Background

During the 9th century, Norway was divided between several local kings controlling their own fiefs. By the end of the century, King Harald Fairhair (Old Norse: Haraldr Hárfagri, Harald Hårfagre in modern Norwegian) managed, mainly due to the military superiority gained by his alliance with Sigurd Ladejarl of Nidaros, to subjugate these mini–kingdoms, and he created a unified Norwegian state.

This alliance came apart after Harald's death. The jarls of Lade and various descendants of Harald Fairhair would spend the next century interlocked in feuds over power. As well as power politics, religion also played a part in these conflicts, as two of the descendants of Harald Fairhair, Hakon the Good and Olaf Tryggvason attempted to convert the then heathen Norwegians to Christianity. In the year 1000, Svein (Old Norse: Sveinn) and Erik (Old Norse: Eiríkr) of Lade took control over Norway, being supported by the Danish King Svein. In 1015, Olaf Haraldsson, representing the descendants of Harald Fairhair, returned from one of his Viking trips and was immediately elected as King of Norway. In June 1016, he won the Battle at Nesjar against the Jarls of Lade.

Olav Haraldsson's success in becoming King of Norway was helped by the Danes being kept occupied with the ongoing fighting in EnglandThe Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from about 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Viking invasions of the 9th century upset the balance of power between the English kingdoms, and native Anglo-Saxon life in general. The English lands were unified in the 10th century in a reconquest completed by King Æthelstan in 927.England. In the year 1028, the Danish King Cnut the Great made an alliance with the Lades, and Olaf had to go into exile in Kievan Rus (Old Norse: Garðaríki). In the year of 1029 the last Lade, Hakon Jarl, drowned and Olaf returned to Norway with his army to regain his throne and the Kingdom of Norway.

• Outline of the Battle of Stiklestad (1030)
  

  HISTORIC BATTLES

  Battle of Stiklestad (1030)

  Battle of Stiklestad is one of the most famous battles in the history of Norway. In this battle, King Olaf II of Norway was killed. During the pontificate of Roland of Siena, the Roman Catholic Church declared Olaf a saint in 1164. View Historic Battle »

  Background: Olav Haraldsson's success in becoming King of Norway was helped by the Danes being kept occupied with the ongoing fighting in England.

  Battle: According to saga sources, Olaf traveled with his 3,600 man army through Sweden and crossed the mountains into the valley of Verdal, about 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of the city of Trondheim.

  Aftermath: One hundred years later, Nidaros Cathedral was built in Trondheim on the site of his original burial place. Olaf's body was moved to this church and enshrined in a silver reliquary behind the high altar.

RESOURCES
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Battle of Stiklestad (1030)", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.