Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-07-06

travel to this far away city for the
ceremony of investiture.
The King Haakon Of today owes his
name to the first good king of a united
n independent Norway, and the lit
lie crown prince becomes the name
sake OF his first legitimate successor,
the great Olaf Tryggvesson, Who was
crowned in 995. Up to that time
Trondhjem was less a national capital
than the mere stronghold of al i'm
portant province, but In 900 Olaf
Tryggvesson laid the foundation of the
Sideros.
X Is Far North.
It Is the northernmost town of any
Importance in Europe, being situated
n the same latitude as the south coast
pf Iceland, but it has a strangely tenn
perate climate. While Christiania
Fjord and all the rivers in the southern
part OF Norway become solidly frozen
during the winter, the River Mid rare
~ freezes over, and the beautiful
T~rondhjem Fjord never. The climate is
like that of middle Germany in winter,
and much like that of the coast Of Or
egon in summer, hence the luxurious
vegetation and the resultant prosperity
Of the people.
King Haakon the Good is distin-
guished as being the First Christian
sovereign Of Norway. He was sent by
bis father to England In his childhood
and there he became a convert to the
faith and was baptized. Upon his re-
turn to Norway and his accession to his
fathers throne he did not dare to i'm
mediately attack the ancient Asa faith
which had SO many fanatical adherents
among his closest friends so he temper
zed for some sixteen years or more
antil he had won such unbounded pop
ularity as seemed TO warrant his taking
steps toward the realization of the wish
nearest his heart-the Characterization
Of his people.
Was Not Cruelty Jealous.
He began we'll, but he did not pos
sess the cruelty of zeal that was neces-
sary for the accomplishment of such a
task In that age so he only succeeded
In opening the way for his more vigor-
Gus successor, OLA Tryggvesson, who
~tatrciigad the fire and sword into the
Sight with q great measure of success.
But even he failed TO completely eradi-
cate paganism from the national heart
and it was only after his successor, by
his wife, and more particularly by his
death. had appealed to the ready mag
nation of the Norsemen that Christian
ity really became the established re-
!igion OF the country. This great mis-
sionary was King Olaf Haroldson, who
was afterward caaonized as st. Olaf
n over whose sacred remains the
great cathedral In ~Trondhjem arose.
This cathedral is the proudest historical
monument in Norway and the finest
church in all Scandinavia. st. Olaf was
killed at the religious battle OF Stikle-
stad in 1890 and his eon n successor
Magnus the Good brought his body 10
Trondhjem and placed 1t in a magnii--
cent sarcophagus on the high altar of
ST. Clements church, where II became
an object of devout pilgrimages from
all over the country.
His Name Greatly Revered.
Eventually the cathedral and some
ffreen or twenty other churches were
built upon the strength OF the faith he
had created and even In Protestant
Norway today his name IS revered
above all others In 1911 Trondhjem
was erected into an archbishopric and
. new impulse was given to ecclesias-