Editing Haakon IV (section)

==Background and childhood==
[[Image:Birkebeinerne ski01.jpg|thumb|19th-century impression of the birkebeiner bringing the infant Haakon to safety by [[Knud Bergslien]]]]
Haakon was born in [[Folkenborg]] (now in [[Eidsberg]]) to [[Inga of Varteig]] in the summer of 1204, probably in March or April.<ref name="aftenposten"/> The father was widely regarded to have been King [[Haakon Sverresson]], as Inga had been with Haakon in his hostel in Borg (now [[Sarpsborg]]) in late 1203. King Haakon was the leader of the [[Birkebeiner]] faction in [[Civil war era in Norway|the ongoing civil war]] against the [[Bagler]] faction. He was dead by the time his son Haakon was born (many believed to have been poisoned by his Swedish stepmother [[Margaret of Sweden, Queen of Norway|Margaret]]), but Inga's claim was supported by several of the king's followers. Haakon was born in Bagler-controlled territory, and his mother's claim placed them in a dangerous position. When the Baglers started hunting Haakon, a group of Birkebeiners fled with the child in the winter of 1205/06, heading for [[Inge Bårdsson]], the new Birkebeiner king in [[Nidaros]] (now [[Trondheim]]). As the party was struck by a blizzard, two of the best Birkebeiner [[skiing|skiers]], Torstein Skevla and Skjervald Skrukka, carried on with the child over the mountain from [[Lillehammer]] to [[Østerdalen]]. They eventually managed to bring Haakon to safety with King Inge; this particular event is commemorated in modern-day Norway by the popular annual skiing event ''[[Birkebeinerrennet]]''.<ref name="aftenposten">{{cite news |url=http://www.aftenposten.no/fakta/innsikt/article1195687.ece |work=[[Aftenposten]] |title=Da birkebeinerne skapte historie |first=Cato|last=Guhnfeldt |author-link=Cato Guhnfeldt |date=19 October 2011 |access-date=11 April 2012 |language=no}}</ref><ref name="NBL">{{cite web |url=http://snl.no/.nbl_biografi/H%C3%A5kon_4_H%C3%A5konsson/utdypning |title=Haakon 4 Haakonsson |publisher=[[Store norske leksikon]] |work=[[Norsk biografisk leksikon]] |access-date=1 April 2012 |language=no}}</ref> Haakon's dramatic childhood was often parallelled with that of former king [[Olaf Tryggvasson]] (who introduced Christianity to Norway),<ref name="bagge95">Bagge, 1996, p. 95.</ref> as well as with the [[gospel]]s and [[Child Jesus]], which served an important ideological function for his kingship.<ref name="aftenposten"/>

In the saga, Haakon is described as bright and witty, and as being small for his age.<ref name="NBL"/><ref name="bagge95"/> When he was three years old, he was captured by the Baglers but refused to call the Bagler king [[Philip Simonsson]] his lord (he nonetheless came from the capture unharmed). When he learned at the age of eight that King Inge Bårdsson and his brother Earl [[Haakon the Crazy]] had made an agreement for the succession to the throne that excluded himself, Haakon pointed out that the agreement was invalid due to his attorney not having been present. He subsequently identified his attorney as "God and [[Saint Olaf]]."<ref name="bagge95"/> Haakon was notably the first Norwegian king to receive formal education at a school. From the late civil war era, the government administration relied increasingly on written communication, which in turn demanded literate leaders. When Haakon was in [[Bergen]] under the care of Haakon the Crazy, he began his education at the age of seven, likely at the [[Bergen Cathedral School]]. He continued his education under King Inge at the [[Trondheim Cathedral School]] after the Earl's death in 1214.<ref name="NBL"/><ref>Helle, 1995, pp. 169–170.</ref> Haakon was brought up alongside Inge's son Guttorm, and they were treated as the same.<ref>Bagge, 1996, pp. 95–96.</ref> When he was eleven, some of Haakon's friends provoked the king by asking him to give Haakon a region to govern. When Haakon was approached by the men and was urged to take up arms against Inge, he rejected it in part because of his young age and its bad prospects, as well as because he believed it would be morally wrong to fight Inge and thus split the Birkebeiner. He instead said that he prayed that God would give him his share of his father's inheritance when the time was right.<ref>Bagge, 1996, p. 96.</ref>