Sudreim claim

Sudreim claim was an entitlement held among members of the powerful and influential Sudreim-Bjarkøy-Giske noble family in Norway during the late Middle Ages.

The modern-day coat of arms of Sørum municipality is based on the medieval coat of arms of the Sudreim dynasty.[1]

Background

When in the early 14th century it was foreseeable that the male line of Sverre dynasty would go extinct, Norwegian lords spiritual and temporal arranged the Order of succession of the kingdom together with the then king, Haakon V of Norway. King Haakon's youngest daughter, Ingeborg Haakonsdatter instead of her older sister Princess Agnes Haakonsdatter received recognized rights of succession to the Kingdom of Norway (872–1397) for her descendants. This entitlement came to be referred to as the Stovreim claim (Stovreimsætten).[2]

In the eventuality of the Ingeborg line dying out, it was determined that the issue of King Haakon's illegitimate daughter, Agnes Haakonsdatter, born to her in marriage to Havtore Jonsson (ca. 1275–1319) would then be entitled to succession. This entitlement was referred to as the Sudreim claim (Sudreimsætten).[3]

Sudreim line

Ingeborg's descendants brought the kingship to union with Sweden, Denmark, and with a variety of Northern German principalities. Norway's kings from her lineage regularly resided elsewhere than in Norway. Nationalistic or separatist forces in Norway sometimes pursued having a native Norwegian king who was not to become any other country's ruler - and the descendants of Agnes Haakonsdatter lived in Norway. Accordingly, their ancient right to inherit the throne was claimed and sometimes was acted upon. Periodically a monarch died without any direct heirs as did Eric II of Norway in 1299, Olav IV of Norway in 1387 and Christopher of Bavaria in 1448. In each case, a near relative had to be found to become the successor. In certain cases some native-minded Norwegians offered the throne to a Sudreim descendant, but always unsuccessfully.[4]

In the mid-14th century, Jon Havtoreson, (1312-1397) and Sigurd Havtoreson (1315-1392), sons of Princess Agnes Haakonsdatter and Havtore Jonsson (referred to as Havtoresønnene), seem to have intrigued against their cousin Magnus VII of Norway (simultaneously King of Sweden), to take Norway from him. Haakon Jonson, son of Jon Havtoreson, is recorded as having been offered the throne in 1387–88, when Olav IV had died. Olav's mother, Queen Margaret I of Denmark, saved the situation for herself by taking a child, Bogislav of Pomerania (later renamed Eric, becoming Eric III, Eric XIII and Eric VII of countries of the Kalmar Union) to a session of the Norwegian council and presenting him as legitimate heir. Eric was a maternal great-grandson of Eufemia, daughter of Ingeborg Haakonsdatter and Duke Eric Magnusson. Eric was also the grandson of Queen Margaret's elder sister, Ingeborg, Duchess of Mecklenburg - and thus descended from recent kings of all three countries. [5]

In 1448, when Christopher of Bavaria died, the Norwegian throne was offered to Sigurd Jonsson, who was grandson and ultimately the heir of Sigurd Havtoresonn and his wife Ingebjorg Erlingsdottir of Bjarkoy - but he declined. He held combined hereditary rights of both Ingeborg Haakonsdatter's Stovreim line and Agnes Håkonsdatter's Sudreim line. The 1448 offer to the intended "Sigurd III" was made by more or less the same party who after his refusal, worked toward having Karl Knutsson from Sweden as Norway's king instead of Christian I of Denmark.

Knut Alvsonn, of the Swedish Tre Rosor noble family, was the great-grandson of Sigurd Jonson's sister and his ultimate heir (after Sigurd's own son Hans Sigurdsson had died childless in 1466). He was a Royal Councillor of Norway, and holder of vast landed properties around Norway, having inherited such from his Giske-Bjarkoy-Sudreim ancestors. Knut Alvsonn was a personal enemy of Lord Henrich Krummedige, Danish royal governor in Norway. That made him somewhat an opponent of the union; and he was an ally of Sweden's anti-unionist Regent Sten Sture the Elder. Knut Alvsonn is said to have built a basis to grab the Norwegian throne, starting in the late 15th century. He started an open rebellion against King John of Denmark, took some Norwegian castles, but was killed in 1502 by King Johns' minions.[6]

That appears to be the end of the Sudreim claim to the Norwegian throne (and "A Night of Centuries" ensued in Norway). Knut Alvsonn's granddaughter and ultimate heiress was lady Görvel Fadersdotter (Sparre), after Knut's sons were killed in 1520. Upon her death in 1605, the Sudreim succession right seems to have gone to descendants of the youngest son of the niece of Sigurd Jonsonn.

The heir of the younger Tre Rosor line was at that time, Johan Stensson, 4th Count of Bogesund, who died childless in c. 1612. His undisputed heir was his first cousin baron Gabriel Bengtsson Oxenstierna (1586-1656), later created 1st Count of Korsholma and Vaasa in Finland. Oxenstierna's descendants included Christian IX of Denmark and his grandson Haakon VII of Norway who would bring back descendants of Agnes Haakonsdatter to the Norwegian throne. [7]

Heads of the Sudreim line

References
  1. "Sørum kommunevåpen". sorum.kommune.no. Retrieved 2015-06-23.
  2. Jon Gunnar Arntzen. "Stovreimsætten". Store norske leksikon. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  3. Jon Gunnar Arntzen. "Sudreimsætten". Store norske leksikon. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  4. "Sudreimsætta fra Sørum på Romerike". slektinorge.no. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  5. Carl Frederik Bricka. "Ingeborg, Hertuginde af Meklenborg". Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  6. "Hans Sigurdsson". sunnmiddelalder.net. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  7. "Oxenstierna, Gabriel Bengtsson". Biografiskt lexikon för Finland. Retrieved June 1, 2017.

Notes
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