Alarichall (talk | contribs) →Did Harald exist?: copy-edits Tag: 2017 wikitext editor |
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| image =Flateyjarbok Haraldr Halfdan.jpg |
| image =Flateyjarbok Haraldr Halfdan.jpg |
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| caption =Harald Fairhair, in an illustration from the 14th century ''[[Flateyjarbók]]''. |
| caption =Harald Fairhair, in an illustration from the 14th century ''[[Flateyjarbók]]''. |
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| reign =872–930 |
| reign =putatively 872–930 |
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| coronation = |
| coronation = |
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| full name = Haraldr Hálfdanarson |
| full name = Haraldr Hálfdanarson |
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| father =[[Halfdan the Black]] |
| father =[[Halfdan the Black]] |
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| mother =[[Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter]] |
| mother =[[Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter]] |
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| birth_date ={{circa}} 850 |
| birth_date =putatively {{circa}} 850 |
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| birth_place = |
| birth_place = |
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| death_date ={{circa}} 932 |
| death_date =putatively {{circa}} 932 |
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| death_place =[[Rogaland]], [[Petty kingdoms of Norway|Norway]] |
| death_place =[[Rogaland]], [[Petty kingdoms of Norway|Norway]] |
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| date of burial = |
| date of burial = |
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|}} |
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'''Harald Fairhair''' ([[Old Norse]]: ''Haraldr |
'''Harald Fairhair''' ([[Old Norse]]: ''Haraldr inn hárfagri'', [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]]: ''Harald hårfagre'' (literally "Harald Hair-beautiful"); putatively {{circa}} 850 – {{circa}} 932) is portrayed by medieval Icelandic historians as the first [[King of Norway]]. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, he reigned from {{circa}} 872 to 930. Supposedly, two of his sons, [[Eric Bloodaxe]] and [[Haakon the Good]], succeeded Harald to become kings after his death. |
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Most of Harald's biography remains uncertain, since the extant accounts of his life in the sagas were set down in writing around three centuries after his lifetime. Indeed, although it is possible to write a detailed account of Harald as a character in medieval Icelandic sagas (and this entry does), it is even possible to argue that there was no such historical figure at all. |
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The only early sources mentioning him are the two skaldic poems ''[[Haraldskvæði]]'' and ''[[Glymdrápa]]'', which have been attributed to [[Þorbjörn Hornklofi]] or alternatively (in the case of the first poem) to [[Þjóðólfr of Hvinir]]. The first poem has only been preserved in fragments in 13th century [[Kings' sagas]]. It describes life at Harald's court, mentions that he took a [[Denmark|Danish]] wife, and that he won a battle at [[Hafrsfjord]]. The second relates a series of battles Harald won.<ref>Jakobsson 2002</ref> |
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His life is described in several of the Kings' sagas, none of them older than |
His life is described in several of the [[Kings' sagas]], none of them older than the twelfth century. Their accounts of Harald and his life differ on many points, and some of the content may be uncertain but it is clear that in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Harald was regarded as having unified Norway into one kingdom. |
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==Did Harald Fairhair exist?== |
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Through the nineteenth and most of the twentieth centuries, historians broadly accepted the account of Harald Fairhair given by later Icelandic sagas. However, the decades around 2000 saw a wave of revisionist research that suggested that Harald Fairhair did not exist, or at least not in a way resembling his appearance in sagas.<ref>Claus Krag, 'Norge som odel i Harald Hårfagres ætt. Et møte med en gjenganger', ''Historisk tidskrift'', 3 (1989), 288–302.</ref><ref>Alexandra Pesch, ''Brunaǫld, haugsǫld, kirkjuǫld: Untersuchungen zu den archäologisch uberprufbaren Aussagen in der Heimskringla des Snorri Sturluson'' (Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1996).</ref><ref>Judith Jesch, 'Norse Historical Traditions and Historia Gruffud vab Kenan: Magnus Berfoettr and Haraldr Harfagri', in <i>Gruffudd ap Cynan: A Collaborative Biography</i>, edited by K. L. Maund (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 117-47.</ref><ref>Shami Ghosh, ''Kings' Sagas and Norwegian History: Problems and Perspectives'', The Northern World, 54 (Leiden: Brill, 2011), pp. 66-70.</ref><ref>Sverrir Jakobsson, 'Yfirstéttarmenning eða þjóðmenning? Um þjóðsögur og heimildargildi í íslenskum miðaldaritum', in ''Úr manna minnum: Greinar um íslenskar þjóðsögur'', ed. by Baldur Hafstað og Haraldur Bessason (Reykjavík, 2002), pp. 449-61.</ref><ref>Cf. Clare Downham, "Eric Bloodaxe - axed? The Mystery of the Last Viking King of York", ''Mediaeval Scandinavia'', 14 (2004), 51–77.</ref><ref>Sayaka Matsumoto, '[http://hdl.handle.net/2433/151754 A Foundation Myth of Iceland: Reflections on the tradition of Haraldr hárfagri]', 日本アイスランド学会会報 (2011), 30: 1-22.</ref> The key arguments for this are as follows: |
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* The only king of Norway recorded near the putative reign of Harald in near-contemporary sources is [[Haraldr Gormsson]] (d. c. 985/986), who is claimed to be the king not only of Denmark but also Norway on the [[Jelling stones]]. The account of Norway provided by [[Ohthere of Hålogaland|Ohthere]] to the court of [[Alfred the Great]] and the history by [[Adam of Bremen]] written in 1075 record no King of Norway for the relevant period. Though an argument from silence, in a period where there are few written sources for Norway, this means there is no contemporary support for the claims of later sagas about Harald Fairhair. Although sagas have [[Erik Bloodaxe]], who does seem partly to correspond to a historical figure, as the son of Harald Fairhair, no independent evidence supports this genealogical connection. Likewise, [[William of Malmesbury]] does have a Norwegian king called Haraldus visit King [[Æthelstan]] of England (d. 939), which chimes with later saga-traditions in which Harald Fairhair fostered a son, [[Hákon Aðalsteinsfóstri]], on Æthelstan.<ref>Angela Marion Smith, '[http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/6855/1/PhD%20IMS%20Thesis%20Angela%20Marion%20Smith%202014.pdf King Æthelstan in the English, Continental and Scandinavian Traditions of the Tenth to the Thirteenth Centuries]' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Leeds, 2014), pp. 255-73.</ref> But William is a late source and ''Harald'' a far from uncommon name for a Scandinavian character.<ref name=":0">Sverrir Jakobsson, '[https://www.visindavefur.is/svar.php?id=6206 Var Haraldur hárfagri bara uppspuni Snorra Sturlusonar?]', ''Vísindavefurinn'' (25 September 2006).</ref> |
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* Although Harald Fairhair appears in diverse Icelandic sagas, few if any of these are independent sources. It is plausible that all these were participating in a shared textual tradition begun by the earliest Icelandic prose account of Harald, [[Ari Þorgilsson]]'s ''[[Íslendingabók]]''. Dating from the early twelfth century, this was written over 250 years after Harald's supposed death.<ref name=":0" /> |
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* The saga evidence is potentially pre-dated by two [[Skaldic verse|skaldic poems]], ''[[Haraldskvæði]]'' and ''[[Glymdrápa]]'', which have been attributed to [[Þorbjörn Hornklofi]] or alternatively (in the case of the first poem) to [[Þjóðólfr of Hvinir]]. Although only preserved in thirteenth-century [[Kings' sagas]], they might have been transmitted orally (as the sagas claim) from the tenth century. The first describes life at Harald's court, mentions that he took a [[Denmark|Danish]] wife, and that he won a battle at [[Hafrsfjord]]. The second poem relates a series of battles Harald won.<ref>Jakobsson 2002</ref> However, the information supplied in these poems is inconsistent with the tales in the sagas in which they are transmitted, and the sagas themselves often disagree on the details of his background and biography;<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Harald_1_H%C3%A5rfagre/utdypning|work=[[Norsk biografisk leksikon]]|title=Harald 1 Hårfagre|author=Krag, Claus|accessdate=3 September 2012}}</ref> meanwhile, the most reliable manuscripts of ''Haraldskvæði'' call the poem's honorand Haraldr Hálfdanarson rather than Haraldr hárfagri. All the poems clearly show is that there was once a king called Haraldr (inn hárfagri).<ref name=":0" /> |
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* Sources from the British Isles which are independent of the Icelandic saga-tradition (and partly of each other), and are mostly earlier than the sagas, do attest to a king whose name corresponds to the Old Norse name ''Haraldr inn hárfagri''—but they use this name of the well attested [[Haraldr Sigurðarson]] (d. 1066, often known in modern English as Harald Hardrada). These sources include manuscript D of the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' ('Harold Harfagera', under the year 1066) and the related histories by [[Orderic Vitalis]] ('Harafagh', re events in 1066) and [[John of Worcester]] ('Harvagra', s.aa. 1066 and 1098); [[Marianus Scotus of Mainz]] (d. 1082/1083); and the ''Life'' of [[Gruffydd ap Cynan]] ('Haralld Harfagyr', later twelfth century, though this may refer to two different kings by this name).<ref>Judith Jesch, 'Norse Historical Traditions and Historia Gruffud vab Kenan: Magnus Berfoettr and Haraldr Harfagri', in <i>Gruffudd ap Cynan: A Collaborative Biography</i>, edited by K. L. Maund (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 117-47 (pp. 142-45).</ref><ref>Shami Ghosh, ''Kings' Sagas and Norwegian History: Problems and Perspectives'', The Northern World, 54 (Leiden: Brill, 2011), pp. 66-70.</ref> |
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Thus the Icelandic saga-tradition of Harald Fair-Hair can be seen as part of an [[origin myth]] created to explain the [[settlement of Iceland]], perhaps in which a cognomen of [[Haraldr Sigurðarson]] was transferred to a fictitious early king of all Norway.<ref>Sayaka Matsumoto, '[http://hdl.handle.net/2433/151754 A Foundation Myth of Iceland: Reflections on the tradition of Haraldr hárfagri]', 日本アイスランド学会会報 (2011), 30: 1-22.</ref> |
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==Saga descriptions== |
==Saga descriptions== |
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There are several accounts of large feasting [[mead hall]]s constructed for important feasts when Scandinavian royalty was invited. According to a legend recorded by [[Snorri Sturluson]], in the [[Heimskringla]], the late 9th-century Värmlandish chieftain Áki invited both the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair and the Swedish [[saga]]-king [[Erik Eymundsson]], but had the Norwegian king stay in the newly constructed and sumptuous one, because he was the youngest one of the kings and the one who had the greatest prospects. The older Swedish king, on the other hand, had to stay in the old feasting hall. The Swedish king was so humiliated that he killed Áki. |
There are several accounts of large feasting [[mead hall]]s constructed for important feasts when Scandinavian royalty was invited. According to a legend recorded by [[Snorri Sturluson]], in the [[Heimskringla]], the late 9th-century Värmlandish chieftain Áki invited both the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair and the Swedish [[saga]]-king [[Erik Eymundsson]], but had the Norwegian king stay in the newly constructed and sumptuous one, because he was the youngest one of the kings and the one who had the greatest prospects. The older Swedish king, on the other hand, had to stay in the old feasting hall. The Swedish king was so humiliated that he killed Áki. |
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==Later life== |
===Later life=== |
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[[File:Norwegian petty kingdoms ca. 930.png|thumb|Harald I's division of Norway {{circa}} 930 CE.{{legend|#db3318|The domain of the [[King of Norway|High King of Norway]].}}{{legend|#eeff52|Petty kingdoms assigned to Harald's kinsmen.}}{{legend|#d72bf6|The domain of the [[Trondejarls|jarls of Hlaðir]].}}{{legend|#eec440|The domain of the jarls of [[Møre og Romsdal|Møre]].}} Not shown: the domains of the jarls of [[Norðreyjar]] and [[Kingdom of the Isles|Suðreyjar]].]] |
[[File:Norwegian petty kingdoms ca. 930.png|thumb|Harald I's division of Norway {{circa}} 930 CE.{{legend|#db3318|The domain of the [[King of Norway|High King of Norway]].}}{{legend|#eeff52|Petty kingdoms assigned to Harald's kinsmen.}}{{legend|#d72bf6|The domain of the [[Trondejarls|jarls of Hlaðir]].}}{{legend|#eec440|The domain of the jarls of [[Møre og Romsdal|Møre]].}} Not shown: the domains of the jarls of [[Norðreyjar]] and [[Kingdom of the Isles|Suðreyjar]].]] |
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[[Image:Haraldshaugen.JPG|right|thumb|Haraldshaugen]] |
[[Image:Haraldshaugen.JPG|right|thumb|Haraldshaugen]] |
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Harald Harfager was commonly stated to have been buried under a mound at Haugar by the Strait of Karmsund near the church in [[Haugesund]], an area that later would be named the town and municipal [[Haugesund]]. The area near Karmsund was the traditional burial site for several early Norwegian rulers. The national monument of [[Haraldshaugen]] was raised in 1872, to commemorate the [[Battle of Hafrsfjord]] which is traditionally dated to 872.<ref>[http://koti.kontu.la/jsalonen/jani/main_saaga_010.html Heimskringla, by Snorri Sturluson]</ref><ref>[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/598/598-h/598-h.htm#2H_4_0057 Heimskringla, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway]</ref> |
Harald Harfager was commonly stated to have been buried under a mound at Haugar by the Strait of Karmsund near the church in [[Haugesund]], an area that later would be named the town and municipal [[Haugesund]]. The area near Karmsund was the traditional burial site for several early Norwegian rulers. The national monument of [[Haraldshaugen]] was raised in 1872, to commemorate the [[Battle of Hafrsfjord]] which is traditionally dated to 872.<ref>[http://koti.kontu.la/jsalonen/jani/main_saaga_010.html Heimskringla, by Snorri Sturluson]</ref><ref>[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/598/598-h/598-h.htm#2H_4_0057 Heimskringla, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway]</ref> |
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==Issue== |
===Issue=== |
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[[Image:Harald Haarfager1c.jpg|thumb|Harald Haarfager later in his life]] |
[[Image:Harald Haarfager1c.jpg|thumb|Harald Haarfager later in his life]] |
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While the various sagas name anywhere from 11 to 20 sons of Harald in various contexts, the contemporary skaldic poem ''[[Hákonarmál]]'' says that Harald's son Haakon would meet only "eight brothers" when arriving in [[Valhalla]], a place for slain warriors kings and Germanic heroes. Only the following five names of sons can be confirmed from skaldic poems (with saga claims in parenthesis), while the full number of sons remains unknown:<ref>{{Cite book|title=Vikingtid og rikssamling: 800–1130|author=Krag, Claus|year=1995|isbn=8203220150|pages=92–95}}</ref> |
While the various sagas name anywhere from 11 to 20 sons of Harald in various contexts, the contemporary skaldic poem ''[[Hákonarmál]]'' says that Harald's son Haakon would meet only "eight brothers" when arriving in [[Valhalla]], a place for slain warriors kings and Germanic heroes. Only the following five names of sons can be confirmed from skaldic poems (with saga claims in parenthesis), while the full number of sons remains unknown:<ref>{{Cite book|title=Vikingtid og rikssamling: 800–1130|author=Krag, Claus|year=1995|isbn=8203220150|pages=92–95}}</ref> |
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* Halvdan, possibly two by that name |
* Halvdan, possibly two by that name |
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===According to Heimskringla=== |
====According to ''Heimskringla''==== |
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The full list of sons according to Snorri Sturluson's ''Heimskringla'': |
The full list of sons according to Snorri Sturluson's ''[[Heimskringla]]'': |
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Children with Åsa, daughter of [[Håkon Grjotgardsson]], Earl of Lade: |
Children with Åsa, daughter of [[Håkon Grjotgardsson]], Earl of Lade: |
Revision as of 16:17, 20 July 2018
Harald Fairhair | |||||
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King of Norway | |||||
Reign | putatively 872–930 | ||||
Successor | Eric I | ||||
Born | putatively c. 850 | ||||
Died | putatively c. 932 Rogaland, Norway | ||||
Burial | |||||
Spouse | Ragnhild Eriksdotter Åsa Håkonsdotter | ||||
Issue more | Eric I of Norway Haakon I of Norway | ||||
| |||||
Dynasty | Fairhair dynasty | ||||
Father | Halfdan the Black | ||||
Mother | Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter | ||||
Religion | Norse religion |
Harald Fairhair (Old Norse: Haraldr inn hárfagri, Norwegian: Harald hårfagre (literally "Harald Hair-beautiful"); putatively c. 850 – c. 932) is portrayed by medieval Icelandic historians as the first King of Norway. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, he reigned from c. 872 to 930. Supposedly, two of his sons, Eric Bloodaxe and Haakon the Good, succeeded Harald to become kings after his death.
Most of Harald's biography remains uncertain, since the extant accounts of his life in the sagas were set down in writing around three centuries after his lifetime. Indeed, although it is possible to write a detailed account of Harald as a character in medieval Icelandic sagas (and this entry does), it is even possible to argue that there was no such historical figure at all.
His life is described in several of the Kings' sagas, none of them older than the twelfth century. Their accounts of Harald and his life differ on many points, and some of the content may be uncertain but it is clear that in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Harald was regarded as having unified Norway into one kingdom.
Did Harald Fairhair exist?
Through the nineteenth and most of the twentieth centuries, historians broadly accepted the account of Harald Fairhair given by later Icelandic sagas. However, the decades around 2000 saw a wave of revisionist research that suggested that Harald Fairhair did not exist, or at least not in a way resembling his appearance in sagas.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] The key arguments for this are as follows:
- The only king of Norway recorded near the putative reign of Harald in near-contemporary sources is Haraldr Gormsson (d. c. 985/986), who is claimed to be the king not only of Denmark but also Norway on the Jelling stones. The account of Norway provided by Ohthere to the court of Alfred the Great and the history by Adam of Bremen written in 1075 record no King of Norway for the relevant period. Though an argument from silence, in a period where there are few written sources for Norway, this means there is no contemporary support for the claims of later sagas about Harald Fairhair. Although sagas have Erik Bloodaxe, who does seem partly to correspond to a historical figure, as the son of Harald Fairhair, no independent evidence supports this genealogical connection. Likewise, William of Malmesbury does have a Norwegian king called Haraldus visit King Æthelstan of England (d. 939), which chimes with later saga-traditions in which Harald Fairhair fostered a son, Hákon Aðalsteinsfóstri, on Æthelstan.[8] But William is a late source and Harald a far from uncommon name for a Scandinavian character.[9]
- Although Harald Fairhair appears in diverse Icelandic sagas, few if any of these are independent sources. It is plausible that all these were participating in a shared textual tradition begun by the earliest Icelandic prose account of Harald, Ari Þorgilsson's Íslendingabók. Dating from the early twelfth century, this was written over 250 years after Harald's supposed death.[9]
- The saga evidence is potentially pre-dated by two skaldic poems, Haraldskvæði and Glymdrápa, which have been attributed to Þorbjörn Hornklofi or alternatively (in the case of the first poem) to Þjóðólfr of Hvinir. Although only preserved in thirteenth-century Kings' sagas, they might have been transmitted orally (as the sagas claim) from the tenth century. The first describes life at Harald's court, mentions that he took a Danish wife, and that he won a battle at Hafrsfjord. The second poem relates a series of battles Harald won.[10] However, the information supplied in these poems is inconsistent with the tales in the sagas in which they are transmitted, and the sagas themselves often disagree on the details of his background and biography;[11] meanwhile, the most reliable manuscripts of Haraldskvæði call the poem's honorand Haraldr Hálfdanarson rather than Haraldr hárfagri. All the poems clearly show is that there was once a king called Haraldr (inn hárfagri).[9]
- Sources from the British Isles which are independent of the Icelandic saga-tradition (and partly of each other), and are mostly earlier than the sagas, do attest to a king whose name corresponds to the Old Norse name Haraldr inn hárfagri—but they use this name of the well attested Haraldr Sigurðarson (d. 1066, often known in modern English as Harald Hardrada). These sources include manuscript D of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ('Harold Harfagera', under the year 1066) and the related histories by Orderic Vitalis ('Harafagh', re events in 1066) and John of Worcester ('Harvagra', s.aa. 1066 and 1098); Marianus Scotus of Mainz (d. 1082/1083); and the Life of Gruffydd ap Cynan ('Haralld Harfagyr', later twelfth century, though this may refer to two different kings by this name).[12][13]
Thus the Icelandic saga-tradition of Harald Fair-Hair can be seen as part of an origin myth created to explain the settlement of Iceland, perhaps in which a cognomen of Haraldr Sigurðarson was transferred to a fictitious early king of all Norway.[14]
Saga descriptions
In the Saga of Harald Fairhair in Heimskringla, which is the most elaborate although not the oldest or most reliable source to the life of Harald, it is written that Harald succeeded, on the death of his father Halfdan the Black Gudrödarson, to the sovereignty of several small, and somewhat scattered kingdoms in Vestfold, which had come into his father's hands through conquest and inheritance. His protector-regent was his mother's brother Guthorm.
The unification of Norway is something of a love story. It begins with a marriage proposal that resulted in rejection and scorn from Gyda, the daughter of Eirik, king of Hordaland. She said she refused to marry Harald "before he was king over all of Norway". Harald was therefore induced to take a vow not to cut nor comb his hair until he was sole king of Norway, and when he was justified in trimming it ten years later, he exchanged the epithet "Shockhead" or "Tanglehair" (Haraldr lúfa) for the one by which he is usually known.[a][15]
In 866, Harald made the first of a series of conquests over the many petty kingdoms which would compose all of Norway, including Värmland in Sweden, which had sworn allegiance to the Swedish saga-king Erik Eymundsson (whose historicity is not confirmed). In 872, after a great victory at Hafrsfjord near Stavanger, Harald found himself king over the whole country, ruling from his Kongsgård seats at Avaldsnes and Alrekstad. His realm was, however, threatened by dangers from without, as large numbers of his opponents had taken refuge, not only in Iceland, then recently discovered; but also in the Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, Hebrides Islands, Faroe Islands and the northern European mainland. However, his opponents' leaving was not entirely voluntary. Many Norwegian chieftains who were wealthy and respected posed a threat to Harald; therefore, they were subjected to much harassment from Harald, prompting them to vacate the land. At last, Harald was forced to make an expedition to the West, to clear the islands and the Scottish mainland of some Vikings who tried to hide there.[b][16]
The earliest narrative source which mentions Harald, the 12th century Íslendingabók notes that Iceland was settled during his lifetime. Harald is thus depicted as the prime cause of the Norse settlement of Iceland and beyond. Iceland was settled by "malcontents" from Norway, who resented Harald's claim of rights of taxation over lands, which the possessors appear to have previously held in absolute ownership.
There are several accounts of large feasting mead halls constructed for important feasts when Scandinavian royalty was invited. According to a legend recorded by Snorri Sturluson, in the Heimskringla, the late 9th-century Värmlandish chieftain Áki invited both the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair and the Swedish saga-king Erik Eymundsson, but had the Norwegian king stay in the newly constructed and sumptuous one, because he was the youngest one of the kings and the one who had the greatest prospects. The older Swedish king, on the other hand, had to stay in the old feasting hall. The Swedish king was so humiliated that he killed Áki.
Later life
According to the saga sources, the latter part of Harald's reign was disturbed by the strife of his many sons. The number of sons he left varies in the different saga accounts, from 11 to 20. Twelve of his sons are named as kings, two of them over the whole country. He gave them all the royal title and assigned lands to them, which they were to govern as his representatives; but this arrangement did not put an end to the discord, which continued into the next reign. When he grew old, Harald handed over the supreme power to his favourite son Eirik Bloodaxe, whom he intended to be his successor. Eirik I ruled side-by-side with his father when Harald was 80 years old. Harald died three years later due to age in approximately 933.
Harald Harfager was commonly stated to have been buried under a mound at Haugar by the Strait of Karmsund near the church in Haugesund, an area that later would be named the town and municipal Haugesund. The area near Karmsund was the traditional burial site for several early Norwegian rulers. The national monument of Haraldshaugen was raised in 1872, to commemorate the Battle of Hafrsfjord which is traditionally dated to 872.[17][18]
Issue
While the various sagas name anywhere from 11 to 20 sons of Harald in various contexts, the contemporary skaldic poem Hákonarmál says that Harald's son Haakon would meet only "eight brothers" when arriving in Valhalla, a place for slain warriors kings and Germanic heroes. Only the following five names of sons can be confirmed from skaldic poems (with saga claims in parenthesis), while the full number of sons remains unknown:[19]
- Eric Bloodaxe (by Ragnhild Eiriksdotter from Jutland, Denmark)
- Haakon the Good (by Tora Mosterstong from Moster, Sunnhordland, Norway)
- Ragnvald
- Bjørn (Bjørn Farmann?)
- Halvdan, possibly two by that name
According to Heimskringla
The full list of sons according to Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla:
Children with Åsa, daughter of Håkon Grjotgardsson, Earl of Lade:
- Guttorm Haraldsson, king of Rånrike
- Halvdan Kvite (Haraldssøn), king of Trondheim
- Halvdan Svarte (Haraldssøn), king of Trondheim
- Sigrød Haraldssøn, king of Trondheim
Children with Gyda Eiriksdottir:
- Ålov Årbot (Haraldsdøtter)
- Rørek Haraldssøn
- Sigtrygg Haraldssøn
- Frode Haraldssøn
- Torgils Haraldssøn – identified as "Thorgest" in the (dates not correct) Irish history
Children with Svanhild, daughter of Eystein Earl:
- Bjørn Farmann, king of Vestfold
- Olaf Haraldssøn Geirstadalf, king of Vingulmark, later also Vestfold
- Ragnar Rykkel
Children with Åshild, daughter of Ring Dagsson:
- Ring Haraldsson
- Dag Haraldsson
- Gudrød Skirja
- Ingegjerd Haraldsdotter
Children with Snøfrid, daughter of Svåse the Finn:
- Halfdan Halegg or "Long-leg", was executed with the Blood eagle ritual by Torf-Einarr detailed in the Orkneyinga saga and Heimskringla[20]
- Gudrød Ljome
- Ragnvald Rettilbeine
- Sigurd Rise
Other children:
- Ingebjørg Haraldsdotter
Ancestors from the sagas
Ancestry of Harald Fairhair | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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See also
In popular culture
- In the television show Vikings, a character broadly based on Harald appears in Season 4 as one of the main protagonists and is portrayed by Finnish actor Peter Franzén.
- The German power-metal band Rebellion has a song dedicated to Harald Fairhair, from the album Sagas of Iceland.
Explanatory notes
- ^ The historicity of the nickname and the anecdote around it is considered suspect by some scholars. Whaley 1993, pp. 122–123, citing Moe (1926), pp. 134–140.
- ^ According to Peter H. Sawyer, this expedition probably never took place, cf. "Harald Fairhair and the British Isles", in "Les Vikings et leurs civilisation", ed. R. Boyer (Paris, 1976), pp. 105–09
References
- ^ Claus Krag, 'Norge som odel i Harald Hårfagres ætt. Et møte med en gjenganger', Historisk tidskrift, 3 (1989), 288–302.
- ^ Alexandra Pesch, Brunaǫld, haugsǫld, kirkjuǫld: Untersuchungen zu den archäologisch uberprufbaren Aussagen in der Heimskringla des Snorri Sturluson (Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1996).
- ^ Judith Jesch, 'Norse Historical Traditions and Historia Gruffud vab Kenan: Magnus Berfoettr and Haraldr Harfagri', in Gruffudd ap Cynan: A Collaborative Biography, edited by K. L. Maund (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 117-47.
- ^ Shami Ghosh, Kings' Sagas and Norwegian History: Problems and Perspectives, The Northern World, 54 (Leiden: Brill, 2011), pp. 66-70.
- ^ Sverrir Jakobsson, 'Yfirstéttarmenning eða þjóðmenning? Um þjóðsögur og heimildargildi í íslenskum miðaldaritum', in Úr manna minnum: Greinar um íslenskar þjóðsögur, ed. by Baldur Hafstað og Haraldur Bessason (Reykjavík, 2002), pp. 449-61.
- ^ Cf. Clare Downham, "Eric Bloodaxe - axed? The Mystery of the Last Viking King of York", Mediaeval Scandinavia, 14 (2004), 51–77.
- ^ Sayaka Matsumoto, 'A Foundation Myth of Iceland: Reflections on the tradition of Haraldr hárfagri', 日本アイスランド学会会報 (2011), 30: 1-22.
- ^ Angela Marion Smith, 'King Æthelstan in the English, Continental and Scandinavian Traditions of the Tenth to the Thirteenth Centuries' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Leeds, 2014), pp. 255-73.
- ^ a b c Sverrir Jakobsson, 'Var Haraldur hárfagri bara uppspuni Snorra Sturlusonar?', Vísindavefurinn (25 September 2006).
- ^ Jakobsson 2002
- ^ Krag, Claus. "Harald 1 Hårfagre". Norsk biografisk leksikon. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
- ^ Judith Jesch, 'Norse Historical Traditions and Historia Gruffud vab Kenan: Magnus Berfoettr and Haraldr Harfagri', in Gruffudd ap Cynan: A Collaborative Biography, edited by K. L. Maund (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 117-47 (pp. 142-45).
- ^ Shami Ghosh, Kings' Sagas and Norwegian History: Problems and Perspectives, The Northern World, 54 (Leiden: Brill, 2011), pp. 66-70.
- ^ Sayaka Matsumoto, 'A Foundation Myth of Iceland: Reflections on the tradition of Haraldr hárfagri', 日本アイスランド学会会報 (2011), 30: 1-22.
- ^ Whaley, Diana (1993), "Nicknames and Narratives in the Sagas", Arkiv för nordisk filologi, 108: 122–23
- ^ "Harald Fairhair and the British Isles", in "Les Vikings et leurs civilisation", ed. R. Boyer (Paris, 1976), pp. 105–09
- ^ Heimskringla, by Snorri Sturluson
- ^ Heimskringla, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
- ^ Krag, Claus (1995). Vikingtid og rikssamling: 800–1130. pp. 92–95. ISBN 8203220150.
- ^ Hollander, Lee (1964). Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway (7th, 2009 ed.). Univ of Texas Press. p. 84. ISBN 9780292786967.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Harald". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Sources
- Viking Empires by Angelo Forte, Richard Oram and Frederik Pedersen (Cambridge University Press. June 2005)
- The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings Peter Sawyer, Editor (Oxford University Press, September 2001)
- Jakobsson, Sverrir, "Erindringen om en mægtig personlighed : den norsk-islandske historiske tradisjon om Harald Hårfagre i et kildekristisk perspektiv]," Historisk tidsskrift, 81 (2002), 213–30.
- Raffensperger, Christian, "Shared (Hi)Stories: Vladimir of Rus' and Harald Fairhair of Norway," The Russian Review, 68,4 (2009), 569-582.