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Historical person

Olaf Guthfrithson

c. 9th century–941

Olaf Guthfrithson was a Norse-Gaelic king associated with Dublin and Northumbria in the tenth century. He was one of the rulers involved in the great coalition defeated by Æthelstan at Brunanburh in 937.

Olaf succeeded his father as king of Dublin in 934 and in 937 joined Constantine II of Scotland and other allies in the invasion defeated by Æthelstan at Brunanburh. After returning to Ireland, he exploited Æthelstan’s death in 939 to seize York and establish himself in Northumbria. His English gains were still contested when he died in 941, leaving the Uí Ímair struggle for York to continue.

Tim Hodkinson’s Eye of the Raven places Olaf Guthfrithson at the head of the Norse element in the coalition preparing to challenge Æthelstan at Brunanburh. Bernard Cornwell’s War Lord returns to the same struggle through Uhtred, with Olaf among the rulers determined to prevent Æthelstan from turning his expanding kingdom into a united England. Michael Livingston’s Never Greater Slaughter reconstructs Olaf’s alliance with Constantine II and the political stakes of the 937 battle from the surviving evidence. M J Porter’s Kings of War dramatizes the coalition-building before Brunanburh, while Clash of Kings follows the defeated Olaf back to Dublin and into the effort to recover power after Æthelstan’s victory.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Olaf Guthfrithson (2 series)

The Last Kingdom in Order

by Bernard Cornwell 13 books 4.4(571,494)

The Last Kingdom series follows Uhtred of Bebbanburg, a Saxon nobleman raised by Danes, through the Viking wars and the creation of a united English kingdom. Beginning with the Great Heathen Army’s destruction of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the novels trace Alfred the Great’s recovery of Wessex and the…

All books in this series

The Whale Road Chronicles in Order

by Tim Hodkinson 8 books 4.4(26,996)

The Whale Road Chronicles follow the Icelandic warrior and poet Einar Unnsson through the North Atlantic world of the 930s. His journeys connect Iceland, Orkney, Norway, Ireland, Anglo-Saxon England, Francia, al-Andalus and Byzantium as Viking warbands, Christian kings and competing dynasties struggle for control of kingdoms and sea…

All books in this series

Non Fiction

Non Fiction featuring Olaf Guthfrithson (3 books)

Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.