Olaf Gudrødsson, or as he was named after his death Olaf Geirstad-Alf, was a legendary Norwegian king of the House of Yngling from the Ynglinga saga

Ynglinga saga

Ynglinga saga is a legendary saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It was first translated into English and published in 1844....

. He was the son of Gudrød the Hunter

Gudrød the Hunter

Gudrød the Hunter was a semi-legendary king in Vingulmark in south-east Norway, during the early Viking Age from 804 until 810...

 and the brother of Halfdan the Black

Halfdan the Black

Halfdan the Black was a ninth-century king of Vestfold. He belonged to the House of Yngling and was the father of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway.-Biography:...

. Gudrød and Olaf conquered a large part of Raumarike.

Gudrød died when Olaf was twenty years old and he and Halfdan divided their kingdom between them. Olaf took the southern part and resided in Geirstad. They only inherited Vestfold

Vestfold

is a county in Norway, bordering Buskerud and Telemark. The county administration is in Tønsberg.Vestfold is located west of the Oslofjord, as the name indicates. It includes many smaller, but well-known towns in Norway, such as Larvik, Sandefjord, Tønsberg and Horten. The river Numedalslågen runs...

 because Alfgeir took Vingulmark

Vingulmark

Vingulmark is the old name for the area in Norway which today makes up the counties of Østfold, western parts of Akershus , and eastern parts of Buskerud , and includes the site of Norway's capital, Oslo...

 for himself and made his son Gandalf Alfgeirsson

Gandalf Alfgeirsson

Gandalf Alfgeirsson was a legendary king of the petty kingdom Vingulmark, in south-eastern Norway. He appears as a character in Snorri Sturluson's saga Heimskringla....

 its king.

The Ynglinga saga

Ynglinga saga

Ynglinga saga is a legendary saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It was first translated into English and published in 1844....

 relates that Olaf was a skillful man and a great warrior. He was also handsome, big and strong. He was the father of Ragnvald the Mountain-High

Ragnvald the Mountain-High

Ragnvald "the Mountain-High" Olafsson was a petty king of Vestfold in what is today Norway. He was the son of Olaf Geirstad-Alf, a cousin of Harald Fairhair and the father of Åsa Ragnvaldsdatter , who married Eystein Ivarsson.His greatest contribution to posterity was that he asked the skald...

.

During the reigns of Olaf and Halfdan the Black, Värmland

Värmland

' is a historical province or landskap in the west of middle Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland and Närke. It is also bounded by Norway in the west. Latin name versions are Vermelandia and Wermelandia. Although the province's land originally was Götaland, the...

 started to pay tribute to the Swedish king Erik Anundsson instead.

He died of illness. Tjodolf of Hvin sang about him:

Long while this branch of Odin's stem

Was the stout prop of Norway's realm;

Long while King Olaf with just pride

Ruled over Westfold far and wide.

At length by cruel gout oppressed,

The good King Olaf sank to rest:

His body now lies under ground,

Buried at Geirstad, in the mound.

After his death, he was worshipped as an elf

Elf

An elf is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine beings endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind...

, and was called the Geirstad-alf (the "elf of Geirstad").

A hypothesis identifies Geirstad with Gjerstad near Gokstad, and his burial with the Gokstad Ship

Gokstad ship

The Gokstad ship is a Viking ship found in a burial mound at Gokstad farm in Sandar, Sandefjord, Vestfold, Norway.-Discovery:The place where the boat was found, situated on arable land, had long been named Gokstadhaugen or Kongshaugen , although the relevance of its name had been discounted as...

.