The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1981, Qupperneq 21

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
19
THE VINLAND SAGAS
by Gudrun Jorundsdottir
History or Fiction
In the past century the Vinland sagas, i.e.
The Eirik’s Saga and the Graenlendinga
Saga have received a great deal of attention
both from scholars and amateur historians.
Opinions have differed greatly. Some have
believed almost every account, others have
considered the story of Vinland the Good as
merely the medieval fable of Insulae For-
tunatae rewritten by Icelandic rationalists.
The controversy over the authenticity of
the two sagas is by no means settled. They
conflict with each other in several important
aspects which seems to fuel the discussion.
Still there can be no doubt about the central
facts of exploration and attempted coloni-
zation on the North American continent.
There is enough evidence in other sources to
argue convincingly that the Icelanders knew
of some countries south-west of Greenland.
A short geographical description, usually
attributed to the 12th century Abbot Nikulas
of Munkathvera, shows beyond doubt that
the Icelanders’ knowledge of the countries
in the northern hemisphere was much
greater than that of their learned contem-
poraries on the continent.
In all this squabble over the historical
value of the Vinland sagas it seems to have
been overlooked that the author of neither
the Graenlendinga Saga nor Eirik’s Saga
was primarily concerned with geography
and historical accuracy was kept only as
long as it was convenient. The sagas record
chance sightings of unknown lands to the
west and tell of the various voyages under-
taken by different people and an abortive
attempt to settle there. The focus, however,
remains on the people themselves, what
spumed them to go on such perilous jour-
neys and their reactions in the new country
where they were on their own, away from
the pressures and restrictions of an organ-
ized society.
Vinland explored
Recent studies, in particular those of the
late Professor Jon Johannesson, have shown
Graenlendinga Saga to be the older and
more historically accurate of the two sagas.
According to its account a certain Bjami
Herjolfsson first caught sight of the new
lands. He, however, did not go ashore as he
considered these countries either too good
or too bad to be Greenland. His shipmates
were none too pleased and later, when
Bjami was to tell of his voyages, he was
blamed for his lack of curiosity.
It fell to the lot of more adventurous men
to be the first to set foot on the shores of
North America. Eirik the Red was the first
to explore Greenland where he founded a
colony. His son, Leif, was to follow in his
father’s footsteps as an explorer. After buy-
ing Bjarni’s ship he left Greenland in search
of the new lands. First he came to the land
that Bjami had deemed worthless. He, too,
considered it worthless but went ashore first
and gave it the name Helluland (Baffin
island?). Leif and his men then put to sea
again and soon came upon another land
which they named Markland (Labrador).
Then they set sail again and sailed south for
two days before they saw land for the third
time. The men went ashore and the dew on
the grass seemed to them the sweetest thing
they had ever tasted. They explored the
coastline a little further until they found a
suitable place to stay.
1. The Vinland Sagas were translated by Magnus
Magnusson and Hermann Palsson, and published
by Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, England,
1965.
2. The reference to pages throughout the article are
from Graenlenginda Saga and one from Eirik’s
Saga.