c. 872 · Hafrsfjord, western Norway Theater
c. 872
Harald Fairhair's consolidation of Norway under a single crown culminated in the naval battle of Hafrsfjord, fought in the fjords near modern Stavanger. A coalition of petty kings and powerful jarls who resisted Harald's expansion from Vestfold gathered their longships and confronted him. The battle was a Viking naval engagement of the classic type: longships roped together in lines, crews fighting across the gunwales in hand-to-hand combat, with the decisive moment coming when Harald's forces boarded and cleared the enemy flagships. The coalition was broken; Harald's opponents chose emigration over submission, sailing west to Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Ireland.
Commanders