Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the Vikings' long ships reached Amer-
ica long before Leif Eriksson.
The road to unification of Norway
was rough. In 872 Harald Fairhair,
after winning a battle near Stavanger,
conquered many of the provinces, but
other battles for unification took
decades. Harald was followed by his
son, Eric I—“Bloody Axe,” to his ene-
mies. Eric began his reign by assassi-
nating two of his eight brothers, and
later killed five other brothers. His one
surviving brother, Haakon, succeeded
him as king in 954. Haakon tried
1994
Lillehammer plays host to XVII
Olympic Winter Games.
■
1995
Norway wins Eurovision Song
Contest, an annual cultural event
observed by 600 million viewers.
■
1996
Eurovision Song Contest is held
in Oslo; Norway takes second place.
■
1998
Oil prices fall, but Norway
plunges ahead with costly engineering
projects.
■
2001
U.N. group votes Norway most
desirable place to live in the world.
■
2004
A future queen is born—
perhaps.
■
unsuccessfully to convert Norway to Christianity. After he died in the Battle of
Fitjar (960), Harald II Graafell, one of Eric's sons, became king of Norway.
Cruel and oppressive, he died in battle in 970.
Haakon, son of Sigurd of Lade, became the next king of Norway. He resisted
Danish attacks and ruled for about 25 years, but died in a peasant riot in 995.
After the Battle of Swold in 1000, Norway was divided between Denmark and
the Jarl of Lade.
Olaf II Haraldsson was a Viking until 1015, when he became king of Nor-
way. Although oppressive and often cruel, he continued to spread Christianity.
Canute of Denmark invaded Norway in 1028, sending Olaf fleeing to England.
Canute's son, Sweyn, ruled Norway from 1028 to 1035. Sweyn was forced out
when Olaf II was proclaimed a saint and his son, Magnus I, was made king.
Magnus was also king of Denmark, a position he lost when Canute's nephew led
a revolt against him and he was killed. Olaf 's sainthood firmly established Chris-
tianity in Norway.
Harald Sigurdsson (known as Harald III) ruled Norway from 1046 until his
death in 1066. His death marks the end of the Viking Age.
THE MIDDLE AGES
Wars with Denmark continued, and civil wars raged
from 1130 to 1227. Norwegian towns and the church continued to grow. Under
Haakon V in the 13th century, Oslo became the capital of Norway. The Black
Death reached Norway in 1350 and wiped out much of the population.
From 1362 to 1364 Norway and Sweden had a joint monarch, Haakon VI
(1340-80), son of the Swedish king, Magnus Eriksson. Haakon married Mar-
garet, daughter of the Danish king Valdemar Atterdag. Their son, Olaf, was cho-
sen to be the Danish king upon Valdemar's death in 1375. He inherited the
throne of Norway after his father died in 1380, bringing Norway into a union
with Denmark. The union lasted until 1814.
UNION WITH DENMARK
When Olaf died at the age of 17, Margaret
became regent of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. She ruled through her
nephew, Eric of Pomerania, who had become king of Norway in 1389. He was
recognized as a joint ruler at Kalmar. Margaret was actually the power behind
the throne until her death, in 1412. Eric of Pomerania tried to rule the three
countries, but Sweden and Norway rebelled. Eric fled in 1439 and Christopher
III of Bavaria became the ruler, imposing Danish rule.
Denmark led Norway into the Seven Years' War of the North in 1563, and
took unfair advantage of its position in trade, in the military, and even in sur-
rendering Norwegian land to Sweden.
