Stiklestad, Nord-Trondelag, Norway
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Stiklestad is a village and parish in the municipality of Verdal in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of the town of Verdalsøra and about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) southeast of the village of Forbregd/Lein. The village is mainly known as the site of the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030. Stiklestad Church is located in the village and it is assumed to have been erected on the exact spot where King Olaf II Haraldsson fell in the battle. The king was buried in Nidaros (Trondheim), canonised there on 3 August 1031, and later enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral. Following the Lutheran reformation of 1537 the saint's remains were removed and their precise resting-place has been unknown since 1568.
The Old Norse form of the name is Stiklarstaðir. The first element is the genitive of a word stikl and the last element is staðir which means "farm". The word stikl might have been derived from the verb stikla which means "to jump", and this might have been the name of a nearby brook. In the 13th century Gesta Danorum, or "The History of the Danes," Saxo Grammaticus recorded that the town was named after Stikla, a shield-maiden who was most famous for raiding with the Viking captain Rusla (Rusla was known as "The Red Maiden" for her brutal raids on Irish ships.) Stikla would have settled in the area at some point after her participation in the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. |
Stiklestad in 1848, showing the St Olav memorial erected in 1807.
Reconstructed Longhouse at the Stiklestad National Culture Centre.
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