The demise of Magnus immediately followed his successful expedition in Denmark to avenge the rebellion of Sweyn. The son of a saint could scarcely leave the world without some manifestation of divine favour. In a dream his father Olaf appeared to him, and ordered him to make his choice between two proposals—either to die, and join the deceased king in heaven, or to live the most powerful of monarchs, yet commit some crime for which he could hardly expect the divine forgiveness. He instantly chose the former alternative; and was immediately afflicted with a disease the result of which, to the great sorrow of his people, was fatal. He was a great and good prince; as much superior to his father in intellect and moral worth as one man can be to another. To his moderation in regard to Harald his colleague and Sweyn of Denmark we have done justice; but if Snorro is to be credited, he showed no less towards our Edward the Confessor. That he was not without ambition is evident; and as the heir of the Danish throne, by his compact with Harda-Canute, king of England and Denmark, he claimed, after that monarch’s death, all the states of the great Canute. Edward returned a spirited reply, the justice of which he acknowledged by his inactivity. [Sidenote: 1047 to 1064.] By the death of Magnus the Good, HARALD HARDRADE was the undisputed king of Norway. He aspired also to the throne of Denmark, from which he endeavoured to unseat his former ally Sweyn. His desultory operations and his decisive victory over the Dane, in 1062, we have before related. Two years afterwards peace was made, no permanent advantage having been gained by either. [Sidenote: 1066.] On the death of Edward the Confessor, and the accession of Harald the son of earl Godwin, the Norwegian monarch led an armament against that usurper. The ambition which could prompt him to such an undertaking was not very measured; but it was characteristic of this king, whose early familiarity with danger, and whose wild adventures in the East and North, had rendered him confident of success. If the English were not favourable to earl Godwin’s son, they could scarcely be so to _him_; and the hope of conquest, when so valiant a competitor as William of Normandy was entering the field, would have appeared futile to any less desperate man. The result is known to every reader of English history: at Stamford-Bridge Harald found a grave. [Sidenote: 1066 to 1069.] From the fatal shores of England OLAF III., the son of Harald, returned to Norway, and with his brother MAGNUS II. was elected to the government. The former had the eastern, the latter the northern, provinces of the kingdom. In three years Magnus paid the common debt, and Olaf became monarch of the whole. [Sidenote: 1069 to 1093.]