At this time Margaret, who had succeeded to her son Olaf, was sovereign of Denmark and Norway. To her the malcontents applied for aid, which she would not afford them, unless they acknowledged her for their queen. The condition was accepted: an army of Danes marched into Sweden, and was immediately joined by many of the nobles and clergy. The lower classes of the population—those who contributed little to the support of the state—were indifferent to the result, or if they had any bias, it was in favour of Albert—not from any attachment to him, but from dislike of the nobles. At Falkoping, in West Gothland, however, a good stand was made by his army, consisting not merely of Swedes but of Germans, and many adventurers whom the offer of large pay and the hope of plunder had drawn to his standard. But after a desperate conflict, he was defeated, and captured, together with his son. Both were committed to a fortress, where, notwithstanding the efforts of their German allies, and those of their own party, they remained above six years; nor did they obtain their enlargement without a solemn renunciation of the Swedish crown. With MARGARET, sovereign of three kingdoms, begins a new era in Northern history. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ APPENDIX. (See page 184.) ------------------ (_From Alban Butler’s Lives of the Saints._) ST. CANUTUS, KING OF DENMARK, M.[180] From his life, faithfully written by Ælnoth, a monk of Canterbury, who had lived twenty-four years in Denmark, and wrote in 1105. It was printed at Copenhagen, in 1602. See also Saxo Grammaticus, the most elegant and judicious of the Danish historians. A. D. 1086.