Olaf I of Denmark ( – 18 August 1095) was king of Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 from 1086 to 1095, following the death of his brother Canute IV the Holy

Canute IV of Denmark

Canute IV, later known as Canute the Holy or Canute the Saint , was King of Denmark from 1080 until 1086. Canute was an ambitious king who sought to strengthen the Danish monarchy, devotedly supported the Roman Catholic Church, and had designs on the English throne. Slain by rebels in 1086, he was...

. He was a son of king Sweyn II Estridsson

Sweyn II of Denmark

Sweyn II Estridsson Ulfsson was the King of Denmark from 1047 to 1074. He was the son of Ulf Jarl and Estrid Svendsdatter. He was married three times, and fathered 20 children or more, including the five future kings Harald III Hen, Canute IV the Saint, Oluf I Hunger, Eric I Evergood and Niels...

, and the third of Sweyn's sons to rule. He married Ingegard

Ingegerd of Norway

Ingegerd Haraldsdotter of Norway was a medieval Scandinavian Queen, Princess of Norway and the Queen consort of first King Olaf I of Denmark and second to King Philip of Sweden .- Biography :...

, the daughter of Harald III of Norway, but did not have any children. He was succeeded by his brother Eric I Evergood

Eric I of Denmark

Eric I Evergood , also known as Eric the Good, , was King of Denmark following his brother Olaf I Hunger in 1095. He was a son of king Sweyn II Estridsson, by his wife Gunhild Sveinsdotter, and married Boedil Thurgotsdatter.-Biography:...

.

Biography

Olaf was born around 1050, to king Sweyn II Estridsson

Sweyn II of Denmark

Sweyn II Estridsson Ulfsson was the King of Denmark from 1047 to 1074. He was the son of Ulf Jarl and Estrid Svendsdatter. He was married three times, and fathered 20 children or more, including the five future kings Harald III Hen, Canute IV the Saint, Oluf I Hunger, Eric I Evergood and Niels...

 and an unknown concubine. During the reign of his elder brother Canute IV, Olaf supposedly served as Duke of Schleswig. In 1085, Olaf was called to a leding campaign against England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Canute was held up and could not join the leding, and as the navy grew weary in waiting for him, Olaf became the spokesperson for its concerns. Canute feared Olaf's support among the magnate

Magnate

Magnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus 'great', designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities...

s, while Olaf had misgivings about Canute's dynastic ambition, and saw Canute's son Charles the Good as a potential rival for power. Canute blamed Olaf for stirring up trouble, and Olaf was put in chains by their brother Eric, the later king Eric I Evergood

Eric I of Denmark

Eric I Evergood , also known as Eric the Good, , was King of Denmark following his brother Olaf I Hunger in 1095. He was a son of king Sweyn II Estridsson, by his wife Gunhild Sveinsdotter, and married Boedil Thurgotsdatter.-Biography:...

. Olaf was banished to Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

, under the supervision of Robert I of Flanders.

King of Denmark

Canute was killed in St. Alban's Priory in Odense

Odense

The city of Odense is the third largest city in Denmark.Odense City has a population of 167,615 and is the main city of the island of Funen...

 in July 1086, following a rebellion in Northern Jutland

Northern Jutland

Northern Jutland is the name for the region north of the Kongeå in Jutland. The region south of the Kongeå is called Southern Jutland . Both territories have had own ting assemblies in the Middle Ages ....

. Olaf was proclaimed king at the Viborg

Viborg, Denmark

Viborg , a town in central Jutland, Denmark, is the seat of both Viborg municipality and Region Midtjylland. Viborg is also the seat of the Western High Court, the High Court for the Jutland peninsula...

 landsting

Thing (assembly)

A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...

assembly, though he was still in Flanders. An arrangement was made to swap Olaf for his younger brother Niels, the later king Niels of Denmark

Niels of Denmark

Niels of Denmark was King of Denmark from 1104 to 1134, following his brother Eric Evergood, and is presumed to have been the youngest son of king Sweyn II Estridson. Niels actively supported the canonization of Canute IV the Holy, and his secular rule was supported by the clergy...

, to permit Olaf to return to Denmark. Upon the return of Oluf, Eric fled to Sweden. Olaf was the third of Sweyn's sons to become king of Denmark.

Olaf's reign was plagued by several consecutive years of crop failure and famine. According to Arild Hvitfeldt's "Danmarks Riges Krønike", in those years springtime was so dry that the fields looked as if they had been burned, and in the fall the skies opened up and rain fell so often that people floated about on pieces of wood to cut the heads off the grain that rose above the water. The hunger of the people grew so great that they dug the earth looking for roots. The wealthy grew thin, and the poor died of starvation. Sickness and starvation soon visited great and small. In the first early attempts of getting Canute canonized

Canonization

Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...

, Oluf was given the nickname "Hunger" in order to magnify the splendor of Canute. At the time it was claimed that the famine was sent by God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

 as divine punishment for the sacrilege

Sacrilege

Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object. In a less proper sense, any transgression against the virtue of religion would be a sacrilege. It can come in the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things...

 killing of Canute. Chronicler Saxo Grammaticus

Saxo Grammaticus

Saxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus was a Danish historian, thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, foremost advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author of the first full history of Denmark.- Life :The Jutland Chronicle gives...

 described the hunger as a strictly Danish phenomenon, though it has later been described as a general problem of Europe in those years.

Oluf probably cut the Danish ties to the Papal Gregorian reform movement

Gregorian Reform

The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, circa 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy...

, supporting Antipope Wibert of Ravenna

Antipope Clement III

Guibert or Wibert of Ravenna was a cleric made antipope in 1080 due to perceived abuses of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy, a title that lasted to his death....

 instead. During Olaf's reign, some of Canute's laws were repealed, and the power of the clergy and royalty receded in favour of the magnates. When Skjalm Hvide

Skjalm Hvide

Skjalm Hvide is regarded as the founder of the Hvide clan, and one of the most influential and powerful chiefs in Denmark in the late Viking age and early medieval age. One of his most important strongholds was located in Jørlunde. He built the church in Jørlunde around the year 1100....

 sought the support of Olaf in avenging the death of his brother by campaigning against the Wends

Wends

Wends is a historic name for West Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It does not refer to a homogeneous people, but to various peoples, tribes or groups depending on where and when it is used...

, Olaf could not muster the power to help him. The magnates became more involved in the works of the Church, and Jutlandish magnat Asser Svendsen was appointed Archbishop of Lund by Olaf in 1089.

Death

Olaf died on 18 August 1095 under mysterious circumstances. Some speculate that he may have killed himself or that he was sacrified on behalf of his luckless people. Saxo Grammaticus writes the he "willingly gave himself to loose the land of its bad luck and begged that all of it (guilt) would fall upon his head alone. So offered he his life for his countrymen." He is the only Danish monarch whose burial site is not known. It has been postulated that his body was divided among the regions of Denmark as a kind of scapegoat

Scapegoat

Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any party for unmerited negative treatment or blame. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals , individuals against groups , groups against individuals , and groups against groups Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any...

 which was to take away the blood guilt of Denmark and restore it to its previous fortunes. He was succeeded by his brother Eric I Evergood

Eric I of Denmark

Eric I Evergood , also known as Eric the Good, , was King of Denmark following his brother Olaf I Hunger in 1095. He was a son of king Sweyn II Estridsson, by his wife Gunhild Sveinsdotter, and married Boedil Thurgotsdatter.-Biography:...

.

Ancestry