By the death of Queen Ingeborg (1287), Earl Alf Erlingson lost his special protector, and when he had committed extraordinary outrages in Viken and murdered the commander of Oslo Castle, Baron Hallkell Agmundson, he was sentenced as an outlaw and compelled to flee to Sweden, where, for some time, he took refuge in a cloister. Later he attempted piracy on his own account in Danish waters, but was captured, and, by the command of Queen Agnes, executed on the rack (1290). King Erik made several successful cruises to Denmark, and that country might have fared badly if his attention had not been drawn in other directions. At an early age he had been married to Margaret of Scotland, a daughter of his grandfather's enemy, King Alexander III. This young queen died a year after the marriage, after having given birth to a daughter, who was christened Margaret. When Alexander III. died in 1286, without leaving any sons, the Scotch leaders acknowledged King Erik's young daughter, Margaret, as the rightful heir to the throne. In 1290 she was proclaimed queen of Scotland, and the young princess--the "Maid from Norway," as she was called--accompanied by the bishops of Bergen and other prominent persons, sailed for Scotland. She was taken sick on the voyage, however, and died at the Orkneys. King Erik afterward claimed the crown of Scotland as the heir of his daughter, but was compelled to abandon the claim upon the armed intervention of King Edward I. of England. King Erik died July 13, 1299, at the age of thirty-one years. CHAPTER XXXIV _Haakon V. Magnusson (1299-1319)_ At the death of King Erik the throne of Norway was inherited by his brother Haakon, who had, during his brother's reign, under the title of duke, ruled his part of the country with royal authority. Shortly after his succession to the throne, the knight, Audun Hugleikson Hestakorn of Hegranes, who during the reign of King Erik had been highly esteemed and had conducted negotiations with foreign powers, was imprisoned in Bergen and tried for high treason, and, after three years of imprisonment, was executed. The real nature of this man's crime is not known. By some it was thought that he had insulted the king's bride; but the actual crime was probably some frauds in connection with the negotiation of a treaty with France. Apparently without any reason, rumor has connected his case with another affair, which transpired about the same time. In 1300 a woman arrived from Lubeck and created a great deal of excitement by claiming to be the Princess Margaret--"The Maid from Norway"--who had died at the Orkneys when on her journey to Scotland to assume the Scotch throne. She was proven to be an impostor, and was condemned and burned at the stake in 1301, and her husband, who accompanied her, was beheaded.