During the reign of Christian III. the Lutheran faith was introduced into Denmark, and its introduction into Norway followed as a matter of course. The new Danish ecclesiastical law, called the Ordinance, was also made to apply to the provinces. The landed estates which had belonged to the Church were confiscated by the crown or distributed among royal favorites. In fact, the plunder of churches and monasteries was the only evidence of religious zeal which the Danes exhibited in Norway. The Catholic bishops were removed; but many of the priests were allowed to remain, as Lutheran pastors were hard to obtain and were needed at home. Gradually, however, the change took place; and everywhere aroused discontent among the peasantry. Many parishes were left, for long periods, without any kind of religious teaching, and when Lutheran pastors were sent up from Denmark, they were usually ignorant or vicious men who could not be used at home. Ex-soldiers, ex-sailors, bankrupt traders, and all sorts of vagabonds, who were in some way disqualified for making a living, were thought to be good enough to preach the word of God in Norway. The majority of them were utterly destitute of theological training, and it is said that there were some who could not even read. No one, then, ought to wonder at the reception they received from their parishioners. Some of them were killed, others driven away and horribly beaten. At last physical strength became the prime requisite for holding a pastorate in the Norse mountain valleys, and the surest road to popularity for a parson was to thrash the refractory members of his congregation. That inspired respect and inclined the rest more favorably toward his preaching. Great credit deserves the first Lutheran bishop in Bergen, Gjeble Pedersson, for his efforts to educate a native Protestant clergy. The Danish language, however, remained the language of the Norwegian church; all religious instruction was imparted in it, and at the present day, all who lay claim to culture in Norway speak Danish. The depredations committed by the Danish nobles, during the reign of Christian III., defy description. It was the darkest period in the history of Norway, and, as far as the people were concerned, very nearly the darkest, too, in the history of Denmark. The power of the nobles reached such a height that the king himself was merely the tool of their will and was used by them, as an instrument for the most cruel and heartless oppression. The discomfiture of the Lübeckers in the Count's Feud was the first serious check which the Hansa received in the North, and it never regained its former power. The Danish nobleman, Christopher Valkendorf, who was governor (_Lensherre_) in Bergen, succeeded in destroying the monopoly of the Germans in the fish trade, which now fell into the hands of native merchants. [Illustration: BELT WRESTLING, A MODE OF SETTLING DIFFERENCES FORMERLY IN VOGUE IN NORWAY, DESCRIBED IN BAYARD TAYLOR'S "LARS."]