Background
Håkon was the son of Folkvid the Lawspeaker and king Sigurd Munn's bastard daughter Cecilia. Cecilia had been married off to Folkvid, the lawspeaker in Värmland in Sweden, by her father's enemies after he had been defeated and killed in 1155. In 1177, Sverre arrived in Norway and took over leadership of the birkebeiner rebel faction. Sverre claimed to be a son of king Sigurd Munn, and thus Cecilia's brother. Subsequently Cecilia left her husband and returned to Norway, probably taking young Håkon with her. After Sverre succeeded in winning the throne of Norway, Cecilia had her marriage to Folkvid annulled, claiming she had been forced to marry him against her will.
Read more about this topic: Haakon The Crazy
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“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
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