Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1963, Page 99

anglo-saxon england and iceland
81
Ölafsson, the great hero of Laxdæla
Sa9a, proposed ca. 998 a merchant
voyage to England where, he said,
oonditions for trading were excel-
lent. His partner, Kálfr Árnason,
brought the merchant ship back to
Iceland from this venture in the fol-
lowing year.4 Around 1015 one Hallr
Guðmundsson gave a certain Kol-
skeggr his merchant ship on which
^he latter then sailed away to Eng-
land.5 A great merchant named
£*órir (fl. ca. 1050) was known by
the nickname of “England-farer”.6
Such instances might be multiplied
endlessly and it should be noticed
that the sagas mention ventures of
this kind only when some other oc-
casion demands a recording of them
and not because of any interest in
the venture as such. The impression
cne gains is that voyages of this
kind were commonplace. The Ice-
anders possessed their own ocean-
S°tng merchant ships not only
throughout the period of Anglo-
a^on rule in England but certainly
as late as the thirteenth century,
after which they became more de-
Pendant on Norwegian shipping.
With the establishment of an Ice-
andic colony in Greenland in the
year 986 certain wares were added
t° the list of export articles—
^ares that were extremely sought
a ter in Europe. These included the
White falcon of Baffin Island, (falco
rusticolus candicans) which was the
most highly prized bird used in that
^st popular of mediaeval sports,
a conry, although the native Ice-
andic falcon (falco rusticolus is-
^ndicus) which is sometimes diffi-
Cu t to distinguish from the white
falcon was almost equal in popu-
larity. By the ninth century fal-
conry had become a very popular
pastime in western Europe and
especially in England and Wales.
No doubt Norwegian, Icelandic and
Greenland falcons early became
sought after in these countries. We
do not know, however, when the
Icelanders first began to train fal-
cons for hunting but we do know
that the Icelanders early became
acquainted with the English passion
for falconry. This passion dates
probably from the time of the con-
quest of England by the Anglo-
Saxons and certainly from the
eighth century. About 750 we find
King Ethelbert of Kent writing to
Saint Boniface and asking him to
procure two falcons which could be
used for the hunting of cranes.7
Again in the tenth century the in-
terest in falconry is shown in the
terms of peace made ca. 927 between
King Athelstan and the Welsh kings.
The latter are required to pay an
annual tribute of, among other
things, sixty hawks to the English
king.8
It may well be that the settlers
of Iceland were well acquainted
with falconry. Allusions to falconry
occur in the Eddic poems and al-
though it does not appear that the
Norwegians, unlike the Swedes and
possibly the Danes, practiced fal-
conry yet they must have been ac-
quainted with it and even captured
falcons for export. Towards the end
of the tenth century Earl Hákon of
Norway promised to pay an annual
tribute which included sixty falcons
to King Haraldr Gormsson of Den-