en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_Fairhair
3 corrections found
During the expedition Rognvald's son Ivar was killed so Harald gave governorship of the islands to him.
This sentence gives the islands to the wrong person. In the saga tradition, Ivar is killed, and Harald compensates Rögnvald—not Ivar—by granting him Orkney and Shetland.
Full reasoning
The sentence is contradicted by the source it is summarizing.
In the Orkneyinga Saga tradition, Ivar is the son who dies during the expedition. The islands are then granted to Rögnvald as compensation for that loss. A modern summary quoting the saga states:
"In this expedition, Ivar, a son of Rögnvald, Earl of Moeri, was killed. In order to recompense Rögnvald for the loss of his son, King Harald bestowed on him the territory of the subjugated isles of Orkney and Shetland..."
So the article's wording is wrong because its pronoun makes it say Harald gave the islands to Ivar, who had just been killed, rather than to Rögnvald.
This is also consistent with the next sentence in the article itself, which says Rögnvald later passed the jarlship to his brother Sigurd—something that only makes sense if Rögnvald first received it.
2 sources
- The Orkney Jarls: Between Norway and Scotland | The Viking Herald
"In this expedition, Ivar, a son of Rögnvald, Earl of Moeri, was killed. In order to recompense Rögnvald for the loss of his son, King Harald bestowed on him the territory of the subjugated isles of Orkney and Shetland..."
- The Orkneyinga Saga, translated by Jon A. Hjaltalin and Gilbert Goudie, ed. Joseph Anderson
"In this expedition Ivar, a son of Rögnvald, Earl of Moeri, was killed. In order to recompense Rögnvald for the loss of his son, King Harald bestowed on him the territory of the subjugated isles of Orkney and Shetland..."
The 13th century Ragnars saga loðbrókar ok sona hans (Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons) mentions Harald Fairhair in chapter 18 as the great-great-grandson of Sigurd Hart through his daughter Aslaug, her son Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye and his daughter Ragnhild.
This misstates the genealogy in chapter 18. The chapter links Harald Fairhair to Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye through Sigurd’s daughter Ragnhild, not to Sigurd Hart through Aslaug → Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye → Ragnhild.
Full reasoning
Chapter 18 of Ragnars saga loðbrókar does not give the genealogy described here.
The chapter says, in Old Norse, that from Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye a great lineage descended, and that his daughter was Ragnhildr, mother of Harald Fairhair. In other words, the passage connects Harald to Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye via Ragnhild, not to Sigurd Hart via Aslaug → Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye → Ragnhild.
So the article's sentence attributes the wrong ancestor to chapter 18 and reverses the genealogical chain. It appears to mix up different saga traditions about Harald’s maternal ancestry.
2 sources
- Ragnars saga loðbrókar/18 - Wikiheimild
"En frá Sigurði orm í auga er mikill ættbogi kominn. Hans dóttir hét Ragnhildr, móðir Haralds ins hárfagra, er fyrstr réð öllum Noregi einn."
- Between History and Myth: Stories of Harald Fairhair and the Founding of the State
The book's synoptic discussion distinguishes traditions making Ragnhild the daughter of Sigurð Hart from those linking Sigurð Hart's mother Aslaug to Sigurð Snake-in-the-Eye, showing these are different genealogical traditions rather than the single chain stated in the article.
In the 2010 video-game expansion pack Mount and Blade: Warband's Viking Conquest expansion Harald (as Harald Halfdansson) appears as the faction leader of Northvegr (Norway).
The date is wrong. *Mount & Blade: Warband* came out in 2010, but the *Viking Conquest* expansion/DLC was released on December 11, 2014.
Full reasoning
This sentence conflates the release year of the base game with the release year of the expansion.
Steam's official store page for Mount & Blade: Warband - Viking Conquest Reforged Edition identifies it as downloadable content for Mount & Blade: Warband and gives its release date as December 11, 2014. So describing it as a 2010 expansion pack is incorrect.
A correct phrasing would date Viking Conquest to 2014, while noting that the base game Mount & Blade: Warband was released in 2010.
1 source
- Mount & Blade: Warband - Viking Conquest Reforged Edition on Steam
"This content requires the base game Mount & Blade: Warband on Steam in order to play." "Released Dec 11, 2014"