Gripla - 20.12.2010, Page 296

GRIPLA296
Þorsteinn Vilhjálmsson. 2001. „Navigation and Vínland.“ Approaches to Vínland.
A conference on the written and archaeological sources for the Norse settlements in
the North-Atlantic region and exploration of America, ritstj. Andrew Wawn og
Þórunn Sigurðardóttir. Reykjavík: Sigurður Nordal Institute, 107–121.
Örnólfur Thorsson (ritstj.). 1988. Sturlunga saga. Árna saga biskups. Hrafns saga
Sveinbjarnarsonar hin sérstaka. Reykjavík: Svart á hvítu.
SUMMARY
The sunstone: fact and fiction
Keywords: Rauðúlfs þáttur, Hrafns saga, allegory, Viking navigation, St Olav.
Two 13th-century narrative sources from Iceland, Rauðúlfs þáttur and Hrafns saga
Sveinbjarnarsonar, mention the sunstone (sólarsteinn), a mineral by which the sun
could be located in overcast sky. Sunstones are also mentioned in church and
cloister inventories (14th–15th century) without discussing their attributes. The
Danish archaeologist Thorkild Ramskou pointed out that the sunstone could have
been one of the minerals (probably chordierite) that polarize light and by which the
azimut of the sun can be determined in a partly overcast sky or when the sun is just
below the horizon. The principle is used by many animals and was applied during
polar flights before more advanced techniques became available. No other records
of the sunstone exist in medieval literature. Ramskou’s theory that the sunstone
could have aided navigation in the open sea in the Viking period has become very
popular. Used singly, however, a polarizing mineral only gives the horizontal angle
of the sun (azimut) and does not help much when navigating the open sea.
The problem with two of the sources is that they are allegorical. Hrafns saga
contains a burst of purely allegorical material associated with Hrafn’s slaying.
This involves a celestial vision with three highly cosmological knights, recalling
the horsemen of the Apocalypse. The horsemen of Hrafns saga contain allegorical
allusions to the winter solstice and the four elements as a foreboding of Hrafn’s
death.
Rauðúlfs þáttur, a short story about Saint Olav, is the only source mentioning
how the sunstone was used. Rauðúlfs þáttur is, however, a thoroughly allegorical
work. A round and rotating house visited by Olav seems to be a model of the
cosmos and the human soul, as well as a prefiguration of the Church. The purpose
of the author seems to be the apotheosis of St Olav, and this is achieved by placing
him in the symbolic seat of Christ. The house belongs to the genre of “abodes
of the sun” which were widespread in medieval literature. St Olav employed the
sunstone right after leaving this allegorical house.
It is conceivable that in Rauðúlfs þáttur the sunstone was used as a symbol of