_Sverker_, who had married the widow of the younger Inge, was in 1133 chosen king by the East Goths, and the Up-Swedes (in the provinces north of Lake Mælar), having no special choice of their own, also agreed on him. After the death of Magnus Nilsson, the West Goths joined by formally acknowledging King Sverker, who, born in East Gothland, has been supposed to be the son of Eric Arsæll, without solid reasons. During Sverker’s reign ecclesiastical matters developed. The old bishoprics of Birka and Sigtuna were changed into that of (Old) Upsala, where the pagan temple seems to have been at last changed into a church. New bishoprics were created in Linkœping, Strengnæs, Westeros and Vexio. The whole of Swedish Finland formed one diocese. The famous Bernard of Clairvaux was asked by King Sverker and his queen Ulfhild to send monks of his order, and several Cistercian convents were founded. The quiet and scholarly monks from France, no doubt, soon began to exert a beneficial influence of importance, through the means of their superior culture. A papal legate, Nicolaus of Alba (later Pope Hadrian IV.), visited Sweden in 1152, meeting all the dignitaries of Church and State for a conference at Linkœping. The legate was willing to give to Sweden an archbishop, but the matter was postponed, since no agreement could be reached in regard to the archbishopric’s seat. Measures for the establishment of the Church on a firmer basis and the payment of Peter’s pence to Rome were agreed on. Sverker was a good and peaceful monarch, but seems with old age to have lost some of his authority. A war with Denmark was brought on through an escapade of his son John, who had carried away two Danish women of noble birth. He returned them, and was himself killed by the peasants at a Thing. Yet the Danish king, Svend Grade, had the excuse for an invasion and entered Smaland with an army in the winter of 1153-54. The brave inhabitants of Værend gave him a hearty welcome, and he soon returned to Denmark. It is an old tradition that a woman by the name of Blenda was chiefly instrumental in this result. When the peasants feared to attack the superior enemy, she had a splendid meal spread for the foe. After the Danes had partaken heavily of its eatables and drinkables, they were surprised and routed by their hitherto invisible hosts and hostesses. King Sverker, now called “the Old,” was murdered by his valet while starting for the Christmas matins in 1155 or 1156. The murder was, without doubt, committed at the instigation of the Danish prince Magnus Henricsson, who on his mother’s side was a great-grandson of Inge the Elder, and who in this manner made his first attempt to reach the throne of Sweden.