where, and secondly by other Norsemen (with a considerable admixture of Irish blood) from the Western Islands,who left their settlements there when Harold Fairhair forced them into submission after the battle of Hafrsfjord. In Iceland, Scandinavian law and custom had fullest and freest play for their own development, and we must draw freely on the rich treasures of later Icelandic poetry and prose for our knowledge of the history and civilisation of the Viking age, but Iceland itself lies on the extreme confines of Europe and plays practically no part in the development of Scandinavian influence in Europe in the tenth and eleventh centuries.
Iceland however points for us the moral of Viking civilisation, that left to develop on its own lines, it ended too often only in social and political anarchy. It is seen at its best when it came into contact with older and richer civilisations. From them it gained stability and strength of purpose, while to them it gave life and vigour when they were fast becoming effete.
