Battle of Stiklestad

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Part of Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars

Date	Summer 1030
Location	Stiklestad, Norway
Result	Decisive Peasant Army victory

Combatants

Elements of the King's old hird, some locals, robbers

"The Peasant Army", nobles, grand farmers, peasants

Commanders

Óláfr digri†
Dagr Hringsson

Kálfr Árnason
Þórir hundr
Hárekr ór Þjóttu

Strength

~3,500

~7,000

Casualties

Unknown

The Battle of Stiklestad (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) lost his life. He was later made a saint.

1 History
2 Evaluation
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

During the 8th Century, Norway was controlled by several local strong kings having control over their regions. At the end of the century, King Harald Fairhair (ON Haraldr Hárfagri) managed, in no little part due to the military superiority gained by his alliance with Sigurd Ladejarl of Nidaros, to subjugate these mini-kingdoms, and created the first unified Norwegian state.

This alliance folded after Harald's death, together with the infant state. The Lade family and various descendants of Harald Fairhair would spend the next century interlocked in feuds over power. As well as power politics, religion also played part in these conflicts, as two of the Fairhair heirs, Håkon the Good and Olav Tryggvason attempted the conversion of the then pagan Norwegians into Christianity.

In the year 1000 Svein (ON Sveinn) and Erik (ON Eiríkr) of the Ladejarls took control over Norway, being supported by the Danish king Svein.

In the year 1015 Olav Haraldsson, representing the Hárfagri family, 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 Ladejarls.

The major reason behind Olav Haraldsson's success in becoming King of Norway was the fact that Denmark was busy trying to conquer England. In the year 1028 however, the Danish King Canute the Great made an alliance with the Ladejarls, and Olav had to go into exile in Garðaríki (Russia). In the year of 1029 the last Ladejarl Håkon Jarl drowned, and Olav decided to return to Norway with his army to regain his throne and the Kingdom of Norway.

According to saga sources, he traveled with his 3,600 men army through Sweden and crossed the mountains into the valley of Verdal (ON Veradalr), 80 km north of the city of Trondheim. Olav 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 Snorre (Snorri Sturluson) in his famous book Heimskringla 200 years later.

At Stiklestad, Olav met an army led by Hårek from Tjøtta (ON Hárekr ór Þjóttu), Tore Hund (ON Þórir Hundr) from Bjarkøy and Kalf Arnason (ON Kálfr Árnason), a man who previously served Olav. The peasant army consisted of more than 7,000 men according to Snorre.

The battle took place on July 29, 1030, though the reported solar eclipse took place at about 2 pm on August 31 that year[1]. At the end of the day, Olav's army had lost. During the battle, Olav received three severe wounds and died leaning against a large stone. On top of this stone, the Stiklestad Church was later erected. His body was carried away and buried in secrecy in Trondheim.

The year after the battle his coffin was moved to the Klement Church in Trondheim. According to Snorre, his hair had grown since he was buried. Olav was sanctified and given the name Olav den Hellige (Saint Olaf). The Stiklestad Church was erected on top of the stone against which he died. The stone is supposedly still inside the altar of the church.

100 years later, the Nidaros Cathedral was built in Trondheim, and Olav's coffin was moved to this church. In the 15th Century, during the Protestant Reformation period, Olav's coffin was moved and his remains were buried somewhere in Nidaros Cathedral — exactly where is still today an unsolved mystery.

July 29, 1954, the owner of the farm Sul arranged to have a theater play on his premises. The historic play was based upon both the story of the Battle of Stiklestad described by Snorre and the events that could likely have taken place at the Sul farm at the time before the battle. Snorre writes that Olav had visited this farm with his army on his way to Stiklestad. Today, 50 years later, more than 600,000 people have travelled to Stiklestad to view The Saint Olav Drama at what is now the largest outdoor theatre in Scandinavia.

[edit] Evaluation

While Snorre's description of the battles in the Heimskringa makes for epic reading, a lot of its grandeur most likely must be put down to the writer's taste for the grand.

In Gardarrike, Olav 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 Olav travelled. Thus, Olav's army probably was of a rather rag-tag character, an impression accentuated by tales of how local robber groups would join it as Olav made his way down Verdal.

In fact, why Olav chose to travel through the rather barren and politically hostile Trøndelag, rather than to try and rally his relatives and political allies of Eastern Norway, is to this day an unsolved mystery. Perhaps he was making a 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 influence of the Danish king Canute, could not have had much time to assemble a large force. When alerted to Olav's presence, they must have responded swiftly, considering that they met Olav 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 Tambarskjelvar 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 as continental and English soil, as it makes georadar readings are all but unusable and the location of the battle site highly uncertain. As is the case with most battles mentioned in the sagas, size of the battling armies are probably impossible to determine.

Olav'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 Olav, the opposite happened. The rule of Canute's mistress Alfiva and their infant son Svein exceedingly harsh on the people. Especially the church, a traditional ally of Olav, 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. Olav's heroic last stand made for great nation-building material in the immature Norwegian state. Even nature lended a hand, as the day of the battle coincided with a nearly full solar eclipse, as reflected in Snorre's description of an ill-fated 'blooded red sun', interpreted as a certain omen of bad things to come.

Olav, a rather stubborn and rash ruler, prone to rough treatment of his enemies, ironically became Norway's patron saint. His canonization was performed only a year after his death by the bishop of Nidaros. The cult of Olav 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 Olav — perpeetus rex normanni, the eternal king of Norwegians — wielded an unifying power no foreign monarch could hope to undo. Canute, most distracted by the task of administrating England, managed to rule Norway for five years after the battle through his viceroy son Svein. However, when Olav's illegitimate son Magnus (dubbed 'the Good') lay claim to the Norwegian throne, Canute had to yield. Thus, a century of prosperity and expansion followed, lasting until the kingdom again descended into a civil war over succession.