The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985-1503 | Page 5

account of the lack of harmony in details, has been the source of much confusion, but which nevertheless gives strong testimony concerning the verity of the Vinland tradition in its general outlines.
The saga which has best stood the test of modern criticism, namely the "Saga of Eric the Red," has beyond this fact the additional advantage of having come down to us in two different vellums. The one is found in Hauk's Book, No. 544 of the Arne-Magn?an Collection in Copenhagen, and the other is in No. 557 of the same collection. These two narratives (in vellums 544 and 557) tell the same story. They are so closely allied that the translation which appears in this volume has been made from a collation of both texts, that of Hauk's Book (544) having been more closely followed.[5-1] The Hauk's Book text is clearly legible; No. 557 is not in such good condition.
Many facts in the life of Hauk Erlendsson, who with the assistance of two secretaries made Hauk's Book, are known. He was in 1294 made a "lawman" in Iceland, and died in Norway in 1334. There are reasons for believing that the vellum bearing his name was written a number of years before his death, probably during the period 1310-1320. Hauk was particularly interested in the "Saga of Eric the Red," as he was descended from Thorfinn Karlsefni, the principal character of the saga, a fact that perhaps lends a certain authority to this version as against that of the Flat Island Book. Hauk brings the genealogical data of the saga down to his own time, which is not done in No. 557, one fact among others which shows that 557 is not a copy of 544.
The early history of AM. 557 is not known. The orthography and hand indicate that it was made later than Hauk's Book, probably in the early part of the fifteenth century. Vigfusson considered it a better text than the Hauk's Book version, though rougher and less carefully written.[5-2] Other critics (Jonsson and Gering) consider 544 the safer text.
In regard to the date of composition of the archetype, it may be remarked that both 544 and 557 speak of Bishop Brand "the Elder," which presupposes a knowledge of the second Bishop Brand, whose accession occurred in 1263. Before this date, therefore, the originals used in making 544 and 557 could not have been written. But this mention of Bishop Brand "the Elder" does not, we think, give an adequate basis for fixing the date of the composition of the saga, as Dr. Storm believes, who places it somewhere between 1263 and 1300, with an inclination toward the earlier date. Dr. Finnur Jonsson,[6-1] who accepts Dr. Storm's opinion in other respects, says on this point: "The classic form of the saga and its vivid and excellent tradition surely carry it back to about 1200.... To assume that the saga was first written down about 1270 or after, I consider to be almost an impossibility." Nor does this conservative opinion by Dr. Jonsson preclude the possibility, or even probability, that written accounts of the Vinland voyages existed before this date. John Fiske's[6-2] well-considered opinion of this same saga (544 and 557) has weight: "Its general accuracy in the statement and grouping of so many remote details is proof that its statements were controlled by an exceedingly strong and steady tradition,--altogether too strong and steady, in my opinion, to have been maintained simply by word of mouth." And Vigfusson,[6-3] in speaking of the sagas in general, says: "We believe that when once the first saga was written down, the others were in quick succession committed to parchment, some still keeping their original form through a succession of copies, others changed. The saga time was short and transitory, as has been the case with the highest literary periods of every nation, whether we look at the age of Pericles in Athens, or of our own Elizabeth in England, and that which was not written down quickly, in due time, was lost and forgotten forever."
The absence of contemporary record has caused some American historians to view the narratives of the Vinland voyages as ordinary hearsay. But it is important to remember that before the age of writing in Iceland there was a saga-telling age, a most remarkable period of intellectual activity, by means of which the deeds and events of the seething life of the heroic age were carried over into the age of writing.[7-1] The general trustworthiness of this saga-telling period has been attested in numerous ways from foreign records. Thus Snorri Sturlason's "The Sagas of the Kings of Norway," one of the great history books of the world, written in Iceland in the thirteenth century, was based primarily on early tradition, brought over the sea to Iceland. Yet