HARALD IV. was very different in character and manners from his colleague Magnus. He was mild as the latter was severe, and generous as the latter was penurious. He therefore became the favourite of the people. This circumstance probably roused the jealousy of Magnus, who at the head of many followers marched against him, conquered him, and compelled him to forsake the realm. Repairing to the court of Eric Emund, king of Denmark, he was well received by that monarch, “because they were brothers in arms.” With the supply of money and men furnished him by his generous host, he returned to Denmark, and surprised rather than defeated Magnus, whom he consigned to a monastery and deprived of eye-sight. He was now therefore monarch of Norway. But his reign was of short duration. The town of Konghella which Sigurd had fortified, and adorned with so magnificent a church, was taken by the Slavonic pirates: it was completely sacked, and the inhabitants led into captivity. For this disaster, Harald was censured: he was accused of inactivity in repelling the invaders; and was even forsaken by the great body of his supporters. In this condition he was assassinated. A melancholy illustration of the spirit of the times is afforded by the fact that the assassin, Sigurd, also claimed Magnus Barefoot for his father. From this deed of blood he derived no advantage. The nation would not admit _his_ claim, but proclaimed two sons of the murdered king, SIGURD II. (1136–1155) and INGE I. (1136–1161). Both, however, were children; and their inability to defend themselves led to civil war. Sigurd, their reputed uncle, the assassin of their father, raised troops and laid waste the country. To strengthen his party he formed an alliance with Magnus the Blind, whom he drew from the monastery; but he was defeated and compelled to flee. Both soon obtained the aid of the Danish king Eric; but fortune was still unfavourable: in battle, Magnus lost his life; and the restless Sigurd too was made prisoner, and subsequently executed. Though two enemies were thus removed, the royal brothers, Sigurd and Inge, were often at discord; and a third firebrand was soon added in EYSTEIN II. (1142–1157), a younger brother, who, returning from Scotland in 1142, was invested with a third portion of the realm. There was not, nor could there be, any tranquillity in the country. Complaints, recriminations, quarrels, treachery, bloodshed, succeeded each other, when the arrival of a papal legate, the cardinal Albano, suspended for a time the sanguinary proceedings of these princes. [Sidenote: 1152.]