THE NORSEMEN IN GREENLAND
The enthralling story of the discovery of Greenland and America, as the
actual beginning of great Arctic enterprises, must be introduced by
some account of the authorities on which it rests, for parts of it have
been the subjects of much criticism and dispute.
The earliest writer who mentions the deeds of the Norsemen in Greenland
was Adam of Bremen, a Canon of the cathedral of that city and master
of the cathedral school, A.D. 1070. In those days Svend Estridsen, a
nephew (sister’s son) of England’s King Canute, was King of Denmark,
whose memory was a storehouse of facts concerning the history of the
Scandinavian races. Adam of Bremen accordingly made a journey to
his court and spent some time there, and the King was his authority
on all he was able to write relating to Greenland. Adam’s testimony
is, therefore, earlier than, and quite independent of Icelandic
manuscripts, and becomes a test for the truth of the sagas and
traditions. In this lies its great importance as an authority.
The detailed Icelandic narratives are two or three centuries later.
The first is the _Hauksbok_, composed not later than 1334. Its name
is derived from Hauk who was Lagman of Iceland in 1295, and in whose
handwriting a portion is written. It contains the Saga of Erik the
Red. The second manuscript is the Flatey book or Codex Flateyensis, so
called from having belonged to one Finsson who lived on Flat Island,
near the Breidifjord in Iceland. It is now in the Royal library at
Copenhagen, having been brought from Iceland by Thormod Torfason
(Torfœus) as a present to King Frederick III of Denmark. It was written
about the year 1387 and contains the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason, King of
Norway, in which two narratives are interpolated, the story of Erik the
Red and the story of the Greenlanders.
The two versions in the Hauk book and the Flatey book differ materially
in the details, but the main facts are the same. The version of the
Hauk book is the older and appears to be the more reliable, and in
the days of Hauk there was still communication with the Greenland
colony. Two complete vellum texts of the Hauk book survive. The
work, in addition to the Saga of Erik the Red, contains the Saga of
Thorfin Karlsefni. Hauk, who was a descendant of Karlsefni, one of the
Greenland heroes, died in 1334.
We learn from the Hauksbok that there was a man named Thorwald, living
in the district of Stavanger, in the south of Norway, with his son Erik
the Red. They had killed a man, and in consequence fled to Iceland and
settled at Hornstrandir in Haukadal, on the north shore of Iceland’s
north-west peninsula. Here Thorwald died, and his son married a widow
named Thorhild who bore him three sons, Thorstein, Leif, and Thorwald.
He also had a natural daughter named Freidis.
Erik soon got into trouble again. His thralls caused a landslide on
Valthiof’s farm, for which a kinsman of Valthiof, named Eyulf the Foul,
killed them. Erik retaliated by slaying Eyulf, as well as his friend
Hrafn “the duellist,” and being attacked by the friends of the men he
had killed, was driven from Haukadal. He then went to settle on two
small islands, called Oxney and Sudrey, at the mouth of Breidifjord,
naming his dwelling-place Erikstad. Here he was soon again in trouble
with a neighbour named Thorgest, with whom he quarrelled. Two of the
sons of Thorgest with some others were killed, and the two enemies
began to keep large bodies of men at their homesteads.
The people of Iceland were divided, but the adherents of Erik the Red
were the weakest. When the Court met at Thorsness-thing, in spite of
the efforts of his friends, Erik and his people were condemned to
outlawry.
[Illustration: The South-Western Extremity of Greenland, showing the
Norse Settlement of EAST BYGD]
While Erik was concealed from his enemies who were seeking for him,
a ship was equipped by his friends, for he had resolved to go in
search of land which Gunnbjörn, son of Ulf the Crow, reported that he
had seen. Erik, with his family and people, sailed out to sea from
Sneefells Jokul, and the famous voyage began, in the year 983. Sailing
westward, the adventurers rounded Hoitserkr, as they called Cape
Farewell, and the south-west coast of Greenland was discovered, known
afterwards as the East Bygd.
The wanderers found that they had reached a land with a climate like
that of Iceland. The great ice current, flowing down the east coast of
Greenland and diverted by the Gulf Stream, sweeps round Cape Farewell
and is closely packed along this shore until late in the season.
Almost the whole coast, with numerous islands and entrances to the
deep fjords, may be taken in at a glance from Cape Farewell, or at
least from Cape Christian to Cape Desolation. It comprises the whole
of the ancient colony of the East Bygd. Great precipices face the sea,
with black mountains, 3000 to 4000 ft. high, rising above them. Here
and there, between them, a glimpse is caught of the glistening inland
ice. Between the rocks and precipices the openings to the six deep
fjords can be made out, which penetrate from 30 to 40 miles inland. The
fjords, when frozen over in the winter, are colder than the sea coast,
but they are warmer in summer, and there is then a rich vegetation.
Groves of willows 8 feet high and of birch trees 14 feet high, rising
out of thick beds of juniper, angelica, alchemilla, and several berries
well known to the Norsemen, give beauty to the shores of the inner
creeks. Nor is suitable pasture wanting for cattle and sheep. It might
well receive the name of Greenland, as Erik saw it and named it, in the
height of summer.
Erik wintered on an island called by his name, and devoted the next
summer season to exploration. Thus they passed three winters, with the
intervening exploring seasons. Finally he selected a place far up the
Einarsfjord (_Igalliko_) for his homestead. It was named Brattahlid
because it was under a steep hill side.
Erik resolved to found a Greenland colony; he therefore returned to
Iceland and wintered under the protection of a powerful friend named
Ingulf the Strong, at Holmslatr, on the south side of Hoamms-fjord. In
the spring he began to organise his expedition to form a settlement in
the new land. Many friends and adherents accepted the invitation, and
in 985 A.D. a fleet of ships arrived in the fjords of Greenland with
horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and building materials. Red Erik made his
home with his wife and sons at Brattahlid. His friends occupied the
shores of the other fjords, which were called by their names. Herjulf
and his son Bjarni were in the fjord nearest to Cape Farewell, called
Herjulf’s fjord. Ketil was in Ketil’s fjord, the next to the north,
Rafn occupied the Rafn’s fjord, Helgi Thorbrandsen was in Alpte fjord,
and so on with Einar, Hafgrim, Arnlang, and other bold Vikings.
Erik and his followers still held the ancient faith, and for twenty
more years Odin and Thor presided over the fortunes of Greenland. But
it was a time of transition; news of the “white Christ” had reached
Iceland, and the masterful Kings of Norway, Olaf the Saint and Olaf
Tryggvason, were introducing the new creed by force.
The first important event in the new colony was the voyage of Leif,
the son of Erik, to Norway in 999. He was driven out of his course to
the Hebrides, where he passed the summer and became enamoured of a
girl of rare intelligence named Thorgunna. She had a son, Thorgils, by
him, and eventually brought him to Greenland to take his place as the
son of Leif. But Thorgunna remained at her own home when Leif left the
Hebrides and sailed away to the court of the King of Norway at Nidaros
(Trondhjem). He was well received by Olaf Tryggvason, who ordered
him to become a Christian, and to return to Greenland and proclaim
Christianity to the settlers.
Leif took leave of the King, and again put to sea. He encountered bad
weather, and was tossed about for many days and driven out of his
course. At length he came to a new land where there were currants and
self-sown corn, and also trees called _mausar_[12]. He had reached the
eastern coast of Newfoundland. Leif wintered at this land, which he
called Vinland. In the spring he shaped a course for Greenland, and
saved some people off a wreck in mid-ocean on his way. One of the
shipwrecked men may have been Bjarni the son of Herjulf, which perhaps
accounts for the confused story in the Flatey book, about Bjarni being
the discoverer. Leif arrived safely in his father’s homestead and
introduced Christianity[13].
Old Erik was unwilling to forsake the faith of his father. But his
wife did so, and built a church near the homestead, called Thorhilda’s
Church, where those who embraced Christianity could come to offer their
prayers. Settlers began to arrive in Greenland who were nominally
Christians, though imbued with the deeply-rooted ideas of the old
faiths. The change was gradual.
Among the first Christian settlers were one Thorbjörn and his beautiful
daughter Gudrid. This Thorbjörn received with his wife Hallveig an
estate in Iceland called Langarbrekke or “the warm spring’s slope,”
on the southern side and near the outer end of the Cape called
Snowfellsness. The wife died, and Thorbjörn’s motherless child was
fostered and brought up by Halldis and her husband, Orm of Arnastopi or
the eagle’s crag, a short distance to the north-east of Langarbrekke.
Gudrid, the foster child of Orm and Halldis, acted such a prominent
part in the history of the Greenland colony and the discovery of
America, that her story cannot be passed over. Though converted to
Christianity Halldis had stored the child’s mind with all the lore of
the Asgård mythology. For various reasons her father Thorbjörn resolved
to join his friend Erik the Red in Greenland, though he was blessed
with many friends in Iceland. He therefore sold his land and bought
a ship, which was fitted out in Hraunhavn, or the lava haven. Thirty
persons formed the crew, including Orm and Halldis, who both died
during the voyage. At length, on the verge of winter, the ship reached
Herjulfsfjord, the most southern of the Greenland settlements, where
Thorbjörn and his daughter were hospitably received by a settler named
Thorkel, and passed a winter in his house.
When the summer arrived Thorbjörn got his ship ready, and sailed away
with Gudrid until they came to Brattahlid. They were received with
open arms by Red Erik and his family, and Erik gave Thorbjörn land on
Stokkaness, where a good farmstead was established. Gudrid was married
to Thorstein, the eldest son of Erik the Red, and they went to live at
a farm called Lysefjord. But Thorstein died, and was soon followed by
Thorbjörn. So Gudrid became a great heiress, and Erik took her to his
home at Brattahlid, and treated her as his own daughter.
It was the union of the young widow with Thorfin Karlsefni, a young
Icelandic chief of noble lineage, descended from the renowned Ragnar
Lodbrog, which led to the discovery of America. One summer Karlsefni
fitted out his ship in Iceland, taking with him a follower named Snorri
Thorbrandsson and a crew of 40 men. At the same time two men named
Bjarni and Thorhall fitted out another ship. The two ships put to sea
together, with the intention of sailing to Greenland. They arrived at
Brattahlid in the autumn and began to do a goodly trade with Red Erik.
Thorfin Karlsefni and his comrades were invited to pass the winter
there, and before the winter was over he and Gudrid were united in
marriage.
Then there was mooted the project that Vinland, discovered some years
before by Leif, should be explored and settled. Thorfin Karlsefni and
his friend Snorri fitted out their ship for the adventurous voyage and
Bjarni Grimolfson and Thorhall also joined with their ship. Thorhall
had long served Red Erik as his huntsman. He was a man of great
strength and gigantic stature. Erik’s third son Thorwald accompanied
him. There was a third ship, the one in which Thorbjörn and Gudrid had
arrived in Greenland. Freidis, the natural daughter of Erik, a proud
and cruel woman, embarked in it with her husband Thorward. Gudrid
accompanied her husband.
This fleet of three _knorrs_--vessels such as the one found at
Gokstad--sailed for the land we now call America. Karlsefni first
steered northwards along the West Bygd to get clear of the southern
ice, and then stood across the strait to the barren coast on the
western side for two days. Karlsefni landed in his boat, and finding
large flat stones (_hellur_) on the beach, called that country
_Helluland_. Sailing southward they next came to a country where
there were great woods and it was named _Markland_ or the forest land
(Labrador). Then they sailed for many days, rounding a cape where
they found the keel of a ship and so named it _Keel-ness_. The long
coast-line on the starboard side received the name of _Furdustrandir_
or Wonder Strand. At length Karlsefni anchored in a bay where they
found berries and self-sown wheat. It was the Vinland of Leif. There
was a strong current, so they called an island in the bay _Straumsey_
and the bay _Straumfjord_. They landed their goods, and the live-stock
included cattle. Here Thorhall the hunter appears to have mutinied, and
to have sailed away in one of the ships with nine men. The story says
that he reached Ireland, where he and his companions were maltreated
and enslaved. After the winter Karlsefni sailed southward and came to a
small land-locked bay, called _Hop_. Here he built huts on the banks of
a lake.
Karlsefni had discovered America. His first land was what is now
called Baffin Land, his next the coast of Labrador, and the Vinland of
Leif is the east coast of Newfoundland. The Norsemen gave the name of
_Skrælings_ to the natives they met with. They had several encounters
with them, in one of which Thorwald, the son of Erik, was killed by a
“one footer” (_Einfœtingr_).
The furthest southern point reached by Karlsefni is a question of great
interest. In the Flatey book Leif is made to say that on the shortest
day the sun was above the horizon from _Eyktarstad_ to _Dagmalastad_.
We thus obtain rough data for ascertaining the latitude of Vinland.
The Icelanders ascertained the various times of the day by selecting
conspicuous marks round their houses, and noting the course of the
sun with relation to them. Names were given to the positions the sun
occupied at certain times of the day, and the Norsemen were thus, from
long practice, very accurate in assigning the points of the compass
at which the sun rose or set. The _Eyktarstad_ is clearly defined in
an ancient Icelandic book called _Kristinretter_. If the S.W. octant
be divided into thirds, the S.W. point being in the centre, it is
_Eyktarstad_ when the sun has traversed two-thirds. This gives the
amplitude of the sun, when it set on the shortest day at Vinland, W. 37
degrees 30′ S. The sun’s declination in A.D. 1005 was 23 degrees 34′
30″ N. With these data we find the latitude of the point of observation
on Vinland to have been a little south of 49 degrees S., which would be
in Bona Vista Bay, on the east coast of Newfoundland[14].
Karlsefni passed three winters in Vinland and here, in the year
1007, his wife Gudrid bore him a son who was named Snorri. From this
American-born child was descended the Lagman Hauk, the author of the
Hauk book, and many Danish families, including that of Thorwaldsen, the
famous sculptor. After the third winter Karlsefni and his followers
sailed away from Vinland on their return.
The ship of Bjarni was driven out to sea in a gale, and all perished
except one boat’s crew which is said to have reached Dublin. When the
ship began to sink it was found that the boat would only hold half the
crew. So they cast lots, and it fell to the lot of Bjarni to go in the
boat. When the lucky ones were all in the boat, an Icelandic youth, who
was left in the ship, cried out “Dost thou intend, Bjarni, to forsake
me?” “It must be even so,” answered Bjarni. “Not such was the promise
thou gavest my father,” replied the youth. “So be it, it shall not rest
thus,” answered Bjarni. “Do thou come hither and I will go to the ship,
for I can see thou art eager for thy life.” So he went on board again
and the youth got into the boat.
Karlsefni and Gudrid, with their little son, arrived safely in
Greenland, and remained at Brattahlid during the following winter, with
Erik and his son Leif. Then they sailed to Iceland and lived to a good
old age at Reynistadr in the north, a little south of Skaga-fjord.
Their son Snorri succeeded them, and, as has been already said, was the
ancestor of many great people in Iceland and Denmark[15].
In the fulness of time old Erik the Red died at Brattahlid, and was
succeeded by his son Leif. He died in 1021 A.D. Then Thorgils, Leif’s
son by Thorgunna of the Hebrides, took his place as owner of Brattahlid
and chief of the Greenland settlers. Later, in the same century, we
hear of Skald Helga being Lagmand of Greenland. The colony throve and
was prosperous. Settlements, called the West Bygd, were formed to the
northward as far as the island of Disco. Several churches were built
of stone at the settlements on the deep fjords of the East Bygd. There
was an Augustinian monastery of St Olaus at the head of Ketil-fjord,
and churches of St Nicholas and of Hoalsey in Hoalseyfjord. Ruins of
the latter are still standing at a place now called Kakortak, near
Julianshaab. The walls are of large and partly-hewn stones, with four
rectangular window openings and two doorways. The chief entrance
was at the west end, with a large window above it. There are small
niches in the interior walls. The church is 51 feet long by 25,
the walls 4 feet thick, and their height 22 feet[16]. Opposite to
Brattahlid, up Einarsfjord, was the cathedral church of Gardar, the
see of a bishopric. The first bishop of Greenland, named Adalbert, was
consecrated in 1055 A.D.
[Illustration: Ruins in Kingoa-dal, S. Greenland.]
The 11th century was a period of activity for the Greenland colony.
There was communication between Iceland and Norway and the colony, and
we are told that Thorgrim Troble, the head man in Einarsfjord, went
to Norway and even to England, bringing back beautiful clothes. In
the next century, 1121, Bishop Erik is said to have made a voyage to
Vinland, and in 1124 Bishop Arnold was consecrated by the Archbishop of
Lund, and arrived at Gardar. The Greenland settlers had cattle, horses,
and sheep, which were all stalled during the winter. The churches and
the foundations of the houses were of stone, but timber was in great
demand forhouses and outhouses. There must have been voyages to cut
wood in Markland and on the Wonder Strands, to supplement the supply
of drift wood[17]. We have few notices of these voyages, however.
The ancient annals of Greenland are scanty. But we may be quite sure
that, with stalwart arm and poetic brain, these Norsemen did what they
had to do with all their might. Our chief concern is with the Arctic
discoveries away to the north of the West Bygd. The most northern
station for a long time was in Disco Bay, at a place called Greipar.
The name for the most northern district was Nordsetur. The fisheries
were carried on with great activity. It is certain that, later, there
was a station at a place now called Kingiktorsuak in 72° 55′ N., for
the following runic inscription was found there in 1834:--
ERLING SIGVASSON AND BJARNE TORTARSON AND EINDRID ODSSON ON THE
SEVENTH DAY BEFORE THE DAY OF VICTORY[18] ERECTED THESE STONES
MCXXXV.
Thence these gallant explorers, or others, pushed still further north
through the ice floes, and formed a station which was probably in what
is now called Wolstenholme Sound, a little north of Cape York. It was
called Kroksfjordar Heidi or “The heights of the winding fjord.”
Thirty years after the bold adventurers Erling, Bjarni, and Eindrid
had set up their stones in 72° 55′ N., an Arctic expedition started
from Kroksfjord, of which an account is given by a priest in Greenland
named Hallder, in a letter to his friend Arnold, who had also been in
Greenland but was then, in 1266, court chaplain to Magnus Lagaboeter,
King of Norway. The notice of the letter in the Hauk book is so
important with reference to the Arctic discoveries of the Norsemen,
that we must consider it _verbatim_.
“This account was written by Priest Hallder from Greenland to the
Priest Arnold who was then King Magnus Lagaboeter’s chaplain. He
was in the ship that brought Bishop Olaf to Greenland[19], and they
suffered shipwreck off Iceland, and found in the sea some planks
which had been hewn with small adzes, and among them there was one in
which tools still remained. This summer came people who had travelled
further north than any one until that time of whom accounts had been
reported. They found no signs but of Skrællings who had once resided at
the Kroksfjord, and the people thought it might be the shortest way.
Therefore the priests sent a ship north of the farthest inhabitable
district that had yet been reached. They sailed away from Kroksfjord,
and they were out of sight of land. Then there came a south wind
with thick weather, and they let the ship go before the wind. The
storm ceased and it again became light and they saw many islands, and
different kinds of game, both seals and whales, and great numbers
of bears. They came right into the bay, and the whole coast came in
sight, as well as the south coast with glaciers, and south of them
there were also glaciers as far as they could see. There were signs
that Skrællingers had, in bygone times, lived in these places; but
they could not land because of the bears. They sailed back for three
days and found relics of Skrællingers. Then they came to some islands
south of Snaefell. They sailed thence south to Kroksfjord, a long day’s
rowing. On Jacob’s mass day[20] it froze at night, but the sun shone
both day and night, and was not higher at noon than in the south, _so
that if a man lay across a six-oared boat, stretched out under the
gunwale, the shadow from the side nearest the sun fell on his face, but
at midnight the sun was as high as it is at home in the settlement when
it is in the N.W._ They then sailed home to Gardar.”
The day of the summer solstice is implied as the time of this
observation. Proceeding upon this assumption Professor Rafn[21]
calculated that, in the 13th century, on the 25th of July, the sun’s
declination was 17° 54′ N., and the inclination of the ecliptic 23°
32′. Gardar was in 60° 55′ N. At the summer solstice, the height of the
sun there, when in the N.W., was 3° 40′, equivalent to the midnight
altitude of the sun on St James’s day (July 25th) in latitude 75° 46′,
which is the latitude of Cape York.
The Norse explorers, starting from Kroksfjord (Wolstenholme Sound)
sailed into the north water of Baffin’s Bay. They then went northwards
from about 76° for three _doeg_, 108 miles each _doeg_. This brought
them some distance up Smith Sound, beyond 80°. They saw many islands
and glaciers and then returned southward for three _doeg_, coming to
some islands, possibly the Cary Islands. Thence a long day’s pull
brought them to Kroksfjord. Seven hundred years afterwards, a lofty
cairn, built by unknown hands, was found on Washington Irving Island in
Smith Sound.
It is not to be supposed that this was the only voyage of the kind that
was undertaken by the Norsemen because it is the only one of which any
record has reached us. These enterprises must surely have constantly
succeeded one another, with a view to discovering fresh fishing
grounds. They must have been more or less continuous for two centuries
at least.
At its most flourishing time the Norse colony in Greenland numbered
about 2000 souls in 280 homesteads. There were 12 churches in the East
Bygd (the ruins of five have been found), and four in the West Bygd,
and one monastery. But at the end of the 13th century the prosperity
of the colony began to wane. Its existence depended upon annual
intercourse with Norway, and communication began to be more and more
irregular. There is a list of Bishops, but latterly few appear to
have visited their See. In 1341 a bailiff of the bishopric named Ivar
Bardsen was sent to Greenland to report upon the state of affairs. He
found the West Bygd deserted. Ivar Bardsen made a valuable report,
describing the topography of the East Bygd settlements in detail, and
giving 54 place names[22]. In 1347 a Greenland ship arrived in Iceland
with 18 men on board. She had been to Markland to cut wood, and had
been driven out of her course by a storm[23]. In the same year King
Magnus of Norway and Queen Blanche left 100 marks to Gardar Cathedral.
But two years later the Black Death decimated the Norwegians, and soon
afterwards all intercourse with Greenland ceased. Norway was a province
of Denmark for more than four centuries.
The fate of the Greenland colony has been variously explained; by a
change in the climate, by the Black Death, or by the attacks of an
army of Eskimos. But the climate is exactly the same now as it was
then, the Black Death broke out in Norway after intercourse ceased,
and the Eskimos had always been living with the Norsemen, having been
in Greenland many centuries before the Norsemen came. Moreover, the
Eskimos could not assemble and attack in large numbers[24].
The disappearance of the colony after a lapse of two centuries is fully
accounted for by the neglect of the Norwegians to send ships. The
colony could not exist without that help. Those settlers who remained
gradually died off, the survivors merging in the Eskimo population.
The vestiges confirm the narratives of the Sagas. There are the stone
church at Kakortak, the foundations of churches and homesteads, the
bones of oxen and goats in the refuse heaps. Two grave-stones have also
been found. One marked the place where the body of Hroaldr Kolgrimsson
rested. It was found in 1831, two miles north of Frederiksthal. The
other is a stone with a runic inscription, found nine miles from
Julianshaab in 1830:--
“Vigdis, daughter of Magnus, rests here.
May God gladden her soul[25].”
The history of the first period of Arctic discovery was thus closed in
mystery. Vigdis, daughter of Greenland, seems to speak to us across the
centuries. Her people achieved a great work:--the coast of Finmarken
to the White Sea discovered; then Iceland, and finally the whole west
coast of Greenland from Cape Farewell to Smith Sound, Baffin Land,
Labrador, and Newfoundland. We see in the qualities of these Norsemen
all that is required for the completion of the great work--energy,
indomitable perseverance, and dauntless courage combined with practical
enthusiasm. Such qualities were needed and were not wanting to achieve
the glorious work done by the Norsemen. Such qualities were needed
and have not been wanting in the English race--which received a large
strain of Norman blood, and produced the chief Arctic explorers of
modern times--to complete what was so well begun in those far-off days
of old.