GREAT VIKING FIGURES

The kings who built kingdoms: Harald Bluetooth unified Denmark and made it Christian around 965, carving it on the great Jelling rune stone (his nickname inspired, a thousand years later, the name of Bluetooth technology). His grandson Cnut the Great went further: between 1016 and 1035 he ruled a North Sea empire joining Denmark, England and Norway, the peak of Viking power.

The explorers who crossed the ocean: Erik the Red, exiled from Iceland for killing, colonized Greenland around 985 and named it "green land" to attract settlers. His son Leif Eriksson reached Vinland, in America, around 1000, five centuries before Columbus. And Rollo the Walker, a chief who ravaged France, ended as first duke of Normandy by the treaty of 911: his descendants would conquer England in 1066.

The last Viking: Harald Hardrada ("the Ruthless") fought as a mercenary in Constantinople's Varangian guard, ruled Norway with an iron hand and died on 25 September 1066 at Stamford Bridge, with an arrow in his throat, fighting for the English crown. The Viking Age died with him. Between history and legend stands Ragnar Lothbrok, probably a blend of several chiefs whose deeds (see Myths) inspired series and operas.

OTHER GREAT FIGURES

The Viking Age was not made by kings alone: it was forged by unifiers, explorers, settlers, mercenaries and even a saint. All these figures have documented existence in contemporary chronicles, annals, coins or runes (or in Landnámabók for Icelandic settlers).

• HARALD FAIRHAIR (c. 850–c. 932): first king to unify Norway after Hafrsfjord (872, traditional date). His taxes drove into exile the chiefs who would colonize Iceland and the North Atlantic.
   
• GORM THE OLD (d. c. 958) AND THYRA DANEBOD (10th c.): first historical kings of Denmark; their Jelling rune stone is the kingdom's birth certificate.
   
• ERIK BLOODAXE (d. 954): king of Norway expelled for violence; ruled York until falling at Stainmore. His widow Gunnhild schemed decades for her sons.
   
• IVAR THE BONELESS (d. 873): strategist of the Great Heathen Army and king of Dublin (Ímar in Irish chronicles); took York in 866.
   
• HALFDAN RAGNARSSON (d. 877): Ivar's brother, Great Army chief; died at Strangford Lough seeking another kingdom in Ireland.
   
• GUTHRUM (d. 890): Viking king of East Anglia; his defeat at Edington and baptism as Athelstan sealed Wedmore and the Danelaw.
   
• HASTEIN (fl. 860–890): raided the Mediterranean for 30 years; took Luna (Italy) by playing dead, believing it was Rome.
   
• OLGA OF KIEV (c. 890–969): regent of the Rus; avenged her husband on the Drevlians, was baptized in Constantinople and ended an Orthodox saint.
   
• RURIK (d. 879, by tradition): Varangian chief founder of the Rurikid dynasty, origin of the Russian state per the Primary Chronicle.
   
• VLADIMIR THE GREAT (c. 958–1015): baptized Kievan Rus in 988 and founded the Varangian guard with Norse warriors.
   
• SWEYN FORKBEARD (c. 960–1014): conquered England in 1013; his son Cnut inherited the road to the North Sea empire.
   
• OLAF TRYGGVASON (c. 960–1000): imposed Christianity on Norway and Iceland; fell at the naval battle of Svold and his body never appeared.
   
• OLAF II THE SAINT (995–1030): fell at Stiklestad; martyr and patron of Norway, his axe figures on the national coat of arms.
   
• OLOF SKÖTKONUNG (c. 980–1022): first Christian king of Sweden and first to mint his own coin.
   
• INGE THE ELDER (d. c. 1110): destroyed Uppsala's pagan temple around 1087, extinguishing public Norse religion.
   
• EGIL SKALLAGRIMSSON (c. 904–c. 995): warrior and the greatest preserved skald; his Sonatorrek crowns skaldic poetry.
   
• AUD THE DEEP-MINDED (9th c.): led her clan from Scotland to Iceland and dealt lands; a standout female life in Landnámabók.
   
• INGÓLFR ARNARSON (9th c.): first permanent settler of Iceland (Reykjavik, 874); founded the capital following his sacred pillars.
   
• FLÓKI VILGERÐARSON (9th c.): circumnavigated Iceland with three ravens and named it ice land before a frozen fjord.
   
• THORFINN KARLSEFNI (11th c.): led Vinland's colonization; his son Snorri was the first European born in America.