Harald Hardrada - The Last Viking King

Harald Hardrada lived from 1015 to 1066 A.D. He was a poet, an adventurer, the head of the Byzantium Elite guard and a warrior king. Harald's life is written down in the Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson,. Snorri is also the authoer of the poetic Edda, a major source of knowledge for the Nordic Sagas and Skaldic tradition.
Harald's life was filled with adventure and lends itself well to describe the life of the Varangians, Vikings traveling East all the way down to Constantinople and the second caliphate, establishing Kievan Rus' on the way down the Wolga river. Harald may also have had a big impact on England becoming a European rather than a Nordic country.