The Religion of the Northmen
The Discovery of America By the Northmen.
The restoration of Icelandic literature has brought to light some pages of history which are specially interesting to Americans---they are the accounts of the discovery of our country by the Northmen. The different manuscripts bearing on this subject, contain accounts which cannot be explained otherwise than by admitting the fact of discovery, and in many important circumstances they corroborate each other. They have all been collected by Prof. Charles C. Rafn, in the work entitled, "Antiquitates Americanæ, &c.," which was published in 1837, by him, through the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries of Copenhagen. These historical facts have now been several years before the world, and they are sometimes referred to in connection with the early history of America, yet in general they are but imperfectly known, and the references to them are sometimes incorrect. The following is an abstract of the "Antiquitates," by Professor Rafn:
Gardar the Dane, of Swedish origin, was the first Northman who discovered Iceland, in the year 863. A few out-places of the country had been visited previously, about seventy years before, by some Irish hermits. Eleven years afteward, or in 874, the Norwegian Ingólf began the colonization of the country, which was continued during the space of sixty years. The colonists, many of whom belonged to the most illustrious and most civilized families in the North, established in Iceland a flourishing Republic. Here, on this distant island-rock, the Old-Norse language was preserved unchanged for centuries, and here in the Eddas were treasured those Folk-songs and Folk-myths, and in the Sagas those historical Tales and Legends, which the first settlers had brought with them from their Scandinavian mother-lands. Iceland was, therefore, the cradle of a historical literature of immense value.
The situation of the island and the relationship of the colony to foreign countries in its earlier period, compelled its inhabitants to exercise and develop their hereditary maritine skill and thirst for new discoveries across the great Ocean. As early as the year 877, Gunnbjörn saw, for the first time, the mountainous coast of Greenland. But this land was first visited by Erik the Red, in 983, who, three years afterwards, in 986, by means of Icelandic emigrants, established the first colony on its Southwestern shore, where afterward, in 1124, the Bishop's See, of Gardar, was founded, which subsisted for upwards of 300 years. The head firths or bays were named after the chiefs of the expedition. Erik the Red settled in Eriks-firth, Einar, Rafn and Ketil in the firths called after them, and Herjúlf on Herjúlfsnes. On a voyage from Iceland to Greenland in this same year (986), Bjarne, the son of the latter, was driven far out to sea towards the Southwest, and, for the first time, beheld the coasts of the American lands, afterwards visited and named by his countrymen. In order to examine these countries more narrowly, Leif the Fortunate, son of Erik the Red, undertook a voyage of discovery thither in the year 1000. He landed on the shores described by Bjarne, detailed the character of these lands more exactly, and gave them names according to their appearance: Helluland (Newfoundland) was so called from its flat stones, Markland (Nova Scotia) from its woods, and Vinland (New England) from its vines. Here he remained for some time, and constructed large houses, called after him Leifsbúðir (Leif's Booths). A German named Tyrker, who accompanied Leif on the voyage, was the man who found the wild-vines, which he recognized from having seen them in his native land, and Leif gave the country its name from this circumstance. Two years afterward Leif's brother Thorvald repaired thither, and in 1003 caused an expedition to be undertaken to the South, along the shore, but he was killed in the summer of 1004 on a voyage northward, in a skirmish with the natives.
The most distinguished, however, of all the first American discoverers is Thorfinn Karlsefne, an Icelander, whose genealogy is carried back in the Old-Northern annals to Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Scottish, and Irish ancestors, some of them of royal blood. In 1006 this chieftain, on a merchant-voyage, visited Greenland, and there married Gudrid, the widow of Thorstein (son of Erik the Red), who had died the year before in an unsuccessful expedition to Vinland. Accompanied by his wife, who encouraged him to this voyage, and by a crew of 160 men on board three vessels, he repaired in the spring of 1007 to Vinland, where he remained for three years, and had many communications with the aborigines. Here his wife Gudrid bore him a son, Snorri, (1) who became the founder of an illustrious family in Iceland, which gave that island several of its first Bishops. His daughter's son was the celebrated Bishop Thorlak Runólfson, who published the first Christian Code of Iceland. In 1121 Bishop Erik sailed to Vinland from Greenland, doubtless for the purpose of strengthening his countrymen in their Christian faith.
The notices given by the old Icelandic voyage-chroniclers respecting the climate, the soil, and the productions of this new country, are very characteristic. Nay, we have even a statement of this kind as old as the eleventh century, from a writer not a Northman, Adam of Bremen; he states, on the authority of Sven Estriðson, King of Denmark, a nephew of Canute the Great, that the country got its name from the vine growing wild there. It is a remarkable coincidence in this respect, that its English re-discoverers, for the same reason, name the large island which is close off the coast Martha's Vineyard. Spontaneously growing wheat (maize or Indian corn) was also found in this country.
In the mean time it is the total result of the nautical, geographical, and astronomical evidences in the original documents, which places the situation of the countries discovered beyond all doubt. The number of days' sail between the several newly found lands, the striking description of the coasts, esecially the white sand-banks of Nova Scotia and the long beaches and downs of a peculiar appearance on Cape Cod (the Kjalarnes and Furðustrandir of the Northmen), are not to be mistaken. In addition hereto, we have the astronomical remark that the shortest day in Vinland was nine hours long, which fixes the latitude of 41 deg. 24 min. 10 sec., or just that of the promontories which limit the entrance to Mount Hope Bay, where Leif's booths were built, and in the district around which the old Northmen had their head establishment, which was named by them Hóp.
When we reflect that the strongest and most undeniable evidence has been adduced to prove the fact of an Icelandic-Norwegian discovery of our continent in the tenth century, it becomes a matter both of surprise and regret that some of our most lauded writers of American history should either leave the event entirely unnoticed, or disposed of it in some half-dozen well-rounded and skeptical sentences.
ENDNOTES:
1. The celebrated Danish sculptor, Thorvaldsen, was a descendant of this Snorri Thorfinnsson, who was born in America, A.D. 1008. [Back]
<< Previous Page Next Page >>
© 2004-2007 Northvegr.
Most of the material on this site is in the public domain. However, many people have worked very hard to bring these texts to you so if you do use the work, we would appreciate it if you could give credit to both the Northvegr site and to the individuals who worked to bring you these texts. A small number of texts are copyrighted and cannot be used without the author's permission. Any text that is copyrighted will have a clear notation of such on the main index page for that text. Inquiries can be sent to info@northvegr.org. Northvegr™ and the Northvegr symbol are trademarks and service marks of the Northvegr Foundation.
|