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COXE’’S TRAVELS IN DENMARK. 317
lifhment of chriftianity. Ifief was born in 1006; and, having received the firft rudi-
ments of learning from his father, was fent, in the fixteenth year of his age, into Saxony,
for the purpofe of completing his education, and made rapid advances in feveral
branches of knowledge *. Being ordained prieft, he returned to Iceland; fixed his re-
fidence at Skalholt, where his father had ere€ted a church, and preached the Gofpel
with fervent and perfuafive eloquence. _Iftief was the firft native bifhop of Iceland: he
was raifed to that dignity in the fiftieth year of his age, at the requeft of the inhabitants,
by particular defire of the Emperor Henry III. and during the pontificate of Leo IX,
He was confecrated by the Archbifhop of Bremen, on the fixth of January 1056; and
returning the fame year to Iceland, fixed the fee at Skalholt, where he continued until his
death, which happened in 1080, in the feventy-fifth year of his age. _Iflief is defcribed
as a perfon of a dignified afpect, affable, juft, and upright in all his actions, liberal and
beneficent, though, from the fcantinefs of his income, frequently expofed to extreme
penury. The fame of his learning and piety being widely diflufed, many foreign
bifhops vifited Iceland, for the purpofe of receiving his inftructions ; and his memory
was fo highly revered among his countrymen, that his name was efteemed fynonimous
to fanctity and erudition. He married Dalla, daughter of Thorwal, by whom he had
three fons, all celebrated for their talents and knowledge; but particularly Giflur, who
fucceeded his father in the bifhopric, and inherited his zeal for the propagation of the
Gofpel, and the promotion of Jearning. Iflief guarded againft the decline of literature
in Iceland, by affiduoufly inftru€ting many pupils, fome of whom became eminently
diftinguifhed, and two were advanced to the epifcopal dignity. He was well verfed in
the hiftory of the north, and compiled feveral annals, which, though now loft, furnifhed
materials for the chronicles of the earlieft Icelandic authors, whofe works are extant.
I allude to Are, furnamed the Sage, who was educated by Teitus, fon of Iflief; Sa-
mund Sigfurfon, for his great erudition denominated Polyhiftor, and Snorro Sturlefon,
ftyled by his learned editor, the Herodotus of the north ; all of whom immediately fuc-
ceeded Iflief, and wrote on the hiftory of Norway.
Many fubfequent annalifts made their appearance, of whom it would be fuperfluous
to give am account. Several of their writings, compofed in the Icelandic tongue, have
been given to the public, fome printed in Iceland f, others in Sweden ; but the greater
part in Denmark, accompanied with Swedith, Danifh, or Latin tranflations {. ‘The moft
important of thefe publications is a folio edition of the chronicle of Snorro, printed at
Copenhagen in 1778, accompanied with a life of the author. He was born in 1178,
received his education, and completed his ftudies in Iceland ; became chief magiftrate
of the country, and was killed in an infurrection in 1241, in the fixty-third year of his
age. According to his biographer, he was an excellent poet, an accurate hiftorian, a
fkilful lawyer, a proficient in the Greek and Latin tongues, and not ignorant of ma-
thematics and mechanics §. From his chronicle, ‘Torfzeus, the late annalift of the north,
* This account of Iflief I have extracted from Kriftni Saga, p. 106 to 109, 130 to14r. Hungervaka
Saka, p. 13 to 25.
+ Von ’Troil fares us, that printing was introduced into Iceland by John (or Jonas) Arefon, bifhop
of Holun; that John Mathieffon, a Swede, was the firft printer; and that the firlt book was the Breviari-
um Nidarofienfe, printed in 1531 at Holun. He adds, that new types were brought thither in 1574; and
that the Icelandic bible was printed in 1584. See Letters on Iceland, p. 182. :
{ Fora lift of the Icelandic authors, fee Preface to Annales Biornornis de Skardfa, p. 5. North. Ant,
i. p. 52. et paffim. Letters on Iceland, letter xiv. The library of the Britifh Mufeum contains about one
hundred and eighty Icelandic manufcripts. See Ayfcough’s catalogue of the manufcripts of the Britith
Mufeum, p. 890. § Preface, p ix.
7 chiefly
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