ABSTRACT
Adam’s Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum belongs to the earliest source materials attesting to functioning of St Olaf’s cult in the eleventh century. The evidence Adam provides with regard to the early cult of the Norwegian saint corresponds to the information contained in the skaldic poetry composed shortly after Olaf’s death. Adam devotes particular attention to Olaf as a king and a saint and seems to use the growing popularity of St Olaf’s cult as one of the means to achieve the main purpose of his Gesta which is to underline the missionary jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen over the Northern parts of Europe. In Adam’s narrative Olaf is presented as a glorious king who converted many northern regions and then was widely venerated there as a saint. In this way Adam builds Olaf’s image as one of the most important figures for Christianity in the North. The crucial information on St Olaf that serves the purpose of Adam’s work is contained in an episode (not mentioned in any other source) that tells of the messengers sent by Olaf to the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen. By use of this episode Adam seems to suggest that the most important missionary-king of the North acknowledged the supremacy of the Archbishopric over these regions.
