58 Facts About Harald Fairhair

Supposedly, two of his sons, Eric Bloodaxe and Haakon the Good, succeeded Harald to become kings after his death.

Harald Fairhair's life is described in several of the Kings' sagas, none of them older than the twelfth century.

Since the nineteenth century, when Norway was in a personal union with Sweden, Harald Fairhair has become a national icon of Norway and a symbol of independence.

At the turn of the 21st century, a few historians have tried to argue that Harald Fairhair did not exist as a historical figure.

However, Peter Sawyer began to cast doubt on this in 1976, and 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.

Harald Fairhair has suggested that the legend of Harald Fairhair developed in the twelfth century to enable Norwegian kings, who were then promoting the idea of primogeniture over the older custom of agnatic succession, to claim that their ancestors had had a right to Norway by lineal descent from the country's supposed first king.

One possibility advanced is that Harald Fairhair was based on a historical king called Harald, perhaps known as "harfagri", who ruled Vestlandet.

The legend of this Harald Fairhair later grew into the figure of medieval tradition.

In 2015, Hans Jacob Orning, building on then-recent archaeology and Krag's work, argued that Harald Fairhair was based in Sogn, an area which the medieval Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson associated with Harald Fairhair, and which was a centre of power in the ninth century.

Krag points of that Othere describes Viken as Danish territory and Hrafnsmal's description of the battle of Hafrsfjord suggest that Harald Fairhair was attacked by "eastern" enemies that were routed and fled back east.

Harald Fairhair proposes that the battle was not part of a war of conquest but Harald defending his own territory from invaders.

Harald Fairhair is mentioned in several sagas, some which quotes supposedly older skaldic poetry.

The bulk of the poem seems to describe the Battle of Hafrsfjord, were Harald Fairhair faced off against Kjotve the Rich and Haklang.

Harald Fairhair is thus depicted as the prime cause of the Norse settlement of Iceland and beyond.

Harald Fairhair is here described as the great-grandson of Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye through his daughter Aslaug, her son Sigurd Hart and his daughter Ragnhild.

The text describes Halfdan the Black's death by going through the ice on Randsfjorden, a story told by Snorri in Heimskringla, and that Harald Fairhair became king afterwards.

Harald Fairhair is said to have taken control of Sogn from Atli jarl due to him never paying taxes.

Harald Fairhair is described to as having waged wars for 10 years before having conquered all of Norway.

Harald Fairhair is described as having died three years after their marriage with Harald mourning for her, but the people mourning for him, considering him bewitched.

Eirik is said to have succeeded Harald Fairhair, ruling for five years, with two as a co-ruler with his father.

Harald Fairhair's rule is said to have lasted for 73 years and his nickname derived from his beautiful hair.

Notably, Harald Fairhair is here described as being the first to rule the entire coastal region of Norway, as opposed to all of Norway.

Halfdan's first Harald Fairhair inherited Sogn after the death of Harald Fairhair Goldbeard, and then died himself.

The story is repeated by Snorri in Heimskringla and suggests two conflicting stories of Harald Fairhair's ancestry being combined into one.

Harald Fairhair is said to have inherited Halfdan's lands at a young age after the king drowned in the lake Rond in Rykinsvik.

Harald Fairhair appointed Atli the Slender as jarl of Fjaler, but that the two fell out.

Harald Fairhair proclaimed he would not cut his hair until having become overlord of Norway and earning tribute from every inland valley and outlying headland, earning him the nickname "Lufa", shockhead.

Harald Fairhair said to have fought many battles, including a decisive battle in Hafrfjord against Kjotve the Rich and Haklang.

Harald Fairhair named Eirik his heir and died in Rogaland from old age and was buried in Haugesund.

Harald Fairhair is described as the descendant of the Yngling-dynasty, whose history is described earlier in the work.

Harald Fairhair said she refused to marry Harald "before he was king over all of Norway".

In 866, Harald Fairhair made the first of a series of conquests over the many petty kingdoms which would compose all of Norway, including Varmland in Sweden, which had sworn allegiance to the Swedish saga-king Erik Eymundsson.

The taxes demanded by Harald Fairhair were much higher than other kings and a third of the revenues where given to his jarls.

One of these was Hakon Grjotgardsson of Trondheim who allied with Harald Fairhair and married off his daughter Asa to him.

Harald Fairhair established the royal estate of Hlade in Trondheim and Hakon became the first of the Earls of Lade, a family which would be one of the dominating forces in Norway for the next 150 years.

In 872, after a great victory at Hafrsfjord near Stavanger against Kjotve the Rich, Harald Fairhair found himself king over the whole country, ruling from his Kongsgard seats at Avaldsnes and Alrekstad.

Harald Fairhair's realm was threatened by dangers from without, as large numbers of his opponents had taken refuge, not only in Iceland, then recently discovered; but in the Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, Hebrides Islands, Faroe Islands and the northern European mainland.

At last, Harald Fairhair 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.

Harald Fairhair is said to have divorced Asa and rejected Gyda and several other concubines to marry a Jutish princess called Ragnhild the Mighty.

When Ragnvald did not listen Harald Fairhair sent Eirik Bloodaxe to murder him.

Harald Fairhair drove Erik Eymundsson out of Varmland and inserted Aki's son Ubbi as jarl.

Harald Fairhair is then said to have made a punitive raid into Vastra Gotaland, to weaken Erik Eymundsson.

Harald Fairhair is said to have first conquered the Uplands and then taken Trondheim and become overlord over the thronds.

Harald Fairhair accepted Hrollaug's surrender and allowed him to rule Namdalen in his name.

Harald Fairhair is supposed to have confiscated massive amounts of private property and made many previously free farmers his thralls.

Harald Fairhair's mother is said to have been Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter, who according to the saga was the great granddaughter of Sigurd through her mother Inibjorg and he grandmother Aslaug.

Hakon's son Sigurd Haakonsson advised Harald Fairhair to kill Atli's son Hallstein which lead to Hallstein's exile in Iceland.

Harald Fairhair is here given the otherwise unknown nickname "Dofrafostri".

Harald Fairhair 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 Fairhair 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 Fairhair was 80 years old.

Harald Fairhair died three years later due to old age in approximately 933.

Harald Fairhair 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.

Harald Fairhair became an important figure in Norwegian nationalism in the nineteenth century, during its struggle for independence from Sweden, when he served as 'a heroic narrative character disseminating a foundation story of Norway becoming an independent nation'.

The claim to Harald Fairhair has become important to the development of the tourism industry of Haugesund and its region:.

Today, King Harald Fairhair is associated with several archaeological sites where modern monuments and theme parks are constructed and where various commemorative practices are being performed.

The Viking hero Harald Fairhair has become part of a vital re-enactment culture, which is evident in, among other things, a memorial park in central Haugesund with the erection of a statue of Harald Fairhair.

In 2013, commercially led archaeological excavations at Avaldsnes began with the explicit intention of developing the local heritage industry in relation to the Harald Fairhair brand, provoking a prominent debate in Norway over the appropriate handling of archaeological heritage.