NORWAY.
1030—1387.
CANUTE THE GREAT.—SWEYN.—MAGNUS I.—HARALD HARDRADE.—OLAF III.—MAGNUS
II.—MAGNUS BAREFOOT.—EVILS OF A DIVIDED SOVEREIGNTY.—ROMANTIC
ADVENTURES OF SIGURD I.—MAGNUS IV.—CIVIL WARS.—EXTRAORDINARY
ADVENTURES OF SWERRO.—HAKO IV.—MAGNUS VI.—ERIC II.—HAKO V.—OTHER
SOVEREIGNS.—UNION OF NORWAY WITH DENMARK.
[Sidenote: 1030 to 1035.]
AFTER the death of St. Olaf[159], CANUTE THE GREAT was the undisputed
sovereign of Norway. The care of three kingdoms being too great even for
his strength, he confided the government of Norway, with the regal
title, to his son SWEYN, to whom, in his last will, he bequeathed the
crown. But Sweyn was no favourite with his new subjects. Independently
of the mortifying reflection that he was not one of their own race, but
had been forced on them by conquest, his own conduct was not of a kind
to remove the prejudice against him. That in the distribution of fiefs
and honours he gave a preference to Danes, is probable enough; that he
had no affection for a people who detested him, is equally so; but had
his impartiality been strict, and his virtues undeniable, he never could
have founded a dynasty in that country. It was only fear of his father,
the greatest monarch of his times, that kept them in subjection; and no
sooner did they hear of that monarch’s death, than they looked towards
Magnus, son of St. Olaf, then an exile in Russia.[160]
[Sidenote: 1035.]
Magnus, as we before related[161], was a bastard son of that odd saint
by his concubine Alfhilda. He accompanied his father in the exile to
Holmgard, and there he remained during that father’s unfortunate
expedition to Norway. Left an orphan, he was well entertained by his
host, the grand prince of Russia. Here he received intelligence of
Canute’s death, of the unpopularity of Sweyn, and of the anxiety with
which his return was expected. Proceeding to Sweden, he was honourably
received by Emund, and by his step-mother Astrida[162], sister of that
monarch. Owing to her influence, a small but resolute band of armed men
accompanied him into Norway. As he passed the mountains into Drontheim,
the adherents of Sweyn fled in great alarm towards the southern
provinces; and Sweyn himself followed the example. In his progress,
Magnus received many evidences of the popular goodwill. At Nidaros, the
capital, his reception was enthusiastic. To the Thing assembled on the
occasion, flocked a multitude of men friendly to his cause; and there he
was solemnly elected king.
[Sidenote: 1035, 1036.]
The first care of MAGNUS I. was to reward his followers by conferring on
them the governments which had been held by Sweyn’s adherents. His next
was to collect troops and march against his rival. To assert his rights,
the latter, who was then in Hadaland, sent out the arrow of war in every
direction; and many hastened to his summons. In the midst of the
assembly, he asked whether they were ready to join him in resisting
Magnus. Some expressed their consent; some openly refused; the greater
number hesitated; but disaffection to his cause was so evident in the
great body, that he declared his resolution of seeking more faithful
defenders. Leaving Norway, he repaired to Denmark, where, that very
year, he died. Harda-Canute, as we have before related, claimed the
crown of Norway; but hostilities were closed by the singular compact,
that if either died without children, he should succeed to the states of
the other.
[Sidenote: 1038 to 1040.]
Astrida, the widow of St. Olaf, had accompanied Magnus into Norway; and
such had been the aid she had procured him, that he gratefully settled
her in his palace, showing her the utmost honour. But, at the same time,
he sent for his mother Alfhilda, whom he treated with more affection but
with less honour. Indignant at this distinction, she insisted on more
than an equality, which Astrida being unwilling to grant, the two ladies
could no longer reside in the same house. In his kingdom Magnus had more
influence than in his palace, he effectually restored tranquillity, and
became popular. Of his deceased father miracles were reported. The mere
report was enough: he pretended to believe it; he well knew what honour
would be his through his descent from a saint; and he caused the relics
of the royal martyr to be placed in a magnificent casket, and displayed
for the veneration of the faithful.
[Sidenote: 1042 to 1046.]
On the death of Harda-Canute, Magnus, in accordance with the compact
which had been made between them, proceeded to Denmark, to take
possession of the throne. His claim, as we have before observed, was
admitted by his new subjects. We have related his transaction with
Sweyn, son of Estrith, the sister of Canute, and the founder of the line
of kings who sat above three centuries on the Danish throne. Nor need we
again recur to his transactions with Harald, surnamed Hardrade, or the
Stern, whom he admitted to a participation in the kingdom. Few men in
his circumstances could have acted more wisely, yet, with all his
mildness, he was a firm supporter of his own rights; and more than once
he made his remarkable colleague feel that there was a distance between
them.[163]
[Sidenote: 1047.]
The demise of Magnus immediately followed his successful expedition in
Denmark to avenge the rebellion of Sweyn. The son of a saint could
scarcely leave the world without some manifestation of divine favour. In
a dream his father Olaf appeared to him, and ordered him to make his
choice between two proposals—either to die, and join the deceased king
in heaven, or to live the most powerful of monarchs, yet commit some
crime for which he could hardly expect the divine forgiveness. He
instantly chose the former alternative; and was immediately afflicted
with a disease the result of which, to the great sorrow of his people,
was fatal. He was a great and good prince; as much superior to his
father in intellect and moral worth as one man can be to another. To his
moderation in regard to Harald his colleague and Sweyn of Denmark we
have done justice; but if Snorro is to be credited, he showed no less
towards our Edward the Confessor. That he was not without ambition is
evident; and as the heir of the Danish throne, by his compact with
Harda-Canute, king of England and Denmark, he claimed, after that
monarch’s death, all the states of the great Canute. Edward returned a
spirited reply, the justice of which he acknowledged by his inactivity.
[Sidenote: 1047 to 1064.]
By the death of Magnus the Good, HARALD HARDRADE was the undisputed king
of Norway. He aspired also to the throne of Denmark, from which he
endeavoured to unseat his former ally Sweyn. His desultory operations
and his decisive victory over the Dane, in 1062, we have before related.
Two years afterwards peace was made, no permanent advantage having been
gained by either.
[Sidenote: 1066.]
On the death of Edward the Confessor, and the accession of Harald the
son of earl Godwin, the Norwegian monarch led an armament against that
usurper. The ambition which could prompt him to such an undertaking was
not very measured; but it was characteristic of this king, whose early
familiarity with danger, and whose wild adventures in the East and
North, had rendered him confident of success. If the English were not
favourable to earl Godwin’s son, they could scarcely be so to _him_; and
the hope of conquest, when so valiant a competitor as William of
Normandy was entering the field, would have appeared futile to any less
desperate man. The result is known to every reader of English history:
at Stamford-Bridge Harald found a grave.
[Sidenote: 1066 to 1069.]
From the fatal shores of England OLAF III., the son of Harald, returned
to Norway, and with his brother MAGNUS II. was elected to the
government. The former had the eastern, the latter the northern,
provinces of the kingdom. In three years Magnus paid the common debt,
and Olaf became monarch of the whole.
[Sidenote: 1069 to 1093.]
The reign of Olaf was pacific; and he applied his efforts to the
civilisation of his kingdom. He first introduced chimneys and glass
windows into houses: he established a commercial emporium at Bergen; and
to him we must ascribe the introduction of guilds or mercantile
fraternities, after the model of those existing in Germany and England.
He must be praised, too, for his humanity to the servile class: he
carried in the national Thing a law that in every district throughout
Norway a serf should be annually enfranchised. To the church he was a
munificent patron. At Nidaros, or Drontheim, he began to build a stone
cathedral, destined to receive the hallowed relics of his ancestor.
“This city,” says Adam of Bremen, the contemporary of Olaf the Pacific,
“is the capital of the Northmen. It is adorned with churches, and
frequented by a great concourse of people. Here lies the body of the
holy king and martyr Olaf, at whose tomb miracles are daily wrought:
here, from the most distant nations, pilgrims flock to his shrine to
share in his blessed merits. Hitherto there are no fixed limits to the
dioceses in Norway and Sweden. Any bishop, when desired by the king and
people, may build a church in any district, and govern those whom he
converts to the day of his death.” These regionary bishops, as they are
called, moved from place to place, baptising and preaching as they went
along; and assuredly this is a more useful, a more apostolic practice
than that which has since prevailed.
[Sidenote: 1093 to 1095.]
MAGNUS III., surnamed _Barfoet_, or the Barefoot, succeeded his father
Olaf III. At first, he was acknowledged by the southern provinces: in
the northern was opposed to him Hako, nephew of the late king. Though
death soon rid him of that rival, an army only could induce those
provinces to receive him.
[Sidenote: 1096 to 1099.]
This was the first Norwegian monarch after St. Olaf that visited the
Orkneys. He went to punish the jarls of those islands, which had thrown
off their allegiance to the yoke of Norway. These jarls were Erling and
Paul, whom he took and sent prisoners to his kingdom. Leaving his son
Sigurd in the government, with fit councillors, he laid waste
Sutherland, which was a portion of the jarldom, and feudally dependent
on the Scotch crown. Proceeding to the Hebrides, he reduced them also.
Very different was his conduct at Iona from that which had been pursued
by his pagan ancestors. He showed great veneration for the memory of S.
Columbe, and great affability to the inhabitants of all the islands that
submitted. Ilay was next reduced, then Cantyre. These successes were
followed by predatory depredations on both the Irish and Scottish
coasts. Most places offered little resistance, but the conquest of
Anglesey could not be effected without a battle. Two Welsh chieftains,
both named _Hugh_, fought stoutly for their independence. One, Hugh the
Magnanimous, was so encased in armour, that his two eyes only were
visible: Magnus shot an arrow into one eye, and a Norwegian warrior into
another; and after a valiant struggle victory declared for the Northmen.
The whole island, we are told, acknowledged the king; but this statement
will obtain little credit with any reader. The truth seems to be that he
made some of the chiefs do homage for their respective domains; but they
reasserted their independence the moment he had left the shores. There
is more probability in another statement of the northern chroniclers,
that he forced Malcolm of Scotland to cede to him the sovereignty over
all the islands, from the Orkneys to Man. From this expedition he
returned in 1099. Its results were valuable: the Hebrides and the
Orkneys were now his. The possession of the former indeed was
short-lived and precarious; but the latter were long subject to his
successors.
[Sidenote: 1099 to 1101.]
The next war of this restless prince was with his neighbour Inge, king
of Sweden. It arose from a dispute as to the boundary, and raged for two
years with varied success until, through the mediation of Eric king of
Denmark, peace was restored. On this occasion, Magnus married the
princess Margaret, daughter of Inge.
[Sidenote: 1102 to 1103.]
Within a year from this pacification, Magnus, whose enterprise was
excited by his late successes, again sailed for Ireland, with the design
of subjugating, if not the native kings, those who were of Scandinavian
origin. At this period, the island contained several of these
principalities. Landing on the coast of Connaught, the king of which,
Murdoch, was his acquaintance and ally, he effected a junction with that
chief, and subdued the kingdom of Dublin. The following winter he spent
in Connaught; and when spring arrived, he embarked to return. As he
slowly passed along the Ulster coast, he sent a party of his followers
in search of provisions, that is, of plunder. Their stay being much
longer than he had expected, he landed with a small body, and with
difficulty made his way through the marshes. Being at length joined by
the foragers, he was returning to his ships, when he fell into an ambush
prepared for him by the natives. He was easily known by his shining
helmet and breastplate, and by the golden lion on the red shield—the
device of the Norwegian kings. Ordering one of his chiefs with a body of
archers to clear the marsh, and from the other side to gall the enemy
with their arrows, so as to cover his passage also, he fought with
desperation. Unfortunately, the chief on whom he thus relied fled, and
was followed by the rest. Magnus, therefore, with a mere handful of men,
had to sustain the hostile assaults of a multitude. All that valour
could do was effected by him; but the contest was too unequal; and,
after receiving several wounds, he fell. His followers retreated,
leaving his corpse in the hands of the enemy. Thus perished a monarch
whose valour and constancy rendered him equal to the ancient heroes of
the North. By the warlike he was beloved; but with the people at large,
whom he taxed heavily to defray the expenses of his frequent
expeditions, he was no favourite. His character may be best conceived
from the reply which he gave to his courtiers, who expressed their
apprehension lest his continued wars should prove fatal to him:—“It is
better for a people to have a brave than an old king.”
[Sidenote: 1103.]
On the death of Magnus III., Norway was divided between his three sons.
SIGURD had the southern provinces, with the Scottish islands, which he
governed by his jarls. EYSTEIN I. reigned over the North. OLAF IV. had
the central and eastern provinces. All were children at their accession:
the eldest, Eystein, was but fifteen; and Olaf was so young that for
some years his portion of the monarchy was administered by his elder
brothers.
[Sidenote: 1103 to 1122.]
Of these kings, two may be dismissed with little notice. Eystein was
distinguished for prudence, and for the useful structures with which he
adorned his portion of the kingdom. He erected stone churches and
palaces, which were novelties in the North. He was well versed in
history and the laws, and was the patron of literary men, especially of
the Scalds. Olaf was the best beloved of the three; but he died in 1116,
and his dominions were divided by his brothers. Eystein was never at
open war with Sigurd; but the two brothers could scarcely be warm
friends; and while we read of their disputes, we are surprised that
there should have existed so much tranquillity in the realm. In 1122 he
breathed his last, and Sigurd was monarch of Norway.
[Sidenote: 1107 to 1111.]
The name of Sigurd I. is celebrated in the annals of the North alike for
his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and his exploits during the voyage. To aid
in the recovery of the holy places from the hands of the infidels might
enrich an adventurous monarch, and would surely open to him the gates of
heaven. Influenced by this two-fold advantage, and by the hope of booty
on the passage, Sigurd, with sixty ships, sailed from the North. During
the first winter he remained in England, and was hospitably entertained
by our Henry I. The second winter, at least the greater part of it, he
passed near the shrine of Santiago in Gallicia: he was a pilgrim, no
less than a champion of the cross. On his way to Lisbon, he captured
some infidel privateers, and destroyed several Moorish settlements on
the coast, especially one at Cintra. All who refused baptism he put to
the sword. Lisbon, according to the Northern chroniclers, was divided
into two parts, one inhabited by the Moors, the other by the Christians.
The former he assailed, took it, and with much booty proceeded through
the straits of Gibraltar in quest of new adventures. Having passed these
straits, he conquered a whole fleet of the infidels, and this was the
fifth battle since he left Norway. In vain did the Mohammedan pirates on
the African coast resist him: his valour overcame every thing. Landing
in Sicily, he was magnificently entertained by Roger, sovereign of the
island, who had expelled the Saracens. Roger was of Norman descent: he
remembered the land of his sires; and so far did he carry his goodwill
as to insist on serving Sigurd at table. Continuing his voyage, he
landed at Acre, and proceeded to Jerusalem, where the offer of his sword
was most welcome to Baldwin. From that king he received what he thought
a valuable treasure—a fragment of the true cross, which he promised to
deposit in the shrine of St. Olaf. He promised too, at the instance of
his new friends, to establish an archiepiscopal see in Norway, to build
churches, and to enforce the payment of tithe. His last exploit in these
regions was to join in the siege of Sidon; and when that city was taken,
half the booty became his. On his return through Constantinople, his
reception by the Greek emperor was a noble one; but much of what the
Northern annalists relate bears the marks of invention. Such are, the
opening of the golden gate; the carpetting of the streets; the three
large presents made him by Alexis, with their immediate distribution
among the followers of Sigurd; and the gift by the latter of his sixty
ships to Alexis. Such fables may gratify a Northern imagination; but
history can only say that in 1111, the king arrived in Norway after an
absence of four years.
[Sidenote: 1111 to 1123.]
That this remarkable expedition redounded greatly to the honour of
Sigurd, is certain: he was thenceforth much venerated throughout the
North. He married, and attended to the duties of government, especially
to the extirpation of idolatry. His expedition (undertaken at the
request of the Danish king) against the inhabitants of the isle of
Smaland, was one congenial to his feelings. They had received
Christianity, but, like many other portions of the Scandinavian
population, had returned to idolatry. Even Sweden had its pagans and
apostates, some too of royal dignity.[164] Great was the punishment
inflicted by Sigurd and his ally Nicholas on the pagans whom they had
vanquished; but mercy to infidels, and still less to apostates, formed
no portion of their creed.
[Sidenote: 1124 to 1130.]
In his latter days, Sigurd seems to have occasionally lost the use of
his reason, or perhaps he was visited by some bodily infirmity which
gave him the appearance of insanity. But he never relinquished the
duties of royalty. One of his last cares was to fortify Konghella on the
river Gotha, to ornament it with a fine Gothic church, and to place in
that sacred edifice some of the pictures which he had brought from the
East. But with all his attachment to the church, he was not without his
delinquencies. Of these one of the most noted was his dismissal of his
queen to make room for a concubine, Cecilia by name, whom he resolved to
marry. A great entertainment was provided for the occasion, and many
were the guests assembled at Bergen. The bishop of the district, hearing
of the intention, hastened to the town, and expostulated with the king
on the guilt of dismissing one wife to take another, when there was no
charge against the former, and consequently no way of annulling the
marriage. Great was the wrath of Sigurd, who held a drawn sword in his
hand, and who, at one moment, seemed disposed to use it on the neck of
the prelate. If he so far restrained his passion as to walk away, he
persevered in his design, and the union was celebrated. The truth is,
that his heart was so fixed on the maiden, that no earthly consideration
could induce him to abandon her. Some time afterwards he was afflicted
with his last illness, which was regarded by many as the judgment of
Heaven on his crime. His courtiers urged him to dismiss her; and she,
out of regard for him—to save him from renewed guilt—really wished to
leave him. Such was the attachment he bore her, that he could not give
his consent to the separation. She departed, however, and with her
departed the only solace which had been left him. In a few days he was
no more. Previously to his death, he had caused his son Magnus to be
recognised as his successor, and had prevailed on the states to swear
that they would obey him.
[Sidenote: 1130.]
From the death of Sigurd I. to the union of Norway with Denmark, there
is little in the history of the former country to interest us. During
the whole of the twelfth century we perceive nothing but anarchy and
bloodshed occasioned by disputes for the throne. In a country where
illegitimacy was no bar to the succession, and where partition of the
sovereign power was frequent, there could not fail to be numerous
candidates. Sigurd I. was succeeded by his son MAGNUS IV., to whom, as
we have related, the states of the realm had sworn fealty before the
death of Sigurd. How little dependence could be placed on such a
guarantee soon appeared. In the reign of the preceding monarch, an
adventurer, Harald Gille, had asserted—probably with justice—that he was
a natural son of king Magnus Barefoot. As he could produce no
satisfactory proof of that connection, recourse was had to the decision
of Heaven, and he was made to pass over nine red-hot ploughshares. This
ordeal, merely to prove his parentage, was thought to be severe; but he
shrinked not from it; and led by two bishops, he sustained it unhurt. To
resist the divine pleasure was impossible, and Harald’s claim was
allowed even by Sigurd, on the condition that he would not insist on the
advantage to which his relationship entitled him, before the death of
his son Magnus IV. Scarcely, however, had this Magnus succeeded to the
throne, than Harald came forward to assert his right; and from the
number no less than the influence of those who espoused his interests
(among them were the kings of Denmark and Sweden), he had every thing to
hope from a civil war. In this emergency, Magnus consented to a division
of the kingdom, the very year of his accession.
[Sidenote: 1130 to 1152.]
[Sidenote: 1134.]
[Sidenote: 1136.]
HARALD IV. was very different in character and manners from his
colleague Magnus. He was mild as the latter was severe, and generous as
the latter was penurious. He therefore became the favourite of the
people. This circumstance probably roused the jealousy of Magnus, who at
the head of many followers marched against him, conquered him, and
compelled him to forsake the realm. Repairing to the court of Eric
Emund, king of Denmark, he was well received by that monarch, “because
they were brothers in arms.” With the supply of money and men furnished
him by his generous host, he returned to Denmark, and surprised rather
than defeated Magnus, whom he consigned to a monastery and deprived of
eye-sight. He was now therefore monarch of Norway. But his reign was of
short duration. The town of Konghella which Sigurd had fortified, and
adorned with so magnificent a church, was taken by the Slavonic pirates:
it was completely sacked, and the inhabitants led into captivity. For
this disaster, Harald was censured: he was accused of inactivity in
repelling the invaders; and was even forsaken by the great body of his
supporters. In this condition he was assassinated. A melancholy
illustration of the spirit of the times is afforded by the fact that the
assassin, Sigurd, also claimed Magnus Barefoot for his father. From this
deed of blood he derived no advantage. The nation would not admit _his_
claim, but proclaimed two sons of the murdered king, SIGURD II.
(1136–1155) and INGE I. (1136–1161). Both, however, were children; and
their inability to defend themselves led to civil war. Sigurd, their
reputed uncle, the assassin of their father, raised troops and laid
waste the country. To strengthen his party he formed an alliance with
Magnus the Blind, whom he drew from the monastery; but he was defeated
and compelled to flee. Both soon obtained the aid of the Danish king
Eric; but fortune was still unfavourable: in battle, Magnus lost his
life; and the restless Sigurd too was made prisoner, and subsequently
executed. Though two enemies were thus removed, the royal brothers,
Sigurd and Inge, were often at discord; and a third firebrand was soon
added in EYSTEIN II. (1142–1157), a younger brother, who, returning from
Scotland in 1142, was invested with a third portion of the realm. There
was not, nor could there be, any tranquillity in the country.
Complaints, recriminations, quarrels, treachery, bloodshed, succeeded
each other, when the arrival of a papal legate, the cardinal Albano,
suspended for a time the sanguinary proceedings of these princes.
[Sidenote: 1152.]
This legate was Nicholas Breakspear, our countryman, who subsequently
ascended the pontifical throne as Adrian IV. His mission was two-fold—to
restore peace between the unnatural brothers, and to establish an
archbishopric. The Norwegian monarchs had long demanded a primate of
their own, instead of being dependent on the archbishops of Lund. In
both objects he was successful. The three kings laid down their arms;
united in showing the highest deference to the legate; and beheld with
joy the creation of a metropolitan see at Trondheim, with a
jurisdiction, not over Norway merely, but Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe
islands, the Shetlands, the Orkneys, the Hebrides, and Man. In return,
the chiefs and people readily agreed to pay the tribute of Peter’s
Pence. Many were the reforms which this well-meaning dignitary
endeavoured to carry. He introduced more decorum into the public
worship; he enjoined the clergy to attend more to their proper
functions, and to interfere less in secular matters; and impressed on
the new archbishop the necessity of a rigorous control over the morals
of his flock. In attempting to enforce clerical celibacy, he did not
meet with so ready an acquiescence; but no one dared openly to resist
him. To another of his measures we must award a much higher meed of
praise. Seeing that bloodshed had for many reigns stained the
proceedings of the Lands-Thing, or provincial assembly, he prevailed on
the chiefs to promise that they would not in future attend with arms.
Even the king was only to be accompanied by twelve armed men—an
exception conceded less to his dignity than to the necessity under which
he lay of enforcing the judicial sentences. To an Englishman the conduct
of cardinal Albano on this mission is gratifying. It was no less
esteemed by the Norwegians. “In several other respects,” observes
Snorro, “he reformed the customs and manners of the people during his
stay; so that never did stranger come to the land more honoured or more
beloved by the princes and their subjects.”
[Sidenote: 1153 to 1161.]
If the ascendancy of the cardinal had restored peace, his departure was
immediately followed by new struggles between two of the brothers.
Eystein had no share in them, because he absented himself on a piratical
expedition. He is said to have ravaged the eastern coasts of our island,
from the Orkneys to the Humber. Soon after his return, he entered into a
plot with Sigurd to remove their brother Inge. In 1155, Sigurd and Inge
met in the Thing held at Bergen, and though they could not fight for
want of arms, both they and their followers regarded one another with
deadly hatred. Scarcely was the assembly dissolved, when Inge, who had
heard of the plot for removing him, determined to prevent it by
assailing Sigurd, and after a sharp contest the latter fell. The
following year Inge and Eystein, who were still hostile, met to agree on
conditions of peace; but it was a truce rather than a peace, and in a
few months it was broken by both parties. They marched towards each
other with the resolution of deciding their quarrel by the sword; but
Eystein, who was unpopular, was deserted by most of his followers, and
compelled to seek an asylum in the mountains of Vikia. Thither he was
pursued by Inge, was betrayed in a forest, and put to death by one of
his brother’s myrmidons. By this deed therefore Inge was the monarch of
the country. But he had soon a competitor in HAKO III., son of Sigurd
II., whom the party of Eystein proclaimed king (1157). The four
succeeding years were years of civil war. Hako, a mere child, was driven
into Gothland. The following season he returned and besieged Konghella;
but he was again defeated and forced to re-enter Sweden. Yet early in
1159 he arrived at Drontheim, where he found adherents. With thirty
vessels he laid waste the coasts which held for Inge; but in a great
naval battle he was defeated by that king, though not without
considerable loss to the victor. Repairing into Drontheim where he
passed the winter, he prepared for the next campaign. It was not
decisive; but, in 1161, Inge, betrayed by his own followers, fell in
battle with Hako.
[Sidenote: 1161 to 1164.]
By this event, Hako, it might be expected, would be left undisputed
sovereign of Norway. But the Norwegians at this period seem to have had
little wish for a monarchy; and MAGNUS V. (1162–1186) was raised by the
party of the deceased Inge to the throne of the North. Magnus was the
grandson of Sigurd I., and one of his duties in the opinion of the times
was to revenge the murder of his kindred. As, however, he was but a
child, the government was administered by his father Erling. Erling was,
by marriage, a kinsman of the Danish monarch, from whom he obtained aid
to resist the hostility of Hako. Through that aid he was victor; Hako
fell (1162), and consequently Magnus was the only king left. A rival
indeed, Sigurd, a son of Sigurd II., was opposed to him; but in little
more than a year that rival was crushed by the indefatigable Erling. To
confirm the authority of his son by religious sanction, Erling requested
the primate to crown him. The archbishop consented on the condition that
Norway should be regarded as a fief of St. Olaf; that on the death of
every monarch, the crown was to be formally offered to the saint in the
cathedral; that the saint’s representative, the archbishop of the time,
should receive it; that from each diocese the bishop, the abbots, and
twelve chiefs, should assemble to nominate a successor, and that the
sanction of the primate should be necessary before any one could be
lawful king of Norway. That a considerable reduction in the number of
electors was politic cannot be disputed; and probably this was one of
the reasons that induced the archbishop to introduce so extraordinary an
innovation. But a greater no doubt was the superiority which the church
would thereby acquire over the state. The proposal was accepted; and
Magnus, then only eight years of age, was solemnly crowned by Eystein in
presence of the papal legate.
[Sidenote: 1164 to 1170.]
The aid furnished by the Danish king was not gratuitous. In return for
it Erling had promised the province of Vikia (Vigen), and Valdemar (the
first of that name) now demanded the fulfilment of that pledge. His
position was a critical one. He had not power to transfer that province,
and if he attempted that transfer, his own destruction and that of his
son must be the result. Yet if he did nothing, he must expect an
encounter with that formidable monarch. To escape from this dilemma, he
convoked the states, and laid before them the proposition of Valdemar:
they indignantly refused to receive the Danish yoke. Open war followed,
but through the policy of Erling it was soon succeeded by peace. He
secretly engaged to hold Vikia with the title of jarl as a fief of
Denmark; and, in the event of a failure of issue in his son, to subject
the whole kingdom to the same crown.
[Sidenote: 1166 to 1169.]
Neither the sanction of the church, nor the vigour of his father, nor
even his own virtues, could except Magnus from the common lot of
Norwegian kings—open rebellion and rivalry for the throne. The next who
troubled his tranquillity was Olaf, a grandson of Eystein II. Proclaimed
king by the Uplanders, Olaf had the glory to defeat the regent; but in
his turn he was defeated, and compelled to flee into Denmark, where he
died the following year (1169).
[Sidenote: 1173 to 1177.]
The next was a more formidable rival, in the person of Eystein, a prince
of the same family. Placing himself at the head of the discontented, the
banished, the proscribed, this prince became a bandit chief, and laid
waste the provinces on the borders of Sweden. As the number of his
followers increased, so did his boldness, until with a small fleet he
sailed for Nidaros, which he subdued. Here he persuaded or forced the
people to elect him king (1176). The following year he penetrated into
the central provinces, which had the option of either doing homage, or
of experiencing all the evils of desolation. In 1177, four years after
the commencement of his adventurous career, he met Magnus in the field,
and was defeated. His followers hastened into Sweden, the eastern
provinces of which were still pagan, and but loosely connected with the
crown. He was less fortunate: he was slain in his flight.
[Sidenote: 1174 to 1178.]
Of a different character from either of the preceding, and more
successful in his object, was the next adventurer, Swerro, whose career
is one of romance. His mother, Alfhilda, had been the concubine of
Sigurd II.; and he was the issue of the connection. After Sigurd’s
death, she became the wife of a smith—a business of high repute in the
North—and removed, with her husband and son, to the Faroe isles. Young
Swerro was designed for the church, and on reaching the age of
twenty-five, he entered into holy orders. Now, for the first time, his
mother acquainted him with the secret of his birth. Far more wisely
would she have acted by keeping it in her own bosom; for no sooner did
the young priest know it, than he indulged in dreams of ambition. As our
sleeping are but the images of our waking thoughts, he had a dream which
seemed to prognosticate his future greatness. He mentioned it to a
friend, who promised him the archbishopric of Drontheim. But he had no
relish for the ecclesiastical state; and he mentally interpreted it in a
different way. Urged by ambition, he left the obscure isles in which he
had been so long imprisoned, and repaired to the court of Magnus. His
learning and his martial appearance made a favourable impression on the
regent Erling; and he too so admired the vigorous administration of that
chief, that in despair of effecting a revolution, he withdrew into the
Swedish province of Wermeland. Probably his design was to subsist by
plunder, in the service of one of those predatory bands, so frequent on
the confines of the two kingdoms. At first, however, his prospects were
gloomy; and in his restlessness, he had resolved to go on a pilgrimage
to Jerusalem, when the band which Eystein had commanded solicited him to
become their chief. After some hesitation he consented, was invested
with the royal title, and enabled to take the field.
[Sidenote: 1178 to 1186.]
The early efforts of this adventurer were bold but unsuccessful. In an
expedition through the southern provinces he was indeed joined by some
hundred of followers, mostly bandits; but when he proceeded towards the
north, where Magnus and Erling had their seat of government, he was
abandoned by most of his adherents: the enterprise was too desperate
even for them. With great difficulty did he save himself by penetrating
through the mountain passes into Wermeland. To escape the pursuits of
his enemies, no less than to recruit his numbers, the following spring
he plunged into the vast forests of the modern Delecarlia, then called
Jarnberaland, or the Iron-being land. The inhabitants knew little of
Swedish kings, or of the rest of the world, or of Christianity; but they
knew the value of freedom; and in the apprehension that he came to
deprive them of it, they prepared a stout resistance. He had no
difficulty, however, in persuading those sons of the forest, the
mountain, and the river, that he had no design against them—that he
wanted hospitality, guides, and troops. Of the last he seems to have
obtained none; but he was well entertained, and conducted into Jamtland,
where his little band was recruited. The hardships which he underwent in
this expedition,—cold, hunger, fatigue—made him resolve to attempt some
enterprise, the success of which would rescue him from this wretched
mode of life. Appearing suddenly before Drontheim, he hoped to surprise
the place; but he was repulsed, and again forced to seek a refuge in the
mountains. His next object was to increase the number of his followers;
and as he, or some about him, were well acquainted with the haunts of
the banditti in the trackless forest, and the inaccessible cavern, he
obtained a considerable accession. But a hardy band of peasant archers
from Tellmark was his most valuable acquisition. Reappearing before the
gates of the capital, he defeated the little army of Magnus, and
captured the banner of St. Olaf. As both king and regent were at Bergen,
their usual place of residence, he pushed his way into the city,
assembled the inhabitants of the province, and was proclaimed king! His
task, however, was not half accomplished. A numerous party, including
all the churchmen, adhered to Magnus; and he was soon expelled from
Drontheim, to seek a shelter in his mountain fastnesses. But with these
revolutions he was now familiar: he knew how to recruit his forces—to
advance when there was a prospect of victory—retreat when the danger was
evident. During two years the civil war raged with violence, and the
alternations of triumph and defeat succeeded each other with rapidity.
At length Swerro suddenly descended from the mountains, and defeated the
regent and his son, leaving the former dead on the field. Magnus fled,
but only to return with another army. The second battle, however, was
not more fortunate than the first; his army was annihilated or
dispersed; and he was glad to seek a refuge in Denmark, while the
archbishop fled to England. By the Danish monarch Magnus was supplied
with an armament, with which he again contended for the throne, but with
no better success. A second time he repaired to that country for aid,
and again he fought with the usurper. As on the two former occasions,
victory declared for Swerro: his rival fled, and perished in the waves.
He was not one of those savage chieftains in whom ancient Norway
rejoiced, and whom some of her modern sons would have us mention with
respect. If his soul had not been much improved by religion, it had been
humanised by education. To the followers of Magnus he exhibited great
clemency. He caused the fallen monarch to be magnificently interred in
the cathedral of Drontheim; and he himself, in conformity with ancient
custom, pronounced the funeral oration of the deceased, to whose
virtues, now that he had no reason to fear them, he paid the sincere
homage of praise.
[Sidenote: 1186 to 1194.]
SWERRO (1186–1202) thus obtained the object of his ambition; but he
could not expect to hold it in peace. In fact, the whole of his reign
was a struggle to preserve what he had so painfully gained. From England
archbishop Eystein hurled the thunders of the church at the head of the
apostate priest; but the promise of the king, that he would lay his case
before the pope, and submit to such penance as his holiness might
impose, induced the primate to return and resume his metropolitan
functions. Much of his attention was employed on the enlargement and
improvement of his cathedral, which he wished to vie with the most
splendid Gothic edifices in Europe. From the king he derived
considerable aid towards this end; but he lived only to finish the
choir. The rest was completed by archbishop Sigurd, in 1248. It was then
a very respectable structure. The high altar, which was adorned with a
costly silver shrine containing the relics of St. Olaf, and which was
visited by pilgrims from all parts of the North, had a splendid
appearance. Swerro no doubt expected that by his liberality on this
occasion he should win over to his government the great body of the
clergy; but he refused to hold the crown as a feudatory of St. Olaf,
that is, of the primate; and this rebellion cancelled all his other
merits. Aware of the influence which the primate exercised over the
people, he endeavoured, on the death of Eystein, to obtain the election
of a successor favourable to his views; but in defiance of his
influence, that successor was one of his enemies, Eric bishop of
Stavenger, who had been the warm friend of Erling and Magnus. From the
hands of the new primate he solicited the ceremony of the coronation;
but Eric refused, and for so doing he has been severely censured. It
should, however, be remembered, that he could not crown an
excommunicated prince. That penalty Swerro had incurred by various
crimes—by forsaking the altar without the leave of his diocesan, by the
shedding of blood at the head of banditti, by assuming the crown without
secularisation, and by taking a wife. No bishop, no metropolitan could
absolve him: the pope only was competent to dispense with the authority
of the canons. In revenge for this refusal, Swerro, a man of vigorous
mind, and without a particle of superstition, endeavoured to curtail the
revenues and patronage of the church. He insisted that its claim to the
pecuniary fine in case of homicide should be abolished, and that the
fine should revert to the crown. For this act he must command our
praise; but we cannot praise him for attempting to usurp the patronage
of the church. We have scarcely an instance in all history of a king
exercising the trust in an enlightened and a conscientious manner. Eric
supported with firmness the rights of the church, and by so doing
incurred the royal displeasure to such a degree that he was compelled to
flee into Denmark. From thence he appealed to the pope, who threatened
to place the kingdom under an interdict, unless satisfaction were made
to the church. In vain did Swerro endeavour to prove that the pope had
no right to interfere in such cases: the canons, he well knew, taught a
different doctrine. In vain did he attempt to make the multitude believe
that the blindness with which the archbishop was visited during the
dispute was owing to the wrath of heaven. The people had more confidence
in the primate and in the pope, than they had in a monarch whose early
career had not been the most edifying.
[Sidenote: 1194 to 1200.]
Convinced by experience how little was to be gained by struggling with
the formidable power which humbled the greatest monarchs, Swerro now
applied to the pope for absolution and pardon. He was directed, in the
first instance, to make his peace with the archbishop, who alone could
intercede for him. Incensed at the reply, and fearful lest the people
should desert him because he had not been crowned, he convoked his
bishops, and prevailed on one of them—a mere court tool—to perform the
ceremony. To anoint an apostate priest would not have been within the
bounds even of papal authority: penance and absolution were previously
indispensable; but neither were exacted, and if they had been, the
censure could only have been removed by the supreme pontiff. The bishop
who performed a ceremony in its very nature null was excommunicated; and
the king’s own excommunication was confirmed. In this emergency, Swerro
convoked an Al-Thing at Bergen, where a resolution was passed to send
deputies to Rome to procure his absolution. On their return they all
died in Denmark—no doubt through poison. They brought no absolution; but
a confirmation of the former sentence. For this instrument the king, who
was capable of any act, substituted another, which contained a plenary
remission, and which he declared was the one brought from the head of
the church. To account for the death of his messengers, he asserted that
they had been poisoned by his enemies lest the papal absolution should
reach him. The benefits of this deception he could not long hope to
enjoy. Alexander III. charged him with both the forgery and the murder,
and placed the whole kingdom under an interdict. Even the bishop,
Nicholas, who had crowned him now escaped into Denmark, to join the
metropolitan; and both were nobly entertained by archbishop Absalom,
primate and minister of that kingdom.
[Sidenote: 1194 to 1202.]
During these transactions with the church, Swerro was twice compelled to
enter the field against claimants for the crown. The first was Sigurd,
son of Magnus V., who had taken refuge in the Orkneys. Accompanied by a
band of adventurers, Sigurd landed in Norway, and was joined by many of
the peasantry. But Swerro had a body of men whose valour was unequalled,
and whose fidelity was above all suspicion—men whom he had commanded
before his accession, to whom he was indebted for the throne, and whom
he had transferred from robbers into good soldiers. With them he
triumphed over Sigurd, whose corpse rested on the field. The next
adventurer was supported by bishop Nicholas, who was anxious to
ingratiate himself with his metropolitan and the pope, by exhibiting
uncommon zeal in the destruction of the king. His name was Inge, and he
was represented by his patron as a son of that same Magnus. When he and
the bishop landed, they were joined by a considerable number of the
discontented; but the king, who had obtained archers from England, was
better prepared than even on the former occasion to defend his
authority. Still the struggle was a desperate one; several battles were
fought, and two or three victories were necessary to humble the hopes of
the assailants.
[Sidenote: 1202.]
In the midst of these struggles, after a whole life past in fomenting
rebellion or crushing it, Swerro breathed his last at the age of
fifty-one. That he was a man of great genius and of commanding character
is evident from his unparalleled success. Whether he was really the son
of a Norwegian king is extremely doubtful; but even if he were, he had
none of the advantages which the relationship generally ensures. His
fortune was the result of his own enterprising powers. Few indeed are
the characters in history who have risen from so obscure to so high a
station against obstacles so great; fewer still who, in the midst of
perpetual dangers, have been able to maintain themselves in that
station. In both respects he is almost unequalled. On the whole, he may
safely be pronounced one of the most extraordinary men of the middle
ages.
[Sidenote: 1202 to 1204.]
Before the death of his father, HAKO III. (1202–1204) had been saluted
as heir of the monarchy; and he ascended the throne without opposition.
One of his first acts was to recal the primate, the rest of the bishops,
and all whom his father had exiled. In return the interdict was removed
from the realm; and prosperity was returning to a country so long
harassed by civil wars when the young king died—not without suspicion of
poison from the hands of his stepmother, Margaret, a daughter of St.
Eric, king of Sweden. There seems, however, to be no foundation for the
suspicion; and indeed what could she gain by the crime?
[Sidenote: 1204 to 1207.]
GUTHRUM (1204–1205), a grandson of Swerro, was next raised to the
throne; but his reign was only a year, and there seems to be little
doubt that he was removed by poison, through the contrivance of a
faction which hoped to restore the ancient line of kings. In consequence
of this event, INGE II. (1205–1207), a grandson on the female side of
Sigurd II., acceded; but in two years he too descended to the
tomb—whether violently or in the order of nature is unknown. The death
of four princes in five years is a melancholy illustration of the times.
[Sidenote: 1207.]
There now remained only one male descendant of this dynasty—Hako, a
natural son of Swerro. After his father’s death, and during the
struggles between the old and the new dynasty for the supreme power,
this prince was secreted in the mountains. Fortunately for him, the
companions of his father, the devoted Birkibeinar, the bandit soldiers,
still remained: they espoused his cause, and procured his election to
the throne. Before the church, however, would ratify the election, the
mother, Inga, was required to undergo the ordeal of hot-iron, in proof
of her having truly sworn to the paternity of her son. She consented;
was shut up in a church to prepare by fasting and prayer for the trial;
was guarded night and day by twelve armed men; and the burning-iron left
no wound on her fair hand. Whoever doubted that the ordeal was a fair
one, that Hako was the offspring of Swerro, was menaced with
excommunication.
[Sidenote: 1208 to 1241.]
HAKO IV. was thus the recognised monarch of the country; but he had
still to sustain the hostility of the faction which adhered to the
former dynasty. The most inveterate as well as the most powerful of his
enemies was Skule the jarl, half-brother of Inge II. To pacify this
ambitious noble, he was admitted to a share in the government; and his
daughter became a wife of Hako. This union, in effecting which the
church had a great share, was expected to combine the hearts of both
factions. But the hope was vain: other pretenders to the legitimate or
illegitimate honour of royal descent appeared in succession to claim a
portion of their birthright. So distracted was the country by these
conflicting claims, that a great council of the nation was convoked at
Bergen. The decision was, that Hako was the only lawful king. Yet
through the advice of the primate, whose object was evidently to avert a
civil war, the northern provinces were confided to Skule; and by the
king he was soon adorned with the ducal title—a title which had been in
disuse ever since the ninth century. But this ambitious noble was not to
be silenced by benefits. On a memorable day (1240) he convoked the
states of his own government to assemble in the cathedral: his descent
from the martyr Olaf was then attested by oath on the relics of that
saint; and by his party, amidst the silence of the spectators, he was
declared the lawful heir to the crown, as the successor of Inge II.
Constrained by the example, the rest did homage to him after he had
sworn to administer the laws in righteousness, as his holy predecessor
had administered them. Thus the northern provinces were again dissevered
from the monarchy. But Hako was true to his own rights and the interests
of his people. Assembling his faithful Birkibeinar, and all who valued
the interests of his order, he marched towards Drontheim. At his
approach, the usurper fled into the interior, but only to collect new
forces, with which he obtained some advantages over those of Hako. When
spring returned, however, and the latter marched against the rebels,
fortune declared for him. Skule was signally defeated, compelled to
flee, overtaken, and killed.
[Sidenote: 1242 to 1260.]
Released from the scourge of civil war, Hako now applied his attention
to the internal government of his kingdom. He made new treaties of
commerce with the neighbouring powers: he fortified his sea-ports; he
improved the laws; he made salutary changes in the local administration.
But he was not yet fully at peace with the church; and he requested
Innocent IV. to mediate between him and them, and to cause the crown to
be placed on his brow. Innocent dispatched a legate, the cardinal bishop
of Sabina, for this purpose. At first the king was desired to comply
with the law of his predecessor Magnus V.—that Norway should hereafter
be regarded as a fief of St. Olaf: but he had the patriotism to refuse:
he would protect, he observed, the just rights of the church, but he
would never sanction this usurpation of the ecclesiastical over the
secular state. His firmness was respected, and at the cardinal’s
instance he was crowned without subscribing to the obnoxious compact. He
had gratified that churchman by promising to go on the crusade; but
though he made preparations circumstances prevented his departure. His
kingdom indeed could not safely be left at such a crisis. His frontiers
were still subject to ravage from the licentious bands who infested the
western provinces of Sweden, and who took refuge in either territory
when pursued by the injured inhabitants of the other. Without a cordial
union between the two governments, there could be no hope of extirpating
these predatory bands. Fortunately Birger, the regent of Sweden,
concurred with him in his object. To create a good understanding between
the two countries, a marriage was negotiated between the daughter of
Birger, whose son was on the throne of Sweden, and Magnus, the eldest
son of Hako. But this union was never effected: the subsequent conduct
of Birger was not agreeable to the monarch; and Magnus married the
daughter of Christopher, king of Denmark. The clemency of Hako led to
this connection. He had many causes of complaint against Denmark; and he
did not recur to hostilities until he had long and vainly sued for
redress. He soon reduced Christopher to long for peace; but with a
generosity of which there are few records among kings, he forgot his
wrongs in sympathy for his brother monarch, and became the friend of the
man whom he had left Norway to chastise.
[Sidenote: 1263.]
The last and by far the most memorable expedition of Hako was against
the Scots. The chief incentive to this war was the attempt of Alexander
III. to recover the Hebrides, which, as we have before observed[165],
had been subdued by Magnus Barefoot. Not that they were then subdued for
the first time. The truth is, that they had frequently been reduced to
the Norwegian yoke as far back as the ninth century, and from that time
had, at intervals, paid tribute to that power. More frequently, however,
they had asserted their independence. Colonies, too, from the
mother-countries, had assisted to people those islands, which Harald
Harfagre and his successors had regarded as no less a dependency than
the Shetlands or the Orkneys. In the time of Magnus the number of those
colonists increased; and there were not a few nobles of the isles who
could trace their pedigree to the royal line of Norway. But their
position drew them into the sphere of Scottish influence: to Scotland,
and not to the distant North, they must look for allies in their
frequent wars with one another; and the eagerness of the Scottish
monarchs to establish their feudal superiority over them brought the two
parties into continual communication. In 1244, two bishops arrived in
Norway to induce Hako to renounce all claim to the Hebrides. They told
him that he could have no just right to them, since Magnus Barefoot had
only gained possession of them by violence—by forcibly wresting them
from Malcolm Canmore. The king replied with more truth that Magnus had
not wrested them from the Scottish king, but from the Norwegian Gudred,
who had thrown off the allegiance due to the mother-country. Defeated in
their historical arguments, they had recourse to one which with a poor
monarch they hoped would be more convincing—the pecuniary argument. They
besought him to say what sum he would demand for their entire cession.
“I am not so poor that I will sell my birthright!” was the reply, and
the prelates returned. Alexander III., however, would not abandon the
hope of annexing these islands to his crown; and he commenced a series
of intrigues among the Highland chieftains. The vassals of Hako began to
complain of the vexatious hostilities to which they were subject,
especially from the thane of Ross, and to beg immediate aid. The
atrocities which they detailed, we should scarcely expect to find in a
Christian people, and in the thirteenth century: we should rather assign
them to the period when the pagan Northmen ravaged the coasts of these
islands. In great anger Hako convened a diet at Bergen, and it resolved
that the aid required should be immediately furnished.
[Sidenote: 1263.]
Leaving his son, prince Magnus, regent of the kingdom, Hako sailed for
the Hebrides. In the Orkneys he was joined by the jarls and by the king
of Man. On the western coast of Scotland, many of the Highland
chieftains submitted to his arms. But though he took Arran and Bute, and
laid waste many of the western districts of the continent with fire and
sword, his expedition was a disastrous one. At the mouth of the Clyde,
while landing his troops, a tempest arose and forced him from the shore;
and those who were landed were overpowered by the superior number of the
enemy. In vain did Hako endeavour to lead the rest of his forces with
the view of saving the brave men who were thus overwhelmed: the storm
was too powerful for him; some of his ships were lost; more were
dispersed; and in great anguish of mind he repaired to the Orkneys where
he intended to winter, and invade Scotland the ensuing spring. That
spring he was never to see. A fever, the result of anxiety no less than
of fatigue, laid him on the bed from which he was no more to rise. The
activity of his mind, however, was not arrested even by fatal disease:
he caused the Bible and the old Sagas to be read to him night and day.
When convinced that there was no hope of his recovery, he dictated his
last instructions to his son; made liberal presents to his followers;
confessed and received the sacrament; and “at midnight Almighty God
called him from this world, to the exceeding grief of all present and of
all who heard of his death.” His body was first interred in the
cathedral of St. Magnus, Kirkwall, but subsequently removed to Bergen,
and laid with those of his royal ancestors.
[Sidenote: 1263 to 1266.]
MAGNUS VI. (1263–1280), who had been crowned during his father’s life,
now ascended the throne. He had the wisdom to make peace with the Scots,
by ceding to them all the islands off their coast except the Orkneys,
but not in full sovereignty. For these he was to receive 4000 marks, and
an annual tribute of 100 marks. At the same time Margaret, the daughter
of Alexander, was betrothed to the son of Magnus. These islands had
never produced any benefit to the crown: to maintain them would have
entailed a ruinous expenditure of money and blood. But the Orkneys,
though frequently independent, had been so long connected with the
mother-country, and lay so much nearer, that though their preservation
might bring no great advantage, they were useful as nurseries for
seamen. In the reign of Magnus, too, Iceland became thoroughly dependent
on the Norwegian crown.
[Sidenote: 1263 to 1280.]
Internally, the reign of this prince exhibits considerable improvement.
One of his most serious objects, (which had also been his father’s) was
to establish, on fixed principles, the succession to the throne. As in
other European countries, that succession was now made to depend on the
law of primogeniture, in the male line only. To this regulation the
bishops gave their assent; and, in accordance with it, they not merely
recognised Eric as the successor of Magnus, but crowned that prince.
Hence they no longer insisted on the obnoxious compact between Magnus V.
and the primate of that day[166]—a proof that they do not merit all the
abuse which modern history has poured upon them. It is indeed true that
in return for their sanction of this new and fundamental law of
succession, they obtained some favours; but most of them related to
their own matters. They were excepted, for instance, from the secular
tribunals; but so they were in every other country in communion with
Rome. They refused laymen to exercise any influence over the election of
dignitaries, and they did right. But when each prelate claimed the right
of coining money, and of maintaining a body-guard of forty men-at-arms,
he surely forgot his spiritual character, and remembered only that he
was a temporal baron. This reign too witnessed some other changes. The
allodial proprietors became vassals: the old jarls and hersers were
replaced by dukes and barons and knights; feudal usages were introduced
in lieu of the ancient national customs. As a necessary consequence, the
small landed proprietors, equivalent to the English yeomen, began to
disappear, and to be replaced by farmers. Still in the national
character there was that which prevented the worse evils of feudality.
If the peasant had no longer a voice, or we should rather say a vote, in
the assembly of the states, except by representation, he yet continued
to be free, and to bear arms. In the cities and towns of the kingdom
there was also a modification of the old system. In proportion to the
increase of commerce, and to the prosperity of the great depôts, was
that of municipal rights. These rights were, as much as possible,
assimilated to those of the German towns. For the two important cities
of Bergen and Drontheim, Magnus himself drew up a code of regulations,
to define the rights of the guilds and of the different classes of
burghers. And for the defence of the coasts he revived the ancient act
of division of the maritime districts, each of which was to furnish a
certain number of ships, and to maintain its beacon fire, so that
intelligence of an invasion might speedily fly throughout the country.
But the fame of this monarch chiefly rests on his legislative talents:
hence his surname of _Lagabeter_, or law-mender. To the code which he
compiled from the centenary observances of the four Norwegian provinces,
and which he designed for general use throughout his dominions, we shall
allude in the proper place.
[Sidenote: 1280 to 1289.]
ERIC II., while yet a minor, succeeded his father without opposition;
but his reign was not one of peace. His first disputes were with the
church. At his coronation, he promised rather to amplify than to curtail
its privileges. In virtue of this promise, the archbishop of Drontheim
drew up a list of offences against the canon laws, and claimed for the
clerical tribunals the pecuniary mulcts demanded on such occasions.
These mulcts were considered the right of the crown, and as such were
claimed by royal councillors, on behalf of the king. So far the
conciliations were justifiable; but when they persuaded him to revoke
all the privileges which his father had conceded, they wantonly perilled
the tranquillity of the kingdom. They were excommunicated by the
primate, who in his turn was banished. Both parties appealed to Rome;
but the pope seems to have been a moderate man; and, though not disposed
to surrender any right which the church universal possessed, he
doubtless saw that the Norwegian branch of it had usurped some that were
inconsistent with civil government. The successor of the primate
consented to abandon one or two of the more obnoxious claims, and to
become the liege vassal of Eric. The king too was embroiled with
Denmark, through the protection which he afforded to the assassins of
Eric Glipping.[167] Long and disastrous was the war which raged between
the two countries. At length, both opened negotiations for peace; but it
was not signed during the life of Eric.
[Sidenote: 1289 to 1299.]
These disputes with the church and his royal neighbour prevented Eric
from engaging in another war, for which he might have urged a better
reason. In conformity with the treaty between his father and Alexander
III., he married Margaret of Scotland. The issue was a female, who, on
the death of her grandfather in 1289 (her mother was no more), was
undoubted heiress to the throne of that kingdom. The claims of the “Maid
of Norway” were urged by her father; but she had a rival in our Edward
I., who had determined to render the northern ruler his vassal. To unite
the two crowns on the same brow was an object still more desirable; and
in this view the English king proposed a marriage between his son and
the Maid of Norway. The proposal was readily accepted by Eric; but
before it could be carried into effect, the princess died in the
Orkneys. If Eric exposed himself to ridicule in claiming the Scottish
crown in her right, he had an indisputable claim to his queen’s dowry,
most of which had never been paid. For this cause he might have troubled
the kingdom; and he had another reason for interference. His second wife
was Isabel, daughter or sister of Robert Bruce, whose pretensions he
might have supported against those of Baliol. But he declared for
neither party—a degree of moderation, as we have intimated, attributable
rather to his disputes with the church and with Denmark, than to any
other cause.
[Sidenote: 1299 to 1319.]
As Eric the Priest-hater left no heirs male, he was succeeded by his
brother HAKO V. (1299–1319), whom he had created duke of Norway, and who
had been admitted to some share in the government. One of his first
objects was to resume the negotiations with Denmark; but through the
intrigues of the men who were implicated in the murder of Eric Glipping,
the signature of the treaty was delayed until 1308. His transactions
with Sweden are more important, since they led to a temporary union
between the two crowns. His daughter Ingeburga became the wife of Eric,
brother of Birger, king of Sweden. When Eric was barbarously murdered by
his own brother, Hako armed to revenge the death of his son-in-law.
After a war of some duration, Birger was compelled to abdicate, and
Magnus, the son of Ingeburga, was elected in his place. As Hako had no
heirs male, and females could not inherit, Magnus became the heir of the
Norwegian throne, to which he succeeded on the death of Hako.
[Sidenote: 1319.]
Under this prince, who died in 1319, Norway was not so powerful as it
had been under his father: just as in his father’s time it was not to be
compared with what it had been under the domination of Hako IV. With
this monarch indeed ended the greatness of the kingdom: from his time to
the union of the crown with that of Denmark, there was a continued
decline in the national prosperity. This decline cannot, as some
historians have asserted, be attributed to the cessation of piratical
expeditions; for in truth they had ceased long before the reign of Hako
IV., or even of Swerro. A better reason is to be found in the wars
between the kingdom and Denmark—wars which thinned the population,
diminished the national revenues, and aimed a fatal blow at the national
industry. A second is the monopoly of trade by the Hanseatic Towns. The
vessels of that league had long frequented the coasts of Norway; Swerro
had favoured them; Hako IV. in 1250 had conferred upon them exclusive
privileges; Magnus VI. had established the foreign merchants in his
dominions, especially at Bergen. Hako also exempted them from many of
the imposts to which they were subject in other countries. These
avaricious strangers did not benefit the country. Where two people
trade, _both_ cannot be gainers. The advantage was entirely in favour of
these foreigners, who absorbed a traffic which ought to have been
divided into many channels, and by their monopoly excluded the natives
from other markets. In this respect, we must condemn the short-sighted
policy of Hako, or rather perhaps the engrossing disposition of the
league. But another reason may also be assigned for the decline of the
national prosperity—the increase of luxury—the creation of artificial
wants. The cardinal bishop of Sabina[168] had expressed surprise at the
condition of the people: he had found, not merely the comforts, but the
luxuries of life. After the visit of that dignitary, the evil was not
mended. The monarchs were fond of displaying a splendour which richer
and more extensive kingdoms could not well support; and as the example
of the court is sure to be followed by all who visit it, we may form
some notion of the progress which luxury made amongst the people.
[Sidenote: 1319 to 1387.]
On the death of Hako, as we have already intimated, the throne of Norway
fell to his grandson MAGNUS VII. (1319–1343), king of Sweden. In 1343
Magnus resigned the Norwegian sceptre to his son HAKO VI. (1343–1380).
This prince, as we have before observed, married the daughter of
Valdemar IV., king of Denmark, and died in 1380. He was succeeded in
both thrones by his infant son OLAF (the _fifth_ of Norway, the _third_
of Denmark), on whose death both Denmark and Norway were ruled by queen
Margaret.
At this period the close connection between the three northern kingdoms
can be explained only by reverting to the history of Sweden.
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