Talk:Erik the Red

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Contents 1 mostly uninhabited? 2 South of Cape Farwell? 3 Banishment 4 Red Dragon? 5 Spelling 6 Eirik Raude 7 Dates 8 Last Name Issue 9 Eric the Bloody? 10 fear of the verb "to be" 11 Jared Diamond explains Greenland Settlement collapse best? 12 Contradiction 12.1 Popular culture 13 WikiProject class rating

[edit] mostly uninhabited?

Why did 71.50.86.162 remove the phrase "mostly uninhabited"? The island was indeed mostly uninhabited in the 10th century (there may have been Inuit in the far north). It's an important point, because uninformed readers ought to know that the Norse did not displace any native people when they settled southwest Greenland. Further, it may well have been the Little Ice Age and the resulting encroachment of the Inuit upon the Norse lands that led to (or at least contributed to) the disappearance of the latter in the 15th century. Their history very nicely illustrates the interplay of climate and human settlement, i.e. the Inuit were accustomed to a colder climate, hence throve in SW Greenland even as the Norse were just barely clinging on. Whereas in the 10th century those areas were just right for the Norse and too "tropical" for the Inuit. --Cubdriver 16:26, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] South of Cape Farwell?

What can this possibly mean? "Erik traveled southward from the tip of the island, soon to be called Cape Farewell and continued downward after having been discouraged to have found an area that was apparently too "formidable and uninviting." Eventually he reached a land with fair ouconditions similar to those of Norway that promised growth and prosperity. According to The Saga of Eric the Red, he spent his three years of exile exploring the coast of this land."

Cape Farwell is the southern cape of Greenland. Traveling south, and continuing downward, there is no land before Brazil! What am I missing here?

[edit] Banishment

Isn't the listing of the 2 incidents leading to Erik's banishment backwards? And with the extra information provided in the excerpt below, shouldn't we add in the greater details? WiseEyes 19:34, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Does anyone have any details of the precise incident for which Eric was banished? This is important, because Eric the Red is known as the 'exiled murderer who was the son of an exiled murderer'. --Anon

I have the Penguin Classics translation of the Vinland sagas. Here is the text from Eirik's saga. The Saga of the Greenlanders shows the same facts but somewhat less extensive.

Eiriks's slaves started a landslide that destroyed the farm of a man called Valthjof, at Valthjofstead; so Eyjolf Saur, one of Valthjof's kinsmen, killed the slaves at Skeidsbrekkur, above Vatnshorn. For this, Eirik killed Eyjolf Saur; he als killed Hrafn the Dueller, at Leikskalar. Geirstein and Odd of Jorvi, who were Eyjolf's kinsmen, took action over his killing, and Eirik was banished from Haukadale.

Eirik then took possession of Brok Island and Oxen Island, and spent the first winter at Tradir, in South Island. He lent his bench-boards to Thorgest of Breidabolstead. After that, Eirik moved to Oxen Island, and made his home at Eirikstead. He then asked for his bench-boards back, but they were not returned; so Eirik went to Breidabolstead and seized them. Thorgest pursued him, and they fought a battle near the farmstead at Drangar. Two of Thorgest's sons and several other men were killed there.

After this, both Eirik and Thorgest maintained a force of fighting-men at home. Eirik was supported by Styr Thorgrimsson, Eyjolf of Svin Island, Thorbjorn Vifilsson, and the sons of Thorbrand of Alptafjord; Thorgest was supported by Thorgeir of Hitardale, Aslak of Langadale and his son Illugi, and the sons of Thord Gellir.

Eirik and his men were sentenced to outlawry at the Thorsness assembly. (...)

After this, the story goes on to tell that Eirik decides to look for 'Gunnbjarnar Skerries', a land found earlier in the west.

The sagas are much less clear on what happened in Norway. They just say that Eirik's father and Eirik "left their home in Jaederen, in Norway, because of some killings".

Andre Engels

[edit] Red Dragon?

The part that says that Eystribyggð means "Red Dragon" in old swedish seems really strange to me. I don't know Old Swedish, but in Norwegian the names of the two villages sound more like "Eystribyggð=Østerbygd=East Village" and "Vestribyggð=Vesterbygd=West Village" to me. user:Poccil, this phrase is a rather recent addition by you, do you have any basis for it?(Note left on Poccil's talk page).--MaxMad 09:34, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Just to confirm the usage: yes, the accepted translations are Eastern Settlement and Western Settlement, so Max is correct. --Cubdriver 10:58, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Spelling

In order to comply with the "Use Common Names" policy, this aricle should be moved to Eric the Red, because that name is more common. [1] Nohat 20:44, 30 Oct 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Eirik Raude

There is also a movable and extremely resistant drilling platform that goes by the name of Eirik Raude. Shouldn't that be mentioned, or a new article created?

--Cctoide 21:50, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Dates

Can anybody substantiate these birth and death years? DoCB gives only fl. 985 Fawcett5 2 July 2005 19:08 (UTC)

[edit] Last Name Issue

My last name is Eri, my dad is norweigian. Supposedly I'm decendent from Eric the red.. Is there any way to find out? please someone reply... thanks

[edit] Eric the Bloody?

The article sez "the Red" was "perhaps because of his surly temper". I've red he was driven out of every place he lived (Norway, Haukadal, Breida Fjord) because of "some killings", & "the Red" was more likely "the Bloody" (but more polite...). Trekphiler 17:45, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

if you go online to i think its famousfamilytrees.com you can search erik the red and it'll say up to today i beleve!

[b]Red hair[/b] It is most likely he was called 'The Red' because of his red hair. M0NG0LIANWARRI0R 12:13, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] fear of the verb "to be"

The most recent edit has careful removed all cases of the passive voice and replaced them with often awkward constructions. A body of water for example "takes the name" of Eriksfjord. This is just plain wrong: the fjord didn't go to court and get its name changed! It was given that name (and indeed has since been given an alternate, Inuit name) by persons unknown. I would urge the editor not to go around rigidifying other articles in this manner. I would like to see this one reverted, but I don't want to get into a rv war over it. --Cubdriver 10:56, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

I plead guilty as charged to fearing the verb "to be". On the other hand I don't feel terribly contrite about suffering from this disease. - I see this sort of stylistic revision as making our encyclopedia more precise and less biased (see E-Prime), and the Wikipedia style guide does frown on passive constructions in general. - If I have unintentionally changed or perverted a meaning, please correct it. In the case of Eriksfjord, I suggest that we could use "acquired the name ..." or "the Norse settlers gave [it] the name of ..." - Pedant17 00:10, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Fine, I'll revert it. --Cubdriver 10:47, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Jared Diamond explains Greenland Settlement collapse best?

I was wondering what basis with which Jared Diamond is considered to be an expert on the demise of the Greenland Settlement? "Collapse" is full of hypotheses that are not backed up with enough evidence for them to be considered fact. What evidence Diamond does use he does not properly cite the historians and archaeologists where he got the evidence. In mention of the Greenland Settlement and its demise Jared Diamond should not be mentioned. Thomas H. McGovern, who has done extensive research in the Greenland and written many papers on the subject, should be used as an expert instead. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 12.201.117.132 (talk • contribs) . 22:15, 16 May 2006

[edit] Contradiction

There are several different dates of death given in the article, not sure which one is correct. Also, severely lacking in citations. --168.99.182.215 14:30, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Having several different dates would be fairly normal. Consider most historical figures. 70.55.200.47 23:42, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Popular culture

The popular culture section, which someone considers trivia, is entirely unverified. I'm moving it here.

• Erik/Eric made a cameo appearance in The Wizard of Id. When asked to account for his name, "Eric the Red", he replied: "Go to a few meetings and you're marked for life!"
• Satirist Will Cuppy discussed Erik/Eric in an essay centered on Leif. He stated that Eric's killing ways tapered off as he grew older: "He had learned that there is no use murdering people; there are always so many left, and if you tried to murder them all you would never get anything else done."
• Thomas Holt's historical novel, Meadowland, portrays a reason for Erik/Eric's trip to Greenland: "all the bad stuff in his life, he decided, was because of other people - because he, left to himself, he was just a peaceful, harmless farmer who wouldn't hurt a mouse - and the only course left open to him was to up stick and go where there weren't any other people at all."

[edit] WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 17:02, 9 November 2007 (UTC)