Old Erik was unwilling to forsake the faith of his father. But his wife did so, and built a church near the homestead, called Thorhilda’s Church, where those who embraced Christianity could come to offer their prayers. Settlers began to arrive in Greenland who were nominally Christians, though imbued with the deeply-rooted ideas of the old faiths. The change was gradual.
Among the first Christian settlers were one Thorbjörn and his beautiful daughter Gudrid. This Thorbjörn received with his wife Hallveig an estate in Iceland called Langarbrekke or “the warm spring’s slope,” on the southern side and near the outer end of the Cape called Snowfellsness. The wife died, and Thorbjörn’s motherless child was fostered and brought up by Halldis and her husband, Orm of Arnastopi or the eagle’s crag, a short distance to the north-east of Langarbrekke.
Gudrid, the foster child of Orm and Halldis, acted such a prominent part in the history of the Greenland colony and the discovery of America, that her story cannot be passed over. Though converted to Christianity Halldis had stored the child’s mind with all the lore of the Asgård mythology. For various reasons her father Thorbjörn resolved to join his friend Erik the Red in Greenland, though he was blessed with many friends in Iceland. He therefore sold his land and bought a ship, which was fitted out in Hraunhavn, or the lava haven. Thirty persons formed the crew, including Orm and Halldis, who both died during the voyage. At length, on the verge of winter, the ship reached Herjulfsfjord, the most southern of the Greenland settlements, where Thorbjörn and his daughter were hospitably received by a settler named Thorkel, and passed a winter in his house.
When the summer arrived Thorbjörn got his ship ready, and sailed away with Gudrid until they came to Brattahlid. They were received with open arms by Red Erik and his family, and Erik gave Thorbjörn land on Stokkaness, where a good farmstead was established. Gudrid was married to Thorstein, the eldest son of Erik the Red, and they went to live at a farm called Lysefjord. But Thorstein died, and was soon followed by Thorbjörn. So Gudrid became a great heiress, and Erik took her to his home at Brattahlid, and treated her as his own daughter.
It was the union of the young widow with Thorfin Karlsefni, a young Icelandic chief of noble lineage, descended from the renowned Ragnar Lodbrog, which led to the discovery of America. One summer Karlsefni fitted out his ship in Iceland, taking with him a follower named Snorri Thorbrandsson and a crew of 40 men. At the same time two men named Bjarni and Thorhall fitted out another ship. The two ships put to sea together, with the intention of sailing to Greenland. They arrived at Brattahlid in the autumn and began to do a goodly trade with Red Erik. Thorfin Karlsefni and his comrades were invited to pass the winter there, and before the winter was over he and Gudrid were united in marriage.
Then there was mooted the project that Vinland, discovered some years before by Leif, should be explored and settled. Thorfin Karlsefni and his friend Snorri fitted out their ship for the adventurous voyage and Bjarni Grimolfson and Thorhall also joined with their ship. Thorhall had long served Red Erik as his huntsman. He was a man of great strength and gigantic stature. Erik’s third son Thorwald accompanied him. There was a third ship, the one in which Thorbjörn and Gudrid had arrived in Greenland. Freidis, the natural daughter of Erik, a proud and cruel woman, embarked in it with her husband Thorward. Gudrid accompanied her husband.
This fleet of three knorrs—vessels such as the one found at Gokstad—sailed for the land we now call America. Karlsefni first steered northwards along the West Bygd to get clear of the southern ice, and then stood across the strait to the barren coast on the western side for two days. Karlsefni landed in his boat, and finding large flat stones (hellur) on the beach, called that country Helluland. Sailing southward they next came to a country where there were great woods and it was named Markland or the forest land (Labrador). Then they sailed for many days, rounding a cape where they found the keel of a ship and so named it Keel-ness. The long coast-line on the starboard side received the name of Furdustrandir or Wonder Strand. At length Karlsefni anchored in a bay where they found berries and self-sown wheat. It was the Vinland of Leif. There was a strong current, so they called an island in the bay Straumsey and the bay Straumfjord. They landed their goods, and the live-stock included cattle. Here Thorhall the hunter appears to have mutinied, and to have sailed away in one of the ships with nine men. The story says that he reached Ireland, where he and his companions were maltreated and enslaved. After the winter Karlsefni sailed southward and came to a small land-locked bay, called Hop. Here he built huts on the banks of a lake.
Karlsefni had discovered America. His first land was what is now called Baffin Land, his next the coast of Labrador, and the Vinland of Leif is the east coast of Newfoundland. The Norsemen gave the name of Skrælings to the natives they met with. They had several encounters with them, in one of which Thorwald, the son of Erik, was killed by a “one footer” (Einfœtingr).
The furthest southern point reached by Karlsefni is a question of great interest. In the Flatey book Leif is made to say that on the shortest day the sun was above the horizon from Eyktarstad to Dagmalastad. We thus obtain rough data for ascertaining the latitude of Vinland. The Icelanders ascertained the various times of the day by selecting conspicuous marks round their houses, and noting the course of the sun with relation to them. Names were given to the positions the sun occupied at certain times of the day, and the Norsemen were thus, from long practice, very accurate in assigning the points of the compass at which the sun rose or set. The Eyktarstad is clearly defined in an ancient Icelandic book called Kristinretter. If the S.W. octant be divided into thirds, the S.W. point being in the centre, it is Eyktarstad when the sun has traversed two-thirds. This gives the amplitude of the sun, when it set on the shortest day at Vinland, W. 37 degrees 30′ S. The sun’s declination in A.D. 1005 was 23 degrees 34′ 30″ N. With these data we find the latitude of the point of observation on Vinland to have been a little south of 49 degrees S., which would be in Bona Vista Bay, on the east coast of Newfoundland[14].
Karlsefni passed three winters in Vinland and here, in the year 1007, his wife Gudrid bore him a son who was named Snorri. From this American-born child was descended the Lagman Hauk, the author of the Hauk book, and many Danish families, including that of Thorwaldsen, the famous sculptor. After the third winter Karlsefni and his followers sailed away from Vinland on their return.