ALL THE SONS OF HARALD FAIRHAIR
King Haraldr had many wives and many children- Haralds Saga – and a Carruthers ancestor.
Harald Fairhair, the legendary ruler of Norway who succeeded for the first time in uniting all the petty fiefdoms of his nation, inherited his father’s kingdom at a young age and proceeded to live an extraordinarily long and active life. During his time as a good looking adult with famously beautiful hairlocks, he wooed women from all different regions of Norway and produced many children accordingly,
.Although he cannot compete in importance with his Danish contemporary Ragnar Lodbrok, the list of his descendants is equally long and impressive. It includes among others, Ivan the Terrible of Russia, the Sun King Louis XIV of France and, via the House of Sachsen-Billung, our own Leopold II of Belgium.
Halfdan the Black handing over his kingdom to Harald ca. AD 860
Spouse no. 1 Ása Haakonsdotter
In Chapter IX of his Heimskringla text, the Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, mentions that Harald eventually settled in Trondheim , which heal ways called his home, and where he built a very large establishment called Hladir (now Lade). That is where he met Aasa, the daughter of the important Jarl Haakon “the Rich” Grjotgardsson, who had nominal control over Trondelag and Halogaland.
Harald and Hakon came to an agreement dividing Norway between them except for the completely unruly Vestland. This first (political) marriage produced four sons, listed byname by Snorri In chapter XVII of the Heimskringla text:
“Then he began to have children. Harald and Àsa had these sons : Guthorm was the eldest, Halfdan svarti (the Black), Halfdan hviti (the White)–they were twins– the fourth Sigfròdr. They were all brought up in Trondheim in great honour”
Then Harald went after the Vikings of Vestland in Hafrsfjord whom hedefeated in a great naval battle in AD 872.
It is probably not a coincidence that the Viking Rollo, who was presumably born at Maere and who was a contemporary of Harald Fairhair, immediately after 872 what is since called Normandy. Many other Vikings, who did not want to be subjected to Harald, followed him there.
Image of the great battle of Hafrsfjord in 872
We can safely assume that Harald’s four children with Aasa were all born between the naval battles of 865 and 872.
Guthorm (865-895) Halvdan svarte ( (868-932)Halvdan hvite (868-925) Sigfrodr(872-?)
The eldest son Guthorm was named after Halfdan the Black’s best friend and right arm, Duke Guthorm, who took young Fairhair under his wings when he inherited the kingdom at the age of ten. After Duke Guthorm died of sickness ca. 890, Harald made his own son Guthorm king over Raanrike, which he had wrested from the Swedes, and gave him the responsibility of defending this south east region of Norway against his neighbor. However, Guthorm fell in a later fierce battle with the sea-king Solve Klove in 895, whose own father had been killed by Harald at the First Battle of Solskjel.
HalfdanII “the Black” (named after his grandfather) later inherited the kingdom of Tróndelag. He may therefore have considered himself the rightful successor to his father as the king of whole Norway and must have been disappointed when Harald gave preference to the younger son Eric.
Halfdan III “the White”, shared Trondelag with his darker twin brother. He
fell in Eist land in 925, i.e. ten years before Harald’s death.
Sigfròdr is not mentioned again. We do not know what happened to him.
Spouse no. 2 Svanhild Eysteinsdotter of Heidmark
After defeating the Vikings of Vestland, Harald turned his attention to Vestfold in Östland.Svanhild was the daughter of Eystein “the Noisy ” of Vestfold, who was also the grandfather of the before mentioned Rollo, the founder of Normandy. She was probably also chosen for political reasons.
Image of Eystein “Glumra” the Noisy Svanhild provided Harald Fairhair with three additional sons:
Olaf “Geirstadaalfer” Björn”formann” Ragnar“rykkill”
(Elf of Geirstadir) (the merchant) (the Snatcher)
(870- 932) (875- 932) (878-932)
Svanhild possibly also died young because nothing is heard of her after 880. Björn the Merchent would later succeed his grandfather Eystein asking of Vestfold, and his brother Olaf succeeded him after his death ,while Sigurd inherited Trondheim from his father.
Spouse no. 3 Gyda Eiriksdotter of Hardaland
Around AD 870, when Harald was approaching the age of twenty, he started thinking of taking a young mistress. This was probably before his marriage with Asa. Harald had heard of beautiful Gyda, the daughter of king Eirik of Hardaland, who was being fostered in Valdres and he sent his men to fetch her.
However, she sent them back with the message that she would not sacrifice her virginity to take as husband a king who had no more of a realm than a few districts to administer. She might only agree to be his wife if he would first subject the whole of Norway.
This seems to have had a stimulating effect on Harald who swore to God not to cut or comb his fancy hair until he became ruler over all of Norway. It would take him another ten years to fulfill this ambition, but when he had completed his project, he remembered beautiful but proud Gyda. So tells Snorri in chapter XX of Heimskringla:
King Haraldr had now become sole ruler of all Norway. Then he called to mind what that proud girl had said to him. He then sent men for her and had her brought to him and made her his mistress. That were their children :
Hroerekr Sigtrygg Frodi Torgils
(880- 932) (882-932) (885-938) (890-932)
All four sons were born in Bergen, but both Frodi and Torgils are said tohave died in Dublin.
Spouse no. 4 Snaefrid“ Snowfair ” Svasisdotter the Finn
In chapter XXV of Heimskringla, Snorri recounts the following story:
King Haraldr went one winter to attend banquets through Uppland and had a Yule banquet prepared for himself in Poptor. One Yule-eve Svási came to the door while the king was sitting at table, and sent the king a message that he was to come out to him.The King went out reluctantly and agreed to go to his home with him.
There Svasi’s daughter Snaefridr, a most beautiful woman, rose and served the king a goblet full of mead, and he took all into his grasp, including her hand, and it was immediately as if a fiery heat came into his flesh, and he wanted to have her straight away that night. But Svasi said that it should not be unless the king betrothed himself to Snaefridr and married her and got her lawfully. And the king betrothed himself to Snaefridr and married her and loved her so madly that his kingdom and all his duties he then neglected. They had four sons :
Sigurd “hrsi” Halvdan”hàleggr” Gudród“ljami” Ragnvald“rettilbeini”
(the Grey) (long legs) “Gleam” (Straightleg)
(890-937) (891-?) (893-?) (895-?)
Then Snaefrid died and according to Snorri, Harald was inconsolable and sat over her continually hoping that she would return to life.Sigurd later became king of Hadafylke and was the ancestor of other notable kings, such as Harald Hardraade, who ruled Norway successfully from 1046 to 1066, but failed in his attempt to invade England just before William the Conqueror made his own landing at Hastings.
Spouse no. 5 Ragnhild “the Mighty” of Jutland”
(Jutland and Gutland were one in the same)
Ragnhild was born ca. 880 as daughter of King Eirik of Jutland and would bear Harald’s
most notorious son Eric (900-954) upon whom posterity bestowed the epithet “Bloodaxe”,
presumably because he proceeded to eliminate his half-brothers in order to obtain the succession.
However, careful reading of Snorri’s Chapters 41-43reveals a different story:
King Harald was now 80 years of age; he now became so infirm that he felt he could not travel by land or manage the royal affairs. Then he took his son Eric to his high seat and gave him rule over the whole country. But when King Harold’s other sons heard about this, the Halfdan sorti set himself on the king’s high seat.
He then took the whole of Trondheim to rule over. All the Traendis backed him in his course of action. Two years later, Halfdan svarti died suddenly inland in Trondheim at some banquet, and it was rumored that Gunhilde (Eric’s wife) had bribed a warriors killed in magic to make him a poison drink. After that the Prendi’s took Sigurd as king.
All this shows is that Eric did not have an easy time taking hold of the situation, and that he was king by name only between 930 and 933.When in 934 his younger rival Haakon arrived from England to takeover the situation, Eric did not resist and moved to the Orkney Islands, which were already colonized by Norway. The English King Aethelstan, who had fostered Haakon and equipped his expedition, then entrusted Northumberland to Eric as under-king. Numismatic evidence found as recently as 2014 attests to his title as king of York between 952 and954.
Aethelstan’s successor Eadred put an end to his reign, and when Eric was travelling back to the Orkneys with his brother Ragnald and his son Haerekr, they were ambushed at Stainmore and all killed.
Coin of Eric as King of York AD 952-54
So who were the brothers who were supposedly killed by violent Eric?
1.
Halfdan svarti : we already saw that his death was caused by poisoning, no bloody ax involved. Halfdan had it coming by takingover Trondheim, the jewel in his father’s crown
and had attempted himself first to kill Eric by burning down the house where he was staying. Eric managed to get out and went to see his father with news of these events. We cannot therefore exclude the possibility that it was Harald himself who ordered Halfdan’s poisoning as punishment
.2.
Bjòrn formann: succeeded his grandfather on his mother’s side as king of Vestfold. He was considered an intelligent person and very moderate and it seemed he might make a great ruler. However,Snorri recounts in chapter 41 of his book that when Eric returned from the eastern Baltic in 930, he visited Bjòrn to demand the revenues which were due to King Harald whlle he was still alive. It was when Bjòrn refused to pay, that he was killed in battle by Eric
3.
Olaf : after the fall of Bjòrn, his brother Olaf took rule over Vestfold and adopted Bjòrn’s son Gudròdr. When the Vikverjar heard that Harold had taken Eric as supreme king, they took Olaf as supreme king in the Vik, and he kept that kingdom. Eric was very displeased at this. The same Spring, Eric calls out a great army and ships and turns east to Vik. He had a much larger force and gained victory. Olaf and Sigurd both fell there
.4.
Sigurd: this was probably Sigfródr, son of the first marriage of Harald with Àsa
So there is no mention of direct murder by Eric of any of his half-brothers.
They had all four
revolted against their father’s decision and bore the consequences. Maybe their father, while he was still alive, did not disapprove of their forceful elimination. It is interesting to read that according to the Saga in which Eric figures, after his death he is welcomed by Odin without any criticism of the killings of his brothers. When the other gods question Odin why he still welcomed Eric, Odin answers, “well, he has traveled a lot and has seen many countries” Sounds modern, does it not?
Spouse no. 6 Alshild Ringsdotter of Ringerike
Ring Dag Gudród “Skirja”
(882-?) (883-?) (890-965)
Alshild was a princess from the prestigious kingdom of Hringaríkei (nowRingerike near Oslo). Snorri mentions that when King Harald married her, she proudly named her sons after her own father (Ring), grandfather (Dag)and ancestor (Gudród). Their son Dag later became king of Hedmark and Gudbrandsdal.
Beautiful Hedmark
Spouse no. 7 Thora Mosterstang
When Fairhair reached the age of seventy, he retired to one of his farms in Hordaland where he is credited with impregnating beautiful Tora, who may have been only a handmaid. At the age of ten, her son Haakon wassent for safekeeping to the court of the English king Aethelstan where many sons of European princes were welcome to be taught the noble arts of statesmanship
King Aethelstan is said to have loved him more than his own kin. Hákon was baptized there and taught the true faith and good morality and all kinds of courtly behavior. In 934, Hákon was invited by dissident nobles in his home country to takeover the throne of Norway. Aethelstan equipped him with ships and men and Hákon was able to expel his unpopular half-brother Eric Bloodaxe, who conceded without a fight and fled to the Orkney Islands Haakon proved to be a good and pragmatic king and reigned until 960when he had to face an attack at Fitjur by five sons of Eric. He won the battle, but was wounded and died shortly there after.Three sons of Eric took over the kingdom and were able to fulfill the dynastic designs of their grandfather.
Conclusion
By impregnating so many women from all parts of his kingdom, Harald may have had political considerations in mind. It was his way of obtaining the support of so many previously independent smaller kings who might otherwise have been reluctant to accept him as over-king. His marriages to a Danish and a Finnish princess may also be interpreted as protection against over-zealous neighbors. The only missing piece in his political puzzle was a princess from hostile Sweden. I think Martin Arnold is right when he suggests that Harald’s governing style of usurping traditional inheritance rights had to lead to civil war. Hisson Eric was not only contested by his brothers, but also by the regional lords. Maybe if Harald had gradually shared power with his designated successor at an earlier period, the transition might have been successful.
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