Olaf of Norway and Olaf of Sweden 2 1 3 



the court at Upsala, which was to make offers of peace 

 on what would, in modern diplomacy, be called terms 

 of the status quo — the boundaries of the two kingdoms 

 to be once more what they were in the time of Olaf 

 Tryugvason. Bjorn was the nobleman deputed to head 

 this embassy; and with him went a certain Hjalti, an 

 Icelandic bard, who had been staying at the Norwegian 

 court. 



The part which the Icelandic skalds, such as this 

 Hjalti, take in the history of those days is a peculiar 

 and fascinating one. Iceland may be described as a 

 genuine ' Eepublic of Letters ' among the states of the 

 north. Except for certain dues, not often paid to the 

 crown of Norway, it was an independent republic, and 

 it was the literary state par excellence amongst the 

 Scandinavian group. From it came bards to every 

 court. The skalds of two rival kings might often be 

 friends who had known eacli other at home ; and so 

 they served as connecting links between one country 

 and another. Sometimes, of course, they might be 

 enemies who had left Iceland with a blood-feud between 

 them ; and then their royal patrons were often led to 

 espouse their private quarrel. In the present case, after 

 Bjorn and his suite had been entertained a while by 

 Earl Eognvald, it was agreed that Hjalti, the foreigner, 

 should go first to the Swedish court, where there were 

 already living two fellow-countrymen of his, skalds 

 likewise, whose names were Gissur the Black, and Ottar 

 the Black. Hjalti was well entertained by his country- 

 men and by their patron. But the only time that he 

 ventured to breathe to the Swedish Olaf a hint of the 

 desirability of peace between his country and Norway, 



