A knarr ( / n ɔː r / ) is a type of Norse merchant ship used by the Vikings for long sea voyages and during the Viking expansion . The knarr was a cargo ship; the hull was wider, deeper and shorter than a longship , and could take more cargo and be operated by smaller crews. It was primarily used to transport trading goods like walrus ivory , wool, timber, wheat, furs and pelts, armour, slaves, honey, and weapons. It was also used to supply food, drink, weapons and armour to warriors and traders along their journeys across the Baltic, the Mediterranean and other seas. Knarrs routinely crossed the North Atlantic carrying livestock such as sheep and horses, and stores to Norse settlements in Iceland , Greenland and Vinland as well as trading goods to trading posts in the British Isles, Continental Europe and possibly the Middle East. The knarr was constructed using the same clinker-built method as longships , karves , and faerings .
84-478: Oak, which was widely available in southern Scandinavia, was extraordinarily strong and flexible and was most commonly used to construct the knarr. Its oak frame was constructed much deeper which, when paired with a wider body, created an incredibly stable merchant ship. This adaptation allowed it to sail smoothly as well as helped it disband the harshest of ocean waves. Furthermore, the Vikings riveted overlapping planks to
168-585: A ballista to hurl a large, heavy sphere over the Norsemen's heads, causing them to retreat. Freydis , an illegitimate daughter of Erik the Red, then emerges from her hut, heavily pregnant, and pursues them, berating them as cowards; when the Skrælings surround her, she pulls a sword from a dead man's hand, bares one breast, and slaps the sword against it, which frightens the Skrælings into leaving. The group realize that some of
252-506: A "stiff and rhetorical" writing style with uses of alliteration ; the saga therefore seemed more modern than those written in the thirteenth century. However, in 1956, Jón Jóhannesson proposed a new view regarding the composition date of the Saga of the Greenlanders , stating that the saga was the older version of the story of Norse colonization and dating it to around 1200. Jóhannesson examined
336-539: A common original written in the 13th century but vary considerably in details. Haukr Erlendsson and his assistants are thought to have revised the text, making it less colloquial and more stylish, while the Skálholtsbók version appears to be a faithful but somewhat careless copy of the original. Although classified as one of the Sagas of Icelanders , it is closer in subject matter to medieval travel narratives than to either
420-534: A crew of sixty men and five women. The expedition arrives in Leif's and Thorvald's old camp and stays there for the winter in good conditions. The next summer, a group of Skraelings come to visit, carrying skins for trade. The Skraelings want weapons in return but Karlsefni forbids his men to trade weapons. Instead he offers the Skraelings dairy products, and the trade is successful. Near the beginning of their second winter,
504-479: A forgery. Another noteworthy discrepancy between the two sagas lies in their different versions of the story of Erik's tumbling from his horse and injuring his foot before his voyage. In the Saga of the Greenlanders , Erik decides not to go on the journey because he deems his fall as a presage, while in the Saga of Erik the Red , Erik attributes his fall to his concealing a treasure chest. It has been argued by Sven B. F. Jansson that this distinction exemplifies how
588-463: A good profit of his journeys west. He later settles in Iceland with his wife and son, and their descendants include some of the earliest Icelandic bishops. The saga ends with what seems to be an attempt to establish its credibility: "Karlsefni has accurately related to all men the occurrences on all these voyages, of which somewhat is now recited here." The Saga of the Greenlanders is the name given to
672-521: A pilgrimage, and then return to her farm in Iceland. Upon her return a church will be built, and she will become a nun and remain there until her death. A ship commanded by Thorfinn Karlsefni , a man of means, arrives in Greenland from Norway. He stays with Leif Eriksson for the winter and falls in love with Gudrid. They marry later that same winter. Karlsefni is encouraged by his wife and other people to lead an expedition to Vinland. He agrees to go and hires
756-415: A place that is referred to simply as Vinland. Conversely, the Saga of Eric the Red describes only one expedition, led by Karlsefni, and has combined into it those Erik's son Thorvald and daughter Freydis, which are recounted in the Saga of the Greenlanders . It also has a very different account of the original discovery of Vinland; in the Saga of Eric the Red , Leif Erikson discovers it accidentally when he
840-408: A place they call Hop ("tidal river"), where a river flows through a lake to the sea; the country is rich in wildlife, fishing is excellent, wheat and grapes grow plentifully, and it does not snow that winter. They have a first encounter with natives they call Skrælings , who use boats covered in animal skins and wave sticks in the air that make a threshing sound; the Norsemen display a white shield as
924-512: A river that flows westward to the sea. Thorvald, traveling with Karlsefni, is killed by a uniped that shoots him in the groin with a bow and arrow. Karlsefni buries him in Vinland, in the area of what is present day Nova Scotia, Canada. The ship returns to Straumfjord, but amid increasing dissension they decide to return home. Karlsefni's son Snorri , born in the new land, is three years old when they leave. In Markland, they encounter five Skrælings;
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#17328547085091008-464: A sign of peace. The Skrælings return in a larger group and the Norse trade red cloth for animal pelts (refusing to also trade swords and spears) until the Skrælings take fright and leave at the sight of a bull that has got loose. Three weeks later they return in still larger numbers, whirling the sticks counterclockwise rather than clockwise and howling. Battle is joined, and the Skrælings use something like
1092-475: A way to attract settlers. Overwintering in Iceland, Erik sets sail again intending to colonize Greenland. His expedition has 30 ships, but only 14 reach their destination. Erik founds a colony at Brattahlid in the Southwest of the island where he becomes a respected leader. Erik and Thjodhild have three sons, Leif , Thorvald , and Thorstein, and a daughter named Freydis . A man named Bjarni Herjólfsson has
1176-473: A while and then retreat. Thorvald receives a fatal wound and is buried in Vinland. His crew returns to Greenland. Thorstein Eriksson resolves to go to Vinland for the body of his brother. The same ship is prepared yet again, and Thorstein sets sail with a crew of 25 and his wife Gudrid. The expedition never reaches Vinland, and after sailing the whole summer, the ship ends up back at the coast of Greenland. During
1260-431: A winter of small disputes, Freydis arises early one morning to speak with the brothers. Finnbogi is the only one awake, and he steps out to hear what Freydis has to say. Finnbogi explains his dislike for the ill feelings between the two parties and hopes to clear the air with Freydis. She agrees and offers a trade. The brothers want to stay in Vinland, but Freydis is ready to go back home; she suggests they trade ships since
1344-461: A wooded area they call Markland and a promontory they call Kjalarness. They put in at a bay and have two fast-running Scottish thralls, gifts from King Olaf to Leif Erikson, scout the land and they bring back grapes and wheat. They overwinter inland from a fjord that they call Straumfjord , in mountainous country with tall grass; an island at the mouth of the fjord is full of nesting birds. Despite having brought grazing animals, they are unprepared for
1428-485: A word of the events will be killed. The plan is to say that the brothers chose to stay behind in Vinland when Freydis returns to Greenland. Once back home, Freydis returns to the farm and ensures that her crew is well rewarded for the trip to Vinland in order to keep them quiet about her dastardly deeds. Nevertheless, Leif eventually catches wind of what has happened and gets furious. He predicts "that their descendants will not get on well in this world." Karlsefni has made
1512-428: Is blown off course on the way back to Greenland from Norway, while in the Saga of the Greenlanders , Bjarni Herjolfsson had accidentally sighted land to the west approximately fifteen years before Leif organized an exploratory voyage. This last is thought to stem from the saga having been written to incorporate a story that Leif evangelized in Greenland on behalf of Olaf Tryggvason, which appears to have been invented by
1596-528: Is called Leif the Lucky. Leif's voyage is discussed extensively in Brattahlid . Thorvald, Leif's brother, thinks that Vinland has not been explored enough. Leif offers him his ship for a new voyage there and he accepts. Setting sail with a crew of 30, Thorvald arrives in Vinland where Leif has previously made camp. They stay there for the winter and survive by fishing. In the spring Thorvald goes exploring and sails to
1680-408: Is considered to be concocted by the monk Gunnlaugr Leifsson, as early historical accounts show that neither King Óláfr nor Leif seems to have actually engaged in the conversion of Greenland; the absence of such a story in the Saga of the Greenlanders thus makes it appear more reliable than the Saga of Erik the Red . As a result, it is implausible that Leif was the discoverer of Vinland, since in
1764-402: Is involved in a dispute and is proclaimed an outlaw. He resolves to find the land spotted by Gunnbjorn while lost during a western voyage. Erik departs Iceland near Snæfellsjökull and arrives at the glacial coast of Greenland where he then sails south searching for habitable areas. After two years of exploring, he returns to Iceland and tells of his discoveries, giving Greenland its name as
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#17328547085091848-724: Is one of the two main sources on the Norse colonization of North America . The saga recounts events that purportedly happened around 1000 and is preserved only in the late 14th century Flateyjarbók manuscript. The Saga of the Greenlanders starts with Erik the Red , who leaves Norway and colonizes Greenland . It then relates six expeditions to North America, led respectively by Bjarni Herjolfsson , Leif Erikson , Thorvald Eriksson , Thorstein Eriksson and his wife Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir , Thorfinn Karlsefni , and Freydís Eiríksdóttir . Bjarni and his crew discover three lands by chance during their voyage to Greenland, but they never set foot on
1932-432: Is raging in Greenland that winter; Thorkel, the prominent farmer with whom Thorbjorn's group is staying, asks a wandering seidworker called Thorbjorg the "little völva " to come to the winter feast and prophesy so that the people of the locality will know when conditions will improve. She asks for someone to sing varðlokkur (warding songs); Gudrid, although reluctant because she is Christian (her father has left while
2016-546: Is unique to the Saga of the Greenlanders . Bjarni is not mentioned in the Saga of Erik the Red which gives Leif the credit for the discoveries. Leif Eriksson becomes interested in Bjarni's discoveries and buys a ship from him. He hires a crew of 35 people and asks Erik to lead an expedition to the West. Erik is reluctant and says he is too old, but he is eventually persuaded. As Erik rides to
2100-632: The Saga of Erik the Red was "closer to more original oral traditions" than the Saga of the Greenlanders . Saga of Erik the Red The Saga of Erik the Red , in Old Norse : Eiríks saga rauða ( listen ), is an Icelandic saga on the Norse exploration of North America . The original saga is thought to have been written in the 13th century. It is preserved in somewhat different versions in two manuscripts: Hauksbók (14th century) and Skálholtsbók (15th century). Despite its title,
2184-479: The Saga of Erik the Red , Leif should have come upon Vinland during his journey from Norway to Greenland. Instead, Bjarni in the Saga of the Greenlanders might have been the true discoverer. Some have argued that this theory is further supported by the Vinland Map , which was supposedly created around 1440 and mentions Bjarni in its captions describing the discovery of Vinland; however, the map has been declared as
2268-408: The Saga of Erik the Red . With Jóhannesson's proposition that the Saga of the Greenlanders could actually be the older of two, many adopted the idea that the Saga of the Greenlanders was more factual and that the Saga of Erik the Red borrowed parts from it. The story in the Saga of Erik the Red of Leif's visit to Norway and later evangelization in Greenland under the commission of King Óláfr
2352-441: The Saga of the Greenlanders "preserves an older mode of thought." In 2001, however, Helgi Þorláksson proposed a different view than that of Jóhannesson. Þorláksson noted that Gudrid's pilgrimage trip to Rome was mentioned in the Saga of the Greenlanders but not in the Saga of Erik the Red. This, together with the mention of Glaumbær instead of Reynisnes as the home of Gudrid in her later years, led Þorláksson to conclude that
2436-473: The Saga of the Greenlanders and the Saga of Erik the Red tell an in-depth story of the Viking journey and discovery of Vinland, nowadays Newfoundland . These adventures were passed down verbally over hundreds of years until they were finally written down by an unnamed author around the 13th century. In 1960, explorer Helge Ingstad and his wife Anne Stine Ingstad , an archaeologist, used an array of tools such as
2520-457: The Saga of the Greenlanders could in reality be the younger of the two sagas, possibly dating to the fourteenth century, a theory which coincides with the pre-1956 academic view. To Þorláksson, the fact that the compiler of Hauksbók , a manuscript made in the early fourteenth century that contained various texts including the Saga of Erik the Red , did not include the Saga of the Greenlanders despite his passion for Greenland might mean that
2604-536: The genealogies of the couple Karlsefni and Gudrid included near the end of the two sagas, and he noticed that the author of the Saga of Erik the Red referred to one of the couple's descendants, Bishop Brandr, as "Bishop Brandr the First," while the author of the Saga of the Greenlanders simply mentioned the name "Bishop Brandr." According to the genealogies, there were two descendants of Karlsefni and Gudrid that were named Bishop Brandr, one having lived from 1163 to 1201 and
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2688-524: The 14th century. Attempts have also been made to determine the credibility of the different expedition stories in the saga, and they often involve close comparisons between the Saga of the Greenlanders and the Saga of Erik the Red . The current consensus is that although certain parts of the saga are fanciful, much appears to be based on historical truth. Erik the Red emigrates from Norway to Iceland with his father, Thorvald Asvaldsson , to avoid murder charges. Erik marries Thjodhild in Iceland. He again
2772-517: The Deep-Minded and been given land by her, has a daughter named Gudrid. One autumn, he proudly rejects a marriage proposal for her from Einar, a wealthy merchant who is also the son of a freedman. However, he is in financial difficulties; the following spring he announces he will leave Iceland and go to Greenland. The ship carrying his family and friends encounters bad weather and they reach Greenland only in autumn, after half have died of disease. Famine
2856-454: The Red contains an unusual amount of pagan practise, sorcery, and ghost stories. It has been used as a source on Old Norse religion and belief, in particular on the practice of prophecy as described in the scene with Thorbjorg, but is often described as unreliable. One scholar has described it as "a polemical attack on the pagan practices still supposedly prevalent around the year 1000 in Greenland". There have been numerous translations of
2940-418: The Red in providing a magnificent Yule feast; Karlsefni then asks to marry Gudrid, and the feast is extended as a wedding feast. A group of 160 people in two ships, including Karlsefni and other Icelanders but mostly Greenlanders, set out to find the land to the west, now dubbed Vinland . The wind carries them to a place they call Helluland , where there are large slabs of stone and many foxes, then south to
3024-478: The Red's thralls start a landslide that destroys a farm, leading to a feud that results in Erik's banishment first from the district and then from Iceland; he sails in search of land that had been reported to lie to the north, and explores and names Greenland , choosing an attractive name to encourage colonists. Where he settles becomes known as Eiriksfjord . Thorbjorn, a son of a well-born thrall who had accompanied Aud
3108-472: The Red's sons, Leif and Thorstein . Leif sails to Norway but is blown off course to the Hebrides, where he conceives a son, Thorgils, by a well-born woman whom he declines to marry; when Thorgils is grown, his mother sends him to Greenland , where Leif recognizes him. In Norway, Leif becomes part of the court of King Olaf Tryggvason , who charges him with preaching Christianity when he returns to Greenland. On
3192-411: The Skraelings come again to trade. This time, one of Karlsefni's men kills a Skraeling as he reaches for Norse weapons. The Skraelings run off. Karlsefni fears that the natives will return, hostile and in larger numbers. He forms a plan for the coming battle. The Skraelings do come again and the Norsemen manage to fight them off. Karlsefni stays there for the remainder of the winter and returns to Greenland
3276-529: The Viking world. From the Baltic to the North Atlantic, Viking trade routes were intricate and commonly travelled. In the Baltic, trade was possible all year, in the warm months by boat and in the winter by foot or sled. These trade routes allowed the Vikings to trade with an array of merchants from Europe to Asia . Due to the Vikings preferring to trade through rivers and seas, the knarr was a perfect candidate as it
3360-678: The ability to carry upwards of 30 tons. Currently, the Skuldelev ships reside in the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark . Saga of the Greenlanders Grœnlendinga saga ( listen ) (spelled Grænlendinga saga in modern Icelandic and translated into English as the Saga of the Greenlanders ) is one of the sagas of Icelanders . Like the Saga of Erik the Red , it
3444-402: The attacking force were an illusion. Having lost two of their number, they decide the place is not safe and sail back north to Straumfjord, on the way encountering five sleeping men with containers of deer marrow and blood, whom they kill on the assumption they are outlaws. Karlsefni then takes one ship north in search of Thorhall, finding a desolate forested area where they lay up on the bank of
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3528-404: The author indeed added fictional elements. These elements were likely intended to make the saga more entertaining for its contemporary audience. Descriptions in the saga of the life of one protagonist, Gudrid, have also been examined for truthfulness. Ólafur Halldórsson argued in 1986 that the story about how Gudrid first appeared in Greenland was entirely fictitious despite her prominent role in
3612-449: The boat to a young Icelander. Bjarni and the rest left on the ship drown; those in the boat reach land. After a year and a half in Greenland, Karlsefni and Gudrid return to Iceland, where they have a second son; their grandchildren become the parents of three bishops. The two versions of the Saga of Erik the Red , in the 14th-century Hauksbók (and 17th-century paper copies) and the 15th-century Skálholtsbók , appear to derive from
3696-572: The brothers have a much larger one than she does, and it would be of better use bringing back her people and her half of the profits. Finnbogi agrees to this, and the two part. Once Freydis returns home, her cold, wet feet awake her husband, Thorvard. He asks where she has been, and she spins a tale much different from the actual events that have taken place. She says that she offered to buy the brother's ship, but they became angry and struck her. Freydis then threatens divorce until Thorvard agrees to avenge her. Thorvard takes his men and begins tying up all
3780-510: The brothers is that each party can have no more than 30 men on board and then women as well. This agreement is made to ensure that neither side has an unfair advantage against the other, but Freydis quickly double-crosses her partners by bringing along 5 extra men. The brothers arrive at Vinland slightly earlier and unload their belongings into Leif's house. When Freydis realized what they have done, she immediately makes them remove their things. The brothers therefore build their own longhouse. After
3864-554: The combination of two separate short stories (known as þættir ), which are interpolated into the Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason as found in the Flateyjarbók manuscript. These two tales, the Tale of Eric the Red ( Eiríks þáttr rauða ) and the Tale of the Greenlanders ( Grœnlendinga þáttr (I) ), are separated by more than fifty columns in the original manuscript, but are commonly combined and translated as one saga. Before mid-1900s, there
3948-463: The compiler (named Haukr Erlendsson ) "simply did not know of" the saga; this would then suggest that the Saga of the Greenlanders might not have been composed by the time Hauksbók was created. Furthermore, in the Saga of the Greenlanders , after Bjarni discovered Vinland and arrived in Norway, he recounted his journey to Earl Eiríkr; Þorláksson held that this Earl Eiríkr was in fact King Eiríkr who
4032-497: The country Helluland meaning Stone-slab land . They then sail further and find a forested land with white shores. Leif names it Markland meaning Wood land and again sets sail. Leif sails for two days with a north-easterly wind and comes upon a new land which appears very inviting. They decide to stay there for the winter. The nature of the country was, as they thought, so good that cattle would not require house feeding in winter, for there came no frost in winter, and little did
4116-490: The custom of spending alternate winters in Norway and in Iceland with his father. When he arrives in Iceland one summer, he finds that his father has emigrated to Greenland. He resolves to follow him there although he realizes that it is a dangerous proposition since neither he nor any of his crew has been in Greenland waters. After sailing for three days from Iceland, Bjarni receives unfavorable weather, north winds, and fog and loses his bearing. After several days of bad weather,
4200-430: The farm overseer, Gardi, whose body he says should be burned , and predicts a great future for her but warns her not to marry another Greenlander and asks her to give their money to the church. He then died soon after in his old cottage house made of human remains. Thorfinn Karlsefni, a wealthy Icelandic merchant, visits Greenland as part of a trading party in two ships. They spend the winter at Brattahlid and assist Erik
4284-483: The farm where they are living with the joint owner, another Thorstein, and his wife Sigrid. Shortly before his death, Sigrid, who has died, rises as a draugr and tries to climb into bed with him. After his death, he himself reanimates and asks to speak to Gudrid; he tells her to end the Greenland Christian practise of burying people in unconsecrated ground and to bury him at the church, blames recent hauntings on
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#17328547085094368-438: The first chapter in the Saga of the Greenlanders of the Íslenzk fornrit edition underwent changes and additions by Jón Þórðarson, the scribe of Flateyjarbók manuscript where the saga is found; nevertheless, the details of such modifications are largely unknown. The testimony to authenticity at the very end of the saga is considered by some as valid, yet the part of the saga where Thorstein tells Gudrid her fortune implies that
4452-449: The first discovery of a knarr, and earned it the name Skuldelev 1 . Excavation determined these boats were filled with rocks and sunk purposely to block the passageway from intruders, around the 11th century. Some scholars argue that the discovery of Skuldelev 1 does not mean each knarr matched its description. However, many historians agree that all knarrs were likely of similar size. It is estimated to have been about 16 meters long and with
4536-495: The following spring. During their stay in Vinland, Karlsefni and Gudrid have their son, Snorri . Freydís Eiríksdóttir , daughter of Erik the Red, proposes a voyage to Vinland with the brothers Helgi and Finnbogi, offering to share the profits fifty-fifty. After the brothers agree to the proposal, Freydis turns to her brother Leif as she wishes to have the houses he built in Vinland. Leif says she may borrow them, but she cannot have them for herself. The agreement between Freydis and
4620-410: The following spring. The final expedition is made by Freydís, who sails to Vinland with the brothers Helgi and Finnbogi but eventually slaughters their crew and returns to Greenland. The date of the saga's composition has been debated among scholars for decades. Some have argued that the saga was written around the beginning of the 13th century, while others have dated it to the late 13th century or even
4704-437: The grass wither there. Day and night were more equal than in Greenland or Iceland. — Beamish (1864), p.64 As Leif and his crew explore the land, they discover grapes. Leif therefore names the country Vinland meaning Wine land . In the spring, the expedition sets sail back to Greenland with a ship loaded with wood and grapes. During the voyage home, they come upon and rescue a group of ship-wrecked Norsemen. After this Leif
4788-490: The harshness of winter there, and run short of food. Thorhall the Hunter, a pagan friend and servant of Erik's, then disappears and they find him after three days lying on a cliff-top, mumbling and pinching himself. Soon a strange kind of whale washes up on-shore; the meat sickens them all, and then Thorhall claims credit for it as an answer to his making a poem for Thor , whom he calls his fulltrúi (patron deity). So they throw
4872-401: The heathen practice is going on), learned them from her foster mother and does so beautifully. Thorbjorg prophesies that the famine will soon end and that Gudrid will make two good marriages, one in Greenland and a second in Iceland, from which will come a great family. In the spring Thorbjorn sails to Brattahlid , where Erik the Red welcomes him and gives him land. This chapter introduces Erik
4956-450: The help of the knarr. In Skuldelev, Denmark in 1962, excavation began on ship wreckage that had been sitting in shallow water for centuries. Although it had been discovered years prior, the legend stated that it was the sunken ship of Queen Margaret I of Denmark, dating to the 15th century. However, the excavation proved that there were five Viking ships, none that were Queen Margarets. With a total of five sunken ships, this excavation became
5040-407: The hull, creating the clinker-hull which better suited it for rough waters. Thus, it was around 16 meters long (53 feet) and could carry up to 30 tons (60,000 lbs) of cargo. The final change was the implementation of the sail into Viking ship making. Due to adding sails to the knarr, it was an incredibly low maintenance ship, only needing a crew of six to manage. Within the few written Viking records,
5124-531: The lands themselves. Leif learns about Bjarni's encounters and, after buying Bjarni's ship, sails to the lands to explore them. During his adventures, Leif names the three lands Helluland , Markland , and Vinland . Later, Thorvald, Leif's brother, sets sail to Vinland and lives there until he gets killed by the natives in a combat. Thorstein and Gudrid attempt to travel to Vinland but eventually fail, and thereafter Thorstein dies of an illness. Karlsefni, who then marries Gudrid, journeys to Vinland and stays there until
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#17328547085095208-419: The men from the other camp in a sneak attack while they are still sleeping. Freydis has each man killed on the spot if they belong to Finnbogi and Helgi's crew. Soon, only the 5 women are left alive, but no man dares to kill them. In response Freydis says, "Hand me an axe." She makes quick work of slaying the women and is very pleased with how well her morning has gone. She tells all involved that anyone who speaks
5292-442: The monk Gunnlaug Leifsson in his now lost Latin life of King Olaf (c. 1200), in order to add another country to the list of those converted to Christianity by the king; as a result of incorporating this episode, the Saga of Erik the Red often associates the same events, such as Erik's fall from his horse, with different voyages than the Saga of the Greenlanders , which apparently predates Gunnlaug's work. The Saga of Erik
5376-407: The new country. In addition to both brothers, the group is to include their father, but Erik falls from his horse and is injured riding to the ship. (One of the two versions suggests he nonetheless goes.) The expedition is unsuccessful; after being blown in different directions by storms all summer, they return to Eiriksfjord in the fall. Thorstein marries Gudrid, but soon after dies in an epidemic at
5460-411: The other younger one from 1263 to 1264. Jóhannesson argued that the reference to the older Bishop Brandr as 'Bishop Brandr the First" in the Saga of Erik the Red was to differentiate him from the younger bishop of the same name, and therefore the author could not have composed the saga before 1264; however, the Saga of the Greenlanders was likely composed at an earlier time since no such differentiation
5544-697: The preaching of Christianity by his son Leif Erikson as well as his discovery of Vinland after his longship was blown off course. The Viking conqueror of Dublin , Olaf the White was married to Aud the Deep-Minded , who became a Christian. Following Olaf's death in battle, she and their son Thorstein the Red left Ireland for the Hebrides , where Thorstein became a great warrior king. Upon his death, she sailed to Orkney , where she married off Thorstein's daughter, Groa, and then to Iceland , where she had relatives and gave extensive land grants to those in her party. Erik
5628-481: The rest over the cliff and pray to God; the weather then clears and they have good fishing and enough food. In spring, most of the expedition decide to go south in search of Vinland. Thorhall wants to go north and is joined on one ship by nine others, but the wind drives the ship east across the Atlantic to Ireland, where they are beaten and made slaves and Thorhall dies. The larger expedition, led by Karlsefni, discovers
5712-463: The return voyage, storms take him to an unknown land where he discovers wild wheat, vines, maple trees (and in one version of the saga, very large trees). Leif also rescues shipwrecked sailors, whom he looks after and converts to Christianity. Back in Greenland, he converts many people, including his mother, who builds a church, but not his father Erik, as a result of which Erik's wife leaves him. His brother Thorstein then organizes an expedition to explore
5796-463: The saga mainly chronicles the life and expedition of Thorfinn Karlsefni and his wife Gudrid , also recounted in the Saga of the Greenlanders . For this reason it was formerly also called Þorfinns saga karlsefnis ; Árni Magnússon wrote that title in the blank space at the top of the saga in Hauksbók . It also details the events that led to the banishment of Erik the Red to Greenland and
5880-490: The saga. Moreover, Helgi Þorláksson pointed out that toward the end of the saga, it is mentioned that Gudrid became a nun and a hermit at Glaumbær in Skagafjörðr , while in fact the referenced nunnery was constructed at a different place named Reynisnes. Before Jón Jóhannesson's 1956 paper, the Saga of the Greenlanders had been thought of as being dependent on less accurate oral traditions and therefore as less factual than
5964-524: The sagas about families and regions of Iceland or those that are biographies of one person, and also unusual in its focus on a woman, Gudrid. The saga has numerous parallels to the Saga of the Greenlanders , including recurring characters and accounts of the same expeditions and events, but differs in describing two base camps, at Straumfjord and Hop, whereas in the Saga of the Greenlanders Thorfinn Karlsefni and those with him settle in
6048-491: The sagas and maps to discover a Viking settlement in L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. This revolutionary discovery solidified that the Vikings had made it to North America, proving the sagas held a degree of truth. Today, this area is still being investigated and there have been even more great discoveries with the use of new fieldwork technology. The knarr played a vital role during the Viking settlement at Vinland because it
6132-471: The ship, his horse stumbles, and Erik falls to the ground and hurts his foot. Considering this an ill omen, he says: "It is not ordained that I should discover more countries than that which we now inhabit." Leif, instead, leads the expedition. Setting sail from Brattahlid, Leif and his crew find the same lands Bjarni has discovered earlier but in the reverse order. First they come upon an icy land. They step ashore and find it to be of little interest. Leif names
6216-488: The sun shines again, and Bjarni reaches a wooded land. Realizing that it is not Greenland, Bjarni decides not to go ashore and sets sail away. Bjarni finds two more lands, but neither of them matches the descriptions he has heard of Greenland, and therefore, despite the curiosity of his sailors, he does not go ashore. Eventually the ship does reach Greenland and Bjarni settles in Herjolfsnes . The description of Bjarni's voyage
6300-441: The three adults sink into the ground and escape, but they capture the two boys and baptize them; they learn from them that the Skrælings are cave-dwellers ruled by two kings named Avaldamon and Avaldidida, and that a nearby country is inhabited by people who go about in white, carrying poles with cloth attached, and shouting; the saga writer says that this was thought to be the legendary Hvítramannaland , and one version adds that that
6384-415: The west. They find no signs of human habitation except for one corn-shed. They return to their camp for the winter. The next summer Thorvald makes explorations in the east and north of their camp. At one point the explorers disembark in a pleasant forested area. The natives, called Skraelings by the Norsemen, return with a larger force to attack Thorvald and his men. The Skraelings fire missiles at them for
6468-527: The winter, Thorstein falls ill and dies but speaks out of his dead body and tells the fortune of his wife Gudrid. He predicts that Gudrid will marry an Icelander and have a long line of "promising, bright and fine, sweet and well-scented" descendants. Thorstein also predicts that she will leave Greenland for Norway and from there she will set out for Iceland. She will, however, live so long that she will outlive her husband. Thorstein foresees that once her husband passes she will travel abroad once again, going south on
6552-409: Was a consensus among scholars that the Saga of the Greenlanders was composed during the fourteenth century, a time much later than that of the composition of the other significant Icelandic saga on the Norse colonization of North America, the Saga of Erik the Red . For example, Dag Strömbäck in 1940 suggested that the Saga of the Greenlanders was largely based on oral traditions and represented
6636-608: Was also called Great Ireland . They sail back to Greenland and overwinter with Erik the Red. The ship with the rest of the expedition, under another Icelander, Bjarni Grimolfsson, is blown off-course into either the Greenland Sea or the sea west of Ireland, depending on the saga version, where it is attacked by marine worms and starts to sink. The ship's boat is resistant, having been treated with tar made of seal blubber , but can carry only half those aboard. At Bjarni's suggestion, they draw lots, but on request he gives up his seat in
6720-450: Was attempted by its author. Additionally, Jóhannesson pointed out that the mention of Leif's stay in Norway in the Saga of Erik the Red was primarily based on the Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason written around 1200 by a monk named Gunnlaugr Leifsson , but the Saga of the Greenlanders did not appear to be influenced by this then famous work, thereby suggesting that the Saga of the Greenlanders
6804-461: Was in charge of Norway during the late thirteenth century, and therefore the Saga of the Greenlanders could not be composed at an earlier time. Scholars have long debated the credibility and historicity of the various stories in the Saga of the Greenlanders as the saga depended primarily on oral traditions, but it has been agreed upon that the saga should not be considered a purely authentic source of historical information. It has been argued that
6888-538: Was older than the Saga of Erik the Red . Later, in 1978, Ólafur Halldórsson argued that the two Icelandic sagas were written independently in the early thirteenth century, holding that Jóhannesson's analyses and conclusions were quite debatable. Halldórsson maintained that the fact that the Saga of the Greenlanders did not show dependence on the Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason was not sufficient to prove its anteriority in time. Expanding on some of Halldórsson's arguments, nevertheless, Helgi Þorláksson in 2001 suggested that
6972-462: Was one of the only ships that was able to transfer the cargo necessary to start a settlement. Thus, the knarr would have carried food, tools, livestock, and much more to this new world. Not only did it aid the settlements at Vinland but the knarr would also have carried cargo to other Norse settlements such as those at Greenland and Iceland. Outside of the realm of discovery and settlement, the knarr ships also would have taken part in trade routes across
7056-442: Was small enough to fit most rivers most waterways. The sagas tell much of Viking travel and trade throughout the North Atlantic which furthers the idea that the knarr was an essential part of Viking culture. Trade not only connected the Vikings to the world around them but also helped their interconnectedness as a culture. Among fur, food, weapons, and more, fish trade was essential in the development of North Atlantic trade routes, with
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