491 DIVISIONS OF PEOPLE INTO CLASSES. 



" Thorgnyr Jarl had much loved his queen, and her mound 

 was near the burgh. The jarl sat there often at good meals, or 

 when he held councils, or had games played before him " 

 (Gongu Hrolf's Saga, c. 5). 



The Jarl. The term Jarl, in the Earlier Edda, was not 

 hereditary, but was a name of distinction given to a high-born 

 chief who possessed warlike qualities, to the commander of a 

 host, and, at a later time, to a chief ruling over certain districts. 



In the historical period, when Fylkis existed, we have inde- 

 pendent jarls of Halogaland, whose jarldom was only different 

 in name from that of king, to whom he was next in dignity. 

 Later the jarldom was an office given by the king for life. 

 Harald Fairhair named jarls for every Fylki, to govern on his 

 behalf ; but this was never completely carried out, even in his 

 own time, for his sons became sub -kings. In the course of the 

 tenth century the jarls, except those of Halogaland, 1 disap- 

 peared in Norway. In Harald Fairhair's time the jarldom was 

 inherited in the' Orkneys, and the jarl, who sometimes pos- 

 sessed large tracts of land in Scotland, had to pay taxes to the 

 Norwegian kings. During Harald Hardradi's rule, in the 

 middle of the eleventh century, there was only one jarl in 

 Norway as a help to the king (Harald Hardradi, Hkr., ch. 49). 

 They often traced their title, which was sometimes considered 

 a family title, through a long descent; and the famous 

 Haley yja jarls (the jarls of Halogaland) traced their pedigree 

 from Odin. 2 



" Hakon jarl ruled over Norway all along the coast over 

 sixteen Fylkis. After Harald Fairhair had ordered that a jarl 

 should be in every Fylki the custom was continued for a long 

 time. Hakon had sixteen jarls under him" (Olaf Tryggvason, 

 Heimskringla, c. 50. 



In the time of Harald Fairhair there seems to have been a 

 certain ceremony at the making of a jarl. 



" In Nauru udal two brothers, Herlaug and Hrollaug, were 

 kings. They had been making a mound for three summers ; 



1 The male line of Hakon Jarl the 

 Great became extinct in his grandson, 

 Hakon Kiriksson, in 1029. 



2 Hdlcygjatal, in which Eyvind traces | 



the family of Hakon. Cf. also the jarls 

 of Mceri (Rbgnvald, Moera-jarl, who was 

 the forefather of the jarls of Orkneys 

 and Rouen in Normandy). 



