Harald (III) Hardrada (or Harald Hardråde) (1015-1066)

King of Norway 1045-66, ruling jointly with Magnus I 1045-47. He engaged in an unsuccessful atempt to conquer Denmark 1045-62; and extended Norwegian rule in Orkney, Shetland, and the Hebrides. Magnus had entered into a pact with Harold I (Harefoot), the Danish king of England 1037-40, that in the event of either of them dying without heirs, the other would inherit their kingdom. When Magnus died in 1047, Hardrada appropriated this claim to the throne of England, and in 1066 he tried to conquer England, together with Tostig, Earl of Northumbria. They were defeated by Harold II of England at Stamford Bridge and both died in battle.

Hardrada had fled Norway at the age of 15, after fighting at the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030 where his half-brother Olaf II was slain. He went to Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey), where he commanded the Varangian guard of the Empress Zoe; he won various victories in Italy and North Africa, and then returned home, on his way back marrying Elizabeth of Novgorod. He now allied himself with his nephew Magnus, king of Norway, accepting in 1045 half of Norway as a gift from Magnus. On the death of his nephew he became sole king in 1047.