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Anlaf (Olaf) Guthfrithsson is mainly known for his rule of the Dublin Vikings (934-939), his role in the Battle of Brunanburh (937), and also for an iconic silver penny issued in York in about 939-941 (shown below).  Anlaf Guthfrithsson was the son of Gofraid ua Ímair (Guthfrith) and great-grandson of Ímar (Ivar), making him one of the Uí Ímair. Olaf succeeded his father as King of Hiberno-Scandinavian (Irish-Viking) Dubliners in 934 and established dominance over the Vikings of Limerick, capturing their king, Amlaíb Cenncairech, in 937. That same year he allied with Constantine II of Scotland in an attempt to reclaim the Kingdom of Northumbria which his father had ruled briefly in 927. The forces of Olaf and Constantine were defeated by the English led by Æthelstan at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937, after which Anlaf retired to Ireland. Following Æthelstan's death in 939, Olaf established himself as king in York, with his brother Blácaire mac Gofraid being left to rule in D...

Contemplating a Norwegian silver penny of Olaf Haraldsson (king of Norway 1067-1093, also known as Olav Kyrre), some vivid associations came to mind. The first was the 1066 Battle of Stamford Bridge near York and the end of the Viking Age (Olaf was there). The second was the presence of another silver penny of Olaf Haraldsson at a Native American archaeological site in Maine, USA. Then there is the larger context of Norse colonies on Greenland and the voyages to the coast of eastern North America from around a thousand years ago to the 14th century. And finally, the medieval runestones and buildings encountered during a spell living in Stavanger at the end of the 1990s. Stavanger's cathedral is Norway's oldest, begun shortly after the death of Olaf (and there's also an Olav Kyrres Gate in the city). A handsome  11th century  penny of Olaf Haraldsson (Olav Kyrre), in as-struck condition (author's collection). This is close to TabIII:19 in Schive (1865) and Plate I:11 in ...