AHC: Harald Hardrada does not leave Byzantium

Have Harald Hardrada not return to Norway. Preferly have him stay in Byzantium.

Harald Hardrada had a succesfull career serving in the Varangian Guard of the Byzantine emperors. Later he used the valueables that he had built up during his service to return to Norway. First he became co king with his nephew. Later when that nephew died he became king of Norway properly. At the end of Harald's life he attempted to conquer England, during which he died.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_Hardrada

What if Harald Hardrada did not leave Byzantium? How would Norwegian and English politics be impacted?

What could prevent Harald from returning to Norway, besides dying?
 
Have Harald Hardrada not return to Norway. Preferly have him stay in Byzantium.

Harald Hardrada had a succesfull career serving in the Varangian Guard of the Byzantine emperors. Later he used the valueables that he had built up during his service to return to Norway. First he became co king with his nephew. Later when that nephew died he became king of Norway properly. At the end of Harald's life he attempted to conquer England, during which he died.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_Hardrada

What if Harald Hardrada did not leave Byzantium? How would Norwegian and English politics be impacted?

What could prevent Harald from returning to Norway, besides dying?

Marriage to the Kievan princess after the end of his Byzantine service (he married her in OTL). Then, taking into an account rather vague system of the succession and, AFAIK, not too impressive sons of Yaroslavl the Wise, a successful attempt to get the throne of Kiev or at least one of the lesser but still significant princedoms and to use it later as a step to the throne of Kiev. Then you have a not quite Rurikid dynasty in Rus and, as far as Harald was personally involved, the whole Kievan Rus not falling apart as happened soon after Yaroslav’s death: Harald seemingly had a tendency of cutting off the heads of the excessively independent subjects.

So in a highly idealized scenario you end up with an earlier consolidation (by the medieval standards) of the Kievan Rus where the lesser princes are not de facto independent rulers but something much closer to the “service princes” of the early Muscovite state.
 
I figure if this scenario happens and Magnus the Good dies on schedule, it would be Sweyn II of Denmark who likely also becomes King of Norway at the same time. I know in OTL, Sweyn had his own claims to the throne of England but didn't press his claim right away when Edward the Confessor died. He did support Edgar Æthling in 1069, but was bought off by William the Conqueror to abandon Edgar, and also failed in a subsequent attack on England.

Depending on how big a butterfly net we're casting, it would be Sweyn pressing his claim in England in 1066 should Edward die on schedule. With the resources of both Denmark and Norway on hand, I imagine he would feel pretty confident about launching an invasion of England and potentially defeating Harold Godwinson or William the Bastard. Or if he doesn't want to directly get involved, he could press Edgar's claim and basically have England as a client kingdom. He could especially strengthen that kind of alliance if he marries one of his daughters to Edgar. If he really wants to push his own family's claim for the long term, he may seek to marry one of Edgar's sisters to one of his own sons.
 
Does Harald not returning possibly mean Magnus lives longer and Sweyn II loses Denmark with no Estridsens on the throne?
 
We could reasonably see no Norman conquest without the vikings tiring the Anglo Saxons
This all depends on whether or not Edward the Confessor ever gets to interact with William the Bastard in any significant way to promise him the succession, to which Harold allegedly swore an oath to William to uphold it. That oath was very important in making the Norman Invasion as large ast it was, since Harold breaking this oath allowed William to get Papal authorization to launch an invasion and encouraged French, Breton, and Flemish troops to join William in the hopes of spoils. If William can't gather that level of support, he likely can't launch an invasion of that scale.
 
Does Harald not returning possibly mean Magnus lives longer and Sweyn II loses Denmark with no Estridsens on the throne?
Magnus may or may not live longer. It is not certain that Harald was involved in Magnus death, but it is possible. Seeing that Magnus died the year after he and Harald agreed to be joing kings of Norway, it might not be unimaginable to imagine Harald being interested in Magnus death.
 
Does Harald not returning possibly mean Magnus lives longer and Sweyn II loses Denmark with no Estridsens on the throne?

Sweyn II had numerous sons. In fact five of them went on to become king - one after the other.

Magnus may or may not live longer. It is not certain that Harald was involved in Magnus death, but it is possible. Seeing that Magnus died the year after he and Harald agreed to be joing kings of Norway, it might not be unimaginable to imagine Harald being interested in Magnus death.

Magnus the Good died aboard his flagship somewhere in Denmark whilst campaigning against Sweyn. In all likelihood it was some kind of illness that did him in. I’m not aware of any contemporary sources which mention foul play.
 
Sweyn II had numerous sons. In fact five of them went on to become king - one after the other.

Yeah...that's the thing about Sweyn Estridsen. But all it would take is for Magnus to corner Sweyn and kill him sometime before say 1055 and all of those sons are still children and you could have a longer lasting Denmark-Norway Union under Magnus.

Alternatively, with no Hardrada and a dead Magnus, assuming he dies on schedule, could Sweyn get and control at least part of Norway and start the process of using his huge family to tie the two kingdoms together?

I guess where my head goes with this is 1066 with a stronger Norwegian/Danish attack from the North. Could you end with a split in England with 'Wessex' lands going to William of Normandy and the North to Magnus (or Sweyn, I don't care), sort of recreating the situation at the beginning of the century in England.

Honestly I know very little about this period. Is there a good English language introductory text for the region covering c.1000 to c.1450....something like David Kirby's book on the Early modern period?
 
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