Styrbjorn of Rogaland was king of the Norwegian petty kingdom of Rogaland during the latter half of the 9th century AD.
Biography[]
Styrbjorn was born in Fornburg, Rogaland, Norway, the son of Jarl Olaf of Stavanger. On his father's death, he became lord of Stavanger and Rogaland, and he continued his father's war with King Kjotve the Cruel of Agder. In 856, Kjotve's raiders massacred dozens of Rogalanders at a banquet held in Styrbjorn's honor, but Styrbjorn's son Sigurd Styrbjornson rescued the orphaned Eivor from the Agder Vikings. Styrbjorn went on to raise Eivor as his own son, and Eivor became close to Sigurd, while both Sigurd and Eivor came to distrust Styrbjorn's judgment due to his insistence on waiting for the right opportunity to attack Kjotve. In 872, Eivor argued Styrbjorn by launching an unauthorized assassination attempt on Kjotve at Avaldsnes, but Sigurd returned home that same day and joined Eivor in demanding war with Kjotve. Styrbjorn told his sons that he needed to wait for more allies; he secretly allied with King Harald Fairhair through Harald's uncle and protector Guthorm the Wise. When three of Kjotve's spies were killed while trying to infiltrate Fornburg, Styrbjorn's sons retaliated by burning Nottfall, where they joined forces with Harald and attacked Kjotve again at the Battle of Hafrsfjordr. Kjotve was slain in battle, but his son Gorm Kjotvesson survived and fled to Harald's lands. There, Harald summoned the lords of Norway to an althing where he banished Gorm and proclaimed the creation of the Kingdom of Norway under his personal rule. Styrbjorn, in the interests of peace, agreed to bend a knee to Harald and submit to him, causing Sigurd to storm out in anger, as his father had just given away his birthright.
Styrbjorn reuniting with Eivor, 877
Not long after, Harald's troops occupied Fornburg and the rest of Norway, raising their banners across the country. Sigurd and Eivor proceeded to lead an exodus of the clan to England to found a new home rather than live in their subjugated hometown, leaving Styrbjorn to wallow in his misery. As a courtier of the King, he was confined to Alrekstad, where he spent his days drinking in the mead hall and his nights sleeping on wooden planks. In 877, he briefly reunited with his sons after Sigurd brought Eivor with him on a trip to Goinnhellir, but Sigurd and Eivor rejected Styrbjorn's affection; Sigurd told Styrbjorn that he was only there to say farewell and thank him for his failures (as a king and as a father), as, without them, Sigurd would never have gone to England and become aware that he might be descended from the old gods. After Sigurd stormed out, Styrbjorn asked Eivor to look after Sigurd; while Eivor said that Sigurd was not a dog, he wished Styrbjorn peace with the new life he had chosen.