03523cam a22003373u 4500 76383 UtSlPG 20260610134752.0 m cr n 260607r20251921utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d 21021363 UtSlPG en iso639-1 E011 Gathorne-Hardy, G. M. (Geoffrey Malcolm), 1878-1972 The Norse discoverers of America Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg, 2025 1 online resource : multiple file formats text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier Sources are primarily Eiríks saga rauða (also known as Þorfinns saga Karlsefnis ok Snorra Þorbrandssonar) and Grænlendinga saga. Release date is 2025-06-26 Charlene Taylor, Robert Tonsing, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) "The Norse discoverers of America : the Wineland sagas translated & discussed" by G. M. Gathorne-Hardy is a scholarly historical study and translation written in the early 20th century. It presents the Vinland sagas in English with commentary, weighing their credibility and geography to argue where Norse explorers likely landed in North America. The focus is on Eric the Red’s family, Leif Erikson, and Thorfinn Karlsefni, using chronologies, genealogies, and notes to orient general readers while engaging scholarly debates. The opening of the work explains its wartime delay, surveys recent scholarship, and sets a clear purpose: to offer literal, modern-language translations of the sagas and a reasoned discussion of their historical value, avoiding romanticized “saga” diction. It outlines the sources (primarily the Saga of Eric the Red, Hauk’s Book, and the Flatey Book), the decision to weave them into a single coherent narrative, and provides a chronological and genealogical framework. The translated story then begins: Eric the Red, outlawed in Iceland, explores and settles Greenland; Bjarni Herjulfson, seeking his father, is blown off course and sights unknown wooded lands; Gudrid’s lineage and her famed encounter with a sibyl are introduced; Leif voyages to Norway, accepts King Olaf Tryggvason’s mission to spread Christianity, then deliberately sails west, naming Helluland, Markland, and Wineland, and rescues shipwrecked sailors on his return. Thorvald explores further, names Keelness, and dies from a skirmish, while Thorstein’s attempt fails, ending with his death and a prophecy over Gudrid’s future. Karlsefni arrives, marries Gudrid, and leads a larger expedition that passes Helluland and Markland to Straumsfjord and Hóp, finds wild wheat and grapes, trades red cloth with Skraelings, then clashes with them—highlighted by Freydis’s fierce defiance—before deciding the land’s promise is outweighed by constant danger. The excerpt closes as they withdraw north toward Straumsfjord, with hints of differing outcomes for the split parties. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Originally published: Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1921 America -- Discovery and exploration -- Norse https://archive.org/details/norsediscoverers00gathrich/page/n7/mode/2up https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76383 117108 117108