Norway

NORWAY. - I. GEOGRAPHY. - The territory of N. corresponds to the western part of the Scandinavian peninsula, from the North Cape to the Skagerrak, and consists of the narrow Atlantic rim over which the inner plateau hangs, as well as a strip of the opposite southwestern slope. Mountains and plateaus (in the interior) prevail there, along with long, deep valleys that lead down to the coast at the characteristic fjords, usually bordered by swarms of small islands. The prevalence of the humid western ocean winds and the benefit of the presence of a warm sea current ensure the coastal zone a relatively mild climate, with winters that are not harsh and cool summers; the rains, abundant everywhere, allow in the lower parts a luxuriance of meadows and forests (conifers). The Atlantic watercourses are many, but short; somewhat longer are those that end at the Skagerrak (the largest the Glommen), all, as a rule, interrupted by rapids or waterfalls.

Only 3.5% of the territory consists of arable land and meadows, 1/6 of forests, the rest is unproductive. The shallow depth of the seabed along the coast and the tepid temperature of the sea waters allow the development of a rich fish fauna (cod in the N., herring and mackerel in the S.). The country's economy is therefore based on maritime activity (fishing and trade), but industries also figure there with a relatively large share, due to the abundant availability of hydroelectric energy, of timber (cellulose, paper), and of mineral resources, though more varied (copper, silver, nickel, molybdenum, zinc) than plentiful (iron and pyrites, however, in good quantity). Metallurgy, electrochemistry and mechanical industries flourish above all, alongside which mention should be made of the fish industries (oils and canned goods), and the food industries (condensed milk, cheese, butter), which are connected with extensive livestock raising (including fur-bearing animals).

The population, two thirds of which is concentrated on the coast and in the islands, lives in numerous but small coastal centers. Slightly less than 1/4 of it belongs to the only three cities that exceed 50,000 inhabitants, Oslo (420,000), Bergen (120,000) and Trondheim (58,000), which correspond to the largest industrial centers.

N. is a constitutional monarchy: legislative power belongs to the Storting (150 representatives, elected for 4 years by direct universal suffrage), which in turn divides into the Lagting (or upper chamber; 1/4 of the representatives) and the Odelsting (or lower chamber). Almost the entire population is Lutheran (Catholics do not exceed 3,000 souls).

To N. belong the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard (63,000 sq km), with a fluctuating population of miners (coal) and seal hunters, and Jan Mayen Island in the Arctic; the Bouvet, Peter and Princess Ragnhild Islands in the Antarctic.

Giuseppe Caraci

II. CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

In pagan N. the first attempts to Christianize the country go back to King Haakon the Good, baptized and educated in England, who in the 10th century tried in vain to convert his people. His mission failed, but it was taken up again by King Olaf Tryggvason who, around the year 1000, succeeded in introducing the religion of Christ into the country and persuaded the majority of his subjects to abjure paganism. His successor too, Olaf Haraldsson (1015-30), venerated as a saint after his death, was a fervent supporter of Christianity and requested from the archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen the sending

	Regions (and Provinces or Fylker)	Area in sq km	Population census 1946	Density per sq km
Northern N. (Finnmark, Troms, Nordland, Nord-Trøndelag)	134,954	494,163	3.6
Central N. (Sør-Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Oppland, Hedmark)	105,670	797,879	7.5
Southern N. (Bergen, Hordaland, Rogaland, West Agder, Aust Agder, Telemark, Vestfold, Buskerud, Østfold, Akershus, Oslo)	81,299	1,865,215	22.9
Total (including inland waters)	324,132	3,157,257	9.7

of German missionaries. Under the reign of Olaf the Silent the bishoprics of Bergen, Oslo and Nidaros (Trondheim) were established in the course of the 11th century; they remained under the jurisdiction of Hamburg-Bremen until 1104, when they passed under the authority of the newly erected archdiocese of Lund. In 1152 the Holy See sent to N. Cardinal Breakspear, the future Pope Adrian IV, as apostolic legate, who proceeded to establish the archbishopric of Nidaros with ten suffragan dioceses: Bergen, Stavanger, Oslo, Hamar, Faroe Islands, Gardar in Greenland, Holar and Skalholt in Iceland, Orkney Islands and Man. The Church acquired an ever greater importance in the life of the country.

From the 14th century onward the history of N. became closely intertwined, because of the struggles over the succession, with that of Sweden and Denmark. The Union of Kalmar in 1397 also outwardly united the three Scandinavian states: from then on the kings of Denmark were also kings of N. After the abdication of Christian II (1523) the ties between Denmark and N. were severed and for a moment it seemed that N. would no longer be subject to Danish rule. The political energy of Frederick I and of Christian III nevertheless served to reassert Danish sovereignty over the country. The Protestant Reformation had meanwhile begun to spread in N. The first to preach the new faith there was a German monk by the name of Anthony, who in 1528 in Bergen made the first proselytes. The spread of Lutheranism was opposed by the archbishop of Nidaros, Olaf Engelbrektsson, but the accession to the throne of Christian III, who in 1536 introduced the Reformation in Denmark and reasserted, conquering it by force of arms, his rule over N., forced the metropolitan to flee to Holland, where he died in 1538. The Catholic Church thus remained completely at the mercy of the victor. Christian III proceeded to expel the bishops and to confiscate ecclesiastical property. The Danish ecclesiastical ordinance of 1537 acquired force also in N. Lutheranism was proclaimed the state religion. The Danish liturgical texts - the Bible of Christian III in the translation of Christiern Pedersen (v.), the Danish version of Luther's Catechism, etc. - were introduced into the country. Only in 1607, under the reign of Christian IV, did N. have an ecclesiastical ordinance of its own which, although in substance it was nothing but the Danish one of 1537 revised, nevertheless took into account the particular conditions of the country. The political rivalry between Denmark and Sweden, which both sought to assert their dominion over the Baltic Sea and the straits leading into it, had repercussions also in N., whose army took part in the campaigns against Sweden. N. nevertheless always preserved its territorial integrity and remained united with Denmark until the beginning of the 19th century. From the religious point of view N. in the centuries following the Reformation presented an evolution analogous to that of Denmark. In N. too, as in Denmark, there was the struggle between the so-called crypto-Calvinists and the orthodox, who gained the upper hand toward the middle of the 17th century. In the 18th century Pietism, coming from Denmark and Germany, spread through the country. The economic difficulties, a direct consequence of the naval blockade of the European coasts proclaimed by England during the Napoleonic era, contributed to the national awakening, which had been asserting itself more and more toward the end of the 18th century. N., finding itself suddenly isolated, threatened in the East by Sweden allied with England, reduced to extremely critical conditions because of the shortage of supplies inexorably intercepted by the British fleet, found itself forced to proceed in 1807 to the constitution of a government Commission, which agreed on a modus vivendi with England. Sweden, after the abdication of King Gustav IV, having allied itself with Russia and with the powers of the anti-Napoleonic coalition, declared war on Denmark and forced it by the Peace of Kiel (1814) to renounce in its own favor all rights over N. The Norwegians at first refused to recognize this cession of their country and, having assembled in a constituent assembly at Eidsvoll, drew up a constitution that proclaimed N. a hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary regime, but afterward they came to an agreement with Sweden. From 1814 to 1905 N. was united with Sweden, a union that guaranteed it full autonomy and independence, on the basis of the fundamental law of Eidsvoll but with the king of Sweden as head of state (personal union). The union was dissolved, after negotiations between the two states, in 1905 and, after a popular referendum, which was favorable to a monarchical form of government, Prince Charles of Denmark was proclaimed king, taking the name Haakon VII. During the First World War N. succeeded in preserving its neutrality. This was not the case, however, during the Second World War: in Apr. 1940 it was in fact attacked by the Germans; the Sovereign, after stubborn resistance, was forced to seek refuge in England and Germany took advantage of this to install in the country a collaborationist government headed by Vidkun Quisling. When the war ended Haakon VII returned to his homeland. In 1949 N. was one of the signatory states of the Atlantic Pact.

Silvio Furlani

Apostolic vicariate and prefectures. - On 23 Sept. 1783 the apostolic vicariate of Sweden was erected, which also included N. This was erected as a mission tui iuris on 7 Aug. 1868 and elevated on 17 Aug. 1868 to an apostolic prefecture and on 11 March 1892 to an apostolic vicariate.

On 1 June 1913 the islands of Spitzbergen (or Svalbard) were annexed to the vicariate and it received the name of apostolic vicariate of N. and Spitzbergen. By decree of 15 Dec. 1925 its former name was restored to it. In 1931 the northern and central territories were detached to give rise to the district of central N. (7 Apr. 1931) and the district of northern N. (8 Apr. 1931). The apostolic vicariate of N. was called the apostolic vicariate of Oslo (v.). On 10 March 1944 the two apostolic districts became apostolic prefectures.

The apostolic prefecture of central N. [Norway], entrusted to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, has an area of 56,234 sq. km. and a population of 500,000 inhabitants, of whom 235 are Catholics. There are 5 priests, 49 nuns, 1 elementary school with 6 pupils, 4 chapels; the Ordinary resides in Trondheim.

The apostolic prefecture of northern N. [Norway], entrusted to the Missionaries of the Holy Family, has an area of 176,760 sq. km. and a population of 360,000 inhabitants. There are 226 Catholics, with 8 priests and 27 nuns. There are 4 churches, 1 elementary school with 72 pupils, and 3 hospitals with 125 beds.

Saverio Paventi

III. LITERATURE

At its beginnings it is difficult to separate Norwegian literature from Icelandic, so much so that the comprehensive term Old Norse literature has been coined. Mythological and heroic material common to the entire Scandinavian world and, in part, also to the Germanic one is found in the songs of the Edda, and famous throughout the North were the skalds of Iceland, who very soon replaced the local skalds in the Norwegian courts themselves. Even in the prose sagas, although so characteristic of Iceland, frequent echoes and memories of the Norwegian world recur, and to an Icelander, Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241), is owed the first history of the kings of N., narrated in saga form from the mythical origins to 1177 (Heimskringla). Karl Jonsson, author of the Sverres Saga, was also Icelandic.

With the conversion to Christianity and the introduction of the use of writing, the premises for a national literature seemed to be forming; but N., declined both politically and economically, produced nothing noteworthy during the Middle Ages. When later, around the 16th century, there was a revival also in the cultural field, there no longer existed practically a Norwegian language, but only dialects, and the literary language was that of the conquering country, Denmark. Thus for another two centuries there would be individual Norwegian authors within the sphere of Danish literature.

Of the scant medieval literature in Latin, more than certain works of a historical character and collections of laws and sermons, it is worth remembering some beautiful religious hymns, among which the sequence in honor of St. Olaf, Lux illuxit laetabunda, still sung in Norwegian Catholic churches. The numerous Folkeviser, handed down orally for generations, are probably nothing but a local reworking of Danish Folkeviser: of native Norwegian origin, perhaps, are the so-called Trollevier, of a more fantastic inspiration. Numerous are the translations and reworkings of the chivalric poems widespread in medieval Europe: more interesting are a Kongespeilet ("Mirror of Kings") of 1260 and a Draumkvaedet ("Vision") of apocalyptic tone, composed around 1300. N. has nothing to say either in the political or in the literary field during the 14th-15th and 16th centuries: to the influence of Humanism is owed a slow awakening of letters and of national consciousness, but soon the "Reformation" takes over, accepted everywhere without opposition and without any felt need for a translation of the Bible of its own. Among the works owed to humanists are remembered Om Norges Rige ("On the Kingdom of N.") by Absalon Pedersson Beyer (1528-75), also known for his Diario, and the Norges Beskrivelse ("Description of N.") by the Protestant pastor Peder Claussen Friis (1545-1614), translator of the sagas of the Norwegian kings of Snorri, which came to form part of the national heritage. Greater diffusion outside N., because written in classical Latin, had the Chronicum regum Norvegiae of Hallvard Gunnarsøn (1545-1608). Great popularity was acquired by the Protestant pastor Peter Dass (1647-1707) with his poetic work Nordlands Trompet ("Trumpet of the North"), where the nature and the inhabitants of northern N. are described for the first time. Baroque and sentimental are the hymns of Dorothea Engelbretsdatter (d. 1716). If the lyric poetry of Peter Christopher Stenersön (1723-76) and of Christian Baumann Tullin (1728-65) can be considered Norwegian, to Danish literature belongs instead the work of the playwright L. Holberg (1684-1754), Norwegian by birth, as well as the writers of the so-called "Norwegian Society" founded in Copenhagen in 1772 by Norwegian students (N. had a university of its own only in 1811) with vague literary and nationalist intentions. More than to Germany, from which the first Romantic voices came, these young men sought their literary models in France: epigones of classicism of French taste, albeit in an atmosphere of vague pre-Romanticism, are considered J. Nordal Brun and Niels Krogh Bredal, authors among other things of tragedies in that classicistic taste which was so well parodied by J. H. Wessel (1724-85) in Kaerlighed uden Strømper ("Love without Stockings"). Of the other members of the group it will suffice to remember Claus Fasting, Jens Zetlitz and E. Storm. N. was the last of the Scandinavian countries to welcome, not without reservations, the new Romantic gospel, brought to the North by the Norwegian H. Steffens (1773-1845). The Romantic concept of "nation" contributed, however, to the national awakening: not a few members of the "Norwegian Society" in 1814 would take an active part in the proclamation of independence. Amid political struggles and new national problems, two currents were meanwhile forming also in the literary field: that of the "intellectuals," culturally linked to Denmark and, through it, to Germany and Europe, and that of the "patriots," interested only in whatever was Norwegian, as the short stories of Mauritz Hansen and the works in Norwegian dialect of H. Anker Bierregaard demonstrate. The most genuine representative of the new Norwegian world in formation is H. Wergeland (1808-45). A genius temperament and full of vitality, endowed with great force of conviction and real poetic gifts, but incapable of formal rigor and self-criticism, he looks with enthusiasm at the contemporary European nationalist movements, but what truly interests him is N. and its people. Of his production, today largely surpassed, more than the cosmic drama Skabelsen, Mennesket og Messias ("The Creation, Man and Messiah") of 1830, where the figure of Christ is presented in the light of the new political and social ideas that would lead in France to the July Revolution, it will be worth remembering the two collections of poems Første Ring and Anden Ring ("First Ring"; "Second Ring"). Opposite is the temperament of the other representative of Romanticism, J. S. Welhaven (1807-73), who, in violent polemic with Wergeland, contributed not a little to the development of the literary life of N. For him, the rupture of relations with Denmark and with Germany means the end of N. Although he indulges in the fashionable Romantic nationalism, his sense of measure always makes him an enemy of every rhetorical exaggeration regarding the documents of the national past, to the study of which he nonetheless urges the young. But Welhaven too counts above all as a lyric poet, as the four collections of poems published from 1839 to 1860 demonstrate.

The greater political stability following 1840 contributes to mitigating the harshness of literary polemics; even the ancient documents are studied with true scientific interest. Thus arise the collections of national fairy tales and legends of Asbjørnsen and Moe (Norske Folkeeventyr; Folkesang), while the Folkeviser, still handed down orally in the countryside, are transcribed and published by Landstad and Bygge. The desire for a national language and the ever greater interest in dialects lead to opposing to the "Riksmaal," very close to Danish despite the ever more extensive will for differentiation, the "Landsmaal," artificially created as a literary language, but scientifically based on the oldest dialectal tradition of the country. Creator and codifier of the new language was Ivar Aasen (1813-96), author of the Norske Folkesprogsgrammatik ("Grammar of the Norwegian Popular Language," 1848) and of the Ordbog over det norske Folkesprog ("Dictionary of the Norwegian Popular Language," 1850) and of poems in "Landsmaal." Despite the contribution of O. Vinje (1818-70), the "Landsmaal" establishes itself only with difficulty as a literary language, nor has it yet succeeded in replace the "Riksmaal" entirely. While O. Vinje's Ferdaminni paa Sumøven ("Travel Memories") already prelude to naturalism, a conventional romanticism is still found in the dramas of A. Munch (1811-84), also the author of beautiful lyrics, and in the works of J. Moe (1813-82), the collector of folk legends.

Having completed its artistic and literary apprenticeship, N. is now ready to appear on the European literary stage. The Wergeland-Welhaven pairing seems to repeat itself in a different climate and with far greater European resonance with the appearance of H. Ibsen ([v.] 1828-1906) and of B. Bjørnsen: tempestuous and tormented the former, enthusiastic and optimistic the latter, both formed by the romantic experience and both engaged in a naturalistic representation of the problems of contemporary society.

If Ibsen seemed to take up Welhaven's task as a critic of his own people, Bjørnsbjørne Bjørnsen (1832-1910) consciously continues Wergeland's animating work among the youth. Open to every influence and every enthusiasm, trusting in life and in men to the point of naivety, despite his moral intransigence, Bjørnsen had, unlike Ibsen, the gift of making the masses vibrate, as a lecturer, journalist, playwright and novelist, despite the opposition of certain conservative circles. The value of his vast output, in part forgotten, did not match this. Purely literary interest attaches to the dramatic works of his early romantic and Grundtvigian period, inspired by Nordic antiquities, while the short stories of the same period are among his best works. A small masterpiece is Synnøve Solbakken (1857), in which the world of Norwegian peasants is presented with an immediacy that draws directly on the tradition of the sagas. But the world of Grundtvig and of Danish romanticism is repudiated by Bjørnsen around the '70s in favor of that of Brandes, Darwin and Spencer, even if his intransigence in the ethical field soon leads him to assume a position apart. After some tendentially democratic dramas, he stirs up a veritable storm with the drama En Handske ("A Glove", 1883), in which the proclaimed equality of the sexes leads him to demand premarital chastity for men as well. The drama Over Aevne ("Beyond Our Powers", part 1 1883, part 2 1895) has greater value both human and poetic, imbued with a religious spirit, despite the ever-present anti-Christian polemic. The burning problem of En Handske is taken up more broadly in the novel Det flager i Byen og paa Havnen ("Flags over the Town and the Harbor", 1884); perhaps superior is Paa Guds veje ("On God's Ways", 1889), with which Bjørnsen returns to the world of the peasants that had inspired his first short stories, in order to proclaim a human morality not bound to any confession.

With Ibsen and Bjørnsen the golden age of Norwegian theater comes to an end (one may still recall the dramas of Gunnar Heiberg): from now on writers, in order to make their voice heard in the political and social struggle, will make use of the novel, following the path already marked out by Bjørnsen and, even earlier, by Camilla Collett (1813-95), who contributed not a little to the intellectual and literary development of the nation, even outside the field of women's claims, encouraging among others Asbjørnsen and Moe in their work as collectors of the national heritage, and, even before Ibsen, posed to contemporary society the problems of woman and marriage in the novel Amtmandens Døtre ("The Prefect's Daughters", 1855), her masterpiece.

Now begins for N. the great period of the novel, the fruit of a happy grafting of French naturalism and the Russian novel onto the native narrative tradition of the saga. The first of the novelists of the new generation is Jonas Lie (1833-1908), who did not intend to make himself a reformer of morals, content to alternate naturalistic descriptions of milieu and impressionistic notes of landscape with dark visionary fantasies.

While Lie took an interest exclusively in the life of the individual, taking pleasure in fine psychological investigations, A. Kielland (1849-1906), a tempestuous figure of a fighter, addressed exclusively the political and social problems of his era. Coming from the upper bourgeoisie, his wealth provoked in him almost a guilt complex that led him, at least literarily, into the democratic camp, which however he soon abandoned, disillusioned. Endowed with great formal taste, he did not neglect to exercise his style in contact with French naturalism, although he used literature as a means of struggle: proof of this are the two novels Garman og Worse (1880) and Skipper Worse ("The Sailor Worse", 1882), his best works.

More than Elster, continuer in N. of Jacobsen's work, and of Amalie Skram, also interested in the problems of woman and marriage, it is worth recalling Arne Garborg (1851-1924). Mystic and intellectual at the same time, raised in a rigid pietist environment and therefore hostile to Brandes and Bjørnson, in his youth he could not resist the influence of European naturalism, subsequently landing in symbolism and in a vague aestheticizing religiosity; his opposition to naturalism is also conscious in his lyric poetry.

Heir to the now established Norwegian narrative tradition, although he began his literary career protesting against the four greats (Ibsen, Bjørnson, Lie, Kielland) in favor of the young, is Knut Hamsun (b. 1859). An admirer of Dostoevsky and Nietzsche and bound by an almost physical love to his native land, after a brief journey to America he unites in his protest industrialization, socialism, pacifism, feminism and internationalism; to which he counterposes a boundless individualism on the one hand and the most ancient values of the land and of the ancestors on the other, seen in the light of a romantic nationalism. The success of his novels has been great throughout Europe; the utopian Markens Grode ("The Growth of the Soil", 1917) earned him the Nobel Prize.

United with Hamsun in the protest against the leveling of modern life but very far from him in his conclusions, Hans E. Kinck (1868-1926), a fine writer and intelligent investigator of the soul of his people. In his wake, or rather in Hamsun's, there have been in recent years in N. many novels of a, so to speak, strappesano type: worthy of his European fame, Den sidste Viking ("The Last Viking") by Johan Bojer (1872), which describes the hard life of the fishermen of the Lofoten Islands.

The deeply Christian Norwegian Middle Ages, even if largely based on pagan tradition, lives again in the grandiose historical novel Kristin Lavransdatter ("Kristin Lavransdatter", 1920-22) by Sigrid Undset (v.; 1882-1949), the first Norwegian woman writer and the first Scandinavian Catholic to be awarded the Nobel Prize.

Into a very different milieu we are brought by the social novels of the proletarian writers Johan Fahlberget (1879) and Kristofer Uppdal (1878), while Olaf Dunn (1876) attempts to create with Juvifolke ("The Juvikinghi", 6 vols. 1918-23) a powerful saga-like epic, which runs from prehistoric times to our own day.

The spiritual and economic malaise of the postwar period is present in the works both narrative and dramatic of Helge Krog and of Sigurd Hoel (1890), participants from the radical camp in the struggles of those years and soon sadly disillusioned in their revolutionary enthusiasms. The same is the experience of the poet Arnuld Overland (1889), who expresses in a form of classical sobriety his prophetic anguish at what loomed over the world. More direct is the revolutionary polemic of Rudolf Nilsen (1901-29).

Lyric poetry has remained, on the whole, inferior to narrative prose, despite the excellence of certain poets, not least Ibsen and Bjørnson. But nothing essentially new is found in the sentimental poems of Nils Collett Vogt (1887), of Wergelandian inspiration; more inspired are the symbolist poems of Sigbjørn Obstfelder (1866-1900), the expression of a hypersensitive poetic temperament, pervaded by a sense of anguish before the mysteries of the universe (of his works one should also remember the novels Korset ["The Cross"] and En Præst Dagbog ["The Diary of a Pastor"]). Great at the beginning of the century was the influence of the great Scandinavian lyric poetry of Drachmann and Jacobsen, of Fröding and Heidenstam: direct was the influence of the Danish poets on Herman Wildenvey (1885). The greatest of the modern Norwegian poets is without doubt Olaf Bull (1883-1933). Among the poets writing in "Landsmaal", the greatest is Olaf Aukrust (1883-1929).

To return to the novel, around 1830 the echo of the world crisis makes itself felt in Norwegian literature as well: social concerns, psychoanalysis, American narrative and journalistic style are the experiences of novelists such as Nils Johan Rud, Aksel Sandemose (1899), Arthur

Omre, Johan Borgen, Gunnar Larsen. Less "modern" in this sense and interesting for their psychological analyses and an almost religious sense of guilt are the novels of Sigurd Christiansen; the long road that will lead women to definitive emancipation is indicated once again by Cora Sandel in her cycle of novels around Alberta.

Of the novelists most directly engaged in the social struggle and, subsequently, in the struggle against the German invaders, the greatest is Nordahl Grieg (1902-43), tragically fallen over Berlin before his great love for his country and his communist creed could provoke in him some conflict.

Alda Manghi

IV. ART

From prehistoric times (as far back as the Stone Age) there exist in N. numerous artistic testimonies represented by rock engravings and paintings with depictions of animals that are exceptionally vivid; in historical times bronze and iron were introduced early, probably in the pre-Roman age. In the period of the migrations (400-800 A.D.) and of the Vikings (800-1050) the type of civilization and art manifests itself more clearly through the objects found in the ships of the Viking chieftains.

Of particular importance are the wooden churches (Stavchircher), whose origin is traced back to the architectural type of those of the British Isles, from which Christianity was imported by Olaf Tryggvesson, who became king and introduced it by law (10th century). Of the wooden churches, of which in the Middle Ages there were said to be 322, 24 examples were still preserved in 1893: many of them, after the introduction of the Lutheran Reformation (1537), had been abandoned. One of these is preserved in the Industrial Museum of Bygdö, near Oslo. Of those remaining in their original location, the following are remembered: that of Urnes, founded in 1100; the church of Borgund, with three naves, founded in 1150; the church of Torse (Hallingdal), founded in 1200, very rich in painted decoration. The tradition of wooden churches continued even when stone churches arose.

Built of stone, in a heavy but characteristic style, are: the church of St. Mary in Bergen and the most important church of N.: St. Olaf of Trondjem, which for centuries was the coronation church of the Norwegian kings, now almost in ruins. As for civil architecture, the palaces of the lords, the fortifications and the simple dwellings were likewise built of wood; the first royal palace in stone, in Bergen, was built by King Haakon Haakonsson in the 13th century.

Of the lesser wooden constructions few examples remain: the best in the Folk Art Museum near Oslo. In the following centuries, to the influences of the British Isles were added those of the rest of Europe: in the late Renaissance a greater sense of balance is noticeable, as appears from the facade of the tower of Ronskranstz in Bergen of 1560. In the 18th century, a period of greater economic prosperity, great impetus was given to architecture and the influences of French Rococo were more strongly felt, even in wooden architecture, which sometimes imitates the Louis XVI style.

After the union with Sweden there were greater contacts with the rest of Europe and an official architecture of Neoclassical style arose (Royal Palace of Oslo, 1824-48; University of Oslo, 1841-53). In the second half of the 19th century there were German influences, to which Holm Munthe (1848-98) reacted by introducing the so-called "dragon style" of a national character, but eclectic and floral in spirit.

From 1920 the Neoclassical style came back into vogue, to which modern architecture reacts with the "functional" style that penetrated through Sweden. An interesting example of a modern interpretation of medieval forms is the Oslo City Hall.

Norwegian sculpture, like painting, is represented mainly by portraiture, a form of art cultivated in N. since the most remote times: portraits of kings and bishops, both in wood and in stone, were in the medieval churches and many of them, fragmentary, are preserved in museums (Oslo, Bergen, Larvik). With the introduction of Lutheranism, plastic representations were limited and the imposed severity meant that the nude appeared only in the 19th century.

The painting of the early centuries preserves altarpieces with tempera depictions of a distant Catalan taste: many wooden churches are painted on the inside, such as that of Torse, with Byzantine depictions and iconography; later painting was influenced by Gothic and German styles: landscape was introduced very late. Jacob Munch (1776-1839) spread a Neoclassical taste, while Matthias

Stoltenberg (1799-1871), a Dane, gave impetus to Norwegian genre painting. Frederick Collet (1839-1914) is the first Norwegian painter of "open-air" painting. Impressionist tendencies and other international currents follow: Revold, Khrohg Rolfsen cultivate fresco painting with Cubist reflections.

But the forms of art that best express the local character are handicrafts and applied art. The first examples are the objects found in the Viking ships, discovered near the Oslo fjord, which, after having served for navigation, had been used as tombs of the chieftains, buried under large mounds. Two of them are preserved in the Industrial Museum of Bjgdo near Oslo: the Gokstad ship and the Osebergh ship, so called from the localities where they were found. They are respectively 17 and 23 meters long and, besides proving the perfection of Norwegian naval architecture of the 9th century, have yielded shields, weapons, sledges, carts, ornamental objects in wood and metal, carved and engraved, and textiles of the period, of incomparable historical and artistic importance.

Lucilla Mariani

V. SCHOOL SYSTEM

Following the ideas of N. Grudtvig, the Norwegian school seeks to cultivate in the young the spirit of Christian solidarity according to Protestant conceptions and love of country.

Consequently, in all schools religious instruction, prayer at the beginning and end of the school day, the salute and veneration of the national flag, and the teaching of national history are indispensable and therefore compulsory elements. The coeducational system is in force. Since 1920, education has been compulsory and free from the ages of 7 to 14. The law of July 1, 1924 further strengthened the elementary school, particularly in rural centers, by expanding post-school education. Since 1945 efforts have been made to reorganize the entire school system while maintaining the two educational pillars: religion and patriotism. The ties between the school and the pupils' families are becoming increasingly solid through parents' committees, which have the right to elect the schools' supervisory committees.

The Norwegian school system comprises: a) popular primary schools, predominantly municipal, but also denominational, state and private; b) secondary schools with various orientations: predominantly theoretical, which prepares students for higher studies; technical; vocational; teacher-training; post-elementary for adults. University and higher education is provided at the two Universities of Oslo (founded in 1811) and Bergen (founded in 1948) and at the nine Higher Schools: of agriculture at Aas; of technology at Trondheim; of

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N'	bu	BTATEM	bruto	ft	bu, u
P'	pu, pu	N	nu	ft	bu, u
R'	bu	TT	tradu	P	bu, u
S'	bu, tu	TT	tradu	S	bu
T'	bu	TT	tradu	TT	bu
2.	2.	2.	2.	2.	2.
AT	bu	M	mu	ft	bu

(from V. Steffens, Pultographic latine, French ed., Tressiri 1918, p. 33)
NOTARIES OF LAW - Table of abbreviations drawn from legal manuscripts.

dentistry in Oslo; veterinary medicine in Oslo; commerce in Bergen; fine arts in Oslo; Protestant theology in Oslo; gymnastics and teacher training in Trondheim. - See plate CXXIII.

Miroslav Stumpf.