In the third summer (1176), when Magnus had been king for thirteen years, the Birchlegs started on a more serious expedition. They procured ships and sailed along the coast gathering goods and men. After having passed out of Viken they proceeded with great speed northward to Nidaros, and no news preceded them until they reached the Throndhjem Fjord. Erling and his son Magnus, who were in Bergen, did not hear of their having sailed by. The Birchlegs easily overcame the opposition in Nidaros, and Eystein was proclaimed king by the Throndhjem people, who had never liked King Magnus. The Birchlegs afterward proceeded to Orkedal, where, upon reviewing the troops, they found that they had about 2,400 men. They then went to the Uplands, and on to Thoten and Hadeland, and from there to Ringerike, subduing the country wherever they came.
Earl Erling and King Magnus had remained in Bergen while the Birchlegs were in the North. Then they agreed that Erling should remain with a strong force in Bergen, in case the enemy should come down along the coast, while King Magnus, who was now twenty years old, was to go to Viken and take up his residence in Tunsberg, in order to protect that part of the country from possible enemies. King Magnus went to Tunsberg, where he and Orm, “King’s-brother,” had their Christmas festivities. In January, 1177, King Magnus with his army met the Birchlegs at Ree, and won a decisive victory over them. The whole body of the Birchlegs was scattered far and wide. Eystein fled into a peasant’s house, and begged for his life; but the peasant killed him and brought his body to King Magnus at the Ramnes farm. All the Birchlegs took flight, as they had no hope of mercy from Erling Skakke or King Magnus. Some went to Thelemark, where they had their families, and others proceeded east across the frontier to Sweden. King Magnus’s men pursued the fugitives for a time, and killed as many as they could overtake.
King Magnus then returned to Tunsberg, and gained great renown by this victory. It had heretofore been said by all that Erling, his father, was his best shield and support. But after gaining a victory over so strong and numerous a force with fewer men, King Magnus had shown that he could stand alone, and it was predicted that he would become a warrior as much greater than his father, Earl Erling, as he was younger.[12]
The defeated Birchlegs, who fled across the Swedish frontier, met in Vermeland a man who was especially qualified to take the leadership of this headless band. His name was Sverre, and he claimed to be a son of King Sigurd Mund. He was at present staying with his sister Cecilia, who was the mistress of Folkvid lawman.
During the latter part of the reign of Harald Gille’s sons a combmaker in Bergen by the name of Unas married a girl by the name of Gunhild. Unas was probably a Faroe Islander by birth; his brother Roe became bishop of the Faroe Islands in 1157. Gunhild belonged to a distinguished family in western Norway. Shortly after their marriage Gunhild bore a son, who was named Sverre, and everybody supposed that Unas was his father. Sverre remained in Bergen until he was five years old, when he was sent over to the Faroe Islands, to be brought up by Unas’s brother Roe. He was educated for the priesthood and was in time ordained as deacon. When he was twenty-four years old, his mother disclosed to him the fact that Unas, who had died a short time ago, was not his father, but that he was the son of King Sigurd Mund. From that day Sverre became very thoughtful. It appeared to him to be too great a task to make war on King Magnus and Earl Erling; but, on the other hand, it did not seem manful to sit quietly as a poor peasant’s son when he was the son of a king. He therefore gave up his clerical position and embarked for Norway. Here he was informed that his kinsman, Eystein Meyla, had accepted the title of king from the Birchlegs; but he did not consider it wise to enter into any dealings with him. Without making himself known, he spent some time in different parts of Norway, investigating the sentiment of the people. He made the acquaintance of Earl Erling and King Magnus, and often talked with them and their court-men, who found the young clergyman from the Faroe Islands a pleasant and entertaining companion, and by his cunning he learned from them many things which they would not have talked about if they had known who he was, or what plans he was nourishing. The next winter he went to Sweden, first to Earl Birger and then to his sister Cecilia in Vermeland, where he met the remnants of the Birchleg band. The Birchlegs told him of the fall of Eystein Meyla and urged him to become their chief. Sverre for a long time declined, as the whole band consisted of only seventy men, who were all in great poverty, some of them wounded and without clothes, and all almost unarmed. All his objections, however, were of no avail, and they finally compelled him to become their chief.
In the spring of 1177 Sverre set out with his seventy men to fight for the crown of Norway. He first went south toward Viken, and on the way he was joined by so many that, when he came to Saurboe, he had four hundred and twenty men. He held a Thing, and against his protest they proclaimed him king. Sverre soon discovered that a good many of his followers were but thieves and rascals, who were very much dissatisfied when he forbade them to rob and plunder the peasants. He started back toward Vermeland, and when he arrived at Eidskog and mustered his force, he found that it had again shrunk to seventy men. As he heard that the peasants of Thelemark, some of whom had served in the Birchleg bands under Eystein Meyla, were unfriendly to Earl Erling and King Magnus, he sent messages to them and promised to redress their grievances if they would join him. They were requested to meet him up north, where he was now going. Sverre well understood that, with his small force, he could not reach the Throndhjem country through the eastern, well-populated district, so he decided to proceed by unknown and almost impassable roads and make an unexpected invasion into the country. He passed through dense forests and wildernesses, through Dalarne and Jemteland, where he and his men underwent untold hardships. At times they had nothing to eat but sap, bark, and berries, dug up from under the snow. Finally, after many struggles, Sverre reached his destination early in June, 1177. His band had received some additions on his way through Jemteland, and he was now joined by eighty peasants from Thelemark, so that he had a force of about two hundred men. Outside of Nidaros he defeated and dispersed an army that was sent against him, and then marched into the town, where he met practically no opposition. He showed himself as a generous victor, and gave quarter to all who asked for it. After a few successful expeditions in the neighborhood he summoned the Oere-Thing, where he was proclaimed king of Norway (1177).
When King Magnus and Earl Erling heard what had been going on in Throndhjem, they gathered a large fleet and sailed northward along the coast. Sverre’s force was so small that he did not dare to await their arrival, but left Nidaros with his men and proceeded across the mountains toward the southern part of the country. For two years he and his men now led a life of want and suffering, wandering from district to district, living most of the time in the forests and mountains, and subsisting on what they could obtain on their foraging expeditions into the settlements. They were pursued from time to time by King Magnus’s men, and had many small battles with them. It was only by Sverre’s great cunning, wisdom and perseverance that they got through some of the greatest dangers.
At last, in June, 1179, Sverre considered himself strong enough to meet Erling and Magnus, and in a battle at Kalveskindet, near Nidaros, he defeated their forces. Earl Erling fell in the battle, and King Magnus saved himself by flight. In the battle King Magnus suffered a considerable loss. Several of his prominent liegemen and sixty court-men were slain. Sverre captured most of the enemy’s ships, among them the “Olafssuden,” which King Magnus himself had commanded. Erling Skakke was buried outside the Christ Church, and Sverre, who seldom lost an opportunity to make a speech, held a funeral sermon over him.
The battle at Kalveskindet and the fall of Earl Erling brought a great change in the fortunes of Sverre and the Birchlegs. Sverre’s power and influence grew rapidly, and in a short time the greater part of the people outside of King Magnus’s immediate surroundings were willing to acknowledge him as king. Heretofore the name “Birchlegs” had been a contemptuous nickname; but now it became an honorable appellation, which everybody was proud to carry. King Magnus and Sverre seemed to have exchanged roles. Magnus, the anointed and crowned king, was now considered the usurper, while Sverre was considered the rightful king. Magnus’s court-men and men-at-arms were soon looked upon as a band of adventurers, and they were called “Heklungs,” because it was told of them that they had once robbed a beggar-woman, who had her few coins wrapped up in her cloak (hekl).
After the battle at Kalveskindet, King Sverre’s men received pay for their services, and he distributed among them the honors and dignities which he had promised them. He appointed district officers throughout the whole of the Throndhjem country. Many prominent and high-born men of this part of the country soon came to him and offered their allegiance, and he therefore declared that Throndhjem should hereafter be considered his real home, and he called the people there his dearest subjects, remembering what loyalty they had always shown his father and his family.