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first crushed the rebellious faction raised by the clergy, and slew
the last of the claimants they supported, namely, Duke Skule (1240).
Once more a flourishing period intervened, which lasted for
about 80 years, during the reigns of Haakon Haakonssøn, his son
Magnus Lagabøter («the Law-mender»), and the latter’s sons Erik
and Haakon. 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 («lagmænd»)
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. Haakon V Magnussøn (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 V, 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 Lagabøter, before his death, hud
granted to the German Hanse towns extensive trade privileges,
which were subsequently increased to such a degree, that it soon
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