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 Tröndelag 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 passed, 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.
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 Hvitingsöe 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 (Ragamuffins), 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.