1. Magnus Heinason was a Faroese naval hero, trader and privateer.
26 Facts About Magnus Heinason
1. 2.
Magnus Heinason served William the Silent and his son Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange for 10 years as a privateer, fighting the Spanish in the Dutch Revolt.
3.
Magnus Heinason was given the trading rights to the Faroe Islands by King Frederick II of Denmark and Norway.
4.
Magnus Heinason had a son with a Faroese lady Kollfina around 1560.
5.
When Magnus Heinason was 17 or 18 years old his father was transferred to Norway.
6.
Magnus Heinason was deeply upset by this incident and swore that he would take revenge.
7.
Magnus Heinason left Norway and went to the Netherlands where he joined the Navy.
8.
Magnus Heinason returned about 10 years later with commendations from Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange and his father William the Silent for bravery in combat at sea against the Spanish in the Dutch Revolt which eventually resulted in the liberation of the Dutch people from the Spanish crown.
9.
Magnus Heinason returned to Denmark with good recommendations from Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange - something that would be beneficial for him in later negotiations with the Danish King, Frederick II of Denmark and Norway.
10.
Magnus Heinason went to the king to improve his position by trying to prove that he was worthy to take over the trade on the Faroe Islands.
11.
Magnus Heinason requested one trip from Bergen to the Faroe Islands in order to get what belonged to him.
12.
The king couldn't see anything wrong in this plan being that Magnus Heinason was a man of word and honour.
13.
Magnus Heinason met with several of the farmers and high standing people on the Faroes including his half brother Jogvan Heinason, high Judge of the Faroes.
14.
Magnus Heinason talked these leaders into a small type of rebellion against the new government monopoly.
15.
Magnus Heinason should be able travel back and forth between the Faeroe Islands and Bergen trading in timber and wheat - two commodities which had become scarce since the government had monopolized trade for itself.
16.
The Faroese men who had traveled all the way to Kolding said that they wished to have a man called Magnus Heinason to be the commander of ships doing trade with their islands.
17.
Magnus Heinason was to decide what was in best interest for the king, since he was the one who had proposed to the king to begin a monopoly on the Faeroe Islands.
18.
Magnus Heinason first heard of this when he landed in Torshavn.
19.
Magnus Heinason himself had lost goods that were intended to be sold and then taxed by the king.
20.
Magnus Heinason left the Faroe Islands and went to Denmark to present this case to the king.
21.
Magnus Heinason wanted the king to cover the loss of the goods, since Magnus had paid for them and the king would have received taxes for them.
22.
Magnus Heinason requested that the king should allow him to arm his merchant ships with cannons so that he could fight the pirates or at least take them prisoner and then take them on shore for trial.
23.
Hence Magnus Heinason got letters of marque to stop and confiscate any foreign ship that intended to travel north along the coast of Norway with one stipulation however: That Magnus Heinason should not attack any merchant or navy vessels of any nation, if they were travelling "rightfully".
24.
Two years later he went back his former patron Frederick II, which set the bar over old accusations and let Magnus Heinason have the island of Egholm in Limfjord as a fief.
25.
Magnus Heinason fled again, but was overtaken and arrested in Norway.
26.
Today Magnus Heinason is regarded as a hero in the Faroe Islands.