#harold harefoot

[rgnarocgifs]

PYRY KÄHKÖNEN as HARALD HAREFOOT Vikings: Valhalla 3x03

[jens-holland]

Okay, but this?? This moment from season 1?? That shit hits different after season 3, oh my god

[docpiplup]

The Bastard Kings and their families

This is series of posts are complementary to this historical parallels post from the JON SNOW FORTNIGHT EVENT, and it's purpouse to discover the lives of medieval bastard kings, and the following posts are meant to collect portraits of those kings and their close relatives.

In many cases it's difficult to find contemporary art of their period, so some of the portrayals are subsequent.

1) Harold I of England (?- 1040), son of Knut the Great and his wife Ælfgifu of Northampton

2) Knut the Great (c. 990 – 1035), son of Sweyn Forkbeard and his wife Świętosława of Poland

3) Sweyn Forkbeard (963 – 1014), son Knut Danaást or Harald Bluetooth and his wife Tove or Gunhild

4) Emma of Normandy (c. 984 –1052), daughter of Richard I of Normandy and his wife Gunnor

5) Harthacnut/ Knut III of Denmark (c. 1018 – 1042), son of Knut the Great and his wife Emma of Normandy

6) Gunhilda of Denmark (c. 1020 – 1038), daughter of Knut the Great and his wife Emma of Normandy

7) Holy Roman Emperor Henry III (1016 -1056), son of Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II and his wife Gisela of Swabia

8) Beatrice of Franconia (1037 – 13 July 1061), daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Henry III and his wife Gunhilda of Denmark

9) Edward the Confessor (c. 1003 – 1066), son of Æthelred II of England and his wife Emma of Normandy

10) Ælfred Æþeling (c. 1012–1036), son of Æthelred II of England and his wife Emma of Normandy

[grayjoy15]

Day 29: Sun - Harold Knutsson 💛💛

[folklore-barnes]

just finished s3 of valhalla yesterday. thoughts:

- the thing i was most afraid of was a bad ending. but thankfully, valhalla actually had a wonderful ending, and i am very satisifed with it.

- the season was AMAZING, i'd say it is easily the best season. it had so many adventures and many moments that made me pause the show 'cause i could not believe they happened. and my favorite thing, it was very colorful and had very wholesome moments, but a good amount of sad moments as well. which i also loved.

- the villains were the best!! i loved every single one

- i loved all of the conflicts as well. they kept me on my toes the whole season

- i would've preferred more seasons of course, at the very least one more. so that we could see leif and freidys find the golden land, reunite with harald ii and also for harald to meet him because that is his son, after all. and of course, for us to see harald and freydis rule together at some point. but i guess they just didn't have the same goals, and that's okay.

- queen aelfgigu shouldn't have died but i also understand how it felt necessary for the plot. so i'll let it slide.

- the whole dynamic of king canute's sons wanting the throne and the issues with duke william had me wanting a spinoff with william, emma's sons and canute's sons

- in general, it was a fantastic season. i enjoyed every bit of it and i have many more thoughts, but all i have to say is:

thank you to the entire cast and crew of vikings: valhalla. you did a wonderful job in every season and i wish you would've stayed a little bit longer. at the very least, one more season. but it was a really good ending, despite the fact that we could've had a little more.

btw, i do not forgive y'all for killing off kaysan, batu and dorn. one of the most painfully devastating things i've ever had to watch❤️‍🩹

ALSO, I NEED HAROLD HAREFOOT FICS. WHERE ARE THEY?

[breathingwithnoheir]

im sorry but edmund ironside, edward the confessor, harthecnut, and harold harefoot all being half brothers of one another in some fucked up daisy chain family situation is so funny to me. why aren't there more period dramas about this era?? i need a sitcom stat

[whencyclopedia]

The Danish Conquest of England

The Danish conquest of England was not a singular event, but a series of large Viking invasions of England between 1013 and 1016, which eventually overthrew the native English dynasty. As a result, four kings from the House of Denmark ruled England between 1013 and 1042.

The North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, 1016 - 1035

Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-ND)

The Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard (also spelt Swein, r. 986-1014) initially conquered England in 1013, driving out the English king, Aethelred the Unready (r. 978-1013 and 1014-1016). Upon Sweyn's death in 1014, though, Aethelred returned with a show of force and temporarily reversed the Danish conquest. Sweyn's son, Cnut the Great (r. 1016-1035), fought against Aethelred and his successor, Edmund Ironside (r. 1016), from 1014-1016. After decisively defeating Edmund at the Battle of Assandun on 18 October 1016 – and Edmund's death a few weeks later – Cnut became England's second Danish king. At the height of his power in the late 1020s, Cnut ruled England, Denmark, and Norway and was heavily involved in wider European politics.

After Cnut's death, his sons, Harold Harefoot (r. 1035-1040) and Harthacnut (r. 1040-1042) ruled in England for seven more years. The dynasty reached a dead end upon Harthacnut's death in 1042, and Aethelred's line was restored to power under Edward the Confessor (r. 1042-1066). However, the Danish conquest continued to affect English politics after Harthacnut's death, as Scandinavian claimants threatened the kingdom during and after the events of the Norman conquest of England.

The Vikings: No Strangers to Britain

Although Vikings are most prominently associated with Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Norse influence stretched across northern Europe and into North America by the time of the Danish conquest. After the legendary settlement of Iceland, the Vikings in Iceland established settlements, Viking Age Greenland was thriving, and Vinland (Newfoundland) was explored by the Vikings by the early 11th century. Dublin was controlled by the Vikings in Ireland, and Strathclyde and the Isle of Man were also Scandinavian-influenced areas.

Much like the rest of northern Europe, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had dealt with Viking raids in Britain since the end of the 8th century. A particularly fierce struggle took place during the reign of the West Saxon king Alfred the Great in the late 9th century, while the northern kingdom of York was frequently under Norse rule. Only in the 10th century did something resembling 'England' emerge as one entity, and its mid-10th-century kings frequently saw their kingdom break apart at the hands of rulers from Ireland and Scandinavia. A lull in Viking activity in England in the 960s and 970s allowed the kingdom some time to stabilize. In the 980s, small raids began again in England, but it is unlikely that these minor incursions were from Scandinavia itself or had any connection with the Danish conquest that would follow decades later.

Continue reading...

[wonder-worker]

[Emma of Normandy] was one of the [many] known children of Richard I of Normandy; almost certainly his daughter by his Danish-descended wife Gunnor and thus the sister of Richard II, who became duke of Normandy after his father in 996, and of Robert Archbishop of Rouen. She was the aunt of dukes Richard III and Robert and great-aunt of Duke William, better known in England as the Conqueror.

In 1002 she came to England to marry King Athelred II, the Unready. Emma was not the English king’s first wife. He had been married before, once if not twice, and already had a large family of six sons and at least four daughters. At the time of the marriage Emma’s French/Norman name was changed for an English one, Aelfgifu. She bore Athelred three children: two sons and a daughter, Edward, the future Confessor, Alfred and Godgifu.

Emma’s marriage took place against the background of the Scandinavian attacks which plagued Athelred’s England. These culminated in Swein of Denmark’s conquest of England in 1013. Emma, her sons and later her husband then took refuge at the Norman court with her brother Richard II. After Swein’s death early in 1014, Athelred returned to rule briefly until his own death in 1016. An armed struggle for the throne ensued between Athelred’s eldest surviving son, Emma’s stepson, Edmund Ironside, and Swein’s son, Cnut. Fierce fighting, the division of the kingdom, then Edmund’s death made Cnut king of all England by the end of 1016.

In 1017 Cnut, the Danish conqueror, married Emma, Athelred’s widow. By this second husband she had two more children, a son Harthacnut and a daughter, Gunnhild, who in 1036 married Henry III, then king of the Romans, future emperor. Again Emma was not a first wife. Cnut already had a union with an English noble woman, Aelfgifu, daughter of a former ealdorman of York, a union which his marriage to Emma [may or may not] have terminated. Before or after 1016 Aelfgifu bore him two sons, Swein and Harold Harefoot. Cnut’s reign is the second stage of Emma’s career in England, and is marked by most references to her in charters and similar documents.

The death of Cnut late in 1035 put an end to this phase and inaugurated a third, dominated by questions concerning the succession to his several kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and England, particularly concerning that to the English throne. During his lifetime Cnut had sent his son Swein and Swein’s mother Aelfgifu to act as regents in Norway, and dispatched Harthacnut to be regent in Denmark. At the time of his father’s death, Harold Harefoot was the only son in England. From late 1035 until 1037 the English throne was once again at issue. Harthacnut remained in Denmark, whilst Harold collected support in England. At first Emma remained at Winchester, with Cnut’s military household and in possession of the royal treasure; Godwine earl of Wessex was close to her. In 1036 her sons by Athelred, Edward and Alfred, returned to England from their refuge in Normandy. Alfred was captured, blinded and died in circumstances which left suspicion attached to both Godwine and Harold. Edward, who had gone to his mother at Winchester, now returned quickly to Normandy. In 1037 Emma’s stepson Harold became king of the English and she was exiled to Flanders; there she lived, enjoying the hospitality of Count Baldwin, until 1039.

In that year her son Harthacnut joined her, and in 1040, on the death of Harold Harefoot, mother and son, accompanied by a fleet, returned to England where Harthacnut was accepted as king. Emma now entered the final stage of her life, as queen-mother. In 1041 Edward was recalled from Normandy, and associated in some way in rule; after Harthacnut’s premature death in 1042, he became king in turn. A year later, in 1043, Edward deprived his mother of much treasure and land. Although Emma was restored to court by 1044, little or no evidence has survived of her activity after this and she disappears from view after 1045. Emma probably lived the rest of her life at Winchester, where she died on 6 March 1052. She was buried there in the Old Minster alongside her second husband, Cnut."

-Pauline Stafford, Queen Emma and Queen Edith: Queenship and Women's Power in Eleventh-Century England

[ivarthebadbitch]

the encomium emmae reginae is a delight to read, by the way. the encomiast spends page after page talking about how sweyn and canute are sooo cool and then when it comes to aethelred ii he’s like uh who’s that. he blatantly makes shit up. ‘oh right here’s the full text of the forged letter harold harefoot sent to emma’s sons pretending to be her so he could entrap them because he’s a hater and maybe not even actually canute’s son by aelfgifu the concubine.’ he so desperately wants to call godwin a traitor but he’s only allowed to imply it. fun stuff.

[ancestorsalive]

Laura Berlin as Emma in "Vikings: Valhalla"

Emma of Normandy (referred to as Ælfgifu in royal documents c. 984 – 6 March 1052) was a Norman-born noblewoman who became the English, Danish and Norwegian queen through her marriages to the Anglo-Saxon King Æthelred the Unready and then the Danish king Cnut the Great.

A daughter of the Norman ruler Richard the Fearless and Gunnor, she was Queen of the English during her marriage to King Æthelred from 1002 to 1016, except during a brief interruption in 1013–14 when the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard occupied the English throne. Æthelred died in 1016, and Emma married Sweyn's son Cnut. As Cnut's wife, she was Queen of England from their marriage in 1017, Queen of Denmark from 1018, and Queen of Norway from 1028 until Cnut died in 1035.

After Cnut's death, Emma continued to participate in politics during the reigns of her sons by each husband, Harthacnut and Edward the Confessor. In 1035 when her second husband Cnut died and was succeeded by their son Harthacnut, who was in Denmark at the time, Emma was designated to act as his regent until his return, which she did in rivalry with Harold Harefoot. Emma is the central figure within the Encomium Emmae Reginae, a critical source for the history of early-11th-century English politics.

She was instrumental in orchestrating King Harthacnut into naming his half-brother Edward as his heir, thus ensuing one of her sons would remain king.

After her death in 1052, Emma was interred alongside Cnut and Harthacnut in the Old Minster, Winchester, before being transferred to the new cathedral built after the Norman Conquest. During the English Civil War (1642–1651), their remains were disinterred and scattered about the Cathedral floor by parliamentary forces. The jumbled bones were later re-interred.

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

The Sea’s Edge by Garth Pettersen

The Atheling Chronicles #4

The saga of Harald Harefoot son of King Cnute continues with diplomacy, battle, and beheadings all part of the story. Great addition to the series that made me thankful I did not live in the early eleventh century.

What I liked:

* Harald: loving husband, obedient and loving son, hates to leave his holding and his wife for diplomatic work, does his duty though he might question the rightness of some things he is required to do

* Selia: a loving wife and good woman, recently miscarried, postpartum depression, good friend, empathetic, strong, and wise

* Gwyn: Friend of Harald’s, strong fighter, loving husband, father, fun loving, talkative

* Gudrun: wife to Gwyn, mother of Meleri, and friend of Selia’s

* Trygve: a wandering minstrel and storyteller, saves a child’s life, accused of stealing, a good friend

* The dual storylines with Selia at home and Harald traveling

* The commitment Harald and Selia have for one another

* That the “enemy” was actually more likeable than the allies King Cnute was creating

* The plot, pacing, setting, era, and writing

* Being glad I did not live in this time period

* All of it really except…

What I didn’t like:

* Who and what I was meant not to like

* Thinking about how cutthroat politics were and no doubt still are

* Knowing that good men sometimes die, and lesser men thrive

Did I enjoy this book? Yes

Would I read more by this author? Yes

Thank you to the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4 Stars

BLURB

1030 C.E.: Harald, the second son of King Cnute—ruler of Engla-lond, Danmark, and Norvegr—with his wife Selia, attempt to live as landholders in Mercia, away from the constraint and intrigues of his father's court. However, on a rare visit, Cnute tells Harald he's being sent to the Kingdom of Dublin to meet with their Norse-Irish allies. Harald’s mission is to coordinate an invasion of the northern Welsh kingdom of Gwynedd to replace King Rhydderch who is growing too powerful on England’s borders. Harald is reluctant to be involved in his father-king's affairs of state, and not just because his beloved wife, Selia, is unwell. Harald cannot refuse to go and assures Selia he will not have to take part in the fighting. Once on his journey, Harold is not drawn to his Norse-Irish allies but comes to respect the foe he must kill. Will Harald carry out his father-king’s commands to unseat a strong and just rule, or will he tread a more righteous road, which will destroy the life he and Selia have built together?

[jens-holland]

Wrote a thing inspired by Vikings Valhalla S3E7 when Knut gathers all his potential successors into one room! The tension is rife and the meta historical foreboding was insane.

[funky-sea-cryptid]

actually so many historical figures are so fucking funny. take for example harold harefoot. his dad explicitly left him out of the will to appease his stepmom but when his half brother was stuck in denmark this little shit was like “y’all i KNOW harthacnut is supposed to be king but im half english. and yeah, i’m half dane but you know harthacnut? he’s not even half english. he’s half dane and half french. do you want a french guy in charge of england? vote harold harefoot 1k35.” and the entire witan went “seems legit.” then harold died five years later and harthacnut rolls up like “ok so you all are DUMB dumb. imposing a STUPID TAX because you all agreed with my dumbass brother get FUCKED. hey siward kill eadulf of northumberland he’s annoying me.” 

[romanos-argyros]

Harold, a word?

[grayjoy15]

Slow and steady, guys… I am doing my very best

[canuterex]

“His relationship with Ælfgifu of Northampton may well have begun before he married Emma of Normandy in 107. She was the daughter of Earldorman Ælfhelm of Northumbria, and Cnut's association with her was probably intended to secure her family's support. Hence, it is likely that she was openly acknowledged as his consort, and was present when he was chosen King in 1016. By this time she could have already borne him their two sons, Swegen and Harold. Nor it is likely that either she or her children were set aside when he married Emma although she was possibly provided with an establishment in her own part of the world, perhaps Northampton, and expected to stay there. 

This may explain why in 1035 Harold’s claim to be Cnut’s son was greeted by some with incredulity. Nevertheless, the probability that early in 1023 Thorkell the Tall was willing to accept one of Ælfgifu’s sons in exchange for his own when he and Cnut were reconciled strongly implies that the boy was openly acknowledged by Cnut. That after the conquest of Norway Swegen was put in charge of it under his mother’s tutelage reinforces this conclusion. 

Although it may have been a convenient way of getting her out of the country, this also indicates that Ælfgifu had previously enjoyed a recognized position. Entries in ‘Liber Vitae’ of Thorney Abbey, a record of the names of church friends and benefactors which survives in a hand pf around 1100, seem to confirm this. After the names of Cnut, Harold and Harthacnut appear those of ‘Imma Regina. 7 Ælfgifu, Ægelnod archiepiscopus.(...)’. It is noteworthy that Ælfgifu is not called queen, but that she nevertheless occupies a position next to Emma and before the archbishop of Canterbury.

This suggests that she is Ælfgifu of Northampton, and that her status, in Thorney at least, was considerable. Although she was absent from England late in the reign, Cnut was before that in the position of having two consorts. (...) The church also disqualified the offspring of concubines from inheriting, but in allowing Swegen to rule Norway Cnut recognised that he had a claim.”

Taken from: “Cnut England’s Viking King 1016-35” by M.K.Lawson