Petty kingdoms of Norway

The Petty kingdoms of Norway were the entities from which the later Kingdom of Norway was founded. Before the unification of Norway in 872 and during the period of fragmentation after King Harald Fairhair's death Norway was divided in several small kingdoms. Some could have been as small as a cluster of villages and others comprised several of today's counties.

By the time of the first historical records of Scandinavia, about the 700s AD, a number of small political entities existed in Norway. The exact number is unknown, and would probably also fluctuate with time. It has been estimated that there were 9 petty realms in Western Norway during the early Viking age. [ Bjørn Ringstad, "Vestlandets største gravminner. Et forsøk på lokalisering av forhistoriske maktsentra", (Bergen, 1986)] Archaeologist Bergljot Solberg on this basis estimates that there would have been at least 20 in the whole country. [Bergljot Solberg, "Jernalderen i Norge", (Oslo, 2000)]

There are no written source from this time to tell us the title used by these rulers, or the exact borders between their realms. The main written sources we have on this period, the kings' sagas, were not written until the 12th and 13th centuries. While they were in part based on skaldic poems, and possibly on oral tradition, most modern historians no longer accept their reliability as sources for detailed events of the Viking age. The sagas, most notable of which is Heimskringla, often refer to the petty rulers as "konungr", i.e. "king", as in Adger, Alvheim, Hedmark, Hordaland, Nordmøre og Romsdal, Rogaland, Romerike, Sogn, Solør, Sunmmøre, Trøndelag, Vestfold (which at various times included several of the aforementioned) and Viken; however in Hålogaland the title was jarl (compare earl), later "Ladejarl" (from the rulers powerbase at Lade, on the outskirts of today's Trondheim). The rulers of all the areas might be called petty kings, herser, subkings, kings or jarls depending on the source. A number of small communities were gradually organised into larger regions in the 9th century, and in 872 King Harald Fairhair unified the realm and became its first supreme ruler. Many of the former kingdoms would later become jarldoms under the Norwegian high king and some would try to break free again.

Below follows an incomplete list of petty kingdoms of Norway and their known rulers. Most of the people mentioned in this list are legendary or semi-legendary. Some of the areas might have a contested status as petty kingdoms.

Kingdom of Agder

Rulers:
* Harald Agder-king (legendary)
*Vikar (Harald Agder-king's son)
* Kissa
* Harald, father of Åsa, mother of Halfdan the Black
* Halfdan the Black, father of Harald Fairhair, from 838.
* Kjotve the Rich, late 800s
* Harald Gudrødsson Grenske, 976-987

Kingdom of Fjordane

Might also be called Firda or Firdafylke.

* Audbjørn [ [http://www.bt.no/lokalt/sf/article411128.ece An article from BT on archaeological digs on Nordfjordeid] (Norwegian) Retrieved 18 September 2007]

Kingdom of Grenland

Rulers:
**

Kingdom of Gudbrandsdal

Rulers:
**Dale-Gudbrand

Kingdom of Hadeland

Rulers:
** Höd
** Halfdan Hvitbeinn

Kingdom of Hardanger

Rulers:

Kingdom of Hedmark

Rulers:
* Halfdan Hvitbeinn
* Sigtryg Eysteinsson
* Eystein Eysteinsson, brother of Sigtryg
* Halfdan the Black, was king of half of Hedmark after defeating rulers Sigtryg and his brother, Eystein.

Kingdom of Hålogaland

Rulers:
*Saeming (legendary son of Odin)
*Thrand (son of Saeming)
*Eystein
*Halfdan
*Håkon Grjotgardsson

Kingdom of Land

Rulers:
**

Kingdom of Namdalen

Rulers:
**

Kingdom of Nordmøre

Rulers:
**

Kingdom of Oppland

Rulers:
* Eystein, father of Åsa who married Halfdan Hvitbeinn (see Ynglinga Saga, paragraph 49)
* Halfdan "the Aged" Sveidasson (c. 750)
* Ivar Halfdansson (c. 770)
* Eystein "Glumra (the Noisy)" Ivarsson, son-in-law of Ragnvald the Mountain-High and father of Ragnvald Eysteinsson (788)

Kingdom of Orkdalen

Rulers:
**

Kingdom of Ranrike

Rulers:
*Tryggve Olafsson

Kingdom of Raumarike

Rulers:
**Sigurd Ring 8th century
**Ragnar Lodbrok 8th century
**Halfdan Hvitbeinn
**Eystein Halfdansson Son of Halfdan
**Halfdan the Mild Son of Eystein
**Gudrød the Hunter Son of Halfdan
**Sigtryg Eysteinsson
**Halfdan the Black Son of Gudrød

Kingdom of Ringerike

Rulers:
** Raum the Old
** Halfdan the Old
** Sigurd Syr

Kingdom of Rogaland

Rulers:
**

Kingdom of Romsdal

Rulers:
**Raum the Old legendary
**Jötunbjörn the Old son of Raum

Kingdom of Sogn

Rulers:
**

Kingdom of Solør

Rulers:
**Halfdan Hvitbeinn

Kingdom of Sunnmøre

Rulers:
**

Kingdom of Telemark

The status of Telemark as a kingdom has been contested by some historians.Rulers:
**

Kingdom of Toten

Rulers:
** Halfdan Hvitbeinn

Kingdom of Trøndelag

Rulers:
** Håkon Grjotgardsson

Kingdom of Vestfold

Rulers:
* Erik Agnarsson
* Halfdan Hvitbeinn (part of Vestfold)
* Eystein Halfdansson Eriks son in law
* Halfdan the Mild Eysteins son
* Gudrød the Hunter Son of Halfdan
* Halfdan the Black Ruled half the kingdom. Son of Gudrød.
* Olaf Gudrødsson Ruled half the kingdom. Son of Gudrød.
* Ragnvald the Mountain-High
* Bjørn Farmann
* Olaf Haraldsson Geirstadalf, brother of Bjørn
* Harald Gudrødsson Grenske, 976-987

Kingdom of Vestmar

Rulers:
** Dag

Kingdom of Vingulmark

Vingulmark is the old name for the area which today makes up the counties of Østfold and Akershus, and included the site of Norway's capital, Oslo, which had not been founded at this time. Archaeologists have made finds of richly endowed burials in the area around the estuary of the river Glomma, at Onsøy, Rolvsøy and Tune, where the remains of a ship, the Tune ship, was found. This indicates that there was a center of power in this area. [Solberg 2000, p. 279]

There are indications that at least the southern part of this area was under Danish rule in the late 9th century. In the account of Ottar, which was written down at the court of the English king Alfred the Great, Ottar says that when he sailed south from Skiringssal, he had Denmark on the port side for three days.

Rulers:
* Gudrød the Hunter, half of Vingulmark
* Alfgeir (Old Norse: "Álfgeir")
* Gandalf Alfgeirsson
* Halfdan the Black Son of Gudrød
* Olaf Haraldsson
* Tryggve Olafsson
* Harald Gudrødsson Grenske, 976-987
* Svein Alfivuson, 1030-1035

Kingdom of Viken

Rulers:
** Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye

Kingdom of Voss

Rulers:
** Skilfir

Sources

* The information in this article is mostly from other articles on Wikipedia.
* [http://www.arild-hauge.com/konger.htm A private Viking history page]