MAGNUS, the son of King Haakon V.’s daughter Ingeborg and Duke Erik of Sweden, was only three years old at the death of his mother’s father. While he was in his minority the affairs of the government were managed by a regency, the members of which had been selected by King Haakon. In Sweden King Birger, who had become generally hated on account of his treatment of his brothers, was deposed, and Magnus was proclaimed king of Sweden. Thus, for the first time, Norway and Sweden were united under one king. Both countries retained their own government and laws, and the king was to divide his time equally between the two countries. The Norwegians soon became dissatisfied with the government, which was conducted mainly by the king’s mother, Duchess Ingeborg, who caused great scandal by her recklessness and wasted much of the revenue on her lover, Knut Porse, duke of Halland, whom she afterward married. At a general Thing, in Oslo, February 20, 1323, the regency was abrogated, and the knight Erling Vidkunson of Biarkoe and Giske was appointed regent.
When King Magnus, who, by the Swedes, was surnamed “Smek” (the fondling), reached his majority, in 1332, he himself assumed the government in both countries. He was a good and kind man, but too weak to govern two countries. Sweden took up most of his time, and he did not come to Norway as often as he was expected to, and made no proper arrangement for the government during his absence. This caused general discontent, and a virtual separation of the countries was finally arranged. At a great meeting in Varberg, August 15, 1343, King Magnus’s oldest son, Erik, was declared heir-apparent and co-regent in Sweden, and his other son, Haakon, in Norway. On the same day the Norwegian state counsellors acknowledged Haakon, who had been educated in Norway, as their king, with the understanding that King Magnus was to conduct the government until his son became of age. The separation of the countries was further confirmed in 1350 in Bergen, where King Magnus placed Haakon in the royal seat and arranged a separate court for him. According to public documents, however, Haakon’s reign dates only from 1355, when probably he had reached his majority.
The Swedes were no more satisfied with King Magnus than the Norwegians were. He succeeded in annexing the provinces of Scania, Halland and Blekinge, which he bought for 34,000 marks silver from Duke John of Holstein, who held them as a pledge; but the taxes he had to levy, in order to raise this sum, caused great dissatisfaction.
The king’s recklessness and the great influence wielded by his vain and malicious queen, Blanca of Namur, and his favorite, the young Swedish knight, Bengt Algotson, increased the dissatisfaction to such a degree that Prince Erik took up arms and declared Bengt to be a public enemy. Erik died shortly afterward, but quiet was not restored. King Magnus’s ambiguous and pusillanimous action in allowing the wily King Valdemar Atterdag of Denmark to seize the dearly-bought provinces of Scania, Halland and Blekinge, created great discontent, which was increased when his son, Haakon, married King Valdemar’s eleven year old daughter Margaret, although the Swedes, who expected Haakon to become their future king, had decided upon another bride for him. When, after an uprising, King Magnus banished forty of the most turbulent magnates, the latter offered the crown to Albrecht of Mecklenburg, a nephew of King Magnus, and returned with him to Sweden, where Magnus was deposed and Albrecht elected king of Sweden (1363). Haakon, who shortly before that had been elected king of Sweden, did not intend to give up the kingdom without a fight, especially as he had several fortresses and provinces in his possession. Both sides armed themselves, and a battle was fought at EnkÖping, March 3, 1365. Magnus was taken prisoner and brought to Stockholm, and Haakon, severely wounded, had to flee to Norway. The war was continued with varying success until the Hanseatic League interfered in the struggle, because Haakon had attempted to expel the Germans from the country. The German merchants had obtained great power in the country and shamefully abused it; they refused to receive the king’s coin, monopolized all trade, and defied the laws. Haakon finally made peace with them, but only after granting them some new privileges. After that he collected a great army and invaded Sweden; even marching against Stockholm. An agreement was reached in 1371 with King Albrecht, by which Haakon was to pay 12,000 marks and surrender the Swedish fortresses for the liberation of his father. The latter had to give up all claim to the Swedish throne, but was to have for his support Skara Stift, West Gautland and Vermeland. Haakon afterward inherited these provinces. Magnus was drowned three years later in the Hardanger Fjord at the age of fifty-eight years. His son survived him only six years. He died at Oslo in June, 1380, about forty-two years old, after having had the pleasure to see his only son Olaf chosen king of Denmark.
Great calamities befell the country during the reigns of Magnus and Haakon. On April 4, 1328, the great cathedral in Throndhjem, the Christ Church, was destroyed by fire. In 1344 the Gaula River suddenly changed its course, owing to a mountain slide, flooded the Gaula Valley, and caused great destruction. Forty-eight farms and some churches were destroyed, and two hundred and fifty people and a great number of cattle were drowned. Iceland suffered from earthquakes, and in 1341 the sixth eruption of the volcano Hekla spread alarm and desolation. In 1323 and 1346 the winters were so severe that a great number of people froze to death. But the greatest calamity occurred in 1349, when the Black Death, a terrible pestilence, after having ravaged Southern Europe, was brought to Bergen by a merchant vessel from England. Before the cargo of the vessel had been discharged, the whole crew died, and immediately the pestilence spread with great rapidity over the whole country. In a single day ninety persons were buried from a church in Bergen, including fourteen priests and six deacons. In Throndhjem, Archbishop Arne and the whole chapter, with the exception of a single canon, died. Only one bishop in Norway, Salemon in Oslo, survived the plague. In many districts the entire population was swept away. The cattle died from hunger. For want of horses and laborers the farmers were unable to cultivate their farms, and famine and distress resulted. Many districts which had been fertile and populous were laid waste, and were in time covered by a new growth of forests. Industries, trade and commerce stagnated, and Norway sank into a state of debility from which it took her centuries to recover.
