94 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



missionary to Iceland. His method of conversion appears to have been very- 

 like that of his erratic predecessor; for while he held the cross in one hand, he 

 grasped the sword with the other. " Thangbrand," says an ancient chronicler, 

 " was a passionate, ungovernable person, and a great manslayer, but a good 

 scholar and clever. He was two years in Iceland, and was the death of three 

 men before he left it." 



Other missionaries of a more evangelical character took his place, and proved 

 by their success that mild reasoning is frequently a far more effectual means of 

 persuasion than brutal violence. They made a great number of proselytes, and 

 the whole island was now divided into two factions ready to appeal to the 

 sword for the triumph of Christ or of Odin. But before coming to this dread- 

 ful extremity, the voice of reason was heard, and the contending parties agreed 

 to submit the question to the decision of the Althing. 



The assembly met, and the momentous debate was proceeding, when sud- 

 denly a loud crash of subterranean thunder was heard, and the earth shook un- 

 der their feet. " Listen !" exclaimed a follower of Odin, " and beware of the 

 anger of our gods : they will consume us with their fires, if we venture to ques- 

 tion their authority." The Christian party hesitated ; but their confidence was 

 soon restored by the presence of mind of their chief orator, Thorgeir, who, 

 pointing to the lava-fields around, asked w^ith whom the gods were angry when 

 these rocks were melted : a burst of eloquence which at once decided the ques- 

 tion in favor of the Cross. 



The new faith brought w^ith it a new spirit of intellectual development, which 

 attained its highest splendor in the twelfth century. Classical studies were 

 pursued with the utmost zeal, and learned Icelanders travelled to Germany and 

 France to extend their knowledge in the schools of Paris or Cologne. The 

 Icelandic bards, or scalds, were renowned throughout all Scandinavia ; they fre- 

 quented the courts of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, and were everywhere 

 received with the highest honors. 



The historians, or sagamen, of Iceland Avere no less renowned than its scalds. 

 They became the annalists of the whole Scandinavian world, and the simplicity 

 and truth by which their works are distinguished fully justify their high repu- 

 tation. Among the many remarkable men who at that time graced the litera- 

 ture of the Arctic isle, Samund Frode, the learned author of the " Voluspa " 

 (a work on the ancient Icelandic mythology) and the "Havamal" (a general 

 chronicle of events from the beginning of the world) ; Are Thorgilson, whose 

 "Landnama Bok" relates with the utmost accuracy the annals of his native 

 land ; and Gissur, who about the year 1180 described his voyages to the distant 

 Orient, deserve to be particularly mentioned ; but great above all in genius and 

 fame was Snorri Sturleson, the Herodotus of the North, w^hose eventful life and 

 tragic end would well deserve to be recounted at greater length. 



Gifted with the rarest talents, and chief of the most powerful family of the 

 island, Snorri was elected in 1215 to the high office of Logmathurman ; but dis- 

 gusting his sturdy countrymen by his excessive haughtiness, he was obliged to 

 retire to the court of Hakon, king of Norway. During this exile he collected 

 the materials for his justly celebrated " Lleiraskringla, ' or Chronicle of the 



