Inge II of Norway
| Inge Bårdsson | |
|---|---|
| King of Norway | |
| Reign | 1204 – 23 April 1217 |
| Predecessor | Guttorm |
| Successor | Haakon IV |
| Born | 1185 |
| Died | 23 April 1217 (aged 31–32) Nidaros |
| Burial | Nidaros Cathedral |
| Issue | Guttorm Ingesson |
| House | House of Gille (Fairhair dynasty) |
| Father | Bård Guttormsson |
| Mother | Cecilia Sigurdsdatter |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Inge II (Norwegian: Inge Bårdsson, Old Norse: Ingi Bárðarson; 1185 – 23 April 1217) was King of Norway from 1204 to 1217. His reign was within the later stages of the period known in Norwegian history as the age of civil wars. Inge was the king of the birkebeiner faction. The conclusion of the settlement of Kvitsøy with the bagler faction in 1208 led to peace for the last nine years of Inge’s reign, at the price of Inge and the birkebeiner recognising bagler rule over Viken (the Oslofjord area).
Inge’s father, Bård, was a prominent lendmann from the Trøndelag region and a descendant of Tostig Godwinson. He was an early supporter of king Sverre, who brought the Birkebeiner faction to power in the late 12th century after years of war against king Magnus Erlingsson. Inge’s mother, Cecilia, was the daughter of an earlier king, Sigurd Munn. She had been married to the lawspeaker Folkvid in Värmland Sweden. After her brother, Sverre, had won the throne of Norway, she left her husband and travelled to Sverre in Norway, claiming she had been wedded to Folkvid against her will. The archbishop annulled her marriage to Folkvid, and Sverre gave her to his trusted follower Bård Guttormsson in marriage. Inge was Bård and Cecilia’s only son.
After king Sverre died in 1202, his son, Haakon, and his grandson, Guttorm, died within two years. The birkebeiner were thus left without any direct successors to Sverre. (The existence of another grandson of Sverre, Haakon Haakonsson, was as yet unknown.) Sverre’s old adversaries, the bagler, were exploiting the situation to launch a new invasion of Viken under their king, Erling Steinvegg. After the infant king Guttorm’s death in August 1204, the birkebeiner needed a strong leader to oppose the bagler threat. The birkebeiner leaders wanted earl Haakon the Crazy, who had earlier been appointed to rule the kingdom in king Guttorm’s infancy. Haakon was Inge’s older half-brother, the son of Cecilia and Folkvid. However, Eirik, archbishop of Nidaros, and the farmers of Trøndelag insisted on choosing Inge, who had until then ruled Trøndelag under Guttorm. A compromise was reached, whereby Inge became king, while earl Haakon became leader of the army, and received half the royal income.
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