King Magnus got Margaret, King Inge's daughter, as above related; and
she was sent from Svithjod to Norway with an honourable retinue. King
Magnus had some children before, whose names shall here be given. The
one of his sons who was of a mean mother was called Eystein; the other,
who was a year younger, was called Sigurd, and his mother's name was
Thora. Olaf was the name of a third son, who was much younger than the
two first mentioned, and whose mother was Sigrid, a daughter of Saxe of
Vik, who was a respectable man in the Throndhjem country; she was the
king's concubine. People say that when King Magnus came home from
his viking cruise to the Western countries, he and many of his people
brought with them a great deal of the habits and fashion of clothing of
those western parts. They went about on the streets with bare legs,
and had short kirtles and over-cloaks; and therefore his men called
him Magnus Barefoot or Bareleg. Some called him Magnus the Tall, others
Magnus the Strife-lover. He was distinguished among other men by his
tall stature. The mark of his height is put down in Mary church, in the
merchant town of Nidaros, which King Harald built. In the northern door
there were cut into the wall three crosses, one for Harald's stature,
one for Olaf's, and one for Magnus's; and which crosses each of them
could with the greatest ease kiss. The upper was Harald's cross; the
lowest was Magnus's; and Olaf's was in the middle, about equally distant
from both.
It is said that Magnus composed the following verses about the emperor's
daughter:--
"The ring of arms where blue swords gleam,
The battle-shout, the eagle's scream,
The Joy of war, no more can please:
Matilda is far o'er the seas.
My sword may break, my shield be cleft,
Of land or life I may be reft;
Yet I could sleep, but for one care,--
One, o'er the seas, with light-brown hair."