Neither Tui, nor Gibraltar. Óláfr Haraldsson and the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

According to Heimskringla, Óláfr Haraldsson, king and patron saint of Norway, sailed to the Straits of Gibraltar. It is told that he won several battles along the journey, some of which have been placed in Galicia. There are even those who say that Óláfr was responsible for the looting of Tui, which appears in a Galician document from 1024. But how much truth is there in that theory? And how far can one trust the narrative on the journey of the Norwegian saint? The following article focuses on these questions, proposing an answer based in the analysis of the Norse sources, namely the process and context of transmission of the poem Víkingarvísur. It highlights the need for the poetic and prose narratives to be read separately, the silence of the Iberian texts and the ideological dimension found in the kings’ sagas, leading to the conclusion that Óláfr may not have travelled beyond the Pyrenees.