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What Norwegians learn about the birth of Norway may be wrong
It's not even clear whether the Battle of Hafrsfjord was actually a battle, who fought in it, or what they were fighting over.
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Here’s what Norwegians are taught about their history: In the year 872, King Harald Fairhair fought against petty kings and chieftains from Viken and Agder in the Battle of Hafrsfjord. Fairhair's victory made him king of Norway, which was then united into one kingdom.
There were large official celebrations of the unification of the realm in 1872, 1972, and 2022. But is it time for Norway to end this practice?
The source of this important event in Norwegian history is the Kings' sagas. They were written by Icelandic historians several hundred years after the Viking Age.
The sagas have 'lost their historical credibility,' historian Halvdan Koht wrote 100 years ago. Norwegian history did not happen the way Snorri Sturluson and other saga writers described it.
Can we trust any of what is written in the sagas, and if so, what? What other sources exist?
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And did the battle of Hafrsfjord even happen?
Western Norway was united into one kingdom
Archaeologist and cultural heritage expert Frans-Arne Hedlund Stylegar at Multiconsult believes there are good reasons to think that this battle actually took place. But who fought and what happened afterwards are more uncertain.
“The battle did not unite Norway, but the king may perhaps have gained control over the western coastline, although not necessarily more than that,” says Stylegar.
“It's difficult to say that this united the country. It might be more accurate to say it united western Norway,” says Håkon Reiersen, an archaeologist and associate professor at the University of Stavanger.
Even though Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century invented and added details when he wrote the sagas, he still relied on sources.
Old poems from the Viking Age
The sources were oral – stories people told about earlier times. The saga writers especially used skaldic poems, which are poems made according to a fixed pattern. They are said to have been created during the Viking Age, then retold through the centuries before being written down and included in the sagas.
Hrafnsmál described the Battle at Hafrsfjord. It has 23 verses spread across several sagas and was compiled in recent times. The skald Torbjørn Hornklove was long considered the author, but today it is believed that Hrafnsmál may actually be two or more poems written by several skalds. Some of the content may also have been added by the saga writers.
Six of the verses describe the battle: 'Did you hear in Hafrsfjord how hard they fought, the high born king against Kjotve the Rich.'
Harald's name is not mentioned in the verses about the battle. The victor is called Luva, which can mean 'shaggy head.' Stylegar believes Luva may be the original nickname for King Harald.
“The older poems do not call Harald 'Fairhair.' The saga writers may have borrowed the nickname from Harald Hardrada,” says Stylegar.
Harald Hardrada was king of Norway from 1045 to 1066.
Who fought?
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Luva is said to have fought against Kjotve. A Haklang is also mentioned in the poem. But the saga writers of the 13th century include many versions of who the opponents were. Modern historians have even more.
Some say the battle was fought against two kings, others say seven. Some claim it was a struggle between local chieftains and kings. Others believe that people from eastern Norway, southern Norway, Danes, Swedes, Scots, and/or Irish were involved in the battle.
One saga names Møre as the battle site, while the poem says Hafrsfjord.
Hrafnsmál is considered the most important source for the Battle of Hafrsfjord.
“The battle was clearly big enough and bloody enough for people to remember it,” says Stylegar. “I believe in the value and persistence of oral tradition. There are plenty of studies from different cultures and places around the world showing that oral stories can survive for centuries, especially if they are in verse or in a structured form.”
Håkon Reiersen also believes Hrafnsmál can be used as a source.
“It may be the most credible source for the Battle of Hafrsfjord, and at least parts of the poem may be old. There, the victorious king is referred to as Harald and Luva, although he is not necessarily the same as the same person later sources callHarald Fairhair,” he says.
Sceptical of the poems
Sverrir Jakobsson is a professor of medieval history at the University of Iceland. He is sceptical of the skaldic poems as sources. He believes the poems have given Norwegian historians a false sense that they can trust what is written in the sagas.
“The problem is that the skaldic poems only exist in the kings' sagas from the 13th century. Their interpretation is based on the same sagas. That means there is no independent verification of the saga authors' interpretation,” says Jakobsson.
“There were probably several oral versions of the poems. The one that was written down became the correct version. It was probably the one that suited the needs of the royal family in the 12th and 13th centuries,” he says.
Researchers also disagree about when the poems were created. Some believe they date from the 9th century, others from the 10th or 11th century. According to Jakobsson, this weakens the poems as historical evidence.
Hans Jacob Orning is a professor of history at the University of Oslo. He also believes that the oral sources are problematic.
“They change over time, and for years we have discussed how much we can trust them. But those of us who are medieval historians live with uncertainty all the time. If we are only going to say things we are sure of, we might as well shut down the entire discipline,” he says.
The battle not mentioned
There are no other sources from the 9th and 10th centuries that mention the Battle of Hafrsfjord. There is nothing about the battle or Harald Fairhair in the annals kept in monasteries and at the courts of Europe concerning important people and events.
“There are few contemporary sources from the continent, such as annals, during the period in which Harald Fairhair is said to have lived, according to the saga writers and the established chronology. It's not just Harald or other Norwegian rulers who are missing from the sources from the period 870-930. This is also true for the Danish kings, for example,” Stylegar says.
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Håkon Reiersen refers to a foreign annal that at least suggests there was a battle in Norway:
“An Irish annal tells us in the year 871 that the Norse Dublin King Olav/Amlaib was brought to his homeland to help his father, King Gofraid, suppress a rebellion. Although it's uncertain who this Gofraid was, older historians believed this referred to the Battle of Hafrsfjord,” says Reiersen.
The Irish source says nothing about the battle the Dublin king was supposed to participate in being at sea. Nor that it concerned the unification of a kingdom.
“A major battle may have taken place in Hafrsfjord over western trade interests. Many Irish objects have been found in graves from the 9th century, especially on Jæren, which at least indicates close contact between these areas,” says Reiersen.
No swords or shipwrecks
No archaeological discoveries have been made either.
“It would have been very exciting to find weapons or ships from the Battle of Hafrsfjord. But archaeologically, no traces have yet emerged that can unequivocally be linked to this battle,” says Reiersen, adding:
“The closest thing may perhaps be the hillfort Ytraberget, which could be a fortified islet mentioned in the saga.”
He describes a project, which admittedly did not involve archaeologists, where divers searched for traces of the battle.
“They found some things on the seabed, but they were newer than the Viking Age,” he says.
Frans-Arne Stylegar points out that no naval battle from the Viking Age has been archaeologically documented.
Big celebration for a monument of uncertain ground
Despite much uncertainty, the year of the Battle of Hafrsfjord is regarded as the year Norway became one kingdom.
In 1872, the 1,000th anniversary of this event was celebrated with great fanfare. The Swedish-Norwegian crown prince Oscar attended and unveiled the large national monument that people had raised money for.
The national monument celebrating Norway's unification stands at the place Snorri identified as Harald Fairhair's grave. It is located in Haugesund.
“Snorri tried to piece together the story in the way he thought was correct. It seems that he was in Haugesund looking for Harald Fairhair’s grave. There he was told about a very specific location by a church. The royal grave lay right next to the cemetery in the northwest, where there was a stone slab that came from the burial chamber. These are more like eyewitness descriptions that Snorri inserts into the saga,” says Reiersen.
But Snorri may have gone to the wrong church, because there were two churches in Haugesund at the time. Moreover, in another saga, Harald Fairhair’s grave is linked to a farm called Hauge, and according to Reiersen there are at least five such places.
Archaeological excavations have been carried out in the area around the national monument, but no traces of any king have been found.
The story comes under question on a new anniversary
In 1972, the 1,100th anniversary of the unification of the Kingdom of Norway was celebrated just as thoroughly as before, but now with King Olav present.
“By then, Snorri's account of Fairhair had begun to be questioned by historians. They were uncertain about the year, but chose to go with the same one as before,” Reiersen explains.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the story of Harald Fairhair was rewritten.
“They concluded that he was probably not king of all Norway, but mainly of Western Norway. That's something completely different,” says Reiersen.
In 2022, Rogaland County decided to celebrate the 1,150th anniversary of the Kingdom of Norway – that is, the one that probably did not happen in 872 and that did not actually unite the kingdom.
“Much has changed in the view of history, including who the stories are about. Snorri's account is about powerful men. Today we want to include those who are not mentioned in the sagas and convey the history to an audience that is not familiar with the stories,” says Reiersen.
Although Snorri's version of events set the framework for the anniversary, the University of Stavanger was present with a more nuanced version of history. In that version, the unification of the realm takes place over many centuries.
“In our exhibition, we told the story of the long road toward the Kingdom of Norway, with power consolidation beginning already before the Viking Age and state formation only being completed in the High Middle Ages,” says Reiersen.
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Translated by Nancy Bazilchuk
Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no
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