Editing Erik the Red

{{Short description|Norse explorer}}
{{About|the Viking}}
{{Norse name|Erik|male}}{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| image       = Eric the Red.png
| caption     = Erik the Red from [[Arngrímur Jónsson]]'s ''Grönlandia''. Note [[anachronistic]] details in his weapons and armor.
| birth_date  = {{circa|950}}
| birth_place = [[Jæren]], [[Kingdom of Norway (872–1397)|Norway]]
| death_date  = {{circa|1003}} (aged around 53)
| death_place = [[Greenland]]
| known_for   = Founded the first [[Norsemen|Norse]] [[colonization|settlement]] in [[Greenland]]
| occupation  = Settler, explorer
| nationality = [[Norsemen|Norse]]
| parents     = [[Thorvald Asvaldsson]] (father)
| children    = [[Freydís Eiríksdóttir|Freydís]], [[Leif Erikson]], [[Thorvald Eiriksson|Thorvald]] and [[Thorstein Eiriksson|Thorstein]]
| partner     = Þjódhild Jorundsdottir
}}

'''Erik Thorvaldsson'''{{efn|
* [[Old Norse]]:
** {{lang|non|Eiríkr Þórvaldsson}}
** {{lang|non|Eiríkr hinn rauði}}
* [[Modern Icelandic]]: {{lang|is|Eiríkur rauði Þorvaldsson}}
* [[Modern Norwegian]]: {{lang|no|Eirik Raude}}
}} ({{circa|950|1003}}), known as '''Erik the Red''', was a [[Viking|Norse]] [[explorer]], described in [[medieval]] and Icelandic [[saga]] sources as having founded the first European [[Colonization|settlement]] in [[Greenland]]. Erik most likely earned the [[epithet]] "the Red" due to the [[red hair|color]] of his hair and beard.<ref>''The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300–1850'', Basic Books, 2002, p. 10. {{ISBN|0-465-02272-3}}.</ref><ref>Cooper Edens: Sea Stories: A Classic Illustrated Edition, 2007, {{ISBN|9780811856348}}, p. 53</ref> According to [[Sagas of Icelanders|Icelandic sagas]], Erik was born in the [[Jæren]] district of [[Rogaland]], Norway, as the son of [[Thorvald Asvaldsson]]; to which Thorvald would later be banished from Norway, and would sail west to [[Iceland]] with Erik and his family.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Erik the Red – Ages of Exploration |url=http://exploration.marinersmuseum.org/subject/erik-the-red/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001121743/http://exploration.marinersmuseum.org/subject/erik-the-red/ |archive-date=1 October 2017 |access-date=2 June 2017 |website=exploration.marinersmuseum.org |language=en-US}}</ref> During Erik's life in Iceland, he married Þjódhild Jorundsdottir and would have four children, with one of Erik's sons being the well-known Icelandic explorer [[Leif Erikson]].<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Erik the Red|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erik-the-Red|website=Britannica|language=en-us|access-date=1 October 2020|archive-date=28 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028124620/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erik-the-Red|url-status=live}}</ref> Around the year of 982, Erik was exiled from Iceland for three years, during which time he explored Greenland, eventually culminating in his founding of the first successful European settlement on the island. Erik would later die there around 1003 [[Common Era|CE]] during a winter epidemic.<ref name=":5" />

{{Norse colonization of North America}}

==Personal life ==

===Early life===
Erik Thorvaldsson was born in [[Rogaland]], Norway in 950 CE, and was the son of Thorvald Asvaldsson (also spelled Osvaldsson).<ref name=":1" /> Thorvald would later be banished from Norway for committing acts of manslaughter.<ref name="saga">{{Cite news |last=Sephton |first=J. |date=1880 |title=Eiríks saga rauða |trans-title=Saga of Erik the Red |url=https://sagadb.org/eiriks_saga_rauda.en |access-date=22 November 2023 |website=Icelandic Saga Database |at=Chapter 2 |language=en}}</ref> Thorvald would then proceed to sail west from Norway with his family, including a 10-year-old Erik. Thorvald and his family would eventually settle in [[Hornstrandir]] in northwestern [[Iceland]], where Thorvald would eventually die sometime before 970 CE.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="Watson">{{cite journal|last=Watson|first=A.D.|date=August 1923|title=The Norse Discovery of America|journal=Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada|volume=17|page=260|url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1923JRASC..17..257W|bibcode=1923JRASC..17..257W|access-date=18 April 2020|archive-date=27 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027182636/http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1923JRASC..17..257W|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>"Grænlendinga Saga." The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1973. 47–105.</ref>

===Marriage and family===
After his father's death, Erik married Þjódhild Jorundsdottir and moved to Haukadalr (Hawksdale) where he built a farm called [[Eiríksstaðir]]; Þjódhild was the daughter of Jorundur Ulfsson and Þorbjorg Gilsdottir.<ref name="saga" /> Medieval Icelandic tradition relates that Erik and his wife Þjódhild had at least three children: three sons, the [[list of explorers|explorer]] [[Leif Erikson]], [[Þorvaldr Eiríksson|Thorvald]] and [[Þorsteinn Eiríksson|Thorstein]]. Sources differ on Erik's daughter, [[Freydís Eiríksdóttir|Freydís]], with ''The Saga of the Greenlanders'' describing her as a full sister to Leif, but ''The Saga of Erik the Red'' describing her as his half-sister.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |title=Grænlendinga saga |trans-title=Saga of the Greenlanders |url=https://sagadb.org/graenlendinga_saga.is |access-date=22 November 2023 |website=Icelandic Saga Database |at=Chapter 2 |language=is}}</ref><ref name=":6" /> Unlike his son Leif and his wife Þjóðhildur, who became Christians, Erik remained a follower of [[Norse paganism]]. While Erik's wife took heartily to Christianity, even commissioning Greenland's first church, Erik greatly disliked it and stuck to his Norse gods—which, the sagas relate, led Þjódhild to withhold intercourse from her husband.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|last=Kudeba |first=N. |date=19 April 2014 |title=5: Norse Explorers from Erik the Red to Leif Erikson – Canadian Explorers |work=The History of Canada |url=http://www.thehistoryofcanadapodcast.com/norse-explorers/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508030929/http://www.thehistoryofcanadapodcast.com/norse-explorers/ |archive-date=8 May 2014 }}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite news |last=Sephton |first=J. |date=1880 |title=Eiríks saga rauða |trans-title=Saga of Erik the Red |url=https://sagadb.org/eiriks_saga_rauda.en |access-date=22 November 2023 |website=Icelandic Saga Database |at=Chapter 5 |language=en}}</ref>

===Exile===
Similar to his father before him, Erik also found himself exiled for a time. The initial confrontation occurred when Erik's [[thrall]]s (slaves) caused a landslide on a neighboring farm belonging to a man named Valthjof, and Valthjof's kinsman, Eyjolf the Foul,{{efn|
* {{langx|non|Eyjólf'''r''' sau'''rr'''}}
* [[Modern Icelandic]]: {{lang|is|Eyjólf'''ur''' sau'''r'''}}
}} killed the thralls. In retaliation, Erik killed Eyjolf as well as Hrafn the Dueller (Holmgang-Hrafn).{{efn|
* {{langx|non|Hólmg'''ǫ'''ngu-Hrafn}}
* [[Modern Icelandic]]: {{lang|is|Hólmg'''ö'''ngu-Hrafn}}
}} Kinsmen of Eyjolf sought legal prosecution and Erik was later banished from Haukadale for killing Eyjolf the Foul around the year 982.<ref name="saga" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2004 |title=Eric the Red |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/explorers-travelers-and-conquerors-biographies/eric-red#3404702026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028191816/https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/explorers-travelers-and-conquerors-biographies/eric-red |archive-date=28 October 2019 |access-date=8 November 2012 |website=Encyclopedia of World Bibliography}}</ref>

Erik then moved to Brokey and Öxney (Eyxney) island on Breiðafjörður in west Iceland.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.carsiceland.com/post/erik-the-red-iceland-route|title=Travel in the Footsteps of Erik the Red in Iceland|website=www.carsiceland.com|date=31 March 2022|access-date=1 May 2022|archive-date=25 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525141701/https://www.carsiceland.com/post/erik-the-red-iceland-route|url-status=live}}</ref> Erik asked a man named Thorgest to keep his ''setstokkr''—inherited ornamented pillars of significant mystical value—which his father had brought from Norway.<ref>{{cite web |title=Full text of "The discovery of America by the Northmen |url=https://archive.org/stream/discoveryameric00beamgoog/discoveryameric00beamgoog_djvu.txt |access-date=11 October 2011 |website=archive.org}}</ref> When Erik had finished building his new home, he went back to retrieve his pillars from Thorgest; however, Thorgest refused to return them to Erik, and so Erik then went to Breidabolstadr and took the pillars back. As a result, Thorgest and his men gave chase, and in the ensuing fight Erik slew both of Thorgest's sons as well as "some other men".<ref name="saga" /> After this conflict both Erik and Thorgest kept close a large number of allies.   <blockquote>

Styr gave assistance to Eirik, as also did Eyjolf, of Sviney, Thorbjorn Vifilsson, and the sons of Thorbrand, of Alptafjordr (Swanfirth). But the sons of Thord Gellir, as also Thorgeir, of Hitardalr (Hotdale), Aslak, of Langadalr (Longdale), and Illugi, his son, gave assistance to Thorgest.<ref name="saga" />  </blockquote>The dispute between Erik and Thorgest was later resolved at the Thorsnes [[Thing (assembly)|Thing]], where Erik and the men that sided with him were outlawed from Iceland for three years; many of these men would then join Erik on his expedition to Greenland.<ref name="saga" />

===Death===
Erik's son [[Leif Erikson]] became the first Norseman to explore the land of [[Vinland]]–part of North America, presumably near modern-day [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]]–and invited his father on the voyage. However, according to the sagas, Erik fell off his horse on the way to the ship and took this as a bad sign, leaving his son to continue without him.<ref name=":0" /> Erik later died in an epidemic that killed many of the colonists in the winter after his son's departure.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |title=Grænlendinga saga |trans-title=Saga of the Greenlanders |url=https://sagadb.org/graenlendinga_saga.is |access-date=22 November 2023 |website=Icelandic Saga Database |at=Chapter 4 |language=is}}</ref>

== Discoveries ==
[[File:Abraham Ortelius-Septentrionalium Regionum Descrip.jpg|thumb|Map of the northern region (including some fantasy islands) by [[Abraham Ortelius]], {{circa|1570}}.]]
[[File:I. E. C. Rasmussen - Sommernat under den Grønlandske Kyst circa Aar 1000.jpg|thumb|''Summer in the Greenland coast circa the year 1000'' <br>by [[Carl Rasmussen]] (1874).]]
It has been a common mistake for popular history to occasionally credit Erik as being the first European to discover Greenland, however, the Icelandic sagas suggest that earlier Norsemen discovered and attempted to settle it before him.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Greenland |url=https://visitgreenland.com/about-greenland/history/ |website=visitgreenland.com |publisher=Government of Greenland |access-date=16 January 2019 |archive-date=24 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190924101930/https://visitgreenland.com/about-greenland/history/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Tradition credits [[Gunnbjörn Ulfsson]] (also known as Gunnbjörn Ulf-Krakuson) with the first sighting of the land-mass. Nearly a century before Erik, strong winds had driven Gunnbjörn towards a set of islands between Iceland and Greenland, later named [[Gunnbjörn's skerries]] in his honor.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Oliver |first=Neil |title=The Vikings |publisher=Pegasus Books LLC |date=15 November 2014 |isbn=978-1-60598-483-4 |pages=212–213 |language=en }}</ref> However, the accidental nature of Gunnbjörn's discovery has led to his neglect in the history of Greenland. After Gunnbjörn, roughly eighty years later the outlaw [[Snæbjörn galti]] had also visited Greenland and attempted to settle there.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Landnámabók |url=https://www.snerpa.is/net/snorri/landnama.htm |access-date=14 April 2020 |archive-date=15 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515182047/http://www.snerpa.is/net/snorri/landnama.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> According to a saga that has now been lost to time, Galti headed the first Norse attempt to colonize Greenland, of which ended in failure for Galti and his party due to the many unforgiving hardships that they faced during the winter on the island.<ref name=":4" /> As a result of Galti's failed expedition, Erik the Red is widely credited to be the first known, and successful, permanent settler of Greenland.<ref name=":1" />

===Greenland===
During his exile, around 982, Erik sailed to a somewhat mysterious and little-known land that [[Snæbjörn galti|Snæbjörn galti Hólmsteinsson]] had unsuccessfully attempted to settle a few years before. Erik rounded the southern tip of the island, later known as [[Cape Farewell, Greenland|Cape Farewell]], and sailed up the western coast. Eventually, Erik reached a part of the coast that, for the most part, seemed ice-free and consequently had conditions—similar to those of Iceland—that promised growth and future prosperity.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OlxphYHf874C&q=Erik+Thorvaldsson%2C+ice-free+coast&pg=PA18|title=In the Hands of a Child: Project Pack Explorers of the World|publisher=In the Hands of a Child|language=en|access-date=2 October 2020|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423123102/https://books.google.com/books?id=OlxphYHf874C&q=Erik+Thorvaldsson%2C+ice-free+coast&pg=PA18|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the ''[[Saga of Erik the Red]]'', Erik spent his three years of exile exploring this land. The first winter Erik spent on the island of Eiriksey, the second winter he passed in Eiriksholmar (close to Hvarfsgnipa). In the final summer Erik explored as far north as Snaefell and into Hrafnsfjord.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="saga" />

When Erik returned to Iceland after his exile had expired, he is said to have brought with him stories of "Greenland". Erik purposefully gave the land a more appealing name than "Iceland" as "people would be attracted to go there if it had a favorable name", per Erik's own words.<ref name="sagab">"The Saga of Eric the Red, in the Icelandic Sagas",  p. 17.  Olson, Julius E. and Edward G. Bourne (editors). ''The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985–1503: The voyages of the Northmen; The Voyages of Columbus and of John Cabot''.  (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1906).  pp. 14–44. [http://www.americanjourneys.org/aj-056/index.asp Online facsimile edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220015143/http://www.americanjourneys.org/aj-056/index.asp |date=20 February 2009 }}. Accessed 8 February 2008</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |title=Grænlendinga saga |trans-title=Saga of the Greenlanders |url=https://sagadb.org/graenlendinga_saga.is |access-date=22 November 2023 |website=Icelandic Saga Database |at=Chapter 1 |language=is}}</ref> Erik knew that the success of any settlement in Greenland would need the support of as many people as possible.

Erik's salesmanship of Greenland proved successful as after spending the winter in Iceland, Erik returned to Greenland in the summer of 985 with a large number of colonists. However, out of 25 ships that left for Greenland, only 14 arrived, some of the other 11 having turned back, but others likely lost.<ref name=":2" /><ref>Farley Mowat, ''Westviking: The Ancient Norse in Greenland and North America'' (1965) {{ISBN|978-0771066924}}{{page needed|date=September 2021}}
</ref> The Icelanders established two colonies on the southwest coast: the [[Eastern Settlement]] or Eystribyggð, in what is now [[Qaqortoq]], and the [[Western Settlement]], close to present-day [[Nuuk]]. Eventually, a [[Ivittuut|Middle Settlement]] grew, but many suggest it formed part of the Western Settlement. The Eastern and Western Settlements, both established on the southwest coast, proved the only two areas suitable for farming. During the summers, when the weather was more favorable to travel, each settlement would send an army of men to hunt in [[Disko Bay]] above the [[Arctic Circle]] for food and other valuable commodities such as seals (used for rope), [[ivory]] from [[walrus]] tusks, and [[Cetacean stranding|beached whales]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Delgado|first=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xip6x68efLoC&q=Erik+Thorvaldsson%2C+summers+hunting+disko+bay&pg=PA16|title=Across the Top of the World: The Quest for the Northwest Passage|date=2009|publisher=D & M Publishers|isbn=978-1-926706-53-5|language=en|access-date=2 October 2020|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423123231/https://books.google.com/books?id=xip6x68efLoC&q=Erik+Thorvaldsson%2C+summers+hunting+disko+bay&pg=PA16|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Brattachurch.jpg|thumb|21st-century reproduction of Þjódhild's church, with [[Tunulliarfik Fjord|Eriksfjord]] in the background. Located in [[Qassiarsuk]], Greenland.]]

==== Eastern Settlement ====
{{Main|Eastern Settlement}}

In the Eastern Settlement, Erik built the [[Estate (house)|estate]] of [[Brattahlíð]], near present-day [[Narsarsuaq]], in what is known today as [[Qassiarsuk]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Topas |date=2 October 2020 |title=Erik the Red's Land - The Norse in South Greenland |url=https://www.greenlandbytopas.com/erik-the-reds-land-the-norse-in-south-greenland/ |access-date=12 April 2024 |website=www.greenlandbytopas.com |language=en}}</ref> Erik held the title of [[paramount chieftain]] of Greenland and became both greatly respected and wealthy.

The settlement flourished, growing to 5,000 inhabitants spread over a considerable area along [[Tunulliarfik Fjord|Eriksfjord]] and neighboring [[fjord]]s. Groups of [[immigrant]]s escaping overcrowding in Iceland joined the original party. However, one group of immigrants which arrived in 1002 brought with it an [[epidemic]] that ravaged the colony, killing many of its leading citizens, including Erik himself.<ref>Marc Carlson, [http://idrisi.narod.ru/mcarlson.htm History of Medieval Greenland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416210928/http://idrisi.narod.ru/mcarlson.htm |date=16 April 2015 }}, 31 July 2001. Retrieved 1 August 2007.</ref> Nevertheless, the colony rebounded and survived until the [[Little Ice Age]] made the land marginal for European life-styles in the 15th century–shortly before [[Christopher Columbus]]'s first [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus|voyage to the Americas]] in 1492. [[Pirate]] raids, conflict with [[Inuit]] moving into the Norse territories, and the colony's abandonment by Norway became other factors in its decline.<ref>Dale Mackenzie Brown, "[http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/greenland/ The Fate of Greenland's Vikings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104204345/http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/greenland/|date=4 November 2012}}," ''Archeology'', 28 February 2000. Retrieved 1 August 2007.</ref>

== Comparisons to Greenland saga ==
[[File:Page de garde saga d'Erik Rauda 01.jpg|thumb|First page of the [[Saga of Erik the Red]], written by an Icelandic Cleric, 13th century.]]
There are numerous parallels between the Saga of Erik the Red and the Greenland saga, including recurring characters and recountings of the same expeditions, though with a few notable differences. The saga of Erik the Red portrays a number of the expeditions in the Greenland saga as just one expedition led by [[Thorfinn Karlsefni]], although Erik's son Thorvald, his daughter Freydís and Karlsefni's wife Gudrid play key roles in the retelling.<ref>Smiley, Jane. ''The Sagas of the Icelanders''. New York: Penguin Group, 2000. 653–74.{{ISBN?}}</ref> Another notable difference is the location of their settlements. According to the Grœnlendinga saga, Karlsefni and the others settled in a place that is referred to only as Vinland, while in Erik the Red's saga they formed two base settlements: Straumfjǫrðr where they spent the winter and the following spring, and Hop where they later settled but ran into problems with the natives they called [[Skræling]]s, as depicted in the Greenland saga.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} The two accounts are largely similar otherwise, both with heavy emphasis on the exploits of [[Thorfinn Karlsefni]] and his wife Gudrid.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Nuttall poster|Eric the Red}}
* {{cite DCB |first=T. J. |last=Oleson |title=Eirikr Thorvaldsson |volume=1 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/eirikr_thorvaldsson_1E.html}}
* [http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/greenland/ "The Fate of Greenland's Vikings"]
* {{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Eric the Red|year=1900 |short=x |notaref=x}}
{{Polar exploration|state=collapsed}}
{{Viking}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:950s births]]
[[Category:1000s deaths]]
[[Category:10th-century explorers]]
[[Category:10th-century Icelandic people]]
[[Category:11th-century Icelandic people]]
[[Category:Norwegian exiles]]
[[Category:Germanic pagans]]
[[Category:Icelandic explorers]]
[[Category:Icelandic people of Norwegian descent]]
[[Category:Norse settlements in Greenland]]
[[Category:Norwegian emigrants to Greenland]]
[[Category:Norwegian explorers]]
[[Category:Norwegian sailors]]
[[Category:Scandinavian explorers of North America]]
[[Category:Viking warriors]]
[[Category:10th-century Vikings]]
[[Category:Settlers]]