The Orkney town where Haakon IV died after his western campaign in 1263.
Kirkwall is the main town of Orkney, then under Norwegian sovereignty, and the site where Haakon IV Haakonsson of Norway died in December 1263 after the western campaign that followed the Battle of Largs. His death there ended Norwegian ambitions to reassert control over the Scottish islands.
Haakon IV's death at Kirkwall and his body's return to Bergen for burial marked the beginning of a process that ended Norwegian sovereignty over Orkney and Shetland. The Treaty of Perth in 1266 transferred the Hebrides and Man to Scotland. Orkney and Shetland remained Norwegian until 1468–1469, when they were pledged to Scotland as dowry.