2nd February 2021
King Haakon V has a special role in Norwegian history. He is known as the king who finally reunited Norway after 110 years of civil war. He unified Norwegian power and created an empire that stretched over Norway, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and parts of today’s Britain and Sweden. What is not as well known, however, is that he strengthened his power by building more fortresses than any other Norwegian monarch. Let us take a look at King Haakon V as the builder.
After ruling as Duke of Oslo, the Uplands, Faroe Islands, Ryfylke and Hjaltland Haakon became King of Norway in 1299. Early in the 1290s, King Haakon began the construction of Akershus fortress in Norway’s current capital Oslo. After several developments, Akershus became the strongest fortress in the Nordic countries. In 1308, the castle withstood a siege for the first time. It was the Swedish Duke Erik of Södermanland who besieged the castle together with a number of Norwegian nobles, but the siege was eventually broken by a local Norwegian peasant army in the Battle of Oslo in 1308.