Olav – viking, king, saint

[This talk is based on the English translation of Fr Olav Müller’s booklet “Olav den Hellige” (Saint Olav) 1993 – Maximilian Kolbe Utgivelser; English translation by Father Brian McNeil CRV – The text in English can be found at the following link: http://www.katolsk.no/biografi/olav/english.htm ]

Introduction: background and Olav’s early years

Olav Haraldsson (using the patronymic system, i.e. son of Harald) was born in Ringerike at the end of the tenth century, to Åsta and Harald Grenske (who in turn was Harald Hårfagre’s great grandson). Olav was never to see his father as the latter was killed on a Viking journey to the East. Åsta later married Sigurd Syr, a farmer. But Olav would not settle down to a farming life; his Viking blood and ancestry drove him out of the land at the age of twelve. At the time of the first voyage he was already given the name of king.

The Viking period (c.790—1050) had started to peak, in the sense that there was a full development of their enterprise from trade, to plunder, to settling down in other lands, notably the British Isles, Ireland, Iceland and France. Amongst the reasons for this change was the contact made between these men from the North (Norway, Sweden and Denmark) and the Christian lands of Europe, where society had become more organised and developed culturally and otherwise. Olav was on one such venture of plunder in England, following which he travelled south to Normandy (the name itself is a sign of Norse settlement), where he entered the military service of the duke of Normandy. From there Olav travelled to Spanish coast, but was impelled by a dream to return to Norway on the promise that he would be king in Norway forever.

It must be pointed at this stage that:

Haakon den Gode was killed, and was succeeded by a time of partial dependence on Denmark. His nephews were bequeathed the country, but a process of breaking up was under way. The earl of Lade, also named Haakon, moved from trying to unite parts of the country again, to attempting a break away from Denmark. He was killed later during a revolt that broke out in the Trondheim area.

At about the same time (995), a young Viking prince landed in Norway to claim the kingship – Olav Tryggvason, great grandson of Harald Hårfagre. He was at once accepted as King of Norway, first be the people in the Trondheim area, and eventually by the rest of the nation. There was a restoration of national unity and independence. The adoption of Christianity (in a forceful way, one must add) was the third aspect of his kingship. This measure (due to the harshness shown) brought about a rise in resentment towards a person who was otherwise popular with the people. Olav Tryggvason was isolated in a battle; he jumped overboard and drowned. It is the year 1000AD.
Olav’s death led to a great turmoil in the country – disunity reigned, there was a return to heathenism, and Norway returned to a state of dependence on foreign kings. It was into this scene that Olav Haraldsson returned to Norway to claim the kingship.

Conversion to Christianity and returning to Norway

The young Olav was for a short time the guest of the Christian duke of Normandy, Richard II. In Rouen Olav learnt much about the Christian faith, the flourishing culture that followed in its wake, and the political and social upheavals that resulted. The all-important question for the young Viking would have been: who was the most powerful, the Norse gods or the White Christ? Intermingled with this issue would have been issues such as life and death, the afterlife, morality. Possibly Olav began to see the visible structure of the Church as a kind of army, God’s army, whose aim was to bring about the conversion of the peoples. Most importantly Olav would have heard of Charlemagne, the emperor who united Christian Europe after the turmoil that followed the collapse of the Roman Empire. The emperor was to unite the ideals of political peace and stability, with a Christianity that formed a backdrop to all of society, its laws and culture. Charlemagne’s rule must have served as a model for later kings, and possibly the young Olav returning to Norway.

Olav sailed out first to England, where he returned to the ships with which he had originally travelled from Norway. In autumn 1015, accompanied by a company of men (c. 220), he sailed northward to Norway.

Norway was still in the process of dismantling the clan system. Larger areas were under the control of the local chiefs, but there was still the need for a greater unifying force, someone who would organise the country in such a way as to defend it from its enemies. So, order at home, and peace with respect to neighbouring states were very much high on Olav’s agenda as he set about the task of establishing an effective kingship. One must also add that the deep-rooted clan system still had a strong influence on the belief system of the people. There was a skin-deep Christianity, but the customs attached to the family gods, and the accompanying rituals had not been eradicated. Quite the contrary was the case. Needless to say, a lack of a proper understanding of Christianity and its demands on the life of the person, include behaviour, contributed not slightly to the strong undercurrent of savagery and bloody revenge that existed even during Olav’s reign. Thus, he felt obliged to address this problem through a more thorough Christianisation of the country, and a greater sense of justice for all, great and small. Clearly what he had in mind was that of being the righteous ruler who only feared God.

King Olav

Olav began to take possession of the land, starting from his home region of Oppland, where he was accepted as king by the local chieftains, more out of political expediency than out of any great desire to have him rule over them. From here, Olav proceeded to take over Viken and Agder, and from there, he moved to Trøndelag. Slowly he succeeded in ruling over the whole of mid- and south-Norway. Ensuring peace with Sweden through marriage with a daughter of the Swedish king, Astrid (it should have been her elder sister, but at the last moment her father gave her in marriage to prince Jaroslav of Novgorod), Olav ensured that he would not have to battle on many fronts simultaneously. Finally, Olav moved north to Hålogaland to obtain recognition from the chieftains in that region – on paper, it looked as if he could claim to being king over the whole of Norway.

At this point Olav begins in earnest the work of Christianisation, not so much because the populace was pagan, but rather because paganism was still the mindset that prevailed. By today’s standards his methods would probably be seen as being harsh, and unacceptable, surely because faith can never be forced upon a person. Still, one has to approach such issues by trying to get into the mind of the persons at that time. Possibly, Olav felt that it was his duty as a Christian king to bring people to accept God’s will, especially if he reasoned that pagan worship was nothing but devil worship by another name. This compulsory missionary activity was followed by greater Church organisation. Church structures and institutions began to take shape; church rules and laws were slowly absorbed into the legal structure of the land, i.e. church laws directly impacted all social relations, not simply in the ecclesiastical sphere. The establishment of these laws took place during an assembly in Moster, and are known as the Gulating law (also “St Olav’s laws”). The hard part came in trying to convince the clan chiefs to abide by these rules as it meant in many cases a diminution of their own powers and rights. Equally difficult was the task of ensuring that all were equal in the eyes of the law, and that justice must be served on both the mighty and the weak. This ran directly counter to the old customs, as well as to concept of private vengeance. Clearly Olav rubbed the chieftains’ skin the wrong way because they arose in opposition to him.

One of the things that Olav established was a system of årmenn to keep a watch over the mighty lendmenn, and so report any breaches to the king directly. This was not acceptable to the mighty chieftains, and it was probably one such incident that sparked off the revolt against the king. Canute, king of Denmark and England was lying in wait for the right moment, and took the opportunity when such arose.

It would seem that Canute used his might and riches to win over the chiefs, together with the promise of more power to them once he became king over Norway. Implicitly, it must have been a strong temptation for these men to choose a king who resides abroad (thus having less of a say in their day-to-day affairs) over one who lives in Norway. Whatever the case, most of the chieftains abandoned Olav, forcing him to flee from Norway with a handful of men, seeking refuge in Sweden. From there, he travelled further on and spent some time in Gardarike.

The last battle – martyrdom and sainthood

Most probably the period in Gardarike served as a moment of spiritual development, in the sense that Olav could reflect upon his own life and mission and seek discernment on what to do next. One must bear in mind that Olav had returned to Norway with a specific task in hand, that of establishing a Christian kingship over the country. The Olav who arrived in Gardarike was a broken man, having lost the support of the chieftains, together with the loss of the kingship and the loss of all he possessed. Olav must have put the matter into God’s hands – and it seems that God showed him the way in a dream.

Following this dream, Olav returns to Norway via Sweden, journeying on to Stiklestad. It must have been a very strange journey as the king had a strong sense that he was moving into his final battle, and certain death. This does not mean that he gave up without a fight, but that he entrusted the matter into God’s hands. He is struck by one of the farmers, and succumbs to further blows.

The king’s death seems to bring about a change of tone – and of heart. Both among his men, as well as in the enemy camp there was talk of martyrdom and sainthood. There seems to have been a spirit of repentance and sorrow in the Trøndelag region, together with talk of miracles performed as a result of prayers for his intercession. At that time it was the local bishop who canonised a person, so bishop Grimkjell pronounced king Olav as a martyr and saint. Miraculous happenings surrounding the process of exhumation and reburial in the Church of St Clement only furthered the king’s mystique. Slowly the site of burial became a pilgrim site for Christians from all over Europe, especially northern European countries.