The Sagas of the Icelanders
Page 85
The king praised Ref’s actions highly, saying they were both valiant and magnanimous: ‘And now you will have this name,’ said King Svein, ‘here in our realm, and be called Sigtrygg, because the other name isn’t common in this country. And at your name-giving, we wish to give you this gold ring which is worth one mark. And therewith you will have twelve farms out west in Vendil, and those you will choose yourself because I see that you are a very wise man.’
Ref thanked the king eloquently for his princely gifts and the honour which he gave him. Ref and Helga his wife and Thormod, his son, now went to his farms which the king had given Ref. Sigtrygg became a great man.
And, when he had been there for some years, he went on a trip to Rome and visited the holy apostle Peter. And on that journey, Sigtrygg contracted the illness which caused his death, and he was buried in a rich monastery out there in France.
Stein and Bjorn were with King Svein a long time, and he valued them so greatly that he arranged fine marriages for them in Denmark and both of them stayed there and were considered excellent men. From Stein was descended Bishop Absalon who lived in the days of King Valdimar Knutsson. Ref’s son Thormod returned to Iceland after the death of King Harald and took over the land at Kvennabrekka and married in Iceland, and many excellent men are descended from him.
And with that we close the saga of Ref the Sly.
Translated by GEORGE CLARK
THE VINLAND SAGAS
THE SAGA OF THE GREENLANDERS EIRIK THE RED’S SAGA
Gænlendinga saga
Eiríks saga rauða
Time of action: 970–1030
Time of writing: 1220–80
The Vinland Sagas are two separate works that were written down independently in Iceland in the early thirteenth century. They contain the oldest descriptions of the North American continent and tell the story of several voyages undertaken by people from Iceland and Greenland to North America around the year 1000 – the first documented voyages across the Atlantic in which the peoples of Europe and America met for the first time. The pioneering voyage was led by Leif Eiriksson to a land he named Vinland (‘Wineland’). Leif, nicknamed ‘the Lucky’ after rescuing shipwrecked seamen on his way back from Vinland, was born on the west coast of Iceland between 975 and 980 and emigrated to Greenland as a young boy in 985 with his family and the band of explorers led by Eirik the Red, his father.
There is no doubt that The Vinland Sagas, like almost all other Sagas of Icelanders, contain memories of real characters and events, recounted in a literary medium. However, the roots in the oral memory of people in Iceland are more transparent in The Vinland Sagas than is the case with more stylized and consciously literary creations. Their episodes show little sign of having been reshaped into a literary form; they ask to be taken at face value, as true accounts presented with all the spontaneity of discovery and exploration. Of course, their oral background also means that The Vinland Sagas cannot be taken as trustworthy contemporary historical documents: They disagree with each other on certain details and contain material which we would now classify as fanciful and supernatural, however palpable a part of the
Travels of Leif Eiriksson
Travels of Thorvald Eiriksson (The Saga of the Greenlanders, ch.4)
Travels of Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir and Thorfinn Karlsefni (Eirik the Red’s Saga)
real world this may have been to people then. That said, the sagas are still our best proof that such voyages to the North American continent took place around the time the sagas tell us. Coincidence or wishful thinking simply could not have produced descriptions of topography, natural resources and native lifestyles which are from a world unknown to people in Europe, but can be corroborated in North America.
A welcome addition to the evidence of the sagas was provided when Helge and Anne Ingstad found remains of buildings in Newfoundland in the early 1960s, which were of the same character as Viking Age buildings in Iceland and Greenland. This eliminated any remaining scepticism about what we also know from the sagas: that the explorers built a camp referred to as Leif’s Camp, on the northern tip of Newfoundland, at a site now known as L’Anse aux Meadows, as a stopping place for their voyages farther south to Vinland.
Eirik the Red’s Saga is preserved in two Icelandic vellum manuscripts, Hauksbók (early fourteenth century) and Skdlholtsbok (early fifteenth century), which was published in Íslensk fornrit IV (supplement, Reykjavik, 1985) and is translated by Keneva Kunz. Both manuscripts were based on an original written after 1263 – which in turn was based on an older text from the early thirteenth century. It hardly tells anything about Eirik, but exalts the memory of the first European couple to have a child in North America: Thorfinn Karlsefni (descended from Aud the Deep-minded, a Viking queen in Dublin and settler in west Iceland in the opening of The Saga of the People of Laxardal, and from Kjarval, King of Ireland); and Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir (descended from a Gaelic slave brought to Iceland by the same Aud), who was born and raised in Iceland, then emigrated to Greenland and later went to North America before she finally settled in Iceland again, becoming a nun after a subsequent pilgrimage to Rome.
The conflict between the old pagan culture and Christianity is prominent in the saga; Leif Eiriksson is commissioned by King Olaf Tryggvason to convert the heathen settlers of Greenland to Christianity. More than once, conflicting beliefs struggle to gain the upper hand: in the figure of the Christian Gudrid, who agrees to take part in sorcery to help people in need, for instance, and in the prayers of the voyagers to North America for God’s help after rejecting succour from Thor.
The abrupt beginning of The Saga of the Greenlanders is explained by its preservation as a part of a larger work about King Olaf Tryggvason, from around 1387. For prefatory details of Eirik the Red’s settlement in Iceland and Greenland can be found in the second chapter of Eirik the Red’s Saga. The original Saga of the Greenlanders was written much earlier, very likely in the beginning of the thirteenth century. The saga focuses on Leif the Lucky’s leading role in the Vinland voyages and includes a striking and memorable account of his vicious half-sister Freydis. It is translated by Keneva Kunz from Olafur Halldoŕsson’s Gralandi miSaldaritum (Reykjavik, 1978).
Both The Vinland Sagas reflect a genuine family tradition and mention that three bishops in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries could trace their family back to Gudrid and Thorfinn Karlsefni through their son Snorri, the first ‘Vinlander’.
Eirik the Red fled from Norway with his father and settled in Iceland where he married a local woman, Thjodhild, in Breidafjord (west Iceland). He seems to have had a nose for trouble, was soon driven out of his district and eventually outlawed. During his exile he explored a land which he had heard of to the west of Iceland, and returned with news about ‘Greenland’, as he named it to attract others to join him in settling there. This is said to have happened fifteen years before Christianity was adopted by law in Iceland, i.e. in 985.
When it comes to the Vinland voyages themselves, the sagas have two versions to tell – which can nevertheless be matched in many instances (highlighted in bold face in the columns on pp. 632–5). A comparison between the two Vinland Sagas shows that their similarities are more striking than their contradictions, most of which can be explained by the oral tradition behind them. By collating them a reasonable sequence of events can be established (see also maps on pp. 627–9 with suggested routes for the respective voyages):
Bjarni Herjolfsson sights unknown land west of Greenland.
Leif the Lucky, son of Eirik the Red, becomes the first European to explore this land and give names to it, from north to south.
Thorvald, son of Eirik the Red, leads an expedition to Vinland.
Thorstein, son of Eirik the Red, tries to find Vinland but fails and ends his life in Lysufjord, leaving Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir a widow.
Thorfinn Karlsefni and Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir lead the first attempt to settle in the New World, during which they have the first European child bor
n in America, their son Snorri.
Freydis, daughter of Eirik the Red, leads a disastrous expedition.
Thorfinn Karlsefni and Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir settle for the rest of their lives in Skagafjord, north Iceland.
* * *
EIRIK THE RED’S SAGA
Gudrid arrives in Greenland
Gudrid arrives in Greenland with her father in a group of 30 people who leave Iceland. Half of them fall sick and die on the way, but the rest are rescued. A seeress tells Gudrid’s fortune, and she goes to Eirik the Red’s residence. Leif is instructed by King Olaf of Norway to convert Greenland to Christianity.
Leif finds new lands
Leif is blown off course and finds unknown land west from Greenland where self-sown wheat, grapes and maple trees grow. He rescues some people who have been shipwrecked and is given the nickname ‘Lucky’.
Thorstein goes astray in the Atlantic
Thorstein, Eirik’s son, gets a ship from Gudrid’s father and talks Eirik into coming along. Eirik hides his gold before he leaves, then falls off his horse on the way to the ship and refuses to go. The others sail around in the Atlantic for the whole summer.
Thorstein and Gudrid are married
Thorstein marries Gudrid and they settle down in Lysufjord in the western settlement of Greenland. Thorstein falls ill and dies, but rises briefly from the dead to tell Gudrid’s fortune. His remains are taken to consecrated ground in Brattahlid. Gudrid’s father dies and she lives as a widow at Brattahlid.
THE SAGA OF THE GREENLANDERS
Bjarni finds new lands
Bjarni Herjolfsson is blown off course and sees unknown, forested land west of Greenland.
Leif explores new lands
Leif buys Bjarni’s ship and asks Eirik to come along, but Eirik claims he is too old and not fit for sailing any more. Eventually, he gives in but falls off a horse on the way to the ship and returns to his farm without going anywhere.
Leif finds Helluland, Markland and Vinland, and on his way back he rescues Thorir and his crew, who are shipwrecked on a skerry, 15 people in all. They all get sick the following winter and Thorir and many others die, leaving Thorir’s wife Gudrid a widow. Leif is nicknamed ‘the Lucky’ after rescuing these people.
Thorvald explores lands and dies on Krossanes
Thorvald, Leif’s brother, explores west and east from Leif’s camp and eventually his ship is driven ashore and damaged on a peninsula, Kjalarnes.
He says he wants to settle nearby, but then they see nine men under three hide-covered boats and kill all but one, who escapes. They are attacked by a huge number of natives who eventually withdraw. Thorvald is fatally wounded by an arrow and is buried on a point of land called Krossanes.
Thorstein and Gudrid marry, they go astray at sea
Thorstein Eiriksson marries Gudrid, Thorir’s widow, and they set out for Vinland but go astray at sea and end up in Lysufjord, where Thorstein dies, only to rise briefly from the dead to tell Gudrid’s fortune. His remains are taken to consecrated ground in Brattahlid. Gudrid goes to Brattahlid.
Karlsefni and Gudrid’s voyage
Thorfinn Karlsefni arrives in Greenland and marries Gudrid. There is much talk about going to Vinland and Karlsefni and Gudrid decide to set off, with Eirik’s daughter, Freydis, and her husband, Thorvard, and Eirik’s son Thorvald. They find Helluland, Markland and Bjarney as well as a keel from a ship at Kjalarnes.
Stay in Straumsfjord
They pass Furdustrandir (Wonder Beaches) and stay in Straumsfjord where they find a beached whale. One ship goes north around Kjalarnes in search of Vinland but is blown off course. Karlsefni continues south to Hop, taking his own livestock with him.
Meeting and fighting with natives in Hop
Here they meet the natives (Skraelings) and Karlsefni and his men trade with them, selling them red cloth for pieces of skin. Karlsefni prevents his men from selling their own weapons. A bull eventually scares the natives away.
The natives fight Karlsefni and his men – the men flee, but the pregnant Freydis scares the natives away by baring her breasts and slapping them with a sword.
The natives find a dead man with an iron axe in his head, pick up the axe and try it successfully on wood, but when it breaks on stone they throw it away.
On his way back, Karlsefni kills five natives who are sleeping in skin sacks.
Thorvald dies in the Land of the One-Legged
Karlsefni sails around Kjalarnes and reaches a river where a uniped appears and shoots Thorvald, Eirik the Red’s son, with an arrow. He draws it out and before dying, jests about how fat the paunch was that it struck.
Snorri in Straumsfjord
Back in Straumsfjord, they begin to quarrel about women. Snorri, son of Gudrid and Karlsefni, is three years old. They take hostages on the way back and lose still another ship.
Karlsefni and Gudrid in Skagafjord
Back in Iceland, Karlsefni and Gudrid settle on Reynines in Skagafjord. His mother dislikes Gudrid (because she feels Gudrid’s family is not a match for Karlsefni’s) but accepts her in the end. Three bishops are counted among the descendants of Snorri, son of Karlsefni and Gudrid.
Karlsefni and Gudrid’s voyage
Thorfinn Karlsefni arrives in Greenland and marries Gudrid. There is much talk about going to Vinland and Karlsefni and Gudrid decide to go, intending to settle since they take livestock over with them.
Stay in Leif’s camp
They reach Leif’s camp where there is plenty of fresh beached whale, and they also live off the land, collect grapes and hunt.
Meeting and fighting with natives
After one winter they become aware of natives, who turn out to be afraid of Karlsefni’s bull. They trade with the natives who offer furs and want weapons in exchange, which Karlsefni forbids. Gudrid gives birth to Snorri and sees a phantom. Karlsefni plans to use their bull to scare off the natives. They attack, many natives die and one of them tries an iron axe on one of his companions, killing him. Their chief picks it up and throws it into the sea.
The following spring Karlsefni decides to return to Greenland, taking plenty of wood, berries and skins with him.
Freydis leads a Voyage
Freydis Eiriksdottir leads a voyage with her husband, Thorvard from Gardar. The members of the expedition end up fighting among themselves in Leif s camp, incited by Freydis. She kills the women herself and the survivors all go back to Greenland, where she is condemned by Leif.
Karlsefni and Gudrid in Skagafjord
Karlsefni goes to Norway and sells his goods before returning to Glaumbaer in Skagafjord where he and Gudrid settle down with their son Snorri. She goes on a pilgrimage to Rome, builds a church and becomes a nun. Three bishops are counted among their descendants.
* * *
THE SAGA OF THE GREENLANDERS
1 Herjolf was the son of Bard Herjolfsson and a kinsman of Ingolf, the settler of Iceland. Ingolf gave to Herjolf the land between Vog and Reykjanes.
At first, Herjolf farmed at Drepstokk. His wife was named Thorgerd and their son was Bjarni; he was a promising young man. While still a youthful age he longed to sail abroad. He soon earned himself both a good deal of wealth and a good name, and spent his winters alternately abroad and with his father. Soon Bjarni had his own ship making trading voyages. During the last winter Bjarni spent in Norway, Herjolf decided to accompany Eirik the Red to Greenland and left his farm. One of the men on Herjolf’s ship was from the Hebrides, a Christian, who composed the drapa of the Sea Fences (Breakers). It has this refrain:
I ask you, unblemished monks’ tester, monk’s tester: Christ
to be the ward of my travels;
may the lord of the peaks’ pane peaks’ pane: heavens
shade my path with his hawk’s perch. hawk’s perch: hand
Herjolf farmed at Herjolfsnes. He was the most respected of men.
Eirik the Red farmed at Brattahlid. There he was held in the highest esteem, and everyone deferred to his
authority. Eirik’s children were Leif, Thorvald, Thorstein and a daughter, Freydis. She was married to a man named Thorvard, and they farmed at Gardar, where the bishop’s seat is now. She was a domineering woman, but Thorvard was a man of no consequence. She had been married to him mainly for his money.
Heathen were the people of Greenland at that time.
Bjarni steered his ship into Eyrar in the summer of the year that his father had sailed from Iceland. Bjarni was greatly moved by the news and would not have his cargo unloaded. His crew then asked what he was waiting for, and he answered that he intended to follow his custom of spending the winter with his father – ‘and I want to set sail for Greenland, if you will join me’.