The Battle of Svolder (also referred to as Svold or Swold) was a large naval battle during the Viking age, fought in September 1000 in the western Baltic Sea between King Olaf of Norway and an alliance of the Kings of Denmark and Sweden and Olaf's enemies in Norway. The backdrop of the battle was the unification of Norway into a single independent state after longstanding Danish efforts to control the country, combined with the spread of Christianity in Scandinavia.
King Olaf Tryggvason was sailing to, or home from, an expedition in Wendland (Pomerania), when he was ambushed by an alliance of Svein Forkbeard, King of Denmark, Olof Skötkonung (also known as Olaf Eiríksson or Olaf the Swede), King of Sweden, and Eirik Hákonarson, Jarl of Lade. According to the Saga of King Olaf I Tryggvason, he had 60 warships plus the contribution of 11 warships from the Jomvikings. His ships were captured one by one, last of all the Ormen Lange, which Jarl Eirik captured as Olaf threw himself into the sea. After the battle, Norway was ruled by the Jarls of Lade allied (as a suzerain) to both the Danish Crown and the Commonwealth of Uppsala, Sweden.
The exact location of the battle is disputed, and depends on which group of sources is preferred: Adam of Bremen places it in Øresund, while Icelandic sources place the battle near an island called Svolder, which is otherwise unknown.
The most detailed sources on the battle, the kings' sagas, were written approximately two centuries after it took place. Historically unreliable, they offer an extended literary account describing the battle and the events leading up to it in vivid detail. The sagas ascribe the causes of the battle to Olaf Tryggvason's ill-fated marriage proposal to Sigrid the Haughty and his problematic marriage to Thyri, sister of Svein Forkbeard. As the battle starts Olaf is shown dismissing the Danish and Swedish fleets with ethnic insults and bravado while admitting that Eirik Hákonarson and his men are dangerous because "they are Norwegians like us". The best known episode in the battle is the breaking of Einarr Þambarskelfir's bow, which heralds Olaf's defeat.
In later centuries, the saga descriptions of the battle, especially that in Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla, have inspired a number of ballads and other works of literature.
Context
In earliest recorded history, Norway was divided into a number of small and sometimes warring petty kingdoms with weak central authority. In traditional historiography the rise of Harald Fairhair in the ninth century started the process of unification of the country and the consolidation of royal power. Harald's descendants, and other claimants to the throne, had to contend with strong regional leaders such as the Jarls of Lade in the north and the rulers of Vingulmark in the east, while the kings of Denmark claimed regions in the south and were eager to acquire Norwegian vassals to increase their influence. The spread of Roman Catholic Christianity had also become an increasingly important political issue in the late tenth century.
In the 970s, Haakon Sigurdsson, Jarl of Lade, became the most powerful man in Norway, at first supported by Harald Bluetooth of Denmark and paying tribute to him—though the two later fell out over religious matters. Harald had converted to Christianity and was eager to Christianise Norway, while Haakon remained a staunch pagan. In 995 Haakon was deposed and the young Christian leader Olaf Tryggvason came to the throne.
While rejecting Danish authority, Olaf made it his mission to convert Norway and the Norse colonies in the west as quickly and as completely as possible. Proceeding with threats, torture and executions, Olaf broke down pagan resistance and within a few years Norway was, at least nominally, a Christian country. But King Olaf had acquired several enemies during his meteoric rise to power. The most prominent were Eirik Jarl, son of Haakon Jarl, and Svein Forkbeard, king of Denmark, both of whom felt that Olaf had deprived them of their share of Norway.
The same interests which clashed in the Battle of Svolder were to divide Norway for decades to come, leading to further major engagements, including the Battle of Nesjar and the Battle of Stiklestad. The resolution came in 1035 with the accession of the Norwegian Magnus the Good to the throne of an independent and Christian Norway.
Events leading up to the battle
Nothing can be gleaned from the contemporary skaldic poems on the causes of the battle. Adam of Bremen states that Olaf Tryggvason's Danish wife, Thyri, egged him on to make war against Denmark. When Olaf heard that Svein Forkbeard and Olaf the Swede had formed an alliance, he was angered and decided the time had come for an attack. Ágrip and Historia Norwegie have a similar account. Thyri was the sister of Svein Forkbeard, and when Olaf Tryggvason married her, Svein refused to pay her promised dowry. Angered, Olaf launched an expedition to attack Denmark, but he was too impatient to wait for a fleet to assemble from all of Norway, and he set sail for the south with only 11 ships, expecting the rest to follow. When that hope was not realized, he set out for Wendland (Pomerania) to seek allies and on the way was ambushed by Svein and his allies. These accounts are contradicted by a contemporary verse of Halldórr the Unchristian which states that Olaf Tryggvason was travelling from the south when he came to the battle.
Oddr Snorrason has an elaborate account of the problems arising from Thyri's marriages. He tells us that she was betrothed and married to the Wendish king Burislav, who received a large dowry for her; but she did not want to be his wife and starved herself after their wedding, so Burislav sent her back to Denmark. She then arranged to have herself married to Olaf Tryggvason, to the displeasure of her brother Svein. Svein's queen, Sigrid the Haughty, a staunch opponent of Olaf, egged Svein to make war on him. Svein then conspired with Jarl Sigvaldi and King Olaf of Sweden to lure Olaf Tryggvason into a trap. Olaf Tryggvason travelled to Wendland to collect Thyri's dowry from King Burislav and while there heard rumours of a planned ambush; but Sigvaldi arrived to tell him these rumours were false. Believing Sigvaldi, Olaf sent most of his fleet home, as his men were impatient. He therefore had only a small fleet left when he was ambushed near Svolder.
Fagrskinna and Heimskringla largely follow Oddr's account but simplify it and diverge from it in some respects. According to Heimskringla, Sigvaldi sailed from Wendland with Olaf and a fleet of Wendish ships and led him into the ambush.
Whether the above details are accurate or not, it is clear that Svein, Olaf the Swede and Eirik had ample reason to oppose Olaf Tryggvason. Olaf had taken control of Viken in south Norway, an area long under Danish overlordship. Olaf and Svein had been in England together, but Olaf had made peace while Svein kept campaigning. Svein was on friendly terms with Olaf the Swede and connected to him by marriage, so the two were natural allies. Finally, Jarl Eirik had been driven from his patrimony by Olaf Tryggvason, as arguably had his father, Jarl Hakon, whom he may have wished to avenge.
From the conflicting accounts of the sources, historians have tried to reconstruct the most likely sequence of events leading up to the battle. It is probable that Olaf Tryggvason was indeed sailing from Wendland to Norway when he was ambushed, though the kings' sagas probably play up the importance of Thyri and her marriages. While it is possible that Olaf was collecting dowry, it seems more probable that he was expecting war and seeking allies in Wendland, but met with little success. The character of Sigvaldi remains enigmatic, though there is evidence from skaldic poetry that he did indeed betray Olaf.
Time and location
All sources which date the battle agree that it took place in 1000. The oldest source to date it is the meticulous Íslendingabók, written around 1128, which specifies that it took place in the summer. Oddr Snorrason says further that the battle is "memorialized for the fallen men on the Third or Fourth Ides of September", (10 or 11 September). Mesta states that the battle occurred on 9 September, and other sources agree with either date. Since some medieval writers reckoned the end of the year in September, it is possible that the year referred to is in fact the one we know as 999.
The location of the battle cannot be identified with any certainty. According to Adam of Bremen, it took place in Øresund. Ágrip and Historia Norwegie also place it off Zealand. Theodoricus says it took place "beside the island which is called Svǫldr; and it lies near Slavia". Fagrskinna speaks of "an island off the coast of Vinðland... [t]his island is called Svǫlðr." Oddr Snorrason and Heimskringla agree on the island's name but do not specify its location. A stanza by Skúli Þórsteinsson speaks of "the mouth of Svolder", suggesting that Svolder could originally have been the name of a river which Norse unfamiliarity with Wendish geography turned into an island. The Danish Annales Ryenses are unique in placing the battle in the Schlei. Modern historians are divided, some locating the confrontation near the German island of Rügen while others prefer Øresund.
Composition of the fleets
The Norse sources agree that Olaf Tryggvason fought against overwhelming odds in the battle. Fagrskinna, for example, says that he had "only a small force", and that the sea around him was "carpeted with warships" The sources which specify the number of warships all agree that Olaf Tryggvason had 11 vessels but they give various numbers for the allied fleets. Most sources cite the Danish and Swedish forces as equal in size, with the exception of Rekstefja.
Though the sagas agree that Olaf Tryggvason had only 11 ships in the battle, some of them quote a verse by Halldórr the Unchristian saying that Olaf had 71 ships when he sailed from the south. The sagas explain the discrepancy by saying that some of the 71 ships belonged to Jarl Sigvaldi, who deserted Olaf, and that others sailed past the trap at Svolder before it was sprung.
Ships by name
The sagas describe three of the ships in Olaf Tryggvason's fleet. According to Heimskringla, the Crane was a large swift-sailing warship with thirty rowers' benches, high in stem and stern. It was commissioned by King Olaf and used as his flagship for some time.
Olaf confiscated the second of his great ships from a pagan he had tortured to death for refusing to convert to Christianity. King Olaf "steered it himself, because it was a much larger and finer ship than the Crane. Its stem had a dragon's head on it, and on its stern, a crook shaped like a tail; and both sides of the neck and all the stern were gilded. That ship the king called the Serpent, because when the sail was hoisted it was to look like the wing of
a dragon. That was the finest ship in all Norway."
Olaf's third flagship, the Long Serpent, was a legendary vessel mentioned in several anecdotes in the sagas.
It was constructed as a dragon ship, on the model of the Serpent which the king had taken along from Hálogaland; only it was much larger and more carefully wrought in all respects. He called it the Long Serpent and the other one, the Short Serpent. The Long Serpent had thirty-four compartments. The head and the tail were all gilt. And the gunwales were as high as those on a seagoing ship. This was the best ship ever built in Norway, and the most costly.
The only allied ship described is Jarl Eirik's iron clad Járnbarðinn, Old Norse for "The Iron Barde", barði (definite barðinn) assumed to mean "strakes" or "bow" (cognate with "boards"), alternative the cognate "beard" (possibly referencing the iron plates?), although some have translated it as the "Iron Ram". It is described with a low going "iron beam" (Old Norse: járnspǫng), assumed to be a naval ram. According to Fagrskinna it was "the biggest of all ships", but Heimskringla gives more detail:
Original Icelandic text: Eiríkr jarl hafði barða einn geysimikinn, er hann var vanr at hafa í víking;þar var skegg á ofanverðu barðinu hváru tveggja;en niðr frá járnspǫng þykk ok svá breið sem barðit ok tók alt í sjá ofan.
Open translation: "Earl Eirik owned a mighty great ship (referred to as a barda) which he was accustomed to take on his viking expeditions;it had iron plating (referred to as beard) lining the outward strakes in both directions;beneath it, an iron beam (a ram) protruded, thick and wide as the stem, which took all at sea above."
Leaders assess their opponents
It is unlikely that the saga writers had accurate information on details of the battle beyond the sparse accounts in the surviving poems. Nevertheless, starting with Oddr Snorrason, they present an elaborate literary account, depicting the main participants through their words and deeds.
Olaf Tryggvason's ships pass the anchorage of his allied enemies in a long column without order, as no attack is expected. Conveniently placed to observe the fleet, Jarl Eirik and the two kings remark upon the passing vessels. Svein and Olaf are eager to join battle, but Eirik is portrayed as more cautious and familiar with the Norwegian forces.
As progressively larger vessels appear, the Danes and Swedes think each one is the Long Serpent and want to attack straight away, but Eirik holds them off with informed comments:
It is not King Olaf on this ship. I know this ship because I have seen it often. It is owned by Erlingr Skjálgsson from Jaðarr, and it is better to attack this ship from the stern. It is manned with such fellows that, should we encounter King Olaf Tryggvason, we will quickly learn that it would be better for us to find a gap in his fleet than to do battle with this longship.
As Eirik finally consents to attack, King Svein boasts that he will command the Long Serpent "before the sun sets". Eirik makes a remark "so that few men heard him" saying that "with only the Danish army at his disposal, King Sveinn would never command this ship". As the allies set out to attack Olaf Tryggvason, the point of view shifts to the Norwegian fleet.