In Loving Memory of Joan Hope
October 4, 1916 - July 9, 2007
Joan Hope's IQ
was 152 graded by Mensa in 1949.
This is a work of genius. Please pay attention.
The Contents and Map List have all been linked, so you can jump
down to the page or map. Use your BACK button to return here. Everything in the book is not linked here, so be sure to scroll
through the book and use these links as bookmarks or for quick reference.
Map List
Maps are in order as they appear in the book. Maps in
purple are individual maps.
Maps in red
groups are found on the same picture, you may need to scroll down a bit
to see the one you want.
You can search the Internet to find the original maps sketched in
this book, copies could not be attained until now.
They are all sketched from the originals found in libraries and
books, all are accurate.
|
Gerardus
Mercator 1571, inside cover, western world
Americae Sive Novi Orbis Nova Descriptio, 1527-
1598
Mercator, 1545
After Mercator, 1571
Terra Australis Incognita, 1608
Sebastian Munster, Western Hemisphere
1569
Vinland
Map
Zeno Chart,
1398
Anonymous Cape Breton & Newfoundland,
16th C
Wheel or “T” Map, Dark
Ages
Skalholt Map,
1579
Vinland Sketch,
15thC
Resen Map,
1605
Vinland Original Map, 1434
Port de la Heve, 1604
Diagramical Map La have River 20th C.
Terra Incognita (John Cabot),
1497
Solis Map, 16th
C
Four Castles Cartier,
1541-2
Santa Cruz Map,
1541
Portuguese Map,
1542
Vallard Map,
1543
Gastaldi Maps in Ramusio III,
1556
Lope Homen Map,
1554
Zaltier Map,
1566
Mercator
1569
Drake’s Voyage
1577-80
Gastaldi Maps
1548-50
Lope Homen,
1558
Mercator Map,
1560
Oliveriana or Presaro, early 16th C
Undated map sketches
Gastaldi,
1546
Bertelli,
1565
Anonymous St. Lawrence River
1555
Zaltieri Map,
1566
Ortelius World Map,
1564
Lok-Hakluyt Hemisphere,
1582
John Dee’s Map,
1580
Baptista Boasio’s Chart,
1586
Mollineux Globe,
1592
Plancius,
1592
Heirs of Melchoir Sessa,
1599
Wytfliet Map, 1599
Marc Lescarbot’s Map, 1609
Champlain’s Sketch, 1613
Sir William Alexander,
1625-30
Champlain’s Maps,
1632
Outlines of Atlantic Coast 16th C-
20th C
Reinel Map,
1521
Maiollo’s Map,
1524
Rome Ribero Map,
1529
Verrazano Map,
1529-40
Jan Rotz Map,
1535
Dauphin Map,
1546
Gerardus
Mercator 1571, inside back cover, old world
|
Map of
the Earth drawn in 1571, the great Renaissance geographer Gerardus Mercator,
whose studies and works were an invaluable contribution to geography and the art
of navigation. (Western Hemisphere)
Americae
Sive Novi Orbis No Va Descriptio- Ortelius, Abraham, 1527-1598

Dedication
This book is dedicated to all who have participated in
the making of it and have been staunch supporters of lifting the veil over the
long hidden truths of Nova Scotia. It is dedicated to you, the reader, who it
was written for.
And in memory of John Robert MacNeil, aka…John Bear,
Manikean, Mooin and Manfred Icarus Kean “Chapbook Man” extraordinaire…for your
tireless and generous effort in bringing the truth of Cape Breton's history to
all of us with your book Basket Stories. For the love you had for your family
and friends, for your belief in yourself enough to write down your revelations
for others to learn from; and especially for your love of the Mi’Kmaq people and
your diligence in showing us who they truly are. We all miss you JB, you will
never be forgotten. Till we meet again here in the Kingdom of
Heaven…
From
life to life
we
live and we die,
sharing a dirge
or a
lullaby,
sharing an hour
or a
whole lifetime,
leaving in old age
or in
our prime.
We
were brothers once,
sisters as well,
perhaps even lovers,
who
can tell.
We
were together then
for a
moment or more.
We'll
be together again,
of
this I am sure.
And
after the march
when
we are laid to rest,
we'll
plot our return
and do
our best
to be
lovers again
or
brothers-in-arms,
or
sisters or friends,
drinking love's charms.
-John
Bear MacNeil-
The
Secret City
By
Joan Hope
Copyright © 2008 Lisa Stone. All Rights Reserved.
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may be quoted in articles and other writings of academic importance, no more
than 30 words at a time without permission. We ask that you pass on the website
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Mer Rika
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to Legitimate Questions and Comments about this book, click below.
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The Library of Hope
Front
Cover Painting Adaptation by John Bear MacNeil
Original Painting
by Joan Hope
Foreword
When we first began to read about the Holy Grail
mysteries several years ago we were intrigued the trail of the Grail was leading
to Nova Scotia, Canada. With many of us being from Nova Scotia, it was all the
more enthralling to learn, as many things being written about were in our own
backyards to find. In our studies we learned of a possible castle in Nova
Scotia, an ancient one, pre-Columbian, set in the highest hills in the middle of
the west of the province. How could this be? Who discovered this castle and
when?
We quickly learned that it was a woman who discovered
this castle, a very intriguing woman, a woman that was being shunned because of
it. Instantly, when we read that she was accused of being a witch and a threat
to her neighbours, we knew she had uncovered a secret.
Not believing anything negative written about her
character we sought her out. First finding out that she had written a book about
digging up the castle called “A Castle in Nova Scotia” and it was being sold in
the very town where she had found the castle, because many of the people in the
town and the Nova Scotia government knew it to be true and promoted the finding
in tourist publications for 11 years for people to come and see it. All of that
changed though, and you’re about to find out why.
After reading the book and the amazing things she wrote,
we tracked her down since she had moved from the town in 1990. Locating Joan and
her husband we began to correspond and visit. A beautiful friendship and kinship
began to unfold.
We were astonished to find out that Joan has written 5
books about her experiences and that they were extensive and other worldly. The
truth was told to us, the truth of lies and betrayal, secrets and cover-ups,
threats and injustices, but also of great hope, joy and glory to come. Without a
second thought we took the reins, as Joan has been somewhat disabled in a car
accident and is a shut in. Having travelled the world, she discovered the Castle
over 30 years ago. She gave us access to all her data and permission to publish
her books, which she has never stopped writing, never stopped investigating, to
this day she goes on.
We are going to finish this Joan; it is our destiny to
do so. We have our swords and our pens and the Angels who guide us. Tears of joy
and hope are flowing now, as the truth sets us free. Thank you Joan and Ron…for
everything you have done and sacrificed for the rest of us and the good of
mankind.
With infinite love and gratitude,
Lisa, Deborah, John & everyone
involved.
“Blessed are they which are persecuted for
righteousness' sake:
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”
Matthew
5:10
(KJV)
Sebastian
Munster, Western Hemisphere 1569 (circa)
Introduction
Legends concerning a place or places in North America
called Norumbega have been extant ever since John Cabot reached our shores in
1497 and particularly since the colonization of New England was begun by the
Pilgrim Fathers in 1620. By that time, however, the name had mysteriously
disappeared from the map. How and why did this happen? Was Norumbega ever
actually there at all? Argument for and against has persisted ever since, and
with it the mystery and the myth -if such it was.
A glance at one of the mid-sixteenth century maps, such
as those produced by Mercator, shows Norumbega to have been south of New France,
roughly covering what are known today as the Maritime Provinces of Canada. New
France is no myth: it later became Lower Canada and is now the Province of
Quebec - with a few border adjustments. Yet the adjacent colony, often described
in contemporary writings as "Norse" or "Norman" has mysteriously disappeared
from history. This is all the more amazing when it is noted that part of today’s
Quebec - notably The Gaspé and Anticosti Island - as well as part of Maine, was
once within the borders of Norumbega.
Further examination of sixteenth-century maps reveals
that there were in fact two Norumbegas (spelling varied in those days but they
are easily identified). Apart from the territory of Norumbega there was also a
city, shown as within its bounds to the south and described in contemporary
writings as being a city of furs and gold about fifteen miles inland from the Bay
of Many Islands. Several of the maps mark Norumbega City with a small sketch of
a castle. But its exact location has always been a matter of dispute,
particularly because of the inaccuracies and variations in the maps and to a
lesser extent because of the complete omission of the peninsula now known as
Nova Scotia. It should, however, be noted that the original Nova Scotia as
designated after the King James Charter of 1621 comprised the entire territory
of what had been Norumbega, including parts of Quebec and
Maine.
By that time maps were more accurate and since the
beginning of the century the missing peninsula had been appearing on them,
marked as "Souriquois"- a French version of its actual name, Sudhrike - and
later as "Acadya" on Champlain's map of 1613.
Here, then, we have the story of the disappearance of
the territory of Norumbega, together with Sudhrike: after Champlain both were
absorbed into New France and the name "Acadia" substituted for "Souriquois". But
by the 1620s the entire territory of Norumbega and that of the attached
peninsula had been taken out of New France to form New Scotland or, since the
Charters of 1621 and 1625 were written in Latin, Nova
Scotia.
But what of Norumbega City - the city of furs and gold?
It had by then disappeared off the map altogether and has never been found
since.
Hence the myth and the
mystery.
Part
1
Chapter I
Norsemen, Vikings, Normans, Greenlanders,
Vinlanders
The activities of the Norsemen, including their
transatlantic voyages and exploration, have come down to us in both written
records and sagas- verbal accounts which were eventually written down. Their
traces have been left in the form of artifacts, foundations of buildings,
legends, including those of native North Americans and descendants. The Norsemen
were tall and fair or red-haired, and these characteristics may be found among
people living in "Norse" or "Norman" areas - for instance, the Norman French are
markedly taller than those living elsewhere in France. Even where few or no
descendants are to be found, place-names indicate a Norse presence sometime in
the past. Place-names ending, for instance, in -vik, -wyk, -wick and variants
tell us of a creek originally named by Norsemen who actually called themselves
the “Creek people” – Vikings. Similarly, we find names such as Bradford, Brador
and even La Brador - all of which probably started out as "Broad-fjord" in Old
Norse. The French wrote Brador as "Bras d’Or", and may have had a hand in putting
the definite article before the name farther north, giving us Labrador, which in
turn was picked up by the Portuguese as their own word, labrador leaving posterity with an
anachronistic legend to puzzle over, about a farmer or farmers in a land where
farming is impossible.
Some of the records and sagas that have come down to us
include the Icelandingbok- The
Book of the Icelanders. From this we learn, amongst other things, that “Eric the
Red” was the name of a Breidafjord man…”who went to Greenland and founded a
settlement there.” The Bradford, Brador or Bras d'Or referred to was in
Iceland. The book of a settlement in Iceland itself is called Landnamabok. Norse settlement in
Iceland is believed, to have started in 874: the Icelandic Parliament dates from
930 and is the oldest in Europe. The Norsemen were preceded in Iceland by Irish
hermits, who had been there since the beginning of the same
century.
Flateyjarbok includes Greenlandings
Saga - the Greenlanders’ saga, which deals mostly with the activities of Erik
the Red's family.
Eirika Saga
Raude- Erik the Red's Saga- or Thorfinns Saga Karlsefnis
(Thordsrsonar), was written for Icelanders, of whom Karlsefni was one, and so
tends to concentrate more on him than on Erik, who had been forced to leave.
Hauksbok also covers the story
of Karlsefni, as written down by Hauk Erlandsson sometime before 1344 who
claimed he had improved on the earlier versions.
Einers Thattr
Sokkassenar or Greenlandings
Thattr that tells the story of Einar Sokkesson of Greenland, one of
Erik's descendants still living at Erik's home there.
There are others, such as the Greatest Saga and Olaf’s
Saga, as well as Skalholtsbok
where references to the lands across the Atlantic may be found, the last-named
being another version of Karlsefni's story.
It now seems strange, in the light of the Ingstad
discoveries at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, now an
internationally-recognised historical site, that until recently all the accounts
indicated above were dismissed by many as mere myth. Not that the Norsemen were
alone: it now seems certain that the Irish crossed the Atlantic at least as
early as the sixth century, and there is some evidence that the Libyans did so
even earlier. In many early writings, stories of white-skinned inhabitants
appear, again indicating earlier visitors from Europe or the Mediterranean. And
in 1583, when Sir Humphrey Gilbert landed in Newfoundland, he found that the
people were white.
In the 10th century Bjarni of Iceland lost his way when
he sailed west and sighted the lands where Leif was later to follow. Another who
also lost his way was Gudleif Gudlangson, who found a land inhabited by white
men. But, being warned that they were Irish and could kill him, he
left.
A land of white men is mentioned in Erik the Red's Saga
as having been described by the native skraelings, who said they had seen them
carrying poles with "rags" attached, and that they ware also dressed in white.
From this description they would appear to have been monks, possibly Irish
monks. The account of the Zeno voyages of 1398 includes a description of landing
on the Island of Icaria, said to be inhabited by Irishman and ruled by a
descendant of Icarus, son of Daedalus.
All indications are that, according to legend, many
people crossed the Atlantic long before even Leif Erikson did so. There is no
doubt that many "unofficial" crossings occurred - fishermen and others who were
blown off-course and perhaps never returned.
It is, however, now a known fact that the Norsemen did
so and that they built houses as described in the sagas, and certainly for a
time settled at least at L'Anse aux Meadows.
Great sailors that they were, and explorers too, who can
doubt that from that base and possibly others farther south, they explored the
entire North American coast? Faint traces of them continue to re-appear: a coin
found in Maine, a stone in Nova Scotia with an inscription said to be in runes;
native legends of "round-eyed" men, a stone carving showing a marriage between
one of them and a native girl; a statuette of a man in Norse-type
clothing.
What, then, of the mythical city of Norumbega?
Is it likely that Vikings -creek people- would, have
founded such an inland city? Or was it really a Micmac city, as some authorities
have suggested? Could it have been a Norse city with Micmac inhabitants? That
fifteenth-sixteenth century traders were bringing back furs from Greenland and
North America is certainly indicated in contemporary portraits. It could have
been, as suggested by con- temporary observers, a trading-post. Nobody really
knows who set up the earliest trading-posts, or where. "Rich in furs and gold''
was the description accorded to Norumbega City. Are we to assume that gold was
mined and traded there too? Were the inhabitants aware of its value? If not, the
Norsemen certainly were: Viking gold is part of the European heritage and many
examples of the gold ornaments they wore have been found and
preserved.
Not all Norsemen built ships or sailed the high seas,
nor even all Vikings: the average family lived inland, most being farmers. Even
among the Vikings, most stayed by the creeks from which they took their name.
Doubtless many were fishermen and worked from small boats in-shore. Vikings were
not necessarily kings, as some people seem to have assumed, but it is true that
some came from aristocratic families who later produced kings. These were those
who organised expeditions and went to sea with fleets of ships. Not all were
interested in conquests: many were merchants and explorers and have been
referred to as merchant princes or sea-kings. Like their warrior compatriots,
they bore the title jarl or earl. In those days the title jarl was synonymous
with that of king. Jarls were more important than the earls we know from later
times and were looked upon as kings, though in early times each was a king
without a country. A jarl usually ruled over his community rather than over
specific territory; yet all were, in one way or another, engaged in a search for
territory. The reason for their plight will become evident later, when we
consider how and why they came to Norway.
Norsemen were divided into three classes, with the jarl
or Chieftain and his family at the top. He was an aristocrat, descended from a
family who had been chosen centuries earlier as "best rulers". The word is
derived from two Greek words having that meaning. These noble families had fair,
yellow or reddish hair, rosy cheeks and keen eyes that were sometimes but not
always blue. Apart from their prowess as seafarers, they were excellent
equestrians and javelin-throwers, enjoyed games of chance- dice have been found
among their artifacts - and could fence, swim and, if occasion arose, make war.
Below the jarl came the karls or yeomen, farmers’ adept at breaking-in oxen,
making ploughs, carts and other vehicles and implements, and at
building-construction. They, too, tended to be fair, ruddy-complexioned and
strong, but less tall; sometimes described as phlegmatic and happy with their
lot, easily moved to laughter.
The third and lowest class was that of the thralls, who
were virtually slaves. Broad-backed and strong, they were very different from
the jarl and his yeomen, black-haired and swarthy of complexion with stubby
fingers, and coarse features. To them was allotted all heavy work: loading and
unloading ships, lifting and carrying, fence-building and maintenance,
manure-collection and spreading, tending and controlling farm animals, including
goats and pigs, digging peat and carting it from the bogs, stacking it for
winter use. Their children helped with lighter but related tasks, such as
goat-herding.
Whenever a jarl moved, he took all these men and their
families and all the animals with him.
For over 350 years the jarls lived in this way, each a
little king in his own right. Then in 872 one of them, Harald Fairhair, declared
himself King of Norway, and everything changed. He was succeeded by Erik
Bloodyaxe who killed four of his brothers and oppressed his people. They
therefore sent for Hakon, who had been fostered in England by Athelstan,
grandson of Alfred the Great, at which Erik Bloodyaxe knowing the people had
turned against him, fled. Hakon arrived in Norway and began his rule In 945: he
was their first Christian King. The bishops and priests upon whom he called to
Christianise the country also came from England. In 995 a second Christian King
was brought, this time from the Faroes - Olaf Trygvasson, the king who was soon
to convert Leif Erikson to Christianity and to give him the task of
Christianising Greenland in the face of his father's unshakable faith in the
pagan pantheon and in Thor in particular. This pantheon was roughly equivalent
to those of Greece and Rome, the names of the gods varying according to the
nationality of the worshippers. Thor, the thunder-god, was the equivalent of
Zeus or Jupiter. The Norse gods, however, were not immortal, and were menaced by
evil in the form of the Giants and Loki; nor does Valhalla seem to have been
derived from Greece or Rome.
Gothic tribes, Teutons in particular, were already in
north-western Europe when the ancestors of the Norseman arrived there after the
Fall of Rome; it was probably from there that they had acquired their pantheon,
adding it to that of an older pagan religion. Although the newcomers brought
their own men to their new home, they took others from the indigenous
population, both serfs and thralls. Some of the thralls may have belonged to an
earlier people, described by some authorities as having been originally a dwarf
race.
The events after Harald Fairhair became king of Norway
may be seen as a revolution, bringing Norway into line with its neighbours such
as Denmark and Sweden. Its final phase was
Christianisation.
The Norse jarls, who had long enjoyed their freedom and
independence, naturally resented Harald's dominance and that of his successors.
Some opposed the king or broke his laws, including Erik the Red's father,
Thorvald, and as a result were exiled to Iceland; others fled there to take
refuge. Eventually they established their own democratic parliamentary rule in
the form of the All-Thing- democratic, that is to say, in the Greek sense: only
the jarls and their families were involved.
Harald and his successors, however, regarded all
Norse-occupied lands as coming under their jurisdiction. Erik the Red, who was
to remain ardently attached to Thor for the rest of his life, was doubly
resentful, longing even more for his old independence. He and his father, having
come to Iceland among the later waves of immigration, had had a hard time
finding land suitable for farming that was not already occupied. Then, no sooner
had he settled on land of his own, then his thralls in the course of their work
caused a land-slide, and this eventually involved him in a fight with a
particularly nasty jarl known as Eyolf the Foul. Eyolf killed Erik's thralls,
and in return was himself killed. But much to Erik's chagrin, the All-Thing
refused to regard this as an act of self-defense, valuing the life of one jarl
as above those of several mere slaves. Banished from Iceland for three years,
Erik sailed west to Greenland and determined not only to establish himself there
but, once his three years were up, to entice others to join him in colonisation.
Icy and forbidding though he found most of Greenland to be, he embarked on his
plan to promote it as a pleasant land, excellently-suited to settlement; that
was why he called it Greenland.
It is claimed that Erik was the first real-estate
promoter in history.
Essential to every jarl were his dais-posts: without
them he could not sit on his little throne and hold court in the traditional
kingly fashion. They also traditionally performed another essential function:
when a jarl found new land on which to settle, he would determine the best place
to build his new home by hurling the posts into the sea. The place where they
were washed up was deemed to be the most propitious for him to start building.
At one point during Erik's flight from his enemies after the land-slide, he was
forced to lend his dais-posts to a neighbour for a while - then had to fight a
minor war to get them back.
Cold though it was, even at that time when Greenland was
going through one of its rare warmer periods, Erik found peace at his new home
there at Brattahlid in Eriksfjord. He had been forced to leave his three young
sons behind in Iceland with a foster-father, Tyrkir the German. At the end of
the three years they joined Erik in his new land.
Erik the Red is believed to have lived from about 950 to
about 1005, so would have been in his twenties when he came with his father to
Iceland. Leif is believed to have been born to Erik and his wife Thorhild in
97l, so would have been little more than ten years old at the time he and his
brothers, Thorstein and Thorvald, were taken to Greenland. He is believed to
have died around 1025, leaving one son, Thorkel, born about
998.
These dates indicate that they lived at a time when
other "creek-men" from lands like Denmark and Sweden, as well as from Norway,
were engaged in what later became known as the Viking raids on the British Isles
and Europe. Stories of the exploits of Vikings both Norse and Teutonic must have
been told by the light of the flickering fire during the long winter evenings at
Brattahlid. They date back to at least the 8th century -Beowulf's story, for
instance, which deals with the royal families of Denmark, Sweden and South
Sweden, then a separate country. The story would have been especially
interesting to Erik, since one of the usurpers was an ancestor to his close
associate, Thorfinn Karlsefni, who himself was trying to move west to Vinland
and in the end succeeded in doing so.
Erik was particularly anxious, once Leif had found the
new land and established houses there, to send one of his other sons out, who
were more tolerant towards the old religion. Unfortunately both died: Thorvald
because he foolishly alienated the indigenous "skraelings" or "shrieking men" as
the Norsemen called them; and Thorstein while still in Greenland, of what must
have been influenza. Leif, having become a Christian and converted his mother,
amongst others, to that religion, was no longer trusted by Erik, and this may be
why he gave support to Karlsefni's voyage west - he having also married
Thorstein's widow, Gudrid. It seems that whatever Leif might have wished to do
regarding Vinland, he was to do it alone. That he was still interested is
indicated by his insistence that he would only lend his buildings to others. It
is now believed that the place where Karlsefni temporarily settled – Straumfjord
- was at what is now known as L'Anse aux Meadows, near the tip of the Great
Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. But Leif describes his landfall at the time
of his voyage of discovery as being much farther south, where night and day
were almost equal and the climate warm. It was from there that he returned as
the wealthy "Leif the Lucky", towing a boat full of ''grapes" that had been
found there, initially by Tyrkir. Nobody can believe that Leif’s cargo really
consisted of grapes or any other fruit, which obviously would not have survived
the voyage home. Nor would they have made him wealthy.
There was, however, something else in the new land that
could have made him a rich man, and about which he would not have wished to
talk: gold. This would have provided an added incentive for Leif to abandon war-
torn Europe for a new life in the lands across the
Atlantic.
So far, the kings of Norway had laid claim to every new
land where Norsemen had settled - even Greenland, northern Scotland and the
Hebrides. Leif must have been determined, and Karlsefni likewise, that this must
never be the fate of Vinland.
Here, in his secret lands across the sea, we may discern
the germ of what was to become Sudhrike- the Southern Domain, south, that is to
say, of Greenland and possibly also of Mer Rika, the Kingdom of the Sea, from
which the name "America" was, according to some Norwegian authorities, derived.
Early in the eleventh century, after the death of Erik,
Leif’s descendants disappear from history. Not only did they have their secrets
to keep, the ongoing wars and conquests were of more interest to historians. In
1014, the powerful Norse Earl of Orkney was defeated during a campaign against
Ireland. Between 1014 and 1028 Danish Cnut subdued and ruled the northern part
of England. Harald Hardradi, “Thunderbolt of the North" and a Norseman, took
advantage of quarrels between later claimants and captured the land in 1066,
only to be defeated by Harold Godwinson, who himself was then attacked, defeated
and killed by former Norsemen who had taken part of France and crossed the
Channel to take England. In Brittany, too, Norse invaders had been ruling for
over a hundred years. Alan the Great, who died in 907, was the last Count
(equivalent to Earl) of Brittany of that line, and the last to rule the entire
country. He had no sons, but his grandson, Alan of the Twisted Beard, was, like
Hakon, a foster-son of Athelstan, and ruled from 917-52, retrieving some of his
country's lost territory. But the 11th century proved to be a troubled time for
Brittany, too, and when the new line also died out, the country went through
marriage to the Dukes of Normandy.
As it happened, however, not all the lines had died
out.
A cadet line of this Norse-descended family was in
England at the time, and as the FitzAlans was destined to provide a line of
hereditary Stewards of Scotland who eventually would inherit the throne itself.
Of these, another cadet line was destined to inherit the great wealth that had
accrued to the descendants of Leif Erikson.
Through the Viking raids and related wars the
descendants of the Old Norse aristocrats gained ascendancy in Europe. Their
exploits continued to engage the attention of historians, who at the same time
tended to ignore those of less belligerent men.
Erik's descendants had other ideas in mind by which they
hoped to prosper and win their way through, without recourse to war. The fact
that historians ignored them would work to their
advantage.
Secrecy was the essence of it
all.
Notes and
Background to Chapter I
Dates:
Many are approximate, especially those pertaining to Greenland, whose annals
were lost. Some authorities place Leif Erikson’s voyage of discovery as late as
the first decade of the llth century. But it was after his return that he was at
Olaf’s court, and he died in 1000, having reigned since 995. The most likely
date for Leif's Atlantic crossing would appear to be about
996.
Ships: The ships used by the Norse
explorers have sometimes been described as long- ships - sleek, narrow and fast,
with a single large, square sail, and bow and stern carved, to represent fierce
animals and riding 15 feet above the water. These, however, were war-ships: they
might be 70 feet long with a mast about 40 feet tall and 25 or 30 pairs of
oarsmen, but they were only 16 feet in the beam. The knarr or ocean-going
merchant ship, naturally had to carry trained men and arms in ease of attack,
but it needed a crew of only 15-20 men and had oarsmen only at either end, 10
pairs in all. The knarr, like the smaller byrding and busse, was designed for
cargo: broader, rounder, with a deeper draft and perhaps only 60 feet long. It
was also slower, doing perhaps 4 knots, and more durable, and could sail into
the wind or before it.
Clothing, Armour: Carvings, tapestries
and other evidence suggest warm, practical every-day wear: skirts-like garments
or trousers to the ankles, stout leather shoes, cape or cloak fastened with pin
or brooch, conical leather cap. In severe weather, a hooded cloak might be worn.
Contrary to popular belief, their warriors did not wear round helmets with horns
on top. They carried light wattle shields, easy to transport, and if they wore
helmets at all, they were plain and practical, with ear-shields and face-masks.
Norsemen and
Normans: 898: Norseman
Rolf or Rollo arrived in what was to become Normandy. 911, the province was ceded to him.
His grandson became the first Duke.
All the great Norse families, whether settled in Norway,
Denmark, Iceland or elsewhere, were part of a vast, inter-related family. Harald
Fairhair was Thorfinn Karlsefni’s cousin. The Dukes of Normandy were cousins to
the Earls of Scotland. All were descended from Ragnor Lodbrok, son of Sigurd,
king of Denmark and descended from the Yngling Kings of Sweden. Leif Erikson was
linked by marriage to this network through Thorfinn Karlsefni. There must have
been many other connections that were not recorded.
Names:
Every Norseman had a given name and a patronym: Leif, son of Erik, so Leif
Erikson. The name applied to women: Thorhild daughter of Jorund Atlisson, so
Thorhild Jorundsdottir. Many also had a nickname that became more important than
his own patronym perhaps because it distinguished him from all others of the
same name and patronym: Ragnar Lodbrok or Shaggy-breeches. It was from their
nicknames as well as from their patronyms that surnames were later to develop
which would distinguish one family from another. Natural children could take the
same patronym as their half-brothers and sisters: Freydis Eriksdottir. Frey was
the fertility-god, and the great Frey festival, during which young men choose
temporary partners, was held every nine years. Paternity was known and children
named accordingly.
The Norse Home: This was very simple, consisting of a
long, narrow hall perhaps twelve feet wide, with a rough stone hearth in the
middle, a hole in the roof for smoke to escape and the lateral walls lined with
wooden benches which also served as beds. Here food was cooked, water being
brought in from a nearby stream or spring. At some distance from the hall, a pit
was dug and a privy constructed above. We know from the sagas that there was
room for at least two inside. Building material were stone, sods and wood: stone
and sod walls, wooden roofs. Thorhild, when she became a Christian, had her own
stone church built, and its ruins remain. It is known as “Thiodhild’s church,”
as she also changed her name, rejecting Thor in favour of
God.
Background: England: 866: Invasion by Ragnar Lodbrok's
sons, Halfdan, Ubbi and Ivar the Boneless: took York and much land; fear of
Danish invasion followed.
871: approximately: Based in England,
Ivar attacked Dublin and Ubbi invaded Anglia, while Halfdan ruled from his seat
in London.
878: Cornish Celts defeated Norsemen
in Devon, and Alfred the Great drove all "Danes", i.e. Vikings,
out.
899: Death of Alfred the Great,
England almost intact.
Norway: 945 approximately: Harald Fairhair’s
son, Erik Bloodyaxe, took power in middle Norway but was soon ousted by popular
demand and Hakon the Good.
971: Death of Hakon the Good in
battle. His son, Sigurd of Lade, then ruled Northern Norway, but Erik's widow
and remaining sons took Middle Norway. Hakon of Lade succeeded in the North but
had to flee from the tyrants of Middle Norway. Hakon of Lade had a son, Erik,
and a nephew, Gold-Harald, who killed Harald Greycloak, son of Erik Bloodyaxe;
but later, in civil war with his uncle, he lost and was hanged. Harald
Blue-tooth of Denmark, with whom Hakon of Lade had taken refuge when he fled,
joined Hakon of Lade in taking all Norway. Hakon became Earl of the West and
North, while Harald Fairhair's great-grandson, Harald the Greenlander, ruled
Southern Norway.
995: Olaf Trygvasson, another
great-grandson of Harald, started his reign.
Russia: 862: State founded by Norse trader,
Rurik: capital Novgorod.
Orkney: 911: First Earl, Sigurd, brother of
Rognvald, whose son Rolf or Rollo founded Normandy in that year. His son,
Halfdan, inherited but was killed by Rolfs brother "Peat" Einar, who became
third Earl. Einar was a dark man, hence is nickname: his father, Rognvald, had
married a slave-girl, believed to be Egyptian. These two were the progenitors
also of the Earls of More and the later Dukes of Normandy. Scotland was sparsely
populated, so when the Norsemen came they were not absorbed into the indigenous
population as they were elsewhere. Sigurd, first Earl of Orkney formed an
alliance with Thorstein the Red and his Mother, Aud or Unn the Deep-thinker, who
came from the Hebrides.
The Hebrides, then known as Sudreyar - The
Southern Isles: 705, 802, 806: Norsemen plundered Iona, centre of Celtic
Christianity since 563, and invaded Skye. Ketil Flatnose was first ruler there,
but the islands eventually came under Norway. His son was Bjorn the Easterner
and his grandson, Ottar. Ottar’s daughter, Grelod married Thorfinn “Peat”
Einarson, whose Father was Third Earl of Orkney.
Ireland: 834: Thorgest or Thorgisl
(Turgeis) from Oslofjord, Norway married Aud or Ota.
845: Death of Thorgest, drowned by the
local king.
853: Olaf the White of Dublin,
descended from the Uplanders of Norway (as were the Earls of Orkney and the
Dukes of Normandy) married Aud the Deep-thinker, daughter of Ketil Flatnose of
the Hebrides. From Dublin, he and a Dane called Ivar attacked Scotland. Olaf was
married three times, his third wife being daughter of Kenneth Macalpine, King of
Scots 843-60, i.e. Kenneth I.
870: Birth of Kjartan, five
generations after Olaf and Aud. During his reign Dublin was attacked by Norsemen
from the Hebrides.
914: Rognavald, grandson if Ivar the
Boneless, great-grandson of Ragnar Lodbrok, took Waterford. Strongholds in
Ireland at the time were Dublin, Waterford, Wexford, Cork and
Limerick.
916: Sigtrygg re-took Dublin, which by
that time the Norsemen had lost. He was brother to Rognavald.
The Irish called the Norsemen “the
foreigners" naming them according to where they had established themselves: "The
Dublin foreigners”, and so on. But Ireland was well populated and in the end the
“foreigners” brought in by the conquering Earls were
absorbed.
945: Olaf Sigtryggson, having attacked
York and been driven off, took Dublin and established himself there. Olaf's wife
was Gormlaith, sister of the King of Leinster.
950: In an act of revenge, the Irish
killed Olaf's son.
999: Olaf's son, Sigtrygg Silkbeard,
was defeated by Brian Born, King of Munster, with whom he then entered into an
alliance.
1014: Leinster in rebellion against
Sigtrygg Silkbeard, who went to Orkney to ask the Earl, Sigurd the Stout -a
Norsemen large in every direction - to help. He then approached Brodir of the
Isle of Man. With their assistance Brian Born was killed and the Norse alliance
with Munster ended. The death of Sigurd the Stout was also reported, and
Thorfinn the Mighty, his son, ruled until his death in 1064-65, aided by his
brothers.
1034: Death of Sigtrygg Silkbeard of
Dublin, who during his reign introduced coinage into Ireland for the first time.
Brittany: 895: Defeat of invading
Norse or Danish Vikings by Alan or Alain, of Vannes.
900: Alan the Great ruling at about
this time, last to do so over whole country.
907: Death of Alan the Great, leaving
daughter, Havoire, who married Count Mathuedoi de Poher.
917-52: Alan of the Twisted Beard, who
became Duke in 937. Grandson of Alan the Great, he regained much lost territory.
He was another foster-son of Athelstan, grandson of Alfred the
Great.
Iceland: 870 or earlier; Discovered by Norsemen
who tried to settle but it was too cold for their cattle, who died. They found
Irish monks there.
874: First Norse settler, Ingolf
Arnarson; threw his dais-posts into the sea and built where they washed up,
according to custom. This became the site of the capital, Reykjavik. Original
400 families - Norse, Irish, Hebridean and mixed- are listed in Landnamabok.
All-Thing and system of law were established; literature developed. Like all
Norsemen, they were adaptable and open-minded; those who settled in Normandy
displayed similar traits. The Norse families brought with them serfs who were
not necessarily Norse: many were Celts. They had no kings: "We are all equal”.
But 39 dominant families arose among them.
1000: Coming of Christianity: Saxon
priest, Thangbrand, had arrived three years earlier and at first failed, but
brought the people round by persuading a pagan priest, Thorgier, to speak in his
favour. A vote was taken and Iceland adopted Christianity.
Customs: Wherever the Norsemen went,
they adopted the customs and names of the indigenous people, and to a certain
extent their dress.
Democracy: They brought with them
their own culture, law & organisation - particularly
democracy.
Sagas: Chronology,
Sequence of Events
Greenlanders’ Saga was originally
incorporated into The Great Saga of Olaf Trygvasson (d.1000) and copied into
Flateyjarbok in late 14th C.
It is as was told by and for
Christians, Erik the Red’s Saga &
Derivatives: These tell the story from Icelanders’ viewpoint; written
down about 300 years after the Greenlanders' Saga, does not mention Leif's visit
to Thorgunna, says that Erik died before Christianity, describes Thorvald's
fatal visit to Vinland as taking place as soon as Leif returned from there,
followed by Thorstein's desire to go there and give him a Christian burial.
Karlsefni’s voyage follows, then that of Freydis. No mention either of Leif's
important visit to Olaf Trygvasson or his mission to Christianise Greenland, his
mother's conversion, her church, or the estrangement between her and Erik. All
these matters are dealt with in Erik's Sagas. Thorstein's abortive voyage,
marriage and death preceding Thorvald’ s voyage, which, with that of Freydis, in
this version takes place along with Karlsefni's expedition. Nobody now knows
which sequence is correct.
Possible Sequence of
Events:
950: Birth of Erik the Red in Jaedir
district, Norway. In south-west.
963-4: Erik’s father, Thorvald, to
Iceland with wife and family. Hornstrandir.
970(?): Erik’s marriage to Thorhild
and move to set up own home, Vatnshorn.
971(?): Birth of Leif; later
Thorstein, Thorvald (also Freydis).
981(?): Erik to Greenland for 3 years
then brought family there.
985: Colonisation of Greenland; Bjarni
Herjulfson blown west to new lands.
995: Olaf Trygvasson’s reign started
in Norway.
996(?): Leif to Vinland (995-6?),
rescuing Thorer on way back; wife Gudrid.
997: Leif’s visit to Olaf of Norway,
visiting Thorgunna, Hebrides, on way.
998: Leif’s return to Greenland with
priests & mission to Christianise.
999: Abortive voyage by Erik &
Thorstein.
1000: Death of King Olaf. Thorgunna
& Thorkel Leifsson to Iceland.
1000(?): Thorstein’s marriage to
Thorer’s widow, Gudrid; to Western Settlement; death of Thorstein. Return of
Gudrid to Brattahlid.
1003-4: Thorfinn Karlsefni’s marriage
to Gudrid, followed by expedition to Vinland with Thorvald & Freydis; two
winters there, birth of Snorri Thorfinnsson at Straumfjord; visits to other
parts, including Hop; Death of Thorvald on Labrador coast at hands of
natives.
1005(?): Karlsefni and family back to
Greenland, but had not found Leif’s southern bay, site of the “grapes”. Death of
Erik. (?)
1006(?): Freydis’s quarrels with male
partners; their murders; her return to Greenland in shame.
All had failed to find Leif’s Vinland
and the “grapes”.
Chapter
II
The Nature,
Customs and Origins of the Norsemen
The Dark Ages lasted approximately a thousand years,
from the fall of the Roman Empire in the mid-fifth century to the beginning of
the Renaissance in the fifteenth century. Perhaps it is because it was during
this period that the Norsemen arose that so little attention has been paid to
their origins. We know that they "appeared" in about the eighth or ninth
century, or at least they made their presence known at that
time.
The Roman Empire collapsed between 410 when Rome was
sacked by the Visigoths and 476, when the last emperor was deposed by Odoacer, a
chieftain of the Heruli, who had allied themselves with the Goths. The period
leading up to 476 had been one of chaos, the Eastern Empire having split from
the West during the reign of Diocletian (283-305), resulting in the emergence of
the Byzantine Empire based on Constantinople (formerly Byzantium, now Istanbul).
This had weakened the Western Empire, which for centuries had been subject to
attacks from “barbarian” or bearded tribes - the Romans being
clean-shaven.
The Goths were Germanic and divided into the Western
Goths or Visigoths and the Ostrogoths early in the fourth century. The Huns, who
attacked them, were not - contrary to popular belief - Germans. They first made
themselves known in northern central Asia in the third century B.C, as hordes of
Asiatic warriors mounted on horses. After occupying China, they turned their
attention to Europe via the Volga Valley. It was their attacks on the Ostrogoths
and Visigoths that forced the German tribes to migrate and eventually to destroy
the weakened Roman Empire. Atilla, based in Hungary, is the one whose name is
best-remembered, perhaps because he penetrated to Gaul. But there he was
defeated in 451 and the Huns were forced to withdraw after his death. Their name
is perpetuated in that of Hungary, but the fate of these once-powerful tribes is
unknown.
Into this chaos came the Norsemen, their origin unknown
to the people among whom they settled - at first mainly the Germanic tribes of
northwestern Europe, Cunningly, they merged into the indigenous population,
adopting their names and customs, dressing similarly. The Germanic tribes in
that area were apparently the Teutons and the Cimbri who had been defeated by
the Romans in 102-101 B.C. Farther south were the Franks, the Vandals and other
tribes, whom they would meet later. All were fierce fighters, and the Norsemen
knew they must meet them on their own terms if they were to gain their respect.
Only then could they introduce their culture and law, which at first they could
practise only among themselves. Their long-time desire and ultimate aim was
apparently to perpetuate their concept of democracy - something that was
entirely new to north-western Europe.
The Norse jarls were literate at a time when most
European kings were not: Alfred the Great was the first English king to learn to
read and write. It is interesting that to this day Iceland, which is more
"Norse" than Norway and whose language is nearer to Old Norse than any other,
claims to be a nation of avid readers, with more books per 1,000 of population
than in any other part of the world.
The Norsemen were brave, persistent and resourceful,
unpretentious yet mindful of their heritage and worth; and they had a good sense
of humour. With these characteristics and their ability to put up with Spartan
conditions, they remained optimistic of their ultimate
success.
They apparently did not tell others where they had come
from, but among themselves told stories of the exploits of men like Pericles and
Leonidas, and Alexander the Great, and of Pytheas, discoverer of
Thule.
The "Viking" Norsemen were the first to arrive: coming
by sea, they joined "creek-men" already there, adapting to their new home,
dressing just like anyone else. But their ships must, from the outset, have
caused comment for they were far superior to any locally-built
vessels.
Unfortunately, the Viking raids caused later historians
to regard, all Vikings as "northern sea robbers of the 8th to 10th centuries",
although some dictionaries prefer "northern sea rovers". One dictionary
derivation suggests that the word comes from Old English wic, meaning "camp",
and thus "camp dwellers". That from the Old Norse would seem to be much more
likely, but there does happen to be a Norse word vikingr, meaning "pirate". This
was probably derived from the original word later.
Vikings were of varying national origin and fall into
two classes: the marauders, either Visigoths or others who had adopted their
war- like practices, and the seafarers - explorers, merchants and traders - who
fought only if attacked.
The Teutons worshipped the god Woden, known in the north
as Odin: he was the father of their pantheon, among his sons being Thor. His
symbol was a raven, the bird that Leif Erikson is said to have displayed on his
flag. Thor's symbol was a hammer, identifying him as the god of iron as well as
of thunder, and he was also reputed to have a red beard. The Norsemen adopted
all these Teutonic myths. Red beards were not uncommon among them, and this may
have influenced them towards Thor; but Frey was also more important to them than
to their neighbours.
The Norsemen differed from their neighbours in several
other respects, particularly in not having a king, but dividing up their
territory into many small states, each with its own elected assembly or Thing
and its own elected jarl. This was the first time since Athens in classical
times that this type of democracy had existed anywhere. The jarls formed what
was virtually a nation of kings, each one equal to the next, without a central
ruler. The main drawback about this system was that there was nobody to settle
disputes between one jarl and the next, which led to much fighting among them
that might otherwise have been avoided. Neither the serfs (called yeomen by some
authorities, though it is doubtful whether any of them owned land) nor the
thralls were allowed to vote at the Thing or to have any say in the way the
state was run.
Education, although apparently not emphasised to a great
extent in adult life, was regarded as important for Norse children - that is,
for those of the ruling families. There were no schools; we hear little if
anything of tutors; what were later to become the great universities were still
at the monastic stage. Norsemen, whether merchants, traders or warriors, were
busy people and it may be assumed that they sent their children away to
foster-parents in order to solve their problems. Erik the Red, when forced to
spend three years in unknown Greenland, conveniently left his children with
their German foster-father, Tyrkir. But when they joined him in Greenland,
Tyrkir came with them. In fact, he was not just caring for them, he was
obviously educating them.
King Athelstan of England is said to have fostered many
boys destined to become great rulers or efficient administrators. Hakon the Good
and Alan of the Twisted Beard were only two examples. His court must have seemed
almost like a school at times.
Perhaps most important of all, in this way the Norsemen,
who had come to the north-west as strangers, were able to ensure that their
children knew not only the culture of their forefathers, but that of their
neighbouring countries and of the people among whom they were to live; and there
is no doubt that the young boys were also taught the arts of war and
conquest.
Fostering was a custom that was to persist for many
centuries. It was not always evident: sometimes foster-sons were adopted and
took the surnames of the families in which they were brought up. This was useful
at times when it was necessary for a family to go into hiding. The true identity
of such a child would become obvious only in that he would later inherit neither
wealth nor title, even if he was the eldest. This was usually passed off by the
adopting family as being a family tradition that the eldest should not inherit.
In most cases, the real tradition was one of adoption or fostering which, in a
trusted family, could take place generation after
generation.
Chapter III
The Heruli: Identity & Movements
West In the chaotic years leading up to the final fall of
Rome in 476, nobody gave much thought to the Heruli. They came into prominence
at that time as the people who went to the aid of the Visigoths and toppled
Emperor Romulus Augustus - their chieftain, Odoacer, then being proclaimed King
of Italy, with his capital at Ravenna. But Emperor Zeno of the Eastern Empire
sent Theodoric the Great of the Ostrogoths to deal with Odoacer. He won, and
after making peace with him, he invited him to a banquet on March 15, 493, and
had him assassinated. Odoacer is described as of German descent, born in about
435, son of Edice, chief of the Scyrri tribe. Apparently he did not inherit his
father's title but instead became chief of the Heruli. The question arises as to
whether he was actually a foster-son or adopted. For the Heruli were apparently
not connected with the Scyrri or with any other Germanic or Gothic
tribe.
One might have expected the Heruli to have tried to
avenge their king’s death: instead, nothing happened, and they again disappeared
from the pages of history.
This was not their first disappearance: it had all
happened before, sometime after the break-up of the empire of Alexander the
Great. They were not seen as important then, and such was the case again after
493. To ignore them was a mistake, but it was to work to their
advantage.
There was, of course, no reason why anybody should have
bean concerned with the Heruli after 493: despite Odoacer's spectacular
performance in 476, he had since been defeated several times in battle by
Theodoric, and then had foolishly allowed himself to be lured into a trap, where
he died in ignominy.
The truth was, however, that the Heruli had other plans
afoot. They had not forgotten Alexander or the Golden Age of Pericles. They knew
their own Greek culture and traditions had survived in the Eastern Empire, where
since Alexander's death in 323 B.C. they had made their home living in Scythia
just north of the Black Sea. Until 476 they had been mercenaries in the Roman
army, but in that year they had rebelled, joining the Visigoths and putting an
end to Roman domination in the West. Although Odoacer himself remained in Italy
as King until his death, it was noted that in 489 a people calling themselves
Heruli or Eruli were living on friendly terms with the Goths just north of the
Danube. They had elected a king whose name was Hrodulfr or Rudolph, the name
being derived from ros, meaning
red. Presumably he had red hair, though the word does have an alternative
meaning, which is "praise". Theodoric is said, to have sent this king a
horse.
Around the time of the murder of Odoacer, during the
reign of Eastern Emperor Anastasius (491-518) they crossed the Danube and
settled in Illyria (now Serbia, part of Yugoslavia). It was apparently after
that move that they began their long overland journey north-westwards to a place
they referred to as Thule.
Thule had been known to the Greeks and Romans since
Pytheas of Massalia made his voyages there around 330-325 B.C. His home,
Massalia - now known as Marseille - was then a Phocean Greek colony and its
people came from around Thebes. Pytheas, an astronomer, geographer and traveller
by profession, was the first man to use astronomical measurements to ascertain
exactly where places were on the surface of the Earth: he was in fact the
inventor of latitude. In Massalia, he built a tall steeple or gnomen and
measured latitude by means of an imaginary line from the tip of the shadow to
the top of the gnomen, and thus to the Sun. He was also, therefore, the inventor
of the sundial: sundials are gnomens built to a smaller scale.
His calculations, which had to be made
at the solstice for the length of the shadow to be right, were complicated, but
were to prove helpful to him in his voyages. He sailed to Britain and a land
called Belerion which was Cornwall, arriving there from the Continent in four
days; later he reached Shetland. But it was Thule that impressed him more than
any other land he had seen. It was within the Arctic Circle and he called it the
Uttermost Land of the Midnight Sun, and the stories he told on his return
ensured that "Ultima Thule” would become legendary. He noted that the people
grew and ate oats and green vegetables, that they kept few animals and lacked
"the finer fruits" such as were found in the Mediterranean area; and he found it
strange that, because of the dampness and heavy showers, they had to do their
threshing "in large buildings" - barns. He referred to something strange that
was neither land nor water, on which no boat could sail and no man could walk;
but it was the phenomenon of the midnight sun that amazed his listeners
most.
Pytheas had discovered lands that were
unknown to the people of the Mediterranean and southern Europe. Arguments
immediately arose that were to persist for centuries afterwards. Some who heard
his story disbelieved him; many disputes arose as to whether there really was
land or sea where neither sailing nor walking was possible, and later writers on
his discoveries tried to identify the phenomenon with polar drift-ice, while
others suggested he had come to the edge of a peat-bog. Later, when others
followed in his tracks, the argument arose as to whether Thule was an island, as
he had described it, or part of Europe. This continues to this day, some
claiming that Thule was Iceland, others that it was
Norway.
The seafarers among the Heruli seem to
have had no doubts as to the identity of the land they were seeking as their new
base, which they called Thule: it was in Norway that they settled, and it was to
Norway that they arranged to guide their people, whom they had left behind in
Illyria. Thule soon became Northmannia; only later still did it become
"Norguegia”.
The confusion over whether Thule was an
island or not seems to be explained by the description of the land by the new
arrivals as "the largest of all islands, ten times as large as Britain". Such a
description would fit Scandinavia, which at the time they did not know was
attached to the mainland. The Heruli left behind in Illyria, had at the time a
king whose task was to lead them overland to Thule: his name was Ochon, possibly
an earlier form of Hakon. During their journey across Europe, however, the
chiefs who, according to their system of democracy, had voting-rights, decided
by majority vote among themselves to try out the experiment of organising
themselves without a king. Poor Ochon was therefore not only voted out, but
executed. The experiment did not work: disagreements arose between the chiefs,
resulting in fighting that might have prevented them from completing their
journey. Fortunately they were able to see that their experiment had failed, and
so they sent messengers ahead to Thule to warn the chiefs there of their plight
and to request that a prince of royal blood be sent to be their new king. They
arranged for him to be brought to them at Singidunum (now known as Belgrade),
and the messengers duly started back with the prince who had been chosen. It is
to be assumed that they ware travelling on horseback.
Unfortunately, due to some accident or
illness, the prince died on the way, and the messengers had to go back to Thule
to renew their request. This time, to ensure that at least one prince arrived
safely, they brought back two, and with them two hundred men. Both arrived
without mishap - one being Datios or Todasios, possibly the same as the Norse
Tjodrik, and the other his brother Aordos, probably the same as Vard. They
arrived at Singidunum to find an experimental ruler already in charge, a
Herulian called Svartus who had been living with the Justinians at Byzantium.
When he saw that the two princes were supported by two hundred strong men, he
fled back to Byzantium alone. This brought the Heruli to the attention of the
Justinians, who began to harass them, claiming that Svartus was their rightful
king. But the Heruli moved on to the land of the Gepidae (later Siebenburger),
also to the south, and thus were able to shake them off. Thence they continued
northwards through lands occupied by various Slav tribes and eventually reached
Jutland. Here they must have encountered Teutons but passed through these tribes
and those of the Danes without engendering violence. Apparently ships were sent
from Thule to enable them to complete their journey. It is uncertain how many
there were, but a figure of 2,000 was estimated when they were in the Roman army
under the Eunuch Narsus at the time when they were brought to Italy before the
rebellion.
Their journey had taken them until the
year 512.
With them the Heruli brought their
great Spring Festival, which later became the Spring Festival of the North and
was held when the first rays of the sun appeared each year at the end of the
arctic darkness.
Once the Heruli had arrived, the need
for a king disappeared and they organised themselves into tribes. Contemporary
writers mention varying numbers - 13 and 27. Almost immediately the Heruli - or
Norsemen as they now were - started sailing southwards on voyages of
exploration. This may have been happening long before the overlanders arrived,
since the presence of at least some Heruli in the north-west was noted as early
as the third century. They were probably few at that time.
From the beginning, the jarls set
themselves up, each in his own territory. The original term was erilar, meaning in primitive Norse,
"leader in war". Jarl was a
later modification, from which the modern term earl evolved.
The Heruli who became the first
Norsemen were tall, fair, inclined to be ruddy in complexion, and lightly-armed.
They went into battle wearing a belted tunic of thick woollen cloth, and only
leaders or proven warriors were allowed to carry a shield. None wore a helmet or
any other armour.
In religion, they accepted the pantheon
of the Goths and Danes, but at once relegated Woden to second place, giving
precedence to Thor. They were known to have made sacrifices to their gods, but
only of dead animals. They apparently found cannibalism being practised by some
of the Gothic tribes, who sometimes ate the flesh of their elderly dead,
believing that they would thus gain the strength and abilities of the elders
whom they had lost. The Heruli wisely rejected this
custom.
Among the Heruli, although not among
the later Norsemen, a wife was expected to die with her husband and usually
chose to hang herself near his grave. This custom may have been picked up during
Alexander's Asian campaigns, during which he pushed eastwards to northern India.
There it was traditional until recent times for a widow to throw herself on her
husband's funeral pyre. Cremation on a funeral pyre was also the rule among the
Norsemen at first, which may explain the absence of any skeletal remains in some
Norse burial-sites, only the ashes having been buried. Christian burials later
took the place of cremation, and the skeletons that have been found testify to
the great height of the average Norseman, long thigh-bones being a
characteristic.
Since the Greeks used to cremate their
dead in classical times, it is not possible to make comparisons, although it is
believed that many of them were tall. There is, however, one fact that
definitely links the Norsemen to the Mediterranean, and that is their ships.
Those being used by them in the tenth century were similar to the old
Mediterranean type main mast: square sail, and rudder. The connection is
inescapable. And once the south Europeans had made contact and begun to settle
in what is now Norway, their ships became more and more numerous in northern
waters. In the fifth century, those Heruli who had arrived and settled there
were already sailing from Scandinavia, where not only merchant ships but
long-ships were being built, enabling a certain amount of raiding to take place
along the coasts of Gaul and Spain, and in 455 some of the Herulian ships from
the north sailed into the Mediterranean and as far as Lucca in Italy. This type
of ship remained in use for 1,100 years: the rigging and sail were the same and
ten- and eight-oared ships, square-rigged, were the most common type in northern
waters until the nineteenth century.
The kind of rudder used by the Norsemen
was first seen in Egyptian ships, which had two big oars at first, one on either
side, to act as rudders. These were later replaced by rudders, which were then
also used by the Greeks: each ship had two rudders aft. It was apparently from
this type of Mediterranean ship that the Norsemen developed their "Viking"
ships, but these had a single rudder on the starboard side. This persisted until
the nineteenth century, long after rudders elsewhere had been moved to the
stern.

Both Greek and Egyptian ships of this
type appear in contemporary rock carvings and on vases. The Norse seafarers
could find their latitude but were unable to measure longitude. The instrument
they used, which is referred to in the sagas, seems to have been similar to the
Greek astrolabe that was used before 150 B.C. This had a carved wooden disc with
"teeth" and a rotating straight edge, a pointer and a handle below. At the
centre was a second pointer, vertical. With this the Greeks found the "azimuth"
of a particular star: the arc it described as it moved across the sky. The
Norsemen also sailed by the sun. Knowing either the latitude or the correct time
of day, they could use the sun as a "compass”, though if it was cloudy they had
to estimate the position of the sun. The sagas also mention "sun-stones": it is
not clear what exactly they were - they do not appear to have been used by the
Greeks or by later seafarers.
Notes and
Background to Chapter III
Dates: More
accurate at this time as Romans were keeping records. Papyrus, invented by the
ancient Egyptians, had been available to both Greeks and
Romans, and also parchment since the 2nd century
B.C.
Heruli or
Eruli: Probably an etymological connection between Heruli and jarl: erilar, "leader in war". Heruli were a
nation of leaders, each of them claiming the right to set up his own small
state. (Latin: herus,
master.)
Greek
Heritage: This was absorbed by Rome, and remained particularly strong in
the Eastern Empire, so was not lost to the Heruli.
Knowledge of
the earth at time of Heruli:
Oceanus: River believed to encircle disc of the world; everything believed to have arisen
from it. Rumours of other lands within it to the west, beyond the Pillars of
Hercules (Gibraltar): Atlantis, Hesperides, Isles of the Blest; lands found by
Pytheas and others, but all close by.
Oecumenae: Habitable world, at first
lands around Mediterranean, later extended to include north and north-west.
Originally conceived as a disc surrounded by Oceanus. Later concept of Outer
Sea, called Atlantic in honour of Atlas, believed to hold the world up. In
Homer’s time the Earth was seen as a hollow globe; disc of habitable world,
Oceanus and, on the other side, Tartarus, with Hades just below the edge of
Oceanus. Here ships could fall into the Abyss and fear of this held exploration
back.
Spherical
Earth: Concept of Pythagoras (508-/494 B.C.) - superseded "floating disc"
concept of Anaximander of Miletus (640-548 B.C.).
Zones of
Earth defined by Parmenides of Elea (fl. 460 B.C.) sphere with three
uninhabitable belts and temperate zones between: one "scorched belt” (equator)
and two cold belts beyond the temperate zone.
Flat
Earth; Concept persisted side-by-side with Spherical Earth. Believers in
flat-earth concept referred to Abyss as Ginningagap.
Trade
with islands near Europe included tin from Britain and amber (hardened resin)
found in North and Baltic Seas.
After
Pytheas:
Eratosthenes: (approximately 275-194
B.C.) first geographer in scientific sense; used travels of Pytheas in his work,
may have been born only 50 years later. Divided Earth into zones based on
climate. Made first map of world with lines of latitude and meridians; first man
to use such lines; first man to use fixed points. Fixed seven known points on
meridian of Rhodes. Calculated circumference of world as 250,000 stadia, i.e.
25,000 miles - 3,400 miles above actual size. Saw Oecumenae as an island
surrounded by Atlantic - tides there are proof of this; Caspian Sea "a bay".
Believed it was possible to get to India via Iberia (Spain) by sailing "on the
same latitude" west. First known mention of this.
Hipparchus
and Posidonius were father
and son, possessed of a boyish curiosity and a whimsical imagination. They were
ardent supporters of Pytheas and may have been related: lack of surnames at the
time makes it difficult to identify families. Hipparchus lived about 190-125
B.C. at Alexandria: an astronomer who used the travels of Pytheas in his work;
doubted Eratosthenes' theory about Atlantic and tides, but did not refute it;
introduced division of globe into degrees. He doggedly led pro-pytheans against
anti-Pythean faction led by Polybius (about 204-127 B.C.), who labelled
everything north of the Alps as "unknown" and never travelled. Hipparchus
appears to have travelled, at least to Syria and
Rhodes.

Posidonius (135 B.C. onwards) born
Apamea, Syria; lived at Rhodes. Supported theory of sailing west to India,
estimating distance as 7000 miles; believed known world an island; calculated
circumference of world as 180,000 stadia (18,000 miles), making it too small.
Ptolemy later adopted his erroneous calculations and so did Columbus when
sailing west. Believed that sun hissed when it sank into surrounding ocean. Used
experience of Pytheas in his travels, known to have gone to Cadiz to observe
outer ocean. He connected tidal variations with the moon, probably first to do
so.
Crates of Mallus: who lived about 150
B.C., made first terrestrial globe, on which Atlantic passed like a belt through
2 poles; 2nd belt was the so-called Equatorial Ocean, so land divided into 4
masses, only Europe inhabited. Was not a geographer but a grammarian; did not
travel.
Strabo: Lived about 63 B.C. to 25
A.D., a non-travelling geographer, follower of Polybius; discredited Pytheas;
theories not based on any known facts; thought Ireland was “on edge" of the
world, said both Irish and Britons ate human flesh.
Mela (fl.43 A.D.), lived at
Tingentera, Spain; writer, known for one book, De Chorographia; used Greek
sources such as Herodotus and Eratosthenes; mentioned northern land called
Germania where "might is right to such an extent that they are not even ashamed
of robbery".
Seneca: Born in Spain and was writing
about 37 A.D. Wrote of Albino-varus who lived at the time of Augustus Caesar and
described expedition by Germanicus to North Sea, about 16
A.D.
Seleucus (fl. mid-2nd century B.C.),
mentioned by Hipparchus. Believed Earth rotated around Sun, first man known to
mention this; a Babylonian, from Selucium on the
Tigris.
Aristarchus of Samos: lived about 260
B.C., said to have believed Earth rotated around Sun, but no written
evidence.
Pliny the Elder (23-79 A.D.): Saw
universe as hollow sphere rotating once in 24 hours. His work, Naturalis Historia, 37 books, dealt
with what was known up to his time but added nothing to what Mela had stated in
43. A Cavalry Commander who lived in Germania 45-52. Earth centre of universe,
stars forming hollow sphere. Referred to Cimbrian Promontory
(Jutland) and "sea coast of Sleswick and Germany''. Also Scandinavia and other
places.
Agricola (fl. 84 A.D.) sent fleet
round Caledonia and proved Britain was an island; Orcades "discovered" and
subdued; claimed he had seen Thule, but did not go far enough north for
that.
Tacitus (fl.98 A.P.), author of Germania,
concerned mainly with Sweden. Mentioned Oenland (Finland) and a "sluggish sea"
in north –half frozen. Historian, ethnographer.

Marinus of Tyre (2nd century A.D.)
revived theories of Eratosthenes 150 years after his time, and those of
Hipparchus and Posidonius and Strabo. Attempted to list and describe every known
place by latitude and longitude; perpetuated Posidonius's theories including
calculations of Earth's circumference.
Ptolemy or Claudius Ptolemaeus (2nd
century A.D.), contemporary with Marinus of Tyre, from whom he obtained details
of Posidonius's calculations of circumference of Earth, writing about 150 A.D. |