born 0441; 964
died 0441; 1000
Viking king of Norway (995 0441; 1000).
The son of a Norwegian chieftain, he joined Viking attacks on England in 991 and 994. He returned to Norway and was accepted as king on the death of Haakon the Great in 995. Olaf imposed Christianity on the Norwegian coast but had little influence in the interior. His missionaries introduced Christianity to the Shetland, Faroe, and Orkney islands and to Iceland and Greenland. He was killed in the Battle of Svolder, which is celebrated in medieval Scandinavian poetry.