Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/97

Rh The study of northern antiquities was, of course, prosecuted in the northern lands by the aid of constant communication with Iceland. Here, too, Arngrim had pointed out the way, for he carried on a lively correspondence with the Danish antiquary, Ole Worm, sent him the manuscript of the Younger Edda, and contributed materially in various other ways to promote the studies of this eminent man in this field. His example was followed by other Icelanders. Thus the translator of the Icelandic Bible, Bishop (1597-1656), communicated to Ole Worm the earliest investigations in regard to Icelandic poetry. Bishop (1605-1675) was also in constant communication with Ole Worm and other scholars, and is famous as the discoverer of important manuscripts, particularly of that of the.

While these studies were being pursued, a few efforts were made to take up again and continue in the Icelandic tongue the writing of history which had been so long neglected. Such an effort was made by the peasant, of Skardsá, who wrote the annals of the time from 1400 to 1646, which, from the home of the author, are called the Skardsá-annals. In this connection it is proper to mention that the learned investigations gave the impulse to the reawakening, in the seventeenth century, of popular, traditional literature, independent of the strictly historical field. Even at the present time oral traditions circulate, which must be accepted with the greatest caution, since their pretended claim to genuineness and trustworthiness will, on a careful examination, be found unfounded. The same is largely true of modern manuscripts of sagas, poems, laws, etc., since such manuscripts have been made, even in very recent times, partly for the purpose of deception, partly without any sinister motive, they being simply the result of the strange coöperation of an extravagant fancy and a tendency to produce poetry.

An important work, one which must be done if the study