make no mention of these earlier conquests of the northmen. But as they are generally silent respecting the transactions of the north of England at this period, no inference is to be drawn against the credibility of the Icelandic accounts from this circumstance.

The petty states of Scania and Zealand had continued united, with some temporary exceptions, under one sceptre, from the time of Dan Mykillati to that of Ivar Vidfadme. But Jutland did not, at this time, form a part of the monarchy; and we should form very erroneous notions of the condition of society in that age, were we to annex to it the modern ideas of strength, compactness, and unity. Not only was the power of the monarchs extremely limited, like that of the kings of ancient Greece in the heroic age, or of the Germanic chiefs, as described by Tacitus, depending more upon those personal qualities which attract the imagination and win the favour of a barbarous people, than upon any fixed and definite rule of policy: but there were a number of inferior chieftains scattered over the territory, who claimed the title and some of the prerogatives of kings. There were petty kings, (Sma-konongar or Fylke-konongar,) and Sea-kings, and Island-kings, and Cape-kings, which last were pirates lurking under the promontories, and sallying forth to prey upon the unsuspecting mariner.* The later kings, who reigned

The word King (Anglo-Sax. Cyning, Isl. Konungr) is derived from the Icelandic Konr (a young man, a man, a hero), through the derivative termination or affix ungr, as in Skjoldungr from Skjoldr, &c. the corresponding affix in Anglo-Saxon being ing, as in Wodening, Sceafing, &c. Professor F. Magnussen, in the vocabulary to the 2d vol. of Edda Sæmundi, has referred to many corresponding expressions of foreign languages illustrative of

S

in Ledra were frequently engaged in war with the Ynlings of Sweden and with the petty kings of Jutland; and that curious literary monument, the Anglo-Saxon poem of Bjowulf has been supposed to relate to the incidents of these wars. But this supposition is probably founded upon a mistake by which the Jutes, who were, in fact, a Gothic tribe, have been confounded with the Jotnar or primitive inhabitants of Scandinavia, and it has been hence erroneously inferred that they were regarded with implacable animosity by the later Gothic settlers in the Danish isles, as a wicked and gigantic race, of the progeny of Cain, who were exiled in consequence of the sin of their ancestors." " But so far from any such permanent hostility having existed in those early times between the insular Gothland and continental Gothland, (of which last Jutland made a part,) the old Danish chronicles relate that the Jutes implored assistance from one of the earliest kings of Ledra (Dan) against the Teutonic tribes, and his expedition being successful, he was unanimously elected king of Jutland at Danelyng near Viburg. The poem of Bjowulf is probably a translation or rifaccimento of some older lay, originally written in the ancient language of Denmark. It has perhaps some remote foundation in history, the facts of which have been indistinguishably blended with mythic and poetic fictions of the most

this etymology, as in Welsh cun, one that attracts or draws to himself, a leader or chief, from which are formed cuniad, cuniedyz, with derivative affixes like those above mentioned. So in Tatar, khan, princeps, with the aspirate kh, like the Allem. chuning. The other Tatar word Khagan, emperor, may very aptly be compared to the old kingly name among the Scandinavians, Hakon, or Ha-konr, the high-born youth, i. e. prince, highness.

wild and romantic character. This heroic poem is full of vivid pictures of life and manners. As a record of ancient opinions, customs and institutions, it is even more instructive than the most full and detailed history of particular events, which we should vainly endeavour to extract from the dim traditions of an unlettered age. The only existing manuscript of this the oldest epic of modern barbarous Europe, formed a part of the Cottonian collection, and is now preserved in the British Museum. It was published a few years since, with an imperfect Latin version, glossary and notes, by Thorkelin; and has been more recently translated into modern Danish verse, and published with a learned introduction, in which its connexion with the Eddaic poems of the romantic cast is pointed out, by a distinguished living scholar. It has also been translated, or rather paraphrased, in English verse, by the late ingenious Mr Conybeare, who terminates his elegant, though not always entirely correct analysis of the work, with the following just and striking remarks:

"It can hardly have escaped notice, that the Scandinavian bard, in the general style and complexion of his poetry, approaches much more nearly to the father of the Grecian epic, than to the romances of the middle ages. If I mistake not, this similarity will readily be traced in the simplicity of his plan, in the air of probability given to all its details, even where the subject may be termed supernatural; in the length and tone of the speeches introduced, and in their frequent digression to matters of contemporary or previous history. It may be observed

• Bjowulf's Drape Et Gothisk Helte-Digt, &c. af Angel-Saxisk paa Danske Riim ved N. F. S. Grundtvig, &c. Kjoebenhavn, 1820.

too, that the song of Beowulf, especially in its latter cantos, affords an additional argument, if any such were wanting after the labours of Percy and Ellis, against the theory which would attribute to the fictions of romance, a Saracenic origin. The dragon furnished with wings and breathing flame, the sword which melts at the touch of the Jutish blood, the unearthly light which pervades the cave of the Grendel, and beams from the magic statues presiding over that of the Fire-drake, had they occurred in a poem of later date, would in all probability have been considered by the eminent author of that theory as undoubted importations of the crusaders. But the opinions of Warton, even when erroneous, were not taken up without apparent grounds. The fictions in question do assuredly bear, if it may be so termed, an oriental rather than a northern aspect; and the solution of this phenomenon will be most successfully sought for in the hypothesis more recently suggested by those continental scholars, who, regarding the Gothic and the Sanskrit as cognate dialects, and identifying the character and worship of Odin with that of Buddha, claim for the whole of the Scandinavian mythology, an Asiatic source of far more remote and mysterious origin."*

Conybeare's Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, pp. 79–80.

CHAPTER VII.

Causes of the Scandinavian maritime expeditions to the South of Europe. Wild spirit of adventure.-Sea-Kings.-Religion.-Champions and Berserker.-Amazons, or Skjold-meyar.—Art of ship-building.—Battle of Bravalla. First incursions to Scotland, the Orcades, Hebrides, and Ireland. Invasions of England.-Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok.-His deathsong.

VARIOUS causes have been enumerated by historians as having contributed to produce those maritime expeditions of the Scandinavians, by which the coasts of Southern Europe were infested previous to the conversion of the North to Christianity. Among these stand most conspicuous that love of wild adventure, and the roving and predatory spirit, which mark the character of all maritime nations in the infancy of civilization. The occupation of a pirate was considered not only lawful, but honourable, in the heroic age of the North. These motives of action, so powerful in their operation on the Barbarian character, and by which the Northmen were induced, at an early period, to quit their native seats, and to roam over the seas, are supposed to have been strengthened by a usage which early acquired the force of law, and under which a portion of the people were periodically expelled by force from the country, as the increasing population pressed against the means of subsistence. These means were principally confined to fishing and the chace, and the custom of eating horse