THE NORWEGIANS IN IRELAND. (continued 2)

But from this time forward the “Ostmen” do not play any prominent part in the history of Ireland. Their political independence was annihilated; and their national characteristics were not sufficiently supported by fresh arrivals from the mother-country, to enable them in the long run to maintain a distinct position in face of the rapidly advancing English nationality. Their descendants continued, nevertheless, to dwell in Ireland; where they gradually became amalgamated partly with the English conquerors and partly with the native Irish. The Irish chronicles point out various clans in Ireland which were either of Norwegian descent, or at all events had been much mixed with Norwegian blood. In the annals and pedigrees of the middle ages we also meet with both laymen and clergy in Ireland bearing Scandinavian names. For instance, in Christ Church in Dublin, built by the Norwegians, canons and monks are spoken of in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries called “Harrold,” “Olof,” “Siwird” (Sivard), “Regenald,” (Ragnvald) “Iwyr,” &c., names entirely unknown in Ireland previously to the arrival of the Norwegians. The often-mentioned Irish chronicler makes use of a highly remarkable expression. In stating that most of the merchants’ families in Dublin in his time (about the year 1650) were descendants of the Norwegian-Irish king Olaf Kvaran, by Brian Boroihma’s (Boru’s) daughter Save, he adds: “and the descendants of that Amlave Cuaran are still in Dublin opposing the Gadelians of Erinn:” whence we clearly see that national distinctions and national disputes between the descendants of the Irish and of the Norwegians, were still very prominent only two hundred years ago, or full six hundred years after the battle of Clontarf (1014).

Even to the present day we can follow, particularly in Leinster, the last traces of the Ostmen through a similar series of peculiar family names, which are by no means Irish, but clearly original Norwegian names; for instance, Mac Hitteric or Shiteric (son of Sigtryg), O’Bruadair (son of Broder), Mac Ragnall (son of Ragnvald), Roailb (Rolf), Auleev (Olaf), Mánus (Magnus), and others. It is even asserted that among the families of the Dublin merchants are still to be found descendants of the old Norwegian merchants formerly so numerous in that city. The names of families adduced in confirmation of this, as Harrold (Harald), Iver (Ivar), Cotter or Mac Otter (Ottar), and others, which are genuine Norwegian names, corroborate the assertion that Norwegian families appear to have propagated themselves uninterruptedly in Dublin down to our times, as living evidences of the dominion which their forefathers once exercised there.

It is thus satisfactorily proved, by notorious facts of the most various kinds, that for more than three hundred years the Norwegians lived according to their own manners and customs, and under their own bishops and kings, in the most important towns of Ireland, which they in part ruled, down to the time of the English conquest (1170); that they were the first who minted coins, and carried on any considerable trade and navigation in Ireland; and lastly, that great numbers of their descendants continued to reside in that country even after it had long been conquered by the English. No impartial person, therefore, will be able any longer to deny that the settlements of the Ostmen, although commenced by the frequent demolition of churches and convents, were ultimately in the most essential matters particularly fortunate for Ireland; since, by introducing trade and navigation to an extent before unknown, they opened for that sequestered country channels of animated communication and intercourse with the rest of Europe and its continually advancing civilization. The Irish towns occupied by the Ostmen, which have continued to be the principal depots for foreign merchandise, and consequently also the central points of intercourse with foreign countries, may with justice be said to be indebted chiefly to that people for their present greatness, wealth, and power.

Nor, on a larger historical survey, will it appear less evident that, as the Norwegians first opened the way for peaceful connections between Ireland and the rest of Europe, so they also facilitated the English conquest. In consequence both of their frequent wars, and of their frequent alliances with Irish kings, party feeling had rather increased than diminished among the Irish chiefs; whilst numerous Irish families, even the greatest in the land, had by degrees become so much mixed with Norwegian blood, that the strength of the Irish as a nation was not a little weakened and divided. This was particularly the case in those districts of the east coast of Ireland where the English or Norman power afterwards obtained its chief seat. Add to this that the Irish, through the long dominion of the Norwegians in their chief towns, and the advantages which they reaped from it, had become more and more accustomed to behold with indifference the sway of strangers in their country; a circumstance which contributed to the powerful support given to the English on their first invasion of Ireland by several of the native chiefs.

It may possibly be said that the Norwegians in Ireland, by thus preparing the way for the Norman or English conquest, rendered a far greater service to England than to subjugated Ireland. But all the chronicles, it must be recollected, bear witness that the Irish were neither strong enough to govern their own country independently, nor capable of keeping pace with the advance of European civilization by means of an active commerce. We have seen that even in later times the same baleful and sanguinary spirit of dissension which weakened Ireland in ancient days is yet scarcely extinct among the original Irish race. It is manifest, therefore, that Ireland, which would otherwise have been divided from the rest of Europe, and devastated by terrible intestine contentions, has been much benefited by being united to so great and powerful a country as England, which has both the ability and the will to promote the true welfare of the Irish people. England will, by degrees, employ the great advantages afforded by the excellent soil and situation of Ireland, and thus conduct that country, torn as it is by all possible distresses and misfortunes, to a happier existence.

Section VII.

Conclusion.—Warlike and Peaceful Colonizations.—Resemblances and

Differences.—Before and Now.

Denmark and Norway, as is known, are not distinguished by any remarkable extent of fertile and densely-populated country. The whole population in both those kingdoms does not at present amount to three millions; and in ancient times it scarcely seems to have been greater, even when the southern portion of the present kingdom of Sweden still belonged to Denmark.

Nevertheless, Denmark and Norway were able, in ancient times, to send forth great multitudes of people to other countries. Not only were Greenland, Iceland, the Shetland Isles, the Orkneys, and Faroe Isles, colonized from Norway, but also considerable districts in Scotland and Ireland. Many Norwegians, moreover, settled in England and Normandy. At the same time Danes emigrated in great numbers to Normandy, North Holland, and especially England, where they colonized, we may say, the whole of the extensive district to the north of Watlinga-Stræt, or almost half England.

We are not informed that Denmark and Norway were emptied of their population in consequence of these great emigrations, or even that there was any sensible want of inhabitants to supply agricultural labourers and soldiers. In the immediately following centuries Denmark was powerful enough to make the Baltic a Danish lake. We can hardly, therefore, assume, like the monkish chronicles of antiquity, which naturally breathe both fear and hatred of the Scandinavian heathens, that the Norwegians and Danes were merely barbarous Vikings, who procured themselves a footing in the western countries only through brute force. On such grounds we should be perfectly unable to explain satisfactorily how Denmark and Norway, with a proportionately small population, should have been able (without becoming too depopulated) to send out at once such a host of people as were evidently required to take possession, by force of arms, of those rich western lands, and also, it must be observed, to maintain their conquests for centuries. If, instead of blindly following these partial and prejudiced chroniclers, we adhere to what the traces of the nature and importance of the Scandinavian emigrations clearly prove, namely, that from the eighth to the twelfth century, and contemporary with the destructive Viking expeditions, peaceful emigrations from the North constantly took place—which, in reality, were just as effective, perhaps even more so, than the purely warlike expeditions of conquest—this matter will be placed in a far more probable and intelligible point of view. As we have seen, sagacity and the arts of peace, together with navigation and trade, in no slight degree assisted the Danes and Norwegians to procure a footing in the British Islands, and especially in England and Ireland. By perseverance and ability in the occupations of peace as well as war, they were soon enabled to gain the ascendancy in the most important seaport towns; whence, by means of various connections of trade, friendship, and family alliances, they extended their influence and dominion over the adjacent towns and districts. They gradually multiplied themselves, and were joined by fresh immigrants; and thus the foundations were almost imperceptibly laid of Scandinavian colonies, which awaited only the coming of some bold military adventurer to appear as independent, nay, even as dominant states. The great warriors to whom history assigns the honour of the conquests in England and Ireland—and, we may also add, Normandy—would scarcely have been able to obtain them with the generally inferior numbers under their command, had not the Scandinavian merchants, and other peaceful colonists, both opened the way for them, and afterwards supported the conquests they had achieved. It is, on the whole, obvious that the ancient Northmen possessed a very great talent for colonization, which their kinsmen, the English of modern times, seem to have inherited from them.

But as the Scandinavian colonies in the British Islands varied greatly in importance, so also must the effects which they produced have been somewhat different. In Ireland, as well as in Scotland, where the Norwegians met with tribes who, in spite of their apparent Christianity, stood rather below them in civilization, they kept themselves more apart from the natives. In Ireland, especially, they dwelt in their own strongly-fortified towns; where, until late in the middle ages, they maintained their own characteristic language, manners, customs, and laws. But in consequence of this, their Norwegian institutions had no real influence on the development of the national life or institutions of Ireland. At most they merely contributed to facilitate the introduction and establishment of the analogous Anglo-Norman institutions into the Irish cities. In England, on the contrary, where the Scandinavian colonies were far more numerous and powerful than in Scotland and Ireland, the Danish colonists certainly sought, after the Scandinavian fashion, to maintain in the midst of a foreign country their pure Danish laws, manners, and customs. Yet here the Danes, owing to the superior civilization which prevailed among the earlier Anglo-Saxon inhabitants of England, were soon influenced by their language and culture, and became more and more amalgamated with them. Nevertheless the Danes in England were sufficiently numerous and independent to maintain the most important of their free Scandinavian characteristics, which coalesced with, and by degrees visibly impressed themselves upon, the more modern English manners and institutions.

The Danish colonies in England, and the Norwegian colonies in Scotland and Ireland, had so far the same historical importance that they essentially conduced to found a new life, both externally and internally, in the British Islands, partly by extending trade and navigation, partly by subduing, or at least weakening, the power of the Anglo-Saxons, the Scotch, and the Irish, and thus in general preparing for a kindred race (the Normans) the dominion over all these people. It is well known that the Norman sway and the Norman spirit established themselves in Scotland and Ireland far later than in England—a circumstance chiefly owing to the conquests and settlements of the Norwegians in those countries having been far less extensive and important than the Danish conquests in England. Yet that the Danish-Norman spirit predominating in England has been able to maintain to our times its dominion in Scotland and Ireland also, is no slight evidence of the excellent and solid manner in which the Norwegians must originally have prepared the way.

I have shown that the memorials of the great exploits performed by the Danes and Norwegians in the British Islands still appear as fresh and vivid as if they were of modern date. In this respect, the national pride of those nations will find complete gratification. Still, however, it is possible that a general view of the mighty achievements of the ancient Northmen in the western lands may awaken mingled feelings in many a Scandinavian of the present day. The thought may involuntarily arise in him of what the North was, when its victorious fleets appeared in the north, south, east, and west, and when Scandinavians exercised dominion far and wide, and what it is now—confined within narrow boundaries, menaced from many quarters, and without any preponderating influence on the state of Europe. Beyond the precincts of the North, he will no longer hear his native language, which in former times frequently resounded on foreign shores. The North was forced to shed some of its best and noblest blood; and yet the Northman must now be content, if he can succeed in tracing out, by means of a few words in the popular language, by the names of towns and districts, or by half-erased runic inscriptions on bauta stones, where it was that the “Danish tongue” once prevailed, and where the barrows still rise which cover the race that spoke it.

But such morbid complaints will necessarily vanish when the Scandinavian considers how vividly the ancient power of his race has again displayed itself to the world, and how mighty have been the results of the Norman expeditions; but especially when he ponders on the notorious fact, that the North sent out the flower of its youth and strength, not merely to destroy and plunder, but rather to lay the foundations of a fresher life in the western lands, and thus to impart a new and powerful impulse to human civilization. In our times, besides, it is not chiefly in conquests and the lustre of external greatness that the true happiness and glory of a nation should be sought.

A people, which, like the Scandinavian, have preserved—together with the memorials of former great achievements, and of conquests bringing blessings in their train—enough of the character and courage of their forefathers, not only to maintain the freedom and independence of their country, but also, in comparison with other nations, an honourable place in science and art, cannot justly be said to want either glory or happiness.