Viking sails were spotted off the coast of England during the late 920s.

Yet these warriors hadn't crossed the sea to raid, nor had they come to make war upon the newly forged nation.

Instead, they had come on a diplomatic mission. Their destination, the court of King Athelstan, grandson of

Alfred the Great, and the first king to bear the title King of the English. Though the ships were

likely manned by battle-hardened Nordic warriors, hailing from the frosted fjordlands of the north,

their dragon boats carried another cargo too, a young boy of around 10 years old,

a prince, and if the sagas are to be believed, the youngest son of the veteran Norwegian king,

Harold Fairhair. The boy's name was Hakon, and for close to a decade he would remain at

Athelstan's court, raised as a foster son to the English king,

alongside a number of other royal princes from all over Europe. Until finally, years later,

he returned to Norway, along with an English fleet, to reclaim his birthrights. At the time of

Haccon's birth, probably in around 9-18, his father, Harold Fairhair, had already

ruled over Norway for many decades, during that time, gradually consolidating the various

Yardoms into something of a centralised state. If the sagas are to be believed, Fairhair was

well into his 70s by the time of Hakon's birth,

and he had already divided up Norway between his numerous sons from different marriages,

with his intention being to pass the overall high kingship of Norway onto one of them.

By the time Hakon began to grow up, however, his elder half-brother, Eric, had began a violent

campaign of murder against the other

brothers, succeeding in killing several of them and earning himself the title Blood Axe for his

ferocity and his prowess in battle. Now an old man, and sensing the winds of change beginning to blow

through the nation he had spent so much time and effort in forging. Harold Fairhair decided to send his son to England to be fostered with Athelstan,

...