orn a pagan and lived as a warrior
for most of his years going on to become the patron saint of Norway.
The son of Harald I, Oaf's early career was spent outside Norway
fighting the Danes and English among others.
(HNQ, 11/30/00)(AP, 7/29/01)
1031 Olaf II, aka Olaf
Haraldsson, was named a saint.
1035 Nov 12, King Canute
(b.994) died at age 39. He was king of Denmark, England and Norway
(HN, 11/12/98)(MC, 11/12/01)
1045-1066 King Harold Hardready reigned. During
this time Snorre Sturleson wrote the "Heimskringla." In his
Ynglingasaga he said that in 1049 under King Svein and in 1051 under
King Magnus, a special sermon against Curonian pirates was
introduced in the Danish churches.
(DrEE, 11/23/96, p.3)
1047 Oct 25, Magnus I Godhi,
king of Norway and Denmark (1035-47), died.
1066 Sep 21, At the Battle at
Fulford Norway king Harald III Hardrada beat the British militia.
1066 Sep 25, King Harold
Godwinson II marched north and attacked the Vikings at the Battle of
Stampford Bridge in Yorkshire. The King of Norway was killed and
Harold’s forces destroyed the Vikings who returned to Norway in 24
of their 300 ships. Marching north to face a Norwegian invasion
force commanded by King Harald Sigurdsson, aka Hardraade, and by his
usurper brother, Tostig, Harold Godwinson defended his crown at
Stamford Bridge, resulting in a Saxon victory and the deaths of both
Harald and Tostig. Soon afterward, however, Harold had to march
south to face another invading contender for his throne, Duke
William the Bastard of Normandy, who defeated and killed Harold at
Hastings on October 14, and took the English crown as William the
1066 Sep 25, Harald III
Hardrada (51), king of Norway and England (1047-66), died in battle.
1066 Sep, Harold Hardrata, King
of Norway, sailed south with 10,000 men in 300 ships to attack
(TLC, Battles That Changed the World, 6/25/95)
1070 Bergen was founded on the
southwest coast of Norway.
(SSFC, 6/5/05, p.F7)
1100-1200 Chronicles mentioned stave church in the
village of Vaga.
(WSJ, 8/27/96, p.A12)
1100-1400 The official stave churches were mostly
built during this period.
(WSJ, 8/27/96, p.A12)
1103 Aug 24, Magnus III
Berbein, [Blootbeen], King of Norway (1093-1103), died.
1184 Jun 15, King Magnus of
Norway was defeated by his rival, Sverre.
1262 After a long and bloody
conflict between the various families and clans, the Icelanders
accepted the rule of the Norwegian kingdom.
(DrEE, 1/4/97, p.4)
1263 Oct 2, At Largs, King
Alexander III of Scotland repelled an amphibious invasion by King
Haakon IV of Norway.
1319 May 8, Haakon V, King of
Norway (1299-1319), died.
1375-1412 Queen Margaret I (b.1353) ruled over
Denmark. In 1388 her rule extended over Norway and in 1389 extended
to include Sweden.
1397 Jun 17, The Union of
Kalmar united Denmark, Sweden, and Norway under one monarch. The
alliance grew out of the dynastic ties of the Scandinavian countries
of Denmark, Norway and Sweden in response to rising German influence
in the Baltic. The Kalmar Union is a historiographical term meaning
a series of personal unions (1397–1523) that united the three
kingdoms of Denmark, Norway (with Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe
Islands and, prior to their annexation by Scotland in 1471, Shetland
and Orkney), and Sweden (including Finland) under a single monarch.
c1440 Leif Eriksson drew a map
of America about this time. The "Vinland Map" was introduced in 1965
by Yale University as being the 1st known map of America, drawn
about 1440 by Norse explorer Leif Eriksson.
1472 The Orkney Islands were
part of Norway until this year.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T3)
1520 Nov 4, Danish-Norwegian
king Christian II was crowned king of Sweden.
1523 Christian II was deposed
in Denmark after a civil war and was exiled. His uncle became King
Frederick I of Denmark and Norway.
1523 Sweden became independent
and dropped out of the Kalmar Union, formed in 1397 with Denmark and
1537 The Reformation came to
(WSJ, 8/27/96, p.A12)
1540 Renaissance artist Lucas
Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) created his painting "Suffer the
Little Children to Come Unto Me" about this time I