The Manx Macbeth
THE SAGA OF ERIC THE RED
The clearest and most complete narrative of the discovery of Wineland, preserved in the ancient Icelandic literature, is that presented in the Saga of Eric the Red. Iceland became the hinge upon which the door swings which opened America to Europe. In the voyages between Norway and Iceland--a distance of about 800 miles--the sailors would occasionally be overtaken by cloudy and stormy weather and drift beyond Iceland, and so they could not help finding their way by accident to Greenland and other countries to the west and southwest of Iceland. And so it happened that in the yeare 876 a Norwegian mariner, by name Gunbjorn, reported that he had seen land far to the west of Iceland.
Erik the Red returned to Iceland in 985, and in 986 he, with a considerable number of followers, emigrated to Greenland. Erik the Red was the chief of the colony in Greenland. His family consisted of three sons, Leif, Thorvald and Thorstein.
Leif agreed to carry out the king's wishes. In the summer of the yeare 1000 he set sail for the far West. He decided to investigate the lands seen by Bjarne before going to Greenland. On his way west, he first reached the land which Bjarne reported he had seen, that is, Newfoundland. He anchored his ship off the coast, went ashore, and, exploring the land somewhat, found that it was hilly and extensively covered with large, flat stones. He decided to name the country after its most conspicuous peculiarities, and called it Helluland (land of flat stones). Then he proceeded towards the southwest and reached the second land seen by Bjarne (Nova Scotia), which he also explored somewhat, and found that it was a heavily wooded country. On account of the large forests he called it Markland (timberland). Then he sailed on to the first country seen by Bjarne, some part of New England, the saga tells us, he first entered a bay and then a river, then the river widened into a lake, which he crossed, then he entered a river on the other side of the lake and sailed up this river as far as it was deep- the Boston Harbor, to the Charles River between Boston and Cambridgeport, to the Back Bay between Boston and Cambridge and to the Charles River up as far as Gerry's Landing.
After having landed, Leif Erikson and his party, thirty-one in number, pulled the vessel ashore and at once went to work to build a house for the winter. The party was divided into two groups to explore the country in different directions on alternate days. On one evening, when the exploring party returned to the camp, one man was missing. This was a German, by name Tyrker, who, though a prisoner of war, was Leif Erikson's special favorite. Leif Erikson became very much alarmed and anxious He feared that Tyrker might have been slain by natives or devoured by wild beasts. Therefore with his men Leif immediately set out in search of Tyrker. But they had not gone far from the camp, when they met their missing fellow mate in a very excited state of mind. The cause of his excitement was the fact that he had found ripe wild-grapes. He had his arms full of grapes, and was devouring the fruit with all his might, and when spoken to by Leif Erikson, he only answered in his native tongue, "Weintrauben! Weintrauben!! Weintrauben!!!" He was born in a country where the grape grew, and, having been absent from Germany for many years, the finding of grapes in this western world overwhelmed him with delight. The sagas tell us that grapes were found in great abundance on every hand, and from this circumstance Leif gave the country the name of Vinland, and history at the same time obtained the interesting fact that a German accompanied these daring Argonauts of the Christian era. The sagas give very full and interesting accounts of the various products of Vinland and of the natives or aborigines with whom our Norse explorers came in contact. Leif Erikson was the first European and the first Christian who planted his feet on American soil and represents the first chapter of civilized and Christian history of America.
Erlendr sterki Olafsson, was the son of a man of humble parentage, and by birth a Norwegian. Erlend's father, Olaf, was no other than a certain Icelander called Olaf Tot. Hauk's father, Erlend, was probably the "Ellindr bondi" of a letter addressed by certain Icelanders to the Norwegian king, Magnus Law-Amender, in the yeare 1275. In the yeare 1283 we find indubitable mention of him in Icelandic annals as "legifer," he having in that yeare come out to Iceland from Norway vested with the dignity of "lawman." It is as the incumbent of a similar office, to which he appears to have been appointed in 1294, that we first find Hank Erlendsson mentioned. It is likely that Hauk had visited Norway prior to 1301; for he was a "lawman" in Oslo [the modern Christiania] upon January 28, 1302, upon that date he published an autographic letter, which is still in existence. Whether the rank of knighthood, which carried with it the title of "herra" (Earl), had already been conferred upon him at this time is not certain. He is first mentioned with this title, in Icelandic annals, in 1306, elsewhere in 1305. While Hauk revisited Iceland upon more than one occasion after the yeare 1302, much of the remainder of his life appears to have been spent in Norway, where he died in the yeare 1334. Hauk was in Iceland in the years 1330 and 1331, doubtless for the last time.
The genealogical list of Hallbera, "Abbess of Reyniness," was not consecrated abbess until the yeare 1299, it becomes at once apparent that the saga could not have been completed before that year. This conclusion is by this ancestral list, for in this list Hauk has given himself his title "herra," (earl). Hauk is first accorded this title in 1305, he is last mentioned without the title in 1304; prior to which the transcript of the saga could not have been concluded, to 1304. It is not so easy to determine positively when the saga was finished. Fru Ingigerd's daughter "was" Fru Hallbera, the Abbess. The Saga of Thorfinn anterior -In the vellum codex, known as Number 557, 4 to, of the Arna-Magnæan Collection, is an account of the Wineland discovery, similar to that of Hauk's Book. The history of the discovery contained in the above codex is called the "Saga of Eric the Red."
THE SAGA OF ERIC THE RED, ALSO CALLED THE SAGA OF THORFINN KARLSEFNI AND SNORRI THORBRANDSSON
The Saga of Eric the Red [and both texts are included under this title] presents a clear and graphic account of the discovery and exploration of Wineland the Good. In this narrative the discovery is ascribed to Leif, the son of Eric the Red, who hit upon the land, during a voyage from Norway to Greenland. After his return to Greenland, Leif's account of the land which he had discovered seems to have persuaded his brother, Thorstein, and possibly his father, to undertake an expedition to the strange country. About this time an Icelander of considerable prominence, had arrived in Greenland; an old friend of Eric's, named Thorbiorn Vifilsson, who had brought with him his daughter, Gudrid, as she is also called, Thurid. Thorbiorn Vifilsson must have arrived before Thorstein Ericsson's voyage, for we are told that it was in Thorbiorn's ship that this voyage was undertaken. If he arrived in Greenland in the autumn of the yeare 1002, this wedding may have taken place about the beginning of the yeare 1003.
In the summer following his marriage, Thorfirm appears to have undertaken his voyage of exploration to Wienland, that is to say in the summer of the yeare 1003. A longer time may well have elapsed after Gudrid's arrival before her marriage with Thorstein the Red, and similarly it is even more probable that a longer interval elapsed between Thorstein's death and Gudrid's second marriage.
Olaf was the name of a warrior-king, who was called Olaf the White. He was the son of King Ingiald, Helgi's son, the son of Olaf, Gudraud's son, son of Halfdan Whiteleg, king of the Uplands-men .
Olaf the White [Norway] engaged in a Western freebooting expedition and captured Dublin and the Shire of Dublin in Ireland, over which he became king . He married Aude of Dublin the Wealthy, daughter of Ketil Flatnose, son of Biorn Buna, a famous man of Norway. Their son was called Thorstein the Red. Olaf was killed in battle in Ireland, and Aude of Dublin and Thorstein went then to the Hebrides; there Thorstein married Thurid, daughter of Eyvind Easterling, sister of Helgi the Lean; they had many children. Thorstein became a warrior-king, and entered into fellowship with Earl Sigurd the Mighty, son of Eystein Glumra the Rattler. They conquered Caithness and Sutherland, Ross and Moray, and more than the half of Scotland. Over these Thorstein the Red became king, here he was betrayed by the Scots, and was slain there in battle.
Aud of Dublin was at Caithness when she heard of Thorstein's death; she thereupon caused a ship to be secretly built in the forest, and when she was ready, she sailed out to the Orkneys. There she bestowed Groa, Thorstein the Red's daughter, in marriage: she was the mother of Grelad, whom Earl Thorfinn Karlsefni, Skull-cleaver, married. After this Aude of Dublin set out to seek Iceland, and had on board her ship twenty freemen. Aude of Dublin arrived in Iceland, and passed the first winter at Biarnarhofn with her brother, Biorn. Aude of Dublin afterwards took possession of all the Dale country between Dogurdar river and Skraumuhlaups river. She lived at Hvamm, and held her orisons at Krossholar, where she caused crosses, for she had been baptized and was a devout believer. With her there came out to Iceland many distinguished men, who had been captured in the Western freebooting expedition, and were called slaves. Vifil was the name of one of these; he was a highborn man, who had been taken captive in the Western sea, and was called a slave before Aude of Dublin freed him; now when Aude of Dublin gave homesteads to the members of her crew, Vifil asked wherefore she gave him no homestead, as to the other men. Aude of Dublin replied, that this should make no difference to him, saying that he would be regarded as a distinguished man wherever he was. She gave him Vifilsdal and there he dwelt. He married a woman whose name was . . . their sons were Thorbiorn and Thorgeir. They were men of promise, and grew up with their father.