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Saga-Accounts of Norse Far-Travellers Durham E-Theses Saga-Accounts of Norse Far-Travellers SHAFER, JOHN,DOUGLAS How to cite: SHAFER, JOHN,DOUGLAS (2010) Saga-Accounts of Norse Far-Travellers, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/286/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Saga-Accounts of Norse Far-Travellers by John Douglas Shafer Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD University of Durham Department of English Studies 2009 ii Table of contents Abbreviations used v Dedication vi Acknowledgements vii Chapter 1 – Introduction 1 1. Purpose and parameters 2 i. Far-travel to distant lands 2 ii. Saga-literature 9 2. Scholarship survey 15 i. Geography and travel 15 ii. Directions 17 3. Methodology 23 i. Motivations 23 ii. Patterns 25 4. Miscellany 28 i. Translation and terminology 28 ii. Chapter organisation 31 Chapter 2 – West 34 1. Introduction 34 i. Grœnland 34 ii. Vínland 37 2. Motivations 39 i. Business ventures 39 a. Settlement 39 b. Goods, cargo 43 c. Trade/commerce 49 d. Employment 53 ii. Violence and vengeance 54 iii. Loyalty 61 iv. Minor motivations 63 a. Exploration 63 b. Glory, fame and honour 66 c. Christian piety 68 d. Compulsion by weather 69 e. Adventure 70 3. Other narrative patterns 71 i. Good far-travel 71 ii. Difficult western voyage, easy return voyage 74 iii. Giving up violence 76 4. Conclusions 78 iii Chapter 3 – South 82 1. Introduction 82 2. Motivations 84 i. Miklagarðr – Byzantium 84 a. Mercenary service 84 b. Military glory, fame and honour 98 c. Vengeance violence 101 d. Minor motivations 105 1. Self-aggrandisement 105 2. Adultery 107 3. Trade 108 4. Education or experience 110 5. Royal debt-collection 111 e. Christian piety 112 ii. Jórsalaheimr – the Holy Land 116 a. Piety 116 b. Minor motivations 129 1. Ordeal and honour 129 2. “Tourism” 131 3. Other narrative patterns 133 i. Dying in the distant south 133 ii. Giving up violence 135 4. Conclusions 138 Chapter 4 – East 140 1. Introduction 140 i. Distant east 140 ii. Garðaríki 141 2. Motivations 144 i. Exiles in Russia 144 ii. Love and marriage 158 iii. Christian missions 163 iv. Exploration 173 v. Minor motivations 181 a. Honour or power 181 b. Fostering 188 c. Viking raiding 190 d. Trade 193 3. Narrative pattern – eastern silver 197 4. Conclusions 203 Chapter 5 – North 207 1. Introduction 207 i. Distant north 207 ii. Finnm†rk and óbyggðir 209 iv 2. Motivations 211 i. Acquisition of local wares or resources 211 a. Trade and tribute-collection 212 b. Viking raiding 221 c. Hunting and fishing 226 ii. Adventures and quests 231 a. General adventures and quests 231 b. Imitations of Óðinn and Þórr’s mythic adventures 242 iii. Compulsion 246 a. Weather 246 b. Abduction 249 iv. Violence – public and private 253 a. Private, personal 253 b. Public, political 254 v. A visit 262 3. Narrative pattern – realities of far-travel northward 263 i. Northern obstacles, homesickness 263 ii. Communication 265 iii. Northern waters 266 4. Conclusions 268 Chapter 6 – Conclusion 273 Appendix – English translations 278 1. West 278 2. South 282 3. East 287 4. North 295 Works cited 304 Primary 304 Secondary 311 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent, and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Copyright © John Douglas Shafer 2009 v Abbreviations used Alexanders saga (Brandr Jónsson) Alex. Íslenzk fornrit ÍF Auðunar þáttr vestfirska Auð. Jarteinabók Þorláks önnur Þorl. Ágrip af Nóregskonungas†gum Ágrip J†kuls þáttr Búasonar J†k. Bandamanna saga Band. Ketils saga hœngs Ket. Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss Bárð. Kjalnesinga saga Kjal. Bjarnar saga Hítdœlakappa Bjar. Konungs skuggsjá Konung. Bósa saga ok Herrauðs Bósa Kormáks saga Kor. The Complete Sagas of Icelanders CSI Knýtlinga saga Knýt. Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar Egil. Kristni saga Krist. berserkjabana Króka-Refs saga Kró. Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar Egla Landnámabók Land. Eireks saga víðf†rla Eirek. Laxdœla saga Lax. Eiríks saga rauða Eir. Legendary Saga of St Óláfr Leg. Eymundar þáttr Hringssonar Eym. Ljósvetninga saga Ljós. Eyrbyggja saga Eyr. Magnússona saga (Hkr) Mag. Finnboga saga ramma Finn. Morkinskinna Mork. Flateyjarbók Flat. Njáls saga Njála Flóamanna saga Fl. Orkneyinga saga Ork. Fornaldar sögur Norðurlanda FSN Óláfs saga helga (Hkr) Helga (ed. Guðni Jónsson) Óláfs saga helga hinni sérst†ku Sér. Fóstbrœðra saga Fóst. (Snorri Sturluson) Gautreks saga Gaut. Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar (Hkr) Óláf. Gesta Danorum (Saxo Grammaticus) Saxo Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in mesta Mesta Gísla saga Súrssonar Gís. Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar (Oddr Oddr Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar Gret. Snorrason) Gríms saga loðinkinna Grím. Saga-Book of the Viking Saga-Book Grœnlendinga saga Gr. Society for Northern Research Grœnlendinga þáttr Gr. þ. Sverris saga Sver. Gull-Þóris saga (Þorskfirðinga saga) Gull Yngvars saga víðf†rla Yng. Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu Gunn. Þorsteins þáttr bæjarmagns Þors. Guta saga Guta Þorsteins þáttr stangarh†ggs Stang. Hallfreðar saga Hall. Þorvalds þáttr víðf†rla Þorv. Haralds saga hárfagra (Hkr) Hár. Þórðar saga hreðu Þórð. Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar (Hkr) Har. Ñrvar-Odds saga Ñrv. Hálfdanar saga Br†nufóstra Br†n. Hálfdanar saga Eysteinssonar Hálf. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka Hálfsrek. Heiðarvíga saga Heið. Heimskringla (Snorri Sturluson) Hkr Helga þáttr Þórissonar Helg. Historia compendiosa regum Daniae Sven (Sven Aggesen) Historia de antiquitate regum Theo. Norwagiensium (Theodoricus) Historia Norwegiae HN Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða Hrafn. Íslendingabók (Ari Þorgilsson) Ísl. vi For my father, who has travelled far and my mother, who has travelled farther. vii Acknowledgements My academic education in general and knowledge of medieval literature in particular are the results of the labours of many teachers and colleagues, to each of whom I am grateful. More specific debts of gratitude have been incurred during the production of this thesis. Thanks are due to Paul Shafer, Dr Donata Kick and Maja Bäckvall, each of whom provided me with information or assistance that would otherwise have been very difficult to obtain. The providers of the greatest and most constant assistance and support with this thesis have of course been my supervisors, Professor John McKinnell and Dr David Ashurst. For their hard work for and with me, for the knowledge they shared out of their vast stores, and for their unfailing encouragement I am most grateful. What errors remain in this work are my own. Finally and most importantly, I thank my wife Amy for her practical sense, her penetrating proofreading eye and above all for her patience. John Shafer Durham, December 2009 Chapter 1 – Introduction 1 Chapter 1 – Introduction Misjafnar verða farir til manna – “Travels affect people in different ways.” Svarfdœla saga (Íslenzk fornrit IX, p. 162) This thesis originated in a question: what did medieval saga-writers think about the Viking travellers who sailed west across the ocean without knowing the way to the lands they sought, or even whether or not these lands existed? Those who set out across the open sea discovered and settled new lands while other travellers went only short distances, hugging coast-lines all the way. This contrast leads to more specific questions. Did saga-writers consider the Norse travellers who sailed far across the open sea braver than others? More foolish? Did they respect the fortitude of men seeking new lands to settle, or did they think the discoverers just got lucky? Or of these maritime feats did the medieval story-tellers think anything at all? The medieval saga-writers tell many stories of westward far-travel, but they do not write “These voyages were amazing feats of seamanship, and far-travellers were braver than near- travellers.” To find the answers to these questions the travel-narratives must be placed in the contexts in which they appear, and thus my questions about travel westward quickly led me to the broader study of saga-accounts of far-travel in all directions. Skalla-Grímr’s wisdom regarding travel would seem to be relevant to the study of travel: Er ýmsar verðr, ef margar ferr (Egla 38: 96) – “Many journeys lead to many directions.”1 Within this broader context, stories of far-travel westward across the ocean are just one type of saga-narrative dealing with the journey from the familiar to the “other”, a theme manifested in many different ways in the various sagas in which 1 As Bernard Scudder translates it: “The more journeys you make, the more directions they take” (CSI I 65). Egla, CSI, and the other abbreviations I use are listed after the table of contents to this thesis. In citations from individual sagas, the number before the colon denotes chapter and the number after denotes page number. In citations from CSI, ÍF, Fritzner’s dictionary, and other multi-volume works, the Roman numeral indicates volume. Chapter 1 – Introduction 2 it appears. The sagas’ Vikings encounter in the distant west a race of savages speaking an unintelligible language; if the same characters had gone north, they might have encountered trolls reciting verses in Norse or giants feasting in a kingly hall.
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