Guttorm of Norway

Guttorm Sigurdsson, (old norse Guthormr Sigurðarson), (1199 - 11 August 1204), was king of Norway in 1204. He was the son of Sigurd Lavard, and grandson of king Sverre.

The civil wars period of Norwegian history lasted from 1130 to 1240. During this period there were several interlocked conflicts of varying scale and intensity. The background for these conflicts were the unclear Norwegian succession laws, social conditions and the struggle between different aristocratic parties and between Church and King. There were then two main parties, firstly known by varying names or no names at all, but finally condensed into parties of Bagler and Birkebeiner. The rallying point regularly was a royal son, who was set up as the head figure of the party in question, to oppose the rule of king from the contesting party.

Guttorm succeeded his uncle Håkon Sverresson, the birkebeiner king, the day after his death, on 2 January 1204. At his death, Håkon appears to have been in control of the whole country, but after his death, at some point in the first half of 1204, the bagler pretender, Erling Steinvegg arrived in Viken with a large force, supported by king Valdemar II of Denmark. This was the start of the second Bagler war (1204-1208). The day after Guttorm became king, Håkon galen (old norse Hákon galinn, English Haakon the Crazy), a nephew of king Sverre, was made earl and leader of the birkebeiner army. Håkon galen thus became the real leader of the birkebeiner, as Guttorm was only 4 years old. Guttorm and the birkebeiner army sailed to Nidaros where Guttorm was proclaimed king at the thing. In August the same year, he fell ill and died. The birkebeiner knew of no other direct descendant of king Sverre, as Håkon Håkonsson was still unknown to them. They therefore chose another nephew of Sverre, Inge Bårdsson as their next king.

Guttorm is buried in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim.

Our main sources to the life of Guttorm are the Bagler saga, and Håkon Håkonsson's saga, both written in the 13th century.