The Battle of Storsjön (''Slaget på Storsjöns is'') was fought during 1178 outside Sunne, in

Jämtland Jämtland () is a historical provinces of Sweden, province () in the centre of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders Härjedalen and Medelpad to the south, Ångermanland to the east, Lapland, Sweden, Lapland to the north and Trøndelag and Norw ...

province,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The battle was won by the

Birkebeiner The Birkebein Party or Birkebeinar (; (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 propaganda from the establ ...

army of King

Sverre of Norway Sverre Sigurdsson () (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 known as the Birkebeiner i ...

. The battle was conducted near Lake

Storsjön Storsjön (, ) is the fifth largest lake in Sweden, with an area of and a greatest depth of . It is the largest lake in central Sweden, located in the province of Jämtland in modern Jämtland County. From Storsjön runs the river Indalsälven ...

, which was then covered with ice. Due to darkness, Sverre and his troops pulled away while local peasants fought against each other. When dawn came, the Birkebeiner forces attacked and won a victory. As a consequences of this defeat, Jämtland was incorporated into Norway until it was ceded to Sweden in 1645. According to the

Sverris saga ''Sverris saga'' is one of the Kings' sagas. Its subject is King Sverre Sigurdsson of Norway (r. 1177–1202) and it is the main source for this period of Norwegian history. As the foreword tells us, the saga in its final form consists of mo ...

, the Jamts were mostly killed by sword blows in their backs. This is supported by archaeological findings from the 20th century. ''Jemtland og Norge'' (Edvard Bull, 1927 Oslo: Gyldendal)
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References

Other sources

* Ashlund, Nils (1948) ''Jämtlands och Härjedalens historia D. 1, Intill 1537'' (Norstedts Förlag) (In Swedish) * Helle, Knut (1995) ''Under kirke og kongemakt: 1130-1350'' (Aschehoug Universitetsforlaget) (in Norwegian) * Krag, Claus (2005) ''Sverre: Norges største middelalderkonge'' (Aschehoug Universitetsforlaget) (in Norwegian)

External links

''The History of Jamtland'' (Bo Oscarsson)
Civil wars in Norway Storsjon Storsjon Conflicts in 1178 1178 in Europe 12th century in Sweden 12th century in Norway {{battle-stub

References

Other sources

Further reading

External links