page_title: Kingdom of Norway (872–1397)
section_title: Greenland
hierarchical_section_title: Kingdom of Norway (872–1397) / Background / Greenland
caption_attribution_description: Eric the Red (Eiríkur rauði). Woodcut frontispiece from the 1688 Icelandic publication of Arngrímur Jónsson's Gronlandia (Greenland). Fiske Icelandic Collection.
context_page_description: The term Norwegian Realm and Old Kingdom of Norway refer to the Kingdom of Norway's peak of power at the 13th century after a long period of civil war before 1240. The kingdom was a loosely unified nation including the territory of modern-day Norway, modern-day Swedish territory of Jämtland, Herjedalen, Ranrike and Idre and Särna, as well as Norway's overseas possessions which had been settled by Norwegian seafarers for centuries before being annexed or incorporated into the kingdom as 'tax territories'. To the North, Norway also bordered extensive tax territories on the mainland. Norway, whose expansionalism starts from the very foundation of the Kingdom in 872, reached the peak of its power in the years between 1240 and 1319.
  At the peak of Norwegian expansion before the civil war, Sigurd I led the Norwegian Crusade. The crusaders won battles in Lisbon and the Balearic Islands. In the Siege of Sidon they fought alongside Baldwin I and Ordelafo Faliero, and the siege resulted in an expansion of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Leif Erikson, an Icelander of Norwegian origin and official hirdman of King Olaf I of Norway, explored America 500 years before Columbus.
context_section_description: Erik the Red lived in Jæren, but he and his father were exiled from Norway due to murder, and settled in Iceland. Erik came up in murder cases there too, and was outlawed. Then he went to Greenland, found West Greenland, and made himself familiar with the country. The Book of Settlements suggests that this land was known before Erik, and Snæbjörn galti Hólmsteinsson attempted and failed to colonize eastern Greenland, but Erik was the first permanent settler.
  He came back to Iceland, fought with his old opponent, and lost. They were reconciled that Erik had to leave Iceland. That same year, 986, Erik came with a fleet of 14 ships with settlers to Greenland. They settled in the south of West Greenland, in the two villages called Eystribygð (Eastern Settlement) and Vestribygð (Western Settlement).
  Our knowledge of Eirik's colonization efforts is derived from writings of the Middle Ages, and from excavations done in modern times. When the settlement was at its largest, was there 16 churches, 2 monasteries and 280 farms in Greenland. The biggest farm was the episcopal estate at Gardar, where the big room was 36 m² (388 sq ft) and a banquet hall was 130 m² (1,399 sq ft) and where they had 100 caliper bound cattle.
  The country became Christian in the year 1000, introduced by Leif Eiriksson who was commissioned by King Olaf Tryggvason, and was later a separate diocese. (According to the Saga of Erik the Red, Leif became the first European to discover the North American continent when he was blown off course during his voyage back to Greenland from Norway.) From the sagas it is clear that Greenland was considered a separate country at this time.
  In 1247 a newly appointed bishop came from Norway to Greenland, with orders from King Haakon IV Håkonsson that Greenlanders should not go to the king. In 1261 some farmers came back from Greenland with the message that Greenlanders had committed themselves to paying tax to the king.
caption: Erik the Red (Eiríkur rauði). Woodcut frontispiece from the 1688 Icelandic publication of Arngrímur Jónsson's Gronlandia (Greenland). Fiske Icelandic Collection.
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