Haakon IV Haakonsson

Haakon IV Haakonsson

 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.