CHAPTER II.
The Saga of Eric the Red.
The clearest and most complete narrative of the discovery of Wineland, preser'ed in the ancient Icelandic literature, is that presented in the Saga of Eric the Red. Of this narrative two complete vellum texts have surúved. The eldest of these texts is contained in the Arna-Magnæan Codex, No. 544, 4to, which is commonly known as Hauk's Book [Hauksbók]. This manuscript has derived its name from its first owner, for whom the work was doubtless written, and who himself participated in the labour of its preparation. This man, to whom the manuscript traces its origin, has, happily, left, not only in the manuscript itself, but in the history of his time, a record which enables us to determine, with exceptional accuracy, many dates in his life, and from these it is possible to assign approximate dates to that portion of the vellum which contains the narrative of the discovery. This fact possesses the greater interest since of no one of those who participated in the conservation of the elder sagas, have we data so precise as those which have been preserved to us of Hauk Erlendsson [Haukr Erlendsson], to whose care, actual and potential, this manuscript owes its existence.
We know that Jorunn, the mother of this man, was the direct descendant of a famous Icelander[1]. His paternal ancestry is not so clearly established. It has been conjectured that his father, Erlend Olafsson, surnamed the Stout [Erlendr sterki Óláfsson], was the son of a man of humble parentage, and by birth a Norwegian[2]. This view has been discredited, however, and the fact pretty clearly established that Erlend's father, Olaf, was no other than a certain Icelander called Olaf Tot [Óláfr tottr][3]. Hauk's father, Erlend, was probably the ' Ellindr bóndi ' of a letter addressed by certain Icelanders to the Norwegian king, Magnus Law-Amender, in the year 1275[4]. In the year 1283 we find indubitable mention of him in
- ↑ Her genealogy is given at length in Landnámabók, pt. ii. ch. xxv.
- ↑ Cf. Munch, ' Om Rigsraaden Hr. Hauk Erlendsson,' in Annaler forNordisk Oldkyndighed, Copenh. 1847, pp. 172, 173.
- ↑ Cf. Jon Þorkelsson, Nokkur blöð úr Hauksbók, Reykjavik, 1865, pp. iii-vi.
- ↑ Cf. Diplomatarium Islandicum, Copenh. 1888, vol. ii. p. 125, and, Safn til Sögu Islands, Copenh. 1 86 1, vol. ii. p. 44.
