Helmet and spurs of Saint Olaf

The helmet and spurs of Saint Olaf are the oldest preserved war trophies taken by Sweden.

[1] They were taken as loot in 1564 during the Northern Seven Years' War from Trondheim by Claude Collart, an army commander in service of Eric XIV of Sweden.

The helmet, a so-called sallet, was probably made in Flanders or southern Germany.

Their early history is unknown, but Bengt Thordeman, who would later become head of the Swedish National Heritage Board, assumed that they were kept in Nidaros Cathedral (the burial church of the saint) until the Reformation.

In the 1660s they were favoured with being illustrated in Suecia antiqua et hodierna, the main propaganda publication of the Swedish Empire.