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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 propaganda from the established party that the rebels were so poor that they made their shoes of birch bark. Although originally a pejorative, the opposition adopted the ''Birkebeiner'' name for themselves, and continued using it after they came to power in 1184. Today, the Birkebeins are popularly celebrated for having escorted the two-year-old Haakon Haakonsson, an heir to the Norwegian throne, safely from Lillehammer to Østerdalen to Trondheim, a long and perilous journey through treacherous mountains and forests. This is commemorated through cross-country ski races, Birkebeinerrennet and Birkebeinerrittet. Background The Civil war era in Norway (''borgerkrigstiden'') is a term used for the period between 1130 and 1240 in the hist ...
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Birkebeinerrennet
Birkebeinerrennet (lit. The Birkebeiner race) is a long-distance cross-country ski marathon held annually in Norway. It debuted in 1932 and has been a part of Worldloppet since Worldloppet's inception in 1979. The Birkebeinerrennet is one of three races held under the Birkebeiner moniker, the other two being Birkebeinerrittet (bicycling) and Birkebeinerløpet (cross-country running). The race was inspired by a notable journey made by the Birkebeiner loyalists Torstein Skevla and Skjervald Skrukka to save the infant heir to the Norwegian throne, Håkon Håkonsson, in the winter of 1206. Researchers at the Manchester Metropolitan University found that the metabolic cost for modern ski models is about 2.5 J/kg*m as compared to about 5 J/kg*m for ski models dated 542 AD. They also estimated maximum cross country speed for the 542 AD ski to 5 m/s, compared to about 12 m/s for modern cross country skis; for long distance skiing (several hours) results were 3 and 7  ...
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Haakon IV Of Norway
Haakon IV Haakonsson ( – 16 December 1263; Old Norse: ''Hákon Hákonarson'' ; Norwegian: ''Håkon Håkonsson''), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his namesake son, was King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 years, longer than any Norwegian king since Harald Fairhair. Haakon was born into the troubled civil war era in Norway, but his reign eventually managed to put an end to the internal conflicts. At the start of his reign, during his minority, Earl Skule Bårdsson served as regent. As a king of the birkebeiner faction, Haakon defeated the uprising of the final bagler royal pretender, Sigurd Ribbung, in 1227. He put a definitive end to the civil war era when he had Skule Bårdsson killed in 1240, a year after he had himself proclaimed king in opposition to Haakon. Haakon thereafter formally appointed his own son as his co-regent. Under Haakon's rule, medieval Norway is considered to have reached its zenith or golden age. His reputation ...
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Birkebeinerrittet
Birkebeinerrittet (lit. The Birkebeiner cycling race) is a long-distance mountain bike cycling race held annually in Norway. It is the world's largest mountain bike race in number of contestants. In 2009, 17,164 riders signed up, and 15,140 cyclists completed the race. The race The race starts in Rena and ends at Håkons Hall in Lillehammer. Birkebeinerrittet is 92km long along fire roads, with some paved and some single/dual-track segments. The race has been held since 1993 and commemorates a trip made by the Birkebeiner loyalists to save the heir to the Norwegian throne, Håkon Håkonsson, in 1206. All participants carry a backpack weighing at least 3.5 kg, symbolizing the weight of the then one-year-old heir. Past winners Men Women {, class="wikitable sortable" !Year !Name !Club/Nation !Time , - , 2014 , Borghild Løvset , Norway , 03.05.04 , - , 2013 , Borghild Løvset , Norway , 03.12.38 , - , 2012 , Pia Sundstedt , Finland , 03.06.42 , - , 2011 , Pia Sundste ...
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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 formal laws governing claims to rule, men who had proper lineage and wanted to be king came forward and entered into peaceful, if still fraught, agreements to let one man be king, set up temporary lines of succession, take turns ruling, or share power simultaneously. In 1130, with the death of King Sigurd the Crusader, his possible half-brother, Harald Gillekrist, broke an agreement that he and Sigurd had made to pass the throne to Sigurd's only son, the bastard Magnus. Already on bad terms before Sigurd's death, the two men and the factions loyal to them went to war. In the first decades of the civil wars, alliances shifted and centered on the person of a king or pretender. However, towards the end of the 12th century, two rival parties ...
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Lillehammer
Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municipality include Fåberg, Hunderfossen, Jørstadmoen, Vingnes, and Vingrom. The municipality is the 211th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Lillehammer is the 38th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 28,425. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 6.2% over the previous 10-year period. The town of Lillehammer is the largest urban centre in the municipality. It lies in the central part of the municipality and it is surrounded by more rural areas. The town centre is a late nineteenth-century concentration of wooden houses, which enjoys a picturesque location overlooking the northern part of lake Mjøsa and the river Lågen, surrounded by mountains. Lil ...
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Birkebeinerne På Ski Over Fjeldet Med Kongsbarnet (cropped)
''The Last King'' ( no, Birkebeinerne) is a 2016 Norwegian historical drama, directed by Nils Gaup. The story, inspired by true events, centers on the efforts of the Birkebeiner loyalists to protect the infant, Haakon Haakonsson, the heir to the Norwegian throne after the death of his father, King Haakon Sverresson. The film is set during the civil war era in Norway during the 13th-century. Synopsis In Norway 1204, Birkebeiners and king Haakon Sverresson possess the throne in Nidaros. They are threatened by Baglers, who have taken power in Eastern Norway, with the help from Denmark. In Nidaros, Gisle (Pal Sverre Valheim Hagan), a corrupt aristocrat and Bagler supporter, conspires with the former queen Margaret (Lia Boysen) to have king Haakon (Benjamin Helstad) murdered, promising to return her to power as queen. Margaret's daughter Kristin overhears this and confronts her, but her mother claims that exposing the plot would mean certain death for them, scaring Kristin into s ...
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Cross-country Skiing (sport)
Competitive cross-country skiing encompasses a variety of race formats and course lengths. Rules of cross-country skiing are sanctioned by the International Ski Federation and by various national organizations. International competitions include the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, the FIS Cross-Country World Cup, and at the Cross-country skiing at the Winter Olympics, Winter Olympic Games. Such races occur over homologated, groomed courses designed to support Cross-country skiing#Classic, classic (in-track) and freestyle events, where the skiers may employ Cross-country skiing#Skate skiing, skate skiing. It also encompasses cross-country ski marathon events, sanctioned by the Worldloppet Ski Federation, and cross-country ski orienteering events, sanctioned by the International Orienteering Federation. Related forms of competition are biathlon, where competitors race on cross-country skis and stop to shoot at targets with rifles, and paralympic cross-country skiing that ...
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Bagler
The Bagli Party or Bagler (Old Norse: ''Baglarr'', Norwegian Bokmål: ''Bagler'', Norwegian Nynorsk: ''Baglar'') was a faction or party during the Norwegian Civil Wars. The Bagler faction was made up principally of the Norwegian aristocracy, clergy and merchants. It was formed in Skåne, then part of Denmark, in 1196 principally by Bishop Nicholas Arnesson of Oslo and Archbishop Erik Ivarsson (ca. 1130–1213) of Nidaros around the pretender Inge Magnusson (nicknamed the Baglar-King) to depose King Sverre Sigurdsson. It contested with the Birkebeiners, essentially a faction of peasants, led by the pretender King Sverre, for control in a Norwegian civil war during the late 12th century. Sverris saga provided Sverre a royal lineage as putative bastard son of the late king Sigurd II of Norway, which in the Norway of the time provided him a claim to the throne. Historians generally agree with the consensus of his time that he was a pretender/ impostor. The civil wars period o ...
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Viken, Norway
Viken (Old Norse: Vík or Víkin), or Vika, was the historical name during the Viking Age and the High Middle Ages for an area of Scandinavia that originally surrounded the Oslofjord and included the coast of Bohuslän. Its definition changed over time, and from the Middle Ages, Viken included only Bohuslän. During the Viking Age, Viken was defined as the strait running between Norway and the southwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark. It is located in what is now southeastern Norway and the southwestern Swedish province of Bohuslän. During the Viking Age, Viken was the northernmost Danish province. Control over Viken shifted between Danish and Norwegian kings in the Middle Ages, and Denmark continued to claim Viken until 1241. '' Viken'' was also controversially chosen as a neologistic name for the administrative region consisting of a merger of the counties of Akershus, Buskerud, and Østfold. History The cultural hub is centred in Oslo, but the capita ...
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Erling Skakke
Erling Skakke (1115 – 18 June 1179) was a Norwegian Jarl during the 12th century. He was the father of Magnus V, who reigned as King of Norway from 1161 to 1184. Biography Erling Ormsson was born at Etne in the county of Hordaland, Norway. He was the son of Kyrpinga Orm Sveinsson. He earned his reputation crusading with Rögnvald Kali Kolsson, the Earl of Orkney in the Mediterranean from 1152 to 1155. Erling first sailed to the Holy Land, then Constantinople, and lastly visited Rome. During a battle with Arab warriors on Sicily a sword-wielding Arab cut Erling in the neck. This caused him from then on to tilt his head to one side ("skakke" means slanted). He was married to Kristin Sigurdsdatter, the daughter of King Sigurd Jorsalfar. Erling was the guardian of King Inge I of Norway and was one of the leaders of the Lendman Party (''lendmannspartiet'') after King Inge's death in 1161. Erling Skakke managed to have elected his son, Magnus Erlingsson as the king of Norway ...
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Sigurd Munn
Sigurd Haraldsson (Old Norse: ''Sigurðr Haraldsson''; 1133 – 10 June 1155), also called Sigurd Munn, was king of Norway (being Sigurd II) from 1136 to 1155. He was son of Harald Gille, king of Norway and his mistress Thora Guttormsdotter (''Þóra Guthormsdóttir''). He served as co-ruler with his half-brothers, Inge Haraldsson and Eystein Haraldsson. His epithet Munn means "the Mouth" in Old Norse. He was killed in the power-struggle against his brother, Inge, in an early stage of the civil war era in Norway. Reign Sigurd was fostered by Guttorm (''Guthormr'') or Sådegyrd Bårdsson (''Sáðagyrðr Bárðarson'') in Trøndelag. When his father was murdered by the pretender Sigurd Slembe in 1136, Sigurd was made king at the thing of ''Eyrathing''. At the same time, his brothers Inge and Magnus were also made kings and co-rulers. Their respective guardians joined forces against Sigurd Slembe and his ally, the former king Magnus the Blind. The battles against these pretenders d ...
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Vestlandet
Western Norway ( nb, Vestlandet, Vest-Norge; nn, Vest-Noreg) is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrative function. The region has a population of approximately 1.4 million people. The largest city is Bergen and the second-largest is Stavanger. Historically the regions of Agder, Vest-Telemark, Hallingdal, Valdres, and northern parts of Gudbrandsdal have been included in Western Norway. Western Norway, as well as other parts of historical regions of Norway, shares a common history with Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Iceland and to a lesser extent the Netherlands and Britain. For example, the Icelandic horse is a close relative of the Fjord horse and both the Faroese and Icelandic languages are based on the Old West Norse. In early Norse times, people from Western Norway became settlers at the Western Isles in the Norther ...
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