276 N'o7'way and the Noi'ivegians 



protectorate of one of their own number, the desired 

 opportunity of establishing firmly an aristocratic body 

 in Norway, which might compare with the baronages 

 or Freiheerdoms of the other States of Christian Europe. 

 Thus the effect of the change of faith was now be^in- 

 ning to be fully felt, and Norway came at this time as 

 near as she ever came to adopting the pattern of a 

 feudal and Catholic State, as that pattern had been 

 formed in Continental Europe. 



For the Church was much concerned in bringing 

 about the new state of things. We saw how Sigurd 

 the Crusader had sworn to establish a metropolitan See 

 for Norway and its dependencies at Throndhjem. The 

 project was carried out under Harald Gilli : in 1152 

 Cardinal Nicolas Breakspeare, afterwards Pope Adrian 

 IV., was sent to Norway by the then Pope for this 

 purpose. The one who now held the See of Throndhjem 

 was Archbishop Eystein, a man of marked individuality, 

 and one who had a lasting influence on the history of 

 Norway. Erling Skakki saw that there was little 

 chance of establishing his dynasty upon a firm basis 

 unless, beside the support of the aristoci-acy, he could 

 win the even more important support of the Church. 

 He entered into an alliance with Eystein, and an agree- 

 ment was come to which wholly changed the character 

 of the Norwegian monarchy. Instead of being held, 

 as heretofore, as independently as if it were a freehold 

 (odal) possession, it was now said to be held ' as a fief 

 of St. Olaf.' This meant, in the first place, that it was 

 held in fee, or as a fief from the Church ; but it meant 

 also, or should have meant, that heredity, in the strictest 

 sense, in the legitimate male line was preserved for it. 



