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14 INTEODTTCTION.
sj)irit of the forsaken religion, hence it was doomed
in turn to give way before the presence of that power
which had supplanted the old faith and had softened
the rude life of their forefathers. The literature of
the Old-Northmen became neglected ; it was suffered
to sink into oblivion. The ,
manuscripts in which it
was preserved, became lost or forgotten, and for a
long period the early history of the people of the
North was but little known to themselves except
through the medium of distorted tradition or the
semi-fabulous accounts of Paulus Diaconus,* Adam
of Bremen,f and Saxo Grammaticus.:]:
Such was the state of literature at the era when
the Reformation was introduced in the North. With
the new life which was then introduced, the love of
learning, after a slumber of two centuries, was re-
vived, and the various branches of science were pur-
sued with more or less zeal. In the general progress
of knowledge, the lore of antiquity began to receive^
special attention, and the researches of antiquarians
brought to light some old manuscripts which were
found in Iceland. At once a new fountain was
* Paul WarnefrideBon, a Longobard wlio, about the end of the
eighth century, -wrote historical sketohea of the Longobard heroes,
•which begin -with Scandinavia.
f A canon of Bremen, in the latter half of the eleventh century,who
wrote a history of the Archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen, and appended
a geographical view of Denmark and the other northern
countries.
i Saxe Lange, -who, from his great learning received the name of
Saxo Grammaticus (the scholar), lived in the latter half of the
twelfth century. At the instigation of Archbishop Absalon, he
wrote the history of Denmark from the beginning to the year 1187.