CHAPTEE XIV 



MODERN NORWAY 

 Laud Tenure aud the nieaus of liviug. 



In the earlier chapters of this boolv we have spoken 

 about the way in which the land of Norway was settled, 

 and the system on which it was held, that system of 

 free tenure or udal right which Harald Harfagr sought 

 to convert into a semblance of the feudal system. We 

 saw how his efforts failed in essential particulars ; and 

 that his successor, Hakon the Good, obtained his crown 

 at the price of restoring to the bonders their free 

 tenure of the land. Attempts were made by succeed- 

 ing princes to go back to the policy of Harald Harfagr, 

 but their measures were generally revoked by the next 

 successor. When Norway was under the rule of Den- 

 mark more persistent efforts were made to introduce 

 feudality, and in certain parts of the country, in some 

 which lie near Christiania, others which lie near Bergen, 

 there existed until almost the other day one or two large 

 manors (counties or baronies) which bore witness to the 

 partial success of these efforts. 



In travelling by rail from Christiania to Tonsberg — 

 that oldest of Norwegian towns which the traveller 

 interested in history ought not to miss seeing — we see 



330 



