Officers: prévôtés, bailiwicks, seneschals · Kingdom of Norway: King Sverre and the Birkebeiner · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Trøndelag

The Trøndelag is the richest farming country of the North and the cradle of Sverre's kingship: he was acclaimed at the Øyrating in 1177 and won his great battles here (Kalvskinnet 1179, Ilevollene 1180).

But its farmers are not reliably his. In the winter of 1197-98 the Bagler took Nidaros, Sverre's castle commander went over to them, and the Øyrating gave Inge Magnusson the royal title; Sverre's attempt to come back by sea in May 1198 failed. Only the Strindsjø victory of 18 June 1199 won the district back. On 1 January 1200 it is governed by Sverre's officers and landed men, whose names the sources checked do not give, with the Rein estate of his young nephews across the fjord.

Who he is

Name
Not pinned: the king's district officer (sysselmann) or officers
Title
The king's district officers (sysselmenn) and landed men of the eight Trøndelag folk-districts and Namdal
Since
Not pinned
Confidence
low

Sverre's officers in the Trøndelag on 1 January 1200 are not named in the sources checked. Bård Guttormsson of Rein, the leading landed man, died in 1194. Torstein Kugad, who held the Nidaros castle in 1197, went over to the Bagler. The Bagler held Nidaros from about January 1198 and Inge was given the royal title at the thing there; Sverre retook the district after 18 June 1199.

Overlord

King Sverre

What it holds

  • The eight folk-districts of the Trøndelag (Strinda, Gauldal, Orkdal, Stjørdal in the outer Trøndelag; Verdal, Skogn, Sparbu and Inderøy in the inner) and Namdal
  • The Frostating, the law assembly at Frosta, and the Øyrating at Nidaros
  • The levy ships of the Trondheimsfjord and the coast
  • The archbishop's seized estates, managed for the king

How it was acquired

Royal administration under Sverre's sysselmann system; the district's thing and levy are older.

Allies and rivals

The king's party; the Rein kindred (Rein). The Trønder farmers backed the Bagler in 1198.

How things stand that morning

Held for Sverre since June 1199, after eighteen months in which the Bagler held Nidaros and the Øyrating hailed their king. The farmers' loyalty is doubtful; no rising is recorded for the winter of 1199-1200.

Wealth

Grain, cattle, butter and timber; the land tax and levy dues; the archbishop's rents. No figures.

Military

The Trøndelag levy and fleet; the castle at Nidaros, damaged in 1197-98 (its use in 1200 not pinned).

Threats

  • Bagler sympathy among the Trønder farmers
  • A Bagler return by sea

Places of note

  • Frosta: The Frostating.
  • Strindsjø: Sverre's naval victory, 18 June 1199.
  • Kalvskinnet: Sverre's victory over Erling Skakke, 19 June 1179.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The changes of hands in 1197-99 are well attested (Sverris saga; English Wikipedia on Sverre and on Inge Magnusson); Sverre's officers here in 1200 are not named in the sources checked.

On the map: The Norse farming districts; the inland Sami fells of Namdal are drawn on the Sami record.

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.

Sources and studies

  1. Sverre of Norway (English Wikipedia)
  2. Inge Magnusson (English Wikipedia)
  3. Sverre, norsk konge (Store norske leksikon)
  4. Sverris saga (written in part from the king's own dictation by Abbot Karl Jónsson, finished after 1202); read through the secondary works cited

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.