and their mode of living, and upon the formation of communities and religious ideas. There can be no doubt that communities with an ordered legal system were formed at a very early period in Norway as well as in Sweden and Denmark. At the close of the 8th century the Viking period commenced in Norway. «The Viking expeditions began with inexplicable suddenness, and their history for two centuries reads like an incredible tale of romance» (Shetelig). In these expeditions the Norwegian Vikings went mainly to Britain, Ireland and France, partly for plunder and partly for conquest. In Ireland, and on the mainland and islands of Britain, Norwegian Vikings estab- lished their own kingdoms, Some of these kingdoms existed for several hundred years. Rolf the Ganger, the son of the Norwegian Earl Ragnvald of M@re, founded in 911 the dukedom of Normandy, which he received in fief from the French king. Even prior to the Viking period several «king- doms» had been established in Norway. But during the Viking period Harald Haarfagre, after a struggle against the petty kings extending over several years, finally defeated them in 872 and brought the whole of Norway under his sway. That year marks Norway’s entry into history as one kingdom, and also the inception of the Saga period — the most glorious in the history of the country. This was a period of discovery and of emigration to the islands in the West, to West Greenland and America. Among Norwegian emi- 8