Håkon Galen

Who he is

Name

Håkon Folkvidsson, called Håkon Galen ('the Crazy')

Title

Hirdman and Birkebeiner captain; jarl only from 1204

Since

In the hird by the 1190s

Born

Probably in the 1170s; in his twenties

Family

Son of Folkvid, lawman in Värmland, and Cecilia Sigurdsdotter, Sverre's sister; half-brother of Inge Bårdsson. Unmarried in 1200: he marries Kristin Nilsdotter, a Swedish royal granddaughter, in 1204-05.

Confidence

low

Mentioned in Sverre's hird in the 1190s; fought the island-beards (1193-94) and the Bagler. The sources do not show how central he was under Sverre, nor what land or command he holds on 1 January 1200. After Guttorm is made king in January 1204 he becomes jarl and regent; later he holds the west from Bergen; dies there at Christmas 1214.

Overlord

King Sverre

What it holds

• No district or fief recorded for 1200

How it was acquired

By kinship and service.

Allies and rivals

His half-brother Inge Bårdsson and Inge's half-brother Skule; later the rival of Inge for the crown (1204).

How things stand that morning

In the king's service; command and location not pinned.

Wealth

Not recorded.

Military

A hird captain.

Threats

• The Bagler war

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Store norske leksikon says plainly that his role under Sverre cannot be established.

On the map: No land to draw.

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.