[Appendix I. Document of Edward I.]
[Appendix II. Coinage of the Norwegians in Dublin]
INTRODUCTION.
Section I.
Scandinavia’s greatest Memorials.—Those of Denmark and Norway at Sea.—Of Sweden on Land.—The Influence of Climate.
The greatest, and for general history the most important, memorials of the Scandinavian people are connected, as is well known, with the expeditions of the Normans, and with the Thirty Years’ War.
In the Norman expeditions the North, mighty in its heathenism, poured forth towards the east, the west, and the south, its numerous warriors and shrewd men, who subverted old kingdoms, and founded new and powerful ones in their place. It was by Danish and Norwegian fleets that Normandy and England were then conquered, and kingdoms won in Scotland, Ireland, and North Holland; whilst Norwegians settled on the Faroe Islands (Dan., Faröerne), and discovered and colonized Iceland. Hence their descendants, having afterwards passed over to Greenland, discovered America, and were in the habit of navigating the Atlantic Ocean centuries before other European nations.