Norwegian King Harald Hardrada And The Burning Of Scarborough

Harald “Hardrada” Sigurdsson lived one of the most dramatic lives of the 11th century. At the age of fifteen (in year 1030), Harald was smuggled out of Norway after his brother, the King-Saint Olaf, was killed by rebels in the battle of Stiklestad. For more than a decade, Harald stayed in a self-imposed exile. Yet, the Norwegian prince did not spend those years idly—he became a successful mercenary employed first by the Russ and then by the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire.

After serving in successful campaigns that took him to places such as the Caucuses, Jerusalem, Sicily and Bulgaria, Harald had enough plunder and prestige fit for a king. In fact, Harald was stashing away so much treasure that the Byzantine emperor had Harald momentarily arrested. Sometime after 1042, when Emperor Michael V was dethroned and blinded (the latter possibly done by Harald, himself), the rich Norwegian prince returned to Scandinavia. In 1045, Harald Hardrada negotiated a deal with his nephew, King Magnus the Good, in which he bought half of Norway in exchange for half of his wealth. Two years later, King Magnus died, leaving Harald with full control of Norway.

By 1066, King Harald had long been the sole king of Norway. At this point, his lengthy, but unfruitful, war against Denmark had also ended. Now, Harald set his sights set on another prize. It was a target that had a storied history of Viking invasions—Britain. With an estimated force of 9,000 troops packed onto 300 ships, Harald landed along the River Ouse around September 20, 1066, obtaining a foothold near the city of York. As he began his maneuvers around northern England, Harald’s first challenge came from the town of Scarborough.

The townspeople of Scarborough allegedly came out of their fortifications to fight the invaders, but they were quickly forced to retreat back into their town. With the townspeople manning their defenses, Harald scanned the countryside for weaknesses and opportunities. According to the sources of the Icelandic historian and saga writer Snorri Sturluson (c. 1179-1241), this ability to utilize nature and the environment for his military purposes was one of Harald Hardrada’s specialties. In King Harald’s Saga, Sturluson wrote of the king accomplishing feats such as tunneling under walls to capture cities, carrying ships across land to escape pursuing fleets, and even using birds with makeshift candles to set a fortified town on fire. Whether or not these extravagant feats actually occured as they were reported, Harald’s real reputation for military ingenuity and skill made the tales believable to the medieval Icelanders who wrote about his life. Therefore, when Harald Hardrada saw the huge hills and rocks towering over Scarborough, he undoubtedly had a few ideas.

According to Sturluson’s account, King Harald eventually started gathering firewood and had the pieces of lumber carried up to the top of one of the large rocky hills above the town. When the Norwegians had built a veritable pyramid of firewood, Harald had his soldiers ignite the combustible pile. Then, using pitchforks and other tools, the Norwegians shoveled the live embers and burning sticks down into the helpless town of Scarborough. Harald then looted what remained of the charred town and allegedly killed any survivors that were found. Nevertheless, the Anglo-Saxons would have their revenge—within days, Harald Hardrada was killed in battle after being surprised at Stamford Bridge.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Painting of a castle and a city burning, by Aert van der Neer (1604–1677), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• King Harald’s Saga, by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Magnus Mangusson and Hermann Pálsson. New York: Penguin Books, 1966, 2005.

The Frightened Beginning And Valiant End Of Bucephalas, The Beloved Horse Of Alexander The Great

According to the historical tradition of the ancients, it was around 344 BCE when a twelve-year-old Alexander the Great met Bucephalas, the horse that would carry him on conquests stretching from Greece to India. Before the powerful, but stubbornly independent, black horse came into the possession of Alexander, it was owned by a Thessalian horse breeder named Philoneicus. The merchant intercepted the royal family of Macedonia while they were passing through the town of Dion, nestled underneath Mount Olympus. While there, Philoneicus convinced King Philip II of Macedonia and his son, Alexander, to inspect his wares, especially his prized possession, Bucephalas.

King Philip sent out his groomsmen to assess the beast, but he did not like what he saw. Bucephalas refused to work with the handlers and was deemed to be untamable. When the king showed no interest in the horse, Alexander stepped in and criticized Philip about running away from a challenge. According to the story, Alexander then claimed that he could tame the horse, and if he failed, he would pay the horse breeder’s price with his own personal funds. Simultaneously angered and impressed, King Philip agreed to his son’s bargain.

Apparently, much of Bucephalas’ uncooperativeness originated from an unsuspected source—the horse was afraid of its own shadow. Alexander was said to have noticed this fear, so he repositioned the horse to where no shadows could be seen, and gave the stallion several minutes to calm down. Then, to the surprise of the onlookers, the twelve-year-old Alexander hopped onto the back of the tall horse and directed him about with ease. After Alexander became king in 336 BCE, he and Bucephalas campaigned from Greece through many distant lands, including Anatolia, Syria, Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, Bactria and Sogdiana. Finally, around 327 BCE, they invaded India.

The ancient sources agreed that Bucephalas died in 326 BCE, around the time of Alexander’s battle against King Porus at the Hydaspes River. A few writers claimed that the old horse (allegedly thirty years of age) simply died of natural causes. The rest, however, wrote that Bucephalas died during the battle that occurred after Alexander smuggled a force across the river to confront King Porus and envelop his army. During the ensuing fight, Alexander's favorite horse allegedly received a fatal stab wound from an enemy spear, and the one who struck the killing blow may have even been King Porus' own son. After King Porus surrendered, Alexander honored his fallen horse by founding a new city near the site of the battle—he named the settlement Bucephala.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Alexander taming Bucephalas, by François Schommer (1850–1935), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian, translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt. New York: Penguin Classics, 1971.
• Alexander the Great by Philip Freeman. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2011. 
• Alexander the Great: The Story of an Ancient Life by Thomas R. Martin and Christopher W. Blackwell. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

The Spectacular Destruction Of Nero’s Gymnasium

Between the years 60 and 62, Emperor Nero (r. 54-68) dedicated a gymnasium that he had constructed in Rome. According to ancient sources such as Cassius Dio, Philostratus and Tacitus, it was a beautiful building that was decorated with great statues, including a bronze piece modeled after Nero, himself. The great gymnasium, however, did not last long—unfortunately, it burned in a dramatic fire.

Tacitus recorded the building’s destruction in his work, The Annals of Imperial Rome. According to his account, it seemed as if the sky-god, Jupiter, had a personal grudge against Nero and the gymnasium. In the year 62 or 63, the building was apparently struck by a powerful bolt of lightning, igniting a fire that destroyed the gymnasium. Tacitus paid particular attention to the statue of Nero that held a prominent position in the structure. According to the historian, all that was left of the emperor’s bronze statue was a melted puddle of shapeless metal. In the eyes of the superstitious, this was considered an ill omen for the emperor’s future.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (1st century bust of Emperor Nero, housed in the National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona, on top of Illustration of ancient Rome by Edgar S. Shumway, published in the 1880s, both [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Annals of Imperial Rome by Tacitus, translated by Michael Grant. New York: Penguin Classics, 1996. 
• http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Gymnasium_Neronis.html

The Disastrous Athenian Invasion Of Aetolia In The 5th-Century BCE

According to the great Greek historian, Thucydides, an Athenian coalition led by Demosthenes invaded the region of Aetolia (located north of the Peloponnesus and west of Athens) around 426 BCE. His forces, consisting of Athenians, Cephallenians, Zacynthians and Messenians, set up a base in their allied territory of Locris, which bordered on Aetolia, and they put up their camp by the city of Oeneon. The pro-Athenian locals in the region were also mustering their forces to join with Demosthenes’ coalition in the campaign against Aetolia. Yet, Demosthenes’ intelligence reports, largely supplied by the Messenians in his army, claimed that the Aetolian army was primarily made up of poorly equipped soldiers who had to resort to tactics of skirmishing and guerilla warfare. Inspired by this information, Demosthenes started his campaign early, leaving Oeneon before all of the local allied forces were ready. Unfortunately for the Athenian commander, he would soon get schooled in a lesson that the Spartans had frustratingly learned a few years prior, when they invaded Acarnania, which was a land known for its use of ranged weaponry—never underestimate armies that rely on skirmish weapons and guerrilla warfare.

Demosthenes’ campaign had a brilliant start. For three days, he took control of a large swath of territory in Aetolia, conquering at least one city per day. Thucydides mentioned that the settlements of Potidania, Crocylium and Tichium all fell to the Athenians, and did so with very little resistance. In fact, Demosthenes could scarcely find any sign of enemy forces in the first few days of the campaign. Despite the eerie absence of resistance, the Athenian leader kept pushing his men further into Aetolia, putting even more distance between himself and the allied locals who were still trying to form up into a war band in Oeneon.

Next, Demosthenes took the city of Aegitium, a settlement surrounded by wooded slopes in a very hilly region of Greece. When the Athenians arrived, the inhabitants of Aegitium curiously abandoned their city and ran for the hills, disappearing into the countryside. So, yet again, Demosthenes took another city with little effort. Unfortunately, he would soon realize that the Aetolians were not going to run any longer.

According to Thucydides, the Aetolian communities had much better spies than Demosthenes. While the Athenian commander was reading reports about Aetolia being an easy conquest, the Aetolian cities had already heard that an attack was imminent and they immediately coalesced their forces into a huge army. As Demosthenes meandered through their territory, the Aetolians organized and planned, positioning themselves for an optimum battle. The massive Aetolian force finally intercepted Demosthenes soon after he took the city of Aegitium. When the citizens fled from that town, they apparently ran right to the bulk of the Aetolian forces, which Thucydides claimed were hiding in the nearby hills.

Catching Demosthenes totally off guard, an untold amount of Aetolian skirmishers began lobbing endless streams of javelins at the Athenian forces. Whenever Demosthenes’ troops attempted to chase after the throwers, the Aetolians would just slip back into the cover of the hillside. When the Athenians gave up the chase, the javelins would begin to rain down, once more, on Demosthenes’ camp. According to Thucydides, the only salvation for the Athenians was their corps of archers, who could hold off some of the enemy skirmishers with volleys of their arrows. Yet, the captain in charge of these archers was killed by a well-aimed projectile, which caused the rest of the archer corps to panic and flee from the battlefield. With the archers lost, the remainder of Demosthenes’ army lost its will.

The broken soldiers scattered in different directions. The bulk of the coalition force, not including Demosthenes, fled into a nearby forest, hoping to be able to hide or escape in the foliage. Yet, this forest was said to have been set alight by the Aetolians, killing all of the unfortunate men who had taken shelter there. The remainder of the battered Athenian force, including Demosthenes, dodged javelins until they reached the friendly city of Oeneon. From there, Demosthenes transported his much-depleted army to the city of Naupactus. Finally, he sent his troops home to Athens, but he, himself, pointedly stayed in Naupactus, not yet willing to face his countrymen.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Illustration of an ancient peltast by Johnny Shumate, in front of Hoplites charging against projectiles, published in 1984, "Classical Warfare- The Age of the Greek Hoplite" in Ancient and Medieval Warfare...both [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• History of the Peloponnesian War (Book II) by Thucydides, translated by Rex Warner and introduced by M. I. Finley. New York: Penguin Classics, 1972.

The Chinese Kingmaker, Xiang Yu, Created Or Affirmed At Least Nineteen Kingdoms In The Intermission Between the Qin and Han Dynasties

Xiang Yu and his uncle, Xiang Liang, joined the rebellion started by Chen She in 209 BCE, which set in motion events that would topple the Qin Dynasty in China. Once the rebels had secured a foothold, Chen She declared himself to be the king of Chu, and several other rebel leaders similarly proclaimed themselves to be the kings of the regions they liberated. In this way, new kings emerged in regions such as Zhao, Yan, Qi and Wei. When Chen She was assassinated not long after the rebellion started, Xiang Liang became the leader of most of the rebel forces. Xiang Liang chose not to make himself the king of Chu, as Chen She had done before him, he instead placed King Huai on the throne of Chu, but kept most of the military under his own control. Xiang Liang eventually died in battle in 208 BCE, and was succeeded by his nephew, Xiang Yu.

Under the leadership of Xiang Yu, the Qin Dynasty was successfully toppled. By 206 BCE, the rebels had defeated the armies of Qin, took the capital city of Xianyang and executed the last Qin prince, Ziying. With the empire in his hands, Xiang Yu let China slip back into feudalism, presumably with the hope that he would remain a hegemon in charge of the revived monarchies of ancient China. According to the historian, Sima Qian (145-90 BCE), Xiang Yu personally crowned or formally recognized at least nineteen kings around the year 206 BCE, giving them power to govern the newly freed regions of China. These are the kings and kingdoms he is known to have created or affirmed:

1. Zhang Han was crowned king of Yong. 
2. Sima Xin was crowned the king of Sai.
3. Dong Yi was crowned the king of Di.
4. Shen Yang was crowned as king of Henan.
5. Sima Ang was made king of Yin.
6. Zhang Er was placed on the throne of Changshan.
7. Qing Bu, previously a lord of Dangyang, was appointed as king of Jiujiang.
8. Wu Rui, the lord of Po, was crowned king of Hengshan.
9. Gong Ao was crowned the king of Linjiang.
10. Xiang Yu allowed King Cheng to remain ruler of Hann (an extra “n” was added by the translators so that it is not confused with the Han Dynasty, formed by another kingdom).
11. Xiang Yu demoted King Bao from his kingdom of Wei, and instead made him king of only Western Wei.
12. Xiang Yu removed King Xie from power in Zhao and placed him on the throne of Dai.
13. Xiang Yu removed King Huang Guang from his domain of Yan and instead made him ruler of Liaodong.
14. With Huang Guang relocated, Xiang Yu made Zhang Tu the new king of Yan.
15. Tian Shi, the king of Qi, was relocated to a new domain in the kingdom of Jiaodong.
16. With Tian Shi gone, Xiang Yu crowned Tian Du as the king of Qi.
17. Tian An was crowned king of Jibei.
18. Not to be left out, Xiang Yu crowned himself the “Dictator King of Western Chu.”
19. Most importantly, Liu Bang, the Governor of Pei, was crowned as the king of Han. He killed Xiang Yu around 202 BCE and eventually became Emperor Gaozu, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty. As such, all of the kingdoms listed above were eventually absorbed by the Han. 

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Photograph of a Chinese terracotta miniature, from the Historian's Hut Archives, on top of a Public Domain rubbing detail from Stone Chamber 1 on the West Wall of the Wu Family Shrine in Shandong Province, China, dated 2nd century AD during the Eastern Han Dynasty).

Sources:

Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

The Strange Tale Of A Man Who Supposedly Believed He Lost His “Manhood” Because Of Witchcraft

During the age of witch-hunts, infertility, miscarriages and sexual impotence were often attributed to the nefarious deeds of witches. The witch-hunters also apparently believed that witches had the ability to cast a glamour or illusion that caused men not to be able to see or feel their own genitalia. Although this sounds outlandish today, the most preeminent text on witchcraft of the day, the Malleus Maleficarum (published 1487), claimed that such illusionary spells were a common form of witchcraft.

The authors of the Malleus Maleficarum, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, provided a bizarre and disturbing story of a case in which this type of spell supposedly was used. It can be found in Part II, Question I, Chapter VII of their work. The incident allegedly took place in the town of Ratisbon (modern Regensburg, Germany). Unfortunately, as with many of the stories contained in their book, Kramer and Sprenger kept all of the names of people involved in this tale anonymous.

The Malleus Maleficarum claimed that a “certain young man” had became involved in an affair with a woman in Ratisbon. In time, he decided to end their relationship. The book did not discuss his plan on how to end the relationship, but the woman evidently understood the young man’s intentions. Once the man had successfully ended the affair, however, he suddenly suffered a very unusual condition—one day, he apparently could no longer see or feel his manhood. According to Kramer and Sprenger, he could only find smooth skin between his legs.

Depressed because of his predicament, the young man went to a tavern to drown his sorrows. While drinking, he struck up a conversation with a woman, and they somehow began talking about his recent loss. According to the story, this woman convinced the young man to consider witchcraft as a possible cause of his unusual condition. With this in mind, the woman in the bar suggested that the young man hunt down the witch and use all means possible, even violence, to convince the witch to remove the spell.

Following the woman’s advice, the young man set about identifying the witch. After running through the suspects, he finally believed that only his ex-lover could have been responsible. Therefore, he stalked her, ambushed her and demanded that she give him back his genitalia. When she professed her innocence, the young man proceeded to strangle her with a towel, threatening that he would kill her if she did not remove the spell. He only released her when she swore that she would heal him. Then, by touching the young man between his legs, the woman reminded the man where his genitals were located—miraculously, he could now see and feel himself again. Instead of this unnamed man being portrayed as a stalker who committed a sexual assault, he was described as a victim who survived a particularly powerful witch with the power to make his manhood vanish and reappear at a touch.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Scene from the Salem Witch Trials by John Whetton Ehninger  (1827–1889), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• From The Malleus Maleficarum by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, translated by Montague Summers (Dover Publications, 1971).

The Horrible Life Of Emperor Claudius’ Daughter, Octavia

While many people may believe that the family of an ancient Roman Emperor would live in luxury and peace, the truth was quite often the opposite. This was especially true for the famous Julio-Claudian Dynasty, to which Julius Caesar and the first five emperors of the Roman Empire belonged. One particular woman in that family realized just how far good fortune could fall. She learned this sad lesson as she watched her entire family succumb to suspicious or violent deaths before she, too, faced execution.

Octavia was the daughter of Emperor Claudius (r. 41-54) and his third wife, Messalina. Based on the ages and dates reported by the historian, Tacitus (c. 56-117+), Octavia would have been born around the year, 45. Claudius and Messalina also had a son named Britannicus, who was born about four years before Octavia.

The tragedy in Octavia’s life began around the year 48, when her mother, Messalina, was executed after being accused of a very public, and very treasonous, affair. Emperor Claudius only waited a year after killing the mother of his children before he decided to remarry. In the year 49, he married his own niece, Agrippina the Younger. When Agrippina entered the imperial household as Claudius’ fourth wife, she brought along with her a son, named Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbas, who was born from a previous marriage. Emperor Claudius quickly adopted the boy and gave him the much more memorable name of Nero.

In the year 53, when Octavia was only about eight years old, her father and stepmother arranged for her to marry Nero, who was sixteen at the time. During their approximate nine years of marriage, neither party found the arrangement enjoyable and no children were ever born from their union. Not long after her marriage, tragedy struck Octavia again. In the year 54, Emperor Claudius died a suspicious death. The ancient historians almost all unanimously accused Agrippina the Younger of causing the death by poisoning the emperor. Sadly, before she was even ten years old, young Octavia had lost both of her parents.

Due to Agrippina’s diligence and diplomatic skill, Nero was proclaimed emperor instead of Claudius’ son, Britannicus. Unfortunately, the new emperor still considered his stepbrother to be a threat. In the year 55, when Octavia was ten, Nero had her fourteen-year-old brother poisoned at a feast. Nero’s own mother, Agrippina, allegedly thought that the crime was appalling and she surprisingly became one of Octavia’s most powerful supporters. Yet, the relationship between the domineering Agrippina and the rebellious Nero continued to deteriorate until the year 59, when the emperor had his own mother assassinated.

As stated earlier, Octavia and Nero never had any chemistry between them, and this undoubtedly worsened when Nero killed Octavia’s brother. As a result, Nero was prone to having affairs—one of these extramarital relationships tragically proved fatal for Octavia. In the year 62, when she was twenty, Nero divorced Octavia in order to marry another woman, Poppaea Sabina. According to Tacitus, Nero first claimed that the divorce happened because Octavia was unable to have children, yet he later paradoxically accused her of having an abortion. Finally, Nero had his friend, Anicetus, confess to having an affair with Octavia. After delivering the confession, Anicetus was allegedly given rewards and a lavish place to retire. After Nero and Poppaea Sabina accused Octavia of having additional affairs, she was exiled to the island of Pandateria.

Not long after her arrival on the island, assassins were sent to claim Octavia’s life. Tacitus wrote a vivid and likely dramatized account of her death. He alleged that the assassins sliced at her with blades, hoping she would bleed to death. When she persisted in living, Octavia was thrown into a bath to speed up the blood flow. The Assassins apparently became impatient, though, and ultimately drowned her in the water. After the deed was done they reportedly removed Octavia’s head so that Poppaea Sabina would have proof that Nero’s former wife was dead.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Photograph of a Roman-Style bust from the Historian's Hut archives, atop a Public Domain scene of ancient Rome painted by J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851)).

Sources:

• The Annals of Imperial Rome by Tacitus, translated by Michael Grant. New York: Penguin Classics, 1996. 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nero-Roman-emperor 
•   https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julia-Agrippina 
• https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/nero