League interfered in the struggle, because Haakon had attempted to expel the Germans from the country. The German merchants had obtained great power in the country and shamefully abused it; they refused to receive the king's coin, monopolized all trade, and defied the laws. Haakon finally made peace with them, but only after granting them some new privileges. After that he collected a great army and invaded Sweden; even marching against Stockholm. An agreement was reached in 1371 with King Albrecht, by which Haakon was to pay 12,000 marks and surrender the Swedish fortresses for the liberation of his father. The latter had to give up all claim to the Swedish throne, but was to have for his support Skara Stift, West Gautland and Vermeland. Haakon afterward inherited these provinces. Magnus was drowned three years later in the Hardanger Fjord at the age of fifty-eight years. His son survived him only six years. He died at Oslo in June, 1380, about forty-two years old, after having had the pleasure to see his only son Olaf chosen king of Denmark. Great calamities befell the country during the reigns of Magnus and Haakon. On April 4, 1328, the great cathedral in Throndhjem, the Christ Church, was destroyed by fire. In 1344 the Gaula River suddenly changed its course, owing to a mountain slide, flooded the Gaula Valley, and caused great destruction. Forty-eight farms and some churches were destroyed, and two hundred and fifty people and a great number of cattle were drowned. Iceland suffered from earthquakes, and in 1341 the sixth eruption of the volcano Hekla spread alarm and desolation. In 1323 and 1346 the winters were so severe that a great number of people froze to death. But the greatest calamity occurred in 1349, when the Black Death, a terrible pestilence, after having ravaged Southern Europe, was brought to Bergen by a merchant vessel from England. Before the cargo of the vessel had been discharged, the whole crew died, and immediately the pestilence spread with great rapidity over the whole country. In a single day ninety persons were buried from a church in Bergen, including fourteen priests and six deacons. In Throndhjem, Archbishop Arne and the whole chapter, with the exception of a single canon, died. Only one bishop in Norway, Salemon in Oslo, survived the plague. In many districts the entire population was swept away. The cattle died from hunger. For want of horses and laborers the farmers were unable to cultivate their farms, and famine and distress resulted. Many districts which had been fertile and populous were laid waste, and were in time covered by a new growth of forests. Industries, trade and commerce stagnated, and Norway sank into a state of debility from which it took her centuries to recover. CHAPTER XXXVI _Olaf Haakonson the Young (1381-1387)_