Harald III of Norway
Former King of NorwayWikipedia
133
MENTIONS
35
EPISODES
24
PODCASTS
Search complete. 133 mentions across 35 episodes found for "Harald III of Norway".
Oct 2, 2026
Eleanor JanegaHOST
It just depends on who's got a ca- crown on their head.
Eleanor JanegaHOST
That's what it comes down to, right? But I- despite all this, you know, we definitely see that Harold is concerned that he's going to have to brace for William to come over from Normandy, but that's not who shows up first, right? Because, listen, it's your friend and mine, Harold Hardrada, and he is this interesting guy, right? Because he is the King of Norway.
Eleanor JanegaHOST
He tried to claim the throne of Denmark.
Eleanor JanegaHOST
I mean, the Den- the Denmark, Norway, so like, a, a good luck, babe, untangling those two at this point in time.
Eleanor JanegaHOST
And it's good as any other, I think.
Eleanor JanegaHOST
It's brilliant.
Matt LewisHOST
And I think throughout 1066, I, I like to imagine Harold Hardrada sitting there.
Matt LewisHOST
You know, I've been down to- ...
JimmyHOST
It was, in essence, historical fiction about a great Viking leader added onto previous historical fiction established by Dudo as, quote-unquote, "historical fact." Interestingly, it seems like the idea of a powerful Viking leader faking his own death was a common motif in Scandinavian culture.
JimmyHOST
Snorri Sturluson, the Icelandic historian, tells the same feigned death trick of Harald Hardrada in Sicily, and Saxo Grammaticus tells it about a legendary Danish king.
JimmyHOST
It's a folk motif that got pinned on whichever Northmen a given author most wanted to portray as a Norse Odysseus.
JimmyHOST
The question that still remains is whether all the references to Hastein are actually to the same legendary Viking leader.
Danièle CybulskieHOST
[Medieval music] Last week we took a look at the life of a storied king from early England, and this week we're looking at another legendary figure, one who thought ruling England would be one more step in his quest to be the dominant power in the North Sea.
Danièle CybulskieHOST
His legendary prowess in battle was known from Sicily to Orkney, and his name was Harald Hardrada.
Danièle CybulskieHOST
This week I spoke with Dr. James Turner about the life of Harald Hardrada.
Danièle CybulskieHOST
You may know James from his many articles on medievalists.net or his books, Royal Bastards of 12th Century England, Power and Blood, and The Scottish Rebellion Against Robert the Bruce.
Danièle CybulskieHOST
His new book is Harald Hardrada: The Making of Europe.
Danièle CybulskieHOST
Our conversation on Harald's travels, his conquests, and his place in the wide world of the 11th century is coming up right after this.
Danièle CybulskieHOST
Well, welcome James to talk about Harald Hardrada.
Danièle CybulskieHOST
[laughs] I always have to, like, stop and think before I say this guy's name.
David MusgroveGUEST
So King Harald, the English king by now, he goes up to Yorkshire and he fights in one of these battles.
David MusgroveGUEST
The first battle, the Battle of Fulford, is between the Norwegian king, Hardrada, who is invaded with a fleet and he's also in alliance with King Harald's disaffected brother, Tosti, and they invade and they defeat the Anglo-Saxon defenders.
David MusgroveGUEST
Harold then turns up with an army and fights Hardrada and Tosti at the famous Battle of Stamford Bridge and wins a victory for the ages.
David MusgroveGUEST
It's an enormous triumph for Harold.
David MusgroveGUEST
He beats Hardrada, who is one of the greatest military figures in early medieval history.
David MusgroveGUEST
And the river runs red with the blood of the defeated Vikings.
David MusgroveGUEST
So Tosti's dead, Hardrada's dead.
David MusgroveGUEST
Harold has won this mighty victory.
Lindsay GrahamHOST
[instrumental music playing] It's September 1066 in the North Sea off the coast of England.
Lindsay GrahamHOST
On the deck of a Viking longship, Harald Hardrada gazes across the rolling waves.
Lindsay GrahamHOST
The fifty-year-old Hardrada is the King of Norway, but he has ambitions to be far more.
Lindsay GrahamHOST
In the morning sun, a spit of land glitters on the horizon.
Lindsay GrahamHOST
His warriors follow suit, the polished metal catching the light.
Lindsay GrahamHOST
Then the Vikings unleash a blood-curdling war cry that rolls across the waves, promising no mercy to anyone who stands in their way.
Lindsay GrahamHOST
Within days of landing in England, Harald Hardrada's army will capture the key city of York, but word will soon reach Tostig Godwinson's brother, the new King of England.
Lindsay GrahamHOST
Gathering men as he rides, he'll rush north and face the Viking threat head-on at the Battle of Stamford Bridge on September twenty-fifth, ten sixty-six.
Graham DukeHOST
Well, it's interesting.
Graham DukeHOST
When we were recording earlier today, obviously, the Right to Reply episode for the Saxon nearly monarchs and people saying about Harold Hardrada getting an unusually high subjectivity score.
Graham DukeHOST
Yeah.
Graham DukeHOST
And we were saying, yes, even though he does all the awful stuff, we do have this sense of this strong rule of that actually run the country well.
Ali HoodHOST
and ruin.
Ali HoodHOST
They're the yin and yang to each other.
Ali HoodHOST
What do we give Hardrada?
Graham DukeHOST
14.
Scott AllsopHOST
On the 25th of September 1066, the Battle of Stamford Bridge was fought between King Harald Godwinson of England and the Norwegian King Harald Hardrada.
Scott AllsopHOST
Welcome to HistoryPod.
Scott AllsopHOST
Following the death of King Edward the Confessor in January 1066, England was plunged into a succession struggle in which multiple claimants vied for the crown.
Scott AllsopHOST
Harald Hardrada, the King of Norway, gathered a fleet of up to 300 ships and, combined with reinforcements from the island of Orkney, between 7,000 and 9,000 warriors arrived on the English coast in early September.
Scott AllsopHOST
harald was soon joined by the english king's younger brother tostig who had turned against harald the previous year together they defeated a northern english army led by edwin the earl of mercia in the battle of fulford on the twentieth of september and the near-by city of york soon surrendered to the invaders Having received news of the Norwegian invasion, King Harold and his army marched north from the south coast where they had been anticipating an invasion by William of Normandy.
Scott AllsopHOST
After travelling 185 miles in only four days, the English were able to take Hardrada and his troops by surprise.
Roxanne CalderGUEST
need some really strong self-reflection.
Tim WebsterHOST
Yeah, I wonder too, for an employer, if you look at a CV and there's lots of jobs on it, might think to themselves, well, this person loves the job hopping, how long am I going to keep them for? So is that a disadvantage as well, I'm thinking?
Roxanne CalderGUEST
Yeah, it absolutely is.
Roxanne CalderGUEST
When we're looking at resumes, if I see someone that's moved, I don't know, eight jobs in the last six years, I'm cautious.
Tim WebsterHOST
They are two different things.
Tim WebsterHOST
And, you know, I've got one, you know, early 30s and he's changed jobs a lot.
Tim WebsterHOST
I'm thinking...
Tim WebsterHOST
I'm just trying to add them all up, probably five or six times.
Matt LewisGUEST
And so they set sail.
Matt LewisGUEST
By this point, Harold has not only disbanded his army that has been on the Isle of Wight for most of the summer, lovely summer holiday for somebody, but he's had to march north to go and fight the Battle of Stamford Bridge against Harold Hardrada, Viking, pitched as the last kind of Viking assault on England.
Matt LewisGUEST
It isn't really, as we'll get to later.
Matt LewisGUEST
But Harold has managed to win that battle on the 25th of September, 1066, when he hears that the Normans have finally made it across the Channel.
Matt LewisGUEST
And Harold, we're told, makes it to London.
Matt LewisGUEST
And his family, his mother and his brothers are saying, take a bit of time, take a breath.
Matt LewisGUEST
Well done on beating Harold Hardrada, the most impressive man in all of Christendom, because Harold Hardrada is a cool dude.
Matt LewisGUEST
But you need to muster a fresh force, you need to make sure you've got enough men, you need to make sure you've got a plan, and then we'll all go out and sort William out together.
25 more episodes mention Harald III of Norway.
Create an account to see the whole feed, search across every transcript, and follow the entities you care about.