Olaf was born around 1050, to kingSweyn II Estridssonand an unknown concubine.[2]During the reign of his elder brotherCanute IV,Olaf supposedly served asDuke of Schleswig.[3]In 1085, Olaf was called to aledingcampaign againstEngland.Canute was held up and could not join theleding,and as the navy grew weary in waiting for him, Olaf became the spokesperson for its concerns. Canute feared Olaf's support among themagnates,while Olaf had misgivings about Canute's dynastic ambition, and saw Canute's sonCharles the Goodas a potential rival for power.[4]Canute blamed Olaf for stirring up trouble, and Olaf was put in chains by their brother Eric, the later kingEric I Evergood.[3]Olaf was banished toFlanders,under the supervision ofRobert I of Flanders.[2]
Canute was killed inSt. Alban's PrioryinOdensein July 1086, following a rebellion inNorthern Jutland.Olaf was proclaimed king at theViborglandstingassembly, though he was still in Flanders. An arrangement was made to swap Olaf for his younger brother Niels, the later kingNiels of Denmark,to permit Olaf to return to Denmark. Upon the return of Oluf, Eric fled toScania.[3]Olaf was the third of Sweyn's sons to become king of Denmark.[2]
Olaf's reign was plagued by several consecutive years of crop failure and famine. According toArild Hvitfeldt's "Danmarks Riges Krønike", in those years springtime was so dry that the fields looked as if they had been burned, and in the fall the skies opened up and rain fell so often that people floated about on pieces of wood to cut the heads off the grain that rose above the water. The hunger of the people grew so great that they dug the earth looking for roots. The wealthy grew thin, and the poor died of starvation. Sickness and starvation soon visited great and small. In the first early attempts of getting Canutecanonized,Olaf was given the nickname "Hunger" in order to magnify the splendor of Canute.[4]At the time it was claimed that the famine was sent byGodasdivine punishmentfor thesacrilegiouskilling of Canute.[2]ChroniclerSaxo Grammaticusdescribed the hunger as a strictly Danish phenomenon, though it has later been described as a general problem of Europe in those years.[2][3]
Oluf probably cut the Danish ties to thePapal Gregorian reform movement,supportingAntipope Wibert of Ravennainstead.[3]During Olaf's reign, some of Canute's laws were repealed, and the power of the clergy and royalty receded in favour of the magnates. WhenSkjalm Hvidesought the support of Olaf in avenging the death of his brother by campaigning against theWends,Olaf could not muster the power to help him.[3]The magnates became more involved in the works of the Church, and Jutlandish magnateAsser Svendsenwas appointedArchbishop of Lundby Olaf in 1089.[2]
Olaf died on 18 August 1095 under mysterious circumstances. Some speculate that he may have killed himself or that he was sacrificed on behalf of his luckless people. Saxo Grammaticus writes that he "willingly gave himself to lose the land of its bad luck and begged that all of it (guilt) would fall upon his head alone. So offered he his life for his countrymen."[5]It has been postulated that his body was divided among the regions of Denmark as a kind ofscapegoatwhich was to take away the blood guilt of Denmark and restore it to its previous fortunes.[6]He was succeeded by his brotherEric I Evergood.
Media related toOlaf I of Denmarkat Wikimedia Commons
