The Map from an old book I bought, HEIMSKRINGLA or The Lives of the Norse Kings
Anyone who is interested if the Vikings came to Maine should read everything and anything they can on Vikings, primarily to gain information on Markland and Vinland, to look for clues. I was lucky enough to score a copy of this book, Heimskringla dated 1932, or, as we have translated it, from publisher D. Appleton of New York, "The Lives of the Norse Kings." I was interested primarily to read of Olaf Haraldsson, called Olaf the Peaceful,or referred to Olaf the 3rd of Norway, to tie him into the Maine Norse Penny (The penny that was unearthed in Maine and would have come from the time he was King.) I must admit, once you research one thing, it leads you into something else.
The original book was compiled by Snorri Sturluson (often called Snorri the Skald) however sources argue that it was not original works, and there is much debate over the book. After reading all I could about said problems, I can clearly see it was Snorri's compilation of many previous stories (and tales) compiled into one book. This makes literary sense, if you have ten stories from ten Kings and want to transfer the tales into one book, this is considered a condensed version or compilation version in today's literary society.
The original book,(and the sagas or tales that Snorri pulled them from) would have been written in Old Norse, and Snorri's original in Old Norse. later the book had been translated into Danish, then Latin, and English and there have been many revisions, etc. Even with the help of Jackson Crawford, I cannot get the Old Norse down to the point of reading or writing it, though I am trying.
The book mentions the word Markland on page 228, and again in a different reference on another page. The fact of the matter is the excerpt on page 228 is in the tales of Leif Errickson. The reason this is so important is two fold, it puts Leif into the Coastline as no one seems to disagree about Markland being this defination:
FROM WIKIPEDIA: "Markland (Old Norse pronunciation: [ˈmɑrkˌlɑnd]) is the name given to one of three lands on North America's Atlantic shore discovered by Leif Eriksson around 1000 AD. It was located south of Helluland and north of Vinland Markland is somewhere NORTH of Vinland and south of HELLULAND based on the tales. "
My book ,includes fold out maps in perfect condition from the time of each reign of each King, so it really helps me understand more. If you look closely, I've put tags for modern day Maine and New Brunswick, within the 1932 map.
Many theories have been thrown around exactly where Vinland was, Markland was, Helluland was, and the land of the Skraeling but that's another post, meant for later.
Ironically there are also more maps, meant for later.
I just see plain as day that the Land on the map interpreted by the book publisher as Vinland and Markland is clearly the coast of modern-day Maine.
I would have to agree with him.
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