Ormrinn langi

Common card · No. 455967

Ormrinn langi (Old Norse for "the long Serpent", lit. 'the Worm long', ie, "the long Dragon") was one of the most famous of the Viking longships. It was built for the Norwegian King Olaf Tryggvason, and was the largest and most powerful longship of its day. In the late 990s, King Olaf was on a "Crusade" around the country to bring Christianity to Norway. When he was traveling north to Hålogaland, he ended up in battle with forces of Raud the Strong, who refused to convert to Christianity. Olaf eventually captured Raud, and gave him two choices: convert or die. The Sagas say that Olaf tried to convert him but Raud cursed the name of Jesus, and the King became so enraged that he, using either the hollow stalk of an angelica or his horn and a red-hot iron, forced a snake down Raud's throat, which ate its way out of the side of the torso of Raud and killed him. Thereafter, Olaf confiscated Raud's riches, not least of which was Raud's ship, which he rechristened Ormen (modern Norwegian version...

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