King Håkon IV of Norway lived from 1204 to 16 December 1263. He is also referred to as Haakon or Haco. The Norwegian Account of Haco's Expedition Against Scotland, 1263 is a classic account of Håkon or Haco's campaign against Alexander III of Scotland in 1263, a campaign that culminated in the Battle of Largs and resulted in Håkon's death.
The account was first published in 1782 by the Rev. James Johnstone, Chaplain to His Britannic Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary at the Court of Denmark. He translated it into English from the original Flateyan and Frisian Manuscripts which were written in Old Norse from the personal recollections of many who were involved on the Norwegian side. It is often said that the victor writes history: not in this case, but the Norse authors of the original manuscripts do a fine job in talking up the heroism of the Norwegians who, in the event, suffered a fairly narrow tactical loss that eventually resulted in a major strategic defeat for Norwegian interests in the Western Isles.
Like other eBooks whose texts are reproduced on Undiscovered Scotland, The Norwegian Account of Haco's Expedition Against Scotland, 1263 is long out of copyright. What sets the Undiscovered Scotland version apart is the cross linking between the text of the book and features elsewhere on the site, allowing the reader to explore beyond the text itself, finding out more about the places and people mentioned. Relevant textual notes prepared by Rev. James Johnstone have been added within the text {in these brackets}, as have the locations of further place names mentioned in the text, both established and {suggested?} where this is likely to make things clearer for the modern reader.
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