Hereditary Kingdom of Norway
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The Kingdom of Norway as a unified realm was initiated by King Harald Fairhair in 9th century. His efforts in unifying the petty kingdoms of Norway, resulted in the first known Norwegian central government. Norway has been a monarchy since then, passing through several eras.
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[edit] The first independent kingdom of Norway
Theoretically the throne was inherited by all of Harald's male descendants. Established rules for succession were unknown, although at first it resembled a sort of agnatic seniority. Brothers and half-brothers would inherit the throne to rule jointly, but such arrangements rarely lasted. As a result, succession was generally a matter of conflict, intrigue, and at times minor civil war.
However, during the reign of the Fairhair dynasty, it was generally agreed that only patrilineal male descendants of King Harald, were entitled to the kingship,
1163, Magnus V of Norway, the son of a daughter of a previous ruler, ascended to the throne. He was supported the church, and despite initial success, and the first example of a codified law of succession, he was overthrown by members of the old royal dynasty.
In the 13th century, the kingdom was officially declared hereditary by king [[Haakon IV of Norway|Haakon Haakonsson, through a succession system that was based on primogeniture.
Contrary to other Scandinavian monarchies (which were electoral kingdoms in the Middle Ages) Norway has always been a hereditary kingdom.
[edit] Fairhair dynasty as artificial construct
It has been proposed (most vociferously by Krag) that the genealogical lines between Harald Fairhair and the generation of Olav the Saint and Harald Hardraade is a construct in a later attempt to legitimize the then monarchs, and also provide a claim to the region of Viken (the area around the present-day Oslo), a claim challenged by the Danish.
From our sources, it seems reasonable to assume that Olav II and Harald III were half-brothers, with a common mother but two different fathers. Descent from the same mother was not in Germanic understanding a proper dynastic tie, and Harald III's supporters did not base his rights and claims on that. Instead, Harald III's father was supposedly a descendent, in unbroken male line, from a younger (and somewhat obscure) son of Harald Fairhair. The same has been claimed regarding Olav II's line. To researchers, one or perhaps both of these somewhat obscure male-line descents may be legendary.
The idea of three separate genealogical male-line descents of Harald Fairhair to Olav I of Norway, Olav II of Norway and Harald III of Norway, is based on saga material compiled a few centuries later, out of the material preserved or created by supporters of these monarchs. Research has generally shown a tendency to create a more prestigious past to the country, and to strengthen the claims and legitimacy of its rulers.
There could have been other lines of descent from King Harald I than the three embellished by Heimskringla. On the other hand, there is no evidence that even these three are factual.
961-1066: Harald Fairhair unified Norway, at least the coastal areas north to Trøndelag. After his death, the fragmentation back into petty kingdoms happened almost instantly. However, most of them were now in hands of Harald's putative sons, descendants or allies. Although there were districts in hands of other dynasties (such as Ladejarls), the concept of a central power on an hereditary basis had come into existence. It remains uncertain whether Norway can be defined as an hereditary kingdom even after succession of Eric I of Norway and Haakon I of Norway, sons of Hairfair himself. Only when the "half-brothers" Olav II and Harald III ascend to power, is there any weight given to the claim that the successor was predestined by some rules of inheritance and not simply through force.
A more well-founded hereditary kingdom was established by king Harald III and his successors, as the next king was chosen in a more or less dynastic way, although this often spurred conflicts between heirs.
The concept of succession was basically Germanic: all male offspring of the king (or of the entire riyal dynasty) were entitled to share the kingship. The situation followed loosely also agnatic seniority and agnatic succession, being in practice elective monarchy between contestants, agnates of the dynasty, the election being solved by force of arms. This continued until 13th century, when primogeniture was gradually established, and that also allowed for legitimate succession through female line when the necessity arose in 1319.
The Hairfair dynasty is traditionally regarded as the first royal dynasty of the united Norway, a branch of Ynglings. It was founded by king Harald Fairhair around 890 CE.
It is more likely that only three generations of Fairhair rules were in power: Between 930-1030: three members of the Hairfair dynasty ruled, altogether for 40 years. Lade Earls acted as viceroys under the Danish king, for 41 years. The kings Olav Tryggvason and Saint Olaf, their family ties with the Fairhair dynasty is perhaps a 12th century invention, ruled altogether for 18 years.
The concept of a "Hairfair dynasty" is probably an invention from the later mediaeval period, when rivalry between throne pretenders made it appropriate to trace royal lineages back to the 9th century in order to gain legitimacy for their rule. According to the medievalist Claus Krag, the claim that Norwegian kings after the 10th century was descendants of Harald Hairfair dates from about 1150. The Norwegian kings constructed a false genealogy to the Hairfair dynasty in order to claim the territories around Oslo ("Vika"), which most of the time had been paying taxes to the Danish kingdom.
In the 13th century, the Hereditary Kingdom of Norway was confirmed by explicit laws and the monarchy was regarded to belong to this Hairfair dynasty.
Many of the Norwegian kings of the original Hairfair dynasty (until c. 1040) were in fact Danish viceroys (or tribute-paying rulers), a fact later concealed when Norwegian national history was written in the 19th century. Tha sagas also conceal that, until the rule of Olav II, the Ladejarl dynasty from the Northern part of Norway actually held more power in large parts of Norway than the rulers of the Hairfair dynasty. Since the rulers belonging to the Hairfair dynasty eventually won the power struggle, history was written as if the whole Norwegian kingdom had been under the rule of the Hairfair kings. Some provinces did not come under the rule of the Hairfair rulers before the time of Harald III.
Many of the claims by later royal pretenders to belong to the Hairfair dynasty are obvious falsehoods (most notably that of Sverre Sigundson).
[edit] Chaotic combinations with Denmark and Sweden
After the extinction of the male lines of the Fairhair dynasty in 1320, the throne of Norway:
- Went to Magnus IV of Sweden through matrilineal descent, and his descendants
- Starting with Margaret I of Denmark, by a series of Danish and Swedish kings who variously held the throne to one or several Scandinavian countries. In 1450, the House of Oldenburg was first introduced to the Norwegian monarchy with the ascension of Christian I of Denmark to the throne of the Kalmar Union
In 1448 when Christopher I of Norway died heirless and his uncle, the deposed king Eric III of Norway (1383-1459) was not accepted back, powerbrokers of the then Norway decided to elect Charles VIII of Sweden to the Norwegian throne. Charles, of the family of Bonde, has apparently only a slight amount of Norwegian blood, that of Folke jarl, father-in-law of Rörik, and obscure to the boot, without much solidity in Norwegian royalty. Power balance shifted in a way that Charles I of Norway was deposed in 1450 when Christian I, descendant of Haakon V of Norway, was recognized king also in Norway.
The inherited kingdom of Norway made the election of king in those other countries fall on the heir of the established royal family, since otherwise it could have meant Norway would dissolve the union. This fact made the Rigsdag of Denmark less powerful. It would usually require the King to agree to a program governing his rule (the håndfesting) before he was elected king of Denmark. The hereditary nature of the kingdom of Norway ment that the Rigsdag could not raise too harsh demands against the king's rule. Particularly the royal dynasty of Oldenburg used this stepping-stone in their successions. This resulted in the Danish noblemen severely resenting the Norwegian status of a separate hereditary kingdom. In 1536 they made Christian III promise to make Norway a province of Denmark in his håndfesting. There is however no indication that this was actually done by Christian when he became King. On the contrary both he and subsequent kings insisted that they were hereditary kings of Norway as well as elected kings of Denmark (and hereditary dukes of Schleswig and Holstein). The Norwegian Riksråd was however abolished so one might say that Norway lost its independence this year. But the separate hailing of kings in Norway continued and the hereditary nature of the Norwegian kingdom was used to full effect when the absolute monarchy was established in Denmark-Norway in 1661.
At one time members of the House of Oldenburg descending from Christian I of Denmark were entitled to use the title "Heir to Norway", even if they were not heirs of Denmark (only descendants of Frederick III were entitled to Danish succession). This meant that the cadet lines of the House, i.e Holstein-Gottorp, Holstein-Sonderburg, Holstein-Augustenburg, Holstein-Beck, and Holstein-Glucksburg, all were "Heirs of Norway" in 18th and 19th century's titularies. Including Tsars of Russia, Kings of Sweden and Dukes of Oldenburg.
The House of Oldenburg was originally from northern Germany, where also the Glucksburg (Lyksborg) branch held their small fief. The family had permanent links with Norway already beginning from late Middle Ages, and also several of their ancestors had been kings of independent Norway (Haakon V of Norway, Christian I of Norway, Frederick I, Christian III, Frederick II, Christian IV, as well as Frederick III of Norway who united Norway into the Danish kingdom, after which it was not independent at least until 1814). The first of them to be king of Norway and not simultaneously of any other country was Christian Frederick, who was King of Norway briefly in 1814, the first king of Norwegian 1814 constitution and struggle for independence.
[edit] The kingdom of Denmark-Norway
- In 1523, Sweden was lost, and the union between Norway and Denmark proved to be durable until the Napoleonic Wars
- In 1660, Frederick III Introduced absolutism, had the constitution of Denmark altered so it became a hereditary kingdom and removed most of Norway's autonomy.
[edit] The personal union of Sweden and Norway
- As a result of the dramatic events of 1814, Charles XIII of Sweden obtained Norway, as a result the Treaty of Kiel and a short war between Norway and Sweden resolved through the Convention of Moss. A union in which Norway had separate organisations and control over every state function except the foreign service.
[edit] The second independent Norway
The third Bernadotte king was Charles IV of Norway. He did not have any male descendants to inherit his thrones of Sweden and Norway, these thrones were "lost" to Carl XV's brother, Oscar II, instead of his only daughter Lovisa of Sweden, crown princess of Denmark. It has been said that Carl XV promised Lovisa on his deathbed that eventually a son of Lovisa would be entitled to be the heir of the Norwegian throne.
Prince Carl of Denmark (namesake of his maternal grandfather the King of Norway etc) was the second son of the future King Frederick VIII of Denmark, a younger brother of the future King Christian X of Denmark (he personally became a king before his father and his brother), a paternal grandson of king Christian IX of Denmark (during whose reign he was prince of Denmark) and a maternal grandson of King Charles IV of Norway (who was also King of Sweden). He was born a few weeks before King Charles died.
The future Haakon VII of Norway belonged to the house of Oldenburg, which since 1448 was the Danish and Norwegian Royal House, its branch Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.
His family had permanent links with Norway already beginning from late Middle Ages, and also several of his paternal ancestors had been kings of independent Norway (Haakon V of Norway, Christian I of Norway, Frederick I, Christian III, Frederick II, Christian IV, as well as Frederick III of Norway. Christian Frederick, who was King of Norway briefly in 1814, the first king of Norwegian 1814 constitution and struggle for independence, was his great-granduncle.
[edit] Heir of Norway
Use of the title "Heir of Norway" (Arvinge til Norge) established in the 17th century. Firstly, several junior agnatic members of the House of Oldenburg (the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp among the first ones), themselves usually titular Dukes in Schleswig-Holstein, assumed the title to constant use, as one of their main titles. There are plenty of examples from official dispatches and notices of 17th, 18th and 19th century of several princely persons titled "Duke of Holstein, Heir of Norway".
From 15th century, at least up to 1660, the heir apparent of the King of Denmark and Norway was generally titled "Prince of Norway", in recognition to his hereditary right to succeed to the Norwegian throne upon the death of the king, as opposed to the need to pass an election in order to succeed to the Danish throne. Other members of House of Oldenburg, including any younger siblings of the Prince of Norway, were not called princes or princesses of Norway, but the title "Heir of Norway" was sooner or later accorded to them.
Next, the heads of the line descending from Haakon V of Norway's illegitimate, but succession-entitlement-recognized daughter Agnes Haakonardottir, started also to use the same title "Heir of Norway". They got support from monarchs of the so-called "Swedish Empire" to their pretension, being interested in challenging the Danish grip to Norway. Their forefathers (or predecessors in claim line) had in 14th and 15th century launched their ambitions towards Norwegian throne even as revolts - see Sudreim claim.
