The Icelandic Roots Writers' Group had a writing exercise about L'Anse Aux Meadows located in Newfoundland, Canada, an area discovered and settled by Leif Eiríksson, and told about in the Icelandic sagas.
By Alfreda Duffy
Just who were these Vikings and what does this word mean? Well, “Viking” is simply a term coined by archeologists back in the 1800s as a form of classification used to define a group of sea-faring warriors who went on expeditions, whether raiding or trading. It was used to lump together all those fearless “North Men'' that other European countries feared during the Viking Age, along with the “Force” from the North as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles.
Back then these warrior gangs were thought to be mainly Scandinavians sailing those sleek, state of the art, longships. Ships that could sail across rough ocean waters with sails which could be easily lowered, then rowed up to any shoreline, or into any bay or estuary or river system by a group of warriors who were ready to attack unsuspecting villages or monasteries along coastlines or further inland. This ability to venture anywhere made them flexible and extremely dangerous.
During the Victorian Age, this term was embraced not just by scholars but by ordinary people who had developed a great interest in the Viking Age from excavations which had unearthed some Viking graves. Plus a few hoards buried with the intention of returning, proving many did not.
Vikings lived during a dangerous violent age. They were warriors seeking their fortune who took daring journeys across dangerous waters. They were also warriors/farmers seeking land, a different form of treasure. Owning their land would give them independence and freedom from feudal chieftains in their homeland who would never raise them up to their level. Bottom line, the “Vikings'' were definitely a mixed bag and were there for many different reasons. Their adventurous expeditions and their raison d'être continue to enthrall us today.
![Photo Credit: Douglas Sprott; L'Anse aux Meadows 27—Vikings [Flickr]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4314aa_6b8aa77b2d804cbd93a94feec13a785d~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_500,h_313,al_c,q_80,enc_auto/4314aa_6b8aa77b2d804cbd93a94feec13a785d~mv2.jpg)
Recently with DNA testing done on bones from Viking graves we now know that they were not all Scandinavian. They were not all blond-haired and blue-eyed, nor were they all men. As we all know Leif Eiríksson journeyed to North America from Greenland. He was born in Iceland, but later moved to Greenland with his parents after his father, Eirík the Red, was outlawed for three years for killing several men. Norway was Eirík the Red’s original homeland, but he could never return as he was forever outlawed for killing there as well.
He was left with few choices. Instead of venturing to a known land, Eirík the Red decided to search for this land to the west of Iceland he had heard so much about. He discovered and named Greenland in the hopes of inspiring others to join him. His marketing plan worked, for after the three years of outlawry Eirík the Red returned to Iceland and convinced enough people to fill 25 ships to sail west and settle in this new land he had named Greenland.
Only 17 ships survived the arduous journey from Iceland to Greenland, and one of those stalwart captains was Herjolfr Bardarson. Bjarni, the son of Herjolfr, is the person credited with sighting this unknown land situated further west than Greenland. A Viking raider for many years, he had travelled the known world and had amassed a huge fortune. After all he had experienced, he concluded that his destiny was farming not raiding, or maybe he was simply homesick.
Herjolfr Bardarson decided to retire to his father’s farm and share his wealth with him in the hope of eventually inheriting his holdings. He left Norway and arrived in Iceland only to find that his father had left to settle in Greenland. Disappointed he made a quick decision not to unload but instead changed his plans to follow his father and his future inheritance. On his voyage from Iceland to Greenland he was driven off course in a violent storm and missed Greenland entirely. But to his amazement, he sighted incredible lands known today as Newfoundland, Labrador and Baffin Island; and known in the sagas as Vinland, Markland and Helluland. He had no idea where he was, this land certainly did not fit the description for Greenland.
Instead of landing and investigating these unknown lands he changed his course northward and followed the coast lines noting their descriptions. He eventually made his way safely to Greenland, which he recognized from the description he was given. There he found and settled on his father’s newly established farm.
Those wondrous lands he had seen soon became exciting stories which were told and retold around the fires. Leif Eiríksson was mesmerized by these stories and began to dream of sailing to this wondrous land filled with forests of trees. Timber was something they were painfully short of in Greenland. Listening to Bjarni’s story Leif dreamt of possibilities, of discovering the unknown.
After buying Bjarni’s ship he quickly planned his voyage. The varied landscapes were just as Bjarni had described. Leif named them Helluland, Markland, and Vinland. When they went ashore in what was Vinland, he built a great hall for himself and his close followers, plus another building to house the middle men with a third one, a round one, designated for slaves only.
Scholars estimate that there were many trips between Greenland and Vinland during a ten year period. Why the trips were discontinued is unknown, but during all that time no barn was ever built for cattle concluding that Leif Eiriksson, or whoever else journeyed there, never meant it to be a permanent settlement. They were there to explore and exploit only.
Today the excavated remains of those very buildings Leif built are kept as a memorial and for further study. Three Icelandic style turf houses have been reconstructed nearby based on the foundations found in those remains. Beside these reconstructed dwellings there is now a privately owned reenactment village, built in 2011, named Nordstead which has become very popular with tourists.
Even though L’Anse aux Meadows was declared a National Historic Site in 1968 and ten years later, in 1978, as the first UNESCO Historical Site, this knowledge of the Viking’s discovering North America before Columbus has been mostly overlooked in our school curriculums. Over the years though this area has slowly attracted attention, more excavations have been done since its discovery and more are planned for the future which will result in more scholarly papers, with more knowledge. And, coupled with the growing tourism, this increasing recognition is hopefully rewriting the history of the discovery of North America.
L’Anse aux Meadows is definitely on my “Bucket List”. Is it on yours?
Sources:
L’ Anse aux Meadows, NFLD. Source: Icelandic Connection Vol 73 #1 (2023)