1015 Births - Harald III of Norway, Michael V, Jayasimha II, Emperor Xingzong of Liao (Paperback)

Chapters: Harald Iii of Norway, Michael V, Jayasimha Ii, Emperor Xingzong of Liao. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 24. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Harald Sigurdsson (1015 September 25, 1066), later given the epithet Hardrada (Old Norse: Haraldr harri, roughly translated as "stern counsel" or "hard ruler", Hardrde in contemporary Norwegian) was the king of Norway from 1047 until 1066. He also claimed to be the King of Denmark until 1064, often defeating King Sweyn's army and forcing him to leave the country. Many details of his life were chronicled in the Heimskringla. Among English-speakers, he is generally remembered for his invasion of England in 1066. Harald's death is often recorded as the end of the Viking Age. Harald was the youngest of King Olaf II's three half-brothers born to sta Gudbrandsdatter. His father was sta's second husband Sigurd Syr. Harald took part, on the side of Olaf, in the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030. Although wounded, he managed to escape, leaving Norway in exile. He was able to form a band of warriors out of men who had also been exiled as a result of Olaf's death. In 1031 Harald and his men reached the land of the Kievan Rus, where they served the armies of Yaroslav I the Wise, the Grand Prince of the Rus, whose wife Ingigerd was a distant relative of Harald. Harald is thought to have taken part in Grand Prince Yaroslav's campaign against the Poles, and was appointed joint commander of defense forces. Sometime after this, Harald and his retinue of some five hundred warriors moved on to Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire, where there had been at least since 1034 an elite royal guard composed largely of Scandinavian Rus and called the Varangian Guard. Harald served in the guard until 1042. In a Greek book written in the 1070s, Keka...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=66054