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Olaf the White


Olaf the White (Old Norse: Óláfr hinn Hvíti) was a viking sea-king who lived in the latter half of the 9th century.

Olaf was born around 820, in Ireland. His father was the Hiberno-Norse warlord Ingjald Helgasson. Some traditional sources portray Olaf as a descendant of Ragnar Lodbrok – for instance, the Eyrbyggja Saga, claims that Olaf's paternal grandmother (Thora) was a daughter of Ragnar's son Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye. However, this connection seems unlikely, given that Sigurd appears to have been lived in the mid-9th Century and Ragnar himself may have lived until the 860s. Irish fragments provide a different genealogy, suggesting that Olaf's father was Godfred, son of Ragnall, son of Godfred, son of Godfred.

He was named King of Dublin around 853. According to Irish sources, Olaf ruled jointly with his kinsman Ivar the Boneless (Ragnar's son). Olaf married Aud the Deep-minded (Auðr), daughter of Ketil Flatnose, the ruler of the Hebrides, according to Icelandic traditions (Landnámabók, Laxdæla saga). The Irish sources name Olaf's wife only as the daughter of a "King Aedh".

Olaf and Auðr had a son, Thorstein the Red (Þorsteinn rauðr), who attempted to conquer Scotland in the 870s. At some point Olaf had a falling-out with the clan of Ketil and sent Auðr and their son back to her father's house. According to Landnámabók, Olaf and Þorsteinn rauðr were both killed in the British Isles.


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