Norgesveldet – A history of the Norwegian kings

[Nikolai]

Ivar I
(985-992)
(first reign)

The first reign of Ivar I was a tumultuous time for Norway. Almost all of his reign embroiled in civil war, the child king was doomed from the start.


His reign
The little three year old king’s first two years on the throne were comparably peaceful ones. His uncle the bastard Olafr was appointed regent, only to be deposed within months by the young king’s mother. The same year of his ascension, settlers from Norway are reported to have reached Greenland. Central control of these colonies are practically non existant though.


The war with Jylland which Ivar inherited from his father were two years later still not decided, and the situation turned for the worse when Bersi, the bastard halfbrother of the king declared his intent for the throne and declared war. In the confusion in the start of the civil war, the previous regent and uncle of the king manoeuvred into the postion as regent again, and months later tries a coup de etat to take over the kingdom for himself. Ivar and his court barely escaped and the civil war was now a three way affair.


Later the same year the other bastard uncle of the king also declared his intent for the throne, and the civil war now being between four parts, the regency council realized they needed to cut their losses. Peace feelers were sent out to the Jyllanders, and not long after the Treaty of Skåne was signed.


The troubles for young Ivar contined, however, as Haraldr, a distant relative, declared his intent for the throne. Days later news arrived that Niklar Hypatiosson, a noble upstart, also wanted the kingdom for himself. The situation was now a complete mess, and Ivar had now in reality lost, fleeing from place to place with his enemies in pursuit. In 991 Pierre’s Host declared war on Ivar to conquer the Scottish province of Morray, and moved in on the defenceless piece of land. In March 992, the bastard Olafr corned and captured Ivar and forced him to sign away the kingdom. With this, the reign of Ivar I was over, and Olafr I the Usurper declared himself the rightful king of Norway. He still had half of the country in open rebellion, however.



The sitation in Norgesveldet at the fall of Ivar I.


Aftermath
The first reign of Ivar I is remembered in Norwegian lore and littature as a period of great strife and instability, but the period has also been a great inspiration for later playwrights and authors, the long flight of Ivar being the inspiration for some of the greatest novels of the 1800s.

[Nikolai]

Olafr I the Usurper
(992-1017)

The reign of Olafr I was a time of much civil strife, but he is also remembered as a shrewd ruler who strengthened Norway in a time where much could have gone the way of the dodo for the struggling realm.


Family
Olafr I was married to Frida, the daughter of the king of East Francia and Bavaria. Together they had three children, the youngest their only son and Olafr’s heir and successor:


Kristina
Kraka
Skuli


His reign
Officially, Olafr were on his ascension a bastard of the house Trausti. But not long after his victory, the king dug up documentation that his father Kjartan I actually had legitimized him as his trueborn son and heir on his death bed. His enemies of course refuted these claims, but might makes right and their only chance to deny him the right to call himself a true Yngling was to defeat him in battle.


In a dire situation with many claimants to the throne, and also a shrewd more to neutralize his defeated enemy Ivar until he got a stronger grip on the throne and could sire a heir of his own, Olafr appointed Ivar as his heir if he were to die without issue. Seeing as Ivar still was a child and had his armies depleted, this was a calculated risk that in the end paid off.


Olafr immediately after his ascension married Frida, the daughter of the king of East Francia and Bavaria. To his horror his new father in law refuses to send help, and he had to continue his fight on his own. Being supported by conservative forces, Olafr’s reign saw Norway fall back to tribal organization. The inheritance laws were further changed to gavelkind, meaning the demesne of the king would split in the event of more than one son.


The change to tribal organization gave some benefits however, one which was that the king could rely on tribal armies at his disposal. This immensely strengthened him in his fight against the pretenders. Not long after his ascension, Faste Bartholomaisson joined the fight for the throne, but Olafr was on the offence. In 993, the first of his enemies had to give up, as Olafr’s brother Borkvard accepted total defeat. Two years later his kinsman Haraldr does the same.


In 996, Olafr gets an opportunity he doesn’t fail to exploit, as Ivar begs for mercy for his kinsman Haraldr, and to have him released. Olafr immediately sends the poor lad to the dungeons, removing the largest threat to his realm in pure land and manpower. Two years later the last three pretenders, Faste, Niklar and Bersi respectively, admits defeat and is imprisoned.


December the same year Olafr shocked his nobles by banishing several of the defeated nobles, to enlarge his at the time still small demesne. Due to his might, victories and great prestige, together with the fear of being next, no one in the realm dares to object. Olafr’s control over the country is total, to the degree a medieval king’s power could be.


On the eve of the new millennium, Olafr declared war on the sorrow rests of Sweden for the province of Ã…ngermansland. Sweden is weakened by attacks from the pagan realms bordering it, as well as an unending civil war. The same year is also the first time historians have registered the splintering of the Norse unified culture, as there is signs of parts of Norway and Sweden considering themselves as Norwegian and Swedish, respectively. Important to history is also that in 1001, the news of the discovery of Vinland comes to the Norwegian shores. The colonies settled in America the following decades are lost to history within decades, but this shows how far and wide the Vikings came, centuries before Colombus.


In 1002, a noble named Niklas assembles a host to take the Norwegian throne, but merely a year later he is crushed and never heard of again. Right after his demise, Olafr declares war on Suomi and the Suomi rebels in the ongoing civil war in Finland. Two years of fighting later, land is handed over by the rebels, while Suomi proper accepts return to status quo ante bellum.


Olafr didn’t get much rest however, as the year after, the king of Scotland declared war for the control of the northern tip of Scotland held by Norway, the province of Katanæs. The Scots assembled an army almost thrice the size of Norway, and judging the future of Norway to be in Scandinavia and not in far flung and poorly defendable outskirts, Olafr a year later again gave up the province. Sensing weakness, the pretender Faste, who had been released earlier for a large sum of ransom, again goes to war for the throne. He assembled a vast host, and over three years of fighting ensues, ending in 1010 with a white peace, both sides unable to score a defining victory.


After a couple years of rebuilding his armies, Olafr then in 1012 went to war against Sweden for the province of Medelpad. The fight is a cakewalk for Norway, and Sweden soon has to give up. However, the pagan realms of Suomi and Uppland, between them controlling half of Sweden and all of Finland, declare war on Norway for more Swedish land. Their armies are more than twice those of Norway’s, but Olafr moves around, trying to defeat their armies before they can converge. Ultimately however, the war is lost, and in 1017 the province of Járnbaraland is lost to the Suomi. Only weeks later, the old king dies of a sudden heart attack. The realm is now in the hands of his 15 year old son and his regency council.



Norgesveldet at the death of Olafr I the Usurper.


Aftermath
Olafr I the Usurper is one of the big Norwegian kings of the Middle Ages. Reuniting and strengthening the realm during a time of civil strife, his reign was a huge success. However, his reign also saw a reactionary backlash, where feudalism for a while was abandoned and succession laws were restored to the traditional gavelkind.

[C0ckney]

good stuff, interesting times.

[Nikolai]

Sure is! Dat Suomi...

[C0ckney]

yes, that is surprising. how did they get so strong?

[Nikolai]

Luck, good rulers and weak neighbours.

[Nikolai]

Skuli I
(1017-1023)

Skuli I’s short reign saw new Norwegian setbacks and civil war, but it also saw the decisive turning point of the struggle between Christianity and paganism in Scandinavia.


His reign
Skuli was on his ascension to the throne merely nine years old, and a regency council was set up for the young king. The first decision made by the regency council was to send missionaries into the neighbouring realm of Suomi. The threat of paganism was immense, and threatened the very continued existence of Christianity in Scandinavia.


The threat was made sure not long after, when the pagans of Uppland declared war for the control of the province of Vermaland. Suomi, while letting the missionaries stay and work in their realm, soon joined in on the attack. Together, the heathen realms proved to be too strong for Norway, and after his armies were all but extinct in the battle of Herjedalen, Skuli and his regency council had to admit defeat in late 1018.


Sensing weakness, the bastard cousin of the king, Bersi the Cruel, declared war for the throne, and Norway was yet again embroiled in civil war. To make matters worse, within days news arrived that another cousin of the king, Anders, were hiring an army to make his own claim on the throne. Merely a month later, the count of Vestisland declares his support for Anders’ claim and declares war to press it.


Being in a three way civil war, the news from Suomi of the king’s decision to be baptized was a welcome thing. At last the threat of paganism was waning. However, it soon became clear that there were no friendship between the Suomi and Norway, as the recently converted king weeks later declared war for the control of the previously lost province of Angermansland. Seeing their situation being precarious, the regency council quickly cedes Angermansland to the Suomi, to the king’s frustration. He publicly vows revenge on the Suomi, promising the reconquest of the lost land as soon as he reaches adulthood.


In 1020, the pretender Bersi dies from disease, and the kingdom is down to only one pretender. However, two years later, with the pretender Anders on the defensive, another cousin of the king, Arne, declares war for the throne. With days to his sixteenth birthday, the king in early 1023 decides to take personal control of the army chasing the pretender armies. His regent initially refuses him to go, but being a persuasive young man, and having days left to being of age, the young king gets his will. This would turn out to be his undoing. Meeting the army of Anders in battle, the king foolishly let himself be cornered by the enemy and is slain the day before his sixteenth birthday. Being without his own heir, the stage for the return of Ivar I is set.



The realm of Norway on the second ascension of Ivar I to the throne.


Aftermath
The reign of Skuli I was a short and troubled one, but his lasting legacy was huge. The biggest pagan realm in Scandinavia, Suomi, was converted under his regency, and never regained the power it once had. The tide was turned for paganism in Scandinavia, never to return to its lost glory again. With his death, the bastard line of the Ynglings also came to an end, and Ivar I regained his throne without bloodshed.

[Nikolai]

Ivar I Ironside
(1023-1046)
(second reign)

The second reign of Ivar I was a complete turnaround compared to his first. Where he was a weak child king who went from defeat to defeat in his first turn at the reins of Norway, his second reign was a story of a king going from strength to strength.


Family
Ivar I was married to three women in his life, Gurli, Odelt and at last Ingeltrude. Between them, these three women gave him eight children, two of which would eventually become kings:


Sigurdrr
Anna
Thordr
Borkvard
Skuld
Gunnarr
Ingjerdrr
Asa


His reign
As a result of his deal with Olafr on the end of his first reign, Ivar was the appointed heir when Skule met his unfortunate end. While the late king gave his life on the battlefield, the battle itself was decisive and Ivar would days later receive Anders’ surrender. The following year the pretender Arne was also forced to bend the knee.


Immidiately after ending the civil war, Ivar declared holy war on Uppland, which was in the middle of a civil war. The holy war’s goal was to return the duchy of Västergötland under Christian control, and less than three years later the exhausted realm of Uppland gave up.


Not the man to rest upon his laurels, Ivar at once turned his eyes on the recently converted realm of Suomi. In a long and weakening civil war, the country was an obvious target, and Ivar went to war to restore the county of Angermansland to the Norwegian throne.


Two years into this war, which had turned to a slow conquest, as the Norwegian armies conquered, but the Suomi king refusing to give in, the heathen petty king of Orknö in the North Sea declared war, demanding the control of mainland Trøndelag. Not long after news arrived that the king’s cousin Throdr was hiring men for an attack to claim the Norwegian throne.


In 1030, the war with Suomi was finally won, and Ivar’s armies turned to the North Sea to stop the Orknö threat. The battle hardened troops of Ivar soon defeated the heathen petty king, just in time to return to Norway proper and meet Thordr in battle. In 1032, Thordr was soundly defeated and forced to bend the knee.


Not the man to waste any time, Ivar then declared a de jure war on the petty king of Orknö. Historians still argue why he went for a de jure war, which meant the heathen would retain control of his lands as a vassal to Ivar. Due to the crown’s intensive missionary work on Orknö for the last few years at this time, many historians argue Ivar thought the petty king was close to seeing the light and wanted to give the man a chance to retain control of his lands as a loyal Christian vassal. Time would prove him wrong, but the war was quickly ended and for the time being, the heathens were in control of Orknö as the only heathen vassals in Norway.


In 1035, news of a planned attack by Ivar’s kinsman Ingolfr reached the Norwegian court, but for once the attack came to nothing. Secure that no attack would come, Ivar declared a holy war on Uppland for the duchy of Bergslagen in 1037. The heathen had no power to withstand the mighty Norwegian war machine, and surrendered little over a year later.


By this time, Ivar was getting known to his people and his enemies as Ivar I Ironside, ruling with justness, but also using an ironfist against his enemies. In 1039, another Upplander civil war happened, and Ivar once again sent his armies against the pagan realm, seeking the control of the duchy of Skåne. Once again his armies were successful. The following year he even managed to steer his oldest son and heir Sigurdrr into the Swedish throne and with this election the dual thrones of Norway and Sweden was set to once again become one realm.


In 1041, the heathen vassal of Orknö showed his true colors, when he rebelled against Ivar, taking two of the North Sea vassals with him in a quest to regain independence. In a daring move, the heathens invaded Norway proper and abducted the Queen, Ingentrude. The poor woman was made the concubine of the petty king of Orknö. Enraged, Ivar personally led the charge against the heathen army, chasing it out of Norway proper and back into the North Sea. Invading Orknö itself, and crushing the heathens soundly, the rebels were forced to bend the knee once again. The rebels were stripped of their titles and banished from the realm, and Ingentrude was returned to Norway. She was never the same again, becoming secluded and shy, and keeping to herself for the rest of her life.


In late 1045, distaster struck in Sweden. Sigurdrr was subjected to a coup de etat and dethroned. He was also imprisoned by the new king. Ivar assembled his army to free his son, but before he could declare war, he died of a sudden heart attack, 64 years of age. The Norwegian throne was now legally occupied by a foreign captive.



Norgesveldet at the start of Sigurdrr’s reign, much enlarged during his father’s successful reign.


Aftermath
Ivar I Ironside’s second reign is remembered by modern Norwegians as a time of resurgence of the medieval Norwegian empire. Going from success to success, Ivar proved himself to be one of the big kings of medieval Norway. His only blemish was the succession; leaving his throne to a king in foreign captivity.

[Dinner]

The Suomi seem to have been partially broken up.

[Nikolai]

Yes, they are in a long lasting civil war after I converted them to Catholisism.

[Nikolai]

Sigurd I
(1046)

Sigurd I never reigned except by in name. He rose to the throne a captive and lost it a captive.


Family
Sigurd was married to Elduara and had two children:
Beata
Borkvard


His reign
While he was king of Sweden, Sigurdrr adopted the national identity of Swedish, changing his name to Sigurd, and trampled on his Norse roots. When he succeeded his father, he was as such deeply unpopular among his Norse vassals. The Swedish usurper demanded a steep sum for his release, and Norway had neither the money nor the will to pay his ransom. Within a month, the Norwegian nobles rallied around his younger brother Thordr and sent his regent an ultimatum; surrender the throne. His regent was all too eager to do so, and Sigurd’s reign came to an end before it had really begun.

The realm when Sigurd I was deposed.


Aftermath
Sigurd I is largely forgotten by modern Norwegians, never having a chance to prove himself or rule at all. Some historians even argue he shouldn’t be counted among the Norwegian kings at all.

[C0ckney]

norway looks very strong now. it looks like the united ireland is kicking some backside in britain too.

[N35t0r]

A united Ireland that is a Norweigan legacy

[Nikolai]

On Ireland, it was around this time that they for a few years united Scotland, Ireland and half of Wales, before losing Scotland in a succession(I presume gavelkind).

[Sava]

Nikolai