After having with the same firm hand put down paganism in Hedemarken and Raumarike, Olaf called a great _thing_ at Eidsvold, where the Eidsivia law was proclaimed and adopted for all the Oplands. It was his intention to revise the laws of all the judicial districts in the same spirit, and he naturally turned his attention to the western coast-shires, which belonged under the jurisdiction of the _Gula-thing's_ law. But these shires were part of Erling Skjalgsson's fief, which extended from Lindesness to the Sogne Fjord. Having small faith in Erling's friendship, which on a previous occasion had been pledged to him, Olaf prepared to travel with a large force through his shires; and as the crops had partly failed in the northern shires, he forbade all exportation of grain from the districts which he meant to traverse. This was merely a measure of self-protection, and though oppressive in its effect, was prompted by no unfriendly motive. Erling's nephew, the young chief Aasbjörn Sigurdsson, of Haalogaland, in spite of the prohibition, with the connivance of his uncle, bought malt and grain of the latter's thralls, and was in consequence deprived of his cargo by the king's steward, Thore Sel, at Agvaldsness. In return for this he killed the steward in the king's presence, was seized, and sentenced to death, but forcibly liberated by his uncle. Enraged by this unexampled audacity, the king came near taking summary vengeance upon Erling, but allowed himself to be persuaded by Bishop Sigurd to make peace, on condition that Aasbjörn should surrender himself to his mercy. The second sentence was, however, according to the notions of those days, severer than the first. Olaf demanded of the young chief that he should perform the service of the man he had slain. Any personal service, even under a king, was held to be degrading and unworthy of a freeman. The royal stewards were usually men of low birth; sometimes even thralls or sons of thralls. For a man of illustrious lineage to take the place of such a minion would be tantamount to accepting a badge of servitude. Aasbjörn, therefore, broke his promise, relying upon Erling Skjalgsson, and his father's brother, the powerful Thore Hund of Bjarkö, to shield him from the king's vengeance. In this, however, he made a miscalculation. For one day, as he was sailing in his fine ship along the coast, another ship passed him, from which a spear was hurled forth that transfixed him. This spear was thrown by a friend of the king. Aasbjörn's mother, Sigrid, made a great funeral feast over her son, and gave each of the guests gifts by which to remember him. Only Thore Hund of Bjarkö received no gift. But when the time came for departing, Sigrid accompanied him down to his ship and gave him a spear inscribed with strange runes.