The Earls of Lade ( no, ladejarler) were a dynasty of

Norse Norse is a demonym for Norsemen, a medieval North Germanic ethnolinguistic group ancestral to modern Scandinavians, defined as speakers of Old Norse from about the 9th to the 13th centuries. Norse may also refer to: Culture and religion * Nor ...

'' jarls'' from Lade (

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

: ''Hlaðir''), who ruled what is now

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 Denmar ...

and

Hålogaland Hålogaland was the northernmost of the Norwegian provinces in the medieval Norse sagas. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hålogaland was a kingdom extending between the Namdalen valley in Trøndelag county and the Lyngen f ...

from the 9th century to the 11th century. The seat of the Earls of Lade was at Lade Gaard, now located in the eastern parts of the city of

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, an ...

. The site is near the seaside of the Trondheimsfjord, which was an important waterway in the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period The ...

. According to Snorri, King

Harald I of Norway 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 ...

was a great commander but lacked a fleet. For that he was assisted by

Håkon Grjotgardsson Håkon Grjotgardsson (Old Norse: ''Hákon Grjótgarðsson'') (c. 860–870 – c. 900–920) was the first Earl of Lade and an ally of Harald Fairhair, King of Norway. Biography Nicknamed Håkon the Rich (''Hákon jarl hinn riki'') and Håkon the ...

. In gratitude Harald made him the first earl of Lade.Jørn Sandnes: ''Håkon Grjotgardsson, Jarl'' (Norsk biografisk leksikon)
/ref>

Notable Earls of Lade

* Hákon Grjótgarðsson (c. 860–870 – c. 900–920), an ally and father-in-law of

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair no, Harald hårfagreModern 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 N ...

* Sigurðr Hákonarson (died 962), friend and advisor of

Hákon the Good Haakon Haraldsson (c. 920–961), also Haakon the Good (Old Norse: ''Hákon góði'', Norwegian: ''Håkon den gode'') and Haakon Adalsteinfostre (Old Norse: ''Hákon Aðalsteinsfóstri'', Norwegian: ''Håkon Adalsteinsfostre''), was the king of ...

* Hákon Sigurðarson (c. 937–995), ruler of Norway from about 975 to 995 *

Eiríkr Hákonarson Erik Hakonsson, also known as Eric of Hlathir or Eric of Norway, (, 960s – 1020s) was Earl of Lade, Governor of Norway and Earl of Northumbria. He was the son of Earl Hákon Sigurðarson and brother of the legendary Aud Haakonsdottir of Lade. H ...

(960s – 1020s), governor of the majority of Norway under Svein Forkbeard * Sveinn Hákonarson (died c. 1016), governor of a part of Norway under Olaf the Swede * Hákon Eiríksson (died c. 1029–1030), governor of Norway under

Canute the Great Cnut (; ang, Cnut cyning; non, Knútr inn ríki ; or , no, Knut den mektige, sv, Knut den Store. died 12 November 1035), also known as Cnut the Great and Canute, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway ...

, last of the Earls of Lade

References

Other sources

* Holmsen, Andreas (1976) ''Norges historie: fra de eldste tider til 1660'' (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget) *Stylegar, Frans-Arne (2013) ''Håkon Jarl'' (Oslo: Spartacus forlag AS) * Titlestad, Torgrim (2011) ''Norge i vikingtid'' (Stavanger: Saga Bok AS) *Thuesen, Nils Petter (2011) ''Norges historie'' (Oslo: Forlaget Historie og Kultur)

External links

Lade gård
Viking Age people in Norway Lade {{Norway-hist-stub