1. The Viking Saga to 1400

From Canadian History Portal - HCO

B. Early European Explorers →→ 1. The Viking Saga to 1400 → 2. European Exploration and Colonies 1400-1650 → 3. English Trading Companies 1658-1750 →
→ 4. Newfoundland Settlement and Conflict →→ C. New France

The schoolyard ditty that begins "in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue" seems to suggest that Columbus "discovered" America. (It should be noted that aboriginals resent the use of the word "discover" applied to North America. They contend that something that is inhabited cannot be "discovered.") For more than four centuries, Christopher Columbus was revered as the intrepid explorer who first went where no man went before.

"Contact is a more exact term than "discovery". More recently, historians and anthropologists have revised the Columbus story, focusing on the contact between two cultures, criticizing the Spaniards for the racism, genocide, and disease that they brought with them to the New World. In addition, the claims that Columbus was "first" are simply untrue. We now know that Vikings from Scandinavia preceded him by more than four centuries. Furthermore, there is some evidence to support the notion that other explorers may have visited even before the Norse.

The Legend of St. Brendan

A little known Irish monk, named St. Brendan, made a seven-year voyage over the North Atlantic Ocean between 565 CE and 572 CE. Compiling a record of his travels with his band of fellow monks in "Voyage of St. Brendan the Abbott," he told of ice flows and whales remarkably similar to those found off the coast of Newfoundland. Certainly, in their small ox-hide boats, the Irish could have "discovered" America. Irrefutable archaeological evidence places them on Iceland. However, as yet, there is no definitive proof for them having reached further west to the mainland of North America.

Saint Brendan Holding Mass on a Whale

According to the ninth century Voyage of St Brendan the Navigator, an Irish monk named Brendan made a seven-year voyage over the North Atlantic Ocean around 530 with sixty pilgrims, searching for the Garden of Eden.

In the account, the 70-year old Saint is supposed to have seen a blessed island covered with vegetation; convinced that he had seen Paradise, he returned to Ireland with fruit and precious stones, and founded a monastery at Clonfert, Galway.

Saint Brendan Holding Mass on a Whale

In the Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis, Brendan mentions that the party were “pelted with flaming, foul smelling rocks by the inhabitants of a large island on their route” - likely from the Iceland volcanoes. He also tells of ice bergs (“crystals that rose up to the sky”) and friendly whales similar to those found off the coast of Newfoundland, that played around the boat and lifted it with their backs. They finally arrived at the beautiful land they called “Promised Land of the Saints.” They explored until they came to a great river that divided the land.

Certainly, in their small curraghs or ox-hide boats, the Irish could have "discovered" America. The Norse sagas suggest that Irish monks were even in Iceland when the Norse settled there after about 870 CE (though no archaeological evidence has yet confirmed this). Brendan also encountered a sea monster, an adventure he shared with his contemporary St Columba.

Maps of Christopher Columbus’s time often included an island called St. Brendan’s Isle that was placed in the western Atlantic ocean. Columbus himself relied on the legends told of St Brendan as part of his argument that it was indeed possible to travel to Asia by crossing the Atlantic.

Cover of Tim Severin's Account

As yet here is no definitive proof for the Irish monks reaching west to North America, but the case can be made. During the fifth and sixth centuries CE, preserving Christian civilization in Northern Europe after the decline and collapse of the Roman Empire, they ventured out into the North Atlantic on pilgrimages, and reached the Hebrides, Orkneys, and Faeroe Islands.

To prove Brendan's "Promised Land of the Saints" could have been Newfoundland, adventurer Tim Severin demonstrated that such a voyage was possible by building the Brendan, a replica of a curragh, and sailing it to Newfoundland in 1976 and 1977.

After stopping at the Hebrides islands Severin proceeded to the Danish Faroe Islands. At the island of Mykines, they encountered thousands of seabirds. Brendan called this island “The Paradise of Birds.” He referred to the larger island as the “Island of Sheep.” The word Faroe itself means Island of Sheep. There is also a Brandon Creek on the main island of the Faroes, that the local people believe was the embarkation point for Brendan and his crew.

Severin’s route carried them to Iceland where they wintered, as did Brendan, and landed on the island of Newfoundland on June 26, 1977. His journey did not prove that Brendan and his monks landed on North America. But it did prove that a leather currach as described in the Navigatio could have made such a voyage as mapped out in the text.

The Innu Discovery of Europe?

Exploration can be a two way street. A party of Beothuk from Newfoundland may have been the first native North Americans to reach Europe. There is an 1153 AD medieval legend from Lubeck, Germany telling the story of the arrival in Europe of a canoe with Indians from the coast of "Baccalaos - the Basque word for codfish - which was on the same latitude as Germany. Other accounts suggest these aboriginals were rescued from a canoe drifting in the Atlantic Ocean.

Chinese Mariners

Perhaps contact first came from another direction. The ancient Chinese geographical text, Shan Hai Ching T'sang-chu, and the classic chronicle Shan Hai Jing, suggest that the West coast of North America was "discovered" by Chinese Imperial astronomers. These texts both hold evidence that the two Chinese Imperial astronomers, Hsi and Ho, may have been the first known explorers of America in 2,640 BC. Emperor Huang Ti ordered Hsi and Ho to make astronomical observation in the land of Fu Sang to the east of China. Some historians suggest they may have sailed north to the Bering Strait, then south along the North American coastline. For a while they lived with the Pueblo Indians who lived close to the Grand Canyon, before returning to China. Their astronomical and geographic observations and discoveries were well received at the Imperial Palace, but the Emperor later executed them for failing to accurately predict a partial solar eclipse.

Other records place the Asian contact only 1500 years ago, with the journey of Hussein, an Afgan priest, and four Buddhist monks to British Columbia in a junk. In the Liang Shu and in Volume 231 of the Great Chinese Encyclopedia compiled by Ma Tuan-Lin, it says that "Hui-Shen and four Buddhist priests from Kabul, sailed from China to Alaska or BC in a junk in the year of Everlasting Origin - 459 AD. Hui-Shen's party appears to have traveled on foot down the coast to a country he called Fu-Sang, where they saw smoking mountains (volcanoes) and tried to convert the Aztecs to Buddhism, allegedly naming Guatemala in honor of Gautama Buddha. Hui Shen returned to China 44 years later, and reported his adventures to Lord Yu Kie and Emperor Wu in the year 502 AD.

The Henry Sinclair Voyage

Back on the Atlantic coast, Micmac legend also speaks of bearded visitors with red hair and green eyes who showed them how to fish with nets. Some Scots claim that mariner Henry Sinclair, sailing with 12 ships and 300 men, landed in Guysborough, Nova Scotia on June 12, 1398. The Sinclair Society claims that Sinclair's logs in Venice record this trip to Nova Scotia. Born at Rosslyn Castle near Edinburgh in 1345, Henry Sinclair became Earl of Rosslyn and the surrounding lands as well as Prince of Orkney, Duke of Oldenburg (Denmark), and Premier Earl of Norway. Some say he or a member of his crew lived among the Micmacs of Nova Scotia long enough to be remembered in legend as the man-god Glooscap.

Sinclair Legend and Lore

The Sinclair Society in Nova Scotia and various fans of the Knights Templar \ Holy Grail story propose the following historical scenario:

In 1393, Henry Sinclair, Prince of the Orkney Islands, sent a Venetian admiral, Nicolo Zeno, to carry out a survey of Greenland, in preparation for their journey to the New World. Before embarking on what was considered a risky endeavor, Sinclair made provisions for transferring some of his lands to his brothers and eldest daughter. He then took to the sea with 12 vessels, Zeno navigating, and 200-300 fellow voyagers, made up of monks and fugitive Templars. He landed in Cape Breton on June 2, 1398, and Guysborough, Nova Scotia on June 12, 1398.

The Sinclair Society claims that Sinclair's logs in Venice record such a trip.

Born at Rosslyn Castle near Edinburgh in 1345, Henry Sinclair became Earl of Rosslyn and the surrounding lands as well as Prince of Orkney, Duke of Oldenburg (Denmark), and Premier Earl of Norway.

The Zeno Narrative reads:

Statue of Prince Henry at the Noss Head Sinclair Study Centre, Caithness, Scotland

Sinclair departs from Iceland - "Sinclair, seeing he could do nothing, and that if we were to persevere in this attempt, the fleet would fall short of provisions, took his departure with a fair wind and sailed 6 days to the westwards; but the winds afterwards shifting to the southwest, and the sea becoming rough, we sailed 4 days with the wind aft and finally sighted land."

"As the sea ran high and we did not know what country it was, we were afraid at first to approach it, but by God's blessing the wind lulled, and then there came on a great calm. Some of the crew pulled ashore and soon returned with great joy with news that they found an excellent country and a still better harbour."

"After eight days the 100 soldiers returned, and brought work that they had been through the island and up to the hill, and that the smoke was a natural thing proceeding from a great fire in the bottom of the hill, and that there was a spring from which issued a certain substance like pitch, which ran into the sea, and that thereabouts dwelt a great many people half wild, and living in caves. They were of small stature and very timid. They reported also there was a large river, and a very good and safe harbor."

The Mi'qmaq Connection

Some say Sinclair or a member of his crew lived among the Micmacs long enough to be remembered in legend as the man-god Glooscap. Micmac legend speaks of bearded visitors with red hair and green eyes who showed them how to fish with nets.

Science fiction writer Frederick Pohl, in Prince Henry Sinclair, also identifies Gooscap as Henry Sinclair. Pohl has a list of 17 specific similarities between Glooscap and Sinclair, including the fact that they each had three daughters. In memory of Sinclair's parting, the Micmacs traditionally chanted: "Nemajeeck, Numeedich." This is similar to an old Norse sea-chantey sung when weighing anchor: "Nu mo jag, nu mo deg."

The Templar Connection

Some Holy Grail fans feel Sinclair was connected with the Templars, and was bringing the Holy Family to Canada. His ancestor and namesake, Henri de Saint-Clair fought beside Godfroi de Bouillon at the taking of Jerusalem. Several Saint-Clairs became Templars themselves. Many Templars fled to Scotland, after the dissolution of 1312, and some found refuge among the Saint-Clairs of Rosslyn in Midlothian. There is a Templar cemetery there.

The chapel at Rosslyn - built between 1446 and 1486 - has long been associated with both Freemasonry and the Rose-Croix. Grail Seeker Trevor Ravenscroft claimed in 1962 that he had finished a twenty year quest in search of the Grail at Rosslyn chapel.....His claim was that the Grail was inside the Prentice Pillar (as it is known) in this chapel.

According to Michael Bradley, Holy Grail Across the Atlantic:
"Burning pitch deposits at Stellarton [Nova Scotia] behind Mt. Adams were responsible for the 'burning hill' Sinclair's explorers first thought they saw. The description confirms Cape Caruso as the area of landfall on June 2, 1398."

The Oak Island Connection

According to a Micmac Legend, "Glooscap built himself an island, planted trees on it, and sailed away in his stone canoe."

Templar fans speculate that Sinclair was on a mission to move the Templar's treasure to safer ground. Some suggest Oak Island's "money pit" may hold the Templar's lost treasure, buried for safekeeping by Henry Sinclair and his shipmates 600 years ago.

Fans say Zeno's Narrative in Venice documents the exploration of Nova Scotia during the next year. The explorers supposedly traveled to Cape D'Or and Advocate and built a ship there. There is evidence that they erected a small castle in New Ross, near Oak Island.

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The Sagas of the Norse Seafarers

While immensely interesting, this is all speculation and legend. Our only conclusive evidence points to the Vikings as being the first non-indigenous people to come to the North American continent. The proof is to be found in Norse (or Viking) sagas and most importantly, in archeological discoveries at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. ("Norse" refers to the entire race and culture, while "Viking" is simply used to denote the raiders in their long ships.)

Viking Myth

The Vikings are commonly seen in a stereotypic image as large, powerful, bearded men clad in fur suits and horned helmets, and carrying imposing shields, fearlessly sailing and marauding the North Atlantic Ocean. However, records show they were a far more complex and interesting people.

Viking Reality

The Vikings were Scandinavians, mostly Norwegian, who traded and explored over a wide area. From the eighth through the tenth century, their raiding and prowling became the stuff of legends. From their homeland in Scandinavia, they traded amber as far as Russia in the east and the Mediterranean Sea in the south. However, it is their colonizing journeys westward that are the most relevant to Canadian history.

In a series of island hoppings, the Norse reached Iceland by 860 CE. They displaced the native Celts, and founded their own Norse colony. Within a hundred years, Iceland had attracted an estimated population of 30 000, and grazing land became scarce. Erik Thorvaldsson, better known as Erik the Red, decided to venture westward, and he founded a new Norse colony on Greenland in 980, during a period of global warming. His son, Leif, was also a venturer, and was fired by reports of unknown lands farther west from the crew of a supply ship that had been blown off course.

Norse Leaving for Greenland

RESOURCE: Read the Saga of Eric the Red (c1000AD)

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Voyages of the Eriksons

Erikson Sights the New World

Sailing westward around d 1000 CE, Leif and his crew made landfall on the barren and wind-swept coast of Baffin Island or Northern Labrador, which they named "Helluland (Land of Flat Stones). Turning southward, they continued on to the dense woods of Labrador or the island of Newfoundland, which they named "Markland" (Land of Woods).

Viking Discoveries

Again continuing south, the Norsemen encountered a much richer land where wheat grew wild and salmon swam in the streams. This was likely the eastern shore of Newfoundland, or even Cape Breton or Nova Scotia. Leif decided to cut some of the stands of timber, a very valuable commodity in Greenland, and traveled home, never to return to the land of his discovery.

Erikson Lands in Newfoundland

Leif's brother, Thorvald, along with thirty men, took up the challenge. They wintered in Newfoundland in search of more suitable sites for a permanent colony. Thorvald was the first known European to encounter the aboriginal people of North America. They were the ancestors of the Innu or Dorset they knew from Greenland, or perhaps Beothuk. The Vikings called the people they met "skraelings", meaning "small", "barbarian", or "withered" people.

Greenland Skraelings

According to Norse saga, the very first meeting with the Skraelings was not an auspicious one. While exploring the north shore of Labrador, the Norsemen came upon nine aboriginals sleeping under their boats. The Vikings attacked, killing all but one of them. The aboriginals returned with a full force and attacked the invaders, killing Thorvald in the process.

Battle with the Skraelings

The Vikings launched three other voyages over the next decade, one by another son of Erik the Red, one by his daughter, Freydis, and the major one led by Thorfinn Karlsefni.

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L'Anse aux Meadows

Journeying in 1008 CE with 160 men, assorted livestock, and supplies, Karlsefni reached the coast of Newfoundland, and selected L'Anse aux Meadows in Epaves Bay as the optimal site. The Norse built a permanent settlement, and stayed there for three years. During this time, Snorri, Karlsefni's son was born, the first European child born in North America. They explored inland, and traded with the aboriginal people. However, the relations between the two peoples were strained and confusing, often breaking out in violence.

Anse aux Meadows Reconstructed

The isolation, distance, harsh conditions, bad weather, and constant atacks from the aboriginal people, forced the Norse to abandon their settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows. It was their last attempt at maintaining a permanent settlement. They did, however, make occasional journeys to the new land, trading peaceably with the aboriginal peoples.

Norse civilization in the west and in Scandinavia declined under a period of global cooling called the "Little Ice Age", and they suffered military setbacks that diminished their power and influence. North America would be largely unknown, forgotten or ignored by Europe for the next several centuries.

Viking Ship Reconstructed

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A Mystery Map

There is a Latin map dated 1434 in the Yale University that most scholars think is real, but others regard as a forgery because of the presence of titanium in the ink.

Detail Showing "Vinlanda"

The text on the map reads, in part, "By God's will, after a long voyage from the island of Greenland to the south toward the most distant remaining parts of the western ocean sea, sailing southward amidst the ice, the companions Bjarni and Leif Eiriksson discovered a new land, extremely fertile and even having vines, ..." which island they named Vinland.

The map may have been connected with the Catholic Church's Council of Basel, convened between 1431 and 1449.