Interesting summary, but surely the civil war era deserves a little more than a quick footnote about King Sverre? And the fact that Erik of Pomerania simply abandoned his rule in Norway and became a pirate is also worth a mention :)
I agree that the civil war is an interesting period in Norwegian history, which I could have said a lot about. However, my goal was to make a short video about how the Norwegian kingdom evolved so I had to limit the content. On the other hand, I am working on some civil war video projects. Regarding "Erik av Pommern", my video basically ends before he comes to power. He succeeds Margarete 1th. His ending as a pirate (an intriguing story in itself) is in my opinion, irrelevant if you want to show the big picture. He was easily replaced by Christopher of Bavaria in 1440/42 and the Kalmar union continued to function well until he died in 1448.
You mention the possessions of Norway in Northern Scotland and you mention Iceland, but what about the Norse settlement in Greenland (that was lost, but it didn't 'disappear' until the sometime around the beginning of the 1400s) and the Faroe Islands, how did these last two figure into the emerging Norwegian Kingdom? I do know that the Faroes may have shared løgmenn (Lawspeakers) with the Shetland Isles, but as far as I know, most of the known Løgmenn in the Faroes were Faroese. I know the sources are few and vague, but I can not for the life of me figure out how or where the Faroes belonged in the Norwegian Kingdom.
I am sorry to say, but I know little about the Norwegian Kings influence over the Norse settlements on Greenland. However a large book discussing the organizing of the Norwegian settlements in the vest, including the Orkney- and Faroe Islands, Shetland and Island, came last year. Maybe it says something about Greenland to. The Faroe Island was in some periods under the earl of the Orkney Islands and in other ruled by a "sysselmann" (sheriff) reporting directly to the Norwegian king. All the western islands including the Hebrides and Man but with exception of Island came under Norway during the Viking times. Island on the other hand were independent until the Islanders asked the Norwegian King in the mid 13th century, to take control over the Island to stop the long lasting civil war among the clans. Two times Island was briefly ruled by an earl that made homage to the king as the earl of Orkney. Rest of the time the Norwegian king had Sheriffs on Island. The Hebrides was sold to Scotland in the late 13th century and the Orkneys was given to Scotland as dowry a little later. Greenland faded a little away as you point out. Norway lost the rest of its western domain in 1814. Then mainland Norway which had been in a union with Denmark since 1397, was ceded to Sweden while Denmark retained the western islands, Greenland and Island.I do not know whether this response was particularly clarifying or helpful?
Ola Onsrud We still use Sysselmann as a title for village policemen - but with the title they have a few more tasks than a regular policeman. We call them now Sýslumenn. The Orkneys and Shetland weren't sold, as such, they were pawned in order to provide a dowry for a Scottish Prince .. and then the King of Norway-Denmark never payed the loan that he got from the pawing, so they stayed possessions of Scotland.... that I know. According to Føroyinga søga (a construct saga called Færeyinga saga in Icelandic) the Faroese made an agreement with the Norwegian King sometime around the 11th or 12th century and became what H. J. Debes called a Norwegian tax-country (Faroese historian, that died a few years ago, but wrote an extensive history on the Faroes, there were supposed to be 5 volumes, but he only finished 3 of them). I have made some light perusing of the book Naboer i Nordatlanten, which details a lot of history of the North Atlantic Countries (Greenland, Iceland and the Faroes) but I don't seem to recall anything clarifying the relationship between the Faroes and Norway. However, the thing is that it isn't until the Reformation (1500) that we get any sources, earlier Faroese sources are few and far between, we weren't the diligent writers that our neighbors in Iceland were apparently - or our writings went up in smoke in the fire of Tinganes. We have the Norwegian King's Law, written down in Kongsbókin (One of my ancestors who was Løgmaður in 1601 went to Norway, brought the book, as he was Løgmaður and the book was the possession of the Løgmann, died there and the book was lost for a few centuries - it was found in a private collection in Sweden and is now on permanent loan to the Faroese National Archives) There are two significant laws in that book that are specific Faroese laws, written in Old Faroese called Seyðabrævið (the Sheepletter) and Hundabrævið (the Dogletter). But as I said, we know mostly nothing (nothing being a lot, but still... there is probably a lot more, that we may never know). But when sources begin rear their heads around the 1500s (just before the Danes start to centralize everything in Copenhagen) they show a lot of Faroese holding a lot of property and wealth in Bergen (or at least I think it was Bergen) indicating a strong commercial connection to the city and to Norway itself. I could rant and rave for ages on this... how much of it makes sense... I don't know, but I do appreciate your answer.
Not sure if the question was directed at me or OP, but the book I referred to is available on Amazon it is called Naboer i Nordatlanten - Hovedlinjer i Vestnordens historie gennem 1000 år. Maybe it is available at other (Nordic) online bookstores (it is in Danish - due to contributors from all over the Nordic Region).
Ca. 8:35, worth pointing out that Guests were assassins and messengers, rather than just some anonymous part of the hird. They had inferior pay as well.
I do not know the historical sources you base this on. The gusts was a lower but separate class of the royal hird mostly recruited from among sons of non-nobles. If you look at the sagas and the Hirdskraa (The Hird Law form mid-13th century) they seems to have been an elite fighting unit with their own chieftain and ship. But you are right in that they also were some sort of a royal police force taking care of the kings enemies, but to call them assassins would be unfair in my opinion. The payment of the different classes of the royal hird was due to the requirements the Hirdskraa sets for equipment and crew for each Hird class should contribute. On the other hand thy are not anonymous in the Sagas at least.
There is no backing whatsoever to that claim of guests being recruited among sons of nobles, I do not know where you got that from. If anything, it seems they were as middle class as they could be, but that would be speculation either way, since it hasn't been described properly anywhere. There is simply no explanation on their recruitment available. They were a little bit of everything, actually. They were messengers, assassins, had basic police duties, and of course, fighting as soldiers. They did have their own chieftains, but keep in mind that chieftains in that respect is closer to what we would otherwise have called a commander. They were still directly under the king. The lower payment is not described until Konungs skuggsjá, I believe, where they are said to have half a hirdman's pay, although the author seems somewhat biased against them. I don't think it would be unfair to call them assassins, though. If part of your job is to kill your king's enemies away from the battlefield, that's pretty much what you are.
You guys are probably initiated, but there's a paper written about this floating around the internet in case anyone are interested. Written in nynorsk if I remember correctly.
Interesting summary, but surely the civil war era deserves a little more than a quick footnote about King Sverre? And the fact that Erik of Pomerania simply abandoned his rule in Norway and became a pirate is also worth a mention :)
I agree that the civil war is an interesting period in Norwegian history, which I could have said a lot about. However, my goal was to make a short video about how the Norwegian kingdom evolved so I had to limit the content. On the other hand, I am working on some civil war video projects. Regarding "Erik av Pommern", my video basically ends before he comes
to power. He succeeds Margarete 1th. His ending as a pirate (an intriguing story in itself) is in my opinion, irrelevant if you want to show the big picture. He was easily replaced by Christopher of Bavaria in 1440/42 and the Kalmar union continued to function well until he died in 1448.
Excellent topic!
You mention the possessions of Norway in Northern Scotland and you mention Iceland, but what about the Norse settlement in Greenland (that was lost, but it didn't 'disappear' until the sometime around the beginning of the 1400s) and the Faroe Islands, how did these last two figure into the emerging Norwegian Kingdom? I do know that the Faroes may have shared løgmenn (Lawspeakers) with the Shetland Isles, but as far as I know, most of the known Løgmenn in the Faroes were Faroese. I know the sources are few and vague, but I can not for the life of me figure out how or where the Faroes belonged in the Norwegian Kingdom.
I am sorry to say, but I know little about the Norwegian Kings influence over the Norse settlements on Greenland. However a large book discussing the organizing of the Norwegian settlements in the vest, including the Orkney- and Faroe Islands, Shetland and Island, came last year. Maybe it says something about
Greenland to. The Faroe Island was in some periods under the earl of the Orkney Islands and in other ruled by a "sysselmann" (sheriff) reporting directly to the Norwegian king. All the western islands including the Hebrides and Man but with exception of Island came under Norway during the Viking times. Island on the other hand were independent until the Islanders asked the Norwegian King in the mid 13th century, to take control over the Island to stop the long lasting civil war among the clans. Two times Island was briefly ruled by an earl that made homage to the king as the earl of Orkney. Rest of the time the Norwegian king had Sheriffs on Island. The Hebrides was sold to Scotland in the late 13th century and the Orkneys was given to Scotland as dowry a little later. Greenland faded a little away as you point out. Norway lost the rest of its western domain in 1814. Then mainland Norway which had been in a union with Denmark since 1397, was ceded to Sweden while Denmark retained the western islands, Greenland and Island.I do not know whether this response was particularly clarifying or helpful?
Ola Onsrud We still use Sysselmann as a title for village policemen - but with the title they have a few more tasks than a regular policeman. We call them now Sýslumenn. The Orkneys and Shetland weren't sold, as such, they were pawned in order to provide a dowry for a Scottish Prince .. and then the King of Norway-Denmark never payed the loan that he got from the pawing, so they stayed possessions of Scotland.... that I know.
According to Føroyinga søga (a construct saga called Færeyinga saga in Icelandic) the Faroese made an agreement with the Norwegian King sometime around the 11th or 12th century and became what H. J. Debes called a Norwegian tax-country (Faroese historian, that died a few years ago, but wrote an extensive history on the Faroes, there were supposed to be 5 volumes, but he only finished 3 of them). I have made some light perusing of the book Naboer i Nordatlanten, which details a lot of history of the North Atlantic Countries (Greenland, Iceland and the Faroes) but I don't seem to recall anything clarifying the relationship between the Faroes and Norway. However, the thing is that it isn't until the Reformation (1500) that we get any sources, earlier Faroese sources are few and far between, we weren't the diligent writers that our neighbors in Iceland were apparently - or our writings went up in smoke in the fire of Tinganes. We have the Norwegian King's Law, written down in Kongsbókin (One of my ancestors who was Løgmaður in 1601 went to Norway, brought the book, as he was Løgmaður and the book was the possession of the Løgmann, died there and the book was lost for a few centuries - it was found in a private collection in Sweden and is now on permanent loan to the Faroese National Archives) There are two significant laws in that book that are specific Faroese laws, written in Old Faroese called Seyðabrævið (the Sheepletter) and Hundabrævið (the Dogletter). But as I said, we know mostly nothing (nothing being a lot, but still... there is probably a lot more, that we may never know). But when sources begin rear their heads around the 1500s (just before the Danes start to centralize everything in Copenhagen) they show a lot of Faroese holding a lot of property and wealth in Bergen (or at least I think it was Bergen) indicating a strong commercial connection to the city and to Norway itself.
I could rant and rave for ages on this... how much of it makes sense... I don't know, but I do appreciate your answer.
That is really intersting. I would really like to read your books, where can I get them?
Not sure if the question was directed at me or OP, but the book I referred to is available on Amazon it is called Naboer i Nordatlanten - Hovedlinjer i Vestnordens historie gennem 1000 år. Maybe it is available at other (Nordic) online bookstores (it is in Danish - due to contributors from all over the Nordic Region).
Ca. 8:35, worth pointing out that Guests were assassins and messengers, rather than just some anonymous part of the hird. They had inferior pay as well.
I do not know the historical sources you base this on. The gusts was a lower but separate class of the royal hird mostly recruited from among sons of non-nobles. If you look at the sagas and the Hirdskraa (The Hird Law form mid-13th century) they seems to have been an elite fighting unit with their own chieftain and ship. But you are right in that they also were some sort of a royal police force taking care of the kings enemies, but to call them assassins would be unfair in my opinion. The payment of the different classes of the royal hird was due to the requirements the Hirdskraa sets for equipment and crew for each Hird class should contribute. On the other hand thy are not anonymous in the Sagas at least.
There is no backing whatsoever to that claim of guests being recruited among sons of nobles, I do not know where you got that from. If anything, it seems they were as middle class as they could be, but that would be speculation either way, since it hasn't been described properly anywhere. There is simply no explanation on their recruitment available. They were a little bit of everything, actually. They were messengers, assassins, had basic police duties, and of course, fighting as soldiers. They did have their own chieftains, but keep in mind that chieftains in that respect is closer to what we would otherwise have called a commander. They were still directly under the king. The lower payment is not described until Konungs skuggsjá, I believe, where they are said to have half a hirdman's pay, although the author seems somewhat biased against them. I don't think it would be unfair to call them assassins, though. If part of your job is to kill your king's enemies away from the battlefield, that's pretty much what you are.
You guys are probably initiated, but there's a paper written about this floating around the internet in case anyone are interested. Written in nynorsk if I remember correctly.
Makes sense. Thank you.
الإسلام قادم لكم 💐لاإله إلا الله محمد رسول الله💐
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