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Harald Sigurdsson, also known as Harald III of Norway and given the epithet Hardrada in the sagas, was King of Norway from 1046 to 1066. Additionally, he unsuccessfully claimed both the Danish throne until 1064 and the English throne in 1066. Before becoming king, Harald had spent around fifteen years in exile as a mercenary and military commander in Kievan Rus' and as a chief of the Varangian Guard in the Byzantine Empire. In his chronicle, Adam of Bremen called him the "Thunderbolt of the North".
The Battle of Stamford Bridge took place at the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, in England, on 25 September 1066, between an English army under King Harold Godwinson and an invading Norwegian force led by King Harald Hardrada and the English king's brother Tostig Godwinson. After a bloody battle, both Hardrada and Tostig, along with most of the Norwegians, were killed. Although Harold Godwinson repelled the Norwegian invaders, his army was defeated by the Normans at Hastings less than three weeks later. The battle has traditionally been presented as symbolising the end of the Viking Age, although major Scandinavian campaigns in Britain and Ireland occurred in the following decades, such as those of King Sweyn Estrithson of Denmark in 1069–1070 and King Magnus Barefoot of Norway in 1098 and 1102–1103.
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Thorgils Sprakalegg was a Danish nobleman whose children were active in the politics of Denmark and England in the early 11th century and who was grandfather of kings of both nations. Little is recorded about Thorgils in historical texts outside of his place in the genealogy of his children or grandchildren. Thorgils' cognomen Sprakalägg can be translated into English as "Break-leg" or "Strut-leg".
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Erik Hakonsson, also known as Eric of Hlathir or Eric of Norway, was Earl of Lade, Governor of Norway and Earl of Northumbria. He was the son of Earl Hákon Sigurðarson and brother of the legendary Aud Haakonsdottir of Lade. He participated in the Battle of Hjörungavágr, the Battle of Svolder and the conquest of England by King Canute the Great.
Kormákr Ögmundarson was a 10th-century Icelandic skald. He is the protagonist of Kormáks saga which preserves a significant amount of poetry attributed to him. According to Skáldatal, he was also the court poet of Sigurðr Hlaðajarl and fragments of a drápa to the jarl are preserved in Skáldskaparmál.
Króka-Refs saga or the Saga of Ref the Sly is one of the Icelanders' sagas. Written in the 14th century the saga relates the adventures of Ref Steinsson, whose unpromising origins lead him to greatness in both combat and subterfuge.
Sturla Þórðarson was an Icelandic chieftain and writer of sagas and contemporary history during the 13th century.
Hallfreðar saga vandræðaskálds is one of the sagas of Icelanders. The saga is preserved in several 14th-century manuscripts, including Möðruvallabók and Flateyjarbók, but there are significant differences between the versions.
The raven banner was a flag, possibly totemic in nature, flown by various Viking chieftains and other Scandinavian rulers during the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries. Period description simply describes it as a war banner with a raven mark on it, although no complete visual description or depiction of the raven banner is known from the time. Norse and European period artwork, however, depicts war banners as roughly triangular, with a rounded outside edge on which there hung a series of tabs or tassels, some with a resemblance to ornately carved "weather-vanes" used aboard Viking longships, indicating that some raven banners may have been constructed in a similar manner.
Hildr or RagnhildrHrólfsdóttir was a 9th-century woman who is referenced in various Old Norse sources including Óláfs saga helga, Orkneyinga saga, and Landnámabók and is also one of the few female skalds from whom verses survive.
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Auðunn illskælda was a 9th-century Norwegian skald. Skáldatal lists him as one of Harald Finehair's skalds. Egils saga Skallagrímssonar notes that he was Harald's oldest skald, and had earlier been a skald for Harald's father Hálfdan svarti. He was called illskælda because he had once in a drápa about Harald copied a refrain from another skald called Úlfr Sebbason. The drápa was subsequently called Stolinstefja "the drápa with the stolen refrain". Only a few stanzas of his works are known today.
Þjóðólfr Arnórsson was an 11th-century Icelandic skáld, who spent his career as a court poet to the Norwegian kings Magnus the Good and Harald Hardrada and is thought to have died with the latter at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066.
Steinvör Sighvatsdóttir, was the politically most influential woman in Iceland in the Age of the Sturlungs. She was also a skald and listed as such in Skáldatal. Most of what is known about Steinvör Sighvatsdóttir is told in Íslendinga saga, Þórðar saga kakala and Þorgils saga skarða, all of which are included in the Sturlunga Saga.
References
- ↑ Richard Fletcher (2004) Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford University Press) ISBN 978-0195179446
- ↑ "History of Scarborough". Scarb. 26 April 2011. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
- ↑ "Origins of the Name Scarborough". discoveryorkshirecoast.com. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
- ↑ "Scarborough History : Life of a Norman Earl 1066 - 1166" Archived 2010-06-14 at the Wayback Machine yorkshire-coast.co.uk
- ↑ "The Saga of Cormac the Skald". Translated by W.G. Collingwood; J. Stefansson. Kormáks saga. 1901. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
- ↑ Finnur Jónsson. "Kormákr Ögmundarson". Heimskringla.no. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
- ↑ Per G. Norseng Bjarmeland Store norske leksikon
- ↑ Claus Krag. "Harald 2 Eiriksson Gråfell, Konge". Norsk biografisk leksikon. Retrieved April 1, 2016.