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the hostilities between Norway and Denmark broke out anew.
Harald was succeeded by Olaf Haraldsson, who in 1068 entered
into a new treaty with Svend of Denmark at Kongshelle, whereby
the independence of Norway was finally established.
Olaf, who was surnamed Hinn Kyrri, or ‘the peaceful’, now
devoted his attention to the internal organisation of his kingdom,
and several of the Norwegian towns began to attain importance.
Skfringssalr (near Laurvik) and the neighbouring Tensberg already
existed; Nidaros (afterwards Throndhjem) is said to have been
founded by Olaf Tryggvason, Sarpsborg by St. Olaf, and Oslo by
Harald Hardraade; but the foundation of Bergen and several other
towns, probably including Stavanger, is attributed to Olaf Kyrri.
His court was famed for its magnificence and the number of its
dignitaries, and at the same time he zealously promoted the
interests of the church. While Olafs predecessors had employed
missionaries, chiefly English, for the conversion of their subjects,
he proceeded to establish three native bishoprics and to erect
cathedrals at Nidaros, Bergen, and Oslo, making the dioceses as
far as possible coextensive with the three provinces in w’hich
national diets (Thing) were held. His warlike son Magnus Barfod
(1093-1103), so surnamed from the dress of the Scotch
Highlanders which he had adopted, did not reign long enough seriously
to interrupt the peaceful progress of his country, and the three
sons of Magnus, Øystein (d. 1122), Sigurd (d. 1130), and Olaf
(d. 1115), thereafter proceeded to carry out the plans of their
grandfather. Sigurd was surnamed Jorsalafarer (‘Jerusalem farer’)
from his participation in one of the Crusades (1107-11). The
same devotion to the church also led about this period to the
foundation of the bishopric of Stavanger, and of several
monasteries (those of Sælø in the Nordfjord, Nidarholm near
Throndhjem, Munkelif at Bergen, and Gimse near Skien), and to the
introduction of the compulsory payment of tithes (Tiende, ‘tenths’,
known in Scotland as ‘teinds’), a measure which secured
independence to the church. King Øystein is said to have been versed
inlaw, and both he and several of his predecessors have been
extolled as lawgivers, but no distinct trace of legislation in
Norway of a period earlier than the beginning of the 12th cent, has
been handed down to us.
After Sigurd’s death the succession to the throne was disputed
by several claimants , as, in accordance with the custom of the
country, all relations in equal propinquity to the deceased,
whether legitimate or not, enjoyed equal rights. The confusion
was farther aggravated by the introduction (in 1129) of the custom
of compelling claimants whose legitimacy was challenged to
undergo the ‘iron ordeal’, the practical result of which was to pave
the way for the pretensions of adventurers of all kinds. Conflicts
thus arose between Harald Gilli, a natural son of Magnus Barefoot,
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