Any Vikings around here?

[Sten Sture]

According to my sources, the two Greenland settlements were called the the Eastern and Western settlements, even though they look more north and south. The eastern settlement was at the southern tip of Greenland and was also called Brattahlid. Both areas had evidence of Skraeling or Eskimo habitation, but had been abandoned before the Vikings got there.

The Inuits weren't supposed to have migrated across from Canada to the Thule region until c1200.

The Western(north) settlement was abandonded by 1340 and the central one near Ivigtut c1380 after a Skraeling attack that killed 18 and captured two more. The Eastern(south) settlement survived tenuously until c1500. The Greenland trading monopoly which was held by Bergen, suffered a great deal in the Black Death in 1349 when Bergen lost 35% of its population. Bergen also had cheaper access to Russian furs and hides and didn't need to access the Greenland market for goods.

The Jones test (Oxford Publ) has 15 maps of various regions from the viking era and numerous old Norse translations. If you can find it, I think it would be very helpful. Jones also wrote The Norse Atlantic Saga which I have not seen, but I understand it is excellent. There is also a Yale? (iirc) publication called The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation which has several ancient maps and texts in it. I have a copy of it, and I'll look through it this weekend to see if it would be worth tracking down.

yer viking skolar,

Sten Sture

[Hendrik the Great]

Forget about the dictionary I asked for. I found one.

Sten, I found a map of the settlments in Greenland. Although it is very basic it gives a good idea of the location and extend of it.

Also I found the Saga of Erik the Red. I just don't know what to use it for.
I also have translations of the course that Bjarni "something I can't spell" took. That was the man to first saw America.

I'm beginning to think that I might want to make it in several scenarios that are link together somehow. That was a lot going on in that time and I don't know if I can put it all into one single scenario.
-The First scenario would probaly be from 793(Lindisfarne) until the unification of Norway which was either in 872 or in 890 depending which book I'm suppossed to trust.
-The Second one from the unification until 1066 or 1085.
-And the third one from either 1066 or 1085 until the end of the 15th century

Seperating it this way would allow me to go around some problems and would make it more realistic.
Aside from allowing more events for each time period.

[Captain Nemo]

No problem use any terrain you want. Take a look at the Viking cities too if you like.

[Stefan Härtel]

Well, I found out that Erik or Leif something else battled the Dornat Indians in Labrador/Nova Scotia. The Dornats however were subdued by the Inuit (Eskimos).

Need city names? How 'bout Haithabu in Schleswig-Holstein (Sorry the onlyone I can think of right now).

------------------
Follow the masses!
30,000 lemmings can't be wrong!

Our survival is based on continouus changing.
-Mao Tse-Tung
God might have created us as equals, but democracy and science pretty
much screwed that whole idea..
-Onepaul


Visit my Homepage at: http://members.xoom.com/SHaertel/Index.html

[Hendrik the Great]

Can you tell me where you found that Stefan? On the internet or in a book?
Oh, and I know where Haithabu is. I've been there two times when I was till living in Germany. In other words: a very long time ago.

Thank you Captain Nemo! I will do that.

But I think I will make a new map. I find the one I have now a bit too small.

[BeBMan]

Hi, her are some other city names. Found them on an European map from the year 1000 AD:
-Stavanger, Stiklestad, Nidaros (Norway)
-Schleswig (Danish at this time)
-Rouen in northern France (Normandy)
And on another map from 1230 AD:
-Grataheide, Kopenhagen (Norway)
-Kalmar, Visby, Linköping (Sweden)

[Stefan Härtel]

I found that information in the Chronicle of Canada.
I've been to Haithabu once, being the only time I've actually had contact with the Viking culture.
There's a book about the Vikings in my favorite series. I decided to buy it Tuesday.
I'll send you any valuable infos then.

------------------
Follow the masses!
30,000 lemmings can't be wrong!

Our survival is based on continouus changing.
-Mao Tse-Tung
God might have created us as equals, but democracy and science pretty
much screwed that whole idea..
-Onepaul


Visit my Homepage at: http://members.xoom.com/SHaertel/Index.html

[Hendrik the Great]

You don't happen to have that map available on your computer, do you Bernd? If so could you send it to me or tell me where you got it from?
However, I would preferably need one somewhere between 793AD and 860AD. The closest I have come so far is one from 980AD which isn't really that great because it doesn't show much else than borders. Which is nice on the one hand but doesn't help me that much.

Stefan, you just gave me a fantastic idea! I now a lot of sites about Canada perhaps they have just what I need.

But you don't, just by chance, have a map I can use in the scenario, do you? Because I do get the feeling that the one I have now may be too small.

[BeBMan]

Hendrik, the maps are from my "Bildatlas der Weltgeschichte", but I can´t send they to You (no scanner). Anyway, in another book about the middle ages I found a great map of the viking campaigns (8th-10th century). It shows some other cities:
-Gokstad and Oseberg(where the wellknown longsships have been found),Helgea, Nonnebjerk, Fyrkal, Aggersborg
I´ll ask some of my friends to make scans of all these maps, but I can´t make any promises about it, because a lot of them are very busy...

[Hendrik the Great]

Scanning the maps may not be necessary. I'm sure I can find it in my school's libary right when school starts again in a week. They have a lot of stuff like that and I think I once saw something like it there. If not I can still bother you with it.

On a site note. I went right on looking for Canadian sites and I hit the Jackpot! A lot of info on Vikings in Canada and how they got there. Great pictures, too. Unfortunatly not that much useful about Inuit history. At least I know now they arrived in North-West Greenland around 1200AD and then made their way south.
There are several good sites. I'll guess I should have waited with my site-update a few hours...

[Sten Sture]

The Vinland Map text that I mentioned has a ton of information and about twenty copies of medieval maps, but most of the maps are both illegible and in latin. The combination is not encouraging. The only thing I can add after a cursory review of the book is that the (correction - Western) settlement may have been called Huidferk.

Several of the maps are at the Royal Library of Copenhagen. They may have a web site with better renditions of these old maps.
[This message has been edited by Sten Sture (edited May 01, 2000).]

[Stefan Härtel]

I have 6 historical atlases (what's the english plural for "atlas"?).
First of all, I can offer Europe in the Dark Ages (9/10th century)m which has all viking raids on it.
Vikings in England, Iceland in the Middle Ages, northern Europe 1000, Christian missions in northern Europe (10/11th century), Trelleborg (viking camp), Haithabu and a couple more... Tell me what you want.

------------------
Follow the masses!
30,000 lemmings can't be wrong!

Our survival is based on continouus changing.
-Mao Tse-Tung
God might have created us as equals, but democracy and science pretty
much screwed that whole idea..
-Onepaul


Visit my Homepage at: http://members.xoom.com/SHaertel/Index.html

[Hendrik the Great]

Sten: Well, Latin wouldn't stop me from understanding. Why the heck did I take 4 years of Latin in school?! I sure could use some pratice...
And I found two maps of the settlements on the net. One at a Canadian site and another one at a site from the local government of Greenland. The Eastern Settlement was called Brathahilda( I'm sure it's spelled differently) and I can't recall what the other one was but I have that info on my harddisc now. Huidferk was one of the farms. I also found out what the settlement in New Foundland was called.
Next thing to do: Take a look at the Royal Library.
Thanks.

Stefan: All of them? j/k

I can use Europe in the Dark Ages (9/10th century) Vikings in England, Iceland in the Middle Ages, northern Europe 1000 and maybe Trelleborg (viking camp), Haithabu .
What are the other ones about you mentioned?

However, to be honest I think I do have enough once I get those maps. What I do need now would be some kind of chart or info about the technological, social and cultural development from ca. 800AD to 1100AD which will be approximately the time in which the scenario will be situated.
No, no scientific studies, just something dealing with common/general developments of the time.

I know I'm asking a lot. Thanks to all who help!

Then I'm going to need a lot of free time and even more patience so as to get this done before the summer holidays end. I don't want this to take as long as my last one did.
[This message has been edited by Hendrik the Great (edited April 30, 2000).]

[Mercator]

You should check out this months (May 2000) issue of the National Geographic. There's an article about the Vikings in it! Including a map you could use.

[Hendrik the Great]

Sten: Huidferk may well have been in the western settlement. I just choose the information I found the most trustworthy. However, there are many contradicting sources on this kind of stuff and there is really no sure way of telling which one is right and which one is not. Often there even is contradicting information on the same website. But thanks anyway for your troubles.
I could really need the map of trading commodities. I have been trying to find a useful one but till now to no avail. Probally I can use the map of Iceland, as well.
If you want you may also send me the map of the eastern settlement however I have one myself(from the net) so it's not a necessity.
You will most likely need my email for sending me the maps so here it is: kaktusdh@worldonline.nl

Mercator: Thanks! I will go to the next place that sells them right tomorrow.

Guess I will have to do a lot of reading in the next days...