Dr. Wayne Bartlett

And in 1042 at Easter, there was this coup.

Harold, at the time, was supposedly locked up for various misdemeanors, possibly associated with his non-consummation of the relationship with Zoe, all kinds of other shenanigans.

He's locked up in prison.

And then during the riots that break out at Easter 1042, he escapes in the chaos, perhaps deliberately freed.

But what then happens really is part of the Harold story, which is really striking because the emperor, Michael V, is deposed along with his main lieutenant, Constantine.

Michael and Constantine are captured and they're hauled out into the streets where they're both ritually blinded.

And in the sagas at least, the suggestion is that it's actually Harold who does the blinding.

So, you know, he's right in the middle of these events.

But the chaos is still ongoing.

There's like power struggles then to see who should be the next emperor.

And during this particular chaos, Harold manages to escape from Constantinople on a ship and make his way back to Kiev.

So very dramatic set of events where Harold is really right at the middle of things.

Well, apparently from what we can make out, Harold had been very, very good at sending back wealth that he'd acquired already during his nearly 10 years of service with the emperor.

So he's, if you like, been taking out an insurance policy here.

He's been sending as much wealth as he can get out back to Kiev.

With the result, the time he does get back there, he's already a very rich man.

In all probability, because of the chaotic events in which he left Constantinople,

I don't think he would have taken a lot with him because the primary consideration was to get people, his supporters and obviously himself away.

I'm sure there might have been some portable wealth going with them.

But the main focus was, hey, let's just get out of here as quickly as we can.