Halfdan I, was a defining force in the history of Norway. A tragic man in many ways, his rule would see the future of Scandinavia altered forever.
Family
Halfdan was a man haunted by sorrows. Already before his ascension, he had lost two wives and one son. And they would not be the last of his troubles. He was through his life married to three women, the last of them, Sigrid, the only one to become his Queen. He also held three concubines in his time, of which we know little.
With his wives and concubines, Halfdan bore fourteen children that we know of:
Ulfr
Haraldr
Rögnhildr
Asa
Sif
Skuli
Kolbjörn
Arnbjörn
Gunnhildr
Bengt
Botulfr
Holmger
Ofeig
Anders
None of these children would succeed him as king.
His reign
The reign of Halfdan I was dominated by wars, personal grief and religious strife. It begun badly with him already having lost two wives and a son in short succession not long before his father died. Additionally, the rumors of him being the love child of Queen Rögnhildr and jarl Eskild never truly faded, giving doubts about his legitimacy to rule.
Within a year after he became king, his new Queen bore the first of many illegitimate children. She was a serial adulterer, but the King loved her dearly and forgave it all – time and time again. It did cause him mental harm, though, as he became a flagellant and wounded himself in the process, something that would haunt him to his grave. To add insult to injury, his daughter eloped with a commoner, bearing his child. This greatly grieved the King.
In 919 AD, in an effort to distract himself and enlarge the kingdom at the same time, he declared war on Iceland to subjugate the jarldom under the Norwegian crown. This started badly, with his favorite son dying in battle against the Icelanders and, a couple years later, most of the army dying in the Icelandic fjord.
Sensing weakness, the king of Sweden declared war on Halfdan, wishing to take one of his jarldoms for himself. Between the war with Iceland and Sweden, Halfdan’s forces were spread thin. And disaster struck, time and time again. While the armies mostly won, the victories were hard won and time and time again his heirs died in battle with the enemy. A total of seven heirs perished between 919 AD and 926 AD, when the last of the two wars were ended. Both ended in a hard fought white peace.
In 930 AD, disaster struck again. The Catholic Pope sensed weakness and announced a Crusade for the kingdom of Pommerania, of which Norway controlled half. It is theorized this Crusade was part of an elaborate plan by the Pope to win Norway for Christ, as it was widely known that Halfdan was positive to the southern religion.
Assembling the Storting, Halfdan proposed a radical proposition: For the whole realm, him and his family to convert to Christianity. There is no doubt Christianity was seen in a positive light before this, and sources claim the first missionaries came to Norway already in the late 600s. But it stunned the world when Halfdan sent word to the Pope that he, his house and eleven out of his fourteen vassals with families were ready to be baptized. Norway was won for the Christian God.
In an even bigger surprise to everyone, Halfdan then a year later announced his support for the planned Crusade to liberate Pommerania from the heathen – a category he had himself been part of merely a year before. The Crusade was launched in 932 AD, and Halfdan’s forces contributed heavily to the eventual victory in 935 AD, although his army had to retreat after a harsh defeat a year before. The kingdom of Pommerania was awarded to the rising power of Bavaria.
In 935 AD, as soon as the Crusade was over, Halfdan declared holy war for the jarldom of Skåne against pagan Sweden. The war was not easy, but his forces were on the offensive when Halfdan I died peacefully in his sleep June 28th, 938 AD.
He would be succeeded by his half-brother Helgi.
Norgesveldet and Europe at the death of Halfdan I in 938 AD.
Aftermath
Halfdan I’s reign is a watershed moment in European and Norwegian history. By adopting Christianity, the King began the total transformation of the religious setup of Scandinavia, which by this point had been a stronghold of Asatru, although there were smaller Christian communities in the area before this.
With the conversion came a time of Crusades and holy wars that would, in time, transform the area and her population.
To modern day Norwegians, especially the Christian population, his importance cannot be overstated.