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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Battle of Svolder
| image = Svolder, by Otto Sinding.jpg
| image_size = 300
| caption = The Battle of Svolder, by [[Otto Sinding]]
| partof =
| date = 9 September,<ref>The Saga of King Olaf Tryggwason, trans. by J. Sephton, London: David Nutt, 1895, p. 435.</ref> 999 or 1000
| place = In [[Øresund]] or near [[Rügen]]
| result = Allied victory<br />Partitioning of Norway<br />Backlash against Christianity
| combatant1 = {{flagicon image|Raven Banner.svg|size=20px|border=no}} [[Kingdom of Norway (872–1397)|Norway]]
| combatant2 = {{flagicon image|Raven Banner.svg|size=20px|border=no}} [[Kingdom of Denmark (Middle Ages)|Denmark]]<br />[[History of Sweden (800–1521)|Sweden]]<br />[[Jarls of Lade]]
| commander1 = {{flagicon image|Raven Banner.svg|size=20px|border=no}} [[Olaf I of Norway|Olaf Tryggvason]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon image|Raven Banner.svg|size=20px|border=no}} [[Einar Tambarskjelve]]
| commander2 = {{flagicon image|Raven Banner.svg|size=20px|border=no}} [[
| strength1 = 11 warships
| strength2 = 70+ warships
| casualties1 = Heavy, all ships captured
| casualties2 = Reportedly heavy
| notes = There are no detailed contemporary sources. Information such as the number of ships cannot be regarded as reliable history.
}}
{{Campaignbox Dano-Norwegian Conflicts}}
The '''Battle of Svolder''' (''Svold'' or ''Swold'')<ref>[[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] '''Svöld''', '''Svöldr''', '''Svölð''' or '''Svölðr'''.</ref> was a large naval battle during the [[Viking]] age, fought in September 999 or 1000 in the western [[Baltic Sea]] between [[Olaf Tryggvason|King Olaf]] of [[Norway]] and an alliance of the Kings of Denmark and Sweden and Olaf's enemies in Norway. The backdrop of the battle was the unification of Norway into a single independent state after longstanding Danish efforts to control the country, combined with the [[Christianization of Scandinavia|spread of Christianity in Scandinavia]].
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The exact location of the battle is disputed, and depends on which group of sources is preferred: [[Adam of Bremen]] places it in [[Øresund]], while Icelandic sources place the battle near an island called Svolder, which is otherwise unknown.
The most detailed sources on the battle, the [[kings' sagas]], were written approximately two centuries after it took place. Historically unreliable, they offer an extended literary account describing the battle and the events leading up to it in vivid detail. The sagas ascribe the causes of the battle to Olaf Tryggvason's ill-fated marriage proposal to [[Sigrid the Haughty]] and his problematic marriage to [[Tyra of Denmark|Thyri]], sister of Svein Forkbeard. As the battle starts Olaf is shown dismissing the Danish and Swedish fleets with ethnic insults and bravado while admitting that Eirik Hákonarson and his men are dangerous because "they are Norwegians like us". The best known episode in the battle is the breaking of [[Einarr Þambarskelfir]]'s bow, which heralds Olaf's defeat.
In later centuries, the saga descriptions of the battle, especially that in [[Snorri Sturluson]]'s ''[[Heimskringla]]'', have inspired a number of ballads and other works of literature.
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==Events leading up to the battle==
[[Image:Sigrid and olaf.jpg|thumb|[[Olaf Tryggvason]] proposes marriage to [[Sigrid the Haughty]], on condition she convert to Christianity. When Sigrid rejects this, Olaf strikes her with a glove. She warns him that might lead to his death.<ref>Snorri Sturluson 1991:200–201.</ref>]]
Nothing can be gleaned from the contemporary skaldic poems on the causes of the battle. Adam of Bremen states that [[Olaf Tryggvason]]'s Danish wife, [[Tyra of Denmark|Thyri]], egged him on to make war against Denmark. When Olaf heard that [[Svein Forkbeard]] and [[Olof Skötkonung|Olaf the Swede]] had formed an alliance, he was angered and decided the time had come for an attack.<ref>Tschan 2002:81–82.</ref> ''Ágrip'' and ''Historia Norwegie'' have a similar account. Thyri was the sister of Svein Forkbeard, and when Olaf Tryggvason married her, Svein refused to pay her promised dowry. Angered, Olaf launched an expedition to attack Denmark, but he was too impatient to wait for a fleet to assemble from all of Norway, and he set sail for the south with only 11 ships, expecting the rest to follow. When that hope was not realized, he set out for Wendland ([[Pomerania]]) to seek allies and on the way was ambushed by Svein and his allies.<ref name="Driscoll">Driscoll 1995:33; Ekrem 2003:97.</ref> These accounts are contradicted by a contemporary verse of Halldórr the Unchristian which states that Olaf Tryggvason was travelling ''from the south'' when he came to the battle.<ref>Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson 1941:cxxvi.</ref>
[[Image:Olaf offers thyri angelica.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Olaf offers [[Tyra of Denmark|Queen Tyra]] a stalk of angelica. She weeps and scolds him for not daring to face up to Svein Forkbeard and retrieve her dowry.<ref>Snorri Sturluson 1991:226.</ref>]]
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::Pledges to thee,
:Olaf the King!
==See also==
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* Ólafur Halldórsson (editor) (2006). ''Íslenzk fornrit XXV : Færeyinga saga, Ólafs saga Tryggvasonar eptir Odd munk Snorrason''. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag. {{ISBN|9979-893-25-7}}
* [[Peter Hayes Sawyer|Sawyer, Peter]] (2005). "Scandinavia in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries." In ''The New Cambridge Medieval History IV.'' David Luscombe and [[Jonathan Riley-Smith]] (eds). Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-41411-3}}.
* {{Cite book |last1=Sawyer |first1=Birgit |last2=Sawyer |first2=Peter H. |author2-link=Peter Hayes Sawyer |title=Medieval Scandinavia: from Conversion to Reformation, Circa 800–1500 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=1993 |author-link=Birgit Sawyer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jGJrXOjYvQgC |isbn=978-0-8166-1739-5}}
* [[Saxo Grammaticus]] (edited by J. Olrik and H. Ræder) (1931). ''Saxonis Gesta Danorum''. Hauniæ: Munksgaard.
* Sephton, J. (translator) (1895). ''The Saga of King Olaf Tryggwason''. London: David Nutt.
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* Sverrir Jakobsson (2002). "Erindringen om en mægtig personlighed : den norsk-islandske historiske tradisjon om Harald Hårfagre i et kildekristisk perspektiv" in ''Historisk tidsskrift'' 2002, vol. 81, pp. 213–230. {{ISSN|0018-263X}}
* [[Theodoric the Monk|Theodoricus monachus]] (translated and annotated by David and Ian McDougall with an introduction by [[Peter Foote]]) (1998). ''The Ancient History of the Norwegian Kings''. Viking Society for Northern Research. {{ISBN|0-903521-40-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Gwyn |title=A History of the Vikings |location=Oxford, New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1984 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0-19-285139-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofvikings0002jone
{{refend}}
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[[Category:10th century in Sweden]]
[[Category:Last stands|Svolder]]
[[Category:Battles involving Norway]]
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