CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE STURLUNGS IN ICELAND.
During the reign of Haakon Haakonsson lived the renowned Icelandic historian, Snorre Sturlasson. It is due to him that the ancient history of Norway has been saved from oblivion. His great work, called Heimskringla (the Circle of the Earth), after the words with which it begins, is a coherent and in the main reliable record of the events which took place in Norway from the time of Harold the Fairhaired down to the Battle of Ree in 1177. The more or less mythical history which precedes the reign of Harold is also included, though it can scarcely, in many features, lay claim to credibility. The style is clear and vigorous, and the characterizations are extremely vivid. Scaldic lays are introduced into the text as evidences of the veracity of the narrative, and anecdotes are preserved which throw a strong light upon the characters of the heroes. The Heimskringla is, accordingly, not a loose conglomeration of fact and fiction, such as monkish chroniclers in the Middle Ages were in the habit of composing, but a historic work of high rank, betraying a mature critical spirit and artistic taste, in style and arrangement. Several scaldic lays are also attributed to Snorre, besides portions of the Younger Edda—a collection of myths and legends, dealing with the traditions of the ancient Asa faith. It is as editor and collector, however, not as author, that he is here entitled to credit.
Snorre Sturlasson was born in Iceland in 1178, and was, at the age of three, adopted by the great chieftain, Jon Loftsson, a grandson of Saemund the Learned. His father was Sturla Thordsson, a high-born but turbulent man, and his mother, Gudny Bödvar's daughter. Jon Loftsson had inherited a very considerable collection of historical MSS. from his grandfather, Saemund, and his house was the home of the best culture which the island at that time possessed. Snorre, though any thing but a book-worm, became interested in the myths and tales of paganism, and by intercourse with his foster-father imbibed a taste for historical research. After the death of the latter in 1198, he found himself penniless, his mother having wasted his paternal inheritance. In order to maintain his dignity, he was therefore obliged to look about for a rich marriage, and by the aid of his brothers succeeded in gaining the hand of the wealthiest heiress in Iceland. He now devoted himself to the task of increasing his power. By shrewd bargaining, by intimidation, and by open violence he gained possession of six large estates and amassed an enormous fortune. Iceland, at that time, was torn with factional feuds, and Snorre understood to perfection the art of fishing in troubled waters. He was a man of energetic and determined character—a man of large plans and few scruples. There is a vigorous worldliness visible in all his acts, and a prudent adaptation of means to ends. At his residence, Reykjaholt, which he fortified, improved, and beautified in a manner, the like of which had never been seen in Iceland, he lived like a prince, maintaining an armed force which seemed to threaten the republic. Ruins of his bath-house are yet to be seen, and yet bear his name (Snorrelaug). The bath was built of hewn stones, and the hot water was conducted by a stone aqueduct from the neighboring geysers.
HÖRGADAL IN THE NORTH OF ICELAND.
Snorre had two brothers, Thord and Sighvat. The former was of a quiet disposition, and not over-ambitious, while the latter was Snorre's counterpart, and like him engaged in increasing his fortune by trickery and violence.
Two men, thus constituted, would scarcely be restrained by their fraternal relation, when their interests clashed; and before long, we find Sighvat and Snorre at swords' points.
By the weight of his influence, Snorre gradually absorbed the more important offices in the gift of his countrymen. Thus he was, in 1215, elected speaker of the law, and in this capacity came in conflict with his foster-brother, Saemund Jonsson, who took exception to one of his rulings. The Icelandic Althing was both a legislative assembly and a supreme court, and it was the duty of the speaker in legal cases to decide what was law. If any of the contending parties rejected the decision of the Althing, an appeal to the sword was always open to him. The law was a consultative, not an absolute power, and depended upon its fairness for its authority. Snorre, whose duty it was to give weight to the law, had so small respect for his office, that he appeared with eight hundred and forty armed men, determined to overawe his opponents. A compromise was with difficulty arranged, but the seed of mischief had been sown, and was not slow to sprout and bear fruit.
Snorre's fame had, in the meanwhile, reached Norway, and many honorable invitations were extended to him from the foremost chieftains of the land. Accordingly he set sail in 1218, with a large train of followers, visited King Haakon and Earl Skule, and gained the latter's friendship. The king made him his liegeman, and it is said that Snorre promised Skule to bring Iceland under the dominion of the mother country. The plan was a tempting one. If by the surrender of the liberties of the island, he could attain the dignity of Earl of Iceland, he could, at one blow, by Skule's aid, crush all his enemies, and reign undisputed as the first man in the land. On his return home, however, he discovered that the obstacles in his way were greater than he had anticipated. It appears, even, that he repented of his rash promise, and was anxious to postpone the day of its fulfilment. Whether, in his subsequent machinations, he meant to secure his own predominance, as a means to carrying out his bargain with the earl, is difficult to determine.
In 1222 Snorre's rival and bitterest enemy, Saemund Jonsson, died, and his children, who were at variance about an inheritance from their uncle, Orm Jonsson, called upon Snorre to arbitrate between them. They did this, not because they loved him and had confidence in his fairness, but because they feared him and were anxious to have the old feud terminated. Snorre understood this perfectly, and had no hesitation in taking advantage of his position. Having recently been separated from his wife, he saw a chance of further enriching himself by marrying the beautiful Solveig, the sister of the contending brothers. He accordingly divided the inheritance so as to give her the lion's share; but just as he seemed to have made sure of his game, his nephew, Sturla Sighvatsson, stepped up and snatched the girl from his expectant arms. By his unfair arbitration, he thus benefited the man who was henceforth to become his most dangerous enemy. Nothing daunted, however, Snorre turned his attention to another and far wealthier heiress, whom he succeeded in marrying. By a series of bargains, in which he made an unscrupulous use of the fear which his name inspired, he continued to increase his wealth, until his power overshadowed that of all other chieftains in the island. Sturla, who in shrewdness and daring was more than a match for his uncle, pursued a similar course, and with the perpetual clashing of interests their hostility grew more pronounced. Snorre had, in the meanwhile, by his friendship for Earl Skule, incurred the enmity of King Haakon. Sturla on his return from a pilgrimage to Rome, succeeded in gaining the king's confidence, and in deepening his distrust of Snorre. He made now the same bargain with the king that his uncle had previously made with Skule, promising, in return for the dignity of Earl of Iceland, to bring the country under the Norwegian crown. On his return home, he did not, however, at once venture to attack his rival, but contented himself with picking quarrels with his son, Urökja, and his son-in-law, Gissur Thorvaldsson. The former he captured and maimed, but in his conflict with the latter he succumbed. In a regular battle, which was fought in 1238, both Sturla and his father, Sighvat, were killed. Snorre was at that time in Norway, where he had the imprudence to commit himself as a partisan of Skule, and thereby still further incensed the king. Contrary to the command of the latter, he returned to Iceland, where his predominance seemed now secured. But King Haakon, who henceforth regarded him as an open enemy, became the means of his destruction. Snorre had already, by his rapacity and greed, incurred the hostility of his son-in law, Gissur Thorvaldsson, and with him the king opened negotiations, demanding of him that he should either kill his father-in-law or send him as a prisoner to Norway. Gissur accordingly attacked Snorre at Reykjaholt with seventy armed men, and slew him (1241).
ALMANNAGJAA WITH THE HILL OF LAWS.
Snorre's nephew, Sturla Thordsson, who at one time was a great chieftain and a defender of Icelandic independence, continued the Heimskringla in his uncle's spirit, writing the Saga of Haakon Haakonsson. This is a model biography, clearly and vigorously written, and abounding in interesting details. Another remarkable book, which was written in Norway during Haakon's reign, is the so-called King's Mirror (Konungsskuggsjá). It contains, in the shape of a dialogue between father and son, moral teachings and rules of life and conduct. Its maxims of worldly wisdom and rules of etiquette give a vivid insight into the modes of life and thought in the thirteenth century.
CHAPTER XXIX.
MAGNUS LAW-MENDER (1263-1280).
With the death of Haakon Haakonsson, the continuous story of the sagas ceases. A fragment of the life of his son, Magnus Law-Mender (Lagaböter), written by Sturla Thordsson, is preserved, but the greater portion has unhappily been lost. What is known concerning the later kings, during the period of independence, is derived from many scattered and often unreliable sources. A period of decline, at first gradual and imperceptible, set in with the reign of King Magnus, and culminated in the loss of independence.
Magnus had been proclaimed king during his father's lifetime, and as he was of age, the government passed into his hands without dispute. Being indisposed to continue the expensive war with Scotland, he sent his chancellor, Askatin, to Alexander III. and obtained peace on the condition of ceding the Island of Man and the Shetland Isles, receiving in return 4,000 marks sterling, besides an annual tribute of 100 marks. The latter stipulation was intended to save appearances, as an annual tribute might well be interpreted as a continued recognition of the supremacy of the king of Norway.
It has often been questioned whether Magnus acted wisely in refusing to draw the sword to preserve the integrity of his kingdom. That the Scottish isles already had cost Norway more in blood and treasure than they were worth, is generally conceded; and the chances were that, as Scotland increased in power, still greater efforts would be required to assert the sway of Norway over the remote dependencies. Moreover, as England later rose to become a European power and absorbed Scotland, it was merely a question of time when Norway would be compelled to relax its hold upon the islands. Whether it was a mere native disinclination to fight, or a careful counting of the cost, which induced Magnus to depart from his father's policy, time seems to have justified the wisdom of his course. For all that, it is undeniable that the respect and influence abroad which Norway had gained by Haakon's assertion of the national dignity, were much diminished by the unwarlike spirit of his son. He had indeed the satisfaction to add Iceland to his possessions. But even this was in no wise due to his skill or merit. It was apparently the result of King Haakon's interference in the feuds of the Sturlungs, but in a deeper sense it was due to causes which do not lie so near the surface. The descendants of the proud men who, during the reign of Harold the Fairhaired, emigrated from Norway, merely because they would not surrender their allodial rights, would not have surrendered liberty itself without resistance, if they had not sadly degenerated from their ancestors.
Liberty had in Iceland long ago degenerated into license. No law had the power to bind the strong. It is a mistake to suppose that the institutions of the country were democratic. Though theoretically the rights of every free man were recognized, in practice they soon came to amount to very little. Icelandic society early separated itself into a yeomanry or peasantry and an aristocracy. The latter, who had the government entirely in their hands, proceeded by a series of bloody feuds to exterminate each other, until, of the fifty or more ruling families, scarcely half a dozen were left in possession of their dignity and power. As a matter of course, these half a dozen then endeavored to cut each other's throats, and, as the struggle grew fiercer, welcomed aid from any source and at any price. All public interests were lost sight of in the furious strife for personal ascendency. The proud sense of independence, which had been the glory of the race, developed into a mere ferocious passion for power, and a savage determination to crush out rivalry. Civic rights, moral obligations, and the bonds of blood were equally disregarded; brother waged war against brother and father against son. Murder and arson were every-day occurrences. Complete anarchy prevailed. Of this state of things Haakon Haakonsson took advantage, and by aiding one faction against the other secured the allegiance of the conquering party and thereby the submission of the island itself to the crown of Norway. Snorre's son-in-law and slayer, Gissur Thorvaldsson, was the first Earl of Iceland. He received the dignity from King Haakon (1258), before his countrymen had yet recognized the latter's overlordship. If it be true that the happiest nations are those which have no history, it may be safe to conclude that the happiest periods of a nation's life are the most uneventful. If so, the reign of Magnus Haakonsson afforded every chance of happiness to his subjects. The peasant cultivated contentedly his fields, and, undisturbed, the merchant and the artisan pursued their avocations. The development of the resources of the country afforded the king satisfaction, and he did all in his power to further every peaceful industry. To this end he also interested himself in legislation, and spent many years of his life in revising the laws and making them uniform. Formerly the country had been divided into four judicial districts, each with its own thing and its own laws. The Frosta-thing's code was the law of Tröndelag, the Gula-thing's code was valid on the western coast, the Eidsivia code in the Oplands, and the Borgar-thing's code in Viken. Out of these four, Magnus now caused a new general code to be elaborated for the whole country, abolishing what was antiquated, removing inconsistencies and adapting the spirit of the legislation to the needs of the age. For four hundred years his laws remained in force, and a few of them have remained until recent times. All things, great and small, relating to civic life interested him; and a certain over-confidence in the power of law to regulate all human concerns is traceable in his labors. For the cities he elaborated a municipal law, and for his vassals and courtiers a court law (Hirdskraa), which was, however, an adaptation of a previously existing code, dating from the days of Sverre. The court law dealt with the feudal duties and privileges of vassals, prescribed rules for courtly intercourse, and a fixed ceremonial for the proclamation of a king, the conferring of the feudal dignities, etc. Among other things it ordained that no longer, as of old, should a peasant, as the representative of the people, confer the royal dignity upon the heir to the throne, but the man of highest rank present.
An inclination is visible in King Magnus' legislation to break with the democratic past, and to remodel Norway, as nearly as possible, after foreign patterns. It was particularly England, with its feudal institutions, which seemed to him and his surroundings worthy of imitation. Although it was by no means a pure democracy which had prevailed in Norway hitherto, there had yet been a recognition of the people as the source of power, and the old stubborn sense of independence which characterized the peasantry had never been eradicated. Hitherto the laws had been submitted to the people at the things, where every free-born man could make himself heard. Now this venerable custom was abolished, and the king and his council reserved for themselves the right to make and repeal laws, without consulting the people. That this decree was accepted without protest, nay appears to have caused no particular excitement, shows plainly the change that had come over the spirit of the Norsemen. If a king had proposed such a law, in the days of Haakon the Good or Olaf Tryggvesson, he would have risked his throne and his life. Whether it was because royalty had risen to such dignity and power that it seemed hopeless to oppose it, or because the tribal aristocracy, instead of making common cause with the people, had attached itself to the crown, certain it is that the supine acceptance of so radical a change argued a degeneracy which explains the subsequent events.
It is scarcely to be wondered at that the rise of feudalism throughout Europe, during the thirteenth century, also had its effect upon the institutions of Norway. The ideas which Magnus embodied in his laws were, so to speak, in the air; and the commercial intercourse with England had familiarized the Norsemen with the titles and the pomp and circumstance of chivalry. Thus the Royal Council, consisting of the chancellor, the earls, and the liegemen, was obviously copied after the English institution of the same name, and, to make the resemblance complete, the ancient title of liegeman was abolished and that of baron substituted. The court officials were made knights and squires.[A] A privileged class was thus raised distinctly above the people; and the foundation laid for a hereditary nobility. A partial immunity from taxes was granted to barons and knights, and the lucrative offices in the gift of the crown were parcelled out among them. Though some elements of the ancient tribal aristocracy were absorbed in the new order, there was also a large element which owed its rise purely to royal favor. It is thus to be noted, that the new nobility of Norway was in the main a court nobility, which depended upon the crown for its dignity, and could not be expected, when occasion demanded, to antagonize the king in the interest of the people. It therefore shared the fate of royalty and lost its power when the royal house became extinct. For the later rulers, the Danish kings, were surrounded by a hungry aristocracy of their own, whose fortunes they were bound to push, and the Norse candidates for their favor had to be neglected. Thus it happened that the Norse aristocracy again returned to the people, from which it had originally risen. It was gradually absorbed by and identified with the peasantry, which thereby gained more than the nobles lost. "A compact class of allodial freeholders was formed, which, on account of their numbers and their remoteness from public affairs, may be styled a peasantry, but by reason of their liberty and self-assertion almost maintained the rank of a nobility."[B]
[A] It is impossible to give an adequate translation of the word herra in this connection. It is a lower title than baron and knight.
[B] J. Sars: Udsigt over Norge's Historie, ii., 399.
It is this proud peasant-nobility which until this day have constituted the strength of the Norse people and the bulwark of its re-arisen liberty. They have at all times, even during the darkest days of the union with Denmark, constituted a force with which the government had to reckon.
In spite of his conciliatory disposition, King Magnus' reign had its share of quarrels and disturbances. Chief among these was his controversy with the Church, which ended, on his part, with an abject surrender. The archbishop, at that time, was the haughty and ambitious Jon the Red (Röde), who, before consenting to a change in the law of succession, which the king had much at heart, extorted from him a series of humiliating concessions. At a meeting of notables in Tunsberg (1277), Magnus bound himself to abstain from all interference in the selection of bishops, and to surrender to the latter the right of filling, in accordance with their pleasure, all the clerical offices. He conceded, moreover, to the archbishop the privilege of coining money and to have a hundred men in his personal service, who should be exempt from feudal obligations to the king.
In his relation to foreign powers Magnus was equally unsuccessful in maintaining the dignity of his crown. When his brother-in-law, the Swedish king, Valdemar, begged him for help against his brother Magnus, who had deprived him of the greater part of his kingdom, preparations were indeed made for a grand campaign, but after several futile meetings and much talk, the Norwegian fleet was ordered home again and the Swedish king was left to his fate. To a proud and adventurous people like the Norsemen, jealous of their dignity at home and abroad, this unconquerable reluctance to draw the sword must have appeared humiliating. A high regard for honor and a genius for war had characterized the race up to this time; and however much one may disapprove of war, one cannot deny that peace may be bought at too high a price. The right to hold one's head high; to feel proud of one's history and one's country, is a precious privilege, without which no race ever achieved great things. King Magnus, by lessening the prestige which the country had enjoyed during the reign of his father, therefore contributed much toward the decadence which followed.
Physically as well as mentally, signs of degeneracy are beginning to be perceptible in the royal race of Norway. King Magnus was, indeed, endowed with a good intellect and his morals were blameless. But for all that, he was a far less sturdy and impressive personality than his father, and a still greater distance separated him from his great-grandfather, the wise, brave, gentle, unconquerable Sverre. Many of his imprudent acts are explained by the fact that his health was never vigorous. While he was yet in the prime of life, he began to suffer from ailments which warned his councillors that his days were numbered. He died in 1280, at the age of forty-one.
CHAPTER XXX.
ERIK PRIEST-HATER (1280-1299).
The barons, who had acquired extensive privileges during the reign of King Magnus, had a chance to establish their power still more securely during the minority of his son Erik, who, at his father's death, was but twelve years old. A great influence was also wielded by the imperious queen-dowager, Ingeborg, who made common cause with the barons and was the real soul of the regency. Of her two surviving sons, Duke Haakon, the younger, was the more fitted, by strength of body and mind, to occupy the throne. He received great fiefs, and though recognizing Erik's overlordship, conducted himself as an independent sovereign. He issued decrees, coined money, and made independent alliances with foreign princes. His brother was a weak, good-natured man who never knew how to assert his will against that of his mother and his high-handed councillors. The latter, among whom the barons, Hallkell Agmundsson, Audun Hugleiksson, and Bjarne Erlingsson of Giske and Bjarkö, were the most eminent, disapproved highly of the concessions which King Magnus had made to the Church, and were watching for an opportunity to check the power and arrogance of the clergy. They found it necessary, however, to conceal their plans, until the king had been crowned by Archbishop Jon, and they even consented to have him include in the coronation oath the promise "to yield all due honor to the clergy and the bishops, and to repeal all bad laws, especially such as might conflict with the liberty of the Church."
The archbishop interpreted this promise literally, and demanded after the coronation the repeal of the laws in question. The queen and the barons were, however, not disposed to yield a single point, but rather welcomed the opportunity to measure strength with the domineering prelates. It was of no use that the archbishop put Hallkell Agmundsson in the ban; his colleagues only honored him more conspicuously, and when Queen Ingeborg and Bjarne Erlingsson received the same punishment, they, as well as the people, showed an indifference, which left the archbishop powerless. After having vainly appealed to the Pope, and having been foiled at the Roman Curia by ambassadors from the barons, Jon the Red and two other bishops were outlawed and compelled to leave the country. The archbishop died in exile in Sweden in 1282.
The king, who was yet a mere boy, was neutral in this struggle. If the decision had rested with him, he would probably have continued his father's policy of concession, and the epithet "Priest-Hater," which has been attached to his name, is therefore undeserved.
When Erik was fourteen years old, he was married to Margaret of Scotland, the daughter of his grandfather's enemy, King Alexander III. The young queen died, however, a year later, after having given birth to a daughter, who, on the death of King Alexander (1284), was acknowledged as the heir to the throne of Scotland. While yet a child (1290), the Maid of Norway, as she was called, embarked for the land which she was to rule, but died before reaching it. Her father then, as his daughter's heir, laid claim to the Scottish crown, but the armed interference of King Edward I. of England compelled him to abandon his candidacy. He had at that time another controversy on his hands, which threatened serious results.
The queen-dowager, Ingeborg, was the daughter of the Danish king, Erik Plowpenny. His nephew, Erik Glipping, who succeeded his father, Christopher I., refused to surrender her inheritance, which consisted in landed estates in different parts of the kingdom. Magnus Law-Mender had vainly insisted upon the surrender of the property, and Erik, at the instigation of his mother, resumed negotiations, and, when these resulted in nothing, made threatening demonstrations. The Norse baron, Sir Alf Erlingsson, a special favorite of the queen, began to prey upon the shipping in the Sound, and by his recklessness and daring, made his name dreaded among seamen and merchants. He did, indeed, inflict much injury upon Danish commerce, and ravaged the coasts of Jutland and Halland; but the principal sufferers were the cities of the Hanseatic League, which, by the concessions of Magnus Law-Mender, had obtained a virtual monopoly of the foreign trade of Norway. Their ships were now seized without mercy by the noble pirate, who added insult to injury by once appearing incognito among them in an open boat, and bargaining with them about the price which they had set upon his head. It was of no use that the League sent out ships of war to capture him; he out-manœuvred them, deceived them, sent them on a wild-goose chase, and ended by capturing his would-be captors. Though not officially authorized to carry on war in this fashion, Sir Alf perceived that his performances were winked at by the queen-dowager, who was actually so gratified at his success, that she had him created an earl, and induced the king to use him as his ambassador to England. As allies of the King of Denmark, the Hanseatic cities were, in the queen's opinion, entitled to no consideration, but she forgot in her blind hostility that they had it in their power to take revenge. Partly on account of the risk, partly as a measure of retaliation, the Hansa forbade the importation of grain and other staples of food to Norway, and the result was famine and misery. The hostilities with Denmark in the meanwhile continued, but were, after the death of Queen Ingeborg (1287), conducted, not by piracy, but by open warfare. A conspiracy was formed against the life of King Erik Glipping, and he was murdered, while on the chase (1286), by Marshal Stig, Count Jacob of Halland, and others. The murderers, who were outlawed in Denmark, found a refuge in Norway, and accompanied King Erik on his campaign against their native country in 1289. The city of Elsinore was burned, and the Norwegian fleet lay for four weeks near Copenhagen, serving as a basis of operations for the outlawed king-slayers, who satisfied their private vengeance by burning cities and castles. Three similar expeditions, during the following six years, brought Erik neither honor nor profit in proportion to the cost of the enterprise; although, in the end, the Danish king, Erik Menved, was compelled to conclude an armistice for three years at Hinsgavl, in Funen (1295), at which he made a definite promise of the surrender of the disputed property. The king-slayers were permitted to return unmolested to their homes, and their estates were to be restored to them.
The war with the Hanseatic cities had come to an end long before, by the peace of Kalmar, (1285). The formidable weapon which they wielded, in their ability to cut off supplies, gave them so great an advantage that King Erik had no choice but to accept their terms. King Magnus of Sweden, who, according to mutual agreement, had been selected as umpire negotiated peace, on the conditions that King Erik should return to their owners all ships which had been captured, pay an indemnity of six thousand marks and greatly extend the commercial privileges of the Hansa. Thus the lawless valor of "Little Sir Alf," as the pirate earl was called, proved no less disastrous to his country than it did to himself. He did not appreciate the difference which the death of the queen had made in his position; but continued to tread law and honor under foot with defiant heedlessness. The baron, Sir Hallkell Agmundsson the commander of Oslo Castle, had for some reason incurred his hostility; and Earl Alf gathered, in the ancient fashion, a band of adventurers about him and commenced a rebellion, as it appears, against Duke Haakon, who was Sir Hallkell's protector. He even had the audacity to attack Oslo, set fire to the town, capture his foe, and after a brief imprisonment executed him. This daring murder brought upon him a sentence of outlawry; and he was forced to seek refuge in Sweden, where King Magnus took him under his protection. His luck had, however, deserted him, for when again he appeared as a corsair in Danish waters, he was captured and brought in irons into the presence of Queen Agnes. According to the ballad, she twitted him on the smallness of his stature; to which he replied that she would never live to see the day when she could bear such a son. Another and still more insolent remark made the queen so furious that she struck her fist against the table and declared that Little Sir Alf should be tortured on the rack, and his bones broken on the wheel. The sentence was executed the following day (1290).
After the death of his first queen, King Erik had married Isabella Bruce, the sister of Robert, who later became King of Scotland. He had by this marriage a daughter, Ingeborg, who became the wife of Duke Valdemar, the brother of the Swedish king, Birger Magnusson. King Erik died at the age of thirty-one (1299), after having been king for nineteen years.
CHAPTER XXXI.
HAAKON LONGLEGS (HAALEGG), 1299-1319.
Duke Haakon, the second son of Magnus Law-Mender, succeeded his brother without opposition. He was then twenty-nine years old, tall and of stately appearance. He had not been long upon the throne, before he showed the haughty barons that he meant to have a reckoning with them. He first summoned Sir Audun Hugleiksson to meet him in Bergen, tried him for treason, and had him executed (1302). A woman from Lübeck had, two years before, appeared in Norway and created much excitement by claiming to be the Princess Margaret, "The Maid of Norway," who had died on the Orkneys. Her trial proved her to be an impostor, and she was burned at the stake. According to one conjecture, Sir Audun was in some way compromised by her trial, and it is not unlikely that he may have encouraged her pretensions. The legend, however, relates that Sir Audun suffered death for having insulted the king's bride, Countess Euphemia of Arnstein, whom, in 1295, he brought over from Germany.
It must have been an unpleasant surprise to the barons, who had had their own way so long, to find a stern and determined master in the new king, and it is the more to his credit that, in spite of their hostility, he induced them to consent to a change in the law of succession in favor of his daughter Ingeborg and her issue. As he was the only male descendant in the direct line of the old royal house, it was a source of uneasiness to him that he had no sons, and he foresaw that the only means of averting civil war, after his death, was to secure the succession to the prospective sons of his daughter, and in case she had none, to herself. Princess Ingeborg was, while a mere child, promised in marriage to the brilliant and ambitious Duke Erik, the second son of King Magnus Birgersson of Sweden. By this betrothal, King Haakon became involved in the quarrels of the dukes Erik and Valdemar with their brother, Birger Magnusson, whom they were endeavoring to dethrone. The dukes hated the king, and the king, who was jealous of Erik's popularity and eminence in chivalrous accomplishments, reciprocated their feelings. The long-smouldering hostility at last blazed forth, in 1306, when the dukes treacherously assaulted their brother and held him captive for about eighteen months. King Haakon was induced to take their part in the struggle, perhaps chiefly because his enemy, the king of Denmark, made common cause with King Birger. The good understanding between them did not, however, last long, for when it began to look as if Duke Erik aimed at the union of the three Scandinavian kingdoms under his own sceptre, Haakon, as an interested party, could scarcely remain inactive. He demanded the restoration of the fiefs which he had granted the duke during his exile. When this was refused, he opened negotiations with the king of Denmark, who was the brother-in-law of King Birger, and concluded a preliminary treaty at Copenhagen (1308) in accordance with which the Princess Ingeborg was to marry Magnus, the son of King Birger. Duke Erik then invaded Norway with an army, took Oslo and vainly besieged the fortress of Akershus. The province of Jemteland was also attacked by the Swedes, and the duke had in 1309 an indecisive fight with a portion of the Norwegian fleet in Kalfsund. Finally, after another fight, in which Erik gained the upper hand, negotiations were resumed, and by mutual concessions peace was reëstablished (1310). Duke Erik had a powerful ally at the Norwegian court in Queen Euphemia, whose love for him was not of an entirely maternal character. He had thus little difficulty in conciliating King Haakon and getting again the promise of his daughter's hand. The wedding was finally celebrated with much splendor in Oslo in 1312. Duke Valdemar married the same day the king's niece, Ingeborg, the daughter of King Erik Priest-Hater. About four years later, when the hope had almost been abandoned, each of the duchesses bore a son. King Haakon's joy at this happy event was great, for it relieved him of his anxiety for the succession. But his joy was of short duration. There was one man in Sweden who was not rejoiced at the birth of the young princes, and that was King Birger. He feigned, however, delight, and invited his brothers to a great feast of reconciliation at the castle of Nyköping. When the festivities were at an end, the dukes were thrown into prison and deprived of their lives. As there was no sign of violence on their bodies, the rumor went abroad that they had been starved to death. This was probably true. The tidings of this calamity gave King Haakon such a shock that he never recovered from it. He died, 1319, aged forty-nine years. With him the male line of the race of Harold the Fairhaired became extinct.
The war with Denmark which had lasted twenty-eight years, was continued in a desultory fashion during Haakon's reign, but no important battles were fought. He used his fleet mainly as a threat to enforce his claims. All that he gained was the temporary possession of the province of Northern Halland, as security for the final surrender of his maternal inheritance.
In internal affairs King Haakon exhibited, according to the ideas of his age, no mean degree of statesmanship. His administration was both prudent and vigorous. He checked the usurpations of the Hanseatic cities, which were driving native merchants out of the foreign trade, and deprived them of some of their privileges. An honest intention to do right, coupled with considerable ability, characterized both his public and private life. For all that, his despotic temper tended to alienate the people from public affairs; and thus prepared the way for the following centuries of humiliation.
CHAPTER XXXII.
MAGNUS SMEK (1319-1374), HAAKON MAGNUSSON (1355-1380), AND OLAF THE YOUNG (1381-1387).
Magnus Eriksson, the son of Duke Erik and Ingeborg, was only three years old when his grandfather died, and the government therefore fell into the hands of a regency, the members of which had already been designated by King Haakon. Shortly before, a rebellion had broken out in Sweden against King Birger, who, on account of the murder of his brothers, was detested by his people. He was deposed and his son Magnus, though he was in no wise responsible for his father's crimes, was executed. At the instance of the regent, Mats Kettilmundsson, Magnus Eriksson was proclaimed king; and Norway and Sweden were thus for the first time united under one ruler. The union was a mere nominal one, the two countries having separate laws and administrations, and nothing in common except the king, who was to divide his time equally between them. During Magnus' minority, however, his mother, Duchess Ingeborg, governed in Norway with the utmost recklessness, making great scandal by her love of the Danish nobleman Knut Porse, duke of Halland, whom she later married. To enrich him she squandered the revenues and forfeited her popularity. When the treasury was on the verge of bankruptcy and loud murmurs of discontent were heard from all sides, the duchess was at last deprived of her power, and Sir Erling Vidkunsson of Bjarkö and Giske was made regent in her place.
When King Magnus, surnamed Smek, reached his majority, he assumed the government in both countries (1332). Being born a Swede, he lacked comprehension of the Norsemen, and showed little interest in their affairs. He was a weak and good-natured man, anxious to please all, and therefore succeeded in pleasing no one. In Sweden he had his hands full, in endeavoring to control the unruly nobility, whose pretensions were supported by his oldest son, Erik. He therefore rarely came to Norway, and made no adequate provision for the government during his absence. Erling Vidkunsson then made himself the spokesman of the universal discontent, and with other magnates compelled the king, at a meeting in Bergen (1350), to take his second son, Haakon, as co-regent and to abdicate the crown of Norway, in his favor, as soon as he should have reached his majority. It was then understood that Erik would be his father's successor in Sweden. But unforseen events frustrated this expectation. In 1359 Magnus and his queen, the wily and malicious Blanca of Namur, made a visit to King Valdemar Atterdag in Copenhagen. It was there arranged that Haakon should marry Valdemar's eldest daughter and heir, Margaret, and that the Danish king should extend his protection to Queen Blanca's favorite, Bengt Algotsson, whom Erik had declared to be a public enemy and was determined to destroy. At the instigation of King Valdemar, she chose, however, an easier way to accomplish her baneful purposes. She poisoned her son. Haakon was now heir both to Norway and Sweden, and his and Margaret's issue, presumptively, to Denmark. The Swedes were by no means pleased with this arrangement, and the Norwegian magnates would, if they had been consulted, have expressed themselves no less strongly against it. They must have foreseen in this union the inevitable decay of the Norse national spirit and the gradual extinction of their nationality. The Swedes, being a larger people, had less to fear from it, but yet regarded it as prejudicial to their interests. Their feeling toward Denmark was not, just then, of a friendly character, chiefly owing to the pusillanimity of their king, in ceding the provinces Skaane, Halland, and Blekinge to the latter country, without any adequate return, unless it was a pledge of aid from King Valdemar against his own subjects. So secure felt Magnus in his new alliance, that he actually helped the Danish king to conquer the Swedish island Gottland, and permitted him to sack the town of Visby, which was one of the principal depots of the Baltic trade.
Now, the patience of the Swedes was at last exhausted. The Royal Council, supported by the nobility, declared that King Magnus, as well as his son Haakon, had forfeited their rights to the crown (1363), and called Duke Albrecht of Mecklenburg to the succession. Weak as he was, however, Magnus was not minded to give up his kingdom without a struggle. With whatever troops he could scrape together from the provinces which were yet faithful to him, he attacked King Albrecht at Enköping, but was defeated and taken prisoner. Haakon, dangerously wounded, made his escape into Norway. Though the Norwegians cared little for Magnus, they were too loyal to refuse Haakon their aid in his attempt to liberate him from the horrible prison in which he was languishing. The war was therefore continued with varying success until the Hanseatic League interfered and came near deciding it in Albrecht's favor. The German merchants had, during the feeble government of Magnus, obtained so great a power in Norway that they trod justice under foot, slew their enemies, refused to accept the king's money (which was not good), and leagued together to defy the laws and protect each other from punishment. The king was so incensed at their arrogant conduct, that he issued a decree expelling all Germans from the country. Unhappily he had not the power to enforce obedience to this mandate, and when the Hansa made war upon him, he was obliged to buy peace by further concessions. This left him comparatively free, however, to prosecute the war with King Albrecht, and when all negotiations had proved futile, he advanced with an army upon Stockholm, laying the country waste as he progressed. Here, at last, peace was concluded (1371) on the condition that Haakon should pay a ransom of twelve thousand marks for his father and renounce his claim to the throne of Sweden. In return, Magnus was to receive Skara-Stift, Vestergötland, and Vermeland. The old king was, however, not to enjoy long his dearly bought liberty. Three years later he was drowned in the Bömmelfjord in Norway (1374), and his son only survived him six years. Like so many of the kings of Norway, he died in his prime (1380).
The reigns of Magnus Eriksson and his son were a period of great disaster to Norway. In 1344 the Gula-Elv suddenly changed its course, owing to the fall of an enormous rock into its bed, and forty-eight farms were destroyed, and two hundred and fifty people and a multitude of cattle were drowned. In Iceland an earthquake and a great eruption of Hekla spread alarm and desolation. But the worst of all calamities was the Black Death, a terrible pestilence, which, after having ravaged Germany, England, and Southern Europe, reached Norway in 1349. An English merchant vessel first brought the pestilence to Bergen, whence it spread with great rapidity over the entire land. In Drontheim the archbishop and all the canons of the cathedral chapter died, except a single one, who then alone elected the new archbishop. In many districts the entire population was swept away; horses and cattle starved to death, for want of attendance, or perished in the woods. The results of the labor of centuries were destroyed. Where once there had been fertile valleys and animated human intercourse, the forest grew up unheeded. The fox barked in the deserted farm-houses, and the wolf prowled in the empty churches. In many places the dead lay unburied, until, by the slow process of dissolution, the earth reclaimed them. Sloth and indifference took possession of the survivors. The peasant neglected to till his fields, because he could procure neither horses nor laborers to assist him. Famine and death were the result. All industries stagnated, and what there was left of Norwegian commerce fell completely into the hands of foreigners. As is usually the case in the times of great plagues, when the restraints of social order are relaxed, vice grew riotous, and every extreme of lawless passion was wantonly displayed. Centuries elapsed before the country recovered from the results of this terrible calamity. But there were other causes which combined with the pestilence in producing the political impotence and social barbarism which followed. There is a danger in doing injustice, even to the Black Death, and it has, until recently, been the fashion to make it solely responsible for the eclipse of Norway's glory.
Olaf, the only son of Haakon Magnusson and Margaret, was proclaimed King of Norway at his father's death. Five years earlier he had, after the death of his maternal grandfather, been elected king of Denmark. As he was yet a child, his mother Margaret and the Council of the Regency conducted the government in his name. Thus commenced the union of Norway and Denmark, which lasted without interruption for 434 years, and which proved so disastrous to the former country. Olaf died at the age of seventeen at Falsterbro in Skaane.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
NORWAY DURING THE KALMAR UNION.
Olaf was succeeded both in Denmark and Norway by his mother, Margaret, who became reigning queen. The real heir to the Norwegian throne was, in accordance with the law of succession, the Lord High Steward (Drost) Haakon Jonsson, a grandson of Agnes, an illegitimate daughter of Haakon Longlegs. But he did not possess the power to assert his claim against Margaret, who, by skilful intriguing, had induced the archbishop, Vinald, and the majority of the clergy to take her side. The Norwegian Council of Regency, in which the partisans of the queen likewise preponderated, seemed ready to do any thing which she demanded, and even yielded to her wish in pledging themselves to choose her grand-nephew, Erik of Pomerania, as her successor (1388). In accordance with this promise they declared Erik, during the following year (1389), king of Norway, under the guardianship of Margaret, until he should reach his majority.
The ambitious queen now turned her attention to Sweden, where she had a bitter and determined foe in Albrecht of Mecklenburg. He was remotely related to the royal house of Norway, and therefore believed himself to be the nearest heir to the throne. He was boiling over with animosity toward Margaret, whom he called "Queen Breechless," and never referred to, except with opprobrious epithets. As this kind of harmless ammunition produced no effect, however, he boldly assumed the title of king of Denmark and Norway, and prepared to enforce his claim. But he had reckoned without his host, when he supposed that the Swedes would support him in this enterprise. The Swedish nobility, which possessed greater power than the king, had long been dissatisfied with Albrecht, because he had surrounded himself with Germans, to whom he had given fiefs and posts of honor. They had long desired to rid themselves of him, and when Margaret made overtures to them, they seized the opportunity to accomplish their purpose. In February, 1389, Albrecht had to confront a united Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian army. The battle, fought at Falköping, in Vestergötland, was fraught with great results. Albrecht, who was unacquainted with the region, ventured with his heavy cavalry out upon a frozen marsh, fell through, and was taken prisoner. Margaret had him now in her power and determined to make him pay the penalty for the liberty he had taken with her name. Instead of the crown of Denmark, which he had meant to wear, she put upon his head a fool's cap with a tail 28 feet long, and mocked him mercilessly. He was then imprisoned in the castle of Lindholm, in Skaane, where he spent six years.
After the battle of Falköping Margaret's army met with no resistance in the southern provinces; but Stockholm had to be subjected to a long siege, during which it suffered greater depredations from internal than from external foes. Bloody feuds between two contending parties raged within the city. A brotherhood of pirates, the so-called Vitalie Brethren, furnished the citizens with provisions, thereby delaying their surrender. These pirates had for the nonce entered into an alliance with Rostock and Wismar, two cities of Mecklenburg, which sympathized with the imprisoned Albrecht. In the end Stockholm was forced to open its gates to Queen Margaret, in accordance with a compromise which was concluded in 1395. Albrecht was to pay a ransom of sixty thousand marks, and in case of his failure to provide this sum, within three years, he should either return to his prison or surrender Stockholm. He chose to do the latter.
Margaret had now reached the goal of her desires. She was the ruler of the whole Scandinavian race. She might have placed the triple crown upon her head, but preferred to secure this proud prize to her nephew, Erik of Pomerania, by having him crowned while she was yet alive. To this end she summoned representatives of the three kingdoms to a meeting in Kalmar, where a draft was made for a constitution, upon which the union was to be based. Although the document was signed by the Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish magnates present, it was scarcely legally binding upon their countrymen. It bears the date of July 20, 1397, and contains the following stipulations:
1. The three kingdoms were to be eternally united under one king.
2. If the king died without issue, the magnates of the three kingdoms should come together and peaceably elect a successor.
3. Each kingdom should be governed in accordance with its own laws and customs; but if one of the kingdoms was attacked, the two others should, in good faith, assist in its defence.
4. The king and his councillors from the three kingdoms should have the right to enter into foreign alliances, and whatever they agreed upon should be binding upon the three countries.
This was the famous Kalmar Union, which might have been a blessing to the brother kingdoms, but which to two of them, at least, became a curse. At first sight, it seemed a rational arrangement which promised success. The three nations were so closely akin, that they understood without effort each other's languages, which were but slight modifications of the same original tongue. If the forces which had been wasted in mutual wars and rivalries could have been combined for mutual help and common purposes, the kingdom of Scandinavia would have risen in prosperity and strength and would have taken a place among the European powers. Under a wise and far-sighted policy, the society of the three kingdoms could have been gradually amalgamated, its similarities and common interests emphasized, its differences slowly obliterated. If the kings of the Union had had the slightest conception of the task that was presented to them, and had been capable of viewing themselves apart from their Danish nationality, such results might have been achieved. But they were, with a single exception, utterly destitute of political ability and foresight. They were determined to raise the Danish to the position of a dominant nationality and to reduce Norway and Sweden to a provincial relation. Hereby they aroused again the ancient jealousies. They sent a troop of Danish and German nobles to prey upon the latter countries, which they seemed to regard as conquered territory. The Swedes complained of their being obliged to pay taxes, in order to defray the expenses of Danish wars, and they were vehement in their denunciation of the extortion of the Danish officials who plundered their provinces like Roman proconsuls.
QUEEN MARGARET.
The Norwegians were preliminarily disposed to be more patient, chiefly because they lacked spokesmen, the remnants of their old nobility being too powerless to assert themselves against the Danes. Nor can it be said that, during Queen Margaret's life, the conditions were intolerable. She died, however, in Flensborg (1412) aged 59 years, leaving her wide dominions in the feeble hands of Erik of Pomerania.
Erik had inherited from Margaret a war with the dukes of Sleswick, which lasted for twenty-five years, exhausting the resources of his realm and completely revealing his incapacity for government. The Swedes grumbled at the taxation which the war necessitated, and rebelled under the leadership of Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson. A Danish prefect, Jösse Eriksson, had been guilty of great cruelty to the peasants in Dalarne, taking their horses and oxen from the plow, hitching their pregnant wives to hay-loads, and horribly maiming all who dared to complain. Engelbrekt went twice to Denmark and asked the king to remove this malefactor, but was the first time put off with promises and the second time bluntly rebuffed. He then placed himself at the head of a rebellion, which spread from Dalarne over the whole kingdom. In Norway a similar, though less formidable, revolt broke out under Amund Sigurdsson Bolt (1436), who likewise sought to obtain redress against the Danish magistrates. The king, however, who saw his advantage in allowing considerable latitude to his creatures, wearied of the eternal complaints, and, carrying with him whatever money was left in the treasury, took up his residence in a fortified castle on the island of Gottland (1438). He was now formally deposed both in Denmark and Sweden, while in Norway the regent, or governor, Sigurd Jonsson, continued for a while to conduct the government in his name. When it became generally known, however, that the king had become a pirate, the Norwegians, too, revoked their allegiance (1442). For ten years Erik lived in his castle in Gottland, supporting himself by piracy, but was finally driven away. He then returned to Pomerania, where he died in 1459.
During the reign of this unworthy king, the city of Bergen was twice sacked and partly burned by the Vitalie Brethren, who murdered the citizens, plundered the churches and the episcopal residence, and carried away a rich booty.
With the tenacious fidelity peculiar to their race, the Norwegians adhered to the cause of Erik, even after he himself had abandoned it. They had, however, no choice but to recognize as his successor his nephew, Christopher of Bavaria, who had already been proclaimed king in Denmark and Sweden. In the latter country Charles Knutsson Peasant (Bonde), who, after the murder of Engelbrekt, had become the leader of the rebellion, and later regent, had vainly endeavored to break the Union. The clergy made common cause with Christopher, and were instrumental in securing his election.
Christopher was a jolly and good-natured man, who had no aptitude for affairs of state. When the Swedes complained of the piracy of Erik of Pomerania, he answered merrily: "Our uncle is sitting on a rock; he, too, must earn his living."
He deserves, however, as far as Norway was concerned, the credit of good intentions. He made an effort, though a futile one, to deprive the Hanseatic cities of their monopoly of trade, by giving equal privileges to the citizens of Amsterdam. The League was then less formidable than it had been, owing to the successful rivalry of the Dutch in other markets. It is difficult to say what the issue of the struggle would have been, if Christopher had lived. Death overtook him in 1448, when he was but thirty-two years old.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE UNION WITH DENMARK.
It has been said that, during the union with Denmark, Norway had no history, and this is partly true. The history of the Oldenborg kings, with their wars, and court intrigues and mistresses, is in no sense the history of Norway. Nor was the social development of Norway parallel with that of Denmark, during the reign of these kings. Though oppressed and politically powerless, the remoter kingdom escaped the utter misery and degradation which overtook its oppressor. The Danish nobility, though, like hungry wolves, they consumed the people's substance, did not succeed in reducing the Norse peasantry to serfdom, as they did their own. The so-called Vornedskab[A] in Denmark was but another name for serfdom. The nobles, who held the land, in a hundred ways oppressed and maltreated their peasants; they could sell, though they were not at liberty to kill them. Denmark, being an elective and not an hereditary kingdom, afforded the nobility opportunities for continually strengthening their position, by exacting an increase of their privileges of each candidate for the throne, before consenting to elect him. This contract or charter granted by the kings to the nobles (Haandfestning) became a terrible instrument for the oppression of those estates which were either unrepresented or without influence in the Royal Council. From having been a body, subordinate to the king, the council gradually became co-ordinate with him, and at last his superior. From this state of things it followed that the king needed some counterbalancing support against its overweening influence, and this support he sought in Norway. Here the election was a mere form, the succession being based upon hereditary right. The king could, if he was minded to redress the grievances of the people, rely upon their loyalty. Even if he was deaf to their complaints, they were disposed to excuse him, and hold his councillors responsible for his shortcomings. But, as a rule, the kings of the house of Oldenborg did pay more attention to the complaints of their Norse subjects than to those of their own, and they did this—first, because it was important to them to preserve the loyalty of the Norsemen; secondly, because the Norsemen, if their petitions were unheeded, stood ready to take up arms. They knew their rights from of old, and a continued infringement of them, on the part of the foreign officials, made sooner or later the war-arrow fly from farm to farm; and the king was confronted with an armed rebellion. Again and again the obnoxious magistrates, who had imagined that these sturdy mountaineers were as meek and long-suffering as their Danish brethren, were mercilessly beaten, maimed, or killed. Repeatedly the government was forced to concede to rebels what they had not yielded to supplicants. Unpopular laws were revoked, oppressive burdens removed, and promises made of improved administration.
[A] Prof. J. E. Sars: "Norge under Foreningen med Danmark." Nordisk Universitets-Tidskrift for 1858 and 1861.
And yet, in spite of these ameliorating circumstances, Norway's condition during the Danish rule was miserable. The revenues of the country were spent in Copenhagen, and the people were heavily taxed to support a foreign court and a hungry brood of foreign officials, whose chief interest was to fill their own pockets. Danish nobles married into the great Norwegian families, and secured, by bribery and intrigue in Copenhagen, a virtual franchise for unlimited ill-doing. Great estates were accumulated in the hands of men like Vincentz Lunge, Hartvig Krummedike, and Hannibal Sehested, and the courts were prostituted to favor the land-grabbing schemes of noble adventurers. The public spirit which, in times of old, had jealously watched over the interests of the realm, had already been weakened by the incipient despotism of the last national kings; and what there was left of it now gradually expired. A most striking proof of this is the fact that when, in 1537, Norway lost the last vestige of her independence, being declared to be a province of Denmark, the decree was accepted without protest, and caused no perceptible excitement. So gradually had the change taken place, that no one was surprised. The same peasants who boldly resented any encroachment upon their personal rights and killed the magistrate who overtaxed them, heard without a murmur of the extinction of their nationality. It has been surmised, as a cause of their lethargy, that they did not hear of it—at least, not simultaneously, but gradually and casually, in the course of years; and it is not improbable that the imperfect means of communication was responsible for their apparent acquiescence.
No attempt will be made in the following pages to relate the history of Denmark, except in so far as it directly affected that of Norway, and the plan of the present work excludes any but the most general characterization of the social conditions. The story of the Union will, therefore, be disproportionately short.
The death of Christopher of Bavaria afforded the Swedes an opportunity to assert again their independence. The common hatred of the Danes enabled the hostile estates to forget their differences and to unite in electing Charles Knutsson Peasant king of Sweden. The Norsemen had a candidate for the throne of Norway in the regent, Sigurd Jonsson, a descendant of Agnes, the daughter of Haakon Longlegs, but they failed to support him. One party desired to make common cause with Sweden and elect Charles Knutsson, while another favored Count Christian of Oldenborg, who had just been elected in Denmark. This latter party, supported by the Danish nobles, who already wielded a great influence, was victorious. King Christian I. (1450-1481) arrived in Norway in the summer of 1450, and was crowned in the cathedral of Drontheim. At a meeting of the Council of Regency in Bergen, it was resolved that Norway was to remain eternally united with Denmark under one king, but that each kingdom should be free and the other's equal, and should be governed in accordance with its own laws and by native-born officials.
Christianus. I. Rex Daniæ.
Christian could not give up the thought of reëstablishing the Kalmar Union, and he therefore waged war for several years with King Charles Knutsson. In 1452 the latter invaded Norway and conquered Drontheim, but the commandant in Bergen, Sir Olaf Nilsson, again drove him back across the frontier. Soon internal dissensions in Sweden enabled Christian to defeat Charles and expel him from his country (1457); and, in 1458, the three kingdoms were thus again united. Christian's extortions and shameless breaches of faith made him, however, soon so detested both among peasants and nobles, that a rebellion broke out; Charles was recalled, and, though he did not at once become master of the situation, he succeeded in keeping the Danes at bay. He died as King of Sweden in 1470. When Christian during the following year made an attempt to conquer Sweden, he was overwhelmingly beaten at Brunkeberg near Stockholm by the regent, Steen Sture the Elder.
In Norway Christian broke his promises with the same cynical disregard as he did in Sweden. Instead of appointing native officials, he allowed the Danish nobles to plunder as of old, and made no effort to discipline them. The German merchants in Bergen also became constantly more insolent in their behavior toward the citizens, whom they drove away from the wharves and treated like conquered people; but Christian did not dare to restrain them in their violations of law and order, because he feared that the Hansa might avenge itself by interfering in his war with Sweden. Even when the Germans murdered Sir Olaf Nilsson, his friend, Bishop Thorleif, and sixty other citizens, and burned the cloister of Munkeliv, the king refrained from punishing them.
Highly characteristic of the way the Danish kings regarded Norway was Christian's transaction with James III. of Scotland. A marriage was arranged with the latter and Christian's daughter Margaret, and the dower was fixed at 60,000 gülden. As the Danish king was unable to pay this amount, he remitted the tribute due from Scotland for the Hebrides, pawned the Orkneys for 50,000 gülden and the Shetland Isles for an additional amount. Thus Norway lost these ancient dependencies; for it is needless to say that they were never redeemed.
Christian I. was succeeded by his son Hans or Johannes (1483-1513). The Norsemen, who had now had a sufficient taste of Danish rule, were not anxious to be governed by him, and a rebellion broke out, which, however, was short-lived. The Danish nobles, who, by marrying Norwegian women, could obtain citizenship, had by this time secured a preponderating power in the Council of Regency, and had small difficulty in getting their king acknowledged. The Swedes resisted until the year 1497, when Hans defeated Steen Sture's army and was declared king of Sweden. Three years later, however, he suffered a terrible defeat in Ditmarsken (1500), whose inhabitants opened the dikes and called in the ocean as their ally. Four thousand Danes were here slain or drowned, and enormous treasures were lost. This was the signal for renewed risings both in Sweden and in Norway. The Norse knight, Sir Knut Alfsson, of Giske, who derived his descent from the old royal house, united with the Swedes and defeated Duke Christian, the king's son, in Vestergötland. Then he invaded Norway and captured the fortresses Tunsberghus and Akershus; but was besieged in the latter place by the Danes under Henrik Krummedike. Seeing small chance of taking the fortress, the Danish general invited Sir Knut to a conference, under safe-conduct, but foully slew him and threw his body into the water. The wretched king apparently approved of this treason, for instead of punishing Sir Henrik, he heaped honors upon him, and declared the great possessions of the murdered man to be forfeited to the crown.
Once more the Norsemen attempted to throw off the detested Danish yoke (1508), under the leadership of the peasant Herluf Hyttefad, but the country was already too divided between the foreign and the native interest to afford sufficient support for a successful rising. Duke Christian came with a Danish army and quelled the rebellion, and executed its leaders. He did not, however, satisfy himself with this. He was a believer in radical measures. In order to break the rebellious temper of the Norsemen, once for all, he captured and murdered as many of the representatives of the great Norse families, as he could lay hold of. With atrocious cruelty he raged in Norway until every trace of the rebellion seemed extinct.
The Swedes were more fortunate in their resistance to this blood-thirsty tyrant. After the death of Steen Sture the Elder (1503), they elected Svante Nilsson Sture regent, and after his death, his son, Steen Sture the Younger. These brave and patriotic men conducted the government with wisdom and energy, and succeeded in maintaining themselves against the power of the Danes during the remainder of the reign of King Hans.
Christian II. (1513-1523, d. 1559), was forced, on mounting the throne, to grant a charter to the nobility, which nearly deprived him of all power. The rule of the nobles had by this time become so great a curse, both in Denmark and Norway, that any measure for its curtailment seemed justifiable. Their principle of government was that of hawks in a poultry-yard. Whatever the citizens undertook for their advancement was checked by the interference of the privileged classes; commerce and industry were discouraged, lest the bourgeoisie should gain power enough to assert itself. The peasantry were given absolutely into the barons' power, and their degradation was made complete by the so-called "right of neck and hand," which Christian II. granted as the price of his crown. By this concession the nobles acquired the right to sentence and punish their peasants at their own discretion, without the intercession of the courts. The king, however, felt the humiliation of this concession scarcely less than its victims. He determined to prepare himself for a life and death struggle with the nobility; and with this in view strove to increase his power. He secured foreign alliances and married the wealthiest princess in Europe, Isabella, sister of the German Emperor Charles V. In order to reach that summit of power from which he should be able to crush the refractory magnates he deemed it important to regain the crown of Sweden, and at Bogesund he defeated Steen Sture the Younger, who fell in the battle (1520). The latter had had a bitter enemy in the wily archbishop, Gustavus Trolle, who made common cause with Christian, and crowned him king of Sweden. The archbishop thought this a good chance to avenge himself upon his enemies, of Steen Sture's party, and at his instigation Christian executed fifty of the most eminent men in Sweden, among whom were two bishops, thirteen members of the Council of Regency, and many brave citizens.
This was the notorious Carnage of Stockholm. Secure in the thought that the Swedes were now cowed into submission, Christian II. returned to Denmark; but his dastardly deed had an unforeseen effect. A young nobleman, Gustavus Eriksson Wasa, whose father had been beheaded and who had himself been captured by Christian, escaped from his prison and became the deliverer of his country. The common indignation against the tyrant united once more all warring factions; the Danes were everywhere defeated, and Gustavus Wasa became first, regent, and later, king of Sweden (1523). From that time forth, the power of the Danes in Sweden was at an end.
The failure of his plans abroad discredited Christian II. at home. His overweening self-esteem and impetuosity led him to commit rash acts, whereby he gave his enemies an advantage. Also in inaugurating reforms, which would have been beneficial, if they could have been carried into effect, he failed to measure the strength of the opposition which he would be sure to encounter. He issued a decree abolishing serfdom, encouraged commerce and industry, and hoped in the impending struggle to find support among the bourgeoisie and peasants, whose gratitude he had earned. Nor did he in this respect deceive himself. But long oppression had made the people timid, and their support was largely passive, and could not, without energetic leaders, be made to assert itself. The upper estates were yet too powerful. Christian had, by his devotion to Luther's teachings, also added the clergy to the number of his enemies, and by his championship of Dutch and native commerce he had incensed the Hansa. His uncle, Duke Frederick, of Holstein, took advantage of his many blunders, made alluring promises to the nobility, allied himself with the Hansa and began a war against his nephew. Christian summoned an assembly of notables to meet him at Viborg, but the nobles of Jutland, fearing that he might repeat the Carnage of Stockholm, sent him a letter, revoking their allegiance. Christian lost his courage, and instead of summoning the citizens to his support gathered all his treasures and fled to Holland (1523).
Duke Frederick, of Holstein, now ascended the throne under the name of Frederick I. (1524-1533), and by the aid of the Danish nobleman, Vincentz Lunge, soon succeeded in gaining Norway. Sir Vincentz, who was a highly-cultivated but rapacious and unscrupulous man, had married the daughter of the Norse knight, Sir Nils Henriksson, whose wife, Inger Ottesdatter, was related to the old royal house. This remarkable woman, commonly known as Mistress Inger of Oestraat, played a prominent rôle in her day, but, unhappily, threw the weight of her wealth and influence on the side of the oppressors. One of her daughters married the Danish nobleman Erik Ugerup, another Nils Lykke, and a fourth was betrothed by her ambitious mother to a Swedish impostor who pretended to be a son of Steen Sture and a candidate for the Swedish throne.
The doctrines of Luther were at that time being zealously preached in Sweden and Denmark, and were favored by the king and the greater portion of the nobility. In Norway there was no effort made to introduce the Reformation, and the people there remained devoted to the Catholic faith. Christian II. saw in this circumstance a chance of regaining his lost throne. He had previously inclined toward Luther, but he now declared himself the champion of the old faith, arrived in Norway with a fleet (1531), and gained a large number of adherents. But the same incapacity and imprudence, which had wrecked his fortunes before, again precipitated his downfall. In the critical moment, when resolution and courage were required, Christian, as usual, showed himself a poltroon. When the fortress of Akershus, which he was besieging, was relieved by the Lübeckers, and a Danish fleet arrived under the command of Knut Gyldenstjerne, he began to despair and finally betook himself to Denmark under safe-conduct, in order to negotiate with his uncle. On arriving there he was unceremoniously thrown into prison. Frederick I., although he had pledged his royal honor, at the request of the nobility, broke his promise and Christian was held a prisoner until the day of his death (1559).
The Norsemen were severely punished for their alliance with the deposed king, although Frederick I. had promised them immunity, on condition of their returning to their allegiance.
At the death of Frederick I. an interregnum of four years occurred (1533-1537), before a successor was chosen. It was the religious question which had divided Denmark into two hostile camps. Christian, the oldest son of the late king, was devoted to Protestantism, while Hans, the younger, had been brought up in the Catholic faith. The nobles, accordingly, favored the former, and the clergy the latter, while the lower estates desired to reinstate Christian II. in the possession of his throne. In Norway there were but two parties, one headed by Vincentz Lunge, favoring Duke Christian, and a Catholic party, which pinned its hopes upon the imprisoned king. A sudden show of strength was imparted to the latter's faction, when the Lübeckers took up his cause, and their general, Count Christopher of Oldenborg, invaded Denmark, and gave the peasantry a chance to avenge themselves upon their oppressors. This opportunity was eagerly embraced; castles were sacked and destroyed, noblemen murdered, and the wildest atrocities committed. For a while civil war raged in Denmark with all its horrors, and in the presence of this calamity the opposing parties buried their differences and elected Christian III. king (1537-1559). By the aid of King Gustavus in Sweden he succeeded in defeating and expelling Count Christopher, after whom this war is called the Count's Feud. The Norwegians were not disposed to recognize the validity of King Christian's election, concerning which they had not been consulted; and when, after the capitulation of Count Christopher, the cause of Christian II. seemed hopelessly lost, they declared in favor of his son-in-law, Count Palatine Frederick, whose candidacy was supported by the German Emperor. The Danish nobles, headed by Vincentz Lunge, were, of course, adherents of Christian III., while the archbishop, Olaf Engelbrektsson, was the leader of the opposition. At a meeting in Bergen, called for the purpose of electing a king, the people grew furious at the sight of the Danish magnates, attacked them and murdered Sir Vincentz Lunge. Many others were imprisoned and otherwise maltreated. If the Count Palatine had now arrived in Norway and supported his adherents, there might have been a chance of his success. But unhappily he lacked money and was not effectually aided by the emperor. The archbishop had therefore no choice but to offer his allegiance to Christian III. on condition of his respecting the ancient liberties of the land. But the Danish King, though he seemingly acquiesced, had no intention of granting such easy terms. He sailed to Norway with his fleet (1537), and although he met with no opposition, he seemed to think that he had conquered the country and had the right to do with it as he chose. He abolished the Norwegian Council of Regency and henceforth administered the government through a viceroy and a chancellor, both of whom were Danes. The last vestige of Norwegian independence was thus lost, and Norway became a province of Denmark.
Archbishop Olaf, without awaiting the king's arrival, fled to Holland, taking with him the treasures of the cathedral, and died in exile.
CHAPTER XXXV.
NORWAY AS A PROVINCE OF DENMARK (1537-1814).
During the reign of Christian III. the Lutheran faith was introduced into Denmark, and its introduction into Norway followed as a matter of course. The new Danish ecclesiastical law, called the Ordinance, was also made to apply to the provinces. The landed estates which had belonged to the Church were confiscated by the crown or distributed among royal favorites. In fact, the plunder of churches and monasteries was the only evidence of religious zeal which the Danes exhibited in Norway. The Catholic bishops were removed; but many of the priests were allowed to remain, as Lutheran pastors were hard to obtain and were needed at home. Gradually, however, the change took place; and everywhere aroused discontent among the peasantry. Many parishes were left, for long periods, without any kind of religious teaching, and when Lutheran pastors were sent up from Denmark, they were usually ignorant or vicious men who could not be used at home. Ex-soldiers, ex-sailors, bankrupt traders, and all sorts of vagabonds, who were in some way disqualified for making a living, were thought to be good enough to preach the word of God in Norway. The majority of them were utterly destitute of theological training, and it is said that there were some who could not even read. No one, then, ought to wonder at the reception they received from their parishioners. Some of them were killed, others driven away and horribly beaten. At last physical strength became the prime requisite for holding a pastorate in the Norse mountain valleys, and the surest road to popularity for a parson was to thrash the refractory members of his congregation. That inspired respect and inclined the rest more favorably toward his preaching. Great credit deserves the first Lutheran bishop in Bergen, Gjeble Pedersson, for his efforts to educate a native Protestant clergy. The Danish language, however, remained the language of the Norwegian church; all religious instruction was imparted in it, and at the present day, all who lay claim to culture in Norway speak Danish.
The depredations committed by the Danish nobles, during the reign of Christian III., defy description. It was the darkest period in the history of Norway, and, as far as the people were concerned, very nearly the darkest, too, in the history of Denmark. The power of the nobles reached such a height that the king himself was merely the tool of their will and was used by them, as an instrument for the most cruel and heartless oppression.
The discomfiture of the Lübeckers in the Count's Feud was the first serious check which the Hansa received in the North, and it never regained its former power. The Danish nobleman, Christopher Valkendorf, who was governor (Lensherre) in Bergen, succeeded in destroying the monopoly of the Germans in the fish trade, which now fell into the hands of native merchants.
BELT WRESTLING, A MODE OF SETTLING DIFFERENCES FORMERLY IN VOGUE IN NORWAY, DESCRIBED IN BAYARD TAYLOR'S "LARS."
Christian III. was succeeded by his son Frederick II. (1559-1588), a vain and worthless man, whose fondness for drink shortened his life. He waged a long and costly war with Sweden about the right to carry the Swedish "three crowns" in the Danish coat-of-arms. The Norwegians, although their sympathies were at the outset with the Swedes, suffered greatly from the inroads of hostile armies, which burned cities and ravaged the land. Sweden, regarding Norway merely as a Danish province, thought to injure its foe, by destroying whatever belonged to him or acknowledged his sway. Thus the cathedral of Hamar was burned; the fertile districts of Aker were harried, and the city of Drontheim was taken. The Danes burned Oslo in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Swedes.
Two Danish governors, Ludwig and Erik Munk, became notorious for their unheard of cruelties and extortions. The peasants sent repeated complaints to the king and threatened rebellion. At last Erik Munk was sentenced to return all taxes which he had illegally collected, and to restore to a peasant his property, of which he had unlawfully taken possession. Later he was deprived of his office, and committed suicide while in prison.
The city of Frederickstad, which was forced into existence, after the burning of the ancient Sarpsborg, bears the name of Frederick II.
THE NORTH CAPE.
Christian IV. (1588-1648) had not inherited his father's infirmities. He was a man of many excellent qualities; desirous of furthering the welfare of his subjects, but crippled in his efforts by the opposition of the arrogant nobility. What particularly deserves notice was his good disposition toward the Norsemen. Unlike his predecessors, he paid frequent visits to their country, once even penetrating within the Arctic Circle. He listened to the complaints of the people, and punished with fines and imprisonment the Danish officials who ventured to exceed their rights. The old law of Magnus Law-Mender which, on account of the change of the language, was now hard to comprehend, he abolished, and elaborated, in its stead, a Norse law, some regulations of which are yet in force. Also the ecclesiastical law or Ordinance was altered and adapted to the needs of the country. The present capital of Norway, Christiania, was founded by him, as also the city of Christiansand. The discovery of silver at Kongsberg, and of copper at Röraas, gave an impetus to the mining industries of the country, and thereby started the growth of two small towns.
By his kindness, his love of justice, and his interest in their affairs, Christian IV. won the hearts of the Norsemen, as no king of the house of Oldenborg, before or since. Sometimes he dropped in at a peasant's wedding, and drank the health of the bride; watched the games upon the German wharf in Bergen, and attended a party at the apothecary's where the jolly guests smashed all the windows. He had a pair of eyes which nothing escaped; and an active and alert mind which turned his observations to good account. All economical questions interested him; whatever he undertook, he supervised with the most minute care every detail of its execution. With level and square in his pocket he walked about testing the soundness of the work of his carpenters, masons, and architects.
Three great wars, two of which concerned Norway, disturbed the reign of Christian IV. The first, the so-called Kalmar War (1511-1513), occasioned an invasion of Scotch mercenaries hired by the king of Sweden. These came, however, to grief at Kringen in Guldbrandsdale, where the peasants attacked them, and at the first shot killed their commander, Colonel Sinclair. Of the entire force, numbering nine hundred, not one man, it is said, escaped. More fortunate was Colonel Mönnikhofen, who landed with eight hundred Dutch mercenaries in Söndmöre, and made his way, ravaging and plundering, across the frontier. The cause of this war was the assumption, on the part of the Swedish king, Charles IX., of the title of King of the Lapps, and his claim to the Norwegian province of Finmark. Charles died during the hostilities, and his son Gustavus Adolphus made peace at Knaeröd, abandoning both the claim and the title.
The participation of Christian IV. in the Thirty Years' War, as the ally of the oppressed German Protestants, brought him no glory. After his defeat by Tilly at Lutter and Barenberge, the imperial armies overran Sleswick and Jutland, and at the Peace of Lübeck (1629), Christian had to promise nevermore to meddle in German politics. After this humiliation, he could not see, without alarm, the progress of the Swedes in Germany; and could not refrain from placing obstacles in their way. The war was being continued, after the death of Gustavus Adolphus, by able generals and diplomats, who resolved to anticipate the Danish king in his efforts to thwart them. Before Christian suspected that his intentions were revealed, General Torstenson crossed the southern frontier, invaded Holstein, and advanced into Jutland (1643). The Danes were utterly unable to resist the conquering host, and though they hotly contested two naval battles, their inability to cope with the Swedes soon became apparent. Peace was, therefore, concluded at Brömsebro; and Norway was made to pay the costs of Danish incapacity and miscalculation. The two great Norse provinces Jemteland and Herjedale were ceded to Sweden; as also the island of Gottland, which had latterly belonged to Denmark (1647).
In Norway this war was named Hannibal's Feud, after the viceroy Hannibal Sehested, a son-in-law of the king, who, with the aid of the brave parson, Kjeld Stub, guarded the frontier.
One might have supposed that the nobles, at the death of Christian IV. would have rested content with the excessive privileges which they already possessed, and allowed his son Frederick III. (1648-1670) to ascend the throne, without stripping himself of the last remnant of his power. But as long as there was any thing left to grab, it seemed worth grabbing. Frederick III. was, therefore, compelled to grant a more humiliating charter than any of his predecessors, and would have been, if he had long acquiesced in the agreement, a mere shadow king. The arrogance and greed of the nobles, fostered by long security in aggression, became, however, the cause of their downfall. The Royal Council, which was the real governing power in the state, had the imprudence to declare war against Sweden, on the strength of a rumor, that the Swedish king, Charles X. Gustavus, had suffered an overwhelming defeat in Poland. This rumor proved to be false, and Charles conquered in a short time both Jutland and Funen, and threatened Copenhagen. Denmark was completely at his mercy, and the Council was compelled to buy peace at Roskilde (1658) by the cession of Skaane, Halland, Blekinge, Bornholm, and the Norwegian provinces, Viken and Drontheim. And yet in Norway the only success of the war had been won, the Norwegian general Bjelke having conquered Jemteland. It seemed as if Charles Gustavus, after having obtained these enormous advantages, regretted that he had not made an end of Denmark altogether. He hesitated to quit Danish territory, renewed the war, and was, by aid of the Dutch and Austrians, who feared his overweening power, defeated at Nyborg and repulsed at Copenhagen. In Norway the Trönders revolted successfully against the Swedish rule, and the Bornholmers likewise drove away the invaders. At the Peace of Copenhagen (1660), Charles Gustavus was forced to relinquish his hold upon these provinces, while keeping his other conquests.
FREDERICK III., KING OF DENMARK AND NORWAY.
It was plain that it was chiefly the nobles composing the Royal Council who were responsible for the degradation which these wars had brought upon Denmark. And yet, although they were in possession of great wealth, gained by pillaging the lower estates, they refused to bear any share of the public burdens. The condition of the country was now so desperate and the misery so great that but a breath was needed to kindle the smouldering indignation into flame. The public debt had reached an enormous amount, and there was no prospect of paying it without increased taxation. The king then summoned a diet to meet him at Copenhagen, and invited representatives of the clergy and the bourgeoisie to participate in its deliberations. These entered into an alliance with him against the nobles, and the latter, fearing an outbreak of violence, did not at first dare offer any resistance. When they picked up their courage again, the citizens of Copenhagen locked the gates and compelled them to come to terms. It was then resolved that Denmark should henceforth be an hereditary kingdom, and that the Royal Council should be abolished. All fiefs were revoked and a new system of administration was introduced, with royal officials, responsible to the king. It was agreed that a constitution should be adopted, and its elaboration was, very unwisely, entrusted to the king. Frederick III. was thus master of the situation, and as the matter seemed to have been left to his discretion, he preferred to rule without any constitution. The so-called Royal Law, which he endeavored to pass off as such, was rather intended to make his power secure, than to subject it to limitations. Thus absolutism pure and simple was introduced into Denmark (1660). The Danes had jumped from the frying-pan into the fire; and yet, though their condition was not enviable, there was a relief in having one master instead of many.
In Norway the effects of absolutism were chiefly perceptible in placing the country more nearly upon an equal footing with Denmark, and in producing a somewhat improved administration. The nobles continued to hold many lucrative offices, but the king was able to exercise a more restraining influence over them now that his authority was absolute. The fiefs were changed into counties (amter) and administered by royal officials with well-defined functions. A chance was presented to citizens to rise in the service of the state, and was improved by several able Norsemen, among whom the naval hero, Kort Adeler, was preëminent. After an honorable career in Dutch and Venetian service, against the Turks, he was made admiral in the Danish Navy, and greatly increased its efficiency.
Frederick III. visited Norway but once. The city of Frederickshald bears his name.
Although the royal revenues had been quintupled by the revocation of the fiefs, Frederick's son, Christian V. (1670-1699), was always in want of money. He spent his time in all sorts of costly amusements, hoping to rival the splendor of the French king, Louis XIV., whom he had taken for his model. In order to counteract the influence of the old Danish nobility, which, on account of its wealth, was yet formidable, Christian V. created a new court nobility of counts and barons, most of whom were Germans. German became the language of the court, and lands and lucrative offices were given away to German favorites. In order to procure money wherewith to imitate the glittering vices of Versailles, Christian V. sold his subjects, both Norwegians and Danes, as mercenaries for foreign service. He had an able adviser in his chancellor, Griffenfeld, who rose from poverty to the highest position, in order as suddenly to be plunged into misery. His enemies aroused the fickle king's suspicions as to his loyalty; and he was condemned to death, but his sentence, on the scaffold, was commuted to imprisonment for life. "Oh mercy more cruel than death," he exclaimed. Toward the end of his life he was, however, pardoned.
Christian V. had a new code of laws elaborated for Norway, which is yet partly in force. He waged a futile war with Sweden which cost blood and treasure, but brought no advantage to either of the combatants.
Frederick IV. (1699-1730) ascended the throne like his father, by right of inheritance, but did not in other respects follow in his footsteps. He was a shrewd, but ignorant man; penurious, industrious, and heartless. By his feud with the Duke of Holstein, he came into collision with the latter's brother-in-law, Charles XII., of Sweden, and after a brief and unsuccessful campaign, made peace on unfavorable terms at Travendal (1700). When, however, Charles XII., in 1709, lost the battle of Pultawa, in Russia, Frederick thought his opportunity had come for regaining what he had lost; wherefore he entered into an alliance with Russia and Poland and began the Great Northern War (1709-1720). Sixteen thousand Danish troops invaded Skaane, but were beaten by the Swedish general, Magnus Stenbock (1710). In the naval battle of Kjögebugt, the Norseman, Ivar Hvitfeldt, who commanded the ship Dannebrog, made a valiant attack upon the Swedish fleet. His ship, however, took fire, and although he might have saved himself by beaching it, such a course would have endangered the rest of the Danish fleet, which lay nearer shore. Hvitfeldt, therefore stayed where he was, sending volley after volley against the Swedes, while death was staring him in the face. When the fire reached the powder magazine, he, with five hundred men, was blown into the air.
On his return to Sweden in 1715 Charles attempted to conquer Norway and penetrated by three different routes into the country. He himself commanded the division which entered Höland (1716). The Norwegian Colonel Kruse met him with 200 men, who fought with such heroism, that Charles, brave as he was himself, was filled with admiration.
"Has my brother, King Frederick, many such officers as thou?" he asked the colonel, as he lay wounded at his feet.
"Oh, yes," answered Kruse, "he has plenty of them, and I am far from being among the ablest."
In his blindness, Frederick had, in order to raise money, hired out a large number of the country's defenders as mercenaries, leaving only a wretched little, half-naked and half-starved force of 6,000 men under General Lützow. Charles with his well-drilled troops expected to make short work of such paltry opponents. But he failed to take account of the Norsemen's temper. Every man, young and old—nay, many a woman, too, was ready to defend hearth and home against the foe. Colonel Löwen, whom he had sent with 600 men to destroy the silver mines of Kongsberg, was captured with 160 Swedes, by the Norsemen at the parsonage in Ringerike, after having been hoodwinked by the parson's wife, the intrepid and quick-witted Anna Kolbjörnsdatter. When, suspecting that he was trapped, Löwen put the pistol to her head, she asked, coolly:
"Do you serve your king in order to kill old women?"
Charles captured Christiania, but could accomplish nothing against the fortress of Akershus. The citizens of Frederickshald burned their town, so that it might not afford a shelter for the Swedes against the cannon of the fortress Fredericksteen. Here the two brave and patriotic brothers, Peter and Hans Kolbjörnsson, half-brothers of Anna, distinguished themselves, and, with their hardy volunteers, harassed the enemy incessantly. It became evident to Charles that he could not take the Norse fortresses without artillery, and he expected a convoy from home with field-cannon and other munitions of war. But this expectation, too, failed. His fleet was destroyed in Dynekilen by a daring deed of Tordenskjold, the greatest naval hero that Norway has produced. Tordenskjold, having learned from some fishermen that the Swedish admiral was to have a banquet on board, that night, concluded that the officers would scarcely be in condition for fighting, after having risen from the table. He cried to his lieutenant, Peter Grib:
"I hear that the Swedish admiral is going to have a carousal on his fleet. Would it not be advisable if we went with our ships and became his guests, though unbidden? The pilot says we have wind."
Under a rattling fire from the shore batteries Tordenskjold ran into Dynekilen and attacked the hostile fleet. He was right in his supposition that the enemy had imbibed heavily. But the danger sobered them. After three hours of heavy cannonading, the Swedish admiral capitulated with 44 ships and 60 cannon. When this intelligence reached the king, he began his retreat from Norway. But he could not give up the thought of conquering a country which was so poorly equipped for defence. In 1718 he sent General Armfelt with 14,000 men against Drontheim and moved, himself, against Fredericksteen with 22,000. The outer redoubt was stormed and taken and trenches were dug toward the main fortress. In one of these trenches Charles was standing, when he was hit in the head by a bullet from the fortress and fell dead. Armfelt, on receiving this intelligence, immediately retreated toward the frontier, but lost a great number of men, who froze and starved to death upon the mountains. Thus the war was at an end, and peace was concluded in Fredensborg (1720).
THE CAPERCAILZIE IN NORWAY.
The fortitude of the Norsemen had saved Denmark from a great danger. Frederick IV. rewarded their staunchness and intrepidity by subjecting them to further pillaging. In order to raise money for Danish needs, he sold all the churches of Norway to private parties, contending that, if the people owned them, they must have deeds and papers proving their right of property. By this miserable quibble, he pretended to give a show of legality to his spoliations. The trade with Finmark he sold to three citizens of Copenhagen, who interpreted their monopoly as a license for unlimited extortion. The population sank into misery and degradation.
During the reign of Frederick IV. lived the Norseman Ludvig Holberg, who was born in Bergen, 1684. He spent his life, however, in Denmark, writing a great number of excellent comedies, in Molière's style, mock-heroic poems, satires and historical works. The life of the first half of the eighteenth century is vividly portrayed and satirized in his writings.
Christian VI. (1730-1746) was an extreme pietist, and surrounded himself with Germans who sympathized with his morbid and lugubrious religion. He was lavish in his expenditures, built costly palaces, and introduced a rigid ceremonial at his court. The one meritorious act of his reign was the issue of a decree ordering confirmation in the Lutheran faith, and thus indirectly compelling all classes of the people to learn to read. Well-meant, but misdirected, were his efforts to encourage trade and manufactures, and positively disastrous was his decree forbidding the inhabitants of southern Norway to import grain from any other country than Denmark.
CARVED LINTEL, STABBUR, OR STORE-HOUSE; CARVED BEER-MUGS.
Frederick V. (1746-1766) was a man of kindly nature, but limited intelligence. He opened the theatres, which his father had closed, and abolished the many arduous regulations for the keeping of the Sabbath. He came within a hair of having war with Russia, and was only saved by the murder of the emperor, Peter III. But the great preparations he had made necessitated an increase of taxation, which especially fell heavily upon the poor Norse peasants. In Bergen, the "extra-tax" led to a revolt. The peasants broke into the city, and insulted and maltreated the magistrates, whereupon the tax was abolished. The Norwegian Military Academy in Christiania was founded during the reign of this king, as also the Academy of Sciences in Drontheim.
Christian VII. (1766-1808) succeeded to the throne at the age of seventeen, and wasted his youth in the wildest dissipation. His vitality was accordingly used up before he reached mature manhood, and insanity followed. During a journey abroad, he became much attached to his body physician, a German, named Struensee, and, after his return, made him prime-minister, and left the government entirely in his hands. Struensee was a man of great ability, penetrated with the ideas of Voltaire and Rousseau, and rather headlong in the reforms which he introduced. The nobles and the queen-dowager, Juliana Maria, hated him, and, by their influence, the king was induced to sign an order for his arrest. From the prison to the block the road was short. A favorite of the queen-dowager, named Ove Guldberg, carried on the government during the next twelve years, and revoked all Struensee's liberal measures. He endeavored to abolish the very name of Norseman, insisting that no such nationality existed, all being citizens of the Danish State.
During the reign of the last three kings, Norway had, owing to the peace, steadily advanced in material prosperity. The population had, in one hundred years, nearly doubled, being, in 1767, 723,000; and the merchant marine had, since the destruction of the Hanseatic monopoly, grown from 50 to 1,150 ships. A class of native officials, educated at the University of Copenhagen, began to replace the Danish, and, by the sale of the estates of the crown, the number of freeholders among the peasants was largely increased.
As the insanity of the king made him unable to attend to the government, his son, Crown Prince Frederick, became, in 1784, the responsible regent, and made an excellent selection of a premier in Andreas Bernsdorff (1784-1797). This capable and enlightened man piloted Denmark and Norway safely through the stormy times of the French Revolution. In the latter country four provincial superior courts were established, and a peculiar institution called "commissions of reconciliations," intended to prevent litigation. In 1800 Denmark had the imprudence to conclude a treaty of armed neutrality with Russia and Sweden, with a view to resisting the right, which England demanded, of searching the ships of non-combatants for munitions of war. It was the aim of England to cut France off from all commercial intercourse with the rest of the world and, as munitions of war were regarded not only guns and powder, but grain and all kinds of provisions. The Norwegian and Danish merchant marines, which were then doing a great business as carriers, were injured by this arbitrary interpretation. The government was, however, not strong enough to bid defiance to England, and after the battle in Copenhagen harbor (April 2, 1801) Denmark was forced to retire from the "armed neutrality." The crown prince, Frederick, seemed, however, to have a poor idea of the power of England, for his policy soon again began to show symptoms of friendliness for the emperor of the French. According to a secret agreement between Napoleon and Alexander of Russia (1807) at the Peace of Tilsit, the former was to take possession of the Danish fleet, and by means of it dispute England's dominion over the sea. The English government soon got wind of this plan, and immediately demanded the temporary surrender of the Danish fleet, guaranteeing its return as soon as peace was reëstablished. When this demand was refused, the English landed troops on Seeland and surrounded Copenhagen, while from the sea side they bombarded the city for three days and a half (1807). The Danes then had no choice but to surrender their fleet, but, owing to their resistance, it was never returned. This second battle of Copenhagen threw Denmark more completely into the arms of Napoleon, and when the emperor's star declined and set, his ally was left helpless at the mercy of his enemies.
Owing to the isolation of Denmark during the war and the difficulty of maintaining communication, Norway was temporarily governed by a commission, or council of regency, under the presidency of Prince Christian August of Augustenborg.
PEASANTS DANCING.
When Frederick VI. (1808-1814), at the death of his insane father, mounted the throne, the condition of his two countries was deplorable. His wrong-headed policy had placed him in a position which was wellnigh desperate. The war with England had put an embargo upon all commerce, and famine and misery were the result. Norway, which, without being consulted, had been dragged into this maze of difficulties, suffered from constant naval attacks, to which it was, by its long coast-line, particularly exposed. The finances were in hopeless disorder. To add to the confusion, a war broke out with Sweden, which, in time, had seen its advantage in seeking an English alliance. General Armfelt once more invaded the country, but Christian August did not lose his courage. The Council of Regency unfolded a heroic activity in carrying out his measures for the defence of the land, and divisions of Norwegian troops beat the Swedes in three successive fights (Toverud, Trangen, and Prestebakke). Simultaneously Sweden was attacked by Russia, which had guaranteed to enforce the stipulations of the Peace of Tilsit, one of which was the blockading of the Swedish ports against the English. But the obstinate king, Gustavus IV., would not give his consent to this measure, in consequence of which the Russians invaded Finland, and, after several hotly contested engagements, drove the Swedes out. The result of these disasters was the dethronement of the king and the election of his brother, Charles XIII., as his successor. As the latter was childless, he was induced to adopt the regent of Norway, Prince Christian August, as his heir, and there was thus a chance of the peaceful union of Norway and Sweden under an able and popular king. But, unhappily, this beloved prince died very soon after, at a review of troops in Skaane (1809). At the Peace of Frederickshamn, Sweden was obliged to cede Finland to Russia, but by the Treaty of Paris was guaranteed possession of Pomerania, on condition of its adhering to Napoleon's so-called "continental system." This naturally involved war with England, which was the one unconquered and irreconcilable enemy of the emperor; but as long as Sweden refrained from actively aiding Napoleon, England, which had its hands full elsewhere, assumed an expectant attitude and exercised no hostilities. But this semi-neutrality was far from satisfying Napoleon. Enraged by the indecision of Charles XIII., he again occupied Pomerania, thereby giving Sweden a pretext for openly siding with his enemies. Peace was concluded with England at Oerebro (1812), and soon after Sweden joined the great European alliance, which had for its object the overthrow of Napoleon.
This change of policy was, no doubt, to a large extent, due to Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, Prince of Pontecorvo, who had risen from the ranks in Napoleon's service, had become a field marshal, and after the death of Christian August, had been made crown prince of Sweden (1812). At a meeting with Alexander of Russia at Aabo, he was promised Norway, as a reward for his adherence to the cause of the allies; and the same promise was later repeated by England.
The condition of Norway, during this period, was aggravated by the continued blockading of her ports by the English. In 1812 a famine broke out, and the people were obliged to grind birch bark into flour and bake it into bread. The depreciation of the Danish paper money swept away the savings of thousands of families, and demoralized all commercial relations. Everywhere the greatest discontent prevailed at the union with Denmark, which had brought the country to such a strait. The tardy grant of a charter for a Norwegian University (1811) which had before been refused, caused a temporary enthusiasm, but did not allay the discontent. The political sense which seemed to have been dormant for centuries, began to awake again, and a feeling of independence and a desire for national self-assertion found expression in the Society for Norway's Welfare, (1810), in the liberal contributions to the University, and in a sudden patriotic ferment, which pervaded the land. The native official class came to the front as the leaders and exponents of these political aspirations, and rendered important service by formulating the people's desires and leading them toward rational aims. To be disposed of, like chattels, by foreign powers, which had no sympathy with Norway's traditions, nor interest in her welfare, was revolting to their self-respect, and amid all the insecurity, which the various moves upon the foreign diplomatic chess-board produced, a stubborn determination to resist to the utmost asserted itself among the thinking classes of the people.
As long, however, as Norway was a mere appendage of Denmark, it could not escape being involved in the consequences of King Frederick's policy. When, after Napoleon's disastrous campaign in Russia, the allies demanded the surrender of Norway to Sweden, the king refused and sent his cousin, Prince Christian Frederick, to govern the country as viceroy. But Napoleon's defeat at Leipsic and Bernadotte's invasion of Holstein, at the head of a large army, compelled him to come to terms. At the Peace of Kiel, (January 14, 1814) he ceded Norway to Sweden, and soon after released the Norsemen from their allegiance to him, giving up all claim upon their country for himself and his descendants.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
NORWAY RECOVERS HER INDEPENDENCE.
The indignation which the Peace of Kiel aroused in Norway was evidence that the Norsemen had awakened from their long hibernating torpor and meant to assert their rights. They were quite ready to give up their allegiance to Frederick VI., but contended that he had no right to dispose of it to any one else. Remembering how their country had without its own consent, contrary to law and treaties, become a dependency of Denmark, they held that the sovereignty, which Frederick renounced, reverted to the people who were thus in position to bestow it upon whom they chose. The viceroy, Christian Frederick, finding this sentiment very general, refused to abide by the decision of the powers and summoned several representative men to meet him at Eidsvold (1814). It had been his first intention to claim the crown of Norway by hereditary right and to govern as absolute monarch. But yielding to the advice of Professor Sverdrup and other patriotic men, he declared himself ready to accept the crown from the people and to govern in accordance with the constitution which the people should adopt. In order to explore the sentiment throughout the country, the prince had travelled in the middle of winter across the Dovre Mountain to Drontheim, and there were many who believed that it had been his intention to have himself crowned at once in the ancient city of kings. In Guldbrandsdale he stopped to read the inscription upon the monument, erected to commemorate the destruction of Sinclair and his Scottish mercenaries:
PRINCE CHRISTIAN FREDERICK, VICEROY OF NORWAY; LATER, KING OF DENMARK (CHRISTIAN VIII.).
"Woe to the Norseman whose blood does not course more warmly through his veins when he looks upon this stone."
"Are you, too," he asked the peasants who had come to see him, "like your forefathers, willing to sacrifice life and blood for your country?"
The result of the deliberations at Eidsvold was the summoning of a diet, consisting of representatives of the people from all parts of the country. The place of meeting was again Eidsvold, and the number of representatives was 112, most of whom were officials. A constitution, which was extremely liberal in its provisions, was adopted May 17, 1814, and Prince Christian Frederick was elected king. Norway was declared to be a free and independent country, but there was a division of opinion as to whether it should seek a union with Sweden or maintain a king of its own. The so-called party of independence, which was led by Judge Falsen, Professor Sverdrup, and Captain Motzfeldt, largely outnumbered the friends of Sweden, prominent among whom were Count Wedel-Jarlsberg, Chamberlain Peder Anker, Iron-master Jacob Aal, and the Rev. Nicolai Wergeland. The latter were not desirous of surrendering the liberty of the country, believing, on the contrary, that liberty was securer in a union with a stronger power. The smallness of Norway and the inability of the people to maintain an army adequate for its defence would, in their opinion, ultimately make the country the prey of any foreign power that chose to pick a quarrel with it. The Norwegian constitution, which, slightly amended, is yet in force, provides that:
1. Norway shall be a limited, hereditary, monarchy, independent and indivisible, whose ruler shall be called king.
2. The people shall exercise the legislative power through their representatives.
3. The people shall alone have the right to levy taxes through their representatives.
4. The king shall have the right to declare war and to make peace.
5. The king shall have the right of pardon.
6. The judicial authority shall be separated from the executive and the legislative power.
7. There shall be liberty of the press.
8. The evangelical Lutheran religion shall be the religion of the state and of the king.
9. No personal or hereditary privileges shall, in future, be granted to any one.
10. Every male citizen, irrespective of birth, station, or property, shall be required, for a certain length of time, to carry arms in defence of his country.
The representatives at Eidsvold were not unaware that the step which they had taken involved war with Sweden. For Bernadotte would scarcely regard the resolutions of a deliberative assembly as an obstacle to the possession of the prize, which he had earned by assisting in the overthrow of Napoleon. In the meanwhile, it was a happy circumstance to the Norsemen, that this overthrow had not yet taken place, and that the emperor for several months kept the army of the allies busy, thereby preventing Bernadotte from turning his immediate attention to Norway. It was a surprise to him to find the Norsemen determined to defend their rights, as he imagined that their long dependence upon Denmark had accustomed them to obedience and subordination. A letter which Charles XIII. had sent them, previous to the diet at Eidsvold, offering them a constitution and a Swedish viceroy, had been received with indignation, but after the surrender of Paris (March 31st) and the abdication of the emperor, the Napoleonic drama seemed preliminarily at an end, and there were no more foreign complications to prevent the Swedes from enforcing the paragraph in the treaty of Kiel, relating to Norway. The intelligence now arrived that the great powers had promised Bernadotte to compel Norway to accept the treaty, and envoys were sent from the various courts, commanding the Norsemen forthwith to submit themselves unconditionally to the king of Sweden. This the Norsemen refused to do, and soon after a Swedish army under Bernadotte crossed the frontier. The newly elected king now began to waver, and, being destitute of warlike spirit, he ordered the surrender of the fortress Fredericksteen to the Swedish fleet, without having fired a shot in its defence. The Norwegian army, ill-provided though it was with food and ammunition, was eager for fight, but the faint-spirited king showed his generalship chiefly in retreating. A second division of the Swedish army under Gahn was beaten in Lier by the Norwegians, under Colonel Krebs, and after a second assault at Matrand was forced to retire across the frontier. It became obvious that, without bloodshed, the conquest of the country was not to be accomplished, and as the Swedes, after their German campaign, were no less desirous of peace than the Norsemen, an armistice was concluded at Moss (August 14, 1814), in accordance with the terms of which the king should summon an extraordinary Storthing or Parliament, for the negotiation of a permanent peace. This Storthing, which met October 7th, accepted King Christian Frederick's renunciation of the Norwegian crown and elected Charles XIII. king, on condition of his recognizing the independence of Norway and governing it, in accordance with the constitution given at Eidsvold. These terms Bernadotte accepted, in behalf of the king of Sweden (November 4th), and swore allegiance to the constitution. The Swedish troops then evacuated the country, and Christian Frederick returned to Denmark, where, at the death of his cousin, he became king under the name of Christian VIII. The following year a convention was negotiated with Sweden, fixing the terms of the union (Rigsakten). The Bank of Norway was established in Drontheim, and a Supreme Court in Christiania.
CHARLES XIV. JOHN. (BERNADOTTE.) KING OF NORWAY AND SWEDEN.
To all appearances Norway had now regained her independence. Considering the desperate position in which the country was placed in 1814, resisting single-handed the decree of the powers, there can be no doubt that the terms of the union were more favorable than there was reason to expect. For all that, there was one feature of it which was incompatible with the idea of independence, and that was the presence in the capital of a Swedish viceroy (Statholder), representing the authority of the king. Bernadotte, who, at the death of Charles XIII. (1818), succeeded to the throne under the name of Charles XIV. John (1818-1844), scarcely regarded, at first, the independence of Norway seriously, but rather allowed the Norsemen to deceive themselves with an illusion of liberty, as long as their illusion was harmless. But he showed plainly his irritation when he found that the Storthing began to oppose his measures, and to insist upon a stricter interpretation of the constitution. One of the first causes of contention was the question of the payment by Norway of a part of the Danish public debt which Charles John had guaranteed in the treaty of Kiel. The Storthing was of opinion that, as Norway had never accepted the treaty of Kiel, it could not be bound by any of its stipulations. A compromise was finally effected by which the king renounced his civil list from Norway for ten years for himself and his son, the crown prince, and the Storthing of 1821 agreed to pay about three million dollars. Simultaneously came the struggle about the abolition of the nobility. Three successive Storthings passed a law, abolishing noble titles and privileges, and the king, who feared a conflict with the powerful nobility of Sweden, in case he sanctioned it, made repeated efforts to induce the Storthing to abandon its position. He urged that Norway was watched by the powers of Europe, and that the democratic spirit which manifested itself in its legislative assembly would arouse suspicion and hostility abroad. The Storthing, however, remained inflexible, and finally the law was promulgated, though in a slightly modified form. Those of the privileges of the nobility which were in conflict with the constitution were forthwith abolished; their exemption from taxation and all personal privileges should cease on the demise of the nobles then living, and should not be inherited by their descendants. This postponed the final abolition of nobility for one generation.
A number of other laws and proposals for laws, concerning which the king and the Storthing differed, caused ill-feeling and excitement during the reign of Charles John. And it is indeed marvellous, considering the comparative inexperience of the representatives in political life, that they dared present so bold a front and insist so strenuously upon their rights. To these intrepid men Norway owes the position she occupies to-day. For, if they had been meek and conciliatory, accepting gratefully what the king was pleased to grant them, their country would inevitably have sunk into a provincial relation to Sweden, as it had formerly to Denmark. The manly ring and fearless self-assertion, which resound through the debates of those early Storthings, show that the ancient strength was still surviving, and could, indeed, never have been dead. No inert and degraded nation can draw such representatives from its midst; and the fact that Norway has continued to draw them, up to the present time, shows that she is truly represented by manliness and fearless vigor—that she is worthy of the liberty she gained.
The attitude which the Norwegian Storthings assumed toward the king is illustrated by the determination with which they resisted his efforts to extend the royal authority. Though he had been trained in the school of the French Revolution, Charles John was no believer in democracy or "the rights of man." He was an able ruler, a skilful diplomat, and a man of honorable intentions. But he had been too little in Norway to comprehend the spirit of the Norwegian people; and he was forced, in order to maintain his position among his brother monarchs, to sympathize with the reactionary tendencies which asserted themselves throughout Europe after the overthrow of Napoleon. In 1821 he proposed ten amendments to the constitution, which were unanimously rejected by the Storthing of 1824. Among these amendments was one giving the king an absolute instead of, as formerly, a suspensive veto; another, conferring upon him the right to appoint the presiding officer of the Storthing, and a third, authorizing him to dissolve the Storthing at pleasure. The former minister of state, Christian Krogh, gained great popularity by recommending the rejection of these propositions, and the king's persistence in bringing them up before several successive Storthings did not secure them a more favorable reception.
SKEE-RUNNING; AFTER A CARTOON BY H. N. GAUSTA.
An eminent figure in the political struggles of those days was the poet Henrik Wergeland, who, as the leader of the students, persisted in celebrating the anniversary of the constitution (May 17th) contrary to the king's command, instead of the anniversary of the union with Sweden (November 4th). The king exaggerated the importance of this demonstration and in 1829 called out troops, which dispersed, by force of arms, the multitude celebrating the national holiday. Wergeland, though he personally professed reverence for the king, did not evince the same reverence for his policy, and by his indefatigable activity in prose and verse nourished the defiant and aggressive patriotism of his countrymen. In an intoxication of patriotic pride he sang the praise of liberty and celebrated the beauties of forest, mountain, and fjord; and a chorus of minor poets declaimed about Norway's Lion, and the rocks of Norway which "defied the tooth of time." There was a good deal that was boyish and irrational in this enthusiasm; but it was wholesome and genuine and politically useful.
That Charles John did not only hold up the powers as a scarecrow, with which to frighten the Norsemen, but was himself restrained in his policy by a regard for their opinion, is obvious enough. The political ferment which, after the July Revolution (1830) in France, spread throughout Europe and also reached Norway, caused him much apprehension, and in order to intimidate the steadily progressing democracy, he suddenly dissolved the Storthing of 1836. The Storthing, regarding this dissolution as contrary to law, indicted the Minister of State, Löwenskjold, before the high court of the realm (Rigsret), and sentenced him to pay a fine for not having dissuaded the king from violating the constitution. This boldness, instead of impelling the king to further measures of repression, induced him to make a concession. He conciliated the Norsemen by appointing their countryman, Count Wedel-Jarlsberg, as viceroy. This was a great step toward real independence and made the king justly popular. During the last years of his life, after he had given up the hope of stemming the tide of democracy, Charles John won the hearts of the Norsemen and he was sincerely mourned at his death (1844).
The remnants of subordination in Norway's relation to Sweden were one by one removed during the reign of Charles John's son, Oscar I. (1844-1859). He gave to Norway a flag of her own, carrying, as a symbol of the union, the blended colors of both countries in the upper corner; and what was more, he practically abolished the viceroyalty, though permanently it was not abolished until 1873. Peace and prosperity reigned in the land; the population increased rapidly, and all industries were in a flourishing condition. It had, hitherto, been chiefly the official and the mercantile class which had participated in the public life, but now the peasants, too, began to assert themselves and to send representatives from their own midst to the Storthing. The political awakening penetrated to all strata of society; and many sturdy figures appeared in the halls of the legislative assembly, fresh from the plough and the harrow. Eminent among these were Ole Gabriel Ueland and Sören Jaabœk. A prudent moderation, coupled with a tough tenacity of purpose, is characteristic of these modern peasant chieftains. Good common-sense, incorruptibility, and a stern regard for the useful have enabled them to render valuable service to the nation. Eloquent they are not; nor are they, in the conventional sense, cultivated. But they have usually, by experience, accumulated a considerable store of facts, which in its application to the legislative business is more valuable than loosely acquired book-learning. Their struggles with a rough climate and a poor soil have made them economical; and they naturally apply their parsimonious habits to the business of state. Being the principal tax-payers of the country they have the right to influence its fiscal policy; and Norway has profited by their careful husbanding of her resources. They know, however, when to spend as well as when to save; and the many costly railroads, highways, schools, and other improvements, which have come into existence since the peasant party commanded a majority in the Storthing, give evidence of a prudent liberality and a well-balanced regard for the public weal, which one might scarcely have expected in people, whose chief experience is derived from the tilling of the soil. The majority of them, however, bring with them some practice in public life from home, as since the establishment of parish and municipal councils (Formandskaber), (1837), the management of local affairs is almost entirely in the hands of local tax-payers.
BRIDE AND GROOM.
The first Sleswick-Holstein war, between Germany and Denmark, occurred during King Oscar's reign (1848), and induced him to make a military demonstration in Skaane; and during the following year, when the war, after an armistice, broke out anew, to occupy North Sleswick with Swedish and Norwegian troops, pending the negotiations for peace. In the Crimean War, King Oscar sided with England and France, which, by a treaty of 1855, guaranteed their aid, in case of hostilities with Russia.
King Oscar died at the age of sixty (1859), and was succeeded by his oldest son, Charles XV. (1859-1872). He was a chivalrous character, and endowed with literary and artistic talents. The same good-will toward Norway which animated his father had been inherited by him, and all efforts, on the part of the Storthing, to further the welfare of the land, were readily seconded. The Norwegian merchant marine, which is one of the largest in the world, carried the flag of Norway to the remotest ports; the lumber trade increased, and the wealth obtainable in manufactures and commerce stimulated the energy of Norse merchants, and quickened everywhere the pulses of life. Religious liberty was increased by the law concerning dissenters (1845), although there is, in this respect, yet much to be accomplished. In 1851, the paragraph of the constitution excluding Jews from the country was repealed, owing largely to the agitation commenced, some years before, by the poet Wergeland. The telegraph was introduced, and soon extended from the North Cape to Lindesness. In 1869, a law was passed, making the Storthings annual, instead of, as hitherto, triennial.
Charles XV. died in the prime of life, and, having no sons, was succeeded (1872) by his brother, Oscar II., who is still reigning. The progress toward a more complete and consistent democracy, which had been going on, since the adoption of the constitution, has recently reached a crisis, which might have had disastrous consequences, if the king had not wisely made concessions to the parliamentary majority. There were really two points at issue, viz., the absolute veto in constitutional questions and the control of the government. As regards the former, the king held that the Norwegian constitution was a contract between him and the Norwegian people, prescribing the terms of the union. Accordingly, it could not be altered without the consent of both parties. He had, therefore, the right to insist upon the terms of the contract, and to forbid any alteration of it, that did not meet with his approval. There can be no doubt but that legally this point was well taken; and the faculty of law in the University sustained the king's position. Another question is, whether such a contract, if eternally enforced, would not cripple the nation's progress, and in time become as great a curse, as once it had been a blessing. If the framers of the constitution, when they submitted it to Charles John, failed to provide for its amendment, they committed a serious error, which may, perhaps, be binding upon their descendants, in point of law, but scarcely in point of equity. No constitution, however excellent, is fitting for all times; and the constitution of Eidsvold is no exception to the rule.
This struggle over the absolute veto was occasioned by the king's refusal to sanction a law, passed by three successive Storthings, admitting the cabinet ministers to participation in the debates of the house, so as to establish a closer rapport between the people and the government. This seemed especially desirable, as long as the king and a division of the cabinet were resident in Stockholm, and, accordingly, were in danger of losing sight of the needs of the people whom they were governing. The king declared himself ready to sign this law, if the ministers were given the right to vote, and the right was granted him to dissolve the Storthing at will. It seemed to him a disturbance of the balance of power to introduce one feature of English parliamentarism, giving an advantage to the legislature, without also granting the other, which enabled the executive to exert a restraining influence. The Storthing was, however, unwilling to grant this right, being of opinion that there was no need of governmental restraint, where elections were triennial. The ministry, Selmer, which maintained the attitude here ascribed to the king, was impeached by the Storthing before the high court of the realm, for having refused to promulgate the law concerning the participation of the ministers in the deliberations of the house, and for failing, in other points, to carry out the will of the Storthing.
OSCAR II.
The other phase of the question was scarcely less important. A certain antagonism had early developed itself between the official class, which had been accustomed to take the lead in public affairs, and the peasantry, which became every year more conscious of its power. The king, who is naturally conservative, chose his advisers from those, whose political views accorded with his own, irrespective of parliamentary majorities. The constitution did not limit his liberty of choice, and the Storthing could scarcely do it, without passing an amendment, which he would be sure to veto. The conservative ministry, Stang, conducted the government for many years with a hostile majority in the Storthing, and the ministry, Selmer, which succeeded it (1880), had even less popular support. The result was a deadlock; legislative business threatened to come to a standstill. The impeachment and conviction of Mr. Selmer and his colleagues brought a fresh ministry of officials into power, which, after a few months, resigned. The king then sent for Mr. Sverdrup, the leader of the "left," or liberal party, and effected a compromise, in accordance with which he agreed to sanction the law in question, and to summon a ministry, representing the party of the majority, without, however, surrendering, in principle, his right to an absolute veto in constitutional questions. Since then the executive and the legislative power have worked together in harmony, and the former good relation between the king and the people has been in a measure re-established.
It will be seen from the above, that Norway has, through the conflicts of seventy years, gradually attained to perfect independence and equality with the brother kingdom. All attempts to amalgamate the two nations have failed, and have, long since, been abandoned. Politically, the person of the king expresses the union. He is king of Norway and he is king of Sweden, but he governs each country in accordance with its own laws and through distinct and separate ministries. Each country has its own parliament; no Swede holds office in Norway, and no Norseman in Sweden. The only offices which are open to citizens of both countries are those of the diplomatic and consular service. The general sentiment in Norway is opposed to a closer union. A stubborn insistence upon every feature of national distinctness has characterized the people, since the separation from Denmark.
Thus an effort has been made to get rid of the "union mark" in the Norwegian flag; because it seemed vaguely to hint at a provincial relation. A separate literature has sprung up in the Norse dialects (Maalsträv), because the Danish, which is yet spoken, with some modifications, by the cultivated classes, is a reminder of the period of degradation, and is not the language of the people. Popular high schools, aiming to build the intellectual life of the people upon a strictly national basis, have been started by devoted and patriotic men, in nearly all the provincial parishes, and have produced excellent results. The national literature, under the lead of men like Björnstjerne Björnson, and Henrik Ibsen, is moving in the same direction, its language being continually enriched from the dialects, and its themes largely drawn from the ancient sagas and the life of the people. The aggressive and declamatory patriotism of Wergeland, and the æsthetic and more cosmopolitan patriotism of his opponent, Welhaven, seem equally alien to the Norsemen of to-day. The frank national self-assertion of the present poets is that of a people, proud of its past, and secure in its national existence. The Norseman, having obtained what is his due, has cause for jealousy neither of Sweden nor of Denmark.
In an age when strength, bravery, and an adventurous spirit made a nation eminent, Norway played a great rôle upon the arena of the world, founding and destroying kingdoms, mingling her vigorous blood with that of other nations, and infusing her love of liberty, restrained by law, into their souls. Since powder and modern strategy have subordinated heroism to discipline and numbers, Norway must resign herself to the fate which her numerical weakness imposes upon her. A people of scarcely two millions can cut no very great figure in the world, as it is now constituted. It must either rest upon its laurels or win new ones in other fields. As the militant organization of society, with its needless bloodshed and oppression, slowly yields to the industrial, history will find another gauge of merit than that of Krupp guns and heavy battalions. Then, perhaps, there will again be a chance for small nations to assert themselves.
BJÖRNSTJERNE BJÖRNSON.
Norway has made a beginning in this direction by her contributions, during recent years, to science and literature. The astronomer Hansteen (d. 1873), the mathematicians Abel and Sophus Lie, the zoölogist Sars, the historians Munch, Keyser, Sars, and Storm, and the philologist Ivar Aason, have gained recognition, beyond the boundaries of their own country. The painters Tidemand (d. 1876) and Gude have interpreted in colors the poetry of Norse popular life and scenery. The musicians Ole Bull (d. 1880), Nordraak, and Grieg have made the melancholy strains of their native mountains resound through the concert-halls of Paris and London, and the poets Björnson, Ibsen, Jonas Lie, and Alexander Kielland have made Norway known to the world and the world known to Norway. They have broken down the wall which so long hedged in their country, and excluded it from the intellectual life of Europe.
INDEX
A
Aabo, [514]
Aachen, [31], [32]
Aake, the Yeoman, [58]
Aal, Jacob, [518]
Aale Hallvardsson, [373]
Aaluf, [111]
Aamunde Gyrdsson, [312]
Aaros, [237]
Aasa, [32]
Aasa, Haakon Grjotgardsson's daughter, [60]
Aasbjörn Sigurdsson, [211], [212]
Aasbjörn of Medalhus, [92]
Aasen, Ivar, [538]
Aasgerd, wife of Egil Baldgrim's son, [78], [79]
Aasta, mother of Olaf the Saint,[182], [186], [187], [188], [199], [200],[240]
Aastrid, queen of Olaf the Saint,[197]
Aastrid, Olaf Tryggvesson's mother, [108], [109], [134], [135]
Aastrid, Olaf Tryggvesson's sister,[148]
Aastrid, daughter of Thirik, [153]
Aastrid, wife of Earl Sigvalde,[163], [171]
Aasulf of Austraat, [426]
Abel, mathematician, [538]
Absalon, Bishop, [330], [359], [379]
Adalbert of Bremen, [272]
Adeler, Kort, [500]
Aeger, [23]
Aelgifa, see Alfifa
Aesir, [13], [14]
Africa, [32], [298]
Agdeness, [294], [300]
Agder, [32], [47], [147], [173], [324]
Agmund Skoftesson, [288]
Agnes, Queen of Denmark, [456]
Agnes, daughter of Haakon Longlegs, [478]
Agvaldsness, [95], [211]
Aker, [416], [492]
Akershus, [459], [481], [486], [503]
Akron, [293]
Albrecht of Mecklenburg, [463], [464], [467], [468], [469]
Alexander Newsky, [430]
Alexander IV., Pope, [430]
Alexander I., Emperor of Russia,[510], [514]
Alexander III., King of Scotland,[430], [442], [453]
Alexius I., Comnenus, [293]
Alexius III., Angelus, [360]
Alf Askman, [100]
Alf Erlingsson, [453]-[456]
Alf Guldbrandsson, [207]
Alfheim, [21]
Alfhild, mother of Magnus the Good, [230]
Alfifa, [225]-[229]
Alfonso the Wise, [430]
Alfvine, [137], [138]
Allogia, see Olga
Almannagjaa, [439]
Alsted, [248]
Althing, [159], [436]
Amboise, [34]
America, [31], [179]
Amsterdam, [474]
Amund Sigurdsson Bolt, [473]
Andres Skjaldarband, [399], [423]
Andvake, [372]
Anglesey, [288]
Anglo-Saxon, [41], [138], [147]
Anker, Peder, [518]
Anna Kolbjörnsdatter, [503]
Ansgarius, St., [32]
Anund, [145]
Anund Jacob, King of Sweden, [198], [213], [214], [217], [218]
Apostles, Church of the, [294]
Arctic Circle, [494]
Arinbjörn Thoresson, [78], [82], [85]
Armfelt, General, [504], [512]
Arnbjörn Jonsson, [413], [424]
Arnmodlings, [255]
Aryans, [1], [2], [3], [5]
Asaheim, [13]
Asgard, [13], [18], [19], [20], [23]
Asgeir, [36]
Asia, [1], [13], [240]
Ask, [18]
Askatin, [442]
Aslak Erlingsson, [179]
Aslak Rock-Skull, [124]
Astrid, Sverre's first wife, [380]
Audhumbla, [16]
Audun Hugleiksson, [451], [457]
Aun the Old, [45]
Aura-Paul, [364]
Austrian, [498]
B
Baard, steward of Erik Blood-Axe, [78], [79]
Bagler, [360]-[401], [407], [413]
Balder, [21], [22]
Bald Grim, [57], [62], [63], [77], [78], [79]
Baldwin, [293]
Baltic, the, [94], [237], [277], [312], [463]
Bank of Norway, [522]
Beauvois, [36]
Belts, the, [356]
Bene Skindkniv, [401]
Bengt Algotsson, [463]
Beorthric, [41]
Berg-Anund, [79], [80]
Bergen, [280], [294], [307], [309], [316], [323], [324], [327], [328], [345], [346],[347], [348], [349], [354], [356], [359],[362], [365], [366], [375], [376], [388], [390], [392], [398], [410], [413], [417], [420], [422], [424], [428], [429],[457],[462], [465], [473], [478], [480], [488],[492], [494], [506]
Bergljot, [119], [178], [261], [264]
Bergthor's Knoll, [158]
Bernadotte, Jean Baptiste, [513], [515], [519]-[528], [531]
Bernsdorff, Andreas, [509]
Bertrand of Tripolis, [293]
Bevje-Aa, [320]
Biadmuin, [289]
Bifrost, [17]
Birchlegs, [333]-[407], [414], [425], [426], [427]
Birger, Earl of Götland, [333], [336], [337]
Birger Magnusson, King of Sweden, [456], [458], [459], [461]
Bjarkemaal, [221]
Bjarkö, [211], [212], [451], [462]
Bjarne Erlingsson, [451], [452]
Bjarne Herjulfsson, [179]
Bjelke, General, [498]
Björgvin, see Bergen
Björn, King of Sweden, [196]
Björn Egilsson, [311]
Björn Ironside, [34]
Björn, a peasant, [109]
Björn the Merchant, [71], [182]
Björn Stallare, [194], [195], [197], [218]
Björnson, Björnstjerne, [535], [537], [538]
Björn, the yeoman, [77], [78], [79]
Black Death, the, [465], [466]
Blanca of Namur, [462], [463]
Blekinge, [463], [498]
Bör, [16]
Bogesund, [483]
Bohemia, [1]
Borg, see Sarpsborg
Borgar-thing, [253], [361], [445]
Borghild, daughter of Olaf of Dal, [297]
Bornhöved, [417]
Bornholm, [498]
Brage, [22], [45], [120]
Bratsberg, [155], [317]
Breidablik, [21]
Bremangerland, [339]
Bremen, [147], [272]
Brenn Islands, [231]
Brigida, Harold Gille's daughter, [333]
Brising, [23]
Bristein, [354]
Brömsebro, [496]
Brunkeberg, [480]
Brynjulf, [129]
Bue the Big, [122]-[126]
Bugge, Prof. Sophus, [153]
Bull, Ole, [538]
Bure, [16]
Buris Henriksson, [330]
Burislav, [136], [142], [154], [162]
Buste, [110]
Bute, [431]
Byzantine, [360]
C
Candor, Lay of, [234]
Canterbury, [147]
Cantire, [431]
Cape Cod, [180], [181]
Capercailzie, the, [505]
Carolingians, [36]
Carrara, [34]
Catholic, [487], [489]
Cecilia, second queen of Sigurd the Crusader, [304]
Cecilia, daughter of Sigurd Mouth, [332], [336], [382]
Celestin IV., Pope, [427]
Charlemagne, [31], [32], [33], [230]
Charles the Bald, [36]
Charles the Simple, [64], [65]
Charles Knutsson Peasant, [473], [478], [479], [480]
Charles Sunesson, [312]
Charles V., Emperor of Germany, [483]
Charles IX., King of Sweden, [495]
Charles X. Gustavus, [498]
Charles XII., King of Sweden, [501], [502], [503]
Charles XIII., [513], [520], [522]
Charles XIV. John, see Bernadotte
Charles XV., King of Norway and Sweden, [530], [531]
Christ-Church, [284], [428]
Christian I., [478]-[481]
Christian II., [481]-[487]
Christian III., [487]-[492]
Christian IV., [494]-[496]
Christian V., [500], [501]
Christian VI., [506]
Christian VII., [508]
Christian VIII., see Christian Frederick
Christian August, of Augustenborg, [512], [513]
Christian Frederick, [515]-[522]
Christiania, [256], [494], [503], [508], [522]
Christiania Fjord, [46]
Christiansand, [494]
Christina, wife of Erling Skakke, [318], [322], [332]
Christina, Sverre's daughter, [380], [381], [383], [384], [393]
Christina, wife of Haakon Galen, [382], [384], [387], [395], [398], [410], [412]
Christina, daughter of Haakon the Old, [430]
Christopher I., King of Denmark, [430], [453]
Christopher of Bavaria, [473], [474], [478]
Christopher, Count of Oldenborg, [487]
Churl's Head, the, [190], [191]
Clement, St., [193], [227]
Clyde, Firth of, [431]
Constantinople, [240], [264], [293],
[302], [376]
Conqueror, see William the
Copenhagen, [219], [455], [459], [462],[477], [498], [499], [506], [509], [510]
Count's Feud, the, [487], [490]
Cowlmen, see Kuvlungs
Crane, the, [157], [164], [165]
Crimean War, the, [530]
Crookmen, see Baglers
Curia, the Roman, [422], [452]
Cuthbert, St., [42]
D
Dagfinn Peasant, [375], [404], [405]
Dalarne, [472]
Dale-Guldbrand, [207], [208], [210]
Dalsland, [288]
Dannebrog, the, [502]
Dannevirke, [116]
Dav, [332]
Delling, [17]
Dingeness, [113]
Ditmarsken, [481]
Djursaa, [258], [330]
Domesday Book, [63]
Donald Bane, [285]
Donmouth, [42]
Dorchester, [41]
Dorestad, [36]
Dovre Mountain, [286], [294], [300], [517]
Drontheim, [54], [91], [92], [118], [121], [140], [148], [189], [219], [220], [403], [465], [478], [479], [492], [498], [504], [508], [517], [522]
Drontheim Fjord, [54], [71], [107], [140], [362]
Dublin, [38], [40], [139], [238]
Dumbarton, [40]
Durham, see Simeon of
Dutch, [474], [485], [495], [498], [500]
Dynekilen, [503], [504]
E
Eadburg, [41]
Eadgar the Etheling, [285]
Eadwine, Earl,
[268]
Ecgfridh, [42]
Edda, the Younger, [434]
Edward the Confessor, [236]
Edward I., [453]
Egil Aaslaksson, [287]
Egil, Bald Grim's son, [62], [77]-[84]
Egil Woolsark, [96], [97]
Eidsivia Law, the, [47], [210], [445]
Eidskog, [337]
Eidsvold, [70], [210], [414], [516], [518], [519], [520], [522], [532]
Einar Thambarskelver, [162], [169], [170], [178], [179], [189], [190], [191], [192], [217], [227], [228], [229], [231], [232], [233], [236], [237], [238], [239], [243], [244], [246], [247], [249], [252], [254], [260], [261]-[265]
Einar the Priest, [375]
Eindride Einarsson, [238], [239], [264]
Eindride the Young, [327], [328]
Elgeseter, [426]
Elivagar, [16]
Ellisif, queen of Harold Hard-Ruler, [242], [235], [260], [272], [274]
Elsinore, [455]
Embla, [18]
Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, [472], [473]
England, [1], [12], [28], [31], [40], [41], [42], [43], [72], [79], [80], [81], [84], [88], [90], [91], [128], [137], [138], [139], [142], [147], [177], [179], [183], [184], [185], [207], [212], [213], [217], [228], [236], [268], [273], [276], [277], [278], [283], [287], [292], [347], [375], [443], [446], [447], [453], [454], [465], [509], [510], [512], [513], [514], [530]
Enköping, [464]
Erik, Archbishop, [358], [379], [387]
Erik Blood-Axe, [68], [70]-[86], [88], [94], [95], [99], [102], [160], [182]
Erik Eiegod, [288]
Erik Eimundsson, [57], [58], [196]
Erik Emune, [312]
Erik Eriksson Lisp, King of Sweden, [412]
Erik Glipping, [453], [454]
Erik Gudrödsson, [32]
Erik Haakonsson, Earl, [119], [121]-[127], [163]-[181], [184], [215], [254]
Erik, King of Hördaland, [52]
Erik Kingsson, Earl, [351]
Erik Magnusson, Duke, [458], [459], [461]
Erik Magnusson, son of Magnus Smek, [462], [463]
Erik Menved, [455]
Erik of Ofrestad, [108]
Erik Plowpenny, [453]
Erik of Pomerania, [467]-[474]
Erik Priest-Hater, [451]-[456], [459]
Erik the Red, Archbishop, [179], [181]
Erik the Saint, [380]
Erik the Victorious, King of Sweden, [152], [196]
Erik the Younger, King of South Jutland, [68]
Erlend of Husaby, [391]
Erlend Haakonsson, [129], [130]
Erling Eriksson, [106]
Erling Haakonsson, [121], [123], [128]
Erling Skakke, Earl, [318], [319],[322]-[343], [350], [355], [357], [360]
Erling Skjalgsson of Sole, [148], [162], [164], [174], [176], [178], [179], [190], [192], [210], [211], [212], [216], [217], [318]
Erling Stonewall, [385], [386], [387], [390]
Erling Vidkunsson, [462]
Erne, Loch, [38]
Ernst, Herzog, [242]
Eskil Lawman, [412]
Essex, [138]
Esthonia, [135], [196]
Estrid, daughter of Sweyn Forkbeard, [236]
Ethelred II., [138], [139], [183]
Ethelstan, [72], [73], [79], [80], [85], [150]
Eugene III., Pope, [320]
Euphemia of Arnstein, [457], [459]
Europe, [465], [483], [523], [526], [527], [538]
Eystein, Earl of Hedemark and Vestfold, [76]
Eystein Erlendsson, [327], [347], [354], [357], [358]
Eystein Haroldsson, [314]-[317]
Eystein Magnusson, [291]-[301], [317], [329]
Eystein Meyla, [333], [334], [336]
Eystein Orre, [255], [270]
Eyvind Kinriva, [154], [156], [157]
Eyvind Lambe, [57], [59]
Eyvind Scald-Spoiler, [98], [99], [100], [105], [154]
Eyvind Skreyja, [79], [100]
F
Faeroe Isles, [40], [43], [158], [159], [320], [333], [334], [336], [380]
Falköping, [468]
Fall River, [180]
Falsen, Judge, [518]
Falsterbro, [466]
Fenris-Wolf, [21], [23]
Fensal, [22]
Finland, [196], [512], [513]
Finmark, [74], [173], [495], [506]
Finn Arnesson, [255], [265], [266], [267]
Finn Eyvindsson, [170]
Finns, [3], [50], [61], [67], [74], [278], [295]
Fitje, [98]
Fjölne, [45]
Flanders, [28]
Flensborg, [472]
Florsvaag, [356]
Folden, [46], [190], [256], [320], [425]
Folkvang, [23]
Folkvid the Lawman, [332], [336], [382]
Fontenelle, [36]
Formentera, [292]
Fors, [317]
Forsete, [22]
Fraedöe, [96]
France, [1], [36], [43], [64], [137], [277], [430], [509], [527], [530]
Fredensborg, [504]
Frederick, Count Palatine, [487], [488]
Frederick I., [485], [486]
Frederick II., Emperor of Germany, [418], [430]
Frederick II., King of Denmark and Norway, [492]
Frederick III., [496]-[500]
Frederick IV., [501], [502], [506]
Frederick V., [508]
Frederick VI., [509]-[516]
Frederickshald, [500], [503]
Frederickshamn, [513]
Frederickstad, [492]
Fredericksteen, [503], [504], [520]
Freke, [20]
Frey, [21], [45], [144], [150], [207]
Freya, [22], [23]
Freydis, [181]
Fridkulla, [288]
Frigg, [22]
Frisian, [205]
Frosta-thing, [88], [91], [92], [149], [359], [445]
Frosten, [150], [189]
Fulford, [268]
Funen, [245], [455], [498]
Fuxerne, [288]
Fyrileiv, [307]
G
Gahn, Colonel, [520]
Gall, St., [32]
Gallia Narbonensis, [32]
Gamle Eriksson, [94], [97]
Gardarike, see Russia
Gauldale, [129], [341]
Gaule, [79]
Gaul River, see Gula Elv
Gauter, see Goths
Gautland, [118], [152]
Geira, [136], [162]
Georgios Maniakes, [240], [242]
Gerd, [21]
Gere, [20]
German, [3], [25], [31], [44], [430], [464], [468], [471], [480], [483], [488], [492], [494], [495], [496], [501], [506], [508], [521]
Germany, [115], [277], [430], [457], [465], [496], [530]
Ginnungagap, [16]
Giske, [451], [462], [481]
Gisla, wife of Duke Rollo, [65]
Gissur the White, [127]
Gissur the White, [158]
Gissur Thorvaldsson, Earl, [440], [444]
Gjallar Bridge, [21]
Gjallar Horn, [21], [22]
Gjeble Pedersson, Bishop, [490]
Glommen, [194]
Godfrey the Hunter, see Gudröd
Gold-Harold, [112], [113]
Goldlegs, [356]
Gorm the Old, [53], [86], [214]
Götha Elv., [231], [257], [259], [260]
Götland, [333]
Gottland, [463], [473], [496]
Goths, [3]
Gran, [153]
Great Northern War, the, [502]
Greece, [137], [138]
Greeks, [3], [44], [240], [293]
Greenland, [158], [179], [180], [181], [320], [430]
Gregorius Dagsson, [316], [317]-[320]
Gregory IX., Pope, [421], [427]
Grib, Peter, [504]
Grieg, J., [538]
Griffenfeld, [501]
Grim, see Bald Grim
Grim Keikan, [423]
Grimkel, Bishop, [207], [227]
Grjotgard Haakonsson, [106]
Gude, J., [538]
Gudleik Gerdske, [278]
Gudny Bödvar's daughter, [434]
Gudolf of Blakkestad, [407]
Gudrid, wife of Thorfinn Karlsevne, [181]
Gudröd Björnsson, [88], [102], [105], [107]
Gudröd Eriksson, [104], [107], [113], [160]
Gudröd Haroldsson, [60]
Gudröd the Hunter, [31], [32], [46]
Gudröd, King of Hadeland, [199]
Gudröd, King of the Hebrides, [320]
Gudröd Ljome, [68], [69]
Gudröd Meranagh, [286]
Gudrun, daughter of Ironbeard, [152]
Gudrun Lundarsol, [129]
Gula Elv, [120], [465]
Gula-thing, [79], [89], [210], [445]
Guldberg, Ove, [508]
Guldbrandsdale, [207], [208], [210], [245], [495], [517]
Gungner, [20]
Gunhild, Queen of Erik Blood-Axe, [74]-[86], [94], [95], [99], [100], [101], [102], [104]-[114], [130], [134]
Gunhild, mother of Sverre, [334]
Gunnar of Gimse, [311]
Gunnar Grjonbak, [352]
Gunvor, [153]
Gustavus Adolphus,
[495], [496]
Gustavus IV., [512]
Gustavus Trolle, [483]
Gustavus Wasa, [484], [487]
Guttorm, Archbishop, [400], [410], [411]
Guttorm Eriksson, [94], [95]
Guttorm Haroldsson, [60]
Guttorm Ingesson, [395]
Guttorm, son of Sigurd Hjort, [47], [48], [52], [53], [62]
Guttorm Sigurdsson, [385], [387]
Guttorm Sigurdsson, [199], [200]
Guttorm Sindre, [71]
Gyda, wife of Harold the Fairhaired, [52], [53], [59], [60]
Gyda, wife of Olaf Tryggvesson, [137], [142], [228]
Gyldenstjerne, Knut, [486]
H
Haakonarmaal, [101]
Haakon Eriksson, Earl, [178], [179],[184]-[186], [215]-[218]
Haakon Galen, [377], [382]-[398], [402], [410], [412], [414]
Haakon Grjotgardsson, [56], [60]
Haakon, Gunhild's emissary, [109]
Haakon Haakonsson the Old, [391]-[433], [437]-[444]
Haakon Ivarsson, [259], [264]-[268]
Haakon Jonsson, Lord High Steward, [467]
Haakon Longlegs, [451], [456], [457]-[461]
Haakon Magnusson, son of King Magnus Haroldsson, [274], [285], [286]
Haakon Magnusson, son of King Magnus Smek, [461]-[466]
Haakon Paulsson, [287]
Haakon Sigurdsson, Earl, [106], [107], [110]-[134], [139], [163], [166], [173], [254], [261]
Haakon Sverresson, King of Norway, [370], [377], [379]-[385], [391], [404]
Haakon the Broad-Shouldered, [316], [319], [320], [322]-[326]
Haakon the Good, [72], [73], [80], [87]-[101], [105], [106], [150], [160], [294], [446]
Haakon the Old, a Swedish Peasant, [110], [134]
Haalogaland, [56], [60], [148], [154], [155], [158], [211], [366]
Haarek Gand, [48]
Haarek Haroldsson, [60]
Haarek of Thjotta, [148], [154]-[156], [158], [233]
Haavard the Hewer, [124], [127]
Hadeland, [50], [51], [153], [199], [203]
Hadrian IV., Pope, see Nicholas Breakspeare
Hadulaik, [121]
Hafrs-Fjord, [59], [60], [63]
Hagustald, [121]
Hake, a Berserk, [47], [48]
Haldor Brynjulfsson, [320]
Halfdan Haalegg (Longlegs) [68], [69]
Halfdan Sigurdsson, [199], [200]
Halfdan the Swarthy, Gudrödsson, [32], [46]-[52], [318], [432]
Halfdan the Swarthy, Haroldsson, [60], [71], [72], [76]
Halfdan the White, [60]
Halfdan Whiteleg, [46]
Halland, [214], [266], [267], [273], [307], [418], [453], [454], [460], [462], [463], [498]
Hallkel Agmundsson, [451], [452], [456]
Hallkel Jonsson, [355], [356]
Hall of the Side, [158]
Hallvard Vebjörnsson, St., [256], [322]
Hals, [258]
Hamar, [321], [420], [421], [492]
Hamburg, [32]
Hampshire, [138]
Hannibal's Feud, [496]
Hans, King of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, [481], [482]
Hans, son of Frederick I., [487]
Hans Kolbjörnsson, [503]
Hansa, see Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League, [453], [454], [455], [460], [464], [474], [480], [485], [490], [509]
Hansteen, astronomer, [538]
Hardeland, [41]
Harold, Earl of the Orkneys, [355]
Harold, grandson of Sigurd the Crusader, [332]
Harold Bluetooth, [86], [94], [95], [110]-[120], [138], [161], [410]
Harold Gille, [303]-[311], [313], [314], [320], [322], [333], [337], [346], [382], [386]
Harold Godwineson, [268], [269], [272]
Harold Greyfell, [94], [100], [102]-[114]
Harold Grönske, [152], [182]
Harold Hard-Ruler, [199], [200], [201], [221], [240]-[274], [278], [283], [286], [308]
Harold Ingesson, [349]
Harold the Fairhaired, [31], [49], [50]-[74], [87], [88], [99], [105], [130], [134], [139], [140], [152], [155], [174], [176], [177], [182], [183], [187], [188], [198], [201], [226], [231], [245], [251], [252], [256], [275], [276], [318], [350], [378], [433], [460]
Harthaknut, [229], [231], [234], [236]
Hasting, [34], [35], [36]
Hastings, [272]
Haug, [232]
Hauk, [155]
Haukby, [284]
Hebrides, [40], [43], [63], [288], [311], [312], [394], [480]
Hedemark, [48], [51], [76], [203], [210]
Heidaby, [257]
Heimdal, [22]
Heimskringla, [13], [45], [433], [440]
Hekla, [465]
Heklungs, [345]-[348]
Hel, [23], [24]
Helge Hvasse, [396], [397]
Helge-aa, [215]
Helgeness, [237]
Helgeö, [413], [421]
Helheim, [24]
Hellenes, [1]
Helluland, [180]
Heming Haakonsson, [119]
Henrik of Schwerin, [410]
Henry I., King of England, [292]
Hercules, Pillars of, [34]
Heredhaland, [41]
Herjedale, [496]
Herlaug, King in Naumdale, [54]
Herluf Hyttefad, [482]
Hettesveiner, see Hood-Swains
Himinbjarg, [22]
Hindoos, [2], [3]
Hinsgavl, [455]
Hirdskraa, [445]
Hitterdale Church, [299]
Hjalte Skeggesson, [194]
Hjörungavaag, [121], [122]
Hlade, [127], [132], [148], [149], [152], [189]
Hnos, [23]
Höder, [22]
Höfudlausn, [85]
Högne Langbjörnsson, [262], [263]
Höland, [502]
Hönefoss, [371]
Höner, [18]
Hörda-Kaare, [318]
Hördaland, [52], [98], [140], [147], [324]
Hörgadal, [435]
Holberg, Ludvig, [506]
Holland, [485], [488]
Holmengraa, [313]
Holstein, [485], [496], [501], [515], [530]
Holy Land, [171], [218], [292], [298], [308], [376]
Hood-Swains, [329]
Hornboresund, [312]
Hornelen, [339]
Hrimfaxe, [17]
Hugditrich, [242]
Hugin, [20]
Humber, [81]
Hvergelmer, [16]
Hvitingsöe, [393], [400]
Hyrning, [161], [162]
I
Ibsen, Henrik, [535], [538]
Iceland, [40], [44], [62], [63], [77], [79], [80], [85], [146], [158], [159], [202], [320], [430], [433]-[441], [443], [444], [465]
Icolmkill, [38]
Ida, plain of, [20]
Idun, [22]
Ilevolds, [296], [345]
India, [2]
Inga of Varteig, [391], [404], [405]
Inge Baardsson, [284], [385]-[400], [402]
Inge Crookback, [311]-[321], [323], [349], [353], [358]
Inge, chief of the Baglers, [360], [361], [380], [421]
Inge, King of Sweden, [288]
Ingeborg, queen of Magnus Law-Mender, [451], [452], [453], [454]
Ingeborg, daughter of Erik Priest-Hater, [456], [459]
Ingeborg, daughter of Haakon Longlegs, [458], [459], [461]
Ingegerd, daughter of Harold Hard-Ruler, [268], [272]
Ingegerd, daughter of Olaf the Swede, [195], [197], [217], [218]
Inger of Oestraat, [485]
Ingerid, Queen of Harold Gille, [311], [314], [386]
Ingjald Ill-Ruler, [45]
Ingrid, queen of Olaf the Quiet, [274]
Innocent III., Pope, [366], [379]
Innocent IV., Pope, [429]
Iona, [38]
Iranians, [2]
Ireland, [1], [38], [39], [40], [41], [43], [138], [228], [277], [287], [289], [295], [303], [309]
Irishman, [303], [304], [313]
Iron Ram, [169]
Ironbeard, [149], [151], [152]
Irp, Valkyria, [123]
Isabella Bruce, queen of Erik Priest-Hater, [456]
Isabella, queen of Christian II., [483]
Italic tribes, [1], [3]
Italy, [292]
Ivar, King in Limerick, [40]
Ivar Assersson, [307], [308]
Ivar Darre, [348]
Ivar of Fljod, [295]
Ivar Steig, [349]
J
Jaabœk, Sören, [528]
Jacob, Count of Halland, [454]
Jaederen, [59]
James III., King of Scotland, [480]
Jaroslav, [217], [218], [240], [242]
Jaxartes, [1]
Jemteland, [194], [198], [294], [300], [459], [496], [498]
Jerusalem, [233], [291], [293]
Jews, [32], [44], [530]
Jösse Eriksson, [472]
Johannes, see Hans
Jomsborg, [120], [237]
Jomsvikings, [120]-[128], [163]
Jon Birgersson, Archbishop, [321]
Jon, chief of the Kuvlungs, [353]
Jon Kutiza, [345]
Jon Loftsson, [434]
Jon the Red, Archbishop, [448], [452]
Jonvolds, [365]
Juliana Maria, queen of Frederick V., [508]
Jumièges, [36]
Jutland, [41], [68], [95], [116], [236], [237], [257], [324], [330], [453], [485], [495],
[496], [498]
K
Kalf Arnesson, [217], [222], [228], [229], [231], [232], [233], [235], [255], [265], [266]
Kalfsund, [459]
Kalmar, [301], [455], [467], [469], [470], [479], [495]
Kalvskindet, [343], [344], [345]
Karelen, [196]
Kark, [130], [131], [132]
Karlsevne, [181]
Karlshoved, [190]
Kelts, [1]
Kent, [138]
Ketil Calf, [190], [199]
Keyser, Rudolf, [538]
Kiel, [515], [516], [520], [523]
Kielland, Alexander, [538]
King's Mirror, [441]
Kirkevaag, [432]
Kjögebugt, [502]
Kjölen, [4]
Klerkon, [135], [136]
Klypp Thorsson, [111]
Knaeröd, [495]
Knut Alfsson, [481]
Knut Eriksson, King of Sweden, [358], [385]
Knut Haakonsson (Squire K.), [396], [410], [416], [424], [425]
Knut the Mighty, [179], [185], [212]-[218], [225], [226], [229], [231], [232], [236], [243], [261], [268]
Knut Porse, [461]
Knut VI., King of Denmark, [368]
Kolbjörn Stallare, [171]
Kolbjörn the Strong, [209]
Konghelle, [152], [198], [274], [288], [310], [319]
Kongsberg, [494], [503]
Krebs, Colonel, [502]
Kringen, [495]
Krogh, Christian, [526]
Krokaskogen, [313]
Krummedike, Hartvig, [477]
Krummedike, Henrik, [481], [482]
Krupp, [536]
Kruse, Colonel, [502]
Kurland, [196]
Kuvlungs, [353], [354]
Kveld-Ulf, [56]-[63], [77]
L
Laaka, [424], [425]
Labrador, [180]
Laerdal, [119]
Landnama Book, [63]
Laps [3], [495]
Largs, [431]
"Lars," [491]
Latin, [378]
Leif Eriksson, [179], [180], [181]
Leipsic, [515]
Lesö, [257]
Lie, Jonas, [538]
Lie, Sophus, [538]
Lier, [520]
Limerick, [40]
Lim Fjord, [258]
Lindesness, [173], [179], [210], [531]
Lindholm, [468]
Lindisfarena, [42]
Lodin, [135], [143]
Lodur, [18]
Löwen, Colonel, [503]
Löwenskjold, [527]
Lofoten, [315], [331]
Loire, [34]
Loke, [23]
London, [73], [538]
Long-Serpent, The, [162], [164]-[169]
Lothair, [37]
Louis the German, [32], [37]
Louis the Pious, [32]
Louis IX., [430]
Louis XIV., [500]
Lübeck, [457], [486], [487], [490], [495]
Luna, [34]
Lunge, Vincentz, [477], [485], [487], [488]
Luther, [485], [486]
Lutheran, [489], [490], [506], [519]
Lutter and Barenberge, [495]
Lützow, General, [503]
Lykke, Nils, [485]
Lyrskogs Heath, [237]
M
Maelsechnail, King of Meath, [38], [39]
Magne, Bishop, [304], [305]
Magnus Barefoot, [285]-[290], [295], [303], [308]
Magnus Birgerson Barnlock, King of Sweden, [449], [455], [456], [458]
Magnus Birgerson, the Younger, [459], [461]
Magnus Erlingsson, King of Norway, [323]-[349], [351], [355], [356], [385], [388], [401], [427], [428]
Magnus Haroldsson, [273], [274]
Magnus Law-Mender, [442]-[451], [453], [457], [494]
Magnus the Blind, [297], [305]-[313]
Magnus the Good, [218], [229]-[250], [251], [254], [255], [265]
Maid of Norway, The, [453], [457]
Malcolm, [285]
Malmfrid, [302], [304]
Man, island of, [288], [289], [320], [394], [442]
Maniakes, see Georgios
Marcus of Skog, [326], [327]
Margaret, see Maid of Norway
Margaret, queen of Magnus Barefoot, [288]
Margaret, queen of Sverre, [358], [362], [381], [382], [383]
Margaret, queen of Haakon the Old, [407], [413]
Margaret, queen of Erik Priest-Hater, [452]
Margaret, Reigning Queen of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, [462], [463], [466], [467]-[472]
Margaret, daughter of Christian I., [480]
Maria, relative of the Empress Zoë, [242]
Maria, daughter of Harold Hard-Ruler, [268], [272]
Maria, daughter of Harold Gille, [322]
Markere, Earl, [268]
Markland, [180]
Massachusetts, [180], [181]
Mathias, Bishop, [334], [335]
Matrand, [521]
Mecklenburg, [410], [463], [467], [469]
Medalhus, [130]
Mediterranean, [318]
Michael, Church of St., [294]
Military Academy, [508]
Mimer, [18]
Minne, [311]
Mjölner, [20]
Mjösen, [199], [321], [380], [408], [413], [421]
Molière, [506]
Mönnikhofen, Colonel, [495]
Möre, [56], [59], [64], [69], [130], [150]
Moors, [292], [300]
Mora, [197]
Moss, [521]
Moster, [72], [140], [158], [167]
Mosterö, [167]
Motzfeldt, Captain, [518]
Muirkertach, [286], [289]
Munch, P. A., Prof., [378], [538]
Munin, [20]
Munk, Erik, [492]
Munk, Ludvig, [492]
Munkeliv, [294], [480]
Muspelheim, [16], [17]
N
Nanna, Balder's wife, [21]
Napoleon I., [510], [513], [515], [519], [520], [526]
Naumdale, [54]
Nessje, [190]
New England, [181]
Nicholas Arnesson, Bishop, [358]-[362], [365], [366], [374], [380], [386], [388], [390], [393], [407], [411], [413], [414]
Nicholas Breakspeare, Cardinal, [320], [321]
Nicholas, Church of St., [294]
Nicholas Simonsson, [322], [324]
Nid River, [140]
Nidarholm, [308]
Nidaros, [148], [156], [189], [192], [207], [213], [215], [227], [232], [253], [260], [262], [274], [284], [286], [294], [311], [320], [324], [334], [338], [341], [345], [347], [354], [361], [362], [366], [368], [369], [381], [384], [387], [389], [390], [392], [400], [404], [413], [416], [422], [424], [426]
Nidhögger, [16], [18]
Niflheim, [16], [18]
Nils Henriksson, [485]
Nimwegen, [36]
Njaal, [158]
Njord, [21], [22], [23]
Noatun, [21]
Nordfjord, [339]
Nordhördland, [309]
Nordland, [363]
Nordmöre, [96], [193], [287], [366]
Nordness, [346]
Nordraak, Richard, [538]
Norefjord, [348], [349]
Normandy, [64]
Normans, [12]
Norns, [18]
Northampton, [225]
North Cape, [411], [493], [531]
North Sea, [184], [258], [336]
Northumberland, [41], [80], [81], [137], [268], [269]
Nortmannia, [31]
Norway's Lion, [527]
Norway's Welfare, Society for, [514]
Nyborg, [498]
Nyköping, [459]
O
Odd, [22]
Oder, [120]
Odin, [13], [16], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [45], [46], [84], [118], [123], [128], [144], [150], [205], [207]
Oelve Nuva, [57], [59]
Oelve of Egge, [207]
Oerebro, [513]
Oere-thing, [140], [229], [230], [246], [253], [322], [323], [334], [346], [380], [388], [395], [396], [400], [423]
Offa, [41]
Ofrestad, [108], [109]
Oieren, Lake, [329]
Olaf, son of Harold the Fairhaired, [76]
Olaf, Chief of the Oyeskeggs, [355]
Olaf of Dal, [297]
Olaf Engelbrektsson, Archbishop, [488]
Olaf Kvaran, [137]
Olaf Magnusson, [291], [296], [301]
Olaf Nilsson, Sir, [479], [480]
Olaf the Quiet, [268], [272]-[285], [293], [294]
Olaf the Saint, [49], [179], [182]-[224], [227]-[232], [248], [252], [255], [261], [267], [275], [278], [282], [293], [294], [318], [327], [357], [396], [400], [423], [428]
Olaf the Swede, [152], [163], [166], [173], [192], [193], [194], [195], [197]
Olaf Tryggvesson, [108], [130]-[174], [177], [178], [179], [182], [183], [184], [187], [188], [189], [195], [198], [205], [206], [218], [228], [318], [446]
Olaf the Unlucky, [329], [332]
Olaf the White, [40]
Olaf the Woodcutter, [46], [57]
Olaf the Young, [461], [466]
Oldenborg, [475], [476], [478],
[487], [494]
Ole the Russian, [136]
Olga, [136], [137], [142]
Oplands, [88], [174], [188], [190], [199], [210], [267], [268], [285], [287], [329], [370], [393], [400], [413], [416], [422], [424], [445]
Ordinance, the, [489], [494]
Orient, the, [242]
Orkdale, [54], [189]
Orkhaugen, [279]
Orkneys, [40], [43], [63], [69], [88], [113], [114], [127], [176], [233], [268], [272], [279], [288], [289], [308], [355], [394], [430], [432], [457], [481]
Orm Jonsson, [437]
Orm King's-Brother, [346], [349]
Orm Lyrgja, [129]
Oscar I., [528]-[530]
Oscar II., [531]-[538]
Oslo, [256], [306], [312], [320], [322], [323], [359], [361], [369], [370], [381], [383], [390], [411], [413], [414], [425], [426], [456], [459], [492]
Ottar Birting, [302], [303], [314], [316]
Otto I., Emperor of Germany, [115]
Otto II., Emperor of Germany, [115]
Oxus, the, [1]
Oyeskeggs, [355], [356], [357], [360]
P
Paderborn, [31]
Paris, [36], [513], [520], [538]
Paul, Bishop of Hamar, [420], [421]
Paul, Earl of the Orkneys, [288]
Persia, [2]
Peter III., Emperor of Russia, [508]
Peter Kolbjörnsson, [503]
Peter of Husastad, [411]
Peter Skulesson, [423]
Peter, St., [427]
Peter Steyper, [377], [381], [382], [388]
Philip, Don, [430]
Philip Simonsson, [386], [390], [393], [400], [401]
Piraeus, [241]
Poland, [498], [502]
Pomerania, [163], [473], [513]
Pontecorvo, [513]
Prestebakke, [512]
Protestantism, [487], [495]
Prussia, [136], [163]
Pultawa, [501]
R
Rafnista race, [56]
Raft Sund, [331]
Ragnar, a viking, [36]
Ragnar Lodbrok, [34], [198], [214], [231], [236]
Ragnfred Eriksson, [113]
Ragnhild, queen of Harold the Fairhaired, [68]
Ragnhild, queen of Halfdan the Swarthy, [47], [48]
Ragnhild, daughter of Magnus the Good, [265], [266], [267]
Ragnvald, Earl of Möre, [56], [59], [64], [69]
Ragnvald, son of Erik Blood-Axe, [80]
Ragnvald Rettilbeine, [68], [71]
Ragnvald, Earl of Vestergötland, [195]
Ran, [23]
Ranafylke, [317]
Randsfjord, [51], [108]
Ranrike, [57], [173], [284]
Ratibor, [310]
Raud the Strong, [156], [157], [162]
Raumarike, [46], [51], [173], [199], [210]
Raumsdale, [193]
Reas, [135]
Ree, [327], [334], [338], [433]
Reformation, the, [486]
Reidar Grjotgardsson, [313]
Reidar Messenger, [360], [361], [375], [376], [380]
Reidulf, a Birchleg, [389]
Rein, [416]
Reinald, Bishop, [308]
Revolution, the French, [509], [524]
Revolution, the July, [527]
Reykjaholt, [436], [440]
Rhine, The, [37]
Ribbungs, [407], [408], [412]-[416]
Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy, [65]
Richard the Good, Duke of Normandy, [65]
Rimul, [131], [140]
Ring, King, [188]
Ringeness, [190], [199]
Ringerike, [47], [51], [183], [186], [199], [244], [503]
Robert Bruce, [456]
Robert Guiscard, [292]
Robert the Magnificent, Duke of Normandy, [65]
Robin Hood, [341]
Roe, Bishop, [335], [380]
Rörek, King, [188], [199], [201], [202], [206]
Rörek, Viking, [36]
Rogaland, [174], [324]
Roger, Duke, [292]
Rolf the Walker, see Rollo
Rollaug, King in Naumdale, [54]
Rollo, Duke of Normandy, [56], [64], [65]
Rome, [1], [31], [34], [36], [171], [214], [308], [359], [421], [422], [438]
Roskilde, [498]
Rostock, [469]
Rother, King, [242]
Rouen, [36]
Rousseau, [508]
Rügen, [163]
Russia, [1], [134]-[137], [142], [192], [217], [218], [229], [232], [239], [240], [277], [501], [502], [508], [509], [510], [512], [513], [514], [515], [530]
Rydjökel, [329]
Ryfylke, [121]
S
Saemund Jonsson, [436], [440]
Saemund the Learned, [434]
Saltö Sound, [346], [361]
Sandness, [61]
Saracens, [240], [318]
Sarpen, [194]
Sarpsborg, [194], [197], [213], [391], [492]
Sars, Prof., [538]
Sars, J. E. Prof., [538]
Saudung Sound, [185]
Saurbygd, [337]
Saxons, [31], [42], [146], [236]
Scandinavia, [470]
Schiller, Friedrich, [418]
Sciences, Academy of, [508]
Scotland, [40], [43], [80], [113], [114], [137], [268], [285], [287], [314], [431], [442], [443], [452], [456], [480]
Seeland, [244], [248], [510]
Sehested, Hannibal, [477], [496]
Seine, The, [36]
Sekken, [324]
Selmer, Chr. August, Prime Minister, [532], [534]
Selven, [71]
Serpent, The, [157]
Shetland Islands, [43], [176], [355], [430], [442], [481]
Short-Serpent, The, [162], [165]
Sicily, [240], [241]
Side-Hall, [238]
Sidon, [293], [299]
Sif, [21]
Sigar of Brabant, [405]
Sigfrid, King of Nortmannia, [31]
Sigfrid Haroldsson, [60], [76]
Sighvat Scald, [230], [234], [260], [261], [262]
Sighvat Sturlasson, [436], [440]
Sigmund Brestesson, [158]
Sigrid the Haughty, [152], [154], [161], [163], [169], [182]
Sigrid, daughter of Earl Sweyn, [179]
Sigrid, sister of Thore Hund, [212]
Sigrid, wife of Ivar of Fljod, [295]
Sigrid, wife of Haldor Brynjulfsson, [320]
Sigtrygg, King in Waterford, [40]
Sigurd, Bishop, [147], [157], [208], [211], [220]
Sigurd of Haalogaland, [155]
Sigurd Borgarklett, [362], [364]
Sigurd the Crusader, [289], [291]-[305], [309], [310], [313], [318], [323], [329], [332], [427]
Sigurd, Earl of Hlade, [87], [90], [93], [95], [98], [102], [105], [106]
Sigurd Eriksson, [134], [135]
Sigurd Haakonsson, [121]
Sigurd Hjort, [47], [48]
Sigurd Jarlsson, [355]-[357], [360], [362], [364], [365]
Sigurd Jonsson, [473], [478]
Sigurd Lavard, [370], [380], [385]
Sigurd Marcusfostre, [326]
Sigurd Mouth, [311]-[321], [326], [327], [332], [334], [335], [336], [351], [382], [387], [388]
Sigurd, alleged son of Magnus Erlingsson, [355]
Sigurd Ranesson, [295], [296], [297]
Sigurd Ribbung, [407], [408], [410], [412], [414]
Sigurd of Reyr, [323], [324], [326], [327]
Sigurd Rise, [68]
Sigurd Sigurdsson, [307]
Sigurd Slembedegn, [308], [309], [311]-[314]
Sigurd Sleva, [104], [111]
Sigurd Syr, [182], [183], [186]-[190], [192], [199], [221], [240]
Sigurd Tavse, Archbishop, [421], [422]
Sigurd Wool-String, [287]
Sigvalde, Earl, [120], [123], [163], [164], [171]
Silgjord, [155]
Simeon of Durham, [42]
Simon Kaaresson, [354]
Simon Skaalp, [317], [322]
Sinclair, Colonel, [495], [518]
Siric, Archbishop of Canterbury, [147]
Skaane, [214], [242], [259], [463], [466], [468], [498], [502], [513], [530]
Skade, [21]
Skage Skoftesson, [119]
Skagen, [324]
Skara Stift, [464]
Skegge Aasbjörnsson, see Ironbeard
Skinfaxe, [17]
Skiringssal, [46], [51]
Skraellings, [181]
Skuld, [18]
Skule Baardsson, Duke, [284], [395]-[427], [432], [437], [438], [440]
Skule Tostigsson, [283]
Slavs, [1], [237]
Sleipner, [20]
Sleswick, [31], [237], [257], [472], [495], [530]
Slittungs, [401], [402], [404], [407]
Smaaland, [301]
Smaalenene, [11]
Snarfare, [62]
Snefrid, wife of Harold the Fairhaired, [67], [68], [71], [183]
Snorre Sturlasson, [13], [45], [49], [52], [66], [72], [74], [160], [186], [254], [276], [421], [433]-[441], [444]
Snorrelaug, [436]
Söndmöre, [122], [193], [217], [324], [411], [495]
Sogn, [119], [234]
Sognefjord, [179],
[210], [348], [349], [415]
Sognesund, [228]
Sognings, [348]
Solveig, [438]
Sonartorek, [85]
Sotoness, [95]
Sound, The, [118], [242], [453]
Stamford Bridge, [268], [269], [272], [283], [287]
Stang, F., Prime-Minister, [534]
Stanger, [332]
Stavanger, [59], [321], [358], [359]
Steen Sture the Elder, [480], [481], [482]
Steen Sture the Younger, [482], [483], [485]
Steinker, [189]
Steinkil, King of Sweden, [267]
Stenbock, Magnus, [502]
Stig, Marshal, [454]
Stiklestad, [212], [221], [227], [232], [235], [240], [255]
Stockholm, [464], [469], [480], [484], [485], [532]
Storm, Prof. Gustav, [538]
Storthing, [521]-[534]
Strand, [121], [183]
Strindsö, [369]
Struensee, [508], [509]
Stub, Rev. Kjeld, [496]
Stuf Katsson, [254]
Sturla Sighvatsson, [421], [438], [440]
Sturla Thordsson, father of Snorre Sturlasson, [434]
Sturla Thordsson, nephew of Snorre Sturlasson, [45], [440], [442]
Sturlungs, The, [433]-[441], [443]
Styrbjörn, [214]
Styrkaar Stallare, [270], [271]
Supreme Court, [522]
Surtur, [16]
Sussex, [138]
Suttung, [20]
Svang, [408]
Svanhild, daughter of Earl Eystein, [76]
Svante Nilsson Sture, [482]
Sverdrup, Prof, [516], [518]
Sverdrup, John, Prime-Minister, [534]
Sverke, King of Sweden, [368]
Sverre Sigurdsson, [195], [333]-[379], [382], [385], [386], [388], [391], [393], [396], [404], [407], [423], [432], [446], [450]
Svolder, [157], [163], [173], [178], [193]
Sweyn, a pretender, [287]
Sweyn Alfifasson, [225]-[229], [233], [287], [292]
Sweyn Estridsson, [236], [237], [244], [245], [247], [248], [250], [252], [257], [258], [259], [265], [266], [267], [268], [273], [274], [276]
Sweyn Forkbeard, [116], [118], [119], [138], [139], [154], [161]-[166], [168], [173], [177], [214]
Sweyn Haakonsson, Earl, [119], [121], [122], [173]-[181], [186], [187], [189], [190]-[193]
Sweyn, Rörek's servant, [201]
T
Tacitus, [25]
Taylor, Bayard, [491]
Tegelsmora, [223]
Telemark, [338], [340]
Thamb, [162]
Thames, The, [42]
Thangbrand the priest, [146], [147], [158], [159]
Thirty Years' War, [495]
Thjostulf Aalesson, [311], [312]
Thor, [20], [21], [22], [128], [144], [151], [204], [208], [209], [224]
Thora, wife of Earl Haakon, [119]
Thora, wife of Harold Hard-Ruler, [255]
Thora Guttorm's daughter, [309]
Thora Moster-Pole, [72]
Thora of Rimul, [130]
Thora Saxe's daughter, [308]
Thoralf Lousy-Beard, [108], [109], [135]
Thorbjörn Hornklove, [59]
Thord Sturlasson, [436]
Thore, Archbishop, [393], [395]
Thore Herse, [77], [78]
Thore Hjort, [148], [154], [156]
Thore Hund, [211], [212], [222], [233]
Thore Klakka, [139], [140]
Thore Sel, [211]
Thore of Steig, [245], [262], [274], [286], [287]
Thorfinn Karlsevne, [181]
Thorgeir, brother-in-law of Olaf Tryggvesson, [161], [162]
Thorgerd, Valkyria, [123]
Thorghaettan, [363]
Thorgils Thoralfsson, [135]
Thorgils, [224], [227]
Thorgisl, [38], [39], [40]
Thorgny the Lawman, [195], [196]
Thorkell Dyrdill, [164], [165]
Thorkell Leira, [124], [125], [126]
Thorleif, Bishop, [480]
Thormod Kolbruna-Scald, [221], [222]
Thorolf, Bald Grim's son, [77], [78], [79]
Thorolf, Kveld-Ulf's son, [57]-[60]
Thorsberg, [362]
Thorstein, a peasant, [109]
Thorstein Kugad, [362], [366]
Thorstein, son of Side-Hall, [238], [239]
Thorvald Eriksson, [181]
Thrond the Priest, [391]
Thrudvang, [20]
Thyra, queen of Olaf Tryggvesson, [154], [161], [168], [171], [214]
Tiber, [34]
Tidemand, Adolf, [538]
Tiding-Skofte, [119]
Tilly, General, [495]
Tilsit, treaty of, [510], [512]
Toke, a peasant, [246]
Tordenskjold, [503], [504]
Torstenson, General, [496]
Tostig Godwineson, Earl, [269], [270], [283]
Tours, [34]
Toverud, [512]
Trangen, [512]
Travendal, [501]
Tröndelag, [54], [76], [80], [87], [88], [102], [106], [130], [140], [148], [177], [178], [189], [193], [220], [234], [255], [285], [287], [324], [327], [340], [352], [358], [366], [368], [398], [445]
Trönders, [94], [95], [106], [107], [148], [149], [189], [193], [207], [227], [228], [232], [265], [285], [286], [311], [327], [328], [340], [368], [423], [498]
Trollhaettan, [288]
Tromsö, [429]
Tryggve Olafsson, son of Olaf Haroldsson, [76], [88], [94], [95], [102], [105], [107], [108], [144]
Tryggve Olafsson, son of Olaf Tryggvesson, [228]
Tunsberg, [201], [306], [324], [327], [334], [354], [375], [376], [380], [388], [390], [413], [449]
Tunsberghus, [481]
Turf-Einar, [69]
Turges, [38]
Turks, [2], [500]
Tyr, [21]
Tyrker, [180]
U
Ueland, Ole Gabriel, [528]
Ugerup, Erik, [485]
Ulf Thorgilsson, Earl, [214], [215], [236]
Ulf Uspaksson, [255]
Uller, [22]
Ulster, [289]
Unas, [334], [335]
University of Norway, [514]
Upland, [223]
Upsala, [45], [195]
Urd, [18]
Urökja Snorresson, [440]
Utgard, [17]
V
Vaagen, [294], [299]
Vaerdalen, [220], [221], [222], [232]
Vagn Aakesson, [122]-[127]
Valdalen, [217]
Valdemar Atterdag, [462], [463]
Valdemar Birgersson, King of Sweden, [449]
Valdemar, the Great, [323], [327]-[330], [345]
Valdemar Magnusson, Duke, [456], [458], [459]
Valdemar the Victorious, [386], [387], [410], [417], [418]
Valders, [52], [127]
Valfather, [19]
Valhalla, [19], [84], [101], [204]
Valkendorf, Christopher, [490]
Valkyries [19], [84], [123], [204]
Vandals, [136]
Vanir, [14], [21]
Varangians, [240], [241]
Varbelgs, [354], [355], [423], [425]
Ve, [13], [16]
Vebjörn, [256]
Venice, [241]
Venetian, [500]
Venus, [22]
Verdande, [18]
Vermeland, [57], [58], [267], [332], [337], [412], [464]
Versailles, [501]
Vesteraalen, [331]
Vestergötland, [195], [267], [312], [464], [468], [481]
Vestfjord, [331]
Vestfold, [46], [51], [57], [76], [190], [412]
Vestgoths, [268]
Viborg, [485]
Viborg-thing, [231], [237], [252]
Vidar, [22]
Vidrar, [84]
Vige, [156]
Vikar, Chief of the Varbelgs, [354], [423]
Viken, [57], [64], [76], [88], [94], [102], [105], [107], [110], [118], [119], [143], [144], [147], [160], [213], [245], [256], [266], [273], [285], [307], [319], [323], [324], [327], [330], [332], [337], [345], [351], [356], [361], [370], [388], [391], [393], [400], [407], [408], [410], [411], [422], [425], [445], [498]
Vile, [13], [16]
Vingulmark, [57], [173]
Vinland, [180], [181]
Vinold, Archbishop, [467]
Virgin Mary, The, [144], [146], [396]
Visby, [463]
Vitalie Brethren, [469], [473]
Vladimir, [134], [136], [137], [142]
Voltaire, [508]
Vornedskab, [475]
Vors, [111]
W
Wallenstein, [418]
Waterford, [40]
Wedel-Jarlsberg, Count, [518], [527]
Welhaven, J. S., [536]
Wendland, [136], [142], [161], [162], [163], [168], [237], [330]
Wends, [236], [237], [310], [312]
Wener, Lake, [288]
Wergeland, Henrik, [526], [531], [536]
Wergeland, Rev. Nicolai, [518]
Wessex, [41]
Widukind,
[31]
William the Conqueror, [12], [56], [65], [272], [277], [283]
William Longsword, [65]
William of Sabina, Cardinal, [428]
Wismar, [469]
Wollin, [120]
Y
Ygdrasil, [18]
Ymer, [16], [17]
Ynglings, [31], [40], [45], [57], [62]
Yngve, [45]
York, [81], [268]
Yotun, [16], [17], [21], [23]
Yotunheim, [17], [18], [21]
Z
Zoë, Empress, [242]
The Story of the Nations.
Messrs. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS take pleasure in announcing that they have in course of publication a series of historical studies, intended to present in a graphic manner the stories of the different nations that have attained prominence in history.
In the story form the current of each national life will be distinctly indicated, and its picturesque and noteworthy periods and episodes will be presented for the reader in their philosophical relation to each other as well as to universal history.
It is the plan of the writers of the different volumes to enter into the real life of the peoples, and to bring them before the reader as they actually lived, labored, and struggled—as they studied and wrote, and as they amused themselves. In carrying out this plan, the myths, with which the history of all lands begins, will not be overlooked, though these will be carefully distinguished from the actual history, so far as the labors of the accepted historical authorities have resulted in definite conclusions.
The subjects of the different volumes will be planned to cover connecting and, as far as possible, consecutive epochs or periods, so that the set when completed will present in a comprehensive narrative the chief events in the great Story of the Nations; but it will, of course, not always prove practicable to issue the several volumes in their chronological order.
The "Stories" are printed in good readable type, and in handsome 12mo form. They are adequately illustrated and furnished with maps and indexes. They are sold separately at a price of $1.50 each. The following is a partial list of the subjects thus far determined upon:
THE STORY OF *ANCIENT EGYPT. Prof. George Rawlinson.
" " " *CHALDEA. Z. A. Ragozin.
" " " *GREECE. Prof. James A. Harrison,
Washington and Lee University.
" " " *ROME. Arthur Gilman.
" " " *THE JEWS. Prof. James K. Hosmer,
Washington University of St. Louis.
" " " *CARTHAGE. Prof. Alfred J. Church,
University College, London.
" " " BYZANTIUM.
" " " THE GOTHS. Henry Bradley.
" " " *THE NORMANS. Sarah O. Jewett.
" " " *PERSIA. S. G. W. Benjamin.
" " " *SPAIN. Rev. E. E. and Susan Hale.
" " " *GERMANY. S. Baring-Gould.
" " " THE ITALIAN REPUBLICS.
" " " HOLLAND. Prof. C. E. Thorold Rogers.
" " " *NORWAY. Hjalmar H. Boyesen.
" " " *THE MOORS IN SPAIN. Stanley Lane-Poole.
" " " *HUNGARY. Prof. A. Vámbéry.
" " " THE ITALIAN KINGDOM. W. L. Alden.
" " " EARLY FRANCE. Prof. Gustave Masson.
" " " *ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. Prof. J. P. MahafFY.
" " " THE HANSE TOWNS. Helen Zimmern.
" " " *ASSYRIA. Z. A. Ragozin.
" " " *THE SARACENS. Arthur Gilman.
" " " TURKEY. Stanley Lane-Poole.
" " " PORTUGAL. H. Morse Stephens.
" " " MEXICO. Susan Hale.
" " " IRELAND. Hon. Emily Lawless.
" " " PHŒNICIA.
" " " SWITZERLAND.
" " " RUSSIA.
" " " WALES.
" " " SCOTLAND.
* (The volumes starred are now ready, April, 1887.)
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK LONDON
27 AND 29 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 27 KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND
The first volume, comprising the Hebrew Story from the Creation to the Exile, is now ready. Large 12mo, cloth extra, red edges, $1.50.
G. P. PUTNAM'S SON'S, New York and London.
THE SCRIPTURES
HEBREW AND CHRISTIAN.
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE.
EDITED BY
Professors E. T. BARTLETT and JOHN P. PETERS,
OF THE P. E. DIVINITY SCHOOL, PHILADELPHIA.
(For Description of the Work see Prospectus, Page 17.)
Some of the Comments Received:
Extracts from Letters:
FROM THE RT. REV. HENRY C. POTTER, D.D., LL.D., NEW YORK.
"I congratulate you on the issue of a work which, I am sure, will find a wide welcome, and the excellent features of which make it of permanent value."
FROM THE REV. HOWARD CROSBY, D.D., NEW YORK.
"The 'Scriptures for Young Readers' is admirably conceived and admirably executed. It is the Bible story in Bible words.... It is the work of devout and scholarly men, and will prove a help to Bible study. I have examined it with great satisfaction, and have found on almost every page the marks of original investigation and wise judgment."
FROM PREST. JULIUS H. SEELYE, D.D., LL.D., AMHERST, MASS.
"Its excellence for its purpose has surprised me, and I give it my hearty commendation."
FROM PROF. HENRY THAYER, D.D., CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
"It more than meets my expectations; in fact, is so attractive that I have set myself to its perusal from end to end."
FROM PREST. M. B. ANDERSON, D.D., LL.D., ROCHESTER, N. Y.
"The work seems to me adapted to be useful in the education of the young in Biblical history and the great moral truths embodied in it."
FROM PREST. GEO. WILLIAMSON SMITH, D.D., TRINITY COLLEGE, HARTFORD, CONN.
"I have carefully examined the first volume of the 'Scriptures for Young Readers,' and am deeply impressed by the learning and skill shown by the authors. They undertook a very difficult work, and have accomplished it in a scholarly manner. If interest in the book is an evidence of youth, many will find from reading this 'Introduction to the Study of the Bible' that they are not as old as they supposed they were."
** Transcribers Notes ** -minor punctuation errors corrected -minor spelling / printer typos corrected -spelling of fiord/fjord left intact -Illustrations relocated to between paragraphs-list of illustrations may not point to exact page of relocated illustration -Footnotes have, where possible, been placed immediately following the paragraph that refers to them