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Sverrir Sigurdsson c.1150-1202
King of Norway

Brought up in the Faroe Islands, he claimed to be the illegitimate son of Sigurd Haraldsson, 'the Mouth' (d.1155). Often called the 'the Usurper', he emerged from obscurity in 1179 to lay claim to the throne from Magnus V Erlingsson, whom he finally defeated and killed in 1184, becoming king in that year. He turned out to be one of Norway's greatest kings, strengthening the Crown against both Church and nobles with the support of the freeholding farmers. He commissioned one of the first Icelandic Sagas; a biography of himself, Sverris saga, written during his lifetime by his friend, Karl Jónsson, abbot of the monastery of Thingeyrar in Iceland.