Master of Hestviken

The Master of Hestviken follows Olav Audunsson from youth to old age in Norway during the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Betrothed to Ingunn Steinfinnsdatter as a child, Olav spends years fighting her relatives for recognition of their bond. Violence, outlawry and service to the rebel noble Alv Erlingsson keep them apart, while a secret killing committed to protect Ingunn’s honour becomes the unconfessed sin that governs Olav’s marriage, fatherhood and spiritual life.

The four novels place the fortunes of Hestviken within a period of royal consolidation, factional warfare and conflict across Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Historical figures such as Bishop Thorfinn of Hamar, Eric II, Haakon V and Duke Eric Magnusson enter the story, and the 1308 Swedish attack on Akershus becomes a major episode. Undset uses estate management, maritime trade, blood compensation, church discipline and inherited feud to show a society in which Christian ideas of confession and mercy coexist uneasily with older demands of honour and vengeance.