burning the houses of people who opposed the authorities. A different opinion of his character is given by Adam of Bremen: "Certainly he was young of years, but he surpassed all his predecessors in wisdom and piety. No king was as beloved by the Swedish people as Anund". The Norse sagas emphasize his amicable and helpful attitude to his royal Norwegian kinsmen. Anund Jacob continued the minting of coins in Sigtuna in Central Sweden; however, the issuing of coins was broken off later during his reign, and was only resumed by King Canute I in the late 12th century. Snorri mentions Central Sweden, Västergötland and Småland among the regions ruled by Anund Jacob, but his ideas of Sweden might be influenced by conditions in the High Middle Ages. A poem from the 1040s, describing a Norwegian battle against Danes and Swedish auxiliaries, suggests that at least some Geats stood under Anund Jacob: "Geatic shield and hauberk / did I bring home from the battle". According to Adam of Bremen, Christianity reached rather widely in the reign of Anund Jacob, with missionary work led by Bishop Thurgot of Skara in Västergötland until 1030 when he was nominally succeeded by Gottskalk. Both were appointed by the Archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen. Gottskalk, however, was a passive church magnate who preferred to stay home in Germany. An English missionary, Sigfrid, filled the void to an extent. From a Norwegian base, he visited Sweden, Götaland "and all the islands beyond the northern land". King Anund Jacob's political agenda included maintaining the balance of power in Scandinavia, which is why he supported the Norwegian kings Olaf II (Olav the Saint) and Magnus I against Denmark's and England's king Cnut the Great during the 1020s and 1030s. According to Snorri, Cnut tried to neutralize Anund Jacob, when a dispute flared up with Olaf around 1025, by sending him rich presents and offers of friendship. However, the envoys noted Anund Jacob's strong affinity to Olaf, who was married to his sister Astrid. In fact Anund Jacob traveled with a large entourage to Kungahälla where he met Olaf for a friendly parley. Some time later, when Cnut was away tending his English kingdom, Olaf attacked and ravaged Sjaelland, while Anund Jacob came down with a fleet from Svealand to attack Scania. The allies combined their forces and awaited Cnut, who returned from England with a superior fleet in 1026. While