532 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



where in the middle ages, men in holy orders were the scholars and 

 collectors of the old, and took a large part in creating new, literature. 

 ( >ne of the greatest living authorities on Old Norse literature, Finnur 

 J«.nsson, is convinced that "the sagas in an overwhelming number are 

 composed by Icelandic priests and ecclesiastics." 3 The two Sturlas 

 (lawmen) — great exceptions indeed — are almost the only non-cleri- 

 cal saga writers whose names stand out of the blank of anonymity. 

 ( >!' clerical writers in Iceland we have Abbot Karl J6nsson (author of 

 iris Saga), the monks Gunnlaug and Odd, each of whom wrote a 

 life of Olaf Tryggvason ; in Norway, Theodoric the monk (author of a 

 twelfth-century Latin History of Norway), Archbishop Eystein, his 

 contemporary (who wrote in Latin upon the martyrdom of St. Olaf), 

 Abbot Robert (who translated the Tristan of Thomas and Ehje de St. 

 (lilies into the vernacular), and many others. 4 Finnur Jdnsson thinks 

 that most of the sagas were written down in the abbeys. 5 In the 

 libraries of the monasteries and cathedrals curious scholars collected 

 works from abroad, and Norwegian monks, returning from visits in 

 England, deposited the illuminated vellums which they brought with 

 them. There, we may believe, English clerks visiting in Norway left 

 books from their native land ; similarly manuscripts made in Norway 

 came to English abbey libraries. 



In this investigation it will best serve our purposes not to examine 

 comparative institutions so much as the actual visits of the clergy of 

 one country to the other. 6 



Norway received its Christianity and its Christian Church from 

 England. This has been demonstrated by Taranger. 7 The termi- 

 nology and the peculiar institutions of the Norwegian Church were 

 borrowed from the Anglo-Saxon. The church in Norway was estab- 

 lished by kings educated in England, and by Anglo-Saxon bishops. 



3 Litt. Bist., II, 1.289. * Ibid., II, 1, 10 ff. 



5 Ibid., II, 1, 289, etc. 



1 The best authorities on the Norwegian Church are still P. A. Munch, Det 

 Norske Folks Historic, 8 vols., Christiania, 1852-1863; C. C. A. Lange, De 

 Noreke Klostres Historic, Copenhagen, 1847, revised 1856; R. Keyser, Den 

 Norske Eirkes Historic under Katholicismen, 2 vols., Christ., 1856-1858. A 

 lisl of principal authorities may be found on pages xi and xii of History of the 

 Church and State in Norway, by T. B. Willson, Westminster, 1903. To this 

 list add K. M.iurer, Uber Altnordische Kirchenverfassung und Eherecht, 

 Leipzig, 1908. In the following essay I rely upon Munch, Lange, and Keyser 

 torthc general background. Therefore I need not give detailed references 

 for well attested statements which are not concerned directly with Anglo- 

 Norwegian relations. 



A. Taranger, Den Angelsaksiske Kirkes Indflydelse paa den Norske, 

 Christ., l.syo. 



