The climate appears also to have changed; and the
lessened industry and want of perseverance in the inhabitants have
brought agriculture completely into decline.
In the year 1402 the plague broke out upon the island, and carried
off two-thirds of the population.
The first printing-press was established at Hoolum, about the year
1530, under the superintendence of the Bishop, John Areson.
The reformation in the Icelandic Church was not brought about
without disturbance. It was legally established in the year 1551.
During the fifteenth century the Icelanders suffered more from the
piratical incursions of foreigners. As late as the year 1616 the
French and English nations took part in these enormities. The most
melancholy occurrence of this kind took place in 1627, in which year
a great number of Algerine pirates made a descent upon the Icelandic
coast, murdered about fifty of the inhabitants, and carried off
nearly 400 others into captivity. {26}
The eighteenth century commenced with a dreadful mortality from the
smallpox; of which disease more than 16,000 of the inhabitants died.
In 1757 a famine swept away about 10,000 souls.
