AFTER the battle of Sekken, Erling Skakke proceeded with King Magnus and the whole army up to Nidaros, where the Thing was convened, and Magnus was proclaimed king of all Norway. They remained there but a short time, however, for Erling did not put great faith in the Throndhjem people. Erling returned with his son to Bergen, and later in the fall went to Tunsberg, where he intended to stay during the winter.

Some of the late King Haakon’s chiefs, who had not been present at the battle, among them Earl Sigurd of Reyr, refused to acknowledge King Magnus. They left their ships in Raumsdal and went over to Uplands, where they found many adherents. They chose for their king a young son of King Sigurd Mund, named Sigurd Markusfostre (i.e., foster-son of Markus), who had been brought up by Markus of Skog, a friend and relative of Earl Sigurd. Quite an army was collected, but as the territory they held was small, their foraging became burdensome to the people, and there was considerable dissatisfaction. Erling Skakke took advantage of this, and when finally a battle was fought at Ree, near Tunsberg, he easily defeated Sigurd’s adherents. Earl Sigurd fell in the battle (February, 1163). Sigurd Markusfostre and his foster-father were captured and killed in the fall of the same year.

The archbishop in Nidaros was at that time Eystein, a son of Erlend Himalde, who descended from a very influential family in the Throndhjem district. In the summer of 1164 Erling Skakke had a conference with Archbishop Eystein in Bergen, where all the bishops of the country were then assembled, together with the legate from Rome, Stephanus. The result of the conference was that Magnus was to be anointed and crowned as king by the archbishop, while on the other hand it was agreed that in the future the church—represented by the archbishop and the other bishops, together with twelve leading men from each bishopric selected by the bishop—was to decide at the death of a king which one of his heirs was to succeed him; and if the king left no heirs of whom the magnates approved, they were to elect a successor to the throne. In the presence of the papal legate, the bishops, and a great many other clergymen, King Magnus, who was then eight years old, was anointed and crowned by the archbishop. Magnus, Erling’s son, was the first crowned king in Norway. By this solemn act Erling Skakke believed he had secured his son’s dynasty on the throne, and he could now with greater safety turn his whole attention to internal and foreign enemies, as he felt convinced that the greater part of the people would rally around the anointed king.

When King Valdemar of Denmark heard that Erling Skakke had defeated Haakon Herdebred and Sigurd Markusfostre, and that his son Magnus had been crowned king of the whole country, he sent a message to Erling and reminded him of the agreement, by which Viken was to be ceded to the Danish king, if Magnus became king of Norway. Erling and his advisers showed no inclination to adhere to the agreement, and the messenger returned to Denmark without having accomplished anything. In the spring of 1165 King Valdemar sailed with a fleet north to Viken in order to take possession of the province. He tried peaceful proceedings; but he was so coolly received by the people of Viken that he returned to Denmark, preferring, as he said to his men, to use his army against the heathens of Vendland. The hostility between Norway and Denmark, however, lasted some time. Erling made a cruise to Jutland and defeated the Danes in a battle at Dyrsaa, and returned to Norway with a great booty. A second expedition of King Valdemar to Viken in the spring of 1168 became as indecisive as the first, so far as establishing any authority there; but he dealt the inhabitants of Viken a hurtful blow by forbidding them to trade with Denmark, at the same time forbidding the Danes to export grain to Norway.

While Erling Skakke was absent on an expedition to Denmark, a band of rebels was organized under the leadership of a new pretender, Olaf, a son of King Eystein Magnusson’s daughter Maria, in her marriage with the chief Gudbrand Skafhoggson, who fell with King Inge in the battle at Oslo. Olaf was brought up by an influential man named Sigurd Agn-Hat. Probably from the latter’s surname the adherents of Olaf were called Hat-Swains (HÆttesveiner). The Hat-Swains proclaimed Olaf king, and went through the Uplands, and sometimes down to Viken, or east to the forest settlements. At Rydjokel, near Lake Oiern, they surprised Erling Skakke and his men early one morning, and in the fight that followed killed several of Erling’s men and drove the remainder down to their ships. Because Olaf did not succeed in capturing Erling, although the odds were all in his favor, he was afterward called Olaf the Unlucky (UgÆva). The following spring the Hat-Swains met Erling in battle at Stanger, in the eastern part of Viken, where Erling won a decisive victory. Sigurd Agn-Hat and many others of Olaf’s men fell here. Olaf escaped by flight, went south to Denmark, and spent the winter in Aalborg, where he died of sickness the following spring (1169).

The interruption of the navigation between Norway and Denmark under the decree of King Valdemar worked great hardship to the Norwegians, especially the inhabitants of Viken, and Erling Skakke was finally induced to open negotiations for peace. He spent a winter in Denmark, and in the following spring peace was finally concluded, the terms being that Viken should be under the sovereignty of the Danish king, but Erling was to hold it in fief as King Valdemar’s vassal with the title of Earl. Erling returned to Norway, and the peace with Denmark was afterward well preserved.

Erling Skakke considered it a policy of necessity to remove any person who by reason of royal birth might become rivals of his son to the throne. King Sigurd Mund had left a daughter named Cecilia. As soon as she became old enough, he sent her to Vermeland and made her the mistress of Folkvid the lawman, knowing that the children from such a connection could not become dangerous rivals. About the same time one of the king’s men discovered and brought to Erling a young man named Harald, who in all secrecy had been brought up in the Uplands. He was the son of Erling’s own wife Kristina, and his father was the late King Sigurd Mund. An illicit intimacy between such near relatives as Kristina and Sigurd was, under the church laws of the time, considered one of the greatest sins, and everything had therefore been done to keep the matter secret, and Kristina had heretofore succeeded in concealing her guilt. When Erling saw the illegitimate son of his wife before him, he said very little, and those present understood that the young man was doomed. King Magnus, who had taken a liking to Harald, interceded in his favor; but his father answered: “Thou wouldst govern this kingdom but a short time in peace and safety, if thou wert to follow the counsels of the heart only.” Earl Erling ordered Harald to be taken to Nordnes, where he was beheaded.

Erling Skakke, however, did not succeed in removing all pretenders. In the year 1174 there appeared on the scene a young man called Eystein, who claimed to be a son of King Eystein Haraldson. He was small of stature, and had a fine, soft face, and he was therefore generally called Eystein Meyla (Little Maiden). He first went on a visit to Gautland to Earl Birger Brosa, who was married to Eystein’s aunt, Brigida, a daughter of Harald Gille. They received him well, and furnished him some assistance in men and money. Eystein then proceeded to Norway, and when he came to Viken many people flocked to him. His followers proclaimed him king, and he remained in Viken during the winter. His means of subsistence being soon exhausted, they commenced to rob and steal wherever there was an opportunity. They were not strong enough to remain long in any one place, but roamed about in mountains and forests. They suffered great hardships. Their clothes being worn out, they wound the bark of the birch-tree about their legs, and therefore the people called them Birkebeiner (i.e., Birchlegs). During the two years which the Birchlegs spent in and about Viken (1174-76), they had three battles in regular array with the peasants, and were victorious in them all; but at Krokaskog they came near meeting a disaster in encountering a superior force, and they only saved themselves by a hasty flight.

In the third summer (1176), when Magnus had been king for thirteen years, the Birchlegs started on a more serious expedition. They procured ships and sailed along the coast gathering goods and men. After having passed out of Viken they proceeded with great speed northward to Nidaros, and no news preceded them until they reached the Throndhjem Fjord. Erling and his son Magnus, who were in Bergen, did not hear of their having sailed by. The Birchlegs easily overcame the opposition in Nidaros, and Eystein was proclaimed king by the Throndhjem people, who had never liked King Magnus. The Birchlegs afterward proceeded to Orkedal, where, upon reviewing the troops, they found that they had about 2,400 men. They then went to the Uplands, and on to Thoten and Hadeland, and from there to Ringerike, subduing the country wherever they came.

Earl Erling and King Magnus had remained in Bergen while the Birchlegs were in the North. Then they agreed that Erling should remain with a strong force in Bergen, in case the enemy should come down along the coast, while King Magnus, who was now twenty years old, was to go to Viken and take up his residence in Tunsberg, in order to protect that part of the country from possible enemies. King Magnus went to Tunsberg, where he and Orm, “King’s-brother,” had their Christmas festivities. In January, 1177, King Magnus with his army met the Birchlegs at Ree, and won a decisive victory over them. The whole body of the Birchlegs was scattered far and wide. Eystein fled into a peasant’s house, and begged for his life; but the peasant killed him and brought his body to King Magnus at the Ramnes farm. All the Birchlegs took flight, as they had no hope of mercy from Erling Skakke or King Magnus. Some went to Thelemark, where they had their families, and others proceeded east across the frontier to Sweden. King Magnus’s men pursued the fugitives for a time, and killed as many as they could overtake.

King Magnus then returned to Tunsberg, and gained great renown by this victory. It had heretofore been said by all that Erling, his father, was his best shield and support. But after gaining a victory over so strong and numerous a force with fewer men, King Magnus had shown that he could stand alone, and it was predicted that he would become a warrior as much greater than his father, Earl Erling, as he was younger.12

The defeated Birchlegs, who fled across the Swedish frontier, met in Vermeland a man who was especially qualified to take the leadership of this headless band. His name was Sverre, and he claimed to be a son of King Sigurd Mund. He was at present staying with his sister Cecilia, who was the mistress of Folkvid lawman.

During the latter part of the reign of Harald Gille’s sons a combmaker in Bergen by the name of Unas married a girl by the name of Gunhild. Unas was probably a Faroe Islander by birth; his brother Roe became bishop of the Faroe Islands in 1157. Gunhild belonged to a distinguished family in western Norway. Shortly after their marriage Gunhild bore a son, who was named Sverre, and everybody supposed that Unas was his father. Sverre remained in Bergen until he was five years old, when he was sent over to the Faroe Islands, to be brought up by Unas’s brother Roe. He was educated for the priesthood and was in time ordained as deacon. When he was twenty-four years old, his mother disclosed to him the fact that Unas, who had died a short time ago, was not his father, but that he was the son of King Sigurd Mund. From that day Sverre became very thoughtful. It appeared to him to be too great a task to make war on King Magnus and Earl Erling; but, on the other hand, it did not seem manful to sit quietly as a poor peasant’s son when he was the son of a king. He therefore gave up his clerical position and embarked for Norway. Here he was informed that his kinsman, Eystein Meyla, had accepted the title of king from the Birchlegs; but he did not consider it wise to enter into any dealings with him. Without making himself known, he spent some time in different parts of Norway, investigating the sentiment of the people. He made the acquaintance of Earl Erling and King Magnus, and often talked with them and their court-men, who found the young clergyman from the Faroe Islands a pleasant and entertaining companion, and by his cunning he learned from them many things which they would not have talked about if they had known who he was, or what plans he was nourishing. The next winter he went to Sweden, first to Earl Birger and then to his sister Cecilia in Vermeland, where he met the remnants of the Birchleg band. The Birchlegs told him of the fall of Eystein Meyla and urged him to become their chief. Sverre for a long time declined, as the whole band consisted of only seventy men, who were all in great poverty, some of them wounded and without clothes, and all almost unarmed. All his objections, however, were of no avail, and they finally compelled him to become their chief.

In the spring of 1177 Sverre set out with his seventy men to fight for the crown of Norway. He first went south toward Viken, and on the way he was joined by so many that, when he came to Saurboe, he had four hundred and twenty men. He held a Thing, and against his protest they proclaimed him king. Sverre soon discovered that a good many of his followers were but thieves and rascals, who were very much dissatisfied when he forbade them to rob and plunder the peasants. He started back toward Vermeland, and when he arrived at Eidskog and mustered his force, he found that it had again shrunk to seventy men. As he heard that the peasants of Thelemark, some of whom had served in the Birchleg bands under Eystein Meyla, were unfriendly to Earl Erling and King Magnus, he sent messages to them and promised to redress their grievances if they would join him. They were requested to meet him up north, where he was now going. Sverre well understood that, with his small force, he could not reach the Throndhjem country through the eastern, well-populated district, so he decided to proceed by unknown and almost impassable roads and make an unexpected invasion into the country. He passed through dense forests and wildernesses, through Dalarne and Jemteland, where he and his men underwent untold hardships. At times they had nothing to eat but sap, bark, and berries, dug up from under the snow. Finally, after many struggles, Sverre reached his destination early in June, 1177. His band had received some additions on his way through Jemteland, and he was now joined by eighty peasants from Thelemark, so that he had a force of about two hundred men. Outside of Nidaros he defeated and dispersed an army that was sent against him, and then marched into the town, where he met practically no opposition. He showed himself as a generous victor, and gave quarter to all who asked for it. After a few successful expeditions in the neighborhood he summoned the Oere-Thing, where he was proclaimed king of Norway (1177).

When King Magnus and Earl Erling heard what had been going on in Throndhjem, they gathered a large fleet and sailed northward along the coast. Sverre’s force was so small that he did not dare to await their arrival, but left Nidaros with his men and proceeded across the mountains toward the southern part of the country. For two years he and his men now led a life of want and suffering, wandering from district to district, living most of the time in the forests and mountains, and subsisting on what they could obtain on their foraging expeditions into the settlements. They were pursued from time to time by King Magnus’s men, and had many small battles with them. It was only by Sverre’s great cunning, wisdom and perseverance that they got through some of the greatest dangers.

At last, in June, 1179, Sverre considered himself strong enough to meet Erling and Magnus, and in a battle at Kalveskindet, near Nidaros, he defeated their forces. Earl Erling fell in the battle, and King Magnus saved himself by flight. In the battle King Magnus suffered a considerable loss. Several of his prominent liegemen and sixty court-men were slain. Sverre captured most of the enemy’s ships, among them the “Olafssuden,” which King Magnus himself had commanded. Erling Skakke was buried outside the Christ Church, and Sverre, who seldom lost an opportunity to make a speech, held a funeral sermon over him.

The battle at Kalveskindet and the fall of Earl Erling brought a great change in the fortunes of Sverre and the Birchlegs. Sverre’s power and influence grew rapidly, and in a short time the greater part of the people outside of King Magnus’s immediate surroundings were willing to acknowledge him as king. Heretofore the name “Birchlegs” had been a contemptuous nickname; but now it became an honorable appellation, which everybody was proud to carry. King Magnus and Sverre seemed to have exchanged roles. Magnus, the anointed and crowned king, was now considered the usurper, while Sverre was considered the rightful king. Magnus’s court-men and men-at-arms were soon looked upon as a band of adventurers, and they were called “Heklungs,” because it was told of them that they had once robbed a beggar-woman, who had her few coins wrapped up in her cloak (hekl).

After the battle at Kalveskindet, King Sverre’s men received pay for their services, and he distributed among them the honors and dignities which he had promised them. He appointed district officers throughout the whole of the Throndhjem country. Many prominent and high-born men of this part of the country soon came to him and offered their allegiance, and he therefore declared that Throndhjem should hereafter be considered his real home, and he called the people there his dearest subjects, remembering what loyalty they had always shown his father and his family.

King Magnus spent the year following his defeat mostly in Bergen, where he had many strong friends, among them Archbishop Eystein and Orm King’s-Brother (a half-brother of Harald Gille’s sons). Afterward he went to Viken, where he spent the winter and gathered an army for a new expedition against his rival. After a short stay at Nidaros, King Sverre made a levy throughout Throndhjem, and proceeded with a fleet south to Bergen; but when he arrived there Magnus had already gone to Viken. He therefore returned to Nidaros, but on his way north he installed officers in all the districts he passed. The winter of 1179-80 he spent in Nidaros.

In the spring King Magnus appeared outside of Nidaros with a force much more numerous than the one Sverre had been able to muster, and a bloody battle was fought on the plains of the Ilevolds. The battle resulted in a complete victory for Sverre. King Magnus and some of his chiefs saved themselves by flight and sailed south with a few ships.

King Magnus went first to Bergen, but soon after proceeded south to his kinsman, King Valdemar of Denmark, by whom he was well received. But Orm King’s-Brother went to Viken, and Archbishop Eystein sailed over to England, where he remained for three years. From here he had Sverre declared under the ban of the church; but Sverre does not seem to have paid any attention to this step.

About a month after the battle at the Ilevolds, King Sverre appeared with his fleet outside of Bergen. Resistance was useless, and the inhabitants gave him a good reception. He remained in Bergen all winter (1180-81), and early in the spring quelled an uprising of peasants under the leadership of Jon Kutiza. Sverre promptly punished the rebels, and the peasants had to pay heavy fines. Later in the spring King Magnus and Orm King’s-Brother came north with a strong fleet, and a battle was fought at Nordnes, near Bergen. A good many men fell on both sides; but Magnus was again defeated and compelled to save himself by flight. The Birchlegs captured eighteen of Magnus’s ships and brought them into the town. They also took other rich booty, for Magnus was at that time well supplied with money and goods.

Magnus went to Stavanger, and it was but a short time before he was again ready to attack Sverre at Bergen. This time, however, Sverre wished to avoid a battle, and sailed with his ships north to Nidaros, where he proceeded to improve the fortifications of the town. Meanwhile Magnus remained in Bergen.

During Sverre’s stay in Nidaros there came to him a young man named Erik, who claimed to be a son of King Sigurd Mund. He had been in many foreign lands, had been in the service of the emperor at Constantinople, and on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where he had bathed in the river Jordan. He now asked leave to prove his royal descent by the iron ordeal. After a consultation with his friends and chiefs, Sverre permitted him to undergo the ordeal upon the condition that he must not aspire to the crown. Sverre prescribed the oath to be taken by the young man in submitting to the ordeal to prove that he was the son of Sigurd Mund “and the brother of Sverre.” In this way Sverre meant to obtain incidentally a confirmation of his own title. But Erik refused to undertake to establish the descent of anybody but himself, and omitted the additional words. He successfully underwent the ordeal, and King Sverre acknowledged him as his brother, and gave him a command in his royal guard.

The conflict between Sverre and Magnus continued for three years more. In 1181 King Sverre opened negotiations for a cessation of hostilities, offering first to share the kingdom with Magnus, and afterward proposing that they should reign alternately for three years each. Magnus, however, declined all offers, and the war was continued. During the years 1181 and 1182, King Magnus made three attacks on the Birchlegs at Nidaros with varying success. In the summer of 1183 Sverre sailed with a fleet down to Bergen, where he surprised and defeated the Heklungs, and compelled Magnus to flee east to Viken. The Birchlegs did not pursue the enemy very far, but returned to Bergen, and took possession of Magnus’s whole fleet and a rich booty. Magnus’s crown, sceptre and whole coronation outfit fell into Sverre’s hands. Many men, who had heretofore been attached to Magnus, now joined King Sverre and swore him allegiance. Archbishop Eystein, who had just returned to the country after a three years’ sojourn in England, was reconciled to King Sverre, and returned to his archbishopric in Nidaros. After a short stay in Bergen, and having installed district officers in Sogn, Hordaland, and Rogaland, Sverre returned with his whole army to Nidaros. Magnus again proceeded to Denmark, where the previous year King Knut VI. had succeeded his father, Valdemar the Great, on the throne.

Magnus made a final attempt to defeat Sverre in the summer of 1184, when he came up from Denmark with a large fleet. King Sverre had sailed into the Norefjord, a narrow arm of the Sognefjord, in order to punish the inhabitants of Sogn for having killed his prefect, Ivar Darre, and some other officers. Magnus sailed in after him with his greatly superior force, and a fierce battle was fought at Fimreite, June 15, 1184. The Birchlegs fought with great heroism, and a large number of men fell. The battle commenced in the afternoon. At sundown the first Heklungs turned to flee, and at midnight the battle was finished. The Heklungs had been completely routed. Two thousand men had fallen, among them King Magnus himself and the most prominent chieftains, the flower of the aristocracy of Gulathingslag and Viken. Among the slain were Harald, the son of King Inge; Orm King’s-Brother and his son, Ivar Steig; Aasbiorn Jonson of Thiorn; Ragnvald, the son of Jon Hallkelson; Eindride Torve, Jon Kutiza’s son, and many other prominent men.

King Magnus was twenty-eight years old at the time of his death, having borne the title of king for twenty-three years. His body was found two days after the battle, and was brought to Bergen, where it was buried with great ceremony.