The Last Viking: The True Story of King Harald Hardrada

For the second to last Sunday of November, 2021, I reviewed The Last Viking: The True Story of King Harald Hardrada by Don Hollway.

I knew absolutely nothing about Harald Hardrada when I started this book. So, all of this is entirely new. That’s ok, that’s why I read. I also knew nothing about Genghis Kahn before reading last weeks book of the week…for the first time.

So, Harald Hardrada was born in 1015, exact date not known, due to I don’t think there was any expectation that Harald would inherit the throne. His oldest brother Olaf was set to inherit, and he had two other older brothers besides, each of whom would have been a better candidate, following lineage, for inheritance that Harald was. So other than some indications that Harald WANTED to be a leader of men as a child, there is not a lot of history from his youth. He first makes an appearance in the historical record in 1030 at the Battle of Stiklstad.

Now, this battle is celebrated as occurring on July 29, 1030; however, due to multiple reports of a total eclipse of the sun occurring midbattle, and astronomy being what it is, the battle likely occurred on August 31. Author Don Hollway, however, provides a very reasonable explanation for the discrepancy, allowing for how days were counted back then. I buy it, especially since an eclipse is very much a fixed thing. And since astronomy accounts for the exact date being August 31, his explanation is totally plausible.

Now, Olaf was set to be Olaf II of Norway…again…, and Harald was basically doing his part to ensure his family sat upon the throne again. The biggest challenge being that Olaf, taking after his hero Charlemagne, insisted that anyone who followed him needed to be Christian. And while that worked for Charlemagne, it did not work out so well for Olaf, as he ended up being outnumber by a significant margin by the heathens on the other side. It seems likely that the reason he was ousted from his throne in 1028 was because of his attempted forced conversion of the entire country.

But combat is always iffy, and it is not impossible to win against a larger enemy. Unless God calls down an eclipse on you, which was interpreted two different ways on the battlefield. Those who followed the current King Knut, who was not present that day but whose forces were led by Kalf Arnason, a former follower of Olaf, believed this was like the Eye of Odin, looking down on the battlefield. Which makes this battle exceedingly important to the heathens. Whatever Odin decides, that’s going to be the King to follow. Those who followed Olaf saw the eclipse as a sign that a holy man was about to die. And when Olaf was struck down not too long after that, his men broke and fled, including 15-year-old Harald, who had been wounded. History is not too specific on the type of wound, just that it was a leg. We don’t know if it was stabbed, cut, or broken, but it made running nearly impossible. With the help of one of his men, he was seen to a farmer’s location, who was paid to let Harald recuperate there. Then the other kings man fled, leaving Harald.

Harald did recuperate, before making his way to his sister-in-law’s court in Sweden, and eventually to his other sister-in-law who had married the Rus king, Yaroslav. There Harald began to prove his mettle as a leader of men, and was basically set to marry Yaroslav’s youngest daughter, Elizaveta. However, back in Norway, Knut’s followers were starting to think they had made a mistake. When Knut died, his son Svein, being not quite old enough to sit the throne himself, was ruled over by his mother, the Queen Regent Alfifa. The whole family tended to favor the Danes over the Norse in disputes, and taxes were always rising. As further proof that humanity never changes:

Snorri (Sturluson) wrote, “Those who had not fought against King Olaf said, ‘Now take your just reward and treatment from Knut’s people, you men of the Trondelag who fought against King Olaf and wrested away his kingdom. You were promised peace and honor but have gotten nothing but tyranny and slavery for your treason and misdeeds.’” (p. 68)

The 11th century version of “I didn’t vote for him, he’s not MY king.”

So, Norway is again looking for a replacement, and they send Kalf Arnason to Rus. But not to find Harald, who is now 19, most definitely considered a man and a leader of men. They go there to locate Olaf’s 10-year-old son, Magnus, with the expectation that Magnus, and his mother Alfhild, will be more biddable and easily controlled. Now, one might think this is a logical inheritance, typically a son having more rights to inherit as direct descendant over a brother, which would shift the lineage laterally. But Magnus was a bastard, as Olaf never married Alfhild. So, while his claim was nominally stronger than Harald’s, his choice was most likely due to his age, versus his actual claim to the throne. Kalf wanted someone who could be controlled. Harald was not it.

Since Harald was now no longer set to inherit anything, his engagement to Elizaveta was put on hold. Not canceled, however. Yaroslav saw something in Harald that portended great things, and so the pending strengthening of ties between their families was merely placed on hold. And Harald traveled to Miklagard (aka Constantinople…aka Istanbul). Once there, he and his 500 followers sought to join the Varangian guard.

Once he hit Constantinople, Harald and his men joined the Varangian guard. Now, the Varangian guards were sort of like elite mercenaries, with honor. Sound like an oxymoron, right? Like, how can mercenaries have honor? Well, by staying bought once they accept your coin. And Varangians were the very best, and absolutely loyal.

Hollway even recounts one apocryphal story where the guard came into a room where the emperor, who they were supposed to be guarding, had just been assassinated by his heir. Like, the heir was literally standing over the body with a bloody knife, just assassinated. The guard immediately began guarding the heir, as their job was to guard the emperor, not extract justice for the dead.

Now, Harald and his men were in Constantinople as part of the Varangian guard for between 9 and 10 years. I’m leaning towards 10, but the timeline is a little fuzzy, owing to the age of the stories (1,000 years at this point), and the sources from which the information is reported were themselves written anywhere from 50 to 200 years after the events they portray. So, the sources do need to be taken with a grain of salt.

For all that, Hollway does an incredibly good job laying out what he thinks happened, and why he reached those conclusions. Things he believes happened:

Harald was immediately accepted to the guard, even though he did not approach as a prince of the Rus. He used a pseudonym, Nordbrikt.

Harald was eventually identified as an unlanded prince of the Rus, but this allowed him to rise in the guard.

Among the reasons he rose, was that the Empress Zoe was infatuated with him. They may have had a decade long affair, despite her being between 40 and 50 years older than him.

All of those things combined with known history of the Varangian guard tells a tale of well travel. Seriously, when with the guard, Harald honed his leadership and combat skills to become quite formidable in his own right, and his men continued to follow him willingly, from Constantinople, east to Jordan, Jerusalem, South to Egypt, up through Italy. He was seriously better traveled than a good chunk of today’s population.

Now, this entire section was basically a crash course on 11th century Byzantium, because Byzantine is where Harald was. When he arrived in Constantinople, the emperor Michael the IV had just been crowned. The Empress was Zoe, and Michael IV ascended the throne due to his marriage to Zoe. She was the inheritor, and he became royal through marriage. He was her second husband, the first having died, most likely poisoned by Michael, with Zoe’s blessing.

By the time Harald left, two more emperor’s will have sat the throne. When Michael IV died, his successor, who I think was his nephew, had been legally adopted by Zoe, who put him on the throne as Michael V. Michael V was politically inept, believing all he needed was the backing of the aristocracy who had previously been banned. So, he banished the remaining aristocracy from Michael IV reign, and elevated or returned to power sycophants. Then he banished Zoe to a nunnery. This was a grave miscalculation on his part, as the common man ADORED Zoe. When they heard what he had done, the entire population of Constantinople rebelled. Rioting lasted for days. Zoe was quickly returned from the nunnery. However, the people could not tell if she was coerced in to saying everything was cool, or if she genuinely supported Michael V’s actions. So, they in turn raided a different nunnery, one where Zoe’s younger sister Theodora had been ensconced for years, and elevated Theodora to empress status. Michael was forced out and sent to a be a monk. And the two empresses, who HATED each other, were forced to work together for the good of the realm.

Throughout all of this, we don’t actually know what Harald’s movements were, but based on his position within the Varangian guard, Hollway makes some decent assumptions of what his movements may have been. And he’s always very careful to write in the past perfect tense, to denote where assumptions are made, versus where records from sources say he was and what happened.

When the dust settled, a new emperor was needed. Theodora refused to marry. So, Zoe took a third husband, Constantine IX. Constantine IX was 15 years younger than Zoe and had a mistress of his own, Maria. Zoe did not care about Maria, as she was fully intending to continue her own affair with Harald. However, when Harald and Maria met, there were apparently sparks, even though Maria herself was about 15 years older than Harald. This near love match displeased the royal couple, and while Maria was brought to live in the palace, Harald and some of his men were jailed. It’s possible that part of the displeasure was Harald resigning his post. He had received word from Norway that his nephew might need assistance consolidating his claim to the thrones of Norway, Denmark, and England.

About this time, the Rus brought down an invasion force. And while the Rus were handily defeated by the Byzantine forces, owing to the highly defensible harbor and the Byzantine’s use of Greek Fire, Harald and his men missed this battle due to being in prison. Then the most remarkable thing happened. They were broken out of jail by an unnamed lady, who had apparently been visited by St Olaf…. Harald’s older brother had been working his way towards sainthood in the 15 years since his death, and apparently, he wanted Harald out of prison and heading north.

So, Harald and his men are broken out of jail. Rather than making a straight run to the harbor, he goes to the palace, and takes Maria with him. Now, Hollway thinks he took her because they were in love. And maybe they were. It’s equally possible that she was the better hostage choice, given that she was beloved of Constantine IX, and so the remaining Varangian would be less likely to sink Harald’s ship with Maria aboard.

Now, one of the greatest defenses of the harbor was a chain that was drawn across the bay, precluding ships from entering or leaving until the chain was lowered. There was a way over the chain, but it only had a 50% success rate. Basically, you had to hit the chain dead center at speed, shifting all the weight in the ship to one side to allow the side toward the chain to clear it. THEN, you had to shift ALL the weight very quickly to the other side, to allow the ship to jolt off the chain to the far side of the bay. Harald’s ship managed this maneuver. The accompanying ship, filled with his men, did not. It high centered on the chain, before splitting in two. Anyone in armor immediately sank to the bottom. The remaining survivors were pulled on to Harald’s ship, and Harald and his men were free of Byzantium. Somewhere up the coast, they put Maria ashore, whether at her request, as Hollway claims, or because she was no longer needed as a hostage, Harald made sure she had a safe escort back to the palace and headed north.

Having fled Constantinople and his service to the Byzantine court, Harald returned to Kiev, a very wealthy man. Apparently, Yaroslav was a most honorable man, as Harald had been sending his plunder and pay from his time in Constantinople for several years, and Yaroslav had been saving it for him. This was actually pretty good tactically for Yaroslav though, since when Harald returned, a battle tested warrior, Yaroslav was able to reap a portion of the gold as a bride price for his daughter, the Princess Elizaveta.

And so, Harald and Elizaveta were married. And now Harald is a prince without a throne, a wealthy warrior, and he’s looking to find his place in the world. The Scandinavian kingdoms, meanwhile, had been noisily growing more divided. Sweden remained its own country, the problem lay with Norway and Denmark…and sort of England, although that by no metric has been Scandinavian. Harald’s nephew Magnus had been ruling more or less since 1035, when Harald left for Constantinople. Magnus, while certainly not scared to fight, was more of a peacemaker. So, the king his father had been fighting, Knut the Great, died in 1035. This was the inciting incident that pulled Magnus from Rus to Norway. Magnus and Knut’s heir, Hardaknut, eventually reached an agreement that whichever of them died first, the other would be his heir. Well, Hardaknut died first, in 1042, and so Magnus claimed the thrones of England and Denmark, along with his already existing throne of Norway.

However, in Denmark, Svein Ulfsson had also made a claim against the throne, and this became the source of contention. Harald first approached his nephew about wanting a throne. Magnus and his advisors basically laughed him out of court. So, Harald went to Svein. And they agreed they would both take on Magnus, funded by Harald, and Harald would take Norway and Svein would take Denmark. Seeing this, realizing that he had already bled his own treasury and human capital keeping Denmark, Magnus made a peace offering to Harald. Basically said, I’ll let you buy half my kingdom for half your gold.

Harald, recognizing that while he was certainly cash rich, he was man poor, accepted Magnus’s offer. So, he picked a fight with Svein as a way to back out of their agreement and went to Norway. Harald, it seems, was not the easiest of co-kings with Magnus, always pushing the boundaries of what was agreed on. But where Harald’s true pettiness came to light, was upon Magnus’s death. Magnus the Good died young, about 23 years old. And on his death, he gave the rest of Norway to Harald. And gave Denmark to Svein. Harald…was not pleased by this.

And he spent the next several years raiding Denmark, trying to kick Svein out. Svein, for his part, was a pretty good king. On the other hand, he could hardly do worse than Harald, who raided Denmark so frequently he basically bankrupted the nation and destroyed all trading outposts, putting Scandinavia behind market advancement by probably decades. After he had so thoroughly destroyed the nation, Harald managed to set a date for an actual battle with Svein. And as had happened in the past, Svein was not at the assigned rendezvous. So, Harald assumed Svein was not coming, and has Harald had in the past, he sent his farmers back to Norway. Which is what Svein was waiting for. Because now he outnumbered Harald by 2 to 1.

Not gonna lie…. I was really hoping Svein would win this one. But he did not. Due to Harald’s Jarl, Hakon Ivarsson, who was an absolute rockstar, basically circling the battle (which was fought on the sea), and keeping the wings clear from Svein’s boats and troops. But the history of Hakon and Harald was a bit twisty, which led to an act of mercy on Hakon’s part. Hakon was set to marry Harald’s niece, Ragnhild Magnusdottir. Only Harald would not let the marriage go through unless Hakon were landed…like being a Jarl. And at the time the engagement was proposed, Norway already had one jarl, and it was not Hakon. So Hakon had actually sought refuge and employment with Svein prior to this battle, only agreeing to join Harald when the existing Jarl died, and Harald promised the position to Hakon. So Hakon was fighting on Harald’s side when he recognized Svein trying to abandon the field of battle. Hakon helped Svein to escape. This would come back to bite him in the butt…along with his own extreme competence in battle.

See, once the battle was over, and Harald was definitively the king of Norway and Denmark, the people in Norway granted the bulk of the success to Hakon’s actions during the battle. And Harald resented this. To try and make the people of Norway pay for their ingratitude, he began taxing, at a very heavy rate, the peoples of Hakon’s earldom, and one Harald found out that Svein had escaped with Hakon’s help, he charged Hakon with treason. Hakon made a quick escape to Sweden.

Basically, Harald was a garbage human being. He truly was not in line for any succession, since Olaf had recognized Magnus as his son, making him basically legitimate. He certainly had no claim on Denmark. He was basically a warlord. He raided his own people, taxing the life blood out of those that weren’t raided. He was envious of anyone’s success and prone to react violently when anyone might show him up in any capacity. And Hakon had definitely shown him up. But hiding in Sweden was strategically smart. Due to the deaths of several royals, Harald no longer had any relation to the throne of Sweden. And so following Hakon to Sweden would be an act of war.

Ultimately, Hakon stayed hiding in Sweden, Harald made peace, genuine peace, with Svein, and in 1066, a new ship made its way up the Fjord of Norway. An Anglo-Saxon captained this ship, Tostig, who said he needed help retaking the throne of England from his brother Harold.

And despite everyone on the voyage having premonitions of failure and death, Harald and his men traveled to England. Where they were slaughtered, almost to a man. The invading force traveled on 300 ships. The survivors needed 27 to return to Norway. Harald was survived by one daughter, Ingigerd, daughter of Elizaveta. Harald’s other daughter Maria, also by Elizaveta, allegedly died at the same moment Harald did, even though she had been left on the Isle of Orkney. Part of the legend surrounding Harald. Harald had two sons by his consort, Magnus II and Olaf II, who were left as co-kings in Norway. Magnus II died at 21, leaving Olaf the Peaceful to rule for an astonishing 23 years. And Harald passed into legend.

I will say the author’s final thoughts as encapsulated in the epilogue were very eloquent. “As in Byzantium a millennium past, men who were once called heroes are cast down and called villains, while scoundrels are held up to acclaim, all according to the prevailing narrative of the day. The hindsight of a thousand years offers little clarity, when none but the dead can know the ultimate truth.” (p. 347).

And that is accurate. We in the present are all to prone to judging the past based on the morals of the day. I did not like Harald, what I read of him. But in a time where weak men are creating hard times, I can see where others might turn to him for inspiration. Might I recommend you gentlemen look to Genghis Kahn as well?

This book was originally reviewed on YouTube on November 21, 2021, but is now available on Rumble and PodBean.