King Inge was greatly changed after the experiences of that awful night. The light-hearted and social young man became gloomy and melancholy. He never felt really at ease except on board his ship and in the solitude of his room. He was averse to seeing new faces, and only his nearest and dearest men were admitted to his presence. King Inge soon returned to Nidaros with a force of Birchlegs, while the Baglers withdrew to Bergen with their large booty. Here they were soon afterward overtaken by Earl Haakon and the Birchlegs, who defeated them and took back the greater part of the spoil. Thus the two parties, from time to time, continued to surprise and attack each other with no other result than that the country suffered. Early in the year 1207 the Bagler king, Erling Steinvegg, died, and Bishop Nicholas at last succeeded in having his nephew, Philip, chosen as the third king of the Baglers. In the summer of 1208 negotiations for peace were commenced. The manner in which the war had lately been conducted indicates that the strength of both parties was practically exhausted. The whole warfare was only a sort of hide-and-seek play, or a continual cruising back and forth between Bergen and Viken, in which they do not even seem to have tried to meet in decisive battle, but only to forestall each other, attack singly some one of the hostile party, and otherwise do as much damage as possible by plunder and depredation. Everybody began to realize that the resources of the country were thus being wasted, and that, whichever party finally won, there would only be an impoverished land and people to rule over. Bishop Nicholas saw this as well as any one, and consulted the archbishop in Nidaros. The result was a meeting of the chiefs of both parties at Hvitings Island (Hvitingsö), near Stavanger, where the king of the Baglers, Philip, swore allegiance to King Inge, and was, in return, made earl of Viken and the Uplands, and was given Christina, the daughter of Sverre, in marriage. The war between the Baglers and the Birchlegs was thus ended, and comparative peace was restored. One of the disturbing elements that remained was the jealousy of Earl Haakon Galen and his ambitious wife. As the nephew of King Sverre, he thought he had been as much entitled to the throne as his half-brother, Inge. An open revolt was avoided; but, probably by the intervention of Archbishop Thore, a compact was made between the earl and the king (1212), by which it was decided that illegitimate children were to be excluded from the succession to the throne. This agreement was especially aimed against the young Haakon Haakonson and Inge's own illegitimate child, Guthorm, and gave the succession to Haakon Galen's own offspring. This agreement, however, was not approved by the old warriors among the Birchlegs, who were greatly attached to King Sverre's direct descendant, the young Haakon.