Sverre Sigurdsson seized the Norwegian throne through civil war, defeating and killing King Magnus Erlingsson at the Battle of Fimreite in 1184. His coinage was struck throughout a reign defined by near-constant armed conflict with the Church and rival factions — the Baglers, backed by Pope Innocent III, excommunicated Sverre in 1194 and fought to dislodge him until his death. Skaare 116 belongs to a bracteate-influenced penny tradition that was already technically primitive by contemporary European standards, struck on thin flans with considerable die variation across known specimens.
Sverre Sigurdsson seized the Norwegian throne through civil war, defeating and killing King Magnus Erlingsson at the Battle of Fimreite in 1184. His coinage was struck throughout a reign defined by near-constant armed conflict with the Church and rival factions — the Baglers, backed by Pope Innocent III, excommunicated Sverre in 1194 and fought to dislodge him until his death. Skaare 116 belongs to a bracteate-influenced penny tradition that was already technically primitive by contemporary European standards, struck on thin flans with considerable die variation across known specimens.