Harald Grenske (10th century) was a

petty king A petty kingdom is a kingdom described as minor or "petty" (from the French 'petit' meaning small) by contrast to an empire or unified kingdom that either preceded or succeeded it (e.g. the numerous kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England unified into t ...

Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered t ...

in Norway. Harald Grenske was the son of

Gudrød Bjørnsson Gudrød Bjørnsson was, in late tradition, the son of Bjørn Farmann, the king of Vestfold, and a grandson of Harald Fairhair. These traditions make Gudrød the father of Harald Grenske, and the paternal grandfather of Saint Olaf, but modern schola ...

. Gudrød is claimed to have been grandson of

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair no, Harald hårfagre Modern Icelandic: ( – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from 872 to 930 and was the first King of Nor ...

and the king of

. Harald's cognomen ''Grenske'' is due to his being raised in the district of

Grenland Grenland is a traditional district in the county of Vestfold og Telemark, in the south-east of Norway. Located in the southeastern part of the county, Grenland is composed of the municipalities Skien, Porsgrunn, Bamble, and Siljan. Sometimes the ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. When Harald was only 11 years old, his father was slain by the sons of Gunnhild Gormsdóttir (i.e. Harald Greyhide and his brothers). Harald fled to

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The c ...

and from there to Sweden, where he stayed with the powerful strongman

Skagul Toste Skoglar Toste or Skoglar Tosti (there are several variations) is a legendary 10th century chieftain from the Swedish province of West Gothland. Snorri Sturlusson recounts in ''Heimskringla'' that he was a great Viking who often waged war and tha ...

. They went on Viking expeditions together, principally within areas of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

. When the sons of Gunnhild had been banished, Harald Grenske followed

Haakon Sigurdsson Haakon Sigurdsson ( non, Hákon Sigurðarson , no, Håkon Sigurdsson; 937–995), known as Haakon Jarl (Old Norse: ''Hákon jarl''), was the ''de facto'' ruler of Norway from about 975 to 995. Sometimes he is styled as Haakon the Powerful ( n ...

who ruled Norway as a vassal of the Danish king

Harald Bluetooth Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson ( non, Haraldr Blátǫnn Gormsson; da, Harald Blåtand Gormsen, died c. 985/86) was a king of Denmark and Norway. He was the son of King Gorm the Old and of Thyra Dannebod. Harald ruled as king of Denmark from c. ...

. Harald became the king of Vestfold and

Agder Agder is a county (''fylke'') and traditional region in the southern part of Norway. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder counties were merged. Since the early 1900s, the term Sørlandet ("south ...

. He married Åsta, the daughter of

Gudbrand Kula Gudbrand is a given name. Notable people with the given name include: *Gudbrand Bøhn (1839–1906), Norwegian violinist, concertmaster, and music teacher *Gudbrand Granum (1893–1984), Norwegian politician * Gudbrand Gregersen de Saág (1824–19 ...

. Harald subsequently abandoned Åsta to woo

Sigrid the Haughty Sigrid the Haughty (Old Norse:''Sigríðr (hin) stórráða''), also known as ''Sigrid Storråda'' ( Swedish), is a Scandinavian queen appearing in Norse sagas. Sigrid is named in several late and sometimes contradictory Icelandic sagas composed g ...

, the daughter of Skagul Toste. She was the wealthy widow of

Eric the Victorious Eric the Victorious (Old Norse: ''Eiríkr inn sigrsæli'', Modern Swedish: ''Erik Segersäll''; c. 945 – c. 995) was a Swedish monarch as of around 970. Although there were earlier Swedish kings, he is the first Swedish king in a consecutive reg ...

and owned several farms in Svithjod. Sigrid found him too eager with his entreaties. She had him burnt to death inside a great hall following a feast to discourage other suitors. Harald died together with another suitor, Vissevald (

Wsevolod Vsevolod or Wsewolod (russian: Все́волод ; uk, Все́волод ) is a Slavic male first name. Its etymology is from Slavic roots 'vse' (all) and 'volodeti' (to rule) and means 'lord-of-everything/everybody', (similar to another princ ...

) from Gardarike ( Novgorod). His widow, Åsta, promptly gave birth to a son, Olaf Haraldsson, later Olaf II of Norway and patron saint of the nation. Åsta subsequently remarried to

Sigurd Syr Sigurd Syr (Old Norse: ''Sigurðr Sýr'') (died c. 1018) was a Norwegian petty king of Ringerike, a region in Buskerud. He was notable in Norwegian history largely through his association with Kings Harald Hardrada and Olaf II of Norway. By his m ...

, the king of Ringerike.''Harald Grenske – utdypning'' (Store norske leksikon)
/ref> No contemporary sources said anything about Harold, and the sagas only mention him in connection with St. Olaf's history. According to Snorri Sturluson in ''Olav Trygvasons saga'', he was a king of

Vingulmark Vingulmark (Old Norse ''Vingulmörk'') is the old name for the area in Norway which today makes up the counties of Østfold, western parts of Akershus (excluding Romerike), and eastern parts of Buskerud (Hurum and Røyken municipalities), and inclu ...

and

. Recent scholarship has questioned the historicity of Harald.

References

Other sources

*Bergljot Solberg ''Jernalderen i Norge'' (Oslo, 2000

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harald Grenske Norwegian petty kings 10th-century rulers in Europe Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown