HACO, or Hakon(c. 920-960), surnamed the Good, king of Norway, was the son of Harold Fairhair by a female slave, and was presented by Harold to King Athelstan of England, to mark his contempt for an insult he had received. The child was placed by a Norse warrior on Athelstan’s knee, who was thus made to observe the symbol of adopting a child that was base born. Athelstan did not, however, take vengeance on the innocent cause of his anger, but brought him up as one of his own sons. On hearing of the death of Harold, he supplied Haco with men and ships, and sent him to Norway to wrest the throne from Eric, eldest son of Harold, whose violent and cruel reign had during the life of his father gained him the general hatred of his subjects. The news of Haco’s arrival ia Norway spread, says the saga, “like fire through dried grass.” Eric at once took flight to Orkney and then to England, and Haco was chosen king at every “thing.” Haco, though himself a Christian, found it impossible in his time to establish Christianity in Norway. He ruled his kingdom with great justice and prudence, and gained for it many victories over the Danes by land and sea. He was slain in a great fight against the Danes, led by the sons of Eric, about the year 960.

HACO V., surnamed the Old, king of Norway, son of Haco IV., was on the death of his father in 1204 excluded from the throne on the ground of supposed illegitimacy, and only become kingin 1223, after his mother, to establish his rights, had undergone the ordeal of fire. He greatly increased the prosperity of Norway, and he also added to his kingdom Iceland and Greenland. As he had a dispute with Alexander III. of Scotland in regard to the sovereignty of the Hebrides, he set sail about 1263 on a great expedition against the west of Scotland, where he took possession· of Arran and Bute, but suffered such a severe defeat at Largs that he was compelled again to put to sea. After losing many ships by storm, he sailed to Orkney, where ho died in the following winter. It is supposed by some that his fleet in his voyage north passed between Skye and the mainland, and that it is from this fact that the narrow sound of Kyle-Akin received its name.

For the kings named Haco see the Hcimskringlα of Snorro Sturluson, which, however, does not include the reign of Haco V., translated into English by Samuel Laing, London, 1844. The saga of Swerre and his successors was published by Unger under the title Konunga Sögur, Christiania, 1870-73. The Saga Hdkonar Hàkonarsonar forms the 10th vol. of the Fornmanna Sögur published at Copenhagen in 12 vols., 1825-39, and translated into Danish and Latin in 12 vols., 1828-40. See also Sturlunga Saga, 2 vols., Oxford, 1878, and Carlyle’s Early Kings of Norway f London, 1875.