INTRODUCTION xiii 



chieftains had Norse wives, but some had Irish. Be- 

 sides, there was occasional polygamy with Irish second 

 wives, and there was concubinage. Many settlers who 

 came to Iceland were voluntarily accompanied by 

 whole families of Irish. There was slavery, and many 

 of the slaves were Irish. 



All this brought in a considerable percentage of 

 Irish blood. During the next few centuries there was 

 a good deal of commerce with Europe, a considerable 

 part of it with Ireland, and the traders frequently 

 settled in Iceland. The percentage of various bloods 

 is accordingly a much disputed question. It has been 

 argued that the proportion may have been something 

 like 60 per cent Norwegian, 30 per cent Irish, and 

 the remaining 10 per cent made up from the various 

 North European nationalities, perhaps in the follow- 

 ing order: Scots, English, Danes, Swedes. Most schol- 

 ars feel, however, that the Scottish-Irish percentage 

 was less than 30, perhaps 20 or even as low as 10. 



By 925 A.D. the need for a central government was 

 keenly felt in Iceland. A chieftain named Ulfljot 

 went to Norway to study political forms and pro- 

 cedure, returned to Iceland, and made his report j and 

 the first parliament of the republic of Iceland met in 

 session at what was later called Thingvellir in 930 

 A.D. The New World, destined to become so pecu- 

 liarly a home of republics, was through this action 



