which had been driven from Norway, there found an asylum; but the equality, which had sprung from common misfortune, soon vanished. Those who carried with them to the island wealth or talents, or by daring and good fortune had distinguished themselves as vikings, soon obtained an ascendency over the other emigrants, and became their lords. Many of these bore renowned names that inspired the others with respect, who had been accustomed to consider them as leaders. Such families, who in the midst of the new commonwealth could not forget the pride of birth, composed the aristocracy of the island, introduced an oligarchic constitution, and injured the republic by seeking marks of favour from the court of Norway. They rejoiced in the remembrance of the noble exploits of their forefathers, and encouraged the skalds to preserve the memory of them. It was, moreover, grateful to every Icelander both to hear and to sing the songs that had delighted him in his childhood and honoured his countrymen. While in Europe scholars were striving to regenerate the classic poetry in a dead language, and in the monasteries were heaping up insipid monkish legends, the simple, natural understanding and lively imagination of the Icelanders gave an impulse to narrative composition and poesy, in their own mothertongue, such as had not till then been in the North: there arose an Icelandic literature, to which we are chiefly indebted for our information respecting the Northern vikings. Neither the extreme severity of the climate, nor the barrenness of the soil, nor the poverty of the islanders themselves could quell this general enthusiasm; a phenomenon that will never appear again.

A century after the colonization of Iceland, the Icelanders' thirst after adventures led them to a continent of whose existence they had not the slightest presentiment: they discovered and peopled Greenland, whither new migrations proceeded from Norway'. At the present day scarcely the

1 See Wormskjold om Grönlands, Vinlands og nogle flere af Forfædrene

poorest European would exchange with a Greenlander; but the Scandinavians were inured to the most rigorous climate, and proof against hardships and want; they could live everywhere where they could see the ocean; they related or listened to sagas, and composed verses, in Iceland, and with the same hilarity they passed over to the icy shores of Greenland.

Christianity at length struck root over all the North. Cnut in Denmark and Olaf in Norway gained by their zeal in its propagation the surname bestowed on them by the clergy of saint. In Iceland Christianity was solemnly adopted in the general assembly or Alting, only with the reservation, that they might continue to eat horseflesh and expose their children. Everywhere churches and monasteries were erected; the bishops gained great influence, and the priests preached against piracy, and created a more pious feeling. But the spread of Christianity was accompanied by the thraldom of the great mass of the people. The nobility and clergy rendered themselves the lords of the peasantry, which previously, as a free and respected class, had constituted the strength of the North. The agricultural population fell into contempt, when the military began to form an hereditary order, and the court followers appropriated to themselves all fiefs and dignities. To escape from oppression, many peasants saw no other course than to place themselves and their children under the protection of a potent noble, or of the church2. At a remoter period the kings themselves could not rule an aristocracy that was grown too powerful, without, as the kings of France, raising the burgher class as a counterpoise.

Ruggedness of manners gradually disappeared, culture more

kjendte Landes formeentlige Beliggende, in part x. of Skand. Lit. S. Skr.; Schröder om Skandinavernes fordna upptäcktresor till Nord-Amerika, in part i. of Svea.

1 Finni Johannæi Hist. Eccles. Islandiæ. (Heimskringla, in St. Olaf's Saga, c. 56.)

2 See on this subject Vedel Simonsens Danske Adels og Ridderstands Hist. p. 181 sqq.

and more gained ground, but, at the same time, the nation's strength was impaired. Torn by internal dissensions, Iceland was subjugated by the Norwegian kings. The old popular poetry was silenced, and, instead of Icelandic sagas, Latin legends came into vogue. The Faroes and Greenland shared the same fate. Instead of enriching themselves by piracy, men rather bestowed their possessions on churches and convents; and the Northmen, who once had been so formidable to other nations, became now, as it were, a stranger to them1. With the zeal which usually animates those who adopt a new religion, all old customs were exploded. In Roeskilde, under king Cnut, there arose a sort of fraternity, whose object was to make war on all pirates. Its members seized on ships belonging to others, giving to the owners as an indemnity an eighth of the booty; before they went on board they took the sacrament; they lived soberly, exposed themselves to great hardships, and had no superfluous followers; when in want of money, they had recourse to a loan, either voluntary or forced, from the citizens, whom, on their return, they requited with half the booty. To the Christians found on board the captured vessels they gave liberty, clothed them and sent them home. All Seeland shared in this undertaking, through which, according to Saxo Grammaticus2, eight hundred viking ships were destroyed. A greater contrast cannot be imagined than that exhibited in the North, as described in the sagas during the time of heathenism, and as Adam of Bremen found it. "After the adoption of Christianity," says that church historian," these people have learnt to love peace

1 On the progress of civilization in the North, see Nyerups Hist. Stat. Skildring af Danm. og Norge, 1ste D. also Lindhs Undersökning om Folkmängden i Sverige före Digerdöden, i Vitt. Hist. och Ant. Akad. Handl. 11te D. Stokh. 1822.

2 Lib. xiv. He adds: "Hic piraticæ cultus, Roskildiæ cœptus, ab urbis gremio etiam ad agrestes manavit, ab omni fere Sialandiæ parte subsidia mutuatus.... Primum tenuis, magna breviter incrementa contraxit; sed neque ante redditam terris pacem ulla ex parte remissior fuit."

and gentler manners, and to be content with their humble condition; they now dissipate what they before collected, and collect what they before despised. Instead of addicting themselves to scandalous magical arts, they now, like the apostles, acknowledge only the crucified Jesus. They now observe the greatest temperance, and love in a higher degree than others abstemiousness and modesty. They hold priests and churches in such respect, that those who every day, after having heard mass, do not go to the offering, are not considered good Christians. Those who before were barbarians now pay tithes," etc. "These exemplary manners,” adds the good canon, "are obscured only, according to what I have heard, by the avarice of the clergy."

Arnold of Lübeck speaks also of the change that had taken place in the manners of the Danes. "Now," says he in his continuation of Helmold's chronicle', "now the Danes resemble other people in dress and weapons. Formerly they were clad as sailors, because of their humour to dwell on the sea; now we see them in furs, purple, and fine linen. The annual fishery off Scania supplies them with a considerable revenue; merchants from all the neighbouring countries bring them gold and silver in exchange for herrings, which are caught in great number. On their rich pastures they keep excellent horses, and are distinguished for fighting on horseback and by sea. They have also made progress in the liberal arts; the nobles send their sons to Paris for education, not only for ecclesiastical offices, but also for secular employments."

This chronicler makes no mention of the common people; but we have sufficient testimony to show that they were reduced to serfdom in the north as well as in the south of Europe, and that the feudal yoke pressed on the agricultural class, and bereaved it of all freedom and public spirit.

But as the inhabitants of the North still retained their

1 Lib. iii. c. 5.

thirst for adventures, a number of them found the way to Constantinople, where they served in the body guard of the Greek emperors, after their forefathers had for so long a period ravaged the Western empire1.

If the inhabitants of Normandy cared little about their northern native country, the inhabitants of the North, on their part, almost forgot their fugitive kinsmen, who had gained for themselves another home. But of some of these heroes the names outlived this oblivion: on the shores of the Baltic it was remembered with pride, that Hasting, Björn Ironside, and Rolf were Northmen, and the deeds of the first Norman duke were sometimes to be found, with those of the most renowned Northern heroes, represented on the hangings in the chieftain's hall2.

To the attacks of the Northern vikings England was exposed much longer than France, in consequence of the numerous islands which there afforded them an almost unassailable retreat. In the tenth century king Eadgar began to clear his kingdom of the vikings, by sailing with his fleet twice a year round the island, for the purpose of destroying the piratical ships that plundered along the coasts. He subjugated the Norwegian jarl in the Isle of Man, where the Northmen had settled at an early period, as may be seen by the runic inscriptions found in that island. For the purpose of acting with the greater vigour against the Norwegians in the Orkneys, Eadgar called the Danes to his aid; but they,

I Under the name of Væringer or Varæger, according to Cedreni Chron.-Erichsen, de vet. septentrionalium imprimis Islandorum peregrinationibus. (See Suhm, Hist. af Danm. 2dn D. pp. 91 sqq. Anm. a.)

2 For this the author adduces as an authority Nikulás Leikara-saga', but he could hardly have cited anything worse than this altogether fabulous saga.-Petersen.

3 Speaking of the runic inscriptions in Man, Mr. Worsaae (from Prof. Munch) observes, that the rune 1, which in most inscriptions signifies o, must in these always be read as b. Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland and Ireland.-T.