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Norse paganism. Harald Fairhair[a] (Old Norse: Haraldr Hárfagri) (c. 850 – c. 932) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from c. 872 to 930 and was the first King of Norway. [1][2] Supposedly, two of his sons, Eric Bloodaxe and Haakon the Good, succeeded ...
The Fairhair dynasty (Norwegian: Hårfagreætta) was a family of kings founded by Harald I of Norway (commonly known as "Harald Fairhair", Haraldr inn hárfagri) which united and ruled Norway with few interruptions from the latter half of the 9th century. In the traditional view, this lasted until 1387, however, many modern scholars view this ...
Christianity. Harald Sigurdsson (Old Norse: Haraldr Sigurðarson; c.1015 – 25 September 1066), also known as Harald III of Norway and given the epithet Hardrada in the sagas, [ 2 ] was King of Norway from 1046 to 1066. He unsuccessfully claimed the Danish throne until 1064 and English throne in 1066.
Most commoners converted to Christianity either to demonstrate their loyalty to the Christian monarchs or to secure their support. [14] Haakon the Good was the son of Harald Fairhair whom the sagas credited with the unification of Norway. [15]
Harald 'Fairhair' is usually portrayed as a polygamous and virile king, the number of his sons varying between 16 [22] and 20. [23] While Eric's mother remains anonymous in the synoptic histories (Ágrip) and most of the Icelandic sagas, [24] the Heimskringla (c. 1230) claims that she was Ragnhildr, daughter of Eric, king of (South) Jutland. [25]
Illustration to Heimskringla, 1899. The Saga of Harald Fairhair (Haralds saga hárfagra) is the third of the sagas in Snorri Sturluson 's Heimskringla, after Ynglinga saga and the saga of Halfdan the Black. Snorri sagas were written in Iceland in the 1220s. This saga is about the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair.
When Harald Fairhair became king of Norway after the battle at Hafrsfjord (traditional date: 18 July 872), he looked west to the isles that had been colonised by Norwegians for a century already, and by 875 the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland had been brought under his rule and given to Ragnvald Eysteinsson, Jarl of Møre.
Olaf Tryggvason (960s – 9 September 1000) was King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken (Vingulmark, and Rånrike), and, according to later sagas, the great-grandson of Harald Fairhair, first King of Norway. He is numbered as Olaf I.