A new investigation of the cathedral in Trondheim, Norway, revealed yesterday that Icelandic literary hero Snorri Sturluson had been wrong in his documentation of the cathedral’s history.
Sturluson wrote in 1293 that King Olaf Tryggvason, Olaf I of Norway (995-1000), who was responsible for converting the Vikings to Christianity, had been buried underneath the cathedral.
Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reported yesterday, that in the light of new evidence and a thorough investigation undertaken by Norwegian archeologist Öystein Ekroll, Olaf I had not been buried underneath the church. Fréttabladid reports.
Legend says Olaf I was buried in sand, but the soil underneath the Trondheim cathedral is clay. Ekroll said it is more likely that the King was buried in secrecy further away from the city.
Ekroll believes that Sturluson had probably been ordered by men in power within the court or the church to falsify history to further the reputation of the cathedral in Trondheim.
Snorri Sturluson (1178-1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet and politician. He was the author of Heimskringla, a history of the Norse Kings, and Prose Edda, a narrative of Norse mythology.
