In Eirik the Red’s Saga translated by Keneva Kunz, there is a brief introduction of many of the main characters in Norse culture. They include the warrior King Oleif, his wife Aud, and their son Thorenstein the Red. Oleif is killed shortly in battle and Thorenstein marries Thurid, and becomes a warrior king himself conquering half of Scotland until he himself also dies in battle. The beginning of the Saga is more of a setup to the state of Norse culture. It explains the origins of how they came to live on Iceland and then migrate to Greenland, and eventually go on their own journeys to locate the Vinland. Throughout the saga there are many characters constantly introduced, making their own individual journeys, all somewhat connected to Eirik the Red’s life as well. Most importantly his wife Thjodhild and his two sons, Thornstein and Leif. His son Leif was the first to accidently discover Vinland in the text when his ship was accidentally driven off course. Later in the Saga, Snorri and Karlsnefi make a journey to Vinland intentionally; this goes along with the major motif in the story about many Norse characters making new journey’s and discoveries. A major theme in this entire text is the importance of Christianity to many of the characters. Even prior to Eirik’s sons attempting to convert Greenland and Iceland to Christianity, there were mentions of the importance of the Christian faith to other characters like Aud.
Annotated Bibliography
Kaups, Matti, et al. “Some Observations on Vinland” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol. 60, no. 3, 1970, pp. 603–609. JSTOR
This source discusses the ancient land of Vinland described in Norse culture, and seeks to find out its act location. The author Matti Kaups was an American Geography professor and co-wrote The American Backwoods Frontier: An Ethical and Ecological Interpretation (Creating the North American Landscape).He taught at many universities for many years. This source is helpful because it identifies the mysterious land called Vinland used by Norse Culture and seeks to find the exact location they are speaking of. This helps to read the text as it helps to better understand the area the Norse were describing.
Lipman, Andrew. “Early American Literature” Early American Literature, vol. 48, no. 3, 2013, pp. 780–783. JSTOR
This source is a review of a book entitled In Search of First Contact: The Vikings of Vinland, the Peoples of the Dawnland, and the Anglo-American Anxiety of Discovery by Annette Kolodny. The author of this review is an assistant professor of history at Bernard College. He has a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and has contributed some of his work to magazines such as TIME. His review points out the main points in this book about the research taking place into finding out where the Vikings lived in present day North America, as well as mentioning using the story Eirik the Red’s Saga as a source. This source was helpful as it helped me locate what seems to be a key source in this book, and prepared me for how to use this source in relationship to the text.
A. R. Taylor. “The Modern Language Review” The Modern Language Review, vol. 60, no. 1, 1965, pp. 159–160. JSTOR
This is another review for a book, entitled The Norse Atlantic Saga by Gwyn Jones. The reviewer himself is a highly reputable source in the field of Old Norse culture. For the majority of his life he taught medieval English, Old Norse and modern Icelandic Studies at the University of Leeds. He points out this books features stating that it is split into two basic parts. The first of which is in analysis of where Vinland would have been located in the Canadian Maritimes. The second is an analysis of the Saga’s, such as Eirik’s Saga, and how they help to understand the Norse people and where they lived and how they travelled around. This source was helpful as it directed me to another great book for further exploration.
Quotes
“She used to pray on the Krossholar hill, where she had crosses erected, for she was baptized and a devout Christian” (Kunz, 653)
This quote is describing Aud and the actions she took once she arrived to Iceland. It from the very first page of the Saga which I believe is important to be noted. It sets off the mood right away that these travelers in Norse culture were trying to spread the word of God, or what their version of the word of God was. Later in the Saga of course, the spread of the word of God and the conversion of the people of Greenland to Christianity is a major theme. Especially with the amount that the Norse were travelling and meeting and conquering new people. This of course isn’t the only mention of Christianity in the Saga as there are many random mentions of people claiming to be a Christian, or using their faith as an excuse, and then even mention of Leif converting the entire country of Greenland to Christianity. The role of Christianity in Norse culture is unclear however it seems that it was very important to them in one way or another. Once they begin travelling and taking new land, many of the characters felt the need to push their faith onto those they run into, how Christian of them.
“After being tossed about at sea for a long time he chanced upon land where he had not expected any to be found. Fields of sown wheat and vines were growing there; also, there were trees known as maple, and they took specimens of all of them” (Kunz, 661)
This quote is important to be noted as it is the first mention of anyone stumbling into the new land that would later be referred to as Vinland by the Norse. This moment in the Saga where Leif had been ordered by King Olaf of Norway to go and convert the entire island of Greenland to Christianity. He was to tell everyone that the King supported this faith and it was the one to choose. Again, more pushing of christinaity, however the quote itself is very interesting as it implies the Norse were given this knowledge by natives. It is very interesting to think about what that part of Canada would have been like 500 years before Christopher Columbus sat foot in North America. The Saga goes as far as to mention that these trees were referred to as maple trees, which makes me wonder how they ever could have acquired this information. Did they Leif and company meet natives that showed them around and got them back to Greenland, it seems unclear. Either way this quote introduces Vineland which is a key moment in the Saga as Vineland is a great point of interest for me in this story.
“They sailed for a long time, until they came to a river which flowed into a lake and from there into the sea. There were wide sandbars beyond the mouth of the river, and they could only sail into the river at high tide” (Kunz, 670)
This quote to me is extremely important because it notes how far the Norse actually travelled inland to Canada. This moment in time in the Saga is while Karlsnefi and Thorhall were continuing on their journey through the new land they discovered. It seems that they both started out in Newfoundland or around that general area, and Karlsnefi went south and Thorhall went north. Thorhall had a difficult time navigating the rough waters and wound up shipwrecked in Ireland where they were beaten to death. Karlsnefi went south and describes the scenery in the quote above. This is so interesting because it suggests that these Norse travelers moved deep into North America far past just Newfoundland. The river and lake it is describing is the St. Lawrence which run into the great lakes. This is an interesting point of research when looking at Norse settlements, how deep were they in Canada? This is a point of research I wish to explore further; most of the sources I currently have picked discuss just exactly how far the Vikings went in populating parts of the world. I seek to find out if people stayed in this land, despite the travelers being discussed who always returned to the homeland.
Checkpoint #3
Rafn, Charles C. “The Discovery of America by the Northmen” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London, vol. 2, no. 6, 1857, pp. 372–374. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1799115.
This source discusses some of the Viking explorers who visited different parts of North America. It states that not only did the Vikings settle in Canada, but there is evidence they visited many different parts of North America all up and down the coast from the Arctic to Flordia. It relates to the saga’s as it mentions Erik the Red’s Saga and his relatives finding new places to explore. The source is extremely helpful towards my research as I seek to explore more in depth about the voyages that all the Vikings made to other locations past Iceland and Greenland and begins with the voyages of Erik the Red. The source is extremely reputable as Charles Rafn was a Danish historian who mainly focused his attention towards Old Norse literature and ancient northern European history. He is also noted as one of the earliest advocates of Viking exploration in North America. Dieserud, Juul. “Norse Discoveries in America” Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, vol. 33, no. 1, 1901, pp. 1–18. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/198553.
This source begins by discussing the fact that Vikings settled the North Americas some 500 years before Christopher Columbus is now becoming widely accepted as truth. It also further discusses how Erik the Red’s son Leif, was one of the first to discover Vinland, and also says it was discovered by accident by someone else far before this. It discusses many other journeys and ancestors of this family and how they explored these brand new unknown regions. It not only helps to read the text, it adds to it as well. Juul Dieserud is another historian whose main focus is on Norse culture, writing many other works on the topic. Not only this, but she specifically focuses on literature describing the Vikings settling in parts of North America and her work is published as fact describing the journeys of these groundbreaking Viking explorers. *Storm, Gustav. “Studies on the Vinland Voyages”London: Forgotten Books, June 22 2016, book.
This is the source that I found in another one of my sources. It is a book written by Gustav Storm back in the late 19th century and was reprinted by Forgotten Books. It discusses in particular the Viking Journeys to Vinland, and what made the Vikings call this place Vinland. It was mostly due to the fact the landscape was unfamiliar to them and they ran into an environment overrun with Vines. It is important to note that this book only speaks of the explorations of Vinland and not the colonization of Greenland as most texts do. It also explains how Vinland was never fully colonized for good by the Vikings. This source is helpful as it will narrow my focus on the exploration of Vinland by the Viking explorers in relation to the sagas which is what I wish to focus on. Gustav Storm was a Norwegian historian who focused mainly on Scandinavian history and literature of the middle ages. He was a driving force in both of these fields which can be attributed to studying Norse culture.
Reflection
Based upon my research up until this point in time, I can conclude that most researchers that looked into my reading concentrate on the aspect of the journey’s many different Viking explorers are making. Some of them begin in depth about Erik the Red, and the formation of Viking culture and how they came to live in places like Iceland and Greenland. Others are much more focused in their approach, as the focus specifically on the journeys made the New World. I call it the New World because at that point in time, that is what is was. A completely new and massive world to explore, just as Christopher Columbus would refer to it as hundreds of years later. Scholars who are focusing more on this topic in the Saga and the discoveries of new land by the Vikings is what I wish to focus on. The main issue being discussed is the accuracy of the Saga, and giving an explanation as to what exactly happened in Norse history to lead to the discovery of Vinland. Not only this, but scholars also explain how the Sagas outline the colonization of Iceland and Greenland. The approaches being made towards analyzing this text are simplistic and straight to the point. Scholars are analyzing the saga, and using information from previous scholars analyzing many other sagas to piece together an accurate timeline of Norse culture and discoveries made by said Vikings. This helps me as it gives me many different outlooks and explanations as to how the Vikings came to discover Vinland and travel to and from it.
Query
There are few new questions bought up in these texts that have made me question the Saga. One of which being how many places in North America did the Vikings go to, and what was the point in their exploration. The argument that Vikings did not stay in Vineland has made me question my original interpretation of my text. I had thought for sure Vikings would have stayed in this new land they discovered, but scholars say otherwise. Why wouldn’t they have stayed in this seemingly plentiful land? Was their already natives staying there that detoured them from creating their own culture. Did they try to bring their own culture and religion over there only for it to be rejected by the natives? Then there is the fact that Vinland was discovered many years before the son of Erik the Red ever did, according to some texts that is. This makes me wonder why there were no other explorers to return to this land prior to Leif. Was the new world that difficult to reach, even for great sailors like the Vikings? This part and the fact that Vikings never stayed in North America were very confusing. Was it the harsh New England and Canadian weather that made them leave? These sources found so far and others help to further explore these questions.
Checkpoint 4 Abstract The goal of this journal article is to definitively pinpoint through historical research, paired with a deep geographical analysis of Erik the Red’s Saga, a more precise location of Vinland and more particularily, “Hop”. While it makes complete sense that the Vikings visited the far north of Canada including all parts of Newfoundland and Labrador, the location of Vinland in the text is much more likely to be found in land in areas south of this. Through close analysis of geographical notations in the story, it can be assumed that after Karlsefni and Thorhall came to a final resting place together around Rimouski, or possibly deeper into the beginning of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. The winters can be beyond cold and treacherous there, with heavy snowfall, arctic winds, and subzero temperatures. The location in which the Viking’s dropped the Scotts off they named Furdustrandir, and is the division between the island the Vikings called Kjalar-nes, modern day Newfoundland. The original land in which the Vikings bumped into is referred to in the Saga as Helluland, and would be anywhere on the shores of Baffin Island. The Vikings then sailed as directly southward as they could until eventually they reached land. This could have been anywhere on the coast of Labrador, and they named the land “Markland”. Vikings identify and travel by the sea, so they use points of water intersection or ending to identify landmarks. As noted in the saga they also follow the coastline of Markland starboard, indicating they rode south and down and round it past newfoundland to come to rest at the firth, Straumsfjordr, or the beginning of the St. Lawrence river. With this knowledge it is then easy to see where both Viking explorers went from here. Karlsefni proceeded south through the stream remaining starboard on the coastline of Markland eventually arriving at a larger river, which fell into a lake, which fell into what is referred to as the sea. This Sea, is most likely the vastness of Lake Ontario, as from the river mouth, seeing both sides and the end would have been impossible. This is where I believe Karlsefni makes camp, and is prosperous in doing so, most likely somewhere around Kingston, Ontario. I believe this argument is significant because it is new, and in my opinion makes a lot of sense in regards to the way Vikings travel. It would explain Viking settlements being found in multiple locations in North America. Citations Headley, Janet A. “Anne Whitney's ‘Leif Eriksson’: A Brahmin Response to Christopher Columbus.” American Art, vol. 17, no. 2, 2003, pp. 41–59. JSTOR, JSTOR,__www.jstor.org/stable/3109435__. December 10 2017. This source is written by a fine Arts professor at Loyala University named Dr. Janet Headley. This source is extremely interesting as it has a brief and modern overview of Erik the Red’s conquest around the area. Even more interesting it provides other useful sources of possible Viking locations in Areas like Massachusetts. The source is also useful as it gives information that coincides with my thesis statement on where Karlsefni finally settled. This source however references Charles Rafn, who made very bold statements about the Viking arrival in North America based on evidence he found and analyzed. I disagree with some of these statements however such as the initial location of Vinland. Olson, Julius E. “Present Aspects of the Vinland Controversy.” Publications of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, vol. 1, no. 4, 1913, pp. 147–156. JSTOR, JSTOR,__www.jstor.org/stable/40914910__. December 10 2017. This is another article that seems to disagree with the general theory of Vikings ever coming to America, even claiming that the Saga of Erik the Red could just be a falsehood with some evidence from other articles. It begins with an article doubting Viking ships ever could have made the trip cross atlantic to come to America. It then brings up Charles Rafn’s article and translation of the Saga’s, and then a couple more articles that supply evidence to the possible location of Vinland. It discredits theories of Vinland being in Newfoundland which I tend to agree with. This article is relevant as it was published in a journal dedicated to advancing scandinavian society. Rafn, Charles C. “Northmen in America.” Journal of the American Geographical and Statistical Society, vol. 1, no. 6, 1859, pp. 178–179. JSTOR, JSTOR,__www.jstor.org/stable/196152__. December 10 2017. This article is from the time when Charles Rafn’s theories were beginning to become generally accepted or at least discussed within the community. Suppose that the translations were indeed correct of stories such as Erik the Red’s Saga, and then Rafn’s interpretations of the locations were actually incorrect. This is why this article is so helpful. Articles such as this help to build the theory and support the thesis as well. This article contains ideas such as the location of Vinland actually being in New England near the Cape. This article gives an in depth description of where Rafn believes Vinland is, including how Viking’s got there according to Rafn’s interpretation of the Saga’s, including the landmarks they passed on the way. Argument Against Scholarly Article The article I am choosing to argue against, among a couple other in my journal article, is Charles Rafn’s article entitled Northmen in America. While I have many arguments about scholarly articls, this one in particular is obvious to me to point out. The first descriptions and name associations with the lands the Vikings apparently visited are not correct. Markland was the land in which Karlsefni took many days to arrive to from Helluland. Helluland is clearly farther north than Rafn notes, and the voyage began in a different location meaning the route and stops along the way will be different as well. All these locations can be explained geographically along a very simple route that the Vikings most likely took to find the new world. There is plenty of evidence from the text that support a different interpretation of Vinland than the one that Rafn notes. Rafn, has no explanation for the river in which becomes the perceived location of Vinland for Karlsefni and his crew. The only relation to Martha’s Vineyard is that there are all the crops available that were talked about in the Saga. This however, is also information that is irrelevant as these crops can be found in numerous locations all over that region of North America, and areas north and inland of the cape.
Erik the Red's Saga
Checkpoint # 2
Summary
In Eirik the Red’s Saga translated by Keneva Kunz, there is a brief introduction of many of the main characters in Norse culture. They include the warrior King Oleif, his wife Aud, and their son Thorenstein the Red. Oleif is killed shortly in battle and Thorenstein marries Thurid, and becomes a warrior king himself conquering half of Scotland until he himself also dies in battle. The beginning of the Saga is more of a setup to the state of Norse culture. It explains the origins of how they came to live on Iceland and then migrate to Greenland, and eventually go on their own journeys to locate the Vinland. Throughout the saga there are many characters constantly introduced, making their own individual journeys, all somewhat connected to Eirik the Red’s life as well. Most importantly his wife Thjodhild and his two sons, Thornstein and Leif. His son Leif was the first to accidently discover Vinland in the text when his ship was accidentally driven off course. Later in the Saga, Snorri and Karlsnefi make a journey to Vinland intentionally; this goes along with the major motif in the story about many Norse characters making new journey’s and discoveries. A major theme in this entire text is the importance of Christianity to many of the characters. Even prior to Eirik’s sons attempting to convert Greenland and Iceland to Christianity, there were mentions of the importance of the Christian faith to other characters like Aud.
Annotated Bibliography
Kaups, Matti, et al. “Some Observations on Vinland” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol. 60, no. 3, 1970, pp. 603–609. JSTOR
This source discusses the ancient land of Vinland described in Norse culture, and seeks to find out its act location. The author Matti Kaups was an American Geography professor and co-wrote The American Backwoods Frontier: An Ethical and Ecological Interpretation (Creating the North American Landscape). He taught at many universities for many years. This source is helpful because it identifies the mysterious land called Vinland used by Norse Culture and seeks to find the exact location they are speaking of. This helps to read the text as it helps to better understand the area the Norse were describing.
Lipman, Andrew. “Early American Literature” Early American Literature, vol. 48, no. 3, 2013, pp. 780–783. JSTOR
This source is a review of a book entitled In Search of First Contact: The Vikings of Vinland, the Peoples of the Dawnland, and the Anglo-American Anxiety of Discovery by Annette Kolodny. The author of this review is an assistant professor of history at Bernard College. He has a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and has contributed some of his work to magazines such as TIME. His review points out the main points in this book about the research taking place into finding out where the Vikings lived in present day North America, as well as mentioning using the story Eirik the Red’s Saga as a source. This source was helpful as it helped me locate what seems to be a key source in this book, and prepared me for how to use this source in relationship to the text.
A. R. Taylor. “The Modern Language Review” The Modern Language Review, vol. 60, no. 1, 1965, pp. 159–160. JSTOR
This is another review for a book, entitled The Norse Atlantic Saga by Gwyn Jones. The reviewer himself is a highly reputable source in the field of Old Norse culture. For the majority of his life he taught medieval English, Old Norse and modern Icelandic Studies at the University of Leeds. He points out this books features stating that it is split into two basic parts. The first of which is in analysis of where Vinland would have been located in the Canadian Maritimes. The second is an analysis of the Saga’s, such as Eirik’s Saga, and how they help to understand the Norse people and where they lived and how they travelled around. This source was helpful as it directed me to another great book for further exploration.
Quotes
“She used to pray on the Krossholar hill, where she had crosses erected, for she was baptized and a devout Christian” (Kunz, 653)
This quote is describing Aud and the actions she took once she arrived to Iceland. It from the very first page of the Saga which I believe is important to be noted. It sets off the mood right away that these travelers in Norse culture were trying to spread the word of God, or what their version of the word of God was. Later in the Saga of course, the spread of the word of God and the conversion of the people of Greenland to Christianity is a major theme. Especially with the amount that the Norse were travelling and meeting and conquering new people. This of course isn’t the only mention of Christianity in the Saga as there are many random mentions of people claiming to be a Christian, or using their faith as an excuse, and then even mention of Leif converting the entire country of Greenland to Christianity. The role of Christianity in Norse culture is unclear however it seems that it was very important to them in one way or another. Once they begin travelling and taking new land, many of the characters felt the need to push their faith onto those they run into, how Christian of them.
“After being tossed about at sea for a long time he chanced upon land where he had not expected any to be found. Fields of sown wheat and vines were growing there; also, there were trees known as maple, and they took specimens of all of them” (Kunz, 661)
This quote is important to be noted as it is the first mention of anyone stumbling into the new land that would later be referred to as Vinland by the Norse. This moment in the Saga where Leif had been ordered by King Olaf of Norway to go and convert the entire island of Greenland to Christianity. He was to tell everyone that the King supported this faith and it was the one to choose. Again, more pushing of christinaity, however the quote itself is very interesting as it implies the Norse were given this knowledge by natives. It is very interesting to think about what that part of Canada would have been like 500 years before Christopher Columbus sat foot in North America. The Saga goes as far as to mention that these trees were referred to as maple trees, which makes me wonder how they ever could have acquired this information. Did they Leif and company meet natives that showed them around and got them back to Greenland, it seems unclear. Either way this quote introduces Vineland which is a key moment in the Saga as Vineland is a great point of interest for me in this story.
“They sailed for a long time, until they came to a river which flowed into a lake and from there into the sea. There were wide sandbars beyond the mouth of the river, and they could only sail into the river at high tide” (Kunz, 670)
This quote to me is extremely important because it notes how far the Norse actually travelled inland to Canada. This moment in time in the Saga is while Karlsnefi and Thorhall were continuing on their journey through the new land they discovered. It seems that they both started out in Newfoundland or around that general area, and Karlsnefi went south and Thorhall went north. Thorhall had a difficult time navigating the rough waters and wound up shipwrecked in Ireland where they were beaten to death. Karlsnefi went south and describes the scenery in the quote above. This is so interesting because it suggests that these Norse travelers moved deep into North America far past just Newfoundland. The river and lake it is describing is the St. Lawrence which run into the great lakes. This is an interesting point of research when looking at Norse settlements, how deep were they in Canada? This is a point of research I wish to explore further; most of the sources I currently have picked discuss just exactly how far the Vikings went in populating parts of the world. I seek to find out if people stayed in this land, despite the travelers being discussed who always returned to the homeland.
Checkpoint #3
Rafn, Charles C. “The Discovery of America by the Northmen” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London, vol. 2, no. 6, 1857, pp. 372–374. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1799115.
This source discusses some of the Viking explorers who visited different parts of North America. It states that not only did the Vikings settle in Canada, but there is evidence they visited many different parts of North America all up and down the coast from the Arctic to Flordia. It relates to the saga’s as it mentions Erik the Red’s Saga and his relatives finding new places to explore. The source is extremely helpful towards my research as I seek to explore more in depth about the voyages that all the Vikings made to other locations past Iceland and Greenland and begins with the voyages of Erik the Red. The source is extremely reputable as Charles Rafn was a Danish historian who mainly focused his attention towards Old Norse literature and ancient northern European history. He is also noted as one of the earliest advocates of Viking exploration in North America.
Dieserud, Juul. “Norse Discoveries in America” Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, vol. 33, no. 1, 1901, pp. 1–18. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/198553.
This source begins by discussing the fact that Vikings settled the North Americas some 500 years before Christopher Columbus is now becoming widely accepted as truth. It also further discusses how Erik the Red’s son Leif, was one of the first to discover Vinland, and also says it was discovered by accident by someone else far before this. It discusses many other journeys and ancestors of this family and how they explored these brand new unknown regions. It not only helps to read the text, it adds to it as well. Juul Dieserud is another historian whose main focus is on Norse culture, writing many other works on the topic. Not only this, but she specifically focuses on literature describing the Vikings settling in parts of North America and her work is published as fact describing the journeys of these groundbreaking Viking explorers.
*Storm, Gustav. “Studies on the Vinland Voyages” London: Forgotten Books, June 22 2016, book.
This is the source that I found in another one of my sources. It is a book written by Gustav Storm back in the late 19th century and was reprinted by Forgotten Books. It discusses in particular the Viking Journeys to Vinland, and what made the Vikings call this place Vinland. It was mostly due to the fact the landscape was unfamiliar to them and they ran into an environment overrun with Vines. It is important to note that this book only speaks of the explorations of Vinland and not the colonization of Greenland as most texts do. It also explains how Vinland was never fully colonized for good by the Vikings. This source is helpful as it will narrow my focus on the exploration of Vinland by the Viking explorers in relation to the sagas which is what I wish to focus on. Gustav Storm was a Norwegian historian who focused mainly on Scandinavian history and literature of the middle ages. He was a driving force in both of these fields which can be attributed to studying Norse culture.
Reflection
Based upon my research up until this point in time, I can conclude that most researchers that looked into my reading concentrate on the aspect of the journey’s many different Viking explorers are making. Some of them begin in depth about Erik the Red, and the formation of Viking culture and how they came to live in places like Iceland and Greenland. Others are much more focused in their approach, as the focus specifically on the journeys made the New World. I call it the New World because at that point in time, that is what is was. A completely new and massive world to explore, just as Christopher Columbus would refer to it as hundreds of years later. Scholars who are focusing more on this topic in the Saga and the discoveries of new land by the Vikings is what I wish to focus on. The main issue being discussed is the accuracy of the Saga, and giving an explanation as to what exactly happened in Norse history to lead to the discovery of Vinland. Not only this, but scholars also explain how the Sagas outline the colonization of Iceland and Greenland. The approaches being made towards analyzing this text are simplistic and straight to the point. Scholars are analyzing the saga, and using information from previous scholars analyzing many other sagas to piece together an accurate timeline of Norse culture and discoveries made by said Vikings. This helps me as it gives me many different outlooks and explanations as to how the Vikings came to discover Vinland and travel to and from it.
Query
There are few new questions bought up in these texts that have made me question the Saga. One of which being how many places in North America did the Vikings go to, and what was the point in their exploration. The argument that Vikings did not stay in Vineland has made me question my original interpretation of my text. I had thought for sure Vikings would have stayed in this new land they discovered, but scholars say otherwise. Why wouldn’t they have stayed in this seemingly plentiful land? Was their already natives staying there that detoured them from creating their own culture. Did they try to bring their own culture and religion over there only for it to be rejected by the natives? Then there is the fact that Vinland was discovered many years before the son of Erik the Red ever did, according to some texts that is. This makes me wonder why there were no other explorers to return to this land prior to Leif. Was the new world that difficult to reach, even for great sailors like the Vikings? This part and the fact that Vikings never stayed in North America were very confusing. Was it the harsh New England and Canadian weather that made them leave? These sources found so far and others help to further explore these questions.
Checkpoint 4
Abstract
The goal of this journal article is to definitively pinpoint through historical research, paired with a deep geographical analysis of Erik the Red’s Saga, a more precise location of Vinland and more particularily, “Hop”. While it makes complete sense that the Vikings visited the far north of Canada including all parts of Newfoundland and Labrador, the location of Vinland in the text is much more likely to be found in land in areas south of this. Through close analysis of geographical notations in the story, it can be assumed that after Karlsefni and Thorhall came to a final resting place together around Rimouski, or possibly deeper into the beginning of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. The winters can be beyond cold and treacherous there, with heavy snowfall, arctic winds, and subzero temperatures. The location in which the Viking’s dropped the Scotts off they named Furdustrandir, and is the division between the island the Vikings called Kjalar-nes, modern day Newfoundland. The original land in which the Vikings bumped into is referred to in the Saga as Helluland, and would be anywhere on the shores of Baffin Island. The Vikings then sailed as directly southward as they could until eventually they reached land. This could have been anywhere on the coast of Labrador, and they named the land “Markland”. Vikings identify and travel by the sea, so they use points of water intersection or ending to identify landmarks. As noted in the saga they also follow the coastline of Markland starboard, indicating they rode south and down and round it past newfoundland to come to rest at the firth, Straumsfjordr, or the beginning of the St. Lawrence river. With this knowledge it is then easy to see where both Viking explorers went from here. Karlsefni proceeded south through the stream remaining starboard on the coastline of Markland eventually arriving at a larger river, which fell into a lake, which fell into what is referred to as the sea. This Sea, is most likely the vastness of Lake Ontario, as from the river mouth, seeing both sides and the end would have been impossible. This is where I believe Karlsefni makes camp, and is prosperous in doing so, most likely somewhere around Kingston, Ontario. I believe this argument is significant because it is new, and in my opinion makes a lot of sense in regards to the way Vikings travel. It would explain Viking settlements being found in multiple locations in North America.
Citations
Headley, Janet A. “Anne Whitney's ‘Leif Eriksson’: A Brahmin Response to Christopher Columbus.” American Art, vol. 17, no. 2, 2003, pp. 41–59. JSTOR, JSTOR,__www.jstor.org/stable/3109435__. December 10 2017.
This source is written by a fine Arts professor at Loyala University named Dr. Janet Headley. This source is extremely interesting as it has a brief and modern overview of Erik the Red’s conquest around the area. Even more interesting it provides other useful sources of possible Viking locations in Areas like Massachusetts. The source is also useful as it gives information that coincides with my thesis statement on where Karlsefni finally settled. This source however references Charles Rafn, who made very bold statements about the Viking arrival in North America based on evidence he found and analyzed. I disagree with some of these statements however such as the initial location of Vinland.
Olson, Julius E. “Present Aspects of the Vinland Controversy.” Publications of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, vol. 1, no. 4, 1913, pp. 147–156. JSTOR, JSTOR,__www.jstor.org/stable/40914910__. December 10 2017.
This is another article that seems to disagree with the general theory of Vikings ever coming to America, even claiming that the Saga of Erik the Red could just be a falsehood with some evidence from other articles. It begins with an article doubting Viking ships ever could have made the trip cross atlantic to come to America. It then brings up Charles Rafn’s article and translation of the Saga’s, and then a couple more articles that supply evidence to the possible location of Vinland. It discredits theories of Vinland being in Newfoundland which I tend to agree with. This article is relevant as it was published in a journal dedicated to advancing scandinavian society.
Rafn, Charles C. “Northmen in America.” Journal of the American Geographical and Statistical Society, vol. 1, no. 6, 1859, pp. 178–179. JSTOR, JSTOR,__www.jstor.org/stable/196152__. December 10 2017.
This article is from the time when Charles Rafn’s theories were beginning to become generally accepted or at least discussed within the community. Suppose that the translations were indeed correct of stories such as Erik the Red’s Saga, and then Rafn’s interpretations of the locations were actually incorrect. This is why this article is so helpful. Articles such as this help to build the theory and support the thesis as well. This article contains ideas such as the location of Vinland actually being in New England near the Cape. This article gives an in depth description of where Rafn believes Vinland is, including how Viking’s got there according to Rafn’s interpretation of the Saga’s, including the landmarks they passed on the way.
Argument Against Scholarly Article
The article I am choosing to argue against, among a couple other in my journal article, is Charles Rafn’s article entitled Northmen in America. While I have many arguments about scholarly articls, this one in particular is obvious to me to point out. The first descriptions and name associations with the lands the Vikings apparently visited are not correct. Markland was the land in which Karlsefni took many days to arrive to from Helluland. Helluland is clearly farther north than Rafn notes, and the voyage began in a different location meaning the route and stops along the way will be different as well. All these locations can be explained geographically along a very simple route that the Vikings most likely took to find the new world. There is plenty of evidence from the text that support a different interpretation of Vinland than the one that Rafn notes. Rafn, has no explanation for the river in which becomes the perceived location of Vinland for Karlsefni and his crew. The only relation to Martha’s Vineyard is that there are all the crops available that were talked about in the Saga. This however, is also information that is irrelevant as these crops can be found in numerous locations all over that region of North America, and areas north and inland of the cape.