The Bagler and King Inge

Who rules

Name

Inge Magnusson

Title

king of the Bagler (the 'crosier men'), claiming the whole kingdom of Norway

Since

1196: taken as king at the Haløre market in Danish Scania and acclaimed at the Borgarting at Borg (snl.no); en.wikipedia (Inge Magnusson) puts Haløre in 1197

Born

about 1182 (snl.no), so about 17 or 18 on 1 January 1200

Family

Put forward as a son of King Magnus Erlingsson (killed at Fimreite 1184); his mother is unknown. The Birkebeiner said he was a Dane called Torgils Tuveskitt (snl.no). Unmarried, no children. His supposed uncle Sigurd Jarlsson, Magnus's half-brother, is one of the party's chiefs.

Confidence

medium

snl.no Inge Magnusson, baglere, Nikolas Arnesson, Reidar Sendemann, Sigurd Jarlsson; en.wikipedia Sverre of Norway, Inge Magnusson, Bagler; no.wikipedia Baglerne

Overlord

None. The party denies that Sverre is king. It leans on the exiled Norwegian Church (Archbishop Eirik Ivarsson, at Lund since 1190) and lives under the Danish king's shelter.

What the realm holds

• No town or castle for certain on 1 January 1200.
• The allegiance of Hedmark round Hamarkaupangen, the party's seat in 1196-99, and of Østerdal (en.wikipedia, Bagler, says that about 1200 the Bagler remained powerful in Hedmark and Østerdal).
• A fleet and war bands returning from Denmark round Yule 1199-1200.
• The goodwill of the Viken farmers and of the townsmen of Tunsberg against Sverre's war-taxes.
• The claim to the whole kingdom, backed by the exiled archbishop and the bishop of Oslo.

How it was acquired

Raised in 1196 in Danish Scania; Inge acclaimed at the Borgarting in 1196 after the Birkebeiner left Viken (snl.no). Viken and the Uplands held 1196-97; Sverre's great levy took Oslo on 25 or 26 July 1197 and drove the Bagler inland; Nidaros taken January 1198 and Inge given the royal name at the Øreting; Bergen burned 11 August 1198; the fleet lost at Strindsjøen 18 June 1199.

Allies and rivals

Allies: Archbishop Eirik and Bishop Nicholas; the Danish crown's shelter (Canute VI, Absalon); the Uplands' great men (Hallvard of Såstad); the angry farmers of Viken and Telemark and the townsmen of Tunsberg. Rivals: King Sverre and the Birkebeiner, his sons Sigurd Lavard and Haakon, his bishops at home.

The realm that morning

A beaten party coming back. On 1 January 1200 Sverre sits in Oslo with his host and has Viken in hand; the Bagler hold no town. Their chiefs return from Denmark about the turn of the year (snl.no: about half a year after June 1199; the fleet comes in January 1200); Reidar's attack on Oslo falls at Yule 1199-1200, whether before or after 1 January is not pinned. Hedmark and Østerdal lean to them; the rest of the Uplands and all Viken are a war zone where Sverre's men, the Bagler and the farmers meet.

Wealth

No fixed revenue that winter: the party lives on what its men take, on the Uplands' support and on Danish shelter. Once back in Østlandet in 1200 it collects taxes and debts there (snl.no Sigurd Jarlsson).

Military

War bands under troop leaders (Reidar, Sigurd Jarlsson), a fleet rebuilt after Strindsjøen, and in 1200 the farmers of Viken. No castle on 1 January. Record: masters of surprise raids (Sigurd Jarlsson's night raid on Tunsberg that killed Sverre's brother Hide; the night attack in 1196 that smashed Sverre's catapult and drove off Sigurd Lavard's men), weak in pitched battle and at sea (Oslo 1197, Strindsjøen 1199).

Threats

• Sverre's host in Oslo and his fleet, which rules the sea.
• A second defeat would cost them the farmers' trust; a farmers' rising without them could be crushed alone (as on 6 March 1200).
• Losing Danish shelter or the Church's backing (which comes in 1202, after Sverre's death, when the bishops make peace with his son Haakon).
• The claim itself: Inge's birth is doubted, and the Birkebeiner call him a Dane.

Heirs

None. The party's claim rests on Magnus Erlingsson's blood. After Inge it turns to Erling Steinvegg (1204) and then to Bishop Nicholas's sister's son Philip Simonsson, chosen king at the Borgarting in 1207 (snl.no).

Leaders in 1200

• Bishop Nicholas Arnesson of Oslo, born about 1150, founder and head of the party; son of the lendmann Arne of Stovreim in Nordfjord and half-brother of King Inge Haraldsson. He fled to Denmark after Strindsjøen and stays there until 1202 (snl.no). Church map record.
• Archbishop Eirik Ivarsson of Nidaros, in exile at Lund since 1190 and blind, the party's patron; he excommunicated Sverre (campaign notes). Church map record.
• King Inge Magnusson, about 17 or 18; first named as a war leader in the attack on Nidaros in 1199; leads the fleet back from Denmark with Reidar in January 1200 (snl.no).
• Reidar Sendemann, a Viken man who had served the emperor at Constantinople and came to Sverre as Alexios III's envoy in 1195; a founder of the party and its ablest captain. He leads the attack on Oslo at Yule 1199-1200 (snl.no).
• Sigurd Jarlsson, born about 1168, Erling Skakke's son by a concubine and Magnus Erlingsson's half-brother; a founder and a raider who works closely with Bishop Nicholas. Back in Norway about half a year after Strindsjøen (snl.no).
• Hallvard of Såstad, a Hedmark chieftain who kept the boy king in his custody on the Uplands in 1197, probably at Såstad in Stange (snl.no Inge Magnusson). Where he is in 1200 is not pinned.
• Philip Simonsson, Bishop Nicholas's sister's son, son of the lendmann Simon Kåresson (d. 1189): no part in the party is recorded for him before 1204, when he is chosen jarl (snl.no). Not pinned for 1200.
• Philip of Veien (in Ringerike), named in the sagas as a Bagler chief and husband of a daughter of Magnus Erlingsson (snl.no Reidar Sendemann): his dates and his part in 1200 are not pinned.

Lendmenn

No Bagler lendmann holding a named district on 1 January 1200 is pinned in the sources checked. The party's chiefs are troop leaders (sveithøvdingar), not officers of a working kingdom.

Officers

None named for 1200: no chancellor, marshal or stallare of Inge's appears in the sources checked.

Estates and strongholds

None held for certain on 1 January 1200. The party's seat in 1196-99 appears to have been Hamarkaupangen, the bishop's market town on Lake Mjøsa (snl.no Sigurd Jarlsson). Bishop Nicholas built up and fortified his residence in Oslo (snl.no), but Sverre holds Oslo that winter. The rock (Berget) over Tunsberg, which the Bagler strengthen during 1200 and hold through the siege of 1201-02, is not recorded as theirs before 1200: snl.no places their works and Reidar's standing force there in the course of 1200 (Sigurd Jarlsson, Inge Magnusson).

Fleet

The fleet was broken at Strindsjøen on 18 June 1199; the ships that got away carried the chiefs to Denmark and bring them back about the turn of the year (snl.no). No figure for that winter. The Birkebeiner keep the upper hand at sea (en.wikipedia Sverre). In 1196, off Ranrike, the Bagler had five longships and 120 small ships against 30 Birkebeiner ships, by the saga's count (no.wikipedia Baglerne).

Danish connections

The party was raised at the Haløre market in Danish Scania (the Scanian herring market at Skanör and Falsterbo) in 1196, with Danish backing (snl.no Sverre). Archbishop Eirik lives at Lund under Archbishop Absalon's protection; Bishop Nicholas and the chiefs fled to Denmark after Strindsjøen. Inge himself is said by his enemies to be a Dane. King Canute VI gives shelter but sends no army; Valdemar II's expedition for the Bagler is 1204, later.

Church

The party is the Church's party: the archbishop and the bishop of Oslo lead it. Rome has confirmed Sverre's excommunication and in 1198 ordered the parts of Norway that support him put under interdict (campaign notes Part 6 J). Sverre answered in 1199 with the Speech against the Bishops, arguing that the king is the Church's lord in his kingdom.

Wars and truces

At war with King Sverre and the Birkebeiner since 1196, with no truce in force on 1 January 1200. The Viken farmers resist Sverre's war-taxes and rise against him in the first weeks of 1200. The Church's case against Sverre (excommunication; the interdict ordered in 1198) stands. Denmark is not at war with Sverre but shelters his enemies.

Relations with neighbours

Denmark: shelter at Canute VI's court and at Absalon's Lund, a refuge after defeat (1199), a base for return. Sweden: no dealings with the Bagler are recorded; Sverre's queen Margareta is a Swedish king's daughter. Rome: the Bagler are the party of the excommunicating archbishop; no papal letter naming Inge is known to me.

Treaties

None recorded.

Mints tolls fairs

None held that winter. No Bagler coinage is recorded for Inge.

Peasant risings

Sverre's squeezing of Viken in 1198-99 (several great levies sent east to take war-taxes, snl.no Sverre) left the farmers hostile. In early 1200 the farmers from Svinesund to Telemark, with the townsmen of Tunsberg, gather an army to drive Sverre out of Oslo (snl.no Sverre); en.wikipedia (Tønsberg Fortress) adds men from the Uplands. Sigurd Jarlsson backs them (snl.no). It is a farmers' rising rather than a Bagler muster: no Bagler chief is named as its leader, and the Bagler fleet seems to be away in the north when it is beaten.

On 1 January 1200 it is unrest and refusal, not yet an army.

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 1199-1200 (25 December to early January; whether before or after 1 January is not pinned)Reidar Sendemann leads a Bagler attack on Oslo, where Sverre is wintering (snl.no Reidar Sendemann).Depends on: The chiefs being back from Denmark with ships and men; Sverre's host keeping Yule in quarters. Stopped by: Sverre's guard; ice and weather on the fjord; the Danes keeping the ships in harbour.
2. January 1200The Bagler fleet comes from Denmark under King Inge and Reidar Sendemann (snl.no Inge Magnusson). Sigurd Jarlsson backs the Viken farmers and attacks the Birkebeiner in Viken and Ranrike (snl.no Sigurd Jarlsson).Depends on: Danish shelter and ships; the farmers' anger at Sverre's war-taxes. Stopped by: Sverre striking first from Oslo; the Danish king closing his harbours; a quiet farming winter.
3. January to early March 1200The farmers of Viken from Svinesund to Telemark, with the townsmen of Tunsberg (and, by some accounts, Uplanders), gather an army to drive Sverre out of Oslo (snl.no Sverre; en.wikipedia).Depends on: Sverre staying in Oslo and keeping his war-taxes. Stopped by: Sverre easing the taxes or making terms; his leaving Oslo early.
4. 6 March 1200The farmers' battle at Oslo, fought partly in Bjørvika: Sverre's men beat the farmers' bands one at a time (Koht, Sverre-soga; en.wikipedia; snl.no Bjørvika). Sverre's son Sigurd Lavard is in the fight (snl.no).Depends on: The farmers attacking in separate bands without one commander. Stopped by: A single commander for the farmers; the Bagler fleet joining the attack; Sverre taking to his ships before they come.
5. late March 1200Sverre sails back to Bergen, his hold on Viken still weak (en.wikipedia).Depends on: Victory at Oslo; the Bagler threat to the west. Stopped by: Defeat at Oslo; a choice to stay in the east.
6. spring and summer 1200 (days not pinned)The Bagler fleet takes Nidaros again and holds it against a farmers' army of 1,500 (saga figure, snl.no), then sails south, is driven from Bergen, and goes east to Viken, where it is well received (snl.no Inge Magnusson).Depends on: Sverre being away from Trøndelag; the fleet slipping past the Birkebeiner ships. Stopped by: Sverre's ships meeting the fleet at sea; a Birkebeiner garrison holding Nidaros.
7. 1200, through the yearThe Bagler strengthen the rock (Berget) at Tunsberg and Reidar keeps a standing force there; by the year's end Sverre has pulled his army back to the west and the Bagler are re-established in Østlandet, collecting taxes and debts (snl.no Sigurd Jarlsson, Inge Magnusson). snl.no's Sverre article says instead that he drove them out of Viken in 1200 and again in 1201.Depends on: Sverre leaving the east; the farmers' welcome after March. Stopped by: A Birkebeiner garrison left in Viken; Sverre coming back in force in 1200.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1201Inge meets his troop leaders to plan new attacks (snl.no Sigurd Jarlsson). In spring Sverre sails east with a great levy and takes war-taxes on both sides of the Oslofjord (en.wikipedia).Depends on: Both sides surviving 1200. Stopped by: A settlement, or Sverre's death.
2. September 1201 to about 25 January 1202Siege of Tunsberg: Sverre besieges Reidar Sendemann on Berget for about 20 weeks; Reidar, with about 240 men (snl.no; saga figure), surrenders for want of food (en.wikipedia gives 25 January 1202). The main Bagler force stays on the Uplands and does not relieve him (snl.no Sverre).Depends on: The Bagler holding Berget in 1201; Sverre's host keeping the field through the winter. Stopped by: A relief from the Uplands; Sverre's illness forcing him away.
3. 9 March 1202Sverre dies at Bergen (en.wikipedia; snl.no gives 8 or 9 March).Depends on: His illness from the siege. Stopped by: Natural death; only a change in his circumstances moves it.
4. summer 1202The exiled bishops come home from Denmark and make peace with Haakon Sverresson; Inge, without the Church, is killed on Helgøya in Lake Mjøsa (snl.no; en.wikipedia instead places it at Storøya by Fagernes) and the party breaks up until 1204.Depends on: Sverre's death and Haakon's peace with the Church. Stopped by: Sverre living on; the Church keeping faith with the Bagler.

Places of note

• Haløre market (Skanör and Falsterbo): Where the party was raised in 1196, in Danish Scania.
• Borgarting at Borg: Inge acclaimed king, 1196.
• Hamarkaupangen: The party's seat in 1196-99 (snl.no Sigurd Jarlsson).
• Såstad in Stange: Hallvard of Såstad's farm, where the boy king was probably kept in 1197 (point at Stange).
• Strindsjøen: The fleet destroyed by Sverre, 18 June 1199.
• Berget (Slottsfjellet), Tunsberg: Strengthened by the Bagler during 1200; held by Reidar in the siege of 1201-02. No Bagler garrison is recorded there before 1200.
• Helgøya: Where Inge is killed in 1202 (snl.no).

Where the sources disagree

• Founding date: snl.no (baglere, Reidar Sendemann) and en.wikipedia (Sverre of Norway, 'spring 1196') put the founding at Haløre in Scania in 1196; en.wikipedia's Inge Magnusson and Civil war era articles say 1197. Haløre is the Scanian herring market, which runs in late summer and autumn, so 'spring' is doubtful. The brief and the campaign notes say 1196: kept.
• campaign notes Part 6 J list Bishop Nicholas under OSLO as 'a leader of the Baglers'. On 1 January 1200 he is not in Oslo, which Sverre holds, but in Denmark: snl.no says he fled there after Strindsjøen (June 1199) and stayed until 1202.
• campaign notes Part 6 J and Part 9 count Bishop Martin of Bergen among Sverre's bishops. no.wikipedia (Baglerne) lists Martin with Nicholas, Eirik, Njål of Stavanger and Ivar of Hamar as the 'Bagler bishops' who came home from Denmark in summer 1202. When Martin, Njål and Ivar left Norway is not pinned in our sources; if before 1 January 1200, Sverre has no diocesan bishop at home that winter. A question for the Church map.
• Inge's death (1202): snl.no says he was killed on Helgøya in Lake Mjøsa, by local farmers in its introduction and by his own men in its body; en.wikipedia says Storøya outside Fagernes in Valdres, by his own men.
• Surrender of Tunsberg: en.wikipedia 25 January 1202; snl.no (Sverre) 'around New Year 1202'; snl.no (Reidar Sendemann) gives 1201, which clashes with its own note that Sverre died just under two months later.
• Oslo 1197: 25 July (Koht's translation; en.wikipedia History of Oslo) or 26 July (en.wikipedia Sverre of Norway).
• en.wikipedia (Tønsberg Fortress) dates the attack of the men of the Uplands, Viken, Telemark and Tunsberg on Sverre at Oslo to 1201; it is 6 March 1200 (Koht; en.wikipedia Sverre of Norway).

Evidence: The only full narrative is Sverris saga, written on Sverre's side (its first part at his dictation); the Bagler's own saga (Böglunga sögur) starts in 1202. The encyclopaedias (snl.no, Norsk biografisk leksikon, Wikipedia) summarise the saga and disagree on several dates. Where the Bagler chiefs are on the exact morning of 1 January 1200 is not pinned; the ground they hold that winter is a judgement from en.wikipedia's statement that they stayed strong in Hedmark and Østerdal and from their seat at Hamar in 1196-99.

On the map: The Bagler ground on 1 January 1200 is drawn as the Hedmark and Østerdal districts that leaned to them; it is a judgement, not a line the sources draw. Their real strength that winter is a fleet and war bands returning from Denmark, and the farmers' anger in Viken, shown by the contested ground, the Viken war-zone belt and the farmers' province. The forests of Idre and Särna, now Swedish, were originally part of Norway (en.wikipedia Särna: occupied from Älvdalen in 1644, border fixed in 1751); their settlement in 1200 is not known, and they are anchored with Østerdal.

Primary sources for this realm

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 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 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
• The Norwegian diplomatarium and the Norwegian regesta (documents of 1050 to 1590; Regesta vol. 1 covers 991 to 1263 and was published 1898). The Norwegian documents of the year are few and mostly papal: Innocent III's letters on Sverre's excommunication and the interdict, the correspondence of the exiled Archbishop Eirik and the bishops, and a handful of church grants. Read online