Sigurd Slembe

He demanded his putative half-brother King Harald Gille, whose origin actually was quite similar, share power with him as co-kings.As soon as Harald was dead, Sigurd had the previous King Magnus IV of Norway, his putative nephew, reinstated as co-king.His arms and calves were first crushed with axe-hammers, after which the skin on his head was cleaved, his back was flayed and his spine broken.They in turn base their accounts on the now lost Hryggjarstykki, whose author, Eiríkr Oddsson, either witnessed the events himself, or spoke to people who had.The background for these conflicts were the unclear Norwegian succession laws, social conditions and the struggle between church and king.
Sigurd Slembe with his men during a raid at Tjeldsund , as imagined by Wilhelm Wetlesen (1899).
NorwegianpretenderSigurd SlembeBjørnstjerne BjørnsonTjeldsundWilhelm WetlesenOld NorseHarald GilleMagnus III of NorwayMagnus IV of NorwayregicideEric II of DenmarkBattle of HolmengråHvalerOslofjordInge I of Norwaykings' sagasHeimskringlaFagrskinnaMorkinskinnaHryggjarstykkiBaglerBirkebeinerSigurd Syr Halfdansson, King of RingerikeHarald III of NorwayÅsta GudbrandsdatterOlaf III of NorwayTora TorbergsdatterCivil war era in Norway