Harald joined forces with Svein, the king of Denmark, to attack Magnus, but eventually intermediaries worked out a settlement. Harald got to rule half of Norway, while Magnus got half of Harald’s fortune. They reigned together in uneasy coexistence until Magnus’ death in 1047. Then Harald became sole king, and devoted himself for many years to attacking his former ally Svein, in an attempt to reconstruct the old North Sea empire of Knut the Great. In the end, both sides wearied of that fighting, and made peace.

He married (or took as a concubine) Thora Thorbergsdatter, who was a granddaughter of Erling Skjalgsson, hero of my novels.

Then a new, bigger prospect appeared. Tostig, exiled brother of King Harold of England (we always vary the spellings of the two Harald/Harolds, to help keep them straight), came to him, asking for his support against his brother Harold. He promised to support Harald of Norway as the new king of England. Harald of Norway had a (fairly thin) claim on the throne, based on inheritance from his nephew Magnus.

And so Harald sailed off to England, to die in an epic way in September, 1066 at Stamford Bridge, a battle you can read more about by doing a search in our archives.

It’s an epic biography, undeniably.

The problem is that, unfortunately for my teenaged hero-worship, Harald was a bloody monster. Even by the standards of the Viking Age.

My particular complaint, as the author of the Saga of Erling Skjalgsson, is that Harald was a great opponent of the Norse Thing system, the democratic tradition that limited the power of the king. Harald spent many of his formative years in Kiev, where it appears the Russ had abandoned democracy almost completely. Then he went off to Constantinople, where he had a successful military career and meddled in politics. One did not learn small government principles in Constantinople.

Back in Norway, he immediately made a mortal enemy of Einar Tambarskjelvar (Gut-Shaker), who is also a character in my Erling novels. Einar was old by then, but still vigorous, and after Erling’s death he had become the leader of the Thing party. In 1050, after years of conflict, Harald murdered Einar and his son Eindridi on the same day, having shamelessly broken a promise of safe conduct to them.

That was the end of the heyday of Viking Age democracy in Norway,  though the tradition never died out entirely (read Viking Legacy for more details). This is why we call him “Hardrada,” which is an anglicization of harðráði, which means “hard-counseled.” Often it’s translated as “ruthless,” which seems to me pretty reasonable.

Harald Hardrada was a big man, both in stature and in ambition. Also in achievement, though he always ends up as a footnote in the story of the Norman conquest.

But he’s almost impossible to sympathize with.