(Redirected from Eric the Red)
'Erik the Red' (
950–c.
1003) (
Old Norse: 'Eiríkr rauði';
Icelandic: 'Eiríkur rauði';
Norwegian: 'Eirik Raude') founded the first
Nordic settlement in
Greenland. Born in the
Jæren district of
Rogaland,
Norway as the son of
Þorvaldr Ásvaldsson (Thorvald Asvaldsson), he therefore also appears,
patronymically, as Erik Thorvaldsson (or as Eiríkr Þorvaldsson). The appellation "the Red" most likely refers to his hair colour which was obviously red.
[1]
Exiles
Erik the Red had to flee Norway because of "some killings", as ''
The Saga of Eric the Red'' recounts. He and his family settled in
Iceland. The Icelanders then exiled Erik for several murders around the year
982. According to ''The Saga of Eric the Red'', his neighbor Thorgest borrowed a shovel and when it did not come back to Erik, he sought an explanation. When Thorgest refused to return it, Erik stole the shovel back. In the following chase, he killed Thorgest's two sons.
A second crime laid at Erik's door occurred when he insisted upon revenge for the deaths of his
slaves who had "accidentally started a landslide" on Valthjof's farm. Valthjof murderously punished the slaves for this misfortune. Erik did not take kindly to this and so slew Valthjof. The Icelanders eventually convicted Erik of these murders and
banished him from Iceland. This event led him and a group of followers to travel to the lands nearly 500 miles west of Iceland.
Discoveries
Even though popular history credits Erik as the founder of Greenland, earlier Norsemen both discovered and tried to settle it before him. Tradition credits
Gunnbjörn Ulfsson (also known as Gunnbjörn Ulf-Krakuson) with the first sighting of the land-mass. Nearly a century earlier, strong winds had driven Gunnbjörn towards a land he called "Gunnbjarnarsker" ("Gunnbjörn's skerries"). But the accidental nature of Gunnbjörn's discovery has led to his neglect in the history of Greenland, with Erik the Red thought of as the discoverer.
After Gunnbjörn,
Snaebjörn Galti had also visited Greenland. According to records from the time, Galti headed the first Norse attempt to colonize Greenland, an attempt that ended in disaster.
In this context, about 982, Erik sailed to a somewhat mysterious and little-known land. He rounded the southern tip of the island (later known as Cape Farewell) and sailed up the western coast. He eventually reached a part of the coast that, for the most part, seemed ice-free and consequently had conditions — similar to those of Norway — that promised growth and future
prosperity. According to the ''Saga of Erik the Red'', he spent his three years of exile exploring this land. He named this land "Greenland" because he wanted to attract other people to it. The first winter he spent on the island of Eiriksey, the second winter he passed in Eiriksholmar (close to Hvarfsgnipa). In the final summer he explored as far north as Snaefell and in to Hrafnsfjord.
When Erik returned to Iceland after his term of banishment had expired, he brought with him stories of "Groenland". Erik purposely gave the land a more appealing name than "Iceland" in order to lure potential settlers. He explained, "people would be attracted to go there if it had a favourable name". Ultimately he did this, though, to gain favor among people, as he knew full well that the success of any settlement in Greenland would need the support of as many people as possible. His salesmanship proved successful, as many people (especially "those Vikings living on poor land in Iceland" and those that had suffered a "recent famine") became convinced that Greenland held great opportunity.
After spending the winter in Iceland, Erik returned to Greenland in 985 with a large number of colonists and established two colonies on its southwest coast: the "Eastern Settlement" or Eystribyggð, in modern-day Julianhåb, and the "Western Settlement" or Vestribyggð, close to present-day Godthåb. (Eventually, a Middle Settlement grew up, but many people suggest this settlement formed part of the Western Settlement.) The Eastern and Western Settlements, both established on the southwest coast, proved the only two areas suitable for farming. During the summers, when the weather conditions favored travel more, each settlement would send an army of men to hunt in
Disko Bay above the
Arctic Circle for food and other valuable commodities such as seals (used for rope), ivory from tusks, and beached whales (if they had good luck). In these expeditions they probably encountered the
Inuit (
Eskimo) people, who had not yet moved into eastern Greenland.
Eystribyggð
In Eystribyggð, Erik built the
estate Brattahlíð, near present-day
Narsarsuaq, for himself. He held the title of
paramount chieftain of Greenland and became both greatly respected and wealthy. The settlement venture involved twenty-five
ships, fourteen of which made the journey successfully; of the other eleven, some turned back, while others disappeared at sea.
The settlement flourished, growing to over 3000 inhabitants spread over a considerable area along Eriksfjord and neighboring
fjords. Groups of
immigrants escaping overcrowding in Iceland joined the original party. However, one group of immigrants which arrived in
1002 brought with it an
epidemic that ravaged the colony, killing many of its leading
citizens, including Erik himself.
[2] Nevertheless, the colony rebounded and survived until the
Little Ice Age made the land marginal for European life-styles in the
15th century (shortly before
Christopher Columbus's voyage to the
Canary Islands in
1492).
Pirate raids,
[3] conflict with
Inuit moving into the Norse territories, and the colony's abandonment by Norway became other factors in its decline.
Erik's descendants
History records that Erik and his wife Þjóðhildr (Theodhild) had four children: a daughter,
Freydís, and three sons, the
explorer Leif Eiríksson,
Þorvald (Thorvald) and
Þorsteinn (Thorstein). Erik himself remained a follower of
Norse paganism, unlike his son Leif and Leif's wife, who built the first
Christian church in the Americas on their farm. (Despite speculation, it seems unlikely that Leif pioneered the introduction of
Christianity to Greenland.)
Leif Ericson became the first Viking to explore the land of
Vinland (part of
North America). Leif invited his father on the voyage, but according to legend Erik fell off his
horse on his way to the ship and took this as a bad sign, leaving his son to continue without his company. Erik died the winter after his son's departure.
References
1. ''The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850'', Basic Books, 2002, p. 10. ISBN 0465022723.
2. Marc Carlson, History of Medieval Greneland, 31 July 2001. Retrieved August 1 2007.
3. Dale Mackenzie Brown, "The Fate of Greenland's Vikings," ''Archeology'', 28 February 2000. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
See also
★
Erik the Red's Land
★
Leif Erikson
★
Thorvald Eriksson
External links
★
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
★
"The Fate of Greenland's Vikings"
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