Chapter IV: CYSTOPHORIDA (Cystonectae, Haeckel). With a very large (14)

Besides complete sagas there are embedded in the _Heimskringla_ numerous small _Þættir_ or episodes, small tales of Icelanders' adventures, often relating to poets and their lives at the kings' courts; one or two of these seem to be fragments of sagas now lost. Among the more notable are those of _Orm Storolfsson_, _Ogmund Dijtt_, _Halldor Snorrason_, _Thorstein Oxfoot_, _Hromund Halt_, _Thorwald Tasaldi_, _Svadi_ and _Arnor Herlingar-nef_, _Audunn of Westfirth_, _Sneglu-Halli_, _Hrafn of Hrutfiord_, _Hreidar Heimski_, _Gisli Illugison_, _Ivar_ the poet, _Gull-Æsu Thord_, _Einar Skulason_ the poet, _Mani_ the poet, &c.

The forged Icelandic sagas appear as early as the 13th century. They are very poor, and either worked up on hints given in genuine stories or altogether apocryphal.

_History._--About the year of the battle of Hastings was born Ari Froði Thorgilsson (1067-1148), one of the blood of Queen Aud, who founded the famous historical school of Iceland, and himself produced its greatest monument in a work which can be compared for value with the English Domesday Book. Nearly all that we know of the heathen commonwealth may be traced to the collections of Ari. It was he too that fixed the style in which history should be composed in Iceland. It was he that secured and put into order the vast mass of fragmentary tradition that was already dying out in his day. And perhaps it is the highest praise of all to him that he wrote in his own "Danish tongue," and so ensured the use of that tongue by the cultured of after generations. Ari's great works are _Konungabók_, or _The Book of Kings_, relating the history of the kings of Norway from the rise of the Yngling dynasty down to the death of Harald Sigurdsson in the year of his own birth. This book he composed from the dictation of old men such as Odd Kolsson, from the genealogical poems, and from the various dirges, battle-songs and eulogia of the poets. It is most probable that he also compiled shorter _Kings' Books_ relating to Denmark and perhaps to England. The _Konungabók_ is preserved under the _Heimskringla_ of Snorri Sturloson, parts of it almost as they came from Ari's hands, for example _Ynglinga_ and _Harald Fairhair's Saga_, and the prefaces stating the plan and critical foundations of the work, parts of it only used as a framework for the magnificent superstructure of the lives of the two Olafs, and of Harald Hardrada and his nephew Magnus the Good. The best text of Ari's _Konungabók_ (_Ynglinga_, and the sagas down to but not including Olaf Tryggvason's) is that of _Frisbók_.

The _Book of Settlements_ (_Landnamabók_) is a wonderful performance, both in its scheme and carrying out. It is divided into five parts, the first of which contains a brief account of the discovery of the island; the other four, one by one taking a quarter of the land, describe the name, pedigree and history of each settler in geographical order, notice the most important facts in the history of his descendants, the names of their homesteads, their courts and temples, thus including mention of 4000 persons, one-third of whom are women, and 2000 places. The mass of information contained in so small a space, the clearness and accuracy of the details, the immense amount of life which is breathed into the whole, astonish the reader, when he reflects that this colossal task was accomplished by one man, for his collaborator Kolsegg merely filled up his plan with regard to part of the east coast, a district with which Ari in his western home at Stad was little familiar. _Landnamabók_ has reached us in two complete editions, one edited by Sturla, who brought down the genealogies to his own grandfather and grandmother, Sturla and Gudny, and one by Hawk, who traces the pedigrees still later to himself.

Ari also wrote a _Book of Icelanders_ (_Islendingabók_, c. 1127), which has perished as a whole, but fragments of it are embedded in many sagas and _Kings' Lives_; it seems to have been a complete epitome of his earlier works, together with an account of the constitutional history, ecclesiastical and civil, of Iceland. An abridgment of the latter part of it, the little _Libellus Islandorum_ (to which the title of the bigger _Liber--Islendingabók_--is often given), was made by the historian for his friends Bishops Ketil and Thorlak, for whom he wrote the _Liber_ (c. 1137). This charming little book is, with the much later collections of laws, our sole authority for the Icelandic constitution of the commonwealth, but, "much as it tells, the lost _Liber_ would have been of still greater importance." _Kristni-Saga_, the story of the christening of Iceland, is also a work of Ari's, "overlaid" by a later editor, but often preserving Ari's very words. This saga, together with several scattered tales of early Christians in Iceland before the change of faith (1002), may have made up a section of the lost _Liber_. Of the author of these works little is known. He lived in quiet days a quiet life; but he shows himself in his works, as Snorri describes him, "a man wise, of good memory and a speaker of the truth." If Thucydides is justly accounted the first political historian, Ari may be fitly styled the first of scientific historians.

A famous contemporary and friend of Ari is Sæmund (1056-1131), a great churchman, whose learning so impressed his age that he got the reputation of a magician. He was the friend of Bishop John, the founder of the great Odd-Verjar family, and the author of a _Book of Kings_ from Harald Fairhair to Magnus the Good, in which he seems to have fixed the exact chronology of each reign. It is most probable that he wrote in Latin. The idea that he had anything to do with the poetic _Edda_ in general, or the _Sun's Song_ in particular, is unfounded.

The flame which Ari had kindled was fed by his successors in the 12th century. Eirik Oddsson (c. 1150) wrote the lives of Sigurd Evil-deacon and the sons of Harold Gille, in his _Hryggiar-Stykki_ (Sheldrake), of which parts remain in the MSS. collections of _Kings' Lives_, _Morkin-skinna_, &c. Karl Jonsson, abbot of Thingore, the Benedictine minister, wrote (c. 1184) _Sverrissaga_ from the lips of that great king, a fine racy biography, with a style and spirit of its own. _Böglunga-Sögur_ tell the story of the civil wars which followed Sverri's death. They are probably by a contemporary.

The Latin _Lives of St Olaf_, Odd's in Latin (c. 1175), compiled from original authorities, and the _Legendary Life_, by another monk whose name is lost, are of the medieval Latin school of Sæmund to which Gunnlaug belonged.

Snorri Sturlason (q.v.) was known to his contemporaries as a statesman and poet; to us he is above all an historian. Snorri (1179-1241) wrote the _Lives of the Kings_ (_Heimskringla_), from Olaf Tryggvason to Sigurd the Crusader inclusive; and we have them substantially as they came from his hand in the _Great King Olaf's Saga_; _St Olaf's Saga_, as in _Heimskringla_ and the Stockholm MS.; and the succeeding _Kings' Lives_, as in Hulda and Hrokkinskinna, in which, however, a few episodes have been inserted.

These works were indebted for their facts to Ari's labours, and to sagas written since Ari's death; but the style and treatment of them are Snorri's own. The fine Thucydidean speeches, the dramatic power of grasping character, and the pathos and poetry that run through the stories, along with a humour such as is shown in the _Edda_, and a varied grace of style that never flags or palls, make Snorri one of the greatest of historians.

Here it should be noticed that _Heimskringla_ and its class of MSS. (_Eirspennil_, _Jofraskinna_, _Gullinskinna_, _Fris-bok_ and _Kringla_) do not give the full text of Snorri's works. They are abridgments made in Norway by Icelanders for their Norwegian patrons, the _Life of St Olaf_ alone being preserved intact, for the great interest of the Norwegians lay in him, but all the other _Kings' Lives_ being more or less mutilated, so that they cannot be trusted for historic purposes; nor do they give a fair idea of Snorri's style.

_Agrip_ is a 12th-century compendium of the _Kings' Lives_ from Harald Fairhair to Sverri, by a scholastic writer of the school of Sæmund. As the only Icelandic abridgment of Norwegian history taken not from Snorri but sources now lost, it is of worth. Its real title is _Konunga-tal_.

_Noregs Konunga-tal_, now called _Fagrskinna_, is a Norse compendium of the _Kings' Lives_ from Halfdan the Black to Sverri's accession, probably written for King Haakon, to whom it was read on his death-bed. It is an original work, and contains much not found elsewhere. As non-Icelandic it is only noticed here for completeness.

Styrmi Karason, a contemporary of Snorri's, dying in 1245, was a distinguished churchman (lawman twice) and scholar. He wrote a _Life of St Olaf_, now lost; his authority is cited. He also copied out _Landnamabók_ and _Sverri's Life_ from his MSS., of which surviving copies were taken.

Sturla, Snorri's nephew, wrote the _Hakonssaga_ and _Magnussaga_ at the request of King Magnus, finishing the first c. 1265, the latter c. 1280. King Haakon's Life is preserved in full; of the other only fragments remain. These are the last of the series of historic works which Ari's labours began, from which the history of Norway for 500 years must be gathered.

A few books relating the history of other Scandinavian realms will complete this survey. In _Skioldunga-bok_ was told the history of the early kings of Denmark, perhaps derived from Ari's collections, and running parallel to _Ynglinga_. The earlier part of it has perished save a fragment _Sogu-brot_, and citations and paraphrases in Saxo, and the mythical _Ragnar Lodbrok's_ and _Gongu-Hrolf's Sagas_; the latter part, _Lives of Harold Bluetooth and the Kings down to Sveyn II._, is still in existence and known as _Skioldunga_.

The _Knutssaga_ is of later origin and separate authorships, parallel to Snorri's _Heimskringla_, but earlier in date. The _Lives of King Valdemar and his Son_, written c. 1185, by a contemporary of Abbot Karl's, are the last of this series. The whole were edited and compiled into one book, often quoted as _Skioldunga_, by a 13th-century editor, possibly Olaf, the White Poet, Sturla's brother, guest and friend of King Valdemar II. _Jomsvikinga Saga_, the history of the pirates of Jom, down to Knut the Great's days, also relates to Danish history.

The complex work now known as _Orkneyinga_ is made up of the _Earls' Saga_, lives of the first great earls, Turf-Einar, Thorfinn, &c.; the _Life of St Magnus_, founded partly on Abbot Robert's Latin life of him (c. 1150) an Orkney work, partly on Norse or Icelandic biographies; a _Mirade-book_ of the same saint; the _Lives of Earl Rognwald and Sveyn_, the last of the vikings, and a few episodes such as the _Burning of Bishop Adam_. A scholastic sketch of the rise of the Scandinavian empire, the _Foundation of Norway_, dating c. 1120, is prefixed to the whole.

_Færeyinga_ tells the tale of the conversion of the Færeys or Faroes, and the lives of its chiefs Sigmund and Leif, composed in the 13th century from their separate sagas by an Icelander of the Sturlung school.

_Biographies._--The saga has already been shown in two forms, its original epic shape and its later development applied to the lives of Norwegian and Danish kings and earls, as heroic but deeper and broader subjects than before. In the 13th century it is put to a third use, to tell the plain story of men's lives for their contemporaries, after satisfying which demand it dies away for ever.

These biographies are more literary and medieval and less poetic than the Icelandic sagas and king's lives; their simplicity, truth, realism and purity of style are the same. They run in two parallel streams, some being concerned with chiefs and champions, some with bishops. The former are mostly found embedded in the complex mass of stories known as _Sturlunga_, from which Dr Vigfusson has extricated them, and for the first time set them in order. Among them are the sagas of _Thorgils and Haflidi_ (1118-1121), the feud and peacemaking of two great chiefs, contemporaries of Ari; of _Sturla_ (1150-1183), the founder of the great Sturlung family, down to the settlement of his great lawsuit by Jon Loptsson, who thereupon took his son Snorri the historian to fosterage,--a humorous story but with traces of the decadence about it, and glimpses of the evil days that were to come; of the _Önundar-brennusaga_ (1185-1200), a tale of feud and fire-raising in the north of the island, the hero of which, Gudmund Dyri, goes at last into a cloister; of _Hrafn Sveinbiornsson_ (1190-1213), the noblest Icelander of his day, warrior, leech, seaman, craftsman, poet and chief, whose life at home, travels and pilgrimages abroad (Hrafn was one of the first to visit Becket's shrine), and death at the hands of a foe whom he had twice spared, are recounted by a loving friend in pious memory of his virtues, c. 1220; of _Áron Hiorleifsson_ (1200-1255), a man whose strength, courage and adventures befit rather a henchman of Olaf Tryggvason than one of King Haakon's thanes (the beginning of the feuds that rise round Bishop Gudmund are told here), of the _Svinefell-men_ (1248-1252), a pitiful story of a family feud in the far east of Iceland.

But the most important works of this class are the _Islendinga Saga_ and _Thorgils Saga_ of Lawman Sturla. Sturla and his brother Olaf were the sons of Thord Sturlason and his mistress Thora. Sturla was born and brought up in prosperous times, but his manhood was passed in the midst of strife, in which his family fell one by one, and he himself, though a peaceful man who cared little for politics, was more than once forced to fly for his life. While in refuge with King Magnus, in Norway, he wrote his two sagas of that king and his father. After his first stay in Norway he came back in 1271, with the new Norse law-book, and served a second time as lawman. The _Islendinga_ must have been the work of his later years, composed at Fairey in Broadfirth, where he died, 30th July 1284, aged about seventy years. The saga of _Thorgils Skardi_ (1252-1261) seems to have been the first of his works on Icelandic contemporary history; it deals with the life of his own nephew, especially his career in Iceland from 1252 to 1258. The second part of _Islendinga_ (1242-1262), which relates to the second part of the civil war, telling of the careers of Thord Kakali, Kolbein the Young, Earl Gizur and Hrafn Oddsson. The end is imperfect, there being a blank of some years before the fragmentary ending to which an editor has affixed a notice of the author's death. The first part of _Islendinga_ (1202-1242) tells of the beginning and first part of the civil wars, the lives of Snorri and Sighvat, Sturla's uncles, of his cousin and namesake Sturla Sighvatsson, of Bishop Gudmund, and Thorwald Gizursson,--the fall of the Sturlungs, and with them the last hopes of the great houses to maintain the commonwealth, being the climax of the story.

Sturla's power lies in his faithfulness to nature, minute observance of detail and purity of style. The great extent of his subject, and the difficulty of dealing with it in the saga form, are most skilfully overcome; nor does he allow prejudice or favour to stand in the way of the truth. He ranks below Ari in value and below Snorri in power; but no one else can dispute his place in the first rank of Icelandic writers.

Of the ecclesiastical biographers, an anonymous Skalholt clerk is the best. He wrote _Hungrvaka_, lives of the first five bishops of Skalholt, and biographies of his patron Bishop Paul (_Pálssaga_) and also of St Thorlak (_Thorlakssaga_). They are full of interesting notices of social and church life. Thorlak was a learned man, and had studied at Paris and Lincoln, which he left in 1161. These lives cover the years 1056-1193. The life of St John, a great reformer, a contemporary of Thorodd, whom he employed to build a church for him, is by another author (1052-1121). The life of Gudmund (_Gudmundar Saga Goda_), as priest, recounts the early life of this Icelandic Becket till his election as bishop (1160-1202); his after career must be sought out in _Islendinga_. It is written by a friend and contemporary. A later life by Arngrim, abbot of Thingore, written c. 1350, as evidence of his subject's sanctity, tells a good deal about Icelandic life, &c. The lives of Bishops Arni and Lawrence bring down our knowledge of Icelandic history into the 14th century. The former work, _Arna Saga Biskups_, is imperfect; it is the record of the struggles of church and state over patronage rights and glebes, written c. 1315; it now covers only the years 1269-1291; a great many documents are given in it, after the modern fashion. The latter, _Laurentius Saga Biskups_, by his disciple, priest Einar Haflidason, is a charming biography of a good and pious man, whose chequered career in Norway and Iceland is picturesquely told (1324-1331). It is the last of the sagas. _Bishop Jon's Table-Talk_ (1325-1339) is also worth noticing; it contains many popular stories which the good bishop, who had studied at Bologna and Paris, was wont to tell to his friends.

_Annals._--The _Annals_ are now almost the sole material for Icelandic history; they had begun earlier, but after 1331 they got fuller and richer, till they end in 1430. The best are _Annales Regii_, ending 1306, _Einar Haflidason's Annals_, known as "Lawman's Annals," reaching to 1392, and preserved with others in _Flatey-book_, and the _New Annals_, last of all. The _Diplomatarium Islandicum_, edited by Jon Sigurdsson, contains what remains of deeds, inventories, letters, &c., from the old days, completing our scanty material for this dark period of the island's history.

_Literature of Foreign Origin._--After the union with Norway and change of law genuine tradition died out with the great houses. The ordinary medieval literature reached Iceland through Norway, and every one began to put it into a vernacular dress, so neglecting their own classics that but for a few collectors like Lawman Hauk they would have perished entirely.

The Norwegian kings, Haakon Haakonson (c. 1225), and Haakon V. (c. 1305), employed Icelanders at their courts in translating the French romances of the Alexander, Arthur and Charlemagne cycles. Some forty or fifty of these _Riddara-Sögur_ (Romances of Chivalry) remain. They reached Iceland and were eagerly read, many Rimur being founded on them. Norse versions of _Mary of Brittany's Lays_, the stories of _Brutus_ and of _Troy_, and part of the _Pharsalia_ translated are also found. The _Speculum Regale_, with its interesting geographical and social information, is also Norse, written c. 1240, by a Halogalander. The computistic and arithmetical treatises of Stiorn-Odd, Biarni the Number-skilled (d. 1173), and Hauk Erlendsson the Lawman (d. 1334), and the geography of Ivar Bardsson, a Norwegian (c. 1340), are of course of foreign origin. A few tracts on geography, &c., in Hauk's book, and a _Guide to the Holy Land_, by Nicholas, abbot of Thwera (d. 1158), complete the list of scientific works.

The stories which contain the last lees of the old mythology and pre-history seem to be also non-Icelandic, but amplified by Icelandic editors, who probably got the plots from the Western Islands. _Völsunga Saga_ and _Hervarar Saga_ contain quotations and paraphrases of lays by the Helgi poet, and _Half's_, _Ragnar's_ and _Asmund Kappabana's Sagas_ all have bits of Western poetry in them. _Hrolf Kraki's Saga_ paraphrases part of _Biarkamal_; _Hromund Gripsson's_ gives the story of Helgi and Kara (the lost third of the Helgi trilogy); _Gautrek's Arrow Odd's_, _Frithiof's Sagas_, &c., contain shreds of true tradition amidst a mass of later fictitious matter of no worth. With the _Riddara-Sögur_ they enjoyed great popularity in the 15th century, and gave matter for many Rimur. _Thidrek's Saga_, a late version of the Völsung story, is of Norse composition (c. 1230), from North German sources.

The medieval religious literature of Western Europe also influenced Iceland, and the _Homilies_ (like the _Laws_) were, according to Thorodd, the earliest books written in the vernacular, antedating even Ari's histories. The lives of the _Virgin_, the _Apostles_ and the _Saints_ fill many MSS. (edited in four large volumes by Professor Unger), and are the works of many authors, chiefly of the 13th and 14th centuries; amongst them are the lives of _SS. Edward the Confessor_, _Oswald of Northumbria_, _Dunstan_ and _Thomas of Canterbury_. Of the authors we know Priest Berg Gunsteinsson (d. 1211); Kygri-Biorn, bishop-elect (d. 1237); Bishop Brand (d. 1264); Abbot Runolf (d. 1307); Bishop Lawrence's son Arni (c. 1330); Abbot Berg (c. 1340), &c. A paraphrase of the historical books of the Bible was made by Bishop Brand (d. 1264), called _Gydinga Sögur_. About 1310 King Haakon V. ordered a commentary on the Bible to be made, which was completed down to Exodus xix. To this Brand's work was afterwards affixed, and the whole is known as _Stiorn_. The Norse version of the famous _Barlaam and Josaphat_, made for Prince Haakon (c. 1240), must not be forgotten.

_Post-classical Literature._--The post-classical literature falls chiefly under three heads--religious, literary and scientific. Under the first comes foremost the noble translation of the New Testament by Odd Gottskalksson, son of the bishop of Hólar. Brought up in Norway, he travelled in Denmark and Germany, and took upon him the new faith before he returned to Iceland, where he became secretary to Bishop Ogmund of Skalholt. Here he began by translating the Gospel of Matthew into his mother-tongue in secret. Having finished the remainder of the New Testament at his own house at Olves, he took it to Denmark, where it was printed at Roskild in 1540. Odd afterwards translated the Psalms, and several devotional works of the day, Corvinus's _Epistles_, &c. He was made lawman of the north and west, and died from a fall in the Laxa in Kios, June 1556. Three years after his death the first press was set up in Iceland by John Matthewson, at Breidabolstad, in Hunafloe, and a _Gospel and Epistle Book_, according to Odd's version, issued from it in 1562. In 1584 Bishop Gudbrand, who had brought over a splendid fount of type from Denmark in 1575 (which he completed with his own hands), printed a translation of the whole Bible at Hólar, incorporating Odd's versions and some books (Proverbs and the Son of Sirach, 1580) translated by Bishop Gizar, but supplying most of the Old Testament himself. This fine volume was the basis of every Bible issued for Iceland till 1826, when it was replaced by a bad modern version. For beauty of language and faithful simplicity of style the finer parts of this version, especially the New Testament, have never been surpassed.

The most notable theological work Iceland ever produced is the _Postill-Book_ of Bishop John Vidalin (1666-1720), whose bold homely style and stirring eloquence made "John's Book," as it is lovingly called, a favourite in every household, till in the 19th century it was replaced for the worse by the more sentimental and polished Danish tracts and sermons. Theological literature is very popular, and many works on this subject, chiefly translations, will be found in the lists of Icelandic bibliographers.

The first modern scientific work is the _Iter per patriam_ of Eggert Olafsson and Biarni Paulsson, which gives an account of the physical peculiarities--fauna, flora, &c.--of the island as far as could be done at the date of its appearance, 1772. The island was first made known to "the world" by this book and by the sketch of Unno von Troil, a Swede, who accompanied Sir Joseph Banks to Iceland in 1772, and afterwards wrote a series of "letters" on the land and its literature, &c. This tour was the forerunner of an endless series of "travels," of which those of Sir W. J. Hooker, Sir G. S. Mackenzie (1810), Ebenezer Henderson (1818), Joseph Paul Gaimard (1838-1843), Paijkull (1867) and, lastly, that of Sir Richard Burton, an excellent account of the land and people, crammed with information of every kind (1875), are the best.

Iceland is emphatically a land of proverbs, while of folk-tales, those other keys to the people's heart, there is plentiful store. Early work in this direction was done by Jon Gudmundsson, Olaf the Old and John Olafsson in the 17th century, who all put traditions on paper, and their labours were completed by the magnificent collection of Jon Arnason (1862-1864), who was inspired by the example of the Grimms. Many tales are but weak echoes of the sagas; many were family legends, many are old fairy tales in a garb suited to their new northern home; but, besides all these, there are a number of traditions and superstitions of indigenous origin.

The Renaissance of Iceland dates from the beginning of the 17th century, when a school of antiquaries arose. Arngrim Jonsson's _Brevis Commentarius_ (1593), and _Crymogaea_ (1609), were the first-fruits of this movement, of which Bishops Odd, Thorlak and Bryniulf (worthy parallels to Parker and Laud) were the wise and earnest supporters. The first (d. 1630) collected much material for church history. The second (d. 1656) saved _Sturlunga_ and the _Bishops' Lives_, encouraged John Egilsson to write his _New Hungerwaker_, lives of the bishops of the Dark Ages and Reformation, and helped Biorn of Skardsa (d. 1655), a bold and patriotic antiquary (whose _Annals_ continue Einar's), in his researches. The last (d. 1675) collected a fine library of MSS., and employed the famous copyist John Erlendsson, to whom and the bishop's brother, John Gizurarsson (d. 1648), we are indebted for transcripts of many lost MSS.

Torfaeus (1636-1719) and Bartholin, a Dane (d. 1690), roused the taste for northern literature in Europe, a taste which has never since flagged; and soon after them Arni Magnusson (1663-1730) transferred all that remained of vellum and good paper MSS. in Iceland to Denmark, and laid the foundations of the famous library and bequest, for which all Icelandic students are so much beholden. For over forty years Arni stuck to his task, rescuing every scrap he could lay hands on from the risks of the Icelandic climate and carelessness, and when he died only one good MSS. remained in the island. Besides his magnificent collection, there are a few MSS. of great value at Upsala, at Stockholm, and in the old royal collection at Copenhagen. Those in the university library in the latter city perished in the fire of 1728. Sagas were printed at Upsala and Copenhagen in the 17th century, and the Arna-Magnaean fund has been working since 1772. In that year appeared also the first volume of Bishop Finn Jonsson's _Historia Ecclesiastica Islandiae_, a work of high value and much erudition, containing not only ecclesiastical but civil and literary history, illustrated by a well-chosen mass of documents, 870-1740. It has been continued by Bishop P. Peterson to modern times, 1740-1840. The results, however, of modern observers and scholars must be sought for in the periodicals, _Safn_, _Felagsrit_, _Ny Felagsrit_ and others. John Espolin's _Arbækr_ is very good up to its date, 1821.

A brilliant sketch of Icelandic classic literature is given by Dr
Gudbrandr Vigfusson in the Prolegomena to _Sturlunga Saga_ (Oxford,
1879). It replaces much earlier work, especially the _Sciagraphia_ of
Halfdan Einarsson (1777), and the _Saga-Bibliotek_ of Müller. The
numerous editions of the classics by the Icelandic societies, the
Danish Société des Antiquités, Nordiske Litteratur Samfund, and the
new Gammel Nordisk Litteratur Samfund, the splendid Norwegian editions
of Unger, the labours of the Icelanders Sigurdsson and Gislason, and
of those foreign scholars in Scandinavia and Germany who have thrown
themselves into the work of illustrating, publishing and editing the
sagas and poems (men like P. A. Munch, S. Bugge, F. W. Bergmann, Th.
Möbius and K. von Maurer, to name only a few), can only be referred to
here. See also Finnur Jónsson, _Den Oldnorske og Oldislanske
Litteraturs Historie_ (Copenhagen, 1893-1900); R. B. Anderson's
translation (Chicago, 1884) of Winkel Horn's _History of the
Literature of the Scandinavian North_; and W. Morris and E.
Magnusson's _Saga Library_. (F. Y. P.)

RECENT LITERATURE

The recent literature of Iceland has been in a more flourishing state than ever before since the 13th century. Lyrical poetry is by far the largest and the most interesting portion of it. The great influence of Jónas Hallgrímsson (1807-1845) is still felt, and his school was the reigning one up to the end of the 19th century, although then a change seemed to be in sight. The most successful poet of this school is Steingrímr Thorsteinsson (b. 1830). He is specially famous for his splendid descriptions of scenery (_The Song of Gilsbakki_), his love-songs and his sarcastic epigrams. As a translator he has enriched the literature with _The Arabian Nights_, _Sakuntala_, _King Lear_ and several other masterpieces of foreign literature. Equal in fame is Matthías Jochumsson (b. 1835), who, following another of Jónas Hallgrímsson's many ways, has successfully revived the old metres of the classical Icelandic poets, whom he resembles in his majestic, but sometimes too gorgeous, language. He is as an artist inferior to Steingrímr Thorsteinsson, but surpasses him in bold flight of imagination. He has successfully treated subjects from Icelandic history _Grettisljóð_, a series of poems about the famous outlaw Grettir. His chief fault is a certain carelessness in writing; he can never write a bad poem, but rarely a poem absolutely flawless. He has translated Tegnér's _Frithiofs Saga_, several plays of Shakespeare and some other foreign masterpieces. The great religious poet of Iceland, Hallgrímr Pétursson, has found a worthy successor in Valdemar Briem (b. 1848), whose _Songs of the Bible_ are deservedly popular. He is like Matthías Jochumsson in the copious flow of his rhetoric; some of his poems are perfect both as regards form and contents, but he sometimes neglects the latter while polishing the former. An interesting position is occupied by Benedict Gröndal (b. 1826), whose travesties of the old romantic stories,[7] and his Aristophanic drama _Gandreiðin_ ("The Magic Ride") about contemporary events, are among the best satirical and humorous productions of Icelandic literature.

Influenced by Jónas Hallgrímsson with regard to language and poetic diction, but keeping unbroken the traditions of Icelandic medieval poetry maintained by Sigurðr Breiðfjörð (1798-1846), is another school of poets, very unlike the first. In the middle of the 19th century this school was best represented by Hjálmar Jónsson from Bóla (1796-1875), a poor farmer with little education, but endowed with great poetical talents, and the author of satirical verses not inferior to those of Juvenal both in force and coarseness. In the last decades of the 19th century this school produced two poets of a very high order, both distinctly original and Icelandic. One is Páll Olafsson (b. 1827). His songs are mostly written in the medieval quatrains (_ferskeytla_), and are generally of a humorous and satirical character; his convivial songs are known by heart by every modern Icelander; and although some of the poets of the present day are more admired, there is none who is more loved by the people. The other is Þorsteinn Erlingsson (b. 1858). His exquisite satirical songs, in an easy and elegant but still manly and splendid language, have raised much discussion. Of his poems may be mentioned _The Oath_, a series of most beautiful ballads, with a tragical love-story of the 17th century as their base, but with many and happy satirical allusions to modern life; _Jörundr_, a long poem about the convict king, the Danish pirate Jörgensen, who nearly succeeded in making himself the master of Iceland, and _The Fate of the Gods_ and _The Men of the West_ (the Americans), two poems which, with their anti-clerical and half-socialistic tendencies, have caused strong protests from orthodox Lutheran clergy. Near to this school, but still standing apart, is Grímur Thomsen (b. 1820).

In the beginning of the 'eighties a new school arose--having its origin in the colony of Icelandic students at the University of Copenhagen. They had all attended the lectures of Georg Brandes, the great reformer of Scandinavian literature, and, influenced by his literary theories, they chose their models in the realistic school. This school is very dissimilar from the half-romantic school of Jónas Hallgrímsson; it is nearer the national Icelandic school represented by Páll Olafsson and Þorsteinn Erlingsson, but differs from those writers by introducing foreign elements hitherto unknown in Icelandic literature, and--especially in the case of the prose-writers--by imitating closely the style and manner of some of the great Norwegian novelists. Their influence brought the Icelandic literature into new roads, and it is interesting to see how the tough Icelandic element gradually assimilates the foreign. Of the lyrical poets, Hannes Hafsteinn (b. 1861) is by far the most important. In his splendid ballad, _The Death of Skarphedinn_, and in his beautiful series of songs describing a voyage through some of the most picturesque parts of Iceland, he is entirely original; but in his love-songs, beautiful as many of them are, a strong foreign influence can be observed. Among the innovations of this poet we may note a predilection for new metres, sometimes adopted from foreign languages, sometimes invented by himself, a thing practised rarely and generally with small success by the Icelandic poets.

No Icelandic novelist has as yet equalled Jón Thóroddsen (1819-1868). The influence of the realistic school has of late been predominant. The most distinguished writer of that school has been Gestur Pálsson (1852-1891), whose short stories with their sharp and biting satire have produced many imitations in Iceland. The best are _A Home of Love_ and _Captain Sigurd_. Jónas Jónasson (b. 1856), a clergyman of northern Iceland, has, in a series of novels and short stories, given accurate, but somewhat dry, descriptions of the more gloomy sides of Icelandic country life. His best novel is _Randiðr from Hvassafell_, an historical novel of the middle ages. Besides these we may mention Torfhildur Hólm, one of the few women who have distinguished themselves in Icelandic literature. Her novels are mostly historical. The last decade of the 19th century saw the establishment of a permanent theatre at Reykjavik. The poet Matthías Jochumsson has written several dramas, but their chief merits are lyrical. The most successful of Icelandic dramatists as yet is Indrði Einarsson, whose plays, chiefly historical, in spite of excessive rhetoric, are very interesting and possess a true dramatic spirit.

In geography and geology Þorvaldr Thoroddsen has acquired a European fame for his researches and travels in Iceland, especially in the rarely-visited interior. Of his numerous writings in Icelandic, Danish and German, the _History of Icelandic Geography_ is a monumental work. In history Páll Melsteð's (b. 1812) chief work, the large _History of the World_, belongs to this period, and its pure style has had a beneficial influence upon modern Icelandic prose.

Of the younger historians we may mention Þorkell Bjarnason (_History of the Reformation in Iceland_). Jón Þorkelsson (b. 1822), inspector of the archives of Iceland, has rendered great services to the study of Icelandic history and literature by his editions of the _Diplomatarium Islandicum_ and _Obituarium Islandicum_, and by his _Icelandic Poetry in the 15th and 16th Century_, written in Danish, an indispensable work for any student of that period. A leading position among Icelandic lexicographers is occupied by Jón Þorkelsson, formerly head of the Latin school at Reykjavik, whose _Supplement til islandske Ordbøger_, an Icelandic-Danish vocabulary (three separate collections), has hardly been equalled in learning and accuracy. Other distinguished philologists are his successor as head of the Latin school, Bjôrn Magnússon Olsen (_Researches on Sturlunga_, _Ari the Wise_, _The Runes in the Old Icelandic Literature_--the last two works in Danish); Finnur Jónsson, professor at the University of Copenhagen (_History of the Old Norwegian and Icelandic Literature_, in Danish, and excellent editions of many old Icelandic classical works); and Valtýr Guðmundsson, lecturer at the University of Copenhagen (several works on the old architecture of Scandinavia) and editor of the influential Icelandic literary and political review, _Eimreiðin_ ("The Locomotive").

See J. C. Poestion, _Islandische Dichter der Neuzeit_ (Leipzig, 1897);
C. Küchler, _Geschichte der isländischen Dichtung der Neuzeit_
(Leipzig, 1896); Ph. Schweitzer, _Island; Land und Leute_ (Leipzig,
1885); Alexander Baumgartner, _Island und die Faroer_ (Freiburg im
Breisgau, 1889). (S. Bl.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Jökull_, plural _jöklar_, Icel. snowfield, glacier.

[2] _Flói_, bay; _fjörðr_, fjord.

[3] _Vatn_, lake.

[4] See Th. Thoroddsen, "Explorations in Iceland during the years
1881-1898," _Geographical Journal_, vol. xiii. (1899), pp. 251-274,
480-513, with map.

[5] For the periods succeeding the union, Danish state papers and the
_History_ of Finn Jonsson are the best authority.

[6] Many of these poems were Englished in prose by the translator of
Mallet, by B. Thorpe in his _Sæmund's Edda_, and two or three by
Messrs Morris and Magnussen, as appendices to their translation of
_Volsunga Saga_. Earlier translations in verse are those in Dryden's
_Miscellany_ (vol. vi), A. Cottle's _Edda_, Mathias's _Translations_,
and W. Herbert's _Old Icelandic Poetry_. Gray's versions of
_Darradar-liod_ and _Vegtamskviða_ are well known.

[7] E.g. "The Battle of the Plains of Death," a burlesque on the
battle of Solferino.

ICELAND MOSS, a lichen (_Cetraria islandica_) whose erect or ascending foliaceous habit gives it something of the appearance of a moss, whence probably the name. It is often of a pale chestnut colour, but varies considerably, being sometimes almost entirely greyish white; and grows to a height of from 3 to 4 in., the branches being channelled or rolled into tubes, which terminate in flattened lobes with fringed edges. It grows abundantly in the mountainous regions of northern countries, and it is specially characteristic of the lava slopes and plains of the west and north of Iceland. It is found on the mountains of north Wales, north England, Scotland and south-west Ireland. As met with in commerce it is a light-grey harsh cartilaginous body, almost destitute of colour, and having a slightly bitter taste. It contains about 70% of lichenin or lichen-starch, a body isomeric with common starch, but wanting any appearance of structure. It also yields a peculiar modification of chlorophyll, called thallochlor, fumaric acid, licheno-stearic acid and cetraric acid, to which last it owes its bitter taste. It forms a nutritious and easily digested amylaceous food, being used in place of starch in some preparations of cocoa. It is not, however, in great request, and even in Iceland it is only habitually resorted to in seasons of scarcity. Cetraric acid or cetrarin, a white micro-crystalline powder with a bitter taste, is readily soluble in alcohol, and slightly soluble in water and ether. It has been recommended for medicinal use, in doses of 2 to 4 grains, as a bitter tonic and aperient.

ICE-PLANT, the popular name for _Mesembryanthemum crystallinum_, a hardy annual most effective for rockwork. It is a low-growing spreading herbaceous plant with the fleshy stem and leaves covered with large glittering papillae which give it the appearance of being coated with ice. It is a dry-country plant, a native of Greece and other parts of the Mediterranean region, the Canary Islands, South Africa and California. _Mesembryanthemum_ is a large genus (containing about 300 species) of erect or prostrate fleshy herbs or low shrubs, mostly natives of South Africa, and rarely hardy in the British Isles where they are mostly grown as greenhouse plants. They bear conspicuous white, yellow or red flowers with many petals inserted in the calyx-tube. The thick fleshy leaves are very variable in shape, and often have spiny rigid hairs on the margin. They are essentially sun-loving plants. The best-known member of the genus is _M. cordifolium, var. variegatum_, with heart-shaped green and silvery leaves and bright rosy-purple flowers. It is extensively used for edging flower-beds and borders during the summer months.

ICE-YACHTING, the sport of sailing and racing ice-boats. It is practised in Great Britain, Norway and Sweden, to some extent, and is very popular in Holland and on the Gulf of Finland, but its highest development is in the United States and Canada. The Dutch ice-yacht is a flat-bottomed boat resting crossways upon a planking about three feet wide and sixteen long, to which are affixed four steel runners, one each at bow, stern and each end of the planking. The rudder is a fifth runner fixed to a tiller. Heavy mainsails and jibs are generally used and the boat is built more for safety than for speed. The ice-boat of the Gulf of Finland is a V-shaped frame with a heavy plank running from bow to stern, in which the mast is stepped. The stern or steering runner is worked by a tiller or wheel. The sail is a large lug and the boom and gaff are attached to the mast by travellers. The passengers sit upon planks or rope netting. The Russian boats are faster than the Dutch.

In 1790 ice-yachting was in vogue on the Hudson river, its headquarters being at Poughkeepsie, New York. The type was a square box on three runners, the two forward ones being nailed to the box and the third acting as a rudder operated by a tiller. The sail was a flatheaded sprit. This primitive style generally obtained until 1853, when triangular frames with "boxes" for the crew aft and jib and mainsail rig were introduced. A heavy, hard-riding type soon developed, with short gaffs, low sails, large jibs and booms extending far over the stern. It was over-canvassed and the mast was stepped directly over the runner-plank, bringing the centre of sail-balance so far aft that the boats were apt to run away, and the over-canvassing frequently caused the windward runner to swing up into the air to a dangerous height. The largest and fastest example of this type, which prevailed until 1879, was Commodore J. A. Roosevelt's first "Icicle," which measured 69 ft. over all and carried 1070 sq. ft. of canvas. In 1879 Mr H. Relyea built the "Robert Scott," which had a single backbone and wire guy-ropes, and it became the model for all Hudson river ice-yachts. Masts were now stepped farther forward, jibs were shortened, booms cut down, and the centre of sail-balance was brought more inboard and higher up, causing the centres of effort and resistance to come more in harmony. The shallow steering-box became elliptical. In 1881 occurred the first race for the American Challenge Pennant, which represents the championship of the Hudson river, the clubs competing including the Hudson river, North Shrewsbury, Orange lake, Newburgh and Carthage Ice-Yacht Clubs. The races are usually sailed five times round a triangle of which each leg measures one mile, at least two of the legs being to windward. Ice-yachts are divided into four classes, carrying respectively 600 sq. ft. of canvas or more, between 450 and 600, between 300 and 450, and less than 300 sq. ft. Ice-yachting is very popular on the Great Lakes, both in the United States and Canada, the Kingston (Ontario) Club having a fleet of over 25 sail. Other important centres of the sport are Lakes Minnetonka and White Bear in Minnesota, Lakes Winnebago and Pepin in Wisconsin, Bar Harbor lake in Maine, the St Lawrence river, Quinte Bay and Lake Champlain.

A modern ice-yacht is made of a single-piece backbone the entire length of the boat, and a runner-plank upon which it rests at right angles, the two forming a kite-shaped frame. The best woods for these pieces are basswood, butternut and pine. They are cut from the log in such a way that the heart of the timber expands, giving the planks a permanent curve, which, in the finished boat, is turned upward. The two forward runners, usually made of soft cast iron and about 2 ft. 7 in. long and 2½ in. high, are set into oak frames a little over 5 ft. long and 5 in. high. The runners have a cutting edge of 90%, though a V-shaped edge is often preferred for racing. The rudder is a runner about 3 ft. 7 in. long, worked by a tiller, sometimes made very long, 7½ ft. not being uncommon. This enables the helmsman to lie in the box at full length and steer with his feet, leaving his hands free to tend the sheet. Masts and spars are generally made hollow for racing-yachts and the rigging is pliable steel wire. The sails are of 10-oz. duck for a boat carrying 400 sq. ft. of canvas. They have very high peaks, short hoists and long booms. The mainsail and jib rig is general, but a double-masted lateen rig has been found advantageous. The foremost ice-yacht builder of America is G. E. Buckhout of Poughkeepsie.

An ice-yacht about 40 ft. in length will carry 6 or 7 passengers or crew, who are distributed in such a manner as to preserve the balance of the boat. In a good breeze the crew lie out on the windward side of the runner-plank to balance the boat and reduce the pressure on the leeward runner. A course of 20 m. with many turns has been sailed on the Hudson in less than 48 minutes, the record for a measured mile with flying start being at the rate of about 72 m. an hour. In a high wind, however, ice-yachts often move at the rate of 85 and even 90 m. an hour.

Several of the laws of ice navigation seem marvellous to the uninitiated. Commodore Irving Grinnell, who has made a scientific study of the sport, says: "The two marked peculiarities of ice-yachting which cause it to differ materially from yachting on the sea are: (1) Sailing faster than the wind. (2) Sheets flat aft under all circumstances." Mr H. A. Buck, in the "Badminton Library," _Skating, Curling, Tobogganing_, &c., thus explains these paradoxes. An ice-boat sails faster than the wind because she invariably sails at some angle to it. The momentum is increased by every puff of wind striking the sails obliquely, until it is finally equalled by the increase of friction engendered. Thus the continued bursts of wind against the sails cause a greater accumulation of speed in the ice-yacht than is possessed by the wind itself. When the boat sails directly before the wind she is, like a balloon, at its mercy, and thus does not sail faster than the wind. The ice-yacht always sails with its sheets flat aft, because the greater speed of the boat changes the angle at which the wind strikes the sail from that at which it would strike if the yacht were stationary to such a degree that, in whatever direction the yacht is sailing, the result is always the same as if the yacht were close-hauled to the wind. It follows that the yacht is actually overhauling the wind, and her canvas shivers as if in the wind's eye. When eased off her momentum becomes less and less until it drops to the velocity of the wind, when she can readily be stopped by being spun round and brought head to the wind. The latter method is one way of "coming to," instead of luffing up in the usual way from a beam wind. In beating to windward an ice-boat is handled like a water yacht, though she points more closely.

On the bays near New York a peculiar kind of ice-boat has developed, called _scooter_, which may be described as a toboggan with a sail. A typical scooter is about 15 ft. long with an extreme beam of 5 ft., perfectly oval in form and flat. It has mainsail and jib carried on a mast 9 or 10 ft. long and set well aft, and is provided with two long parallel metal runners. There is no rudder, the scooter being steered entirely by trimming the sails, particularly the jib. As the craft is flat and buoyant it sails well in water, and can thus be used on very thin ice without danger. A speed of 50 m. an hour has been attained by a scooter (see _Outing_ for March 1905).

See _Ice Sports_, in the "Isthmian Library"; _Skating, Curling,
Tobogganing, &c._ in the "Badminton Library."

I-CH'ANG (YI-CH'ANG, anciently known as _Yi-ling_), a town of China in the province of Hu-peh, one of the four ports opened to foreign trade by treaty in 1877. It is situated in 30° 42´ N. and (approximately) 111° 20´ E., on the Yangtsze-Kiang, 1000 m. from Shanghai. Built on the left bank of the river where it escapes from the ravines and gorges which for 350 m. have imprisoned its channel, I-ch'ang is exposed to considerable risk of floods; in 1870 the waters rose 20 ft. in one day, and the town had many of its houses and about half of its wall swept away. The first English vessels to ascend the river as far as I-ch'ang were those of Admiral Sir James Hope's expedition in 1861. All cargo to or from Szech'uen is here transhipped from steamer to junk, or _vice versâ_. About 10 m. above I-ch'ang the famed scenery of the Yangtsze gorges begins. Through these the great river runs in a series of rapids, which make navigation by vessels of any size extremely difficult. A very large trade, nevertheless, is carried on by this route between Chungk'ing and I-ch'ang. As a local centre of distribution this port is of no great consequence, the transhipment trade with Szech'uen being almost its sole business. The population is estimated at 35,000. The number of foreign residents is very small, trade being carried on by Chinese agents. Before the anti-opium campaign of 1906 (see CHINA) opium was much grown. The trade of the port amounted in 1899 to £531,229, and in 1904 to £424,442, the principal import being cotton yarn and the principal export opium.

ICHNEUMON (Gr. [Greek: ichneumôn], from [Greek: ichneuein], to track out), the common name of the North African representative of a number of small weasel-shaped mammals belonging to the carnivorous family _Viverridae_; the Indian representatives of the group being known as mongooses. A large number of species of the type genus are known, and range over southern Asia and all Africa, the typical _Herpestes ichneumon_ also occurring in the south of Spain. The latter is an inhabitant of Egypt and the north of Africa, where it is known to foreign residents as "Pharaoh's rat." It is covered with long harsh fur of a tawny-grey colour, darker on the head and along the middle of the back, its legs reddish and its feet and tail black. It lives largely on rats and mice, birds and reptiles, and for this reason it is domesticated. It is, however, fond of poultry and their eggs, and its depredations among fowls detract from its merits as a vermin-killer. During the inundations of the Nile it is said to approach the habitations of man, but at other seasons it keeps to the fields and to the banks of the river. The Indian mongoose (_H. mungo_) is considerably smaller than the Egyptian animal, with fur of a pale-grey colour, the hairs being largely white-ringed, while the cheeks and throat are more or less reddish. Like the former it is frequently domesticated. It is especially serviceable in India as a serpent-killer, destroying not only the eggs and young of these creatures, but killing the most venomous adult snakes. The fact that it survives those encounters has led to the belief that it either enjoys immunity from the effects of snake poison, or that after being bitten it has recourse, as the Hindus maintain, to the root of a plant as an antidote. It has been found, however, that when actually bitten it falls a victim to the poison as rapidly as other mammals, while there is no evidence of its seeking a vegetable antidote. The truth seems to be that the mongoose, by its exceeding agility and quickness of eye, avoids the fangs of the snake while fixing its own teeth in the back of the reptile's neck. Moreover, when excited, the mongoose erects its long stiff hair, and it must be very difficult for a snake to drive its fangs through this and the thick skin which all the members of the genus possess. The mongoose never hesitates to attack a snake; the moment he sees his enemy, "his whole nature," writes a spectator of one of those fights, "appears to be changed. His fur stands on end, and he presents the incarnation of intense rage. The snake invariably attempts to escape, but, finding it impossible to evade the rapid onslaught of the mongoose, raises his crest and lashes out fiercely at his little persecutor, who seems to delight in dodging out of the way just in time. This goes on until the mongoose sees his opportunity, when like lightning he rushes in and seizes the snake with his teeth by the back of the neck close to the head, shaking him as a terrier does a rat. These tactics are repeated until the snake is killed." The mongoose is equally dexterous in killing rats and other four-footed vermin.