Thorfinn

“ Thorkel left the islands suddenly, and went to Ness (Caithness) . He told Earl Thorfinn that he had become aware that Earl Einar had intended to kill him, if his relatives and friends had not given him warning. “And now,” he added, “I will avoid the risk of having such a meeting with the Earl as shall bring matters to a crisis between us, and I will go farther away, where his power does not reach me.”
Thorfinn persuaded him to go to King Olaf, in Norway, and spend the winter with him in great friendship; “for you will,” he said, “be highly esteemed wherever you come among noble men ”

“ EARL THORFINN SUBDUES THE ISLANDS. Now it is to be told of Earl Thorfinn that on the morning after the battle he sent boats to all the islands to search for the fugitives. Many were killed, and some were pardoned. Earl Thorfinn subdued all the Islands, and made all the inhabitants his subjects, even those who had sworn allegiance to Earl Rögnvald. Thorfinn then fixed his residence in the Orkneys, keeping a great number of men about him; he imported provisions from Caithness, and sent Kálf Arnason to the Sudreyar (Hebrides) , and ordered him to remain and maintain his authority there. ”

“ After Thorfinn and Biarni had sailed for many days they landed on a low, green place. There were hills around it. A little lake was there.
"What is growing on those hillsides?" Thorfinn said, shading his eyes with his hand.
He and some others ran up there. The people on shore heard them shout. Soon they came running back with their hands full of something.
"Grapes! Grapes!" they were shouting. [183]
All those people sat down and ate the grapes and then went to the hillside and picked more.
"Now we are indeed in Wineland," they said. "It is as wonderful as Leif's stories. ”

“ Of the Wineland Voyages of Thorfinn and his Companions.—That same summer a ship came from Norway to Greenland. The skipper’s name was Thorfinn Karlsefni; he was a son of Thord Horsehead, and a grandson of Snorri, the son of Thord of Höfdi. Thorfinn Karlsefni, who was a very wealthy man, passed the winter at Brattahlid with Leif Ericsson. He very soon set his heart upon Gudrid, and sought her hand in marriage; she referred him to Leif for her answer, and was subsequently betrothed to him, and their marriage was celebrated that same winter. ”

“ Then one summer day a little son was born to Thorfinn and Gudrid. They called him Snorri, and he was the first white child to be born on the Continent which later men called the New World. Thus three years went past. But the days were not all peaceful. For quarrels arose between the newcomers and the natives, and the savages attacked the Norsemen and killed many of them.
Then Thorfinn said he would no longer stay in Vineland, but would return to Greenland. So he and all his company made ready their ship, and sailed out upon the seas, and came at length safely to Greenland. ”

“ OF THE FAMOUS DEEDS OF EARL THORFINN. Earl Thorfinn made himself famous in the Orkneys by entertaining his own men and many other men of note throughout the winter, so that no one had to go to inns—providing food and drink at his own charges, in the same manner as chiefs in other countries, Kings, and Earls entertain their henchmen and guests at Christmas time. About this time Earl Brúsi died, and Earl Thorfinn took possession of all the islands. But of Rögnvald, Brúsi’s son, it is said that he was in the battle of Stiklestad [257] when King Olaf was killed. ”

“ MESSENGER. You are stronger than I thought, Thorfinn. For your daughter's sake you shall have a chance to fall like a hero and not as a felon. Make ready for open conflict—out on the field. [Goes out.]
THORFINN [to Valgerd] . Out on you, cowardly, faithless woman, to guard my treasure so ill! To make my child mine enemy.
GUNLÖD. O, my father, am I your enemy?
THORFINN. You are a Christian; but it is not too late yet. Will you deny the white Christ?
GUNLÖD. Never! But I will follow you to death.
VALGERD. Thorfinn, you call me cowardly. ”

“ Thorfinn next claimed two trithings of Orkney from his nephew Ragnvald, who demurred to giving up what the Norse king had conferred on him, but, finding he could not cope with Thorfinn's Orkney, Caithness and Scottish forces, Ragnvald fled to King Magnus, who gave him a force of picked men, and bade Kalf Arnason also to help him, although Kalf was Thorfinn's friend, and near connection by marriage. ”

“ It signifies liberty, it signifies every thing that ennobles man. [Applause.] We find in the recent discoveries concerning his ancestors, that they came over in a ship, but that his ancestors’ name was Thorfinn. Well, Thorfinn is a Norwegian name, and it is not very easy to see how Thorfinn could be changed to Washington. But we see every day that strangers come here, and after some little time they change their names to some other taken from the new surroundings. We see it in Norway, often, that a man who has taken a new farm takes his name, not from the ancient farm but the new farm. ”

“ Thorfinn broke down part of the wall of the house and leapt out, carrying his wife Ingibiorg in his arms, and escaped through the smoke. Rögnvald, believing that xxxiiThorfinn had perished, took possession of the Islands. Thorfinn, who had got secretly over to his dominions in Caithness, returned shortly afterwards, and surprising Rögnvald in a house on Papa Stronsay, burnt the house and all who were in it, except Rögnvald, who sprang over the heads of the men who surrounded him, and got away in the darkness. ”

“ THORFINN. Woman cannot think.
ORM. No, not with her head, but with her heart. That's why she has a smaller head but a bigger breast than we.
THORFINN. Forebodings of evil torture me.
ORM. Poor Thorfinn.
THORFINN. My child! Orm! When she comes do you bid her drink from the horn to Asa-Odin.
ORM. The fox scents against, the wind. I understand.
THORFINN. Be ready—they come.
ORM. Be not hard with the child, Thorfinn, or you will have me to reckon with.
[Valgerd and Gunlöd enter. The latter heavy with sleepiness.]
GUNLÖD. Welcome home, father.
THORFINN. Do you speak truthfully? ”

“ While they were in Vinland, Thorfinn and his companions had many battles with the natives, or Skraellings, and once Freydis, being with them, fought fiercely, killing many natives with her own hand. After spending three years in Vinland, Thorfinn and Gudrid went to Iceland, and remained there the rest of their lives, and the little boy, Snorri, lived and grew to manhood, and among his descendants was the great Danish sculptor, Thorwaldsen. ”

“ Then he called Earl Thorfinn’s messengers, and told them that he had received that portion of the Islands which they claimed as a fief from King Magnus, and that the King called it his patrimony. “It was therefore,” he said, “in the power of King Magnus to decide which of them should have it; and he would not give it up if the King wished him to retain it.”
The messengers went away, and told these words to Earl Thorfinn, adding that the third portion [which he had demanded] would certainly not be got without trouble. ”

“ Thorfinn Karlsefne was his son, whose mother's name was Thoruna. Thorfinn occupied his time in merchant voyages, and was thought a good trader. One summer he fitted out his ship for a voyage to Greenland, attended by Snorre Thorbrandson of Alptafiord, and a crew of forty men. There was a man named Biarne Grimolfson of Breidafiord, and another named Thorhall Gamlason of Austfiord. The men fitted out a ship at the same time, to voyage to Greenland. They also had a crew of forty men. ”

“ Every day some men rowed out to sea and fished. There was an island in the bay where thousands of birds had their nests. The men gathered eggs here. [182]
"We have more to eat than we had in Greenland or Iceland," Thorfinn said, "and need not work at all. It is all play."
Near the end of summer Thorfinn spoke to his comrades.
"Have we not seen everything here? Let us go to a new place. We have not yet found grapes."
Thorfinn and Biarni and all their men sailed south again. But some of Eric's men went off in their boat another way. ”

“ Thorfinn said. "No house could feed eighty men [178] so long and not feel it. I never knew so generous a host before. But I have flour and grain and mead in my boat. You are welcome to all of it. You have only to open the doors of your own storehouses. It is a little gift."
So Eric used those things, and there was never a merrier Yule feast than in his house that winter.
When Yule was over, Thorfinn said to Eric:
"Gudrid is a beautiful and wise woman. I wish to have her for my wife."
"You seem to be a man worthy of her," Eric said. ”

“ He afterwards became the founder of a great family in Iceland, which gave the island several of its first bishops. Thorfinn finally left Vinland because he found it difficult to sustain himself against the attacks of the natives. The next to undertake a voyage was a wicked woman named Freydis, a sister to Leif Ericson, who went to Vinland in 1011, where she lived for a time with her two ships, in the same places occupied by Leif and Thorfinn. Before she returned, she caused the crew of one ship to be cruelly murdered, assisting in the butchery with her own hands. ”

“ Thorkel Fóstri also came to Earl Thorfinn from the Orkneys with many men, and their united forces were somewhat more numerous than those of the Scots. When the Scots knew this they hesitated in their invasion, and returned to Scotland. Earl Thorfinn subdued Sutherland and Ross, and plundered far and wide in Scotland, and returned again to Caithness, and Thorkel went back to the Islands; their men also returned home. Earl Thorfinn stayed at Dungalsbæ, in Caithness, where he had five war-ships and followers numerous enough to man them. ”

“ In the days of Earl Thorfinn the sons of Eirik Blódöx 3arrived from Norway, when they had fled from Earl Hákon, and they did many deeds of violence in the islands. Earl Thorfinn died on a sickbed, and his sons, of whom there are extensive histories, succeeded him. Lödver survived his brothers, and ruled the land alone. His son was Earl Sigurd the Stout; he was a powerful man, and a great warrior.
In his days Olaf, Tryggvi’s son, returning from a viking expedition to the west, came to the Orkneys with his men, and seized Earl Sigurd in Rörvág, [234] as he lay there with a single ship. ”

“ Thorfinn's son Snorri was born this first autumn in the new world. Next spring nine of the party, headed by the chief malcontent Thorhall, Red Eric's huntsman, sailed off northward, intending to come to Vinland by rounding Keelness and thence working round west (and south) . Adverse weather drove them to Ireland, where they were enslaved. ”

“ In the summer of 1006, according to the narrative of the “settlement effected in Vinland by Thorfinn,” “there arrived in Greenland two ships from Iceland; the one was commanded by Thorfinn, having the very significant surname of Karlsefn (i.e. who promises, or is destined to be an able or great man) , a wealthy and powerful man, of illustrious lineage, and sprung from Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Irish and Scottish ancestors, some of whom were kings of royal descent. ”

“ When the fighting had thus continued for a while, the loss of men began to be heaviest on Earl Thorfinn’s side, the chief cause being the great difference in the height of the ships. Thorfinn himself had a large ship, well equipped, in which he pressed forward with great daring; but when the smaller vessels were cleared, the Earl’s ship was attacked from both sides, and they were placed in great danger. Many of the Earl’s men were killed, and others dangerously wounded. Then Earl Rögnvald commanded his men to leap on board ”

“ Forced to retire before his rival Thorfinn, Moddan found his uncle at Berwick, received fresh troops, and was again despatched towards Caithness, while the king himself sailed in the same direction, hoping to place Thorfinn between the two armies. A naval engagement in the Pentland Firth frustrated this plan, and drove Duncan southwards to Moray Firth. Meanwhile Moddan had occupied Caithness, and was now at Thurso, waiting reinforcements from Ireland, while Thorfinn had gone south in pursuit of Duncan, who was mustering a new army. ”

“ Soon after this Thorkel went south to Drontheim, and met there Earl Svein. Grettir went south to Mere after the slaying of Biorn, and found his friend Thorfinn, and told him what had befallen. Thorfinn gave him good welcome, and said—
"It is well now that thou art in need of a friend; with me shalt thou abide until these matters have come to an end." ”

“ Thorfinn on his return presents him with the short-sword and becomes his fast friend. He has plenty of opportunity: for Grettir, as usual, neither entirely by his own fault nor entirely without it, owing to his sulky temper and sour tongue, successively slays three brothers, being in the last instance saved only with the greatest difficulty by Thorfinn, his own half-brother Thorstein Dromond, and others, from the wrath of Swein, Jarl of the district. So that by the time when he can return to [Pg 354] Iceland, he has made Norway too hot to hold him ”

“ Theodosius the younger becomes Emperor, i. 104104. Thorfinn ‘the Skull-cleaver,’ son of Einar, Norwegian earl of Orkney,—his wife Grelauga and their sons, i. 374-5374-5. Thorfinn, son of Sigurd the Stout, by the daughter of Malcolm II., i. 386386, 389389; war between him and his cousin Duncan, king of Scotia, 401401 seq.; iii. 31, 52, 54. See Caithness, Ingibiorg. Thorkell Fostri, leader of the Orkneymen in the war between Thorfinn and Duncan, i. 401-2401-2. See Thorfinn, son of Sigurd. Thorkell, Jarl, i. 420420. Thorstein the Red (Ostin) , attacks the northern provinces of Scotland, i. ”