A Norwegian town and royal center associated with Haakon V's death in 1319.
Tonsberg on the Oslofjord was one of Norway's oldest and most important royal towns. Haakon V Magnusson died there in 1319 without a male heir, leading Norway into a personal union with Sweden under the infant Magnus Eriksson.
Tonsberg's importance as a royal administrative center dated from the high medieval period; several Norwegian kings held court and died there. Haakon V's death ending the separate Norwegian Haakonssonline meant Norwegian political identity had to be maintained within a union framework increasingly dominated by Swedish dynastic interests.