The Baglers who escaped from the battle of Strindsö proceeded to Denmark. Sverre, with his fleet, pursued them a part of the way, but gave up the chase and proceeded to Oslo, where he intended to go into winter-quarters. In January, 1200, the Baglers came up from Denmark with a number of small ships under the leadership of Reidar the Messenger and Inge Bagler-King. Some of them landed near Oslo and killed Sverre's kinsman, Earl Philip. Not feeling strong enough, however, to attack King Sverre's forces they withdrew during the night and sailed to Bergen. Afterward they made a sudden but unsuccessful attack on Nidaros, which was defended by an army of 1,800 peasants. During the winter King Sverre attempted to make a levy of troops in Viken, intending to send home some of his Throndhjem people; but the inhabitants, who had never been greatly attached to King Sverre, murmured at this, and the result was a great uprising of the peasants in Viken and the Uplands. On the day secretly appointed, March 1st, Sverre's prefects at Tunsberg and several other places were killed, and a few days later a force many times as large as Sverre's marched against him from three different directions. On this occasion Sverre displayed a masterly leadership, and his men fought like heroes. During the day there were eight desperate encounters, and, in spite of the seemingly overwhelming force of the rebels, Sverre won the day. He afterward punished the peasants by exacting large fines in money and provisions. Sverre had a few indecisive battles with the Baglers the same year, and spent the following winter in Bergen. In the spring of 1201 he called a new levy from the north, and, during the summer, sailed to Viken. Reidar the Messenger, with several chiefs and two hundred and forty men, had fortified himself on the _Slotsberg_ (Castle Mountain) at Tunsberg, and defied any attack. King Sverre organized a regular siege, determined not to abandon it until he had conquered this dangerous enemy. Finally, when the Baglers were nearly starved to death, Reidar and his little band surrendered to Sverre, who not only spared their lives, but gave them the best of treatment. He advised them not to eat much in the beginning; but several of them disregarded this advice and died. This remarkable siege had lasted for twenty weeks, or from the first week in September, 1201, to the fourth week in January, 1202.