The Light of The North (Norse TL)

[Tairo]

793 Raid on Lindisfarne begins the Viking Age
794 Discovery and Settlement of Faroe Islands by Norse explorers
796 Discovery of Iceland by Floki
800 Settlement of Iceland begins
810 Discovery of Greenland
812 Discovery of Markland (OTL Labrador)
815 During an exploration of the Greenland coast Thorvald Erikson gets blown off course and his ships are sent to Vinland (OTL L'anse aux meadows).
817 Attempting to chart the course used by Thorvald, Erik Ingjaldson arrives at Fogo Island
820 First Norse settlement on Fogo Island. Exploration of the Vinland Coast and the Grand Banks
825 Norse land at the tip of Nova Scotia.
827 Exploration of the Bay of Fundy begins.

POD is that the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland are discovered earlier leading some Norsemen to believe that there is empty land free for the taking if you are willing to sail west, their first contact with the Beothuk peoples leading to the popular perception that Iceland is the middle point between two large landmasses.

My First TL so updates may be sporadic. Explorers names are pure fiction, OTL Naddodr discovered Iceland in 825

 

[Tairo]

828 First case of smallpox on Iceland, transfered from a sick cow that was brought there on a raid in Ireland. Norse settlers head west to avoid the sickness (ironically bringing it with them) and begin a settlement on Thokajar (OTL Nova Scotia).
829 The L'nu are infected but not devastated by smallpox as their semi-nomadic lifestyle leaves it with few vectors of spreading.
831 Raids on both Ireland and Francia to capture more women for Vinland and Iceland.
835 Viking conquest of the Isle of Sheppy
837 Lothair I is killed by an unknown raider

Rather short TL update. I'll hopefully have a character scene soon. I'm curious as to what the Norse would call the continent as by this point in the TL it's clear to them that Vinland is just an island. Mikland is an exonym of the Mi'kmaq of course.

 

[Tairo]

A hopefully readable map of Norse Settlements of both Iceland and America as of 840, Dark Blue denotes areas of either a norse settlement or of continuous trading.

 

[Tairo]

Ingjald fought to keep his eyes awake as he listened to the lawspeaker drone on in his monotone voice. Should have stayed in Iceland, this is a waste of time He thought as he looked around the other members of the Kvidr. A month ago, Tjudmund had died and willed his ship to his sole daughter Þordis, his brother Erik was now contesting this in a hastily assembled Þing that had barely 20 people. Willing property to daughters was completely acceptable if there were no sons and daughters took precedence over uncles even if there were. To Ingjald it was unclear why Erik was pushing so hard for the ship his strange behaviour over the last year meant that few would follow him anyway. "I can get to Thokajar straight from Iceland" Has the man lost his wits? The inheritance was quickly decided in favour of Þordis. Þordis had been inciting to explore Vinland Bay (OTL Gulf of St Lawrence), something that many were also keen to do so anyway.

Rather short character scene but need to lay foundation for future updates.

 

[Eparkhos]

This is really good.

 

[Tairo]

Thanks! It's always nice to receive feedback. I'm not super comfortable in being able to write character scenes so they may tend to be rather on the small side but I consider them necessary to show cultural drift so will probably shift between pure TL and character scenes as necessary. If you spot something you know to be incorrect for a culture please don't hesitate to point it out, finding information on Native cultures this long before Columbus is a quite task.

 

[Eparkhos]

Thanks! It's always nice to receive feedback. I'm not super comfortable in being able to write character scenes so they may tend to be rather on the small side but I consider them necessary to show cultural drift so will probably shift between pure TL and character scenes as necessary. If you spot something you know to be incorrect for a culture please don't hesitate to point it out, finding information on Native cultures this long before Columbus is a quite task.

Alexander Helios has done a crap ton of research on the Amerindians in Canada, you can ask him if you need help.

 

[Tairo]

840
Olaf the White conquers Ath Cluith and proclaims himself first King of Dyflinn

Ingjolfr the Red is Born.

No longer bound by the alliance with Lothair, Rorik the Frisian (OTL Rorik of Dorestead) conquers most east Friesland.

The city of Canterbury comes under the rule of the Daneðing

841

A norse expedition from Vinland led by Þordis lands at Anticosti Island just at the start of winter leading them to believe it to be empty.

A raid on Corhampton leads to death of Aethelwulf of Wessex

842
Settlement of Þordisrike begins

Europe Map

Not too happy with this one as you can probably quickly guess what's happening next. oh well

 

[Eparkhos]

840
Olaf the White conquers Ath Cluith and proclaims himself first King of Dyflinn

Ingjolfr the Red is Born.

No longer bound by the alliance with Lothair, Rorik the Frisian (OTL Rorik of Dorestead) conquers most east Friesland.

The city of Canterbury comes under the rule of the Daneðing

841

A norse expedition from Vinland led by Þordis lands at Anticosti Island just at the start of winter leading them to believe it to be empty.

A raid on Corhampton leads to death of Aethelwulf of Wessex

842
Settlement of Þordisrike begins

Europe Map

Anglo-Saxons:
[Chuckles] I'm in danger.

 

[Tairo]

Yeah it feels kinda 'spoilery' IMO as it's pretty clear what's next or soon

 

[Tempered Zen]

@Eparkhos_Ton_Trapezous thanks for the shout-out. If you need help, I'm more than willing to help you.

The only thing I've noticed that might raise some eyebrows is the name "Mi'kmaq" and "Mikland" as TTL's name for Cape Breton. Mi'kmaq comes from the word "my friends", which the Mi'kmaq would say to the Europeans when greeting them. The name the Mi'kmaq call themselves is L'nu. Though I suppose a similar situation could happen to the Norse, though in that case the word Mi'kmaq might sound more Nordic. Following Old Norse sound rules, something like Miɣmag.

Mikland doesn't work either, since Mik is just a part of the word and doesn't have a meaning by itself. If you wanted to go down this route then you could try Miɣmagland or something like that. Another possibility would be a Norse transliteration of the native name for the island, Unama'kik, meaning fog land. The Old Norse translation would be Thokaland, though you can also use the -jar locative suffix, denoting an island(s), like Suðreyjar. In that case, it would be Thokajar, which looks much more aesthetically pleasing IMO.

I've seen you've mentioned Anticosti Island as well. Do you have any ideas for the Norse name for the island? If not, you could try something like Bear Land/Island (Björnland or Björnjar) based on the Innu name Notiskuan, meaning "where bears are hunted".

All in all, great premise! Let's hope that this timeline will last long.

 

[Tairo]

Hmm, I rather like Thokajar/Fog Land so will use that from here onwards, both it and Björnland/jar would attract more of the adventurous type of norse. The haven't encountered any Innu on Anticosti yet though - It was my understanding that the Innu, Abaneki and Mi'kmaq retreated inland during the harsh winters?

 

[Tempered Zen]

The haven't encountered any Innu on Anticosti yet though - It was my understanding that the Innu, Abaneki and Mi'kmaq retreated inland during the harsh winters?

Yes, though I wouldn't rule out the possibility of Innu present in Anticosti during the winters, since they hunted bears on the island (and apparently it was a very important activity, as they named the island after it) and hunting season was in the winter. Somewhat related, but will we see native villages (be they Mi'kmaq, Innu, Abenaki, or another not yet mentioned tribe) propping up full time along the coasts in order to facilitate trade with the Norse?

And what happened to the Beothuk, as they haven't been mentioned yet? They had already migrated into Newfoundland by this point (the most conservative estimates places their arrival at around 500 CE), so did they succumb to Norse diseases?

 

[Tairo]

The Beothuk are still around, contact with them was established in my opening post, at present they outnumber the Norse but not by much as both populations were infected by the Irish cow. The OTL cow incident hasn't occurred so they're not hostile. Native villages and towns will be seen along the coast yes, at present the L'nu/Mi'kmaq are the first on plans for trading villages, from there the Norse will be able to reach manhattan. The discovery of Anticosti will lead to expeditions down the St.Lawrence resulting in Abenaki towns popping up.

 

[Tempered Zen]

The Beothuk are still around, contact with them was established in my opening post, at present they outnumber the Norse but not by much as both populations were infected by the Irish cow. The OTL cow incident hasn't occurred so they're not hostile.

Makes sense. Here's to hoping that native relations stay that way.

Native villages and towns will be seen along the coast yes, at present the L'nu/Mi'kmaq are the first on plans for trading villages, from there the Norse will be able to reach manhattan.

Logical progression, though remember that there's plenty of tribes and lands between Manhattan and Nova Scotia for the Norse to establish contact and establish settlements in. From northeast moving southwest, we have the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, the Abenaki tribes, Pennacook, Massachusett, Nauset, Wampanoag, Narrangasett, Pequot, Mohegan, Wappinger, Montauk, and of course, we have the Lenape in Manhattan, among others.

The discovery of Anticosti will lead to expeditions down the St.Lawrence resulting in Abenaki towns popping up.

There weren't many Abenaki on the St. Lawrence River, save a few scattered settlements on the southern bank of the river. The inhabitants of the St. Lawrence river at the time were the Laurentian Iroquois, with the Algonquian tribe inhabiting the parts of Quebec immediately northwest. In addition, we have the Attikamekw, a Cree-Montagnais affiliated people, located on the Upper St. Maurice River, and a few Innu settlements as far west as Tadoussac.

 

[Tairo]

There weren't many Abenaki on the St. Lawrence River, save a few scattered settlements on the southern bank of the river. The inhabitants of the St. Lawrence river at the time were the Laurentian Iroquois, with the Algonquian tribe inhabiting the parts of Quebec immediately northwest. In addition, we have the Attikamekw, a Cree-Montagnais affiliated people, located on the Upper St. Maurice River, and a few Innu settlements as far west as Tadoussac.

Ah, thanks! That makes what I have planned much easier, as the Laurentian Iroquois would be in an excellent spot for the trade route I've envisioned - Lake Ontario <> Björnland <> Fokajar <> Vinland <> Greenland <> Iceland. The East coast is the most problematic atm, I'm envisioning a "Norse Silk Road" from the Americas to Europe before the age of Norse Exploration ends.

 

[The Professor]

Hope I'm not being to much of a killjoy but the suffix in Suðreyjar is eyjar meaning islands. That is the -jar bit isn't a locative but the plural.

 

[Tempered Zen]

Hope I'm not being to much of a killjoy but the suffix in Suðreyjar is eyjar meaning islands. That is the -jar bit isn't a locative but the plural.

Looking back at my source, you're right. My mistake. The proper Old Norse word for island is ey if I'm not mistaken.

EDIT: Though if you really want to keep the name, it could be an example of misnaming. A viking sailing the coasts could easily mistake the island for an archipelago, with all the inlets and capes, not to mention Lake Bras d'Or. Though technically the proper name would be Thokaeyjar (Þokæyjar if we account for the different letter system).

 

[Eparkhos]

Just out of curiosity, are the Norse the first Old Worlders to arrive in the New World? (Bar the Amerindians, of course.)

 

[Tairo]

843
Þordis expidition makes first contact with the Innu peoples of Björnland, and learns they use the island to hunt bears.

844
After long deliberation Þordis is named Jarl of Björnland.

845
The Great Heathen Army is the name giving to a coalition of Norse warriors originating from Dyflinn, Frisia, Denmark, Norway and Sweden banded together under a uniform command to invade the seven Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms beginning in 845. The reasons behind the invasion are unclear, Frankish records state that the Vikings simply saw weakness after the death of Aethelwulf at Corhampton while the Norsemen claim the invasion was in retaliation for Ragnar Loðbrok's death. Whatever the reasons however the Invasion is considered to have began proper with conquest of Kent by the Daneðing. Harald the Dane, brother of Rorik the Frisian invaded the Kingdom of Wessex capturing the Isle of Wight. Edmund the Martyr, King of East Anglia initially paid raiders from the Daneðing to move on which bought his lands a few more years. Olaf the White, King of Dyflinn seized the Isle of Man and began a series of raids along the Northumbrian coast before invading proper. With the landing of Hingwar and Halfdan on the Humber in December the Heptarchy was to be forever shattered.

England Map

Spoiler

Iceland, still an attractive prospect for people wanting their own land begins to hear rumours of lands beyond Vinland populated by Fog Men or where Skraelings hunt bears. The more adventurous settlers begin heading west and then south to Vinland. As a result the settlement of Iceland shifts to an odd equilibrium - There is always land free for the taking and people moving to settle it as the most adventurous are leaving.

In Vinland the towns of the Beothuk and the Norse are becoming rather wealthy as a result of what will come to be known as the North Waterway. The towns of the Fog Men (Mi'kmaq) however are the quickest growing.

The Northern Waterway

Spoiler

@Eparkhos_Ton_Trapezous

Yes, the Norse are the first Old Worlders in this TL.