Håkon III. (Norway)

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Håkon III. Sverresson (* around / after 1170 ; † January 1, 1204 ), Old Norse : Hákon Sverrisson, was the Birkebein king of Norway from 1202 .

He was born as the second illegitimate son of Sverre , King of Norway 1184-1202, but at that time still an adventurer on the Faroe Islands , and his concubine Astrid Roesdatter .

The civil war in Norway from 1130 to 1240 had various reasons, including an unclear succession plan in the event of the death of the respective king, social circumstances, the power struggle between church and king as well as disputes between various noble families, which ultimately led to the emergence of two parties - the baglers and Birkebeiner - led. The followers of the individual parties usually rallied around the son of a king in order to underpin their claim to power.

Håkon is mentioned for the first time in 1197 on the occasion of a battle against the Baglers in Oslo as one of the leaders of his father's army and subsequently several times as a participant in these battles. On the death bed, Sverre declared that Håkon was his only living son and wrote him a letter in which he asked him to settle the longstanding conflict with the church. Håkon was an educated man and is considered to be the translator of the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat from Latin into the normal language.

The main sources about Håkon's life are the Sverris saga and the Bagler sagas , both written shortly after the corresponding events in the 13th century.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ R. Keyser , CR Unger : Barlaams og Josaphats saga . Christiania 1851. pp. XIII f.

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predecessor Office successor
Sverre Sigurdsson King of Norway
1202–1204
Guttorm Sigurdsson