From the Viking Age to the Middle Ages

The 10th and 11th centuries are a time of major changes in Northern Europe. By 950, the Viking star is beginning to fade. Under the influence of European kingdoms, the Viking society is transitioning from loosely organized and sometimes conflicting clans into centralized monarchies. The establishment of Christianity throughout Scandinavia is one of the final blows to the Viking Age. In 1066, Norwegian Vikings under King Harald III make one final attempt at a raid; the ensuing Battle of Stamford Bridge is lost, and with it, the age of Viking pillaging ends.

Christian missionaries have been visiting Viking territories for over a century already, but conversion has been sporadic, limited, and largely voluntary. It is only when powerful Viking kings like Håkon the Good, Harald Bluetooth, and Olaf Tryggvason adopt the Christian faith that a real difference is made. Even so, the shift is gradual and uneven: Denmark is the first to officially implement Christianity around 960, while parts of Northern Norway will continue with Norse pagan practices as late as the 13th century.

Christianization marks not just a religious, but also a cultural and political shift in Scandinavia. The church is established as an institution of power, with special rights, an internal hierarchy, and its own economy. Once-warring small regional kingdoms are now united under a single monarch supported by the church. Clan allegiance slowly gives way to allegiance to the church and the king. The new concept of morality and honor is shaped by the Christian faith. Women’s participation in public life is discouraged, their role largely limited to the home and family.

In the 11th century, conversion to Christianity is no longer a choice. Norse paganism is outlawed; all must now be baptized in the faith of the one true Christian God: the White Christ. Where once pagan temples lay, churches are built. Christian rituals permeate everyday life from cradle to grave. But paganism doesn’t disappear; it transforms, blends with Christian practice or becomes legend, superstition, story. Trolls, hulders, gnomes, and other creatures from the Norse myth live on as nature spirits in folklore.

For a largely illiterate population, the tradition of communal storytelling remains an important way to both maintain old beliefs and adopt new ones. Folk stories quickly start to blur the line between paganism and Christianity: in medieval legend, jotun giants and trolls meet Christian saints and martyrs. Among the heroes of these tales, Olav II Haraldsson, the first martyr and saint of the Church of Norway, stands out. Many stories tell of his church building and Christianization all over Norway being obstructed by trolls. These legends serve to establish trolls, the remnants of the old beliefs, as villainous and Christianity as the way to defeat their evil.

Olav Haraldsson is born around the year 995. His father, Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, is already dead by then. While Olav is still young, his mother marries Sigurd Syr, another local petty king. Olav develops a good relationship with him and grows up in comfort under his patronage. Despite this, he keeps the name Haraldsson: through his father, he can claim ancestry from Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway.

Already as a teenager, Olav starts joining Viking raids. He sails to the Baltics, England, and eventually France. Winter of 1013-1014 finds him in Normandy, a region previously conquered and settled by Vikings. His host, duke Richard II, is a devout Christian; Olav is not. That is about to change: whether out of genuine conviction or sheer political guile, he willingly converts while in Rouen.

He returns to Norway the year after, battle-tested, newly Christian, and only 20 years old. He has one goal: to unite the country under his rule as the one righteous king by God’s will. He allies himself with those who agree, pays off those who are willing, and conquers those who try to stand up to him. During his reign between 1015 and 1028, Olav crushes petty kings and disempowers nobles; he strengthens the church that supports him at the expense of local lords; and he spreads Christianity often against the will of the people. By 1029, dissatisfaction with his rule has grown too great. When Cnut the Great of Denmark invades, he finds support among the Norwegian nobility.

He makes one last attempt at the crown: in 1030, he returns with a small army to take back the capital Trondheim. But before he can reach the city, he is met and quickly defeated by a significantly larger peasant force. The Battle of Stiklestad will be Olav’s last: he is killed by Tore Hund, a proud pagan chieftain from Northern Norway.

In death, Olav will be remembered as a sinner and a saint. His reign will be regarded as brutal and violent. But his contributions to the spread of Christianity will grant him the title of a saint and Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae: Norway’s Eternal King.