
Haakon IV "the Old" of Norway (1204-16 December 1263) was King of Norway from June 1217 to 16 December 1263, succeeding Inge II and preceding Magnus VI.
Biography[]
Haakon Haakonsson was born in Folkenborg, Norway in 1204, the son of Haakon III of Norway and his mistress Inga of Varteig. His father had died by the time he was born, and Haakon was spirited away to the court of King Inge II of Norway to prevent him from being harmed by the bagler, a faction of Norwegian aristocrats, clergymen, and merchants that sought influence at the court.
Reign[]

The Norwegian king arriving in 1268
After the death of King Inge in 1217, Haakon was hailed as the new king, with Earl Skule Bardsson serving as regent. During his reign, Haakon reconciled the birkebeiner and the bagler, reuniting the kingdom; he also put down an uprising in eastern Norway early in his reign. Skule himself would later attempt to usurp power, proclaiming himself king in 1239; he was slain in battle in 1240. In 1246, Pope Innocent IV recognized Haakon as the rightful king, and he had him crowned a year later. Haakon went on to build a royal palace at Bergen, initiated land reforms, adopted some European customs at court, invaded the Danish possession of Halland in 1256 in response to the Danish looting of Norwegian ships (although he was forced to return it a year later), established good relations with England, and incorporated Greenland and Iceland into Norway in 1261 and 1262, respectively.
A major goal of Haakon was to defend the Norwegian sovereignty over the western islands of Hebrides, Man, Shetland, Orkney, and the Faroe Islands. In 1261, King Alexander III of Scotland attacked the Hebrides, and Haakon led a fleet of 120 ships on an expedition to Scotland in 1263. After the Battle of Largs, Haakon withdrew to Orkney for the winter, and he fell ill and died in Kirkwall.