Harold

surnamed Haarfager, or "The Fair-haired," a noted king of Norway. He died at Trondjhem, the residence and burial place of kings, in 933. He carried on the work in Norway that the Capets accomplished in France. He suppressed brigandage and piracy. He subjected the petty jarls or princes to the authority of the crown, taking two-thirds of their prior incomes for the national treasury. Rather than submit to national authority many jarls migrated with their followers and colonized Iceland, the Faroes, the Shetlands, and the Orkneys. Harold found it necessary to visit the Orkneys with a fleet and to chastise the colonists before they would give over plundering the mother country. The settlement of Hrolf or Rollo and his Viking band in France was a part of this migration of the fiercely discontent. It is well to remember that Christianity had not taken root as yet in Norway, and that the "tyranny" of Harold, the Fair-haired, which drove the Vikings forth, was wholly temporal, not spiritual.

Harold II (1022-1066), king of England. He was the second son of Godwin, Earl of Essex. About 1064 he was shipwrecked on the coast of Normandy, where he fell into the power of William, Duke of Normandy. Under compulsion he promised to marry the daughter of William and to assist the latter in attaining the throne of England at the death of the reigning king. On being set at liberty Harold returned to England. He chose to forget his promises to William. He married to suit his own views, and, on the death of King Edward, procured his own election to the throne. While absent in the north, where he overthrew his brother Tostig who was making trouble, he heard that William had landed on the southern coast of England. Harold hastened southward with his army. The English forces met the Normans near Hastings, October 14, 1066. Harold, with most of his nobles, was slain. William, thenceforward known as the Conqueror, seized the throne of England. Harold was buried on the coast near the scene of battle. His grave was marked by a heap of stones. The scene of Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings, written by Bulwer-Lytton, is laid in the reign of Harold. It is an excellent historical romance. See William The Conqueror; Hastings; Bayeux Tapestry