The Royal House of Norway
Harald Hårfagre ca.890 - ca.940
Before Harald Hårfagre unified the country, Norway was divided into many small kingdoms ruled by its own king. He was born about 860 AD, more than 60 years after the viking attack on the Lindesfarne monastery. His decrees against viking raids was to have a great significance on the lineage of the kings of Britain.
Legend tells that King Harald sent his men to a girl called Gyda, daughter of King Eirik of Hordaland. The king wanted her for his concubine for she was a remarkably handsome girl but of high spirit. When the messengers delivered their errand to the girl, she answered that she would not throw herself away even to a king for her who had no greater kingdom than a few districts. Gyda added that no king in Norway will ever make the whole country subject to him in the same way as did Gorm the Old had done in Denmark.
The messengers thought her answer was dreadfully haughty. They told Gyda that Harald was so mighty a man that his invitation should be good enough for her. As they prepared to return home, Gyda gave her own message to King Harald: that she will only agree to be his lawful wife on the condition that he shall be king of all Norway and he can then call himself the king of a people. The menssengers thought her extremely rude and haughty and when they brought Gyda’s reply to the king and suggested that King Harald should send a great troop to punish her. The king answered that Gyda had not spoken or done anything to deserve punishment. Rather, she should be thanked for her words, which reminded him of something so wonderful that he had not thought of before. It was then that Harald made his famous vow: He shall not clip or comb his hair until he has subdued the whole of Norway.
Harald prepared his forces for battle. One by one the little kingdoms submitted to Harald’s might. From the South came news that the people of Hordaland and Rogaland, Agder and Telemark were gathering men, ships and weapons against Harald. One of the leaders was Eirik King of Hordaland, Gyda’s father. It was a great and long battle but Harald had subdued the last opposing forces. He was king of all Norway and he had Earl Ragnvald to cut his hair that. The king had been called Lufa (with rough matted hair) but Earl Ragnvald gave him the distinguished name — Harald Harfagre ( fair hair) because he had the most beautiful and abundant head of hair.
Soon after, Iceland and the Faroe Islands were discovered and peopled. Many left Norway and went on viking trips — to Orkney islands and the Hebrides in winter and within Norway during the summer. More and more people came under the rule of Harald to become. Then, Harald remembered Gyda and her proud words, and he sent men to her. She came and had many sons with him. Harald Hårfagre had many wives and begot many children with them. Among them was Ragnhild the Mighty, a daughter of King Eirik of Jutland, who became the mother of Eirik Blood-Axe. King Harald’s children were all fostered and brought up by their relations on the mother’s side. Legend also tells that Harald had to set aside nine wives to get Ragnhild as wife. Their son Eirik Blood-Axe ruled Norway after Harald.
King Harald decreed that viking raids within Norway would be punished with great. The King himself made expeditions against vikings that disobeyed this law. Earl Ragnvald, King Harald’s dearest friend, had two sons—Rolf and Thore. Rolf earned the name “Rolf Ganger” because he was such a large man that he had to go on foot because there was no horse big enough to carry him. Rolf Ganger became a great viking but he made the big mistake of going on a foray at Viken at a time when King Harald was there. The King was so enraged that Rolf Ganger was banished from Norway despite the entreaties of his mother, Hild.
Destiny had greater plans for Rolf Ganger. After leading many viking raids, Rolf Ganger plundered and conquered Valland where he established an earldom that he peopled with “Northmen” (from the Norwegian ‘nordmann’), from which came its present name, Normandy. Rolf Ganger’s son was William, father to Richard, and grandfather to another Richard, who was the father of Robert Longspear, and grandfather of William the Bastard, from whom all the following English kings are descended. From Rolf Ganger also are descended the earls in Normandy.
By the time King Harald was 50 years old, many of his sons were grown up and some were dead. Many of them committed acts of great violence in the country and quarelled among themselves. Then the king called together a numerous Ting (assembly) to which all the people of the Uplands were summoned, where Harald gave to all his sons the title of king. He made a law that his descendants in the male line should each succeed to the kingly title and dignit, whereas descendants by the female side were entitled only to that of earl. At the age of 80, (ca. 930) he became so heavy that he was unable to travel around the country and fullfill his duties as king. He gave his son Eirik Blood-Axe the power and command over all Norway. King Harald married most of his daughters to his earls, and from them many great families are descended. Harald died on a bed of sickness in Rogaland (A.D. 933), and was buried under a mound 13.5 ft. high at Haugar in Karmsund.
The Kings after Harald Hårfagre
Before he was born, his mother dreamed of a tree whose lowest part was red as blood; the stem was green and beautiful that symbolized a great kingdom; the tree, which was white at the top, meant that Harald would live to a ripe old age; and, that the branches and twigs are his descendants from whom Norway would always have kings.
About 1350, the Black Death came to Norway and practically wiped out the nobility. Norway has always had kings, but Harald Hårfagre’s royal line had died out. Olaf IV Håkonsson was the last Norwegian king from 1380-1387 after which Norway joined the Kalmar Union in 1388, with Queen Margrethe I as ruler of Sweden, as well as Norway and Denmark. Norway was under Denmark for 400 years, by choice, and under Sweden from 1814 to 1905 as the result of Denmark-Norway’s defeat in the Napoleonic Wars.
Norway won its Independence in 1905 and entreated Prince Carl of Denmark to be king. Prince Carl replied that he would accept on condition that the people decide in a referendum. The vote was a 75% for amonarchy and 25% for a republic. Prince Carl accepted the kingship and took the name Haakon VII , and was king from 1905 to 1957.
His son Olaf V (Prince Alexander of Denmark who was one-year old when the family came to Norway) succeeded to the throne, and was, in turn, succeded by his son Harald V, the present King of Norway. (photo below)
Sometime in the late 1820s, the Storting wiped out all hopes and dreams of inherited titles, except for the royal family. Norway’s royal children inherits the title but the Storting decides whether a royal princess who marries a commoner may retain her title. For example, HM Harald V’s sisters who married commoners are now known as Princess Astrid Mrs. Ferner and Princess Ragnhild Mrs. Lorentzen.
Actually, Norway’s royal children have no choice but to marry a commner if they want to marry a Norwegian, as there is no such thing as a Norwegian nobility. HM Harald V married a commoner, Sonja Haraldsen, after waiting 10 years for the royal parents to give their consent and blessing. After the wedding, the Storting approved HM Olav V’s request that Sonja be designated Crown Princess.
It was not surprising that the present Crown Prince Håkon Magnus married a commoner, Mette-Marit Høiby in September 2001. Neither was it surprising that his bride had a son (by a previous relationship), Marius, who marched down the aisle with the bridal entourage.
A foreign journalist commented that half of Norway’s children are born out of marriage. He is right. In Norway, there are no”‘illegitimate children”, just children, whose rights are protected by legislation and by the whole society in general . Just as remarkable was the wedding banquet where, Mette-Marit’s father, who was then unemployed and receiving dagpenger (social dole), sat between two queens— HM Queen Sonja of Norway and Denmark’s ruling queen, HM Queen Margrethe II.
