Haakon VI
Haakon VI was King of Norway from 1343 until his death and King of Sweden between 1362 and 1364. He is sometimes known as Haakon Magnusson the Younger to distinguish him from his great-grandfather, Haakon V.
Haakon was the younger son of Magnus Eriksson, king of both Norway and Sweden. His older brother Eric was meant to succeed their father on the throne of Sweden, while Haakon was made king of Norway in his father's lifetime. Magnus greatly favored Haakon over Eric, leading to the latter's rebellion and seizure of Southern Sweden. Eric died in 1359, and Haakon became co-ruler of Sweden with his father three years later. The two reigned over Sweden together until 1364, when they were deposed in favor of Magnus' sororal nephew, Albert of Mecklenburg, by a clique of exiled Swedish noblemen led by Bo Jonsson Grip. Magnus and Haakon tried to retake the Swedish throne, but without success.
In 1363, Haakon married Margaret, daughter of Valdemar IV of Denmark. The marriage, itself a significant element in the Nordic power struggle, resulted in the birth of one son, Olav. Haakon's continuous conflicts with his father-in-law ended only with the latter's death in 1375. Haakon seized the opportunity to have his son elected Valdemar's successor, defeating the claims of his and his wife's Mecklenburg relatives.
Upon his death in 1380, Haakon was succeeded by Olav, with Margaret as regent. Olav died childless seven years later, and Haakon's widow proceeded to assert authority over all three Scandinavian kingdoms as their first female monarch.
Early life
Haakon was born in 1340, most likely in Sweden, though the exact date and location of his birth remain unknown. He was the younger son of Magnus Eriksson, king of Sweden and Norway, and Blanche of Namur. His older brother Eric was a rival king of Sweden in opposition to his father between 1356 and 1359. Haakon and his paternal family belonged to the Swedish House of Bjälbo, which had succeeded the House of Eric in Sweden and the House of Sverre in Norway. Haakon was a great-grandson of Haakon V of Norway through his only legitimate daughter, Ingeborg, and was considered an acceptable heir to the throne by the Norwegian nobility. Another noteworthy ancestor of Haakon, through his paternal grandfather Eric Magnusson, Duke of Södermanland, is King Magnus Ladulås of Sweden.Accession in Norway
Haakon was raised in Norway, to prepare the young prince to later rule the kingdom in his own right. During the early autumn of 1343, the most prominent members of the Norwegian Council of the Realm attended a meeting with Magnus at Varberg Castle. On 15 August 1343, letters were issued throughout Norway and Sweden stating that the King and the Council had decided to place Haakon on the throne of Norway.Barely a year later, representatives of the cities and the general public assembled at Båhus Castle, where they hailed Haakon as their king and took the oath of perpetual fealty and servitude to him. Though the meeting at Båhus Castle forged historic ties to the old elective monarchy in Norway, the acclamation documents created by the Council of the Realm stipulated that Haakon was to rule over only parts of Norway, and it was also carefully documented that the Norwegian Law of Succession would apply if he were to die leaving no legitimate son, thereby ensuring that the hereditary monarchy would be upheld. The next in line to the Norwegian throne would then be his older brother Eric and his descendants, but the provision became moot when Eric died in 1359. The meetings at Varberg Castle in 1343 and at Båhus Castle in 1344 were later properly ratified in another meeting in the port city of Bergen as late as 1350.
Magnus abdicated his Norwegian throne sometime between 8 and 18 August in 1355. Haakon would then rule as the sole king in the kingdom, though his father continued to exercise control over Norway in the following years, albeit not in name anymore. The first documented event in which Haakon acted as sole king and ruler over his kingdom was on 22 January 1358, when he sent a letter of approval for the privileges in the city of Oslo. Norway in 1355 was actually partitioned between Haakon and Magnus: Magnus had specifically requested the territories of Hålogaland and the Norwegian islands in the North Sea at the ratification meeting in Bergen in 1350. Magnus additionally held the territories of Tønsberg and Skien, and he was also the real ruler over the territories of Borgar and most of Bohuslän which were held as personal fiefs by Queen Blanche. Because of this, the realm of Magnus was centered in the south-east, up against the important south-Swedish countryside and the Swedish-held Scania province.
Accession in Sweden
As king, Haakon was immediately pulled into his father's internal strife in Sweden, where a growing conflict eventually had erupted into open warfare. Eric was discontent with his father's rule, likely because he had not been granted a membership in the Swedish Council of the Realm, and because of favouritism Magnus had shown his youngest son. With Eric as a rallying figure, a part of Sweden's most powerful nobility rose up in rebellion against the rule of Magnus. The rebellion was short-lived however and Magnus and Eric made peace with each other a year after the conflict erupted. Eric "XII" was elevated to King of Sweden and was made co-ruler with his father in the subsequent peace agreement. Eric was also given dominion over Southern Sweden. It all took a dramatic turn when Eric suddenly died of the plague in 1359. In accordance with the peace agreement between father and eldest son in 1357, the Swedish nobility soon deposed Magnus and elected Haakon as King of Sweden in Uppsala 15 February 1362. From 1357 Haakon had styled himself "Lord of Sweden", but dropped this title upon his election and styled himself "King of Norway and Sweden".Marriage
In 1359, Valdemar IV of Denmark's younger daughter, Margaret, was betrothed to Haakon in a marriage contract intended to be a part of a larger alliance treaty between Magnus and Valdemar. It was presumed that Valdemar would assist Magnus in the aforementioned rebellion, started by his eldest son Eric, by invading the province of Scania, which had been pawned by Christopher II of Denmark before his death in 1332 to Magnus and had been under Swedish rule since. Valdemar in turn would receive Helsingborg Castle as compensation for that assistance, but in June 1359 Eric unexpectedly died of the plague and Magnus tried to renege on his promise to return the castle to the Danish Crown. Valdemar was far too ambitious a ruler to have his plan to reassemble the Danish kingdom fall into pieces, and so he proceeded to invade Scania in 1360 with his mercenary army. The Danish forces quickly occupied the province and started besieging Helsingborg Castle, eventually forcing the Swedish garrison to surrender and capturing the castle. When the castle was captured, Valdemar had virtually regained control over all of Scania, and when Magnus proved to be unable to retake the province by force, it simply passed back to Danish rule. Further strife between the two kingdoms would put the marriage contract on hold for a few years until the two parties eventually reconciled in 1363; Haakon and Margaret were married that year in the Copenhagen Cathedral. Margaret's marriage was broadly considered to be a part of the Nordic power struggle.Rebellion in Sweden
In 1363, former members of the Swedish Council of the Realm, led by Bo Jonsson Grip, arrived at the court in the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The Swedish noblemen promptly persuaded Duke Albert II of Mecklenburg, who had gained influence in the affairs of Sweden by marrying Magnus' sister Euphemia, to intervene against Magnus and Haakon in Sweden and depose them both in favour of his and Euphemia's son Albert. In 1364, Duke Albert enlisted military support from several powerful North German noblemen and proceeded to swiftly invade and conquer Sweden and subsequently installed his son as the new king. In November 1365, the younger Albert was formally hailed as Sweden's new king, though he had already been crowned on 18 February 1364. Magnus sought refuge with his son in Norway where they immediately planned the reconquest of Sweden. After an invasion, a temporary truce was established between the two warring parties, and though Haakon and Magnus had lost control over much of Sweden, they still maintained control over the important provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland and Värmland.In early 1365, Haakon and Magnus assembled a large army in Västergötland, consisting mainly of Norwegians, but also a large number of Swedes from the said province, and marched on the German-held city of Stockholm. On 27 February, Haakon issued a proclamation against Albert of Mecklenburg and his supporters, encouraging the local populace to stir up in rebellion against the German usurper. The Norwegian army entered Uppland through Västerås and clashed against the Swedish-German army in the disastrous Battle of Gataskogen where Haakon and Magnus suffered a devastating defeat and Magnus was captured and taken prisoner by the Germans; which he would remain for six years.
The chief foreign policy of Haakon was now to retrieve Sweden from the Germans and his father from captivity. He was still in possession of West Sweden and found that he could rely on the support from several noblemen who were displeased with the Germans. The war between Norway and Sweden continued, and Haakon soon found himself in need of allies. He entered into an alliance with King Valdemar, the father of his wife, which was something that later would dramatically concentrate the Norwegian foreign policy to the east, rather than to the traditional west. After a turbulent conflict and war against the North German cities and the Hanseatic League, Haakon was again free to turn his attention to Sweden, and launched a successful campaign against the Germans in Sweden. The military campaign ended in the Siege of Stockholm in 1371, where it looked like Haakon could decisively defeat the Germans and acquire revenge for his defeat at the Battle of Gataskogen; but Albert and his German supporters managed to withstand the siege and Haakon was forced to sign a peace treaty. The treaty was signed on 14 August 1371, and Haakon would have to be content with having his father released from captivity against a large ransom. When released, Magnus resumed ruling his remaining domains in Norway and Sweden until his death in 1374 only three years later.