WIVA Seminar Series April 23, 2026

A Viking in the sun: Harald Hardrada as the best-evidenced Viking visitor to the Mediterranean.

Dr. Gianluca Raccagni, Senior Lecturer in Medieval History; Director of the History and Games Lab Research Centre, University of Edinburgh, and the PI of research project 'A Viking in the Sun: Harald Hardrada, the Mediterranean, and the Nordic World between the Late Viking Age and the Eve of the Crusades'.

Harald Hardrada is especially well known for his exploits as king of Norway, as testified by his popular epithets ‘hardrada’ and ‘the last Viking’. They refer to his style of rulership and his failed conquest of England in 1066, which became a prelude to its Norman conquest. ‘A
Viking in the Sun’ is an international, collaborative, project that focuses instead on Harald's formative Mediterranean adventures with two objectives in mind: the first is to highlight Harald’s surprisingly unsung status as best-evidenced Viking visitor to the Mediterranean; and the second is to use Harald's encounters as a common thread to explore selected themes related to Mediterranean societies, and their connections with the Nordic world, in the liminal period between the late Viking age and the eve of the crusades. This paper illustrates the project and discusses its foundational sources (including Old Norse, Latin, and Greek texts) as well as some of the challenges that they present.

Date: 23rd of April 2026

Time: 10:15–12:00

Location: Uppsala Eng/2-2033

For Zoom link, email: rahaf.abu_shaer@arkeologi.uu.se