Viking Heraldy of Lewis & Cinda - Bruce Rognan

unusually early age. After his mother told him that he was actually the son of the former Norwegian king Sigurd
II, however, he left for Norway (1174) to claim the throne. By 1177 he had become leader of the Birch Legs, rivals
of the incumbent ruler Magnus V. A skillful military leader, Sverre was proclaimed king in the Trondheim
region and soundly defeated the forces of Magnus in 1179. He became sole king of Norway in 1184 after his
troops defeated and killed Magnus.
Sverre made peace with the exiled archbishop Eystein Erlendsson, a supporter of Magnus V, after Eystein's
return to Norway in 1183. Sverre's assertion of royal power to elect bishops and his demand for a reduction in
the archbishop's personal armed forces, however, the archbishop refused to crown Sverre and fled to Denmark
with many of the nation's bishops in 1190. The remaining bishops crowned Sverre in 1194 but were later excommunicated
along with the king by Pope Innocent III.
The stealing of viking trade by the Hanseatic League of German merchants demands had a major bearing upon
the decline of the Viking states.These foreign merchants utterly demolished the phenomenally successful viking
trade that had for so long nourished and sustained the distant settlements of the viking peoples. Up until the
Hansa, no one was better at trade and piracy than the Norwegian Vikings. Gradually the Hansa replaced Norway
and they became better pirates, as well as better traders, and as a result, Norway lost its power. Norway’s
decline in strength from the rise of the Hanseatic League began to occur in Sverre’s rule, but it was unforeseen
how much problem this woul cause later. Within a hundred years of Sverre's death the Hansa had unmistakably
become the major power in the land,
Hakon III Sverreson (1180- 1204)
Hakon became King in 1202 when his father died. Sverre and his son Håkon were leaders of the Birkebeiner
(Birch Legs) party. Håkon is first mentioned as one of the leaders of his father's armies in a battle against the
Bagler in Oslo in 1197. Subsequently he is mentioned several times as taking part in his father's wars against
the Bagler. On his deathbed his father, wrote a letter to Håkon advising him to settle the longstanding dispute
with the church. When the news of Sverre's death reached Håkon and the Birkebeiner assembled in Nidaros,
Håkon was first taken as chieftain by the Birkebeiner. The same spring he was taken as king at the thing in Nidaros.
The same spring the Norwegian bishops, who had been in exile in Sweden and Denmark and had supported
the Bagler, returned to Norway and made a settlement with Håkon. Håkon is said to have been on friendly
terms with the farmers and the common people, and the Bagler party soon lost much of its support. In the
autumn of 1202, the Bagler king Inge Magnusson was killed by the local farmers of Oppland and the Bagler
party in Norway was dissolved. Håkon appears to have had a troubled relationship with his father's queen,
Margareta Eriksdotter. After Sverre's death, Margareta attempted to return to her native Sweden with her
daughter by Sverre, Kristina. Håkon's men forcibly separated her from her daughter, as he wanted to keep her
at his court. Subsequently, Margareta seemingly settled with Håkon and went to his court. During Christmas in
1203, Håkon fell ill after a bloodletting, and on 1 January 1204 he died. His death was suspected as poisoning
and his step-mother Margareta was suspected of the crime. Inga of Varteig, whom Håkon had taken as a concubine
for a time in 1203, appeared at the Birkebeiner court with Håkon's son. The child had been born in
present-day Østfold after the death of the putative father. The boy, named Håkon after his father, later became
king Håkon IV in the summer of 1218.
During Håkon's brief reign, he managed to release Norway from the church's interdict, and end the civil wars, at
least for a time. His early death sparked a renewal of the fighting, however, despite some of the problems during
the cicil war, Hakon’s reign is considered the beginning of the "golden age" (1217-1319) in medieval Norwegian
history. Hakon’s treaty with Henry III of England in 1217 was the earliest commercial treaty known in either
nation, but it was shortlived.
Hakon IV Hakonsson (1204- 1263)
King Hakon IV was born: 1204 in Falkenborg, Eidsberg, Østfold, Norway. He married:
1) Kanga (no children)
2) Margrete Skulesdatter on 25 May 1225
Hakon IV is acknowledged as the illegitimate posthumous son of Haakon III. Haakon was reared at the court of
Inge II and, on Inge's death in 1217, was proclaimed king by the Birchlegs, the adherents of Sverre. Doubts of
his paternity, especially by the ecclesiastical leaders, were allayed after his mother passed through an ordeal of
hot irons (1218). The early years of his reign were disturbed by uprisings in the eastern region of the country by