Description

A ruthless Viking warrior who named his most prized battle weapon after the Norse goddess of death Olav Haraldsson and his mercenaries wrought terror and destruction from the Baltic to Galicia in the early eleventh century Thousands were put to the sword enslaved or ransomed In England Canterbury was sacked its archbishop murdered and London Bridge pulled down The loot amassed from years of plunder helped Olav win the throne of Norway and a century after his death he was proclaimed Eternal King and has been a national hero there ever since

Despite his bloodthirsty beginnings Olav converted to Christianity and in a personal vendetta against the old Norse gods made Norway Christian too thereby changing irrevocably the Viking world he was born into Told with reference to Norse sagas early chronicles and the work of modern scholars Desmond Seward paints an intensely vivid and colorful portrait of the life and times of arguably the greatest Viking of them all