General Notes

Harold I (of Norway), called The Fairhaired (860?-940?), king of Norway (885?-933?), the first person to rule, at least nominally, the entire country. Harold inherited three small domains in eastern, central, and western Norway from his father, Halfdan the Black, and set out to conquer the rest of the country. After many years of campaigning, during which the chieftains of western Norway offered the most stubborn resistance, Harold gained his final victory in the Battle of Hafrsfjord, which probably took place around 885, although it may have been some years later.
Once in power, Harold ruled with a strong hand and consolidated his realm. One result of his firm rule was the acceleration of the immigration that had begun shortly before to pioneer settlements in Iceland. Many chieftains also fled to the Western (British) Isles, from where they and their kinsfolk in the Orkneys, Shetlands, and Hebrides raided the Norwegian coast. Harold was finally compelled to send a punitive expedition across the North Sea to flush out these Vikings. For the same purpose he entered into an alliance with King Athelstan of England; but he made no actual conquests. In his old age Harold abdicated in favor of his eldest legitimate son, Eric Bloodaxe, who was deposed by his half brother Håkon I after a few years of misrule.

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