The False King Olaf, Queen Margaret, and the Prussian Hansa

Abstract

The case of the False Olaf has received comparatively little attention. In 1402, a Prussian peasant was brought to Scandinavia, heralded by his supporters as King Óláfr Hákonarson (known in modern Danish as Oluf II, or in Norwegian as Olav IV). The real King Óláfr had died in 1387, and the imposter seems to have capitalized on a popular belief that Queen Margaret, the King’s mother, had him killed. In this article I begin by introducing the sources for the False Olaf affair. I consider the case alongside international analogues, and I build on earlier theories concerning the sorts of actors who probably organized the imposture. Previous assertions that the False Olaf was mentally ill are shown to be unnecessary. I underline the relative amateurishness of the scheme to suggest that it belongs to a broader genre of hapless intervention that occurs when mercantile interests (or the interests of capital) fail to grasp properly the workings of governments.