Battle of Stiklestad

The battles of Stiklestad , one of the most famous battles of the history of Norway, took seat the July 29th 1030. It is one of the stages of the process of christianization of Norway since it opposed the Christian south, carried out by Olaf II of Norway in pagan north. Olaf found death there, which was worth to him later to become a Saint.

The exile of king Olaf

At the beginning of its reign, Olaf II had undertaken to convert, sometimes force, its people with Christianity. This of course did not go without clashes. Soon, a civil war burst. Pagan chiefs (in particular the Jarl S of Lade or ladejarls), with the assistance of Knut Ier Large the, king of the Denmark, succeeded in depositing Olaf in 1028. This one had of another choice only to be exiled in Russia.

Attempt at reconquest of the throne

In 1029, the last ladejarl dies drowned. Olaf thus decides to reconquer its throne. To the head of an army of 3600 men, this last crosses the Sweden and passes to Norway by the mountains of Verdal, with 80 kilometers in the north of Trondheim then arrive not far from Stiklestad, with a named farm Sul, located in the low part of the valley. At this point in time it is vis-a-vis an army of approximately 7000 men, for the majority of the peasants.

Course of the battle

The battle, told in details by Snorri Sturluson in its Heimskringla , lasts all the day of the July 29th. At the end of the day, the army of Olaf is demolished, exceeded of number by the enemy. His/her half-brother seriously wounded Harald succeeds in fleeing. Itself, wounded by three times, succumbs later in the evening.

Its body then is carried and buried in Nidaros (today Trondheim). The tradition wants that the cathedral of Nidaros (of which construction began forty years later) was built with the site of its tomb.

Approximately a year later, in August 1031, Olaf II is canonized and its worship extends immediately. It becomes the Saint owner of Norway.

See too

Heimskringla

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