Sigurd Håkonsson (died 962) (

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 ...

: ''Sigurðr Hákonarson'') was a Norwegian nobleman and

Jarl 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 ...

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 ...

. Sigurd Håkonsson Ladejarl was the son of

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 ...

, the first Jarl of Lade (Old Norse Hlaðir). In 900, Håkon came into conflict with

Atle Mjove Atli the Slender (Old Norse: ''Atli hinn Mjovi'') was a ninth-century Norwegian jarl mentioned in several Old Norse sources, including ''Heimskringla'' and ''Egils saga''. Atli was the son of Hundolf, a jarl of Gaular in Fjordane. His sister was S ...

over

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 ...

and fought a battle at

Fjaler Fjaler is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre is the village of Dale. Other places in Fjaler include Espedal, Flekke, Folkestad, Guddal, and Hellevik ...

(Old Norse: ''Fjalir''), in which Håkon was killed. Upon reaching maturity, Sigurd inherited his father's position. Sigurd Håkonsson was married to Bergljot Toresdatter, daughter of Tore Teiande Ragnvaldsson (''Thorir Rögnvaldarson'') and Ålov Årbot Haraldsdatter. In 892, Tore Ragnvaldsson became

Jarl of Møre Jarl is a rank of the nobility in Scandinavia. In Old Norse, it meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. ''Jarl'' could also mean a sovereign prince. For example, the rulers of several of the petty k ...

after the death of his father,

Ragnvald 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 (''Mǿraj ...

. During the reign of King

Haakon I of Norway 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 o ...

, Sigurd had an influential position as the king's friend and adviser. He sought in particular to mediate between the king and the people during the king's attempt to introduce Christianity. After the death of Haakon at the Battle of Fitjar (''Slaget ved Fitjar på Stord'') in 961,

Harald Greycloak Harald Greycloak (Old Norse: ''Haraldr gráfeldr'', lit. "Harald Grey-hide"; Norwegian: ; Danish: ; c. 935 – c. 970) was a king of Norway from the Fairhair dynasty. Harald acquired his nickname "Gray-hide" after an encounter with the crew of ...

, the son of

Eirik Bloodaxe Eric Haraldsson ( non, Eiríkr Haraldsson , no, Eirik Haraldsson; died 954), nicknamed Bloodaxe ( non, blóðøx , no, Blodøks) and Brother-Slayer ( la, fratrum interfector), was a 10th-century Norwegian king. He ruled as King of Norway from ...

and his brothers became kings of

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 ...

. In autumn 962, Sigurd Håkonsson and his warriors were burnt to death by Harald Greycloak, while staying the night at Aglo, in modern-day Skatval in the municipality of Stjørdal. Sigurd was killed as part of Harald's effort to reunite all of Norway under his rule. In 970, his killing was later avenged by Sigurd's son,

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 ...

, who had become an ally of King

Harold Bluetooth Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson ( non, Haraldr Blátǫnn Gormsson; da, Harald Blåtand Gormsen, died c. 985/86) was a king of Denmark and Norway. He was the son of King Gorm the Old and of Thyra Dannebod. Harald ruled as king of Denmark from c. 95 ...

. Sigurd had

Kormákr Ögmundarson Kormákr Ögmundarson (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ) was a 10th-century Icelandic skald. He is the protagonist of ''Kormáks saga'' which preserves a significant amount of poetry attributed to him. According to ''Skáldatal'' he was also the c ...

as a court poet. Fragments of Kormákr's lay on Sigurd Håkonsson, ''Sigurðardrápa'', are preserved in ''

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Language of Poetry'; c. 50,000 words; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda''. The section consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, ...

'' and in ''

Heimskringla ''Heimskringla'' () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorre Sturlason (1178/79–1241) 1230. The name ''Heimskringla'' was first used in the 17th century, derive ...

.''''Sigurðardrápa'' (Skaldic Project Academic Body)
/ref>

References

Primary Sources

The primary records are from the ''

'' by

Snorri 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 ...

Other sources

*Hollander, Lee M. (Ed.) (1949) ''The Sagas of Kormák and The Sworn Brothers'' (Princeton University Press for the American-Scandinavian Foundation) *Hreinsson, Viðar(Ed.) (1997) ''The Complete Sagas of Icelanders - Volume I'' (Reykjavík: Leifur Eiríksson Publishing) *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) ] {{DEFAULTSORT:Haakonsson, Sigurd 962 deaths Ladejarl dynasty Norwegian earls 10th-century rulers in Europe