Eirík's saga rauða

The Eiríks saga rauða , also Erikssaga (actually "Saga of Erik the Red "), is one of the Icelandic sagas that is one of the Vinland sagas .

It describes the discovery of Greenland and Newfoundland by a family of Icelandic sailors and merchants (see Scandinavian colonization of America ). The saga has come down to us in two versions. The older version comes from the 14th century Hauksbók . The younger version from the 15th century can be found in the Skálholtsbók (AM 557 4to).

In terms of content, the saga differs greatly from the Grænlendinga saga , with which the Eiríks saga rauða is summarized under the term Vinland sagas . In literary terms, the saga of Erik the Red is considered to be the more valuable saga. Historically, the Greenland saga seems more reliable than the Erik saga , which paints a less realistic picture of its hero Leif Eriksson . He is said to have both explored America and Christianized Greenland on a single voyage, during which he happened upon America. He also saved shipwrecked people on the way back from America to Greenland. In the Eiríks saga rauða there are three trips to America, while the Grænlendinga saga speaks of four trips.

In addition to describing the discovery has the Saga and the glorification of Gudridur Þorbiarnardóttir, the matriarch of a powerful family in Iceland and ancestor of many bishops, including Þorlákur Runólfsson, Bjorn Gilsson and Brandur Sæmundarson, to the goal. Because only in this context does the detailed description of the seer Þorbjörg in the fourth chapter have a function. Guðriður plays a central role in the divination ceremony and, as is often the case in the lives of important personalities, receives his own prophecy about the bright future of their gender.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Dag Strömbäck: Sejd och andra studier i nordisk själsuppfattning. Hedemora 2000. ISBN 91-7844-318-0 (reprint of the dissertation from 1935. pp. 56-60).

literature

• The saga of Eirík the Red. Eiríks saga rauða (translated by Tina Flecken ). In: Klaus Böldl, Andreas Vollmer and Julia Zernack (eds.): Isländersagas. Vol. 4. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2011, ISBN 978-3-10-007625-0 , pp. 526-552.
• Kurt Schier : saga literature. (= Metzler Collection. Vol. 78). Metzler, Stuttgart 1970.
• Rudolf Simek , Hermann Pálsson : Lexicon of Old Norse Literature (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 490). Kröner, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-520-49001-3 .

Web links

Commons : Saga of Eric the Red  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Eiríks saga rauða (Old Norse)
• The Saga of Erik the Red (English translation after John Sephton: Eirik the Red's Saga: A translation . Marples, Liverpool 1880)