Tryggvi "the Pretender" (Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 Tryggvi Ólafsson, Norwegian

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

 Tryggve Olavsson) was a Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 chieftain who lived in the early eleventh century, and came from "west across the sea" (probably from the Norse

Norsemen

Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...

 settlements in 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...

 and Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

). His story appears in Heimskringla

Heimskringla

Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...

by Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...

, the saga Morkinskinna

Morkinskinna

Morkinskinna is an Old Norse kings' saga, relating the history of Norwegian kings from approximately 1025 to 1157. The saga was written in Iceland around 1220, and has been preserved in a manuscript from around 1275....

, and in Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar composed by Oddr Snorrason

Oddr Snorrason

The Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar of Oddr Snorrason whose name is also sometimes Anglicized as Odd Snorrason was a Latin royal biography attributed to a 12th century Icelandic Benedictine monk at the Þingeyrar monastery ....

.

Invasion of Norway

According to Heimskringla, in 1033, during the lordship of Canute the Great

Canute the Great

Cnut the Great , also known as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden. Though after the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history, historian Norman F...

's son Sveinn Alfífuson over Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Tryggvi invaded Norway. He claimed to be the son of Olaf Tryggvason and his wife Gyda. His enemies scoffed at this claim, asserting that Tryggvi was instead the bastard

Legitimacy (law)

At common law, legitimacy is the status of a child who is born to parents who are legally married to one another; and of a child who is born shortly after the parents' divorce. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have been considered legitimate children...

 son of a priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

; however, Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...

 refers to Olaf's relatives in Viken as Tryggvi's "kinsmen;" moreover, the author of Morkinskinna has Harald III of Norway asserting kinship with the then-deceased Tryggvi, indicating that at least some people believed Tryggvi's claim.

When word reached Sveinn Alfífuson and his mother Aelgifu of Northampton

Aelgifu of Northampton

Ælfgifu of Northampton was the first wife of King Cnut of England and Denmark, and mother of King Harold I of England . She served as regent of Norway from 1030 to 1035.-Family background:...

 that Tryggvi's invasion was imminent, they summoned the landholders of Halogaland

Hålogaland

Hålogaland was the northernmost of the Norwegian provinces in the mediaeval Norse sagas. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hålogaland was a petty kingdom extending between Namdalen in Nord-Trøndelag and Lyngen in Troms.-Etymology:...

 and the Trondheim

Trondheim

Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...

 district to join the royal army in resisting Tryggvi. The jarl Einar Tambarskjelve, angered by the policies of Canute's government, remained at home and refused to fight for Sveinn. Likewise, neither the powerful landowner Kalf Arnason nor any of his brothers would fight for Sveinn.

Sveinn Alfífuson and his forces made their way south to Agder

Agder

Agder is a historical district of Norway in the southernmost region of Norway, corresponding to the two counties Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder. Today, the term Sørlandet is more commonly used.-Name:...

, believing that Tryggvi would attempt to slip through the Skagerrak

Skagerrak

The Skagerrak is a strait running between Norway and the southwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area, which leads to the Baltic Sea.-Name:...

 and join his supporters in Viken. Tryggvi, however, landed instead in Hordaland

Hordaland

is a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark and Rogaland. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population. The county administration is located in Bergen...

, then sailed to Rogaland

Rogaland

is a county in Western Norway, bordering Hordaland, Telemark, Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder. It is the center of the Norwegian petroleum industry, and as a result of this, Rogaland has the lowest unemployment rate of any county in Norway, 1.1%...

 to attack Sveinn's navy. The two fleets met off the island of Bokn

Bokn

Bokn is a municipality in the Rogaland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Haugaland. Bokn was separated from Skudenes in 1849....

, where only a few years before Erling Skjalgsson

Erling Skjalgsson

Erling Skjalgsson was a Norwegian political leader of the late 10th and early 11th century. He has been commonly seen as this period's foremost defender of the historic Norwegian social system...

 had been defeated and killed.

During the battle, according to reports recorded by Snorri, Tryggvi hurled javelin

Javelin

A Javelin is a light spear intended for throwing. It is commonly known from the modern athletic discipline, the Javelin throw.Javelin may also refer to:-Aviation:* ATG Javelin, an American-Israeli civil jet aircraft, under development...

s at his enemies with both hands simultaneously, a feat for which Olaf Tryggvason had been known. He famously exclaimed "Thus did my father teach me to say mass

Mass (liturgy)

"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...

," simultaneously asserting his descent from King Olaf and mocking his enemies' allegation that his father was a priest. Despite his celebrated resourcefulness, Tryggvi's forces were overwhelmed by Sveinn Alfífuson's fleet and Tryggvi himself was killed.

An account preserved in Morkinskinna

Morkinskinna

Morkinskinna is an Old Norse kings' saga, relating the history of Norwegian kings from approximately 1025 to 1157. The saga was written in Iceland around 1220, and has been preserved in a manuscript from around 1275....

relates that Tryggvi was actually killed by a farmer after the battle. Many years later, when Harald Hardrada was king of Norway, he passed by the site of the battle. The king met an old friend of his who pointed out the alleged assassin. After questioning the purported killer and hearing him confess, King Harald had the man hanged, citing the familial bond between him and Tryggvi and his duty to avenge the latter's death.

Heimskringla

A famous poem, Tryggvaflokkr

Tryggvaflokkr

Tryggvaflokkr was an Old Norse poem about Tryggve the Pretender, an 11th-century Viking chieftain who purported to be the son of Olaf Tryggvason and tried to conquer Norway in 1033. It is usually attributed to Sighvat Thordarson, a skald and court poet of Canute the Great...

, was written about Tryggvi. Excerpts of the poem, usually attributed to Canute's court poet Sighvat Thordarson, were preserved in Heimskringla:

For fame eager, forth fared

from the north King Tryggvi,

whilst Sveinn from the south forth

sailed to join the battle

From fray not far was I.

Fast they raised their banners

Swiftly then-rang sword 'gainst

sword-began the bloodshed.

Another poem recorded in Heimskringla, by an unknown skald

Skald

The skald was a member of a group of poets, whose courtly poetry is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking Age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry .The most prevalent metre of skaldic poetry is...

, mentions the battle against Tryggvi:

That Sunday morning, maiden,

much unlike it was to

days when at wassail

Wassail

The word Wassail refers to several related traditions; first and foremost wassailing is an ancient southern English tradition that is performed with the intention of ensuring a good crop of cider apples for the next year's harvest...

 women

wait on men with ale

Ale

Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast. The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste...

-drink:

when Sveinn the sailors bade his

sloops of war

Longship

Longships were sea vessels made and used by the Vikings from the Nordic countries for trade, commerce, exploration, and warfare during the Viking Age. The longship’s design evolved over many years, beginning in the Stone Age with the invention of the umiak and continuing up to the 9th century with...

 to fasten

by their bows, with carrion

battening hungry raven

Raven

Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...

s.