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. King Magnus spent the year following his defeat mostly in Bergen, where he had many strong friends, among them Archbishop Eystein and Orm King's-Brother (a half-brother of Harald Gille's sons). Afterward he went to Viken, where he spent the winter and gathered an army for a new expedition against his rival. After a short stay at Nidaros, King Sverre made a levy throughout Throndhjem, and proceeded with a fleet south to Bergen; but when he arrived there Magnus had already gone to Viken. He therefore returned to Nidaros, but on his way north he installed officers in all the districts he passed. The winter of 1179-80 he spent in Nidaros.