Sverre at Oslo

Who he is

Name

Sverre Sigurdsson

Title

king of Norway (crowned 1194; excommunicated)

Since

king of the Birkebeiner from 1177; sole king from 1184; crowned 29 June 1194

Born

1151 (Koht), probably at Bergen (nbl.snl.no Gunnhild)

Family

Queen Margareta, daughter of King Eric of Sweden. His son Sigurd Lavard (born about 1175) is with him in Oslo that winter (snl.no). The full royal family is in the norway realm record (now sheet).

Confidence

high

en.wikipedia Sverre of Norway; snl.no Sverre Sigurdsson, Sigurd Lavard, Bjørvika

What it holds

• Oslo, with the king's residence and the bishop's town and fortified residence (the bishop is in Denmark).
• The Viken towns (Tunsberg, Borg, Konungahella) and Ranrike, through men not named in the sources checked.
• The royal estates of Viken, among them Sem by Tunsberg (Værne in Rygge was given to the Hospitallers in the 1190s).
• The fleet of the western levy (leidang), which rules the sea.

How it was acquired

Conquest after Strindsjøen, autumn 1199 (en.wikipedia).

Allies and rivals

With him: the Birkebeiner hird, his son Sigurd Lavard. Against him: the Bagler, the exiled Church, the farmers of Viken and Telemark, the townsmen of Tunsberg; Denmark shelters his enemies.

How things stand that morning

In Oslo with his host for the winter; master of Oslo and the fjord, hated in the countryside. Rome's interdict on the lands that support him (1198) and his excommunication stand.

Wealth

War-taxes taken from Viken (snl.no: heavy contributions, strongly resisted); the royal estates.

Military

His host at Oslo (about 3,000 by the saga's count, per snl.no) and ships. No castle at Oslo: his castles (both called Sverresborg) are at Nidaros and Bergen (now sheet).

Threats

• The farmers' rising (January to March 1200).
• The Bagler fleet behind him on the coast.
• Supplies for a host wintering among hostile farmers.

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.

In 1200

1. Yule 1199-1200Reidar Sendemann's Bagler attack Oslo (snl.no).Depends on: The Bagler return. Stopped by: His guard.
2. 6 March 1200Beats the farmers' army at Oslo, partly in Bjørvika, one band at a time (Koht; en.wikipedia; snl.no Bjørvika). Sigurd Lavard is in the fight.Depends on: The farmers coming on without one commander. Stopped by: The Bagler fleet joining the farmers.
3. late March 1200Sails back to Bergen (en.wikipedia).Depends on: Victory at Oslo. Stopped by: Defeat.
4. 1200 (date not pinned)His son Sigurd Lavard dies (snl.no; now sheet).

Later, on the likely course

1. spring 1201 to 25 January 1202Comes east again with the leidang, takes war-taxes on both sides of the Oslofjord and besieges Reidar on Berget at Tunsberg from September 1201 until the surrender (en.wikipedia).Depends on: The Bagler holding Tunsberg. Stopped by: A settlement.
2. 9 March 1202Dies at Bergen (en.wikipedia).

Places of note

• Bjørvika: Where he fought the farmers in March 1200 (snl.no).
• Hovedøya: The Cistercian abbey island from which he attacked Oslo on 25 July 1197 (en.wikipedia History of Oslo).

Where the sources disagree

• The norway realm record belongs to the now sheet; this record covers only his presence in Viken that winter.

Evidence: Sverris saga as summarised by en.wikipedia and snl.no; the March battle is dated in Koht's translation.

On the map: Only Oslo is drawn as his; the modern Oslo municipality includes the Nordmarka forest.

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.