The Battle of Stamford Bridge

Have you been enjoying my podcast and now want even more history? Sign up history and watch the world's best history documentaries on subjects like How William Conquered England What it was like to live in the Georgian era And you can even hear the voice of Richard III We got hundreds of hours of original documentaries, plus new releases every week And there's always something more to discover Sign up to join us in historic locations around the world and explore the past. Just visit history. com slash subscribe Perhaps thousands of bodies lay strewn across a bloody field in England Crion birds picked at the corpses compometing with the local people for the riches of the dead. Arm bands were prized off, rings pocketed, metal and textiles recycled Among the fallen King Flled by an arrow The fate of a Kingdom decided by a single decisive battle The year was ten, sixty six But this battlefield was not Hastings And the king who met his end was not a Goddwinson We are in fact, in Yorkshire in the aftermath of the Battle of Stamford Bridge This was very much the end. for King Harold Hardrada Hardrada is so much more than just a bit player in one of the most dramatic years of British history folks. He's sometimes called the last great Viking king. He was a legendary figure whose life reads like an epic drama He is, without a doubt onene of the greatest and most dramatic characters of European medieval history known as the H Ruler The Thunderbolt of the North giant in stature. Hadradder had fought his way from exile to emperire. from the frozen North to the throne rooms of Byzantium. and the arid battlefields of the Middle East. His prowess as a warrior made him both rich powerful He claimed the hand of the daughter of the mighty grand prrince of Kiev He was a poet. He was a musician He ruled Norway for two decades before he embarked on his fateful invasion of England in ten sixty six. This is the story of a king who refuse to disappear. and a warrior whose almost peerless ambition and martial skill shook the medieval world Joining the podcast is Dct. Wayne Bartlet. He's the author of many history books on subjects as varied as the Titanic, Aun Core, Cute and the Dambusters But he's also author of Thunderbolt of the North, Harold Hardrada Viking King, which makes him the ideal person Talk us through the life of one of the most famous Viking warlords. Enjoy Wayne, thanks C on the podcast Pleasure Is Harold Arada one of the greatest figures in European medieval history? I think we undersell him here in the UK I think he is very much underestimated in the UK in particular because Our knowledge of Harold is mainly from ten sixty six from our perspective The thing about Harold is he was a cololossus of his time and he travel pretty much all over his known world hisis known world being perhaps mainly Europe. Scandinavia, obviously, Britain, but also much further east as well, heavily involved in what we now call Russia down to Constantinople as it was then in Byzantium even into the Middle East and Sicily. So He was involved in so much T truly a sort of global figure, really, just remarkable. Tell me where this story begins. he's born in Norway Born in Norway in around ten, fifteen or ten, sixteen dates tend to be a little bit vague back then But he was born in Rigereich, which is a kind of mountainous part of Norway time, Norway and indeed all the Scandinavian countries which we now know Denmark and Sweden as well had not quite reached the form they eventually took, but they were Fairly well developed inter nation states. somethingomet which just happened over the past one hundred and fifty years or so. Yeah, born into a royal family effectively and connected very much to some of the great names of Norwegian history ly Harold Feinhair, the first Norwegian king. who lived about a hundred years or so before him. So veryery much connected to important people from day one Really, no one could have predicted quite how extraordinary his life would be He's got sort of royal blood in his veins, but it was definitely not certain that he'd end up ruling over anything, was it? I mean Are there defined kingdoms here? Do they sort of come and go with each strong man's arrival and death or is there something a bit more settled No it is certainly still quite volatile. Although there were the outlines of what we'd think of of nation states there Because of the culture, the martial culture, of the Viking EPL. It was really very unpredictable how long a king would be king, who would take his place when he died, all of this kind of thing So it's very much the survival of the fittest kind of environment. So I think we should think of the basic outlines of a nation state being there. Very, very unpredictable. Every time a king died or every time a king was killed, even, which was far from unknown. Everything tended to go into the melting plot again. So There was absolutely no guarantee of anything when Harold was born. Certainly not he'd be king of anything And in fact, the life story which we explore shows that he wasn't actually a king of anything till much later on in his life and he had some fairly extraordinary adventures in getting there. But really, really no certainty about any kind of succession on his part whatsoever So he's a half brother of the king of Norway. It's King Olaf 's in the sort of wider royal family. But then their fortunes are upended, aren't they? Because Olaf's killed and Harold is exiled. Yeah, and I think that brings us on to a very interesting point, Dan in that. The greatest medieval Viking king, although Harold is perhaps the best remembered and has the most remarkable storyline Olaf, his half brother was certainly the standout figure of the time at that particular period because Olaf was a Christian king at a time when Christianity was being established in Norway and Scandinavia more generally. He wasn't the first Christian king, but things had gone very much up and down Olaf's perhaps greatest achievement really, ironically was when he was killed because when Olaf died in battle, Basically, what happened fairly soon after is Olaf became a Christian saint and he's still a patron saint of Norway to this day. So They were half brothers. They shared a mother, but not a father Both are sons of a lady called Asther But Olaf's father was Hal Bnsky Harold was a guy called Sigdir, Sigot the Pig, which is a very interesting nickname to say the least So they were connected, but they had fairly separate lives for much of the time. though ironically Harold was there when Olaf was killed There was an age difference. Olaf was probably a good fifteen to twenty years older than Harold. So They would have seen each other. They would have spent time in each other's company, but Ver much their own people as well And so Hard really after this in which King Olaf is killed Haralold Ardrada, he's off. He's been exiled at that point. is he? Where's he off to So during this great battle at Sticklstad, Harold was there alongside Olaf. Harold was only probably about fifteen at the time. So pretty young, though not unknown in Viking times for someone in their mid teens to become something of a warrior Olaf actually suggested to him according to the saagas at least, that he shouldn't take part in the battle. He was too young and Harold wasn't having that During the battle, Harold is quite badly wounded. and is taken away to safety by a guy called Rogenwald Bruceson to Sweden. So a fairly tough journey over the mountains, not an easy trip at the best of times, but particularly when you're already wounded. Harold manages anyway fortunately for him. to get across the mountains into Sweden where he's able to recover. And he spends some time in Sweden which was often a bothhole for people making their escape from Norway at the time There he's able to recuperate a bit. before he's now ready to go and set off and have a wider set of adventures beyond there Those adventures take him to the east and we should say because people who are perhaps not familiar with the Viking world, this world of Scandinavian seafarers and traders Obviously these Vikings they head west to England, Scotland, Ireland, the islands of the Atlantic Iceland, Greenland But they head east just as certainly as well, don't they? And perhaps is that more associated with the Swedish and the eastern Baltic Vikings? that their territories to gain wealth and fame are very much to the east, aren't they? And is that whole sort of world sucks in, Harold now, does it Very much so. I think it's fair to say that Sweden is particularly associated with these voyages to the east There are some exceptions. I mean we know Swedish mercenaries were fighting with Canute in England, for example But there' being this long established tradition, if you like of the Viking from Sweden making their way cross the Baltic down some of the great river systems, the Volga, the Dome, the Deniper, places like this. right down eventually to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea And they're basically establishing bases along some of these great rivers Trading centers, places where they could take some kind of refuge as well. They're kind of heavily involved in the formation of very well known places, particularly, for example, Kiev in modern Ukraine And they are helping to set up links between Scandinavia and the Middle East, as we would now call it, ically even Muslim territories as far away as Baghdad And there's this trading exchange network going on with Things like furs and amber and even slaves flowing from the Scandinavian North down into the Middle East and vast quantities of silver in particular. and spices and things like this making their way back the other way So I think you could almost think of these territories which we call the land of the Russ. I'll G through Eky to give it its precise name You can almost think of this as being like the medieval equivalent of the Wild West in nineteenth century America You know, not a lot in terms of centralized control lot of opportunism going on, a lot of violence, but also a lot of trading as well. So a place where a young man like Harold can really start to establish his reputation and make his way in the world So a place for adventurers and Harold was certainly that And so if you look at Kieia for example, you've got these ports, these fortresses on the river. They're sort of Scandinavian, peopleople of Scandinavian origin, they're speaking languages that Harold can understand And they just surrounded on all sides by other sorts of people, by poles and people of the steppe. and everyone's just sort of fighting and trading and establishing settlements and And Harold will pass from one sort of friendly hearth to another, will he But yeah, well for a time, he spends some time at Kieiv where the current ruler was a guy called Yaroslav, the wise. Yaroslav was himself very connected to Scandinavia He had previously, for example, giing refuge to Harold's now dead half brother, Olaf. So he has this long established reputation for being a place of refuge for people like Olaf and now Harold who are trying to restore their situation after particularly troubling times. And unfortunately, there's not a huge amount in the historical record about what Harold did in Kiev at this time We do know that he was probably involved in wars against the pololes, as you say and other people in what we would now call Northeastern Europe We do know that he was involved in that probably is some kind of captain in Yaroslav's army And he does from the little we know, he does make a bit of a name for himself as a very successful army leader But it's really when he gets the opportunity to involve himself in the affairs of the Byzantine empire based on Constantinople that we really start to see Harold coming into I I might say the historical record, little bit of caution is needed because we're talking about sagas here which may be history, maybe a little bit of legendary stuff thrown in Someone's described them as historical novels, which is, I think a good way of looking at it But it's really at this stage, once he makes his way from Kiev to Constantinople that we really start to find that Harold becomes a much more rounded figure in the so called historical record There was a pipeline, wasn't there for these Rus, these Scandinavian hard men from these river systems of what is now Russian Ukraine. It was quite common for the Byzantines to hire them and use them as enforcers and just, you know to serve in elite military units. Very much so. The collective name often given to these people is the Varangans. So the Varangians are If you like their mercenaries of Viking descent which the Byzantine emperor of the day, and this had been going on for one hundred and fifty years by the time Harold got there. used mercenaries from the Varangians to be, as you say his enforcers. That could take a whole range of guyses. They could be leaders in the Army or even the Navy, obviously given the Viking background prettyty useful in that They could also be a personal bodyguard for the emperor himself One particular group called the Varangian guard They become very heavily linked with the Byzantine emmperors as his personal bodyguard. Very important position. obviously they're in close proximity to the emperor of the day So that gives them a position of trust but also a position of power which It could sometimes potentially abused and on occasion, they probably did that So yeah, very much rzise warriors for hire which the Byzantines used though they're not always completely trusting of them for very good reason. So it's a little bit of a strange relationship They're glad to have these people there because of their military martial prowess But they're also not always completely trusting of them, which made for a a very interesting dynamic to say the least. And so Harold, we hear that he's enormously tall. I mean, you talk about martial pices We know he was fighting in the battle in his teens when his half brother was killed. He's been fighting for Yaraslav the wise. obviously was very wise if he gave Heralold a commission in his army. And now he's in the Ranging Gard. phhysically, do we have any sense of he was just tall and strong and good at fighting, was he Well, yeah, there are one or two references to his physical appearance, veryery, very striking guy. In fact famously at the Battle of Stanford Bridge the other end of his life Harold, the King of England offered him seven feet of ground of Engish's ground as his kinder grave. So there's a very sort of direct reference to how big and striking he was there. All the accounts we have with him they do mjor on his physical strikingness, but Again, we have to be a little bit cautious here because sagas tended to make to give a modern equivalent Hollywood idols of their leading figures It's quite normal to say that Harold or whoever the subject matter at the time is is the most handsome man ever and you know, he's a giant, all of these kind of things. Very interestingly, there is a tenth century account by guy called Ibn Fadlan who was an Islamic ambassador from Baghdad who saw the russ firsthand And he himself mentions how striking they were as physical specimens tall, often the stereotypical blonde blue eyed kind of thing veryery, very stand out figures, made even more stand out by things like their tattoos and their sharpened teeth and things like this So there is some sort of indirect evidence to say that the Scandinavians generally made a striking impression because of their physical appearance on others who came across them But there are certainly also accounts which say Harold was just like this stunningly handsome tall blonde striking figure. So very much As I say, a Hollywood idol of the eleventh century But he wasn't just acting. He was actually doing the business, wasn't he? I mean, you mentioned that he's serving as far as Sicily. There's some accounts of in Mesopotamia, do we have any kind of reliable information about where he was fighting? Wh the accounts of the fighting in Sicily are particularly interesting So he was there along with another prominent leader, a guy called Gigios Moniarchus, who was a Greek Or Byzantine, wed should say, the Byzantines being generally called Greeks at the time And they had a very much of a love hate relationship. They were always trying to get one up on each other and show who the top dog was So the Saga accounts describe Harold as being there and being heavily involved in the capture of four major towns on Sicily. Unfortunately, we don't have a detailed description of where those towns were, but if you look at the descriptions of one of the sieges he was involved in, It was probably Syracuse, which is down on the southern part of Sicily So he's heavily involved in the fighting there as a leader Heavily involved in this ongoing game of one upmanship with Georgios, which would continue for a number of years Where Harold really comes to the fall here is not just for his martial prowess, though that's undoubtedly there. But also if you like his native coming and Is I for a trick to try and capture places which are being stubborn to capture by assault So the saga writers really bring out this thing about Harold as being a really clever Drafty kind of figure And I think that's an important thing to emphasize because yes, a Viking leader was certainly expected to be a great warrior And Harold was absolutely that But it was also expected to be something more than that too. as I say, somebody who had a kind of native cunning which would enable him to capture things by subterfuge when fighting would not on its own do the trick. So This is very much part of Harold's all round character. he exhibits a number of these qualities as well And then from Sicily, he was subsequently involved in was described as a military expedition, but I would kind of more describe it as like escort duty. to leading members of the Byzantine royal family to Jerusalem which at that time was obviously a very, very holy place to Christians as indeed it still remains But after some time of being controlled by Byzantines, it's now under Islamic control So Harold is also escorting members of the royal family to Jerusalem on pilgrimage. So he's ranging his activities from Sicily to Jerusalem as well as closer to home to Constantinople itself. So Very much his reputation is on the rise proved very successful in Sicily, especially which is a real important battleground for the Byzantines So his reputation is very much established and increasing almost by the year at this stage Ellistit Dance knownows history hit. 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Make the most of it at bestwestern. com No additional purchase necessary for S sweeps, See bonus Point Tin sees and Sweeps rules for details and visit bestwestern. com for complete terms and conditions What started the Civil War What ended the conflict in Vietnam? Who was Paul Revere And did the Vikings ever reach America Don W Weildldm And on American History hit, my expert guests and I are journeying across the nation and through the years to uncover the stories that have made America We'll visit the battlefields and debate floors where the nation was formed, meet the characters who have altered it with their touch, and count the votes that have changed the direction of our laws and leadership. Find American History Hit twice a week every week, wherever you get your podcasts. American History Hit, a podcast from History Hit A lot of people know the expression Byzantineic you get a sense of intrigue in royal corridors of power. and that's pretty unfair because I think that's true of all empires. But anyway, in this case It is certainly true that Harold Adono appears to sort of fall on the wrong side of some sort of palace. political maneuvers and he he leaves Constantople in a bit of a hurry, does he about eight years after he gets there? Oh, it's an extraordinary story in that it really all kicked off an Easter in ten forty two obviously is a very important time to Christians and particularly so in Constantinople Now there's all sorts of subplots going on here One of which is that he's offered the chance of in a relationship with the empress Zoe, the Byzantine empress, which Allegedly he refuses to take up that offer. So he's associated with that Anden in ten forty two, there's been a bit of a kind of power struggle going on for a year or so as a new emperor in place Michael the Fth who is the adopted son of Zoe The emmpress As soon as he becomes emmperor, he turns on her, imprisons her, that kind of thing So Michael proves to be a very unpopular and short lived emperor. And in ten forty two at Easter there was this coup Harold at the time was supposedly locked up for various misdemeanors possibly associated with is u non consummation of the relationship with Zoe All kinds of other shenanigans, he's locked up in prison. And then during the riots that break out at Easter ten forty two he escapes in the chaos perhaps deliberately freed. What then happens really is part of the Harold story, which is really striking because The emperor Michael V is deposed along with his main lieutenant, Constantine And Michael and Constantine are captured and they're hauled out into the streets where they're both richually blinded And in the sagas at these, the suggestion is that it's actually Harold who does the blinding So you know, he's right in the middle of these events The chaos is still ongoing. There's like power struggles then to see who should be the next emperor And during this particular chaos Harold manages to escape from Constantinople on a ship and make his way back to Kiev So very dramatic set of events where Harold is really right at the middle of things And is the hold of his ship. full of the booty that he'd acquired over years and years of serving the emperor W, Apparently from what we can make out, Har would would be very, very good at sending back wealth that he'd acquired already during his nearly ten years of service with the emperor. So he's, if you like, been taking out an insurance policy here He's been sending as much wealth as he can get out back to Kiev With the result, the time he does get back there, he's already a very rich man In all probability, because of the chaotic events in which he left Constantinople I don't think he would have taken a lot with him because the primary consideration was to get people, his supporters and obviously himself away, I'm sure there might have been some portable wealth going with them, but the main focus was, hey, let's just get out of here as quickly as we can And in fact, there were two ships that left Constantinople at the same time And Constantinople at the time was protected by this huge chain which stretched across the waters of the Golden Horn stopping people from coming in and out And Harold comes up with his trick very much in keeping with his overall persona He gets all his people on one of the ships And when they reach the chain He gets them all to run to the front of the ship. when the ship is resting on the chain. with the extent, if you like, it almost topples over onto the other side of the chain So they're able to make good their escape that way The other ship with him unfortunately tried the same thing, but it didn't work and the ship capsized and I think pretty much everybody on it was lost So it's a fairly chaotic evacuation from Constantinople Though allegedly he did take with him a young princess called Maria who allegedly There was a relationship or a possible relationship with her But he dropped her off soon after because he already had other romantic considerations back in Kiev She would have complicated matters enormously if she'd have gone with him. So All a bit chaotic, I think, very much again in keeping with the story of Harold and his life more generally hope they didn't snap their rudder off. They must have their steering oar withdrawn when they went over that chain nasty. The sailor in me does not like that story. It makes me feel very nervous. So he makes his way back up these rivers. It's a maritime story speaking of boats. withithout getting off that boat, pretty much you can make your way all the way up to Kieiv, right through the Black Sea, up the rivers of what is now Ukraine and back to Kiev Yeah, I mean, interestingly, along these river systems, there were various narrows which they had to negotiate. And quite often they would have to literally take their boats out of the water and carry them around because the water was not deep enough or it was too rocky to actually sail them across. So This is one of the more extraordinary things I think of the Viking story, though actually you do see it for example in Celtic stories in Scotland as well. From time to time where there's a piece of land which is blocking the passage for whatever reason. The Vikings would literally lift their boats out of the water carry them for a mile or so and then plk them back in on a piece of water on the other side. So they're kind of like these narrows that they have to negotiate and that's part of the extraordinary story of the russ We did have these ships which were amazing, fairly shallow seaboard so that made them fairly useful in river systems. As you say, they had steering ods, which they could actually take off when they needed to From time to time, they would literally carry the ships around obstacles before depositing them back in the water again He gets back to Kieiv and then well tell me about his romantic entanglements there that you allude to earlier Yeah, so part of the story is that When he first reached Kiev, all those years before he went to Constantinople He became attracted to the daughter of Yaroslav the wise, a young lady called Eisa or Elizabeth, as we might anglicize it. And it's a bit like an ancient Greek legend, really, when he asked for the hand of Eisf Yarasav says Well, young man, you don't really have a lot to offer me at the moment Go out and prove yourself, undertake all these adventures, make me rich, that kind of thing And if you achieve all of that and you come back, then yes, you can marry my daughter So this is kind of what happens now. Harold comes back been very good as I said in sending back wealth to Kiev, of which he would have I'm sure generously contributed directly to Yarasav some of it He certainly proved himself. He's shown himself now to be a really outstanding military leader somebody that Yaroslaf would very much want as a prominent general in his armies So having a bit like the ancient Greek hero proved himself Harold is now worthy to marry ElisF, which he duly does, having kept his side of the bargain Yerasf now responds in kind. Interesting. So he gets his girl after years of planning. That's amazing. But he doesn't want to spend any more time in Kyiv. doeses he? he's keen to get home The thing is that there is this underlying plot line, if you like, in the sagas about Harold He always wants to be king. It's his destiny to be king And he wants to go home, he wants to become king in his own country So By now, he's probably about thirty ish, thirty years old That's pretty much in the pre of life back then when life expectancy was generally a bit shorter than it is now So he now feels that it's his moment of destiny. And it's now time to go back home and become King of Norway The only problem with that is there's already Norway, in the shape of his nephew, Magnus, the illegitimate son of Harold's half brother, Olaf So there is no kingdom to inherit But there are other Scandinavian territories which are also attractive outside of Norway, in particular Denmark. Denmark and Norway have always had a fairly complicated history and at various times Denmarks owned large parts of Norway and vice versa So he' kind of thinking as a good opportunist, Well, ideally I'd like to be King of Norway But hey, that may not be immediately possible But there might be something else for me here So he then makes his way back north. Originally to Sweden, again, you know, a nice bolt hole sort of on the sidelines a bit where he could make his plans closer to home. before he then introduces himself to affairs in Denmark. so He now finds himself caught up in the freeway fight, basically involving himself. H nephew, Magnus, And the current claimer to the King of Denmark a guy call Fenn For a few years now, there's this ongoing kind of menager toire in a military sense where Harold is quite cleverly or deviously, depending on which way you want to put it Taking size in this dispute and changing size from side to side at any given moment, depending on what's to his immediate best advantage. So this is what he does. He goes back, he He's on the lookout for an opportunity And it's really Denmark initially, which is the battleground by which he starts to fake his claims to be a Scandinavian king So he's got lots of cash, he's got followers So he can be a military presence straight awayay. I'm sure because of success, you attract more followers Yeah, that's very much the case. And I think he's also seeing himself as the guy who holds the balance of power in Scandinavia Because Sn, for example, the guy who wants to be king, who is king by some measures in Denmark He's an amazingly persistent character. He keeps getting beaten in battle Down but not out, I think, is the best way of putting it He's never quite eliminated from the struggle completely He goes away to lick his wounds again quite often in Sweden, which has this nice kind of neutral position recovers his strength, goes back, attacks Denmark again. Magnus, in the meantime is quite often being successful in Denmark But again, he's not knocking Senn out of the fight So Harold sees his role, I think, as being someone who holds the balance of power But he also sees that as a means to an end by deploying that balance of power in a particular way He can strengthen his own position and gain his own person advantage from that. And he does that really quite astutely by, as I say, occasionally changing sides when he thinks the moment is right So someone you'd certainly respect for his power, his wealth, the number of men he brings with him But someone I'm sure that you would never actually trust. Eactly In the end, he ends up ruling, doesn't he? Has he come to take charge? Yeahes,s very interesting story here because as, as I said, is his nephew. so they're kind of blood relatives and Even then there was a little bit of a kind of mark of shame, if you like, by trying to get one over on your own family didn't stop it happening quite a lot, but at least Superficially, you're supposed to be supportive of your own family. So the compromise which is reached is that Magnus and Harold will be joint kings That kind of sounds a pretty strange idea, I guess to modern ears. but It wasn't unheard of in Viking society for two brothers or cousins or whatever. to actually agree to share out power to some extent And Magnus and Harold are bringing two quite different things to this equation. Agnus is bringing legitimacy. He seems to have been a fairly popular king His father, Olaf, as I said, was made a saints. So he's a hugely symbolically important figure So Magnus brings this air of legitimacy to the arrangement But he's not particularly rich. Whereas Harold, of course, is very rich. So he's bringing wealth and he's bringing international prestige as well Pell by now is like an international figure, you know, well known across much of Europe So he brings that cache to the agreement This agreement was made, they became joint kings But that arrangement didn't actually last too long because maybe after a year, no more than two years, Barkness is taken ill and suddenly dies. St' still a fairly young man Harold then by default becomes the king of Norway and indeed Denmark without any kind of sharing with Magnus You might think there's a little bit of funny business going on with Magnusying. so conveniently, if that's the right way of putting at it and leaving the throne clear of any rivals. There's no actual real evidence to say that happened, but of course, One always has to be a little bit suspicious as modern police would be when someone has a motive You're always like to be a bit of a suspect in those circumstances listen D Sn' history. Talk about Harold Hardrada, moreore after this, don't go away started the Civil War. What ended the conflict in Vietnam Who was Paul Revere and did the Vikings? ever reach America Don Weildm And on American History hit, my expert guests and I are journeying across the nation and through the years to uncover the stories that have made America We'll visit the battlefields and debate floors where the nation was formed, meet the characters who have altered it with their touch, and count the votes that have changed the direction of our laws and leadership Find American History Hit twice a week every week, wherever you get your podcasts American History Had, a podcast from History Had Was the important king in Norway's history? D he help to forge Norway itself? Well, I think that's a very interesting question because I would say he has a degree of significance, but he would certainly not be the most significant king. in terms of shaping the country At the time, for example, Olaf, his half brother, his dead half brother would probably have been a much more significant influence because he kind of reinforced Christianity in the country And he became a figurehead Ironically, he was much more effective when he was dead than when he was alive, which Sometimes, unfortunately for some is the case So I think Harold was kind of more like a A typical if extreme example of a Scandinavian king of the time He was pretty ruthless. was very much primarily interested in his own personal ambitions and well beinging So I'd say he may be strengthened things which had already started, but I wouldn't have said in terms of his place in Norwegian historian of the Norwegian crown He was by any means the decisive figure. There were others, I think who were more important in forging Norway than he was He attempted to recreate that Cute empire, didn't he because he invades Denmark a few times It's almost like the Scandinavian version, even if a lot shorter of the Hundred Years War in that it just keeps flaring up and then calming down for a little while and then flaring up again. And in the end it never reaches a resolution, really This is a war that's ongoing in Harold's time for a decade or more And as I said about Senn, he's this really irritating person The dog who would not lie down, if you like Harold keeps winning battles against him But he's actually unable to win the war becausecause as soon as he leaves Denmark to go back to Norway Fen who's escaate we'll be back again and here have another go So what this war is doing It's just sucking resources and energy out of both that obviously Senn but even Harold to a great extent as well. Unless you can actually catch Senn and completely eliminate him This is a guy who's not going to go away. So Eventually, I think the war comes to a kind of rather uneventful hope because Basically, people are running out of energy and momentum and They just don't seem to be getting anywhere with it So at the end of it all, S Fen It's kind of like the last man standing en despite losing so many battles Stays as the king as Denmark Harold focuses more on his core kingdom, if you like, in Norway until obviously at some stage the possibility of Other pickings, particularly in England come along as well to distract him So it's just exhaustion, I think which leads to a halt to this war in Denmark. Let's come on to those events at the end of his career and life Harold Hdradder is sicking there one day and a message comes to him saying Edward the confonfessor King of England died without children, and Harold spots an opportunity Yeah, and one of the most significant figures here is Harold Gobwinson, Harold, now King of England his brother Toseak He's like in exile. he's falling out with Harold Gobinson He was the Earl of Northumbria and he very much wants to restore his position in England And he senses a mutual opportunity in collaboration with Harold Hardrada So he'd also been in discussions of course with Billiam Normandy as well But anyway he send the message to Harold Hadrada saying, Hey, there's this really wealthy kingdom which A Scandinavian king, Cute already had control of half a century before. There was a very tentative claim as a kind of successor of Canute through various machinations that Harold Halrada could say, Well, you know what I'm the rightful king of England So he'd not really shown much evidence previously of pushing that claim home. But he certainly thinks himself, I think Hey, there's a great opportunity. There is this wealthy kingdom It's all a bit of a mess. There's lots of turmoil going on. You know, the Normans might get involved. What a great opportunity to really make a name for myself. So for someone of Harold Hardrarda's personality This is kind of just too good a chance to miss. So Eventually he thinks, okay, let's go for it. Let's see if I can become the next king of England And so he heads over the North Sea. he meets up with Tostig and they land on the Northeast coast of England. they push him to what is now Yorkshire And there's a crushing victory. another great military success for Harold Hardrada just outside York Yeah, so there's this greatra b at a place called Falford, which is literally just a couple of miles from York And actually still a very interesting place to visit. You can still kind of trace bits of the battleground there So he has this battle against Edwin and Mora of Merci, who basically are there to try and resist this initial invasion. led by Harold Harrada along with Tostk And there's this battle just outside York in which eventually Harold Hadrada's army wins this crushing victory creating huge amounts of carnage in the process They win this fight York, which is a hugely important place at the time was the Viking Yorvk been the capital of the Viking Kingdom before Northumbria become assimilated into England So York is now open. He forces the city to surrender on terms which are very favorable to him He thinks, oh, this is great. I've got this victory. you know, I'm just going to go rest up for a few days and then I'll carry on presumably head further south. than become king of England. So everything is going really, really well won this crushing triumph Everything in the garden is rosy and Harold now seems to be Certainly could well be, you know, in a fairly short space of time the next king of England. So Fallford is a stunning victory. crushing victory. And that Harold thinks is that for the time being But it's not because in another one of the great stunning Battles of English military history King Harold of England marches north, a lightning march north, surprises Harold Hardrada's troops just outside Stanford Bridge in East Yorkshire And there is a battle att which Harold Hadrada is killed Astonis He knew that when he saw the dust rising from the approaching English army knew he was in trouble He did. and I think you can kind of put yourself quite easily in Harold shoes here because He's expecting to go into York later in the day take the formal surrender of the city And the initial impression, so the sagas suggest, is When he sees his big cloud of dust initially, he thinks is's all the officials from York coming out to greet him, saying, you know, okay, you're the boss now Come on in His army is there. Apart from a part of it left back to guard the ships, which are a few miles away. They seem to be having a pretty good time presumably knocking back the meed a bit, if you like. According to the accounts, they don't even have lots of their armor with them So they are totally unprepared for what is about to hit them, which is, as you say, this amazing march by Harold Godobwwardson couple of hundred miles in the space of a few days. which to be honest, I think can easily be underestimated as a military feat in its own right was't incredible rapid march And in the fight that follows Harold is caught off guard. His men are caught off guard and eventually they are overwhelmed and height of the battle Harold is allegedly hit by an arrow in his throat, which basically knocks him out and Effectively, the battle is over though, the killing seems to have gone on for some time after that point. So a very dramatic day in English history, certainly Well, what an extraordinary, extraordinary career. that stretches from the Middle East to Northern England comes to an end in that field in Yorkshire And in some ways, it's the end of the Viking age as well, isn't that mean Scandinavians do, they are around in the reign of William I first, but in terms of large scale raids and incursions into England to Scotland, that's the end of not just Hald Hrada's life, but the Viking Age It's a very good question and it's really hard to give a definitive answer to because for example, there were Several major raids against England, which largely disappeared from memory, if you like, by Danes actually in the reign of William I And there is the odd wannabe leader