Battle of Hafrsfjord The Battle of Hafrsfjord has traditionally been regarded as the battle in which western Norway for the first time was unified under one monarch . The national monument of Haraldshaugen was raised in 1872 , to commemorate the Battle of Hafrsfjord . In 1983 , the monument and famous landmark of The Swords in the Rock was designed by Fritz Røed and raised at Hafrsfjord in memory of the battle . Significance . Although most scholars currently tend to regard the unification as a process lasting centuries , rather than being the result of a single battle , the Battle of Hafrsfjord ranks high in the popular imagination of Norway . It was the conclusion of King Harald I of Norway ' s declaration to become the sole ruler of Norway . This battle may well have been the largest in Norway up to that time and for a good while after . It was formerly believed that this battle was the decisive event in the unification of Norway . According to Snorri ' s saga , King Harald controlled large parts of Norway ' s southeast portion before the battle ; but other sources claim that the eastern portion of Norway was under the Danish king . The Battle of Hafrsfjord marks the final crushing of opposition from Norway ' s southwestern portion ( primarily Rogaland , but also chieftains from the Sognefjord area ) . This made it possible for King Harald to subdue the country and collect taxes from a large part of it . Later historiography regarded him as the first legitimate King of Norway . Many of the defeated who would not submit to Harald ' s rule emigrated to Iceland ( q . v . ) . Chronology . The traditional dating of the event , 872 , is a 19th - century invention . The exact year of the battle is likely to be unknown . This is due to lack of sources , and partly because the Christian calendar was not introduced at the time . The sagas follow the convention of counting the number of winters passed since an event . In the 1830s , the historian Rudolf Keyser counted the number of years backwards from the battle of Svolder ( AD 1000 ) in Heimskringla , dating the battle to 872 . Keyser ' s chronology was popularized by the works of the historian P . A . Munch , and by that time still unchallenged , this year was chosen for the millennial celebration of the unification of the Norwegian state in 1872 . In the 1920s , using similar methods as Keyser but highly critical to the reliability of the sagas , the historian Halvdan Koht dated the battle to about 900 . For the next fifty years , this chronology was regarded by most scholars as being most likely . In the 1970s , the Icelandic historian Ólafia Einarsdóttir concluded that the battle took place somewhere between 870 and 875 . However still disputed , most scholars will agree that the battle took place during the 880s . Sources . The only contemporary source to this event is from a lay written by " Þórbjörn hornklofi " ( Modern Norwegian : " Torbjørn Hornklove " ) shortly after King Harald " Fairhair " beat his enemies . The lay is very simple , dramatic and illustrative ( The first part is translated into English here ) : The most well - known source of the battle is Harald Fairhair ' s saga in " Heimskringla " written by Snorri Sturluson more than 300 years after the battle took place . Snorri gives a vivid and detailed description of the battle . ( Although historians continue to debate the historical accuracy of Snorri ' s work ) : " News came in from the south land that the people of Hordaland and Rogaland , Agder and Thelemark , were gathering , and bring together ships and weapons , and a great body of men . The leaders of this were Eirik king of Hordaland ; Sulke king of Rogaland , and his brother Earl Sote : Kjotve the Rich , king of Agder , and his son Thor Haklang ; and from Thelemark two brothers , Hroald Hryg and Had the Hard . Now when Harald got certain news of this , he assembled his forces , set his ships on the water , made himself ready with his men , and set out southwards along the coast , gathering many people from every district . King Eirik heard of this when he came south of Stad ; and having assembled all the men he could expect , he proceeded southwards to meet the force which he knew was coming to his help from the east . The whole met together north of Jadar , and went into Hafersfjord , where King Harald was waiting with his forces . A great battle began , which was both hard and long ; but at last King Harald gained the day . There King Eirik fell , and King Sulke , with his brother Earl Sote . Thor Haklang , who was a great berserk , had laid his ship against King Harald ' s , and there was above all measure a desperate attack , until Thor Haklang fell , and his whole ship was cleared of men . Then King Kjotve fled to a little isle outside , on which there was a good place of strength . Thereafter all his men fled , some to their ships , some up to the land ; and the latter ran southwards over the country of Jadar . "