FEirikr rauði Þorvaldsson (approx. 950-1003 AD) was named Erik the Red primarily because of his red beard and hair, but perhaps also because of his fiery temper.
It is said that he was a particularly hot-headed fellow who, after being exiled from Norway and later Iceland, finally settled in Greenland. Erik the Red is the first Viking to discover Greenland and is credited for giving the country its name ‘green land’. His son Leif Eriksson is credited in history as the first Viking to discover North America.
Erik the Red’s Saga
According to the sagas, Erik the Red was born in Norway, where his father, Þorvaldr Ásvaldsson, was exiled in 960 AD as a result of ‘a number of killings’, and Erik’s entire family thus settled in Iceland.
Here, Erik the Red married Tjodhilde (Þjódhild) but history repeated itself and his father’s fate also befell Erik. In 982 he was sentenced to exile from Iceland for three years for murder after a dispute with his neighbour sparked a confrontation that resulted in several deaths.
Erik the Red had two sons with his wife Tjodhilde called Leif and Thorstein. Tjodhilde may also have been the mother of Erik the Red’s third son Thorvald, but this has not been confirmed. Additionally, Erik the Red had a daughter called Freydis, who was born out of wedlock with an unknown woman.
Freydís Eiríksdottír – Heroine or cruel murderer?
In The Saga Of The Greenlanders Erik’s only daughter Freydís is described as a fearless and strong-willed woman who once by herself – and 8 months pregnant – saved her Viking companions when attacked by Native Americans. The Saga says that she did so by banging on her chest with a sword – which made the attackers retreat. On another occasion, while on their way to North America, she convinces her husband and his men to kill the men of the Viking clan that was accompanying them on their journey. When they refuse to kill the women in the group, Freydís picks up an axe and slaughters all 5 by herself.
In The Saga Of Erik The Red, which is written later than The Saga Of The Greenlanders the part with the axe murder is politely left out, so here she appears more like a heroine.
The Vikings: Valhalla series version of Freydís Eiríksdóttir is certainly also strong and brave, but much more of a justice-seeking warrior, than a cynical killer. Who knows what Freydís Eiríksdóttir was really like?
Erik the Red’s discovery of Greenland
It is for this reason that in the same year he sailed west and discovered a country with an inviting fjord landscape and fertile green valleys. He was extremely impressed with the new country’s resources and he returned to Iceland to spread the word of “The green land”.
Erik the Red clearly had great powers of persuasion because in 985 he set sail once more from the volcanic island leading a fleet of 25 ships on course for Greenland. Onboard were around 500 men and women, domestic animals and all the other elements required to create a new existence in a new country.
Of the 25 ships, only 14 made it to their destination. Erik the Red established the chieftain’s seat of power at Brattahlið – now Qassiarsuk – in Southern Greenland, whilst others continued further north to the fjord near Nuuk. The two societies were known as the east and west settlements.
First Christian Church in North America
In around the year 1000, Erik the Red’s son, Leif Eriksson, returned to Greenland following a long period in Norway, and Leif Eriksson – whose byname was ‘the Lucky’ – brought with him the first Christian missionaries. Shortly afterward the first Christian church on the North American continent, Tjodhilde’s Church, was built in Brattahlið. Today a reconstruction of the small church can be seen in Qassiarsuk.
By the year 1000, the Viking societies numbered some 3,000 inhabitants on 300-400 farms. The Viking society survived for about 500 years.
The reason for its disappearance remains a great mystery, but a colder climate, conflicts with the Inuit people, European pirates, the declining prices on walrus and narwhal ivory, overgrazing, and bouts of plague have all been put forward as possible causes of its demise.
How did Erik the Red die?
When and how Erik the Red died exactly is unknown to this day, just like the disappearance of the Vikings from Greenland altogether.
In Season 6 of the TV Series ‘Vikings’ that premiered in March 2013, Erik (a character inspired by Erik the Red) is killed by one of his female servants. The TV series is inspired by historical events but not 100% historically accurate.
There are a few different theories of how the real Erik the Red might have died. In The Saga of the Greenlanders, it says that Erik the Red died the winter after his son Leif Eriksson returned from Vinland (eastern North America) in an epidemic around the year 1000. However, in The Saga of Erik the Red, Erik is said to have been still alive when the Icelandic explorer Thorfinn Karlsefni sailed to Vinland early in the 11th Century.
Another theory on Erik the Red’s death is that he died just after the turn of the Millenium from injuries he sustained after falling off his horse.
