The Norse Discovery of America
This is a collection of texts relating to the voyages of the Norse west to America. A thousand years ago, nearly half a millennium before Columbus, the Norse extended their explorations from Iceland and Greenland to the shores of Northeastern North America, and, possibly, beyond.
This volume from the Norroena collection contains all known sagas and documentary fragments which relate to this legendary exploration. It also contains analysis of the texts which should be read with a critical eye. While it is now certain that the Norse reached Nova Scotia, the claims in this book that they reached as far south as Boston--not to mention Georgia or South Carolina--are still controversial. There is also tangential discussion of whether the Irish managed to get to America prior to the Norse, an even more contentious assertion.
Regardless, the texts in this three-part volume open up a window into a vivid era, and give glimpses of religion, society and travel in the period when the Norse were actively exploring the North Atlantic. They contain one of the only detailed descriptions of a pagan women's divination ritual, and deal with the expansion of Christianity from both sides. There are bone-chilling stories of disease, murder and jealousy in the small communities on the leading edge of Viking colonization. Reading these sagas inspires deep understanding of the life and motivations of the Scandinavian sea rovers and respect for their accomplishments in the field of exploration.
--John Bruno Hare, February 18th, 2004
THE NORSE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA
A Compilation in Extenso of all the Sagas, Manuscripts, and Inscriptive Memorials Relating to the Finding and Settlement of the
New World in the Eleventh Century.
With Presentations of Freshly Discovered Proofs, in the form of Church Records Supplied by the Vatican of Rome, Never Before Published.
TRANSLATIONS AND DEDUCTIONS BY
ARTHUR MIDDLETON REEVES,
NORTH LUDLOW BEAMISH,
HON. RASMUS B. ANDERSON.
______________
HON. RASMUS B. ANDERSON, LL.D.,
EDITOR IN CHIEF.
J. W. BUEL, Ph.D.,
MANAGING EDITOR.
______________
PUBLISHED BY THE
NORRŒNA SOCIETY,
LONDON STOCKHOLM COPENHAGEN BERLIN NEW YORK
[1906]
LEIF ERIKSON
DISCOVERS A NEW WORLD.
(From a drawing by Heller.)
THE discovery of America by Norsemen about the year 1000, is so well authenticated as to be no longer a matter of mere tradition, but to whom the honor is due is less easy to prove by the historical sagas. The claim set up in favor of Bjarne Herjulfson is well substantiated, but if the discovery be credited to Bjarne, to Leif Erikson belongs the fame of having founded the first settlement in the New World. This flourished for a time and was frequently visited by other voyagers, until all the settlers it is supposed perished from a plague known as the Black Death.
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