According to the Icelandic Annals the voyagers from Markland who came to Iceland in 1347, proceeded in the following year (1348) to Norway. This was no doubt with the idea of getting back to Greenland, as there was no sailing to that country from Iceland, and they would not trust their vessel on another ocean voyage. But in Norway, where they arrived at Bergen, they had a long while to wait. “Knarren,” the royal trading ship, seems to have been the only vessel that kept up communication with Greenland at that time. We know that “Knarren” returned to Bergen in 1346, and did not sail again until 1355. From a royal letter of 1354, which has been preserved, it appears that extraordinary preparations were made for the fitting-out and manning of this expedition, to prevent Christianity in Greenland from “falling away.” Perhaps the presence in Norway of these Markland voyagers from Greenland had something to do with the awakening of interest in that distant country, and perhaps it is not altogether impossible that the intention was not only to secure and strengthen the possessions in Greenland, but also to explore the fertile countries farther west. It cannot be remarked, however, that it brought about any change in the fading knowledge of these valuable regions, and we hear no more of them until their rediscovery at the close of the fifteenth century.
Norse ball-game in America
Ebbe Hertzberg, Keeper of the Public Records of Norway, has shown [1904, pp. 210, ff.] that there is a remarkable and interesting similarity between the game of lacrosse, which is played by the Indians of the north-east of North America, and the ancient Norse game, “knattleikr” (i.e., ball-game), so far as we know it from the sagas. It was greatly in favour in Iceland. If Hertzberg is right in his supposition that the Indians may have got this game from the Norsemen, this would lend strong support to the view that the latter had considerable intercourse with America and its natives.
According to Hertzberg’s acute interpretation of the accounts of “knattleikr” in the various sagas, it was played on a large level piece of ground (“leikvǫllr,” i.e., playing-ground), or on the ice, usually by many players. These were divided into two sides, in such a way that those most nearly equal in strength on each side were paired as opponents and stood near to each other, and the two teams were thus spread in pairs over the whole ground. Each player had a club with which he either struck or caught and “carried” the ball. The club had a hollow or a net in which the ball could be caught and lie. When the ball was set going, the game was for the one who was nearest to seize or catch it, preferably with his club, and to run off with it and try to “carry it out,” i.e., past a goal or mark; but in this his particular opponent tried to hinder him with all his strength and agility. The other players might not interfere directly in the struggle of the two opponents for the ball. If the one who had the ball was so hard pressed by his opponent that he had to give it up, he tried to throw it to one of his own side, who then again had to reckon with his own opponent in his attempt to “carry it out.” This game was much played by the Icelanders; it was apt to be rough, and men were often disabled, or even killed, by their opponents.
The game of Lacrosse among the Menomini Indians (after W. J. Hoffmann, 1896).
On the left, a “crosse,” about a yard long
Hertzberg shows how the Canadian Indians’ game of lacrosse, which has become the national game of Canada, completely resembles in all essentials this peculiar Norse ball-game from Iceland. The game of lacrosse is, as Professor Y. Nielsen has pointed out [1905], more widely diffused among the Indian tribes of North America than Hertzberg was aware. Dr. William James Hoffman[35] has described it among the Menomini Indians in Wisconsin, the Ojibwa tribe in northern Minnesota, the Dakota Indians on the upper Missouri, and among the Chactas, Chickasaws and kindred tribes farther south. Hoffmann also mentions that opponents are picked and that the game is played in pairs [1896, i. p. 132]. Among the Ojibwas, he says, the player who is carrying the ball is often placed hors de combat by a blow on the arm or leg; serious injuries only occur when the stakes are high, or when there is enmity between some of the players. Among the more southern tribes, on the other hand, the game is much more violent, the crosse is longer, made of hickory, and it is often sought to disable the runner. This, then, is even more like the Icelandic game.
Hoffmann thinks that the game is undoubtedly derived from one of the eastern Algonkin tribes, possibly in the valley of the St. Lawrence. Thence it reached the Huron Iroquois, and later it spread farther south to the Cherokees, etc. In a similar way it was carried westwards and adopted by many tribes. This then points to its having originated in just those districts where one would have expected it to come from, if it was brought by the Norsemen, as Hertzberg thinks. That the game is so widely diffused in America and has become so much a part of the Indians’ life, even of their religious life, shows that it is very ancient there, and this too supports Hertzberg’s assumption that it is derived from the Norsemen. It is true that Eug. Beauvois[36] has pointed out the possibility of the game having been introduced into Canada by people from Normandy after the sixteenth century; but before such an objection could carry weight, it would have to be made probable that the characteristic Norse game was really played in Normandy; but this is not known. In support of Hertzberg’s view it may also be adduced—a point that he himself has not noticed—that the Icelanders appear to have introduced the same ball-game to another American people with whom they came in touch, namely, the Eskimo of Greenland. Hans Egede [1741, p. 93] says:
“Playing ball is their most usual game, especially by moonlight, and they have two ways of playing: When they have divided themselves into two sides, one throws the ball to another who is on his own side. Those of the other side must endeavour to get the ball from them, and thus it goes on alternately among them....” (The other way of playing mentioned by Egede is more like football.)