ttbrarg Itttwrfittg of jpmsburgl? Darlington Memorial Library Sunk.. 5H .^im^^. Ji%& \I , to fax*, zfe \7lO° te — THE UISCOVEEY OF AMEEICA BY THE NORTHMEN, fn ti)t €mtt} Century, NOTICES OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENTS OF THE IRISH IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. NORTH LUDLOW BEAMISH, FELLOW OP THE ROYAL SOCIETY, AND MEMBER OP THE ROYAL DANISH SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ANTIQUARIES, AUTHOR OF THE " HISTORY OP THE GERMAN LEGION," ETC. Der ar flagga pa mast och den visar at Norr !" Tkgner. LONDON: T. AND W. BOONE, NEW BOND STREET. 1841. : — THE DISCOVEEY OF AMEEICA BY THE NORTHMEN, ^n tfft €mtf) (STfttturo, NOTICES OP THE EARLY SETTLEMENTS OF THE IRISH IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. NORTH LUDLOW BEAMISH, FELLOW OP THE ROYAL SOCIETY, AND MEMBER OF THE ROYAL DANISH SOCIETY OP NORTHERN ANTIQUARIES, AUTHOR OP THE "HISTORY OF THE GERMAN LEGION," ETC. Der ar flagga pa mast och den visar at Norr !" Tbgner. LONDON T. AND W. BOONE, NEW BOND STREET. 1841. -t^^'^i <y ^^ (A TO CHARLES CHRISTIAN RAFN, KNIGHT OF THE ROYAL DANISH ORDER OF DANNEBROG, OF THE ROYAL SWEDISH ORDER OF THE NORTH STAR, COUNSELLOR OF STATE TO HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF DENMARK, PROFESSOR OF NORTHERN LITERATURE, FELLOW OF THE ROYAL ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY OF LONDON, AND SECRETARY TO THE ROY'AL SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ANTIQUARIES C]^c foIXoiDtng iSagcsi MOST RESPECTFUTLY INSCRIBED THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. Amongst the various, valuable, and important publica- tions of the Royal Danish Society of Northern Antiquaries, that which has created the greatest general interest in the literary world is the able and elaborate work of Professor Rafn, which came out at Copenhagen in the year 1837, under the title of Antiquitates Americanje, she Scriptores Septentrionales rerum Anti-Columhianarum in America. This interesting publication, the fruit of great literary labour, and extensive research, clearly shews that the eastern coast of North America was discovered and colo- nized by the Northmen more than five-hundred years before the reputed discovery of Columbus. These facts rest upon the authority of antient Icelandic manuscripts preserved in the Royal and University Li- braries of Copenhagen, and which have now been, for the first time, translated and made public. Fac-similes of the most important of these documents are given in Professor Rafn's work, together with maps and delineations of antient monuments illustrative of the subject ; a Danish and Latin translation follows the Icelandic text, and the whole is ac- companied by introductory observations, philological and historical remarks, as well as archaeological and geographical disquisitions of high interest and value. The design of the writer of the following pages is to put before the public in a cheap and compendious form, those parts of Professor Rafn's work, which he considered wei'e likely to prove most interesting to British readers, the greater part of whom, from the expense and language of the original publication, must necessarily be debarred from ; PREFACE. its perusal. The translations of the Sagas and other Ice- landic manuscripts, which embrace the whole detail of the dis- coveries and settlements in America, are made substantially from the Danish version, of the correctness of which, coming from the pen of the learned Editor, there could be no doubt but in some cases, where the style of this version appeared to the translator to depart too much from the quaint and simple phraseology of the original, the Icelandic text has been specially referred to, and an effort has been made through- out, to give to the English narrative, the homely and un- pretending character of the Icelandic Saga. In all cases where it was thought possible that doubts might arise, or where it was considered necessary to impress some par- ticular fact or statement upon the mind of the reader, the original Icelandic word or expression is given ; and free use has been made of the copious and lucid notes and com- mentaries of the learned Editor, to explain or illustrate the various etymological, historical, and geographical points which call for observation : as an appropriate introduction to the whole, is prefixed a sketch of the rise, eminence, and extinction of Icelandic historical literature, founded upon the able Danish Essay of Dr. Erasmus Miiller, Bishop of Zealand. The eminent historian Dr. Robertson appears to have been totally unacquainted with the early voyages of the Northmen to the western hemisphere, and hence it is pre- sumed, that the present summary of their discoveries may be received as an acceptable introduction to his celebrated History of America. The incidental allusions to the voyages and settlements of the Irish, which are contained in the Minor Narratives, are more likely to excite than satisfy enquiry ; much still remains to be unravelled on this interesting subject, and it is to be regretted that no competent hands have yet been applied to this neglected portion of Irish history. It has — PREFACE. been too much the practice to decry as fabulous, all state- ments claiming for the earlier inhabitants of Ireland, a comparatively high degree of advancement and civilization, and notwithstanding the many valuable publications con- nected with the history and antiquities of that country, which have from time to time, come forth, and the more recent candid, learned, and eloquent production of Mr. Moore,* there are not wanting, (even among her sons) those who, with the anti-Irish feeling of the bigotted Cambrensis, would sink Ireland in the scale of national distinction, and deny her claims to that early eminence in religion, learning, and the arts, which unquestionable records so fully testify. And yet a very little unprejudiced enquiry would be sufficient to satisfy the candid mind, that Erin had good claims to be called the "School of the West," and her sons : " Inclyta gens hominum, Milite, Pace, Fide.''t Thus much, at least, will the following pages clearly shew : that sixty-jfive years previous to the discovery of Iceland by the Northmen in the ninth century, Irish emigrants had visited and inhabited that island;—that about the year 725, Irish ecclesiastics had sought seclusion upon the Faroe islands ; —that in the tenth century, voyages between Ice- land and Ireland were of ordinary occurrence ; and that in the eleventh century, a country west from Ireland, and south of that part of the American continent, which was discovered by the adventurous Northmen in the preceding age, was known to them under the name of White Man's Land or Great Ireland. Cork, April, 1841. * History of Ireland, by Thomas Moore, "a work in which," says Hallam, " the claims of his country are stated favourably, and with much learning and industry, but not with extravagant partiality." See Introduc. to Liter, of Europe in the Middle Ages, by Henry Hallam, F.R.A.S. Vol. I. p. 7, note. f Donatus, Bishop of Fiesoli. See p. 222. — CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. RISE, EMINENCE, AND EXTINCTION OF ICELANDIC HISTORICAL LITERATURE. PAGE Eminent position of Icelandic literature—Iceland the seat of religion and learning in the dark ages of Europe— Recollection of events preserved by the Skalds and Sagamen—Investigation of the causes of this mental advancement —Emigration from Norway to Iceland in the ninth century—Manner of fixing the locality of the settlers SetstoMar—Arbitrary appropriation of land—A Republic is formed —Held together by moral laws—Origin of the situation of Chief Norwegian customs followed by the settlers—Herredsthing—Althing —Income of the chief— Hofgode — Powerful individuals rival the chief—General tranquillity—Holmgang—Few Icelanders engage in sea roving— Peaceful pursuits lead to recollections and stories of the past—Sagas— Songs of the Skalds —They pass orally through many generations—The memory aided by Runes—Anecdotes of Egil Skalagrimssou—Of Olaf the Saint — The two Eddas—The soldiers' whetstone — Historical knowledge of the Skalds— Landna- mabok—The Skalds resemble the Troubadours—Of goodly lineage and the confidants of Kings—Their historical songs considered true —The Heiniskringla—Drapas and single strophes—Enigmatical and antithetical style — Cause of these records being preserved in Iceland —Heroic age terminates earlier in Denmark and Sweden than in Norway and Iceland . .1 SECOND PERIOD. Cause of the Icelanders becoming historians— Feuds and lawless pro- ceedings—The time of feud a time of re-union—Skalds thus stimu- lated to composition— Satirical songs — They become the subject of legal enactment by the King of Denmark—Climate, and mode of living favourable to the taste for poetry— Domestic meetings Public amusements —The Althing—Ilestething— Illustration from — CONTENTS. PAGE Tegner's Frithiof— Anecdote of BoUe Bolleson — Accuracy of per- sonal description iu the Sagas — Copiousness of Icelandic language in expressing shades of character— Helge Hardbeinsen identifies some chiefs whom he had never seen —Simplicity of the Saga—Delight of the people in hearing them—Oral tradition ends with the fabulous — Intercourse with Norway and Ireland — Arrival of a mer- chant described—Piratical expeditions are replaced by trading voy- ages—Large building timber imported for the construction of the Drinking Hall — Illustration from Frithiof — Adventurous youth sometimes engage in sea-roving —Northern maxim relative to home —The Icelandic Skalds obtain reputation abroad—Exceed all their competitors of the North— Extraordinary instance of memory Anecdote of the Sagaman Thorstein—Brief account of the eminent Archaeologist Arnas Magnussen—Feast of Yule —Northern origin of