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63-726: In Norway 1204, Birkebeiners and king Haakon Sverresson possess the throne in Nidaros . They are threatened by Baglers , a rebel faction who have taken power in Eastern Norway , with help from Denmark . In Nidaros, after having sex, Gisle (Pal Sverre Valheim Hagan), a corrupt aristocrat and Bagler supporter, conspires with the former queen Margaret ( Lia Boysen ) to have king Haakon ( Benjamin Helstad ) murdered, promising to return her to power as queen. Margaret's daughter Kristin overhears this and confronts her, but her mother claims that exposing

126-680: A close friend of novelist Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings . Following the Gestapo 's arrest and summary execution of Danish Lutheran pastor and playwright Kaj Munk on 4 January 1944, the Danish resistance newspaper De frie Danske printed protests from many famous Scandinavian intellectuals, including Undset. Undset returned to Norway after the liberation in 1945. She lived another four years but never published another word. Undset died at 67 in Lillehammer , Norway, where she had lived from 1919 through 1940. She

189-632: A conspiracy. The film shows them going on two identical long skis. During the period as told by Sigrid Undset in Kristin Lavransdatter and The Master of Hestviken people used one long ski and one short ski. The short ski was used for traction going uphill. Although Undset was a novelist, she had expert knowledge of details of this period. Birkebeiner The Birkebein Party or Birkebeinar ( Old Norse : Birkibeinar ; Norwegian : Birkebeinarane ( nynorsk ) or Birkebeinerne ( bokmål ))

252-461: A minimum of camouflage, it tells the story of her own childhood in Kristiania, of her home, rich in intellectual values and love, and of her sick father. At the end of the 1930s, she commenced work on a new historical novel set in 18th century Scandinavia. Only the first volume, Madame Dorthea , was published, in 1939. The Second World War broke out that same year and proceeded to break her, both as

315-519: A passionate interest in the writings of Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson , many of whose writings she would later translate into Norwegian. However, she did not turn to the established Lutheran Church of Norway , where she had been nominally reared. This is because, according to Geir Hasnes, Undset had always considered the Lutheran Church "anemic" and "detested the fact that every minister seemed to preach his personal version of Lutheranism ." She

378-404: A realistic description of a woman with a middle-class background in contemporary Kristiania. This book was also refused by the publishers at first but it was subsequently accepted. The title was Fru Marta Oulie , and the opening sentence (the words of the book's main character) scandalised readers: "I have been unfaithful to my husband". Thus, at the age of 25, Undset made her literary debut with

441-451: A region where the social tensions were not as marked, and their motive was rather to stop the transition of power from Trøndelag to Viken and Vestlandet . The powerful Trønder families were simply being left behind by their peers in the south, who had acquired a strong leader in the Vestland earl Erling Skakke in the mid-12th century. In the early 1160s, Erling had taken control of Viken and

504-890: A remembrance of the child the Birkebeiners had to carry on their journey. The bike and ski events start in Rena and all three events finish in Lillehammer . There are also sister cross-country ski races held in Hayward Wisconsin (United States) (the American Birkebeiner ), in Edmonton (Canada) (the Canadian Birkebeiner ) and in Falls Creek (Australia). Sigrid Undset Sigrid Undset ( Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈsɪ̂ɡːɾiː ˈʉ̂nːseːt] ; 20 May 1882 – 10 June 1949)

567-468: A short realistic novel on adultery , set against a contemporary background. It created a stir, and she found herself ranked as a promising young author in Norway. During the years up to 1919, Undset published a number of novels set in contemporary Kristiania. Her contemporary novels of the period 1907–1918 are about the city and its inhabitants. They are stories of working people, of trivial family destinies, of

630-497: A university education and after a one-year secretarial course she obtained work at the age of 16 as a secretary with an engineering company in Kristiania, a post she went on to hold for 10 years. She joined the Norwegian Authors' Union in 1907 and from 1933 through 1935 headed its Literary Council, eventually serving as the union's chairwoman from 1935 until 1940. While employed at office work, Undset wrote and studied. She

693-684: A writer and as a woman. She never completed her new novel. When Joseph Stalin 's invasion of Finland touched off the Winter War , Undset supported the Finnish war effort by donating her Nobel Prize on 25 January 1940. When Germany invaded Norway in April 1940, Undset was forced to flee. She had strongly criticised both Nazi ideology and Adolf Hitler since the early 1930s, and, from an early date, her books were banned in Nazi Germany . She accordingly knew her name

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756-635: A writer. Having been granted a writer's scholarship, she set out on a lengthy journey in Europe. After short stops in Denmark and Germany, she continued to Italy, arriving in Rome in December 1909, where she remained for nine months. Undset's parents had had a close relationship with Rome, and, during her stay there, she followed in their footsteps. The encounter with Southern Europe meant a great deal to her; she made friends within

819-509: Is Kristin Lavransdatter , a trilogy about life in Norway in the Middle Ages , portrayed through the experiences of a woman from birth until death. Its three volumes were published between 1920 and 1922. Sigrid Undset was born on 20 May 1882 in the small town of Kalundborg , Denmark, at the childhood home of her mother, Charlotte Undset (1855–1939, née Anna Maria Charlotte Gyth). Undset was

882-402: Is a term used for the period between 1130 and 1240 in the history of Norway. During this period there were several interlocked conflicts of varying scale and intensity. Although weak in the beginning, the Birkebeiners had the upper hand for most of the conflict's duration. King Haakon IV was the ultimate victor for the Birkebeiners in 1217. In the earlier part of the reign of King Haakon, much of

945-453: Is true, it leaves out that the Birkebeiner had similar support from Sweden. Inge Bårdsson is shown as supporting Haakon Haakonsson's claim, while in reality he did not view him as legitimate. At one point the baby Haakon Haakonsson is given a potato, despite the potato being introduced in the mid 18th century in Norway. During a promotional interview on Skavlan , lead actor Jakob Oftebro stated

1008-716: The Soviet Union via the Trans-Siberian Railroad before arriving as a political refugee in the United States . There, she untiringly pleaded occupied Norway's cause and the plight of European Jews in writings, speeches and interviews. She lived in Brooklyn Heights, New York . She was active in St. Ansgar's Scandinavian Catholic League and wrote several articles for its bulletin. She also traveled to Florida , where she became

1071-610: The University of Oslo 's official history site for a number of points such as open practice of paganism in the 13th century, the black and white portrayal of the Birkebeiner and Bagler factions, Gisle's (standing in for Haakon the Crazy ) support of the Baglers and Haakon Haakonsson 's supposedly more democratic rule. While the film's portrayal of the Bagler-faction as being backed by Denmark

1134-417: The knight Orm ( Nikolaj Lie Kaas ), having been led there by a Birkebeiner traitor. After Skervald reluctantly reveals Haakon's location, Orm murder his wife and infant child, though he narrowly escapes. Skervald arrives at the Birkebeiner camp to warn them of the impending attack. After he reveals that he told the Baglers their location, however, the fort leader plans to execute Skervald. Distracted by this,

1197-448: The Birkebeiner guards are ambushed and overwhelmed by the Baglers, though this allows Skervald to break free with Torstein, Inga and Haakon. After numerous attacks by Baglers, Torstein and Skervald arrive at a village and rally the locals for a final fight. In the battle, Skervald protects Inga and Haakon, while managing to kill Orm, though he is fatally wounded in the process. On the day of Gisle's planned wedding to Kristin, Torstein and

1260-518: The Birkebeins are popularly celebrated for having escorted the one-year-old Haakon Haakonsson , an heir to the Norwegian throne, safely from Lillehammer to Østerdalen to Trondheim , a long and perilous journey through treacherous mountains and forests. This is commemorated through cross-country ski races , Birkebeinerrennet and Birkebeinerrittet . The Civil war era in Norway ( borgerkrigstiden )

1323-465: The Hestviken tetralogy by Nunnally are retitled Olav Audunssøn (1):Vows ( The Axe ) , …(2) Providence , ( The Snake Pit ), …(3) Crossroads ( In The Wilderness ), and …(4) Winter ( The Son Avenger ). Both Undset's parents were atheists and, although, in accord with the norm of the day, she and her two younger sisters were baptised and with their mother regularly attended the local Lutheran church,

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1386-504: The Medieval Catholic Church is presented in a favorable light, with virtually all clergy and monks in the series being positive characters. In Norway, Undset's conversion to Catholicism was not only considered sensational; it was scandalous. It was also noted abroad, where her name was becoming known through the international success of Kristin Lavransdatter . At the time, there were very few practicing Catholics in Norway, which

1449-576: The Pre-Christian era. She had also published a Norwegian retelling of the Arthurian legends . She had studied Old Norse manuscripts and Medieval chronicles and visited and examined Medieval churches and monasteries , both at home and abroad. She was now an authority on the period she was portraying and a very different person from the 22-year-old who had written her first novel about the Middle Ages. It

1512-505: The Viken party, the tables turned when Sverre entered the political scene claiming to be the illegitimate son of king Sigurd Munn . Sverre sought assistance from the Swedish earl Birger Brosa who sent him Swedish forces after some hesitation. One of Birger Brosa's sons, Philippus Birgersson, became Sverre's earl. Under Sverre's leadership, the Birkebeiner movement was re-organized and pruned and

1575-449: The bishopric of Nidaros and had subsequently made his underage son Magnus Erlingsson the king of Norway. The party that was behind their rule was not called the Bagli party ( Bagler ) during their time, but only later. The rival forces against the Birkebeins were dubbed several names, successively Lendsmenn , Heklungs , Kuvlungs , Øyskjeggs and Bagler . After some initial victories for

1638-544: The circle of Scandinavian artists and writers in Rome. In Rome, Undset met Anders Castus Svarstad , a Norwegian painter, whom she married almost three years later. She was 30; Svarstad was thirteen years older, married, and had a wife and three children in Norway. It was nearly three years before Svarstad got his divorce from his first wife. Undset and Svarstad were married in 1912 and went to stay in London for six months. From London, they returned to Rome, where their first child

1701-451: The eldest of three daughters. She and her family moved to Norway when she was two. She grew up in the Norwegian capital, Oslo (or Kristiania, as it was known until 1925). When she was only 11 years old, her father, the Norwegian archaeologist Ingvald Martin Undset (1853–1893), died at the age of 40 after a long illness. The family's economic situation meant that Undset had to give up hope of

1764-415: The end, commits suicide. The other tells of a woman who succeeds in saving both herself and her love from a serious matrimonial crisis, finally creating a secure family. These books placed Undset apart from the incipient women's emancipation movement in Europe. Undset's books sold well from the start, and, after the publication of her third book, she left her office job and prepared to live on her income as

1827-517: The ethical decline of the age, towards Christianity. In all her writing, one senses an observant eye for the mystery of life and for that which cannot be explained by reason or the human intellect. At the back of her sober, almost brutal realism, there is always an inkling of something unanswerable. At any rate, this crisis radically changed her views and ideology. Whereas she had once believed that man created God, she eventually came to believe that God created man. Beginning around 1917, Undset developed

1890-522: The film was about the Protestant Birkebeiner fighting Catholic Bagler, misplacing the Reformation by about 300 years, which led to widespread ridicule and criticism of Skavlan for not pointing out what was viewed as a blatant inaccuracy. The film also depicts Margareta Eriksdotter as poisoning Haakon in a conspiracy to become queen again with Gisle. In reality, Margaret was suspected of killing

1953-520: The journey are dramatised in The Last King . The Birkebeins managed to hold some power, despite short reigns of their monarchs. In 1209, a resolution was made between Bagler and Birkebeiner. Bagler pretender Philip Simonsson was recognized as ruler of the eastern third of the country, Østlandet , without the title of king. Birkebeiner's Inge Baardsson was recognized to be King of Norway. They both died in 1217 and Birkebeiner-born Haakon IV ascended

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2016-462: The king, but was never proven to have done so. Also, while the film portrays Haakon as having great respect for Margaret, evidence suggests the two actually had a difficult relationship. Margaret attempted to leave Norway with her daughter Kristin Sverrsedotter , but Haakon had his men retrieve Kristin. It is possible that Margaret (if responsible) poisoned the king out of vengeful spite rather than

2079-436: The manager's desk and exclaimed, "This is the best book ever written! It has to be translated into Norwegian!" Whether or not the story is merely apocryphal, Undset's own translation of The Everlasting Man was published in 1931. At the end of this creative eruption, Undset entered calmer waters. After 1929, she completed a series of novels set in contemporary Oslo , with a strong Catholic element. She selected her themes from

2142-463: The milieu in which they were raised was a thoroughly secular one. Undset spent much of her life as an agnostic, but marriage and the outbreak of the First World War were to change her attitudes. During those difficult years she experienced a crisis of faith, almost imperceptible at first, then increasingly strong. The crisis led her from clear agnostic skepticism , by way of painful uneasiness about

2205-473: The most criminal elements were brutally purged from the party. The army consisted more and more of mercenaries from Sweden and England . As early as 1177, Sverre was proclaimed king by his followers, but in reality his power did not extend beyond the borders of Trøndelag and it took two decisive battles in 1179 and 1184 before he could be formally elected king. By then, both the main opponents were dead, i.e., earl Erling (1179) and King Magnus Erlingsson (1184), and

2268-455: The opposition was greatly reduced. The Birkebeiner's political program was a continuation of earl Erling's centralization which underscores the geographical motivations behind the movement. Their leadership did not seek a social revolution, only to move the centre of power back to Trøndelag. The opposition around Viken organized in 1196 into a new faction called the Bagler . Around the year 1200,

2331-497: The original English translation by Charles Archer excised many of these passages. In 1997, the first volume of Tiina Nunnally 's new translation of the work won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in the category of translation. The names of each volume were translated by Archer as The Bridal Wreath , The Mistress of Husaby , and The Cross , and by Nunnally as The Wreath , The Wife , and The Cross . Subsequent translation of

2394-451: The other Birkebeiners enter Nidaros and free Inge. Gisle is subsequently seized and taken away, presumably to be executed. Haakon is officially secured as the next king, and a text explains that "during his reign, there was peace in Norway". On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 9 reviews. The historical accuracy of the film was heavily critiqued by professor Hans Jacob Orning on

2457-630: The outbreak of the war. Bjerkebæk was requisitioned by the Wehrmacht , and used as officers' quarters throughout the Occupation of Norway . Undset's library had already been secretly divided between her closest local friends. The books were hidden at great risk throughout the Nazi occupation and were returned to her after the Liberation of Norway. In 1940, Undset and her younger son left neutral Sweden then crossed

2520-441: The parties of Bagler and Birkebeiners. The rallying point was regularly a royal son, who was set up as the figurehead of the party in question, to oppose the rule of the king from the contesting party. The Birkebein party was formed of some earlier groups with the original goal of deposing king Magnus V of Norway (Magnus Erlingsson) and his father Earl Erling Skakke . From a socio-historical perspective, scholars have interpreted

2583-466: The party as the result of the rapid increase in landless markamenn (meaning "border men"), who settled along the Swedish border and made their living by pillaging the rich old settlements. It was this lawless population that became the foremost basis of the Birkebeiner, even though it is questionable whether their leaders were paupers wearing shoes made of birch bark. Their leadership came from Trøndelag ,

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2646-410: The party. Today, the historic event of the rescue of Haakon Haakonsson is honoured in Norway by three annual sporting events, a run, Birkebeinerløpet ; a mountain bike race, Birkebeinerrittet ; a cross-country ski race, Birkebeinerrennet and, beginning in 2012, Landeveisbirken , a road bicycle race. Common for the bike and ski events is the requirement of carrying a backpack weighing 3.5 kg as

2709-509: The plot would mean certain death for them, scaring Kristin into secrecy. Margaret poisons Haakon and departs Norway for her native Sweden . Before he dies, however, Haakon reveals he has a son with a woman named Inga , and has sent Torstein ( Kristofer Hivju ) and Skervald ( Jakob Oftebro ), two Birkebeiner agents, to find him. Gisle later frames his brother Inge and plans to marry Kristin. After initially securing Inga and her son Haakon, Skervald returns home, only to be seized by Baglers led by

2772-506: The pretender to the throne. In 1206, the Birkebeiners set off on a dangerous journey through treacherous mountains and forests, taking the now one-year-old Haakon Haakonsson to safety in Trondheim . Norwegian history credits the Birkebeiners' bravery with preserving the life of the boy who later became King Haakon Haakonsson IV , ended the civil wars in 1240 and forever changing Northern Europe 's history through his reign. The events surrounding

2835-540: The public debate on topical themes: women's emancipation and other ethical and moral issues. She had considerable polemical gifts, and was critical of emancipation as it was developing, and of the moral and ethical decline she felt was threatening in the wake of the First World War . In 1919, she moved to Lillehammer , a small town in the Gudbrand Valley in southeast Norway, taking her two children with her. She

2898-514: The public debate, going out of her way to introduce the ongoing Catholic literary revival into Norwegian literature . In response, she was swiftly dubbed "The Mistress of Bjerkebæk" and "The Catholic Lady". Undset's essays about Elizabethan era English Catholic martyrs Margaret Clitherow and Robert Southwell were collected and published in Stages on the Road . Furthermore, Undset's Saga of Saints told

2961-407: The relationship between parents and children. Her main subjects are women and their love. Or, as she herself put it—in her typically curt and ironic manner—"the immoral kind" (of love). This realistic period culminated in the novels Jenny (1911) and Vaaren (Spring) (1914). The first is about a woman painter who, as a result of romantic crises, believes that she is wasting her life, and, in

3024-422: The rival groups shared the goal of controlling the entire country. In 1202, when King Sverre died, he had managed to acquire most of Norway, but in Østerdalen , the Baglers were still very powerful. Sverre's death meant some decrease in the power of the Birkebeins. His successor, King Haakon Sverresson , died only two years later, leaving his son Haakon Haakonsson as the ultimate target for the Baglers to get rid of

3087-485: The royal power was in the hands of Skule Bårdsson . In 1239, the conflict between the two erupted into open warfare, when Skule had himself proclaimed king in Nidaros . The rebellion ended in 1240 when Skule was put to death. The background for these conflicts was the unclear Norwegian succession laws , social conditions and the struggle between Church and King. There were then two main parties, firstly known by varying names or no names at all, but finally condensing into

3150-573: The small Catholic community in Norway. But here also, the main theme is love. She also published a number of weighty historical works which put the history of Norway into a sober perspective. In addition, she translated several Icelandic sagas into Modern Norwegian and published a number of literary essays, mainly on English literature, of which a long essay on the Brontë sisters, and one on D. H. Lawrence , are especially worth mentioning. In 1934, she published Eleven Years Old , an autobiographical work. With

3213-411: The throne, relatively unopposed, under the regency of Duke Skule . The city arms of Lillehammer show a Birkebeiner skiing in honour of the historic rescue. The mascots Håkon and Kristin of the 1994 Winter Olympics are depicted as Birkebeiner children, bearing the names of the son and daughter of king Sverre. Near Drammen , the sports association Idrettsforeningen Birkebeineren took their name from

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3276-433: The whole of Norwegian history through the lives of Norwegian Saints and Venerables. In May 1928, Undset travelled to England and visited G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc , both of whose writings she would soon translate into Norwegian. According to legend, Undset once walked into the office of the manager of the monolithic Aschehoug publishing company. Undset then threw a copy of Chesterton's The Everlasting Man on

3339-478: Was 16 years old when she made her first attempt at writing a novel set in the Nordic Middle Ages . The manuscript, a historical novel set in medieval Denmark, was ready by the time she was 22. It was turned down by the publishing house. Nonetheless, two years later, she completed another manuscript, much less voluminous than the first at only 80 pages. She had put aside the Middle Ages and had instead produced

3402-582: Was a Danish -born Norwegian novelist. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928 . Born in Denmark and raised in Norway, Undset had her first books of historical fiction published in 1907. She fled Norway for the United States in 1940 because of her opposition to Nazi Germany and the German invasion and occupation of Norway, but returned after World War II ended in 1945. Her best-known work

3465-545: Was an almost exclusively Lutheran country. Anti-Catholicism was widespread not only among the Lutheran clergy, but through large sections of the population. Likewise, there was just as much anti-Catholic scorn among the Norwegian intelligentsia , many of whom were adherents of socialism and communism . The attacks against her faith and character were quite vicious at times, with the result that Undset's literary gifts were aroused in response. For many years, she participated in

3528-539: Was born in January 1913. A boy, he was named after his father. In the years up to 1919, she had another child, and the household also took in Svarstad's three children from his first marriage. These were difficult years: her second child, a girl, was mentally handicapped , as was one of Svarstad's sons by his first wife. She continued writing, finishing her last realistic novels and collections of short stories . She also entered

3591-470: Was buried in the village of Mesnali , 15 kilometers east of Lillehammer, where also her daughter and the son who died in battle are remembered. The grave is recognizable by three black crosses. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oslo in close collaboration with the Dominican Order in Norway have started initial steps in investigating and opening a possible sainthood cause for Sigrid Undset. Once her cause

3654-426: Was completed, along with a large fenced garden with views of the town and the villages around. Here she was able to retreat and concentrate on her writing. After the birth of her third child, and with a secure roof over her head, Undset started a major project: Kristin Lavransdatter . She was at home in the subject matter, having written a short novel at an earlier stage about a period in Norwegian history closer to

3717-459: Was on a list of those to be rounded up in the first wave of arrests and had no wish to become a target of the Gestapo . She accordingly fled to neutral Sweden. Her eldest son, Norwegian Army Second Lieutenant Anders Svarstad, was killed in action at the age of 27, on 27 April 1940, while defending Segalstad Bridge in Gausdal from German troops. Undset's sick daughter had died shortly before

3780-545: Was only after the end of her marriage that Undset wrote her masterpiece. In the years between 1920 and 1927, she first published the three-volume Kristin , and then the 4-volume Olav (Audunssøn), swiftly translated into English as The Master of Hestviken . Simultaneously with this creative process, she was engaged in trying to find meaning in her own life, finding the answer in God. Undset experimented with modernist tropes such as stream of consciousness in her novel, although

3843-630: Was received into the Catholic Church in November 1924, after thorough instruction from the Catholic priest in her local parish. She was 42 years old. She subsequently became a lay Dominican . It is noteworthy that The Master of Hestviken , written immediately after Undset's conversion, takes place in a historical period when Norway was Catholic, that it has very religious themes of the main character's relations with God and his deep feeling of sin, and that

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3906-583: Was the name for a rebellious party in Norway, formed in 1174 around the pretender to the Norwegian throne , Eystein Meyla . The name has its origins in propaganda from the established party that the rebels were so poor that they made their shoes of birch bark . Although originally a pejorative , the opposition adopted the Birkebeiner name for themselves, and continued using it after they came to power in 1184. Today,

3969-433: Was then expecting her third child. The intention was that she should take a rest at Lillehammer and move back to Kristiania as soon as Svarstad had their new house in order. However, the marriage broke down and a divorce followed. In August 1919, she gave birth to her third child, at Lillehammer. She decided to make Lillehammer her home, and within two years, Bjerkebæk, a large house of traditional Norwegian timber architecture,

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