ri'S HISTORY AND INHABITANTS. II, 



61 



brought from Norway by the greatest author of tlie latter half of 

 the thirteenth century, Sturla Thordarson. A new Code, J6}isbdl,-, 

 was a compromise code, brought by the lawman, Jon Einarsson, 

 to Iceland in 1280, was accepted at the Althing of 1281, with 

 some alterations. It is called Jonsbok after Jon Einarsson, and 

 is still, in parts, the law of Iceland. 



Iceland was divided into syslas or counties, administered by 

 sheriffs {syslmnenn) appointed by the King, and the place of 

 the local Things was taken by bailiffs {hrej)pstjdris), mainly 

 concerned with the poor law and tax gathering. The estates (jf 

 the Sturlung family wei-e confiscated by the King. Trade 

 languished, and the Black Death, in conjunction with great 

 volcanic eruptions, brought Iceland to the verge of ruin. As 

 soon as Norway became united with Denmark through marriage 

 in 1380, the Treaty of Union was more or less disregarded, and 

 the Icelanders were so broken in spirit that they meekly 

 submitted. 



The fifteenth century is looked upon as the darkest age of 

 Icelandic history. Denmark confined all Iceland trade to the 

 one port of Bergen in Norway, and the English trade with 

 Iceland, which began about 1412, was carried on in defiance of 

 edicts from Copenhagen. Soon the English buccaneers took 

 the law into their own hands and arrested all Danish and 

 Norwegian officials who tried to prevent their trade. The 

 Icelanders seem to have taken the English side in these 

 quarrels, and about 14o0 the two Bishops of Iceland were botli 

 Englishmen. At one time Iceland was actually held by them, 

 and they built a fort in the south of the island. A number of 

 English words came into the Icelandic language, and are in it 

 to-day. By favouring the Hanseatic traders, Denmark finally 

 succeeded in ousting English trade from Iceland, but the English 

 fishing fieet, the so-called " Iceland Fleet," continued to fish for 

 cod and ling on the shores of Iceland during the whole of the 

 sixteenth century. As late as 1593, fifty-five ships sailed for 

 Iceland from Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk alone for this purpose. 

 Henry VIII. negotiated with Denmark, in 1518 and 1535, 

 about the transfer of Iceland, the interests of England in that 

 island being of great importance. The House of Commons, in 

 one of its petitions to the King, states that the realm will be 

 undone unless the fish supply from Iceland is regular. Both 

 Henry Vlil. and Elizabeth had Iceland fish on their table at 

 least twice a week, and special Commissioners selected the best 

 fish out of every ship on its return from Iceland for the Court. 



The Beformation came to Iceland about the middle of the 



