Sanctus Olavus

Olav Haraldsson was born around 995 into the line of Harald Fairhair, and went to sea young to raid the coasts of the Baltic, England and France, returning with wealth, a fearsome name and — by one Norman account — a baptism at Rouen. Nobody in his lifetime called him the Holy. They called him Óláfr digri: Olav the Stout.

In 1015 he sailed for Norway and, after the battle at Nesjar, claimed it as king, forging a Christian kingdom by will and by steel — temples pulled down, sacrifice outlawed, bishops appointed, churches raised — and, quieter but longer-lived, a body of law bound for the first time to Christian moral tradition. His zeal made enemies as fast as it made churches, and Cnut the Great bought the chieftains out from under him.

He came back in 1030 for his crown and fell at Stiklestad, vastly outnumbered. Miracles were reported at his grave almost at once, and the next summer Bishop Grimkell raised him to the altars. His shrine at Nidaros drew pilgrims from across medieval Europe — and the stout king who died in a losing battle was remembered ever after as Rex Perpetuus Norvegiæ.