Sverre of Norway

Sverre Sigurdsson (1151 - 1202), wire illegitimate of Sigurd II of Norway, king of Norway of 1184 with 1202.

Sverre Sigurdsson

At the time of the joint reign of wire of Harald IV of Norway, the arms manufacturer Unas Kambari a brother of Hroi the bishop of the Faroe Islands, married Norwegian named Gunhild. It gave birth into 1151/1152 to a son who was called Sverre or Sverrir and was regarded by all as the son of Unas. When it was five years old it was sent to the Faroe Islands and was raised by his uncle the bishop who educated it for the priesthood and ordered it. During his studies the young man had a prophetic dream in which he saw himself in the shape of an immense bird covering with his shade the whole of the territory of Norway. Wise Einar, his/her friend and school-fellow, to which it opens his inspirations and of its ambitions affirms to him that this vision undoubtedly predicts its election with the archbishop's palace of Nidaros aujourdhui Trondheim!

According to the tradition, Sverre did not know which was his/her true father before the 24 years age. At that time indeed his/her mother during a pilgrimage in Rome would have confessed that Sverre was not the son of Unas but that of king Sigurd II Mund killed in 1155. This consent was reported to the pope and it was ordered from Gunhild to inform his son of his true origin… It turned over to Norway then to the Faroe Islands where it acknowledged in Sverre qu `he was the son of the king Sigurd II of Norway.

The applicant

The following year in 1176, Sverre goes to Norway in order to examine the situation. It mixes with the people, learns how to know the general feeling speaks with a member about the bodyguard about the king and meets even the Erling regent. However it reveals neither its identity nor its plans. It continues then its voyage through the Götaland until at the jarl Birger Brosa where it arrives three days before Christmas. Brigitta, the wife of the jarl, was the half-sister of Sigurd Mund and Sverre did not hesitate to entrust its disorders to them. Initially they refused to support it because they had promised to help his/her cousin Eystein Eysteinsson Meyla but also by what they feared that Erling Skakke did not send this young man to them to ridicule them…

Sverre passes with them all the festivals and reveals finally its ambitions to them. After Christmas it goes in Värmland in order to meet Cécilia a girl of Sigurd II of Norway which was the wife of noble Folkvid Lagman. They accepted it all two with eagerness. Rumors announcing the defeat and the death of Eystein Eysteinsson arrived then in Sverre and the Birkebeiner which had learned the existence with the Värmland from a son of Sigurd sent a delegation to him requiring of him to take their head. Initially he refused because Birkebeiner were only one small disorganized band but when they threatened it to kill it and to carry his head in pledge of tender to the king Magnus V of Norway he accepted! He profited on the other hand from now on from the support without fault of Birger Brosa and his wife which constituted in Sweden a base camp for the movement. With a band of 70 men it left Viken in southernmost Norway and during its progression its troop reached 420 men. Thing was joins together and Birkebeiner acclaimed it as king although it was opposed to assume this title under such bad conditions. It then continued its walk according to the Swedish side of the border. It imposed on its men a strict discipline and plundering prohibited to them. It was then given up by much so that its troop was reduced again to the initial core of 70 very solved men.

With this small troop Sverre appears suddenly in front of Nidaros with the Trondelag but the city has a strong garrison and the governor walks against him with 1 450 men. Sverre was withdrawn but continuous to traverse the countryside around the city until it reinforces its troop. It seizes the ships in the port and demolishes several small squadrons come to join the fleet charged to defend the province of the Trondelag.

Lendermönd then give up the city which is subjected and where Sverre made its entry in a merry procession with the sound of the bells. It assembled Øyrating, including/understanding 12 representatives of each of the eight fylker (districts) of the province, and is proclaimed king de Norvège in accordance with the laws of St Olaf i.e. in agreement with the old law of succession which did not exclude illegitimate wire from the throne. The law of 1164 was not recognized any more and the king Magnus V of Norway was treated like a usurper. The archbishop Eystein Erlendsson (1157-1188) who is not mentioned in these events was to miss at that time of Norway what undoubtedly explains the relative one facilitated with which Sverre succeeds in taking Nidaros…

The rumor of the events of the Trondelag arrived to the king Magnus V of Norway and at the Erling regent who sent in haste their fleet towards north along the coast. Sverre did not wait not arrived to them and went through the mountains towards the Gudbrandsdal to reach the lake Mjøsa where it was vis-a-vis Lendermönd de Magnus Erlingson which had of 1.400 men and 18 boats.

He did not venture to attack them but sent a detachment to Randsfjord where ships were seized and overcome local forces. Orm Kongsbroder a half-brother of the king Inge I {{er}} which was the principal lieutenant of king Magnus, advanced starting from Viken with an important army. With much of difficulties Sverre succeeds has to transport through the grounds the small boats of Randsfjord in Mjosen.

With them it attacks Lendermönd surprises them and demolishes them. It then captures all the vessels gathered on the lake. The whole of the Oppland is subjected to him but its forces are so weak that it cannot let garrison nor permanently occupy the conquered areas From now on Birkebeiner will be generally supported by the Trondelag. It is not a question only of one purely local party as it of it is so much made up of time since the beginning of the civil wars because Sverre Sigurdsson indeed directs the action of these proscribed towards a true hostile social revolution at the same time to the aristocracy and the prelates.

Sverre began its countryside from 1178 with the Jaemtland where it obliges the population to recognize it. It seems that the purpose of he was to constitute a base of operations from which he could again attack Trondheim which had fallen down between the hands of the king Magnus V Erlingsson and the Eystein archbishop.

When it reaches Namdalemn a district of the north of the Trondelag it assembles its men and declares to them that the power of their adversaries the king and his father was immense and that it was difficult to compete with them. In this context according to him three possibilities remain open:

to go to north in the Hålogaland and to recruit friends and ships
to give up the country and to go as of the Western islands where it estimated to have good lucks obtain supports.
to organize a forwarding of plundering in Ireland where in another country of the west because according to him the popularity of Magnus and Erling would not be maintained in the country.

Birkebeiner disallowed these proposals although the conquest of Nidaros is more thing also easy only it had been it because the archbishop had returned in his city where he pressed the inhabitants to resist Birkebeiner by explaining why their number was weak, their small ships and that he was not in the interest of the merchants of the city to give up their clothing and their good to live like the robbers and are worth them riens that Sverre had gathered!

King Sverre tries a first attack and undergoes a defeat it must flee quickly to preserve his life. After this disaster it takes refuge again in the mountains and slowly takes again the road of the south towards Viken. King Magnus walks against him with an important force. With the bridge of Hirta, Sverre attacks the king and Orm Kongbroder which are both wounded, loses many men and gives up the ground. After it can obtains a new success by destroying part of the fleet of Magnus V in Konghella.

These victories gave again confidence with its men who obtained provisions and reinforcements. At the end of 1178 it turned over to the Trondelag demolished the forces of Magnus V takes the city and captures 10 ships but this victory was not yet final. Chiefs of the royal party Magnus, his/her Erling father, Orm, and the Eystein archbishop were with Bergen and they gathered a large fleet with the intention to attack it in spring.

At the end of the winter Sverre sailed towards the south with its fleet and meets Magnus V with broad of Stadt. Because of disproportion of the involved forces, its only chance was to escape to try to escape to them. It gains the full sea while benefitting from the fog in which its opponents to lose sight of the fact it. The latter must then be solved to divide their forces: Orm and the Eystein archbishop turns over to protect Bergen while the king Magnus V and his father went up towards Trondelag.

Sverre was already in the city lorsqu `they unloaded without opposition to Kalveskind a peninsula between the Nid river and the sea while Sverre discussed other bank of the river. After some Sverre negotiations withdrew itself and the rumor wearied to hear that it was gave up the ground and had set out again in the mountains.

This operation gave confidence to Erling which made it possible its troops to be withdrawn to feast and drink in the city. Sverre had included/understood well the major importance of the combat which prepared and had left to be reinforced in Guldal.

During the night of June 18th it returned to the Trondelag at dawn, joined the city and was briefly addressed to its men to explain to them what they had to gain: It promised to them to grant the functions and the honors to them of all Landermönd and vassal royal which they would kill during the combat

The sentinels of Magnus V gave alarm and the trumpets of war called the men near their standards. The first attack was so brutal that the men of Erling were to force to flee and that its standard was cut down and he even mortally wounded of a blow of halberd to the belly. The troops of king Magnus also fled in disorder and to preserve its life it abandoned his/her dying father. He embraced it and “My father I tell him know that we will find ourselves in one day of joy” .les lips of Erling moved but he could not speak any more. He died thus surrounded by his enemies. This same day the June 19th 1179 perishes his/her son-in-law Jon Thorbergson de Randeberg. After this combat Magnus V withdraws itself with Bergen with the archbishop and Orm where it spends the winter and assembles a new fleet while Sverre reinforces defenses of Trondheim.

Negotiations considering a division of the kingdom turned course because Magnus V was regarded because of the sacring the only legitimate king and Sverre of sound dimensioned as the direct heir to the family of Harald Ier Harfagr. After another combat lost the May 27th 1180 with Iluvelli close to Nidaros where fall six Lendermönd, the king Magnus V Erlingson is withdrawn again with Bergen but it must flee in Denmark whereas the Eystein Archbishop exiles himself for 3 years (1180-1183) in England where the king Henri II of England gives him to ensure his subsistence the monastery of Edmundbury

These great defeats decimated the aristocracy but not the capacity of resistance of the party of Magnus V and of the church which is baptized from now on by its adversaries the Helklunger according to the word hekla (chasuble)

The May 31st 1181 whereas it goes Bergen towards Viken Sverre meets a fleet of 32 large ships coming from Denmark ordered by Magnus and Orm. Its fleet being smallest Sverre turns over to Bergen or a bloody naval engagement was gained thanks to its tactical superiority. But this new victory was still not decisive

While Sverre which had left a garrison to Nidaros went towards Oslo to defend Viken, Magnus invests the city, attacks the garrison and captures the fleet of 36 ships. The situation again became critical for Sverre because of importance of its losses which destroyed its victories of the previous years. With the energy which characterizes it makes face again, gathers new forces, a small fleet and against attack.

The king Magnus V after a short resistance flees again in Denmark whereas the Eystein Archbishop returned from his exile makes his tender. Its political role is finished and starting from brought back plans of England it devotes the last years of its existence until its death on January 1st 1188 to the construction of the new Gothic chorus of its cathedral and to the vault of Notre Dame. In 1229 Eystein was to even proclaim holy by a council held with Nidaros!

With the assistance of the Knut VI of Denmark, Magnus is allocated to Norway to spring 1184 with a fleet of 24 boats and 3.000 men. Sverre does not have that 14 ships and 2.000 men. They meet on June 15th with the Bataille of Fimreite in Sogn. This battle started after midday continues until midnight and sees the death of 2160 men. Sverre Sigurdsson is finally victorious and Magnus V perishes with the flower of the aristocracy of which Orm Kongbroder and Magnus Mangi, a small son of old the jarl of the the Orkneys, Rognvald Kali.

Its body found a few days later was buried with a royal ostentation in the church of the Christ of Bergen and Sverre pronounced its funeral oration. The districts of the western south which had given the most honest support for the cause of Magnus made their complete tender then.

After the death of Magnus V its partisans drew from the monastery of Hovedoe to Oslo a monk known under the name of Jon “Kuvlung” nickname coming Kuvle (runs, of ecclesiastical Latin cuculla ) name from clothing with cap carried by the monks they acclaimed it as of the autumn 1185 as king by claiming that he was the son of the king Inge I Krokrygg (1136 - 1162). The aristocracy and the clergy gave him their support and it recruited under its standard of the adventurers and of out the law who formed the party of the Kuvlungs . They took Bergen and the castle built by Sverre. Later they seized even Nidaros and also the royal castle. They were finally overcome by Sverre with Bergen and Jon was killed in 1188. It was known whereas it was called actually Orm and that his/her father named simply Peter and his mother Astrid Steik!

After Kuvlungs are eliminated a new band from rebels and petty thieves in 1189 pennies the direction of a basic Icelander origin Sigurd Brenni constituted which claimed to be also a son of the king Inge Krokrygg. it was demolishes and killed quickly by farmers in anger.

After demolishes of Kuvlungs the chiefs of this party drew from the shade another Vikar applicant. It was a child raised in Denmark and which said the son of Magnus Erlingson. These bands known under the name of Varbelgs and directed by a certain Simon Karasson were also defeats with Bristein by people of Tonsberg and Vikar killed in 1190.

In this same year king Sverre lost his half-brother Erik Kongson who had accurately supported it in his engagements before being named jarl in 1188. Its death after a short disease like that his wife Astrid and of its young person Magnus wire lets think of a poisoning by the enemies of the king.

An alleged son of Eystein Haraldsson named Thorleif Breidskegg which tried raised Vik at the summer 1190 was eliminated as of the following year. At that time Norwegian leads by Ulv af Lauvnes one of the Birkebeiner chiefs took part in the third crusade. Arrived after the conclusion of Holy Land peace it returned by Constantinople where it were accepted by the Greek emperor Isaac II Angel. Ulv did not reappear any more in Norway and it is possible that it lost the life in this forwarding. The short period of peace which followed the disappearance of the Kuvlungs and of the Varbelgs was only one lull before the storm.

In 1192, the jarl of the the Orkneys Haraldr II Maddadrson (1158-1206) let be formed on its territory a conspiracy called for that Eyjarskeggjar (i.e islanders) intended to support a new Sigurd applicant (+ 1194) other wire supposed of Magnus.

A great number of Orcadiens and Shetlandais directed by the brother-in-law of the jarl, Olaf Jarlsmaag, Halkel Jonsson husband of Ragnhild Erlingsdatter, sister of the king Magnus V, and Sigurd Erlingsson bastard of Erling Skakke took part in the adventure it profited from the support of the bishop Nicolas Arnesson half-brother of King Inge Ier which after being elected with the seat of Stavanger came to be transferred, in spite of the mistrust of Sverre, with that of Oslo, where he will remain bishop 1190 with 1225.

Arrived to Norway into 1193 they gained a victory over the partisans of the king and seized Oslo then settled in Bergen. They were peaceful and abstained from all plunderings made exceptional for the time. April 3rd, 1194 coming from the Trondelag Sverre surprised their fleet wet in Florevag in the west of Bergen and destroys completely it. The chiefs of forwarding perished in the combat as well as the applicant.

King Sverre made the jarl of the the Orkneys responsible for the formation of this army. Harald accompanied by the Bjarni bishop went to Norway and relied on the judgment of the king who took all to him the the Shetland with their taxes and taxes. He made moreover draw up the list of the properties in the Orkneys of all those which found death with the battle of Florevag and adapted them. He gave three years to the parents or descendants of the missings to repurchase the confiscated goods last this time they would be allocated definitively to the Norwegian sovereign. Sverre installed finally a Norwegian governor in the archipelago. The Conditions imposed by the king on the principality orcadienne were so hard that it was never concerned any. Sverre supported even into 1195 the claims of the cousin and homonym of the jarl: Harald III Ungi (the young person) with which it confirmed the title of jarl given in 1184 by the king Magnus V of Norway and which was killed as a combatant with the Caithness in 1198.

Sverre also convened the bishop of Oslo Nicolas which in order to make forget its participation in the plot agreed to crown it. The king convened then the Thorir bishops of Hamar and Nial of Stavanger to Bergen where it made elect an English clerk Martin as bishop of the city in the place of Stake deceased before the battle of Florevaag. In the presence of this assembly the Nicolas bishop crowned it then solemnly the June 29th 1194.

Being wary towards people of the south old in favor of Erling and Magnus, Sverre is fixed at Bergen and is pressed on Swedish. After the death of his first wife Astrid Roesdatter it had become in 1185 the beautiful brother of the king Knut Ier of Sweden Erikson by its marriage with Margareta Erikdatter (+ 1209) a girl of king Erik the Saint.

The reign of Sverre Sigurdsson

King Sverre Sigurdsson had finally had 16 years (1180-1196) to achieve his work in a relative calm. Fallen since 1130 with the hands from applicants to the rights strong suspect the Norwegian royalty had lost its old authority. The jarl Erling Skakke had believed to find a remedy for these usurpations in the support of the high clergy which had crowned king in 1164 Magnus the son that it had had of Christina the legitimate girl of Sigurd Ier of Norway Magnusson Jorsalafarir last sovereign uncontested of the country. This ceremony was an innovation in the Scandinaves countries. The succession with the throne was maintained narrowly controlled by the church which was to validate the legitimate heir with the throne or in its absence to choose the new sovereign.

Sverre as for him, was pressed especially on its military force and its old companions of fight the members of his Hird with the double intention cutting down the capacity of the big families and the political power of the church. It quickly reorganizes the local government in a direction very favorable to the royal capacity. After having promulgated the code appointed Hirdhskra for the members of his Hird the king recruited among them of Sysselmönd which accepted policing powers extended in the eccentric parts of the countries and were charged to control Lendermönd which had become because of the disorders of the practically hereditary regional chiefs. It named then of Armönd of poor extraction to supervise the management of the royal interests in detail. The country courts were then placed under the directions of nine Lagmönd royal civils servant delivering their opinions on each business subjected to Thing or regional assemblies.

At the same time Sverre raised a royal tradition almost forgotten while actively being interested in the intellectual life of Norway. It was without doubts the instigator of the written setting of the royal Saga and to give the example it made write under its monitoring by the Icelandic abbot Karl Jonsson the beginning of its clean saga Sverissaga detailing the events which have occurred until 1180.

Its success against feudality was facilitated by the many deaths caused in the old families since 1130 by the civil wars. On the other hand it met in its fight against the influence of the clergy a very strong resistance.

The archbishop Erik Ivarson (1188-1205 + 1213) elected as successor of Eystein on the seat of Nidaros was made the burning promoter of the new ecclesiastical right financially and administratively more favorable to the bishops.

When Sverre had expressed its agreement with Thing de Frosta which sticking to the old right wanted to reduce the guard which accompanied the prelate in his displacements, Erik flees in Denmark and called some in Rome. With the moral support of the Innocent pope III but especially the support of the Danes and Absalon archbishop of Lund, it caused revolts for which have again sought applicants among bastard truths or supposed Magnus V Erlingson.

Baglers

The Erik archbishop having become blind it was Nicolas Arnesson also taken refuge with the Denmark and which had obtained the discharge (!) to have crowned Sverre which is the heart and the true chief of this company. In 1196 the whole of the episcopate directed by Nicolas caused a new rising which seized Vik and rejected Sverre on Trondelag. This called faction the Bagels or Baglers (of bottom Latin baculus which means episcopal stick) which was made up of the survivors of the preceding oppositions Kuflungs and Varbelgs as well as troops recruited for the emperor of the East by Hreidar Sendemand is formed in Denmark under the protection of the archbishop Absalon.

Bagler convened Borgarthing which proclaims as king the Inge young person that they affirmed being wire of Magnus V Erlingson but that its adversaries claimed to be Danish named Torgils Tufuskt. Lendermönd Halvard de Staastad of Oppland united with them and when the Thorir bishop of Hamar dies in February 1197 they choose one of their partisan Ivar Skjaalge to succeed to him.

The same year though beaten to Oslo Bagler came to besiege Nidaros which they seized by treason by capturing the fleet and destroying Sverreborg. Bergen was burned and little by little they controlled all the coast. Only the fylker of the Trondelag remained between the hands of the king. This last seemed demolishes without remission and the Nicolas bishop who named it “Sverre priest” was delighted by his fall. At the end of 1198 the Innocent pope III lance the Interdict on the kingdom of Norway, excommunicates Sverre and request with kings de Danemark and for Sweden to intervene in favor of the clergy against this “monster in charge of crimes”.

Sverre fought thus savagely during five years. In this quarrel he had not neglected the intellectual aspect of the questions and equipped with arguments by its religious education, he composed him even in 1197 a work of polemic and topicality in popular language directed against the episcopate and named Discours against the bishops .

In spite of the missives of the pope Sverre succeeds in maintaining friendly relations with the close kingdoms. Knud VI of Denmark (1182-1202) did not attack Norway in spite of the loss of its suzerainty on the Viken and the king of Sweden Sverker II of Sweden remains friendly and Marie even his son Karl (+1198) with Ingeborg the girl of Sverre. The jarl Birger Brosa remained also faithful and Sverre received his/her Filip son with his course and named it jarl Oppland and of Viken. it was killed in Oslo in 1200 by Bagler

In 1198 king Sverre leaves the guard of Bergen to his son-in-law Karl Sverkerson and walk towards Nidaros. A chief Bagler Thorstein Kugad attacks the city and kills the young person jarl.

During the winter 1199 Sverre was with the Trondelag where it builds a new fleet. Each of the eight fylker of Trondelag had promised to equip a large man-of-war. In spring it leaves Trondelag with its new fleet and meets Bagler which were overcome with the naval action of Strindsoe close to Nidaros the June 18th 1199 They lose their fleet and part of their war leaders. The Nicolas bishop flees in Denmark from where it will not return before the death of the king.

Birkebeiner recover the Hålogaland in north while the king with the fleet the main thing travels towards the south and spends the winter to Viken. It took again in hand the near total of the kingdom but the forces of Bagler are not destroyed. During winter 1199/1200 whereas Sverre is in Oslo a gathering of forces coming from the Oppland, of Viken of the Telemark and Tønsberg unite to attack the city by several with dimensions. Sverre guesses their plan and makes break the ice in order to return it left the possible port. The discipline of the veterans of the king enables him to emerge and to escape towards Bergen. Bagler attack the town of Nidaros without sucked.

Before the winter is not finished the king takes again the offensive against them in Ranrike and in the districts of the south of the country. He forces them with the retirement and place a strong garrison in Viken. One of their main leader Hreidar Sendemand takes refuge in the citadel of Tronsberg where the king besieges it as from September 1200 with 1000 men. At the end of five sick Hreidar months must capitulate in January 1201. It liberally was saved and forgiven by Sverre Sigurdsson as well as the garrison. The rédition of Tønsberg marked the end of the war. This victory benefitted the king falls ill little during the seat because he died almost at once Friday March 8th 1202 while recommending to his son and successor Håkon III Sverreson to make peace with the church. The Inge applicant reduced to the impotence was reached in his escape on an island of the lake Mjøsa and was killed by peasants as of the end of 1202

The family of Sverre

Sverre Sigurdsson had two wives:

1) Astrid Roesdatter of which:

Cecilia Sverresdatter married with Einar Prest died in 1205 then Gregorius Kik died in 1223

Ingeborg Sverresdatter married with Swedish prince Karl Sverkerson killed in Norway 1198

Haakon III of Norway

2) in 1185 Margareta Erikdatter girl of the king de Suède Eric the Saint of which:

Christine Sverresdatter died into 1213 which married in 1208 the 3rd king of Baglers Philippe Simonsson of Norway

Severre had had before an oldest son of an unknown woman:

Sigurd Lavard died into 1201 which will be the father of the king Guttorm Sigurdsson.

External bonds

parts struck with the effigy of Sverre Sigurdsson

Saga de Sverre: English translation

Sources

Sverissaga

Saga of king Sverre of Norway (English translation) of J. Stephton (London 1899)

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