The end of the Norse age
King Haakon IV of Norway died at the Bishop's Palace in Kirkwall, Orkney, on 16 December 1263. He was around 59 years old and had been ill since his failed expedition to reassert Norwegian control over the Hebrides and western Scotland. His death in Orkney — still Norwegian territory — marked the effective end of Norse political power over Scotland's western seaboard.
Haakon had been one of Norway's greatest kings. He had unified Norway after a long civil war, expanded Norwegian influence to Iceland and Greenland, and presided over a golden age of Norse culture. His court at Bergen was one of the most sophisticated in northern Europe. But his expedition to Scotland in 1263 was a step too far. The massive fleet he assembled — perhaps 200 ships — was scattered by autumn storms in the Firth of Clyde, and the inconclusive skirmish at Largs left his campaign in ruins.
The ageing king retreated to Orkney rather than face the dangerous winter crossing back to Norway. He took up residence in the Bishop's Palace, a fine Romanesque building that still stands in ruin beside St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. There, attended by his court, Haakon gradually weakened. He listened to readings from the sagas — the great Norse literary tradition — and to passages from the lives of the saints. He died on 16 December and was initially buried in St Magnus Cathedral before his body was taken to Bergen the following spring.
Haakon's death opened the door to the Treaty of Perth in 1266, which ceded the Hebrides to Scotland. Orkney and Shetland remained Norwegian for another two centuries, passing to Scotland in 1468-1472. The Bishop's Palace in Kirkwall, where Haakon died, is one of Orkney's most significant historical sites. St Magnus Cathedral, built from warm red and yellow sandstone, is one of the finest medieval churches in Scotland and a fitting monument to the Norse era that ended with Haakon's death.