Fase died, Birger Jarl may have felt it was time to deal with Holmger and his allies in Uppland. Location The battle took place at Sparrsätra, which is located in Uppland, north of Enköping. According to tradition it was fought on waterlogged meadows west of the church of Sparrsätra, but it has been suggested that the rebels had their encampment several kilometres eastwards in Rönne, where there are remains of potentially strategic fortifications. Battle One view holds that this was the first battle where heavy cavalry was used in central Sweden, although such cavalry had appeared a century earlier at the Battle of Fotevik in Scania. The professional heavy cavalry fielded by King Eric defeated Holmger's army, which consisted of a public levy. According to the 14th century Law of Södermanland a levied farmer was supposed to be equipped with sword, javelin, lance and helmet; however, it is known that these conscript armies consisted largely of people who had little more than an axe or a sword to fight with. In Snorri Sturluson's kings' sagas there are descriptions of battles where the combatants fought with stones. Aftermath After the battle, Holmger fled north to Gästrikland, but he was soon arrested by the king and the jarl, who had him beheaded. The Eric Chronicles tell that the king took part in the funeral and walked him to the grave, which suggests that the old Norse code of honouring dead enemies was still alive, although such traditions would later change. Among Upplanders who had lost their leader, Holmger rose to the status of unofficial saint, and only a few years after his execution people would tell of miracles in his name as far south as Denmark. When the Papal legate William of Modena arrived in the same year, he stayed in the less turbulent district of Östergötland, where he met Birger Jarl. William reported home that he had offered to mediate in the conflict, and in March 1248, he reported that a peace agreement had been reached. This was at the time when the meeting at Skänninge took place, in which Sweden was formally integrated into the Catholic community. The Swedes of Uppland, who since time immemorial had been divided into folklands according to how many warriors they could provide, had lost their warrior status, and they had become taxpayers like the king's other subjects. The new taxes described in the Annals