A long and picturesque account is given in the Sagas of the way in which Olaf and his men destroyed the image of Thor and conquered the antagonism of the bønder, but it is unnecessary to give it in detail. The result was the same as in other places-they were all baptized and a church was built, and a priest left to teach the people.

From Gudbrandsdal he went south and east, everywhere spreading the faith and laying the foundation for future work.

It would seem likely that it is about this period that we must place Olaf's application to Archbishop Unwan of Bremen for help in his work, by sending to him clergy to minister to his people. The reasons which led Olaf to take this step we have already noted. All, or nearly all, of his first clerical helpers came from England; but at this time the authority of Knut the Great was firmly established, and as that monarch regarded Olaf as an intruder who declined to recognize his overlordship, it was practically impossible for the Norwegian monarch to receive any longer the help which he had at the beginning. Under these circumstances the king had to look elsewhere, and the nearest and most convenient place was the great Metropolitan see of the North at Bremen. It is curious that the Norwegian authorities at this time are silent on this point, and it is to Adam of Bremen alone that we are indebted for the information. There seems no reason to doubt the fact, which is so plainly stated by Adam, especially when we know that there was practically no other course open to Olaf, but to apply to Bremen.

Just about the time of Olaf's expedition to Norway, Archbishop Libentius died (1013), and his successor was Unwan, who held the see from 1013 to 1029. He was a monk of Paderborn, and was much liked, especially by his clergy. It was to this man that Olaf turned for help. Adam, without clearly indicating the date, says: "He (Olaf) sent also ambassadors to our Archbishop (Unwan) with gifts,

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praying that he should receive these bishops kindly, and would send some of his own bishops to him, who should strengthen and confirm the rude Norwegians in the faith." How far the petition of King Olaf was answered by the Bremen Archbishop we have no certain means of knowing, and it would appear that not long after it was preferred, Olaf himself was a fugitive from his native land, and only returned to meet his death on the fatal field of Stiklestad. In 1023 we find him in the south and west, from whence he passed to the districts of Sogn and Valders. The last named was a region more isolated than other parts of Norway, as the vast mountain district, now known as the Jotunheim, cut it off from the north, and wild mountain ranges from the west and south. With his customary rapidity Olaf reached the Lille Miøsen lake, and called a Thing where his proposals with regard to Christianity were very unfavourably received, but the king with great skill managed to avert an outbreak and set the bønder quarrelling among themselves. Then at night he seized their boats and began to attack and burn the farms, each man rushed off to save his own, and when their forces were divided, the king was able to bring them to terms. Then he followed the long chain of lakes which extends through the district, not being strong enough in men, to risk the land journey, but everywhere carrying out the purpose he had in hand, and providing Christian teachers to carry on the work.

The next year, 1024, may be said to have witnessed the completion of Olaf's great work. Norway, from one end to the other, was at any rate nominally Christian; the laws had been brought into conformity with the new faith, and only in secret could sacrifices be offered to Odin and Thor. "There was no remote valley or outlying island in his kingdom," says the Saga, "where a heathen man could be found."

We must now turn to the events which led up to the fall of Olaf's power in Norway, his expulsion and subsequent return and martyrdom. It was not to be expected that such a powerful and ambitious monarch as Knut the Great, would be content to lose the supremacy which he claimed over Norway without an effort to regain it. In the earlier years of Olaf's reign, however, Knut was too much occupied in consolidating his authority in England, though he did not forget his claim on Norway. In the year 1025 he sent a messenger to Olaf ordering him to appear before him in England and receiving back Norway as a fief from the Danish king, to render the tribute which the jarls had paid to Svein. We can well imagine how such a message would have filled Olaf with rage, for, next to the spread of Christianity, the consolidation and independence of his kingdom was the great object of his life. He heard the ambassadors to the end, and then dismissed them with his answer to the mighty Knut. "Bring him my words," he said; "I will defend Norway hill and dale as long as life is granted to me, and I will pay skat to no man for my kingdom.”

After this Olaf saw that he must prepare to defend his crown, and he knew well the mighty power which Knut could wield. He accordingly formed a defensive alliance with his brother-in-law, Aanund Jacob of Sweden, and got his fleet together.

Knut the Great was in Rome, on his pilgrimage, in 1026, so just then they felt safe from attack. The allies decided to strike the first blow, and with their united fleets they made a descent on Denmark. On the approach of Knut they retired, and a fierce but indecisive battle was fought at Helgeaaen, in Skaane. The Swedish fleet dispersed, and Olaf, not finding himself strong enough to resist Knut alone, left his ships in Skaane, and went overland to Viken. Knut had been at work for some time in endeavouring to

seduce the great chiefs in Norway from their allegiance to Olaf. In the north Haarek of Thjotta, Einar Thamberskjelver, Thore Hund, and Kalv Arnessøn were all ready to take part against their king; the latter had received from Olaf the land of the heathen Ølve of Egg, and was a very powerful chief, who owed much to the king. In the south, the great Erling Skjalgssøn of Sole was also ready to join with the king's enemies. Thus we see all the most prominent men in the country, who had felt the severity with which Olaf ruled, and who knew that in his justice he had the same law for rich and poor, were all united against him, and ready to sacrifice their national independence for the hope of personal gain and power.

There was also at this time in the land, among the people generally, a feeling of hostility against the king. The extreme severity of the way in which he had treated those who resisted his efforts in spreading Christianity had raised up enemies on all sides, and many of the bønder thought that a change might let them have their own way a little more. Indeed, a very decided reaction had set in. Olaf's early popularity was on the wane, but the feeling of hostility was not directed, as we might have supposed, so much against Christianity, as against the king personally.

When, then, Knut, with a great fleet, sailed for Nidaros in 1028, there was no one to stand against him, and Olaf did not dare to resist. Knut was recognized as overlord, and Haakon Eriksson (the last of the great jarls of Hlade), in spite of his oath to Olaf in 1016, became governor under Knut. Then the conqueror sailed to Borg, and meeting with no resistance, thus "won Norway without a sword stroke." While this was happening in the summer of 1028 Olaf, with a few men and ships, lay at Drammen, but Knut did not apparently think it politic to attack him. When Knut had left the country, and the winter came on,

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Olaf emerged from his retreat and sailed round the coast. As he went along, he had the good fortune to capture in Bukken Fjord, the old chief Erling Skjalgssøn, and intended to hold him as a hostage, but one of the king's men, most unfortunately for Olaf, slew the captured chief. This act raised all that part in arms against the king, and he sailed further north, and had reached Søndmøre when he learned of the approach of a superior force from Nidaros. Seeing he could neither advance nor retreat, the king sailed up the Slyngs Fjord as far as Sylte, and there left his ships, and with a handful of devoted followers started in the depth of winter over the mountains. After great hardships he came at last to Einabu, in the Gudbrandsdal, and from thence to Hedemarken. He had now no alternative but to leave Norway, and taking his wife and two children with him, and his faithful friend Bishop Grimkell, he went to his brother-in-law in Sweden, where he spent the winter. When the spring of 1029 came, he left his family in Sweden, and proceeded to his other brother-in-law, Jaroslav, who was king in Gardarike, and there remained for some time.

Meanwhile the government of Norway seems to have gone on quietly enough under Haakon Jarl, as Knut's representative. In the summer of 1029 he went to England, where he was married, and in the autumn set sail on his return home; but nothing more was ever heard of him or the ship, and it is supposed that he perished in a storm. Thus ended the male line of the great jarls of Hlade, who, for close upon a hundred years, had played such an important part in the history of their country. The death of the jarl under such peculiar circumstances, was regarded by many of the people as a judgment of Heaven upon him, for the breach of the oath which he had taken, never to oppose the right of King Olaf to the throne of Norway.