Saga of the Greenlanders facts for kids
The Grœnlendinga saga (also known as the Saga of the Greenlanders) is an old Icelandic story. It tells about the Vikings exploring and trying to settle in North America around the year 1000. This saga, along with the Saga of Erik the Red, is one of the main sources of information about these early journeys. The story was written down in a book called Flateyjarbók in the late 1300s.
The Saga of the Greenlanders begins with Erik the Red, who moves from Norway and starts a settlement in Greenland. After that, it describes six different trips to North America. These trips were led by Bjarni, Leif, Thorvald, Thorstein and his wife Gudrid, Karlsefni, and Freydís. Bjarni and his crew accidentally found three new lands while sailing to Greenland, but they never went ashore. Leif heard about Bjarni's discoveries. He bought Bjarni's ship and sailed to explore these lands himself. Leif named the three lands Helluland, Markland, and Vinland.
Later, Thorvald, Leif's brother, sailed to Vinland. He lived there until he was killed by the native people in a fight. Thorstein and Gudrid tried to go to Vinland but failed, and Thorstein died from an illness. Karlsefni, who then married Gudrid, traveled to Vinland and stayed there for a winter. The last trip was made by Freydís. She sailed to Vinland with two brothers, Helgi and Finnbogi. Sadly, she ended up killing their crew and then returned to Greenland.
Historians have discussed when this saga was written. Some think it was around the early 1200s, while others believe it was later, in the late 1200s or even the 1300s. People have also tried to figure out how true the expedition stories are. They often compare this saga with the Saga of Erik the Red. Most experts now agree that even though some parts of the saga are made up, much of it seems to be based on real events.
Contents
The Story of the Greenlanders Saga
Settling Greenland
Erik the Red moved from Norway to Iceland with his father, Thorvald Asvaldsson. They left Norway to avoid trouble after Erik's father was involved in a killing. In Iceland, Erik married Thjodhild.
Later, Erik got into another fight and was declared an outlaw. This meant he had to leave Iceland. He decided to search for a land that Gunnbjorn had seen by accident during a trip west.
Erik sailed from Iceland and reached the icy coast of Greenland. He then sailed south, looking for places where people could live. After exploring for two years, he went back to Iceland. He told everyone about his discoveries and called the land Greenland. He gave it this name to make it sound appealing and attract settlers.
After spending the winter in Iceland, Erik set sail again to start a colony in Greenland. He had 30 ships, but only 14 of them made it to Greenland. Erik started a settlement at Brattahlid in the southwest part of the island. He became a respected leader there. Erik and Thjodhild had three sons: Leif, Thorvald, and Thorstein. They also had a daughter named Freydis.
Bjarni's Accidental Journey
A man named Bjarni Herjólfsson used to spend every other winter in Norway and the other in Iceland with his father. One summer, when he arrived in Iceland, he found out his father had moved to Greenland. Bjarni decided to follow him there. He knew it would be a risky trip because neither he nor his crew had ever sailed in Greenland's waters.
After sailing for three days from Iceland, Bjarni's ship ran into bad weather. There were strong north winds and thick fog, and he lost his way. After several days of storms, the sun finally came out. Bjarni then reached a land covered in trees. He realized it was not Greenland. Bjarni decided not to go ashore and sailed away.
Bjarni found two more lands, but none of them matched the descriptions he had heard of Greenland. Even though his sailors were curious, he did not let them go ashore. Eventually, his ship reached Greenland, and Bjarni settled in Herjolfsnes.
The story of Bjarni's voyage is only found in the Saga of the Greenlanders. The Saga of Erik the Red does not mention Bjarni. Instead, it gives Leif the credit for discovering these new lands.
Leif's Expedition to Vinland
Leif Eriksson became very interested in Bjarni's discoveries. He bought a ship from Bjarni. Leif hired a crew of 35 people and asked his father, Erik, to lead a trip to the west. Erik was not eager to go, saying he was too old. But Leif eventually convinced him.
As Erik rode his horse to the ship, his horse stumbled, and Erik fell. He hurt his foot. Erik saw this as a bad sign. He said, "It is not meant for me to discover more countries than the one we live in now." So, Leif led the expedition instead.
Leif and his crew sailed from Brattahlid. They found the same lands Bjarni had seen earlier, but in the opposite order. First, they came to a land covered in ice. They stepped ashore but found it was not interesting. Leif named this country Helluland, which means Stone-slab land. They then sailed further and found a forested land with white shores. Leif named it Markland, meaning Wood land, and sailed on.
Leif sailed for two more days with a north-easterly wind. He then found a new land that looked very inviting. They decided to stay there for the winter. The land was so good, they thought, that cattle would not need to be fed indoors in winter. There was no frost in winter, and the grass hardly withered. Day and night were more equal than in Greenland or Iceland.
As Leif and his crew explored the land, they found grapes. Because of this, Leif named the country Vinland, which means Wine land. In the spring, the expedition sailed back to Greenland. Their ship was full of wood and grapes. On the way home, they found and rescued a group of Norsemen whose ship had been wrecked. After this, Leif was called Leif the Lucky.
Thorvald Explores Further
Everyone in Brattahlid talked a lot about Leif's voyage. Thorvald, Leif's brother, thought that Vinland had not been explored enough. Leif offered him his ship for a new trip there, and Thorvald accepted. Thorvald sailed with a crew of 30 people. He arrived in Vinland at the same place where Leif had set up camp. They stayed there for the winter and survived by fishing.
In the spring, Thorvald went exploring and sailed to the west. They found no signs of people living there, except for one small building for storing grain. They returned to their camp for the winter. The next summer, Thorvald explored the east and north parts of their camp. At one point, the explorers landed in a pleasant area with trees.
Thorvald said, "It is beautiful here, and I would like to build my home here." Then they went back to the ship. On the sands near a cape, they saw three small hills. They went there and saw three skin boats (canoes), with three men under each. They split their group and caught all but one man, who escaped in his boat. They killed the other eight men. Then they went back to the cape and looked around. They saw some high places further inland and thought these might be homes.
The native people, called Skraelings by the Norsemen, returned with a larger group to attack Thorvald and his men. The Skraelings threw weapons at them for a while and then left. Thorvald was badly wounded and died. He was buried in Vinland. His crew then returned to Greenland.
Thorstein's Unsuccessful Trip
Thorstein Eriksson decided he wanted to go to Vinland. The same ship was prepared again. Thorstein set sail with a crew of 25 and his wife, Gudrid. However, the expedition never reached Vinland. After sailing all summer, the ship ended up back on the coast of Greenland.
During the winter, Thorstein became sick and died. Before he died, he told his wife Gudrid what would happen in her future. He predicted that Gudrid would marry an Icelander and have many "promising, bright, and fine" children. Thorstein also said she would leave Greenland for Norway, and from there, she would go to Iceland. He foresaw that she would live a long life and outlive her husband. Thorstein predicted that after her husband passed away, she would travel abroad again, going south on a religious journey. Then she would return to her farm in Iceland. When she returned, a church would be built, and she would become a nun and stay there until she died.
Karlsefni's Journey and Trade
A ship arrived in Greenland from Norway. It was commanded by Thorfinn Karlsefni, a wealthy man. He stayed with Leif Eriksson for the winter and fell in love with Gudrid. They got married later that same winter. Karlsefni was encouraged by his wife and others to lead a trip to Vinland. He agreed to go and hired a crew of sixty men and five women. The expedition arrived at Leif's and Thorvald's old camp. They stayed there for the winter in good conditions.
The next summer, a group of Skraelings came to visit. They were carrying animal skins to trade. The Skraelings wanted weapons in return, but Karlsefni told his men not to trade weapons. Instead, he offered the Skraelings dairy products, and the trade was successful.
Near the beginning of their second winter, the Skraelings came again to trade. This time, one of Karlsefni's men killed a Skraeling who tried to grab Norse weapons. The Skraelings ran away. Karlsefni feared that the native people would return, angry and in larger numbers. He made a plan for the coming battle. The Skraelings did come back, and the Norsemen managed to fight them off. Karlsefni stayed there for the rest of the winter. He returned to Greenland the following spring. During their time in Vinland, Karlsefni and Gudrid had a son, Snorri.
Freydis's Treacherous Expedition
Freydís Eiríksdóttir, Erik the Red's daughter, suggested a trip to Vinland with two brothers, Helgi and Finnbogi. She offered to share the profits equally. After the brothers agreed, Freydis asked her brother Leif if she could use the houses he had built in Vinland. Leif said she could borrow them, but she could not own them.
The agreement between Freydis and the brothers was that each group could have no more than 30 men on board, plus women. This was to make sure neither side had an unfair advantage. However, Freydis quickly tricked her partners by bringing 5 extra men.
The brothers arrived in Vinland a little earlier and unloaded their belongings into Leif's house. When Freydis saw what they had done, she immediately made them move their things out. So, the brothers built their own longhouse. After a winter of small arguments, Freydis woke up early one morning to speak with the brothers. Finnbogi was the only one awake, and he came out to hear what Freydis had to say.
Finnbogi explained that he disliked the bad feelings between the two groups. He hoped to make things better with Freydis. She agreed and offered a trade. The brothers wanted to stay in Vinland, but Freydis was ready to go home. She suggested they trade ships. The brothers had a much larger ship than she did, and it would be better for bringing back her people and her half of the profits. Finnbogi agreed to this, and they parted ways.
Once Freydis returned home, she woke her husband, Thorvard. He asked where she had been. She told him a story that was very different from what actually happened. She said she offered to buy the brothers' ship, but they became angry. Freydis then threatened to divorce Thorvard until he agreed to get revenge for her.
Thorvard took his men and began tying up all the men from the other camp in a surprise attack while they were still sleeping. Freydis had each man killed on the spot if they belonged to Finnbogi and Helgi's crew. Freydis told everyone involved that anyone who spoke a word about what happened would be killed. The plan was to say that the brothers chose to stay behind in Vinland when Freydis returned to Greenland.
Once back home, Freydis returned to the farm. She made sure her crew was well rewarded for the trip to Vinland. This was to keep them quiet about her terrible actions. Nevertheless, Leif eventually heard about what had happened and became very angry. He predicted "that their descendants will not get on well in this world."
The Saga's Conclusion
Karlsefni made a good profit from his journeys west. He later settled in Iceland with his wife and son. Their descendants include some of the earliest Icelandic bishops. The saga ends by trying to show that it is a true story: "Karlsefni has accurately related to all men the occurrences on all these voyages, of which somewhat is now recited here."
About the Saga's Creation
The Saga of the Greenlanders is actually a combination of two shorter stories. These stories were added into a larger saga called the Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason, which is found in the Flateyjarbók manuscript. The two shorter tales, The Tale of Eric the Red and The Tale of the Greenlanders, are separated by many pages in the original book. However, they are usually put together and translated as one saga.
When Was It Written?
Before the mid-1900s, most experts thought the Saga of the Greenlanders was written in the 1300s. This was much later than the Saga of Erik the Red, another important Icelandic story about the Norse in North America. For example, in 1940, Dag Strömbäck suggested that the Saga of the Greenlanders was mostly based on oral traditions (stories told by mouth). He also thought its writing style seemed more modern than sagas from the 1200s.
However, in 1956, Jón Jóhannesson suggested a new idea. He believed the Saga of the Greenlanders was actually the older version of the story of Norse colonization, dating it to around 1200. Jóhannesson looked at the family trees (genealogies) of Karlsefni and Gudrid that are included near the end of both sagas. He noticed that the author of the Saga of Erik the Red called one of their descendants, Bishop Brandr, "Bishop Brandr the First." But the author of the Saga of the Greenlanders simply said "Bishop Brandr."
There were two descendants of Karlsefni and Gudrid named Bishop Brandr. One lived from 1163 to 1201, and the younger one lived from 1263 to 1264. Jóhannesson argued that calling the older Bishop Brandr "the First" in the Saga of Erik the Red was to tell him apart from the younger bishop. This would mean that the Saga of Erik the Red could not have been written before 1264. However, the Saga of the Greenlanders was likely written earlier because its author did not need to make such a difference.
Also, Jóhannesson pointed out that the mention of Leif's stay in Norway in the Saga of Erik the Red was mainly based on the Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason, written around 1200. But the Saga of the Greenlanders did not seem to be influenced by this famous work. This suggested that the Saga of the Greenlanders was older than the Saga of Erik the Red.
Later, in 1978, Ólafur Halldórsson argued that the two Icelandic sagas were written independently in the early 1200s. He believed that Jóhannesson's ideas were debatable. Halldórsson said that the fact that the Saga of the Greenlanders did not depend on the Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason was not enough proof that it was written earlier.
However, Helgi Þorláksson in 2001 suggested that the Saga of the Greenlanders could actually be the younger of the two sagas, possibly from the 1300s. This idea matched the older view from before 1956. Þorláksson noted that the person who put together Hauksbók (a book from the early 1300s that included the Saga of Erik the Red) did not include the Saga of the Greenlanders. This was despite his great interest in Greenland. Þorláksson thought this might mean the compiler "simply did not know of" the saga. This would suggest that the Saga of the Greenlanders might not have been written by the time Hauksbók was created.
Furthermore, in the Saga of the Greenlanders, after Bjarni discovered Vinland and arrived in Norway, he told his story to Earl Eiríkr. Þorláksson believed this Earl Eiríkr was actually King Eiríkr, who ruled Norway in the late 1200s. If this is true, then the Saga of the Greenlanders could not have been written earlier than that time.
How True is the Saga?
Experts have long discussed how true and historical the stories in the Saga of the Greenlanders are. The saga mainly relied on stories passed down by word of mouth. It is generally agreed that the saga should not be seen as a completely accurate historical record. Some parts of the saga, like when Thorstein tells Gudrid her future, suggest that the author added made-up elements. These parts were probably meant to make the saga more entertaining for people back then.
Descriptions of Gudrid's life in the saga have also been checked for truthfulness. Ólafur Halldórsson argued in 1986 that the story of how Gudrid first appeared in Greenland was completely made up, even though she plays a very important role in the saga. Also, Helgi Þorláksson pointed out that near the end of the saga, it says Gudrid became a nun and lived as a hermit at Glaumbær in Skagafjörðr. But in reality, the nunnery mentioned was built in a different place called Reynisnes.
Comparing it to the Saga of Erik the Red
Before Jón Jóhannesson's paper in 1956, people thought the Saga of the Greenlanders was less accurate than the Saga of Erik the Red because it relied more on oral traditions. After Jóhannesson suggested that the Saga of the Greenlanders might be older, many people started to think it was more factual and that the Saga of Erik the Red borrowed parts from it.
The story in the Saga of Erik the Red about Leif visiting Norway and then spreading Christianity in Greenland under King Óláfr is believed to be made up by a monk named Gunnlaugr Leifsson. Early historical records show that neither King Óláfr nor Leif seemed to have actually converted Greenlanders. Since the Saga of the Greenlanders does not have this story, it seems more reliable than the Saga of Erik the Red.
Because of this, it seems unlikely that Leif was the first to discover Vinland. In the Saga of Erik the Red, Leif supposedly found Vinland during his trip from Norway to Greenland. Instead, Bjarni in the Saga of the Greenlanders might have been the true discoverer. Some people thought this idea was supported by the Vinland Map, which was supposedly made around 1440 and mentioned Bjarni's discovery of Vinland. However, the map has since been proven to be a fake.
Another important difference between the two sagas is their different versions of Erik's fall from his horse and injuring his foot before his voyage. In the Saga of the Greenlanders, Erik decides not to go on the journey because he sees his fall as a bad sign. But in the Saga of Erik the Red, Erik says his fall was because he was hiding a treasure chest. Sven B. F. Jansson argued that this difference shows how the Saga of the Greenlanders "preserves an older way of thinking."
However, in 2001, Helgi Þorláksson offered a different view from Jóhannesson's. Þorláksson noted that Gudrid's religious trip to Rome was mentioned in the Saga of the Greenlanders but not in the Saga of Erik the Red. This, along with the mention of Glaumbær instead of Reynisnes as Gudrid's home in her later years, led Þorláksson to conclude that the Saga of Erik the Red was "closer to more original oral traditions" than the Saga of the Greenlanders.
Images for kids
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Das Haus des Glockenspiels in Bremen's Böttcherstraße displays this Leif and Karlsefni panel of 10 from Bernhard Hoetger's 1934 "ocean-crossing" set
See also
In Spanish: Saga Grœnlendinga para niños
