After the battle of Falköping Margaret's army met with no resistance in the southern provinces; but Stockholm had to be subjected to a long siege, during which it suffered greater depredations from internal than from external foes. Bloody feuds between two contending parties raged within the city. A brotherhood of pirates, the so-called Vitalie Brethren, furnished the citizens with provisions, thereby delaying their surrender. These pirates had for the nonce entered into an alliance with Rostock and Wismar, two cities of Mecklenburg, which sympathized with the imprisoned Albrecht. In the end Stockholm was forced to open its gates to Queen Margaret, in accordance with a compromise which was concluded in 1395. Albrecht was to pay a ransom of sixty thousand marks, and in case of his failure to provide this sum, within three years, he should either return to his prison or surrender Stockholm. He chose to do the latter. Margaret had now reached the goal of her desires. She was the ruler of the whole Scandinavian race. She might have placed the triple crown upon her head, but preferred to secure this proud prize to her nephew, Erik of Pomerania, by having him crowned while she was yet alive. To this end she summoned representatives of the three kingdoms to a meeting in Kalmar, where a draft was made for a constitution, upon which the union was to be based. Although the document was signed by the Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish magnates present, it was scarcely legally binding upon their countrymen. It bears the date of July 20, 1397, and contains the following stipulations: 1. The three kingdoms were to be eternally united under one king. 2. If the king died without issue, the magnates of the three kingdoms should come together and peaceably elect a successor. 3. Each kingdom should be governed in accordance with its own laws and customs; but if one of the kingdoms was attacked, the two others should, in good faith, assist in its defence. 4. The king and his councillors from the three kingdoms should have the right to enter into foreign alliances, and whatever they agreed upon should be binding upon the three countries.