Battle of Florvåg

Battle of Florvåg
Part of the Civil war era in Norway
Date 3 April 1194 Location Florvåg, Askøy, Hordaland Result Decisive Birkebeiner victory
Belligerents
Birkebeiner party	Øyskjegg party (supported by Earldom of Orkney)
Commanders and leaders
Sverre Sigurdsson	Sigurd Magnusson † Hallkjell Jonsson † Olav Jarlsmåg †
Strength
21 ships 2,000 men	14 ships 2,000 men
Casualties and losses
900–1,000 killed	12 ships lost 1,000–1,500 killed

The Battle of Florvåg (Norwegian: Slaget ved Florvåg) was a naval battle that was fought on 3 April 1194 between King Sverre Sigurdsson, leader of the Birkebeiner party, and Sigurd Magnusson, the Øyskjegg party pretender. Although there had been previous revolts during Sverre's reign following his usurpation of the throne in 1184, the revolt in support of Sigurd Magnusson (son of former king Magnus Erlingsson) became far more threatening than the attempts of previous pretenders. In a larger context, the battle was part of the century-long civil war era in Norway.

As Sigurd was a minor, the actual leaders behind the revolt were Hallkjell Jonsson and Olav Jarlsmåg. The Øyskjeggs recruited their initial army in Orkney and Shetland (hence their name, meaning "island-men"), returned to Norway in 1193, and quickly took control over a large part of the country. Based in Bergen for the winter, the Øyskjegg fleet relocated to the nearby bay of Florvåg off Askøy in anticipation of the arrival of Sverre's Birkebeiner fleet from Nidaros. The battle began with a surprise attack by the Birkebeiners during night. Although the Øyskjeggs gained the upper hand for most of the battle and victory eventually seemed within reach, their ships were caught in a current during the final stages of the battle. This caused them to become easy prey for the Birkebeiner, who in the end won the battle decisively and extinguished the majority of the Øyskjegg army, including their leaders.

The main source for the battle, and the events leading up to it, is King Sverre's own Sverris saga. Sverre had usurped the throne from the previous king Magnus Erlingsson following the Birkebeiner victory at the Battle of Fimreite in 1184. In the years after this there were a succession of revolts started against Sverre, in support of various pretenders. Almost ten years after Sverre's usurpation, a revolt that would prove far more precarious for Sverre was started, based around Sigurd Magnusson, the only widely recognised son of Magnus Erlingsson. Since Sigurd was a minor, the group supporting his claim to the throne was led by Sigurd's guardian, lendmann Hallkjell Jonsson, along with Olav Jarlsmåg and Sigurd Jarlsson. The saga also claims that Bishop Nicholas Arnesson was involved with the revolt, but this is disputed by modern historians. Sigurd Magnusson was sent westwards to Shetland and Orkney in 1192, and gained the military support of Earl Harald Maddadsson who provided the rebels with a longship. Sigurd was proclaimed king of Norway in Orkney, and was permitted to recruit an army in Harald's realm.

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