IV. State of 24 cleared the regions about the river, which runs 28 THE Country of the Danes was composed of Denmark. islands, which an unquiet ocean separated, and of the peninsula Jutland, which is almost insulated by its numerous bays. Of the Danish islands, Fionia was remarkable for its Odinsee, the 24 Snorre, Yng. c. 46. p. 55. 25 Snorre gives the history of these colonisations in his Saga Hakonar Goda, c. 14. p. 137. Verelius cites the Olaf Saga on the same fact, in Goth. et Rolf. p. 15. 26 Verelius, Goth. et Rolf. 13. Hence the Suerris-Saga says, that travelling was very difficult, because on the melting of the ice and snows upon the rivers and lakes, the pools, marshes, and trackless woods. 27 Snorre, p. 43, 44. road must then be taken through I. place in Denmark to which Odin went out of CHAP. Saxony, after his reputed emigration from the Tanais. 29 It became a great city. The island was very fertile, but its coasts were full of pirates. 30 ZEALAND was distinguished amidst the other isles for its magnitude, and its ancient metropolis, Lethra, whose sovereign was superior to the other kings who governed in the various provinces of the Danes.31 Jutland, which extended from the Angles to the Sound, constituted a principal part of the Danish strength. Its soil was sterile, but the country upon the rivers was cultivated; and the most frequented cities were on the arms of the 29 Snorre, p. 9. Odins-ey means Odin's island. Odin afterwards moved into Sweden, built a temple, and founded a city at Sigtun. Ibid. He is usually placed before the Christian æra ; but the Saxon Genealogies make him above 200 or 300 years more recent. These are entitled to much notice, because the Saxon annals are far more accurate and precise than the Northern. They were also committed much earlier to writing. These make Cerdic, in 495, the ninth descendant from Odin (Sax. Chron.15); Ida, in 547, the tenth (Ibid. 19.); Ella, in 560, the eleventh (p. 20.). If we reckon each generation at twenty-five years, as a fair average, then, according to Cerdic's genealogy, Odin will be placed 270 after Christ; according to Ida's, 290 A. C.; according to Ella's, 285 A. C. This position of Odin, by the Saxon chroniclers, has sometimes suggested to me the probability, that Odin's famous emigration from the Euxine, was no other than the daring voyage of the Francs from the Euxine, which occurred between 270 and 280 A, C., and which is stated before, p. 142. It is a coincidence, that Snorre places his first conquests in Saxony; for the Francs landed about Frisia, and immediately after that, the sea was covered with Frankish and Saxon pirates. Odin is also said by the Northern traditions to have fled from the Romans; but no other flight than the Frankish voyage is noticed by the Latin writers. The Saxon piracies show, that the Frankish voyage gave a new impulse to society in the north. 30 Adam Brem. 64. 31 On Lethra and its topography, see Stephanius in Sax. p. 74. It was in the middle of the island, not far from Roschild. Sveno, who lived in 1186, says that this famous city had in his time so declined, that inter abjectissima ferme vix colitur. Hist. Reg. Dan. 1 Langb. 45. Roschild became afterwards the metropolis. BOOK IV. sea, which ran into it. The rest was made up of vast solitudes and briny marshes, like all the north in this savage and calamitous period. It abounded with uninhabited forests, which concurred with the fens to keep the interior unpeopled. Hence the maritime coasts, though full of incessant danger, from the pirates, were the parts frequented. 32 33 THE Danes also occupied Scania, on the Scandinavian continent. It was their richest province. This peninsula was almost an island; a tract of land, composed of deep forests and rugged mountains, divided it from Gothland. It produced Ivar, the king whose invasion destroyed the dynasty of the Ynglingi at Upsal, and who occupied part of England. 35 Saxo mentions Hallandia and Blekingia as Danish possessions. WULFSTAN, a navigator with whom Alfred conversed about the north-eastern countries of the Baltic, enumerated the isles of Langoland, Leland, Falster, and Sconey, as belonging at that period to Denemearca. 37 The German chronicles at this time generally mean Jutland when they speak of Denmark, but the isles seem to have always formed an important part of the Danish population. 38 32 Adam Brem. 63. Jutland was anciently called Reidgotaland. Torfæus, Series Reg. Dan. 86, 87. The rest of Denmark was called Ey-gotaland, the insular Gothland. Ibid. 83. 87. 33 Knytlinga Saga. Worm. Mon. Dan. App. p.35. 25 Snorre, p. 53, 54. 36 In his preface he mentions the rock in Blekingia, so famous for its surprising inscriptions. He says, lib. vii. p. 138., Harald Hyldetand, as a monument to his father, caused his actions to be described on it. Wormius relates what remains of it. Monum. Dan. p.221. 37 Alfred's Orosius, p. 25. 38 They were anciently called Witahedh, or Vitaslett. Verelius, Hist. Suio-Goth. 16. Peter Olaus says, that the name Dania primo et principaliter, comprehended the islands. Chron. 1 Langb. 83. 39 DENMARK was anciently possessed by many contemporary kings. The Knytlinga Saga, after enumerating the districts which Denmark contained in the time of Canute, adds, that although then under one sovereign, they had been formerly divided into many kingdoms. According to this document, Jutland contained five of these Konga-ryki, at Sleswick, Ripen, Arhusan, Wiburg, and Hording. 40 The islands, and the continental provinces of Scania and Hallandia, had also their respective sovereigns, among whom the king of Lethra appears the most ancient and the most powerful. These petty kings were styled Fylki Kongr, people, or provincial kings." Ambition, before the eighth century, had diminished the number of the rival thrones. Two monopolised Jutland; Fionia, Seeland, and Scania, had each 43 another. This number also lessened; and at the period of their first aggression on England, the Danish royalty was confined to a king in Jutland, and one over the isles. Soon afterwards one monarcha commanded the whole. Gormo Grandævus, who 42 39 Knytlinga Saga. Wormius, App. 36. 41 40 In Canute's time the proportionate importance of these provinces may be inferred from the war-ships they furnished to the king. Heida bay, containing 350 kyrckna, or parishes, provided 130 ships. Ripen, 324 parishes, 110 or 120 ships. Arhusen, 210 parishes, 90 ships. Wiburg, 250 parishes, 100 ships. Hording, 160 parishes, 50 ships. Fionia, 300 parishes, 100 ships. Zealand, 309 churches, 120 ships. Scania, 353 churches, 150 ships. Worm. p. 34, 35. 4: Snorre generally calls the Danish kings, kings of Hleidra, as p.9. 17. 41. 43, &c. Stephanius says, ab hac Lethra Daniæ reges in antiquissimis monumentis semper nominantur Kongar aff Ledru, P. 74. 42 Stephan. p. 103. Verelius informs us, that fylking is an embodied army, fylke a province furnishing a fylking, and fylke king its sovereign. In Got. et Rol. p. 27. 43 Anon. Roskild. Chron. 1 Langb. 374. Stephanius, p. 103. To the same purpose CHAP. I. BOOK lived in the end of the ninth century, is stated to have destroyed the other reguli. “ IV. IN speaking of kings and kingdoms, we use words of swelling sound, and magnificent import. Splendour, extensive dominion, pomp, power, and venerated dignity, are the majestic images which arise in our minds when we hear of thrones. But we must dismiss from our thoughts the fascinating appendages to modern royalty, when we contemplate the petty sovereigns of the North. Some of their kingdoms may have equalled an English county in extent, but many would have been rivalled by our hundreds. Seated in their rural halls, with a small band of followers scattered about, these northern fylki kings were often victims to pirates who assailed them. They had neither castles, cities, nor defensive fortifications. Even the Thiod-Kongr, the preponderant ruler, sometimes fell before one of his inferiors whom plunder had enriched. 46 THE more settled kings of Denmark became known more distinctly to us in the time of Charlemagne. During his life, Godfrid reigned in Jutland, who had subdued the Frisians, and also the Obotriti and a part of the Slavi. He threatened Charlemagne with war. He was succeeded by Hemming, his cousin, who made peace with 44 Torfæus Hist. Norv. i. p.410. Snorre intimates as much. Harald's Saga, c. 3. p.78. 45 We have a remarkable instance of this in Birca, the port and chief commercial emporium of Sweden. Rembert, who lived about 865, states this Birca to have been so defenceless, that on the approach of the Danes, the people fled from it to a neighbouring civitatem. This civitas was also non multum firma. They offered 120 pounds of silver to save Birca. Ansch. vita, p. 460. 1 Langb. 46 Verelius in Hervarar Saga, 142. |