Inge Magnusson or Inge Baglar-king was from 1196 to 1202 the Bagler candidate for pretender to the Norwegian throne during the

Civil war era in Norway The civil war era in Norway ( no, borgerkrigstida or ''borgerkrigstiden'') began in 1130 and ended in 1240. During this time in Norwegian history, some two dozen rival kings and pretenders waged wars to claim the throne. In the absence of f ...

. In 1197, a serious challenge to the reign of King

Sverre of Norway Sverre Sigurdsson ( non, Sverrir Sigurðarson) (c. 1145/1151 – 9 March 1202) was the king of Norway from 1184 to 1202. Many consider him one of the most important rulers in Norwegian history. He assumed power as the leader of the rebel party ...

arose. Several prominent opponents of Sverre, including bishop

Nikolas Arnesson Nicholas Arnesson (old Norse language, Old Norse: ''Nikolás Árnason'') (ca. 1150 – 7 November 1225) was a Norwegian bishop and nobleman during the Civil war era in Norway, Norwegian civil war era. He was a leader in the opposition against King S ...

of Oslo, who had been a halfbrother of King

Inge I of Norway Inge Haraldsson (Old Norse: ''Ingi Haraldsson''; 1135 – 3 February 1161) was king of Norway (being Inge I) from 1136 to 1161. Inge’s reign fell within the start of the period known in Norwegian history as the civil war era. He was never the s ...

and exiled archbishop Erik Ivarsson met at the marketplace of Halör in Skåne, then part of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. They took Inge Magnusson, purported son of King

Magnus V of Norway Magnus Erlingsson ( non, Magnús Erlingsson, 1156 – 15 June 1184) was a king of Norway (being Magnus V) during the civil war era in Norway. He was the first known Scandinavian monarch to be crowned in Scandinavia. He helped to establish primog ...

as their figurehead-king. Their party was called the Bagler, from an

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 ...

word meaning

crosier A crosier or crozier (also known as a paterissa, pastoral staff, or bishop's staff) is a stylized staff that is a symbol of the governing office of a bishop or abbot and is carried by high-ranking prelates of Roman Catholic, Eastern Cathol ...

. The war between the Bagler, with the open support of the Church, and the

Birkebeiner The Birkebein Party or Birkebeinar (; no, Birkebeinarane (nynorsk) or (bokmål)) was the name for a rebellious party in Norway, formed in 1174 around the pretender to the Norwegian throne, Eystein Meyla. The name has its origins in propaga ...

, was to last for the rest of the reign of King Sverre. Inge Magnusson was with the Bagler party when they took Nidaros in January 1198. They stayed through the spring, and Inge was given the royal title at the

Thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuse ...

. The Baglers established themselves in the Viken area, which was both the bishopric of Nikolas Arnesson and the former power base of King Magnus V. On 18 June 1199, the two fleets met at the naval Battle of Strindafjord (''Slaget på Strindfjorden''). Here Sverre won a crushing victory and the surviving Baglers fled. From January 1200, Inge is consistently described as one of Bagler leaders. Inge died during 1202, the same year as his rival King Sverre. After the death of King Sverre during March 1202, Inge had lost the support of the church. Archbishop Eirik and bishops who had followed Baglers, now reconciled with King Håkon III of Norway, the son of King Sverre. Inge was betrayed and killed by some of his own men at Storøya outside

Fagernes is a town in Nord-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the largest urban/commercial centre for the Valdres region. It is located just northwest of the village of ...

Norwegian Civil War

In the Norwegian Civil War several royal sons fought against each other for power in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. The civil wars period of

Norwegian history The history of Norway has been influenced to an extraordinary degree by the terrain and the climate of the region. About 10,000 BC, following the retreat inland of the great ice sheets, the earliest inhabitants migrated north into the territor ...

lasted from 1130 to 1240. After these two parties were reconciled in 1217, a more ordered system of government centered around the king was gradually able to bring an end to the frequent risings. During this period there were several interlocked conflicts of varying scale and intensity. The background for these conflicts were the unclear Norwegian succession laws, social conditions and the struggle between Church and King. There were then two main parties, firstly known by varying names or no names at all, but finally condensed into parties of Bagler and

. The rallying point regularly was a royal son, who was set up as the head figure of the party in question, to oppose the rule of the king from the contesting party. The failed rising of duke

Skule Bårdsson Skule Bårdsson or Duke Skule ( Norwegian: Hertug Skule) (Old Norse: Skúli Bárðarson) ( – 24 May 1240) was a Norwegian nobleman and claimant to the royal throne against his son-in-law, King Haakon Haakonsson. Henrik Ibsen's play '' Kongs ...

in 1240 was the final event of the civil war era

References

Other sources

* Helle, Knut (1958) ''Omkring Boglungasogur'' (Bergen, NO: A. S. John Griegs) *Orning, Hans Jacob (2008) ''Unpredictability and Presence: Norwegian Kingship in the High Middle Ages'' (BRILL) * Bagge, Sverre (2012) ''From Viking Stronghold to Christian Kingdom: State Formation in Norway, c. 900-1350'' (Museum Tusculanum Press) {{DEFAULTSORT:Inge M Norwegian civil wars 1202 deaths Pretenders to the Norwegian throne Murdered royalty Year of birth unknown 12th-century Norwegian nobility Sons of kings