[All]: For this event, see ÞjóðA Sex 7-8, Valg Har 4, ÍF 28, 87-8 n. 1 and Sigfús Blöndal 1978, 93-5. Sex 7-8 mention explicitly that Haraldr himself blinded Michael. According to contemporary Byzantine sources (cited in Sigfús Blöndal 1978, 93), the emperor was blinded by ‘brave men who did not shrink from anything’, a description that fits Haraldr and his men well. Emperor Michael and his uncle, Constantine, were blinded in public on 21 April 1042.
References
- Bibliography
- ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
- Sigfús Blöndal. 1978. The Varangians of Byzantium: An Aspect of Byzantine Military History. Trans. and rev. Benedikt S. Benedikz. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. First published 1954 as Væringja saga. Reykjavík: Ísafoldarprentsmiðja.
- Internal references
- Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Sexstefja 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 118-19.
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Valgarðr á Velli, Poem about Haraldr harðráði 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 303.