Eystein II of Norway
| Eystein Haraldsson | |
|---|---|
Harald IV of Norway | |
| Mother | Bjaðǫk |
Eystein II (
Origins
Eystein was born, apparently in
Reign
Eystein first appears in the sagas in 1142, when several Norwegian
) in 1152.The sagas
Civil war
According to the sagas, relations between the three brothers were peaceful as long as the two younger brothers' guardians were alive. But as the younger brothers grew up, tensions arose. In 1155, a meeting between the brothers in
Aftermath
After Eystein's death, his supporters rallied around the young
- "King Eystein was dark and dingy in complexion, of middle height, and a prudent able man; but what deprived him of consideration and popularity with those under him were his avarice and narrowness".[1]
Eystein was married to Ragna Nikolasdottir, a Norwegian gentlewoman. His bastard son Eystein Meyla was proclaimed king by the Birkebeiner party in 1176, but was defeated and killed the year after.
Sources
The main sources to Eystein's reign are the kings' sagas Heimskringla, Fagrskinna, Morkinskinna and Ágrip. The three former base at least part of their account on the older saga Hryggjarstykki, which was written some time between 1150 and 1170, and was thus a near-contemporary source. This saga itself has not been preserved.
References
- Matthew James Driscoll (ed.); (1995). Agrip Af Noregskonungasogum. Viking Society for Northern Research. ISBN 0-903521-27-X
- Kari Ellen Gade & Theodore Murdock Andersson (eds.); (2000) Morkinskinna : The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030–1157). ISBN 0-8014-3694-X
- Alison Finlay; editor and translator (2004). Fagrskinna, a Catalogue of the Kings of Norway. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 90-04-13172-8
- Snorri Sturluson; translator Lee M. Hollander (repr. 1991). Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway. ISBN 0-292-73061-6
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