Olof Trätälja (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: ''Óláfr trételgja'', Swedish: ''Olof Trätälja'', Norwegian: ''Olav Tretelgja'', all meaning ''Olaf Woodwhittler'') was the son of the Swedish king Ingjald illråde, ruler of the House of Yngling in the 7th century according to ''

Ynglingatal ''Ynglingatal'' or ''Ynglinga tal'' (Old Norse: 'Enumeration of the Ynglingar') is a Skaldic poem cited by Snorri Sturluson in the ''Ynglinga saga'', the first saga of Snorri's ''Heimskringla''. Þjóðólfr of Hvinir (Thjodolf), who was a poet ...

'', a

Skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...

ic poem detailing the kings of that house.

Heimskringla

His mother was Gauthild, a princess of West Götaland, whose maternal grandfather was Olof the Sharp-sighted, the king of Nerike. His mother sent him to his foster-father Bove in West Götaland, where he grew up with his foster-brother Saxe who was surnamed Flette. When Olof heard of his father's death, he assembled the men who were willing to follow him and went to his kinsmen in Nerike, because after his father's atrocities, the Swedes had grown hostile towards the Ynglings. When the Swedes learnt that Olof and his kin had sought refuge in Nerike, they were attacked and had to head west through deep and mountainous forests ( Kilsbergen) to Lake

Vänern Vänern ( , , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake in Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmland in the sou ...

and the estuary of

Klarälven Klarälven ("The clear river" in Swedish) is a river flowing through Norway and Sweden. Together with Göta älv, which it is called as the river has passed through the lake Vänern, thus regarded as an entity, Göta älv—Klarälven is the l ...

(where

Karlstad Karlstad (, ) is the 20th-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province Värmland in Sweden. The city proper had 67,122 inhabitants in 2020 with 97,233 inhabitan ...

is now situated). Here, they settled and cleared land. Soon they had created a whole province called

Värmland Värmland () is a ''Provinces of Sweden, landskap'' (historical province) in west-central Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland, and Närke, and is bounded by Norway in the west. Name Several Latinized version ...

, where they could make a good living. When the Swedes learnt that Olof was clearing land, they were amused and called him the Tree-feller. Olof married a woman named Solveig who was a daughter of Halfdan Guldtand of Soleyar. Olof and Solveig had two sons, Ingjald Olofsson and Halfdan Hvitbeinn, who were brought up in Soleyar in the house of his mother's uncle Sölve. Because of king Ivar Vidfamne and his harsh rule many Swedes emigrated to

, and they became so numerous that the province could not sustain them. The land was afflicted by famine of which the Swedes accused the king. It was an old tradition in Sweden of holding the king responsible for the wealth of the land (see Domalde). The Swedes accused Olof of neglecting his sacrifices to the gods and believed that this was the cause of the famine. The Swedish settlers thus rebelled against Olof, surrounded his house on the shores of lake

and burnt him inside it. Thus he was sacrificed to

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

, like his ancestor Domalde.

Ynglingatal and Historia Norwegiae

However, '' Historia Norwegiae'' says that Olof succeeded his father and ruled as the king of Sweden in peace until his death. The lines of ''

'' appear to say that he was a Swedish prince (''svía jöfri''), and that he was burnt inside his hall and disappeared from

Gamla Uppsala Gamla Uppsala (, ''Old Uppsala'') is a parish and a village outside Uppsala in Sweden. It had 17,973 inhabitants in 2016. As early as the 3rd century AD and the 4th century AD and onwards, it was an important religious, economic and political c ...

Archaeology

:
Source
' Along the lower parts of the river Byälven in

, there are three large barrows, which legend attribute to Olof Trätälja. Moreover, there are many

hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

s near this river and the northern shore of Lake

testifying to a violent period. Archaeological excavations from one of the hillforts, Villkorsberget, show that it was burnt in a period corresponding to Olof (510–680).

Notes

King Olof Tratalja is of House Ynglinga which are descendants to House Munso from the 10th and 11th centuries. The previous editor from Gustav Storm of 1880 had shown King Olof Tratalja being from 1820s-1880s before vanishing when his house caught fire from attackers and fled for safety with his family. And a new ruler took over immediately after political corruption being a French General commissioned by Napoleon. {{DEFAULTSORT:Olof Tratalja Norwegian petty kings Olaf Tratalja Tratalja, Olof