jarls of Lade. Olav Haraldsson's success in becoming King of Norway was helped by the Danes being kept occupied with the ongoing fighting in England. In the year 1028, the Danish king Cnut the Great made an alliance with the Lades, and Olaf had to go into exile in Kievan Rus' (Old Norse: ). In the year of 1029 the last Lade jarl, Hákon Sigurðarson, drowned, and Olaf prepared a military expedition to reclaim the throne. Olaf was supported by the Swedish king Anund Jacob who wanted to weaken Cnut's power and provided Olaf with 400 men and guides that could lead Olaf through Dalarna into Norway. Battle According to saga sources, Olaf traveled with his 3,600 man army through Sweden and crossed the mountains into the valley of Verdal (Old Norse: ), about north of the city of Trondheim. Olaf and his men arrived at Stiklestad, a farm in the lower part of the valley. This was where the Battle of Stiklestad took place, as described by Snorri Sturluson in his famous work , written about 200 years later. At Stiklestad, Olaf met an army led by Hárek of Tjøtta (Old Norse: ), Thorir Hund from Bjarkøy and Kálfr Árnason, a man who previously served Olaf. The peasant army consisted of one hundred hundred according to Snorri, which in long hundreds means 14,400, and not 10,000. He states that the battle cry of Olaf's men was (Forward! Forward! Men of Christ, men of the cross, men of the king!), while that of the opposing army was (Forward! Forward! farmers!). According to Snorri, Olaf received three severe woundsin the knee, in the neck, and while leaning against a large stone the final mortal spear thrust up under his mail shirt and into his belly. According to saga sources, Thorir was among those who gave Olaf his lethal wounds, together with Kálfr Árnason and Torstein Knarresmed from Rovde in Sunnmøre. While earlier sources do not specify who dealt the king his blows, Snorri makes Thorir Hund responsible for the latter, using the spear that had killed his nephew and set the fallout between the king and Thorir in motion. During the Battle of Stiklestad, King Olaf almost killed Thorir Hund with a war hammer. However, Torstein Knarresmed managed to get between them and gave Olaf a wound right above his left knee. Shortly later Thorir Hund thrust his spear into the