The voyages of discovery were interfered with by the new government, and the commerce gradually passed into the hands of other nations.

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.