Window with portrait of Harald in Lerwick Town Hall, Shetland
Our twelfth Kickstarter backers reward episode looks at the life of Harald Hardrada in conversation with Noah Tetzner from the History of Vikings Podcast.
Here’s Noah’s book The Poetic Edda: A Study Guide
Download: Harald Hardrada with Noah Tetzner
RSS Feed: The History of Byzantium
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The History of Byzantium 
The story about birds setting fire to the besieged city is used by many chroniclers, most notably it is said that Olga of Kiev used the trick, too.
On the topic of Russia, the title of king was never used there. The rulers were either known as “knyaz” or “great knyaz”, with the latter being the title of Yaroslav himself, for example. The English translation of both would be the “duke” and the “grand duke”, respectively.
The title of king in the Slavic world was used by Catholic monarchs only, the Orthodox Slavic rulers were either tsars or the grand dukes. The Serbs may be the exception, but it’s due to the neighbouring Croats’ influence.