Haakon 'the Good': King of Norway 934-961

viking sails were spotted off the coast of england during the late 9 20 s yet these warriors hadn't crossed the sea to raid nor had they come to make war upon the newly forged nation instead they had come on a diplomatic mission their destination the court of King Athelstan grandson of Alfred the Great the first King to bear the title king of the English though the ships were likely manned by battle-hardened Nordic warriors hailing from the frosted fjord lands of the north their dragon boats carried another cargo - a young boy of around 10 years old a prince and if the sagas are to be believed the youngest son of the veteran Norwegian King Harald fairhair the boy's name was hack on and for close to a decade he would remain Athelstan skort raised as a foster son to the English King alongside a number of other royal princes from all over Europe until finally years later he returns to Norway along with an English fleet to reclaim his birthright [Music] at the time of Hawkins birth probably in around 918 his father Harald fairhair had already ruled over Norway for many decades during that time gradually consolidating the various ya'll domes into something of a centralized state if the sagas are to be believed fair hair was well into his 70s by the time of hawkins birth and he had already divided up norway between his numerous sons from different marriages with his intention being to pass the overall high kingship of norway onto one of them by the time hackin began to grow up arthur his elder half-brother eric had began a violent campaign of murder against the other brothers succeeding in killing several of them and earning himself the title blood acts for his ferocity in his prowess in battle now an old man and sensing the winds of change beginning to blow through the nation he had spent so much time and effort in forging harald fairhair decided to send his son to England to be fostered with Athelstan a king who he seems to have had good relations with possibly as both rulers were known to have contended with men from Denmark according to one of the Norse Sagas Athelstan was essentially tricked into accepting the boy so that it would appear to Harold subjects that he was of a higher rank than the English King however it is also known that the English Court at this time was a herb of cultural learning when many European princes were fostered and taught the arts of kingship warfare and political strategy this coupled with the fact that relations between Norway and England seem to have been pretty good at the time as evidenced by extensive archaeological finds and the existence of a mutual enemy in the form of the Danes made Athelstan skort an obvious choice for the young boy to be sent to hack on would never again see his father after he boarded that boat shortly after fair hares death Eric Bloodaxe succeeded to the high kingship of Norway and continued his ruthless policy of murdering any and all political opposition including elements of the nobility previously won over to Harold's camp by his political maneuverings in diplomacy rather than the sheer terror supposedly employed by blood acts meanwhile in England Hakan is said to have become a favorite of Athelstan a king already well-known faced amicable diplomatic relations between Norse and Dane elements within England from which many of his soldiers hailed and he also traditionally fostered a good relationship with the Norwegian crown Athelstan was a european-style monarch he likely saw himself as the heir to Charlemagne's legacy and as search he took pleasure in making far-flung political alliances throughout Europe crucially for Hawkins life and for the future history of Norway the young boy became a Christian during his time in England meanwhile back across the North Sea after just a few short years of despotic and violent raw blood acts succeeded in alienating the Norwegian y'alls to such an extent that the either sent for hackin now around 18 years old to return to oust his brother or Hakan took it upon himself to return and subsequently won the support of the Earl's for his own personal charisma Athelstan even provided the young prince with a small fleet and enough warriors to safely get him home to stake his claim upon his arrival he earned the support of the Earl's but promising to restore their old rights and to reign in the centralised government that blood acts had put in place Eric Bloodaxe soon found himself deserted on all sides he subsequently made his escape along with a small group of followers to take to the high seas embarking on a legendary piratical career which would eventually see him become a king again not in Norway this time but in the wake of Atholl Stan's death he became king of a newly independent Northumbria Athelstan had likely also had another motive in equipping Hakan with a military force and enough ships to reclaim his kingdom they both had a common enemy in the form of the Danish Vikings of Jutland and the Isles it was there over the preceding decades that a powerful dynasty had also been carefully consolidating power into a centralized Authority and now the latest King of Denmark Harald Bluetooth sought to extend his authority even further in acquiring more and more Norwegian lands to the north of his realm a core area of Hawkins territory originally consisted of just his father's old kingdom in western Norway over the coming decades however expertly utilizing the political skills that he had learned in England Hakan succeeded in reestablishing the Alliance's that Harald fairhair had made with the powerful Earl's of Moore and laid subsequently being accepted by them as their high king he even went further arguably doing just as much as his father had in unifying Norway into a singular entity in order to achieve these goals however he did have to sideline his own Christian beliefs well though he did build churches and he endeavoured to spread his faith wherever he could Norway was still staunchly pagan at the time and Hawkins beliefs were regularly overshadowed but blood oaths to Odin and Thor undertaken in order to win the loyalties of regional chieftains hackin did this expertly and won a great deal of support from the Norwegian people to his lenient and peaceful policies rather than having to contend with his own people as his father and his brother Eric had done before him Hawkins main threat was to come instead from the south from the Danish King Harald Bluetooth and his newfound allies the vengeful sons of Eric Bloodaxe in around 954 after having reigned peacefully for a number of years the first major threat to King Hawkins rule and to Norwegian independence came sailing up the strait of karma sets in a fleet of Danish long ships it was the vengeful sons of Eric Bloodaxe looking to carve out lands for themselves in the wake of their father's death over the sea in the north of Britain and now supported in their aims by the ambitious Harald Bluetooth along with an army of bloodthirsty Danes after summoning his forces together Hakan sailed out to meet the invasion engaging them in a location later named blood Heights due to the sheer brutality of the fighting despite allegedly being outnumbered by the Danish army hackin stood his ground and won a stunning victory killing three of the sons of blood acts in the process the Danes limped back to the dragon ships pursued all the way by hackin and his men and sailed back to Denmark to lick their wounds yet Hakan knew that as long as they still drew breath his surviving nephews would return in the aftermath of blood Heights a situation in Norway was severe enough for hackin to implement a form of mandatory military service known as the lidocaine which was similar to the anglo-saxon system of the fjord in order to forestall any future invasions from Denmark it was probably a concept that hack on had witnessed in his youth and now sought to implement in his home lands ancient Norse sources claim that this Norwegian defense fleet could mobilize as many as 300 ships when danger threatens although it remains unclear if the full quota of ships was ever mobilized a warning system consisting of Hilltop cans was also created for Norway's defence when enemies approached from the south these cans were lit one after the other to warn the people - they can then prepare themselves for attack these especially ingenious precautions against invasion stand as a testament to the statesmanship of King Haakon and the loyalty he commanded from his subjects harald bluetooth and the sons of Eric Bloodaxe would return again and again over the coming years most notably at frying at Christian sand and at fit yar in son heartland always being driven away by Hawkins forces and great costs to the Norwegian defenders during that last final invasion Hakan received an arrow to his shoulder the wound would eventually fester killing him shortly afterwards after having reigned for well over two decades and generally being thought of as an extremely capable statesman he breathed new life into the unification begun by his father unlike his brutal older brother Eric Bloodaxe Hakan would go on to be remembered under a very different epithet pack on the good in the aftermath of his death and in the absence of a strong and respected leader Norway for the most part once more fragmented back into regionally albums Harold gray cloak the eldest surviving son of Eric Bloodaxe became the new king of Norway though he himself was subject to the Danish King Harald Bluetooth and ruled over little more than his father's heart lands in western Norway grey cloak ruled for just a few short years amidst the chaos of civil war until in around 970 he was eventually tricked by bluetooth into traveling to Denmark and subsequently killed by Bluetooth new ally Hawkins Sigurdsson a yawl who then became the new de facto ruler of parts of Norway again under Bluetooth for a time Norway would continue to be intermittently controlled by Danish rulers and regional strongmen for decades to come until rebellion once more put a series of strong rulers on the throne after the death of Knut the Great the last king to directly control England Norway and Denmark [Music] [Music] you

Channel: History Time

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Keywords: iMovie, hakon the good, haakon the good, king of norway, heimskringla, hemskringla, erik bloodaxe, bloodaxe, eric blooxade, unification of norway, vikings, viking, viking journey, athelstan, early medieval norway, early medieval england, anglo-norse relations

Id: ejaxJzvcJhM

Length: 10min 56sec (656 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 05 2018