Jon Kuvlung

Jon Kuvlung († December 1188 in Bergen ) was a Norwegian army king . His father was King Inge Krogrygg , according to another version, his parents were Peter and Astrid Steik from Bergen. He remained unmarried. He got his name "Kuvlung" (monk's robe) from the Birkebeinern , because he was a monk in the monastery Hovedøya at the beginning . He pretended to be the son of King Inge Krogrygg. According to the Sverres saga, which is closely related to the Birkebeiner, his real name was Orm and was the son of Peter and Astrid Steik von Bergen. The dispute over his ancestry is typical of the propaganda of the late civil war.

In the autumn of 1185, one year after the death of King Magnus Erlingssons , a group of rebels from the former supporters of King Magnus rose up in Viken and declared Jon Kuvlung as heir to the throne. The leading figures were people from Vestlandet under their leader, the feudal man Simon Kåresson, the father of the future Bagler King Philipp Simonsson . Jon was proclaimed king at Haugating near Tønsberg . Many men from Viken called Kuvlunge gathered around him. He procured ships and subjugated the coastal region to Bergen, where he wintered. In 1186 he turned back to Viken, where he was able to drive out the followers of King Sverre .

In other parts of the country, too, the Kuvlunge caused difficulties for King Sverre, although they could not establish themselves there. In the autumn of 1186 they surprised King Sverre with his birch legs in Trondheim , where they captured the Sverre fleet before it could leave for Bergen to winter. In the spring, Jon moved to Trondheim again, but did not dare open a field battle against Sverre on land. When he set out for Bergen in the summer, his fleet was scattered by a storm near Stad . At that moment Sverre came from the north with a large force and Jon had to retreat to Viken. When Sverre moved east with a superior force in the summer of 1188, the Kuvlunge took the overland route from Tønsberg to Trondheim, which they captured including Sverresborg fortress. In late autumn 1188 they drove south to Bergen, robbed and looted along the way and demanded high taxes from the residents of Bergen. Shortly before Christmas they were surprised by Sverre and the Birkebeinern near Bergen on the way back to Viken. When Jon from Vågen rowed against the enemy, his troops abandoned him. He ran into a skerry and was killed by the birch legs. That was the end of the Kuvlunge uprising.

The uprising of Jon Kuvlung showed that the nobles around the former King Magnus had strong forces, which was noticeable in the later Bagler Wars .

literature

• Knut Helle: Article “Jon Kuvlung” in: Norsk biografisk leksikon , accessed on October 26, 2010.
• Knut Helle: Under kirke og kongemakt 1130–1350. Aschehougs Norges history. Vol. 3. Oslo 1995.

See also

• King Sverre

predecessor	Office	successor
Magnus V. Sverre Sigurdsson	Anti-King of Norway 1188	Sverre Sigurdsson Sigurd Magnusson