King Sigurd improved the town of Konungahella so much, that there was
not a greater town in Norway at the time, and he remained there long for
the defence of the frontiers. He built a king's house in the castle, and
imposed a duty on all the districts in the neighbourhood of the town, as
well as on the townspeople, that every person of nine years of age and
upwards should bring to the castle five missile stones for weapons, or
as many large stakes sharp at one end and five ells long. In the castle
the king built a cross-church of timber, and carefully put together,
as far as regards the wood and other materials. The cross-church was
consecrated in the 24th year of King Sigurd's reign (A.D. 1127). Here
the king deposited the piece of the holy cross, and many other holy
relics. It was called the castle church; and before the high altar he
placed the tables he had got made in the Greek country, which were of
copper and silver, all gilt, and beautifully adorned with jewels. Here
was also the shrine which the Danish king Eirik Eimune had sent to
King Sigurd; and the altar book, written with gold letters, which the
patriarch had presented to King Sigurd.