Weaving together Norse sagas and Anglo-Saxon chronicles to vividly depict the violence and spectacle of the Viking age, Don Hollway brings the legendary Olaf Tryggvason to life.
Weaving together Norse sagas and Anglo-Saxon chronicles to vividly depict the violence and spectacle of the Viking age, Don Hollway brings the legendary Olaf Tryggvason to life.
Hammer of the Gods tells the extraordinary saga of Olaf Tryggvason – warlord, wanderer, king, and crusader – whose life rivals the most legendary figures of Viking lore. Born in exile and hunted from birth, Olaf survived slavery, betrayal, and shipwreck to become a fearsome warrior across the Viking world from the icy fjords of Norway to the courts of Kyiv, the slave markets of the Baltics, and the battlefields of England and Ireland. His rise would shake the foundations of Norse society, forge new kingdoms, and ignite a holy war against the old gods themselves.
In an age of axe and flame, when the Viking world stood at the crossroads of pagan traditions and the spread of Christianity, Olaf emerged as the fiercest adherent to the new faith – a sword in one hand and a cross in the other. Drawing on a vast array of early medieval sources from Icelandic sagas and skaldic verse to Byzantine and Anglo-Saxon chronicles, Don Hollway brings the world of Olaf Tryggvason vividly to life cutting through the legend to reveal the man behind the myth.
For readers of Bernard Cornwell and lovers of Viking history, Hammer of the Gods is the epic history of a great Norse king whose story shaped the fate of a civilization.
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Weaving together Norse sagas and Anglo-Saxon chronicles to vividly depict the violence and spectacle of the Viking age, Don Hollway brings the legendary Olaf Tryggvason to life.
List of Illustrations and Maps
Author's Note
Dramatis Personae
Prologue: The Return of the Vikings
Part One
I. Murder
II. Hunted
III. Nowhere to Hide
IV. Pirates
V. Slave
VI. Varangians
VII. First Blood
VIII. The Battle of the Danevirke
IX. Warrior
X. Conquest of the Rus
XI. Prima Signatio
Part Two
XII. Jomsborg
XIII. The Slavic Revolt
XIV. King of the Wends
XV. Of God and Gods
XVI. The Jomsvikings
XVII. The Prophecy
XVIII. A New Beginning
XIX. To the Death
XX. Ireland
XXI. Maldon
XXII. The Prince of England
XXIII. Crusade
Part Three
XXIV. King Olaf I
XXV. Hammer of God
XXVI. God's Viking
XXVII. Kings and Queens
XXVIII. The Trap
XXIX. The Battle of Svolder
Epilogue: The Saga of King Olaf
Sources
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Author
Don Hollway is an author and historian. His first book, The Last Viking, is a gripping history of King Harald Hardrada which was acclaimed by bestselling author Stephen Harding, by Carl Gnam of Military Heritage magazine and by Michael Dirda in The Washington Post. He is also a classical rapier fencer. His Battle for the Island Kingdom (Osprey, 2023) was shortlisted in the Military History Matters 2024 book awards. He lives in Pennsylvania.
