[140] This prudential reservation is the more necessary as most of our information comes from the enemy. Bishop Jón Ögmundsson had two wives, not at the same time, but one after another.
[141] “In the sixteenth century the Reformation was forced upon the people by the united kingdoms of Denmark and Norway; its progress was everywhere marked by blood, and even the Lutheran historian, Finn Jónsson, is unable to veil completely the atrocities which were committed. The venerable bishop of Hólar, Jón Arnason (sic, doubtless a clerical error), the last Catholic prelate, received the crown of martyrdom along with his two sons, uttering with his dying breath, ‘Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit!’” Thus writes Baring-Gould (Introduction, xl.). Mr Jón A. Hjaltalín hereupon observes: “I must call attention to this quotation from Mr Baring-Gould regarding the introduction of the Reformation into Iceland. I cannot protest too strongly against it. It is utterly false from beginning to end. Every one who has the slightest acquaintance with the history of Iceland during the sixteenth century knows that Lutheranism was not forced upon the Icelanders. The Reformation movement was only encouraged by the king of Denmark. Old men, Bishop Jón Arason among others, were permitted to retain their former faith if they were willing to leave others equally undisturbed in the exercises of their religion. This fact is corroborated by the bishop’s immediate descendants, who in everything glorified their ancestor as a martyr. Further, it cannot be shown that a single person lost his life in Iceland in connection with the introduction of the Reformation. The quarrel which led to the death of the bishop and his two sons arose from a dispute about the sale and occupation of a farm in the west. Bishop Jón Arason was an exact counterpart of the chiefs of the Sturlunga times; he delighted to ride about the island with hundreds of followers, and to engage in fights and broils with every one who had any property to lose. That it was not religious zeal that devoured him or his sons may be seen from the fact, that in a letter to the chancellor of the king of Denmark (dated 10th August 1550) they say that ‘their father the bishop, as well as themselves, are ready to keep the holy Evangelium, as His Majesty has ordered it to be preached everywhere in Iceland.’ There is all probability that they would have come to an untimely end even if there had been no Reformation. The king had indeed ordered their arrest as disturbers of the public peace. He did not, however, order their execution. The responsibility for that act must rest upon the Icelanders who seized them, and mistrusted their ability to keep them in safe custody until they could be brought before the proper tribunal. So far from anybody losing his life through the introduction of the Reformation, no one was even deprived of his liberty for a single hour except by Bishop Arason and his sons. I hope it was through crass ignorance only that Mr Baring-Gould penned such an extraordinary statement as the one quoted. Or is he able to name the people who suffered during the introduction of the Reformation, and to show trustworthy documents that they did thus suffer?”
[142] Charges of national ignorance are favourites with the ignorant, and unhappily not only with them: the analphabetic state of Spain is pressed into active service by the English home littérateur, especially of the Evangelical or Low Church school. It sounds strange to one who has often met upon the outer bridle-paths men mounted on their mules, and diligently reading books and newspapers. And the superior civilisation of the Latin race is hardly to be measured by the three “R’s,” or by similar mechanical appliances.
[143] The document is quoted in extenso by Henderson (ii. 164-166), and by Baring-Gould (Introduction, pp. xlv., xlvi.).
[144] The Icelanders’ view of the connection between their country and Denmark is simply this: They declare the union, dating from 1264, and renewed in 1380, to be personal, not real, and limited to both countries being under the same king. The Rigsdag cannot therefore legislate for the Althing, and the constitutional law of Denmark has never become that of Iceland. They consequently demand that the Althing should have legislative and not mere counselling powers; that it should sanction in the island the laws proposed by the Danes; and that the minister who advises the Crown in Icelandic matters should be responsible to this Diet. On the other hand, Denmark denies the validity of mediæval treaties, the relations of the mother country and her dependency having been completely altered by historical events; consequently Iceland is now an integral and inseparable part of the Danish kingdom, and the laws of Denmark must be valid in Iceland as in the other colonies. Iceland, they say, cannot claim any self-rule as a right; still, it may be desirable, on account of their peculiar circumstances, to allow the Icelanders a voice in the management of their own affairs, subject, however, to the supervision and consent of the Rigsdag and the Home Government.
[145] It is popularly asserted that the Danish Government contributes $30,000 per annum for the support of Iceland. Upon this subject, see note at end of the present section.
[146] The author tried in vain to see the wording of the “little bill,” and was assured that it had not been printed. It appeared in the Allgemeine Zeitung, Nos. 66, 84, 85, 101, and 102, of the 7th, 25th, and 26th March, and 11th and 12th April 1870. The article is entitled “Island und Dänemark,” and is written by the historian Professor Konrad Maurer of Munich. See note at end.
[147] Cela va sans dire; for many years the island has been too poor to pay for the expenses of governing it. But see note at end of section.
[148] Hr Eirikr Magnússon in the Standard of December 1, 1872, et seq.
[149] It can be proved that the different sums paid into the Danish treasury by the various companies who rented the trade with Iceland from time to time (from 1602 to 1722) amounted at least to $2,000,000, and the revenue of Iceland has never been credited with this sum.