Civil War Era
Two primary factors, i.e. (1) kings who died without having produced a legitimate male heir and (2) lacking or unclear rules of throne inheritance, caused disagreement about the throne. This contributed to the creation of military conflicts between various pretendents and their supporters, subsequently leading to the civil war (1130–1240).
The Lendman Party (Norwegian: Lendmannsflokken or Lendmannspartiet), which appeared after the 1150s, and its successor, the Baglers, formed in 1196, were movements consisting of persons of the secular aristocracy (feudal lords) and of the clerical aristocracy (bishops), among others Earl Erling ‘the Slanted’ Ormsson, who, preferably with a descendant of Olaf ‘the Holy’, sought to introduce a one-king hereditary monarchy on the continental European model. The civil war, in which various groups fought for their candidate to become king, ultimately led to the victory of the Birchlegs and the House of Sverre, which thereby took over the throne from the previous royal house.
Beginning with the ascent to the throne of King Sverre in 1184, he and his descendants ousted their enemies who belonged to groups like the Baglers (1196–1217) and the Ribbungs (1219–1227), thus eliminating and replacing considerable parts of the ancient aristocracy. Sverre had in fact before battles proclaimed to his soldiers that he who killed a lendman, should himself become a lendman. However, some former enemies swore loyalty to King Sverre and therefore continued into the class which later became the old nobility.
Read more about this topic: Norwegian Nobility, Ancient Aristocracy
Famous quotes containing the words civil war, civil, war and/or era:
“Since the Civil War its six states have produced fewer political ideas, as political ideas run in the Republic, than any average county in Kansas or Nebraska.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“During the Civil War the area became a refuge for service- dodging Texans, and gangs of bushwhackers, as they were called, hid in its fastnesses. Conscript details of the Confederate Army hunted the fugitives and occasional skirmishes resulted.”
—Administration in the State of Texa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“... when there is a war the years are longer that is to say the days are longer the months are longer the years are much longer but the weeks are shorter that is what makes a war.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“I call her old. She has one family
Whose claim is good to being settled here
Before the era of colonization,
And before that of exploration even.
John Smith remarked them as he coasted by....”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)