_Magnus Law-Mender (1263-1280)_
Haakon's son Magnus now became king of Norway. He had been crowned
six years before his father's death, and there was no one to dispute
his right, King Haakon having declared on his death-bed that he left
no other son. Magnus was twenty-five years old when he assumed the
government in his own name. He was a wise and peaceable ruler, and soon
made up his mind that it was not for the benefit of Norway to continue
the war with Scotland about the islands which were so distant and had
been of so little value to the country. He opened negotiations with
Alexander III., and on July 2, 1266, peace was finally concluded. The
Norwegian king ceded the Isle of Man and the Hebrides to Scotland,
although retaining the rights belonging to the Nidaros archbishopric.
On the other hand, the Scotch king agreed to pay the Norwegian king
4,000 marks sterling, besides a permanent annual tribute of one hundred
marks.
When King Magnus had succeeded in ending the conflict with Scotland,
he turned his whole attention to the improvement of the domestic
affairs of the country. He undertook a thorough revision of the laws,
and, on account of his efforts in this direction, was given the
surname _lagaböter_, _i.e._, law-mender. He had a common code of laws
compiled for the whole country, while formerly there had been four
different laws administered respectively at the four Things; viz., the
Frosta-Thing for the Throndhjem country, the Gula-Thing for the western
coast, the Eidsiva-Thing for the Uplands, and the Borgar-Thing for the
country around Viken. The new general law, as codified by King Magnus,
remained in force for nearly four hundred years, and some of it is law
even yet. Among the new provisions was the one that, in the future,
changes in the laws were to be made only by the king and his "good men"
at a state meeting or state council. Thus the Things were deprived of
the privilege to make laws.
Magnus also compiled a law for the cities and towns, and a new court
law (_Hirdskraa_) for his vassals and courtiers. This court law
prescribed rules for the proclamation of kings and described the duties
and rights of the courtiers, liegemen, etc. Among new offices created
were those of ensign (bearer of the colors), the chancellor, who kept
the royal seal, and the master of ceremonies.
Toward the bishops King Magnus was very submissive. At a meeting in
Tunsberg, in 1277, he made a number of humiliating concessions to the
ambitious Archbishop Jon the Red. Thus the king agreed to abstain from
all interference in the selection of bishops, and surrendered to the
latter the right of filling all clerical offices.
King Magnus granted the city of Lubeck and other North-German
cities--the Hanseatic League--a number of commercial privileges in
Norway, and from that time a great part of the commerce of Norway
gradually came to be controlled by the Hansa towns.
In his legislation, King Magnus showed a disposition to abandon former
democratic characteristics of the institutions. He was fond of pomp
and ceremony, and adopted foreign, especially English, court customs.
In 1277 he ordained that the liegemen were to be called barons, and
the court officials, knights and squires. They were given a partial
immunity from taxes, but were to render additional services to the king
in case of war. The knights and their families soon began to adopt
coats-of-arms, and a kind of nobility was gradually formed.
King Magnus died May 9, 1280, at the age of forty-two years.