A review about The Vinland
Millenium
from Morgunblađiđ 27.11.97 by Erlendur Jónsson.
This book is interesting for a number of
reasons. The author works on of Eirík the Red's Saga, the Saga of the
Greenlanders, research both old and new, and finally on his own studies.
According to him, the old sources may contain wrong and distorted information.
But this does not mean that they are not to be trusted at all. He feels
that the stories of Viking travels to Wineland (the New World) are,
in principle, credible. Topographical features described in the New
World, as well as various other information derived from the medieval
seafarers, is largely consistent with what can be seen, or proved, today.
Although the seafarers who discovered and settled Wineland are heroes
of Icelandic history, world historians have not yet taken notice of
them.
What about their achievements? Some scholars cast considerable doubt
upon the historical value of the sagas. Is it likely that they saw America
at all? Yes, it is. On the contrary, it would have been strange if Norse
Vikings had never found the New World. But what of the claim that they
found grapes and "self-sown wheat"? Páll Bergţórsson answers such queries
clearly, and speculates about where grapes could have been found, and
also the "wheat," even though the cereal probably found by the settlers
was not strictly wheat. But the author explains that it would be natural
for them to call it wheat. The topographical descriptions in the saga
are also consistent with reality.
People wonder, naturally enough, what the climate was like in the northern
hemisphere in the saga age. Páll Bergţórsson believes that it was similar
to the best conditions of the 20th century, that is, during the warm
period of 1925 to 1965. Harsher periods in between were more like the
climate of the past few decades. The settlement of Iceland, he says,
could not have progressed so rapidly and easily as it did, had the climate
been as hars as, for instance, it was in the latter part of the 19th
century. Research on the east coast of Canada also indicates that vegetation
and climate there have changed little in the past thousand years.
Although the book is based upon a large body of research and work, the
another of this article feels that the most interesting aspect is Páll's
assessment and testing of the historical sources. It would be short-sighted
to suppose that those who wrote the sagas down thought of themselves
as authors. It would be more reasonable to say that they saw themselves
as historians. It is simplest to call them, simply storytellers.
In the nature of things, they had to base their written stories on oral
accounts, of variable reliability. Garbled oral traditions, confusion,
and misinterpretations by later copyists naturally weaken the historical
value of the sagas. Yet a variety of studies, including those promulgated
here by Páll Bergţórsson, go to prove, on the contrary, that the historical
sources are, on the whole, reliable.
The text of the book is supported by many maps, diagrams and photographs.
The original sagas, Eirík the Red's Saga and the Saga of the Greenlanders,
are printed at the back of the book. Inside and out, the book is a testament
to high standards.
Back to The Vinland Millenium
An excerpt from the book
Back to page with books about history and culture
of Iceland
