Background
Haakon was born in 1340, most likely in Sweden, though the exact date and location of his birth remain unknown. He was the youngest son of King Magnus of Sweden and Norway and Queen Blanche, a noblewoman from the County of Namur in the Holy Roman Empire. His older brother Eric "XII" was a rival King of Sweden in opposition to his father between 1356 and 1359. Haakon, his father Magnus and his brother Eric were all members of the Swedish-Ostrogothian House of Bjelbo which had succeeded the House of Eric in Sweden and the House of Sverre in Norway. Haakon was a grandson of the Norwegian King Haakon V through that king's only legitimate daughter Ingeborg of Norway, and was considered an acceptable heir to the throne of Norway by the Norwegian nobility. Another noteworthy ancestor of Haakon, through his paternal grandfather Eric Magnusson, Duke of Södermanland, is King Magnus III of Sweden.
Read more about this topic: Haakon VI Of Norway
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