Olaf Ier of Norway

Olaf Tryggvason king de Norvège of 995 with 1000

Born towards 963 /4 in the south from the Norway. Wire posthumous of the Tryggvi kinglet and Astrid and small son of Harald Ier of Norway, it grows abroad: slave in Estonia, warrior in Russia, he becomes then a dreaded Viking in Baltique then in British Isles where he fights Ealdorman Byrhtnoth of Essex in 991 and with the attack of London in 994. Baptized in 994 in England with like godfather the king Ethelred II of England, it gives up piracy.

In 995, after the murder of Jarl Håkon Sigurdsson it seizes the Norway and undertakes the forced christianization of the country, meeting much resistance. Its authority on the matter will be felt far in the countries of Norwegian influence: the Orkneys, Faroe, Iceland and even Greenland. In 1000, a coalition of Olof Skötkonung of Sweden, Sven Ier of Denmark and Norwegian opponents carried out by Erik de Hladir will put an end to its reign to the naval battle of Svöldr or Svolder the September 9th 1000.

Sources

Heimskringla of Snorri Sturluson translates old introduced and annotated Icelandic:

“History of the king Olaf wire of Tryggvi” in History of the kings de Norvège by François-Xavier Dillmann, " The paddle of the peuples" , Gallimard, Paris, 2000
Saga off the Norse Kings: King Olaf Trygvesson' S Saga (english language version)

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