_The Discovery of America_
During the reign of Earl Haakon a man from Jæderen, called Erik the
Red, being obliged to leave Norway because he had killed a man,
proceeded to the western part of Iceland. Here he committed a similar
offence and was condemned at Thorsnes Thing to banishment. He had
heard that a man called Gunbiorn, son of Ulf Krage, had some time ago
been driven by the storm far westward and had seen a great country.
Erik the Red fitted out a vessel and told his friends that he intended
to find the country Gunbiorn had seen. He took with him a man by the
name of Heriulf Bardson. They found the country (984), and on a visit
later to Iceland Erik the Red gave such a fine description of the new
country that it was called Greenland. A number of colonists returned
with him to the new country, and the foundation of several settlements
were laid. In the summer of 999 Leif Erikson, a son of Erik the Red,
made a visit to Norway, and as he met King Olaf Trygvason he adopted
Christianity, and passed the winter with the king. In the following
spring King Olaf sent Leif Erikson, together with a priest and other
teachers, to Greenland to proclaim Christianity there. Flourishing
colonies, with churches, monasteries, and bishoprics, are known to have
been maintained in Greenland until the end of the fourteenth century.
Biarne Heriulfson, a son of the above-named Heriulf Bardson, while
sailing westward from Iceland in search of his father, met with stormy
weather, northerly winds and fogs, and was driven out of his course.
As he came to different shores, which, from the description he had
received, could not be those of Greenland, he turned around, and,
sailing in a northeasterly direction, finally arrived at his father's
home in Greenland. When telling of his discovery he was much ridiculed
for not having landed and examined the new countries. Leif Erikson
bought Biarne's ship, and with a crew of thirty-five men set out, in
the year 1000, to look for these lands. He came first to a land on
his right as he sailed southward. It had great icy mountains in the
interior and a shore of flat stones. He therefore named the country
Helluland (from the Norse _helle_, a flat stone). He continued his
course southward, and came to another country, which was level and
covered with woods and had a low coast. He called this country Markland
(outfield or woodland). The antiquaries consider Helluland to have
been Newfoundland, and Markland some part of Nova Scotia. Leif and
his party put to sea again with a northeast wind, and after two days'
sailing made land, and came to an island lying on the north side of
the mainland. They entered the channel between the island and a point
projecting northeast from the mainland, and at last landed at a place
where a river which came from a lake fell into the sea. They found
the country very agreeable, and, resolving to winter there, erected
some houses. Leif divided his people into two parties, to be employed
in turns in exploring the country and working about the houses. One
evening it happened that one of the exploring party, a German by
birth, named Tyrker, was missing. They went out to search for him,
and when they met him he told them he had been up the country, and
had discovered vines and grapes, a fruit with which he was acquainted
from his native country. They now occupied themselves in gathering
grapes and cutting vines, and felling timber with which they loaded the
vessel. Leif called the country Vinland. Toward spring they made ready
and sailed away, and returned to Greenland.
In the year 1002 Leif Erikson's brother, Thorvald, fitted out a ship
and sailed southward with thirty men, after consulting with Leif. They
came to Vinland, to the houses put up by Leif, where they remained
quietly all winter, and lived by fishing. In the spring Thorvald sent a
party in the long-boat to explore the country to the south. They found
the country beautiful and well wooded, but with little space between
the woods and the sea, and the strand full of white sand. There were
also many islands, and shallow water. They came back in the autumn to
Leif's houses. The following spring Thorvald sailed with his vessel
eastward, then northward along the land. Outside of a cape they met
bad weather and were driven ashore and broke their keel. They remained
there a long time to repair their vessel. Thorvald said to his men:
"We will stick up the keel here upon the ness and call the place
Keelness."[3] Then they sailed eastward along the country and landed on
a headland, which Thorvald liked so well that he said he would like to
make his home there. On going on board they saw three little hills on
the sandy shore. They went up to them and found they were three canoes,
made of skin, with three natives--or _Skrælings_, as the Northmen
called them--under each canoe. They killed eight of them, while one
made his escape in his canoe. Afterward a great number of the natives
attacked Thorvald's party. They were repulsed, but Thorvald was wounded
by an arrow and died. He was buried on the headland which he had said
he liked so well. His men remained there during the winter, and in the
spring returned to Greenland.
[3] Keelness (old Norse _Kjalarnes_) is supposed by the antiquaries to
be the present Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
In the summer of 1006, an Icelander by the name of Thorfin Karlsefne
came to Greenland, and, in the winter, married Gudrid, the widow of
Thorstein, third brother of Leif Erikson. By her advice he resolved
to undertake an expedition to Vinland and establish a colony there.
In the spring (1007) they set out with three ships, 160 men, and all
kinds of live stock, and sailed to Vinland. Some time after their
arrival there Gudrid bore a son, who was named Snorre. The colonists
occasionally traded with the _Skrælings_, giving them pieces of cloth
and dairy products for their skins; but when they refused to sell them
weapons, the _Skrælings_ became hostile to the settlers and attacked
them repeatedly. These constant hostilities so disheartened the
settlers that they resolved to leave the country, and, after three
years' sojourn in Vinland, Thorfin Karlsefne and his party returned
to Greenland. Another expedition to Vinland was undertaken, shortly
after their return, by Freydis, the illegitimate daughter of Erik the
Red, her husband Thorvald, and two Norwegians named Helge and Finboge.
This party quarrelled among themselves, and Freydis, who is described
as a very bad woman, caused a great number of them to be murdered. The
survivors returned to Greenland in the spring of 1013. The next summer,
Thorfin Karlsefne went to Norway with his Vinland cargo and sold it to
great advantage. He returned to Iceland and bought land there, and,
according to the saga, many men of distinction are descended from him
and his son Snorre, who was born in Vinland.[4]
[4] Accounts of these journeys to Vinland are contained in the
_Flateyar-bok_, or Flatey Codex, an Icelandic manuscript, which takes
its name from the island Flatey, Iceland, where it was preserved. It
was written by two priests between the years 1387 and 1395. The work is
a collection of sagas transcribed from older manuscripts and arranged
chronologically. The book is written on parchment, and is one of the
most beautiful works of penmanship from that time in Europe. It is
known that Christopher Columbus came to Iceland in 1477, on purpose to
gain nautical information, and it would seem next to impossible that
he should not have heard of the written accounts of the discoveries
recorded in the Flatey Codex.