A wounded and teenaged Harald Hardrada fled Norway in 1030 following the death of his half-brother King Olaf II at the Battle of Stiklestad. He would return home decades later as a battle-hardened mercenary commander, weighted down with plunder acquired from wars fought across the Mediterranean. Harald’s transition from exiled semi-royal to a famed adventurer and warrior saw him weave a circuitous route from the steppes and trading post of Kievan Rus to the shining palaces of Constantinople and the ancient war-torn cities of Sicily. As a commander of the Byzantine Empires legendary Varangian Guard Harald travelled extensively before leveraging his hard-won wealth, experience and political connections in a ruthless play for the throne of Norway. The world of eleventh-century Europe was neither self-contained nor compartmentalized, benefiting as it did from long-established routes of commerce and communication. Hardrada’s journeys and his interactions with the many overlapping cultures and political entities that he encountered further illuminate this essential interconnectivity. The eleventh century was a particularly formative one in the history of Europe that saw the emergence of a crop of pugnacious new kingdoms and setting of the foundations upon which the Europe to come would be built atop. As eleventh-century Europe roiled and struggled to find a new equilibrium in response to the cultural, political and demographic changes being wrought upon it, incredible opportunities were open to those adventurers bold enough to take advantage of this era of uncertainty. Returning to Norway after his long exile Harald’s ambitions stretched far beyond the Norwegian throne to encompass the recreation of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, his family’s greatest foe. Harald has often been called, with no small amount of admiration or respect, the Last Viking. Yet this title underestimates the depths of Harald’s achievements and the profound effect he had on the form and internal coherency of the Kingdom of Norway. Part biography, part medieval travelogue, this book extends its critical and incisive examination of Harald’s career to the many European and Mediterranean polities he travelled and fought through during his long exile. By placing Harald within his proper historical context, he is firmly detached from his role as a mere runner up in 1066’s struggle for the Kingdom of England and revealed to be one of the great rulers and state builders of the age.
