Thorvald Eiriksson ( non, Þórvaldr Eiríksson ; Modern Icelandic: ) was the son of Erik the Red and brother of

Leif Erikson Leif Erikson, Leiv Eiriksson, or Leif Ericson, ; Modern Icelandic: ; Norwegian: ''Leiv Eiriksson'' also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to have set foot on continental Nort ...

. The only

Medieval Period In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

source material available regarding Thorvald Eiriksson are the two '' Vinland sagas''; the ''

Greenland Saga ''Grœnlendinga saga'' () (spelled ''Grænlendinga saga'' in modern Icelandic and translated into English as the Saga of the Greenlanders) is one of the sagas of Icelanders. Like the ''Saga of Erik the Red'', it is one of the two main sources on t ...

'' and the ''

Saga of Erik the Red The ''Saga of Erik the Red'', in non, Eiríks saga rauða (), is an Icelandic saga on the Norse exploration of North America. The original saga is thought to have been written in the 13th century. It is preserved in somewhat different version ...

''. Although differing in various detail, according to both sagas Thorvald was part of an expedition for the exploration of

Vinland Vinland, Vineland, or Winland ( non, Vínland ᚠᛁᚾᛚᛅᚾᛏ) was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John ...

and became the first European to die in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. The ''Greenland Saga'' describes a voyage made by Bjarni Herjolfsson, and the subsequent voyages of Leif Eriksson, his brother Thorvald Eiriksson, his sister

Freydís Eiríksdóttir Freydís Eiríksdóttir (born 970) was a Icelandic woman said to be the daughter of Erik the Red (as in her patronym), who figured prominently in the Norse exploration of North America as an early colonist of Vinland, while her brother, Leif ...

, and the Icelandic merchant

Thorfinn Karlsefni Thorfinn Karlsefni Thórdarson was an Icelandic explorer. Around the year 1010, he followed Leif Eriksson's route to Vinland in a short-lived attempt to establish a permanent settlement there with his wife Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir and their fol ...

. The Saga describes hostilities with ''

Skræling ''Skræling'' (Old Norse and Icelandic: ''skrælingi'', plural ''skrælingjar'') is the name the Norse Greenlanders used for the peoples they encountered in North America (Canada and Greenland). In surviving sources, it is first applied to the ...

s'', the Norse term for the native peoples they met in the lands visited south and west of

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

which they called Vinland and

Markland Markland () is the name given to one of three lands on North America's Atlantic shore discovered by Leif Eriksson around 1000 AD. It was located south of Helluland and north of Vinland. Although it was never recorded to be settled by Norsemen, ...

. The ''Saga of Erik the Red'' tells the story as a single expedition led by Thorfinn Karlsefni. The voyage of Thorvald Eriksson is told here as part of the Karlsefni expedition.

References

Other sources

* Brown, Nancy Marie (2012) ''Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths'' (Palgrave Macmillan) * Haugen, Einar (2007) ''Voyages To Vinland - The First American Saga Newly Translated And Interpreted'' (Barzun Press) * Jones, Gwyn (1986) ''The Norse Atlantic Saga: Being the Norse Voyages of Discovery and Settlement to Iceland, Greenland, and North America'' (Oxford University Press) * Magnusson, Magnus (1973) ''The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America'' (Penguin Group) *Short, William R. (2010) ''Icelanders in the Viking age: the people of the sagas'' (McFarland) {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorvaldr Eiriksson Year of birth unknown 1006 deaths 10th-century Icelandic people 11th-century Icelandic people Viking Age in Canada Explorers of Canada Vikings killed in battle Icelandic explorers Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact 10th-century explorers 11th-century explorers 11th-century Vikings Norse settlements in Greenland

See also

References

Other sources