Erik the Red

When they made their voyages, honest commerce was generally in their minds quite as much as was plunder.

Leif, the son of that rough Red Erik who first settled Greenland, made a famous voyage to Vinland, the mainland of America.

Like so many other voyagers, he was bent on finding a region where men could live happily and on filling his boats with grapes, wood, or other commodities worth carrying home.

In view of the energy of the Norsemen, the traces of their presence in the Western Hemisphere are amazingly slight.

Towards the end of this Hakon's reign it was that the discovery of America took place, 985.

Actual discovery, it appears, by Eric the Red, an Icelander, concerning which there has been abundant investigation and discussion in our time.

Ginnungagap, Roaring Abyss, is thought to be miles of Bering Strait in Baffin's Bay.

Big Hallowland, the coast of Cape Walsingham to near Newfoundland.

And it is said that the bishop rewarded him liberally for it.

the flatey book was among a collection of vellum manuscripts entrusted to the care of tormod torfaius in sixteen sixty two as a present from bishop bryniulf to king frederick the third of denmark and thus luckily escaped the fate of others of the bishop's literary treasures in the royal library of copenhagen it has ever since remained where it is known as number one thousand five folio of the old royal collection interpolated in the saga of olaf tryggvason in the flatey book are two minor historical narratives the first of these in the order in which they appear in the manuscript is called a short story of eric the red the second a short story of the greenlanders although these short histories are not connected in any way in the manuscript being indeed separated by over fifty columns of extraneous historical matter they form if brought together what may be called the floddy book version of history of the wine-land discovery a version which varies materially from the accounts of the discovery as they have been preserved elsewhere before considering these points of difference it may be stated that as we have no certain knowledge where the flatey book was written neither have we any definite information concerning the original material from which the transcripts of these two narratives were made the original manuscripts of these narratives would appear to have shared a common fate with the other original forms from which the scribes of the flatey book compiled their work all of this vast congeries of early manuscripts has entirely disappeared.

This is the conclusion reached by that eminent authority, the late Dr. Vigfusen, whose profound knowledge of the written literature of the North was supplemented in the present instance by that close acquaintance which he had gained with the Flottie book by reason of his having transcribed the entire manuscript for publication.

this total disappearance of all trace of the archetypes of the flatey book although it is by no means the only case of the kind in the history of icelandic paleography is especially to be deplored in connection with the wine-land narrative since it leaves us without a clue which might aid us in arriving at a solution of certain enigmas which this narrative presents in the flaughty book version of the discovery it is stated that biarni herjulfsson during a voyage from iceland to greenland having been driven to the southward out of his course came upon unknown lands that following upon this and as the direct result of biarni's reports of his discoveries leif ericsson was moved to go in search of the strange lands which biarni had seen but not explored that he found these in due course first that land which biarni had seen last and finally the southernmost land to which after its products he gave the name of wineland This account differs entirely from the history contained in the other manuscripts which deal with this subject, all of which agree in describing the discovery to Leif Erikson, and unite in the statement that he found Wineland accidentally during a voyage from Norway to Greenland, which he had undertaken at the instance of King Olaf Tryggvason for the purpose of introducing Christianity to his fellow countrymen in Greenland.

not only is biarni's discovery unknown to any other icelandic writing now existing but the man himself as well as his daring voyage have failed to find a chronicler elsewhere although his father was a most distinguished man the grandson of a settler and a kinsman of the first icelandic colonist the first portion of the flatey book version the short story of eric the red concludes with the words biarni now went to his father gave up his voyaging and remained with his father during herjulf's lifetime and continued to dwell there after his father the second portion of this version of the wineland history the short story of the greenlanders begins with the words it is now next to this that biarni herlufsen came out from greenland on a visit to earl eric c as has already been stated the two portions of the history of the wineland discovery as they appear in the flatey book are not in any way connected with each other The first narrative occupies its appropriate place in the account of the life of King Olaf Tryggvason, as do the other narratives similar in character, which are introduced into this as into the other sagas in the manuscript.

And there appears to be no reason why the second narrative, a short story of the Greenlanders, should be regarded as having received treatment

Tyler Reddick here from 2311 Racing.

The king sent with him a priest and certain other holy men to baptize the folk and teach them the true faith.

He goes looking for what? He leaves Greenland for why? Where is he going?

So as you say, Erik the Red is one of those leading Scandinavians who leads the movement further westward from Iceland and from Norway to Greenland and founds this, at that point, furthest west colony of Scandinavia.

Never a lot of people in Greenland.

And that will be important in the Vinland story because there really aren't enough people there to sustain a significant further westward movement.

And what we then have, according to the sagas, are a series of westward adventurers who try to discover what these lands are about.

One of the leading members is Leif Erikson.

So he is son of Erik the Red.

He goes in the company of other children of Erik the Red.

For the Vikings, each horizon conquered, merely revealed another beyond it, and the restless spirit that had driven them from Scandinavian shores continued to pull certain adventurers ever westward across the cold Atlantic waters.

Among the Icelandic settlers, few names would become as legendary as Erik Thorvaldsen, better known to history as Erik the Red.

Born in Norway around 950 CE, Erik had come to Iceland as a young boy when his father was exiled for involvement in killings back in their homeland.

This pattern of seeking new lands following trouble would become something of a family tradition.

They exported walrus ivory and hides, polar bear furs, and other Arctic luxuries valued in European markets.

But Greenland represented only a waypoint in the westward progression of Norse exploration.

Erik the Red had sons who inherited his adventurous spirit, and among them was Leif Erikson, who would sail further west than any European before him, and set foot upon North American soil roughly 500 years before Columbus.

The story of how this came to pass involves another ship blown off course, a recurring theme in Norse exploration.