256 Norway and the Norivegians 



things we see slowly spreading northwards. The Nor- 

 man castles and the Norman ways of looking at things 

 made their way into Scotland with David the First ; 

 and when that happened the Norse influences in the 

 Scottish Islands were rapidly on the decline. Presently 

 Norway had to give up all her possessions in those 

 parts. Hereafter, therefore, the history of the Nor- 

 wegians becomes the history of Norway alone. "With 

 the other Scandinavian States for many hundred years 

 — that is, until the union of Norway with Denmark and 

 Sweden — we have nothing more to do. And when the 

 union of the three countries does take place, the inde- 

 pendent history of Norway comes to an end. 



Seeing, then, that we are now bidding adieu to the 

 great age in the history of the northern peoples, and 

 even to all that is of great interest in the history of 

 Norway, let us try and gain some picture of what was 

 the life in this heroic age among the Scandinavians, 

 and especially in Norway proper ; now when Christian- 

 ity had been introduced all over the north, but had 

 not yet seriously affected the character of the people. 



We will begin with the domestic life. As we have 

 said, the country as a whole must be looked upon as a 

 collection of farms, larger or smaller. Such it is still, 

 with modifications ; such it was then almost purely. 

 The great men, the kings and earls, personally super- 

 intended the operations on their farms almost as much 

 as the ordinary farmer in Norway does to-day. They 

 do not seem, moreover, to have had a great number of 

 country houses in different parts of their dominions as 

 the Frankish kings, for example, had, and as our own 



