Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/99

Rh him a considerable number back to Denmark. After that he was appointed "antiquarius regius," an office which he had to resign because he had committed manslaughter in self-defence. He went to Norway, where in 1682 he was made the royal historiographer of this country. In this position he developed his great and important literary activity, from which came a series of works on northern antiquities, written in Latin, and, when viewed in the light of their time, of inestimable value. His chief work is a large history of Norway in four folio volumes, which, in connection with his "Icelandic hypothesis" (a succession of Danish kings compiled from Icelandic sources and varying from the one established by Saxo, the Grammarian), made a great stir in the learned world and laid the foundation of his great fame. His other works also (contributions to the history of the Fareys, the Orkneys, Vinland, Greenland, etc.) secured him deserved recognition. His works are remarkable for their great learning, and, although they are perceptibly lacking in criticism,—Torfæus was, upon the whole, incapable of distinguishing between myth and history,—still they are not only superior in value to all other works that his age produced in this field, but they are even at the present time of importance to the historian, and Holberg did not without reason characterize the history of Norway, which is written in elegant Latin, as "one of the most noteworthy and excellent historical works that have ever seen the light of the world."

A younger contemporary and countryman of Torfæus, (1663-1730), made his name famous less by his writings—for he has scarcely written anything in book form, although he left behind him a great number of memoranda, which not only bear evidence of his incredible industry and comprehensive knowledge of the old literature, but