It is not known whether Magnus was present at the peace of Konghelle. If he was, his ill health must have prevented him from transacting any business; for only Olaf's name is mentioned in connection with the treaty. During the following year, too, all public business devolved upon Olaf; for Magnus lay ill in Nidaros and finally died in the spring, 1069. He left one son, Haakon, who was but an infant and was fostered by Thore of Steig. No one put forth any claim to the kingdom in his name, and Olaf thus became king of the whole country. With the exception of the little ripple of martial excitement during the first years after his accession, Olaf Haroldsson's reign of twenty-seven years presents not a single warlike event. His saga is a saga of peace--a long and honorable record of achievements in the service of civilization. The key-note of his character was prudent moderation. He was religious, but not fanatical; devout, but not bigoted. Easy-going by temperament, yet negligent of no duty, cheerful but not jolly, calm but not indolent, he is indeed a unique but none the less attractive figure among the martial descendants of Harold the Fairhaired. He is the more remarkable because his leading traits of character contrast so strikingly with those of the prevailing type of man in his age. Serenity of soul shines out of those of his utterances which the sagas have thought it worth while to preserve. There seems to be a conscious conviction, far in advance of his century, in a saying like this: "Why should I not be happy, since I am sitting here with you at a feast, which is consecrated to my kinsman St. Olaf, and I see both joy and liberty among my subjects? In the days of my father this people lived under much compulsion and fear. Then most of them hid away their gold and treasures, but now I see shine upon every one the ornaments which he possesses. Your freedom and joy are my feast and my delight." The surname _Kyrre, i. e._, the tranquil, the quiet one, which the people gave him, whether originally meant as a compliment or not, became, in the course of time, an honorable distinction; for during the century of strife and bloodshed which followed, all looked upon his bloodless reign as upon a golden age of peace.[A] As a later author [B] says: "He was in favor both with God and men; he laid great stress upon peace and tranquillity; let every man keep what was his own, and suppressed nothing but what was evil. * * * There were then excellent crops and manifold splendor, so that Norway had never since Harold the Fairhaired been in such a prosperous condition, as in his days. All the people loved him warmly; for he conceded many a thing for their convenience which Harold had insisted upon with harshness and enforced with severity. He was liberal with gold and silver and good ornaments; but only tenacious of land; the reason of this was his intelligence; for he saw that it was for the welfare of the kingdom."