land. A few years afterwards, his son, S ig t jr d J o r s a l e a r , set off
on a crusade to the Holy Land, where in 1110 he took the
strong town of Sidon, which had hitherto defied the efforts of the
crusaders.
But these warrior-kings also had an eye to the peaceful development
of their country. Towns which had sprung up in former
times - - Mdaros [Trondhjem], Tunsberg and Sarpsborg — were
aided, and new towns, such as Hamar and Oslo, were founded.
But the people participated especially in the benefits of civilisation
under the peaceful kings O l a v K y r r e (1066—1093) and E y s t e in
M a g n u s s h n (1103—1123). During the reign of the former, Bergen
was founded as a centre for trade with England. Sigurd Jorsalfar
was also a man of peace during the' latter part of his reign.
After Sigurd’s death in 1130, there followed a period of 110
years, that was occupied with contentions among the descendants
of Magnus Barfod’s sons as to the succession. In these quarrels,
it was at one time the aristocracy and the clergy who had the
upper hand, the latter playing an especially prominent part when
the strong and powerful Eystein Erlandsson occupied the Norwegian
archiépiscopal see. Special interest attaches to the struggle
between Sigurd Jorsalfar’s grandson, M a g n u s E r l in g s s o n , and
S v e r r e S ig u r d s s o n , a great-grandson of Magnus Barfod. In
1164, Magnus Erlingsson, 'who was then a child, had been crowned
by the archbishop, after his father, the chieftain E r r in g S k a k k e ,
had promised on his behalf that ' the kingdom should be ^subject
to St. Olav, and that after the king’s death, the crown should
be given as an offering to that saint. Simultaneously a change was
made in the public law of the kingdom, which would have given the
bishops the power to nominate the future king. —On the other side,
S verre Sigurdssen, who had presented himself in 1177 as a claimant
to the throne, upheld the hereditary monarchy and the supremacy
of the king over the church. Erling Skakke fell in 1179,
and Magnus Erlingsson in 1184; but the very year before, the archbishop
had been obliged to come to an agreement with Sverre, and
to recognise him as king. After archbishop Eystein’s death, his
successor continued the struggle, but king Sverre compelled him to
leave the country. The king, in retufn, was placed under the
pope’s ban, and new parties, supported by the clergy, rose against
him. During the struggle, king Sverre died (1202), I t was his
grandson, H a a k o n H a a k o n s s o n , who became king in 1217, who
first crushed the rebellious faction raised by the clergy, and slew
the last of the claimants they supported, namely, Duke S k u l e (1240).
Once more a flourishing period intervened, which lasted for
about 80 years, during the reigns of Haakon Haakonsson, his son
M a g n u s L a g a b o t e r («the Law-mender»)* and the latter’s sons E r i k
and H a a k o n . During the struggles that preceded it, the old
chieftain-families had been associated with the monarchy, whose
influence was then extended to the domain formerly reserved
to the people themselves, namely, legislation and judicial power. The
latter gradually passed into the hands of the judges («lagmsend»)
appointed by the king. Abroad too, king Haakon enjoyed the greatest
esteem. The French king, Louis IX, offered him the supreme command
in a crusade which he was undertaking to Egypt and Palestine.
Iceland and Greenland became subject to his dominion (1261—62).
When the Scottish king attacked the Hebrides, king Haakon visited
his country with an army, but died during the winter in the Orkneys
(1263). His son Magnus, surnamed the Law-mender, ceded the islands
in dispute to the Scottish king, in return for an annual tribute.
For the rest, Magnus!s attention was mostly directed to the matter
of legislation, in which he gained great renown by the drawing up
of laws for towns and rural districts, common to the whole country.
He strengthened the relations between the royal power and the
aristocracy, but did not succeed in putting down the usurpations
of the church. After Magnus’s death (1280), there were disputes
between the temporal chiefs acting as regents during the minority
of his son Erik, and the clergy, with whom, however, a reconciliation
took place when the king came of age.
In Erik’s time, the temporal magnates — the Barons — obtained
a considerable influence at the expense of the monarch; but his
brother and successor, H a a k o n V M a g n t t s sh n (1299—1319) succeeded
in diminishing it. The- dignities of earl and baron were
done away with, and a new administration brought about.
With the death of Haakon Y, the male descendants of Harald
Haarfagre became extinct, and the country now passed into new
connections, which at first were of a chance and personal character,
but, owing to circumstances, were to become of eventful importance.
The decline had already set in during the country’s last
period of prosperity. Magnus Lagaboter, before his death, had
granted to the German Hanse towns extensive trade privileges,
which were subsequently increased to such a degree, that it soon