Magnus IV (Norway)

The mutilation of King Magnus

Reidar Grjotgardsson tries to save Magnus the blind and is killed with a spear in the back.

Magnus Sigurdsson (the blind ) (* around 1115 ; † November 12, 1139 ) was king in Norway from 1130 to 1135. He was the illegitimate son of Sigurd Jorsalfari . Harald Gille was king with him at the same time , whom Sigurd had recognized as a brother after an iron test . He was the first king of the Civil War era.

Magnus the Blind and Harald Gille

The cause of the civil war was King Sigurd's efforts to abolish polygamy and to ensure that there was always only one king in Norway. Sigurd only accepted his new brother Harald on the condition that he did not reach for royal power as long as he and Magnus lived. But the people did not accept this new rule of succession. Due to his sociable nature, Harald had many supporters among the people and among the royal feudal people. This was also due to his greater generosity, which the recipients of gifts obliged him to do. In contrast, Magnus was downright unpopular.

His struggle for power

Magnus was paid homage to the Thing in Oslo in 1130. At the same time, Harald was paid homage to Tønsberg. Magnus could not prevent this due to the balance of power and accepted him as co-king. Both were honored as kings on the Øyra thing .

1132 married Malmfrid Mstislavsdatter, the exiled wife of Magnus' father and mother of his only legitimate child, the daughter Kristin Sigurdsdatter, the son of King Erik I. Ejegod of Denmark Erik Emune . She arranged the marriage of the young king to her niece Kristin Knutsdatter, the daughter of Jarls von Schleswig , Erik Emune's brother Knud Lavard , and her sister Ingeborg Mstislavsdatter von Kiev , which was closed in 1133 but remained childless. In 1131 Knud Lavard was murdered by his uncle, King Niels and his son Magnus . In 1133 Erik Emune and Malmfrid fled to Norway, but received no support from Magnus in the fight against Niels, but from Harald Gille.

In the winter camp in Trondheim in 1133/1134 there was a dispute between the two kings, and Magnus decided to drive Harald out of the empire. Both rallied armed forces and armied in the feudal territories of the other king. 1134 it came to the first Civil War battle in the area of Bohuslän . Magnus's force was larger, and he was victorious. Harald fled to Denmark, where he won the support of Erik Emune, who in the meantime had defeated King Niels and became King of Denmark when Erik II. Magnus Sigurdson felt safe now, dismissed his army and went to Bergen . But Harald returned with a Danish army in 1135 and defeated Magnus in Bergen. Magnus was captured, his foot was cut off, he was blinded and castrated. He was then imprisoned in the Nidarholm monastery near Trondheim.

The Sigurd Slembe uprising and Magnus' death

In 1136 there was a new candidate for the king, Sigurd Slembe , who claimed to be one of Magnus Berføtt's sons . He attacked Harald Gille in Bergen and killed him in the bed of one of his lovers. Then he freed Magnus around New Year 1137 and made him his fellow king in order to gain the support of his followers. The supporters of the slain Harald Gille did not give up, especially since the murder of a man in his sleep was considered "envious work", but chose Harald's sons Sigurd II. Munn and Inge Krogrygg as kings, even though they were still children. In 1139 there was another battle near Strömstad , in which Sigurd Slembe and Magnus the Blind were defeated and killed.

literature

• Halvard Bjørvik: Folketap og sammenbrudd 1350-1520 . In: Aschehougs Norges historie. Volume 3, Oslo 1996.
• Nils Petter Thuesen: Norges historie i årstall. Oslo 2004.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bernd Roeck: The morning of the world . 1st edition. CH Beck, 2017, p. 330 .

predecessor	Office	successor
Sigurd Jorsalfari	King of Norway 1130–1135	Harald Gille