Introduction
Charles Isaac Elton, QC (1839-1900) was a distinguished barrister, antiquary and Somersetshire MP. Following a tour of Norway in 1862-3, he recorded some of his experiences in a little traveller’s guide, Norway, the Road and the Fell, (1864) in which he celebrated Britain’s natural affinity with her northern neighbour.
BERGEN owed its first greatness to trading with England, a ship having been sent (according to tradition) so early as the reign of Harald Fairhair,* laden with furs and fish, to barter for honey, cloth, and corn. Haakon Haakonsson* made a treaty with England, which is said to have been the first made by us with any nation. The English and Scotch are also said to have evangelised Norway.* It is certain that they settled in considerable numbers in Bergen and Christiansand. King Olaf Tryggvason certainly owed his conversion to us, being talked over and baptized by a certain hermit of the Scilly Islands, whom he visited, thinking to find a wizard.*
* Harald I Fairhair, whom tradition names as the first King of Norway, ruling from about 872 to 930. He was a contemporary of Alfred the Great (871-899), Edward the Elder (899-924) and Athelstan (924-939).
* Haakon IV Haakonsson (1204-1263), who ruled Norway from 1217 until his death, a contemporary of Henry III (1216-1272).
* See The Conversion of Norway. It is preferable today to refer to the people of Scotland as Scots, not Scotch.
* Olaf Tryggvason (963-1000), Viking raider and subsequently King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was baptised in the Isles of Scilly (the preferred way of saying the name today) in 988. See The Baptism of Olaf Tryggvason.
Précis
In the 1860s, barrister and MP Charles Elton drew his readers’ attention to English historic ties with Bergen in Norway. He reminded them that our country’s first trade deal had been with the Norwegians, that English and Scottish missionaries had spread Christianity there, and that Olaf Tryggvason, one of Norway’s earliest kings, had been baptised in the Isles of Scilly. (60 / 60 words)
In the 1860s, barrister and MP Charles Elton drew his readers’ attention to English historic ties with Bergen in Norway. He reminded them that our country’s first trade deal had been with the Norwegians, that English and Scottish missionaries had spread Christianity there, and that Olaf Tryggvason, one of Norway’s earliest kings, had been baptised in the Isles of Scilly.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, if, just, must, not, since, unless, who.
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