Battle of Svolder 1000 AD - A Viking Saga

 

It is the late 10th century.

 Olaf Tryggvason recently deposed and killed Haakon Jarl, becoming king of Norway.

 Determined to keep his kingdom independent from foreign rule brings him into conflict with the Danish king Sven Forkbeard.

 Olaf's epic saga is about to culminate in the Battle of Svolder...

 Since his  birth in the mid 960's, Olaf's life was to be a struggle to survive, from one battle to the next.

 After the murder of his father, King Tryggve, Olaf's mother Astrid takes him and flees to her father's home in Oppland, to save her son from certain death.

 The pair spend the next couple of years on the run, narrowly avoiding capture in Sweden, before setting off to Novgorod, where Astrid's brother Sigurd is in the service of Prince Vladimir I But during the voyage, Osilian Vikings intercept their ship.

 Those onboard are either killed or sold into slavery.

 Over the next 6 years Olaf is sold and resold as a slave until he is 9 years old, when his uncle finds him while collecting taxes in Estonia.

 He sends the boy to Novgorod, where Olaf receives military training and eventually becomes a prominent member of Vladimir's retinue.

 But over the years the prince of Novgorod becomes uncomfortable with Olaf's growing popularity, and the young man decides it's best to seek his fortune elsewhere.

 Olaf and his men set out to raid the ports and settlements along the Baltic coast.

 Caught in a storm he makes port in Wendland.

 There he courts and marries Geira, a Wendish princess, and together with her father he fights for Otto III against the Danes.

 Just two years later Olaf's wife dies, leaving him grief-stricken.

 He leaves Wendland and takes to the sea.

 He raids the coasts of Saksland, Friesland, France and England.

 Along the way Olaf wages many battles, and acquires much wealth.

 His marauding venture takes him past the Hebrides and the Isle of man.

 Finally, he reaches the Isles of Scilly.

 According to legend, there he meets a monk from a tiny Christian community, possibly the followers of Priscillian who were exiled from Spain.

 The monk prophesizes about Olaf's future kingship.

 Convinced, Olaf converts to Christianity.

 After his baptism, he sails to Ireland to attend a gathering called by Gyda, the princes of Dublin, who is looking for a husband.

 From a group of suitors she singles out Olaf.

 The couple marries soon after.

 Over the next three years, Olaf is again raiding the coast of England.

 In the battle of Maldon he is one of the three key leaders that defeat the Anglo-Saxons, extracting a vast tribute of over 3 tons of silver from King Aethelred II.

 After further raids and a failed attack on London, a peace treaty is signed in 994 AD.

 Olaf then spends time administering his wife's properties in England and Ireland, when he gets fired up by reports of political unrest in his homeland and again sets sail, this time to assert his right to the throne.

 Back in Norway, Haakon Sigurdsson is the de-facto ruler.

 Unpopular for mistreating the local elites, his position is further weakened by constant warring against the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard.

 But... rumors from across the sea reach the ears of Haakon and Sweyn, about a king, the great-grandson of Harald Fairhair himself, coming to unite Norway under his rule.

 Olaf arrives in autumn of 995 AD and is unanimously proclaimed as king, while the deposed Haakon is killed.

 Olaf begins a systematic, often brutal, conversion of the country to Christianity, and by 997 AD he looks to strengthen his position in Scandinavia.

 King Sweyn Forkbeard controls the lands to the south.

 Although the two fought together side-by-side in the attack on London in 994, that alliance was driven by profit.

 Now, in Sweyn's view, Olaf controls Norwegian lands that rightfully belong to Denmark.

 Olaf turns east, attempting to secure an alliance with Sweden.

 He tries to woo queen Sigrid into marrying him, but she refuses his overtures, unwilling to abandon her pagan beliefs.

 The ever mindful Sweyn, already allied with Jarl Eric (son of the deposed Haakon), makes a well timed political move and marries Sigrid himself, forming a formidable alliance against Olaf.

 To complicate matters further, Sweyn's sister Thyri marries Olaf, despite still being married to Burislav, king of Wendland, who already received a large dowry for her from the Danish king.

 Burislav refuses to hand over Thyri's dowry to Olaf.

 According to the sagas, this prompts the Norwegian king to sail for Wendland to retrieve it, by force if necessary.

 However, the more likely reason for his voyage to Wendland is to recruit allies for the war that is surely coming.

 And although he is not very successful, Olaf is joined by Jarl Sigvaldi and other Wendish ships.

 While returning to Norway with his new ally, the enemy coalition is spotted, lying in wait.

 Sweyn lets most of the Norwegian fleet to pass unhindered.

 But then, Sigvaldi accelerates away, having previously made a pact with the Danish king to help lure Olaf into an ambush.

 Betrayed by his ally, Olaf faces a fleet of 71 ships with only 11 ships of his own.

 Although he still has time to deploy his sails and rowers to make his escape, the Norwegian king refuses to back down.

 He ropes his ships together, thereby creating a floating fort with his own large ship, The Long Serpent, in the center.

 A makeshift barrier of oars and yards is put up to prevent the enemy from fully utilizing their superior numbers.

 Sweyn also lashes his ships side to side and moves quickly towards the Norwegians, confident of victory.

 Olaf encourages his men by dismissing the Danes and Swedes with ethnic insults and bravado, but warns that Eric's Norwegians are dangerous.

 Once they are close enough, both sides unleash volleys of arrows.

 Soon after, Sweyn's fleet crashes into Olaf's ships.

 Fierce, bloody fighting errupts.

 First the Danes and then the Swedes attack from the front, but they are met with stiff resistance and suffer heavy casualties.

 Sweyn's numerical advantage is almost completely negated by Olaf's determined warriors.

 The outnumbered Norwegians, densely packed behind their barricades, repel one attack after the other, fighting their enemy to a deadlock.

 Fearing they might lose the battle, Eric moves to attack Olaf's flank.

 He pulls his men back to his ship, the Iron Ram.

 He pushes his men to row faster.

 They soon round the Norwegian flank.

 From the Iron Ram's taller deck, Eric's men descend on the smaller ship.

 Olaf's men fight bravely, but aren't able to hold their ground, as more and more enemy troops swarm their position.

 With overwhelming numbers, Eric clears one ship at a time and fights his way towards the center.

 By late afternoon, Olaf's ship is surrounded.

 500 of his best warriors close rank on the massive Long Serpent, the mightiest ship in the North.

 Heavy fighting ensues, with Danes and Swedes unable to fight their way up onto the tall platform of the Long Serpent.

 But after heavy losses, it is Eric's men who finally manage to climb aboard.

 Vastly outnumbered and exhausted, most of the Long Serpent's crew is killed, drowned or captured.

 The final clash is hard-fought as Olaf still stands and fights together with his immediate retinue, who are loyal to their king until the end.

 Finally, Olaf is one of the last men standing, his enemies intent on capturing him.

 Refusing to allow himself to be taken alive, he makes a fateful decision.

 In full armor and carrying his shield, King Olaf Tryggvason jumps overboard and disappeares beneath the waves...

 After the defeat at Svolder, Norway is divided between Jarl Sweyn Haakonsson, his brother Eric Haakonsson, and the Danish King Sven Forkbeard.

 Although his enemies divided his kingdom, Olaf was remembered for centuries to come.