Harald Hardrada: King of Norway, and the Battle of Stamford Bridge

this episode of the history guide brought to you by the podcast echoes of history ragnarok [Music] [Applause] [Music] the year 1066 has been indelibly linked to william the conqueror the norman king whose victory at the battle of hastings sees the english crown an event that would have an enormous impact on future european history but for every event that becomes gilded in history as a turning point thousands of orbs become overshadowed and in this case there was another battle fought just weeks before involving the same english king but instead of earning him eternal glory like william the conqueror this battle ended the reign of a viking king and in doing so ended an entire era in history the demise of the viking age the incredible journey and life of harold hardrada king of norway deserves to be remembered speaking of the viking age recently i was given the opportunity to narrate a fabulous podcast called echoes of history ragnarok it's a historical podcast inspired by the video game assassin's creed valhalla dawn of ragnarok it's the second season of ubisoft's popular podcast echoes of history where there is light there is always a shadow and in the darkness looms something large if you know names like thor loki and odin just wait until you hear the tales of how they came to be and how they come to an end dive into the otherworldly nine realms hear about the fantastic creatures that live in this universe and tag along on the adventures of the gods that rule upon them including of course thor odin and loki whether you love playing assassin's creed or you're simply interested in history the season takes you deeper into the stories of norse mythology from the creation of the universe to the end of the world known as ragnarok you can subscribe to the echoes of history podcast wherever you get your podcasts or using the link in the description you can binge five all-new episodes narrated by yours truly today as well as the first season about vikings that's echoes of history subscribe now harold sigerson was born in norway around 1015 the son of asta and sigurd seer according to the nordic saga heimz kringla astor was the wife of the king of westford who was murdered trying to cheat on his wife and marry another already pregnant asked a married sigurd seer king of ringer reich and gave birth to her first husband's son olaf with sigurd she had three more sons the youngest being harold according to later sagas though his father olaf was the descendant of harold fairhair the first king of norway who first united the kingdom harold too would be given a lineage connecting him to the first king historians are less certain about the claimed ancestry which may have been fabricated to support their later kingships olaf was ambitious and with the help of his mother secured for himself the throne of norway his rule was a brutal one and he secured his power by subduing the aristocracy and projecting his power securing the orkney islands and even writing denmark his victories however turned against him in 1029 newt the great king of denmark invaded norway olaf attempted to retake his stone a year later but was killed in the battle of stigestad harold 15 fought at the battle but defeat forced him into exile with the kievan ruse injured in his retreat he wrote from cops to cops i crawl and creep now worthless who knows how high i'll be heralded one day reaching the roos located largely in modern day ukraine herald town sanctuary in the court of grand prince yaroslav the wise harold was made a captain in the kievan army and fought in numerous campaigns for the kiev and prince he likely fought against the polls in 1031 they have participated in many other campaigns in estonia against the byzantines and against other forces on the steps stories saga heims-kringlis has he traveled far and wide in the eastern land after several years he left jairosov's service for constantinople the byzantine empire had employed foreign soldiers for more than a century given russians had been in such services early as 874. in 1988 the guard was formally constituted with 6 000 viranjians the byzantine term for scandinavians political loyalties could often shift in constantinople so the vikings were brought into service specifically as guards to the emperor harold joined the varangian guard with his soldiers a great suite of men possibly as many as 500. the varangians were renowned fighters with one contemporary source writing that they attacked with reckless rage and neither cared about losing blood nor their wounds with the byzantines he fought on nearly every frontier of the empire according to snorri he quickly became leader over all the varangians it was described in one source as the thunderbolt of the north a pestilence to all he fought arabian pirates because not all good stories involve pirates and against the muslim caliphate where snorri says he captured 80 castles he may even have gone to jerusalem of course the saga tales cannot be taken at face value but that he participated in these campaigns seems likely by 1038 he and the varangians were dispatched to sicily to recapture the muslim emerate there sorry records harold capturing four towns in these campaigns including one by faking his own death and getting entrance to the castle via his own coffin the byzantines ultimately abandoned their campaign in sicily and after that herald fought in southern italy and bulgaria he was so successful there that he was dubbed bulgar burner in the sagas hill was held in high regard in byzantium and a byzantine record indicates he was liked by the emperor and his wife zoe the emperor's death however instigated dynastic strife the emperor's nephew took the throne and fighting began between him and the empress harold was arrested possibly due to his association with the previous emperor the saga saint was for refusing to marry zoe while other sources claim he was arrested for defying a noble woman or even for murder a revolt shook the city and in the chaos herald was able to escape prison although howe is not firmly recorded some of the varangians defended the emperor but harold seems to have led his own men in support of the revolt thousands died in the fighting in constantinople and the emperor eventually fled to a monastery and took monastic vows giving up the throne when he was found however he was arrested blinded according to the sagas by harold himself castrated and banished in the service of the byzantines harold had become a rich man secured his money by sending it to kiev and ruse who kept it safe part of his wealth likely came from palace plunder where a new emperor either allowed looting or bribed the varangians to assure loyalty two emperors died while he served in addition to the one he blinded he escaped constantinople in secret allegedly because empress zoe forbade him from leaving and sailed into the black sea he apparently remained on good terms with the empire however because a byzantine scholar wrote that harold maintained loyalty and love for it even after he became king of norway on harold's return to roos he married one of yaroslav's daughter also a granddaughter of the king of sweden y'all have also attacked constantinople likely with the intelligence from his new norse son-in-law the year was 10 45 when the 30 year old veteran warrior was finally prepared to return to norway and take his throne there harold's nephew magnus an illegitimate son of olaf had become king of norway and denmark harold hoped to take the throne himself and threatened war by aligning with swin ii who claimed the danish throne his advice however thought it would be a great misfortune if relations should fight and throw death spears at each other possibly concerned about the hardship of possible war instead the pair came to an agreement of co-rulership of norway magnus retained the danish throne in return for half of norway harold gave magnus half his wealth their brief coal rule was not harmonious and the sagas recount disagreements between the two kings that nearly came to outright battle magnus died suddenly however in 1047 at only 23 years old story saga writes that magnus had a dream of his father and was given the choice to either follow olaf into death or become a great king magnus asked his father to choose for him historical accounts differ with some saying that he fell off his ship others blaming an illness and yet others claiming that he fell off a horse the sagas say he made herald king of doorway but gave denmark to swin harold would spend years trying to recapture denmark only ceasing in 1064. costly but indecisive battles followed forcing the kings to make peace harold ruled norway firmly especially through the use of his herd private army maintained by norwegian lords in the past others beside the king had been allowed to maintain herds but harold made it so he alone was allowed centralizing power beneath his throne he was known to kill and maim farmers who he claimed withheld taxes as a warning to those who were disloyal and used force liberally his rule and accomplishments led to his most famous epithet the name hardrada the linguist and historians have long argued over the best translation of the word suggested translations include stern council hard ruler tyrant ruthless severe or resolute harold began what norwegian historian newt helle termed the national territorial unification of norway he's also established a monopoly of the minting of coins which was successful in increasing international trade according to adam of bremen he explored the seas north of his kingdom and having searched the length of the northern ocean of the ships finally had before his eyes the dark failing boundaries of the savage world that is the abyss of the world's edge failing to capture denmark did not end herald's ambition according to a 1038 agreement between magnus and then king of england hartha knute if one died the other would inherit his lands arthur canute died in 1042 and magnus had planned to press his claim before he died england had numerous other claimants as well in england edward the confessor was king and he ultimately hinted that harold william of normandy or even sweden of denmark might succeed him in 1066 edward died and harold godwinson was named king of england god woodson's brother tostig once an earl of northumbria made contact with both william and harold and in fact might have helped to instigate what would become two invasions of england that year by september of 1066 harold was ready to attack he made his eldest son king of norway and took his wife daughters and a younger son with him along with a large army he gathered more soldiers at orkney and shetland and received several thousand allies from scotland with 300 longships according to the anglo-saxon chronicle snorri wrote that harold had over 200 ships apart from his supply ships they began in the northernmost part of england by plundering the coast and forcing northumbrian towns to surrender the first real battle was fought on september 20th when the earls of northumbia and mercia met the norse at the battle of fullford the english force was decisively routed but king godwin said arrived shortly after with his own army godwinson had marched 200 miles over day and night to reach the battlefield on september 25th and harold was caught completely off guard when the english appeared at stamford bridge according to snorri king godwidson himself wrote to meet toastig and herald and offered toasting his earldom to betray the norse king ask what he would give harold the english king answered seven feet of english ground as he is taller than most men in other words a grave according to snorri the norsemen left much of their armor aboard their ships it was a warm day and they had expected to meet english resistance they were described as very carefree english sources say that godwinson's army was held at the titular bridge by a single huge norseman long enough for harold's army to form a shield wall the vikings were outnumbered numbering between six and eight thousand to the english ten to fifteen thousand along with cavalry several thousand vikings had been left with the ships harold sent for them immediately snorri writes that the english cavalry could not do much against the viking shield wall until the wall broke as the number of norsemen chased the cavalry as soon as they were ahead of their line the cavalry struck hard and king herald himself rode to the fray he was in a rage and ran out in front of the array and hewed down with both hands all who were nearest gave way before him but alas his great victory was not meant to be he was hit by an arrow in the windpipe and died while fighting continued for hours eventually toasting was killed as were most of the remaining norsemen godwinson allowed the survivors including harold's son to leave they did so in only 24 of the hundreds of ships that had first brought the army godwinson is said to have lost around 5 000 men the epic of harold a young man who banished from his homeland battled across the world to become wealthy and renowned ended on english fields though it's difficult to be certain it's hard not to see the battle of stamford bridge as important for its possible effect on the later battle of hastings godwinson was forced to raise a new army for the battle of hastings and likely only its core had been present also at stamford bridge the northern earls too had little to offer after their defeat at full fort the anglo-saxon chronicle claims that godwinson went to battle before all these hosts came up and the king was warned that you have just returned worn out after the war against the norwegians the death of king herald has long been considered to mark the end of the viking age as the defeat marked the end of any realistic chance of a north sea empire the details of the battle itself have long been in question many scholars questioned snorri's account as the anglo-saxons were not known to use cavalry but the broad strokes of snorri's description have been confirmed in sources beyond the sagas there would be further attempts by the norse to take england but they would all end in failure but still the king of norway might have gained some measure of revenge because it was their cousins the normans who would take control of england in fact much of the land in england today is still owned by their descendants i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history got check out our community on the historyguyguild.locals.com our webpage at thehistoryguy.com and our merchandise at teespring.com or book a special message from the history guy on cameo and if you'd like more episodes of forgotten history all you have to do is subscribe [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 66,107

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy

Id: Boo5Un40_YQ

Length: 14min 13sec (853 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 30 2022