Erling Wryneck (c. 1115-1179) was one of the most feared, gifted and ruthless men to rule Norway. In the early 1150s he travelled in the footpaths of his father-in-law, King Sigurd the Crusader, on a crusade to Jerusalem, and after he gained power in 1161 as regent for his son, King Magnus Erlingsson, he transferred the crusading ideas to the war for the Norwegian throne. It thus became a holy war in which pretenders had to conquer or die and with biblical zeal Erling exterminated all those of his son's real and potential rivals he could lay his hands on, including his own stepson. In the December issue of Aftenposten Historie, Norway's largest history magazine, which is on sale from today, I write about Erling Wryneck and his holy wars, and he is also one of the main protagonists of my new book, Hellig krig om Norges krone - Tronstrid, borgerkrig og korstog fra Sigurd Jorsalfare til kong Sverre ("Holy War for the Crown of Norway: Wars of Succession, Civil Wars and Crusades from Sigurd the Crusader to King Sverre").
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