Our latest articles delivered to your inbox, once a week: Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University and Michigan State University and University of Missouri. Fields of self-sown wheat and vines were growing there; also, there were trees known as maple, and they took specimens of all of them. "Leif Erikson." Presumably, then, Leif died sometime between 1019 and 1025 CE. By the 19th century CE, before the discovery of L’Anse aux Meadows lifted the Vinland Sagas’ stories from the pages of books into archaeological reality, Leif Erikson was the chosen hero of many of the Scandinavians who emigrated to North America around this time. His mother seems to have sponsored or given her name to a church, Thjodhild's church, built around the end of the 10th century CE, though. In fact, most of what we know about Leif Erikson comes from these two sagas. It was in use for perhaps less than a decade, before a combination of the too-extravagant distance from there to Greenland and competition with natives gave the venture the ‘not worth the hassle’ stamp. This is a possible result of a movement in the 13th century CE which sought to canonise Bishop Björn Gilsson, a direct descendant of theirs. In addition to … Ancient History Encyclopedia Limited is a non-profit company registered in the United Kingdom. Olaf Tryggvason’s role in its spread seems a tad exaggerated, anyway: although he is credited by the sagas as converting the people of Shetland and Orkney, for instance, the archaeological record demonstrates they had already adopted Christianity well before the end of the 10th century CE. Historically, it is possible (or even probable) that the Norse Greenlanders were already Christian around the time of the initial settlement, however. He explores the surrounding area with his crew but is used as a pin-cushion by arrows fired from natives, and dies, far away from home. These could then be stored at L’Anse aux Meadows until they could be ferried back to Greenland. Leif had 7 siblings: Tove Gudrun Green, Ebba Beck (born Green) and 5 other siblings. Janus was born on January 12 1891, in Skovshoved. The settlement, which could have housed between 70-90 people, was set up for work crews who probably used the site as a gateway location, overwintering there and then launching expeditions to other regions where they gathered timber, grapes, furs, and other valuable resources. Leif Erikson (also spelled Leif Eriksson, Old Norse Leifr Eiríksson), nicknamed Leif ‘the Lucky’, was a Norse Viking who is best known for arguably being the first European to have set foot on North American soil along with his crew c. 1000 CE. <> Leif then continues the journey to his original destination, Norway, where he swears loyalty to Olaf Tryggvason, the King of Norway (r. 995-1000 CE), the man who went down in history among others for playing a part in the spread of Christianity among the Norse. In addition to his lead roles in Grease 2 and Joysticks, Green has also appeared on six TV series and a documentary. Johanne was born on April 28 1899. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. The saga describes how the party returns to Greenland, Leif eventually finds out what happened, and condemns her but does not take any further action against her. %���� Web. Leif Green is an American actor and production manager. Books It is not too much of a stretch to believe Leif’s Vinland adventures as depicted in the sagas are at least partially rooted in historical reality. endobj Leif also chanced upon men clinging to a ship’s wreck, whom he brought home and found shelter for over the winter. Leif fits this description: with his father Erik the Red being the head honcho of Norse Greenland around the start of the Vinland journeys, it is likely Erik would have initially overseen or authorised these journeys and that Leif would have functioned as his deputy in actually carrying them out. Erik and Thjodhild seem to have settled down and built a farm they called Eiríksstaðir near Vatnshorn on the Breidafjord, in the west of Iceland, which is probably where Leif was born. Related Content Leif Erikson. Leif’s ancestry lies in Jæren, Norway, where his grandfather Thorvald, son of Asvald Ulfsson, got into such a degree of trouble by killing someone that he packed up his family and fled to Iceland, where the Norse had been present since the last quarter of the 9th century CE. The only other theme the sagas focus on in Leif’s post-Vinland years is his alleged role in spreading Christianity across Greenland – one we have already labelled as dubious or at the very least hard to verify. He is perhaps best known for portraying Davey Jaworski one of the T-Birds in the 1982 sequel to the 1978 motion picture Grease as well as the hero Eugene Groebe in the 1983 sex comedy film Joysticks. Retrieved from https://www.ancient.eu/Leif_Erikson/. They thus fit the sagas’ timeframes. L’Anse aux Meadows was clearly the Viking’s main base in North America - based on the fact that the Norse population in Greenland around 1000 CE would have been too small to support another large settlement in America - and there is no doubt that it corresponds with the Straumfjǫrðr and Leifsbúðir from the sagas. There, Thorvald died, leaving h… <> Last modified September 20, 2018. (Brink & Price, 564). (Erik the Red’s Saga 5, quoted from Smiley, 661). Ancient History Encyclopedia, 20 Sep 2018. https://www.ancient.eu/Leif_Erikson/. Leif also grants his sister-in-law Gudrid and her husband Karlsefni permission to use his houses in Vinland. [citation needed], Green is extensively involved in fundraising for AIDS research and prevention. Erik the Red, founder of the first European settlement on Greenland (c. 985) and the father of Leif Erikson, one of the first Europeans to reach North America. She both writes and edits for AHE. Written by Emma Groeneveld, published on 20 September 2018 under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Leif Green is an American actor and production manager. Cite This Work Eight turf-walled dwellings, including what looks like chieftains’ halls, other large halls, smaller halls and huts, all with large storage spaces and some with workshops built in, were uncovered and date to between 980-1020 CE. -- Leif Green, 2/10/2010. Some Rights Reserved (2009-2020) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted. Emma has studied History & Ancient History. Leif’s brother Thorvald is described in The Saga of the Greenlanders as leading an expedition to Vinland and borrowing both Leif’s ship and his houses at Leifsbúðir for it. Although we know little of Leif’s childhood and early years, we do know his family certainly had a knack for making life interesting. [1], Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, http://grease2.net/cast-interviews/leif-green/, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leif_Green&oldid=970238568, Articles needing additional references from May 2013, All articles needing additional references, Articles lacking reliable references from March 2013, BLP articles lacking sources from March 2013, Articles with multiple maintenance issues, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2014, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Also performs on songs "SCORE TONIGHT" and "PROWLIN", Episode: "The Woman Who Willed a Miracle", This page was last edited on 30 July 2020, at 03:18. Leif had two brothers, Thorstein and Thorvald, as well as a sister, Freydis, who according to Erik the Red’s Saga was an illegitimate daughter of Erik’s. Similarly, Leif’s role in the Christianisation of Greenland should not go unquestioned, either, as Gísli Sigurðsson explains: The people who left Breidafjord in Iceland with Eiríkr the Red in 985 or 986 and settled in Greenland have not left behind any signs of heathen burial customs in Greenland. Leif’s ancestry lies in Jæren, Norway, where his grandfather Thorvald, son of Asvald Ulfsson, got into such a degree of trouble by killing someone that he packed up his family and fled to Iceland, where the Norse had been present since the last quarter of the 9th century CE. He founded what would become the Eastern Settlement on Greenland’s southern tip around 985 CE, picking the choicest morsel of land for himself and his family and setting up a farm called Brattahlíð in the confidently named Eriksfjord. Importantly, they were not eye-witness accounts but concern events dating to more than two centuries before they were written down. The people surrounding him in this initial colonisation of Greenland would have come from Iceland and were mostly chieftains and rich farmers who owned their own ships, probably counting around 500 individuals; they set up stock farms with the domestic animals they had brought along in their ships in the inner fjords where land was comparatively fertile. Probably born in Iceland around 970-980 CE, Leif was the son of the famous Erik the Red who set up the first Viking settlement in Greenland in the late 980s CE. The Ancient History Encyclopedia logo is a registered EU trademark. Either way, Leifsbúðir/Straumfjǫrðr, or whatever it may have been called, became the biggest archaeological boost to Leif’s Vinland story in 1961 CE, when the remains of a Norse settlement were discovered at L’Anse aux Meadows on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula, in present-day Canada. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia Foundation is a non-profit organization. Erik the Red’s Saga claims that Leif’s father Erik refused to convert, although his mother did, and that ‘after her conversion, Thjodhild refused to sleep with Eirik, much to his displeasure.’ (Erik the Red’s Saga 5 in Smiley, 661). Leif Green Net Worth is $2 Million Leif Green Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018 Leif Green is an actor and production manager, known for Grease … Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms. In Erik the Red’s Saga, the base set up by Leif is instead named Straumfjǫrðr (‘Fjord of Currents’). endobj 21 Oct 2020. The archaeological record offers some help, too: the remains of the Norse settlement credited by the sagas as being founded by Leif have indeed been found in Newfoundland, at L’Anse aux Meadows. Leif Erikson is actually a good candidate for the historical leader of at least one of the expeditions to Vinland, likely carrying it out on behalf of his father Erik the Red. On March 24, 1954, just before the birth of their first child, Milton and Jody bought a house on Boggs Run, in Marshall County. Upon retiring from acting, he eventually became a production manager or production assistant, and from 2001 and 2006 he was a production manager and worked on three motion pictures (serving as an assistant production manager in two of these roles, as stated below). Leif succeeded him, becoming chief of Greenland and returning there to sort stuff out there while passing on the Vinland baton to his deputies – all family and extended family, if we follow the sagas. Birth records usually show the name of the child, gender, date and place born, parents' names, and sometimes other data, such as parents' birthplaces or names of godparents and others related to the child. Vinland is thought to have encompassed the whole area from the Strait of Belle Isle in Newfoundland to the Gulf of St Lawrence and its southern shores, perhaps stretching to Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Leif Christian Green was born on month day 1924, at birth place, to Janus Georg Green and Johanne Cathrine Green (born Pedersen). Groeneveld, E. (2018, September 20). He is perhaps best known for portraying Davey Jaworski one of the T-Birds in the 1982 sequel to the 1978 motion picture Grease as well as the hero Eugene Groebe in the 1983 sex comedy film Joysticks Career. Eventually they come upon a lush land where they found a base they name Leifsbúðir (‘Leif’s Booths’).