Bjarni Herjólfsson

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bjarni Herjólfsson (* around 966 in Iceland ) is considered one of the possible discoverers of America . He was a son of Herjólfr Bárðarsons . He is reported in the Grænlendinga saga .

Life

Bjarni lived in Norway, but spent one winter in Iceland and one winter in Norway. Bjarni followed him in the winter when his father Herjólfr and Leif Eriksson moved to Greenland . During this trip they got caught in fog and a north wind and lost their orientation. When the fog cleared, they found the point of the compass and sailed west for another day and night. Then they saw wooded hills. Bjarni sailed north for two days, then they saw land with forest again. Here, too, they did not go ashore, but sailed for three days to the southwest and reached an island covered with glaciers. They drove out to sea again. The direction is not given. After four more days they reached land again. It was like what Bjarni had known from descriptions. When they came ashore, they found their father Herjólfr's apartment.

Bjarni later drove from Greenland to Norway to join Ladejarl Erik Håkonsson and became his henchman. The next summer he returned to Greenland. There Leif Eriksson bought a ship from him and went to Vinland . It is doubtful whether Bjarni was there. Because when Leif sees Land, he says: “We fared differently with the country than Bjarni, who did not even enter it. I will now give it a name: It should be called Helluland . ”That doesn't sound like Bjarni's presence. The fact that Leif bought a ship from him to go to Vinland speaks against the fact that Bjarni went with him. There is only talk of a ship with a crew of 35. Bjarni is no longer mentioned in the source.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Flateyjarbók I. chap. 427-433. and Grænlendinga saga chap. 3.

literature

  • Greenlander and Faroese stories. Eugen Diederichs Verlag 1965, licensed edition Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt o. J.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bjarni Herjólfsson
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Navigator and possible discoverer of America
DATE OF BIRTH around 966
PLACE OF BIRTH Iceland
DATE OF DEATH 10th century or 11th century