Rein

Who he is

Name

Inge Bårdsson (about 14) and his half-brother Skule Bårdsson (about 10); who manages the estates for them is not pinned

Title

Heirs of the landed man (lendmann) Bård Guttormsson of Rein

Since

Bård Guttormsson's death in 1194

Born

Inge 1185; Skule 1189

Family

Bård Guttormsson of Rein, the greatest of Sverre's landed men in the Trøndelag, married first Cecilia Sigurdsdotter, Sverre's sister (son Inge), and then Ragnfrid Erlingsdotter (son Skule). Inge is half-brother of Håkon Galen and Sverre's nephew.

Confidence

medium

Bård died in 1194 (Store norske leksikon on his kin). The estate of Rein lies on the Fosen side of the Trondheimsfjord, opposite Nidaros. Skule later founds a nunnery at Rein (about 1226). Who runs the farms in 1200, the widow Ragnfrid, a royal steward or the king himself as the boys' uncle and guardian, is not pinned.

Overlord

King Sverre

What it holds

• Rein in Rissa, Fosen, with its farms and tenants on the Fosen shore of the Trondheimsfjord

How it was acquired

Bård Guttormsson's inheritance and royal favour.

Allies and rivals

Bound to the king by blood; rivals of the Bagler-leaning Trønder farmers of 1197-98.

How things stand that morning

Held for minors; manager not pinned.

Wealth

Farms, rents and tenants in Fosen. No figures.

Military

The Rein followers and their part of the Fosen levy.

Threats

• Bagler raids on the Trondheimsfjord, as in 1197-98

Places of note

• Rein: The kindred's farm, later Rein nunnery.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The family is well known; the management of Rein in 1200 is not recorded.

On the map: A disc for the estate; the family's other farms are not recorded.

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.