"
"
; for,
so,
why
or
colonists of
the old Icelanders were able to give some
inhabited country ?
"
; for,
so,
why
or
colonists of
the old Icelanders were able to give some
inhabited country ?
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v2
xiv.
^ The Martyrology of Tamlacht says the
same : Co]\c Acuf Coca o 'D|\uitnni. It omits Loman, however, in this connexion.
z
magh, p. 585. '"
See Rev. William Reeves' Vol. II.
Ecclesias-
'
=
* *' Article x. In the
was inthe situated,
Edited by Re—v. Dr. Kelly, p. xiv.
Menologium
Dictionnaire
338 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [February 5.
forks. " 3 This place seems to have been situated, not far from Tailtein, supposedtohavebeenidentifiedwithTelltowninMeath. Soangelicand innocent was this holy virgin, that the wild deer became tame, and suffered themselvestobemilkedbyherhands. * Wefindthecommemorationofa St. Cotas set down in the Martyrology of Donegal,^ as having been venerated on this day. Nothing very certain can be predicated, regarding this saint's time, place and Acts.
jfittfi Bap of jfrtruarg*
ARTICLE I. -ST. BUO, MISSIONARY IN ICELAND. [NINIff CEN7URY,\
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—PHYSICAL PECULIARITIES OF ICELAND—CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE- EARLY NAME AND COLONIZATION OF ICELAND—IRISH CHRISTIANS AMONG THE FIRST INHABITANTS—DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND, BY THE IRISH GEOGRAPHER, DICUILL—THE NORWEGIANS SETTLE IN ICELAND—ICELANDIC INSTITUTIONS AND LITERATURE.
is, perhaps, the most inhospitable spot, which has ever been
madethehomeofcivilizedman. Itsinteriorisabarren ICELAND
awful initsaridloneliness; itscoast,forthree-fourthsoftheyearbeingboundin icebergs ; its inhabitants are doomed to shiver in the agonizing cold of the long nights during the Arctic winter, while their existence is, at the same time, threatened by those tremendous volcanic forces, which heave beneath the bosom of the island, flood the sides of Hecla and other hills with molten torrents, and parch the land with the burning streams of the geyser. A chilled and lifeless nature, waste and desolation, pervade the dreary plains, shutinbyhighhillsandjokuls. ^ Yet,inthislandofhorrors,afewthousand brave men for many centuries found time, not only to wring from an un-
generous soil a precarious existence, but to cultivate a love of literature, of liberty, and of country, which surrounds their frozen and inhospitable isle with a glory unknown, in some of the fairest lands, on which Nature has showered her choicest
3 In Irish It is Acli-'0A-5Ab1itil.
38, 39.
Article L —ChAP. 1.
difficult, however, to identify this denomination with
—
Ida Pfeiffer's "Journey to Iceland: and
Druim Lomain.
*
See "Trias Thaumaturga. " Septima Vita S. Patricii, lib. ii. , cap. vi. , and nn. 20, 21, 22, 23, pp. 130, 173.
name, the recent hand says, 'Marian M. Taml. ' as the authority for saying, that Core was of Drum Lomain. But this is a mis-
take. "
Travels in Sweden and Norway," translated
from the German, by Charlotte Fenimore
Cooper, pp. 160, 161.
5 In a
more recent hand
meaning that M. O'Gorman (or rather the
=" A of Iceland is to Ebenezer
note,
Dr. Todd
"Here the
map Henderson's
gifts. ^
says,
' Drumnii '
prefixed highly interesting work,
on this country, while, the same work also contains Gloss) calls him of Drum. On the next several very characteristic and well executed
*
Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
engravings, exhibiting the hot springs,scenery, and costumes of the people. It is intituled, " Iceland ; or the Journal of a Residence in that Island, during the years 18 14 and 1815. Containing observations on the Natural
adds, *'
(Marian),
desert,
* See Madame
February 5. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 339
Whether Iceland had its origin, at the period of the worid's creation, or whether it arose afterwards, over the sea-waves, by some extraordinary con- vulsion of nature, has been disputed. Some geologists hold the theory, that thousands of years ago, the subterranea—n fires, exploding beneath the Arctic Ocean, threw Iceland up into the light a volcanic mass much larger than Ireland. It is a vast slag, they assert, from the nether furnaces, rather than natural terra firma; every red, or black, or yellow cliff, every rock, and boulder, and yokul, bears testimony to the fact, that the island was smelted in the earth's bowels, and then cast forth, hissing through the billows, to cool and to crystalHze. Its mountains and fields, thus upheaved in the Arctic air, so soon as they had ceased to smoke, assumed a cap of ice and snow; while,thelowerglaciersformedoutofthese,meltingeverysummer and renewed every winter, have scored and carved the fringes of the island, into deep fiords and dark gorges, above which rise lofty peaks, white with eternal winter. It is the most desolate and dreary scenery in the world, deriving its charm, almost entirely, from the picturesqueness of naked Nature. Yet, it has been observed, that when Ingolfr, the Norwegian, arrived in Ice- land, it was in great part covered with forests. 3 Rivers of grey and black scoriae, whose red-hot ripples have frozen into harsh, sterile crags, traverse thelandineverydirection. Sometimes,thesestonyfloodsoverspreadwhole districts,likealakeofmeltedmatter; and,whenthishascooled,thesudden contraction cracks the surface, for leagues in length, producing deep fissures, which make the earth around look scarred and blistered. Nor is the- fiery island quiet even yet \ for, perpetual indications may be witnessed, exhibiting thestrifeofprimevalelements,stillgoingonbeneathherfoundations. Over her cold surface, Iceland is always smoking, steaming, ejecting fierce squirts of boihng water, black rubbish of the under-world flames, and floods of lava. There are thirty active volcanoes, besides Hecla,'^ with innumerable small cones,craters,andgeysers; while,everynowandthen,herunquietspirit bursts out in some terribl—e convulsion. - Sometimes, too, new islets are thrownuproundabouther volcanicchildrenofthisfierce,feverishmother. It is like sailing on a cauldron, to navigate some of those gloomy, unvisited fiords of the South-West ; one season, the deep-sea-lead finds no bottom, while, the next, there is a gaunt, black reef in the inlet. There are no wheat fields, and no sunshine to speak of, except during the brief summer of the Arctic circle. Yet, those children of the Norsemen like the country of their birth; whereas,someseventythousandofthemmanagetoliveandthrive, upon the flanks of the great cinder Iceland.
It has been asserted, that Iceland was the island, which the Irish and
Britons called Thyle, or Tyle, as also, Inis Thyle, or Tyle, which means,
" the Island of ^ Our oldest historians are unanimous, on Thyle. " quite
this point, as may be seen from the testimony of several ancient accounts.
Phenomena, History, Literature, and Anti- quities of the Island ; and the Religion, Character, Manners and Customs of its In- habitants. With an Introduction and Ap-
pendix. " This work was published in Edinburgh, A,D. i8i8, in two octavo vo- lumes.
Journal of a Tour in Iceland, in
" Schedce
'< The reader will find a
account of Hecla, with some particulars of other remarkable volcanic mountains, and curious natural objects, in William Jackson
s See a list of these recorded eruptions, in that interesting and elegantly illustrated work of Sabine Baring-Gould, intituled, " Iceland : its Scenes and Intro-
3
According
de Islandia," cap. ii.
to Ara
Multiseius,
Sagas. " duction, pp. xxi. , xxii. , xxiii.
very interesting
^ See " Acta Sanctorum Hiber- Colgan's
**
Hooker's
the Summer of 1809," vol. ii. Appendix C, pp. 105 to 269. Second edition, with additions.
nise," Februarii ii. De B. Erlulpho, sive Emulpho, Tylse Insulae sive Islandise Apos-
toll, nn. i, 4, pp. 241, 242.
340 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [February 5.
""
The author of the Icelands Landnamabok ;" ^ Latinized, Liber Originum
^
states, that in the chronicle,^ which St. Bede, the priest, wrote, he mentions the island of Thyle, as being far from the northern part of Britain. " ThatremoteThule,sooftenmentionedbyGrecianandRoman writers," is thought to have been identical with the present Iceland ; some, however, think, that the Shetland Islands were thus named. " Notwith- standing the contrary assertion, there can be no doubt whatever, that Iceland was inhabited before the close of the ninth century. '3 This, too, was pro- bably the case, even before it had been designated Thule, by the Romans. Independently of historical documents, and authorities, which seem to establish this matter, it is difficult even to suppose, while so many small islands in the northern ocean were peopled, long before they had been dis- covered by the Romans, that Iceland should have remained uninhabited. It is stated, that its climate was formerly much more temperate, than it has become,inthecourseofages; and,thatitssoilwasthenmuchbetterand more fruitful, than at present. Besides, the advantage of a passage to it had not been impeded by ice,'* as in the still more northern regions of Lapland andGreenland. Wefindsomeancientaccountstoassureus,thatIceland
was inhabited so early as the fifth century. 's There can hardly be any doubt, moreover,thatthefactwasknowntoourIrishancestors. '^ Thatmanshould contrive to live, in these desolate regions of the North, is not so very mar- vellous ; the Esquimaux have solved a still more dismal problem, and they have long existed contentedly where the bear and the seal can find a liveli- hood. But,theIcelandersaremuchmoreadvancedinsocialcomforts,and thoroughly civilized ; they have stereotyped the true and pure Norse tongue, in their beautiful poetry ; while, they have admirable musicians, as well as poets, historians, and scholars, to warm their deep enthusiam and love for " a land that is dark and covered with the mist of death. " ^^ From what we learn regarding St. Ailbe's'^ intention to proceed thither, for the purpose of leading a life, unknown to the world, it may perhaps be thought, that it was then destitute of inhabitants. This, however, is only conjectural ; for, not- withstanding its containing some inhabitants, St. Ailbe might have found places enough in the island, where he could have remained quite sequestered from them. '9 Icelandic history fully reveals to us how adventurous were
' He is said to have been originally Ari Scotland and Ireland. " The Norwegians
Tslandiae,"
or Are Frodi, who came to Iceland, in 1075.
This book was continued after his death.
It is remarkable, as being the earliest his-
torical composition, written in the old inhabited until A. D. 874, when it was oc-
Danish or northern tongue, and which still cupied by the Norwegians. See
'*
"
" **
Hystoria
remains the living language of Iceland. See Islandise.
Bosworth's Scandanavian Literature. "
'^ See Dr. Lanigan's Ecclesiastical His-
tory of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xx. , sect.
*'
An deus immensi maris, ac tua nautae Numina sola colant, tibi serviat ultima
Thule," &c.
of Northern Antiquaries to its British and
American Members," a very interesting ex-
position of the oldest Icelandic and Norwe- gianAccountsofIreland. Seepp. ito17.
^^ See Job x. , 21.
'^ See his Life at the 12th of September, *' See Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical His-
'
This work was edited and published, in
Icelandic, with a Latin translation, indices
iv. , n. 32, p. 225.
^s See **
Playfair's
and
9 "De Constitutione Mundi Regionum. " " See "Icelands Landnamabok," Prolo-
notes, by Johannes
Finnaeus.
Geography,"
vol.
iii. ,
gus, p. I.
" Thus Virgil writes regarding it :
—
p. 144.
*^ Besides a Danish map of Ireland, con-
taining the names of towns there, as written
in the Norse the reader will find in tongue,
—Georgicon, lib. i. , 11. 29, 30.
" See J. J. A. Worsaae's " Account of
the Danes and Norwegians in England,
in Scotland, sect, v. , p. 220.
^3 The Icelandic historian Arngrym Jonas,
and other writers, assert, this island was not
the
**
Report addressed by the Irish Society
February 5. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 341
Irish navigators in times remote. Besides various interesting accounts, re- garding the settlement of Iceland, its revolutions, and the origin of Chris-
tianity there, in the Landnamabok, the Irish student of past epochs will be pleased to find, that frequent intercourse, by navigation, took place between IrelandandIceland,inearlytimes. Notthatalone,butnativehistoriansstate, the latter island to have been colonized by various Irishmen*® of historic re- nown, and who are also named, in connexion with occurrences that signalized thetimesofsuchadventurers. Thesehaveevenlefttheirnames,mingledwith local topography. 2^ Before Iceland had been inhabited by the Norwegians, men were there whom the Norwegians call Papas,** and who professed the Christianreligion. Thesewerethought,tohavecomebyseafromtheWest;*3 for, they left behind Irish books, bells and crooked staffs. ** Besides these, were found several other things, which seemed to indicate, that the colonists had been Westmen. *^ Those articles were found in Papeya, towards the East, and in Papyli. *^ On this statement we may observe, that the Irish, who were settled there, at the time when the Norwegians took possession of
the island, did not, in all probability, leave it voluntarily, but were expelled by those same Pagan Norwegians ; for, otherwise, they would have taken along with them their books and other objects. Even, the historian, Arngrim Jonas, supplies us with a proof, that Iceland was peopled, prior to the arrival of the Norwegians ; for, he acknowledges the well-known fact, that these colonists—although they met with no traces of habitation—yet, found in Iceland sacred utensils, which had been left by Irish Christians, whom, he says,theancientIcelanderscalledPapaorPapas. These,strangelyenough, he thought to have been fishermen. *7 Among the first colonists of Iceland, it would thus seem, there were some of Irish birth. The word Run, whence is derived the northern Runes, denotes, it is stated, something occult or mysterious, because for a considerable time, letters were regarded as con-
of Ireland," vol. iv. , n. 31, p. 225,
iii. , chap, xx. ,
sect.
'S See " Celto- Johnstone's Antiquitates
Scandic£e," p. 14.
=^ See Dr. Uno Von Troil's " Letters on
Iceland," letter iv.
^7 The writer must have intended the
account of the Irish Papas. Yet, if those Norwegians were the first inhabitants of the
island, Dr. Lanigan asks "what could they have known of said Papas? Had he told us that they discovered the name Papa or Papas, by means of some inscriptions found there, or had he made mention of the Irish books left by the Papas in Iceland, he would have been more consistent with himself, His saying that they were probably fisher-
men is a evasion poor
tory
""See the "Icelands Landnamabok," hoc est, liber originum Islandiae, part i. , cap. xiv. , XV. , xvi.
=' A river in Iceland was called
when he
Iraa, the River of the Irish, part i. , cap. xvi. ,
Norwegian
874,
says,
ibid.
" Ara Multiseius writes, that when the
Norwegians first emigrated to this island, there were then Christians there, whom the
Norwegians call Papas, and they afterwards quitted that country, because they did not like to live with Heathens, and left behind them Irish books, bells, and staffs. Hence, it was easy to perceive that they were Irish-
*'"
men. See Schedae de Islandia, cap. ii.
''3 Such accounts are contained in the
should
book, called
Islands Land-nama-boc.
"
"
; for,
so,
why
or
colonists of
the old Icelanders were able to give some
inhabited country ? Unless he supposed ** "As to the crooked staffs, they were that said Papas perished there ; but then
Prologus, p. 2.
of that kind, which the ancient Irish had a particular veneration for, viz. , those, which
he tells us that the Norwegians found no traces of any habitation whatsoever. Plow could this have been, if the Papas had, on landing there, remained for some time in
had belonged to holy bishops, abbots, &c.
Such was the famous staff of St. Patrick,
that of St. Mura and many others which the island, as they surely must have intended were considered as most valuable relics, so
that it was usual, e—ven until a late period, *'
to do . ? Otherwise why bring on shore arti- cles necessary for the celebration of Divine
to swear by them. " Dr. Lanigan's Eccle- siastical History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap. XX. , sect, iv. , n. 32, p. 226.
Service ? "
—"
Ecclesiastical History of Ire-
if
they have left those sacred utensils in an un-
land," vol. iii. , chap, xx. , sect, iv. , n. 32, pp. 225, 226.
342 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [February 5.
veying some riagical and unkno^vn knowledge, before the Icelanders learned their iise. ^^ According to the foregoing accounts, those Irishmen, who had
livedinIceland,werecalledPapaorPapas,bytheNorwegians. Thetitleac- cordswithone,foundinouroldcalendars. ^9 Thosestrangersarestatedto have been ecclesiastics,3° while the distinctive name was probably that used by themselves. The districts or places in Iceland, bearing the names Papeya and Papyli, afford a strong proof of this supposition ; for, it is suffi- ciently clear, that they were so called, from having been inhabited by Irish Papas,3^ before the arrival of the Norwegians.
The ancient Irish geographer, Dicuill, who wrote his work,32 a. d. 825,33 isparticularlyexplicitwithregardtoThyle. ThisHandbookofGeography34 was based on a survey of the empire, made probably by the first Theodosius, who flourished four centuries previous to the writer's time. Much of his workhadbeenborrowedfromPliny,Solinus,andotherwriters; but,Dicuil has inserted some things, which are derived from his own personal know- ledge. These latter accounts render his book peculiarly interesting to us. They fully prove, that Irish monks had settled in Iceland, and the Faroe Islands, before the time of the Norseman immigration ; Dicuil relates, how he had lived in several of the northern islands. 35 He says, they were always desolate, from the beginning of the world ; and, because of the northern pirates, the hermits left them, while, in his time, they were filled with count- less sheep and wild birds. He gives a very vivid description of how the midsummer sun sets, and of its rise, within a very brief interval. Dicuill treats concerning the length there of the summer days. He states, that during the solstice, the sun towards evening seems to hide for a short time behind a small tomb, so that no darkness reigns, even for the shortest time.
He denies that Thyle was surrounded with ice, and, he observes, that the frozenseawasoneday'ssail,fromit,andmoretotheNorth. Aboutthirty years prior to the time of writing his work, Dicuill had got an account of Thyle, or of Iceland, from some ecclesiastics, who had returned from it ; after having spent there, from the ist of February to the ist of August. s^ The author of this work has been classed, among the writers of the seventh century ;37 but, he lived in reality, at the time of the Northmannic, or as they are commonly called, Danish piracies. On account of these,38 he says, several small islands, about our island of Ireland, have not at present as much
'8
See Dr. O'Conor's "Rerum Hibemi-
34 Another edition, published in 181 1, was edited by Letronne. Gust. Parthey got out an edition, in 1870, at Berlin. This latter has it's text, based on the collation of a Dresden MS. , written about the year 1000. A complete index adds greatly to its value.
See "The Academy," vol. i. , No. 9, June
ilth, 1870.
3S That he was an Irishman appears from
*'
There are some islands that are small, and some very small, scat- teredaboutourislandofIreland. " Heis said to have written another treatise, De decern Questionibus artis Grammatics. SeeHarrisWare,vol. ii. , "WritersofIre-
land," book i. , chap, v. , p. 53.
36 gee Ussher's " Britannicarum Ecclesi-
arum Antiquitates," cap, xvii,, p. 451.
37 See ibid. , cap. xvi,, p. 381.
38 See Ware, "De Hibemia et Antiqui-
tatibus ejus," cap. xxiv. , pp. lOi, 102.
carum Scriptores Veteres," tomus i. , p. xxvi.
'^ See a quotation, from the Calendar of Cashel, at the loth of June, in Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hibemise," v. Martii. Appendix ad Acta S. Kierani, cap. iii. , p. 472.
3° Instances occur, in our history, of not only bishops but abbots being called Papa.
his own statement :
3' This might seem to have been a name invented by the old Norwegians for them, because they were in communion with the Pope.
^ It is intituled, "De Mensura Provin- ciarum Orbis Terrae. "
33 Mr. who has Walckenaer,
published it, at Paris, a. d. 1807, and together with
"
Recherches Geographiques et Phisiques," at Paris, A. D. 1814, found this date. to his copy.
February 5. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 343
asananchoretinthrm. 39 Thushemustbeassignedtoafterthelatepartof
the eighth, and beginning of the ninth century, when said piracies had began off the Irish coasts. This was somewhat later than 790,^° and we learn, at least, that before a. d. 795, missionaries had gone from Ireland to Iceland. It seems, that the clergymen, who used to be sent on that mission, were occasionally relieved by others from Ireland, after a certain period of service. ** Nor have we any reason for supposing, that the ecclesiastics, who returned towards the close of the eighth century, had been the first, who visited the
Arctic Island, for missionary purposes.
The Icelanders come of a stock, as freedom-loving, as it is ancient and
sturdy. The received account is, that Iceland was not inhabited, and this is verygenerallysupposed,before874. '^' Then,thetyrannyofHaroldHarfagre,
King of Denmark and Norway, caused the greater part of the Norwegian nobilitytowithdrawfromhispower. ThesechiefsestablishedinIcelandan
independentsettlement. Theoriginalpeoplingoftheirlonelyisolatedhome was in itself an act of sublime devotion to liberty. Harold the Long-Haired had sworn an oath to his mistress, never to cut his yellow locks, till all Norway acknowledged him as king. With fierce and resistless hand, he finally subdued all the independent Jarls and Sea-Kings. Defeated, but
"
scorning to submit, they launched their open boats, and crossed the gannets' bath" to this newly-discovered island, whither even Haarfager was not bold enough to follow them. Gardar the Blue-Eyed and Floki the
"
Fearless spread their square sails and pushed of
green
from Norway over the
foam," not greatly caring whether they made Iceland, or the other world, so long as they served no master, and revelled in the freedom of the seas. -^s Carrying with them a hatred of arbitrary rule, and the love of political in- dependence, a republican form of government was established. 44 There the proud Vikings founded, on the edge of the Arctic Circle, their republic, with its Althing, held yearly at Thingvalla. This is said to have been one of the oldest and freest representative parliaments in history. There they wor- shipped Odin in peace and freedom, till Christianity supplanted their antique superstitions. Yet, the jealously of the Norwegian kings sought every op- portunity to subjugate them. History and science were held in high re- pute, among the Icelanders. To obtain greater knowledge, enterprising travellers often visited more distant countries, and faithfully reported their observations, after returning, on the state of government, laws, customs and literature, to their fellow-islanders, chiefs and people. ^s Many of the
39 See ibid.
4° Dr. O'Donovan states, that the first
recorded attack of the Danes on Ireland,
when they burned Reachrainn, breaking and
plundering its shrines, took place A. D. 795. See " Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i. ,
PP- 396, 397, and nn. (h, i), ibid.
^ See Dr. O'Conor's "Rerum Hibemi-
carum Scriptores Veteres," tomus i. , p. xxvii.
43 On the 1st of August, 1874, Iceland celebrated her thousandth anniversary as a
: its Scenes and Sagas," the reader will find a very interesting List island to witness the scene. Foremost of Icelandic Published Sagas, including, among those who hastened to the festivities, Histories of ancient Heroes, Myth and His-
4' See Dr.
tory of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xx. , sect. iv. , n. 33, p. 228.
Lanigan's
" Ecclesiastical His-
figures no less a personage than the King of Denmark, accompanied by Prince Walde- mar. King Christian IX. , moreover, took
something magnificent with him, in the way of a birth-day present j a gift, no doubt. easy to bear, but precious beyond gold and silver. His majesty carried in his pocket the Charter of a Free Constitution, and this was solemnly presented, to the island, upon the 29th of July, in that year.
44 See "Lectures on the Philosophy of Modern History, delivered in the University of Dublin," by George Miller, D. D. , M. R. I. A. , vol. i. , lect. iv. , p. 192.
<s In Appendix D to Sabine Baring-
"
nation. Shiploads of distinguished people Govdd's from many countries visited the remote
Iceland
344 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS [February 5.
old Norse poets were natives of Iceland. *^ Thus, when ignorance and ob- scurity pervaded the rest of Europe, this island was enabled to produce a considerable number of bards and historians. '*^ Iceland received from Ire- land, however, its earliest knowledge of letters and religion. The first churches there were erected by Irish monks. Letters, still called Ira litur, i. e. y letters of the Irish,48 were also brought thither, from our island. 49
A stem and strange land it is, indeed, which thus became the earliest
homeofEuropeanfreedom. Thepeoplehavethereputeofbeinghospit- able to strangers, although enjoying few luxuries of life. 5° Simple to stoicism in their necessities ; so poor that the bishop and the chief justice, in that island, shoe their own horses ; so primitive, that money is a thing seldom or never seen or employed ; serious, sober, moral, affectionate and gentle, the Icelandersareapeopletowonderat,butnottocontemn. Theyareahardy race of men, plodding, but persevering, in their purposes and actions. The passionofanIcelanderforhishomesurpassesthatofanyraceknown. Inthe opinion of the vast majority of the population, there never was, and never will be, a country so noble and so beautiful as Iceland. The women seldom travel abroad ; the well-to-do-men, when they go away to Copenhagen, to get their degrees—for they are devoted to learning—always yearn to return.
In the brief summer, while the wild swans breed in the lakes, and the scant
grass is carefully harvested, as if it were so much gold, the country has, no doubt, its charms ; but, they love it in the winter, too, when for months and months the soil is frozen so hard, that the dead cannot be buried, but lie, placid and changeless among the living, having deaf ears alone for those readings of the Sagas and of the Edda, which in life they so much admired The eternal rumbling of those smothered fires, glowing beneath their soil, and the whistling of the Arctic wind, roll unheeded in the frosty air.
CHAPTER II.
ST. ERNULPH, AN IRISH CHRISTIAN, ASSOCIATED WITH ST. BUO, AND HELGO BIOLA, WHILE PLANTING THE FAITH IN ICELAND—A CHURCH THERE ERECTED TO ST. COLUMB, AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF A PAGAN TEMPLE—PERIOD WHEN ST. BUO FLOURISHED—SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF ICELAND, AND CONDITION OF ITS IN- HABITANTS—PREFECTURE OF THE ARCTIC MISSIONS—CONCLUSION.
It has been very incorrectly stated, that the first discovery of Iceland, as authenticated by history, is due to the adventurous spirit of certain Nor- wegian and Swedish pirates, about the year 860. ' Whether the island was
tory, or Myth and Fable, Histories relating to Iceland, the Faroes, Orkney and Green- land, Histories of Icelandic Bishops, toge- ther with Histories relating to Norway,
Denmark, &c. , as also. Foreign Romances translated into Icelandic, pp. 439 to 444.
^' See Thomas Carlyle's "Hero Wor- ship," lect. i.
^7 See Dr. Uno Von Troil's "Letters on Iceland," pp. 85, 86.
n. (1), p. 252.
so Madame Ida Pfeiffer, however, ques-
lions the native generosity of the Icelanders, from her own personal experience ; for, she
alleges, that a keen appreciation of personal gain underlies the Icelanders' services ren-
dered to strangers. See "Journey to Ice- land : and Travels in Sweden and Nor-
** See Dr.
^ The Martyrology of Tamlacht says the
same : Co]\c Acuf Coca o 'D|\uitnni. It omits Loman, however, in this connexion.
z
magh, p. 585. '"
See Rev. William Reeves' Vol. II.
Ecclesias-
'
=
* *' Article x. In the
was inthe situated,
Edited by Re—v. Dr. Kelly, p. xiv.
Menologium
Dictionnaire
338 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [February 5.
forks. " 3 This place seems to have been situated, not far from Tailtein, supposedtohavebeenidentifiedwithTelltowninMeath. Soangelicand innocent was this holy virgin, that the wild deer became tame, and suffered themselvestobemilkedbyherhands. * Wefindthecommemorationofa St. Cotas set down in the Martyrology of Donegal,^ as having been venerated on this day. Nothing very certain can be predicated, regarding this saint's time, place and Acts.
jfittfi Bap of jfrtruarg*
ARTICLE I. -ST. BUO, MISSIONARY IN ICELAND. [NINIff CEN7URY,\
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—PHYSICAL PECULIARITIES OF ICELAND—CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE- EARLY NAME AND COLONIZATION OF ICELAND—IRISH CHRISTIANS AMONG THE FIRST INHABITANTS—DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND, BY THE IRISH GEOGRAPHER, DICUILL—THE NORWEGIANS SETTLE IN ICELAND—ICELANDIC INSTITUTIONS AND LITERATURE.
is, perhaps, the most inhospitable spot, which has ever been
madethehomeofcivilizedman. Itsinteriorisabarren ICELAND
awful initsaridloneliness; itscoast,forthree-fourthsoftheyearbeingboundin icebergs ; its inhabitants are doomed to shiver in the agonizing cold of the long nights during the Arctic winter, while their existence is, at the same time, threatened by those tremendous volcanic forces, which heave beneath the bosom of the island, flood the sides of Hecla and other hills with molten torrents, and parch the land with the burning streams of the geyser. A chilled and lifeless nature, waste and desolation, pervade the dreary plains, shutinbyhighhillsandjokuls. ^ Yet,inthislandofhorrors,afewthousand brave men for many centuries found time, not only to wring from an un-
generous soil a precarious existence, but to cultivate a love of literature, of liberty, and of country, which surrounds their frozen and inhospitable isle with a glory unknown, in some of the fairest lands, on which Nature has showered her choicest
3 In Irish It is Acli-'0A-5Ab1itil.
38, 39.
Article L —ChAP. 1.
difficult, however, to identify this denomination with
—
Ida Pfeiffer's "Journey to Iceland: and
Druim Lomain.
*
See "Trias Thaumaturga. " Septima Vita S. Patricii, lib. ii. , cap. vi. , and nn. 20, 21, 22, 23, pp. 130, 173.
name, the recent hand says, 'Marian M. Taml. ' as the authority for saying, that Core was of Drum Lomain. But this is a mis-
take. "
Travels in Sweden and Norway," translated
from the German, by Charlotte Fenimore
Cooper, pp. 160, 161.
5 In a
more recent hand
meaning that M. O'Gorman (or rather the
=" A of Iceland is to Ebenezer
note,
Dr. Todd
"Here the
map Henderson's
gifts. ^
says,
' Drumnii '
prefixed highly interesting work,
on this country, while, the same work also contains Gloss) calls him of Drum. On the next several very characteristic and well executed
*
Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
engravings, exhibiting the hot springs,scenery, and costumes of the people. It is intituled, " Iceland ; or the Journal of a Residence in that Island, during the years 18 14 and 1815. Containing observations on the Natural
adds, *'
(Marian),
desert,
* See Madame
February 5. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 339
Whether Iceland had its origin, at the period of the worid's creation, or whether it arose afterwards, over the sea-waves, by some extraordinary con- vulsion of nature, has been disputed. Some geologists hold the theory, that thousands of years ago, the subterranea—n fires, exploding beneath the Arctic Ocean, threw Iceland up into the light a volcanic mass much larger than Ireland. It is a vast slag, they assert, from the nether furnaces, rather than natural terra firma; every red, or black, or yellow cliff, every rock, and boulder, and yokul, bears testimony to the fact, that the island was smelted in the earth's bowels, and then cast forth, hissing through the billows, to cool and to crystalHze. Its mountains and fields, thus upheaved in the Arctic air, so soon as they had ceased to smoke, assumed a cap of ice and snow; while,thelowerglaciersformedoutofthese,meltingeverysummer and renewed every winter, have scored and carved the fringes of the island, into deep fiords and dark gorges, above which rise lofty peaks, white with eternal winter. It is the most desolate and dreary scenery in the world, deriving its charm, almost entirely, from the picturesqueness of naked Nature. Yet, it has been observed, that when Ingolfr, the Norwegian, arrived in Ice- land, it was in great part covered with forests. 3 Rivers of grey and black scoriae, whose red-hot ripples have frozen into harsh, sterile crags, traverse thelandineverydirection. Sometimes,thesestonyfloodsoverspreadwhole districts,likealakeofmeltedmatter; and,whenthishascooled,thesudden contraction cracks the surface, for leagues in length, producing deep fissures, which make the earth around look scarred and blistered. Nor is the- fiery island quiet even yet \ for, perpetual indications may be witnessed, exhibiting thestrifeofprimevalelements,stillgoingonbeneathherfoundations. Over her cold surface, Iceland is always smoking, steaming, ejecting fierce squirts of boihng water, black rubbish of the under-world flames, and floods of lava. There are thirty active volcanoes, besides Hecla,'^ with innumerable small cones,craters,andgeysers; while,everynowandthen,herunquietspirit bursts out in some terribl—e convulsion. - Sometimes, too, new islets are thrownuproundabouther volcanicchildrenofthisfierce,feverishmother. It is like sailing on a cauldron, to navigate some of those gloomy, unvisited fiords of the South-West ; one season, the deep-sea-lead finds no bottom, while, the next, there is a gaunt, black reef in the inlet. There are no wheat fields, and no sunshine to speak of, except during the brief summer of the Arctic circle. Yet, those children of the Norsemen like the country of their birth; whereas,someseventythousandofthemmanagetoliveandthrive, upon the flanks of the great cinder Iceland.
It has been asserted, that Iceland was the island, which the Irish and
Britons called Thyle, or Tyle, as also, Inis Thyle, or Tyle, which means,
" the Island of ^ Our oldest historians are unanimous, on Thyle. " quite
this point, as may be seen from the testimony of several ancient accounts.
Phenomena, History, Literature, and Anti- quities of the Island ; and the Religion, Character, Manners and Customs of its In- habitants. With an Introduction and Ap-
pendix. " This work was published in Edinburgh, A,D. i8i8, in two octavo vo- lumes.
Journal of a Tour in Iceland, in
" Schedce
'< The reader will find a
account of Hecla, with some particulars of other remarkable volcanic mountains, and curious natural objects, in William Jackson
s See a list of these recorded eruptions, in that interesting and elegantly illustrated work of Sabine Baring-Gould, intituled, " Iceland : its Scenes and Intro-
3
According
de Islandia," cap. ii.
to Ara
Multiseius,
Sagas. " duction, pp. xxi. , xxii. , xxiii.
very interesting
^ See " Acta Sanctorum Hiber- Colgan's
**
Hooker's
the Summer of 1809," vol. ii. Appendix C, pp. 105 to 269. Second edition, with additions.
nise," Februarii ii. De B. Erlulpho, sive Emulpho, Tylse Insulae sive Islandise Apos-
toll, nn. i, 4, pp. 241, 242.
340 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [February 5.
""
The author of the Icelands Landnamabok ;" ^ Latinized, Liber Originum
^
states, that in the chronicle,^ which St. Bede, the priest, wrote, he mentions the island of Thyle, as being far from the northern part of Britain. " ThatremoteThule,sooftenmentionedbyGrecianandRoman writers," is thought to have been identical with the present Iceland ; some, however, think, that the Shetland Islands were thus named. " Notwith- standing the contrary assertion, there can be no doubt whatever, that Iceland was inhabited before the close of the ninth century. '3 This, too, was pro- bably the case, even before it had been designated Thule, by the Romans. Independently of historical documents, and authorities, which seem to establish this matter, it is difficult even to suppose, while so many small islands in the northern ocean were peopled, long before they had been dis- covered by the Romans, that Iceland should have remained uninhabited. It is stated, that its climate was formerly much more temperate, than it has become,inthecourseofages; and,thatitssoilwasthenmuchbetterand more fruitful, than at present. Besides, the advantage of a passage to it had not been impeded by ice,'* as in the still more northern regions of Lapland andGreenland. Wefindsomeancientaccountstoassureus,thatIceland
was inhabited so early as the fifth century. 's There can hardly be any doubt, moreover,thatthefactwasknowntoourIrishancestors. '^ Thatmanshould contrive to live, in these desolate regions of the North, is not so very mar- vellous ; the Esquimaux have solved a still more dismal problem, and they have long existed contentedly where the bear and the seal can find a liveli- hood. But,theIcelandersaremuchmoreadvancedinsocialcomforts,and thoroughly civilized ; they have stereotyped the true and pure Norse tongue, in their beautiful poetry ; while, they have admirable musicians, as well as poets, historians, and scholars, to warm their deep enthusiam and love for " a land that is dark and covered with the mist of death. " ^^ From what we learn regarding St. Ailbe's'^ intention to proceed thither, for the purpose of leading a life, unknown to the world, it may perhaps be thought, that it was then destitute of inhabitants. This, however, is only conjectural ; for, not- withstanding its containing some inhabitants, St. Ailbe might have found places enough in the island, where he could have remained quite sequestered from them. '9 Icelandic history fully reveals to us how adventurous were
' He is said to have been originally Ari Scotland and Ireland. " The Norwegians
Tslandiae,"
or Are Frodi, who came to Iceland, in 1075.
This book was continued after his death.
It is remarkable, as being the earliest his-
torical composition, written in the old inhabited until A. D. 874, when it was oc-
Danish or northern tongue, and which still cupied by the Norwegians. See
'*
"
" **
Hystoria
remains the living language of Iceland. See Islandise.
Bosworth's Scandanavian Literature. "
'^ See Dr. Lanigan's Ecclesiastical His-
tory of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xx. , sect.
*'
An deus immensi maris, ac tua nautae Numina sola colant, tibi serviat ultima
Thule," &c.
of Northern Antiquaries to its British and
American Members," a very interesting ex-
position of the oldest Icelandic and Norwe- gianAccountsofIreland. Seepp. ito17.
^^ See Job x. , 21.
'^ See his Life at the 12th of September, *' See Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical His-
'
This work was edited and published, in
Icelandic, with a Latin translation, indices
iv. , n. 32, p. 225.
^s See **
Playfair's
and
9 "De Constitutione Mundi Regionum. " " See "Icelands Landnamabok," Prolo-
notes, by Johannes
Finnaeus.
Geography,"
vol.
iii. ,
gus, p. I.
" Thus Virgil writes regarding it :
—
p. 144.
*^ Besides a Danish map of Ireland, con-
taining the names of towns there, as written
in the Norse the reader will find in tongue,
—Georgicon, lib. i. , 11. 29, 30.
" See J. J. A. Worsaae's " Account of
the Danes and Norwegians in England,
in Scotland, sect, v. , p. 220.
^3 The Icelandic historian Arngrym Jonas,
and other writers, assert, this island was not
the
**
Report addressed by the Irish Society
February 5. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 341
Irish navigators in times remote. Besides various interesting accounts, re- garding the settlement of Iceland, its revolutions, and the origin of Chris-
tianity there, in the Landnamabok, the Irish student of past epochs will be pleased to find, that frequent intercourse, by navigation, took place between IrelandandIceland,inearlytimes. Notthatalone,butnativehistoriansstate, the latter island to have been colonized by various Irishmen*® of historic re- nown, and who are also named, in connexion with occurrences that signalized thetimesofsuchadventurers. Thesehaveevenlefttheirnames,mingledwith local topography. 2^ Before Iceland had been inhabited by the Norwegians, men were there whom the Norwegians call Papas,** and who professed the Christianreligion. Thesewerethought,tohavecomebyseafromtheWest;*3 for, they left behind Irish books, bells and crooked staffs. ** Besides these, were found several other things, which seemed to indicate, that the colonists had been Westmen. *^ Those articles were found in Papeya, towards the East, and in Papyli. *^ On this statement we may observe, that the Irish, who were settled there, at the time when the Norwegians took possession of
the island, did not, in all probability, leave it voluntarily, but were expelled by those same Pagan Norwegians ; for, otherwise, they would have taken along with them their books and other objects. Even, the historian, Arngrim Jonas, supplies us with a proof, that Iceland was peopled, prior to the arrival of the Norwegians ; for, he acknowledges the well-known fact, that these colonists—although they met with no traces of habitation—yet, found in Iceland sacred utensils, which had been left by Irish Christians, whom, he says,theancientIcelanderscalledPapaorPapas. These,strangelyenough, he thought to have been fishermen. *7 Among the first colonists of Iceland, it would thus seem, there were some of Irish birth. The word Run, whence is derived the northern Runes, denotes, it is stated, something occult or mysterious, because for a considerable time, letters were regarded as con-
of Ireland," vol. iv. , n. 31, p. 225,
iii. , chap, xx. ,
sect.
'S See " Celto- Johnstone's Antiquitates
Scandic£e," p. 14.
=^ See Dr. Uno Von Troil's " Letters on
Iceland," letter iv.
^7 The writer must have intended the
account of the Irish Papas. Yet, if those Norwegians were the first inhabitants of the
island, Dr. Lanigan asks "what could they have known of said Papas? Had he told us that they discovered the name Papa or Papas, by means of some inscriptions found there, or had he made mention of the Irish books left by the Papas in Iceland, he would have been more consistent with himself, His saying that they were probably fisher-
men is a evasion poor
tory
""See the "Icelands Landnamabok," hoc est, liber originum Islandiae, part i. , cap. xiv. , XV. , xvi.
=' A river in Iceland was called
when he
Iraa, the River of the Irish, part i. , cap. xvi. ,
Norwegian
874,
says,
ibid.
" Ara Multiseius writes, that when the
Norwegians first emigrated to this island, there were then Christians there, whom the
Norwegians call Papas, and they afterwards quitted that country, because they did not like to live with Heathens, and left behind them Irish books, bells, and staffs. Hence, it was easy to perceive that they were Irish-
*'"
men. See Schedae de Islandia, cap. ii.
''3 Such accounts are contained in the
should
book, called
Islands Land-nama-boc.
"
"
; for,
so,
why
or
colonists of
the old Icelanders were able to give some
inhabited country ? Unless he supposed ** "As to the crooked staffs, they were that said Papas perished there ; but then
Prologus, p. 2.
of that kind, which the ancient Irish had a particular veneration for, viz. , those, which
he tells us that the Norwegians found no traces of any habitation whatsoever. Plow could this have been, if the Papas had, on landing there, remained for some time in
had belonged to holy bishops, abbots, &c.
Such was the famous staff of St. Patrick,
that of St. Mura and many others which the island, as they surely must have intended were considered as most valuable relics, so
that it was usual, e—ven until a late period, *'
to do . ? Otherwise why bring on shore arti- cles necessary for the celebration of Divine
to swear by them. " Dr. Lanigan's Eccle- siastical History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap. XX. , sect, iv. , n. 32, p. 226.
Service ? "
—"
Ecclesiastical History of Ire-
if
they have left those sacred utensils in an un-
land," vol. iii. , chap, xx. , sect, iv. , n. 32, pp. 225, 226.
342 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [February 5.
veying some riagical and unkno^vn knowledge, before the Icelanders learned their iise. ^^ According to the foregoing accounts, those Irishmen, who had
livedinIceland,werecalledPapaorPapas,bytheNorwegians. Thetitleac- cordswithone,foundinouroldcalendars. ^9 Thosestrangersarestatedto have been ecclesiastics,3° while the distinctive name was probably that used by themselves. The districts or places in Iceland, bearing the names Papeya and Papyli, afford a strong proof of this supposition ; for, it is suffi- ciently clear, that they were so called, from having been inhabited by Irish Papas,3^ before the arrival of the Norwegians.
The ancient Irish geographer, Dicuill, who wrote his work,32 a. d. 825,33 isparticularlyexplicitwithregardtoThyle. ThisHandbookofGeography34 was based on a survey of the empire, made probably by the first Theodosius, who flourished four centuries previous to the writer's time. Much of his workhadbeenborrowedfromPliny,Solinus,andotherwriters; but,Dicuil has inserted some things, which are derived from his own personal know- ledge. These latter accounts render his book peculiarly interesting to us. They fully prove, that Irish monks had settled in Iceland, and the Faroe Islands, before the time of the Norseman immigration ; Dicuil relates, how he had lived in several of the northern islands. 35 He says, they were always desolate, from the beginning of the world ; and, because of the northern pirates, the hermits left them, while, in his time, they were filled with count- less sheep and wild birds. He gives a very vivid description of how the midsummer sun sets, and of its rise, within a very brief interval. Dicuill treats concerning the length there of the summer days. He states, that during the solstice, the sun towards evening seems to hide for a short time behind a small tomb, so that no darkness reigns, even for the shortest time.
He denies that Thyle was surrounded with ice, and, he observes, that the frozenseawasoneday'ssail,fromit,andmoretotheNorth. Aboutthirty years prior to the time of writing his work, Dicuill had got an account of Thyle, or of Iceland, from some ecclesiastics, who had returned from it ; after having spent there, from the ist of February to the ist of August. s^ The author of this work has been classed, among the writers of the seventh century ;37 but, he lived in reality, at the time of the Northmannic, or as they are commonly called, Danish piracies. On account of these,38 he says, several small islands, about our island of Ireland, have not at present as much
'8
See Dr. O'Conor's "Rerum Hibemi-
34 Another edition, published in 181 1, was edited by Letronne. Gust. Parthey got out an edition, in 1870, at Berlin. This latter has it's text, based on the collation of a Dresden MS. , written about the year 1000. A complete index adds greatly to its value.
See "The Academy," vol. i. , No. 9, June
ilth, 1870.
3S That he was an Irishman appears from
*'
There are some islands that are small, and some very small, scat- teredaboutourislandofIreland. " Heis said to have written another treatise, De decern Questionibus artis Grammatics. SeeHarrisWare,vol. ii. , "WritersofIre-
land," book i. , chap, v. , p. 53.
36 gee Ussher's " Britannicarum Ecclesi-
arum Antiquitates," cap, xvii,, p. 451.
37 See ibid. , cap. xvi,, p. 381.
38 See Ware, "De Hibemia et Antiqui-
tatibus ejus," cap. xxiv. , pp. lOi, 102.
carum Scriptores Veteres," tomus i. , p. xxvi.
'^ See a quotation, from the Calendar of Cashel, at the loth of June, in Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hibemise," v. Martii. Appendix ad Acta S. Kierani, cap. iii. , p. 472.
3° Instances occur, in our history, of not only bishops but abbots being called Papa.
his own statement :
3' This might seem to have been a name invented by the old Norwegians for them, because they were in communion with the Pope.
^ It is intituled, "De Mensura Provin- ciarum Orbis Terrae. "
33 Mr. who has Walckenaer,
published it, at Paris, a. d. 1807, and together with
"
Recherches Geographiques et Phisiques," at Paris, A. D. 1814, found this date. to his copy.
February 5. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 343
asananchoretinthrm. 39 Thushemustbeassignedtoafterthelatepartof
the eighth, and beginning of the ninth century, when said piracies had began off the Irish coasts. This was somewhat later than 790,^° and we learn, at least, that before a. d. 795, missionaries had gone from Ireland to Iceland. It seems, that the clergymen, who used to be sent on that mission, were occasionally relieved by others from Ireland, after a certain period of service. ** Nor have we any reason for supposing, that the ecclesiastics, who returned towards the close of the eighth century, had been the first, who visited the
Arctic Island, for missionary purposes.
The Icelanders come of a stock, as freedom-loving, as it is ancient and
sturdy. The received account is, that Iceland was not inhabited, and this is verygenerallysupposed,before874. '^' Then,thetyrannyofHaroldHarfagre,
King of Denmark and Norway, caused the greater part of the Norwegian nobilitytowithdrawfromhispower. ThesechiefsestablishedinIcelandan
independentsettlement. Theoriginalpeoplingoftheirlonelyisolatedhome was in itself an act of sublime devotion to liberty. Harold the Long-Haired had sworn an oath to his mistress, never to cut his yellow locks, till all Norway acknowledged him as king. With fierce and resistless hand, he finally subdued all the independent Jarls and Sea-Kings. Defeated, but
"
scorning to submit, they launched their open boats, and crossed the gannets' bath" to this newly-discovered island, whither even Haarfager was not bold enough to follow them. Gardar the Blue-Eyed and Floki the
"
Fearless spread their square sails and pushed of
green
from Norway over the
foam," not greatly caring whether they made Iceland, or the other world, so long as they served no master, and revelled in the freedom of the seas. -^s Carrying with them a hatred of arbitrary rule, and the love of political in- dependence, a republican form of government was established. 44 There the proud Vikings founded, on the edge of the Arctic Circle, their republic, with its Althing, held yearly at Thingvalla. This is said to have been one of the oldest and freest representative parliaments in history. There they wor- shipped Odin in peace and freedom, till Christianity supplanted their antique superstitions. Yet, the jealously of the Norwegian kings sought every op- portunity to subjugate them. History and science were held in high re- pute, among the Icelanders. To obtain greater knowledge, enterprising travellers often visited more distant countries, and faithfully reported their observations, after returning, on the state of government, laws, customs and literature, to their fellow-islanders, chiefs and people. ^s Many of the
39 See ibid.
4° Dr. O'Donovan states, that the first
recorded attack of the Danes on Ireland,
when they burned Reachrainn, breaking and
plundering its shrines, took place A. D. 795. See " Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i. ,
PP- 396, 397, and nn. (h, i), ibid.
^ See Dr. O'Conor's "Rerum Hibemi-
carum Scriptores Veteres," tomus i. , p. xxvii.
43 On the 1st of August, 1874, Iceland celebrated her thousandth anniversary as a
: its Scenes and Sagas," the reader will find a very interesting List island to witness the scene. Foremost of Icelandic Published Sagas, including, among those who hastened to the festivities, Histories of ancient Heroes, Myth and His-
4' See Dr.
tory of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xx. , sect. iv. , n. 33, p. 228.
Lanigan's
" Ecclesiastical His-
figures no less a personage than the King of Denmark, accompanied by Prince Walde- mar. King Christian IX. , moreover, took
something magnificent with him, in the way of a birth-day present j a gift, no doubt. easy to bear, but precious beyond gold and silver. His majesty carried in his pocket the Charter of a Free Constitution, and this was solemnly presented, to the island, upon the 29th of July, in that year.
44 See "Lectures on the Philosophy of Modern History, delivered in the University of Dublin," by George Miller, D. D. , M. R. I. A. , vol. i. , lect. iv. , p. 192.
<s In Appendix D to Sabine Baring-
"
nation. Shiploads of distinguished people Govdd's from many countries visited the remote
Iceland
344 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS [February 5.
old Norse poets were natives of Iceland. *^ Thus, when ignorance and ob- scurity pervaded the rest of Europe, this island was enabled to produce a considerable number of bards and historians. '*^ Iceland received from Ire- land, however, its earliest knowledge of letters and religion. The first churches there were erected by Irish monks. Letters, still called Ira litur, i. e. y letters of the Irish,48 were also brought thither, from our island. 49
A stem and strange land it is, indeed, which thus became the earliest
homeofEuropeanfreedom. Thepeoplehavethereputeofbeinghospit- able to strangers, although enjoying few luxuries of life. 5° Simple to stoicism in their necessities ; so poor that the bishop and the chief justice, in that island, shoe their own horses ; so primitive, that money is a thing seldom or never seen or employed ; serious, sober, moral, affectionate and gentle, the Icelandersareapeopletowonderat,butnottocontemn. Theyareahardy race of men, plodding, but persevering, in their purposes and actions. The passionofanIcelanderforhishomesurpassesthatofanyraceknown. Inthe opinion of the vast majority of the population, there never was, and never will be, a country so noble and so beautiful as Iceland. The women seldom travel abroad ; the well-to-do-men, when they go away to Copenhagen, to get their degrees—for they are devoted to learning—always yearn to return.
In the brief summer, while the wild swans breed in the lakes, and the scant
grass is carefully harvested, as if it were so much gold, the country has, no doubt, its charms ; but, they love it in the winter, too, when for months and months the soil is frozen so hard, that the dead cannot be buried, but lie, placid and changeless among the living, having deaf ears alone for those readings of the Sagas and of the Edda, which in life they so much admired The eternal rumbling of those smothered fires, glowing beneath their soil, and the whistling of the Arctic wind, roll unheeded in the frosty air.
CHAPTER II.
ST. ERNULPH, AN IRISH CHRISTIAN, ASSOCIATED WITH ST. BUO, AND HELGO BIOLA, WHILE PLANTING THE FAITH IN ICELAND—A CHURCH THERE ERECTED TO ST. COLUMB, AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF A PAGAN TEMPLE—PERIOD WHEN ST. BUO FLOURISHED—SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF ICELAND, AND CONDITION OF ITS IN- HABITANTS—PREFECTURE OF THE ARCTIC MISSIONS—CONCLUSION.
It has been very incorrectly stated, that the first discovery of Iceland, as authenticated by history, is due to the adventurous spirit of certain Nor- wegian and Swedish pirates, about the year 860. ' Whether the island was
tory, or Myth and Fable, Histories relating to Iceland, the Faroes, Orkney and Green- land, Histories of Icelandic Bishops, toge- ther with Histories relating to Norway,
Denmark, &c. , as also. Foreign Romances translated into Icelandic, pp. 439 to 444.
^' See Thomas Carlyle's "Hero Wor- ship," lect. i.
^7 See Dr. Uno Von Troil's "Letters on Iceland," pp. 85, 86.
n. (1), p. 252.
so Madame Ida Pfeiffer, however, ques-
lions the native generosity of the Icelanders, from her own personal experience ; for, she
alleges, that a keen appreciation of personal gain underlies the Icelanders' services ren-
dered to strangers. See "Journey to Ice- land : and Travels in Sweden and Nor-
** See Dr.
