Civil war era in Norway
Encyclopedia
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
history (Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
borgerkrigstida) is a term used for the period in the history of Norway
History of Norway
The history of human settlement in what is present day Norway goes back at least 11,000 years, to the late Paleolithic. Archaeological finds in the county of Møre og Romsdal have been dated to 9,200 BC and are probably the remains of settlers from Doggerland, an area now submerged in the North Sea,...
between 1130 and 1240. During this time, a series of civil wars were fought between rival kings and pretenders to the throne of Norway. The reasons for the wars is one of the most debated topics in Norwegian medieval history. The goal of the warring parties was always to put their man on the throne, starting with the death of King Sigurd the Crusader
Sigurd I of Norway
Sigurd I Magnusson , also known as Sigurd the Crusader , was King of Norway from 1103 to 1130. His rule, together with his brother Eystein I of Norway , has been regarded by historians as a golden age for the medieval Kingdom of Norway...
in 1130. In the first decades of the civil wars, alliances were shifting, and centered around the person of a king or pretender, but eventually, towards the end of the 12th century, two rival parties emerged, known as the Birkebeiner
Birkebeiner
The Birkebein Party or Birkebeinar was the name for a rebellious party in Norway, formed in 1174 around the pretender to the Norwegian throne, Eystein Meyla...
and the Bagler
Bagler
The Bagli Party or Bagler was a faction or party during the Norwegian Civil Wars. The Bagler faction was made up principally of the Norwegian aristocracy, clergy and merchants....
. After these two parties were reconciled in 1217, a more ordered system of government centered around the king was gradually able to bring an end to the frequent risings. The failed rising of duke Skule Bårdsson
Skule Bårdsson
Skule Baardsson or Duke Skule was a Norwegian nobleman and claimant to the royal throne against his son-in-law, King Haakon Haakonsson. Henrik Ibsen's play Kongs-Emnerne is about the dispute between Duke Skule and King Haakon.-Biography:Skule Baardsson was born around 1189...
in 1240 was the final event of the civil war era.
Background
The unification of Norway into one kingdom is traditionally held to have been achieved by King Harald FairhairHarald I of Norway
Harald Fairhair or Harald Finehair , , son of Halfdan the Black, was the first king of Norway.-Background:Little is known of the historical Harald...
at the Battle of Hafrsfjord
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 872, but the process of unification took a long time to complete and consolidate. By the mid 11th century, the process seems to have been completed. However, it was still not uncommon for several rulers to share the kingship of Norway. This seems to have been the common way of solving disputes in cases where two or more worthy candidates for the throne existed. The relationship between such co-rulers was often tense, but open conflict was generally averted. Clear succession laws did not exist. The main criterion for being considered a worthy candidate for the throne was to be a descendant of Harald Fairhair through the male line - legitimate or illegitimate birth was not an issue.
King Sigurd the Crusader
Sigurd I of Norway
Sigurd I Magnusson , also known as Sigurd the Crusader , was King of Norway from 1103 to 1130. His rule, together with his brother Eystein I of Norway , has been regarded by historians as a golden age for the medieval Kingdom of Norway...
had also shared the kingdom with his brothers, King Øystein
Eystein I of Norway
Eystein I Magnusson was king of Norway from 1103 to 1123.-Biography:Eystein became king, together with his brothers Sigurd and Olaf, when his father Magnus Barefoot died in 1103...
and King Olav, but when they both died without issue, Sigurd became sole ruler, and his son, Magnus
Magnus IV of Norway
Magnus IV Sigurdsson , also known as Magnus the Blind, was King of Norway from 1130 to 1135 and again from 1137 to 1139. His period as king marked the beginning of the civil war era in Norway, which lasted until 1240....
, heir-apparent. However, in the late 1120s, a man called Harald Gillekrist
Harald IV of Norway
Harald Gille was king of Norway from 1130 until his death in 1136. His byname Gille is probably from Gilla Críst, i.e. servant of Christ.-Background:...
arrived in Norway from Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, claiming to be a son of King Sigurd's father, King Magnus Barefoot
Magnus III of Norway
Magnus Barefoot or Magnus III Olafsson was King of Norway from 1093 until 1103 and King of Mann and the Isles from 1099 until 1103.-Background:...
. King Magnus had spent some time campaigning in Ireland, and Harald would thus be King Sigurd's brother. Harald proved his case through an ordeal of fire
Trial by ordeal
Trial by ordeal is a judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused is determined by subjecting them to an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience...
, the common way of settling such claims at the time, and King Sigurd recognised him as his brother. However, Harald had to swear an oath that he would not claim the title of king as long as Sigurd or his son was alive.
The succession to Sigurd the Crusader
Sigurd
Sigurd is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr) is a legendary hero of...
died in 1130, Harald broke his oath. Sigurd's son Magnus was proclaimed king, but Harald also claimed the royal title, and received much support. A settlement was reached whereby Magnus and Harald would both be kings and co-rulers. Peace between them lasted until 1134, when open war broke out. In 1135 Harald succeeded in defeating and capturing Magnus in Bergen. Magnus was blinded, castrated and mutilated and imprisoned in a monastery. He was thereafter known as Magnus the Blind. At about the same time, Sigurd Slembe
Sigurd Slembe
Sigurd Magnusson Slembe was a Norwegian pretender to the throne. He was the subject of Sigurd Slembe, the historical drama written by the Norwegian playwright Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in 1863...
, another man from Ireland arrived claiming to be a son of Magnus Barefoot. He claimed to have gone through an ordeal by fire to prove his claim, in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. Harald did not recognise him as his brother. In 1136, Sigurd murdered Harald in his sleep in Bergen, and had himself proclaimed king. Harald's supporters would not accept him, and had Harald's two infant sons, Sigurd Munn
Sigurd II of Norway
Sigurd II Haraldsson was king of Norway from 1136 to 1155. He was son of Harald Gille, king of Norway and his mistress Tora Guttormsdotter . He served as co-ruler with his half-brothers, Inge Haraldsson and Eystein Haraldsson. His epithet Munn means "the Mouth" in Old Norse...
and Inge Crouchback
Inge I of Norway
Inge Haraldsson was king of Norway from 1136 to 1161. Inge’s reign fell within the start of the period known in Norwegian history as the civil war era. He was never the sole ruler of the country. He is often known as Inge the Hunchback , because of his physical disability...
, named king. Sigurd Slembe liberated Magnus the Blind from his enforced monastic life and allied himself with him. The war between Sigurd Slembe and Magnus the Blind on the one side, and Harald Gille's old supporters, with his young sons on the other, dragged on until 1139, when Magnus and Sigurd were defeated in Battle at Hvaler
Hvaler
Hvaler is a municipality that is a group of islands in the southwestern part of Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Skjærhalden, on the island of Kirkeøy. The only police station in the municipality is located in Skjærhalden...
. Magnus was killed in the battle, Sigurd was captured and tortured to death.
The reign of Harald Gille's sons
The power-sharing between Sigurd Munn and Inge Crouchback functioned well as long as they were both minors. In 1142, once again, a king's son arrived in Norway from west of the North Sea. This time, it was Øystein HaraldssonEystein II of Norway
Eystein Haraldsson , born c. 1125 apparently in Scotland, died 1157 in Bohuslän, Norway, was king of Norway from 1142 to 1157. He ruled as co-ruler with his brothers, Inge Haraldsson and Sigurd Munn...
, a son of Harald Gille. Øystein claimed part of his father's inheritance, and was given the title of king, with a third of the kingdom. The three brothers ruled together, apparently in peace, until 1155. According to the sagas, Øystein and Sigurd Munn laid plans to depose their brother Inge and divide his share of the kingdom between them. At the urgings of his mother Ingrid Ragnvaldsdotter
Ingrid Ragnvaldsdotter
Ingrid Ragnvaldsdotter was born a member of the Swedish royal family, became a member of Danish royalty by marriage and later was Queen Consort of Norway as the spouse of Harald IV of Norway...
and the influential lendmann
Lendmann
Lendmann , was a title in medieval Norway. Lendmann was the highest rank attainable in the hird of the Norwegian king, and a lendmann stood beneath only earls and kings...
Gregorius Dagsson, Inge decided to strike first, at a meeting appointed between the three kings in Bergen. Sigurd Munn was attacked and killed by Inge's men, before Øystein had had time to arrive in the city. Inge and Øystein then reached a tenuous settlement, but conditions between them soon deteriorated into open warfare, ending with Øystein's capture and murder in Bohuslän
Bohuslän
' is a Swedish traditional province, or landskap, situated in Götaland on the northernmost part of the country's west coast. It is bordered by Dalsland to the northeast, Västergötland to the southeast, the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea to the west, and the county of Østfold in Norway to the north...
in 1157. Whether or not Inge himself ordered the killing of his brother seems to have been disputed at the time. The followers of Inge's dead brothers, Øystein and Sigurd Munn, were not inclined to submit to Inge, and instead chose a new pretender (kongsemne), Sigurd Munn's son, Håkon the Broadshouldered
Haakon II of Norway
Haakon II Sigurdsson , also known as Haakon Herdebrei, was King of Norway from 1157 until 1162 during the Civil war era in Norway.-Biography:His nickname, Herdebrei, means broad-shouldered...
. This development has been seen as the first sign of a new stage in the civil wars: The warring parties no longer simply sprung up around a king or pretender, but stayed together after the fall of their leader, and elected a new figurehead, heralding the formation of more firmly organised warring factions. A figurehead is all that Håkon could have been in 1157, as he was only ten years old. However, his followers had him named king and continued the fight against Inge. In 1161, they succeeded in killing Inge in battle in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
.
Magnus Erlingsson and the involvement of the church
Magnus V of Norway
Magnus V Erlingsson was a King of Norway during the Civil war era in Norway.-Biography:Magnus Erlingsson was probably born in Etne in Hordaland. He was the son of Erling Skakke. His father was a Norwegian nobleman who earned his reputation crusading with Rögnvald Kali Kolsson, the Earl of Orkney...
, the son of one of their most prominent leaders, the lendmann Erling Skakke
Erling Skakke
Erling Skakke was a Norwegian Jarl during the 12th century. He was the father of Magnus V, who reigned as King of Norway from 1161 to 1184....
, by his wife Kristin, daughter of King Sigurd the Crusader. Erling, with the title jarl
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
, became the real leader of the faction. The next year, in 1162, they succeeded in defeating and killing Håkon in battle at Sekken in the Romsdalsfjord
Romsdalsfjord
Romsdalsfjord is the ninth longest fjord in Norway. It is long and located in the Romsdal district of Møre og Romsdal county. It flows through the municipalities of Midsund, Haram, Vestnes, Molde, Nesset, and Rauma...
. The year after that, in 1163, another son of Sigurd Munn, Sigurd Markusfostre
Sigurd Markusfostre
Sigurd Sigurdsson Markusfostre was a pretender and rival king during the Civil war era in Norway.-Background:Sigurd Sigurdsson was reportedly a bastard son of King Sigurd II of Norway. He must have been born some time before 1155, when his father was killed in a battle with his half-brother King...
, who had been set up as a new pretender against Magnus Erlingsson, was captured by Erling Skakke and killed in Bergen.
The action of Erling and the rest of his party in electing Magnus Erlingsson as their leader was a radical one, as it broke with one of the traditional principles of who might become king: Magnus was only descended from the ancient royal line through his mother - he was not a king's son. To compensate for this short-coming, Erling and Magnus' party allied themselves with the Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, and introduced a new criterion: The king should henceforth be of legitimate birth. Their old leader, Inge Crouchback, had been the only one of the sons of Harald Gille to be legitimate, and King Magnus Erlingsson was also Erling and Kristin's legitimate son. The alliance with the Church, which had recently become better organised in Norway after the establishment of a separate Norwegian archdiocese in Nidaros
Nidaros
Nidaros or Niðarós was during the Middle Ages, the old name of Trondheim, Norway . Until the Reformation, Nidaros remained the centre of the spiritual life of the country...
in 1152, became an important asset for Erling and Magnus. In 1163 in Bergen, Magnus Erlingsson became the first Norwegian king to be crowned, aged 7. A written law of succession
Norwegian Law of Succession
The Norwegian Law of Succession was introduced in 1163. The law was an accord between Erling Skakke and Archbishop Øystein, whereby Erling's son Magnus Erlingsson inherited the throne, in exchange for greater power to the church...
was also introduced which only allowed the oldest legitimate son to inherit. For the next decade or so, Magnus Erlingsson's position as king, with Erling Skakke as the real leader of the country, seemed secure. Erling ruthlessly eliminated any potential rivals to his son. He was also allied at times with King Valdemar I of Denmark
Valdemar I of Denmark
Valdemar I of Denmark , also known as Valdemar the Great, was King of Denmark from 1157 until 1182.-Biography:...
, and according to one source, he at one time took the Oslofjord
Oslofjord
The Oslofjord is a bay in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the Torbjørnskjær and Færder lighthouses and down to Langesund in the south to Oslo in the north....
-area as a fief
Fiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
from him. However, the extent of his subordination to Denmark is questionable.
Rising of the Birkebeiner and King Sverre
Eystein Meyla
Eystein Meyla was elected a rival King of Norway during the Norwegian Civil War period.-Biography:Eystein was son of Eysteinn Haraldsson, King Eystein II of Norway. His nickname Møyla means maiden, girl, cute woman. His father was king of Norway from 1142 to 1157, ruling as co-ruler with his...
, a son of Øystein Haraldsson. This new faction was called the birkebeiner
Birkebeiner
The Birkebein Party or Birkebeinar was the name for a rebellious party in Norway, formed in 1174 around the pretender to the Norwegian throne, Eystein Meyla...
, meaning birch-legs because some of them were so poor that they wound birch-bark around their legs instead of proper footwear. Øystein Møyla was killed by Magnus and Erling's men at the Battle of Re
Re, Norway
Re is a municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Revetal. The municipality was established in 2002 by the unification of the former municipalities of Ramnes and Våle. It includes the villages of Ramnes, Våle, Undrumsdal, Fon, Vivestad...
in 1177. Soon after, the Birkebeiner made Sverre Sigurdsson
Sverre of Norway
Sverre Sigurdsson was king of Norway from 1177 to 1202. He married Margareta Eriksdotter, the daughter of the Swedish king Eric the Saint, by whom he had the daughter Kristina Sverresdotter....
their leader. Sverre had come to Norway from the Faroe Islands
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...
, and claimed to have recently discovered that he was in fact the son of King Sigurd Munn. His claim was widely disbelieved at the time, and also by most modern historians. However, after taking over leadership of the Birkebeiner, he became a rallying point for everyone disgruntled with the rule of Erling Skakke and King Magnus.
Some materialists
Historical materialism
Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, first articulated by Karl Marx as "the materialist conception of history". Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans...
among modern historians have tried to read a form of class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
into Sverre and the Birkebeiner's fight against Erling and Magnus. However, the extent to which Sverre's men actually represented the impoverished strata of the population remains disputed. It is clear that most of the lendmenn
Lendmann
Lendmann , was a title in medieval Norway. Lendmann was the highest rank attainable in the hird of the Norwegian king, and a lendmann stood beneath only earls and kings...
- the nobility of the time - sided with King Magnus, but Sverre also quickly won several of them over to his side. In any event, the Birkebeiner did not try to change the social order of society - they merely wanted to place themselves at its top.
In 1179, Sverre won an important victory in the Battle of Kalvskinnet, on the outskirts of Nidaros
Nidaros
Nidaros or Niðarós was during the Middle Ages, the old name of Trondheim, Norway . Until the Reformation, Nidaros remained the centre of the spiritual life of the country...
, where Erling Skakke was killed. From then on, the Trøndelag
Trøndelag
Trøndelag is the name of a geographical region in the central part of Norway, consisting of the two counties Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag. The region is, together with Møre og Romsdal, part of a larger...
region with Nidaros at its center became a stronghold of Sverre. King Magnus continued the fight after the death of his father, and refused several offers from Sverre to divide the kingdom between them. Sverris saga
Sverris saga
Sverris saga is one of the kings' sagas. Its subject is King Sverre Sigurdsson of Norway and it is the main source for this period of Norwegian history. As the foreword tells us, the saga in its final form consists of more than one part. Work first began in 1185 under the king’s direct supervision...
, which was written by Sverre's supporters, makes much of how popular Magnus was among the common people, and how this made Sverre's fight against him all the more difficult. The war between Sverre and Magnus raged on for several years, and Magnus at one point had to seek refuge in Denmark. The Battle of Fimreite, a final naval battle during 1184 in the Sognefjord
Sognefjord
The Sognefjord is the largest fjord in Norway, and the second longest in the world. Located in Sogn og Fjordane county, it stretches inland to the small village of Skjolden...
, resulted in the death of King Magnus and victory for King Sverre.
Sverre was to rule Norway until 1202, but was unable to achieve long periods of peace. The Church, allied to King Magnus and Erling Skakke, remained virulent in its opposition to Sverre throughout his reign. In 1190, the archbishop, Eirik Ivarsson, fled the country, and in 1194 he received papal support to excommunicate
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
Sverre and order the country's remaining bishops to join him in exile in Denmark, which they did. By then, Sverre had been able to coerce one of his strongest opponents, bishop Nikolas Arnesson of Oslo, to crown him in Bergen in 1194. In 1198, Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....
placed Norway under interdict
Interdict (Roman Catholic Church)
In Roman Catholic canon law, an interdict is an ecclesiastical censure that excludes from certain rites of the Church individuals or groups, who nonetheless do not cease to be members of the Church.-Distinctions in canon law:...
. Although Sverre forged letters to show that his excommunication had been lifted, he in fact remained excommunicated until his death.
Several pretenders arose against Sverre. Among the most serious was Jon Kuvlung
Jon Kuvlung
Jon Ingesson Kuvlung was a pretender to the Royal Crown during the civil war era in Norway. He was a rival of the reigning King Sverre of Norway.-Background:...
, a purported son of King Inge Crouchback. He was named king in 1185 and killed in battle in Bergen in 1188. Sigurd Magnusson
Sigurd Magnusson
Sigurd Magnusson was a Norwegian nobleman who campaigned against King Sverre of Norway during the Civil war era in Norway. -Background:...
, an illegitimate son of King Magnus Erlingsson, was proclaimed to be king in 1193 at the Haugathing near Tønsberg
Tønsberg
is a city and municipality in Vestfold county, southern Norway, located around north-east of Sandefjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tønsberg....
. Aged 13, Sigurd was a figurehead leader. He had the support of among others, Harald Maddadsson
Harald Maddadsson
Harald Maddadsson was Earl of Orkney and Mormaer of Caithness from 1139 until 1206. He was the son of Matad, Mormaer of Atholl, and Margaret, daughter of Earl Haakon Paulsson of Orkney...
. His rising ended after his defeat and death at the Battle of Florvåg near Askøy
Askøy
Askøy is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Since the opening of the Askøy Bridge leading to the mainland in Bergen in 1992, the population has increased rapidly. Its population growth is as of 2008 among the highest in Norway...
, an island just north of Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
in 1194.
Rising of the Bagler
In 1197, the most serious challenge to Sverre's kingdom arose. Several prominent opponents of Sverre, including bishop Nikolas Arnesson of Oslo, who was a halfbrother of King Inge Crouchback and archbishop Eirik Ivarsson met at the marketplace of Halör in Skåne, then part of Denmark. They took a boy called Inge MagnussonInge Magnusson
Inge Magnusson or Inge Baglar-king was from 1196 to 1202 the Bagler candidate for pretender to the Norwegian throne during the Civil war era in Norway.In 1197, a serious challenge to the reign of King Sverre of Norway arose...
, purported son of King Magnus Erlingsson as their figurehead-king. Their party was called the Bagler
Bagler
The Bagli Party or Bagler was a faction or party during the Norwegian Civil Wars. The Bagler faction was made up principally of the Norwegian aristocracy, clergy and merchants....
, from an old Norse word meaning crosier
Crosier
A crosier is the stylized staff of office carried by high-ranking Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran and Pentecostal prelates...
. The war between the Bagler, with the open support of the Church, and the birkebeiner, was to last for the rest of Sverre's reign. They were not able to depose Sverre, but neither was he able to win a decisive victory against them. When Sverre died from disease, in Bergen in 1202, he was the first king of Norway to die of natural causes since King Sigurd the Crusader in 1130. His last act was to advise his son and heir, Håkon Sverresson
Haakon III of Norway
Håkon III was king of Norway from 1202 to 1204.-Biography:...
, to achieve a settlement with the Church. Håkon was taken to be the Birkbeiner's new king, and the bishops returned to Norway later the same year, releasing the country from the interdict. Deprived of most of his support, the Bagler King Inge was killed the same year.
The Second Bagler war and the Settlement of Kvitsøy
Håkon Sverresson appeared to have pacified the whole country, but died suddenly in 1204. His successor was the infant GuttormGuttorm of Norway
Guttorm Sigurdsson was King of Norway during 1204.-Background:Guttorm Sigurdsson was the son of Sigurd Lavard and grandson of King Sverre. Sigurd Lavard died in 1200 or 1201 during the reign of King Sverre...
, who died himself later the same year. The Birkebeiner knew of no other direct descendants of King Sverre, and chose one of his nephews, Inge Bårdson
Inge II of Norway
align=right|Inge Baardson was king of Norway from 1204 to 1217. His reign was within the later stages of the period known in Norwegian history as the age of civil wars. Inge was the king of the birkebeiner faction...
as their new king. By then, a revived Bagler party had formed in Denmark, taking another son of King Magnus Erlingsson, Erling Stonewall
Erling Steinvegg
Erling Magnusson Steinvegg or Erlingr Magnússon Steinveggr was the candidate of the Bagler to the Norwegian throne from 1204 to 1207. His candidacy resulted in the second Bagler War which lasted until 1208, when the question of the Norwegian succession was temporarily settled.-Biography:Erling...
as their king. Helped by King Valdemar II of Denmark
Valdemar II of Denmark
Valdemar II , called Valdemar the Victorious or Valdemar the Conqueror , was the King of Denmark from 1202 until his death in 1241. The nickname Sejr is a later invention and was not used during the King's own lifetime...
, they launched an invasion of Norway in 1204, taking control of the Oslofjord
Oslofjord
The Oslofjord is a bay in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the Torbjørnskjær and Færder lighthouses and down to Langesund in the south to Oslo in the north....
-area. This second Bagler war lasted until 1208. When Erling Stonewall fell ill and died in 1207, he was succeeded as Bagler king by Philippus Simonsson, a nephew of King Inge Crouchback and bishop Nikolas of Oslo, and the war continued uninterrupted. The Bagler were strongest in the Oslofjord
Oslofjord
The Oslofjord is a bay in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the Torbjørnskjær and Færder lighthouses and down to Langesund in the south to Oslo in the north....
-area, while Trøndelag
Trøndelag
Trøndelag is the name of a geographical region in the central part of Norway, consisting of the two counties Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag. The region is, together with Møre og Romsdal, part of a larger...
was a stronghold of the Birkebeiner, but battles and ambushes took place throughout the country. In the end, the bishops were able to negotiate a settlement between the two sides, confirmed at a meeting at Kvitsøy
Kvitsøy
Kvitsøy is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is the smallest municipality in Norway . Kvitsøy was separated from Mosterøy on 1 January 1923.The municipality is an archipelago situated northwest of the coast of the Stavanger peninsula...
in 1208. The Bagler king Philippus was to remain in control of eastern Norway, but renounce the title of king, leaving the Birkebeiner King Inge nominally sole ruler of the country. In the event, Philippus continued to style himself king until his death, but peace between the Bagler and Birkebeiner was still preserved until 1217.
Reconciliation between Bagler and Birkebeiner
In 1217, King Inge Bårdsson died. The Birkebeiner, nervous of being left without a leader in case of a Bagler attack, chose the 13-year-old Håkon HåkonssonHaakon IV of Norway
Haakon Haakonarson , also called Haakon the Old, was king of Norway from 1217 to 1263. Under his rule, medieval Norway reached its peak....
as their new king, while the jarl
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
Skule Bårdsson was made leader of the army. Håkon Håkonsson was a posthumously born son of Håkon Sverresson, of whom the Birkebeiner had not been aware when electing Inge their king in 1204 - he had arrived at King Inge's court in 1206. Skule was the brother of King Inge, and had designs on the throne for himself, however, he contented himself for the time being with leadership of the army, which made him, de facto, the most powerful man of the kingdom. When the Bagler king Philippus died later the same year, Skule moved quickly. He managed to persuade the Bagler not to elect a new king of their own. Instead, they officially dissolved their party, and swore fealty to Håkon Håkonsson, thus reuniting the kingdom. Discontented elements remained, and a revolt in eastern Norway, led by a son of Erling Stonewall, called Sigurd Ribbung
Sigurd Ribbung
Sigurd Erlingsson Ribbung was a Norwegian nobleman and pretender to the throne of Norway during the civil war era in Norway.-Biography:...
, dragged on until 1227. After Sigurd died a natural death, the rest of his party gave up their revolt. 1227 is sometimes considered the end of the civil war era, but most often, the term is extended to include the revolt of Skule Bårdsson in 1239-40.
Nidaros
Nidaros or Niðarós was during the Middle Ages, the old name of Trondheim, Norway . Until the Reformation, Nidaros remained the centre of the spiritual life of the country...
. The civil war era was at an end.
Contemporary views
Civil wars and internal strife in royal families was a common occurrence in the Middle Ages, in Norway as well as in other countries of Europe. However, there are examples that contemporary people also viewed the period as special, different from what had gone before. Theodoricus the monkTheodoricus monachus
Theodoric the Monk In Old Norse his name was most likely Þórir munkr. was a 12th century Norwegian Benedictine monk, perhaps at the Nidarholm Abbey. He may be identical with either Bishop Tore at Hamar or Archbishop Tore Gudmundsson, who both went under the name Theodoricus in the Abbey of St...
, who wrote a history of Norway in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
c. 1180 ended his narrative with the death of King Sigurd the Crusader in 1130 as he considered it:
- "...utterly unfitting to record for posterity the crimes, killings, perjuries, parricides, desecrations of holy places, the contempt for God, the plundering no less of the clergy than of the whole people, the abductions of women and other abominations which it would take long to enumerate"
which had occurred since then. The English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
historian William of Newburgh
William of Newburgh
William of Newburgh or Newbury , also known as William Parvus, was a 12th-century English historian and Augustinian canon from Bridlington, Yorkshire.-Biography:...
, writing c. 1200, writes of Norway that:
- "...for more than a century back, although the succession of kings there had been rapid, yet none of them had ended his days by age or sickness, but all had perished by the sword, leaving the dignity of empire to their assassins as their lawful successors; so that, indeed, the expression, "Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?" [cf. 1 Kings 21:19] may seem to apply to all who reigned there for so long a space of time." http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/williamofnewburgh-three.html#6
Modern views
Modern historians have put forward many views and explanations of the civil war era. The contemporary sources, the sagas, strongly emphasise the personal nature of the conflicts - wars arose as a result of the struggle between different people for the possession of the throne. The unclear succession laws, and the practice of power-sharing between several kings simultaneously, gave personal conflicts the potential to become full-blown wars. More recently, historian Narve BjørgoNarve Bjørgo
Narve Bjørgo is a Norwegian historian.He was born in Meland. He graduated from the University of Bergen in 1964, and worked as a research assistant until 1970. Then, for two years, he was a research fellow and associate professor. In 1973 he was appointed professor of history at the University of...
has suggested that the practice of power-sharing was actually a good way of governing the kingdom in the first period after its unification, and that tendencies towards centralisation, and a unitary kingdom, were important factors in triggering the wars. Edvard Bull has also emphasized geographical animosities as a factor, pointing to the fact that different pretenders often found their main support in certain parts of the country. Also important was the involvement of foreign powers: Danish, and to a lesser extent, Swedish kings were always ready to lend their support to factions in the Norwegian wars, with an eye to extending their own influence, particularly in the Viken- (Oslofjord-)area.
A popular explanation in early Norwegian historiography (late 19th, early 20th century), was a conflict between the royal power and the aristocracy (the lendmenn
Lendmann
Lendmann , was a title in medieval Norway. Lendmann was the highest rank attainable in the hird of the Norwegian king, and a lendmann stood beneath only earls and kings...
). According to this view, by historians such as P.A. Munch, J.E. Sars, and Gustav Storm
Gustav Storm
Gustav Storm was a Norwegian historian, a professor at the University of Christiania from 1877. He was a driving force in the research of Scandinavian history and literature of the Middle Ages.-Personal life:...
, the aristocracy saw the king as a tool by which they governed the country. Consequently, they supported weak kings, but were eventually beaten by the strong king Sverre. The same views are expounded concerning the involvement of the Church. These explanations lost credence as it became clear that the lendmenn seemed to be evenly split on different sides, both before and after King Sverre. Even Sverre himself had some of the lendmenn on his side. Knut Helle
Knut Helle
Knut Helle is a Norwegian historian. A professor at the University of Bergen from 1973 to 2000, he has specialized in the late medieval history of Norway. He has contributed to several large works.-Early life, education and marriage:...
has emphasised how the Church, after Sverre's death, seems to work hard to bring about reconciliation between warring parties, and stability.
Towards the middle of the 20th century, historical materialism
Historical materialism
Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, first articulated by Karl Marx as "the materialist conception of history". Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans...
gained much popularity in Norwegian historiography. Its proponents, e.g. Edvard Bull
Edvard Bull
Edvard Hagerup Bull was a Norwegian judge and politician for the Conservative Party.-Personal life:He was born in Bergen as the son of Colonel Jens Munthe Bull and his wife Johanne Margrethe Hagerup . His brother Schak Bull was an architect, and his maternal grandfather was politician Edvard...
and Andreas Holmsen
Andreas Holmsen
Andreas Holmsen was a Norwegian professor, and historian.He was born in Kristiania.Holmsen married in 1961 with etnologist Rigmor Frimannslund Holmsen.-Bibliography:...
, sought to explain the civil wars on a social and economic basis. They assumed that Norwegian society became more stratified in the 12th century, with large groups of previously self-owning farmers sinking to the status of tenant-farmers, while the lendmenn and the Church amassed great land-holdings. This created conflicts which found an outlet in the civil wars. There is also an assumption that certain regions, such as Trøndelag and inner parts of eastern Norway, were more egalitarian and therefore opposed the more stratified regions of the country. These attempts to introduce a form of class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
-explanation to the conflicts have lost ground more recently, as they seem to have little foundation in the sources. It has not been possible to show empirically that an increased stratification of society in fact took place at all in this period. Recent studies seem to indicate that this indeed was not the case. Knut Helle emphasises the steady strengthening of royal power, throughout the civil war era. When the period ended, the concept of a unitary kingdom (as opposed to power-sharing) had been accepted, the beginnings of a centralised administration had appeared, and the king's power had increased so that a strong king would be able to contain social and geographical splits without them leading to open war. In this perspective, the civil wars can be seen as the final phase in the unification of Norway into one kingdom.
Sources to the Civil War Era
Our main sources to the events of the civil war era are the kings' sagasKings' sagas
The kings' sagas are Norse sagas which tell of the lives of Scandinavian kings. They were composed in the 12th to 14th centuries in Iceland and Norway....
. Heimskringla
Heimskringla
Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
, Fagrskinna
Fagrskinna
Fagrskinna is one of the kings' sagas, written around 1220. It takes its name from one of the manuscripts in which it was preserved, Fagrskinna meaning 'Fair Leather', i.e., 'Fair Parchment'. Fagrskinna proper was destroyed by fire, but copies of it and another vellum have been preserved...
and Morkinskinna
Morkinskinna
Morkinskinna is an Old Norse kings' saga, relating the history of Norwegian kings from approximately 1025 to 1157. The saga was written in Iceland around 1220, and has been preserved in a manuscript from around 1275....
all describe the period up to the year 1177, although the parts of Morkinskinna that are preserved only extend to 1157. These three sagas were written c. 1220-1230, and in using them as historical sources, it has to be remembered that they were thus written a fair amount of time after the events they describe. However, they are likely to have been based on earlier works, in particular the saga Hryggjarstykki
Hryggjarstykki
Hryggjarstykki is a lost kings' saga written in Old Norse in the mid-twelfth century and dealing with near-contemporary events. The author was Eiríkr Oddsson, an Icelander about whom little is known...
, written c. 1150, which is lost to us, but was available to the authors of the three aforementioned sagas. The brief Ágrip also describes the civil war era, but has only been preserved up to the events of c. 1136. The period 1177 to 1240 (and beyond) is treated in detail in contemporaneous sagas: Sverris saga
Sverris saga
Sverris saga is one of the kings' sagas. Its subject is King Sverre Sigurdsson of Norway and it is the main source for this period of Norwegian history. As the foreword tells us, the saga in its final form consists of more than one part. Work first began in 1185 under the king’s direct supervision...
(from 1177 to 1202) the Bagler sagas
Bagler sagas
The Bagler Sagas are kings' sagas relating to events in Norway from 1202 to 1217. They are our main source to events in Norway in this period...
(1202 to 1217) and Håkon Håkonsson's saga
Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar
Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar is an Old Norse kings' saga, telling the story of the life and reign of King Haakon Haakonarson of Norway. The saga was written by the Icelandic historian and chieftain Sturla Þórðarson, in the 1260s...
(1217 to 1263). These sagas were written very shortly after the events they describe. However, as they don't overlap, we are given only one version of events (with the partial exception of the Bagler Sagas, which exist in two versions for the period 1202 to 1209), and this version tends to be from the viewpoint of the main character of the saga. From the later part of the period, fragments of documentation start to appear. The oldest Norwegian royal letter which is preserved was made out by Philippus the bagler king. http://www.dokpro.uio.no/perl/middelalder/diplom_vise_tekst.prl?b=3&s=3&str= Also, a couple of runic inscriptions
Runic alphabet
The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter...
written by central figures survive: A rune letter, probably written by King Sverre's son, Sigurd Lavard
Sigurd Lavard
Sigurd Lavard was the oldest son of King Sverre of Norway. The name "Lavard" is an epithet which probably derives from the Old Norse word for lord.-Background:...
c. 1200 has been found during excavations in Bergen
Bryggen inscriptions
The Bryggen inscriptions are a find of some 670 medieval runic inscriptions on wood and bone found from 1955 and forth at Bryggen in Bergen, Norway. It has been called the most important runic find in the twentieth century...
, http://www.nb.no/baser/runer/efullpost.php?bnr=B448 and an inscription by Magnus Erlingsson's brother, Sigurd jarlsson, dated 18 June 1194, has been preserved from a portal of the now dismantled Vinje
Vinje
Vinje is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Vest-Telemark. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Åmot.-Name:...
stave church
Stave church
A stave church is a medieval wooden church with a post and beam construction related to timber framing. The wall frames are filled with vertical planks. The load-bearing posts have lent their name to the building technique...
.
List of kings and pretenders during the civil war era
Pretenders who had themselves named king, but are not counted in the official line of kingshttp://www.kongehuset.no are written in italics.- Magnus the BlindMagnus IV of NorwayMagnus IV Sigurdsson , also known as Magnus the Blind, was King of Norway from 1130 to 1135 and again from 1137 to 1139. His period as king marked the beginning of the civil war era in Norway, which lasted until 1240....
(1130–1135) (-1139) - Harald GilleHarald IV of NorwayHarald Gille was king of Norway from 1130 until his death in 1136. His byname Gille is probably from Gilla Críst, i.e. servant of Christ.-Background:...
(1130–1136)- Sigurd SlembeSigurd SlembeSigurd Magnusson Slembe was a Norwegian pretender to the throne. He was the subject of Sigurd Slembe, the historical drama written by the Norwegian playwright Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in 1863...
: 1135-1139
- Sigurd Slembe
- Sigurd MunnSigurd II of NorwaySigurd II Haraldsson was king of Norway from 1136 to 1155. He was son of Harald Gille, king of Norway and his mistress Tora Guttormsdotter . He served as co-ruler with his half-brothers, Inge Haraldsson and Eystein Haraldsson. His epithet Munn means "the Mouth" in Old Norse...
(1136–1155) - Inge CrouchbackInge I of NorwayInge Haraldsson was king of Norway from 1136 to 1161. Inge’s reign fell within the start of the period known in Norwegian history as the civil war era. He was never the sole ruler of the country. He is often known as Inge the Hunchback , because of his physical disability...
(1136–1161) - Øystein HaraldssonEystein II of NorwayEystein Haraldsson , born c. 1125 apparently in Scotland, died 1157 in Bohuslän, Norway, was king of Norway from 1142 to 1157. He ruled as co-ruler with his brothers, Inge Haraldsson and Sigurd Munn...
(1142–1157) - Håkon the BroadshoulderedHaakon II of NorwayHaakon II Sigurdsson , also known as Haakon Herdebrei, was King of Norway from 1157 until 1162 during the Civil war era in Norway.-Biography:His nickname, Herdebrei, means broad-shouldered...
(1157–1162) - Magnus ErlingssonMagnus V of NorwayMagnus V Erlingsson was a King of Norway during the Civil war era in Norway.-Biography:Magnus Erlingsson was probably born in Etne in Hordaland. He was the son of Erling Skakke. His father was a Norwegian nobleman who earned his reputation crusading with Rögnvald Kali Kolsson, the Earl of Orkney...
(1161–1184)- Sigurd MarkusfostreSigurd MarkusfostreSigurd Sigurdsson Markusfostre was a pretender and rival king during the Civil war era in Norway.-Background:Sigurd Sigurdsson was reportedly a bastard son of King Sigurd II of Norway. He must have been born some time before 1155, when his father was killed in a battle with his half-brother King...
: 1162-1163 - Olav UgjævaOlav UgjævaOlav Ugjæva was a pretender to the Norwegian throne during the civil war era in Norway. Olaf was named king in 1166, but was subsequently defeated by King Magnus V of Norway and forced to flee the country.-Background:Olav Gudbrandsson was the son of Gudbrand Skavhoggsson and Maria...
: 1166-1169 - Eystein MeylaEystein MeylaEystein Meyla was elected a rival King of Norway during the Norwegian Civil War period.-Biography:Eystein was son of Eysteinn Haraldsson, King Eystein II of Norway. His nickname Møyla means maiden, girl, cute woman. His father was king of Norway from 1142 to 1157, ruling as co-ruler with his...
: 1174-1177
- Sigurd Markusfostre
- Sverre SigurdssonSverre of NorwaySverre Sigurdsson was king of Norway from 1177 to 1202. He married Margareta Eriksdotter, the daughter of the Swedish king Eric the Saint, by whom he had the daughter Kristina Sverresdotter....
(1177–1202)- Jon KuvlungJon KuvlungJon Ingesson Kuvlung was a pretender to the Royal Crown during the civil war era in Norway. He was a rival of the reigning King Sverre of Norway.-Background:...
: 1185-1188 - Sigurd MagnussonSigurd MagnussonSigurd Magnusson was a Norwegian nobleman who campaigned against King Sverre of Norway during the Civil war era in Norway. -Background:...
: 1193-1194 - Inge MagnussonInge MagnussonInge Magnusson or Inge Baglar-king was from 1196 to 1202 the Bagler candidate for pretender to the Norwegian throne during the Civil war era in Norway.In 1197, a serious challenge to the reign of King Sverre of Norway arose...
: 1196-1202
- Jon Kuvlung
- Håkon SverressonHaakon III of NorwayHåkon III was king of Norway from 1202 to 1204.-Biography:...
(1202–1204) - Guttorm SigurdssonGuttorm of NorwayGuttorm Sigurdsson was King of Norway during 1204.-Background:Guttorm Sigurdsson was the son of Sigurd Lavard and grandson of King Sverre. Sigurd Lavard died in 1200 or 1201 during the reign of King Sverre...
(1204) - Inge BårdssonInge II of Norwayalign=right|Inge Baardson was king of Norway from 1204 to 1217. His reign was within the later stages of the period known in Norwegian history as the age of civil wars. Inge was the king of the birkebeiner faction...
(1204–1217)- Erling StonewallErling SteinveggErling Magnusson Steinvegg or Erlingr Magnússon Steinveggr was the candidate of the Bagler to the Norwegian throne from 1204 to 1207. His candidacy resulted in the second Bagler War which lasted until 1208, when the question of the Norwegian succession was temporarily settled.-Biography:Erling...
: 1204-1207 - Filippus Simonsson: 1207-1217
- Erling Stonewall
- Håkon HåkonssonHaakon IV of NorwayHaakon Haakonarson , also called Haakon the Old, was king of Norway from 1217 to 1263. Under his rule, medieval Norway reached its peak....
(1217–1263)- Sigurd RibbungSigurd RibbungSigurd Erlingsson Ribbung was a Norwegian nobleman and pretender to the throne of Norway during the civil war era in Norway.-Biography:...
: 1220-1226 - Knut Håkonsson: 1226-1227
- Skule BårdssonSkule BårdssonSkule Baardsson or Duke Skule was a Norwegian nobleman and claimant to the royal throne against his son-in-law, King Haakon Haakonsson. Henrik Ibsen's play Kongs-Emnerne is about the dispute between Duke Skule and King Haakon.-Biography:Skule Baardsson was born around 1189...
: 1239-1240
- Sigurd Ribbung
External links
- Heimkringla in English on Wikisource
- The Saga of King Sverri of Norway — a translation from 1899
- Of Sverre, King of Norway — from William of NewburghWilliam of NewburghWilliam of Newburgh or Newbury , also known as William Parvus, was a 12th-century English historian and Augustinian canon from Bridlington, Yorkshire.-Biography:...
's History of English Affairs, Book three, chapter six
Primary sources
- Matthew James Driscoll (ed.); (1995). Agrip Af Noregskonungasogum. Viking Society for Northern Research. ISBN 0-903521-27-X
- Kari Ellen Gade & Theodore Murdock Andersson (eds.); (2000) Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Cornell University PressCornell University PressThe Cornell University Press, established in 1869 but inactive from 1884 to 1930, was the first university publishing enterprise in the United States.A division of Cornell University, it is housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage....
. ISBN 0-8014-3694-X - Alison Finlay; editor and translator (2004). Fagrskinna, a Catalogue of the Kings of Norway. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 90-04-13172-8
- Snorri Sturluson; translator Lee M. Hollander (repr. 1991). Heimskringla : History of the Kings of Norway. University of Texas PressUniversity of Texas PressThe University of Texas Press is a university press that is part of the University of Texas at Austin. Established in 1950, the Press publishes scholarly books in several areas, including Latin American studies, Texana, anthropology, U.S...
. ISBN 0-292-73061-6 - Karl Jónsson; translator J. Stephton. The Saga of King Sverri of Norway. Llanerch Press. ISBN 1-897853-49-1
- Sturla Þórðarson; translation to English by G.W. Dasent (1894, repr. 1964). The Saga of Hakon and a Fragment of the Saga of Magnus with Appendices. London (Rerum Britannicarum Medii Ævi Scriptores, vol.88.4).
- Finn Hødnebø & Hallvard Magerøy (eds.); translator Gunnar Pedersen; (1979). Soga om baglarar og birkebeinar (Noregs kongesoger 3). Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo. ISBN 82-521-0891-1 (in Norwegian)
Secondary sources
- Geoffrey Malcolm Gathorne-Hardy; (1956). A royal impostor: King Sverre of Norway. London: Oxford University Press. ASIN B0007IYKOM
- Sverre Bagge; (1996). From Gang Leader to the Lord's Anointed: Kingship in Sverris Saga and Hakonar Saga Hakonarsonar. Univ Pr of Southern Denmark. ISBN 87-7838-108-8
- Knut Helle; (1974). Norge blir en stat 1130-1319. Universitetsforlaget. ISBN 82-00-01323-5 (in Norwegian)