Magnus III "the Bare-Footed" OLAFSSON, KING

                   In 1095, Magnus led a raid on Halland, Denmark and plundered far and wide.

After Håkon died, his foster-father, Thorer Steig, was afraid of Magnus.  (Thorer had backed Håkon's bid for the kingship against Magnus.)  So Thorer and a man named Svein Haroldsen gathered an army to fight Magnus.  Egil Aslakson and Skialg Erlingson were among those who took part in the effort.

Sigurd Lodinson gathered a force to fight Thorer and Svein.  However, he was defeated and fled to join Magnus.

Thorer's forces fled north, through Trondheim and into Halogaland. They burned the farm of Jon and his son, Vidkun, at Bjarkey.  Magnus pursued them and caught Thorer and Egil.  He hung them both. (Svein escaped and a long time later came into the service of King Eystein Magnusson.)  Magnus then burned farms, robbed, and sometimes killed to punish all those who had opposed him.  He was much more like his grandfather, Harald, than his father.

Magnus conquered the Orkney Islands.  He took the Jarls Paul and Erlend as prisoners and sent them to Norway.  Magnus then put his son, Sigurd, in charge of the islands.

He then went on to: to kill, plunder, and conquer in the Southern Hebrides.

"King Magnus came with his forces to the Holy Island (Iona), and gave peace and safety to all men there.  ...   From thence King Magnus sailed to Islay, where he plundered and burnt; and when he had taken that country he proceeded south around Cantire, marauding on both sides in Scotland and Ireland, and advanced with his foray to Man, where he plundered."  (Magnus Bare-foot's Saga)

He then sailed to Wales, where he faced an army, on Anglesey Island, let by the Earls Hugo the Brave and Hugo the Stout.  Magnus personally killed Hugo the Brave, with an arrow.  His forces also prevailed and he conquered Anglesey Isle, which is a third of Wales.

Magnus then went to Scotland, where he made a treaty with King Malcolm.  It was agreed that all of the lands to the West of Scotland, where Magnus could pass in a vessel, with her rudder shipped between them and the mainland, would belong to Norway.  Magnus then dragged a skiff, with its rudder shipped over the strand at Cantire and got the land on the west side of it.

Magnus conquered the part of Sweden that was West of Venner Lake.  He then left a garrison on Kvaldinsey Island in Venner Lake.  However, King Inge of Sweden came, that winter, and drove them out.

In spring, Magnus returned to Gautland.  However, he was overwhelmed by a more numerous force of Gautlanders and had to flee.  Skopte Ogmundson took Magnus' cloak and acted as a decoy to help the king escape.  Skopte also made it to the ships in safety, but with great difficulty.

The following spring or summer, Magnus went to Gautland with a great force.  Inge came to oppose him and they fought.  Magnus won a great victory and Inge had to flee.

The following summer, the kings agreed to a truce whereby they would each keep their former lands and Magnus would marry Inge's daughter, Margaret.

There came a time when Magnus and Skopte Ogmundson argued over an inheritance.  Skopte and his sons, Fin and Ogmunc, tried, unsuccessfully,  to get Magnus to change his mind.  Ogmund said that Magnus was doing them an injustice after Ogmund had saved his life. Ogmund then said that neither he or his father would ever serve Magnus again.

In 1102, Magnus gathered a great force and sailed to Orkney and then to the Southern Hebrides.  He then sailed to Ireland and plundered there with King Myrkjartan.  They conquered a great part of the country, both Dublin and Dublin Shire.  Magnus spent the winter in Connaught.  Then in the Spring, 1103, he and Myrkjartan conquered the land between Dublin and Ulster and most of Ulster.

Magnus then prepared to go home.  However, first he went back on land to get some cattle that Myrkjartan was sending to him.  Then the many Irishmen ambushed them in the bogs.  The Norsemen had a rough time fighting and getting through the bogs.  Magnus ordered Lenderman Thorgrim Skinhufa to go ahead with his archers and attack the Irish. However, Thorgrim and his men, instead, deserted Magnus as soon as they made it out of the bogs.  Magnus was then hit by a spear which went through both thighs.  However, he just broke off the shaft and kept walking.  He did not get far before an Irishman killed  him with an axe stroke to his neck.  Many other Norwegians were also killed. However, the Norwegians killed even more Irishmen.

There was peace within the country during Magnus' reign, but he imposed heavy taxes.  His men loved him, but the bondes thought he was harsh.