Harald Hardrada: The Viking Who Lived a Lifetime of Legends (1030–1066) Harald Hardrada didn’t live a life. He lived several. Born a Norwegian prince in 1015, Harald was still a teenager when he watched his brother—King Olaf—die in battle. Wounded and hunted, Harald fled into exile. For most men, that would have been the end of the story. For Harald, it was the beginning. He traveled east, fighting as a mercenary in the courts of Kievan Rus before reaching Constantinople, where he joined the leg