What is Olaf Tryggvason?
[[File:Estatua del rey Olaf I, Trondheim, Noruega, 2019-09-06, DD 38.jpg|150px|thumb|Statue of Olaf I in the center of Trondheim]] '''Olaf I Tryggvason''' ({{circa|968}}–1000) was the [[King]] of [[Norway]] from 995 - 1000.<ref name=Rogers75>''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology'', Vol 3, ed. Clifford J. Rogers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), p. 75</ref> He began his [[career]] as a [[Viking]] in [[exile]]. He was a [[wikt:brutal|brutal]] king who forced [[Christianity]] on his people. == Biography == Olaf was the son of king [[Tryggve Olafsson]] of Norway<ref name=Rogers75/> and [[Grandchild|grandson]] of [[Harald Fairhair]], the first king of all Norway.<ref name=Sjavik7>Jan Sjåvik, ''The A to Z of Norway'' (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2010), p. 7</ref> According to tradition, [[Gunhild]], wife of [[Eric Bloodaxe]], wanted him killed. Instead he and his mother were sold as [[slave]]s. When they were [[wikt:freed|freed]], he ended up in [[Russia]] where he grew up.<ref name=Sjavik7/> He commanded the [[mercenary]] [[soldier|troops]] of [[Vladimir the Great]] in [[Kiev]].<ref name=Rogers75/> In 985 he led his Vikings through the [[Baltic Sea]] in a [[raid]] on the [[British Isles]]. He won the [[Battle of Maldon]] in 991. He and [[Sweyn I of Denmark|Sweyn Forkbeard]], the two leaders, received a payment from the [[Anglo-Saxons|English]] of {{convert|10000|lb|kg}} of money (in [[gold]] and [[silver]]).<ref> Peter Sawyer, ''The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 74</ref> According to the [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]], he accepted [[Christianity|the Christian faith]] just after a failed [[attack]] on [[London]] in 994.<ref name=Jones132>Gwyn Jones, ''A History of the Vikings'' (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), p. 132</ref> Rich, [[Religious conversion|newly converted]] and with many [[wikt:follower|follower]]s, he decided to return to Norway to spread Christianity.<ref name=Jones132/> In the [[autumn]] of