History of Medieval Greenland

And associated places, like Iceland and Vinland.

Sources should be listed with each entry.  A complete listing of sources is a the end.  It should be mentioned that, although I did not note it in each case, much of the preliminary work was strongly influenced by Kristen Seaver's history of Greenland, The Frozen Echo (in fact, although it has expanded beyond that, I developed this originally as an exercise in backtracking her work, which for the record, has held up quite well).  If something is listed without a notation, you may assume it can be found in Seaver's work.

I placed this online really as a quick reference source, which is why it's so informal.  Since it has begun to receive more serious attention, I figure I should clean it up a bit.  If this page somehow manages to offend anyone, please let me know, and we can see what can be done about it.

Marc Carlson
31 July 2001 

About 400s

• Earliest radiocarbon dates from finds at L'Anse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland   [Wallace. Norse Expansion into North America]. [It should be noted that the dating of these finds is debated, and it is generally believed that this site is a Norse site]

440-780

• Radiocarbon date from a section of wood found at L'Anse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland  [Wallace. Norse Expansion into North America]. [It should be noted that the dating of this find is debated, and it is generally believed that this site is a Norse site]

About 700

• Irish Missionaries travel to the Faeroes [Dicuil, Liber de mensura orbis terrae]

About 795

• Irish Missionaries travel to Thule (Iceland) [Dicuil, Liber de mensura orbis terrae]

About 830

• Around this time, the Viking raids in Britain and Europe begin?

About 860

• Latest date of Newfoundland Dorset site.
• Gardar Svavarsson the Swede "discovers" Gardarsholm (Iceland) about this time [Jones, A History of the Vikings; �slendingab�k]
• Naddod the Viking "discovers" Snaeland (Iceland) about this time [Jones, A History of the Vikings; �slendingab�k]

865

• Flokek Vilgerdson (Floki Vilgerdason), a Norwegian farmer, tries to settle in Gardarsholm/Snaeland. The winter is bad enough that all of his cattle die, and he renames the place "Iceland" and goes home.

874

• Ingolf Arnarson (or Bjornalfsson) is the first permanent Norse resident on Iceland after leaving Norway because of a killing.

About 900

• Radiocarbon dates of iron finds at L'Anse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland [Helge Ingstad]. [It should be noted that the dating of these finds is debated, and it is generally believed that this site is a Norse site]

902

• Dublin captured by the Norse.

About 920?

• Blown off course between Norway and Iceland, Gunnbjorn Ulfsson (or Ulf-Krakuson) sights lands west of Iceland [Landnamabok].

930

• The "Landnam", or settlement of Iceland is complete.

???

• Eirik the Red, and his father Thorvald Asvaldsson leave SW Norway because "of some killings", and travel to Iceland. Eirik marries Thordhild Jorundsdaughter (a relative of Snaebjorn Galti, and a great-grandchild of Eyvind the Easterner) and moved to her lands at Haukadale. After some more killings, Eirik moves to the islands near Briedafjord [Graenlendinga Saga]
• Major famine in Iceland and much of North and Northwest Europe.

978

• Icelander Snaebjorn Galti goes to Gunnbjornskerries with prospective colonists, and he is killed there. Of the colonists, only two survive [Snaebjorn Galti's Saga (N.B. No longer existent)].

982

• After an argument with Thorgest causes Eirik to be named Outlaw for three years, he heads west to check out lands sighted by Gunnbjorn Ulfsson [Graenlendinga Saga] (A distant cousin -- both are 5th generation descendents of Oxna-Torir, brother of Nadd-Odd [Seaver, The Frozen Echo]).

983

• Hvitramannaland ("White Man's Land"), supposedly near Vinland the Good, is purportedly visited by Ari Marsson (another relative of Thordhild Jorundsdaughter).

About 984

• Eirik returns to Iceland and convinces others to join him in Greenland [Graenlendinga Saga]
• (This is towards the end of one of the longest warm periods in Greenland's history)

985

• The Landnam - 25 ships leave for Greenland, 14 of which arrive.
• Eirik establishes his farm at Brattahlid (Eastern Settlement). Others settle at Osterbygd (Eastern Settlement), and Vesterbygd (Western Settlement) [Graenlendinga Saga].
• Bjarni Herjolfsson is blown off course and sights three lands further to the west, before arriving at his father's farm at Herjolfsnes [Graenlendinga Saga]

???

• Thorbjorn, under the advice of the Greenlander seeress Thorbjorg, moves with his daughter, Gudrid, to Brattahlid [Eiriks Saga Rauda].

991

• Olaf Tryggvason leads an expedition to England, and is Baptized [Encyclopedia Britannica].

999 (or 1001)

• Leif Eiriksson sails to Norway and winters with King Olaf Tryggvason, and converting to Christianity [Graenlendinga Saga].
• On his way to Norway, Leif is blown off course to the Hebrides where he meets and impregnates Thorgunna. He gives her a ring, a cloak, and a walrus ivory belt. She eventually bears a son, Thorgils [Eiriks Saga Rauda].

Early 1000s

• Latest radiocarbon dates from finds at L'Anse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland   [Wallace. Norse Expansion into North America]. [It should be noted that the dating of these finds is debated, and it is generally believed that this site is a Norse site]

1000

• Leif Eiriksson is charged by King Olaf Tryggvason to preach Christianity in Greenland [Graenlendinga Saga]. (N.B. This may not have actually taken place, but may have been a later inclusion to the Sagas.)
• On his way home, Leif rescues a shipwrecked Crew, and earns the name "the Lucky" [Graenlendinga Saga].
• Leif is blown off course, and lands in Vinland. Nearing Greenland he rescues people from a shipwreck. Eirik doesn't accept Christianity, but Thordhild has a church built [Eiriks Saga Rauda].
• King Olaf Tryggvason dies at the sea-fight at Svold. Eirik Hakonarson succeeds him.
• Thordhild reputedly embraced the new faith and built a church. (Eirik the Red was still alive when his son returned [Graenlendinga Saga]).
• Bjarni Herjolfsson travels to Norway, and becomes a retainer of Eirik Hakonarson [Graenlendinga Saga].
• The Althing in Iceland adopts Christianity [Encyclopedia Britannica].

1001

• Bjarni Herjolfsson returns to Greenland [Graenlendinga Saga].
• Leif Eiriksson buys Bjarni's boat and tries to encourage Eirik the Red to lead them. Eirik fell off a horse and hurt himself. Leif sails west, first landing at Helluland, then sailing cross the sea to Markland, and then across the sea to an island, then into a sound between the island and a cape projecting north from the land itself. West of the cape, they run aground in shallows, and finally move their ship upriver into a salmon filled lake. There they build "Leifsbudir" or "Leif's Booths". It is at Leifsbudir that Tyrkir, the German, discovers the grapevines which they name Vinland after. They winter at Vinland [Graenlendinga Saga].
• Thorgils Orrabeinfostre and his crew are shipwrecked on the East Coast of Greenland, and they take three years to return to civilization. During their adventures they encounter "witches" that may be Dorset Eskimos.
• (Peak years for sea salt sodium in Greenland Ice (.125) This indicates a lot of storms.)

1002

• Leif returns to Greenland and rescues Thorir Eastman, his wife Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir, and their shipwrecked crew. Earning him the name "The Lucky" [Graenlendinga Saga].
• Sickness kills Thorir, and Eirik the Red [Graenlendinga Saga] (Graenlendinga Saga also says that Eirik the Red died before the coming of Christianity).
• Thorvald Eiriksson takes Leif's ship and travels to Vinland and Leifsbudir [Graenlendinga Saga].

1003

• Thorvald Eiriksson explores westwards along the coast [Graenlendinga Saga].

1004

• Thorvald Eiriksson explores east from Leifsbudir and north. They run aground and crack the keel. They set up the keel and name the location Kjarlarnes. They repair the vessel and explore east, and at the mouth of two fjords they find and kill eight Skraelings sleeping under skin boats [Graenlendinga Saga]. In response, "countless" Skraelings in skin boats attack them. Thorvald Eiriksson is killed, and buried at the site he named Krossanes [Graenlendinga Saga].

1005

• Thorvald's crew returns to Greenland [Graenlendinga Saga].
• Thorstein Eiriksson (and his wife Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir) tries to travel to Vinland to recover his brother's body, but he is forced by winter's approach to turn back and they land at Lysufjord in the Western Settlement. They meet Thorstein the Black (or Franklin Thorstein) who invites them to stay with him [Graenlendinga Saga]. A fever kills Thorstein the Black's wife, Grimhild, and Thorstein Eiriksson. Thorstein Eiriksson temporarily returns from the dead to prophesy about Gudrid's future [Graenlendinga Saga].
• Thorstein Eiriksson takes Thorbjorn's boat and prepares to sail for Vinland. Eirik is intending on going with him, but falls off his horse and is injured so he can't go. Thorstein is battered about but doesn't find Vinland [Eiriks Saga Rauda].
• Thorstein marries Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir. They go to visit Thorstein and Sigrid in at Lysufjord in Western Settlement. There is a sickness and Thorstein Eiriksson and Sigrid die. Thorstein comes back from the dead to prophesy about many things, including burning the foreman Gardar for causing the sickness, and Gudrid's future [Eiriks Saga Rauda].

1006

• Escorted by Thorstein the Black, Gudrid returns to Eiriksfjord [Greenlander's Saga, Eiriks Saga Rauda].
• Thorfinn Thordsson karlsefni arrives at Eiriksfjord [Graenlendinga Saga, Eiriks Saga Rauda]. Karlsefni arrives with Snorri Thorbrandsson in two ships [Eiriks Saga Rauda].
• Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir and Thorfinn karlsefni marry that winter [Graenlendinga Saga, Eiriks Saga Rauda].

1007

• Thorfinn karlsefni and Gudrid sail to Leifsbudir [Graenlendinga Saga].
• Thorfinn karlsefni, Gudrid, Snorri, and Thorvald, Eirik the Red's Son-in-law, and Thorhall sail to Vinland [Eiriks Saga Rauda]. They find a place like the keel of a ship that they name Kjarlarnes. They find long beaches they name Furdustrandr "Marvel Strands". South of Furdustrandr, they go ashore at an island they name Straumsey, and find a place they name Straumsfjord. Snorri Thorfinnson is born [Eiriks Saga Rauda].

1008

• Karlsefni's people meet the Skraelings. They trade milk for furs. Karlsefni builds a large stockade around his house [Graenlendinga Saga].
• Gudrid gives birth to Snorri Thorfinnsson [Graenlendinga Saga].
• That winter, they are approached by Skraelings again. Gudrid sees a strange woman. One of the Skraelings is killed. They meet for a third time and fight [Graenlendinga Saga].
• Karlsefni and his people split up with Thorhall, who wants to explore for Vinland to the North. Thorhall is blown off course and lands in Ireland, where he dies. Karlselfni and his people continue south to Hop, "Land lock Bay". There they find Skraelings in skin boats. Karlsefni and his people set up houses [Eiriks Saga Rauda].

1009

• Karlsefni packs up and sails for Eiriksfjord [Graenlendinga Saga]. Helgi and Finnbogi arrive in Greenland. They are approached by Freydis Eiriksdottir (who lives in Gardar with her husband Thorvard). She invites them to accompany her to Vinland. They take two ships and winter in Vinland. During the winter, the two parties become more distrustful and Freydis arranges to have Helgi and Finnbogi killed. She kills their women herself [Graenlendinga Saga].
• Karlsefni's people fight the Skraelings, but they are driven off by the pregnant Freydis. Karlselfni and his people sail north to Straumsfjord, where they kill more Skraelings. They are attacked by Skraelings. A Uniped kills Thorvald [Eiriks Saga Rauda].

1010

• Freydis and Thorvard return to Eiriksfjord. Eventually Leif hears of her misdeeds and curses her [Graenlendinga Saga].
• Karlsefni sailed to Norway with a richly filled ship [Graenlendinga Saga].
• Karlsefni and his people return to Greenland. They find several Skraelings and bring two native boys they dragged home for baptism. Bjarni's ship starts to founder, and so they abandon it and much of the crew, who eventually find their way to Ireland [Eiriks Saga Rauda].

1011

• Karlsefni sells his figurehead (carved of Vinland "maple") to a man from Bremen for a Mark of gold. Then he and Gudrid sail for Iceland [Graenlendinga Saga].

1012

• Karlsefni builds his home at Glaumbaejarland in Iceland (his ship (or Bjarni/Leif's ship) is drawn ashore at Skagafjord) [Graenlendinga Saga].
• Karlsefni returns to Iceland with Gudrid [Eiriks Saga Rauda].

1012

• {Purported date on the Heavener, Oklahoma Runestone = 11 Nov 1012}[Wilson. Oklahoma's Treasures and Treasure Tales]

1017

• {Purported date on the Poteau, Oklahoma Runestone = 11 Nov 1017}[Wilson. Oklahoma's Treasures and Treasure Tales]

1022

• {Purported date on the Tulsa/Turley, Oklahoma Runestone = 22 Dec 1022}[Wilson. Oklahoma's Treasures and Treasure Tales]

1024

• {Purported date on the Shawnee, Oklahoma Runestone = 24 Nov 1024}[Wilson. Oklahoma's Treasures and Treasure Tales]

1040

• Radiocarbon date from a wood find at L'Anse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland   [Wallace. Norse Expansion into North America]. [It should be noted that the dating of these finds is debated, and it is generally believed that this site is a Norse site]

About 1050

• (Minor low in Sea salt sodium in Greenland Ice (.095) indicating severe storminess)

Between 1050-1100

• The Thule Inuit move rapidly from Alaska to Greenland about this time. Earliest dates from "Skraeling Island" are from about this time.

1053

• (6 Jan) Pope Leo IX gives Adalbert, Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, custody of the people of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Greenland. (First official mention of Greenland).

1056

• Isleif Gizuerarson becomes the first native bishop of Iceland.

???

• Audun travels from Greenland to Denmark to give the King a polar bear [Audun's Story].
• Adam of Bremen visits the Danish court [Magnusson. The Vinland Sagas]

1060

• Latest  possible radiocarbon date from a wood find at L'Anse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland   [Wallace. Norse Expansion into North America]. [It should be noted that the dating of these finds is debated, and it is generally believed that this site is a Norse site]

1066-93

• The reign of the Norwegian king Olaf Kyrri, within whose dates the "Maine Coin" was minted.

1072-6

• Iceland, Greenland and Vinland are mentioned by Adam of Bremen's Descriptio insularum aquilonis or Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum [Jones, 1964:85; Vaughan, 326].

About 1100

• Saxo Grammaticus writes his history of the Danes.

Early 1100s

• Thule Inuit reach Nordresetr, Greenland's Disko Bay.
• Landnamabok compiled.

1100-1300

• (Very Warm in England)

1112

• Eirik Gnuppson upsi leaves Iceland to become Bishop at Sandnes [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

1121

• Bishop Eirik apparently leaves Greenland in search of Vinland, never to be heard from again [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar]. {Some people claim he assumed the name Heinricus Hop, and is purported to be responsible for some runestones in New England}.
• {Purported dates of the Latin legends in the Vinland Map}

1122-5

• Ari Thorgilsson the Learned writes Islendingabok.

1123

• Sokki Thorisson becomes chieftain of Brattahlid. He sends his son Einar (with a live polar bear) to meet with King Sigurd "Jerusalemfarer" for a new bishop [Story of Einar Sokkason]

1124

• Arnald becomes Bishop of Greenland [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

1125

• Arnald, Einar and the merchant Arnbjorn set sail in two or three vessels for Greenland. They encounter a storm and are split up [Norlund Viking Settlers in Greenland].
• Arnald and Einar winter in Iceland with Bishops Thorlak Runolfsson of Skalholt (Great Grandson of karlsefni) and Ketil of Holar [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].
• �slendingab�k is written about this time.
• {Date of the Spirit Pond inscriptions}

1130

• Hunters lead by Sigurd Njalsson discover one of Arnbjorn's vessels aground on the Eastern Shore. Sigurd and his people strip the bones of the dead and burn the ship. They return home with the bones for burial, and the nails from the ship. This sparks a long running legal battle over the ownership of the vessel and cargo [Norlund Viking Settlers in Greenland].

1131

• Three merchant ships with many Icelanders and Norwegians, including Arnbjorn's heirs sail to Greenland and winter there [Norlund Viking Settlers in Greenland].

About 1150

• Sicilian geographer al-Idrisi, in Nuzhat al-Mushtaq, describes what could be taken for Eskimos.

1150-1400

• ("Very cold" in Crete)

1152

• Bishop Arnald becomes Bishop of Hamar, and returns to Norway. Jon knutr becomes Bishop of Greenland [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

About 1155

• Ungava/Dorset copper amulet site.

About 1170

• Norse hunters in Nordresetr encounter Skraelings (Thule Inuit).

About 1080

• The calibrated carbon dates for the Brattahlid site -appear- to be about 1080 +/- 125 years [based on a chart in Arenborg, et.al. "C-14 dating and the disappearance of Norsemen from Greenland" Europhysics News 33:3 (2002)]

1187

• "No ships arrived in Iceland"

1188

• Jon smyrill Sverrifostri becomes Bishop of Greenland [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

1189

• Bishop Jon smyrill arrives in Greenland [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].
• Asmund kastanrassi arrives in Iceland on board a Greenland built ship.
• The Stangarfoli (or Stangfolen), sailing from Bergen to Iceland is lost enroute and is shipwrecked on the Eastern Shore of Greenland, carrying the priest Ingimund [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar, Viking Settlers in Greenland].

1195

• Bishop Pall of Skalholt (Iceland) brought glass to his cathedral.

About 1200

• Approximate date of the writing of the Graenlendinga saga.
• St. Nicholas' cathedral at Gardar built [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].
• The priest Ingimund's body is found in a cave on the Eastern Shore [Norlund Viking Settlers in Greenland].

1203

• Bishop Jon visits Iceland on his way to Rome and returning to Greenland [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

1209

• Bishop Jon dies in Greenland, and is buried in the cemetary at Gardar [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

1212

• Bishop Helgi arrives in Greenland [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

1219

• "No ships arrived in Iceland"

1230

• Bishop Helgi dies in Greenland [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

Between 1230-40

• There is no Bishop in Greenland [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

1234

• Nicholas is consecrated as Helgi's successor Bishop, but remains in Norway [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

About 1235

• Possible occupation of the Goddard site in Maine, and the internment of the "Maine Penny".

1237

• Both Icelandic Bishops (Gudmund of Holar and Magnus of Skalholt) die.

1238

• Both Icelandic Bishops are replaced.

1240

• Bishop Nicholas finally arrives in Greenland [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

1241

• Snorri Sturlsson is killed in a struggle over who gets to name Bishops in Iceland.

1242

• Bishop Nicholas dies [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

1245

• Approximate date of the writing of the Speculum Regale (Kings Mirror) (N.B., the author discusses Greenland, but NOT anything further west).

1247

• Bishop Olaf is sent to Greenland [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

About 1250

• Estimated date of Thule figurine on Baffin Island. Approximate date of wool at Skraeling Island.
• (Major low in Sea salt sodium in Greenland Ice (.085) indicating very little storm activity.)
• Approximate early date for Kingigtorssuaq Rune Stone in Nordresetr (Possible dates extends all the way to 1333).
• The calibrated carbon dates for the Gardar site -appear- to be about 1255 +/- 50 years [based on a chart in Arenborg, et.al. "C-14 dating and the disappearance of Norsemen from Greenland" Europhysics News 33:3 (2002)]

1258

• Three Norwegians are stuck in Greenland.

1260-80

• Approximate date of Sturlubok redaction of Landnamabok.

1261

• Three Norwegians return to Norway and report that the Greenlanders agreed to pay compensation for murder to the Norwegian King, whether the victim was Norwegian or Greenlander, and whether the crime took place as far north as Nordresetr or beyond. This is taken to mean that the Greenlanders surrender their sovereignty to Norway.

1262

• Treaty formalized Norwegian royal monopoly on Iceland.
• Bishop Olaf of Gardar is shipwrecked in Iceland.

1263

• Covenant of Union between Norway and Iceland, which among other things, promised 6 trading ships per year, unless otherwise prohibited.
• King Hakon died, succeeded by Magnus Hakonsson "Lawmender"

After 1263

• Approximate date of the writing of Eiriks saga Rauda.

1264

• Bishop Olaf of Gardar leaves Iceland for Norway.

1265

• A ship bound for Greenland sinks [Norlund Viking Settlers in Greenland].

1266

• Bishop Olaf of Gardar is again shipwrecked in Iceland, while sailing from Greenland. This time he loses 12 men, and a vast cargo of walrus tusks at a place henceforth known as "Bishop's Reef", and that for the next three hundred years will occasionally produce walrus tusks [Norlund Viking Settlers in Greenland].
• That summer, reports of Skraelings to the north of Nordresetr leads to an expedition far beyond Nordresetr find traces of Skraelings. This expedition travels at least three days north of 75 degrees, 46 minutes (Melville Bay?). Also pieces of wood marked by Skraelings appear to have washed ashore from the east (although the Eastern movement of the Inuit wouldn't be for several hundred more years) [Described in a letter from Haldor, a priest in Greenland to a cleric who had sailed with Olaf, written in 1270. Letter described in Magnusson, The Vinland Sagas, and Norlund, Viking Settlers in Greenland]

1267

• Archbishop Jon the Red is consecrated at Nindaros/Trondheim.

About 1270 +/- 25

• A species of New England soft shelled clams (M. arenaria) carbon dating from this time, are found in sand in northern Denmark ("the Kattgaw region on the east coast of the Skaw in northern Juteland"). They can not have gotten there without a ship [Petersen, Rassmussen, Heinemeier, Rud.  "Clams before Columbus" Nature 359 (22 Oct. 1992) p.679.  National Geographic, April 1993 places this date at "About 1245"]

1271

• Bishop Olaf returns to Greenland.

1274

• 22 Polar bears wander ashore in Iceland and are killed.
• The Council of Lyon decreed that all Christians must pay Six-Year Crusading Tithes.

1275

• Date of corpse found in Vatnahverfi (Eastern Settlement).

1278

• Two men are sent by the Archbishop of Nindaros to Greenland to help collect the Crusading Tithes.

1279

• Pope Nicholas wrote that the See of Gardar was "visited infrequently because of the cruel ocean".

About 1280

• Approximate date of chain mail find at Skraeling Island.

1280

• King Magnus died, and was succeeded by Eirik Magnusson.
• Bishop Olaf of Gardar died. There is no Bishop in Greenland until 1289 [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].  The calibrated carbon dating of the body of the Bishop excavated at Gardar would appear to be about this time [Arenborg, et.al. "C-14 dating and the disappearance of Norsemen from Greenland" Europhysics News 33:3 (2002)]

1281

• Archbishop Jon the Red deposits 31 silver bars in Tournai.

1282

• Archbishop Jon the Red complains to the Pope that the Greenland luxury goods were "difficult to sell for a suitable price" (Hence claims that the bottom had dropped out of the market -- which seem to be untrue).
• Archbishop Jon the Red flees Norway to Sweden and dies in exile.

1284

• The money Jon the Red embezzled is returned to Norway.

1285

• Two priests, Adalbrand and Thorvald Helgasonar drift off coarse and report seeing "New-Country" west of Iceland (probably Greenland).

About 1286

• King Eirik sends Hrolf off to seek "New-Country".

1289

• Bishop Thord arrives in Greenland [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

1294

• Hanse merchants are given Royal permission to sail as far north as Bergen [Norlund, Viking Settlers in Greenland].

1299

• King Eirik "Priesthater" dies and he is succeeded by his brother Hakon Magnusson.

About 1300

• An Icelandic Geographical Treatise describes the Nordic lands, Ireland, England and Greenland as part of "Europe" [Magnusson, The Vinland Sagas]

1302

• King Hakon's Rettarbot bans foreigners from trading north of Bergen, to Iceland, or to "any other tribute paying country".

1305

• Arni becomes Bishop of Bergen.

1306-8

• Approximate date of Hauksbok redaction of Landnamabok.

1306

• Epidemic in Iceland

1308-19

• (Lowest winter temperatures in Greenland until the 1500s)

1308

• Bishop Arni of Bergen sends a subtle invitation to Bishop Thord to return to Norway. His letter contains news of the previous eight years.

1309

• Bishop Thord returns to Norway. Epidemic in Iceland.

1310

• Epidemic in Iceland.

1314

• Both Bishops Arni and Thord die in Norway. Bishop Arni of Gardar is consecrated as Bishop of Greenland [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

1315

• Bishop Arni arrives in Greenland [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

1324

• Only 1 Norwegian ship visits Iceland this year.

1325

• Bishop Audfinn of Bergen (old Arni's brother), complained in a letter to the Archbishop about the Trondheim merchants on the Greenland Knarr(s). This is the first mention of the Royal Greenland ships {Norlund, Viking Settlers in Greenland].

1326

• NO ships from Norway reach Iceland.

1327

• A Flanders merchant purchases the (2000 pounds) walrus Ivory from Greenland for 28 pounds of Silver.

1330

• Approximate date of silver "Campbell" shield-badge found at V54 (Western Settlement)
• Approximate date that Thule Inuit are at area of Western Settlement. (According to Inuit traditions they wanted to settle near Nordic farms. The Greenlanders did not allow this, but the two groups remained on good terms with one another. When the Greenlanders were attacked from the sea, the Inuit took in their women and children.

1333

• 1 Norwegian ship visited Iceland. Gardar is not mentioned at all in the Norwegian Tithe collection.

Before 1334?

• Skalholtsbok written for Hauk Erlendsson (9th generation descendent of Thorfinn karlsefni). (Date is uncertain).

1340

• 6 Norwegian trading ships to Iceland.

1341

• The priest Ivar Bardarsson leaves Norway for Greenland to provide new registrations of the churches and claim the King's Rights, as the ombudsman of the Bishop of Bergen.
• 6 Norwegian trading ships to Iceland.

1342

• 6 Norwegian trading ships to Iceland.
• Possible date of Ivar Bardarsson's visit to the Western Settlement.

1343-1362

• (Longest period of colder than average years in Greenland)

1343

• 6 Norwegian trading ships to Iceland.
• Jon Eiriksson skalli is consecrated Bishop of Gardar by Archbishop Pal, who just didn't know Bishop Arni was still alive [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

1344

• 6 Norwegian trading ships to Iceland.
• Thord Eigilsson sailed to Greenland and returned to Norway with a richly laden ship.

1345

• 6 Norwegian trading ships to Iceland.

1346

• 6 Norwegian trading ships to Iceland.
• According to Annals, the Greenland Knarr arrives with many goods.

1347

• Icelandic annals (Skalholtbok, Gottskalk's and Flateyjarbok) records the arrival of a Greenlander ship, with a crew of 17-18, driven to Iceland while enroute to Markland.
• 6 Norwegian trading ships to Iceland.
• 13 other oceangoing ships arrive in Iceland, and all 20 winter there.

1348

• Bishop Arni died, possibly in Norway.

Before 1349?

• Possible date before which Ivar Bardarsson might have visited the abandoned Western Settlement (as he expected to return to Norway about this time)

1349

• The Black Death strikes Norway. Bishops Jon skalli of Gardar and Orm of Holar are the only Bishops to survive in Norway.

Between 1350-60

• Approximate average terminal dates for Western Settlement farms.
  The end appears to some scholars to have been sudden, and involved abandoning wood, and butchering of dogs.  Other scholars point out the lack of much in the way of material remains, suggesting an orderly withdrawal back to the Eastern Settlement.  It is entirely plausible that both perspectives are correct, with some people withdrawing to the Eastern Settlement, and others trying to stick out the declining weather, and depopulation of the settlements.
• Numerous shoe lasts, and a few of what may be shoemaking tools are left behind at Sandnes about this time [Carlson. Shoes in Greenland]
• The calibrated carbon dates for the Sandnes site -appear- to be about 1355 +/- 60 years [based on a chart in Arenborg, et.al. "C-14 dating and the disappearance of Norsemen from Greenland" Europhysics News 33:3 (2002)]

1350

• NO ships from Norway reach Iceland.
• Because of the lack of wine, mass is cancelled in all church annexes in Iceland.

1354

• King Magnus of Norway authorizes Powell Knutsson permission to outfit a ship and to sail to Greenland to "protect" the Christians there

1355

• NO ships from Norway reach Iceland.
• King Magnus of Norway authorizes Poul Knudson permission to outfit the Greenland Knarr and to sail to Greenland to "protect" the Christians there [Norlund, Viking Settlers in Greenland].

1357

• 1 Norwegian ship visited Iceland.

1360

• An English Minorite friar (author of Inventio fortunatae) is supposed to have visited Greenland at this time, and substantiated the abandoned Western Settlement. He exchanges an astrolabe with a priest for a Testament. The friar continues on his journey to the North Pole.

1362

• 1 Norwegian ship visited Iceland.
• {Date on the Kensington Rune Stone = 24 April 1362}
• In Iceland, Oraefajokul erupts in "biggest explosive eruption in Europe since Pompeii was destroyed."

1363

• Ivar Bardarsson leaves Greenland, returning to Norway King
• Hakon marries Princess Margarethe of Denmark.

1364

• A traveler from the Low Countries reports that 8 people from Greenland, including 2 priests (one may have been Ivar Bardarsson) were visiting with the King of Norway. And this Belgian describes the book Inventio fortunatae.

1365

• Bishop Alf is consecrated in Norway [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

1367-79

• Icelandic annals record "very cold years".

1367

• 1 Norwegian ship visited Iceland.
• Last recorded Royal Ship to Greenland [Magnusson. The Vinland Sagas]

1368

• Bishop Alf arrives in Greenland [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar]. (Probably ON the last Royal Ship to Greenland.)

1369

• The Royal Greenland Knarr is lost at sea, off the Norwegian coast from Bergen. She appears not to have been replaced [Norlund, Viking Settlers in Greenland].

1374

• The King of Norway's Ombudsman is reported as going to Greenland.
• NO ships from Norway reach Iceland.

About 1378

• Bishop Alf dies, the last Bishop in Greenland [Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar].

1379

• Gottskalks Annals, an Icelandic chronicle, reports that Skraelings attacked the Greenlanders (at the East settlement?), killed 18 and captured 2 boys and a bondswoman. (It may have been an attack on a large hunting expedition).

About 1380

• Niccolo Zeno may have visited Greenland ("Engroneland")

1380s

• Icelandic annals only mention 4-5 sailings to Greenland.

1380

• King Hakon dies and is succeeded by his son Olaf.

1381

• The Olafssudinn, and a party of Icelanders, drift off to Greenland, and are forced to trade there.

1382

• The Thorlakssudinn, and a party of Icelanders, drift off to Greenland, are shipwrecked there, and are forced to trade.

1383

• The Olafssudinn, with the crew of the Thorlakssudinn, reaches Norway laden with trade goods, and reports the death of Bishop Alf.

1385

• Bjorn Einarsson Jerusalemfarer is driven off course, and winds up in Greenland with four ships where he is forced to trade. He rescues two "trolls", or Skraeling children from a rock in the sea. They become his faithful servants.

1386

• Nicolas of Lynn writes his Kalender.

1387

• Bjorn Einarsson, and his wife Solveig, leave Greenland for Iceland, and his two faithful Skraeling servants throw themselves into the sea.
• King Olaf died, and was succeeded by his Mother, Queen Margarethe of Denmark. The Swedes also chose her to rule them.

About 1390

• Flateyjarbok compiled.

1390

• NO ships from Norway reach Iceland.

1392

• 1 Norwegian ship visited Iceland.

1393

• 18 German warships attack, burn and sack Bergen, in Norway.

1396

• The Duke of Burgundy ransoms his son from the Saracens for 12 Greenland falcons.
• "Foreign Merchants" (English?) visit the Westman Islands off Iceland.

1397

• The Kalmar Treaty formalized the union of Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

About 1400-50

• Possible dates of some of the Herjolfsnes garments [Norlund. Buried Norsemen at Hjerolfsnes]

1402-4

• The Black Plague reaches Iceland.

1405

• A large number of Icelander wealthy travel back to Norway, possibly to attend the wedding of King Eirik to Princess Phillipa of England. Bjorn Einarsson visits Norway on his way to Jerusalem. While in Bergen he marries his daughter Kristin to Thorleif Arnason. Thorstein Olafsson, Bjorn's nephew, is with them.

1406

• Thorstein Olafsson and his party set out back to Iceland, but his ship is caught in "a dense fog" and winds up in Greenland.
• Last recorded sailing from Greenland in the Icelandic Annals.

1407

• According to the Icelandic Annals, Kollgrim is burned at the stake in the Eastern Settlement for seducing another man's wife through the Black Arts. (Steinunn, wife of Thorgrim Solvason, both Icelanders from Thorstein Olafsson's ship).

1408

• (16 Sep) The visiting Icelanders witness a marriage at Hvalsey (Eastern Settlement). Thorstein Olafsson married Sigrid Bjornsdaughter (an Icelander residing in Hvalsey?), by the priest Sir Paul Halvardsson.
• The first English fishermen visit the Iceland banks about this time, in search of cod (and competing against the Hanse), possibly as a result of the plague in Iceland

1409

• (19 April) The Marriage certificate is issued for Thorstein Olafsson's wedding at Hvalsey ("Whale Island". Eastern Settlement) by the priest Sir Paul Halvardsson and the Bishop in officialis Sir Eindridi Andresson [Norlund, Norse Ruins a Gardar; Viking Settlers in Greenland].

1410

• Olaf Thorstein, and his friends, all sail from Greenland to Norway.

1411

• Bjorn Einarsson returns from Jerusalem.

1412

• English fishermen (30 doggers) arrive in Iceland
• Queen Margarethe died, and was succeeded by her nephew Eirik of Pomerania for the Triple Crown.

1413

• An English merchantman arrives in Iceland.
• A merchant named Richard stays with Gisli Andresson and his wife, Gudrun Styrsdaughter (supposed widow of Snorri Torfason, who's been off in Greenland with Olaf Thorstein) and is staying with them when Olaf Thorstein and his comrades return to Iceland.
• There is a major fire in the Hanseatic quarter of Bergen

1415-61

• Bristol Corporate archives are missing.

About 1418

• The English by this time are getting involved with Icelandic politics, as well as with the Greenland-farers and their friends and relations.
• (A small cross of English pewter is lost at Hvalsey; and a table knife similar to Knives and Scabbards (p.89, fig.87) is lost at Gardar.)
• According to papal letter of 1448, "barbarous pagans invaded Greenland and took many slaves" [N.B. authenticity of letter is suspect].

1419

• English violence breaks out in Iceland, as they continue to push for political power.

About 1420-50

• Approximate date of iron bloom found by Frobisher and resmelted on Baffin Island.

About 1420

• Possible alternate date of writing of Skalholtsbok by Olaf Lotpsson, cousin of Sigrid Bjornsdaughter and related to Bjorn Einarsson.

1420

• Thorleif Arnason, sailing to complain to the King about the English, is attacked by an English ship, before making it to Norway. The Englishman from Hull loot and pillage in Iceland.

1422

• The Englishmen from Hull attack and rob the Royal farm at Bessatadir.

1423

• The Englishmen from Hull attack and rob the Royal farm at Bessatadir.

1424

• The Englishmen from Hull attack and rob the Royal farm at Bessatadir.
• Bristol holds its foreign merchants for ransom.

1425

• Englishmen from Hull capture the governor of Iceland and his deputy.
• The Danish Cartographer, Claudius Clavus, claims to have been to Greenland sometime after this time. His maps make no note of Nordic settlers, athough he does discuss the "Karols", or Inuit [Norlund, Viking Settlers in Greenland].

1426

• John Williamson Craxton is named Bishop of Holar.

1428

• Hanse pirates raid and sack Bergen.
• The last Icelandic ship to Bergen returns home. Henceforth, they trade with Copenhagen.

1429

• Five Icelandic boys and three girls are found to have been sold into slavery in Bristol.
• Eleven Icelandic children arrive in Lynn and are being sold into slavery when they are discovered by Bishop Jon Gereksson of Skalholt, who happens to be in Lynn. He removes the children from Lynn sends them home.
• King Henry VI decrees that all English Cod merchants had to go to Bergen to trade for northern fish.
• Bishop John arrives in Iceland.

1430

• Last Icelandic medieval annals end.

1430 +/-15

• Most current dating for some of the Herjofsnes finds [Arenborg, et.al. "C-14 dating and the disappearance of Norsemen from Greenland" Europhysics News 33:3 (2002)]

1431

• Thorstein Olafsson passes a resolution against the English to be sent to the King. A Smallpox epidemic ravages Iceland. Thorstein Olafsson dies about this time.

1432

• King Eirik orders the English to free and return any people taken from northern countries. Bishop Jon Gereksson is dragged from his own cathedral in Iceland and drowned by irate Icelanders.

c.1440

• There are numerous hypotheses about what happened to the Greenlanders.  One suggests that the survivors walked across the ice and became the ancestors of the Algonquin Indians (http://hometown.aol.com/frozntrl)

1448

• Papal letter of Nicholas V refers to an attack on Greenlanders "30 years before" that took many of them captive. Now they are free and returning home, and are asking for a Priest. The Pope refers to the "fervent piety" of the Greenlanders. [N.B. authenticity of letter is suspect]

1453

• A cataclysmic volcanic eruption in the South Pacific alters worldwide weather patterns for three years.

1461

• Oldest surviving Bristol customs documents regarding Iceland.

Sometime in the 1470s

• Portuguese expedition to North may have reached Greenland?

1472-3

• A Danish-Norwegian expedition sailed for Greenlands waters led by Didrik Pining and Hans Pothorst at the insistance of the Portugese to look for new lands to the west. They spy Eskimos east of Cape Farewell [Norlund, Viking Settlers in Greenland].

1475

• Date of Inuit mummies in Qibakitsoq (in Nordresetr) [National Geographic, 1985]

About 1475-80

• The Danish "Pirates" Didrik Pining and Pothorst are operating in the North Atlantic, chasing down the English (allegedly in ships outfitted by the Hanse).

1477

• Columbus allegedly sailed north to Iceland. Columbus may have claimed that the English were in Greenland.

1478

• Pining becomes royal Governor of Iceland

1480

• Thomas Croft leads an expedition searching for the "Island of Brasil" in the North Atlantic, near Greenland.

1481

• Thomas Croft leads an expedition searching for the "Island of Brasil" in the North Atlantic, near Greenland. They may have found Newfoundland.

1484

• Nearly fifty Icelanders are in service in Bristol households.
• An old manuscript (of debatable ancestry) claims that in Bergen, some 40 sailors claimed they regularly sailed to and came away with valuables from Greenland. Hanse merchants killed them (They may have been English cod merchants).

1486

• A Bristol ship sold a crew of Hanse slaves in Galway.

1492

• Papal letter of Alexander IV suggests that the people of Greenland have been abandoned by the church for so long that they've reverted to "heathen practices" [Seaver, the Frozen Echo. This may have been in a letter to the Benedictine monk Matthias Knudson offering him the See of Gardar, if he would be willing to GO there and lead the people back to Christianity [Norlund, ].

1497

• John Cabot's successful expedition to the "Island of the Seven Cities" makes the location of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland common knowledge.

About 1500

• (Major high in Sea salt sodium in Greenland ice (.135))
• Last burials in Herjolfsnes may have been as late as this [Norlund. Buried Norsemen at Hjerolfsnes]
• Ellis Minns alleges in his preface to Norlund's Viking Settlers in Greenland that the Eskimos have legends of burning the last of the Nordic Greenlanders in their church.
• The English again start flocking to the Iceland fishing grounds.

About 1515

• Olaus Magnus sees two kayaks in Oslo cathedral, said to have been taken off the Greenland coast by King Hakon.

1516

• Archbishop Valkendorf tries to mount an expedition to Greenland, but it falls through.

1520

• Christian II tries to mount an expedition to Greenland, but it falls through.

About 1530

• Jacques Cartier claims to have found wild grapes on both sides of the St. Laurence.

1534

• Jacques Cartier meets a French fishing vessel in a Labrador harbor [National Geographic, July 1985]

Between 1537-39

• Several ships sailing from Hamburg to Iceland are blown over to Greenland

1540

• John "Greenlander", blown off course between Hamburg and Iceland, reports finding empty settlements similar to those in Iceland, and the single body of a man in leather with a cloth hood in Greenland. He takes the dead man's knife as a keepsake.

1555

• Olaus Magnus mentions two pirates, Pining and Pothorst, operating between Greenland and Iceland.

1558

• Zeno's map published (and is a fraud).

c1560s

• Peak of Basque whaling activities at Red Bay (c40 miles across the Strait of Belle Isle from L'Anse aux Meadows.  There are at least 12 whaling ports along the Labrador Coast) [National Geographic, July 1985]

1576-78

• Martin Frobisher's three voyages to the Arctic.

1576

• Martin Frobisher brings an Eskimo and his Kayak back from Baffin Island.

1585

• John Davis discovers Godthaab Fjord, without knowing it was Greenland he had reached.

1586

• John Davis discovers a grave site on an island in Godthaab Fjord, and a burial that is "presumably in the eskimo fashion", but clearly Christian.

1605-6

• Christian IV sends two expeditions to Greenland, each with a Norwegian and Icelandic interpreter in case they could find the Nordic Greenlanders.

1623-25

• Bjorn Jonsson of Skardsa reports pieces of ships built in the Greenland manner washing ashore in Iceland.

1721

• Hans Egede founds a trading company and a Lutheran Mission in the area of the old Western Settlement (the Eastern Settlement being more blocked off by Ice) [Encyclopedia Britannica]
• He always believed that if he could find the Eastern Settlement, he would find the surviving Norsemen

1723

• Hans Egede asks the Inuit at Ujaragssuit, near Godthaab (Western Settlement) if they destroyed the church he found there in ruins, and they tell him that no, the Qavdlunak did it themselves when they left [Norlund, Viking Settlers in Greenland].

1776

• Denmark assumes a full trading monopoly with Greenland [Encyclopedia Britannica]

1837

• The sagas relating to Greenland are translated into Latin and published [Wallace. Norse Expansion into North America]

1839

• Ove Kielson "excavates" the cemetery at Herjolfsnes [Norlund. Buried Norsemen at Hjerolfsnes]

1914

• William Munn, a Newfoundland businessman declares L'Anse aux Meadows to be the sight of Leif Erikson's landing [Wallace. Norse Expansion into North America]

1921

• Norlund's Herjolfsnes (Ikigaat) excavations [Norlund. Buried Norsemen at Hjerolfsnes]

1941

• V�in� Tanner declares L'Anse aux Meadows to be the sight of Leif Erikson's landing [Wallace. Norse Expansion into North America]

1956

• Danish Archaeologist J�rgen Meldgaard excavates at Pistolet Bay, 20 km SW of L'Anse aux Meadows but finds nothing  [Wallace. Norse Expansion into North America]

1960

• Helge Ingstad declares L'Anse aux Meadows to be the sight of Leif Erikson's landing [Wallace. Norse Expansion into North America; Ingstad, National Geographic, 1960; Ingstad]

1961-1968

• Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad excavate L'Anse aux Meadows and determine their findings to support their claims that it was an 11th century Norse site [Wallace. Norse Expansion into North America; Ingstad]

1968

• The Canadian Government declares L'Anse aux Meadows to be a site of National Historic Signicance [Wallace. Norse Expansion into North America]

1973-1976

• Birgitta Wallace, under Parks Canada, excavate L'Anse aux Meadows and determine their findings to support the claims that it was an 11th century Norse site [Wallace. Norse Expansion into North America]

Sources and Links of Interest:

• Adam of Bremen.  Descriptio insularum aquilonis/ Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum [Jones, 1964:85; Vaughan, 326]
• Arenborg, et.al. "C-14 dating and the disappearance of Norsemen from Greenland" Europhysics News 33:3 (2002) (http://www.europhysicsnews.com/full/15/article1/article1.html)
• Carlson, I. Marc. Shoes in Greenland: A comparison to shoes and shoemaking on the Continent. Presented at 36th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan  6 May 2001 <http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/greenshoe/greenshoe.html>
• Dicuil, Liber de mensura orbis terrae
• Eiriks Saga Rauda (Eirik the Red's Saga)]
• Encyclopedia Britannica "Greenland"
• Graenlendinga Saga (Greenlander's Saga)
• Ingstad, Helge.  V�sterv�gen till Vinland : hur man fann vikingarnas boplaster i Nordamerika.  Stockholm: Forum, 1965
• Ingstad, National Geographic, 1960
• �slendingab�k
• Jones, A History of the Vikings
• Knives and Scabbards
• National Geographic, 1985 (Inuit Mummies)
• "Geographica" National Geographic, April 1993
• National Geographic, July 1985 (Basque whalers)
• N�rlund, Poul. Viking Settlers in Greenland
• N�rlund, Poul. "Buried Norsemen at Herjolfsnes: an archaeological and historical study." Meddelelser om Gronland: Udgivne af Kommissionen for ledelsen af de geologiske og geogrfiske undersogelser i Gronland. Bind LXVII. Kobenhavn: C.A. Reitzel,
  1924. 
• Norlund, Norse Ruins at Gardar
• Landnamabok
• Magnusson. The Vinland Sagas
• Audun's Story
• Paine, Myron. The Frozen Trail  (http://hometown.aol.com/frozntrl)
• Petersen, Rassmussen, Heinemeier, Rud.  "Clams before Columbus" Nature 359 (22 Oct. 1992) p.679
• Rousell, Aage. "Sandnes and the Neighboring Farms." Meddellelser om Gronland v.88 n.2 Kobenhavn: C.A. Reitzels Forlag, 1936.
• Saxo Grammaticus
• Story of Einar Sokkason
• Speculum Regale (Kings Mirror)
• Seaver, Kristen A.  The Frozen Echo: Greenland and the exploration of North America, ca. A.D. 1000-1500.  Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1996.
• Spalding, Timothy. Vinlanda: Vinland and the Vinland Map (http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/vinland/)
• Wallace. Norse Expansion into North America
• Wilson, Steve. Oklahoma's Treasures and Treasure Tales. Norman University of Oklahoma Press c1976.

This page was created by Marc Carlson.
It was last updated 18 June 2003