Little Ice Age
AD 1280-1410
Then the 'Little Ice Age,' beginning in the 13th century, set in. Ice floes and stormy conditions in the Atlantic rendered shipping unsafe, perhaps creating economic hardship to the colony..
In the late 14th century their trading ship the Greenland Knarr was wrecked.
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For centuries, it was commonly believed the last news heard in Europe of the Greenlanders was from a visit in 1410 mentioning that a wedding was recorded at the Hvalsey Church, in the Eastern Settlement in 1409.
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As the extreme cold of the Little Ice Age became more severe, by the middle of the 14th century, the folk of the eastern settlement became concerned as to the fate of their kin in the isolated western settlement, hundreds of kilometers to the north.
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Nothing had been heard of them for several years.
When Ivar Bardarsson, King Magnus Ericsson's ombudsman visited the western settlement in 1341-42 to enquire as to his parishioner's welfare and to drive off the 'skraelings,' (the Inuit) whom had reportedly been attacking the settlement, he found it completely abandoned.
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He later wrote in his report to Bishop Thorstein of Iceland: '...now the Skraeling have [destroyed] the whole of the Western Settlement. There are only horses, goats, cattle, and sheep all wild, but no inhabitants, neither Christian nor Heathen.'
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Archeological surveys have since found evidence that some of the starving inhabitants, on one of the farms, during a harsh winter, shortly before the demise of the settlement, had slaughtered their valuable livestock (including a highly prized new born calf) and their dog, in order to stay alive.
However, no evidence of mass starvation or
of the Inuit destroying the settlement while the Norse still occupied it has been found.
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On the contrary, the only remains of Norse found show that they had had Christian burials and had been, for most of their lives, relatively healthy, before eventually dying from natural causes.
The portable belongings in their houses had been removed methodically and in an orderly way, with no sign of a desperate, last minute evacuation.
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So what had become of the Greenland Norse?.
Did they all starve to death, frozen into their homes, from the effects of the medieval Little Ice
Age?
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Bardarsson reportedly found a clue to this enigma left at the settlement written in Latin, most probably by a Norse 'bishop,' whom had lived there. It read: "Ad Americae Populose Se Converterunt,' which translates as, 'To the people of America we have turned'.
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As the extreme cold of the Little Ice Age became more severe, by the middle of the 14th century, the folk of the eastern settlement became concerned as to the fate of their kin in the isolated western settlement, hundreds of kilometers to the north.
.
Nothing had been heard of them for several years.
When Ivar Bardarsson, King Magnus Ericsson's ombudsman visited the western settlement in 1341-42 to enquire as to his parishioner's welfare and to drive off the 'skraelings,' (the Inuit) whom had reportedly been attacking the settlement, he found it completely abandoned.
(Norse in Greenland, by Dr. Kathryn Denning)
He later wrote in his report to Bishop Thorstein of Iceland: '...now the Skraeling have [destroyed] the whole of the Western Settlement. There are only horses, goats, cattle, and sheep all wild, but no inhabitants, neither Christian nor Heathen.'
.
Archeological surveys have since found evidence that some of the starving inhabitants, on one of the farms, during a harsh winter, shortly before the demise of the settlement, had slaughtered their valuable livestock (including a highly prized new born calf) and their dog, in order to stay alive.
(Collapse : How Societies Choose to Succeed or Fail,
by Jared Diamond)
.However, no evidence of mass starvation or
of the Inuit destroying the settlement while the Norse still occupied it has been found.
.
On the contrary, the only remains of Norse found show that they had had Christian burials and had been, for most of their lives, relatively healthy, before eventually dying from natural causes.
(Greenland Archeology,
Smithsonian Institution National Museum)
.Smithsonian Institution National Museum)
The portable belongings in their houses had been removed methodically and in an orderly way, with no sign of a desperate, last minute evacuation.
.
So what had become of the Greenland Norse?.
Did they all starve to death, frozen into their homes, from the effects of the medieval Little Ice
Age?
.
Bardarsson reportedly found a clue to this enigma left at the settlement written in Latin, most probably by a Norse 'bishop,' whom had lived there. It read: "Ad Americae Populose Se Converterunt,' which translates as, 'To the people of America we have turned'.
(frozentrail.org Dr. Myron Paine)
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The Greenlanders had an ongoing relationship with America (perhaps named "Mer Rica," which means "ocean lands") from the earliest times of their colony, described in their oral history, ‘the Maalan Aarum (The Engraved Years)’.
Eric the Red's son, Leif Ericson had sailed to America in 1000.
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That same year, most of the Greenland leaders converted to Christianity at the request of King Haarkon of Norway.
Those who persisted in following the Norse God Odin were ruthlessly driven out of Greenland, their homes burned and so, having nowhere else to go, ventured to America where they thrived in the verdant lands.
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In 1121 Bishop Eiric Gnuppson, appointed by the Vatican as Bishop of Greenland, relocated to America with many followers to be a Christian pastor to the many Norse already there.
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Following bishops continued with this practice.
;.The Norse who stayed in Greenland had adapted to traveling to America to hunt for the abundant food there. This was because once they had felled the Greenland forests, cattle grazing had practically destroyed their farmlands.
The Greenlanders had an ongoing relationship with America (perhaps named "Mer Rica," which means "ocean lands") from the earliest times of their colony, described in their oral history, ‘the Maalan Aarum (The Engraved Years)’.
Eric the Red's son, Leif Ericson had sailed to America in 1000.
.
That same year, most of the Greenland leaders converted to Christianity at the request of King Haarkon of Norway.
Those who persisted in following the Norse God Odin were ruthlessly driven out of Greenland, their homes burned and so, having nowhere else to go, ventured to America where they thrived in the verdant lands.
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In 1121 Bishop Eiric Gnuppson, appointed by the Vatican as Bishop of Greenland, relocated to America with many followers to be a Christian pastor to the many Norse already there.
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Once there, he communicated to the Norse in far away colonies by using the Drottkvaett format. The Drottkvaett format is a method to ensure that a message transmitted orally is self-verified, which means that the sounds heard by the reciever are the sounds spoken by the transmitter. Part of the Drottkvaet process is to create a small pictograph to help the transmitter of the stanza recall the correct sounds. The process results in visible pictographs on sticks. Someone, perhaps Gnuppson used the Drottkvaet format to tell the Genesis story. Packets of the forty pictografts accompanied the forty self-verifying stanzas in order to teach Genesis to the listeners at 29 altars in the Mississippi basin and the five known churches on the Atlantic Coast.
The people of America were reciting Genesis five centuries before King James in England had the Bible compiled by English Scholars.
The people of America were reciting Genesis five centuries before King James in England had the Bible compiled by English Scholars.
(frozentrail.org Dr. Myron Paine)
Following bishops continued with this practice.
(Dr. Myron Paine 2007)
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Many Norse had left the harsh life in Greenland and followed the path of the earlier Odin worshippers.
They had migrated to America, where food was abundant, and adopted an American, hunter-gatherer, outdoor lifestyle, living on bison, geese, fox, bear, seals, whales and fish. They only returned to Greenland for short stays.;.The Norse who stayed in Greenland had adapted to traveling to America to hunt for the abundant food there. This was because once they had felled the Greenland forests, cattle grazing had practically destroyed their farmlands.
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So especially on the smaller holdings they had to rely increasingly on seafood, mainly seal meat, in order to survive.
During winter, when the sea froze over, seal hunting was not possible as the Norse did not learn from the Inuit how to catch seals through holes cut into the ice.
The only alternative to starvation for many Norse from these smaller holdings would have been to winter in America, in less severe southern climes, living off the land from which they could hunt.
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Adventurous young men, wanting to make their way in the world, would have seen America, after a few hunting trips there, as a much more attractive proposition.
Because of environmental degradation and the Greenlander's practice of digging up the outfields on their farms, known as 'flaying the outfields,' to make and repair turf roofs continually in need of renewal, the already meagre amount of arable land was continually decreasing.
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Due to this scarcity of arable land, only the eldest son inherited the family farm - lock, stock and barrel.
He would most probably have married the prettiest girl in the village. The younger sons got nothing.
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Archeological excavations in Greenland Norse settlements have also found a disproportionate number of female children and young adult women died before reaching full maturity (probably from protein and vitamin A poisoning from their diet of seal meat and the lack of hygiene in their turf mound homes).
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Thus, a shortage of prospective wives in Greenland was another incentive for young men to venture to America.
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For many of the families dwelling on the small coastal farms south of Greenland, the only escape from the severe weather may have been south to the Ungava Peninsula and thence to more temperate climes in America (a pathway which one suspects, may have already been well worn).
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So especially on the smaller holdings they had to rely increasingly on seafood, mainly seal meat, in order to survive.
(Greenland Archeology)
.During winter, when the sea froze over, seal hunting was not possible as the Norse did not learn from the Inuit how to catch seals through holes cut into the ice.
The only alternative to starvation for many Norse from these smaller holdings would have been to winter in America, in less severe southern climes, living off the land from which they could hunt.
.
Adventurous young men, wanting to make their way in the world, would have seen America, after a few hunting trips there, as a much more attractive proposition.
Because of environmental degradation and the Greenlander's practice of digging up the outfields on their farms, known as 'flaying the outfields,' to make and repair turf roofs continually in need of renewal, the already meagre amount of arable land was continually decreasing.
.
Due to this scarcity of arable land, only the eldest son inherited the family farm - lock, stock and barrel.
He would most probably have married the prettiest girl in the village. The younger sons got nothing.
.
Archeological excavations in Greenland Norse settlements have also found a disproportionate number of female children and young adult women died before reaching full maturity (probably from protein and vitamin A poisoning from their diet of seal meat and the lack of hygiene in their turf mound homes).
.
Thus, a shortage of prospective wives in Greenland was another incentive for young men to venture to America.
.
For many of the families dwelling on the small coastal farms south of Greenland, the only escape from the severe weather may have been south to the Ungava Peninsula and thence to more temperate climes in America (a pathway which one suspects, may have already been well worn).
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Many of the Greenland Norse were contemptuous of the Vatican, which exacted huge tithes from the struggling Greenlanders. These tithes would have become increasingly difficult to bear as their farmlands degraded and became less productive.
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The corrupt Catholic Church had, by 1340, taken possession of 190 farms in the western settlement, in lieu of payment of church tithes for indulgences, special masses, etc. reducing much of the population to the status of serfs.
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The corrupt Catholic Church had, by 1340, taken possession of 190 farms in the western settlement, in lieu of payment of church tithes for indulgences, special masses, etc. reducing much of the population to the status of serfs.
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Did Ivar Bardarsson know, when he visited the Western settlement in 1351,that the whole population of the settlement had left only five years before?
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In 1346, the 1,000 Catholic Norse Greenlanders of the settlement walked across the ice sheets in Davis Strait to the North American mainland, at James Bay.
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In the following years, at least 3,000 Norse Catholics from the Eastern settlement came to James Bay.
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In 1364 the Englishman Nicholas of Lynne, who took Bardarsson back to Europe on his ship, reported to King Edward the third of England that, "nearly 4000 people who 'entered the in drawing seas [beyond Greenland] never returned," an event recorded in his report to the kings of England and Norway/Sweden.
"The Inventio Fortunata.”
(Norah4 History, Eleonora Jonsson)
The Greenland Norse called themselves the Leni Lenape, meaning "abiding with the pure," (Living by the ethics of Jesus).
Bishop Thorstein in 1360 wrote in his journal: "The inhabitants of Greenland of their own free will have abandoned the true faith ....and joined themselves with the folk of America."
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[This was quoted by Icelandic Bishop Oddsen, who reconstructed the letter from a manuscript he found in the seventeenth century].
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The Leni Lenape, once in America, adhered to the principles of their 'pure' Christian faith.
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