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Transcriber’s Note:

On page [66] (beginning "seas, and streams, on the same principle" and ending "They also, to a certain extent, retain their distinction into white and") there are several words and phrases in Anglo-Saxon that were impossible to transcribe exactly as in the original. The characters are not available in the Unicode standard. However, those words were found in “The Student’s Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon” by Henry Sweet available on-line here: [ https://archive.org/details/studentsdictiona00swee] and transcribed as well as possible.

The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

London:

Printed by A. Spottiswoode,

New-Street-Square.

THE

CABINET CYCLOPÆDIA.

CONDUCTED BY THE

REV. DIONYSIUS LARDNER, LL.D. F.R.S. L.&E.

M.R.I.A. F.R.A.S. F.L.S. F.Z.S. Hon. F.C.P.S. &c. &c.

ASSISTED BY

EMINENT LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

History.

DENMARK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY.

BY THE AUTHOR OF

THE “HISTORY OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.”

VOL. II.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR

LONGMAN, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMANS,

PATERNOSTER-ROW;

AND JOHN TAYLOR,

UPPER GOWER STREET.

1839.

HISTORY
OF
DENMARK, SWEDEN AND NORWAY,

BY

S. A. DUNHAM,

Author of “The History of Spain & Portugal”

VOL. II.

Copenhagen. E. Finden sc

London:

PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMANS, PATERNOSTER-ROW

AND JOHN TAYLOR, UPPER GOWER STREET.

1839.

TABLE,

ANALYTICAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL,

TO THE SECOND VOLUME OF

THE HISTORY OF SCANDINAVIA.

CHAPTER IV.—continued.

MARITIME EXPEDITIONS OF THE NORTHMEN DURING THE

PAGAN TIMES.

SECTION II.

IN THE ORKNEYS, THE HEBRIDES, ICELAND, GREENLAND, NORTH

AMERICA, RUSSIA, ETC.

795–1026.

ESTABLISHMENT OF A GOVERNMENT IN THE ORKNEYS.—SUCCESSION OF JARLS, ROGNEVALD, SIGURD, HALLAD, EINAR, SIGURD II., ETC.—DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION OF ICELAND.—DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION OF GREENLAND.—ALLEGED DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA.—STATEMENT OF FACTS CONNECTED WITH IT.—FOUNDATION OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE BY THE SCANDINAVIAN RURIC.

CHAP. V.

COSMOGONY AND RELIGION OF SCANDINAVIA.

INTRODUCTION.

THE TWO EDDAS, THE ELDER AND THE YOUNGER, THE POETIC AND THE PROSE.—CONTENTS OF THE FORMER.—DIVISION INTO CLASSES. 1. THE MYSTICAL. 2. THE MYTHIC-DIDACTIC. 3. THE PURELY MYTHOLOGICAL. 4. THE MYTHIC-HISTORICAL.—POEMS OF EACH CLASS.—THE PROSE EDDA.—SNORRO STURLESON.

SECTION I.

THE SCANDINAVIAN UNIVERSE, ITS WORLDS, AND THEIR INHABITANTS IN GENERAL, WITH THE PHYSICAL INTERPRETATION.

CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE.—YMER.—THE GIANTS.—THE GODS.—OTHER BEINGS.—THE NINE WORLDS, WITH THEIR POSITION AND PHYSICAL INTERPRETATION.—THE TWELVE HOUSES OF ASGARD.—SWARTALFAHEIM.—INHABITANTS OF THE NINE WORLDS.—THE ASER.—THE VEVER, ETC.

SECTION II.

CHIEF MYTHOLOGICAL PERSONAGES OF SCANDINAVIA.

ODIN, THOR, AND LOKE.—THEIR CHARACTERS PHYSICALLY INTERPRETED.—THEIR WIVES AND OFFSPRING.—THE THREE DEMON CHILDREN OF LOKE.—INFLUENCE OF THIS DEITY OVER THE FATE OF THE UNIVERSE.—HE IS PRESENT IN EVERY GREAT MYTHOS.—RAPE OF IDUNA.—THOR’S VISITS TO JOTUNHEIM.—THOR AND THE GIANT HYMIR.—THOR AND THE GIANT THRYM.—NIVOD, FREYR, FREYA.—EXPEDITION OF SKIRNIR-ÆGIR AND RAN.—OTHER DEITIES.—BALDER.—PUNISHMENT OF LOKE.—RAGNAROK.—RECOGNITION OF A GREAT FIRST CAUSE BY THE PAGAN SCANDINAVIANS.

Odin, Thor, Loke.

Rape of Iduna.

Thor’s Visits to Utgard.

Thor and the Giant Hymir.

Thor and the Giant Thrym.

Niord, Freyr, Freya.

Ægir and Ran.

Other Deities.

Balder.

Punishment of Loke.

Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods.

SECTION III.

INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY INTO DENMARK AND

SWEDEN.

OBSCURE EFFORTS OF THE ANGLO-SAXON MISSIONARIES TO CHRISTIANISE FRISIA AND DENMARK.—VICTORIES OF CHARLEMAGNE PREPARE THE WAY FOR A WIDER DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY.—FEALTY OF HARALD KLAK.—MISSIONARIES SENT INTO THE NORTH.—ST. ANSCAR.—CREATION OF AN ARCHBISHOPRIC.—ST. REMBERT.—SUCCEEDING ARCHBISHOPS.—FLUCTUATIONS IN THE STATE OF THE NEW RELIGION.—ITS ULTIMATE ESTABLISHMENT IN THE KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH.

BOOK II.

THE MIDDLE AGE.

CHAPTER I.

DENMARK.

1014–1387.

CANUTE THE GREAT.—HARDA-CANUTE.—MAGNUS.—ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF HARALD HARDRADE.—SWEYN II.—HARALD III.—CANUTE IV.—OLAF II.—ERIC III.—NICHOLAS.—ERIC IV.—ERIC V.—CANUTE V. AND SWEYN III.—VALDEMAR I.—HIS ABLE REIGN.—ARCHBISHOPS ESKIL AND ABSALOM.—CANUTE VI.—VALDEMAR II.—DECLINE OF THE DANISH POWER AND THE CAUSES WHICH LED TO IT.—ERIC VI.—ABEL.—CHRISTOPHER I.—ERIC VII.—ERIC VIII.—CHRISTOPHER II.—INTERREGNUM.—VALDEMAR III.—MEMORABLE TRANSACTIONS WITH NORWAY AND SWEDEN.—OLAF III.—UNION OF DENMARK AND NORWAY.

Canute the Great.

1015–1035.

Harda-Canute.

1035–1042.

Magnus I.

1042–1047.

Sweyn II.

1047–1076.

Harald III.

SURNAMED HEIN, OR THE GENTLE.

1076–1080.

Canute IV.

SURNAMED THE SAINT.

1080–1086.

Olaf II.

SURNAMED FAMELICUS, OR THE HUNGRY.

1087–1095.

Eric III.

SURNAMED THE GOOD.

1095–1103.

Nicholas.

1105–1134.

Eric IV.

SURNAMED EMUND.

1134–1137.

Eric V.

SURNAMED THE LAME.

1137–1147.

Canute V.

1147–1156.

Sweyn III.

1147–1157.

Valdemar I.

SURNAMED THE GREAT.

1157–1182.

Canute VI.

1182–1202.

Valdemar II.

SURNAMED THE VICTORIOUS.

1202–1241.

Eric VI.

SURNAMED PLOGPENNING, OR PLOUGHPENNY.

1241–1250.

Abel.

1250–1252.

Christopher I.

1252–1259.

Eric VII.

SURNAMED GLIPPING.

1259–1286.

Eric VIII.

SURNAMED MOENVED.

1286–1319.

Christopher II.

1320–1334.

Interregnum.

Valdemar IV.

SURNAMED ATTERDAG.

1340–1375.

Olaf III.

1376–1387.

CHAP. II.

NORWAY.

1030–1387.

CANUTE THE GREAT.—SWEYN.—MAGNUS I.—HARALD HARDRADE.—OLAF III.—MAGNUS II.—MAGNUS BAREFOOT.—EVILS OF A DIVIDED SOVEREIGNTY.—ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF SIGURD I.—MAGNUS IV.—CIVIL WARS.—EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF SWERRO.—HAKO IV.—MAGNUS VI.—ERIC II.—HAKO V.—OTHER SOVEREIGNS.—UNION OF NORWAY WITH DENMARK.

CHAP. III.

SWEDEN.

1001–1389.

OLAF.—EMUND I.—EMUND II.—STENKILL.—INGE I.—PHILIP.—INGE II.—SWERKER I.—CHARLES.—ST. ERIC.—INTERNAL TROUBLES.—BIRGER JARL.—VALDEMAR I.—MAGNUS I.—BIRGER.—MAGNUS II.—ERIC IV.—ALBERT OF MECKLENBURG.—UNION OF SWEDEN WITH DENMARK.

APPENDIX.

TABLE OF KINGS.

SUCCESSION OF DANISH KINGS DOWN TO THE UNION OF THE CROWNS OF DENMARK AND NORWAY.

I. Skioldungs, or Dynasty of Skiold the Son of Odin.

II. Dynasty of Sweyn.

N.B. Little dependence is to be placed on the accuracy of this list prior to Harald Blaatand. (See Vol. I. p. 66.)

KINGS OF SWEDEN.

I. Sacred Dynasty of the Ynglings.

II. Dynasty of the Skioldungs, etc.

N.B. On this list, prior to the eleventh century, as little dependence is to be placed as on that of Denmark.

KINGS OF NORWAY.

I. Dynasty of the Ynglings.

N.B. This kingdom henceforth united with Denmark, and therefore subject to the same monarchs.

THE

HISTORY

OF

SCANDINAVIA.

CHAP. IV.—continued.
MARITIME EXPEDITIONS OF THE NORTHMEN DURING THE PAGAN TIMES.

SECTION II.
IN THE ORKNEYS, THE HEBRIDES, ICELAND, GREENLAND, NORTH AMERICA, RUSSIA, ETC.

795–1026.

ESTABLISHMENT OF A GOVERNMENT IN THE ORKNEYS.—SUCCESSION OF JARLS, ROGNEVALD, SIGURD, HALLAD, EINAR, SIGURD II., ETC.—DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION OF ICELAND—DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION OF GREENLAND.—ALLEGED DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA.—STATEMENT OF FACTS CONNECTED WITH IT.—FOUNDATION OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE BY THE SCANDINAVIAN RURIC.

|888.|

The Orkney Islands were probably visited by the northern pirates at a period much earlier than is generally supposed. If, from their barrenness and from their limited surface, they offered no inducement to permanent occupancy, they were useful as strongholds,—as ports where the northern ships might anchor in safety. From their position between Scandinavia and Ireland, which we know was hostilely visited in the year 795, they must have been frequently subject to the ravages of the strangers. The Pictish inhabitants, who were not warlike or numerous, had the mortification to witness the frequent seizure of their cattle, their fish, their corn, and such other stores as they had been able to collect or to produce. Their only advantage was in their poverty, which shortened the stay of these avaricious men. But after the battle of Hafursfiord (885), these islands became the perpetual abode of the sea-rovers, who were no longer tolerated in Norway[^[1]]; here they fitted out expeditions to ravage every coast from the south of Ireland to the extremity of the Gulf of Finland. So frequent and so formidable were those ravages that in 888—three years after his glorious victory—Harald Harfagre, with a view of suppressing them, sailed with a powerful armament into these seas. The isles of Shetland, of Orkney, of the Hebrides, and Man, were subdued by him. But to conquer was little, unless some measure were adopted to secure the conquest. The monarch determined to place one of his most valiant and most respectable chiefs over the islands, and cast his eyes on Rognevald, jarl of Moria, who, in the present expedition, had lost one of his sons. But Rognevald, attached to his hereditary domains in Norway, induced his royal master to invest his brother Sigurd with the dignity. Sigurd, therefore, was the first jarl, or earl, of the Orkneys.

|889 to 892.|

This chief had qualities worthy of the post: he was valiant, liberal, politic. But he was also ambitious: he longed to reduce a portion of the neighbouring continent; and, as his own forces were unequal to an attempt of such magnitude, he formed an alliance with Thorstein the Red, son of Olaf the White, a chief famous in the annals of Norway. Having effected a junction, the two jarls subdued Caithness and Sutherland, and then extended their ravages into the counties of Ross and Moray. In the latter, Sigurd, who was intent on durable conquest, is said to have built a fortress. But he soon afterwards died,—whether in battle, or in consequence of a wound, is not very clear; and all the advantages which he had gained were lost. He was succeeded, indeed, by his son, Guthrum; but the latter, alike feeble in mind and body, soon paid the debt of nature. The depredations of the pirates were resumed; and Rognevald, who had been the feudal superior of Sigurd, was required to nominate another governor. His choice fell on Hallad, one of his sons. But it was less fortunate than the preceding one. If Hallad had the wish, he certainly had not the power, to contend with the frequent piratical bands who infested the islands: he soon deserted his post, and returned to Norway. The father lamented his unfortunate choice; still more did he lament the stain which want of success had brought upon his name. His children, he bitterly observed, were sadly degenerated from the ancient valour of their line. He could not foresee that Einar, one of them, was about to confer splendour on the family; still less that Rollo, another of them, would become the head of a powerful race of sovereigns. Rollo proposed to clear the islands from the piratical bands; but his proposal was declined, probably from want of confidence in his powers. And when Einar prayed the old jarl to send him to the government, the chief reason of his success was the little favour which he possessed in the eyes of his father. He was an illegitimate son; his mother was of servile condition; he had lost an eye; his countenance was in other respects repulsive; and all these circumstances combined to render the paternal roof disagreeable to him. The saga has preserved the words in which he made the application to his father:—“Thou hast never shown me much honour, nor will my departure afflict thee: wherefore I will proceed to the west, if thou wilt afford me the means. Do this, and I promise thee never to revisit Norway!” The old man gave him a large vessel, manned with good mariners; told him that he had no confidence in his valour or prudence, and expressed a hope that he should see him no more. His prayer was granted.

|893 to 936.|

On the arrival of Einar, his conduct proved that he to had not overrated his own powers. Over two pirate chiefs, who had, since the death of Sigurd, held the dominion of the islands, he triumphed; he governed the inhabitants by his wisdom, no less than protected them by his valour; and joined with his firmness such moderation that he became exceedingly popular with his people. His celebrity inspired with envy the sons of king Harald, who equally hated his father: that father was burnt to death, with many of his companions[^[2]]; and a fate no less tragical was reserved for Einar. In 894, Halfdan, one of his sons by the Finnish lady (he had three of the name[^[3]]), reached the Orkneys unexpected by Einar, who, being wholly unprepared for defence, fled into Caithness. In his turn, Halfdan was surprised by the jarl, and compelled to hide himself; but he was discovered and put to death, in revenge alike for the unprovoked aggression and for the murder of Rognevald. In this act of retribution, as it might be considered by a pagan, there was much temerity. The monarch armed to punish it, and, in 895, again appeared off the coast with a powerful armament. Unable to resist, Einar again fled into Caithness, a portion, if not the whole of which, was entirely subject to the jarls of the Orkneys. He had certainly formidable means of defence; so formidable, indeed, as to make Harald listen to overtures of accommodation. Probably, too, as a pagan, he made considerable allowance for the act of Einar, who, in avenging the death of a father, had done what religion dictated. At length he professed his readiness both to pardon the islanders, and to leave the jarl in the government, if sixty golden merks were paid him. This sum, moderate as it may seem, they were unable to raise; but Einar agreed to pay it for them, on the condition that their lands should be considered his until they found the means of redemption. Relieved from this formidable enemy, Einar resumed with his usual success the duties of government. By posterity he was called Turf-Einar, from his introducing, we are told, the use of that article. It is, however, scarcely to be credited that the islanders should, in his time, be ignorant of it. They had no wood; and sea-weed alone could not have sufficed them through the long and dreary winter. Probably he introduced some improvement into the manner of preparing it; and thus earned a title to their gratitude.

|936 to 946.|

On the death of Einar, the government of the Orkneys, and of the most northern counties of Scotland, devolved on two of his sons, Arnkel and Erlend. If they had the ambition they had not the wisdom of the father. When Eric of the Bloody Axe was expelled from Norway by Hako the Good[^[4]], they received him with readiness, became his allies, and accompanied him in his predatory expedition against the Scottish and English coasts. For a time, indeed, fortune seemed to smile upon them. Eric became the governor of Northumbria, as the vassal of king Athelstane: they shared in his prosperity, and in the wealth which he acquired in his piratical expeditions to the coasts of Scotland and Ireland; but they also shared his tragical fate in the battle which the royal Edred waged against the northmen, and which for ever united Northumbria with the Anglo-Saxon crown.[^[5]]

|946 to 980.|

These princes were succeeded by another brother, Thorfin Hausak-liufurs, whose administration, the result of his wisdom, was one of great prosperity. Not so that of his sons. Of these he left five. The eldest, Arnfin, married Ragnilda, the daughter of Eric Blodoxe and the infamous Gunhilda, and quite worthy of her parentage. Through her Arnfin, the victim of treachery, descended to an untimely grave. Havard, the next brother, succeeded to the government; and his conduct was so wise and prosperous, that he obtained the name of the Happy. But he had the folly to marry the widowed Ragnilda; and he suffered the deserved penalty of his weakness. She had transferred, we are told, her affection to Liot, the next brother; and with the view of obtaining the gratification of her wishes, had provoked a quarrel between Havard and a kinsman that proved fatal to the former. But such a woman could have no affection; and her motive to the deed was probably dislike of her husband’s ascendency. However this be, she became the wife of the third brother, who succeeded to the government. But Liot had little reason to congratulate himself on his elevation. The readiness with which he had become the instrument of a base and bloody woman roused the anger of Skuli, the next brother, who, being no less ambitious, resolved to dethrone him. Repairing to the court of the Scottish king, he offered to hold the islands as a fief of the crown, if, through the royal aid, he were raised to the dignity now held by Liot. The offer was accepted; and, at the head of a considerable force, he returned into Caithness, which declared for him. In the centre of that province the kinsmen met, and victory declared for Liot,—Skuli being left dead on the field. But the Scots now appeared in greater numbers; and though the jarl triumphed in a second engagement, he received a wound which brought him to his end in the year 980. The authority now passed into the hands of Laudver, the fifth brother. Of him we know only that he was addicted to piratical expeditions, that he married an Irish princess, and that he reigned sixteen years.

|980 to 1014.|

Sigurd, the son and successor of the last jarl, occupies more room in fable than in history. Rejecting the former, we may observe, that he had many great qualities; that he was valiant, generous, persevering; that he freed his people from the obligation which they had contracted to the jarls in the days of Turf-Einar, thus restoring the lands, which had lately been feudal, to their original allodial state; and that in addition to the Shetland Isles and the two Scottish counties, which had for nearly a century been under the jurisdiction of his predecessors, he held some fortresses, and, we are told, some extensive demesnes, in the heart of Scotland. Yet these might be held as a vassal of the Sottish monarch. But the most memorable event in his administration was the introduction of Christianity into the Orkneys. To this event we have before alluded[^[6]], but it requires a more ample detail. Sigurd being summoned on board the vessel which carried Olaf Trygveson from Ireland to Norway, was told that if he did not immediately receive Christianity, cause his people to receive it, and do homage to Olaf as the heir of Harald Harfagre, he, and all who refused, should be put to death. At this moment Olaf had not ascended the throne of Norway, which was occupied by jarl Hako; and Sigurd might well hesitate to acknowledge him. Again, though he must have frequently heard of the religion which he was now required to embrace, he had been accustomed to despise it, because it was professed by the peaceable—that is, the cowardly—portion of mankind. He, therefore, began to make some excuse for his inability to comply with the demand; but none would be admitted; and as he had to choose between obedience and instant death, he naturally selected the former. He and his people, with one accord, submitted to the rite; and to secure his fidelity, he gave his son as hostage. On the death of that son, however, he renounced his allegiance to the Norwegian crown, and entered into a close connection with that of Scotland, by marrying a daughter of king Malcolm. Probably this new alliance prevented him from renouncing Christianity with as much facility as he had renounced his dependence on Norway. It certainly increased his power, and the consideration in which he was held by the chiefs of the age. He was one of the leaders in the war against the Irish king Brian; and, with many others, he was killed at the battle of Clontarf.[^[7]] Such a man, in such an age, could not, of course, be permitted to fall in the ordinary way. If the scalds are to be credited, he had some presentiment of his fate before he left the islands; and he confided the administration to his three sons by the first wife, Einar, Sumerled, and Brusi. Connected with his death are two legends, which deserve a momentary notice. One of his friends, who wished to accompany him, he insisted on remaining, with the assurance that he should be the first man to whom intelligence of the battle should be communicated. One day the chief saw, as he thought, jarl Sigurd approaching at the head of a troop of horse. He instantly mounted, rode forward, met the jarl, embraced, and, in the view of several followers, afterwards disappeared with the jarl behind an eminence: neither, adds the legend, was again seen in this world. The other story has called forth the splendid effusion of Grey:—Darrod, a native of Caithness, saw twelve horsemen ride towards a hill, and immediately enter it. Hastening to the place, and looking through a small aperture, he perceived twelve gigantic women weaving and singing; the woof and the song no less supernatural than the singers.[^[8]] This event, which is placed in the year 1014, illustrates the mental condition of the people, who, if they had outwardly embraced Christianity, were still pagans in superstition.

Of the Shetland Isles, during this period, we know nothing. They formed, as we have observed, a portion of the government of the Orkney jarls; and so did the Hebrides. But the connection between the governors and the governed must have been lax, and subject to frequent interruption. The Hebrides were frequently ravaged,—now by Norwegians, now by Danes, now by fierce adventurers from all parts of the north. The condition of Iona, the hallowed abode of St. Columba’s disciples, was mournful. In 793 the monastery was laid in ashes, and most of the inmates massacred; again in 797 and 801. In 805 sixty-eight more of the monks suffered the same fate. From that period to the year 875 the barbarian ravages were frequent. To escape destruction, the monks fled; and when the pirates were defeated, returned to the same hallowed spot, to quench the still smoking ruins, and to rebuild the house of their saint. After 875 the depredations of the northern rovers were much less frequent. We read, indeed, of no massacre until 985, when the abbot and fifteen of his monks obtained the martyr’s crown. This seems to have been the last disaster of the kind. Christianity, in a degree far greater than the governments of Norway and the Orkneys, was destroying the spirit of piracy. In 1093, as we shall hereafter have occasion to relate, the Western Isles, like Man and the Orkneys, were subdued by Magnus of Norway, and annexed to his crown.[^[9]]

5. Iceland (861, &c.) was probably known to the Irish missionaries before it was discovered by the Norwegians. At least some articles were found there which missionaries only could have left; and these must have come from Iona or Ireland. “Before Iceland was discovered by the Norwegians,” says the Landnamabok, “men were there whom we call Papas, who professed the Christian religion, and who were believed to have come from the west.” The same authority also speaks of the books in the Irish and the Anglo-Saxon languages; of the bells, staves, and other articles left by preceding visitors. But if any colony had ever settled upon it, it had long been uninhabited when it was accidentally discovered by Naddod, in 861. That sea-rover left the Faroe Islands with the intention of steering directly for the west of Norway; but a storm arising, drove him far to the north-west, until he reached that largest of the European isles. But he knew not it was an island: he saw that it was covered with snow, and from that circumstance he denominated it Snoeland. Though he ascended several high mountains, he could discern no trace of human beings. On his return he acquainted his countrymen with the discovery. The following year it was again accidentally visited by a Swede, Gardar Swafarson, who sailed round it, and ascertaining it to be an island, gave it the name of Gardarsholm. The season was too advanced for him to return; and he passed the whole winter on the coast, living chiefly on the fish which he caught in abundance. The third person that visited it was the Norwegian Floki, surnamed Rafna, or the Raven, from the manner in which, according to legend, he found the island. Sailing from the Faroes, he proceeded towards the north-west; but as he was uncertain of the exact direction in which Snoeland lay, he let fly three ravens, which he had previously dedicated to the gods. One of these flew back to the islands which he had left; another returned to the ship; the third proceeded in a right line, and was followed by Floki, until he reached the country which Naddod had discovered. Its name he changed from Snoeland to Iceland. He admired its boiling fountains and its burning lava; but the country was too barren for his subsistence: he was troubled at the mysterious quaking of the earth; and he soon bade adieu to a region which he had evidently designed to colonize, but which the gods had doomed to everlasting desolation. His companions, however, did not give so disheartening an account of the island. They praised its fish, its climate, its soil; and above all, they praised it because “it was a place where men might live in freedom, far away from kings and jarls.”

|874.|

The first attempt made to colonize the island was in the year 874. Ingulf, the son of a Norwegian jarl, had slain his adversary; and to escape the consequences of the act, he, with his brother-in-law Jorleif, prepared to visit a region where neither the vengeance of the kindred nor that of Harald Harfagre could pursue him. Deeply imbued with the superstition of the ancient Norwegian worship, he offered due sacrifices to the gods—for in these patriarchal times the privilege of sacrificing descended with that of primogeniture; and when he sailed took with him the ornamented doorposts of the apartment in which his household deities were enshrined. These, as he approached the island, he cast into the sea, and vowed that on the part of the coast to which the elements should drive them, he would establish his colony. In the meantime a promontory on the south-east, still called Ingulfshod, received him; but the door-posts, watched by his slaves, proceeded to the south-west, and entered a bay on which the modern Reykiavik stands. The place in which he had fixed his temporary abode was comparatively fertile; the neighbourhood of the bay for many leagues was unusually sterile; yet in spite of all remonstrances Ingulf removed to the latter spot, which he believed to be divinely ordained for him. His companion, Jorleif, chose a more fertile locality to the south; but Jorleif had no reverence for the gods, to whom he never deigned to sacrifice. In the estimation of many, the latter was the wiser man; but in a short time he was murdered by his own slaves, who fled with his substance to some distant islands. They did not escape with impunity: pursued by Ingulf, they paid the penalty of their crime. However much the regret of the chief for the fate of his friend, he piously observed that it was the lot of all who despised the national divinities.

|884.|

Ingulf was followed by several Norwegian chiefs, and by a multitude of simple freemen, who desired “to live far away from tyrannical kings and jarls.” In general, each new community chose for itself some habitable valley, fixed its boundaries, erected a rude temple to the gods, and provided for the civil no less than the religious administration. Of the jarls contemporary with Ingulf, Thorolf was the most celebrated. Descended, in popular opinion, like many other chiefs, from the divine race which had held the government of the country, Thorolf was at once the head of his clan and the pontiff of his religion. Attached to the great temple of Thor, on one of the islands close to the Norwegian coast, furnished with a venerable beard, endowed with many vassals, many flocks and herds, and a wide domain, Thorolf was one of the most influential chiefs in the north of that kingdom. But he had the misfortune to incur the wrath of Harald Harfagre, by giving an asylum to Biorn, one of his kinsmen, who was persecuted by that monarch. From a Thing, or public assembly of the province, Harald obtained a decree of outlawry against Thorolf, if, within a given period, he failed to surrender Biorn. To ascertain the will of the gods, whether he should give himself up to the king or flee to Iceland, he sacrificed to Thor, and the reply favoured the latter project. No less devout than Ingulf, he took with him the statue of Thor, the earth on which the throne had stood, and a portion of the temple. Approaching the island, he threw into the sea the wooden columns which had supported the sanctuary; and, as his predecessor had done ten years before him, settled on the spot to which the elements carried them. Marking the boundaries of his new domain by walking round it with a flaming brand and setting fire to the grass, his next object was to build a large house, and then a large temple, in which he was to officiate as the high-priest of Thor. There were the same columns, the same throne, the same mystic ring, and the same great altar. The other divinities were placed in the niches prepared for them; and the worship was celebrated with less pomp indeed than in the parent country, but with equal fervour. Close to the temple was the spot where the Thing, or judicial assembly of the people, was held, in the open air, in presence of “Freya, and Niord, and the Almighty As,” by whom the witnesses in a suit always sware. The ground of both was held to be holy; for the laws which the ancient divinities had ordained were necessarily a part of religion. This was the ordinary mode of proceeding when any new colony was formed. By degrees, as the cabins of the slaves increased, and were spread over the domain, the aspect of the country became more cheerful. The settlement of Thorolf was soon a flourishing one; it was increased by many new arrivals from Norway; and was at length divided into three populous districts, each of which recognized him as chief pontiff, until human passion begun to produce its inevitable result,—disunion and bloody feuds.

|874 to 936.|

At this distance of time, we do not estimate as we ought the number of emigrants from Norway to this newly-discovered island. Before the death of Harald Harfagre, most of its habitable portions had their occupants. What with the expulsion of the pirates, what with the voluntary exile of the chiefs who disdained to acknowledge a superior, the mother country must have lost no inconsiderable proportion of its inhabitants. It promised indeed to be left half peopled, when that monarch, in conjunction with the nobles who still remained, severely prohibited these emigrations. But neither he nor they could always watch the ports; still less could they control the motions of those who, while occupied in traffic from coast to coast, seized the opportunity of sailing for a land where there were no kings, no lords. Yet this was only true of the earliest state of Icelandic civilization. Subsequently, as the chiefs with their numerous slaves and their warlike dependants repaired to that place, a system resembling the clanship of Norway, though less despotic, was introduced. They, indeed, seized the land as their own, and parcelled it out to their followers on certain conditions. Among these conditions was always the payment of an annual rent in agricultural produce, and of something for the support of religion; but frequently was superadded some hereditary jurisdiction in the family of the chief. As he was often a pontiff no less than a patriarch, and was a reputed descendant from the divine family of the Ynglings, this union of the sacerdotal, of the judicial, and of almost royal functions, invested him with a consideration which he had scarcely enjoyed even in Norway. He who filled this two-fold office of pontiff and civil magistrate, who formed a sort of patriarchal aristocracy not uninteresting to contemplate, was called Godar, or Haf-godar. But in half a century after the colonization of the island, an evil arose for which the social constitutions of the period afforded no remedy. The isolation of the communities led to the formation of a separate rival spirit, which was often destructive to the district. When two neighbouring communities or their magistrates disputed, who was to act as the umpire? There was no monarch, no hereditary chief of the province, no Al-Thing, to decide between them. It became necessary, therefore, either to renounce the advantages of a general confederation, and to live in scattered independent tribes, whose hostilities must soon have led to the depopulation of the island, or to establish a superior authority. Hence the selection of a supreme judge, who was also empowered to collect laws, which, however, could not be obligatory until they had been accepted by the chiefs and the people of each community. The first Icelander raised to this high dignity was Ulfliot (925), who, though sixty years of age, proceeded to Norway to obtain a more intimate acquaintance with the unwritten observances of that kingdom. Under the direction of Thorleif the Wise, he obtained in three years the information which he sought; and on his return to Iceland he promulgated a code that for many generations regulated the decisions of the deemsters, or local judges. Its provisions have unfortunately perished, with the exception of some inconsiderable fragments. They were no doubt nearly identical with those which governed the parent country; but of the latter we have not one in the state in which it was originally promulgated,—not one that has not been altered by succeeding legislators. The spirit of the code which Thorleif himself compiled at the instance of Hako the Good, can be inferred only from the general character of Norwegian society, and from the legal provisions of later times; provisions which are, in truth, but adaptations of ancient penalties to an altered state of society. The laws designed for pagan use would obviously require considerable modification before they could be adopted by Christians.

|930.|

To understand rightly the social condition of Iceland during the pagan and indeed the succeeding ages, too much attention cannot be paid to the political constitution and the civil administration of that interesting colony. The island was divided into four great districts,—viertel; and over each was a chief magistrate elected by the people. At certain periods, there was an assembly of the freemen in each; all had a voice in the deliberations; all could vote; and the magistrate whom they had chosen was entrusted with the execution of such laws, such regulations, as they adopted. But though comprising one fourth only of the habitable portion of the island, each of these districts was too extensive to render the meetings of the freemen so frequent as the interests of the community required. Hence the sub-division of each into inferior districts, which had their meetings for the transaction of such business as was more peculiarly local. Affairs which concerned the whole community could be discussed only in the Al-Thing, or great national assembly, which was held once a year. The place of meeting was situated on a level plain, on the shores of the lake of Thingvalle, and was called the Law Mount. Justice, indeed, was generally administered on an eminence among all the nations of Gothic origin; not because there was any sanctity in a hill, but that the proceedings might be more visible to the multitude. During eight centuries the Law Mount continued to be the scene of the national assemblies; and it is only in our own times that the place of meeting has been removed to a spot more convenient indeed to the scattered population, but less hallowed by time. The president was chosen for life,—an anomaly surely in a community where the freemen would be thought equal; but the truth is that among all the Germanic nations there was a wide difference between the theory and practice of the constitution. The meanest freeman present at the Thing might, for any thing we know, have a vote; he might even have the right of speech; but still the real power lay in the hands of a few noble chiefs. What made the authority of this president, this logsogomadr, or promulgator of the law, the more formidable, is the fact, that though he was not, as some writers have contended, a legislator, no laws were made without his concurrence; and of these he had the interpretation, no less than the administration. His office therefore being more than executive, and conferred for so long a period, made him irresponsible, except when the Thing was actually assembled. As we have before observed, Ulfliot was the first who held this dignity. The laws he enacted were, we are told, preserved for two centuries by tradition only, before they were committed to writing. This is not credible. The Runic art at least was understood many centuries before his time; and so, we may infer, were the ordinary characters: at least we read of communication by letter between the sovereigns and jarls of the time. The more important of Ulfliot’s laws must have been invested in a dress less perishable than oral tradition. For ages before his time, every German tribe with which we are acquainted, had, besides its common or unwritten, its statute or written, law; and we know not why Scandinavia should in this respect be different from such barbarous tribes as the Saxons, or Finns, or Suabians, during the same period. On this subject, however, more in the proper place.[^[10]]

6. Greenland owed its discovery to the Icelandic colony. Towards the close of the tenth century, Eric the Red, son of Torwald, a Norwegian jarl, who had been compelled to forsake his country in consequence of a feud, was, for the same reason, obliged to leave Iceland. Whither was he to repair? To Norway he could not; for there were the deadly enemies of his family whom old Torwald had made. To hide himself in Iceland was hopeless; and in the Orkneys, which were far distant, he could scarcely hope to escape the vengeance of those enemies. He therefore resolved to seek a land of which some maritime adventurers had obtained a confused knowledge. Sailing towards the west, he at length discovered a small island in a strait, which he called Eric’s Sound, and on which he passed the winter. The following spring, he examined the neighbouring continent, which from its smiling verdure—smiling in comparison with the bleak desolation of Iceland—he called Greenland. Filled with the importance of this adventure, he soon returned to that island, and succeeded in collecting a number of colonists, whom he established in the newly-discovered land. Yet Greenland was not uninhabited: better for the settlers had it been so; for the wild natives were not friendly to men whom they regarded as intruders on their own domain. Some years after the settlement of the colony, viz. in 999, Leif, the son of Eric, repaired to Norway, where he was well received by the reigning monarch, Olaf Trygveson: Olaf was soon interested in the description which Leif gave of the country; and in his zeal for the conversion of all pagans, he resolved to support the new colony. Whatever might be the faults of the royal convert, he was the instrument of much good. He persuaded or forced Leif to receive baptism, and caused a missionary to accompany him to Greenland. Hence the introduction of that religion among the Norwegian colonists; but it had little success amongst the natives, who, whether from stupidity or vicious habits, have always been slow to comprehend its truths. During more than three centuries this infant colony flourished: the plague of 1348 lamentably thinned its numbers; and early in the following century the rest were either exterminated by the savage inhabitants, or compelled to leave the country. Not a vestige remains of that colony; nor is it clearly ascertained in what part of the coast it was located.

7. North America (1001–1002). The most curious part of the present subject is that which relates to the alleged discovery of North America by a native of Iceland. Let us state the facts, as recorded by the ancient sagas, and the authorities followed by Snorro Sturleson, before we reason upon them.—Herjulf, a descendant of Ingulf, and his son Biarn, subsisted by trading between Iceland and Norway, in the latter of which countries they generally passed the winter. One season, their vessels being as usual divided for the greater convenience of traffic, Biarn did not find his father in Norway, who, he was informed, had proceeded to Greenland, then just discovered. He had never visited that country; but he steered westwards for many days, until a strong north wind bore him considerably to the south. After a long interval, he arrived in sight of a low, woody country, which, compared with the description he had received of the other, and from the route he had taken, could not, he was sure, be Greenland. Proceeding to the south-west, he reached the latter country, and joined his father, who was located at Herjulfsnæ, a promontory opposite to the western coast of Iceland.

|1001.|

The information which Biarn gave of this discovery induced Leif, son of Eric the Red, the discoverer of Greenland, to equip a vessel for the unknown country. With thirty-five persons he sailed from Herjulfsnæs towards the south, in the direction indicated by Biarn. Arriving at a flat stony coast, with mountains, however, covered with snow, visible at a great distance, they called it Hellu-land. Proceeding still southwards, they came to a woody but still flat coast, which they called Mark-land. A brisk north-east wind blowing for two days and two nights, brought them to a finer coast, woody and undulating, and abounding with natural productions. Towards the north this region was sheltered by an island; but there was no port until they had proceeded farther to the west. There they landed; and as there was abundance of fish in a river which flowed into the bay, they ventured there to pass the winter. They found the nights and days less unequal than in Iceland or Norway; on the very shortest (Dec. 21.) the sun rising at half-past seven, and setting at half-past four. From some wild grapes which they found a few miles from the shore, they denominated the country Vinland, or Winland. The following spring they returned to Greenland.

This description, as the reader will instantly recognize, can apply only to North America. The first of the coasts which Leif and his navigators saw must have been Newfoundland, or Labrador; the second was probably the coast of New Brunswick; the third was Maine. The causes which led to the voyage, the names, the incidents, are so natural and so connected as to bear the impress of truth. And Snorro, the earliest historian of the voyage, was not an inventor: he related events as he received them from authorities which no longer exist, or from tradition. Neither he nor his countrymen entertained the slightest doubt that a new and extensive region had been discovered. The sequel will corroborate the belief that they were right.

|1004 to 1008.|

The next chief that visited Vinland was Thorwald, another son of Eric the Red. With thirty companions he proceeded to the coast, and wintered in the tent which had sheltered his brother Leif. The two following summers were passed by him in examining the regions both to the west and the east; and, from the description in the Icelandic sagas, we may infer that he coasted the shore from Massachusetts to Labrador. Until the second season no inhabitants appeared; but two who had ventured along the shore in their frail canoes were taken, and most impolitically, as well as most inhumanly, put to death. These were evidently Esquimaux, whose short stature and features resembled those of the western Greenlanders. To revenge the murder of their countrymen, a considerable number of the inhabitants now appeared in their small boats; but their arrows being unable to make any impression on the wooden defences, they precipitately retired. In this short skirmish, however, Thorwald received a mortal wound; and was buried on the next promontory with a cross at his head and another at his feet, a proof that he had embraced Christianity. Having passed another winter, his companions returned to Greenland. The following year Thorstein, another son of Eric the Red, embarked for the same place with his wife Gudrida and twenty-five companions; but they were driven by the contending elements to the remote western coast of Greenland, where they passed the winter in great hardships. This adventure was fatal to Thorstein, whose corpse was taken back to the colony by his widow.

|1009.|

The first serious attempt at colonizing Vinland was made by a Norwegian chief, Thorfin, who had removed to Greenland, and married the widowed Gudrida. With sixty companions, some domestic animals, implements of husbandry, and an abundance of dried provisions, he proceeded to the coast where Thorwald had died. There he erected his tents, which he surrounded by a strong palisade, to resist the assaults, whether open or secret, whether daily or nocturnal, of the natives. They came in considerable numbers to offer peltries and other productions for such commodities as the strangers could spare. Above all, we are assured, they wanted arms, which Thorfin would not permit to be sold; yet if an anecdote be true, their knowledge of such weapons must have been limited indeed. One of the savages took up an axe, ran with it into the woods, and displayed it with much triumph to the rest. To try its virtues, he struck one that stood near him; and the latter, to the horror of all present, fell dead at his feet. A chief took it from him, regarded it for some time with anger, and then cast it into the sea. Thorfin remained three years in Vinland, where a son was born to him; and after many voyages to different parts of the north, ended his days in Iceland. His widow made the pilgrimage to Rome; and on her return to the island retired to a convent which he had erected. Many, however, of the colonists whom he had led to Vinland remained, and were ultimately joined by another body under Helgi and Finnbogi, two brothers from Greenland. But the latter had the misfortune to be accompanied by a treacherous and evil woman, Freydisa, a daughter of Eric the Red, and who in a short time excited a quarrel, which proved fatal to about thirty of the colonists. Detested for her vices, she was constrained to return to Greenland; but the odour of her evil name remained with her: she lived despised, and died unlamented.

|1026 to 1121.|

Towards the close of the reign of Olaf the Saint, an Icelander, named Gudleif, embarked for Dublin. The vessel being driven by boisterous winds far from its direct course, towards the south-west, approached an unknown shore. He and the crew were soon seized by the natives, and carried into the interior. Here, however, to their great surprise, they were accosted by a venerable chief in their own language, who enquired after some individuals of Iceland. He refused to tell his name; but, as he sent a present to Thurida, the sister of Snorro Gode, and another for her son, no doubt was entertained that he was the scald Biorn, who had been her lover, and who had left Iceland thirty years before that time. The natives were described of a red colour, and cruel to strangers; indeed, it required all the influence of the friendly chief to rescue Gudleif and his companions from destruction. From this period to 1050, we hear no more of the northern colony established by Thorfin; but in that year a priest went from Iceland to Vinland to preach Christianity. His end was tragical,—a proof that if any of the original settlers had been Christians, they had reverted to idolatry. In 1121, a bishop embarked from Greenland for the same destination, and with the same object; but of the result no record exists. We hear no more, indeed, of the colony, or of Vinland, until the latter half of the fourteenth century, when the two Venetians Zeni are said to have visited that part of the world. From that time to the discovery of the New World by Columbus, there was no communication—none at least that is known—between it and the north of Europe.

This circumstance has induced many to doubt of the facts which have been related. If, they contend, North America were really discovered and repeatedly visited by the Icelanders, how came a country, so fertile in comparison with that island, or with Greenland, or even Norway, to be so suddenly abandoned? This is certainly a difficulty; but a greater one, in our opinion, is involved in the rejection of all the evidence that has been adduced. It is not Snorro merely who mentions Vinland: many other sagas do the same; and even before Snorro, Adam of Bremen obtained from the lips of Sweyn II., king of Denmark, a confirmation of the alleged discovery. For relations so numerous and so uniform, for circumstances so naturally and so graphically described, there must have been some foundation. Even fiction does not invent, it only exaggerates. There is nothing improbable in the alleged voyages. The Scandinavians were the best navigators in the world. From authentic and indubitable testimony we know that their vessels visited every sea from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, from the extremity of the Finland Gulf to the entrance at least of Davis’s Straits. Men thus familiar with distant seas must have made a greater progress in the science of navigation than we generally allow. The voyage from Reykiavik, in Iceland, to Cape Farewell, is not longer than that from the south-western extremity of Iceland—once well colonized—to the eastern coast of Labrador. But does the latter country itself exhibit, in modern times, any vestiges of a higher civilization than we should expect to find if no Europeans had ever visited it? So at least the Jesuit missionaries inform us. They found the cross, a knowledge of the stars, a superior kind of worship, a more ingenious mind, among the inhabitants of the coast which is thought to have been colonized from Greenland. They even assure us that many Norwegian words are to be found in the dialect of the people. The causes which led to the destruction of the settlement were probably similar to those which produced the same effect in Greenland. A handful of colonists, cut off from all communication with the mother country, and consequently deprived of the means for repressing their savage neighbours, could not be expected always to preserve their original characteristics. They would either be exterminated by hostilities, or driven to amalgamate with the natives: probably both causes led to this unfortunate result. The only difficulty in this subject is that which we have before mentioned, viz. the sudden and total cessation of all intercourse with Iceland or Greenland; and even this must diminish when we remember that in the fourteenth century the Norwegian colony in Greenland disappeared in the same manner, after a residence in the country of more than three hundred years. On weighing the preceding circumstances, and the simple natural language in which they are recorded, few men not born in Italy or Spain will deny to the Scandinavians the claim of having been the original discoverers of the New World. Even Robertson, imperfectly acquainted as he was with the links in this chain of evidence, dared not wholly to reject it. Since his day, the researches of the northern critics, and a more attentive consideration of the subject, have caused most writers to mention it with respect.[^[11]]

8. Russia (862). That the Scandinavian pirates founded a sovereignty in Russia soon after the middle of the ninth century, is a fact which no historian ventures to dispute. A body of the people under the denomination of the Varangians,—a denomination which nobody can explain,—subdued the Tshuder and other Slavonic tribes between the Gulf of Finland and Novogrod. They were indeed masters of the maritime coasts in this part of the Baltic. At this time Russia was split into many separate states, which had never known a common head, and of which most, though of kindred origin, were at war with one another. Of these states the most considerable was Novogrod, a flourishing republic, which had an extensive commerce, not merely with the nations surrounding the Baltic, but with the Greek empire, with Persia, and perhaps with India. Its wealth naturally raised the cupidity of the warlike tribes, who were on the watch to intercept its merchandise, to harass its convoys, and, when the opportunity was favourable, of assailing its outposts. Separately, indeed, none of these tribes could have made any impression on that powerful city; but leagues for a common object distinguished the barbarian no less than the civilised times. By such a league were the people of Novogrod menaced; and in accordance with a custom of the times, solicited the aid of their neighbours, the Varangians. All the Northmen, and the Varangians in particular, were ready to sell their sword to the highest bidder. The offer of the republic, therefore, was promptly accepted; and her enemies were speedily humbled.

|861 to 862.|

About the fact which we have just related there is no difference of opinion among historians; but there is much between native and foreign writers, as to the circumstances which led to the establishment of the Varangian dynasty in Russia. According to one of the former, four of the great tribes, with the city of Novogrod, being struck with admiration at the wisdom, the justice, no less than the valour of the Northmen, and rendered miserable by their continual dissensions, sent an embassy over the sea for princes that might govern and protect them! “The interests of order and of domestic tranquillity,” says the historian already quoted[^[12]], “induced them to lay down their national pride: the Slavi, says a tradition, influenced by the advice of an aged inhabitant of Novogrod, demanded sovereigns from the Varangians. Our ancient annals do not mention this sage; but if the tradition be true, his name is worthy of immortality, and of a glorious rank in our fasti.” It seems that the Novogrodians and the Krivitches were allies of the Finnish tribes on the borders of the Finland Gulf, and like them tributaries of the Varangians. Subject for some years to the same laws, they could easily draw closer the bonds of the alliance which had formerly united them. Thus, according to Nestor, they sent an embassy beyond the sea to the Varangians, saying, “Our country is extensive and fertile, but we are the prey of anarchy: come then to govern, to rule over us!” “Three brothers, Ruric, Sineas, and Truvor, illustrious alike for birth and valour, consented to assume the reins of government over a people who did not know how to use the liberty which their own right hands had won. Accompanied by a large body of Scandinavians, and prepared to defend by force of arms their own sovereign rights, these ambitious brothers for ever abandoned their own country. Ruric established himself at Novogrod; Sineas at Bielo-Ozero, amongst the Vessians, or Finnish people; and Truvor at Isborsk, a town of the Krivichians.” The internal improbability of this relation, in connection with the total absence of authority for it, must ensure its rejection by every critic.

The foreign historians of Russia, though relying on Russian authority, have given the only rational history of this event. They assure us that, after the three brothers had assisted Novogrod to humble her enemies, they were in no hurry to leave the country. Near the confluence of the Volkhof with the waters of the Ladoga Ruric built a town, which gave its name to that lake; and having fortified it, determined to make it a point of departure for his meditated conquests. His intention was but too evident to the people of Novogrod, who began to adopt measures for their defence. The Varangians were no less eager to profit by their superiority in arms; and to secure their great object, they combined their forces, and marched on the city. A mercantile people are seldom warlike. The inhabitants loudly expressed their determination to bury themselves amidst their houses rather than yield; but when the formidable enemy appeared before their gates, they preferred the part of submission, and from that moment received him as sovereign within their walls. Thus was a republican exchanged for a monarchical government, despotism for anarchy. Yet Ruric acted with much caution, and caused the weight of his power to sit as lightly as possible on the people he had subdued. He established a council of the chief inhabitants, whom he consulted for some time in every act of importance; and though he conferred most of the responsible offices on his own followers, his sway, at once moderate and firm, was an advantage to the people. His title of grand prince illustrates his wide ambition. His two brothers were princes; so were some others whom he placed over the local governments; but they were only his vassals, and their fiefs were reversible to him as their sovereign. Soon after his elevation, indeed, both the brothers died; and Ruric incorporated their states with his own. Both he and they must have been conquerors; for in a few years his authority extended from the northern extremity of the Ladoga lake to the western Dwina, and eastward to the confines of Yaroslaf.

But before the death of Ruric the Norman domination extended even to Kief. Two of his followers, Ascald and Dir, having apparently some reason for dissatisfaction, left Novogrod with the intention of doing what many other Scandinavians had done,—of offering their swords to the Greek emperor. On their way they perceived a little town, built on an eminence overlooking the Dnieper; and on inquiring to whom it belonged, they were told that it had been founded by three brothers long before dead, and that it was inhabited by a quiet inoffensive people, who paid tribute to the Khozars. The chieftains had a military eye: they saw at once the importance of such a position; that it might become the centre of a sovereignty, great perhaps as that of Novogrod; and with the armed force which they were leading they surprised the place. In a few years they were joined by great numbers of their countrymen, both from that city and from Scandinavia. This was the period, indeed, when Harald Harfagre was consolidating his empire by the reduction of the Norwegian chiefs, and securing tranquillity by the banishment of the more licentious pirates. Thousands and tens of thousands must, at this period, have left Norway in quest of new habitations. Hence Kief soon became very populous, and so confident of its strength that it sent its piratical sons to the very gates of Constantinople. Money induced them to retreat. The domination of the Khozars over Kief was at an end. The introduction of Christianity into that city did not much assuage the ferocity of the Normans: many adopted the mass without forsaking their warrior god.

|882.|

The establishment of two empires in Russia was soon found to be impolitic. After the death of Ruric, and during the minority of his son Igor, Oleg, to whom he had confided the administration, resolved to incorporate Kief with the northern principality. In his way, the regent took Smolensko and Lubetch; but on reaching the banks of the Dnieper beneath that city, he saw that it was too strong to be taken by force, and he had recourse to stratagem. By a pretended embassy, he lured the two princes into his power, and put them to death. The other conquests of Oleg, and his successful efforts to consolidate no less than to extend the infant empire, must be sought in the histories of that empire. Sufficient for our purpose is the fact, that these enterprising men established in Russia a sovereignty which still subsists. The family of Ruric held the throne of that empire above seven centuries; down to the accession of the present Romanoff dynasty.[^[13]]

10. Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, &c.—During the Pagan age, the Northmen were on the coasts of all these countries, which they ravaged with success. Their visit to Italy, however, was but transient. Hastings, their leader, did no more than surprise a town at the mouth of the Tiber, and returned to Gaul, where a richer spoil invited him. In Spain, the Scandinavians abode for many years. The important city of Seville was in their power, and from it they made frequent and most disastrous incursions into the neighbouring provinces. They were long too powerful to be expelled by the monarch of Cordova, though that monarch was no other than the great Abderahman. On the coast of Galicia too, according to the ancient chroniclers of Castile, they abode for a season, and caused much mischief to the subjects of Pelayo’s successors. In Belgium and Spain their ravages were more frequent and more severe; in fact, there was no cessation to them until the north became Christianized. But though of their predatory expeditions a volume might be composed, they would little interest the reader, both because the description of one is the description of all, and because they left no permanent or important results behind them. In the expeditions which we have already contemplated, such results are to be found. In England they led to the formation of an independent kingdom in Northumbria, compelled even Alfred to retire into private life, and eventually placed Danish sovereigns on the throne. In France they occasioned the dismemberment of Normandy and Brittany from the crown. In Ireland they gave rise to many principalities, and continued, for centuries, to influence in the highest degree the fate of that country. In the Orkneys, they led to the establishment of a powerful dynasty, and produced a hardy race of men who still possess those islands. In Iceland there was the same result; and Iceland too became, what to literature is more important,—the refuge of the Norwegian language, religion, and learning. In Greenland, they called into existence a colony which subsisted above three hundred years. In Russia, they laid the foundation of the greatest empire which the world has yet seen. Even in North America, transient or unknown as were the results they produced, they exhibit a phenomenon as curious as it is interesting,—a handful of warlike shepherds, or adventurous mariners, traversing the wide Atlantic, and attempting to introduce their own institutions among the savages of another world. But those which were undertaken into the countries before us were not directed by master minds, and their motive was only sordid gain. The circumstances, therefore, which accompanied them may, for any thing we care, slumber in oblivion.[^[14]]

CHAP. V.[^[15]]
COSMOGONY AND RELIGION OF SCANDINAVIA.

INTRODUCTION.

THE TWO EDDAS, THE ELDER AND THE YOUNGER, THE POETIC AND THE PROSE.—CONTENTS OF THE FORMER.—DIVISION INTO CLASSES. 1. THE MYSTICAL. 2. THE MYTHIC-DIDACTIC. 3. THE PURELY MYTHOLOGICAL. 4. THE MYTHIC-HISTORICAL.—POEMS OF EACH CLASS.—THE PROSE EDDA.—SNORRO STURLESON.

The religion of the ancient Northmen—which, though it has many points of affinity with other religions, has yet a sufficient number of its own peculiarities to constitute it a distinct system—has been always admitted to be a most interesting and most curious subject of inquiry, not merely in the north of Europe, but in England, in Germany, and in France. Yet until the last few years, the popular notions concerning it were vague and inaccurate; and for the best of all reasons—that, of the two sources from which alone a full knowledge of it could be acquired, the one had been carelessly, the other partially published.

The two works to which we allude are the two Eddas, the Elder and the Younger; the former attributed to Sæmund, the other to Snorro, the son of Sturlo, both Icelanders and both Christians,—the one born in the eleventh, the other in the twelfth century.

Sæmund, who, from his varied knowledge, is styled hin Frode, or the Learned, and by posterity at least was regarded as a wizard, had greater advantages of education than we should have expected in an Icelander of that remote period. He studied, we are told, both in France and Germany, and is supposed to have visited Rome. On his return he settled at Oddé, in the northern part of the island, embraced holy orders, and was entrusted with the cure of souls. Much of his time, however, was devoted to the education of youth, and to literary pursuits. Whether, as Christianity had not long been established in that remote island, he was still in some degree influenced by the lingering spirit of paganism, or whether (a more probable supposition) a taste superior to the age in which he lived led him to preserve, instead of destroying, the remaining monuments of paganism, we are indebted to him for one of the most curious books that has ever occupied the attention of the human mind. This was the Elder Edda, the first part of which was published for the first time in 1787. The second part did not issue from the press until 1818, nor the third until 1828. No writer, therefore, prior to these years, could have any just notice of this venerable collection of pieces, or, consequently, of the religion which they illustrate. To the advantage furnished to the modern student by their publication must be added the vast erudition of Finn Magnusen, editor of the third or last part, whose Mythological Lexicon and Critical Dissertations (especially the one elaborately devoted to “the Edda Doctrine and its Origin”) have not only exhausted the subject, but pointed out many of the affinities between the Scandinavian religion and that of the most celebrated nations both in ancient and modern times.

The Elder, or Poetic Edda, consists of about forty poems,—all anonymous, all, with one exception, pagan compositions, though written at different periods, the most recent of them bearing the impress of considerable antiquity. They have been arranged, perhaps somewhat arbitrarily, into four different classes, according to the nature of the subjects. These are—1. the Mystical; 2. the Mythic-didactic; 3. the purely Mythological; and 4. the Mythic-historical.

1. Of the Mystical class, the most prominent is the Voluspa (Voluspa), the oracle of Vala the prophetess. This contains a rapid, abrupt, and very dark account of the whole system, beginning with the creation, and ending with the destruction of the universe by fire. All things, however, are not to be destroyed: two individuals, a man and a woman, are to be saved, and made the progenitors of a new and fairer world. It should be observed, that in the Scandinavian as in the Greek and Roman superstition, superior sanctity is ascribed to the women. They alone knew the fates; even Odin had to consult them when he wished to look beyond the dark cloud that concealed the future from the gods no less than from mankind.

The Grougaldor, or the magical song of Groa, is another of this class. It consists of terms and precepts, the use of which is to produce the most astounding supernatural effects. These “words of might” were not peculiar to the Odinic worship. They pervade still more thoroughly that which Zoroaster instituted, between whom and the northern prophet there are more points of resemblance than the learned have yet discerned. Both, for example, pretended to magical powers, because both found the pretension already in existence when they entered on their respective careers; and neither was willing to be thought inferior to the members of the priestly caste which he undertook to subvert. The magic of the Finns and Lets Odin stigmatized as black magic—as inculcated by the powers of darkness for the injury of mankind; but his was the white, the pure magic, the kingly art. He found a school already established in the north; and with all his power he could not wholly extirpate it. There seems, indeed, reason to infer that he connived at the union of many native rites with his own; or, at least, that if he did not, his immediate successors did. Just so it was with the renowned Magian. In contemplating the origin of his religion, we may either smile, or be provoked, at the prodigies which every where meet us. It is a religion of magic; it boasts of supernatural powers; it openly owns not merely the possibility, but the necessity, of miraculous results, when the words of might which it prescribes are duly pronounced. And if miracles and prodigies constitute its peculiar character even at this day, in the comparatively civilised Hindostan, they were doubly necessary when Zoroaster first announced it to the world. To them he boldly appealed for the truth of his mission. The miracles which preceded, those which accompanied, his birth, may be seen in the elaborate account of him prefixed by Anquetil du Perron to his translation of the Zendavesta. Throughout his life, if any faith is to be placed in his biographers, he wrought, or pretended to work, miracles by his magical terms. Yet he exceeded even Odin in the zeal with which he inveighed against the magic of his rivals. Against the magicians his most terrible anathemas were hurled; against them he waged a war of extermination, and justified the hostility by alleging the express command of heaven. But they were the servants of Ahriman, the irreconcilable enemies of Ormuzd—of every thing that is good—of every thing that issues from the benevolent deity. In their hands, magic was sure to become an instrument of evil; but in those of himself and his disciples, it could not fail to be an instrument of happiness. In the former case it must be fatal, in the latter highly useful, to human nature: hence the necessity of destroying in the one case that which should be piously maintained in the other. Such, too, was the conduct of Odin. There was, however, this difference between the two legislators: while the Median regarded women as absolutely impure, and confided the celebration of all his rites, magical or religious, to the men; the Scythian paid peculiar honour to the sex: women were allowed, enjoined, to perform the most solemn, the most awful, ceremonies of the new faith. Yet the men were not excluded from the privilege. There were colleges or fraternities of wizards from the earliest known periods of Scandinavian history, down to the time of Harald Harfager, or even later still. Rognevald, a son of that monarch, was burned to death, with eighty of his associates, on the charge of exercising a magic condemned by Odin, and emanating from the evil powers.

The Solar Liod, or Song of the Sun, is almost wholly the composition of Sæmund. But then he derived his materials from ancient pagan times.

2. Of the mytho-didactic poems, the first place may well be assigned to the Vafthrudnis-mâl. It is, like many of the other Odinic pieces, in the form of a dialogue. Odin expresses his resolution to visit Vafthrudnir, a famous giant or genius, and of contending with him in science. Frigga, his queen, “to whom the future is known,” attempts to dissuade him from the journey, because “no one of the genii is to be compared with Vafthrudnir in wisdom and valour.” If Odin should be vanquished in the contest, he must perish, and with him all the gods who were dependent on him. But he persists, assumes the disguise of a weary traveller, and proceeds to the palace of the sage giant. On this poem, however, we shall not further dilate, as a translation of it may be found in a volume of the present collection.[^[16]] This contest between the chief of the gods and the giant is derived from the same source as the war of the Titans with Jove.

Grimnis-mâl, or Grimner’s Song, is another of the mytho-didactic class. Grimner is no other than Odin, who has assumed the disguise of an aged minstrel, for a purpose explained by the Icelandic introduction to the poem. King Rodung had two sons, the one eight, the other ten years of age. One day they embarked in a boat to pass some hours in fishing. A storm arising, they were driven into an unknown sea, and cast upon a strange coast. Approaching a hut, they were hospitably received by the master and mistress, who seemed to be a rustic pair, but who in reality were Odin and Frigga. Agner, the elder, was the favourite of the latter, Geirrod, the younger, of the former. In the hut they remained the whole winter; and when spring arrived, they were led to the sea-coast, and embarked in a new vessel which their hosts presented to them. When bidding adieu, the male rustic whispered something into Geirrod’s ear. The purport of this secret may be inferred from the conduct of the prince just as he reached land. As he leaped on shore, he pushed the boat away, exclaiming to his brother Agner, “Go, where the evil genii may seize thee!” Repairing to his father’s court, he found that father no more, and he was immediately proclaimed king of the country. On the other hand, Agner was among the giants or evil genii, and married to a woman of that hated race. Great, therefore, was the contrast between the fortunes of the two; and Odin one day, from the highest heaven, pointed it out in triumph to his goddess-queen. Frigga declared that Geirrod was undeserving of the good fortune; that he was a niggard who starved his dependents and guests. This the god refused to credit; and when she persisted in the charge, he assumed a mortal form to try the experiment. But what man can equal a woman, either god or goddess, in cunning? Frigga sent one of her confidential messengers to Geirrod, telling him to be on his guard against a wise magician then in his dominions, who had resolved to destroy him: that magician was to be known by this token—that no dog would bark at him. The royal command was therefore given that dogs should be set on all who approached the palace, and whomsoever they refused to assail should be brought before him. A man, covered with a blue peltz, was brought before him and questioned; but the stranger would return no other answer than that he was called Grimner. In great wrath, the king placed him between two great fires—an infallible way of discovering a wizard—and commanded that he should receive no food. There he remained eight days and eight nights, suffering from the heat and from thirst, when Agner, the son of Geirrod, a boy of ten years, took pity on him, and presented him with a full horn, observing that his father did wrong thus to punish a guiltless man. Here the piece opens: Odin exclaims that the fire is hot; and prophesies that the royal youth shall, for this service, soon hold the sceptre of the Goths. He then proceeds—somewhat oddly, only immortal beings may be privileged to say or do what they please—to describe in succession the twelve mansions of heaven. (To this description we shall afterwards advert, when we endeavour to explain the cosmogony of the Scandinavians.) He ended by declaring who he was; and that the death of Geirrod was at hand. In great fear, the king arose to release the divine speaker; but stumbling, the point of his sword entered his body, and Agner was immediately proclaimed.

As many poems on the Edda will hereafter occupy our attention, we shall only observe that the Alvis-mâl, or song concerning the dwarf Alvis; the Hyndlu-liod, or song concerning Hyndla; and the Fiolsvinns-mâl, or story about Fiolsvinr, are of the same class, and equally conversant with mythological subjects. The second of these also mentions the names of some Norwegian jarls who traced their origin to a divine source. The Hava-mâl, or sublime discourse of Odin, concludes this class of poems. It consists partly of moral precepts, some of which are very good; while others are dictated by a mind more cunning than wise; and partly of the wonderful powers attached to certain runes. For the latter we have no taste; of the former, half a dozen specimens may be given.

“Remain not long a guest in the house of another; for he who does so becomes a burden to his host.”

“A secret can be kept by one person only,—by him whom it concerns. If two know it, there is danger; if three know it, it is no longer a secret.”

“Be thou the friend of thy friend’s friend, and in no wise the friend of thine enemy’s friend.”

“If thou hast a true friend, and keepest nothing from him, join thy heart with his, exchange gifts with him, and visit him often. The path untrodden is soon overgrown.”

“If thou hast a friend whom thou canst not trust, but yet wouldst obtain a benefit from him, speak fairly to him, but keep thine own secret: return him falsehood for falsehood.”

“Trust not to a woman’s word: her heart is moveable as the wheel at which she spins, and deceit is cherished in her breast.”

“The child of one’s old age is the most precious.”

“Flocks and herds perish; so do friends and kindred; such will be our own lot. But one thing there is that will never perish,—the good man’s fame.”

3. The poems purely mythological are of a more interesting class. The Hymis-guida, or song concerning Hymir, describes an entertainment given by Ægir, the sea-god, to the deities of the Scandinavian Olympus. Ægir, to his great dismay, has no cauldron large enough to brew mead in for such thirsty guests; and Thor goes to borrow or steal one from the great Hymir. This entertainment gave rise to another poem, the Loka-glespa, or quarrelling of Loka with the assembled guests. It is curious as showing the estimation in which the gods were held by one of their own number. A more imaginative production is the Hamars-heimt, or recovery of Thor’s mallet, which the guests had stolen, and which Thrym, one of the number, had buried eight miles below the surface of the ground. The Rafna-galdur-Odins, or raven song of Odin, describes the lamentations of the gods at their approaching annihilation. The Skirnirs-for, or journey of Skirnir to the region of the giants, in search of a wife for Freyr, one of the gods, is graphic, and strikingly illustrative of northern mythology. The Vegtams-guida, or Song of the Traveller, contains the descent of Odin to consult the charmed prophetess Vala concerning the fate of Baldur. This piece we have already translated.[^[17]]