Life and Cult of Cnut the Holy the First Royal Saint of Denmark
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Life and cult of Cnut the Holy The first royal saint of Denmark Edited by: Steffen Hope, Mikael Manøe Bjerregaard, Anne Hedeager Krag & Mads Runge Life and cult of Cnut the Holy The first royal saint of Denmark Report from an interdisciplinary research seminar in Odense. November 6th to 7th 2017 Edited by: Steffen Hope, Mikael Manøe Bjerregaard, Anne Hedeager Krag & Mads Runge Kulturhistoriske studier i centralitet – Archaeological and Historical Studies in Centrality, vol. 4, 2019 Forskningscenter Centrum – Odense Bys Museer Syddansk Univeristetsforlag/University Press of Southern Denmark «SANCTUS OLAUS REX ET MARTIRIS»: CONSTRUCTING THE EARLY CULT OF ST OLAV OF NORWAY 1030 – 1220 «Sanctus Olaus rex et martiris»: Constructing the early cult of St Olav of Norway 1030 – 1220 By Øystein Ekroll In Norwegian medieval history and historiography, fourteenth century also with the union of the three the holy king St Olav (995 – 1030) looms larger than Nordic kingdoms. During these centuries, the cult all other persons. Traditionally, in historical writing, of St Olav lent its prestige to the earthly monarchy, his death in battle in 1030 marks the beginning of but as the cult gradually developed in Scandinavia, the Middle Ages in Norway, while the destruction it also acquired and incorporated royal ideology. St of his shrine and cult in 1537 marks the end. Many Olav belonged to an exclusive group of holy Europe- questions still surround the development of his cult: an kings who acquired a position as dynastic saints, How does one establish the cult of a saint in a newly lending their prestige to their successors. My aim is Christianized country where the concepts of saints to examine how and why this happened and saints’ cults are almost unknown? Where does In my view, the medieval cult of St Olav can be one look for inspiration, e.g. to England, to Rome, or divided into four phases. The first lasted from 1031 even to Jerusalem? Were any established cults per- until c. 1152/53, and the second from the establish- haps used as models for the new cult? How should ment of the Nidaros archbishopric in 1152/53 to the a cult be constructed, by whom and for whom? And completion of the Romanesque cathedral c. 1210/20. how did one spread the knowledge about it in a mo- A full survey of all four phases would demand too stly illiterate society? much space, so this paper deals only with the first two phases up to the time when both the cathedral and the cult had become fully developed. The first Introduction phase is little known, as there are very few preser- The cult of St Olav seemingly appeared spontane- ved contemporary sources. The second phase, on ously within a year after his death, and it quickly the other hand, is well attested through a number of spread to the rest of Scandinavia and the British Is- documents and literary and liturgical works which les. Still, it was no passing fad, but grew steadily and testify to how the cult of St Olav was consciously became a constant feature in religion and politics in developed by the Nidaros clergy in order to enhance the Nordic lands for five centuries until the Lutheran the national and international prestige of the new ar- Reformation in 1537. chbishopric. The cult’s development was, however, a pro- longed and complex process, and the cult changed and developed through the centuries. This happe- From viking to king and saint ned partly through internal dynamics and partly th- King Olav II Haraldsson belonged to the royal line rough influence from Christian cults in general. In of King Harald ‘Fairhair’ who ruled Norway around this paper, I will argue that at first the construction 900. Olav was born in 995 as the son of a local king of the cult of St Olav borrowed heavily from older in south-east Norway and from 1007 he spent sev- royal cults, and that his cult was a means of bringing en formative years as a Viking, mainly in the British Norway, a newly christianized country on the Euro- Isles. According to the anonymous Historia Norw- pean fringe, into the European religious mainstream egie from c. 1160-75 and Snorri Sturluson’s Saga and thus establish it firmly as an integrated part of of The Norwegian Kings, written c.1230, he served Christendom. Later, his cult became closely connec- King Æthelred (978 –1013, 1014–16) as a mercenary ted with the Norwegian monarchy, and after the late commander, and his ships managed to pull down 168 BY ØYSTEIN EKROLL London Bridge during Æthelred’s siege of the city in the sea battle at Nesjar in Vestfold in 1016, Olav was 1014 (Mundal and Mortensen 2003: 103; Hagland & acclaimed king of Norway at the Eyraþing Assem- Watson 2005: 328-333). According to Snorri, Olav bly in Nidaros. With the zeal of the newly converted, was converted to Christianity and baptized in Rouen he set out eradicating the last remnants of paganism in Normandy in 1014. By then, he had collected a in his kingdom, often by force and leaving a bloody considerable treasure and was planning his future. trail. As king of Norway he minted coins and intro- Since the death of King Olav I Tryggvason in the duced several new laws, among them the ‘Christian naval battle at Svolder in 1000, Norway had been Law’ (Kristenretten) at a national assembly at Mo- ruled by the earls of Lade, the brothers Eirik and Sve- ster in 1024 which made Christianity the only legal in Håkonsson, as vassals of the kings of Denmark. religion in Norway. The local magnates, whose pow- In 1015, King Cnut called Earl Eirik to England to er rested on their dual function as secular and pagan assist in his conquest of the country, and Cnut later religious leaders, lost much of their power and built appointed Eirik earl of Northumbria. With the less up much resentment towards the king. In 1028, they able Svein and Eirik’s young son Håkon in charge forged an alliance with King Cnut, who strived to of Norway, Olav saw his chance of conquering the include Norway in his North Sea empire of England throne of Norway. and Denmark, and accepted him as their overlord. In The same year, Olav left England with two mer- his turn, he promised to give them a large degree of chant ships filled with 260 men and treasure, and he self-rule. also brought with him four English clerics consecra- King Olav fled into exile in Russia and was well ted as missionary bishops: Sigurðr, Grimkell, Rudolf received by his Swedish-born sister-in-law Ingegjerd and Bernhard. All four were English or Anglo-Scan- and her husband Prince Yaroslav who urged him to dinavians (Townend 2005: 266). Sigurðr was the un- remain there, even offering him a kingdom near Vol- cle of Grimkell, and he had gone to Norway before ga (Snorri Sturluson 1979, vol. 2: 80-81). However, in the company of King Olav I Tryggvason (995– in an effort to regain his kingdom, King Olav retur- 1000). These two stayed in Norway for many years, ned from Russia through Sweden with a small army while the latter two went to Iceland. Grimkell is pro- in 1030, but he was met with overwhelming force bably identical with Grimcytel or Grimketel, who is by an alliance of farmers and magnates at Stiklestad mentioned in English sources as bishop of Selsey in northeast of Nidaros on the 29th of July. The king and Sussex 1038–47 (Garmonsway 1953: 161, 164-65, most of his army were killed in the battle, and the 167; Norsk Biografisk Leksikon IV: 627). survivors fled back to Sweden. After his victory against Earl Svein Håkonsson in According to Snorri’s saga of St Olav, the slain Fig. 1: Nidaros Cathedral and the Archbishop’s Palace, aerial view seen towards NE. The ca- thedral choir stands above the presumed location of St Olav’s grave site. The medieval town was situated along the lower part of the River Nið to the north of the cathedral. Photo: Nidaros Cathedral Restoration Workshop. 169 «SANCTUS OLAUS REX ET MARTIRIS»: CONSTRUCTING THE EARLY CULT OF ST OLAV OF NORWAY 1030 – 1220 king’s body was hidden by local farmers and brought The first phase: From the in a coffin by boat to the small town of Nidaros (mo- dern-day Trondheim) by night (Snorri Sturluson translation of Olav in 1031 to the 1979, vol 2: 111-14). (Fig. 1) They hid the coffin in establishment of Nidaros a shed while searching for someone who could take care of it, but in vain. They then brought the coffin Archbishopric in 1152/53 further up along the river and buried it in secret on Soon after Olav’s death, rumours began to swirl a sand bank by the river. By all accounts, this to- about miraculous healings connected to the body of tal defeat should have been the end of the story of the dead king. During the following year, these ru- King Olav. Even though most participants on both mours grew so strong that in the summer of 1031 sides were Christian, in Norwegian historiography the powerful magnate Einar Tambarskjelve and this battle symbolizes the end of the pagan Viking Bishop Grimkell went to Trondheim and received Age and the beginning of the Christian Middle Ages, King Svend’s permission to open Olav’s grave. The even though the Christianization was a gradual pro- Stiklestad farmers were called to Trondheim and cess stretching over several generations.