Haakon VI of Norway - King of Norway and Sweden

King of Norway and Sweden

Magnus abdicated his Norwegian throne sometime between 8 and 18 August in 1355. Haakon would then rule as the sole king in the kingdom, though his father continued to exercise control over Norway for the following years, albeit not in name anymore. The first documented event in which Haakon acted as sole king and ruler over his kingdom was on 22 January 1358, when he sent a letter of approval for the privileges in the capital city of Oslo. Norway in 1355 was actually partitioned between Haakon and Magnus: Magnus had specifically requested the territories of Hålogaland and the Norwegian islands in the North Sea at the ratification meeting in Bergen in 1350. Magnus additionally held the territories of Tønsberg and Skien, and he was also the real ruler over the territories of Borgar and most of Bohuslän which were held as personal fiefs by Queen Blanche. Because of this, the realm of Magnus was centered in the south-east, up against the important south-Swedish countryside and the Swedish-held Scania province.

As king, Haakon was immediately pulled into his father's internal strife in Sweden, where a growing conflict eventually had erupted into open warfare. Eric was discontent with his father's rule, likely because he had not been granted a membership in the Swedish Council of the Realm, and because of favouritism Magnus had shown his youngest son. With Eric as a rallying figure, a part of Sweden's most powerful nobility rose up in rebellion against the rule of Magnus. The rebellion was short-lived however and Magnus and Eric made peace with each other a year after the conflict erupted. Eric "XII" was elevated to King of Sweden and was made co-ruler with his father in the subsequent peace agreement. Eric was also given dominion over Southern Sweden. It all took a dramatic turn when Eric suddenly died of the plague in 1359. In accordance with the peace agreement between father and eldest son in 1357, the Swedish nobility soon deposed Magnus and elected Haakon as King of Sweden in Uppsala 15 February 1362. From 1357 Haakon had styled himself "Lord of Sweden", but dropped this title upon his election and styled himself "King of Norway and Sweden".