Editing Harald Hardrada (section)

==King of Norway==

===Return to Scandinavia===
Seeking to regain for himself the kingdom lost by his half-brother Olaf Haraldsson,<ref name="DVp39"/> Harald began his journey westwards in early 1045, departing from [[Novgorod]] (''Holmgard'') to Staraya Ladoga (''Aldeigjuborg'') where he obtained a ship. His journey went through [[Lake Ladoga]], down the [[Neva River]], and then into the [[Gulf of Finland]] and the [[Baltic Sea]]. He arrived in [[Sigtuna]] in Sweden, probably at the end of 1045<ref>Tjønn (2010) p. 83</ref> or in early 1046.<ref name="DVp39"/> When he arrived in Sweden, according to the skald Tjodolv Arnorsson, his ship was unbalanced by its heavy load of gold.<ref name="SNL"/> In Harald's absence, the throne of Norway had been restored to [[Magnus the Good]], an illegitimate son of Olaf. Harald may actually have known this, and it could have been the reason why Harald wanted to return to Norway in the first place.{{sfn|Blöndal|2007| pp=96}} Since Cnut the Great's sons - [[Harthacnut]] and [[Harold Harefoot]] - had abandoned Norway, Magnus's position as king had been secured. No domestic threats or insurrections are recorded to have occurred during his eleven-year reign.<ref name="DeVries 1999 p. 40">DeVries (1999) p. 40</ref> After the death of Harthacnut left the Danish throne vacant, Magnus was also elected king of Denmark, and managed to defeat the Danish royal pretender [[Sweyn II of Denmark|Sweyn Estridsson]].<ref>DeVries (1999) pp. 40–41</ref>
[[File:Magnus Harald.png|thumb|right|Coin with the legend "MAHNUS ARALD REX". Generally held to date from Magnus and Harald's short co-rule,<ref name="Apollon"/> depicting Magnus who had precedence,{{sfn|Schive|1865|pp=24}} but also speculated as Harald's alone, with Magnus an epithet adopted after his death.{{sfn|Skaare|1995|pp= 46}}]]
Having heard of Sweyn's defeat, Harald met up with him as well as with the Swedish king [[Anund Jacob]],<ref name="SNL"/> and the three joined forces against Magnus. Their first military exploit consisted of raiding the Danish coast.{{sfn|Thunberg|2012| pp=39–40}} The purpose of that was to impress the natives by demonstrating that Magnus offered them no protection, and thus leading them to submit to Harald and Sweyn. Learning about their actions, Magnus knew that their next target would be Norway.<ref>DeVries (1999) p. 42</ref> Harald may have planned to be taken as king of his father's petty kingdom, and thereafter claim the rest of the country.<ref name="Tjønn94">Tjønn (2010) p. 94</ref> In any case, the people were unwilling to turn against Magnus, and on hearing news of Harald's schemes, Magnus (abroad at the time) went home to Norway with his entire army.<ref name="Tjønn94"/> Instead of going to war, Magnus's advisors recommended the young king not fight his uncle, and a compromise was reached in 1046 in which Harald would rule Norway (not Denmark) jointly with Magnus (although Magnus would have precedence). Notably, Harald also had to agree to share half of his wealth with Magnus, who at the time was badly in need of funds. During their short co-rule, Harald and Magnus had separate courts and kept to themselves, and their only recorded meetings nearly ended in physical clashes.<ref>DeVries (1999) pp. 43–45</ref><ref>Tjønn (2010) pp. 95–102</ref>

In 1047, Magnus and Harald went to Denmark with their [[leidang]] forces. Later that year in [[Jylland]], less than a year into their co-rule, Magnus died without an heir. Before his death, he had decided that Sweyn was to inherit Denmark and Harald to inherit Norway.<ref>Tjønn (2010) pp. 102–103</ref> On hearing the news of Magnus's death, Harald quickly gathered the local leaders in Norway and, declaring himself king of Norway as well as of Denmark,<ref>DeVries (1999) pp. 45–46</ref>  prepared ousting his former ally from the Denmark. However, the army and the chieftains, headed by [[Einar Thambarskelfir]], opposed any plans of invading Denmark. Although Harald himself objected to bringing the body of Magnus back to Norway, the Norwegian army prepared to transport his body to [[Nidaros]] (now [[Trondheim]]), where they buried him next to Saint Olaf in late 1047.<ref name="Tjønn103">Tjønn (2010) p. 103</ref><ref>DeVries (1999) p. 57</ref> Einar, an opponent of Harald, claimed that "to follow Magnus dead was better than to follow any other king alive".<ref name="Tjønn103"/>

Under Harald's rule, Norway introduced a royal monopoly on the minting of coins.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Bagge|first=Sverre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFJNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|title=Cross and Scepter: The Rise of the Scandinavian Kingdoms from the Vikings to the Reformation|date=2014|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-5010-5|pages=126–127|language=en}}</ref> The coins minted under Harald's rule appear to have been accepted as a commonly used currency (as opposed to continued use of primarily foreign-minted coins).<ref name=":0" /> Minting of coins likely provided a substantial part of Harald's annual revenues.<ref name=":0" /> Minting of coinage collapsed in Norway in the late 14th century.<ref name=":0" />

===Invasions of Denmark===
Harald also wanted to re-establish Magnus's rule over Denmark,<ref name="SNL"/> and in the long term probably sought to restore Cnut the Great's "[[North Sea Empire]]" in its entirety.{{sfn|Moseng|1999|pp= 81}} While his first proposal to invade Denmark fell through, the next year Harald embarked on what would turn into constant warfare against Sweyn, from 1048 almost yearly until 1064. Similar to his campaigns (then together with Sweyn) against Magnus's rule in Denmark, most of his campaigns against Sweyn consisted of swift and violent raids on the Danish coasts. In 1048, he plundered [[Jutland]], and in 1049 he pillaged and burned [[Hedeby]], at the time the most important Danish trade center, and one of the best protected and most populous towns in Scandinavia.<ref>DeVries (1999) pp. 56–58</ref> Hedeby as a civil town never recovered from Harald's destruction, and was left completely desolate when what remained was looted by [[Slavic peoples|Slavic tribes]] in 1066.<ref>Hjardar & Vike (2011) p. 118</ref> One of two conventional battles was set to be fought between the two kings later the same year, but, according to [[Saxo Grammaticus]], Sweyn's smaller army was so frightened when approached by the Norwegians that they chose to jump in the water trying to escape; most drowned. Although Harald was victorious in most of the engagements, he was never successful in occupying Denmark.<ref>DeVries (1999) pp. 59–60</ref>
[[File:Triquetra-Münze 03.png|thumb|left|[[Penny]] minted by Harald, with a [[triquetra]] on the obverse, used both by Christians and in [[Norse paganism]].<ref name="Apollon">{{Cite web|url=http://www.apollon.uio.no/artikler/2007/mynter.html|publisher=University of Oslo|work=Forskningsmagasinet Apollon|title=Omfattende myntindustri på 1000-tallet|author=Vogt, Yngve|date=6 December 2007|access-date=18 September 2012|language=no}}</ref> It was used on coins in Denmark by Cnut the Great and his sons,{{efn|name=triquetra}} and Harald probably adopted it as part of his claim to the Danish throne.{{sfn|Skaare|1995|pp=47–48}}<ref>{{Cite book|page=280|title=Norges historie: andet binds første del tidsrummet 1030–1103|author1=Hertzberg, Ebbe |author2=Bugge, Alexander|year=1915|publisher=Aschehoug|location=Kristiania}}</ref>]]

The second, more significant battle, a naval encounter, was the [[Battle of Niså]] on 9 August 1062. As Harald had not been able to conquer Denmark despite his raids, he wanted to win a decisive victory over Sweyn. He eventually set out from Norway with a great army and a fleet of around 300 ships. Sweyn had also prepared for the battle, which had been preassigned a time and place. Sweyn did not appear at the agreed time, and Harald thus sent home his non-professional soldiers (''bóndaherrinn''), which had made up half of his forces. When the dismissed ships were out of reach, Sweyn's fleet finally appeared, possibly also with 300 ships. The battle resulted in great bloodshed as Harald defeated the Danes (70 Danish ships were reportedly left "empty"), but many ships and men managed to escape, including Sweyn.<ref>DeVries (1999) pp. 61–65</ref> During the battle, Harald actively shot with his bow, like most others in the early phase of the battle.<ref>Hjardar & Vike (2011) p. 83</ref>

Fatigue and the huge cost of the indecisive battles eventually led Harald to seek peace with Sweyn, and in 1064 (or 1065 according to ''Morkinskinna'') the two kings agreed on an unconditional peace agreement.<ref>DeVries (1999) p. 66</ref> By the agreement, they retained their respective kingdoms with the former boundaries, and there would be no payments of reparations. In the subsequent winter of 1065, Harald travelled through his realm and accused the farmers of withholding taxes from him. In response, he acted with brutality, and had people maimed and killed as a warning to those who disobeyed him.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Norse Warfare: The Unconventional Battle Strategies of the Ancient Vikings|author=Sprague, Martina|publisher=Hippocrene Books|year=2007|page=[https://archive.org/details/norsewarfareunco0000spra/page/302 302]|isbn=978-0-7818-1176-7|url=https://archive.org/details/norsewarfareunco0000spra/page/302}}</ref> Harald maintained control of his nation through the use of his [[hird]], a private standing army maintained by Norwegian lords. Harald's contribution to the strengthening of Norway's monarchy was the enforcement of a policy that only the king could retain a hird, thus centralising power away from local warlords.<ref>Popperwell, Ronald G., ''Norway'' (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1972), p. 79. {{ISBN?}}</ref>

===Domestic opposition===
According to historian [[Knut Helle]], Harald completed the first phase of what he has termed the "national territorial unification of Norway".<ref name="Moseng79">Moseng et al. (2019) p. 79</ref> Having forced his way to the kingship, Harald would have to convince the aristocracy that he was the right person to rule Norway alone. To establish domestic alliances, he married [[Tora Torbergsdatter]] of one of the most powerful Norwegian families.<ref>Tjønn (2010) pp. 104–106</ref> The primary opposition to Harald's rule would be the descendants of [[Haakon Sigurdsson]], from the powerful dynasty of [[Earls of Lade]] who had controlled [[Northern Norway]] and [[Trøndelag]] with much autonomy under the Norwegian king. Haakon had even ruled the whole of Norway (nominally under the Danish king) from 975 until 995, when he was killed during the takeover by [[Olaf I of Norway|Olaf Tryggvasson]]. Even after Haakon's death, his offspring held a certain degree of sovereignty in the north, and by Harald's early reign the family was headed by [[Einar Tambarskjelvar|Einar Thambarskelfir]], who was married to Haakon's daughter. While the family had maintained good relations with Magnus, Harald's absolutism and consolidation of the kingship soon led to conflict with Einar.<ref>DeVries (1999) pp. 51–52</ref><ref>Tjønn (2010) p. 115</ref>

It was from his power-struggle with the Norwegian aristocracy that Harald got himself the reputation that gave him the nickname "Hardrada", or "the hard ruler".<ref>Tjønn (2010) p. 114</ref> Although the relationship between Harald and Einar was poor from the start, confrontation did not occur before Harald went north to his court in Nidaros. One time in Nidaros, Einar arrived at Harald's court, and in a display of power was accompanied by "eight or nine longships and almost five hundred men", obviously seeking confrontation. Harald was not provoked by the incident. Although the sources differ on the circumstances, the next event nonetheless led to the murder of Einar by Harald's men, which threatened to throw Norway into a state of civil war. Although the remaining descendants of Haakon Sigurdsson considered rebellion against the king, Harald eventually managed to negotiate peace with them, and secured the family's submission for the remainder of his reign.<ref>DeVries (1999) pp. 52–56</ref><ref>Tjønn (2010) pp. 115–120</ref> By the death of Einar and his son around 1050, the Earls of Lade had outplayed their role as a base of opposition, and Trøndelag was definitely subordinated to Harald's national kingdom.<ref name="Moseng79"/>

Before the Battle of Niså, Harald had been joined by [[Haakon Ivarsson]], who distinguished himself in the battle and gained Harald's favour. Harald reportedly even considered giving Haakon the title of Earl, and Haakon was greatly upset when Harald later backed down from his promise. With a strong hold over the Uplands, Haakon was additionally given the earldom of [[Värmland]] by the Swedish king [[Stenkil]]. In early 1064, Haakon entered the Uplands and collected their taxes, the region thus effectively threatened to renounce their loyalty to Harald in response. The revolt of Haakon and the farmers in the Uplands may have been the main reason why Harald finally had been willing to enter a peace agreement with Sweyn Estridsson. After the agreement, Harald went to Oslo and sent tax collectors to the Uplands, only to find that the farmers would withhold their taxes until Haakon arrived. In response, Harald entered Sweden with an army and quickly defeated Haakon.<ref>Tjønn (2010) pp. 144–153</ref> Still facing opposition from the farmers, Harald embarked on a campaign to crush the areas that had withheld their taxes. Due to the remote location of the region in the interior of the country, the Uplands had never been an integrated part of the Norwegian king's realm. Using harsh measures, Harald burned down farms and small villages, and had people maimed and killed. Starting in [[Romerike]], his campaign continued into [[Hedmark]], [[Hadeland]] and Ringerike. Since the regions contained several rich rural communities, Harald strengthened his economic position by confiscating farming estates.<ref name="Moseng79"/><ref>Tjønn (2010) pp. 153–155</ref> By the end of 1065 there was probably peace in Norway, as any opposition had either been killed, chased into exile or silenced.<ref>Tjønn (2010) p. 155</ref>

===Policies===
Harald's reign was marked by his background as a military commander, as he often solved disputes with a brute force. One of his [[skald]]s even boasted about how Harald broke settlements he had made, in his battles in the Mediterranean.<ref name="SNL"/> While the sagas largely focus on Harald's war with Sweyn and the invasion of England, little is said about his domestic policies. Modern historians have taken this as a sign that, despite his [[absolute monarchy]], his reign was one of peace and progress for Norway. Harald is considered to have instituted good economic policies, as he developed a Norwegian currency and a viable coin economy, which in turn allowed Norway to participate in international trade. He initiated trade with Kievan Rus' and the Byzantine Empire through his connections, as well as with Scotland and Ireland.<ref>DeVries (1999) pp. 46–47</ref> According to the later sagas, Harald founded [[Oslo]], where he spent much time.<ref name="SNL"/>

Harald also continued to advance Christianity in Norway, and archaeological excavations show that churches were built and improved during his reign. He also imported bishops, priests and monks from abroad, especially from Kievan Rus' and the Byzantine Empire. A slightly different form of Christianity was thus introduced in Norway from the rest of northern Europe.{{Sfn|Jakobsson|2008}}
Harald's misusing funds from the pilgrimage to Nidaros as well as his bringing bishops to the country who were either not consecrated in France and England or not consecrated at all, brought him into conflict with Archbishop [[Adalbert of Hamburg-Bremen]]. When the Archbishop's legates protested, Harald reportedly responded that "he did not know of any other archbishop or lord of Norway than the king himself".<ref name="SNL"/><ref name="DeVries 1999 pp. 47–48">DeVries (1999) pp. 47–48</ref> Norwegian historian [[Halvdan Koht]] has remarked that the "words seemed as if spoken by a Byzantine despot".<ref name="SNL"/> It is possible that Harald maintained contacts with Byzantine emperors after he became king, which could suggest a background for his church policies.<ref>Bagge (1990) pp. 176–177</ref>

===Northern explorations===
Once he had returned to Norway, Harald seems to have displayed an interest in exploring his own realm, as for instance the ''[[Morkinskinna]]'' recounts Harald's trip into the Uplands. Harald is also said to have explored the seas beyond his kingdom, as the contemporary [[Adam of Bremen]] reports of such naval expeditions conducted by Harald:<ref name="DeVries49">DeVries (1999) p. 49</ref>

{{blockquote|The most enterprising Prince Haraldr of the Norwegians lately attempted this [sea]. Who, having searched thoroughly the length of the northern ocean in ships, finally had before his eyes the dark failing boundaries of the savage world, and, by retracing his steps, with difficulty barely escaped the deep abyss in safety.|author=Adam of Bremen, ''[[Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum]]'', 4. XXXIX}}

[[Kelly DeVries]] has suggested that Harald "may even have known of and sought out the legendary land called [[Vinland]], which Viking sailors had discovered only a short time before", which Adam mentions earlier in the same passage to have been widely reported in Denmark and Norway.<ref name="DeVries49"/> H. H. Lamb has on the other hand proposed that the land he reached may have been either [[Spitsbergen]] or [[Novaya Zemlya]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Climate, History, and the Modern World|author=Lamb, H.H.|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=1982|isbn=978-0-416-33440-1|page=165}}</ref>