Battle of Fimreite
The Battle of Fimreite 1184 is considered one of the three most storied battles in Norwegian medieval history. The other two were Harald Hårfagre's battle on the Hafrsfjord and the battle of Olav the Holy against his adversary Sven near Nesjar on the Oslofjord, which brought him sole rule over all of Norway as the first king.
The source
The battle of Fimreite is described in detail in the Sverre saga ( Sverris saga ). It was written during Sverri's lifetime by the abbot of the Icelandic Þingeyrarkloster Karl Jónsson , who stayed in Norway from 1185 to 1188/1189. Sverre thus influenced the content of the saga, at least until 1188. After that, the conflict between Sverre and the church began and Karl was again abbot in the Þingeyrar monastery. But research suggests that he was in Norway again from 1203 to 1207. It cannot be said whether Karl wrote the saga alone or whether others later revised it. It is the only source from the time of King Sverre. It is essentially considered credible by research, as King Sverre is not only judged positively, but also describes his wrong decision when building the ship Maríusúð to cut it apart in the middle after completion and lengthen it by six meters. A more detailed discussion can be found in the article on the Sverris saga.
prehistory
The Battle of Fimreite was part of the civil war between the royal power, represented by King Magnus , and the Birkebeinern led by Sverre . This was preceded by the two battles of Kalvskinn in 1179 and of Ilevoll in 1180, both near Trondheim, and then in 1181 a sea battle near Bergen, all three of which were victorious for Sverre. After the sea battle off Bergen in 1181, Magnus had to move to Denmark. Nevertheless, Sverre was on the whole still inferior to the king, both in terms of his troops and in terms of support in the country and with the church, which Magnus considered the legitimate king by God's grace. Sverre's weakness was his small naval force. In 1182/1183 he therefore had a fleet built. His ship, the "Maríusúð", the largest ship, was a thirty-two seater . Most of the ships were twenty and twenty-five seaters. In the spring of 1184 he owned a sizeable fleet with the "Maríusúð" with a crew of 320 at the head. The special thing about these ships was that they were particularly high-sided, at least with a higher deck than usual, so that they could usually attack enemy ships from above, but they themselves were difficult to board.
Sverre thought King Magnus was still in Denmark, and in June 1184 he went on a punitive expedition to the Sognefjord because the peasants there had revolted against him. When he left Nidaros in April, he had 23 ships, three of which he dispatched to Bergen. Apparently he expected considerable resistance and therefore assumed that 20 ships were needed for the punitive expedition. The residents of the Sognefjord had nominally 16 twenty-five-seaters as ships of passion . In June he entered the Sognefjord. On April 4, 1184, King Magnus set out from Denmark with a fleet of 26 ships and came to Tønsberg on April 29. From there he drove to Lista and had to wait a week for a good wind to continue. When he got to Karmsund , he found out about Sverre's journey. He sailed on immediately and came to the Sognefjord on June 15, where he learned the exact location of Sverres. He then drove further into the fjord to today's Sogndalsfjord, a small arm of the fjord that branches off to the north of the Sognefjord. Sverre's fleet was there. This was obviously taken by surprise when the king's fleet appeared. The sure assumption that the king was in Denmark had led to the neglect of the reconnaissance services.
The course of the battle
The battle began on the afternoon of June 15 and was decided at sunset, around 9 p.m. The main role in the battle was played by two men who were in command of the respective fleet. On the Maríusúð it was Tord Finngeirsbror, and on the ship of King Magnus, a twenty-six seater, it was Orm Kongsbror. Tord had about 15 years of sea combat experience. The Sverres team was far inferior to King Magnus' team. Sverre had sent three ships to Bergen, some ships with many fighters were on their way to Sogndal for the punitive expedition. When the battle started, Sverre only had 12 under-crewed ships. During the battle two of his ships from Sogndal joined them. When the Birkebeiner saw the enemy ships approaching, they hurriedly prepared for the battle, as there was no way out. The ship's entrenchments were erected and stones were brought on board from land. Then the ships were turned with the stern at right angles to the bank and made ready for rowing.
Tord and the King deviated from the usual combat formation by not tying their ships together at the stern, contrary to all rules, but allowing them to sail individually; because they hoped for a greater benefit from their high jumps in action. In addition, their men were better trained than the conscript men on the king's ships, who were mainly farmers. This new tactic of not tying the ships together was the measure that ultimately led to victory.
On the side of King Magnus and his Admiral Orm, the strategy was very different. You were in the majority and had the initiative. From their perspective, Sverre was sandwiched between land and their fleet. The king only looked at the ship Maríusúð. His motto was: If we have Maríusúð, the other ships are no longer a problem. Orm thought differently from a purely military point of view: He wanted to take action against the smaller ships first in order to weaken the defense of the Maríusúð, while the ones would be difficult To conquer Maríusúð while the other ships could rush to her aid. The king prevailed. All ships were tied together as usual, the king's ship at the end and the south coast closest. They tied them tightly and there was only rowing on the outer walls of the outer ships. When the ship formations rowed against each other, the battle on the part of the ships of Magnus began with a rain of arrows, which was largely intercepted by the shields. The Maríusúð was still turning on the enemy when the ships collided. Several ships of King Magnus crashed into the broadside of the Maríusúð. Sverre's fleet was still dangerously close to the bank, and still behind the Maríusúð, which now lay parallel to the bank between Sverre's fleet and the king's ships. Sverrir jumped into a boat with a man and rowed to the other ships, telling them to row around the Maríusúð and intervene in the battle. He rowed between his ships and directed them to the battlefields. Then he rowed back to his ship, but couldn't get on board because of the hail of stones and arrows. So he rowed ashore. Two other ships also went ashore and loaded stones that they brought to Maríusúð. The stern of the 14 ships is said to have been aimed at the broadside of the Maríusúð. But the long-range weapons remained. However, they did not board because they could not get onto the Maríusúð via the stem of their ship.
During these fighting, the 13 other ships that lay between the Maríusúð and the land rowed around the Maríusúð. They went to the other smaller ships of the king, which were further away. One lay with its much higher curb on the outermost of the tied ships, and the Birkebeins managed to board it. After fierce resistance, the ship's crew moved back to the ship next to them. This escape movement weakened the defense there, so that a general escape from one ship to the next was the result. At the end of the chain lay the king's largest ships, which then sank due to the weight of the refugees. Thereupon the people of the royal ship jumped overboard, because it was closest to the land, and tried to swim to the shore. King Magnus also jumped overboard, but was then slain.
Importance of the battle
With this victory and the death of King Magnus, Sverre finally prevailed against the previous royal power and became the sole ruler of Norway. The civil war was not yet completely over, because the fighting against the Kuvlunge and the Bagler Wars followed. But these clashes were no longer as crucial for the unity of Norway as this battle. In the period that followed, Sverre succeeded in ousting the old upper class from their offices and replacing them with his followers. This had emerged from a disciplined army, so that with it the development of a tightly organized state began.
A memorial stone in Nornes near Sogndal commemorates this battle.
Footnotes
- ^ Siegfried Beyschlag in the afterword to the German edition of the Sverris saga.
- ↑ Brøgger p. 228.
literature
- King Sverrir Sigurdsson . Abridged and translated by Felix Niedner. In: Norwegian Royal Stories . Düsseldorf / Cologne 1965 vol. 2 chap. 23-29.
- AW Brøgger and Haakon Shetelig: Vikingeskipene. Their forgjengere and etterfølgere . (Viking ships. Their predecessors and successors). Oslo 1950.