Inge II of Norway - Reign

Reign

The next four years saw intense fighting between the birkebeiner and the bagler. The bagler king Erling died in 1206, but the bagler continued the fight under their new king, Philippus Simonsson. The bagler mostly controlled the Viken area, with the cities of Tønsberg and Oslo, king Inge controlled Trøndelag with Nidaros, while Bergen in western Norway changed hands several times. On 22 April 1206 the bagler attacked Nidaros during wedding celebrations for Inge’s sister Sigrid, and Inge himself only barely escaped with his life after swimming the Nidelva river in freezing temperatures. The next year, the birkebeiner launched a successful attack on the bagler stronghold of Tønsberg, but the war dragged on with neither side able to gain a decisive victory. In autumn of 1207, archbishop Tore of Nidaros and bishop Nikolas of Oslo, a prominent bagler, started negotiations for a settlement of the birkebeiner and bagler. They succeeded in bringing about a meeting between the kings Inge and Philippus, and earl Haakon, at Kvitsøy in Rogaland in the autumn of 1208. A settlement was made, whereby Philippus agreed to give up the title of king and his royal seal. He was to remain in control of eastern Norway with Viken, except Bohuslän, with the title of earl under king Inge. Earl Haakon was given western Norway with Bergen, while Inge would be the only king, overlord of Philippus and Haakon and direct ruler of Trøndelag with Nidaros. To seal the treaty, Philippus married king Sverre’s daughter and king Inge’s cousin, Kristina Sverresdotter.

The peace treaty held for the rest of Inge’s reign. However, Philippus did not respect its provisions and continued to use the title of king, and kept his royal seal. The relationship between Inge and his brother Haakon seems to have been at times tense. When it became clear that Philippus was continuing to call himself king, Haakon made attempts to have himself declared king as well, but Inge refused to accept this. Instead, an agreement was drawn up by which the brother that survived the other would inherit the other’s lands, while a legitimate son of either would inherit them both. Haakon had a legitimate son, while Inge only had an illegitimate son, Guttorm (b. 1206) by a concubine called Gyrid. In 1214, Inge suppressed a rising by the farmers of Trøndelag – earl Haakon was suspected of having had a hand in the rising. Open conflict between the two brothers never broke out, however, and Haakon died of natural causes in Bergen just after Christmas of 1214. Inge took over his part of the kingdom.

In 1217, Inge fell ill in Nidaros. During his illness, he appointed his younger half-brother, Skule Bårdsson, earl and leader of the army. On 23 April 1217, Inge died. He was buried in Nidaros Cathedral. He was succeeded as king by the 13-year-old Haakon Haakonsson, an illegitimate grandson of king Sverre, who had been raised at the courts of king Inge and earl Haakon since they became aware of his existence in 1206. Skule continued as earl and de facto ruler for the next few years.