Eysteinn Haraldsson

Eystein Haraldsson
King of Norway
Reign	1142–1157
Predecessor	Sigurd II and Inge I
Successor	Inge I and Haakon II
Born	c. 1125 Scotland?
Died	1157 (aged 31–32) Bohuslän
Burial	Foss, Bohuslän
Spouse	Ragna Nikolasdatter
Issue	Eystein Meyla
Father	Harald Gille
Mother	Bjaðǫk
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Eystein Haraldsson (Old Norse: Eysteinn Haraldsson, Norwegian: Øystein Haraldsson); c.1125–1157) was king of Norway from 1142 to 1157. He ruled as co-ruler with his brothers, Inge Haraldsson and Sigurd Munn. He was killed in the power-struggle against his brother, Inge, in an early stage of the civil war era in Norway.

Eystein was born, apparently in Scotland, the son of Harald Gille, who was king of Norway from 1130 to 1136, and a woman named Bjaðǫk. Harald was born and raised in Ireland or Scotland, and Eystein was born there. When Harald went to Norway in 1127 to press his claim to royal inheritance, Eystein did not go with him. However, Harald let it be known that he had fathered a son before coming to Norway.

Eystein first appears in the sagas in 1142, when several Norwegian lendmenn travelled west and fetched him back to Norway from Scotland. His mother came with him to Norway. There, he was recognised as king, and given a share of the kingdom with his younger brothers. The division of the kingdom does not seem to have been territorial, all brothers seem to have held equal regal status over all parts of the country. This period of their reign saw the establishment of an independent Norwegian Archiepiscopacy in Nidaros (Trondheim) in 1152.

The sagas Heimskringla and Orkneyinga saga relates that at some point in the early 1150s, king Eystein went on a campaign to Scotland and England. He captured Harald Maddadson, earl of Orkney in Caithness, and forced him to ransom himself for a considerable sum. He then proceeded to loot along the Scottish and English coast, attacking Aberdeen, Hartlepool and Whitby, in a voyage reminiscent of the earlier viking expeditions.

...
Wikipedia