The first act of the Birchlegs, after the death of King Inge, was to give Haakon a body-guard, which was to follow him night and day. Earl Skule, on his side, opened a campaign of intriguing and chicanery, in which he was faithfully supported by the new archbishop, Guttorm, and the canons of the cathedral chapter in Nidaros. In spite of all their underhand measures, however, Haakon was proclaimed king at Oere-_thing_ by the Birchlegs, and Skule, who did not feel himself strong enough to defy the general sentiment, had to acquiesce in what he could not prevent. It was of no avail that the canons of the chapter locked up the shrine of St. Olaf upon which the king was to swear to keep the laws; the Birchlegs determined to dispense with the shrine rather than to dispense with their king. Nor did the negotiations of the earl with Philip, the so-called king of the Baglers, lead to anything; for Philip died shortly after King Inge, leaving no children; and Haakon sailed southward with a large fleet and took possession of Viken and the Oplands, which since the treaty of Hvitingsöe in 1208 had been under the dominion of the Baglers. By a wise policy of conciliation he induced the chiefs of the rebels to acknowledge his overlordship, on condition of their being permitted to keep one half of the fiefs which had been granted to Philip. The following year, they also consented to give up their old party name, which recalled the times of civil dissension and strife, and to fight side by side with the Birchlegs, against a new band of rebels, called the Slittungs (Ragamuffins), which had been organized under the leadership of a priest, named Benedikt or Bene Skindkniv (Skin-knife). This arrant impostor professed, like so many of his predecessors, to be the son of King Magnus Erlingsson, and in spite of the utter improbability of his story, upwards of a thousand men soon gathered about him and began robbing and plundering. It was merely to furnish an excuse for a breach of the peace that they professed belief in Bene's pretensions. Robbers, footpads, and all sorts of nomadic vagabonds could, in those days, give themselves a semblance of respectability by providing themselves with a candidate for the throne. A great many credulous people could then be induced to join them and their depredations were called war instead of robbery.