Olaf Tryggvason had been a devout Christian. His sister Ingeborg was married to Jarl Ragnvald of West Gothland, who was baptized and invited Christian missionaries to Sweden. Through such influences King Olof Skœtkonung was at last converted and baptized by Sigfrid, a German missionary, at Husaby in West Gothland, in the year 1008. Sigfrid, who has been supposed to be of English parentage and a bishop of York, evidently came from Germany. He preached for a long period in West Gothland and Værend, in the latter district once being attacked by heathen men, who killed three of his companions. King Olof himself saw to it that the murderers were punished, and Sigfrid continued his noble work without molestation. He was later worshipped as a saint. Among other missionaries who were active in converting the various provinces may be mentioned the Anglo-Saxon St. David, the apostle of Westmanland, the Anglo-Saxon St. Eskil and the Swede St. Botvid, the apostles of Sœdermanland, and the German Stenfi, or Simon, the apostle of Norrland. St. David was a contemporary of St. Sigfrid, while the others were a few generations younger. It was first through influence from England and Denmark, during the reign of Canute the Great, that Swedish conversions became more widespread and general. King Olof’s conversion met with a great deal of opposition, especially in Svealand, which longest remained heathen. Upsala, with its temple, was the heathen stronghold of the North, and there the king had always, as one of his principal duties, to preside over the great sacrifices. King Olof was forced to accept the decision of a Thing which granted him freedom to select some part of the kingdom wherein to build churches and perform the duties of the new cult, but which forbade him to use his influence toward the conversion of his subjects. For this reason Olof dwelt principally in the more and more christianized West Gothland, in the capital of which province, Skara, a bishop was installed. The name of the first bishop was Turgot. Only after more than two centuries of endeavor was the Christian Church firmly established in Sweden, in the middle of the eleventh century; but even at that time the great mass of the people were heathen in name. The heathen party was so strong that it could for a long time, and occasionally with success, keep up the battle against Christianity. It took yet another century before the complete victory of Christianity was an assured fact.