The Bagler Sagas (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

''Böglunga sögur'') are

kings' sagas Kings' sagas ( is, konungasögur, nn, kongesoger, -sogor, nb, kongesagaer) are Old Norse sagas which principally tell of the lives of semi-legendary and legendary (mythological, fictional) Nordic kings, also known as saga kings. They were comp ...

relating to events which occurred between 1202–17 and are a primary source of Norwegian history during this period. There are two versions, one shorter and one longer, which are in modern editions usually printed as one saga. The authors of both versions are unknown. There are indications that both of them were

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ers, although this cannot be said for certain. The Bagler Sagas occur during the

Civil war era in Norway The civil war era in Norway ( no, borgerkrigstida or ''borgerkrigstiden'') began in 1130 and ended in 1240. During this time in Norwegian history, some two dozen rival kings and pretenders waged wars to claim the throne. In the absence of f ...

. The sagas deal with the reigns of the

birkebeiner The Birkebein Party or Birkebeinar (; no, Birkebeinarane (nynorsk) or (bokmål)) was the name for a rebellious party in Norway, formed in 1174 around the pretender to the Norwegian throne, Eystein Meyla. The name has its origins in propaga ...

kings Haakon Sverresson, Guttorm Sigurdsson and Inge Baardsson, and the bagler pretenders to the Norwegian throne

Erling Steinvegg Erling Magnusson Steinvegg or Erlingr Magnússon Steinveggr (died March 1207) was the candidate of the Bagler for the Norwegian throne from 1204 until his death. His candidacy resulted in the second Bagler War which lasted until 1208, when the quest ...

and Philippus Simonsson. The sagas pick up the story where

Sverris saga ''Sverris saga'' is one of the Kings' sagas. Its subject is King Sverre Sigurdsson of Norway (r. 1177–1202) and it is the main source for this period of Norwegian history. As the foreword tells us, the saga in its final form consists of mo ...

leaves off, at the death of King Sverre in 1202. The older, and shorter, version ends with the wedding of Philippus in 1209. The later and longer version, also continues the story until the death of King Inge in 1217. The older version is neutral in its depiction of events, without a clear bias for either birkebeiner or bagler. It was probably written not long after the point where it leaves off, in 1209. The newer version was probably written by someone who wanted to expand the older version with more material about the birkebeiner, and continue the story to cover all of Inge's reign. It was probably written no later than the early 1220s. The author of this later version is clearly on the side of the birkebeiner, and shows personal sympathies for king Inge, also in his disputes with his brother, earl

Haakon the Crazy Haakon the Crazy (Old Norse: ''Hákon galinn'', Norwegian: ''Håkon Galen'') was a Norwegian ''jarl'' and Birkebeiner chieftain during the civil war era in Norway. Håkon Galen was born no later than the 1170s and died in 1214. His epithet "the cr ...

(''Håkon Galen'').

References

Other sources

* ''Soga om baglarar og birkebeinar'' translated by Gunnar Pederse (Oslo: Samlaget, 1979) * ''Böglunga saga (styttri gerð)'' translated by Einarr Michaelsson (Reykjavík: Skemman, 2015) Norwegian civil wars Kings' sagas {{saga-stub