See Also: Haakon IV Haakonsson(encyclopedia)
Haakon VII(encyclopedia)
Haakon (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)

Haakon IV Haakonsson (sh)




known as Haakon the Old

born 1204, Norway
died December, 1263, Orkney Islands

King of Norway (1217-63).

After he became king, his mother answered doubts about his paternity by passing through an ordeal of hot irons. He established Norwegian sovereignty over Iceland and Greenland (1261-62) and died defending the Hebrides and the Isle of Man from the Scots. He was a noted patron of the arts, and his reign began the "golden age" in medieval Norwegian history.