Eystein was particularly active in Bergen, and his role in the development of the city was probably more important than that of King Olaf Kyrre, the founder of the city according to the sagas. He moved the royal seat in the city from Alrekstad to Holmen on the eastern shore of Vågen, in the city core, thereby rationalising the bureaucracy. At Holmen, he built a Church of the Apostles (probably a stave church) and a St. Nicholas Church, as well as a royal palace which according to Snorri Sturluson was the most imposing wooden building ever raised in Norway (although Theodoric the Monk who wrote earlier already noted it was "now almost collapsed from excessive age"). He also built a St. Michael's Church and founded the Benedictine abbey Munkeliv Abbey at Nordnes, and the tithe to the church was introduced during the reign of Eystein and Sigurd. Eystein died on 29 August 1123, not long after he was "seized with an illness" during a feast at Hustad in Fræna, Møre og Romsdal. Snorri tells that his body thereafter was taken to Nidaros, and buried in the Nidaros Cathedral. According to Snorri, it was "generally said that so many mourners never stood over any man's grave in Norway as over King Eystein's," at least since the death of Magnus the Good. The reign of Eystein and Sigurd was the longest joint rule in Norwegian history. Sigurd ruled alone after Eystein's death, until Sigurd's own death in 1130. Family Eystein married Ingebjørg Guttormsdatter, from a prominent noble family of Gudbrandsdalen. Their marriage was part of Eystein's strategy of building alliances in Eastern Norway. They had a daughter, Maria, who became the mother of the future royal pretender Olaf Ugjæva by her marriage to the lendmann Gudbrand Skavhoggsson. Olaf was named king in 1165, during the Norwegian civil war era, but was subsequently defeated by Magnus Erlingsson and forced to flee the country. Legacy Opinions on Eystein have been strongly favourable. Theodoric the Monk wrote about Eystein that he "was a paragon of honesty who governed himself no less than his subjects with moderation and wisdom. He was a king who loved peace, an assiduous manager of public affairs, and above all a fosterer of the Christian religion." Snorri Sturluson later wrote that Eystein "was wise, intelligent, and acquainted with the laws and history. He had much knowledge of mankind, was quick in