The Voyage of Powell Knutsson: Encyclopedia Arctica 14: Greenland, Svalbard, Etc. Geography and General

A Lost Expedition to Greenland — and Markland?

A rarely mentioned Greenland expedition, which had no scientific purpose but which was undertaken in honor of the Cross, was once launched by Magnus Eriksson (called "Smok"), the first king of the union of Sweden and Norway (1319-1355). King Magnus' "Letter of Command" regarding this expedition is dated in the year 1354. His order is extant in writing, although now only in a late copy, in which the order has been translated from Old Swedish to older Danish. The copy of the diploma is in the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen, and has been reproduced in Part III of Grønlands historiske Mindesm ae ^ æ ^ rker (pp. 121-122). Following is a somewhat revised version in English translation (with comments):

"King Magni Letter of Command [ befalingsbrev ] given Powell Knutsson at Anarm [i.e., Onarheim ] ordering him to sail to Greenland.

"Magnus, by the Grace of God King of Norway, Sweden and Skone [Skåne, now Skåne Province of Sweden] sends to all men who see or hear this letter God's Health and Spirit.

"We want you to know that you [Powell Knutsson] are to take with you all such men as are willing to journey in the knarr [ship] — whether they are called [ n ae ^ æ ^ vnte ] or not called — from among all my henchmen or other men's retainers, and other men whom you can persuade to go along; for Powell Knutsson, whi is to be commander of the knarr , 1 / has full authority to appoint both as officers and ¹

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subordinates [ mesterm ae ^ æ ^ nd oc sv ae ^ æ ^ nne ] those men he likes best; we request you to accept this order with right good will for the cause, that we do this in God's honor and for the sake of our souls and for our forefathers, who brought Christendom to Greenland and maintained it to this day, and it shall not fall away in our time . Know that whoever disobeys our order shall feel our true wrath and shall be held responsible for breach of the letter [fined for trans– gression].

"Done in Bergen the Monday after Simoni and Judae day [28 October] in the 36th year of our reign [ [: ] 1354]. Here örmer östinsson, our Keeper of the Seal [ drott sa ^ ŝâ ^ ter , drost — Lord Chamberlain] affixed the seal."

This is a remarkable document. Powell Knutsson was one of the king's high officials. In 1345 he had been delegate in Bergen for the king's mother, Duchess Ingeborg, and in 1347-48 he was lovsigemand [law speaker] at Gulathing [parlia– ment, assizes]. He was one of Norway's leading men — and now in glorious and inviting terms King Magnus delegates to him the position as commander of a great missionary expedition to Greenland. It appears that the king desires Powell Knutsson to select choice men from the retinue ("my henchmen"); he is even to address himself first and foremost to the specially recommended or "called" men, who cannot easily ignore the royal wish; but otherwise he is to have free choice in the selection of his companions.

The purpose of the expedition is on the highest plane, and can best be understood against the background of those crusade-like expeditions which King Magnus had led into Russia in previous years (1347-1348 ) and 1351) in order to force upon the Russians conversion to the Roman Catholic faith. That was an enterprise which cost millions, but which unfortunately led only to Sweden's defeat. At approximately the same time the "black death" plague raged across

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Norway, and further impoverished the land. In 1350 the king appealed to Pope Clement VI, who half a year later sent an encouraging reply. The Pope decreed that a holy crusade was to be sent out from both Germany and Poland and the Scandinavian countries against Russia, and he offered Magnus a large loan out of all the tithes forthcoming in the next four years from Sweden-Norway and ad– jacent dependencies. However, after the revenues poured into the king's treasury in 1351, the spread of the black death to Russia prevented the last Russian crusade from being carried through. The king, who had now acquired ample means, then turns to the west instead of to the east; he decides on the missionary ex– pedition to Greenland. Presumably, King Magnus had often thought of such an expedition before.

"Christendom shall not fall away in Greenland." Up there, Christendom was also threatened, by the heathen Skraelinger (Eskimos) who in the preceding years had come down from the north to the Western Colony time and again, perhaps only for the purpose of re-occupying the hunting grounds in the South Greenland fjords which they had formerly visited and which were better than those in the central part of the west coast. But thereby the Eskimos involuntarily came into conflict with the Icelandic farmer inhabitants of the settlements, and when they came down from the north the Western Colony was the first to be affected.

In Historia Norwegiae , which was written in 1250 or thereafter, 2 / we find early references to skirmishes with Eskimos in the northern settlements on the west coast. A century later the Eskimos have moved in on the colonists, and already appear to have displaced the latter in the most northerly regions. We are told about this by Ivar Bårdsson , the Norwegian priest who was himself born ²

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in Greenland and who for about 27 years, beginning in 1341, functioned as deputy for the bishop at the Gardar Cathedral during the lengthy episcopal interregnum there. His words are recorded in translation in a short work, a 14th century description of Greenland, which begins as follows: Så siger vise m ae ^ æ ^ nd, som fødte ehre udi Grønland [Thus say wise men who were born in Greenland], etc. This work has frequently been commented upon. 3 / In the present article we will confine ourselves to citing a passage from the latter part of the work (in English translation):

"Furthermore, all this that has been said above was told to us by Iffver Bardsen [ [: ] Ivar Bårdeson], Greenlander [Grønlaender — here used more or less as part of the man's name], who was head of the Bishop's Seat in Gardum on Green– land for many years. He said that he had witnessed all of it, and he was one of those appointed by the Law Lord [ Lagmand ] to set forth to the Western Colony against the Skr ae ^ æ ^ llings [Eskimoe] in order to drive them out of the colony. And when they came there they found no men, neither Christian nor heathen, but only some wild cattle and sheep. And they fed on the wild cattle and [: ] took with them as many cattle as the ship could hold, and so they sailed back home to the Eastern Colony. And the above-mentioned Iffver was with them."

Accordingly, Ivar Bårdsson found the Western Colony deserted; only some freely roaming cattle were to be seen. That was presumably in the summer of 1342. The fact that Ivar did not meet a single person — not even women or children — could indicate that the region (as far as he explored it) had been ³

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voluntarily evacuated by the Icelandic colonial farmers and their families — without violent pressure on the part of the Eskimos.

Another Icelandic story, which refers to an occurrence in the Western Colony the same year, would agree with the above, but the only extant copy is of a much later date, 1637 (rendered from Latin in English, below):

From Grønlands annaler :

"In 1342 the inhabitants of Greenland abandoned the true faith and the Christian religion; and after they had discarded all good habits and true virtues they turned toward America's savage people. There are some who believe that Greenland lies rather close to the western regions of the world. Thus it followed that Christians began to keep away from the Greenland waters...." 4 /

Here it is regretfully stated that the Icelandic members of the Western Colony had left the Christian community about 200 years earlier, and had emigrated to the heathen folk, the Skraellings , on the other side of the ocean, in Markland or Vin o land. [But the copy is so much later than the original that the modern name of America has been employed instead of Markland and Vinland.] They must have done this in the hope of encountering fellow-countrymen or their descend– ants over there in America. Just as the earlier Icelanders had succumbed to the lure of Greenland in the days of Erik the Red, these men were also tempted by beautiful names like "Vinland the Good" and "Markland" [the latter means wood– land]. They counted, perhaps, on meeting traders from the settlements, who through the years — possibly still — voyaged to those coasts which were memor– ⁴

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able since the says of Lief and Karlsefni. 5 / I have pointed out that rare fur products reached Europe in the Middle Ages, coming from America over Greenland. The Norsemen in Greenland had their own vessels in which they were able to undertake long journeys to remote parts of Greenland and to America. They were often in America, hunting and trading. 6 /

Not much news sifted out of Greenland. Perhaps the Greenlanders found it most prudent not to reveal the source of their valuables. But in 1347 a Green– landic ship that had been in Markland happened to be driven to Iceland by storms, with a crew of 17 on board and a missing anchor. It ran into Strømfjord (on the south side of Snaefellsnaes) — and surely it must have attracted attention! Never in man's memory had a ship come to Iceland direct from Markland. For what reason had that ship been in Markland? Was there any connection with uncertain conditions in Greenland? Were there, perhaps, refugees from the Western Colony on board? Undoubtedly, the Greenlanders brought sensational news. The leading Icelandic politician of the time, Jon Guttormsøn, member of a rich and respected family, got in touch with them [he was in bad grace with the Norwegian king at the time and needed political support, which might possibly be obtained in this way]; consewuently, in the following year 1348 he journeyed to Norway along with these Greenlandic traders, and visited the king's court. King Magnus had just recently donated a large sum of money to the cathedral in Greenland, and had in ^{5 6}

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various ways evidenced his interest in Greenland. The knörr had returned from the Greenland expedition the previous year with an exceptionally valuable cargo in her hold. 7 / The reports of these travelers from Markland on conditions in the Western Colony surely gave the king food for thought, worried as he was about the fate of the Christian church in the east and west.

But now a catastrophe struck — the black death broke out all over the northern countries. In those years it spread out from Asia across Europe, and threatened to wipe out entire nations. Even in sparsely settled Norway and Sweden it wrested away nearly a third of the population. Iceland and Greenland (?) alone seem to have escaped. 8 /

The arrival of the Markland ship in Norway in 1348, prior to the outbreak of the plague, undoubtedly had certain results. The old traditions regarding Greenland and Vinland had always been kept up both in Iceland and in Norway. Now the relationship with America at once became very much alive again.

Unfortunately, our sources from the years immediately preceding and immed– iately following 1347 are very scanty. Neither annals nor other documents state what kind of goods or new information the crew of the Markland ship brought in. It is probable that Greenland, the Eskimos' attacks, etc., must have made a deep impression.

The years passed. In the period following 1350 the King of Norway and Sweden was so hard pressed by his obligations to the Pope (among other things the mortgage on Skåne) that it was logical — after the unsuccessful and costly ^{7 8}

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Russian crusades — for him to turn westward with an expedition to "the rich Greenland." His knörr usually returned home with valuable cargoes, and tithes came in from the colonies there in the form of costly furs and ivory (walrus teeth). To be sure, Christendom was not to "fall away" in Greenland — there riches, power and honor were to be acquired! King Magnus had arrived at the great crisis of his life. In 1350 (the annals relate) King Magnus and Queen Blanche came to Bergen, and the king then gave Sweden to his son Erik, and Nor– way to Haakon, and with high ceremony placed them on the throne, and decreed that they should have a retinue; but for himself he retained Haalogoland, Ice– land, the Faroe Islands and Hjaltland [for his own disposal]. There is no men– tion of Greenland, but it was usually combined with Iceland. A great decision had been made, and the plan was to be put into practice within five years. It meant the dissolution of the union.

But a plan for a crusade to Greenland provided a solution, a remedy. Out there lay a road to salvation! Inside of five months the plan matured — and, as we have seen, the orders were issued.

This expedition to Greenland was of course carried out in accordance with the royal orders; there are no grounds for doubting that. It is impossible to determine how many men, "called or not called," responded to Powell Knutsson's appeal for support; but, considering the times, it is probable that a consider– able group of young men in the king's service — both from Norway and from Sweden — were willing to set forth on the adventure. The upplandske m ae ^ æ ^ nd [men from Upp– land, Sweden] were responsbble for placing Magnus on the throne of Norway [see Erikskrøniken], and the king was on the best of terms with the Göter 9 / [Gothlanders, of East and West Götaland, Sweden]. But the Norwegians had the best understanding ⁹

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of Greenland as the gateway to a greater world; consequently, major support would come from Norway. The knörr was too small a vessel to accommodate all the members of the expedition; presumably one or more ships were made available.

The outcome of the expedition is a matter of conjecture. In the Greenland settlements the men of the Powell Knutsson expedition must have obtained veri– fication of the reports received in Norway from the Markland ship of 1347, and they must also have acquired new information. There is nothing that can lead us to believe that those men settled down in the Greenland colonies. They learned what had happened to the families that had left the Western Colony, and Powell Knutsson adhered to the spirit of the king's letter of Command and with the help of his followers set out in search of the emigrants along the old south– western route. Guided, perhaps, by a man who knew the way, they may first have visited Markland and Vinland. From there they may have gone forth to meet their fate in the great unknown land in the west, never to return.

William Thalbitzer

[Translated from the Danish by Karin Fennow]