After the failure of his great expedition at Largs, King Haakon IV of Norway sailed north and spent the winter in Orkney. He fell ill and died at the Bishop's Palace in Kirkwall in December 1263. He had sagas read to him in his final days. His death ended any prospect of a Norwegian recovery of the Western Isles. Three years later his successor Magnus the Law-Mender signed the Treaty of Perth, permanently transferring the Hebrides to Scotland.
Haakon IV died of illness
Haakon IV died in Orkney; no battle, symbolic Norwegian defeat after Largs.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in Britain — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.
Research a location near Orkney