The Hardrada dynasty (Norwegian: Hardrådeætta)[1] was a powerful royal dynasty which ruled, at various times in history, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, and the Earldom of Orkney.
The royal house was founded, albeit unknowingly, by Harald Sigurdsson when he was made king of Norway.
His descendants would expand the influence, wealth and power of the dynasty after his death at Stamford Bridge September 25, 1066.
The younger saga writers (not the kings themselves) claimed that Harald Hardrada descended from Norway's first king Harald Fairhair, but this is not accepted as historically correct by most modern historians.
The line was briefly restored under Magnus Erlingsson, a cognatic descendant of the dynasty, but was replaced again by the House of Sverre in 1184.