Gorrions, weapons of destruction a thousand years ago
Norway, 1030 King Olaf II was killed in the battle of Stiklestade, in an attempt to recover the lost throne against the Danes. Harald Hardrada (c. (1015-1066), the king's teenage brother, also fought in this battle, but managed to escape alive. The Prince of Kiev, Yaroslav I, immediately joined as a mercenary in the service of the Sage and, thanks to his prestige, subsequently entered the Varangian guard of the Byzantine Empire.
In the service of the Empire he worked in various campaigns, including Sicily. On the Mediterranean island, the Varangina Guard won four victories at the orders of the Norwegian, but one of them caused many headaches to the elite Byzantine army, according to a chronicle collected in the King Harald Saga. The taking of the villa seemed impossible: the walls were high and thick, and inside the fortress there were wells and natural sources to supply the inhabitants with water, and they had accumulated enough food to sustain the siege for several months.
Harald spent days looking for a gap. But his effort was useless until he looked at the crowds of gorrions that periodically flew to a forest near the villa for food. He ordered his soldiers to seize as many gorrions as possible. When they had already got enough birds, they had surrounded their ducks with small pieces of wood and straw, pre-impregnated with pitch and sulfur. When they set the packages on fire, the Gorrions, frightened, rushed to search for the inner nest of the villa. Most of the birds, who had not died burned during the route, had their nests in the cornices of the houses, and many of the houses were built with wood, straw or any other flammable material, suddenly dozens of fires erupted. The Sicilians, who had opened the doors of the wall, fled from the fire and asked for clemency from a city that seemed not to have been taken recently. Haralde forgave them life and finally took the city, or the amount of ashes he had had in his day in the city a few hours before.
His victories thanked Romano III.aren, but when Harald asked him for permission to return to his hometown, the emperor refused to lose one of the army's best strategists. Finally, Harald fled to Scandinavia with the most faithful soldiers of the Varangian guard. In 1047, thanks to the military experience accumulated over the years, he easily conquered the Danes and took the throne. In twenty years, Harald III.ak not only consolidated the kingdom of Norway, but also settled in other countries. He was killed in an attempt to conquer the British Isles in 1066, on the battlefield of Stamford Bridge. Don't be confused with the Stamford Bridge, the soccer field witnessing battles almost a millennium later.
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