Hálfdan Haraldsson
| Photo | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Sir Halfdan fighting challenges at Pennsic XXXVII | ||||||||||
| Information | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Heraldry | ||||||||||
 Per Pale Azure and Argent, a Dragons Head Jessant-de-Lys between three Compass Stars, all CounterChanged | ||||||||||
| Help with this sidebar |
Sir Halfdan was the second Knight of the First Order of the Hospitalers of St. John of Caid and has served within the Shield wall and as a spearmen. He has found light again with the marriage of Nonne Reerdan. With a lovely consort such as her he has once again taken up sword and shield and began fighting in the tournaments of Caid, as well as teaching his squires.
Persona
Halfdan Haraldsson, is the 5th and last generation in a long family line of men to search for their fortune in the grand court of the Byzantine Emperors in Constantinople, as members of the Varangian Guard.
He was born in year of our Lord 1162, in the seaport village of Lindos on the island of Rhodes. At the time his father, Harald Sigurdsson, was a Varangian Guardsmen sworn to the service of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I. Halfdan's mother, Anna Thessalonica, was the sixteen-year-old daughter of a wealthy merchant on the island.
After his tour of duty, Halfdan's father went back to his home in Hedeby Denmark. His father was pretty much unknown to the boy until, when at the age of ten, his mother was forced to send him to live with him.
At the age of ten, Halfdan was rather big for his age, and apparently a bit of a bully. Off to his fathers he went, where he discovered that he was no longer the biggest kid around, and was constantly pummeled black and blue. Over the next seven years, Halfdan continued to grow and ravenously studied the arts of war. First, for his own protection, but later to prepare himself for the chosen profession of a warrior. Naturally his first teacher was his father, and after he learned everything he could teach, Halfdan studied with every other warrior he could find in Hedeby.
At the age of eighteen he traveled to Constantinople to join the Varangian Guard of Emperor Alexius II. He was part of the army that drove the Normans out of Greece in 1185. Then he was off to fight the Bulgars.
In 1190 he left the Varangian Guard and went to Rhodes to visit his mother. It was while visiting her that Richard the Lionheart came to Rhodes to recruit mercenaries for the 3rd Crusade. He eagerly signed on.
In 1191, at the battle of Arsouf, Halfdan was wounded by an arrow. Luckily, the Hospitallers were part of this campaign and were able to remove the arrow and treat the wound. It was at this time that Halfdan was befriended by many of their Order. Over the following months Halfdan witnessed their great charity and caring for their fellow Crusaders. In the year of our Lord 1192 they granted his request to join their ranks.
After many years in Outremer, the Order eventually relocated Halfdan to the Kingdom of Caid.
