Magnus was not only a great legislator, but saw to it that his laws were not broken. Personally he loved splendor and dignity, another trait through which he won the favor of the Swedes, who in all times have been fond of seeing their highest representatives surround themselves with impressive luxury and wealth. Magnus was in this respect the first mediæval monarch of Sweden, who kept a brilliant court, but at the same time was the pious and obedient son of the Church. He augmented the ecclesiastical privileges and founded several convents. In one of these, St. Clara of Stockholm, he installed his daughter Rikissa. Upon his death, which deplorable event took place in the island of Visingsœ, December 18, 1290, he was buried in the Franciscan convent church (the Riddarholm’s) in Stockholm, according to his own wish. He was the first monarch to be entombed in this the present Pantheon of Sweden. Three sons survived him, Birger, Eric and Valdemar.
During the reign of Magnus, the development of mediæval institutions took rapid strides. This is noticeable also in the offices of those who surround the king. In the place of the jarl have been set two new dignitaries the drotsete and marsk, of the king, “the seater of the retinue” and “marechal” or “servant of the horse,” respectively. Circumstances heightened the importance of these offices and changed them from court into state positions, the president of the state council and the commander of the army. The kansler (chancellor), often a bishop, is another important royal office. The king’s council, consisting of bishops, knights and men of social standing, surrounds the monarch at his command and according to his selection, the archbishop being the only ex-officio member. Important affairs of State and Church are decided on at the meetings of nobles, herredagar, no one taking part who is not asked, or not agreeable to the king. These meetings later developed into riksdagar, at which all classes of the people were represented. Taxes were collected for the king by bailiffs, who in compensation received fiefs, sometimes consisting only of certain estates, in other instances as much as a whole province or district. The right of taxation belonged to the people. Only in extraordinary cases the king was allowed to impose additional taxes, although such were sometimes imposed wrongfully, in spite of a law stipulated by King Magnus Barn-Lock.
Birger succeeded his father Magnus. He was only ten years of age, but his father had placed by his side a man who was to reign during his minority. Marsk Tyrgils Knutsson was the second of the great uncrowned rulers of whom Sweden was destined to receive a number almost as large as that of illustrious monarchs. Tyrgils Knutsson followed out the policy of peace and progress which Birger Jarl had commenced and King Magnus continued, making in all the happiest era of the Middle Ages. To Birger Jarl’s conquest of Tavastland in Finland, Tyrgils added that of Carelia. Two expeditions were sent to Carelia, in 1293 and 1299, whose savage inhabitants were converted and made Swedish subjects. Viborg was built and formed a stronghold for further operations, while Landskrona, another fortified place, erected by Tyrgils, not far from the site of the present St. Petersburg, was soon lost to the Russians. Through the conquest of Carelia, better times commenced for the Church of Finland, whose bishopric, in 1300, was moved to Abo.
The legislative work of his great predecessors was continued by Tyrgils, who made possible the union of the various “lands” of Upland into one judicial district. The first justice was Birger Persson, who was at the head of the work of preparing a common law for the whole province (in 1296). Neutrality was preserved during the conflicts between Norway and Denmark. King Eric Menved of Denmark was, in 1296, married to King Birger’s sister, the pious Princess Ingeborg. In 1298 Birger was married to Eric’s sister Margaret in Stockholm, over the lavish splendor of which event the poet of the Chronicle goes into ecstasies of delight and felicitous description. Both these unions were prearranged by King Magnus, and the princess Margaret had been educated in Sweden for the purpose of becoming its queen.
The king was now of age, but Marsk Tyrgils continued for several years at the helm. His relations to the Church show what a wise and vigorous statesman he was. When in the name of the king the privileges to the Church were once more granted, as by his predecessor, Tyrgils made the important exceptions that the Church should fulfil for its possessions the same military duty as all others in the country, and that certain large fines should be reserved for the king. The ecclesiastics took quietly to these restrictions at first, but soon an open conflict ensued. Another and greater one arose between the king and his brothers, Eric, duke of Sweden, and Valdemar, duke of Finland. It resembles very much the conflict between their uncle Valdemar and his brothers. In both cases there was a weak and deceitful king who was inferior, if not in wretchedness, at least in courage, to one of the brothers. After the first conflict was ended, the dukes selected Marsk Tyrgils for their prey. In March, 1305, Tyrgils saw the king grant to the Church the important privileges held back until then. In December of the same year the king and his brothers came upon Tyrgils unprepared. He was imprisoned, and in a shameful manner dragged to Stockholm, travelling night and day through the cold of winter, probably by some fraudulent legal process found guilty of treason, and beheaded, February 10, 1236. As a climax to this foul political murder, Tyrgils Knutsson was buried on the place of execution. Later, his body was removed to the church of Riddarholm and placed at the side of King Magnus, whose son he had served so faithfully.
The conflict between the royal brothers burst into flame again, revealing some of the darkest and most shocking scenes of deceit, treachery and villany found in Swedish history. The strife commenced in April, 1304, for the first time, and continued, with few and short intermissions, until the autumn of 1318, with broken oaths and pledges, which were renewed and broken again, alliances and royal betrothals formed, ended and renewed, kingdoms and duchies divided and redivided, endless intrigues, rebellion and mutual invasions. The kings of Norway and Denmark, with their armies, and several German princes and hired troops, became actors in this bloody tragedy, which ended in the annihilation of the principals. The most dramatic incidents are known as “the Play at Hotuna” and “the Feast of Nykœping,” both taking place during the short intervals of peace. The former was enacted September 29, 1306, when the king invited his brothers to him at Hotuna in Upland. They accepted the invitation, only to carry the king and queen away as captives, forcing the former to give over to them his kingdom and his power, only leaving him the royal title. “The Feast at Nykœping” was held the night between December 10 and 11, 1317. The king and queen invited the dukes to the castle, seized them in the night and threw them into a dungeon, where they both perished after six months of hunger and neglect. Birger did not derive any benefit from his fearful crime. The whole country rose against him and he died, after several years of exile, in 1321. Birger has generally been held forth as the responsible party in the crimes and evils of the conflict, but his brothers seem to have been guilty in about the same degree. Duke Eric was one of the most brilliantly gifted princes of his age, and jealousy on the part of the king was the spark that kindled the fire. But the bad example set by their father of depriving an older brother of his throne, and the great possessions and independence of the dukes, were the underlying causes. The destruction of both the contending parties was an unexpected solution and a great gain for Sweden, whose fate appeared sinister, with the prospect of dismemberment or dissolution, the dukes holding their vast possessions as heirlooms.
During the conflict Norway had sided with the dukes, Denmark with the king. Duke Eric was married to Ingeborg, only child of King Hakon of Norway, and Duke Valdemar to his niece of the same name. Mattias Kettilmundsson was, in June, 1318, elected drotsete and regent. He led an army against Denmark in the interests of the duchesses, invading Scania and defeating the Danes near Hessleholm. November 11th of the same year peace was made in Rœskilde between the kings, Eric and Birger, on one side, and King Hakon and the heirs of the dukes, on the other. May 8, 1319, King Hakon died, and Magnus Ericsson, the young son of Duke Eric, inherited the crown of Norway, and July 8th of the same year he was elected king of Sweden at Mora in Upland.
For the attainment of this end Magnus’s mother, Duchess Ingeborg, and seven Swedish councillors had worked with great activity. They had taken part in shaping the first Act of Union of the North in June, 1319, and from Oslo, in Norway, hastened to have Magnus elected at the Stone of Mora, where the Swedish kings since time immemorial were nominated. The Act of Union stipulated that the two kingdoms were to remain perfectly independent, the king to sojourn an equally long part of the year in each, with no official of either country to accompany him further than to the frontier. In their foreign relations the countries were to be independent, but to support each other in case of war. The king was the only tie to bind them together.
There was another Magnus whose candidacy was spoiled by this union. He was the son of King Birger, already, as a child, chosen king of Sweden in succession to his father. Magnus Birgersson, a prisoner at Stockholm, was beheaded in 1320, to make safe the reign of his more fortunate cousin. King Magnus was only three years old, and Drotsete Mattias Kettilmundsson presided over the government during his minority, the nobles of the state council having great power and influence. Both in Sweden and Norway the nobility had by this time attained a supremacy which was oppressive both to the king and the people, not so much through their privileges as through the liberties they took. Their continual feuds between themselves disturbed the peace of the country.