was fought in a fairly standard way for the time, the ships being bound together, starting with archery and rock throwing, then spear hurling and ending in a melee all over the fleet, ships being exchanged by each side many times. At first the chieftains relied primarily on peasant levies but as the war progressed and Norwegian military influences became more pronounced, their personal retinues expanded and became more professional. At the end most of the chieftains had been slain and only one of the original chieftains who started the war remained. It had nonetheless become evident that no one chieftain was powerful enough to vanquish all the others and ensure peace. This led the Icelandic betri bændur (better farmers or farmer leaders) of the South, North and Western Iceland to submit to the Norwegian crown and the Alþingi in 1262. Two years later in 1264 the Lords of Eastern Iceland, the Svínfellingar, submitted as well, but the Eastern Region had completely escaped the ravages of war, mostly because of its geographical barriers of wastelands, mountains and glaciers. Union with Norway Peace barely ensued as the Norwegian King had little capacity to enforce his will over the Atlantic Ocean, his navy, although the most powerful Atlantic navy at the time was too small to carry big enough invasion force all the way to Iceland. The native Nobles continued to maintain their elite troops, which were called sveinalið while the sýslumenn (sheriffs), most of which were noble descendants of the chieftains, maintained soldiers or sveinar for the defence duties that had been delegated to them by law. All inhabitants of a sýslumaður´s fief were obligated to follow them in battle against invaders. The king rarely asked for expeditionary forces to help defend Norway, although Icelanders in Norway had been obligated to help Norwegian defences since the early 12th century. There are however a few documented occasions of Icelandic expeditionary armies coming to the king's aid. As the church became more powerful its bishops and priests became more militant: at the peak of their power the two bishops could command armies consisting of over 6% of Iceland's total population. The Bishops' own sveinar could expect to become priests after their military service. The two bishops became de facto Ecclesiastical Counts or Kirkjugreifar, responsible for law enforcement and overall command of military defences. Icelandic noblemen became wary of the Bishops' powers in the