S4.07 Harald Hardrada: Review

Summary

Rex Factor – S4.07 Harald Hardrada: Review (July 3, 2026)

Episode Overview

In this engaging and humor-filled episode, hosts Graham Duke and Ali Hood return to deliver their verdict on Harald Hardrada, Norway’s legendary king and enduring Viking icon. Building on their previous biographical deep dive, this episode evaluates Harald factor by factor—from battlefield prowess to poetic passions, scandalous antics to tyrannical rule—as the hosts debate whether this almost-king of England deserves the Rex Factor. The tone is lively, irreverent, and deeply informed, making for an entertaining and accessible exploration of one of history’s great “nearly monarchs.”

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1. Recap & Introduction to Harald Hardrada

[02:29–06:19]

• Bio Recap: Harald Hardrada (c. 1015–1066) was the son of Sigurd and Asta Gudbrandsdatter, half-brother to King Olaf of Norway.

• Adventures:

  • Exiled to Kievan Rus’, then became a Varangian Guard in Byzantium, amassing wealth and fame fighting pirates, campaigning in Sicily, and putting down rebellions.
  • Co-king with nephew Magnus in Norway. Upon Magnus’s death, became sole king and waged near-constant war against Denmark but never conquered it.
  • In 1066, he attempted to claim the English throne with support from Tostig Godwinson.
  • Won the Battle of Fulford but was killed at Stamford Bridge—an event widely seen as ending the Viking Age.

• Viking-Finalist: His defeat marked the passing of the Viking era, as Scandinavian rulers pivoted to more standard European monarchy styles.

  “He is killed at the age of 51 in his army, comprehensively defeated. Which is a moment traditionally seen as the end of the Viking age.” — Ali Hood [05:04]

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2. Battleliness

[06:20–31:51]

Legendary Warrior

• Harald was celebrated for “Battle-loving” qualities by poets and chroniclers, who dubbed him “Thunderbolt of the North” and “strongest living man under the sun.”

• Major feats included:

  • Clearing pirates from the Mediterranean with the Byzantine navy.
  • Participating in campaigns throughout Asia Minor and Sicily, with creative (possibly exaggerated) siege tactics (e.g., flaming birds, tunnels, Trojan horse-like tricks).
  • Notably wealthy from Byzantine exploits—demonstrating effective leadership in battle.

  “He leaves Byzantium itself as we will discuss something of an adventure.” — Ali Hood [03:31]

• Escape from Byzantium: Harald’s dramatic prison break and palace coup, including possibly blinding the emperor himself—"How does that himself." — Ali Hood [15:04]

• Persistent Combat: Endless raids against Denmark and brutal land and naval battles, including the naval Battle of Nissa (1062) where Harald’s side, though outnumbered, prevailed through creative tactics.

• English Conquest Attempt (1066): Won Fulford (“the last Viking victory”) but ultimately lost at Stamford Bridge after unexpected rapid response from Harold Godwinson, fighting on even when outnumbered and ill-prepared.

  “He goes down fighting the fact that it’s the last great battle of the Vikings. Howard is seen as the last Viking and he goes full berserker gang.” — Ali Hood [27:34]

Battleliness Score:

• Graham: 9
• Ali: 9.5

“It isn’t perfect, but it is so close to perfection as to be perfect.” — Graham Duke [28:48]

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3. Scandal

[33:16–45:33]

Scheming and Ruthlessness

• Masters of deceit: Cheated in lot-drawing over camp locations in Sicily, played fast and loose with oaths (switching sides for political gain), and pilfered war booty in Byzantium.

• Accused of financial irregularities, possibly extorting more tax or withholding treasures.

• Notorious for regicidal acts (blinding the Byzantine emperor), murder of rivals under dubious pretexts, and encouraging the death of supposed allies.

• Not above bedroom scandals—rumors of defiled noblewomen and multiple wives (potential bigamy), but little direct evidence of outrageous sexual exploits.

  "So we've got murder, empiricides, deceit, oath breaking, maybe a little bit of bigamy." — Ali Hood [43:22]

Assessment:

• “If he wasn't a Viking, what more would you expect of anybody to get? Ideally some sex with nuns.” — Graham Duke [43:48]
• Both hosts agree: Harald’s actions are scandalous, but somewhat “expected” for a Viking; nothing is quite so earth-shattering as, say, the murder of a saint (à la Becket).
• Scores:
  • Graham: 9
  • Ali: 9
• “None of it's quite so monumental as to push it up to that 10. But nevertheless, 18 for scandal.” — Ali Hood [45:33]

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4. Subjectivity

[45:48–61:23]

A Man of Contrasts

• Cultural Interests:
  • Genuinely loved poetry, both as patron and practitioner.
  • Supported Icelandic poets, provided famine relief, sent church gifts, and founded Oslo, strengthening Norway’s coin economy and international trade.
• But…
  • Ruthless tyrant:
    • Annual raids devastated populations (Denmark’s Hedeby left in ruins).
    • Dealt brutally with opposition and subjects—massacres, forced submission, maimings, and scorched earth policies.
    • Adam of Bremen condemned his “greed and cruelty.”
• Religious Policy:
  • Accused of being insufficiently Christian by western standards, but built churches and ransomed Christian slaves.
• Autocracy:
  • “Subjects of King Harold must show their subjection by standing up or sitting, just as the King wishes.” — Thiodolf, quoted by Ali Hood [56:03]
• Would England Have Fared Differently?
  • Likely a brutal conqueror, but possibly a more culturally aligned, stable ruler than William the Conqueror.

Subjectivity Scores:

• Graham: 8
• Ali: 6

“Appalling man. But probably would have just been able to let it all kind of competently continue.” — Ali Hood [60:59]

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5. Longevity & Dynasty

[61:26–63:47]

• Longevity:
  • Claim to the English throne dated from the death of Edward the Confessor in January 1066 to Harald’s own death in September 1066: just 0.75 years.
  • Score: 2 out of 20 (25th best in the series)
• Dynasty:
  • Four surviving children (from potentially two wives), with his sons Magnus II and Olaf III succeeding in Norway.
  • Score: 13.5 out of 20 (joint 3rd best in the series)

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6. Overall Tally

Total Score: 66 points

• Highest score so far for any nearly monarch in the series.

“Harold across the board. That’s 66 straight away. That’s a… a top score, isn’t it?” — Graham Duke [64:03]

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7. The Rex Factor?

[64:10–66:46]

• Both hosts unequivocally agree—Harald Hardrada has the “star quality, lasting legacy, and great achievement” to receive the Rex Factor.
  • Cited life of high adventure: wars, sieges, betrayal, poetry, and pivotal historical significance.

“He’s got it all. The fact that, you know, his death is seen to embody the end of the Viking age… He’s got their X Factor.” — Ali Hood [66:08]

• Not just a “nearly nearly monarch,” but a definitive nearly monarch deserving of legend status.

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8. Notable Quotes & Segments

• [04:07] On Viking surprise at Stamford Bridge: “Harold Hardrada, he would not have expected Harold Godwinson to get there so quickly.”
• [14:45] Harald’s escape: “Apparently a distinguished lady arranged for two servants to scale the wall of apparently the roofless jail…”
• [28:03] On Battleliness: “And he never loses in Denmark. He wins the big battle, he just can't get the knockout blow.”
• [37:03] On oaths: “But Harold’s the kind of man who’s like, yeah, no, don’t care.”
• [39:42] On murder: “In Norway, he uses deceit to enable murder. So the best of both worlds, really.”
• [56:03] The King demands obedience: “Subjects of King Harold must show their subjection by standing up or sitting, just as the King wishes…”
• [65:01] The Last Viking: “His death is seen to embody the end of the Viking age.”

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9. Timestamps for Key Segments

• Harald’s early adventures & rise: [02:29–06:19]
• Varangian Guard & Byzantine exploits: [07:05–16:42]
• Naval warfare against Denmark: [17:17–20:18]
• English campaign (Fulford, Stamford Bridge): [20:41–24:13]
• Analysis of defeats & ‘specialist in failure’: [24:51–27:34]
• Hosts’ battleliness scores & quotes: [31:08–31:51]
• Scandal & scheming: [33:16–45:33]
• Poetry, subjectivity & domestic rule: [45:48–61:23]
• Longevity & Dynasty: [61:26–63:47]
• The Rex Factor verdict: [64:10–66:46]

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10. Conclusion

Graham and Ali’s review cements Harald Hardrada as a towering and tumultuous figure—adventurer, tyrant, poet, and the last true Viking. Though he fell short of becoming king of England, his spectacular life, bloody ambition, and cultural footprint earn him the coveted Rex Factor, ensuring his place among history’s most fascinating nearly monarchs.

“An amazing life, he’s got their X Factor.” — Ali Hood [66:42]

“That’s a definite yes. So he’s not a nearly nearly monarch. He’s a nearly monarch.” — Graham Duke [66:47]

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Next time: The nearly monarchic journey continues with Edgar the Atheling.

Transcript

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[Graham Duke]

This week Harold Padrada review. With your hosts Graham Duke and Ali Hood.

[Ali Hood]

Hello, hello and welcome to RexFactor. Reviewing all the nearly monarchs of England and the United Kingdom from Aethelwold to Albert Victor. The people who could or should have become monarch only for fate to intervene.

[Graham Duke]

That noise will happen today.

[Ali Hood]

That will and and might have happened two weeks ago. It might even happen in two weeks time.

[Graham Duke]

Oh really?

[Ali Hood]

Yeah, I think maybe every two weeks they make it. Yeah.

[Graham Duke]

What are they doing?

[Ali Hood]

Well, I'm referencing the fact that we were recording more than one episode on a day.

[Graham Duke]

Oh gosh, I thought you knew that.

[Ali Hood]

From a listener's perspective it might seem like oh, I just always.

[Graham Duke]

They're always digging up the road out there, aren't they?

[Ali Hood]

Now as you've heard today we are reviewing Harold Hard Raad of the legendary Viking king and warrior. Last time we just did a one off biography episode because such a big life and story we decided couldn't do it all in one. But today we are going to be reviewing him factor by factor and deciding if he has the Rex factor. First of all, a little recap in case you haven't heard the episode or have forgotten.

[Graham Duke]

Biography.

[Ali Hood]

Harald Hardrada was born in about 1015 in Rigorijk, Norway, the son of Sigurdso and Auster Gudbrandsdatter. He's a half brother to the king of Norway, Olaf Howardson, and is exiled to Kievan Rus after olaf's death in 1030, where he becomes a prominent soldier for Yaroslav the Wise. After a few years, Harald takes around 500 men to seek fame and fortune in the Varangian guard of Byzantium. And he achieves both in a wide variety of adventures. So fighting Arabian pirates on sea and land, royal escort to Jerusalem, the partial reconquest of Sicily and the defeat of a Bulgarian rebellion.

[Graham Duke]

Nice.

[Ali Hood]

He leaves Byzantium itself as we will discuss something of an adventure. Marries the daughter of Yaroslav in Kyiv, then goes to Norway and becomes co king with his nephew Magnus. And then after Magnus deaths, the following year, full king of Norway. Whoops. He spent Almost the next 20 years waging constant war against Denmark, though without ever achieving conquest, and crushes all opposition to his rule within Norway. Hence the name, hence hardrada. However, in 1066, he is drawn into the battle for the succession in England, thanks to the persuasive words of Tostig Godwinson.

[Graham Duke]

Is he to. Oh yes, Tostig says, why are you bothering with Denmark when England's right there.

[Ali Hood]

Exactly.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

He defeats an army of the north in the battle of Fulford, but after receiving the submission of York, is surprised by Harold Godwins's lightning fast arrival.

[Graham Duke]

Why are they both so surprised by each other? Because Harold was surprised they landed. Exactly. And then the other Harold is surprised when the other Harold responds.

[Ali Hood]

Well, I think for Harold Hardrada, he would not have expected Harold Godwinson to get there so quickly. So he would have thought, I'm going to build up my forces here in the north, then head south and maybe somewhere in the Midlands or somewhere like that, probably that is where I'll fight Harold Godwinson. He was not expecting it to be just a few days after.

[American Express Advertiser]

Right.

[Ali Hood]

The big battle in the north.

[Graham Duke]

Okay. And Saxon Harold is surprised because he's like, what? Just that's a rubbish claim. And he's got his eyes focused on William.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah, yeah. So they fight the battle of Stamford Bridge and despite heroic fighting on the part of Harald Hardrada, he is killed at the age of 51 in his army, comprehensively defeated. Which is a moment traditionally seen as the end of the Viking age.

[Graham Duke]

Why is that? Because now the court in Denmark is as sort of culturally similar to the court in Normandy and England.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah. I mean, you've got sort of. You do have some stuff that comes along later in terms of the north rule is still coming over a little bit. So William has to deal with Sven King of Denmark. So it's not completely done, but I guess the period of the raiding and the conquering and those sorts of adventures, it feels like they just become regular European monarchs.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Like the others.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah. Because their playground is taken away from them.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah. But also like you say, culturally maybe the idea of just going off and raiding and conquering other countries just for the heck of it, that seems to

[Graham Duke]

have passed more established economies rather than.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah, right, exactly. Anyway, that's our score top on Harold Hardriders biker feet. Now we will get on and review him.

[Graham Duke]

Battleliness.

[Ali Hood]

Harold loves a battle.

[Graham Duke]

I think that's fair.

[Ali Hood]

He's renowned as one of the great warriors of the age. So his favourite poets describe him as the promoter of battle Storm of Spears. One chronicler described him as the strongest living man under the sun. While Adam of Bremen, who is intending to be derogatory but nevertheless provides Harold with the obvious subtitle to his film the Thunderbolt of the North.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, I mean, it's all there, isn't it? Just pick and choose.

[Ali Hood]

Again, though, you often see that sometimes people trying to be critical, give the best possible compliment.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah. The Iron lady was there.

[Ali Hood]

This'll show him. I don't know. I think he's gonna like that.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Now, perhaps his greatest adventures actually were had when he was a young man in the prime of his life, really, in the Varangian Guard Byzantium. So, you know, he sees action pretty much every corner of the empire, even the hostile Adam of Bremen admitting that he was distinguished for his bravery.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

And it's an incredible thing, the idea of him there as a Viking because like you sort of saying first episode like this is technically the Roman Empire.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Not, you know, your Holy Roman Empire bit that Charlemagne sort of brought back as a kind of tribute act. This is the actual Eastern bit.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

That comes from Rome. And there you've got Harold.

[Graham Duke]

It would. It. It's a sort of weird quirk of history that there's. There's a. A name for it which is the name of a. Like a girl's name. It's like the Michelle Paradox or something where. Oh, yeah. Likely that a name like that would exist back then, but it's. And it feels as jarring to see a Viking in. In. In Ridley Scott's patch.

[Ali Hood]

Yes. That, you know, that Technically, the Roman Empire goes on beyond the Viking age.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah. Yeah. That's weird in itself, isn't it?

[Ali Hood]

Anyway, so it makes a lot of sense in a way that the. The Vikings are often in this Varangian guard, this foreign sort of core mercenary army, because he's got a lot of experience of fighting and indeed sailing. So he starts off in Byzantium in the navy.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

So he serves in these swift Ousia ships, which basically are there to sort of do lots of coastal patrolling. So he clears the Mediterranean of Arabian pirates. There'd been loads of them since the death of a previous empire. It's kind of. They'd lost control of the seas.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

It seems like Harold comes along and just sweeps them all away. We lack specifics, but captains could keep a portion of the booty seized from pirates. And as Harold is widely acknowledged to have been fabulously wealthy after his time in Byzantium, we assume that means he's probably quite good at this part of the job.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah. Okay.

[Ali Hood]

He then pursues the campaign on land. So he wrote himself that he reddened swords which sank in the towns of the Arabs.

[Graham Duke]

They really get off on this stuff, don't they?

[Ali Hood]

According to Snorri sturluson, he captured 80 towns in Asia Minor, probably actually as part of a wider campaign, rather than just personally commanding the army and taking every single one himself, which is kind of how implied. But nevertheless, again, very effective fighting.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Makes his reputation after this. He takes part in the campaign to reconquer Sicily.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Had been part of the Byzantine Emperor, but it's fallen.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

To Muslim forces. Snorri records four increasingly elaborate methods employed by Harold to capture four key towns on the island. So for the first one, he doesn't specify which ones, but, I mean, he's got places like Messina and place like that, but he doesn't actually specify which one. But we do know that these towns fall.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

But anyway, the first one, very sturdy walls, well provisioned, so you can't just besiege it in the normal fashion. So Harold gets small shavings of fur, ties them to the back of birds that nest in the town, smears them with wax and sulphur, sets fire to them. So then they fly home, set fire to their nests in the eaves of all the thatched roofs and engulf the town in flames. Is that true? It seems to be a stock story about how unlikely ways that people capture towns, because as soon as a bird,

[Graham Duke]

you light fire, set fire to a bird, I imagine it wouldn't get out of this room.

[Ali Hood]

Yes. Particularly if you've really, you know, smeared it in.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah. Unless, I mean, they use them as little grenades and threw them. Well, they're already fluffy, aren't they? Gross.

[Ali Hood]

For the second town, which was even bigger than the first, he had his men dig a tunnel under the town and then they obviously break up into the town through the tunnel, kill the guards, open the gates, swarm in.

[Graham Duke]

Not true.

[Ali Hood]

That is sort of. That's something which we have accounts of, like, I think even Romans doing so. That feels like there are a lot of accounts of that sort of thing, but that's probably because it's a known tactic rather than made up.

[Graham Duke]

And it feels much more sophisticated, which feels much more Roman, which almost feels like, you know, a thousand years earlier.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah.

[Graham Duke]

They would have the Tunnellili, who were specialist engineers. But I get the feeling when you're talking about. If you're talking about a Viking doing that in Norway, they'd basically be on their hands and knees and have muddy faces. Not with.

[Ali Hood]

Now, the third town, which is even bigger than the second town, is encircled by huge moats and the defenders are mocking them because they can see they just got no way in. So Harold tells his men to show contempt in return. So they start indulging in sport in front of the walls as if, you know, we don't care. We can be here all year. Gradually, the defenders grow rather lax and get used to this display and not really needing to worry about the siege, leave the gates opened.

[Netflix Unhinged Promoter]

No.

[Graham Duke]

No, they don't.

[Ali Hood]

Harold's men have secretly got swords on them under their gym kits.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

So all ready for it. Obviously, they sprint in.

[Graham Duke]

So they got their trainers on would do that. My kids even know to keep the door shut because we're trying to keep the cats in. You would, if it's your job and you've got an armed army out there, is this.

[Ali Hood]

I think it's one of those. But I think it's not so much that you just accidentally leave the gate open, but maybe there is a certain amount of passing traffic and stuff and they just aren't quick and swift in dealing with it because they feel like they don't really need to be, because we've seen what's going on.

[Graham Duke]

Okay.

[Ali Hood]

The fourth town, however, is even bigger than the third one.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah. Back to the birds.

[Ali Hood]

Well, no, this time, unfortunately, Harold falls ill and he's forced to take to his bed. And then rumors spread around that he's dying, so the Varangians instead go to parley in the town and the priests agree to let Harold be buried inside the town. So when Harold dies, they carry his coffin into the town amidst great pomp until the Varangians blow their battle horns and the army storm in through the open gates and rampage through the whole town.

[Graham Duke]

Is this true?

[Ali Hood]

I mean, again, possibly. Feels like this might be a little bit where the. He's in film mode, Snorri, at this point.

[Graham Duke]

It's Trojan horsey, isn't it?

[Ali Hood]

I mean he's missed the ideal, which is that Harold himself bursts out of the coffin.

[Graham Duke]

That's what was happening in my head. Yeah, yeah. What do they just fill it with stones or something?

[Ali Hood]

Yeah, it's very rattly. Very bony, isn't he?

[Graham Duke]

A bit more.

[Ali Hood]

Bit more muscle on him. He must have had a terrible time porter. His final campaign for the Byzantines is under the Emperor in person, defeating a Bulgarian army which culminates in the Battle of Ostrovo, where apparently Harald was dubbed the Bulgar Burner for his exploits. He's also honoured by the Emperor, so he's given the title of Spatharacondidatas, which means he's basically the leader of the royal bodyguard, as you said. When we're talking bodyguard, it's probably. That's honorific, so it's not actually in a SS bodyguard. However, after the death of the the Emperor Michael iv, Harold fell from favor and indeed found himself imprisoned by the new regime.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

However he was then able to escape from prison. Apparently a distinguished lady arranged for two servants to scale the wall of apparently the roofless jail. But it's a tower, so you know. Okay, yeah, lower rope down and then Harold and his men climb out.

[Graham Duke]

I mean that is the first possible escape route you plan against.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah.

[Graham Duke]

Right. We're gonna build this wall.

[Wayfair Advertiser]

Right.

[Graham Duke]

What about if people climb over the wall? They're not gonna do that.

[Ali Hood]

It's really tall.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Anyway, so he gets out, rejoins his men and leads them in this palace coup which is now erupting around him. Drags the Emperor out of the monastery where he was hiding and then Harold personally put out both his eyes.

[Graham Duke]

Harold did.

[Ali Hood]

Apparently there are quite a few accounts suggest that. How does that himself.

[Graham Duke]

This is amazing.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah.

[Graham Duke]

Wow.

[Ali Hood]

Not undisputed by historians, but equally there are quite a few accounts which suggest it.

[Graham Duke]

Not just the sagas, but I mean,

[Ali Hood]

why not as well. Exactly.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Someone had to. Yeah.

[Graham Duke]

Who. Who would like that honour?

[Ali Hood]

Yes. Even the end of Harold's time in Byzantium was an adventure. Even just simple act of going home.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah. I want to Hear this.

[Ali Hood]

So he's refused permission to depart, but obviously just does it anyway. So he takes two Varangian galleys, but comes up against a dramatic obstacle on the Bosphorus where they have these giant. I'm not sure if it's chains or just one giant chain. This giant obstacle, iron chains that stretch all the way across the sound, basically to block ships so it can stop them, well, presumably coming in, but also, yeah, can stop them going out.

[Graham Duke]

It's incredible, a chain like that being winched up, up, up. Amazing.

[Ali Hood]

Dramatic, but no match for Harold. Harald told some of the oarsmen to pull as hard as they could, while those who were not rowing were to run to the stern of the galleys laden with all their gear. With that, the galleys ran up onto the chains as soon as their momentum was spent and they stuck on top of the chains. Harold told all the men to run forward into the bows. Harold's own galley tilted forward under the impact and slid down off the chains. But the other ship stuck fast on the chains and broke its back. Many of her crew were lost, but some were rescued from the sea.

[Graham Duke]

That's just in going home, he has zero. I mean, that would affect you for the rest of your life, wouldn't it, the loss of those people, but.

[Ali Hood]

Or not, it's great. We rescued some of them.

[Graham Duke]

I had imagined a chain being about 2 meters up from above the waterline, but they're saying it's just below and so you sort of go over. Even better would be a chain about 2 meters up from the waterline with a net hanging down. Well, I'll go and have a word.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah. After his adventures in Byzantium, Harald returned to become co king and then full king of Norway. Before then setting his sights on Denmark, Harald makes annual campaigns against the Danes, basically for over a decade. Some are more damaging than others. So Harald's pillaging of Hedeby, which was a key trading centre, which never really recovers, so that was a particularly effective one. But the only major account was the Battle of Nyssa in 1062. So Harald was outnumbered because he sent half of his ships home when Sweyn hadn't arrived when they agreed to fight a battle. But then of course, Sven arrives in full force and thus outnumbers Harold. But Harald doesn't back down, so he tells his men, sooner than flee, we shall lie all dead in heaps.

[Graham Duke]

To which everyone goes, really? Oh, that is. I mean, it's. It's a very unnatural thing to say, isn't it? Mmm. I don't know, it's a real bugbear of me today. There is, there's some sort of. They must be really damaged.

[Ali Hood]

I mean he's not saying that he wants to die. He's sort of saying I'd rather, rather we die here today than run away like cowards. I mean his intention is to kill the enemy and win. So he's not intending to die, he's just saying, well look, the worst option is that we run away.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Then it's lying dead in a heap. And the best one is that they lie dead in a heap and we are the winners.

[Graham Duke]

Totally with you Harold. I'll just put the last two the other way around.

[Ali Hood]

So Harald and Sven place themselves in the centre of their forces, each tying their respective ships together in order to kind of keep close order. Basically they don't know how to fight naval battles. They haven't really got any proper tech. So all they can do is just make one great big ship effectively floating

[Graham Duke]

land and do what we normally do.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah. So Harald is standing on the prow of his ship shooting arrows for quite a lot of the battle until they actually come to close quarter fighting. Battle lasts long into the night until one of Harold's leading men, Haakon Iverson, having kept his ships out of the tide arrangements, sails around the sort of central area and is able to pick off isolated Danish vessels one by one. And Sven hasn't got any in reserve that can respond to this. So they're kind of stuck.

[Graham Duke]

Oh, that's much better.

[Ali Hood]

So they're fighting and he's going around.

[Graham Duke]

That's much better.

[Ali Hood]

Gradually this changes. The momentum shift goes fatally against the Danes. Sven's ship is then the last one to be boarded. So Harold is offering no quarter at this point. So everyone is either killed or forced to jump overboard, which is also. Which is the option taken by Sven.

[Graham Duke]

How far off is this at sea or is it.

[Ali Hood]

It's no, it's a river. Okay, so you're not a million miles

[Graham Duke]

away from land, but similarly so is the river Blackwater. You know you're not likely to survive if you drop in the middle of

[Ali Hood]

that though Sven does.

[Graham Duke]

Oh right, okay, good.

[Ali Hood]

But nevertheless, Howard and his men win the day. 70 of Sven's 300 ships left lying empty after the battle. So brutal, brutal fight. Finally of course we have his invasion of England which is the last Viking invasion England. A couple of times svenistriton brings troops over, but he never actually really.

[Graham Duke]

It's not a conquest, Joby.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah, now it's easy course to forget, given how things ended, but Harold actually wins the first battle of 1066, which is the Battle of Fulford.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, the forgotten battle of 1066.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah. So Harold and Tostig are marching on York, only to be met by the northern earls, Edwin and Morcar. Now, Fulford means Foul Waterford, so it's sort of a choke point between the banks of the Ouse and this impassable swamp. So Edwin and Morka, he said to ply their forces, which about 5,000 on top of a ditch between the river and the swamp, so they can't be outflanked. And Harold has to go across this sort of muddy area, scramble up a hill, which again, muddy, muddy, and then meet the shield wall.

[Graham Duke]

Right.

[Ali Hood]

So they've got a good defensive position to Howard's advantage. He's starting from higher ground, so he's got to go down and then up again. But it does mean at the start that he can actually see the surrounding area pretty well.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

So he realizes that if he can break through the flank of one Saxon army, the other will be immediately exposed and with all the surrounding marshlands, there's basically no prospect of retreat. So although it's a challenging position, if you can break through anywhere, then it will just immediately collapse. Right. So he orders the charge to be sounded, battle commences, and then, of course, very hard fighting, because they, as I said, going up that muddy hill into a shield wall, which holds firm for a very long time. And as a result of that, Tostig's men, who were mostly sort of press ganged into service, they're not loyal fighters, they can't be bothered and they flee. Morca's men, who's facing Tostig, charge after them in anticipation of victory. Perhaps a good little tactical move by toss by Harold, because Morcar is the man that replaced Tostig as Earl of Northumbria. So there's a bit of personal beef between the two.

[Graham Duke]

Right.

[Ali Hood]

Which either makes Tostig more motivated to really do him, or it means Morka's perhaps a bit more likely to be tempted to come out. And indeed, that is what happens. So Morka and his men coming out opens up the battlefield, undermines the shield wall and allows them to be isolated.

[Graham Duke]

It's pride, isn't it? Pride.

[Ali Hood]

But also, I guess, if you're inexperienced in this sort of thing, you see them, you've held off, you see them running away. It maybe looks in your isolated view because you've been so focused on just people right in front of you that if suddenly it opens up and you see people running away, it looks like victory at that point, probably, doesn't it?

[Graham Duke]

Absolutely. You just gotta be so rigid and lit to commands, even when it looks right.

[Ali Hood]

But they were not, of course. So it's all opened up now. Harold sees the chance, so he orders his banner. The land waster, as he calls it, to be held out in front of him, leads a devastating charge. Morcar's men are immediately surrounded. Edwin's shield wall is exposed. They can outflank him. It is victory for the Vikings. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle recorded that there was a good number of the English people slain and drowned and put to flight, while Harold's in situ. Poet wrote that the English lay in the fen hewn down by the sword, so thickly heaped that they paved a way across the swamp for the brave Norsemen. So around a thousand of the best northern troops have been killed. Harald receives the submission of York. He is effectively king in the north. And it's the last time that the Vikings defeat the Saxons in battle. It's the last Viking victory.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah. Took the edge off. Whittled the numbers down a bit, though, for Harald,

[Ali Hood]

So lots of very impressive stuff there. But although he's a remarkably formidable warrior, he does suffer his fair share of defeats as well. So his first, very first Battle of Stiklestad, where he joined his half brother, Olaf Howardson, attempting to regain the throne of Norway. That ends in failure. Olaf is killed, Harald is wounded and he escapes, as he himself wrote, by creeping from forest to forest with little honor. Now, to be fair, Harold's only 15 and in his first battle, so it's probably unfair to put much of the blame on his shoulders for that one.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, yeah. He wasn't commanding, was he? He was talking about my men a lot.

[Ali Hood]

He had some of his own men that he was brilliant.

[Graham Duke]

Okay, but he wasn't.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah. But there is a pattern of failures on Harold's CV. So, you know, another one is that despite nearly 20 years of annual campaigns, he's never actually able to conquer Denmark, which is kind of his main thing when he's King of Norway, he wants to be king of Denmark and he never actually manages it.

[Graham Duke]

Oh, that's true. Let alone the failure in England.

[Ali Hood]

Well, exactly. So, you know, if Jose Mourinho is doing a press conference before the Battle of Stamford Bridge, does he say that Harold Hardrada is a specialist in failure? Yeah, lots of impressive stuff, but actually, when you get to the final.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, that is interesting.

[Ali Hood]

And because Harold is in this series as a nearly monarch, because he fails to become king of England and Fulford is the last Viking victory, because Stamford Bridge proves to be the last battle and the final defeat of the Vikings. So it's the greatest Saxon victory against the Vikings. Michael Wood described it as being an unparalleled catastrophe for Norse arms. Their army having suffered perhaps the heaviest casualties of any in the Viking era. So as you said, 300 ships for the campaign, only 25 were needed for all the survivors to go home in.

[Graham Duke]

Are we at the point where we give a number?

[Ali Hood]

Well, not, not quite yet. So we can argue that Harold is not without error himself. Might see his final heroic charge out of the shield wall as reckless and unnecessary. And the fact that reinforcements do later arrive and the battle rages on for hours more, you think, well, if he had still been alive and been able to keep some more of his troops in check, you know, maybe prospects might have been a bit better. Maybe he went too soon.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

But in his defense, epic battle, which is still pretty cool. And the odds are massively against him. So they were taken completely unawares. Say they weren't there for a battle, they were just there to collect some prisoners. So not only are they outnumbered by several thousand, they weren't even wearing armor.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

So the fact that they're able to fight on for as long as they

[Graham Duke]

do, they're totally in sort of beano bastard kids vests and white vests, white pants. In my mind.

[Ali Hood]

Yes. As for Howl's final charge, he didn't lead the initial break, so perhaps he realized that when others had done so, they were fatally exposed and he thought, well, look, the only hope we've got now is an unexpected all or nothing charge.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

It just sow chaos and perhaps break the lines.

[Graham Duke]

And that's the final tactic. Oh, I mean often the first tactic

[Ali Hood]

of a Viking in a battle, but

[Graham Duke]

there's always that in the locker and it is impressive.

[Ali Hood]

He goes down fighting the fact that it's the last great battle of the Vikings. Howard is seen as the last Viking and he goes full berserker gang.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, I, I think it's fantastic. You may have like there's, there's that. There is going to be that theme the whole time when we're doing battleliness in these early ones certainly.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah.

[Graham Duke]

Where they have to lose. Yeah. And so I'm gonna knock a point off for that. But otherwise it's victory, victory, victory, victory in any scene.

[Ali Hood]

And he never loses in Denmark. He wins the big battle he just can't get the knockout blow. So this is Snorri Sturluson's to finish. And this is the end of Harald Hardrada. When King Harald Sigurdsson saw this, he led a charge into the thickest of the fighting. King Harald Sigurdsson now fell into such a fury of battle that he rushed forward ahead of his troops, fighting two handed. Neither helmets nor coats of mail could withstand him and everyone in his path gave way before him. It looked then as if the English were on the point of being routed. But now King Harald Sigurdsson was struck in the throat by an arrow and this was his death wound. So you just got the image of this massive man, as you said before.

[Graham Duke]

Oh, yeah, because he's massive, isn't he?

[Ali Hood]

Double handed, sword swinging away.

[Graham Duke]

I mean, it isn't perfect, but it is so close to perfection as to be perfect.

[Ali Hood]

And it has a big impact. I don't know if this is a bit more of a Rex factor thing, but you know, William of Normandy lands at Pevensey just three days after this. Harold has lost loads of men, has to go down south. Dies at Hastings just 19 days after Stamford Bridge. Given how close that battle was, you can't help but feel that 1066, the outcome would have been completely different.

[Graham Duke]

That's the next natural question. Is it? How would he have done against William?

[American Express Advertiser]

Well, yeah.

[Ali Hood]

How would he have done against William if he'd won? How would Howard Godwinson have done if he hadn't had to fight this battle?

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Still think it. I just feel like it's an inevitable William victory. But. But it also. Yeah, he is the last Viking, so it has to end in defeat. But if. Is it going to end in. What type of defeat?

[Ali Hood]

Is it a whimper?

[Graham Duke]

Yeah. When the fall is all you've got left, what was the rest of it?

[Ali Hood]

When all you have is the fall, it matters.

[Graham Duke]

What is that for?

[Ali Hood]

Great deal.

[Graham Duke]

Or something.

[Ali Hood]

Something about a. I feel like it's from Butch. Is it Butch Cassidy? No, I feel like it. West Wing quotes it.

[Graham Duke]

I used to love Butch Cassidy. I think I'd remember that.

[Ali Hood]

I wonder if it's from that.

[Graham Duke]

Maybe.

[Ali Hood]

What does it matter how a man falls? No, no, no, no. Westwind quotes it. Ha ha. It's from the.

[Graham Duke]

No.

[Ali Hood]

Yes.

[Graham Duke]

Oh, darn.

[Ali Hood]

I was thinking of a different. The thing I was thinking of was when someone's worried about quite a small thing in the context of a massive thing, and the CG references a bit where they've got to Jump into.

[Graham Duke]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Ali Hood]

He's like, I can't swim.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

What do you mean, can't swim? The fall will kill you. Exactly.

[Graham Duke]

Four will probably kill it. I can't see it being anything other than a nine.

[Ali Hood]

Oh, yeah, I'm definitely nine. I'm feeling that not getting Denmark and the fact that he does lose in England, even though he wins Fulford and he goes in an incredible battle, brings me down from a ten. Yeah, I can just decide between a nine and a nine and a half.

[Graham Duke]

No, I'm settling with a nine. I think that's, it's really, really good.

[Ali Hood]

And you remember all the, you know, the Varangian guard stuff.

[Graham Duke]

Well, that's it. This is just, it's really good. And then you look deeper and he's got all this other stuff. They go, oh yeah, you know. Well, it's very strong. I think if you were to go nine and a half and him to ultimately only lose.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah, I'm gonna go nine and a half. I think I'm docking that half points for the failure to get those points full on conquest victories that he wanted. But I think otherwise, if you come up against Harald Hardrada and he's got his armor on.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, yeah, catch. Now imagine you caught me without my pants down.

[Ali Hood]

So a nine from you, nine and a half for me. That's 18 and a half for battling us. And we'll go on to review him further after a quick break.

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[Ali Hood]

quick message to say that Rexfactor are going to be doing a live show at the Ludlow assembly rooms on Friday 21st August at 7 o' clock pm. We're going to be looking at the four main contenders for the throne in 1066. Harold Godwinson, William the Conqueror, Harold Hardrada and Edgar the Atheling. And we're going to ask the audience who comes to the show to decide who should have become the king. We've had lots of fun. We've been to Ludlow in previous years and we've really loved getting the chance to meet Rex Factor fans in person. So if you are able to then please do come along to join us on Friday 21st of August at the Ludlow assembly rooms. You can tickets directly from the Ludlow assembly room's website or we will have a link to it on our website rexfactorpodcast.com hopefully we'll get to see you there.

[Graham Duke]

Scandal.

[Ali Hood]

While Howard is a brave warrior, he's also a wily character who is perfectly happy to use methods foul to pursue his ends. Quite sneaky, quite deceitful, devious. In Sicily he clashed with the General Georgius Maniarches, so apparently undermined him by holding his troops back whenever they were under Maniarchis commander or but going full on if he was in charge. So people start to think oh, how he does a bit better than Maniarchy's, doesn't he? Yeah, but one very Harold esque anecdote. They have a dispute over who gets to pitch their tents in the best location. So they get. They agree to draw lots between Harold and Maniarchy's.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

So how if he can look at Maniarchy's mark so that he doesn't copy it.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

So then they draw the lots and then howl just immediately snatches the winning one and throws it in the sea and says oh, that was mine. And like, but no one saw it. It's like, well you can just look at the other one, you'll see it's got the mark of Maniarchy's on it because obviously he copied the mark and so he knew that whichever one he picked out, the one that was left would have Maniake's mark on it. So he'd be able to say, well clearly he lost because look, I threw the other one away and there's his one still there.

[Graham Duke]

So that means he gets to camp where he wants. Yeah, okay, sorry.

[Ali Hood]

He knew whichever one he pulled out was going to have the mark of many arches and whichever one he left was going to have that. So if he threw the first one away so no one saw it and he could say well obviously it was mine because look at the other one.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

[Ali Hood]

It's perhaps not unsurprising that he makes enemies in Byzantium, these sorts of antics. And he's imprisoned, seems to be on charges of financial irregularities. Money just resting in his account. Most likely he's withholding captured booty or perhaps extorted more tax than was due.

[Graham Duke]

Right.

[Ali Hood]

Keeping it for himself. It's often said that he gained his wealth through palace pillaging where supposedly the Varangians had the right to pilfer the palace of royal treasure whenever an emperor died, more likely, because that seems like quite a chaotic policy to have. Maybe there's a special tax that is raised on an emperor's death and it requires enforcement. So perhaps the Varangians get to keep some of it because they're the ones that are asked to do it.

[Graham Duke]

So it's a. It's a very strange rule to encourage. The rule is there are no rules. Okay, is everyone alright with this rule?

[Ali Hood]

So you're saying that if you die, I can just go in and take all your treasure?

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Um, yes, but no, no, I think I've heard enough either way. There are reports of Howard pillaging the treasury after the revolution. That might make sense if he was accused of financial irregularities and he wanted to destroy all the paper.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

So probably there is some kind of taking a bit more than he was owed.

[Graham Duke]

I just presume they're all at it. I suppose there was any system of taxation.

[Ali Hood]

I imagine it's one of those where it's like you. It's the thing where you can decide if you want to call in that rule if you don't like somebody.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

He also has a habit of playing fast and free with oaths. So recall when he was going to become. Before he became Korul of Norway, he makes a pact with Sven Estridzen against his nephew Magnus of Norway. So Adam of Bremen tells us that Harald swore an oath of fidelity with Sven, that they would work together against Magnus.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

But as soon as Magnus gives him a counteroffer of being co king, he was easily persuaded to rebel and he devastated all the coastlands of Denmark with fire and sword.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah. So just wherever he. Wherever the greatest opportunity exists.

[Ali Hood]

But you know, he makes, I guess, a very sort of public and deeply meant to be, deeply meaningful oath that, you know, you can't. The kind of oath that you can't break.

[Graham Duke]

Right.

[Ali Hood]

But Harold's the kind of man who's like, yeah, no, don't care.

[Graham Duke]

But also, I bet the kind of man who would go absolutely bananas if it were broken.

[Ali Hood]

Oh yes. Oh yes. Interesting. Interestingly, Snorri Sturluson produces an elaborate story about Sven goading Harold over his lucky war banner and then attempting to murder him for unspecified reasons. Probably not true. And likely invented by Snorri because he felt he needed to justify Harold breaking his oath. Right. So he had to put in some kind of story to say why he did it.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Again, which implies that the person who's writing the great account of Harold's life is like ooh this doesn't reflect well on him. I better explain this away. Somehow it implies that it was seen as being a bit dodgy. Yeah. We also, of course, have some good old fashioned murder.

[Graham Duke]

Oh, nice.

[Ali Hood]

When escaping imprisonment in Byzantium, as we discussed, he dragged the Emperor out from in the altar of a monastery and personally blinded him.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Now, apparently he was then sent back to the monastery, the Emperor.

[Graham Duke]

But he's gonna die.

[Ali Hood]

Well, yeah, it does. Blindings usually seem to be essentially killings as well.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

So at the very least, blinding, but quite possibly killing the Byzantine Emperor. It's not bad. On the scandal front, it's huge.

[Graham Duke]

Regicide. Is there another word for regicide when it's an emperor? Empiricide, which, to be fair, is something we haven't had. No, yeah, we've had regicide. This I wasn't expecting to be thinking of the sort of numbers I'm thinking about.

[Ali Hood]

I mean, we've got more good things to come, obviously. I was thinking to sperm this morning actually, when getting ready for this, that weirdly, I feel like a lot of Harold's things, it's like if this were a Saxon or a Norman, then I'd be like, oh, my, it's 10, 10, 10, 10. Where it's like. I mean, he is a Viking though, so what do you expect? Yes, he broke a nose. Yes, he stole some money. Yes, he murdered.

[Graham Duke]

That's what they do.

[Ali Hood]

He didn't Blood Eagle the Emperor. He didn't, you know, tie him up and fire 100 arrows at him. He just blinded him.

[Graham Duke]

Oops. Blind blinding is a very sort of natural thing for a Viking to be doing, isn't it? Go down, go downtown for a good blinding.

[Ali Hood]

Right, Blind at him. Now, what's next? Oh, no, no, no, that's it, Harold. That's all we're doing.

[Graham Duke]

He's gonna die any minute. Let me do something, I think. Well, go on, what else we got?

[Ali Hood]

In Norway, he uses deceit to enable murder. So the best of both worlds, really. So when Einar Pawnshaker rebelled against Harald's authority in the north, invited him to a meeting at his royal residence with a guarantee of safety. And then as soon as Einar entered the room, Howard's men set on him and he's murdered. And then when his son comes in to intervene, he's killed as well.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Recall that. That upset Finn Arneson for the trouble it caused. But then worse is to follow when Harold supposedly reconciled with Finn's brother Ka, and then encouraged him to lead an attack, promising to Follow close behind with reinforcements, but instead waits until Karth is surrounded and killed. And then it's like, oh, here I am. Oh, dear. Yeah, you're dead now. It's one of those. I don't know if it's better or worse from a scandal perspective, but that Howard is just so brazen about the whole thing afterwards, because obviously Finn's really cross.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

And apparently Harold let people say what they liked about it and would neither confirm nor deny the accusation. But it was quite obvious that the King was very pleased about what had happened.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, he just doesn't care for the results, does he?

[Ali Hood]

And he then composed a poem. Now I have caused the deaths of 13 of my enemies. I kill without compunction and remember all my killings. Treason must be scotched by fair means or foul before it overwhelms me. Oak trees grow from acorns.

[Graham Duke]

This guy, he's locking up. So the 13 does that. Is he saying that he killed that person that he was meant to be allied with?

[Ali Hood]

Yeah. Now, it's generally all been war and personal politics with Harold, but we have a bit of potential bedroom irregularity as well. One accusation laid against him in Byzantium, in terms of the imprisonment, was that he defiled a noble lady. We don't have anything else to go on there. But there's also a story that the Empress Zoe was jealous that he wanted to marry her niece Maria, instead of Zoe instead of her. Now, according to Snorri, Harald, when he made his escape from Byzantium, abducted the niece Maria, only to then set her back ashore with an escort before they got to the Black Sea and sent a message back for Zoe, demonstrating how little power she had on Harold, that he could take her niece without being stopped.

[Graham Duke]

Why is he being pain in the backside to Zoe now? Because he wouldn't let her go.

[Ali Hood]

Well, she imprisoned him and wouldn't let him go. Okay.

[Graham Duke]

And then he takes this Hungarian princess, who's now his wife, to Shetland.

[Ali Hood]

Kyivan Princess.

[Graham Duke]

Kyivan Princess to Shetland.

[Ali Hood]

Well, Orkney. Yes, he does. But as well as that, he takes another wife, Torah Torberg. Stutter. So this is after he's become King of Norway, after he's married Elisive Kyiv. But he doesn't seem to bother ending that first marriage. So Tor is part of a powerful Norwegian family, so most likely when he becomes king, and you've got lots of people that are still loyal to Magnus, she's from a prominent family, so that's probably a way of him extending his control and his rule over Norway by marrying into another noble family. And it has elements of Canute, because remember when he became king and in the initial invasion of his father, he marries Elfgiever of Northampton to get the loyalty of the Mercians. And then when he becomes king, he marries Emma of Normandy to get the whole kingdom and just keeps both. Yeah, because he's a Viking.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Now, some have suggested maybe Tor was only ever a mistress rather than a fallen wife. But she has a very high status. She's often written about as a wife and two sons born of the marriage succeed him in Norway. So implies a certain legitimacy.

[Graham Duke]

Oh, God.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah. I think that if you got your sons ruling afterwards, that that's it, isn't it?

[Ali Hood]

Yeah. So we've got murder, empiricides, deceit, oath breaking, maybe a little bit of bigamy.

[Graham Duke]

Can we. I think this is 10.

[Ali Hood]

I mean, what more if he wasn't a Viking, what more would you expect of anybody to get?

[Graham Duke]

Ideally some sex with nuns.

[Home Depot Announcer]

Yeah.

[Graham Duke]

He doesn't bash any bishops.

[Ali Hood]

No. I mean, Adam Bremen has some complaints about bishop stuff, but yes, it isn't really bashing.

[Graham Duke]

All right, I'll go nine and a half for his. For the lack of bishop bashing.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah. I think I'm also not gonna go the 10. I think the reason I'm not gonna go the 10 is I just don't think there's anything that's quite so horrifically breaking all kind of codes. Like, even like the imperrici thing, it is part. Is a revolution. So it's a little bit more like he's the hired sword or the hired thumbs, as it were, to do the dirty job.

[Graham Duke]

Is that how they do it?

[Ali Hood]

Well, I mean, that's in the film. I imagine it probably wasn't, but it's not quite the same thing as, you know, that actually that's his campaign. He's part of the revolution. The bigamy thing, you think? Yeah, I said, you know, Canute had that sort of thing. It's not so unusual for the Vikings to do.

[Graham Duke]

But you gotta score it.

[Ali Hood]

Oh, yeah, Gotta score it. But, you know, the oath breaking, all that sort of stuff, it's. None of it's quite so huge and epoch shaking as a scandal.

[Graham Duke]

None of it is a Beckett, where we're talking about it and have primary schools named after it.

[Ali Hood]

Even though we didn't give Beckett a 10, but we probably should have done, but, you know, what did they give him? I think he got nines. I think we thought he was not guilty of deliberately doing it, but afterwards we Regretted that low score for Henry. Yeah, yeah.

[Graham Duke]

He used and actually that. So if he'd have got more, that would have changed that whole area of action anyway. Well, okay, I. He. Given that he should have got 10, I'm gonna stick with a nine.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah. I think I'm also going to go nine for scandal for Howard Hard. I mean it's great scandal and it's dodgy stuff.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Stuff you shouldn't really be doing. But none of it's quite so monumental as to push it up to that 10. But nevertheless, 18 for scandal.

[Graham Duke]

Trade in that emperor for a pope and baby, you got full score subjectivity.

[Ali Hood]

Surprisingly, Harold does have a cultural hinterland. The man loved poetry.

[Graham Duke]

Oh yeah. Well, he loved himself.

[Ali Hood]

Surrounds himself with poets and was himself an accomplished poet. So Gabriel Tervel Peter declared that no king of Norway was himself a better poet. And none showed a deeper appreciation of the art than Harold did.

[Graham Duke]

Is this like Henry VIII being the world's best songsmith?

[Ali Hood]

I don't think it's that he's the best poet. It's not that he's the best poet. He's the best king poet, if you see what I mean. So a lot of the other kings will do poetry, but Harold's the only one who's actually genuinely any good at it.

[Graham Duke]

The best is poetry.

[Ali Hood]

So yeah, in the way that Henry is genuine. Henry VIII is genuinely a talented musician and decent composer. But no one's saying that he's better than Thomas Tallis or whatever.

[Graham Duke]

Okay, got you.

[Ali Hood]

But it's like. But yes, he can actually write a poem.

[Graham Duke]

I think it's like saying all these people who take photos themselves in the gym are really good at mirrors. I think. I think he's. Well, okay, it's there. It's there. Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

There are numerous examples of Harold composing poems at critical junctures. His life. So his departure Byzantium. When he's gone over the. The chains. He then reflects on the rejections of Yaroslav's daughter. Apparently, whilst Einar Pawnshaker is approaching, he's writing a poem about it. Even the battle of Stamford Bridge here in the rush, he does take a moment to compose a poem. Or indeed takes a moment to compose two poems because apparently he was dissatisfied with his first effort so he had another go.

[Graham Duke]

That's not making the film. Sort of slow the pace bit if imagine those two towering structures and it's nighttime. But imagine somehow a golden moon shining down on this dripping chain. Wind and waves. And over the top, Smash gets his quill out. No, I Don't think it's working

[Ali Hood]

now. Because of his poetical proclivities, Harald seems to have been drawn to Iceland. They're renowned for their skalds, that sort of poets, and also their writers like Snorney Sturluson and that the. The Icelandic sagas that, you know, like saga thing, podcast do that. These are Icelandic. Yeah, a lot of these. And so he shows great favor both to their poets and indeed to the

[Graham Duke]

island as a whole in order to get some lyrics out of them.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah, but also I guess you just. He approves the sort of thing that they're doing.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, generally that.

[Ali Hood]

That's good stuff they got going, these guys. Yeah, good guys. In 1056 he permitted four ships to sail with flour and put a limit on prices to provide assistance during a famine and also allowed any Icelandic poor who could to come to Norway. He also sent Iceland a special bell for a church. And Snorri Sturluson who said, the author of Haraldsaka and as Icelandic said, such are the memories of King Harold that people in this country still cherish as well as the many great acts of generosity that he showed to people who stayed with him. However, his predominant concern of course is for the subject of Norway, where he ruled as king for just under 20 years, which again is weird because he's an early monarch and it's quite a small period where he's in England, but he was actually a king for 20 years before that. He founds the city of Oslo, which is location very easy to supply from surrounding cultivated lands. Also good base either for defending against Danish raids or from launch launching against Denmark. He introduced a royal monopoly on minting coins. Previously the system was basically just to import foreign minted coins.

[Graham Duke]

Really.

[Ali Hood]

So this is really the first time that Norway gets a viable coin economy.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, it's so unbiking, isn't it? He's really. You can see why this is the last Viking. There'd be some old crone watching them clanging coins together. This is the end.

[Ali Hood]

But it's obviously a great boom for the economy. Makes much easier and obviously lucrative international trade as well when you've got your own coin economy going on. And as Howard establishes links with various countries that he had previous connections. So Kievan Rus, Byzantium, Scotland, Ireland, it gets those trade routes going. So quite a prosperous time.

[Graham Duke]

Well, that's good stuff, isn't it?

[Ali Hood]

Norway? So yes, he's ruthless, he's autocratic, but generally domestic peace and prosperity for most of his reign.

[Graham Duke]

I mean that's really good. Compared to some of the stuff we've had.

[Ali Hood]

Exactly.

[Graham Duke]

I mean, what else do you want? Actually, I don't want any of these monastic reforms. I want. He's got aid going on to Iceland. Good stuff. Good stuff. I mean, am I docking him points because it's boring if I give him an eight?

[Ali Hood]

Well, you've also not heard the other side.

[Graham Duke]

Oh, right, fine. Okay, good.

[Ali Hood]

He's not a man you'd want to get on the wrong side of.

[Graham Duke]

No.

[Ali Hood]

And being a war based character, he leaves a wake of suffering and destruction.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

So the annual rates against Denmark would have had a devastating impact on the Danish population whom he was technically seeking to rule by these campaigns. One example is captured by one of his own poets describing the aftermath of an attack on Hedeby in 1049, which I said was this great trading town of Denmark that's then basically never again.

[Graham Duke]

Oh, gosh.

[Ali Hood]

All Hedeby was blazing fired by Harold's fury. Sven now feels the havoc of Harald's deadly vengeance. At dawn in Hedeby's outskirts I saw the tall fires raging.

[Graham Duke]

Is this the one he did with the birds?

[Ali Hood]

No, it's just a general daily one. Adam of Bremen is certainly not a fan of Harold's proclivity for warfare and the impact he's had. After he came into his fatherland, however, he never ceased from warfare. He was the thunderbolt of the north, a pestilence to all the Danish islands that man plundered all the coastlines of the Slavs. He subjected the Orkney Islands to his rule. He extended his blood stained sway as far as Iceland. And so as he ruled over many nations, he was odious to all on account of his greed and cruelty. And also, of course, a decade or so of war must have put great pressure on the people of Norway in terms of taxes and food demands and counter raids. So it makes you consider, on the one hand, we see evidence, actually he could be quite a good ruler and he can look after people and he knows how to do it. And he can actually do the slightly more modern things like trade and coins rather than just killing. But how would it have been if you're somewhere between York and London in England in 1066?

[Graham Duke]

Well, it's like it's good in that he's developing some of the basics of a modern economy, but just spending the fruits of that on war instead of, you know, a youth group.

[Ali Hood]

Yes,

[Graham Duke]

but I don't think even anyone else would have. Even those who aren't expecting a skate

[Ali Hood]

park in this time probably Not. But I guess if we imagine him as a king of England, if we picture 1066, if he wins at Stamford Bridge or if he doesn't have to fight there, if Howard stays down south, what's the experience of England as Harold makes his way down?

[Graham Duke]

Oh, it'd be bad news. But, but, but for those, but afterwards,

[Ali Hood]

for those that don't get killed in the initial.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah. And for those 20 years, I think it's an eight.

[Ali Hood]

Well, you've still not heard everything. And this is where I think you're going to be really concerned, because Adam of Bremen really criticizes Harold for his attitudes towards religion. He accuses him of failing to live up to the example of his saintly half brother Olaf. So apparently Harold tried to remove treasure that was left at his brother's tomb, appointed unconsecrated bishops and opened the door to paganism.

[Graham Duke]

Oh, good

[Ali Hood]

King Harold surpassed all the madness of tyrants in his savage wildness. Many churches were destroyed by that man, many Christians were tortured to death by him. He also gave himself up to magic arts and wretched man that he was, did not heed the fact that his most saintly brother had eradicated such illusions from the realm and striven even unto death for the adoption of the precepts of Christianity.

[Graham Duke]

So he wasn't actually Christian?

[Ali Hood]

Well, actually, he definitely was. What's going on really is that Howard's Christianity has got a much more Eastern bent than Adam's life, of course, because Kevin Russ and indeed Constantinople. So it's not the right type of Christianity. And so the bishops thing that he's talking about, he's appointed bishops, but he's getting them from places that aren't approved by the usual channels. And when they challenge him on this, he says, you have no authority here. Only I have authority.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, yeah. But he's saying live golf is a real thing now. You just gotta get rid of. Used to it.

[Ali Hood]

It's still golf. Yeah, I still play golf. I mean, to be honest, that's a surprise. First and foremost out.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Actually, archaeological evidence suggests he builds and improves churches during his reign. And he also made a gift of money, a large gift of money to a Swedish bishop to purchase the. The liberty of 300 Christian slaves. So actually he's not, he's not really anti Christian, he's just not respecting Adam's church. Perhaps a big underlying issue, however, of Harold that we might mark him down for in subjectivity, is that he really is. He's quite a tyrant, autocratic ruler who will brook no opposition to his authority and is not held by any form of moral limitation when it comes to enforcing his rule. As he said, Hardrada, Hard ruler. Saxo Grammaticus perhaps gives us a better suprique because Hard ruler sounds quite cool.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah. What? Saxo Grammaticus? That's the first bodyguard?

[Ali Hood]

No, no, Saxo Grammaticus is just another historian. Oh, that's just his name.

[Graham Duke]

Cool name.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah. He said that Harold should have been dubbed Marlas the Bad. Again, it's not that catchy, but equally, it's sort of. It's like. No, no. When we're saying Hard Rock, when we're saying that, we don't mean it in a cool way. We just mean y. Not very nice.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

His favorite poet and who's close to him, Thiodolf, described Harold's style of rule. Subjects of King Harold must show their subjection by standing up or sitting, just as the King wishes. All the people humbly bow before this warrior. The King demands obedience to all his royal orders.

[Graham Duke]

But at this time, if you've got a system where the only way to get in power is to slaughter, that's the. That's the only way you will ever get stability for the regular people. 8.

[Ali Hood]

Well, we still got Snorri Sturluson. Again, very much pro Harold. King Harald was a very autocratic ruler and his imperiousness increased as his position in Norway grew more secure. It came to the point that scarcely anyone dared to argue with him or to propose anything which was different from what he himself himself wanted. He was brutal to his enemies and dealt ruthlessly with any opposition to him. So when Harkon Iverson rebelled against him, right late on in the reign, 1065, he goes up to the north, and they refused to pay taxes to anyone but Haakon. So Harold seeks revenge, not just on Haakon, but all the ordinary people and the farmers that had supported Haakon and withheld taxes. The King had the farmers seized. Some of them he ordered to be maimed, others killed, and most of them deprived of all their possessions. All those who could escape fled. He had many districts burned and laid completely waste.

[Graham Duke]

So did William, though.

[Ali Hood]

Yep. I mean, Mike got marked down for that, to be fair.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Hood]

And he does the same in some other settlements. So Thiodolf his poet again says peasants begged for mercy, but flames pronounced the verdict. Unsurprisingly, Snorri noted that after this, the farmers submitted to the King completely, which I suppose proves your point and would prove Howell's point. Yes, but Then afterwards they all agreed I was right and then we carried on and it was fine.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, I mean, I'm not pro it as a system

[Ali Hood]

so, you know, we've got. It's one of those weird things where you've got a lot of really bad stuff. He's a brutal tyrant who massacres lots of. And lots of people, including his own people, who even if they're just associated with sort of someone in a 500 mile radius having resisted him, then basically anyone is fair game for punishment. But also like you said, that is kind of how you enforce that rule. And there's evidence with the coins and other stuff that actually he is a very competent ruler who knew what he was doing. So you can imagine that 1066 probably wouldn't have been a lot of fun if you were English and resisted Harold. But after that he probably would have known what he was doing. And, and also, you know. Well, we do think, I guess we think specifically about the English angle. Much more culturally amenable to have an Anglo Scandinavian set up. Again, rather than William, you can imagine that probably they would rather Harold than. Well, they used to William.

[Graham Duke]

No one never had an experience of French royal.

[Netflix Unhinged Promoter]

So.

[American Express Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

So subjectivity we've got probably. This will probably be the most brutal, tyrannical, murderous person that we have in the series. But also he does have 20 years of rule and showing competency, which they don't all have either.

[Graham Duke]

I mean, if it's subjectivity for. Because this is nearly English monarchs, are we looking at the subjects of England or

[Ali Hood]

I guess you're. I guess you're sort of looking at the subjects of England but equally, I guess you're.

[Graham Duke]

We haven't got long for that.

[Ali Hood]

No. So you would probably have to look at the experience of other people as a sense of what sort of king you would have had from Harold.

[Graham Duke]

I'm going eight.

[Ali Hood]

You're going. You're going with the coins and the poetry rather than the tyranny and bloodshed. I mean, obviously of the two, you probably would say that would be your pick.

[Graham Duke]

But what am I saying by that? I think at this point, especially 1066, you're craving stability and he would give you that. So would I like to be his subject? Maybe. Yeah. Eight. Eight. Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

It is difficult because I feel I do sort of want to mark him down on subjectivity for, like I said, burning and massacring anyone whose own people who resist. But it's not an unusual thing for a ruler to do. And as you said, there's an element of stability that comes with it. And there's evidence that he does actually know how to run a country effectively.

[Graham Duke]

Appalling man.

[Ali Hood]

Appalling man.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

But probably would have just been able to let it all kind of competently continue.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

So yeah, I, I am gonna go into the positive realms, but I'm maybe gonna be a bit harsher because of all the nasty business. So I'm gonna go a six. So six for me and eight from you. That's nevertheless a very good score. 14 for subjectivity.

[Graham Duke]

Boom. Longevity.

[Ali Hood]

We could theoretically debate the starting point for his claim to the English throne. Is it as soon as he becomes King of Norway? Because he's got that claim from Magnus that King of Norway should be King of England. Does it date from the death of Edward's Confessor? Does it date from when Tostig comes to persuade him to invade England? If you hadn't really thought about it,

[Graham Duke]

I think it's from when Edward the Elder dies.

[Ali Hood]

Yeah, Edward the Confessor. Otherwise we're going back to about nine, nine two four, which is a really long climb. The first, I love that as well, because you've been confused. You've been saying Edward the Elder. I think mostly you've meant Edward the Exile.

[Graham Duke]

That's the one.

[Ali Hood]

Ah, so you think from 1057.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

His brother in law dies. Yeah, the first one when he becomes King of Norway feels too long. 20 years and he wasn't pursuing it later. We can't date when Tostig arrives. Yeah, I'm thinking Death of Edward the Confessor is actually when it all happens really. I don't think there's any prospect of Harold really challenging for the English throne before that point.

[Graham Duke]

So as long as we use that point for Harold Godwinson as well, then we're fine.

[Ali Hood]

Well, I mean, that is when Harold Godwinson becomes King of England. So obviously that is not just a

[Graham Duke]

hat rack, my friend.

[Ali Hood]

So that means Harold's claim lasted from 5 January 1066 to 25 September 1066. Yeah. So that's a non reign of 0.75 years and a score of 2 out of 20, which is 25th best for the series as a whole.

[Graham Duke]

Well, if you're gonna lose points, you want to do it on one that you have less control over. Dynasty.

[Ali Hood]

Not the program. Harold has four surviving children by his two wives.

[Graham Duke]

Good.

[Ali Hood]

We could technically dispute the fact that a his second wife may not technically have been his wife. And apparently want of his daughters is said to have died at pretty much the exact moment that Harold died at Stamford Bridge. So she's an Orkney and apparently died.

[Graham Duke]

Oh, imagine going back to Orkney and him finding that out.

[Ali Hood]

So that could have been slightly before him, but given that his second wife, A, could have been his second wife and B, was the mother of the two sons who succeeded him as king in Norway, Magnus II and Olaf iii, I think only fair to assume that they all count. So that's four children, which equates to a score of 13 and a half out of 20, which is the joint third best for the series.

[Graham Duke]

Not bad.

[Ali Hood]

So overall, that gives Harald Hardrada a total score of 66.

[Graham Duke]

Wow.

[Ali Hood]

I've got a bit of highlighting on the spreadsheet now which shows you who's got the highest score thus far in each factor. And apart from longevity, Harold across the board.

[Graham Duke]

I mean, that's 66 straight away. That's a. That's a top score, isn't it?

[Ali Hood]

A proper score there. Yeah.

[Graham Duke]

Golly.

[Ali Hood]

But of course, it's not all about the score. Does he have that certain something, that lasting legacy, the great achievement and star quality that we call Rex Factor?

[Graham Duke]

Did we just say.

[Ali Hood]

Well, I mean, this happened with Offer and then we forgot to actually confirm afterwards. Okay, so he's obviously got a lot going on. Russian exile, Byzantium, epic naval battle in Denmark, two battles in 1066, not to mention high adventure, murder, scheming, dab hand

[Graham Duke]

at poetry, sieging,

[Ali Hood]

burning, going to Jerusalem. We didn't mention in this episode, but, you know.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

The last Viking.

[Graham Duke]

The fact that his run at the end.

[Ali Hood]

Oh, yes. His final charge going down his mustaches. The one eyebrow higher than the other.

[Graham Duke]

The one eyebrow. He's got it all.

[Ali Hood]

He's got it all. The fact that, you know, his death is seen to embody the end of the Viking age.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Hood]

It's incredible stuff. He often sort of is treated as kind of a third wheel in 1066.

[Graham Duke]

Definitely.

[Ali Hood]

And he gets forgotten about is this weird thing that he kind of doesn't quite make a lot of sense. But the alternative, the counterfactual, is that he might not have been the last Viking. He might have established a permanently Anglo Scandinavian realm because, you know, it'd been 24 years of Edward the Confessor, but there'd been 26 years of Viking rule prior to that.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Country was very much open to that and that might have been it. He might then have King of Norway, King of England. He might have had another go at Denmark at some point after that.

[Graham Duke]

William out.

[Ali Hood]

Well, I Mean, you feel like they would have been more eager to fight for Harold than to fight for.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah. William. Oh, yeah.

[Ali Hood]

And yeah, maybe he'd have gone about it a bit differently. No. Norman Conquest, potentially, if he's the winner in that thing. We don't know Norman Conquest. And it's maybe a much more sort of just a continuation of what was already there.

[Graham Duke]

It's a big fat.

[Ali Hood]

Yes, absolutely huge character, incredible life. And obviously it's a small bit of his life, really, the English bit, but it's an appropriate dramatic conclusion to the last Viking colon Thunderbolt of the north

[Graham Duke]

going to cinemas near you.

[Ali Hood]

Exactly. An amazing life. He's got their X Factor.

[Graham Duke]

That's a definite yes. So he's not a nearly nearly monarch.

[Ali Hood]

He's not a nearly nearly.

[Graham Duke]

He's a nearly monarch.

[Ali Hood]

Correspondence Corner. So that is Howard Hardrada, our second, second consecutive Rex Factor of the series.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

Head to our website rexfactorpodcast.com to get more information about us and podcast and links to social media. And join up, sign up to the privy [e-mail] RexFactor to get an ad free version of this podcast and over 450 additional bonus podcast episode.

[Graham Duke]

Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.

[Ali Hood]

And that will include a privy chamber episode for Harold Hardrada. Where we've got. I've got. I haven't written it yet, but I've got more words currently in that than the two other episodes combined. Really loads more quotes and stuff. Things like Snorri Sturlison, more quotes and more of his adventures and fun stuff. So there's loads more. Harold Wicked. And we have some new privy councillors to welcome to the fold.

[Graham Duke]

Oh, lovely. Is there a theme today that I should follow or is it.

[Ali Hood]

I tend to just. You just read them, put whichever names are next. But if you want to make it

[Graham Duke]

a thematic thing, Mike Cuff, Stacey Sanders, Felix Venner, Brie Burns, the Tommy, Robert Orzali, Steve Doc, Pinko Cloutier, Jonathan Gant, Sophie Martina, Ann Duggan. E. Suzanne Reddick, John Andrew Tegan Riley Ryan Boswell and Kirsten Jensen. Thanks.

[Ali Hood]

Oh, that was. And Kirsten Jensen, not Anne. Kirsten. So that is all from us today. That is all now after two episodes for Harald Hardrada. So next time it will be the last in our Saxon Viking miniseries of nearly monarchs. Perhaps the person who really should have actually been king in 1066, the fourth man in the third. Third wheels, as it were.

[Graham Duke]

William the Conqueror, Edgar the Ethelink.

[Ali Hood]

Because William the Conqueror was the King.

[Graham Duke]

Because I thought we were doing Harold. Harold. The other one. Godwinson.

[Ali Hood]

Also actual king of England.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah.

[Ali Hood]

So the theme of this series is between the people who didn't become the king. So that rules out Harold Godwinson and William the Conqueror.

[Graham Duke]

I feel like we're right here. Wrong today.

[Ali Hood]

This is the thing, Graham. I think every episode, I think we haven't done Alfred. We haven't done athletes.

[Graham Duke]

Stan.

[Ali Hood]

I mean, what are you. So many gaps here.

[Graham Duke]

Yeah, too many gaps. I don't think there's a coherent theme. Well, yes. It's a yes from me.

[Ali Hood]

So next time, Edgar. The Atheling.

[Graham Duke]

Bye.

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