Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Hydromechanics" to "Ichnography"

Chapter IV: CYSTOPHORIDA (Cystonectae, Haeckel). With a very large (13)

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_Industries_.--The principal occupation of the Icelanders is cattle-breeding, and more particularly sheep-breeding, although the fishing industries have come rapidly to the front in modern times. In 1850, 82% of the population were dependent upon cattle-breeding and 7% upon fishing; in 1890 the numbers were 64% and 18% respectively. The culture of grain is not practised in Iceland; all bread-stuffs are imported. In ancient times barley was grown in some places, but it never paid for the cost of cultivation. Cattle-breeding has declined in importance, while the number of sheep has increased. Formerly gardening was of no importance, but considerable progress has been made in this branch in modern times, as also in the cultivation of potatoes and turnips. Fruit-trees will not thrive; but black and red currants and rhubarb are grown, the last-named doing excellently. Iceland possesses four agricultural schools, one agricultural society, and small agricultural associations in nearly every district. The fisheries give employment to about 12,000 people. For the most part the fishing is carried on from open boats, notwithstanding the dangers of so stormy a coast. But larger decked vessels have come into increasing use. In summer the waters are visited by a great number of foreign fishermen, inclusive of about 300 fishing-boats from French ports, as well as by fishing-boats from the Færoes and Norway, and steam trawlers from England. Excellent profit is made in certain parts of the island from the herring fishery; this is especially the case on the east coast. There are marine insurance societies and a school of navigation at Reykjavik. The export of fish and fish products has greatly increased. In 1849 to 1855 the annual average exported was 1480 tons; whereas at the close of the century (in 1899) it amounted to 11,339 tons and 68,079 barrels of oil, valued at £276,596.

_Commerce_.--From the first colonization of the island down to the 14th century the trade was in the hands of native Icelanders and Norsemen; in the 15th century it was chiefly in the hands of the English, in the 16th of Germans from the Hanse towns. From 1602 to 1786 commerce was a monopoly of the Danish government; in the latter year it was declared free to all Danish subjects and in 1854 free to all nations. Since 1874, when Iceland obtained her own administration, commerce has increased considerably. Thus the total value of the imports and exports together in 1849 did not exceed £170,000; while in 1891-1895 the imports averaged £356,000 and the exports £340,000. In 1902 imports were valued at £596,193 and exports at £511,083. Trade is almost entirely with Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Norway and Sweden, in this order according to value. The principal native products exported are live sheep, horses, salt meat, wool and hides, to which must be added the fish products--cod, train-oil, herring and salmon--eiderdown and woollen wares. The spinning, weaving and knitting of wool is a widespread industry, and the native tweed (_vaðmal_) is the principal material for the clothing of the inhabitants. The imports consist principally of cereals and flour, coffee, sugar, ale, wines and spirits, tobacco, manufactured wares, iron and metal wares, timber, salt, coal, &c. The money, weights and measures in use are the same as in Denmark. The Islands Bank in Reykjavik (1904) is authorized to issue bank-notes up to £133,900 in total value.

_Communications_.--All land journeys are made on horseback, and in the remoter parts all goods have to be transported by the same means. Throughout the greater part of the island there exist no proper roads even in the inhabited districts, but only bridle-paths, and in the uninhabited districts not even these. Nevertheless much has been done to improve such paths as there are, and several miles of driving roads have been made, more particularly in the south. Since 1888 many bridges have been built; previous to that year there was none. The larger rivers have been spanned by iron swing-bridges, and the Blanda is crossed by a fixed iron bridge. Postal connexion is maintained with Denmark by steamers, which sail from Copenhagen and call at Leith. Besides, steamers go round the island, touching at nearly every port.

_Religion_.--The Icelanders are Lutherans. For ecclesiastical purposes the island is divided into 20 deaneries and 142 parishes, and the affairs of each ecclesiastical parish are administered by a parish council, and in each deanery by a district (_hjerað_) council. When a living falls vacant, the governor-general of the island, after consultation with the bishop, selects three candidates, and from these the congregation chooses one, the election being subsequently confirmed by the governor-general. In the case of certain livings, however, the election requires confirmation by the crown. In 1847 a theological seminary was founded at Reykjavik, and there the majority of the Icelandic ministry are educated; some, however, are graduates of the university of Copenhagen.

_Health_.--The public health has greatly improved in modern times; the death-rate of young children has especially diminished. This improvement is due to greater cleanliness, better dwellings, better nourishment, and the increase in the number of doctors. There are now doctors in all parts of the country, whereas formerly there were hardly any in the island. There is a modern asylum for leprosy at Laugarnes near Reykjavik, and a medical school at Reykjavik, opened in 1876. The general sanitary affairs of the island are under the control of a chief surgeon (national physician) who lives in Reykjavik, and has superintendence over the doctors and the medical school.

_Government_.--According to the constitution granted to Iceland in 1874, the king of Denmark shares the legislative power with the Althing, an assembly of 36 members, 30 of whom are elected by household suffrage, and 6 nominated by the king. The Althing meets every second year, and sits in two divisions, the upper and the lower. The upper division consists of the 6 members nominated by the king and 6 elected by the representatives of the people out of their own body. The lower division consists of the remaining 24 representative members. The minister for Iceland, who resided in Copenhagen until 1903, when his office was transferred to Reykjavik, is responsible to the king and the Althing for the maintenance of the constitution, and he submits to the king for confirmation the legislative measures proposed by the Althing. The king appoints a governor-general (_landshöfðingi_) who is resident in the island and carries on the government on the responsibility of the minister. Formerly Iceland was divided into four quarters, the east, the south, the west and north. Now the north and the east are united under one governor, and the south and the west under another. The island is further divided into 18 _sýslur_ (counties), and these again into 169 hreppur (rapes) or poor-law districts. Responsible to the governors are the sheriffs (_sýslumenn_), who act as tax gatherers, notaries public and judges of first instance; the sheriff has in every _hreppur_ an assistant, called _hreppstjóri_. In every _hreppur_ there is also a representative committee, who administer the poor laws, and look after the general concerns of the _hreppur_. These committees are controlled by the committees of the _sýslur_ (county boards), and these again are under the control of the _amtsráð_ (quarter board), consisting of three members. From the sheriff courts appeals lie to the superior court at Reykjavik, consisting of three judges. Appeals may be taken in all criminal cases and most civil cases to the supreme court at Copenhagen.

Iceland has her own budget, the Althing having, by the constitution of 1874, the right to vote its own supplies. As the Althing only meets every other year, the budget is passed for two years at once. The total income and expenditure are each about £70,000 per financial period. There is a national reserve fund of about £60,000, but no public debt; nor is there any contribution for either military or naval purposes. Iceland has her own customs service, but the only import duties levied are upon spirits, tobacco, coffee and sugar, and in each case the duties are fairly low.

_Education_.--Education is pretty widespread amongst the people. In the towns and fishing villages there are a few elementary schools, but often the children are instructed at home; in some places by peripatetic teachers. It is incumbent upon the clergy to see that all children are taught reading, writing and arithmetic. The people are great readers; considering the number of the inhabitants, books and periodicals have a very extensive circulation. Eighteen newspapers are issued (once and twice a week), besides several journals, and Iceland has always been distinguished for her native literature. At Reykjavik there are a Latin school, a medical school and a theological school; at Mödruvellir and Hafnarfjörðr, modern high schools (_Realschulen_); and in addition to these there are four agricultural schools, a school of navigation, and three girls' schools. The national library at Reykjavik contains some 40,000 volumes and 3000 MSS. At the same place there is also a valuable archaeological collection. Amongst the learned societies are the Icelandic Literary Society (_Bokmentafjelag_), the society of the Friends of the People, and the Archaeological Society of Reykjavik.

AUTHORITIES.--Among numerous works of Dr Thorvald Thoroddsen, see
_Geschichte der Islands Geographie_ (Leipzig, 1898); and the following
articles in _Geografisk Tidskrift_ (Copenhagen): "Om Islands
geografiske og geologiske Undersögelse" (1893); "Islandske Fjorde og
Bugter" (1901); "Geog. og geol. Unders. ved den sydlige Del af
Faxaflói paa Island" (1903); "Lavaörkener og Vulkaner paa Islands
Höjland" (1905). See also C. S. Forbes, _Iceland_ (London, 1860); S.
Baring-Gould, _Iceland, its Scenes and Sagas_ (London, 1863); Sir R.
F. Burton, _Ultima Thule_ (Edinburgh, 1875); W. T. McCormick, _A Ride
across Iceland_ (London, 1892); J. Coles, Summer Travelling in Iceland
(London, 1882); H. J. Johnston Lavis, "Notes on the Geography,
Geology, Agriculture and Economics of Iceland," _Scott. Geog. Mag._
xi. (1895); W. Bisiker, _Across Iceland_ (London, 1902); J. Hann, "Die
Anomalien der Witterung auf Island in dem Zeitraume 1851-1900, &c.,"
_Sitzungsberichte, Vienna Acad. Sci._ (1904); P. Hermann, _Island in
Vergangenheit und Gegenwart_ (Leipzig, 1907). Also _Geografisk
Tidskrift_, and the _Geographical Journal_ (London), _passim_.
(Th. T.)

HISTORY

Shortly after the discovery of Iceland by the Scandinavian, c. 850 (it had long been inhabited by a small colony of Irish Culdees), a stream of immigration set in towards it, which lasted for sixty years, and resulted in the establishment of some 4000 homesteads. In this immigration three distinct streams can be traced. (1) About 870-890 four great noblemen from Norway, Ingolf, Ketil Hæng, Skalla-Grim and Thorolf, settled with their dependants in the south-west of the new found land. (2) In 890-900 there came from the western Islands Queen Aud, widow of Olaf the White, king of Dublin, preceded and followed by a number of her kinsmen and relations (many like herself being Christians), Helgi Biolan, Biorn the Eastern, Helgi the Lean, Ketil the Foolish, &c., who settled the best land in the island (west, north-west and north), and founded families who long swayed its destinies. There also came from the Western Islands a fellowship of vikings seeking a free home in the north. They had colonized the west in the viking times; they had "fought at Hafursfirth," helping their stay-at-home kinsmen against the centralization of the great head-king, who, when he had crushed opposition in Norway, followed up his victory by compelling them to flee or bow to his rule. Such were Ingimund the Old, Geirmund Hellskin, Thord Beardie (who had wed St. Edmund's granddaughter,) Audun Shackle, Bryniulf the Old, Uni, to whom Harold promised the earldom of the new land if he could make the settlers acknowledge him as king (a hopeless project), and others by whom the north-west, north and east were almost completely "claimed." (3) In 900-930 a few more incomers direct from Norway completed the settlement of the south, north-east and south-east. Among them were Earl Hrollaug (half-brother of Hrolf Ganger and of the first earl of Orkney), Hialti, Hrafnkell Frey's priest, and the sons of Asbiorn. Fully three-quarters of the land was settled from the west, and among these immigrants there was no small proportion of Irish blood. In 1100 there were 4500 franklins, i.e. about 50,000 souls.

_Table of Icelandic Literature and History._

Organization.

The unit of Icelandic politics was the homestead with its franklin-owner (_buendi_), its primal organization the hundred-moot (_thing_), its tie the goðorð (godar) or chieftainship. The chief who had led a band of kinsmen and dependants to the new land, taken a "claim" there, and parcelled it out among them, naturally became their leader, presiding as priest at the temple feasts and sacrifices of heathen times, acting as speaker of their moot, and as their representative towards the neighbouring chiefs. He was not a feudal lord nor a local sheriff, for any franklin could change his goðorð when he would, and the rights of "judgment by peers" were in full use; moreover, the office could be bequeathed, sold, divided or pledged by the possessor; still the goði had considerable power as long as the commonwealth lasted.

Disputes between neighbouring chiefs and their clients, and uncertainty as to the law, brought about the _Constitution of Ulfliot_ (c. 930), which appointed a central moot for the whole island, the Althing, and a speaker to speak a single "law" (principally that followed by the Gula-moot in Norway); the _Reforms of Thord Gellir_ (964), settling a fixed number of moots and chieftaincies, dividing the island into four quarters (thus characterized by Ari: north, thickest settled, most famous; east, first completely settled; south, best land and greatest chiefs; west, remarkable for noble families), to each of which a head-court, the "quarter-court," was assigned; and the _Innovations of Skapti_ (ascribed in the saga to Nial) _the Law-Speaker_ (d. 1030), who set up a "fifth court" as the ultimate tribunal in criminal matters, and strengthened the community against the chiefs. But here constitutional growth ceased: the law-making body made few and unimportant modifications of custom; the courts were still too weak for the chiefs who misused and defied them; the speaker's power was not sufficiently supported to enable him to be any more than a highly respected lord chief justice, whereas he ought to have become a justiza if anarchy was to be avoided; even the ecclesiastical innovations, while they secured peace for a time, provoked in the end the struggles which put an end to the commonwealth.

Christianity was introduced c. 1000. Tithes were established in 1096, and an ecclesiastical code made c. 1125. The first disputes about the jurisdiction of the clergy were moved by Gudmund in the 13th century, bringing on a civil war, while the questions of patronage and rights over glebe and mortmainland occupied Bishop Arni and his adversaries fifty years afterwards, when the land was under Norwegian viceroys and Norwegian law. For the civil wars broke down the great houses who had monopolized the chieftaincies; and after violent struggles (in which the Sturlungs of the first generation perished at Orlygstad, 1238, and Reykiaholt, 1241, while of the second generation Thord Kakali was called away by the king in 1250, and Thorgils Skardi slain in 1258) the submission of the island to Norway quarter after quarter, took place in 1262-1264, under Gizur's auspices, and the old Common Law was replaced by the New Norse Code "Ironside" in 1271.

The political life and law of the old days is abundantly illustrated in the sagas (especially Eyrbyggia, Hamsa-Thori, Reykdæla, Hrafnkell, and Niala), the two collections of law-scrolls (_Codex Regius_, c. 1235, and _Stadarhol's Book_, c. 1271), the Libellus, the Liberfragments, and the Landnamabók of Ari, and the Diplomatarium. K. Maurer has made the subject his own in his _Beiträge, Island, Grágás_, &c.

The medieval Icelandic church had two bishoprics, Skalholt (S., W., and E.) 1056, and Holar (N.) 1106, and about 175 parishes (two-thirds of which belonged to the southern bishopric). They belonged to the metropolitan see of Bremen, then to Lund, lastly to Nidaros, 1237. There were several religious foundations: Thingore (founded 1133), Thwera (1155), Hitardale (c. 1166), Kirkby Nunnery (1184), Stad Nunnery (1296), and Saurby (c. 1200) were Benedictine, while Ver (1168), Flatey after Holyfell (1172), Videy (1226), Madderfield Priory (1296), and Skrid Priory (14th century) were Augustinian. The bishops, elected by the people at the Althing till 1237, enjoyed considerable power; two, Thorlak of Skalholt and John of Holar, were publicly voted saints at the Althing, and one, Gudmund, received the title of "Good" by decree of the bishop and chapter. Full details as to ecclesiastical history will be found in the _Biskupasögur_ (edited by Dr Vigfusson).

Mode of life.

Iceland was not agricultural but pastoral, depending upon flocks Mode of and herds for subsistence, for, though rye and other grain would grow in favoured localities, the hay, self-sown, was the only regular crop. In some districts the fisheries and fowling were of importance, but nine-tenths of the population lived by their sheep and cattle. Life on each homestead was regularly portioned out: out door occupations--fishing, shepherding, fowling, and the hay-making and fuel-gathering--occupying the summer; while indoor business--weaving, tool-making, &c.--filled up the long winter. The year was broken by the spring feasts and moots, the great Althing meeting at midsummer, the marriage and arval gatherings after the summer, and the long yule feasts at midwinter. There were but two degrees of men, free and unfree, though only the franklins had any political power; and, from the nature of the life, social intercourse was unrestrained and unfettered; goði and thrall lived the same lives, ate the same food, spoke the same tongue, and differed little in clothing or habits. The thrall had a house of his own and was rather villein or serf than slave, having rights and a legal price by law. During the heathen days many great chiefs passed part of their lives in Norway at the king's court, but after the establishment of Christianity in Iceland they kept more at home, visiting the continent, however, for purposes of state, suits with clergy, &c. Trade was from the first almost entirely in foreign (Norse) hands.

The introduction of a church system brought little change. The great families put their members into orders, and so continued to enjoy the profits of the land which they had given to the church; the priests married and otherwise behaved like the franklins around them in everyday matters, farming, trading, going to law like laymen.

Effects of the Union.

Life in the commonwealth was turbulent and anarchic, but free and varied; it produced men of mark, and fostered bravery, adventure and progress. But on the union with Norway all this ceased, and there was left but a low dead level of poor peasant proprietors careless of all save how to live by as little labour as possible, and pay as few taxes as they could to their foreign rulers. The island received a foreign governor (_Earl_, _Hirdstjori_ or _Stiptamtsmadr_ as he was successively called), and was parcelled out into counties (_sýslur_), administered by sheriffs (_sýslumadr_) appointed by the king. A royal court took the place of the Althing courts; the local business of the local things was carried out by the (_hreppstjóri_) bailiff, a subordinate of the sheriff; and the goðorð, things, quarter-courts, trial by jury, &c., were swept away by these innovations. The power of the crown was increased by the confiscation of the great Sturlung estates, which were underleased to farmers, while the early falling off of the Norse trade threatened to deprive the island of the means of existence; for the great epidemics and eruptions of the 14th century had gravely attacked its pastoral wealth and ruined much of its pasture and fishery.

The union of the Three Crowns transferred the practical rule of Iceland to Denmark in 1280, and the old Treaty of Union, by which the island had reserved its essential rights, was disregarded by the absolute Danish monarchs; but, though new taxation was imposed, it was rather their careless neglect than their too active interference that damaged Iceland's interests. But for an English trade, which sprang up out of the half-smuggling, half-buccaneering enterprise of the Bristol merchants, the island would have fared badly, for during the whole of the 15th century their trade with England, exporting sulphur, eiderdown (of which the English taught them the value), wool, and salt stock-fish, and importing as before wood, iron, honey, wine, grain and flax goods, was their only link with the outer world. This period of Iceland's existence is eventless: she had got peace but with few of its blessings; all spirit seemed to have died with the commonwealth; even shepherding and such agriculture as there had been sank to a lower stage; wagons, ploughs and carts went out of use and knowledge; architecture in timber became a lost art, and the fine carved and painted halls of the heathen days were replaced by turf-walled barns half sunk in the earth; the large decked luggers of the old days gave way to small undecked fishing-boats.

The Reformation.

The Reformation in Iceland wakened men's minds, but it left their circumstances little changed. Though the fires of martyrdom were never lighted in Iceland, the story of the easily accepted Reformation is not altogether a pleasant one. When it was accomplished, the little knot of able men who came to the front did much in preserving the records of the past, while Odd and Hallgrim exhibit the noblest impulses of their time. While there was this revolution in religion a social and political revolution never came to Iceland. The Hanse trade replaced the English for the worse; and the Danish monopoly which succeeded it when the Danish kings began to act again with vigour was still less profitable. The glebes and hospital lands were a fresh power in the hands of the crown, and the subservient Lutheran clergy became the most powerful class in the island, while the system of under-leasing at rackrent and short lease with unsecured tenant right extended over at least a quarter of the better land.

Decadence.

A new plague, that of the English, Gascon and Algerine pirates, marked the close of the 16th century and opening of the 17th, causing widespread panic and some devastation in 1579, 1613-1616 and 1627. Nothing points more to the helplessness of the natives' condition than their powerlessness against these foes. But the 18th century is the most gloomy in Iceland's annals. Smallpox, famine, sheep disease, and the eruptions of 1765 and 1783 follow each other in terrible succession. Against such visitations, which reduced the population by about a fourth, little could be done. The few literary men, whose work was done and whose books were published abroad, were only concerned with the past, and Jon Vidalin is the one man of mark, beside Eggert Olafsson, who worked and wrote for his own generation.[5]

Modern times.

Gradually the ideas which were agitating Europe spread through Scandinavia into Iceland, and its claims were more respectfully listened to. The continental system, which, by its leading to the blockade of Denmark, threatened to starve Iceland, was neutralized by special action of the British government. Trade and fishery grew a little brisker, and at length the turn came.

The rationalistic movement, headed by Magnus Stephenson, a patriotic, narrow-minded lawyer, did little good as far as church reform went, but was accompanied by a more successful effort to educate the people. A Useful Knowledge Society was formed and did some honest work. Newspapers and periodicals were published, and the very stir which the ecclesiastical disputes encouraged did good. When free trade came, and when the free constitution of Denmark had produced its legitimate effects, the endeavours of a few patriots such as Jon Sigurdsson were able to push on the next generation a step further. Questions of a modern political complexion arose; the cattle export controversy and the great home rule struggle began. After thirty years' agitation home rule was conceded in 1874 (see above, _Government_). (F. Y. P.)

ANCIENT LITERATURE

_Poetry._--Iceland has always borne a high renown for song, but has never produced a poet of the highest order, the qualities which in other lands were most sought for and admired in poetry being in Iceland lavished on the saga, a prose epic, while Icelandic poetry is to be rated very high for the one quality which its authors have ever aimed at--melody of sound. To these generalizations there are few exceptions, though Icelandic literature includes a group of poems which possess qualities of high imagination, deep pathos, fresh love of nature, passionate dramatic power, and noble simplicity of language which Icelandic poetry lacks. The solution is that these poems do not belong to Iceland at all. They are the poetry of the "Western Islands."

It was among the Scandinavian colonists of the British coasts that in the first generations after the colonization of Iceland therefrom a magnificent school of poetry arose, to which we owe works that for power and beauty can be paralleled in no Teutonic language till centuries after their date. To this school, which is totally distinct from the Icelandic, ran its own course apart and perished before the 13th century, the following works belong (of their authors we have scarcely a name or two; their dates can be rarely exactly fixed, but they lie between the beginning of the 9th and the end of the 10th centuries), classified into groups:--

(a) The _Helgi_ trilogy (last third lost save a few verses, but
preserved in prose in _Hromund Gripsson's Saga_), the _Raising of
Anganty_ and _Death of Hialmar_ (in _Hervarar Saga_), the fragments of
a _Volsung Lay_ (_Volsungakiraða_) (part interpolated in earlier
poems, part underlying the prose in _Volsunga Saga_), all by one poet,
to whom Dr Vigfusson would also ascribe _Völuspá_, _Vegtamskviða_,
_Þrymskviða_, _Grötta Song_ and _Völundarkviða_.

(b) The Dramatic Poems:--_Flyting of Loki_, the _För Skirnis_, the
_Harbarðslioð_ and several fragments, all one man's work, to whose
school belong, probably, the _Lay_ underlying the story of Ivar's
death in _Skioldunga Saga_.

(d) The Genealogical and Mythological Poems:--_Hyndluljoð_ written for
one of the Haurda-Kari family, so famous in the Orkneys; _Ynglingatal_
and _Haustlong_, by Thiodolf of Hvin; _Rig's Thul_, &c.

(e) The Dirges and Battle Songs--such as that on Hafur-firth Battle
_Hrafnsmal_, by Thiodolf of Hvin or Thorbjörn Hornklofi, shortly after
870; Eirik's Dirge (_Eíríksmál_) between 950 and 969; the _Dart-Lay on
Clontarf Battle_ (1014); _Bíarka-mal_ (fragments of which we have, and
paraphrase of more is found in _Hrolf Kraki's Saga_ and in Saxo).

There are also fragments of poems in _Half's Saga_, _Asmund
Kappa-Bana's Saga_, in the Latin verses of Saxo, and the Shield Lays
(_Ragnarsdrapa_) by Bragi, &c., of this school, which closes with the
_Sun-Song_, a powerful Christian Dantesque poem, recalling some of the
early compositions of the Irish Church, and with the 12th-century _Lay
of Ragnar_, _Lay of Starkad_, _The Proverb Song_ (_Havamal_) and
_Krakumal_, to which we may add those singular Gloss-poems, the
_Þulur_, which also belong to the Western Isles.

To Greenland, Iceland's farthest colony, founded in the 10th century,
we owe the two _Lays of Atli_, and probably _Hymiskvtiða_, which,
though of a weirder, harsher cast, yet belong to the Western Isles
school and not to Iceland.

In form all these poems belong to two or three classes:--_kviða_, an epic "cantilena"; _tál_, a genealogical poem; _drapa_, songs of praise, &c., written in modifications of the old Teutonic metre which we know in Beowulf; _galdr_ and _lokkr_, spell and charm songs in a more lyric measure; and _mál_, a dialogue poem, and _liod_, a lay, in elegiac measure suited to the subject.

The characteristics of this Western school are no doubt the result of the contact of Scandinavian colonists of the viking-tide, living lives of the wildest adventure, with an imaginative and civilized race, that exercised upon them a very strong and lasting influence (the effects of which were also felt in Iceland, but in a different way). The frequent intermarriages which mingled the best families of either race are sufficient proof of the close communion of Northmen and Celts in the 9th and 10th centuries, while there are in the poems themselves traces of Celtic mythology, language and manners.[6]

When one turns to the early poetry of the Scandinavian continent, preserved in the rune-staves on the memorial stones of Sweden, Norway and Denmark, in the didactic _Havamal_, the _Great Volsung Lay_ (i.e. Sigurd II., Fafnis's Lay, Sigrdrifa's Lay) and _Hamdismal_, all continental, and all entirely consonant to the remains of Old English poetry in metre, feeling and treatment, one can see that it is with this school that the Icelandic "makers" are in sympathy, and that from it their verse naturally descends. While shrewdness, plain straightforwardness, and a certain stern way of looking at life are common to both, the Icelandic school adds a complexity of structure and ornament, an elaborate mythological and enigmatical phraseology, and a regularity of rhyme, assonance, luxuriance, quantity and syllabification, which it caught from the Latin and Celtic poets, and adapted with exquisite ingenuity to its own main object, that of securing the greatest possible beauty of sound.

The first generations of Icelandic poets resemble in many ways the later troubadours; the books of the kings and the sagas are full of their strange lives. Men of good birth (nearly always, too, of Celtic blood on one side at least), they leave Iceland young and attach themselves to the kings and earls of the north, living in their courts as their henchmen, sharing their adventures in weal and woe, praising their victories, and hymning their deaths if they did not fall by their sides--men of quick passion, unhappy in their loves, jealous of rival poets and of their own fame, ever ready to answer criticism with a satire or with a sword-thrust, but clinging through all to their art, in which they attained most marvellous skill.

Such men were Egil, the foe of Eirik Bloodaxe and the friend of Æthelstan; Kormak, the hot-headed champion; Eyvind, King Haakon's poet, called Skaldaspillir, because he copied in his dirge over that king the older and finer _Eíríksmál_; Gunnlaug, who sang at Æthelred's court, and fell at the hands of a brother bard, Hrafn; Hallfred, Olaf Tryggvason's poet, who lies in Iona by the side of Macbeth; Sighvat, Saint Olafs henchman, most prolific of all his comrades; Thormod, Coalbrow's poet, who died singing after Sticklestad battle; Ref, Ottar the Black, Arnor the earls' poet, and, of those whose poetry was almost confined to Iceland, Gretti, Biorn the Hitdale champion, and the two model Icelandic masters, Einar Skulason and Markus the Lawman, both of the 12th century.

It is impossible to do more here than mention the names of the most famous of the long roll of poets which are noted in the works of Snorri and in the two _Skalda-tal_. They range from the rough and noble pathos of Egil, the mystic obscurity of Kormak, the pride and grief of Hallfred, and the marvellous, fluency of Sighvat, to the florid intricacy of Einar and Markus.

The art of poetry stood to the Icelanders in lieu of music; scarcely any prominent man but knew how to turn a mocking or laudatory stanza, and down to the fall of the commonwealth the accomplishment was in high request. In the literary age the chief poets belong to the great Sturlung family, Snorri and his two nephews, Sturla and Olaf, the White Poet, being the most famous "makers" of their day. Indeed, it is in Snorri's _Edda_, a poetic grammar of a very perfect kind, that the best examples of the whole of northern poetry are to be found. The last part, _Hattatal_, a treatise on metre, was written for Earl Skuli about 1222, in imitation of Earl Rognvald and Hall's _Hattalykill_ (_Clavis metrica_) of 1150. The second part, _Skaldskapar-mal_, a gradus of synonyms and epithets, which contains over 240 quotations from 65 poets, and 10 anonymous lays--a treasury of verse--was composed c. 1230. The first part, an exquisite sketch of northern mythology, _Gylfa-ginning_, was probably prefixed to the whole later. There is some of Sturla's poetry in his _Islendinga Saga_, and verses of Snorri occur in the _Grammatical Treatise_ on figures of speech, &c., of Olaf, which contains about one hundred and forty quotations from various authors, and was written about 1250.

Besides those sources, the _Kings' Lives of Snorri_ and later authors contain a great deal of verse by Icelandic poets. King Harold Sigurdsson, who fell at Stamford Bridge 1066, was both a good critic and composed himself. Many tales are told of him and his poet visitors and henchmen. The Icelandic sagas also comprise much verse which is partly genuine, partly the work of the 12th and 13th century editors. Thus there are genuine pieces in _Nial's Saga_ (chaps. 34, 78, 103, 126, 146), in _Eyrbyggia_, _Laxdæla_, _Egil's Saga_ (part only), _Grettla_ (two and a half stanzas, cf. _Landnamabók_), _Biorn's Saga_, _Gunnlaug's Saga_, _Havard's Saga_, _Kormak's Saga_, _Viga-Glum's Saga_, _Erik the Red's Saga_ and _Fostbrædra Saga_. In _Nial's_, _Gisli's_ and _Droplaug's Sons' Sagas_ there is good verse of a later poet, and in many sagas worthless rubbish foisted in as ornamental.

To these may be added two or three works of a semi-literary kind, composed by learned men, not by heroes and warriors. Such are _Konunga-tál_, _Hugsvinnsmál_ (a paraphrase of Cato's Distichs), _Merlin's Prophecy_ (paraphrased from Geoffrey of Monmouth by Gunnlaug the monk), _Jomsvikinga-drapa_ (by Bishop Ketil), and the _Islendinga-drapa_, which has preserved brief notices of several lost sagas concerning Icelandic worthies, with which _Gudmundar-drapa_, though of the 14th century, may be also placed.

Just as the change of law gave the death-blow to an already perishing commonwealth, so the rush of medieval influence, which followed the union with Norway, completed a process which had been in force since the end of the 11th century, when it overthrew the old Icelandic poetry in favour of the rimur.

The introduction of the _danz_, ballads (or _fornkvædi_, as they are now called) for singing, with a burden, usually relating to a love-tale, which were immensely popular with the people and performed by whole companies at weddings, yule feasts and the like, had relegated the regular Icelandic poetry to more serious events or to the more cultivated of the chiefs. But these "jigs," as the Elizabethans would have called them, dissatisfied the popular ear in one way: they were, like old English ballads, which they closely resembled, in rhyme, but void of alliteration, and accordingly they were modified and replaced by the "rimur," the staple literary product of the 15th century. These were rhymed but also alliterative, in regular form, with prologue or _mansong_ (often the prettiest part of the whole), main portion telling the tale (mostly derived in early days from the French romances of the Carlovingian, Arthurian or Alexandrian cycles, or from the mythic or skrök-sögur), and epilogue. Their chief value to us lies in their having preserved versions of several French poems now lost, and in their evidence as to the feelings and bent of Icelanders in the "Dark Age" of the island's history. The ring and melody which they all possess is their chief beauty.

Of the earliest, _Olafsrima_, by Einar Gilsson (c. 1350), and the best, the Aristophanic _Skída-rima_ (c. 1430), by Einar Fostri, the names may be given. Rimur on sacred subjects was called "diktur"; of these, on the legends of the saints' lives, many remain. The most notable of its class is the _Lilia_ of Eystein Asgrimsson, a monk of Holyfell (c. 1350), a most "sweet sounding song." Later the poems of the famous Jon Arason (b. 1484), last Catholic bishop of Holar (c. 1530), _Liomr_ ("gleam") and _Píslargrátr_ ("passion-tears"), deserve mention. Arason is also celebrated as having introduced printing into Iceland.

Taste has sunk since the old days; but still this rimur poetry is popular and genuine. Moreover, the very prosaic and artificial verse of Sturla and the last of the old school deserved the oblivion which came over them, as a casual perusal of the stanzas scattered through _Islendinga_ will prove. It is interesting to notice that a certain number of _kenningar_ (poetical paraphrases) have survived from the old school even to the present day, though the mass of them have happily perished. The change in the _phonesis_ of the language is well illustrated by the new metres as compared with the old Icelandic _drott-kvædi_ in its varied forms. Most of the older rimur and diktur are as yet unprinted. Many of the _fornkvædi_ are printed in a volume of the old _Nordiske Litteralur-Samfund_.

The effects of the Reformation was deeply felt in Icelandic literature, both prose and verse. The name of Hallgrim Petursson, whose _Passion-hymns_, "the flower of all Icelandic poetry," have been the most popular composition in the language, is foremost of all writers since the second change of faith. The gentle sweetness of thought, and the exquisite harmony of wording in his poems, more than justify the popular verdict. His _Hymns_ were finished in 1660 and published in 1666, two great Protestant poets thus being contemporaries. A collection of Reformation hymns, adapted, many of them, from the German, the _Holar-book_, had preceded them in 1619. There was a good deal of verse-writing of a secular kind, far inferior in every way, during this period. In spite of the many physical distresses that weighed upon the island, ballads (_fornkvædi_) were still written, ceasing about 1750, rimur composed, and more elaborate compositions published.

The most notable names are those of the improvisatore Stephen the Blind; Thorlak Gudbrandsson, author of _Ulfar-Rímur_, d. 1707; John Magnusson, who wrote _Hristafla_, a didactic poem; Stefan Olafsson, composer of psalms, rimur, &c., d. 1688; Gunnar Pálsson, the author of _Gunnarslag_, often printed with the Eddic poems, c. 1791; and Eggert Olafsson, traveller, naturalist and patriot, whose untimely death in 1768 was a great loss to his country. His _Bunadar-balkr_, a Georgic written, like Tusser's _Points_, with a practical view of raising the state of agriculture, has always been much prized. Paul Vidalin's ditties are very naïve and clever.

Of later poets, down to more recent times, perhaps the best was Sigurd of Broadfirth, many of whose prettiest poems were composed in Greenland like those of Jon Biarnisson before him, c. 1750; John Thorlaksson's translation of Milton's great epic into Eddic verse is praiseworthy in intention, but, as may be imagined, falls far short of its aim. He also turned Pope's _Essay on Man_ and Klopstock's _Messiah_ into Icelandic. Benedikt Gröndal tried the same experiment with Homer in his _Ilion's Kvædi_, c. 1825. There is a fine prose translation of the _Odyssey_ by Sweinbjörn Egillson, the lexicographer, both faithful and poetic in high degree.

_Sagas._--The real strength of ancient Icelandic literature is shown in its most indigenous growth, the "Saga" (see also SAGA). This is, in its purest form, the life of a hero, composed in regular form, governed by fixed rules, and intended for oral recitation. It bears the strongest likeness to the epic in all save its unversified form; in both are found, as fixed essentials, simplicity of plot, chronological order of events, set phrases used even in describing the restless play of emotion or the changeful fortunes of a fight or a storm, while in both the absence of digression, comment or intrusion of the narrator's person is invariably maintained. The saga grew up in the quieter days which followed the change of faith (1002), when the deeds of the great families' heroes were still cherished by their descendants, and the exploits of the great kings of Norway and Denmark handed down with reverence. Telling of stories was a recognized form of entertainment at all feasts and gatherings, and it was the necessity of the reciter which gradually worked them into a regular form, by which the memory was relieved and the artistic features of the story allowed to be more carefully elaborated. That this form was so perfect must be attributed to Irish influence, without which indeed there would have been a saga, but not the same saga. It is to the west that the best sagas belong; it is to the west that nearly every classic writer whose name we know belongs; and it is precisely in the west that the admixture of Irish blood is greatest. In comparing the Irish tales with the saga, there will be felt deep divergencies in matter, style and taste, the richness of one contrasting with the chastened simplicity of the other; the one's half-comic, half-earnest bombast is wholly unlike the other's grim humour; the marvellous, so unearthly in the one, is almost credible in the other; but in both are the keen grasp of character, the biting phrase, the love of action and the delight in blood which almost assumes the garb of a religious passion.

When the saga had been fixed by a generation or two of oral reciters, it was written down; and this stereotyped the form, so that afterwards when literary works were composed by learned men (such as Abbot Karl's _Swerri's Saga_ and Sturla's _Islendinga_) the same style was adopted.

Icelandic sagas.

Taking first the sagas relating to Icelanders, of which some thirty-five or forty remain out of thrice that number, they were first written down between 1140 and 1220, in the generation which succeeded Ari and felt the impulse his books had given to writing, on separate scrolls, no doubt mainly for the reciter's convenience; they then went through the different phases which such popular compositions have to pass in all lands--editing and compounding (1220-1260), padding and amplifying (1260-1300), and finally collection in large MSS. (14th century). Sagas exist showing all these phases, some primitive and rough, some refined and beautified, some diluted and weakened, according as their copyists have been faithful, artistic or foolish; for the first generation of MSS. have all perished. We have also complex sagas put together in the 13th century out of the scrolls relating to a given locality, such a group as still exists untouched in _Vapnfirdinga_ being fused into such a saga as _Niala_ or _Laxdæla_. Of the authors nothing is known; we can only guess that some belong to the Sturlung school. According to subject they fall into two classes, those relating to the older generation before Christianity and those telling of St Olaf's contemporaries; only two fall into a third generation.

Beginning with the sagas of the west, most perfect in style and form, the earliest in subject is that of _Gold-Thori_ (c. 930), whose adventurous career it relates; _Hensa-Þorissaga_ tells of the burning of Blund-Ketil, a noble chief, an event which led to Thord Gelli's reforms next year (c. 964); _Gislasaga_ (960-980) tells of the career and death of that ill-fated outlaw; it is beautifully written, and the verses by the editor (13th century) are good and appropriate; _Hord's Saga_ (980) is the life of a band of outlaws on Whalesfirth, and especially of their leader Hord. Of later subject are the sagas of _Havard_ and his revenge for his son, murdered by a neighbouring chief (997-1002); of the _Heiðarirgasaga_ (990-1014), a typical tale of a great blood feud, written in the most primitive prose; of Gunnlaug and Hrafn (_Gunnlaugssaga Ormstungu_, 980-1008), the rival poets and their ill-starred love. The verse in this saga is important and interesting. To the west also belong the three great complex sagas _Egla_, _Eyrbyggia_ and _Laxdæla_. The first (870-980), after noticing the migration of the father and grandfather of the hero poet Egil, and the origin of the feud between them and the kings of Norway, treats fully of Egil's career, his enmity with Eirik Bloodaxe, his service with Æthelstan, and finally, after many adventures abroad, of his latter days in Iceland at Borg, illustrating very clearly what manner of men those great settlers and their descendants were, and the feelings of pride and freedom which led them to Iceland. The style is that of Snorri, who had himself dwelt at Borg. _Eyrbyggia_ (890-1031) is the saga of politics, the most loosely woven of all the compound stories. It includes a mass of information on the law, religion, traditions, &c., of the heathen days in Iceland, and the lives of Eric, the real discoverer of Greenland, Biorn of Broadwick, a famous chief, and Snorri, the greatest statesman of his day. Dr Vigfusson would ascribe its editing and completion to Sturla the Lawman, c. 1250. _Laxdæla_ (910-1026) is the saga of Romance. Its heroine Gudrun is the most famous of all Icelandic ladies. Her love for Kiartan the poet, and his career abroad, his betrayal by his friend Bolli, the sad death of Kiartan at his hands, the revenge taken for him on Bolli, whose slayers are themselves afterwards put to death, and the end of Gudrun, who becomes an anchorite after her stormy life, make up the pith of the story. The contrast of the characters, the rich style and fine dialogue which are so remarkable in this saga, have much in common with the best works of the Sturlung school.

Of the north there are the sagas of _Kormak_ (930-960), most primitive of all, a tale of a wild poet's love and feuds, containing many notices of the heathen times; of _Vatzdælasaga_ (890-980), relating to the settlement and the chief family in Waterdale; of _Hallfred_ the poet (996-1014), narrating his fortune at King Olafs court, his love affairs in Iceland, and finally his death and burial at Iona; of _Reyk-dæla_ (990), which preserves the lives of Askell and his son Viga-Skuti; of _Svarf-dæla_ (980-990), a cruel, coarse story of the old days, with some good scenes in it, unfortunately imperfect, chapters 1-10 being forged; of _Viga-Glum_ (970-990), a fine story of a heathen hero, brave, crafty and cruel. To the north also belong the sagas of _Gretti_ the Strong (1010-1031), the life and death of the most famous of Icelandic outlaws, the real story of whose career is mixed up with the mythical adventures of Beowulf, here put down to Gretti, and with late romantic episodes and fabulous folk-tales (Dr Vigfusson would ascribe the best parts of this saga to Sturla; its last editor, whose additions would be better away, must have touched it up about 1300), and the stories of the _Ljosvetningasaga_ (1009-1060). Gudmund the Mighty and his family and neighbours are the heroes of these tales, which form a little cycle. The _Banda-manna saga_ (1050-1060), the only comedy among the sagas, is also a northern tale; it relates the struggles of a plebeian who gets a chieftancy against the old families of the neighbourhood, whom he successfully outwits; _Öl-kofra þattr_ is a later imitation of it in the same humorous strain. The sagas of the north are rougher and coarser than those of the west, but have a good deal of individual character.

Of tales relating to the east there survive the Weapon-firth cycle--the tales of _Thorstein the White_ (c. 900), of _Thorstein the Staffsmitten_ (c. 985), of _Gunnar Thidrand's Bane_ (1000-1008) and of the _Weapon-firth Men_ (975-990), all relating to the family of Hof and their friends and kin for several generations--and the story of _Hrafnkell Frey's Priest_ (c. 960), the most idyllic of sagas and best of the eastern tales. Of later times there are _Droplaug's Sons' Saga_ (997-1007), written probably about 1110, and preserved in the uncouth style of the original (a brother's revenge for his brother's death is the substance of it; _Brandkrossa Þattr_ is an appendix to it), and the tales of _Thorstein Hall of Side's Son_ (c. 1014) and his brother _Thidrandi_ (c. 996), which belong to the cycle of _Hall o' Side's Saga_, unhappily lost; they are weird tales of bloodshed and magic, with idyllic and pathetic episodes.

The sagas of the south are either lost or absorbed in that of _Nial_ (970-1014), a long and complex story into which are woven the tales of _Gunnar Nial_, and parts of others, as _Brian Boroimhe_, _Hall o' Side_, &c. It is, whether we look at style, contents or legal and historical weight, the foremost of all sagas. It deals especially with law, and contains the pith and the moral of all early Icelandic history. Its hero Nial, type of the good lawyer, is contrasted with its villain Mord, the ensample of cunning, chicane, and legal wrong doing; and a great part of the saga is taken up with the three cases and suits of the divorce, the death of Hoskuld and the burning of Nial, which are given with great minuteness. The number and variety of its dramatis personae give it the liveliest interest throughout. The women Hallgerda, Bergthora and Ragnhild are as sharply contrasted as the men Gunnar, Skarphedin, Flosi and Kari. The pathos of such tragedies as the death of Gunnar and Hoskuld and the burning is interrupted by the humour of the Althing scenes and the intellectual interest of the legal proceedings. The plot dealing first with the life and death of Gunnar, type of the chivalry of his day, then with the burning of Nial by Flosi, and how it came about, and lastly with Kari's revenge on the burners, is the ideal saga-plot. The author must have been of the east, a good lawyer and genealogist, and have composed it about 1250, to judge from internal evidence. It has been overworked by a later editor, c. 1300, who inserted many spurious verses.

Of Greenland and North America.

Relating partly to Iceland, but mostly to Greenland and Vinland (N. America), are the _Floamannasaga_ (985-990), a good story of the adventures of Thorgils and of the struggles of shipwrecked colonists in Greenland, a graphic and terrible picture; and _Eirikssaga rauða_ (990-1000), two versions, one northern (Flatey-book), one western, the better (in _Hawk's Book_, and AM. 557), the story of the discovery of Greenland and Vinland (America) by the Icelanders at the end of the 9th century. Later is the _Fostbrædrasaga_ (1015-1030), a very interesting story, told in a quaint romantic style, of Thorgeir, the reckless henchman of King Olaf, and how his death was revenged in Greenland by his sworn brother the true-hearted Thormod Coalbrow's poet, who afterward dies at Sticklestad. The tale of _Einar Sookisson_ (c. 1125) may also be noticed. The lost saga of _Poet Helgi_, of which only fragments remain, was also laid in Greenland.

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