Who Were The Skrælings In The Tales Of The Norsemen?
- Please note that when the term discovered is used/applied in this article, it refers to the European perspective of a discovery of a territory, given the fact that the territories mentioned here had been already discovered and, consequently, inhabited by the Native Americans prior to the arrival of the Norsemen.
The Skrælings were a group of Native Americans which the Norsemen encountered in Vinland, present-day Newfoundland, on the eastern coast of Canada, after they arrived there in circa 1000 AD, being led by Leif Erikson, also known as Leif the Lucky. These Native Americans were, actually, the Beothuk population whose culture’s territorial extent covered Newfoundland (Vinland in the Icelandic sagas). However, the term ‘Skrælings’ also applied to the Native Americans of Markland (i.e. Woodland, another land named and discovered by the Norsemen in North America, alongside Helluland). Markland (situated most likely on the coast of the Labrador peninsula) was a land that was discovered by the Norsemen before they landed in Vinland (Vínland in Old Norse and Icelandic, literally meaning the ‘land of wine’; however, vin, without the accent on the ‘i’ can also mean meadow/plain in Old Norse). Markland was a land rich in timber which was taken to Greenland as well (a land scarce in forests). Another land discovered and named by the Norsemen which is situated in present-day Canada is Helluland (corresponding, most likely, to Baffin Island).
Artist’s impression of a Viking Age longship being spotted by a group of Native Americans (most likely the Beothuk population, also referred to as Skrælings in Old Norse). Illustration taken from America’s story for America’s children by Pratt-Chadwick, Mara L. (Mara Louise) in 1900. Image source: Commons Wikimedia
The Skrælings from the island of Newfoundland, present-day part of Newfoundland and Labrador province in south-eastern Canada (the easternmost province of the country), were, actually, the Beothuk population. While initially hostile towards the newly colonised Norse population, the Beothuk population (or the Skrælings) subsequently turned economically-friendly towards their new neighbours, but only for a brief period of time, eventually resuming the clashes or skirmishes with them. Later on, the Native Americans managed to defeat and drive off the Norsemen in Vinland (one of their major advantages of the Beothuk population being the strength in their numbers compared to the other belligerent side).
The extinct Native American Beothuk population (one of the First Nations of Canada) were the Skrælings with whom the Norsemen entered in contact in Newfoundland (and the ancestors of the subsequent Beothuk culture which started in circa 1500, as you can see here on Wikimedia Commons). Nevertheless, the Mi’kmaq (the largest First Nation in the eastern Maritime Provinces of Canada as well as partly native to the American states of Maine and Massachusetts) deny that they went extinct. Instead, some indigenous oral stories claim that the few surviving Beothuks intermarried with other Native American groups, most notably the Innu (Montagnais), on the mainland, thereby living on in other Native American communities after they were pushed back by later European colonists. In this photograph, a Beothuk family is represented in a museum in Canada. Image source: Commons Wikimedia
The etymology of the term Skræling stems from Old Norse, more specifically from the disputed word ‘skrælingi‘. This could mean ‘dried skins’, derived from the Old Norse word ‘skrá‘, in relation to the animal skins worn by these Native Americans. Nevertheless, Danish scholar, philologist, and professor William Thalbitzer (who taught Eskimo studies at the University of Copenhagen) came with a theory according to which the term Skræling was actually derived from the Old Norse word ‘skrækja’ which means ‘shout’ (in relation to the screams of the Beothuk population). Whatever the truth regarding the origin of the term Skræling, it certainly carried a negative connotation and was used in a derogative manner. To further prove this, one needs to take a brief closer look at the meaning of the term in two modern North Germanic languages: the word ‘skrælingi’ (plural form: skrælingjar) in Icelandic means ‘barbarian’ whereas the Danish counterpart ‘skrælling’ means ‘weakling’.
A small map depicting the voyages of the Norsemen leading to Vinland: 1 – Faroe Islands, 2 – Iceland, 3 – Eastern Settlement in Greenland (known as Eystribygð in Old Norse), 4 – Western Settlement in Greenland (known as Vestribygð), 5 – Helluland (i.e. Baffin Island, most likely), 6 – Markland (i.e. a certain part of the Labrador peninsula, most likely), 7 – L’anse-aux-Meadows, Vinland/Newfoundland and 8 – Saint Lawrence Bay. Original source: NASA satellite photograph modified by Tiina Toomet. Image source: Commons Wikimedia
The blanket term Skrælings was therefore applied to both the Native Americans in North America (not only the native now extinct Beothuk population in Newfoundland) but also the Inuits from the regions north of Vinland as well as to the Inuits that the Norsemen encountered in Greenland (i.e. the Thule people, the proto-Inuit people native to this island and the ancestors of all Inuit). Nowadays, the UNESCO-recognised archaeological site of L’anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland represents a strong testimony to the Norse presence in North America.
The island of Newfoundland (named and known to the Norse as Vinland), part of the Newfoundland & Labrador province, Canada, as seen from above in 2002 (photograph by NASA). Image source: Commons Wikimedia
The geographic location of L’anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, south-eastern Canada. Image source: Commons Wikimedia
Documentation sources, external links, and see also:
- Canada on www.britannica.com
- Evidence of Early Metalworking in Arctic Canada, academic paper on www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
- Beothuk on www.wikipedia.org (in English)
- Skræling on www.wikipedia.org (in English)
- L’Anse aux Meadows on www.wikipedia.org (in Norwegian Bokmål)
- Skræling on www.wikipedia.org (in Norwegian Bokmål)
- Skræling on www.wikipedia.org (in Norwegian Nynorsk)
- Who were the Skrælings? on www.canadianmysteries.ca
- Westward Vikings – The Saga of L’Anse aux Meadows by Birgitta Linderoth Wallace on www.warehamforge.ca
- Dorset Culture on www.thecanadianencyclopaedia.ca (The Canadian Encyclopedia)
- Anne Stine Ingstad, Norwegian archaeologist at L’anse-aux-Meadows on www.wikipedia.org (in English)
- Helge Ingstad, Norwegian archaeologist at L’anse-aux-Meadows on www.wikipedia.org (in English)
- Beothuk Culture on www.heritage.nf.ca (Heritage Newfoundland & Labrador)
- Beothuk on www.heritage.nf.ca (Heritage Newfoundland & Labrador)
- Beothuk on www.britannica.com (Encyclopædia Britannica online)
- Mi’kmaq on www.britannica.com (Encyclopædia Britannica online)
Regarding L’Ance aux Meadows:
a) the posts that carried the roof were cut with an iron axe which indigenous people in America did not possess at that time. They were dated by counting tree rings from a marker ring which grew during an extreme solar flare year which is precisely known. They were found to have been felled in the year 1021, no sooner and no later. From the saga texts it is fairly certain that Snorri Þorfinsson Karlsefnis was born between 1004 and 1013.
b) the butternut husks found in the hall building were carbon dated to the early to middle of the thirteenth century.
c) this shows that the building was used intermittently for a long time. It fits with a similar find in NE Iceland, where at Stöð in Stöðvarfjörður, a resource gathering camp has been excavated. There was a large hall and a smitty found in that place as well.
d) Neither in LAnce aux Meadows nor in Stöð in Stöðvarfjörður were there any buildings associated with domestic animal husbandry. These people were farmers and no Norse settlement has been found anywhere without buildings associated with animal husbandry.
e) In Eiriks saga Rauða there are quite detailed descriptions of the coastline, the vegetation and the tides. These descriptions do not fit LAnce aux Meadows at all, but they fit the coastline from Bay of Fundy to about Rockport Maine to a “T”.
f) In both accounts of settlement attempts, there are descriptions of the relationship between the would-be Norse settlers and the indigenous people. This relationship was extremely tense, and it seems that every encounter ended up in a fight.
g) It makes perfect sense in such a situation to establish a timber logging camp in an area where would be attachers can be seen whether they come over sea or over land. Lance aux Meadows is such a place. Situated on a barren peninsula only a short sailing from extensive forest areas where timber logging can proceed in broad daylight.
h) In Eiriks saga Rauða there is an account of Þorfinnur Karlsefni on returning from Vineland to Iceland via Greenland and Norway where he went to sell resources from Vineland. The saga recounts that when he was preparing his ship to sail to Iceland, a merchant from Bremen in Saxland approached him and bought a timber chest that Þorfinnur had with him from Vinland, paying 1/2 an aunch of gold for the chest. “The merchant asked what timber the chest was made of. Þorfinnur did not know the name, but it was Mössur” wrote the scribe 230 years approximately after Þorfinnur sold the chest.
i) this shows that the scribe, writing for an Icelandic audience, knew the name(s) of Vineland timber(s) in the early to mid thirteenth century, when the saga was written.
j) This timing fits close enough the time that the butternut husks were discarded in the hall in LAnce aux Meadows, showing that there was timber logging in North America at about that time.
k) Butternut Hickory grows and grew as far north as Main and New Brunswick, but not any further north. Same goes for grapes, and Vinland means Wineland or Grapeland.
l) In Eiriks saga Rauða there is an account of Tyrkir (one of the men travelling with Leifur on the first voyage to Vinland) finding wild grapes. It goes on to say that Leifur split his group in two, one had the task of felling trees while the other had the task to pluck grapes.
Yes the only verified discovery of Norse having been in North America are the buildings found at l’Ance aux Meadows in Newfoundland.
However in the hall at l’Ance aux Meadows, butternut husks were discovered. Butternut Hickory, which produces butternuts grows and grew only as far north as New Brunswick and Maine, one being Canada the other US. / The description of the coastline, vegetation, tides and currents in the sagas fits the coastline from the Bay of Fundy New Brunswick to approximately Rockport Maine to a “T”, but they do not fit l’Ance aux Meadows at all.
Summary :
l’Ance aux Meadows was likely a camp for timber loggers, used intermittently from the time it was built in 1021 (based on counting tree-rings in the columns that carried the roof, from a marker ring affected by excessive Solar flair radiation, i.e. an accurate timeline), until at least when the butternut husks were discarded. The butternut husks have been carbon dated to the early to middle of the thirteenth century.
This is borne out in Eiriks saga Rauða, which was written about 1230. In it there is an account of Þorfinnur Karlsefni, after abandoning his attempted settlement in Vinland to return to his native Iceland via Greenland and Norway where he went in order to sell items from Vinland. When he was preparing his ship to sail to Iceland, a merchant from Bremen in Saxland came to his ship and bought a timber chest that Þorfinnur had with him from Vinland. “The merchant asked what timber the chest was made from. Þorfinnur did not know the name, but it was Mössur”, wrote the scribe in about 1230, when the story was written. This shows that roughly 220 years after Þorfinnur Karlsefni sold the chest, the scribe (and Icelanders for whom the story was written) knew the name(s) of Vinland and most likely other timbers from North America. The time of the writing and the discarded butternut husks also correspond quite neatly.
Regarding the “disputed” word skrælingi.
This word is not disputed by the people who speak Icelandic and read old Norse like their native language. Skræ means the same as “hide” in English. Skrælingi means “a person clad in hide(s). This term was used for Inuits as well as native Americans.
There is no question about the feelings the Norse had for “skrælingjar”. Almost all of tveir communication with them included fighting.
The native Americans wanted to buy (or acquire by another means) iron weapons from the Norse, and they would not sell or give up their weapons.
There was no period it seems from the sagas that there as peaceful commerce between the two groups, and as neither group could understand the other, there was no meaningful discussion between them.
Thank you for reading the article and for your comment! As always, very informative and accurate! All the best, much respect, and have an excellent day!