A TIMELINE OF NORSE VOYAGES

Written by Graham on Thursday 2nd March 2023.

This page attempts to list and detail various expeditions which set out from the Scandinavian north, leading to the discovery of the Americas and the iconic Viking Age.

• 521: Chlochilaicus, king of the Danes or Geats, dies during a raid on Francia. He is likely the Hygelāc of Beowulf, which reports his demise at the hands of the Hetware (Chattuarii).
• 612: Norwegians in Shetland by perhaps the start of the 7th century. Raids in the Hebrides and north-western Ireland. Pirates from the Orcades mentioned.
• c.825: Grímur Kamban settles on the Faroe Islands.
• c.850: Naddoðr makes landfall on Iceland.
• 859: the Wisu of the Arabs are the Ves placed by Nestor on Bielo-ozero.
• c.860: Garðar Svavarsson on Iceland, which he names Garðarshólmur.
• 862: Rurik becomes ruler of the Rus'.
• c.870: Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson's expedition on Iceland.
• 874: foundation of Reykjavik.
• c.900: Gunnbjörn Ulfsson (or Ulf-Krakuson) discovers the Gunnbjarnarsker between Iceland and Greenland.
• c.900: Örvar-Oddr's travels take him to Helluland, where he encounters his nemesis Ögmundr Flóki at Skuggifjord.
• 911: Rollo granted lands in Normandy.
• c.920: Eric Blood-Axe's expedition into Bjarmeland.
• c.965: Harold Grafeld, son of Eric Blood-Axe, fights the Bjarmas on Vinu bakka.
• c.970: abortive attempt to settle Gunnbjarnarsker.
• c.978: Hauk's Landnamabok has Snaebjorn Galti Holmsteinsson and Rolf of Raudesand accompanied by 24 men (including Thorkel and Sumarlide, sons of Thorgeir Raud son of Einar of Stafholt), Thorodd of Thingnes and Styrbjorn, seeking Gunnbjarnarsker and finding land. Styrbjorn slew Thorodd and then he and Rolf slew Snaebjorn, possibly in Eastern Greenland.
• c.982: the outlaw Eiríkur rauði Þorvaldsson - Erik the Red - is the first Norseman to settle on Greenland.
• c.983: Ari Marsson discovers Hvítramannaland, a.k.a. Írland hið mikla.
• 986: Bjarni Herjólfsson sights land west of Greenland.
• c.990: the Floamanna-saga has Thorgils Orrabeinsfostre voyaging down the east coast of Greenland and seeing two troll-women in skins carrying off parts of a stranded sea monster. He chopps off one of their hands.
• c.999: exiled from Iceland, Bjorn Asbrandson makes his way to Hvítramannaland.
• c.1000: Leif Eiríksson on Vínland.
• c.1001: the Floamanna-saga describes Thorgils Orrabeinsfostre leaving Iceland with thirty family members and retainers in about 1001 to join Eric the Red in Greenland. They were wrecked on the east coast of Greenland and arrived in the Eastern Settlement four years later. The saga dates to c.1400. Nansen places Thorgils' putative beaching near Angmagsalik or slightly south therefrom.
• 1003: Þórvaldr Eiríksson dies in the Vínland region.
• c.1010: Þorfinnr karlsefni Þórðarson on Vínland.
• 1026: Thore Hund, Karle and Gunnstein in Bjarmeland. After trading, they sack the sanctuary of Jomale and its grave-monds.
• c.1029: Gudleif Gudlaugson meets Bjorn Asbrandson in Hvítramannaland.
• c.1050: Halli Geit journeys from Greenland to Norway on foot: "he alone succeeded in coming by land on foot over mountains and glaciers and all the wastes, and past all the gulfs of the sea to Gandvik and then to Norway. He led with him a goat, and lived on its milk; he often found valleys and narrow openings between the glaciers, so that the goats could feed either on grass or in the woods."
• c.1055: set most likely about this time, the Faroese lay of Finnur hinn Friđi concerns the son of a Norewegian jarl, who seeks the hand of Ingebjorg, daughter of the king of Ireland. Finnur and his brother Halfdan set out for Vinland, defeating the three Wine-kings: Thorstein, Ivint and the third, who turns himself into a fearsome dragon.
• c.1060: Harald Harðráða "explored the expanse of the Northern Ocean in his ships," until "there lay before their eyes at length the darksome bounds of a failing world, and by retracing his steps he barely escaped in safety the vast pit of the abyss."
• c.1065: Bjorn Jonsson records the tale of Lik-Lodin from the Tosta Thattr. He "in summer he often ransacked the northern uninhabited regions and brought to church the corpses of men that he found in caves, whither they had come from the ice or from shipwreck; and by them there often lay carved runes about all the circumstances of their misfortunesand sufferings." The Tosta-thattr states that he had his name from gathering the bodies of Finn Fegin and his crew from Finn's booths, east of the glaciers in Greenland."
• c.1090: Hakon Magnusson, son of the king, undertakes an expedition to Bjarmeland.
• 1121: Eirikr Upsi Gnupsson, bishop of Greenland, seeks Vinland. The context suggests that it was as yet undiscovered, else its precise location was forgotten. The latter seems perhaps more likely.
• 1122-1123: the Greenlanders seek a new bishop.
• 1124: Arnaldr consecrated as bishop of Greenland at Lund.
• 1123: Einar Sokkason, according to the Flateyjarbok, sailed from Greenland to Norway to bring a bishop and was accompanied on his way back by Arnbjorn Austman and some more Norwegians, who were wrecked.
• 1129: the bodies of Einar Sokkason, Arnbjorn Austman and company are found near the Hvitserk glacier by Sigurd Njalsson, a Greenlander who "often went seal hunting in the autumn to the uninhabited regions," who discovered 15 bodies.
• c.1180: Einar Þorgeirsson was aboard a ship which was lost. Einar and two others, after quarrels over food in the east, crossed towards the Eastern Settlement over land, dying only a day away from the settlement.
• 1189: according to Gudmund Arason's Saga and the Icelandic annals, Stangarfóli, a ship bound for Iceland from Bergen carrying Ingimund Þorgeirsson, a priest and brother of Einar, was driven onto the uninhabited parts of Greenland, with every hand lost. They were wrecked, says Nansen, in the south, near Cape Farewell.
• 1189: the Greenlander Asmund Kastanrasti came to Iceland with twelve others from Kross-eyjar. He had also been in Finnsbuđir.
• 1194: Svalbard said to have been discovered.
• 1217: Ogmund of Spanheim in Hardanger, Svein Sigurdsson of Sogn and Andres of Sjomaeling of Nordmor, along with Helge Bograngsson of Halgoland, in Bjarmeland. While Svein and Andres return home the same year, Helge remains over winter and is killed. Ogmund goes to Suzdal and via Russia, the Black Sea and the Holy Land.
• 1222: a punitive expedition is launched with Andres Skjaldarbrand and Ivar Utvik (the officers in Nordland) with four ships. On the return, Ivar's ship lost in the Straumneskinn whirlpool (Sviatoi Nos?).
• 1247-1261: the reign of Hakon Hakonsson, during which Greenland - formerly a free state - threw in its lot with Norway.
• 1251: treaty between Hakon and Alexander Nevsky mentions disturbances in the east in Finmark, after which the Karelians and Russians appear more frequently.
• 1267: a voyage from Norđrsetur mentioned, credited by Bjorn Jonsson to a priest, Halldor. No dwelling found further north than Kroksfjarđarheiđr.
• 1282: a papal bull states that Greenland tithes paid in ox-hides, sealskins and walrus ivory.
• 1285: an annal written in about 1306 records the discovery of land west of Iceland by Adalbrand and Thorvald, sons of Helge, with a c.1360 annal calling them Duneyiar (= Penguin and Bacaloa islands?). Nansen places this land at Angmagsalik or further south.
• 1288-1290: King Erik sends Rolf to Iceland to raise a party to seek the new land.
• 1294: trade with Norway's tributaries (Greenland included) made a royal privilege.
• 1295: death of Landa-Rolf.
• c.1300: a runestone attests a Norse presence north of Uperinvik.
• 1307: foundation of the fortress of Vardohus.
• 1308: Bishop Arne of Bergen writes to Bishop Tord in Greenland on 22nd June, taking it for granted that news of King Eric's death in 1299 had not reached Greenland.
• 1326: another treaty about White Sea trade.
• 1340: a volcanic eruption causes devastation in Iceland.
• 1341: Bishop Hakon of Bergen dispatches Ivar Bardsson to Greenland. His account suggests that the people of the Western Settlement had relatively recently joined forces with the Inuit. He also records a mountain north of the Western Settlement, Hemelrachs felld, beyond which there were many whirlpools, making passage beyond impossible.
• 1342: the Annals of Bishop Gisle Oddson (written in 1637 and highly unreliable) claim that "the inhabitants of Greenland voluntarily forsook the True Faith" and "turned to the people of America" (the Inuit).
• 1346: the Knarren returns to Bergen.
• 1347: a Greenland ship bound for Markland driven to Iceland.
• 1348: the shipwrecked Greenlanders in Iceland head to Norway.
• 1349: Norway devastated by the Black Death.
• c.1350: Samson Fagre's Saga states that "Risaland lies east and north of the Baltic, and to the north-east of it lies the land that is called Jotunheimar, and there dwell trolls and evil spirits, but from thence until it meets the uninhabited parts of Greenland goes the land that is called Svalbard; there dwell various peoples."
• c.1350: Ranulph Higden places Wyntlandia (Witland, Wintlandia, Wineland) and Islandia in the west.
• 1354: much activity aimed at preventing the apostasy of Greenland.
• c.1355: the Knarren sets out for Greenland again.
• c.1363: the Knarren returns again to Bergen.
• 1364: Ivar Bardsson back in Norway.
• 1366: the Knarren undergoes a refit.
• 1367: the Knarren wrecked north of Bergen.
• 1368: a new ship, replacing the Knarren is assumed to have taken the new bishop, Alf, though Greenland had been without a bishop for 19 years.
• 1369: the new Greenland ship sinks off Norway.
• 1377: death of the last bishop in Gardar.
• 1379: the Gottskalks Annall (2nd half of the 16th century) records an Inuit attack on the Eastern Settlement which killed 18 men of the Greenlanders, taking two boy slaves.
• 1385: Bjorn Einarsson Jorsalafarer was driven with four vessels to Greenland, staying until 1387. He states that the bishop of Gardar was dead and an old priest perfoemed his role.
• 1387: Bjorn Einarsson rescued two trolls from a skerry.
• 1388: Bishop Hendrick went to Greenland.
• 1389: a royal document states that Bjorn Einarsson, when he returned to Bergen in 1388, was acquitted of having traded illegally with Greenland, due to necessity.
• 1392: plague in Norway.
• 1393: Bergen sacked by the Victual Brothers.
• 1397: the Kalmar Union and union with Denmark also played a hand in weakening Norwegian influence during this period.
• 1406: the Icelanders Thorstein Helmingsson, Snorre Thorvason and Thorgrim Solvason are driven off course en route home from Norway and land in Greenland, where they stay for "four winters."
• 1406: Andreas or Endride Andreasson, says Torfaeus, appointed bishop of Greenland.
• 1407: Kolgrim burnt for seducing Thorgrim Solvason's wife by witchcraft in Greenland's Eastern Settlement.
• 1408: one of the icelanders marries.
• 1410: all notices from Greenland cease.
• 1411: Snorre Thorvason, returning from Norway, is wrecked in Iceland. His wife Gudrun has married another man, Gisle, in his absence.
• 1412: Russian sources have the people of Savolotchie (near the Dvina) attack Norway. A Norwegian source from 1420 names the target as northern Halogaland. The Norwegians attacked the Savolotchie region in 1419 in response.
• 1429: Bergen sacked.
• 1432: Pietro Querini wrecked on Rost. He saw a polar bear skin on the Metropolitan's chair in Trondheim.
• 1433: Pope Eugenius IV appoints Bartholomaeus as Bishop of Greenland.
• 1444-1445: a Karelian raid provokes a Norwegian response the following year.
• 1448: Nicholas V writes to two bishops of Iceland, actually claimants, Germans called Marcellus and Mathaeus. An Inuit attack in 1418 on the Eastern Settlement is mentioned, though likely spurious.
• 1431: Eric of Pomerania complains to Henry VI of English trade with Norway's subjects since c.1411. A complaint was lodged as early as 1413.
• 1450: Michel Beheim is in Norway, and writes a poem mentioning "schrelinge" three "spans" high.
• 1451: after this date, Bristol - including many Norwegians - seems to have virtually monopolised trade with Iceland, which was made free in 1490.
• 1456: Bjorn Thorleifsson and his wife were saved by a troll man and woman when they were wrecked on the coast of Greenland.
• 1484: according to a statement in Peyrere's Relation du Groenland (1647), one Oluf Worm of Copenhagen had found a statement in an old manuscript of more than 40 men in Bergen at this time with experience of yearly voyages to Greenland.
• 1490: trade with Iceland made free.
• 1492-1493: Alexander VI's letter to the Benedictine Mathias, who applied to be made bishop of Greenland.
• 1492-1493: a papal letter describing the Greenlanders as having been abandoned.
• 1494: around this time, Pining and Pothorst credited with putting a marker on Hvitserk, an island off Greenland.
• 1489-1490: Pining in Iceland.
• c.1520: while Michel Beheim claims the "Pygmies" are warlike, Walkendorf makes them harmless.
• c.1532: Jacob Ziegler states that the Greenlanders "have almost lapsed to heathendom."
• 1553: Richard Chancellor reached the Dvina.
• an Inuit tale tells of Igaliko, the last remaining chief of the Northmen in Greenland, who dwelt on the north of Igalikofjord. He had a family, including a young son.