Gudrod Bjornson
Petty king attacked by Harald at a feast, father of Harald Grenske.
Gudrod Bjornson was a petty king attested in the Heimskringla who was feasting near Tunsberg when Harald attacked him at night (Heimskringla, King Gudrod's Fall). He had made "a good and suitable marriage" and had a son called Harald, who was fostered in Grenland by the lenderman Hroe the White (Heimskringla, Of Harald Grenske).
The Heimskringla presents Gudrod Bjornson primarily as a genealogical link -- the father of Harald Grenske, who would become the father of Olaf Haraldson (Saint Olaf). His death at a feast, surprised by a night attack, follows the Heimskringla's recurring pattern of rulers caught off guard during social occasions. His significance lies less in his own actions than in the dynastic line he propagates.
Appears in: Beings, Entities in Heimskringla, Norse Tradition
On trail: Genealogies