Sverker's defeat by his

to Sweden with a fleet and an army. former subjects in a battle, fought at Lena in West Gothland in 1208, in which he was slain, forced the Danish king to withdraw his troops without having done anything to add to the fame of Denmark in Sweden; and as soon as Erik Knutsson, the grandson of Erik the Saint, proved himself strong enough to seize upon the throne, Valdemar II. made peace with him, and even gave him his sister Rikissa in marriage.

Erik Knutsson, 1210-1216.-Erik Knutsson,who reigned from 1210 to 1216, was the first king of Sweden who was crowned at the hands of the clergy within a church, for before his time the Swedish kings were simply proclaimed in public. It is related that Sweden was still much less civilized than Denmark, and that when the young Princess Rikissa landed in West Gothland to be married to King Erik, she found that there were no carriages of any kind, and that she had to make the long journey to her husband's court on horseback. When she complained of this, the Swedish women cried out angrily against the young queen's love of ease, saying, "We will have none of your new-fangled Danish fashions, our queens have never yet been too weak to sit upon a horse." So after that Rikissa had to try to make the best of what she found in Sweden, but as soon as her husband Erik died, she returned to Denmark, taking with her her little son Erik, called "Læspe," or the Halt.

This prince was raised to the throne in 1222 on the death of the last of the Sverker race, Johan Sverkersson, and his reign lasted till 1250, when the Bondar line of kings died out with him. He had not been suffered to rule in peace, and more than once this last of the Bondar kings had to flee from his kingdom and take refuge with his mother's kinsmen in Denmark. A new race, known as the Folkungar," came into power during his reign, and gained such a footing in the state, that Erik Læspe, against his will, had to give the title of "Jarl of the Swedes and Goths" to the rich and powerful Birger Brosa, who was at that time head of this great family. The rank of Jarl and duke gave Birger much power, while his wealth helped him to live in a princely style. The clergy showed him marked favour in return for the aid he gave them in trying to

have church-assemblies made free of control from the state; and he won the good-will of all devout churchmen by setting on foot a crusade against the pagan Finns, whom he forced at the point of the sword to renounce their old faith and receive baptism. The Jarl had not returned from Finland when Erik Læspe died in 1250, and the Swedish Council being anxious to act independently of him, proceeded to elect a new king ir. his absence. After a long and stormy debate, their choice fell upon Jarl Birger's eldest son, Valdemar, who through his mother was closely related to the royal families of Sweden and Denmark, she being sister of the late King Erik Læspe and niece of the Danish kings Knud VI. and Valdemar II. Their choice of Valdemar gave offence to his father, who was indignant when he learnt that his wife's claims on the succession had been thought better than his own.

We will, however, leave for another chapter the story of young Valdemar of Sweden and his father Birger Jarl, and proceed at once to the history of Norway, which we must resume from the time of Harald Haardraade, the ablest and most powerful ruler in Northern Europe during the middle of the eleventh century.

PART III.

THE EARLY TROUBLES OF NORWAY.

Harald II-We have seen that when King Magnus of Norway died in 1047, and gave the kingdom of Denmark to Knud the Great's nephew, Svend Estridsen, he left his Norwegian crown to his uncle Harald. This prince known in history as Harald Haardraade, and to the Danes of his own and later times as "Denmark's Blight," and the "Lightning of the North," was by no means satisfied with his nephew's way of disposing of his crowns, and was eager to go to war with Svend almost before the breath was out of King Magnus's body. But the Norwegians refused to fight for him, declaring in the first Thing held after the death of their king, that they "would rather follow the dead Magnus than the living Harald," and the new king had therefore to content himself with his one crown.

Harald had in his earlier days gone through many strange adventures at the court of Byzantium, where he was for some time chief captain of the Væringjar; and the story of the Empress Zoe's love for him, and his daring escape by night from the prison where he had been put through her jealous desire to prevent his departure, was made the subject of many romances during his own and later times. After his escape with all the other Northmen from "Miklagaard," or Constantinople, with vast treasures in gold and precious stones, he had gone to Russia and married his cousin Elizabeth, daughter of Jarislav of Novogorod, and returned with her and all his soldiers and slaves to Norway, where he had done his best to stir up strife and raise wars against his nephew, King Magnus. When he came to the throne he at once plunged into vikings and quarrels with his neighbours, and as we know through our Old English History, it was this king, who at the request of Tostig, brother of Harald King of England, invaded our island and was defeated and slain at Stamford Bridge on the 25th of September, 1066.1

Olaf Kyrre, 1066-1093.-Olaf, the eldest son of Harald Haardraade, who had come to England with his father, made a treaty with Harald King of England after the battle of Stamford Bridge, in accordance with which he was allowed to depart in peace with his men and ships. On his return to Norway, he became king in the place of his father, and unlike him gained the love of his people, who called him Olaf "Kyrre," or the Peaceful, because in his time they were not plagued with wars. We are told that in this reign, the Norwegians began to enjoy comforts which their forefathers had never known, and that houses were now first built with windows

It is related that before the fight King Harald of England sent to offer Tostig terms, promising that if he would lay down his arms and join him, he would give him the third of England for his share;-" And what will Harald of England give Harald of Norway, my friend and ally?" asked the earl. "Seven feet of England's earth for a grave," answered the English king's messenger, or a foot more may be, since his length of body exceeds that of other men!" "Then ride back to your master, and tell him to arm for the fight," cried Tostig, "for it shall never be told in Norway that Tostig of Northumbria forsook King Harald in the land of his foes. Together we will conquer England, or die with honour."

instead of mere holes to let in air and light, and with closed-in stoves in the place of rude open hearths. Olaf loved show and

company, and he kept a court with officers of state like the kings of other lands, and did all he could to teach his people the more polished manners he had seen among the southern nations of Europe.

When Olaf died in 1093, his son Magnus Barfod became king, and this prince who was very much like his grandfather, Harald Haardraade, was as fond of war as his father Olaf had

been of peace. He soon got into a quarrel with the Swedish king, in regard to the boundary-line between their kingdoms, but in 101 a peace was made, in which it was agreed that Magnus should marry the Swedish princess, Margrete, who on that account was known as Fred Kulla, or the "PeaceMaiden." Magnus next turned his arms against the Western Islands and Scotland, and after forcing the natives to pay him tribute, he went to the Isles of Man and Anglesea, both of which he subdued. His last attempt was to conquer Ireland, but having gone too far inland, he was cut off from his ships by a large band of Irish peasants, and he and all his men were slain. It is said that he took his name " Barfod," " Bare-legs," from his habit of wearing a kilt like the men of Cantyre, amongst whom he had spent some time. When the people of Norway first saw their king with naked legs and short skirts they laughed at him, but Magnus was not a man to trouble himself about his subjects' laughter, and he kept to the highland dress to the end of his days.

The Three Kings.—When the news of Magnus' death reached Norway in 1103, the people chose his three sons, Ejsten, Sigurd and Olaf to be their joint kings. Olaf's death while he was still a child, and Sigurd's absence for some years in the Holy Land, left Ejsten for a time sole King of Norway, but when Sigurd came back from the crusades, he ruled jointly with his brother. Ejsten was of a quiet gentle nature, but Sigurd was so restless and wayward, that one might almost suppose him to have been insane. He had gone to the Holy Land with a large fleet, which he used to put down pirates in the Mediterranean, and after making his way to Jerusalem and helping to take Sidon from the Infidels, he paid a visit to the Greek emperor, Alexius, at Constantinople. There he stayed some time,

and in return for the costly presents made to him by the emperor, he gave him as a parting gift all his ships, and returned to Norway by way of Hungary, Germany and Denmark. After this great adventure, he took the name of "Jorsalafar," or "the Jerusalemite," and on his return to his own kingdom, he did all he could to raise the power of the clergy, and induce his people to follow some of the practices of the Christian churches in the South of Europe which had not before been known in Norway. As soon as he became sole King of Norway on the death of his brother Ejsten in 1123, he put down many of the old forms of law, and ordered that doubtful cases should always be decided by means of the ordeal of a red-hot iron. This new practice proved a very unlucky one to Sigurd himself, for it happened that towards the end of his life a man came to Norway from Ireland, who claimed to be a son of the king's father Magnus Barfod, and demanded to have the truth of his words tested by ordeal. The king gave his consent, and this man, who was believed to be an impostor, but who called himself Harald Gille Magnusson, went through the ordeal in the presence of Sigurd and a large number of people, and was at once owned by the king as his brother. On the death of Sigurd, his son Magnus, who was a very vicious prince, tried to drive the new claimant out of the country, but the people of Norway who had by that time learnt to think him more fitted to be their king than Magnus, would not suffer him to be set aside, and in the end they chose both these princes to rule jointly over the kingdom.

Magnus and Harald did not long remain good friends, and the Danes as usual were not slow to take part in the civil war, which very quickly broke out in the kingdom. When Harald was beaten by his rival he took refuge in Denmark, from which he returned with an army; and while he was making war in one part of Norway, the Wends were pillaging other portions of the country.

Norway's age of troubles.-Norway, like the other northern kingdoms, was doomed to pass through a century of civil wars. No other country has perhaps ever been troubled by so many claimants of the throne in so short a time, and from before the middle of the twelfth to the middle of the thirteenth century,