In the spring King Magnus appeared outside of Nidaros with a force much more numerous than the one Sverre had been able to muster, and a bloody battle was fought on the plains of the Ilevolds. The battle resulted in a complete victory for Sverre. King Magnus and some of his chiefs saved themselves by flight and sailed south with a few ships. King Magnus went first to Bergen, but soon after proceeded south to his kinsman, King Valdemar of Denmark, by whom he was well received. But Orm King's-Brother went to Viken, and Archbishop Eystein sailed over to England, where he remained for three years. From here he had Sverre declared under the ban of the church; but Sverre does not seem to have paid any attention to this step. About a month after the battle at the Ilevolds, King Sverre appeared with his fleet outside of Bergen. Resistance was useless, and the inhabitants gave him a good reception. He remained in Bergen all winter (1180-81), and early in the spring quelled an uprising of peasants under the leadership of Jon Kutiza. Sverre promptly punished the rebels, and the peasants had to pay heavy fines. Later in the spring King Magnus and Orm King's-Brother came north with a strong fleet, and a battle was fought at Nordnes, near Bergen. A good many men fell on both sides; but Magnus was again defeated and compelled to save himself by flight. The Birchlegs captured eighteen of Magnus's ships and brought them into the town. They also took other rich booty, for Magnus was at that time well supplied with money and goods. Magnus went to Stavanger, and it was but a short time before he was again ready to attack Sverre at Bergen. This time, however, Sverre wished to avoid a battle, and sailed with his ships north to Nidaros, where he proceeded to improve the fortifications of the town. Meanwhile Magnus remained in Bergen. During Sverre's stay in Nidaros there came to him a young man named Erik, who claimed to be a son of King Sigurd Mund. He had been in many foreign lands, had been in the service of the emperor at Constantinople, and on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where he had bathed in the river Jordan. He now asked leave to prove his royal descent by the iron ordeal. After a consultation with his friends and chiefs, Sverre permitted him to undergo the ordeal upon the condition that he must not aspire to the crown. Sverre prescribed the oath to be taken by the young man in submitting to the ordeal to prove that he was the son of Sigurd Mund "and the brother of Sverre." In this way Sverre meant to obtain incidentally a confirmation of his own title. But Erik refused to undertake to establish the descent of anybody but himself, and omitted the additional words. He successfully underwent the ordeal, and King Sverre acknowledged him as his brother, and gave him a command in his royal guard.