58 Facts About Haakon IV

Haakon IV's reign lasted for 46 years, longer than any Norwegian king since Harald Fairhair.

Haakon IV was born into the troubled civil war era in Norway, but his reign eventually managed to put an end to the internal conflicts.

Haakon IV put a definitive end to the civil war era when he had Skule Bardsson killed in 1240, a year after he had himself proclaimed king in opposition to Haakon.

Haakon IV was at different points offered the imperial crown by the pope, the High Kingship of Ireland by a delegation of Irish kings, and the command of the French crusader fleet by the French king.

Haakon IV amplified the influence of European culture in Norway by importing and translating contemporary European literature into Old Norse, and by constructing monumental European-style stone buildings.

Haakon IV was succeeded by his second son, Magnus VI.

When he arrived, he learned that Haakon IV was in Scotland, and that Magnus ruled Norway in his place.

King Haakon IV was the leader of the Birkebeiner faction in the ongoing civil war against the Bagler faction.

Haakon IV was dead by the time his son Haakon was born, but Inga's claim was supported by several of the king's followers.

Haakon IV was born in Bagler-controlled territory, and his mother's claim placed them in a dangerous position.

When Haakon IV was in Bergen under the care of Haakon IV the Crazy, he began his education at the age of seven, likely at the Bergen Cathedral School.

Haakon IV continued his education under King Inge at the Trondheim Cathedral School after the Earl's death in 1214.

Haakon IV was brought up alongside Inge's son Guttorm, and they were treated as the same.

When he was eleven, some of Haakon IV's friends provoked the king by asking him to give Haakon IV a region to govern.

When Haakon IV was approached by the men and was urged to take up arms against Inge, he rejected it in part because of his young age and its bad prospects, as well as because he believed it would be morally wrong to fight Inge and thus split the Birkebeiner.

Haakon IV instead said that he prayed that God would give him his share of his father's inheritance when the time was right.

Haakon IV was supported by the majority of Birkebeiners, including the veterans who had served under his father and grandfather.

Haakon IV was later the same year hailed as king at Gulating in Bergen, and at Haugating, Borgarting and local things east of Elven.

Skule and Haakon IV increasingly drifted apart in their administration, and Skule focused mainly on governing Eastern Norway after 1220, which he had gained the right to rule in 1218 as his third of the Norwegian kingdom.

In 1224, Sigurd escaped from Skule's custody, and Haakon IV was left to fight him alone as the new ruler of Eastern Norway.

Skule remained passive throughout the rest of the war, and his support for Haakon IV was lukewarm at best.

Haakon IV accepted the proposal, but the marriage between Haakon IV and Margrete did not take place before 1225, partly due to the conflict with Sigurd.

Haakon IV nonetheless had a strong personal desire to be approved fully as a European king.

Several papal commissions were appointed to investigate the matter, and Haakon IV declared his legitimate son Haakon IV the Young his successor instead of an older living illegitimate son.

Haakon IV attempted to strengthen his ties with the papacy by taking a vow to go on Crusade.

Haakon IV finally achieved royal recognition by Pope Innocent in 1246, and Cardinal William of Sabina was sent to Bergen and crowned Haakon IV in 1247.

Haakon IV built several monumental royal buildings, primarily in the royal estate in Bergen, where he built a European-style stone palace.

Haakon IV used a grand fleet with stately royal ships when meeting with other Scandinavian rulers, and actively sent letters and gifts to other European rulers; his most far-reaching contact was achieved when he sent gyrfalcons with an embassy to the sultan of Tunis.

Haakon IV's programme seems to have been the spark for the emergence of a new Norse genre of chivalric sagas.

Haakon IV initiated legal reforms which were crucial for the development of justice in Norway.

Haakon IV's "New Law", written around 1260, was a breakthrough for both the idea and practice of public justice, as opposed to the traditional Norwegian customs of feuds and revenge.

Since the Danes wanted overlordship of Norway and supported the Guelphs, Haakon IV in turn sought closer ties with the Ghibelline Emperor Frederick II, who sent ambassadors to Norway.

Haakon IV pursued a foreign policy that was active in all directions.

In 1250, Haakon IV made a peace and trade agreement with Lubeck, which eventually opened the city of Bergen to the Hanseatic League.

In Scandinavia, Haakon IV regularly met with neighbouring rulers in the border-area around Elven from the late 1240s through the 1250s.

Haakon IV sent grand fleets as embassies; some reportedly numbered over 300 ships.

Haakon IV reconciled with the Swedes when he his son Haakon IV the Young married Rikissa, a daughter of Swedish leader Earl Birger.

Haakon IV sought to expand his kingdom southwards of Elven into the Danish province of Halland.

Haakon IV thus looked for alliance with the Swedes, as well as ties with opponents of the ruling line of monarchs of Denmark.

In 1249, Haakon IV allied with Earl Birger for a joint Swedish-Norwegian invasion into Halland and Scania, but the agreement was eventually abandoned by the Swedes.

Haakon IV claimed Halland in 1253, and finally invaded the province on his own in 1256, demanding it as compensation for the looting of Norwegian ships in Danish seas.

Haakon IV thereafter negotiated a marriage between his only remaining son, Magnus, and Christopher's niece Ingeborg.

At the request of Alfonso, Haakon IV sent his daughter Christina to Castile to marry one of Alfonso's brothers.

Haakon IV employed an active and aggressive foreign policy to strengthen Norwegian ties in the west.

Haakon IV sought to defend the Norwegian sovereignty over islands in the west, namely the Hebrides and Man, Shetland and Orkney, and the Faroe Islands.

Further, the Norse community in Greenland agreed to submit to the Norwegian crown in 1261, and in 1262 Haakon IV achieved one of his long-standing ambitions when he incorporated Iceland into his kingdom by exploiting the island's internal conflicts in his favour.

The dependency on Norwegian maritime trade and their subordination to the Nidaros ecclesiastical province were some of the key reasons which allowed Haakon IV to assert sovereignty over the islands.

Haakon IV had at the same time gained stronger control of the Hebrides and Man than any Norwegian ruler since Magnus Barefoot.

In 1263, the dispute with the Scottish king over the Hebrides induced Haakon IV to undertake an expedition to the islands.

Haakon IV learned in 1262 that Scottish nobles had raided the Hebrides and that Alexander III planned to conquer the islands.

In 1263 Haakon IV mounted an expedition with his formidable leidang fleet of at least 120 ships.

Haakon IV had become accustomed to negotiating while backed by an intimidating fleet.

Haakon IV over-wintered at the Bishop's Palace in Kirkwall, Orkney, with plans to resume his campaign the next year.

Haakon IV was buried in the St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall for the winter; in spring, his body was exhumed and taken back to Norway, where he was buried in the Old Cathedral in his capital Bergen.

Haakon IV has often been compared with Skule Bardsson, and historians have taken sides in the old conflict.

Haakon IV interprets Haakon as an independent and strong-willed ruler to whom he assigns a "significant personal responsibility" for the policies pursued during his reign: notably regarding the internal consolidation of the kingship, the orientation towards European culture and the aggressive foreign policy.

Helle nonetheless recognises the substantial political abilities and powerful determination Haakon IV must have had in order to progress from the difficult position in which he started his reign.

Haakon IV had three illegitimate children with his mistress Kanga the Younger av Folkindberg, before 1225.