THE KING'S MIRROR 29 



learn the customs of other lands.* In the thirteenth 

 century the Norwegian trade still seems to have been 

 largely with England and the other parts of the British 

 Isles. It is also important to remember that the Nor- 

 wegian church was a daughter of the church of England, 

 and that occasionally English churchmen were elevated 

 to high office in the Norwegian establishment. It is 

 likely that Master William, who was Hakon IV's chap- 

 lain, was an Englishman; at least he bore an English 

 name.f 



Information as to foreign civilization and the rules of 

 courteous behavior could also pass from land to land 

 and from court to court with the diplomatic missions 

 of the time. The wise father states that envoys who I 

 come and go are careful to observe the manners that \ 

 obtain at the courts to which they are sent.f Frequent \ 

 embassies must have passed between the capitals of 

 England and Norway in the thirteenth century. It is 

 recorded that both King John and his son Henry III re- 

 ceived envoys from the king of Norway, and that they 

 brought very acceptable gifts, such as hawks and elks, 

 especially the former: in twelve different years Hakon 

 IV sent hawks to the English king.|| 



Embassies also came quite frequently from the im- 

 perial court in Germany. It was during the reign of 

 Hakon IV that the Hohenstaufens were waging their 

 last fight with the papacy, and both sides in the conflict 

 seemed anxious to secure the friendship of the great 



* C. iii. t Bdkonar Saga, c. 228. J C. xxix. 



Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum, I, 382, 506, 509. 



1 1 Olafsen, " Falkefangsten i Norge " : Histarisk Tidsskrift, Femte Rsekke, III, 



351. 



