Background
The Civil war era in Norway (borgerkrigstida) is a term used for the period between 1130 and 1240 in the history of Norway. During this period there were several interlocked conflicts of varying scale and intensity. Although weak in the beginning, the Birkebeins had the upper hand in the dispute almost all the time it existed. King Haakon IV was the ultimate victor for the Birkebeins in 1217. In the earlier part of the reign of King Haakon, much of the royal power was in the hands of Skule Bårdsson. In 1239, the conflict between the two erupted into open warfare, when Skule had himself proclaimed king in Nidaros. The rebellion ended in 1240 when Skule was put to death.
The background for these conflicts were the unclear Norwegian succession laws, social conditions and the struggle between Church and King. There were then two main parties, firstly known by varying names or no names at all, but finally condensed into parties of Bagler and Birkebeins.The rallying point regularly was a royal son, who was set up as the head figure of the party in question, to oppose the rule of the king from the contesting party.
Read more about this topic: Birkebeiner
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