Chapter 2 of 4 · 3559 words · ~18 min read

PART II. DISCUSSION

1. Nature of the Evidence 88

2. Discrepancies of the Flatey Book 113

3. The Stories as History 147

4. Skrælings 173

5. The ‘Dægr’ and ‘Eyktarstad’ Problems 196

6. The Voyages. General Considerations 221

7. The Voyages in Detail: Bjarni, Leif, Thorvald 244

8. Karlsefni’s Expedition 261

9. Aftermath and Conclusion 282

BIBLIOGRAPHY 299

INDEX 301

INTRODUCTION

The study which has culminated in the production of the present volume had been pursued for a number of years, and the work itself was approaching completion, when the events of August 1914 necessitated its abandonment, while the writer was called away from literary tasks by the claims of active service. It is hoped, however, that the consequent delay has not been altogether regrettable. In the first place, it has enabled a fresh eye to be cast over what had previously been written, with the result that some modifications have been made, which are, it is hoped, an improvement. In the second place, the author found on his return that there had been during the interval considerable additions to the literature dealing with his subject. Worthy of special mention among works too recent to have been read before the outbreak of war are the monographs of Babcock (1913), Hovgaard (1915), and Steensby (1918); these with Finnur Jónsson’s important paper in the _Aarbog for Nordisk Oldkyndighed, &c._ for 1915, while they have not modified the views hereinafter expressed, have been deemed worthy of close consideration and have necessitated a considerable amount of re-writing: the minor works of Neckel (1913), Kolischer (1914), Bruun (1915), and Mr. Maurice Hewlett’s work of fiction based on these sagas under the title of _Gudrid the Fair_ (1917) also fall within the same period. The last-named book, while making no pretence to deal scientifically with the subject, has been of particular interest to the present writer, from the fact that its author comes to the same conclusion with regard to Karlsefni’s ultimate landfall as that advocated in these pages. The possibility of such an interpretation of the data supplied in the sagas is admitted, in a rather hesitating manner, in the _History of the State of New York_, by Yates and Moulton (1824); with this exception the writer has been unable to trace any other authority taking the view which he has independently formed. Yates and Moulton appear to have depended for their information on a translation from a Swedish book, Schröder’s _Om Skandinavernes fordna upptäcktsresor till Nord Amerika_ (Upsala, 1818), which seems to have been based exclusively on the version of the story contained in the Flatey Book; this does not by itself provide enough information to enable a definite conclusion to be formed.

In spite of a considerable bibliography, the early Norse voyages to America provide a still unexhausted field for investigation and discussion. So far are the authors who have dealt with the subject from reaching final and unchallenged conclusions that it may almost be said that each fresh commentator provides new matter for controversy. Apart from the fascinating problem of attempting to locate on the map the various parts of the American continent visited by the first explorers, the historic value of the evidence has been the subject of the most varied estimates, though it may be said that nowadays no student of the subject has remained completely sceptical. The relative importance to be attached to the different versions of the narrative has also been much debated, and will no doubt continue to be so, though on this point most recent critics will be found arrayed in the opposite camp to the present writer. As regards the precise situation of the Norse discoveries, most points from Northern Labrador and even Baffin’s Land to well down the Eastern coastline of the United States have their advocates, who by a judicious selection of the evidence have all managed to find something to say in favour of their respective points of view. In these circumstances it is felt that no apology is needed from one who has given the matter close and protracted study, if he ventures to add his quota to the discussion.

The topic is moreover one on which the man in the street—at any rate in England—stands in considerable need of enlightenment. There are probably few acknowledged historical facts on which the general public is more surprisingly ignorant. Considering that the available data compare favourably with what is known of the later discoveries of Cabot and Corte Real, it is regrettable to find, as any one will who takes the trouble to mention the matter to a dozen friends selected at random, that to most of them the fact that the Norsemen visited America is quite unknown, while by the remainder it is probably regarded as a vague legend, containing perhaps a kernel of truth, but to be ranked no higher than the Welsh tale of Madoc and similar insubstantial traditions.

When Dr. Nansen’s _In Northern Mists_ appeared, three allusions were made to it in _Punch_, the point of which was in every case that the eminent explorer had proved that the honour of the first discovery of America belonged to his compatriots. Of course, as a matter of fact, the proof was forthcoming long ago, and Dr. Nansen, so far from adding to it, is one of the most sceptical of the authorities dealing with the subject; but here, as is usually the case, our leading humorous paper has faithfully represented the views and the knowledge of the average educated man.

It is perhaps not altogether surprising that the circle of the initiated has been so restricted. The principal works dealing with the question, with very few exceptions, are either written in foreign tongues, or entombed in the pages of inaccessible scientific periodicals or in works mainly concerned with a wider field, or have been published so long ago that as the life of books goes nowadays the man in the street can hardly be expected to have read or to have remembered them. Reeves’ _Finding of Wineland the Good_, one of the likeliest books on the subject to have fallen into the hands of the general reader, is now more than twenty years old. How many books—other than standard classics—of a similar age, come under the eyes of members of the ordinary public?

It must be confessed, too, that a taste for Icelandic literature is not widely prevalent in this country. The man in the street, if the author’s experience of him is typical, does not find the method of story-telling which enthralled contemporary Icelandic audiences at all to his mind. He cannot stomach the long genealogies, on which no doubt the original reader or listener insisted in order that he might add to the story the flavour of personal interest arising from the inclusion of ancestors, friends, or acquaintances. He gets confused and irritated by names of unfamiliar sound, with uncouth nicknames attached, many of the former closely resembling one another. When he has at length managed to become engrossed in some thread of the story, he finds himself suddenly switched off to follow the fortunes of other characters, the previous mention of whom he had forgotten, and finally losing his bearings he throws the book down in disgust. The present writer has on this account considered carefully whether it would not have been better to transpose the two parts of this work, putting the translation last, but he feels that such an arrangement would be illogical, and would make the arguments used in discussing the question much more difficult to follow. As a sop to the indolent he has, however, marked in the table of contents the parts of the story dealing with the American discoveries, though he feels personally that those who skip the remainder will miss some very interesting matter, including the vivid description of the sibyl’s séance.

It is hoped that it is not doing the average Englishman an injustice to say that the word ‘saga’ generally conveys to his mind an utterly false idea. Very often he seems to think of a saga as poetry; almost invariably as romance. In view of this it is perhaps necessary to point out that almost all we know of the early history of Scandinavia, and all that we know in the cases of Iceland and Greenland, is derived from what can only be described as saga literature. Saga simply means story, originally a story told by word of mouth, often in the lifetime of those whose achievements it celebrated; and the great mass of the earlier sagas aimed at historical truth, not of course at the scientific accuracy of modern times, but at combining adherence to facts with the exigencies of picturesque narrative, like the Books of Kings or any early historical works. In fact, as will be indicated later on (Part II, Chapter I), the historical saga of Iceland compares favourably with the early history of most other countries, for a variety of reasons.

Probably the erroneous ideas current on the subject arise to some extent from what may be called the Morris tradition in translating sagas into English. The associations of the quaint language used in this convention are poetical and consequently romantic; the words are obsolete in modern prose, whereas the language of pure saga of the historical period is prosaic to the verge of baldness, the statement of facts so direct and terse as to be almost crude. Why then should we be told that men ‘hove into a cheapingstead’ rather than that they came to a market? Why should we have ‘hight’ for named, ‘mickle’ for much or many or great, ‘may’ for girl or maiden, ‘yeasay’ for consent, and so forth? It serves no purpose except to show that at some bygone period Scandinavian left its traces on the English language, and produces an idea of the character of the literature translated which is the very reverse of the true one.

What one should aim at reproducing in a translation—and particularly a translation with an historical purpose—is surely the effect produced on the audience for which the original was composed. It may be right in translating Homer to avoid crude modernism, for Homer was archaic to the people of any known historical period, but when we have one Icelander telling another how his grandfather or even his nearer contemporary fared at the hands of other men living under precisely the same conditions as the listener, surely it is wrong to make use of English calling insistently and continually for the help of a glossary.

Now, whether or no the present writer can be successful in popularizing any Icelandic translation, to those who complain, as some may, that his rendering is crudely modern, he replies that such is his deliberate intention, for so it seems to him did the old Icelanders tell their plain unvarnished tales. Art there was no doubt, in the arrangement of the story, an art which kept in mind the demands of the contemporary audience and which would in all probability have been modified to captivate a different taste. But the diction is throughout more straightforward, realistic, and unadorned than any other to be met with in literature. And as this treatment seems appropriate to the narration of historical facts, so as to bring conviction to the mind of the hearer, the author has perhaps even gone too far in his desire to emphasize this characteristic.

In one respect he has certainly taken a liberty. The incidental impromptu verses which are incorporated in sagas would, in a literal rendering, be almost as incomprehensible as in the original Icelandic. Nearly every phrase, according to the convention of the time, involves a riddling circumlocution, something like Samson’s ‘Out of the eater came forth meat’. For example, the hymn of Herjulf’s Hebridean companion, a verse of which is given in the chapter on Bjarni, would read in a literal translation somewhat as follows:—

‘I pray the blameless monk-trier to assist my travels, may the lord of the high hall of the earth hold over me the hawk’s perch.’ Here ‘the blameless monk-trier’ is God, who tries the hearts of good men, ‘the high hall of the earth’ is the sky or heaven, and—most obscure of all—‘the hawk’s perch’ is the hand, an allusion to falconry. Only after unravelling these riddles does one arrive at the true meaning—‘Sinless God, who triest the hearts of thy saints, guide my wanderings; Lord of heaven, hold thy hand over me and so protect me.’ This ultimate meaning has been here paraphrased metrically, sacrificing the characteristics of early Scandinavian verse in the interests of a clear and intelligible historical narrative. And in the same way the translations of other incidental verses aim at reproducing the effect on the mind of an intelligent listener, rather than the mere words which produced that effect. Apart from these cases, the writer, while allowing himself a certain amount of freedom in passages upon which nothing turns, has sacrificed every other consideration to literalness where any argument may depend on the text.

A word or two remains to be said about the arrangement adopted. As the reader will discover, the material is provided by three texts,[1] embodying two independent versions which are in some cases difficult to reconcile. The aim has been to present a consecutive narrative drawn from all these sources indifferently. In only one case, however, has the order of events as given in any version been consciously interfered with. The Saga of Eric the Red, and Hauk’s Book—which, as will be seen, is substantially the same version—both begin with a chapter in which the only relevant name is that of Thorbjörn Vifilson, which appears in the concluding sentence. The object of the chapter is to introduce this character, whose daughter, Gudrid, may be described as the heroine of the story.

But this object is likely to be defeated with an English audience if the chapter is kept in its original position. For the saga, having just mentioned Thorbjörn, turns off characteristically to deal with Eric the Red and the colonization of Greenland, so that by the time Thorbjörn is introduced again the reader is likely to have forgotten all about him. It has consequently been thought better to begin with Eric and his wanderings, following this up with the description of Bjarni Herjulfson’s voyage and discoveries from the Flatey Book, which are intimately connected with Eric’s colonization of Greenland both in date and circumstances. The author has then reverted to the actual beginning of the saga, connecting thus in one coherent narrative all parts of the story dealing with Thorbjörn Vifilson. Having brought this character and his daughter to Eric’s new home in Greenland, the original saga and the present edition alike turn to Leif Ericson, and describe his voyage to the court of Olaf Tryggvason in Norway. Inasmuch as the ‘accidental’ version of Leif’s discovery of America is incompatible with the introduction into the main story of the fuller account in the Flatey Book, the former has been relegated to the appendix and the latter incorporated in the principal text. It will be seen from the chapter on the Flatey Book that this is in the author’s opinion the most accurate historical treatment, but this is not the motive of his action. Whether the Flatey Book be right or wrong in ascribing Leif’s journey to a deliberate project, it contains by far the fullest account of his expedition, and for this reason merits a place in the main course of the story. But it cannot be included without excluding—or removing to a note or appendix—anything which conflicts with it. In the same way an account of the death of Thorvald Ericson which conflicts with the version of the Flatey Book has been taken out of the main text, and the fuller narrative substituted.

In every case, however, where an alternative version of any incident or episode exists, care has been taken to give it in the appendix, so that the reader may have all the material available for forming his own views on the question. Nothing is altogether omitted. The effect of what has been done is to provide a consecutive narrative, containing a fuller account of the Wineland voyages than is comprised in any one version, which may be summarized as follows:—

Eric the Red and his father come to Iceland. The latter dies. Eric marries: Leif is born. Eric makes the country too hot to hold him, and explores and colonizes Greenland. He is accompanied by one Herjulf, whose son, Bjarni, making an attempt to join him, is driven accidentally to America, whence he eventually returns to Greenland. Many years elapse during which we may suppose Leif Ericson to be growing up. During the interval we return to Iceland, and follow the fortunes of Thorbjörn Vifilson and his daughter Gudrid, up to the time when they too emigrate to Greenland. Next comes Leif’s voyage to Norway and his conversion, followed by his voyage of exploration in America and his rescue of Gudrid among others from shipwreck, somewhere on the Greenland coast. This is followed by Thorvald Ericson’s expedition and death, his brother Thorstein’s unsuccessful venture, the marriage of the latter to Gudrid and his death, and then by the arrival of Karlsefni in Greenland, his marriage to Gudrid, and his voyage to Wineland with his wife and companions. Last of all, we hear of another voyage to the new country under the auspices of Freydis, the illegitimate daughter of Eric the Red.

It is hoped that this connecting up of the material into one harmonious story couched in ordinary phraseology may render it more palatable to the general public than a more scientific treatment might prove, while those whom this volume entices deeper into the problems of this fascinating subject will find alternative readings and versions of the story included, without being unduly obtruded.

The writer, in fact, while submitting his views to the consideration of those who have studied the question, hopes especially that some members of the general public may find the subject take hold of them in precisely the same way in which it captivated him, now several years ago. First, interest in the story, the bare text without unnecessary note or comment; secondly a conviction of its historical accuracy in main features; thirdly an interest in the problems and discussions which it has evoked. Doubtless some will part company at each of these three stages, but if such parts of the book as they have not skipped have awakened in them any interest, the author’s task will not have been undertaken in vain.

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY

870. Ingolf comes to Iceland.

938. Birth of Thorgrim, father of Snorri Godi.

_c._ 950. Conjectural date of birth of Eric the Red.

963. Birth of Snorri Godi.

982. Eric’s first exploration of Greenland.

986. Foundation of the Greenland colony. Bjarni discovers America.

999. Leif arrives in Norway. His conversion.

1000. Christianity established in Iceland. Leif converts Greenland. Death of Olaf Tryggvason. Bjarni in Norway with Eric Jarl.

1001. Bjarni returns to Greenland.

1002. Leif discovers Wineland.

1003. Leif returns. Death of Eric the Red? and Thori, first husband of Gudrid.

1004. Thorvald’s expedition.

1006. Death of Thorvald.

1007. Return of Thorvald’s expedition.

1008. Thorstein’s expedition and death.

1009. Gudrid returns to Brattahlid.

_c._ 1018. Olaf the Holy sends Rörek to Leif Ericson.

_c._ 1019. Karlsefni arrives in Greenland.

_c._ 1020. Karlsefni marries Gudrid. They sail to Straumsfjord. Snorri born.

_c._ 1023. Return of Karlsefni.

_c._ 1024. Freydis’ voyage.

_c._ 1055. Mean date of birth of Snorri’s children.

1067. Birth of Ari the Learned. Adam of Bremen director of Bremen Cathedral School.

1076. Death of Svein Estridson, informant of Adam of Bremen.

1085. Birth of Bishop Thorlak, grandson of Snorri Karlsefnison.

1121. Eric, Bishop of Greenland, sails for Wineland.

1133. Death of Bishop Thorlak.

1148. Death of Ari the Learned.

1162. Death of Bishop Björn, Karlsefni’s great-grandson.

1163. Ordination of Bishop Brand I.

1201. Death of Bishop Brand I.

1285. New land discovered west of Iceland.

1294. Royal edict making trade with Greenland, &c. a crown monopoly.

1299. Hallbera appointed abbess of Reynisness.

1334. Death of Hauk.

1347. A ship from Markland reported in Icelandic Annals.

1370–1387. Compilation of the Flatey Book.

GENEALOGICAL TABLE