Hakon Hakonsson 289 



and a I'eeliug on matters of Church and State which, 

 allowing for the vast difference between the ages, may 

 be not unjustly compared to the feeling of the English 

 Puritans under Charles i. The indomitable king died 

 in A.D. 1202, fighting to the last, after his twenty-five 

 years of so-called reign. 



The civil war continued, but not so vehemently. 

 Sverri was succeeded by his son Hakon. But, unfortu- 

 nately, this prince only lived two years after his acces- 

 sion. He had approached the Church party with offers 

 of a compromise, and everything seemed to hold out 

 hopes of peace. Greater confusion than ever super- 

 vened upon Hakon's death, confusion so great that it 

 is in no way our business to trace it or its causes. At 

 the time of this Hakon Sverrason's death, his own 

 child, an illegitimate son, Hakon, was not yet born. 

 But at last this young prince succeeded in raising 

 his head above the storm of faction, and he was in 

 1217 recognised as king at the Throndhjem Ore Thing, 

 and later in the same year at Bergen. Bergen was 

 now the chief city of Norway, and it was the election 

 of Hakon (iv.) Hakonsson at the Thing held in this 

 city which gave the final seal to his. title. It is this 

 scene that forms the opening one in one of Ibsen's 

 plays, Konrjscmiurne — 'The Eivals.' After 1240, and the 

 death of a certain Skuli Jarl, long a rival of Hakon 

 and a friend of the Bagler party, complete peace was 

 established. 



The old aristocratic party had been rooted out as 

 completely, and much in the same way as the old 

 baronage of England was rooted out by the Wars of 

 the lioses. Honour to both though fallen ; for they 



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