Land Tenure 2,})1 



on the right, a few miles before reaching Tonsberg, 

 the old castle of Jarlsberg, which is a reminiscence of 

 the last which remained of these feudal earldoms. 

 Other feudal manors were the Earldom of Laurvik on 

 the Laurvik Fjord — that eventually devolved to the 

 crown, — and the barony of Kosendal, which lies on the 

 Hardanger Fjord. The owners of this barony bore the 

 title of Barons of Eosenkrone. 



All titles of nobility were abolished in Norway by an 

 Act of 1821. This, as was said in an earlier chapter, is 

 rather a return to the condition of things which existed 

 before Norway had any political connection with Den- 

 mark than an absolutely new departure. The other 

 side of the feudal system, serfdom, has never existed 

 to any great extent in Norway. 



The house-carls who figure so much at the courts of 

 kings and earls during the Saga-age were but the 

 development for purposes of war and state of the 

 ancient race of husmmnd, which is represented still on 

 the estate of each considei'able farmer. The house- 

 men of to-day were probably the thralls of a former 

 age ; now they are in much the same position as many 

 of the peasant proprietors in North Germany, that is to 

 say, they possess and cultivate land of their own; but 

 they are compelled for a certain number of days to 

 work upon their master's farm. This is too, of course, 

 the corvee of the French peasant previous to the Ee- 

 volution. The number of these house-men in Norway 

 does not very sensibly increase. 



The system of udal tenure {odalsnt) as it exists in 

 Norway, though it implies the free holding of the land, 

 does not include free sale. In fact, a proprietor cannot, 



y 



