The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.2000, Page 24

Vol. 56 #1
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
22
ther explorations.
The following summer the expedition
sailed south and settled at a place they named
Hop. This site had a bountiful supply of game
and fish so they built huts and settled in for a
permanent stay. They met the skraeling
(natives) at this location and began to trade
with them. During this time Gudridur gave
birth to Snorri, the first white child bom in
America. The following summer trouble
erupted between the Viking settlers and the
skroelings, which eventually resulted in
bloodshed and death. After these events
Porfinnur Karlsefni decided they would move
as they did not want to live in constant fear of
more battles.
Porfinnur's expedition sailed back to
Straumfjord where they spent their third win-
ter in America. The following spring they
sailed back to Greenland, richly laden with
wood, vines, and valuable fur pelts. They had
given up all hope of settlement in Vinland and
spent the winter at Brattahlid. Whether or not
there was another expedition to Vinland is
controversial as there are variations in The
Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik's Saga.
Because the Vinland expeditions were so
intertwined with Gudridur's life story these
controversial saga entries will be included
here.
In Eirik's Saga, Freydis, Eirik's illegiti-
mate daughter, and her husband Porvardur
accompanied Porfinnur's expedition to
Vinland. In this saga Freydis displays her
bravery as she faces the skroeling, exposing
her bosom and placing a sword there. At this
sight the skceleings, superstitious, ran off and
departed from the field of battle.
In the Saga of the Greenlanders Freydis
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and Porvardur led an expedition to Vinland,
along with a ship from Iceland. An agreement
was made that each ship would have a crew of
thirty men. Freydis, ever crafty, smuggled
five extra men aboard her ship. This expedi-
tion ended in tragedy in Vinland when
Freydis created a situation where her husband
Porvadur was goaded into leading their men
into an ambush on the sleeping Icelanders,
who were all killed. As the Greenlanders set
sail for home, richly laden with goods,
Freydis is quoted as admonishing her crew:
“I shall have slain any man who tells
about what was done here. We will say that
they remained here when we sailed away.”
When the terrible truth eventually came
out Freydis was shunned for the rest of her
life.
After Porfinnur and Gudridur had
returned from Vinland they spent the winter at
Brattahild. The following summer they sailed
to Norway, Gudridur's fifith voyage over the
sea. They spent the winter in Norway, where
they were hospitably received by all and
Porfinnur was able to trade goods very suc-
cessfully.
Gudridur's sixth voyage over the sea was
to the land of her birth, Iceland. As their ship
sailed into the harbour of Skagafjord in
Northern Iceland we can envision Gudridur's
trepidation at the thought of meeting her hus-
band's family for the first time. They were of
noble birth and had prestige and status in
Iceland. Her husband's sterling character and
accomplishments were also well known in the
homeland. She hoped that her own integrity
and strength of character would help her over-
come feelings of inadequacy amongst them.
Of this particular period of time Eirik's Saga
states that they went back to Porfinnur's
home at Reynines, whereas the Saga of the
Greenlanders states that Porfinnur bought a
farm at Glumbcer, gave up sailing and lived
there the rest of his life.
After Porfinnur's death Gudridur lived
with her son Snorri Porfinnson at Glumbcer.
When he married she turned over the man-
agement of the farm to him. Now as she
looked back on her life, which had several
times touched the stars of glory, she had wit-
nessed the changes that Christianity had
brought about. The old Viking ways of war-
fare were dying, along with the belief in the