The Story of Norway Part 20

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XXVI.

GUTTORM SIGURDSSON (1204), AND INGE BAARDSSON (1204-1217).

The legitimate heir to the throne after Haakon's death was his nephew, Guttorm Sigurdsson, a son of his brother, Sigurd Lavard. In spite of his tender age, the Birchlegs made haste to elect him, with the understanding that Haakon Galen, with the t.i.tle of earl, should conduct the government. There were, however, some of the Birchlegs who were dissatisfied with this arrangement, partly because they were jealous of Haakon Galen, partly because they felt that, in such troublous times, a king was needed, who should be something more than a name or a figure-head. The Baglers, too, strange to say, were ill at ease, because they feared that, Haakon Sverresson's restraining influence being removed, the Birchleg chiefs would give free rein to their pa.s.sions of avarice and vengeance. Half in self-defence they, therefore, reorganized their troop under the leadership of an impostor, calling himself Erling Stonewall (Steinvegg), who pretended to be a son of King Magnus Erlingsson. A pretender of this name had, during the reign of Sverre, made some little stir, and had been imprisoned by King Knut of Sweden in a tower, whence he had escaped by means of a rope, made out of his bed-clothes. The rope proved, however, to be too short, and in letting himself drop to the ground, Erling broke his hip. He was overtaken, on his flight, by Sverre's men and in all probability slain. Nevertheless, it required audacity rather than proof of royal birth, in those days, to figure as a pretender; and the second Erling Stonewall, though probably few at first believed in him, soon had a considerable following. It was of no use that Bishop Nicholas opposed him, and urged his own nephew, Philip, a grandson of Harold Gille's queen, Ingerid, for the chieftainship. When Erling demanded the right to prove his birth by the ordeal of fire, the bishop told him bluntly that the result was in his hands. Under such circ.u.mstances, the pretender found it more to his advantage to make terms with the bishop and receive his a.s.surance that the ordeal should turn out successfully. Erling, on his side, promised, when he became king, to make Philip his earl, and in other respects satisfied the prelate's demands. The latter had, in the meanwhile, by conferences with his peasants, ascertained that Philip's candidacy was regarded with great disfavor, because he neither had nor pretended to have a drop of royal blood. The peasants utterly refused to recognize him, and threatened to rebel, in case he was elected. It was therefore to the bishop's advantage to keep faith with Erling. The ordeal accordingly took place with great solemnity in the presence of the Danish king, Valdemar the Victorious, and proved successful. Erling was then proclaimed king, and received as a present from Valdemar a fleet of thirty fine ships. In return he recognized him as his feudal overlord and gave him hostages. The party of the magnates was thus faithful to its traditions, in sacrificing patriotism to private interests. With the aid of the powerful Danish king the party had, indeed, a good prospect of crushing the disheartened and disunited Birchlegs, who just at that time received a fresh blow in the death of their newly elected king.

Christina, Haakon Galen's mistress, could not allow so slight an obstacle, as the life of a child, to stand between her and the goal of her wishes. If Guttorm were dead, her lover would have the best chance of succeeding him, being on his mother's side a grandson of Sigurd Mouth. It was, therefore, no mere accident that Guttorm died; and with all the symptoms of poisoning. He said that the "Swedish woman" had taken him upon her lap and stroked him caressingly over his whole body.

Soon after he felt, as if needles were piercing his flesh, and before long he expired in great agony. Though Christina's guilt was obvious, her lover had yet sufficient influence to have the matter hushed up; and in order to give her the full benefit of his protection, he married her soon after. A meeting was now called in Nidaros to elect a new king.

Earl Haakon, who was a favorite with the army, seemed to have every chance in his favor; and he would probably have been the choice of the Birchlegs, if Archbishop Erik had not opposed him, on account of his relation to Christina. The guilt thus defeated its own object. Several candidates were discussed, some of whom were related to Sverre only on his mother's side and thus had no consanguinity with the royal house.

The most prominent among these was Peter Steyper, who had the additional advantage of having married a daughter of King Magnus Erlingsson. After long deliberations, the chiefs finally decided to leave the choice to the peasants, who would then be sure to stand by the king whom they themselves elected. The peasants were according summoned to Oere-_thing_ where they conferred the royal dignity upon Inge Baardsson, a younger half-brother of Haakon Galen and like him, on the maternal side, a grandson of Sigurd Mouth. No sooner did the Baglers hear that the Birchlegs had chosen a new king than they started northward from Tunsberg, in order to test his mettle. The caution of Bishop Nicholas prevailed, however, over the counsel of the more warlike chiefs, and after some unimportant fights in and about Bergen, the rebels betook themselves to Denmark, where they had always a safe place of refuge.

King Inge and Earl Haakon, therefore, found no opposition, when they visited Viken, and the peasants, though the great majority of them sympathized with the Baglers, had no scruple in swearing them allegiance. In fact, the long war was having a demoralizing influence upon the people, and its barbarizing effects began to be visible in many ways. To save their lives, the yeomen were obliged to feign friendship for every pretender who came along with his band, and swear him fidelity, or fly to the woods, leaving their farms a prey to the marauders. Even the ties of blood which had been exceptionally strong among the Nors.e.m.e.n, began to be disregarded, as members of the same family were impelled, by diverging interests, to join different parties.

It was no rare occurence that brother fought against brother, and father against son. Thus it is told of a Bagler that during the attack upon Nidaros in 1206, he was hotly pursuing a Birchleg whom he finally killed. As he stooped over the dying man, in order to deprive him of his arms and garments, he discovered that it was his own brother. A great laxity in all moral obligations resulted from this state of things.

Kings and chieftains broke their words; enemies who had surrendered on promise of pardon were ruthlessly slain; murder and rapine filled the land.

Under these circ.u.mstances it was no great privilege for the young and inexperienced Inge to wear a crown which merely put a price upon his head. In the spring of 1206, while he was in Nidaros celebrating the wedding of his sister, the Baglers surprised him in the night and slew a large number of his men. The king himself escaped by pure chance, threw himself into the river, and swam, half-clad, in the icy water, out to a ship, and clung for a while to the anchor cable. More dead than alive he reached the sh.o.r.e, and would probably have perished from exposure, if the Birchleg, Reidulf, who was also fleeing, had not found him, wrapped him in his cloak, and carried him on his back to a place of safety. Yet Inge never overcame the effects of this terrible night. He grew morose and despondent, and never regained his former light-heartedness. It was not merely that he felt discredited as a chieftain by the disgrace of having been surprised by his enemies in a drunken sleep, in the house of his mistress; his health, too, had suffered a shock from which it was slow to recover.

On their return from Nidaros, the Baglers paid a visit to Bergen, where they expected to starve the Birchleg garrison in the block-house into surrender. But here they reckoned without their host. Earl Haakon, though he had not been present at the a.s.sault upon his brother in Nidaros, felt impelled to avenge it. He therefore sailed southward with a small fleet and about seven hundred men, overtook the rebels in Bergen and inflicted upon them a severe defeat. Thus blindly pursuing partisan advantage, Baglers and Birchlegs kept killing each other, forgetting that they were all Nors.e.m.e.n, who would, in the end, suffer by the devastation and exhaustion of their common country. Year after year they continued surprising each other in Nidaros, Bergen, Tunsberg, and Oslo, burning each other's ships, and robbing each other's treasures; but they appeared to avoid a decisive battle which would have given an overwhelming advantage to one party or the other, thereby securing peace to the land. The death of Erling Stonewall in 1207 enabled Bishop Nicholas to carry out his desire to make his nephew, Philip Simonsson, king of the Baglers. But Philip made no change in the policy of his predecessor, persevering in the same aimless marauding, which could scarcely be dignified by the name of war. The parties were, indeed, so evenly matched, that it seemed hopeless for the one to destroy the other, for which reason the political stake in the struggle was almost lost sight of, while immediate profit yet furnished a motive for continuing in arms.

It was while anarchy was thus rioting and despondency reigning throughout the land, that a hope suddenly sprang up, like a star out of the depth of night. It was well known that King Haakon Sverresson, during his visit to Sarpsborg in 1203, had become enamoured of the beautiful Inga of Varteig, and it had also been whispered that she had reciprocated his love. Soon after Haakon's death, she had borne a son, and though it was taken for granted that the king was his father, the matter had been hushed up, lest the Baglers, who were masters in Viken, should hear that an heir had been born to the throne. The priest, Thrond, in whose house Inga gave birth to the boy, baptized him and gave him the name Haakon, after his father; but advised the utmost secrecy, and let no one but his immediate family know of the child's existence.

Such a secret is, however, hard to keep, and, after a while, the priest took Erlend of Huseby, a man of good repute and a friend of Sverre's house, into his confidence. Erlend rejoiced that King Sverre's race was not extinct; but found the boy's position, in the midst of the enemies'

land, perilous. He therefore persuaded Thrond to send him and his mother to King Inge, and himself offered to take them across the mountains. The boy Haakon was then (December, 1205,) about a year and a half old. There must have been some imminent danger at hand which impelled the priest, after having waited so long, to choose the most inclement season of the year for the journey across the trackless, snow-covered wilderness. The two friends started northward with their precious charge and arrived, after infinite hardships, in Nidaros, where they were well received by King Inge. The boy now, for a while, sojourned with his mother at court and was kindly treated. The old Birchlegs came often to see him and playfully took him between them and pulled him by the arms and legs in order to make him grow faster. For they were impatient to serve, once more, a king of the old royal race. Haakon Galen, too, took a great fancy to his young kinsman, though his demonstrations of love were, no doubt, looked upon with fear by those who had the boy's welfare at heart. Nevertheless, it appears that the earl was actually sincere, and felt moved, perhaps, by the very helplessness of the boy to protect him.

A kind Providence seemed to be watching over him; for though living in the midst of the intrigues and plottings of rival chiefs, all of whom must have seen in him their most dangerous rival, his life was preserved, and he escaped unharmed from many dangers. Even the Baglers refrained from killing him, when in 1206 he fell into their hands, at the surrender of the block-house in Bergen. It is perhaps not safe to a.s.sume that a half-latent consciousness a.s.serted itself, that in this boy Norway's future was bound up; that upon him depended the country's deliverance from the scourge of civil war. More likely it is that his beauty and winning ways appealed to friends and foes alike, while on the other hand, the love of the Birchlegs was his best guard, because it convinced his ill-wishers that disaster would swiftly overwhelm any one who should venture to harm him.

Of the many small victories and defeats, sieges and surrenders, flights and pursuits, which filled the years 1206 and 1207, without according any decisive advantage to either party, it is not necessary to speak at length. They were a series of barren futilities, resulting in loss of life, and waste of the resources of the land, without lastingly benefiting any one. Under these circ.u.mstances, it is not strange that both Birchlegs and Baglers began to long for a reconciliation. Even to so bitter a partisan as Bishop Nicholas, it became evident that a continuance of the war would mean mutual destruction, and that the prize of victory would be a devastated land and a barbarized people. King Inge, too, was heartily tired of the aimless hostilities, and even his pugnacious brother, Haakon Galen, was not disinclined to listen to proposals of peace. The new archbishop, Th.o.r.e, acted as mediator between the parties and used his influence and his eloquence to extort from both the necessary concessions. At last, when the conditions were well understood on both sides, a meeting of the Birchleg and Bagler chiefs was held at Hvitingsoe (1208), at which Philip Simonsson, the king of the Baglers, swore allegiance to Inge, and became his earl. In return he received Viken and the Oplands in fief, and was wedded to Sverre's daughter, Christina.

The restoration of peace was not hailed as an unmixed boon by many of those who had lost their property by the war, and could only hope to enrich themselves by the same means. Others had carried arms so long, as to have lost all inclination for peaceful industry. A great number of these, irrespective of parties, started on an old-fashioned Viking expedition to the Orkneys, Hebrides, and Man, ravaged and plundered, and compelled the earls of those isles, once more, to acknowledge the supremacy of the crown of Norway. In spite of this service which they had done to the king, they were severely censured on their return, and forced by the bishops to surrender their booty to the Church.

The last years of King Inge's reign were embittered by his strained relation to Earl Haakon. The latter, feeling his superiority to Inge in all the qualities that grace a king, could not reconcile himself to his subordinate position. He began intriguing behind his brother's back, and privately sounded the sentiments of the prominent peasants and chiefs, in regard to his pretensions. From many he received a favorable answer, and the plot was in a fair way to succeed, when it was unexpectedly discovered by the king. Inge, who had had perfect confidence in his older brother, was more shocked than angered by the proof of his treachery. He summoned all his men to a house-_thing_ and called upon them to stand by him, declaring that he would tolerate no other king in the land, as long as he was alive. This speech won general approval and compelled Haakon henceforth to weave his plots with greater secrecy.

Whether he was the instigator of the attempt upon the king's life, which was made a year later, is not known, but that either he or his wife Christina was in some way implicated in it, is evident from the king's unwillingness to have the would-be a.s.sa.s.sin tried or punished.

When his brother, Skule Baardsson, urged him to make an example of the wretch, he promised to have the matter investigated, to exile the criminal, etc., but as nothing was done, Skule lost his patience and killed him on his own responsibility.

It was, on the whole, a laudable spirit on Inge's part which impelled him to avoid an open rupture with Earl Haakon, even at the cost of personal sacrifice. He knew the horrors of civil war and would not take the responsibility of precipitating a breach of the peace, as long as it was in his power to prevent it. The fact that his health was poor, and that there was a chance that Haakon might succeed him, may also have disinclined him to discredit the latter in the eyes of the people. Among Haakon's partisans was Archbishop Th.o.r.e, to whose intervention it was chiefly due that the king and the earl in 1212 made a compact, in accordance with which illegitimate children were to be excluded from the succession, and the one of the brothers who survived the other should inherit the throne. This agreement, which was proclaimed at Oere-_thing_, and sanctioned by the bishops and the magnates of the land, was chiefly aimed against the young prince, Haakon Haakonsson, who, though a direct descendant in the male line of the old royal house, was of illegitimate birth. It excluded also, for the same reason, Inge's son Guttorm, and transferred the succession to Haakon Galen and his legitimate son, Knut. But in making this compact, they underestimated the strength of the sentiment which bound Sverre's veterans to the boy Haakon. One of them, Helge Hva.s.se, who was in the habit of going frequently to see the prince, and playing with him, grew very wroth when he heard of the agreement. When Haakon ran up to him to have his usual romp, he pushed him roughly away and bade him begone. The boy, unaccustomed to such treatment, looked reproachfully at him, and asked why he was angry.

"Begone," cried Helge; "to-day thy paternal heritage was taken from thee, and I don't care for thee any more."

"Where was that done, and who did it?" asked Haakon.

"It was done at Oere-_thing_, and they who did it were the two brothers, King Inge and Earl Haakon."

"Do not be angry with me, mine own Helge," said the boy; "and be not troubled about this; their judgment cannot be valid, as my guardian was not present to answer in my behalf."

"Who, then, is thy guardian?" inquired Helge.

"My guardians are G.o.d, and the Holy Virgin, and St. Olaf," exclaimed Haakon solemnly; "into their keeping I have given my cause, and they will guard my interests, both in the division of the country and in all my welfare."

Much moved, the veteran seized the boy in his arms and kissed him.

"Thanks for those words, my prince," he said; "such words are better spoken than unspoken."

[Ill.u.s.tration: HAAKON HAAKONSSON AND HELGE HVa.s.sE.]

When this occurrence was reported to Christina, she scolded Haakon, and henceforth treated him harshly. But she dared not show her evil disposition toward him in the presence of her husband. For the earl, though he had no scruples in barring the boy's way to the throne, was yet attached to him, and would not allow him to come to harm. Haakon's remarkable precocity amused him, as it did all his men. Several anecdotes are preserved of his droll sayings and doings. Thus, when once the weather was so cold that the bread could not be b.u.t.tered, the little prince took a piece of bread and bent it around the b.u.t.ter, saying: "Let us tie the b.u.t.ter to the bread, Birchlegs."

This saying became a proverb in the camp of the Birchlegs.

The king's indulgence to his brother in the matter of the succession had not quieted but rather stimulated the latter's ambition. By incessant intriguing he succeeded in fomenting a peasant's rebellion in Trondelag which was, however, quelled without serious loss of life. Soon after this exploit, he was taken ill and died in Bergen 1214, aged thirty-eight years. His wife, who knew that the Birchlegs had a long score to settle with her, made haste to quit the country with her son.

Haakon Haakonsson, who had been fostered in the earl's house, was now transferred to the court, where he was treated as became his rank. There the Birchlegs flocked again about him, watching jealously every one who approached him. They were in many ways discontented with King Inge, whom they held to be an aristocrat, and by his poor health and peaceful disposition unfitted for the chieftainship. Besides, his brother Skule was openly intriguing to push Haakon aside and place himself in the line of succession. The disaffection then became so great that a number of Birchlegs under the leadership of Andres Skjaldarband endeavored to persuade Haakon to place himself at the head of a rebellion. But Haakon refused to give ear to such counsel.

As the king's health declined and he perceived that his death was approaching, he loved to have the boy about him and to listen to his droll and vivacious talk. All public business pa.s.sed, during this time, through the hands of Skule Baardsson, whom Inge made his earl, and the guardian of his son. The king died in April, 1217, being but thirty years old.

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XXVII.

HAAKON HAAKONSSON THE OLD (1217-1263).

The first act of the Birchlegs, after the death of King Inge, was to give Haakon a body-guard, which was to follow him night and day. Earl Skule, on his side, opened a campaign of intriguing and chicanery, in which he was faithfully supported by the new archbishop, Guttorm, and the canons of the cathedral chapter in Nidaros. In spite of all their underhand measures, however, Haakon was proclaimed king at Oere-_thing_ by the Birchlegs, and Skule, who did not feel himself strong enough to defy the general sentiment, had to acquiesce in what he could not prevent. It was of no avail that the canons of the chapter locked up the shrine of St. Olaf upon which the king was to swear to keep the laws; the Birchlegs determined to dispense with the shrine rather than to dispense with their king. Nor did the negotiations of the earl with Philip, the so-called king of the Baglers, lead to anything; for Philip died shortly after King Inge, leaving no children; and Haakon sailed southward with a large fleet and took possession of Viken and the Oplands, which since the treaty of Hvitingsoe in 1208 had been under the dominion of the Baglers. By a wise policy of conciliation he induced the chiefs of the rebels to acknowledge his overlordship, on condition of their being permitted to keep one half of the fiefs which had been granted to Philip. The following year, they also consented to give up their old party name, which recalled the times of civil dissension and strife, and to fight side by side with the Birchlegs, against a new band of rebels, called the Slittungs (Ragam.u.f.fins), which had been organized under the leadership of a priest, named Benedikt or Bene Skindkniv (Skin-knife). This arrant impostor professed, like so many of his predecessors, to be the son of King Magnus Erlingsson, and in spite of the utter improbability of his story, upwards of a thousand men soon gathered about him and began robbing and plundering. It was merely to furnish an excuse for a breach of the peace that they professed belief in Bene's pretensions. Robbers, footpads, and all sorts of nomadic vagabonds could, in those days, give themselves a semblance of respectability by providing themselves with a candidate for the throne.

A great many credulous people could then be induced to join them and their depredations were called war instead of robbery.

A war, and especially a civil war, always drags in its wake a long train of disastrous consequences. The longer it lasts, the more difficult is the return to peace. The miserable internecine strife which had lasted, with brief interruptions, since Harold Gille's ascension of the throne (1130), had weaned a whole generation from the pursuits of peace, accustoming it to scenes of bloodshed and violence. It had added to the natural risks of industrial occupations, and made rebellion, as it were, a legitimate profession. The thousands of homeless vagabonds who infest every imperfectly organized society, and the numerous cla.s.s who, by nature, are criminally inclined, will always seize such an opportunity to support themselves, at the expense of society, and will far rather endure the dangers and hardships of a perpetual war than the wearing routine and sustained activities of peace. The material was therefore at hand for continued rebellion, and as long as the supply of pretenders showed no signs of giving out, there was every prospect that the king would have his hands full. Only the gradual destruction of the turbulent and the greater chances of the survival of the friends of order would, in the end, decide the struggle in favor of the latter. The problem is, however, more complicated than it appears to be, for the gradual destruction of the turbulent came, in the course of time, to mean the destruction of the warlike spirit itself. And a century after peace had been concluded, a period of decline set in, which continued for four hundred years.

A greater danger than the rebellion of the Slittungs was, however, threatening King Haakon from one who called himself his friend. The role of intriguer and mischief-maker, which during King Inge's reign had been filled by Haakon Galen, appeared to have devolved with his other dignities upon his brother, Earl Skule. To see royal honor bestowed upon a fourteen-year-old boy, who had done nothing to merit it, galled his proud soul. Like Haakon Galen, he had long stood so near to the throne, that he could not comprehend, why it should always remain beyond his reach. After the brief campaign against the Slittungs, he began again his machinations, aided as usual by the archbishop and the clergy, who seemed yet to cherish their ancient grudge against Sverre's house. When Haakon arrived in Nidaros, two weeks before Easter (1218), the archbishop treated him with studious discourtesy, while he did every thing in his power to distinguish the earl. When the king on Palm Sunday went up to place his offering upon the altar, the prelate did not even turn toward him, or in any way appear to be conscious of his presence.

When taken to task for his incivility, he replied boldly that he was acting deliberately on the advice of all the bishops and many chieftains, who, like himself, had doubts as to whether the king was the son of Haakon Sverresson. Haakon, young as he was, saw at once the plot that was here concealed. But so great was his confidence in the justice of his cause, that he consented to have his mother bear glowing irons, to prove his origin. Inga had before offered to submit to this ordeal, but had been prevented by the archbishop, who for some reason did not then desire to p.r.o.nounce upon her son's claim, possibly because he had not yet arranged his terms with Skule. It was of course unheard of, that a king, actually in possession of the realm, should be put to the humiliation of proving who he was; and his friend Dagfinn Peasant expressed the general sentiment when he said: "It will be hard to show another instance of such a case; that the sons of peasants and cottagers have ventured to prescribe such humiliating terms to an absolute king.

* * * I think it were just as well to bear another kind of iron, viz., cold steel, against the king's foes, and then let G.o.d judge between them."

[Ill.u.s.tration: WEST FRONT OF DRONTHEIM CATHEDRAL.]

As Earl Skule's plot seemed now in a fair way to succeed, he became suddenly affable and affectionate toward the king. He felt positive that his clerical friends would manage to have the ordeal result in accordance with his wishes. Nevertheless, to make a.s.surance doubly sure, he bribed a foreigner in his service, named Sigar of Brabant, to approach the king's mother, and offer her an herb which, he a.s.serted, had the power to heal burns; but a guard of devoted Birchlegs, among whom was Dagfinn Peasant, surrounded the church in which she was fasting, preparatory to the ordeal, and the earl's emissary was, therefore, compelled to confide his errand to the latter. Dagfinn replied: "No art or healing will we employ here, except such as Christ in his mercy will grant. Begone with thy twaddle, or disaster will overtake thee, if thou darest again utter such speech."

Inga was then warned of the plot and told to be on her guard. For if it could be proved that she had used healing herbs, the test would be invalid, and opprobrium would have overwhelmed both her and her son. All the machinations of her enemies, however, came to naught; she endured the ordeal triumphantly. It is difficult to explain how this result came about, for the odds were certainly against her. The earl had, perhaps, from over-confidence, neglected some link in his long chain of precautions. However that may be, he had, after this severe check, to start all over again--to spin, with painstaking care, a fresh web of intrigue, in order slowly to undermine the king's power. His plan seems to have been to alienate Haakon's trustiest friends from him, or to get them removed to such a distance that they could no longer be of any help to him; then to set them by the ears mutually, so that one slew the other and the king punished the survivor. But ingenious as this plot was, it was not entirely successful. The king's forgiving disposition, and a suspicion, on his part, that the earl was really at the bottom of these mysterious enmities and slayings, impelled him to act contrary to the latter's expectation. It was obvious to all that he bought the earl's pretended friendship at too high a price, and many of his men would have preferred open warfare to this suppressed suspicion and hypocritical good-will. There was, indeed, ample opportunity for strife between the two parties, and quarrels and b.l.o.o.d.y fights between the "earl's-men" and the "king's-men" were of frequent occurrence. All the conditions for another civil war were, in fact, at hand, and it was only the disinclination of the king to let loose, once more, the dogs of war, which preserved even the semblance of peace. The fact that the king was under the guardianship of a man who spent his time in plotting against them, seemed to the Birchleg chiefs to call for precautions, on their part; and the idea occurred to them to convert Skule's hostility into friendship, by identifying his interests with those of the king. For this purpose they proposed a marriage between Haakon and the earl's ten-year-old daughter, Margaret. The king, though he was not eager for such a marriage, yielded to the representations of his counsellors, and Skule, after some hesitation, consented to have the betrothal take place (1219). The actual marriage was preliminarily postponed, on account of the tender age of the bride. But those who had supposed that Skule could be made to abandon his scheming, because the king was his son-in-law, had made a miscalculation. Circ.u.mstances, however, compelled him, soon after the betrothal, to fight in defence of the crown, against a new band of rebels, called the Ribbungs, who had absorbed their predecessors, the Slittungs, and added largely to their number. This band owed its origin to the former Bagler chief, Gudolf of Blakkestad, who had been appointed a prefect by Haakon, but had later been deprived of his office, on account of his unpopularity with the peasants. To avenge himself, he raised the banner of rebellion, and provided himself with a candidate for the throne in the person of Sigurd, an alleged son of the Bagler king, Erling Stonewall. All those who had a real or an imagined cause for discontent, and many who were merely intent upon plunder, now rushed together under the standard of the Ribbungs. These made considerable progress in Viken, defeated and chased away the royal prefects, and gained much booty. They were secretly supported by that h.o.a.ry mischief-maker, Bishop Nicholas, who, in spite of his professions of friendship, yet remained consistent in his hatred of Sverre's race.

The earl, too, who was sent to destroy the rebels, was less energetic than he might have been, giving himself an appearance of zeal in his master's behalf, but being really disinclined to strike an effective blow. It was, rather, in his interest to keep them in the field, for the purpose of injuring the king and preventing him from growing too powerful. In the various fights which he had with the Ribbungs in Viken (1221), he did, indeed, inflict considerable injury upon them, and in the battle of Svang, at Lake Mjosen (1222), killed one hundred and fifty of their number. But immediately afterward he made peace with Sigurd Ribbung, who had the impudence to demand one third of the kingdom and the earl's daughter for his wife. Skule replied that neither had he brought up his daughter to live in the woods, nor was he minded to give up any part of his fiefs. But if the king was inclined to consider Sigurd's proposition, the earl promised to use whatever influence he had with his son-in-law in his behalf. On these conditions the rebel chief dismissed his band, and, on the promise of safe-conduct, betook himself to the earl's camp where he was treated with great distinction. The moment for pushing his claim was, however, not a favorable one, as the relation between the king and the earl, at this time, took a sudden turn for the worse. It appeared that Skule had levied troops and contributions, outside of his own fief, accordingly in the king's domain, and Haakon was so incensed at this fresh infringement of his rights that he wrote him a letter, in which he threatened him with war, in case he persevered in disregarding their agreement. The earl replied to this letter by immediately setting sail for Denmark. He had evidently taken a great resolution. What this resolution was is easy to guess.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD NORSE CAPITALS.]

The kings of Denmark had, since the days of Harold Bluetooth, claimed overlordship over Viken, and they had repeatedly fomented rebellion in Norway for the purpose of regaining the lost province. Skule's intention was now to thrust Haakon from the throne by the aid of Valdemar the Victorious, and to take the entire country in fief from him. But to his unutterable astonishment, when he arrived in Denmark, Valdemar was nowhere to be found. He had been captured, five days before, by Count Henrik of Schwerin, and was now languishing with his son in a prison in Mecklenburg. Bitterly disappointed, Skule returned home, and was compelled to resume his mask of benevolent interest in his son-in-law's affairs. The latter had just filled his eighteenth year, which, in the case of princes, was regarded as the age of majority. He needed, therefore, no longer a guardian, and custom seemed to demand some ceremony on his formal a.s.sumption of the government. An a.s.sembly of notables was therefore summoned to meet in Bergen (1223), where Archbishop Guttorm, who, in the meanwhile, by concessions, had been bribed to take the king's side, solemnly reaffirmed his right to the throne. Sigurd Ribbung's claim was p.r.o.nounced invalid, as was also that of Squire Knut, the son of Haakon Galen and Christina, who had sent representatives to the meeting. Earl Skule saw from the beginning that the sentiment of the a.s.sembly was so overwhelmingly in Haakon's favor, that it would be of no use for him to urge his pretensions. He therefore contented himself with extorting as favorable terms for himself as possible at the renewal of his compact with the king. After many negotiations he exchanged his southern fief for the northern third of the country, extending from the North Cape to the southern boundary at Sondmore. But he still remained, in name at least, a royal va.s.sal, and was compelled to swear allegiance to the king; although he enjoyed all the royal revenues from his fiefs, and paid no tax or tribute to any one.

In accordance with this agreement Haakon now moved southward and took up his residence in Oslo. This city, which had recently been burned down, he rebuilt with great care, and came thereby into frequent contact with the ancient enemy of his race, Bishop Nicholas. This venerable scoundrel succeeded actually in gaining his confidence for a time, and obtained during this brief friendship substantial advantages for himself and his see. Haakon always took pleasure in showing his zeal for religion by liberality toward the Church, and the wily bishop was the man to take advantage of such a disposition. He persuaded him on the death of Archbishop Guttorm (1223) to give the weight of his recommendation to his enemy, Peter of Husastad, who, in accordance with the advice of Nicholas, feigned friendship, until he had got the mitre securely on his head.