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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 233 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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STQRLA Second era of phonetic See also:

change. See also:Renaissance. Recovery of See also:Iceland. Table of Icelandic Literature and See also:History. I. The See also:Commonwealth. ¢00 years. See also:Settlement by colonists from western Isles and See also:Norway. Constitution worked out—Events of earlier sagas take See also:place. See also:Christianity comes in—Events of later sagas take place. See also:Peace—Ecclesiastical organization. First See also:civil See also:wars—1208-22—Rise of Sturlungs.

Second civil wars, 1z26-58—Fall of See also:

Great Houses. Change of See also:law, 1271—Submission to See also:Norwegian See also:kings. II. Medievalism. z,5o years. See also:Collecting and editing—See also:Foreign romances. Foreign See also:influence through Norway. See also:Annalists—Copyists—New,See also:Medieval See also:poetry begins. Great eruptions, 1362 and 1389—Epidemics—Danish See also:rule, 1380. See also:Death of old traditions, &c. Epidemics—Norse See also:trade—See also:Close of intercourse with Norway. Only Medieval poetry flourishes. See also:Isolation from See also:Continent—See also:English trade.

III. See also:

Reformation—See also:Absolute Rule—Decay. Soo years. See also:ODD—See also:Printing—Third era of phonetic change. Religious struggle—New organization—Hanse trade. First antiquarians. Danish See also:monopoly—Pirates' ravages. HALLcRO&—See also:Paper copies taken. See also:Jost VIDALIN—Arni Magnusson—See also:MSS. taken abroad. Eggert Olafsson. Finn Jonsson—Icelandic scholars abroad. Rationalistic See also:movement—See also:European influences first See also:felt.

Smallpox kills one-third See also:

population, 1707. Great See also:famine, Io,000 See also:die, 1759—See also:Sheep See also:plague, 1762—Eruption, 1765. Great eruption, 1783. Beginnings of recovery—Travellers make known See also:island to See also:Europe —See also:Free constitution in See also:Denmark, 1848. IV. See also:Modern Iceland. Modern thought and learning—Icelandic scholars abroad. Increasing See also:wealth and population—Free trade, 1854—Jon Sigurdsson and See also:home rule struggle. Home rule granted. m u u da Christians), Helgi Biolan, Biorn the Eastern, Helgi the ,Lean, Ketil the Foolish, &c., who settled the best See also:land in the island (See also:west, See also:north-west and north), and founded families who See also: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 See also:viking times; they had " fought at Hafursfirth," helping their stay-at-home kinsmen against the centralization of the great See also:head-See also:king, who, when he had crushed opposition in Norway, followed up his victory by compelling them to flee or See also:bow to his rule.

Such were Ingimund the Old, Geirmund Hellskin, Thord Beardie (who had wed St See also:

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 See also:east were almost completely " claimed." (3) In 900-930 a few more incomers See also:direct from Norway completed the settlement of the See also:south, north-east and south-east. Among them were See also:Earl Hrollaug (See also:half-See also:brother of Hrolf Ganger and of the first earl of See also:Orkney), Hialti, Hrafnkell See also:Frey's See also: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 See also:blood. In 'too there were 4500 franklins, i.e. about 50,000 souls. The unit of Icelandic politics was the See also:homestead with its See also:franklin-owner (buendi), its primal organization the See also:hundred-See also:moot (thing), its tie the go6or5(godar) or chieftainship. The See also:chief who had led a See also:band of kinsmen and depend-ants to the new land, taken a " claim " there, and parcelled it out among them, naturally became their See also:leader, presiding as priest at the See also:temple feasts and sacrifices of See also:heathen times, acting as See also:speaker of their moot, and as their representative towards the neighbouring chiefs. He was not a feudal, See also:lord nor a See also:local See also:sheriff, for any franklin could change his gol5ori5 when he would, and the rights of "See also:judgment by peers" were in full use; moreover, the See also:office could be bequeathed, sold, divided or pledged by the possessor; still the go6i had considerable See also: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 See also: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 See also:Ari: north, thickest settled, most famous; east, first completely settled; south, best land and greatest chiefs; west, remarkable for See also:noble families), to each of which a head-See also:court, the " See also:quarter-court," was assigned; and the Innovations of Skapti (ascribed in the See also: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 See also:body made few and unimportant modifications of See also:custom; the courts were too weak for the chiefs who misused and defied them; the speaker's power was not sufficiently sup-ported; even the ecclesiastical innovations, while they secured peace for a See also:time, provoked in the end the struggles which put an end to the commonwealth. Christianity was introduced c.

See also:

I000 from Norway. See also:Tithes were established in Iog6, and an ecclesiastical See also:code made c. 1125. The first disputes about the See also:jurisdiction of the See also:clergy were moved by Gudmund in the 13th See also:century, bringing on a civil See also:war, while the questions of patronage and rights over See also:glebe and mortmainland occupied See also:Bishop Arni and his adversaries fifty years afterwards, when the land was under Norwegian viceroys and Norwegian law. For the civil wars See also:broke down the great houses who had monopolized the chieftaincies; and after violent struggles (in which the Sturlungs of the first See also: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 See also:Common Law was replaced by the New Norse Code " Ironside " in 1271. The See also:political See also:life and law of the old days is abundantly illustrated in the sagas (especially Eyrbyggia, Hensa-Thori, Reykdwla, Hrafnkell and Niala), the two collections of law-scrolls (Codex Regius, c. 1235, and Stadarhol's See also:Book, c. 1271), the Libellus, the Liberfragments, and the Landnamabok of Ari, and the Diplomatarium. K. See also:Maurer has made the subject his own in his Beitrage, Island, Grdgds, &c. The medieval Icelandic See also:church had two bishoprics, Skalholt (S., W. and E.) Io56, and Holar (N.) IIo6, and about 175 parishes (two-thirds of which belonged to the See also:southern bishopric). They belonged to the See also:metropolitan see of See also:Bremen, then to See also:Lund, lastly to Nidaros, 1237.

There were several religious See also:

foundations: Thingore (founded 1133), Thwera (1155), Hitardale (c. 1166), See also:Kirkby Nunnery (1184), Stad Nunnery (1296) and Saurby (c. 1200) were See also: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 See also:people at the Althing till 1237, enjoyed considerable power; two, Thorlak of Skalholt and See also:John of Holar, were publicly voted See also:saints at the Althing, and one, Gudmund, received the See also:title of " See also:Good " by See also:decree of the bishop and See also:chapter. Full details as to ecclesiastical history will be found in the Biskupasogur (edited by Dr. See also:Vigfusson). Iceland was not agricultural but See also:pastoral, depending upon flocks and herds for subsistence, for, though See also:rye and other See also:grain Organization. would grow in favoured localities, the See also:hay, self-sown, was the only See also:regular See also:crop. In some districts the See also:fisheries and fowling were of importance, but nine-tenths.of the population Mede of lived by their sheep and See also:cattle. Life on each home- See also:stead was regularly portioned out: out See also:door occupations—fishing, shepherding, fowling, and the hay-making . and See also:fuel-gathering—occupying the summer; while indoor business—See also:weaving, See also:tool-making, &c.—filled up the long See also:winter. The See also:year was broken by the See also:spring feasts and moots, the great Althing See also:meeting at midsummer, the See also:marriage and arval gatherings after the summer, and the long See also: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; go& and See also:thrall lived the same lives, See also:ate the same See also:food, spoke the same See also:tongue, and differed little in clothing or habits.

The thrall had a See also:

house of his own and was rather villein or serf than slave, having rights and a legal See also:price by law. During the heathen days many great chiefs passed See also:part of their lives in Norway at the king's court, but after the See also:establishment of Christianity in Iceland they kept more at home, visiting the continent, however, for purposes of See also:state, suits with clergy, &c. Trade was from the first almost entirely in foreign (Norse) hands. The introduction of a church See also: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. Life in the commonwealth was turbulent and anarchic, but free and varied; it produced men of See also:mark, and fostered bravery, See also:adventure and progress. But on the See also:union with Norway all this ceased, and there was See also:left but a See also:low dead level of poor See also:peasant proprietors careless of all See also: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 See also:governor (Earl, Hirdstjori or Stiptamtsmadr as he was successively called), and was parcelled out into counties (syslur), administered by sheriffs (syslumadr) 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 (hreppstjori) See also:bailiff, a subordinate of the sheriff; and the gottor6, things, quarter-courts, trial by See also:jury, &c., were swept away by these innovations. The power of the See also:crown was increased by the See also:confiscation of the great Sturlung estates, which were under-leased to farmers, while the See also: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 See also:fishery. The union of the Three Crowns transferred the See also:practical rule of Iceland to Denmark in r z8o, 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 See also: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-See also:smuggling, half-buccaneering enterprise of the See also:Bristol merchants, the island would have fared badly, for during the whole of the t 5th century their trade with See also:England, exporting See also:sulphur, eiderdown (of which the English taught them the value), See also:wool, and See also:salt stock-See also:fish, and importing as before See also:wood, See also:iron, See also:honey, See also:wine, grain and See also:flax goods, was their only See also:link with the See also:outer See also:world.

This See also:

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 See also:agriculture as there had been sank to a See also:lower See also:stage; wagons, ploughs and carts went out of use and knowledge; See also:architecture in See also:timber became a lost See also:art, and the See also:fine carved and painted halls of the heathen days were replaced by See also:turf-walled barns half sunk in the See also:earth; the large decked luggers of the nld days gave way to small undecked fishing-boats. 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 See also:story of the easily accepted Reformation is not altogether The formsti ation. a pleasant one. When it was accomplished, the little See also: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 See also: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 See also:act again with vigour was still less profitable. The glebes and See also: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 See also:short See also:lease with unsecured See also:tenant right extended over at least a quarter of the better land. 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 devasta- Decad= tion in 1579, 1613-1616 and 1627. Nothing points ence. more to the helplessness of the natives' See also:condition than their powerlessness against these foes. But the 18th century is the most gloomy in Iceland's See also:annals. Smallpox, famine, sheep disease, and the eruptions of 1765 and 1783 follow each other in terrible See also:succession.

Against such visitations, which reduced the population by about a See also:

fourth, little could be done. The few See also:literary men, whose See also:work was done and whose books were published abroad, were only concerned with the past, and Jon Vidalin is the one See also:man of mark, beside Eggert Olafsson, who worked and wrote for his own generation). Gradually the ideas which were agitating Europe spread through Scandinavia into Iceland, and its claims were more respectfully listened to. The See also:continental system, which, by its leading to' the See also:blockade of Denmark Modern > >' g , times. threatened to starve Iceland,was neutralized by See also:special See also:action of the See also:British See also:government. Trade and fishery See also:grew a little brisker, and at length the turn came. The rationalistic movement, headed by See also:Magnus See also: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. See also:Newspapers and See also: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 See also:thirty years' agitation home rule was conceded in 1874 (see above, Government).

(F. Y.

End of Article: STQRLA

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