Narrative
The Saga of Erik the Red
Eiríks saga rauða
Anonymous · 1250
Opening lines
Óláfr hét herkonungr, er kallaðr var Óláfr hvíti.
There was a warrior king called Óláfr, who was known as Óláfr the White.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from heimskringla.no
Synopsis
Banished from Iceland for three years after a neighbourly quarrel and a series of killings, Eiríkr the Red sails westward, names Greenland in order to attract settlers, and settles there at Brattahlíð. His son Leifr, converted in Norway, is blown off course on the way back, discovers Vinland and preaches Christianity in Greenland. The narrative follows above all Guðríðr, widow of Þorsteinn, Eiríkr's son, and her new husband, the merchant Þorfinnr Karlsefni, who lead an expedition of settlers to Vinland, where they meet the Skrælingar.
Context
The saga was probably written in the thirteenth century and has come down to us in two versions derived from a common original: that of the Hauksbók, in the fourteenth century, which Haukr Erlendsson and his helpers seem to have polished, and that of the Skálholtsbók, in the fifteenth, a faithful but somewhat careless copy. Árni Magnússon wrote at the head of the Hauksbók text the title saga of Þorfinnr Karlsefni. It tells in part the same events as the Saga of the Greenlanders, which is held to be older, but attributes to Leifr the discovery of Vinland, which the other saga gives to Bjarni Herjólfsson; it is also distinguished by the place it gives to a woman.
Who it is for
A short prose narrative, readable without preparation; available in French in the translations by Régis Boyer.
Prizes and reception
Together with the other Vinland saga, the main source on Scandinavian exploration of North America.