Jarlshola () is a small cave in

Melhus Municipality Melhus is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Melhus (village), village o ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The cave is near the small

Rimul Romol or Rimul (historic name) is a farm in Melhus Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The farm lies near the western part of the Melhus (village), village of Melhus. It was the scene of the murder of Håkon Sigurdsson (also known as ''Há ...

farm, just outside the village of Melhus. It is thought to be the hiding place of

Håkon Sigurdsson Haakon Sigurdsson ( , ; 937–995), known as Haakon Jarl (Old Norse: ''Hákon jarl''), was the '' de facto'' ruler of Norway from about 975 to 995. Sometimes he is styled as Haakon the Powerful (), though the '' Ágrip'' and ''Historia Norwe ...

(also known as Hákon Sigurðsson, Hákon

Earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the Peerages in the United Kingdom, peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ...

) and

Tormod Kark Tormod Kark (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ) was a slave in Viking Age Norway. He appears in the saga ''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar''. Biography His life was closely tied to Haakon Sigurdsson (c. 937 – 995). In 995, a quarrel broke out betwee ...

(or Þormóðr Karkr, the

slave Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

of the Jarl) on their last night before the infamous murder at

History

In the ''Saga of king

Olaf Tryggvason Olaf Tryggvason (960s – 9 September 1000) was King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken ( Vingulmark, and Rånrike), and, according to later sagas, the great-grandson of Harald Fairhair, first King ...

'' in the

Heimskringla () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland. While authorship of ''Heimskringla'' is nowhere attributed, some scholars assume it is written by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (117 ...

, by

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

, there is a description of the arrival and departure from the cave (several lines about a

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

the Earl had are left out in this excerpt):

Location

Since the mentioned happenings took place around year 995 AD, it has not been possible to determine beyond doubt the exact location of the cave. However, as one knows it was close to the still existing farm

, there is only one location seeming to fit with the story. That is on the west side of the river Gaula near the central part of

county,

. The cave is easily reached by foot.

References

External links

Saga of king Olaf Tryggvason
{{in lang, no Melhus Caves of Norway Landforms of Trøndelag History of Trøndelag