Haakon IV crowned King of Norway

1247

The bastard-born claimant ended a long civil war and received the Norwegian crown in Bergen from a papal legate. His court of skalds and saga-writers preserved Old Norse literature; Iceland would submit to his successors within a generation. Haakon's ambition extended Norway's reach to its greatest territorial extent, encompassing Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroes under a single Scandinavian crown.