Hellig-Olavs dåp hos Theodoricus Monachus og i hans kilder

Sammendrag

Starting from the treatment Theodoricus (c. 1180) has given the diverse traditions about the baptism of St Olaf in ch. 13 of Historia de antiquitate regum Norwagiensium, his doubts on the baptism issue are seen as a challenging feature in so far as the basic publication about Olaf's life, the Passio Olavi, is unambiguous on the same issue. Whereas Theodoricus airs his general confidence in the Norse tradition, the Passio mentions only a baptism in Rouen, for which William of Jumiéges (c. 1050-70) is the source. It is argued below that the ceremony in Rouen was a confirmatio, and as a consequence that the Norse tradition about an early baptism should be accorded more credence. In support of this theory the author points to the striking parallelism between Olaf Tryggvason and Olaf Haraldsson, between Ethelred's role at Andover in Hampshire (a.d. 994/ 995) and the same king's presence in Rouen in Normandie (a.d. 1013/ 1014). A main concern in this article is also to give more precise readings of the central sources, whereby one should elucidate among other things Theodoricus' line of thought and the phrasing used respectively by William of Jumiéges and the Passio Olavi.