Sigurd Jonsson

Sigurd Jonsson (1390s - 1450s) was a Norwegian nobleman and knight, and the supreme leader of Norway during two interregnums in the mid-15th century. After the death of King Christopher in 1448 he was mentioned as a possible candidate for the vacant throne of Norway, but declined to pursue a claim to the throne.

Sigurd Jonsson was born at some point between 1390 and 1400. He was the son of the Swedish nobleman Jon Marteinsson, and Agnes Sigurdsdotter. Agnes was the great-granddaughter of the Norwegian king Haakon V, through his illegitimate daughter, also called Agnes. Jon was, by the time of Sigurd's birth, resident in Norway, and a member of the Norwegian Council of the Realm. Sigurd grew up at the family's estate in Sudreim (modern Sørum), east of Oslo. He had two sisters and a brother, but his brother did not survive to reach maturity. He therefore inherited his father's estates, and also great landholdings from his mother's relatives.

Sigurd is first mentioned as a member of the Norwegian Council of the Realm in 1434. [ [http://www.dokpro.uio.no/perl/middelalder/diplom_vise_tekst.prl?b=5248&s=n&str= Diplomatarium Norvegicum] ] At the end of the 1430s, the common Nordic king, Eric of Pomerania, was deposed by the Council's of Denmark and Sweden. The Norwegian Council remained loyal to Eric, who rarely set foot in Norway, but demanded that he appoint a "drottsete" (Latin "dapifer") to rule the country in the king's absence. In September 1439, the king agreed, and appointed Sigurd Jonsson as "drottsete" in Norway. [ [http://www.dokpro.uio.no/perl/middelalder/diplom_vise_tekst.prl?b=13586&s=n&str= Diplomatarium Norvegicum] ] Sigurd was at the king's court in Visborg in Gotland when he was appointed, and he was at the same time made a knight by King Eric.

In 1440, the Norwegian Council of the Realm was compelled to follow the example of Sweden and Denmark, and depose King Eric. Sigurd thus became the ruler of the country, as "drottsete", during the interregnum while a new king was sought. Norway followed Denmark and Sweden in electing Christopher of Bavaria as the new king, thus maintaining the union between the three countries. After Christopher's coronation in Oslo on 2 July 1442, Sigurd relinquished the title of "drottsete". During Christopher's reign, Sigurd remained a prominent member of the Norwegian Council. He was the commander of Akershus castle from 1440 - 1445, and one of the leading proponents of the anti-Hanseatic policies in Norway during King Christopher's reign. He was at this time probably the largest land-owner in Norway.

In January 1448, King Christopher died suddenly. Sigurd now again became the ruler of the country, in a letter from June the same year, he is referred to as "rikens forstandare" ("guardian of the realm"). After King Christopher's death, Sweden and Denmark elected different kings, and there was talk of Norwa also electing its own king. Sigurd Jonsson, as a direct descendant of King Haakon V, was the most likely candidate. However, he himself declined this possibility, and instead put his weight behind King Christian I of Denmark as the new king of Norway. Christian won the power struggle against the Swedish king Karl Knutsson and was crowned as king of Norway in 1450. Sigurd kept his position as the King's foremost representative in Norway. He is mentioned for the last time alive in a letter from December 1452, and presumably died shortly after this.

Sigurd was married to Philippa, daughter of the German count Hans of Eberstein. They had a son, Hans, who was dead in 1466. Sigurd's line died out with him.

References

ources

*Lars Hamre, "Norsk historie frå omlag år 1400", (Oslo, 1968)