The last Vikings : the epic story of the great Norse voyages / Kirsten A. Seaver.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Seaver, Kirsten A., 1934-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Vikings.

America--Discovery and exploration--Norse.

America.

America--History--To 1810.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (304 p.)

Other Title:

Last Vikings : the epic story of the great Norse voyagers

Place of Publication:

London : I. B. Tauris, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Late in the tenth century, the Norse Vikings embarked on a voyage of no return. Leaving Iceland first for Greenland, from there they sailed onwards to North America, setting foot on its shores five hundred years before Columbus's first journeys of discovery. But by about AD 1500 their settlements were abandoned and the Norse Greenlanders and their explorations of the New World receded into the realms of myth. What happened between these momentous events? How did the Vikings really live - and die - and why have so many myths and legends grown up around this mysterious people of the sea?_x00

Contents:

Contents; List of Illustrations; Timeline; Note on sources; Introduction; Chapter 1. No Forwarding Address; Physical Description of Greenland; The Push Westwards; Modern Voices of Gloom and Doom; Chapter 2. Eirik the Red Knew Where to Go; Medieval Geographical Knowledge; Eirik the Red Goes West; Norse Navigation; A Daring Real Estate Venture; Dividing up a New Land; Eirik the Red Settles in; Establishing Homes in the Wilderness; Brattahlid Then and Now; Chapter 3. Forcing a New Homeland; A New Society Takes Shape; Putting Food on the Table; The Role of Domestic Animals; Adapting to Greenland

Cow Versus Sheep and GoatsCultural Distinctiveness; Fuel; Slaves and Hired Hands; Social Structure; Voyages to the High Arctic; Missing Resources; Chapter 4. Leif Eiriksson Explores Another New Land; No Game of Chance; The Men in Charge; Reaching the Other Side; Life at L'Anse aux Meadows; Discovering Vinland Grapes; Follow-Up Voyages; Encountering Vinland Natives; The Aftermath; Chapter 5. Who Were the Skraelings?; The Spherical World Picture; Monstrous Races of the Far North; The West Had Finally Met the East; Norse Interaction with Arctic Natives; Chapter 6. Relations with Church and Crown

Geographical IndependenceChristianity Reaches the Northwest Atlantic; Imported from the British Isles; Organised Christianity; Greenland Becomes a Diocese; Greenland Priests; Royal Pressure From Norway; The Sea was Still the Highway; Small Royal Impact on Greenland; Tithes and Taxes Increase; Ivar Bardsson's Mission; No More Resident Gardar Bishops; Did the Greenlanders Lose their Christian Faith?; Chapter 7. Foreign Trade; Marketable Greenland Commodities; Market Fluctuations; Early Markets and Trade Routes; Consolidation of the European Markets; The Hanseatic League

Norse Greenland and Norwegian Trade LegislationThe Art of 'Drifting Off'; Chapter 8. Contact with Iceland; Disease: An Unwelcome Travel Companion; Norwegian Politics in Iceland; End of the Icelandic Commonwealth; Iceland Under the New Rule; Bjorn Einarsson 'Jerusalem-Farer' and his Circle; Sigrid Bjornsdaughter; The Black Death; Thorstein Olafsson Plans his Future; Leaving Greenland in 1410; From Norway to Iceland; Another Transfer of Royal Power; Chapter 9. The English in the North Atlantic; The Sweet Smell of Profit; King Eirik Comes to Power; Thorstein Olafsson's Circle and the English

Moving WestwardsWhere was Thorstein in 1419-20?; The Ground Speaks Clearly; In Iceland Meanwhile...; A Further Sea Change; Sharpened Conflict with the English; The English Tighten Their Grip; Passing the Generational Torch; The English Encounter a Headwind; Chapter 10. Where did the Norse Greenlanders Go?; Papal Laments; Other End Game Scenarios; Changes in Animal Husbandry; Choices; Greenland and the North Atlantic Economy; John Cabot's Successors; The Early Cartographic Record; Claudius Clavus; Larsen's Fantasy; Portuguese Experience and the 1502 'Cantino' Map with Greenland

English Experience and the 1507/08 Ruysch Map

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-350-14336-7

1-282-88116-7

9786612881169

1-4416-7698-8

0-85771-425-2

600-00-4324-4

OCLC:

710975918