Sigurd I of Norway
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Sigurd I Magnusson (1089?-1130), nicknamed Sigurd Jorsalfare (Old Norse Sigurðr Jórsalafari, translation: Sigurd the Crusader, literal translation: Sigurd, the one who went to Jerusalem) was king of Norway 1103-1130.
In 1098, he accompanied his father, Magnus, on his expedition to the Orkney Islands and the Western Lands. He was made King of Orkney in that year, following the removal of the incumbent jarls of Orkney, Paul and Erland Thorfinsson. He was also, apparently, made King of Man and the Isles in that year, following the overthrow of their king by Magnus. The Orkneys, Man and the Hebrides were traditionally regarded as fiefs under the Norwegian crown, though their remote location had made them virtually independent.
It is not known whether he returned with Magnus to Norway after the 1098 expedition, but when in 1102 Magnus returned to the west, he was present in Orkney. A marriage alliance was negotiated between Magnus and Muirchertach Ua Briain, the leading king in Ireland at the time and ruler of Dublin. Sigurd was to marry Muirchertach's daughter. However in 1103 when Magnus was killed in Ulaid, the fourteen year old Sigurd returned to Norway, leaving his child-bride behind.
When he returned to Norway, he became king together with his brothers Øystein and Olav.
1107-1110 he left Norway to lead a Norwegian contingent in support of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. He fought in Lisbon, various Mediterranean islands and Palestine, and visited Sicily, Jerusalem (Jorsalaland) and Constantinople. In 1110 he joined with Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem, to capture the coastal city of Sidon. Sigurd's main contribution in this respect was supplying a large number of horses to the crusader army. From these events he received his nickname Jorsalfar ("Jerusalem-traveller").
From his death began the civil wars period of Norwegian history that lasted from 1130 to 1240. During this period there were several interlocked conflicts of varying scale and intensity. The background for these conflicts were the unclear Norwegian succession laws, social conditions and struggles between various groups of noblemen fighting for power. There were then two main parties, firstly known by varying names or no names at all, but finally condensed into parties of Bagler and Birkebeiner. The rallying point regularly was a royal son,or a person claimed by his followers to be a royal son, who was set up as the head figure of the party in question, to oppose the ruke of king from the contesting party. In the traditions of succession of the day there was little no difference between a legitimate and an illegitimate son of a king, the competance and popularity of the potencial heir was supposed to be the deciding factor. This laid the ground work for long feuds over who should rule the kingdom of Norway in the 12th century as well as the early 13th century.
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson wrote an historical drama based on the life of the king, entitled Sigurd Jorsalfare.
Edvard Grieg composed an opera about Sigurd, Sigurd Jorsalfar
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External links
- [Saga of Sigurd the Crusader], from Heimskringla (English translation):
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