OLAF I TRYGGVESSON, King of NORWAY. - Proposals of King HARALD I HARFAGR, founder of the kingdom of Norway, b. in 969.
He fought alongside SVEND, King of Denmark, against the English when the Vikings invaded England in 988. He became acquainted with Christianity and was baptized. Meanwhile, a strong movement in Norway opposed King HAAKON and supported O., who in 995, after having made peace with Æthelred in England, returned to Norway and succeeded in being proclaimed king. He brought with him various English ecclesiastics, including a bishop, and strove to spread the Gospel, perhaps with too much harshness. SVEND, taking advantage of the discontent of the pagans and the partisans of HAAKON and allying himself with the Swedes, provoked a conflict, resolved in a great naval battle near Helsingborg, in which O. met his death in the year 1000.