The lands of silence

by Sir Clements R. Markham

The people of Iceland were divided, but the adherents of Erik the Red were the weakest. When the Court met at Thorsness-thing, in spite of the efforts of his friends, Erik and his people were condemned to outlawry.

The South-Western Extremity of Greenland, showing the Norse Settlement of EAST BYGD

While Erik was concealed from his enemies who were seeking for him, a ship was equipped by his friends, for he had resolved to go in search of land which Gunnbjörn, son of Ulf the Crow, reported that he had seen. Erik, with his family and people, sailed out to sea from Sneefells Jokul, and the famous voyage began, in the year 983. Sailing westward, the adventurers rounded Hoitserkr, as they called Cape Farewell, and the south-west coast of Greenland was discovered, known afterwards as the East Bygd.

The wanderers found that they had reached a land with a climate like that of Iceland. The great ice current, flowing down the east coast of Greenland and diverted by the Gulf Stream, sweeps round Cape Farewell and is closely packed along this shore until late in the season. Almost the whole coast, with numerous islands and entrances to the deep fjords, may be taken in at a glance from Cape Farewell, or at least from Cape Christian to Cape Desolation. It comprises the whole of the ancient colony of the East Bygd. Great precipices face the sea, with black mountains, 3000 to 4000 ft. high, rising above them. Here and there, between them, a glimpse is caught of the glistening inland ice. Between the rocks and precipices the openings to the six deep fjords can be made out, which penetrate from 30 to 40 miles inland. The fjords, when frozen over in the winter, are colder than the sea coast, but they are warmer in summer, and there is then a rich vegetation. Groves of willows 8 feet high and of birch trees 14 feet high, rising out of thick beds of juniper, angelica, alchemilla, and several berries well known to the Norsemen, give beauty to the shores of the inner creeks. Nor is suitable pasture wanting for cattle and sheep. It might well receive the name of Greenland, as Erik saw it and named it, in the height of summer.

Erik wintered on an island called by his name, and devoted the next summer season to exploration. Thus they passed three winters, with the intervening exploring seasons. Finally he selected a place far up the Einarsfjord (Igalliko) for his homestead. It was named Brattahlid because it was under a steep hill side.

Erik resolved to found a Greenland colony; he therefore returned to Iceland and wintered under the protection of a powerful friend named Ingulf the Strong, at Holmslatr, on the south side of Hoamms-fjord. In the spring he began to organise his expedition to form a settlement in the new land. Many friends and adherents accepted the invitation, and in 985 A.D. a fleet of ships arrived in the fjords of Greenland with horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and building materials. Red Erik made his home with his wife and sons at Brattahlid. His friends occupied the shores of the other fjords, which were called by their names. Herjulf and his son Bjarni were in the fjord nearest to Cape Farewell, called Herjulf’s fjord. Ketil was in Ketil’s fjord, the next to the north, Rafn occupied the Rafn’s fjord, Helgi Thorbrandsen was in Alpte fjord, and so on with Einar, Hafgrim, Arnlang, and other bold Vikings.

Erik and his followers still held the ancient faith, and for twenty more years Odin and Thor presided over the fortunes of Greenland. But it was a time of transition; news of the “white Christ” had reached Iceland, and the masterful Kings of Norway, Olaf the Saint and Olaf Tryggvason, were introducing the new creed by force.

The first important event in the new colony was the voyage of Leif, the son of Erik, to Norway in 999. He was driven out of his course to the Hebrides, where he passed the summer and became enamoured of a girl of rare intelligence named Thorgunna. She had a son, Thorgils, by him, and eventually brought him to Greenland to take his place as the son of Leif. But Thorgunna remained at her own home when Leif left the Hebrides and sailed away to the court of the King of Norway at Nidaros (Trondhjem). He was well received by Olaf Tryggvason, who ordered him to become a Christian, and to return to Greenland and proclaim Christianity to the settlers.

Leif took leave of the King, and again put to sea. He encountered bad weather, and was tossed about for many days and driven out of his course. At length he came to a new land where there were currants and self-sown corn, and also trees called mausar[12]. He had reached the eastern coast of Newfoundland. Leif wintered at this land, which he called Vinland. In the spring he shaped a course for Greenland, and saved some people off a wreck in mid-ocean on his way. One of the shipwrecked men may have been Bjarni the son of Herjulf, which perhaps accounts for the confused story in the Flatey book, about Bjarni being the discoverer. Leif arrived safely in his father’s homestead and introduced Christianity[13].