Viking Heraldy of Lewis & Cinda - Bruce Rognan

esponsibility. In 1277 he concluded a concordat with the church and issued a special municipal code, which
was based on the existing institutions of Bergen. He was succeeded by his son, Eric the Priesthater (1268-99).
At Kalmar in 1397, Erik was crowned as the Union King for those three Nordic Kingdoms, Denmark, Sweden
and Norway. For him, Denmark was the most important nation and he would rule the other two nations with the
help of his own men. Swedes and Norwegians wanted as much as possible to have their own regents as they
had earlier. In these reversals lay the beginnings of the great conflicts of the future.
Erik was just as impetuous against his neighbors to the south, the German Hanseatic League, as he was
against his own subjects in Norway and Sweden so that was another cause for strife. From the end of the
1300s, the North German merchant association, the Hanseatic League, gained greater and greater power over
commerce in Norway and, after a while, developed its system with a foundation in the strong position the Hanseatic
League held in Bergen.
Erik of Pomerania wanted to build up a strong Nordic Baltic Sea Empire. Such a policy had traditions in both
Sweden and Denmark but was outside the interests of the Norwegians. This trade policy soon came into conflict
with the interests the North German towns had in the area of the Baltic Sea. Because of this, the policy King
Erik conducted there also had a great effect on circumstances in Norway.
In 1426, the Hanseatic League began a regular war against the Kalmar Union. From 1427-1433 the German
Merchants boycotted Bergen. Imports of products were difficult even though the English attempted to take over
after the Hanseatic League. The Hanseatic League plundered Bergen and in 1429 defeated the Norwegian fleet
of conscripted warships which, according to what we know, was then gathered for the last time. More unrest
than on the West Coast of Norway, however, developed in other areas of the Union, in Eastern Norway and in
certain areas of Sweden. The war cost a great deal and the King proceeded energetically to strengthen the
army. Extra taxes were levied and enforced with a strong hand. Both Queen Margrete and King Erik levied new
taxes on the people and allowed the collectors to proceed as harshly as they wanted just so the money was
gathered.
Princess Agnes Haakonsdatter (1304 - )
Agnes was born to King Haakon in 1300 in the Kings Palace. She married Haftore Jonsson, her father’s most
important servant, and Earl over all of Norway. Agnes, being the second child was relegated to watch her sister
and brother-in-law rle of Norway, Sweden and eventually Denmark. Her sister, ingabord had married Erik
Magnusson on 29 Sep 1312 and then Knut Porse in 1327. Her life was characterized by one scandal after another.
Upon the death of her father, Norway and Sweden had a joint monarchy, an institution later expanded
through the arrangement of inter-Scandinavian royal marriages. Håkon VI (1340-80) -- son of the Swedish king
Magnus Eriksson, and Håkon V's daughter Ingebjørg -- was lawful heir to the throne of Norway. He married
Margrete, daughter of the Danish king Valdemar Atterdag. Their son, Olav, was chosen to be Danish king on the
death of Valdemar in 1375. He inherited the throne of Norway after his father in 1380, thus bringing Norway into
a union with Denmark as well.
Magnus Ericson, Magnus VII of Norway, the fourth Magnus to have been proclaimed king of Sweden (1316 –
December 1, 1374), King of Sweden, Norway, and Terra Scania, son of Duke Eric Magnusson of Sweden and
Ingeborg, daughter of Haakon V of Norway. Also known by his nickname "Magnus Smek" (Eng. "Pet-Magnus").
Magnus was elected king of Sweden on 8 July 1319, and acclaimed as hereditary king of Norway at the thing of
Haugathing in Tønsberg in August the same year. Under the Regencies of his Grandmother Queen Helvig and
his Mother Duchess Ingeborg the countries were ruled by Knut Jonsson and Erling Vidkunsson.
Magnus was declared to have come of age at 15 in 1331. This caused resistance in Norway, where a statute
from 1302 made clear that kings came of age at the age of 20, and a rising by Erling Vidkunsson and other
Norwegian nobles ensued. In 1333, the rebels submitted to king Magnus.
By 1319 Magnus Erikson, the son of Duke Eric and the new Swedish Duchess Ingeborg, became the new king
of Norway and Sweden, even though he wa only 3 years old. This act of royal breeding was agreed upon to
unite Sweden and Norway. However, nothing but family interests motivated this union. The Duchess Ingeborg,
becames more enamored with Knut Porse of Denmark and depletes her countries treasuries to help him wage
a war against Denmark to join the union of Sweden and Norway. Supplied with the Royal Seal of Sweden and
Norway she is able to use all of her vast resources to help her lover. Immorality, greed, lust, and power completely
dominate her politics. Duke Eric's brother Hakon married a Danish Princess named Margaret - who later
became Queen Margaret.
In 1322 a Council was held in Sweden which removed power from the Duchess to handle foreign policy. But by
now, the treasuries of Norway and Sweden were empty, and Denmark was alienated from Norway, and relations
with England, the dominate power in Europe, were strained. In 1326 King Magnus Erikson took the reigns
of government officially at age 10. He was also unsuccessful at leading the two rival kingdoms in unity. Magnus