Håkon VI. (Norway)

Coat of arms of Håkon VI. as king of Norway and Sweden

Håkon VI. Magnusson (* around 1341 ; † 1380 ) was King of Norway , co-king of Sweden 1362–64, son of King Magnus Eriksson of Sweden and Norway and Blanche of Namur .

Life

King of Norway

In 1343 Magnus Eriksson appointed his two-year-old son King of Norway. In 1355, Haakon came of age under Norwegian law at the age of 14 and thus entered the government. His brother Erik, who was still a minor under Swedish law, was intended as heir to the throne for Sweden. His father Magnus kept the area around Tønsberg , Iceland , the Orkneys , Shetland , the Faroe Islands and Hålogaland , which meant practically all of Northern Norway. In addition, Magnus continued to rule over eastern Norway and western Sweden, including the central Båhus castle due to the morning offering to Blanche of Namur.

Engagement to Margarethe

Waldemar Atterdag tried in vain to use the opportunity of the revolt of Håkon's brother Erik in 1356 against his father for the Swedish crown to win back Scania. In 1359 the two kings were reconciled and sealed the new peace with the engagement between Håkon and Waldemar's daughter, Margarete . On this occasion, Duke Erich von Sachsen-Lauenburg got Båhus Castle.

Co-king in Sweden

In 1359 his brother Erik died and shortly afterwards his pregnant wife Beatrix without leaving any heirs. Magnus immediately moved in the previous domain of Erik. In 1360 Waldemar Atterdag succeeded in regaining Skåne . This generated the displeasure of the Swedish nobility and also made the Hanseatic League and the northern German areas restless, as Denmark now controlled the Øresund . Magnus allied with the Hanseatic League to win Skåne back, but that failed. Instead, his son Håkon imprisoned him in Kalmar Castle . After a settlement he was released and Håkon became King of Sweden on February 15, 1362 in place of his dead brother and next to his father.

Marriage to Margarethe

His father was now at odds with the Danish King Waldemar Atterdag and broke off the engagement between his son and his daughter and engaged him to the Count's daughter Elisabeth from Holstein, probably in order to get Denmark under pressure with this alliance. But the marriage did not materialize. Another change of course followed, and the endeavor to establish a dynastic alliance with Denmark led to the marriage of Håkon and Margaret of Denmark in 1363 , with whom he had a son, Olav . Elisabeth lost the prospect of the Norwegian throne and later married Albrecht IV of Mecklenburg as the result of an alliance pact between the Holsteiners from Schauenburg and the Mecklenburg Obodrites .

Loss of Sweden

In 1363 the Swedish Imperial Council deposed Magnus and offered the crown to Albrecht von Mecklenburg , who was second in line to the throne as the son of Magnus' sister after Håkon. Albrecht invaded Sweden with the support of the North German princes and was crowned in 1364.

In 1365 Magnus fell into Albrecht's hands at the Battle of Gata. Håkon was the sole ruler of Norway and the territories of the Folkung people who remained loyal to the king . Håkon concluded an alliance with Waldemar Atterdag, as both pursued the same interests towards the Swedish king, the Hanseatic League and the north German princes.

In 1370, Håkon sought negotiations with King Albrecht about the release of his father. At the same time, a severe plague epidemic struck Oslo and the surrounding area, so that supplies for the population collapsed. In order to give pressure to his negotiations, he had ordered a general mobilization for southern Norwegian areas. But the plague prevented the formation of sufficient troops.

The following year the Swedes rose against the Mecklenburgers. With the support of the rebels, Håkon succeeded in besieging Stockholm with his army. Then it came to a contract in which Håkon renounced Sweden and got his father free for an amount between 6,000 and 8,000 genuine marks . The fortress of Båhus was pledged for this. After his release, Magnus moved to Bergen .

Relationship with the church

Bishop Benedikt Ringstad and Pope Gregory XI died there in 1371 . appointed Jakob Jensson, probably a Dane, previously papal penitentiary for Dacia . He was one of the four Norwegian bishops who began their careers in the papal curia and was a Dominican . He had apparently been friends with the royal family before and gave them some papal privileges. One of them was that for the king a mass could be read before dawn if his business so required - of particular importance for the pious king in a country with long nights and short days in winter when he was out and about.

Domestic politics

His efforts initially focused on the economic stabilization of Norway. For better control he concentrated foreign trade by granting privileges to a few coastal towns. He countered the rural exodus into the more lucrative trade, which diminished the lease income from agriculture, by prohibiting anyone who owned less than 15 forngilde marks from doing business. He introduced a duty on goods imported from Iceland.

The death of the father

When the king returned with his son Olav and Margarethe in autumn 1374 after visiting Denmark, they drove to Tønsberg. Magnus also wanted to come there to celebrate Christmas with them. Autumn was very stormy and the royal ship sank on December 1, 1374 when entering the Bømlofjord . The king's body was the only one found.

death

Håkon died in 1380 and was buried in St. Mary's Church in Oslo. After his death, his son was named Olav IV. King of Norway. However, since he was still a minor, Margarethe took over the regency and thus founded the union between Norway and Denmark, which lasted until 1814.

Footnotes

1. ^ Fritz p. 47 fn. 48.
2. ↑ Haug p. 95.
3. ↑ Haug p. 96 f.
4. ↑ Halvard Bjørkvik: Håkon 6 Magnusson . In: Norsk biografisk leksikon . September 28, 2014 ( snl.no [accessed September 20, 2017]).

literature

• Birgitta Fritz: Hus, land och län: Förwaltningen i Sverige 1250-1434. 2 vols. Stockholm 1972–1973.
• Hans Gillingstam: Håka in Svensk Biografisk Lexikon .
• Eldbjørg Haug: Margrete. Den siste Dronningen i Sverreætten . Oslo 2000.
• Lars O. Lagerqvist: Sverige och des regenter under 1000 år . Norrtälje 1976. ISBN 91-0-041538-3 . P. 89.

Web links

Commons : Håkon VI. (Norway)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Magnus VII / II.	King of Norway 1355-1380	Olav IV.
Magnus VII / II.	King of Sweden (with Magnus II ) 1362–1364	Albrecht III.