History of Scandinavia from the early times of the Northmen and Vikings to the present day ... Fifth edition

Front matter

HISTORY OF SCANDINAVIA. HISTORY OP SCANDINAVIA,' FROM THE EARLY TIMES OF THE NORTHMEN AND VIKINGS TO THE PKESENT DAY. BY PROFESSOR PAUL C. SINDING, OF COPENHAGEN, DENMARK; PROFESSOR OF THE SCANDINAVIA.. LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. Non forte ac temere humana negotia aguntur atque volvuntur. — Curtius. FIFTH EDITION. PITTSBURGH: PUBLISHED BY W. S. HAVEN. 1862. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858. BY PROFESSOR PAUL C. SINDING, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Uni.ed States, for the Southern District of New- York Philadelphia: C. Sherman k Son, Printers. TO JAMES LENOX, ESQ., OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, 8.|j£ Pan ot fitters, THE CHKISTIAN GENTLEMAU. AND THE STRANGER'S FRIEND, THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR

Preface

. , Although I soon learned by experience, after my arrival in the city of New York, only a few years ago, what indeed had been long before reported to me, that the enlightened people of the United States pay great attention to science and the arts, and specially among their intellectual pursuits, have explored some of the wide fields of history with zeal and success, I was yet almost immediately aware that Scandinavian affairs — the past history and present condition of a kindred people — were too little known in this country. Indeed by that ardent love of my native land, which might well prompt me to effort in such a case, and which is a feeling said to be peculiarly strong in the race of the Northmen, I resolved, as far 1* PR EPAC E. VI as lay in my power, to throw some light on this, here, almost terra incognita, by writing a brief history of the people of Scandinavia — a people and a land neither unknown nor undistinguished in the history of the past, having not only played an important part in the history of Europe, being even at one time the arbiter of the European system, but having also amongst their archives authentic records of early voya ges of adventure and discovery extending to this new Western world, even as much as five centuries before Columbus reached St. Salvador or Guanahany.

But while thus making refer ence to these interesting traditions, which trace the discovery of this great western continent to the hardy and adventurous "Kings of the Northern Sea," and at the same time trace the first link, as it were, between the land of my adoption and the land of my birth — let me not therefore be understood as saying that these traditions, though certainly existing, and pos sibly even well known to Columbus himself, when he undertook his remarkable voyage, have at all eclipsed the splendor which never will cease to invest the name of this unexam pled discoverer.

PREFACE.

. VII The value of history being so generally appreciated, I need offer no apology for attempt ing to write such a work as the present, especially as the aim was, not to supplant any previous work, but actually to meet a want which was felt, because no such work existed here. But in submitting to the American public my first essay in writing English — to the somewhat ambitious extent of a book, I mean — let me claim some forbearance and kindly crit cisim, where certain unavoidable difficulties in terposed themselves, and have not, perhaps, in every case, even where most earnestly grap pled with, been successfully overcome. Notwithstanding that, on the whole, this at tempt to make the Scandinavian countries — especially Denmark, my fatherland — better known in the United States, has been a "labor of love," it has, on account of the want of sufficient literary sources and of a thorough famil iarity with the English language, by no means been a short and easy undertaking, but has occupied me both morning and evening for a long space of time. Nevertheless, should the result of my labor, the work which I here offer as an Introduction to the History of Scandinavia, be

PREFACE.

. VIII found calculated to promote even a little inter est in the subject, my desire and purposes will be fully realized, and the great difficulties under which I have labored, amply rewarded. May the Great Ruler of the Universe, who has borne me in safety across the ocean, abundantly pour blessings down upon each country that loves Him and the power of the atoning blood of His Son; and allow me to express this wish especially for the kingdom of Denmark, where I have learned to prize knowledge above rubies, and left dear remembrances, never to be forgotten. THE AUTHOR PROF. PAUL C. SINDING. My Dear Sir: The Scandinavian peninsulas — one hanging down from the mys terious North, the other jutting forth from the central mass of civilized Europe, to meet its comrade — are emblematic (in their geographical position) of the twofold historic interest with which they are clothed.

While the legendary period of other peoples occupies a place subordinate to their clearer history, Scandinavia calls up before us, with equal pwer, the mist-robed Odin and the mail-clad Vasa. The strange adventures amid Northern seas, in a primitive age, are as prominent as the leadership of European poli tics in an age of remarkable light. We oddly mingle the old and the new, the dim and the bright, when we turn to Scandinavia, as we do with no other land. This double character naturally lends peculiar attraction to its history. Vet, with all this attraction, the history of no part of Europe is less familiar to the general mind ; probably because the Scandinavian countries lie somewhat off from the world's great highways, and participate but moderately in the world's chief commerce. This should not be.

The ignorance is a fault, especially among us of English descent, whose ancestral history is so intimately and variously associated with that of Den mark, Sweden, and Norway. The Norsemen have left the memo rials of their habitation on the coasts and islands of Scotland, where Runic inscriptions tell the story of their prowess, while through much of England the familiar names of towns and hamlets are purely Norse . These are the fruits of the wild adventures of the Vikings. A Danish dynasty once ruled our fatherland, and the Con queror who founded the present succession of British monarchs, was himself of Scandinavian blood, transplanted to a more southern LETTER FROM PROFESSOR CROSBY. X clime. The stalwart men, who could venture upon unknown, cold, and stormy seas, in their small barks, on lengthy voyages, until, passing the new-found shores of Iceland, they landed among the green leaves of the Viinland coast, deserve to be known and saluted by every succeeding age.

And their posterity, still maintaining the best characteristics of the fathers, invite our regard and claim our encomiums. The names of Tegner, Hans Andersen, Fredericka Bremer, in literature ; of Clausen, Madvig, and Rafn, in theological, philological, and archæ ological research ; of Thorvaldsen in art, and of Ole Bull and Jenny Lind in music, are as household words in our American homes. Our merited regard for these well known worthies of our own day, must render keener our appetite for Scandinavian knowledge. This appetite amounts to a necessity, when we mark, that our ancestral history and mythology, and our composite philology, must be eluci dated by the light of these chronicles and languages of the Norsemen. It is, therefore, full time that our Universities should have their chairs of Scandinavian literature, as a needful part of the apparatus for a thorough English education, to render more complete the ex amination of the roots of our speech and race.

While this want is felt, we may gladly hail any contribution to American literature, which tends to open this interesting field of research. In your vol ume, my dear sir, I recognize such a pioneer, and rejoice to give it welcome. In it may many laggards in this lore find an introduc tion to the old romantic legends of the Skalds, as well as to the more recent but no less romantic stories of the great and magnanimous Gustavus Vasa, Gustavus Adolphus, and the brilliant comets, Tordenskjold (Thundershield) and Charles the Twelfth. HOWARD CROSBY, A. M., Professor of Greek Language and Literature in the University of the City of New-York SUMMARY OF CONTENTS. The Origin of the People — Mythology — Language — Skalds or Bards — Runes — The 'Warfaring Life — Piracy — Duels — Foster-brother Covenant — State and Condition of the Female Sex — Means of getting a Livelihood by — Victuals — Trade — Dwelling-places — Weapons — Funeral Solemnities — State Affairs — King — Peasants and Prefects — Slaves — Viking Expeditions — The Oldest Kings Page 19-49 First Period, from A. TD. 811-1241. 1.

Promulgation of the Gospel by Ansgarius — Gorm the Old and his Queen Thyra Dannebod — Harold Bluetooth — Christianity — Civil War — Palnatoke — Swen Splitbeard — Viking Association — Battle by Svolder — Conquest of England — Harold — Canute the Great — England and Denmark united — Pilgrimage to Rome — Battle by Helge-River — Ulf Jarl (Earl) — Conquest of Norway — The Discovery of America by the Northmen — The Union with England ceases 50-81 2. Magnus the Good — Swen Estrithson — Expedition to England — Ecclesiastical Affairs — Canute the Pious — NewExpedition against England — Eric the Good — Expedition to Venden — Canonization of Canute the Pious — Canute Lavard — Nicholas — Civil War between Swen Grathe, Canute Magnusson, and Waldemar — Frederick Barbarossa — Battle on Grathe-heath in Jutland 82-103 S. Waldemar I. the Great — Absalon — Canute VI. — Bugislaw, of Pomerania — Waldemar II. the Conqueror — Conquests along the Baltic — Esthonia — The Captivity of the King — Science and the Arts , 104-119 SUMMARY OF CONTENTS.

Second Period, from A. D. 1241-1536, the Introduction of the Reformation. 1. Eric Ploughpenning — Expedition to Esthonia — Abel — Christopher I. — Conflict with the Clergy — Archbishop Jacob Erlandson — Interdict — Eric Glipping — Battle on Loheath — War with Norway — Eric Menved — The Regicides — Archbishop John Grand — Peace with Norway — Expedition to Pomerania and Mecklenburg —The Hanseatic League 120-134 2. Christopher II.— Charter — War with Geert, Count of Holstein — Battle on Tapheath — Niels Ebbeson — Waldemar IV., Atterdag — Insurrection in Jutland — Magnus Smek of Sweden — War with the Hanseatic Towns — Rebellion — Waldemar leaves the country — Olaf — Queen Margarethe (the Semiramis of the North) — King Albrecht of Sweden — The Battle at Falkoping in Sweden — The celebrated Union of Calmar 134-156 3.

Queen Margarethe — Attempts to regain Schleswig — Eric of Pomerania — Dispute about Schleswig — War with the Hanseatic Towns — Rebellion in Sweden— Engelbrechtson — Charles Canutson — Dethronement of the King in Denmark and Sweden — Christopher of Bavaria acknowledged King of all three Kingdoms — Rebellion of the Peasantry 157-171 4. The House of Oldenburg— Christian I., the first King of the House of Oldenburg— Charles Canutson — Archbishop Jens Bengtson — Steno Sture, the Elder — Battle on Brunkehill — Pilgrimage to Rome— University of Copenhagen— The Charter of King Hans (John)— Division of the Duchies — Expedition to Ditmarsh Rebellion in Sweden and Norway — War again with the Hanee .Towns— Christian II. the Tyrant— Expedition against Sweden- Archbishop Gustav Trolle— The Slaughter of Stockholm— Sigbrit- Dyveke— Torben Oxe— The Beginning of the Reformation— Rebellion— The King faes— Frederick /.—Civil War— Rebellion in Skane— S6ren Norby— The Reformation spreads— John Tausen —Diet of Odensee— Diet of Copenhagen— The War of the Count —Christian ///.—Shipper Clemens— Battle by Oxenhill— Literature and Language 172-225 Third Period, from A.D. 1536-1660; the acknowledgment of Lutheranism until the Introduction of Absolute Sovereignty. 1.

Christian ///.—Diet of Copenhagen— Charter— The Reformation introduced into Iceland-Intolerance-University and School SUMMARY OF CONTENTS. XIII 2, 1 Affairs — Alliance with Sweden— New Division of the Duchies — Frederick II. — Conquest of Ditmarsh — Three Crowns — The Northern Seven Years' War — Daniel Ranzau — Peace in Stettin — Peter Oxen — Foundation of Kronborg — The Sound Dues — Lubeck — Hamburg — Science and Arts — Henrik Ranzau — Tycho Brahe — Christian IV. — The Queen-Dowager Sophia of Mecklenburg — Guardianship — Peasantry — Nobility 226-256 Christian IV. — Care and Interest for Norway — Variance with Sweden — Calmar War — Peace at Knœr6d — He encourages Science and the Arts — Commercial Affairs — Discoveries — Regulation of the Post Affairs — Manufactures — Buildings — Participation in the Thirty Years' War — Battle by Lutter, near the Barenberg — Peace of Lubeck — Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden plays a prominent part in the Thirty Years' War — Dissatisfaction amongst the Peasantry and Burgher Class with the Aristocracy — Dispute with Hamburg — Sound Dues at Elsenore — War with Sweden — Inroad of the Swedish General, Torstenson — Battle of Colberg by Femern — Danish National Song — Peace of Br6msebro — Frederick III. — Election of King — The Charter — Alliance with Holland — Corfitz Ulfeldt — Rupture with Sweden — Peace of Roeskilde — Renewal of the War — Siege of Copenhagen — The Dutch Admiral Opdam — Battle at Nyborg — Peace of Copenhagen 255-288 Fourth Period, from A. D. 1660-1852; 'from the introduction of the Absolute Sovereignty till the conclusion of the War with the rebellious Duchies.)

Frederick III. — -The Diet of Copenhagen — The Charter annihilated, and Absolute Sovereignty introduced — Kay Lykke — Corfitz Ulfeldt — Eleonora Christina — Dispute with Christian Albrecht of Gottorp — Christian V. — Acquisition of Oldenburg and Delmen horst — War with Sweden and France — Admiral Niels Juel — Peace of Lund and Fontainebleau — Griffenfeldt — Ole Romer — The Peasantry — Olaf Rosenkranz — Masius and Bagger — Frede rick IV. — War with the Duke of Gottorp — Peace of Travendal — Eleven Years' War with Sweden — The Brilliant Comets Charles XII. of Sweden, and the Danish Admiral Thundershield (Tordenskjold) — Peace of Fredericksborg — Hostile Terms with Russia — Hans Egede christianizes Greenland — Science and the Arts — Christian VI. — The Peasantry — Ecclesiastical Affairs — School Affairs — Science and the Arts — The Navy — Count Danneskjold Sams6 — SUMMARY OF CONTENTS.

Frederick V. — Hostile Terms with Russia — Peter III. of Russia murdered — Manufactures — Commercial and Financial state — The Peasantry — Science and the Arts 289-369 2.

Christian VII. — Alterations among the Higher Officers of State — Cf.re for the Peasantry — The King's going abroad — Struensee and Brandt beheaded — The Queen banished — Ove Guldberg — The Queen-dowager Juliane Marie — Prince Frederick — Deed of Exchange with Russia — A. P. Bernstorff — The Armed Neutrality — The Finances — The Press — The Peasantry — Care for the Danish Language and Literature— The Charter of Naturalization — Crown Prince Frederick, afterwards Frederick VI. — A. P. Bernstorff — Henrik Stampe — Reventlow — C. Colbj6rnson — Hostilities with Sweden — Neutrality during the French Revolutionary War — Independence of the United States acknowledged by Sweden and Denmark — Tripoli — Hostilities with England — Renewal of the Armed Neutrality — The Horrible Battle of the Baltic — Copenhagen cruelly bombarded, and the fleet carried away — War with Sweden — Peace of J6nk6ping — Prince Christian August of Augustenburg — His Death — Charles John Bernadotte, Prince of Pontecorvo, elected Crown-prince of Sweden ; later, King of Sweden — He dies — Oscar I. King of Sweden, died 1859, and Carl XV. ascends the Throne — War with Sweden, Russia, and Prussia — Alliance with France — Fierce Fight at Sehestedt in Schleswig — Norway granted a Free Constitution from the Danish Prince, Christian Frederick — Denmark loses Norway forever in the Peace of Kiel — Emancipation of the Peasantry from Feudal Bondage Other important alterations in different branches of the Government — Care of the King for Public Instruction — University and School Affairs — Literature — Pecuniary Affairs — Representative Council given Denmark and the Duchies — Christian VIII.

School Affairs in Copenhagen and in the Country — Iceland The Danish East India Possessions disposed of — Care for the Danish Language in the Northern part of Schleswig — Railroads Frederick VII — He gives Denmark a Free Constitution — Horrible War with the rebellious Duchies — Treaty in London 369-436 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. In the widest sense History must be considered the knowledge, the portraying, or the total sura of all that in nature, amongst men, and in the whole circle of experiences, there is, or comes to pass, was, or came to pass, and which accordingly only can he learnt through experience or instruction. History is, consequently, the opposite of Philosophy, which is the knowledge of all needful and universal truths, comprehensible only by the mere reason.

But, nevertheless, if the cultivator of History is not guided by Philosophy, or the rules of reason, History will to him be only a barren act of memory, without life or nourishment for the understanding and heart ; in short, History will not be a science to him ; he will not clearly comprehend the consequences of events in their pragmatical connection " It little concerns us to know," says Rollin, " that there were once such men as Dschengischan, Cæsar, Alexander, Gustavus Adolphus, Napoleon, "Washington, and so on, and that they lived in this or that period, or died in this or that day ; but it highly concerns us to know the steps by which they rose to the exalted INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. pitch of grandeur we cannot but admire, what it was that constituted their glory and felicity, what were the causes of their declension and fall, and how in religious and moral respects they have influenced their own and after-ages ; all of which we cannot obtain but by Philosophy, or more properly, by the Philosophy of History, through which we ascertain the causes of things or their phenomena.

History itself is immense in reference to compass, circumference, and contents. A boundless ocean of facts and events lies behind us, while each day and each hour the stream of time is swelling in new and large billows of events, visions, and names ; all of which, seen in the light of truth and pragmatical connection, are of exceeding interest and use. And of such great interest and use is the His tory of the Scandinavian Kingdoms, taken, as all His tory must be, in due connection with the contempora neous History of other lands. This History is that of a brave and interesting people, which, on a large scale, has influenced the world, and is yet so little known to the United States, where I, however, rejoice at seeing so much interest paid to the culture of science. A talented young American wrote, last summer, an eloquent article in the Journal of Commerce, inscribed " Scandinavian History— a "Work "Wanted," wherein he INTRODUCTORV REMARKS. 17 says : " There is a nation, even now extant, possess ing as brave a History as that of the Ptomans, a." poetic as that of the Greeks ; a nation that has con trolled the "World's History in many things, and at many times, and whose achievements in war and in letters, are worthy the most heroic age of Rome and the most finished period of Greece ; a nation whose Philo sophy outran their age, and anticipated results that have been slowly occurring ever since.

This reference," he says, "can be true of but one people, and that people is the Norsemen, the dwellers in Scandinavia, who lived as heroes, lords, and conquerors ; who, sailing out of the ice and desolation in which they were born and nurtured, conquered England, Scotland and Ireland : ravaged Brittany and Normandy ; discovered and colo nized Iceland and Greenland ; and they can be said, with confidence, to have crossed the Atlantic in their crazy barks, and to have discovered this very continent, before Columbus, to have anchored in Vineyard Sound, and left a monument behind them ; and where soever they went, they went as lords and rulers. And then their religion," he continues — " what a wild, massive, manly mythology ! With nothing of the soft sentimentalities of more southern people, but continent of much that revelation has assured us to be true in 2* INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. doctrine — preaching ever the necessity of right, and doing right — of manliness, honesty and responsibility rewards and punishments."

And he thus concludes : " Is there not some one who will plunge in medias res, and, bringing order out of confusion, give us this so greatly desiderated History of Scandinavia ?" These eloquent words, a correspondence with the talented writer, and later, an interview with him, have inspired me, a native Dane, having completed my theo logical studies at the University of Copenhagen, and penetrated with patriotic feelings, with a mind and courage to plunge in medias res, and to the best of my ability to do justice to that undeniably interesting sub ject. Jacta est alea, and I will commence by describing the state and condition of Denmark, in the most ancient times, until the Provincial Territories tvere united, and Christianity began to be promulgated by Ansgarius, a learned and pious monk from Westphalia, in Germany.

HISTOBY OF SCANDINAVIA. The Origin of the People — Mythology and Public Worship — Language — Skalds or Bards — Runes — The Warfaring Life of the People — Piracy — Duels — Foster-brother Covenant — State and Condition of the Female Sex — Means of getting a livelihood by — Victuals — Trade — Dwelling-places — Weapons — Funeral Solemnities — State Affairs — King — Peasants and Prefects — Slaves — Norse Expeditions — The Oldest Kings. The present inhabitants of Denmark, as well as of Norway and Sweden, are successors of the enormous Gothic tribe formerly dwelling round about the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, to which district this tribe seems to have come from yet more eastern regions, afterwards wandering up to the northern coasts of the Baltic, whence the one branck of the Gothic tribe departed to the opposite tracts of Scandinavia, peopling and settling the southern part of Sweden, Skane, Hal land, and Bleking, the Danish islands, together with the northern part of the Jutlandish peninsula, and likewise spreading itself over the greater part of Norway.

Tke other branck of these ancient and distinguished Goths remained south of the Baltic, and oftentimes changing their dwellings, afterwards prevailed in Ger A. d., many, scattering under the great European 375. emigration over a great part of southern Europe, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and France, making considerable conquests, and even often exacting tribute. a. d., Divided here into Ostro and Visi-Goths, they 493- erected, under their chief leader, Tkeodorik, the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy, and the Visigothic in A. d., Spain under Astulph, and their influence and 423- that of their descendants have since been per manent in Europe and the world. On the southern borders of Denmark, in the present Duchy of Holstein, dwelt the Saxons, belonging to the German Goths ; higher up in Schleswig and in the southern and western part of Jutland dwelt the Angles and Jutlanders, forming, in a certain way, an intermediate line between the Scandinavian and German Goths.

But as a great A. d., number of Angles, Saxons, and Jutlanders, in the 449- middle of the fifth century, led by the brothers, Hengist and Horst, departed for England, founding there the Saxon Heptarchy, the more northern Goths settling in the regions which those had left, were after wards the prevailing tribe in all Jutland and Schleswig. On the entrance of the Goths into Scandinavia, the land was inhabited by two reciprocally kindred nations, whose present names are Laplanders and Finns. Both of them had come from the east, but the Laplanders were forced by the Finns up to the remotest parts of Norway and Sweden, where remnants of them are yet to be found. The Finns themselves were, after a valiant resistance, pressed back by the Goths, whose descendants at present live in Finland, which now belongs to the Russian Empire.

It is also possible that some Celtic tribes, the primitive inhabitants of the south and west of Europe, have lived in the Scandi navian countries. The culture of the oldest dwellers of the north was at a very low ebb ; they lived dispersed, rambling about the immense and impenetrable forests, and on the coasts adjacent to the ocean and the numerous lakes, many of which are now transformed into moors and marshy land, or dried up altogether. Game from the forests, and fish from the sea and lakes, supplied the inhabitants with nutriment and hides and furs to protect their bodies against the severe climate ; and in such respects they were very well off, wanting nothing fortune could supply. Their weapons and hunting-tools were stones, but oftenmade with curious and admirable workmanship — the use of metals being yet unknown.

Very interesting, deep, and instructive is the religion or the mythology of the Norsemen, wherein their character and peculiar views of life have received a proper embodiment, containing much of the spirit of obedience, for which St. Paul praises the heathens that are without the law, but do by nature the things contained in the law, showing the work of the law written in their hearts. Their religion, better, perhaps, called their mythology, announced also clearly the important doc trine of future responsibility — rewards and punishments. At all events, it was great, nervous, and poetic, and, in many respects, fit for facilitating the introduction of the higher light of Revelation, which first in the ninth century was brought to them. In the abyss of ages — thus read the old Sages — all was without form and life, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, on which B. c, the warmth was continually operating, until 70 Ymer, a giant sprang forth.

But Odin, a Scandinavian Deity, yet supposed to be a historical person, having come from Asgard on the river Don (Tanais) in southern Russia, killed Ymer and his whole offspring; the bad and evil letters and Thyrsers (giants) were drowned in that stream of blood proceeding and flowing from Ymer's corpse, except one, who propagated the generation of Jetters or Thyrsers, and lived in con tinual enmity with gods and men. Of Ymer's body — thus read the old Sagas — Odin moulded and framed the ordained and settled world with mountains, rivers, lakes, trees, and clouds ; and of the great ash-tree, Yggdrasi.il, whose topmost branches were said to dance eternally in the heavenly light, he moulded the first couple of men, Askur and Embla, who resided in Midgard. The gods themselves live in Asgard, close by Upsala, in Sweden.

Odin, superior to all the other gods, is father of gods and men, and rules the whole world, which he, by his wise and judicious eye, contemplates and views from his high Hlidskjalf, his heavenly seat, his royal palace. The peculiar God of "War and Thunder is Thor, a son of Odin, most ardently worshipped by the warlike Norsemen, and kept long in memory even after the other gods were thrown into oblivion. He being consi dered the good principle, and chosen to bruise the head of all the evil principles, is incessantly fighting with the Jetters, slaying them with his hammer, the heavy Mjulnir. The brave having found an honorable death on the battle field were taken up to the mansion of the gods, and came to the splendid castle, Valhalla, radia ting with shining shields and glittering swords, and where Odin, Thor, Freia, Frigga, and the Nornas, with their irrevocable decrees, were assembled.

Odin's maidens, the Valkyriers, were continually rushing through the ether, seeking in all countries for the bravest heroes, whom they marked with their spear point, when the hour of death had come. The departed heroes, called Einheriars, pass their time in Valhalla, having every day the pleasure of arming themselves, marshaling themselves in military order, fighting and knocking down one another ; but in the evening they get up a<*ain and return to Valhalla, where a festival meal is prepared for them, consisting of the flesh of a boar, called Sahrimner, which, though butchered every day, returns to life again, and the beautiful virgins, the "Valkyriers, present to them the mead-horn, of which they drink till they are in a state of intoxication ; but the pleasures of love do not enter at all into the joys of this extraordinary Paradise.

Odin sits by himself at a particular table. A different lot or fate foil to the cowards who soared the battle and danirere of war, and allowed themselves to be cut off by disease. Cast down to Ilelheim (hell) they had to continue their life there, as silent, trembling shadows, without pleasure and exploits, and under the perpetual suffering of anguish, remorse, and famine. Odin himelf, Thor, and the keen Tyr, belonged to the Asatribe ; vhile Freia, the goddess of love, together with Njord and Frigga, disposing of tranquil occupations, hunting, fishing, favorable winds on the ocean, and plenteous years, were ascribed to the gentle Vane-tribe. Nevertheless, the dominion of the Valhalla gods was not to last forever, but the power to be given to another god, who should judge men conformably to a higher law, not as they were brave or cowardly, but as they were good or evil, for the Edda of Snorro says: "The world shall bo judged in righteousness."