Thorvald Eiriksson ( ;

Modern Icelandic Icelandic ( ; , ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Since it is a West Scandinavian language, it ...

: ) was the son of

Erik the Red Erik Thorvaldsson (), known as Erik the Red, was a Norse explorer, described in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first European settlement in Greenland. Erik most likely earned the epithet "the Red" due to the color o ...

and brother of

Leif Erikson Leif Erikson, also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norsemen, Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to set foot on continental Americas, America, approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus. According ...

. The only

Medieval Period In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

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

Saga of Erik the Red The ''Saga of Erik the Red'', in (), 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 versions in two manuscripts: ''H ...

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

Vinland Vinland, Vineland, or Winland () 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 Cabot. The name appears in the V ...

and became the first European to die in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

outside of Greenland. 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 965) was an 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 f ...

. The Saga describes hostilities with ''

Skræling (Old Norse and , plural ) 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 Thule people, the proto-Inuit group with whom the Nors ...

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

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

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 Magnus Magnusson (born Magnús Sigursteinsson; 12 October 1929 – 7 January 2007) was an Icelandic-born British-based journalist, translator, writer and television presenter. Born in Reykjavík, he lived in Scotland for almost all his life, al ...

(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 10th-century Icelandic people 11th-century Icelandic people Viking Age in Canada Explorers of Canada Vikings killed in battle Icelandic explorers Norse colonization of North America 10th-century explorers 11th-century explorers 11th-century Vikings Norse settlements in Greenland

See also

References

Other sources