The Kings of Norway
Harald Hardrada
The boy who escaped Stiklestad
Harald enters the saga as a fifteen-year-old at the worst possible moment: fighting at Stiklestad, in the host of his half-brother King Olaf — the battle where, as the kings' sagas have already told, St Olaf fell and became a saint.[1]
Harald was wounded but got away, smuggled to safety and then out of the country, a hunted boy with royal blood and nothing else. It is the hinge that ties this saga to the one before it: where the Kings of Norway journey ended with St Olaf's martyrdom, this one begins with the survivor of that same field — the dead king's young brother, carrying the family's claim east into exile. He would be gone from the North for years, and come back the richest and most formidable man of his age.
The source text · 1
Harald, son of Sigurd Syr, brother of Olaf the Saint, by the same mother, was at the battle of Stiklestad, and was fifteen years old when King Olaf the Saint fell, as was before related. Harald was wounded, and escaped with other fugitives. So says Thiodolf: --— heimskringla
Harald, wounded at Stiklestad, escapes into exile (Laing 1844).
Varangian of the Greek emperor
Harald's road led east — through Russia and on to Constantinople, the Miklagarðr of the Norse, greatest city in the world, where the Greek emperor kept a guard of Northmen: the Varangians. Harald rose high among them, leading campaigns by land and sea across the Mediterranean and beyond, in the service of the Empress and her emperors.[1]
The saga delights in his exploits there — sieges taken by cunning, towns won by stratagem, and above all the staggering wealth he amassed and sent north for safekeeping. This is the eastern reach of the whole Norse world at its farthest: the same Constantinople where Grettir's brother Þorsteinn went to avenge him, where Bolli and Kjartan's kinsmen served. Harald is the supreme example of the Norseman who went to Byzantium and came home a king-in-waiting, his fortune made in the emperor's wars.
The source text · 1
At that time the Greek empire was ruled by the Empress Zoe the Great, and with her Michael Catalactus. Now when Harald came to Constantinople he presented himself to the empress, and went into her pay; and immediately, in autumn, went on board the galleys manned with troops which went out to the Greek sea. Harald had his own men along with him. Now Harald had been but a short time in the army before all the Varings flocked to him, and they all joined together when there was a battle. It thus came to pass that Harald was made chief of the Varings. There was a chief over all the troops who was called Gyrger, and who was a relation of the empress. Gyrger and Harald went round among all the Greek islands, and fought much against the corsairs.— heimskringla
Harald and the Varangians in the Greek empire (Laing 1844).
Half a kingdom, then all of it
Harald came home rich beyond any rival, and used his gold as a lever for a crown. His nephew Magnús the Good, St Olaf's son, then ruled Norway — and rather than fight, the two came to terms: Magnús, the saga says, gave Harald half the Norwegian kingdom (with a symbolic handing-over), and Harald in turn shared out his eastern treasure.[1]
They ruled jointly, uneasily, until Magnús died — and Harald took the whole royal power over all Norway.[2] Now he had what he had carried out of Stiklestad as a hunted boy: the throne. And he ruled it hard. The byname the sagas give him, harðráði — Hard-Ruler, Hardrada — is earned across years of ruthless campaigns against Denmark and stern mastery at home. He was a poet too, like so many of these men, but above all he was the age's most relentless warrior-king.
The source text · 2
"Then," said King Magnus, "with this stick I give thee half of the Norwegian power, with all the scat and duties, and all the domains thereunto belonging, with the condition that everywhere thou shalt be as lawful king in Norway as I am myself; but when we are both together in one place, I shall be the first man in seat, service and salutation; and if there be three of us together of equal dignity, that I shall sit in the middle, and shall have the royal tent-ground and the royal landing-place. Thou shalt strengthen and advance our kingdom, in return for making thee that man in Norway whom we never expected any man should be so long as our head was above ground." Then Harald stood up, and thanked him for the high title and dignity. Thereupon they both sat down, and were very merry together. The same evening Harald and his men returned to their ships.— heimskringla
Magnús gives Harald half of Norway (Laing 1844).
King Harald Sigurdson took the royal power over all Norway after the death of King Magnus Olafson; and when he had reigned over Norway one winter and spring was come (A.D. 1048), he ordered a levy through all the land of one-half of all men and ships and went south to Jutland. He herried and burned all summer wide around in the land and came into Godnarfjord, where King Harald made these verses: --— heimskringla
Harald takes sole power over all Norway after Magnús's death.
The lure of England
Harald's ambition was not satisfied with Norway. When the exiled English earl Tostig Godwinson — quarrelling with his brother, the newly-crowned King Harold Godwinson of England — came to Harald and urged him to take the English throne, the old king listened.[1]
It was 1066, the most fateful year in the North's history. Harald had a claim of sorts, an alliance in Tostig, and the appetite of a lifetime of conquest. He gathered a great fleet and army and sailed for England, harrying up the coast and into Yorkshire, and won a first battle at Fulford. For a moment it looked as though the last great Viking might add England to his crowns — the culmination of two centuries of Norse westward war.
The source text · 1
Earl Toste had come from Flanders to King Harald as soon as he arrived in England, and the earl was present at all these battles. It happened, as he had foretold the king at their first meeting, that in England many people would flock to them, as being friends and relations of Earl Toste, and thus the king's forces were much strengthened. After the battle now told of, all people in the nearest districts submitted to Harald, but some fled. Then the king advanced to take the castle, and laid his army at Stanforda-bryggiur (Stamford Bridge); and as King Harald had gained so great a victory against so great chiefs and so great an army, the people were dismayed, and doubted if they could make any opposition. The men of the castle therefore determined, in a council, to send a message to King Harald, and deliver up the castle into his power. All this was soon settled; so that on Sunday the king proceeded with the whole army to the castle, and appointed a Thing of the people without the castle, at which the people of the castle were to be present. At this Thing all the people accepted the condition of submitting to Harald, and gave him, as hostages, the children of the most considerable persons; for Earl Toste was well acquainted with all the people of that town. In the evening the king returned down to his ships, after this victory achieved with his own force, and was very merry. A Thing was appointed within the castle early on Monday morning, and then King Harald was to name officers to rule over the town, to give out laws, and bestow fiefs. The same evening, after sunset, King Harald Godwinson came from the south to the castle with a numerous army, and rode into the city with the good-will and consent of the people of the castle. All the gates and walls were beset so that the Northmen could receive no intelligence, and the army remained all night in the town.— heimskringla
Tostig comes to Harald and urges the invasion of England (Laing 1844).
Stamford Bridge
Then Harold Godwinson did what Harald never expected: he marched the length of England at astonishing speed and fell on the Norse host by surprise at Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire — Harald's men scattered, many without their armour, on a hot September day.[1]
The saga gives the grim, famous scene before the battle: the English king rides up and, not recognising his own brother in the Norse ranks, offers Tostig peace and a great earldom if he will turn — and asks what he will give Harald of Norway. Tostig refuses to betray his ally; the answer Harald is offered is 'seven feet of English ground, or as much more as he is taller than other men.'[2] Then the battle joined.
The source text · 2
When King Harald was clear for sea, and the wind became favourable, he sailed out into the ocean; and he himself landed in Shetland, but a part of his fleet in the Orkney Islands. King Harald stopped but a short time in Shetland before sailing to Orkney, from whence he took with him a great armed force, and the earls Paul and Erlend, the sons of Earl Thorfin; but he left behind him here the Queen Ellisif, and her daughters Maria and Ingegerd. Then he sailed, leaving Scotland and England westward of him, and landed at a place called Klifland. There he went on shore and plundered, and brought the country in subjection to him without opposition. Then he brought up at Skardaburg, and fought with the people of the place. He went up a hill which is there, and made a great pile upon it, which he set on fire; and when the pile was in clear flame, his men took large forks and pitched the burning wood down into the town, so that one house caught fire after the other, and the town surrendered. The Northmen killed many people there and took all the booty they could lay hold of. There was nothing left for the Englishmen now, if they would preserve their lives, but to submit to King Harald; and thus he subdued the country wherever he came. Then the king proceeded south along the land, and brought up at Hellornes, where there came a force that had been assembled to oppose him, with which he had a battle, and gained the victory.— heimskringla
Harold Godwinson surprises the Norse at Stamford Bridge (Laing 1844).
The English king Harald said to the Northmen who were with him, "Do ye know the stout man who fell from his horse, with the blue kirtle and the beautiful helmet?"— heimskringla
The parley: Harold offers Tostig terms, Harald 'seven feet of ground'.
Seven feet of England
The fighting was fierce, and it ended the age. Harald Hardrada, fighting in the front in a battle-fury, was struck by an arrow in the windpipe — and that was his death-wound. Tostig took up the fallen king's banner and fought on, and he too was killed; a relief force that ran up from the ships, the men exhausted and overheated, was cut down almost to a man.[1]
So the last great Viking king got his seven feet of English ground. And the saga's reach here is the whole point of the journey: a man who began as a boy fleeing Stiklestad, made his fortune in the guard of the Greek emperor at Constantinople, ruled Norway with an iron hand, and died grasping for England — Stiklestad to Byzantium to Yorkshire, the widest single life in the corpus. Stamford Bridge is reckoned the end of the Viking Age; and the saga-reader knows the bitter coda, that the victor Harold Godwinson had only days to savour it before William's Normans landed in the south and Hastings finished what Stamford Bridge began.[2]
The source text · 2
King Harald Sigurdson was hit by an arrow in the windpipe, and that was his death-wound. He fell, and all who had advanced with him, except those who retired with the banner. There was afterwards the warmest conflict, and Earl Toste had taken charge of the king's banner. They began on both sides to form their array again, and for a long time there was a pause in fighting. Then Thiodolf sang these verses: --— heimskringla
Harald falls with an arrow through the windpipe (Laing 1844).
Eystein Orre came up at this moment from the ships with the men who followed him, and all were clad in armour. Then Eystein got King Harald's banner Land-ravager; and now was, for the third time, one of the sharpest of conflicts, in which many Englishmen fell, and they were near to taking flight. This conflict is called Orre's storm. Eystein and his men had hastened so fast from the ships that they were quite exhausted, and scarcely fit to fight before they came into the battle; but afterwards they became so furious, that they did not guard themselves with their shields as long as they could stand upright. At last they threw off their coats of ringmail, and then the Englishmen could easily lay their blows at them; and many fell from weariness, and died without a wound. Thus almost all the chief men fell among the Norway people. This happened towards evening; and then it went, as one might expect, that all had not the same fate, for many fled, and were lucky enough to escape in various ways; and darkness fell before the slaughter was altogether ended.— heimskringla
The relief force cut down; the Norse host destroyed.
4 connection questions mark the end of this journey — and earn its keepable artifact.
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