biography
| name: |
Olaf II Haraldsson
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also called St Olaf
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (c.995–1030)
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| biography:
| King of Norway (1014–30), the half-brother of Harald III (Hardrada). He became a Viking mercenary in the Baltic at the age of 12, going on to England, Frisia, and Spain. In England in 1010 he took part in a celebrated attack when London Bridge was torn down with grappling irons. He was converted to Christianity in Normandy in 1013, and returned to Norway in 1014, where he seized the throne and worked hard to complete the conversion of Norway begun by Olaf I Tryggvason and establish the Church. In 1028, faced by rebellion abetted from Denmark, he was forced to flee to Russia for safety. In 1030 he came back in an attempt to regain his crown, but was defeated and killed at the Battle of Stiklestad. Within 12 months he was regarded as a national hero and the patron saint of Norway. Feast day 29 July. |
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