Stiklestad is a village in

Verdal Municipality Verdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the List of towns and cities in ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is located east of the town of

Verdalsøra Verdalsøra or Verdal is a town in Verdal Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The town is the administrative center of the municipality. It is located along the Trondheimsfjord at the mouth of the river Verdalselva. The village of Vinne ...

and about southeast of the village of

Forbregd/Lein Forbregd and Lein are two small adjoining villages in Verdal Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. Statistics Norway classifies the urban area as Forbregd/Lein. The village area is located about northeast of the town of Verdalsøra and abou ...

Norge fremstillet i Tegninger - no-nb digibok 2008112511001-319

The village is mainly known as the site of the

Battle of Stiklestad The Battle of Stiklestad (; ) in 1030 is one of the most famous battles in the history of Norway. In this battle, King Olaf II of Norway () was killed. During the pontificate of Pope Alexander III, the Roman Catholic Church declared Olaf a saint ...

on 29 July 1030. Stiklestad Church is located in the village and it is assumed to have been erected on the exact spot where King Olaf II Haraldsson fell in the battle. The king was buried in

Nidaros Nidaros, Niðarós or Niðaróss () was the medieval name of Trondheim when it was the capital of Norway's first Christian kings. It was named for its position at the mouth (Old Norse: ''óss'') of the River Nid (the present-day Nidelva). Althou ...

(

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

), canonised there on 3 August 1031, and later enshrined in

Nidaros Cathedral Nidaros Cathedral () is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county. It is built over the burial site of Olav II of Norway, King Olav II ( 995–1030, reigned 1015–1028), who became the patron saint of th ...

. Following the

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

of 1537 the saint's remains were removed and their precise resting-place has been unknown since 1568. The village is currently a

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

and the seat of the Stiklestad prosti.

Name

The

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 ...

form of the name is . The first element is which might have been derived from the verb which means "to jump" or "hop over stepping stones" (possibly referring to crossing a brook or stream). This might have been the name of a nearby brook. The last element is which means "farm" or "abode". In the 13th century

Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essentia ...

, or "The History of the Danes,"

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author ...

recorded that the town was named after Stikla, a

shield-maiden A shield-maiden ( ) was a female warrior from Scandinavian folklore and Norse mythology, mythology. The term most often shows up in fornaldarsögur such as ''Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks''. However, female warriors are also mentioned in the Latin ...

who was most famous for raiding with the Viking captain Rusla (Rusla was known as "The Red Maiden" for her brutal raids on Irish ships.) Stikla would have settled in the area at some point after her participation in the

Battle of Clontarf The Battle of Clontarf () took place on 23 April 1014 at Clontarf, near Dublin, on the east coast of Ireland. It pitted an army led by Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, against a Norse- Irish alliance comprising the forces of Sigtrygg Silkbea ...

in 1014.

Recent history

Given King Olav II’s role in the spread of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

in Norway, Stiklestad has been a significant site in Norwegian national culture since the 1030 battle. There has been an Olav memorial there since

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

times. Between 1934 and 1944

Vidkun Quisling Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (; ; 18 July 1887 – 24 October 1945) was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, Nazi collaborator who Quisling regime, headed the government of N ...

’s Nationalist

Nasjonal Samling The Nasjonal Samling (, NS; ) was a Norway, Norwegian far-right politics, far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling a ...

party held a number of rallies at Stiklestad, in an attempt to link the party to Norway’s historic past. A special Nasjonal Samling monument was inaugurated there in July 1944, before being demolished a year later after the fall of Quisling's government. Since 1954 an annual

the Saint Olav Drama ''Saint Olav Drama'' () is an outdoor theatre performance played every end of July in Stiklestad in Verdal Municipality, Norway. The play commemorates the Battle of Stiklestad that took place in the year 1030, and which resulted in death of King ...

, a re-enactment of the days leading up to the battle of 1030, has taken place at a specially built

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (American English, U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meani ...

at Stiklestad. In 1995, a Parliamentary decree established Stiklestad National Culture Centre () at Stiklestad to promote the story and heritage of Saint Olaf, including the annual Saint Olav Drama. There is also a

folk museum A folk museum is a museum that deals with folk culture and heritage. Such museums cover local life in rural communities. A folk museum typically displays historical objects that were used as part of the people's everyday lives. Examples of such ...

, that includes a

farm, and a hotel housed in the same building as the Culture Centre.

Panorama of the area

References

External links

Stiklestad National Culture Centre
{{authority control Verdal Villages in Trøndelag

Name

Recent history

Panorama of the area

See also

References

External links