| Battle of Rastarkalv | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of War between King Haakon the Good and the sons of Eirik Bloodaxe. | |||||||
 Obelisk Memorial for Egil Ullserk and his men who died at the Battle of Rastarkalv | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Norway | Sons ofEirik Bloodaxe Supported by:  Denmark | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
_no_crown.svg) KingHaakon the Good Egil Ullserk † | Gamle Eirikssen † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | High | ||||||
TheBattle of Rastarkalv (Norwegian:Slaget på Rastarkalv) took place in 955 on the southern part of the island ofFrei in the present-dayKristiansund Municipality inMøre og Romsdal county,Norway.[1]
This was one of several battles between the forces of KingHaakon the Good and those of the sons ofEirik Bloodaxe (Eiriksønnene). After their father's death,Harald Greycloak and his brothers were allied against King Haakon with KingHarald Bluetooth ofDenmark. Haakon had put up a warning system with cairns that would be lighted to tell of approaching war fleets. Therefore, the king was alarmed first with messengers atNordmøre fromStadlandet. Haakon managed to fool Eirik's sons into believing they were outnumbered. The Danes fled but when they came to the beach, they discovered that their ships had been pushed out to sea. Haakon gained the victory and the Danish forces were slaughtered by Haakon's army.[2]
Egil Ullserk, who was Haakon's leading man, died in the battle.Gamle Eirikssen, one of the sons of Eirik Bloodaxe, also died in the conflict. Haakon buried Egil Ullserk in a ship together with the people who had died in the battle. In 1955 (on the 1000 year anniversary),King Haakon VII visited the area and commemorated the battle. There is a stone monument located nearFrei Church inNedre Frei. It consists of anObeliskMemorial for Egil Ullserk and his men who died at the Battle of Rastarkalv.[3]
63°03′45″N07°48′11″E / 63.06250°N 7.80306°E /63.06250; 7.80306