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England, he called upon Earl Erik to assist him. The Earl obeyed
the call, and never saw Norway again.
In the spring of 1015, Olav Haraldssøn, a descendant of
Harald Haarfagre, returned to Norway from a viking expedition,
determined to carry on the life-work of his kinsman, Olav
Trvgvessøn. With the aid of the Upland kings, he succeeded in
overthrowing the earls’ rule and the foreign dominion; and in
Trondhjem, where «the chief power of all the land appeared to him to
dwell», homage was done to him as king of Norway. Olav brought
the little Upland kings under the Norwegian dominion, and sought
in every way to place the long-inherited power of the great
chieftains under that of the king. He further strengthened his power
by the introduction of Christianity, and the laws were adapted to
the requirements of the new doctrine. But by his hard-handed
policy, Olav Haraldsson soon aroused a strong opposition against
himself. The rebels sought the aid of the Danish king, Knud the
Great, who came with an army to Norway in 1028, and received
homage at the Ørething. Olav fled to Russia, and when, some
time after, he attempted to win back his kingdom, he was slain
by the chieftains at Stiklestad in Værdalen (29th July, 1030). Not
long after, he was regarded as a holy man. A rising of the
people overthrew the Danish dominion in a short space of time,
and Olav’s saintly fame shed a radiance over the throne, and over
his kinsmen and successors. It is not without reason that the
century which now followed, after Olav’s son Magnus had ascended
the throne in 1035, has been called the period of Norway’s greatness.
The kingdom was now, by the unity brought about between the
royal power and the aristocracy, enabled to extend its influence
to the world around.
Olav the Holy’s son Magnus (1035—1047) became also, by
inheritance, king of Denmark. But after his death, that kingdom
passed into the hands of Svend Estridssøn, although Magnus’s
successor, Harald Haardraade, brother to Olav the Holy, laid
claim to it by force of arms. He subsequently tried to conquer
England, but fell at Stanford Bridge, shortly before the Norman conquest
of the country (1066). The efforts of his grandson, Magnus Barfod
(1093—1103), were directed towards the amalgamation of the
Norwegian settlements on the islands off the coast of Scotland, and
others, into one kingdom. Magnus fell during a descent upon
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