Saint Olaf in Skjervøy

 

Yesterday, July 29, was the feast of Saint Olaf, one of the most widely venerated Scandinavian saints. As I have done, and continue to do, a lot of research on Saint Olaf and his cult, I take the opportunity to present one of the many surviving sources to Olaf's medieval cult. The source in question is the Skjervøy altar from after 1515, brought to the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo from the church of Skjervøy in Troms, Northern Norway. The altar is likely the product of a workshop in Northern Germany or the Netherlands, made after specifications from the commissioners, as this was common for a lot of church art in late-medieval Norway. 

The altar can be closed as a cupboard, and one door has since been lost, as has the traditional axe held by Saint Olaf. The axe is only suggested by the empty fist of the saint, holding an object that is no longer there. Based on the iconography typical of the era, we can surmise that this axe was a halberd. Olaf is also seen carrying a jar, whose iconographic significance is not clear. Beneath the saint, we see another iconographical feature which became widely common in the depictions of Saint Olaf from at least the thirteenth century onwards, namely the defeated beast. In this iteration, the beast has the head of a man, and wears a crown. The beast still defies interpretation, and the most important hypothesis seems to be that there are numerous ways to understand the meaning of this beast. 

The Skjervøy altar 

The Museum of Cultural History, C3000, Oslo

What is particularly important about the Skjervøy altar is that it highlights the status of Saint Olaf in the collegium of saints, at least in medieval Scandinavia. Olaf stands on the viewer's right, but the left of the group of figures, which is traditionally the lowest rank. The figure in the middle is God the Father supporting the Son, apparently after being taken down from the cross, if we are to judge from the wound in the side. To the right-hand side of God is the Virgin Mary, holding the Christ-child, and occupying that place of seniority which the Nicene creed affords to the Son, 'ad dexteram patris'. Olaf, then, holds the lowest position in the group, but the group itself is so high-ranking that even this position attests to the importance of the holy king.  

Olaf's appearance in such groups of holy figures is common, and the configuration of each group is different and much be understood on its own terms. Not all groups can as easily be interpreted as evidence of the importance of Olaf over most other saints, and Olaf's importance - while widely common - also depended on the preferences at each church. The Skjervøy altar, however, is one of the clearest examples of the Olaf's high rank in medieval Norway.