ng. Society was divided only into two classes of men,
the free and unfree, though political power was in the hands of the
franklins alone; "godi" and thrall ate the same food, spoke the same
tongue, wore much the same clothes, and were nearly alike in life and
habits. Among the free men there was equality in all but wealth and the
social standing that cannot be separated therefrom. The thrall was a
serf rather than a slave, and could own a house, etc., of his own. In a
generation or so the freeman or landless retainer, if he got a homestead
of his own, was the peer of the highest in the land. During the tenth
century Greenland was colonised from Iceland, and by end of the same
century christianity was introduced into Iceland, but made at first
little difference in arrangements of society. In the thirteenth century
disputes over the power and jurisdiction of the clergy led, with other
matters, to civil war, ending in submission to Norway, and the breaking
down of all native great houses. Although life under the commonwealth
had been rough and irregular, it had been free and varied, breeding
heroes and men of mark; but the "law and order" now brought in left
all on a dead level of peasant proprietorship, without room for hope
or opening for ambition. An alien governor ruled the island, which
was divided under him into local counties, administered by sheriffs
appointed by the king of Norway. The Al-thing was replaced by a royal
court, the local work of the local things was taken by a subordinate
of the sheriff, and things, quarter-courts, trial by jury, and all the
rest, were swept away to make room for these "improvements", which have
lasted with few changes into this century. In 1380 the island passed
under the rule of Denmark, and so continues. (9) During the fifteenth
century the English trade was the only link between Iceland and the
outer world; the Danish government weakened that link as much as it
could, and sought to shut in and monopolise everything Icelandic; under
the deadening effect of such rule it is no marvel that everything found
a lower level, and many things went out of existence for lack of use.
In the sixteenth century there is little to record but the Reformation,
which did little good, if any, and the ravages of English, Gascon, and
Algerine pirates who made havoc on the coast; (10) they appear toward
the close of the century and disappear early in the seventeenth. In the
eighteenth century small-pox,