Harald Hardrada

Biography

Harald Sigurdsson — Harald Hardrada, 'Harald the Hard Ruler' — was the last and arguably the greatest Viking warrior-king, a man who had spent decades fighting across Russia, the Byzantine Empire, the Mediterranean, and northern Europe before attempting to conquer England at the age of fifty-one. He was half-brother to Saint Olaf, fought at Stiklestad as a fifteen-year-old, went into exile after the battle, spent nearly fifteen years in the Byzantine Varangian Guard fighting in Bulgaria, Sicily, and Palestine, returned to Scandinavia, and seized the Norwegian throne in 1046. His Byzantine service made him one of the most widely traveled and experienced warriors in Europe. The Varangian Guard — the Norse mercenary regiment that served the Byzantine emperors as an elite bodyguard — had fought across three continents, and Harald commanded it. He came home rich, famous, and with a military education that encompassed everything from Byzantine siege warfare to naval combat in the Mediterranean. His claim to England came through a complicated argument about a succession agreement between earlier Norse and English kings. He allied with Harold Godwinson's traitorous brother Tostig and landed in Yorkshire in September 1066 with the largest Norse invasion force since the Great Heathen Army. He destroyed the northern English earls at Gate Fulford. Then Harold Godwinson appeared at Stamford Bridge, and Harald Hardrada — the last great Viking — was killed by an arrow in the throat. He had fought seventeen battles and won them all. The eighteenth killed him.

Key Battles