page_title: Battle of Svolder
section_title: Context
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Svolder / Context
context_page_description: The Battle of Svolder was a naval battle fought in September 999 or 1000 in the western Baltic Sea between King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway and an alliance of his enemies. The backdrop of the battle was the unification of Norway into a single state, long-standing Danish efforts to gain control of the country, and the spread of Christianity in Scandinavia.
  King Olaf was sailing home after an expedition to Wendland, when he was ambushed by an alliance of Svein Forkbeard, King of Denmark, Olof Skötkonung, King of Sweden, and Eirik Hákonarson, Jarl of Lade. Olaf had only 11 warships in the battle against a fleet of at least 70. His ships were captured one by one, last of all the Ormen Lange, which Jarl Eirik captured as Olaf threw himself into the sea. After the battle, Norway was ruled by the Jarls of Lade as a fief of Denmark and Sweden.
  The exact location of the battle is disputed, and depends on which group of sources is preferred: it is only Icelandic sources that place it near a place called Svolder, while Adam of Bremen places it in Øresund.
  The most detailed sources on the battle, the kings' sagas, were written approximately two centuries after it took place.
context_section_description: In earliest recorded history, Norway was divided into a number of small and sometimes warring petty kingdoms with weak central authority. In traditional historiography the rise of Harald Fairhair in the 9th century started the process of unification of the country and the consolidation of royal power. Harald's descendants, and other claimants to the throne, had to contend with strong regional leaders such as the Jarls of Lade in the north and the rulers of Vingulmark in the east, while the kings of Denmark claimed regions in the south and were eager to acquire Norwegian vassals to increase their influence. The spread of Christianity also became an increasingly important political issue in the late 10th century.
  In the 970s, Haakon Sigurdsson, Jarl of Lade, became the most powerful man in Norway, at first supported by Harald Bluetooth of Denmark and paying tribute to him—though the two later fell out over religious matters. Harald had converted to Christianity and was eager to Christianise Norway, while Haakon remained a staunch pagan. In 995 Haakon was deposed and the young Christian leader Olaf Tryggvason came to the throne.
  While rejecting Danish authority, Olaf made it his mission to convert Norway and the Norse colonies in the west as quickly and as completely as possible. Proceeding with threats, torture and executions, Olaf broke down pagan resistance and within a few years Norway was, at least nominally, a Christian country. But King Olaf had acquired several enemies during his meteoric rise to power. The most prominent were Eirik Jarl, son of Haakon Jarl, and Svein Forkbeard, king of Denmark, both of whom felt that Olaf had deprived them of their share of Norway.
  The same interests which clashed in the Battle of Svolder were to divide Norway for decades to come, leading to further major engagements, including the Battle of Nesjar and the Battle of Stiklestad. The resolution came in 1035 with the accession of the Norwegian Magnus the Good to the throne of an independent and Christian Norway.
caption: Hailed as king in 995, Olaf Tryggvason quickly proceeded to convert Norway to Christianity, using all means at his disposal.
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