The History of Greenland. Vol. 1. Earliest Times to 1700 0773501193, 9780773501195

Table of contents :
PREFACE xi
INTRODUCTION 1
Chapter
1. The First Settlers 8
2. The Norse Settlers 26
3. The Neo-Eskimos in Greenland 89
4. The Norse Settlers from 1100 to 1400 103
5. The Fifteenth Century 153
6. The Sixteenth Century 183
7. Europe and Greenland 1600-1670 217
8. The West Greenland Eskimo Culture after 1650 259
9. European Activity 1670-1700 311
NOTES AND REFERENCES 319
LIST OF LITERATURE 334
GLOSSARY 34O
INDEX 34I

Citation preview

The History of Greenland I : Earliest

Times to iyoo

FINN GAD T H E C O M P L E X H IS T O R Y of human life in Greenland, a country offering one of the world’s most hostile environments, has now continued since the first Eskimo immigration about 5,000 years ago. A way of life that is unique and peculiar to Greenland and to nowhere else has evolved there. This is due not only to the Eskimos, who are found also in North America and Eastern Siberia, but to the nature of its settlement from Europe. Greenland has twice been colonised, by men from Scandinavia. The first settle­ ment, by Norsemen led by Erik the Red, lasted from ad 986 until about 1500; how the colonies came to an end is a classic historical mystery and tragedy. For the last 250 years Greenland has been colonised by Denmark. Contact between the early Norsemen and the Eskimos was at best tenuous, at worst hostile. Under the Danes, there has been extensive and deliberate culture-contact and miscegena­ tion, but, the environment being what it is, it is a specific “ Greenlandic” way of life which has come into being. Since the beginning of World War II, Greenland has been important in inter­ national relations as a focus of both strategic and civil communications. Interest on a world-wide scale in under­ developed societies and in both the econo­ mic and cultural aspects of colonial history is steadily growing. Hence it now seems an appropriate time for an historian to undertake the formidable and never previously attempted task of presenting Greenland’s unique and many-faceted history as a whole. It is almost certain that no one other than a Dane could hope [1continued on back Jlap ]

T H E H IST O R Y O F G R E E N LA N D

T H E H I S T O R Y OF

GREENLAND I Earliest Times to iyoo by

FINN GAD Translated from the Danish by Ernst Dupont

M ONTREAL M c G IL L -Q U E E N ’S U N IV E R S IT Y PRESS 1971

© C . Hurst & C o ., Publishers, 19 70 A ll rights reserved. N o part o f this book protected by the above copyright m ay be reproduced in any form without the written permission o f the publishers. This is a translation from the Danish edition Grønlands Histone I Indtill ly o o , 19 67, published by N y t Nordisk Forlag/A m old Busck, Copenhagen IS B N o 7 7 3 5 0 1 1 9 3 L ibrary o f Congress N o. 7 3 - 1 5 2 0 6 7

Printed in Great Britain by Billing & Sons Lim ited, Guildford and London

CONTENTS PR EFA C E

XÍ

INTRODUCTION

I

Chapter 1

The First Settlers

8

2

The Norse Settlers

26

3

The Neo-Eskimos in Greenland

89

4

The Norse Settlers from 1100 to 1400

103

5

The Fifteenth Century

15 3

6

The Sixteenth Century

183

7

Europe and Greenland 16 0 0 -16 70

2 17

8

The West Greenland Eskimo Culture after 1650

259

9

European Activity 16 7 0 -17 0 0

311

NOTES AND R EFER EN CES

319

LIST OF LITE R A T U R E

334

GLOSSARY

34O

INDEX

34I

V

PLATES Between pages g 8 and g g 1

Reindeer hunting— cairn, Itivnera, Godthåbs Fjord

2

Fireplace with ‘cooking stones’, Tuperssuit, Disko Bay

3

Profile of the Sermermiut midden

4

Sarqaq culture, Tuperssuit

5

Shooting stand, Itivnera

6

Sarqaq culture artifacts, Sermermiut

7

Dorset culture implements and arrow-heads

8

Dorset culture finds from Sermermiut

9

Dorset culture harpoon parts and other implements

10

Norse domestic utensils

11

Various Norse artifacts

12

Thule culture artifacts

13

Inugsuk culture artifacts

14

Neo-Eskimo house, Cape Kent, Inglefield Land

15

Garðar cathedral after excavation

16

Bishop’s tomb in north chapel, Garðar

17

Procession crucifix

18

Ingibjörg’s tombstone from Brattahlíð

19

Vigdis’s tombstone from Garðar

20

Storehouse, East Settlement

21

Hvalsey church

22

‘Bear trap’, Nügssuaq

23

Kingigtorssuaq runic stone

24

Pisigsarfik mountain

25

Inugsuq objects showing Norse influence

26

Herjolfsnes costumes

Between pages ig ^ a n d ig g

vii

Vl l l

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

27

Hoods from Herjolfsnes

29

Dead Norseman in house passage

30

Hans Potthorst

31

Finds from mummy-caves

32

Mixed culture artifacts from North-East Greenland, 140 0 -16 0 0

33

Harpoon types

34

Lam p types

35

Ulo types

36

The four kidnapped Eskimos, 16 54

37

The great seal on the Constitution of 1665

38

Henrik Müller

39

Adam Olearius

40

Jo n Gudmundsson’s map, before 1650

41

Hunting implements

42

Fox trap, West Greenland

43

“ T u pilak”

44

Jørgen Thormøhlen

45

Thormod Thorfæus

IL L U ST R A T IO N S

IN T H E

TEXT Page

M ap: Eskimo regions

6

M ap: Independence I, 2600-1800 Maps: A . Sarqaq culture 1400-500 400 BC M ap: Dorset period M ap: Dorset period

10

bc bc

.

B. Independence II 70 0 -

100 bc- ad ioo ad 700-900

13

16 18

M ap: the East Settlement

32

M ap: the West Settlement

34

Ground-plan: the Sandnes farm, a typical long-house

36

Ground-plan: Erik the R ed’s dwelling house at Brattahlíð

43

Ground-plans of the most important Norse churches in the West and East Settlements

64

The cyclopæan south wall of the “ tithe barn” at Garðar

69

Ground-plan: typical passage-house

72

Section of Icelandic cow-byre

77

Ground-plan: stable-complex of the Sandnes farm

78

Sixth- or seventh-century boat of Norwegian type: the so-called Kvalsund ship

79

A knörr (one of the five Skuldelev ships)

81

M ap: distribution of the Neo-Eskimos, 900-c. 1200 Ground-plan: Neo-Eskimo Marshall Bay

house

types

from

87 Inuarfigssuaq,

Ground-plan: Neo-Eskimo house from Ruin Island Ground-plan: Neo-Eskimo house from the earlier Thule Ground-plan: Neo-Eskimo house from Inuarfigssuaq, Marshall Bay M ap: Thule and Inugsuk cultures, 120 0 -170 0

90 92

94 96 98

Brattahlíð

no

Ground-plan: the Garðar cathedral

112

ix

X

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D Page

Ground-plan: typical centralized farm

131

Ground-plans: Hvalsey and Eidfjord churches

13 4

A . A . Bjørnbo’s reconstruction of Clavus’ second map (detail)

17 5

The Zeno map

192

Sigurd Stefansson’s map, 1590

2 21

Hans Poulsen Resen’s map, 1605 (detail)

222

Gudbrand Thorlacius’ map, 1606 (detail)

223

Joris Carolus’ map (detail)

230

Glaus Ghristoffersøn Lyschander

239

Probably the earliest Danish drawing of a kayaker catching birds

241

A kayaker

2 53

A gut-skin anorak

255

A n Eskimo, drawn from imagination

257

Ground-plan: common house for three or four families, Igdlutalik, Disko Bay

261

Eskimo whaling in West Greenland

266

Ice hunting in West Greenland

267

Seventeenth-century whalers in West Greenland

272

Whaler, flensing, and train-oil processing at Spitsbergen in the seventeenth century

273

Theodor Thorlacius’ map (detail)

3 13

PREFACE The history of Greenland is complex, beginning, as far as man is concerned, about 5000 years ago. Strangely enough it has not been told in full, probably because of its complexity. Greenland has been and is still a field for scientific research and investigation. Practically all the sciences have for years worked to clarify the problems they meet in Greenland. The archaeologists have - in the real meaning of the word melted and excavated the material culture of the various populations from Greenland’s scanty soil. Economists and social scientists have made investigations in their special fields. The development in Greenland and its many problems has, however, apparently not appealed to historians. Here and there specific political, international and national problems concerning Greenland and its populations and relations to the world outside have been investigated with varying thoroughness and described in more or less detail. The history of special periods and the biographies of some outstanding persons have been written, as have shorter surveys of the common history and the history of the church missions. Some of them can be read in English editions, separate or included in composite books, e.g. Greenland, I—III, 19 28 -9. The task of telling the detailed “ total” history of Greenland is taken up in this volume, the Danish edition of which appeared in 1967. The English translation in this volume is kept as near the Danish text as possible, as regards both contents and narrative style. For doing an excellent job I want to pay my thanks to the translator, M r. Ernst Dupont, a Danish m a in English Language. It has been very difficult to transfer the specific Danish historiographic style into readable English, but it may not be amiss to add that the publisher, M r. Chris­ topher Hurst, has himself played a considerable part in the linguistic presentation of the English text, besides initiating and carrying through the project. Furthermore I want to express my gratitude to The Danish State's Rask-Ørsted Fond for granting my financial support for this translation. Every fact mentioned is, in the Danish original, documented by notes and references. In the present translation, these are confined to editions in English, German, French and Latin. Most of the documents from 1500 onwards, and part of the literature, are written in Danish. XI

X ll

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

The student who wants to check the references or to study the docu­ ments and the special literature must have a good knowledge of the Danish language, and it is therefore rational to refer him to the Danish edition. It would have no meaning to quote the documents and the literature in the English volume, to print the references and translate the numerous quotations. Th e only exception is that the Norse texts and documents are referred to in the original language, the publica­ tions, where the quotations can be found, being appended. These quotations are translated into English. Th e critical scholarly discussion o f certain problems in the Danish notes are omitted here, and con­ sequently references to papers in Scandinavian languages. Certain explanations of social, political, administrative and biographical phenomena in the history o f Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark will be found in the notes and references, as it must be presumed that such things do not belong to the common knowledge of the English-speaking world, even among historians. Special titles kept in the Danish or Norse form, because they are impossible to translate, are briefly explained in the index of items. Concerning the narrative itself it must be emphasized in advance that the survey of the Eskimo-archaeological results on the following pages is the work o f a non-specialist. Th e archaeological investigations in Greenland concerning the Eskimo-culture cover a long period of time; constantly finds and new datings have been published. Eskimoarchaeology has made rapid advances in the last twenty years, but the excavations have been scattered over the many miles of Greenland coasts. The scholars apparently do not dare to make a synthesis of the many results, because new investigations and modern dating-methods can cause profound alterations. A lot o f finds, reports and investigations remain unprepared for publishing and cannot be used to form a part of the synthesis. Writing the history of Greenland, the author was compelled to make the synthesis himself, but he did not dare to let it be printed before a specialist had cast a critical eye upon it. The wellknown Eskimo-archaeologist Dr. scient. Helge Larsen, head o f the Ethnographical Department o f the National Museum o f Copenhagen, has read the manuscript and made his corrections. M y thanks are due to him. But this does not mean that he is responsible for the Eskimoarchaeological parts of this volume; the responsibility rests on the author. I have initiated this work because of a feeling of obligation to do so. Being until now the only historian who has lived in Greenland for several years, I feel myself bound to make my experiences in the Greenland community profitable for studies of the history of the island and its populations. With this impulse I have started to work my w ay

PREFACE

xiii

through the source material in the different archives, the publications and the literature, trying constantly to build up as objectively as possible a detailed, almost chronological narrative o f development within Greenland and in its relations to the world outside. Since the beginning o f World W ar II Greenland has been central in the strategy and civil communications of the Northern Hemisphere. The population has been under Danish cultural influence during the last 250 years. Nowadays with increasing international interest in underdeveloped communities it may be fruitful to follow a description of economic, social and cultural development in Greenland. A culturecontact and a conscious and deliberate cultural policy over such a long period, may have something to tell. I have therefore tried to describe the meeting of two cultures. Something of the actions of the Danish administration can be studied elsewhere, but nothing about the re­ actions of the Greenland populations. This volume describes the back­ ground and the preliminaries to later development. It is my hope that my object may be achieved, and that in addition the work may be a reference book on the facts and problems of Greenland. Gentofte, Denmark,

1969

F in n G a d

IN T R O D U C T IO N Wave after wave and breaker after breaker wash the wind-swept rocks, the foam is torn into flakes that lash the glaciated promontories, the sea surges over the ice-grooved, striated forelands to be arrested in a frenzy of boiling surf at the foot of the majestic, precipitous bluffs. From the very moment when coasts and islands first emerged from the depths to force back the water, the sea seems never to have calmed down. The backwash of the sea from the lofty cliffs - a pendulum swing of the present moment that seems to evoke eternity. The sea uniting and separating at one and the same time - ever-changing over the centuries until the present day when its role has become less important. Time is inherent both in the instant o f the explosion and in the ages of infinite growth. Tim e existed long before man - even when there was no consciousness to perceive it. It is only late that man enters the history of our globe; the nearer we get to the poles, the later he appears. The surface of the earth with its present distribution of land and sea is supposed to rest on geological “ shields’ 5 of which Greenland forms one. Everywhere Archaean rock arches its back in convulsive folds, in rugged, craggy expanses. Tw o or three thousand million years have passed since the earth, and with it Greenland, “ crusted over” ; even then, however, the earth was not at rest. The Greenland Archaean rock may be “ only” 600 million years old. Since then the land has risen and subsided again and again, often as a result of volcanic activity; ashes, sand and gravel have been deposited; rivers carved their beds deep into the rock and created alluvia farther out. Heavy folding took place as if the crust of the earth had been squeezed in a giant’s hand. In a blaze of heat, potent chemical processes transformed the strata into new minerals, and the constant pressure of the higher strata “ processed” the elements of the bottom strata. Animal deposits, bones and calcareous marine shells, in the form of fossils and layers witness to climatic conditions in Greenland essentially different from those prevailing today; such deposits prove per se that biological life was possible. From the north the cold moved steadily

i

2

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

down upon Greenland, and the vigorous development was checked and stifled under the pressure of snow and ice one million years ago. The peaks of the primeval rock pierced the ice cap. The enormous crests of these nunataks still soar upwards, small local glaciers having formed in the gorges and ravines between the pinnacles. The main body of the mountains is free from the scoring masses of ice. Along the edge of the ice sheet the nunataks still stand silhouetted against the sky above the ice and snow - as if attempting to make picturable the look of the land just before it was covered. A t first the ice retreated. As in the rest o f the northern hemisphere there were several alternate periods o f retreat and advance of the ice. U p till now no evidence o f interglacial man has been found in Green­ land ; it is doubtful whether the ice retreated far and long enough. But then as now the country came under the influence o f climatic changes. About 15000 BG we see the beginning o f the so-called post-glacial age: the melting of the ice became more constant, the sea temperature rose, and the climate along the Greenland coasts improved. The scant layers o f earth, sand and gravel which the erosion of centuries had left lying in valleys and gorges and on larger or smaller plains and slopes, were bound by the roots o f grass and creeping plants; moss and lichen found roothold on stones and rocks. As the ice retreated farther into the interior of the country the shores of the 3 ords, the valleys and the stretches o f land behind the foreshore began to turn green, though the verdure still kept a respectful distance from Storbræen, the Greenland Ice Gap. The permafrost broke up; the marshy, soggy soil became less o f a tundra; the sun and the warm days of summer gave life and vigour to seeds that had been brought to these regions by the wind or by animate beings. The Arctic and Sub-Arctic flora and fauna followed eastern, western or southern routes across land, sea or through the air. Biological life was once more possible in Greenland and the surround­ ing seas. In the tracks of the larger animals, in the hoof-prints of the wild reindeer, followed man, the hunter, as if drawn by a magnet. He was dependent for his existence on this animal and had to follow it wherever it chose to roam. W e do not know where this migration began and we cannot point out the routes taken; we can discern details, however, sufficiently important to stir our imagination. Th at the cradle o f the human species stood somewhere in Asia is a time-honoured conception. It may be true that the people who originally inhabited the northern­ most part of the earth were indigenous to Asia. M an has travelled far in time and space. Over the centuries almost imperceptible shiftings in hunting grounds and territories m ay have led to vast migrations;

INTRODUCTION

3

however we are reluctant to accept the accounts of history when they are based on hypotheses of such long migrations. When man’s subsistence is dependent on hunting, with occasional fishing in streams or lakes or from the coasts, he must have considerable territory at his disposal. I f his quarry consists mainly of large animals with specific migration patterns, as is the case with the wild reindeer, he has to track down these animals or position himself at strategic points along their migration routes. While hunting, man will develop a specific technique which manifests itself in suitable hunting imple­ ments; thus a technical culture will emerge, defined by the economy of the people in question. Implement culture is determined by purpose and is not absolute in its relation to a given people. When applying the term “ migration” we need not think of large-scale migrations o f entire peoples; we may simply imply the wanderings of small groups, even o f individual families, or we may have in mind the transfer of appropriate cultural elements from one group to another. One characteristic of the ancient hunting and fishing cultures is that the “ density of the population” per square mile was very low; this, of course, was the result of the need for large territories, and we ought therefore to think in terms of “ dispersal of the population” . The economy was extensive and consequently the culture tended to become expansive within the given natural conditions. A life in nature con­ fines man in the trammels of those technical means with which he has seized upon the bounties of that nature. M an will adhere to the cultural forms developed. Our imagination is not led completely astray when it is stirred at the sight of a bone utensil found east of the Urals whose ornamentation is identical with that of a similar utensil from the Danish Maglemose culture (c. 6000 b c ) . 1 In the same way a squamous flint found in West Greenland in Disko Bay, bearing sure signs of human handiwork, is matched by similar finds in northern Norway and Asia; the flint chip is supposed to be the last bit of a flint core, and such microliths have been found in West Greenland, in Mongolia and in the district about Irkutsk in Siberia. There are many details, but they are not numerous enough to establish for us the migration routes - as far as the Eskimo migrations are concerned - until we have crossed Bering Strait. In the Quaternary, with its glacial and inter-glacial periods (diluv­ ium and pleistocene), the present Bering Strait consisted of dry land. The centre of the enormous ice cap over the northern parts of the earth was situated somewhere on the Arctic Circle, perhaps in Hudson Bay or in Greenland. Large parts of Alaska and northern Asia seem to have been outside the reach of the ice. The enormous quantities of water that were, so to speak, “ bound” in the huge glacier returned to

4

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

the cycle of the ocean quite slowly; accordingly the sea level was much lower than today. The water level was too low to submerge the passage­ way between Asia and Am erica; parts of Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea formed one vast tundra. The ice receded, but much tijne was to elapse before the water drowned this “ bridge” . From some time during the post-glacial period, then, perhaps from 15000 to 10000 or 8000 B e , there was one continuous stretch of dry land from Europe to Asia and to North-west Am erica; the climatic con­ ditions of this stretch of land south of the ice front must have been fairly equable. The northern regions of Asia looked much as they do now, and the Siberian rivers sent huge windfalls from the forests on long voyages across the Arctic seas to the coasts o f Greenland. It is not remarkable either that these Sub-Arctic regions had almost the same fauna. When the ice retreated in North America the road towards the east (and towards the south) widened. Simultaneously the sea eroded the land. Whereas Bering Strait quite probably existed in the Ice Ages, the Bering Sea was formed later; shallow waters are typical of large parts of it. Finally, the vast glaciers covered certain regions of North America and Greenland only; but there the ice decided to remain. Fauna, in the sea and on dry land, will appear rapidly as soon as conditions permit. M an comes later. The immigration into the Am eri­ can continent most likely stemmed from Asia, though this cannot be established as a fact. It is probable that the ancestors of the Red Indians were the first to come, followed by the Eskimos, or rather by people of the Palæo-Eskimo culture as characterized by microliths, burins and sideblades. Quite possibly the characteristic development of the Eskimo culture took place along the coasts and in the hinterland of Alaska. The Eskimo culture - in its later stages at least - is the product of the inter­ play of conditions offered man by the sea and by the land; indeed, this among other things goes to establish an ethnographic definition of Eskimo culture. The implement culture adapted itself to this amphibi­ ous topography. The hunting of the mammals of the sea, the seal and later the whale, called for one type of implements: the harpoon, the hook and the fish-spear; the hunting of terrestrial mammals, especially the reindeer, demanded weapons of another kind: the hunting spear and the bow and arrow. In both types of hunt the knife was extremely useful, and various forms of scrapers were necessary in the preparation of skins. The production of skin clothes and tents, perhaps even covers for boats, required a sewing technique based on the needle. The dorsal tendons of the reindeer constitute excellent material for thread, and have been used in Greenland for this purpose to this very day. In Norton Sound, a bay south of the Seward Peninsula in North­

INTRODUCTION

5

west A la sk a /a promontory, Gape Denbigh, juts out into its north­ eastern corner. A very old flint culture was discovered and excavated near this promontory; even today we dare not say definitely whether this culture is Palæo-Eskimo or Pre-Eskimo. The finds consist of, among other things, highly finished flint tools, burins, microliths, microflakes, and sideblades. There is no pottery, however. The lack of pottery is characteristic of all Pre-Mesolithic cultures. The burins indicate Stone and Bone Age, since the pointed and cutting burin was used for splitting bones, reindeer antlers, and other bone material. In the districts about Norton Sound several other ancient cultures have been unearthed, Eskimo or Pre-Eskimo. From the Denbigh flint find lines seem to radiate to other nearby cultures, no doubt Eskimo cultures, and such lines may be produced across Northern Canada to Igloolik, the north-eastern point of the Melville Peninsula, to Baffin Island and to Jens Munks Island, localities in the northern part of Hudson B ay; they are all north of the timber line at 69° or 700 N . These regions, once glaciated, have risen so much that the present-day coastline is much lower than the ancient coastline. The Melville Peninsula, for instance, shows a difference of 54 metres between sea level and the oldest shore. The various coastlines are terraced from the beach into the hinterland, and are as clearly dis­ cernible as annual rings in wood. The archaeological finds in the top terrace are older than the ones made in the bottom terrace. In 1954 Jørgen Meldgård found in the uppermost terrace a culture very similar to finds in Disko Bay in Greenland; he termed this culture the Sarqaq culture after the first finding place. Eigil Knuth identified the same kind of terraced beaches in the district about Independence Fjord in North-east Greenland; in this case the most ancient cultures, the uppermost, were older than the Sarqaq finds and accordingly they seemed to point to a connection with the Denbigh finds in Alaska. Several lines along which culture spread across the western Arctic regions can thus be traced. When localities so distant from one another reveal such similar finds, it must be taken as proof of a west-to-east migration. The fact that Eigil Knuth found in the Thule district types similar to those of the Denbigh finds corroborates this theory. The insignificant differences the finds reveal when compared at close range, may be seen as slight but conspicuous alterations that have come about in the course of the long journey, or as divergent charac­ teristics typical of the individual craftsman. The Palæo-Eskimo cultures in Greenland, in the district about Independence Fjord, on the West coast from the Nügssuaq Peninsula southwards to Godthåb, and even some finds on the East coast, have

6

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

one thing in common: no older cultures have as yet been unearthed. As far as the Sarqaq culture is concerned, the excavation of the kitchen midden at Sermermiut south of Jakobshavn in Disko Bay proved beyond all doubt that no culture layer could be found deeper down: the Sarqaq layer was situated directly upon culture-sterile layers. In the Independence Fjord district no cultures were found in a higher position, and the oldest culture was dug out of the top terrace, which must have formed the oldest beach. No human culture existed before these two, which goes to prove that they in themselves must have been due to immigration.

M a p of Eskimo regions with the names o f most o f the sites and “ stations” on the eastbound migration mentioned in the text.

We do not know how these migrations took place; from the Thule district, however, which witnessed the last known immigration into Greenland, we can obtain an idea of the number of people such migrations involved. The Thule-immigration is supposed to have taken place in about 1865. About forty people set out from Arctic Bay in the northern end of Baffin Island. What prompted them to migrate was the rumour that there were people living on the other side of Baffin Bay; it was not a question of hunting, nor the migrations of the reindeer, but nevertheless they set out. Two years and 1000 kilometres along devious routes brought them half-way. One group decided to return, whereas the other group spent another three years in reaching Ita in the northern Thule district. Having stayed there for six years their leader succumbed to home-sickness, and most of the group set out with

INTRODUCTION

7

him on the long journey back. The leader died, however, and owing to the failure of the fishing quite a number shared his fate. When two of the survivors lapsed into cannibalism, two boys took to their heels and set their course for Ita once again. One of them was Merqusáq, who was still alive when the literary expedition of 19 0 2-0 4 was in the Cape York district. 2100 kilometres had been covered just because of a rumour that there were people living across the bay. It has been maintained that these immigrants brought the bow and arrow and the kayak back to the Polar Eskimos, who apparently had forgotten the use o f these important things. As a counterpoint to this we know of routine hunting expeditions which the Polar Eskimos made annually, and still often undertake, across Smith Sound to Ellesmere Land, which they regard as their natural hunting ground. It was along this route, across the open waters of Baffin Bay, with Smith Sound ice-bound most of the year, that the migrations passed. This is Greenland’s gateway to the west.

I

TH E F IR ST SE T T L E R S The oldest settlement finds in Greenland up till now have been made in Peary Land, more specifically in Brønlund Fjord. Radio-carbon dating1 indicates that some charcoal found there is from 2600 b c . The charcoal was found in a fireplace in which driftwood had been used as fuel. Such driftwood, however, came from Siberia, and it must have been years before it reached its final destination on the shores of Brønlund Fjord; so the dating really refers to the period within which the driftwood began its westward voyage. The wood may also have been lying on the beach for decades before being used as fuel but, unlike the highest ancient coastline on the Prinsesse Ingeborg Peninsula at the mouth of Independence Fjord and Danmark Fjord, no driftwood logs were found in this raised Brønlund Fjord settlement; the store of driftwood must have been exhausted. The dating, therefore, must be accepted with some caution. About 3000-2500 b c the climate in Greenland was considerably milder and drier than it is today. Small bunches o f Eskimos migrated while hunting across Smith Sound and towards the north-east. The North Greenland coastline differed considerably from its present-day aspect. The sea was undoubtedly less full of ice than in our day, when in certain localities ice-free waters are only a high-summer phenomenon. The shores were less lofty then, which means that Greenland was much smaller in those remote times. This was clearly shown by the archaeological investigations made in this district by Eigil Knuth on the first Peary Land expedition in 1947 and up till 1966.2 In Brønlund Fjord the old beaches were con­ spicuously delineated in terraces, the lowest about 2*5 metres and the highest and most ancient about 12 metres above sea level. On these terraces he found eleven so-called “ tent-rings” ; however they turned out not to be what is commonly understood by Eskimo tent-rings, i.e. stones left in the position they took up when they were used for weighing down the edges o f the skin of the tent. The Brønlund Fjord stones were in circles, it is true, five of them identical ellipses, but there was also an

8

THE F I R S T S E T T L E R S

9

earthwork, which is not customary with real Eskimo tent-rings; so the stones must be the remains of some kind of houses. Outside one of the houses a considerable midden was found, which indicated that the occupants o f the house must have stayed at the spot for quite some time. It could be established that a more permanent settlement had been in existence here just inside the mouth o f the Fjord. The five elliptical sites belonged to a fairly late age, but there was also the other type of house, round and with a fireplace, of which nothing was left except some charcoal on top of some stones. Some fist-sized pebbles were also found. Eigil Knuth spotted the same kind of rounded site in 19 55 on Cape Holbæk in a terrace 12 metres above sea level. The sites revealed them­ selves as depressions in the ground. In the middle of the houses were fireplaces, often square or polygonal, built o f very thick stones. In the same way the Prinsesse Ingeborg Peninsula sites were situated 1 2 metres above sea level. The dating of the various sites found at this level fell between 2590 and 1050 b c . The stone material used for the artifacts was a bluish flint, which had been used for making burins that did not show any signs of having been ground, broad micro-flakes, micro-blocks and lanceolate blades, all the artifacts being Mesolithic. The people living here for these 1500 years, or perhaps migrating through this district, existed on the basis of a Bone and Stone Age culture. As mentioned earlier the artifacts bore a striking resemblance to the Alaskan Denbigh finds. Among the artifacts only one bit of reindeer antler was found. In general there are only slight traces of reindeer in these parts of Green­ land; they are numerous only farther south both on the East and the West coast. There have been reindeer in North-west Greenland, it is true, but in the North-east Greenland districts the musk ox is quite numerous. This animal (which in reality is no ox but a kind of sheep) no doubt existed in the post-glacial period; the grazing musk ox of the East Greenland valleys o f today is a kind of living relic from past ages, whereas the type of man who hunted it then is now extinct. It is possible, then, that the Independence Fjord district was nothing but a transit zone. On the Prinsesse Ingeborg Peninsula, for instance, there were three sites in all, and only one house on each site dated 1 884 i 170 b c , and as already stated, the driftwood had not been exhausted. There are seven datings in Brønlund Fjord. They range from 2590 ± 120 to 2190, 2090, i9 0 0 ± 170, 1 7 5 0 1 b 120 and 1 7 3 0 1 b 1 2 0 , all b c . For 900 years Brønlund Fjord was a homestead, and all the people there belonged to the Palæo-Eskimo culture. A t various times they had neighbours, both in the Prinsesse Ingeborg Peninsula and at Næstved

IO

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

Fjord at the head of Danmark Fjord, the dating being i7 5 0 ± 120 b c . Eigil Knuth divides these settlements in North-east Greenland into two stages, terming them Independence I (c. 2600-c. 1100 b c ) and In­ dependence II (c. 700-400 b c ) . Farther south along the East coast some “ tent-rings” at Dove Bay (about 7 6 N.), no doubt Palæo-Eskimo sites, attracted attention as early as 1906-08. At Zackenberg (74°3i' N.) Eigil Knuth discovered at about 9 metres above sea level the same “ paved” fireplaces, un­ earthing at the same time hundreds of small flint flakes, scrapers, burins,

Independence I, 2 6 0 0 -18 0 0 bc. T h e area of distri bution is in black. (This and simila maps in the following pages are after exhibit m aps at the N ational M useum, Copen­ hagen.)

sideblades and some micro-flakes (i.e. the same culture as in the oldest sites in the Independence and Danmark Fjord districts). The Meso­ lithic Eskimos must have migrated farther along the coasts of East Greenland perhaps tracking down the reindeer, for in these southern parts reindeer antlers crop up again; the reindeer does not live there any more, while the musk ox is still numerous. On their wanderings towards the south these Eskimos may have been stopped short by the

THE FI RS T S E T T L E R S

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Blosseville coast, which, then probably as today, cannot be traversed on foot.3 Through the north-western gateway to Greenland Eskimo families or groups of families seem to have travelled continuously. Some chose a north-eastern route, while others turned south. Today we can say nothing definite about what decided their choice of course. M an is a wanderer as long as he is on firm ground. Along the southern route, however, one obstacle seems insurmountable, Melville B ay; the coasts of this bay form an almost continuous line o f glaciers, and there is no land until the Devil’s Thum b is reached. Nowadays, it is true, several ice-free islands adorn the coastline, but in the post-glacial period most of these islands were undoubtedly submerged rocks. Only for a few months o f the year does Melville Bay show ice-free waters; for the rest of the year the ice is safe enough, but it is a risky enterprise to tackle a stretch o f 300 km. A coast-bound journey will add another 200 or 300 km. The attempt has been made, in the past as well as in the present, and even animals like the reindeer m ay once have made the trip. It is probable that the migration of the reindeer to West Greenland took place in post-glacial times, when land that is now glaciated along the coasts of Melville Bay may have offered stages en route. Nowadays a distance of 600 km. separates Gape York from Svartenhuk-land in the north, where the first great stretches of land appear. However that may be, the reindeer were more numerous than today on the Nügssuaq Peninsula and south o f this along Disko B ay; at some point the animals spread along the entire West coast, their migration route perhaps taking them round the southern tip of the country and northwards along the East coast until their w ay was blocked by the Blosseville coast; and man followed in the tracks of the reindeer. Melville Bay and the regions down to the Nügssuaq Peninsula have not as yet yielded any traces o f Palæo-Eskimos. One day such traces will undoubtedly turn up, for Palæo-Eskimos must have traversed this stretch of land, since several Palæo-Eskimo settlements have been un­ earthed in Disko Bay and south along the West coast. It is not improb­ able that Palæo-Eskimos crossed the sea from the south-eastern coast of Baffin Island. There is always open water in the middle, and this must have been the case also in the so-called “ Atlantic period” that succeeded the post-glacial period. Nothing, however, indicates that the Palæo-Eskimos possessed boats of a construction that would allow voyages across wide open-water stretches. Until further evidence is revealed we must conclude that the oldest immigrants into the Green­ land West coast came from the north, just as did the later Neo-Eskimo settlers. Several localities contain remains of the habitations of the first settlers.

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H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

U p till now, characteristic artifacts have been found at Ikerasak in the Ümänaq municipality, settlements have been detected round Disko Bay and near Godhavn on Disko, and they have been unearthed in the municipalities of Egedesminde and Holsteinsborg; artifacts of different kinds have come from various other sites. The southernmost early Palæo-Eskimo site investigated is on Itivnera, an isthmus at the head of Godthåbs Fjord, at a place where nowadays tame reindeer browse. Several other sites have come to light in the districts around Godthåbs Fjord, all belonging to the oldest West Greenland culture. It is even supposed that the early Palæo-Eskimo culture spread along the entire West coast and on the East coast as far as Angmagssalik. Early Palæo-Eskirno remains were first uncovered in West Green­ land in 1948, west of Sarqaq on the southern coast of the Nügssuaq Peninsula. 182 artifacts were found in a test excavation o f 12 square metres at a depth of 30 cm., but there were no house ruins nearby. Already as early as 1871 a site had been excavated at Claushavn (north of Christianshåb in Disko B ay); the excavation revealed two distinct layers with artifacts. This find, together with other solitary finds, led to the assumption of a “ Stone Age culture” in Disko B ay; this was in about 1907. The assumption has been abundantly confirmed. The implements are almost exclusively of stone. Unfortunate con­ ditions in the soil made the preservation of bone implements and parts of bones impossible in Disko Bay. But an incredible amount o f burins were found, a tool which always characterizes such Mesolithic cultures. The carbon 14 method resulted in i 6 2 0 ± 150 b c as the earliest date, 790 zb 100 b c as the latest. Both datings are from Disko Bay. Itivnera near Godthåb was dated 1 0 1 0 ± n o b c . It is now generally agreed that this culture prevailed in West and South-east Greenland from about 1400 to about 700 b c . After the 1948 place of discovery the culture is termed the Sarqaq culture, and let us call Eskimos of that culture Sarqarmiutörtut, a West Greenland coinage which denotes “ those who live like the Sarqaq people” . T h at the Sarqaq people did live in a special w ay was discovered by the archaeologists Therkel Mathiassen, Helge Larsen and Jørgen Meldgård. It turned out that these people had a preference for pro­ montories and liked their houses to be raised somewhat above the beach, usually at the foot of a group of rocks. Contrary to Disko Bay, the Itivnera finds contained bone implements which corroborated the assumption o f a Bone and Stone A ge culture. The shape of the houses o f the settlements in Disko Bay and at Itivnera is not easily ascertainable; they are not rectangular but almost egg-shaped. A recurring trait is the fireplace in the centre o f a more or less intact paved floor. Often there is a quite considerable deposit of

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charcoal and'ashes, and next to the fireplace fist-sized round stones are found, just as in the Brønlund Fjord sites. The stones may have been used as “ cooking stones” , i.e. they were heated and put into the water which was thus heated by the stones, which could then be exchanged with other hot stones until the water boiled. The method is applied by cultures that possess no fire-resistant pots, but only skin or wooden containers. It is characteristic of the Sarqaq culture that it is devoid of

Left, Sarqaq culture, 14 0 0 -50 0 b c . A rea of distribution in black. Arrows indicate the possible migration route from the west along the coast. R ight, Independence I I, 700-400 b c . A rea of distribution in black. T h e hatching on the W est coast indicates the distribution of the almost contemporaneous Sarqaq culture.

pottery, like other Mesolithic cultures. “ Cooking stones” may, of course, also have been used to preserve the heat of the brushwood fire. We know little about the ground-plan of the houses, neither can we ascertain much about the superstructure. Presumably the walls were low peat-walls, perhaps with stones interspersed among the peat, and the roof may have been made of skin. We know for certain, however, that the house was heated by means of a fire. The blubber lamp which is so typical of the Neo-Eskimo cultures was not customary among the

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H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

Sarqarmiutórtut. Small, rather flat, round bowls have been found, which are undoubtedly blubber lamps, but they have been used for lighting alone, not as heaters nor for cooking. Armed with his bow and arrow the hunter lay im wait, perhaps in shooting stands like the ones found at Itivnera, raised from the beach like the rest of the settlement. It is also at Itivnera that a strange cairn has been found, topped by a triangular stone. It has been maintained that later Eskimos used to place gulls’ wings between the base of the triangular stone and the stone below it; the wings fluttered in the wind and attracted the reindeer, which is a very curious animal though as timid as a deer. The reindeer would approach the cairn, then get frightened and run away directly past a shooting stand which had been made within easy range of the path of the fleeing deer. Probably the shooting stand and the cairn were erected in those times. From time immemorial cairns have been sacred, and even the Norsemen, who must have passed by this one, left it untouched. Perhaps the dog was assistant to the Eskimo when he was hunting on land; remains of dog bones have been discovered in the ground near the settlements. Dogs were not used as draught animals, as the sledge was unknown; but they may have been domesticated for the sake of their skin. Hunting on dry land is one thing, hunting at sea another. The settlers must have hunted the seal on the ice or perhaps in the tidal openings between the shore and the sea ice; it is probable that their preference for settling on capes is explained in this way, since the seal seems to prefer the vicinity of promontories and rocky points. Fishing was no doubt carried on from the shore or in rivers and lakes. On the whole the temperature of the water was somewhat higher than it is in our day and the fish more abundant. Excavations at Sermermiut near Jakobshavn yielded midden profiles which have clearly spelled out the chronology o f the habitation. The layer sequence was very distinct and, where no human hand had disturbed the stratigraphy, the artifacts were in the layers where they belonged. The bottom layer was a sterile gravel surface on top o f which followed a Sarqaq-phase layer about 5 - 1 0 cm. thick; then another sterile layer consisting of humifying peat (transformation processes are very slow in Greenland, no doubt owing to bacteria-scarcity). This horizon was about 1 0 - 1 5 cm. thick, and the profile was topped by a 6 - 1 2 cm.-thick layer o f clayey sand which contained a few artifacts from a later culture. It is like reading a book: the profile tells us how the Sarqarmiutðrtut came to this locality were no one had been before, lived there for some time between 1560 and 790 b c , and then disappeared, how and whither

THE FI RS T S E T T L E R S

15

no one knows today. The fact that one horizon consists of peat indicates a relatively warm but damp climate, conditions that certainly did not appeal to the Sarqarmiutårtut. Consequently the land was uninhabited for some time. The clayish sand on top of the peat may indicate that some kind of flood visited the district with its characteristic deposits. So, in the course o f 1800 years, two cultures penetrated into an uninhabited Greenland. The earliest culture migrated round the north of Greenland via the Independence Fjord district and perhaps farther on, south along the East coast as far as the Blosseville coast. One thousand years later the next culture, the Sarqarmiutårtut, chose the southern route and proceeded southwards round Cape Farewell and then northwards along the East coast; their migration may also have been blocked by the Blosseville coast. Artifacts from both these PalæoEskimo cultures show affinity with finds in the remote west o f the Arctic zone. Both immigration groups gave their implements specific designs; they were living cultures borne by vigorous people. For the next 600 to 800 years, silence reigned along the Greenland coasts. Then the stillness was broken again by human speech, by the sound o f the stone cutter’s hammer, by the tinkling o f the flint flakes split off the core with the flaking tool. The pungent smoke from domestic fires pricked the sensitive nostrils o f the wild animals of the country once again. To meet the ancestors of the immigrants who began to head for Greenland just before the Christian era, we must cross Baffin Bay into Hudson Bay for the second time. W e are still north of the timber line. Foxe Island juts into Hudson Strait on the south-eastern side o f Baffin Island; its southernmost point is Cape Dorset. Ancient Eskimos had dug out artifacts on this Cape, and in 19 25 D. Jenness, the Canadian archaeologist and ethnographer, identified them as belonging to a specific species of Eskimo culture which was termed Dorset. Since that time Dorset culture has been located all over the northern Hudson Bay district, even southwards along the west coast of Davis Strait, along the coasts of Labrador and on the northern tip of Newfoundland. The finds are so numerous, and the material so varied that the Dorset culture may be divided into five periods. Certain features are common to all the Dorset periods, features that divorce the Dorset culture from the earlier Sarqaq culture and the later Neo-Eskimo cultures. The burin, which is a sine qua non in the Sarqaq culture, is not found in the Dorset, though there is a burin-like tool which was no doubt produced with a similar purpose. The Dorset culture did not avail itself of bow and arrow, whereas heavy hunting spears were common. The fish-spear is very often barbed. Flint points for spears and other implements are purposely tanged so as to make

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H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

halting easier. The Sarqaq people used a small, round sewing needle; Dorset women preferred a long, pointed, oval needle. The lamps alter and become square in form. Where Sarqaq houses reveal circular ground plans, Dorset sites indicate square houses, and in later periods the floors were sunk below the surface of the earth in order to conserve the heat. The harpoon is mentioned last, but not least, as it is often decisive for the identification of sites; the Sarqaq-harpoon is small and open-socketed, while the Dorset-harpoon has a partly closed socket.

T h e Dorset period, ioo bc - a d ioo . A rea of distribution in black. Arrows indicate possible migration routes from the west along the coast.

It is in the Dorset culture that the “ cross-blade knife55, known as the ulo, appears; it is not the fully elaborated ulo> but an ulo-like knife. Furthermore, we know something of the burial customs of this people; the northern part of Baffin Island has revealed stone-set burial mounds with tomb chambers that contained an ochreous layer. Apparently the Dorset people adapted themselves to the hunting of walrus, although the seal was not disdained. Fishing must have become more intensive since they took pains to improve the fish-spear. Hunting on land followed the normal pattern, although the Dorset hunter, who did not possess bow and arrow, was less effective. Two novel implements

THE F I RS T S E T T L E R S

I?

or parts of implements emerge: these are the snow knife and the sledge runner. Jørgen Meldgård, who has excavated several PalæoEskimo cultures in northern Baffin Island, states that the Dorset culture “ smells of forest” . Several traits seem to hint at Amerindian influence, among other things the ochreous layer in the tombs. Jørgen Meldgård assumes that such influence was confined within the limits of a triangle formed by Newfoundland, Jam es Bay in the southern part of Hudson Bay, and the great lakes on the southern Canadian border. The Dorset culture as such was centred on the shores about Foxe Basin north of Hudson Bay, and covered a span o f time from 700 bc to ad 1300. From its centre the Dorset culture spread towards the north-east, also reaching Greenland. The district about Independence Fjord here again attracts our attention, together with Disko Bay. This is only natural since the latest archaeological investigations have concentrated on these two districts. However, it does not imply that Dorset has not been spotted elsewhere in Greenland, but so far the earliest stages of the Dorset culture have been unearthed in these two localities; in the future other early, or perhaps even earlier, Dorset stages may emerge in other parts of the country. Traces of Dorset have been located in Thule, but they belonged to a later phase. Some day even Dorset settlements may be found in this part o f the coast; finds are still possible. Stating this we must in the same breath admit that the picture which the collation of the finds draws for us is not, and cannot be, exhaustive, even less final. New finds may change the picture radically, just as our conception of the Eskimo settlement in Greenland was changed by the 1948 Independence Fjord and Sermermiut-Sarqaq finds. The earliest possible dating of a Dorset settlement is 1 0 5 0 ^ 120 bc on Cape Holbæk at the head of Danmark Fjord. On the lower terraces, 5 or 6 metres above sea level (i.e. later beaches than the ones on which the first culture peoples settled), Eigil Knuth spotted a culture which he termed Independence II, but which can possibly be identified as the earliest Dorset stage. The house ruins are typical “ tent-houses” , with fireplaces screened off by flat stones put on edge in the middle of a diagonally-running paved path. The stone material used for artifacts is chalcedony, which accords well with our other experiences of the Dorset culture, especially in Disko Bay. Harpoon points with partly closed sockets and tanged blades corroborate the assumption of a Dorset find. How far this type of Dorset spread in the Independence Fjord district and south along the East coast cannot be ascertained with accuracy. For one thing the materials are too scanty, and furthermore the evidence has not been confronted with the latest archaeological results.

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Eigil Knuth located a Dorset settlement at Zackenberg (74°3o ' N.) On the Greenland West coast, Disko Bay is the main site where Dorset remains have been found. Carbon 14 unfailingly reveals that the time of settlement falls within the period from about 100 b c till about a d 100. A later Dorset phase, from a d 700 to 900, has been established in Inglefield Land, Hall Land and sporadically in Upernavik and Disko B ay; this Dorset phase is a couple of millenia later than the Indepen­ dence Fjord Dorset.

T h e Dorset period, ad 700-900. A re a of distribution in black. Arrows indicate sup­ posed migration routes. T h e dotted arrow ending in a question mark indicates that the migration m ay have gone farther, but this cannot be established as a fact. T h e hatch­ ing on the east coast indicates mixed Dorset-Thule settlement ad 900-1100.

O f twenty-two localities investigated in Disko Bay, some were ex­ clusively Sarqaq, others pure Dorset; in most places, however, the result of successive settlement was a kind of blend o f the two. With very few exceptions the sites were located on terraces on gravelled or sandy forelands (i.e. on ancient beaches), a group of rocks almost always towering behind the settlement. The Dorset people seem to have preferred habitats of a kind similar to the Sarqarmiutortut. Without any doubt, the economy o f the two cultures was based on

THE FI RS T S E T T L E R S

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the same material things: a combination of dry-land hunting and capturing of sea mammals, especially the seal and the walrus. A ll these distinctive traits were spotted on the sites in Disko Bay from Kangersuneq south of Christianshåb in the south-eastern corner of the Bay, northwards to Atanikerdluk on the Nügssuaq Peninsula at the southern mouth of Vajgat. The only thing that was not found was house ruins, whatever the cause o f this m ay be. The duration of this type of Dorset in Greenland seems not to have been long. It arrived late and spread all over the coast towards the west and south-east. Specimens o f the same type o f Dorset as in Disko Bay have been dug out at several localities on the West coast and on the East coast south of Angmagssalik. A t this point we encounter the first written testimony regarding these Palæo-Eskimos. Following the account o f Erik the R ed’s Greenland landnám, the íslendingabók reads:4 “ There they found many settlements, towards the east and towards the west, and remains o f skin boats and stone implements, which shows that to that place journeyed the kind of people who inhabited Vinland and whom the Greenlanders [i.e. the Norse settlers] call Skraelings.” The account is o f the years about a d 986, and the remains found by the Norse landnamsmen must have belonged to the Greenland bearers of the Dorset culture. From this evidence we must conclude that the Dorset people availed themselves of boats made of skin, which is credible in itself although we have no traces of such boat frameworks, of oars or parts o f oars. Archaeologists assume that Stone Age people elsewhere possessed skin boats although remains thereof have not been disclosed either. This may hold good for the Palæo-Eskimos, too, since we have written evidence that remains of skin boats were detected a very short time after they had left the region. There is no reason to question the short account in the lslendingabók, as it was written by the well-informed and highly reliable A ri Frodi. Eigil Knuth was the first to rehabilitate the account of the íslendingabók;6 he refutes the argument that it could not possibly be authentic since it makes no mention of houses, by pointing to the fact that Palæo-Eskimo house ruins were nothing but low stone circles and modest earthworks, which even in Sub-Arctic regions become covered with vegetation relatively fast. It was a deserted land that met the eyes of the Norse landnamsmen : the Dorset Eskimos had left the country. Judging from the profiles of the Sermermiut midden a spell of a somewhat colder and more moist climate set in about a d 500. The permafrost bound the soil again, and such conditions made the Dorset Eskimos decamp; at least they left Sermermiut. In the midden profile, the Dorset horizon is followed by a

20

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

layer of peat with remains of grasses, mosses and small twigs, but otherwise culture-sterile. A very pronounced horizon o f compressed grasses tops the profile. This indicates that towards the end o f the period conditions became drier, though still cold. The permafrost inhibited the plant remains from humifying. In time we have now come well into the Middle Ages (about 1250). Carbon 14 dating at Igdlorssuit6 confirmed that the settlers stayed on in the northern part o f the area until some time into the ninth century. Although this must constitute the latest possibility for Dorset life in West Greenland, it does not preclude the possibility that Dorset cultures lived on in other parts o f Greenland where conditions were dry, but cold. Like the Sarqarmiutðrtut, Dorset people were unable to cope with damp cold in their flimsy houses which were heated by open fires that had to be constantly attended to ; much fuel was needed, and quite possibly the lack o f fuel was one of the principal promptings to leave the settlements. When the vicinity had been exhausted o f fuel, the task of getting it from remoter parts may have become too onerous. Driftwood may also have been giving out. Evidently fuel became too scarce to ward off the increasing cold. Later history teaches us what fuel shortage in Greenland m ay lead to. In 17 2 7 the fuel situation was far from favourable for the newly established mission and trading station on Haabets 0 e; up till then all the driftwood needed had been available, but six years of habitation there made fuel so inaccessible that nobody had the energy to try to get it. By then all the driftwood in the vicinity had been exhausted, and driftwood expeditions grew ever longer and more burdensome; in a year less wood was washed ashore than was consumed. This illustrates that far to the south o f Disko Bay, admittedly in worse conditions, the driftwood store could be exhausted in a mere six years; this large consumption of fuel was necessary although the houses were better and warmer than the “ tent-houses” of the Dorset culture. Naturally the Dorset houses allowed a lot of heat go to waste, so the consumption of fuel must have been considerably higher. The problem of heating was no doubt decisive for the subsistence of this culture. This can be seen also on the “ ideal site” on which Jørgen Meldgård bases his division of Dorset.7 Periods I V and V , the two latest, illustrate a kind of crumbling of the culture, which is also due to the more vigorous influence of Neo-Eskimo cultures. Even so, Period I V spread beyond its local territory. Undoubted traces of this period are found in northern Thule in North-west Green­ land near Inuarfigssuaq (at the southern mouth of Marshall Bay). During 19 3 5 -7 Erik Holtved excavated three middens at this locality, of which the largest yielded components of a very uniform character,

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while the other two contained mixed materials. Artifacts from the largest midden were Dorset; some of the components of the other two middens also belonged to the Dorset culture, but the greater part of the artifacts were from a later culture. This excavation took place some eighteen years before the Sermermiut excavations and the investigation into Palæo-Eskimo settlements in Disko Bay, and also before Jørgen Meldgård’s Baffin Island excavations. The Dorset culture had been “ discovered’ 5 only in 1925, no more than a decade before Holtved’s excavation; consequently no one was in possession of detailed insight into this culture. Erik Holtved’s datings are relative, i.e. decided by the stratigraphy of the so-called Comer’s Midden, which was located in 19 16 near the earlier Polar Eskimo settlement east of Old Thule’s landmark, the Table Top Mountain. These datings, of course, are prior to the inven­ tion of carbon 14 dating, and so they are not crossdated with M eldgård’s division into periods of the Dorset culture, or with other carbon 14 datings. Relative dating is the only dating of the excavation, and it is inconclusive. It is generally agreed, however, that the Inuarfigssuaq Dorset finds belong to a later phase than the Disko Bay finds; as the latter can be categorized as Dorset I I —I II , the Inuarfigssuaq Dorset must be referred to Dorset I I I - I V at least, perhaps even to Dorset I V - V . A t the time of writing, no scientific material on this problem has been published.8 With the middens no Dorset-type houses were found. Beneath some of the house ruins found at Inuarfigssuaq, traces of older buildings were found. Nowhere in the world are two houses that are actually in use ever built one upon another, and the older traces are obviously of deserted, partly caved-in houses o f the Dorset-type. This suggests an immigration later than the Dorset immigration. It cannot be established when Dorset existed in this locality or why it died out, any more than we can achieve an accurate and detailed description of the w ay of life of the Inuarfigssuaq inhabitants of that time. W hat can be deduced from these remains, however, is the fact that the past has repeated itself; it is another piece of evidence that North­ west Greenland was an open gateway. Today Inglefield Land is an almost ice-free district which stretches from Smith Sound in an eastnorth-eastern direction. In a sense, the country welcomes those who have crossed the sound from Ellesmere Land. Undoubtedly the region was a kind of entrance area for Eskimo immigrations into Greenland. Similarly Washington Land east of Kennedy Channel, Hall Land and Nyeboe Land east o f Robeson Channel extend a cordial welcome to those who have ventured to cross the two more northerly sounds. Possibly all three localities were gateways. These three areas have only

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been investigated archaeologically in quite specific localities. Naturally the most ancient cultures leave the least discernible traces, so they are difficult to locate in these vast areas. A t present not much can be established about the earliest cultures in these three immigration zones.9 Moreover, in the period in question, Palæo-Eskimo cultures began being superseded by Neo-Eskimo cul­ tures. In Greenland the last phases of Dorset (Dorset I V and especially Dorset V ) continued, if not alongside, then at least in the neighbour­ hood of the newly arrived Neo-Eskimo culture, the Thule culture. During his archaeological expedition to Baffin Island, Jørgen Meldgård was informed by the Igloolik Eskimos on the north-eastern coast of Baffin Island that the Tom git, an inland people known from the Eskimo legend cycle, were good reindeer hunters. Th ey were reputed to hunt on foot, equipped only with spears; they did not use bow and arrow. This in itself should be sufficient to identify the Tom git with the Dorset people. The Iglooliks went on to relate that the Tom git had been expelled by the Iglooliks’ own forefathers: a saga-like touch. The Tom git were reported to have been driven southwards. This does not imply that the newly arrived, and arriving, Neo-Eskimos avoided being influenced by the Tom git. Such influence may have been helpful in giving the Central Eskimos, among them the Iglooliks, their dis­ tinctive, particular stamp. The Igloolik accounts of the Tom git contain several traits that point directly to Dorset. The Tom git were rumoured to hunt seal in the winter at the breathing holes. This is a very longdrawn-out form of fixed-station hunting. You take up your position by the breathing hole in the ice and remain there until the seal appears, then you harpoon it and let the seal drag out the line which has been previously fastened to the ice. A t length the seal dies from fatigue, suffocation or loss of blood and it can be landed. It was, and is, a very cold wait, so the Torngit-hunter brought a small, round stone lamp which he lit and then leaned over so that his coat formed a tent over the lamp; the heat from the lamp was confined within the “ tent” and the hunter’s naked body would be warmed in that way. Often the Tom git people had burns on their stomachs because they forgot the lamp. Such a small, round stone lamp is exactly the type o f lamp which has been found in Dorset horizons. The Tom git were very strong; their strength made them excellent walrus hunters, as they were able to drag the bulky, heavy animals across wide expanses on little sledges. They did not domesticate dogs. They lived in square or rectangular houses that were smaller than the Neo-Eskimo stone houses. Inside the Tom git doorway the housewife would sit tending the open fire, and their plank beds would be on each side of the fire against the gables of the house. Everything in this

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account makes sense and creates, as it were, a photographic reproduc­ tion of Dorset daily life. Thus archaeology may confirm the truth of some of the later NeoEskimo legends. The Tom git idea can be encountered all over the NeoEskimo world; in most cases the legends are not so elaborate as appears to be the case with the Iglooliks. In Greenland such inland people are termed Tom git in West Greenlandic ( Tom git is the plural; the singular form is Tuneq). Though the Greenland accounts of their way of life do not fit the Dorset culture as a whole, there are certain distinctive details, such as the story that the Tom git hunt the “ large, horned animals” , which they run down and kill without the help of bow and arrow, only stabbing them so that they die from loss of blood; or the account of hunters hunting along the low-tide line; or the recurrent idea that the Tomgit did not use dogs. Otherwise common Eskimo traits have been infused into the Greenland Tom git legends. This very tenacious tradition about the Torngity the inland people, tallies with archaeological testimony and datings, and is indicative that the Neo-Eskimos and the culture o f which they were to be the bearers knew of and influenced each other at some time towards the end of the first millennium a d . A s the climate deteriorated, the Dorset house underwent some thermally-conditioned changes which were inspired by the Neo-Eskimo technique; the floor was sunk below the surrounding surface in order to confine the heat inside the house. Finally the Dorset culture yielded to the Neo-Eskimo coast culture. The Dorset people, whose subsistence was mainly based on dry-land hunting, retreated into the interior of North Am erica (Canada) and farther southwards, driven by climatic changes. Previously, however, the Central Eskimos had picked up from the Dorset people valuable knowledge about inland hunting. This group of Neo-Eskimos, whose culture undoubtedly derived from the Thule culture, had to give up their Thule-character of being primarily sealers and whalers, since the whale apparently began avoiding coastal waters. Consequently they turned dry-land hunters and were thus confined to regions where such hunting was possible. It goes without saying that an Eskimo culture with sealing and whaling as its principal industry must have emerged on coastlines close to or facing the open sea. The Thule culture, therefore, is assumed to have passed its earliest stages near Bering Strait, partly influenced by cultures located along the coasts of the Bering Sea and on the Aleutian Islands. In the first centuries a d , several Palæo-Eskimo cultures existed on the north-western coast of Alaska, among others the so-called Ipiutak culture. This represents a curious stage o f transition between inland

24

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

cultural forms and coastal forms. A certain amount o f wandering be­ tween the two regions appears to have been the norm; it was a kind o f migratory existence, as the winter was spent in woodland areas and the summer on the beaches. People of the Ipiutak culture possessed neither blubber lamps, harpoon bladders nor kayaks, though they availed themselves o f a kind of canoe. M any o f the characteristics of this culture can be found in later Eskimos o f the same regions, and the impression is left that the Ipiutak culture was the precursor o f the later cultures; thus in a sense it was also the ancestor o f the Thule culture. The Thule culture emerged about ad 1000 in north-western Alaska and, as it existed on both sides o f Bering Strait, it is likely to have originated in Siberia. Characteristic of the Thule culture were imple­ ments o f a larger size than those of earlier Eskimo cultures. Th at harpoon points were longer and heavier is a natural consequence of the hunting of very large sea mammals. The hunter’s indispensable means of transportation at sea, the kayak, was invented, although it was still far from the elegance and manoeuvrability o f the later West Greenland kayak. Other new inventions were the sledge and the dog team, the bird dart, the harpoon bladder, the large soapstone lamp, the use of soapstone pots, the spacious stone and peat houses in which whale ribs were used as rafters - a highly versatile implement culture with a new housing technique, consisting of a wide plank bed along the back wall, side beds at right angles to the large bed, and a sunk entrance passage, so that the heat was preserved inside the heavy peat walls. While these culture elements were still acquiring sophistication, the Thule culture spread from Alaska. As open waters were a constant prerequisite, the Thule culture must somehow have managed to follow the northern coasts of Canada into the archipelago which stretches from i2 5 °o ' W . (Banks Island being the first large island) to the point where it is bounded by Greenland to the east. The culture emerges in several localities on the islands, its southernmost point being in Hudson Bay. In the course of a few centuries, perhaps within a shorter span of time, the Thule culture reached the north-western parts of Green­ land; thence the immigrants chose either the northward route, which took them along coastal regions not unlike the ones to which they had grown accustomed, or the route across Melville Bay to the most northerly of the Greenland West coast territories, the Upernavik and perhaps even the Ománaq districts. Towards the end o f the twelfth century they must have spread so far south that the Norsemen were able to meet them, trade with them and gradually influence their culture. For a culture to spread relatively so fast over such a large area a

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large population is necessary. Although we do not know what prompted them, we do know that considerable migrations took place in various parts of the northern hemisphere in the centuries from a d 300 and onwards; indeed the Viking raids of the tenth century m ay be in­ corporated into the picture. The especial mobility within the Arctic zones seems part and parcel of the trend. Not many traces of these migration peoples have so far been revealed in the Arctic Archipelago. Quite possibly the conditions were not satisfactory, which led to an east-bound migration. In theory this may explain the rapid spread of the Thule culture to Greenland, where the whales hitherto had the free and unchallenged run of the open waters. In Greenland these people might be able to find favourable conditions, and the surroundings were similar to those of their original Alaskan homes. When man is pushed very near to the edge of subsistence, even minor changes may push him off his balance. This was the fate that had been in store for the Sarqarmiutortut and the Dorset people. The Thule Eskimos had come to stay, and in time they claimed the country for themselves and their descendants.

2

TH E N O RSE SE T T L E R S Survival and the continuance of human life depend on relatively stable conditions in the environment. Minor alterations may be counter­ balanced, but radical and drastic changes will compel the individual to migrate in search o f localities that offer conditions as favourable as those to which he was wont; if the migration is impeded the thread of life will be cut. The nature o f the conditions demanded varies from group to group; where one group may manage to exist, another group might find it intolerable, perhaps even impossible, to live. In marginal districts where the conditions of life m ay change from good to bad or vice versa, settlement will be changeable too, unless some technical development neutralizes the effects of the change. Improved conditions in a certain area may tempt people to migrate into the area, but normally the incentive to migrate is to be found in dissastisfaction with the deteriorat­ ing conditions - the instability - of the present locality. In Scandinavia the ninth century was an epoch in which there was a general change in conditions. The rather extensive and prolonged period which is termed the Viking Age saw an expansion which is unparalleled in Scandinavian history. N ew territories were acquired almost throughout the known world. The Vikings sailed the seas; they knew the routes along the coasts and across the open sea to the islands west of their nati ve shores. These were the routes of traders and raiders alike. It seems that the Scandinavian peoples outgrew their resources, and as it was difficult to bring new land under the plough, the Viking raids turned into emigrations. Settlers, especially from Norway, crossed the North Sea to the Shetlands, the Orkneys and the Hebrides, to Ireland in the south and to the Faroes and Iceland in the north. One ramifica­ tion o f this expansion is the landnám period in Iceland, approximately from 870 to 930. The Icelandic sagas teem with accounts of long voyages at sea. Most such voyages were trading expeditions, but in those days the trader 26

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had to have" his arms ready to hand, and it was not far from barter to battle. The trade routes crossed the seas and the men went to sea for years on end; the voyages were eastbound to the country from which the Icelanders originally came, and in which friends and relations would continue to welcome them for decades after the landnám period had ended. Eastern and southern islands were visited, and the ships called at the ports of the Norse-Irish chieftancies. The G u lf Stream passes through the waters south of Iceland and the eastern part of the Sub-Arctic storm centre is located south-west of Iceland; the crossing from Ireland to Iceland can be rather dangerous both in spring and in autumn. Though the bows of a Viking ship would cut through the waves and lift the vessel over the crests, it still took plenty of good seamanship to weather a storm in these waters, and both skill and experience were needed to keep course and speed; the vessel was easily put off course by gale, wind or current. Landing on unknown coasts was perilous, not only on account of reefs and shallows but also because strange peoples might inhabit them. On these unknown beaches the sword might be of no avail. In any case navigation was hazardous in those times. Normally we have no reports of ships that foundered or were lost, and mostly hear about dangerous voyages on the perilous seas that would at long last lead to familiar landmarks. It is only when exciting experiences followed the perils at sea that the events were chronicled. No doubt this is the w ay in which the account of the land west of Iceland was handed down - the legend about Gunnbjörn who, perhaps half-way through the landnám period, drifted far off course on his way from Ireland to Iceland and sighted to the west of Iceland some islands which were called Gunnbjarnar sker, the Gunnbjörn Skerries.1 Others are reported to have tried to seek out these skerries,2 but the accounts are veiled in uncertainty, and the later the reports, the more fantastic they become. Undoubtedly mention of these unknown regions towards the westering sun was most often made in West Iceland farm­ steads when voyages were being prepared. The Speculum Regale,3 that strange didactic work from the Norwegian Middle Ages (about 1250), mentions three factors which might make men go west to Greenland: competitive spirit (and thirst for fame), curiosity, and the lust for wordly goods. Presumably this is not far off the mark; when the useful could be combined with the agreeable, and when again, fame and the satisfaction of one’s curiosity could be the result of having been forced to leave home, what more could one ask of life? In the Viking Age swords were quickly unsheathed. The Viking blood was easily roused, and it was a short step from words to deeds

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that might endanger life. With respect to homicide,4 at least within Norwegian jurisdiction, niðingsdráþ led to the loss o f real and per­ sonal property and to irrevocable banishment; the offender might be absolved from punishment, however, by paying wergeld ; but how could he pay when everything had already been taken from him ? It was far safer to make off for good. Shortly after 970, the Norwegian Thorvald Asvaldsson had to leave his coastal homestead, Jæren, south o f Stavanger, due to a charge of manslaughter. Apparently Erik, his son, was a party to the crime; at least the Icelandic Landnámabók mentions them both in the same passage. Father and son emigrated to Iceland, where they seem to have had relatives, and settled on Drangar at Hornstrandir in North­ west Iceland. When Thorvald died, Erik, who was called E irik r rauði, Erik the Red, married Thjodhild, whose mother in her second mar­ riage was living at Haukadal in the western parts behind Breidi Fjord, Erik moved there, settled at Vatnshorn and began to clear the land. Fame and renown were important to the Norseman, but what mattered especially was the name he left behind him; therefore one had to exert oneself to the utmost to gain a posthumous reputation. This is expressed in the much-quoted HávamáP lines which lay down that, though all is transitory, the judgement over the dead never dies. A little earlier, after the same note of the ephemeral nature o f things has been struck, the poem has the following lines: en orðstírr deyr aldregi hveims sir godan o f getr that is: ‘but renown / never dies / for the one who has gained a good [one]” . I f fame did not come on its own, you had to make every endeavour to acquire it, and best of all was a posthumous reputation. It is a typical Norse trait, then, that Erik’s route can be traced by the place-names along its course. Nothing can be deduced from this about his own character; he merely did what custom and usage called on him to do. For some time Erik lived on Eirikstadir at Vatnshorn. The Landnámabók and other source material record how Erik’s serfs set an ava­ lanche tumbling down on top of another man’s house. The man’s kinsmen then killed Erik’s serfs, and Erik avenged himself by killing the slayers and a few other persons in addition and he was then exiled from Haukadal. Erik moved to some islands in the Hvamms Fjord estuary, but only temporarily; consequently he did not mind lending his high seat pillars to Thorgest on Breidabolstadir, a farmstead on the mainland south-east

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of the islands on which Erik had taken up his abode. But when Erik wanted to settle permanently on one of the islands in a place which he again named Eiriksstadir, and Thorgest refused to hand back the pillars, they came to blows and several persons were slain. The whole district split up into parties, some taking up the cudgels for Erik and some for Thorgest. Then the Thorsnes moot, or thing, outlawed Erik (and his accomplices), probably in the year 982, and Erik thereupon put to sea in search of the Gunnbjörn Skerries. From his father’s death and until 982 Erik had no fixed home, apart from a brief spell just after his marriage to Thjodhild. He left the northern parts of the country to clear land around Haukadal, and it was while they were at work on the clearing that the serfs set the land­ slide going; thus the sojourn at Haukadal was neither very long nor very peaceful. After 930, the close of the landnám period proper, nothing but poorsoil districts awaited newcomers to Iceland. Dissatisfied with his father’s land, Erik searched for better soil farther south, but found none. When the feud with the neighbours made him an outlaw he was compelled to settle elsewhere; so why not avail himself of the oppor­ tunity and have a closer look at the Gunnbjörn Skerries? In the last resort, he could always return. Erik had been sentenced to the so-calledfjörbaugsgarðr, i.e. banishment for three full years, not only from the jurisdiction of the Thorsnes thing, but from all Icelandic territory. In the summer of 982 Erik left Iceland, setting out from Snæfellsnes, and reached the West coast of Greenland. T o try to establish his exact landing place would only lead to conjectures, but he is reported to have journeyed southwards when he was off Miðjökull or Blaserk6 in search of settlement ground. He seems to have rounded Cape Farewell, but no details about his route are on record. Presumably the trip was made late in summer, perhaps in August, as the stor-is is not spoken of; it is referred to in the sources only later, but then quite frequently, when navigation on Greenland was no longer just a summer activity. In a few terse lines the sagas report that Erik investigated the land, and from all the accounts it is obvious that the area investigated stretched from the present Semersoq Island (H varf presumably being a cape on this island and Hvarfsgnipa a rocky point on the cape) to the present Ikerssuaq in the north; all these localities are within the present-day municipalities of Nanortalik, Julianehåb and Narssaq. Erik spent the first winter on Eriks Island, near the centre of the coast where he later settled. The following spring he sailed into Eriks Fjord and “ took up residence there” . In the summer of 983 he in­ vestigated the fjord-complexes, “ and he stayed there for a long time

30

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

and gave names to places far and near” . Between the lines of the sagas can be read the explorer’s ecstasy that kept him in the many fjords for so long. There cannot be the slightest doubt that he was truly en­ raptured by the country before his eyes; it was far-richer than the parts of Iceland in which he could possibly have settled. The winter of 9 8 3 -8 4 ’ was probably spent on Eriks Holm, which must have been located farther south. In the summer o f 984 he sailed northwards again, most likely to Ikerssuaq, the then Breidi Fjord. On his w ay he visited Hrafns Fjord (i.e. Unartoq Fjord). Having voyaged as far north as possible (the ice may have stopped him at Torssukátak) he returned to spend the winter of 984^85 on Eriks Island. Three localities now bore Erik’s name, a fact that was not known to anyone but Erik himself and his men. For of course Erik did not travel alone. Did Thjodhild and their children accompany him ? W e do not know, and nothing is on record about it, but it was customary for seafarers to leave their wives and children behind; sailing the seas to foreign lands was essentially a man’s job, so presumably Thjodhilde stayed with kinsmen in Iceland. Neither his wife nor his children under age were in any way held to share the responsibility for Erik’s past misdeeds, but only incurred indirect punishment by being bound to an offender. Erik is likely to have been accompanied by free-born companions on this voyage, but at least it can be established as a fact that he brought a small number of serfs. Still Erik took up no permanent abode. For about ten years he had to lead the fitful life o f the outlaw and he must have longed for the summer of 985 when he would be free to return to Iceland. It was late summer - ice trouble is not mentioned - when Erik set foot in Iceland again in Breidi Fjord. He stayed with a friend during the winter of 98 5-6 , apparently keeping his distance from the precarious localities about Breidabolstadir at Snaefellsnes. In the spring of 986 Erik made an attempt to settle his old score with Thorgest as Breida­ bolstadir; in the ensuing fight Erik lost and some kind o f com­ promise was arrived at. Erik may have had it in mind to settle per­ manently in Iceland, since he tried to come to terms with Thorgest but failing to do so he m ay gradually have come to the decision to set out for Greenland again: “ that was the summer when Erik left to settle in the land” - a sentence that conveys a feeling of deliverance. Erik appears to have felt relief when he was able to reach a final decision. Greenland was the name he gave to the land. The Gunnbjörn Skerries had proved to be more than a group of islands. As far as Erik had been able to ascertain it was a vast country whose interior was covered by one enormous ice sheet. But wherever he had gone in the three years, he had spotted lush grass in the Qords, and in places he

THE NORSE S E T T L E R S

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had even noticed birch-trees and willow scrub. Gentle slopes opened into long valleys of fine pasture; the sea wrack on the beaches was excellent feed for sheep even in winter. In summer, in striking contrast to the dun bluffs of the mountains, the land was green. So Greenland was to be its name, also because Erik hoped that an attractive name might encourage people to settle there. He did not wish to go alone; he wanted to set out at the head of an emigrant fleet. Erik had not been idle during the winter of 98 5-6, so the following summer he had no difficulty in finding men who were willing to follow him in his resolution to settle permanently in Greenland. The Landnámabók records that enough people to man twenty-five vessels8 had decided on a future in Greenland for themselves, thus giving up their Iceland homes. They were people from the western parts of the country, and they rallied round Erik with all their property, their cattle, their arms and implements, their serfs - and of course their wives and children and perhaps other close relatives. Mostly they were people who were dissatisfied with their Iceland conditions, and who wanted to try their fortune in the west, tempted by Erik’s praise of the new land. However, they did not all feel the same degree of discontent; at least Herjolf Bard arson gave up a farmstead on the south coast of Kjalarnes, which had given him much satisfaction and on which his family had lived for three generations. It is natural that the Landnámabók treats this family with more than a passing mention. Headed by Erik’s ship the heavy-laden vessels left West Iceland, drawing a good deal of water. On board Herjolf’s vessel was a Christian from the Hebrides, where Norwegian Vikings had settled. Even in summer the North Atlantic often greets the voyager with a fresh wind and a choppy sea. No more than fourteen of the twenty-five vessels are reported to have reached Greenland; the others either returned to Iceland or foundered. It is recorded, moreover, that the Christian on board Herjolf’s vessel composed a poem, HafgerÖingadrápa, and the introductory stanza is quoted. The Speculum Regale interprets hafgerðing in the following w ay: “ . . . it is as if all the gales and waves that can be found in that sea draw up into three lines, so that they form three waves all together. These three waves circumscribe the entire ocean and you do not know whither to sail, and they are taller than mountains, and they are like lofty pinnacles, and it is but seldom that anybody gets out of the sea once he has been in it; it is from this that the legend has arisen that God saved some who were in that sea, and their accounts have then been spread, from man to man, either just as they told it or with something added or left out, and so we must be wary of this tale, the more so as only few have lately come from

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D T h e East Settlement. T h e most important place names and the numbers o f ruins and ruin groups are shown. (After m ap revised and corrected b y G . L . Vebaek, curator at the National M useum, Copenhagen. 19 6 5).

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that sea to' tell us about it.” Several attempts have been made to make some sense out of the Speculum Regale account; unfortunately only the introductory stanzas of the Hafgerðingadrápa are extant today. Some have advocated a theory of submarine volcanic activity by way of explanation, others have attracted attention to the suddenly rising storms that must always have characterized these waters. Anyhow it must have been something out of the ordinary for these Icelanders and Norsemen from the islands of the Atlantic. They were all inured to the sea, and even so the phenomenon occasioned a poem. As the saga account of the landnám is broken off to leave space for the descrip­ tion of the Hafgerðinga poem, it seems not too bold to assume that the splitting of the emigration fleet was caused by some highly unusual natural phenomenon that sent the waves pouring into the heavyladen, half-open boats. The Landnámabók informs us that Herjolf settled on Herjoifsnes in Herjolfs Fjord, and that he was a man of high standing. Only then is it stated that Erik took possession of Eriks Fjord.9 The emigration fleet may have been scattered to such an extent that Herjolf arrived first, and settled where he landed, little suspecting that this locality was to be of great importance for the entire settlement. You can almost feel the sense of relief that filled Herjolf and his men when they sighted land and made for the green shores of a Qord; the relief turned to enthusiasm as they jumped ashore and claimed the land. Erik reached Greenland later than Herjolf and farther to the north. He had a very clear notion of where he wanted to settle. His three years of exile had given Erik an advantage over the others, nevertheless he seems to have obeyed the old custom of letting the gods decide where to settle by throwing the high seat pillars overboard and settling where they were washed ashore. One of the Norse place names in Eriks Fjord is Stokkanes near Erik’s farmstead, Brattahlíð, and it is very tempting to interpret the name as the place where Erik’s high seat pillars (setstokkar) drifted ashore. Apparently that particular locality was not to Erik’s taste; he knew what he wanted and he had made a good choice. Besides Erik ten other landnamsmen are mentioned and, quite possibly they represent together eleven out the fourteen ships that landed safely. It is further recorded that some went on to the western settlements; these may be settlements west (and north) of Eriks Fjord, normally called Vestribygð, or the West Settlement, situated in the present Godthåb municipality. I f this is the case, it is clear evidence that the first landnám expedition to Greenland led to further exploration of the coast towards the north, where new virgin soil was discovered. We cannot know for sure if the West Settlement was built up at once,

34

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but before the turn of the century a built-up settlement was in existence, e.g. in Lysu Fjord (Ameralik Fjord) where several families lived in about 1005.10 In the years subsequent to 986, the rumour of the good fortune of the fourteen ships spread to Iceland and probably farther to other Atlantic islands. It was good to live in Greenland, the reports said, and consequently more ships followed in the wake of the first fourteen.

T h e W est Settlement. T h e Norse place-names which can be located are shown in the m ap together with the numbers o f ruins and ruin groups. M od em place-names are shown in parentheses. (After map revised and corrected by Jø rgen M eldgård, keeper at the National M useum, Copenhagen. 1966).

Before the turn of the century, most of the land of the Eystribygð the East: Settlement - is likely to have been claimed, and most in the West Settlement had also been occupied. Between 986 and 1000, three emigration expeditions are known to have occurred. One of them took Thorbjörn Vifilsson to Greenland. The sagas make him leave his Laugarbrekkuland farmstead on the southern side of Snæfellsnes on account of rather embarrassing financial circumstances. He was a friend o f Erik the Red, and had sided with

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him in the cónflict with Thorgest of Breidabolstadir in 982, but in 986 he must have been pretty well satisfied with his Iceland conditions since he did not set out with Erik. A t Erik’s departure, they appear to have taken a vow of everlasting friendship, which implied mutual assistance; Thorbjörn would be heartily welcomed by Erik in Green­ land, and Thorbjörn had in mind to “ seek out Erik to have the vow performed” . Erik extended a warm welcome to Thorbjörn, and having accommodated him for a whole winter at Brattahlíð, gave him some land near Stokkanes. A considerable farmstead was soon erected there. The second known landnám in the period before the year 1000 is that of Snorri Thorbrandson. Together with his kinsmen, he had waged a prolonged and vehement war against the Eyrbyggjar until eventually some amicable agreement was reached. Snorri and his brother Thorleif Kimbi, who had come out of the feud with a wooden leg, went to Greenland the very same summer that they had come to terms with the Eyrbyggjar. Snorri took up residence in Alfta Fjord (i.e. Sermilik, south of LJnartoq). Thorleif settled in a cove “ between the glaciers” , which was named Kim bavag after him, but which has not been located.11 The third Iceland expedition to Greenland, Thorgils örrabeinsstjup’s visit to Erik the Red, possibly in 997-98, did not lead to any landnám. It was Thorgils’ resolve to settle permanently in Greenland and his escort amounted to about twenty persons, among whom were twelve serfs and a bailiff. He was joined by a friend who brought another eleven persons with him, so on board his vessel were about thirty people in all. Apparently he did not reach his destination until four winters had elapsed. Having passed through much adversity he found Brattahlíð at long last, but then left Greenland for good.12 To a certain extent the saga-accounts are fortuitous: they may be inspired by the perilous expeditions o f some famous personage, or by the history of a group. The accounts are often digressive and episodic, and we must conclude that more voyages to Greenland were under­ taken than those mentioned in the literature. Archaeology has given us a fairly good idea of the w ay of life of the settlers in this new country. First of all, however, it must be emphasized that these daring Norwegian-Icelandic people belonged to the Nordic culture group. In the Viking Age and the subsequent centuries, a certain cultural homogeneity prevailed throughout an area comprising Scandinavia and Denmark, the Faroes, Iceland, the Orkneys, the Hebrides, the Shetlands, and even to a certain extent Ireland, and the southernmost Greenland fjord complexes. T o reach conclusions about the Greenland conditions on the basis of such homogeneity may seem easy enough, but to pinpoint homogeneous traits in Greenland itself

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is another matter. Much work remains to be done before all ruin groups have been excavated; but the most important, and presumably the largest, ruin sites have been investigated as meticulously as the various excavation periods and techniques have permitted# The excavations have yielded sufficient material for us to form a picture of the Norse way of life, or at least of some of its basic elements. The finds cover the entire Norse period, however, and although the stratigraphy may sometimes allow relative dating, this is not always the case; how to establish an overall picture of the development of the Norse culture throughout the Middle Ages is still a moot question. The types of everyday things are so uniform that only specific designs and certain

T h e Sandnes Farm , a typical long-house. In the north-eastern room (I), the screenedo ff fireplace can be seen facing the door in the short wall. T h e remains o f the big tub have been marked near the north-west long wall o f the extension (I V ). (After Roussell, Meddelelser om Grønland (subsequently referred to as M o G ). 88, 2, fig. 18.)

utensils, characteristic of a particular European mediaeval period, are able to assist in the dating. It must also be remembered that modern methods of dating (such as radio carbon dating) have been applied only on a very small part of the Norse Greenland material. Con­ sequently the development of the first stages of the Norse Greenland culture can only be sketched in outline. The oldest Norse house-type13 that has been uncovered in the frequently frozen Greenland ground is the Scandinavian long-house, with the specific Icelandic modification that no room was made for larger domestic animals. The most widely known types are the Brattahlíð hall and house No. 1 on Hvalsey, both in the East Settlement; to

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these may be added the most recently excavated house at Narssaq Avangnardleq, just north of Julianehåb in the old East Settlement. On the Sandnes Farm at the head of Ameralik Fjord (West Settlement), removal of the walls o f the latest farmstead revealed traces of an early dwelling-house, and remains of a dwelling-house with rounded corners were unearthed at ruin site no. 52a behind the innermost coves of the fjord; foundation-wall remains o f a similar house were discovered in the north-western corner o f the hall of the Brattahlíð North Farm . First and foremost such remains point to the Nordic cultural pattern which is characterized by such round-corner constructions. Secondly, they are evidence that the building-up of the East and West Settle­ ments took place simultaneously, as mentioned above. Remains of the earliest house-type have been preserved at site 5 2 a ; evidently the house on this site had a living-hall measuring 9 by 4*5 metres, but alongside this room was a small pen which had clearly been used to house animals, probably sheep. Undoubtedly this pen is very old, and its use for farm animals actually contradicts the surmise that the type of Icelandic farm then existing separated the large farm animals from the inmates of the dwelling house. The 1961 excavations of the highly dilapidated ruin site no. 17a at Narssaq Avangnardleq brought to light traces of the house hitherto supposed to be the earliest of the Norse settlement. It was a long-house 11 by 5*5 metres inside. Most important for the dating of the house was the find of a stick carved with runes from the earliest Greenland landnám period. The Icelandic turf-wall farms are known to stand for no more than about fifty years, so it is not remarkable that the Norse ruins in Green­ land show signs of having been rebuilt and altered in construction and ground-plan over the centuries; but gradually a special building technique developed involving the use of stone material. For the landnamsman the first and most urgent task when he had arrived in Greenland was to build a house. As far as we know the settlers arrived late in summer at their future home districts, so it is likely that the first dwelling-houses and the first livestock quarters were erected as quickly as possible, spaciousness and solidity being neglected for the time being; extension and rebuilding were matters to be considered later. The Greenland farmhouse had to meet the special requirements of the climate, requirements that were much heavier than in Iceland or the rest of Scandinavia. Human resourcefulness was strained to the utmost to invent ingenious methods of protection against Greenland’s cold and its violent gales. Although the climate in Greenland was milder around 1000 than in 1700, perhaps even milder than it is today,

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essentially the climatic conditions on the coasts, as well as in the deep reaches of the fjords and in the valleys, were like the conditions pre­ vailing today. In summer the day-time might be warmer than in Iceland, but when the sun had set the cold o f the inland ice spread over the entire country. The Föhn wind may cause the temperature to go up very steeply from frost to thaw, and it m ay gather strength into a howling gale. Like characteristic winds in other parts o f the world, the Föhn, which always blows from the inland ice, may envelop everything in cyclonic snowstorms. The wind goes piercing through every crack and crevice, forcing the snow through, so that small drifts form behind cracks and chinks. The first houses which the settlers built were only provisional. The subsequent years saw much building activity, when the habitual ground-plan was applied. Both the Brattahlíð hall, Erik the R ed’s farmstead near the present-day Qagssiarssuk on the western shore of Tunugdliarfik Fjord (i.e. Eriks Fjord where it turns northwards), and Hvalsey Farm at the present-day Qaqortoq in Qaqortoq Fjord, a northern branch of Julianehåb Fjord, reveal traces of the early housetype that clearly delineate the ground-plan. Most of the ruin sites have only preserved fragments of the walls at their original level. The early house-type is called the long-house. This consists of one or several rooms, most of them positioned along a longitudinal axis, the shortest walls facing each other. It cannot have been a long time, however, before outhouses or store-houses were added to the farm. It is typical of both the Greenland and Iceland early long-house type that the entrance is to be found close to one end o f the front wall. The centre of the floor of the hall is occupied by the long-fire, but cooking-pits were constructed at random points in the hall. The largest cooking-pit normally faced the entrance and was often screened off from the draught by means of vertical flagstones. It was the draught and problems of heating that set the Norsemen in Greenland seriously thinking about the suitability o f the traditional house-type. As a consequence, the Greenland building technique developed along lines that differ from the ones that came to prevail in Iceland. Although the long-house type appears not to have been completely satisfactory in Iceland even as late as the eleventh century, it still continued to be dominant there until around 1300. In Greenland, however, the early form of the long-house underwent rapid changes, such as can be seen on the Sandnes Farm . On top of the foundations of the early house a new and larger building has been erected, c. 29 metres long and 8 metres wide at the gables. This house presents many interesting features, most interesting o f all being a

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small outhouse built as an extension in the centre o f the back wall. The outhouse is of a very irregular form; since more space was needed at one side of the room the door is asymmetrically placed. The wide end of the outhouse was found to contain a large tub i *69 metres in diameter: we cannot with certainty say what the use of this tub was, but we can guess that in it was stored the skyry or curd, which keeps for a long time. Skyr was made on old bacterial cultures just as it is on Icelandic farms today. Milk was a very important product on the Norse Greenland farms. How the cows were stalled in the early stages we do not know, but the later cow-byres show that much ingenuity went into their construction. It is very likely that separate stables were built for large livestock, and the care with which the byres were made is indicative o f the great value attached to the cows. During their first Greenland years, the settlers must have led arduous lives. As soon as the necessary provisional buildings had been completed, the land had to be made ready for the raising of hay crops. The numerous and widely scattered stones had to be removed, at least as many of the manageable ones as possible; such stones might come in handy when new buildings were being erected, and some o f them might help to weigh down the turf that covered the interlacing rafters. Haymaking was a time-consuming occupation. Then as now, when sheep-breeding is common in the same districts, the hay had to be carried home partly from the home-field and partly from more distant meadows, which was costly both in labour and time. Generally the diet of the settlers consisted of the meat brought back from successful hunts.14 There is nothing remarkable about this. In Greenland throughout the Middle Ages hunting, as well as fishing in rivers, lakes and at sea, was of paramount importance, though slaughtering of cattle and sheep must have taken place. It is peculiar, however, that the middens contain few remains o f domestic animals, whereas there are quite substantial remains o f game, such as reindeer, various seal species, walrus (in greater quantities in the West Settle­ ment than in the East Settlement), very few bears, astonishingly few Arctic foxes, a considerable number o f polar hares, and remains of the various big whale species, among them the right whale (balaena australis sive biscayensis) - now rare in Greenland waters - which seems to indicate that the climate was milder then and the sea temperature somewhat higher. The species of cod (gadus callarias) which is caught along the Greenland coasts today is also found in the middens. Bones of birds are easily decomposed in middens, but even so some bird species are represented, such as the grouse and guillemot (normally called razorbill in Greenland) and the whooper swan, which is reported to

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have been breeding in Greenland as late as the middle of the nineteenth century. During the first decades, the settlers’ lives were no doubt confined within the limits of the surroundings of each landnam farm. M uch work had to be done, and the historian does not have the impression that these people, who had come to settle permanently in Greenland, felt any urge to go travelling again. Bjarni Herjolfsson’s voyage15 is sympto­ matic of this attitude: the Grœnlendingaþáttr stresses that though he had happened to sight West Atlantic coasts on his w ay to his father’s Greenland farm at Herjolfsnes, probably in 986, he did not feel any urge to go there, and, having arrived in Greenland, stayed there until his father died. On the other hand, the last years o f the tenth century witnessed the arrival in Greenland of many people from the outside world, who came either to settle or to trade. Naturally those who had already settled in Greenland possessed ships that were able to navigate the oceans, and consequently no particular mention is made of the ships that carried, for instance, Erik’s son Leif, or Bjarni Herjolfsson to N orw ay; but Leif had to purchase Bjarni’s vessel for his Vinland expedition. Leif’s voyage to Norway took place in 999. He was born in Iceland at the time when Erik the Red and his wife Thjodhild were living at Vatnshorn in Haukadal; he must have been some twenty years old when he led his first long voyage. L e if apparently set a straight course for Norway, and in the autumn disembarked at Trondheim and visited King O laf Tryggvason. The K ing received him well, and instructed him in the Christian faith, as was his habit with all heathens he came across. The K ing seems to have had no difficulty in converting Leif, who was baptized soon after. Though people often acted on impulse in those days, and though the baptismal ceremony appears not to have roused any serious religious scruples, the words of the saga imply that L eif must have been acquainted with Christianity before he came to Norway. W e know that there was a Christian on board Herjolf Bardarson’s ship in 986. Naturally L e if’s baptism led to the baptism of all his crew. Leif stayed the winter with K ing Olaf, and was well treated, vel haldinn, which presumably means that he was allowed to stay at court among the other housecarls. A great honour was thus bestowed upon this chief’s son from the remote Greenland settlements. O laf Tryggvason’s missionary ardour spread across the Atlantic Ocean. A t an earlier date he had sent a priest to Iceland, but with no great success as the holy man had killed off two Icelanders in a fight. None the less, quite a number of the people who came from Iceland to

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Norway had embraced Christianity. In the spring of the year 1000 Olav sent two trusty men to Iceland accompanied by several ordained ministers. That same spring, when Leif announced his impending return to Greenland, O laf seized the opportunity to enjoin Leif to preach the gospel in the West. Leif left Norway in the early summer, and a missionary-priest accompanied him. On his way he stopped to rescue some castaways and finally reached Greenland, heading for the shore at Brattahlíð in Eriks Fjord. Erik the Red is said to have been none too pleased with L eif’s new ideas. O f the missionary-priest he is reported to have said that one thing could offset the other: that Leif had saved the shipwrecked sailors on the rock, but that he had brought “ to Greenland a hypo­ crite” ,16 as Erik chose to call the missionary. The so-called Thorfinn K arlsefni’s Saga contains a very vivid account of the event. It is quite clear that the story has been embellished with many speeches and much dialogue, but although it is unreliable, the rendering of the entire atmosphere may very well come fairly close to the truth. “ Erik was long abandoning his old creed, but Thjodhild [his wife] was soon converted and had a church erected not quite near [i.e. some dis­ tance from] the houses. The church-house was named Thjodhild’s Church, and in it Thjodhild and the men who had accepted the Christian faith said their prayers. Having embraced the new creed Thjodhild declined to share Erik’s bed, which he resented very much.” The account was verified to some extent when the 19 6 1-6 2 excava­ tions on the Brattahlíð plain revealed a small church “ not quite near the houses” . It is more like a cottage than a church, and it was so situated as not to be the first thing to meet Erik’s eye when he stepped out of the door of his Brattahlíð dwelling-house. Covered on its walls and roof with turf, it was inconspicuous in the terrain. Although she did not waver in her adherence to the new faith, Thjodhild at least showed some consideration for her husband. “ Erik was long abandon­ ing his old creed” indicates that he did abandon it eventually; Thjod­ hild’s perseverance triumphed at last. Thjodhild’s church measures no more than 6 by 3 metres.17 The east gable contained a considerable amount of stone, but nothing survived of the west gable which was presumably of timber construc­ tion. A small, circular, diked churchyard surrounds the tiny, chapel­ like church; in the churchyard sixteen graves have been discovered so far, all of which testify to the good Christian custom of interring the bodies with the head towards the west. As there was very little room for graves inside the dike, it is very probable that both church and churchyard fell into disuse fairly early in favour of the first real church,

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which was erected closer to the farm. Evidently it was only the earliest Norse generations from Brattahlíð and its vicinity who were laid to rest here. The graves fall into two groups: one group in the southern part of the churchyard, and the other in the northern part. The southern graves contained both male and female skeletons of people who must have been unusually tall by medieval standards. Skeletons found in the northern graves are of rather short people, and on the whole the northern burials were more careless. It is tempting to conclude that “ the high-born” , that is the free-born farmers, were interred south of the church, as medieval burial customs dictated, whereas the serfs and villeins found more haphazard resting-places towards the north. Another curious feature was the clear evidence of re-burial. The corpses had sometimes been removed from burial places outside the churchyard, perhaps heathen graves, to ones in consecrated ground within the churchyard dike. In one place there is evidence that several persons have been buried one on top of another, but as a certain order has been observed it must be some kind o f “ mass grave” . I f the feuds among the people in those days are borne in mind, fights that often meant the death of the combatants, the “ mass grave” may be interpreted as the common grave of people thus slain. The existence of the “ mass grave” has also been ascribed to epidemic disease, a less satisfactory interpretation since no other unambiguous mass grave has been detected among the archaeologically investigated graves in Greenland. It is interesting to note that very little evidence o f epidemics in the early medieval Norse communities has so far been disclosed. No doubt even Erik found his last resting place south of the church. He was the headman not only at Brattahlíð, but in all Greenland. He was the leading figure of the landnám and in the entire community of the fjord settlements. When the sagas mention Greenland in this period they always stress that people arriving there went to see Erik on his farm in the innermost reaches o f Eriks Fjord. Erik erected Brattahlíð, his farm, some distance from the shore, at the foot of a gentle slope in the terrain. The frontage faces south-east and offers a magnificent view of the plain that slopes gently towards the fjord. In those days (about the year 1000) the shore was farther out than it is today. Since then the whole of Greenland has subsided 1-5 metres each century, a total o f 7*5 metres, and large stretches o f land have been engulfed by the sea; we have no method o f telling how much land has been submerged at this point, but without any doubt the Brattahlíð farm must have been situated farther from the shore than it is today. For the Norse farmer every square metre of tillable soil was of

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importance. Consequently the dwelling-house and the outhouses and stables were placed in the periphery, so that the largest area possible was left open as the home-field; this is the case on Brattahlíð. The name Brattahlíð, which means “ the steep incline” , does not really describe the locality, since the slope is rather gentle and not steep; it is of course possible that the ancient coastline was characterized by cliffs, but the name may also have come from the steep, though not very high, mountain bluffs that gird the Brattahlíð plain. There can be no doubt whatsoever that the locality really was the residence of

Erik the R e d ’s dwelling-house at Brattahlíð. T h e north-western room (I) is the oldest part o f the complex o f buildings; it has the form o f a longhouse, and continued to serve as a ceremonial hall. In the middle o f the room the partially covered water­ course can be seen. T h e entrance door has been moved towards the eastern end o f the fa£ade. T h e screened fireplace is seen facing the door. Room s I I - V , which are later extensions, form a typical passage-house, while V I is the late “ well house” with a water supply o f its own. T h e excavated part o f the large midden is marked o ff with a broken line. (After Norlund, M o G . 88, i, fig. 26.)

Erik, the chief. The area still offers by far the best pasture to be found in the district: three years of reconnoitring had taught Erik where the best grazing was to be found. The front door of the dwelling-house commanded a magnificent view across the Qord,18 so that preparations for the reception of any stranger could be begun long before he had reached the shore. A glance towards the south offered Erik the pleasant contemplation of his home-field and stables. Perhaps Thjodhild’s church, which stands close to the bed of the watercourse that cuts its way through the plain dividing it into halves, made him frown for a moment.

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The remains of the hall indicate that an earlier hall had existed on the same site; traces of an earlier edifice were uncovered in the north­ eastern gable. Even so the building goes back to the earliest building customs of Norse Greenland: it is a typical long-house. Inside it measures more than 15 by 4*2 metres and must have inspired with awe any visitor who came to see Erik the chief. The outside measurements are 19*5 by 8 or 9 metres. Viewed against the background of the low mountain bluff, the turf walls and the grass-covered, slightly sloping roof must have left the impression of being an earthwork-like extension of the grassy plain that gently slopes upwards towards the house. Well-trodden paths must have made a pattern through the ever-increas­ ing midden towards the entrance door, which was situated near one end of the frontage in accordance with tradition (in this case the north-eastern end). Similar, contemporary house-types have been located in precisely that part of Iceland from which Erik came. Entry into the house was made along a 3 metres-long sandstonepaved passage. The fireplace was situated just opposite the entrance and was well protected from draught. Bits of charred bone, steatite vessels, and charcoal blended with ashes have revealed that the fireplace served as a cooking-pit. On the stamped gravel floor, unburnt bones of seal, walrus, and domestic animals were found, especially near the southernmost fireplace in the hall. Furthermore, broken or intact spindle whorls were found, indicating that women worked here at their spinning-wheels. Taken together, all these finds give a good impression of the use of the hall, where many people must have con­ gregated to carry on their various everyday indoor occupations. The hall was also, of course, the centre o f much festivity, especially when guests from distant places were entertained. Under the sloping roof, which was supported by uprights along the inner wall to the left o f the door, flushed faces would be lit by the glare of the long-fire, and now and then the pungent smoke would set eyes watering when the wind beat it down through the louvre in the roof-ridge. In the middle of the hall was a solidly channelled watercourse. The water was led through the rear wall to the centre of the hall where it turned to follow the longitudinal axis of the house, and at the elbow a kind of basin was made to collect a considerable amount of water. The overflow from the basin continued along the hall and disappeared through the front wall. In several places the water conduit was covered with flat flags of stone. Until recently, only one such water gulley was known among the Greenland finds, but excavations at Narssaq Avangnardleq (ruin site 17a) in the East Settlement have revealed complex water conduit systems under the floor of the earliest building. In both cases the water channels also served as emergency drains, which were

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of great u§e as the surface water from the melting snow would other­ wise have flooded the floors. The basins served as reservoirs which could be utilized by the inmates o f the dwelling-houses. However, there is a difference between the Narssaq and the Brattahlíð water systems; the uncomplicated Brattahlíð conduit indicates that only a single stream had to be trapped, whereas the complex conduit system found in the Narssaq house must have been built mainly for drainage. The source of the water for the Brattahlíð hall seems to have been a single small stream; there was also a watercourse supplying the well o f the well-house, which lies close to the southernmost corner of the hall. A third possibility is that the Brattahlíð gutter served a kind of double function, the gulley draining off both a small stream and the melt water that poured into a gutter behind the rear wall. Whatever the case may be, the gulley was supplied with surface water; ground water springs are very rare in Greenland because ground water does not accumulate in the thin strata of soil. Behind the Brattahlíð farm a grassy plain slopes gently upwards and on to the next fjord to the west, the so-called Midfirdir, which is actually made up of three fjord arms in the innermost reaches of the Isa Fjord (Sermilik). South of the Brattahlíð plain, a mountainous ridge stands at right angles to the shore, leaving only a narrow w ay through to a southern plain which is not as wide as the Brattahlíð plain. On the southern plain a few dwelling houses and a considerable number of stables have been found. Near the narrow w ay several openair fire-pits have been revealed together with several small house sites; these are supposed to be the remains of thing-“ booths” , belonging to people that came from afar when the chief had summoned a thing at Brattahlíð. Both plains were the property of the Brattahlíð owner, and quite abundant pasture was thus secured for the livestock. Grazing possibilities are even more abundant north of Brattahlíð, and consequently a number of farms were erected in this area, right to the head of Eriks Fjord and across the stretch of land to Isa Fjord, and farther along the eastern shore of Eriks Fjord. One of these farms was situated at Stokkanes and must be the same as that which Erik the Red gave to Thorbjörn Vifilsson. In the course of time Erik had fathered three sons, Leif, Thorvald and Thorsteinn, and he had at least one daughter born out of wedlock. This was Freydis and she married Thorvard; the saga accounts make Thorvard just as meek as Freydis was unruly. All these individuals play important parts in the course of events that took place in the years just after 1000. Apparently Bjarni Herjolfsson felt a deep yearning to go travelling again after the death of his father. The Grœnlendingaþáttr relates how he

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went to Norway to visit Erik Ja r l; this cannot have happened earlier than 1000. There is no doubt that by the time he returned to Greenland he was somewhat crestfallen. In N orw ay he had been eloquent in praise o f the coasts he had sighted west of Greenland, but no one had taken any serious interest in his tales. As he could give no detailed description of the unknown regions, the interest initially aroused soon abated. Disappointed, he decided to return to Greenland in the summer of 10 01. “ M uch was spoken of seeking out foreign lands” that winter. Bjarni seems to have resented having to spend the winter at Herjolfsnes. Perhaps he felt too old to expose himself to the hardships of sailing the seas again, as presumably he was past forty. Th e sagas have it that L e if went to see him in order to buy his vessel, and to hire as many as thirty-five people in all. L e if was more or less resolved to go west to find the land Bjarni had sighted. Vinland voyages, which seem to have caught on like wild-fire over the next few years, are relevant to the history o f the Norse settlement of Greenland because some of the Vinland explorers came from Green­ land, and because L eif’s initial voyage started off a timber rush to these westerly regions over the following centuries. The sagas’ accounts of the expeditions are as heterogeneous as they are fanciful. The two principal accounts are the Grœnlendingaþáttr o f the Flateyjarbók, and HauksbóJCs Thom finn KarlsefnVs Saga; they are mutually exclusive, which does not mean, however, that the individual items found on one account need necessarily be disregarded just because the other account is applied as the main source. Since the Grœnlendingaþáttr is the oldest account, and since it is also the most traditional, the simplest and the least embellished, it is only natural to let it form the basis o f a survey of the Vinland expeditions.19 The summer of 1002 may have seen L e if’s departure on this hazard­ ous voyage. He had wanted his father to accompany him, but when Erik fell off his horse on the way to the shore and sprained his ankle, he returned to his farm. So L e if was on his own when he steered his ship out of the f)ord, with a complement o f thirty-five recruited men. Their first landing place was a flat rocky coast with glaciers, which they named Helluland (i.e. the land with flat rocks). They then steered southwards and arrived at a coast which was also flat, but wooded, and which L eif named Markland. When they left the shore again a light north-easter took them for two days across open waters until they reached an island where they disembarked. The island was covered with stretches of lush grass. They sailed on and, sighting a continent, they headed for a cove. There they went ashore and towed the ship up a river into a lake. They unloaded their gear, ok gerðu þar búðir (i.e.

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and built “ booths” there) as was their habit at home when they had been summoned to the thing. The booths were provisional, but when they decided to spend the winter there they erected proper houses instead. A bibliographical list of the works that have discussed the actual position of Leif’s wintering station would certainly be long. The Grœnlendingaþáttr relates that the grass was so abundant that there could not possibly be any shortage of feed for the cattle during the winter, especially since there was no winter frost to make the grass wither. Furthermore, the distribution of light and dark hours was more equal than in Greenland. It is clearly stated, in the terms o f the Norse com­ pass card, where the sun rose and set on the shortest days, skammdegi, and this has allowed modern investigation to establish a northern latitude of just above 5 1 0, which in the western hemisphere means the northern tip of Newfoundland. This locality is characterized by an island in the mouth of a bay with numerous coves, where the grass is indeed lush. The Grœnlendingaþáttr goes on to describe the inconceivable richness of the place. In the course of the winter the cautious L e if explored the island. He divided his crew into two groups, one group to stay in the settlement while the other group went exploring; the explorers had to be back by nightfall. One day a German among L e if’s crew failed to turn up in the evening, and just as Leif was about to organize a search party, the German returned, babbling excitedly, so agitated that he used his mother tongue. It was some time before L e if was able to make him reveal in Norse the cause of his excitement: he had discovered both vines and grapes. Consequently the ship drew much water on the return voyage the following spring owing to the very heavy cargo of timber, grapes and vines, and Leif naturally named the land V inland. Thorfinn KarlsefnVs Saga states briefly that Leif discovered selfsown wheat and vines, and even cross-grained wood, mösur or mössur, a valuable sort of maple. The knotty, stunted growth of this tree makes a wavy, close-grained, bird’s-eye wood that gives a magnificent surface when cut into planks. Such planks were used to adorn the gables o f the houses or the bows of the ships. Though the sagas do not state explicitly who named the country “ Vinland” , it was a happy choice for this land of vin and honey that Leif had discovered. Vines, however, do not grow, and have never grown, on the northern tip of Newfoundland. In Norse vin may mean “ vine” , it is true, but it may also be an altogether different word which means “ grassy plain” . This explanation is much more suitable since the bay in question on the northern tip of Newfoundland contains much grassland. The accounts of the self-sown wheat and vines must then be seen as the dream-like ravings of minds entranced by this land of promise. When

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the excessive flights of fancy have been allowed for, the Grœnlendingaþáttr as well as Thorfinn KarlsefnVs Saga describe the locality fairly accurately. Place-names, course information and the description of the general aspect of the landscape are all in keeping with the actual facts; Thorfinn K arlsefni’s Saga even includes an account of the meeting with the Skrælings. Along the coasts of Markland (i.e. Labrador), several Eskimo settle­ ments of the Dorset type have been revealed, and south o f these settle­ ments were the hunting grounds of the Indians who, unlike the Eskimos, knew of the use of bow and arrow. A t the Sandnes Farm in the West Settlement an arrow-head has come to light, presumed to be made of labrador-quartzite and of Indian type. Such a unique find may lend credibility to the rambling tales: the arrow-head could only have come to Greenland as the result of some expedition to America. The Indians did not know the bladder-dart, which is typically Eskimo, and since Thorfinn KarlsefnVs Saga mentions it, the explorers must also have come across Dorset people. Such factual verification of the saga accounts brings the Vinland expeditions into the realm o f historical reality, so that some credence can be given to this first discovery of the western continent and the later voyages there by the Norsemen. L eif returned to Brattahlíð in 1003. The Grœnlendingaþáttr states that Erik the Red died at some time during the winter of 10 03-04, but as the account of this important event is repeated later in the saga, con­ siderable caution must be used in trying to establish the year o f Erik’s death. It is a fact, however, that Erik was no longer alive in 1005. Some time between 1003 and 1005 Le if had taken over Brattahlíð and all the obligations of ownership; these prevented him from going abroad on expeditions again. But Leif’s brother, Thorvald, had made up his mind that he too would visit Vinland. He set out, not earlier than 1003, and reached L eif’s “ booths” , which recent research has located on the northern tip of Newfoundland. The explorers came across Indians on whom they waged war, with the unfortunate result that Thorvald was killed by an Indian arrow. H aving given Thorvald as good a Christian grave as possible in these uncivilized regions, the men returned to Brattahlíð in the spring of 1005. As yet no one had braved permanent settlement in the newly discovered country, although the many voyages already undertaken had made the task o f setting the course not too difficult or risky. But Thorsteinn Eriksson was resolved to go to Vinland and bring back the body of his dead brother. Th ey had embraced the Christian faith, and it was therefore important to have the dead interred in consecrated

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ground. As it was, Thorvald was in the clutches of the devil in his grave on the distant foreign cape. It is likely that Thorsteinn wanted to settle permanently in Vinland, for he had on board his wife, Gudrid Thorbjörnsdottir. A crew o f twenty-five men manned his ship, the same number that had carried both Le if and Thorvald to Vinland. Fortune, however, did not favour Thors teinn’s expedition. For a very long time they were blown hither and thither only to land in Lysu Fjord in the West Settlement. Then, after they had laid up the ship for the winter, an epidemic killed Thorsteinn and many o f his men. Before succumbing to the epidemic himself, Thorsteinn made coffins for those of the crew who had already died; he intended to take them back to Brattahlíð on his ship and have them buried in consecrated ground. This means that no church or churchyard existed in the West Settlement at that time. When Thorsteinn himself died, his body was placed in the ship, and with a West Settlement man at the helm Gudrid directed Thorstein’s last voyage back to Brattahlíð. “ The very same summer a ship came to Greenland from N orw ay.” The captain was Thorfinn Karlsefni, an Icelander. He stayed the winter with Leif on Brattahlíð and married Gudrid, Thorstein’s widow, which cannot have taken place earlier than 1007. But Vinland was a constant temptation and challenge to these sea­ farers. Some details indicate that Thorfinn Karlsefni had far-reaching plans. When he came to Greenland in 1006, he was already familiar with navigation in the Atlantic from numerous trading expeditions. He showed no particular zeal to settle in Greenland for good and, having returned from Vinland presumably in about 1009, he quickly left for Norway, later sailing on to Iceland. The impression given is that the Greenland settlements were now completely built-up, so that no further landnám was possible. Karlsefni’s Vinland expedition was undertaken with a view to landndm in the far west. The Grœnlendingaþáttr even states that, as they wanted to settle permanently in Vinland, all that they owned was stowed into the ship before their departure.20 Thorfinn Karlsefni had no difficulty in reaching Vinland and finding there “ Leif’s booths” . L eif had agreed to allow Thorfinn the use of the booths, but he must still have felt the explorer’s urge burning within him, as he was not prepared to part finally with his Vinland buildings, thus cutting off his last connection with the promised land in the west. That they are still called “ booths” and not “ houses” at this time is remarkable, but it is explicitly stated that L e if’s men erected first booths and then houses. It would be somewhat off the mark to invest the saga-teller with too great a power of consistency, yet, concepts like “ booths” and “ houses” are too unambiguous to warrant complete disregard of the discrepancy in the accounts. The following explanation

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m ay hold true: no doubt the right to the site of a thing was prescriptive, and this was felt to be the case also with the Vinland booths. The prescriptive right to the thing booths was only gained when it was generally acknowledged that a given site had become the habitual residence of a given family. Thus the prescriptive right to a booth was upheld from afar, whereas the right to a house became prescriptive only by living in or near the house itself. Consequently Le if was still in possession of the right to the booths. In the event of any large-scale landnám in Vinland occurring, a thing-stead would naturally develop, and the keeping of the booths would entitle L e if to a prescriptive right and consequently to participation in the thing. In other words Leif wanted to preserve some authority for himself in Vinland in case it were colonized. Near L eif’s booths Thorfinn Karlsefni and his men came across the Skrælings. Relations were friendly to start with, although the Skrælings were somewhat scared of the bull in the herd. Undoubtedly the Skrælings turned up in order to trade their skins. Later they tried to insist on bartering their goods for the weapons with which Thorfinn’s men were armed, but Thorfinn would have none of this. Hence a conflict arose which developed into open fight when one of the Skræl­ ings tried to help himself to some of the explorers’ arms and was caught red-handed and killed; a regular battle ensued, and the Skrælings were defeated and fled. A t this juncture Thorfinn found it advisable to leave Vinland. In the spring of 1009 he made it clear to his crew that he did not want to stay there any longer, and they returned to Greenland where Thorfinn stayed for a further two years before leaving the region for good. However Freydis, Erik the R ed ’s illegitimate daughter, now felt a longing to go travelling. Perhaps she felt that her marriage to the meek Thorvard had placed her in a ringside seat where she must always be a spectator; Thorvard is said to have been a mighty sleeper with a tendency to get cold feet. The summer o f 1009 brought a ship with two Icelandic brothers, Helgi and Finnbogi, to Greenland. Freydis went to see them and a Vinland expedition was agreed on on a fifty-fifty basis. There was no question o f making any landnám. Again L eif did not want to part with his Vinland booths, so he only granted Freydis their use. Although nothing is said about the procuring of vessels for the expedition, it is stated that they set out on board two ships. The Icelandic brothers reached Leif’s booths first, and had everything unloaded. W hen Freydis arrived, she was not altogether pleased with this arrangement, for she was the one to whom L eif had accorded the right o f the booths. Helgi and Finnbogi had to remove all their belongings and were forced to erect houses at some distance

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from the bobths. As time went by both the winter and the disagreement gained strength, Freydis finally concocting a story that the two men had taken advantage o f her. Such news awoke even Thorvard from his sleep, and he immediately embarked upon a punitive expedition. He caught Helgi and Finnbogi in their beds and tied them up - a dastardly outrage by the standards o f the times - and Freydis had the men killed as soon as they emerged from their houses still drugged with sleep. As Thorvard and his men refused to kill off the women who were in the company of Helgi and Finnbogi, Freydis grabbed hold of an axe and slew them herself on the spot. The mass slaughter seemed not to affect Freydis in the least, although she thought it advisable to issue threats of immediate death to anyone who told of the deed. In the following spring Freydis and Thorvard cleared Helgi and Finnbogi’s ship for themselves as it was the biggest, and only one vessel could be manned. In the early summer of i o n they returned to the East Settlement, and Freydis went back to her farm. Soon, however, the air was thick with rumours of the misdeed, and even L eif heard of it; but, apart from extracting confessions from some of the men who had been in the company, L e if preferred to leave the matter alone. “ But from then on Freydis and Thorvard had but illrepute with everybody.’ * With this event, the Vinland tradition falls silent. For a long time afterwards it was still the custom to cross the Davis Strait on timber expeditions to Markland, but no one thought seriously o f settling there, for which the lack of legendary material is clear evidence. W hy the Vinland expeditions did not bring about any permanent settlement of these regions, so favourably described in the legends, cannot be definitely established. Thorfinn KarlsefnVs Saga states un­ mistakably - as far as popular legends can be trusted - that Thorfinn had resolved to settle permanently in Vinland, but that the encounter with the Skrælings had damped his resolve. Le if’s reluctance to part with his Vinland booths may indicate that he was still toying with the idea of settling in Vinland. That the “ pre-Columbian” discovery of America did not involve any Norse settlement there may be explained by the fact that there no longer existed any explosive inner pressure in the Scandinavian peoples, no thrust towards migration like that which had been the driving force in the century-long landndms and settlements of the Viking Period. The Greenland settlement was the last landnám in the series of Nordic conquests around the fringes of the North Sea and the North Atlantic. The lack of an inner driving force meant that no urge was felt to conquer new land. The risk of being attacked by local Indians and Eskimos may also have been a deterrent, since it

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made any settlement too risky to be worth the trouble. In this respect at least, conditions were more favourable in Greenland, Iceland and Norway. Navigation across the Davis Strait did not cease, however. Tim ber was of such importance that for this a risk or two would not stop the Norseman. Apparently Markland was visited as late as in the 1340s,21 and in fact traffic in the North Atlantic became heavier and heavier. The Norse sphere of interest in Greenland appears to have comprised increasingly large parts of the country during the first decades of the eleventh century. Both chance events, such as storms that took ships off their courses to remote and unknown shores in Greenland, and well-planned expeditions aimed at enlarging the hunting grounds, naturally brought with them a greater knowledge o f the country, so that the entire West coast area was known at least as far as the border of the present West Greenland, Upernavik’s boundary to the north, and even parts of the East coast, perhaps as far north as Angmagssalik. Animal husbandry, which was important to the Norse settlers, set a natural limit at the Qord-complexes o f the West Settlement, the present Godthåb. Settlement on the East coast was hesitant, but for another reason, namely that the masses o f ice made navigation almost impossible both along the coast and from the open waters to the shore. Greenland traffic appears to have been quite an everyday phenomenon in those day. The arrivals in Greenland of Thorium Karlsefni and Helgi and Finnbogi from Norway are mentioned as mere matters of course. Evidently neither Le if nor Bjarni Herjolfsson felt any qualms when they set out for Norway. Our knowledge of the N orw ay-Greenland traffic is supported by a legal text.22 Saint Olaf, K ing of Norway, is supposed to have issued a decree about Norwegian rights in Iceland and Icelandic rights in Norway. I f the text is authentic it must have been issued about 10 30; special mention is made of navigation on Greenland, and the text of the law is quoted in several places in the saga literature. Saint O lav’s nephew, Finn Fegin, is said to have been shipwrecked and drowned in about 1028, presumably somewhere off the East coast of Greenland. V ery soon Greenland became an integral part of the Nordic picture of the world. Adam of Bremen mentions Greenland several times in his Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum. His knowledge of Greenland is based partly on personal experience and partly on accounts given to him by the Danish King Svend II Estridssøn.23 The accounts are out­ standing for their truth and accuracy, and the Greenland descriptions have the stamp of reality. Adam states that if you go farther (than Ireland) you will reach the shores of Iceland and Greenland: “ There is the ne plus ultra of the sea which is termed the nebulous sea.” 24 Ulf, the earl, is

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said to have ventured on a voyage to those parts, but was compelled to return “ by assaults from both sides from gusts of wind and pirates” .26 In a later passage Adam of Bremen makes a voyage from Norway to Greenland last five or seven days, the same time as it would have taken to sail to Iceland. About the Greenland people he offers the extra­ ordinary information that their skin has been changed by the influence of the salty sea into a bluish-green colour, which he supposes to be the true origin of the name of the country.26 In other respects they live like the Icelanders (previously described as a meek people living in happy and simple poverty), but the Greenlanders are reported to be more cruel and hostile to seafarers - an assertion which we will deal with later in another context. According to Adam of Bremen, the Greenland way of life was much like that o f Iceland. His description of Icelandic conditions is brief but mainly true; however, the background and the access to information of the well-meaning cleric must be borne in mind. He states27 “ that the Icelanders live exclusively on animal husbandry, and dress in the skins of the animals. The soil yields no crops and the occurrence o f timber is exceedingly scarce. They live in subterranean caves and have roof, life and lairs together with their cattle. They demand nothing more than what nature offers them. Happy, I say forsooth, is a people whose poverty is envied by nobody, and whose greatest happiness lies in the acceptance of the Christian faith.” W hat seemed most peculiar and strange to Adam of Bremen has been given particular emphasis: they live exclusively by means of animal husbandry, no corn crops appear, there is a shortage of timber, and the low-ceilinged turf huts (which he never saw with his own eyes) may easily in a flight of fancy have been transformed into subterranean caves. Adam might have seen houses that roofed people and cattle together in Denmark; in the same way a visit to the Denmark of that time might also have shown him farmers who were dressed in skin. As late as the middle of the twelfth century a lambskin coat was the habitual dress of the average Danish farmer; and even such a prominent person as Asser, the Archbishop of Lund,28 met the emissaries of Bishop Otto of Bamburg with “ an appearance as rustic as that of a W end” . The Greenlanders lived like the Icelanders, Adam of Bremen says, and this in general was true. Modern archaeology has revealed details that confirm this general picture. But, just as most things in this world are relative, so the standard of living is relative to the emotional reactions of the people in question. Happiness and prosperity may well have been possible both in Iceland and in the Greenland settlements, despite the poverty which was so conspicuous to Adam when he made comparisons with his own higher standard of living. A n y evaluation is

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relative to the norms that make up the units of measurement; in social history the only feasible basis of evaluation, if there is one at all, is the set of norms predominant within a given community. M an throve in Greenland. A dam ’s succinct remarks are in accord with the reluctance to take land in Vinland or Markland noted above. I f this is truly the case, the economy of the settlements must have been in a satisfactory balance. This impression is confirmed both by archaeo­ logical findings and by the sporadic documentary material. Even when home conditions are favourable, however, the urge to explore new territories may gain the upper hand, as is seen from the itching feet of Erik’s sons and Freydis’ unfortunate voyage. One problem seems to have faced them all when they prepared their expeditions: the difficulty of procuring suitable vessels. The very same ship bore both Thorvard and Thorstein; Freydis apparently got hold of a ship on her own, but it was smaller than the one that had taken Helgi and Finnbogi to Greenland from Norway. It seems that the settlements could not boast of many ocean-going vessels, but some few must have existed. The Fóstbrœðrasaga reports that a ship arrived in Greenland from Norway, and that it was captained by a Greenlander named Skuf, who was a friend of K ing O laf and one of his housecarls. He spent that winter with the K ing in Norway, although he owned a farm at Stokkanes in Eriks Fjord. In the spring Skuf made ready to return to Greenland, and Thormod Kolbrunarskald accompanied him; this is likely to have taken place in 1024. They arrived at Eriks Fjord, and while Skuf went to his farm, Thormod stayed with Thorkell Leifsson on Brattahlíð. L e if Eriksson must have died by that time and Thorkel have become the chief in Eriks Fjord. Thorkell, too, is reported to have been a friend o f K ing O laf and one of his housecarls, which goes to explain the hearty welcome he gave to Thormod Kolbrunarskald. The episodic accounts of the Greenland-to-Norway connections are so numerous that it is tempting to accord some truth to them, although the accounts were written down at a much later date than the actual events. The principle of blood-vengeance was active throughout the entire Nordic territory. Thormod Kolbrunarskald travelled to Greenland to avenge a killing that the Greenlander Thorgrim Einarsson Trolli had committed at some time during a multilateral feud in Iceland. The account of Thormod’s revenge is spun out into a long, thrilling narrative, in the course of which it is briefly mentioned that a thing was held,29 exiling Thormod Kolbrunarskald. Thormod succeeded in escaping from Greenland,30 but at the same time Skuf preferred to get rid of all his Stokkanes property and leave Greenland for good. Personal security was not to be taken for granted in the Greenland

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settlements, any more than in the rest of Scandinavia. It is an open question, however, how secure life and property were in the settlements - and how dangerous and frequent the family feuds really were. It is noticeable that the landndm-sagas never tell o f inter-settlement feuds. The landnám seems to have been a peaceful affair. When later fights are recorded, their causes always prove to come from outside Greenland territory. Th e first landnamsmen and their descendants must have formed a kind of ruling class. The special aura that seems to surround Erik the Red and Leif, is not only the result of their particular feats. Both are central personalities in Eriks Fjord. Thorkell, Leif’s son, is the obvious chief o f the district. Some versions o f the Fóstbrœðrasaga even report that he took two elderly people under his protection — it is added, “ like his other thingmen” . Normally, everyday life did not call for any special protection. The East as well as the West settlement farms were scattered over a large area, although there was a growing tendency, as the number of inhabitants increased, to huddle the houses together in the innermost reaches of the Qords where the best grazing could be found. Though no protection was needed against one’s fellow-villagers, no doubt it was more necessary against outsiders. The Thormod Kolbrunarskald story is sufficient evidence of this. Traders appear to have come to Greenland in considerable numbers, and disputes could easily arise. Again and again the inhabitants of the settlement took collective action against intruders, naturally wanting to defend their own. As almost three generations had lived there by then, most of them were born and bred on the spot and felt unsafe in the company of strangers, although these might sometimes even speak their own language. The tension, which is typical of small townships, between the habitual and the novel began to make itself felt, and free scope was given to the stubborn Nordic individualism in these sequestered and self-sufficient settlements. Out of this situation a legal tradition emerged, as it were spon­ taneously; some legal principles must have been brought in from Iceland, it is true, but legal rules that are not applied fall into oblivion when memory constitutes the only “ reference book” . Later, mention is made of “ Greenland laws” .31 These may be interpreted as common law, or the Danish “ K ing Valdem ar’s laws” (i.e. the normal legal practice); however that may be, the expression and the fact that a thing seems to have been held annually indicate that the Norse settle­ ments in Greenland were considered independent as far as jurisdiction and legal usage were concerned. Since the saga accounts represent the Icelandic tradition, this must also have been the conception in Ice­ land.32

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For the majority of the Norse settlers in Greenland, the shortage of timber was a fact of paramount importance. It was impossible to build ships large enough to brave the oceans out of the driftwood that was washed ashore in quite large quantities. For centuries the stor-is (i.e. pack ice from the Polar Basin) brought driftwood from the estuaries of the North Siberian rivers across the Arctic seas to Greenland; the accumulation must have been quite substantial since no one had exploited it. This driftwood came in handy when houses had to be built, but it could not be used for ships. For this purpose perhaps the M arkland timber may have been o f use. Th e birchwood indigenous to Green­ land would serve as firewood only, or perhaps as a material for small utensils. Thus the shortage o f timber virtually confined people to the territory in which they were born. Their small craft allowed them no navigation outside sheltered waters, except when they made occasional daring crossings of open-water stretches. This type of navigation became increasingly common as the need grew for larger fishing and sealing grounds. As mentioned above, hunting - by both land and sea - was the basis of the daily supply of meat. Dry-land hunting took the men into the interior o f the country, whereas whaling and sealing, and even the catching of walrus, forced them to sail the §ords and the Qord mouths to get to the haunts of these animals. Thorfinn KarlsefnVs Saga proves that sea-hunting was important at a quite early date, when it states that at that time an exceedingly lean year had occurred; the men who had been hunting at sea had caught next to nothing, and some of them even had not returned. The hunting expeditions took the men far towards the east and north. The southernmost settlements appear to have found their tradi­ tional hunting grounds towards the east. Expeditions towards the north along the Greenland West coast came into vogue only later, as is made clear both by finds and documents. During the first hundred years of settlement, in-shore fishing and sealing appear to have been sufficient; but rock-filled waters, sudden storms and especially the fog made such fishing itself quite risky. The comparatively large number of traders visiting Greenland seems to indicate that the settlers must have had quite a variety of barterable goods. Sheep were not bred for the sake of the meat exclusively, but also for wool: the quantity o f meat produced from a fairly large flock is not particularly great. The wool, however, which is normally of a very high quality in the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland, could be carded, spun and woven into cloth o f a highly competitive quality, especially at a time when the everyday dress of the Scandinavian peoples was undergoing considerable changes. When­ ever special mention is made of everyday attire in Norse Greenland,

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the saga descriptions must be taken with a pinch of salt. In such matters the flights o f fancy are usually unbridled, reflecting the age in which the saga scribe or compiler lived. Homespun and other material came into common use only after 1 200. When L e if is reported to have given a Sudr Island woman “ a gold ring, a cloak of Greenland homespun and a belt of (walrus) ivory” , the account is no doubt highly coloured by the knowledge, customs and conceptions of the writer’s own times, as was also the case with painters of biblical scenes. N o doubt imagination is also let loose when the Fóstbrœðrasaga conjures up before our eyes the picturesque rags o f Lusa-Oddi, although this saga seems to keep closer to reality than some of the others: “ Her garb was made of nothing but rags, and it looked like the third stomach of the rumi­ nant” . The writer no doubt smiled at his own image. The succinct remarks about Lodinn’s Christmas attire on Brattahlíð in 10 23 are far more realistic: he wore sealskin coat and trousers. Thormod Kolbrunarskald wrapped himself up in a reversible fur coat, white on one side and black on the other. Thorbjörn Hallveigsson wore a dress of calfskin and went bare-legged except for a pair of fur shoes.. Undoubtedly skin was predominant in Greenland dress, expecially in winter, but this does not mean that homespun cloth cannot have been used for summer clothes and “ underwear” . Skin was also of commercial value, in particular the skin of the polar bear. Polar bear skins or, better still, live polar bears were magnificent gifts. For instance Audun, an Icelander, rose high in the favour of King Svend II of Denmark when he presented him with a polar bear that he had acquired in Greenland in exchange for all his wordly goods. Einar Sokkason presented K ing Sigurd Jorsalafari of Norway33 with a similar present, when the first Greenland bishop had been consecrated in 1 1 2 5 ; besides the polar bear, Einar Sokkason brought with him other gifts of skin and walrus tusks. It was a time-honoured custom to bring gifts to the chiefs and kings one intended to visit. This was done partly to consolidate the guest friendship, and partly to show that one’s intentions were pacific. Besides, one good turn deserved another; favour was often bought by gifts. The peculiar thing about Einar Sokkason’s present of a polar bear to King Sigurd Jorsalafari of Norway is that it was not handed over to the King until after Einar had obtained what he had come for; and his errand was very important indeed. Sometimes even self-contained communities are forced to have con­ tact with the outside world, especially when local needs cannot be met otherwise. The advent o f Christianity to the Greenland settlements had evoked a need that the settlers could not cope with themselves, as their community was too small, too little developed, and too sequestered.

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The sagas tersely state that at one time Sokki Thorisson on Brattahlíð “ summoned a thing and told the thingmen that it was his wish that the country be no longer without a bishop. He further entreated all men to do their utmost that a bishopric might be established. All the farmers agreed to this.” This is not only an expression of Sokki Thorisson’s will, nor is it only the personal wish of the local chief which is accepted by the farmers; it is the expression o f a deeply felt spiritual, religious, and universal need. Between i ooo and 1 1 24, several churches had been erected next to Thjodhild’s small chapel-like church. W ith the spread o f Christianity the need for churches naturally spread throughout most localities. The clergymen who administered the eucharist at the churches must have been trained and ordained outside Greenland. Th ey also must have felt serious religious scruples over the duties they were called upon to discharge. None of the churches in which they ordered the Elevation of the Host or celebrated the Mass had been properly con­ secrated - by a bishop - any more than the ground in which they buried their dead. W hat might not be the fate at the Last Trum p of those whose bodies had been buried in unconsecrated ground? How could the minister officiating at a burial take upon himself such a responsibility not only before God and the human soul, but also before the Universal Catholic Church? Confirmations, which could only be performed by a bishop, were not possible at all, since no bishop ever came to these far-away churches that did not even belong under any see. None of the elements that formed the core of the church ceremonies - oil, ointment, holy water, and the host - could be solemnly con­ secrated. When it is remembered that the slightest alteration o f a medieval church made it useless if it were not immediately recon­ secrated, it becomes obvious how often the Greenland ministers must have had to compromise with their consciences. Although the number of ministers in Greenland cannot have been large at the time, they must still have felt the need of a “ father in God” . Furthermore, it was of great importance to the people in general to be within reach o f a bishop, who was invested with a right o f indulgence in matters of penance, something that was outside the competence of the ordinary minister; the same was true of general indulgence. T o whom could they turn in cases like these, and was it not too much to ask people to venture risky ocean crossings to obtain indulgences? Thus many things made the presence of a bishop necessary. Th at the ministers themselves felt the lack of a spiritual mentor was serious enough, but it was worse that they felt an equal lack of authority to administer the tithes and donations that reverted to the Church. Most churches in Greenland were naturally erected near farmsteads.

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It is not too bold to maintain that nearly all the Greenland churches were of the so-called patronage or advowson type. Th e farmer who had a church built on his land exercised a certain right over it and was allowed his share of the tithes offered up by the peasants that used it. As in the rest of Scandinavia, such church rates were long in being recognized and even longer in being paid up. In any case the minister no doubt felt that he was heavily dependent on his patron. He normally lived on the charity of the patron-farmer, but even in the face of this he had to vindicate the independence of the Church. It was a difficult situation to handle and it was made more difficult by the absence o f a head of the Church; no doubt a bishop’s presence close at hand would have been a great relief for the ministers. Moreover, donations to the Church, such as land, which in Greenland meant farms, shares in farms, hay-crop rights or the like, should not go to the patron but to the Church itself. There were also, of course, ideological considerations: the philosophy of the Catholic Church in the late Middle Ages had not been perfected, but one prevailing idea, unitas ecclesiae (which from the twelfth century onwards was to cause many a bitter fight and apparent victory), had been in existence for as long as the Church itself. Even to priests officiating in such remote districts, adherence to the doctrine o f the unity of the Church must have been a sine qua non. The doctrine was even given verbal expression in the creed and in the profession o f faith which the ministers intoned every Sunday and on feast-days, and it was known and accepted by the congregation as the tenth article of faith: {credo) et (in) mam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam. I f this faith in the unity of the Church was sincere, it must have been practically impossible for the Greenland Church to exist without being an integral part of it through the bishop, who alone could be instru­ mental in bringing about such contact. The wish for a bishop spread even to the individual church-goer, for he too felt that he was part of the unity, although he could establish no contact with it. The Green­ land inhabitants of that time, like their descendants, were staunch believers. This has been clearly substantiated by find materials.34 Though the Norse Greenland Church could not very well fall into dispute with the secular world since it possessed very little wordly property, it was as it were without legal protection against the common peasantry and the chieftains. This was because there was no one to represent the Church as an institution, no one possessing the potestas jurisdictionis with which the bishop was invested, and which comprised also the administration of Church property. The episcopal influence on the administration of justice was well known from both Norway and Iceland, and such influence may well have been wißhed for in

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Greenland; but perhaps Sokki Thorisson’s motive in advocating the establishment of a Greenland bishopric is to be found in his hope that the presence of a bishop would lend him support against the common peasantry. How new ministers were to be recruited was another problem that faced the Norse Greenland clergy. The instruction of candidates for the ministry and their ordination were within the competence of the bishop according to the Apostolic Succession. It is probable that some churches were without a minister, the owner of the farmstead officiating at the church ceremonies (as was often the case in Iceland). This was sacri­ legious, since nothing but a proper ordination could entitle anyone to administer the eucharist. I f one recalls the importance that normally belonged to a bishopric in the Middle Ages, it becomes possible to view in perspective the short comments of the sagas, and further to establish the principal motives for wanting to introduce the authority o f a bishop into Greenland. It may seem to have taken place rather late, but perhaps this too can be explained. In its prime, the Greenland diocese consisted of no more than sixteen parishes. By w ay of comparison, the smallest Scandinavian dioceses of that time consisted of no less than sixty parishes (e.g. V äxjö), while the smallest Danish diocese (Børglum) included 190. Iceland had its first episcopal see in 1056 at Skálholt, and the Hólar see was founded in 1 1 06 ; the Faroes appear to have become a bishopric towards the end of the eleventh century. These three sees cannot have had many more parishes than there were in Greenland at the beginning o f the twelfth century, but even so each was headed by a bishop. The feeling in Greenland was one of some doubt, as the norm seems to have dictated that a somewhat larger number of churches should exist before a bishopric could be established. It is tempting to link up the reservations of the Greenland Norsemen over the question of the bishopric with the terse comments of the Icelandic chronicles. The so-called Lögmanns-annáll talks of the voyage of Bishop Erik in m 2 . 36 Several other Icelandic chronicles - they seem to be mutually dependent - have the following entry for the year 1 1 2 1 : “ Bishop Erik set out to find Vinland” ; only three of them, however, state that he was Bishop of Greenland. Ivar Bardarson’s Description of Greenland36 says that near Sandnes in the West settlement there was a large church which had served as cathedral for some time. Near the remains of the oldest building, of which only fragmentary parts of the foundation wall are left, a piece of a chair-arm was un­ covered; this fragment has a striking resemblance to the upper part of the arm of a folding chair which can be found with a bishop seated

THE NORSE S E T T L E R S

6

l

in it as an illumination of a twelfth-century manuscript. The chair-arm bears a runic inscription with the name o f Helgi. Judging by the form o f the runes, the arm belongs to the time of the earliest settlement. W e know next to nothing about Bishop Erik, and nothing at all of his diocese, where he was consecrated, or whether he was ordained with a Greenland mission in view. Is it possible that he once sat in the chair o f which the remains have been unearthed near the oldest Sandnes building? In those times the Church was still often “ the Church militant” , Scandinavia being still a mission field, at least in the periphery. Bishops were still consecrated to function in partibus infidelium - heathen regions. A n area which, though recently christianized, did not yet come under any diocese was considered mission field and since the bishop’s powers were of no avail there, the inhabitants of such an area, though adhering to the Christian faith, were not fid eles, or full members of the Christian community, even though they might have priests among them. They had not been fully incorporated into unitas ecclesiae, the unity of the Church. It is also possible that the Greenland settlements entreated some bishop to come to Greenland to perform certain espiscopal functions, such as the consecration of churches and churchyards, and it is not improbable that a bishop stopped in the West settlement, from which he crossed to Vinland to disappear completely. Endeavours to incorporate Scandinavia into the Church organization had been going on for a long time. In his Gesta Hammaburgensis, Adam of Bremen relates that the Pope had invested Adalbert, Archbishop of Hamburg, with papal authority over all Scandinavia, which the papal brief itself confirms as including Greenland; this was in a letter o f confirmation dated Jan u ary 6, 10 53, which referred to an earlier letter from 1047. The privilege was confirmed again in 10 55. In 1059 Adalbert calls himself archbishop of all the Nordic peoples.37 This is fully in keeping with the kind of policy Adalbert had adopted: he wanted to see himself invested with all the absolute power which the patriarchate could bestow on him. Greenland was but one among the many Nordic pawns in the political game of the Ham burg archiepiscopal see; of less importance was what could be done for the people who “ at this time had embraced the Christian faith” .38 It seems to have been generally accepted that there was a bishop of Greenland.39 Adam of Bremen states that Adalbert was visited by people from all corners of the world, but especially by Scandinavians, among whom were representatives from Iceland, Greenland and the Orkneys. They besought him to send out preachers, which he did. This statement is to be found twice in A dam ’s work, almost identically expressed. The

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statements seem to serve as stylistic ornamentation, in the first instance with the object of praising the archbishop for his constant interest in the heathens; the entire paragraph has been carefully planned to reach this sort o f climax. Furthermore the statements' are expressed in rather general terms, and no hard facts are mentioned. A certain nonchalance characterizes A d am ’s account outlining the arch­ bishop’s abortive patriarchate policy, and the description o f the prelate’s activities for the benefit of the inhabitants of those remote islands. It is hardly credible, therefore, that missionaries and preachers were sent out by the Ham burg see in obedience to the wishes o f the islanders. It is intriguing that Adam of Bremen mentions Icelanders, Greenlanders and Orkneyabyggjar (i.e. inhabitants of the Orkneys) among the heathens; this corroborates the view stated above that these people were not considered “ true believers” . Adam of Bremen later relates how Archbishop Adalbert sent off Bishop Isleif with a pastoral letter to Iceland and Greenland. The letter contained greetings to the Iceland and Greenland churches and a promise that the Archbishop would later visit them, but Adam had to resort to circumlocution to explain away the fact that the Archbishop never kept his promise. One is left with the impression that Bishop Isleif was not a particularly welcome visitor and that the Archbishop sent him on his w ay with an empty promise and a vague pastoral letter directed to both Icelanders and Greenlanders, scarcely realizing the difference between the two countries. It cannot be denied that certain endeavours to cement the unity o f the Church were undertaken by the Ham burg archiepiscopal see, although a good deal of ambition on the part o f the archbishop must be seen as the motive behind it all. Th e Greenlanders’ desire for unity, however, was based on the creed preached by the Church itself. Perhaps Bishop Eirik’s voyage is to be seen as a charitable deed that might lead to salvation for himself and the wretched people he suc­ coured, but adventure played its part too, for he did not return to his church, wherever it was but, on the contrary, continued westward. Sokki Thorisson40 now took up the question of establishing a bishopric. A t a thing it was resolved that his son, Einar Sokkason, should be commissioned to go to Norway to try to get a bishop for Greenland. Einar sailed directly to N orw ay and was well received by K ing Sigurd Jorsalafari. Einar, stating his errand, implored the K ing’s assistance “ as it was necessary for the country” . The K ing concurred with Einar, and after quickly considering a suitable candidate sent for Arnald, who was a good priest and would make an excellent bishop. Arnald was not happy at the prospect. His first objection was that he was not good enough for the job, the second that he did not want to take leave of

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friends and relatives, and in conclusion he said that he was no good at handling difficult people. The K ing expressed the opinion that the more difficulties Arnald overcame, the greater would be the reward in store for him. Arnald finally acquiesced, but on condition that Einar swore to support the Bishop and punish any one who assailed the episcopal see and property. As soon as Einar had pledged this, K ing Sigurd sent them on to Asser, Archbishop of L u n d ; in 1 1 04 Asser had been proclaimed Archbishop of all Scandinavia, a dignity that Bishop Adalbert of Hamburg had worked hard to obtain. Having questioned Arnald and found him worthy of his great vocation, Asser consecrated him Bishop of Greenland. Einar and Bishop Arnald returned to K ing Sigurd in Norway, and it was not until then that Einar Sokkeson presented the K ing with the white polar bear he had brought with him. This took place in 1 1 2 5 . On their way to Greenland, Einar and Arnald were forced by con­ trary winds to seek shelter in Iceland and there they stayed the winter. The following summer they reached Eriks Fjord safely. The episcopal see was established in 1 1 2 6 at Garðar, one of the most central localities in the East Settlement with soil of a very high quality. The settlers certainly knew how to repay the fulfilment of their fervent wish. Between the densest areas of settlement of Eriks Fjord and Einars Fjord was a narrow isthmus, no more than 4 km. wide - a feature called eid in Norse. The spot was the homestead o f Erik the R ed’s illegitimate daughter Freydis and Thorvard, who was said to be very wealthy. The couple were ill-thought-of by everybody. W e do not know for how long they lived there, nor whether they had any children to take over the farm. The strange thing, however, is that this place, which had the best grazing facilities of the entire East Settlement, was fixed upon as the site o f the episcopal seat. The selling o f the land must have been rather distressing for the owner, as no place quite as good could be allotted him anywhere else in the East Settlement fjords. The excavation41 of the episcopal residence has revealed that it was an ordinary long-house with three rooms along the fa$ade and an outhouse at the back; it corresponds to the dwelling-house of the Sandnes Farm, and is just as long - about 30 metres. It m ay very well date back to the eleventh century, and there is a possibility that it was Freydis and Thorvard’s dwelling-house. Perhaps Arnald took over this building with the intention o f extending or rebuilding it later. The church-building, however, was his primary concern. The episcopal see, excavated in 1926 by Poul Nørlund, is about 400 metres from the sea. The land has subsided considerably since 1 1 25 , which means that the church, as well as the episcopal residence, then com­ manded even more impressive positions farther from the water’s edge.

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Behind the buildings the terrain rises rather steeply. The fagade of the bishop’s house faces the east and the fjord. The church itself stands near the northernmost boundary of the area and is placed along an east-north-eastern axis. When the foundation walls were excavated they proved to be standing on the foundations of an earlier church building, and the early and the late Garðar churches have consequently had to be termed Garðar I and Garðar II. All the Norse Greenland church ruins - except one group - reveal unambiguous traces of having been altered, rebuilt, and enlarged

Ground-plans of the most important Norse churches in the W est Settlement (Anavik and Sandnes) and the East Settlement (the rest). (After Roussell, Farms and Churches,

fig- 75-)

over the centuries, and even a kind of development can be discerned. As mentioned earlier, Thjodhild’s small church was built of stone and turf in beautifully distinct, alternate courses. Because it was so small, it fell into disuse fairly early; when Christianity had spread and become generally accepted, a church on a somewhat larger scale was erected nearer the Brattahlíð farmhouse in the northern corner of the plain. Quite a number of churches were built in the Qords of the East and West Settlement during the eleventh century. The documentary material mentions twelve “ parish” churches in the East Settlement and four in the West Settlement. To these must be added two “ abbey”

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churches. The abbeys, or rather monasteries, were not founded before the latter half of the century and they will be dealt with in a later section of this chapter. Nine, perhaps ten, of the East Settlement churches have been located, and we now have to take into account the recent discovery of four hitherto unknown church-sites: one of these can be identified with a name which until recently had been given to a locality in the innermost reaches of Eriks Fjord; this locality now accordingly has to go unnamed, as have a number o f other church ruin groups. In the East Settlement one church still has to be found and identified; three o f the four West Settlement churches have by now been identified.42 Apart from Thjodhild’s modest church, three buildings in the East Settlement are the earliest in Greenland that are worthy of the name “ church” , viz- Herjolfsnes, Ketils Fjord, and Garðar I, together with one West Settlement church, Sandnes.43 Originally, it appears, each of the churches consisted o f a single, square building, but most of them were enlarged later. None of the Greenland churches had any masonry in the west wall. The smaller churches or chapels in the inner parts of Eriks Fjord, and three o f the four recently discovered unidentified church sites, may have served as farm chapels which were used only occasionally. The two groups of church or chapel ruins at the head of Eriks Fjord have certain characteristics in common, and both are reminiscent of Thjodhild’s church, because like that church they are surrounded by churchyards with circular dikes. It is possible, then, that the two small churches at the fjord-head date from the eleventh century and provided the primitive setting for the worship of the first farmers. The church ruins near the Brattahlíð dwelling-house could be taken as the remains of the earliest church building, but, as we have seen, foundation walls o f an even earlier church were found beneath the Brattahlíð church foundation work. It is impossible, however, to draw a complete plan of this early church; but it seems that it had no masonry gable towards the west, as is found with the Herjolfsnes, Sandnes, and Garðar I churches, and also the Augustinian abbey church in Ketils Fjord (Tasermiut). All the churches mentioned above had chancels facing east. Some of them give indications that the chancel was a later extension of the original church. As far as can be ascertained, there is no bonding of the masonry between the foundation walls o f the chancels and the walls of the church naves. How these early churches really looked, and what effect they produced on the landscape, we can only guess. One thing seems certain, however: churches that were erected at a later date than Thjodhilde’s were built o f stone, placed in careful courses

66

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characterized by the lack of headers. The foundations seem always to be somewhat thicker than the walls. Stone material suitable for building was plentiful everywhere in these localities. The Greenland gneiss cleaves easily into stones with flat and smooth surfaces', so the problem of procuring sufficient quantities of building stone was solved with comparative ease. It seems that the stones were not dressed as ashlars, but were simply split and broken into blocks of suitable and manageable sizes. The outer surface o f the walls was dressed with great care and regularity, while the inner surfaces were left more or less alone; it is not unlikely of course that the inner faces of the walls of churches were hung with some sort o f tapestry. There seems to have been no panelling, although panels have been found in some of the dwellinghouses of the Norse farms. The western end wall, which shows no signs of masonry, may have been built of turf, but it is more likely that it was of timber construction. A t Herjolfsnes a gable plank has come to light, which provides proof not only that the end wall had been built o f carefully grooved planks, but also that the roof had been constructed in such a w ay that it allowed the rafters to meet at an angle of ioo° at the roof ridge. The roof was covered with turf, for which this type of roof-pitch is excellent, at the same time supplying sufficient downgrade to drain off the rainwater. A t the beginning of the twelfth century, then, we can conclude that such church buildings of almost square plan with wooden west gable walls and low-pitched turf roofs were to be seen here and there among the turf-clad farmhouses. The walls of the churches and the low walls of the storehouses exhibited the only naked stone surfaces in contrast to all the rest, which were “ green” buildings. As the number of settlers in the villages grew and with it the size of the congregations, more mini­ sters were needed, and so the need to enlarge the church buildings was a problem that soon faced the Norsemen. Chancels were necessary in order to establish a respectful distance between the church-goers and the sacred offices and the enlarged congregations necessitated larger naves. The measures and modules used in the Greenland churches appear to correspond closely to those of European church building. Not the local scale, but the international Roman or Greek foot was used. In Norway the Roman foot was used in Romanesque churches (that is up to 1200). Before 1225, however, the reduced Greek foot was adopted, and it was applied throughout the Gothic period. The application of this unit of measurement in the construction, rebuilding, and enlarging of the Greenland churches is of great assistance to us in the approximate dating of the churches, since the principle must have come to Green­

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land somewhat later than to Norway and it proves, moreover, that the builders were not entirely without skill. It is tempting to conclude that the ministers that came to serve Greenland congregations had studied the building methods and traditions of their times; also as far as architecture is concerned, Greenland’s contact with the European continent was by way of Norway. Among the earliest stone churches, the first church at the episcopal seat (Garðar I) appears to have been the largest. On his arrival Bishop Arnald no doubt ordered an extension and partial rebuilding of the church, if any church at all was in existence when he arrived. The chancel and nave of Garðar I seem to have been built at the same time. There can be little doubt that Arnald’s building activities also extended to the farm which he took over. Although the diocese was not large, the circumstances and surroundings of the bishop had to be stately; furthermore, he needed space for carrying out his official duties, and soon a large domestic staff was in his service. About ten metres south of the churchyard wall begins the complex of buildings which in time were to make up the bishop’s residence. Today we cannot hope to describe the growth of this complex, or to date the individual buildings; neither was this possible during the excavation of the sites. Immediately south of the church is a kind of courtyard which ends with a small, square building in the south-eastern corner of which nothing except the foundation is left. Poul Nørlund concludes that it is ehe foundation of a bell-tower, similar to those found in Ireland.44 Technically it would have been possible to build such a tower: its height, judging from the foundations and the proportion between the foundations and the height of the Irish campaniles must have been about 24 metres. Perhaps this campanile was blown down by the wind, and nobody bothered to have it rebuilt; at least it is the only sign in all Norse Greenland that church-towers or campaniles were built. West of these bell-tower foundations, along a north-north-east south-south-west axis, lies the long building o f the episcopal dwellinghouse itself; the many rooms of this house reveal at least four different building periods of which the last but one is the grandest. It has been mentioned that the earliest part o f the house corresponds to the Sandnes Farm long-house. The first extensions were poor, since they were only erected temporarily at the bishop’s arrival; but the third extension with the large hall is monumental in its effect. Although nothing but the foundation is left, it still leaves an impression of unusual regularity. It was the bishop’s ceremonial hall, 16-75 by 7-8 metres, and its area of 130 square metres makes it larger than any other hall in Greenland. According to the sagas it was only surpassed by a

68

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single hall in Iceland. In Norway the Archbishop of Trondheim possessed a hall with an area of 186 square metres, built about 1 1 7 5 , and half as large again as the one at Garðar. The Garðar bishop was certainly able to entertain his guests in fitting surroundings. The guests’ faces would have been lit by the flames of the long-fire burning in the great pit 1*5 by 3*5 metres, (this was about 4 metres from the entrance door) which also sent flickering light up into the roof to create fantastic shadows among the rafters. The smoke drifts towards the roof ridge and disappears through the louvre. The walls are covered with tapestry which can be seen between the rows of uprights that carry the roof (there m ay have been four rows o f uprights, two rows along the wall, and two at some distance from the wall). A long passage leads to this hall from the front o f the house. In front of the door is an enormous stone flag, 4 by 3*5 metres; the weight of this stone has been calculated at about ten tons. The passage itself is paved with sandstone flags that are worn hollow. From the enormous threshold flag three paved paths lead respectively towards the church, to the sacristy of the later church (Garðar II) in the north-east, and finally as an extension of the house passage, towards the farm buildings. As the years went by the episcopal seat grew into the largest of all the Norse farmsteads. Among the farm buildings at Garðar we should mention two large cow byres, the larger being no less than 63*5 by 4*2 metres, the smaller somewhat wider but no more than 41*5 metres long; both of them are larger than any other cow byre in Norse Green­ land. They were built of large sandstone blocks forming a cavity wall, the cavity being filled with earth and turf. The outside o f the walls was padded with turf for warmth. The layer of turf is 2*5 metres thick in the smaller byre, while the larger has a turf padding which has slid into a thickness of 5 metres. Both byres were in two parts, separated by a door. In the larger byre the door frame was found still in situ, the lintel consisting of a single stone, 2*7 metres long, 1*3 metres wide and 0*55 metres high, calculated to weigh 4 tons. The most westerly room served as barn, the most easterly as byre - as can be concluded from an examination of the stones that divided the room into stalls. It seems that, taken together, the two byres could hold 107 cows; this must have taken a considerable quantity o f fodder, although the cattle were deliberately underfed during most of the winter. Throughout the area a number of houses for sheep, pigs and horses can be found. Forage for all the livestock on the episcopal farm was mainly gathered in the large home-field, which comprised about 3 7 acres o f land. On its north side this field was fenced off by means o f a stone and turf dike with a gate 2 metres wide. As late as 1926, ruts could be seen leading to this gate. Dams across two little streams have puzzled the archae­

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ologists: Helge Ingstad has advocated a theory of terrace cultivation, assuming that the water was dammed up for irrigation purposes; the method is well known to him from his native Norway, where it is used to this day. When there is no heavy summer rain, the mountain streams dry up in August, and only the rivers that drain the larger lakes to­ wards the interior of the country still contain some water. But at Garðar there are no water reservoirs in the mountains. There was - and still is - ground water available at Garðar. About 30 metres east of the houses that cluster round the church is a spring from which fresh water still rises. The stone edging round the well is undoubtedly of Norse origin. In the Middle Ages generation after generation fetched water for the episcopal residence from this well, and today it is frequented by the farmers who live in houses that have been built, at least partly, of stones taken from the Norse buildings. H alf w ay between the spring and the dwelling-house is the smithy of the episcopal farm, a small building no more than 5-25 by 2*85

Drawing representing the cyclopean south wall o f the “ tithe barn” at G arðar. (After Nørlund, M o G . 76, 1, fig. 24.)

metres. In the eastern end of the room the foundation of the forge is preserved; a flue is inset into the wall. Outside the building deep layers of ashes, soot, charcoal, and chaired bones (used as fuel) were found - evidence that the smithy was much used. Pieces of iron-ore slag were found among the refuse, proving that extraction of iron was known to the Norse Greenlanders. This smithy is not the only one found on the Norse farms. On the episcopal farm there are also a number of store-houses, all constructed in the way that is characteristic of medieval Greenland, i.e. dry-wall building in which the stones were carefully placed in their courses without any binding agent. Consequently such store-houses often show walls that have been preserved to their full height, the only missing element in the remains being the roof constructions. The dry-wall method was used with the specific purpose of airing the store­ houses. One store-house at Garðar is of particular interest. It stands south

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of the church and its rear wall forms part of the south-eastern corner of the later churchyard-dike. It has no door facing the church, but there are two doors in its southern front. The house itself measures 10 by 5*25 metres. The walls are o f cyclopean sandstone blocks and no binding agent has been used. The lintel of one o f the doorways is an enormous stone 3 by 1*5 by 0-4 metres, its weight estimated at 3 tons. N o doubt it was lifted into position by a system o f wedges, which would seem to point to an Anglo-Irish building tradition which had spread even to Norway. The building is supposed to have been used as a store-house for the tithes, which were very often paid to the bishop in kind. Some of the goods were to be shipped on, for the bishops also had to collect and forward to the collectores the tribute to the papal see, the so-called Peter’s Pence, which by then was almost universal, together with other tithes and taxes that were often collected to finance the Crusades. The Greenland Bishop needed a spacious store-house for this purpose, since all the taxes and tithes were paid in kind (no medieval coins have yet been unearthed on the Norse farms). The goods then had to be sold, partly by the bishops themselves, and partly by the collectores, which meant that the church officials had to carry on business transactions either themselves or through agents. The situation for the Garðar bishop was exceptional in that he could not be sure of having his goods shipped off each year. A large “ tithe barn” was thus all the more necessary as he would sometimes have to store the goods he had received over several years. The many buildings that are found on the site of the episcopal farm were not all erected at once. The number of farm buildings must be assumed to have grown gradually, but as early as the end of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth century most of the buildings must have been in use, and this seems to have continued until the end of the Norse period. Spacious and complex farmsteads such as the episcopal residence could not be found anywhere else in medieval Greenland. None of the other farms compare with it in size and the number of buildings. O f the 276 farmsteads known today, only about ten can be described as large. The rest vary from moderately-sized farms down to the very small farmsteads. Since Dr Aage Roussell drew up his list of the farms in 1941, several ruin groups and remains of individual houses have been unearthed, which has led to certain corrections in the list; but if the typology applied in the list is accepted the following result will emerge (no more than seventy-one of the 273 farms mentioned in the list have been classified, see page 71). T o this can be added an original long-house in the East Settlement which has not been included in Dr. Roussell’s typology, namely the

7

THE NORSE SET TL ER S

Total East Settlement 17 5 Middle Settlement46 24 West Settlement 74

273

Longhouse

Passagehouse

29

15

2 31

2(?) 2(?)

!9

Centralized Farm 10

Total C lassified

54 3

»c?) 10

14

21

71

Dyrnes house, so that the long-house total should be thirty-two. A t least six of the East Settlement long-houses, all belonging to the category of larger farmsteads, no doubt formed the core of a village with a church, and the same is true of two of the West Settlement longhouses. This means that 43 per cent of the classified farms are of the early type, the long-house, while 30 per cent are of the passage-house type, and 27 per cent are of the later centralized-farm type. M uch could be said against such a division into categories, in particular since no more than a part of the farms has been classified. It may very well turn out that a large number of the non-categorized farmsteads will turn out to be of the centralized-farm type, which will change the picture radically. Something, however, may be gathered from this “ incomplete5* attempt at typology. First of all it is no mere coincidence that by far the majority of the churches were erected near farms that were of the long-house type or originally of this type. It is no coincidence, either, that the largest farms belong to this early type. Perhaps this is indicative of the development of the Norse settlement in Greenland. I f the percentages quoted do in fact express the ratio between longhouses and passage-houses, it shows that the building “ density55 of the area increased by 60 per cent in the period from about 1000 till the end of the twelfth century; this assumption is plausible when the immigration is taken into account, and corroborates the picture con­ veyed by the archaeological finds and the sagas and chronicles that have to do with these Norse settlements at mare ultimum. Building materials for the houses lay easily accessible in the vicinity, even material for packing up the interstices between the stones could be found in the form of turf, which it was sometimes possible to peel off the ground with no soil clinging to it. A primary concern was to make the houses warm and draught-proof; consequently the hall-type, or long-house type, was not in the long run satisfactory. It was too difficult to keep warm as even when shutters and doors were closed, too much heat would escape with the constant draught flowing from the entrance door directly into the louvre in the roof-ridge.

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H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

It was apparently not long before the hall-type was superseded by a type whose interior was divided into several rooms. Ruin no. 20 in Eriks Fjord in the East Settlement m ay represent a transitional stage. It is a long-house, but the interior, which is 19 metres long, was divided into three large, square rooms of almost equal size. The entrance door was placed almost in the exact centre of the front wall of the middle room, which served as a kind of air lock. The left and right side rooms were provided with fire-pits for heating. Dr. Roussell is of the opinion that this type of house was common both in Jaeren, Norway, and on the

T h e Passage-House. Sketch plan o f East Settlement farm N o. 2, ruin 6, after D an ie Bruun’s survey (cf. the illustration o f Brattahlíð passage-house extensions, p. 4 3). I, bath-house; I I, “ kitchen” ; I I I , living room ; I V , store-room for food; V , ?; V I and V I I , probably store-rooms with cellar. (After Roussell, Farms and Churches, fig. 94.)

Shetlands. The “ invention55 of such a type is so natural and obvious that it may have taken place independently in Greenland. Behind the middle room a short passage leads to a room along the rear wall between the rooms left and right. Undoubtedly this small room served as a store-room, and the same type of store-room was found on the Sandnes Farm. The Sandnes Farm dwelling-house also revealed a tri-partition of the hall, but the rooms so created were not o f the same size, the middle one being considerably smaller than the two others, and clearly intended to be a kind of vestibule. From it, as far as could be ascertained, there was no door into the store-room behind. From this “ vestibule” -type it is not far to the house-type that was to supersede the long-house, that is a house where the rooms converge on a central

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passage that runs the whole “ depth” of the house. The advantage of this type is obviously that several rooms might be joined to only a single heat-wasting entrance. The need for more than one room seems to indicate that more people were living on the farms. A calculation of the floor area of the houses, however, reveals that the passage-house was not more spacious, and did not contain more room that the long-house, the only difference being in the distribution and size of the rooms. A n estimate of the floor-space of the Sandnes Farm (long-house) compared with that of the Elv farm (passage-house) on Brattahlíð show that the Sandnes Farm was only very slightly larger. It seems clear, then, that the transition from the long-house to the passage-house type was brought about by heating problems. The rooms had no windows, so the only sources of light were the glare from the fire-pits and the sparse light o f the blubber-oil lamps. The louvre may have let in a little grey daylight; we cannot know for certain whether there were any louvres at all, but some kind of outlet for the smoke from the house-fire was necessary and chimneys were unknown. A n aperture in the roof with some kind of cover or shutter is one possible solution, though it meant a great loss of heat, and rainy or snowy days naturally reduced the opening to a slit. The only other possibility would have been a vent in the gable, which would have meant better internal ventilation. O f necessity many everyday activities, like hunting, fishing, hay­ making, herding the untethered cattle, milking, and sheep-shearing, had to take place out o f doors. But in spells of bad weather, people were compelled to stay in the houses and during the winter their meals were served indoors, and lethargy or disease might force them to remain under the skins that served as bed-clothes. Some tasks, such as weaving, had to be carried on inside the houses under the sooty roofs. In winter the dimly-lit rooms witnessed a number of banquets and feasts, given either in honour of guests or with the purpose of cheering everybody up. Everyday indoor pursuits - in particular the making and mending of tools - are clearly reflected in the multifarious finds on the floors of the houses. Broken and half-finished objects were flung on to the floor, where they were trodden down and covered with dirt; anything dropped in the dirt was difficult to find again in the half-light of the rooms. Left-overs from the meals, such as gnawed bones, clutter up most floors. Now and then the floors must have been cleaned out, but it seems that people in those days felt comfortable among the litter. In one West Settlement house, the living room stands directly on top of a layer of sheep droppings from an earlier stable; nobody took the

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trouble to have it removed, perhaps because it was a guarantee against a cold floor. The many artifacts found in and about the houses and stables, and in the dungheaps, give evidence o f a simple medieval Norse peasant culture, highly independent as regards technical skill and ingenuity: local materials were exploited with mastery. Wood was of paramount importance, and its scarcity in the Green­ land settlements taught the settlers to exploit other materials, even for purposes to which wood naturally lends itself. Like the Eskimos, the settlers turned to good use the materials yielded by the whale and the walrus: baleen, walrus tusk, even large bones taken from the skeleton of the whale. Such materials supplanted wood and in some cases even iron. The shoulder blade of a small whale might serve adequately as a spade. The shovel-shaped front part of the reindeer’s antlers was used for cleaning out the stables. Bone was a material used for belt buckles, buttons, or knife handles, when no wood was available. Even a very ingenious padlock made o f whalebone has been unearthed. Wood was used mainly for larger objects: rafters and beams, panels, furniture - for example chairs and beds - as well as for the many things produced by the cooper. Barrels, lids, heads and staves of tubs have come to light together with many kitchen utensils such as trenchers, spoons, ladles and bowls. Wood was also preferred in the production of sledges and boats, which will be dealt with later. Like any other static peasant culture, that of Norse Greenland availed itself of a rich variety of tools, utensils, and other objects that might make the daily existence easier. The production and maintenance of such things was an activity which was culture-engender­ ing in itself. For centuries the culture group out of which the medieval Greenland population had sprung had used clay for the production of bowls, pots, cups and ladles; but in Greenland there was no clay, or at least the quantities were so small and inaccessible in comparison with other Nordic areas that it could scarcely be used for pottery. Even in the northern parts o f Norway, soapstone, or steatite, was in common use, as it cuts easily and can be carved into almost any shape. As it also does not crack or split, it may even be said to be more durable than pottery. In Greenland the Norse farmer attained to mastery in his handling o f this material; steatite crops are comparatively rich in both settlements. Judging by the finds, the West Settlement farmers became masters in the production of soapstone articles that ranged from very small spindle whorls and suspended oil-lamps to large thin-walled tubs. The largest soapstone vessel unearthed up to the present time came to light in the Garðar excavation. It seems to have had a capacity of

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36 or 39 Ihres. In and around the ruins, especially on the floors about the fire-pits, sherds o f steatite bowls and vessels have been found, some of them very plain and simple, but others elaborately decorated. When an object had been broken beyond repair, it was just left lying on the floor. Soapstone has the advantage over clay that it is much more easily mended; the faces of any fracture are cut or ground smooth and a new piece can be fastened by means o f lashing. M any very simple and plain soapstone articles have been found, but on some the craftsman spent much care; these were decorated with fine and accurate concentric circles on the even surfaces or along the rim of the vessel or bowl. Often the handles are no more than mere ears with a hole in them for hanging; but sometimes articles come to light that boast rich Norman or Gothic foliation on the sides, and vessels whose highly elaborate handles deviate from the clumsy traditional forms. The many finds might lead to the assumption that a typology of shapes and decorations could be worked out; stylistic criteria might be used to establish a certain chronology. Y et this cannot be done. The shapes and the types of decoration are fairly uniform throughout the period, which means that no development can be traced. But other conclusions can be reached from this very fact. The Norse culture in the Greenland settlements may be said to have fully exploited the potentialities of the materials at hand. W e get the impression that objects in frequent use, which importation had made familiar to the settlers, were reproduced and imitated with skill and accuracy as regards both form and decoration. The treatment of steatite shows such brilliant mastery of the special technique that it can safely be said that no other Nordic culture was able to produce soapstone articles of such high quality. A t the same time the culture that was dominant in these latitudes was conservative in so far as it preserved the artifacts it had perfected for a longer period than was the case in more open communities. The uniformity which is so conspicuous bears witness to the self-sufficiency of these widely scattered settlements. Utensil and tool finds do not reveal any change or decline right up to the extinction o f the settle­ ments in about 1500. Some artifacts show characteristic forms that must be the result of special influences or importation. The conservatism of the communities is revealed in other ways; for example the use of runes was kept up here longer than in any other part of Scandinavia, but this aspect will be dealt with later. Runes were used on utensils and tools, for instance on spindle whorls, to indicate ownership or to express some magic charm. Ownership-marks that are similar to those known to exist even at later times in other Nordic culture groups have been found

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carved on tools and utensils. V ery primitive pictures have also been found, simple line drawings often apparently casually scratched on to even surfaces. Am ong the find material spindle whorls and warp weights and even wooden spindles and battens are numerous. Th e loom weights were normally rough soapstone lumps in which holes had been drilled for the fastening of the warp. Some of the spindle whorls were carved out of steatite, while others had been cast; casting moulds made of soap­ stone have come to light. Some battens are of wood, others of bone. All these objects form parallels to European specimens from the same period, but their abundance in Greenland is evidence of the intensity of the spinning and weaving industry in the settlements. The sheep that were the source of the raw material, wool, must have made up the majority of the farmstead livestock. Both West Settlement and East Settlement finds prove that the majority of the Greenland sheep in those days belonged to the so-called “ goat-horned” species (oyis aries palustris), a particularly robust type of sheep that can be left in the fields even in Greenland all the year round. It is a comparatively small animal, and its fleece is sparse, but its robustness makes it well fitted for the Greenland climate. As some of the farm ruins reveal sheepcotes - the layers of sheep-droppings testify to their function - it is natural to conclude that not all the animals were left in the field over the winter; perhaps the ewes were stalled, while the rest o f the flock had to make do with an occasional winter feed. Diked areas have been found near most of the farms, which are likely to have been used as sheep-shearing pens. Except at the shearing, the sheep did not give much trouble, although they often had to be shooed from the lush grass o f the home-field. Besides sheep, goats were common among the settlers’ livestock, mostly for the sake of their milk. Customary also were a number o f pigs, the omnivorous scavengers o f the Middle Ages. The greatest amount of care and trouble had to be given to the cows, who were the most costly but also the most delicate o f the domestic animals. M uch care, therefore, went into the building of their byres and stalls. The cows must have been stalled quite early in autumn, certainly no later than September. Th ey were not taken back to the pastures until the melt-water had uncovered the grass. No doubt the very first years o f settlement saw the erection of byres detached from the dwelling-houses. A ll farms of the long-house type have at least one complex o f byres. Th e front of the byres normally faced south, so as to receive the warming sun. Th e cow byres were constructed to absorb as much heat and let in as little cold air as possible; the entrance passages were generally long, sometimes curved

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but always very narrow - no more than 50 to 60 cm. wide. The walls were thick and firm, and often the byre was dug into an incline in the terrain. The byre floor was meticulously paved with flags, and often the middle of it was occupied by a gutter which did not always end in the open air. The roof construction used for the byres was identical with that of the dwelling-houses. It seems that four rows of uprights carried the rafters, one stood along the wall, and another row was somewhat removed from the wall. The rafters were not supported by the walls but by the uprights alone. Stalls were then constructed between the outer and inner rows of uprights and fenced off by means of stones that were often sunk between the flagstones of the floor. The stall-stones were large flakes of gneiss, which can still be found in situ in the byres,

Section of Icelandic cow-byre. T h e cow-byre in Norse Greenland was o f a similar construction, even as regards the roof. T h e stall-stones are supported by the timber structure - which was no doubt also the case in medieval Greenland - as very few stall stones were wedged into the wall. (After Roussell, Farms and Churches, fig. 139.)

sometimes these constitute the only proof that a building served as a byre. The cows were tethered in their stalls for a great part of the year. Juniper twigs may have been scattered in the stalls, but only occasion­ ally was any serious cleaning done, as the ordure provided insulation against the cold. In a stable-complex on the Sandnes Farm the eastern end wall of a cow byre was of very flimsy construction. It consisted of a heap of stones and turf without method or order; there was no bonding between this end wall and the other walls, which were all of very solid construction. The gutter for liquid excrement had been passed through the flimsy wall by means of a strongly built drain pipe. Dr. Aage Roussell, who was in charge of the excavation of the Sandnes farm, links this phenomenon with the very narrow passage-way leading into the byre. No medieval cow, even though they were somewhat smaller than cows are today, would have been able to pass through the passage, which is only 52 cm. wide. It is well established that in winter

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the cows were put on a starvation diet on account of the scarcity of hay, so that in spring it was often necessary for the farmer to carry the emaciated creatures out of the byre to the fields. Dr. Roussell concludes that the Sandnes farmer had the entire end wall pulled down, so that the cows could be carried out to the pastures, and the byre was then cleaned and made ready for the next winter; the narrow passage was meant to be used by humans only.

Ground plan, stable-complex o f the Sandnes farm. T h e most north-easterly room (I) is the cow-byre with the gutter in the middle. One o f the stall-stones can be seen in situ in the left corner at the back. T h e bonds between the eastern end wall and the long walls are shown to be missing. T h e very narrow entrance door (with a threshold flag) can be seen in the south wall. Rooms I V and V were sheep pens, I I and I I I hay barns.

As demonstrated above not only the episcopal cow byres were joined to adjacent barns, but this was also the case with byres on other farms. The peculiar thing is that there was no access to these barn-rooms from the outside; they could only be reached through the byre. As it is difficult to imagine that the hay would have been transported through the exceedingly narrow entrance passage, one naturally concludes that it was pitched into the barn through an opening in the roof or in the gable; however, there can be no proof of this, as the remains consist of nothing but the foundations and occasional fragments of walls. In summer it may have been the custom to send some of the cattle to mountain pasture farms, sæter farms, at grassy localities in the interior of the country. Some ruin groups have been found in these

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places, but "they do not seem large enough to indicate that independent mountain farms existed. Hay-making may also have taken place on the sæter pastures, as the home-fields clearly cannot have yielded sufficient quantities of hay. According to Dr. Nørlund, 3000 kg. of hay are required per cow in North Iceland, which means that the 107 cows on the episcopal farm would eat up 321,000 kg. of hay, and the forty cows on the Sandnes Farm about 120,000 kg. The episcopal home-fields were not able to yield such great quantities, even though in the Middle Ages the bishop’s home-fields may very well have covered a larger area than the present 37 acres (large stretches of land that are barren today can still be found carefully diked, indicating the earlier presence of hay fields). It is possible, however, that the forage was supplemented with dried fish, fish offal, and sea wrack. Hay-making away from the home-fields was done then as it is today;

Sixth- or seventh-century boat of Norwegian type, the so-called Kvalsund ship. It measures 9 5 m. by 1 5 m. at its widest point. (After Roussell, M o G . 88, 2, fig. 68.)

the hay harvest took place some time during the summer, the hay was ricked, and only later in the year was it brought down to the farm. Among the finds are remains and fragments of harvesting tools, sickles, sledge-runners and boats. In ruin group No. 52a in the West Settlement, in the present Umiviarssuk at the head of Ameralik Fjord, the excavation of a farm brought to light a small-scale model (22 cm. long) of a four-oared boat. This model immediately brings to mind a well known and muchused Scandinavian type of vessel. The same type has been found in Kvalsund in Norway, dating from the sixth or seventh century; the Norwegian specimen is also characterized by four oars and a steering oar, and it was no doubt equipped with sails like the model boat from the West Settlement. This type of boat was especially suited to negotiat­ ing the fjords, but could also be used for longer crossings. The Kvalsund boat is about 20 metres long, and it must have been quite safe for navigation in sheltered waters. Until as late as the beginning of the

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twentieth century, much coastal navigation in Greenland waters was done in open barges or umiaqs. O n the Sandnes Farm , stems o f model ships have been found, but also parts o f a full-sized vessel, viz • mast partners, 5 5 cm. long, and 10 cm. wide, tapering to 7 cm. at the highest point where the mast hole had been cut into the partners. Several ship’s planks were found on the Umiviarssuk farm in the bath­ house, where they had been used as benches. A ll these remains of boats reflect the Viking type o f vessel. One plank revealed traces of baleen lashings. Some Icelandic chronicles relate how Asmund Kastandrazi (Kastanrasti) arrived in Greenland from Iceland in 1 1 8 9 on board a ship in which the planks were joined by means of wooden nails and tendon lashings. The following year the ship disappeared after it had left Iceland a second time; the wording of the chronicle may not mean more than that the ship disappeared from sight, or that it did not return to Iceland. It is highly probable that Asmund returned safely to Greenland, though the Icelanders may have been surprised when he put to sea in his frail vessel. Smaller craft were protected from the elements by being placed in boathouses. In winter this was especially necessary in case the ice should destroy the precious boats, but even in summer the boathouse offered excellent protection against suddenly rising gales that might shatter the boats against the cliffs. I f a boat had to be repaired, or a new vessel built, no outside help and advice could be expected; the Greenlanders had to rely on themselves. The stem and stern posts o f the model ship previously mentioned show clearly that the art o f shipbuilding was highly developed. Ju st as the tools and utensils tell o f excellent crafts­ manship, so does the shipbuilding technique reveal skill at carpentry. There was another craft - one for which the raw material was not at hand: if not on every farm, then at least on most of them smithing was a vital skill to develop and hand down from one generation to the next. Within the Norse culture group, iron was used as the raw material for the production of cutting tools, arms, and fittings, but as iron ores are extremely rare in Scandinavia, most of the iron had to be imported. In the Greenland localities it is possible to extract some bog iron, though its quality is poor. Despite such disadvantages, iron extraction appears to have been of vital importance throughout Scandinavia from the very beginnings of the Iron Age (about 400 b c ) onwards, and later in Green­ land also. The refuse heaps outside smithies have yielded up quantities of slag proving that iron was extracted locally on the basis of bog iron. It is unlikely that iron was imported in “ balls” to be re-heated and re-hammered into a basis for forging. The slag is indicative of iron extraction in its first stage, and the quantities of ashes and charcoal

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found by the smithies reveal a greater activity than could have been caused by the forging o f pig iron alone. So when the find material suddenly yields up an axe shaped like an ordinary iron battle-axe, but cut out in baleen, it may be a toy axe, as many toy tools have been found, but this axe, which is 1 3 cm. long,

A krnrr. W reck N o. 1 o f the five Skuldelev ships, found under water in Roskilde Fjord (Zealand, Denmark), dating from 1000 to 1050. T h e upper drawing shows a longitudinal profile o f the knörr. T h e ship seems to have been about 1 6 5 metres long, about 4 5 meters broad amidships and 1 9 metres high from keel to gunwale. T he grey areas show the part o f the original ship which had not disintegrated. T h e rest was taken up in pieces from the bottom o f the fjord. It had been sunk across another o f the ships, broken into pieces, and scattered. T h e lower drawing shows a reconstruction o f the same boat with passengers, cargo and cattle. W hat is seen indicates half o f its maximum load, which was about 15 tons. T h e ratio between length and width is 1 : 3, 66. T h e toy ship found on the Umiviarssuk farm (ruin group 52 a in the West Settlement) has a 1 : 3, 14 ratio, and must be a model o f a seagoing vessel. (The technical drawing is from O laf Olsen and O . Grumlin-Petersen, The Skuldelev Ships Fig. 26. T h e pictorial reconstruction is from Acta Archaeologica (Scandinavica), vol. X X X V I I I , Copenhagen 19 67, and the visitors’ guide to the Museum o f the Skuldelev Ships, Roskilde, 1969.)

is of the same size as the small Danish medieval axes. A bone padlock (mentioned above) is, however, a sure sign of the lack of a suitable material. On the other hand the relatively numerous finds of tools made of iron or provided with iron fittings seem to indicate that the scarcity of iron was not extreme, though many of the cutting tools are badly worn. The use of wooden nails in chests and in shipbuilding

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need not indicate any particular scarcity of iron - because they have the advantage that they do not corrode. As an explanation, one may reasonably assume the wish to draw economically on the iron supply. In the find material there are many more or less fractured whetstones, which can only have been used for the sharpening of metal tools. Though iron articles were discarded when broken beyond repair, the finding of a wooden case for a pair o f sheep shears witnesses to the care with which iron tools were treated as long as they could still be used. It must have been quite an experience to pay a visit to the lowceilinged smithy; the smoke would rise from the smoke flue in one o f the walls, the glare from the forge would fall on the sooty blacksmith at work, and the ring of the hammer on the stone anvil would fill the room, at other times it would be quieter, though the flames would still flare in the forge. It was then that the smith carefully poured the liquid metal into the small soapstone moulds, of which many have come to light during excavation. Often they are nothing but fragments today, and it is difficult to decide what was actually cast in them; however, there are many fragments of moulds for spindle-whorls. No doubt bronze was the favourite metal, but other casting alloys were also used. When the blacksmith stepped into the open after the day’s work, he must have screwed up his eyes in the light, and shivered, feeling the difference between the oppressive heat of the smithy and the cold outside. The sight of the bath-house would have been decidedly wel­ come. Near some of the farms excavated, bath-houses have been found, in the West as well as in the East Settlement. On the Umiviarssuk farm, ruin group 52a in the West Settlement, the bath-house stood no more than 4*5 metres from the facade of the dwelling-house. It was a small detached house consisting of only one room, about 2-8 by 2*5 metres, and a little less than half of the room was occupied by the stove. The stones used to build up the stove were found scattered in sooty pieces on the fire-pit, and the pit itself was full of ashes that indicated that wood had been used as fuel. The rest of the small room was taken up by a bench; the planks, which were still in situ when found, proved to be ship planks, whole or in pieces (see above). The bathers sat on these planks, naked and gasping in the heat that emanated from the hood of the stove, on to which water was poured to make steam. Five or six people were able to find room on the bench at a time. This type of bath, which is common to all of Scandinavia, existed even in these remote western parts, although it is possible that it developed after the twelfth century. Generally the fuel used for the bath-houses, the smithies, and the home-fires was wood; although bone and other inflammable materials

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were also used. As can be deduced from the many soapstone lamps, train oil was used for lighting. The consumption of wood for heating purposes must have been very great. Throughout the entire Norse period, about 500 years in all, constant inroads were made into the Greenland woods and scrub. First all the bushes, scrub and small trees were burnt away to make room for the home-fields. Next the remoter regions were deprived o f wood. The driftwood that could be found along the coasts was best suited as a building material, but quite possibly some of that was used as fuel too. When a long plank was needed, the settlers had to resort either to the driftwood or to imported Markland or European timber. There was apparently no shortage of fuel since some birch trunks from the Norse period are still standing untouched in the innermost reaches of the East Settlement Qords. The exploitation of the large and robust tree growths left the way open for ravaging gales, which could tear up the turf and raise the light soil to drift across the land. Over the years this led to the same disastrous erosion as in Denmark, where the felling of trees with the object of cultivating the ground resulted in the destruction of the areas cleared for cultivation. This must have happened in the Norse period in Green­ land. During the greater part of the period of Norse settlement in Green­ land an expansive force was inherent in the culture. The first two centuries saw a settlement of the remoter parts of the valleys in the West as well as the East Settlement; this is shown by the existence of the old house-types, both the type with rounded corners and the longhouse type, in the valleys behind the fjord heads. The hunting of reindeer, which were numerous around the West and East Settlements, took the settlers far inland. The bow and arrow were the preferred means of killing on account o f their complete silence. Iron arrow-heads, indeed even bone arrow-heads, appear in great quantities among the settlement finds. The settlers brought back the meat either on their own backs or in cut-up pieces on the pack-saddles of horses; the remains even of such saddles have come to light in the excavations. Perhaps the pack-saddle was useful too when the hay was to be transported from the remote mountain fields to the farms. The only method of preservation of meat known on the farms was drying, perhaps also smoke-curing, though no implements used in smoking have as yet been unearthed. Salt-curing of meat was probably not habitual, since the method requires comparatively large quantities of salt. In Greenland extraction of salt from sea water does not produce sufficient quantities. Almost every farm had its own store-house, the so-called skemma, which was always situated in a somewhat raised, airy place, preference nearly always being given to a barren piece of rock.

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The store-house walls were dry-built, so that the air could pass freely through the joints, the walls at the same time being firm enough to discourage the wild animals. A n integral part of the diet of the Norse settlers was meat, fresh or dried, that had been procured by hunting on dry land or at sea, or that came from the domestic animals occasionally slaughtered on the farms. Th at a kind of broth was often made from the meat is proved by the great number of spoons made either of bone or wood. They are all of a shape which is characteristic of medieval Scandinavia. A few seem to reflect the shape and ornamentation of contemporary Nor­ wegian silver spoons. Each man and woman had his or her own spoon which was even brought along on visits, carefully kept in a wooden case. The knife with which the meat was cut was kept in the belt, presumably sheathed in some way. The diet of the Norse settlers was the object of much anxiety on the part of the Church. Since meat formed such an important part of the diet, there was a lot of trouble connected with observing the fast. In paragraph 16 in the ecclesiastical section of the Icelandic law-book, Grågås, we can read the results of the experience of Icelandic parishes. Among the meats which could not be eaten during fast were beef, wether, goat, pork, polar bear, brown bear, deer, reindeer, walrus and seal; all except the brown bear and the deer formed integral parts of the ordinary Norse diet. Th e meat o f the whale was not mentioned since the whale was considered a fish, and per se fish was a food that could be eaten during fast; the biology o f the whale was not known until later. In the same w ay it was permissible to eat web-footed birds and even hens and grouse, whereas talon-footed birds such as eagles, ravens, falcons, and hawks were forbidden food during the fasts. The eggs of permissible birds could be eaten only when “ white foods” (i.e. dairy foods) were served, but it was forbidden to drink milk on fast days. The breaking of fast rules would naturally give the non­ observer heavy scruples, and if he confessed his sin he would have to do penance. Fat meat especially was an essential ingredient of the diet; the severe winter cold called for rich, nourishing food. In between, bread was produced and eaten; grinding stones, or mill stones, have been found both in the West and the East Settlements. Some corn, most likely barley, m ay have been grown, and could occasionally ripen to be fit for grinding, but it is more likely that corn, or flour, was imported into Greenland. The number of grind-stones found in the settlements is, however, surprisingly large. The Speculum Regale is explicit when it states that little corn is grown in Greenland, that no one except the most respectable and wealthy farmers tried to sow corn, and that most

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people in the country did not even know of the existence of bread as they never saw any. Nothing is said about the importation o f corn. A way of life like that described above left little scope for luxury. The daily round on the farms demanded all the effort and strength of both men and women. The only pastime which can be traced in the find material consists of various types of board games. M an y beautifully finished draughtsmen and other board game pieces made of wood or walrus tusk, even including dice, have been dug out of the gravel in the ruin groups. All luxuries had to be imported; but importation presupposes pay­ ment in the form of export goods. The Speculum Regale states that sheep, goat, and cow hides were exported from Greenland together with sealskin, walrus skin and walrus ivory. From the thick skin o f the walrus a type of heavy rope was made, svarÖreip, by cutting the skin up into long shreds round and round the animal; the long shreds were then twisted into ropes that were so strong that they could be used as anchoring and mooring cables. As a consequence walrus skin was a much-coveted article, like walrus ivory which was often used in Europe instead of real ivory, which could be scarce. Thus the walrus became an important export for Greenland. The distribution of this huge sea mammal stretches from the mouth of the river Jenisej in Northern Siberia westward across the Arctic seas, along the ice front of Novaya Zemlya and Spitsbergen, and on along the Greenland coasts. It is not found in southern East Greenland waters, nor in West Greenland, but from Holsteinsborg and northwards the chances of capturing this dangerous but valuable animal seem always to have been good. It is not impossible that walrus could have been found on expeditions in northern Norwegian waters, so that the animal and its precious tusks were known even in Norway, though the quanti­ ties of walrus ivory brought there would have been far too scanty to form the basis of any trade. For the Greenland settlers, walrus tusk seems to have played an important part even at a fairly early date. W e learn that Einar Sokkason took with him “ a lot o f tusk” when he left for Norway in 112 4 . I f the West Greenland climate was fairly warm at the time (1000 to 1300), it is probable that the walrus would have been met with in great numbers along the settlement coasts; but perhaps only a few were caught in the very early days of settlement, and as the walrus went north so did the hunters, especially after both its hide and its ivory had begun to be in great demand. The annual hunting expedition towards the north is mentioned in Norse literature. Even the Speculum Regale has an oblique reference to it when describing some of the ice conditions. Dr. Nørlund takes this

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description to be of the East Greenland stor-is (field ice); however, some of the descriptions o f the sea ice and the glacier ice m ay very well refer to northern West Greenland, and one type o f seal is reported to “ dive under the ice, which is flat and 4 or 5 ells thick/and the animal then blows upwards through the ice making holes where it wishes” . The Norðrseturdrapa, o f which only fragments are extant, is more explicit about the climatic conditions: its few stanzas tell o f nothing but snow, gales and calving icebergs. Norðrsetur cannot be located with accuracy; in fact one account expresses the view that it is not a locality at all, but the name o f the hunting season, Nordrseta. But a little earlier the same account talks of men coming from Nordrseta, which must clearly designate a locality. Hakon HakonssorCs Saga mentions Nordrseta as a place outside the range of settlement and thus apparently somewhere in the north. On their way to Nordrseta, or Nordrsetur, the settlers seem to have passed two localities, Greipar and Kroksfjardarheidi. In Skáld-H elga rimur the skald sings o f G reipar: M any men north to Greipar went Where the Greenland houses end. Fishing and hunting there are best for the swift-footed hunters’ quest. The skald must have considered Greipar the most northerly point in the settlement. It has not been possible to place Greipar anywhere on the West Greenland map, and indeed it too may not have been a place at all, but just a poetic fiction. In some cases it was spelt Greypar, or i Greypum which m ay mean “ the cruel ones” (in the feminine gender). On the whole it is advisable to disregard this as a place-name. A third place name, however, crops up in connection with these north-bound hunting expeditions which can be met even outside the skáld-poetry, and seems far more reliable. KroksQ ardarheidi is men­ tioned as the last locality to be passed before Norðrsétur was reached. M uch doubt has been expressed as to the exact point or area referred to by this name, and the sparse information we have forbids any safe pin-pointing. The first part o f the compound, Króksjjardar-, characterizes the hook-like shape of the fjord; but this does not help much when applied to Greenland Qords, as almost all the West Greenland fjords have curved shores, some of them even being hook-shaped. The second part of the compound, -heidi, means heath. Such stretches o f land, rather flat and possibly somewhat elevated, are not numerous in West Greenland, and when a plateau o f the kind mentioned is to be looked for in the northern part of the West coast, the Nügssuaq peninsula at once comes to mind. Viewed from the sea, the lofty basalt mountains

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form one large undulating plateau. Disko is also composed of basalt rock, but this island can be discounted as it is called in Norse Bjarney> or Bear Island. A t the isthmus of the Nügssuaq peninsula plenty of crooked or hook­ like Qords can be found. Atá-sund may have been considered a fjord on account of the very narrow course that connects it with Torssukátak and V ajgat farther out towards the west where Tasiussaq Bay, which is

T h e Distribution o f the Neo-Eskimos 900 c. 1200 is in black, the contemporaneous Norse settlement is hatched, and a few Norse place-names have been given together with find-places, Norðrsétur and travel routes (hatched arrows).

actually more of a fjord than a bay, forms a distinct “ hook” . When taken together, Disko Bay and V ajgat may be considered a Qord, and in that case the form is curved. The best choice, however, seems to be Tasiussaq Bay. Whichever fjord is chosen to be “ KrokQord” the plateau on the Nügssuaq peninsula is without doubt the northern West coast area that best fits the description of “ KroksQardarheidi” . The assumption is corroborated by a ruin group which, though it has been known for a long time, has not been established with certainty

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as Norse until recently. The building can be interpreted as a small chapel or church. Certain Eskimo place-names in the Upernavik district and the account found in one Eskimo legend (which was admittedly written down at a rather late date) carry strong indications of inhabitants of Norse descent; but the legend and the place names, even the Nügssuaq ruin and the Kingigtorssuaq runic stone, m ay belong to a later century. Literary sources from the thirteenth century state that Norðrseta ex­ peditions were customary before 1250, and that the hunters came across Eskimos towards the end of the period. A small work, the History o f Norway f 7 is extant today in the form of a manuscript from the time between 14 4 3 and 1460; the original may date back to before 1300. In this manuscript it is said48 that “ farther to the north, hunters have come across small people, whom they call scrœlinga; when they are hit their wounds turn white and they do not bleed, but when they die there is no end to their bleeding. They possess no iron, but use walrus tusk for missiles and sharpened stones instead of knives” . Apart from the blood story this brief account paints a true picture of the Skrælings, as the Greenland Eskimos were called by the Norse settlers. Further information can be culled from Íslendíngabók in the section describing Erik the R ed’s landm m : “ In the east as well as in the west of the country they came across traces of people who had lived there, and bits of skin boats and stone implements, so that they could see that the type of people who lived in Vinland, and who are called scm linga, had also journeyed there.” As we have seen, the Vinland expeditions started about fifteen years after Erik’s landmm,, so when the Skrælings are mentioned it must be because the scribe, A ri Frodi, was familiar with the legend about the Skrælings in Vinland. Erik and his landnamsmen undoubtedly found traces of Eskimos, evidently Dorset culture people. No eleventh- or twelfth-century sources mention the settlers’ meeting with Eskimos in southern Greenland. Not until the History o f Norway just mentioned do we get any information about the encounter, and that it was not always a peaceful affair is made clear by the w ay in which the small men’s reaction to wounds is emphasized. W e cannot discover whether the contact led to hostility or to co-existence, but we do know that the culture of the Eskimos who had settled in North-west Greenland from the beginning of the twelfth century was influenced by contact with the Norse hunters.

3 T H E N E O -E S K IM O S IN G R E E N L A N D The Skrællings encountered by the Norsemen appear to have come to Greenland from about 900 onwards across the “ Eskimo Bridge” , i.e. across the ice that covered Smith Sound, Kennedy Channel and Robeson Channel. This immigration meant the introduction into Greenland of the Neo-Eskimo big-game hunting culture, although this was not the immediate result. According to Erik Holtved’s descriptions, the earliest cultures in Inglefield Land were not exclusively charac­ terized by the hunting of the big sea mammals, like the whale; on the contrary, their hunting characteristics were very similar to those of the Dorset culture. Judging by the find material, walrus and seal con­ stituted their main sea quarry. Perhaps, then, the first Neo-Eskimo immigrants into Greenland represented a kind o f transition culture, influenced by the Dorset culture which was still extant. It is also possible to assume a certain blending of the two cultures, since Dorset material has been found mixed up with Thule material, as noted already. However, the relevant documentary sources leave the question open, so the problem - together with many other unsolved problems in this field - has to be left to the Eskimo-archaeologists. The Neo-Eskimo immigration was the first link in the unbroken chain of immigrations that continued until the 1860s. The Neo-Eskimos brought with them a material culture which in Greenland was to undergo a specific and individual development, largely determined by the conditions offered to these unsophisticated people by the Green­ land shores. Presumably no small part o f the immaterial culture which was later to characterize the Greenland culture as a whole, entered Greenland territory at the same time; but we know next to nothing about this aspect of the earliest Neo-Eskimo immigration. Within the natural limits set by the conditions of settlement and trade, the material culture was highly variegated. Tools and implements of various shapes and with different purposes were constantly being developed and perfected. Therkel Mathiassen was the first to investigate and describe the

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Neo-Eskimo culture that spread over the entire western Arctic from Alaska to Greenland Thule. Certain localities in the Arctic archipelago were first investigated; this took place on the fifth Thule expedition of 19 2 1 -2 4 , and helped to define the culture. Several finds have been made since then, and our knowledge has increased accordingly. It has become clear that we cannot content ourselves with establishing uni­ form Thule culture, but must recognize several cultures that reveal quite individual characteristics, although there is much that is common to all. Such a differentiation of the Thule culture points directly to the present Eskimo culture in the west, and to the eastern Eskimo culture until it was transformed by the increasing colonization of the coasts.

Ground plan o f Neo-Eskim o house-types from Inuarfigssuaq, M arshall B ay, North Greenland. (After Holtved, M o G . 1 4 1 , 1, fig. 22.)

The salient characteristic of the Greenland Thule culture is the rounded, oval, or pyriform house-type; perhaps such shapes were the result of the use of stone as a building material. The normal groundplan of the houses shows a greater distance from the facade to the back wall than there is between the side walls; some of the houses are incredibly small, having diameters ranging from 3 to 3-5 metres, but ordinarily the diameters vary from 4 to 6 metres. The main plank bed is normally placed in front of the back wall, and side beds are found only where the width of the house allows. A ll the plank beds are normally raised about 50 cm. above the ground. Unlike the Dorset

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and the Sarqaq house-types, the Thule houses have sunk entrance passages, and these vary in length. The passage was dug into the ground and its sides were reinforced by means of vertically placed flags. The passage is extremely low-ceilinged, the roof being made of turfcovered flags. T o enter the houses the Neo-Eskimos had to get down on all fours and creep through the passage and under the front wall. Those entering would literally emerge from a hole in the floor just inside the wall. This distinctive feature of Neo-Eskimo building technique was to last a very long time. That the Eskimo word for “ he visits” , pulárpoq, actually means “ he emerges” (i.e. from the passage through the hole in the floor) is a reflection of the situation itself, but also of continuity in the Eskimo world. Being sunken, the passage served as a kind of “ heat-lock” since it confined the heat within the tight walls of the house. Stones, turf and whale bones were the building materials normally used. Some houses consisted o f two concentric circles o f stones that pressed down turf courses and made the walls almost uniform in thick­ ness. The roof was made of stone flakes and turf placed on a con­ struction of whale bones. W e cannot ascertain whether there were any windows, as the ruins show no more than the remains o f walls and heaps of fallen-in stones. I f there were any windows they must have consisted of holes with sheets of sewn-up gut-skin stretched across them and fastened into the turf wall by means of bone pegs. I f no windows existed, the only sources of light must have been the constantly burning soapstone lamps. Large stone flags paved the house floors. Although the house types reveal many common features, especially the sunken entrance passages, their shapes show some variation, as we have seen. T o this must be added another type of house which seems to be quite anomalous: a particular group of Neo-Eskimos settled on an island in Marshall Bay in Inglefield Land, which was discovered in the 1930s by Erik Holtved, who named the settlers the Ruin Island people. Holtved’s relative dating of the ruins and the people has recently been revised by carbon 14 dating, which was unknown in his day, and from this it appears that the Ruin Island people lived from about 900 onwards; thus they seem to represent an early phase of Neo-Eskimo culture. The find material contains artifacts that point to a westerly connection. The peculiar feature of the house-types built by this group is that there is a small room just inside the house passage, which was undoubtedly used as a kitchen. This means that the Neo-Eskimo housetypes in the Thule district present a highly varied picture, whereas the rest o f the material culture is fairly uniform. It is possible that the rotative system of hunting, which is so typical of the later Eskimos, was an influence even at this early date, as tentrings (i.e. circles of stone that weighed down the edges of the skin

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tents) have been found; the stone circles m ay be tent-rings from the Thule culture, although it is remarkable in itself that they have been found so close to the winter houses. The explanation m ay be that this had nothing to do with the hunting “ cycle” , but quite Simply that the Thule people preferred to live in tents during the summer. Outside the houses there were clear remains of kayak-supports made of vertically placed stones. Although this proves that the kayak was known to the Thule people, theirs was undoubtedly a somewhat heavier and more open type of craft than the highly finished tight-fitting one used by the Greenlanders in later times. Sea hunting must have been the main industry. The shapes of the hunting implements and the

Ground plan o f Neo-Eskim o house from R u in Island, 3 5 m. by 2 5 m. with a house passage o f 2 8 m. T h e fire-place is to the right by the curved wall. (After Holtved, M o G . 1 4 1 , i, fig. 45.)

materials used in their manufacture distinctly and unambiguously reveal the types of animals hunted. I f the early transitional Thule culture in North-west Greenland is excluded, the most commonly hunted animals were the whale (even the enormous baleen whale), the walrus and the seal. Baleen, whale bone, walrus tusk and narwhal tusk were all used for implements and tools, but so were reindeer antler and driftwood. Gutting blades and edges were made o f slate, sometimes of flint. A few pieces of metal, iron or meteoric iron have also come to light. The technique of heating the iron before forging it was not known, and iron was given the same treatment as flint, whereas slate was sharpened by grinding.

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The most characteristic hunting implements of the Thule culture are the heavy whaling harpoon and the somewhat slighter walrus or seal harpoon. As a rule the sealing harpoon is open-socketed, whereas the whaling harpoon has a closed socket with a bevelled harpoon head. The whaling harpoon head is not barbed, though both harpoon types are provided with harpoon blades. From a technical point of view the harpoon is an exquisite hunting implement. Though it had been known from the earliest times o f the Eskimo culture, it was now brought to perfection. The harpoon shaft was of wood with a sturdy foreshaft in one end. The foreshaft fitted into a socket in the harpoon head itself. When the head had penetrated the animal’s hide, the harpoon shaft slid out of the socket and was left lying on the ice or the surface of the water. The harpoon head was fastened to the harpoon line, which was attached to the harpoon bladder. Thus the harpoon head, which usually finished up crosswise in the quarry, would drag along the harpoon bladder which was left free of the harpoon shaft. Bladder, harpoon line, harpoon head and the loose harpoon shaft made up a whole which bears witness to a high level of technical ingenuity - and a tradition which was kept up in principle for hundreds of years. Among the other hunting implements, the bladder dart for sealcatching was well known. The lance with which the animal was finally dispatched had a point with an open socket just like the harpoon head, but the point of the lance could not loosen itself from the shaft; nor­ mally a row o f holes had been made along either side so that it could be lashed on to the shaft. Such implements were manufactured from hard materials, usually walrus or narwhal tusk, as they had to be fairly resistant to wear and tear. Bone was used for lighter implements, such as the barbs of bird darts. The later Eskimo bird darts are normally provided with three barbs lashed on to the shaft at some distance from the point. All the implements mentioned above were used at sea and define the Thule population as belonging to a coastal culture; however, the finds also reveal a whole set o f implements indicative of hunting on dry land, such as the bow and arrow. It was difficult to make a bow that was sufficiently strong when no really flexible material was at hand; long strips o f baleen held together by a lashing in the middle had to make do as a kind of laminated spring. The bolas used for catching birds can be considered a dry-land hunting implement, although it was often used at sea as well. Fish were caught by means of two- or three-pronged fish spears, often made of bone. Salmon were caught in streams or lakes, while other fishing might take place from the coast. Among the land animals the reindeer was the most important, as it

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yielded meat, hide, tallow and sinew thread which was unrivalled for the sewing-up o f skins. Even the antlers could be of use when bone implements had to be made - the reindeer scapula could be used as a scraper in the preparation of skin. Even the polar hare was not scorned as quarry, and the white polar bear was a worthy opponent: the bear hunter enjoyed great renown, and the skin he brought back from the hunt was precious indeed. The capture of the sea mammals weis o f importance as contributing to the warmth both of the Eskimo’s body and of his house. Whale-, walrus-, and seal-blubber provided all the calories he needed and

Ground plan o f Neo-Eskim o house from the earlier T hule, 6-5 m. by 4-5 m ., the house passage being 3-8 m. long. (After H oltved, M o G . 1 4 1 , 1, fig. 65.)

served as fuel for the lamps. There must have been rich supplies of blubber as most of the midden finds and layers are soaked in blubberoil. The Dorset long-fire in the middle of the house does not appear in the Thule culture and must have been supplanted by the soapstone lamp. T o judge from the form of the soapstone toy lamps, the Eskimo lamps were of a triangular shape with rounded corners and slightly curved sides. W hat is most remarkable about the lamps, however, is the so-called “ wick-ledge” , which originally was nothing but a row o f knobs along the longest edge of the lamp. Such knobs were meant to keep the moss wick in position along the edge o f the lamp bowl; gradually these knobs grew into a “ continuous” wick-ledge.

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Before entering the house passage the Neo-Eskimo used a flat baleen implement to beat the snow off himself. The kayak would already have been placed on its support, or the sledge put away (no doubt the dog was used as a draught animal). Inside the house the soapstone lamps would be burning on the side beds, giving out both light and heat. No doubt the women looked after the lamps, then as in later Eskimo cultures. Over the lamps boiling pots with meat would have been hung; the pots were carved of soft soapstone. Some soapstone pot­ sherds have been found in Canada, though none has come to light in Greenland. Eskimo pottery is confined to the Alaskan settlements. The women’s work was mostly connected with the hunting preparations or with the landing of the quarry; of course we do not know this for certain, but it can be deduced from the Eskimo customs o f a later day which seem to reflect time-honoured traditions. The existence of the woman’s knife, the ulo, hafted or unhafted, seems to confirm the assumption. The peculiar needle cases, with wing-like protuberances on either side, and often richly ornamented, are an indication that it was the women’s job to sew the clothes of the entire family. Combs made of bone or tusk and ornaments such as necklaces of bone and animal teeth are parts of the women’s outfit. The plank bed was covered with skin on top of mats of braided baleen shreds, so that the skins would not soak up any moisture. I f the fire happened to go out, the master of the house would have to relight it with his bow drill, which was also used when he wanted to drill holes in his implements for lines and lashings; the bits for such bow drills have been found. Some of the arrow-heads that had to be hafted had pointed tangs, and some of them were provided with knobs that could facilitate the lashing; other arrow-heads present a bevel-cut correspond­ ing to a bevel on the shaft, and must have been secured by lashing. The occurrence of the snow knife bears witness to a technique that allowed the Neo-Eskimos to build “ houses” when en route. The technique was known as early as the Dorset culture, and it is from the Dorset people that Neo-Eskimos picked it up. When the turf had to be cut up into blocks for the winter house, a sort of turf-axe was used, often made out of a whale rib. The Neo-Eskimos were prudent people who knew how to store their meat supplies. The large, carefully constructed meat pits are evidence of the abundance of the supply, and furthermore enable us to catch a glimpse of the philosophy of these people. They did not live only for the moment, and indeed must have been greatly concerned about the future; this was the result of the centuries-long experience of their people: in other words, tradition. The appropriateness of their imple­ ments, and the accuracy and elegance with which they were made,

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tell of a certain aesthetic sense. This is also expressed in the small statuettes which occasionally come to light among the litter of the middens. The exquisite line ornamentation and line engravings on needle cases, depicting umiaks, or a hunting kayaker, tell of the urge to decorate open surfaces, which have always constituted a challenge to the imagination of the artist, leading to creative activity. Otherwise we know very little about the immaterial culture of the Neo-Eskimos. There are some small boxes which we can take to be depositories for charms and talismans; one statuette that has a cross

Ground plan of Neo-Eskim o house from Inuarfigssuaq, M arshall B ay, consisting o f three sections with a plank bed in each, and the house passage. In the middle o f the house was found a very large whale rib which had probably been used as a rafter. From the first stones o f the house passage to the back wall there is a distance o f 5 5 m., and the house is 5-2 m. wide. (After Holtved, M o G . 1 4 1 , 1, fig. 3 1 .)

carved into its chest and back, may very well be related to the kind of amuletic bandoliers which were worn in exactly that w ay well into the present century in East Greenland. The Neo-Eskimos interred their dead in carefully built graves, but we have no documentary sources that can tell us whether it was customary to place the belongings of the deceased with him in the grave. Such grave goods, if any, would have been removed before the graves were excavated. The use of the dog sledge enabled the Neo-Eskimos to travel far

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across glaciers and frozen waters; in early spring Melville Bay was no obstacle, so it is highly probable that it was not long before the NeoEskimos wandered southwards. In 19 33 Therkel Mathiassen excavated five houses on the island o f Igdlutalik, which were small and rounded. The paved floors were somewhat sunk into the ground and the entrance passages had been dug even deeper into the soil. A few of the houses had a small projection on the facade. The projecting area proved to have been used as a kitchen and it often contained layers o f slag and ashes; this means that the meals were cooked on open fires inside the houses. This is fully in keeping with the description of some of the Thule house-types given above. In the Igdlutalik houses bones and blubber were used as fuel. In the Disko Bay area and southwards to the Julianehåb district circular house-types alternate with rectangular ones. The heterogeneity can undoubtedly be explained by the occasional lack of wood for rafters. The existence of different Thule house-types along the West coast indicates that the Neo-Eskimos spread towards the south. There can be no doubt that this took place in the period which in the history o f Europe is known as the High Middle Ages; the period also marks the prime of the Norse settlement in Greenland. It is likely that the meeting between the “ skirmishers” of the European culture circle, the Norsemen and the immigrating Neo-Eskimos took place in the district about Krogsfjordshede, which we have tried to localize and identify as the Nügssuaq peninsula. Igdlutalik is not far away from this area, but one of the houses which Therkel Mathhiassen excavated there was remark­ able in revealing artifacts that were all of pure Neo-Eskimo origin, without any trace of Norse influence. Mathiassen’s conclusion was that the people who had built and inhabited the house must have lived on this spot even before the Norðrsetur-Norsemen arrived, which means a date preceding the end of the twelfth century. A t Sermermiut near Jakobshavn one carbon 14 dating has been made of Neo-Eskimo strata and it reveals 10 10 ± 120, that is to say a date between a d 890 and a d 113 0 . Although the latter year seems feasible, it must be remembered that the dating was on the basis of turf material which makes it somewhat unreliable; the sample was taken in layers that contained remains of the so-called Inugsuk culture. It was Therkel Mathiassen who found traces of this culture and named it after the first finding-place, Inugsuk. The investigation o f Inugsuk and several other localities took place in 1929. Inugsuk is a small island some 20 kilometres north-north-east of Upernavik. The investigation stretched from Djævelens Tommelfinger in the north through almost the entire Upernavik district as far as Tukingassoq in the south. There were twenty-six sites from various Eskimo periods right down to the nine­

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teenth century, but Inugsuk was the one which attracted the greatest attention. As usual the midden gave the clearest picture of the culture, and to a certain extent even of the development of the Inugsuk settlement. The midden was 42 by 14 by 2*5 metres, and contained artifacts in almost all its layers. The bottom stratum revealed a startling number of items that indicated Thule, i.e. Neo-Eskimo culture. The picture was that of a rich culture with whaling as its main industry; this was

Thule and Inugsuk cultures 12 0 0 -17 0 0 . T h e distribution is in black. T h e arrows indicate the likely migration routes along the coast over the entire period. Double­ headed arrows on the East and the W est coasts indicate the mutual influence o f the various geographical districts.

proved by the numerous baleen specimens. The large whaling harpoon of the Thule type, which is short and open-socketed, came to light. But the majority of the harpoons found were of another type; although short, they were close-socketed. The harpoon heads were of the type to be inserted and many of them were still in situ. The heads were either of iron or bone, and loose harpoon heads o f angmaq (siliceous slate), pure slate, or bone were also found in the midden.

i. Reindeer hunting cairn at Itivnera in Godthåbs Fjord (page 14).

2. Fireplace with “ cooking stones” at Tuperssuit in Disko Bay (page 1 3 ; M o G 16 1, 2, fig. 13)-

3- Profile of the Sermermiut midden (page 14 fif.). A t the bottom, a sterile gravel layer. B : Sarqaq layer. C : culture-sterile peat layer. D : sandy, later folded layer almost without artifacts. E : Dorset layer with a thin layer of sand, perhaps caused by solifluction. F : sterile peat layer containing much material from earlier phases, resulting from disturbances of the midden when Neo-Eskimo houses were erected. Finally, the Neo-Eskimo horizon. (M o G 16 1, 2, fig. 6.)

I- Sarqaq culture at Tuperssuit in Disko Bay (page 12). T o p row, burins; second row, three flakes; third row, scrapers; finally, various forms of blades. Bottom right, lamp, above which is a piece of pumice. (M o G 16 1, 2, pi. 2.)

). Shooting stand at Itivnera in Godthåbs Fjord (page 14).

5 . Sarqaq culture, Sermermiut (page 12 ). T o p row, various arrowheads and points; second row, burins; bottom left, blades; bottom right, two sidescrapers. (M o G 16 1, 2, pi. i.)

7- Dorset culture (pages 1 5 - 1 6 ) . Three upper rows, burin-like instruments and scrapers; rows four and five, arrow-heads and blades, some with notches for fastening; bottom row, micro-flakes and micro-cores. (M o G , 16 1, 2, pi. 5.)

8. Dorset culture. T o p rows, finds from Serm erm iut: burins, arrow-heads, blades and scrapers; right, lamp sherd; below, micro-flakes and micro-cores. (M o G 1 61, 2, p i. I .)

9. Harpoon heads, axe head (second from right). Th en harpoon foreshaft, knife, ulo, blade of knife, scrapers. Above the ulo, a harpoon blade. A t the bottom, handle of a quiver. (National Museum, Copenhagen.)

io. Norse domestic utensils (pages 74, 84, 164). Spoon-case (inside and outside views of bottom half, and cover) and trenchers (all reduced three times in size). Spoons of horn, sickle knives, blade of knife and worn-down knife with handle of reindeer antler (half size). (Roussell, M o G 88, 2, various figs.)

i i . Norse artifacts (page 85). T o p row, unidentified chessman, “ bishop” , “ paw n” , “ bishop” ; in the next row, “ king” , then die (all actual size); the first- and lastmentioned are of walrus ivory, the rest of wood. Then two whalebone draughtsmen (half size). Bottom row, polar bear and m an’s face of walrus ivory (actual size), and walrus (actual size), cut from walrus molar. (National Museum, Copenhagen.)

O PPO SITE

12. Thule culture (pages 9 2 - 3 , 9 5). T o p row, harpoon heads, side prongs for bird dart, arrow head, needle case and knife blade; bottom row, trace fasteners, axe head, ulo, decoy fish, bola ball, and comb. (National Museum, Copenhagen.) 13 . Inugsuk culture (page 97 flf.). Three harpoon heads, threaded arrow-head, fish-hook; below, harpoon foreshaft, bodkin, harpoon socket (for foreshaft), some artifacts showing Norse influence (cf. plate 2 5 ) ; finally, a knife handle. (National Museum, Copenhagen.)

14. Neo-Eskimo house, C ap e K ent, Inglefield Land (ground plan 1 : 100). T h e back wall faces east. (Page 90 f f .; Holtved, M o G 1 4 1 , 1, figs. 9 and 10.)

i 'j. Garðar cathedral after excavation. (Page 111 if.; National Museum, Copenhagen.)

16. T he bishop’s tomb in the northern chapel, Garðar. T h e crosier is seen in situ. (Page 1 13 ff.; National Museum, Copenhagen.)

17. Left, procession crucifix, reconstructed. (H alf size. Page 1 3 0; Roussell, M o G 88, 2, fig. 11.) R ight, the crosier head from G arð ar (scale approx. 2 : 3. Page 1 1 4 ; National Museum, Copenhagen.)

18. Ingibjörg’s tombstone from Brattahlíð. (One-fifth actual size. Page 1 1 7 ; M o G 76, 2, fig. 9.)

ig. Vigdis’ tombstone from G arðar. (One-sixth actual size. Page 1 1 7 ; M o G 76, 2, fig. 7.) Wooden cross bearing runic inscription (scale 1 : 3.4) and a cross without an inscription (scale 1 : 4.4). (Pages 1 1 7 , 1 5 4; National Museum, Copenhagen.)

20. Storehouse, ruin group 80 in the East Settlement. (Pages 69, 8 3 -4 ; Vebæk, MoG 90, i, fig. 7.)

21. Hvalsey church. (Page 133 fF.; National Museum, Copenhagen.)

22. The “ bear trap” at Nugssuaq. (Pages 87-8 , 137; photo, Jørgen Meldgard.)

23. The Kingigtorssuaq runic stone. (Pages 88, 137; National Museum, Copenhagen.)

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Other hunting implements were also unearthed: those for ice hunting and sealing, the bow and arrow for dry-land hunting, knives, dart heads - in short, the entire equipment of the hunter. M any objects used by women also came to light, including various forms of ulo more or less characteristic of the Thule culture, together with combs, needle cases, beads and pendants. Soon, however, several remarkable objects were unearthed that had never before been found in Neo-Eskimo Greenland excavations. Wooden specimens were unusually well preserved because the midden was frozen solid. Several o f the wooden objects were undoubtedly Eskimo, but suddenly a nice little wooden tub came to light. A good deal of coopering skill and technique had gone into the making of this barrel, and the staves were held in position by means o f baleen shreds. It is likely to have been manufactured under Norse influence, but some purely Eskimo finds elsewhere have yielded up staves that had been notched and indented so that they could function as staves for barrels or tubs. Several other objects were revealed: spoons which had bowls and handles very similar to those of European medieval spoons, but which could be of pure Eskimo origin, as other finds have contained similar spoons even in places where all European influence can be precluded. Saws were also found, which have been found nowhere else in early Eskimo cultures; there was also a knife o f baleen with the form o f a European dagger. Like the saws, the dagger is evidence of a wish to imitate European shapes though different materials were used which were often ill-suited to the purpose. Knives with an iron edge on one side of the handle indicate imitation of a similar kind. Finally the screw thread appears. In earlier Eskimo cultures the arrow heads were provided with lateral incisions or knobs, two or four, but now the tangs have been threaded. This is a quite novel element in Eskimo cultures, and must have come from abroad. A n ornamental feature consisting of a dot and circle pattern indicates Norse influence. This leads us directly on to purely Norse objects, such as fragments of bell metal, board game pieces, woven cloth and utensils that bear Norse ornamentation patterns, or statuettes of people with decidedly European features. Finally some dolls were revealed, undoubtedly cut by Eskimo hands, but representing people in European medieval dress (from the latter half of the fourteenth century); the clothes are exactly similar to those found at Herjolfsnes, which will be dealt with in their appro­ priate chronological context. A t Sermermiut several Norse objects, or fragments of objects, were found in the Neo-Eskimo layers of the midden: for example, there was the upper half of a case for spoons with an interwoven, strictly sym­

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metrical motif of ornamental bands, which seems to indicate the middle o f the thirteenth century. Furthermore, there was a fragment o f a walrus or narwhal tusk with a symmetrical acanthus leaf motif, which also belongs to the early Gothic period. Am ong the finds were some sheep shears of medieval shape, a beautifully shaped bronze “ stave” which seems to be a fragment o f a spoon (a short handle), and two whetstones of the Norse type. A t Igdlorssuit (which is also at the isthmus of the Nügssuaq peninsula) one of the house ruins yielded up a broken cooking pot with three “ legs” . M ade of bronze and undoubtedly of Norse origin, it was found among the ashes in the “ kitchen” . All this points to a connection between the Neo-Eskimos and the Norse settlers of Disko Bay and farther northwards into the Upernavik district. The purely Norse artifacts may have been brought from former Norse settlements to these parts at a later time when the Eskimos were in control of the entire coast, and the Norse-imitated objects m ay have been made after the end of the Norse period, which means towards the end of the fifteenth century. On the other hand, many o f the objects were found in such deeply positioned midden-layers and beneath such thick Inugsuk layers that they must have been discarded or thrown away fairly early in the life o f this culture, at least as early as the thirteenth century. W e do not know the immediate result of the encounter between the Neo-Eskimos and the Norse hunters. The small History o f Norway, which has been mentioned earlier, tells mainly o f bloody combats, but the finds reveal that peaceful contacts must also have existed. No doubt a certain wariness was present at the beginning, but the relations m ay have been quite peaceful, as was the first meeting with the Vinland Skrællings, before the initial trade relations gave w ay to hostilities. That peaceful co-existence was possible is seen from the many accounts in the West Greenland legendary material that tell of the relations between the two races, who differed so much in both appearance and behaviour. The Norse descriptions of the Eskimos as “ trolls” was naturally meant to give you the creeps and cause you to touch your sword while making the sign of the cross. The so-called Thorfinn KarlsefnVs Saga evokes the impression the Norsemen had of the Vinland Skrællings: “ They were swarthy, evil-looking men with wiry hair. They had large eyes and broad cheeks.” I f this is a description of the Eskimos, it clearly reveals that they were not considered a pleasant sight. About 1300 the Hauksbók relates that Skræling settlements cannot be found farther north than Kroksfjardarheidi, which seems to confirm the assumption that a Neo-Eskimo settlement did in fact exist at Igdlutalik, outside the range of Norse influence, but that the Inugsuk

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culture spread over these parts; we can establish an early appearance of Inugsuk at Sermermiut. That the Inugsuk culture absorbed several Norse cultural elements is not remarkable when viewed in a wider Eskimo perspective. The Inugsuk culture continued to remain a big game hunting culture, and preserved its own characteristic w ay o f shaping Eskimo implements and tools. The Norse elements in the Inugsuk culture are rather few, but sufficient to make it stand out from other Eskimo cultures. This is the second instance of a West Greenland Eskimo culture that developed independently, and which moved away from the traditions which it had originally brought with it from the west. The development naturally took place within the limitations imposed by the basic means of subsistence, dry-land and sea hunting. Within these limitations, the Inugsuk culture proved to be very vigorous and expansive; it spread towards the north, and it can be met in the Thule district, and perhaps even in settlements in the Arctic archipelago. Over the years it spread towards the south along the West Greenland coast, coming within the range of the Norse settlements during the thirteenth and especially the fourteenth centuries. The year 1930 saw Therkel Mathiassen excavating sites in the Kangåmiut area, due north of Sukkertoppen. A t the same time he was investigating, on a stretch of land about 40 km. long from Hamburger­ sund in the south to Søndre Strømfjord in the north, about forty sites, some of them old, others recent, and a few still inhabited. In these sites fifty-seven house ruins were found belonging to the small rounded type, known from the Inugsuk and the Thule cultures. The entrance passages had been sunk. No great quantity of whale ribs was found, presumably because they had crumbled; usually whale ribs were employed as rafters in this type of house. However, it is likely that the supply of driftwood was comparatively plentiful in these parts, and perhaps whales were not caught in great numbers; the inhabitants o f the houses, then, may have used driftwood for rafters, and this - so Therkel Mathiassen asserts - must have influenced the shape of the houses, making them more oblong, perhaps even square. It can be established beyond doubt, however, that these houses belong to the medieval Eskimo house-type. There were no traces at all of a separate kitchen in any of them. The harpoon heads unearthed in the bottom layers of the middens in three of these localities were mainly Inugsuk or of a closely related type (short and close-socketed). No earlier artifacts came to light; consequently no Neo-Eskimo settlers lived there until the so-called High Middle Ages, and the Eskimos that finally settled at Kangåmiut were the bearers of the Inugsuk culture. This is corroborated by other

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artifacts similar to those revealed by the Inugsuk finds, namely arrow heads, some with knobs on the tang, but others threaded. Individual parts of dog sledges, both full-sized and toy ones, were dug up, together with many dogs’ bones, which is proof that at least at some point the Kangåm iut Eskimos used the dog sledge. However, since the dog sledge presupposes safe sea ice, we are able to conclude that the Kangåmiut climate must have been colder then than it is today. As the quantity of dog sledge remains is not very great in the Kangåm iut district, we can also conclude that it was a continuation o f the old tradition, and that the use of dog sledges was restricted. That so many dog bones have come to light does not in itself prove that dog sledge traffic was heavy, and it is likely that dogs were kept for the sake of their skins, as was the case in southern Greenland right down to our own day. It also has to be remembered that dog meat is edible. Soapstone lamps with wick-ledges corresponding to Inugsuk lamps were found in considerable numbers. Reindeer antler spoons were shaped like Inugsuk spoons. Around the middens several barrel staves came to light, which shows some familiarity with the coopering tech­ nique, and seems to indicate the same sort of Norse influence as was present in the Inugsuk finds. There were very few purely Norse objects, which could be the result of the bad conditions for preservation. U p till now nothing much pertaining to the Neo-Eskimo past has been yielded up by the Godthåb district. This may be because the same sites were lived on for centuries after that time, but may also result from the fact that archaeological investigation has concentrated so much on the Norse settlements. Therkel Mathiassen dates the earliest ruin group in the Kangåm iut sites somewhere between 135 0 and 150 0; this is a relative dating, however. It would be odd if the Godthåb district did not somewhere conceal ruin sites that might tell us more about the medieval Eskimos, and middens which would throw light on the relations between the Eskimos and the Norsemen. As it is, we know very little of how this relationship developed. W e can go as far as to point to the presence of a Norse influence after the meeting of north and south, but we seem unable to trace any Eskimo influence on the Norse West Greenland culture. V e ry few Eskimo objects have been found in Norse neighbourhoods, and there seems to have been a distinct gap between the two culture groups. The Neo-Eskimos were bound to territories where ice hunting was possible, and where the whale and walrus were sufficiently numerous. Accordingly they kept to the northern parts of West Greenland until changing climate conditions forced them southwards.

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TH E NO RSE SE T T L E R S FROM I 10 0 — 14 0 0

The contact between the Eskimos in the north and the Norsemen in the south was the result o f the Norse Norðrsetur hunting expeditions. There seems to have been very little trading between the two races, and the Norse hunters normally brought nothing back to their settlements but what they had caught themselves. The Norse middens reveal that it was not only skins and tusks that made up the hunter’s bag. Animals killed during the hunt were often dragged home whole; parts, at least, of walrus skeletons have been found in Norse middens at quite a distance from the Qord heads. Normally, however, the returning long boats were loaded with skins and tusks, sometimes even narwhal tusks. The spirally grooved ivory tusk of the narwhal stirred the imagination of all Europe: it was believed to be the horn that sprang from the forehead o f that wild indomitable horse, the unicorn. This horn was a great prize, being reputed to have healing powers; apothecaries sold it in powdered form - an excellent fraud. The hunters returned from Norðrsetur in the autumn or late summer, perhaps early enough to sell some of their goods to the traders. Most of the traders came from Norway, and the traffic from Norwegian ports to the Greenland settlements seems to have been fairly heavy during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. A decree attributed to Saint O laf deals with the rights of Norwegians in Greenland and Iceland; one section of it concerns the exemption from duty granted to traders who were driven out of their course off Norway. This ordinance is supposed to date from before 1030. Already at that early date, then, it had apparently become necessary to issue decrees about Norwegian navigation on Greenland. Thorfinn Karlsefni’s Greenland voyage in 1006 was a trading expedition, and the sagas have sporadic accounts of the voyages of Greenlandic, Icelandic, or Norwegian traders, but the details are hardly reliable, with much of the embellishment bearing the stamp of a later literary tradition. 103

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When Bishop Arnald sailed from Norway, perhaps from Bergen, in 1 1 2 5 , another ship followed in his wake. Its captain was Arnbjörn Austmad (“ Eastman” ), which is to say that he was a Norwegian. On board Arnbjörn’s vessel were several Norwegians who wanted to go to Greenland, but the ship was later reported to have foundered. The Icelandic chronicles and sagas tell of several shipwrecks; on the East coast, besides Arnbjörn’s, there was that o f Einar Thorgeirsson before 116 9 , and another in 11 8 9 ; one ship on its w ay to Greenland went down in 1 1 8 5 and no less than four were lost in one year, 1209, of which two were driven o ff course in the direction o f Greenland. Clearly there were numerous successful voyages made in those years: we know for instance that, when new bishops arrived or when, later, they went visiting, no disaster befell; it is only natural that the many successful voyages should also be the anonymous ones. But it is quite clear that the crossing was considered dangerous. In Saint O la f's Saga the following words are uttered by a man who is weighing anchor, bound for Greenland: “ N ow it may happen, and it is not unlikely, that we shall never reach Greenland, but be driven to Iceland or other countries. . . . ” The crossing to Greenland entailed many unlooked-for possibilities. Although the Speculum Regale descriptions o f the Greenland ice presumably deal with conditions along the East coast, the account o f how shipwrecked sailors saved their lives near the ice front could quite well be applied to West Greenland conditions. Often the sailors were too eager to get ashore and their vessels thus became marooned in the ice. When this happened some died, while others reached the shore by abandoning ship and putting all their faith in smaller boats that could be dragged over the ice and steered across the open-water stretches. Such journeys across the ice might last four or five days, or even more. However, getting safe ashore was not enough. Three shipwrecks off the “ unsettled wilds” (i.e. the Greenland East coast) are reported to have cost the lives of many sailors, even o f those who had come ashore, since they were so exhausted after crossing the coastal ice that they were not able to proceed to settled areas. When Einar Thorgeirsson’s ship foundered, the captain and entire crew reached dry land safely, but then they started fighting over their meagre provisions. Einar got away with two others and attempted to cross the inland ice cap in quest of settlements, but they all perished in the attempt when they were no more than a day’s journey from the settled areas. Their bodies were found the following year “ and Einar’s body was unmolested” . Einar’s brother, Ingimund Thorgeirsson, a minister, was shipwrecked on his w ay from Bergen to Iceland off “ Greenland’s unsettled wilds” ; the ship was lost with all hands, and fourteen years later their bodies

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were discovered in a rocky cave. The minister’s body had not decayed, and next to it were found some w ax tablets with a description o f how they had died. The third shipwreck off the “ wilds” of Greenland’s East coast took place in 1 1 2 5 when Arnbjörn Austmad’s vessel (mentioned above) went down. E in ar Sokkason’s Saga relates that the bodies of the crew were found by Sigurd Njalsson, who had gone hunting with some friends in the unsettled East coast area. The sailors seemed to have struggled hard to keep up some sort of existence, but had succumbed at last; all were dead. So as to be able to bring them for Christian burial near the settlements, Sigurd and his friends boiled the bodies until nothing was left but the bones. Apparently there had been two vessels: a stately one with a figure-head and a merchantman. The merchant vessel was battered beyond repair and, having extracted the valuable nails from the planks, Sigurd and his men set fire to the wreck. They then left the unsettled areas, manning their own ship and the stately vessel and her dinghy, and sailed to the bishop of Garðar. A t this time, Bishop Arnald must have settled at the episcopal seat; but perhaps the saga mentions Garðar only because the scribe knew that Garðar used to be the seat of the bishop. Sigurd Njalsson handed over to the bishop the bones of the dead sailors; the ship was taken over by the church in payment for the welfare of the sailors’ souls. Th e rest of the salvage was divided among the finders “ according to Greenland laws” . This gave rise to a protracted dispute when össur, Arnbjörn’s Nor­ wegian nephew, heard about the event. Together with a number of other men who has lost their relatives in the shipwreck, he went to Greenland to try to reach some agreement about the property. Accord­ ing to the saga there were by then two merchantmen in what it terms “ the Vestribygd” : this may denote the West Settlement, but it may also mean “ the settled areas in the west” . T o these two vessels was now added össur’s ship. That all three vessels were used for trading purposes is mentioned as a mere matter of course by the saga, and we can conclude from this that trading voyages were not uncommon. össur stayed the winter with Bishop Arnald but, when he raised the question of the property of the shipwrecked sailors, the bishop im­ mediately dismissed any claim he might have. Össur quickly left Garðar; in the following spring he brought an action at the thing against the settlers, and “ he stayed at Garðar during the thing” . The account is particularly interesting as it is the first detailed report of the táitt£-procedure. Einar Sokkason turned up with many men, no doubt his thingmenn from the Eriks Fjord thing. This seems to indicate a division of the jurisdiction, each fjord or group of fjords forming one thing district, a

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supreme thing being held at Garðar. It is quite possible, however, that the saga anticipates a later development; at least the Garðar thing is mentioned as late as 1389. When Arnald consented to become Bishop o f Greenland, he had made it a condition that Einar should support him. Apparently Einar was now fulfilling his promise. It is characteristic, however, that he immediately turned the dispute into a case between the native inhabit­ ants and foreigners, making the Norse settlements stand out as an individual judicial unit over against people from other jurisdictions. He soon pressed his point, saying that the situation would be very difficult for foreigners in Norw ay if a similar case arose there1 - seeming to imply that Norwegian courts and moots would have applied the laws then in force in Norway, and so made it hard for foreigners who advanced claims according to the laws of their own native country. Einar Sokkason argued that foreigners ought to be treated in the same w ay in Greenland. In other words Einar was pointing out that the case could not be tried according to the laws of Norway. Perhaps össur had said so already, or Einar m ay have wished to forestall him; any­ way, Einar’s conclusion was that “ we must follow the laws which are in force in this country” . össur lost the case. But then events took a turn which was to be as tragic and disastrous as the shipwreck itself. Einar killed össur, and össur’s kinsman, who was with the traders mentioned above, set out to revenge the killing. Sokki Thorisson, Einar’s father, tried to act as a mediator, but the Norwegian traders acted jointly and stated that, although they were inclined to come to terms, they would not be cowed; hence they appeared at the thing accompanied by a large number of men. W e cannot know for certain whether the thing was held at Garðar or at Brattahlíð, where Sokki Thorisson lived, but at any rate the Nor­ wegians did not want to be in the minority in case there was a battle, and no doubt they sensed that the settlers were making a solid stand against them. Einar broke up the thing and prevented the Norwegians from pleading their case. He did not want any discussion of the validity of the Garðar-MzVz^ decision, nor any word said about blood-money to be paid for the killing of össur, which would mean a recognition of foreign legal principles and might thus constitute a precedent. “ It will be known far and wide that they bring actions against us,” Einar added by way of justification. Between the lines can be read the divergence that existed between Sokki’s and Einar’s views. By his promise to the bishop, Einar had been forced to line up with the radicals who insisted on the free right of the settlers vis-d-vis foreigners. Undoubtedly Sokki still felt attached to his Norwegian past, which was not at all the case with Einar.

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It was then agreed that the parties should meet to negotiate some kind of compromise at eiðit (i.e. Garðar), presumably on the narrow neck of land between Einars Fjord and Eriks Fjord, and not later than midsummer. As it turned out, the meeting ended with a battle in which a great many men were killed, among them Einar Sokkeson and Simon, össur’s kinsman. Another attempt at reconciliation was then made on the principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This, however, satisfied neither the traders nor the settlers. The Norwegians made plans to leave Greenland as quickly as possible, but the settlers hoped that the stor-is would detain them; their plan was to get at the Norwegians because they refused to pay blood-money although they had killed one man more than the settlers. The stor-is opened up, however, and the Norwegians weighed anchor immediately and reached Norway safely. “ I am no good at handling difficult people,” Arnald had said when he was appointed Bishop of Greenland. It is a quotation from the same saga, and merely confirms the high level of consistency between character and plot which is typical of the best sagas. The episode has been treated at some length here because - although written down several decades after the actual events - the account is basically true and reveals something about the developments within a disintegrating society. The Norsemen wanted to safeguard the laws and regulations that protected them in their daily life and work in the lush fjord districts. The memory that it was a landrmm that had brought them to Greenland was still strong among the settlers. The land might be taken from them again. Visitors who were traders one day might prove to be raiders the next, as was often literally the case in the Middle Ages. O f course nobody really wanted to do without all the amenities that the traders brought to the country, but at the same time the settlers were on their guard against foreigners. The traders brought to Norway the rumour of “ the difficult people” in Greenland. The close contact which existed among the Norse territories in the Atlantic, despite the difficulties of communication, seems naturally to have made necessary a special set of rules and laws to solve any special problems that might arise. Grågås, the Icelandic statute book, contains several provisions anticipating legal problems that might arise from Icelandic contacts with the Norse communities in Greenland. In the sections on manslaughter, cases in which the killing took place in Greenland are given special treatment; these were regarded as foreigners’ deeds. I f the plaintiff accepted a compromise in Greenland, that is to say on a Greenland thing, no legal action could be taken in Iceland. It says that a “ man” who was found guilty in Greenland was also to be so considered in Iceland - “ man” has here to be taken as

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meaning “ Icelander” . The provision seems to arise from friendly feel­ ings towards the Norsemen in Greenland, but it must be remembered that there were apparently no disputes between the Greenland Norse­ men and the Icelanders, presumably because Iceland did little trade in Greenland. The Icelanders had plenty of the goods which they might have imported from Greenland at home already: the economies of the two countries were too much alike to justify any large-scale exchange. O f course there was consanguinity between the two com­ munities, and some Icelanders must therefore have come to Greenland. Others were driven to Greenland by storms and gales, as was true in reverse of the Greenland Norsemen, who were sometimes forced by bad weather to seek shelter on Icelandic farms; this happened in the case of Bishop Arnald and Einar Sokkason. The family relations between Iceland and Greenland naturally gave rise to a set o f rules governing inheritance. I f a man inherited property in Greenland he must have it assessed and leave Greenland on board the first ship bound for Iceland. I f he did not do so, but stayed on in Greenland, the case had to be prosecuted in exactly the same w ay as if it had taken place in Norway. Such provisions m ay have come late; but the main part of Grågås is supposed to have been in force in the twelfth century. It is important that the provisions accept the Norse Greenland settlements as an individual jurisdiction, looked upon to a certain extent as any other foreign country, but also felt to be like the country “ towards the east” - that is to say, Norway. The Norwegian attitude to this problem seems to have been the same. Saint O la f’s decree, and the necessity to work out special rules concerning the rights of Norwegians sailing to Greenland have been already mentioned. It is quite possible that eleventh-century Europeans regarded Greenland as a place where the K ing’s writs did not run. In about 1040 K ing Magnus the Good2 advised Thrand, a farmer from the Oplands, to leave Norway and settle in Greenland because o f K ing Harald Hardrada’s3 persecution; the account ends with Thrand reaching Greenland where according to some manuscripts he stayed for [several years - or until his death according to others. Otherwise we have no evidence of any legislation. It would be remarkable if we had, since the Norwegian laws are provincial laws that express nothing but the common law within a given thing district; but, in cases such as Thrond’s, they deal with “ people from outside the thing” ; in other words, with relations to people that did not belong to one’s own thing district. There is one remark in the Æ ldre Frostatingslov which gives the impression that Greenland, as well as Iceland, was considered an

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independent legal district. In the section on inheritance it says that, if you inherit from a person who dies west of the sea between Iceland and Norway, you must obey the laws in force in that country, but that the Frostatingslov must be followed if you inherit from someone who dies east of that sea. It follows from this that the Frostatingslov, which must be considered an old common law - at least before 1260, the year in which K ing Håkon Håkonsson4 gave his national law - actually did recognize jurisdictions towards the west, even west o f Iceland, which must mean Greenland. Th at Greenland is not mentioned by name may be explained by the existence of even more westerly navigable regions, such as M arkland; but nothing was known about any common law in force in those parts, and a definition which was not quite clear might have the widest application. These sporadic indications of special “ Greenland laws” and the saga insistence on them lead us to conclude that the Greenland Norse settle­ ments maintained a jurisdiction of their own, at least from about 110 0 onwards. W e know also that the thing was first held on the Brattahlíð plain. Booths, or rather booth ruins, and fire-pits from the flimsily built thing booths, have been found. Judging by the hearths and cooking pits, the booths must have been used for a considerable time. There are pits for long-fires and cooking pits like the one revealed in the house of the passage-type on the Brattahlíð plain south o f the small stream; this fire pit was equipped with an ember recess. It is quite probable that the booths were thing booths6; in this place, at a safe distance from the Brattahlíð farmer, the Eriks Fjord thing must have been held, and perhaps this was even the supreme thing of all the settlements. Later it was removed to Garðar, or near Garðar, at eiðit, the narrow neck of land between the two fjords, as related in Einar Sokkason's Saga. A t Garðar, however, no remains that are unquestionably of booths have come to light; only seven of the alleged thing booth ruins at Garðar have proved to be Norse, the rest being disputable and some even Eskimo. Out of the seven, there can be no doubt that two groups are stable ruins, and one of the remaining five may also one day prove to be a byre. Four small ruin groups provide insufficient evidence of the site of a thing. The Garðar terrain is not like what the sagas describe as surrounding the thing. No doubt the booths must be found at eiðit. Until further evidence is forthcoming we must content ourselves with the statement found in the Flateyjarhók and later documents that the supreme thing of the Norse settlements was held at Garðar. No traces of a thing site have come to light in the West Settlement. The spot most likely to have been chosen for a thing is the narrow strip of land between Pisigsarfik Fjord and Ameralik Fjord (i.e. Itivnera); this locality is not unlike eiðit at Garðar, and a well-trodden path,

HO H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

Brattahlíð. A , the North Farm (Erik the Red’s farm) with outhouses; a, Thjodhild’s church; i, later churches; 2, dwelling-house; 5, stable-complex; B, the South Farm, which seems to be later (confused type of passage house), C, 32-44, thing booths; D, 46-58, various farm buildings without any dwelling house nearby. (After Nørlund, M oG. 88, 1, plate I, with an insertion of Thjodhild’s church with dike.)

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which must have been used in Norse times, leads across it.6 No doubt the West Settlement had its own local thing, just as Tasermiut in the East Settlement (Ketils Fjord) reveals small ruin groups that m ay be the remains of thing booths placed outside the two principal farms. After the bishop had occupied his residence, Garðar became the natural centre for the two settlements. The episcopal seat was much enlarged after 112 6 , and for the first twenty-four years the man behind this was Arnald. But in 115 0 he resigned from the Greenland see,7 and in 11 5 2 had the bishopric of Ham ar in Norway conferred on him. His successor, Jo n Knut, was consecrated in 1 1 5 0 ; we know that he was in Iceland in 1186 , and died the following year. For a short time after this the Greenland see stood vacant. In 1 1 5 3 the archbishopric of Nidaros was founded, and it was no longer necessary to go to Lund for the bishops to be consecrated. As far as we know, the Icelandic minister Ingimund Thorgeirsson was in Norway at the time Jo n Knut died; Archbishop Eysteinn offered him the Greenland see but he declined it. In 118 9 he died a tragic death when his ship was lost off the East Greenland shores. By then Archbishop Eysteinn had consecrated Jo n Arnason, called Smyrill, in 1189 . Smyrill means falcon or hawk - at least it is an honorific name. The year 118 9 saw Smyrill in Iceland; no doubt, like Bishop Arnald earlier, he was on his way to Greenland. In 1202 and 1203 he was in Iceland again, and from there he went on to Norway and to Rome. He died in 1209, presumably in Greenland. Probably it was Smyrill who had charge of the rebuilding and enlargement of the Garðar cathedral, and it may be his bones that were interred in the northern side chapel, a suitable burial place for the ampliator ecclesiae. As far as we know, Smyrill is the only bishop ever to have been buried in the cathedral. Certainly in Bishop Jo n ’s time the church was enlarged, with the nave being extended. A brief description of the foundations and ground-plan of the first church at Garðar, the so-called Garðar I, has already been given. Because a completely new church was erected on top of the foundations of the old one, it cannot be determined exactly whether Garðar I was built in the beginning of the twelfth century or earlier. W e are in a better position as regards Garðar I I ; the form which this edifice reveals today must correspond exactly to the thirteenthcentury ground-plan. The cathedral consists of a nave 18 metres long with a chancel at the eastern end, making the total length some 27 metres. The church is fairly accurately orientated on an east-west axis. The west gable is ii*8o metres wide; it is an open gable (i.e. it was probably a wooden end wall, but not even the slightest remains are extant today). On either side of the chancel are small transepts, standing out a little from the

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side walls of the nave, thus making the church cruciform.8 The east gable is some 13 metres wide. The nave was erected with the Roman foot as the standard measure, which points to the twelfth century, whereas the transept chapels were built using the Greek foot, which seems to indicate a somewhat later period, presumably the beginning of the thirteenth century. The walls are of cavity construction made of undressed sandstone blocks. Some of the stones are very large, a few being more than 2 metres long. All the wall remains show that the masonry is bonded. In

Ground plan o f the G arð ar cathedral (G arðar II.) U nder the chapel wall can be seen the churchyard burials adjoining the eastern chapel wall o f G arð ar I. T h e bishop’s tomb in the northern chapel. T h e vestry with the minister’s door is to the south. (After Nørlund, M o G . 76, 1, fig. 11. )

some places clay has been used as binding material, but turf was pre­ ferred in the walls of the chapels. In front of the southern entrance is an enormous entrance flagstone, with an area of 4*5 square metres, which is not particularly worn; this has led to the conclusion that it is a rather late addition. The church was decorated with moulded soapstone blocks of which several have been found nearby. The frame of the southern entrance door appears to have been constructed of soapstone in moulded blocks, but all of these have now disappeared. The church had glass windows; a fragment of greenish medieval glass was found. Undoubtedly this

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was a later alteration, as glazed windows come into use in Scandinavian churches rather late, and they were almost certainly introduced later in Greenland than in Scandinavia. No definite traces of a stone altar have been found in the chancel, which is remarkable; but remains of a stone altar have been revealed in the east end of the southern chapel. Perhaps some fragments of profiled soapstone blocks are the remains of an altar. A niche in the eastern wall of the nave is indicative that there were side altars, a phenomenon also seen in Danish village churches. The large interior of the cathedral must have been terribly cold, even in summer. There are two fireplaces in the north-eastern corner of the nave, and a third in the southern chapel. The blazing fires and the flickering candle-light would have invested the church with a particular solemnity. The fireplace in the southern chapel was built for the benefit of the bishop and the clergy. Although we talk of a chapel, it was not ex­ clusively used as such; it also served as a vestry. In its southern wall a door leads on to a paved path leading to the episcopal farm. Along this path and on these flagstones bishops and priests walked to mass for more than 250 years. In the northern transept chapel the bones of a bishop were found.9 He had been buried within the foundation walls of the church; con­ sequently this chapel served a funerary purpose. The bishop is not the only person whose last resting-place was within the protecting walls of the church. Several graves were discovered in the chancel, only one in the nave itself. Some of the burials in the chancel were found to lie outside the chancel wall of Garðar I, and partly beneath the Garðar II chancel end-wall. It can be concluded, then, that they must date from before the rebuilding of the church. The graves had originally been placed very near to the church gable, and when the nave was extended the new walls were simply placed on top of the forgotten graves. O f the graves that had deliberately been placed inside the church walls, only that of the bishop clearly indicates that this was the last resting place of a church dignitary. It must be taken for granted, however, that no secular graves would have been allowed inside the walls of a cathedral that was so dominated by the clergy. As far as we know none of the influential farmers had any claim here. The building was dedicated to St. Nicholas, patron saint of mariners, bakers and children; it was the bishop’s church, and it had grown into the monu­ mental building it was (by the standards of the time and place) through the efforts of the bishops and priests. No doubt November 6, which was St. Nicholas’ Day, was celebrated with all the pomp the church could contrive. In the early dusk a torch-light procession would march

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along the paved paths to the church; the light from the torches flickered across the snow which lay in drifts among the buildings. A pale gleam of candle-light came through the rather small shutters o f the church until it was outshone by the light thrown by the torches on to the reddish walls of the cathedral. Soon the monotonous chant o f the mass would sound from the church while the ministers strained their numb fingers to assist the bishop - who was the only one to wear gloves. On one particular day, then, the ministers carried one of these bishops to his last resting place, and laid him in the grave in his splendid pontificalia, exactly as it can be seen on tomb-stones in more wealthy churches. This may have been in 1209, when Jo n Smyrill Arnasson was entombed in the chapel of the church he had rebuilt and extended. The grave stands immediately in front of the altar, and the body has been placed in it, dressed in a shroud perhaps o f linen or silk. The skeleton remains tell of a middle-aged man, about 17 3 cm. tall. Most of the skull has disappeared and only the ja w and a few loose teeth were found where the head should have been; thus it was only possible to measure the height of the body from the shoulder to the toes, and this was 147 cm. There were two leather shoes, but all the bones of the right foot were missing. It is a reasonable guess that the foot dropped off owing to gangrene, and that the shoe was placed where the foot should be so that the burial should be without blemish. This is a typical medieval trait: as long as the formalities are observed every­ thing is all right. On one of the finger bones there was still a gold ring with a precious stone, of the type common in Europe. Like an almost similar one found at Roskilde in Denmark, it is Norman in style and design. Th e Garðar ring is adorned with two projecting claws that may indicate the early Gothic period. Across the body lay what was left o f the crozier, the carved head resting on the right upper arm and the ferrule near the left foot. The staff itself was of ash, and the iron ferrule contained a sleeve in which a long spike was placed. The beauty o f the crozier head bears the stamp of highly developed craftsmanship; it is of walrus ivory, which was normally preferred for crozier heads at this time. Some funeral croziers had heads of walrus ivory or real ivory, and these heads were usually rather small and slim. However, other crozier heads have been found of the same size and material as the Garðar crozier; these had a special liturgical function. The Garðar crozier head is beautifully finished. It could be of “ Greenland origin” , but is more probably Icelandic. From an artistic point of view it cannot compare with certain English specimens (which have helped in dating the Garðar crozier to c. 1200 ); it is “ provincial” in that its design is rather rigid.

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As mentioned before, Jo n Smyrill stayed in Iceland from 1202 to 1 203 with Bishop Pall at Skálholt. M argret hin haga (Margret the dex­ terous) lived at this time, and Bishop Pall often entrusted her with the making of gifts for presentation to his distinguished guests. Perhaps Margret carved the Garðar crozier; for we can be certain that Bishop Pall bestowed rich gifts on his Greenland colleague, and Margret had already at an earlier date made crozier heads in walrus ivory. The crozier head is like a small tree-graft unfolding its curled-up leaves, and it evokes pictures of daily life on the episcopal farm. It was only natural that the staff should be buried with the man who had possessed it among his insignia. In Greenland the Church was a living institution, a social factor that naturally occupied the central position that the Roman Church was striving to achieve in Europe at the same time. In Rome Smyrill met Pope Innocent I II , who was then gaining victory after victory; Smyrill must have returned to Greenland con­ vinced that the final victory of the universal Church was within reach; he carried his faith in this victory and in the power o f the Church unimpaired to the grave. He had seen the Church in Greenland not only as the spiritual heart, but also as the secular focal-point of the diocese: as if to emphasize this, the thing had been moved from Brattahlíð to Garðar. The two religious houses in the East Settlement - the Benedictine convent in Siglu Fjord (or Hrafns Fjord, Únartoq Fjord) and the Augustinian house in Ketils Fjord (Tasermiut Fjord) - were probably founded at some time during the twelfth century. The small Augustinian monastic church, which measures 11 -75 by 8*85 metres, was constructed with the Roman foot as the standard measure, which means that it must date from before 1200. The Order of St. Benedict, for monks as well as for nuns, is one of the first monastic orders within the Christian Church. As it is expressly stated that the convent at Siglu Fjord (Hrafns Fjord) in Greenland is of this order, it cannot possibly be one of the monastic forms that developed from the Order of St. Benedict. In the north the change from Benedictine to Cistercian monasteries happened during the latter half of the twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth. No purely Benedictine monasteries can have been founded later. The Order of St. Augustine is a clerical order consisting of the so-called Canons of the Order of St. Augustine,10 who lived according to the rule of St. Augustine of Hippo. W e know for certain that A rch­ bishop Eirik of Nidaros belonged to the Order of St. Victor, a special fraternity formed among the Augustinian canons regular, and that Augustinian monasteries were founded in his day, towards the end of the twelfth century. Eirik’s successor, Thorir (12 0 5 /6 -14 ), also be­

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longed to the Order of St. Victor. In the Skálholt diocese in Iceland there were several Augustinian monasteries, the earliest founded in 1 1 68. The founding of monasteries took up much o f the time o f the bishops and archbishops. In the latter half o f the eleventh century, monastic activity in the north was particularly intense. It is the records of those times that support the assumption that such institutions were founded in Greenland towards the end of the twelfth century. The very select Augustinian canons regular were not many in number; no doubt they formed a kind of reserve from which the bishop could recruit the ministers that he wanted to induct at the churches o f the diocese. It is likely that the monastery served as the seminary which had been so badly needed. The Benedictine convent church is somewhat larger than the church of the monks, being 15 by 9 metres. The convent itself seems to have been far larger than the Augustinian monastery, as an archaeological investigation has revealed twenty-six ruin groups there. The site, which has an impressive length of 80 metres and is 20 or 25 metres wide, contained several buildings. Am ong these the convent proper had several rooms, but was basically of the long-house type, which may confirm the correctness of the dating. Several burials had been made inside the walls of the church. In these graves the bodies were badly decomposed in contrast to the bodies in the graveyard, a fact which points to the considerable age of the church. One question inevitably arises: what was the purpose of such a remote monastic institution in the Greenland settlements ? One answer may be that it served as a health resort. The hot springs mentioned in mediaeval source material were not far aw ay; Ivar Bardarson’s Description o f Greenland expressly states that the convent shares the ownership of all the islets in the fjord with the cathedral, and that there are hot springs that may cure disease. A second answer m ay be that the surplus of women which existed in the community created a certain problem of public assistance which could be partly solved by the convent, as was often done in other places. Furthermore, the strict observance of the canonical hours was an important function of the monastery; in short, no medieval Catholic social unit could do without the spiritual and temporal activities of a monastery. In life and death, for better or for worse, the Church followed man and strove to protect him. In his own way the layman availed himself of the means which the Church had taught him might lead to his salvation; there is evidence for this on the tombstone inscriptions and the magic formulae carved on the wooden crosses placed inside the graves with the dead. Around each church a graveyard sprang up, usually enclosed by

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means of a solid dike. The same burial customs as were prevalent elsewhere in the north were used in the Norse settlements in Greenland: orientation of the graves along an east-west axis, the form of the coffins and “ built-up” graves, the position and shrouding of the bodies, graves at the foot of the church wall - the southern wall being considered preferable - all these are common features in the north. The Brattahlíð churchyard contained graves that were covered with tombstones, in some of which crosses were carved. Some o f the graves had vertical head-stones, which was quite normal in the north in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. One stately Brattahlíð grave has a flagstone placed crosswise over the stone coffin, bearing a monumental and beautifully cut inscription: “ Ingibjörg’s grave” . Its date is no later than 1200. A somewhat longer inscription can be read on a tombstone originally found in the Garðar churchyard, but now in the National Museum in Copenhagen. It expresses the hopes of a devout believer: “ Vigdis m(agnus’s) d(aughter) rests here. God gladden her soul.” On the little crosses which were placed on top of the coffins or on the shrouds are found several invocations, for example: “ M ay the Almighty God bless and keep Gudleif” , “ Thorleif made this cross in praise and honour of God the Alm ighty” . Several crosses are inscribed with prayers: “ M ay Jesus help” , “ Kristus natus est nobis” , “ M ary (and) Michael have me, Brigit” and “ M ary (and) Michael, Brakel owns me, Thorir (made me)” . O f the inscriptions on other objects, some invoke the Holy V irgin; a curved piece of wood with five bowl-like depressions in one end is inscribed Ave M aria gratia plena. A spindle-whorl bears a rather long inscription, but only the last word “ — M aria” is legible; this inscription begins with the sign of the cross. Such invocations of the Mother of God must be seen in relation to the spread of the cult of the Virgin M ary over the whole of Europe in the latter half of the twelfth century, reaching the north about 1200. It must also have reached Greenland. No doubt there is a magical element about the invocations. Some­ times they turn into formulae that contain a jumble of Latin, Greek and Hebraic fragments, often misspelt and in corrupt forms, and meaningless in their contexts - but a mélange of immense religious power. In the midst of all the meaninglessness, however, individual words make good sense. One runic inscription on wood from Herjolfsnes reveals more about the deceased person than many of the other invocatory inscriptions. The wooden stick on which it appears was found in a head corner of a coffin which was in an excellent state of preservation. The runes read: “ This woman, whose name was Gudveig, was committed to the deep in the Greenland sea.” The first conclusion is likely to be that the

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wooden stick had been interred as a symbol, but a more accurate judgement is that the inscription reveals to us a mind in despair: Gudveig had died on her w ay to Greenland and, without the blessing of the Church, her body had been given a sea-burial. As she had not been buried in consecrated ground, how could she be saved from the fiend’s clutches? Perhaps her husband had been driven by grief and anxiety for her salvation to resort to the power of the runes; he may have clung to the old idea of the identity between a person and a name. It is universal for “ heathen” notions to live on alongside Christian ones after Christianization. The rune staff in some w ay achieved the equivalent of burial in consecrated ground for his beloved Gudveig. Her husband had done his best to help her soul reach Paradise; his agonized mind could now be calm again, with only the loss itself to grapple with. There is no doubt that faith in the Church was as great in Greenland as elsewhere in the Christian world. Sudden deaths, from disease or accident, were frequent. However charming to the eye, the Greenland landscape and the Greenland life were ruthless, not to speak of the sea. Shipwrecks were common, and the voyages to the east and back were prolonged. In 1209, the year of Jo n Sm yrill’s death, two ships were lost on their w ay from Norway to Greenland, and another two vessels were driven off course towards Greenland. It is probable that a considerable span of time elapsed between the bishop’s death and news of it reaching Nidaros. On Jan u ary 13, 1206, the Nidaros Archbishop had had his rights confirmed by Pope Innocent I II, and in the letter of confirma­ tion the Greenland diocese is mentioned last,11 which in medieval documents always indicates slight importance. According to canon law a bishop had to be elected by the canons at the cathedral of the diocese. But there was no assembly of canons at Garðar. W e have seen also that when the Archbishop wanted to appoint a new Bishop of Greenland in 118 7 , he offered the see first to Ingimund Thorgeirsson and, when he declined, to Jo n Arnasson Smyrill. When the news that Jo n had died finally reached Norway in 1 209, Archbishop Thorir appointed one Helgi Bishop of Garðar. Helgi did not reach Greenland until 12 12 , but he remained there until his death in 12 30 ; and then either the news of Helgi’s death was slow in reaching the Archbishop, or some difficulty prevented a new bishop from being appointed immediately, but in any case no new bishop was consecrated until 12 3 4 - according to the Icelandic chronicles. The new bishop was called Nicholas, and the Icelandic chronicles make him only reach Greenland five years later. He is reported to have died in 1242.

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It is quite probable that events in Norway hampered the appointment of Greenland bishops, and delayed their departure for Greenland; but we know nothing for certain about this. Ever since the death of K ing Sverrir in 1 202, Norway had been weakened by internal struggles. The Church had taken a more or less active part in the disputes and fighting, which seem to have been brought to an end in 12 17 . In 1239, however, Earl Skuli rebelled against the King. The ensuing fight came to an end the following year when the Earl was killed. Since 1 2 1 7 the victorious party, the Birkibeinar, had supported K ing Hakon Hakonsson. From 1240 Hakon was able to adopt a peaceful policy, thereby strengthening the Norwegian state. It is due to Hakon Hakonsson and his son, Magnus, that the Nor­ wegian realm was forged into one unit, as nearly as the available means of communication and transport made possible; from their time on­ wards Norway seems to have rid herself of inter-settlement feuds and strifes. All the strength of the kingdom was concentrated into the establishment of a strong royal power. The Church vigorously defended its own domain, but this factor did not lead to the same kind of exhaust­ ing power struggle as in thirteenth-century Denmark. The domestic acceptance of a strong royal power naturally entailed the wish for foreign recognition as well. Hakon Hakonsson therefore adopted a foreign policy designed to lend lustre to the Norwegian kingdom and bring it a prominent position in the Catholic world. Håkon early secured the friendship of the English King, Henry III , sending him birds - no doubt falcons from Iceland - and even walrus ivory as gifts.12 The ivory must have been of Greenland origin. Friendly relations with England were a sine qua non for Hakon, since he wanted to vindicate his claim on the Isle of M an, the Shetlands, the Orkneys and the Hebrides. Though Norwegian navigation in these waters was comparatively small, it was still of some importance. In 124 7 Pope Innocent I V agreed to send Cardinal William of Sabina to Norway. Hakon Hakonsson wished to have his royal power sanctified by the Church, and to this end he placed his power within the unity towards which the Christian world aspired in those times. After the coronation, the Norwegian monarchy was acknowledged alongside other European monarchies as being divinely sanctified. The legal conception of the Church within the state as well as secular constitutional ideas were based on monarchy, which was considered the best, if not the only constitutional system. Hakon Hakonsson dreamed o f a large Norwegian kingdom, including Norway and stretch­ ing across the sea to the Shetlands, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland. A century-long connection now existed between Norway and these places, and it had become natural and accepted.

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The four island groups seemed so closely connected with Norway that no political coup was needed to bind them closer. But with Iceland and Greenland13 the case was different. K ing Hakon HdkonssorCs Saga relates that Bishop Heinrek Karsson was appointed bishop and sent to Iceland together with Thord Kakali to make the Icelanders accept King Hakon’s supremacy. The saga says that “ then a decree was issued . . . informing the Icelanders that they were the subjects o f K ing Hakon” . The saga-writer has been compelled to choose this wording. He could not possibly make the Lord’s anointed ask the Iceland farmers to obey K ing Hakon. It is also stated that this was at the instigation of William of Sabina, who thought it wrong that Iceland should not belong under any K ing as did all other countries in the world. The mission was undertaken in 1 247, and immediately following this account the saga continues: “ . . . Th at summer Bishop O laf was sent to Greenland on a similar errand” . Thus it is clear that what K ing Hakon had in mind for Iceland, he also planned for Greenland. Since the monarchy was of God’s creation, it was only natural that bishops should be chosen to inform the inhabitants of their dioceses that they had to subject themselves to the power of the King. In 1246 O laf had been consecrated Bishop of Garðar. It must have taken four years, then, for the news of Bishop Nicholas’ death to reach Nidaros, or at least it was four years before anyone took any serious interest in appointing a new bishop. Then it was natural for O laf to stay on in Norway for another year since a visit from Cardinal William was expected. For five years, then, the Norse settlements in Greenland were without a bishop, and they were overjoyed at O la f’s arrival. W e do not know the response of the Norse farmers to the royal message which O laf brought them, but we can safely conclude that the Norse­ men in Greenland were none too pleased; it was fourteen years before they deigned to give the K ing an answer. This fact cannot be explained away by pointing to the irregularities in the navigation on Greenland, because in Iceland also fifteen years passed before any reply was given to the K in g’s message. It seems that in 12 5 7 K ing Hakon lost patience with the countries in the west, and sent to Greenland three trusty Norwegians, Odd from S j’dlt, Pall Magnusson, and a man with the strange name Knarrar-Leif, which means L eif the Skipper. No doubt Odd was the most prominent among them. Th ey returned to the K ing in 126 1 and reported that the inhabitants of Greenland were willing to pay tribute, and promised “ to pay wergeld to the K ing for any killing, be it a Norwegian or a Greenlander, be it in the settlement or on Norðrsetur right up to the Pole Star” . The saga is explicit that they “ reported” this, but did not bring any letters. Considering that, under the early Norse law, verbal

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pledges were just as valid as written ones, it is not remarkable that the Norwegians returned with nothing in writing. Documents were of no importance to the Norse settlers in Greenland, primarily because at that time they had no knowledge of Latin letters and still used runes.14 This appears to have satisfied K ing Hakon; at least there are no traces of any initiative on his part or from his successors to have a document drawn up as happened later in the case of Iceland. It may seem strange that Bishop O laf was not chosen to be the one who brought the message back to the King, but in 1262 he was in Iceland, and one document says that it was after a shipwreck. He was in no hurry to leave Iceland again; and it was not until he received the news of Hakon Hakonsson’s death that he set sail for Norway, where he presumably stayed until 12 7 1. In that year he returned to Greenland, where he died in 1280. So much, then, can be said of this noteworthy event in the history o f Greenland; but while it is noteworthy in a historical perspective, it was hardly so to the Greenland Norsemen themselves, who no doubt continued their secluded lives without ever once thinking o f the king who was so far away. From a constitutional point of view, however, the “ agreement” forms the basis of the subjection of Greenland to the Norwegian royal power right down to the Kiel Peace Treaty of 18 14 . It is the basis of the royal activities and undertakings in Greenland, or in other words the “ agreement” of 126 1 is the foundation for the exercise of Norwegian, and later Danish sovereignty over Greenland. From 126 1 Greenland remained a part of Norway, a tributary of the Norwegian Grown until 18 14 . W e do not know whether the “ agreement” contained any obligations upon the Norwegian King. I f the reserve exhibited by the Greenland Norsemen in their relations with the K ing is remembered, we will be tempted to conclude that the population of the settlements did not insist on any quid pro quo. It is an open question whether the Greenland Norsemen needed any return for their “ allegiance” ; we know very little about the economy of the Greenland communities, or of their relations with other civilized countries. “ It is hardly possible within a span of five years to make the journey [between Nidaros and Garðar]” ,15 Pope John X X I comments in a letter to the Archbishop of Nidaros on December 4, 1276, because Garðar is so far removed from the archdiocese and the kingdom, and because the crossing is dangerous. The statement is repeated three years later by Pope Nicholas in a letter of Jan uary 3 1 , 1279, to the Archbishop of Nidaros. The Pope writes that “ the island on which Garðar is situated is visited only infrequently on account of the [un­

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predictably] cruel ocean” .16 The rest of the source-material seems to confirm these statements. In all the four centuries covered by written sources - sparse though the material is - there are cases of sailors having had to stay in Green­ land for a number of years before they could return to their port o f departure. It is noticeable, too, that when the Garðar bishops did leave Greenland, they stayed for a considerable time in Norw ay or in Iceland before returning to their diocese. It seems also to have been the custom for some time to be allowed to elapse before the newly consecrated bishops set out for Greenland just as it was the rule that some years went by after the death of a Garðar bishop before a new one was appointed. The Speculum Regale says laconically of Greenland that “ it is a place where people seldom journey” .17 T o this may be added the letter which Bishop Arni of Bergen sent Bishop Thord of Garðar on Ju n e 22, 1308, giving an account of the events of the previous eight or nine years, during which there had presumably been no contact with Greenland.18 From the documentary source-material we are able to count seven unambiguous connections across the Atlantic to Greenland in the twelfth century, and thirteen in the thirteenth century. Clearly not all the voyages actually made have been mentioned, but only ones that were remarkable, especially the unsuccessful ones that were brought to an end by shipwreck or some other calamity (such voyages have not been included in the count). That the navigation on Greenland was infrequent during these centuries was due partly to the dangers involved, and partly to the long time that had to be spent on such undertakings. The time element is mentioned both in the two papal letters and in Speculum Regale. It took months to cross the huge ocean expanses where contrary winds and storms were commonplace. The return voyage seems to have been easier. The ships normally put to sea in summer. Th e merchantmen that put into Bergen in 13 2 5 arrived in Ju ly ,19 and must therefore have spent the winter in Greenland. Thus it is clear that a Greenland voyage took not less than one year. It is occasionally hinted that more than one vessel bound for or coming from Greenland was at sea at the same time, but normally we hear of no more than one ship. A t certain times a ship came to Greenland each year, in other years none. A ll in all we are left with the impression that the navigation was a random affair. The Norse navigation on the Atlantic was made particularly dan­ gerous by the use of relatively small vessels. On the whole the medieval types of merchant vessels were not large. From the Viking Age far into the fourteenth century the most widely used merchant vessel in the

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north was a kind of coble, an open long ship called the knörr. This was superseded by the Hanseatic cog in the fourteenth century. The knerrir as well as the cogs were of varying sizes, so we cannot determine the size of the ships employed in the Greenland navigation.20 The medieval measurement unit of a ship’s burden was the “ last” , equal to approximately 1*35 register tons, the equivalent of 12 Norwegian skippund (i.e. 1481 kilogrammes, as 1 skippund was equal to 123*456 kilogrammes according to West Norwegian standards about the year 1300). The distinction between “ craft” and “ sea-going vessels” was drawn in medieval Norway at 5 lasts (in Denmark it was 10 lasts), the equivalent of about 7*5 dead-weight tons or 6*75 register tons. It is not much, though the measure is not in itself indicative of the size of the ships, as the cargo was placed only in the middle section o f the vessels. The largest Hanseatic cogs were of about 100 lasts, or 13 5 register tons, which denotes a carrying capacity of about 180 dead-weight tons. Five hundred years later the smallest vessels used for navigation to Greenland were about 30 register tons, about 22 lasts in medieval terms. The conclusion must be that the medieval navigation on Green­ land was done in knerrir of at least 20 lasts, and perhaps 50 lasts at the most, which means 27 and 67*5 register tons, respectively, a carrying capacity of between 29*62 and 74 dead-weight tons. In view o f the fortuitous nature of the then Greenland navigation, it is clear that the annual imports of the Norse settlements in Greenland were not large. V ery few articles are mentioned by the Speculum Regale as being imported into Greenland. Mention is made of iron and “ all that they use in building houses” . The vagueness and ambiguity of the last part of the statement must be ascribed to the ignorance of the writer. Norse houses in Greenland were mainly built of local materials, as has been shown by archaeology. Wood was in great demand for church gable walls, and for rafters and uprights in dwelling-houses and byres, but the only timber available was driftwood, and with the building-up of the settlements the driftwood stores must soon have been exhausted with the result that timber had to be procured from abroad. It is therefore justifiable to read the Speculum Regale line as “ all the timber they use . . . ” . The Norse settlers in Greenland could get the timber they needed in Markland (i.e. Labrador). As late as 134 7 the Icelandic chronicles tell of a ship which reached Straum Fjord in Iceland having lost its anchor. It is reported to have been in Markland with a crew of eighteen, but on the homeward voyage the vessel had been blown to the east and had finally reached Iceland. The small importation of timber from Norway was not sufficient to meet the need, as can be deduced from the tonnage calculations above.

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Perhaps the list of imported goods must be enlarged somewhat. Some of the Speculum Regale manuscripts mention tar as well as iron and housebuilding materials. It is probable that this important sub­ stance, with which the wheel-hubs were lubricated and which was used for the preservation o f wooden articles, was sent to Greenland on board the merchantmen. T a r can be extracted from Greenland wood, but we have nothing to prove that this was ever done. The Greenland supply of train oil was quite sufficient for greasing and packing purposes; but train oil cannot very well be used in the preservation of wood, and this m ay be the basic explanation for the importation o f tar. Still, it is clear that tar was not imported in any great quantity. The Speculum Regale does not mention grain among the merchandise sent to Greenland. The author of this unique work is only interested in the possibility of raising corn-crops in Greenland, and expressly states that most of the Norse settlers there were not unaccustomed to eating bread. The archaeologists have discovered grinding slabs and primitive millstones, however, which indicates either that the growing of corn was common enough in the Greenland localities for these slabs to be needed to grind the grain, or, to take a more cautious view, to grind some material that could be given a flour-like form. However, the assumption that a certain quantity of grain was imported seems justified. It is difficult to imagine any European medieval community not having some kind of sweetener as an integral part o f its diet. The most widely used sweetener was honey. In Greenland it was not possible to produce any kind of sweetening agent, except perhaps for the juice of the birch or the angelica. There is no doubt that the local quantities were far from sufficient, and honey must have been imported. It is stated that Erik the Red spent one winter making mead, but that, as he did not have the ingredients, he had to borrow some of them from his neighbours. (Mead is made by fermenting honey and water and malt, and some kind of carbohydrate is needed to start off the fermenta­ tion processes). No Norse community can be imagined without some kind of fermented drink, and we cannot doubt that honey must be included in the importation list. As regards the sending of wine to Greenland, Bishop Arni, in his letter to Bishop Thord, mentions “ a cask of wine” 21 among the gifts he sent, or intended to send, to Garðar. All kinds of fine textiles, such as linen and silk, must also have been imported. As far as can be ascertained, the bishop’s body in the grave in the Garðar chapel was still shrouded in the remains of his alb, which was made either of linen or silk. The clerical vestments used during service also had to be imported. In 134 7 K ing Magnus V I Smek of Norway bequeathed to the Garðar cathedral one hundred marks for the provision of costly robes to lend lustre to the church

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ceremonies.22 In the letter from Bishop Arni to Bishop Thord (men­ tioned above), some garments are referred to, which were sent to Bishop Thord as presents: “ a garment and a coat [with a hood] of blue colour; the garment, the coat and the hood are lined with grey fur, and also a kirtle of the same cloth” 23 - quite a neat secular costume for an ecclesiastic. When viewed in economic terms it proves that a limited importation o f luxury articles did exist, presumably in the form of finished goods; at least Bishop Arni mentions nothing but finished goods. Though the articles that he sent were meant as gifts, they never­ theless indicate certain basic needs of his Greenland colleague which the Norwegian bishop wished to satisfy. Most of the objects needed in the church ceremonies must also have been imported. The secular demand for iron was met by the importa­ tion of finished goods, and it is not likely that any pig iron was sent from Norway to Greenland. As mentioned above, the extraction of iron was not uncommon within Greenland territory. W e can only gather a rough idea of the extent of imports into Green­ land. The tonnage of the ships and the infrequent arrivals show that the annual import per household was very modest. I f a knörr o f 50 lasts is used as a basis of calculation, the result is about 269 kg. per cargo for each Norse farm in Greenland. I f we calculate on a vessel of no more than 20 lasts, the result will be about 108 kg. per farm, as the total number of farms in the settlements is now thought to have been 276. If, on an average, a ship reached Greenland every fourth year, the conclusion will be that each farm consumed from 27 to 67 kg. o f imported goods annually, which is not much, and certainly not enough to have been indispensable for the existence of the Norse settlements. Life on the Norse farms was dependent on the locally developed economy, as was also the case with the majority of medieval European communities. The Speculum Regale gives quite a long list of the Greenland exports. The main items are sheepskin, ox-hide, and sealskin, together with walrus hide, which was used in the production of ropes, and walrus ivory. Narwhal tusks and the skins of polar bears may be added to the list. No doubt Greenland homespun was exported too, since it was a cloth of high quality. There was a demand for such articles in Europe, and there is a considerable possibility that they actually motivated the entire European navigation on Greenland. The use of walrus ivory is described in the documents well into the fourteenth century.24 The goods exported from Greenland had to be sold in Norway to native or foreign traders; this was done in Bergen first and foremost. W e know very little about this trade. The papal collector of Crusade tithes sold the Garðar part of the Church taxes to a Flemish merchant.

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The Garðar payment was in kind, and consisted o f a quantity of walrus ivory. There seems to have been no difficulty in finding a buyer for these goods, judging from documentary evidence. A papal letter o f M arch 4, 12 8 2,25 mentions ox-hide and sealskin, together with walrus rope and walrus ivory, among the goods with which the Garðar diocese had paid its Crusade tithes. This tallies closely with the list in the Speculum Regale. In this case, however, the bishop does seem to have had some difficulty in finding a market for the goods, which came not only from Greenland but also from Iceland and the Faroes. The archbishop sought advice on what to do, and the Pope answered that he should do his best to have the goods traded for silver or gold. The conclusion must be that it was not always easy to dispose o f goods from the Atlantic islands. Perhaps it was difficult to trade the hides and the ropes, but the same need not have been true o f the walrus ivory; the Pope’s letter does not distinguish between the various articles. Interpreting the few source references - the only material we have - we can conclude that walrus ivory and narwhal tusks con­ stituted the most profitable Greenland exports; the rest of the goods were not so important. Without any doubt the export balanced the modest import. As in all probability the Norse economy in Greenland was mainly self-supporting, it is obvious that there was no special political need for any closer assocation with Norw ay and the Norwegian King. The economic aspect emphasizes the impression of certain reservations among the Greenland settlers to the political activity of the Norwegian K ing from 12 4 7 t0 12 6 1. This political activity was confined within Norway, and was supported and sustained mainly by the Norwegian merchants who took some interest in the goods which could be brought back from Greenland. The political activity was of course bound up with trade interests - and covered all the Northern Atlantic. After K ing Hakon Hakonsson had died, his son, Magnus V , called Lagaboetir, continued Hakon’s policies. Although it is stated that Magnus had a Statute Book compiled for the entire kingdom, and that it was acknowledged on all the Norwegian lagthings in 1274, and simultaneously adopted in the tributary countries, this cannot be verified where Greenland is concerned. Nor is there any evidence that the Statute Book was of any significance. From 126 1 and throughout the entire Norse period we must realize that the Greenland association with Norway was loose; and there is no sign that matters were ever very different. The only change which may have made the presence of the royal power more distinctly felt in Greenland was the introduction of the K in g’s umboðsmaðr. Since the Norse settlers in Greenland had become

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tributaries of the Norwegian King, and had to pay their fines to him, it had of course become necessary also for the K ing to have a rep­ resentative in the country. W e have no written source-material about a representative of the Crown, an umboðsmaðr, until well into the fourteenth century. On August 8, 13 4 1, Bishop Hakon of Bergen issued a passport to a certain Ivar Barðson, permitting him to sail for Greenland. After his return, presumably before 1364, Barðson dictated a Description of the Greenland settlement. In this work we have the earliest reference to the K ing’s farm and landed property in the East Settlement. This was the Foss farm; according to Barðson’s account, it was situated in Hrafns Fjord (i.e. Unartoq Fjord). It is more likely, however, that the farm was in Siglu Fjord (Agdluitsoq and the inner­ most reaches of this Qord, called Amitsuarssuk). The Crown also possessed a farm even more to the north, probably in Kangerdluarssuk Fjord (apparently Kambstada Fjord in Norse). The K ing’s umboðsmaðr lived on one of these farms. Not until 134 7 , in a letter of Ju ly 20, are the office and the name of a former umboðsmaðr mentioned. W e can obtain an idea of the work of the umboðsmaðr and the difficulties con­ fronting him, in a later letter (M ay 20, 1389), which describes a situation where the umboðsmaðr does not dare to take the risk of sending a shipment of Crown property on board a ship because the captain could not produce any charter or deed. The umboðsmaðr must have felt greatly restricted in the execution of his office. This is all we know about him and his work, and about Crown property in the Green­ land settlements. Nothing is said of any Crown land in the West Settlement. No doubt the functions of the umboðsmaðr in Greenland were the same as in N o rw ay: to exercise the royal authority in the villages, that is to maintain “ the K ing’s peace” by representing the police authority and the judiciary, and further to assert the interests of the Crown (as in the instance mentioned above), to collect taxes and other royal revenue, and finally to see to it that lagthings were held. It is possible that the Greenland umboðsmaðry like his Norwegian counterpart, had a force of armed men to maintain law and order and enforce the rights of the sovereign. However that may be, he was felt to be attached to the King personally and this may have led to a certain amount o f friction between him and the settlers. The 1389 letter (mentioned above) seems to indicate some fresh coolness between the villagers and the umboðsmaðr; nobody seems to have been willing to help him in his office. T o carry out his duties it was necessary for the umboðsmaðr to possess at least a few farms; the representative of the Crown would not have been able to survive without their produce. I f Ivar Bardarson’s account can be trusted, it is proof that the Crown was not eager to

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acquire much land. Since Bardarson’s Description is the only one from the late Middle Ages, and since we can in no w ay verify its information about the distribution of land, we are forced either to accept it or, if we find grounds for questioning its reliability, to reject it completely. As the errors and misunderstandings that the account contains could be due to it having been composed by dictation, or to the possibility of copyists making mistakes, there is no obvious reason for rejecting the information. W e can therefore conclude that the Greenland Grown lands were very modest in comparison with those in other Norse territories. Tw o farms out of the 183 in the East Settlement is a small percentage, and even more so in relation to the total of 276 farms along the entire Greenland coasts. The landed property of the Church and the claims made by the Church on farms and districts in the unsettled areas, are of quite another scale; it must be remembered, of course, that the Church’s authority was much older than the power of the King. Furthermore, the Church was accepted by the population, and owed its existence in the country to a deeply-felt spiritual need. Ivar Bardarson’s Description is once more our main source, and we must bear in mind again the doubts as to its reliability. It is curious that while the names and number of churches mentioned by Ivar Bardarson do not correspond with the lists found in the Icelandic literature, nor with the archaeological finds, on the other hand some of his statements about the position of churches have been verified by recent discoveries (Solarfjöll). Although his account does not convey the whole truth, and we are without the means to check it, yet the general picture drawn by Bardarson is not completely off the mark compared with reliable information found in documents that describe Church property elsewhere within the Catholic sphere of influence in the late Middle Ages. Ivar Barðson mentions two churches which are supposed to have been situated in the outer stretches o f the Ketils Fjord (Tasermiut). One of them, Aross, is reported to have possessed all the land about the mouth of the fjord as far as Herjolfsnes (Ikigait). The other church, Petersvig, is said to have owned the entire Vatnsdal settlement (i.e. Taserssuaq and Qingua V alley). It has not been possible up to the present to locate the two churches. It is stated that the innermost reaches of Ketils Fjord belonged to the Augustinian monastery, and that the Benedictine convent was in possession o f the entire ÍJnartoq Fjord (i.e. the then Hrafns Fjord); the monastery shared with the Garðar cathedral the ownership o f the islands with the hot springs. Another church is mentioned which it has proved impossible to place, namely V agar. Professor Finnur Jonsson places this church at the

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head of Amitsuarssuk, the northern arm of Agdluitsoq Fjord, then known as Siglu Fjord. Close to the supposed position of this church is Foss farm, which no doubt is the reason why the Church is said to possess all the land outside the fjord, Amitsuarssuk. The Garðar cathedral was situated in Einars Fjord (Igaliko Fjord), and it is re­ ported to have owned both shores of the northern arm of the fjord. One large farm is mentioned by name, Dal, said to have been situated at the elbow of the Qord. A t the mouth of the Qord the cathedral possessed a large forest, which again it has been impossible to locate; but it is stated that the cathedral sent all its cattle grazing there. Further­ more it owned the island of Hreinsey (Akia), which is off the mouth of the Qord, and Langey (Tugtutöq) farther to the north, on which there were eight large farms. The tithes from this island were, however, payable to Hvalsey church. The cathedral owned half of Eriks Island off the mouth of Eriks Fjord, the four large islands south-east of Eriks Ey, the so-called Lambseyjar (Lam b Islands), and the entire southern shore of Eriks Fjord as far as Burfell, which must be taken to mean Igdlerfigssalik at Qoroq Fjord. Finally the cathedral claimed the unsettled areas beginning at Herjolfsnes in the south of the country and continuing as far along the East coast as one could possibly go. Hvalsey church was in possession of the entire Qaqortoq Fjord, at the head of which it stands, and also the more northerly Qord, K am bstada Fjord, which is the present Kangerdluarssuk Fjord. As already mentioned, Hvalsey church also collected the tithes from the Langey farms; the royal farm in Kambstada Fjord was of course exempt from tithes. Dyrnes church, near the present Narssaq, north of Julianehåb, shared the entire foreland, between Isa Fjord (Sermilik) in the north and Eriks Fjord in the south, with SolarQöll church, the latter no doubt owning the entire northern coast of Eriks Fjord as far as the farms which came under the Brattahlíð church. The church at Brattahlíð owned the innermost reaches of Eriks Fjord on both sides, on the eastern coast as far as Qoroq Fjord; nothing is said about how far the property of the Brattahlíð church stretched towards the north-west. There are no churches farther towards the north in the East Settle­ ment. Strangely enough one church, Undir Höfda, is not mentioned at all. Dr. Roussell assumes it is late Gothic, and as Ivar Bardarson’s Description is from the latter half of the fourteenth century it ought to have been mentioned. The possibility of an omission by the copyist cannot be excluded, since many of the copies extant today contain misunderstandings and errors. Ivar Bardarson is silent on all the churches in the West Settlement, except for one, Stensnes, which must be taken to mean Sandnes church in Lysu Fjord (the present Ameralik Fjord). There was no point in

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describing the West Settlement, for when Ivar Bardarson visited that district it was alt vbijgt (i.e. completely uninhabited). I f IvarBardarson’s account o f the Church property in the East Settle­ ment is reliable - and it probably is, since he was the "bishop’s official who had to keep strict accounts of such matters - then the Church owned about one-third of the developed parts o f the East Settlement, and this property was far from having the poorest soil. This is con­ sistent with the size of Church property elsewhere in the North towards the end of the M iddle Ages. No doubt the Norsemen in Greenland reacted in much the same way as did their contemporaries elsewhere, in that they bestowed on the Church their farms, or parts of their farms, as frank almoin, in order that requiems should be celebrated for them after death. Faith was strong in the Norse communities in Greenland. Evidence of this is seen in the religiously inspired handicraft that produced many beautiful objects. From a grave in the Sandnes churchyard25 (West Settlement) a very beautiful piece o f wood-carving came to light lying over a body inside a coffin. This was a pinewood crucifix, presumably carved out of driftwood, 34 cm. high and 13 cm. wide and representing Jesus on the cross, M ary in agony at one side of the cross, and Joh n the Apostle on the other. The crucifix itself, the arrangement of the figures and the ornamentation which frames the group, are typically High Gothic and point to the time between 1250 and 1300. Below the base of the crucifix is a tenon containing a small hole; undoubtedly it was fixed on to a staff to be carried in processions, which were probably arranged by the Church on various occasions. Perhaps the last time the crucifix was used was in the funeral of the person in whose grave it was found; and this person may have been one of the ministers of the church, although, apart from the crucifix, there was nothing else to indicate that the grave was that of an ecclesiastic. Dr. Roussell assumes that the crucifix must be from Bergen or from Iceland. But, since the material is pinewood, and since it may very well be driftwood, the crucifix could be of Greenland origin. Objects of high artistic value are certainly not frequent in the Norse sites in Greenland, but this does not mean that the Norsemen generally were not artistically gifted. From the implement finds we know that their skill at bone- and wood­ carving was highly developed, and far from all sites have yet been excavated. In the stable buildings of the Sandnes Farm 27 a so-called “ pax” was found in a room that had evidently served as a sheep pen. This is an almond-shaped piece of wood, of which the central part has been hollowed out and a cross carved into the hollowed-out portion. Together with the many small wooden crosses found in both the West

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and the East Settlement, the “ pax” is eloquent of the settlers’ strong faith. Buoyed up by this faith in the Church, which was at hand through the ups and downs of life, the settlers passed their daily lives, decade after decade, along the lines of the traditions that had grown up and which made life possible in these latitudes. The settlers’ existence was naturally confined to the areas near the settlements, and was based on the raising of cattle and sheep, on local hunting that would provide meat, and on occasional, daring expeditions to Norðrsetur - this kind of life was lived by generation after generation of settlers. The chance of reaching beyond the islands off the coast was negligible, although expeditions to Markland were sometimes undertaken, when the need

T yp ical centralized farm. R uin No. 5 3 d in the W est Settlement. X V I - X X I are living rooms, X V perhaps the bath house, X the cow-byre, I V the barn. T h e rest o f the rooms are for sheep, or they are store-rooms. (After Roussell, Farms and Churches, fig. 10.)

for long beams of wood could not be satisfied by the driftwood stores or by importation from Norway. Through the changes in the seasons, although the winters that alternated with the warm summers were bitterly cold, life went on in the settlements. But a climatic change seems to have occurred some time towards the end of the thirteenth century, and the average temperature dropped considerably. This change may have been the cause of certain changes in the house­ building technique. From the very first days of the landnám the primary concern of the settlers was to place their byres in the best positions for preserving the heat. The cow-byres were especially important, since there the most delicate and costly animals had to pass the winter; they had to be

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protected against the cold. When new buildings were erected instead of the first and temporary ones, the same consideration appears to have been - or to have become - predominant. Instead o f the original detached dwelling houses and cow-byres - in some pláces there were even whole complexes of byres - it seems to have become necessary towards the end o f the thirteenth century to throw all the rooms together in one single block of buildings; the central building, which would naturally be the most sheltered and the warmest, was the cowbyre. Dr. Roussell28 has termed this type of farm the centralized farm, and it is quite clear that it is a Greenland creation, the existence of which can only be due to the change in the climate, as it can be found nowhere else in the Nordic areas. The centralized farm is really a continuation, or extension of the passage-house. Centralized farms may be either large or small, some of them are no more than 170 square metres, others ramble into a total of some 600 square metres. It is peculiar, however, that the ground plans and the walls themselves reveal that the centralized farms were frequently given their final form by extending or rebuilding houses that already existed, which is proof that a certain rebuilding o f the existing houses became necessary. Both long-houses and passage-houses can be found as the cores of later centralized farms, one o f which, Narssaq Farm (Dyrnes), incorporates into its long history o f rebuilding all the previous types. It soon became quite a problem how to roof such straggling buildings. However, it is natural to conclude that each room had its own roof, or that rooms connected with each other were joined under the same roof. Seen from the outside the turf covering o f the roofs must have looked like nothing more than gentle undulations in the landscape. The water from the roof seeped down into the walls and from there into the ground. The houses were practically impossible to ventilate, and the air inside them must have been stifling, but they were never­ theless well suited for confining the heat. Usually the living rooms took up all the space from wall to wall in one end of the farm, and some of the store-rooms may have been placed with the living quarters. The other end o f the centralized farm contained what would nowadays be called the farm buildings and stables with the cow-byre in the middle. Long passages led from room to room. The tentative classification of the Norse Greenland farms which was given above revealed that no more than 27 per cent of the farms were of the centralized type, which is the latest type o f farm in the Norse settlement. It was also stated that the typology was not exhaustive, since far from all sites have been excavated and classified. W e must content ourselves with saying that during the latter half o f the thirteenth

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century the centralized farm type superseded the other types. Only the very largest farms kept their original plan, though they were of course under constant reconstruction in order not to fall into disrepair; such farms still reveal the type that has detached dwelling houses, farm buildings and byres. The mere fact that the will existed in the Norse communities in Greenland to adapt the houses to the changes of the climate is evidence of continued vigour on the part of the settlers. This was no stagnant or disintegrating society; indeed it was even resourceful enough to assert its independence of the Norwegian Crown. The farm buildings were in no w ay monumental; the turf walls and roofs blended into the surrounding landscape. The only buildings to catch the eye must have been the churches with their grey stone walls. And yet they were not particularly conspicuous either; they could well have been mistaken for rock thrusting itself through the green soil. Dr. Roussell’s tentative dating of the churches leads to the con­ clusion that they were still being built in the thirteenth century, or that some rebuilding was being done. It seems that three churches were built about 1300, viz • Undir Höfda and Hvalsey (Qaqortoq) in the East Settlement, and Anavik (perhaps a monastic church) in the West Settlement. The Greek foot was applied in the construction of all three, indicating that they were built in the Gothic period. The dating is further corroborated by one of the three, the famous church ruin at Qaqortoq in the Julianehåb municipality. This is the best preserved church ruin from the medieval Norse period in Greenland. A t the head of the wide Qaqortoq Fjord, which is divided into two arms by an island, Hvalsey (Arpatsivik), in the middle of its mouth, the church commands an excellent position on a gently sloping hillside. The lush slope is bounded off towards the north by the modest, rounded church rock. Towards the south-west the hill slopes gently down to the shore; the distance to the sea nowadays is some 48 metres. T o the west, remains of a dwelling house have been found where very difficult excavations revealed that an original longhouse had been rebuilt and extended into a passage-house; the stone walls and the hall were well preserved. The hall measures 8*4 by 4*7 metres which, curiously enough, is equivalent to 26 by 14 Greek feet, making the hall amost a double-square, which was the proportions o f the church itself. The hall appears to have been built rather later, and has dry masonry walls. The stones of the church walls, however, are laid in mortar. In this respect the church differs greatly from the other medieval Norse churches in Greenland, in which the stones were either placed directly in layers of clay, or the joints were secured with clay after the walls

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had been built. The Hvalsey church, however, is of dry masonry with lime mortar. In the other churches the clay between the stones made them slide when the roof had gone and the clay became soaked, but the mortar in the Hvalsey church was water-proof and held the stones in position. It is possible, therefore, to make comparisons between the Hvalsey church and other churches within the medieval Norse area. Such comparisons reveal that, as regards size and the distribution of doors and windows, Hvalsey church forms an almost exact counterpart to

Left, H valsey church, ground plan and sectional plan at window level with scale. R ight, Eidfjord church, ground plan and scale. (Partly after Roussell, Farms and Churches, figs. 80 and 8 1.)

the Norwegian Eidfjord church in the parish of Ulvik, Hordaland county, in the innermost reaches of an extensive fjord complex and south-west of the Hardanger glacier. The similarity is so striking that it is tempting to claim some direct connection. One of the windows in the completely preserved Hvalsey church walls is topped by a seg­ mental arch, a type of arch that was not common in Norway until after 1300, and can only have come to Greenland from Norway, brought by some builder. The window, which is in one of the gable walls, has been made with such excellent workmanship that it has remained, the only one of its kind, for more than six centuries. The exterior of the church is 16 metres long and 8*7 metres wide at its broadest point; the groundplan is almost a double-square, which seems to have been the norm for church buildings. The side walls are 3*7 metres high. The west gable wall, which contains a square door

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and, higher up, a square window, is 5*7 metres high; the east gable wall with the segmental windowhead is 5*8 metres. The church must have had a pitched roof, the floor-to-ceiling height at the top of the pitch being 7*2 metres. In EidQord church a rood-screen separates the easternmost third of the church into a choir. I f this was also the case in Hvalsey church, at least thirty or thirty-five worshippers could have found room in the nave; from here they could give their full attention to the altar service, while stained glass in the window with the segmental arch above the altar was illuminated by the sun. Although no traces of glass have been found, it is quite possible that the window was glazed. A t the Garðar cathedral, as we saw, a piece of opaque greenish glass was found, and window panes were not entirely unknown. Not far from Hvalsey, but farther in towards the head o f Einars Fjord, where it forks left towards the north and the cathedral, the fjord forms a kind of creek towards the east, then called Aust Fjord (i.e. the Qord towards the east). On the southern bank of this creek stands Undir Höfda church, which also seems to have been built about 1 300. Th at two churches should be built as it were in the shadow of the cathedral is evidence of the expansive force of the community. Towards the end of the thirteenth century, then, both ministers and bishops were present to meet the settlers’ spiritual needs. But when Bishop O laf died in 1280 eight years passed before a new bishop was consecrated. Thord Bokki was inducted in his new office by A rch ­ bishop Jörund on October 10, 1288. This probably means that the news of Bishop O la f’s death reached the Archbishop in the summer of 1288 - which, considering the random and infrequent navigation on Greenland, is not incredible. Bishop Thord set sail for Greenland, and reached Garðar presumably in 1289, staying in Greenland until he left for Norway in 1309. He appears to have then stayed on in Norway for quite a number of years; at least, he gave evidence in a Bergen court on December 26, 1 3 1 1. The Icelandic chronicles report that he died in 13 1 4 .29 In that year A m i was consecrated Bishop of Garðar. He left for Greenland the following year, and remained there for thirty-two years, the faithful servant of his church. T o A rn i’s superiors, this must have seemed an incredibly long term of office, for in 134 3 a new bishop, Jo n Skalli, was appointed without any hesitation; it was then discovered that Bishop Arni was still carrying out his office. A n attempt was made to solve the delicate problem by proposing to transfer Bishop Arni to the Faroes in 13 4 8 ; but by that year he had finally died. This, however, did not precipitate Jo n Skalli’s departure for Greenland, although it did not prevent him from making use o f the title o f Bishop of Garðar, or “ the Greenland bishop” , during the

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subsequent years. In 13 5 7 Skalli was consecrated Bishop of the Hólar diocese in Iceland. It was not until 136 5 that a new Bishop of Garðar was appointed, Friar A lf of the Order of St. Benedict from Munkeliv monastery near Bergen. He did not leave for his see until 1368, and died at Garðar between 137 6 and 1378 . He was the last bishop to take up residence in Greenland. From that time the Garðar see shared the fate of many other dioceses. Although the Archbishop of Nidaros maintained the privilege confirmed by Pope Innocent I V in 1 2 5 3 30 (that the archbishop was invested with authority to appoint a Bishop of Garðar among others), this privilege was annulled as soon as a bishop sought papal confirmation of his office; from that moment the Pope was able to induct bishops by provision. This seems to have been the case with Jo n Skalli in 134 3. After the death of A lf (1376/8) the Pope expressly reserved for himself the right of induction ;31 this was in a papal brief of February 25, 14 0 1, but as early as 1389, during the Schism, the Avignon Pope had appointed a bishop by provision, but this appoint­ ment did not establish any principle. From that year, however, the Garðar Bishop’s office became the sport of waves o f papal corruption. This is strange since the see was not particularly remunerative, and brought no income at all as long as the Bishop stayed away from the diocese. The large size of the Church lands in Greenland (especially in the East Settlement) has already been pointed out, but of course this does not mean that enormous revenues could be expected; part of the tithes paid in kind by the local farmers were consumed in Greenland, though of course the farms which were always built near the churches were meant to yield enough to keep the local ministers. The reports which the papal collectors in the north sent to Rome give us an idea of the size of the returns from the distant diocese. Several times during the thirteenth century and well into the fourteenth century they collected Crusade tithes or tithes for the Holy Land, and even money to help fight Italian heretics. A t the Vienne synod o f 1 3 1 2 the clergy of the various countries were enjoined to pay six years’ tithes out of their revenue, and collectors were sent to the various archdioceses. One of the collectors for Norway and Sweden reports that on August 1 1 , 132 7 , he received the tithes of the Greenland see, which were paid in kind with 12 7 stone (Norwegian) of walrus ivory.32 The whole consignment was sold in Flanders for 12 pounds and 14 tournois. H alf of the sum was payable to the Norwegian K in g; the report values the proceeds of the remaining half at 1 1 4 gold florins and 4 tournois, which is more than 400 gr. of pure gold. One hundred and twenty-seven stone of walrus ivory is about 653 kg., the equivalent of about 37 3 tusks33 (the West Norwegian stone being 5-14 4 kg.). The sum fetched by the tusks does not seem very large, but the number of

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tusks represents 186 animals which must have been part o f the Norðrsétur hunters catch over a period of six years. The amount paid as Peter’s Pence the very same year is 3 stone o f walrus ivory, which is 15-4 kg., or about 9 tusks; these were also sold in Flanders. In 132 8 K ing Magnus made a count of all that the collectors had obtained, and in his letter mentions that the Church and diocese in Greenland had returned a total sum of 12 pounds and 14 silver tournois, which agrees with the collector’s account of the previous year. Walrus ivory was thus important to the Norse settlers in Greenland, no doubt because the Church was interested in this kind o f tithe payment, as the ivory was much in demand in Europe. It is quite possible that other payments to the Church were converted into walrus tusks. The Garðar see may be considered a large-scale exporter of walrus ivory. It was the Norðrsetur hunters, however, who provided the quantities of walrus ivory needed, and they were apparently accom­ panied by the Church on their strenuous hunting expeditions. On the Nügssuaq Peninsula a ruin has been known for about one hundred years. A recent examination of this ruin group seems to establish beyond doubt that it is of a church or a chapel. The Norðrsetur hunters had to leave the protection of the Church for a long time when they set out northwards along the coast, so perhaps it was natural to have some kind of church building near their distant destination. The expedition was considered highly dangerous, not only because of the immense risks which the hunters were exposed to by the elements, but also on account of occult powers that might be brought to bear on men who were left without the Church’s constant protection. Against this background it is surprising to find evidence that three settlers seem to have spent the winter in these parts on the seventy-third parallel. On Kingigtorssuaq, an island north of Upernavik, a runic stone was found, stating that Erling Sigvatsson, Bjarni Thordarsson and Eindridi Oddsson built a cairn “ on the Saturday before Rogation D ay” . Three ancient cairns have been discovered, and in one of these the 10-cm.long runic stone must have been placed; the runic stone which was discovered near the cairns is now in the National Museum at Copen­ hagen. The text that follows the indication of the day is difficult to comprehend.34 Professor Finnur Jonsson takes the runes to be o f the type commonly used between 1250 and 1300. “ The Saturday before Rogation D ay” can be interpreted in widely differing ways. L itli gangdagr (Little Rogation Day) is April 2 5 ; but gangdagr or gangdagar may also mean the Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday before Ascension Day. I f the carver of the runes was thinking of April 25, the men must have spent the winter in the locality as it was not possible, even in Norse times, to reach Upernavik at a time of year before the ice had

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broken up. On the other hand, if the Saturday previous to Rogation D ay before Ascension D ay is meant, it would have been possible to reach Upernavik, but only in years when Ascension D ay comes late in spring. Hence no exact dating is possible, nor is there irrefutable proof that the hunters spent a winter there at some time towards the end of the thirteenth century. There is one account of the Norðrsetur expeditionsd ating from the latter half of the thirteenth century, and several details indicate that it was based on a reliable source. It is stated that in 1266 the hunters had ventured farther north than usual, and that later on the Church sent a ship even farther north still. The vessel left Kroksfjardarheidi (i.e. along Nügssuaq Peninsula through Vajgat) and was driven off course to the north. The sailors succeeded in steering their w ay out of the mist, and when they finally sighted land it was a shore with “ many glaciers and seals and white bears” . The Úm ánaq and U per­ navik coasts have many islands, and the northern part o f the Upernavik district is full of glaciers. On the return voyage the night temperature is reported to have dropped below zero on Ju ly 25 (“Ja c o b ’s Mass D ay” ), and the crew caught a glimpse o f the midnight sun. It is also stated that they found traces of Eskimos. That sealing was better in the north than in the south is proved by the fact that the melting of blubber into train oil was generally done in the north. When melted, the oil was poured into skin bags.35 No doubt the rich driftwood stores also tempted the hunters, as did the abundance of seal, white bear and walrus. The Norðrsetur account is explicit in making the clergy the insti­ gators of the expedition; so it is tempting to assume some connection between the expedition and the Kingigtorssuaq Stone, which com­ memorates such an unusual event. The account mentions the booths and houses of the hunters at Kroksfjardarheidi. One of the buildings must undoubtedly have been a kind of chapel and thus a link is formed between the Nügssuaq Peninsula ruin and the most likely position of Krogsfjordhede somewhere on the same peninsula. The expedition sponsored by the clergy is reported to have returned to the episcopal see at Garðar. A reason why the sponsors took such a special interest in the northbound hunting expeditions was that large quantities of walrus and narwhal ivory were usually brought back by the hunters. When one remembers the size o f the fourteenth-century Church lands, it is clear that the Church had to take a financial interest in the Norðrsetur expeditions. The Norse Greenland Church con­ stituted a major local power factor and came very close to realizing the ideal blend of spiritual and temporal interests to which the Church aspired. Perhaps it was hoped that the status o f the Greenland Church

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would attract a sufficient number of priests of high calibre to the country; at least the royal power, which was the cause o f much ecclesiastical resentment elsewhere in the north, could be disregarded where Greenland was concerned. The influence of the Crown was restricted to the two farms and a few claims that had not even been put in writing or properly sealed. This is in consonance with the caution which the Crown seems to have applied to the distant tributaries. The History o f Norway states that the national law of 12 7 4 came into force in the tributaries and was adopted on their things, but we do not have the slightest evidence that this holds good for the Greenland settlements as well. K ing Magnus Hakonsson’s Town Act from 1276 restricts itself to stating in F a rmannalögy sec. 10 para. 6, special rules governing the breaking of engagement articles on board vessels in Greenland, Iceland and Garðar towards the east; special fines are quoted. This is all the documentary material extant on the problem. Not until the middle of the fourteenth century does the Crown appear to have taken up a more dominant position. K ing O lav I V Hakonsson’s letter of August 3 1 , 1384, directs attention to various rules for shipping and trading in the Nordic countries and the tribu­ taries. The letter was sent to all men in the Bergen féhirðsla and to all the northern countries. Referring to the acts, ordinances and decrees issued by King Håkon V I and his father K ing Magnus Eriksson as far back as 13 19 , the letter emphasizes that no one can possess a trading licence unless he has a net capital of 15 marks (silver) in cash, or without a guarantee for foreign as well as native traders. Umboðsmaðr, féhirdir, and lögmenn are enjoined to see that the regulations are scrupulously observed. Then follow certain provisions relating to the goods arriving from Iceland and the “ sack money” (i.e. duty) imposed on such goods; the financial losses of the Crown are mentioned. The “ sack money” was paid in kind until 138 2. It is quite probable that the same regulations were in force for Greenland goods, and that the Crown collected some import duties at least - no doubt this took place in Bergen before the vessels were unloaded. There need not have been any royal monopoly of the Greenland trade to explain this; as Greenland was a tributary, the K ing was able to collect taxes on goods imported from the country. I f it is true, as stated in K ing O laf I V ’s letter, that the regulations had been in force since the days of Magnus Eriksson, it proves that the activity of the Crown in the tributaries increased at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Some evidence can be found that the royal power was exerted with increasing energy in the course of the century. On Ju ly 20, 137 4 , K ing Hakon V I ordered some land, which an earlier Greenland umboÖsmaÖr

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had bought, to be confiscated and incorporated into the Crown property. The land was in the Bergen district in Norway. O f course the K in g’s authority was above that of an umboðsmaðr, and the letter may be interpreted as the Crown’s attempt at arresting the corruption that scourged Norway at the time. K ing Magnus Eriksson sent Powel Knudsson to Greenland in 13 5 5 that is, if the sources can be trusted.36 In 13 2 5 , the sixth year of the K ing’s reign, both the Greenland navigation and the trading activities there seem to have increased considerably. Not only Bergensians but also men of Trondheim sailed for Greenland.. Th e latter seem to have founded a kind of trading company - and to have established joint liability for damages and risks. Th ey are called kumþánir (partners) in the letter mentioned above. A n answer to this letter contains the statement that all Greenland traders are aware that “ within living memory” the Trondheim merchants had the right to pay tithes of their merchandise to the Nidaros archdiocese. This means that “ within living memory” both Trondheim and Bergen merchants have traded on Greenland. However, “ living memory” need not denote a par­ ticularly long stretch of time. It is possible, therefore, that it was the efforts of King Magnus Eriksson to encourage the domestic trade that increased the Greenland navigation. Foreign competition, especially from the Hanseatics, was quite substantial at the time. The fact is that the enterprising Hanseatic traders hugged the coasts and never dared to navigate the North Atlantic. Documentary material on the Greenland navigation is even scarcer for the fourteenth century than earlier. As mentioned above, Bishop Thord came from Greenland (to Bergen?) in 1309, and Bishop Arni left for Greenland in 1 3 1 5 . Ten years later we learn that knerrir came to Bergen from Greenland in the month of Ju ly . Then follows silence for several years. Ivar Bardarson obtained his passport from Bishop Hakon of Bergen in 13 4 1 , and presumably set sail for Greenland the very same year. The permit is dated August 8, and although this was late in the year it was still possible to put to sea. Five years later the Icelandic chronicles have the first entry about the knörr (the definite form appears to denote a certain ship) coming to Greenland with a considerable cargo. In 13 4 7 a vessel that had lost its anchor drifted ashore in Iceland with a crew of eighteen and the following year the ship no doubt returned to Greenland. Ten years later Powel Knudsson must have left for Greenland (the doubt sur­ rounding this event has already been mentioned). For the year 1366 the Icelandic chronicles contain an entry about a knörr which was made ready, but which seems to have been lost north o f Bergen the following year. A vessel must have been available in 136 8 for Greenland, for

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that was the year in which Alf, the last Bishop to take up residence in Greenland, left Norway. Perhaps this was to be the last voyage o f the Greenland knerrir. The ship is reported to have foundered in 1369, but everyone on board reached land safely. The diocese to which A lf travelled had certainly been reduced in size. As we have seen, Ivar Bardarson had gone to Greenland at some time after August 8, 13 4 1 . His descriptive account of the Norse com­ munities in the middle of the fourteenth century has come down to us through much later copies; perhaps the earliest copy is from the latter half of the sixteenth century, but most of them date from the eighteenth century. Ivar Bardarson’s description of the West Settlement is brief, but expressive: “ . . . nu haffue Skrelinge a ll Vesterbijgden vdt, tha er ther nog heste, geder, nød och fa a r, alt vilt, och inthetfo lck enthen christen eller heden” (“ . . . now the Skrælings have the entire West Settlement; but there are horses, goats, cows and sheep, all wild. There are no people, neither Christians nor heathens” ). In his capacity of “ steward of the episcopal see at Garðar” Ivar must have made a journey north from the East Settlement, but we do not know the date. “ Steward of the episcopal see at Garðar” sounds like a later Pro­ testant translation of officialis, a title given to the official who acted as the Bishop’s deputy in most church affairs, especially over financial matters. It is tempting to link the office of such an officialis with the death of Bishop Arni in 1348, which left the Garðar see vacant until 1368. During the interregnum a deputy was needed to represent the Bishop’s authority. By way of postscript the scribe who wrote down Ivar Barðson’s Description added that Ivar had seen the conditions in the West Settle­ ment with his own eyes: “ . . . he was one of those the lögmenn had appointed to go to the West Settlement to fight against the Skrælings; on their arrival they found no men, either Christian or heathen, but some wild cattle and sheep, and they killed as many of the wild cattle and sheep as the ships would hold and sailed home, and the abovementioned Ivar was present himself” . Part of this merely repeats Ivar’s own statement. It seems that the ninety farms of the West Settlement were abandoned quite suddenly, at least within a short space o f time. Ivar Bardarson’s own account tersely states that “ the Skrælings now possess the entire West Settlement” . The postscript states unambiguously that the lagmand sent out a group of men to expel the Skrælings from the West Settle­ ment. The atmosphere is one of war. This presupposes that the Norse settlers of the West Settlement had become the victims of a sudden attack by the Skrælings, and that this attack had to be countered. From Ivar’s statement that he saw no

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men, Christian or heathen, one concludes that he must have expected to come across both Norse settlers and Skrælings, but found nothing but stray cattle and sheep. The last statement is remarkable since untethered cattle and sheep could not be expected to survive the bitter cold o f the winter. Apparently the lögmaðr sent out the punitive expedition at once. It was to be expected, furthermore, that the K in g’s umboðsmaðr and not the lögmaðr would have been the person to send off such an expedition. Perhaps the scribe made a mistake, or perhaps the office of umboðsmaðr had not yet been established. Since Ivar Bardarson expected to come across Norse farmers in the West Settlement, the attack of the Skrælings cannot have led to the immediate extinction of the entire Norse population; and the fact that Ivar did not actually meet any Skrælings cannot be taken as proof that none were there at all. It is characteristic of the Norse medieval sources that only the traces of Skrælings, and not the people themselves, are referred to. The archaeological excavations in the West Settlement have not yielded up evidence of any ultimate disaster. One farm was undoubtedly burnt down, but this seems to have been a calamity that only affected one individual family. The Sandnes Farm in Ameralik Fjord revealed signs of having been abandoned precipitately. Furthermore, the smithy showed layers of sheep and goat droppings on top of the ashes and slag, which indicates that the smithy may have been used as a stable after the building had ceased to serve its original purpose. Alternatively, it may be interpreted as meaning that the normal functions of the farm had been disrupted; the other byres m ay have seemed too spacious, and the last occupants, or occupant, was leading a miserable deprived life there. When midden profiles were excavated in a nearby bog, a stratum on top of a layer of grass pollen (from the Norse homefield) showed the remains of a certain larva, a species, incidentally, which had stripped the entire neighbourhood o f growth in the very year o f the excavation. A n extraordinary number o f larvae were present in this layer. A n attack by such larvae, perhaps only during one year, may have caused such destruction of the crops that the farmer was forced to leave his land while his cattle starved to death. I f this was the case, however, it seems to contradict Ivar Bardarson’s description of stray cattle and sheep. Perhaps the larva attack was a local phenomenon, confined to the neighbourhood of the Sandnes Farm - or did it devastate all the inner reaches o f the deep Qords where the Norse settlements were situated ? The Sandnes Farm is at the mouth o f a valley which stretches on to the head of a fjord towards the north, the present Kapisigdlit. There is such a close inter-linking between the Qord-complexes in this area

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that an attack o f larvae cannot conceivably have been confined to one region, although obstacles that could arrest such an attack can be found in the ice-filled Qord between the Sandnes valley and the northerly farm, and barren mountains in the west guard the developed areas o f Itivnera. I f the attack was halted by such obstacles, it cannot explain why the last-mentioned localities were abandoned. Eskimo legends from West Greenland also do not shed much light on the question. The well known legend of Ungertoq (Yngvar in Norse) can be met in various versions, o f which the most elaborate is connected with the district about Qaqortoq west o f Julianehåb, in the East Settlement. T w o West Settlement versions can be found, however, but they both end up in the East Settlement.37 Both accounts, incidentally, stem from the inhabitants o f the same village settlement, namely Kangeq, west-south-west of Godthåb; one of the narrators, named Aron, is of a particular naivety. Both accounts incorporate so much all-Eskimo legendary material that their truth must be questioned. Aron’s account, on the other hand, contains much exact information about the Norse settlement; this description of the Norse settlement in Kangersuneq Ice Fjord is astonishingly correct. This locality was not much visited in the nineteenth century, and the ruin sites, which were accessible only with difficulty, were not obvious Norse ruins. The account must be based on a Godthåb tradition, but unfortunately it does not contain decisive clues bearing on the extinction of the West Settlement. When Hans Egede visited the district in 1 7 2 1 , he was soon informed that there were some Norse ruins in Ujaragssuit Fjord: this was Anavik, with the conspicuous ruins of the church and the caved-in storehouse. Naturally the Eskimo immigrants must have known of the Norse farms, and this knowledge soon became part of the tradition, while the Norse ruins changed into grass-clad mounds and the church walls crumbled before the snow and rain, or were engulfed by the sea as the land subsided. One predominant feature of the Eskimo legends about Greenland is the fear, recurrently expressed, that somebody will come from the sea and kill off the whole community by way of revenge. Nowhere, how­ ever, is it stated why such an act should take place, and the theme of revenge does not naturally suggest itself as an explanation for the extinction of the West Settlement.38 The Godthåb legends about the meeting with the Norse settlers all stress the good relations that existed between the two groups. This may be an all-Eskimo legend characteristic transferred to the Eskim oNorse relations from the many accounts of the good and friendly terms that sometimes existed between Eskimos and “ inlanders” . The following

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is an abbreviated version of Aron of K angeq’s account of the encounter between the Eskimos and the Norsemen: A n umiaq filled with Eskimos arrived at Godthåb Næs and sailed on into Godthåb Fjord. In a branch of the Qord the Eskimos came across some Norsemen who treated them kindly. Later they reached settlements farther towards the head of the fjord (Ujaragssuit and Kangersuneq Fjords), and as they met so many strange people there, they quickly sailed aw ay and told their friends what they had seen. Later they returned in great numbers and came in touch with the Norsemen. As the Norsemen gradually picked up the Eskimo language, they got on very well together. Aron further tells of a Kapisigdlit legend which relates how two good friends, an Eskimo and a Norseman, both excellent archers, used to arrange shooting contests. Once, while a large number of people were watching them performing their skill - among the specta­ tors were some of the most prominent of the Norse people - the Norse­ man suggested that they should climb the mountain to a peculiar, flat ledge of rock overhanging the waves of the fjord, and from there try to hit a target consisting of a (white) reindeer skin placed on an islet at the foot of the mountain; the one who missed the target was to be pushed over the edge of the mountain ledge. The Eskimo turned down the proposal because, as he said, they were good friends. When the Norseman insisted, however, they finally climbed the mountain and shot at the reindeer skin; the Eskimo hit the target, but the Norseman missed. The Eskimo then refused to push his friend over the edge, and the Norseman jumped into the sea himself. The Eskimo never heard a word of blame for what had happened, because (the Norse settlers said) the Norseman himself had wanted it that way. From that day the characteristic mountain-top was called Pisigsarfik, the place from which arrows are shot. Aron then resumes the account with his own version of the Ungertoq legend. The legend about the shooting match is unique. It is not found in other versions, and has not been incorporated into other legend cycles. The likelihood o f the legend being true is very great, especially since the mountain is still called Pisigsarfik, which is an uncommon placename in Greenland, but also because the shooting match terms could not have been thought up by an Eskimo; they are the unmistakable creation of a Norse mind. It is still not improbable that the mountain got its name on account of its close resemblance to Eskimo reindeer shooting stands; but the terms of the match have the ring o f truth. This legend is invariably connected with the West Settlement. Unfortunately all this does not help us much in trying to establish

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when and why the West Settlement was abandoned. The shooting match legend must be referred to a time when the relations between Eskimos and Norsemen were peaceful. Immediately after the Pisigsarfik episode Aron mentions conflicts, and he ends with the Ungertoq legend. But since his account reveals sure signs of compilation, no theories can be built upon the legend sequence. W e must content ourselves, then, with stating as a fact that the “ brief candle” of the West Settlement was snuffed out at some time between 13 4 1 and 1364. On November 2, 13 5 5 , K ing Magnus Eriksson had a letter sealed by his seneschal, Orm Eysteinsson. In this letter Powel Knudsson, who is otherwise unknown, was appointed headman of an expedition to Greenland. The K ing orders the members of the expedition to work diligently for “ the cause” . Nothing is said of what the cause is, but the letter continues: “ Att W i giøre dett i H eder thill gud Och Vor Siells och forelldre skyld Som Vdi grønland haffuer Christendom och Ophold th ill Denne D ag oc V il end ey lade nederfalle om Vore Dage” (“ For the sake of Our soul and Our parents, who have also supported Christianity in Greenland as W e have [K ing M agnus], and W e will not let Christianity be destroyed in Greenland in Our time” ). Although the letter has come down to us only in a late copy containing many errors and misunderstandings, we must accept the interpretation given above as broadly correct. I f we want to avail ourselves of the information contained in medieval letters at all, we must acknowledge the possibility of mistakes, since the majority of them are only extant in late copies. I f the copy o f this letter is taken to represent an authentic document, it becomes obvious that this is in fact the K ing’s order for military action. The person to whom the order was given, were he the umboðsmabr or another official, is requested to choose volunteers from among the K ing’s henchmen and place them under the command of Powel Knudsson. They are to go to Greenland - not to the West Settlement only - and help the people there who belong to and support the Christian Church. The situation seems to have been serious for, if no help were sent, Christianity would “ fall down” . But what was the result of the letter? Who were the K ing’s hench­ men at a time when his power was at its lowest ebb? A t the national assembly in 134 4 the K ing had been forced to entrust the government of the country to a commission. From 1349 the Black Death had halted all initiative. In 13 5 5 K ing Magnus suspended the government com­ mission and appointed Orm Eysteinsson, his seneschal, regent for his son, Håkon V I , whom he had been forced to pronounce K ing of Norway in 134 3, although the boy was then only three years old. Håkon came of age in 13 5 5 , and took over the government in the

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autumn of that year. K ing Magnus kept Orm as his seneschal with the special duty of acting as the K in g’s steward in Tønsbergféh irð sla and in the tributaries (including Greenland). Tønsberg féhirðsla was in Vestfold on the western bank of Oslo Fjord, a long w áy from Bergen, whence ships set out for Greenland. The decree was issued in Bergen, a town in which K ing Magnus had no power over the local authorities. Th e question inevitably arises who were the henchmen of the K ing “ whether they were thus called or not” . Is it possible that the decree was issued by Orm Eysteinsson in Bergen and forwarded to Tønsberg, and did he have the K in g’s henchmen in Tønsberg in mind, or were there others who would volunteer ? A carte blanche over the choice of a crew seems to have been intended, and it must have been necessary, for how could any one hope to collect a sufficient number of volunteers at a time when there were hardly enough hands to till the soil ? Bishop Salomon of Oslo had al­ ready complained that people preferred to drink and carouse instead of paying their tithes. No doubt it was impossible to secure the services of a sufficient number of men, an assumption that seems to be corrobo­ rated by the laconic statement in the Icelandic chronicles for 1366 that a knörr was made ready for Greenland. The name o f the captain is then mentioned which is uncommon in the chronicles, where the personage who was being conveyed to Greenland is normally men­ tioned, or sometimes the name of the knörr is given. One has the impression that it was unusually difficult to have the knörr made ready, búin, in 1366, especially as the number of volunteers was too small - a factor that may have been due to the Black Death which returned again and again throughout the century in progressively mild forms. I f it was difficult to get hold of a suitable crew in Bergen and farther north, it must have been even more difficult in the vicinity of Tønsberg, where the inhabitants were unaccustomed to long sea voyages. N o matter whether the letter is intended for Bergen or Tønsberg, there can be little doubt that Powel Knudsson did not succeed in gathering sufficient hands, and since it was issued as late as November 2, the departure cannot have taken place earlier than in the spring of 1356 , which could mean that the project was abandoned completely. In the very same year K ing Magnus had trouble in other places, among them Sweden where he had also exercised royal power, and he cannot have had much energy left for Greenland’s affairs. Probably the whole thing came to nothing. The only reliable information which we can glean from the letter is that the Norwegian authorities were aware that some calamity had occurred in Greenland, which could possibly be countered by armed force, and that in fact certain attempts were made at undertaking

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military action. There can be no doubt that the extant copy, bad though it is, stems from a genuine original. The royal initiative came too late, however. The Norwegian authori­ ties must have heard about the event before 13 5 5 , whereas the West Settlement was abandoned after 13 4 1 , the year in which Ivar Barðson received his passport, or perhaps even after 1348, in which year Bishop Arni died and Ivar Bardarson acted as officialis in the diocese. W e do not know when the news reached Norway. Nothing is on record about ships arriving in Norway from Greenland between 134 6 and 136 7, nor is anything said in the Icelandic chronicles about the Greenland event in an account of a ship arriving in 134 6 ; and no information is supplied in connection with the story of the Greenland ship which was beached without an anchor in Straum Fjord in 134 7 . One would think such an event was worth mentioning. On the whole, it is remarkable that the chronicles mention the Skrælings only once. This entry is for 137 9 and a quite detailed account of a Skræling attack is given. But the year, 1379, seems to indicate that the West Settlement had not died out by 134 7 when the Greenland ship came to Iceland. Its demise would surely have been noted in the chronicles since they take great care to mention the Skræling attack in 1379 . There is much that seems to indicate that the West Settlement was extinguished between the years 134 7 and 135 5 . W e have no hope of getting any closer, since the royal initiative in 13 5 5 is directly related to the time when the news reached Norway and not to the event itself. The event may have taken place even years before 13 5 5 because of the fortuitous nature o f Green­ land navigation at the time. Ivar Bardarson’s Description is explicit in stating that the Skrælings had “ 0/ Vesterbygden ud” , but nothing in the source material indicates what had actually happened. No archaeological, geological or climato­ logical investigations have yet given us any consistent picture o f the local conditions in the West Settlement. But the final theme o f the Greenland symphony had been struck. The bishopric to which Friar A lf set out in 1368 had been reduced as we have noted above; but though it only comprised the West coast south of 6 1 0 2 2 ' N ., it did not entirely lack vigour. Life seems to have continued on the farms, perhaps confined to the immediate vicinity of the farm buildings, or confined to the East Settlement as such. The Norðrsetur expeditions were probably discontinued. From the middle of the century onwards the Norsemen and the Eskimos must have regarded each other as enemies. This becomes evident, as we have seen, in the account for 137 9 in the Icelandic chronicles: “ The Skrælings assaulted the Greenlanders, killed eighteen men, and captured two swains and one bondswoman” . The attack was not a final blow to the

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Norsemen, because the East Settlement remained in existence through­ out the rest of the fifteenth century. W e know, however, that the relationship between the Eskimo immi­ grants and the Norsemen was not always one of enmity. One comforting account relates that Björn from Vatns Fjord came to Greenland after having been driven off course on the return voyage from Jerusalem. According to the story, Björn was made sheriff (sýslumaðr) in Green­ land, but lögmaðr is more likely, since a sýslumaðr is appointed by the King, whereas a lögmaðr seems to have been elected by the local population. Bjørn rescued an Eskimo boy and girl from a rock in the sea, and the two Eskimo children stayed with Bjorn’s family as his faithful servants as long as he was in Greenland, and took their own lives when he decided to return to Iceland. Björn Vatnsdal must have been in Greenland just after 1378 , the year given in the Icelandic chronicles for Bishop A lf’s death. Bjorn’s account of his voyage expressly states that the Bishop had only recently died when he and his family came to Greenland. The Icelandic chronicles contain an entry for the year 13 7 9 about a certain Björn Einarsson (from Vatns Fjord) who left Iceland; this news follows directly on the account of the Skræling attack. Th e chronicles state that in 13 8 5 four ships were driven to Greenland, and on board one of them was Björn Einarsson from Vatnsdal. One of the chronicles offers the interesting information that the men on board the ships stayed in Greenland for two years “ in good health” . It is reported that the four ships returned to Iceland, and that Björn was on board one of them. Bjorn’s account and the chronicles tally as to the dates, for it is quite possible to regard an event which happened six or seven years earlier as “ recent” . The account of Bjorn’s voyage is undoubtedly authentic since it also contains a typical Eskimo feature: the Eskimo girl’s unceasing care for Bjorn’s little son whom she would not let out of her sight for a second. The same account informs us that after the Bishop’s death the bishopric was headed by an old priest acting as officialise this custom seems to have been kept up until the death of the last ordained priest. The bishops who were appointed and consecrated after A lf’s death (sometimes more than one at the same time) never set foot on the soil of Greenland, and accordingly had no income from their diocese. Throughout that century, then, the Norse farmers had to seek consolation in the fact that the tithes they paid stayed in the country. The diocese naturally had to be headed by an official of some kind. W e possess no written document, however, that tells of the appointment of an official but we do have a copy (in a letter) of a certificate signed, sealed and issued by the bishop’s official at Garðar on April 16, 1409.39

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Tw o ministers, Sira Eindridi Andresson (officialis a Gronlande) and Sira Pall Halvardsson, certify that they had read the banns on three consecutive Sundays for Thorsteinn Olafsson and Sigrid Björnsdotter, and as no one had raised any objection, they were pronounced man and wife. It is stated later in the extant copy that the wedding took place in Hvalsey church in 1408, which seems very likely since the certificate itself does not inform us of the dates o f the reading o f the banns or of the wedding; the only date mentioned in the certificate is its date of issue. The letter o f 14 14 , however, clearly states that the wedding took place in the autumn on the Sunday after Cross Mass, which means September 16. The men who testify to this marriage maintain that they were them­ selves present in Hvalsey church. In 1406 they had left Norway bound for Iceland, but had been put off course, and finally landed in Green­ land, where they stayed for four years. They returned to Norway in 14 10 , and only one of them is reported to have gone back to Iceland. The others sealed the letter at Skaga Fjord in Iceland in 14 14 , and consequently they must have come to Iceland at some time after 14 1 1 but before 14 14 . This is the last dated connection between medieval Greenland and the Nordic countries and it is one that breathes peace. Nothing jarred the wedding ceremony on that September Sunday in 1408, and the church functioned correctly. From the legal and social point o f view also, nothing was amiss. The banns had been read and one o f the bride’s relatives was present to sanction the act. All the formalities were observed. There are no signs that the community was falling apart. Until 13 7 4 the umboðsmaðr occupied his post, as we know from a letter of Ju ly 20, 1 3 74,40 in which K ing Hakon V I mentions that Sigurd Kolbeinsson, when functioning as the K ing’s umboðsmaðr in Greenland, appropriated some land and other property (after the death of Bard Dies) of which the King was the rightful owner. This may be an example in Greenland of the same kind of corruption as could be found in Norway. The royal activity concerning Greenland was confined to the territory o f Norway itself. King O laf I V ’s decree of 138 4 contains purely domestic measures, such as the stipulations about the capital needed for the forming of maritime companies, and duties payable to the Grown on Greenland goods. Some goods continued to arrive in Bergen from Greenland, but it seems that the Greenland trade was supplemented by some traffic with Iceland. On M ay 20, 1389, ten prominent men from Bergen and its vicinity (among them both lögmaðr, féh irðir and Bergen councillors) sent Queen Margrethe41 an account of a case of unlawful importation

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into Bergen of Greenland and Iceland goods. A writ had been served on “ the good men who came from Greenland and Iceland last sum­ mer” .42 Th at must be the summer of 138 8 at the latest. The men are accused of having sailed to Greenland, and bought and sold goods there without any royal charter, and of having bought the Queen’s property against the law. “ The good men” pleaded their innocence on all three counts. This means that they had not intended to sail to Greenland, for it is nowhere stated that they had obtained permission for Greenland traffic. However, the crew of the ship swore to a man that “ at sea they had been in great trouble and difficulty on account of huge icebergs and ice, and that their ship had received severe free­ board damage, and they promised to go on pilgrimage before they sighted land” .43 For the year 13 8 5 the Icelandic chronicles contain the information that four ships bound for Iceland were driven off course to Greenland, and the crews had to spend two winters there. The description given is brief but extremely vivid. “ The good men” were acquitted on all three counts because “ two reliable men who had been to Green­ land before them” (this must mean that they arrived in Greenland before “ the good men” ) swore that they were present at the Greenland A lthing, where the thingmenn decided “ that no Austmaðr (Norwegian) who came to Greenland would be allowed to buy provisions if he did not buy other Greenland articles as well” .44 “ Austmaðr had also offered to bring Crown property to Norw ay on board their ships, but the umboðsmaðr did not accept their offer as they had no written charter.” The “ good men” did not take any Crown property with them, and the Bergen féh irðir declared that he had received “ sack-money” which had been duly paid on both Greenland and Iceland goods. This seems to prove that “ the good men” had to buy Greenland articles in order to be allowed to buy provisions. The entire account stresses the point that the Crown tried to assert its power and to collect its revenue on the Greenland trade. W e further see Crown officials functioning on both sides of the Atlantic. This is in keeping with the restrictive economic policy Queen Margrethe adopted in the same period, which led to a stricter exaction o f the royal revenue. The Greenland umboðsmaðr shows great caution in his transactions. A ll this points to intensified royal activity, which m ay in turn have been felt in Greenland. The letter is instructive also in other respects. The resolution of the thingmenn that no Norwegian would be allowed to buy provisions, unless Greenland articles were bought at the same time means that the Norsemen of the East Settlement wanted to compel the traders who happened to come to Greenland to buy Greenland products; so, apparently, the prevailing situation forced the Norsemen to

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apply protection amounting to coercion in order to sell their goods. There may be a number of reasons why it became necessary to exploit the emergency situation into which these ships had been brought. It is evident in the source material on the Greenland naviga­ tion towards the end of the fourteenth century and well into the fifteenth century, that no single ship intentionally sailed for Greenland. W e are only told of ships that were blown off different courses before reaching Greenland. On the other hand both the Icelandic chronicles and other sources contain information which presupposes some kind of communication. Among other things it is stated that Sigurd Kolbeinsson had functioned as umboðsmaðr in Greenland. He must have returned to Norway, and likewise the umboðsmaðr mentioned in the 1389 letter must have been posted to Greenland from Norway - or, if he was one of the Norse population in Greenland, have received a letter confirming his appointment to the responsible post. O laf I V ’s decree also seems to presuppose some Greenland traffic, although the regulations cover all the tributaries and were made with special regard to Iceland. Such evidence as can be culled about “ intentional” Greenland navigation is extremely sparse compared with the number of references to “ unintended” landings. The documents leave us with the strong feeling that only chance ever brought ships to Greenland. A related reason for the East Settlement thing resolution may be that the demand for Greenland products was on the decline. Since the Greenland navigation was so irregular after the foundering of the Greenland-tórr in 1369, and as ships were brought to Greenland only by misfortune and adverse weather, and were even then forced to take Greenland goods with their provisions, the demand must have been so slight that nobody took the trouble to go to obtain Greenland articles. The character of these notices in the Icelandic chronicles about the Greenland navigation is entirely different from that of earlier centuries. One is apt to believe that a production which has been characteristic of a particular region at a particular time will continue for as long as people still inhabit that region. However, we know nothing for certain about the production in the East Settlement during the latter half of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, and are consequently led to assume that the same goods continued to be produced as earlier. But we must realize that it was disastrous for the entire Norse population in Greenland that the West Settlement was no longer in Norse hands. The road to Norðrsetur had been barred. It is certain that the catching of walrus and narwhal had been considerably reduced, and probable in the case of the walrus that it had ceased

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completely. A few narwhals may have strayed south, but walruses would not have done so. This, then, m ay be the third and main reason why the Greenland products were no longer in dem and: that the most important export articles, walrus ivory and walrus skin for ropes were no longer produced. Thus the production of export articles in the East Settlement must have been cut to a fraction of what it had been. The local farm produce was not marketable on the European continent, perhaps not even in Scandinavia. The demand for Green­ land hide also was not large. The Hanseatics took over the trade in the North and consequently also the Nordic trade with southern Europe. They took no serious interest in the remote Atlantic islands. Since the traders who did come to Greenland, more or less as the result of a mishap on their voyages, were forced to take over consign­ ments of unsaleable goods, it is very clear that they would not have been enthusiastic about visiting the islands in the far west a second time. The Black Death too had taken a heavy toll of the European population in those years. T o this must be added the intricate political situation in the North from the very start of the Union up to its final dissolution; this covered a span of 200 years. During the first half o f this period, from about 1380 to the middle of the fifteenth century, the power of the Union government fluctuated greatly, and its concern was primarily with problems much closer at hand than that of the population in the remotest tributary.

5

TH E F IFT E E N T H C E N T U R Y Several natural causes may have led to the severance of the connection between Norway and the East Settlement. During the fifteenth century Greenland emerged only occasionally out of the unconscious of the European mind, and the occasion was invariably the appointment of a new bishop to the Garðar see. A t such times the curia in Rome inevitably advanced its financial claims. The newly appointed bishops hardly ever intended to go to the diocese, and the Church completely let down the Norse population on the southern tip of Greenland. A kind of apprehensive hatred of the Church must have developed in Greenland, which must have put the local priests at a loss. All of a sudden the Greenland Church had been thrown back in time to the days before 112 6 , when the religious conditions had been almost acceptable; but then the need for a bishop had been so deeply felt that the population had taken the logical steps to procure one. By having had a bishop for two centuries the Greenland Church had considerably strengthened its organization, but this made the absence of a head of the Church all the more distressing now. The problem must have caused much anxiety and loss of confidence, especially among the clergy, and from them the feeling of unease would have spread to the congregations. All was well enough as long as an appointed officialis was still functioning; we must assume that Sira Eindridi Andresson, who was styled officialis in the marriage licence mentioned above had been officially appointed, since he dared to call himself by that title. But when he died and contact could be established with neither bishop nor archbishop, the Greenland Church and congregations must have felt that they had been badly let down. In fact each Church rite had now become a sacrilege, and this was one of the Seven Deadly Sins that could not be atoned. The modern mind has difficulty in entering into the thoughts of people living about 1400. W e have to consider that the East Settlement priests were not learned divines or acute philosophers, but plain, honest men who, when they led the prayers or celebrated mass on Sundays or did their best to have the many feast-days and Church festivities duly 153

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observed, felt unhappy at the imperfection of the Church’s organization. It is also the formal aspect that made Pope Alexander V I pronounce in 1492, as if the curia were indeed reliably informed, that “ the in­ habitants of that country - Greenland - have no recollection of the Christian faith” .1 Spiritually and administratively the East Settlement had been left to its own devices, and it was also necessary for it to establish an entirely self-supporting economy. As already noted, this was not a disastrous situation as long as conditions were stable for the Norse economy, which was based on a mixture of animal husbandry and hunting. But if the stable conditions failed, and if the connection with the Nordic culture group were not re-established, the Norse culture in Greenland would perish. Archaeological evidence proves that in at least one place in the East Settlement, Herjolfsnes,2 a Norse community lived on until after 1480. During the 19 21 excavations in the churchyard there, Dr. Poul Nørlund found the well-known Herjolfsnes costumes. V e ry ingenious methods enabled the archaeologists to save the costumes and send them to Copenhagen for conservation. Am ong the garments was a cap of the type that was in fashion in Burgundy after 1450. Another characteristic style, which did not spread to the North but which was popular in the rest of Western Europe between 1400 and 1450, is traceable in the Herjolfsnes costumes, providing a second proof that a Norse community existed at Herjolfsnes far into the fifteenth century. The costumes came to light in graves of which none can be earlier than 1350 . There are two types of hood, one of which has been dated to the latter half of the fourteenth century, the other type to some time after 1409. No costumes from earlier than 135 0 were found. The early burials were characterized by a lot of wooden crosses, and the corpses were completely decomposed. Only four o f the forty-five wooden crosses were found in the graves with the costumes. In the early graves the bodies had been placed in coffins, and of the twenty-nine coffins that came to light thirteen were those of children. Th e rate of infant mortality was high in Greenland as elsewhere in the medieval world, but the ratio of thirteen out of a total of twenty-nine should not be taken as typical. Generally the costumes were in a remarkable state of preservation, compared with the remains exhumed in the early graves. This naturally leads to the conclusion that the ground temperature must have been much lower when the latest burials were made. Th e excavation showed that a considerable number of graves were situated in ground now bound by perennial frost, but it is quite certain that no medieval graves were purposely dug out of layers bound by permafrost. Consequently

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the climáte must have deteriorated at some time between 1350 and 1500, the soil becoming frost-bound to such a depth that the warmth of the summer could thaw out only the top layers. The excavations showed that the remains in the layers that were able to be partly thawed were not well preserved; the earlier burials in the deeper layers had decomposed before the ground froze. The later burials were also some­ what decomposed, but a clay-like substance was preserved. A ll the coffins except one were found in a tangle of roots. Perhaps the climate changed in such a way that a new permafrost layer was formed on top of a layer which had been bound by perennial frost even in Norse times, when the burials were made in the layers which thawed each sum­ mer. It is a fact, then, that there were still people living at Herjolfsnes towards the end of the fifteenth century. The finds pointed to a con­ nection with European centres from 1350 until after 14 50 ; in two cases such a connection is indirectly shown to have been established along other channels than the habitual Norse ones. But an anatomical examination of the bone remains revealed a sad picture, which can be summed up in Dr. Nørlund’s words: the Her­ jolfsnes population was degenerate and therefore doomed. Since the time when the remains of these people were examined, we have witnessed many medico-historical investigations of medieval remains found in churchyards in other countries. These have all shown fairly conclusively that some degree of malnutrition was the norm in Europe during the Middle Ages. Famine was not infrequent, and throughout the greater part of the year the average diet was extremely deficient in vitamins. It is well known that clay or the bark of trees was kneaded into the dough to make bread last longer. Salted foods and porridge, together with bread and butter of poor quality, were the main con­ stituents of the diet, while fresh meat and fresh fish were rare. Churchyard-finds elsewhere in the North give the same sad impression of the general health conditions then prevailing. Naturally it is not the young and vigorous who are buried; defects become more pronounced with increasing age, and death comes when the human mechanism will work no longer. This is not said in order to question the medicohistorical evidences, but to point out that the importance accorded to the detailed descriptions of diseases tends to over-emphasize the patho­ logical aspect. There must, after all, have been people who were strong enough to secure the continuation of the race. The graves in the Her­ jolfsnes churchyard, obviously enough, did not contain the remains of the last inhabitants, as there must have been somebody to bury them. Where did the last people disappear to? The question cannot be an­ swered yet, if we do not want to be guilty of mere conjecture.

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After the extinction of the West Settlement, life definitely went on in the East Settlement until after 1450, and Dr. Nørlund adds another thirty years, assuming that it was quite some time before the Burgun­ dian cap reached Greenland and then before its Greenland owner died. A potsherd of unambiguous Rhenish origin (of about 1400) was found at some depth in an undisturbed midden at Herjolfsnes. This in itself indicates that life went on there well into the fifteenth century. There are no reasons why it should not have been possible to live in this place which was near the ocean and near the stor-is9 and where in some seasons there were excellent opportunities for sealing. The locality was not particularly suited to the breeding of cattle and sheep, which may explain why the Herjolfsnes burials present a picture of malnutrition. Life was difficult near the ocean and sealing dangerous, especially in wooden boats. Life in the innermost reaches of the fjords was hazardous also. As long as the climate was not disastrous to the farm livestock, life went on more or less in the traditional way, but the inhabitants had to make do without the supplement from the Norðrsetur expeditions, and without the modest supplies which the import used to bring into the country. But there were other unpredictable dangers than those brought to Greenland by the climate. In November 1 4 1 5 K ing Erik V I I of Denmark, Norw ay and Sweden sent reports to the English K ing Henry V on the unlawful sailings to Norwegian tributaries. The English K ing immediately forbade any such navigation,3 but the English traffic appears to have carried on despite the royal ban. In 14 2 5 Erik V I I once again had to issue an embargo on foreign trade in the Norwegian tributaries.4 This led to a treaty in 14 32 between Erik V I I and Henry V , sanctioning the ban. It may seem strange that Greenland is not mentioned by name in these letters, but the same can be said of the Orkneys and Shetlands, and the Faroes are mentioned only in the first letter. A ll the letters, however, make it clear that K ing Erik held sovereign sway in several other Atlantic islands among which Greenland must be included. It is apparent from these moves of K ing Erik that he wanted to assert his sovereignty over the Norwegian tributaries; this was a problem among the many others that he had been unsuccessful in tackling. In 14 32 his influence on the government of the three countries was limited. The year 14 34 saw a rebellious movement in Sweden, and in 1436 Erik had to leave Denmark for Gotland being finally dethroned in 1439 The treaty o f 14 32 could not be enforced, and without any doubt the English navigation in northern waters continued. W e can be abun­ dantly certain that English ships sailed the North Atlantic throughout

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the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: it was an Englishman, Sir Martin Frobisher, who “ rediscovered” Greenland. The success of the English traders was often based on rough methods, and murder and arson were everyday occurrences. English assaults were also known in Iceland, where raids are recorded as having taken place in the period from 1420 to 14 25, and in 1429 and 1443, in which year King Christopher I I I complained of English attacks in Iceland. In 14 23, before Ju n e 25, a raid is reported in Finmark in northern Norway. Nothing is stated about raids in Greenland. When we recall that, during the earlier centuries, quite a number of ships were reported to have been driven to Greenland while bound for Iceland and Norway, it is only natural to conclude that some at least of the English ships suffered the same fate. W e have no material to prove this assumption, however, which perhaps is not so strange, since nobody would have been able to describe the events except the seafarers themselves. Obviously the inhabitants of the East Settlement could not send out messages for help, and no doubt the seafarers would have kept their mouths shut, both because being driven off course was nothing to boast of, and because they knew that navigation on the Norwegian tributaries was forbidden. A n y coast to which they might be driven in that great ocean that was inhabited by people who looked like the Icelanders, the Faroese, or the inhabitants of Northern Norway, might belong to the Norwegian King. This can be supported by some sort of documentation, although this particular document implies some duplicity. In September 1448, Pope Nicholas V directed the Bishop of Skálholt and Hólar to try to find priests and a bishop for the population in Greenland. . . . “ they have been without a bishop for thirty years after the attack by the heathens, on which occasion most of the churches were destroyed and the in­ habitants were taken prisoners” .6 In this letter Greenland is where both earlier and later popes placed it, at the ends of the ocean in the north. This papal letter has been the subject of much discussion, especially since the addressees are known to have been curialistic intriguers. It has been alleged to be spurious, but recently it has been rehabilitated (by Helge Ingstad and Lars Hamre), mainly on account of the infor­ mation it contains, but also because the two bishops cannot have derived any personal advantage from it. The latter point seems to preclude forgery. Helge Ingstad links up the letter with the English raids in the North Atlantic; however it expressly states that the Norse inhabitants were attacked “ from the nearby shores of the heathens” , and that the “ barbarians attacked with a fleet” , launching a “ dire assault” .6 Although Rome considered the English as highly uncivilized, they were not lumped with barbarians and heathens in the fifteenth

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century. I f we want to accept the letter as source-material we must also accept these items o f information. The heathens and the barbarians mentioned in the papal brief must be the Eskimos, which lends meaning to the statement about the “ near­ by shores” . The Eskimo immigration into the East Settlement proceeded along the coast. As was stated in the Ungertoq legend (the Julianehåb version), the attack came from outside the district. In the legend it is obvious that the Eskimo lived west of Hvalsey (Qaqortoq), and Ungertoq escaped to the interior of the country whither he was pursued by Kassapé, a vindictive but cautious Eskimo. The papal letter states that there had been an attack by heathens Eskimos - about thirty years earlier, which means about 14 18 . A Skræling attack was mentioned above. Although the numbers quoted in the 1448 letter are not to be taken too literally, one cannot but be amazed at the occurrence of three attacks within a span of eighty years. The fact that the waves of Eskimo immigrants along the coast actually did arrive at intervals of quite a number of years seems to clinch the matter. Testimony regarding an attack on the East Settlement is extant today from only one other source; this is Niels Egede’s rendering o f a Greenland legend7 told to him by a Greenlander, an “ Angekokk who was born in the southern part near the Hot Bath” (i.e. a man from Ünartoq Fjord). A c ­ cording to this legend the Eskimos who migrated south along the Green­ land coasts finally reached the most southerly districts. Some of them wanted to settle in the Norse localities, but the Norse inhabitants there would not allow it, though they were willing to trade with the Eskimos. Gradually, however, they came to be on intimate terms with each other. Then suddenly three little boats arrived from the south-west, and some men went ashore to plunder and to kill some of “ the Norse” . The Norsemen were strong enough to repel the attackers, only two of whose boats succeeded in getting away, “ the Norse” keeping the third. The Eskimos were struck with fear and fled into the interior. The next year a whole fleet arrived, who plundered and massacred the Norsemen, and sailed away with all the cattle and everything moveable. Some of the survivors now loaded their boats and left, having made the Eskimos promise that they would give those Norsemen who stayed behind assistance against the pirates if they returned. They did return the fol­ lowing year, and the Eskimos fled, taking some of the Norse women and children with them to the inner reaches of the fjord. When they came back to the ocean coast in the autumn they found the entire settlement pillaged and the farms and houses burnt down or destroyed. They then took refuge in the fjords again, taking with them five Norse women and their children. They married the women and proceeded to

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live with them in peace and happiness. M any years later “ another raider, one of the English privateers” turned up, but being alone he did nothing but trade with the rather large group o f Eskimos that he found. The attack described above came “ from outside the district” , and was undoubtedly very similar to the English raids on the coast of Norway, Iceland, or the Faroes. The description seems reliable enough to justify more detailed discussion here. First of all it is explicitly stated that the horror-struck Eskimos fled to the inner reaches of the Qords, and that the attack and the fighting took place on the coast. But the Norse farms were generally situated in the fjords at some distance from the open sea. V ery few o f the East Settlement farms could be seen from the ocean, and even though a vessel might venture in among the numerous little islands it was un­ usual for it even to catch sight of one of the outlying villages. The only village settlement which was situated directly on the sea was Herjolfsnes, but excavations there have not revealed any signs of pillage. Herjolfsnes was the first harbour to welcome any vessel which had doubled Greenland’s southern cape; it was a conspicuous place and the most likely of the Norse settlements to be attacked from the sea. When the legend states that the three small boats arrived from the south-west, this description corresponds very well with the entrance to the Herjolfsnes harbour. This unique tradition can thus be trusted with at least a limited amount of probability if Herjolfsnes is agreed to be the site of the events. But it is stated that the farms and houses were burnt down. In the entire East Settlement no ruin groups show sure signs of having been burnt, not even in the Herjolfsnes village. Niels Egede’s rendering of the tradition clearly states that “ to their horror they saw that everything had been plundered, houses and farms had been burnt down and des­ troyed, so that there was nothing there” . The description seems un­ equivocal. However, it is always doubtful how much importance should be given to the information contained in such a tradition — and in par­ ticular to the style and the choice of words. It is well known that legends may change shape every time they are retold orally, and when they are finally written down, the style and the phraseology may differ widely from the original. Some words and phrases form such an intrinsic part o f the tradition that they may safely be held to stem from “ the original core” , while others can be the result of embellishment. T o pick and choose among the individual words and phrases, accepting some and rejecting others, is a matter that must be left to the individual, and subjective, judgement.

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When Niels Egede writes that farms and houses had been burnt down and destroyed, he m ay have chosen such words because, in his childhood during the colonization period, he had witnessed how the Nepisat settlement had been completely burnt down by “ strangers” (i.e. Dutch whalers). No special importance need be attached to the words “ burnt down” ; the core o f the tradition presumably lies in the last word “ destroyed” . Th e method of destruction undoubtedly appealed specially to the creative powers o f the imagination. Though we do not find any signs that the farms and houses of the East Settlement were burnt down, they may have been destroyed in a different w ay by hostile people “ from outside” . The tradition, although it maintains that burning took place, cannot be rejected just because no burnt-out ruin groups have been found.8 Niels Egede wrote that the attackers came from the south-west, and such an indication may be very reliable even in the West Greenlandic language. It is also likely that some small vessels were used for putting the strangers ashore. The number of craft is immaterial, as is the state­ ment that they returned as a whole fleet. Vessels that seemed small to a seventeenth-century South Greenlander must have been very small even more so to a European of the same period. As has been mentioned earlier, medieval ships were much smaller than the whalers of the seventeenth century. There is something about this detail that gives the tradition credibility; it clearly expresses a wish to hand down to posterity a true picture of the ships, and thus they are compared with ships that are well known to the audience. I f the narrator had wanted to make the story more exciting, he could easily have represented the ships as bigger than they were. I f the core of this South-west Greenland tradition, as it has been handed down to us in Niels Egede’s rendering, is true, who then are the hostile strangers? Niels Egede mentions “ one of these raiders, who belonged to the English privateers” . This is certainly his interpretation, for later he writes: “ The very same kind of people sometimes come to this country to trade with the Greenlanders, but whenever there is an opportunity they go plundering all over, so it is likely that those searobbers were the same, and now they have colonies across the ocean in Am erica” . Since we are also forced to give most of the credit for this statement to Niels Egede himself, the question of the aggressors’ true identity is still left open. Not until rather late did the English - and the Dutch - navigate the western part of the North Atlantic, although we know that they may have been blown off course while on trading voyages to Iceland. But there are other candidates for the role of the outside aggressors, namely the Basques. Basque whaling had started perhaps as early as the

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eleventh century, although this cannot be established as a fact. But we do know that the whales left the Bay of Biscay some time during the thirteenth century, and the Basques, who depended greatly on whaling, followed them. The compass came into general use in the thirteenth century, as did the so-called arbalest (a kind of crossbow), both of which instruments enabled the whalers from Saint Jean-de-Luz, Biarritz and Bayonne to venture farther to the north and to harpoon directly from the ships and not as formerly from small boats. The whales, both the baleen whale and the sperm whale, moved even farther north, and thus the Basques were compelled to undertake long North Atlantic voyages during the fourteenth century. According to Basque tradition they landed in Newfoundland about 137 2 . Th ey also found large fishing grounds and began large-scale cod-fishing, building drying-establishments in Newfoundland, where Basque place-names even today bear witness to their activities. When the cod had been dried, it was salted and shipped to Europe where it fetched good prices. Besides the cod fishing, the Basques continued whaling, and followed the animals as they moved north into Hudson Bay and Davis Strait. There is also a Basque tradition that they came in touch with the local population in South-west Greenland. I f this is true, the population must have been Norsemen, and not Eskimos, because the Eskimos did not settle in the south-west so early. In 14 12 the Basques9 reached the waters about Iceland. This is sub­ stantiated by the sources. There is much that seems to verify the tradi­ tion of Basque navigation of the North Atlantic. In fact it is highly probable that Basque whalers reached the south-west Greenland coasts and occasionally even came across people living there. It is tempting to bring into the discussion the Burgundian cap which was unearthed from the Herjolfsnes churchyard, and which so eloquently proclaims the connection between Greenland and Western Europe after 1450. The cap points directly to France. The Basques were the only people from France who navigated the Atlantic in the late Middle Ages, and the Burgundian cap was the fashion in France about 1450. Could a Norse woman have copied a cap that she had seen being worn by some Basque whaler? The Basques were reputed to be daring privateers during the Hundred Years’ W ar which was dragging to its close about the middle of the fifteenth century. But at sea they and the English were relentless rivals. Perhaps it was the Basques who attacked and destroyed the Norse farms in Niels Egede’s account - it is more likely to have been the Basques than the English. The question cannot be answered with a clear yes or no. Did the attack take place at Her­ jolfsnes or was it elsewhere? That question also cannot be answered. We are left only with surmise, and it all depends on how far we are

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prepared to trust the unique tradition that Niels Egede has handed down. The tradition seems to gain in reliability from the Burgundian cap and the Basque tradition, if Herjolfsnes is accepted as the scene of the events - in which case we are also able to explain what happened to the people who dug the last graves in the churchyard: they were killed by the Basques and thrown into the sea, which was the easiest w ay to dispose of a murdered victim. Some o f the Norsemen, it must be re­ membered, had already left the place with all their belongings. Where they went is unknown, but we can conjecture that they were lost at sea. The Norse Greenland farmer was not an expert navigator. The few women and children left in the settlement were taken care of by the Eskimos. Whether this reconstruction is true or over-imaginative is im­ possible to decide, but the details, though collected from different sources, form a coherent whole. Th e continuous treatment of the source material has taken us deep into the problems surrounding the extinction of the East Settlement, and has left no room for a description o f the kind of life that was lived on the farms during the last years. U p to the present the excavations have indicated a tragic end in only one case. Although one may seek to establish one overriding cause of the extinction of East Settlement life, several concurrent causes could hold good for the entire settlement. Perhaps some factors were decisive in one part and, others elsewhere. Although the farms lay huddled together along the shores of the flords, the same causes need not have been operative all over. It is noticeable about the churches that there are no traces of chalices, hosts, wafer cases, censers, or any other church equipment; the floors and corners, where objects might easily have lain concealed or pressed down between stones, are as clean as if they had been swept. Not one of the many objects used in the Catholic mass has come to light. It is true that many crosses and crucifixes have been found, but these were all found in graves or in the houses - in the West Settlement they were in the houses exclusively, never in the churches. The only feasible ex­ planation is that they were removed. Somebody, then, who was leaving the place took them with him. But in the excavations of Eskimo settle­ ments and middens, no church articles other than fragments of bell metal have been revealed. Several Norse objects have been found, but they are all secular. The pieces of bell metal often show signs of having been melted, which may testify to attempts at mending a bell that was cracked. But nobody seems to have stolen a whole bell, so the bell metal fragments were probably subjected to the same treatment as stone by the Eskimos in their attempt to turn the metal to use. The deeper one probes into the problems of the extinction of the East

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Settlement, the more baffling they seem to become. The last word has not been said, and novel source material may yet emerge from the unexcavated sites. Until more evidence becomes available, we can picture the last decades of the Norse settlement in Greenland somewhat as follows: In the same Qords which welcomed Erik the Red and his fourteen companions, his serfs, and his cattle, sheep and other animals, and the most important of their movable possessions - where they settled and struggled to create a tolerable existence - from which they set out on the perilous expeditions towards the north for the catch on which they based their slender export trade and crossed Davis Strait to Markland for the timber they could not get at home - where the hunting of reindeer and other quarry gave both pleasure and the means of keeping alive - in these fjords the same kind of life continued during the last of the five centuries of occupation although it was now strictly confined to the farms, the Qords and their close vicinities. A fear of all that was mysterious and inexplicable in life had always been present in these people. They had found refuge in the Church while it was able to fulfil its secular obligations, but this support had now been taken from them, for reasons outside the control of their ministers or themselves. Fear returned. This can be deduced from the account o f the sorcerer who was burnt at the stake in 1407 for having seduced another man’s wife by means of black magic. Witchcraft had been expressly banned by the Archbishop in the 1340s; at this time even the use of runes was forbidden.10 Th at runes were used after the ban is shown by the rune staff from Herjolfsnes; but did not this mean that you had sinned against the Church and thus against G od? Perhaps the Norse inhabitants considered the complete extinction of the West Settlement as God’s chastisement, in the way that illiterate masses in Europe, who had been brought up with the bans and castigations of the Church, regarded the Black Death. The Skrælling assault brought with it the new dread of being attacked from the coast or the sea. No one could feel secure, not even in the home settlement. The winters lasted longer and the frost did not break as early in the year as formerly. The glaciers advanced towards the innermost reaches o f the fjords and the tall birches that had once grown there withered and died. It became necessary to leave the settlements. The crops failed, and Fimbul winters left the sheep, pigs and goats emaciated and weak. Starvation was imminent for man and animals. Without any doubt the cattle succumbed first, and as they could not be replaced the inhabitants were left without their natural supplies. In one o f the East Settlement Qords, then known as Einars Fjord,

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of which the innermost parts were the possession of the cathedral, a creek exists on the south shore, half way up from the mouth. The arm was called Hafgrims Fjord, and at its head a long vista of valleys opens up with little hills and many lakes. This tract, in Norse called Vatnahverfi, is filled with ruin groups, among them one prosaically, but practically termed 64c. The ruin stands on the edge of a waste of sand, which almost completely covers it.11 It may be the change in the Green­ land climate that made animal husbandry impossible, but sometimes man’s interference was just as disastrous. The constant felling of trees and the uprooting o f the scrub for firewood exposed the small plants that bound the light soil to being torn loose by the wind, so that the sand drifted over the home-fields. A t long last the farmer was forced to give up the hopeless struggle and leave his farm. In other places the calamity was not so great, but minor difficulties met almost any farmer in Greenland. When it became impossible to raise crops, and conse­ quently to feed the cattle, especially the valuable cows, the farmer had to give up. In one of the Vatnahverfi farms, excavations have laid bare a large complex of fifteen rooms, and in one of the passages remains of human bones, including parts of a skull, were detected. Th e farm, No. 167, lies secluded near a lake.12 A n almost symbolic picture immediately suggests itself, of this human being walking about alone in the large sequestered house. He (or she) was perhaps the last occupant, so with all the others dead, who was left to perform a burial ? The animals succumbed one by one, some of them serving as food for the lonely individual who, weakened and sick, wandered about the house until he was caught by death, there in the passage. A copy made in 16 23/25 contains the account of an Icelander, Jo n Grønlænder, who is reported to have been to Greenland in about 1540 aboard one of the Hamburg vessels which navigated these waters during the sixteenth century. He is said to have sailed into a Qord through a narrow channel (such a feature is difficult to locate in the East Settlement). The crew observed that the land was inhabited and went ashore. Jo n noticed that there were boathouses and booths very similar to those found in Iceland, and on the beach they found a dead man clothed in a coat made of homespun and sealskin. On his head was a well-made hood, and at his side was a knife which had apparently been whetted so often that not much was left of the blade. W e are again in the presence of the same highly emotive scene. Exhausted by the hopeless fight against nature and against his own kind, the lonely survivor fell to the ground in the final liberation of death. The Norse culture in Greenland had been extinguished. While conditions for the Norse farmer were worsening, they appear

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to have been improving for the Eskimo hunter. During the fifteenth century the Eskimos must have settled in increasing numbers in the East Settlement area. The legend told by Niels Egede begins: “ . . . when their forefathers came from the north from America and advanced southwards through the western parts of Greenland, some of them met the Norsemen and wanted to live with them, but the Norsemen prevented them and only wanted to trade with them, and they were afraid of them as they had many kinds o f weapons.” It is not completely clear who was afraid of whom, but the most Solomonic solution seems also to be the most likely: they were equally afraid of each other, but as larger numbers of Eskimo families arrived in Norse localities, the two races became accustomed to each other. It is expressly stated that some of the Eskimos wanted to live near to the Norse settlements. I f it is true that they harboured a certain fear of the Norsemen, they must have had cogent reasons for wanting to live near them. It may be that in this way they could find the most favour­ able conditions. The Neo-Eskimo culture was a coastal culture, and settlement took place near the mouths of the fjords. I f a map of the East Settlement is used to compare the positions of the Norse and the con­ temporary Eskimo settlements, it is remarkable that the few, but large Eskimo settlements are to be found far from the coastline of Davis Strait. On the other hand the Eskimos did not settle at the extreme heads of the fjords, as these areas had already been occupied by the Norsemen. This is entirely in keeping with the legend Niels Egede handed down to us. Several of the Eskimos settled very close to the Norse villages, and it agrees also with Eskimo legends from the district concerning the re­ lationship between Eskimos and Norsemen. When quite a number of Eskimo families had arrived, co-existence of a sort resulted, disturbed occasionally by personal quarrels. The reason why the Eskimos, en route towards the south, wanted to settle in the fjords was the ice hunting. The Eskimos are an Arctic people, and they brought their Arctic culture to a region that did not offer truly Arctic conditions. They were on the lookout for areas where the water would freeze during the winter for a considerable length of time. In these districts the water was covered over with ice only inside the fjord mouths, but not at the ocean shore. Although some eleventhcentury Norse sources report that the Qords were covered with ice, it was not thick enough to be used by the Eskimos for ice hunting. Again we see clear evidence that the climate deteriorated during the four­ teenth and fifteenth centuries. While the number of Eskimo immigrants increased, the number of

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Norse settlers was decreasing, until they had all died and their farms lay deserted, almost inviting pillage. The Eskimos had come to stay. The number of Eskimo settlements that reveal house-types characteristic of the early Inugsuk culture is, however, surprisingly low. A few of these settlements admittedly contain many houses o f the early type, but it is as if the settlement were compressed into as little space as possible, perhaps on account of fear o f the Norsemen. Th e conditions for hunting were not ideal for the Eskimo group. This m ay explain why the settle* ment became permanent for only a few families, the rest wandering on southwards again, rounding the southern tip o f the country and moving north up the East coast. The Eskimos were on the move for several centuries from 135 0 on­ wards. The immigration into North-west Greenland was continuous, but it came in waves, continuing either southwards or across the north of the country. Such immigration-waves must be thought o f according to a modest, Arctic scale, comprising groups o f varying sizes. Th e Eskimo migrations lasted until the beginning of the eighteenth century in West Greenland, and until the nineteenth century in the East coast; the most recent immigration into the north-west corner of Greenland took place in about 1865 as mentioned earlier. As regards the w ay of life of the Eskimo immigrants into Greenland we must once again content ourselves with the evidence of archaeology, as no written source-material is extant from before 1600. The excava­ tions over the last thirty years along the Greenland coasts have, however, mapped out the Eskimo routes, which, at least at one time, encircled the entire island. In the fourteenth century the West Greenland Eskimo groups were still the bearers of the Inugsuk culture, which they had brought along with them, and which was predominant on the West coast as far north as Melville Bay well into the sixteenth century. It underwent modifica­ tions, usually but not always slight ones, and some being determined by the natural conditions in the various localities; in the main however it preserved a character of its own. In a previous chapter we have traced the spread of this culture to the district about Kangám iut; but the archaeologists compel us to jum p from Kangámiut, near Godthåb, a distance of 500 kilometres to the present Julianehåb. This great stretch of land was inhabited by Eskimos after 1350 , just as it was in the eight­ eenth century and still is, but the coasts and the shores have not been subjected to the investigation of Eskimo-archaeology. It is possible, however, that the coastal regions from Sukkertoppen to the northern shore of Julianehåb Bay offered even worse conditions for ice hunting than the Julianehåb district, so that the Inugsuk Eskimos did not feel inclined to settle on these coasts.

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Therkel Mathiassen has examined several settlements in the vicinity of Julianehåb.13 Thirteen of them could be dated, either to the end of the fourteenth century or to the fifteenth century. Most were situated half way between the ocean coast and the front of the ice cap. One of them was half-way along Prins Christians Sound (i.e. almost on the East coast). Not much ice hunting can have been undertaken there in the network of sounds and straits, with its many islands. The locality is called Anordliuitsoq, which means “ the place where the flame does not flicker” , i.e. presumably, where the wind does not blow much. It was undoubtedly desirable to live in a place near narrow sounds and protected by mountains, for when wind and currents are strong the water freezes over only slowly unless the frost is unusually h ard; there are no grounds for believing that the frost was any harder then than in later times in the far south of the country. Since this area was in­ habited until the nineteenth century, the special West Greenland hunt­ ing culture must have developed there. O f the sixty-nine houses of the early type found in the settlements thereabouts, fifty-five were clustered in only four places, which means that they were squeezed together within very narrow boundaries. Tw o of the larger sites were on the island just opposite Dýrnes church, the present Narssaq Avangnardleq, and around the strait between this island and the mainland were four Eskimo settlements. It is tempting to conclude that Dýrnes had been abandoned by the Norsemen because so many Eskimos settled there. One settlement was Igdlutalik, which contained four houses of the ancient type; another was Isua, containing eight of these early houses. Almost half of the local Eskimo population in the late Middle Ages lived in these four settlements. There are several obvious gaps in the Eskimo settlement. Einars Fjord, with its many Norse churches and farms, is without any fifteenthcentury Eskimo ruin groups. Only in one place on the very tip of the Julianehåb peninsula did one little settlement appear. Sixty kilometres south of it was the next group, consisting of four settlements centring round Igpik, the northern tip of Unartoq Island. Few Norsemen lived either in Únartoq Fjord or in the fjord to the north of it, Agdluitsoq Fjord, where only the convent and a couple of Norse villages were situated. The three Eskimo settlements were small, and at a respectful distance from the Norse farms. The Unartoq settlement, which revealed three houses of the early type, was about 16 kilometres from the convent at the head of the Qord. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the settlement in groups was due to a factor common to all the localities, namely that these places had been left by the Norsemen - both the farmers and the clergy. Once again we must turn for help to Niels Egede’s account,

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which says that the Eskimos fled far into the Qord; but nothing is stated about any Norsemen living there. I f the account is reliable, it indicates that the fjord was uninhabited at the time, and that it was well known to the Eskimos. W e have no chance o f ascertaining which Qord is meant. The sixty-nine house sites in the twelve late medieval Eskimo settle­ ments clearly reveal the ancient Inugsuk culture. Th ey are small houses, round, or square with rounded corners, all o f them sunk into the ground. Some o f them have kitchen extensions with fireplaces in which blubber and bone were used as fuel. In certain places two or three houses were built into one single block, a phenomenon also occurring in more northerly localities. Not much was found in the houses or in the graves, but the artifacts that came to light, among them lamps with wick-ledges, were unmistakably Inugsuk. There were many articles of Norse origin, such as pieces of iron and bell metal, and whole knife blades. Some of these things may have been acquired peacefully, having been either bought or received as gifts, but the major part of the articles may be the loot pillaged from the deserted farms. In Therkel Mathiassen’s words, neither the Norse farmer not the ecclesiastic would batter the large church bells to pieces in order to provide the Eskimos with material for their heavy hammers. The Inugsuk culture evident in these finds has lost its distinct Arctic character; nothing, for example, was found that had to do with the dog sledge. But there can be no doubt that the dog sledge was used, perhaps only on a modest scale, as it could not otherwise have spread north­ wards along the East coast, where signs of it have been found. Once more we must conclude that the immigrants brought their traditions to localities where it might be difficult to keep them up. Some whaling seems to have been done; whale bones were extensively used in house building. The whale-bone kayak rack was also known, as it was among Inugsuk people farther towards the north on the West coast (probably it was the cruciform type, as opposed to the later ring-shaped type). It is quite probable that it is in these centuries that the kayak was further developed and the traditional gear supplemented. The motive for the improvement of the kayak was the fact that openwater sailing became increasingly important to the West Greenland Eskimos as they moved farther south. No doubt stor-is hunting, in which the kayak is second to none in manoeuvrability despite its frailty, inspired the innovations. The numerous quarry to be found in the stor-is9 ranging from seals (especially the large bladder-nose) to polar bears, together with the dry-land hunting of reindeer, made the Eskimos stay in the localities at least for some time. It was hunting on the ice that made the Eskimos

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settle at Anordliuitsoq, which was well protected against the stor-is itself, although close enough to it for hunting purposes when it blocked the ocean coasts in the east, south and west in spring and summer. For the remainder of the year the seals were numerous in the narrow sounds between the islands. Not a great number of people can have settled in this part of the country in the late Middle Ages, as we have mentioned above. There were no more than twelve settlements, and most of them were small. Although the hunting possibilities were not bad, these areas did not tempt people in whom the Arctic tradition was strong. Dissatisfied, the hunters set out again in search of better conditions, but to the south their route was barred by the boundless ocean, and they were forced to carry on their search northwards up the East coast - “ the rear part of the country” , nunap tunua. This wandering northwards - through and beyond Prins Christians Sound along the hardly negotiable coast o f East Greenland - must have taken place quite rapidly. Archaeologists are of opinion that the earliest settlement as far north as the Angmagssalik area was completed not much later than the middle of the fifteenth century. The migration can be traced for about 2,000 kilometres, so that the northernmost known Inugsuk settlement on the East coast - Dødemandsbugten, on the south side of Clavering Island - has a more northerly latitude than the locality on the West coast from which the culture derived its name. This Inugsuk settlement on the East coast could, however, be the result of an immigration from the Thule district around the north of the country, but no such immigration has been proved to have taken place earlier than 1500. On Frederik V i ’s Coast twenty-three settlements were found, and although they did not reveal much find material they clearly belonged to the Inugsuk culture. It is obvious also that the settlement was concentrated in groups, and only a few dwelling houses were found outside the clusters of houses. There are two possible reasons for this concentration of the buildings. First, this kind of settlement planning may have been necessitated by the whaling; the catching o f large whales was an enterprise in which all the hunters had to participate. Secondly, it may have been because it is natural for migrating groups to stick together. We have no means of knowing for how long the hunters stayed in the same place, but the paucity of artifacts found and the bad state of repair of the houses indicate that the sojourn was not very long. The sites prove that the houses were of the small, round and sunken type; the walls are now caved in, but the flagged floors are preserved together with sunken house passages and in some cases little extensions serving as kitchens. Among the earliest houses some had

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been built together into one block, just as on the West coast. A ll the artifacts found were of the Inugsuk type. The southernmost of these sites was situated in Lindenows Fjord some 40 kilometres north of the eastern mouth o f Prins Christians Sound. Th e most northerly Inugsuk house on this part of the coast was more than 380 kilometres to the north, at Qmgortoq near Igdluluarssuk. Abour 250 kilometres farther north we come across the next traces of Inugsuk, in the Qords behind Angmagssalik. No less than twenty-one settlements discovered here reveal houses of the Inugsuk type. Th at three of them are doubtful does not really matter, since they are three individual houses. Again we see settlement in groups. Three of the settlements have several houses. There are three at Portusoq on a cape at the head of Angmagssalik Fjord, where it forks into two creeks; three at Savanganeq, and six at Sükersit. Th e two last-named localities are in Sermilik Fjord, one on the east shore of the Qord mouth, the other half-way into the fjord on the west shore. Th e other settlements consist of one or two houses each. It is characteristic of all the settlements here that they are somewhat removed from the ocean coast. The characteristics of the Inugsuk culture which were present in the southern West coast settlements are repeated here. The houses have circular ground plans, often with kitchen extensions. Th ey are small houses with sunken floors and house passages that have been lowered even deeper into the ground. The articles found were clearly Inugsuk though of the south-western type. This is one of the proofs that the immigration into the East coast regions must have taken place along a southerly route. Undoubtedly whaling was important to these people, but sealing was the mainstay of their existence. They were also familiar with ice and kayak hunting. Besides the kayak - and of course, the umiaq - the dog sledge seems to have been in use. The reindeer hunt in the summer was a pleasant change in the hunting cycle, and perhaps an occasional bear hunt added some excitement to their lives. For implements and utensils these East Greenland Eskimos were compelled to use stone and bone to a greater extent than their West Greenland contemporaries; iron is exceedingly rare in the finds. Not very many families lived here, and their number hardly exceeded that of the houses. There m ay have existed a greater number of settle­ ments than can be seen today, and some of them may well have been larger. In some places there is unambiguous evidence that later houses were built on the sites of early ones, but it was not possible to determine the age of the latter. I f we leave out such houses and also omit the doubtful ones mentioned above, the number of houses and families does not exceed thirty-four. W e know nothing o f the size of the families, but if we take it as between five and ten it means that the total number

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of inhabitants must have been between 150 and 350, very close to the number o f Polar Eskimos about the year 1940. The bearers of the Inugsuk culture that “ wandered” northwards up the pathless East Greenland coast came in separate and small batches, not in large crowds. As we have seen, they reached the Angmagssalik area between 1450 and 1500 and proceeded slowly northwards. That region seems to have been uninhabited as far as Glavering Island until about 1500. All the archaeological research in this part of the country, however, was carried out prior to the discovery of the special types of houses and implements of the Sarqaq and Independence I cultures. Such special types have been found in more northerly localities only on the East coast. Eigil Knuth spotted Dorset culture in a settlement north of Clavering Island, at Zackenberg. In 1948 Jørgen Meldgård and a Swiss archaeologist, Hans-Georg Bandi, examined some of the sites which archaeology had left untouched in Dødemandsbugt. American military forces, who had been stationed there for some time, had been eagerly “ treasure-hunting” on the sites, in spite of which the researchers suc­ ceeded in placing these sites in their proper context. All this, then, goes to prove that during the fourteenth century an immigration took place from the north-western part o f Greenland, across the north of the country, down into North-east Greenland. Until further evidence is revealed, we must assume that this immigra­ tion reached as far south as Dødemandsbugt on Clavering Island during the latter half of the fourteenth century or perhaps at the beginning of the fifteenth century. It is very remarkable that this incoming culture bore the clear stamp of some Dorset culture types. A comparison with Knuth’s discovery due north of Dødemandsbugt makes it possible to assume that the settlement in these parts was continuous for a considerable length of time. The immigration-wave of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries introduced into these parts the rectangular long-house type, known from Inglefield Land in North-west Greenland during the thirteenth century. But life on Clavering Island could not possibly have been the same as in North-west Greenland. There was no whaling, but sealing appears to have been all-important. The hunting of reindeer was also important and quite extensive, and numerous polar bears were killed. The driftwood stores were larger in this area than in more northerly and north-westerly localities, hence long beams of wood would often take the place of whale bones in the construction of houses; this fact could naturally have influenced the type of house that was preferred there. It was some decades into the sixteenth century that immigrant

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bearers of the Inugsuk culture came to these regions from the south. As a result a kind of mixed culture later emerged, which can be seen at Kangerdlugssuaq north of Angmagssalik. Although the beginning of the sixteenth century saw the Eskimo circle close around Greenland, there were of course large expanses between the settlements without human habitation for long spells, although people always seem to have been on the move southwards or northwards. The Greenland Eskimo families were not deterred by the thought of long journeys which entailed at least some years away from the customary homestead. Perhaps they returned after some time, perhaps they stayed on in the new locality, or perhaps after some years they moved to a third place. The Eskimo felt the call of the open stretches very strongly. The wanderings followed the Greenland shores, because the Eskimos seem to have had no longing to cross the seas; the Greenland territory was quite sufficient for them, and at the close of the fifteenth century they seem to have been alone on Greenland soil. Greenland had become the land of the Eskimos, kalåtdlit nundt. K aldtdlit,14 Greenlanders - kaldleq, Greenlander: the designation is late and presumably did not come into general use until the twentieth century. In medieval times and even as late as the eighteenth century, the Eskimos called themselves inuit or “ human beings” ; this was an all-Eskimo designation marking their difference from all individuals who seemed to come from other places, qavdundt, which perhaps means “ people who come from the south or from the outside” . Beyond any doubt the Eskimos felt that they were different from people they met on their southbound route along the Greenland West coast. It is one thing to recognize this, but another to invent a special generic term for one’s own ethnic group. The origin of kaldtdlit is uncertain; it is probable, however, that it is the creation of European “ armchair” geography and cartography of the eighteenth century. As we have mentioned earlier, the Middle Ages vaguely accepted the existence of a country which was called by more or less fanciful variants of the name Grønland: Gronlandia, Grolandia, Groenaland, Grenaland; they are all understandable misreadings. Ideas o f the country’s geographical position were vague; in the North, especially in Norway and Iceland, people seem to have realized that Greenland was situated west of Iceland, although notions of the points of the compass were also rather hazy at that time. In Greenland itself the West Settlement was thought of as being west of the East Settlement, although it is actually situated north of the East Settlement. It m ay almost be said that the farther south you lived, the more northerly and easterly was your idea of Greenland. The notion that Greenland and Norway were connected by a stretch of dry land across the Arctic

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seas was fairly widespread. Th at the Arctic Ocean was filled with ice had not passed unnoticed. Without wanting to digress too far into the history of geography or cartography, it is important for the sake of clarity to remember that during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries navigation in these waters increased, especially due to the general use of the compass. In Portugal Henry the Navigator was the moving spirit in the assiduous Portuguese attempts to find a sea route to India south of Africa. In Catalonia and Italy cartography was coming to the fore during these centuries; the maps produced were generally the so-called compass-maps. The basis of medieval maps was still the system expounded by Ptolemy (in about a d 140), since whose time many descriptions of countries and books of travel had circulated throughout Europe in manuscript, just as Ptolemy’s Geographia had done before. Am ong such descriptions was that of Adam of Bremen, who must be held responsible for having placed Vinland, Greenland and Iceland in a north-south line. In the H istoria Norvegiae a number o f peoples living “ on the other side o f Norway” are mentioned; in the east are the Karelians (Kvanerne), the Finns and the Bjarm ar. The author expressly states that he has no knowledge of the peoples living to the west of Norway, but he says that in the Arctic Ocean sailors have come across strange people between the country where the Greenlanders live (i.e. the Norse settlements in Greenland), and the land of the Bjarm ar, which the author clearly separates from Iceland and Greenland. North of the Norse Greenlanders the Skrælings are reported to live. In the text as it is, the Karelians come very close to the Skrælings; they live in the east, while the Skrælings live in the west and perhaps more to the north. But when it is remembered that the system of that time considered the earth a flat disc, it becomes clear that because o f the curvature of the earth, the Skrælings, who are stated to come from the north, really came from the east, and thus Karelians and Skrælings were one and the same people. Claudius Clavus Swart,15 a Danish geographer usually referred to as Clavus, who drew his maps in the 1420s, gives a very brief description of the Nordic countries as a commentary to the maps. Having men­ tioned several place-names in southern, western and northern Norway he reaches the Lapps who are reported to inhabit vast stretches towards the west; in fact he invented a country north and west of Norway, bordering on mare congelatum, the Arctic Ocean. West of the Lapps he places “ the little pygmies, no more than one ell tall; I have seen them myself after they had been caught at sea in a skin boat which now hangs in Nidaros Cathedral. In the cathedral there is also a long boat of skin which was taken with the same kind o f pygmies in it.” There

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can be no doubt that the “ pygmies” are Eskimos. A kayak and an umiaq were in the possession of the cathedral. West o f the pygmies Clavus maintains the existence of “ an inaccess­ ible land which is not known because of the ice” . From this country Greenland forms a peninsula towards the south, or, to use Clavus’ own expression, “ Greenland hangs down from that land” . Into Green­ land come “ the heathen Karelians, whom I have seen, with a huge army, and no doubt they come from the other side of the North Pole” . In this passage the Karelians have been moved towards the west, and are identified as the people who attacked the Norse settlements, while the pygmies are not considered to have been the aggressors. Clavus was copied again and again, and his ideas soon became incorporated into the general geographical conception o f the times. In this w ay the name “ Karelians” stuck to Greenland for a long time, which m ay explain why the term was still in use as late as the eighteenth century. Clavus’ description o f the pygmies, however, corresponds with early accounts o f the Skrælings. It is still an open question whether Clavus’ knowledge was based on personal experience or was second-hand, obtained through literature or oral tradition or both. In his preface he maintained that his know­ ledge was based on personal experience and, as already mentioned, he does seem to have seen the pygmies as well as the heathen Karelians in Greenland. It is questionable, however, what importance should be attached to such assurance in medieval writers, and nothing that Clavus tells us could not have been found in the literature then extant; for example the indications of ships* courses could have been learnt from any sailor. It is possible, however, that he was in Trondheim once and saw the skin boats there in the cathedral. Almost a century later Olaus Magnus,16 an expatriate Swedish prelate, claims to have seen two kayaks outside Oslo Cathedral. It is more likely that Clavus saw the two skin boats he mentions, than that Olaus Magnus saw the kayaks in Oslo. But this is not to say that Clavus saw with his own eyes all the things about which he tells us. He mentions “ the huge arm y” of attacking Karelians; archaeology has proved that during the fifteenth century the number of Eskimos in the East Settlement was far too small to warrant the use of such words as “ huge arm y” . The strongest suggestion that Clavus never went to Greenland is to be found in his apparent ignorance of any place-names; at that time the Garðar see was known even to the curia in Rome. Clavus’ ignorance is damning evidence, des­ pite his amazing knowledge in other respects. His fixing of localities goes as far as the district about Upernavik on the West coast, and in one map the East coast is left without any names. Clavus even knows of the midnight sun; but he may very well have obtained such knowledge

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through reading or by listening to the sailors in Trondheim or Bergen. The place-names with which he endows the Greenland coast were clearly his own invention. They simply consist o f the individual words of a stanza written on the occasion in the style of the times:

Der bor en mand i en Grønlands å og Spjeldebod monne han hedde; mer haver han af hvide sild end han haverflæsk hintfede. Norden driver sandet på ny. (There was a man in a Greenland brook / his name was Spjeldebod / he has plenty of white herrings / but not much fat. / The sand is again driven northwards.)

Detail of A . A . Bjørnbo’s reconstruction o f C lavus’ second map. Petersen css, plate 2.)

(After Bjørnbo and

Only in ignorance could a medieval writer have committed such a forgery. But perhaps the spuriousness was not so obvious in those days; perhaps, also, the place-names were only meant to indicate that the country was inhabited, which was what Clavus especially wanted to convey to his readers. After all he frankly admitted that there was a land between the pygmy country and Greenland which was unknown on account of the ice, or into which it had proved impossible to travel. However, Clavus’ immediate successors among geographers and carto­ graphers were not able to detect the place-name forgery, as none knew

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Danish. This was why Clavus’ “ place-name stanza” was often printed on their maps in a more or less corrupt form. Almost any interpretation was possible, and curiously enough this became of importance - even politically. Clavus’ description of the North, the first detailed map of these regions and the very first map of the Greenland coastlines, were all produced in the fifteenth century; one map was drawn in Italy before 1424, while the other one, which is more detailed, was undoubtedly made in Denmark. The description of the regions is only loosely con­ nected with the maps. The originals of the maps and of the description are lost; only copies are now extant. There can be no cause to doubt that Clavus’ maps and his description met the demands of his times and filled a gap in geographical knowledge. For years there had been various rumours about the far north, but no one had been able to visualize it as long as Ptolemy was the sole authority. This is why Clavus’ map was important. W ith all its geographical and carto­ graphical skill posterity can only marvel at the comparatively correct shape which Clavus gave to Greenland. It is far superior to many later maps, and not till the eighteenth century did cartographers give Greenland a shape we can accept. Some years after Clavus, apparently about 1440 and in the UpperRhine area, a map of Greenland was drawn,17 that was undoubtedly inspired by Clavus. In itself this map is not very illustrative. It forms part of a much larger map, added to two texts, one o f which is a description of a journey to Mongolia about the middle of the thirteenth century; the other is a mediocre copy o f a high-medieval cosmography. The map shows the entire “ world” , copied by the cartographer from earlier works. T o this has been added the cartographer’s own copies of Iceland, Greenland and Vinland, all three countries being shown as islands in the western Atlantic. As drawn, the islands are the product o f the cartographer’s imagination, and reveal very little knowledge of the Norse tradition, but that this tradition should have reached a geographer in a country as remote as Germany, and led him to map regions that were completely unknown to him, is remarkable in itself. Unlike Clavus, the German map did not influence later carto­ graphers. Without any doubt the first Clavus map was made in Rome or Florence. In 14 24 Erik V I I , K ing of Denmark, Norw ay and Sweden made a journey to Italy, visiting the Emperor Sigismund in Poland on the way. A t the Polish court he m ay have met the brother o f Prince Henry the Navigator, who resided there at that time. This prince travelled extensively in Europe and among other things he collected geographical works for his brother Henry. Erik V I I ’s queen, Philippa, was the daughter o f Henry I V of England, whose sister was Henry

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the Navigator’s mother. Thus the Portuguese and the Nordic royal families were related.18 Although there is no proof, we may take it for granted that the Portuguese prince, who was interested in geography and even accus­ tomed to the sea, knew of the Biscayan whaling and fishing in the North Atlantic. Since the main object of his extensive studies of geography, astronomy and navigation was to discover a sea route to India avoiding countries occupied by the Turks, he cannot possibly have taken any serious interest in trying to find a westerly route, since his principal concern was finding it towards the south and the east. This task fell to his cousin the Nordic King, who held sway over the most westerly countries in the world as shown by Clavus’ map. The connection between the Portuguese and Nordic royal families was apparently close. In 1448 a Danish nobleman participated in an “ honourable” expedition to the coast of Guinea. Ten years later K ing Alfonso of Portugal, Henry the Navigator’s nephew, asked K ing Christiern I to allow one of the Danish nobles to accompany the Portuguese in their attempt to conquer Morocco. This was done and the nobleman returned to Denmark in 1461 carrying a letter of Ju ly i i , 14 6 1, addressed to Christiern I, the intimate tone of which reveals the close relationship which must still have existed between the two dynasties so far apart. By then Henry the Navigator had died, but his ideas for finding the sea route to India were still being carried on with the same kind of stubbornness which had characterized his own efforts. When the attempts were successful in 1498, the thought of also dis­ covering a westerly sea route to India was not dropped for that reason. On March 3, 1 5 5 1 , Carsten Grip (or Grypp), the burgomaster of Kiel, informed King Christian III of Denm ark-Norway in a letter19 that he was sending him some maps which he has bought on the K in g’s behalf. On the maps, he writes, Greenland is depicted as part of the New World although connected with the Old World. It is possible to reach Greenland from Lapland and Varberg Fortress. The maps are obvious copies of Clavus-copies. The letter then adds a few lines about Iceland, and finally mentions the expedition on which “ Pining and Potthorst, the two shipmasters” , were sent out “ by Your Royal Majesty’s Grandfather, King Christiern I, at the request of His Royal Majesty of Portugal . . . to seek out new islands and countries in the north” . The expedition mentioned in the letter took place in 1472 or 14 73. It appears also in other sources, and Carsten Grip’s letter helps us to establish the following picture of what happened. A t the request of King Alfonso of Portugal, Christiern I sent out two little-known navigators, Didrik Pining from Hildesheim and Hans Potthorst, of

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whom the latter seems to have been connected with Elsinore.20 Their task was to sail north-westwards on a voyage o f discovery. Th ey were accompanied by the Portuguese, Jo a o V a z Corte-Real, and the Norwegian Johannes Skolp (according to Bobé, the surname denotes Norrland origins). Johannes Skolp is reported to have had some knowledge of Greenland navigation. According to Carsten Grip’s letter quite a number of ships set out, and reached Hvidserk Rock opposite Snæfellsjökul on the Iceland coast, where they built a large cairn or navigation mark on account o f the Greenland pirates. Large numbers of such pirates, in small keelless boats, are reported to have attacked other ships. Contemporary maps lead us to conclude that the ships in fact reached the Angmagssalik district, and, as has been proved by archaeology, this was the only place on the East coast where Eskimos could be met in fairly large numbers. The members of the expeditions are said to have fled from the East coast, and to have then been driven westwards by gales to Labrador or Newfoundland. Some years later, in 1500 or 15 0 1, one of Corte-Real’s sons reached the district about Davis Strait; he sighted the coasts of Greenland, but did not go ashore. On the map which was drawn after his voyage it is stated that in Greenland he could see nothing but steep mountains. This could be the Gape Farewell region or, for that matter, anywhere on the East coast, but not the West coast. In the map the sign symbolizing mountainous country can be seen covering the East coast rather far towards the north. Portuguese activity in these latitudes continued throughout the rest of the fifteenth century and well into the sixteenth, and it must further be remembered that some navigation was still undertaken in these waters by Biscayans. Moreover, there were newcomers to this almost international rendezvous in the North Atlantic: the English merchant adventurers had begun to take a serious interest in whaling and were soon in rather heavy-handed competition with the Biscayans. There must have been at least some contact between Greenland and the rest of the world during the fifteenth century, as we know there was a certain outside knowledge of the Eskimos. First we have Clavus’ description, based on what he had heard; secondly there are the kayak and the umiaq which we have no reason to doubt Clavus actually saw in Trondheim. A certain amount of knowledge o f the Eskimos’ skill at sea also seems to have existed. In his History o f the Nordic Peoples,21 Bishop Olaus Magnus remarks that “ the inhabitants of Greenland are extremely good at sea; they use skin boats which are very safe, and they sail up to approaching vessels and sink them” . It is here that, as already mentioned, he asserts that he has seen two such kayaks himself outside Oslo Cathedral; he makes a drawing o f one of

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them in his Carta M arina. In 15 5 3 Lopez de Gomara, a Spanish geo­ grapher, writes of the people in Greenland that “ they sail about in boats completely covered with skin for fear o f the cold and the fish” . He mentions their fighting qualities and bravery. This information is known to derive from an account of Pining’s and Potthorst’s expedition. Once again, as in the small medieval History o f Norway, it is the clash between Eskimos and Europeans that is the dominant feature. This time there is a factual foundation, because the Eskimos o f the fifteenth century had reasons for being aggressive. In the Greenland legendary material it is a recurrent tradition that a ship o f vengeance will one day come to kill off all the Eskimos because they had killed the Norse farmers. The Greenland Eskimos possibly looked upon Pining and Potthorst as the expected avengers and consequently attacked them. It is probable that Pining and Potthorst were sent out also with the object of re-establishing contact with the Norse settlements. Other, sometimes unexpected, initiatives were taken to revive the activity in these regions that were so remote in the eyes of contemporaries. Perhaps this is explained by the interest in geognosy which is so typical of the later fifteenth century. Clavus’ map was often copied in the 1480s and 1490s by, amongst others, the papal authorities. Throughout the century successive Popes appointed bishops to the Garðar see, fully conscious that none o f them would ever dream of going to their diocese. The appointments were always made by pro­ vision, that is in derogation of the right of the local chapter. In the case of Garðar, where there was no chapter, the right fell to the A rch­ bishop of Nidaros, a right which had even been confirmed by the Council of Basle in 14 36 to include Iceland, the Faroes, the Sudr Islands (perhaps the Hebrides, but possibly also implying the Shet­ lands, the Orkneys and the Hebrides) and Greenland. Despite this the Garðar bishops were appointed by provision, and most of them were curialists - prelates at the papal court who had to be endowed with some ecclesiastical dignity to obtain positions in the hierarchy. It does seem, however, that on a few occasions the papacy suffered from a bad conscience with regard to the neglected see. Such an instance is recorded in the papal brief of September 20, 1448, in which Pope Nicholas V requests the Bishops o f Skálholt and Hólar to try to procure ministers and a bishop for the inhabitants of Greenland. The brief gives the impression that the curia found the situation so disastrous that some­ thing drastic had to be done; it seems to have had no effect, and the project came to nothing. In 1459, a certain Anders Mus was appointed Bishop of Garðar by papal provision. He stayed in Bergen for that year, and in 1460 and 1462 was in Iceland, but four years later he was selling indulgences

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while acting as locum tenens for the Bishop of Linköping in Sweden. In 1476 he was in Blekinge and by 148 1 he had died. A Premonstratensian was then appointed by provision, twice in fact, but he resigned in 1492. Again the curia seems to have bestirred itself, because in the same year, Pope Innocent V I I I appointed the Benedictine Martin Knudssøn Bishop of Garðar. The Pope died, but shortly afterwards Knudssøn was confirmed Bishop of the Greenland see by the new Pope, Alexander V I. It seemed that this time the intentions of the curia were more definite. On October 23, 1492, the bishop and the diocese were made exempt from all expenses in connection with the appointment. The curia, of course, was well aware that no income could be derived from the diocese, for this had long been the case, but it also wished the new bishop to make a serious effort to fulfill his pastoral responsibilities. This papal brief reveals a detailed knowledge which is astounding, although its statement that the information is derived from a report cannot be substantiated.22 It is further asserted that no ship had been in Greenland for the last eighty years (“ . . . navis aliqua ab octuaginta annis non creditur applicuisse . . .” ), which is consistent with the last documented connection with Greenland from Scandinavia, shortly after 1 4 1 1 . When the brief goes on to declare that, since there are no ministers to celebrate mass, the inhabitants elevate the communion cloth over which the last local minister consecrated the bread and wine a hundred years ago - then the information is no longer correct. W e know that at least two ministers were functioning in 1409, and of these one even called himself officialis (acting for the bishop). The eighty years’ break in the Greenland navigation is corroborated by other source material, yet archaeological research has shown that European ships did visit Greenland during that period. The agreement between the brief and the Icelandic chronicles seems to be due to coincidence rather than to any precise knowledge. The rest o f the information con­ tained in the brief could have been culled from literature, from the papal archives or from hearsay. As mentioned above the entire spiritual problem may have been dealt with as a formality dressed in the fine robes of surmise; but at least the curia cannot have been ignorant that there had long been no bishop in Greenland, and that no consecrations had taken place. The last-mentioned factor was especially disastrous in Catholic eyes, with its clear implication that the people had returned to paganism. The local Church and its ministers had no possibility for functioning or for administering the means of grace unless a bishop was present, even occasionally. W e can also see the eighty years explained in a different w ay: we know that in 1409 there was an officialis in the East Settlement who

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might be said to represent the bishop, even in the latter’s ecclesiastical capacity. The mention of an eighty years’ intermission m ay express the fact that no bishop had been to Greenland during that period to uphold the untenable position of the officialis, but no doubt this is trying to read too much into the text. No written or verbal source for the facts stated in the brief is revealed, and no notes or letters have come to light to account for the curia’s knowledge. W e must assume an oral source, based on hearsay and rumour. However, the result was much more important than the question of the source of the news. The flourish with which this attempt at establish­ ing some papal activity was announced seemed to exhaust all energy, and the initiative came to nothing. M artin Knudsson never went to Greenland, but acted as locum tenens in Halberstadt in 1500 and 1506. The question why Greenland navigation was not resumed during the fifteenth century has not yet been answered. The source material which might help us to find the answer is very sparse, but the little we do have has been minutely examined in order to solve the enigma of why not even the papal initiative of 1492 had any effect. Yet there were men in that period who did have the courage to sail the northern seas. They did so both in 14 7 2 - 7 3 and later in the century, and both Biscayans and Englishmen are referred to in various docu­ ments several times. The Italian Giovanni Caboto, who had settled in England in 1490 and called himself Joh n Cabot, tried to discover the North-west Passage to India and found Labrador, which had already been visited by Pining, Potthorst and Jo äo Corte-Real in 14 73. One of Corte-Real’s sons, Gaspar, led an expedition to the coastal areas about Davis Strait, and in 1 5 1 7 Sebastian Cabot followed his father and reached Labrador. But none of these navigators went ashore in Greenland. This may point to the reason why the Greenland navigation was not resumed. The explanation is the one always resorted to, but its truth cannot be denied: the navigators were deterred by the deterioration of the climate and the greater quantity of ice in the Greenland waters. During the early Middle Ages ice also occurred along the south­ western coast and along the entire east coast, yet even so some vessels negotiated these waters. But the quantity of ice then was no doubt far smaller, and more manoeuvrable ships were used. The oars could be put out to ward off the ice, and this was not possible with the larger types of vessel, which could only be manoeuvred by means of sails. There can be no doubt it was due to the ice that Gaspar Corte-Real steered clear of the Greenland coasts. It has already been mentioned that the Hanseatics also refrained from navigating the north-westerly waters, supposedly because their cogs were not suited to ice navigation.

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The seafarers knew that they were asking for trouble by entering the icy regions of the North Atlantic, and the glamour of having braved danger must have clung to the few who sailed there. Thus it was an exceptional individual who set out on a voyage through fee-filled waters. People who lived in relatively poor conditions had no energy or desire for such enterprises, and towards the end o f the fifteenth century both Iceland and N orw ay were in this condition. Since the fourteenth century Hanseatic competition had restricted Norwegian shipping to such an extent that the Norwegian import trade was virtually in the hands of foreigners, and Norwegian and Icelandic navigation had been reduced almost to a “ coasting trade” . Throughout the fifteenth century, Hanseatic influence steadily declined, and both K ing Hans and K ing Christiern II adopted policies that aimed at breaking the Hanseatic monopoly. When their attempt was finally successful, however, the Dutch and the English were ready to step in and dominate the maritime trade. Only slowly and by tremendous efforts did Danish-Norwegian shipping succeed in gaining a position for itself. In this it was greatly helped by international political developments. W e can expect to find no successful initiative in the North towards the end of the fifteenth century. Th e sparse source material contains only occasional hints at events that might have brought news to Europe from Greenland. W e have an account o f the shipwreck o f Bjørn Thorleifsson and his wife in about 1450.23 Jo n Grønlænder’s strange experience when he went ashore in Greenland after being driven off course on a voyage to Iceland in 1520, has also been handed down, and finally from about the same time we have Bishop ö gm un d’s arguable assertion that he had seen sheep at Herjolfsnes. T o this must be added reports of wreckage washed ashore in Iceland which appeared to have been treated with seal blubber - this is believed only to have been used by the Norsemen in Greenland.24 The Greenland tradition, however, was stubbornly continued in the monasteries and farms o f Iceland, and in Norway at Trondheim and in Bergen. The course indications were zealously guarded, and the memory of Greenland as part of the Norwegian realm and the route to it was cherished for a long time.

6

TH E SIX T E E N T H

CENTURY

In his Relation du Groenlande (Paris, 16 4 7)1 Isaac de la Peyrére, the French writer and explorer, states that the Danish scholar Ole W orm2 had made the observation “ . . . that an old Danish manuscript reported that about a d 1484, during the reign of K ing Hans, there were at least forty sailors in the town o f Bergen in Norway who sailed to Greenland each year to bring back precious articles; once when they were reluctant to sell their goods to some German merchants who had come to Bergen, the Germans said nothing for the moment, but invited all the sailors to dinner and killed every one of them in one evening” . De la Peyrére comments that the account is not reliable, “ for it is not probable that people could come so easily from Norw ay to Greenland at that time” . Today we too can give no credence to the account, but we can see it as one of the many explanations at different periods o f why the con­ nection with Greenland was discontinued, and perhaps also as an expression of the Norwegian hatred of the Hanseatics. Since they were guilty of so much, why should they not also be the ones to have blocked the Greenland navigation ? There is one element of truth in the account, however, in that the knowledge of the course to Greenland depended on the sailors’ memory. It is due to Archbishop Erik Valkendorf, who collected the course indications and the descriptions of Greenland available in his day, that such material has been handed down to posterity. Erik Valkendorf, a nobleman who had studied divinity and law, was appointed chancellor by the young Prince Ghristiern with whom he left for Norway in 1506. In 15 10 the Trondheim archbishopric fell vacant and, contrary to the wishes of the cathedral chapter, Erik Valkendorf was appointed archbishop by royal and papal provision. His period of office was to be short, however, for soon after 1 5 1 7 he fell out with K ing Christiern, and in 15 2 1 decided to go abroad, dying the following year. On Ju n e 17 , 1 5 1 4 , the Roman cardinal, Marcus de Senigaglia, wrote a letter to K ing Christiern II in reply to a number of requests that the 183

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K ing had made. He informed the K ing that he conceded him the indulgence he had asked “ for the sailors who want to find the islands across the Arctic sea” . This seems to imply that K ing Christiern II intended to send an expedition to Greenland; our source-material does not disclose whether Erik Valkendorf was behind the plan. It is quite possible that the ideas which sprang from the corres­ pondence between the Portuguese and the Danish royal families, which prompted K ing Christiern I to send out Pining and Potthorst, were decisive also for Christiern II. During his stay in Bergen (from 1506) as viceroy, Christiern m ay well have discussed such plans with Erik Valkendorf. The ideas may also have gained new life from the Green­ land tradition which was so strong in Bergen, and Erik’s appointment may have been helpful also, as the Garðar see came under the arch­ diocese of Trondheim as a see to which the Archbishop had the “ right of nomination” . It is beyond all doubt that Erik Valkendorf was personally a keen collector of all available material about Greenland navigation; it is even known for certain that he made several annotations himself. Otherwise Valkendorf’s achievement is recorded in one late and highly unreliable source only, namely Lyschander’s versified and verbose Greenland Chronicle of 1608. This chronicle informs us that Erik Valkendorf wanted to sponsor an expedition himself, but had to abandon the project when he fell into disgrace, a statement which is corroborated in the introduction to the course indication. The introduction says that the Archbishop would have paid for a Greenland expedition had the K ing given him per­ mission and the right o f the country for ten years. But K ing Christiern II did not give his permission; he knew that Greenland was a tributary to the Norwegian Grown and that it could not be transferred to the archiepiscopal see. The King also refused because a Greenland expedition had come to play a more dominant role in his political and financial planning, which was taking final shape at this time. I f the K in g’s plans were to succeed, Greenland could not be left as a pawn in the private power game of the Archbishop of Trondheim. Hans Mikkelsen, a one-time Burgomaster of Malmö, became K ing Christiern’s counsellor in 15 1 7 . He was a wealthy merchant, and the originator of the large Scandinavian trading company which weis being planned and negotiated during the last months o f 1520 in Stockholm. T o any considerable merchant, trade in oriental goods was of paramount importance, and navigation to the orient had to be a part of his activities if he wanted to hold his own. The eastern trade route to India was still in the hands o f the Portuguese, who

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guarded their secret jealously. In 15 1 8 the Portuguese Magalhäens (Magellan) presented the future Emperor Charles V with plans for a westward circumnavigation of the globe, which was hoped to lead to the discovery of a western sea route to India. By this the importance of the North-west Passage, in which Christiern I had inherited a keen interest from his Portuguese connections, would be reduced. Perhaps it was the fear that the North-west Passage might lose its significance that made Christiern IPs agent in Rome, Klaus Pederssøn (later his chancellor), write home requesting the K ing to speed up his Greenland projects. According to Klaus Pederssøn it fell to the K ing to set up the expedition “ and not the Spaniards who everyday seem to get closer to Greenland” .3 Klaus Pederssøn probably alluded to Magellan’s plans which were being finally worked out at the time. Although Erik Valkendorf was no longer the instigator, the K ing’s plans for an expedition to Greenland had not been forgotten. A t the K ing’s request his own personal confessor, Vincentius Pedersen Kampe, was appointed Bishop of Garðar by a papal brief of Jun e 20, 15 19 , despite the fact that Martin Knudssøn, who had been consecrated in 1492, was still alive and the official holder of the title. But as Bishop of Garðar he seems to have been completely forgotten. The papal brief expressly enjoins the new bishop to go to Garðar and show “ the Church” there the papal document. He is furthermore requested to take up residence in the Garðar diocese, which is important as it was the first time the Pope had ordered a bishop to live in Greenland. There can be no doubting the seriousness of the papal intentions.4 The brief says that the voyage will be the easier because “ our dear son in Christ, Christiern, the famous K ing of Denmark, by means of a powerful fleet, intends to take back the town of Garðar from those who worship false gods, and to give the church new equipment” .5 In the letter, in which the King recommended Vincentius Pedersen Kam pe to the Pope, he must have elaborated on his Greenland plans. U n ­ doubtedly the King wanted to re-establish the glory of the Norwegian kingdom, although, of course it was not possible to get back the Shetlands and the Orkneys, which Christiern I had mortgaged away. The plan was not put into action at once, however, one reason for this being that the conquest of Sweden was taxing the country’s strength at that time. But before the end of 1520, the K ing took up his plans for a Greenland expedition once again. On December 10, 1520, he ordered Søren Norby, his admiral, to make ready an expedition to Greenland. A t the same time the negotiations about the Scandinavian trading company were going on in Stockholm. On February 8, 15 2 1, Søren Norby answered the K ing that he was doing his best in prepara­ tion for the expedition, but that he had been grossly cheated over the

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purchase of his ship. It had to be repaired from the keel upwards, and a mast that was sufficiently tall could not be obtained at K alm ar in south-west Sweden. Søren Norby was lensmand at K alm ar Castle, but was also lord of Öland and Gotland. He hoped, the letter said, to be able to finish the preparations just after Easter - in 15 2 1 this was the beginning of April - so that he could “ run to Greenland or any other place where Your R oyal Majesty may wish me to go” . But when Easter came, Søren Norby still had not left for Greenland. The following summer Christiern II suddenly went to the Netherlands with the object of raising money from his brother-in-law, Charles V , and while he was away the Swedish rebellion against him broke out. Søren Norby suddenly had other matters on his hands besides a Greenland voyage, and ended up confined to Gotland where he fought relentlessly and stubbornly in the K in g’s cause during the following years. It goes without saying that the daring Greenland enterprise, which had formed part of the great trading scheme, came to nothing and K ing Christiern had to abandon the whole project. Søren Norby finally had to give up Gotland; he fled to Livonia, where he was detained by the Russian Grand Duke (of M oscow?). But even in his exile he did not forget the Greenland plans. In two letters, written on Ju n e 20 and 24, 1528, he mentions the question to K ing Christiern II, who was still in the Low Countries. In the first letter he tells the fantastic tale that the Grand Duke possessed a part o f Norway and two dioceses in Greenland. One has the impression that Søren Norby shared a belief which was common in those days, that Green­ land lay north of Norway, and that he really had no conception o f the country we call Greenland. The story must speak for itself - it is nothing but fantasy.6 In the second letter he suggests that he might reconquer Greenland for his dethroned sovereign. Neither plan came to anything, o f course, and two years later Søren Norby was killed in the imperial service near Florence. The thought of resuming the connection with Greenland descended once more to the local level. On August 28, 15 3 3 , an agenda was drawn up for the diet to be held at Bud in Romsdal, Norway. Am ong the many entries on the agenda was a very short one: “ Item about Green­ land” , but we do not know what was to be discussed. No great results came to the Nordic attempts to re-establish the connection with Greenland during the first half of the sixteenth century. But these efforts show that the distant country had not fallen into total oblivion. The thought of obtaining some kind of contact comes up occasionally, and it was probably a question which occupied many people’s minds. One positive result had been achieved. Erik Valkendorf’s collection of course indications and other material about Green­

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land helped to preserve such valuable material for posterity. But the Danish-Norwegian monarchy was then experiencing something of a crisis, and consequently no energy was left for North Atlantic projects. So the voyage westward had to be undertaken in imagination, and rumours and tales were soon numerous. Fantastic visions and racy travellers’ tales brought new life to the tradition. Like so much of the Norse tradition, the part that concerned Greenland and the Norse settlements was best preserved in Iceland. Several manuscripts con­ cerning the Norse tradition were copied and so were still widely known in the sixteenth century. One such account relates that the last Catholic bishop at Skálholt was once driven off course westwards to the Green­ land shores. While sailing along the coast near Herjolfsnes he is reported to have seen both people and cattle but, suddenly obtaining a favourable wind, he had no time to go ashore, and the next morning he reached Iceland.7 The last sentence is absurd, but nevertheless the Bishop may well have been near the Greenland coast; still, whatever living things he may have seen, they cannot have been people and cattle. This event is said to have taken place about 1520, and must be counted among the daylight visions. The account of Jo n Grønlænder falls within the category of travellers’ tales, and so does that of Dithmar Blefken.8 He tells of a voyage to Greenland about 156 3, but the descrip­ tion was not published until 1607 and by then it had become so absurd that it had lost any claim to be considered seriously. The Greenland problem - however vaguely realized - had already taken a political turn with Ghristiern I ’s expedition (Pining and Potthorst) and further by the activities of Christiern II. As mentioned above, this may be interpreted as a continuation of Hakon Hakonsson policies from about the middle of the thirteénth century. After the fall o f Christiern I I the political plans had been shelved, but only temporarily. The political unrest during the reign of Frederik I, the civil war of 1 5 3 4 -3 6 , and the subsequent reorganization of the kingdom precluded any far-reaching policy-making, besides which the Reformation absorbed all intellectual energy. It seems that not until the 1550s had sufficient stability returned to enable far-reaching political problems to be tackled again. Suddenly Greenland is heard of again, but only by implication. W e hear indirectly about King Christian I l l ’s preoccupation with Greenland in the letter mentioned above from the Kiel burgomaster, Carsten Grip, to the King. Enclosed with the letter, in which he mentioned Pining and Potthorst, were two maps “ on which Your Royal Majesty may perceive that Your Royal Majesty’s country, Greenland, on both maps belongs

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to the New World and with the islands discovered by the Portuguese and the Spaniards, so that one m ay make an overland journey from Lapland and Vardøhus to Greenland” . Th at Greenland is called “ Your Royal M ajesty’s country” is obviously not Garsten Grip’s own invention, but must represent a convention current at the time. This is evident too in another document from between 15 5 0 and 1 560.9 Only the draft o f the letter is extant, and it was probably never despatched, but the information contained and the ideas expressed reveal clearly what was felt about Greenland and the relation o f the Danish-Norwegian state to this distant country. After 15 36 the N or­ wegian hereditary lands had been very closely united with Denmark. It was resolved that in the future Norway, and the countries belonging to Norway, should form “ a limb of the Danish realm” just as, for example, Jutland, Funen or Zealand, with the same status as provinces of Denmark. In the draft letter just mentioned from Peder Huitfeldt, Chancellor of Norway, he asks leave for himself and Christoffer Valkendorf, lensmand at Bergenhus, the castle of Bergen, to seek out Greenland, “ which has been a tributary to the Norwegian Crown” . A t their own expense and risk they wanted to find the country “ which has been missing for so long that no man knows it” . Were they to find anything of special interest in the foreign countries, they would enter by con­ tract into the trade, navigation and exploitation o f such countries to the benefit of the countries themselves; but at the same time they were to pay the King both tax and tribute where Greenland was concerned, “ as this country has been tributary to the Norwegian Crown since time immemorial” . T h ey wanted a monopoly of the country for themselves, their companions and their descendants if they succeeded in finding it, and the K ing was to ban all other navigation and trade in those parts. The plan was never put into practice, but in itself it points both to the past and to the future. In the past the Norwegian kings had banned all foreign navigation on the tributaries. In the future the thought of monopolizing the Greenland trade and exploitation was to become predominant. It is characteristic that the royal privileges with regard to both Greenland and the Greenland navigation are stressed several times in the letter. It is also revealing that the initiative was transferred from Trondheim to Bergen. Christoffer Valkendorf, nephew of A rch­ bishop Erik Valkendorf, controlled both V ardø Castle and Finnmark; so the name Valkendorf again plays an important role in the question of the Greenland connection. Christoffer Valkendorf later gained renown in his capacity as Rigshovmester, and his name was to be men­ tioned again in connection with Greenland, for as lensmand at Vardø,

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he controlled the navigation north of Norway and, according to the geographical ideas of the times, it was possible to make an overland journey from Vardøhus to Greenland. But the idea of re-establishing the contact with Greenland must have been alive in Bergen too, for it is from this town that another voice is heard calling for the restoration of what had been lost. About 156 7 Absolon (or Absalon) Pederssøn (Beyer), the Bergensian school­ master who also served as minister at Bergenhus, wrote his well-known Description o f Norway10 in which he made a list of the tributaries. Green­ land is mentioned as second only to Iceland, and before the Orkneys and the Faroes. Apparently the schoolmaster did not possess much source-material, for the description is not exhaustive and it is frequently incorrect. The introduction thus becomes the most important part of his work and has the greatest effect. His indignation makes him use stronger words than would be ex­ pected of a humble schoolmaster, but perhaps this was the vocabulary of his Lutheran brimstone sermons. He says that he will not write much about Greenland as he admits his knowledge of the country is limited. He asserts that it was the Norwegians who found and colonized Greenland and kept up the contact. This fact in itself rouses his indigna­ tion: Greenland has fallen completely into oblivion “ in these decadent times” , and the people there have been left without “ any help or assistance, and the money which could to our own praise and honour be spent on such a country and other parts of the realm no one wants to grant, although much money is often spent on trifles that bring far less honour and dignity to our kingdom” . In these words there is probably an allusion to the so-called Nordic Seven Years’ W ar which exhausted the resources of the twin kingdom in the years 156 3 to 1570. These are exceptionally strong words of censure to come from a commoner, so his description was not printed, but circulated in hand­ written copies. He does not stop at this, but goes on to express a thought which was to become the leitm otif for Hans Egede from 1707 to 17 10 : “ W hat could be more glorious before God and the Christian Church than seeking the lost sheep, and changing the country into the green pastures of the Lord? W hat could bring greater praise and honour to the Norwegian kingdom than to have the Prodigal Son return 10 his father’s house?” This is the first time that the idea is expressed by the Danish-Norwegian Church after the Reformation. The Catholic Church had contemplated some kind o f restitution of the remote Greenland Church, but the minister Absolon Pederssøn does not rest content with a restitution, but also demands a reformation in the Lutheran sense of the word. Absolon wanted all estates of the realm to strive for the

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implementation of such plans, so that a country which once belonged to Norway could return, for it had not been lost through w ar and violence but on account of “ our negligence and forgetfulness, which are bad vices that often cause men to forget the common weal, rempublicam , and every one works only for his own good” . From the particular his censure had moved to the general. Th e schoolmaster and moralist denounced the vices and neglect of his times, but at the same time he revealed a deep-felt grief at the loss of “ N orw ay’s glory” - out of his simplicity grew a wish to chastise his times into retrieving what had been lost. Both Anders Sørensen Vedel and Arild Huitfeldt owned copies of Absolon Pederssøn’s Description o f Norway, and they both quoted freely from it. The wish to bring the Lutheran Reformation to Greenland is even more explicit in Anders Sørensen V edel’s preface to Niels Hemmingsen’s Via Vitae (15 74 ). He expresses a strong wish to bring the Gospel to the unfortunate people that have been left to themselves on account of “ our neglect” (the last word clearly brings out the close connection between the two works).11 Whether or not the circles close to Frederik II had any access to copies of Absolon Pederssøn cannot be established; the Valkendorfs and Anders Sørensen Vedel himself may have influenced the K ing to take steps to re-establish the sovereignty of the Norwegian Crown over the northern Atlantic. In 1568 expression was given to this royal attempt on several occasions. On April 12 of that year Frederik II issued a circular to the in­ habitants of Greenland,12 written in a strange language, a kind of Norse, which must have been taken to be the language o f the in­ habitants in Greenland. It was emphasized - to justify the circular constitutionally - that “ from the times of Our first forefathers, and during the reigns of the now deceased Monarchs, Greenland has ever belonged to and been the rightful property of the Norwegian Grown” . Since the K ing succeeded to the throne it had come to His Majesty’s knowledge that an arrangement had been made for two ships to call in Greenland annually, but this navigation had been neglected owing to the weather and the times, which had also happened before. The King would take the population under his protection from then on and see to it that they had proper provisions. The captain of the ship that was to take the letter to Greenland is mentioned by name: Kristern Olborg. He was directed to seek out all the ports that had by then for some years become forgotten. The circular ended with many assurances of His Majesty’s favour and power which would protect his remote subjects for their own good, but, o f course against payment of the traditional taxes and tributes. The K ing’s admission that the

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Greenland navigation had been neglected is remarkable, and immediately brings to mind Absolon Pederssøn’s indignant words. Such an “ explana­ tion” had not been seen earlier. Tw o days before the circular was issued, the K ing had given a promissory note to an English “ pilot” (he was thus styled in the letter,13 which was otherwise in German), whose name was Jørgen Teigsen, which sounds Dutch or Frisian rather than English. This seems to indicate that it was difficult to get hold o f sailors who were familiar with navigation in the North Atlantic, and apparently the Norwegians were no longer thought of as experienced in the field, since Norwegian navigation had been so much reduced. The K ing’s initiative was cut short abruptly. In a letter of April 14, 1 568, no more than two days after the circular, the K ing ordered Peder Okse, his rentemester, and his kansler, Joh an Friis, to suspend the whole matter until he came to Copenhagen from Frederiksborg. Without doubt the risk of losing the ship was felt to be too great, and besides it was needed in the Seven Years’ W ar. Then for eleven years there was silence about the whole affair, but in 15 7 9 the Danish-Norwegian initiative proved more durable. This was probably due to outside factors rather than to any inner necessity. In 15 7 6 -7 8 Greenland had been “ rediscovered” by an Englishman, M artin Frobisher. In Danish-Norwegian eyes the country he had reached could not be other than the Greenland with which no one had yet succeeded in re-establishing any contact. English interest in the North Atlantic had been increasing. Ever since Jo h n and Sebastian Cabot had tried to find a North-west Passage to India and had discovered the American continent in the process, these northern waters had preoccupied many people. This was not only for the sake of the North-west Passage, but because fishing and whaling were becoming important. Until that time it seemed that the Biscayans possessed a whaling monopoly, but the English had started a keen competition, helped partly by experts from Biscay. Frobisher’s14 three voyages must be seen in connection with the attempt to find the North-west Passage, but also against the background of the policy adopted by England already in the fifteenth century to control all sea routes to their shores. In 15 5 4 the current notion o f an overland connection between Norway and Sweden and Greenland, or any other northerly lands in the west, had been shaken. The English had succeeded in proving that it was possible to sail north of Norway to the land of the Muscovites, even as far as the River Ob in northern Siberia; this is clear from the account of Frobisher’s voyages. Sir Hugh Willoughby’s expedition to the Arctic Ocean led to the trade agreement between England and

I

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Tsar Ivan (the Terrible) in 15 5 5 , although it led also to the death of Sir Hugh and all his crew. The year 15 5 8 saw the publication of a new map of the northern hemisphere. Viewed from posterity it is a mere “ armchair” geographer’s copy of earlier maps, but it gained authenticity for itself in those days by being proclaimed to have been made on the basis of innumerable voyages (which had never taken place). This was the so-called Zeno M ap .15 On it can be found several imaginary islands, among them

T h e Zeno map. (After Bjørnbo, M o G . 48, plate V .)

Frisland. On the Zeno M ap the true Greenland is termed Engronelant whereas a stretch of land to the north of it, which is shown as connected with Norway, bears a corrupt form of the same name, Grolandia. Quite probably the name Engronelant16 is the creation of armchair geographers who did not understand Clavus’ En Grønlands å (a Green­ land brook). By misreadings and errors in writing on the various Clavus-copies, the “ home-made name” came to take up so much space that it was mistaken for the name of the country. Frobisher cannot have trusted the Zeno M ap completely, however., although he called the first country he reached Freeselande (Frisland). He had left England on Ju n e 15 , 1576, and as early as Ju ly 1 sighted land, but dared not go close in on account of ice and dense fog. On

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Ju ly 20 he sighted land again, and called it Queen Elizabeth’s Fore­ land, taking it to be unknown. Again he sailed north and came to a second foreland with a large bay and a channel that seemed to separate two major areas of land. Ice along the coasts prevented him sailing farther north, but later he succeeded in getting ashore and he even came across people. The description is so unambiguous that there can be no doubt that Frobisher had sighted the Greenland West coast somewhere between Cape Farewell and Frederikshåb; but probably he went ashore on the southern coast o f Baffin Island. Frobisher’s next voyage, in 15 7 7 , started somewhat earlier in the year. M ay 26 was the day he left England, and a landfall was made on Ju ly 4. The latitude by observation was 6o° 50' N ., and they again decided that they had come to Frisland (which must, no doubt, be the southernmost group o f islands off the Greenland coast). Th ey sailed on towards the north and reached land in 6 2° 50 ' N ., which means some­ where just south of Frederikshåb if the determination of latitude is correct. On this voyage Frobisher also went ashore and met some local inhabitants. The first voyage had been planned with a view to finding the North­ west Passage, but the second one was clearly expected to bring home riches from the countries explored previously. From the first voyage they had brought back whatever they had found of any value, among other things being a piece of meteoric iron. Several experts had ex­ amined it but could not agree whether or not it contained gold. On the second voyage in 15 7 7 a “ good goldmine” was found on an island and, notwithstanding the protests of the local population, they loaded their vessel; later they found even more. On August 20 the water began to freeze around the ship, as they weighed anchor on August 24 and reached England on September 17. All agreed that the following year would provide a climax to their efforts. Queen Elizabeth named the new country M eta incognita. On Jun e 6 they left England with fifteen vessels, and on Ju n e 20 they landed in W est-Frisland, claiming it in the Queen’s name and calling it West-England. They had come to the conclusion that the new country must be connected with the M eta incognita they had found earlier, and perhaps also with Grolandia which the Zeno M ap showed as forming the head of “ the North-Atlantic bay” . As they intended to spend the winter in M eta incognita, they had brought along a consignment of timber, unfortunately loaded in two vessels. On their voyage farther to the north the entire fleet became ice-bound, and when gales suddenly arose, one of the ships carrying timber was lost, all the others staying afloat. This was just after Ju ly 2, when they had sighted Queen Elizabeth’s Foreland. They met with a

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great deal of adversity during the next few days, and on August 9 they abandoned the building of a house for those who were to winter in M eta incognita. Having achieved no results the ships left the country and most of them were back in England by October 1. This seems to have put an end to English activity in the area, at least for some time; in concluding his account the narrator gives his general impression of the land and its inhabitants as follows: “ 7 ö conclude; I finde in all the countrie nothing that m ay be to delite in, either of pleasure or of accompte, only the shewe of mine, both o f golde, silver, steele, yron and blacke lead, with divers preaty stones.” The “ mines” were to prove a disappointment. In due time Frobisher’s voyages came to the knowledge o f the Danish-Norwegian government. Th e account of the voyages was printed in 1578, and the following year K in g Frederik I I approached Jam es Alday, an English navigator, and engaged him for a Greenland expedition. On M a y 1 the K ing informed his rentemester, Christoffer Valkendorf, who was also in charge o f the R oyal Dockyard and admiral of the N avy, about this English “ pilot” .17 He was to be provided with two vessels, one o f 30 lasts and another o f 16 lasts, equipped with everything needed and manned by sailors who knew the course for Iceland. W e have no means of ascertaining whether Jam es Alday had participated in Frobisher’s voyages. On M a y 21 the K ing issued an open letter announcing A ld ay’s departure with two ships. The reasons for the expedition which are given in the introduction were the same as those used earlier:18 Greenland rightfully belonged under Norway and the Norwegian Crown, and since it had not been visited for many years, the Grown should have its lawful authority represented in the country. Religious motives are expressed in unam­ biguous terms: “ . . . so that the common people in that country, to the honour and praise of God, can be brought back to the Christian faith and to embrace the right religion and form o f service” ™ The last words can only refer to the Lutheran form o f service. The expedition was to become more extraordinary than the par­ ticipants could have imagined. The vessels were o f unequal sizes, and the smaller of them lagged behind and were badly battered even before they had left Danish-Norwegian waters; on reaching Bergen on J u ly 9 Alday decided to buy a new vessel to replace it. This meant that they did not reach the waters north o f Iceland until some time during August, and consequently they encountered large quantities o f ice. When they were finally out o f the ice’s grip, a gale sprang up. On the evening of August 16 they sighted land - but discovered that they had been driven back to Iceland. Th ey put to sea again on August 19, and on August 26 had come so far north that they could see the coasts

24. The Pisigsarfik mountain, seen from Itivnera (page 144).

25. Inugsuk objects, showing Norse influence (page 168). From top left, needle case and bodkins with ornamentation, Norman band ornamentation on the back of the wooden “ figurine” , four Norsemen carved in wood by Eskimos, piece o f homespun, two “ draughtsmen” , one used as a spinning top, two Danish slate pencils for comparison, and ulo with cold-forged Norse blade. (National Museum, Copenhagen.)

26. Herjolfsnes costumes. A child’s and a wom an’s dress. (Page 15 4 FT.; National M us­ eum, Copenhagen.)

27. Herjolfsnes costumes. Man’s coat from front and back. Three hoser (stockings). (National Museum, Copenhagen.)

28. Hoods from Herjolfsnes. T o p right, the Burgundian cap. (Pages 188, 16 1 ; National Museum, Copenhagen.)

2g. T h e dead Norseman in the house passage as excavated. Below, remains of the skull and some bones. (Page 164; photo, Jørgen M eldgård.)

30. Hans Potthorst, from fresco in Mariakirken, Elsinore, Zealand, Denmark. (Page 17 7 ff.)

3 1 . Finds from mummy caves; leg with kamik, wooden frame for threelegged kayak rack, towingbladder. (Page ,208 ff.; National Museum, Copen­ hagen.)

32. M ixed culture from North-east Greenland, 14 0 0 -16 0 0 (pages 1 7 1 , 2 1 1 ) ; iwo har­ poon heads, a long bone arrow-head, side prong for bird dart, drill point, knife with typical oblique handle, snow knife. T h e other implements are of ground slate: harpoon blade, whetstone, knife and ulo. (National Museum, Copenhagen.)

3 3 * Harpoon types. From left: two Dorset types (50 0 -10 0 0 ), two Thule types (10 0 0 -120 0 ), Inugsuk type and three types from 15 0 0 -17 0 0 . (National Museum, Copenhagen.)

34- Lam p types. Bottom left, Sarqaq type (page 14 ); top left, Dorset type (page 16 ); bottom right, Thule type (page 9 4 ); top right, Inugsuk (page 102). (National Museum, Copenhagen.)

35- Ulo types. T o p left, North Greenland type ( io o -i io o ); bottom left, West Greenland type ( 1 2 0 0 -1 3 0 0 ) ; top centre, North­ east Greenland type (1 7 0 0 -18 0 0 ); bottom centre West Greenland type (16 0 0 -17 0 0 ); right, two types from Angmagssalik (18 5 0 -19 0 0 ). (National Museum, Copenhagen.)

36. T he four kidnapped Eskimos, painted in Bergen in 1654. (Page 2 4 2 ; original in the National Museum, Copenhagen; photo, Lennart Larsen.)

37• T h e great seal on the Danish constitution of 1665. Bottom right, enlargement o f the badge of Greenland; the latter’s position on the seal is intended to establish it among “ the K in g ’s countries” . (Page 2 3 6 ; Rigsarkivet, Copenhagen.)

38. Henrik Müller. (Page 2 3 3 ff.; photo, R oyal Library, Copenhagen, after painting by A . Wuchters, now at Ledreborg, Zealand, Denmark.)

39. Adam Olearius. (Page 242 ff.; after engraving by Sommer, 1656, R oyal Library, Copenhagen.)

40. Jon Gudmundsson’s map, dating from before 1650. (Page 232.)

4 1. Hunting implements fpage 269 fif.). From the left: bird dart with bone head, bird dart with throwing-stick and iron head, lance, lance with throwing-stick, two-forked fishing harpoon, two-forked leister, winged harpoon with throwing-stick, harpoon bladder, harpoon line and harpoon head detached and placed beside the forshaft. fNational Museum, Copenhagen.)

42. Fox trap, West Greenland. (Page 2 7 4 ; National Museum Copenhagen.)

43- Tupilait. (Page 303; National Museum, Copenhagen.)

44- Jorgen Thormøhlen. (Page 3 1 2 ; detail from painting. Photo, Bergen Historical Museum, Nor­ way.)

45. Thorm od Thorfaeus. (Page 3 1 2 ; detail of painting, probably by Henrik Ditm ar, at Frederiks­ borg Castle, Zealand, Denmark. Photo, Pacht & Crone.)

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of Greenland. Then they set a north-north-westerly course, as was commonly but erroneously done in those days, as the old course indications were interpreted 21s more northerly than was really intended. On August 27 they tried to go ashore, but ice barred their way. They now turned southwards along the ice front. The change in course was correct, but was made too late. T o get free of the ice they left the coast and then a gale blew up again and the ships lost sight of each other. A lday’s vessel was driven hither and thither. The days began to grow short and they dared not seek land again. The ship was driven farther to the south-east, and at long last, on September 20, one of the vessels reached the Shetlands. Most of the crew had by then fallen ill with scurvy, and they had run out of drinking water. They succeeded in landing and obtaining fresh water, after which they set sail again and made their w ay through an easterly gale that became so intense that they had to cut away the masts. Having had the vessel repaired in an unknown port they continued their voyage on October 14 and reached Copenhagen on October 2 1. The other vessel returned by w ay of Norway. Such were the conditions at that time for navigation in the North Atlantic. This account, which is not unlike the description of Frobisher’s third voyage, is a reminder that gales, ice and fog could be expected in Ju ly and August. The account also tells of huge icebergs that thrilled and scared the seafarers: “ . . . when we moved aft we observed more ice, this time in three enormous pieces, each being as large and tall as a royal palace, and on every iceberg was a tall pinnacle of ice, much taller than any church spire in a royal borough . . and “ . . . ice as large as a castle which spread far and wide so that we could perceive no end to it” . A lday’s expedition had been a failure, and could be shelved with the other dismal attempts of the past. But there was one difference: this time ships had actually left Denmark and the crew had sighted the coasts of Greenland. A lday’s explanation of his failure was that he had set out too late in the year. Accordingly the K ing ordered Chris­ toffer Valkendorf to hand two ships over to Alday as early as November 2, so that he could make an early start the following spring.20 On November 30 the King made his order to Valkendorf more explicit probably because the second ship had now returned to Copenhagen informing him that Alday was to have the same two ships at his dis­ posal for an expedition in 1580.21 However, no ship bound for Greenland left Copenhagen - at least neither of the ships Alday was supposed to command. They were ordered instead to do defensive duties in the Baltic. On M ay 25 Alday was promised employment at the court, and was never again invited to lead any Danish-Norwegian Greenland expedition. o

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When King Frederik IPs Greenland projects had reached this point, Mogens Heinesøn came forward to offer his services.22 T o Mogens Heinesøn, who brought the privateering spirit to everything he did, the offer of a voyage to Greenland to bring the country back where it belonged under the Danish-Norwegian Grown was no more than a move in his hazardous power game against Christoffer Valkendorf. Valkendorf, however, was aware that while Heinesøn had played before the King the part of a poor victim of circumstances, he had in fact practised ruthless extortion upon the population of the Faroes. Mogens Heinesøn did his best to curry favour with the King, hoping thus to protect himself against his enemies; and he could think of no better way than by offering the fulfilment o f one of the K ing’s most fervent and long-held wishes. His Greenland expedition, on which so much depended for himself personally, was no more successful than all the K in g’s earlier attempts. Presumably he did what others had done before him, sailing north from Iceland towards East Greenland and reaching the polar ice. When he came into open water again, a heavy adverse current pre­ vented his vessel from advancing. No natural explanation for this could be found, so both captain and crew resorted to superstition: the sea was filled with monsters, and tradition had invested all of them with special qualities - so it was a particular monster that had held the ship back or it might be the “ sail stone” , which had the same effect as a huge magnet, and prevented the ship from moving even with a fair breeze. About Mogens Heinesøn’s voyage we have no other information than what is contained in the sea pass itself, and what was later told by the pastor Lyschander, in whose account all the blame is also put on the magnetic “ stone” . Mogens Heinesøn had to return to Bergen in midAugust without any success, and his homeward voyage was clouded by anxieties: had he fallen hopelessly from grace? - and who would pay for his abortive attempt to reach Greenland ? This belongs to the adventurous history of Mogens Heinesøn himself. He passed like a shooting star across the Greenland sky, and briefly light is thrown on K ing Frederik I I ’s desperate desire to try to establish an imperium septentrionale, a Nordic realm, with such scanty resources that the idea was now left in the hands o f an English “ pilot” with two small and frail vessels, and now to a cheat like Mogens Heinesøn. In 1582 M artin Frobisher visited Copenhagen as a member of an embassy. I f only the K ing could persuade this man to take charge of his projects at sea! W hat could the Danish monarch offer to this famous Englishman who had been leader of a fleet of fifteen ships? All that the King had sent into Greenland waters were two small vessels of about 30 lasts.

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On August 15, 158 2, Frederik II sent Queen Elizabeth a letter23 informing her that he had approached M artin Frobisher as to the possibility of his entering Danish-Norwegian service in order to bring Greenland back to its lawful status as a member of the Danish-Nor­ wegian kingdom. Frobisher would not consent without his Queen’s permission, and this was what Frederik II now sought. Whether the letter was found worthy of attention at the English court is doubtful; no reply is extant, and Frobisher did not enter K ing Frederik’s service. The Danish K ing’s letter may have aroused suspicions in England that the country which the Danes called Greenland was identical with the land Frobisher had claimed for the English Grown. The relations between Denm ark-Norway and England were not good at the time, for England escaped the Sound Tolls by sailing north of Norway to Russia. In the race for the domi nation of the North Atlantic, DenmarkNorway and England were opponents. Against this background, the letter Frobisher sent to the King24 by a Danish messenger on M arch 2 1, 158 7, is tantamount to an insult: with due regard to his Queen’s wishes he assured the K ing that he would be at his disposal, and pro­ mised that he would write to him on his return to England (the letter in fact was written in London). But by then Frederik II had already made steps to engage another famous navigator of the North Atlantic, Oliver Brunell from Antwerp. Together with Arnt Meier, a citizen of Bergen, Brunell had undertaken to find the country which the K ing had for so long wished to bring back under the Danish-Norwegian Crown. On M arch 1, 15 8 3, the King granted the two navigators the sole rights of trading and navigat­ ing on Greenland, if they sought it at their own risk and expense.25 A t the same time Oliver Brunell applied for Bergen citizenship, which he obtained. As Oliver Brunell had made several voyages north of Norway and to the K ara Sea east of Novaya Zemlya, he was familiar with navigation in ice-filled waters, and no doubt was outstandingly qualified for a Greenland expedition. A sea pass was issued, and everything seemed ready, but as far as we know the project was suddenly abandoned. For the third time we read the same introduction in the sea pass; it is as if the issuing of sea letters for Greenland voyages had become a routine. Did Frederik II tire of these constantly unsuccessful expeditions? As far as Mogens Heinesøn and Brunell are concerned, the voyages were expressly stipulated as being undertaken at their own expense. W e do not know whether Christoffer Valkendorf did not want to back such risky enterprises with Crown money. But Frobisher’s letter probably resigned Frederik II to this last Greenland project of his lifetime coming to nothing.

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During the period from 15 5 0 to the death o f Frederik II in 1588, the North Atlantic had almost become an international rendezvous. The Biscayans were still moving north and east, an d the Ham burg shipping companies sent their vessels on voyages to Iceland. For several decades the English had practised both trade and piracy in Iceland, the Faroes and Norway, and fished extensively in the same waters. After 15 5 5 the Anglo-Muscovite trading company carried on traffic with Russia by the north o f Norway, and the Russians seem to have begun an east-to-west North Atlantic traffic at about the same time. Already in M arch 1576 , Ludvig Munk, Vicegerent of Norway, had informed Frederik II that a Russian shipmaster at Vardøhus, the most northerly Norwegian fortress, who had traded with some Trondheim sailors in the summer of 15 7 5 , was said to sail to “ Greenland” regularly every mid-August, but without any doubt “ Greenland” must be taken to mean Spitsbergen. The Russian skipper offered to lead the w ay if duly rewarded, and on M arch 1 1 , 1576 , Frederik I I ordered Ludvig M unk to offer the Russian a large sum of money if he would carry out his offer. W e do not know if anything came o f this, but at least we can see the interest that even the Russians took in these waters and shores. But the English were still the dominating force there, as the AngloRussian trade agreement clearly shows. As far as the dangers o f the sea permitted, there was a lively traffic north of Norway. The DanishNorwegian government still considered the Arctic Ocean to be its own preserve, and in consequence the English right of navigation was challenged. This led to the signing of a treaty between England and Denm ark-Norway in 158 3 by which the English-Muscovite trading company was conceded the right of navigation in these northern waters against an annual payment of 100 rose rials. This was a de facto recognition of the sovereignty of the Danish-Norwegian Crown, imperium septentrionale, over the Arctic Sea, although the tolls to be paid were almost nominal. Queen Elizabeth and her counsellors had no wish to engage too overtly and closely in other North Atlantic enterprises, but on the other hand they would not willingly play all their trump cards into the hands of Denm ark-Norway. They still wanted to keep for themselves the chance of finding a western sea route to India, in other words the North-west Passage. This may explain why Jo h n Davis’s plans for finding the North-west Passage were not given the same royal sanction as had been given to Sir M artin Frobisher in 15 7 7 .26 Private merchant and shipping circles got together to sponsor Davis’ project; however, there was a semi­ official touch, as some of those involved also belonged to circles close to the Queen, and especially as Sir Francis Walsingham, who had become

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Secretary of State responsible for foreign affairs and intelligence, was made a party to the negotiations for the expedition. A t no time were the Queen and her advisers seeming to take an active part in what was being prepared, and it is constantly emphasized that the expedition was to be undertaken at the risk and expense of the private merchants. The funds for the undertaking were procured by means of capital contributions from the individual merchants, which meant that security was to be provided in the form of goods, that could be either bought or procured in other ways, such as finding valuable minerals or doing some fishing on the voyage. On Jun e 7, 158 5, Davis left England with two vessels. Having stayed a fortnight in the Scilly Islands he reached the south-east coast of Greenland on Ju ly 20, presumably at Graahsfjælde at 6 1 0 o' N ., but ice stopped him from going ashore. The country did not look par­ ticularly inviting, and it was mainly like the land he had no doubt read about in Frobisher’s account. He named the coast the Land of Desolation, a place evidently deserted both by men and gods; the name seems to express the frustration that was felt after hopes that were perhaps too high. Joh n Davis steered south, not because he was aware that he would reach Greenland that way, but because he wanted to find Queen Elizabeth’s Foreland and M eta incognita, near which the entrance to the North-west Passage was to be found, according to contemporary belief. Perhaps he was also on the look-out for Frisland, the imaginary land which had deceived so many sailors. Later Davis set a northerly course, probably more northerly than Frobisher’s, and having followed the ice front on the East coast and doubled the Cape, Davis made himself free of the ice and, sailing northwards, sighted land to the east at 6 4° 1 5 ' N . He landed on the skerries off, or perhaps north of, the broad estuary of Godthåbs Fjord, near the present Nipisat Sound. This was where Davis and his men first met the local Eskimos, of whom there seemed to be large numbers. But Davis did not stay long; he soon realized that this was not the country he was looking for, but sensed also that it must be the Greenland which was to the north of Engronelant on the Zeno M ap and the globes. He then sailed west across the sea which was to be named Davis Strait after him, and reached land again at about 66° 40' N ., which was the most easterly tip of Baffin Island. He then sailed south, and as it was getting rather late in the year he continued southwards and finally reached England. In a sense Davis returned without any results or any valuable goods to cover the expenses. But he had acquired a greater knowledge of the northern parts than any earlier navigator, although the whole expedition had proved more complicated than had been foreseen. He

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succeeded in gaining the support of another group of merchants, and in M ay the following year he left England with four ships and reached the same place on the Greenland West coast as he. had done the previous year; by his own account, the Eskimos there welcomed him joyfully. Disagreement later arose between the English and the Eskimos, and one Eskimo had to be kept on board the ship as a kind of hostage, but died later on during the voyage. The ships then made for the north and landed again in 66° 3 3 ' N ., at the present Itivdleq in the municipality of Holsteinsborg, where they came across another group o f Eskimos.. On board one of the vessels Davis sailed westwards, while the rest of the ships returned to England. Davis found land again somewhat south of the point he had visited the previous year without recognizing it. He steered south, passed Hudson Strait and presumably also Frobisher Strait but, without observing this, he continued south along the Labrador coastline, and did some fishing in the rich fishing grounds along the coast. Th at fishing was possible there had been ascertained by the Biscayans long before Davis; but he now returned to England with his promising “ discovery” . The plans for the following year were to send two vessels fishing, while Davis in a smaller vessel tried to sail along the Greenland West coast in search of the North-West Passage. On M a y 19 they set out, and on Jun e 14 went ashore at Frederikshåb in 6 2° 30 ' N . The stor-is conditions cannot have been too bad that year, but they quickly left the spot, and on Jun e 16 had reached 64° N ., and landed on the Kook Islands south of the mouth of Godthåbs Fjord. T w o of the vessels now left as planned to go fishing (which did not prove particularly profitable) and Davis continued northwards. A t 67°, which is off Holsteinsborg, Davis found that he could see land on both sides, Greenland to the east and Baffin Island to the west, as he thought, but this cannot be true, as Davis Strait is more than 500 kilometres wide at this latitude. W hat Davis thought were low coastlines in the west may have been the “ West Ice” , which could have looked like land in the setting sun. As a fair breeze continued blowing Davis sailed north and, steering to the west of Disko, passed the farthest point north where any European had yet travelled, and records that on Ju n e 30 he reached 7 2 0 12 ', which is Sátoq Island off southern Upernavik. The determination of latitude however, seems to have been incorrect - in reality it must have been 7 2 0 4 2 ': Davis named a promontory Cape Sanderson, and this can only be the isthmus of the Qaerssorssuaq Peninsula, to which the name Gape Sanderson was later applied. Here Davis went ashore and Eskimos confirmed him in his opinion that there were open-water stretches ahead of him to the north. W e cannot know how he succeeded in communicating with the

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Eskimos. Be that as it may, he now sailed west and along the ice to the south as far as 5 1 ° and, without waiting for the other vessels as agreed, he sailed for home. On August 27 Davis met a Basque whaler at 5 2 0 N ., he had spotted quite a number of whales himself. His log has the entry that at 30 0 W ., 500 40' N ., “ we met a Basque whaler bound for either Grand Bay or the Strait (Davis Strait). She pursued us.” Though brief, the entry eloquently recalls the insecurity felt at sea in those days, and the very keen competition. Davis and the other ships in the expedition had returned home, but with a negligible profit. He was to undertake no further voyages in the north-west, but only in other parts of the world. His discoveries were soon worked into maps, and a new globe was made by Emery Molyneux. Erroneously they all placed Frobisher Strait too far to the east, so that Queen’s Foreland came to be identified with the area round Cape Farewell (so named by Davis because ice prevented him from getting near it). Frobisher Strait, then, separated Queen’s Fore­ land from M eta incognita, which was presumably Baffin Island. North of M eta incognita, but connected with it, followed Davis’ Land of Desolation, and at the very top was Cape Sanderson. Greenland was then placed behind all these features, and this was the w ay the Green­ land map was to look for the next few centuries. In consequence, much time was wasted trying to find Frobisher Strait in Greenland, because Davis’ maps and Molyneux’ globe reigned supreme. Gradually, however, the English realized the error. Politically the maps were compromising: if M eta incognita and the Land of Desolation were connected with the Greenland mainland, encroachment had been made on the rights of the Danish-Norwegian Crown. This may explain why in the years that followed, the English voyages of discovery tended to follow more westerly routes, and to steer clear of Davis Strait, which was then taken over by the Dutch. Both Frobisher’s and Davis’ voyages and impressions were soon printed and published, Frobisher’s account in 1578, and Davis’ in 1589. Frobisher’s is the more copious of the two, but both contain descriptions of the people they met where they went ashore. It is not quite clear today which shores Frobisher actually visited, but there cannot be any doubt that the people he describes are Eskimos, whether he met them on Baffin Island or in Greenland. He even captured some of them, and he has described their way of living. When the two accounts are compared, the similarity between them is striking; so much so, in fact, that it is possible to suspect Davis of having taken part of his material from Frobisher’s account, which had been published nine years earlier. On the other hand, there is so much detailed infor­

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mation in Davis which is not contained in Frobisher, and vice versa, that the two works seem to supplement each other. Taken together they enable us to recapture very vividly the impression created on sixteenthcentury Europeans by these quite unknown people. Naturally the first thing that impressed both navigators was the kayak. When Frobisher first saw some kayaks in the distance he took them to be porpoises or an unknown species o f fish (probably whales or seals; as already mentioned there was some uncertainty about the species o f sea mammals). Th e Frobisher account describes the kayak in some detail: it is a small boat completely.covered (top and bottom) in leather, except for the middle where there is a hole in the top­ covering for a seat. Inside the kayak there is a “ floor” . It is propelled by means of one oar, and moves faster than English sailors can row a twenty-oar boat. Davis sailed into Godthåbs Fjord and found three kayaks containing skins, harpoons and several objects of superstition, but he let everything lie untouched, merely placing a present on each kayak. Presumably the three kayakers were on the point of sailing out to the English vessel to trade their skins. It is remarkable that Davis noticed the little amulets which were often placed in the kayaks. Strangely, only Frobisher seems to have seen umiaqs. He mentions them on three different occasions, the last being the most detailed: this larger kind of boat may carry about twenty persons, and is provided with a mast and sails. The people make the sails out of thin skin or animal bladders sewn together with sinews o f “ fish” (this may mean either whale or reindeer tendons). Both Frobisher and Davis anticipated having meetings with people, for they brought along objects that could be bartered; Frobisher had little bells, knives and mirrors, and Davis brought along iron arrow­ heads, cards, beads, nails and needles. Whenever the seafarers came in touch with Eskimos some bartering was done. Strangely enough this seems not to have surprised anybody, not even the Eskimos, but to have been considered a quite normal procedure, and Frobisher men­ tions one instance where the bartering was done at some distance. Even as far north as Upernavik the Eskimos turned up almost im ­ mediately to sell their skins. On the first expedition Davis could almost have bought the clothes off the backs of the Eskimos, and have taken their kayaks for iron arrow-heads and scraps o f paper! In Frobisher’s account this strange phenomenon is stressed: it is expressly stated that the Eskimos possess bars and arrow-heads o f iron, square needles and copper buttons, which they wear in the middle o f the forehead “just as our ladies at court wear the great pearl” . A l­ though too great reliance should not be placed on the botanical knowledge of the times, it is strange to read in the Frobisher account

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that an Eskimo tent revealed a Guinea bean (whatever that m ay be) “ which grows in the tropics” . Part of the information given in the two accounts is based on the “ explanations” o f the Eskimos that had been captured. On his first voyage, as we have mentioned above, Frobisher captured an Eskimo and took him to England, but he caught a cold and died. On the second voyage he caught a man and a woman who were undoubtedly brought back to England, but we know nothing of their fate. Davis caught “ only” one man on all three expeditions, and he had given strict orders that the sailors were to treat the inhabitants o f the strange countries decently, which they seem to have done, at least for as long as they kept their patience. Towards the end of Frobisher’s account, he says that the population of these shores had grown so scared that “ it was not possible to get hold of any of them” . Both the kidnapping and the frequent dealings with the Eskimos made it possible to give quite detailed descriptions of the Eskimo costume. Frobisher states that the inhabitants are clad in coats of seal-, bear-, hare-, bird- and (rein) deer-skin. In summer they turn the fleece of their coats outwards, but sometimes, when it is hotter, they go about naked. In winter they wear four or five coats, the fleece turned inwards; the coats have tails. Davis mentions in addition trousers and “ tall boots” , kamiks. The boots are lined with beaver-like wool, which must be taken to mean hare-skin or the skin of unborn seals. Davis also mentions mittens and the bird-skin costume, the tingmiaq. The costumes have been rather crudely made and well tanned, a statement which can also be found in Frobisher. Regarding the women, Frobisher mentions the carry-bag on the back, the amaut, and states that little blue spots have been tattooed on to the women’s faces, but this of course is not part of their dress. In the Frobisher account the following description is given of the captured kayaker: he was well-built, with a broad face and small eyes. The hair was pitch-black and tied in a knot over the forehead. He had a very small, equally dark beard. The features were rather sad but sharp. His tan was dark and sallow, the colour of ripe olives. The legs were shorter and smaller than might be expected from the rest of the body. Davis gives almost the same details, and adds that the inhabitants were not particularly short, but that they had small hands and feet, and broad mouths with full lips and close-set teeth. The majority of the men were beardless. Frobisher’s account leaves the same impression and adds that the women wore their hair long and nicely combed. The two accounts agree on the men’s qualities: they are dexterous, very strong, clever, lithe and very bellicose. They are apt to bleed easily, Davis adds, and so they fill their nostrils with “ (rein)deer-hair

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or hair of moose” . This recalls the Norse description of about 1300, where it was also maintained that the Eskimos bled easily. Apparently Davis and his crew had a long session with the Eskimos. O f their mentality he relates that they are tractable people, without guile, and are easily instructed in civility and good manners. The Europeans and the Eskimos seem to have been on an excellent footing until the Eskimos offended gravely against the Europeans’ morality by stealing. A very characteristic feature is found in the Frobisher account: the Eskimos love music, and are able to beat the rhythm with heads, hands and feet, and they are very good at picking up a tune. Davis must have been aware of this beforehand, for on his first voyage he brought along musicians, whom he made to perform when he first met the Eskimos. He also heard and saw the Eskimo drum. Whereas the Frobisher account contains no information about the Eskimo language, Davis relates that the Greenland inhabitants spoke in very hollow voices with guttural sounds. Probably he is thinking of the Eskimo uvular q. In the forty-odd words he lists, the uvular is denoted by means of h or ck. It is very difficult to determine which Eskimo words are represented by the words in Davis’ list, as it is not clear what English sounds, in about 1 580, the individual letters stand for, or how correctly or other­ wise the Englishmen had noted the Eskimo sounds.27 One word Tliaoute, which another Englishman (Hall) spells Tliout later, and a third Elevout, is claimed to be a word of greeting.28 W ith appreciation Frobisher notes that the Eskimos are both clever and quick, quite willing to understand English words and gestures and able to give meaningful answers. When they want to express other feelings than those o f friendship, the Eskimos are said to emit shrill, wolf-like wails. It is stated as a fact that they are much devoted to sorcery. Th ey seem to be extremely kind and civil to each other, and they feel deep grief at the loss o f friends; when they have to part, lamentations will be heard. When Frobisher returned from his second voyage he brought back to England an Eskimo man and an Eskimo woman. Th ey had been kidnapped in different localities. Judging from their behaviour towards each other the writer concludes that “ they are very shy and careful not to disclose their private parts, and they are very chaste” ; the man refused to undress until the woman had been led from his cabin. Otherwise she was very attentive to his wants, and he always gave her the best piece of meat. Nothing but what might happen between brother and sister occurred between the two throughout the voyage. However, Davis and his crew discovered that some of the Eskimos were liable to steal, and the stolen objects invariably proved to be articles of iron, such as nails and spears. They took a boat to pieces just to steal the nails.

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Davis had a strange experience at Itivdleq on his second voyage. The Eskimo who had been captured and was still on board the English ship did not want to mix with the Itivdleq Eskimos who came to greet the Englishmen; quite obviously he felt ill at ease amongst them. Davis seems to have noticed a difference in dialect, expressly stating that the Itivdleq Eskimos’ voices were not so hollow and their speech was more distinct. The women carried their small children about on their backs (in the amauts) and fed them with raw meat, which the mothers chewed first. But the Frobisher and the Davis accounts agree that the Eskimos ate their catch raw, and that they were very greedy and did not even refuse meat that was high. They came up to the English ships with salmon, raw meat and “ fish” (perhaps, again, this meant seal or whale). The Englishmen spotted “ meat-pits” containing stores o f “ fish” — i.e. seal meat— dog-harnesses, kettles made out of “ fish” -skin and bone knives. Davis found large stores of angmagssat and bags full of whale oil (presumably blubber bags). Later he found bags filled with “ their fish” (which must still be taken to mean seal), and with plaice (?) and dried angmagssat. Davis marvelled at their habit of eating grass, from which we can guess that he saw them eating herbs, besides which seawrack is known to have been a source of vitamins for the Eskimos. As for their eating habits Frobisher appears to have modified his views later in the account, as he states that they half-boiled their meat in pots made of (rein) deer-skin. But they also possessed stone pots, skil­ fully made and cut. Davis is of the opinion that they drank sea water, but both navigators observed that they quenched their thirst by eating ice. The quarry is very numerous, according to the accounts. There are reindeer, bears, hares and foxes, innumerable species of wild birds, such as sea gulls, common gulls, guillemots and ducks. Frobisher’s crew killed more than 500 birds in one day. Other birds are mentioned, and both Frobisher and Davis mistook the snow bunting, or Lapland bunting, for the lark. By what Frobisher calls partridges, and Davis pheasants, it is clear that they must both mean grouse. Hunting implements such as spears (harpoons), slings, and bows and arrows are mentioned. The Frobisher account states that the hunting implements are provided with heads of stone or bone, and a few have iron heads. Davis adds to the list of the hunting gear the fishing net made of baleen, and Frobisher mentions bird snares. Both navigators marvelled at the fine finish of the objects, and they realized the great importance of driftwood for the inhabitants. In a tent in W est-Frisland Frobisher found “ a boxe o f small nayles and certaine redde hearings, boordes of firre tree well cutte, with dyvers other things artificially wroughte, whereby it appeareth that they have trade with

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some civill people, or else are indeed themselves artificiali Workemen” . Frobisher goes on to say that they are excellent “ fishermen” and describes how, dressed in sealskin coats and sitting in their tiny boats, the Eskimos were so well camouflaged that they made the “ fishes” think that they were “ fellow ceales” . This description of the seal hunt further maintains that the Eskimos were excellent shots; with their “ spears” (the meaning must be “ bird-darts” ) they killed the birds by hitting them in the head or in the eye. Before they hit a big “ fish” with their harpoon, they attach a bladder to the weapon, so that it will be easier to find again, and so that the “ fish” cannot run away with both harpoon and bladder, but will soon tire out and die. Without any doubt this is the first European description of the Eskimo hunting technique, and it is full o f wonder and admiration. Dog sledging was another cause o f wonder. The Eskimo whom Frobisher had captured surprised all the Englishmen by harnessing one of their dogs and letting it pull a sledge. The Eskimos are stated to move their tents and personal belongings from place to place in this way, even across ice-covered stretches. Later the voyagers observed that the Eskimo had two kinds of dogs, some small and rather fat, which were kept for the sake of their meat, and other stronger and larger ones which were used as draught animals. Davis discovered two sledges; one was like the English type, but the other had been made of whale bone. The Englishmen’s respect for the skill of the Eskimos was somewhat lessened when they saw their houses and tents. The Frobisher account contains a quite detailed description. Th e houses are described as mere caves, dug two fathoms (3-5 metres) into the ground (this fantastic information m ay represent a misconception o f the stone and peat walls as being part o f a slope into which the “ caves” were dug two fathoms. This corresponds to the wall-to-wall distance of that type of house). Their form is round “ like an oven” . Th ey have been built close together, and there are holes for exit and entrance just as in a fox burrow. The Eskimos make a drainage system under the houses so that the melt water can be led away, for normally the houses stand at the foot of a hill to protect them from the wind. Th e entrance is on the south side. The remark about the drainage system must represent a misconception of the house passage, which may have looked like some primitive drainage ditch, low-ceilinged and narrow as it was. Without any doubt the description is of an Eskimo house. The account states that, since timber is absent, the Eskimos use whale bones to build up their houses from the ground. Th e use of whale ribs as rafters must be the real meaning here, as Davis continues by describing how the whale bones are nicely curved and held together at the top. According to

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both accounts, the houses are roofed with sealskin; this may refer to a tent or to a house which had not yet been completed. T h e houses have only one room. H alf of the floor is raised one foot from the rest. On the raised area the Eskimos are said to place moss and lichen, and here they have their “ sleeping-nests” . These must be the plank beds so well known from excavations. Although Europeans in that age were not particularly squeamish about hygiene, their contempt for the conditions in the Eskimo houses is obvious: the inmates dirty their houses with their swinish food. A t first sight the Englishmen took the dwelling-houses to be some kind of workshops where the Eskimos treated their skins or produced whale or seal oil. There was so much filth in the houses that the Eskimos were thought to remain in one house until such time as the amount of mess and the “ foul air” compelled them to leave; this led to the conclusion that the inhabitants were nomadic. Some accounts have them living in tents and others in “ caves” , as their houses are repeatedly called. Davis gained the same impression on his voyages. There can be no doubt that the Englishmen visited the Eskimo villages during the summer, and consequently learnt nothing about the heating of the houses. There is one description of an Eskimo making fire, which clearly reveals the use of the bow drill. The navigators did not see the blubber oil lamp, otherwise they would certainly have marvelled at it and given a detailed description. Despite its imper­ fections, which are mainly the result of its having been pieced together from the descriptions of six voyages, which were all undertaken at the same time of the year, the picture drawn by Frobisher and Davis supplements that provided by Eskimo-archaeology. From an archaeological point of view the sixteenth century forms a period of transition, which in fact overruns the century’s end; at the same time the period represents the continuation and development of the Inugsuk culture, which was predominant until the whaling period had really begun in the seventeenth century.29 The Eskimo culture, especially that of West Greenland, was deeply influenced from outside, but was also deeply changed from within by the local conditions. In a transition period the question of dating the finds will always be difficult, and so the period becomes less distinct archaeologically. The accounts of the six English voyages contain details indicating a rather backward and dated culture. The English had landed mainly on the southern part of the West coast, and there the house-types found and described seemed to have been older than might have been expected. But these descriptions are corroborated by archaeological finds. Along the entire West coast as far as the district around K angámiut, sixteenth- and even seventeenth-century houses appear to have

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been of the round or rounded type. This is a conservative trait. Some­ what farther north, in Disko Bay and northwards to Inugsuk itself, the rounded type seems to have been changing into the square form. But the houses, which are solidly built, are small. Towards the south there are signs that different dwellings began to be joined together in blocks, as mentioned by Frobisher. The implement culture shows that the line of Inugsuk was continued, but that a differentiation had begun. Both in the north and in the south pure Inugsuk specimens have been found, but wick-ledge lamps are not so numerous as lamps without ledges. N ew types of implements appear, such as arrow-heads with marked and strong threads, heavy bird dart heads, and heavy bladder darts with one or several rings of barbs. Knives and ulos have sockets for the fastening of blades made of pieces of meteoric iron. Towards the south, the equipment of the kayak seems to have been undergoing changes, and one specimen of the modern kayak rack has come to light, which clearly belongs to the sixteenth century. As mentioned earlier the kayak was a sine qua non in South-west Greenland, and presumably it was the demand for a seaworthy and easily manoeuvrable vessel which led to its development, so that it became even better suited to the West coast conditions. The English accounts leave no doubt that there was no conveyance more widely used in West Greenland than the kayak. As many as fifty were observed at once, and even in the most northerly localities that Davis reached there were many kayaks. The deep impression left on the English by the many kayaks is best expressed in Davis’ statement that “ they [i.e. the Eskimos] are never out of the water and they live like fish” . They sleep whenever and wherever they feel like it. The mummy caves at Qerrortüt on the Unartoq Island in the northern part of the municipality of Nanortalik make up a curious find, which presumably dates from the sixteenth century. The caves were found on the south side of the island, where large rocks form an entire complex of caves. Some of them were presumably used as temporary sleeping quarters, others were used as store-rooms for dried meat and other commodities, and yet others were used as graves. Most of the caves were disturbed by early, rather crude “ investigations” , but archaeology has produced remarkable results from the remains found in the caves. It was not uncommon in West Greenland for such natural crevices to be used as graves, as can be seen in the Kangåm iut district. The Kangåmiut caves were later, perhaps from the eighteenth century, whereas the mummy caves at Qerrortüt seem to date from the sixteenth century. O f the three caves in the latter group that allowed investiga-

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tion, one contained two bodies, the other four, and the last one, which had not been very much disturbed, contained the sewn-in bodies of three children. All the bodies were mummified, and showed signs of putrefaction only on the underside. The local climate had preserved both skin and hair. Quite a quantity of clothing articles were found, such as kamiks, among which was a transitional form between the Eskimo kamik, well known from the Gape York district and from Canada, and the “ modern” West Greenlandic form. The technical differences are not many, but they are obvious, the West Greenlandic or modern type fitting the foot more closely than the type found in the mummy caves. This close-fitting type is the result of climatic conditions which soften the kamik and make it slide off if it is not made to fit tightly. Among the other artifacts found in the “ mummy caves” , mention must be made of a special kind of bladder which was used for keeping the killed seal afloat while it was on tow. The special feature o f this bladder was that it was designed to be fastened to the seal by means of a barbed point. The point bears a striking resemblance to that customarily put on to bird darts, so if it had been found without the bladder it might have been difficult to determine its special use, which is typical of the differentiation that took place in the Eskimo culture. Also found were bird’s-skin bags and baskets of coiled straw. Both forms are part and parcel of the ancient Eskimo culture, though they are too perishable to have been preserved in great quantities. Finally, the excavations of the caves brought to light one leg of a kayak rack of a type used up till the present day. A comprehensive survey of the find material from this period from this part of the vast shores of Greenland, reveals a material culture identical to that described by Frobisher and Davis; but it has to be remembered that the Eskimos met by the English seafarers represented a very small section of the population of the West coast. On other coasts the Eskimo culture had local variations, to distinguish which we must resort to the results of archaeology. In a review of the southern districts of the country and following northwards along the East coast, the Inugsuk settlements quickly assume prominence. There must have been a continuous immigration from the West coast, although it was somewhat reduced during the sixteenth century. But not until the sixteenth century do the threaded arrow-heads reach as far north as the Angmagssalik district. About 400 km. north of Angmagssalik, just before the Blosseville coast presents its forbidding mountain bluffs, are some fjords, the largest of which is Kangerdlugssuaq; north of here are the smaller Mikis Fjord and J . C. Jacobsens Fjord. Along the shores of these fjords

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ancient settlements have been found on patches of level ground. Th e majority of the artifacts found in and about these sites were of the Inugsuk type. The hunting conditions were good in these Qords for the comparatively small number o f people living there. Th e material culture revealed by the finds contains special types o f implements, on which the finish is fine and the decoration rich. There must have been a surplus of energy to be expressed in aesthetic creation. The specific forms developed in this area bear witness to its isolation. This is further stressed by the fact that implement types that became predominant in more southerly districts, cannot be found in sites about Kangerdlugssuaq and the adjacent Qords. But on the other hand the connection with the southern parts of Greenland cannot have been entirely severed, as some novel elements found in the material culture there must have come from the south. The finds are not very numerous, and the population was small, but the situation reveals a paradox which was typical of Greenland at that time: although people were bound to a certain locality, they were not for that reason so secluded from the rest of the world that no news of what was going on, or about innovations, ever found its way through to them. The Eskimos were still on the move. As mentioned above they even succeeded in negotiating the almost impassable Blosseville coast. It was probably during the sixteenth century that a small group of Eskimos carried the Inugsuk culture as far north as Clavering Island. The distance from Kangerdlugssuaq across trackless stretches is 900 km., and this has led to the belief that the immigration into the Clavering Island district came from the north. Moreover, no traces o f Inugsuk culture have been found at any point between Kangerdlugssuaq and Clavering Island. Helge Larsen found Inugsuk remains in Dødemandsbugt on Claver­ ing Island in 19 32. Five of the sites worthy of excavation contained houses o f the most ancient type; one o f them was a double house. There was a possibility that a sixth house was of the ancient type, but this could not be determined with certainty. There was a striking resemblance to the ancient house-types found in the Kangám iut and Angmagssalik areas. The artifacts found in the houses and in the graves were mainly Inugsuk, but in only two of the houses were the articles pure Inugsuk. This means that no more than fifteen to twenty people there can have been representatives of this culture. Until further evidence of pure Inugsuk culture comes to light between the Blosseville coast and Clavering Island, this small group of people must be considered as a sequestered group with clearly defined cultural characteristics. Outside influences were beginning to make themselves felt at a

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relatively fast rate. In one of the houses in the settlement artifacts were found that represented a kind of mixed culture containing elements from the Cape York district. There is no doubt that the mixed culture is later than the pure Inugsuk culture, and must have been the result of immigration from the north into the Dødemandsbugt area. The new culture changed the predominant house-form, creating a blend between the Inugsuk rounded type and the North-west Greenlandic rectangular type. The dwelling houses grew more spacious with corner niches. Although the natural conditions had not changed, these Eskimos succeeded not only in fulfilling the many demands of their daily life, but also in mustering sufficient energy to develop a specific local culture. As late as the beginning of the nineteenth century, while immigration from the north still continued, descendants of these Eskimos could still be found in these regions. The immigration of the fifteenth and later centuries reached as far south as Scoresbysund. Along the entire coast from the north-eastern corner of Greenland to Scoresbysund, winter and summer settlements containing houses and tent-rings have been spotted, all of them ap­ parently dating from the sixteenth century. Some of the “ settlements” are very small indeed, consisting of only one or two houses, whereas larger settlements appear mainly in the Scoresbysund district. The hunting conditions were decisive in the siting of the villages. Some of the smaller settlements were inhabited only for a very short time; they served as mere places of passage, stations on the route. The mixed culture predominant in these localities was so charac­ teristic and yet so different from the Dødemandsbugt culture that it has been termed the North-east Greenland culture, although it was strongly reminiscent of the Thule culture to the north-west. There seems to have been no communication southwards, the ice and the Blosseville coast probably constituting an impassable barrier. As already men­ tioned, immigration from the north seems to have been continuous. It stemmed partly from the most westerly Eskimo territories, namely Alaska, and partly from the Cape York area and the stretch of coast and the fjords to the north of it. Some Eskimos may even have travelled east of Pearyland, where Eigil Knuth discovered almost the entire framework of an umiaq. Radio-carbon dating of the boat remains established 15 7 4 as the latest possible year. The umiaq may have been abandoned by a group of migrating Eskimos who no longer had any use for it and who did not want the trouble of transporting it farther to the south. In the sixteenth century the Eskimo culture in the Thule district itself is characterized by Inugsuk domination in the southern settle­ ments along the coast of the northern part of Melville Bay, round

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Cape York and the coast and fjords to the north. On Inglefield Land and the adjacent areas certain Inugsuk elements are found, but they are no more than elements, and the Inugsuk cultura never attained supremacy there. Other cultural elements also came from the west, but many ancient types of implement survived and were not discarded when new forms were brought into use. Thus the northern part of the Thule culture acquired a stamp entirely of it own, which was to be important in the years to come. The Inugsuk culture died out during the sixteenth century. Perhaps the natural conditions altered just sufficiently so as to require a more high-Arctic w ay of life, which is also to say that whaling deteriorated. Perhaps a colder spell set in, and the ice in the fjords became thicker and covered the water for longer, but we cannot be sure. On the basis of archaeology, however, we can conclude that the material culture in the southern part of the Thule district took on a more Polar-Eskimo character. It is also important to remember that in about 1600 the route across Melville Bay fell into disuse and the land beyond existed only in the legends that arose both north and south of it for the next three centuries. One last southern influence seems to emerge in the top layer of the large midden at Inugsuk north of Upernavik. Presumably the midden layers stem from two small, square houses, a type o f house which also emerged at Igdlutalik in Disko Bay. The cultural picture drawn by the Inugsuk midden layers did not display the pure Inugsuk culture, but no later cultural period seemed to be clearly indicated. M any o f the artifacts were clearly Inugsuk, such as the harpoon heads. But lamps with wick-ledges were not so numerous as lamps without ledges. Novel types of implement were found, however, such as heavy bird dart heads, threaded arrow-heads, heavy bladder darts with one or several rings of barbs, neck supports for towing gear (to fasten the dead seal to the kayak), wound plugs of wood (for tightening the holes made in the skin of the seal before it was inflated for towing); knives and ulos were provided with deep sockets, into which for instance blades of meteoric iron could be fitted. But the house-type in particular was novel, and supplanted the Inugsuk rounded type with or without a kitchen. Judging from the Igdlutalik houses this sixteenth-century form spread along the northern part of the West coast, although it is not possible to state this as an established fact. The development of Eskimo culture was considerably checked during the sixteenth century. Admittedly the sophisticated kayak, which was made necessary by the living conditions in South-west Greenland, must belong to the fifteenth or the sixteenth century - judging by archaeological finds and descriptions of voyages - but the general

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impression is of a certain lull in Eskimo development. This seems only natural when its enormous geographical expansion over these two or three hundred years is taken into account. The finds have been made in localities far apart on the coast, at whatever points people have been able to find sufficient room and protection from the wind for their houses, and where conditions were favourable for the Eskimo hunter. Merely staying alive made heavy demands on the Eskimos’ physique, even in places where the quarry was plentiful, and even though the Eskimos were capable, by means of dexterity, imagination and psychic strength, of reshaping not only the hunting implements but also the houses and the heat-giving lamps to suit their purpose. It is truly astound­ ing that during these centuries, which saw a deterioration of the climate presumably in the entire northern hemisphere, the Eskimo ring came to encircle all Greenland. But the deterioration of the climate only favoured the Arctic Eskimo to a limited extent. In fact the South­ west Greenland climate was also unfavourable at this time, and consequently the Eskimo culture went through a process of adaptation over the whole distance from Disko Bay to the settlements south of Julianehåb. The difference in conditions in various parts of the Greenland shores was no doubt the reason why the Eskimo ring was only complete for a short span of years. The difference between the Polar Eskimo and the North-east Greenland way of life on the one hand, and the West Greenland and South-east Greenland existence on the other became accentuated; the West Greenland culture also gradually separated itself from that of South-east Greenland. The ring had been completed, but was also broken as its two weakest points, Melville Bay and the Blosseville coast, during the sixteenth century. Along the entire coast, north and south, and along the East Green­ land shores, the stor-is was packed in a broad belt. A t times the ice took the form of drift ice interspersed with huge glacier-calved icebergs among the ice floes, while at other times it was a tightly packed sheet of ice. Sometimes the fog would descend over the ice fields and bring visibility to zero; and when the sun broke through, the glaring white­ ness of the scene would hurt the eyes. The fog might be dispersed by gales and hurricanes, which would tear away the outer edges of the stor-is in a maelstrom inferno, while iceberg crashed against iceberg and the floes were ground to pieces. Disaster would threaten any ship at sea in such conditions. Peril lurked in almost every mile of these waters, yet competition drove the seafarers ever farther north. Neither the spirit of adventure, nor an irresistible fervour for exploration was the principal motive;

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it was the third reason mentioned in the Speculum Regale - fjdr-fgng> profit-seeking - that drove the ships northwards. According to Frobisher and Davis the country seemed to be of no interest to profit-mongers. But the sea teemed with animals that could be profitably caught or fished. A t that time the whale seems to have left the waters between Labrador and Iceland and moved north into Davis Strait and though Denmark Strait to the northernmost seas. The Basques, to whom whaling and the production of whale oil were essential, followed the route of the whale.30 The English and the Dutch had based their production of train oil on the catching of walrus and seal which, since 15 5 3 , had been hunted even as far east as N ovaya Zem lya. But the catch had been diminishing, and at the same time the Danish-Norwegian government tried effec­ tively to stop the British navigation north of Norway. The treaty of Ju n e 22, 15 8 3, led to the establishment o f a modus vivendi, but did not definitely settle the international and constitutional legal issues. England maintained the free use and fishing o f the seas, whereas Denm ark-Norway asserted supremacy over the North Atlantic and all the seas from Greenland across the north of Norway to Russia. As early as the reign o f Erik V I I (King Erik’s complaint of November 14 1 5 , which was followed up by Henry V ’s navigation ban) and also later, England had expressed a de facto recognition o f the Danish-Norwegian right to prohibit all trade on the coasts of Norway and her tributaries. But as familiarity with the ocean expanses increased, the thought of making the seas free of any supremacy emerged. Such thoughts were expressed by Hugo Grotius in his M are Liberum (1609), and served both the English and the Dutch in their competition with other nations and in their mutual rivalry. According to the English conception no one had the right to forbid English fishing in the oceans, although the ships might sometimes approach rather close to the shores o f other nations. Thus the English felt justified in fishing near the Vestmanna Islands, and in the waters between these islands and Iceland, and also near the Norwegian Coast. The Danish-Norwegian government lodged several complaints with the English, and in 159 7 Arild Huitfeldt and Kristian Barnekow were sent to London to make personal deliveries of such letters of complaint. The two Danish ambassadors finally had to inform the English government that the Danish-Norwegian Crown felt com­ pelled to issue a total ban on English fishing in the waters. In 1598 this was followed up by orders to the authorities in Iceland and at Vardøhus in northern Norway that, in order to stop this activity, any English ship fishing in these seas should be seized. Late in the same year Dr. Niels K rag was sent to England to lodge a new complaint,

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and to insist on the Danish ban being observed. His efforts were fruitless, however, and seem only to have increased the English will to carry through their policy, England then being in a very strong position in European politics. In 1 599, a few days after his twenty-second birthday, K ing Christian I V sent out his well known North Cape expedition. The royal fleet succeeded in capturing four English vessels engaged in illegal fishing and trading. This led to English complaints, and a meeting was agreed on for the following year; however, the English did not turn up at the conference, rather they turned up so late that the Danish-Norwegian negotiators had already left. A t the same time the English fishing in the North Atlantic continued. The entire problem may seem to have little to do with Greenland, yet one realizes that it is an integral part o f the principle on which, since the days of Hakon Hakonsson, Norwegian, and later the DanishNorwegian foreign policy was based. Ju st as the supremacy of the Baltic was a dominant feature in Danish foreign policy, so the command of the Norwegian Sea was important to Norway. The great expanses of ocean west and north of Norway were within the Norwegian sphere of influence, especially since the geographic conception of the time was that the Norwegian Sea washed exclusively Norwegian shores, or those of Norwegian tributaries. I f N orway’s rights were infringed in the eastern part of the area, what might not happen in the other parts? Something did happen in the western part of the ocean. About 1600 traffic in the waters north of Iceland became very heavy. The Dutch claimed to have discovered Spitsbergen. T o this day it is not clear who did make the discovery, for the English maintained that it had been discovered by Sir William Willoughby in 15 5 3 . In any case this discovery was to be of importance to Denm ark-Norway, as at that time Spitsbergen was considered part of the Greenland mainland, and in consequence the Danish-Norwegian government was able to claim supremacy over it, but neither the English, the Dutch nor the French would recognize this right. It is strange that no nation seemed inclined to question DanishNorwegian sovereignty over Greenland, although none would recognize Spitsbergen as part of Greenland, even though contemporary maps represented the connection as a fact. The Danish-Norwegian attitude is perfectly consistent with the line taken in the question of the suprem­ acy over the Norwegian Sea in the early disputes between England and Denmark-Norway. The interest in Spitsbergen was mainly caused by the plentiful occurrence of whales in the area. English seafarers, who signed on

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Biscayans as advisers, now turned their energies to the production of train oil, as did the Dutch and the French. A t the turn of the century these four nations were all keen rivals in the Norwegian Sea about Spitsbergen and to the south.

7 EU RO PE AND G R EEN LAN D

1600-1670 The abortive attempts of the English and Danish negotiators to reach an agreement in 1599 led to renewed quarrels which finally resulted in a meeting at Bremen in 1602.1 The English point of view was based on both Roman and feudal law, and was firm in its assertion that the seas and the fishing therein were unrestricted. No distinction was made between whaling and fishing, since in those days the whale was con­ sidered to be a fish. It was regarded as a mere matter of course that the nations which had sovereignty of the coasts and shores should collect a certain amount of charges and taxes for making the waters near their coasts safe; but this did not involve any right to forbid fishing. On the other hand the Danish negotiators insisted on the ancient right of sovereignty, and they referred the Englishmen to earlier treaties which they said could not be explained away. Several other North Atlantic issues were on the agenda; but it seems as if the negotiators left Bremen with none of the problems solved. The differences of opinion had been emphasized, but no conclusion had been reached. A kind of modus vivendi had been adopted, but many hours of negotiation and many instances of disagreement were to follow. Under the energetic leadership of the young K ing Christian I V , the Danish-Norwegian government did not intend to stop at negotiations and verbal promises. The sphere of interest was the entire Norwegian Sea of which Greenland was a part. As mentioned several times, the geographical ideas of the times were still hazy where the coasts o f the Norwegian Sea were concerned; accordingly it is often difficult for us to determine what exactly is meant by the name “ Greenland” in the various documents. Whatever was meant, however, and however vague was the geographical conception of the time, Greenland was coming more to the fore in the decades about the turn of the century than might be generally expected. Profiteers appeared on the scene, as they always will, driven by their private ambition. In Mogens Heinessøn’s case a Greenland expedition 217

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was intended to curry favour with K ing Frederik II. In 159 2 Erik Lange, a nobleman deeply in debt, tried to win the K in g’s favour in a similar way immediately he was released from the debtors’ prison. From a letter written by Albert Meier, a dedicated but somewhat pre­ occupied pastor of Lindholm (19 km. south of Tønder in Denmark), to Vicegerent Henrik Rantzau on M ay 7, 1592, we know that certain plans for resuming the contact with Greenland were brewing. Meier expressly states that the K ing has decided to send off two ships with the purpose of “ discovering” Greenland, and the statement is accompanied by a quotation from Anders Sørensen Vedel. This seems to indicate that Frobisher’s and Davis’ results had had but little effect. Meier had to stay in his parish, however, although he seems to have seriously intended joining the royal expeditionary corps, which was never formed after all. Frobisher and Davis were more than names to K ing Christian IV . The descriptions of their voyages, the correspondence between his father and the navigators, and the general British activity in the Arctic seas made the young K ing cast about among English seafarers to find pilots, i.e. navigators with the best obtainable experience in Arctic seafaring, whom he might entrust with the difficult task of finding the far­ away tributary.2 The first of these “ pilots” was Jo h n Cunningham, who had been recommended to K ing Christian I V by his brother-inlaw, Jam es I of England. Cunningham had entered Danish service in 1603, undoubtedly because he had some knowledge of navigation in northern waters. His knowledge cannot have been great, however, for when the expedition started in 1605, Cunningham had to have another English “ pilot” , Jam es Hall, on board his ship. Hall had likewise been recommended by Jam es I to the Danish King, and he is generally supposed to have participated in Davis’ last voyage, which must mean that Jam es Hall was quite an old man at the time. The expedition was not left exclusively in the hands o f the two foreigners, and they do not seem to have assumed supreme command of all the ships, although it is reported that Cunningham’s was “ the admiral’s” vessel, which must mean that he was in command of the entire “ squadron” . Three ships left Denmark. Cunningham was the captain of the Trosty with Jam es Hall as his “ pilot” . The second vessel was named Røde Løve, (The Red Lion) but is not necessarily the same vessel that had carried Davis and his crew on their last, long voyage along the Greenland shores in 158 7, but perhaps the name had been superstitiously chosen for the expedition. The captain o f this vessel was Godske Lindenov, a Danish nobleman who had recently joined the N a v y; another Dane, Peter Kieldsen was first mate, and Niels Creisen (or Greisen) was the vessel’s first officer or navarcha, as

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the sea pass styles him. The third ship the Marekatten, a so-called pinke, which had been bought in England in February the same year, was captained by a third Englishman, Jo h n Knight. The three vessels left Copenhagen on M ay 2, and apparently they sailed south of Iceland and reached the waters near Cape Farewell. Here they ran into a gale and drifted apart. When they had joined up again they tried to make a way through the ice, but apparently some disagreement between Cunningham and Hall on the one hand and Lindenov on the other, made Lindenov set his own course, and he left the Englishmen. Lindenov succeeded in getting ashore, probably somewhere near the present Fiskenæsset, and having bought a quantity of skin and narwhal ivory he set course for Denmark, apparently want­ ing to anticipate the two Englishmen and steal their thunder. In Fiskenæsset he kidnapped two Greenland inhabitants and brought them with him to Copenhagen. It was related at the time that the two Eskimos were fidgety, which is perfectly understandable since they had been abducted from their settlements and brought to a completely unknown country. Although Lindenov had successed in negotiating the ice and fog near Fiskenæsset, he had not done so without great difficulties; but a stroke of good luck had helped him. On board the Trost and the M arekatten, Cunningham, Hall and Knight had freed themselves from the ice and steered towards the Greenland shores. Th ey arrived in the Itivdleq Fjord on Jun e 12, where they came across some Eskimos and traded peacefully with them. But while the vessels were still exploring the waters they were attacked by hostile groups o f Eskimos. On the ex­ pedition the coastal regions from 66° 3 5 ' as far as 68° 3 5 ' were explored, and the results were recorded in a map of the coastline, and in special maps of three of the Qords. The King quite naturally took a deep interest in this geographical conquest; the land had solemnly been claimed in his name. The conquest formed a firm basis for his policy of sovereignty over the northern waters and the coasts washed by them, a power on which he insisted that very same year. But the K ing’s imagination was stirred even more by the mineral samples brought home on two of the vessels; these samples were declared to be of silver ore. Besides, Cunningham and Hall had kidnapped four Eskimos, but had been compelled to shoot one of them on the return voyage because he was “ indomitable” . Financed by a national tax, levied in Denmark as well as Norway with the purpose of covering the expenses of a new Greenland ex­ pedition, five ships were made ready to leave Copenhagen on M ay 27, 1606. This time Godske Lindenov was the chief commander, but among the other participants were both Cunningham and Hall and

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Hans Brun, a Norwegian captain, Carsten Richardsen from Flensburg and Andreas Nolck from Bergen. Hall was to serve as pilot, while the others were captains. Three of the Eskimos who had been captured the previous year were on board the ships, but two of them died on the voyage, and the fate of the third is unknown. Avoiding the stor-is the squadron headed for the Greenland coast on latitude 67° 4 ', where the ore-bearing mountain was supposed to be. However, the two ship­ loads brought back turned out to be completely valueless, but as a recompense four Eskimos were brought to Denmark - a fifth who had also been kidnapped had jumped overboard. In 1607, for the third time, Christian I V sent off an expedition with the clearly stated purpose of finding the East Settlement. The instruc­ tions, which were issued on M ay 6 in that year, enjoin the expedition to reach “ the southernmost part of Greenland, which faces Our Kingdom, Norway, and turns towards the east between approximately 6o° and 6 1 0 N .”3 Eriks Fjord and the East Settlement were supposed to be somewhere between the two latitudes mentioned, clearly on the Greenland south-east coast. W ith maps and a great confusion of names, the instructions go on to state the course indications known from copies of Ivar Barðson’s Description. A t this time the idea that the East Settlement was located on the East coast seemed to crystallize, and several expeditions were later sent out to find the locality and the last of the Norse population, who were still thought to be alive there. W e cannot know what created this illusion; probably it has something to do with the cartographical conception of Greenland. The shape and position of Greenland in the maps of those days had gradually changed. The main source was still Clavus, but “ armchair” cartographers had done their best to alter things. On the so-called Zeno M ap of 1558 , Greenland was still placed along a north-eastern, south-western axis, but the land, which appeared as a peninsula, had been made wider and more indented. As mentioned above, the Zeno M ap gives Clavus’ “ place-name” , En Grønlands å, to the country Engronelant, whereas the name Greenland, in the form Grolandia, has been moved northwards to the Arctic Ocean as a designation for the land which was then held to establish an overland connection between Greenland and Norway. In the 1 570s, or perhaps the 1590s, Sigurðr Stefánsson (Stephanius) drew a map based partly on special Icelandic conceptions, and partly on the Zeno M ap. His enthusiasm aroused by the successful expeditions of Lindenov, Hans Poulsen Resen, a learned professor later to become Bishop of Zealand, copied Stefánsson’s map. On the Stefánsson map there were no more than two Norse place-names, Hvitserk Rock on the

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East coast and Herjolfsnes on the southernmost of the peninsulas with which Greenland was arbitrarily provided, making it look like a piece of sea wrack. In his own copy Resen added a few other Norse place-

Sigurd Stefánsson’s map, 1590. T h e date written on the m ap, 1570 , must be an error. (After Bjørn Jorisens a f Skardsaae, Grønlands Beskrivelse.)

names and some comments on the earlier Norse navigation. The name Vesterbygd (West Settlement) was attached to a Qord quite far to the north on the West coast, and Østerbygd to the broad southern tip of Greenland. It is not quite clear which area is meant to be denoted by

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Detail o f Hans Poulsen Resen’s m ap from 1605. North is where the scale is. T h e original in the R o y a l L ibrary, Copenhagen, is rather blurred. T h e present section is reproduced from a copy made by the cartographer W . L ynge at the instigation o f the geologist K . J . V . Steenstrup in 1886. (Søkortarkivet A 18 , 2.)

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this name, but it is stated on the map that the East coast is uninhabited. So Resen’s copy is open to interpretation and misinterpretation. In 1606 the Bishop of Hólar in Iceland, Gudbrand Thorlacius, made a map of Greenland, presumably for his relative Arngrimur Jonsson, who was headmaster of Hólar grammar school. The headmaster was some scholar, who at that time was working on a description of Norse Greenland which was published much later (translated from Latin

Detail o f Gudbrand Thorlacius’ m ap of 1606 in A rngrim Ionæ Liber de Grönlandia, etc.

into Icelandic in 1688, and in a Danish edition in 1732). Thorlacius’ map, which was printed in Thor mod Torfæus’s Groenlandia Antiqua (1706), has a note that the East coast was uninhabited; in general it bore a striking resemblance to the Zeno Map. But since the rigid Mercator’s projection has been used, the longitudinal axis of the country follows a more north-to-south line. Both the West and the East coasts are said to be uninhabited. At the southern tip of the country,

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which is shown as rather wide, there are two § ords, one named Vesterbygdy and the other, the more easterly, Eriks Fjord and the East Settle­ ment. As this shows, the place-names seem to creep southwards, and the placing of the East Settlement on the East coast is something that may very well have been a stroke of the pen by someone making seemingly logical deductions from the meaning of the name and the contours of the country. But the placing of the East Settlement on the East coast was a change that had not yet taken place in the seventeenth century. Perhaps this was because the idea that the East coast was uninhabited was still strong, but on the other hand the first part of the name, ester, was a great temptation, to which the writer of the instructions issued for the royal expedition of 1607 had succumbed, for the ships were specifically ordered to sail directly to the East Settlement on the East coast as soon as they had sighted Cape Farewell. The ships tried in vain to break through the ice belt. According to Den grønlandske Chronica, published in 1608 by Claus Christopherssøn Lyschander, royal historiographer and pastor at Herfølge in Zealand (the only source material we have concerning the expedition), the ships reached as far north as 64°. Towards the end of Ju n e and during the first days of Ju ly they made a final attempt to break through the ice. This was a hazardous enterprise, and the sailors m ay have realized the risks they were taking. A t least they learnt a good deal about the nature of the ice, and they only seem to have escaped its grip by a stroke of good luck. A t long last they had to give up, and they reached Denmark on Ju ly 25. Once again, then, an expedition had to sail down the Sound to Copenhagen having failed in its mission, and this made the K ing refrain from further activity, at least for a time. He had now also come very close to the regions where the English, the Dutch, the French and the Biscayans were engaged in unrelenting competition. Christian I V ’s Greenland policy was planned along the lines marked out by his father and his ancestors, but unlike them he succeeded not only in proclaiming his sovereignty but in putting it into action. It seems clear that the interest in Greenland which emerged in the first decade of the seventeenth century was not motivated entirely by the hope that enormous riches might be brought back from the distant country, but was based on other considerations too. The interest reached its height in Lyschander’s Greenland chronicle mentioned above (1608). In a lumbering metre, which drags on to a jarring, grinding fin a le , the author sets out what is mostly half-knowledge of the history of Greenland from time immemorial to the last expedition in 1607. It is strange that Lyschander seems not to have had at his disposal more

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written sources than the modern historian, although sometimes his rambling verses do reveal the use of letters and accounts as sources. That his verses were topical, and also expressing the political ambitions of the King comes out very clearly in the prologue, which contains the following lines among others:4 And Greenland which for scores of years Has lain dormant in oblivion/ M ay now come to light again/ And be talked of by every man. And foreign lands and realms/ M ay ask and learn forsooth/ That Greenland has come under the sway/ O f Norway from days of yore. And the Greenlanders are of Norse descent/ And the land is their origin and homeland/ And they have their own right to it/ Which no one can refute. Thus Lyschander laboured under the minsunderstanding that the people that had been found living on the Greenland coasts were Norse­ men, but at the same time he had the right idea about the sovereignty over the coasts. This, he says, is the reason why everybody must endeavour Before any other important matter/ Receives attention in this kingdom/ T o resume the Greenland navigation/ The sooner the better. According to Lyschander the risk of the tributary being lost to the Norwegian Crown was imminent. The Greenland traffic must be resumed, not for the sake of profit, but because you must Be unaffected by wordly goods/ Even though the supplies are small there/ You must think of the Glory which will come From the salvation of many people and the honour o f God. This has the unmistakable ring of an admonition, because the K ing on account of the unsuccessful 1607 mission with cargoes of “ ore” seems to have abandoned all Greenland projects. Accordingly Lysch­ ander prays that the Lord will

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Admonish each and every authority/ T o turn the mind to Greenland. The people there live like wild beasts/ And have forgotten God and Our Lord. They must be brought back to the creed and their own salvation; so again the idea of the Norse population’s lapse from the faith recurs. It must be the responsibility of the Lutheran Church and the K ing as the head of the Church to remedy the lapse - which was the very purpose with which the expedition had set out in 1579. “ The foreign lands and realms” were of course England and Scotland the Netherlands, France and the Biscayan territories, which were in both France and Spain. None of these nations recognized any Danish claim to supremacy over the Norwegian Sea, although no one had as yet challenged Danish sovereignty in Greenland. Spitsbergen was another matter, and the peculiar geographical conception o f this area predominant at the time has already been mentioned above. A t one and the same time Spitsbergen was considered part of Greenland (it was even called “ Greenland” in accordance with the Zeno M ap) and a politically and economically independent territory. The English and Dutch carried on heated debates as to which of them had been the first to find it; these two naval powers were keen rivals on this issue. As mentioned above, this intricate political-economic-national prob­ lem has to be linked to the general situation in the Norwegian Sea. The Novaya Zem lya whaling was not only a hunt for train oil, but also part of an active trading policy; furthermore it entailed a constant search for new territories and for the North-east Passage. There was also some Danish-Norwegian activity in this area, along with the inter­ mingling caused by the mentioned continuous sovereignty-policy. Jens Munk, who was later to achieve great fame, participated in a north-eastern expedition undertaken by a Copenhagen company, but his ship was pressed down by the ice. The following year he was in these waters again with the same object as the English and the Dutch. From 16 10 onwards whaling was concentrated about Spitsbergen because of the occurrence there of many big-whale specimens. During the second decade of the seventeenth century the Danish-Norwegian activity in the area was unfortunately somewhat hampered by the Kalm ar W ar ( 1 6 1 1 - 1 3 ) , which offered an excellent opportunity for the English and Dutch to settle down at Spitsbergen. It also meant that the clash between the two nations was able to take place without, at first, any Danish interference. In order to secure their position in this race for the hunting rights, several Amsterdam merchants, who had amassed large fortunes from

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whaling, joined several big financiers, who had not previously been engaged in the trade, to form the so-called .Noordse Compagnie in 16 14 . A t the beginning it was exclusively an Amsterdam enterprise, but thanks to a high degree of flexibility in organization it was soon joined by a number of Dutch towns and grew into a powerful and influential company with many ramifications. Th e company, formed in the spirit of the times, was soon subsidized by the States-General of the Netherlands, and was awarded monopoly by charter. Once more the policy was adopted which had been applied in the British-Dutch competition for the East-India trade. A t the same time the Dutch began whaling at Ja n M ayen, quite a long distance farther to the south-west and nearer to Greenland waters; in the years after 16 1 5 Dutch whaling seems to have been concentrated in this region. In 16 18 , however, the Dutch returned to Spitsbergen, and the conflict between the English and the Dutch deepened. England had to accept a de facto recognition of the Dutch hunting rights. While the conflict persisted it became customary for the parties not only to hamper each other as much as they could, but also to have men-of-war patrolling the waters. A t the same time there was lively diplomatic activity. The doctrine of the freedom o f the seas, mare liberum, in contradistinction to that of the closed sea, mare clausum, had been systematically built up by the year 1609. It was typical of British pragmatism that all theories were thrust aside and only concrete and hard facts were given any consideration. On the other hand the Dutch were simultaneously advocating the mare liberum doctrine with England and Denmark-Norway, and applying the mare clausum principle with other nations (France, Spain, and the Biscayans), thus hoping to bar them from doing any whaling in the Norwegian Sea. From 16 14 the Biscayans tried to force their w ay into these whaling grounds, and if the expeditions did not lead to the catching of any whales some profit could always be gained from coastal raids in northern Norway, the Faroes and Iceland. This was the situation when the Danish government again advanced its claim to supremacy. It had the advantage in its dealings with the British that the English K ing was Christian I V ’s brother-in-law. The high hopes that Jam es I cherished at the time made it important for him not to offend the Danish-Norwegian King, who was then one of the most powerful princes in Europe. On the other hand Denm arkNorway had adopted a policy of strengthening its relations with both England and the Low Countries in view of the alignment which was then taking place in Europe more or less according to the differences in religion. In this respect the Danish Rigsråd (council of state) and the K ing

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were not always in agreement. In 16 14 and 16 1 5 Christian I V had toyed with the idea of recognizing the English whaling rights at Spits­ bergen, if in return for recognition of his sovereignty and payment of a certain amount of duty. The Danish R igsråd opposed this plan, not only because the Governor of Copenhagen, Breide Rantzau, a member of the Rigsrådy had just become personally involved in a Copenhagen whaling company, but also out of mercantilistic considerations. The Danish-Norwegian government wished to enforce its policies regarding Spitsbergen, Iceland and Northern Norway. The English as well as the Dutch had anticipated this development, and the Danish attempt became a dismal failure. The only step taken was to try and safeguard the coastal populations against foreign raids. In 16 16 King Christian I V issued an open letter to England, to the Free and the Spanish Netherlands, to France and Spain, in which whaling in Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese coastal waters was forbidden. There is a clear distinction between these areas and Spits­ bergen, where whaling would be allowed on condition that the sovereignty of the Danish-Norwegian K ing was recognized. This attempt also was abortive. The R igsråd did not like this kind o f policy, as it was still considered important to have friendly relations with England and the Free Netherlands. From 16 1 3 and until his participation in the Thirty Years’ W ar from 16 25 onwards, Christian I V speeded up his trading activities. It cannot be ascertained whether the royal activity was motivated by the K in g’s personal financial circumstances (there seems to have been no shortage of funds in his privy purse), or by a genuine interest in the development of trade and industry in his countries. However, an overall shortage of capital impeded speedy development. It is characteristic of both Danish and Norwegian provincial towns that their inhabitants were not able to raise the funds needed to compete successfully with foreign traders; only Copenhagen merchants stood a slender chance in this respect. M uch capital was needed, and because of his wealth the King was involved, directly and indirectly, in many enterprises until the time came when “ the realm [and thus the King] was short of money” .5 Some capital could be introduced into the country by granting concessions to foreigners who settled in the country. The formation of the Noordse Compagnie and the monopoly thus created had compelled many Dutch merchants who were outside the Compagnie to try to seek profit in whaling elsewhere. This was the reason why a number of merchants from Hamburg and the Netherlands established firms and companies in Copenhagen and in Bergen. From this followed the development of a Danish-Norwegian whaling industry in co-operation

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with the Biscayans. Most of this whaling was done near Spitsbergen, where the whales seem to have been most numerous at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Greenland, however, had fallen into oblivion, although it was occasionally visited by ships. In 16 12 Hall, now in British service, had undertaken an expedition along the West coast, but during the voyage he was killed by some Eskimos. William Baffin had participated in the expedition as an officer. During the following years Baffin was fre­ quently in Greenland waters on whaling expeditions, and he both visited Spitsbergen and explored the Hudson Strait. He landed on the north shore of the strait; this territory was later named Baffin Island after him. In 16 16 he had sailed up the east coast of the island, caught sight of Lancaster Sound and reached as far north as Smith Sound. On this expedition he had been very close to the north-westerly coasts of Greenland, but as Smith Sound had escaped his attention, and as he thought that he had observed an unbroken coastline, he inevitably considered this part of the Arctic Sea one enormous bay, which was later called Baffin Bay. In the same year which saw the formation of the Noordse Compagnie, Joris Carolus, a Dutch shipmaster, was sent to Davis Strait and West Greenland, and this marked the beginning of Dutch naming of the localities of the West as well as the East coast of Greenland. Some of the names given by them to fairways, fjords and mountains have remained and are still in use today. During the subsequent years Dutch ships frequently reached Davis Strait, or Straat D avis as it was termed in Dutch. Besides denoting the strait, the name soon came to stand for the Greenland West coast, which it was to do for some time. Not until the eighteenth century was the name ousted by the word Greenland, which thus returned to the coasts to which it had originally been attached. The Dutch Straat D avis navigation led to the conquest of certain parts of the coast and, although none of the occupied areas were claimed to be theirs by the Dutch themselves, it came to play an important role in the Dutch Arctic sea traffic. The Danish activity in the area had abated after the beginning of the century. In 16 19 Jens Munk was on an expedition to West Greenland, but his main object was to find the North-west Passage. The King was preoccupied with the problems caused by the Thirty Years’ W ar, in which he was engaged from 16 25 to 1629, and which forestalled any initiative he might have taken in the Arctic regions. The fluctuations in the whaling trade were considerable and made heavy demands on the available capital. So great were the costs of equipping and manning a whaler that only in periods marked by a

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boom in the trade in train oil and baleen could the Danish-Norwegian whaling enterprises be expected to pay. It seems that such a spell of favourable trading conditions led to the formation of a Greenland

Detail of Jo n s Carolus’ m ap in J . I. Pontanus, Rerum danicarum historica (Amsterdam, 1 6 3 1 ) . T h e Dutch Straat Davis place-names and some Norse names can be seen (After Frederik V ’s Atlas X L I 59, R oyal Library, Copenhagen). Claus Christoffeison Lyschander. (Engraving, R oyal Library, Copenhagen).

Trading Company in Copenhagen in 16 35. Most o f the twenty-five shipowners who joined the company were without doubt driven by the profit motive; and quite a number of them had participated in the

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whaling trade even earlier. But the dream of re-establishing the con­ nection with “ the old Greenland55 had not died, and one of the statutes of the newly-founded Copenhagen Shipmasters5 Guild stated that the annual assembly must have on its agenda the problem of how navigation in the North Sea, and in Iceland and Greenland waters could best be promoted, so that areas which had been forgotten could be “ re­ discovered55. By then the thought had been alive for more than a century and had been clearly expressed by Lyschander. But when the twentyfive shipowners sent their application for a charter to the King, it was evident that their prime interest was the whaling near Iceland and Spitsbergen rather than Greenland, of which no one, in their opinion, had enough experience. The disappointment among the twenty-five participants must have been great when they read through the privileges the K ing accorded them on February 18, 1636.6 They were granted the monopoly of navigation on “ Our land Greenland both in the north and the south55, and there can be no doubt whatever that it is “ the old Greenland55 which is meant. They were given the right o f navigating and trading in the region, but first and foremost they were enjoined to trade with “ Our poor people, Our subjects and inhabitants there55. It is evident that the government believed the people who had been found in Greenland and of whom a few had even been kidnapped and brought to Denmark, to be of “ Norse descent55 (i.e. Norwegians), as Lyschander had said; no one imagined it otherwise. It follows from this that the K ing intended to use the Greenland Trading Company as an instrument in his foreign policy. With this the very first beginnings of plans for colonization of the area emerge. The newly-founded company was ordered each year to udføre Os (i.e. provide the King) with a couple of young men of between sixteen and twenty years old, who could be instructed “ in piety, language and learning, to the final salvation and welfare of the said country55. This continues and develops the idea which had been behind the plan to send back to Greenland the persons kidnapped in 1606. Although the plan was not implemented, it still represents a kind of colonial planning, however awkward and lacking in humanity it may seem. The company was granted certain kinds of exemption as long as it remained active - in the first place for a period of ten years. But - and this is what must have disappointed the participants - they were only allowed to seek port in Iceland and the Faroes in case of emergency, and whatever provisions they might need if forced to spend the winter there had to be paid for. They were forbidden to do any trade or hunting which might be detrimental to the rights and privileges of the

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whaling companies already working, namely the Icelandic, the Spits­ bergen or the Norrland companies. This means that the Copenhagen company was actually prevented from collecting ther profits it had thought it could easily obtain. The Copenhagen shipowners had to swallow this bitter pill and send off a couple of vessels. One of these was the Røde Løve, captained by Joris Carolus, a Dutchman who had entered the K in g’s service as a navigation instructor for the captains of the N avy. The ships left Copenhagen early in April, reached Davis Strait and did some trade with the inhabitants. Th ey returned in August carrying some narwhal ivory and a quantity of “ gold sand” . The sand proved valueless when examined by the Copenhagen goldsmiths, and the newly-appointed member of the R igsråd, Corfitz Ulfeldt, ordered it to be sunk in the waters of the Sound in the middle of the night. From then on the history of the Greenland Trading Company is veiled in silence. Quite possibly the disappointment of the participants made them reluctant to carry on an activity which was restricted to “ the old Greenland” . Nothing is on record about further expeditions, and incidentally the source of the 1636 expedition is a rather late account. During these years a change had come about in the question of the sovereignty of the seas. Christian I V and the Danish-Norwegian government still maintained the view they had adopted from the beginning, but the whole issue had become irrelevant. W hale fishing had undergone a radical change when the whalers started processing their catches on board the ships. This made plants on dry land re­ dundant, and the interest in asserting supremacy over the coasts near the hunting grounds flagged. Whale fishing could now be done in the open sea, in mare liberum, over which no one could exercise any sover­ eignty. There was another reason why it had become necessary to leave the coastal waters - the fact that the whales were staying away from the inshore areas. Simultaneously Christian I V had succeeded in driving the French off Spitsbergen, and a territorial limit of ten nautical miles was laid down in 1643, without objections from anyone. In 1636 the Danish-Norwegian kingdom entered a period of stag­ nation which was to last until 1660, contributory factors being the Torstensson Feud, the party strife in the last years o f K ing Christian I V ’s reign which continued after his death, a general lull in activity in the 1650s and the Swedish Wars. As mentioned above, the whaling in the Norwegian Sea had been radically changed. From 16 52 to 16 54 the British and the Dutch waged open war against each other on account of the British Navigation A ct of 16 5 1. This made the train oil price rise steeply, and Danish-Norwegian shipowners were tempted to seize the opportunity.

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It is characteristic of the period that not only nations, but principles were at w ar: monopoly was opposed to individual trade. As yet the Mercantile System had not come to the fore, but in the whaling trade the risks were too great to be tackled by one person alone, were he not supported by certain privileges, such as exemption from duty or monopoly. This explains why all Greenland navigation and contact was abandoned for sixteen years after 1636. In 1652, during the EnglishDutch W ar, Henrik Müller, head of the Danish Customs Department, applied for privileges in connection with navigation and trade in Greenland.7 The charter, issued on April 15, 1652, is unambiguous evidence that Müller expressly applied for permission to sail to and trade with the Greenland which “ has been unused and unknown for many a year” , at his own risk and expense. It granted Müller a thirtyyear monopoly of Greenland navigation, and of freely “ exploiting and using whatever the Lord may have blessed the land with” . He was allowed to carry out all kinds of fishing at sea and in the lakes of the country, and he was permitted to use harbours and fjords. Section Three makes particular mention of “ not only the catching of fish, but also all kinds of fishing, where it is to be found and whatever it is called” . By “ the catching of fish” no doubt whaling is meant, as against “ all kinds of fishing” . Henrik Müller’s application for these privileges is not extant today, but a passage in the charter reveals that he had whaling in mind, which at the time might be expected to bring him at least some profit should the trade generally prove less lucrative. The charter further states that he may only call at Icelandic or Faroese ports in cases of emergency “ to save himself” , and must not compete with the chartered companies working there; the charter of February 18, 1636, had apparently not been forgotten. Section Five is remarkable in being different from all earlier charters concerning Greenland navigation: Henrik Müller was permitted to employ some Icelanders, who might help with the whale fishing, but who might also, “ perhaps through their language, which is not far removed from the Greenland tongue, be of assistance” . Behind this is a positive idea of colonization, and the charter must reflect the actual wording of the application. Even now it was still generally assumed that the people living in Greenland, of whom a few had even been brought to Denmark, were descended from the old Norse population. The charter granted Henrik Müller the usual exemptions and rights as regards “ other merchandise traded among the provinces, especially as the above mentioned Greenland has been a dependency of Our Kingdom Norway” . In granting the rights of export and import the charter stressed Danish-Norwegian sovereignty over the “ province” of

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Greenland. In the same year, 16 52, Henrik Müller set out on his enterprise. On the day the charter was issued K ing Frederik I I I also gave a sea pass for the vessel St. Peter, whose captain was to be “ Dauid Dannell, Loved by Us, the captain of Our ship” . On M ay 8, Dannel, as his name is correctly spelt, left Copenhagen. David Urbanus Dannel was Dutch by birth. In 16 41 he had become a captain in the Danish N avy together with a number of other Dutchmen, who had been forced by the keen competition and the monopoly of the companies to leave the Netherlands, and had come to N orway and Denmark, among other places, to seek their fortunes. Dannel must have been especially well qualified to navigate Arctic waters, although there is no evidence for this assumption. The course followed on the first voyage did not reveal any special Dutch skill but seems to have been inspired by the old Norse course indications. The course followed on the second voyage further shows that Dannel had some personal knowledge of the waters to the north-west of Norway. After about three weeks at sea the St. Peter and the accompanying vessel reached the Greenland East coast. Dannel had sailed west from Iceland and sighted the Greenland mainland at latitude 6 3° or 65°. He tried to get closer to the shore, until Ju n e 12, when he finally decided to sail round the south o f the country into Davis Strait. Ten days later Dannel was at 6 3° N ., which is approximately off the present Fiskenæsset, and there he established the first contact with the Eskimos and did some trade with them. The trade was lively, especially in narwhal tusks and skins, but it became even better when they had sailed some distance farther north and reached Itivdleq, south of the present Holsteinsborg. Later they sailed on to 67°, which is off Holsteinsborg itself, and then turned south to go reconnoitring in B a lls revler (i.e. Godthåbs Fjord). It was Hall who had given this wide fjord the name Ball’s River, later misunderstood as B a lls revier and attached to the mainland just north of Godthåbs Fjord. B y then it was already mid-June, as they headed south and tried once more to land on the East coast. Although the ice was observed to be less heavy than in the spring and early summer, they had to give up the attempt. In the hope of covering some of the expenses Dannel then set an easterly course, and tried to catch some whales near Iceland, but without luck. On September 17 the St. Peter docked in Copenhagen, ten days after the other ship. The meagre results of the voyage did not stop Henrik Müller from ending Dannel on a second Greenland expedition the following year. This time the ships left Copenhagen on April 16 and, setting a northerly course, they reached Ja n M ayen on M ay 4 ; they then steered south-west and sighted Iceland on M a y 1 1 . Five days later they were in Reykjavik,

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and on Ju n e 6 again sailed westwards. They sighted land at 6 3° 40', but were prevented from going ashore by a coastal ice belt 50 to 60 km. wide. Steering a west-south-westerly course they were now caught in the ice, now free o f it, and in this w ay they followed the ice front as far south as 5 8 ° 10 '. On Ju ly 2 they sighted Gape Farewell in ice-free waters. In 6 2° (i.e. at the present Frederikshåb) the first few Eskimos came on board while the vessels were still some 25 km. out to sea; it was found that they were returning from hunting gulls still farther out! The most remarkable feature of the second Dannel voyage is the frequent mention of fishing, giving the impression that this voyage was dedicated to the second kind of fishing mentioned in the charter. O ff Godthåbs Fjord, at 64° 15 ', they came across a fishing bank “ of twenty-five fathoms” ; this must have been Fyllas Bank. They caught fifty cod while lying there, which must mean that they stayed there for only a short time. Later (on Ju ly 26) they caught one and a half lasts in the same spot. In between they had caught a whole barrel of halibut and cod at Itivdleq. On the second voyage Dannel reached as far north as Rifkol (i.e. Ománaq off Agto at about 6 7° 58') on Ju ly 20. They then sailed south round Gape Farewell, and when they observed that the East coast was blocked by ice they hastily set a southerly course and, having failed to catch any whales, reached Copenhagen on September 30. The two first voyages had not proved profitable, and the only “ profit” mentioned as a result of the third expedition was a “ romantic” one: the sight of a mermaid “ with her hair undone and wondrously beautiful” . This was in 16 54 when the expedition had left the Danish capital as early as M arch 16 on board two vessels. With this, Henrik Muller’s Greenland appetite had been satisfied. He was still in possession of a charter which ran for thirty years for himself, his heirs and his “ co-participants” . I f they did not send out any ship during this span of years, it meant that the Greenland naviga­ tion would be blocked until 1682. As matters developed this proved not to be the case, but for a time there was a lull in the Danish-Norwegian attempts to resume the connection with the old “ province of the realm” . Although Henrik Muller seems to have given up all Greenland projects after Dannel’s last voyage in 1654, Greenland had not been completely obliterated from King Frederik I l l ’s mind. Without doubt it was at the K ing’s request that a certain Christian Lund (or Lundt) sent him a copy of the log books8 of Dannel’s first two voyages and a short summary of the last voyage in 16 54 with a brief description of the West Greenland coast and its inhabitants. This was on M arch 28, 1664. Simultaneously the Bishop of Trondheim received a royal

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command to send the K ing all the letters and documents on Greenland which could be found in the chapter records. Frederik I l l ’s antiquarian interest is well known, and the royal order is closely connected with the beginning of the collection of Norse manuscripts which was to form the core of the magnificent Manuscript Collection in the Royal Library at Copenhagen. Further evidence of the K in g’s interest in Greenland can be found in Greenland’s coat of arms - a “ passant” polar bear (later “ couchant” ) on an azure background - which was incorporated into the national arms together with other provincial and hereditary arms. Presumably it was in connection with the Danish Constitution of 1665 that the Great Seal was made, and as far as we know it was used for the first time when the Constitution was sealed. This w ay of demon­ strating the Danish-Norwegian sovereignty over Greenland is quite in the spirit of the times. Thus it was made obvious to anybody, native or foreigner, that the Danish-Norwegian K ing considered the Green­ land territory part of his hereditary kingdom. The absolute monarchy was founded on this hereditary right. In 1632 Peder Claussøn published his Norges Bescriffuelse (.A Description o f Norway), which painted a very bright picture of Greenland. It was based mainly on well-known Norse literature, such as the Speculum Regale, the Icelandic chronicles and bishop rolls. In itself the work was without value, but it was to be of importance in fostering the delusion that came to be predominant about Greenland over the next century. The “ antiquarian interest” in Greenland, that is to say in Norse Greenland, was most clearly expressed in the Icelandic scholars’ pre­ occupation with the Norse tradition as it was handed down in the manuscripts kept on Icelandic farms and in the Bergen and Trondheim clerical records. The interest was greatly nourished through the pub­ lication (in 1643) ° f Arngrimur Jonsson’s Specimen Islandiæ Historicum, in which some treatment of the history of “ the old Greenland” was to be found, deriving mainly from the sagas. Jonsson’s individual desscription of Greenland was not printed until 1688, as mentioned above. Ever since Stefánsson and Gudbrand Thorlacius had drawn their maps of Greenland, the interest in the cartography of the country had never slackened among Icelandic scholars. The main issue was the proper and “ correct” position of the East Settlement. It was still hoped that some descendants o f the medieval Norse population might be found there. O f the later maps Jo n Gudmundsson’s map from the begin­ ning o f the seventeenth century seems to bear a certain resemblance to Resen’s map o f 16 0 5; this maP clearly assigns a position on the East coast to the East Settlement. Apparently Thorlacius’ map of 1606 had no influence on the learned Jo n Gudmundsson, but as a source it

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was of great consequence for Thordr (Theodor) Thorlacius’ map of 1668 (or 1669). Thordr Thorlacius, a learned divine who later became Bishop of Skálholt, was deeply interested in science and history. His Greenland map places the Greenland mainland along the same northto-south axis as Gudbrand Thorlacius’ map, but Frobisher Strait cuts right through the southern part of Greenland. The West Settlement is on the West coast, and the East Settlement and all the place-names now known from the sagas appear on the East coast. Several of the place-names which had resulted from the most recent expeditions to Davis Strait also occur on the map. The idea that there were still Norse people living in Greenland must have been due to a kind of stubbornness or mental inertia. These decades were not meagre in their yield of innovations or new discoveries, but acceptance of them was slow and hesitant - Harvey and Steno serve as illustrations of this. The voyages along the Greenland West coast had not led to any meeting with Norse inhabitants, but only with Eskimos. The ideas about the Eskimos - their origin, where they came from, and how they could be embodied into an increasingly differentiated picture of man­ kind - were rather vague, as if nobody wanted to draw conclusions from what was right before their eyes. Sometimes the Eskimos were taken to be descendants of the old Norse population, and some even believed they could recognize Norse sounds in the Eskimo language; but at other times they cannot have been looked upon as Norse, as attempts were still being made to find the last Norsemen on the East coast. This kind of thinking must have been behind the cartographer’s wish to place the East Settlement on the East coast, and have caused many learned men to submit plans and proposals for finding it. About the mid-century there sprang up an interest in getting to know the people whom the navigators had met on the West coast, and of whom some had even been kidnapped away from their country. The Greenland navigation was not restricted to the random and profitless Danish-Norwegian expeditions. Although the Dutch traffic in these northern waters was mainly concentrated on whale fishing, it quite frequently brought ships to Davis Strait. Such expeditions are on record from about 16 14 , and perhaps the idea was to trade with the Greenland population rather than to catch whales. Apparently the Eskimos had grown quite accustomed to meeting Europeans who wanted to trade with them, and they seemed by then to know what the southerners wanted most. The entry made on Ju ly 2, 1652, in the log book of the St. Peter, which Dannel had anchored in Itivdleq Fjord, characteristically relates how they fired three shots with their guns and immediately the Eskimos sailed out to the ships with trout, seal

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skins, and “ sealskin coats” , but they were well aware that the foreigners were most eager to get hold of some “ unicorn” horn. Th e Eskimos had no qualms about selling their harpoon and dart heads and other bone objects, even whole tusks, and they bartered all this for nails, knives and needles. For Ju ly 7, when the ship was still in Itivdleq Fjord, the log reads: “ . . . otherwise when coming on board, the Greenlanders will point to the sun and beat their chests shouting Elevout, and when our sailors did the like, then they immediately came quite close and shouted tuachdy which is unicorn . . .” • Between 1605 and 1660 Danish-Norwegian as well as Dutch ships had kidnapped about thirty Eskimos and brought them away from their homes. T o us this seems brutal and inhuman, but to be objective we have to remember that human value and dignity were unknown con­ cepts in Europe at that time. Ju st as the Eskimos considered themselves “ real human beings” , inuit, and all others strange beings, so the Europeans regarded the so-called “ barbarians” as animals that were strange enough to be exhibited in the market-place for money. The contemporary descriptions of the kidnapped Eskimos will often disgust the modern reader. Nevertheless it is necessary to examine them to understand not only the Europeans’ reaction to what they actually experienced, but also the misunderstandings and over-hasty judgments of the West Greenland Eskimo culture as it was in the seventeenth century. This can help us to confirm or supplement the picture we can otherwise base only on archaeological testimony. In the verbose and somewhat inelegant style typical o f the baroque, Lyschander gives a vivid description of the West Greenland Eskimos in Grønlandske Chronica (1608). It is a peculiar mixture of what he has seen with his own eyes, and what he has learnt from Frobisher and Davis in particular. Having characterized the Eskimos as “ wild beasts” that cannot be trusted but only treated as the farmer treats his oxen, Lyschander goes on to say that The average man is sturdy and strong/ Well built and with good limbs/ But generally wan and pale. He returns to this theme later when describing the three Eskimos Cunningham brought to Copenhagen in 1605 and whom Lyschander must have seen: The three who came to the roads o f Copenhagen/ Three young fellows who could be seen/ Were modest and quiet and calm. Th ey wore a frown and looked pale and wan/ . . .

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Apart from the reserve the three young Eskimos must have exhibited on such an occasion, while numbers of unknown, gaily clad people eyed them inquisitively, Lyschander mentions their yellowish skin, which he calls pale and wan, but which Frobisher and Davis (and later authors influenced by Davis) describe as being of the colour of ripe olives. Lyschander quickly leaves the Eskimos’ appearance and goes on to a description of their dress, where he entangles himself in a net of

Glaus Christofferssøn Lyschander. (Engraving in R oyal Library, Copenhagen.)

apparent paradoxes. He states that they wear sealskin dresses well sewn by means of sinew-thread. The women’s dresses are wide with as long basques as they liked. They wear belts round their waists. A t the back the dresses are provided with tails and hoods. The women wear trousers “just like the men” . The dresses are all either furry or tanned (i.e. depilated). The fur is always on the inside. On their feet they wear many pairs of hoser (i.e. kamiks with stockings), and then follows an amusing observation: They wear many pairs of hoserI And in them they conceal knife, needle and thread/ And other indispensable things.

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Right up to our times the Greenland women have used the tops of the long kamiks between the kamik and the stocking as a kind o f purse. Although Lyschander mentions the hoods on the women’s anoraks it comes immediately after the lines : The women look so peculiar/ They wear neither hat nor kerchief/ . . . This must mean that the hood was left hanging down the back. It must have been detachable, for Lyschander maintains that the Eskimo women used the hoods as a gift for people they liked. Since they go bare-headed, Lyschander develops an interest in the w ay they arrange their hair. Their hair-style does not impress him, for he continues: Their hair is all wispy/ A t either ear they make a tuft/ The rest of the hair is combed / and worn loose/ Down their backs to the hollows of the knees. From the description it appears that at this time the topknot, which can otherwise be seen on figurines of Eskimos dating far back in time, was not in use; or perhaps the women who had been kidnapped from their native homes had no means of making up their hair in this typical style. Lyschander’s description is the only one describing women wearing their hair in that way. Still talking o f the women, Lyschander tells his readers that they scratch their faces and smear them (the scratches, no doubt) with yellow and blue. But otherwise they do not smarten themselves up, their belts being their greatest pride. He observes that their “ shirts and shifts” are “ of the fishes’ Sund” (i.e. made o f whale bladder), which m ay be Lyschander’s misinterpretation of the gut-skin anoraks which were typical of the men’s but not of the women’s dress. Lysch­ ander rounds off his description of the Eskimos’ appearance with the following tirade: They do not respect cleanliness / shame or virtue/ They always bring with them a pungent smell/ As of rancid train oil and gravy. Cleanliness was not considered essential by the seventeenth-century European, who was not exactly clean-smelling himself. Lyschander is not particularly impressed by the Eskimo w ay of life, but he admires their boats, and gives a quite detailed description of both umiaq and kayak. It does not differ essentially from earlier descrip­ tions, but is a kind of running commentary on what he saw himself:

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Their boats are long / and slender and pointed/ They use them as well and with the same mastery/ As a rider his horse. The boats are all sewn of grey seal skin/ So stretched over an ingenious wooden frame/ That a man can hardly be seated there.. On top a hole has been made/ Which is so narrow you can scarcely get into it/ T o that you can fix your coat by laces. With the hood on the head and the paddle in the hand/ They think nothing of wind or water/ But let the sea be repelled. In these lines Lyschander has caught all the essential characteristics of the kayak as a craft, but made no mention of its equipment with hunting gear. He describes the umiaq in a similar way, and states that it can hold sixteen or seventeen full-grown men without sinking, and that it is equipped with sails sewn up from pieces of bladder: They skilfully steer their vessels with oars They move swiftly and dexterously over the water/ And negotiate the tallest wave.

Probably the earliest Danish drawing o f a kayaker catching birds. T h e use o f the throwing-stick is indicated. T h e head of the bird dart is wrong, and has been made into a leister, but the function of the side prongs is correctly illustrated by the stricken bird. Detail from Hans Poulsen Resen’s map from 1605. (From the copy in Søkor­ tarkivet A 18, 2.)

Lyschander’s description of the kidnapped Eskimos’ eating habits reveals the same kind of misunderstandings as earlier descriptions. They eat whatever kind of food they can lay their hands on, sometimes raw, sometimes even before the animal is dead, or before the meat is cold. Then they lick their lips with pleasure, while Lyschander’s stomach turns at the sight. Lyschander’s verses do not give a detailed or profound description, but they succeed in giving us an impression of the West Greenlanders’ appearance, and they clearly reveal what the European of that time

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found remarkable, disgusting, interesting, impressive and unusual about the Eskimos. How Lyschander managed to persuade himself that these kidnapped West Greenland Eskimos were the descendants of the old Norse population must remain a mystery, especially as he had evidently observed their exotic nature and seen their weapons and vessels with his own eyes. The parts of his account which are not based on his personal experience are quite valueless: his descriptions of the kid­ napped Eskimos’ various reactions are interspersed at several points throughout this long verse history. In fairness he does take some pity on them, and reveals something of a poet’s sympathetic insight. Apart from the passages quoted above, the poem does not contain any general information, and in this respect it suffers from comparison with the Frobisher and Davis accounts. The Greenlanders kidnapped in 16 36 did not give much jo y to the kidnappers, for as soon as they were released from the ropes with which they had been tied up, they jumped overboard in the open sea and were drowned. Four Eskimos were caught on Dannel’s third expedition in 16 54 in Godthåbs Fjord. On their arrival to Bergen they were portrayed in a painting which shows a grown-up man, one middle-aged and one young woman and a girl. Thanks to the detailed technique of the portraiture of that time, the painting contains many highly realistic details. On board Dannel’s ship was a surgeon, Reinhold Horn, who took special care of the four Greenlanders and they were put in his custody during their stay in Denmark. Horn took a particular interest in languages and had a linguistic instinct; he succeeded so well in master­ ing West Greenlandic that he was able to talk to the captive Eskimos. The man died on the way from Bergen to Copenhagen, and after some time the three women were taken to Gottorp, still under Rein­ hold Horn’s care. A t Gottorp lived the learned and widely-travelled Adam Olearius - astronomer, mathematician, geographer and ethno­ grapher, in short like most of the learned men of his time something of a polymath. A t the ducal court he had a sinecure as councillor, and he had acted as secretary to the ducal delegation to the Orient. He described what he had experienced there, and both the conditions and the people he had studied, in a book which was soon widely read and translated (from German) into other languages, and which was about to appear in a third edition in about 1654. On the arrival of the three Eskimo women in Gottorp, Olearius’ ethnographical interest was immediately aroused. He saw - or at least thought he saw - that these Greenlanders strongly resembled the people of “ Tartary” , which he had visited. He wanted to study the Eskimos and this he did by having them stay in his house for a time

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and by consulting Reinhold Horn. This resulted in a quite long description in the 1656 edition o f Olearius’ Beschreibung der muscowitischen und persischen R ejse ,10 o f which the fourth chapter o f the third book is devoted to the Greenlanders. The information contained in the chapter is based partly on the study of descriptions (no doubt in Latin) o f the history of Norse Greenland and some of the more recent travel descriptions (Frobisher and Davis), partly on what Reinhold Horn could tell him, and finally on his own observations. Five of the closely printed pages of the chapter contain a survey of Norse history from Erik the Red up to the end o f the fourteenth century, descriptions of the later attempts to resume the connection, Frobisher’s and Davis’ voyages, together with the attempts of Frederik II and the many expeditions in Christian I V ’s reign, and finally Dannel’s three voyages in the reign of Frederik III. Olearius was happy that the King intended to send back the kidnapped Greenlanders as soon as they had picked up the language (German or Danish ?) and learnt something of the verities of the Christian faith. This, for Olearius, seemed to atone for some of the brutal aspects of the kidnapping. The next ten pages of his book contain among other things a detailed description of the Greenland women in particular and of Eskimos in general, of their way of life and their customs; Olearius also discusses their language and origin. He says that they are short, stocky people, with small hands and feet, which they turn inwards when walking, the typical “ fømzÆ-walk in the mountains” . The faces are described as broad, and the oldest and the youngest among them had small, dark eyes. Their complexion is dark yellowish, like olives gone bad, but their bodies are of a darker hue than their faces; their skin is silky to the touch. They had all arranged their pitch-dark hair in topknots. The man’s face appeared more round than the faces o f the women; this impression of Olearius is not evident in the Bergen painting. The man’s lips were somewhat fuller than those of the women. He states that some o f the men wore rather thin beards, while others were beardless; but of course his knowledge of the men was not based on personal experience. The twenty-five-year-old woman - she would probably have had no idea of her own age, so this must be a guess - was not as swarthy as the others, her eyes were larger, and her perception and understanding were much quicker. She seemed not to lose heart as quickly as the rest, and Olearius discerned the possibility that she was a descendant of “ the earlier Christian inhabitants” .11 He observed that she did not eat the same things as the others, but it is quite clear in the text that Olearius was not too sure of his own interpretation of her origin.

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The women - but not the girl, whose estimated age was a mere thirteen - were tattooed on their faces nach A rt der Americaner,12 and in each case the tattooing was identical. The fact that the girl had not been tattooed Olearius took as a proof that tattooing was a sign of nubility. The women had holes for rings in their ear lobes. He noticed a special feature in that the breasts were longish and drooping, which he considered an advantage when they wanted to feed their babies, as they could then lift the breast over the shoulder and drag the child a little w ay out of the carry-bag on their backs. Incidentally the story goes that this kind of breast was considered a creditable point in a wife, for it meant that she would not have to stop rowing the umiaq while feeding the baby in the amaut. While describing particularly feminine characteristics Olearius used a few chaste Latin sentences, informing his readers that he had heard from others that Eskimo women have no pubic hair and do not menstruate.13 Olearius’ account is not very coherent, and suddenly he goes on to a description of the language. This is a mixture of his own observations and what Horn was able to tell him; it is odd that this barber-surgeon seems not to have taken any notes himself. Nothing from his hand has come down to us, nor is there any mention in Christian Lund’s report to King Frederik III. It is also curious that Lund’s report contains nothing which cannot be found in Olearius’ very detailed report, in which, as far as the language is concerned, there are a surprisingly large number of both correct and misinterpreted observations. Some of the very best paragraphs in Olearius are those dealing with the language. This can be explained by the fact that neither Reinhold Horn nor Olearius were prejudiced in the matter, and had to rely entirely on their own observations. The Eskimos speak in a quick jabber, Olearius writes, and mostly form the words with their palate or in the upper part of the glottis; this makes their speech sound some­ what like a snarl. Olearius has observed that they are incapable of pronouncing the word herre (i.e. master), and say helle instead. This is the first time we hear of this phonetic peculiarity which was later to transform so many loan words in West Greenlandic ( sikal&leq > kaláleq, by dropping the unaccented prefix a phonetic development of the word, which involves a minimum of phonetic changes and has therefore been acceptable. After all there are more changes in the Klein­ schmidt etymology than in the development karalus, karali > kaláleq, kaládlit. Gustav Storm’s opinion (that the name Karelian, karalus, should be the Eskimo pronunciation of skrælling) has as far as I can perceive no etymological base (Gustav Storm in Ymer 1891, p. 22 ; Nordenskiöld, “ Periplus” , p. 9 1 ; Bjørn bo

NOTES AND R E F E R E N C E S

16.

17. 18.

19.

20.

329

and Petersen, “ Fyenboen Claudius Claussøn Swart, Nordens ældste Kartograf” , Videnskabernes Selskabs skrifter 6. række, Hist-fil. klasse V I , Copenhagen 1904). The description in the pages that follow is based upon the publication of Clavus’ map and text and the scholarly discussion in A . A . Bjørnbo and Carl S. Petersen: “ Fyenboen Claudius Claussøn Swart” , etc., and A. A . Bjømbo: “ Gartographia Groenlandica” , M oG. 48, Copenhagen 19 11. Olai Magni, Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus II, cap. 9, Rome 1555. R . A. Skelton, Thomas E. Marston and George D. Painter, The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 1965, which has caused a number of critical papers, most of them reducing the impor­ tance of the Vinland Map and stressing the editors’ misinterpretations and errors in transcripions and translations. Sophus Larsen, “ The Discovery of North America Twenty Years before Colum­ bus” , Copenhagen 1924; Sophus Larsen, “ Danmark og Portugal i det 15. Aarh.” in Årbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 3. række IX , pp. 236 ff. 1919. This letter is printed in Diplomatarium Groenlandicum as No. 4, p. 5, M oG. 55, 3, 1936, and discussed by Louis Bobé in Danske Magazin, 5. række V I, pp. 3 0 9 - 1 1

1909-

2 1. Potthorst’s connection with Elsinore, the harbour where the Sound Dues were paid, appears from a fifteen-century fresco in the church of Saint M ary in Elsinore. His name is written in full on a broad ribbon he is holding in his hand. Perhaps he is portrayed here because, in atonement for his sins, he paid for the frescoes in the vaulting of the southern part of the church, or perhaps he is one of the benefactors of the Carmelite monastery to which the church belonged. 22. Olaus Magnus, Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus, Roma 1555, II, cap. i i . 23. “ Cum ut accepimus” etc. Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, No. 1, p. 3, M oG. 55, 3, 1936. 24. G H M III, p. 469. 25. G H M III, p. 5 15 , Torfæus (Thormod Torfessøn), Gronlandia Antiqua (translation 1706 re-edited Oslo 1927) p. 202.

TH E SIX TEE N TH C EN T U R Y 1. Isaac de la Peyrére, Relation du Groenland, Paris 1663, ed. in English Translation in Works issued by The Hakluyt Society, Series I, Vol. 18, London 1856. 2. Ole Worm may have believed that “ Greenland” was the region just to the north of Norway, and that the navigator sailed to the Norwegian Sea or to the northernmost coasts of Norway. 3. Diplomatarium Groenlandicum No. 3, p. 4, M oG. 55, 3, 1936. 4. “ . . . Volumus autem quod quamprimum presentes litteras habueris expeditas ad dictam ecclesiam te conferas et resideas personaliter in eadem.” Diplomatarium Norvegicum X V I I , 2, No. 1184, p. 1164. 5. Ibidem: “ . . . carrissimus in Christo filius noster Christiernus Dacie Rex illustris potenti classe/civitatem Gadensem e manibus Idolis serventium recuperare et ipsi ecclesie dotem assignare intendit.” 6. Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, No. 2, p. 4, MoG. 55, 3, 1936. 7. G H M III, p. 505. 8. G H M III, pp. 509 ff. 9. Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, No. 5, p. 6. 10. Absolon Pederssøn’s description is edited by Gustav Storm in Historisk-topo-

33O 11.

12. 13. 14.

15. 16. 1 7. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27.

28.

29.

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

grafiske Skrifter om Norge og norske Landsdeleforfattede i Norge det 16. Aarh.” Kristiania 1895. This edition is quoted in the text that follows. “ Insula est Grœnlandia, ab Erico Raudero Noruago . . .dnuenta primum et exculta, sed iniuria nostrorum . . . paulatim neglecta, usque dum nobis, iam multis retro annis sit plane incognita. Exoptandum erat, sin non lucri aut imperij septentrionalis propagandi gratia, saltem restaurati Evangelij caussa, ad miseros istos fratres propagandi, etc.” This is - in part - the same wording (translated into Latin) as that of Absolon Pederssøn. G H M III, pp. 201 if. Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, No. 6, pp. 6 f.; No. 7, p. 7. The information and quotations here and on the following pages concerning Frobisher are from Frobisher (George Best), A True Discourse of the Late Voyages of Discoverie for Finding of a Passage to Cathaya and India by the North West, London 1578, ed. in The Three Voyages of Martin Frobisher, etc. Works issued by The Hakluyt Society, Series L , Vol. 38, London 1867. A. A. Bjørnbo, “ Cartographia Groenlandica” , M oG. 48, 19 11, pp. 321 ff. A. A. Bjømbo and Carl S. Petersen, Fyenboen Claudius Claussøn Swart, etc. 1904, pp. 106, f. Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, No. 8, pp. 7 f. Translated quotations from G H M III, p. 642. Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, No. 9, p. 8. Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, No. 10, pp. 8 f. Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, No. 1 1, pp. 9 f. The certificate of Mogens Heinessøn: Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, No. 12, February 18, 158 1, p. 10. Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, No. 13, p. 11. Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, No. 17, pp. 12 f. Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, No. 14, p. 11. Voyages and Works ofJohn Davis, The Navigator, by A. H. Markham, The Hakluyt Society Editions, London 1880. The Danish translation of The Three Voyages of John Davis (ed. Bugge, Det Grønlandske Selskabs Skrifter V I I, Copenhagen 1930) comments (p. 90) on the list of words, and G. W . Schultz-Lorentzen tries to decipher the single words. Tliaoute: I have tried to “ hear” this word pronounced with a sort of shout. It sounds like the Greenlandic interjection of surprise: ila-e + the affix -gðq, which means “ it is said” . The interjection as a whole sounds ila-e-gðq and means some­ thing like just look! The description in the ensuing pages is based upon the following literature: Therkel Mathiassen, Skrællingerne i Grønland, Copenhagen 19 35; Th. M ., “ Ancient Eskimo Settlements in the Kangamiut Area” , M oG. 91, 1, Copenhagen 19 3 1; Th. M ., “ Contributions to the Archaeology of Disko Bay” , M oG. 93, 2, Copen­ hagen 1934; Th. M ., “ The Eskimo Archaeology of Julianehaab District” , M oG. 1 18, i, Copenhagen 1936; Th. M ., “ Eskimo Finds from the Kangerdlugssuaq Region” , M oG. 104, 9, Copenhagen 1934; Th. M ., “ Inugsuk” , M oG. 77, 4, Copenhagen 19 3 1; Bandi and Meldgård, “ Archaeological Investigations on Clavering Island” , M oG. 126, 4, Copenhagen 19 52; P. V . Glob, “ Eskimo Settlements in Kempe Fjord and King Oscar Fjord” , M oG. 102, 2, Copenhagen I 935 ; P* V . Glob, “ Eskimo Settlements in Northeast Greenland” , M oG. 144, 6, Copenhagen 1946; Erik Holvted, “ Archaeological Investigations in the Thule District 1—111**, M oG. 14 1, 1 and 2, Copenhagen 1944, and M oG. 146, 3, Copenhagen 1954; Eigil Knuth in Naturens Verden, June 1965, p. 18 3; Helge

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33

Larsen, “ Dødemandsbugten” , M oG. 102, 1, Copenhagen 1934; H. Larsen, “ Archaeological Investigations in Knud Rasmussens Land” , M oG. 119 , 8, Copenhagen 1938. 30. Nogaret, Petite Histoire du Pays Basque de France, Bayonne 1928, p. 153. Kellenbenz, Die westeuropäische Konkurrenz in der Nordmeerfahrt, i960, p. 479.

EU RO PE AND GREENLAND 1600-1670 1. Arnold Ræstad, Kongens strømme. Historiske og folkeretslige undersøkeiser angaaende sjøterritoriet. Kristiania 1912. L. Laursen, Danmark-Norges Traktater 15 2 3 -17 5 0 , III, Copenhagen 1907 ff. 2. The account of the relations between King Christian I V and the English pilots is based mainly on Danish sources. Copy of the report from James Hall 1605 to the King: British Museum, Royal Manuscripts, Vol. 13 B X I , published by G. G. A . Hall, Danish Arctic Expeditions, 1897. 3. The quotation is a translation from the original Danish instructions to Carsten Richardssøn and James Hall, printed in Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, No. 22, p. 16. 4. The quotations from Lyschander’s poem are translated from seventeenthcentury Danish into modern English regardless of the original metre. The poem has not been republished or translated into other languages. 5. The sentence quoted contains an untranslatable pun in Danish. The King’s device was in Latin: Regna firmat pietas, often on buildings under his monogram abbreviated “ R .F .P .” , which after 1624 as a skit was interpreted: “ Riget (the realm) fattes (is short of) Penge (money)” . 6. The privileges are written in Danish, printed in Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, M oG. 55, 3, No. 23, pp. 18 ff. The quotations in the text here are translated from the Diplomatarium. 7. Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, M oG. 55, 3, p. 20, No. 24. 8. The log books and the short summary of the last voyage are printed in extenso in Danish in Danske Magazin 6. række II, pp. 204 ff., 1916. 9. Tuacha: this spelling “ sounds” very much like the modern Greenlandic word túgaq, tusk of narwhal and walrus. 10. Adam Olearius, Vermehrte neue Beschreibung der muscowitischen und persischen Reyse, etc. Schleswig 1656, pp. 16 3-79 : “ Von den Grönländern” . 11. Olearius, p. 169: “ Die mitteltelste aber / Kabelau / war nicht so schwartz als die andern / hatte grössere Augen / Hess auch an sich mehr Klugheit / Geschickligheit vnd Lustigkeit spüren. Man vermutete / dass sie noch von den vor etlichen hundert Jahren daselbst gelebten Christen Nachkömling / oder doch von einer absonderlichen Secte seyn muste / dann sie ass nicht alles / was die andern assen / als nemblich die unreinen Thiere vnd Vögel / auch nicht was im Leibe der Thiere gesessen / als: Lunge / Leber / Hertz vnd Kaldaunen . . .” 12. Olearius, p. 170: “ Es sind die Angesichter der erwachsenen Weibes Personen nach art der Americaner alle mit schwartzblawen Strichen gemahlet.” 13. Olearius, p. 170: “ Ich habe aus Bericht derer / bey welchen sie sich zu Flensburg auffgehalten / vnd anderen / die täglich mit ihnen vmbgangen / vernommen / quod in certa quadam corporis parte cariant crinibus. Und dass es auch bey ihnen wahr sey / was Sennertus de fluxu sanguinis menstrui lib. 4 saget: Referunt mulieres Indicas mensibus carere. Die Ursachen dessen / seynd am selbigen Orte zu lesen. Mit welchen übereinstimmet Rodor, de Castro de natura mulierum, lib. 2 capitulo 9.”

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14. Olearius, pp. 177 if., and p. 179 : “ . . . und daher die Grünländer (so zu reden) Nord-Americaner können genennet werden.” 15. Histoire Naturelle et Morale des lies Antilles de VAmerique, ed. L . de Poincy, Rotter­ dam 1758, pp. 184-8, deals with the narwhal. On p. 188 begins the description of Greenland and its inhabitants, referring constantly to the journey of Nicholas Tunes. 16. The quotation (translated) and the final account: Poincy, op. cit., pp. 203 ff. 17. Poincy, op. cit., p. 189: “ Le Capitaine de qui nous tenons ce recit étant party de Zelande sur la fin du Printems de l’an 1656, en intention de découvrir quelque nouveau commerce es terres du Nord, arriva sur la fin du mois de Juin dans le Détroit de Davis, d’ou étant entré dans une. riviere qui commence au soixante quatriéme degré and dix minutes de la ligne en tirant vers le Nord, il fit voile jusque au septante deuzieme sous lequel la terre que nous allons décrire est située.”

TH E W EST G REEN LAN D ESK IM O C U L T U R E A F T E R 1650 1. “ . . . their houses, which they had abandoned, were empty, and were dug a little into the soil, afterwards ribs of whales and some logs were placed (as rafters), and they were hollow like a large baker’s oven and roundish, and over (the rafters) were laid earth and turfs, with which they were roofed.” Translation from the original Danish text, Danske Magazin, 6. række, II, p. 210. 2. For the publications of the archaeological investigations and finds, see list of literature under S ixteenth C en tu ry , note 29. The description of the immaterial culture is based upon contemporary sources, e.g. Hans Egede’s reports (in Danish), ed. M oG. 54, 19 25; Hans Egede, Det gamle Grønlands nye Perlustration (A New Description of the Old Greenland), Copenhagen 174 1, re-ed., M oG. 54, I 9 2 5> (English edition 1744, 1760, 18 18 ); Olearius* and Poincy’s op. cit.; The original tales of the Eskimos (English edition by H. J . Rink); William Thalbitzer, Eskimoernes kultiske guddomme (The Cultic Gods of the Eskimos), Copen­ hagen 1926; C. W . Schultz-Lorentzen, “ The Intellectual Culture of the Green­ landers” , in Greenland II, p. 209-70; Kaj Birket Smith, Eskimoerne (The Eskimos) Copenhagen 1961. 3. The following was told me by the Greenlander Augo Lynge, a teacher at the Teachers’ College at Godthåb and member of the Danish Parliament, who died in 1959: In a lesson he once dealt with the biology of the reindeer and had demonstrated the hollowness in the foot bone, through which the nerve runs down between the hoofs. He rejected the Greenland tradition, which says that the reindeer smells with its hoofs. A pupil from Frederikshåb spontaneously said: “ That is just talk. The old say that it smells with the hoofs, and that must be the truth. They know the reindeer!” This fixation upon the i/øø-authority I have met myself as late as in 1945: an old catechist did not dare to let his 14-yearold daughter go to a school in another colony, because the grandmother, who was itoq in his house, would not give her permission. I have heard a despotic father refuse without any reason to let his 30-year-old son marry a very clever girl. 4. Kaj Birket Smith (and Helge Larsen) translates inua “ its owner” ; Helge Larsen adds “ its man” . W e have tried in the text to find an “ underlying meaning” . The words undoubtly mean “ its owner” , but must have other meanings also. This meaning (its owner) must be secondary. William Thalbitzer calls inua “ its

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owner” or “ its inmate” . That is daily talk; the inmate of a house is called igdlup inua. In relation to religious conceptions, e.g. mana, this meaning in my opinion is too limited. Some of the stock combinations seem to indicate a basic word, which does not exist: inoq - e.g. inorerpoq, murder, i.e. take one’s life; inordlugpoq, is “ deform” , i.e. has no vital force. The missionary Henric Christopher Glahn touches the idea in 17 7 1. 5. Holm and Garde, Den danske Konebaads-Expedition til Grønlands Østkyst, Copenhagen 1887, pp. 300 if. 6. Jens Rosing, “ The Ajagaq Game from Angmagssalik” , Folk V , 1963, p. 288. He describes too the different forms in which this game appears.

EUROPEAN A C T IV IT Y 1670-1700 The sources are scanty. The description is based on the few published and unpublished documents in Danish and Norwegian archives and some more or less scholarly accounts in Norwegian and Danish periodicals. 1 . Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, No. 28, p. 24. 2. Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, No. 29, p. 24; L. Laursen, Danmark-Norges Trakater IX , pp. 356 ff.; the instructions to the Hamburg negotiations: copy in The Royal Library of Copenhagen, Kallske Samlinger No. 188 2 °; Ludwig Brinner, Die deutsche Grönlandsfahrt: Abhandlungen zur Verkehrs - und Seegeschichte im Aufträge des Hansischen Geschichtsvereins, herausgegeben von Dietrich Schäfer. Band V I I, Berlin 19 13.

L IS T OF L IT E R A T U R E The following alphabetical list is not meant as a bibliography of the entire literature concerning archaeological, geographical and his­ torical Greenland in the period which this volume covers. It would be too bulky. The list contains the literature on which this book is based, scientific reports, editions of documents and other contem­ porary sources (sagas, tales, descriptions, reports, etc.) and critical and descriptive papers. Additionally some English books of interest in this connection have been included. The extensive literature about the Vinland voyages and the many papers about the so-called Vinland map are omitted: in the history of Greenland both are digressions. Abbreviations of titles of periodicals and composite works and editions are placed alphabetically in the list. Finally, where no place of publication is mentioned, but only the year of printing, the place is Copenhagen.

[Magistri] Adam Bremensis, Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, ed. Bernh. Schmeidler. Ed. tert. Hanover & Leipzig 19 17. (Often called Adami Bremensis Historia Ecclesiastica, in various editions.) Bandi, Hans-Georg and Jørgen Meldgård, ‘Archaeological Investigations on Claver­ ing 0 , Northeast Greenland’, M oG. 126, 4. 1952. Bárðarson, Ivar, Det gamle Grønlands beskrivelse, ed. Finnur Jónsson. 1930. Bertelsen, Alfred, ‘Grønlændere i Danmark’, M oG. 145, II. 1945. Birket-Smith, Kaj, Eskimoerne, 1961. Birket-Smith, Kaj, ‘Ethnography of the Egedesminde District with Aspects of the General Culture of West Greenland’ , M oG. 66. 1924. Bjørnbo, A . A ., ‘Cartographia Groenlandica’, M oG. 48. 19 11. Bjørnbo, A . A . and Carl S. Petersen, ‘Fyenboen Claudius Claussøn Swart, Nordens ældste Kartograf.* Videnskabernes Selskabs skrifter, 6 række. Historisk og filosofisk afdeling VI, 2. 1904. Bobé, Louis, ‘Aktstykker til Oplysning om Grønlands Besejling 15 2 1 -16 0 7 ’, Danske Magazin 5. række V I, p. 303 ff. 1909. Bobé, Louis, ‘Christian Lunds Relation til Kong Frederik III om David Danells tre Rejser til Grønland 16 52 -5 4 ’ . Danske Magazin 6. række II, p. 202 ff. 1916. Bobé, Louis, ‘Hollænderne paa Grønland’, Atlanten, 19 15, p. 258 ff. Bobé, Louis, ‘Opdagelsesrejser til Grønland 14 7 3-18 0 6 ’, M oG. 55, 1. 1936. Bull, Edv., ‘Grønland og Norge i Middelalderen’ . Det norske geografiske Selskabs Aarbok X X X I og X X X I I 19 19 -2 1, p. 1 ff. Kristiania 1922. Clausson, Peder, Norriges oc Omliggende Oers sandfærdige Bescriffuelse / Indeholdende

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huis vært er at vide / baade om Landsens oc Indbyggemis Leilighed oc vilkor / saa vel i fordum tid / som nu i vore Dage; Korteligen tilsammenfattit A ff D . Peder Claussøn, Sogne­ præst i Undal. 1632. Dalgård, Sune, Dansk-norsk hvalfangst 16 15 -16 6 0 . 1962. [Davis] ‘John Davis Tre Rejser til Grønland i Aarene 15 8 5 -8 7 ’, translated and with an introduction by G. N. Bugge. Det grønlandske Selskabs Skrifter V I I. 1930. [Davis] Voyages and Works of John Davis, by A . H. Markham, The Hakluyt Society Editions, London 1880. Degerbøl, Magnus, ‘Animal Bones from the Norse Ruins at Gardar*. M oG. 76, 3, p. 183 ff. 1929. Degerbøl, Magnus, ‘Animal Remains from the West Settlement in Greenland*. M oG. 88, 3. 1936. Diplomatarium Danicum, 1. række 1957 ff. ‘Diplomatarium Groenlandicum 149 2-1814*, ed. Louis Bobé. M oG. 55, 3. 1936. Diplomatarium Norvegicum I -X IX . K ria 1849 ff. Diplomatarium Norvegicum I -X IX . Kristiania 1849 ff. Egede, Hans, ‘Det gamle Grønlands nye Perlustration eller Naturel-Historie etc.* 174 1, ed. Louis Bobé, M oG. 54, p. 305 ff. 1925. Egede Hans, ‘Relationer fra Grønland 1 7 2 1 - 1 7 3 6 ’, ed. Louis Bobé, M oG. 54. 1925. Egede, Niels, ‘En kort og Infoldig Beskrivelse over grønland.’ 1769, ed. H. Ostermann. M oG. 120, p. 232 ff. 1939. Ericksen, John, Udtog a f Christian Lunds Indberetning til Kong Friderich den 3 die a f 28 Martii 1664 Angaaende de i Aarene 16 52 og 16 53 under General-Toldforvalter i Danmark, siden Rentemester, Henrik Møllers Bestyrelse foranstaltede Søetoge til Grønland, hvortil er føjet Udtog a f de paa disse Reiser holdte Skibs-Journaler, med dertil hørende Kort over Skibenes Seilads paa Udreisen. A f Originalen - Videre oplyst med nogle Anmærkninger og Documenter v e d j. E . 1787. Fornmannasögur 9 -10 . 1835. Frobisher (George Best), A True Discourse of the Late Voyages of Discoverie for Finding of a Passage to Cathaya and India by the North West. London 1578. Ed. in. The Three Voyages of Martin Frobisher, etc. Works issued by The Hakluyt Society, 1. Series Vol. 38. London 1867. Freuchen, Peter and Finn Salomonsen, The Arctic Year, n y 1958. Gad, Finn, ‘Kronologien omkring det norrøne landnam på Grønland.* T .G . 1964, p. 89 ff. Gad, Finn, ‘Sjældent farer mænd did*. T .G . 1965, p. 81 ff. Gad, Finn, ‘Grønlands tilslutning til Norgesvældet 12 6 1’, T .G . 1964, p. 259 ff. Gad, Finn, ‘Vinlandskortet’ . Historisk Tidsskrift 12. række, II, p. 57 ff. 1966. G H M : Grønlands historiske Mindesmærker I - I I I , ed. Det kongelige nordiske OldskriftSelskab. 1838 ff. Gjessing, Guttorm, ‘Circumpolar Stone Age*. Acta Arctica II. 1944. Glahn, Henric Christopher, Anmærkninger til de tre første Bøger a f Hr. David Cranzes Historie om Grønland. 17 7 1. Glob, P. V ., ‘Eskimo Settlements in Kempe Fjord and King Oscar Fjord*. M oG. 102, 2. 1935. Glob, P. V ., ‘Eskimo Settlements in Northeast Greenland.* M oG. 144, 6. 1946. Greenland. Published by The Commission for the Direction of the Geological and Geographical Investigations in Greenland. Editors: M . Vahl, G. G. Amdrup, L. Bobé and Ad. S. Jensen. I -I I I . 1928-29. G S A A : Det grønlandske Selskabs Aarsskrift (Yearbook of The Greenland Society of Copenhagen) 19 12 -52 .

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Haan, Lourens Feykes, ‘Beskrivelse af Straat Davids tilligemed sammes Indvaaneres Sæder, Skikkelse og Vaner, som ogsaa deres Fiskefangst og andre Handlinger*. Ed. Louis Bobé. G S A A 1914, p. 63 ff. 19 15. Hansen, Fr. C. C ., ‘Anthropologia Medico-Historica Groenlandiæ Antiquæ I. Herjolfsnes.* M oG. 67, 3, p. 291 ff. 1924. ‘Historisk topografiske skrifter om Norge og norske landsdele forfattet i Norge i det 16. aarh.*, ed. Gustav Storm. Kristiania 1895. Horn og V . Garde, Gustav, Den danske Konebaads Expedition til Grønlands Østkyst. 1887. Holm, Gustav, ‘Gunbjørns-skær og Korsøer.’ M oG. 56, 8. 1918. Holtved, Erik, ‘Archaeological Investigations in the Thule District I—III.* M oG. 14 1, i and 2. 1944. M oG. 146, 3. 1954. Håkon Håkonsons saga i Norges kongesagaer IV . Kristiania 1914. Ingstad, Helge, Landet under leidarstjernen. Oslo 1959. Ingstad, Helge, Vesterveg til Vinland. Oslo 1965. Islandske annaler til 1578 , ed. Gustav Storm. Kristiania 1888. Jensen, Bent, Eskimoisk festlighed. 1965. Jones, Gwyn, The Norse Atlantic Saga. London 1964. Jónsson, Arngrim, Groenlandia (ms). Icelandic translation by Einar Eiolfson, Skålholt 1688. Danish translation (from Icelandic) 1732. Jónsson, Finnur, ‘Grønlands gamle Topografi efter Kilderne.’ M oG. 20, 4. 1898. Jónsson, Finnur, ‘ Interpretation of the Runic Inscriptions from Herjolfsnes*. MoG. 67, 2. 1924. kaladlit okalluktualliait kalådlisut kablun&tudlo, Grønlandske Folkesagn opskrevne og meddelte af Indfødte, I -IV . Noungme (Godthaab) 1859-63. Kayser, Olaf, ‘Et Par Ord om Grønlands Kortlægning*. Nat. Verd., II. 1918. Kellenbenz, Hermann, ‘Die Westeuropäische Konkurrenz in der Nordmeerfahrt bis ins 17. Jahrhundert.* Vierteljahrschrift fü r Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 47. Bd. p. 474 ff. Wiesbaden i960. Knuth, Eigil, ‘The Paleo-Eskimo Culture of Northeast Greenland Elucidated by Three New Sites’ . American Antiquity, vol. X I X p. 367. Salt Lake City 19 53-54 . Knuth, Eigil, ‘An Outline of the Archaeology of Pearyland.* Arctic, vol. V . no. 1, p. 17 ff. 1952. Knuth, Eigil, ‘Danmark Fjord*. Nationalmuseets arbejdsmark 1956, p. 71 ff. 1956. Koht, Halfdan, “ The Scandinavian Kingdoms until the End of the Thirteenth Century” , Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. V I , Cambridge, 1929. Krogh, Knud J . , ‘Thjodhildes kirke på Brattahlíð*. Nat. Arb. 1965, p. 5 ff. Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder I ff. 1956 ff. L a Peyrére, Isaac de, Relation du Groenland. Paris 1663. Ed. translated into English in Works issued by The Hakluyt Society, 1 Series, vol. 18. London 1856. L a Ronciére, Charles de, Histoire de la Marine Frangaise, I - V . Paris 1899 ff. Larsen, Helge, ‘Archaeological Investigations in Knud Rasmussens Land.’ M oG. 1 19, 8. 1938. Larsen, Helge, ‘Archaeology in the Arctic 1935-60.* American Antiquity, vol. X X V I I no. i, p. 7 ff. 1961. Larsen, Helge, ‘Dødemandsbugten, an Eskimo Settlement on Clavering Island.’ M oG. 102, i. 1934. Larsen, Helge, ‘Eskimo-Archaeological Problems in Greenland.’ Acta Arctica X I I p. 11 ff. i960. Larsen, Helge and Jørgen Meldgård, ‘Paleo-Eskimo Cultures in Disko Bugt, West Greenland.’ M oG. 161, 2. 1958.

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Larsen, Sophus, Danmark og Portugal i det 15. Aarh.’ A arb.f. n. 0 . 3. Række IX , p. 236 ff. 1919. Larsen, Sophus, ‘The Discovery of North America Twenty Years Before Columbus.* 1924. Lyschander, Claus Christopherssøn, Den grønlandske Chronica - Alle Danske och Norbagger til Ære och Aminde. 1608. Løberg, Leif, ‘Norrøne Amerikaferders utstrekning.’ Norsk historisk tidsskrift, nr. 1, p. 233 ff. 1962. Mathiassen, Therkel, ‘Ancient Eskimo Settlements in the Kangåmiut Area.* M oG.

9 L i. I 93 1 ‘ Mathiassen, Therkel, ‘Contributions to the Archaeology of Disko Bay.* M oG. 93, 2. 1934Mathiassen, Therkel, ‘The Eskimo Archaeology of Julianehaab District’ (in colla­ boration with Erik Holtved). M oG. 118 , 1. 1936. Mathiassen, Therkel, ‘Eskimo Finds from the Kangerdlugssuaq Region.* M oG. 104, 9 - 1934Mathiassen, Therkel, Eskimoerne i Nutid og Fortid. 1929. Mathiassen, Therkel, ‘The Former Eskimo Settlements on Frederik V i ’s Coast.* M oG. 109, 2. 1936. Mathiassen, Therkel, Tnugsuk: a Mediaeval Eskimo Settlement in Upernivik District, West Greenland.* M oG. 77, 4. 19 31. Mathiassen, Therkel, ‘Prehistory of the Angmagssalik Eskimos.* M oG. 92, 4. 1933. Mathiassen, Therkel, ‘The Sermermiut Excavations 1955.* M oG. 16 1, 3. 1958. Mathiassen, Therkel, Skralingeme i Grønland. 1935. Meldgård, Jørgen, ‘Dorset kulturen. Den dansk-amerikanske ekspedition til Arktisk Canada 1954,* Kumi 1955, p. 158 ff. Århus 1955. Meldgård, Jørgen, ‘Fra Brattahlid til Vinland.* Nat. Verd. Dec. 1961. p. 353 ff. Meldgård, Jørgen, ‘Grønlændere i tre tusinde år I - I L ’ T . G. 1958, p. 121 ff. Meldgård, Jørgen, Nordboerne på Grønland, en vikingebygds historie. 1965. Meldgård, Jørgen, ‘On the Formative Period of the Dorset Culture*. Arctic Institute of North America Technical Paper no. 11, p. 92 ff. Montreal 1962. Meldgård, Jørgen, ‘Origin and Evolution of Eskimo Culture in The Eastern Arctic.* Canadian Geographical Journal, vol. L X , no. 2, Feb. i960, p. 64 ff. Meldgård, Jørgen, ‘A Paleo-Eskimo Culture in West-Greenland.’ American Antiquity vol. X V I I , no. 3, p. 222 ff. Salt Lake City 1952. Meldgård, Jørgen, ‘Sarqaq-folket ved Itivnera.’ T . G. 1961, p. 15 ff. Meldgård, Jørgen, ‘Tjodhildes kirke på Brattahlid.’ T G. 1964, p. 281 ff. M o G .: Meddelelser om Grønland (with indication of volume, number of issue and year of printing). Moltke, Erik, ‘Greenland Runic Inscriptions I V .’ (Appendix to Roussell, Sandnes and the Neighbouring Farms, p. 221 ff). MoG. 88, 2. 1936. Moltke, Erik, ‘En grønlandsk runeindskrift fra Erik den Rødes tid. Narssaq-pinden.* T . G. 1961, p. 401 ff. Monumenta historica Norvegiæ, ed. Gustav Storm. Kristiania 1880. Munch, P. A., Pavelige Nuntiers Regnskabs- og Dagbøger, førte under Tiendeopkravningen i Norden 12 8 2 -13 3 4 . Kristiania 1864. Nat. Arb.: Nationalmuseets arbejdsmark (Yearbook of the National Museum of Copen­ hagen). Nat. Verd.; Naturens Verden (Periodical of Natural Sciences [popular]). Nielsen, Niels, ‘Evidence of Iron Extraction at Sandnes in Greenland’s West Settle­ ment.’ MoG. 88, 4. 1936.

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Nogaret, Joseph, Petite Histoire du Pays Basque de France. Bayonne 1928. Norges gamle Love. Kristiania 1846 ff. Nottarp, Hermann, ‘Das Grönlandbistum Gardar.’ Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung fü r Rechtsgeschichte Bd. 81 (X G IV Band der ^eitschr. fiir Rechtsgesch.) Kanonistische Abteilung L ., pp. 1-7 7 . Weimar 1964. Nørlund, Poul and Mårten Stenberger, ‘Brattahlid.’ M oG. 88, 1. 1934. Nørlund, Poul, ‘Buried Norsemen at Herjolfsnes.* M oG. 67, 1. 1924. Nørlund, Poul, ‘Norse Ruins at Gardar, the Episcopal Seat of Mediaeval Green­ land.’ M oG. 76, i. 1929. Nørlund, Poul, Viking Settlers in Greenland and their Descendants during five hundredyears. 1936. Olearius, Adam, Vermehrte neue Beschreibung der muscowitischen und persischen Reyse, etc. Schleswig 1656. Petersen, Carl S., ‘To breve fra præsten i Lindholm, mag. Albert Meier, til statholder Henrik Rantzau.* Danske Magazin 5. rk. V I, p. 2 12 ff. 1909. Petersen, Robert, ‘Eskimoernes sidste indvandring fra Canada til Grønland.* T . G. 1964. p- 373 ffPoincy (Poincy, Louis de), Histoire naturelle et morale des lies Antilles de VAmerique, enrichie de plusieurs belles figures de Raretez les plus considerables qui y sont diecrites. Avec un vocabulaire Caraibe, Rotterdam 1658. Rasmussen, Knud, Myter og Sagn fra Grønland, I (Østgrønlændere), 19 21, II (Vestgrønland), 1924, III (Kap York-Distriktet og Nordgrønland), 1925. Rink, Hinrich Johannes, Eskimoiske Eventyr og Sagn efter de indfødte Fortalleres Opskrifter og Meddelelser. 1866. Rink, H. J ., Tales and Traditions o f the Eskimo. London 1875. Rosing, Jens and Sven Havsteen-Mikkelsen, Sagn og saga fra Angmagssalik, 1963. Roussell, Aage, ‘Farms and Churches in the Medieval Norse Settlements of Green­ land.’ M oG. 89, i. 1941. Roussell, Aage, ‘Sandnes and the Neighbouring Farms.’ M oG. 88, 2. 1936. Ræstad, Arnold, Kongens strømme, Historiske og folkeretslige undersøkelser angaaende sjøterritoriet. Kristiania 1912. Schultz-Lorentzen, C. W ., ‘ Intellectual Culture of the Greenlanders.* Greenland II, p. 209-270. 1928-29. Sollied, P. R . ‘Hvalfangsten fra Bergen i ældre tider.’ Skrifter utg. av Bergens historiske Forening, nr. 24. Bergen 1919. Steinnes, Asgaut, ‘Mål, vekt og verderekning i Noreg i millomalderen og ei tid etter.’ Nordisk Kultur X X X , p. 84 ff. 1936. Storm, Gustav, ‘Afgifter fra den norske Kirkeprovins til det apostoliske Kammer og Kardinalkollegiet 1 3 1 1 - 1 5 2 3 efter Optegnelser i de pavelige Arkiver.’ Kap. X og p. 1 2 1 ff. Festskrift til H .M . Kong Oscar II, i8gy. Kristiania 1897. Storm, Gustav, ‘Nye efterretninger om det gamle Grønland.’ Norsk historisk tidsskrift 3. række. II, p. 399 ff. Kristiania 1892. Svensson, Sven, ‘Kristian den Andres planer på en arktisk expedition och deras fÖrutsättningar. Ett bidrag till de geografiska upptäcktemas ideologi,* Lunds Universitets årsskrift. N. F. Avd. 1, 54, nr. 5. Lund i960. Torfesson (Torfæus), Thormod, Det gamle Grønland eller Det gamle Grønlands Beskrivelse hvorudi Luftens og Havets Natur, Landets, Stademis og Gaardemis Beliggende, Adskillige Land og Vand-Diurs Art Folckets eller Nationens Herkomst, og Formerelse, Verslige og Geistlige Regimente Merkelige Bedrifter og Forandringer a f gamle Dags og Sardeelis Islandsche Sager med mueligste Fliid og Vindskibelighed befatted. (Gronlandia Antiqva i forfatterens egen oversattelse) 1706. Ed. Oslo etnografiske Museum. Oslo 1927.

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T .G .: Tidsskriftet Grønland (periodical issued by the Grønlandske Selskab [The Greenland Society of Copenhagen]), 1953 ff. Thalbitzer, William, ‘Eskimoernes kultiske guddomme.’ Studier for sprog- og old­ tidsforskning, nr. 143. 1926. Thalbitzer, William, Grønlandske Sagn om Eskimoernes Fortid. Et Bidrag til arktisk Sagnforskning. Stockholm 19 13. Vebæk, C. L ., ‘ Inland Farms in the Norse East Settlement.’ M oG. 90, 1. 1943. Vebæk, C. L ., ‘Kirke-topografien i Nordboernes Østerbygd.’ T . G. 1966, p. 198 ff. Vebæk. G. L ., ‘En Landnamsgaard i Nordbobygdeme i Grønland.’ Nat. Verd. 1964, p. 200 ff. 1964. Vebæk, C . L ., ‘Ten Years of Topographical and Archaeological Investigations in the Mediaeval Norse Settlements in Greenland.’ Proceedings of the Thirty-Second Inter­ national Congress of Americanists, 1956. Vebæk, C. L ., ‘Vatnahverfi.’ T . G. 1953, p. 219 ff. Veyrin, Philippe, Les Basques. Bayonne 1943. Aagaard, Bjarne, Den gamle hvalfangst. Kapitler av dens historie. Oslo 1933. Aarb. fn .O .: Aarbøger for nordisk oldkyndighed og historie (Yearbook for Scandinavian Antiquities and History).

GLO SSARY This glossary contains Scandinavian terms only. The Greenlandic terms in the book are explained where they occur. Byfoged: The King’s representative in a city, also with some jurisdictional power. Fanger (plur. fangere) : One who is occupied with both whaling, sealing, hunting mammals and birds at sea and on land, fishing and trapping. In Eskimo language called piniartoq, i.e. one who endeavours to get something. Féhirðir: In late medieval Norwegian administration, an official who took care of the King’s economic interest in a féhirðsla, e.g. received tax revenues. Féhirðsla: A district offéhirðir. Foged: Sometimes the same as byfoged, but most often the local administrator of royal property in Nordic administration. Frostatingslov: Old Norwegian customary law applied to the thing in Trøndelag, the Trondheim region. Gulatingslov: Old Norwegian law applied to the thing in West Norway. Kansler: The Danish King’s first councillor, head of the Cancelli, where the documents and royal letters were written, most often at the same time the political leader. The viceroy of Norway had a kansler too. Kogge (Engl, “ cog” ) : The broad medieval Hanseatic merchant vessel. Kommercekollegium: In Danish administration (until 1849) a board of trade, develop­ ing from about 1700 until it was fully established 1736. Lensmand: In Danish, and later in Norwegian local administration the King’s repre­ sentative in a certain district. Some of them, those of influence, had the obligation to take care of a royal castle, and therefore had both military and civil duties in a district. Most of them were noblemen. Níðingr: In the Viking period and the Middle Ages, the term for a person who com­ mits misdeeds (see chapter ‘The Norse Settlers’, note 4). Præsident: Head of the city council in larger Danish and Norwegian cities (from c. 1650 until c. 1850). Rentemester: In Danish-Norwegian administration 1500-1660, the King’s treasurer. Rigshofmester: The ‘minister of finance* 1500-1660, but sometimes the leader of the Rigsråd and thus leading the government’s policy. Rigsråd: The State Council in Denmark from about 1440 until 1660, often with 25 members, all noblemen. Storfanger: The same as fanger, but especially skilled and with more luck in his work and therefore of local social importance. Stor-is: The tremendous quantities of field-ice which flow southwards along the east coast of Greenland from the Polar Basin round Cape Farewell and then north­ wards, usually as far as Frederikshåb, barring access to the coast; it consists of Polar field-ice and icebergs calved from the East Greenland glaciers. Vest-is: The field-ice from the waters between Greenland and Ellesmere Land, that flows southwards through Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, taking with it icebergs from the West Greenland glaciers. Sometimes with westerly winds this ice comes in quite near to the west coast of Greenland.

340

IN D E X A D A L B E R T , Archbishop of Hamburg, 6 1-3 Adam of Bremen, 52 -4 , 6 1-2 , 173 Adelaer, Cort, 3 12 Ældre Frostatingslov, 108-9 Agdluitsoq, 127, 129, 167 Alday, James, 194, 195 Alaska, 5, 23, 25, 90, 95, 2 1 1 , 286 Ajagaq, 307 Akia, 129 Aleutian Islands, 23 Alexander V I, Pope, 154, 180 Alf, Bishop, 136, 140, 147, 148 Alfonso, King of Portugal, 177 Alfta Fjord, 35 Ameralik Fjord, 34, 37, 79, 109, 129, 142 America, 4, 48, 5 1, 165, 19 1, 2 51, 252 Amerindian, 17 Amitsuarssuk, 127, 129 Anavik, 133, 143 Anders Mus, Bishop, 179 Angákoq, 158, 250, 283, 288, 294, 297, 302, 308 Angmagssalik, 12, 19, 52, 170, 17 1, 178 209, 210, 262, 276, 277, 303 Anordliuitsoq, 167, 169 Antilles, 252 Antwerp, 197 Arctic, 6, 27, 165-6, 172, 173, 191, 218, 220, 229, 234, 293; Archipelago, 25, 90 Arends, Marten, 258 Ari Frodi, 19, 88 Arnald, Bishop, 62, 67, 104, 105-6, 107,

111 Amaquagssåq, 29 3-7 Arnbjörn Austmad, 104-5 Arni, Bishop, 135, 140, 141, 147 Arni, Bishop of Bergen, 122, 12 4 -5 Aron of Kangeq, 144 Aross, 128 Arpatsivik, 133 Asia, 4 Asiaq, 296-7

Asmund Kastandrazi, 80 Asser, Archbishop of Lund, 53, 63 Asvaldsson, Thorvald, 28 Atå-sund, 87 Atangmik, 258 Atarikerdluk, 19 Atlantic, 40, 49, 5 1, 52, 122, 150, 152, 156, 157, 160, 16 1 , 176, 178, 182, 187, 190, 191, 193, 195, 197, 198, 214, 2 15 , 2 17 Audun, 57 Augustinian Order, 115 , 116 , 128 Aust Fjord, 135 Axelsen, Otto, 3 1 1 , 3 12 B A R D D IE S, 149 Baffin Bay, 7, 15, 229 Baffin Island, 5, 6, 11, 16, 2 1, 22, 193, 199, 200, 201 Baffin, William, 229 Baleen, 92 Balls River (Godthåbs Fjord), 256 Baltic Sea, 2 15 Bandi, Hans-Georg, 171 Bardarson, Herjolf, 31 Barnekow, Kristian, 2 14 Basle, Council of, 179 Basques, 160-2, 201, 2 14 Bear Island (Disko), 87 Benedictine Order, 115 , 116, 128 Bergen, 104, 122, 125, 130, 135, 139, 140, 146, 149-50» 175» 179» 182, 183, 184, 188, 189, 194, 196, 197, 220, 228, 236, 242, 243, 3 1 1, 312 , 3 14 Bergenhus, 188, 189 Bering Strait, 3, 4, 23 Bering Sea, 4, 23 Birkibeinar, 119 Biscay, Bay of; Biscayan, 161, 177, 178, 18 1, 19 1, 198, 200, 216, 224, 226, 227, 229, 266, 3 1 1 Bjarmar, 173 Bjarni Thordarsson, 137

341

342

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

Björn Einarsson, 148 Björn Thorleifsson, 182 Blaserk, 29 Blefken, Dithmar, 187 Blekinge, 180 Blosseville coast, 11, 15, 209, 210, 2 13 Børglum, 60 Brattahlíð, 33, 35, 37, 38, 40 -3, 45 48- 9, 54» 57» 58» 84» 85» 73» 106» 109, 1 15, 1 17, 129 Breidabolstadir, 28, 30 Breidi Fjord, 28, 30 Bremen, 2 17, 316 Brielse Haven, 258 Brønlund Fjord, 8, 9, 13 de Brouwers, Jan , 3 1 1 , 3 13 Brun, Hans, 220 Brunell, Oliver, 197 Burfeld, 129 Burgundy, 154, 161, 162 Burin, 15 C A B O T , JO H N (Giovanni Caboto),i8i, 191 Cabot, Sebastian, 18 1, 191 Canada, 23, 95, 209, 286 Cape Denbigh, 5 Cape Dorset, 15 Cape Farewell, 15, 29, 178, 193, 201, 219, 224, 235, 260, 3 1 1 Cape Holbæk, 9, 17 Cape Sanderson, 200, 201 Cape York, 7, 11, 209, 2 1 1 , 2 12 , 259, 309 Carolus, Joris, 229, 232, 256 Catholic Church, 58-9 Central Eskimos, 22, 23 Charles V , Emperor, 185, 186 Christian III, King, 177, 187 Christian IV , King, 2 15, 2 17 , 218, 219, 220, 224, 227, 228, 2 3 1, 232, 243 Christian V , King, 3 1 1 , 3 15 , 3 16 Christianity, 40, 57 -8 , 61, 64, 145, 292 Christianshåb, 19 Christiem, I, King, 177, 184, 185, 187 Christiem II, King, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187 Christopher III, King of Norway, 157 Chukchi Sea, 4 Cistercian Order, 1 15 Claushavn, 12 Claussøn, Peder, 236

Clavering Island, 169, 17 1, 210 Clavus (Swart), Claudius, 173, 174, 175,

177» 179» ! 92 » *20 Cog (type of boat), 123 Comer’s Midden, 21 Copenhagen, 117 , 154, 19 1, 195, 196 219, 224, 226, 228, 230, 2 3 1, 232, 234, 235» 236, 238, 3 12 , 3 15 , 316 , 3 17 Corte-Real, Gaspar, 181 Corte-Real, Joäo Vaz, 178, 181 Creisen, Niels, 218 Crusades, 70 Crusade Tithes, 12 5-6 Cunningham, John, 218, 219, 238 D A L F A R M , 129 Danish-Norwegian Crown, 196, 197, 2 0 1; and Government, 214, 2 15 , 2 17, 227, 228, 232, 236, 3 1 1, 3 14 , 3 15 , 316 , 3 17 Danmark Fjord, 8, 10, 17 Dannel, David Urbanus, 234, 235, 237, 242, 243, 282 Davis, John, 198-209, 2 14 ,2 18 , 238, 239, 242, 243 Davis Strait, 5 1, 52, 16 1, 163, 165, 178, 18 1, 199, 200, 201, 2 14 , 229, 232, 234, 237, 249» 2 5 1, 252, 255, 278, 3 1 1, 3 13 , 3 16 Delftshaven, 258 Denbigh flint And, 5, 9 Denmark; the Danes, 35, 53, 83, 176, 177, 182, 183, 184, 187, 188, 194, 195, 196» 197» 214, 2 15 , 2 17 , 218, 219, 220, 226, 227, 229, 233, 234, 236, 237, 242, 243, 244, 256, 3 12 , 3 14 Denmark Strait, 2 14 Disko Bay, 3, 5, 6, 1 x, 12, 17, 18, 19 -2 1, 87» 97» IOO> 200, 208, 2 12 , 2 13 , 259, 26 1, 2 7 1, 286 Djævelens Tommelfinger (Devils Thumb), 11, 97 Dødemandsbugten, 169, 17 1, 210, 2 11 Dorset Culture, 15, 16, 17 -2 3 , 25, 48, 88, 89-90, 94, 1 7 1, 297 Dove Bay, 10 Drangar, 28 Dunkirk, 3 13 Dutch, 160, 182, 19 1, 214, 2 15, 216, 224, 226, 227, 229, 232, 233, 234, 237, 238, 256, 258, 310, 3 1 1, 3 12 , 314, 3 15 Dymes, 7 1, 132, 167

343

I NDEX E A S T S E T T L E M E N T (Eystribygð), 34,

37» 39» 44» 5 1» 52 » 55» 63-5» 7-2, 76, 8 2 -3, 84, i n , 127, 128, 129, 13 0 -1, 133» 136» 143» *47" 8 , *5°» *5 *» 152, 153-4» 156» 157» 158, 159» 162, 164, 165, 172, 174, 180, 220, 2 2 1, 224, 236, 237

Egede, Hans, 14 3,18 9 ,2 4 4 , 250 ,252,26 4, 265, 268, 2 71, 281, 282, 283 Egede, Niels, 158, 159-62, 165, 167 Egedesminde, 12, 260 Eidfjord church, 134, 135 Einar Sokkason, 57, 6 2 -3, 85, 105, 108, 109 Einar Thorgeirsson, 104 Einars Fjord, 63, 107, 129, 135, 163, 167 Eindridi Andresson, 149, 153 Eirik, Bishop of Greenland, 60, 6 1-2 , 1 15 Eirikstadir, 28-9 Elizabeth, Queen of England, 193, 197,

*98-99 Ellesmere Land, 7, 21 Elv Farm, 73 England; the English, 114, 156 -7, 158, 160, 16 1, 178, 181, 19 1, 192, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205-8, 209, 214, 2 15 , 2 17, 218, 219, 224, 226, 227, 228, 232, 233, 3 15 Enkhuizen, 249, 256 Eindridi Oddsson, 137 Eirik the Red, 19, 2 8 -3 1, 33, 34 -5 , 38, 40-5, 48, 50, 54, 55, 63, 88, 163, 243 Erik V I I, King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, 156, 176, 2 14 Eriks Fjord, 29, 33, 38, 4 1 -2 , 45, 54, 55, 63. 6 5> 72» ' 05 . «° 7. ,0 9> ' 29. 220, 224 Eriks Holm, 30 Eriks Island, 29, 30, 129 Erling Sigvatsson, 137 Eskimos, 88-94, IOI> *43-4» *47-8, *58-9» *61, 162, 16 5-6 , 168, 17 1, 174, *78, 179» *99» 200, 201, 202, 203-9, 210, 2 1 1, 2 13 , 219, 220, 229, 234, 235, 237» 238, 239-43, 245- 9 » 2 5 1, 2 5 2 ,2 5 3, 254» 255-8 , 258, 259-68, 270-82, 284, 286-8, 290-310 Eskimo settlements, 4 8 ,5 1 , 166, 167, 168 Europe, European, 36, 66, 97, 99, 124, *53-5» *79» 180, 202, 204, 207, 2 15 , 227, 237, 244, 246, 2 5 1, 259, 261, 286,

3*5

Eyrbyggjar, 35 Eysteinn, Archbishop, 11 1 Eystribygð see East settlement F A N G E R , 260, 264-5, 269, 275, 279, 284, 290, 302, 304 Faroes, 26, 35, 56, 156, 157, 159, *89, 198, *97» 227, 228, 2 31, 233 Fauna, 2, 3 Finnbogi, 5 0 -1, 52, 54 Finland; the Finns, 173 Finmark, 157, 188 Finn, Fegin, 52 Fiskenæsset, 219, 234, 258 Fjörbaugsgarðr, 29 Flanders, 136, 137 Flateyjarbók, 46, 109 Flensburg, 220, 248 Flora, 10 Florence, 176, 186 Föhn wind, 38 Fóstbrœðrasaga, 54, 55, 57 Foss Farm, 127, 129 Foxe Island, 15 France; the French, 183, 2 15 -6 , 224, 227, 228, 232, 252, 253, 3 15 Frederik I, King, 187 Frederik II, King, 190, 194, 195, 197, 198, 218, 243 Frederik III, King, 234, 235, 236,

277, 179,

226,

196 243,

244» 249

Frederik V P s Coast, 169 Frederiksborg, 191 Frederikshåb, 193, 200, 235, 260, 206 Freuchen, Peter, 287 Freydis, 45, 5 0 -5 1, 54, 63 Friis, Johan, 191 Frisland, 192, 193, 199, 205 Frobisher, Sir Martin, 157, 191, 192-4, *95» *98, 197» *98, *99» 201, 202, 203, 214, 218, 238, 239, 242, 243, 246 Frobisher Strait, 200, 201 Funen, 188 Fyllas Bank, 235 G A R Ð A R , 63, 64-5, 67, 68, 69, 70, 74, 105, 106, 107, 109, i n , 1 13 -5 , 1 17, 1 18, 12 1, 122, 124, 12 5-6 , 128, 129, 135» *36, 137» *38, *4 *» *48, 153» * 74» 179, 184, 185 Germany; the Germans, 47, 176, 256

344

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

Godhavn, 3 1 3 Godthåb, 33, 52, 102, 143, 166, 256, 286 Godthåbs Fjord, 12, 144, 199, 200, 202, 234, 235, 242, 248, 256, 292, 306 de Gomara, Lopez, 179 Gothic, 66, 75, 100, 1 14, 129, 130 Gotland, 156, 186 Gottorp, 242, 249 Graahsfjælde, 199 Grågås, 84, 107, 108 Grand Bay, 201 Great Bear (nalergat), 296 Greipar, 86 Grip (or Grypp) Garsten, 177, 178, 187 Grœnlendingaþáttr, 40, 45, 46-9 Grotius, Hugo, 2 14 Gudmundsson, Jon, 236 Gudrid Thorbjömsdotter, 49 Gudveig, 1 1 7 - 1 8 Guinea, 177 Gulf Stream, 27 Gunnbjöm, 27 Gunnbjörn Skerries, 27-28 , 29, 30 H A A B E T S 0 E, 20 Hafgerdingadrapa, 3 1, 33 Hafgrims Fjord, 164 Håkon, Bishop of Bergen, 127, 140 Håkon V I, King of Norway, 139, 145, 149 Håkon Håkonsson, 109, 119 , 120, 12 1, 126, 187, 2 15 Hakon Hakonsson's Saga, 86, 1 20 Halberstadt, 181 Hall, James, 204, 218, 219, 220, 229, 234 Hall Land, 18, 21 Hamar, n i Ham, descendants of, 250 Hamburg, 62, 164, 228, 3 14 Hamburgersund, 101 Hamre, Lars, 157 Hans, King, 182, 183 Hanseatics, 140, 152, 18 1, 182, 183, 314, 3 15 Harold Hardrada, King, 108 Hardanger, glacier, 134 Harpoon, 16, 17, 22, 93, 98, 101 Haukadal, 28, 29, 40 Hauksbóky 46, 100 Hávamály 28 Hebrides, 26, 3 1, 35, 1 19, 179

Heinesøn, Mogens, 196, 197, 2 17 Heinrekr Karsson, Bishop, 120 Helgi, 5 0 -5 1, 52,^54» 61 Helgi, Bishop, 118 Helluland, 46 Hemmingsen, Niels, 190 Henry III, King of England, 119 Henry IV , King of England, 176 Henry V , King of England, 156, 2 14 Henry the Navigator, 173, 176, 177 Herfølge, 224 Herjolf, 33 Herjolfs Fjord, 33 Herjolfsnes 33, 40, 45, 65, 66, 99, 128, 129, 154» ! 55> Í 56» I 59> 16 1-2 , 163 182, 187, 221 Herjolfsson, Bjarni, 40, 45-6, 52 High Middle Ages, 97 History of Norway, 88, 100, 139, 173, 179 Hólar, 60, 179, 223 Holm, Gustav, 229-300 Holsteinsborg, 12, 85, 200, 234, 275, 286 Holtved, Erik, 20, 2 1, 89, 91 Horn, Reinhold, 242, 243, 244, 245-6 Homstrandir, 28 Hrafns Fjord, 30, 115 , 127, 128 Hreinsey (Akia), 129 Hudson Bay, 3, 15, 17, 161 Hudson Strait, 15, 200, 229 Huitfeldt, Arild, 190, 2 14 Huitfeldt, Peder, 188 Hvalsey, 36, 133, 158 Hvalsey church, 129, 134, 135, 149 Hvamm Fjord, 28 Hvarf, 29 Hvarfsgnipa, 29 Hvidserk Rock, 178, 220 IC E L A N D , 26 -7, 28, 30, 3 1, 33, 3 5 -3 7 , 38, 40, 44, 5 2 -3 , 55, 56, 59-60, 6 1-3 , 68,80, 10 3-4, IM » I ! 5> x i 9> i2 ° ’ i 2 I > 122, 130, 139, 148, 149, 150, 157, 159, 160, 164, 172, 173, 176, 177, 178, 179, 182, 187, 189, 194, 196, 197, 214, 2 15, 219, 223, 227, 228, 2 31, 233, 234, 236,

316» 317

Icelandic Chronicles, 60, 80, 104, 1 18, 123» 135» ! 40, 146» *47» 148 Icelandic Law-Book, {Grågås), 84 Igaliko Fjord, 129 Igdlerfigssalik, 129

IN D EX Igdlorssuit, 20, ioo Igdluluarssuk, 170 Igdlutalik, 97, 100, 167, 2 12 Igloolik Eskimos, 2 2 -3 Igpik, 167 Ikerasak, 12 Ikerssuaq, 29, 30 Ikigait, 128 Independence Fjord, 5, 6 ,8 ,9 , 15, 17, 18 India, sea routes to, 173, 177, 18 1, 184, 185, 19 1, 227 Indians (American), 48, 5 1, 297 Ingimund Thorgeirsson, 104, 118 , 11 1 Inglefield Land, 18, 2 1, 89, 9 1, 17 1, 2 12 Ingstad, Helge, 69, 175 Innocent III, Pope, 115 , 118 Innocent IV , Pope, 119 , 136 Innocent V I I I , Pope, 180 Inuarfigssuak, 20, 21 Inugsuk, 97, 100-2, 166, 168, 169, 170, 17 1, 172, 209, 210, 2 1 1 , 2 12 Ipiutak, 2 3 -4 Ireland, 26-7, 35, 67, 70 Irkutsk, 3 Iron Age, 80 Iron Ore, 80-2 Isa Fjord, 45, 129 Isimardik, 303 Isle of Man, 119 Islendíngabóky 19, 88 Isleif, Bishop, 62 Italy, 173, 176 Itivdleq, 200,205, 219, 234, 235, 237, 238 Itivnera, 12, 14, 109, 143 Ivan (The Terrible), Tsar, 192 Ivar Bardarson, 60, 116 , 12 7 -12 8 , 129, 130, 140, 141, 142, 147, 220

J . G JA C O B S E N S F JO R D , 209 Jaeren, 28, 72 Jakobshavn, 6, 97 James I, King of England, 218, 227 James Bay, 17 Ja n Mayen Island, 227, 234 Jarl, Erik, 46 Jenisej, River, 85 Jenness, D., 15 Jens Munks Island, 5 Jerusalem, 148 John X X I , Pope, 121

345

Jon Arnasson Smyrill, Bishop, i n , 114 , 1 15, 1 18 Jon Grønlænder, 164, 182, 187 Jon Knút, 1 1 1 Jon Skalli, 13 5 -6 Jonsson, Amgrimur, 223, 236 Jonsson, Finnur, 128, 137 Jörund, Archbishop, 135 Julianehåb, 29, 37, 97, 129, 143, 158, 166, 167, 2 13 , 259, 261, 286 Jutland, 188 K A B E L A U , 248 Kågssagssuk, 289, 292 Kalåleq, kalåtdlit, 172 Kalmar Castle, 186 Kalmar W ar, 226 Kambstada Fjord, 127, 129 Kamik, 203, 209, 239, 280, 287 Kampe, Vincentius Pedersen, Bishop,

185 Kangåmiut, 10 1-2 , 166, 207, 208, 210, 2 7 I> 277 Kangerdluarssuk Fjord, 127 Kangeq, 143 Kangerdlugssuaq, 172, 209, 210 Kangersuneq, 19, 143, 144 Kapisigdlit, 142, 144 Kara Sea, 197 Karelians, 173, 174 Kassapé, 158 Kayak, 202, 208, 2 12 , 246, 253, 268-70 Kennedy Channel, 21, 89 Kertemeinde, 316 Ketils Fjord, 65, h i , 115 , 128 Kiel, 12 1, 187 Kieldsen, Peter, 218 Kimbavag, 35 King Valdemar’s laws, 55 Kingigtorssuaq, 88, 137, 138 Kjalarnes, 31 Klauman, Peter, 316 Knarrar-Leif, 120 Knörr (cog), 123, 125, 140, 141, 146 Knight, John, 219 Knuth, Eigil, 5, 8, 9, 10, 17, 18, 19, 17 1, 2 11 Kook Islands, 200 Krag, Dr. Niels, 2 14 Kroksfjardarheidi, 86, 87, 97, 100, 138 Kvalsund, 79

346

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

L A B R A D O R (Markland), 15, 48, 178, 18 1, 200, 2 14 Lambseyjar, 129 Lancaster Sound, 229 Land of Desolation, 201 Landnám, 26, 27, 28, 35, 36, 37, 40, 42, 49» 5°» 5 1» 55» 88, 107, 131 Landnámabók, 28, 3 1, 33 Lange, Erik, 218 Langey Island, 129 Lapland, the Lapps, 173, 188, 203 Larsen, Dr. Helge, xii, 22, 210 Laugarbrekkuland, 34 Leif (Eriksson), 4 0 -1, 45, 4 6 -5 1, 52, 54,

55» 57 Leversteyn, Adriaen Dircksz, 256, 258 Lindenov, Godske, 218, 219, 220 Lindenows Fjord, 170 Lindholm, 218 Linköping, 180 Livonia, 186 Lodinn, 57 Lögmanns-annáll, 60 Lübeck, Gort von, 3 16 Lund, 53, 63, i n Lund, Christian, 235, 244, 250, 252, 260, 275

Lusa-Oddi, 57 Lutheran Church, 226, 3 17 Lyschander, Claus Ghristopherssøn, 184, 196, 224, 225, 2 3 1, 238, 239-42, 246 Lysu Fjord (see also Ameralik Fjord), 34,

49» 129 M A G A L H A E N S (Magellan), 185 Maglemose culture, 3 Magnus the Good, King of Norway, 108 Magnus V (Lagabœtir), King of Norway, 1 19, 126, 139 Magnus V I (Smek), King of Norway, 124, 137, 139, 140, 145, 146 Malmö, 184 Margret, the dexterous, 1 15 Margrethe, Queen, 149-50 Markland, 46, 48, 5 1, 52, 54, 56, 83, 109, 123, 13 1, 163, 3 17 Marshall Bay, 20, 91 Martin Knudssøn, Bishop, 180, 18 1, 185 Mathias, Hans, 316 Matthiassen, Therkel, 12 ,8 9 ,9 7 ,1 0 1 ,167, 168

Meier, Albert, 218 Meier, Am t, 197 Meldgård, Jørgen,- 5, 12, 17, 20, 2 1, 22 171 Melville Bay, 11, 97, 166, 2 1 1 , 212 Melville Peninsula, 5 Merqusåq, 7 Mesolithic Eskimos, 9, 10; culture, 12,

*3

Middle Ages, 20, 69, 76, 79, 107, 128, 130» 155» 161» 167, 169, 172, 181 Midfirdir, 45 Midjökull, 29 Mikis Fjord, 209 Mikkelsen, Hans, 184 Molyneux, Emery, 201 Mongolia, 3, 176 Morocco, 177 Müller, Henrik, 233, 234, 235, 3 14 Munk, Jens, 226, 229 Munk, Ludvig, 198 Munkeliv monastery, 136 Muscovites, 19 1 N Æ S T V E D F JO R D , 9 Nalikådivåkåq, 295 Nanoitalik, 29, 208, 286 Narssaq, 29, 37, 44 -5, 129, 132, 167 Neo-Eskimo, 14, 15, 20, 2 2 -3, 89, 91, 95-7» 99» 102, 165, 265, 287 Nepisat, 160 Netherlands, 186, 226, 228, 234, 256, 258. 3>5 Newfoundland, 15, 17, 47, 161, 17 8 ,2 5 1 Nicholas, Bishop, 118 Nicholas III, Pope, 121 Nicholas V , Pope, 157, 179 Nidaros, i n , 118 , 12 1, 136, 140, 173, 179 Nipisat Sound, 199 Nolck, Andreas, 220 Noordse Compagnie, 227, 228, 229, 258 Norby, Søren, 185, 186 Nordic culture, 37, 5 1, 75» *54» *77 Nordic Territory, 54, 149 Norðrsetur, 86, 88, 97, 103, 120, 13 1, 136, 137, 138, 147, 15 1, 156 Nørlund, Dr. Poul, 63, 67, 79, 85, 154-6 Norman decoration, 75 Norse Culture, 36, 39, 47, 55, 74, 75, 80, 85, 99» 10 1-2 , 164, 309

I NDEX Norse Greenland, 44, 46, 56, 60, 68-69, 74, 83, 107, 109, 12 1, 123, 126, 132, 137, 14 1, 148, 15 1, 154, 157, 162, 163, i73> i7 6> 182, 190» 220, 223, 225, 236, 237, 242, 243, 245, 2 5 1, 252, 3 17 Norse Greenland Church, 59, 60, 64, 67, i

38> 153-4

Norse-Irish, 27 Norse Settlements, 52, 53, 7 1, 74, 84, 88, 97, 100, 1 17, 124-6, 132, 133, 14 1-2 , 143, 144, 154, 158, 159, 165, 167, 168, 173, 179, 187, 220, 236 Norsemen, 14, 19, 28, 33, 38, 42, 48, 51, 52, 66, 89, 97, 100, 103, 107, 122, 130 144, 147-8, 150, 158, 161, 162, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 225, 237, 2 51, 276, 290, 3! 7 North Gape, 2 15 North Sea, 26, 5 1, 231 North-West Passage, 18 1, 185, 191, 193, I98» I99> 200, 226, 258 Norton Sound, 4 Novaya Zemlya, 85, 197, 214, 226 Norway, 3, 35, 4 0 -1, 46, 49, 52 -4 , 59, 62, 66, 67, 68-70, 74, 85, 103, 106-8, 1 18, 119 , 12 1, 125, 127, 13 1, 134, 135, 140, 147, 149-50, 153, 157, 172, 182, 183, 184, 186, 188, 189, 191, 194, 195, i97> 198, 214, 2 15 -6 , 2 17, 219, 220 227, 228, 2 3 1, 233, 234, 244, 2 5 1, 277, 3H Norwegian Sea, 198, 2 14 -16 , 226, 227, 232, 3 12 , 3 15 Nügssuaq Peninsula, 5, 11, 12, 19, 86-8, 97, 100, 13 7-8 Nunatak, 2 Nyeboe Land, 21 Nyhavn, 3 16 OB, R IV E R , 19 1, 293 Odd of Sjölt, 1 20 Ögmund, Bishop, 182 Okse, Peder, 19 1 Olaf, Bishop, 120, 12 1, 135 Öland, 186 Olaus Magnus, Bishop, 174, 178 Olaf I V Håkonsson, King of Norway and Denmark, 139, 149, 151 Olaf, Saint, King of Norway, 52, 54, 103, 108 Olaf Tryggvason, King, 40-1

347

Olborg, Kristem, 190 Olearius, Adam, 242, 243-9, 250, 2 5 1-6 , 262 Umboðsmaðr, 126, 127, 142, 149, 151 Oplands, 108 Orkneys, 26, 35, 6 1-2 , 119 , 156, 179, 185, 189, 3 17 Orim Eysteinsson, 145, 146 Oslo, 146, 174, 178 Oslo Fjord, 146 Össur, 105, 106 Otto, Bishop of Bamburg, 53 P A L L H A L V A R D S S O N , 149 Palæo-Eskimo culture, 4, 5, 9 -10 , 11, 12, 15, 19, 2 1-2 , 23 Pall Magnusson, 120 Pall, Bishop of Skálholt, 115 Paris, 183, 3 17 Peary Land, 8 , 2 1 1 Pederssøn, Absolon, 189, 190, 191 Pederssøn, Klaus, 185 Peter’s Pence, 70, 137 Petersvig, 128 de la Peyrére, Isaac, 183, 3 17 Philippa (Erik V I I ’s queen), 176 Pining, Didrik, 177, 179, 18 1, 184, 187 Pisigsarfik, 144, 145 Pisigsarfik Fjord, ioq Poland, 176 Polar Basin, 56 Polar Eskimos, 7, 2 1, 2 12 , 2 13 , 259, 277, 286 Portugal, Portuguese, 173, 177, 178, 184, 185, 188 Pórtusoq, 170 Potthorst, Hans, 177, 179, 18 1, 184, 187 Powel Knudsson, 140, 145, 146 Pre-Mesolithic culture, 5 Prins Christians Sound, 167, 169, 170 Prinsesse Ingeborg Peninsula, 8, 9 Ptolemy, 173, 176 Q A E R SSO R SSU A Q , P E N IN S U L A , 200 Qaqortoq, 38, 143, 158 Qaqortoq Fjord, 38, 129, 133 Qagssiarssuk, 38 Qerrortút, 208 Qingortoq, 170 Qingua Valley, 128

348

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

Qproq Fjord, 129 Queen Elizabeth’s Foreland, 193, 199, 201 R A N T Z A U , B R E ID E , 228 Rantzau, Henrik, 218 Rasmussen, Knud, 289, 292 Resen, Hans Poulsen, 220, 2 2 1, 236 Resen, Peder, 3 17 Reykjavik, 234 Richardsen, Carsten, 220 Rifkol, 235 Rigsråd, 228, 232 Rijswijk, Peace of, 3 15 Rink, H. J ., 289 Robeson Channel, 2 1, 89 Røde Løve, 232 Rodsteen, Jens, 3 1 1 Romanesque, 66 Rome, i n , 136, 153, 157, 174, 176 Romsdal, 186 Rosing, Jens, 289 Roskilde, 1 14 Roussell, Dr. Aage, 70, 72, 77, 129, 130,

132, 133 “ Ruin Island people” , 91 Russia, 197, 198, 214, 251 S A IN T O L A F ’S S A G A , 104 Salomon, Bishop of Oslo, 146 Samoyeds, 293 Sandnes, 60, 61, 65, 129, 143 Sandnes Farm, 37, 38, 48, 63, 67, 72,

73» 77-9» 8o> ' 30 , 142 Sarqaq culture, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 91, 17 1, 306 Sarqarmiutortut, 14, 15, 18, 20, 25 Såtoq Island, 200 Savanganeq, 170 Scandinavia, 26, 35, 37, 55, 59, 61, 75, 80, 83, 152, 180 Schultz-Lorentzen, G.W . 289 Scilly Isles, 199 Scoresbysund, 2 11 Scotland, 226 Semersóq Island, 29 de Senigaglia, Marcus, 183 Sermermiut, 6, 14, 17, 19, 2 1, 97, 99, 101 Sermilik, 35, 45, 129 Sermilik Fjord, 170

Seward Peninsula, 4 Sewing-needle, 16 Shetlands, 26, 35, 72, 119 , 156, 179, 185, 195 Siberia, 4, 56, 85, 19 1, 286 Sigismund, Emperor of Poland, 176 Siglu Fjord, 1 15, 127, 129 Sigrid Bjömsdotter, 149 Sigurd Jorsalafari, King of Norway, 57, 6 2 -3 Sigurd KolbeinsSon, 149, 151 Sigurd Njalsson, 105 Simon (össur’s kinsman), 107 Skaga Fjord, 149 Skáld-Helga rimur, 86 Skaiholt, 60, 1 15, 1 16, 179, 187, 237^ and Holar, Bishop of, 157 Skolp, Johannes, 178 Skrælings, 19, 48, 50, 5 1, 88-9, 100, 14 1 -2 , 147, 148, 158, 163, 173, 174, 252 Skuf, 54 Skyr (curd), 39 Smith Sound, 7, 8, 2 1, 89, 229 Snæfellsjökul, 178 Snæfellsnes, 29, 30, 34 Snorri Thorbrandson, 35 Sokki Thorirson, 58, 60, 62, 106 Solarfjöll Church, 128, 129 Søndre Strømfjord, 10 1 Sound Tolls, 197 Spain, the Spaniards, 185, 188, 227, 228 Speculum Regale, 27, 3 1, 33, 84-85, 104, 122, 123, 124, 12 5-6 , 214, 236 Spitsbergen, 85, 198, 2 15, 216, 226, 227, 228, 229, 2 3 1, 232, 3 1 1, 3 12 , 3 13 , 314, 3 15 Statenhoek (Cape Farewell), 258 Stavager, 28 Stefansson (Stephanius), Sigurd, 236 Stensnes, 129 Stockholm, 184, 185 Stokkanes, 33, 35, 54 Stone and Bone Age, 5, 9, 12, 19 Storbræen, 2 Straum Fjord, 123, 147 Sudr Islands, 57 ,179 Sükersit, 170 Sukkertoppen, io i, 166 Svarðreip, 85

220,

INDEX

349

Svartenhuk-land, ii Svend II Estridssøn, King, 52, 57 Sverrir, King of Norway, 119 Sweden, 136, 185, 186, 191

Tugtutóq, 129 Tukingassoq, 97 Tunes, Nicholas, 255, 256, 258 Tunugdliarfik Fjord, 38 Turkey, the Turks, 177

T A B L E T O P M O U N T A IN , 21 Talorssuit, 292 Tasermiut, h i , 128 Tasermuit Fjord, 115 Taserssuaq Valley, 128 Tasiussaq Bay, 87 Teigsen, Jørgen, 191 Thalbitzer, 289 Thirty Years War, 228, 229 Thjodhild, 28, 29, 30, 40 Thjodhild’s Church, 4 1, 43, 58, 6 4-5 Thorbjörn Hallveigsson, 57 Thord Bokki, Bishop, 122, 12 4 -5, 135, 140 Thord Kakali, 120 Thorfinn Karlsefni, 49, 52, 103 Thorfinn Karlsefni1s Saga, 4 1,4 6 -8 , 5 1, 156, 100, 103 Thorgest, 28-9, 30, 35 Thorgils Örrabeinsstjup, 35 Thorir, Archbishop of Nidaios, 115 , 118 Thorkell, Leifsson, 54, 55 Thormod Kolbrunarskald, 54, 55, 57 Thorlacius, Bishop Thord, 237 Thorlacius, Bishop Gudbrand, 223, 236,

U JA R A G S S U IT F JO R D , 143, 144 Ulfeldt, Corfitz, 232 Ulo, 16 Umánaq municipality, 12, 138, 235 Umiviarssuk, 79, 80, 82 Unartoq Fjord, 30, 35, 115 , 127, 128, 158, 167 Unartoq Island, 208 Undir Höfda, 129, 133, 135 Ungertoq, 143, 145, 158 Upernavik, 18, 52, 97, 100, 137, 138, 174, 200, 292, 212, 260, 286 Urals, 3

237

Thorleif Kimbi, 35 Thormøhlen, Jørgen, 3 12 , 3 ! 3> 3*4 Thorsnes, 29 Thorsteinn Eriksson, 45, 48-9, 54 Thorsteinn Olafsson, 149 Thorvald, 45, 48-9 Thorvard, 45, 50, 5 1, 54, 63 Thrond, 108 Thule, 6, 17, 20, 90-3, 97, 2 1 1, 212 Thule Culture, 22, 23, 25, 94, 98-9, 101 265 Tønsberg, 146 Torfæus, Thormod, 223, 312 , 316 , 3 17 , 318 Torngit, 2 2 -3 , 297 Torssykáfak, 30, 87 Torstensson Feud, 232 Trolli, Einarsson Thorgrimm, 54 Trondheim, 40, 68, 140, 174, 175, 178, 182, 183, 184, 188, 198, 236

V A G A R , 128 Vajgat, 19, 87, 138 Valkendorf, Christoffer, 188, 190, 194, 195» 196, 197 Valkendorf, Erik, Archbishop, 183, 184, 186, 188, 190 Varberg Fortress, 177 Vardøhus, 188, 189, 198, 2 14 Vatnahverfi, 164 Vatns Fjord, 148 Vatnsdal, 128, 148 Vatnshorn, 28, 40 Växjö, 60 Vedel, Anders Sørensen, 190, 218 Vestribygð, see West Settlement Vestfold, 146 Vedel, Anders Sørenson, 190 Vega, 296 Vestmanna Islands, 2 14 Vienne, synod of, 136 Vifilsson, Thorbjöm, 34, 45 Vigdis, 1 17 Viking, 25, 26-7, 3 1, 35, 51, 122 Vinland, 19, 40, 4 6 -5 1, 54, 60, 88, 100, «73. 176. 3«7 Vlissingen (Flushing), 255, 256 W A L R U S , 16, 39, 44, 56, 74, 84, 89, 93, 102, 104, 138, 15 1, 152, 214, 247, 268, 275, 296, 309 Walsingham, Sir Francis, 198 Washington Land, 21 West Iceland, 27

35O

H I S T O R Y OF G R E E N L A N D

West Settlement (Vestribygd), 33, 37, 39» 48-9» 52, 55» 60, 63, 65, 71, 73, 74» 76, 79» 82-3» 84, 109, h i , 127, 129-30, 133, 14 1, 143, 14 4 -5, 147, 15 1, 156, 162, 163, 172, 2 2 1, 237 Whaler, 16 0 -1, 208, 3 12 Whales, 4, 23, 39, 56, 74, 84, 89, 92, 93, 94, 16 0 -1, 202, 205, 207, 214, 2 17 , 227, 243, 246-7, 249, 2 5 2 -3 , 256, 264-5, 296 Whaling (Basque), 16 0 -1, 176, 177, 202, 205, 207, 225, 227, 229, 266, 3 1 1 ; (Danish-Norwegian), 226, 228, 229, 230, 233, 235, 237, 3 1 1, 314 , 3 1 5 ; (English), 191, 214, 224, 226, 229, 3 1 5 ;

(Eskimo), 23, 99, 102, 169-70, 212, 248, 259, 260, 264, 277, 2 8 4 ; (French), 214, 223, 227, 22& 232, 256; (Ham­ burg), 314 , 3 1 5 ; (Netherlands), 160, 216, 226, 227, 229, 237, 3 1 1, 3 15 William of Orange, 3 15 William of Sabina, Cardinal, 119 , 120 Willoughby, Sir Hugh, 19 1, 192 Willoughby, Sir William, 2 15 Worm, Ole, 183

Z A C K E N B U R G , 10, 18, 171 Zeeland, 188, 256 Zeno Map, 192, 220, 226

:o succeed in this task, for which M r G ad’s life-work to date has prepared him. Volume /, the first of the four volumes which are projected, begins with pre­ historic times, a survey of what archaeo­ logists tell us of the first Eskimo immigrants from about 3,000 b c to about a d 1,000. For the Viking settlements in South-west Greenland we have both documentary and archaeological evidence, which forms the basis of the author’s account of the Norse settlers’ daily life, their relations with Scandinavia, especially Norway, in the east and their journeys to and from the North American coasts in the west. The decline of the Norse settlements, and the Neo-Eskimo immigrations advancing step by step around the entire coastline of the great island simultaneously, are described. The next episode is the European interest in the North Atlantic (in carto­ graphy and whaling) in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. English, Dutch and Danish-Norwegian expeditions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries caused more frequent traffic with West Greenland and a growing contact with the Eskimos. The different European views of the West Greenland population are given, and there is a detailed account of the Eskimo material and immaterial culture as it appeared in the seventeenth century, and when the Danish-Norwegian mission began in 1721.

The Author FIN N G A D was born in 1 91 1 and gained his M A at Copenhagen University. He taught at the Teachers’ College in Godthåb, Greenland, from 1937 to 1945. Since then he has been a lektor in a senior school in Copenhagen, also serving as education adviser to the central admini­ stration of Greenland in 1950-61 and a: member of the Committee for SocialScientific Investigations in Greenlam 1 953-63. He lectures in Greenland histor at Copenhagen University, and has pub lished papers and surveys on the subject.