Accession
After king Sverre died in 1202, his son, Haakon, and his grandson, Guttorm, died within two years. The birkebeiner were thus left without any direct successors of Sverre to choose as their king (the existence of another grandson of Sverre, Haakon Haakonsson, was as yet unknown to them). Sverre’s old adversaries, the bagler, were exploiting the situation to launch a new invasion of Viken under their king, Erling Steinvegg. After the infant king Guttorm’s death in August 1204, the birkebeiner needed a strong leader to oppose the bagler threat. The birkebeiner leaders wanted earl Haakon the Crazy, who had earlier been appointed to rule the kingdom in king Guttorm’s infancy. Haakon was Inge’s older half-brother, the son of Cecilia and Folkvid. However, Eirik, archbishop of Nidaros, and the farmers of Trøndelag insisted on choosing Inge, who had until then ruled Trøndelag under Guttorm. A compromise was reached, whereby Inge became king, while earl Haakon became leader of the army, and received half the royal income.
Read more about this topic: Inge II Of Norway