Olaf’s body was never recovered. Some legends claim he jumped overboard, swam to shore, traveled by land to Jerusalem, and became a monk. Others think he probably just drowned. It doesn’t really matter either way. The most famous Viking in Norwegian history was never to be heard from again.

BLUETOOTH COMPATIBLE

Christianity was brought to the Danes by Svein Forkbeard’s father, Harald Bluetooth. A warlike king who was famous for building an impressive string of fortresses to help defend his kingdom from rampaging Saxons in Germany, Harald Bluetooth was also the first Danish king to build churches and actively encourage the population to convert. According to the sagas, he converted in 970 when a priest named Poppo showed him the power of the Christian God by carrying a red-hot poker around in his bare hands. It was just a bonus that converting helped him make peace with the powerful Holy Roman Empire to the south and cut down on those pesky Saxon raids. Nowadays, Bluetooth technology is named after this guy, for some reason.

OH, RIGHT, THOSE GUYS

Sweden is the Viking country we know the least about because the people there were the worst at writing anything down. We know that for a long time, present-day Sweden was a series of small kingdoms made up of two peoples, the Gotar and the Svear. The first guy with the title king of Sweden was Olof Skotkonung, but a lot of folks have a sneaking suspicion that the kingdom was actually forged by Olof’s dad, Erik the Victorious.

SAINT OLAF THE FAT

Olaf Tryggvason Crowbone is not the same person as Saint Olaf, the patron saint of Norway, although it’s easy to get the two confused. Olaf Tryggvason was a descendant of Harald Fairhair who successfully plundered the English countryside in the 990s, returned home with a battle-tested army, claimed the crown of Norway for himself in 995, converted his country to Christianity, and was then attacked and deposed by King Svein Forkbeard of Denmark in 1000. Saint Olaf, also known as Olaf the Fat, was a distant descendant of Harald Fairhair, too (and therefore a very distant cousin of Olaf Crowbone). Saint Olaf successfully plundered the English countryside in the 1010s, returned home with a battle-tested army, claimed the crown of Norway for himself in 1015, continued converting his country to Christianity, and was then attacked and deposed by King Knut of Denmark (Svein Forkbeard’s son) in 1028. Please be sure to get them straight. There will be a test.

KNOW YOUR VIKINGS

NAME:

Olaf “Crowbone” Tryggvason

RANK:

King of Norway

RELIGION:

Catholic (converted 994)

BORN:

Norway, around 960

DIED:

Killed in battle in the Baltic Sea, September 1000

AREAS OF OPERATION:

Russia, Germany, Scotland, England, Denmark, Norway

NOTEWORTHY:

Became the king of Norway and converted the land to Christianity