_Sverre Sigurdson (1184-1202)_
After the fall of Magnus Erlingson, King Sverre brought the whole
country under his control, and no one dared to refuse him obedience.
The same sagacity that he had shown in his struggles to gain the power,
he also used in his efforts to maintain and strengthen it. He knew that
he could expect nothing from the magnates of the powerful families, who
resided on the largest estates throughout the country, and who looked
with contempt upon the poor and lowly people that had constituted
his following and helped him into power. He had to try to weaken the
influence of this higher class and to look to the common people for
his main support. The changes which King Sverre introduced in the
domestic conditions of the country were in close coherence with the
development of the country since the time of Harald the Fairhaired and
Olaf the Saint. The kingdom of his predecessor had been upheld by the
clergy and the aristocracy, the latter endeavoring to strengthen its
power and dignity by united action, while the clergy tried to enforce
the hierarchical principles of the time in the Church of Norway. King
Sverre, on the other hand, depended upon the masses of the people,
with their traditions and customs. For their benefit King Sverre
appointed a new class of officers, who were called lawmen. They were
to be learned in the law, and their duty was to see that the law was
justly administered at the Things, and to aid the peasants in all legal
matters. There had been a similar class of officers before, bearing the
same title, but they had been elected at the Things, while from now
on they were appointed by the king, especially for the benefit of the
poorer classes, who themselves had little knowledge of the law, and
often needed protection against the rich and powerful. Another class of
officers whose functions were changed in such a manner as to greatly
strengthen the king's power were the prefects (_Sysselmen_), whom the
king appointed throughout the country. These prefects did not have
the inherited dignity of the liegemen (_lendermen_), who were royal
vassals and exercised independent authority, but were servants of the
king and the representatives of his power. They supplanted the liegemen
in their executive and judicial functions, and gradually transferred to
the crown a great part of the power of the aristocracy.
Sverre was too shrewd to break entirely or too suddenly with the old
influences, and where they had been loyal, he selected men from the
high old families for his officers. This was especially the case in
the Throndhjem country, where his party was strongest. But he found
positions enough with which to reward the faithful men who had followed
him through his struggles. Some were made chiefs in the army, and some
were appointed prefects; some were given landed estates, and others
were helped to rich marriages. Baard Guthormson of Rein was married to
the king's own sister, Cecilia, after her marriage with Folkvid Lawman
had been declared void. King Sverre himself married Margreta, a sister
of the Swedish king, Knut Erikson. Before this marriage King Sverre
had four children, namely, two sons, Sigurd (called Lavard) and Haakon,
and two daughters, Cecilia and Ingeborg. With Queen Margreta he had
only a daughter, Kristina.
The peace was not of long duration. The remnants of the Heklung party,
which had been broken up by the battle in Norefjord, with several
leading men, only waited for a favorable opportunity to start a revolt,
and the opportunity soon offered itself. A monk, who called himself Jon
and claimed to be a son of King Inge the Hunchback, left the cloister
on the island near Oslo, and soon gathered about him a numerous band.
He first went to Tunsberg, where, in September, 1185, he attacked and
killed one of Sverre's prefects together with thirty men, and then
summoned a Thing and was proclaimed king. The Birchlegs called this new
party the Kuvlungs or Cowlmen, because their leader had worn a monk's
hood or cowl. The Kuvlungs continued the rebellion for three years with
varying success. They made several attacks on Bergen and Nidaros, and
at times their strength was quite formidable. Finally their band was
destroyed in Bergen, in December, 1188, and their leader was killed.
After his death it appears to have been satisfactorily proven that Jon
Kuvlung was not the son of King Inge the Hunchback, as he had claimed.
The rebellious spirit had become quite general, and King Sverre
had many of these revolts to suppress. After the Kuvlung party had
been broken up, a new band, called the Varbelgs (Wolf Skins), was
organized by the chief, Simon Kaareson, who had brought from Denmark,
as a pretender to the throne, a boy named Vikar, said to be a son
of King Magnus Erlingson. This party was badly defeated in a battle
near Tunsberg, where Simon Kaareson and the little Vikar were both
killed. Another band, under the leadership of Thorleif Breidskegg,
who claimed to be a son of King Eystein Haraldson, was next destroyed
in Viken (1191). The next party that made war on King Sverre were the
Oyskeggs (the Islanders), so called because they received considerable
aid from the Orkney Islands, where Earl Harald favored them. Their
leaders were Hallkel Jonson, who was married to King Magnus Erlingson's
sister Ragnhild, and Olaf, a brother-in-law of Earl Harald of the
Orkneys. They chose Sigurd, a son of King Magnus, as their king. The
Oyskeggs developed a considerable strength in Viken, and from there
made piratical expeditions to the Danish waters and the Baltic, and
therefore boastingly called themselves the Goldlegs (_Gullbeiner_).
One of the men, whom King Sverre sent against them, Sigurd Jarlson
(earl's son), an illegitimate son of Erling Skakke, turned traitor,
and became one of the leaders of Sverre's enemies. In the fall of 1193
the Oyskeggs captured Bergen without much resistance, King Sverre
being then in Throndhjem. In the spring King Sverre came south with a
fleet, and a bloody battle was fought at Florevaag, near Bergen (April
3, 1194). The Oyskeggs were finally defeated, a great number of them,
including Hallkel Jonson, Olaf (Earl Harald's brother-in-law), and
Sigurd Magnusson, the pretender, being slain. King Sverre had thus
gained a victory, but at great cost, for many of his best men had
fallen, or died from the wounds they had received in the battle. Among
the latter was Baard Guthormson of Rein.
While King Sverre was almost constantly engaged in quelling rebellion,
he was also carrying on a hard struggle with the hierarchy. Archbishop
Eystein had been obliged to make peace with King Sverre; but when
Eystein died (1188), Bishop Erik of Stavanger, a man with strong
hierarchical tendencies, became his successor. Archbishop Erik named
as his own successor to the bishopric of Stavanger one of Sverre's
bitter enemies, Nicholas Arneson, a half-brother of King Inge the
Hunchback. King Sverre refused to recognize this selection, because
he had not been consulted, and named another in his place. Finally,
through the mediation of Queen Margreta, who was a relative of Nicholas
Arneson, the matter was compromised, and Sverre consented to Nicholas
being installed as bishop in Oslo. The fight between the king and the
hierarchy was, however, continued in other matters. Archbishop Erik
was constantly trying to extend the prerogatives of his office. He
claimed the exclusive right to the control of all church property;
he wanted the tribute to the church paid according to actual weight
in silver instead of in current coin, whereby he would about double
the tax, and, finally, he wanted to surround himself with a court
and keep ninety men-at-arms in his service, while the law allowed
only thirty men altogether, and only twelve of them armed. During his
stay in Nidaros, in 1191-92, King Sverre summoned a Thing to have
these matters settled. The law was read, and the case was decided in
favor of the king. Archbishop Erik now found the surroundings too
uncomfortable, and hurried away from the town, taking with him all the
goods he could collect. He proceeded to Denmark, where he was cordially
received by Archbishop Absalon. Shortly after his arrival in Denmark he
prepared a letter to the pope, in which he complained of King Sverre's
infringements on the rights of the Church. In response to this letter,
Pope Celestinus III., on the 15th of June, 1194, declared King Sverre
in the ban of the church. Before the papal bull reached Norway,
however, King Sverre had compelled the bishops to crown him at Bergen,
June 29, 1194. For some time King Sverre treated the papal bull with
contempt, and even intimated that it was an invention of the bishops in
Denmark; but later he sent ambassadors, under the leadership of Bishop
Thore of Hamar, with a message to the Pope, in which he put matters in
a different light from that given them by Archbishop Erik. The fate
of these ambassadors is enveloped in mystery. They remained in Rome
till the end of 1196, and then started for home. During their homeward
journey they were suddenly taken sick in Denmark and died, having
probably been poisoned. Some time afterward some Danes came to King
Sverre with letters bearing the seal of the Pope, and which, they said,
had been pawned with them by the ambassadors for a certain amount of
money. Sverre redeemed the documents, which purported to revoke the ban
against the king, and had them publicly read in the churches. Whether
King Sverre knew that these documents were not genuine does not appear.
By the united efforts of King Sverre's enemies among the clergy and
the aristocracy a rebellious band was organized in 1196, which was
to become more dangerous than all the enemies he had heretofore had
to fight. The principal leader of this movement was Bishop Nicholas
Arneson, who was prepared to do anything to overthrow King Sverre. A
favorable opportunity offered itself. The Byzantine emperor, Alexios
Komnenos, had sent a Norwegian named Reidar the Messenger (_Sendemand_)
to Norway to ask King Sverre to send him 1,200 good mercenaries for
the service of the emperor. King Sverre replied that he had no troops
to spare; but he was persuaded to allow Reidar to enlist such sons of
peasants and traders as might wish to enter the service of the emperor.
After Reidar had collected a considerable force, he was induced by
Bishop Nicholas to enter into a league with him against King Sverre. At
a fair in Halland he met Bishop Nicholas and Archbishop Erik, who had
with them a large body of Norwegians, mostly from Viken. With them was
also a young man named Inge, said to be a son of King Magnus Erlingson.
The two armies united and proclaimed Inge king, and then made an
invasion in Viken, where they were soon joined by Sigurd Jarlson, the
former Oyskegg chief, and many other prominent men. The new rebel army
was called _Baglers_, from the word _bagall_, a bishop's crosier, to
signify that Bishop Nicholas was considered the real founder and chief
leader of the party.
During the last six years of his life King Sverre had a continual war
with the Baglers. His first encounter with them was in Saltoe Sound, in
Viken. After an indecisive battle there he returned with his ships to
Bergen and proceeded to Nidaros, where he spent the winter 1196-97. The
Baglers meanwhile summoned the Borgar-Thing, where Inge was proclaimed
king. The next year King Sverre gathered a strong force and proceeded
to Viken, and defeated the Baglers at Oslo, July 26, 1197. After the
battle Bishop Nicholas sent a messenger to King Sverre that he was
willing to make peace; but Sverre, who knew how little Bishop Nicholas
was to be depended upon, sent word back that he would only treat with
him if he would come in person. Bishop Nicholas did not go to meet the
king, but instead hastened with the chiefs and the remaining force of
the Baglers overland to Nidaros, where the wooden citadel (blockhouse)
"Zion" fell into their hands by the treason of its commander,
Thorstein Kugad. They destroyed some of the fortifications and burned
a number of Sverre's ships and took possession of the remainder. A
part of the Bagler force went aboard the captured ships, and sailed
southward under the leadership of Sigurd Jarlson. The others returned
to Viken the same way they had come. King Sverre spent the following
winter in Bergen, and in the spring (1198) sailed north and met the
Baglers in battle at Thorsberg, near the mouth of the Throndhjem Fjord.
After a hard fight the Birchlegs were defeated with great loss. The
king then hastened back to Bergen, which had in the meantime been
occupied by the Bagler chief Sigurd Jarlson. The latter, however,
having, by a clever trick of one of the Birchlegs, been led to believe
that King Sverre was approaching with a much superior force, left the
town before Sverre arrived.
During the summer of 1198, which for a long time afterward was called
the Bergen-summer, there was continual skirmishing in and about Bergen.
On the night after August 10th the Baglers, led by Bishop Nicholas,
rowed up to the landings with two ships full of wood. At the bishop's
command they set fire to the town in three different places, and soon
the greater part of it, including six churches, was laid in ashes. The
Birchlegs had all they could do to save the wooden citadel (_Sverre's
Borg_). The inhabitants of Bergen could never afterward forgive Bishop
Nicholas and his party for the loss they suffered by this fire; but as
heartily as they had heretofore hated the Birchlegs they now hated the
Baglers. Sverre found his position untenable after the town had been
burned, and proceeded with his men overland to Throndhjem. Meanwhile
the Baglers, who had many ships, were masters on the coasts. Many
deserted the king and supported the Baglers; but there were also some
of their men who went over to Sverre. Among the latter was Thorstein
Kugad, who had surrendered his garrison in Nidaros, and who now
returned to Sverre and begged his pardon. This was given, and Thorstein
became one of Sverre's useful men.
King Sverre spent the winter 1198-99 in Nidaros. His position was a
desperate one. Outside of the Throndhjem country he had very little
power, and the Baglers were masters at sea. Then, furthermore, a
terrible blow was dealt Sverre, as Pope Innocent III., in October,
1198, issued his bull declaring Sverre to be in the ban of the Church,
and laying the whole country under interdict, closing all churches and
forbidding the administration of the sacraments wherever the people
acknowledged King Sverre. It is easily understood what horror such a
papal bull would create at that time. Sverre did not lose courage,
however, but called the Throndhjem people together and asked them to
help him. They showed their usual loyalty, and with their help he set
to work to build a new, strong fleet and to improve the fortifications
of the town. In the spring the Baglers appeared in the Throndhjem Fjord
with a strong fleet, and, after some skirmishing, the two fleets met
in battle at Strindsö, June 18, 1199. It was a desperate fight, where
no quarter was given. The result was a victory for King Sverre and
the Birchlegs, who returned to town with most of the enemy's ships.
The prisoners taken on this occasion were nearly all slain. Bishop
Nicholas, who watched the beginning of the battle from a safe distance,
fled with his ship when he saw that the Baglers were losing, and Sigurd
Jarlson and Reidar the Messenger followed his example.
The Baglers who escaped from the battle of Strindsö proceeded to
Denmark. Sverre, with his fleet, pursued them a part of the way,
but gave up the chase and proceeded to Oslo, where he intended to
go into winter-quarters. In January, 1200, the Baglers came up from
Denmark with a number of small ships under the leadership of Reidar
the Messenger and Inge Bagler-King. Some of them landed near Oslo
and killed Sverre's kinsman, Earl Philip. Not feeling strong enough,
however, to attack King Sverre's forces they withdrew during the night
and sailed to Bergen. Afterward they made a sudden but unsuccessful
attack on Nidaros, which was defended by an army of 1,800 peasants.
During the winter King Sverre attempted to make a levy of troops in
Viken, intending to send home some of his Throndhjem people; but the
inhabitants, who had never been greatly attached to King Sverre,
murmured at this, and the result was a great uprising of the peasants
in Viken and the Uplands. On the day secretly appointed, March 1st,
Sverre's prefects at Tunsberg and several other places were killed,
and a few days later a force many times as large as Sverre's marched
against him from three different directions. On this occasion Sverre
displayed a masterly leadership, and his men fought like heroes. During
the day there were eight desperate encounters, and, in spite of the
seemingly overwhelming force of the rebels, Sverre won the day. He
afterward punished the peasants by exacting large fines in money and
provisions.
Sverre had a few indecisive battles with the Baglers the same year, and
spent the following winter in Bergen. In the spring of 1201 he called
a new levy from the north, and, during the summer, sailed to Viken.
Reidar the Messenger, with several chiefs and two hundred and forty
men, had fortified himself on the _Slotsberg_ (Castle Mountain) at
Tunsberg, and defied any attack. King Sverre organized a regular siege,
determined not to abandon it until he had conquered this dangerous
enemy. Finally, when the Baglers were nearly starved to death, Reidar
and his little band surrendered to Sverre, who not only spared their
lives, but gave them the best of treatment. He advised them not to eat
much in the beginning; but several of them disregarded this advice and
died. This remarkable siege had lasted for twenty weeks, or from the
first week in September, 1201, to the fourth week in January, 1202.
At last King Sverre's physical strength succumbed to the hardships
and cares which night and day he had had to endure. During his stay
in Tunsberg he had been ailing, but, at first, his illness did not
seem to be serious. When he left Tunsberg, however, he was obliged to
keep his bed. He had his bed placed on the raised deck in the stern
of his ship, and here also stood the bed of the Bagler chief, Reidar.
During the journey the king found much pleasure in talking with the
intelligent old chief, who could tell him of his crusades and other
journeys in distant countries. They arrived in Bergen toward the end
of February, and the king was carried to the royal residence, where
his bed was placed in the large hall. When he understood that death
was near, he called the priests and his trusted friends to him. He
first let them read and seal a letter which he had prepared, to his
son Haakon in Throndhjem, about the management of the affairs of the
government after his death. Then he solemnly declared that he had only
one son living, namely Haakon (his other son, Sigurd Lavard, having
died the year before), so that if any one else should claim after
his death to be his son he would be an impostor. Then he desired to
be lifted into his high-seat, and seated there he received the last
ointment. Afterward he said: "I have had more strife, disturbance, and
adversity than quiet and peaceful days during my reign, and, so far as
I can judge, many have been my maligners only from enmity toward me.
God forgive them all, and judge between them and me in my whole cause."
Soon after, on Saturday, March 9, 1202, King Sverre expired. His body
was buried in the Christ Church, and on his tombstone was engraved the
following epitaph: "Here lies one who was the ornament of kings, the
support, picture and paragon of faith, honor and bravery, his country's
defence, the vindication of justice, the delight of all his men." After
his death even those who had been his enemies said that such a man as
Sverre had not lived in Norway in their time.