Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/485

 HAEOLD II. HAROUN AL-RASHID 471 expressed the wish to bestow his kingdoms Norway, England, and Denmark severally on his sons Svend, Harold, and Hardicanute. Lt the council which met at Oxford upon the death of Canute (1035), to elect a new sover- eign for England, the chiefs of Danish descent preferred Harold ; the Saxons preferred Har- dicanute, because he was the son of the widow of their late king, Ethelred. Harold got pos- session of London, and of the country north the Thames ; and Hardicanute, who claimed e west, and by the marriage contract of his lother ought to have succeeded to the crown lis brother being illegitimate), was soon after jposed, through the intrigues of Earl Godwin, )on the promise of Harold to espouse the lughter of that nobleman. Harold and God- rin meantime conspired to destroy the Saxon inces, Alfred and Edward, sons of Ethelred, .d they were inveigled from their retreat in lormandy. Alfred was hurried to the isle of ]y and condemned to lose his eyes, and died the wounds; but his brother, afterward Iward the Confessor, escaped back to Nor- idy. Harold, having now seized the trea- 3 of his father's widow, who escaped to ruges, was soon master of all England. His 3ign was unmarked by other notable events. te was buried at Westminster; but his body, interred by order of Hardicanute, who suc- jeded him, was cast into the Thames. It was Dvered by a fisherman, and secreted in a lish cemetery in London. HAROLD II., king of the Anglo-Saxons, and le last king of that lineage, second son of Iwin, earl of Wessex, killed in battle, Oct. 14, 1066. He was a leader in the armies of Iward the Confessor, and did good service battles with the Welsh. About 1065 he was lipwrecked on the coast of Ponthieu and e prisoner by the earl Guy, who delivered lirn over to William of Normandy. William lined him until he had taken an oath to )port the Norman's pretensions to the Eng- crown after the death of Edward ; but when lat event took place (Jan. 5; 1066), he caused self to be proclaimed by an assembly of le thanes and the citizens of London, and ras crowned in London the next day. Edward, is asserted, had willed the succession to the ike of Normandy, but had been prevented )m taking steps for the security of his testa- mt. Harold claimed a similar testamentary ht. Harold's brother Tostig, a man of great lent and activity, and filled with deadly red against his brother for fancied wrongs, jpealed to Harold Hardrada of Norway, who romised to invade England. Tostig collected force in Flanders, after planning operations with William, and ravaged the southern ts. He was defeated afterward by the iris of Mercia and Northumbria, and retired Scotland to await the arrival of his allies, ^illiam meanwhile sent an embassy to Harold lemanding the crown of England. The new ig gave a disdainful reply, and prepared to receive the invaders. His attention appears to have been directed chiefly to the side of Nor- mandy ; for the king of Norway, accompanied by Tostig, landed unopposed at Scarborough. They were met near York by the northern earls, who were defeated, and, retreating to York, were besieged in that city. A few days later Harold arrived to their relief (Sept. 25, 1066), and a battle was fought in which the king of Norway and Tostig were killed. The Norwegians, escaping to their ships, were suf- fered to withdraw unmolested from the coast. Three days afterward the duke of Normandy landed at Bulverhithe, and advanced to Hast- ings, where on Oct. 14 the famous battle was fought by which Harold lost his life, and Wil- liam became king of England. (See HASTINGS.) HAROUN AL-RASHID (Aaron the Just), fifth caliph of the dynasty of the Abbassides, born in Rei about A. D. 765, died in Tus early in the spring of 809. He was the grandson of Abu Jaffar, surnamed Al-Mansour, and the son of the caliph Mahdi by the slave Khaizeran. In the reign of his father he led an army of 95,000 Persians and Arabs against the Byzantine em- pire, then ruled by Irene. He traversed Asia Minor, defeated the Greek general Nicetas, penetrated to the Bosporus (781), encamped on the heights of Chrysopolis (now Scutari), oppo- site Constantinople, and forced the empress to engage to pay an annual tribute of 70,000 dinas of gold, and to prepare the roads for his return to the Tigris. In 786 he succeeded his elder brother Hadi, who had vainly attempted to exclude him from the throne, and had even given orders for his execution, which was only prevented by his own sudden death. By his conquests and vigorous internal administration Haroun raised the caliphate to its greatest splen- dor, and made his reign esteemed the golden era of the Mohammedan nations. His favorite ministers were Yahya and his son Jaffar, of the ancient Persian family of the Barmecides, whose ancestors had for many generations been hereditary priests at the fire temple of Balkh, and who now rapidly exalted the fam- ily to the highest dignities under the caliphate. While Haroun was occupied in fortifying the frontier provinces against the Greeks, Musa the Barmecide captured the chiefs of two hos- tile factions in Syria, brought them to Bagdad, and ended their dissensions; Fadhl, son of Yahya, conquered Cabool and pacified a rebel- lion in Dailem ; and Jaffar joined to the office of vizier that of governor of Syria and Egypt. The whole internal administration of the em- pire fell into the hands of the Barmecides. They adorned the court with luxury, patron- ized letters and science, gave festivals, and made a prodigal use of the riches which they amassed. The reign of Haroun is chiefly sul- lied by the sudden disgrace which he inflict- ed on them in 803, condemning those from whose talents and services he had most profit- ed to imprisonment or death. (See BARME- CIDES.) He had devastated the Byzantine ter-