Magnus VI. (Norway)

Magnus lagabøte in Stavanger Cathedral

Magnus publishes the Landslov.

Magnus VI. Håkonsson, called lagabætir (= lawmaker), (* May 1, 1238 ; † May 9, 1280 ) was King of Norway from 1263 to 1280 . He married Ingeborg Eriksdatter . With her he had the sons Erik and Håkon .

He was the son of Håkon Håkonsson and Margarete Skulesdatter and was married to Ingeborg, the daughter of Erik IV. Plogpenning of Denmark. He was a learned man, as his legislative work shows. He received the royal title in 1257 and was crowned in 1261.

Magnus broke with the expansion policy of his father and led peace negotiations with Alexander III. of Scotland , which ended in the Peace of Perth in 1266 . In it he gave up the Isle of Man and the Hebrides in favor of Scotland for 4,000 marks sterling and an annual fee of 100 marks (which the Scots had not paid since 1270). In return, Scotland recognized Norwegian rule over the Orkneys and Shetland Islands . The reason for this peace lay in the Norwegian-English trade tract of 1223. Trade between England and Norway suffered from the war and the English merchants pressed for peace.

He got his nickname because of his major legal reform. At the Thing Assemblies of 1274 the new land law ( Landslov ) was passed, at those of 1276 the new city law ( bylov ). It was also adapted for Iceland and the Faroe Islands . In a new hirðskrá the duties and privileges of the aristocracy were redefined. When he intervened in the legal relations of the church, however, he met the resistance of Archbishop Jon Raudes . This led to protracted disputes between state and church, which were then settled with a settlement in Tønsberg in 1277 .

His pragmatic attitude was also expressed in the succession dispute over his wife Ingeborg, which he was able to settle peacefully without armed conflict with Denmark. In the 1270s he tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to mediate in the throne disputes in Sweden . He founded Norwegian diplomacy as a separate apparatus.

The great reformer of Norway died in May 1280 at the age of 42.

Web links

• Magnus 6 Håkonsson Lagabøte (Norwegian)

See also: History of Norway

predecessor	Office	successor
Haakon IV. Skule Bårdsson	King of Norway 1263–1280	Erik II