influence already in those early days was of great importance, since they were not only prelates, but at the same time highly esteemed and powerful chiefs. The first native-born bishop of Iceland, Isleif, who had received his education and priestly ordination in the convent school at Herford in Westphalia, and who, at the instigation of his countrymen, complaining that they did not have a bishop of their own, in the fiftieth year of his age, A.D. 1056, accepted this office, also retained his position as peasant and chief, and of his son and successor, Gissur, it is expressly stated that he was at once bishop and king.
Bishop Gissur completed the task of organizing the ecclesiastical affairs in Iceland. The tithe was introduced, and as it is characteristic of the general condition of affairs under his management, it deserves to be especially pointed out that this tax, which usually has been so unpopular, was collected by him without the least opposition. Theological schools and cloisters were established. In short, none of the ecclesiastical institutions were wanting in Iceland—with the exception, indeed, of one very important one, that of celibacy—but they were all of a character wholly different from that of the corresponding institutions in other countries, and the priestly spirit of caste was never developed.
In regard to the literature of Iceland, it must be admitted that the priests took a conspicuous part in the intellectual development of the people and that they were in possession of no inconsiderable amount of culture for that time, but they were not the only people of culture. Toward the end of the eleventh century it is expressly stated that many of the chiefs were so learned that they with perfect propriety might have been ordained to the priesthood, and in the twelfth century there were, in addition to those to be found in the cloisters, several private libraries in the island. On the other hand, secular culture, knowledge of law and history, and of the skaldic art were, so to speak, common property. And thus, when the means for committing a literature
