332 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION, 
THE SAGAS IN THEIR RELATION TO ENGLISH 
HISTORY. 
ABSTRACT OF MR. D, SLATER’S PAPER. 
(Read February 4th, 1875.) 
‘(A MAGNIFICENT race of men were those war sons of the old 
North,’”’ observes Bulwer Lytton, ‘‘ whom our popular histories, so 
superficial in their accounts of this age, include in the common 
name of Danes.’ The descents of these Scandinavians on the 
shores of the British Islands, and other countries of Western Europe, 
have always been considered among the most. remarkable events of 
modern history. They embarked, under chiefs of royal or noble 
blood, in ships whose sails spread terror wherever they were seen. 
Wherever they came and saw, they conquered; or if defeated, it 
was only to return in greater numbers. Ruric established the 
Republic of Novgorod, the commencement of the Russian Empire. 
About the same time they obtained, by the treaty of Wedmore, the 
cession of a large part of England; and about a generation later, 
Hrolf (Rollo or Rou) laid the foundation of the renowned Dukedom 
of Normandy. Entering the Mediterranean, they took many a 
valuable prize, conquered kingdoms, or visited the Holy Land; 
while many, entering the service of the Greek Emperors, became 
the support of the Eastern Empire under the name of the Veeringjar. 
Nor did they confine their voyages to the old world. Their litera- 
ture records expeditions to the south and west of Iceland, which 
clearly prove that they visited both Greenland and North America 
centuries before the birth of Columbus. 
These pirates, or Vikingar, as they called themselves, seem to 
have issued forth from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, and are 
sometimes called Northmen, but more frequently by the English 
historians Danes. I believe that the earliest invaders of this 
country were principally Northmen; ¢.e. Norwegians. The Anglo- 
Saxon Chronicle, our chief authority for their first arrival, calls 
