page_title: Thorir Hund
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Thorir Hund / Career
context_page_description: Thorir Hund was one of the greatest chiefs in Hålogaland. Tore Hund was one of the leaders of the Stiklestad peasant faction opposing Norwegian King Olaf II of Norway, later named St. Olaf. He was reported to have been among the chieftains who killed the king in the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030. He also served in the forces of King Canute the Great on several occasions.
context_section_description: Thorir opposed King Olaf's attempts to unify and Christianize Norway. He also held personal grudges against the king, after one of the king's reeves, Asmundr Grànkelsson, murdered his nephew Asbjørn Selsbane. Thorir later avenged his nephew, but was sentenced to pay a heavy fine by the king, further contributing to his grudge against the king.
  When Erling Skjalgsson was killed in 1028, Tore assumed leadership of the anti-Olaf faction together with Einar Thambarskelfir and Kalv Arnesson, the brother of Finn Arnesson. In 1026, he joined Canute's forces when they drove out Olaf and was named Canute's representative in Norway along with Hårek of Tjøtta. 
  According to Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla, when Olaf returned to Norway in the summer of 1030, Thorir was among those rallying against him. He and his men led the line against the king's army at the Battle of Stiklestad. The battle site was Stiklestad, a farm in the lower part of the valley of Verdal, 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of the city of Trondheim.. According to saga sources, Thorir was among those who gave Olaf his lethal wounds, together with Kalv Arnesson and Thorstein Knarresmed from Rovde in Sunnmøre. While earlier reports do not name the man who actually killed the king, the Heimskringla specifies Thorir, using a spear tipped with the javelin point that killed his nephew to thrust up below the king's mail shirt and into his abdomen.
  After the battle, turning political tides soon went against Thorir. As Olaf's son Magnus, backed by some of Thorir's former allies, seized power, Thorir became a marginalized figure. According to Snorri, he may have left Norway for the Holy Lands, or he may have died. He never returned to Bjarkøy.
caption: King Olaf's fall
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