will. A great increase was delivered into the hands of God. After that a
great feast was held, and the king married his sisters to them with great wealth
and high honors. He appointed them as his dukes, then departed with great
honor and traveled north to Prandheimr.
S24. The Chieftains Accept the Faith
After these measures had been taken, Olaf had a great feast prepared at
Hla5ir and invited all the chieftains and magnates to the most splendid fes-
tivities. Many chieftains and magnates from Prandheimr attended at the
king's chief residence at Hla5ir, but few came from the remote districts be-
cause it was a hard and stormy winter. The feast was prepared at Yule and with
the finest provisions, and when the king had arranged the seating, he as-
cended the highseat as was fitting and asked how the feast was progressing
with respect to the provisions. The response was positive. Then he asked for
a hearing and spoke:
It is well known to all of you chieftains in Proendalgg that I am a Christian and that
I urge a religion different from the one you wish to have. I have diminished the
standing of your gods because I would wish to shed their authority so that I might
as a consequence maintain my rule. Notwithstanding, I intend to do as former
kings did for the prosperity and honor of the gods, and I wish to do homage to
them at this feast. You say that no sacrifice is so pleasing to them as the killing of
men who then feast with them in the other world in the hall of the chieftain of the
gods. I now intend to offer you as a sacrifice to them to promote peace for myself
and perpetual honor for you. My friends are now standing outside the hall with
weapons at the ready and prepared to do whatever I want. Now choose whether
you wish to risk this alternative or do my bidding.
Then there was great dejection in the hall among the magnates and all the
heathens. When the king saw this, he addressed them: "Why are you now so
downcast? Are you afraid to die, and do you think it is not such a good thing
as you say? Now you should either accept baptism or go to join your gods."
They all replied in unison, saying that they much preferred to obey him and
his commands and accept baptism. Then the king spoke with kind words: "You
have made the choice that is better for all of us."
All the chieftains who had come there and a great multitude were baptized
on the very eve of Christmas. On the eighth day they shed their baptismal robes
and had completely accepted the faith and been strengthened in God's com-
mandments. They sat at the king's feast, then returned home, having been sent
on their way with great gifts of money. They headed home and maintained
their faith well, and it always came to pass in rich measure that God's Chris-
tianity was greatly strengthened at King Olaf's urging.1
32. Concerning King Eirikr in Sweden
At the time when Jarl Hakon ruled Norway, Eirikr was king in Sweden. After
the famous battle he waged against Styrbjgrn and in which he triumphed as a
result of Odin's giving him the victory (for he dedicated himself to Odin at the
expiration often years), he was called Eirikr the Victorious. This Styrbjgrn was
the bravest and most outstanding of men because of his raiding. He had such
a great army marshaled against the king when he landed in Sweden that King
Eirikr feared his power mightily. But we are told that King Eirikr was possessed
'of such devil's power that he slew two-thirds of Styrbjgrn's force with magic. Ul-
timately, his whole army succumbed, as well as Styrbjgrn himself.
King Eirikr was married to SigriSr the Imperious, and their son was named
Olafr the Swede. We are told that the king wished to divorce Sigri5r and did
not want to endure her arrogance and high-handedness. He made her queen
in Gautland. Then the king was married to the daughter of Jarl Hakon.1 He
was succeeded by his son Olafr. After that, the eastern king Vissivaldr and Har-
aldr grenski, king of Upplgnd, asked for Sigridr's hand. But she thought it a
dishonor to be wooed by petty kings and a presumption that they should as-
pire to such a queen. For that reason she burned them both in their houses in
a single night. In the process the distinguished man Porir, the father of Porir
hundr who fought against Saint Olaf at Stiklasta5ir, also lost his life. After this
deed she was called Sigri6r the Imperious.
33. Concerning Olaf Tryggvason and Queen Sigridr
When King Olaf Tryggvason heard that the queen who ruled Gautland had
such a reputation, he wanted to acquire that realm and the queen along with
it. He sent distinguished men to Uppsala in Sweden, because this is where she
was at that time. They conveyed their lord's message to her and gave a full ac-
count of their journey. When the queen heard this, she entered into discus-
sions and counsels with her friends, and when all was said and done, it can be
related that she affianced herself to King Olaf.
The messengers returned and gave their report to their lord. He was pleased
to hear it. Then he sent the queen a ring that appeared to be of gold; it was
called a betrothal token. This ring had been in a great temple owned by Jarl
Hakon. The queen accepted the ring with delight and praised Olaf's generos-
ity greatly. Now she was very eager to marry such a king.
It happened once that the queen was holding the ring and turning it over
in her hands when she saw a dark spot on the ring. She summoned a goldsmith
and asked him to test the gold. He did so, and it turned out that the ring was
made of iron and brass but gilded on the surface. The queen was greatly an-
gered and ordered that the ring be broken apart and sent back to King Olaf.
She said that he had acted falsely and had treated her very scornfully, "and I
will wish to have no marriage ties with him."
34. Concerning Sigvaldi's Capture of King Sveinn
When Haraldr Gormsson died, his son Sveinn tjuguskegg [Forkbeard] suc-
ceeded him. King Burizleifr in Wendland paid tribute to the king of the
Danes.1 King Burizleifr had three daughters: one was named Astri5r, the sec-
ond Gunnhildr, and the third Pyri.2
At that time Jarl Sigvaldi was in Jomsborg. He sought out King Burizleifr and
offered him two choices: he said that he would have to abandon Jomsborg un-
less he gave him the hand of his daughter Astri5r in marriage. The king replied:
"I had intended to marry her to a nobler man than you are, but still I will not
reject you. You shall, however, bring King Sveinn with only a few men from Den-
mark to me so that he will be in my power." Sigvaldi agreed to this, and they
bound themselves firmly to the agreement.
In the same summer Sigvaldi set sail with three ships and three hundred
men. He arrived in Zealand and learned that King Sveinn was at a feast not far
away. He anchored his ships at a promontory where no other ships were near
at hand. King Sveinn was attending a feast for six hundred men. Sigvaldi
pointed his prows away from land, linked the ships together prow to stern, and
laid all the oars in the oarlocks. Then he sent messengers to the king to say that
his life and realm were at stake: "Say that I am ill and on the point of death."
Now the messengers went to the king and delivered their message. When the
king had heard it, he immediately went down to the ships with a large following.
Sigvaldi lay on the outermost ship and spoke to his men: "When the king has
boarded the ship closest to land with thirty men, you should tip the gangplank
up from the land and tell them not to sink our ships under their weight. The
king will go first, and when twenty men have boarded the middle ship, that gang-
plank should be tipped away too. When the king has reached the outermost ship
with ten men, the last gangplank should be removed from between the ships."
The king now arrived with his retinue and learned that Jarl Sigvaldi lay very
ill on the outermost ship. The king boarded the ship that was closest to the land
and then one after the other until he got to Sigvaldi's ship. Sigvaldi's men did
as he told them, and when the king had gotten to Sigvaldi's ship with ten men,
he asked whether Sigvaldi could still speak. He was told that he could but that
he was faint. The king approached him and bent far down. He asked how he
fared and what was so important to tell him. Sigvaldi said: "Bend toward me,
lord, so that you can hear what I say."
As the king bent down, Sigvaldi clasped him around the waist with both arms
and held him tightly. Then he called aloud and ordered his men to row as hard
as they could. They did so and left the land behind speedily. The six hundred
men stood on the shore and watched the king's abduction.
Then King Sveinn addressed Sigvaldi: "What do you have in mind with me
and what is your plan?"
The jarl answered: "I will tell you the whole background of this subterfuge,
lord. I have wooed the daughter of King Burizleifr for you. She is fair and ac-
complished in all respects. I did this to earn your friendship, so that you would
not lose the best possible marriage."
King Sveinn asked what the girl's name was, and Sigvaldi said that she was
named Gunnhildr. "But I am betrothed to her sister Astri5r," said Sigvaldi.
"Now I intend to go to King Burizleifr and see to these arrangements on be-
half of both of us."
Sigvaldi now went to King Burizleifr and said that he had earned the hand
of his daughter, noting that King Sveinn had come to Jomsborg and was in their
power. "I have planned," saidjarl Sigvaldi, "that you should marry your daugh-
ter Gunnhildr to King Sveinn and make his journey here worthwhile and hon-
orable. For his part he should contribute the forfeiture of all his land dues and
taxes."
It now happened as Sigvaldi said, that King Sveinn surrendered all his taxes
and proceeded to marry Gunnhildr. King Sveinn availed himself of everything
that might serve his honor, but he stated that he saw clearly enough the devices
and deceits of Sigvaldi. The king now returned home with his wife, and he had
thirty large ships and a great force of men. He banished Jarl Sigvaldi from his
ancestral land for his treachery, and Sigvaldi was gone for some time.
35. Concerning King Olaf's Assembly
In the second year of his reign King Olaf Tryggvason summoned a great as-
sembly at Sta5r on Dragsei5. The king's summons circulated far and wide in
the districts, and a countless throng assembled, both men and women, young
people and old. When people had assembled from as many districts as the sum-
mons had reached, the king arose and addressed them: "God's thanks for your
attendance. And so that you may know what is fitting for you, I will tell you of
the great signs of Almighty God and preach His holy name."
People say that when the king preached the Lord's name, there was such
power in his speech that those who came with hardened hearts and resisted ac-
cepting the faith had their hearts so wonderfully softened by the sweetness of
his words and the eloquence they heard from his mouth that they gratefully ac-
cepted his message. So it had always been since Bishop Martin had visited him
and had promised him that every time he declared the message of God, he
[Martin] would speak for him and strengthen his words. For that reason it
seemed desirable to everyone to accept joyfully what he said. And even though
we give only a little account of this because of our ignorance, nonetheless it
seemed miraculous to all who listened to his words.
A multitude of people who accepted the true faith were now baptized and
spent some days with the king and bishop. They strengthened them in the holy
faith and instructed them in the Christian institutions, urging them to build
churches in every district.
36. Concerning the Sorcerers
King Olaf banished all those who practiced magic arts and the old supersti-
tions, and most particularly those, whether men or women, whom the Norwe-
gians call sorcerers [seidmenn]. He gave orders that they be killed like outlaws
or killers if they were found guilty of this. The priest Saemundr the Wise, who
was outstandingly learned, makes mention of this assembly and wrote as fol-
lows: "In the second year of his reign Olaf Tryggvason gathered many people
and held an assembly at StaSr on DragseiS and continually preached the true
faith to the people in preparation for their taking baptism. King Olaf forcefully
curtailed robbery and theft and killing. He also gave the people good laws and
a good religion." Thus did Saemundr write about King Olaf in his book.1
He gathered together all the people who practiced deviltry on NiSarnes and
had ships readied for them, saying that these people should depart from the
land. In that group there was a man named Eyvindr. He had a distinguished
lineage and was descended in the third or fourth generation from Harald
Fairhair. The king met with them and spoke as follows:
Your departure does great harm to me and my people, and in our parting there
may be more loss than profit for me, because you leave me with all the ability and
power in which you exceed other men. But because our mission and preaching in
this land have met with great success, so that Christianity now triumphs, it seems
necessary to us that you and your sort should depart from the land. But I am ea-
ger that you not become my enemies and that your power not rage against my au-
thority. Now I wish to invite you to a feast that I have arranged with the best possible
provisions before you go on shipboard.
They thanked the king for his words and accepted with delight, asking that
he fulfill in deed what he had promised in words. Then the king ordered his
men to prepare for them a great hall for the feast so that they might be feted
in high spirits. And when the hall was ready, he ordered all sorts of dainties and
drink to be brought, both mead and home-brewed ale. They drank deeply and
partook of both with no restraint.
During the night there was an unexpected turn of events, and they awoke to
discover the hall in flames around them. Burning brands flew everywhere in
the house, and there was a great and horrid tumult, with weeping and grieving
of both men and women. Of all those who were inside, Eyvindr was the most
adept at magic. He escaped the fire by running like the nimblest stag and with
the trickery of devilish arts. He leaped onto a hall beam and then onto a tie
beam and from the tie beam out the window. Thus he was the only one of all
those inside to save himself. Then he took to his heels.
As he was proceeding on his way during the day, he encountered King Olaf's
men on the road and said that they should convey to the king his greetings and
friendly words: "Tell him that I escaped the fire and that never have I had to
be more resourceful in every respect than now."
37. Concerning Hroaldr
We are told that there was a heathen named Hroaldr who lived on Go5ey. He
was a powerful and imposing man. He frequently called on the gods and of-
fered them daily sacrifices, entreating them humbly to protect him against
being compelled to accept another religion or being driven away from his an-
cestral land by King Olaf. This man was so deceived by the temptation of the
devil that the gods responded to his sacrifices.1
King Olaf now learned of this man and made ready to visit him. But each
time he prepared to set out, he encountered such a headwind that he could
not reach the island with his ships. This happened repeatedly, so that each time
their progress was impeded. The king's trip was delayed for a long time.
Hroaldr called on the gods continually to resist Olaf's God steadfastly, and he
made sacrifice to them.
When King Olaf had long been entangled in these deceits, he who well de-
serves the name "Glory of the Norwegians," he chose the remedy that Almighty
God taught him, bidding him look to God for help and make offerings to Him
to grant them smooth sailing against the winds that he could see were sent
against him by the power of the devil. The king and the bishop now prayed to
God Himself. Immediately a favorable breeze sprang up, and they gave thanks
to God.
They now set out on a fair wind, but out on the sea two countervailing winds
arose. As one strove against the other, the bishop took a large vessel and put
water in it and blessed it. Then he cast it onto the sea against the winds and
waves that ran against them, and they were calmed. The ships sped, and with
the help of Almighty God they reached the island, anchored their ships, and
went ashore.
They seized the great enemy of God, and their own enemy as well, and gave
him two choices: to abandon his religion, save his life, and have their friend-
ship, or to die. The king urged him now with kind words, now with stern words,
threatening him with harsh torments. He was not deterred from his obstinacy
and submitted neither to kind words nor to dire threats.
When the king threatened him with death, he said: "It is fitting and more
honorable for me rather to suffer death than to abandon the service of our
gods." When the king saw how stubborn he was in defending his case, he or-
dered that he be hanged on a high gallows, and such was his death.
38. Concerning the Men from Halogaland
In the north in Halogaland there were three men of great lineage and wealth.
One was named Porir, nicknamed hjortr [hart, stag]. The second was named
Harekr, and the third Eyvindr kinnrifa. They were confirmed heathens and did
not want to abandon the religion of their kinsmen. When they learned that
King Olaf was expected in the North, they gathered a great force and many
ships, intending to block him from their territory and do battle against him if
he urged on them a religion other than the one they had.
When King Olaf learned of this, he deferred his encounter with them for
the moment and went first east to Elfr (the Gotaalv), where it is customary for
the kings of Denmark and Norway, or England and Saxony, to meet.1 Now King
Olaf met with Sigri5r, the queen of Gautland. They held discussions, and every-
thing proceeded in a conciliatory way. The discussion got to the point that he
brought up the topic of marriage. They agreed on everything with one excep-
tion: namely, that she did not want to convert to Christianity.
The king made lengthy representations to her, but she did not consent. Then
the king became angry and struck her on the cheek with his glove, saying: "Do
you think, old wrinkle-skin, that I want to take you as a wife if you don't believe
in God's name?"2 This caused the queen to be so angry that for many a day she
conspired against King Olaf, and her plans were long in the making. Later
Sigridr was married to Sveinn, the king of the Danes.3
During the summer Olaf had a fine, large ship built. It was called Traninn [the
Crane]. It outdid all other ships with respect to size, beauty, and speed. In those
days there came to King Olaf many men who were outstanding in strength and
every accomplishment. He made them his retainers. Wherever he learned of
strong men or men of profound intelligence or men of distinction in any re-
spect, he attracted them to his service and attached them to himself with bonds
of affection. Just as he stood above other kings in every respect, so did he
choose for himself men who were in advance of other men in all respects. He
also maintained them better and more splendidly than did other chieftains.
One of his devoted men was named Aki inn danski. He was in fact of Danish
ancestry. He told the king that King Sveinn had a sister named Pyri.1 She was
a very beautiful and powerful woman: "I was her guardian for a time and in my
experience she was an outstanding woman. She possesses extensive lands in
Falster."
Because Aki praised her greatly, the matter caught the king's fancy. There
are some people who say that she was married to a man named Bjorn and that
she lived for a time in Norway, at a place called Pyrileif.2 If this is true, it is clear
that she was not a maiden but a widow of high standing.
40. Tale of the Icelanders
We are told that one autumn, ships came from Iceland to Norway and headed
in by AgSanes and on to Ni6ar6ss. There was a settlement built up there, and
a marketplace.1 King Olaf was there too. Some Icelanders were there as well
and had both homespun and ordinary cloaks for sale. Among them were
Porarinn Nefjolfsson, Kjartan Olafsson, and HallfreSr. There were three ships
at the quai, and HallfreSr owned one. The second was owned by Brandr Ver-
mundarson the Open-Handed and Porleifr Brandsson, who were cousins. The
third was owned by Kjartan and Porarinn. Three times they tried to set sail, but
there was no wind and they stayed docked.2
One day when the weather was fair, they saw men sporting in the water. One
was by far the most skilled. Then Kjartan said to HallfreSr that he was going to
challenge the one who was most skilled.
"No," said HallfreSr, "that is a man I will not compete with."
"What has become of your competitive spirit?" asked Kjartan.
"It is what it is," said HallfreSr.
"I am going to test myself against him," said Kjartan.
Then he stripped down, dove into the river, and swam out to the man who
was the strongest swimmer. He grabbed him by the legs and pulled him down,
and they stayed under water for some time. Then they came to the surface but
exchanged no words. They plunged a second time and stayed down for a long
while. They surfaced again, then plunged a third time and stayed down by far
the longest time. Kjartan thought it was not too soon to surface but was not
given the chance. Then he realized the difference in their strength. They
stayed down for much longer than seemed reasonable to him. Eventually they
surfaced and swam to shore.
Then the local man asked the other man's name. He identified himself as
Kjartan.
"You are a strong swimmer. Are you as good at other sports?"
"The others are much at the same level," he said, "and they don't amount to
much."
"Why don't you ask anything in response?" asked the local man.
"I don't much care who you are," said Kjartan.
"I'll tell you anyway," he said. "You have tested the king's swimming skills."
Now the king inquired about his ancestry, and he gave him the facts. After
that, Kjartan turned to leave. He had no cloak. The king asked him to accept
his cloak, "because I have it in mind to give it to you." He thanked the king
warmly. Then he returned to his ships and told his companions what had hap-
pened. They were very displeased and thought that he had submitted to the
king.
The weather was so bad that people could hardly remember anything like it.
They mostly attributed it to Kjartan's having accepted the cloak from the king
and having aroused the anger of the gods. People realized that the king had
taken a liking to Kjartan because he struck him as a distinguished man.
The Icelanders spent the winter in the town together. The weather im-
proved, and many men came to the town as Christmas approached. People
knew that the king would greatly enhance his spiritual concerns around Christ-
mas, and they were very curious about that.
King Olaf had a church built in the town, and on Christmas Eve the conduct
of the king and all the Christians was most exemplary. They listened to services
attentively and then retired to their quarters.
King Olaf sent men to find out what the Icelanders were saying about their
observances and how they liked them. The king's men listened to their con-
versation. Each man asked another, and the responses were varied. They asked
Kjartan what he thought, and he replied:
My admiration for their observances is no small thing. I have often thought well
of the king before, but never better than now. I was by far the most impressed by
these observances, and I think people would be well advised to serve him, and es-
pecially to serve Him he preaches.
That was the end of the conversation. The king's men departed and reported
to the king. The second day of Christmas the king had Kjartan summoned. He
came before the king and gave him a good greeting. The king responded in
kind, and they entered into conversation. The king urged him to accept the
true faith. Everything made sense to Kjartan, and he and his whole crew ac-
cepted baptism on the second day of Christmas.
HallfreSr and his crew also accepted the faith, but we are told that he stipu-
lated that the king himself should be his godfather or otherwise he would
refuse. The king much preferred to acquiesce, but for this reason he gave Hall-
freSr the nickname vandrcedaskdld [troublemaking poet]. Kjartan and some
other distinguished men joined the king's service. The king preached God's
word to all the ship crews and often came back to matters of faith, but many
refused. Then the king prohibited all commerce and forbade everyone to trade
with them. But when they had cast about in this state for a long time, they
availed themselves of good and wise counsel and ultimately accepted the faith.
Kjartan remained with King Olaf.
41. Concerning King Olaf and the Priest Pangbrandr
Some time before, King Olaf had sent word to Iceland in the person of a priest
named Pangbrandr, who was of Saxon extraction. He instructed people in Ice-
land in the faith and baptized all those who accepted it. Hallr a Si5u, the son
of Porsteinn, who was the son of BgSvarr the White from Vors, a colonist in
southern Alptafjgrdr, agreed to baptism early on, together with Hjalti Skeggja-
son from Pjorsardalr, Gizurr the White Teitsson, and many other chieftains. But
there were more who were opposed.
Pangbrandr came on his ship to AlptafjgrSr and spent the winter at Pvera.
When he had been here [i.e., in Iceland] for a year or two, he departed after
killing two or three men who had spoken against him. It was at this time that
Pangbrandr came from Iceland and told the king that his mission had not
come to much, and he said that people had expressed great animosity toward
him. He said that he had preached Christianity to the Icelanders, "but they of-
fered me armed conflict in return." The king became very angry when he
heard this and had the Icelanders seized. Some he plundered, some he killed,
and some he maimed.
That same summer Hjalti Skeggjason and Gizurr the White came to meet
with the king. They spoke on behalf of the Icelanders and said that people in
Iceland would accept Christianity if reason were used. They said that Pang-
brandr had made few friends in Iceland.
King Olaf said: "If you wish to win a reprieve for these men, you must go to Ice-
land and preach the holy faith there." They agreed to this. For their sake the king
now allowed all the Icelanders to go in peace, all except four: Kjartan Olafsson;
Svertingr, son of Runolfr the Chieftain; and two others. The king said that it
would be their kinsmen who determined whether matters would turn out well
for them or not, for they would remain his hostages until he heard from Iceland.
Hjalti and Gizurr stayed with the king during the winter, but in the summer
they prepared to set sail with the king's mission. He provided them with a great
deal of money so that they could establish friendly relations with the chieftains.
A priest went with them, and his name was Porm65r. They arrived at the Vest-
mannaeyjar [Westman Islands] when ten weeks of summer had passed. Two
summers previously the law had been enacted that men should come to the as-
sembly at that time, but until then they had come a week earlier.
From the islands they proceeded directly to the mainland and then to the
assembly. But Hjalti stayed behind in Laugardalr with eleven men because the
previous summer he had been condemned to lesser outlawry for blasphemy.
The reason was that he had recited this ditty at the Law Rock:
I don't wish to bay at the gods,

but Freyja seems to me like a bitch.
It will always be one or the other:

Either Odin's a bitch, or else Freyja.
Gizurr and his companions now proceeded until they came to the place on
Qlfusvatn called Vellankatla. They sent word to their friends at Pingvellir [the
assembly plain] that they should come to meet them, because they had learned
that their enemies intended to bar their access to Pingvellir by force of arms.
But before they set out from there, Hjalti and his companions arrived. Hjalti
had brought with him from Norway two great crosses, one as tall as King Olaf.
He took them with him to the assembly. Now they rode onto the plain, and
their kinsmen and friends rode out to meet them.
The heathens now gathered fully armed, and fighting was close to breaking
out. But the following day the men went to the Law Rock, and Gizurr and Hjalti
along with them. Hjalti had the crosses carried to the Law Rock, where they de-
livered their message. Everyone was greatly impressed by how well they spoke.
Those who had accepted Christianity gathered in one place and the heathens
in another. Each side named witnesses to affirm that they withdrew from legal
union with the others, both the heathens and the Christians. Then the hea-
thens left the Law Rock.
Next, the Christian party asked Hallr af SiSu to announce the laws that it
behooved the Christians to follow. He solved the quandary by inducing
the lawspeaker Porgeirr, in return for half a mark of silver, to make the an-
nouncement. He subsequently made the announcement, and at that time he
was a heathen.
In the meantime people went to their booths. Porgeirr lay down and spread
his cloak over his head. He lay there all that day and the following night with-
out saying a word. The next morning he sent word to the booths that people
should gather at the Law Rock. When they had gathered, he said that their af-
fairs were in a bad way if people were not to have the same law in this country.
He spoke now at length to the people, saying that such a contention would re-
sult that the land would become desolate. He related how the kings of Norway
and Denmark had for a long time waged war until the countrymen of both
made peace between them, even though they did not wish it. After that, each
sent gifts to the other, and peace was maintained as long as they lived.
It seems to me advisable that we not yield to those who are most eager to kindle
hostility. We should rather mediate the matter so that each party gets some part of
what it desires, but we should have one law and one religion.
He concluded his speech in such a way that everyone agreed that they should
accept one law—to wit, the one that he saw fit to announce—because the hea-
thens expected that their will would be done, inasmuch as the one making the
announcement was heathen, but the Christians thought that he would adhere
to his bargain with Hallr. Then Porgeirr spoke:
I wish first of all that all people should be Christian and accept the true faith, those
who are not already baptized. But the old laws should stand with respect to the ex-
posure of children and the eating of horseflesh. People should sacrifice in secret
if they wish, but lesser outlawry will be the penalty if there are witnesses.
A few years later these heathen provisions were rescinded. These events
touching the arrival of Christianity in Iceland were told by Teitr Isleifsson. Dur-
ing that summer the whole country was converted on the initiative of King Olaf
Tryggvason, and people in Iceland have him in memory as the one who con-
verted the country.1
It happened one time that two Norwegians came to King Olaf from England.
One was named Haukr and the other Sigur5r. The king urged them to adhere
to the true faith and Christian religion. He persisted in his representations, but
they were recalcitrant, and his words were of no avail. Then King Olaf had them
bound and asked them with kind words to reform their ways, but they were so
inflexible in their false belief that they never recanted their error. It came about
after three nights that they disappeared, so that no one knew what had become
of them. A search was made for them, but they were not found. Then the mat-
ter settled down, and time passed. When a few months had gone by, it was told
that they had been seen north in Halogaland and enjoyed great honor with
Harekr. King Olaf learned of this.
Now the devil, the enemy of all mankind and always the antagonist of human
nature, saw how his power began to be wasted. He saw how greatly God's law
was strengthened and increased, and he began to envy this very much. He as-
sumed human disguise that he might betray mankind all the more easily, re-
vealing himself in the guise of an ordinary man.
It happened that King Olaf was being entertained at a feast at Qgvaldsnes. It
was at the time of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the people had been
seated in the evening and the drink was ready and they were waiting for the
king's table to be set up, an old one-eyed man came into the hall. He had a
broad hood on his head. He was very loquacious and had a lot to tell. He was
led before the king, and the king made inquiries of him. He said that he could
tell much about ancient kings and their battles. The king asked if he knew who
the Qgvaldr was for whom the promontory was named. He replied:
He lived here on the promontory and was very fond of a particular cow, so that
she accompanied him everywhere he went. He was eager to drink her milk. There-
fore people who love their cattle say that everything should stick together like carle
and cow.1 This king fought many battles. One time he was fighting against the king
who ruled Skorustrgnd. His name was Varinn. In the battle there was a great
slaughter; King Qgvaldr fell and was buried here on the promontory. His barrow
can be found a short way from the residence, and the cow is in a second barrow.
Then the feast and all the good cheer that had been planned proceeded ac-
cording to custom. After that, many of the people went to bed, but the king
had this old man summoned to him, and he sat on a step next to the king's
bed.
The king asked about many things, and he responded well and wisely. When
he had been talking for a long time and had given good answers to many ques-
tions, the king's curiosity was all the more piqued by his words, and he stayed
awake long into the night and kept asking about many matters. Eventually the
bishop signaled in a few words that the king should break off the conversation
with him. But the king thought that as soon as he said one thing, something
else was missing.
As the night advanced, the king fell asleep. A little later he woke up again
and asked whether his guest was awake. He made no reply. The king then told
the guards to look for him, but he was not found. The king then got up and
had the steward and cooks summoned. He asked whether any unknown man
had come to them while they were preparing the feast. The chief cook replied:
Lord, a man came to us a short time ago and put the question while I was prepar-
ing meat delicacies for you: "Why are you preparing such lean meat for the table
of the king and his magnates?" I told him to provide fatter and more fitting meat
if he had it at hand. He said: "Come with me and I will show you good, fat meat fit
for a king's table." Then he led me to a certain building and showed me two very
fat sides of an ox. These I prepared for your consumption, lord.
Now the king grasped that these were the deceptions of the devil, and he
said to the cook: "Take this meat and throw it into the sea so that no man will
partake of it. If any man tastes it, he will have a quick death. Who do you think
this devil of a guest is likely to have been?"
"We do not know who he is," they replied.
"I think that devil had the look of Odin," said the king.
According to the king's orders the meat was taken away and thrown into the
sea. But the guest was nowhere to be found, though on the king's command
he was searched for far and wide on the promontory.
44. Concerning King Olaf and Eyvindr kelda
It happened the same night when the king and the bishop were at services and
mass was under way that the man named Eyvindr kelda, who has already been
mentioned as the one who escaped from the fire when the sorcerers were
burned in the hall, arrived at the promontory.1 He came from the open sea
and now had five ships. He docked near the residence at Qgvaldsnes. He
thought that he was very secure, since he had a following of men, most of them
sorcerers, of whom there were many in his retinue, though his own powers of
sorcery were greatest.
It was his intention to attack King Olaf and kill him together with all his men.
But in the words of the psalmist, his wickedness overcame him, and he was
caught in the snare that he himself had looped.2 They disembarked and went
up onto the island to the church where the king and the bishop and all the
Christian people were in attendance. But when Eyvindr saw the holy church,
he and all his men became blind. At that point they wandered back and forth
on the island.
When the king had heard three masses, he left the church and saw the men
wandering about in this strange way. He sent men to find out who they were
and what they were about. They set off to meet them and asked who they were
and why they were moving about in this way. They told in fear and trembling
who they were and what miracle had befallen them. The king was told, and he
ordered them to be rounded up and put under guard.
The next day King Olaf had them all bound and brought on their ships to a
skerry north of the promontory at the end of Karmsund. There he ordered
them all to be executed, and Eyvindr and all his men were killed. Since then,
the skerry has been called Skrattasker [Sorcerers' Skerry] right down to our
day.3
On the fourth day the king had both barrows broken into; in the larger one
were found human bones and in the smaller, cow's bones. It was now apparent
to everyone that the old man had told the truth in some respects. But people
understood that he wanted to deceive both the king and others with devilish
guile by depriving the king of sleep in the early part of the night. That pre-
vented them from staying awake during the time when God's offices were con-
ducted, since they had gone without sleep earlier. The trick was calculated in
such a way that the bishop could not conduct the glorious service as splendidly
as is customary. The enemy of all mankind had prepared the cunning snares
of deception in such a way that he first attacked the spirit and then the body.
But all of this was turned to disgrace and ignominy, as was fitting. The greater
the depth of his deceit seemed, the more he was now downtrodden and abased
by all the Christian community.
In the third year of King Olaf's reign he had a great and splendid ship built,
similar to the previous one and with the same skill. This ship was called Ormr
inn skammi [the Lesser Serpent].
We are told that it is the custom of men north in Halogaland to devote them-
selves to hunting, both animals, fish, and whales. That is a great help to many
poor men and farmers, and a good supplement to their income.
We are told that one day when the weather was good, Haukr and Sigur5r
mentioned to Harekr that it would be fun to row out to fish in such a fair calm.
Harekr agreed, and they launched a large rowing boat and went aboard with
some men, including several companions of Haukr and Sigur6r. When they
had gotten far from land, Haukr and SigurSr and their men fell to rowing hard
and headed south along the coast. They did not desist until they got to Prand-
heimr.
The king gave them a good reception and immediately began to preach the
holy faith to Harekr. He kept at it for many days because he saw what was at
stake in converting such a powerful man, but he was intransigent. The king of-
fered him great dominion and his friendship as well but told him that these
were of little account compared to his eternal rewards. He then offered him
two districts under his command if he would disclaim his gods, believe in
Christ, and accept baptism. The Norwegians call "district" that territory which
can man twelve ships fully equipped with men and arms, with sixty or seventy
men on each ship, as was then the custom.1 Harekr turned this down quickly.
Then the king asked whether he wanted to have power over three districts, but
he declined. The king asked whether he wanted four districts, and to that
Harekr agreed.
The king was pleased and urged him to accept baptism, along with Haukr
and SigurSr and all their companions. They were not opposed, and this was
done in the third year of King Olaf's reign.2 Then Harekr returned home. The
king told him not to tell anyone in the North what had happened. That is what
he did, and he had a smooth trip home.
Not long afterward, Harekr captured Eyvindr kinnrifa by guile and brought
him to King Olaf. He immediately began to preach God's word to him inces-
santly and do everything possible to divert him from his sacrificial practices.
But he refused with great obstinacy. The king urged him with kind words and
offered him worldly status and great honor if he would abandon his error.
Eventually the king offered him the command of five districts if he would con-
vert, but he refused obstinately.
Then the king ordered that a flaming brazier be set on his belly. When he be-
gan to feel the heat, the king asked him whether he would accept Christianity.3
He refused: "But I ask you to listen to what I have to say and pay close attention."
The king replied: "Say what you wish, and I will listen." Eyvindr spoke:
My father and mother spent a long time together in lawful wedlock and had no
children. When they grew old, they were much grieved that they might die with no
heir. They then visited the Lapps with a great deal of money and asked that they
grant them an heir with the exercise of magic. The Lapps then called on the chief
of their spirits, who dwell in the sky, for the sky is as full of unclean spirits as the
earth. This spirit sent an unclean spirit into the dark dungeon that in fact may be
called my mother's womb. That same spirit am I, and I was incarnated in this way
and then appeared in human form. That was the manner of my birth. I also took
the inheritance and a great chieftaincy from my father and mother. I cannot be
baptized for the reason that I am not a man.
When he had said this, he died.

After that, King Olaf readied a great naval force and was minded to travel
north to Halogaland. With him were Bishop Jon and Harekr. When Porir
[hjgrtr] got news of this, he gathered forces against the king and intended to
meet him in battle. Then they clashed, and a tremendous battle broke out.
Many of Porir's men fell, and his ships were cleared. When Porir saw many of
his men fall and some flee, he made for shore and fled. But the king pursued.
As soon as Porir reached land, he abandoned his ships and ran ashore. When
one of the king's men saw that, he shot an arrow after him, and it struck be-
tween Porir's shoulders and penetrated deeply.
He fell, and at that moment a great stag sprang from his body in full career.
When the king's dog Vigi saw this, he ran after the stag and pursued him
fiercely. When King Olaf saw what was happening, he ran far up on the shore
after them, past his men. He saw where the dog and the stag met, and there
was a hard encounter. The dog bit the stag, and the stag gored the dog. It ended
with their both falling.
The king arrived on the spot and found the stag dead from many wounds.
The dog was also badly wounded under the shoulder. The king's men came up,
and he showed them the carcass of the stag, which was dry and preternaturally
light, like an inflated skin. They took the dog to the ship and wrapped him in
a cloth. Then the king had him sent to the Lapp they had previously visited,
and the king asked that he heal the dog. So it came about that the Lapp healed
the dog in a few months and sent him back to the king.
King Olaf now preached the true faith to the people of Halogaland, and many
people were baptized as he traveled around the district. He placed these areas
under Harekr's authority. King Olaf returned to Prandheimr with great honor.
The sort of tales about such phantoms and prodigies as have just been re-
lated may surely seem less than credible, but everyone knows that the devil is
always in opposition to Almighty God, together with those miserable men who
reject God. The devil betrays us with all manner of deceits and faithlessness
and, with the worst contrivances, sets his unclean spirit against those who serve
God. He blinds their vision and fleshly understanding, and he tricks and de-
ceives them in many ways. The matters that we have related with respect to such
tales and exempla we do not judge to be true in the sense that they happened,
but rather we believe that they appeared to happen because the devil is full of
deceit and evil.
46. The Marriage of King Burizleifr
We are told that King Burizleifr of Wendland wooed I>yri, the sister of King
Sveinn of Denmark. The suit was easily granted by the king because of the mar-
riage relationship that was already established between them, and the woman
was betrothed to him. But Burizleifr was a heathen and an old man, and Pyri
was not consulted.1
Burizleifr now returned home to Wendland with Pyri's dowry. King Sveinn
was to send her to Wendland sometime later. Pyri now learned what had hap-
pened and said that she would rather die than live with a heathen king and
compromise her Christianity. For that reason she remained on her estates for
many years.
As time went on, King Burizleifr's daughter Gunnhildr was very displeased
that Pyri was occupying the estates that Sveinn had given her when they mar-
ried. She brought this up with the king repeatedly. King Burizleifr, on the other
hand, was ill pleased with his lot and often sent word to his daughter Gunnhildr
that she should ask King Sveinn to send her sister-in-law Pyri to Wendland as
he had promised. At Gunnhildr's request, King Sveinn acceded and sent men
to Pyri with the message that he wished to meet with her. When she came, he
had ships and crews readied and sent Pyri to Wendland.
When she arrived at the court of King Burizleifr, he arranged a great feast
and celebrated their wedding. We are told that as long as she was in the power
of King Burizleifr, she neither ate nor drank. That continued for eleven days,
but on the twelfth day the king allowed her to depart. Rufus the Priest tells us
that when the king escorted her on her departure, and before he returned, he
spoke as follows: "I see now that your highness would choose to die rather than
to share my rule. I will therefore let you go and give you men and ships."2
She then returned home to Falster and remained there for some time. She
sent men to her foster father Aki in Norway requesting that he open negotia-
tions on her behalf with King Olaf Tryggvason so that he might shield her from
her enemies, "for I do not dare," she said, "to remain here under the aegis of
my brother King Sveinn, inasmuch as he intends to send me to Wendland a
second time."
The messengers arrived at Aid's residence and told him of her difficulties,
asking him to come to her aid in some way so that it would not come to pass
again that she underwent such a trial: "I know that she would prefer to marry
a Christian." The king gave these representations a good reception and said
that he would take her part. Aki said that she needed his assistance so that she
would not be forced into the hands of a heathen king. The king now promised
to come and listen to her words and expressed his pleasure at the prospect that
they might meet.
The king immediately ordered ships to be readied and had them splendidly
equipped for the voyage. He selected all the courtliest men for this voyage and
set sail when he was ready. When he arrived, he went ashore with his retinue.
He was well received, and the queen went out to meet him herself and arranged
for him to sit in the highseat. She sat beside him and presented her situation.
Then the king asked whether she wished him to be her guardian and protec-
tor in all matters and whether she would agree to their alliance, or whether she
preferred to have another man in charge. She replied: "I will not turn down
such a famous and distinguished king as yourself."
They now talked the matter over with the outcome that Pyri betrothed herself
to King Olaf with the counsel of her foster father Aki. The feast was then ex-
panded, and their marriage was celebrated with great splendor. On the day of
this feast the king occupied the highseat with the chieftains and magnates ar-
rayed on left and right. They rejoiced in mead and wine and many other delights.
Then the king sent Porarinn Nefjolfsson, a wise man, to the place where the
women were feasting and drinking. When he came before Pyri, he bowed and
said: "I wish you a good day, lady. My lord sent me here to you wishing to know
which he should select to honor your rank and your honorable standing, a
linen morning gift or a bench gift."3
The queen answered as follows: "My lord should weigh himself what is more
honorable to choose for me. But I wish him to know that I slept with a king in
a royal bed for nine nights. The king knows what he would do if I had been
brought to a royal bed for nine nights next to him."
When Porarinn had heard her reply, he wished the queen good day and
bowed to her. Then he came before the king and told him about her reply. That
reply pleased the king, and he immediately sent her a splendid cloak hand-
somely adorned. After this feast the king returned to his realm in great joy, and
Queen Pyri accompanied him.
47. Concerning the Destruction of Idols
King Olaf had realized that the Proendir who were with him still had great faith
in the gods, most of all in Freyr. The king reproached them for their religion
harshly, but they contradicted him, and it amounted to a dispute between
them. They also had a great boat race. Each had two ships, and there was no
lack of hard exertion at the oars. The king reached land first and headed im-
mediately for the temple, where he destroyed all the idols of the gods. Then
the king returned to his men and had Freyr along with him. When the Prcendir
came to meet the king, he broke Freyr apart into smithereens before their very
eyes. But they adopted prudent counsel and abandoned their old religion, fol-
lowing the king's command and reconciling themselves with him.
48. The Marriage of King Sveinn of the Danes
When King Sveinn learned of this, he was greatly displeased that it had been
done without his consent. A little later Queen Gunnhildr, to whom King Sveinn
was married, died. They had two sons, one named Haraldr and the other Knutr.
After that King Sveinn married Sigri5r the Imperious, who had previously been
married to Eirikr the Victorious. She was the mother of Olafr the Swede. King
Olaf Tryggvason had previously betrothed himself to her but had broken the
betrothal because she was a heathen and refused to accept the faith. King Olaf
did not wish to become a heathen for her sake and struck her with his glove.
There is another story that people think is worth recalling. On the island called
Brimangr there is a high cliff, very difficult to climb, which the Norwegians call
Smalsarhorn.1 King Olaf climbed it and fastened his shield on top of the cliff.
The cliff seems to surmount all other cliffs and almost to project out over the
sea.
We are told that two of the king's retainers had a great dispute about which
of them could climb better or get farther up on the cliff. Eventually they bet a
great sum of money and made firm commitments. Then they girded them-
selves, and one of them went far up on the cliff to the point where he dared
neither to go up nor to come down nor to look to either side. He hung there
with quivering limbs, all affrighted and terrified that he might fall from his
perch and break his bones or succumb to instant death. Thus he awaited death
in consternation and called on the king and his men to help him.
The other one stood a little farther down but had too much fear of heights
to go higher, and he too was trembling all over. He was just barely able to save
himself. When the king saw that the first man was on the point of falling and
that no one proposed to help him, he took off his silken cloak and girded him-
self with a cloth. Then he disembarked, climbed the cliff, took the poor man
in his arms, and rescued him. He carried him under his arm like a child and
brought him to the ship.
It is also appropriate to relate the very noteworthy matter that King Olaf was
often accustomed to swim in his byrnie and shed it under water. When he
fought under his standards, he used to catch flying spears and arrows with both
left hand and right and cast them back with either hand. Of all men he was the
quickest and most agile, in battle bolder and more stalwart. Even if one were
to search the whole world, one would not find in northern lands a man equal
to him in valor and all manner of accomplishments. When he sailed, he was
blessed with a favorable wind. People say that he often sailed in one day what
it took others two or three days to sail, and in many respects his good fortune
far outstripped that of other men.
It is not fitting to omit those respects in which Almighty God granted King Olaf
great glory in this world in return for his labor and his constant utterance of
holy prayers; God glorified King Olaf with great powers.
It sometimes happened when King Olaf was on his ships and many guards
kept watch over him that he would come down from on shore toward them and
back again onto the ships in secret when it was least expected, although the
guards thought he was asleep in his bunk on the stern deck. They were puz-
zled that they did not notice him as he disembarked, even though they thought
they were keeping close watch. Nonetheless, they saw him coming down from
on shore. Although there was dew on the ground, his tracks could never be
found or seen, but rather he came on board the ship with dry feet.
It happened once that two distinguished men, GuSbrandr or Dglum1 and
Porkell dy5rill, were curious about the king's comings and goings. They con-
sulted on how to spy out where he went. Early one morning Porkell was sitting
on the end of the gangplank and keeping watch over the king's movements.
When he was least prepared, the king came upon him unexpectedly and thrust
Porkell overboard from the plank; he told him that he had earned that with
his inquisitiveness. Then the king swam after him, plucked him from the wa-
ter, and set him back on the plank: "Now you can see if your tail got wet."2 Then
they both went on board the ship.
Because of the friendship and affection the king had for Porkell and because
of his persistent pleas to tell him for what reason he left the ship so often by
himself and in secret, it happened one night that the king grasped Porkell by
the feet and bade him go with him softly. They went ashore and into a woods
close by the ships. When they had reached the woods, the king said: "Stand
here by this tree and wait for me; I will go a short distance and return quickly,
but you should make sure not to go any farther."
The king then proceeded into the woods to a place where there was a clear-
ing. Then he saw a vision that Porkell testified to many years later when he told
Haraldr Sigur5arson and gave witness with true testimony by praying to God
and lifting his arms to heaven. There came over him so great a light that he
said he could scarcely look at it. Then he said that he saw two figures clad in
beautiful garments laying their hands on the king's head. He said that he
thanked God that he should see such a vision. He stated further that he heard
a beautiful song and perceived a wonderful fragrance accompanying the light.3
When two or three hours of the night had passed, the light vanished. The
king then came to Porkell and said they should go to the ships. The king for-
bade him to tell this occurrence to a single man as long as Olaf was alive and
threatened him with death if he disobeyed. He complied because he was a very
great friend to the king. Many years after the death of King Olaf, when Porkell
was an old man, he told of this occurrence to King Haraldr, who considered
Porkell to be a most truthful man.
We are told that it happened one time, when King Olaf left mass and took his
place in his highseat, and his men had also taken their seats, that he suddenly
vanished from their view. Each asked the otherwhere he was, but they were cer-
tain that he had not gone out of the hall, and they could all agree to that. When
the bishop heard them talking, he said: "I can tell you where I see him stand-
ing; he is standing in the middle of the hall talking to a man you cannot see."
After a time they saw the king in his highseat. When such things had been
revealed to them, they thought that he was God's angel sent from heaven and
that he was more like angels than men. Such was the view of the distinguished
man GuSbrandr or Dglum, namely, that it was doubtful whether a king had
been revealed to them, and whether it seemed more likely to him that he was
like other mortal kings or an angel sent by God and clothed in human flesh to
preach the name of the Lord Jesus to many peoples.1
We are told that King Olaf Tryggvason converted five countries and the peo-
pie who dwelled there. But it was not to be expected that the people would be
compliant in their ways and their total faith in God, because time was short and
the people recalcitrant and hardened in false belief and reluctant to abandon
the religion of their kinsmen. There was also a great lack of clerics, and those
who were available were hesitant because of a lack of intelligence or learning
in the use of the Norse language, for they were much despised by the people.
These are the names of the lands he converted: Norway, Shetland, Orkney,
the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland. In many places Christianity existed
very much in name only. And so it would have remained unless another had
come to strengthen it and subdue the people to his will. He had the same name
and was called Olaf Haraldsson. He had no less power in strengthening God's
Christian faith and [was granted] a much longer period of time.
Because the labor was great and the time short to gather the sheep in the
sheepfold of Almighty God, it was as if God's work were left unfinished. Be-
cause the mountainous regions were not under the rule of the kings of Nor-
way, who controlled the coastal areas, and because the kings of Upplgnd who
ruled the [outlying] districts served the king of the Swedes, few of them ac-
cepted Christianity. Everywhere in the remote settlements and widespread
mountains throughout Norway and in the isolated valleys and outer promon-
tories, many people sacrificed in secret to their idols, though they did not dare
to keep them at home in their houses. They believed in woods and mountains
and ponds.
It came about after the death of King Olaf Tryggvason that in the fifteenth
year thereafter, King Olaf Haraldsson came to Upplgnd and in one autumn
captured five kings, converted Upplgnd, and had a multitude of idols de-
stroyed.2 We may consider that the first King Olaf prepared and established the
foundation of Christianity with his labor, but the latter Olaf raised the walls.
Olaf Tryggvason planted the vineyard, but Saint Olaf adorned and increased
it with great fruitfulness. Not only did Saint Olaf do what was necessary for him-
self but also what was necessary for all those for whom he was concerned. In
addition to that he poured out his blood to help his whole people with his holy
death. Now many miracles bear witness that he is in heavenly glory with
Almighty God, and all Norwegians have him as their leader and intermediary
both in relation to the help and mercy afforded by God and man.
But the present Olaf Tryggvason, after he lost the realm in the great battle
that he fought on Ormr inn langi, was taken away from us so that mortal men
cannot know clearly what the nature of his saintliness is. Nor has it been re-
vealed what signs and miracles are connected with him, but no one doubts that
he was sent by God. God also made him more outstanding than other kings
and admirable in all providential ways. For that reason we must all praise the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ for this man, to whom he granted such great
power and distinction, in the same way we praise God for King Olaf the Saint.
53. Concerning Ormr inn langi [the Long Serpent]
In the fourth year of the reign of King Olaf he gave orders for the building of
a ship that has become very famous and celebrated. It was constructed inland
from Hla5ir in a bay off Hla5hamarr by the very shore of the fjord. There can
be found a declivity and an area thick with grass, so that it is not exposed to
harsh weather because it is protected both inland by the fjord and from the
open sea. The area on which the ship rested is seventy-four ells long, not count-
ing the raised portions at stem and stern.
When the ship had been constructed, the king invited many people to come
and see it. When they saw it, all who had come praised both the size and beauty,
considering that never had such a ship been built in Norway. When the king
heard that everyone was praising it enthusiastically, he was well pleased.
But a few days later three great gashes were found on the ship; a great woodax
had been used to cut into the gunwales. When the king learned of this, he be-
came very angry and made a vigorous inquiry into who had done it, but no one
confessed. Then the king went to see the gashes in the gunwales and spoke in
a great rage: "I will give a gold mark to the man who kills the person who has
so marred my ship and caused me damage and disgrace."
A little later the master shipwright, who was a most skillful man, came to meet
the king. He asked to speak to the king in private and spoke thus: "Lord, do
not impose such a heavy and extreme penally on others for what has happened
because it was I who caused the ship to be hacked. For this deed you should
impose on me whatever penalty you wish."
The king replied: "Why did you do this, and for what reason?"
He answered: "Because it seemed to me misfashioned, and I expected that
it would be better if the gunwales were lowered; it seemed to me that the ves-
sel's gunwales were rather high. I think that it would be shapelier if they were
made lower. If you want me to repair it, I will make this ship the most beauti-
ful and splendid in every respect." The king said that such was his wish.
Then the shipwright went to work and did the repair that he had promised
the king and remedied the damage with great skill. When he was finished, he
told the king that he had done what he could: "Come now, lord, and look at
it." At his request the king went and inspected it. He was delighted by the sight
and praised it greatly, and gave him a handsome wage.1
After that, the king had the ship painted all sorts of colors, then had it gilded
and adorned with silver. On the prow of the ship there was a dragon head, and
no fewer oars on each side than fifty-two. Then a Norse name was given to the
ship, and it was called the Long Serpent. In Latin it is called longus draco or ser-
pens.2 The king himself steered the ship and appointed what crew should be
aboard, selecting men from the whole realm, those who were strongest and
most skilled in arms in all Norway.
The king won great fame from such deeds as the construction of such a ship.
Everyone thought they could now see that the ship was much more beautiful
and more imposing and that the shipwright had carved with such skill that the
line was neither too deep nor too high. No man younger than twenty years of
age was to serve on this ship, and none older than sixty. No effeminate cowards
or beggars were to come aboard, and hardly anyone was allowed aboard unless
he was distinguished in some way, as can be exampled when we hear stories of
King Olaf and his men.3
54. Concerning the Appearance of King Olaf
King Olaf Tryggvason was a big man in stature and a most courtly gentleman.
He had smooth, light blond hair, light eyebrows, and a light complexion. He
was the best looking of men and had the handsomest eyes. Those who were in
a position to know best have said that no two men were more similar in all ac-
complishments and courtesy than King Olaf Tryggvason and Hakon A5al-
steinsfostri.1 Hakon was even a stronger man physically, but Olaf had no equal
in his day.
King Olaf was the first man to embrace the faith in Norway. His affairs pros-
pered before he accepted the faith, but afterward much more so because he
had many qualities that could be understood to derive from God's power more
than mortal rank. Wherever in the country he convened an assembly and pow-
erful men gathered with a mind to oppose him, there you could hear many an
eloquent speech delivered. And even though the farmers spoke eloquently,
they were always outdone when the king spoke because he had the truth on his
side. But he had a great deal to endure and much work to do before the faith
prevailed.
King Olaf had a liaison with the daughter of Jarnskeggi of Yrjar. In the fourth
year of his reign he convened an assembly in Prandheimr at Frosta, an assem-
bly that embraced eight districts. It was attended by a great multitude and pow-
erful chieftains. They included Jarnskeggi of Yrjar, Styrkarr EindriSason from
Gimsar, Ormr lygra from Bynes in Gaulardalr, and many of their kinsmen. This
Ormr was married to GuSrun, the daughter of Berg})6rr and sister of Asgautr
from Selvagr. Their mother was PuriSr, the sister of Poroddr from Qlfus.2 They
were all gathered together at the assembly.
King Olaf preached the true faith to them. When he had delivered an elo-
quent speech, Jarnskeggi replied and said: "If you do not refrain from this
preaching, you will have the same fate as Jarl Hakon."
The king saw that his forces were no match for them. He altered course to
the extent of seeming to fall in with them, and he said: "It is not right for me
to raise forces against you, for your strength is great, and it seems to me much
more kingly to enhance the sacrifices rather than to diminish them, and that
will be our course from now on." The king was gentle in speech but determined
in spirit.
The assembly was now dissolved, and the district chieftains and powerful
farmers went inland to Maerin in Prandheimr. All together they were three hun-
dred strong. Their chief temple was located there, and they intended to per-
form their sacrifices. The king was also expected there, but he first returned
home from the assembly and then back inland. He had only the Long Serpent
with him, and it was fully manned.
They had prepared a human sacrifice when the king joined them, and they
intended to force the king's hand. There was a great crowd on hand. When the
king arrived, he asked to enter the temple and inspect it. He went in and had
a large broadax in his hand. Their high priest accompanied him, and as they
entered, he told the king where each of their gods was. Thor was in the mid-
dle of the hall and enjoyed the greatest respect.
King Olaf went up to Thor where he was sitting, raised the ax, and brought
it down on Thor's ear so that he collapsed forward on the floor. After that the
king went out, and as he emerged, Jarnskeggi was killed outside alongside the
temple among the king's men. Then Olaf spoke: "Let's remember that we are
enhancing the sacrifices, lads; let's not sacrifice slaves and old men who are of
no account, but take your wives and leaders and send them to the gods."
The killing of Jarnskeggi struck terror into the hearts of the farmers. They
saw that they could compete with him neither in luck nor in toughness. King
Olaf then spoke to them: "Be reconciled and be in peace and friendship with
me. Believe in the God who allows the sun to shine on the just and unjust and
causes it to rain on the good and the wicked.3 Believe in one God the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost."
When the king had spoken in this way, he inspired such terror that no one
dared to speak against him. They felt they had paid a heavy price, and it seemed
likely that others might go the same way if they did not submit to the king. For
that reason they made a good choice and submitted to God and the king's com-
mand. Then the bishop and clerics baptized six hundred men, women, and
children in addition. To their great good fortune, they suffered the humilia-
tion that they intended for the king.
All now went in peace and praised one God. After the killing of Jarnskeggi
and after the king had entered into a distinguished marriage with the queen
I>yri, he repudiated Jarnskeggi's daughter GuSrun. Even apart from that, she
felt that he had struck close to home.
55. Concerning King Olaf and Hroaldr
There was a man named Hroaldr, who lived in MoldafjgrSr, a great and pow-
erful heathen who refused to accept Christianity and would not leave his an-
cestral lands. He was a great sorcerer and practiced devilish arts. For three years
this sorcerer raised two great breakers against the king to block his districts.
They raged with such violence that the king and his men could not reach him,
and without his leave no one could approach the settlement where he lived.
Olaf prepared to set sail to visit him, and when he came to the place where
the great breakers fell, he immediately gave orders to sail straight at them and
over the huge waves. As soon as the ships ran onto them, these waves were al-
layed and leveled. Hroaldr was captured, and the king preached the true faith
to him, but he rejected God's name and affirmed his own gods. After that, as
was fitting, the king ordered that he be killed, and he lost his life as he de-
served.1
It happened at an assembly in the same region that the king was preaching the
faith and that a mighty and eloquent man opposed him. The king had him
seized and ordered that they make a small snake wriggle into his mouth. That
was done. They took the snake and opened the man's mouth, but he exhaled
toward the snake, and it wriggled away from his mouth and was bent on any
course other than to enter his mouth. Then the king had an iron heated and
tied to the snake. When it felt the heat, it entered his mouth and wriggled right
down into his belly and then out. It had the man's heart in its mouth, and when
this was seen, there was great fear and terror among all the heathen people.1
57. How King Olaf Loosed Dogs on a Man
One summer a man named Grimr came to Iceland. He was a big, strong man
and had been King Olaf's forecastleman for a time. There was a man in Borg-
arfjgr5r named Porkell trefill, a great chieftain. It came to pass in a dense
throng at an assembly that Porkell was trampled, and he blamed it on Grimr.
He summoned a man named SigurSr, a big, strong man, and induced him to
waylay Grimr so as to avenge this humiliation. In the evening when Grimr went
to his bed, Sigur5r attacked him with arms and struck at him. Grimr defended
himself manfully but finally fell.
For this Grimr's kinsmen had Sigur5r condemned to full outlawry according
to the law of the land. Having been outlawed, he went abroad that summer and
came to Norway in the fall. He gave himself and his companion different names.
King Olaf learned from traders that his forecastleman had been killed in Ice-
land. He was very angered and wanted to take fierce vengeance against the cul-
prit. Not everyone was so discreet that the king failed to learn the truth. He
went to the ship and investigated. He soon found out the man who was out-
lawed and had him put in fetters.
Soon thereafter he convened an assembly and ordered that dogs be loosed
on the man. A great crowd had gathered at the assembly. The king had the man
stripped, and he was exposed to the dogs in the circle of onlookers.
Then one of his retainers approached the king and said: "Listen, my lord. It
is not proper that this man should suffer such a death. It would be better for
you to put him in the place previously occupied by the man who was killed, be-
cause I think that this man is no less gallant than the other."
The king replied: "This will discourage others from killing my retainers."
When the retainer saw that his words to the king were of no avail, he went to
the bishop and informed him. The bishop sent him back to the king and urged
him to relent.1 The king replied: "The bishop cannot judge a man more clearly
than I; let him be stripped without delay."
The people stood in a circle, and the dogs were loosed, but the man turned
such fair and flashing eyes on them that they did not dare to attack him. Then
the king called his strongest dog Vigi to him twice or thrice and patted him,
urging him to put his teeth in the man. Finally, at the hard urging of the king,
he made a single leap forward and bit the man in the belly, then returned to
the king. When the man felt the wound, he leaped up and over the surround-
ing circle and fell dead.
When the bishop learned of that, he reproached the king harshly until he
fell at the bishop's feet and confessed his crimes to God and acknowledged that
he had done wrong in committing this cruel deed. The king did great penance
for it.
58. Concerning King Gudr0dr and the Two Brothers
At this time Gu5r05r, the son of Erik Bloodax, came to Norway. He came from
harrying in the east and arrived in Vik. This same Gu6r05r, in collaboration
with his brother King Harald (Graycloak) and with the guile of their most ma-
licious mother, had betrayed King Tryggvi. He had a large force of men and
sixty ships and tested whether the chieftains in Vik wished to accept him as their
king—unless they wished to exercise the option of doing battle with him.
The two brothers who have been mentioned before, Hyrningr and Porgeirr,
ruled there. They gave a prudent answer and said they preferred to accept him
as king, but they said that in such an important matter it would be appropriate
to convene an assembly in three days' time so that he could be proclaimed king
at a full assembly. Gu5r06r agreed to this and came to the assembly, which was
attended by a great host.
Hyrningr was the leader of the farmers. As he rode to the assembly, it oc-
curred all of a sudden that he fell from his horse and was instantly dead. His
corpse was prepared for burial with great sorrow and brought to his home. His
brother was so grieved that he could hardly speak. He addressed Gu6r05r at
the assembly:
You will have learned, lord, about the sudden event that has transpired here. I have
lost my brother, and I and all our men are in deep sorrow. I now ask you, lord, that
you give us leave to inter him honorably. The reception that we intended for you
we ask you to attend at our residence with joy and delight, and we ask you to wait
until then. We will convene a second assembly and strive to do you honor.
Gu5r05r agreed to this and was pleased with Porgeirr's words. He went to
the feast, and they drank there in good cheer. But one night Hyrningr came
with a great force as if he had been awakened from the dead. He set the hall
ablaze and burned Gu6r06r and all his following inside. Those who attempted
to get out were quickly killed. When King Olaf heard of this, he praised their
deed mightily and gave them great thanks for it.
59. Concerning King Olaf and Thor
It happened one time when King Olaf was sailing by the coast on the Long Ser-
pent and sitting at the tiller that a man standing on a rocky promontory called
out to the ship and requested that the king deign to give him passage. When
the king heard that, he headed the ship toward the place where the man was
standing, and he came aboard.
He made much of himself and plied the king's men with many malicious words
and provided much good sport. He was handsome to look at and had a red beard.
He laughed at others and they at him, and he addressed many of them with boast-
ful words of various sorts. They asked whether he had anything in the way of news
to tell them—for example, about things that had happened long ago. He said he
knew a lot, "and you will not be able to ask me anything I do not know."
They reported this to the king, saying: "Lord, this man has a lot to tell." They
led him before the king, and the king asked him what he could relate.
Lord, the land that we are sailing past was once inhabited by certain giants. But it
happened that the giants suffered a sudden death so that no one was left except
two giantesses. Then it came about, lord, that humans began to settle this land
from the eastern part of the world. These great giantesses, lord, ravaged the hu-
mans extensively and encroached on their resources in many ways. Then, lord,
people had recourse to calling on this red beard to aid them, and I took a ham-
mer from my tunic and forthwith delivered death blows to both of them.
When he had said that, he leaped from the prow and back to the stern with
everyone looking on. The king himself clearly saw this occurrence as he dove
into the sea and vanished from their sight. Then King Olaf said: "See how bold
the devil was that he dared to appear to us."
60. A Tale of Demons
We are told that when King Olaf was north in Naumudalr, two of his retainers
wished to learn whether it was true that there were a lot of demons abroad in
the region. One night they left the king's ship secretly and proceeded a long
way in the darkness of night before seeing a fire burning ahead of them. They
hastened toward it, and as they approached the fire, they saw that it was burn-
ing in a cave. There many demons were sitting conversing with one another.1
One of them, whom they judged to be the leader, began to speak: "Do you
know," he asked, "that King Olaf has arrived here for the purpose of driving us
away from our lands?"
They said that they were aware of that: "Woe to him—we have suffered much
harm at his hands."
Then their leader spoke: "Now tell us what you have been doing." Then one
of them began to narrate:
I had a dwelling in Gaulardalr not far from Hla6ir. I had good relations with Jarl
Hakon, and he gave me good gifts. When he was undeservedly deprived of his rule,
this man came in his place. It happened one day, while the king's men were at play
near the residence, that I thought I could scarcely endure their uproar and racket.
I found it all to be a great trial. Then I joined their games, though I made myself
invisible. I seized one man and left him with a broken arm. The next day I broke
another man's leg. On the third day the king joined the game. I came too and had
it in mind to maim one or another of them. I stood in their midst and grabbed at
one of them, but he took me around the waist so firmly that his arms seemed to
be made of nothing but glowing iron. He began to press me hard so that I could
scarcely stand, and I just barely escaped his grasp. I fled from there badly burned
and arrived here despite myself.
Then another demon spoke up:
What I have to tell is that I assumed the appearance of a beautiful woman. I took
a horn full of mead in my hand, which I had mixed with all sorts of noxious sub-
stances. I intended to serve the king during the evening when he was feasting.
When people were deep in their cups, I stood by his table in my best finery. The
king stretched out his hand toward me, and I approached him and handed him
the horn. But he raised the horn up and aimed at my head, striking me directly in
the face. That is how we parted.
Then a third demon began to speak:
I took on the shape of a beautiful woman and entered the king's quarters late at
night. The king sat barefoot and had linen breeches on. The bishop was sitting on
his right. I began to make the king's foot itch. He saw me standing there and told
me to relieve the itch in his foot. I sat on the edge of the bench by his feet both
before supper and after.
Then the king went off to go to bed, and I went with him and scratched his foot
again. The bishop fell asleep, and the king as well, and I sought to ruin the king
with devilish craft. But the king woke up and struck me in the head with a book so
that my skull was fractured. After that I fled, and my head has been skewed ever
since. Then the king awakened the bishop and asked him to check whether he had
been injured by the visitation of these fiends, who had so palpably revealed them-
selves in their quarters, or not. The bishop did as the king told him and found an
ugly spot on his foot full of poisonous matter. The bishop had it cut out of the flesh,
and the foot healed completely.
When the king's men had seen and heard this, they quietly returned and
went aboard the ship with everyone asleep. The following morning they told
the king, and he said it was true and bore witness to it. "But still," said the king,
"I do not want you to go out again at night because it is incautious to go on
such unnecessary errands all alone." After that the bishop and the king circu-
lated among all the buildings and sprinkled holy water, saving the people who
before had been the victims of great oppression from devilish deceits.
We are told that King Olaf and Queen Pyri had an exceptionally handsome son,
who was baptized Haraldr after her father. He was much beloved by the king
and queen, and people had a high expectation that he would rule the king-
dom after his father. He was very popular with the people, but he had hardly
lived a year when he was taken from this world into eternal glory.
62. Concerning King Sveinn and Queen Sigridr
In the fifth year of King Olaf's reign we are told that in Denmark, King Sveinn
married Sigri5r the Imperious. It is reported that one time when they were con-
versing in the presence of many friends, the queen spoke as follows: "Lord,"
she said, "how long do you intend to tolerate the humiliation that you have suf-
fered?"
The king replied: "What is this humiliation, lady, that I seem to be suffering
with no recourse?"
The queen said: "It was a humiliation and a great shame when you were not
deemed worthy or of sufficient importance to be asked about the marriage of
your sister Pyri to Olaf, king of Norway, and you have done nothing to right it
since then. She married herself in consultation with her foster father, and no
permission was obtained from you before he married her."
Then King Sveinn said: "How is that a humiliation for me? Is Olaf Tryggva-
son not more distinguished than all other kings? Could I marry my sister to a
better king if I had my own choice? Even if my realm were at the most exalted
apogee, she would be married with sufficiently great distinction."
Queen Sigri5r spoke: "I do not deny that King Olaf is more distinguished
than other kings, and your sister is certainly well enough married. But because
you have the title of king, you should consider how great a humiliation they in-
flicted on you when Olaf took it on himself to be betrothed to your sister. He
took little account of you and your rank."
Then the king said: "I rather think that this injury and humiliation are so
solidly in place that I will have to take them in stride. That is also the best al-
ternative because King Olaf is powerful, and my strength is no match, nor can
I avenge this humiliation."
Sigri5r said: "If that is the way you want it, you are destined to be a king of
no account for a long time. But if you want to be the kind of king your kins-
men were, you would not endure this shame and humiliation. But I will truly
tell you that if you wish to be such a nobody that you do not dare to avenge
such a thing, I will divorce you and stay here no longer."
King Sveinn said: "Since King Olaf is so powerful, how should I go about
avenging this?"
SigriSr said: "You should overcome him with guile, and that will avail with
time."
The king replied: "Give me counsel on how I should bring it about that he
is overcome."
SigriSr rejoined: "First you should send messengers to Wendland to meet
with Jarl Sigvaldi, whom you have outlawed throughout the Danish realm. Is-
sue an invitation so that you can be reconciled if he wishes to recover his lands
and the domain that his ancestors possessed. Next you should stipulate that he
should go on a mission for you to Norway and repair the wickedness he com-
mitted against you. Go about this courteously."
Messengers now went to Sigvaldi on the king's business. They delivered their
message and the jarl responded quickly. He went to see the king, and they dis-
cussed their business. The king told Sigvaldi that if he wished to have his lands,
"you should go on a mission for us to Sweden and Norway with reliable tokens,
first to King Olafr the Swede and then to King Olaf Tryggvason. Say that we
should all meet at the Brenneyjar1 next summer. Let the king of the Swedes ap-
pear to have important business there."2
Then Sigri6r spoke:
Let King Olafr, my son, send word to his namesake in Norway that Olaf Tryggva-
son should join him in promoting God's message so that Christianity may make
progress in his realm. I know that if this is at stake, he will go at any cost to preach
God's name. It will then be easy for us to lure him into some ambush. And if King
Olaf Tryggvason leaves Norway and you allow him to pass through the 0resund
sailing as he wishes, no suspicion will cross his mind that you are faithless. But, King
Sveinn, you will show of what little account you are if you let him return in peace
and undeterred.
Sigvaldi accepted this mission from the king and queen and promised to
make the journey. He prepared to set out and sailed to Sweden. At that time
Jarl Hakon's son Eirikr had come to Sweden, and his brother Sveinn as well.
They learned of Sigvaldi's trip. There had been enmity between them ever
since they fought at Hjgrungavagr.3 When they were apprised of Sigvaldi's jour-
ney, they sent word to him to come to meet them.
Sigvaldi saw that the best alternative was to meet them. They asked where he
intended to go, and he replied: "It will now be in your power to determine
where I go." Then Sigvaldi told the brothers the whole story of his journey.
Eirikr said: "If what you say is true, you and all your men shall go in peace."
Jarl Sigvaldi now proceeded to a meeting place with King Olafr the Swede and
transmitted the message from King Sveinn and Queen SigriSr. King Olafr the
Swede gave Sigvaldi a good reception and agreed to everything that King Sveinn
and his mother had discussed with Jarl Sigvaldi. There is no need to repeat that.
Subsequently Sigvaldi went to Norway and met with King Olaf Tryggvason
in Upplond. He arrived there a little before Christmas, and King Olaf gave him
a very warm reception. He spent Christmas with the king. He told King Olaf
the message from his namesake, the king of the Swedes, and asked him to tell
him his decision before he departed.
After Christmas, Jarl Sigvaldi prepared to depart. At that point King Olaf told
Jarl Sigvaldi to report to the king of the Swedes that he would assuredly come
to the Brenneyjar as they had indicated. That was the frontier of the realm.
Then Jarl Sigvaldi returned to Denmark and told them that King Olaf
Tryggvason would come to the place they had stipulated on the appointed
day. King Sveinn and Queen Sigri6r now allowed Jarl Sigvaldi to have both
peace and his ancestral lands.
We also wish to record that during the five years that King Olaf ruled Norway,
Almighty God shed such fortune over the land in all respects, both in the fruit-
fulness of the earth and the mildness of the climate, that never before or af-
terward did they experience such favorable conditions. One indication was
that during the holy time of Palm Sunday the king was leaving the mass and
saw a man standing in front of the church. He carried on his back a load of the
kind of grass that we call angelica. The king reached out his hand and wanted
to test the sort of summer crop that he saw there in great flower and fullness.
The man who had been carrying it set down the load and gave the king an
angelica stalk.1 The king carried it into the drinking hall where the retinue was
being entertained. He sat in his highseat and cut off a little of the angelica stalk
and sent the piece to the queen. She took it and said:
Lord, I have preserved it in my memory that when I was a child and my teeth came
in, I was given money. King Sveinn my brother was to pay that money with interest
whenever I called it in. Now I ask you, lord, to call in that money when you travel
south to Denmark. You can see, my lord, what great lands I have lost in Wendland,
but up until now no one has had the power or boldness to demand my money. I
have wept many a day to think how shamefully I have been deprived of my prop-
erty.
This caused the king much concern, and he now pondered the case before
him.
The next summer King Olaf gathered a great army and let word go out over
the whole realm. When the entire force had come together, the king had 120
ships. He had many chieftains and great warriors. His brothers-in-law Porgeirr
and Hyrningr were in command of a large following.
The king and queen now made ready to depart. When the army was in full
preparedness, the king sailed south along the coast. The king put in at an is-
land called Mostr, the place where King Olaf first touched land when he came
from England and where he had built the first church. The king put in at the
island with his whole army.
On the island there was an old man who was blind. He had his property and
a farm there. He was endowed with a great prophetic gift. As the army was at
anchor off the island, the king ordered some men to go ashore with him, and
they went to the old man's dwelling. The old man asked who had arrived, where
they came from, and what they wanted. The ranking man said that they were
merchants from a short distance inland and that they had goods to sell. The
farmer said: "What can you tell me about the king's fleet and his troop levy?"
They told him that the army was anchored by the island. Then the old man
sighed deeply and spoke as follows: "Alas, a great misfortune will come upon
us now that our king is about to depart. We will lose four prizes from our coun-
try that are much better and more precious than anything we have had before.
It is grievous to know," he said, "that it is our ill fortune to lose all these things."
The man who had said that he was the leader of the merchants addressed
the old man: "What are the four prizes that are so much more precious than
others that none other can be compared to them either now or in the past?"1
The farmer replied:
The first prize I reckon to be our king, Olaf, who is superior to all kings. It is the
judgment of all those who are wisest that no such man in that lineage has come to
this land from the time of Harald Fairhair, for no one has ruled the land with such
glory and benevolence. And if it comes about that we lose this one, it will not be
vouchsafed us to have another like him as long as we live. The second prize I
reckon to be Queen Pyri. Everyone testifies to the same effect, that never has a
woman equal to her in goodness and intelligence come to Norway. The third prize
I reckon to be his ship, the Long Serpent. All agree that never has such a ship been
built. The fourth prize is his dog Vigi, which is inherently better and stronger than
[all] other dogs. Now I fear that we are not destined to have the good fortune to
have such precious possessions in our land, for it often happens that the more ad-
mirable possessions are, the sooner one loses them.
When King Olaf heard this, he spoke to his men: "Let us go to our ships."
And as they went out and paused by the door, the blind man said: "It happens
to all those who grow old that not only is their bodily sight taken away, but we
must also taste and endure mist and murkiness of the mind, for I did not know
that I was talking to the king himself, and if I had known, I would not have been
so garrulous."
The king now went down to the ships and then sailed east along the coast to
the place that had been stipulated and was traditionally the meeting place of
kings.2 The king of the Swedes had not arrived. King Olaf waited for him for
two weeks, and still he did not come. King Olaf knew nothing of the deceit and
treachery that had been fomented against him.
Then he continued on his course through the 0resund, then on to Wend-
land. In Wendland he found many friends and received great honors from them.
He spent a great part of the summer there. AstriSr, King Burizleifr's daughter,
wife to Jarl Sigvaldi and sister of Geira the Wise, to whom King Olaf had been
married, came to see him.3 He also met with Dixin, who has already been men-
tioned. Though many gave the king an honorable reception in Wendland,

nonetheless his troops were very eager to return home.
King Olaf met King Burizleifr in Wendland and requested the properties
that should have been Pyri's dowry. In this matter AstriSr, King Burizleifr's
daughter, lent the king assistance. Burizleifr himself was very well disposed to-
ward King Olaf from the time he had been in Wendland and had married his
daughter. Now King Burizleifr converted the properties into movable goods
and had the goods brought to King Olaf's ships. King Olaf remained there for
a long time.
65. Concerning the Sons of Jarl Hakon
With respect to the sons of Jarl Hakon, Eirikr and Sveinn, we are told that they
brimmed with great animosity and enmity toward King Olaf because of the
slaying of their father, which resulted in their being unable to live in the land
of their birth. They wished now to deprive King Olaf of both his land and his
life.
As soon as Sigvaldi had sailed from Sweden to Norway, the brothers Eirikr
and Sveinn arranged a meeting with King Olaf the Swede, and they consulted
together. They had also met with the Danish King Sveinn. When they all
learned that King Olaf Tryggvason had arrived in Wendland with a great army,
they were very fearful and thought that he would be hard to overcome.
They gathered a great army, and the kings and jarls had discussions among
themselves. They devised the plan that Jarl Sigvaldi should meet with King Olaf
again and find out whether he could manage to lure him into the ambush of
a superior force which they had laid for him. It was off the island of SvglSr.1 Sig-
valdi was to lure King Olaf with only a few ships.
King Sveinn blamed King Olaf for marrying his sister without his consent,
and in the second place for occupying his tributary land Norway, which his fa-
ther Haraldr called his "hawk island." In the words of Jarl Sigvaldi [recte Sig-
vatr P6r5arson]:
1. Har[alds] var6ar f>u hjgrvi

haukey, Ufa ok deyja.
(You defend Haraldr's [scil. harfagri] hawk island with the sword; [with you I
would wish] to live and die.)2
King Olaf the Swede blamed the Norwegian king for treating his mother
scornfully and breaking with faithless words the marriage agreement that had
been reached between them and striking her with his glove: "I have a great dis-
grace to avenge against him." SigriSr also did much to foment this enmity.
Hakon's sons Eirikr and Sveinn thought they had a sufficient cause for hostil-
ity to bear in mind against King Olaf. Jarl Sigvaldi was the fifth chieftain, and
he was the vassal of the Danish king.
Now the rumor spread in Wendland that it might be expected that an am-
bush had been laid for King Olaf and his forces on his return. Some people
confirmed the rumor, and others denied it, saying that it amounted to noth-
ing. King Olaf called it unreliable and paid it little heed.
Sigvaldi sailed to Wendland and met King Olaf. They conversed, and King
Olaf asked whether there was any truth in the idea that some ambush or hos-
tility was in store for him. Jarl Sigvaldi said that the idea was a lot of nonsense
and lies that had been told them, and he swore that he was telling the truth.
King Olaf believed Sigvaldi's words because Almighty God allowed it to tran-
spire in those days that King Olaf was tricked and betrayed by a spirit of ani-
mosity and falsehood so that he lost his realm involuntarily. Betrayed by his
enemies, he no longer ruled his earthly realm, so that he might soon thereafter
be revealed as a heavenly man rather than an earthly one. The following is writ-
ten3 about Jarl Sigvaldi:
2. Nee nominabo, pene monstrabo:

curvus est deorsum nasus in apostata,
qui Sveion regem de terra seduxit
et filium Tryggva traxit in dolo.
That is to say:
2. Munkat ek nefna, naer munk stefna:

niSrbjugt er nef a niSingi,
J)ann er Svein konung sveik or landi,
ok Tryggva son a talar dro.
(I won't name the name, but I'll take dead aim: the nose is hooked on the apos-
tate who lured King Sveinn from land and drew the son of Tryggvi into a treach-
erous ambush.)4
66. Concerning King Olaf's Granting of Leave to His Men to Return Home
We are told that when King Olaf sensed the grumbling and grousing of his men
about a longer stay in Wendland than seemed right to them, he convened a nu-
merous assembly and addressed it:
"I know," he said, " that there was a great multitude of men in my force that de-
parted from their lands last summer, leaving wives and children, kinsmen and
homeland, putting that all behind them to follow my call. It is understandable that
it seems hard for you to be delayed here so long, and for that reason we will give
those men who so desire leave to return to their native soil. But I will owe much
greater thanks to those men who wish to stay with me. I will also show my gratitude
to those who choose to do so even if it will have to be later."
When the king had said this, the people thanked him warmly. An old man
arose at the assembly and spoke:
We have a king ruling over us who is unlike other kings and inherently different.
His equal cannot be found. Because he is away from his realm, it may be that he is
in some peril, and even if he gives his men leave to go home out of his generosity,
it is not fitting that we should separate from such a precious lord. It rather befits us
to fight on his side and give him faithful support and fair service as long as we can,
so that it will not happen that we prove not to be steadfast to our lord, with the re-
sult that he is taken from us and we never again have the benefit of his presence.
Few men responded to these words of his, and the following day when the
king and his retainers awoke, they saw the naval formation dissolved, most of
the men gone from their tents, and their sails hoisted. No more than eleven
ships remained. But King Olaf was not ready to sail and stayed behind for some
time.
We are told that the [opposing] kings maintained their fleet in place for a
long time. The men found it hard to endure and thought that it was a long time
to wait, not expecting that King Olaf would risk running into the midst of such
a great force. Even so, it seemed uncertain how their encounter would turn out
before it was over, and the army was reluctant to remain in place.
Then one day they saw a force of Norwegians sailing very swiftly, and they
were greatly pleased. But King Olaf made his preparations with more leisure.
Astri5r gave him a large number of Wendish vessels and accompanied the king
westward because she sensed that there might be treacherous designs against
King Olaf if he were to sail through Danish waters. At that point Sigvaldi had
sailed north to Skane [Scania]. When King Olaf left Jomsborg, he had seventy-
one ships, according to Halldorr inn okristni:
3. Eyna for ok einu

(unnviggs) konungr sunnan
(sver5 rau5) maetr (at mor5i
meiSr) sjau t0gum skei5a,
J>as hunlagar hreina
haf5ijarl of kraf5a
(saett gekk seggja aettar
sundr) Skgnunga fundar.
(The worthy king of the Eynir [residents of Eynafylki, a district of Norway] fared
from the south with one and seventy ships—the tree of the steed of the waves [ship
= warrior] reddened swords in the slaughter—when the jarl had summoned the
Scanians to a gathering of the masthead-reindeer of the sea [ships]; the peace of
the race of men was sundered.)1
The chieftains lay in the harbor as King Olaf's ships sailed out to sea. The
chieftains were on an island and watched as the fleet sailed by.
67. Concerning King Olaf's Voyage
It was a fair, sunny day, and the chieftains and companies walked about on the
island and watched the smaller ships sail by. When many had already passed,
they saw a large, handsome ship and said that it was probably the Long Ser-
pent, "and let us make for the ships." Then Jarl Eirikr spoke: "Let us wait a while
longer," he said, "they have more great ships than just the Long Serpent." This
particular ship was owned by Styrkarr of Gimsar, and it was a large ship. Eirikr
said: "The Long Serpent will seem to you larger and more splendid."1
Then they saw another large ship, well equipped and adorned with a
[dragon] head on it. Then King Sveinn said: "This must be the Long Serpent,
and let us not delay." Jarl Eirikr answered: "That is not likely to be the Long
Serpent, because so far only a few of their great ships have passed, and they
have a great many of them." This ship was owned by a kinsman of the king, who
was powerful and distinguished.
Now there was an interval. Then they saw a great ship sailing. King Sveinn
said: "This must be the Long Serpent. "Jarl Eirikr replied: "This is a large, hand-
some ship, but the Long Serpent with King Olaf at the helm will seem larger
and more splendid to you." It was immediately followed by another large and
handsome ship, and these ships were owned by the brothers Hyrningr and
Porgeirr.
Then there was something of an interval before a large, handsome ship with
a black-striped sail approached. This ship was much larger than those that had
already sailed by. It was a longship with no dragon head on it. Then King
Sveinn stood up and grinned, saying: "King Olaf is fearful—he dares not sail
with a dragon head on the Long Serpent. Let us close on him." Then Jarl
Eirikr said:
It is not King Olaf on this ship. I know the ship because I have seen it often. It is
owned by Erlingr Skjalgsson from JaSarr, and it is better to attack this ship from
the stern. It is manned with such fellows that, should we encounter King Olaf
Tryggvason, we will quickly learn that it would be better for us to find a gap in his
fleet than to do battle with this longship.2
Then King Olafr the Swede said: "We should not be too hesitant to join bat-
tle with King Olaf, even though he has great ships, because it would be a shame
and disgrace for people on land to learn that we are stationed here with an
enormous army while he sails by for all to see."
Jarl Eirikr replied: "Lord, let this ship pass. I can tell you that King Olaf
Tryggvason has not sailed by, and today you will have a chance to do battle with
him. There are many chieftains assembled here," said Eirikr, "and I expect the
kind of warfare from them that will give us enough to do before it is over."
Now they saw a great ship sailing, and many agreed: "This must be the Long
Serpent, and Jarl Eirikr has no appetite to do battle and avenge his father." At
that, Jarl Eirikr stood up in great anger and told them to board their ships, say-
ing that it might be expected that the Danes would hardly be more eager to
fight than he and his men.
Then there was another very long interval before they saw three ships under
sail, all of them large but one of them by far the largest. It carried a gilt dragon
head. Now all agreed that Jarl Eirikr had told the truth and that this was the
Long Serpent. Jarl Eirikr replied, saying that this was not the Long Serpent,
but that they could attack and make trial of the truth if they wished.
Then Jarl Sigvaldi took a longship and headed out to the ships, raising a
white shield as a sign of peace. The ships they made for lowered their sails and
waited. The very large ship was called Traninn and was commanded by the
king's kinsman Porkell nefja. They asked Sigvaldi what news he had to tell. He
said that the news was that a trap had been laid for King Olaf. Now Porkell and
his men let the ship drift and waited, not wishing to sail away under these con-
ditions.
Now the kings saw four ships under sail, one by far the largest with a gilt
dragon head. All agreed now: "The Long Serpent is a huge ship, and surely no
ship in the world is comparable in splendor and size. It is a great achievement
to construct such ships."
Then King Sveinn said: "The Long Serpent will carry me high aloft on its
deck tonight, and I will command it before the sun sets." He ordered his men
to ready themselves.
Then Jarl Eirikr spoke, but so that few men heard him: "Even if King Olaf
had no more ships than you can see now, still, with only the Danish army at his
disposal, King Sveinn would never command this ship."
Sigvaldi said that Porkell's ships should shorten their sails and stay in the lee
of the island; he said that they could take better advantage of the wind if they
hugged the shore with large ships and a light breeze. They did so and headed
for the shelter of the island.
The huge ship they had sighted was the Short Serpent. Not half an hour had
passed when the kings and all their men saw three very large ships, and behind
these ships on the sea to the east they saw what looked like pure gold. When it
approached near enough to be made out, they could see splendid dragon
heads shining with great brilliance, and it took a long time for the stern dragon
to appear. This ship was all adorned with gold and silver, and everyone stared
at the great ship as it advanced. Everyone marveled at how long it took before
they saw the stern ornament.
Thenjarl Eirikr said: "Stand up now, for we need no longer dispute whether
this is the Long Serpent; now you can meet up with King Olaf Tryggvason."
Now many men were silent, and they were seized by great fear at the sight of
this great ship. Many a man feared for his life.
Jarl Eirikr spoke up once more: "This magnificent ship is fitting for King Olaf
inasmuch as he is as much superior to other kings as this ship is superior to
other ships."
When King Olaf saw that his ships had headed for shore in the lee of the is-
land and lowered their sails, it seemed to him likely that they had learned of
something. He likewise steered his ships to the island and furled his sails.
Jarl Sigvaldi steered his longship to the island in the direction of the assem-
bled kings. The chieftains were now delighted one and all when they saw that
King Olaf had entered their snare. They drew lots to determine who would first
lead his forces against King Olaf, because all of them coveted his realm. King
Sveinn's lot came up and he had sixty ships readied for battle. He deployed his
forces and had his standard raised before him.
King Olaf asked his men why their ships were not under sail. They explained
the reason and urged him to flee. He replied: "Indeed I will not flee, because
I would rather fight. He is not a proper king who flees from his enemies out of
fear." King Olaf and his men saw1 that they had been betrayed and that the sea
around them was covered with men of war, but King Olaf had only a small
squadron to do battle. Hallfre5r said the following when his army sailed away
from him:
4. Par hykk vist til mjgk mistu

(rngrg kom drott a flotta)
gram, {>anns gunni fram5i,

gengis J)rcenzkra drengja;
noefr va einn vi5 jgfra
allvaldr tvaa snjalla,
(fraegt's til sliks at segja
si5ar) ok jarl enn })ri6ja.
There I believe the king, who engaged in battle, was missing too much of a retinue
from Prcendalgg; many a company took flight. The valiant king fought alone
against two bold kings and a jarl as third; it is a famous matter to tell of such a bat-
tle.)2
Now the forces of the kings broke up. The Danish army went to one side and
the Swedish army to another. Jarl Eirikr went in a third direction with his army.
Then the wise man Porkell dySrill spoke to King Olaf: "Lord," he said, "here is
a great army and an overpowering force. Let us raise our sails and sail out to
sea after our contingent. It is not cowardly for any man that he should show
moderation for himself and his men."
Then King Olaf said: "Bring the ships together and let men arm themselves
and draw their swords. No one shall give a thought to flight." These words are
testified to by HallfreSr:
5. Geta skal mils Bess's maela

menn at vapna sennu
dolga fangs vi5 drengi
daSgflgan bgr kvgdu;
ba5a hertrygg5ar hyggja
hnekkir sina rekka
(})ess Ufa f>j65ar sessa
t>rottar or5) a flotta.
(Mention should be made of the words that men say that the mighty tree of the
strife of enemies [warrior] said to his men at the dispute of weapons [battle]. The
breaker of the battle truce [initiator of the battle] urged his men not to think of
flight; the words of courage of this bench-companion of the people [king] will
live).3
King Olaf now deployed his forces and had his ships fortified. He ordered
that Traninn [the Crane] and the Lesser Serpent should lie each on one side
of the Long Serpent and that they should all be chained together. Then the
king's forecastleman spoke; some say it was Vikarr, others that it was Ulfr inn
rau5i [the Red]. He asked the king whether the Serpent should project as far
ahead of the chains [used to link ships] and the other ships, as it was longer in
proportion to them. King Olaf replied: "It was constructed longer than other
ships so that it could project farther."
Then the forecastleman said: "Then it will be hard going in the prow, lord,
and there will certainly be the chance of a fight."
The king said: "I didn't know that I had a forecastleman who was both a car-
rot-top and a catamite. I had it built larger than other ships because I wanted
it to be as much more conspicuous in battle as it is more splendid under sail
than other ships."
Then in anger the forecastleman addressed the king: "Give heed to your
rank, lord, so that you do not turn tail in defending the poopdeck more than
I do in defending the prow."
The king was greatly angered and wanted to hurl a spear at him, but the fore-
castleman said: "Aim your shot where the need is greater, lord. You do not have
a surplus of supporters."
Some people say that King Olaf had three forecastlemen, and they were all
powerful men. One was Ulfr the Red, the second Vikarr, and the third Hyrn-
ingr. Most people claim that it was Ulfr who spoke these words to the king.
At that moment the men saw a ship racing at high speed from the south to-
ward the poopdeck of the Long Serpent. It was a ship with sixteen rowing sta-
tions. A man went forward on the prow and spoke to King Olaf in an unknown
tongue. The king replied in the same tongue so that the Norwegians did not
understand. After they had talked for a while, the strangers put in to shore and
let their ships rest at anchor the whole day while the battle was going on. When
they were gone, the king's men asked who the people were who had spoken
with him. He said that they were strangers who had come from Wendland.
The four assembled chieftains, two kings and two jarls, joined battle with
King Olaf, but not much mention is made of Sigvaldi in connection with the
battle. Still, Skuli Porsteinsson says in the poem [flokkr] that he composed
about the battle that Sigvaldi was present:
6. FylgSak Frisa dolgi

(fekk ungr) {)ars spjgr sungu
(nu fI5r gld at eldumk,
aldrbot) ok Sigvalda,
{)as til mots vi5 mceti
malm{)ings i dyn hjalma
sunnr fyr SvglSrar rnynni
sarlauk roSinn bgrum.
(I accompanied the enemy of the Frisians and Sigvaldi where the spears sang—
when I was young I had life's delight, but now the world finds that I grow old—
when we carried the reddened wound-leek [sword] against the confronter of the
assembly of iron [battle] in the tumult of helmets [battle] south at the mouth of
theSvo!5r.)4
69. How King Sveinn Joined Baltic against King Olaf
Now King Olaf saw a formation arrayed against him and prepared for battle.
He asked before what chieftain the standard was being borne. He was told that
it was being borne before King Sveinn. Then King Olaf said: "The forest goats
will not overcome us, for the Danes have the courage of goats. We will not fear
that force because the Danes have never carried off the victory if they fought
on ships."
When Queen £>yri heard that, she was grieved. When it came to the king's at-
tention, he led her below the deck and arranged for her to be well protected
by a shield wall and strong partitions. He said to her: "There is no reason to
weep today, for today I will retrieve the tooth reward that you have coming to
you from your brother."
The king was dressed in a red silken tunic as beautiful as if it were a rose.
Over it he put on a byrnie and stood on the poopdeck. Then the trumpets
sounded throughout the army.
The king of the Danes now assaulted King Olaf's ships but could achieve no
more than clearing the outer ships. From the large ships in the king's squadron
there was no lack of missiles; they inflicted great wounds on the men of the
Danish king, and some of them were killed. Even though King Sveinn was said
to have attacked first, nonetheless missiles were fired from the ships of the
Swedish king and the jarl(s) 1 because they were so close by that [King Olaf's]
ships were in easy range. They fought now for a long time and it was hard go-
ing for the Danes. When they had fought for a long time and the Danes lost
hope of victory and were very spent, they broke off, having lost many men.
They now withdrew with little of the glory that King Olaf got.
70. Now the Swedish King Joined Battle
When they withdrew, the king of the Swedes closed with sixty ships. He had an
elite force, all very strong and exceedingly well equipped. King Olaf Tryggva-
son asked before whom the standards were being borne. He was told that the
standards belonged to Olafr, king of the Swedes, "and he intends to do battle
against you."
The king said: "The Swedes will have an easier and more pleasant time lick-
ing out their sacrificial bowls than boarding the Long Serpent in the face of
our weapons and succeeding in clearing our ships. I expect that we will not
need to fear the horse eaters."
Now they launched a hard attack, and the Norwegian king again had Traninn
and the Lesser Serpent chained to the Long Serpent, one on each side. We are
told that when the Danes withdrew, King Olaf's men went from the smaller
ships onto the larger ships. Those who were already on the larger ships received
them gladly.
Now a very hard-bitten struggle ensued between the like-named kings. The
Swedes made a vigorous attack around the prow, but the men of Olaf of Nor-
way rained missiles down on them. When they had fought for a long time, eigh-
teen of the Swedish king's ships were wasted. Once again the men of the
Norwegian king fled from the smaller ships onto the Long Serpent and sought
help and escape from death there, because the Long Serpent was much longer
and higher in the gunwales than other ships. That made for a good battle stage,
as if it were a fort. The number of men on the Long Serpent became so great
that the men who were able-bodied could hardly strike a blow because of the
crowding.
When the king of the Swedes saw many of his men killed and a great multi-
tude wounded, he thought it was time to retreat because his men were very fa-
tigued, butjarl Eirikr and his men were still in missile range of the ships of the
Norwegian king, even though more is told about the Olafs. The whole mass of
men of both the Danish king and the Swedish king were always in range, no
matter which one was leading the attack. A great number of the troops be-
longing to King Olaf of Norway had now fallen, for it was a long way for him
to summon reserves. After this the kings went ashore, together with Jarl Eirikr
and the whole army. An assembly was convened and a consultation held on
what they should do.
71. The Names of the Men on the Long Serpent
Now Olaf, king of Norway, perceived that there would be a pause and an in-
terval in the battle. He ordered the man named Porkell dySrill to take Traninn,
which had been cleared, and embark those men who were wounded or dis-
abled for action and transport them away from the battle. Hallfre5r spoke as
follows:
7. 6groe5ir sa auSan Trana

armgrjots Trana fljota
(hann rau5 geir at gunni
glaSr) ok ba5a Na5ra,
a5r hjaldr{)orinn heldi
hugframr or bg5 ramri

snotr af snoeris vitni
sunds Porketill undan.
The destroyer of arm-gravel [dispenser of gold = king] saw the Crane float emp-
tied, and both Serpents as well—he gladly reddened his spear in battle—before
the battle-dashing, bold-hearted, wise Porkell headed the cable-wolf of the sea
[ship] away from the tough battle.)1
By virtue of this royal command Porkell succeeded in getting away from the
battle.
Three companies of strong men remained standing on the Long Serpent.
These are the men who are reported to have been on the Serpent in the final
attack: Hyrningr and his brother Porgeirr, Bjgrn from Stu51a, Porgrimr Pj6561fs-
son, Asbjgrn from Mostr, P6r5r from NjarSarlgg, Einarr Styrkarsson from Gim-
sar nicknamed JDambarskelfir, Kolbjgrn from Raumariki, Porsteinn oxafotr,
Porsteinn hviti from OfrustaSir (Porkell dy5rill had already departed), Ulfr inn
rau5i from Heinmgrk, Vikarr from the East in Tiundaland (the brother of
Arnljotr gellini), Vakr the Armenian, Bersi inn sterki, An skyti from Jamtaland,
Prandr inn rammi from Pelamgrk and his brother Styrmir. Those from Ha-
logaland were Prandr skjalgi, Qgmundr sandi, Hlg6ver langi from Saltvik, and
Harekr hvassi. Those from Inner Proendalgg were Ketill havi, Porfinnr eisli, Hav-
ar5r, the brothers from Orkadalr Arnorr mgrski and Hallsteinn, Bgrkr from
FirSafylki, Eyvindr snakr, Berg{)6rr bestill, Hallkell from Fjalir, Olafr drengr,
Arnvi6r from Sogn, SigurSr bildr, Einarr from HgrSaland, Finnr and Ketill
from Rogaland, Grj6tgar5r rgskvi, Porolfr, Ivarr smetta, Hallsteinn Hlifarson,
Ormr skogarnef, and many others, though we cannot identify them.
King Olaf now prepared himself as his resources allowed for the same kind
of struggle and was determined to bring the action to a conclusion.
72. Concerning the Consultation of the Chieftains
At the meeting that the chieftains convened they agreed among themselves
that if they provided Jarl Eirikr with a sufficient force to do battle against King
Olaf Tryggvason, he would control two-thirds of the land that fell to the kings
and become the ruler of the Norwegian realm. He would pay them the dues
from their portions every year. Jarl Eirikr was to take possession of King Olaf's
ship and all the spoils won in the battle, but each was to have as his allotment
one-third of Norway. This was confirmed among themselves.
Then Jarl Eirikr readied himself and his force. He had a ship that was named
JarnbarSinn [Ironprow]. It was a large ship and exceptionally well armored.
Both stem and stern were extensively reinforced with iron and sharp spikes. He
had nineteen ships equipped for hard action.
They now rowed at the king's ship with great impetuousness, so that some
people claim that the Serpent suffered some damage in the collision. When
King Olaf saw that the jarl was rowing with such strenuousness, he asked his
men who was approaching so belligerently. They replied: "We believe, lord,
that it is Jarl Eirikr Hakonarson with Jarnbar5inn, which is a very large ship."
Then King Olaf said: "They have arrayed many men of high rank in the army
they are bringing against us, and from this contingent we can expect a hard
battle. They are Norwegians like us and have often seen bloody swords and
many a passage at arms. They will also think an encounter with us is fitting, and
so it is. He is not holding a slack course in our direction, and he probably has
it in mind to avenge his father."
Jarl Eirikr's forecastleman was Skuli Porsteinsson. A second was Vigfuss Viga-
Glumsson, and a third Torfi Valbrandsson. Finnr Eyvindarson from Herlgnd
[was there as well], a Norwegian and an excellent shot. He had fashioned
Einarr J)ambarskelfir's bow. A measure of how well the Long Serpent was
manned was that Einarr was stationed amidships and loosed his gold-threaded
arrows all day from there and did not miss his man.
Now a hard-fought battle began. The jarl advanced firmly against the Serpent
and would have liked to take the ship if he could, but King Olaf and his men de-
fended themselves extremely well and with inexpressible bravery. The king stood
on the poopdeck and hurled spears with both hands. He caught every missile
aimed at him in the air and returned it, killing many men in the course of the day.
His forecastlemen Hyrningr and Vikarr did the same; they fought sturdily and de-
fended themselves valiantly although they were hard pressed in the battle.
A great number succumbed to the jarl as well. Einarr killed many men with
his bow and wounded a large number. On the Serpent many men were wounded
by projectiles or halberds or stones; not many had succumbed yet, but all were
fatigued and at the end of their strength.
When they had fought for a long time, Jarl Eirikr saw that many of his men
had fallen and a still larger number were wounded. He put in to shore and had
suffered great casualties. He ordered that the dead and wounded be removed
from the ships and manned them instead with an equal number of rested and
unwounded men.
When the jarl put in to shore, King Olaf's men asked him to flee and told him
how much was at stake. He said that he would not flee because it was the duty
of a proper king not to flee.
The ship with sixteen rowing stations that we have already mentioned made
for the stern of the king's ship and asked the king for leave to board the Ser-
pent. They said that they would gladly die with him if that was fated. The king
refused, "for it is of no help to me that you should board this ship, but it might
turn out much to my advantage if you remain in the same place where you were
before, and you might lend me great assistance." When they heard that, they
headed for shore.
Jarl Eirikr now called on the Danish and Swedish armies to support him so
that he could avenge his father: "It will be an eternal reproach to us, both to the
Danish king and the Swedish king, each and every time there is mention of King
Olaf Tryggvason, if we cannot vanquish him. I have never seen such a disgrace
in view of the fact that he has a single ship while we have a countless army."
After that the army began to arm itself anew for battle. They proceeded to
harden their resolve, and they all promised him their support. Before the meet-
ing was over, Jarl Eirikr vowed to accept holy baptism if he could vanquish this
distinguished king. Up until this time Jarl Eirikr had had Thor on the prow
of his ship, but now he substituted the holy cross and broke Thor into
smithereens. He set up the cross in the prow of JarnbarSinn.
After that it occurred to the jarl to summon the wise man Porkell inn havi [the
Tall], the brother of Jarl Sigvaldi. He spoke to him as follows: "I have often been
in battle," said Jarl Eirikr, "but I have never encountered braver or more mettle-
some men than King Olaf and his men. Nor have I seen a ship as difficult to cap-
ture as the Long Serpent. Now offer some stratagem to overcome the Serpent,
Porkell," said the jarl, "if you are as wise a man as people say."
Porkell was evasive for a long time and said that he had no stratagems to of-
fer. But after the jarl and others had entreated him at length, he was eventu-
ally persuaded by the offer of much gold and silver. What he gave in return was
a clever and ingenious stratagem. He told them first to erect a great fortress
with big beams byway of a siege tower, then bring heavy beams onto the fortress
and lower them onto the Serpent. "I think," he said, "that this will be effective."
People say that the Serpent would never have been overcome if this stratagem
had not been devised.
Then the jarl joined battle at close quarters and placed JarnbarSinn along-
side the Serpent. When King Olaf saw the jarl rowing toward them, he said:
"Thor is now gone from the prow of JarnbarSinn, and the holy cross has been
put in his place. The Lord Jesus Christ would presumably rather have two than
one."
In the words of Halldorr inn okristni when he composed verses about Jarl
Eirikr:
8. FjgrS kom heldr i harSan,

hnitu reyr sarnan dreyra,
tungl skgrusk J)a tingla

tangar, Ormr enn langi,
{)as bor5mikinn Bar5a
brynflagSs reginn Iag6i
(jarl vann hjalms at holmi
hri5) vi5 Fafnis si5u.
The Long Serpent came into rather hard straits—blood-reeds [arrows] collided and
the moons of the prow clasps [decorative gunwale pieces = shields] were slashed—
when the god of the byrnie-witch [ax = warrior] lay high-gunwaled Bar5i (Jarn-
bar5inn) alongside Fafnir [legendary dragon = Serpent]; the jarl waged a helmet-
storm [battle] at the island.)1
And again:
9. GerSisk snarpra sver5a,

slitu drengir frid, lengi,
{>ars gollin spjgr gullu,
gangr of Orm enn langa;
dolgs kvgSu framm fylgja
frans leggbita hgnum
scenska menn at sennu
sunnr ok danska runna.
There was a long passage of sharp swords for [possession of] the Long Serpent;
the warriors broke the peace where the gilt spears whirred; they said that Swedish
men and Danish trees of leg-biters [swords = warriors] followed him forward
south at the dispute of the glistening foe [battle of the Long Serpent].)2
And again in his words:
10. Hykkat vaeg5 at vigi,

vann drott jgfur sottan,
(fjaro- komsk jarl atjor5u)
6gnhar5an, sik spgr5u,
{)as fjarSmyvils fcer6u5
folkharSr a trgd Bar5a
(litt vas saevar soti
svangr) vi6 Orm enn langa.
(I do not think that they spared themselves in the battle; the retinue got the fear-
fully tough prince subdued, and the jarl got the fjord-land [Norway] when you,
battle-hard, brought Bar5i (Jarnbar5inn) on the path of the fjord-rock [cliff =

coastal course] against the Long Serpent. The horse of sea [ship] was not very lean
[not underfed; scil., well-fed or well-manned] .)3
This battle was so hard-fought that it was a marvel to behold, in the first place
because of the attack but most of all because of the defense.4 Eventually the
Serpent was surrounded by ships on all sides, but they defended themselves so
vigorously that they took no heed for themselves and leaped over the gunwales
with their weapons as if they were fighting on the mainland. In HallfreSr's
words:
11. Sukku ni5r af NaSri

(naddfar) i bo5 sarir
(baugs ger5ut vi5 vaegjask)
verkendr HeSins serkjar;
vanr mun Ormr, {)6tt Ormi
alldyrr konungr styri,
hvars skriSr med H5 Iy5a,
lengi slikra drengja.
(The workers of HeSinn's shirt [byrnie = warriors] sank from the Long Serpent
wounded in the batde—they did not yield to the danger of the spear-ring [shield
= battle, onslaught]; the Serpent will long be without such warriors wherever it
sails with a company of men, even though a very exalted king steers it.)5
When King Olaf saw that the crew was thinning out at the gunwales and that
many men were falling amidships, he urged his men strongly to do battle and
asked whether their swords were dull or whether they were just wielding them
sluggishly: "I see that you are collecting a lot of wounds for yourselves and some
of you are falling dead on the deck, but those fighting against you are stand-
ing erect even though they are obliged to wield their weapons over their heads."
Then Kolbjgrn the Marshal answered: "It is not so strange, lord, that the
swords are dull because they have endured many a blow today and it seems to
me that many have been broken in vain."
Then King Olaf ran from the poopdeck to the forecastle and took many
swords from a rowing chest. They were both brand new and sharp. He bade his
men take them and wield them. Then his men saw that blood was running out
from under his byrnie-sleeve onto his hand, but they did not know where he
was wounded.
After this he went up onto the poopdeck with Kolbjgrn. Both of them had
gold-adorned shields and wore helmets on their heads and silk tunics over their
byrnies. Both disguised their faces so that one could not tell clearly which was
which because all their weapons were so similar. Both were also tall and stal-
wart men.
We are told that after King Olaf's ships were all cleared and all had been cut
away from the Long Serpent, ships encircled the Serpent from all sides. Then
the whole host could make out where the king stood on the poopdeck. The
clash of weapons was so great, as well as the rain of stones on the poopdeck,
that all their shields and armor were bristling with projectiles. King Sverrir said
that he had never heard a precedent for a king's standing on the poopdeck in
such a battle and making himself so conspicuous that everyone in the battle
could see him.6 Everybody could also tell that he did this to exalt himself.
Now Jarl Eirikr ordered that the great beams be dropped on the Serpent
from the raised tower that itself was constructed from great beams. That caused
the Serpent to list severely.
A very fierce battle ensued, and many men fell on both sides. Even though
Jarl Eirikr figures most prominently in the battle, nearly the whole host was en-
gaged in the attack, as we have related. The distinguished men who were listed
above, Hyrningr and Porgeirr and Vikarr, fought very fiercely with their men
and defended the prow. But eventually they succumbed with high fame to the
weapons of their enemies. It was now not so easy to defend the breach left
where these men had stood.
At that moment Einarr JDambarskelfir loosed two arrows at Jarl Eirikr. Then
the jarl said: "I am not eager to wait for the third." He addressed himself to
Finnr of Herlgnd, who was an outstandingly good shot and has already been
mentioned. The jarl asked him to shoot Einarr f>ambarskelfir. "I will not shoot
him," he said, "but I will disable his bow if I can." And now Einarr was about to
loose the third arrow and drew his bow. Finnr took aim at Einarr's bow with a
leaf-shaped arrow and struck the bowpiece. Einarr's bow burst apart. When
King Olaf heard the bursting sound, he asked: "What snapped?" Einarr replied.
"Norway was snapped out of your hands, lord," said Einarr. King Olaf became
angry and said: "God will determine that, not your bow."7
Now a violent battle ensued and many champions succumbed on the Ser-
pent, including most of those who have already been mentioned. There was a
general thinning along the gunwales. Jarl Eirikr's men now boarded the Ser-
pent and went up and down on the Serpent like ravenous wolves. Men fell one
and all amidships, but around the prow and the forecastle they held out
longest. Jarl Eirikr and his men now turned back to the poopdeck and attacked
it from every direction. In Halldorr's words:
12. Het a heiptar nyta

hugreifr (meS Aleifi
aptr stgkk J)j65 of J)optur)
|)engill sina drengi,
J)as hafvita hgfou

hallendr of gram snjallan
(var5 fyr Vin5a myr6i
vapnei5r) lokit skeiSum.
The bold prince [Eirikr] called on his warriors deft in battle; the men with Olaf
gave way across the rowing benches when the destroyers of the sea-fire [gold =
generous men] had enclosed the bold king with ships; there was an oath [i.e., loud
enunciation] of weapons [battle tumult] around the slayer of the Wends [Olaf].8
When Jarl Eirikr and his men reached the forecastle, there was tough resis-
tance and a fierce battle. As King Olaf's men fell and his forces thinned along
the gunwales, they pulled back to the poopdeck, and there was a great heap of
fallen men there. Those who were still standing on the Serpent were sorely fa-
tigued. When King Olaf saw where Jarl Eirikr was with a large force, he aimed
three short-shafted spears at the jarl, hurling with both hands. But they did not
fly as they were wont, for none of them struck the jarl. One flew over his head,
the second missed him on the right side, and the third missed him on the left.
Thus all these casts were to no avail.
When King Olaf saw this, he marveled greatly and said: "Great good fortune
is on the side of the jarl, and God now wishes him to have the kingdom and the
land." As he said that, everyone who was there, both his adversaries who fol-
lowed the jarl and the king's men who remained alive, saw a heavenly light de-
scend on the poopdeck. Jarl Eirikr's men struck into the light, thinking to slay
the man whom God honored with His light.
When the light vanished, they could not see the king anywhere, and they
searched for him everywhere in the ship and around the ship on the chance
that he was in the water. But they did not find him. At the same moment the
eight men who were left standing on the Serpent leaped overboard. They in-
cluded Einarr J)ambarskelfir, Kolbjgrn from Upplgnd, Porsteinn oxafotr, Bjgrn
from StuSla, Asbjgrn from Mostr, Prandr inn skjalgi, and Qgmundr from San dr.
They were all pulled up into the ship.
Some people claim that King Olaf leaped overboard and escaped in this way
and was later seen in foreign parts. Others claim that he fell in this battle. But
wherever his life ended, it is probable that God took his soul unto Himself, con-
sidering the effort he devoted to strengthening Christianity and all those mat-
ters redounding to God's honor.
Jarl Eirikr now took possession of the Long Serpent and King Olaf's other
ships and the weapons of many men who had made brave use of them earlier
in the day. This battle is the most famous one fought in the North, in the first
place because of the stout resistance with which the Serpent was defended and
in the second place because of the attack and victory in which a ship was
cleared that no man thought could be overcome while still afloat. But most of
all it was famous because of the chieftain who possessed the ship, and that was
King Olaf, the most celebrated man where the Norse tongue is spoken. People
so prized the reputation of King Olaf that they refused to believe that he had
fallen, as Halldorr alludes to in his poem [flokkr] .9
People say that King Olaf and Kolbjgrn the Marshal leaped overboard on op-
posite sides of the ship. But the kings and Jarl Eirikr had posted small boats
around the larger ships so that they could fish out those who dove overboard
and bring them to the chieftains. When the king himself had plunged into the
water, those in the small boats wanted to capture him and bring him to the jarl,
but King Olaf held his shield over his head and dove underwater. Kolbjgrn, on
the other hand, held his shield under him and hit the water in such a way that
the shield was beneath him. For that reason he did not escape underwater and
was captured and pulled into one of the boats. They thought that he was King
Olaf and brought him before Jarl Eirikr. When the jarl realized that it was
Kolbjgrn and not the king, he spared his life.
At this moment the Wendish ship rowed away, and many people are of the
opinion that King Olaf shed his byrnie underwater and swam to safety on
the Wendish ship. That version circulated widely later on, as may be heard in
the poems of men who bore witness to it. Thus HallfreSr says:
13. Veitkat hitt, hvart Heita

hungrdeyfi skalk leyfa
dynsaeSinga dauSan
dyrbliks e6a J)6 kvikvan.
(I do not know whether I should praise the hunger-suppressor of the gulls of the
tumult of the effulgence of the beast of the sea-king [beast of the sea-king = ship;
effulgence of the ship = shields; tumult of the shields = battle; gulls of the battle
= ravens that feast on the carrion; hunger-suppressor of the ravens = warrior-
king] as if he were dead or rather still living.)T
And again he said:
14. Sag5r vas mer, ne meira

munuma stri5 of bi5a,
lySum fir5r ok Ia5i
Iandvgr5r fyr sae handan;
vaerir oss, J)6tt aerir

elds J)eim svikum beldi,
heilalikn, ef, hauka
hgklifs, jgfurr lifSi.
(The guardian of the land was reported to me to have been removed from people
and land across the sea; we will not suffer greater grief; it would be a salutary con-
solation for us, even though the expender of the fire of the high-cliff of the hawks
[high-cliff of the hawks = hand or wrist on which the hawk rests; fire of the hand
or arm = gold; expender of gold = the jarl] committed treachery, if the prince
were still alive.)2
We have related here that there was a twofold account of this encounter from
the outset concerning the point whether he fell in battle or escaped, and there
are many other examples of this.3
75. [untitled]
If God permits, I will recount as truthfully as I know how what the men who
were in the battle reported and what they saw last of King Olaf. Skuli Porsteins-
son said that when he boarded the king's ship, "the dead men lay so thick un-
derfoot," he said, "that it was hardly possible to go forward." Then he saw the
king on the poopdeck, but he looked away and cleared the bodies from under
the jarl's feet and his own. When he looked again, he did not see the king.
Einarr JDambarskelfir said that he saw blood dripping slowly from the king's
helmet and down on the king's face. When he wanted to look closely at what
he was doing, Einarr received a great blow on the head from a stone so that he
fell down and nearly lost consciousness. Some moments later he jumped up
and remembered the king but did not see him.
Kolbjgrn reported that as the king was shooting during the day, blood was
running out from under his byrnie sleeve. But when he looked at the jarl's com-
pany that was boarding the ship, he became rather apprehensive and ran to
the place where the king had been standing. When he did not see him, he
jumped overboard into the sea. And when he hit the water, he felt a shield float-
ing under him, a shield that belonged to King Olaf. It was a very fine shield
and gilt. He had the impression that under the shield King Olaf himself was
swimming. Then Kolbjgrn let go of this shield.
Subsequently his enemies saw that he had a helmet similar to the king's and
was swimming among the ships. They thought that it was probably King Olaf,
and they were delighted. Then they fished him out of the water, but when they
discovered that the man was not King Olaf, they spared his life.
As we said before, the king's men made a careful search for the king but did
not find him. Then some men in the jarl's force said that a man in a red tunic
had been swimming toward the Wendish ship, and when he was taken into the
ship, it made off immediately. All the Wendish ships that had been there dur-
ing the day sailed away and south along the coast.
76. Concerning Jarl Eirikr
With this famous battle Jarl Eirikr won an outstanding victory, and he earned
great praise from everyone. The battle is memorialized for the fallen men on
the Third or Fourth Ides of September.1 Queen I>yri was greatly affected by
these events, and she wept bitterly because a great grief was kindled in her heart
so that she could neither eat nor drink.
When Jarl Eirikr heard of this, he went to her and addressed her with these
words:
"We have committed a great misdeed," he said, "by depriving this good and dis-
tinguished king of his realm and rank. Not only have your rank and honor been
damaged by his fall, but it is also a great loss to all the people of the country and
most of all to his subjects. But because we cannot now repair this great injury or
return this glorious king to you, who has now been summoned away from his
realm, I am eager to afford you consolation for your sorrow. In no way will you now
have less honor and esteem, and your rank will not be lower in our reign with the
exception of the loss of this man to whom you were married while King Olaf still
lived."
Then the queen spoke:
You say this from the great kindness and goodness of your heart, as you are often
wont. But even if I were to make the choice to live rather than to die with King
Olaf, my heart is so dashed with the access of sorrow and so swollen with the en-
ervation of my mind that no spark of life can restore or resuscitate me.
And it was borne out that Queen I>yri lived on only a short time and departed
this world with great heartsickness and a protracted fast.2 We are told that an
eminent priest gave her the advice that she might be free of guilt and without
sin if she sustained her life with a single apple, and she followed this advice with
the power of abstinence but also of obedience. Thus she lived for nine days and
then died in this fashion.
But Jarl Eirikr was now greatly honored and praised for winning such a vic-
tory. He took possession of the Long Serpent and put a captain in command
of it and manned it with a triple crew. But this splendid ship tilted to one side
forever after, would not respond to the rudder, and moved heavily and slug-
gishly. Eventually Jarl Eirikr managed to get the ship west to Vik, though with
great cost, labor, and exertion. But when he saw that the ship would not obey
him and afford him any proper service—on the contrary, it demonstrated
great recalcitrance and strain—-Jarl Eirikr had the ship chopped apart and
burned.
When the Norwegians heard that King Olaf had fallen, they were all sor-
rowful and repented that they had wanted to sail away from such a lord and
chieftain in such great peril. They understood now that they would never ex-
piate this.
77. Concerning Vigi
The story now turns to the dog Vigi. He was kept at a farm at the king's resi-
dence and was very well taken care of by one of the men. Every day Vigi lay in
front of the king's seat. When the dog's caretaker had heard the true report of
the king's fall, he went to the house where the dog was and adopted a very sor-
rowful posture: "Listen here, Vigi," he said, "we are now without a lord."
When the dog heard this, he leaped up from the king's seat and cried out
just once. He went out and did not stop until he got to a hillock, where he lay
down and would take neither food nor drink. He continued to starve himself
and take no food for many days. And even though he would not eat what was
brought to him, he prevented other dogs, birds, or animals from carrying it
away.
The tears flowed out of his eyes and over his muzzle so that everyone could
grasp that he mourned grievously for his lord. He never moved from the spot
he had chosen but remained there the whole time until he died. What the
farmer had predicted on the island of Mostr had now come to pass: to wit, that
the Norwegians had lost their four greatest prize possessions.
Now we will write of the matter that seems doubtful to some people, namely
that King Olaf stripped off his byrnie underwater and explored the depths by
swimming until he reached the ship we have mentioned as having come from
Wendland. Astri5r and Dixin, who was mentioned before, were on board and
had lain at anchor during the day. But immediately after the battle they sailed
away as they had planned among themselves.
They sailed to Wendland, and King Olaf with them. He had suffered many
wounds but none of them grave. Astri5r healed him with great care until he
had recovered. When he was well, he was recognized by many men. A number
of powerful men in Wendland offered him their assistance if he wished to re-
claim his realm. They said that they would provide him with sufficient troops.
But he declined, saying that his Lord had not wished to grant him assistance
in the battle "because my service has not pleased him, and it is not fitting to
oppress people with such a great trial by leading a mighty force into battle
again." It is said that AstriSr reported these words.
After that, King Olaf did not consort with men, but he communed with God
and His holy men. We are told that a worthy man was sent by King Olaf to Erl-
ingr Skjalgsson and gave him and his wife a true report of King Olaf. He said
that he was alive and served God faithfully in a certain monastery. He showed
them a knife and a gold ring to confirm the story and as tokens that King Olaf's
sister AstriSr would recognize as valuables belonging to her brother. She af-
firmed this.
But there are many men who harbor suspicions and cast doubt on this ac-
count, and many are still in doubt. I nonetheless consider it a certainty that it
is true and that he remained alive after the battle and devoted himself to God
by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and dwelt in a monastery in Greece or Syria
to repent the misdeeds he had committed in his youth.
Now I entreat each and every person who reads the saga that he pray to the
Lord that Olaf may be worthy to share the heavenly heritage with the King of
kings, our Lord Jesus Christ, in place of this ephemeral realm that he lost to
Jarl Eirikr Hakonarson.
Here ends the saga of King Olaf Tryggvason, who may rightly be called the
apostle of the Norwegians. Thus wrote the monk Oddr, who was at Pingeyrar
and a priest by ordination, for the glory of Almighty God and to secure preser-
vation in memory for those who come later, although the writing is not carried
out in a skillful style.1
Notes to the Text
Prologue
1. On Olaf's baptism, see Lonnroth 2000,262-63; Munch 1853, 72; and Zernack 1998,88-
92. Zernack argues that the political significance of causing the younger Olaf to be bap-
tized by his predecessor on the Norwegian throne was to promote the independence of
the Norwegian church.
2. Zernack (1998, 78) adduces parallels to John the Baptist as precursor (jyrirrennari) from
the Norwegian and Icelandic Homily Books. The theme is picked up in Chapter 52, where
Zernack (1998, 86) detects an echo from 1 Corinthians 3.6, 10.
3. John 3.30. See also Kirby 1976-80, 1:286 and 2:228. On biblical parallels in the text in
general see Baetke 1970, 311; Gordon 1938, 39-42; Indreb0 1917, 160-61; Lonnroth
1963, 68-69; and Sverrir Tomasson 1988, 261-62, 267, 274.
4. Zernack (1998, 87) finds in this passage an additional parallel to John the Baptist, who,
according to John 10.41, "signum fecit nullum" (gave no sign).
5. 1 Peter 2.17. See Sverrir Tomasson 1988, 261-62.
6. The phrasing here is reminiscent of Pidreks saga, ed. Bertelsen, 1:6.
Chapter 1
1. See Munch 1853, 73 and Snorri's "Haralds saga grafeldar" (Snorri Sturluson 1991,
1:147).
2. Munch (1853, 73) thought that Gull-Haraldr might be a mistake for Dala-Gu6brandr in
this group because in Snorri's "Haralcjs saga grafeldar," chap. 9 (1991, 1:141), the latter
meets with Haraldr, Tryggvi, and Hakon.
3. Veggja5r is identified (s.v. Veggir) in Heimskringla (Snorri 1991, 2:495) as a farm in Ran-
riki (the west coast of modern Sweden).
4. Munch (1853, 73-74) noted that P6r5r Ingileifarson and P6r5r Eigileifsson have names
suspiciously similar to the P6r5r Êgileifarson and P6r6r Jorunnarson who discover the
great fragrance on Selja in Chapter 28.
5. For the location of Sotanes (also in Ranriki), see maps 1 and 2 in IF 26.
6. OfrustaSir is identified in Heimskringla (Snorri 1991, 3:489) as a farm in JaSarr or
Upplond. See also Bugge 1910, 3.
7. On the difference between Oddr's account and Snorri's account of Tryggvi's death, see
Munch 1853, 74.
Chapter 2
1. On Olaf's birthplace, see Munch 1853, 74-75.
137
138 Notes to the Text
Chapter 3
1. Only Oddr and Theodoricus identify Gunnhildr's messenger as Jarl Hakon. Snorri
(Heimskringla 1991, 1:150) identifies this Hakon only as "a powerful man, a friend of
Gunnhildr's named Hakon." See Storm 1873, 134.
2. Rindal (1977, 156) identifies Skaun as Stange in Hedmark.
3. Snorri, Heimskringla (1991, 3:496) identifies this place (s.v. Viskar) as a farm in Vik or
Upplgnd.
Chapter 4
1. There are contradictions in this passage. Gunnhildr suspects that AstriSr is pregnant but
seems to know immediately afterward that she has given birth to a son named Olaf.
Snorri repairs the problem by making AstriSr's pregnancy into a rumor, which Gunn-
hildr then investigates. Oddr also fails to explain the hostility between Hakon jarl and
Gunnhildr's sons. Snorri adds that there had been a quarrel between Hakon and her
sons the following winter, with the result that no search had been made for AstriSr. That
allows time for Olaf's birth.
2. On Gunnhildr and the wicked stepmother tradition, see Bugge 1908, 250-51; 1909, 27;
and 1910, 5.
3. Gu5niJ6nsson (1957, 12) follows the Stockholm MS in reading peir 'they,' but the con-
text seems to suggest that this sentence is part of the direct discourse and that f>eir should
read per 'you.' This is the point at which the main manuscript, AM 310, 4to, which is de-
fective at the beginning, sets in.
4. It looks as though the motif of the hostile expulsion has been only partially realized. It
must be intended to make onlookers believe that Porsteinn has not housed the wayfar-
ers willingly.
5. Snorri, Heimskringla (1991, 3:488 identifies Mjgrs (Mjosa) as a lake in Upplgnd.
6. For a speculation on the queen's hideout, see Kjaer 1871.
Chapter 5
1. The Stockholm MS names the daughter Unnr rather than Au5r. Yngvars saga (1912,
1-2) supports the reading Au5r. See Hofmann 1988, 1:368. Snorri and modern critics
have found it unlikely that Jarl Hakon was Gunnhildr's emissary. The fact that Oddr and
Yngvars saga agree on this point tends to reinforce Hofmann's strong case for believing
that Yngvars saga is correctly attributed to Oddr.
2. This could be a reference to oral or written accounts. It is unlikely that Oddr had much
in the way of written sources when he composed his Latin original, but twenty or thirty
years later his translator could have referred to Ag. or the lost *Hla5ajarla saga. The lat-
ter served as a source for the full account of these matters in Fagrskinna.
Chapter 6
1. Munch (1853, 76) speculated that the prophetess in question could be identified not as
Vladimir's mother but as his paternal grandmother Olga (d. 969). The same Olga may
have been the vague model for Allogia (Chapter 8). On the "Pythian spirit" (phitons andi,
pythonicus spiritus), see Holtsmark 1974, 12. See also Acts 16.16: "Factum est autem . . .
puellam quandam habentem spiritum pythonem obviare nobis." (It happened . . . that
we met a girl with a spirit of prophecy).
Chapter 7
1. On the five names Klerkon, Klerkr, Eres (Heres), Reas, and Rekon/Rekoni, see Kar-
aliunas (1994), who argues that these Aistian names are most probably not Finno-Ugric
but could be Old Baltic (Indo-European).
Chapter 8
1. Cf. the precocious slaying by Prince Magnus Olafsson in Russia in Morkinskinna (ed.
Finnurjonsson, 4).
2. Bugge (1908, 252; 1909, 27) compares a Moltke Moe story. Lonnroth (1963, 89) com-
pares an episode in Saxo Grammaticus (ed. J. Olrik and H. Raeder, p. 30; trans. Fisher,
1979,30).
3. Gordon (1938, 72-73) takes the story of Olaf in Russia to be a confusion (Verwechslung)
with the story of Prince Magnus Olafsson in Russia, first recorded in Morkinskinna. We
might equally well suppose that Prince Magnus's story was influenced by Oddr's account
of Olaf's youth.
4. The sentence reads: "Vil ek J)ar til njota ySarrar giftu ok sjalfs {)ins hamingju." Rindal
(1977, 36) conjectures that pins here is a scribal error for mins. In that case, the sentence
would mean: "In the process I will avail myself of your luck and my own good fortune."
5. Cf. passages in Morkinskinna (ed. Finnurjonsson, 55), andFrissbok (ed. Unger, 286).
Chapter 9
1. On this hagiographic commonplace, see Andersson 1988, 276.
Chapter 10
1. Maurer (1855-56, 1:274) and Bugge (1910, 7-8) noted that Burizleifr cannot be
Boleslav I (992-1025) but must have been his father Miesco. On Miesco, see Thietmar
von Merseburg, Chronik (ed. and trans. Trillmich, 116-28). See also Schreiner 1927, 70-
71.
2. In Fagrskinna (IF 29:144, 147) this queen is called Geila, and in a later passage in the
Stockholm MS (Munch 1853, 48) she is called Garia. Bugge (1910, 8) noted that Geira/
Geila is not a Slavic name, but he located a German Geilan. Gordon (1938, 74) noted
that there is no trace of the Geira story in Ag., Th., or HN. Lonnroth (1975, 39) found
the Geira episode too romantic for a king's saga and thought that the chivalric overtones
might be inspired by the Norse versions of the Vie romancee de Charlemagne and the Pseudo-
Turpin Chronicle. For an alternative proposal, see my introduction.
Chapter 12
1. The Stockholm MS (ed. Finnurjonsson, 36) adds the following passage on Olaf's grief:
"It is mentioned in the saga that the king's sister Ingibjgrg grieved over her husband
who had been killed, but Olaf wanted to marry her to a man named Sgrli, and Olaf con-
soled her in many ways. She paid his words no heed and said: 'You had a wife and lost
her. It grieved you so greatly that you wept so loudly that your grief could be heard over
all the Norwegian realm.'" The passage could well be original in Oddr's saga, but we
can imagine that it was dropped in one redaction either because the expression of grief
was deemed excessive or because Olaf's accession in Norway was so much later that it
made little sense to dramatize his grief to this extent after so many years and an inter-
vening marriage to Gy5a. His sister Ingibjgrg has a role in Chapter 43 of Laxdcela saga
(IF 5:126-30), not as a grief-stricken widow but as a lovelorn companion of Kjartan

Olafsson.
Chapter 13
1. On primesigning (prima signatio), see Einar Molland, "Primsigning," in KLNM 13:439-
44.
2. On helpless pagan gods, see Lonnroth 1963, 71; Andersson 1988, 269-76.
3. Bugge (1910, 7) challenged Olaf's role in Vladimir's conversion because it did not oc-
cur until 988, but that is not the only reason for doubt.
Chapter 14
1. On this episode, see Lonnroth 1963, 60-61.
2. Lonnroth (1963, 80) speculated that this Jarl SigurSr might be the reflection of a later
adherent of Edward the Confessor, according to William of Malmesbury. See PL, 179:
col. 1179. Snorri omits him altogether (Storm 1873, 139).
Chapter 15
1. On the status of this chapter as an interpolation, see Baetke 1973, 301-2. Baetke argues
that it was taken not fromjomsvikinga saga but from Gunnlaugr Leifsson's version of Oldfs
saga Tryggvasonar. But see Olafur Halldorsson 2000, 70-71.
2. On the "Danavirki," see Jankuhn 1986, 55-76; on the battle between Emperor Otto II
and King Harald Bluetooth, ibid., 63.
3. Maurer (1855-56,1:274) and Bugge (1910, 8) pointed out that Olaf could not have par-
ticipated in Otto II's campaign in 974 because he would have been a child at that time.
4. Bishop Poppa's (or Poppo's) ordeal is reported by Thietmar von Merseburg, Chronik (ed.
and trans. Trillmich, 48); and Widukind von Korvei, Res Gestae Saxonicae (ed. and trans.
Bauer and Rau, 168-70).
5. Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson, An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1969, s.v. vargr
(II) give the succinct definition "an outlaw, who is to be hunted down as a wolf, esp. used
of one who commits a crime in a holy place, and is thereon declared accursed."
Chapter 16
1. The text is damaged at this point.
2. The text is again slightly damaged.
Chapter 17
1. The same phrase ("J)vi likast sem skur5goS vaeri sett a stall") is used to describe the sur-
rogate for Princess Ragnhildr in Morkinskinna (ed. Finnur Jonsson, 39): "J3vi likast sem
go5 vaeri sett a stalla."
2. Munch (1853, 83), Maurer (1855-56, 1:278), and Bugge (1910, 14) noted that Olaf
could not have been involved with Olafr kvaran's sister because Olafr died at 70 to 80
years of age in 981 and could not have had a sister of a marriageable and childbearing
age around 990.
3. Snorri refers to this son Tryggvi in Heimskringla (1991, 2:554-55) and cites a stanza attrib-
uted to Sigvatr PorSarson's "Tryggvaflokkr." See Skj, BI:231; andFagrskinna (IF 29:206).
Chapter 18
1. Elleh0j (1965, 263) believes that this passage was taken from Saemundr Sigfusson. Along
with the following passage it does indeed read like an excerpt from a written text. On
265—66, Elleh0j notes other possible loans from Saemundr.
2. On PorgerSr, see Chadwick 1950; Steinsland 1991, 220-26; and Strom 1983.
3. See the equivalent passage injomsvikinga saga (ed. Olafur Halldorsson, 187); Bjarni A5al-
bjarnarson 1936, 61; and Holtsmark 1974, 19. This passage too reads like an excerpt, es-
pecially since the reference to "stumps" is comprehensible only in the larger context of
Jomsvikinga saga. See the translation of Stockholm 7, 4to by Lee M. Hollander, pp. 102-3.
Chapter 19
1. This passage, like several earlier ones, is reminiscent of Magnus Olafsson's experience
in Russia. Magnus too was recalled by his Norwegian compatriots to assume the throne.
2. Munch (1853, 87) was perhaps the first to note the peculiarity that Porir is sent to Rus-
sia to find Olaf, although no mention has been made of Olaf's return to Russia. Chap-
ter 6 in Kristni saga (ed. Kahle, 16) seems to have taken over Oddr's idea that Olaf had
gone to Russia. Bugge (1910, 16) doubted the plausibility of Jarl Hakon's deception,
since he would have no interest in luring Olaf to Norway.
3. Munch (1853, 87) suggested thatjosteinn might be identified with the Justin mentioned
as an associate of Olaf's and a party to the treaty concluded between Olaf and Ethelred II
in England in 994 (Ancient Laws and Institutes, ed. Thorpe, 121). See also Bugge 1910,10.
4. Rindal (1977, 158) points out that Pjalfahellir is identified only by Theodoricus, who lo-
cates it near Ag5anes. See also Theodoricus (trans. David and Ian McDougall, 65, n 63a).
5. On the Norse views of witchcraft among the Lapps, see Hermann Palsson 1997.
Chapter 20
1. Bugge (1910, 17) considered reports of Hakon's libertinism to be church propaganda.
2. The Stockholm manuscript (Finnur Jonsson, 1932, 71) identifies the Icelander as Por-
leifr. On the episode in question, see "Porleifs f)attr jarlaskalds" (IF 9:215-29); trans. Ju-
dith Jesch in The Compute Sagas of Icelanders, 1:362-69. See also Almqvist 1965,186-205.
Chapter 21
1. Bugge (1910, 18) pointed out that Karkr is a Celtic name.
2. The woman is named Pora in the Stockholm MS (Finnur Jonsson, 1932, 79). Rindal
(1977, 158) notes that the farm is now called Romol.
3. Elleh0j (1965, 60) believes that Oddr took over the account of Olaf Tryggvason and Jarl
Hakon's death from Ari. Fritzner (1871) argued that Oddr preserves the more accurate
version of Karkr's death compared to Snorri. Mesta, 1:235-37, has a rather longer ver-
sion.
Chapter 22
1. On Veggistafr, see Storm, MHN, 78, n 3.
Chapter 24
1. Sacrifice to "stocks and stones" is a recurrent motif in Norse hagiography. See Deuteron-
omy 28.36, 64; and Ezekiel 20.32. See also Andersson 1988, 276.
Chapter 25
1. There is a lacuna in manuscript A at this point.
2. On Oddr's chronology, see Bjorn M. Olsen 1878, 44-46; Elleh0j 1965, 71-73; Maurer
1855-56, 2:517-23; and Munch 1853, 90-92.
3. The MS reads Jyrir mgrgum. I suggest that what was intended wasfyrir mgrgum hlutum (for
many things). Cf. the statement in Chapter 78 that at the end of his life Olaf "dwelt in a
monastery in Greece or Syria to repent the misdeeds he had committed in his youth."
Rindal (1977, 71) adheres to the manuscript reading and translates: "Den tredje bolken
var fylt av aere, fraegd og stor omsut for a gjere det betre for mange." (The third period
was filled with honor, fame, and great solicitude to improve the lot of many.)
4. The thought seems to be that because they had put Olaf out of their minds for some
years, they subtracted five years from his life, but the notion is strange.
5. Einarr and Astri5r are mentioned together in the supplement from the Uppsala MS at
the end of the saga, almost as if they were narrative executors. One might ponder
whether the correspondence between the present passage and the Uppsala supplement
suggests that the latter was part of Oddr's original.
Chapter 26
1. The mention of Bishop Jon matches HNbut not Th and Ag. See Elleh0j 1965, 256; Lonn-
roth 1963, 59; and Schmid 1931, 17-29.
Chapter 27
1. Lonnroth (1963, 60) thought that this landing on Mostr might be modeled on the land-
ing of Olafr Haraldsson on the same island. See also Olafur Halldorsson 1984 and
Theodoricus (trans. David and Ian McDougall, 76-77, n 123).
2. Meissner 1930 provides a large context for this toast.
3. This marks the beginning of Olaf's mission. On Oddr's sequence of conversion activi-
ties compared with Snorri's, see Andersson 1976; Bagge 1992, 24-27; and Maurer 1855-
56, 1:347-73.
Chapter 28
1. About Bishop Jon, see Chapter 26, note 1.
Chapter 30
1. Groth (1895, xxxxvii) assumed a missing ending in the form racio. See also Holtsmark
1974, 12 and 15.
2. At this point Finnur Jonsson (1932,101) reckons with two missing leaves in AM 310, 4to.
The text is filled in from Stockholm 18, 4to.
3. The wording of the text makes it appear that there are six churches rather than the five
churches claimed at the outset. Munch (1853, 94) suggested that the "district church"
and Christ Church are one and the same. See also Djupedal 1966, 43-44.
4. The legend set down here, undoubtedly from a written source, is recorded separately in
MHN, 145-52. See also Bing (1924), who thought that Chapters 28-29 contain the orig-
inal Sunniva legend as construed by Oddr but that Chapter 30 adds in the Sunniva story
proper from the Latin legend, with the addition of Albanus on Oddr's own initiative.
Mesta, 1:252, expresses doubt about the presence of Albanus.
Chapter S22
1. This and the following two chapters are numbered as in the Stockholm MS.
2. An Qlm65r enn gamli Hgr6akarason is mentioned as a contemporary of the first Ice-
landic colonist, Ingolfr Arnarson, in Landndmabok (IF 1:1.40), but chronologically he
cannot be identical with this QlmoSr. See Munch 1853, 94.
3. Snorri gives a fuller account in Heimskringla (1991, 1:202-3).
Chapter S24
1. At this point we return to AM 310, 4to. Chapter 31 in that version ends with the words:
"They all called on the name of the Lord. And the devil saw his honor much diminished
as God's rule grew."
Chapter 32
1. This marriage is also reported at the beginning of Yngvars saga vid/Qrla, which is ascribed
to Oddr Snorrason in an epilogue. Despite long-standing doubts, Dietrich Hofmann
(1981, 1984, 1988) has argued plausibly for the correctness of the attribution. See also
Yngvars saga (ed. Olson, xcii).
Chapter 34
1. On the status of this chapter as an interpolation fromjomsvikinga saga, see Baetke 1970,
302-3.
2. See Chapter 39, note 1.
Chapter 36
1. Munch (1853, 95) noted the differences between this account and the information
found in Theodoricus, Snorri, and Mesta. Elleh0j (1965,17-18) considers the reference
to Saemundr to be an interpolation and refers to Bjarni ASalbjarnarson 1936,33-40, who
considered the passage an interpolation because it breaks the narrative and repeats in-
formation on the assembly at Dragsei5 which appeared in the previous chapter. Rindal
(1977, 159) points out that in the Stockholm MS too, Saemundr is made responsible for
what is said in the following sentence: "And likewise Saemundr recounts with respect to
King Olaf that he gathered a great host of sorcerers on NiSarnes, etc." Accordingly, in
his translation (1977, 87) Rindal takes the words "Thus did Saemundr write about King
Olaf in his book" in AM 310, 4to, to apply to what follows rather than what precedes. To
me, the words "Thus did Saemundr write ..." sound postpositive rather than prefatory.
The Stockholm MS may nonetheless suggest that the Ni6arnes episode also comes from
Saemundr.
Chapter 37
1. The text must mean that he "thought" the gods were responding to his sacrifices. The
Stockholm MS reads: "He often sacrificed to the gods, and the devil responded to him
on behalf of the gods." Munch (1853, 95) noted the discrepancies between this account
and those in Snorri and Mesta.
Chapter 38
1. On the Gotaalv as the meeting place of kings, see Morkinskinna (ed. Finnur Jonsson,
292:15-20); andjanson 2001. See also the similar reference in Chapter 64.
2. Maurer (1855-1856,1:453) gives a subtle interpretation of Olaf's anger as it is portrayed
in the somewhat differing text of Mesta. Bugge (1910, 25) compares the famous slaps
administered in Laxdcela saga and Njdls saga, slaps that cause lasting hostility and, in
Njdls saga as in the present saga, the ultimate death of the offending man. Bugge (1910,
22), following Boer, believed that the story of Olaf and Queen Sigri5r was modeled on
the Brynhild story, and this view persisted as late as the work of Curt Weibull (1921, 99-
115).
3. The story of the slap related here does not combine very logically with the story of the
counterfeit golden ring in Chapter 33. Perhaps the episodes come from independent
adminster dinLaxdcelasag andNjdls ag ,slapsthatcauselastinghostiltyand,in
Chapter 39
1. In Chapter 34 Pyri is the name given Burizleifr's third daughter. In his edition ("Ind-
ledning," xxxi) Finnur Jonsson thought that this first occurrence of the name was a copy-
ist's error for "Geira."
2. "Pyrileif " is sometimes taken as an error for "Fyrileif" in Bohuslan (now Sweden); see
Rindal 1977 159. On Oddr's procedure for making a novel out of Pyri's story, see Baetke
1970, 304.
Chapter 40
1. On this marketplace, see Andersson 1979, 14—16.
2. Parts of the same story are told in Hallfredar saga (IF 8:153-67) and Laxdcela saga (IF
5:116-32).
Chapter 41
1. Chapter 41 is largely an excerpt from Ari Porgilsson's Islendingabok. See Bjarni A5al-
bjarnarson 1936, 61; and Holtsmark 1974, 12 and 15. Oddr adds the comment on
Olaf's being "the one who converted the country" to Ari's account (IF 1:1.14 — 18), al-
though the idea may well come from Ari's first sentence: "King Olaf, son of Tryggvi,
the son of Olaf, who was the son of Harald Fairhair, brought Christianity to Norway
and Iceland."
Chapter 43
1. See Maurer 1855-56, 1:327.
Chapter 44
1. Eyvindr is not nicknamed kelda in Chapter 36.
2. On the scriptural precedents for being caught in your own snare, see Psalms 141.9-10;
and Holtsmark 1974, 18.
3. See Gordon 1938, 54, who refers to Maurer 1855-56, 1:93 and 301 and to paragraph 23
in the GulapingslQg: see Earliest Norwegian Laws, 51, where it is specified that criminals
"shall be buried on the shore where the tide meets the green sod."
Chapter 45
1. Cf. the obligations by province listed in paragraph 315 of the GulapingslQg (Earliest Nor-
wegian Laws, 200).
2. Haukr and Sigur5r had clearly been put up to the trick by Olaf and had agreed in advance.
3. In this connection Gordon (1938, 55) refers to Mez 1922, 29, but the passage cited has
nothing comparable.
Chapter 46
1. On this marriage, see Baetke 1951, 112; and Thietmar von Merseburg, Chronik (ed. and
trans. Trillmich, 396-97). On the prelude to the Battle of SvolSr as a whole, see Baetke
1951,99-120.
2. Rufus or Ruphus is unidentified. Larsen (1932) constructed an elaborate hypothesis to
the effect that a certain Soti mentioned in the Uppsala MS (Finnur Jonsson 1932, 256
and 259) and the Rufus mentioned here each wrote an extended account of Olaf's life
around the middle of the eleventh century. Bjarni ASalbjarnarson (1936, 68) believed
that there was no priest by this name and suggests that our text reflects some misunder-
standing of the Latin word rufus 'red, redhead.'
3. In his explanatory note Rindal (1977,160) points to an analogy in Laxdcela saga: Princess
Ingibjgrg sends Gu5run, who has already been married, a headdress as a "bench gift,"
but Kjartan later presents it to Hrefna, who has not been married, as a "linen morning
gift" (IF 5:131, 138).
Chapter 49
1. Rindal (1977,160) identifies this cliff as Hornelen in Nordfjord. Hallar-Steinn retells the
episode in his "Rekstefja," stanzas 26-28 (%BI:531-32).
Chapter 51
1. On this mysterious figure, see Bang 1897 and Lonnroth 1963, 62.
2. The joke is based on Porkell's nickname dirdill, which, in Modern Icelandic, means
"short tail" (on a quadruped).
3. Lonnroth (1963, 72) compares a vision in Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar (see Biskupa sogur,
1:662). See also Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar, ed. Gu6run P. Helgadottir, 81, n 29/32-5.
Chapter 52
1. This sentence is somewhat opaque in AM 310, 4to, but clearer in the Stockholm MS:
"GuSbrandr or Dglum called him a questionable king and said that he was no less God's
angel sent down to earth."
2. The Legendary Saga of Saint Olaf, ed. Heinrichs et al. (72:15 -16) tells us that Olaf captured
eleven kings in Upplpnd "between cockcrow and breakfast." Even if Oddr's version were
close enough to suggest textual borrowing, there would be no way to know whether it
was made by Oddr himself or his translator.
Chapter 53
1. The story of the damaged and repaired ship is retold by Longfellow in Tales of a Wayside
Inn. See The Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Louis Untermeyer (New York: Her-
itage Press, 1943), 355-57.
2. This is the second of two remnants from Oddr's original Latin version; see Chapter 30,
note 1. Oddr's translation of Stefnir's stanza in Chapter 65 gives a fuller sample of his
Latin.
3. There is no reason to doubt that there were such oral stories about Olaf. See the similar
reference to oral tradition in Morkinskinna (ed. Finnurjonsson, 107:27-28).
Chapter 54
1. At the end of "Haralds saga harfagra" (Snorri, Heimskringla 1991, 1:91) we are told that
Hakon Vas a very great athlete, bigger and stronger and handsomer than any other man."
2. These persons can be identified directly or indirectly in Heimskringla with the exception
of Asgautr, PuriSr, and Poroddr. See the index in Snorri, Heimskringla 1991, vol. 3.
3. Matthew 5.45.
Chapter 55
1. This episode appears to be a duplicate of Chapter 37 on Hroaldr from GoSey.
Chapter 56
1. Snorri (1991, 1:220-21) identifies the unnamed victim as Rau5r.
Chapter 57
1. "Biskup sendir hann {)egar aptr til konungs ok ba5 hann gefa {)essum manni sgkina." The
verb gefa in this context (Finnurjonsson, 1932, 169) should perhaps be gefa upp: that is,
relinquish the case against the man.
Chapter 60
1. The following episode has been compared to Gregory the Great's Dialogues 3:7. See
Turville-Petre 1953, 137; and Heilagra manna s0gur, 1:223.
Chapter 62
1. The islands known as the Brenneyjar are at the mouth of the Gotaalv on the western
coast of Sweden.
2. Baetke (1970, 305-7) believes that Sigvaldi's mission is the author's invention and that
Sigvaldi's dramatic role is generally borrowed from Jomsvikinga saga. As Storm (1873,
148) pointed out, Snorri omits Sigvaldi's mission altogether.
3. The famous Battle of Hjgrungavagr (traditional date 986) is recounted in Jomsvikinga
saga (ed. Olafur Halldorsson, 176-93), and in Lee M. Hollander's translation of Stock-
holm 7, 4to, pp. 97-104.
Chapter 63
1. Bugge (1908, 264-65; and 1909, 34) adduces an Irish parallel to this angelica story. See
also Sverrir Tomasson 1984.
Chapter 64
1. The ominous tone that is a hallmark of later saga writing and dominates the conclusion
of Oddr's saga begins with this old man's melancholy prophesy.
2. Cf. Chapter 38, note 1.
3. Anne Holtsmark (1974, 13) assumes that the MS form "Garie" is the genitive of a La-
tinized form of Geira's name.
Chapter 65
1. There has been a protracted debate on the location of SvplSr. A location in the Baltic off
the German coast was favored by Bugge (1910, 34); Finnur Jonsson (1910-12); J0r-
gensen (1869, 300); Larsen (1927,39-41,118-19, and 1928,76-78); and Magnus Olsen
(1925). A location in the 0resund was favored by Moberg (1940-42); Curt Weibull
(1921; 99-115); and Lauritz Weibull (1911,111-43, and 1913, 62-76). Schreiner (1927,
58 and 69) thought that the 0resund version must derive from Ari but that it was in-
correct. Toll (1926) thought that there were two battles, one in the 0resund and one at
Svgl5r. He also thought that there were two Sigri5rs, a Swedish one (daughter of Skgglar-
Tosti) and a Polish one (daughter of Duke Miesco). The problem is well reviewed in
Baetke 1951.
2. Skj, BI:239. Munch (1853, 101) refers to Theodoricus (Chapter 5) and points out that
"hawk island" is to be explained by the fact that Haraldr blatgnn received twenty hawks
or falcons from Jarl Hakon every year. Ernst Albin Kock (NN, 655) believed that "hawk
island" referred only to Norway's mountainous cliffs.
3. The Stockholm MS has the reading (Munch 1853, 49; Finnur Jonsson 1932, 194): "Ok
J)etta hefir gert Oddr munkr a latinu." (The monk Oddr did [made] this in Latin.) That
wording induced Baetke (1970, 312-17) to suppose that the stanza is Oddr's original
composition in Latin. It should be pointed out, however, that after the stanza the Stock-
holm MS goes on to say: "The Icelander Stefnir composed this about Sigvaldi, and the
jarl held him legally responsible. One day when Stefnir was walking along the street, the
jarl's daughter called to him saying: 'Come here, northman, and let's sit together.' He
recited a stanza . . . . [The stanza amounts to a refusal.] Afterward the jarl had him
killed." Baetke considered Sigvaldi to be modeled on Judas and attributed this concept
to Oddr himself, but if the stanza is correctly attributed to Stefnir, the Judas parallel is
an old one. See Sverrir Tomasson 1988, 269.
4. See Maurer 1855-56, 1:374 and 381. Schreiner (1927, 71) oddly mistranslates the end
of the stanza. Elleh0j (1965, 50-51) thinks that Stefnir's stanza was included in Ari's kon-
unga cevi. Lonnroth (1975, 43) compares Jarl Sigvaldi with Ganelon, pointing out that
both figure in stories of betrayed heroes.
Chapter 66
1. % BL193. See Baetke 1951, 86-89; Moberg 1940-42, 11-15; and Schreiner 1927, 66-
69. See also Kock, NN, 555-56, 2008H, and 2920.
Chapter 67
1. The following sequence of false identifications has often been compared to King
Desiderius's observation of Charlemagne's march against Pavia as reported by the
Monk of St. Gall. See, e.g., Bugge 1910, 33-34; Lonnroth 1963, 85; and Schreiner 1927,
62.
2. To attack from the stern presumably had the effect of avoiding the foremost warriors,
the "forecastlemen" ranged in the prow. My punctuation differs from Gu5ni Jonsson's
edition (1957, 160).
Chapter 68
1. The MS reads "when King Olaf and his men saw . . . ." The "when" (er) must be wrong,
even though it is very clear in the facsimile. See Olav Tryggvasons saga (Holtsmark 1974,
109, line 5).
2. Skj, BI:150-51. See Schreiner 1927, 76-77 on Olaf's weakness both domestic and for-
eign. See also Kock, NN, 2449.
3. Skj, BI:150. See also Kock, NN, 2448.
4. Skj, BI:283. On "Frisa dolgr," see Baetke 1951, 93-94. For a review of the discussion on
the location of SvglSr, see Baetke 1951, 120-35.
Chapter 69
1. For 'jarla" or "jarls" the MS abbreviates 'j." Rindal (1977, 136) elects the singular form,
thus including Eirikr and excluding Sigvaldi.
Chapter 71
1. Skj, BI: 153-54.
Chapter 73
2. Skj, BI:194.1 depart somewhat from Finnur Jonsson's translation.
3. Skj, BI:194. I again deviate from Finnur Jonsson's translation. See also Kock, NN, 556-
57 and 1953A.
4. Note here how the author counteracts the force of the stanza.
5. Skj, BI:153. Once more I deviate slightly from Finnur Jonsson. See also Kock, NN, 476
and 2051A.
6. See Lonnroth 1963, 92; and Sverrir Tomasson 1988, 272.
7. Munch (1853,106) noted that this episode is omitted in the Uppsala MS. On the episode
itself, see Lonnroth 1963, 63.
8. Skj, BL194. See also Kock, NN, 1975-76.
9. Halldorr says nothing about King Olaf's fate in what survives of his "Eiriksflokkr," but
Hallfre5r alludes to his possible escape in the next chapter.
Chapter 74
2. Skj, BI:155. See also Kock, NN, 511, 2218B, 2451.
3. Lonnroth (1963, 79-80) compares the legendary survival of the English king Harold
Godwinson to the alleged survival of Olaf Tryggvason.
Chapter 76
1. The Fourth Ides of September is September 28. J0rgensen (1869, 299) dated the actual
battle on September 9, a Monday if the battle took place in 1000 or a Wednesday if, as
J0rgensen thought, it took place in 1002. See also Holtsmark 1974, 13.
2. Bugge (1910, 21) noted that Pyri (under the name There) also starved in Adam of Bre-
men's account (trans. Francis J. Tschan, 82), but the situation is quite different: "After
the death of her husband, his wife spent her life miserably, in hunger and want, as she
deserved."
Chapter 78
1. The Uppsala MS provides a very different conclusion as follows: "We are told by a wise
man named Soti skald that King Olaf went to Wendland after this battle, together with
Queen AstriSr and Dixin, and stayed there for two years. From there they went to Vel-
lond [= Valland (France)?]. AstriSr owned a residence and lands there. They spent a
good two months there, and people did not know who he was, except for those who ac-
companied him. AstriSr invited Olaf to spend the winter there and said that she would
make sure that Jarl Sigvaldi did not come there for that duration, for the king was ill-
disposed toward him. He declined. Then she offered that he should travel to Norway
with as large a force as he wished and conquer the land. He said that there was no need.
He said that he had spent all the time in Norway that God had granted him. Then she
offered him support to go to England, and he declined that. Then she asked him what
he wished for that was in her power. He said that he wanted to travel to Rome, and after
that they traveled south to the Rhine. AstriSr then wished to travel no farther and gave
the king a horse loaded with pure silver. With that, AstriSr turned back with four men,
and Olaf went south to Rome with eight men and posed as a Norse merchant.
"When he came to Rome, he took lodging in a cellar and left it only at the times when
he went to hear mass or for other essential business. He stayed there for a year, but the
next summer he went east to Russia and stayed for a year in Ladoga. From there he went
to Jerusalem and spent three winters there. Everyone thought they could tell that he was
a distinguished man and far superior to other men. Those in charge therefore offered
him the command over two towns and three castles with all the revenue belonging to
them. More at their insistence than from a desire for honor, he accepted this command
and adopted black clothing and also took charge of a monastery not far from Jerusalem
for two years. But when five years had passed since the time he left Norway, certain Nor-
wegians came to the town and the king met with them. He gave them a book in which
this story was written and asked them to take it to King Ethelred in England, who there-
after kept this story as a source of information, and after his days King Edward took over
the story.
"King Olaf also sent a knife and belt to Norway for Einarr {>ambarskelfir, and Einarr
recognized that King Olaf had had these valuables when he fought on the Long Serpent.
He also sent a ring to his sister AstriSr and said that she would clearly recognize it. They
kept these tokens as testimony of this story. All his friends then knew the truth about his
state. This is now the end of the story of King Olaf, who may rightly be called the apos-
tle of the Norwegians. The monk Oddr wrote and recorded this story for the glory of
this distinguished king and as a memorial for future men and for the instruction of those
men who wish to know of such great deeds even if the saga is not composed with great
linguistic skill."
Appendix: Olaf Tryggvason
in the Synoptic Histories
Theodoricus Monachus, De Antiquitate Regum Norwagiensium

(chapters 4-14)
Chapter 4. Concerning Hakon and Harald Graycloak (from the middle)
Harald Graycloak, however, was killed on the initiative of the aforementioned
king of Denmark, who had fostered him. He did so at the instigation and
treacherous urging ofjarl Hakon, the son of SigurSr, known as Hakon the Bad.
After the slaying of Olaf's father Tryggvi that same Harald Graycloak, together
with his mother and brothers, had assailed [Olaf] with many evils and had
forced a search for the infant Olaf. After the slaying of his father Tryggvi, Olaf
had hardly ever been able to find a safe refuge because of Gunnhildr's am-
bushes. She feared him as a successor to the realm of her sons inasmuch as his
father Tryggvi, who was of royal descent to the extent that he was the son of
Olafr, the son of Harald Fairhair, had obtained a kingdom in the inland
province, which the Norwegians call Upplgnd.
Chapter 5. Concerning Hakon the Bad

The Hakon of whom we have spoken, aided by the aforementioned king of the
Danes, Harald, made a treaty on the following terms: twenty hawks were to be
paid over each year, and if by any chance some military necessity were to over-
take the king of the Danes, Hakon would immediately come to his aid with his
army. He returned to Norway with a powerful force and, having put Gunn-
hildr's son Gu5r05r to flight, he obtained sole rule over Norway for thirty years,
without the royal title, however.
At that time King Harald of Denmark was in great fear of the Christian em-
peror Otto, who was disposed to impose on him the gentle yoke of Christ,
which he also did. This was the Otto, a most scrupulous man and among the
most outstanding peers the most preeminent, who honored the church and
the whole clergy more, and endowed them almost beyond what was expedient,
subjecting dukes and counts as faithful vassals to the church. For, as can be seen
151
152 Appendix: Olaf Tryggvason in the Synoptic Histories
up to this very day, from opulence is born arrogance. For this reason he was
told by an angel, as is found in the Roman history: You administered poison to
the church. How truly that is spoken is, alas, demonstrated by daily examples
and continual dissensions between dukes and priests. For it is one thing to con-
tain the viciousness of evils with secular power and the sword, but it is quite an-
other to govern minds with the pastoral staff. This Otto, known as Otto the
Red, was the son of Otto, who was called the Pious, and was almost the better
child of excellent parents. But let us return to our story.
Chapter 6. Concerning the Death of Gunnhildr

Brought About by Hakon's Guile
Once returned to Norway, Hakon became involved in various conflicts and
deceptions with Gunnhildr, for neither was lacking in a rather deep-seated
wickedness. She always appeared to give in and he to press ahead; in the
process the country was devastated, and the whole population was afflicted by
great hardships. Finally, therefore, Hakon devised a trick of the following na-
ture: he sent word to the king of Denmark, at that time a close friend because
he was still a heathen, asking him to send secret letters to Gunnhildr to ask for
her hand in marriage. He was to say that Denmark would be happy in such a
queen, that it was not her intention to pursue a youthful marriage, and that,
he too being of an advanced age, they would be an excellent match.
The woman received the royal letters and was delighted in her residence.
Subject to feminine levity and very credulous, she set out for Denmark, where
the king had her seized and submerged in a swamp. This was the end of the
crimes and misdeeds of Gunnhildr. Thus strengthened in his rule, Hakon be-
came the leading servant of demons, enlisting their aid with frequent sacrifices.
Ten years later he dissolved the pact which he had concluded with King Har-
ald, availing himself of the chance for defection when the most Christian em-
peror Otto vigorously pressed the king of the Danes to submit to Christ with
his whole nation. With the help of the Savior he also effectively accomplished
this.
Chapter 7. Concerning His [Jarl Hakon's] Deceitful Conduct

against Olaf Tryggvason
Then in the twenty-ninth year of his reign he learned that Olaf Tryggvason was
in England, a youth of good character who, on his return from the region of
Russia, where he had been raised and maintained by King Valdimarr, and while
he was campaigning in Denmark, having left his ships, he was intercepted by
his enemies so that he could not return to his ships. Forced in this extremity
to call on divine aid, he vowed to become a Christian if he were snatched from
the impending danger. Divinely rescued and regaining his ships, he departed
to Ireland. From there he proceeded to the Scilly Isles, which lie off the British
mainland, and he was baptized together with all his men by the venerable ab-
bot Bernhard.
From there he proceeded to England, where he remained for a few years,
but he changed his name and called himself Ali, for he did not wish it to be re-
vealed who he was. When Hakon learned as a certainty that he was residing
there, he concentrated his mind in every way on how he could take his life, for
he was just about the only man he feared, for himself as well as his heirs. And
because he was altogether deceitful, he deliberated long and hard on what was
needed under the circumstances. Eventually he summoned Olaf's uncles—
that is, the brothers of his mother Astri5r, Josteinn and Karlshgfu5,—threat-
ening them with death unless they obeyed his commands. Then he sent them
to England with an old traitor named Porir klakka, who had once spent some
time with Olaf.
The uncles did not dare to resist his command and promised to go, but only
under the condition that they might reveal the treachery and the jarl's plot at
least when Olaf got inside AgSanes to the place called Pjalfahellir. Hakon was
in fact indifferent, being confident in his usual tricks and thinking that he
would have Olaf virtually in his hands if he got that far with no knowledge of
the treason and knowing certainly that Olaf would believe no one if not his un-
cles. He therefore acceded to what they requested. Thus he ordered them to
announce his death to Olaf, saying that the whole country awaited his arrival,
so that he should hasten, lest something unexpected should intervene.
Chapter 8. How Olaf Returned Home and Took with Him a Certain Bishop
and Other Clergy to Preach the Word of God to the Norwegians
Olaf listened to the emissaries and believed them since they were his uncles.
Hastening preparations and readying his ships, he took priests with him,
namely Bishop Sigur5r, who had been charged to preach the word of God to
the heathens, and some others he was able to bring along with him, a priest
from Flanders named Theobrand [Pangbrandr], another priest named Thermo
[PormoSr], and some deacons. For that good man contemplated working in
every possible way to subject the whole land to Christ so as not to rule over hea-
thens. In so doing he followed the example of the very wise manjovinian, who,
with the Roman army placed in dire peril in Persia, was asked by the soldiers
to assume command but immediately replied that on no account did he wish
to command heathens.
Julian, a fugitive from Christ who had turned from a subdeacon and a Chris-
tian into a most wretched apostate and persecutor of Christianity and who par-
ticipated in this Parthian campaign, as Saint Jerome testifies, vomited up six
books against Christ. This same Julian, misled by evil spirits who had promised
him certain victory in this battle and to whom on an almost daily basis he sac-
rificed not only brute animals but also, as is much more acceptable to them,
his body and soul, had ordered all the ships on which they had been conveyed
to be burned. He did this for the purpose of removing any hope of retreat and
inciting the hearts of the soldiers to do battle.
But the Lord turned his malice back on the blasphemer, for he was divinely
struck down in this battle, by whom is not known. He dipped his hand into a
wound, and as the blood flowed out, he sprinkled it into the air with the fol-
lowing blasphemy: "You have conquered," he said, "oh Galilean!" (for he was
accustomed to address our Lord in this way) and thus with a blasphemy on his
lips he went from mortal to eternal death. The Roman army, as we have said,
placed in maximum peril, raised the aforementioned and most Christian Jovin-
ian, distinguished by outstanding principles, to be emperor, promising that
they would be Christians one and all, for Julian had diverted many from the
true faith. Having taken up the command, Jovinian led the army away with
great exertion after he had concluded a treaty with the Persians such as was ac-
ceptable in such an emergency. He himself, alas, succumbed to a very early
death, for he did not rule for half a year. But let us return to our story.
Chapter 9. How, at His [Olaf's] Insistence, the Jarl of the Orkney Islands
Was Converted to Christianity Together with All His People
Sailing from England, Olaf now held a straight course for the Orkney Islands.
Because these islands are subject to the Norwegian king, it was appropriate for
Jarl Sigur6r, who ruled these islands at the time, to become Christian. When
he dissembled and resisted, Olaf pressed him harder. Sigurdr promised that he
would be subject to the king if he did not force him into Christianity. When he
had resisted for a long time, we are told that Olaf seized his son from the place
where he was being fostered (the little boy was three years of age and named
Thorfinn), saying that he would sacrifice him before the eyes of his father and
threatening perpetual enmity in addition unless he gave his consent. At this
point the jarl, as it is written: "Shame and panic be always theirs, disgrace and
death; and let them know this" [Psalms 83.17], fearing both Olaf's just wrath
and the death of his son, and acceding rather more than believing, was bap-
tized together with the whole people under his rule. Subsequently, however,
he was strengthened in his faith and remained faithful along with all his suc-
cessors.
Chapter 10. How the Treachery and Deceit of Hakon

Were Revealed to Olaf
Olaf hastened from here to Norway and landed first on the island called Mostr.
Here he later built a church, the first of all the churches erected in Norway.
When he had then arrived within AgSanes at the place called Pjalfahellir, he
tarried there for a night, although there is no harbor to speak of, still ignorant
of Hakon's deceit and treachery. During that night his aforementioned uncles
approached him and revealed Hakon's betrayal, inasmuch as they were now
freed from the oath they had sworn to Hakon. They begged forcefully that he
give swift attention to himself and to them, as well as to their ancestral land
as a whole. He, though in truth vexed, committed himself wholly to Almighty
God, as he was much accustomed in such transactions, so that he would be able
to accomplish what He ordained with whatever help he himself could provide.
Then and there the old traitor Porir klakka, who had gone to England to trick
him, was killed.
Then, with divine assistance, he proceeded to the place called NiSaross,
where at that time there were only a few little houses for various traders, but
which is now the capital of the whole realm, not only by virtue of being the seat
of the archbishop but also because the city is honorably exalted by the relics of
the most blessed martyr Olaf [Haraldsson]. There a great number of the peo-
ple flocked to him, and subsequently he was elevated to the throne; then he
set out in pursuit of Hakon.
Hakon, on the other hand, abandoned by his men and putting his whole
hope in flight, came to a little settlement called Rimull. There he was hidden
in a pigsty by his mistress Pora, together with only his slave Karkr. When sleep,
as it customarily does, had rescued him from anxiety, he was stabbed in the
throat by this same slave and died. Thereafter, when the slave had brought the
head of his lord, the king ordered that he be killed by the noose as a reward
for the crime committed against his lord.
Chapter 11. Concerning His [Olaf's] Constancy in the Word of God

After this the king set his mind with all his powers and the aid of heaven to up-
root from his country idolatry and the worship of demons. He was a vigorous
laborer in the vineyard of his Lord. He pressed hard with prayers and preach-
ing, sometimes adding threats and terror. For he saw that the savage hearts of
the pagans could not be freed, except by a strong hand, from the ingrained
foulness of disbelief and, as it were, a congenital worship of demons, which they
almost seemed to have imbibed with their mothers' milk, and because they
were not much persuaded by words, he often added blows as well, in imitation
of his Lord, who not only applied oil and wine to the wounds of the injured but
also this good word: "Force people to come in to make sure my house is full"
[Luke 14.23].
There is a place called Maerin in the diocese of Ni5aross. It is reported that
responses were given by the demons there. Hakon had also assembled a mul-
titude of idols in that place. Arriving there, the king summoned all those who
had been restrained in the tight bonds of the devil's deceits and are called seith-
men [sorcerers] in the vernacular, and seeing that they were incurable, he or-
dered that they be gathered in a house devoted to the demons, together with
their idols, and burned so that they would not injure the newly sown field. It is
reported that they numbered eighty, of both sexes.
Chapter 12. How Iceland Received Christ's Faith

through His [Olaf's] Initiative
At the expiration of a year the king sent the priest Pangbrandr to Iceland to
preach the word of God. We have noted above that some people believe the is-
land to be Thule because of certain similarities but chiefly because the day is
continuous around the summer solstice and by the same token night around
the winter solstice. When he arrived there, he began to preach Christ to them,
but despite strenuous effort in a period of just under two years he could con-
vert very few because of their native obstinacy and barbarous disposition.
Among those, however, who received the yoke of Christ, these were the most
conspicuous: Hallr of SiSa with his whole family and Gizurr of Skalaholt. The
latter was the father of Bishop Isleifr, who was the first in that country to oc-
cupy a church see. He built the diocesan church himself and dedicated it to
the blessed apostle Peter. He also settled his whole inheritance on it. The third
[convert] was Hjalti of Pjorsardalr, and the fourth was Porgils of Qlfus. When
Pangbrandr returned to the king, two of the aforementioned men accompa-
nied him: to wit, Gizurr and, in the second place, Hjalti.
Coming into the presence of the king, Pangbrandr was reproached by him
for an unfinished task. Therefore the following summer the king sent the priest
Thermo, whom they called Porm65r in their native language. With him went
the two aforementioned men, promising that they would labor for Christ's mes-
sage with all their power. The preaching of this priest proceeded so effectively,
thanks to the Holy Spirit, that in a short time he converted the whole barbarous
nation to Christ. For when they arrived in the country, a public assembly was
being held there, which they call the alpingi. When the crowd of pagans saw
them coming, the people hastened to take arms, wishing to deprive them of
life one and all. But they were divinely restrained to the point that with only a
small force of Christians opposed to them, they neither were able nor dared to
achieve anything against them. Let these words suffice on this matter.
Chapter 13. The Opinion of Certain People

concerning the Baptism of Saint Olaf
King Olaf joined three of his sisters in wedlock to leading men in order more
readily to subject the whole country to Christ. One of them, named AstriSr, he
married to Erlingr Skjalgsson; a second, to the powerful man of Vik Porgeirr,

who later burned Gu5r06r, the son of Gunnhildr, in a certain house when he
wanted to invade the realm in a move against Olaf; the third he married to
Porgeirr's brother Hyrningr. When he had caused all to be baptized, he headed
inland to Upplgnd and there he found the little boy Olaf, aged three, who was
destined to become the devout martyr of Christ. He found him with his mother
Asta, since his father Haraldr was already deceased. Haraldr was the son of
Gu5r06r syr, whose father was Bjgrn, who was nicknamed "farmaSr" and was
the son of Harald Fairhair. Olaf was destined to be the joyful hope and the gem
of the Norwegians.
According to some people he then had him baptized together with his
mother there, but others contend that he was baptized in England. I have read,
however, in the Historia Normannorum, that he was baptized by Robert, arch-
bishop of Rouen, in Normandy. For it is established that Duke William of Nor-
mandy enlisted him to support him against King Robert of France, known as
Capet, the son of the most noble Hugh Capet. For Robert, together with the
count of Flanders, was preparing to make war on Duke William. He strove to
expel him from Normandy on the grounds that his predecessors had seized the
province by force from the king of France. But whether he was baptized in
Rouen or England, it is certain that he was older when he was crowned with
martyrdom than those men assert who are most to be credited in this matter.
Nor is it surprising that this befell Olaf in a country where there was never a
writer on ancient matters, given the fact that even Saint Jerome writes con-
cerning Constantine the Great, the son of Constantius and Helena, that some
say he was baptized in Bithynia at an advanced age, but others say it was in Con-
stantinople, and still others that he was baptized by the blessed Pope Sylvester;
and the case as to who wrote more truly is still unresolved.
Chapter 14. Concerning the Death of Olaf Tryggvason

In the fifth year of the reign of Olaf Tryggvason, which was also his last, Sveinn
the king of Denmark, Olafr the king of Sweden, and Eirikr the son of Hakon
the Bad made war on him and, alas, found him entirely unprepared. For we
are told that he met seventy ships with only eleven of his own. Finally, with his
enemies relieving each other in succession and constantly replacing wounded
men with fresh troops, our king's force was not so much defeated as swallowed
up. Nor did the adversaries carry off a bloodless victory, for many a powerful
warrior either succumbed in battle or departed gravely wounded. Some peo-
ple say that the king then escaped on a vessel and went to foreign parts for the
salvation of his soul. Others say that he jumped fully armed into the sea. Which
of these versions is closer to the truth we dare not affirm. We believe only that
he partakes of eternal peace with Christ.
This battle took place close to an island called Svgl5r and adjacent to
"Slavia," which we call in our native language Wendland. In that battle Eirikr
vowed to become Christian if he obtained the victory, and he fulfilled the vow.
The agreement that they made among themselves, that is, Eirikr and the
kings, was to the effect that if they could deprive Olaf of his realm, each one
would take over a third part. In the event Eirikr received two-thirds of the
realm (without the royal title, however, as was the case with his father) because
Sveinn, the king of Denmark, turned over his part to him in deference to his
daughter, whom he married to him. Olafr, the king of Sweden, turned over
his part to Eirikr's brother Sveinn. A few years later Sveinn began to envy his
brother Eirikr because he held two-thirds of Norway while he himself pos-
sessed only the third conferred on him. But Eirikr did not wish to pollute
the realm with fratricide, considering at the same time that he would hardly
act fraternally toward him in the future, since according to Lucan [Pharsalia
1.92-93]: "There is no faith between ruling companions, and all power / Is
impatient of partners." He abandoned his homeland and sailed to England,
leaving his son Hakon as his successor. This Eirikr ruled for fifteen years with
his brother Sveinn. He neither diminished Christianity nor expanded it, per-
mitting each person in this respect to live according to whatever law he wished.
When he caused his own uvula to be removed, he died from a great loss of
blood. After his departure from his homeland his brother and son ruled for
two years.
Historia Norwegiae (MHN, 110.4-119.16)
Olaf, the son of Harald Fairhair, fathered Turgo [Tryggvi]. This Tryggvi was
raised in the province of the Raumar [Raumariki], where he is said to have
ruled originally. He married a beautiful young girl from the mountains named
AstriSr. When he had subjugated Vik, he was cunningly misled on a certain lit-
tle island attached to the province of the Renir [people of Ranriki] by his
cousins, the sons of Erik [Bloodax], when they were supposed to conclude
peace with one another, and was killed by guile. For that reason the place has
been called Tryggvareyrr [Tryggvi's Cairn] until this very day. Many people as-
sert that his deceitful death happened differently. For when the people of the
province themselves (that is, the Renir) could not endure his severe rule, they
convened an assembly as if to discuss matters of common concern to the realm,
and there they had the king treacherously killed by certain young warriors,
Saxi, Skorri, and Skreyja, who had been corrupted by money. Whether he was
killed by the former or the latter, the name of the place shows that he was killed
on the island.
In the meantime AstriSr, who was already pregnant, set sail in three ships for
the Orkney Islands with a suitable following. Having been given safe asylum
there, the expecting mother had the good fortune to bear the future king,
whom she named Olaf. Through him Norway finally received the most salvific
admonitions of Christ.
After the death of the sons of Gunnhildr a certain Hakon (known as the Bad
because of his inordinately cruel disposition) exterminated all the petty kings
and ruined all the tributaries of the Swedes. He usurped the throne of all Nor-
way with the title of jarl, preferring to be called jarl rather than king according
to the tradition of his ancestors. For he was descended on his father's side from
Sigur5r and on his mother's side from Bergljot, the daughter of Porir JDegjandi,
that is, from the jarls of Mceri and Halogaland. He was powerful in arms, but
obstinately dedicated to idolatry, and he overcame a number of regions round
about, thus increasing his dominion far and wide.
But when he learned that a fatherless boy had been born in Orkney, whom
he suspected might deprive him of his realm, he plotted against him from afar.
The boy's mother, who loved him most tenderly as her only son, learning of
the jarl's evil intentions, and aided, as I believe, by God's providential mercy,
removed the child from harm by giving him to a certain Porolfr, named
lusaskegg, to be brought to Sweden. Porolfr took him into his care with the
utmost attentiveness and, carrying him in his own arms, proceeded through
the extreme perils of the areas bordering on Prandheimr. He then arrived in
Sweden, where he spent some time, and from there he headed for Russia, first
coming to Estonia. Finally, as he sailed past Eysysla [Osel], his party was ap-
prehended by pirates and was in part plundered and in part killed. Among the
latter the boy's foster father was executed, while the boy himself, Olaf, was sold
into Estonian slavery.
Olaf was, however, redeemed from slavery by a certain relative, who at that
time happened to be on a mission from the king of Russia to collect tribute.
Olaf stayed with him in secret for some years in Russia. At the age of about
twelve he took manly vengeance for his foster father in the public square in
Kiev. Such an unexampled vengeance by a boy of twelve years had surely never
been brought to the king's attention in that place, and for that reason he was
presented to the king and was eventually adopted as a son.
As a teenager he raided along the coasts of the Baltic and was a terror to the
pagan people of those regions. But all unaware this magnificent raider was di-
verted by God. For his fleet was augmented by Norwegians, Danes, Gautones
[Gautar], and Slavs, who took winter quarters with him in the city of Jomne,
which is the best defended among the Slavic cities. From there he sailed to
Frisia, and then to Flanders, and from there to England. He raided these re-
gions and accomplished amazing feats in Scotland, while sparing no one in Ire-
land.
But the Creator, having a care for His creature, visited this champion, who
was so remote and indomitable, in a marvelous way through His inborn pity,
and with His visit He illuminated him so that he would clothe those he had
served with the shadow of death rather with the vestment of eternal resplen-
dence. For, as this same Olaf was raging violently against the aforementioned
peoples, he encountered a certain hermit serving God on a small island off
Britain. He tested him by exchanging clothes with his shield bearer. But the
hermit immediately recognized the king's servant and admonished him to
serve his lord faithfully. Then the leader of the vikings hastened to him, already
persuaded that he was God's prophet. From him he heard of many things ly-
ing in the future, the truth of which he learned soon thereafter.
'You will be a famous king, " he said, "very devoted to the faith of Christ and
most beneficial to your people. For by your efforts the Christian people will be-
come unnumbered. If what I prophesy is true, you may take this as a sign: On
the day after tomorrow when you leave your ships, you will see a herd on the
shore and you will discover that this has been done by guile because you will
be ambushed by enemies. You will lose your men and you will be carried to
your ships on your shield barely alive, but after a week you will be healed by di-
vine intervention, and when you have recovered, you will be washed in the
fountain of life."
All of these things that he prophesied turned out to be true in the sequel.
After the blessed Olaf, by the salutary transformation wrought by the hand of
God, had received the grace of baptism together with the largest part of his
army, he crossed to Norway, taking with him Bishop Jon and the priest Pang-
brandr, whom he sent to preach to the Icelanders. He also had a number of
other servants of God who one and all with a single voice began to preach
Christ to the heathens. By the unfathomable mercy of exalted God the Nor-
wegians were converted to the faith and installed Olaf as their king, driving out
Jarl Hakon, who had ruled there for thirty-three years.
A slave of Hakon's named Karkr wickedly killed him at night in one of the
regions of Prandheimr, to wit, Gaulardalr. He also cut off his head and brought
it to the king, hoping to receive great rewards, but the opposite came to pass.
For he was condemned by universal judgment as the worst of murderers and
was hanged as an outlaw. But the sons of Jarl Hakon, Sveinn and Eirikr, fled to
Denmark and were received in peace by King Sveinn.
In the meantime, Olaf reconciled all his compatriots in the maritime
provinces to the King of kings, and if the bishop was unable to reconcile them
with the spiritual sword, the king, using palpable inducements, subjected both
noble and nonnoble, child and elder, to the rule of Christ. Thus it came about
that within five years he won over to Christ all the tributary peoples, that is, the
Shetlanders, the Orcadians, the Faroe Islanders, and the Icelanders, all out-
standing in faith, joyful in hope, and brimming with love. Thus the chariot of
God, multiplied by ten thousand, and the four-horse team of Christ retrieved
by his freely given salvation thanks to this miraculous king, as if drawn by the
strongest horse to the ends of the earth, were carried back to the homeland of
paradise.
Now then, this Olaf took a Danish wife, the sister of King Sveinn, who was
named Pyri. she had previously been married unwillingly to the leader of
"Sclavia." But because King Sveinn decreed that all of Zealand, which he had
given his sister in dowry, should be withheld in full, for this reason Olaf made
war against the Danes and ordered that a large fleet be gathered by the district
leaders from Prandheimr and Gulacia [Gulajnngslgg]. For he, having dis-
missed the Easterners, was waiting for the others in the straits between Den-
mark and Norway. When some of the troops from Gula{)ingslog had arrived,
the king set out on his intended course with a few men in the hope that the re-
maining army would follow him. But the army, not wishing to go beyond the
borders of their country, especially when their king himself had departed, re-
turned home.
When the king thus saw himself abandoned by them, he made ready to go
to the Slavs in order to raise an auxiliary army from them, since he had had
them as very faithful companions in his viking days. But as he was sailing past
Zealand, he was intercepted and ambushed by his enemies, like a sheep by
wolves. When King Sveinn learned that he was about to fall into the hands of
a stronger force and had summoned his stepson King Olafr of the Swedes and
Eirikr, the son ofjarl Hakon, these three made a naval attack against Olaf alone
as follows. First Sveinn attacked Olaf with thirty ships, while he fought back with
only eleven, but the royal ship itself was outfitted with eighty rowing stations.
This ship, which carried the figure of a dragon head on both stem and stern,
was called the Long Serpent, and when rowed by the whole crew at all stations
at once, it included 160 oarsmen, all of whom, as is now told, are said to have
been in full armor. It also included forty clerics in the thirty spaces closest to
the stern; they were inexperienced in battle and labored more in prayer than
in arms. After a protracted battle and with all of Sveinn's ships destroyed, he
himself returned to his allies with great loss of honor.
Then his stepson Olafr attacked his namesake with the same number of
ships, but he suffered worse losses than his predecessor and returned with great
ignominy. Eirikr was the last in order of battle and attacked the enemy vigor-
ously with a matching eleven ships, not without success. Mindful of his father's
death and his own flight, he added wounds to those already inflicted. But Olaf,
fighting off these reckless attackers mightily, resisted by taking heart anew and
proceeded to cast back rocks, spears, and other missiles at his adversaries. Ul-
timately, with his ships stripped of fighting forces, with his enemies boarding,
and with no one coming to his aid, all those who were still alive fell prey to the
sword, with the sole exception of the king, whom they last saw standing on the
poopdeck in the stern.
With the battle concluded, they did not find him either living or dead, and
for that reason some say that he dove underwater in his armor. Some have even
averred that after a long time they saw him in a certain monastery. But whether
he was carried through the perils of the sea to the firm shore, either by his own
swimming or the conveyance of a ship or the aid of angelic spirits, or whether
he was submerged in those waters, none of our contemporaries, I believe,
knows. For that reason it is more proper that we should pass over this uncer-
tain matter in silence rather than declare falsehoods in a case subject to doubt.
Olaf's wife, enduring the death of her husband with no moderation, died of
grief. Subsequently the whole realm of Norway was granted to the sons of Jarl
Hakon by Sveinn tjuguskegg. They ruled over this realm for fourteen years as
jarls and came close to uprooting the holy church which the blessed Olaf had
planted and Jon had irrigated.
Agrip afNoregs konunga sQgum (chapters 16-20)

Chapter 16
After Jarl Hakon, Olaf Tryggvason mounted the throne and gave himself the
noble title of king in Norway. He had the right of ancestry, since he was de-
scended from Harald Fairhair, for Harald had a son named Olafr, who was the
father of Tryggvi, who in the days of Gunnhildr's sons assumed the title and
authority of a king in Raumariki and was killed on Sotanes and buried at a place
called Tryggvi's Cairn.
His death is not reported in the same way by everyone; some assert that the
farmers found his rule harsh and killed him at an assembly, but others say that
he intended to conclude a reconciliation with his cousins but that they slew
him at the treacherous and malicious urging of Gunnhildr Kings' Mother. Most
people credit this latter report.
Chapter 17
After his death AstriSr, whom Tryggvi had married in Upplgnd, fled to Orkney
with Olaf, her son by Tryggvi and a boy of three years, and escaped the deceits
of Gunnhildr and her sons as well as Jarl Hakon, who at that time were all dis-
puting Norway, for at that time Gunnhildr's sons had not yet been slain. She
arrived in Orkney with three ship crews. But because her travels could not be
kept secret and there were many opportunities for treachery, she sent the child
away with a man identified by some as Porolfr lusarskegg. He kept him hidden
as far as Norway and conveyed him with great peril to Sweden. From Sweden
he intended to go to Kiev, where some of his relatives were located. But the Es-
tonians attacked the ship he was on. Some of the people were killed and some
taken captive. His foster father was killed, but he was captured near the island
known as Osel and later sold into slavery.
Chapter 18
But God, who had destined this child for great things, arranged for his release
by bringing it about that a man, who was an emissary from the king in Kiev,
came to Estonia. He was sent to collect tribute in the land and was a relative of
the child. He effected the release of his kinsman and took him to Kiev, where
he stayed for a time without many people's knowing about his family.
When he was twelve years old, it happened one day in the public square that
he recognized in the hand of a man the ax that Porolfr had owned. He inquired
into the sequence that had brought him into possession of the ax, and from
the man's answers he could ascertain that the ax was indeed his foster father's
and that the man was his killer. He took the ax from the hand of the man who
had brought it there and killed him, thus avenging his foster father.
At that place there was strict sanctuary and heavy sanctions against killing,
but he found the remedy of seeking the protection of the queen. At her en-
treaty, and because it seemed a bold deed for a man of only twelve years to ac-
complish, as well as a justified revenge, the king took mercy on him. From that
time on his renown and honor and overall reputation began to grow. Some
time later he was given troops and a fleet, and he sailed to one and another
land and harried. His forces were soon augmented by Norwegians, Gautar, and
Danes, and he accomplished great deeds, gaining fame and high repute.
Chapter 19
He raided far and wide in Wendland, Flanders, England, Scotland, Ireland,
and many other countries. But he wintered regularly in Wendland in a town
called Jomsborg. But for whatever time he continued this activity, it eventually
came about that he landed at a place in England where there was a great devo-
tee of God, a hermit famous for wisdom and intelligence.
Olaf was eager to test it and dispatched one of his followers disguised as the
king to seek his help as if he were the king. This is the answer he received: "You
are not the king, but it is my advice that you be faithful to your king." When
Olaf heard this answer, he was all the more eager to meet him because it be-
came clear to him that he was a true prophet.
In the conversation he had with this good man, the latter spoke to him with
the following words inspired by holy insight and divine foresight.
"You will be a distinguished king," he said, "and you will accomplish outstanding
deeds. You will convert many people to faith and baptism, and by doing so you will
benefit both yourself and many others. And lest you be in doubt about my re-
sponses, you should have the following sign: Your fleet will encounter treachery
and run into a battle. You will lose some of your men and you yourself will be
wounded and carried to your ship on a shield, but you will recover from this wound
within a week, and soon thereafter you will receive baptism."
Everything came to pass according to this prediction, and in this way he ac-
quired faith. Then he came to Norway and brought with him Bishop Sigur5r,
who was ordained to preach God's name to the people, along with some men
instructed in the faith, the priest Pangbrandr and PormoSr and some deacons.
With respect to the preaching of Christianity he held his first assembly on Mostr
in HgrSaland. It was easy to make progress both because God lent aid and be-
cause the people disliked the servitude imposed by Hakon the Wicked. Thus
the people received the faith, and Olaf received the realm.
He was twenty-seven years old when he came to Norway, and during the five
years that he bore the title of king in Norway, he converted five countries: Nor-
way, Iceland, the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands, and the Faroes. He
raised churches, first at his own chief residence, and he abolished sacrifices and
sacrificial libations, substituting, in concert with the people, festive celebra-
tions at Christmas and Easter, a celebration on the feastday of John and an
autumnal celebration on the feastday of Michael. Olaf was a big man, tall, hand-
some, with straight blond hair, very energetic and most accomplished in all
matters of courtesy.
Chapter 20
Soon thereafter Olaf married and took to wife the sister of Sveinn tjuguskegg,
the king of the Danes. Her name was Pyri, and she had unwillingly been be-
trothed to a certain duke in Wendland, and for that reason the betrothal was
not realized. But after their marriage King Sveinn withdrew from the agree-
ments that had been agreed on and pledged with his sister, and this seemed to
Olaf to be a dishonor and disgrace.
In order to avenge it he gathered an army against Denmark and awaited his
forces in the straits. Because the arrival of his men was delayed, he sailed for
Wendland with only eleven ships and expected his army to follow. But when
this hope came to nothing because his troops immediately turned back, on the
grounds that he was out of the country, he intended to raise support in Wend-
land by appealing to his proven friends, who had been his devoted adherents
and faithful companions while he was abroad.
But that did not come about because King Sveinn had summoned the sup-
port of Olafr, king of the Swedes, and Eirikr, the son of Hakon the Wicked, and
they attacked him off Zealand with eighty-two ships. Sveinn had thirty ships,
Olafr thirty ships, and Eirikr twenty-two. Sveinn was the first to attack him with
his thirty ships, but he suffered great losses and turned back with loss of honor.
Next the Swedish Olafr attacked with the same numbers as Sveinn and turned
back with the same loss of honor. Then Eirikr attacked and had the advantage.
Nothing was known about the fall of King Olaf; it was only seen, as the bat-
tle tapered off, that he still stood alive on the poopdeck of the Long Serpent,
which had thirty-two rowing stations. But when Eirikr was about to mount the
deck in search of him, a light flashed like lightning before him, and when the
light receded, the king himself had vanished. Some men assert that he escaped
on a boat, and they say that he was later seen in a certain monastery in the Holy
Land, but others say that he fell overboard. However his life ended, it is likely
that God has his soul.
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Index to Introduction,
Text, and Notes
Acta Sanctorum in Selio, 9 Baltic Sea, 11,147

Acts of the Apostles, 138 Bang, A. Chr., 145
Adam of Bremen, 149 Battle of Hjorungavagr, 8, 63, 112, 146
Aeneas, 15 Battle of Svol9r, 7, 13, 15-20, 25-26,115,
Aeneid, 15, 24 123-31,145, 147
Agrip afNoregs konunga spgum, 4, 10-14, 18- Bede (the Venerable), 22
20, 138-39, 142 Bergen, 78
Agdanes, 68, 88, 141 Berg})6rr bestill, 125
Aki inn danski, 87, 98 Bersi inn sterki, 125
Albanus (brother of Sunnefa), 78 Bing,Just, 142
Alfdis or Asdis (mother of Oddr Snorrason), 5 Bjarg (afarm), 5
Ali (pseudonym of Olaf Tryggvason), 11, 56- Bjarni A3albjarnarson, 2-4, 6, 8, 13, 15, 26,
59 141, 143-45
Allogia (queen in Kiev), 45, 47, 138 Bjarni BergJ>6rsson, 2
Almqvist, Bo, 141 Bjarni Gucmason, 8
AlptafjoroT (in western Iceland), 90 Bjorn from Studla, 125, 131
Alpin (orAlvin),8, 62 Bjorn (alleged earlier husband of Queen
An skyti from Jamtaland, 125 I>yri),87
Andersson, Theodore M., 4, 8, 15, 139-42, 144 Bjorn eitrkveisa, 39-41
Ari Porgilsson, 4, 8,13, 21, 23, 73-74, 141, Bjorn Haraldsson (son of Harald Fairhair), 36
144, 147 Bjorn M. Olsen, 3, 142
Arngunn Arnorsdottir, 2 Boer, R. C. [Richard Constant], 144
Arnljotr gellini, 125 Boleslavl, 139
Arnorr morski from Orkadalr, 125 Borgarfjordr (in western Iceland), 106
Arnvicfr from Sogn, 125 Brandr Vermundarson, 88
Asbjorn from Mostr, 125, 131 Brenneyjar (islands off western Sweden), 112,
Asdis, see Alfdis 146
Asgautr Berg{)6rsson from Selvagr, 104, 146 Breta spgur, 15
Asgrimr Vestliciason, 2 Brimangr (an island off Norway), 99
Astriar (mother of Olaf Tryggvason), 6, 8, 10, Brimisskjarr (jarl under Emperor Otto II), 56,
37-45, 76 58,60
Astridr (daughter of King Burizleifr), 83-84, Brynhild (legendary figure), 144
114-15, 135, 149 Brynjolfr (in Gaulardalr), 67
Astridr Lodinsdottir (half sister of Olaf Bugge, Alexander, 137-41, 144, 146-49
Tryggvason, married to Erlingr Skjalgsson Bui (among thejomsvikings), 64
at Soli), 79-80, 136, 142 Burizleifr (Boleslav I, perhaps in error for
Audr (daughter of Jarl Hakon), 42, 138 Duke Miesco in Wendland; see Chap.
lOn.l), 18, 49, 82-84, 97, 114-15, 139,
Baetke, Walter, 18, 20-24, 137, 140, 143-48 144
Bagge, Sverre, 142 Bursti (Hakon gamli's worker), 43
173
174 Index
Bynes in Gaulardalr, 104 Eyvindr kinnrifa, 87, 95-96

Borkr from Firdafylki, 125 Eyvindr snakr, 125
Bodvarr the White, 90 Ezekiel, 141
Cain, 23 Fafnir (legendary dragon), 128

*Catalogus Regum Norwagiensium, 8 Fagrskinna, 138-40
Chadwick, Nora K., 141 Falster (Danish island), 87, 98
Charlemagne, 19, 147 Faroe Islands, 102
Christ Church (on Selja), 79 Finnmork, 71
Christina (Swedish queen), 27 Finnr Eyvindarson from Herlond, 126, 130
Church of Albanus (on Selja), 79 Finnr from Rogaland, 125
Church of Sunnefa (on Selja), 79 Finnur Jonsson, 2-3, 26, 142, 144, 147
Constantinople, 21, 23 Firdafylki, 76
Conversion of Iceland, 7-8, 12, 14, 16 Flanders, 11
Custer, George (general), 25 Flateyjarbok, 2
Foote, Peter, 4
Danavirki, 57-59, 140 Freyja, 90-91
Desiderius (Langobardic king), 147 Freyr, 99
Deuteronomy, 141 Frisia (or Frisians), 11, 122
Dido, 15-16 Frissbdk, 139
Dixin, 14-15, 49-51, 114, 135, 149 Fritzner,Johan, 141
Djupedal, Reidar, 142 Frosta, 104
Dragseid, 9, 84-85, 143
Dronke, Ursula, 22 Ganelon (traitor), 24, 147
drottkvcett, 15 Garia (variant of Geira), 139, 147
Gaulardalr, 67, 69-70, 109
Edward the Confessor (English king), 140, Gautelfr (Gotaalv), 71, 87, 144, 146
149 Gautland, 60, 82, 87
Egypt, 25 Geila (variant of Geira), 139
Eider (river), 57-58 Geilan (German name like Geila), 139
Einarr from Hordaland, 125-26 Geira, 8, 14-16, 49, 51, 114, 144, 147
Einarr Jmmbarskelfir Eindridason, 19, 74, 125, Gellir Porgilsson, 2
130-33, 142, 149 Germania, 51
Eirikr (the Victorious, Swedish king), 9, 42- Gizurr Hallsson, 2-5
43,81 Gizurr Teitsson (the White), 90-91
Eirikr Hakonarson (illegitimate son of Jarl Glumr Porgeirsson (an informant of Oddr
Hakon), 19, 64, 68, 72, 112, 115-21, 124- Snorrason), 3
27, 130-36, 148 Gordon, Erma, 137, 139, 144-45
Eirikr Sigurdarson at Ofrustacttr, 37-39, 45 Greece, 8, 54, 136, 142
Eiriks saga rauda, 3 Greenland, 102
Eidaskogr, 71 Gregory the Great, 146
Elleh0j, Svend, 13, 23, 141-43, 147 Grettir Asmundarson, 5
Ephialtes, 25 Grettis saga, 5
Epistle to the Corinthians, 137 Grimr (Olaf Tryggvason's forecastleman),
Erik Bloodax (Norwegian king), 17, 36, 107 106
Erlendr Hakonarson (son of Jarl Hakon), 68- Grjotgardr roskvi, 125
69 Groth, P., 27, 142
Erlingr Skjalgsson at Soli, 74, 79-80, 119, 136 Grcenlendinga saga, 3
Estonia, 13 GulaJ)ing, 79
Ethelred II (English king), 149 Gula{)ingslog, 79
Eynafylki, 118 Gulajringslpg, 144-45
Eyrarjring, 72 Gull-Haraldr Knutsson, 36, 57, 63, 137
Eysteinn Erlendsson (archbishop), 4 Gunnhildr (daughter of King Burizleifr), 83-
Eyvindr kelda, 85, 94, 144 84, 97, 99
Index 175
Gunnhildr Qzurardottir (wife of Erik Bloodax Haukr (visitor of Olaf Tryggvason), 92, 95,
and mother of Harald Graycloak), 7, 10, 145
36-43, 73, 138 Hauksbok, 4
Gunnlaugr Leifsson, 2-4, 15, 21, 140 Havardr (a warrior on Ormr inn langi), 125
Gu6brandr or Dolum, 100-101, 137, 145 Heilagra manna s0gur, 22, 146
Gudmundr Arason, 5 Heinze, Richard, 24
Gudnijonsson, 27, 138, 148 Herdis Dadadottir, 2
GuoTun (daughter of Jarnskeggi), 105 Heres (or Eres), 45-46, 139
Gudrun BergJ)6rsd6ttir, 104 Hermann Palsson, 141
Gudrun Osvifrsdottir (wife of Bolli Porleiks- Herod, 25
son), 145 Historia Norwegiae, 10-14, 18-20, 139, 142
Gudrun P. Helgadottir, 145 Hjalti Skeggjason, 90-91
Gu3r05r (son of Erik Bloodax and Queen *Hladajarla saga, 138
Gunnhildr), 17, 36-39, 107-8 Hladhamarr (construction site of Ormr inn
Gyda (wife of Olaf Tryggvason), 8, 62-63, 139 langi), 103
Hladir, 67, 71, 76, 80, 103, 109
Hagiography, 26 Hlgdver langi from Saltvik, 125
Hakon Adalsteinsfostri (Norwegian king), Hofmann, Dietrich, 3, 5, 138, 143
104, 146 Hollander, Lee M., 141
Hakon gamli, 39-44, 73 Holtsmark, Anne, 27, 138, 142-42, 144, 147-
Hakon Grjotgardsson (grandfather of Jarl 48
Hakon Sigurdarson), 63 Hornelen (modern location of Smalsarhorn),
Hakon Sigurdarson (jarl), 6-14, 36, 39-43, 145
57-60, 63-78, 81-82, 104, 109, 112,115- Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar, 145
16, 137-38, 141,147 Hrefna Asgeirsdottir (wife of Kjartan Olafs-
Hallar-Steinn (skald), 145 son), 145
Halldorr okristni (skald), 19, 117, 121, 124, Hringariki (Ringerike), 36-37
127,130,132, 148 Hroaldr on Godey, 16, 86, 146
Hallfredar saga, 144 Hroaldr from Moldafjordr, 16, 105-6
Hallfrear Ottarsson (skald), 25, 88-89, 120- Huth Psalter, 23
21, 129,132, 148 Hvelpr (young son of Jarl Siguror Hlodvisson),
Hallkell from Fjalir, 125 75
Hallr Porsteinsson (a Sidu), 90-92 Hyrningr (brother-in-law of Olaf Tryggvason),
Hallsteinn from Orkadalr, 125 80,107-8, 113, 118, 122,125-26,130
Hallsteinn Hlifarson, 125 Hordaland, 71, 79
Halogaland, 36, 71, 87, 92, 95-97
Hals (on the Limfjord), 63 Icelandic Homily Book, 137
Harald Bluetooth (Danish king), 7, 10, 44, Indreb0, Gustav, 137
57-60,82,115,140,147 Ingibjorg (Olaf Tryggvason's sister), 139, 145
Harald Fairhair (Norwegian king), 36, 71, 74, Ingigerdr LocHnsdottir (Olaf Tryggvason's half
85, 114, 144 sister), 80
Harald Graycloak (Norwegian king), 36-37, Ingiri6r Lo6insdottir (Olaf Tryggvason's half
63, 74, 107 sister), 80
Haraldr Gormsson, see Harald Bluetooth Ingolfr Arnarson, 143
Haraldr gprenski, 36, 82 Ingunn Arnorsdottir, see Arngunn
Haraldr Olafsson (son of Olaf Tryggvason and Ireland, 11,55, 61,73, 77
Queen Pyri), 110 Isleifr (a priest and informant of Oddr Snorra-
Haraldr Sigurdarson (Norwegian king), 101 son),3
Haraldr Sveinsson (son of King Svend Fork- Islendingabok, 23, 144
beard), 99 Ivarr smetta, 125
Harekr Eyvindarson, 87, 92, 95-97 I Vizum (home of a certain Porsteinn), 39
Harekr hvassi, 125
Harold Godwinson (English king), 148 Jankuhn, Herbert, 140
Haukadalr, 5 Janson, Henrik, 144
176 Index
Jarnbardinn (Jarl Eirikr Hakonarson's ship), Larsen, Sofus, 145, 147

125-29 Laugardalr, 90-91
Jarnskeggi of Yrjar, 104-5 Lavinia, 15
Jaaarr, 119, 137 Law Rock, 90
Jerusalem, 21,23, 149 Laxdcela saga, 139, 144-45
Jesch, Judith, 141 Legendary Saga of Saint Olaf, 145
Jesus Christ, 22-23, 25, 53-56, 92, 95, 101-2, Leonidas, 25
127, 136 Limfjord (in northern Jutland), 63
John (Gospel of), 137 Little Bighorn, 25
John the Baptist, 35, 137 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 145
Jomne, 11 Lodinn (father of Olaf Tryggvason's half sister
Jomsborg, 11, 15, 52, 83-84, 117 Astriar),79
Jomsvikingar, 63-64 Luke (Gospel of), 17
Jomsvikinga saga, 8-9, 21, 140-41, 143, 146 Lonnroth, Lars, 14-15, 24, 137, 139-40, 142,
Jon (or Sigurdr, bishop), 74, 76, 96, 142 145, 147-48
Jonjohannesson, 21
Jon Loptsson, 3, 5 Mager0y, Hallvard, 15
Joseph (son of Jacob), 45 Magnus Olafsson (Norwegian king), 139, 141
Josteinn (Olaf Tryggvason's uncle), 6, 64-66, Mark (Gospel of), 22
141 Martin (bishop of Tours), 75, 84
Judas, 22-25, 147 Martin Schongauer, 23
Julian the Apostate, 22 Matthew (Gospel of), 146
Justin (variant of Josteinn?), 141 Maurer, Konrad, 139-40, 142, 144, 147
J0rgensen, A. D., 147-48 Meissner, Rudolf, 142
Mellinkoff, Ruth, 22
Kahle, Bernhard, 21,141 Miesco (duke in Wendland), 139, 147
Karaliunas, Simes, 139 Mjors, 40, 138
Karkr, 7, 12, 69-71, 141 Moberg, Ove, 147
Karlshofud (Olaf Tryggvason's uncle), 6, 64- Moe, Moltke, 139
66 Molland, Einar, 140
Karmsund, 94 Monk of St. Gall, 19, 147
Ketill from Rogaland, 125 Morkinskinna, 139-40, 144, 146
Ketill havi from Proendalog, 125 Mostr (an island), 9, 12, 14, 18, 75, 135, 142
Kiev, 21 Munch, Peter Andreas, 27, 137-38, 140, 142-
Kinn (island), 77, 79 43, 147-48
Kirby, Ian J., 137 Maerin (in Prandheimr), 105
Kjartan Olafsson, 88-90, 140
Kjaer, J. C., 138 Naumudalr (scene of conclave of demons),
Klerkon,45, 139 17, 109-10
Klerkr, 45, 139 Nidarnes (in Prandheimr), 85, 143
Knutr Sveinsson (son of King Svend Fork- Nidaross (Trondheim), 88
beard), 36, 99 Njdls saga, 144
Kock, Ernst Albin, 147-48 Nordfjord (Norwegian fjord midway between
Kolbjorn from Raumariki, 125 Bergen and Trondheim), 145
Kolbjorn stallari (the Marshal), 20, 129, 131- Nori (legendary king), 71
33 Northumbria, 56
*konunga aevi (lost history by Ari Porgilsson), Norwegian Homily Book, 137
4,13,21,23,147
Kristnisaga, 21, 141 Oddi (farm in southwestern Iceland), 5
Odin, 17, 75, 81,91,93
Ladoga, 149 Ofrustadir, 137
Landndmabok, 4, 143 Olaf Tryggvason
Lange, Gudrun, 4, 8 born, 38
Lapps, 65-66, 72, 74, 96, 141 refuge in Skaun, 39-40
Index 177
Olaf Tryggvason (continued) Olaf Tryggvason (continued)

refuge in Sweden, 41-44 builds Ormr inn langi, 103
captured by pirates and sold into slavery, destroys an idol of Thor, 105
44-45 tortures Hroaldr from Moldafjordr, 105-6
freed by his uncle Sigurdr, 45-46 sets Vigi on the Icelander SigurcJr, 106-7
avenges his foster father, 46-47 visited by Thor, 108-9
identified by Queen Allogia, 47 demons in Naumudalr, 109
in the military service of King Valdimarr, 48 beguiled by Jarl Sigvaldi, 111-12
never sacrifices to idols, 49 gives Pyri an angelica stalk, 113
slandered to King Valdimarr, 49 leaves Norway and speaks with a clairvoyant
in the land of Queen Geira, 49-52 farmer, 114
mourns Geira, 52-53 collects I>yri's dowry in Wendland, 115
miraculously saved by the sign of the cross, releases his men to sail home from Wend-
53 land, 116-17
has a vision of heaven and hell, 54 ambushed at Svoldr, 118
primesigned, 54 Olafr drengr, 125
converts the Kievan court, 55 Olafr Eiriksson (Swedish king), 18, 82, 112,
baptized on the Scilly Isles, 55-56 114-15, 119,123, 127
allies himself with Jarl Siguror, 56 Olafr Haraldsson (St. Olaf), 7-8, 12, 22, 35-
allies himself with Emperor Otto II, 58 36, 82,102,142
acquires the dog Vigi, 61 Olafr kvaran (king of the Scots), 62
marries Gyda, 62 Oldfs saga hins helga, 4, 8
defeats Alpin, 63 Oldfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta, 2, 26, 141-44
lured to Norway by Jarl Hakon, 64-65 Olafur Halldorsson, 140, 142
seeks counsel from a Lapp, 65-66 Olsen, Magnus, 147
kills Erlendr Hakonarson, 69 Orkney, 8, 10, 14, 16, 74, 102
hangs Karkr, 71 Ormr lygra (from Bynes in Gaulardalr), 104
proclaimed king, 72 Ormr inn langi (The Great Serpent), 18-19,
chronology of his life, 73-74 102-5, 108, 114, 118-31, 134, 149
converts Orkney, 74-75 Ormr inn skammi (The Lesser Serpent), 95,
preaches on Mostr, 75 120-21, 124
converts Hor3aland, 79-80 Ormr skogarnef, 125
converts Vik, 80 Ottarr (jarl in Gautland), 60
converts Proendalog, 81 Otto II (German emperor), 7-8, 10, 56-59,
betrothed to Sigridr the Imperious, 82 63, 140
preaches on Dragseid, 84
burns sorcerers in a banquet hall, 85 Palm Sunday, 113
hangs Hroaldr on Godey, 86 Pavia, 19, 147
slaps SigriSr the Imperious, 87 perfida gens (topos), 24
builds Traninn, 87 Peter (apostle), 35
swimming contest with Kjartan Olafsson, Petersen, Niels Matthias, 27
88-89 Poitou, 56
converts Kjartan, Hallfredr, and their crews, Poppa (or Poppo, German bishop), 59, 140
89 Porte, Wilhelm, 22
sends Pangbrandr to Iceland, 90 Psalms, 16, 144
converts Iceland, 90-92 Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle, 15, 139
visited by Odin, 92-94 Pythian spirit, 44, 138
executes Eyvindr kelda, 94
builds Ormr inn skammi, 95 Ragnhildr (daughter of King Magnus the
tortures Eyvindr kinnrifa, 95-96 Good), 140
marries Pyri, 98 Raudr (name for an unnamed victim supplied
destroys an idol of Freyr, 99 bySnorri), 146
rescues a retainer from a cliff, 99-100 Reas, 45, 139
has a nocturnal vision, 101 Reenhjelm, Jacob, 27
178 Index
Rekon (or Rekoni), 45, 139 Skane (Scania), 117

"Rekstefja," 145 Skoglar-Tosti (father of SigricV the Imperi-
Reno, Marcus (major), 25 ous), 42, 147
Rhine River, 149 Smalsarhorn (a cliff), 99, 145
"Rigsjmla," 22 Snorri Sturluson, 8, 137-38, 140-41, 143, 146
Rimull (farm in Gaulardalr), 69-70, 141 Sogn,37
Rindal, Magnus, 27, 138-39, 141-45, 148 Sotanes, 37, 137
Rogaland, 71 Soti (skald mentioned in Uppsala MS), 145,
Roland (French hero), 24 149
Rome, 24, 149 Stange (in Hedmark), 138
Romol (modern form of Rimull, see above) Stadr (near Trondheim), 9, 76, 84-85
Rosenberg, Bruce, 24-25 Stefnir Porgilsson, 18, 20-25, 146-47
Rufus the Priest, 97, 145 Steinsland, Gro, 141
Rognvaldr (son of Hakon gamli), 42 Storm, Gustav, 138, 140-41, 146
Rpnd (a lake), 38 Strom, Folke, 141
Sturla Pordarson, 21
Saint Mary's Church (on Selja), 79 Sturlubok, 4-5
Saint Michael's Church (on Selja), 79 Sturlunga saga, 5
Saxo Grammaticus, 139 StyrbJQrn Olafsson, 42, 81
Saxony, 56-57, 87 Styrkarr Eindridason (from Gimsar), 104, 118
Schlei (river), 57-58 Styrmir from Pelamork, 125
Schmid, Toni, 142 Sunnefa (Irish princess and refugee on Selja),
Schreinerjohan, 139, 147-48 77-78
Scilly Isles, 7-8, 11, 14, 55 Sveinn Alfifuson, 63
Scotland, 11 Sveinn Hakonarson (son of Jarl Hakon), 68,
See, Klaus von, 22 72,115-16
Selja, 9, 76-77, 79 Sveinn Haraldsson (Folkbeard, Danish king),
Servius (grammaticus), 24 9, 17-18, 21, 49, 82-84, 87, 97-99, 110-
Shetland, 102 15,118-20,123
SigricV Tostadottir (the Imperious), 9, 17, 42, Sveinn Knutsson, 8
82, 87, 99, 110-12, 116, 144, 147 Sverrir Sigurdarson (Norwegian king), 4, 130
SigurcV (bishop), 2 Sverrir Tomasson, 25, 137, 146-48
SigurcV (jarl in Northumbria), 56, 61-63 Svertingr Runolfsson, 90
SigurcV (slayer of Olaf Tryggvason's retainer Synoptic histories, 10-13
Grimr), 17, 106 Syria, 136, 142
Sigurdr (visitor of Olaf Tryggvason), 92, 95, Saemundr Sigfusson, 5, 8-9, 74, 85, 141, 143
145
Sigurdr bildr, 125 Taylor, Archer, 24
Sigurdr Eiriksson (Olaf Tryggvason's maternal Teitr Isleifsson, 92
uncle), 44-46 Theodoricus Monachus, 4-20, 138-39, 141-
SigurcV HloSvisson (jarl in Orkney), 7, 11, 16, 43, 147
74 Thermopylae, 25
Sigurdur Nordal, 4 Thietmar von Merseburg, 139-40, 145
Sigvaldi Strut-Haraldsson (jarl injomsborg), Thor 17, 60, 75, 105, 108-9, 127
18-19, 21-25, 49, 64, 83-84, 111-22, Thorfinn (young son of Sigurdr HlocVisson),
127, 146-49 16
Sigvatr Pordarson (skald), 8, 115, 140 Toll, Hans, 147
Sinon, 25 Torfi Valbrandsson, 126
Skarfstadir (afarm), 5 Traninn (the Crane), 87, 119, 121, 124
Skaun, 39-40, 138 Trojan War, 24
Skorustrond, 93 "Tryggvaflokkr," 8, 140
Skrattasker, 94 Tryggvi (son of Olaf Tryggvason and Gycia), 8,
Skuli Porsteinsson, 19, 122, 126, 133 63, 73, 140
Index 179
Tryggvi Olafsson (father of Olaf Tryggvason), Zealand, 13, 83

7,10, 36-39, 42, 45, 59, 69, 107, 137 Zernack, Julia, 25, 137
Turville-Petre, Gabriel, 2, 146
Pangbrandr (missionary), 74, 90
Ulfasund, 76 Pingeyrar (monastery), 1-2, 5, 15, 21, 26,
Ulfr raudi (the Red), 19,121-22,125 136
Ulysses, 25 Pingvellir, 91
Unger, C. R. [Carl Rikard], 139 Pidreks saga, 137
Unnr (variant of Audr, daughter of Jarl Pjalfahellir (near Agdanes), 65, 141
Hakon), 138 Pjorsardalr (in southern Iceland), 90
Upplond, 36, 71-72, 82,102, 112, 137-38, Porarinn Nefjolfsson, 88, 98
145 Porarinn rosti (Oddr Snorrason's brother), 5
Uppsala, 82 Porfinnr eisli from Proendalog, 125
UrguJ)jotr (jarl under Emperor Otto II), 56, Porgeirr (brother-in-law of Olaf Tryggvason),
58,60 80,107-8,113,118,125,130
Urli (diminutive of Erlendr Hakonarson), Porgeirr Porkelsson (lawspeaker), 91-92
71 Porgerdr Holgabrudr, 63,141
Porgerdr Porsteinsdottir, 2
Vakr the Armenian, 125 Porgils (son of Porolfr lusarskegg), 38, 45
Valdimarr (Vladimir I, Grand Prince of Kiev), Porgrimr Pjodolfsson, 125
14_15, 44.45, 48, 138, 140 Porir (informant of Oddr Snorrason), 3
Varinn of Skorustrond (legenday king), 93 Porir hjortr, 87, 96
Veggistafr (place name), 71, 141 Porir hundr Porisson, 82
Veggjadarsund, 37 Porir klakka, 6, 64-66, 68, 74, 141
Veggjadr (Veggir) in Ranriki, 137 Porkell dydrill, 100-1, 121, 124-25, 145
Vellankatla, 91 Porkell inn havi Strut-Haraldsson (brother of
Vellond (Valland? = France), 149 JarlSigvaldi), 127
Venus, 15 Porkell nefja, 119-20
Veraldar saga, 5 Porkell trefill, 106
Vestmannaeyjar, 90 Porleifr Brandsson, 88
Vie romancee de Charlemagne, 15, 139 Porleifr inn spaki, 79
Vigfuss Viga-Glumsson, 126 "Porleifs flattr jarlaskalds," 141
Vigi, 17-18, 61, 96, 107, 114, 135 PormoSr (missionary), 74, 90
Vik, 60, 71, 80, 107, 135, 138 Poroddr from Qlfus, 104, 146
Vikarr (forecastleman on Ormr inn langi), Porolfr (a warrior on Ormr inn langi), 125
121-22, 125-26, 130 Porolfr lusarskegg (foster father of Olaf
Virgil, 15, 24 Tryggvason's mother Astricir), 10, 38,
Viskar, 138 40
Vissivaldr (king in Russia), 82 Porsteinn (i Vizum), 39-41
Vors, 90 Porsteinn hviti from Ofrustadir, 125
Porsteinn oxafotr, 125, 131
Weibull, Curt, 144, 147 Pordr from Njardarlog, 125
Weibull, Lauritz, 147 Pordr Eigileifsson, 37-38, 137
Wendland, 8, 11-19, 49, 52, 73, 82, 97-98, Pordr Ingileifarson, 37-38, 137
111-16,122,135-36,149 Porcfr Jorunnarson, 76, 137
Widukind von Korvei, 140 Pordr Êgileifarson, 76, 137
William of Malmesbury, 140 Prandheimr, 71, 76, 80, 95, 97, 104-5
Wurth, Stefanie, 15 Prandr inn rammi from Pelamork, 125
Prandr skjalgi, 125, 131
Xerxes, 25 Prcendalog, 25, 72, 81, 121
Puridr Eyvindardottir, 104, 146
Yaroslav I the Wise (Grand Prince of Kiev), 44 Pvera (in Alptafjordr), 90
Yngvars saga vidfprla, 3, 9, 138, 143 Pyri (daughter of King Burizleifr), 83, 144
180 Index
I>yri (daughter of King Svend Forkbeard, wife Qgvaldsnes, 94

of Olaf Tryggvason), 9, 12-20, 97-98, Qlfusvatn, 91
105, 110-14, 123, 134, 149 Qlm63r Hordakarason, 79, 143
I>yrileif (Fyrileif ?), 88, 144 Qzurr toti (father of Queen Gunnhildr), 36
&sir, 75 0resund, 112, 114, 147
Ogmundr sandi (or from Sandr), 125, 131

Ogvaldr (legendary king), 93

The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason

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The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason

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The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason

A SERIES RELATING TO ICELAND AND THE

FISKE ICELANDIC COLLECTION

CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Edited by Kristin Bragadottir

The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason

Translated with Introduction and Notes by

Cornell University Press

Ithaca and London

First published 2003 by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Contents of the Saga 31

Notes to the Text 137

Appendix: Olaf Tryggvason in the Synoptic Histories 151

Oddr's text is straightforward—as a registration of what has been written about

Ag Agrip afNoregs konunga SQgum. In Fagrskinna — Noregs konunga tal. Ed.

The fragmentary Uppsala manuscript expands the concluding section consid-

Stockholm 18, 4to, is judged to be an Icelandic manuscript from around 1300

Finnur Jonsson (1920-24, 2:392-93) and Bjarni A5albjarnarson (1936, 85-

Porolfr fasthaldi Steingrimr

P6r5r Porvaldr aurgoSi

Skeggi skammhgndungr Steindorr

Oddr PC >rolfr Porarinn rosti

Oddr's brother Porarinn rosti is mentioned in connection with Gu5mundr

fully dependent on Theodoricus. In the fourth set of parallels (from Chapters

7. Olaf in Russia 6-9

1. Th the death of King Tryggvi

2. Th the search for the infant Olaf

3. Th Jarl Hakon's dealings with Harald Bluetooth

4. Th the death of Gunnhildr

5. Th Emperor Otto's conversion of Harald Bluetooth

6. Th HN the death of King Tryg

7. Th 3. Th Jarl Hakon's dealings with Harald Bluetoo

8. Th HN the death of King Tryg

10. Th HN the death of King Tryg

HN Olaf's vengeance for his foster father

11. Th Ag Olaf protected by the queen

12. Th HN Olaf's raids in the Baltic and winter in Jomne

13. Th HN Olaf's raids in the Baltic and winter in Jomne

14. Th Ag Olaf protected by the queen

15. Th the miracle in Denmark

16. Th Olaf baptized on the Scilly Isles

17. Th Olaf in England under the pseudonym Ali

18. Th Olaf lured to Norway

19. Th Olaf's arrival in Norway with clergy

20. Th Olaf's conversion of Jarl SigurSr in Orkney

21. Th Olaf acclaimed as king

22. Th HN Olaf acclaimed as kin

23. Th Jarl Hakon's last days

24. Th Olaf's forcible conversions

25. Th Olaf's burning of eighty sorcerers

26. Th Olaf's conversion of the Icelanders

27. Th the marriage of Olaf's sisters to leading Norwegians

28. Th Olaf's baptizing of Olaf Haraldsson

29. Th HN Olaf acclaimed as kin

30. Th 27. Th the marriage of Olaf's sisters to leading Norwegians

31. Th an alliance formed against Olaf

32. Th 27. Th the marriage of Olaf's sisters to leading Norwegians

33. Th 27. Th the marriage of Olaf's sisters to leading Norwegians

34. Th Olaf attacked in successive waves at Svgl5r

35. Th the question of whether Olaf escaped

36. Th 27. Th the marriage of Olaf's sisters to leading Norwegians

37. Th the subsequent division of Norway