Olav Trygvasons saga - Ormen lange - Halfdan Egedius

Ormrinn Langi in Old Norse (''The Long Serpent'') ''Ormen Lange'' in Norwegian, ''Ormurin Langi'' in Faroese was one of the most famous of the

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

longship Longships were a type of specialised Scandinavian warships that have a long history in Scandinavia, with their existence being archaeologically proven and documented from at least the fourth century BC. Originally invented and used by the Nors ...

s. It was built for the Norwegian King Olav Tryggvason, and was the largest and most powerful longship of its day. In the late 990s King Olav was on a "Crusade" around the country to bring Christianity to Norway. When he was traveling north to

Hålogaland Hålogaland was the northernmost of the Norway, Norwegian provinces in the medieval Norse sagas. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hålogaland was a Monarchy, kingdom extending between the Namdalen valley in Trøndelag county and ...

he came to a petty kingdom in today's

Skjerstad Skjerstad () is a village in Bodø Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The small village of Skjerstad sits at the mouth of the Misværfjorden, where it joins Skjerstadfjorden. The village is also the location of Skjerstad Church. The ...

, where the king named

Raud the Strong Raud the Strong was a Norsemen, Norse blót priest and seafaring warrior, who resisted conversion to Christianity in the late 10th century AD. Olaf Tryggvason was King of Norway from 995 to 1000 AD. He played an important part in the conversion o ...

refused to convert to Christianity. A battle ensued, during which Saltstraum, a

maelstrom Maelstrom may refer to: * Maelstrom (whirlpool), a powerful whirlpool ** originally the Moskstraumen in English Amusement rides * Maelstrom (ride), a former log flume dark ride attraction in the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World Resort in ...

that prevented reinforcements to the king's men, forced King Olav to flee. He continued up north but returned some weeks later when the maelstrom had subsided. Olav won the battle, captured Raud, and gave him two choices: die or convert. The Sagas say that Olav tried to convert him but Raud cursed the name of Jesus, and the King became so enraged that he stuck a ''kvanstilk'' (a stalk of '' Angelica'', which are hollow) down his throat and shoved a snake into it, then a burning iron to force the snake down his throat. The snake ate its way out of the side of the torso of Raud and killed him. After the victory Olav confiscated Raud's riches, not least of which was Raud's ship, which he rechristened Ormen (The Serpent). He took it to Trondheim and used it as a design for his own new ship, which he made a couple of "rooms" longer than Ormen and named Ormen Lange. The ship reportedly had 34 ''rooms'', i.e., was built with 34 pairs of oars, for a crew of 68 rowers (and additional crew members). Extrapolating from archeological evidence (e.g., the Gokstad ship), this would make Ormen Lange nearly long. The ship's sides were unusually high, "as high as that of a Knarr". Ormen Lange was the last ship to be taken in the Battle of Svolder, where Olav was killed (although his body was never found—some stories tell of the king jumping into the water either sinking due to the weight of his armour or escaping in the confusion) by a coalition of his enemies in the year 1000. Its story is told in a traditional Faroese ballad, or Kvæði, called "

Ormurin Langi Ormurin Langi ("The Long Serpent") is a Faroese folk ballad. It was written in ca. 1830 by Jens Christian Djurhuus. Written in 86 verses in Faroese, the song deals with the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason. The title ''Ormurin Langi'' refers to ...

References

Björn Landström Björn Olof August Landström (21 April 1917, in Kuopio, Finland – 7 January 2002, in Helsinki) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or F ...

, ''The Ship: Illustrated History'' (1961) {{Norway-mil-ship-stub 10th century in Norway History of transport in Norway Ships built in Trondheim Viking ships Ships of Norway Medieval ships