Håkon Grjotgardsson (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

: ''Hákon Grjótgarðsson'') (c. 860–870 – c. 900–920) was the first

Earl of Lade The Earls of Lade ( no, ladejarler) were a dynasty of Norse '' jarls'' from Lade (Old Norse: ''Hlaðir''), who ruled what is now Trøndelag and Hålogaland from the 9th century to the 11th century. The seat of the Earls of Lade was at Lade G ...

and an ally of

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair no, Harald hårfagre Modern Icelandic: ( – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from 872 to 930 and was the first King of Nor ...

, King of Norway.

Biography

Nicknamed Håkon the Rich (''Hákon jarl hinn riki'') and Håkon the old (''Hákon jarl hinn gamli''), he was the son and heir of Grjotgard Herlaugsson Lade. He succeeded his father as ruler of the petty kingdom of

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denma ...

. His daughter Åsa, married

and was the mother of Guttorm Haraldsson and Halfdan Haraldsson. Håkon was also the father of Sigurd Håkonsson, who was the father of

Haakon Sigurdsson Haakon Sigurdsson ( non, Hákon Sigurðarson , no, Håkon Sigurdsson; 937–995), known as Haakon Jarl (Old Norse: ''Hákon jarl''), was the ''de facto'' ruler of Norway from about 975 to 995. Sometimes he is styled as Haakon the Powerful ( n ...

. Håkon had his residence at

Ørland Ørland is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Fosen region. Ørland is located at the southwestern tip of the Fosen peninsula at the northern shore of the mouth of Trondheimsfjord where the Stjørnfjorden arm begin ...

et at the mouth of the

Trondheimsfjord The Trondheim Fjord or Trondheimsfjorden (), an inlet of the Norwegian Sea, is Norway's third-longest fjord at long. It is located in the west-central part of the country in Trøndelag county, and it stretches from the municipality of Ørland i ...

. The exact extent of his control over the area is not confirmed. Håkon sought to extend his kingdom southwards. Harald Fairhair advanced across the mountains of Eastern Norway to subjugate Trøndelag. After some fighting, Håkon and Harald entered a union of joint forces. Håkon was made earl of Sunnfjord and

Nordfjord Nordfjord ( en, Northern fjord—in contrast to Sunnfjord) is a traditional district of Norway. Geography The region is located in the northern part of Vestland county in Western Norway. It centers on the Nordfjorden and it comprises the muni ...

. He took up residence in the area of Lade gaard in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

. After Harald Fairhair conquered Møre and

Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; English: "Sogn and Fjordane") was, up to 1 January 2020, a county in western Norway, when it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland, the cou ...

, he assigned the governance of the former to

Rognvald Eysteinsson Rognvald Eysteinsson (''fl.'' 865) was the founding Jarl (or Earl) of Møre in Norway, and a close relative and ally of Harald Fairhair, the earliest known King of Norway. In the Norse language he is known as Rǫgnvaldr Eysteinsson (''Mǿrajarl ...

and the latter to Håkon. Atle Mjove continued to govern

Sogn Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway ''(Vestlandet)''. It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestr ...

. Hákon and Atle Mjove soon came into conflict over Sogn and fought the

Battle of Fjaler The battle of Fjaler was an engagement related to Harald Fairhair's unification of Norway. After having subdued the kingdom of Firda, Harald left for the east, placing Håkon Ladejarl in possession of Firda. Håkon sent a messenger to earl At ...

, in which Hakon was killed. Atle Mjove was severely wounded in the battle and taken to Atløy where he also died.

Primary Source

The primary source of information regarding Håkon Grjotgardsson comes from ''Harald Haarfagres saga'' composed by

Snorre Sturlasson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ...

. ''Harald Haarfagres saga'' (heimskringla.no)
/ref>

References

Other sources

*Forte, Angelo; Oram, Richard; Pedersen, Frederik (2005) ''Viking Empires'' (Cambridge University Press) *Stenersen, Øyvind; Libæk, Ivar (2003) ''The History of Norway'' (Lysaker: Forlaget Historie og Kultur) *Thuesen, Nils Petter (2011) ''Norges historie'' (Oslo: Forlaget Historie og Kultur)

Biography

Primary Source

References

Other sources

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