Historical backdrop
THE VIKING KING
Olav Haraldsson became king of Norway in 1015. His biggest project was the Christianization of the country and the establishment of a kingdom. The concentration of power combined with occasionally brutal progress meant that several nobles allied themselves with the Danish king and drove Olav from the country in 1028. During an attempt to win the kingdom back, Olav was killed in the battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030.
THE SAINT KING
After the battle, according to tradition, Olav's body was moved to Nidaros/Trondheim and buried at Nidelva. After a short time, stories of miracles spread, and it was decided to open the tomb. With the king's consent and the entire people's judgment, Olav was declared a saint by Bishop Grimkjell during a ceremony in August 1031. From then on, we no longer speak of Olav Haraldsson, but of Saint Olav.
NORWAY'S ETERNAL KING AND COAT OF ARMS
During the Middle Ages, Olav the Holy became the foremost symbol of both royal power and the church in Norway. At the end of the 1100th century, the term Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae was established, Norway's eternal king. The martyr's ax with which Olav was killed entered as a motif in the Norwegian national coat of arms in the 1200th century and has been there ever since.
PILGRIMAGE
Eventually, the burial church of the king in Trondheim and probably also Stiklestad, became important pilgrimage destinations. Olaf the Holy was, and is, a saint both in the Papal Church and in the Orthodox Church. Although most of the pilgrims were from Scandinavia, many also came from further afield.
OLAF'S CHURCHES AND OLAF'S ART
We know of more than 300 churches and monasteries in Northern Europe that were dedicated to Olav the Saint in the Middle Ages. The first were erected in England only a few decades after the battle. In the same way, Olav's art in the form of paintings, sculptures and pilgrim marks was spread over large parts of Europe. Perhaps the most exotic example is a painting on a pillar in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, dated to around 1160. Olav's churches and Olav's art do not belong only in the Middle Ages, however - new churches are still being built and new paintings are painted.
