Ormen Lange (
Long Serpent) was one of the most famous of the
VikingA Viking is one of the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far...
longshipLong-ships were ships made and used by the Vikings to raid coastal and inland settlements during the Viking Age. The vessels were also used for long distance trade and commerce, and for exploratory voyages to Iceland, Greenland, throughout the mediterranean etc. Longship design evolved over several...
s. It was built for the Norwegian King Olav Tryggvason, and was one of the largest and most powerful longships of its day.
The ship reportedly had 34
rooms, i.e. was built with 34 pairs of oars, for a crew of 68 rowers (and additional crew members). Extrapolating from archeological evidence (e.g.
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Ormen Lange (
Long Serpent) was one of the most famous of the
VikingA Viking is one of the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far...
longshipLong-ships were ships made and used by the Vikings to raid coastal and inland settlements during the Viking Age. The vessels were also used for long distance trade and commerce, and for exploratory voyages to Iceland, Greenland, throughout the mediterranean etc. Longship design evolved over several...
s. It was built for the Norwegian King Olav Tryggvason, and was one of the largest and most powerful longships of its day.
The ship reportedly had 34
rooms, i.e. was built with 34 pairs of oars, for a crew of 68 rowers (and additional crew members). Extrapolating from archeological evidence (e.g. the
Gokstad shipThe Gogstad ship is a Viking ship found beneath a burial mound at Gogstad farm in Sandar, Sandefjord, Vestfold, Norway. Excavation of Gogstadhaugen or Kongshaugen revealed a ship burial dated back to 9th century...
), this would make Ormen Lange nearly 45 meters long. The ship's sides were unusually high, "as high as that of a
KnarrThe modern Knarr is a Bermuda rigged, long keeled, sailing yacht. The Knarr was designed by Erling L. Kristofersen, Norway, in 1943. It was traditionally built in wood, with the hull upside down on a fixed frame or plug and attaching the iron keel after having finished the hull. The hull planks...
".
The ship was the last to be taken in the
Battle of SvolderThe naval Battle of Svolder was fought in September 999 or 1000 somewhere in the western Baltic between King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway and an alliance of his enemies...
where Olav was killed by a coalition of his enemies in the year 1000.
Its story is told in a traditional
FaroeseThe Faroe Islands, sometimes Faeroe Islands, Faroe, or Faeroes are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland...
ballad (
KvæðiKvæði are the old ballads of the Faroe Islands, accompanied by the Faroese dance.-History:The ballads have their origin in old Norse and Viking cultures...
), called
Ormurin LangiOrmurin Langi is a very old song in the Faroe Islands. It was written ca. 1830 by Jens Christian Djurhuus.The song has 86 verses and is in Faeroese, and deals with the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason...
.