Battle of Stiklestad

Infobox Military Conflict


caption=
conflict=Battle of Stiklestad
partof=Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars
date=July 29 1030 (trad.)
place=Stiklestad, Norway
result=Decisive Peasant Army victory
combatant1=Elements of the King's old hird, some locals, robbers
combatant2="The Peasant Army", nobles, grand farmers, peasants
commander1=Olav II of Norway†
Dag Ringsson
commander2=Kalv Arneson
Tore Hund
Hårek fra Tjøtta
strength1=~3,500
strength2=~7,000
casualties1=Unknown
casualties2=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") was killed. He was later canonized.

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 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 descendents of Harald Fairhair, Håkon the Good and Olav Tryggvason attempted to convert the then heathen Norwegians to Christianity.

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

In the year 1015, Olav 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 Lades.

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 Lades, and Olav had to go into exile in Garðaríki (Russia). In the year of 1029 the last Lade, 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 man 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 and 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. His body was carried away and buried in secrecy in Trondheim.

The year after the battle his coffin was moved to St. Klement's 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). 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, Nidaros Cathedral was built in Trondheim, and Olav's coffin was moved to this church. In the 16th Century, during the Protestant Reformation period, Olav's coffin was moved and his remains were reburied somewhere in Nidaros Cathedral — exactly where is still today an unsolved mystery.

On July 29 1954, the owner of a farm called Sul had a play performed on his land. The 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 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 670,000 people have travelled to Stiklestad to watch The Saint Olav Drama at what is now the largest outdoor theatre in Scandinavia.

Evaluation

While Snorre's description of the battles in the Heimskringla 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, 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 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 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 all but unusable and the location of the battle site highly uncertain. As is the case with most battles mentioned in the sagas, the sizes 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 was 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. According to Snorre, 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 [http://www.hermit.org/Eclipse/gen_stats.cgi?mode=query&page=full&qtype=type&body=S&saros=119] , contrary to the traditional date of the battle on July 29.

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 — "perpetuus rex normanni", the eternal king of Norwegians — wielded a unifying power no foreign monarch could hope to undo. Canute, 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 Olav's illegitimate son Magnus (dubbed 'the Good') laid 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.

Literary Legacy

In 1901 poet Per Silve wrote a poem "Tord Foleson," about King Olav'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, and also on the inscription wall in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp memorial site.

ee also

*Olavsfestival
*Ólavsøka
*Olsok

External links

* [http://www.stiklestad.no/english.shtml Information about Stiklestad, the history, the play and the museum]