Haakon Sverresson

Who he is

Name

Haakon Sverresson

Title

King's son; a captain of his father's army

Since

Leading troops by 1197

Born

About 1182-83 (before 1185); about 17

Family

Second son of King Sverre; mother not established. Unmarried in 1200. His son Haakon IV is born in 1204, after his death, to Inga of Varteig.

Confidence

medium

First named in 1197 as one of the leaders of his father's army against the Bagler at Oslo, and in several later fights. Where he is on 1 January 1200 is not pinned: the sources place the king and Sigurd at Oslo, not Haakon. Becomes the only surviving son in 1200; king on Sverre's death (March 1202); reconciles with the exiled bishops in 1202 and dies on 1 January 1204.

Overlord

King Sverre

What it holds

• No district or fief recorded
• Command of troops in his father's army

How it was acquired

By birth.

Allies and rivals

The Birkebeiner captains look to him; his stepmother Queen Margrete is later suspected of poisoning him (1204).

How things stand that morning

In his father's service; location on 1 January 1200 not pinned.

Wealth

Maintained by the king. No figures.

Military

A captain of the Birkebeiner since 1197.

Threats

• The Bagler war

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1200, after Sigurd Lavard's death (not pinned)Haakon becomes the king's only surviving son and heir.Depends on: Sigurd's death in 1200. Stopped by: Sigurd surviving.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Sverris saga and the Bagler sagas; his early career is thinly told.

On the map: No land to draw; marker at the king's seat.

Primary sources for Norway (Sverre)

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Danish annals of Lund, Ryd and other houses (12th and 13th centuries; Lund continued to 1307, Ryd to 1288). Short dated entries from Lund, the archbishop's seat, and from Ryd in Schleswig. Read online
• Chronicle of the Kings of Mann and the Isles, Anonymous (monks of Rushen abbey, Mann) (about 1257, with continuations to 1316). The only native record of the kingdom of Mann and the Hebrides. Read online
• The Icelandic annals to 1578 (compiled from the late 13th century onward from older notes). Year-by-year notices that fix Icelandic chronology. Read online
• Deeds of the Danes, Saxo Grammaticus (about 1185 to 1208). Saxo was writing at Lund in 1200 under Absalon, who died in March 1201, and his last books are an insider's history of Valdemar I and Knud VI to 1185: the Wendish wars, the taking of Rügen, the submission of Pomerania in 1185, the Danish fleet, Absalon's power and the Danish quarrel with the Empire. Read online
• The saga of King Sverre of Norway, Karl Jónsson and a continuator (begun about 1185 under Sverre's own supervision, completed about 1210 to 1220). The king's own authorised saga. Read online
• The saga of the descendants of Knut (the kings of Denmark) (about 1250 to 1260). An Icelandic kings' saga of Denmark that draws on Saxo and Danish tradition and ends in 1187 with Knud VI and Absalon's Wendish wars. Read online
• The sagas of the Baglers (about 1210 to 1220, in a shorter and a longer version). Begins with Sverre's death in March 1202 and the reigns of Hákon Sverrisson, Guttorm and Inge Bårdsson against the Bagler kings Erling Steinvegg and Philippus, so it has nothing for 1200 itself. Read online
• Saga of the Earls of Orkney, Anonymous (Icelandic) (about 1200 to 1230; surviving text mainly from Flateyjarbok, about 1390). The saga's last chapters are about Earl Harald Maddadsson, who in 1200 held Orkney under King Sverre of Norway and Caithness under William the Lion: his long rule, his quarrel with the Scottish king that cost him Caithness in 1196 to 1197, his recovery of it, and the maiming of Bishop John of Caithness and the king's revenge in 1201 to 1202. Read online

6 more in the sources library for Scandinavia.