532 



NORWAY 



diplomatic cor)*. The people |wrticipate in the 

 government through the Storthing or parliament, 

 \vliicli consists of 114 iiirniU'is, 7li repicsentiug the 

 country district* ami 38 the towns. All Nor- 

 wegians aho\e t went \ live years of age who satisfy 

 certain conditions of resilience anil property 

 qualification, or station, meet once in every three 

 years in tin- parish rliurch and choose one man 

 from even' hundred of their iiuml>er to select the 

 meniliers of parliament for l he county. Every man 

 so selected, even though it lie against his will, 

 in obliged to ^it in one pailiament (of three years), 

 )>nt not in a second. It a sitting niemU'r dies his 

 place is taken hy the man who stands next on the 

 list of representatives selected hy the electors. As 

 soon as the Storthing meeta (in Fehniary every 

 year in Cliri-tiania) one-fourth (29) of the assembled 

 mcinliers are chosen to form an upper house 

 ( l.niflliiiig) ; the remainder constitute the lower 

 house ( Oihilxlliiiiq), in which all legislative measures 

 are proposed either hy a meinlicr of the house or 

 hy ii member of the government. The upper 

 house may send hack a hill twice ; but after the 

 second rejection both houses vote together as 

 one, though in that case a majority of two- thirds is 

 necessary. The king's signature makes a bill 

 law. Hut if he refuses to sign, mid the bill is 

 passed by three successive parliaments ( not sessions ), 

 it l>ecoiiies law in spite of the king's veto. Every 

 memlier of the pai liamont is allowed 13s. -U. a day 

 with travelling expenses. The affairs of each 

 county are directed by a special administrative 

 ollicer. Hotli the counties and the communes 

 enjoy a lilieral degree of self-government. Justice 

 is administered locally hy sheriffs. " Of late re- 

 lations with Sweden have been strained in various 

 detriments, and Norway has demanded repre- 

 sentation abroad, other than that of Sweden. 

 The national revenue increased in ten years from 

 alH.ut 2,500,000 to 3,702,389 (in 1897-98), and 

 the expenditure, which in 1890-94 exceeded slightly 

 the revenue, was more than covered by it in 

 1895 and following years. The debt just touched 

 on 10,000,000 in "1897. The monetary unit is 

 the krone ( = Is. lid.), divided into 100 ore. The 

 metric system of weights and measures prevails; 

 and Norway has her own national Hag distinct 

 from Sweden. The national defences embrace an 

 army and navy. All men, not incapacitated or 

 specially exempt, above the age of twenty-three 

 serve ten years with the colours, but are only 

 called out for a few weeks' exercise even' summer. 

 Close njion 8300 men are drawn by conscript ion 

 annually. The inhabitants of the counties of Nord- 

 laml, Tromso, ami Finniark, with a certain pro- 



Iutrtion of the coast population farther south, are 

 iahle to conscription for the navy, ami serve 

 from twenty-two to thirty live years of age. The 

 naval dockyards are at liorlen, on the west side 

 of rhtistiania Fjord. The fleet consists of aliout 

 a do/en gunlioaU) (first and second class), four iron- 

 clad monitor-, and some thirty other vessels, with 

 a torpedo service. 



See Kiwr. A'on" T'ind <*l Folk UaS6): Kirchhoff, 

 LdttderiuiuU ( |.t. ii. IK'JO) ; in Mulish, nee Du Chaillu, 

 Land of thr Mnlni-iht Sun (2 vol. 1881); K. Vincent, 

 Jfortlt, L<i/</i, iin'l finn (1X81); Mary Godwin, Lrttcri 

 from fforicau (1790); J. 1). Forties, Hornn'i ami itt 

 Otaciei-i ( 1853) ; and numerous modern books of tiav. I, 

 uch u C. W. Wood, Round almut MH-WHU (1H.SO>; 

 Lovett, ffonee/iian I'irttirn (18S5); Corning, f'mm 

 Anletund toTrtnun ( 1KS!|. and other*. For the geology, 

 e* K jem If, variouii work* in Norwegian ( IHM-'ll); for 

 the plant-life, .SchuU-lcr, Jfur-in Virrtriije (3 voln. 

 188IV-89), and other worm; ami for the nUtUtic*, the 

 implication* of the Norwegian Ktatitical department, 

 (wrtly duplicated in French. The bent guidelxiok* to 

 the country are those by Yngvar Nielsen, Baedeker, 

 Tonibcrg, Bennett, Jorgcnscn, and Wilson, 



History. It is not until the 9th cent tin* that 

 the story of Norway begins to emerge from the 

 obscurities of myth ami legend. At the time the 

 trilx-s of (iothic descent crossed the Baltic ami 

 settled in the southern parts of the Scandinavian 

 peninsula they found the Lapps or Finns in 

 possession. These jieople thev drove north towards 

 the Arctic Ocean. NY hen this immigration took 

 place cannot be determined exactly. Indeed, '.r, 

 according to one theory, the original home of the 

 Aryans was in Scandinavia, it probably never took 

 place at all. At the dawn of the historical period 

 Norway was parcelled out among the free men of 

 the race (Nornrni. Norsemen, Norwegians), whose 

 slaves prisoners taken in war tilled the soil, 

 whilst thev and their free dc|ienileiits s|>cnt their 

 lime in Routing, viking raids, and similar pursuits. 

 The ties that united these free men were personal 

 rather than political or territorial, though for 

 judicial purposes all who dwelt in a well-defined 

 district (Jylki) met at stated intervals and at tixed 

 placi s to adjudicate in common, on terms of strict 

 equality. Several of these districts were associated 

 together in a higher unity the thing. Of such 

 t/iinf/s or meetings there came to lie eventually 

 three, the Frosta for the north, the (!ula for the 

 west and south, and the Kidsilia for the east ; at a 

 later date the Horgar thing for the south east was 

 separated from the Kidsilia. Each of these thing* 

 had its own independent code of purely customary 

 laws. The chief men, calling themselves kings, 

 later jarls (earls), had no official authority : their 

 power was due solely to their personal influence 

 their character, wealth, warlike renown, and long 

 descent (compare Noi: I IIMKN ). 



The cradle of the future kingdom of Norway was 

 the district of YeMfold, on the western side of Yik 

 (now Christiania Fiord). There a royal race from 

 Sweden established themselves, seemingly ill the 

 7th century. A descendant of these kings, Itlack 

 Halfdan (died 860), reduced the petty kings to the 

 north of him, ns far as Lake Mjosen. His greater 

 son, Harold Haarfnger or Fairhair (king 853-930), 

 \tcmled liis sway as far north as Trondhjem, in 

 which district, as lieing his lirst conquest in lands 

 that owed no allegiance to the chief king in 

 Sweden, he established the seat of his power, 

 just as the elector of P.i.tndcnlnng called himself 

 Frederick I. king of Prussia. After that in three 

 great sea lights, the last near Staviinger in 88S, he 

 conquered the kings of the west and south-west, 

 and proclaimed himself chief king in Norway. 

 But many of the defeated chiefs (kings) refuseil to 

 submit to Harold, especially when he asserted the 

 right of conquest, seized their odal lands, and intro- 

 duced a form of feudalism. They sailed across the 

 \\estern (North) Sea, and colonised the Faroe, 

 Shetland, and Orkney Islands, the Hebrides. Man, 

 Ireland. Hut they so harassed the men (jarls) to 

 whom Harold had given their lands in Norway 

 that the king, pursuing them, slew many of them 

 anil led need the islands to his sway, and appointed 

 earls over them (Oiknexs, Hebrides). Those who 

 were still disaffected escaped his rule by sailing on 

 farther to Iceland. In Harold s reign the skalds 

 or improvisatore court -poets licgan to compose, and 

 were belli in great honour. Haloid's son, F.rik lllood- 

 axe. was driven from Norway by a younger hrother 

 Haco in 935, and for many years the country 

 was distracted by Erik's sons trying to recover 

 their father's power. After Haco died (!I61) their 

 principal opponent was Karl Haco of Trondhjem, 

 who ruled Norway west of the mountain plateau 

 until he was killed in a revolt (995). Olaf 

 Trvj_'gesoii, a descendant of Harold Haarfnger, a 

 man who hail won great fame as a viking in 

 England (991-994) and elsewhere, stepped into the 

 gap. Like his great-uncle Haco, he was a Christian, 



