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.
CHAPTER XXIX
Haakon Sverreson (1202-1204), Guthorm Sigurdson (1204), and Inge Baardson (1204-1217)
AFTER Sverre’s death his only son, Haakon, who was then twenty-eight or thirty years old, was proclaimed king of Norway. In the letter which Sverre wrote to his son on his death-bed, he advised him to make peace with the Church, and Haakon lost no time in calling the archbishop back to the country and in reconciling himself with the bishops. The clergy seemed to be very eager for peace, and each bishop returned to his bishopric, while the archbishop revoked the ban and the interdict without even taking time to obtain the consent of the pope. For this haste in making peace with the king the archbishop was afterward sharply reprimanded by the pope; but in the meanwhile the good relations between king and clergy had strengthened Haakon’s position, and the people in general readily acknowledged him. The Bagler party gradually lost most of its support, and after their so-called king, Inge Magnusson, had been killed by one of his own men on an island in Lake Miosen (1202), the party was, for the time being, broken up. Some went to King Haakon and begged for mercy, the remainder fled either to Sweden or Denmark, and there was again peace in the country. The peace, however, did not last very long, this time probably [Pg 191]on account of strained relations between the king and his stepmother, the queen-dowager Margreta. During the festivities in Bergen at Christmas, 1203, King Haakon was taken suddenly ill, and on January 1, 1204, he died, with all the symptoms of having been poisoned. It was the general opinion that Queen Margreta was the cause of his death. She was obliged to leave the country, and returned to her old home in Sweden. The death of King Haakon caused great sorrow, for he had been very popular; besides, it was generally supposed that he left no issue.
Two days after Haakon’s death, a council was held by Bishop Martin and the chiefs of the Birchlegs, and it was decided to elect Haakon’s nearest heir, his nephew, Guthorm Sigurdson, a son of Sigurd Lavard, as his successor, although he was only four years old. Haakon Galen, a son of Sverre’s sister Cecilia and Folkvid Lawman, was to conduct the government under the title of earl. When this hasty election of a king was reported throughout the country, the Bagler party reorganized themselves under the leadership of Erling Steinvegg (Stonewall), who claimed to be a son of King Magnus Erlingson. This new pretender soon had a large following and also obtained substantial support from the Danish king, Valdemar II. Bishop Nicholas at first opposed him, as he wanted his own nephew, Philip, a grandson of Harald Gille’s queen, Ingerid, elected king; but they finally came to an agreement, Erling promising to make Philip earl and to otherwise favor the bishop. With the aid of the bishop, Erling then proved his right to the throne by the ordeal of fire, the event taking place with great ceremony in Tunsberg in the presence of the Danish king and a large assemblage of people. King Valdemar made Erling a present of thirty-five fully equipped ships. The following day a Thing was summoned, and Erling was proclaimed king. He immediately appointed Philip as his earl. Both solemnly acknowledged the Danish king as their overlord and gave him hostages. The whole of Viken had soon acknowledged Erling as king, and the few Birchlegs who were there fled to the northern or western part of the country.
The child king, Guthorm Sigurdson, died suddenly in Nidaros, August 11, 1204, and there was a strong suspicion that he had been poisoned by Christina, the mistress of Haakon Galen. The Thing was immediately convened, and the people elected Inge Baardson of Rein as king. Inge was a younger half-brother of Haakon Galen, being a son of King Sverre’s sister, Cecilia, and her husband, Baard of Rein. For some time there was again continual warfare between the Baglers and the Birchlegs. In the summer of 1205, King Inge and Earl Haakon made a cruise to Viken and had some encounters with the Baglers, and in the fall King Inge returned to Nidaros, while Earl Haakon went into winter-quarters in Bergen.
Shortly after Christmas it was reported in Nidaros that a body of warriors had come across the mountain from the south, and that they had the son of a king with them. It was feared that a new band of rebels was coming, and King Inge called all his men to arms. Two of his court-men, who were sent out to ascertain the object of the coming warriors, were met by some messengers, who had been sent ahead to inform King Inge of their errand. It was quite true that they had the son of a king with them, but he was as yet only a babe. It was learned that the approaching warriors were a number of good Birchlegs, and that the prince who was with them was the infant son of their late beloved master, King Haakon Sverreson.