27^6 Baseness of the Coin. 211 



of the said kingdom money is not used at all, besides no crops 

 are grown and no fruits are produced, the people subsisting 

 almost entirely upon milk, cheese, and fish ; hence thou hast 

 humbly asked us to tell thee what thou art to do with the tithes 

 collected of the aforesaid milk, cheese, fish, and money. Accord- 

 ingly, in our desire that whatever is most advantageous to the 

 work to be done in the matter, we think it would be well, if the 

 above be exact, to exchange, as circumstances will permit, all 

 such coin and tithes for gold or silver. As for the nuns and 

 other religious orders of the same kingdom whose incomes and 

 ecclesiastical revenues are so small as to be inadequate for their 

 support, thou canst observe that which is more fully set forth in 

 the declarations concerning this collection of tithes. 

 Given at Viterbo December 4th, in the first year. 



987. Letter from Pope Nicholas III, dated January 31, 1279, 

 to the archbishop of Drontheim concerning the collection of 

 tithes in Greenland. ' 



(Translation.) 



Nicholas III to his venerable brother, the archbishop of Dron- 

 theim : 



We have gathered from thy letters to us that the island on 

 which the city of Gardar is situated is rarely visited by a ship 

 because of the storminess of the ocean within which it lies ; 

 hence, when recently certain seamen set sail for the said island to 

 the said city, thou didst avail thyself of the opportunity to send, 

 in company with the said seamen, a prudent man whom thou 

 didst depute to collect the tithes, and, relying upon our approval, 

 thou didst authorize him to absolve clerics from the sentence of 

 excommunication which they had incurred for not having paid 

 the tithes within the appointed time, and to free them from 

 whatsoever irregularity they might have contracted ; hence thou 

 hast humbly besought us to grant our gracious ratification. 

 Since then we cannot favorably assent to this demand, inasmuch 

 as it is not supported by reason, and wishing on this account to 

 accede to thy desires by applying a ready preservative against 

 dangers to souls, we hereby authorize thee to impart to those 

 whom thou has sent or whom thou wilt hereafter send to the 



