When the spirit of rebellion which the duke had bred in his surroundings had thrown away all restraint, it began to react upon himself, spurring him on to deed, and counteracting his natural indecision of character. He was now nearly fifty years old, and if he ever were to gain the crown, there was no time to be lost. Accordingly he mustered courage in 1239 to summon the Trönders to Oere-_thing_, and to proclaim himself king of all Norway. When the canons of the cathedral refused to permit the shrine of St. Olaf to be used for the ceremony, Skule's son, Peter,[B] jumped up on the altar, pulled the coffin up, and had it removed, by force, to the _thing_. In order that Haakon should gain no intelligence of what had taken place, all the roads which led out of the city were guarded, but for all that, one man, named Grim Keikan, managed to make his escape and to warn the king of the threatening danger. It was in the middle of the night that the king received this message, and he went instantly to the queen's rooms and demanded admittance. The queen, aroused from her sleep, asked anxiously what news he brought. [Footnote B: Peter was an illegitimate child. His mother was the wife of Andres Skjaldarband.] "Only this trifle," he said, "that there are now two kings in Norway." "Only one is the right king," she answered gravely, "and that one are you." It had been Skule's first plan to surprise Haakon in Bergen, and capture him. But he soon learned that the king had heard of his exploits, and was prepared to receive him. He then sent out bands of warriors to different parts of the country to kill the royal prefects and all prominent friends of the king. A great many excellent men, who were utterly unprepared for hostilities, were thus foully murdered; churches were violated, and many atrocities committed. The duke, in the meanwhile, remained quietly in Nidaros where he occupied himself in writing letters to foreign princes and potentates, informing them of the step he had taken, and endeavoring to stir up difficulties for Haakon by unscrupulous misrepresentations. When, however, he learned that the king was coming with a large force to attack him, he started (Feb., 1240) with six hundred men across the mountains to the Oplands. Here he was met by his son-in-law, Squire Knut, who had been appointed earl in his place, and defeated him and the able commander, Arnbjörn Jonsson, at Laaka. It was now high time for the king to appear upon the scene, if he were to prevent the rebellion from assuming such proportion, as to be beyond his power to quell it. The danger suddenly developed in him a decision and promptness of action, which went far to raise the sinking courage of his men. He declined the archbishop's offer to open negotiations once more; arrived, after a voyage of unprecedented rapidity, in Viken, and rowed, under cover of a fog, up the Folden Fjord to Oslo. In view of the possibility of his death, he had made all