Golden King

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The great king of Norway in ancient times

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The Blond King is the name given to the great ancient king of Norway (Harald Fairhair, reigned 850-932, 872-930). Because of his blond hair, he was called "The Blonde King." He's unified. Norse It had a great influence on the prosperity of the Vikings and the Vikings.

Chinese name: King Harald the blonde
Foreign name: Haraldr Hálfdanarson
alias: Golden King
nationality: Norse
Ethnic group: Viking people

Date of birth: 850 years
Date of death: The year 932
occupation: King
Major achievement: United Norway
Place of Birth: Norse

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According to ancient Norwegian legend, King Harald the Blonde of Norway was born into the royal family, and his ancestors were famous in Norwegian history. His father and grandfather were Kings in one of the many small kingdoms in Norway's history. His father was Halfdan the "Black King" and his grandfather was Goodrod the "Hunter King". His grandmother Asa was more famous than his grandfather.

In 1903, archaeologists discovered Osberg's boatyard in the Oslofjord on Norway's southeast coast, where his grandmother, Queen Asa, was buried. Asa was also said to be the daughter of a Norwegian king, whose father was the king of Agdir. Before Asa married "King Hunter" Goodrod killed Asa's brother and father, then took Asa back to Norway as a common concubine. When Asa became queen, in order to avenge her brother and father, she secretly sent a servant to spear and kill her husband, calling herself Queen.

At the time of Harald the Blonde King's birth, his father, Halfdan the Black King, was only king of one of Norway's many small kingdoms, but his region of Sifur was the best in Norway, on the west coast of the Oslofjord (where Queen Asa's boat grave was found), with lush green slopes, fine harbors, and thriving towns. Thanks to these natural advantages, his little kingdom soon became prosperous and prosperous. This made the kingdom ruled by Black King Halfdan extremely rich, with sufficient material and financial security. So much of Halfdan's reign was devoted to the conquest, conquest, and expansion of his own country by the smaller kingdoms around him. When Black King Halfdan died at the age of forty, he left his son, Golden King Harald, a very rich little kingdom.

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Grow up -- inherit the throne

After Halfdan's death, Harald succeeded to the throne at the age of ten, and became king at the age of twelve. Because as Scandinavia People, they think, a boy is a man by the time he is twelve years old, that he is old enough to be king.

When Harald became king, he was always accompanied by many brave men. In his court, there are old men who advise him, there are also palace literati who speak fluently, and all kinds of entertainers and clowns, the young king enjoys the happy life brought by power.

Harald appreciated the brave men around him and was generous to them. "They were gorgeously dressed, with gold ornaments on their arms, red cloaks, colorful shields, rings of armor, silver-plated swords, beautifully carved helmets, gold sheaths, and bracelets on their arms, all of which Harald had given them."

Courtship - The cause of conquest

Having grown up at court, Harald had no ambition to rule all of Norway when he first came to the throne. This great ambition and later extortion came from his fiancee at the time, a woman named Guda.

Tour singer and poet Hordaland The good name of the princess reached the ears of King Harald, and the Kingdom of Hordaland was also one of the small countries of the then divided Kingdom of Norway, located on the west coast of Norway.

Knowing that Princess Guda of the Kingdom of Horanda was beautiful, Harald immediately sent a messenger to Hordaland to propose marriage to King Eric. Unexpectedly, the haughty Guda turned down Harald's proposal, telling his men that she did not want to commit herself to a "king of a small kingdom no larger than a county," adding that if Harald wanted to marry her, he would have to wait until "he had united all Norway for her."

Harald's envoys were deeply insulted by these "impertinent demands" of Guda, and thought it very arrogant for a girl to propose such terms to a king. So the envoy returned angrily to Norway and told Harald exactly what Guda had said. To everyone's surprise, Harald, after hearing Guda's proposal, thought for a long time, and announced to his opponent that he accepted Guda's offer and was grateful to her. For it was the terms of his engagement that reminded him of the duties of a king and of the heavy duty of ruling all Norway.

Even more surprising was the fact that Harald, who was a fit and well-groomed man, had vowed: "I will not groom or trim my hair again until all Norway is under my rule."

Conquest - The unification of Norway

In order to prove his strength to the arrogant Guda, Harald soon set off a wave of attacks northward, waging more and more violent wars against his neighbors. Countries large and small rushed to form alliances. The various races calmly, even eagerly, accepted the declaration of war, and their warlike nature had already accepted war as normal, and they were drawn into the struggle. The war spread rapidly and became more intense. During the war, Harald adopted the pirate approach: wherever his soldiers passed, they became battlefields of blood and fire, and many villages became wilderness. Neighboring countries called him the "pirate king." After the conquest of the north, Harald led his pirate fleet to the west coast. However, the fjord barrier provided some shelter for its enemies, and in the end only King Eric of Hordaland (Gouda's father) and his Allies were still holding out in the southwest. But soon, under the whirlwind of Harald's attack, the last resisters were all wiped out in a naval battle near Stavanger. King Eric and several of his sons were all killed in the naval battle.

Harald, now full of the desire for expansion and extreme ambition, embarked on a massive and frenzied conquest. Of course, where there is oppression, there is struggle, and where he has attacked, a number of unwilling local leaders have sprung up, who, in order to get rid of his control, have led their subjects to sail far abroad, to colonize, to establish colonies in remote and uninhabited lands. In the process, thousands of Norwegians migrated to the Scottish Islands, the Faroe Islands and Iceland. As the Norwegian Chronicles put it: "In those days, when all the desolated lands became colonies, a great storm arose in the land of Northern Europe and swept out to sea, leaving in its path either a ruin or a new birth."

When he succeeded in becoming King of Norway, he married Guda as his princess. The wayward Guda, with her arrogance, arrogance, and ambition, had caused great disasters and misfortunes for the thousands of civilians who had been wronged by Harald's sword, and for herself. The country was destroyed, all destroyed, only because of one arrogant word of hers. Not only had her father's country been destroyed by Harald, but she herself had not met a good end, for Harald had taken several wives before marrying her. When she was married, she had to share the king's favor equally with Harald's eight wives. Later, in order to marry a noble Danish princess, "Raghir", Harald abandoned Guda and eight other Norwegian wives.

Harald, on the other hand, did not trim or cut his hair during the 10 years of war, and let his blond hair fly wildly like a lion. When he finally became King of Norway, one of his men brushed and cut his hair and gave him the famous nickname "The Blonde King."

At the end of the 9th century, Harald unified Norway and became King of Norway, which was the height of his power.

The impact on Vikings

At the same time, from the peoples of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, a number of adventurers sprang up, and in order to escape Harald's rule and pursue the free life, they began to colonize frantically, becoming feared pirates. This process has lasted for over a century. These feared invaders or settlers, it might be said, had been driven out of their native Scandinavia by rulers like Harald.

Later historians believe that there were several reasons why thousands of Vikings settled or became pirates in Iceland during this period:

One is that the Vikings' urge to expand was driven in part by unrest in their native Scandinavia. At that time, the rulers of many small countries in Scandinavia exercised brutal rule in their countries and replaced their tribal leaders at will. Some of the deposed chiefs, such as those expelled by such rulers as Harald, were of a strong disposition and were unwilling to submit to their demands, and began their careers of maritime exploration by leading their men on expeditions abroad.

Second, at the end of the 8th century, Scandinavia had only two million inhabitants. From the beginning of the 9th century, the population began to grow rapidly. The reason for the population growth has to do with the traditional practices of the Vikings, who were polygamous, and the children of each family were almost in groups. By contrast, the land in Scandinavia was so small that the Vikings no longer had enough fertile land to support their growing population. The cold climate, poor land, and overpopulation make it impossible for too many young people to make a living at home. Under the extremely harsh natural conditions at that time, many people stood in a daze in the wilderness of ignorance and barbarism, so they had almost no choice but to get on the boat with a sword in hand and go to the sea to take risks.

The Vikings were a brave people, fond of adventure and travel. But it was also a money-hungry people, and some of the Vikings not only had strong ships and skillful navigation, but also a gift for commerce. Therefore, they have taken the initiative to expand overseas in search of more development opportunities.

In addition, throughout Northern Europe, society was stratified and there were clear rules. As soon as children are sensible, they know what their place in society is and what their obligations are to it. Their social roles and responsibilities are clearly defined by law, tradition and myth. In the relevant Chronicles, for example, it is recorded that "each man was to offer a tribute according to his position, and the highest man was to offer fifteen marten skins, five reindeer skins, and a bear skin, eleven short coats of bear or otter skin, two boat lines, a whale skin, plus other sealskins, and some down collected from duck nests in the north." A considerable portion of these tributes were collected in the name of taxes paid to the blond king Harald. The amount of this tax is large for the recipients. Escaping this tax was also a reason for some Vikings to migrate.

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EDITOR

One of the biggest doubts about the references to Harald the Blonde is that they are mostly accounts of oral legends circulated among the ancient Norse, and are not necessarily faithful records of history, which must be treated with caution.

However, archaeological work since the 20th century has demonstrated the historical value of these documents, most notably Sakya in Iceland, and there are also corroborations between documents written in different ages.