ngland, who "had him baptized and brought
up in the right faith," and he became a great king under the name of
Haakon the Good. From England he brought over teachers, and he built
churches; and then at last he addressed all the leaders of his people
and besought them "all, young and old, rich and poor, women as well as
men, that they should all allow themselves to be baptized, and should
believe in one God, and in Christ the Son of Mary, and refrain from all
sacrifices and heathen gods, and should keep holy the seventh day, and
abstain from all work on it, and keep a fast on the seventh day." [2]
But it was long before his people obeyed him. Rebellion and dynastic
war followed in rapid succession; and he died of a wound from a chance
arrow that struck him as he pursued his defeated foes. The first
Christian king of Norway died in a land which was still heathen. But
the seed was sown in the hearts of the men who had seen the brave,
strong, chivalrous life of him who owned Christ for Lord.

[Sidenote: Olaf Trigvason.]

In Denmark the conversion begun in the ninth century was long delayed,
and it was not till Otto I. conquered the Danes and sent Bishop Poppo
who instructed King Harold and his army so that they were baptized,
that the land {132} became definitely a Christian kingdom. From
Denmark the gospel spread again to Norway; but it was not till near the
end of the tenth century that Olaf Trigvason was baptized by a hermit
on one of the Scilly Isles, and then in his short reign devoted himself
to converting his people, often forcibly, as a choice between death and
baptism. To Iceland and Greenland too Olaf sent missionaries. He died
at last, like a true Wiking hero, in a sea fight; and it was not until
the next century and the days of Olaf the Saint that the faith of
Christ conquered the North.

[Sidenote: The conversion of Iceland.]

There seems no doubt that Christianity in Iceland began by missionary
enterprise from Irish monks. From time to time anchorites sought
refuge in that _ultima Thule_, "that they might pray to God in peace";
but whether they did any direct work of conversion is doubtful. The
actual conversion came undoubtedly from Norway. A Christian queen
lived in Iceland at the end of the ninth century, the wife of the Norse
Olaf who was king in Dublin; but little if any impression was made on
the heathenism of the people. Nearly a century later an Icelander
called Thorwald Kothransson brou