[373]. The MS. translation at Stockholm reads “two Icelanders.”
[374]. Having studied probably at the University of Paris. Schröder gives the names of several Swedish students at the University of Paris as early as 1275. (De Universitate Parisiensi: Joh. Hen. Schröder.)
[375]. Valland, probably for Gaul-land, the Norse name for the west coast of France.
[376]. Verbon has not been identified.
[377]. Galicialand, the modern Galicia, the north-west corner of Spain.
[378]. Heathen Spainland must refer to the provinces then in possession of the Moors. The Saga of Sigurd the Jorsala-farer says that when he visited Lisbon, four years after the fall of King Magnus Barelegs (circa A.D. 1107), “there lies the division between Christian Spain and heathen Spain, and all the districts that lie west of the city are occupied by heathens”—meaning Moslems.
[379]. Njörfasund, the Straits of Gibraltar.
[380]. Serkland, or Saracen land—the north coast of Africa.
[381]. Dromones, originally used for long and swift ships, was in later times applied to the larger ships of war (Du Cange sub voce). In the early French romances it appears as “Dromons,” and “Dromont.” Matthew Paris, in his account of the crusading expedition of Richard I. of England (A.D. 1191) notices the capture of a Saracen ship—“navis permaxima quam Drómundam appellant.”—Hist. Angl. vol. ii. p. 23, Rolls Ed.
[382]. The tying of knots at the Jordan is also alluded to in the saga of Sigurd the Jorsala-farer. King Sigurd and his brother Eystein are “comparing each other’s exploits,” and Sigurd says:—“I went to Palestine, and I came to Apulia, but I did not see you there, brother. I went all the way to Jordan, where our Lord was baptized, and swam across the river; but I did not see thee there. On the edge of the river-bank there was a bush of willows, and there I twisted a knot of willows, which is waiting thee there; for I said this knot thou shouldst untie, and fulfil the vow, brother, that is bound up in it.” The tying of knots seems also to have had another meaning covertly alluded to in the stanzas.—(See the story of Gunnhild and Hrut in the Njáls Saga, p. 18.)