334 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
the Learned, who died in 11383, collected the poetical literature 
embodied in the Elder Edda; and others did for prose what he had 
done for verse, especially Ari the Learned (d. 1148); so that, as is 
stated in Sturlinga, all the Sagas had passed from the oral to the 
written shape before the death of Bishop Brandr (1201). The 
Northmen were the first nation in Europe to possess a literature 
embracing history and prose fiction in their own vernacular tongue. 
The Sagas are of much assistance to the student of English 
history. For the way in which they may be applied to give 
dramatic force and beauty to the narrative, reference may be made 
to the description they give of the Battle of Stamford Bridge, the 
materials of which have been well worked in by Mr. Freeman in 
his ‘‘Old English History,” and by Bulwer Lytton in his account 
of the same battle in his “‘ Harold,’’ book xi. 
A few months ago the King of Denmark celebrated the thou- 
sandth anniversary of the settlement of Iceland under Ingolf and 
Leif. The same cause which drove these sons of freedom to Ultima 
Thule was also the chief reason which sent them to Britain—the 
tyranny of Harold Harfagr, or Fairfax as we should call him. His 
son Hakon was the foster-son of our Athelstan. Mr. Freeman 
suggests that this is not Avthelstan the Anglo-Saxon king, but the 
Danish king Guthorm, who received from Alfred the baptismal 
name of Athelstan.* This seems impossible, as Hakon left England 
for Norway in 933, and Guthorm-Atthelstan died in 890. For an 
illustration of the swearing on the holy ring to which this Guthorm 
was compelled to submit, the lecturer referred to Viga Glum’s Saga. 
The Hiuskarls, or body-guard of Cnut, became the germ of our 
standing army; they were the bravest defenders of the ground on 
the fatal day of Senlac. In fact, after their settlement in England, 
the Danes became its staunchest defenders against new invaders; 
and the followers of Swegen confessed that Ulfcytel was the most 
difficult warrior they had ever had to contend against. Henry of 
Huntingdon relates of Siward, the brave Earl of Northumberland, 
that when he heard that his son had died of a wound in the front 
of his body, he replied, ‘‘Then I greatly rejoice.” He certainly 
was one of the bravest defenders of England against foreign 
invaders, whether his expedition against Macbeth be apocryphal or 
not. In illustration of the story of Cnut’s killing a soldier in a fit 
of anger, reference was made to his having murdered Earl Ulf, 
* “Old English History,” p. 159. | 
