The history of ancient Vinland

TORFASON'S
ANCIENT VINLAND.

TH. E. SLEVIN.

THE

HISTORY

OF

ANCIENT VINLAND

BY
THORMOD TORFASON.

Translated from the Latin of 1705 by
PROF. CHARLES G. HERBERMANN, PH D., LL. D.,

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JOHN GILMARY SHEA.

NEW YORK:

JOHN G. SHEA,

1891.

05"

£££

INTRODUCTION.

The work of Torfaeus, a learned Icelander, which is
here presented was the first book in which the story of the
discovery of Vinland by the Northmen was made known
to general readers. After the appearance of his work, the
subject slumbered, until Rafn in this century attempted to
fix the position of the Vinland of Northern accounts. Since
that time scholars have been divided. Our leading his
torians, George Bancroft, Hildreth, Winsor, Elliott, Palfrey,
regard voyages by the Norsemen southward from Greenland
as highly probable, but treat the sagas as of no historical
value, and the attempt to trace the route of the voyages,
and fix the localities of places mentioned, as idle, with such
vague indications as these early accounts, committed to
writing long after the events described, can possibly afford.
Toulmin Smith, Beamish, Reeves and others accepted the
Norseman story as authentic, and Dr. B. F. De Costa, Hors-
ford and Baxter are now the prominent advocates and
adherents of belief in the general accuracy of the Vinland
narratives.

As early as 1073 Adam of Bremen spoke of Vinland, a
country where grape vines grew wild, and in 1671 Montanus,
followed in 1702 by Campanius, the chronicler of New Swe
den, alluded to its discovery. Peringskjold in 1697 published
some of the sagas and thus brought the question more defin
itively before scholars ; but Torfaeus, a man well versed in
the history of his native island, in the book here given col
lected from the priestly and monastic writings all that was
accessible in his day. Produced now in English, his History
of Vinland will add to the literature of the subject, and with
the volume of Dr. De Costa give the student almost all the

iv INTRODUCTION,

material for examination. Torfaeus first proposed the state
ment of the length of the day as a means of fixing the position
of Vinland which he believed to be near Newfoundland.

Dr; Winsor says : " Of the interpreters of this ancient
lore Torfaeus has been long looked upon as a characteristic
exemplar."

Some of the earlier advocates of the Vinland story
found corroborative evidence in the stone mill at Newport,
the inscriptions on Dighton rock, and the bronze or copper
found with a fair haired skeleton. These have been wisely
abandoned as utterly untrustworthy.

The narratives are vague, and it has been made an ob
jection that the only natives described are evidently men of
of Esquimaux race, not our Indians. This is really an
evidence in favor of the accounts. The country of Vinland
was known and referred to before the days of Columbus.
If the narratives had been invented after the exploration of
our coast, and with knowledge of its actual inhabitants the
writers would have placed Algonquins there, not Esquimaux.

We know too little of the movement of the great Ameri
can nations to be able to write the whole story, but we know
some facts. The early settlers in Greenland found no
Skraelings, or Esquimaux there and they did not appear
till near the middle of the fourteenth century. They were
evidently forced northward. Jacques Cartier found at Gaspe
and in possession of the valley of the St. Lawrence tribes of
the Huron Iroquois family. All the vocabulary and words
given by him are of their language. He gives no Algonquin
or Esquimaux terms. Yet when Champlain settled Quebec
less than a century afterwards these Huron Iroquois had
fallen back up the St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario and were
in possession of the territory south and west of the lake.
The whole valley of the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic
Coast to Chesapeake Bay were held by Algonquin tribes.
These at the north warred with a tribe to whom they gave
the name of Esquimaux or Raw Meat Eaters. The Esqui
maux held their own in Labrador in i6i2(Biard, "Relation de
la Nouvelle France,") and in 1659 were still at war with the

INTRODUCTION. v

Micmacs of Gaspe, (Relation, 1659). That they occupied the
coast lower down before they were forced northward into
Greenland, would seem therefore most probable. Yet if
these accounts of voyages to Vinland were invented or built
up on a few vague indications, the inventors could not have
been such philosophic ethnologists as to place Esquimaux in
New England, The accessible material at their hands would
have led them to place Algonquins on the coast.

Rude implements found in the interglacial Jersey drift
have been held by C. C. Abbot to have been associated with
a people of the Esquimaux stock, so that Esquimaux may
have occupied the coast below Sandy Hook.

Christian Irish had preceded the Northmen to the Faroe
Islands, as Dicuil, an Irish monk, makes clear, and to Iceland;
but the Scandinavians who settled Iceland and Greenland,
who made voyages thence southward were just emerging
from heathenism into the light of Christianity. Catholic
bishops and priests, the mass and prayers are mentioned in
the narratives, and one of the heroines makes a pilgrimage
to Rome.

This fixes to a certain extent the time of the alleged
voyages, for the time of the introduction of Christianity
into Iceland and Greenland is fairly well authenticated.

JOHN GILMARY SHEA.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

Thormod Torfason, or as he latinized his name, Thor-
modus Torfaeus, the author of our History of Vinland, was
born on the island of Engoe on the north coast of Iceland, in
1640. At this time Iceland formed a part of the kingdom of
Denmark. Accordingly Torfason went to Copenhagen for his
education. There the young man's brilliant abilities soon
found recognition. He was hardly twenty years of age when
the Danish King, Frederick III, who took a deep interest in
the early history of the Northmen, appointed him interpret
regius for northern antiquities. Two years later (1662) he
was sent to Iceland, partly to perfect his knowledge of the
ancient language of his native land, partly to gather Ice-
landish manuscripts for the royal library at Copenhagen.
With the aid of Bishop Brynjolf Sveinsson, whom Torfaeus
himself calls the most learned of all the bishops of Skalholt
up to his time, he carried out his commission successfully;
as a reward he was appointed secretary of the bailiwick of
Stavanger in the south of Norway (1664). But Torfaeus
was not destined to bury his talents in the administration of
a small Norwegian country place. He remained there only
three years ; then he was recalled to Copenhagen and ap
pointed Curator of the I^oyal Cabinet o/ Antiquities. While
holding this position he again visited Iceland and subse
quently made a voyage to Holland. During this voyage
he proved that he had not only the love of learning of his
Icelandish forefathers, but also the violent sprit of the old
Vikings. Attacked by a man Torfaeus struck him down
and killed him. He was tried and condemned to death. His
distinction as a scholar however, led the King to pardon him,
though he was obliged to pay a heavy fine and lost his
place as the head of the royal Cabinet ^673. He went to

PREFACE. vii

Norway and became more absorbed than ever before in the
study of the Eddas, of the Sagas and of Northern Antiquities
in general. On the death of Frederick III, his successor,
Christian V, named Torfaeus Royal Historiographer of Nor
way and made him a member of the commission on edu
cation. The fruits of his studies now appeared in rapid
succession. His History of the Faroe Islands appeared in
1695, and was followed (1697) by the History of the Orkneys,
and the Table of the Chiefs and Kings of Denmark (1702).
In 1705 was published the History of Vinland, which now
for the first time appears in an English dress. The History
of Ancient Greenland (1706) and the Trifolium Historicum
(1707) led up to the publication of his principal work, the
History of Norway in four large volumes (1711). This was
the last of his works that appeared during his lifetime. But
so great was the esteem in which he was held by Northern
scholars, that many years after his death, in 1777, his unpub
lished miscellaneous papers were printed by his admiring
countrymen. Torfaeus died in 1719.

All Torfaeus' works were written in Latin. Hence,
while John Peringskjold was perhaps the first to revive the
memory of the Norse discovery of America in his Swedish
translation of the Heimskringla, (1697) yet Torfason's His
tory of Vinland first made known the claims of the Northmen
to European scholars. The body of his history, as he himself
tells us in his preface, is based on two old Icelandish manu
scripts, the celebrated Flatey Book, known as No. 1005 fol.
of the Old Royal Collection in Copenhagen, and on a paper
manuscript, No, 678 in the same collection. On the former
are based Chapters I to VIII, of the History of Vinland, on
the latter Chapters IX to XIV. The Flatey Book, so called
because it was long preserved on the island of Flatey, near
Iceland, is a remarkable work. It is in the main a history
of the Kings of Norway, written on vellum, and fills 1700
closely packed pages of print at thirty-nine lines per page.
Two priests, John Thordsson and Magnus Thorhallson, un
dertook this encyclopaedic work for an Icelander named
John Haconson. Like most mediaeval records, therefore, the

vin PREFACE.

story of the finding of Vinland by the Northmen has been
preserved for us by Catholic priests. The Flatey Book was
probably written at Widedals-tunga, near the monastery of
Thingeyrar, whence the authors probably drew many of the
manuscripts from which the material for their work was
drawn. The learned Norse scholar Gudbrand Vigfussen, in
the preface to his edition of the Orkneyinga Saga (Vol. I, p.
XXV) has proved by an ingenious course of reasoning, that
the manuscript was finished in 1387, about three hundred
and seventyrfive years after the discovery of Vinland. The
version of this discovery, found in the Flatey Book, usually
called the Saga of Eric the Red, was, however, taken from
older manuscripts, so that we cannot say, when it was first
written down from tradition.

The second account of the discovery of Vinland, taken
by Torfaeus from N. 768, O. R. C. of Copenhagen, is usually
entitled the Saga of Thorfinn Karlsefne. Torfason's manu
script is much younger than the Flatey Book. But since
his death another parchment manuscript was found in the
Arne-Magnaean Collection of Copenhagen, being No. 544 of
that collection, which seems to be the original of Torfaeus'
paper manuscript. This old parchment proved to be even
older than the Flatey Book, being ascribed by palaeographers
to the end of the thirteenth or the beginning of the four
teenth century. Accordingly, if age is to decide, this version
should be even more authoritative than the Flatey Book.

Torfaeus' narrative is based upon the manuscripts he
had before him. Indeed, it may be said without exaggera
tion, that whole pages of his History are fairly literal trans
lations of the Flatey Book, or of the Karlsefne Saga. He
makes no attempt to reconcile nor to explain the discrep
ancies of the two versions of his story, though the differences
are neither slight nor unimportant. To him the account of
the discovery of Vinland, and found in the Saga of Eric the
Red, seemed preferable to that of the Karlsefne Saga, be
cause it is simpler and more probable. Perhaps his judg
ment may have been influenced by his own connection with
the Flatey book, for it was by his hands that Bishop Brynolf

PREFACE. ix

Steinsson sent the royal volume to King Frederick III (1662).
Still his opinion has been endorsed by many scholars since
his time and especially by Carl Christian Rafu, the editor of
the Antiquitates Americanae, who first printed the Icelandic
originals of the two Sagas. Of late, however, there seems
to be a turn in the tide and Mr. Reeves, the author of 'The
Finding of Wineland the Good," (Oxford, 1890) is outspoken
In his advocacy of the Karlsefne Saga, as contained in the
very old parchment Codex, A. M. No. 544. He supports his
views by showing that other Icelandic manuscripts, contain
ing brief accounts of the discovery of Vinland, or allusions
thereto, agree with this version rather than with the story of
the Flatey Book. However that may be, the reader after
carefully perusing the two versions will see the importance
of reconciling or at least explaining their discrepancies ; and
this may not prove impossible. At all events, so much is
certain: Thormod Torfason has given a fairly full and correct,
and an honest history of the discovery of Vinland, as given
in the old Norse records. He has concealed no difficulties,
nor omitted to present his readers with all the . evidence
available in his day. Nor has much been added to this
evidence since, except a few extracts from Are Thorgillson's
Islendingabok and from the Landnamabok, which confirm
Torfaeus' documents, without adding anything essentially
new. Our History of Vinland, therefore, has not outgrown
its usefulness, though it is the earliest work, that made
known to modern scholars the tale of the discovery of
America by the Northmen.

HISTORY OF

ANCIENT VINLAND,

OR OF

PART OF NORTH AMERICA.

In which is reviewed the Reason of the Name; the Position
of the Land is determined from the length of the Days in
winter; the Fertility of the Soil, and the barbarous
character of the Inhabitants, the temporary so
journ of its Discoverers and their Exploits,
the Name of the adjacent Lands and
their Appearance, are set forth from
ancient Icelandic Sources
brought to Light

BY

THORMOD TORFAEUS,

ROYAL HISTORIOGRAPHER OF NORWAY.

COPENHAGEN :
Printed at the press of his Royal Majesty and of thellniversity

1705
At the Author's Expense.

APPROBATION.

The character of our age is to extol what is new, neg
lecting the old. Therefore not so much the indulgence as
the applause of the public is due to those who, like the most
noble author of this work, rescue from darkness and bring
to light ancient history and geography. Copenhagen, Sept.
2nd, in the year 1705.

P. VINDINGIUS.

To the most Illustrious and most Excellent

Hero
LORD FREDERICK DE GABEL, LORD OF BREGENTUED,

Golden Knight

of the Order of the Danebrog,

Secret Counselor of State and Justice

of His Sacred Majesty of Denmark and Norway,

Lord Lieutenant of Norway,

Royal Governor
of the District of Aggershus and Ferroe.

MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND EXCELLENT LORD.

The year, immediately preceding the present, the
fourth of this century, has been everywhere consecrated in
eternal records as most memorable, the year when the most
august sovereign of these realms and their hereditary King,
our most clement Lord, Frederick the Fourth, accompanied,
among other most illustrious, most noble and great ministers
by your Excellency also, most illustrious Lord Lieutenant,
most mercifully deigned after the example of his great
father, of most glorious memory, Christian the Fifth, to visit
his realm, from its easternmost boundaries even to Nidar-
osia, 'and was universally received with the most marked
enthusiasm of the whole people and of all classes, with
festive acclaim and the most earnest wishes, the most ardent
prayers and supplications for the perpetual safety and last
ing prosperity of his Majesty. Surely parts of the fifth and
sixth days of July,and the intervening night which was turned
into bright sunlight, more than other times, shone upon
me most auspiciously, when on that royal visit our Sov
ereign permitted this obscure and humble village to be
selected for his stopping-place, where it was our privilege
to behold with due reverence the most kind and gentle
features of his father and grand-father, so to say, revived

4 DEDICATION,

in his most serene countenance, and after a long interval
to recall them more clearly than in any mirror that glit
ters with bright colors. ^But when at the same time your
Excellency brought up the questions of the exploration
of ancient Greenland, and of the establishment of- trade in
Davis' Straits, I answered to the first part only and disap
proved of a route so often passed over as little fit for
reaching the end aimed at ; being bidden to point out one
more suitable, I put off the expression of my opinion, being
hindered by the presence of his Royal Majesty. On the
following morning I set it forth to your most illustrious
Excellency mosc briefly, owing to your haste. So far was
your Excellency from finding fault therewith, that you even
deigned to publish, and afterwards to praise it, when not
so long ago I explained it more fully in a letter to your Ex
cellency ; finally I inserted it in my Preface to Ancient
Greenland. The second question, on exploring Davis' Straits,
is sufficiently answered both by home precedents known to
many and by foreign precedents ; for it is proved that it has
been visited long ago by vessels from Holland, and accord
ing to the testimony of Arngrim, from England also.

Finally, I humbly offer to your Excellency the present
treatise on VINLAND, in order to testify and express most
positively my feelings of most submissive devotion and
outspoken respect. For as the superintendence and supreme
government of all Norway, which you administer with the
greatest care and success, has been intrusted to your Excel
lency, you are wont to enquire most carefully, among other
things which relate to its welfare, what fame this people
has attained in past ages. Although the most flourishing
realms of our part of the globe bear complete witness to our
fame, yet this is crowned by the glory of first opening through
its colonists parts of the New World, among which this
(Vinland) is by no means the least. I admit indeed, that the
record thereof which has come down to us is very scant; for
though mention is made therein of a great number of wild
beasts and of traffic in their skins, yet there is no specific ac
count, so that they note neither the varieties of birds nor of

DEDICATION. 5

fishes, mention very few species of trees and none at all of
plants, nor any other things relating to the description of the
countries. But in as much as it does not lie in the power of
any historian to furnish himself with richer materials than
have been handed down to him, your Excellency will pardon
my deficiency in this respect ; for I know the moderation of
your Excellency's mind to be such, that even if I had made
a rather thoughtless mistake, you would yet extend to me
your kind indulgence for my rashness. But as the mistake
is not mine, trusting in your Excellency's kindness, of which
I have heretofore received various marks, I most humbly
submit to the patronage of your Excellency my work, such
as it is, as well as myself, and request for both your favor,
kindness, good will and protection. That the Lord of Hea
ven may plentifully grant your Excellency all prosperity in
the fullest measure worthy of Heaven, I sincerely pray with
suppliant mind, hand and pen.

Your most illustrious Excellency's

Most humble servant,

T. TORFAEUS.

PREFACE TO THE READER.

From the creation and renovation of the world, if you
accept the Sacred Record, up to the present time, I know
not what more important event has been handed down in
history than the discovery of the New World ; though some
ascribe the glory thereof to the ancient Phoenicians and
their descendants, the Carthaginians, yet they lack the un
doubted testimony necessary to convince all fully of its cor
rectness ; but even if this were completely admitted, yet
they achieved no less glory, who restored it to perpet
ual light after being buried in oblivion for so many centuries
thereafter. The fame of that immense achievement for a
long time appeared to have been won by a man who has
never been sufficiently praised, Christopher Columbus, a
Genoese, who in the year of grace, 1492, discovered a part
thereof. Nor did Americus Vespucius, of Florence, who set
foot on it four years after, under the auspices of Emanuel,
King of Portugal, carry off less renown; nay, he gained even
greater glory. Some, however, claim for themselves the
honor of discovering those countries in former ages ; the
Venetian brothers, for instance, Nicholas and Antonio
surnamed Zeni, in the year 1380 after Christ, the last year
of the Norwegian King Haco, the Sixth of that name, as he
insisted, in truth the Seventh; and two centuries before these
Madoc, son of Gwineth, (brother of the Prince of Wales) who
is said to have led colonies to Canada and Florida, about the
year 1170. But from the present work it will be clear that
none of these (even should what is related of the Zeni be
true, whereof hereafter) could claim for themselves the glory
of first discovering America, nor could posterity justly and
fairly claim it for them. The Greenlanders, colonists of Ice
land and to some extent the Icelanders themselves, first
of all snatched this glory from both, and indeed from Madoc,
150 years and more before his time. They did this in
such a way that they have not only secured for themselves

PREFACE. 7

the undying honor and glory of discovering and of hastily
settling Vinland, but also that of finally making it known far
and wide and of publishing the Christian religion through
out the neighboring Albania or Great Ireland, (for this could
not have been done before by others,) Therefore, kind
reader, behold these two accounts of the discovery of Vin
land, which for the present I offer you, not such as I should
wish them to be, but such as they have been handed down
to me, and as I can repeat them. Both are scant and slight;
neither is entirely consistent with the other. I repeat them
rather to strengthen my present thesis, and to leave the posi
tion of the country(Vinland) to be investigated by others from
the facts here set down, and to reclaim for the descendants of
the first occupants any right that may have accrued to them
from that occupation than from a hope to satisfy you, even
by both stories together. The first narrative, extending
from the beginning to Chapter VIII is found in the Codex
Flateyensis, in the history of King Olaf Triggvin, and, as it
seems, in some other old manuscripts also. Having bor
rowed it from some one of these, the most distinguished
head of the Royal Swedish Archives, John Peringskjold,
inserted it in the history of the Norse Kings, the Heims-
kringla, from chapter 104 to chapter 112, whilst they do not
exist in the manuscripts commonly ascribed to Snorro Stur-
leson, to wit : the Kringla or Jofraskinna, which I have
borrowed from the Library of the Church of the Most Holy
Trinity, at Copenhagen.

The second narrative, a most famous antiquary of the
last century, the Icelander Bjorn of Skardsa, collected from
ancient documents, and chiefly from that most perfect book
on the Origins of Iceland, by the jurist Hauk, who died in
the year 1334, and from various traditions of later times.
Both agree in saying that at the end of the tenth century
after the birth of the Saviour, or at the beginning of the fol
lowing century, Vinland was seen and soon after discovered;
and hence all doubt on this question is dispelled. Their
differences in other particulars are so far from destroying
the fundameutal parts of the story, that they rather streng-

8 PREFACE.

then them : for in as much as they agree in essentials, their
differences in regard to details, and those more minute de
tails, readily show that the different writers did not conspire
to hand down falsehood, and moreover that they did not
copy each others' writings. On this argument that most dis
tinguished man, Olaf Rudbecke in the second paragraph of
the first chapter of his Atlant. discourses learnedly : from
him I shall cite a few words. For after promising a short dis
sertation on the abstruse method of writing, involved in
fables and riddles, he adds : "But indeed, others, too, may be
found who will regard not only this abstruse method of
writing, but history setting forth everything in the plainest
language, as fiction, especially if it happen that different
writers disagree in some particulars. But if such writers
are compelled at different times to relate one and the same
event, do we believe that they will always use the same
order, the same number of words, and precisely the same
enumeration of the minutest particulars ? By no means !
Truly not even the four Evangelists agree thus among them
selves, however wonderful may be their agreement in truth
and on all the chief points of the heavenly teaching. The
books of Kings also and the so called Paralipomena in the
Old Testament, although they relate the events of the same
period, yet so differ in language and at times in the fulness
of the facts, that to obtain a complete and perfect version
of the history, they must sometimes mutually complement
and help each other. Therefore to attain the truth, it will
certainly suffice to trace out the essential features of the
story ; the disagreement of writers in lesser particulars, is
too unimportant to obscure the truth, when it shines by its
own light, a principle which will be illustrated more fully
by a famous example. Moses has given us by far the most
accurate account of the deluge and has set forth most care
fully its occasion, causes, details, chronology and the story
of the men that survived it ; the same event was afterward,
by the faith of tradition, made known to the pagans also ;
but both on account of the length of time and the somewhat
doubtful good faith of the writers, the story has many and

•

PREFACE. 0

considerable breaks, some interpolations, as well as many
changes." Then after setting forth the various versions of
the catastrophe he finally adds : " What of the fact that
any one who is willing to consider these things carefully,
will see clearly this inference, which while it was not before
thought of by any one, yet exceeds all mere probability: that
there underlies the narrative of these writers, though they
differ from one another, a certain most undoubted substrat
um of agreement and truth, placed there so to say by divine
Providence; for as we regard those who relate the same fact
in precisely the same words and according to the same ar
rangement and style, as pilferers of other's work (except
one who precedes the rest in time) so also, had the Chal
deans, Scythians, Greeks and Egyptians agreed entirely with
Moses or any other historian of the deluge, both in language
and details, they could never have escaped the same criti
cism, and in that case the whole story would seem to depend
on the testimony not of many but of a single witness. But
whenever different writers differently set forth the same
event, in regard to which they agree with one another, it is
evident at once that the same fact was beheld or perceived
by several persons, but was not handed down to posterity
by all with equal truth in all respects nor with the like
care. Meanwhile however, the pith of the story will be con
firmed by several and will not admit of doubt on our part."

But I am excusing the variations of the present narra
tives in a larger preface than is necessary, for they are very
slight and can be examined with very little trouble.

I. The CODEX FLATEYENSIS relates that the new countries
were seen, but not entered, by Bjarne, the Icelander, that
they were explored and endowed with names by Leif.
Bjorn of Skardsa is silent concerning Bjarne, but the rest he
admits ; there is a slight difference of opinion whether Leif
came to the new lands when returning from Norway, or
whether he sailed from Greenland especially, in order to
explore them.

II. The Codex Flateyensis says that Thorvald, the son
of Eric the Red, next visited them and was finally pierced

10 PREFACE.

with an arrow by the Skraelings. Bjorn tells a far less prob
able story, for he introduces the fabulous country of the
unipedes.

III. The Codex Flateyensis says that after Thorvald's
death, his brother Thorstein undertook a voyage thither:
Bjorn places that voyage before Thorvald's death The Codex
is more trustworthy, for it first tells of his wife's death,of the
marriage contract, and lastly how she married Karlsefne.

IV. The Codex Flateyensis describes a third expe
dition to Vinland under the leadership of Karlsefne: the
third, for Thorstein had not reached Vinland. Bjorn re
counts the story more simply, yet he errs in counting Thor-
vald among his companions, for he had been previously slain;
nor is it more worthy of belief, that he gave their names
to Markland and Helluland; to other places he certainly ap
pears to have given names.

V. The Codex Flateyensis alone relates the fourth voyage
to Vinland, which Bjorn did not find mentioned in Hauk's
book; and yet it is quite probable, for it was the last; and
Freidis, the daughter of Eric the Red, seems to have been
present wTith both, and during the last to have become mad
and to have acted in a ferocious way. The minute details
I shall not examine, for it is not of such importance whether
the discovery of those countries or the death of Eric the Red
is placed one or two years sooner or later, and the like.
What may be a matter of controversy regarding the position
of Vinland I have discussed in a note with all possible dili
gence. For it must be sought in that part of the North
American continent where the productions here described
grow or which the descriptions fit, and where the character
of the country is found agreeing therewith ; but whether
these suit the character of the climate in which Estotiland
lies according to the common opinion, I greatly doubt.

I am not unaware that Buno in his notes to Philip Clu-
verius' Introduction to Universal Geography, book VI, chap.
12, denies that Estotiland is to be found in those parts of
America (he describes Canada), as well as that the island of
Frisland ever existed in the adjacent part of the ocean.

PREFACE. 11

i

Henry Kipping, Pol. Institutes, book I, chap. 20, p. 173., not
only supports him, but denies that they are located any
where, in the following words : " Frisland and Estotiland
exist nowhere, whatever the Venetian Zeni in their Sea Voy
age may have wished to make us believe;" but Buno in the
notes of the afore-mentioned work, book III, chap. 20, para
graph 4, page 209, contradicts himself and says that Green
land is separated by Davis' Strait from the American Es
totiland. For my part I have no quarrel in regard to the
name, since Sanson d' Abbeville and more recent geogra
phers regard the new land of Labrador, adjoining Hudson
Bay as identical with Estotiland ; that it is not the same,
however as the Estotiland. which the Zeni describe, I
suspect from the fact that they state that it (Estotiland)
lies more than a thousand miles to the west of Frisland.
Since Frisland however is usually placed in 62° latitude
and about 342° of longitude, whilst Estotiland is placed
58° of latitude and about 290° of longitude, they (the Zeni)
must have proceeded farther towards America and have
found there the Estotiland which they describe. This land
without doubt was large, since it was little smaller than
Iceland, but superior in fertility, inasmuch as it was situated
in a milder climate, very rich, and abounding in all kinds
of products, even gold and various metals ; remarkable for
its cities, castles, towns and splendid structures. But I do
not know whether this fits those barbarous tribes in those
times. There is besides the published description of the
island of Drogio and of the vast country extending thence
towards the south and southwest, which present the features
of another continent ; these statements suggest the opinion
that they were carried to parts of North America, and that
those who afterwards discovered the furthest parts of North
America, convinced that they had reached the same Estoti
land, of which they (the Zeni) speak, adopted the name,
though the position was different; certainly the construction
of boats, quite well known to those tribes (the Skraelings)
and described exactly in this document, an art perhaps
wholly unknown to such distant nations at that time, would

12 PREFACE.

also convince me that those brothers were carried to that
part of the ocean and reached some part of America ; if I
were sure that their book was printed before the knowledge
of those tribes (the Americans) was wide spread and fur
nished impostors full material for fiction and the power of
inventing fables. Above all, on account of the gross and un
skilful concoction and wonderful stories with which it is
filled, I think that the book was compiled in more re
cent times under the name of such distinguished men, for
the purpose of gaining authority. I think this is so because I
know the bare-faced impudence of Bleyker and the shame
less boldness of Martinerius,not to mention other names; botn
of these, with astounding temerity, printed and published
their travels, itineraries to Iceland and Greenland, (and the
latter pretends that in the time of Frederick the III, of most
glorious memory, he traveled thither, though I am not cer
tain that the one ever saw Iceland and either of them Green
land), they were believed by many and the latter to no slight
degree gained credence with that most distinguished man,
Olaf Rudbecke, and won his respect. It is miraculous that
the chief city of Frisland should have abounded in such quan
tities of fish, that Flemings as well as Britons, besides Eng
lish, Scots, Norwegians and Danes imported them in great
numbers, and the islanders accumulated immense wealth
therefrom ; that in the annals of these nations there is no
mention of them, and not even a trace of Frisland and of the
trade with its inhabitants ; that not even the Norwegians
and Icelanders, who, frequently stopping in their country
and at their courts, fought in their wars while others were
engaged in commerce, have any knowledge that Frisland
was ever under their power, and that it was wrested from
them by Zichinnus, and that— a thing unusual with kings —
it was never, I shall not say, recovered, but not' even
sought after or attacked with a view to restore it to its
allegiance. You retort that it is mentioned by geographers,
for Johannes Laurentius Ananias in his FABRICA DEL HONDO,
informs us that in his day it greatly abounded in fish and for
that reason was frequented by Scotch and British merchants,

PREFACE. 13

and that he was informed by Jonas, the Breton, a relative of
Jacques Cartier, who first discovered New France in the year
1554, that he (Jonas) had himself entered it and that its in
habitants are very polite and kind towards foreigners ; and
this is confirmed by John Boterus. Moreover, John Antony
Maginus bears witness that in his day the English traded there
to the great advantage of the islanders, and that they called
the island West England. Ortelius also mentions it on page
90, Berti on page 56, as well as John Miritius in a geographi
cal treatise published in the year 1590; whose words Arngrim
Jonas quoted on page 190 of book IIJ, of his CRYMOGAEA
adding his own opinion on the several points. But Mer-
cator and Hondius going further, set down the cities of
Frisland with their proper names : i ° the capital of the same
name as the island. 2 Sorand; 3 Ocibar; 4 Sanestol; 5 Crod-
me ; 6 Doffais ; 7 Campo ; 8 Rane ; 9 Bondendon; 10 Rovea;
ii Andefort ; 12 Cabaru. Small islands near Frisland are
also enumerated : i ° Ilofo ; 2 Jedeve ; 3 Venai ; 4 Monaco ;
5 Spirige ; 6 Streme ; 7 Ibini ; 8 Duime ; 9 Porlanda. That
these statements were read by those most learned men Buno
and Kipping, I have not the slightest doubt: still they could
not be induced to attach any importance to them ; nor were
more recent geographers moved to give them a place in their
descriptions. For my part, I who have gathered the history
of Norway from all kinds of documents worthy of credit,
have certainly nowhere found any mention of this Frisland,
and therefore deny that it was ever subject to the Norwe
gians ; whatever is there (in Zeno) recounted of Zichinnus'
war with the Norwegians, must therefore be placed among
the myths Nor is what he wrote of Iceland and the neigh
boring islands, more probable; for it is contrary to the
experience of all ages. On these points the reader may con
sult Arngrim Jonas, in his description of Iceland, part 2,
memb, 2, page m. 140 and ff., as well as Theodore Thorlake's
Dissertation on Iceland: these will fully satisfy him.

Therefore, passing over the absurdities, which that writer
has published about Greenland, so different from the descrip
tion of Ivar Berius, a man most familar with those mat-

14 PREFACE.

ters, and ignoring- the other tales which he added, for exam
ple, concerning Grisland, Estland and Icaria and the unknown
and never discovered situation of those lands, we conclude
that the glory of first discovering Vinland belongs, whole
and undiminished, to the Greenlanders and Icelanders, the
descendants of the Norsemen, and we award to them not
only the glory of discovering it but also of making known
the Christian religion to those peoples. For Are Marson is
said to have been driven by storms to Great Ireland near
Vinland, which (Great Ireland) they otherwise call ALBANIA
or HVITRA MANNA LAND, and is distant from Ireland a voy
age of six days towards the west according to the Book of
Origins of Iceland, part 2, chap. 22, page 64, This distance
does not differ greatly from the computations of Philip Clu-
verius,who reckons the distance thence to Canada at 200 miles
(Book VI, chap, 2, p. 419). He (Are Marson) is there said to
have been converted to Christianity. This happened before
the year 1000 after Christ, and before Christianity was in
troduced into Iceland, for he was the great grandson of Ulf
Skialg, who first settled Reikyanes and as at that time
neither Greenland nor much less the above mentioned Great
Ireland was Christianized, the sacred mysteries of Christiani
ty which he then embraced must have been taught him whilst
he was detained there (in Great Ireland) but he was detained
there as long as he lived. This, I conjecture, was done by
Jones, Jonas, or John, an Irish Bishop, who whilst Isleif, the
first Bishop of all Iceland, was presiding over the Cathedral of
Schalholt, came thither between the years 1056 and 1080 and
is said to have gone thence to Vinland, to have preached the
Gospel, and having gained over many to Christ, to have finally
been tortured and killed; on this subject, see chap. XVI, of our
Vinland, At that time therefore, not only Vinland, which was
then found worthy to be spoken of by Adam of Bremen in
his writings, but also this very Great Ireland -became known,
so that this story of the aforesaid Are, which we have just re
counted was taken by Icelanders from the Relation of Thor-
finn, Earl of the Orkneys, who died in the year 1064, published
in Iceland and adopted into literature. Hence, we readily

PREFACE. 15

infer that even more Christians from Ireland and elsewhere
went thither from the time those lands first became known,
to propagate their religion, though the Icelanders and
Greenlanders were not aware of this. This, however,
has been recorded by them, that subsequently in the next
century, that is to say in the year 1121, Eric, the first Bishop
of Greenland, visited Vinland, as a place well known at that
time, (for what other purpose, I ask, except to labor there for
Christ ?) and that the opinion prevailed that he perished dur
ing that visit. But in the chapter quoted above, it is men
tioned, that long before him, Bjarn the champion of Breida-
vik reached, if not Vinland, certainly some other part of
North America, and that by his aid and influence, his country
man Gunnlaug Gudleifson with his whole ship's company
was saved from imminent danger of life. These are the
men, who, as Sanson d' Abbeville in his description of Vir
ginia, page 14, suggests, were taken by a certain Gascon for
Gascons; for he writes that he (the Gascon) assured him (San-
son) that he would prove that Gascons had been in New
France four or five hundred years before Baron de Lery or
John Verazzani came there ; now, the former came there in
1518, the latter in 1542. As this time agrees precisely with
the period when those countries were first discovered, the story
adds great authority to our story, I shall say nothing of the
part of New France bordering on the sea, called Norumberga,
as Cluverius thinks, from the city of the same name, which
name Buno in his notes to the same passage interprets to
mean Norway or a colony led thither from Norway. It is
clear that after the time of Christopher Columbus, no part of
New France was settled by the Norse; perhaps the name
given to the land in ancient times was preserved, but whether
the city was built before the arrival of the French, I have not
yet ascertained; certainly if it was founded before their time,
it seems to imply the origin of the name from the tribe, if af
terwards, from the country in which it lay, and that again
derives its name from the old colonists. Thus it has been
fully proved that that part of America became well known
throughout the North and West in the eleventh century of the

16 PREFACE.

Christian era. I do not know any more than others, how, dur
ing the succeeding centuries up to the time of Columbus it
Was plunged into the densest darkness and became again un
known. That Harold (the Bold or Imperious), the most skill
ful chief of the Northmen, who, as Adam of Bremen says,
was about to explore it, was carried by storms to the icebound
ocean of Greenland, and returned without achieving his
plans, I gather from his story : had he examined its charac
ter and products more carefully, he would no doubt, after
settling his quarrel with the Danes, have there found richer
booty, and that too entailing neither loss nor danger ; and he
would have acquired wealth and power formidable to the
whole North. But engaged in lengthy wars, he had no time
for so great and unknown an undertaking. To explore it and
Vinland as a part of it, a certain Rolf was sent in the 88th
year of the thirteenth century, by Eric, the second of that
name, King of Norway, surnamed PRESTAHATARA, the Priest-
hater, (the Greeks would translate it ninoKhTjpov and supplies
for that voyage were exacted in the following year from the
Icelanders, according to the conjecture of Arngrim (Crymo-
gaea, Book III, p, 119 and ff.); this took place only two
centuries before Columbus discovered a part of South Ameri
ca. What we have related above of Madoc about the year
1170, is therefore nowise absurd; for that several nations at
this period sent colonies thither is probable ; and I know not
how Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, otherwise acquired his know
ledge of those countries, even as regards minute details, (as
appears in the story of Are). On the other hand, if in those
centuries (for we speak of the thirteenth century under Eric
II, king of Norway) the knowledge of those lands still existed,
how did it wholly escape the knowledge of Henry VII, King
of England and of all his ministers two centuries later? For
it is proved that Columbus first made known his plans
and offered his services to this king, which he would surely
not have refused, if he had known of the lands and of their
vicissitudes. I am convinced that all the settlers were killed
or conquered by the barbarians there; that the rest were de
barred from the use of ships and unable to leave, and

PREFACE. 17

that if there were any additional visitors, they were treated
in the same way, and that for this reason the memory of
those countries and peoples, consecrated among the Iceland
ers only, suddenly vanished. That the Greenlanders and Ice
landers fearing the violence and number of the natives, gave
up the occupation of the land, not of their own accord, but
against their will, we read here, and Ivar Berius bears witness
that all the Western District (Vestri Bygd) of Greenland was
laid waste by the Skraelings. I shall not thence conclude with
the distinguished Grotius, that these tribes (the Skraelings)
were the descendants of the Greenlanders, but I rather con
sider them the offspring of the Samoyeds, whose customs
and mode of life are proved by a comparison of both to
resemble those of the Skraelings; their physique and charac
ter also is very similar: both are slim of build, nor do they
differ in form and features, both cover their tents and bodies
with the skins of wild beasts, both alike adore the sun, both
value highly the cheapest goods, mirrors, fish-hooks, knives
and rattles; both are equally skilled in the use of the spear,
and in unfailingly striking the mark; both eat raw flesh,
whence both have a fetid stench; I shall not speak of other
points of resemblance. Nor is the passage (from Asia to Amer
ica), however much obstructed by the intervening mountains
and deserts, entirely barred, especially to men pursuing wild
animals; this passage, moreover, is afforded by bays and straits
which are spanned with ice by the constant cold, as if by a
bridge. Nor is there a boundless distance between the two
peoples, for in the far North the degrees of latitude are
smaller and the distance too, broken by the intervention of
tribes near Sualbardus, as is shown in the 5th chapter of my
Greenland towards the end. This origin is, furthermore
proved by the animals common to both, which differ from
the horses and oxen, for example, that have been brought
to Greenland. These were unknown in America before the
arrival of the Spaniards, and the natives were frightened by
their lowing and neighing. Therefore, in conclusion, those
barbarians seem to be the offspring of the Samoyeds, carried
to the furthest ends of America either by some land route

18 PREFACE.

hitherto unknown, or in the little boats invented by them
selves, (which were not endangered by the sea). And yet I
should not forthwith think that the other parts of America
were peopled by them, and that nations differing from them
in appearance and customs were descended from them; the
difference (in physique and customs) of these tribes implies a
difference of origin also, and of them, I must not discourse,
as they lie outside of the scope of my work. But if anyone
thinks the same of the last chapter of this book which deals
with the prodigies of Froda, let him know that we were led
by the incidents there related to refresh the wearied spirits
of our readers with a certain variety, and everybody can fix
their value according to his disposition without any objection
on our part. As nothing further that is worthy of mention
suggests itself, do you, kind reader, read and judge kindly of
these pages, whatever their value. Farewell.

HISTORY OF

ANCIENT VINLAND.

CONTENTS. 21

CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS OF THE PRESENT
HISTORY OF VINLAND.

Approbation. . . . page 2

Dedication. . . . ~ . . . 3

Preface to the Reader. . . 6

CHAPTER I.

Of the occasion of first noticing and then Discovering

Vinland. „,/ . . .. . . 25

CHAPTER II.
Of the Discovery of Vinland by Leif. . .. 27

CHAPTER III.

Of the Discovery of Vines and Wild Grapes and of Leif's

Return. . , . . . . 28

CHAPTER IV.

Of the Voyage of Thorvald to Vinland, and his Expedi
tions to parts of it ; of the findings of some persons
of an unknown race ; of the Murder of Thorvald and
the return of his companions to their native country. 30

CHAPTER V.

Of the toilsome and fruitless voyage of Leif's brother,
Thorstein, who intended to visit Vinland, of his forced
return to Greenland, when the plague had broken

22 CONTENTS.

out, of his death and the prodigy connected with it. 32

CHAPTER VI.

Of the Voyage of Karlsefne to Vinland, of his traffic
with the Skraelings and of the disputes thence aris
ing, which resulted in open war, . . .34

CHAPTER VII.

Of the fourth Expedition to Vinland, under the leader
ship of Thorvald, the husband of Freydis and two
Icelanders, Helge and Fimbog, of the inhuman
cruelty of Freydis, of Karlsefne 's return to Iceland
and of his family. . . .* . .37

CHAPTER VIII.

Of Leif's journey to Norway to King Olaf Tryggvin, of
his discovery of Vinland on his return, and of the
successful preaching of the Christian religion in his
native country, . . . .41

CHAPTER IX.

Of the fruitless attempt of Leif's brother, Thornstein, to
explore Vinland, of his return to Greenland, of his
marriage with Thorbiorn's daughter, Gudrid, of her
education and ancestors in Iceland. . .42

CHAPTER X.

Of a certain prophetic woman, of her appearance and of

skill in the magic (seidic) art. . . .44

CHAPTER XI.

Of the infectious disease that arose among Thorstein's
crew, of his death and of a prodigy, of the ancient

CONTENTS. 23

mode of burial in Greenland, of the arrival of Karlsef-
ne, and his marriage with Gudrid. . . .47

CHAPTER XII.

Of Karlsefne's Voyage to Vinland, of his companions on
that Expedition, viz : Bjarue, Thorhall, and Thor-
vard, the son-in-law of Eric the Red, and his son
Thorvald. 51

CHAPTER XIII.

Of Thorhall, the Hunter, who is driven by storms to Ice
land, and there held in bondage to the end of
his life, of the further Exploration of Vinland by
Karlsefne and his companions, of the land and water
products there, of the dress of the Skraelings, of their
traffic and of the disputes and wars thence arising,
which however end in the Skraelings sustaining
greater loss. " . . . . . - .53

CHAPTER XIV

Of the slaying of Thorvald, the son of Eric the Red, by
a one-footed man, of Karlsefne's sojourn at Straums-
fiord for three winters, of the birth of his son Snorre,
of the captivity of two Skraelings, of the dangerous
voyage Bjarne Grimolfson in the Irish Ocean, of his
honorable conduct towards a certain Icelander in ex
treme peril of life, of Karlsefne's return to Iceland,
and his descendants. . • 57

CHAPTER XV.

Adam of Bremen's Story of Vinland, consistent with the
above, and his great mistake regarding its position,
whilst Olaf Rudbeck no less erroneously identifies

24 CONTENTS.

Vinland with Finland, and the story of the position
of Great Ireland and of Are, the Icelander, and of
the pitch of the Greenlanders. - . '. . ,60

CHAPTER XVL

Of the voyages to Vinland, of the Saxon Bishop Jones
and of Eric, Bishop of Greenland, and concerning
Gudleif Gudlangson. .... . . ; .62

CHAPTER XVII.
Of the prodigies of Froda. ._ , . . 65

ADDENDA. 74

VINLAND. 25

CHAPTER I.

OF THE OCCASION OF THE FIRST NOTICING AND AFTERWARDS
DISCOVERING VINLAND.

The well-known Herjulf, who accompanied Eric the Red
in the year 985 from Iceland, and settled Herjulfsnes, by his
wife Thorgerde had a son, named Bjarne, who going in ten
der youth to foreign parts, acquired wealth and experience ;
his winters he spent alternately either abroad or with his
father, and he had resolved to pass the present winter at his
father's home. But when on his return to his native land he
learned that his father had gone to Greenland the same sum
mer and there settled, being a stubborn observer of customs
he had once adopted, he declared, he would spend the winter
in his father's house even in Greenland, though unknown to
him and recently discovered; therefore he entrusted his ship
to an unknown sea, unploughed by any of his sailors before
him. Three days were passed in sailing, during which he saw
nothing except the sky and the water, and then a northwind
blowing, darkness for several days prevented his seeing any
thing, and made it impossible to direct the ship's course; the
darkness being dispelled, they sailed a whole day and night
with sails set, until an unknown land came in view. When
on approaching it, they found it bare of mountains, covered
with forests and low hills, they turned their ships and left it.
For two days after they sped along before a south south-east
wind, until another country came in sight, level, and full of
woods; when the captain recognized that it differed from the
mountainous and snow-clad landscape of Greenland, though
the sailors begged him to land and take in water and wood,
and though the wind was still, he yet did not permit him
self to be prevailed upon, for which he even incurred some
blame. When he had departed thence, taking advantage
of a south-west wind, which for three days filled his sails, he

26 HISTORY OF

found still another land with lofty mountains and white peaks.
This, too, when on approaching it he had found it an island,
he passed by as useless. And now as the breeze grew strong,
he ordered the sails to be partly furled ; four days were
passed on this part of the voyage; then at last a fourth time
land was seen, which from the description of others he judged
to be Greenland, and directing his ship towards it, he
reached towards evening Cape Her julfsnes, where his father
lived; and having been more lucky in finishing his voyage,
than he was wise in undertaking it, he ceased henceforth to
travel and remained with his father as long as the latter
lived, and after his death took possession of his estate.

CHAPTER II.

OF THE DISCOVERY OF VINLAND BY LEIF.

When Bjarne Herjulfson crossing over from Greenland
came to Eric Hacon's son, the Earl of Norway, he was at
first hospitably received by him and then enrolled in the
number of his courtiers, and related what lands, until then
untrodden by any one, as far as he knew, he had seen; in the
opinion of the crowd, he was partly condemned, because he
lacked ambition to explore them. The next summer he
crossed to Greenland and there was repeatedly question of
seeking those countries. To him, therefore, came Leif, the
Lucky of Brattahlide, bought his ship and having hired thirty-
five sailors, asked his father to become their leader for the
purpose of looking up the lands recently seen. Eric excused
himself on account of his old age, which made him less fit
to bear the hardships of sea and tempest than he was in his
youth. At last he yielded to the importunities of his son, and
trusted to fortune which had favored him beyond the rest of
his family; but setting out from home, when not far from the
ship, he was thrown off his horse, which had grown restive,
and sprained his foot; regarding this as an unfavorable omen

VINLAND. 27

he declared that fate had not ordained that he should
discover more lands than the one they inhabited, and return
ed home, whilst Leif with his associates carried out their
plans; among these there is said to have been a certain
southerner (for by his name our ancient writers understand
the Germans), Tyrker by name. The country last seen by
Bjarne, first met their view, and approaching it, they sent
out a boat; climbing up mountains covered by perpetual
snow, they noticed that below as far as the sea, the land was
covered with continuous rock, and was therefore utterly un
inhabitable. Then said Leif : Bjarne's listlessness, at least,
we have made amends for by exploring the country. I shall
therefore, give it a name to match its character, and it shall
be called HELLULAND, that is to say, rocky land. Starting
thence they found another land; landing here, likewise, they
found it flat, and without harbors, here and there green with
woods, and again covered with white sand. This Leif called
MARKLAND from its flatness (hence it is clear that the word
MARK means not as some say "country," but "plain" or "flat
land.") Sailing thence after a short delay, a north- wind fill
ing their sails for two days; they again saw land, along whose
northern side stretched an island. They brought their ship
close up to this and disembarking in clear weather, they ob
served grass dripping with dew and vying even with honey
in sweetness. Returning thence to their ship they brought
it to the sound, which lay between the island and the cape,
that stretched northward from the mainland : when sailing
past the cape they veered towards the west, the water ebbed
away, and the ship struck on the quick-sands, and was sepa
rated from the sea by great shallows. But so great was their
eagerness to see the newly found land, that without waiting
for the tide, they left the ship behind and immediately en
tered the land by a river which flowed from a lake; when the
tide rose, they brought the ship by the river into the lake,
and after fastening it by casting anchor they estab
lished huts on the bank and then built commodious winter
quarters. Both river and lake abounded in great shoals of
salmon, larger than any they had seen before. So great is

28 HISTORY OF

the fertility of the soil and the mildness of the climate, that
cattle did not seem to need hay in the winter season ; there
is no winter cold ; the grass did not wither. In winter
the days were longer than in Iceland or Greenland, the sun
rose about nine o'clock at the time of the winter solstice and
set at three o'clock. (That they were not very exact in this
observation, is proved by the fertility of the country and the
character of the climate ; for nowhere else at 50° 26 ', from
the equator, where the longest day is eighteen hours and the
shortest six, is such fertility known to prevail. For with them
the parts of the day consisted of three hours; but they did
not accurately distinguish them in these parts.) Then, their
dwellings being completed, they were divided into two part
ies, some were kept home, others having drawn lots, were
sent out to explore the country in a body, lest being scat
tered they be exposed to danger; but they were instructed
not to explore it further than they could go and return in
one day; Leif alternately joined each party, being every
where welcome on account of his prudence and skill.

CHAPTER III,

OF THE DISCOVERY OF VINES AND WILD GRAPES, AND
OF LEIF'S RETURN.

Now it happened that when the exploring party return
ed, the German Tyrker alone was missing. Leif forthwith
sent twelve men to seek him, for he was very anxious on his
account, inasmuch as the man had lived a long time in his
father's house, had been fond of himself from childhood and
his devoted follower; they had not gone far from the winter
quarters when they met him in a jolly frame of mind, and
looking like a drunken man, who, rolling his eyes hither and
thither, excited their laughter, being a man small of stature,
but exceedingly skilled in all kind of mechanical arts. Asked
for the reason of his delay and chattering for a long time in

VINLAND. 29

German, a language unknown to the rest, he finally answer
ed that he had gone a little further than Leif and found
vines and grapes ; when they expressed doubts, he assured
them that he had been born where grapes grew in plenty.
Therefore, dividing the work among his sailors, Leif
set some to gather grapes and others to cut vines, and filled
the boat with the former and the ship with the latter. The
fields there produced wheat of their own accord, and the
trees called MAUSUR; of each they took some to carry home,
and some timbers of such size that they could be used to
build houses. Leaving the newly found country in the be
ginning of spring, Leif called it, from the vines and grapes,
Vinland or Wine Land. Then returning to Greenland with
favorable winds, when its snow-clad mountains were in sight,
he turned his ship from the straight course: when one of the
crew asked the reason, whether he noticed a cliff or a ship,
he answered that he was not clear about it. When all
thought the object seen to be a cliff, he saw also some men
wandering on them, for he was keener sighted than all the
rest. But when they had all seen the shipwrecked men, he
declared that if they were peaceful, he would take them out
of danger, but otherwise he would bring them under his
power; having despatched a smaller boat, he took off fifteen,
together with their Norse captain Thorer, and received all, to
gether with as much merchandise as they could take, into his
ship, and brought them to the bay of Eriksfjord and to his
paternal estate Brattahlide. Thorer with his wife Gudrid,
Thorbjorn's daughter, and three sailors, he himself enter
tained; the rest he distributed among his neighbors, who gave
them hospitality. Thereafter he received the name of the
Lucky or Fortunate; this however, the manuscript Chronicle
as well as the Codex Flateyensis, on page 233, contradicting
itself, referred to the year 1000. Henceforth he is reported to
have grown in wealth and reputation. But to his brother
Thorvald the new country did not seem to have been suffic
iently explored. Therefore he borrowed his brother's ship,
on condition however, that he should first bring home the tim
ber which Thorer's wrecked ship had carried, and which had

30 HISTORY OF

/

been left on the cliff. The same winter disease breaking out
among Thorer's crew, carried him off, with a great part of
the men: Eric the Red, a man famed for discovering Green
land, died the same year. I cannot find the exact year either
of the Christian era or of the reign of Yarls Eric and Sven
who at that time ruled Norway.

CHAPTER IV.

OF THE VOYAGE OF THORVALD TO VINLAND AND HIS EXPLORA
TION OF PART OF IT ; OF THE FINDING OF SOME PERSONS
OF UNKNOWN RACE | OF THE SLAYING OF THOR
VALD, AND THE RETURN OF HIS COMPANIONS
TO THEIR NATIVE COUNTRY.

Thorvald, having engaged thirty sailors, started off to
Vinland and spent the winter in fishing, in the winter quar
ters of his brother Leif. The following spring, keeping
back a light boat, he put a part of the sailors on board the
ship and sent them to explore the western parts of the coun
try, throughout the summer. The land seemed pleasant,
being covered with woods that were at a short distance from
the sea; the shore was covered with white sand, lined every
where with many islands, separated from one another by
extensive shoals: no human dwellings were found there, nay
not even the dens of wild beasts: only in an island towards
the west, wooden structures were found, pyramid-shaped,
such as are used instead of barns, to store corn (the Codex
Flateyensis calls them KORNHIALM AF TRE), but no other
traces of man. And so they returned the same autumn to
their winter quarters. The following summer the ship steer
ing towards the eastern and northern shores was overtaken
by storms and running on a headland, broke its keel and un
derwent repairs there for a long time. Hence Thorvald
called the headland KIALARNES, that is to say, Cape Hull.

VINLAND. 31

Then turning eastward they came to the entrance of a bay
and steering the ship to the nearest headland, all covered
with forests, brought her to a harbor. Then Thorvald, with
all his crew, landed on the cape and was taken by the beauty
of the spot: "Here," said he, "it is beautiful, and I should
like to fix my home." And returning to the ship they beheld
three 'hills on the sand below the headland: on betaking
themselves thither they noticed three boats of leather or
hide, and under each boat three men, one of whom escaped
with his boat : the remaining eight were seized and slain,
with great thoughtlessness, for it would surely have been
better to humor them rather than frighten and exasperate
them. Returning thence to the headland they saw within
the bay some hills which they judged to be inhabited. Then
a sudden sleep fell upon them all, so deep that it could not be
shaken off even for the appointed watches; it was broken by
a voice suddenly heard which called out as follows: "Awake,
Thorvald, I beseech thee, with all thy companions, if you
intend to save yonr lives: embark all of you with the great
est speed and depart hence." Aroused by these words, they
behold the entire bay covered with boats ; Thorvald, there
fore, advises his men in this sudden emergency, to protect
themselves by defences, made up of twigs and logs, but not
to be forward in attacking the enemy. Then there arose a
great crowd and poured upon them javelins and arrows right
and left; but after a short hour they scattered in flight and
disorder. These men the Norsemen called SKRAELINGS, in
contempt, that is to say, DWARFS. Then Thorvald asked his
men whether any of them had been wounded ; when they
told him that no one was hurt, he said, that he himself had
been wounded, having been struck by a missile, which pass
ing his shield, had lodged underneath the armpit, and that
the wound no doubt was mortal; he therefore ordered him
self to be carried to the headland, where he had intended to
settle and bade them bury him there; adding that his inten
tions had not been frustrated, for that he would dwell there
for a long time. He commanded two crosses to be erected,
one at his head, the other at his feet, and the headland in

32 HISTORY OF

future to be called KROSSANES, or "the headland of the cross
es," and he ordered the men to hasten thence speedily. Here
the Codex Flateyensis states, that at this time Greenland was
converted to Christianity, though Eric the Red died before its
conversion, whilst on page 233, it (the Cod. Flat.) stated, that
in consequence of Leif's exhortations, Eric, with the whole
population of Greenland had been baptized. There (at Kross-
ans) Thorvald was buried, as he had instructed his men; but
the sailors having returned to their companions, remained
there the following winter. But in the ensuing spring, having
laden their ship with vines and grapes, they weighed anchor
and came to Greenland, to Leif, on the estate of Brattalihde.

CHAPTER V.

OF THE TOILSOME AND FRUITLESS VOYAGE OF LEIF'S BROTHER

THORSTEIN, WHO INTENDED TO VISIT VINLAND ; OF HIS

FORCED RETURN TO GREENLAND WHEN THE PLAGUE

HAD BROKEN OUT; OF HIS DEATH AND THE

PRODIGY CONNECTED WITH IT,

Whilst these events took place in Vinland, Thorstein the
third son of Eric the Red, married Gudrid, the wife of the
Thorer, whom Leif had saved when Thorer was ship
wrecked. Having now learned of his brother's death, he
resolved to sail over to Vinland, in order to bring home
Thorvald's remains. In the same ship, therefore, in which
his brother had sailed, he weighed anchor, having shipped a
crew of 25 chosen men, and obtained the winter-quarters of
his brother Leif, not as a present but for use ; he took his
wife, to share not only his couch but also his voyage. Having
been tossed about by storms all summer, he was carried one
week after the beginning of winter into the western bay of
Greenland, called Lysufjord : there he distributed all his
sailors in winter-quarters in the neighborhood, but he alone
with his wife, being without quarters, remained in the ship
for some days: finally at the invitation of a certain Thorstein,

VINLAND. 33

surnamed Surt, or the Black, who was the only man there,
who with his wife, called Grimhilde, inhabited a house with
out family; he staid with him and considering the means of
the master, was entertained, if not sumptuously, at least
kindly. In the beginning of winter a disease attacking all
Thorstein's sailors, carried off many of them ; their bodies
he placed in coffins and put on the ship, intending to take
them to Eric's bay and bury them in the spring. At that
time Christianity was new in Greenland, and Thorstein the
Black and his wife Grimhilde had not yet adopted its doc
trines. The woman, in size and strength was a match for the
strongest man: at length the same plague attacked her as
well as Thorstein Ericson, and they lay ill at the same time.
But she having died first, according to the custom of the less
wealthy in those places, was to be placed on a bier : but
whilst her husband Thorstein was busy in procuring it, Grim
hilde, in presence of Thorstein Ericson, who was ill at the
same time and of his wife Gudrid, began to look for her shoes,
intending to rise; but going back to bed as her husband re
turned, she struck it with a great thud ; her husband with
great exertion and difficulty carried her out and buried her.
Afterwards Thorstein Ericson died. Now Thorstein, the
owner of the farm, to console his (Thorstein Ericson's) widow,
promised to take her to Eriksfjord, with the corpses of her
husband and his companions, and to bring many to- his house,
lest she would waste away there through dulness. Mean
while the dead Thorstein sitting up in bed said: "Where is
Gudrid ?" and he thrice repeated this question. She, dazed
by this prodigy, asked her host whether she must answer,
and was prevented by him from doing so. But he went up
to the bed and took a seat near it; then he enquired what he
(Thorstein Ericson) wished. The latter answered that though
he had reached a beautiful place, he desired to comfort his
wife and make known to her her future destinies; he foretold
that she would marry an Icelander, would live with him in
his country for a long time, and that from him would spring
a noble family; that she would visit Rome, would become a
nun, near the church which was building in Iceland, and

84 HISTORY OF

would peacefully die there in advanced old age. Whether
this story be true, or was concocted and corrupted to flatter
the bishops who were descended from her, I leave to the
reader's judgment. After saying this Thorstein sank back
into his bed. His corpse and those of his companions the
other Thorstein honestly took where he had promised to
bury them, and selling his farm emigrated with all his prop
erty to Ericsfiord, and lived there, but much more respected
than before. The corpses were all buried near the Church,
which had then been built ; but Gudrid departed to her
husband's brother, Leif.

• CHAPTER VI.

OF THE VOYAGE OF KARLSEFNE TO VINLAND; OF HIS TRAFFIC

WITH THE SKRAELINGS, AND OF THE DISPUTES THENCE

ARISING, WHICH RESULTED IN OPEN WAR.

In the same year a very wealthy man,Thorfinn, surnamed
Karlsefne, an Icelander, son of Thord of Hesthofde, grand
son of Snorre by Thorhilde Riupa, daughter of Thord Geller,
great grandson of Thord, of the estate Hofde, called also
Spakonufellzhofde, starting from Norway to Greenland was
hospitably received by Leif, and having gained his consent
married Gudrid. He, with sixty sailors formed a partnership
to colonize Vinland, the profits to be shared equally. Karl
sefne was accompanied by his wife, took with him various
kinds of animals, crossed over to settle Vinland and arrived
in safety near Leif's tents, which he had received for a loan;
there he found stranded on the coast a whale, of the species
called REID, and considered one of the largest (being 100 and
sometimes even 130 cubits long). This was a matter of much
importance for their household stock; but the small and large
cattle, and among them a fine bull, having found rich pasture,
began to thrive greatly. Then Karlsefne ordered trees to
be cut down and polished, and then to be placed on the rocks

VINLAND. Hf>

and dried. And they harvested all the products of the earth
and sea, now gathering grapes and again fishing; (I am less
convinced of what Bjorn of Skarzda, a distinguished Iceland-
ish historian, inserted into his history, and which was no doubt
copied from an ancient manuscript, that wheat grew there.)
When the first winter was past and the summer had come,
they saw the dwarfs, whom they called Skraelings, rushing
in great numbers from the woods, not far from the place
where the bull was grazing with the cows; frightened at his
dreadful lowing the Skraelings turned to the house of Karl-
sefne, with their packs, which were filled with various kinds
of furs, especially of the sable and of white mice. When
they were about to enter at once by the door, they were kept
back by the orders of the owner, who differed from them not
only in bodily appearance, but also in language; neverthe
less, putting down their packs, they exposed their goods for
sale, wishing to exchange them for arms, which Karlsefne
forbade as dangerous to himself and his men ; instead of
them he commanded the women to offer them food and re
freshments, prepared from milk; having tasted' these, they de
sired only them and nothing else and bartering food for their
merchandise, they departed, gorged with food. Meanwhile
Karlsefne repeatedly fortified his wooden structures. But in
the beginning of winter when his wife had brought forth his
son Snorre, the Skraelings returned in much greater num
bers than before, provided as on the former occasion with
wallets; again milk preparations were given them and paid
for with packs thrown over the fences. Perchance Gudrid,
who was seated in the house near the infant's cradle, remark
ed a shadow in the entrance: then a woman attired in a great
black cloak, her head covered with linen, dark haired, pale
faced, and with eyes of unusual size, too large for one head,
entered and approaching addressed her in these words :
"What is your name ?" Having given it and asked the
woman's name in return, she learned that she too was named
Gudrid: but when she invited her to be seated, a great sound
and noise wras heard outside, for one of Karlsefne's servants
killed one of the Skraelings, who was about to steal some

36 HISTORY OF

arms, and immediately the woman, who had been seen by
Gudrid alone and by no one else, disappeared. The Skrae
lings also, betaking themselves to flight, left behind them
their wares and their garments. But Karlsefne, thinking
that they would return in greater numbers, to avenge the
death of their countryman, sent all his men to clear the
interior of the woods, that the cattle might the more readily
be concealed there, and he ordered ten men to show them
selves on the headland, to entice the Skraelings more easily;
for the battle-field he selected a spot between the wood and
the water, lest his force be surrounded by numbers: the bull
was placed before the line of battle. Nor was he mistaken;
for the Skraelings flocked thither in great numbers, to their
marked loss, for many were slain in the conflict. The bull
too which was strange to them, greatly frightened them by
his lowing, which was unpleasant to their ears. Among them
one man, handsome in build, taller than the rest, was con
spicuous and seemed to be the chief. When perchance one
of the Skraelings, after seizing an axe that was lying by and
looking at it for a while struck it into the head of a comrade
and killed him by the blow, the tall man seeing this took it
into his hands and examining it for a short time hurled it
very far into the sea, seemingly detesting the iron that was
forged to slay men. Immediately thereafter, all fleeing in
disorder hid in the woods; but Karlsefne after passing the
winter, the next spring loaded his ship with vines and other
products that grew there, and returning to Greenland,
reached the bay of Ericsfjord and wintered there.

VINLAND. 37

CHAPTER VII.

OF THE FOURTH EXPEDITION TO VINLAND UNDER THE LEADER
SHIP OF THORVARD, THE HUSBAND OF FREYDIS, AND TWO
ICELANDERS, HELGE AND FIMBOG, OF THE INHUMAN
CRUELTY OF FREYDIS AND OF KARLSEFNE'S RE
TURN TO ICELAND, AND OF HIS DE
SCENDANTS.

In the very summer that Karlsefne returned to Green
land, two brothers, born in the eastern district of Iceland,
landed there from Norway and wintered there. Meantime
Freydis, the daughter of Eric the Red, (a bastard according
to Bjorn of Skardza), considering at Gardar the plan of re
visiting Vinland in the following spring, went to them and
invited them to join her in partnership ; this was agreed
upon with a fixed apportionment of gain and loss, the con
dition being added that the members of both parties should
be equal and consist of thirty men only, fit for bear
ing arms, besides the women. Then she, having bor
rowed her brother Leif's tents, immediately broke the agree
ment about the number of the sailors, embarked five more
men on her ship and concealed them until they had reached
Vinland. The brothers, who had reached Vinland a little
sooner, were bringing their effects into Leif's tent, which
she on her arrival indignantly declared to be against the
agreement, because it (the tent) had been loaned to her, not
to them. They retorted that, an agreement having been
made for the common advantage, they had supposed that the
use of the tent also was common; nevertheless they declared
that they would give way to her frenzy; for that they would
not contend with her malice; and taking away their effects,
they built another house on the shore. Now she ordered
trees to be cut, vines perhaps (for so they are called in the
account of the departure), with which she intended to load
the ship. At the approach of winter the customary games
were begun, but quarrels arising the games did not last long,

38 HISTORY OF

all intercourse between the brothers and Freydis and her
sailors, being for a long time broken off. On a certain morn
ing Freydis, rising from bed without shoes, having put on
only her husband's over-garment and having walked unac
companied to the brothers' tents over the dew-covered
ground, stood silent for a while in the doorway, which a sailor
who had just gone out had opened; when Fimbog, who alone
was awake, remarked this, he asked what was the matter.
She called him out to a private conference and led him to a
block of wood placed at the side of the tent for use as a bench
and. there they sat down. Then in answer to her question,
how he was pleased there, he replied that he liked the land
very well, but that their quarrels without any .previous cause
displeased him greatly; when she had declared that she too
was displeased for the same reason, she stated the cause of
her coming: for as she intended to return to Greenland, she
said, she wished to exchange her ship for his as being larger,
and he promised to give it to her, to please her. After this
conversation they parted, Fimbog returning to his bed, she
to her husband's. When the latter felt her feet, chill with
cold and dripping with moisture, he asked the reason. She,
seething with grief and rage, mingled reproaches with wail
ing, complaining that having gone out to the brothers' tents
and asked for an exchange of ships, she had been over
whelmed with blows and covered with lashes, and saying that
on account of his listlessness she would be exposed to the in
sults of all in the future, for that he had not the spirit to
avenge her; therefore she had good reason to be homesick
after her own country, where owing to the protection of her
own family, she had always been and would thereafter be free
from every insult and safe; moreover she threatened that if
he delayed avenging this most foul insult, she would dissolve
her marriage with him. Having embittered her husband by
these and similar words, she suddenly stirred him up to call
out all his men forthwith to take arms; entering the huts of
the other party who were asleep, they bound them, led them
forth, and beheaded them. All the men being slain, when
the women only (they were five in number) remained and no

VINLAND. 3#

one wished to slay them, she herself demanded an axe and
killed them all with her own hand. Whilst all loathed her
deed, she appeared as if triumphing over some exploit,threat-
ened them one by one with death, if they made the matter
known in Greenland, and ordered them to say, that the men
who had been slain,were living in Vinland. On the approach
of spring, she loaded the ship of which she had robbed the
brothers with the products of Vinland and prepared it for her
return to Greenland ; they arrived there in the beginning
of summer, while Karlsefne, in the bay of Eriksfiord, was
waiting for favorable winds with a well eqiiipped ship, the
best that had left Greenland up to that time. But when she
(Freydis) felt that the murders could not be kept hidden by
fear and threats only, she generously divided the booty
among her companions, and moreover bribed every one of
them with gifts, because, besides the shame of their infamous
gains and the fear of punishment, for they had all a share in
the crime, the obligation incurred by accepting her gifts
would more efficiently prevent their making known her mis
deeds.. Trusting to these wily expedients, she staid at home
secure and quite wealthy, with her husband, Thorvard by
name, who was subject to her orders. But not even so could
the dreadful crime be kept concealed, without its being made
known to her brother Leif, by the very men who had obeyed
her in perpetrating it ; he having examined three of them
drew out the truth, and cursing his sister, declared that,
though he did not wish to put her to death, he prophesied
that her offspring would be unlucky. Thereafter Freydis,
hated by all as long as she lived, passed a life infamous and
devoid of all respect. Karlsefne, having weighed anchor with
his wife Gudrid after a prosperous voyage reached Norway,
plentifully provided with means; he was greatly honored by
the chief men of that country and passed the winter there.
But when his ship lay in port ready to sail to Iceland, a cer
tain man of Bremen offered to buy its cornice (it is called
HUSASNOTRA) for a quarter of a pound of gold: when he had
sold it, he saw that it was made of the wood called MAUSR,
previously unknown to him, although brought from Vinland.

40 HISTORY OF

(Arngrim thinks that the wood was the MAFHOLTERBAUM, or
butcher's broom, (MEUSDORN) which, when used as a binding
keeps off the mice, how correctly I know not; that this kind
of wood was very precious appears from the life of Harold
the Haughty, who presented a drinking bowl (of this wood) as
a magnificent gift to Thorer of Steige who called it the Royal
Cup. When he had afterwards arrived at the bay in Eastern
Greenland called Skagafjord, and there passed the winter he
bought the estate of Glaumba, and erected a building that
was magnificent considering the place, and dwelt there : as
long as he lived he was respected among the foremost men,
and from him thereafter sprang a famous line. After his
death his wife, after long presiding over the house, with her
son Snorre, born in Vinland, went to Rome. On her return
thence she learned that he, (Snorre) had built a church at
home. Free from worldly cares henceforth, she devoted her
self to God, having become a nun, and to the end of her life
worked for holier ends. Snorre's son Thorgeir was the father
of Ingveld. the mother of Bishop Brand, and Snorre's daugh
ter Hallfrid was the mother of Runoff, the father of Bishop
Thorlak. Snorre's own brother was Bjorn, the father of Tho-
runa, who begot Bishop Bjarne. Now what has been here
related, as the Cod. Flat, page 288, declares, was copied down
from the lips of Karlsefne. But it differs greatly from the
story followed by Bjorn of Skardza, although the latter is
redolent of the spirit of antiquity, and interspersed with very
ancient verses, which Hauk, the judge (lagmare, nomophylax)
collected: he flourished in 1406; it will be worth while to
give a summary of this version.

VINLAND. 41

CHAPTER VIII.

OF LEIF'S JOURNEY TO NORWAY TO KING OLAF TRYGGVESON; OF

HIS DISCOVERY OF VINLAND ON HIS RETURN, AND OF HIS

SUCCESSFUL PREACHING OF THE CHRISTIAN

RELIGION IN HIS NATIVE COUNTRY.

He, Hauk, calls the wife of Eric the Red Thorhilde, and
their sons Thorstein and Leif, uncommon men, of whom the
former always remained with his father; and never was there
in Greenland any man who excelled him in endowments of
mind and body. Leif, on the contrary, he tells us, sailed
away from Greenland, and first came to the Hebrides; there,
having tarried a long time in summer, he kept company with
Thorgunna, a woman of noble descent, but skilled in occult
arts, or rather a sorceress. When she wished to accompany
him, as he was leaving, Leif is reported to have asked
whether this could be done with the consent of her relatives.
She replied that she did not care for this; whereupon he re
plied, that with so small a retinue, he could not carry off so
noble a lady. She declared that she was pregnant by him
and would undoubtedly give birth to a son, whom she pro
mised or threatened to send to him, as soon as his years
would permit, saying that she would follow herself; moreover
she foretold, that this son would one day be no more useful
to him, than his departure at that time was agreeable to her.
And Leif departing presented her a finger-ring as well as a
cloak of Greenland stuff, and a belt adorned with animal's
teeth. That boy, called Thorgils, subsequently came to
Greenland and Leif recognized him as his son. He is also
said to have come to Iceland in the summer, which preceded
the prodigies of Froda (which cannot at all be correct, for
these, according to the Eyrbyggva Saga, fall in the year of
our Lord one thousand, which is the year in which the boy
was born.) Having thereafter lived in Greenland, he is said
before his death, to have seemingly performed some prod
igy. What this was, I find nowhere explained more in full.

42 HISTORY OF

Leif sailing in autumn from the Hebrides to Norway, was
held in high honor by King Olaf Tryggveson, and was com
missioned by him to plant the Christian Religion in his native
country in the following summer ; for Leif is said to have
been regarded by the King as a remarkable and a lucky man.
On that voyage, going astray for a long time from the right
course, he is said to have come upon unknown lands, in a
situation where no one before had suspected that there was
land. The soil spontaneously produced wheat ; vines also
grew there as well as the trees called MAUSR: now those trees
are said to have been so large, that timbers fit for house
building were taken from them. On that voyage, it is re
lated, he rescued a shipwrecked man, and on his return he
made known the Christian Religion and exhibited letters of
King Olaf, sure proofs of his royal will, and published the
glories of the new faith in many words. His father, (Eric
the Red) refused to embrace it, but his (Eric's) wife Thor-
hilde immediately accepted it and had a church built, where
she with those who were converted, devoted herself to prayer.
Afterward that church was called Thorhilde's Church.
Having become a Christian she separated from her husband's
bed and board, at which the latter was vexed. In the follow
ing winter Leif converted fifty Reppas or villages to Christ:
Bjorn of Skardza relates that this event took place in the
eastern district of the country.

CHAPTER IX.

OF THE FRUITLESS ATTEMPT OF LEIF*S BROTHER THORSTKIN TO
EXPLORE VINLAND; OF HIS RETURN TO GREENLAND; OF

HIS MARRIAGE WITH THORBJORN'S DAUGHTER
GUDRID, OF HER EDUCATION AND AN
CESTORS IN ICELAND.

Afterwards several Greenlanders were seized by the de
sire to explore the country found by Leif, the chief of whom

VINLAND. 43

was Thorstein Ericson, a wise and popular man. However
the eyes of all were turned to Eric to be the leader of the expe
dition, for he was a lucky man as his discovery of Greenland
proved and moreover distinguished by his experience : after
long refusing he finally yielded to the requests of his friends.
The ship of Thorbjorn Vifillson, (of whom more hereafter)
was selected for the purpose and fitted out with twenty sailors
and scant provisions. Early on a certain morning Eric rode
away from home and first hid a box full of gold and silver;
but on his way he fell from his horse, broke two ribs and
severely injured his arm where it joined the shoulder. He
therefore bade his wife Thorhilde to raise the hidden treasure,
for he owned that he had met with the accident as a punish
ment for hiding it. Then they sailed from Ericsfjord amid
great joy; but for a long time and wearily they strayed from
their course, for they had Iceland in sight and also saw Irish
birds; after being driven across the ocean they again arrived
at the bay of Ericsfjord towards winter, and all the sailors,
who had no homes, were liberally supported by Eric the Red
during winter. In the same winter Thorstein, the son of
Eric the Red, with the consent of his father married Gudrid,
the daughter of Thorbjorn Vifillson: of her parents and her
education as a girl a short account must be given. Vifill, the
father of this Thorbjorn, was one of the companions of
Queen Audr, an immensely rich woman, the mother of Thor
stein the Red, and in fact Vifill was sold into slavery among
the Irish captives before Audr restored him to freedom.
But when she divided estates among her nautical followers
and had passed him by, he is said to have asked why she did
so; but she answered that it did not matter, for that wherever
he would be, he would be a great man. However she gave
him a valley called after his name Vifilsdal, where he after
wards dwelt to the end of his life. His sons were Thorgeir
and Thorbjorn ; they married the daughters of Einar of
Laugabrekka, the son of Sigmund, the grandson of Ketil,
Thistel, who gave his name to a bay, (Thistilsfjord) : the
former married Arnora, the latter Hallveiga, by whom Thor
bjorn begat the above-mentioned Gudrid, of whom we are

44 HISTORY OF

speaking, a maiden of wonderful beauty; her Orm, a wealthy
man, of the estate of Arnestap, in the western quarter of
Iceland, and his wife Halldise brought up. Her hand was
refused to a certain Einar, in spite of his wealth, which he
had made by trading, merely because he was born of a freed-
man, though the girl's father Thorbjorn,- greatly needed
means to support the expenses of his family. When Thorbjorn
saw that his means were reduced, and his family could not
be maintained with the same splendor as before, he preferred
to plough the soil rather than give up his accustomed mag
nificence. He therefore departed to Greenland to his friend
Eric the Red, whom he had helped in Iceland with money
and men. For when Eric left Iceland he promised his
friends that he would not fail to help them in need, if the
occasion to do so should ever present itself. With thirty
sailors and among the number Orm and his wife and family,
who could not bear to desert him, Thorbjorn left his country
and was borne to Cape Herjulfsnes, and there hospitably
received and generously supported with all his sailors, by a
wealthy man, the foremost of the place, Thorkel by name.
But a sickness arose on the voyage and spread among the
sailors, and Orm, as well as' his wife, was carried off thereby.

CHAPTER X.

OF A CERTAIN PROPHETIC WOMAN; OF HER APPEARANCE AND OF
HER SKILL IN THE MAGIC (SEIDIC) ART.

At that time a dreadful famine afflicted Greenland and
many desired to know how long it would last and hoped that
they would easily find this out during the winter, from
a certain prophetic woman, Thorbjorg by name. She was
wont to stop in that country with those who, eager to know
the future and their own fortunes, invited her to stay with
them. But as Thorkel was looked upon as by far the most
prominent man of the district, it seemed incumbent on him

VINLAND. 45

to take this burden upon himself and satisfy the wishes of
the people. Thorkel therefore invited her to his home, and,
as usual, treated the woman with respect; she was the sole
survivor of nine sisters, all prophetesses. A lofty seat on a
platform was prepared for her and a pillow filled with cock's
feathers placed under her ; the appearance of the wise
woman is described as follows: She put on a dark blue cloak
tied with thongs (they call them TINGLA MOTTUL) adorned
down to its lowest border with little stones; around her neck
hung little glass balls ; on her head she wore drawn up a
cowl of black lambskins and white catskins; in her hand she
carried a staff, crowned with a brass globe studded with
little stones ; she wore a girdle (Thomas Barthol translates
"HUNLANDICD" according to the words of the copy, which he
followed ; this reads HYNDSKAN LINDA; mine reads HNIOSKU
LINDA, i. e. 'dry girdle or zone' which makes no sense: I con
jecture that it should be written HUNDSKINS LINDA, i. e., 'a
dogskin girdle,' for the various other skins suggest this selec
tion;) from it hung an immense pouch, in which were stowed
the instruments of her magic art; to her feet she attached
shaggy calfskin shoes with long latchets, at the ends of
which were large tin balls : on her hands she wore catskin
gloves, shaggy and white on the inside. All saluted her
respectfully, but she received their greetings, according as
she favored them. Thorkel having taken her hand led her
to the seat prepared for her, and begged her to look at his
house, family, flocks and herds with care; but she in reply to
most of his remarks was silent. The dishes served to her
were porridge of goat's milk, and the hearts of all the kinds
of animals that were found there; she used a brass spoon, a
knife with its point broken off, whose handle was made of
whale's teeth, and which was encircled by two brass bands.
When the meal was ended, the tables were removed. Thor
kel went up to her, asking whether she had had an open
view, how she was pleased with the house and the ways and
dispositions of its inmates, and how soon she could know,
what was to be investigated. She answered that she could
give no reply, till she had slept there a night. On the fol-

46 HISTORY OF

lowing afternoon, all things necessary for magic (seidic) in
cantations were furnished. But first of all she asked for
women, who knew a song called VARDLOKR, which was abso
lutely necessary to practice the Seidic art; but no one was
found that knew it. Then Gudrid, Thorbjorn's daughter,
answered: "I am not a sorceress and know nothing of the
magic art; however Halldise, my teacher in Iceland taught
me a song called VARDLOKR," "Indeed" said Thorkel, "you
are blessed for your knowledge." Then Gudrid replied :
"Magic is the only thing I will in no wise abet ; for I am a
Christian." From this remark, compared with what has been
said above, it follows that Vinland was discovered after the
year 1000. But the wise woman suggested that she could
oblige her friends without offense to her religion. Overcome
by this temptation of Satan, the tender maiden sang a magic
al song with a sweet melody to the admiration of all: mean
while the women stood around the platform on which the
sorceress sat. The song being ended the sorceress thanked
Gudrid, saying that many and various spirits, who were be
fore about to leave and refused to obey her, allured by the
song and the sweet notes of the songstress had approached,
and that many things that were before concealed, had become
manifest to her. She foretold to Thorkel that the corn
famine would not last beyond winter and that it would be
relieved when the weather would grow mild, that the dis
ease which had thus far harrassed them would cease faster
than they thought ; that she would recompense Gudrid for
the aid given her, that she (Gudrid) would soon marry the
greatest man in Greenland, that the marriage would not last
long however, as the fates recalled her to Iceland, that there
a great and distinguished offspring would be born of her,
which was illumined by brighter rays than she could bear to
look upon; having then saluted Gudrid in a friendly way she
dismissed her. Afterwards persons, who wished to know
certain matters, consulted her, each for himself; and she,
freely answering the questions, unravelled what she was
asked. Then she was called by messengers to other estates:
on her departure,Thorbjorn,Gudrid's father, who had refused

VINLAND. 47

to be present at the impious ceremonies and the magic rite
and had gone to another estate, was recalled. The words of
the witch were verified in every respect, for both the famine
and the death ceased on the approach of spring, as well as
the plague that had begun with Thorbjorn's sailors. Thor-
bjorn, therefore, taking his vessel from Cape Herjulfsnes,
came to the bay of Ericsfjord and when his arrival had been
celebrated with great joy by Eric, was entertained hospitably
with all his family during all the winter or rather during the
rest of the winter, (for the ancients reckoned the early part
of spring as winter); but the following spring Eric pointed
out to Thorbjorn some land in Stockanes, where he built
quite a roomy house and laid out a magnificent estate, where
he dwelt as long as he lived. Then Thorstein, the son of
Eric the Red, married Gudrid with Thorbjorn's consent; the
Codex Flateyensis says, that she married Thorstein, as a
widow, having previously been married to Thorer whom
Leif saved when shipwrecked. The nuptials were celebrated
with great pomp at Brattahlide, during Eric's lifetime, con
trary to the report of the Codex Flateyensis.

CHAPTER XI.

OF THE INFECTIOUS DISEASE THAT AROSE AMONG THORSTEIN's
CREW; OF HIS DEATH AND A PRODIGY, AND OF THE AN
CIENT MODE OF BURIAL IN GREENLAND; OF THE
ARRIVAL OF KARLSEFNE AND HIS
MARRIAGE TO GUDRID.

The half of the estate called Lisufjord (I should prefer
to read "of a certain estate in Lisufjord") Thorstein owned,
the other half a namesake, who had also a wife, named
Sigrid (Grimhild in the Cod. Flat.) Thither Thorstein, the
son of Eric the Red, betook himself with his wife, at the
beginning of autumn, and there he passed the winter; but
an infectious disease invaded the entire house, A steward

48 HISTORY OF

named Gard, a man disliked by many, fell a victim and then
the rest, and finally the plague seized Thorstein Ericson
also, and Sigrid the other Thorstein's wife, and they lay ill
at the same time. But Sigrid, who was ailing, accompanied
by Thorstein Ericson's wife one evening retired to a
privy where, the ailment increasing in violence, she was
unable to repress her wails. Having heard her wails,Gudrid
regretted that they had gone too far to be heard, when crying
for help, and urged her to return in haste ; Sigrid answered
that she was stopped by ghosts, that were standing at the
door and that among the number she recognized herself and
Gudrid's husband Thorstein. After a while she advised
that they return, for the ghosts had vanished; but she said
that she saw Thorstein holding a scourge, about to lash the
rest. After they had returned home, she died the same night
and a coffin was prepared to bury her corpse. But as her
husband Thorstein had taken some oarsmen to the harbor,
who were about to go on a fishing expedition, he was hastily
recalled by a messenger from the sick Thorstein, who feared
danger from his (the other Thorstein's) wife Sigrid, lately
deceased; she had risen from the dead and harassing him
seemed to be about to get under his bed-clothes. Thorstein
(Signd's husband) returned, and rinding that she had entered
Thorstein's bed buried a large axe in her breast. But Thor
stein Ericson died towards nightfall. But when night had
worn on a little, he raised himself and bade his wife Gudrid
be called, declaring that this hour was allowed him by God
to settle his affairs. The host, therefore, roused her from
sleep, made known to her her husband's commands, and said,
he did not know what to advise her in the matter. But she
answered that this prodigy would be memorable that trust
ing to the Divine Mercy, which had always been kind to her,
she would go to her husband and learn what he had to say;
for, if any danger threatened, she would not escape it, nor
would she be the cause why her deceased husband should
wander about after death ; that there was great reason to
fear that this might happen, if she proved faithless to him.
On approaching the dead man, it seemed to her, she saw him

VINLAND. 49

pouring forth tears; afterwards he whispered some words in
her ear privately, known to her alone. But in public he spoke
as follows : Blessed are they who embrace the Christian re
ligion, for it is based on Divine grace and mercy: few how
ever religiously observe it ; moreover, from the very estab
lishment of religion in Greenland, the dead have been sinfully
buried in unconsecrated ground, the funeral rites being
scantily celebrated. He, so he continued, wished to be car
ried to church with the others who had died there, except
Gard alone, because he had troubled those who had died thus
far during the winter. That man, he warned them, ought
to be burned as soon as possible in the avenging flames.
Then he foretold some of his wife's future destinies and bade
her to beware of marrying any Greenlander and to give her
money to the Church, and partly also to the poor. Having
said this he again fell asleep. A similar story is told in the
seventh book of "Chronicles" by Dithmar of Merseburg.
It was customary in Greenland, and in other half-christian
or even uncivilized lands that were visited by ships, to bury
the dead in unconsecrated ground, to place sticks over their
breasts for the purpose of marking the grave of the buried
man; after a lapse of time, however long, the priest pulled
out the sticks, poured some water into the hole by way of
lustration and performed burial songs. Thorstein was car
ried to the church along with the other dead. But Gudrid
went to her husband's father, Eric the Red, who treated her
as a daughter, Shortly after her father Thorbjorn of Stock-
anes died; as she was his sole heir, Eric took upon himself
the whole care of her patrimony and administered it faith
fully. At the same time two ships from Iceland came to the
bay of Ericsfjord : the one was commanded by Thorfinn
Karlsefne, accompanied by Snorre Thorbrandson, of the es
tate of Skogastrand on Alftafjord bay in Iceland, and forty
sailors ; the other was commanded by Bjarne Grimolfson,
from the district adjoining Breidafjord Bay, together with
Thorhall Gamlason from the eastern part of the island, and
carried as many sailors; (the Cod. Flateyensis says that Karl
sefne came from Norway.) Now Eric the Red setting out

50 HISTORY OF

with several natives to trade with these was received kindly
and invited to take as a gift all he wished, of the goods for
sale. Unwilling to be outdone in generosity, he invited the
entire crews of both ships to his house to pass the winter,
and they, pleased with his generous hospitality, took all their
merchandise thither: and they found buildings large enough
to receive them and everything was furnished generously.
As Christmas approached, Eric grew sad. Karlsefne re
marking this, asked the cause of this sudden change, prom
ising to pay liberally for what Eric had with great generosity
spent on them. The latter replied that they were most wel
come guests, inasmuch as they received what he offered
them with grateful hearts; but that he was not disposed to
cause loss to his friends ; he regretted that when after
leaving him they would come to other lands, they might
justly complain, that nowhere did they rembember the
Christmas or Yule festival to have been celebrated more
scantily than at Brattahlide, in Greenland with Eric the
Red. Karlsefne saw that this trouble could be easily dis
pelled, for he had corn and barley in plenty to furnish the
banquet with all the generosity Eric wished, and he allowed
Eric to bring it home. Eric did this and nowhere is a more
splendid festival said to have been celebrated in a poor
country. At the end of the feast, Karlsefne spoke to Eric
of marrying his daughter-in-law Gudrid, for he was her
guardian, and easily obtained her hand ; the wedding was
celebrated with great splendor at Brattahlide, and there the
winter was passed. And this is the story of Gudrid and
her parents ; let us return to Vinland.

VINLAND. 51

CHAPTER XII.

OF KARLSEFNE'S VOYAGE TO VINLAND AND OF HIS COMPANIONS

ON THAT EXPEDITION, VIZ: BJARNE, THORHALL AND

THORVARD, THE SON-IN-LAW OF ERIC THE

RED, AND ERIC'S SON THORVALD.

During the same winter the conversation often turned
upon a voyage to Vinland (according to these documents,
however, Leif is not reported to have given it this name). In
the beginning of spring Karlsefne and Snorre fitted out
their ship for the expedition; Bjarne and Thorhall, whom we
have mentioned before, embarking in their own ship, were
taken as partners in the undertaking. A third ship was
commanded by Thorvard, the son-in-law of Eric the Red,
who had married his illegitimate daughter Freydis, and by
Eric's son Thorvald, and these were accompanied by Thor
hall surnamed the hunter. This man tall in stature, of great
strength, gigantic build and dark complexion, rudely and
sharply spoken and of gloomy and forbidding appearance,
had long followed the family of Eric the Red and spent his
summers in hunting and his winters as steward. This man
always suggested dark plans to Eric, for he was careless in
practising the Christian religion, but very well acquainted
with pathless and desert places and solitudes. One hundred
and forty, (but as has been often said, the hundred consisted
of twelve tens) sailors took part in this expedition. They
sailed in the first place to the western part of inhabited
Greenland, thence to the Bjarney Islands, for a night and a
day (TVO DAEGR), thence southwards, till land came in sight.
There many large cliffs projected twelve cubits broad; there
was also a large number of foxes ; this land they called
HELLULAND. Thence they sailed for a day and night toward
the southeast by east, until they saw a wooded land abound
ing in animals; southeast by south of this main land lay an
island. There they killed a bear and from this circumstance
called the island Bjarney and the main land Markland :

52 HISTORY OF

thence they sailed southward until they reached a certain
headland: there the hull of a ship was found and the cape
was therefore called Kjalarnes and they named the shore
FURDUSTRAND, or wonderful, or wonderfully vast strand.
Then the land was indented with bays, and after entering
one of these Karlsefne sent forth a man and woman of the
Scotch race, so swift in running that they outran wild
animals; these King Olaf Tryggvason had presented to Leif
when departing. The man's name was Hake, the woman's
Hekja. He gave them a night and two days to explore the
land and ordered them to start southward; at the appointed
time they returned, the one bearing a cluster of grapes, the
other an ear of wheat. Their garment, called KIAPAL which
was sleeveless and open at the sides, was at the same time a
covering for the head, and a clasp fastened it between the
thighs. Then setting sail they entered another bay, near
whose entrance lay an island, surrounded by currents, and
thence called Straumsey: there they wintered and landed
their cattle. The land was very fertile but produced neither
vines nor grain. Here forgetting the things necessary to
support themselves during the winter, which must be col
lected in autumn, they occupied themselves in exploring the
country. But in the island there was so great a number of
the ducks, whose feathers are most prized and which are
called by the Norse AERD or contracted AER. that they could
hardly walk over it without destroying the eggs. But winter
coming on and fishing and hunting being impossible, a
dearth of provisions followed. They therefore prayed to
God; but when their prayers were not heard as soon as they
wished, Thorhall the hunter set out; after seeking him two
days and a night, they at last found him lying on a steep
ridge, with mouth wide open and murmuring something: to
their questions, what he was doing there, he made no reply;
however, he went home with them. Shortly after a sea-
monster was cast on the shore, but no one knew what kind
of fish it was; when they cooked and eat it, it seemed not to
agree with them. Then said Thorhall, the Red one (he
meant Thor) is after all more powerful than your Christ, for

VINLAND. 53

with this did he reward the song which I sang in his honor;
for he- has seldom failed me. Having learned this, they
threw the fish into the sea and committed themselves and all
they had to God. Soon the weather grew mild and the sea,
now quiet, was fit for fishing ; thenceforth they had enough
of food by land and sea, for there was also abundance of
game.

CHAPTER XIII.

OF THORHALL THE HUNTER, WHO IS DRIVEN BY STORMS TO IRE
LAND AND THERE HELD IN BONDAGE TO THE END OF HIS
LIFE ; OF THE FURTHER EXPLORATION OF VINLAND BY
KARLSEFNE AND HIS COMPANIONS ; OF THE LAND

AND WATER PRODUCTS THERE ; OF THE DRESS
OF THE SKRAELINGS AND THEIR TRAFFIC, AND OF
THE DISPUTES AND WARS THENCE ARISING, WHICH HOW
EVER END IN THE SKRAELINGS SUSTAINING GREATER LOSS.

Thorhall the hunter, with nine sailors, passing Furdus-
trand with ship turned northward, sought Vinland. Two
pieces of verse are extant, sung by him whilst he brought
water into the ship, which have the true flavor of antiquity
and in fact are marked by the genius of that age. Having
doubled Kialarnes wrhilst he was sailing westward, a storm
arising from the west drove him to Ireland, where he and
his men passed a wretched existence, being kept in cruel
bondage, until they were punished with death on account of
their hatred of Christianity and their impiety. This story is
reported to have been brought to Iceland by merchants.
But Karlsefne with Snorre and Bjarne, sailing southward,
in order to seek in the opposite direction, after a long voy
age came to a place where a river rising in a marsh emptied
into the sea; but his ship could not enter the river, because
long estuaries intervened and the tide was running low:
therefore they moored her at the mouth of the stream; there
the level country produced wheat, the hills native vines; all
the streams were full of fish, which, when ditches had been

54 HISTORY OF

dug to the verge of the sea, so as to receive the tide water,
were carried into these and caught with the hands whilst
the tide lasted or receded; this kind of fish they called SACRED
because they were caught without labor, I fancy. Many and
various kinds of animals wandered over the fertile meadows
and through the woods. After passing there two weeks
spent in refreshing their bodies by sports without a sign of
human cultivation appearing, they beheld one morning ap
proaching them many boats covered with hides : in them
javelins were raised as signals and whirled around, following
the motion of the sun and creaking with the friction, Snorre
Thorbrandson and Karlsefne interpreted them to be signs of
peace and advised that they should, carry a white shield at
their head and go to meet the strangers; when they saw this
they rowed up vigorously and landed, wondering at the
Greenlanders; nor did the latter wonder less at them, for they
were swarthy, of ill-favored appearance, with short hair,
broad cheek bones and large eyes; then after a short delay,
having passed the headland, the strangers turned their boats
southward. Thorfinn with his companions had passed a
winter without snow, in huts, which he had erected in
different places nearer to or farther away from the sea;
the cattle feeding on grassy fields needed no other fodder.
But in the beginning of spring, hide-covered boats, swarm
ing in the bay, brought parties of Skraelings with signals of
peace: they were received with white shields and induced to
land. Then they bartered on the one side pieces of red
cloth a span broad, with which the strangers were wonder
fully pleased and which they wrapped about their heads, on
the other side fur skins ; when the red cloth proved insuf
ficient to satisfy the wishes of those who asked for them, pie
ces of a finger's breadth were given them; Karlsefne's bull,
perchance rushed out from the wood and so frightened them
with its horrid bellowing, that they forthwith betook them
selves to flight and staid away for three weeks. When these
were passed an immense number of small skiffs arrived and
seemed almost to cover the whole sea ; and they whirled
their signals not as before, when they meant peace, in the di-

VINLAND. 55

rection of the sun's motion, but in the opposite direction,
Karlsefne recognizing this as a declaration of war ordered a
red shield to be raised and went to meet them with an armed
force. But the Skraelings rushing out of their ships, assailed
them at a distance with missiles hurled from slings, and
then threw a dark blue ball, not unlike a sheep's stomach
stuck on a spear, on the ground above Karlsefne's soldiers,
but kept back the spear ; this ball striking the earth with
great noise, caused such dread and terror, that Karlsefne
with his companions saw their only safety in flight. They
rushed along the upper river bank in a disorderly manner
and seemed to be surrounded on all sides, both on land and
sea, by the numbers of the enemy; nor could their flight be
stayed until they reached some steep rocks. There recover
ing their courage, they resisted bravely. But Freydis, seeing
her countrymen fleeing, came up fearlessly and cried out :
" How do you, warriors, flee from those dwarfs, whom you
can slaughter like sheep: forsooth had I arms, I should hack
them into pieces more boldly than any of you." Her words
nowise encouraged the panic-stricken fugitives. Therefore,
as she could not follow them, when they fled to the woods,
(for she was pregnant) it seemed wholly unlikely that she
would escape the Skraelings. While she was pursued by them
she came upon the corpse of one of her countrymen; it was
Thorbrand Snorreson, whose skull had been crushed with a
stone. Having seized his sword, she prepared to fight. But
when she sa.w several running up to her, she uncovered her
breast and approached it to the sword. Frightened by this,
the Skraelings fled to their boats and departed in great
haste, Karlsefne, having praised Freydis, began to consider
what men they were that had rushed forth from the woods;
at last it was found that they were pure illusions, and that
there were no forces except those which had been in the
boats and attacked them. Then he took to bandaging the
wounded. Two Norsemen were lost in that battle, but
many Skraelings. One of the latter, when he had come upon
the corpse of a Greenlander and picked up his axe that lay
next to him, struck it into a block of wood ; but when the

56 HISTORY OF

Skraelings noticed that the axe was fit for cutting and sharp,
one after the other tested its sharpness by cutting wood.
But when one man made the same experiment on a stone, he
broke the axe. Now when it was not found as fit to cut
stone as wood, it was looked upon with scorn and thrown
into the sea with a great effort. Karlsefne foreseeing that
there would be constant danger from the natives, decided to
abandon the land, however pleasant it might be, Intending
therefore to return to Greenland, as he sailed northward, he
came upon five sleeping Skraelings, dressed in garments of
skins. Next to them lay hollow pieces of wood, like reeds,
filled with animal marrow mixed with blood. Conjecturing
by this sign that they had been driven into exile, the Norse
men killed them. Afterward they were borne to a headland
so full of wild beasts, that it was almost entirely covered
with their excrements, for there the beasts stopped over
night. The Norsemen called it MIKIUNES from the manure.
Thence they came to the bay of Straumsfjord, where plenty
of all kinds of necessaries were found. Others relate that
Karlsefne, together with Snorre, when he landed the first
time at Straumsey, set sail southward from that harbor with
one ship manned with forty sailors, for the purpose of seek
ing Vinland; that he left behind him the hundred others,
including his wife and Bjarne ; that not quite two months
passed before their return and that he brought them thence
to Vinland, where the winter was passed. Then Karlsefne,
setting out with a single ship to find Thorhall the hunter, by
sailing northward doubled Cape Kialarnes, and changing his
course slightly towards the west, coasted along the land that
lay on his left, which was an unbroken desert interrupted
by no cultivated district, until entering the mouth of a river
that flowed from east to west, he found a suitable harbor
for his ship.

VINLAND. 57

CHAPTER XIV.

OF THE SLAYING OF THORVALD, THE SON OF ERIC THE RED, BY A

ONE-FOOTED BEING, OF KARLSEFNE*S SOJOURN AT STRAUMS-

FJORD FOR THREE WINTERS, OF THE BIRTH OF HIS SON

SNORRE, OF THE CAPTIVITY OF TWO SKRAELINGS, OF

THE DANGEROUS VOYAGE OF BJARNE GRIMOLFSON

IN THE IRISH OCEAN, OF HIS HONORABLE CONDUCT

TOWARD A CERTAIN ICELANDER IN EXTREME PERIL OF LIFE,

OF KARLSEFNE'S RETURN TO ICELAND AND OF HIS DESCENDANTS.

One morning on the shore something was seen to move;
when they had shouted at it, a one-footed being, rising up
near the bank of the river, where the ship stood at anchor,
rushed forth and immediately buried an arrow in the flank
of Thorvald Ericson. When Thorvald had drawn it out and
seen his own fat clinging to it, he said: "Fertile indeed is the
land we have found, though we are hardly allowed to enjoy
it." Shortly after he died of this wound, Karlsefne with his
companions pursuing the unipede as he swiftly ran towards
the north, at times had him in view, until he rushed headlong
into a certain bay. This adventure one of them celebrated
in a song, which exists to this day. Thence sailing north
ward they thought they saw the country of the unipedes and
deemed it useless to run further risks. But the mountains
that begin at the harbor in Vinland called HOOP, they found
were continued in an uninterrupted range by the very moun
tains in the place where they were staying, and that in the mid
dle was Straumsf jord, equidistant from there and from Hoop.
Then they passed the first winter in Straumsf jord, (whither
they seem to have been driven back by the winds) where a
dangerous dispute arose about the common use of the women
which the unmarried men claimed should be promiscuous.
At the beginning of autumn Karlsefne's son Snorre, who had
been born there and was now three years old, set sail from
Vinland. Thence, their sails filled with the south wind, they

58 HISTORY OF

came to Markland ; here they found five Skraelings, one
bearded, two women and as many boys; the rest got off and
escaped into the earth (where perchance they had haunts;)
but the boys were caught. Being afterwards brought away
and taught the language of Greenland and made acquainted
with Christian rites, they said that their mothers name was
VETTHILDE, and their fathers name VAEGE. Two kings, they
reported, ruled the Skraelings, one called AVALLDAINNA, the
other VALLDIDIDA. Among them there were no houses, their
place being supplied by caves and dens; facing their country
was another, which was inhabited by men dressed in white
garments, and terrible on account of the noise they made,
before whom spears were born, from which hung cloths. It
was believed that they described HVITRA MANNA LAND or
White Man's Land, or HIBERNIA MAGNA. Bjarne Grimolfson
was swept away by a tempest to the Irish Ocean. When the
sea, which was full of worms,that gnawed and pierced the ship,
foiled the efforts of the men that baled out the ship, and the
water filled it, it began gradually to sink in the waves. They
had a boat covered with a tar made from seal's grease: that
kind of boats the worms never perforate (they are called
SELTJORU.) As this could contain only one-half of the sailors
and all had not the means of escaping, Bjarne ordered them
to determine by lot, without regard for any one's rank, who
were to go in the boat. No one opposed so fair a proposal.
The lot favored him among others. As he entered the boat
an Icelander, who by lot was left behind, cried out : " Will
you abandon me here ?" Bjarne said that it was done by the
decision of the lot. "And yet," answered the other, "you
promised my father in Iceland that we should share the same
lot." " Be it so," answered Bjarne, since you cling so des
perately to life, enter the boat, for I shall willingly yield you
my place." And so returning to his ship he preferred to life
faith and honor, the loss of which he dreaded much more
than present death that stared him in the face. The skiff
arrived safe with Bjarne's companions at Dublin, a cele
brated city of Ireland. But Bjarne with the rest, all think,
was swallowed up in the waves, for nothing further was

VINLAND. 59

heard of him. By what right he sacrificed his life, granted
to him by God, I shall not discuss; but surely he left to all
posterity a remarkable example of good faith, which he would
by no means have imperilled, had he taken advantage of the
favors of fortune. In the following summer Karlsefne is
reported to have crossed to Iceland with his wife and to have
betaken himself to his mother, on the estate of Reinarnes.
Hauk, NOMOPHYLAX or chief judge of Iceland, about the year
1294, compiled the book of which the above are extracts,
and which is called HAUK'S BOK or Hauk's book after his
name, from the writings of the monk Gunnlaug, who died in
the year 1219, and from several other old chronicles, both pa
gan and Christian. He enumerates his ancestors from Thorfinn
Karlsefne, beyond the genealogy contained in the Codex
Flateyensis, as follows: Karlsefne's son Snorre had a daugh
ter Steinvor, the wife of Eniar of the manor of Grund, the
grandson of Ketill, the great-grandson of Thorvald Krok,
the great-great-grandson of Thorer, of the manor of Es-
pishol. By her he begat a son Thorstein, called Ranglat, or
the wicked, the father of Gudrun, the wife of Jorund, of the
manor of Kelldum, Their daughter Halla bore Flose; the
daughter of Flose, Valgerdis, was the mother of the chief
judge Erlend the Strong, the father of our chief judge Hauk
who is the ninth from Karlsefne. Another daughter of
Flose, who was sixth from Karlsefne, was Thordis the mother
of Ingibjorg, called the Rich, whose daughter was Hallbera,
Abbess of the monastery of Reinenes. Many other dis
tinguished families in Iceland are said to have been de
scended from Karlsefne and Gndrid. And this is the story
the Antiquities relate of Vinland ; many details, it is true,
contradict one another; but I abstain from examining these.

60 HISTORY OF

CHAPTER XV.

ADAM OF BREMEN'S STORY OF VINLAND CONSISTENT WITH THE

ABOVE; HIS GREAT MISTAKE REGARDING ITS POSITION; OLAF

RUDBECK NO LESS ERRONEOUSLY IDENTIFIES VINLAND

WITH FINLAND; THE STORY OF THE POSITION OF

GREAT IRELAND ; OF ARE THE ICELANDER

AND THE PITCH OF THE GREKNLANDERS.

"Moreover," says Adam of Bremen, he (i. e., Sven Astrith-
arson, King of Denmark) spoke of one other island found
by many in that ocean, (which washes Norway and even
Finnmark) an island called Winland, because vines grow wild
there ; that corn also abounds there without being sown,
we have found to be proven, not by some storied opinion
but by the undoubted history of the Danes." This
statement compared with our narrative proves that the report
about Vinland seemed at that time not idle, but to merit
undoubting belief, because it was supported by the experience
and testimony of reliable men; for Adam of Bremen lived
at the time of Harold the Haughty, King of Norway.
Now Harold began to reign in the forty-sixth or rather
the forty-fifth year after Vinland was first discovered and
afterwards settled. Concerning these events he adds to
his recital : " Beyond this island (he has been speaking
of Vinland) no other habitable land is found in that ocean ;
but all beyond is full of intolerable ice and unbounded dark
ness ; this fact Marcianus mentions, saying that after one
day's sail beyond Thyle the sea is frozen solid. This was
lately tested by Harold, the most experienced chief of the
Northmen; for having explored with ships the latitudes of
the northern ocean, when the limits of the ceasing world
were wrapt in darkness before his eyes, he escaped with
difficulty the immense depth of the abyss by retracing his
steps." Olaf Rudbeck, in chapter 7, paragraph 8, page 291

VINLAND. 61

of his Atlantica, writes as follows on this passage: "Some
thing like this no doubt had of old persuaded Adam of
Bremen that in the extreme north, near the sea of ice, was
situated an island that produced the vine, and was for that
reason called Vinland. This he believed on the authority of
the Danes, however, as he himself does not hesitate to state
on page 37 of his work on the situation of Denmark ; but
that he was deceived either by the credulity of the Danes or
by his own, is clearly shown by the similarity of the name of
Finland, a province belonging to our kingdom, for which in
Snorro and the History of the Kings the name of Vinland
occurs more than once, and whose headland stretches into
the extreme north and even to the sea of ice." He thinks
that by Vinland Adam of Bremen understood Finland, and
that he took the Finnish ale for wine, though that drink is
common to the Fins and other northern nations and can hard
ly be mistaken for grapes and vines, which, Adam of Bremen
thinks, grow wild in Vinland. And that he was not deceived
by the Danes, as Rudbeck supposes, is plain from the facts
we have stated. But where the name of Vinland occurs in
Snorro and the Histories of the Kings, I have not up to this
time found out.

Concerning the Great Ireland spoken of, which the
ancients call White Man's Land, or Albania, the Origins of
Iceland say, that it is separated from Ireland or Hibernia by
a distance which you can measure by a six day's voyage
towards the west, and they place it near Vinland, Thither,
as the same book relates, Are Marson, the great-grandson of
Ulf Skialg, who first settled the district of Reikjanes, in the
western districts of Iceland, was driven by a storm: there he
was first initiated into the mysteries of Christianity, and there
although he was not allowed to depart, he was well treated
and held in great honor. Hrafn, called the Limerick-trader,
from his frequent voyages to Limerick, a city of Ireland,
first brought this report to Iceland, and Thorkel Geiterson
affirmed, that the same story was afterwards related in the
Saga of Thorfinn, Earl of the Orkneys. This Are was the
cousin of Thorhild (whom others call Thiodhild) the wife of

62 HISTORY OF

Eric the Red, who discovered Greenland. For Jorund, the
other son of Ulf Skialg, and the brother of Mar by his wife
Thorbjorg, called Knarrabringa, begat this Thorhild. The
genealogy of Ulf Skialg we have traced from Hjorleif the
Gallant, king of Hordia, as set down in his life. Pitch from
seal's fat is said to be used by the Greenlanders alone ; they
hang up oil fried from seal's fat, and put it into boats of skin
to dry, until it thickens, then color it black and besmear the
ships. This method Bjorn of Skardza described ; to me it
seems more likely that it can be dissolved, unless something
else be added to the seal's fat.

CHAPTER XVI.

OF THE VOYAGES OF THE SAXON BISHOP JONES, AND OF ERIC,

BISHOP OF GREENLAND, TO VINLAND, AND

OF GUDLEIF GUDLAUGSON.

The appendix to the Landnama Book relates that Jones
or Johannes, a Saxon Bishop, (the Hungrvaka book, which
is written on the history of the bishops of Iceland, asserts
that he was an Irishman, or Hibernian,) after first preaching
the Christian faith for four years in Iceland, set out thence
for Vinland, in order to convert its people, and finally sealed
his mission there by suffering torture and death.

In the year 1121, Eric, bishop of Greenland, visited Vin
land. His family, the book on the Origins of Iceland, part r,
On the general occupation, chapter 13, page 15, traces back
to the first settlers of Iceland. Eric's father being Gnup,
Gnup's Birning, Birning's Gnup, Gnup's Grimkel, Grimkel's
Bjorn, surnamed Gullbera or Gold-bearer, who first settled
southern Reykjadal, a district of Southern Iceland. Grimkers
wife was Signya, Valthiof's daughter, who occupied the
whole district called Kios; his father was Aurlig, who occu
pied a great part of Kjalarnes; his father was Hrap, the son
of Ketill Flat-nesi or Flat-nose, the grandson of Bjorn Buna.

VINLAND. 63

I know not whether this Vinland or some other uncertain
part of America is meant by the land, to which, as the Eyrbyg
gja Saga reports, Gudleif Gunnlaugson of the province of
Straumfjord in the western district of Iceland, sailing from
Dublin, a city of Ireland, towards the end of St. Olaf's life, was
driven on his return to Iceland by east and north winds. On
this occasion he fell into great danger of death or of lifelong
slavery, after losing his way and roaming for a long time
over the western ocean without meeting any land. But then
an extensive country which they saw, attracted the sailors,
who were worn out with hardships and weak with long sea
sickness, to a safe harbor by the hope of refreshment. When
they had reached shore, the inhabitants started up by hun
dreds, dragged them all from their ship and threw them into
chains. The language of these people was unknown to the
Northmen, and yet seemed to resemble most the Irish
tongue. They understood that thereupon the people of the
country deliberated, some condemning the Northmen to
death, others to slavery, until an old man of lofty stature
and with venerable white hair and a great retinue, before
whom a standard was borne, rode up and like a prince was
received with the utmost respect. To him thereupon were
submitted the opinions of those who had been debating.
Having summoned the sailors he addressed them in Danish
and asked, whence they came. Having learned that most of
them were Icelanders, he asked Gudleif, from what part of
Iceland they came. When the latter had mentioned Borgar-
fjord, he enquired concerning the state and condition of the
several nobles there and extending his conversation enquired
for Snorre the priest, his sister Thurid and her son Kjartan.
When the crowd thereupon interrupted him, demanding
that some decision should be come to regarding the ship, he
selected twelve men as his council and retired. After con
siderable delay he addressed Gudleif in the following words:
"I have pleaded your cause before my fellow citizens, who
consider it a favor that they have left your fate to my de
cision, and accordingly I grant you permission to depart. In-
deed,though summer is far advanced,! advise and urge you to

64 HISTORY OF

sail hence as soon as possible, for this people is unmanagable
and faithless, and will soon be angered on account of the
violation of its laws." Then said Gudleif: "What shall I
report in my native country ? Whom shall I declare my de
liverer to be?" "To know that is unnecessary," he answered,
"for I do not wish my friends and relatives to be drawn
hither through affection for me, lest perchance the same for
tune awaits them which you would have met with, had I not
intervened; moreover,! am already of such an age that death
may overtake me at any moment; but even if it be put off
ever so long, there are far away in this land other men more
powerful than I, who will certainly not send off strangers
unharmed." Thereupon he remained with them, until a
favorable breeze sprang up, and to Gudleif, as he departed,
he gave a golden ring and a sword, the former to be de
livered to Thurid, sister of Snorre the priest, the latter to
her son Kjartan, who after his father's death held the manor
of Froda. In reply to the question, by whom he should say
the gifts were sent, he replied : "by one to whom the sister
of the priest Helgafell was dearer than the priest himself
had been." But if any one should think that from these
words he knows who I am, do you repeat my words that I
forbid any one to journey hither ; for this land for the most
part is harborless, and the people hostile to strangers, no
matter where they land, unless perchance as in your case,
accident has brought them. Gudleif having taken his ship
out of the harbor the same autumn, reached Dublin, whence
he had started and there he spent the winter. It is plain
that the man was Bjorn, called the champion of Breidavik,
who, recorded history relates, served under Palnatoke, then
under Stjrbjorn, chief of Suecia (Sweden,) and after his
murder a second time under Palnatoke, though in accordance
with the established custom of Icelandish writers, the
chronology is not treated with care. As a young man, he
had fallen in love with Thurid, and was for that reason
pursued by her brother, in order to put him to death; after
courageously escaping him by his wiles, he permitted him
self to be prevailed upon by entreaties, to leave his country;

VINLAND. 65

but to what place the ship which bore him was borne, no one
had determined with certainty, before it became known that
he had been driven to the place where Gudleif found him;
but how this happened has never since been found out.
That this country was some part of America, is made likely
by the winds which Gudleif met with, by the direction of
his voyage and by his departure from and return to Ireland.
But as I have made mention in Chapter 8 of the prodigies
of Froda and of the woman from the Hebrides by whom,
according to the book which Bjorn of Skardza followed, Leif
the Lucky is falsely reported to have had a son, and as we
have now come to the same manor where these incidents are
said to have occurred and the same persons among whom
they happened, it is proper to copy the story of them from
the history of the Eyrbyggians, and add them here as a
finishing touch to our history.

CHAPTER XVII.

OF THE PRODIGIES OF FRODA.

In the first year of the reign of the Jarls Eric and
Sven, sons of Hakon, Jarl of the Hladae, prodigies were
remarked on a manor in the western quarter of Iceland,
called Froda; their cause and origin I shall relate in order.
The manor was occupied by a wealthy man called Thorodd,
surnamed SKATTKAUPANDI, or the tribute-buyer. For he
sold his boat to some shipwrecked men of Orkney who were
in danger of life on the coast of Ireland, while bringing trib
ute money from the Hebrides and Mona (Man) to Earl Sigurd
about the year 980, and took for pay a part of the tribute, as
has been recounted by us in our History of the Orkneys,
chapter 10, His wife was Thurid, the sister of the famous
Snorre, priest of Helgafell, whose authority was very great
in that part of the island. Thorodd had received in his
house a woman, Thorgunna by name, who had come the same
summer from Dublin on the invitation of his wife. She was

66 HISTORY OF

led by the hope of getting possession of the many and valu
able treasures which the stranger possessed. This woman
was a native of the Hebrides, and was at this time more than
fifty years old. However, she would not pay a large sum
for Thurid's hospitality, nor sell what was dearer to her than
gold, even at the greatest price, though she was worried ever
so much by her hostess; she said, she would earn her living
by work, but not by low and servile work. On these con
ditions she was received as a guest. The bed -assigned to
her she covered with spreads and blankets so precious that
nothing more valuable was ever seen in that place. Thurid
all the more inflamed with the desire to possess them, offered
Thorgunna an immense price, but in vain. She would not
sleep on the ground, she answered, even for the sake of
Thurid, however respectable a lady she might be. Whenever
the weather was unfavorable to drying hay, she worked at
embroidery, at other times using her own mattock, she worked
at the hay. Her form was tall and she was proportionally
stout; her complexion was slightly dark, her eyes large, her
hair also was dark and long, and her manners graceful.
There was in the same house a certain Thorer Vidlegg,
(Wooden-leg) with his wife Thorgrima, called GALDRAKINN,
or of the magic chin; he was to be supported at the host's
expense by right of relationship, at that time, I believe, still
in vogue. Thorgunna and Thorgrima forever quarrelled.
Young Kjartan was passionately loved by the stranger Thor
gunna, but her passion was unreturned, and she was vexed
that she did not please him equally. A rainy summer was
followed by a dry autumn. The sky was clear, undotted by
even a single cloud, when all bent upon gathering hay, per
formed each the duty assigned to him by the master. Thor
gunna on that day was to dry and gather into sheaves as
much hay as would suffice to feed an ox throughout the
winter. At one o'clock in the afternoon a cloud arising in the
north moved over Thorodd's house and the manor of Froda.
From it fell so much rain that it saturated all the hay which
had not been put into sheaves, and the sky became so dark
that the workmen could not see one another. But when the

VINLAND. 67

cloud passed away it was seen that it had rained blood.
Then the weather grew clear, and all the blood which had
fallen on the hay, dried, except that on Thorgunna's sheaves;
nor could the blood which stained the mattock she held, and
her garments, be cleansed off. When Thorodd enquired of
her, what this prodigy meant, she said she did not know, but
that it foreboded the death of somebody who was close to
him. Having gone home the same evening and put off the
garments that were dripping with blood, she went to bed,
repeating that she saw she was detained by sickness. On
that evening she would take no food. Early the following
morning Thorodd went to her and asked, what she thought
would be the issue of her illness. She answered that she
would not suffer from disease thereafter, for the present
would be her last sickness ; that she considered him the
wisest man of the manor, and for that reason warned him
after her death to dispose of the property owned and left by
her, according to her testament or last will; that if this were
disregarded it was much to be feared farther prodigies would
follow the one that had been seen. But he promised to rec
ognize her as a prophetess and not to disobey her instructions
or last will. ''My corpse," she replied, "I order to be taken
to Skalholt, where I foresee will be for a long time the fore
most place in the island; for I hope that the ministers of the
gospel are already assembled there, who will perform my
obsequies according to the sacred rite. As a reward for your
trouble and the outlay which you will make for this purpose,
you will take in advance as much of my property as I shall
order and with this you can be satisfied. Your wife will
take from the undivided property my purple cloak which I
dispose of in this manner, that she may submit with equa
nimity to whatever I provide regarding the rest. My ring
the church of Skalholt shall have in payment for my burial ;
but the coverings of my bed, and my girdles, and all my
possessions I command to be burned, for I do not foresee
that they will be of any service to any one; and yet I do not
do this, because I envy mankind the possession of my prop
erty, but because I do not wish men on my account to suffer

68 HISTORY OF

and be overwhelmed by the many hardships and afflictions
which I foresee will follow,if my directions will be disobeyed."
Thorodd repeated his former promises. Then her illness
began to grow more violent, and after the lapse of a few
days it carried her off. The corpse was placed in a coffin
and the next day taken to church. Then Thorodd bade all
the equipments of her bed to be carried outside and a fire
to be lit, into which they were to be thrown. When his wife
saw this, she said that things so valuable should not be
destroyed; for, said she, her old wives' talk is not of enough
importance to make me willing to suffer the loss of these
valuables through fear of her threats. And adding en
treaties, she urged her husband with such earnestness to
preserve the garments, that she saved all the girdles and
coverlets from the fire, the neck-cloths, mattrasses and pil
lows only being consigned to the flames. And yet Thorodd's
wife was not satisfied by this concession, though he was
vexed at her excessively violent threats. Afterwards the
funeral preparations were made and the corpse-bearers were
taken to the bier, and men of distinction were selected for
the office; special horses too were chosen, for a long journey
of many miles was to be gone through. The corpse was
wrapped in linen shrouds which were seamless. Straightway
they passed through solitudes, nor was anything remarked
that was worthy of mention, before they had passed the
manor of Valbjarnarvall. There the mire, softened by the
rain, hindered their progress. They had crossed with diffi
culty the river called Nordra in the Eyafjord, for it .was
filled by the streams which it receives, and which formed
pools owing to the long rain storms, and could be crossed
only with difficulty, if at all. One evening they came, tired
by their long toil, to the manor called Nes, situated in the
district of Stafholztung. There, as they were denied a lodg
ing and yet could not proceed further on account of the
approaching darkness, they set down their burden and carried
the corpse into a house that lay apart. Having entered the
dining hall, they intended to pass the night fasting. Though
the servants had gone to sleep, they heard a sound as if of a

VINLAND. 69

man walking in the store room. Suspecting that there were
thieves they ran in, and on opening the door, beheld there a
woman tall of stature and naked, and covered by no garment
whatsoever, who dealt out food ; frightened thereby they
dared not approach, and going to the corpse-bearers they re
lated what they had seen. When these had hastened thither
they recognized Thorgunna, whose corpse they were carrying,
and did not think it safe to meddle with her affairs. When
she had got as much food as she thought right, she brought
it into the dining-room and placed it on the table. Then the
corpse-bearers said to the host: " Perhaps you will regret
refusing us food and hospitable kindness." Then the host
and his wife replied, that they should have food and whatever
they might need. After this assurance Thorgunna departed
from the dining room and appeared there no more; but the
guests entering took off their wet garments and changed
them for dry ones ; having signed with the cross the food
which Thorgunna had placed there, they partook of it with
out delay and without any harm to themselves. Having
spent the night there, they resumed their journey on the
following day, and, wherever they came, they spread the
report of this occurrence and obtained what they asked for,
as no one dared to refuse them what they needed. At last
they arrived at Skalholt and the ring and the other treasures
willed by Thorgunna, were delivered to the priests and
eagerly accepted by them, and the corpse was committed to
earth already consecrated, and the corpse-bearers arrived
safe at their homes without any damage.

On the manor of Froda there was an immense kitchen ;
thence there was an entrance, always open, to the bedcham
ber, the beds being shut in with hangings on both sides. For
after the manner of those times, those buildings were ad
joining. Now next to the kitchen were two small buildings,
one on each side; in the one dried fish were kept, in the other
vessels filled with grain ; every evening the hearth was lit
to cook food, and near it the household were wont to sit
together, before going to sup. Now on the evening when
the corpse-bearers returned, whilst the household sat near

70 HISTORY OF

the hearth, a large moon appeared on the kitchen wall,which
moved leftwards through the kitchen. Nor did it recede
while they were in the kitchen ; it was seen by all alike.
Thorodd, the host, asked Thorer Vidlegg what the prodigy
meant. He answered that it was called VIDARMANA (which
is translated ''tree moon") and that it foreboded deaths. This
marvel lasted a whole week. Then the shepherd, who had re
turned home unusually silent and more stern than was his
wont, was thought to have come upon some prodigy, for he
walked by himself and spoke to himself. This lasted till the
first two weeks of winter had passed ; then at last, having
returned, the shepherd took to his bed, and the following
morning he was found dead. After being buried near the
church he troubled the living; for Thorer Vidlegg rising
from bed one night, went outside; when about to return he
noticed that the shepherd near the doors was about to pre
vent his re-entrance. Striving thereupon to escape he was
pursued and seized by the shepherd and thrown down at the
door with a great crash. Then taking to bed he lay ill for a
long time until he died and was buried near the church.
Afterwards he was seen in company with the shepherd to
walk the night. Next one of Thorodd's servants after lying
ill for three days died. Now the fast that precedes Christ
mas and begins with the first Sunday of Advent was ap
proaching, although at that time Christmas was not celebra
ted in Iceland, and already six had died in the same house.
One evening the heap of dried fish was heard to be upset,but
when it was inspected, it was found in its usual condition.
After the Yule feast Thorodd accompanied by five servants,
sailed in a large ship to bring home fish ; but on the same
evening in the kitchen of Froda, a seal's head was seen to
start up from the floor. When one of the servant-women
saw this, she struck it on the head with a piece of wood, but
with every blow it rose higher and turned its eyes towards
Thorgunna's bed, which was covered with blankets. (3ne
of the hired men assailed the seal with repeated blows, but
the seal emerged more and more, until it had stretched out
its arms; at the same moment the hired man taken with a

VINLAND. 71

fit fell down, and great fear seized the rest. At last young
Kjartan smote the seal with a powerful blow. Then it
shook its head and turned its eyes hither and thither; there
upon he rained down blows without ceasing, and at each
blow the seal sank down and appeared to be about to die,
until it was wholly suffocated, and Kjartan struck the earth
over its head. All these monsters seemed to fear Kjartan
most of all. The following day Thorodd and his companions
perished in the waves near the place called Enne, and the
ship with the fish was dashed against the shore, but the
corpses were not found. When this news was brought home,
Kjartan and his mother invited their friends to a funeral
feast: the provisions, now used for the funeral banquet, had
been intended for the Yule feast. On the first evening of
the banquet, when all the guests had taken their seats,
Thorodd with his companions, all dripping, entered. This
was regarded as a good sign, for the guests were thought to
be hospitably received, whenever those who had been
drowned came in to the funeral feast celebrated in their
honor; for at that time there remained much of the pagan
superstition, though the Icelanders were Christians and had
been baptized. Thorodd with his men, having passed
through the dining hall, made for the kitchen, without an
swering any one's greeting ; finally they all seated them
selves near the hearth, the servants fleeing. There these
dead men tarried until the fire was covered with ashes; then
they departed. On every evening, while the funeral feast
lasted, this took place. The guests thought it would cease
when the feast had ended. But it turned out very different
ly. After the guests left, when the servants came to light
the hearth, Thorodd with his companions took their seats
near it, for they were all dripping wet and with their hands
wrang the water out of their clothes. As they sat there,
Thorer Vidlegg came from the opposite side with his com
panions, equal in number to the others and all covered with
dust, sat down and he shook the dust from his garments
on Thorodd and his companions. But the servants were
all driven from their seats on that evening and had no

72 HISTORY OF

light. The following evening fire was lit in another house,
for they hoped that the ghosts would not come there ; but
the ghosts behaved as before. On the third evening, at
Kjartan's suggestion, an oblong hearth was built in the
kitchen and a fire lit: but the food was cooked in the small
house. This proved successful, for then the servants were
not troubled. But Thorodd with his men occupied the
kitchen. They heard that the fish in the fish heap were
scaled off during the nights. On climbing up the fish heap
they saw standing forth a scorched and black tail, like a calf's
tail. One man leaping up seized it, and tried to draw it to
himself, and called on the rest to do likewise. All the ser
vants of the house, both male and female, ran to draw it out,
but it did not permit itself to be stirred and seemed dead.
When they used their utmost strength, however, it suddenly
slipped from their hands and took the skin from their palms.
Thereafter no trace of it was seen; but when they destroyed
the heap of fish, they found the fish scaled off. When this
was done, Thorgrima Galdrakinn, or of the magic chin,
being seized by a sudden sickness, died, and she was seen
seated in her husband's company. And now the disease
was renewed a second time, after the tail appeared and more
women died than men. Six of them were carried off at once
by the disease and the ghosts of the dead drove the others
away from the house. Of thirty domestics who were alive in
the preceding autumn, seven survived in the month of Goa,
(a part of which corresponds with February, a part with
March.) In this condition of affairs, Kjartan visited his
maternal uncle Snorre the priest, and asked his advice.
He deputed a priest sent to him by Gissur the White along
with his son Thord Kause, accompanied by six others to go
with Kjartan and advised them to burn the girdles and all
the bed-clothes of Thorgunna and to summon to judgment
all the dead that were hostile to the living, and requested
the priest to perform his sacred offices, to bless water, and
to absolve the servants from their sins. On the eve of the
feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, they arrived
at Froda, and the neighbors were gathered in the road and

VINLAND, 73

summoned to accompany them ; on their arrival a fire was
lit on the hearth to cook food. Thurid, the mistress of the
manor, had at the time been attacked by the same disease
of which the rest had perished. Kjartan having entered the
kitchen took the coal from the hearth : there he saw his
father Thorodd sitting as usual with his companions near
the hearth; going out Kjartan destroyed Thorgunna's bed
and all her furniture, and burned all her clothes and adorn
ments; then he summoned Thorer Vidlegg to judgment, while
Thord Kause called Thorodd, because they had invaded
another's house without permission, and deprived the in
habitants of life and strength. Thereupon all that sat at
the hearth side were summoned; then judges were appointed
at the door and a law-suit instituted as in a law-court, wit
nesses and proofs were brought forward and repeated at
the trial and a final decision given. This having been done,
Thorer Vidlegg rising said : " I remained here as long as I
was permitted," and he departed by the door where the
trial had not been held. Then judgment was pronounced in
the shepherd's case, and as soon as he had heard it, he rose
and said : "I shall depart now, and I think I should have
done so before," And Thorgrima Galdrakinn having heard
her sentence answered: " We sat as long as we could," and
having said this she left. One by one they were expelled in
this way ; after saying something, they went forth, unwil
lingly however, as their words showed. Thorodd, the lord
of the manor was condemned last, and hearing the decision
rose and said : "Few of us are left, let us all flee." And so
he was the last to leave the house.

Then Kjartan with the rest entered the house; but the
priest sprinkled the several parts of the house with holy
water, and on the following day celebrated mass and the
sacred rites, and thereafter the dead no longer infested it,
and Thurid, the mistress of the house, recovered.

Here we may remark the devil's cunning and his
power over those, who either do not know the true religion
or are less instructed in the articles of faith ; for nowhere

74 HISTORY OF

do we read that anything similar happened on that
island, after the true light of the Gospel rose and en
lightened its inhabitants.

VINLAND. 75

ADDENDA,

I translated that the sun at the time of the. solstice, rose
in Vinland about nine o'clock and set at three; I shall give
my reasons for doing so. But as other reasons occurred to
me afterwards, that stirred up doubt on this question, I shall
leave both to be weighed by the unprejudiced reader. For
after this History of Vinland was returned to me in print, I
began to examine these points again and again, because the
position of the land seemed to be nowise compatible with the
fertility there described, and this was especially the case
after the Swedish translation of the History of the Norse
Kings called HEIMS KRINGLA, published by the distinguished
John Peringskiold came into my hands. For following the
interpretation of the learned Gudmund Olafson, he trans
lated this passage differently; for both, adhering strictly to
the rules of the grammarinns and translating word for word,
understood it otherwise than I did, and yet did not catch the
author's meaning any better. For the author, though he
does not refer the latitude of the land to any precise degree
of the equinoctial line, nevertheless left this to be clearly
inferred from the rising and setting of the sun in winter and
would have left it more clearly stated, if he had found it
more carefully described. He certainly used clear language,
as it appeared to me. The passage reads as follows in the
i o5th chapter of the Swedish edition, page 331 : Meira var
par jafndaegri enn a Graenlandi eda Islandi, sol hafdi par
eyktarstad, og damalastad um Skamm,deigi." The meaning of
these words the distinguished Arngrim Jonas, in the ninth
chapter of his Greenland expounds as follows: In that place
there is no such winter, or cold, nor is the winter solstice
the same as in Iceland or Greenland, the sun remaining
above the horizon about six hours (for they had no sun-dials.)
This meaning I found myself long before seeing the work
of Arngrim Jonas, firstly from the information of Brynjolf

70 HISTORY OF

Svenonson (if I understood him correctly), the most learned
of the bishops of Skalholt up to his own time, a man without
peer, to whom as a youth I was sent in the year 1662 with
royal letters by my most clement Lord, the best of Kings,
Frederick III, to learn the true signification of the most
difficult ancient words and phrases, and secondly from the
relation of sunrise to sunset as will be shown presently.
Now I shall examine Peringskj old's interpretation. "The
day too," says he "is longer than in Greenland and in Iceland
for the sun there had periods of increase, and day-light ap
peared about breakfast time (six or seven o'clock) when the
day was shortest." From this explanation we learn nothing
certain of the position of the country. Peringskj old was le'd
astray by the word EYKT, which usually means a space of
three hours, but in another sense expresses the third hour
after noon, which is also called NON. Explaining the author
in the first sense, he showed nothing peculiar: for no longer
periods of increase belong to the sun there than elsewhere.
Nor have we here a single word about day-light, that is to
say, dawn, but there is question of sunrise and sunset ; nor,
in my opinion, did the Icelanders breakfast at six or seven
o'clock, but at nine o'clock, which they call DAGMAL. I
should translate the author's words as follows: "There (in
Vinland) the winter days are always longer than in Greenland
or Iceland, the sun there touched the third hour afternoon
and the ninth before noon." Here the words sunset and sun
rise are so explained, that even if the word EYKT were
unknown in the latter sense, yet its meaning could easily
be deduced from its connection with the ninth hour before
noon and the meaning of the word Dagmal, which always
denotes that hour, as well as from the relation of sunrise to
sunset and its connection with the third hour.

This view is confirmed from the ancient division of the
natural day customary among the Icelanders: for the day is
divided into eight parts according to the time the sun passes
in each. For they call NATTMAL the part of the day while
the sun is in the northwest, LAGNAETTE, while it is in the
north, OTTA or RISMAL, i. e., dawn or rising time, ^whilst it

VINLAND. 77

is in the northeast) MIDUR MORGUN, while it is in the east,
DAgMAL, while it is in the southeast, HADEIGI, while it is in
the south, NON, while it is in the southwest, MIDURAFTAN,
while it is in the west.

Convinced by these arguments, I placed Vinland in Es-
totiland; but when I judged again and again that the
products of the country (Vinland) did not suit the climate of
Estotiland I began to examine the Swedish version more
carefully, and especially to enquire more diligently into the
meaning of the word EYKT, suspecting that this word led
astray the Swedish translator. Finding it in no dictionaries,
except that of Gudmund Andreson, and there set down only
with the former meaning, I began to study the most ancient
Canon Law of the Icelanders. From its ninth chapter I
copy the following words : " Ver skulum hallda Laugardag
enn siounda hvern nonhelgan, sa er naest Drottinsdeigi firir,
paskal ei vinna upp fra eykt, nema pat er nu man ec telia,
pat a at, vinna allt er drottinsdag a at vinna. Pa er eykt er
ut sudrs aept er deittd i pridiunga, og hefir Solinn geingna tvo
luti, enn einn ogeingin" These words we translate as follows:
"We shall hold sacred every seventh day, that is to say, the
Sabbath, (Saturday) up to the Nona. This immediately
precedes Sunday. Then from the EYKT hour it is not al
lowed to work, except for those things which I shall now
mention: then all those things must be prepared which are
necessary for Sunday. By EYKT is meant the time when
the heavens between south and west are divided into three
parts and the sun has completed two parts, whilst the third
remains." I had written that the description of Vinland had
explained this in clear words, but now I find that it has
entangled that narrative, which the present passage made
even more difficult. For the word NON denoted three o'clock
after noon both in Iceland and formerly among the Anglo-
Saxons; and from the establishment of the Christian religion
or from the passage of this very law every generation in
Norway so understood this word, and to-day in accordance
with this rule the Norse rest on Saturdays. The present
passage likewise illustrates it, inasmuch as it bids the sane-

78 HISTORY OF

tification to begin from NON and work to cease at EYKT ;
thence some may wish to infer that NON and EYKT are syno
nyms and that they designate the hour so often mentioned.
But how far the very description of the same differs from
this opinion, everybody sees. For the space through which
the sun passes from midday to sundown, requires six hours,
a third of which makes two hours. Two-thirds end at four
o'clock after noon. If EYKT and NON are to be understood
to mean this hour, in the first place the most ancient and
most generally accepted division of hours falls to the ground,
each of which, like the canonical hours, includes three com
mon hours. The connection with the hour, DAGMAL, also
disappears, for this designates nine o'clock before noon.
Now it is not possible that on the day of the winter-solstice
the sun should set at four o'clock in the afternoon and rise
at nine o'clock in the forenoon ; for it really rises at eight
o'clock, and the day from sunrise to sundown is lengthened
to eight hours. If then the words EYKT and NON mean the
same thing, and signify the fourth hour, Dagmal is not nine
o'clock, but must be advanced to eight o'clock, and conse
quently Vinland lies under the forty-ninth degree, and its
shortest day measures eight hours; and this position certainly
fits its products better than the position of Estotiland. We
read that among the Romans NONA had not always the same
meaning; for, as appears from the ancient manuscript of the
Manerii, it sometimes meant midday. But the NONA of the
clocks in most ancient times meant the last hour, when the
sun was already setting (see Hofm. lex. at the word NONA);
in like manner it might mean among us also, hours different
from three o'clock after noon. As to the word DAGMAL, Gud-
mund Andreson in his lexicon supports our present view ;
for by Dagmal he understands, not nine o'clock before noon
according to the received use of the word,' but eight o'clock,
which corresponds precisely with the sun's setting at four
o'clock after noon; aud I doubt not that he wrote this sup
ported by some authority; but whence he got, it I am not yet
clear. However that may be, the explanation of our manu
script which translates the word EYKT by fotir o'clock,

VINLAND. 79

claims for itself undoubted authority, whether EYKT means
the same thing as NON or not. As I said before, I leave
these points to be examined by the judgment of the intelli
gent reader, and first of all he must decide, whether public
prayers were said from three o'clock, that is to say, NON, to
four o'clock, and then, whether the holiday began at four
o'clock, i, e.t EYKT ; this being settled, everything is consis
tent, and we recognize in the land, which to-day under the
name TERRE NEUVE or TERRA NOVA on the adjacent con
tinent on the coast of Canada has been reduced under
the power of the French, the ancient Vinland. But if the
position of the places which is here set forth, be compared
more carefully with the character of those countries, I doubt
not but that everything will be more clearly understood by
those who either inhabit them or visit them purposely.

On page 61, after line 23, insert: After writing the fore
going I received Heimskringla, or History of the Norse
Kings, translated by Joh. Peringskjold, printed at Stockholm,
1697, and find from chapter 103 to chapter i [5 matter which
is found in neither of the authentic copies of the Church of
the Most Holy Trinity, the KRINGLA or the JOFRASKINNA.
They are taken either from copies of the History of Olaf
Triggeson or from some other source.

INDEX.

Adam of Bremen 60

Albania, or Great Ireland. .7, 14, 61

Alftafjord 49

Ananias, J. L 12

A ndefort 13

Are Marson 61

A rnestap 44

Arnora 43

Astrutharson, Sven 60

Audr, Queen 43

Aurlig 62

Avalldainna 58

Barthol, Thomas 45

Berius, Ivar 17

Bjarne 25, 26,53

Bjarne. Bishop .40

Bjarn of Breidavik 15, 64

Bjarne, the Icelander 9, 25

Bjarne Grimolfson 49

Bjarney Islands 51

Bjorn of Skardsa . . .7, 9, 10, 34, 37
40, 62, 65

Bjorn Buna 62

Bleyker 12

Bondendon 13

Borgarfjord 63

Boterus, John 13

Brand, Bishop 40

Brattahlide 29, 47, 50

Breidafjord 49

Bremen, Adam of 14

Buno 10, 11, 13

Cabaru 13

Campo 13

Canada 10

Cape Hull 30

Cartier, Jacques 13

Cluverius, Philip 10, 15

Codex Flateyensis. .7, 9, 10, 29, 31,
32, 40, 47, 49, 59

Columbus, Christopher 15, 16

Crodme 13

Dagmal 76,78

Davis' Straits 4

Dithmar, Bishop of Merseburg. . .64

Doffa-s 13

Drogio 11

Dublin 63, 64

Duime 13

Einar of Langabrekka 43

Enior 59

Eric II 16

Eric, first Bishop of Greenland. 15,62

Eric the Red. . .9, 25, 30, 32, 41, 42,

43, 47, 49, 50. 61, 65

Eric and Sven 30,65

Eriksfjord. . . .29, 33, 34, 39, 43, 47,

49,65

Erlend the Strong 59

Espishol 59

Estland 14

-Estotiland 10, 11, 77, 78

Eykt 76,77,78

Eyrbyggva Saga 41

Flose 59

Frederick III 12, 76

Frederick IV 3

Freidis 10,37,38,51,53

Frisland 11, 12, 13

Froda 41, 65, 69,72

Furdustrand 52

Gamlason, Thorhall 49

Gardar 37

Gissur the White 72

Glaumba 40

Gnup 92

Greenland. . .4, 17, 25, 26, 39, 41, 4H,
44, 46, 49, 50, 51, 65

Grimhilde 33, 47

Grimkel 62

Grimolfson, Bjarne 49, 58

Grisland 14

Grund -.59

Gudleif Gunnlaugson 63, 6^

Gudleif 65

Gudmund Olafson 75

Gudmund Andreson 78

Gudrid 29, 32, 33, 34, 43, 46, 47,

48, 49, 50, 65
Gudrun, wife of Jorund 59

INDEX

Gunnlaug 59

Gunnlaugson, Gudieif 63, 64

Hacon, Eric 26

Hake 52

Hekja 52

Hako 6

Hakon, Earl 65

Halla 51)

Hallbera 59

Halldise 44

Hallfrid 40

Hellveiga 43

Harold the Bold, or Haughty 16,

40, 60

Hauk 7, 40, 41, 59

Heimskringla 75, 79

Hebrides 65

Helluland 27, 51

Henry VII 16

Herjulf 25

Herjulfsnes 25, 26,44, 47

Hjorleif 62

Hondius, 13

Hrafn ; 61

Hrap 62

Hudson Bay. 11

Hvitra Manna Land 14,58

Ibini 12

Icaria 14

Iceland 39,44,65

Ilofo. 13

Ingibjorg 59

Ingveld 40

Ireland 53, 58, 65

Jedeve 13

Jonas, Arngrim 13, 40, 75

Jonas, the Breton. 13

Jones, Jonas or John an Irish Bishop

14

Jones or Johannes, Bishop 62

Jorund 62

Karlsefne. 10, 35, 36, 37, 39, 50,

51, 53, 54, 57, 59

Kelldum 59

Ketill 59

Ketil, Flatnesi 62

Kios 62

Kipping, Henry 11, 13

Kjalarnes 30, 52, 53, 54, 62

Kjartan 66, 11, 72, 73

Kornhjalm af tre. . . 30

Kringla or Jofraskinna 7,79

Krossanes

Lagnaette 76

Landnama Book 62

Leif .. 9,30. 32,37.41,42,51

Leif of Brattahlide. ... 26, 27, 29, 34

Lery, Baron de 15

Limerick 61

Lisufjord .47

Lysufjord 32

Madoc 6

Magin. John A 13

Mar.. 62

Markland 27,51, 57

Marson, Are 14,61

Martinerius 12

Mausur 29

Mercator 13

Mikiunes 54

Miritius, John 13

Monaco 13

Nattmal 76

Nes ..68

Nordra. . . .-. 68

Norumbega 15

Ocibar ..13

Olafson, Gudmund 75

Olaf Triggvin.'I rygveson 7, 42, 52, 53

Orm 44

Ortelius 13

Otta or Rismal 76

Palnatoke

Peringskjold, John

Porlanda 13

... 64

7, 76. 79

Rane 13

Reid, Whale 34

Reikyanes 14,61

Reinarnes 59

Reinenes Monastery 59

Reykjadal 62

Rolf. 16

Rome 33,40

Rovea IS

Rudbecke, Olaf 8, 12, 60

Runoff 40

Samoy eds 17

Sanestol 13

Sanson d' Abbeville 11,15

Schalholt 14

Sigmund 43

INDEX.

83

Sigrid 47,48

Sigurd Earl 65

Skagafjord 40

Skalholt 09

Skialg Ulf 14

Skogastrand 49

Skraelings 10, 11, 17, 31, 35, 36

53, 54, 57

Snorre 40, 51, 53, 57, 59

Snorre, priest of Helgafell. . .63, 64,

65, 72

Snorre Thorbrandson 49

Sorand 13

Spakonfellzhofde 34

Spirige 13

Stafholztung 68

Stein vor 59

Stirbjorn 64

St. Olaf 63

Straumsfjord 54

Straumsey 54

Streme 13

Sturleson, Snorro 7

Sven Astritharson 60

Svenonson, Brynjolf 75

Terre N eu ve 79

Thistel 43

Thistilsfjord 43

Thorer 29, 32,47, 59

Thorer of Steige 40

Thorer Vidlegg 66, 70, 71, 73

Thorana 40

Thorbjorg . . • 44

Thorbjorg Knarrabringa 62

Thorbjorn 29,43,47

Thorbjorn of Stockanes 49, 65

Thorbjorn Vifillson.. 43,47

Thorbrandson, Snorre 49

Thord of Hesthofde 34

Thord Kause 73

Thordis 59

Thorfinn, Earl of the Orkneys 14

16,61
Thorfinn, Karlsefne. ...34, 49, 59, 65

Thorgeir 40,43

Thorgerde 25

Thorgils 41

Thorgaima Galdradinn 72, 73

Thorgunna. .66, 67. 69, 70, 72, 73

Thorhall 51, 53, 54

Thorhall Gamlason 49

Thorhild or Thiodhild 61, 62

Thorhilde 41,42,43

Thorhilde Riupa .34

Thorkel 44

Thorkell Geiterson 61

Thorlak, Bishop 40

Thorlake, Theodore 13

Thorodd 65, 67, 68, 70, 71 , 73

Thorstein Ericson. . . .10, 32, 33, 41,
42, 47, 48, 65, 69

Thorstein the Black 33

Thorstein the Red 43

Thorstein Ranglat 59

Thorstein, Surt 32

Thorvald Krok 59

Thorvald 9,10,29,30, 31, 32

Thorvald Ericson 57

Thorvard 51

Thurid 63,64,65,66,73

Tyrker 27,28

Ulf Skialg » 62

Vabjarnavall 68

Vaege 58

Valgerdis 59

Valldidida 58

Valthiof 62

Venai 13

Vesputius, Americus 6

Vestri, Bygd 17

Vetthilde 58

Vifill 43

Vifillson, Thorbjorn 43, 47

Vifilsdal 43

Vinland 4,7,14,16,25,29,30,

34, 37, 39, 51, 61, 63, 77

White Man's Land 57, 61

Winland 60

Zeni, the 6,11

Zichinnus 12