Jon Havtoresson

Jon Havtoresson was a Norwegian nobleman of the fourteenth century and member of the powerful Sudreim lineage. Through descent and marriage connections he belonged to the aristocratic networks that shaped Norwegian politics during periods of royal minority and Scandinavian union.

Jon and his brother Sigurd were among the most important Norwegian magnates of their generation and possessed extensive estates through their family connections. Their lineage linked them to the royal house through their mother, Agnes Haakonsdatter, an illegitimate daughter of King Haakon V. The Sudreim family therefore became significant in later debates over aristocratic descent and possible claims to the Norwegian crown.

In Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter, II: The Wife, Erling Vidkunsson, Ingeborg of Norway and Knud Porse stand behind the regency politics of the period, while Erlend joins a conspiracy associated with the king’s cousins Jon and Sigurd Havtoresson.