The Vinland Sagas And The Saga Of Eirik The Red

1000 when he was blown off course, and instead found a rocky land barren land in which is now known as present-day Canada, then found with grapevines and named it Vinland. Eriksson gave the land a name Helluland which is Norwegian for “Stone Slab Land.” Researchers believe that this location could possibly have been Baffin Island. Eriksson then voyaged south to a location they called Markland (Forestland), which was most likely present-day Labrador, before they finally set up a base camp most likely on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland. They made their way back soon after and brought back much needed timber, and grapes. Other Vikings continued to sail west to Vinland for at least the ensuing decade. In spite of North America’s bountiful resources, the Viking settlers stayed in desolate Greenland. This was most likely due to the violent happenings—including the slaying of Eriksson’s brother Thorwald–they encountered with the indigenous population of North America.

Erik the Red was a Norwegian Viking that was born in the 10th Century C.E, and his life contributed significantly to the outstanding legacy of the Vikings through his explorations. It is through the discovery of Greenland and its later settlement that cast Erik the Red’s legendary adventures into folklore. These two events are how Erik the Red played his role in Viking history, not through warfare, but through explorations. The adventures undertaken, and the feats achieved by Erik the Red cement his place in Viking History.

The Vikings were Norse seafarers, who mainly spoke the Old Norse language. They raided and traded from their Northern European homelands across wide areas of northern, central and eastern Europe, during the 9th to 11th century. The Vikings originated from Scandinavia, and the beginning of the Vikings expansion often originates from the raid of the Lindisfarne Monetary on 8 June 793. The Vikings were the first Westerners to sail to Iceland, Greenland, and over to the New World. However, the story of the Vikings is also an important story for the development of the Christian world in the West. Throughout this essay, I will explain the importance of Viking religion, Viking trade, and how the Viking age had an impact on the way Western and

     There are many similarities between the hero of the poem Beowulf and the heroes of the two Icelandic sagas, The Saga of The Volsungs and The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki. The former saga is an Icelandic saga representing oral traditions dating back to the fourth and fifth centuries, when Attila the Hun was fighting on the northern fringes of the Roman Empire; the latter is an Icelandic saga representing 1000 years of oral traditions prior to the 1300’s when it was written.

Beginning in about A.D. 800, many Scandinavians sailed south from their homelands to seek their fortunes. These seafaring warriors began by raiding coastal sites of the British Isles but soon grew more ambitious. During the next three centuries, they left their mark as traders, pirates and settlers on much of Britain and the European continent. These raiders became known collectively as Norsemen, or “Northmen,” though they are better remembered by another name: Vikings.

The Vikings were a group of Scandinavian raiders that were around from about the 8th century to the 11th. They mainly attacked the British Islands , the Frankish empire, England, but they also plundered places such as the Iberian peninsula and northern Africa. Vikings did not always settle into the places that they found, for instance after exploring North America they left the place never to return again. Even so, after landing on Greenland they colonized themselves there, and ancestors of the Vikings still live there today. So now that you know a little about the history of the Vikings lets go into detail about the specifics of the Viking age. (Peter Sawyer, Oxford Ill. History of the Vikings p. 1-19)

When one sees the word Viking, the mind firstly shifts to men who are uncivilized and unprincipled. Using evidence of achievements and victories will not only show how much they impacted Europe, but how sophisticated Vikings actually were. As Charlemagne’s empire ended, the people of Europe showed extraordinary resilience toward the new movements of the era. From 800 to 1200 CE, Vikings ruled medieval Europe. These Vikings, along with thick soil, are credited with shifting Europe from endemic violence toward cooperation and legal order. An attack on the Lindisfarne monastery off the coast of Northumberland in northeastern England marked the beginning of the Viking Age. Vikings began to appear in Europe due to Scandinavian raiders repeatedly visiting the Christian countries of Europe. At first they were content with just raiding lands, but soon they began to seize land and proclaim rule. They sought riches, not land. With this established rule, Vikings promised safety and began to reform the lands they had acquired. The people agreed due to starvation and possible attacks from eneimes. The new lands had a need for settled agriculture, defensive warfare and commerce. As the Vikings began to fulfill these needs they saw an expansion in cooperation and rule of law among the villagers.

The Vikings escaped from tyranny and fled Europe. They found and settled in Iceland and Greenland. They made expeditions to find new lands were others wouldn't dare go. If it wasn't for the Vikings, the world would be drastically change. Some lands might not have even been discovered or even inhabited. Thankfully, the Vikings were there so, they we could find them and discover new and precious metals and resources. That of which, the world uses and is grateful for today. Vikings really cherished time spent voyaging with their family and closest friends. One of the reasons their

The Vikings lived about one thousand years ago in the lands that we now call Iceland, Lapland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. To most people the Vikings were raiders that got in their longboats and sailed somewhere and then went from town to town killing and pillaging. This is not completely true, because the Vikings were also

It was once reported that there was up to 25,000 Vikings living in Iceland in the mid 900’s. The Norse did not have books, but they did have an alphabet, so they passed on history by stories and poems. Their alphabet was made up runes, are the letters in a set of related alphabets. There are still remains of the runes in some parts of Europe like Iceland and Normandy. It was customary for men to wear long

One version of the events, from “The Saga of Erik the Red” stated that not only did Leif Erikson not make it back home after going to Norway, but he crossed the Atlantic Ocean completely by mistake and stumbled upon North America. If this one is true, it’s very similar to how Columbus landed in Cuba, which was also thought to be a mistake. The second version comes from “Saga of the Greenlanders.” This version says the when Leif made it back to Greenland, a trader from Icelandic named Bjarni Herjolfsson told Erikson about North America when he overshot Greenland and saw the new land. If this version is true, that would mean that Bjarni would be the one that actually discovered North America, but because it was stated that he never stepped foot on the land, he actually didn’t. But both “Saga of Erik the Red” and “Saga of the Greenlanders” end in the same way, Leif Erikson finding North

Compare and contrast the Frankish annals AND the Irish annals as sources for Viking history.

The Vikings roamed the seas between the early ninth century and the early eleventh century. They were from the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It is believed that the Vikings “...were probably prompted to undertake their raids by a combination of factors ranging from overpopulation at home to the relative helplessness of victims abroad” (“Viking (people)”). During their raids, the Vikings also established settlements in Newfoundland,

Leif Erickson was the son of Eric the Red, Eric the Red was an explorer that became a leader of a colony in Greenland, the colony that Eric the Red owned was later handed over to his son Leif. Leif Erickson was born in Iceland in the year 980, after Leif was born he was moved to Greenland with his father Eric the Red and some of his brothers. Later in his life around 1000 A.D., about 500 years before Christopher's voyage, Leif set out to discover new lands. Trying to follow Bjarnes tracks Leif Erickson led his Vikings over the Atlantic Ocean to the new land. Leif Erickson had drifted by the wind way out of course and spotted a flat wooded coastline far westward, this was the new world. When Leif got to this new land he founded a place named Vinland, he called it that because of all the grape vines the Vikings found there. It was later named America, after an Italian named Amerigo Vespucci. After a few years the colony in Vinland was abandoned after hostile attack by the native people along with the fact that it got too cold. The settlers moved across the land until their population numbered 3,000. But in the 1400s the climate changed dramatically for the worse and the settlement had disappeared within a few decades. Leif Erickson had opened a new land rich with resources for the Vikings to explore, but for some reason, the Vikings only

The Heimskringla, to this day, is one of the most well documented Viking transcripts even though it is a secondary source as it is still close to the time of these events and is portraying a story in a biography type