A Christian Viking King

Olaf Tryggvason was the man who brought Christianity to Norway and made it stick. As Olaf I, he led enough of Norway’s inhabitants to Christianity that when Olaf II (St. Olaf) gained the throne fifteen years later, Norway was thereafter Christian.

Hammer of the Gods: King Olaf's Viking Conquest, by Don Hollway, is a story encompassing more than Olaf Tryggvason’s five-year reign as Norway’s king. Olaf Tryggvason became one of the legendary figures of Viking history, celebrated in sagas and recorded in different Anglo-Saxon chronicles.

Olaf’s life was worthy of notice. He was born in exile, after his father, Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken, today’s southeast Norway, was overthrown. As a child, Olaf was captured by Estonian pirates and sold as a slave when his mother was fleeing to relatives in Viking Rus. He was bought out of slavery by a distant relative after a chance encounter.

Hollway relates Olaf’s subsequent rise. In Novgorod, he served Vladimir the Great, eventually commanding Vladimir’s men-at-arms. When the Grand Prince grew jealous, Olaf left, becoming a Baltic raider. There he met and married Geira, Queen of Wentland, afterwards reconquering the breakaway provinces of her kingdom for her.

He again became a wandering raider after her death, raiding for four years before he stopped at the Scilly Islands. There, he met a seer who converted Olaf to Christianity. Thereafter, as Hollway shows, Olaf exercised his own version of very muscular Christianity.

Olaf then wandered to England, married another ruling noble (running her domain, and established a kingdom in Ireland. He was one of the Viking leaders at the Battle of Maldon. When word leaked to Jarl Haakon, then ruling Norway, that a king of Norwegian blood was in Ireland, Haakon lured Olaf to Norway to kill him.

Unfortunately, Haakon had outworn his welcome. Haakon’s former supporters switched to Olaf, who became king. Olaf then set about Christianizing Norway using a convert or die strategy. Olaf literally put his faith in God, plunging in where others might hesitate. After five years as Norway’s king, his enemies lured him into an ambush. The battle resulting in Olaf’s death would be food for sagas.

Hollway pieced together Olaf’s biography from numerous and often contradictory sources. He does a masterful job of fitting the pieces together to form a coherent picture. The result is an exciting story set in a violent era.

“Hammer of the Gods: King Olaf's Viking Conquest,” by Don Hollway, Osprey Publishing, May 2026, 400 pages, $30.00 (Hardcover), $21.00 (E-book), $20.78 (Audiobook)

This review was written by Mark Lardas, who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.