The Norse Discovery of America E-Book

Arthur Middleton Reeves

• Herausgeber: E-BOOKARAMA
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

"The Norse Discovery of America" 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.

Leseprobe

Arthur Middleton Reeves

The Norse Discovery of America

Table of contents

THE NORSE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA

Preface

Introduction

BOOK 1. ARGUMENTS AND PROOFS THAT SUPPORT THE CLAIM OF NORSE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA

Chapter 1. Early Fragmentary References To Wineland

Chapter 2. The Saga Of Eric The Red

Chapter 3. The Wineland History Of The Flatey Book

Chapter 4. A Brief History Of Eric The Red

Chapter 5. Wineland In The Icelandic Annals

Chapter 6. Notices Of Doubtful Value; Fictions

Chapter 7. The Publication Of The Discovery

BOOK 2. ICELANDIC RECORDS

Introduction To A Study Of Icelandic Records

Second Period

Third Period

Last Period

Saga Of Erik The Red

Voyage Of Leif Erikson

Saga Of Thorfinn Karlsefne

Voyage Of Freydis, Helgi And Finnbogi

Geographical Notices In Ancient Icelandic Mss

Monuments And Inscriptions

Minor Narratives

Voyage Of Gudleif Gudlaugson To Great Ireland

BOOK 3. THE NORSEMEN IN AMERICA

Chapter 1. Norumbega

Chapter 2. Norse Voyages In The Tenth And Following Centuries

Chapter 3. Columbus And The Norsemen

Chapter 4. Discovery Of America By The Irish

THE NORSE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA

Arthur Middleton Reeves

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.

Preface

In this work is brought together for the first time the interpretation of the best authorities respecting the evidences, historical, archaeologic, inscriptive and deductive, of Norse discovery, occupation, and colonization of America five centuries before the time of Columbus. The subject, though it has engaged in a general way the attention of historians for a long time, has only within recent years been brought into great prominence by a serious study of the Saga writers of Iceland and Scandinavia. The beginning of this interest dates from 1837 in which year was published, by the Royal Danish Society of Northern Antiquaries, a large quarto volume of old Icelandic documents, in which the proofs were set forth that the discovery credited to Columbus was anticipated by sea-roving Norsemen five hundred years earlier. This great work was edited by Prof. C. C. Rafn, founder of the Royal Danish Society, and was the result of painstaking labor and expensive research by that very distinguished antiquarian.

Interest in the subject thus aroused by Prof. Rafn was further promoted by Dr. R. B. Anderson's "America not First Discovered by Columbus," published in 1874, which ran through several editions and was translated into French, German and probably other languages.

Inspired by Dr. Anderson's work, Prof. Arthur entered most earnestly into a study of the question, for which he prepared himself by becoming a master of the Danish tongue, with a view to investigating all the original documents in possession of the Antiquarian Society. Not being fully satisfied with what he was able to find in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Trondhjem, and other Scandinavian centers, in 1879, he set sail for Iceland and there continued his examination of records and his enquiries, results of which were published in London in 1895, which with a work by Prof. Beamish, are reproduced in this volume.

While Prof. Reeves does not in all matters pertaining thereto agree perfectly with Professor Rafn, there is sufficient concurrence in their arguments to establish corroboration of conclusions; this is most important because Professor Rafn's work was not freely translated into English, and thus escaped the notice of American historians, while Professor Reeves, a master of the Danish tongue, took up the work of investigating, in the original, the documents submitted by the Antiquarian Society in 1879.

It may truly be said that thirty years ago only a very cultured few professed even the least familiarity with the literature of the Gothic people, notwithstanding our descent from that sturdy race. The Vatican exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 1904, intensified the interest aroused by Professor Reeves' investigations among the libraries of Copenhagen, Christiana, Stockholm and Reykjavik, Iceland's capital. Some had theretofore conjectured that the Church of Rome had maintained a brief relation to Pre-Columbian America, but not until the records were produced and placed on exhibition at St. Louis, did many believe that the Holy Church had established itself so successfully in the New World as early as the year 1000, as to require the services of an archbishop, whose See extended from Greenland to Vineland (Massachusetts?) This almost coincident, and in a way co-operative, enlightenment of the educated, scarcely less than of the popular mind on the subject of American discovery, has led to the liveliest appreciation of the Norsemen, and particularly so since with an understanding of their early visits to these shores we have learned that Americans, through the English, are descended from these rugged, fearless, sea-roving, liberty-loving people. The interest that has thus been aroused in the deeds of our Scandinavian ancestors has led to a wide-spread desire for knowledge respecting their civilization, by which the masses are coming to know that the Norsemen were not only the greatest of seamen, but even in their remote isolation, on Iceland's frigidly inhospitable coast, they developed a literature, as well also a popular form of government, the excellence of which is scarcely to be equalled by that of any other ancient people.

That America was discovered and colonized by Norsemen nine hundred years ago has been a disputed claim over which historians have for a long while contended, like enemies struggling in the dark, but in the light of recently exhumed evidence, resurrected out of the age-invested tome repositories of the Vatican, and libraries of the North, the question is fully resolved and the credit may now be properly placed. The argument and evidences that establish this claim are set forth in this volume by such distinguished authorities as Arthur Reeves, Charles Christian Rafn, North Ludlow Beamish and Rasmus B. Anderson. There is also printed, in connection with the historical presentation of the subject, confirmatory proofs, in the form of reproduced manuscripts, ancient maps, and church records not heretofore accessible to the general reader. In fact, some of these documents were not known to exist until accidentally discovered by very recent investigation and are now published as a whole for the first time.

The allusions herein made to the tradition of Irish discovery of America will not wholly satisfy the critical enquirer, but it may lead to a more general study of this much neglected chapter of Irish history. This much may be set down as fact: Sixty-five years before the discovery of Iceland by Norsemen, Irish sea-rovers had not only visited but erected habitations on that island. About the year 725 Irish ecclesiastics are known to have sought seclusion on the Faroe Islands. In the Tenth Century voyages between Ireland and Iceland were so frequent as to be ordinary occurrences. Finally, in the Eleventh Century, a county west of Iceland and South of Vinland, known to the Norsemen as White-Man's Land, or Great Ireland, was discovered, and probably settled by Irish. All that history recounts, or that known documents confirm, regarding the New World anterior to the time of Columbus, will be found gathered and sifted in this volume, to which is added Professor Anderson's most interesting description of Norumbega, a supposed settlement of Norsemen established near Boston, about A. D. 1008.

W. BUEL.

Introduction

THE Icelandic discovery of America was first announced, in print, more than two centuries and a half ago. Within the past fifty years of this period, the discovery has attracted more general attention than during all of the interval preceding,--a fact, which is no doubt traceable to the publication, in 1837, of a comprehensive work upon the subject prepared by the Danish scholar, Carl Christian Rafn. Although it is now more than half a century since this book was published, Rafn is still very generally regarded as the standard authority upon the subject of which he treats. But his zeal in promulgating the discovery seriously prejudiced his judgment. His chief fault was the heedless confusing of all of the material bearing directly or indirectly upon his theme,--the failure to winnow the sound historical material from that which is unsubstantiated. Rafn offered numerous explanations of the texts which his work contained, and propounded many dubious theories and hazardous conjectures. With these the authors, who have founded their investigations upon his work, have more concerned themselves than with the texts of the original documents. If less effort had been applied to the dissemination and defence of fantastic speculations, and more to the determination of the exact nature of the facts which have been preserved in the Icelandic records, the discovery should not have failed to be accepted as clearly established by sound historical data. Upon any other hypothesis than this it is difficult to account for the disposition American historians have shown to treat the Icelandic discovery as possible, from conjectural causes, rather than as determined by the historical records preserved by the fellow-countrymen of the discoverers.

Bancroft, in his History of the United States, gave form to this tendency many years ago, when he stated, that:

"The story of the colonization of America by Norsemen rests on narratives mythological in form, and obscure in meaning, ancient yet not contemporary. The intrepid mariners who colonized Greenland could easily have extended their voyages to Labrador, and have explored the coasts to the south of it. No clear historic evidence establishes the natural probability that they accomplished the passage, and no vestige of their presence on our continent has been found."

The latest historian of America, traversing the same field, virtually iterates this conclusion, when he says:

"The extremely probable and almost necessary pre-Columbian knowledge of the northeastern parts of America follows from the venturesome spirit of the mariners of those seas for fish and traffic, and from the easy transition from coast to coast by which they would have been lured to meet more southerly climes. The chances from such natural causes are quite as strong an argument in favor of the early Northmen venturings as the somewhat questionable representations of the Sagas."

The same writer states, elsewhere, in this connection, that:

"Everywhere else where the Northmen, went they left proofs of this occupation on the soil, but nowhere in America, except on an island on the east shore of Baffin's Bay, has any authentic runic inscription been found outside of Greenland."

If the authenticity of the Icelandic discovery of America is to be determined by runic inscriptions or other archælogical remains left by the discoverers, it is altogether probable that the discovery will never be confirmed. The application of this same test, however, would render the discovery of Iceland very problematical. The testimony is the same in both cases, the essential difference between the two discoveries being, after all, that the one led to practical results, while the other, apparently, did not (*). The absence of any Icelandic remains south of Baffin's Bay makes neither for nor against the credibility of the Icelandic discovery,--although it may be said, that it is hardly reasonable to expect that, in the brief period of their sojourn, the explorers would have left any buildings or implements behind them, which would be likely to survive the ravages of the nine centuries that have elapsed since the discovery.

(*) It has been claimed that the Icelandic discovery attained a practical result through the imparting of information to those to whom the discovery of America has been generally ascribed, and notably to Columbus and the Cabots. The tendency to qualify Columbus' fame as the original discoverer dates from the time of Ortelius, while the effort to show that his first voyage was influenced by information which he received from Icelandic sources was, perhaps, first formulated in extenso within the present century. The theory that Columbus obtained definite information from Icelandic channels, rests, after all, upon the following vague letter, which is cited by Columbus' son in the biography of his father, as follows:

"In the month of February, of the year 1477, I sailed one hundred leagues beyond the island of Tile, the southern portion of which is seventy-three degrees removed from the equinoctial, and not sixty-three, as some will have it; nor is it situated within the line which includes Ptolemy's west, but is much further to the westward; and to this island, which is as large as England, the English come with their wares, especially those from Bristol. And at the time when I went thither the sea was not frozen, although the tides there are so great that in some places they rose twenty-six fathoms, and fell as much. It is, indeed, the fact that that Tile, of which Ptolemy makes mention, is situated where he describes it, and by the moderns this is called Frislanda."

John and Sebastian Cabot are supposed, by similar theorists, to have derived knowledge of the Icelandic discovery through the English, and especially the Bristol trade with Iceland. These theories do not require further consideration here, since they have no bearing on the primitive history of the Wineland discovery.

The really important issue, which is raised by the paragraphs quoted, is the broader one of the credibility of the Icelandic records. These records, in so far as they relate to the discovery, disentangled from wild theories and vague assumptions, would seem to speak best for themselves, It is true that Icelandic historical sagas do differ from the historical works of other lands, but this difference is one of form. The Icelandic saga is peculiarly distinguished for the presentation of events in a simple, straightforward manner, without embellishment or commentary by the author. Fabulous sagas there are in Icelandic literature, but this literature is by no means unique in the possession of works both of history and romance, nor has it been customary to regard works of fiction as discrediting the historical narratives of a people which has created both. It is possible to discriminate these two varieties of literary creation in other languages, so is it no less possible in Icelandic. There is, indeed, no clear reason why the statements of an historical saga should be called in question, where these statements are logically consistent and collaterally confirmed.

The information contained in Icelandic literature relative to the discovery of America by the Icelanders, has been brought together here, and an attempt has been made to trace the history of each of the elder manuscripts containing this information. Inconsistencies have been noted, and discriminations made in the material, so far as the facts have seemed to warrant, and especially has an effort been made to avoid any possibility of confusion between expressions of opinion and the facts.

It is not altogether consistent with the plan of this book, to suggest what seems to be established by the documents which it presents, these documents being offered to bear witness for themselves, but a brief recapitulation of the conclusions to which a study of the documents has led may not be amiss, since these conclusions differ radically, in many respects, from the views advanced by Rafn and his followers, and are offered with a view to point further enquiry, rather than to supplant it.

The eldest surviving manuscript containing an account of the discovery of Wineland the Good, as the southernmost land reached by the Icelandic discoverers was called, was written not later than 1334. This, and a more recent manuscript containing virtually the same saga, present the most cogent and consistent account of the discovery which has been preserved. Many of the important incidents therein set forth are confirmed by other Icelandic records of contemporary events, and the information which this saga affords is simply, naturally and intelligibly detailed. This information is of such a character that it is natural to suppose it to have been derived from the statements of those who had themselves visited the lands described; it is not conceivable from what other source it could have been obtained, and, except its author was gifted with unparalleled prescience, it could not have been a fabrication. According to this history, for such it clearly is, Wineland was discovered by a son of Eric Thorvaldsson, called the Red, the first Icelandic explorer and colonist of Greenland. This son, whose name was Leif, returning from a voyage to Norway, probably not later than the year 1000, was driven out of the direct track to Greenland, and came upon a country of which he had previously had no knowledge. He returned thence to Greenland, and reported what he had found, and all ineffectual attempt was made soon after to reach this strange land again. A few years later one Thorfinn Thordarson, called Karlsefni, an Icelander, who, had recently arrived in Greenland, determined to renew the effort to find and explore the unknown country which Leif had seen. He organized an expedition and sailed away from Greenland toward the south-west. He first sighted a barren land, which, because of the large flat stones that lay strewn upon its surface, received the name of Helluland. Continuing thence, with winds from the north, the explorers next found a wooded land, to which they gave the name of Markland, from its trees, which, to these inhabitants of a treeless land, were a sufficiently distinguishing characteristic. Proceeding thence, they next described a coast-land, along which they sailed, having the land upon their starboard side. The first portion of this land-fall proved to be a long, sandy shore, but when they had followed it for some time, they found it indented with bays and creeks, and in one of these they stopped, and sent two of their company inland to explore the country. These explorers, when they returned, brought with them, the one a bunch of grapes, the other an ear of wild ["self-sown"] grain. They hoisted anchor then, and sailed on until they came to a bay, at the mouth of which was an island with strong currents flowing about it. They laid their course into the bay, and, being pleased with the country thereabouts, decided to remain there the first winter, which proved to be a severe one. In the following year, Karlsefni, with the greater portion of his company, continued the advance southward, halting finally at a river, which flowed down from the land into, a lake and thence into the sea. About the month of this river was shoal water, and it could only be entered at flood-tide; they proceeded up the river with their ship, and established themselves not far from the sea, and remained here throughout the second winter. There were woods here, and in low-lands fields of wild "wheat," and on the ridges grapes growing wild. Here for the first time they encountered the inhabitants of the country, to whom they gave the name of Skrellings, a name which seems to bear evidence of their opprobrium. In the spring after their arrival at this spot, they were visited for the second time by the Skrellings, with whom they now engaged in barter; their visitors, however, becoming alarmed at the bellowing of a bull, which Karlsefni had brought with him, fled to their skin-canoes and rowed away. For three weeks after this, nothing was seen of the natives; but, at the end of this interval, they returned in great numbers and gave battle to Karlsefni and his companions. The Skrellings filially withdrew, having lost several of their number, while two of Karlsefni's men had fallen in the affray. The explorers, although they were well content with the country, decided, after this experience, that it would be unwise for them to attempt to remain in that region longer, and they accordingly returned to the neighbourhood in which they had passed the first winter, where they remained throughout the third winter, and in the following spring set sail for Greenland.

In a manuscript written probably between 1370 and 1390, but certainly before the close of the fourteenth century, are two detached narratives which, considered together, form another version of the history of the discovery and exploration of Wineland. In this account the discovery is ascribed to one Biarni Heriulfsson, and the date assigned to this event is fixed several years anterior to that of Leif Ericsson's voyage; indeed, according to this account, Leif's voyage to Wineland is not treated as accidental, but as the direct result of Biarni's description of the land which he had found. This version differs further, from that already described, in recounting three voyages besides that undertaken by Leif, making in all four voyages of exploration--the first headed by Leif, the second by Leif's brother, Thorvald, the third by Karlsefni, and the fourth and last led by Freydis, a natural daughter of Eric the Red. This account of the discovery is treated at length, and certain of its inconsistencies pointed out in another place, and it is, therefore, not necessary to examine it more particularly here. The statement concerning the discovery of Wineland by Biarni Heriulfsson is not confirmed by any existing collateral evidence, while that which would assign the honour to Leif Ericsson is; moreover, beyond the testimony of this, the Flatey Book, version, there is no reason to believe that more than a single voyage of exploration took place, namely, that of Thorfinn Karlsefni. So far as the statements of this second version coincide with that of the first, there seems to be no good reason for calling them in question; where they do not, they may well receive more particular scrutiny than has been directed to them, hitherto, since the Flatey Book narrative is that which has generally been treated as the more important, and its details have, in consequence, received the greater publicity.

Especially has one of the statements, which appears in this second version, claimed the attention of writers, who have sought to determine from it the site of Wineland. Rafn, by the ingenious application of a subtile theory, succeeded in computing from this statement the exact latitude, to the second, of the southernmost winter-quarters of the explorers, and for nearly fifty years after its publication Rafn's method of interpretation remained essentially unassailed. In 1883, however, Professor Gustav Storm, of Christiana, propounded a novel, but withal a simple and scientific interpretation of this passage, which can hardly fail to appeal to the discernment of any reader who may not in advance have formed his conclusions as to where Wineland ought to have been. Professor Storm's method of interpretation does not seek to determine, from the passage the exact spot which the explorers reached (for which, it may be remarked, the passage does not afford sufficiently accurate data), but he is enabled by his process of reasoning to determine a limit, north of which Wineland could not have been, and this limit is approximately A90. A region not far removed to the southward of this latitude conforms sufficiently well to the description of the country, given in the narratives of the exploration, to serve to confirm Professor Storm's result, and also the relative accuracy of the mooted passage itself. It will be apparent from an examination of this author's treatise that it is not necessarily proven that Wineland may not have been situated to the southward of latitude 49°, but it would seem to be well-nigh certain that thus far south it must have been.

There is no suggestion in Icelandic writings of a permanent occupation of the country, and after the exploration at the beginning of the eleventh century, it is not known that Wineland was ever again visited by Icelanders, although it would appear that a voyage thither was attempted in the year 1121, but with what result is not known. That portion of the discovery known as Markland was revisited however, in 1347, by certain seamen from the Icelandic colony in Greenland.

It will be seen from this summary that the Wineland history is of the briefest, but brief as it is, it has been put in jeopardy no less by those who would prove too much, than by those who would deny all. It may not be unprofitable in the present aspect of the question to appeal to the records themselves.

ARTHUR M. REEVES.

BOOK 1. ARGUMENTS AND PROOFS THAT SUPPORT THE CLAIM OF NORSE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA

Chapter 1. Early Fragmentary References To Wineland

WINELAND the Good is first mentioned in Icelandic literature by the Priest Ari Thorgilsson, in a passage contained in his so-called Islendingabok [Icelanders' Book]. Ari, commonly called the Learned, an agnomen which he received after his death, was born in Iceland in the year 1067, and lived to the ripe age of eighty-one, acquiring a positive claim to the appellation "hinn gamli" [the Old, the Elder], which is once given him; in this instance, however, to distinguish him from another of the same name. Of Ari, the father of Icelandic historiography, the author of Heimskringla, the most comprehensive of Icelandic histories, says in the prologue to his work:

"The Priest Ari Thorgilsson the Learned, Gelli's grandson, was the first of men here in the land [Iceland] to write ancient and modern lore in the Northern tongue; he wrote chiefly in the beginning of his book concerning Iceland's colonization and legislation, then of the law-speakers (*), how long each was in office, down to the introduction of Christianity into Iceland, and then on to his own day. Therein he also treats of much other old lore, both of the lives of the kings of Norway and Denmark, as well as of those of England, as likewise of the important events, which have befallen here in the land, and all of his narrations seem to me most trustworthy. . . . It is not strange that Ari should have been well-informed in the ancient lore, both here and abroad, since he had both acquired it from old men and wise, and was himself eager to learn and gifted with a good memory."

(*) Lit. law-saying men, publishers of the laws. The office was introduced into Iceland contemporaneously with the adoption of the law code of Ulfliot, and the establishment of the Althing [Popular Assembly] in the year 930, and was, probably, modelled after a similar Norwegian office. It was the duty of the "law-sayer" to give judgment in all causes which were submitted to him, according to the common law established by the Althing. The "law-sayer" appears to have presided at the Althing, where it was his custom to regularly announce the laws. From this last, his most important, function called "law-saying" [logsaga], the office received its name. From the time of its adoption, throughout the continuance of the Commonwealth, the office was elective, the incumbent holding office for a limited period [three years] although he was eligible for reelection.

In the introduction to the Islendingabok, Ari says:

"I first composed an Islendingabok for our Bishops Thorlak [Thorlakr] and Ketil [Ketill], and showed it to them, as well as to Sæmund (Sæmundr) the Priest. And forasmuch as they were pleased [either] to have it thus, or augmented, I accordingly wrote this, similar in character, with the exception of the genealogy and lives of the kings, and have added that of which I have since acquired closer knowledge, and which is now more accurately set forth in this [the 'libellus'] than in that."

These words conjoined with the quoted statement concerning the character of the historian's work, and supplemented by references to Ari in other Icelandic writings, have given rise to a controversy as to the probable scope of Ari's literary activity. Whether the conclusion be reached that Ari was the author of several books, as has been claimed, or that the Islendingabok, which has perished, to which he refers in the words above quoted, was a much larger and more comprehensive work than the so-called Islendingabok which has been preserved to us, there seems to be abundant reason for the belief that all of Ari's historical material was by no means comprised in the only book of his now existing, about whose authorship there can be no room for dispute. Of this book, the so-called Islendingabok, the oldest manuscripts are two paper copies, of a lost parchment manuscript, belonging to the Arna-Magnæan Collection in the University Library of Copenhagen, which are known as 113 a and 113 b fol. At the end of 113 a, the scribe has written as follows:

"These 'Schedæ' and narratives of the priest Ari the Learned are copied from a vellum in his own hand, as men believe, at Villingaholt, by the priest John Ellindsson [Jon Erlendsson], Anno domini 1651, the next Monday after the third Sunday after Easter."

This John Erlendsson is known to have made transcripts of many of the sagas for Bryniolf [Brynjolfr] Sveinsson, Bishop of Skalholt. To this worthy bishop's literary ardour, and zeal in collecting the neglected treasures of his language, we owe the preservation of many manuscripts, which would, but for him, doubtless, have perished before the coming of the indefatigable collector, Arni Magnusson.

Bishop Bryniolf, unfortunately, left no heir interested in the preservation of his library, and his books were soon scattered. When Arni Magnusson visited Iceland, thirty years after the Bishop's death and ransacked the island for surviving manuscripts, the vellum of the Islendingabok, doubtless one of the oldest of Icelandic manuscripts, had entirely disappeared. Concerning the two paper copies of this vellum, which he succeeded in obtaining. Arni has inserted the following memorandum in the manuscript described at 113 b fol.:

"The various different readings noted here throughout in my hand, are taken from another copy [113 a,. fol.] written by the Rev. John Erlendsson in 1651. This was formerly the property of the Rev. Torfi Jonsson [Jons-son] of Bær, who inherited it from Bishop Bryniolf Sveinsson; I obtained it, however, from Thorlak, son of Bishop Thord [Thorlakr Pordarson]; it formed originally a portion of a large book, which I took apart, separating the treatises. This copy I have called "Codex B," signifying either "Baiensis," or the second., from the order of the letters of the alphabet. Concerning 'Codex B,' it is my conjecture that the Rev. John copied it first from the vellum; that Bishop Bryniolf did not like the copy [for this Codex is less exact than Codex A, as may be seen by comparing them] . . . wherefore the Rev. John made a new copy of the parchment manuscript, taking greater care to follow the original literally, whence it is probable that this Codex A was both the later and the better copy.

Both of the paper manuscripts "A" and "B" were written, it is believed, within the same year, and in each of them the paragraphs containing the reference to. Wineland are almost identical; the Icelandic name in 'W' being spelt Winland, in "B" Vinland, a clerical variation, devoid of significance. This paragraph, which is the sixth in Ari's history, is as follows:

"That country which is called Greenland, was discovered and colonized from Iceland. Eric the Red [Eirekr enn Rauthi] was the name of the man, an inhabitant of Breidafirth, who went out thither from here, and settled at that place, which has since been called Ericsfirth [Eiriksfiorthr]. He gave a name to the country, and called it Greenland, and said that it must persuade men to go thither, if the land had a good name. They found there, both east and west in the country, the dwellings of men, and fragments of boats, and stone implements, such that it may be perceived from these that that manner of people had been there who have inhabited Wineland, and whom the Greenlanders call Skrellings. And this, when he set about the colonization of the country, was XIV or XV winters before the introduction of Christianity here in Iceland, according to that which a certain man [lit. he], who himself accompanied Eric the Red thither, informed Thorkel Gellisson."

This mention of Wineland, which in itself may appear to be of little importance, acquires its greatest value from that which it leaves unsaid; for had Ari not known that his reference to Wineland and its inhabitants would be entirely intelligible to his readers, he would hardly have employed it, as he does, to inform his Greenland chronicle. This passing notice, therefore, indicates a general diffusion of the knowledge of the Wineland discoveries among Ari's contemporaries at the time when the paragraph was composed. The "libellus" [Islendingabok] was probably written about the year 1134, and we are accordingly apprised that at that time the facts concerning the Wineland discovery, upon an acquaintance with which Ari seems to rely, were notorious. It is impossible, however, to determine whether Ari presumed upon a knowledge derived from particulars, which he had himself previously published, or upon a prevalent acquaintance with the accounts of the explorers themselves. It is, at least, questionable whether Ari would have been content to presuppose such local historical knowledge if he had not already scaled it with his own authority elsewhere. Nor is the importance which he may have assigned to the Wineland discovery material to this view. He had set about writing a chronicle of his fatherland, and his passing allusion to Wineland, without a word of explanation, appears incompatible with the duty which he had assumed, unless, indeed, he had already dealt with the subject of the Wineland discovery in a previous work. Be this as it may, however, certain it is that Wineland has found further mention in two Icelandic works, which in their primitive form have been very generally accredited to Ari, namely the Landnamabok [Book of Sentiment] and the Kristni-Saga [the Narrative of the Introduction of Christianity into Iceland]. The first of these, in a passage already cited, expressly acknowledges Ari's share in the authorship. One manuscript of this work, from which the passage is taken [No. 371, 4to, in the Arna-Magnæan Collection], while it is the oldest extant manuscript containing the Landnamabok [now in an incomplete state] presents this in a later review of the original work, than that which is contained in the much more modern manuscript, AM. 107, fol. This latter manuscript, like the copy of Islendingabok, was written by the Rev. John Erlendsson for Bishop Bryniolf Sveinsson. Both of the references to Wineland in the Landnamabok occur incidentally in the course of the history, and are of the briefest. The first of these treats of the adventure of Ari Marsson [Mars-son]; it is to be found in Chapter 22, of the second part of the book, and is as follows:

". . . their son was Ari. He was driven out of his course at sea to White-men's-land [Hvitramanna-land], which is called by some persons Ireland the Great (*); it lies westward in the sea near Wineland the Good; it is said to he six "dœgra" sail west of Ireland; Ari could not depart thence, and was baptized there." The first account of this was given by Rafn who sailed to Limerick (**) [Hlimreksfari], and who remained for a long time at Limerick in Ireland. So Thorkel Geitisson states that Icelanders report, who have heard Thorfirm, Earl of the Orkneys (***) say, that Ari had been recognized there, and was not permitted to leave [ lit. could not leave], but was treated with great respect there.

(*) The sum of information which we possess concerning White-men's-land or Ireland the Great, is comprised in this passage and in the quotation from Landnáma. It does not seem possible from these very vague notices to arrive at any sound conclusion concerning the location of this country. Rafn concludes that it must have been the southern portion of the eastern coast of North America. Vigfusson and Powell suggest that the inhabitants of this White-men's-land were "Red Indians;" with these, they say, "the Norsemen never came into actual contact, or we should have a far more vivid description than this, and their land would bear a more appropriate title." Storm, in his "Studier over Vinlandsreiserne," would regard "Greater Ireland" as a semi-fabulous land, tracing its quasi-historical origin to the Irish visitation of Iceland prior to the Norse settlement. No one of these theories is entirely satisfactory, and the single fact which seems to be reasonably well established is that "Greater Ireland" was to the Icelandic scribes terra incognita.

(**) Rafn was distantly related to Ari Marsson and Leif Ericsson. His ancestor, Steinolf the Short, was the brother of Thorbiorg, Ari Marsson's grandmother, and through the same ancestor, Steinolf, Rafn was remotely connected with Thiodhild, Leif Ericsson's mother.

(***) By this Thorfinn, the second earl of that name, is probably meant, i. e., Thorfinn Sigurd's son. "He was the most powerful of all the Orkney earls. * * * Thorfinn was five years old when the Scotch king, Malcolm, his maternal grandfather, gave him the title of earl, and he continued earl for seventy years. He died in the latter days of Harold Sigurdsson," [ca. A. D. 10641.

The names of Ari Marsson's wife, and of his three sons are given in the same passage from which the quotation is made, and additional concurrent evidence is not wanting to serve to establish the existence of this man; any particulars, however, which might serve to enlighten this narrative, or aid in determining whence Rain and Earl Thorfirm derived their intelligence, are lacking. Without free conjectural emendation to aid in its interpretation, this description of Ari Marsson's visit to Ireland the Great is of the same doubtful historical value as a later account of another visit to an unknown land, to be considered hereafter.

The second reference to Wineland in the Landnamabok is contained in a list of the descendants of Snorri Head-Thord's son.

"Their son was Thord Horse-head, father of Karlsefni, who found Wineland the Good, Snorri's father," etc. A genealogy which entirely coincides with that of the histories of the discovery of Wineland, as well as with that of the episcopal genealogy appended to the Islendingabok. The Landnamabok contained no other mention of Wineland, but a more extended notice is contained in the work already named, which, in its present form, is supposed to retain evidence of the learned Ari's pen.

The Kristni-Saga, which is supplementary, historically, to the Landnamabok, is given in its entirety in AM. 105, fol. This is a paper copy of an earlier manuscript made by the same industrious cleric, John Erlendsson, for Bishop Bryniolf. A portion of the same history has also been preserved along with the detached leaves of the Landnamabok now deposited in the Arna-Magnæan Collection, No. 371, 4to. These fragments of the two, histories originally belonged to one work, the so called Hauk's Book, a vellum manuscript of the fourteenth century, hereafter to be more fully described. The history of the Wineland discovery is contained in the eleventh chapter of the printed edition of the Kristni-Saga, in the following words:

"That summer (*) King Olaf [Tryggvason] went from the country southward to Vindland [the land of the Wends]; then, moreover, he sent Leif Ericsson [Leifr Eiriksson] to Greenland, to proclaim the faith there. On this voyage [lit. then] Leif found Wineland the Good; he also found men on a wreck at sea, wherefore he was called Leif the Lucky."

(*) It is recorded in Icelandic Annals that King Olaf Tryggvason effected the Christianization of Halogaland in the year 999.

Of the same tenor as this brief paragraph of the Kristni-Saga, is a chapter in the Codex Frisianus [Frissbok], number 45, fol., of the Arna-Magnæan manuscripts. This Codex Frisianus, or, as it has been more appropriately called, the Book of Kings, is a beautifully written and well-preserved parchment manuscript of 124 leaves; it obtains its name from a former owner, Otto Friis, of Salling; it subsequently became the property of one Jens Rosenkranz, and next passed into the possession of Arni Magnusson. Friis' Book was, in all probabilities, written about the beginning of the fourteenth century; and if the conjectures as to its age are correct, it is, perhaps, the oldest extant Icelandic manuscript containing all account of the Wineland discovery. It is believed, from internal evidence, that the greater part of the Codex was written by an Icelander, in Norway, possibly for a Norwegian, and that the manuscript was never in Iceland. The early history of the Codex is not known. Certain marginal notes appear to have been inserted in the manuscript about the year 1550 by Lawman Laurents Hansson, and it is conjectured that the book was then owned in Bergen; fifty years later we find it in Denmark; for about the year 1600 a Dane, by the name of Slangerup, inserted his name upon a fly-leaf in the book, which leaf, Arni Magnusson tells us, was removed when he had the manuscript bound. This "Book of Kings," the saga of Olaf Tryggvason, in which the history of the discovery of Wineland occurs, follows closely the same saga as it was written in the two lost parchment manuscripts of the "Heimskringla," as we are enabled to determine from the copies of these lost vellums made by the Icelander, Asgeir Jonsson. It is not known whether the author of the "Heimskringla" had access; to the history of the Wineland discovery in some such extended form as that contained in Hauk's Book; indeed it has been suggested that he may only have been acquainted with the brief narrative of the Kristni-Saga; but certain it is, that his account of the discovery was not influenced by the version presented in the Flatey Book, which narrative appears in the first printed edition of the "Heimskringla," where it was interpolated by the editor, Johann Peringskiold. Similarly, any trace of the Flatey Book version of the discovery is lacking from Friis' Book, although the author of the saga of Olaf Tryggvason, therein contained, appears to have been acquainted with a somewhat more detailed account of Leif Ericssons' life than that afforded by the Kristni-Saga, if we may judge from his own language, as we find it in column 136, page 34 b, of the manuscript:

"WINELAND THE GOOD FOUND.

"Leif, a son of Eric the Red, passed this same winter, in good repute, with King Olaf, and accepted Christianity. And that summer, when Gizur went to Iceland, King Olaf sent Leif to Greenland to proclaim Christianity there. He sailed that summer to Greenland. He found men upon a wreck at sea and succoured them. Then, likewise, he discovered Wineland the Good, and arrived in Greenland in the autumn. He took with him thither a priest and other spiritual teachers, and went to Brattahlid to make his home with his father, Eric. People afterwards called him Leif the Lucky. But his father, Eric, said that one account should balance the other, that Leif had rescued the ship's crew, and that he had brought the trickster to Greenland. This was the priest."

Almost identical with the history of the discovery contained in Friis' Book is that of the so-called longer saga of Olaf Tryggvason. This saga, in its printed form, has been compiled from several manuscripts of the Arna-Magnæan collection, the most important of which is No. 61, fol., a codex dating from about the year 1400. This account is contained in the 231st chapter of the printed version as follows:

"King Olaf then sent Leif to Greenland to proclaim Christianity there. The king sent a priest and other holy men with him, to baptize the people there, and to instruct them in the true faith. Leif sailed to Greenland that summer, and rescued at sea the men of a ship's crew, who were in great peril and were clinging to [ lit. lay upon] the shattered wreckage of a ship; and on this same voyage be found Wineland the Good, and at the end of the summer arrived in Greenland, and betook himself to Brattahlid, to make his home with his father, Eric. People afterwards called him Leif the Lucky, but his father, Eric, said that the one [deed] offset the other, in that Leif had on the one hand rescued and restored the men of the ship's crew to life, while on the other he had brought the trickster to Greenland, for thus he called the priest."

In composition, doubtless, much more recent than the notices already cited, is a passage in the collectanea of Middle-age wisdom of the Arna-Magnæan Library. This manuscript contains fifty-two pages, part of which are in Icelandic and part in Latin, written between the years 1400-1450. From a slip in Arni Magnusson's hand, inserted in the collection, it appears that Arni obtained it from the Rev. Thorvald Stephensson in the year 1707. Whatever its condition may have been at that time, the parchment upon which it is written is now in a sad state of decay. In this respect page 10 of the vellum, upon the back of which the Wineland chirography is written, is Icelandic, is no exception; fortunately, however, the lacunae are so inconsiderable in this page that they may be readily supplied from that which survives, and the Wineland passage appears as follows:

"Southward from Greenland is Helluland, then comes [ lit. is] Markland; thence it is not far to Wineland the Good, which some men believe extends from Africa, and, if this be so, then there is an open sea flowing in between Wineland and Markland. It is said, that Thorfinn Karlsefni hewed a "house-neat-timber" (*) and then went to seek Wineland the Good, and came to where they believed this land to be, but they did not succeed in exploring it, or in obtaining any of its products (**). Leif the Lucky first found Wineland, and he then found merchants in evil plight at sea, and restored them to life by God's mercy; and he introduced Christianity into Greenland, which waxed there so that an episcopal seat was established there, at the place called Gardar. England and Scotland are one island, although each of them is a kingdom. Ireland is a great island. Iceland is also a great island [to the north of] Ireland. These countries are all in that part of the world which is called Europe."

(*)Lit. "house-neat-wood." May be rendered either brown, weather vane, or gable decoration of a house. That the names should have been used interchangeably for the similar object, in both house and ship, is the less remarkable, since we read of a portion of a ship's prow having been removed from a vessel and placed above the principal entrance of a house, that is, in some part of the gable-end of the dwelling.

(**)If the meaning is, as suggested in this passage, that the "house-neat" was hewed to the northward of Hóp, the only intelligible interpretation of the following clause would seem to be that although Karlsefni attained the region which corresponded with Leif's accounts of Wineland, he did not succeed, on account of the hostility of the natives which compelled him to beat a retreat, in accomplishing a thorough exploration of the country, nor was he able to carry back with him any of the products of the land.

In a fascicle of detached vellum fragments, brought together in AM. No. 736, 4to, there are two leaves containing, besides certain astronomical material, a concise geographical compilation. In this Wineland is assigned a location identical with that in the codex from which the quotation has just been made, and the notice of Wineland is limited to this brief statement:

"From Greenland to the southward lies Helluland, then Markland; thence it is not far to Wineland, which some men believe extends from Africa. England and Scotland are one island," etc.

While the reference to Wineland omits the account of Thorfin's visit and Leif's discovery, the language in which the location of the land is given, as well as the language of the context, has so great a likeness to that of 194, 8vo), that, although it was perhaps written a few years earlier, there seems to be a strong probability that each of the scribes of these manuscripts derived his material from a common source.

Somewhat similar in character to the above notices is the brief reference written in the vellum fragment contained in AM. 764, 4to,. This fragment comprises a so called "totius orbis brevis descriptio," written probably about the year 1400. Upon the second page of this "brief description" is the passage:

"From Biarmaland uninhabited regions extend from the north, until Greenland joins them. South from Greenland lies Helluland, then Markland. Thence it is not so far to Wineland. Iceland is a great island," etc.

Differing in nature from these geographical notices [but of even greater interest and historical value by reason of the corroborative evidence which it affords of certain particulars set forth in the leading narrative of the Wineland discovery] is the mention of Wineland contained in a chapter of the Eyrbyggja Saga [Saga of the People of Eyrr]. No complete vellum manuscript of this saga has been preserved. The eldest manuscript remnant of the saga consists of two leaves written about 1300; these leaves do not, however, contain that portion of the saga, with which we are concerned. Of another vellum codex containing this saga, which has entirely perished, we have certain knowledge. This was the so-called Vatnshyrna or Vatnshorn's Book, a manuscript which at one time belonged to the eminent Danish scholar, Peder Hans Resen, from whom it received the name by which it is sometimes cited, Codex Resenianus. It was bequeathed by Resen to the University Library of Copenhagen, where it was deposited after his death in 1688. It perished in the great fire of October, 1728, but fortunately paper copies, which had been made from it, survived the conflagration. The Vatnshorn Codex, it has been conjectured, was prepared for the same John Haconsson, to whom we are indebted for the great Flatey Book, and was, apparently, written about the year 1400, or, possibly, toward the close of the fourteenth century. The most complete vellum manuscript of the Eyrbyggja Saga now extant forms a part of the Ducal Library of Wolfenbuttel, purchased in the seventeenth century at a public sale in Holstein. This manuscript was probably written about the middle of the fourteenth century, and although the first third of the Eyrbyggja Saga has been lost from the codex, that portion of the history which contains the chapter referring to Wineland has been preserved, and is as follows:

"After the reconciliation between Steinthor and the people of Alpta-firth, Thorbrand's sons, Snorri and Thorleif Kimbi, went to Greenland. From him Kimbafirth (in Greenland), gets its name. Thorleif Kimbi lived in Greenland to old age. But Snorri went to Wineland the Good with Karlsefni; and when they were fighting with the Skrellings there in Wineland, Thorbrand Snorrason, a most valiant man, was killed."

The foregoing brief notices of Wineland, scattered through so many Icelandic writings, yield no very great amount of information concerning that country. They do afford, however, a clear insight into the wide diffusion of the intelligence of the discovery in the earlier saga period, and in every instance confirm the Wineland history as unfolded in the leading narrative of the discovery, now to be considered.