After King Olaf's death at Svolder, the allied princes divided his kingdom between them. To Earl Erik were given all the shires along the western coast from Finmark to Lindesness,[A] with the exception of seven, which were allotted to King Olaf the Swede. All the shires from Lindesness, including Agder, to the Swedish boundary, with the exception of Ranrike, came into the possession of Sweyn Forkbeard. Ranrike (which is now a part of Sweden) was given to the Swedish king, who again gave it, as well as his other possessions in Norway, in fief to his brother-in-law, Earl Sweyn, the brother of Earl Erik, on condition of his paying one half of the royal revenues to his feudal overlord, and placing a specified number of troops at his disposal in case of war. On similar conditions Earl Erik received the eastern shires, Raumarike and Vingulmark, in fief from Sweyn Forkbeard. [Footnote A: Lindesness is the southernmost point in Norway.] Though a man of ability and many noble qualities, Earl Erik never succeeded in asserting his sway over Norway as his father, Earl Haakon, had done; and Earl Sweyn could boast even less authority than his brother. In the Oplands semi-independent kings of the race of Harold the Fairhaired were still living; and in Rogaland Olaf Tryggvesson's brother-in-law, Erling Skjalgsson of Sole, refused to recognize the supremacy of either the earls or the kings whom they represented. He surrounded himself with a court which, in magnificence, equalled that of the earls, if it did not surpass it. Ninety warriors constituted his daily household, and when occasion demanded he kept 240 or more. Of thralls he kept thirty for his daily attendance, besides a large number who cultivated his lands. He was a good master, stimulating them to thrift and economy. He demanded of each a certain fixed amount of labor, and gave him a piece of land for cultivation. When the required task was over the thrall's time was his own, and he was at liberty to apply it for his own advantage. The products of his land he sold to his master at the market rates, and was thus enabled to buy his freedom within one, two, or three years. Over his freedmen Erling continued to exercise a supervising care, employing them at wages or on shares in the fisheries, in the reclaiming of land from the forests, or in other branches of industry. Clinging, as he did, tenaciously to the authority which Olaf Tryggvesson had conferred upon him, Erling could not avoid coming into collision with the authority of the earls. He exacted a land-tax from the peasants of Rogaland, and, as Earl Erik did the same, the poor landowners had to pay a double tax, unless they were prepared to offer resistance. [Illustration: SHUTTLES OF IRON AND OF WHALEBONE; AND WEIGHTS FOR THE LOOM.]