Hoping to avoid further domestic disturbances, Harald called together a _Thing_ at the Eidsiva Thing-place (the present Eidsvold), and summoned to it all the people of the Uplands. Here he gave to all his sons the title of king, and proclaimed a law that his descendants in the male line should each succeed to the title and dignity of king; but his descendants by the female side were to become only earls. He divided the country among his sons, but his dearest son, Erik, who was his son by the Danish Princess Ragnhild, and thus of royal birth on both sides, was to be acknowledged as their overlord. This the other brothers did not like, and the result was bloody conflicts. Erik first killed Ragnvald Rettilbeine, the ruler in Hadeland, because he was said to be a sorcerer. Next he attacked his brother Biorn, who generally lived at the trading-place Tunsberg, and who was called Biorn Farmand, or Biorn the Merchant, because he cared little for war, but more for trading expeditions. As he refused to pay tribute to Erik, the latter attacked and killed him, and plundered his house. King Biorn lies buried in the Seaman's Mound (Farmandshaugen) at Sæheim (in the present Sem's parish) in Jarlsberg. Halfdan the Black, who ruled in Throndhjem, resolved to avenge his brother Biorn's death, and collected a great force of men and ships. Erik sought the aid of his father Harald, who also equipped a fleet and took up a position at Rein-plain on the north side of the Throndhjem Fjord; but now friends of both interceded in order to bring about a reconciliation. In Halfdan's army there was a clever man called Guthorm Sindre, who had formerly been in the service of Harald, and was a great friend of both. He was a great skald (poet), and had once composed songs about the father and the son, for which they had then offered him a reward. He would take nothing at the time, but was given the promise that, some day or other, they should grant him any request he should make. He now went before King Harald with words of peace, and made the request that the kings should become reconciled. And the Saga adds: "So highly did the king esteem him that, in consequence of his request, they were reconciled." When Harald the Fairhaired was eighty years old, he became very weak and unable to bear the burden of the government. Then he brought his son Erik to his royal high-seat and gave him the power and the command over the whole land (930). Three years later King Harald died of old age. He was buried under a mound at Hauge, near Haugesund in Ryfylke. The gravestone is still to be seen. At the grave a large monument in memory of Harald was erected in 1872, one thousand years after the battle of Hafrsfjord. CHAPTER VI _Birth of Haakon the Good--Erik Blood-Axe (930-935)_