Hákon Grjótgarðsson

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King Harald Fairhair - first opponent then ally and son-in-law of Jarl Hákon Grjótgarðsson - here receives the kingdom from the hands of his father (illustration from the Icelandic Flateyjarbók , 14th century)

Hákon Grjótgarðsson ( Norwegian Håkon Grjotgardsson ; * around 860-870; † around 900 near Fjalir ) was the first historically ascertainable Jarl von Lade ( Ladejarl ). He was first an opponent, then an ally and finally the father-in-law of King Harald Fairhair and supported him in the unification of Norway, whereby Hákon was able to expand his domain considerably and Harald Fairhair became the first king of (almost) all of Norway .

origin

Hákon Grjótgarðsson came from an old Norwegian dynasty that ruled the small kingdom of Trøndelag , which was located in the eastern part of Trondheim . After the " Heimskringla " he was the son and heir of Grjótgarðr Herlaugsson King of Trøndelag and a grandson of Herlaugr Haraldsson, the Jarl von Namdalen (today in the province of Trøndelag), perhaps also Jarl von Halogaland (today in the provinces of Nordland and Troms ) was.

The older ancestors can be found in the Skaldic poem Háleygjatal, which the poet Eyvindr Skáldaspillir († 990) wrote towards the end of the 10th century in honor of Hákon jarl Sigurðarson , the grandson of Hákon Grjótgarðsson, around whose family origins match that of King Harald Fairhair to equate. The descent of Jarl Hákon was traced back to the legendary kings of Halogaland and finally to the Nordic god Odin (Wotan).

Life

Ladegård estate, which Jarl Hákon lived in before the year 900, in a depiction around the year (1819)

The primary source of Hákon's life is the saga of Harald Fairhair, written by the Icelandic statesman historian and poet Snorri Sturluson as part of his work "Heimskringla" at the beginning of the 13th century. Accordingly, Hákon succeeded his father as King of Trøndelag and established his residence in Ørland on a peninsula at the mouth of the Trondheimsfjord in the North Sea .

Nordfjord and Oldedalen, which Hákon Grjótgarðsson ruled as Jarl

Hákon Grjótgarðsson, who was also called Jarl Hákon the Rich (Old Norse: Hákon jarl inn ríki), tried to expand his little kingdom to the south, but met Harald Fairhair, who in turn was about to establish his domain by conquering the province of Trøndelag to expand. This resulted in several military confrontations, but eventually an agreement and a cooperation in which the two armed forces were united to jointly advance the unification of Norway. This tactic turned out to be very successful for Jarl Hákon, as King Harald Fairhair appointed him Jarl of Sunnfjord (in the province of Sogn og Fjordane in western Norway) and Nordfjord . He then moved his residence to the Ladegård estate in the municipality of Lade (Old Norse: Hlaðir) northeast of the city of Trondheim on the Trondheimsfjord, and this estate became the namesake and permanent residence of the Jarl von Lade.

After Harald Fairhair had conquered the provinces of Møre og Romsdal and Fjordane, he transferred Møre to Rǫgnvaldr Eysteinsson and the province of Fjordane to Hákon.

However, Hákon's ambition was not yet satisfied, which is why he tried to bring the province of Sogn under his control. At that time, however, Sogn was controlled by Jarl Atli inn mjóvi , who appears in both the Heimskringla and the Egils saga as a friend of Halfdan the Black , King of Vestfold (father of Harald Fairhair). Atli was by no means ready to cede his rule to Jarl Hákon. This led to a conflict and the battle of Fjalir in the Bay of Stafaness, in which Jarl Hákon was killed. His opponent Jarl Atli was seriously wounded and died of his injuries in Atløy soon after. Eyvindr Skáldaspillir wrote a poem about it, which is preserved in the Heimskringla, in which he describes the death of Jarl Hákon, whom he describes as the descendant of the goddess Freya , in the fight at Stafaness.

progeny

According to the European family tables

  1. Ása Hákonardóttir ∞ Harald Fairhair, King of Norway; † 940
    1. Guthormr Haraldsson, King of Rånrike
    2. Halfdanr Haraldsson "Kvite", King of Trondheim; † in Estonia
    3. Halfdanr Haraldsson "Svarte" (the black), King of Trondheim
    4. Sigrøðr Haraldsson, King of Trondheim
  2. Sigurðr Hákonarson , Jarl of Ark; † 962, ∞ Bergljót Þórisdóttir, a daughter of Þórir Ragnvaldsson, Jarl von Møre († around 940) and Álǫf árbót, princess of Norway
    1. Hákon Sigurðarson "the Mighty", Jarl von Ark, around 970 imperial administrator of Norway; † murdered in 995, ∞ Þóra Skagadóttir, daughter of Skagi Skoptason. (Hákon was the progenitor of the later Ladejarls)
  3. Grjótgarðr Hákonarson
    1. Rannveig Grjótgarðsdóttir ∞ Þorgrímr Harðrefsson

literature

  • Angelo Forte, Richard Oram, Frederik Pedersen: Viking Empires. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2005, ISBN 0-521-82992-5 .
  • Peter Sawyer (Ed.): The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Håkon Grjotgardsson (Store norske leksikon. Norges historie fram til 1050. Forfatter, Per G. Norseng)
  2. Snorri Sturluson. Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway , translated Lee M. Hollander, Reprinted University of Texas Press, Austin, 1992. ISBN 0-292-73061-6 .
  3. European Family Tables New Series Volume II: The states outside Germany. JA Stargardt, Marburg 1984. Plate 106.