Fig. 1095.—Door, with knob of iron inlaid with silver, from Valthjofsstad Church, Iceland (now in the Copenhagen Museum). ] The high-seats, which were cushioned, were often very beautifully carved with arms on both sides, and two pillars called Ondvegisulur, which were both carved and painted. Only in extraordinary cases were there more than two high-seats, but we are told that Ingjald Illrádi, in order to receive the guests at his _arvel_ after his father’s death, built a new hall with seven high seats. “Thordis and Bödvar went up on to the roof of the hall, took away the window covering to let the smoke out, and looked about the hall; they saw that the chair of Grima stood in the middle, and that Thór, seated, with his hammer, was carved on the chair-posts, but they did not see Thormod” (Fostbrœdra Saga). To sit on the footboard in front of the king was to show submission; and it seems to have been usual when a subject was invested with the title of jarl to sit thus before the ceremony of investiture began. “One day when King Magnus sat in his high-seat, and had many men with him, Svein Ulfsson sat on the footboard in front of the king. The king said: ‘I will make known to the chiefs and all people my intention, which I want carried out. Svein Ulfsson, a man prominent both by his birth and deeds, has come to me here. He has become my man, and plighted me his word. You know that all the Danes have become my men this summer, and the land is without a chief; when I am gone, it is, as you know, often attacked by the Vendians, Courlanders, and others from Austrveg (eastern lands) and by the Saxar also. I promised to give them a chief to defend and rule the land. I see no man so well fitted for it in every respect as Svein Ulfsson. By his kin he is a chief. Now I will make him my jarl, and give into his hands Danaveldi to rule over while I am in Norway, as Knut the great made his father Úlf jarl chief over Denmark while he was in England....’ He rose, took a sword and fastened it on Svein’s belt; then he took a shield and fastened it on his shoulder; then he put a helmet on his head and gave him the name of jarl, and those grants in Denmark which his father Úlf jarl had had there before. Then a shrine with holy things was brought, on which Svein laid his hands, and took oaths of allegiance to King Magnus, who thereupon led him into the high-seat with himself” (Magnus the Good’s Saga, ch. 24). A great change was made in the position of the high-seat in later times by Olaf Kyrri (the Quiet), King of Norway (1067–1093), who placed it at the inner end of the hall where the cross-bench stood, instead of being in the centre of the long benches. [Illustration: