Harald Hardrada

King Harald II "Hardrada" Sigurdsson (c. 1015-1066)

"We never kneel in battle
Before the storm of weapons
And crouch behind our shields;
So the noble lady told me.
She told me once to carry
My head always high in battle
Where swords seek to shatter
The skulls of doomed warriors."

• A poem reportedly written by Harald Hardrada shortly before his death in 1066 at Stamford Bridge, and later recorded in King Harald's Saga by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Pálsson (Penguin Classics, 1966, 2005).

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