Battle of Stiklestad
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Stiklestad ' onMouseout='HidePop("54100")' href="/topics/Old_Norse">Old Norse
: Stiklarstaðir) in 1030 is one of the most famous battles in the history of Norway
. In this battle, King Olaf II of Norway
(Old Norse: Óláfr Haraldsson) was killed. He was later canonized. His young half-brother, Harald Sigurdsson, was also present at the battle and would go on to become King of Norway in 1047, dying in a failed invasion of England in the Battle of Stamford Bridge
in 1066.
, to subjugate these mini–kingdoms, and he created the first unified Norwegian state.
This alliance came apart after Harald's death. The jarls
of Lade
and various descendants of Harald Fairhair would spend the next century interlocked in feuds over power. As well as power politics, religion also played a part in these conflicts, as two of the descendants of Harald Fairhair, Hakon the Good and Olaf Tryggvason attempted to convert the then heathen Norwegians to Christianity
. In the year 1000, Svein (Old Norse: Sveinn) and Erik (Old Norse: Eiríkr) of Lade took control over Norway, being supported by the Danish
King Svein. In 1015, Olaf Haraldsson, representing the descendants of Harald Fairhair, returned from one of his Viking
trips and was immediately elected as King of Norway. In June 1016, he won the Battle at Nesjar against the Jarls of Lade
.
Olaf Haraldsson's success in becoming King of Norway was helped by the Danes being kept occupied with the ongoing fighting in England
. In the year 1028, the Danish King Cnut the Great made an alliance with the Lades, and Olaf had to go into exile in Novgorod (Old Norse: Garðaríki). In the year of 1029 the last Lade, Hakon Jarl, drowned and Olaf returned to Norway with his army to regain his throne and the Kingdom of Norway.
and crossed the mountains into the valley of Verdal
(Old Norse: Veradalr), about 80 kilometres (49.7 mi) north of the city of Trondheim
. Olaf and his men arrived at Stiklestad
, a farm in the lower part of the valley. This was where the Battle of Stiklestad took place, as described by Snorri Sturluson
in his famous work Heimskringla
, written about 200 years later.
At Stiklestad, Olaf met an army led by Harek from Tjøtta (Old Norse: Hárekr ór Þjóttu), Thorir Hund (Old Norse: Þórir Hundr) from Bjarkøy and Kalf Arnason (Old Norse: Kálfr Árnason), a man who previously served Olaf. The peasant army consisted of one hundred-hundred according to Snorri, which was intended to mean 14,400, and not 10,000. He states that the battle cry of Olaf's men was Fram! Fram! Kristmenn, krossmenn, kongsmenn (Forward, forward, Christ's men, Cross men, king's men), while that of the opposing army was Fram! Fram! Bonder (Forward, forward, farmers).
During the battle, Olaf received three severe wounds—in the knee, in the neck, and the final mortal blow through the heart—and died leaning against a large stone. His body was carried away and buried secretly in the sandy banks of the Nidelva River
south of the city of Trondheim
.
the body was incorrupt and the hair and nails had grown since he was buried. The coffin was then moved to St. Klement's Church in Trondheim
. Olav came to be venerated as a saint and given the name Saint Olaf . Stiklestad Church
(Stiklestad kyrkje) was erected on top of the stone against which he died. The stone is supposedly still inside the altar of the church.
One hundred years later, Nidaros Cathedral
was built in Trondheim on the site of his original burial place. Olaf's body was moved to this church and enshrined in a silver reliquary
behind the high altar. This reliquary took the form of a miniature church, common to medieval reliquaries containing the entire body of a saint, but was unique in that it is said to have had dragon heads at the apex of the gables similar to those still seen on Norwegian stave church
es. In the 16th century, during the Protestant Reformation
period, Olaf's body was removed from this reliquary, which was melted down for coinage by order of the Dano-Norwegian king. His remains were reburied somewhere in Nidaros Cathedral—exactly where is still today an unsolved mystery. Queen Josephine of Leuchtenberg
of Norway and Sweden, the consort of Oscar I, asked for the one known remaining relic of St. Olaf, an ulna
or radius
in a medieval reliquary in the Danish National Museum, from King Frederick VII of Denmark, which he gave to her and which she in turn gave to St. Olaf's Cathedral
(Sankt Olav domkirke) in Oslo
in August 1862.
makes for epic reading, a lot of its grandeur most likely must be put down to the writer's taste for the grand.
In Gardarike, Olaf was only surrounded by his most loyal followers. Neither can one expect that recruitment was especially ample in Sweden or through the sparsely populated valleys through which Olaf travelled. Thus, Olaf's army probably was of a rather rag-tag character, an impression accentuated by tales of how local robber groups would join it as Olaf made his way down Verdal
. The recruitment of robber gangs and other scofflaws was likely no surprise to the polytheistic heathens that opposed Olaf's attempts to forcibly convert them by murdering and torturing regional Jarls and Kings to terrorize them into accepting Christianity.
In fact, why Olaf chose to travel through the politically hostile Trøndelag
, rather than to try to rally his relatives and political allies of Eastern Norway, is to this day an unsolved mystery. Perhaps he was making a last-ditch attempt for Nidaros
, hoping to win acceptance for his claim to the throne amongst the peasants of Trøndelag.
On the other hand, the opposition, basically lower nobles and grand farmers under the influence of King Cnut, could not have had much time to assemble a large force. When alerted to Olaf's presence, they must have responded swiftly, considering that they met Olaf relatively far up in the valley. Therefore, their action points more towards a small, hastily arranged rally of men rather than the elaborate logistics that would have been needed to assemble a 10,000 man strong army.
Those who could have mobilized a large scale army, the local nobles of Trøndelag (of which Einar Thambarskelfir was a prime example) were notable largely by their absence on either side. Also, a battlefield of a raging battle between nearly 20,000 men should have produced rich archeological findings to that effect; at Stiklestad, however, these are sparse. This however, is common in Norway - the rocky soil is not as well suited to battlefield archaeology like continental and English soil, it makes georadar readings all but unusable and the location of the battle site highly uncertain. On Stiklestad, however, the soil is deep soil with some clay, and georadar has been used in 2008, showing traces of large buildings, but not much to indicate a battlefield. As is the case with most battles mentioned in the sagas, the sizes of the battling armies are probably impossible to determine.
Olaf's role in Norwegian history had only just begun at his death. While nobles and rich farmers had expected their position to improve with the removal of the aggressive Olaf, the opposite happened. The rule of Cnut's mistress and their infant son Svein was exceedingly harsh on the people. Especially the church, a traditional ally of Olaf, came under the squeeze.
Thus, it accentuated the late king's martyr status, as it joined and egged on common folk in revolting against the hardships enforced by the succeeding Danish rule. Propaganda proclaiming how heroic Olaf's last stand had been made for great nation-building material in the immature Norwegian state where the warrior ethic of the Vikings and their Gods and Goddesses were still highly revered. According to Snorri, even nature lent a hand, as the day of the battle coincided with a nearly full solar eclipse
, as reflected in the description of an ill-fated 'blooded red sun', which was interpreted as a certain omen of bad things to come. However, the solar eclipse took place at about 2:00 p.m. on August 31 that year contrary to the traditional date of the battle on July 29.
Olaf, a rather stubborn and rash ruler, prone to torturing and murdering those who refused to submit to Christianity, ironically became Norway's patron saint. His canonization was performed only a year after his death by the bishop of Nidaros. The cult of Olaf not only unified the country, it also fulfilled the conversion of the nation, something for which the king had fought so hard.
While divisive in life, in death Olaf — perpetuus rex normanni, the eternal king of Norwegians — wielded a unifying power no foreign monarch could hope to undo. Cnut, most distracted by the task of administering England, managed to rule Norway for five years after the battle through his viceroy son Svein. However, when Olaf's illegitimate son Magnus
(dubbed 'the Good') laid claim to the Norwegian throne, Cnut had to yield. Thus, a century of prosperity and expansion followed, lasting until the kingdom again descended into a civil war over succession.
wrote a poem Tord Foleson, about King Olaf's standard-bearer at the battle. Foleson was able to plant the banner before he died, and it remained standing throughout the battle, even after the king fell. It was kept erect and replaced by the local populace for centuries, and a memorial stands at the site today. The most famous line of the poem, Merket det stend, um mannen han stupa ('The symbol stands, even when the man falls'), is inscribed on the memorial in Stalheim
, Norway
. It is also on the inscription wall in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
memorial site.
In July 1954, the owner of the farm at Stiklestad gave permission for the performance of a play based on the battle on his property. The Saint Olav Drama
is an outdoor theatre performance played every end of July in Stiklestad. The play was written by Olav Gullvåg
and has been staged every year since 1954. Annually, people travel to Stiklestad to watch The Saint Olaf Drama at what is now the largest outdoor theatre in Scandinavia
.
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
: Stiklarstaðir) in 1030 is one of the most famous battles in the history of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. In this battle, King Olaf II of Norway
Olaf II of Norway
Olaf II Haraldsson was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. He was posthumously given the title Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae and canonised in Nidaros by Bishop Grimkell, one year after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030. Enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral...
(Old Norse: Óláfr Haraldsson) was killed. He was later canonized. His young half-brother, Harald Sigurdsson, was also present at the battle and would go on to become King of Norway in 1047, dying in a failed invasion of England in the Battle of Stamford Bridge
Battle of Stamford Bridge
The Battle of Stamford Bridge took place at the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire in England on 25 September 1066, between an English army under King Harold Godwinson and an invading Norwegian force led by King Harald Hardrada of Norway and the English king's brother Tostig...
in 1066.
Background
During the 9th century, Norway was divided between several local kings controlling their own regions. By the end of the century, King Harald Fairhair (Old Norse: Haraldr Hárfagri) managed, in no little part due to the military superiority gained by his alliance with Sigurd Ladejarl of NidarosNidaros
Nidaros or Niðarós was during the Middle Ages, the old name of Trondheim, Norway . Until the Reformation, Nidaros remained the centre of the spiritual life of the country...
, to subjugate these mini–kingdoms, and he created the first unified Norwegian state.
This alliance came apart after Harald's death. The jarls
Jarls of Lade
The Jarls of Lade or Old Norse Hlaðir were a dynasty of Norwegian rulers, who ruled Trøndelag and Hålogaland from the 9th century to the 11th century. -Lade Gaard:...
of Lade
Lade, Trondheim
Lade is a community in Trondheim, Norway. It is located on a peninsula north-east of the city centre, north of the community of Lademoen. It was the site of the historic Lade farm.-History:...
and various descendants of Harald Fairhair would spend the next century interlocked in feuds over power. As well as power politics, religion also played a part in these conflicts, as two of the descendants of Harald Fairhair, Hakon the Good and Olaf Tryggvason attempted to convert the then heathen Norwegians to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. In the year 1000, Svein (Old Norse: Sveinn) and Erik (Old Norse: Eiríkr) of Lade took control over Norway, being supported by the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
King Svein. In 1015, Olaf Haraldsson, representing the descendants of Harald Fairhair, returned from one of his Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
trips and was immediately elected as King of Norway. In June 1016, he won the Battle at Nesjar against the Jarls of Lade
Jarls of Lade
The Jarls of Lade or Old Norse Hlaðir were a dynasty of Norwegian rulers, who ruled Trøndelag and Hålogaland from the 9th century to the 11th century. -Lade Gaard:...
.
Olaf Haraldsson's success in becoming King of Norway was helped by the Danes being kept occupied with the ongoing fighting in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. In the year 1028, the Danish King Cnut the Great made an alliance with the Lades, and Olaf had to go into exile in Novgorod (Old Norse: Garðaríki). In the year of 1029 the last Lade, Hakon Jarl, drowned and Olaf returned to Norway with his army to regain his throne and the Kingdom of Norway.
Battle
According to saga sources, he traveled with his 3,600 man army through SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and crossed the mountains into the valley of Verdal
Verdal
Verdal is a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Verdalsøra...
(Old Norse: Veradalr), about 80 kilometres (49.7 mi) north of the city of Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
. Olaf and his men arrived at Stiklestad
Stiklestad
Stiklestad is a village and parish in the municipality of Verdal in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located east of the municipal center of Verdalsøra and about southeast of Forbregd/Lein. The village is mainly known as the site of the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030...
, a farm in the lower part of the valley. This was where the Battle of Stiklestad took place, as described by Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...
in his famous work Heimskringla
Heimskringla
Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
, written about 200 years later.
At Stiklestad, Olaf met an army led by Harek from Tjøtta (Old Norse: Hárekr ór Þjóttu), Thorir Hund (Old Norse: Þórir Hundr) from Bjarkøy and Kalf Arnason (Old Norse: Kálfr Árnason), a man who previously served Olaf. The peasant army consisted of one hundred-hundred according to Snorri, which was intended to mean 14,400, and not 10,000. He states that the battle cry of Olaf's men was Fram! Fram! Kristmenn, krossmenn, kongsmenn (Forward, forward, Christ's men, Cross men, king's men), while that of the opposing army was Fram! Fram! Bonder (Forward, forward, farmers).
During the battle, Olaf received three severe wounds—in the knee, in the neck, and the final mortal blow through the heart—and died leaning against a large stone. His body was carried away and buried secretly in the sandy banks of the Nidelva River
Nidelva
Nidelva or Nidelven is a river in the county Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. Elva or Elven is Norwegian for river, so the name translates to "Nid River".-Location:...
south of the city of Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
.
Aftermath
The year after the battle his grave and coffin were opened and according to Snorri SturlusonSnorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...
the body was incorrupt and the hair and nails had grown since he was buried. The coffin was then moved to St. Klement's Church in Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
. Olav came to be venerated as a saint and given the name Saint Olaf . Stiklestad Church
Stiklestad Church
Stiklestad Church is a parish church in the municipality of Verdal in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the village of Stiklestad. The church is part of the Stiklestad parish in the Sør-Innherad deanery in the Diocese of Nidaros. The stone church building was completed in 1180...
(Stiklestad kyrkje) was erected on top of the stone against which he died. The stone is supposedly still inside the altar of the church.
One hundred years later, Nidaros Cathedral
Nidaros Cathedral
Nidaros Cathedral is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It was the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nidaros from its establishment in 1152 until its abolition in 1537. Since the Reformation, it has been the cathedral of the...
was built in Trondheim on the site of his original burial place. Olaf's body was moved to this church and enshrined in a silver reliquary
Reliquary
A reliquary is a container for relics. These may be the physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures...
behind the high altar. This reliquary took the form of a miniature church, common to medieval reliquaries containing the entire body of a saint, but was unique in that it is said to have had dragon heads at the apex of the gables similar to those still seen on Norwegian stave church
Stave church
A stave church is a medieval wooden church with a post and beam construction related to timber framing. The wall frames are filled with vertical planks. The load-bearing posts have lent their name to the building technique...
es. In the 16th century, during the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
period, Olaf's body was removed from this reliquary, which was melted down for coinage by order of the Dano-Norwegian king. His remains were reburied somewhere in Nidaros Cathedral—exactly where is still today an unsolved mystery. Queen Josephine of Leuchtenberg
Josephine of Leuchtenberg
Joséphine of Leuchtenberg was Queen consort of Sweden and Norway as the wife of King Oscar I...
of Norway and Sweden, the consort of Oscar I, asked for the one known remaining relic of St. Olaf, an ulna
Ulna
The ulna is one of the two long bones in the forearm, the other being the radius. It is prismatic in form and runs parallel to the radius, which is shorter and smaller. In anatomical position The ulna is one of the two long bones in the forearm, the other being the radius. It is prismatic in form...
or radius
Radius
In classical geometry, a radius of a circle or sphere is any line segment from its center to its perimeter. By extension, the radius of a circle or sphere is the length of any such segment, which is half the diameter. If the object does not have an obvious center, the term may refer to its...
in a medieval reliquary in the Danish National Museum, from King Frederick VII of Denmark, which he gave to her and which she in turn gave to St. Olaf's Cathedral
Oslo Cathedral
Oslo Cathedral — formerly Our Savior's Church — is the main church for the Oslo bishopric of the Church of Norway, as well as the parish church for downtown Oslo. The present building dates from 1694-1697....
(Sankt Olav domkirke) in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
in August 1862.
Evaluation
While Snorri's description of the battles in the HeimskringlaHeimskringla
Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
makes for epic reading, a lot of its grandeur most likely must be put down to the writer's taste for the grand.
In Gardarike, Olaf was only surrounded by his most loyal followers. Neither can one expect that recruitment was especially ample in Sweden or through the sparsely populated valleys through which Olaf travelled. Thus, Olaf's army probably was of a rather rag-tag character, an impression accentuated by tales of how local robber groups would join it as Olaf made his way down Verdal
Verdal
Verdal is a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Verdalsøra...
. The recruitment of robber gangs and other scofflaws was likely no surprise to the polytheistic heathens that opposed Olaf's attempts to forcibly convert them by murdering and torturing regional Jarls and Kings to terrorize them into accepting Christianity.
In fact, why Olaf chose to travel through the politically hostile Trøndelag
Trøndelag
Trøndelag is the name of a geographical region in the central part of Norway, consisting of the two counties Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag. The region is, together with Møre og Romsdal, part of a larger...
, rather than to try to rally his relatives and political allies of Eastern Norway, is to this day an unsolved mystery. Perhaps he was making a last-ditch attempt for Nidaros
Nidaros
Nidaros or Niðarós was during the Middle Ages, the old name of Trondheim, Norway . Until the Reformation, Nidaros remained the centre of the spiritual life of the country...
, hoping to win acceptance for his claim to the throne amongst the peasants of Trøndelag.
On the other hand, the opposition, basically lower nobles and grand farmers under the influence of King Cnut, could not have had much time to assemble a large force. When alerted to Olaf's presence, they must have responded swiftly, considering that they met Olaf relatively far up in the valley. Therefore, their action points more towards a small, hastily arranged rally of men rather than the elaborate logistics that would have been needed to assemble a 10,000 man strong army.
Those who could have mobilized a large scale army, the local nobles of Trøndelag (of which Einar Thambarskelfir was a prime example) were notable largely by their absence on either side. Also, a battlefield of a raging battle between nearly 20,000 men should have produced rich archeological findings to that effect; at Stiklestad, however, these are sparse. This however, is common in Norway - the rocky soil is not as well suited to battlefield archaeology like continental and English soil, it makes georadar readings all but unusable and the location of the battle site highly uncertain. On Stiklestad, however, the soil is deep soil with some clay, and georadar has been used in 2008, showing traces of large buildings, but not much to indicate a battlefield. As is the case with most battles mentioned in the sagas, the sizes of the battling armies are probably impossible to determine.
Olaf's role in Norwegian history had only just begun at his death. While nobles and rich farmers had expected their position to improve with the removal of the aggressive Olaf, the opposite happened. The rule of Cnut's mistress and their infant son Svein was exceedingly harsh on the people. Especially the church, a traditional ally of Olaf, came under the squeeze.
Thus, it accentuated the late king's martyr status, as it joined and egged on common folk in revolting against the hardships enforced by the succeeding Danish rule. Propaganda proclaiming how heroic Olaf's last stand had been made for great nation-building material in the immature Norwegian state where the warrior ethic of the Vikings and their Gods and Goddesses were still highly revered. According to Snorri, even nature lent a hand, as the day of the battle coincided with a nearly full solar eclipse
Solar eclipse
As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...
, as reflected in the description of an ill-fated 'blooded red sun', which was interpreted as a certain omen of bad things to come. However, the solar eclipse took place at about 2:00 p.m. on August 31 that year contrary to the traditional date of the battle on July 29.
Olaf, a rather stubborn and rash ruler, prone to torturing and murdering those who refused to submit to Christianity, ironically became Norway's patron saint. His canonization was performed only a year after his death by the bishop of Nidaros. The cult of Olaf not only unified the country, it also fulfilled the conversion of the nation, something for which the king had fought so hard.
While divisive in life, in death Olaf — perpetuus rex normanni, the eternal king of Norwegians — wielded a unifying power no foreign monarch could hope to undo. Cnut, most distracted by the task of administering England, managed to rule Norway for five years after the battle through his viceroy son Svein. However, when Olaf's illegitimate son Magnus
Magnus I of Norway
Magnus I , known as the Good or the Noble, was the King of Norway from 1035 to 1047 and the King of Denmark from 1042 to 1047. He was an illegitimate son of king Olaf II of Norway, but fled with his mother in 1028 when his father was dethroned. In 1035 he returned to Norway and was crowned king at...
(dubbed 'the Good') laid claim to the Norwegian throne, Cnut had to yield. Thus, a century of prosperity and expansion followed, lasting until the kingdom again descended into a civil war over succession.
Legacy
In 1901, poet Per SivlePer Sivle
Per Sivle was a Norwegian poet, novelist and newspaper editor. He is known for his novel Streik from 1891, and for his collections of stories issued between 1887 and 1895, Sogor , Vossa-Stubba, Nye Vossa-stubbar and Sivle-Stubbar...
wrote a poem Tord Foleson, about King Olaf's standard-bearer at the battle. Foleson was able to plant the banner before he died, and it remained standing throughout the battle, even after the king fell. It was kept erect and replaced by the local populace for centuries, and a memorial stands at the site today. The most famous line of the poem, Merket det stend, um mannen han stupa ('The symbol stands, even when the man falls'), is inscribed on the memorial in Stalheim
Stalheim
Stalheim is a village in the municipality Voss in the county Hordaland, Norway. The view from Stalheim is known from several paintings, in particular Johan Christian Dahl's painting Fra Stalheim from 1842....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. It is also on the inscription wall in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
memorial site.
In July 1954, the owner of the farm at Stiklestad gave permission for the performance of a play based on the battle on his property. The Saint Olav Drama
The Saint Olav Drama
The Saint Olav Drama is an outdoor theatre performance played every end of July in Stiklestad in Verdal, Norway, to commemorate the Battle of Stiklestad. The play was written by Olav Gullvåg, and has been staged every year since 1954....
is an outdoor theatre performance played every end of July in Stiklestad. The play was written by Olav Gullvåg
Olav Gullvåg
Olav Gullvåg was a Norwegian playwright, novelist, poet and editor.He was born in Trondheim. He worked as editor-in-chief of Søndmøre Folkeblad from 1911 to 1912, Norig from 1912 to 1921 and Gula Tidend from 1921 to 1929...
and has been staged every year since 1954. Annually, people travel to Stiklestad to watch The Saint Olaf Drama at what is now the largest outdoor theatre in Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
.