Håkon I. (Norway)

Håkon at an audience (historical painting from 1860 by Peter Nicolai Arbo )

Håkon I the Good (* around 920 ; † around 961 ) was the third king of Norway and one of the youngest sons of Harald I. Since nothing is known about Harald's sons, it is not certain whether he was really the youngest. He must have won the rule around 935.

Life

On the mother's side he was nowhere near as posh as his older brother and predecessor Erik . His mother's name was Tora from Moster in Sunnhordland. The sagas are the main source of his life. They report that Tora was a maid of Harald and that he gave her the nickname mosterstange (“long rod”, from Old Norse mostr “crowd”) because of her tall and narrow stature .

In spite of his lower origins, after Erik he was promoted more than the other brothers and became an important factor in his father's foreign policy. He was sent to King Æthelstan in England to receive a royal education there. That is why he was also called Adalsteinfostre ( fostre = foster son). In this way he became acquainted with the internal conditions of a Christian empire, which was one of the most distinguished in Western Europe, and also became a Christian himself. The English king raised him in the Christian tradition and, after the news of his father's death, provided him with ships and troops for a campaign against his half-brother Erik I. Blood ax ( Eiríkr blóðøx ), who had been proclaimed the new king. Upon his arrival in Norway, he won the support of the landowners by promising them to give up the right to taxation on inherited property that his father had claimed.

Snorri lets him be the tidy realm king with rule over Vestland , Oppland and Vik . The contemporary skaldic poems speak of him only as king of Vestland and the area north of it. In addition, Trøndelag and Northern Norway may have been under the rule of Sigurd Ladejarl and possibly very indirectly under Håkon. Sigurd seems to have been his best support in the rule. Later Sigurd was killed by the Erik sons. The following in the Battle of Fitjar , which is described in the Hákonarmál , allows conclusions to be drawn about his actual domain: They were the Haløyger and the Holmryger . There were certainly more, but the special mention of these names indicates the limits of power. In any case, there were no fighters from the east and Håkon should not have ruled there either.

The skalds report that Håkon's opponents came from abroad. Inside his domain it was peaceful. In contrast to his father and brother Erik, who ruled with a hard hand, he got on well with the population. His enemies were the sons of Erik Blodøks and King Harald Blue Tooth of Denmark, behind whom their mother Gunnhild also stood. When he became king in 950, Harald had already been in office for 15 years. On the one hand, Håkon is said to have invaded Denmark, then fights are reported in Avaldsnes on Karmøy near Frei in Nordmøre and finally in Fitjar on Stord . In this fight, which the Hákonarmál calls Odins strormvær ('Odin's stormy weather'), Håkon was so wounded that he soon died and could no longer implement his victory. Even his closest circle ignored his religion, so the poem Hákonarmál lets him move to Valhalla .

The question of the succession was settled in that his sons should succeed him. However, the Norwegian people had suffered so much through the years of war that they greeted Harald Blauzahn's Danish invasion forces. He then installed Erik's sons as Jarle under his suzerainty.

literature

• Claus Krag: Håkon 1 Adalsteinsfostre. In: Håkon 1 Adalsteinsfostre , accessed on November 10, 2010.
• Claus Krag: Vikingtid og rikssamling, 800–1130 (= Aschehougs Norges historie. Volume 2). Aschehoug, Oslo 1995, ISBN 82-03-22015-0 .
• Kim Hjardar: Håkon den gode og slaget ved Fitjar . In: Per Erik Olsen (ed.): Norges Kriger. Fra Hafrsfjord to Afghanistan . Oslo 2011. ISBN 978-82-8211-107-2 . Pp. 10-17. Pp. 18-23.

See also

History of Norway from Harald Hårfagre to the unification of the empire

Commons : Håkon I. (Norway)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Erik I.	King of Norway 935–961	Harald II