The Pilgrim Road to Nidaros - A Trekker's Guidebook
The Pilgrim Road to Nidaros
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The Pilgrim Road to Nidaros as described in this book is a long-distance footpath with a difference. People walked the 643km medieval pilgrim road (pilegrimsleden in Norwegian) from Oslo to Nidaros (the old name for Trondheim) cathedral for over 500 years to visit the place where St. Olav, king, and responsible for much of the conversion of Norway to Christianity, was buried. His shrine was the focus not only of many miracles but also of the fourth most important pilgrim route in Europe (after Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela), and from the 10th century until the Reformation it attracted pilgrims in their thousands, not only from Norway and the rest of Scandinavia, Iceland and Greenland, but from Russia, the Baltic countries, Germany and Britain as well. After 1537 the route fell into disuse, with the arrival of the Reformation in Norway and the prohibition of pilgrimages; most of the ‘hospitals’ and other accommodation set up by religious orders along the way to minister to the needs of pilgrims have long since disappeared, as have the many holy wells and ‘Olav fields’ or resting places for pilgrims and their horses.
The route has recently been ‘rediscovered’, however, and is being very actively promoted as a walking pilgrim path with places of historical and cultural interest along the way, as well as just its landscapes and scenery. The old tracks were cleared and reopened between 1994 and 1996, and the western (cultural) route via Gjøvik was waymarked in its entirety for the first time in 1997 to celebrate the millennium of the saint’s death and the founding of Nidaros cathedral. The eastern (historic) route was also waymarked from Hamar onwards, the two branches joining up some 20km north of Lillehammer to continue as one path thereafter. The remaining section of the historic route, from Oslo to Hamar, was waymarked in 2000. Both options are described in this book. A walker’s guidebook to the Pilgrim Road to Nidaros is available in Norwegian but this does not really address the practical needs of walkers or modern pilgrims, even those with a knowledge of the language, and the present volume, the only guide to the route in English, has been written to fill this gap.
Originally there were several ways to Nidaros. One of these, from just over the Swedish border and passing through Stiklestad (where St. Olav was slain), is also waymarked and is outlined in Appendix A. Other appendices contain a list of suggestions for further reading, a glossary of geographical and other useful terms and an index of the principal place names along the way. Sketch maps are at the scale indicated on the map.
Anyone who is fairly fit and who also likes to visit places of interest along the way should be able to complete the journey in a month. Even in July and August there may be occasional snow in some of the higher sections but the route is normally practicable, for those suitably clad, from mid-May to mid-September. It can be undertaken in sections, too, by those who lack the time to do it all in one go, and indications are given in the text as to how to reach (or leave) the larger places along the way, though it is obviously preferable to complete it as a single experience, especially if you are doing it as a pilgrimage. Some sections of the route are suitable for mountain bikes but many are definitely not, and prospective pilgrims are advised to walk rather than attempt to ride it. Anyone who is contemplating undertaking any part of the Pilgrim Road to Nidaros should also consider contacting (in English) the very helpful Pilegrimskontoret (pilgrim office) in Oslo for the latest information on accommodation (see Appendix B for address).
History
Saint Olav
Saint Olav, as he is known today, was born Olav Haraldsson in 995 and grew up in Ringerike in south-eastern Norway. When he was still only quite young he set out as a Viking and served as an officer for noblemen in different places in England and northern France. Somewhere on these travels he was converted to Christianity, probably through contact with the Benedictine movement, and was baptized while he was in Rouen. On his return to Norway in 1015, to claim the royal throne there, he took a number of English bishops and other clerics back with him, indicating that he must already have seen something of the instrumental role he was to play in completing the conversion of Norway to Christianity.
On his return Olav Haraldsson (i.e. Olav II, to distinguish him from Olav I, Olav Tryggvason) became the first national king to rule over the entire country. What is now known as Norway had hitherto been a collection of regions, each with their own petty king or local chieftain, as up until the 9th century these areas did not form a united whole. The unifying process lasted a long while, but by the time Olav II came to the throne he was able to wield his power over the entire country, gradually setting up an administrative network and legal system that enabled him to hold the country together. He went on a large number of missionary forays to those parts of Norway that were not yet fully Christianised, such as the inland areas and the north, and built churches and ordained priests so as to set up an ecclesiastical structure on a national level.
At first he apparently pursued his crusading activities unhindered, but he was not without opposition, and his methods were at times harsh and open to question. However, King (later Saint) Olav was not the sole force in the conversion of Norway to Christianity (though very definitely a major one), as this had already been introduced into the country over a period of time, probably some 200 years, and came from at least three different sources. Celtic Christianity reached Norway through contacts with Scotland and Ireland, as is evident, for example, by the setting up of St. Sunniva’s convent on the island of Selja (on the west coast). Missionary activity from countries east and south of the Baltic introduced Orthodox Christianity to Norway, while the Catholic version came from areas that are now Germany and France, influencing the many Norwegians (i.e. Vikings) visiting these places, just as other versions had had an impact on those visiting what are now the British Isles and Russia. Olav II thus played a very important role in spreading Christianity throughout his kingdom, a Norway that was by now politically unified, and in establishing a permanent base for a Norwegian church, but he was by no means bringing a completely new religion into virgin territory. He was thus responsible not for the introduction of Christianity as such to Norway but for completion of an already ongoing process.
As a result of opposition to King Olav’s rule his power gradually eroded and he was forced to flee the country. He spent the last year of his life on earth in Kiev with his brother-in-law Grand Duke Jaroslav, in a city which had become one of the most powerful spiritual centres in eastern Europe and where theology, monasteries and religious art flourished. Olav decided to return to Norway, though, influenced by one of several powerful dreams that occured at decisive moments in his career, and in 1030 set off back home to try to regain power. He was slain at the Battle of Stiklestad on July 29th and his body smuggled away to be buried on the spot where Nidaros cathedral now stands.
Immediately after his death, however, reports of miraculous cures began to occur, with innumerable accounts of the king’s healing powers. One such concerns one of the men who had slain the king, whose wounded hand is said to have been healed instantaneously after a drop of King Olav’s blood fell on it and who subsequently set off on a pilgrimage of atonement to Jerusalem. The body of the king was exhumed a year later and, as often occurs in accounts of the same process with other saints, it was found to be intact. He was canonised on August 3rd 1031, an apostle for having completed the Christianisation of Norway and a martyr for having died for his faith under the sign of the cross. The Battle of Stiklestad may have ended his earthly life but through his death as a martyr Olav’s two main objectives, the unification and Christianising of Norway, were accomplished. Much of what is known about the life and work of St. Olav was recorded by Archbishop Øystein (of Nidaros) in his Passio Olavi, in the writings of the historian Adam von Bremen and in Snorri Sturluson’s detailed account in the Icelandic Sagas.
The pilgrimage and the routes to Nidaros
After Olav’s death and canonisation miracles continued to be reported and an increasing number of people began to make the pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Olav in the different churches that were built over the place where his grave is believed to have been. The exact whereabouts of the saint’s remains are uncertain; the last Catholic bishop of Nidaros is understood to have taken them from the grave to ensure that they were not removed by the Protestants and then hidden them somewhere, perhaps under the cathedral. As explained above, though, there was not just one route to Nidaros, since pilgrims set off from their own homes in very different parts of Norway, Sweden and other countries either on foot or, if they were wealthier, on horseback (possibly with a considerable retinue), using the existing road network. With time and use, however, these itineraries fell into a pattern of several principal routes (see map p11), with subsidiary paths joining them at points along the way. One of these, the route described in this book, was the Gudbrandsdal path, leading from medieval Oslo up the valley to the Dovrefjell, over Hjerkinnhø and through Oppdal and Meldal to approach Trondheim from the south. There were also routes from Stavanger in south-western Norway, Tønsberg in the south and at least four routes from Sweden. Two of these came from the south-west of that country to link up and reach Nidaros from the south whilst others came directly west, joining up to reach it from the north-east, one of which, the northern-most Skalstugan route, is now waymarked. The other means of journeying to Nidaros was, of course, by sea, and there were routes approaching it from both the north and the south, south-west and west of Norway, as well as from England, Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
It is often forgotten that Norway was a Catholic country for over 500 years, a longer period, in fact, than it has been Lutheran, and it is known that Norwegian pilgrims travelled to Rome, Jerusalem and even Santiago de Compostela during this time. Pilgrimages to Nidaros continued throughout the early and late Middle Ages (1031–1537), when the Reformation, introduced by royal decree (Norway was then under Danish rule), brought these journeys to a halt and put an abrupt end to the offical veneration of Saint Olav.
Pilgrims would normally complete the journey from Oslo to Nidaros in 25 days, arriving there for the saint’s day on July 29th and the Olsok (Olav’s Wake) celebrations. Each day was divided into four ‘rosts’, or stages of 8–10km, at the end of which was an ‘Olav field’, or resting and grazing place for horses. On the last day they only did one rost (i.e. roughly from Lian on the outskirts of modern Trondheim), presumably so as to arrive at the cathedral early in the day. The Gudbrandsdal pilgrim in the Middle Ages had his first good view of the town and the cathedral, the goal of his journey, from a point on a hill above it, the Feginsbrekken (literally ‘glad hill’) or Mountjoy. Then, of course, once they had attained their goal, they had to start back on the return trip by the same means and retrace their steps. Nowadays, however, the pilgrimage is a ‘one-way street’, all the more so since it is waymarked in only one direction, for unlike his historical counterpart the modern pilgrim no longer returns home on foot.
As well as Olav fields along the way there were also holy wells (Olavbrunnen) and springs reputed to have healing properties (Olavskilde), and on the modern route a number of these still exist along the way. There was also a network of hospices or hospitals (spitaler or spedaler), which provided places to sleep and feed pilgrims, and saelehuser, overnight shelters where pilgrims and wayfarers had to fend for themselves. These have long since disappeared, though it is known where a number of them were located, and these places are indicated in the text. However, although there are accounts of general travellers’ itineraries through Norway in previous centuries which provide information about the roads in use and their condition, unlike the pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Compostela, where there are many extant accounts of pilgrim journeys and descriptions of places passed through en route, there are no surviving written records of the Nidaros pilgrimage to give an idea of how many pilgrims were walking the route prior to the Reformation, where they came from or details about their experiences. What are available, however, are pilgrim badges and a collection of holy water jars which throw light on some of these matters.
Pilgrims were a source of revenue for the (Catholic) church in the Middle Ages as they came bearing gifts and offerings, and badges were sold to them to serve as souvenirs of their arrival at their destination. These badges were not peculiar to the Nidaros pilgrimage, however, but were common to other shrines too. Made of a lead alloy, usually some 5–10cm high, they bore the relief image of the saint in question and his or her attributes, though not always an inscription. They were intended to be attached to clothing (frequently hats) or luggage and are often found with loops for this purpose. The oldest pilgrim badges in Europe date from the 12th century, but those depicting St. Olav, seated on a throne or standing, with an axe in one hand and a crowned orb in the other, date from the 14th and 15th. Those extant are not very numerous, but the places where they were found suggest that pilgrims to Nidaros came mainly from Nordic countries, though some have been found in Britain and elsewhere in Europe. The most extensive collection of pilgrim badges in Britain (325 examples, from various sources) is in the Salisbury Museum.
One of the attractions of the Nidaros pilgrimage was the holy water from the spring in the cathedral which was sought as a remedy, and a number of small jars for taking this home have been found in the pilgrims’ home settings. There are about 150 of these still extant and they, too, tell us something about the origins of those who journeyed to the shrine of St. Olav.
Apart from seeking cures people also made the pilgrimage to Nidaros as a form of penance, to atone for their sins, and the more arduous the journey to the pilgrim destination the greater was the merit earned thereby. Pilgrims in the past – unlike many of their modern counterparts – normally travelled light, with just a hat, staff, bag for food and a cape. They frequently carried a letter of recommendation from their parish priest, identifying the bearer as a bona fide pilgrim; there are 10 of these still extant, such as the one issued on May 1st 1439 to one Eivind Dyrasson. ‘Credencials’ or ‘pilgrim passports’ continue to be issued to those walking the ways of Saint James to Santiago de Compostela, but this practice has not yet been revived on the Pilgrim Road to Nidaros.
Churches
Many churches dedicated to St. Olav were built all over Norway prior to 1537, and 17 of the original 52 still survive today, three of them along the pilegrimsleden: Skedsmo, Ringsaker and Bønsnes. Skaun church is also believed to have been dedicated to St. Olav, and the original Ullensaker church was dedicated jointly to both St. Olav and John the Baptist. Nidaros cathedral is not, however, and as is often supposed, dedicated to the saint-king buried under its high altar but is a Christchurch instead. There were also 45 Olav (Olaf or Olave) churches in the British Isles (of which 17 survive today), 75 in Sweden, 20 in Denmark, 13 in Finland and an astonishing 75 in Iceland. It should be remembered, however, that only churches built in Norway before the Reformation were dedicated to a saint; those erected afterwards bear only the name of their locality, as do most non-conformist churches and chapels in Britain. There are recent St. Olav churches in Oslo (19th century) and Trondheim (20th) but these are both Roman Catholic; the original Olav church in the latter city is now buried under the present public library building, while that in the former has become the city’s Catholic cathedral church.
There are many churches of medieval origin along the pilegrimsleden, on both the eastern and western routes, though only some of those, built in stone, survive intact. The earliest churches were built of wood (trekirker), with walls of upright planks and posts, but as these were embedded in the ground they eventually rotted and these buildings were replaced, from the 12th century onwards, by a new type of design, the stave church (stavkirke). Here the staves (plank walls) were set in a horizontal base or sill, thus raising them above ground level, a method that proved so effective that some of these still exist today. Of the 29 left only one, at Ringebu, is on the pilgrim route, but it is still in regular use as a parish church. Other medieval churches were built in stone and obviously survived better; there are several along the route, such as the Gamle Aker in Oslo, Bønsnes church and the ‘Sister churches’ in Granavollen. However, much of the furniture, fittings, doors, panel paintings and such like from many medieval and later churches are no longer in situ, but have been removed for safe keeping to museums in Oslo and Trondheim; pilgrims interested in church artefacts will find it interesting to visit them at the end of their journey when they have seen the original settings. For complete churches the Trøndelag museum at Sverresborg (which you pass on entering Trondheim) and the Norsk Folk Museum in Oslo each contain one that has been dismantled and re-erected there.
In 1723, an important landmark in the history of Norwegian church building, the king of Denmark (who at that time ruled over Norway too), in straightened financial circumstances after fighting several wars, decided to sell off all the churches in Norway either to a wealthy individual or to the local community. As the sale of the church also included land, farms and part-farms this was obviously an interesting proposition, though the terms of the transaction stipulated that the churches be maintained in good condition and that they be large enough to accommodate all the parishoners. As many stave churches were both too small and by then in a very bad state of repair they were demolished and replaced by cruciform timber churches (tømmerkirke). Hence you will see many 18th-century churches along the way, and all those passed in the Gudbrandsdal valley – Lillehammer (replaced twice), Fåberg, Øyer, Tretten, Vinstra, Sel and Dovre – are examples of this phenomenon. In these, too, you will also see fine examples of the famous Gudbrandsdal woodcarving tradition on pulpits, altarpieces and communion tables. This was brought to Norway by woodcarvers from the Netherlands at the time the new cathedral in Oslo was built (1699), and from there the characteristic acanthus style of decoration spread to other parts of the country where it still lives on today. Contemporary churches, on the other hand, are only three in number along the route: Veldre church, between Brumunddal and Moelv, of stave church design and under construction in 1999, replaces one destroyed by fire a few years ago; Søre Ål (1964) as you enter Lillehammer; and the Eystein church at Hjerkinn (1969), designed by the architect Magnus Poulsson.
Saint Olav is sometimes represented in art (on altar panel paintings, for example) as having one of his dreams, whilst at other times he is depicted in much the same way as on the pilgrim badges, sometimes seated on a throne wearing a crown, sometimes standing as a warrior with a sword, sometimes with red hair and beard, sometimes black, with the axe and crowned orb as his attributes. The head (or complete body in miniature) that he is frequently seen treading underfoot with one leg is said to be his former heathen self that he now rejects. Representations of St. Olav have been found in several different countries, including one as far away as Bethlehem. Norway’s other two indigenous national saints are Sunniva (female) and Hallvard (patron saint of Oslo); Øystein (archbishop of Nidaros and church builder), Ansgar and Torfín, bishop of Hamar, are local saints, as originally only episcopal (and not papal) blessing was needed to declare a person a saint. (There are stained-glass windows of each one of these in Oslo’s Catholic cathedral.) The major European religious orders were also present in Norway in the Middle Ages: Dominicans, Benedictines, Franciscans and Cistercians, not only in medieval Oslo but at other points along the way as well.
The pilgrim route today
Today the pilegrimsleden (also referred to in the text as PL) has begun, slowly but surely, to undergo something of a revival, and a small trickle of pilgrims has begun to walk the route. As explained, the waymarked route from Oslo follows the line of the old ‘Gudbrandsdal path’ but, as a glance at the map (page 6) will reveal, it is in two parts to begin with, passing to either side of Lake Mjøsa before joining up to form a single route. Historically, when pilgrims set out from medieval Oslo they left the city along the traces of what is now the Strømveien in a north-easterly direction, to continue up the Grorud valley and via Skedsmo, Frogner, Ullensaker and Eidsvoll to Hamar, the only medieval city in Norway that was not on the coast. However, when the Gudbrandsdal path was ‘revived’, cleared and prepared in the mid-1990s and waymarked in 1997, it was apparently considered that today’s pilgrim would not want to walk out of the city of Oslo through a largely industrial area, and a western option (referred to in this book as the ‘cultural’ one) was designed instead; this leaves Oslo to the west, following the traces of medieval roads where possible but not the main historic pilgrim route north out of the city.
The preparation of the pilegrimsleden (the word leden refers, in fact, to the course of a sea rather than a land journey) was the responsibility of the Riksantikvaren (the State Department of Antiquities) who, surprisingly for such an undertaking, appear to have consulted neither walking organisations nor pilgrims associations while the work was being carried out. Walking is Norway’s most popular and most practised sport, but the country does not have a tradition of long-distance walking from place to place, as exists in Britain and France, for example, with long-distance walks with a historical, geographical or other theme, such as the Pennine Way, the Coast to Coast path or the many long walks in the extensive French network of grandes randonnées. In Norway people walk from hut to hut in the mountains, often for several days at a time, or walk local waymarked footpaths of varying lengths on a Saturday or Sunday, for example, but the idea of setting off for two or more weeks at a time along a specified route is seemingly unknown, and the author of this guide frequently encountered people surprised at the undertaking. Norway, as a Protestant country, does not have a (recent) tradition of pilgrimage either, so on both these counts it was apparently inconceivable that anyone would actually walk the entire route at one go, once it was waymarked. It was expected instead that people would walk the stretches in their own local area, which accounts for the often exhausting climbs and immediately following descents the pilgrim will encounter, designed for people without a rucksack (or certainly not a heavy one). This accounts, too, for the lack of provision for bad weather alternatives in the waymarking, since people out for a Sunday afternoon walk in their own area can simply postpone their outing in unsuitable or inclement weather.
When the pilegrimsleden was to be officially opened it was apparently envisaged that on one designated day local groups all along the route would walk their own patch, but what happened in practice was that a group left Oslo on June 21st 1998 (and another departed from Skalstugan on July 18th) in order to arrive at Nidaros cathedral in time for the Olsok celebrations. A core of some 20 people walked all the way from Oslo, few of them experienced walkers, accompanied for stretches of varying lengths by many hundreds of others. Since then a trickle of individual pilgrims has completed the entire route at one go and an increasing number of organised groups have undertaken certain stretches, the most popular being from Dovre onwards. Because of the way the route, and especially the western option, was conceived, pilgrims in the early 21st century may often feel that they are being led along a route to see where those in the past would have walked, rather than being shown how to be a pilgrim themselves. This is changing gradually, though, with time, and this book hopes to redress the balance as far as possible.
As explained already, the whole of the western (cultural) route was waymarked as well as the eastern toute from Hamar onwards, but not, initially, the historic route out of Oslo. However, permission was subsequently obtained from the Department of the Environment to waymark this section, and this has now been completed. The historic route is described in this guide, though if users prefer they can walk as far as Gjøvik along the western route and then cross over to Hamar, either by bus (frequent service) or, as the group did in June 1997 and as pilgrims coming from that part of Norway would have done anyway in the past, go by boat: the Skibladner, the world’s oldest working paddle steamer, operates a daily service between Gjøvik and Hamar in the summer months.
Those who have already walked the pilgrims roads through France and Spain, for example, will not encounter the same organised pilgrim infrastructure along the road to Nidaros. There is no comprehensive network of specifically pilgrim accommodation yet, for example, though several places which offer accommodation to the general public taking an outdoor holiday are beginning to add facilities for pilgrims. As regards to pilgrims’ spiritual, as opposed to purely physical, needs, there are also the beginnings of an organisation on this level too, and the dioceses of Hamar (in Dovre) and Nidaros have each appointed a priest with attention to the needs of pilgrims as a specific part of their duties.
Traditionally many pilgrims arrived at the cathedral in Nidaros for the Olsokmesse or ‘Olav wake’. This begins during the evening of July 28th and continues throughout the night, and its celebration is becoming more widespread again, with an increasing number of churches observing the festival today. In Trondheim there is now a week-long festival of music and other cultural events to mark the occasion, too, as well as the religious activities.
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