where
they winter, and from where they command the surrounding country.
During the third period they no longer confine themselves to seeking
booty, but act as real conquerors, take possession of the conquered
territory, and rule it. As to the influence of the Northmen on the
development of the countries visited in this last period, the eminent
English writer, Samuel Laing, the translator of the _Heimskringla_, or
the Sagas of the Norse kings, says:

"All that men hope for of good government and future improvement in
their physical and moral condition--all that civilized men enjoy at
this day of civil, religious, and political liberty--the British
constitution, representative legislation, the trial by jury, security
of property, freedom of mind and person, the influence of public
opinion over the conduct of public affairs, the Reformation, the
liberty of the press, the spirit of the age--all that is or has been
of value to man in modern times as a member of society, either in
Europe or in the New World, may be traced to the spark left burning
upon our shores by these northern barbarians."

The authentic history begins with Halfdan the Swarthy, who reigned
from the year 821 to 860. The Icelander Snorre Sturlason, who, in
the twelfth century, wrote the _Heimskringla_, or Sagas of the Norse
Kings, gives a long line of preceding kings of the Yngling race, the
royal family to which Halfdan the Swarthy belonged; but that part of
the Saga belongs to mythology rather than to history.

According to tradition, the Yngling family were descendants of
Fiolner, the son of the god Frey. One of the surnames of the god was
Yngve, from which the family derived the name Ynglings. King Halfdan
was a wise man, a lover of truth and justice. He made good laws, which
he observed himself and compelled others to observe. He fixed certain
penalties for all crimes committed. His code of laws, called the
Eidsiva Law, was adopted at a common _Thing_ at Eidsvol, where about a
thousand years later the present constitution of Norway was adopted.

One day in the spring of 860, when Halfdan the Swarthy was driving
home from a feast across the Randsfjord, he broke through the ice and
was drowned. He was so popular that, when his body was found, the
leading men in each _Fylki_ demanded to have him buried with them,
believing that it would bring prosperity to the district. They at last
agreed to divide the body into four parts, which were buried in four