Olaf II of Norway

Life events

1. Born — 995

   Olaf Haraldsson was born c. 995 in Ringerike, the son of Åsta Gudbrandsdatter and Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold. His father died before Olaf was born; his mother later married Sigurd Syr.

2. Baptized — 1013

   While wintering with Duke Richard II of Normandy on his way back to Norway, Olaf was baptised in Rouen at the pre-Romanesque Notre-Dame Cathedral by Robert the Dane, Archbishop of Normandy and brother of Duke Richard.

3. Consecrated — 1015

   Olaf returned to Norway in 1015, declared himself king, and secured the support of the five petty kings of the Norwegian Uplands. In 1016 at the Battle of Nesjar he defeated Earl Sweyn of Lade, the de facto ruler of Norway, consolidating royal authority.

4. Other — 1019

   Olaf married Astrid Olofsdotter, illegitimate daughter of King Olof Skötkonung of Sweden, consolidating a peace between Norway and Sweden brokered through Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker. The union produced a daughter, Wulfhild, who later married Ordulf, Duke of Saxony.

5. Exiled — 1029

   In 1029, Norwegian nobles backed an invasion by King Cnut the Great of Denmark, driving Olaf into exile in Kievan Rus. He stayed for a time in the Swedish province of Nerike before attempting to reclaim Norway.

6. Martyred — 1030

   Olaf was killed at the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030, during his attempt to retake Norway. The battle was fought against his own Norwegian subjects from central and northern Norway, who sided with Danish rule.

7. Translated — 1031

   On 3 August 1031, Bishop Grimketel performed Olaf's canonisation and translation at Nidaros, one year after his death. Olaf's remains were enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral, built over his original burial site, and he was designated Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae — 'Eternal King of Norway'.

8. Other — 1164

   Pope Alexander III confirmed Olaf's local canonisation in 1164, formally recognising him as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. This papal confirmation came over a century after Grimketel's original proclamation at Nidaros.

Relationships

Documented claims

• Olaf was co-patron, with the Mother of God, of the Varangian chapel near Hagia Irene in Constantinople — the chapel of the Scandinavian imperial bodyguard. The Wikipedia source identifies him as the last saint venerated by both Eastern and Western churches before the Great Schism. (plausible)
• The axe appears in Norway's coat of arms as the symbol of Olaf, identified in the source as the instrument of his martyrdom. The coat of arms of the Church of Norway bears two axes on the same grounds. (likely)
• The oldest recorded miracles of Olaf appear in the skaldic poem Glælognskviða ('Sea-Calm Poem') by Þórarinn loftunga, composed c. 1030–1034. One describes a blind man regaining sight after rubbing his eyes with hands stained with Olaf's blood on the day of his death. (plausible)
• Around the 12th century, Olaf's iconography absorbed attributes of the Norse god Thor. Early depictions show him clean-shaven; after 1200 he appears with a red beard. He also inherited Thor's role as giant-slayer and his folk tradition as a slayer of trolls and protector against malicious forces. (likely)
• The earliest datable liturgical office for Olaf appears in the Leofric Collectar (c. 1050), an English manuscript that Bishop Leofric of Exeter bequeathed to Exeter Cathedral. This predates the formal Norwegian cult by over a century and reflects the spread of Scandinavian veneration into England. (likely)