In the year 1030, a large battle was fought in Trøndelag in Norway, at a place called Stiklestad. A king, Olav Haraldson, was killed and would later become a saint.
Or so the sagas say …
There have been fierce debates about what actually happened in 1030 at Stiklestad. Was there a battle? Or was it just Olav being ambushed during his attempt to regain Norway from Cnut the Great of Denmark and England? The earliest sources describe Olav’s death as happening in a skirmish, an ambush. It is only from the the sagas written during the 1200s, that we get detailed descriptions of a large battle. I won’t get into that debate here – only present two drawings illustrating the later tradition.
The drawings were done for a book on Olav, and is based on information given by the museum at Stiklestad. Supposedly Olav and his army of seasoned warriors took up positions on a ridge above a bend in the local river. Below them, on a field by the river, their adversaries lined up for battle. These were mostly farmers loyal to king Cnut, and as a ruse they pretended to be afraid of Olav’s men. As the farmers seemed to run away, Olav’s men started to pursue them. Running down the ridge, Olav’s army lost cohesion.
The farmers then turned on them, as planned, and won the battle. Olav was killed and his men fled, including Olav’s half-brother, Harald. Fifteen years old at the time of the battle, Harald would return to Norway many years later, after having served in the Byzantine/East-Roman army for a long time. He claimed the Norwegian throne and would be known as Harald Hardrada. In 1066 Harald tried to invade England. He was killed at the Battle of Stamford bridge, but that is a scene for a later post.
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