continued at the papal court in Rome. Jakob spent most of his last ten years in Italy keen on getting satisfaction. He had to handle alternating popes of changing points of view at the same time as he counteracted the Danish government. Denmark was put under interdict and the royal family was excommunicated but it did not yield to the papal verdicts, nor did Jakob get much support from his own church. At last a compromise was reached in 1272 by which the archbishop obtained some concessions. He travelled home in order to get a final solution, but on the way he died on the island of Rügen. Modern examinations of his skeleton indicate that he might have been assassinated but nothing is sure. After his death King Eric quite simply cancelled all royal concessions. Jakob Erlandsen's career and defeat shows the great difficulties of carrying through international ecclesiastical legislation in Denmark. The demands of papal supremacy and the authority of the church collided with the traditional Danish view of the division of power. What the archbishop regarded justified demands of clerical immunity and independence meant disloyalty and treason to the king. More interesting is it that much of the population and even many clergymen seem to have shared the royal opinions. Apart from this Jakob Erlandsen's style, his alliances with the foreign enemies of the crown and his intense conduct also seem to have repulsed many possible supporters. His fight was taken up again by his kinsman Jens Grand. References Politikens Danmarkshistorie bd. 4, 1962. Dansk Biografisk Leksikon, bd. 4, 1980. 1274 deaths Roman Catholic archbishops of Lund 13th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Denmark Year of birth unknown