How did exacly John II emperor of Byzantium ended up hiring Harald Hardrada with the rest of his fellow vikings?

by 40-I-4-Z-Kalisza

So I know this eventually happened but I can’t find any source material telling how exacly this happened. I know that Harald plundered few castles in what I belive to be Sicily and then he served in army under John II. But why?

y_sengaku

Hello, can I ask at first a bit of clarification?

  • Is 'John II emperor of Byzantium' you mentioned correct person in question? AFAIK Emperor John II is John II Komnenos (r. 1118-43), son of famous Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, thus born more than ca. 20 years after the fall of Harald Hardråde of Norway in 1066.
  • Harald probably came to Constantinople in 1033 or 1034, under the reign of Emperor Michael IV Katallakos (r. 1034-41). AFAIK all the popular accounts (both primary sources and literature) agree that his delegated to Sicily as a part of Imperial army, under the command of Georgios Maniaces who even also appeared as Gyrgir in 13th century kings' sagas.
  • Several Scandinavian as well as non-Scandinavian primary sources note his stay in Constantinople, but probably the most famous and generally not so inaccurate account is found in Strategikon by General Kekaumenos (late 11th century) as states as following:

 

'After telling your majesty another story, I shall conclude my discussion of this [subject]. Harald was the son of the king of Varangia, and he had a brother [named] Ioulabos [Olaf] who held his father's rule upon his father's death, after casting his brother Harald into second place for the rulership after him. Since Harald was a young man, he wanted to come and show reverence to the most blessed emperor Lord Michael the Paphlagonian and to gain a view of the Roman system. He also brought with him a following of five hundred noblemen. He entered, and the emperor received him just as was allowed and sent him along with his force to Sicily. There, a Roman army was fighting for the island. Setting off, [Harald] displayed great deeds. Once Sicily was subjugated, he returned with his force to the emperor and [the emperor] honored him as a manglabites. After this it happened that Deljan rebelled in Bulgaria. And since Harald had his force, he went on campaign with the emperor and showed forth deeds against the enemy that we worthy of his good birth and noble character. After subjecting Bulgaria, the emperor returned home. At that time, I was fighting on behalf of the emperor as best I could. When we came to the city of Mosunoupolis, the emperor rewarded him for those [regions] for which he had fought, and honored him as a spatharocandidatos. After thedeath of the lord Michael and his nephew the ex-emperor [Michael the Caulker], Harald wished to return to his homeland and made this entreaty before Monomachos. He was not allowed but, in fact, his way out narrowed. Nonetheless, he secretly escaped and ruled over his land instead of his brother Ioulabos [Olaf]. Yet he did not grow proud because of the honors given to him — the [offices of] manglabites and spatharocandidatos — but rather maintained his loyalty and love for the Romans while he ruled. (Strategikon, Chap. 81, English translation is taken from: Oration of Admonition to an Emperor).

 

I'll be gladly available for any follow-up question (of course within the limit of my limited knowledge on the sources as well as academic literature, though).

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