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79-494: In the absence of formal laws governing claims to rule, men who had proper lineage and wanted to be king came forward and entered into peaceful, if still fraught, agreements to let one man be king, set up temporary lines of succession, take turns ruling, or share power simultaneously. In 1130, with the death of King Sigurd the Crusader , his possible half-brother, Harald Gillekrist , broke an agreement that he and Sigurd had made to pass

158-426: 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 , written c. 1150, which is lost to us, but was available to the authors of the three aforementioned sagas. Ágrip af Noregs konunga sögum 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)

237-475: A form 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 —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

316-494: A golden age for the medieval Kingdom of Norway. He is otherwise famous for leading the Norwegian Crusade (1107–1110), earning him the eponym "the Crusader", and was the first European king to participate in a crusade personally. Sigurd was one of the three sons of King Magnus III , the other two being Øystein and Olaf . They were all illegitimate sons of the king with different mothers. The three half-brothers co-ruled

395-442: A good way of governing the kingdom in the first period after its unification, and that tendencies towards centralization, 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

474-472: A king or pretender but stayed together after the fall of their leader and elected a new figurehead, heralding the formation of more firmly organized 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 . In 1161 Inge's followers took

553-565: A king's son arrived in Norway from west of the North Sea. This time it was Øystein Haraldsson , 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

632-556: 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 ). According to this view, by historians such as P.A. Munch , J.E. Sars and Gustav Storm ,

711-606: A portal of the now dismantled Vinje stave church . Pretenders who had themselves named king, but are not counted in the official line of kings are written in italics . Sigurd the Crusader Sigurd Magnusson (1089 – 26 March 1130), also known as Sigurd the Crusader ( Old Norse : Sigurðr Jórsalafari , Norwegian : Sigurd Jorsalfare ), was King of Norway (being Sigurd I ) from 1103 to 1130. His rule, together with his half-brother Øystein (until Øystein died in 1123), has been regarded by historians as

790-577: A rapid mental decline before his death. He died in 1130 and was buried in Hallvard's church ( Hallvardskirken ) in Oslo . Sigurd was married to Malmfred , a daughter of Grand Prince Mstislav I of Kiev and granddaughter of King Inge I of Sweden . They had a daughter, Kristin Sigurdsdatter . He left no legitimate sons. Magnus , his illegitimate son with Borghild Olavsdotter , became king of Norway. He shared

869-583: A strong castle there. He also kept the relic given to him by King Baldwin, a splinter reputed to be from the True Cross . In 1123, Sigurd once again set out to fight in the name of the church, this time in the Swedish Crusade to Småland in Sweden. The inhabitants had reportedly renounced Christianity and were again worshiping Old Norse deities . According to the kings' saga Morkinskinna , Sigurd experienced

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948-500: A temporary solution until a permanent arrangement could be reached, and Skule undoubtedly hoped that he would soon take over the throne. At a gathering of the most important men of the kingdom in Bergen in 1223, Skule launched his candidacy to the throne of Norway in opposition to Håkon, along with Sigurd Erlingsson Ribbung and two other pretenders. However, the meeting ended with Håkon being confirmed as king. As Håkon grew up and gradually took

1027-649: A while, meeting and spending much time with Emperor Alexios I Komnenos . Before leaving Constantinople, Sigurd gave all of his ships and many treasures away to Emperor Alexios. In return, the emperor gave him many strong horses for him and his fellow relatives. Sigurd planned to return to Norway over land, but many of his men stayed behind in Constantinople to serve the emperor as part of his Varangian Guard . The trip took three years, and he visited many countries en route. Sigurd traveled from Serbia and Bulgaria through Hungary, Pannonia, Swabia, and Bavaria, where he met with

1106-469: A young Irish princess and, for a short period, queen. The marriage might not even have been consummated . When King Magnus was ambushed and killed in Ulaid by an Irish army in 1103, the 14-year-old Sigurd returned to Norway along with the rest of the Norwegian army, leaving his child-bride behind. Upon arriving in Norway, he and his two brothers, Øystein and Olav, were proclaimed kings of Norway and jointly ruled

1185-524: Is questionable. In 1174 a new faction arose in rebellion against Magnus Erlingsson. Their leader was the young Øystein Møyla , a son of Øystein Haraldsson. This new faction was called the birkebeiner , 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 in 1177. Soon after

1264-546: Is treated in detail in contemporaneous sagas: Sverris saga (from 1177 to 1202) the Bagler sagas (1202 to 1217) and Håkon Håkonsson's saga (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

1343-538: The Battle of Florvåg near Askøy , an island just north of Bergen , in 1194. 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 half-brother 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 Magnusson , purported son of King Magnus Erlingsson as their figurehead-king. Their party

1422-567: The Emperor Lothar II of the Holy Roman Empire . He later arrived in Denmark, where he was greeted by King Niels of Denmark , who eventually gave him a ship to sail to Norway. Upon returning to Norway in 1111, Sigurd returned to a flourishing and prosperous kingdom. King Øystein had created a solid and stable country, and the church gained wealth, power, and prestige. During Sigurd's reign,

1501-476: The First Crusade . He was the first European king to personally lead a crusade, and his feats earned him the nickname Jorsalafari . Sigurd possessed a total force of about 5000 men in about 60 ships, as recorded by the sagas. The two kings, Øystein and Sigurd, initially debated who should lead the contingent and remain home to rule the kingdom. Sigurd was eventually chosen to lead the crusade, possibly because he

1580-472: The Oslofjord -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 -area, while Trøndelag was a stronghold of the Birkebeiner, but battles and ambushes took place throughout

1659-462: The Romsdalsfjord . The year after that another son of Sigurd Munn, Sigurd Markusfostre , 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

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1738-511: The tithe (a 10% tax to support the church) was introduced in Norway, which significantly strengthened the church in the country. Sigurd founded the diocese of Stavanger . He had been denied a divorce by the bishop in Bergen , so he installed another bishop further south and had him perform the divorce. Sigurd made his capital in Konghelle (in the vicinity of Kungälv in present-day Sweden) and built

1817-506: The 1098 expedition. However, it is known that he was in Orkney when Magnus returned west in 1102 for his next expedition. While there, a marriage alliance was negotiated between Magnus and Muircheartach Ua Briain . He proclaimed himself High King of Ireland , as he was one of the most powerful rulers in Ireland, as well as the ruler of Dublin . Sigurd was to marry Muirchertach's daughter Bjaðmunjo ,

1896-463: 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 landholdings. 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

1975-539: The Bagler and Birkebeiner was preserved until 1217. In 1217 King Inge Bårdsson died. The Birkebeiner, nervous at being left without a leader in case of a Bagler attack, chose the 13-year-old Håkon Håkonsson as their new king, while the jarl 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

2054-557: The Birkebeiner made Sverre Sigurdsson their leader. Sverre had come to Norway from the Faroe Islands 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 (as well as 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 among modern historians have tried to read

2133-453: The Blind (by Sigurd's claim his nephew). Inge and Sigurd Haraldsson were sons of the previous king Harald Gille , who had been killed by Sigurd Slembe in 1136. The sons of Harald Gille emerged victorious from the battle. Magnus the Blind was killed in action, while Sigurd Slembe was betrayed, captured, and later tortured and executed. After Sigurd Slembe reportedly was told by his mother that he

2212-545: 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 of Holmengrå ( Slaget ved Holmengrå ) fought near Hvaler . Magnus was killed in the battle, Sigurd was captured and tortured to death. The power-sharing between Sigurd Munn and Inge Crouchback functioned well as long as they were both minors. In 1142, once again,

2291-511: The Crusader in 1130. His last act was to advise his son and heir, Håkon Sverresson , 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. Håkon Sverresson appeared to have pacified

2370-430: The Crusader', illustrated by Edward Burne-Jones in 1862. Battle of Holmengr%C3%A5 The Battle of Holmengrå ( Norwegian : Slaget ved Holmengrå ) was a naval battle fought on 12 November 1139 near the island Holmengrå south of Hvaler , between the forces of the child kings Sigurd Haraldsson and Inge Haraldsson on the one side, and on the other side the pretender Sigurd Slembe and his ally King Magnus

2449-506: The Monk , who wrote a history of Norway in Latin c. 1180, decided to end with the death of King Sigurd the Crusader in 1130 as he considered it which had occurred since then. The English historian William of Newburgh , writing c. 1200, writes of Norway that Modern historians have put forward many views and explanations of the civil war era. The contemporary sources, the sagas, strongly emphasise

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2528-422: 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. Sverre himself even had some of

2607-424: The battle were heavy. Magnus was struck by a spear and killed along with one of his men, Hreidar Griotgardson, who had attempted to carry the king to safety over to another ship. Sigurd Slembe attempted to escape by jumping in the water and hiding under his shield, but he was captured after being betrayed by one of his men, who told his enemies where Sigurd was in exchange for being spared his life. Sigurd Slembe

2686-534: The capture of the coastal city of Sidon , which had been re-fortified by the Fatimids in 1098. The Siege of Sidon was a great success for the crusaders, and the city was conquered on 5 December 1110. Eustace Grenier was granted the Lordship of Sidon after the city was captured. By order of Baldwin and the patriarch of Jerusalem , Ghibbelin of Arles , a splinter was taken from the True Cross and given to Sigurd after

2765-471: The civil wars can be seen as the final phase in the unification of Norway into one kingdom. The main sources for the civil war era are the kings' sagas . Heimskringla , Fagrskinna and Morkinskinna 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

2844-607: The common way of settling such claims at the time, and King Sigurd recognized 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. When Sigurd 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

2923-466: The country. In the end the bishops were able to negotiate a settlement between the two sides, confirmed at a meeting at Kvitsøy 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

3002-404: The country. These attempts to introduce a form 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. Indeed, recent studies seem to indicate that this was not the case. Knut Helle emphasises

3081-861: 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 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 placed Norway under interdict . Although Sverre forged letters to show that his excommunication had been lifted, he in fact remained excommunicated until his death. Several pretenders arose to challenge Sverre. Among

3160-459: 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 . 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

3239-474: The kingdom between them. Sverris saga , 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 , resulted in

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3318-574: The kingdom between them. At the urging of his mother Ingrid Ragnvaldsdotter and the influential lendmann Gregorius Dagsson , Inge decided to strike first, at a meeting among 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 in 1157. Whether or not Inge himself ordered

3397-511: The kingdom from 1103 to avoid feuds or war. Sigurd ruled alone after Olaf died in 1115 and Øystein in 1123. Before being proclaimed King of Norway, Sigurd was styled as King of the Isles and Earl of Orkney . Neither Øystein nor Olav received such prestigious titles. Sigurd passed the Earldom of Orkney on to Haakon Paulsson . Many historians have viewed Sigurd and Øystein's rule as a golden age for

3476-525: The kingdom together for some time. The expeditions conducted by Magnus were somewhat profitable to the Kingdom of Norway, as the many islands under Norwegian control generated wealth and a workforce. However the Hebrides and Man quickly re-asserted their independence after Magnus' death. In 1107, Sigurd led the Norwegian Crusade to support the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem , which had been founded after

3555-473: The kingdom. Discontented elements remained and a revolt in eastern Norway, led by a son of Erling Stonewall called Sigurd Ribbung , dragged on until 1227. After Sigurd died a natural death the rest of his party gave up their revolt. The year 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. The election of Håkon as king in 1217 seems to have been considered something of

3634-400: The kingship. 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

3713-435: The legitimacy dimension retained its symbolic power, but it was bent to accommodate the parties' pragmatic selection of effective leaders to realize their political aspirations. When they reconciled in 1217, a more ordered and codified governmental system gradually freed Norway from wars to overthrow the lawful monarch. In 1239, Duke Skule Bårdsson became the third pretender to wage war against King Håkon Håkonsson . Duke Skule

3792-484: The lendmenn on his side. Knut Helle has emphasised how the Church, after Sverre's death, seemed to work hard to bring about reconciliation between warring parties, and stability. Towards the middle of the 20th century historical materialism gained much popularity in Norwegian historiography. Its proponents, e.g. Edvard Bull and Andreas Holmsen , sought to explain the civil wars on a social and economic basis. They assumed that Norwegian society became more stratified in

3871-763: The loot probably never reached Norway, as Sigurd left almost everything he had gained in Constantinople . On his way to Jerusalem ( Jorsala ) he visited the Norman King Roger II of Sicily in his castle at Palermo . Upon arriving in the Holy Land , he was greeted by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem . He received a warm welcome and spent a lot of time with the king. The two kings rode to the Jordan River , where Sigurd might have been baptized . King Baldwin asked Sigurd to join him and Ordelafo Faliero , Doge of Venice, in

3950-595: The male line—legitimate or illegitimate birth was not an issue. King Sigurd the Crusader had also shared the kingdom with his brothers, King Øystein and King Olav , but when they both died without issue, Sigurd became sole ruler and his son, Magnus , heir-apparent. However, in the late 1120s a man called Harald Gille arrived in Norway from Ireland , claiming to be a son of King Sigurd's father, King Magnus Barefoot . King Magnus had spent some time campaigning in Ireland, and Harald would thus be King Sigurd's half-brother. Harald proved his case through an ordeal of fire ,

4029-610: The medieval Kingdom of Norway. The state flourished economically and culturally, allowing Sigurd to participate in the Crusades and gain international recognition and prestige. In 1098, Sigurd accompanied his father, King Magnus III, on his expedition to the Orkney Islands , Hebrides and the Irish Sea . He was made Earl of Orkney the same year, following the swift removal of the incumbent earls of Orkney, Paul and Erlend Thorfinnsson . He

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4108-486: The most serious was Jon Kuvlung , a purported son of King Inge Crouchback. He was named king in 1185 and killed in battle in Bergen three years later. Sigurd Magnusson , an illegitimate son of King Magnus Erlingsson, was proclaimed to be king in 1193 at the Haugating near Tønsberg . Aged 13, Sigurd was a figurehead leader. He had the support of, among others, Harald Maddadsson . His rising ended after his defeat and death at

4187-489: The murder, the people responded that they did not want a man who murdered his brother for a king, or alternatively, if he was not Harald's brother, that he had no right to the throne. After Harald's death, his queen Ingrid Ragnvaldsdotter and the chieftains quickly arranged to have Harald's sons, still children, proclaimed as kings. Sigurd Haraldsson was proclaimed king at the Øyrating in Trøndelag , while Inge Haraldsson

4266-439: 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 , and according to one source he at one time took the Oslofjord -area as a fief from him. However, the extent of his subordination to Denmark

4345-401: 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 Bjørgo has suggested that the practice of power-sharing was actually

4424-416: The raids, which after a while allowed him to purchase troops in Denmark. The fleet of Sigurd Slembe and Magnus the Blind finally met the fleet of the child kings Sigurd and Inge Haraldsson on 12 November 1139, near the island Holmengrå south of Hvaler . After the first clash, Sigurd Slembe's contingent from Denmark retreated with their 18 ships, out of Sigurd's fleet of a total 30 ships. The casualties in

4503-419: The reins of power into his own hands, Skule's position steadily declined. In an attempt at preserving the peace between the two, Håkon married Skule's daughter Margaret in 1225. In 1237 Skule was given the title of duke ( hertogi ), the first time the title was used in Norway. This was not sufficient to placate him, and in 1239 he had himself declared king of Norway and launched a war against King Håkon. His revolt

4582-509: The saga of Sigurd and his brothers is taken from the Heimskringla , written by Snorri Sturluson around 1225. Scholars still debate the accuracy of this work. Sigurd is also mentioned in various European sources. In the 19th century, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson wrote a historical drama based on the life of the king, with incidental music (titled Sigurd Jorsalfar ) composed by Edvard Grieg . The Scottish poet William Forsyth wrote 'King Sigurd

4661-481: The same course of action as Øystein's followers had four years earlier and elected a new figurehead rather than submit to Håkon. The choice fell upon the five-year-old Magnus Erlingsson , the son of one of their most prominent leaders, the lendmann Erling Skakke , by his wife Kristin, daughter of King Sigurd the Crusader. Erling, with the title jarl , became the real leader of the faction. The next year they succeeded in defeating and killing Håkon in battle at Sekken in

4740-472: The siege as a token of friendship and as a relic for his heroic participation in the crusades. Thereafter, King Sigurd returned to his ships and prepared to leave the Holy Land . They sailed north to the island of Cyprus , where Sigurd stayed for a time. Sigurd then sailed to Constantinople ( Miklagard ) and entered the city through the gate called the Gold Tower, riding in front of his men. He stayed there for

4819-451: The social order of society; they merely wanted to place themselves at its top. In 1179 Sverre won an important victory in the battle at Kalvskinnet ( Slaget ved Kalvskinnet ) on the outskirts of Nidaros , where Erling Skakke was killed. From that point, the Trøndelag 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

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4898-401: 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 centralized 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

4977-454: The throne in an uneasy peace with another claimant, Harald Gille . This led to a power struggle following Sigurd's death between various illegitimate sons and other royal pretenders, which escalated into a lengthy and devastating civil war. This gave rise to long feuds over who should rule the Kingdom of Norway in the 12th century and early 13th century. Most of the information gathered about

5056-461: The throne to Sigurd's only son, the bastard Magnus . Already on bad terms before Sigurd's death, the two men and the factions loyal to them went to war. In the first decades of the civil wars, alliances shifted and centered on the person of a king or pretender. However, towards the end of the 12th century, two rival parties, the Birkebeiner and the Bagler , emerged. In their competition for power,

5135-548: 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. Also, a couple of runic inscriptions written by central figures survive: A rune letter, probably written by King Sverre's son, Sigurd Lavard c. 1200 has been found during excavations in Bergen , and an inscription by Magnus Erlingsson's brother, Sigurd Erlingsson Jarlsson, dated 18 June 1194, has been preserved from

5214-494: The whole country, but died suddenly in 1204. His successor was the infant Guttorm , who himself died later the same year. The Birkebeiner knew of no other direct descendants of King Sverre and chose one of his nephews, Inge Bårdson , as their new king. By then a revived Bagler party had formed in Denmark, taking another son of King Magnus Erlingsson, Erling Stonewall , as their king. Helped by King Valdemar II of Denmark , they launched an invasion of Norway in 1204, taking control of

5293-467: Was a more experienced traveler, having been on several expeditions with his father, Magnus III , to Ireland and islands in the seas around Scotland . Sigurd fought in Lisbon , various Mediterranean islands and Palestine . He often fought the enemies amongst his loyal soldiers and relatives; they were continually victorious and vastly successful, gaining considerable amounts of treasure and booty. However,

5372-610: Was a son of King Magnus Barefoot , he travelled to Scotland where he gained military experience, and went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land . Sigurd returned to Norway in 1136 and arranged a meeting with King Harald Gille , requesting to be recognised as his brother (Harald had also claimed to be a son of Magnus Barefoot), but instead found himself accused of a murder in Orkney and outlawed by Harald. Sigurd managed to escape, and after some time in hiding, he and some supporters assassinated Harald in Bergen . While Sigurd took responsibility for

5451-471: Was also Erling and Kristin's legitimate son. The alliance with the Church, which had recently become better organized in Norway after the establishment of a separate Norwegian archdiocese in Nidaros 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 was also introduced which only allowed

5530-470: Was also apparently made King of the Isles in that same year, following the overthrow of their king by his father, Magnus. Although Magnus was not directly responsible for the death of the previous king of the Isles, he became the kingdom's next ruler, most likely due to his conquest of the islands. This was the first time the kingdom had been under the direct control of a Norwegian king. It is uncertain whether Sigurd returned home with his father to Norway after

5609-649: Was blinded, castrated, mutilated and imprisoned in a monastery. He was thereafter known as Magnus the Blind. At about the same time Sigurd Slembe , another man from Iceland, arrived claiming to be a son of Magnus Barefoot. He claimed to have gone through an ordeal by fire in Denmark to prove his claim. Harald did not recognize him as his half-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 and Inge Crouchback , named king. Sigurd Slembe liberated Magnus

5688-422: Was called the Bagler , from an old Norse word meaning crosier . 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

5767-434: Was defeated in 1240, bringing more than 100 years of civil wars to an end. The unification of Norway into one kingdom is traditionally held to have been achieved by King Harald Fairhair at 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

5846-515: Was deposed, Magnus was blinded, castrated, and had one of his feet cut off, after which he had been placed in a monastery. Following his release by Sigurd, he managed to raise an army in the Uplands by himself, but he was defeated by Harald's sons in the Battle of Minne and fled to Denmark . Sigurd also went to Denmark with a small army, and thereafter turned towards raiding the Norwegian coast. Although Sigurd won little support, he gained much loot from

5925-400: Was executed after the battle following brutal torture and mutilation. Although the chiefs had wanted to execute Sigurd instantly, according to Snorri Sturluson , "the men who were the most cruel, and thought they had injuries to avenge, advised torturing him." Sigurd's arms and calves were crushed with axe-hammers, the skin on his head was cleaved, his back was flayed and flogged, and his spine

6004-449: Was not a king's son. He was only descended from the ancient royal line through his mother. To compensate for this shortcoming, Erling and Magnus' party allied themselves with the Church 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

6083-528: Was proclaimed king at the Borgarting in the south-east. Since they had been brought up in different parts of the country, both were proclaimed kings by their respective supporters, but the two factions soon joined forces in light of the threat from Sigurd Slembe. Sigurd Slembe was again outlawed, and in an attempt to increase his support he allied himself with Magnus the Blind , who had been deposed by Harald Gille in 1135, and had him reinstated as king. When he

6162-464: 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

6241-459: Was unsuccessful, and in 1240 he was killed by King Håkon's men after seeking refuge in a monastery in Nidaros . The civil war era was at an end. Civil wars and internal strife in royal families were common in the Middle Ages, in Norway as in other European countries. However, some contemporary accounts show people viewed the civil war era as notably different from what had gone before. Theodoricus

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