Vikings: A Concise History of the Vikings by Freeman Henry

Author:Freeman, Henry [Freeman, Henry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hourly History
Published: 2016-04-09T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

The End of the Viking Age

When Harald Hadrada returned to Norway in 1045 it was a land torn asunder. The once great and powerful ruler King Cnut had died ten years before and the management of the Kingdom had passed into the hands of the deceased King Olaf’s bastard son, “Magnus the Good”. Olaf was Harald Harada’s half-brother that had died in battle 15 years before, during the event that had exiled Harald in the first place.

When Harada had arrived in Norway in the midst of all of this political intrigue he was certain that his claim to the throne as Olaf’s half-brother was stronger than any claim Olaf’s illegitimate children may have had. He set out to stake his claim and the tensions of Norway’s political climate grew even more turbulent as a result - so much so in fact that Norway was soon on the verge of civil war between the two factions.

Ultimately the cooler head of Magnus prevailed. In order to prevent a cataclysmic conflict, he entered into agreement with Harald Hadrada to share the Kingdom with him in exchange for a large amount of Harald’s wealth. Apparently desiring power much more than his money, Harald readily agreed to this substantially large pay out that Magnus the Good had requested; in this way the shedding of blood was avoided.

Harald supposedly handed over half of his wealth to him, but historians are not quite sure if it was a check that Magnus was ever able to cash. As fate would have it, less than a year later after striking this deal, Magnus was dead. It would be easy to jump to the conclusion that Harald Hadrada had Magnus disposed of somehow in order to consolidate all of the Norwegian kingdom under his control, but the truth is no one knows for sure what happened to Magnus the Good, and probably never will.

What we do know is that immediately after the death of Magnus, Harald Harada, whose very last name means “Hard Rule”, set out to live up to that title by brutally crushing his opposition and spending the next 15 years trying to expand his territory by conquering Denmark. This is a major turning point that began the historic march toward the end of the Viking Age.

In all the years previous the three main Viking powers of Norway, Denmark and Sweden were content to divide the spoils of the world between each other without too much conflict, but by the time of Harald Harada’s “Hard Rule” they were at each other’s’ throats. By the year 1065 at the age of 50 Harald Harada - known whimsically as the “Last Viking” - would set the ball in motion that would lead to the end of the Viking Age.

In 1065 it was Britain’s turn to face political turmoil when King Edward the Confessor died suddenly without an heir to the throne. Due to this political vacuum that was created, three men rose up to claim the right to lead England.

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