3 1 6 Norivay and the Norwegians 



After the death of Ivan there followed civil war, 

 during which Eussia once more became insignificant; 

 but at the end of this period there arose the monarch, 

 who was the founder of modern Eussia, Peter the 

 Great. We need not dwell on the history of the 

 wars between the last great king of Sweden, Charles xil, 

 and this great Tsar. But it is interesting to note that 

 the fall of the last famous Scandinavian ruler, the 

 last man whose personality recalls in any way that of 

 the old Saga heroes, is brought about by the first great 

 monarch of the Eussian empire. 



Charles xii. of Sweden lost his life, as every one 

 knows, in an attack on Norway, and in the siege of 

 Frederikshald, in that country (December 11, 1718). 

 Frederikshald lies in the part of Norway which 

 tourists rarely visit, that is to say, in the country which 

 stretches east of the Christiania Fjord, between it and 

 the Gota river, and close to the Swedish border. It 

 is near Frederickstad, the site of that interesting 

 old town of Sarpsborg, which was built, we know, 

 by St. Olaf, and where the Borgar Thing was held. 

 This, too, is the country of the Bohuslan stone-carvings, 

 of which we spoke in the earlier chapters of this 

 volume. So that, altogether, we can trace more of the 

 footmarks of time here than in any other part of 

 Norway. For we may say that, with Frederikshald, 

 the light went out from the history of Scandinavia. 



In Sweden a time of foreign rulers supervened, men 

 of German family, for a generation men not even born 

 in Sweden. The higher classes used the interval to 

 reduce the royal power almost to a shadow. When 

 Gustavus III. arose, a native-born king, and tried to win 



