69. King Olaf Kills Klerkon in the Market Place, Novgorod, Russia 10th Century
Long after Olaf Tryggvason killed Klerkon in the Novgorod marketplace, he became king of Norway, and did things like found Trondheim. Which would be why there is this giant statue of him in the city center of Trondheim. He is holding, in this depiction of him, both a sword and a cross-topped globe. And at his feet lies the head of…well, maybe the head of Thor, who has been vanquished by Christianity. Or, maybe, the head of the servant who killed Haakon Jarl, and then tried to ingratiate himself with Olaf, who would rather have killed Haakon himself, and didn’t admire treachery. One of those guys, at any rate; accounts differ. (But it’s Thor.)
Blanca, the rescue Goffin’s Cockatoo, is a guest cohost on this episode, about that time that Olaf, before he was king of anything, whacked Klerkon, the viking who had enslaved him when he was a toddler. We discuss the Kyivan Rus, Novgorod, Vikings, blood money, the sagas, and, to Anne’s surprise, Longfellow. Blanca the Cockatoo has a lot to say. We don’t know why. Also we don’t know what she was saying.
