Olaf I

Olaf I, full name Olaf Tryggvason (968-1000), king of Norway (995-1000). A great-grandson of King Harald I, he was brought up in Russia and later participated in numerous Viking raids along the Baltic and North Sea coasts and in the British Isles. During his last campaign, in England (994) with Sweyn I Forkbeard of Denmark, he was converted to Christianity, and the following year he returned to Norway, where a rebellion had erupted against the pagan Earl Håkon. The victorious Olaf founded the city of Nidaros (now Trondheim) as his capital and set out to Christianize the country. Only partly successful in Norway, his efforts contributed to the conversion of Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands to Christianity. Olaf's forces were defeated by a coalition consisting of Sweyn Forkbeard, King Olaf of Sweden, and the two sons of Earl Håkon in the naval Battle of Svold (1000), during which Olaf lost his life.