Erik the Red

Erik the Red from Arngrímur Jónsson's Gronlandia. Note anachronistic details in his weapons and armor.

Erik Thorvaldsson (Old Norse: Eiríkr Þorvaldsson; 950 – c. 1003), known as Erik the Red (Old Norse: Eiríkr hinn rauði^[1]), is remembered in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first Norse settlement in Greenland. The Icelandic tradition indicates that he was born in the Jæren district of Rogaland, Norway, as the son of Þorvald Ásvaldsson, he therefore also appears, patronymically, as Erik Thorvaldsson (Eiríkr Þorvaldsson). The appellation "the Red" most likely refers to his hair color^[2] and the color of his beard.^[3] Leif Ericson, the famous Icelandic explorer, was Erik's son.

Exiles

Erik the Red's father was banished from Norway for the crime of manslaughter. He sailed West from Norway with his family and settled in Hornstrandir in northwestern Iceland.^[4] The Icelanders later sentenced Erik to exile for three years due to "some killings" he committed around the year 982.^[5]

After marrying Thjodhild (Þjóðhildr), he moved to Haukadal (Hawksdale) where he built a farm. The initial confrontation happened when his thralls started a landslide on the neighboring farm belonging to Valthjof (Valþjófr). Valthjof's friend, Eyiolf the Foul (Eyjólfr saurr), killed the thralls. In return, Erik killed Eyjiolf and Holmgang-Hrafn (Hólmgöngu-Hrafn). Eyiolf's kinsmen demanded his banishment from Haukadal.

Erik then moved to the island of Öxney (Iceland). He asked Thorgest (Þórgestr) to keep his setstokkr, inherited ornamented beams of significant mystical value,^[6] which his father had brought from Norway. When he had finished his new house, he went back to get them, but they "could not be obtained". Erik then went to Breidabolstad and took them. These are likely to have been Thorgest's setstokkr, although the sagas are unclear at this point.

Thorgest gave chase, and in the ensuing fight Erik slew both Thorgest's sons and "a few other men".

After this each of them retained a considerable body of men with him at his home. Styr gave Erik his support, as did also Eyiolf of Sviney, Thorbjiorn, Vifil's son, and the sons of Thorbrand of Alptafirth; while Thorgest was backed by the sons of Thord the Yeller, and Thorgeir of Hitardal, Aslak of Langadal and his son Illugi.^[7]

The dispute was resolved at an assembly, the Thing, with the result that Erik was outlawed for three years.

Discoveries

Map of the northern region (including some fantasy islands) by Abraham Ortelius, ca. 1570

Even though popular history credits Erik as the first person to discover Greenland, the Icelandic sagas suggest that earlier Norsemen 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 before Erik, 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. After Gunnbjörn, Snaebjörn Galti had also visited Greenland. According to records from the time, Galti headed the first Norse attempt to colonize Greenland, which ended in disaster. Erik the Red was the first permanent European settler.

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 Iceland—that promised growth and future prosperity. According to the Saga of Erik the Red, he spent his three years of exile exploring this land. 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 into Hrafnsfjord.

When Erik returned to Iceland after his exile had expired, he is said to have brought with him stories of "Greenland". Erik deliberately 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 favorable name".^[8] He knew 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 Qaqortoq, and the Western Settlement or Vestribyggð, close to present-day Nuuk. (Eventually, a Middle Settlement grew, but many people suggest it 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 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 Walrus tusks, and beached whales.

Eystribyggð

In Eystribyggð or Eastern Settlement, Erik built the estate Brattahlíð, near present-day Narsarsuaq. He held the title of paramount chieftain of Greenland and became both greatly respected and wealthy. The settlement venture involved 25 ships, 14 of which made the journey successfully; of the other 11, some turned back, while others disappeared at sea.

The settlement flourished, growing to 5000 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.^[9] 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 first voyage to the Americas in 1492). Pirate raids,^[10] conflict with Inuit moving into the Norse territories, and the colony's abandonment by Norway became other factors in its decline.

Descendants

Medieval Icelandic tradition relates that Erik the Red and his wife Þjóðhildr (Thjodhildr) had four children: a daughter, Freydís, and three sons, the explorer Leif Eiríksson, Þorvaldr (Thorvald) and Þorsteinn (Thorstein). Erik himself remained a follower of Norse paganism, unlike his son Leif and Leif's wife, who became Christians. Thjothhild was the daughter of Jørundur Ulfsson and Thorbjørg Gilsdottir (from whom Gilsfjørd is named). Jørund's mother Bjørg was granddaughter to Irish king Cerball mac Dúnlainge (Kjarval) through his daughter Rafarta.

While not the first to sight the North American continent, Leif Erikson became the first Viking to explore the land of Vinland (part of North America, probably near modern-day Newfoundland). 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. There is no evidence that Leif was aware of his father's death until he got back to Greenland.

Comparisons to Grœnlendinga Saga

There are numerous parallels to the Grœnlendinga saga, including recurring characters and recounts of the same expeditions, although with a few notable differences. The saga of Erik the Red presents a number of the expeditions in the Grœnlendinga saga as just one expedition led by Thorfinnr Karlsefni, although Thorvaldr Eiríksson, Freydís Eiríkssdóttir and Karlsefni's wife Guðríðr play key roles in the retelling.^[11] Another notable difference is the location of their settlements. In the Grœnlendinga saga, Karlsefni and the others settle in a place that is only referred to as Vinland, while in Erik the Red's Saga, they form two base settlements: Straumfjǫrðr where they spend winter and the following spring, and Hop, where they later settle and run into problems with the natives, as depicted in the Grœnlendinga saga. Otherwise, the tales are largely similar, both with heavy focuses on the exploits of Thorfinnr Karlsefni and his wife Guðríðr.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Erik the Red.

Wikisource has the text of the The Nuttall Encyclopædia article Eric the Red.

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• "The Fate of Greenland's Vikings"
•  "Eric the Red". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900