Eystein Magnusson (Old Norse: Eysteinn Magnússon, Norwegian: Øystein Magnusson; – 29 August 1123) was King of Norway (as Eystein I) from 1103 to 1123 together with his brothers Sigurd the Crusader and Olaf Magnusson, although since Olaf died before adulthood, only Eystein and Sigurd were effective rulers of the country.
While Sigurd gained fame as the "warrior king" (although owed almost exclusively to his three-year crusade to the Holy Land), Eystein was in contrast portrayed in the sagas as the "peace king" who stayed home in Norway and improved the country. As Eystein never engaged in warfare, considerably less information is written and known about him than about his brother Sigurd, despite his twenty-year-long reign, just a few years short of Sigurd. Eystein nonetheless gained the affection of his people, and was highly regarded by the saga writers for his deeds. Eystein and Sigurd's reign became the longest joint rule in Norwegian history.
Although the later saga literature narrates stereotypical accounts about the two kings, Eystein is known to have improved the infrastructure and raised buildings and churches, particularly across the coast in Western Norway and Trøndelag, from Bergen to the fishing centre of Lofoten in the north. Eystein's activities were especially centered in Bergen, which became an important international trade hub for fish at the time, helped by his construction projects. His activities in Bergen included moving the royal seat to a more central location in the city and building a new royal palace, as well as constructing churches and the Munkeliv Abbey.
Eystein died of illness in August 1123, and his brother Sigurd thereby became the sole Norwegian king.
Background
Eystein was born in 1088 or 1089 as the first son of the future king Magnus Barefoot, born to an otherwise unknown mother who is only recorded to have been of "low birth". Upon the death of his father in 1103 during one of his campaigns in Ireland, Eystein became king together with his two brothers Olaf and Sigurd. Sigurd was about a year younger than Eystein, while Olaf was more than ten years younger than him. Sigurd was the only son who had accompanied their father Magnus on his campaign in the West, but he returned to Norway after Magnus' death.
Many accounts concerning Eystein in later sagas are characterized by literary motifs, and have little value as sources on his life. Snorri Sturluson, the Icelandic author of the early 13th century Heimskringla mastered this literary style particularly well, stylistically and psychologically. His stories includes a so-called mannjevning (literally "comparison of men") between Eystein and Sigurd, in which the two boast about their skills and deeds in an attempt to outdo each other. In a similar fashion, Snorri also tells a story about how Eystein managed to cure the melancholy of a friend, by agreeing to regularly clear time to talk with him about what troubled him. On his physical appearance, Snorri wrote that Eystein "was the handsomest man that could be seen. He had blue open eyes; his hair yellow and curling; his stature not tall, but of the middle size." More reliable information, particularly about Eystein's building-projects, is offered in earlier sagas such as the work of Theodoric the Monk, a Norwegian chronicler who wrote in the late 12th century.
Reign
The co-rule between Eystein, Sigurd and Olaf entailed a shared kingship, and the kingdom itself was not divided into fixed borders. During the early years of their reign, Eystein is nonetheless said to have stayed mostly in Western Norway and Trøndelag, while Sigurd was in Viken. In practice, only Eystein and Sigurd ever ruled as kings, as Olaf was considerably younger and died when he was only seventeen years old, and virtually nothing is known about him beyond his name. One of the earliest acts by the kings was passing a retterbot, a special law ordained by the king, which among other things abolished various royal taxes that originated from the Danish rule of Sweyn Knutsson and Ælfgifu (under Cnut the Great) in the early 1030s. The kings became very popular because of this. According to some sources, the main motivation for abolishing the taxes was to gain the support of the population for Sigurd's planned crusade.