The King-Born: The Life of Olaf the Viking, King of the Danes and King of England

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Few of us in the English speaking world nowadays believe that a man is bound by destiny, but medieval Europeans had no doubt of it. A “lucky” man would be successful and an” ill starred” man would fail. The gods were paramount, as is shown in the KING BORN During the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, the story of Olaf the Strong was a favourite of the English minstrels. Olaf was the son of Magnus, King of the Danes but when Magnus died of his wounds while his son was still too young to hold the throne, Magnus’ brother, Thorard, was greedy and plotted to kill Olaf. However, by the will of the gods, Olaf overcame all obstacles and eventually gained not only the throne of Denmark but the throne of England as well. The KING BORNmay be an old English myth of the Danish conquest of England in 1013 A.D. but it provides a fascinating glimpse of Northern Europe a thousand years ago as well as the excitement of following Olaf’s adventures.