Show notes
From thrall to king; from pagan to Christian: Olaf Tryggvason was one of the titanic figures of the Viking Age, whose story straddles the line between fantasy and fiction. Speaking to James Osborne about his life for this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, Don Hollway steps back into the 10th century to give an account of the drama and violence that defined the Norse warlord. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST To find out more about the Vikings who settled in Europe's eastern lands, read this feature on the Rus, and learn why their story is still so important today:
Highlighted moments
It wasn't really until 200 years later that some of the Christian monks in Iceland put these things all down into king sagas. And Olaf's saga is supposedly the first full-length Norwegian king saga. And it went through several versions because it was like a legend keep getting modified and amplified.
“I think he was sold for like a cloak and for a goat. So he was handed on down the line.”
“The Christian god was almost a god of war to them, a victorious god of war.”
“And most of the historians just cannot figure out why he would do that. I mean, the Vikings are sealed off. They don't necessarily have to fight, but he knows that he has to defeat them right now.”
Transcript
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