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104-686: According to the Voyage of Ohthere ( c.  890 CE ), the Norwegian merchant Ottar (Ohthere) reported to king Alfred the Great that he had sailed for 15 days along the northern coast and then southwards, finally arriving at a great river, probably the Northern Dvina . At the estuary of the river dwelt the Beormas , who unlike the nomadic Sami peoples were sedentary, and their land

208-593: A 45-degree rotation of cardinal points . If the territories listed in King Alfred's Orosius are examined with that in mind, the Norwegians would be to the northwest of Sweden, and the nomadic people would be to the north. These points are correct after rotation based on the difference between the Viking and modern compasses. Kvenland is then situated to the northeast of Sweden and might be placed somewhere around

312-619: A fair [or: contrary] wind ("Þyder he cwæð þæt man ne mihte geseglian on anum monðe gyf man on niht wicode and ælce dæge hæfde ambyrne wind"). This sentence has very often been quoted in literature. Old English ambyrne (accusative singular masculine; the nominative would be ambyre ) is a hapax legomenon in Old English. Since around 1600 the traditionally accepted rendering of the phrase in English has been, without ultimate proof, "fair/favourable wind" in translations and dictionaries; on

416-609: A late mention of Kvens clearly active in the North. Around 1271 CE, the following is said to have happened: Then Karelians ( Kereliar ) and Kvens ( Kvænir ) pillaged widely in Hålogaland ( Hálogaland ). In some pre-medieval and medieval texts, it is not clear which groups of people the authors are referring to by the titles used. According to historians, terms used for either the Kvens, Finns and/or Sami in texts written during

520-468: A later phase by an unknown author who wanted to make the saga more adventurous. Egils saga is an epic Icelandic saga possibly by Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241 CE), who may have written it between 1220 and 1240 CE. While authorship of the sagas is unclear, it is generally accepted that Snorri Sturluson , who was a powerful politician, a diplomat for the Royal House of Norway and a man of letters,

624-557: A merchant, and that his visit to King Alfred has been connected with the king's plans for a navy, a desire to escape the Norwegian King Harald Fairhair , or a need to rebuild a lost fortune. Whitaker notes also that there is "no shred of evidence" to support any of these ideas, but for the fact that he had visited the trading centres of "Skiringshal" ( sic ) and Hedeby . Ohthere said that he had travelled north chiefly to hunt walrus, and his journey south to

728-712: A place-name which "must have emerged as a designation of a land of perem ' [i.e. Beormas ] on the Kola Peninsula": the latter forms the north-western coast of the White Sea, and is defined in part by an inlet of the sea leading to the town of Kandalaksha. The ethnicity of the Beormas and the Perm ' remains uncertain, but the term " perem ' " may have originated as a word used for nomadic tradesmen, rather than an ethnic group. Possible answers to incongruities and questions connected with Ohthere's account of

832-460: A realistic description of Nór traveling from Kvenland to Norway. Based on the saga's internal chronologies, this would have happened around the 6th or 7th century CE, but the dating is very insecure. Locations of Kvenland, Finland and Gotland are given rather exactly: "to the east of the gulf that lies across from the White Sea (Gandvík); we call that the Gulf of Bothnia (Helsingjabotn)." The saga

936-688: A reference to the Sami people . Alongside the southern part of the land, on the other side of the mountains and continuing north, was Sweoland , the "land of the Svear", or Swedes . To the north of the Swedes was Cwenaland , the "land of the Cwenas", and to the north of the Norwegians was wasteland. Ohthere described two journeys that he had made, one northward and around the Kola Peninsula into

1040-612: A set of replies to questions put to him." The Old English version of Orosius survives almost complete in two Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. The earliest is known variously as the Tollemache, Helmingham or Lauderdale Orosius, and is kept at the British Library under the reference "Additional 47967". This manuscript was written in Wessex between about 892 and 925, possibly at Winchester . The second manuscript dates from early in

1144-539: A state of liberty, but even below a state of bondage." According to a view shared by many historians , the term Sitones (Kvens ) shares etymological roots with Sigtuna , which much later had a Latin spelling Situne . According to Disas saga , the Sitones were ruled by a queen. According to a common view, the "queen" of the Sitones either derives from or is a possible linguistic confusion of an Old Norse term used for 'woman', which shares linguistic origins with

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1248-422: A story from his own viewpoint but speaks in general terms for an anonymous mariner: "One cannot sail", "if one camped at night", "he will sail", "to him will be at first", "until he comes". Michael Korhammer, a proponent of "contrary wind", concludes from this change of aspect that the ambyrne-wind -sentence is not about Ohthere's own travelling experience nor does it refer to normal sailing speeds in his period, as

1352-583: A theory somewhat closely related to the Kainuu theory, Kvenland has also been associated with the legendary Pohjola . Pohjola is an other-worldly country in Finnish mythology, ruled by a fierce witch called Louhi . Pohjola is best known from the Kalevala , a 19th-century Finnish work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology , collected largely in

1456-479: A world history written by the Romano-Hispanic author Orosius . Ohthere's story contains the only contemporary description about Kvenland that has survived from the 9th century: [Ohthere] said that the Norwegians' ( Norðmanna ) land was very long and very narrow ... and to the east are wild mountains, parallel to the cultivated land. Finnas inhabit these mountains ... Then along this land southwards, on

1560-449: Is a wide tract; it is bounded westwards by the sea, wherefrom large firths run in; by sea also northwards and round to the east; but southwards lies Norway; and Finmark stretches along nearly all the inland region to the south, as also does Hålogaland outside. But eastwards from Namdalen (Naumdale) is Jämtland (Jamtaland), then Hälsingland (Helsingjaland) and Kvenland, then Finland, then Karelia (Kirialaland); along all these lands to

1664-649: Is also referred to in Orkneyinga saga . This way, the reference would have included Lake Mjøsa , an area which is known to have been inhabited at that time: the Orkneyinga saga tells how these inhabitants were attacked by men from Kvenland. The mention of the "very light ships" (boats) carried overland has a well-documented ethnographic parallel in the numerous portages of the historical river and lake routes in Fennoscandia and Northern Russia. According to

1768-471: Is an adaptation rather than a direct translation, one of its features being the addition and correction of information concerning European geography. The addition of Ohthere's account of his travels, and that of another traveller named Wulfstan , represents part of that process. The authorship of the Old English Orosius is unknown. In the 12th century William of Malmesbury believed that it

1872-544: Is correct in placing the Gulf of Bothnia "across" (i.e., "on the other side of" the isthmus between the two seas) from the White Sea . The saga does not say that Kvenland was on the coast, but just east of the Gulf. This is how Nór started his journey to Norway: But Nor, his brother, waited until snow lay on the moors so he could travel on skis. He went out from Kvenland and skirted the Gulf, and came to that place inhabited by

1976-418: Is emphasized in the text, Ohthere's account was an oral statement, made to King Alfred, and the section dealing with Kvenland takes up only two sentences. Ohthere's information on Kvens may have been second-hand, since, unlike in his other stories, Ohthere does not emphasize his personal involvement in any way. Ohthere's method of locating Kvenland can be interpreted to mean that Kvenland was located in and around

2080-406: Is mentioned again, as follows: ... the Swedes ( Sweons ) have to the south of them the arm of the sea called East ( Osti ), and to the east of them Sarmatia ( Sermende ), and to the north, over the wastes, is Kvenland ( Cwenland ), to the northwest are the nomadic people ( Scridefinnas ), and the Norwegians ( Norðmenn ) are to the west. The Viking compass is believed to have had

2184-639: Is no indication in the saga that the Kvens would have competed with the Norwegians for control of the Finns or lived near or among them. Much debate has taken place concerning whether the saga provides truthful information of Iron Age Kvenland by mentioning that the Kvens had a real-sounding 'king' and a 'law' to divide the loot. The saga places the confrontation of Norwegians and Karelians in the 9th century. Besides Old English Orosius , Hversu Noregr byggdist , Orkneyinga saga and Egil's saga , Kvenland or Kvens are very briefly mentioned in four Icelandic texts from

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2288-458: Is no mention of Kvenland after that. Again only a handful of words are devoted to Kvenland, mainly telling where it was. Nór's journey from Kvenland to Norway is missing from Hversu , which in fact does not even mention that Nór came from Kvenland at all, only stating: "Norr had great battles west of the Keel". The journey may have been lifted from some other context and added to Orkneyinga saga in

2392-524: Is not clear if they reference the same Bjarmaland as was mentioned in the Voyage of Ohthere , however. The name of the Bjarmian god Jómali is so close to the word for "god" in most Finnic languages that Bjarmians were likely a Finnic group. In fact, languages belonging to other language groups have never been suggested within serious research. The Swedish cartographer Olaus Magnus located Bjarmaland in

2496-436: Is not listed in any of the saga's surviving versions, indicating that it might be a later addition by someone who did not recognize Kvenland any more. The saga says "eastwards from Namdalen is Jämtland", but actually the direction is southeast. Also Hälsingland is southeast, not east, of Jämtland. Since it is widely assumed that the Viking compass had a 45 degree rotation of cardinal points, the saga's "east" seems to correspond to

2600-568: Is not recorded. There is also no mention in the Old English Orosius of how recent the journeys were when Ohthere described them to the king, where the meeting took place, or the route by which Ohthere arrived in southern England. Ohthere's audience with King Alfred is dramatised in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 's poem "The Discoverer of the North Cape: A Leaf from King Alfred's Orosius", and Ohthere and his journey appear in

2704-510: Is strengthened by the immediately following sentence "and all the time he will sail be lande ", and later when the mariner comes to Sciringes heal , by "and all the way on the port side North Way". While sailing along the Norwegian coast, the mariner will first have "Iraland" to starboard, then the islands between "Iraland" and Britain, and finally Britain itself until he comes to Sciringes heal . The principal interpretations of "Iraland" in

2808-574: Is the earliest known written source for the term " Denmark " ( dena mearc ), and perhaps also for " Norway " ( norðweg ). Ohthere's home may have been in the vicinity of Tromsø , in southern Troms county, northern Norway. Ohthere was involved in the fur trade. Orosius ' 5th-century Seven Books of History Against the Pagans was a popular work of history in the Middle Ages , with about 250 manuscript copies from that period surviving today. Late in

2912-651: Is to be preferred, perhaps at Lunde on the Lista peninsula. Whether Sciringes heal was identical with Skiringssal, or was located in Tjølling parish or west of Lindesnes, it is described in Ohthere's account in the Old English Orosius as a "port" ( an port ). Ohthere's account uses the same word for the Danish trading settlement of Hedeby ( þæm porte ), suggesting that Sciringes heal may have been similar in nature, though

3016-603: The Cwenas . Whereas Porthan suggested that the ancient Kvens may have been Swedish, many others came to view the Kvens as an ancient Finnish tribe. Nowadays Kainuu is a name of an inland province in northeastern Finland. In the past the name Kainuu was often used of the more western coastal area around the Bay of Bothnia , even up to the 19th century. In the early Umesaami dictionaries the terms Kainolads and Kainahalja described Norwegian and Swedish men and women respectively. In

3120-520: The Germanic tribe Sitones mentioned in Tacitus' Germania in 98 CE lived in the area in northern Fennoscandia claimed to be Kvenland , saying "There can be no confusion about the geographical location of the Sitones." Kvenland has generated many theories about its origin, the location of Kvenland east of the Bay of Bothnia has, however, been an unchanging feature of most interpretations since

3224-736: The Holy Land , where he intended to take part in the Crusades . The second trader who remained was killed by the Bjarmians. This caused Norwegian officials to undertake a campaign of retribution into Bjarmaland which they pillaged in 1222. The 13th century seems to have seen the decline of the Bjarmians, who became tributaries of the Novgorod Republic . While many Slavs fled the Mongol invasion northward, to Beloozero and Bjarmaland,

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3328-482: The Kola Peninsula in his Carta marina et descriptio septentrionalium terrarum (1539), while Swedish humanist Johannes Schefferus (1621–1679) identified it with Lappland . Bjarmians cannot be connected directly to any existing group of people living today, but it is likely that they were a separate group of Finnic speakers in the White Sea area. Toponyms and loan words in dialects in northern Russia indicate that Finnic speaking populations used to live in

3432-595: The Schlei inlet in what was then south-eastern Denmark. It is in Ohthere's description of this part of the journey that the earliest copy of the Old English Orosius gives the first known mention of the term "Denmark", in the form "dena mearc". However, his first reference to Denmark being on his port side presumably makes reference to areas of the 9th-century Danish kingdom that lay on the Scandinavian peninsula . The reason for Ohthere's visit to King Alfred of Wessex

3536-411: The White Sea , and one southward to the Danish trading settlement of Hedeby via a Norwegian "port" which, in the Old English Orosius, is called "Sciringes heal". He described his journeys partly through the lands and peoples he encountered, and partly through the number of days it took to sail from one point to the next: [e]xperiments with replicas of Viking ships have shown that, somewhat depending on

3640-619: The White Sea , and south to Denmark , describing both journeys in some detail. He also spoke of Sweoland (central Sweden), the Sami people ( Finnas ), and of two peoples called the Cwenas , living in Cwena land to the north of the Swedes, and the Beormas , whom he found living by the White Sea. Ohthere reported that the Beormas spoke a language related to that of the Sami. Ohthere's story

3744-463: The 10th-century Jelling stones in Denmark by between 40 and 80 years. He describes Norway as being very long and very narrow, saying that it was about 60 miles (97 km) across "to the east", about 30 miles (48 km) across in the middle, and about 3 miles (5 km) across in the north. While Ohthere is here referring broadly to the width of Norwegian territory between the sea and

3848-515: The 11th century, is of unknown English provenance, and is kept at the British Library under the reference "Cotton Tiberius B. i". Both manuscripts are copies of a "common ancestor". Ohthere said that he lived furthest north of all Norwegians, and that his home was in "Halgoland", in the north of Norway, by the sea. Halgoland is identified in modern historiography as Hålogaland , a historical region of northern Norway comparable in area to

3952-631: The 17th century, when the Swedish historians Johannes Messenius and Olaus Rudbeckius first noted the concept of Kvenland in Old Norse sources. In 1650, Professor Michael Wexionius from Turku became the first to associate Kvenland with the Finnish Kainuu . In the 18th century the Finnish historian Henrik Gabriel Porthan , among others, focused attention on the Ohthere passage mentioning

4056-480: The 1957 novel The Lost Dragon of Wessex by Gwendolyn Bowers . Ohthere is portrayed by Ray Stevenson in the historical drama Vikings . Kvenland Kvenland , known as Cwenland , Qwenland , Kænland , and similar terms in medieval sources, is an ancient name for an area in Fennoscandia and Scandinavia . Kvenland, in that or nearly that spelling, is known from an Old English account written in

4160-671: The 1st millennium AD include the following: In the Old Norse language the word "Finn" ( finnr ) referred to the Finnish people , though, and maybe the Sami people as well; the word has the same meaning in Bokmål (one of the two official standards of the Norwegian language). Skridfinne ("skiing Finn or moving Finns") and finne might also refer to the Sami people, in both the other Scandinavian languages, Latin ( scricfinni/finni ) and Greek ( σκριϑίφινοι / φίννοι ) during mediaeval times. According to Finnish historian Kyösti Julku

4264-591: The 9th century King Alfred of Wessex , or members of his court, appear to have seen it as a useful basis for a world-history written in their own language, and an Old English version may have been seen as complementary to Bede 's 8th-century Ecclesiastical History of the English People and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , which was begun in Alfred's reign. The Old English version of Orosius

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4368-571: The 9th century, which used information provided by Norwegian adventurer and traveler Ohthere , and from Nordic sources, primarily Icelandic . A possible additional source was written in the modern-day area of Norway . All known Nordic sources date from the 12th and 13th centuries. Other possible references to Kvenland by other names and spellings are also discussed here. A Norwegian adventurer and traveler named Ohthere visited England around 890 CE. King Alfred of Wessex had his stories written down and included them in his Old English version of

4472-601: The Baltic Sea as a kind of Finnish-Swedish "maritime confederation". Klinge has presented a hypothesis of Kvenland as a naval power on the Baltic, located on both the present-day Finnish and Swedish sides of the Gulf of Bothnia as well as in some of the surrounding areas. The folklorist and professor of literature Väinö Kaukonen calls it "fantastic fabulation" and a "dream-wish". However, Professor Emeritus in Archeology at

4576-671: The Bjarmians also interacted with Scandinavians and Fennoscandians , who had ventured southbound from the Baltic Sea area. Modern historians suppose that the wealth of the Bjarmians was due to their profitable trade along the Northern Dvina , the Kama River and the Volga to Bolghar and other trading settlements in the south. Along this route, silver coins and other merchandise were exchanged for pelts and walrus tusks brought by

4680-642: The Bjarmians had a serious competitor for the trade. More and more Pomors arrived in the area during the 14th and 15th centuries, which led to the final assimilation of the Bjarmians by the Slavs . The collaborationist Quisling regime planned to build Norwegian colonies in Northern Russia, following a future success of Operation Barbarossa , and which were to be named Bjarmaland ; but these plans never came to be. Voyage of Ohthere Ohthere of Hålogaland ( Norwegian : Ottar fra Hålogaland )

4784-701: The Bjarmians. In fact, burial sites in modern Perm Krai are the richest source of Sasanian and Sogdian silverware from Iran . Further north, the Bjarmians traded with the Sami. It seems that the Scandinavians made some use of the Dvina trade route, in addition to the Volga trade route and Dnieper trade route . In 1217, two Norwegian traders arrived in Bjarmaland to buy pelts; one of the traders continued further south to pass to Russia in order to arrive in

4888-409: The Danish trading settlement of Hedeby, via the "port" of Sciringes heal , may have been a trading mission. There is no account of Ohthere's journey to Wessex or explanation for his visit to King Alfred. Ohthere's reported use of the term "Norway" ( norðweg ) in the earliest copy of the Old English Orosius pre-dates the earliest written Scandinavian use of the term, in the runic form "Nuruiak", on

4992-643: The Finnish region of Kainuu . Different interpretations of the origins of the mythical Pohjola exist. Some include parts of Lapland and the ancient Kainuu (same as Kvenland according to common view today ) in Kalevala's Pohjola. Some point out a similarity with the name Pohjanmaa ( Ostrobothnia in English), a region in western Finland. An original view has been provided by a Finnish historian and Helsinki University professor, Matti Klinge , who has placed Kvenland/Kainuu not only in southern Finland, but around

5096-512: The Norwegian seafarer in the context of efforts to advance the economic recovery of the city of London. Ohthere's account of a journey to the Danish trading settlement of Hedeby , Old English æt hæþum "[port] at the heaths" and German Haithabu , begins with a reference to a place in the south of Norway named Sciringes heal , to which he said one could not sail [from his home in Hålogaland] in one month if one camped at night and each day had

5200-400: The Old English Orosius are that it might mean either Ireland or Iceland . While it is possible that the original text of Ohthere's account read "Isaland", for "Iceland", and that the "s" was at some point replaced by "r", geographically the circumstances described are better suited for Iceland than for Ireland. Alternatively, given that "Iraland" occurs in the same form, with an "r", twice on

5304-407: The Old English word "port" can signify nothing more than a haven. When Ohthere sailed on from Sciringes heal , he reported having first had Denmark to port and a wide sea to starboard for three days, after which for two days he had islands belonging to Denmark on his port side and Jutland ( Gotland and Sillende ) and many islands to starboard, before arriving at Hedeby, which lay at the head of

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5408-430: The Pagans . The Old English version of this book is believed to have been written in Wessex in King Alfred's lifetime or soon after his death, and the earliest surviving copy is attributed to the same place and time. In his account, Ohthere said that his home was in "Halgoland", or Hålogaland , where he lived "north-most of all Norwegians … [since] no-one [lived] to the north of him". Ohthere spoke of his travels north to

5512-591: The Permians, lived in Bjarmaland, assumed to have included the Viena Karelians, Sami and Kvens . According to Helimski, the language spoken c.  1000 AD in the northern Archangel region, which he terms Lop' , was closely related to but distinct from the Sami languages proper. That would fit Ottar's account perfectly. Bjarmian trade reached southeast to Bolghar , by the Volga River , where

5616-568: The Southern-Ostrobothnia but when this habitation disappeared in the early 9th century for unknown reasons, the Norwegians continued to apply the term Kven to the men of Satakunta and Häme who inherited the Northern trade and taxation. Different views exist of why ancient scholars have made references to Kvenland as an area dominated by women. Some have suggested that there may have been misinterpretations of terminology. Whatever

5720-540: The University of Turku, Unto Salo has also concluded that "Kvens/Kainulainens" were men of Satakunta in Southern Finland. There is archeological evidence linking Satakunta and Lapland (for example types of skis) but skipping the areas between which suggests that expeditions were undertaken from Satakunta to the North during the late Viking Age. Further, toponomy suggests that there were regular routes used by

5824-399: The area having been ethnically interconnected with Finland and Kvenland during the primeval era, just as suggested by Hversu Noregr byggdist and Orkneyinga saga : "The hunter-gatherers show the greatest similarity to modern-day Finns", says Pontus Skoglund, an evolutionary geneticist at Uppsala University in Sweden. Recent archaeological discoveries made in Finland have further emphasized

5928-416: The area where his "Finnas" lived, he gives a lengthy description of their lives in and around Northern Norway, without mentioning Kvens. Ohthere's mention of the "large [freshwater] meres" and of the Kvens' boats are of great interest. The meres are said to be "amongst the mountains", the words used in the text being geond þa moras . Ohthere may be referring to the Southern Norwegian lake district, which

6032-493: The area. Also Russian chronicles mention groups of people in the area associated with Finno-Ugric languages . Accordingly, many historians assume the terms beorm and bjarm to derive from the Uralic word perm , which refers to "travelling merchants" and represents the Old Permic culture. However, some linguists consider this theory to be speculative. Recent research on the Uralic substrate in northern Russian dialects suggests that several other Uralic groups besides

6136-507: The close ties between Gotland and modern-day Finland during the primeval era. In the late spring of 2013, a Merovingian period (600–800 AD) silver plate, believed to be a piece of a sword scabbard, was discovered in Rautjärvi , Finland. The origin of the silver plate has been traced to Gotland, based on its style of ornamentation. According to Jukka Luoto of the Museum of South Karelia, "this indicates that these areas have independently conducted trade with Gotland." Orkneyinga saga contains

6240-438: The contemporary southeast. In chapter XVII Thorolf goes to Kvenland again: That same winter Thorolf went up on the fell with a hundred men; he passed on at once eastwards to Kvenland and met king Faravid. Had Thorolf gone up to the mountains around his homeland Namdalen and then straight "eastwards", i.e., southeast, he would have first reached Jämtland and then Hälsingland. These are the same lands that were listed earlier in

6344-404: The displaced Bjarmians sought refuge in Norway , where they were given land around the Malangen fjord by Haakon IV of Norway in 1240. More important for the decline was probably that, with the onset of the Crusades , the trade routes had found a more westerly orientation or shifted considerably to the south. When the Novgorodians founded Velikiy Ustiug , in the beginning of the 13th century,

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6448-540: The early 19th century, mainly by reason of the superficial similarity of the names, to the extent that some modern translations of Ohthere's account feature the name "Skiringssal" in place of "Sciringes heal". Skiringssal is a historical location, mentioned in Scandinavian sagas , which has been identified with some certainty as an area comparable to the parish of Tjølling , a little over 3 miles (5 km) east of Larvik , with important Viking Age archaeological sites at Huseby, just south of Tjølling, and at Kaupang , near

6552-406: The etymological origin of the element kven , it effortlessly translates to "woman" in Old Norse . Proto-Germanic * kwinōn , * kunōn , * kwēni-z and * kwēnō for 'woman' developed into kona , kvǟn , kvān , kvɔ̄n , kvendi , kvenna and kvinna in Old Norse. It is plausible that this led learned speakers of Old Norse to identify Kvenland with

6656-485: The far bank of the river was "well cultivated" and inhabited by Beormas : historian T.N. Jackson suggests a location for this land – " Bjarmaland " – in the vicinity of the present day Russian town of Kandalaksha , on the western side of the White Sea , while noting that others have identified Ohthere's "large river" as the Northern Dvina , on the eastern side of the White Sea, and place Bjarmaland accordingly. Having just explained how Ohthere did not dare enter

6760-447: The following: Meanwhile Swedes ( Sueones ), who had expelled their bishop, got a divine revenge. And at first King's son called Anund, whose father had sent him to enlarge his kingdom, after arriving to Women's Land ( patriam feminarum ), whom we consider to be Amazons, was killed along with his army from poison, that they had mixed to the spring water. (III 15) "After that come the Swedes ( Sueones ) that rule wide areas up until

6864-411: The hull form and cargo, under optimal conditions, with a cross wind or more to aft, they can hold an average speed of 6–8 knots over a day's voyage, and that they may reach speeds of 10–12 knots in a breeze. Moreover, they can maintain an effective speed of approximately 2 knots at 55–60° to the wind when tacking. Ohthere said that the land stretched far to the north of his home, and that it

6968-464: The journey to the north are offered in a recent contribution by Michael Korhammer. Most important of them is his proposal of a simple syntactical emendation of the traditional text after which the clause telling the killing of sixty (see above) will refer directly to the walruses, thus reducing Ohthere's mention of the big whales in Norway to a mere aside. The logical consequences of this (well substantiated) emendation, if accepted, would be that Ohthere

7072-455: The land of the Amazons in Greek legend; Adam of Bremen , for example, often mentions Amazons in writing of the far North. Among sources used in the related debate by historians is the following statement of Tacitus from c. 98 CE: "Upon the Suiones, border the people Sitones; and, agreeing with them in all other things, differ from them in one, that here the sovereignty is exercised by a woman. So notoriously do they degenerate not only from

7176-530: The land of the Beormas because it was so well cultivated and because of "unfrið", the report of Ohthere's travels then indicates that he had spoken with them. He explained that the Beormas had told him much about their own land and those of their neighbours, but he says nothing further of this: "he knew not what was true, because he did not see it himself". This incongruity may be explained by his learning of these things from Beormas encountered elsewhere, or from Sami, whose language Ohthere reports as being almost

7280-425: The land there turned east (near North Cape), and he had to wait for a west wind and slightly north and then sailed east along the land for four days. Then he had to wait there for a wind from due north, for the land there turned to the south. He then sailed south along the land for another five days. There a large river stretched up into the land, and they turned up into that river because they dared not sail on beyond

7384-416: The men called Sami (Lapps); that is beyond Finnmark. Having traveled for a while, Nór was still "beyond Finnmark." After a brief fight with the Lapps, Nór continued: But Nor went thence westward to the Kjolen Mountains and for a long time they knew nothing of men, but shot beasts and birds to feed to themselves, until they came to a place where the rivers flowed west of the mountains. — Then he went up along

7488-510: The modern region of Nord-Norge . While greater precision is impossible, suggested localities for Ohthere's home include Senja , Kvaløya , and the areas surrounding the Malangen fjord , all near Tromsø . He claimed to be a leading man in his homeland, perhaps to be understood as a chieftain, and described himself as wealthy, owning 600 tame reindeer , of which six were "decoys" used for catching wild reindeer. Conversely, according to

7592-432: The more legendary Hversu Noregr byggdist and Orkneyinga saga . According to Hversu Noregr byggdist , Kvens made sacrifices to Thorri, who "ruled over Gothland, Kvenland (Kænlandi) and Finland." According to Orkneyinga saga , Fornjót was "a king" who "reigned over Gotland, which we now know as Finland and Kvenland." A DNA study conducted on the prehistoric skeletal remains of four individuals from Gotland supports

7696-404: The mountains, the land described as being about 60 miles across "to the east" is probably to be understood as representing the modern Norwegian region of Vestlandet , in the south-west of the country. The land of the Norwegians is further delineated through reference to their neighbours. Away from the sea, a wilderness of moors, or mountains, lay to the east and was inhabited by Finnas ,

7800-463: The north lies Finmark, and there are wide inhabited fell-districts, some in dales, some by lakes. The lakes of Finmark are wonderfully large, and by the lakes there are extensive forests. But high fells lie behind from end to end of the Mark, and this ridge is called Keels. Like Hversu Noregr byggdist , Egils saga clearly separates Finland and Kvenland, listing them as neighboring areas. However, Finland

7904-444: The northern part of the modern-day Sweden and in the mid-western part of the modern-day Finland , when the difference in the Viking compass is taken into consideration (see more further below). Other, somewhat later sources call the land adjacent to the northern part of Norway " Finnmark ." Ohthere's Finnas may be a reference to the Sami people , but not all historians agree on this. Although Ohthere does not give any name for

8008-452: The number killed to refer to walrus; Janet Bately suggests that it might best be seen as an indication of how many whales could be caught in good conditions. Ropes of whale skin were of sufficient value to be included in the tax paid to Ohthere by the Sami, and Ohthere said that walrus had "very noble bones in their teeth", some of which he brought to King Alfred. Anthropologist Ian Whitaker notes that Ohthere has been described as primarily

8112-793: The oldest document of the Rus' , the Nestor's Chronicle (1000–1100). The names of other Uralic tribes are also listed including some Samoyedic peoples as well as the Veps , Cheremis , Mordvin , and Chudes . The place-name Bjarmaland was also used later both by the German historian Adam of Bremen (11th century) and the Icelander Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241) in Bósa saga ok Herrauðs , reporting about its rivers flowing out to Gandvik . It

8216-409: The other hand only a handful of scholars have supported the meaning "contrary". In contrast to the account of his journey to the north ("He sailed north", "the land turned eastwards" etc.) and the voyage from Sciringes heal to Hedeby ("When he sailed", "before he came to Hedeby" etc.), Ohthere does not employ the past tense when he describes sailing south along the Norwegian coast; he does not report

8320-512: The other side of the mountain ( sic ), is Sweden ... and along that land northwards, Kvenland ( Cwenaland ). The Kvens ( Cwenas ) sometimes make depredations on the Northmen over the mountain, and sometimes the Northmen on them; there are very large [freshwater] meres amongst the mountains, and the Kvens carry their ships over land into the meres, and thence make depredations on the Northmen; they have very little ships, and very light. As

8424-526: The people of Satakunta to get to the North. Lastly, haapio, a type of a very light dugout boat was used extensively in Satakunta and would have been ideal for such expeditions. Unto Salo speculates that the name Haaparanta ("Aspen shore") in the Northern Sweden (county of Norrbotten) would have been given due to presence of asps needed to build haapios. Originally Kvenland was more likely situated in

8528-415: The philologist Irmeli Valtonen, "[the] text does not give us a clear picture where the Cwenas are to be located though it seems a reasonable conclusion that they lived or stayed somewhere in the modern-day areas of Northern Sweden or Northern Finland." The name "Kven" briefly appears later in King Alfred's Orosius . The Kven Sea is mentioned as the northern border for the ancient Germany , and Kvenland

8632-570: The present-day Swedish Norrland or the western part of the present-day Finland. The information of Kvenland being situated "over the wastes", northwards from the Viking-period "Sweden" (corresponding roughly to the south-central part of present-day Sweden) matches the idea of Kvenland extending to Norrland. There is no " Finland " mentioned anywhere either in the original or the updated version of Orosius' history. Three medieval Icelandic accounts discuss Kvenland. They are Egils saga and

8736-457: The pursuing Bjarmians with their rich bounty. The name Bjarmaland appears in Old Norse literature, possibly referring to the area where Arkhangelsk is presently situated, and where it was preceded by a Bjarmian settlement. The first appearance of the name occurs in an account of the travels of Ohthere of Hålogaland , which was written in about 890. The name Permians is already found in

8840-605: The report in the Old English Orosius, Ohthere "had not more than twenty horned cattle, and twenty sheep, and twenty swine, and the little that he ploughed he ploughed with horses." But his main wealth was in tax paid by the Finnas , or Sami people , of whom the highest-born paid 15  marten skins, 5 reindeer skins, 1  bear skin, 10 ambers of feathers, 1 coat of bear skin or otter skin and two ship's ropes, each 60  ells long, made of either whale skin or seal skin. Another source of Ohthere's wealth

8944-428: The river because of "unfrið" (usually translated as "hostility"), since the land was all settled on the other side of the river. He had not previously encountered any cultivated land since he travelled from his own home, but there was waste land all the way on his starboard side, except for fishermen and fowlers and hunters, and they were all finnas, and open sea had always been on his port side. According to Ohthere,

9048-407: The saga. If the passage about going "southwest" is taken literally and directly, continuing from Hälsingland across the Gulf of Bothnia Thorolf would have arrived in the southwestern tip of present-day Finland, the center of Finland's Viking period population (see map). Again, as with Ohthere , Finns and Kvens are not discussed at the same time. The saga tells how Norwegians taxed the Finns, but there

9152-489: The same as that of the Beormas . Historian Christine Fell suggests that the Old English Orosius' use of the word "unfrið" might rather indicate that Ohthere made a diplomatic approach to the Beormas because he had no trading agreement with them. The Beormas have been linked with the Old Permic culture , for example through late-medieval treaties dealing with, among other things, a territory called Koloperem ' ,

9256-617: The same era. One of the texts may have been written in Norway . Norna-Gests þáttr has a brief mention of the king of Denmark and Sweden , Sigurd Hring (ruling in the mid-8th century), fighting against the Curonians and the Kvens: Sigurd Ring ( Sigurðr ) was not there, since he had to defend his land, Sweden ( Svíþjóð ), since Curonians ( Kúrir ) and Kvens ( Kvænir ) were raiding there. Historia Norwegiae

9360-537: The same manuscript page, and given that Ohthere was a seafarer, it may be that he was describing sea-routes to Ireland and Britain rather than actual directions, with no thought for Iceland. Britain, or England, is regarded as self-evident, represented in Ohthere's account through the phrase "this land" ( þis land ): Ohthere is reported as giving his account in person to King Alfred of Wessex. Sciringes heal has been held to represent Skiringssal ( Old Norse : Skíringssalr ) in almost all relevant historical writing since

9464-429: The shoreline south-west of Tjølling, in the south-eastern county of Vestfold in modern Norway. An alternative view is that an identification of Sciringes heal with Skiringssal is impossible to reconcile with the detail of Ohthere's account, and is unlikely for historical and linguistic reasons. According to this interpretation, a location for Sciringes heal west of Lindesnes , the southernmost extremity of Norway,

9568-521: The term used in reference to the Kvens . According to Thomas William Shore , the English language term queen derives from the term qwen , a spelling used for the Kvens e.g. by Wulfila in c. 352 CE and King Alfred the Great of Wessex in c. 890 CE. In 1075 AD, in Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum , the German chronicler Adam of Bremen calls Kvenland Women's Land, stating

9672-438: The valleys that run south of the fjord. That fjord is now called Trondheim. Starting somewhere on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, Nór had either gone all the way up and around the Gulf, or skied across; it was winter, and the gulf might have been frozen. Nór ended up attacking the area around Trondheim in central Norway and later the lake district in the south, conquering the country and uniting it under his rule. There

9776-476: Was a Viking Age Norwegian seafarer known only from an account of his travels that he gave to King Alfred (r. 871–99) of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex in about 890 AD. His account was incorporated into an Old English adaptation of a Latin historical book written early in the fifth century by Paulus Orosius , called Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII , or Seven Books of History Against

9880-402: Was all wasteland, except for a few places where finnas ( Sami ) camped to hunt in the winter and fish in the summer. He said that he once wanted to find out how far the land extended to the north, or if anyone lived north of the waste. He sailed north along the coast for three days, as far north as whale-hunters would go, and continued to travel north as far as he could sail in three days. Then

9984-475: Was no whale-hunter at all, that his killing of the sixty walruses took place in the White Sea, and that a ship's crew of five (or six) men there would indicate the use of an early cargo-ship comparable to the later Skuldelev 1 or Skuldelev 3 ships. The author revives the old theory that Ohthere was an exile and had left Norway for good by pointing to the exclusive use of the Old English preterite tense regarding Ohthere's person; he sees King Alfred's interview with

10088-511: Was not the author of the sagas, but was rather collecting very old stories that had been transmitted orally for many centuries. The saga covers a long period, starting in Norway in 850 CE and ending around 1000 CE. It contains a short description of Egil's uncle Thorolf Kveldulfsson co-operating with a Kvenland king, Faravid , against invading Karelians. Rather accurate geographical details about Kvenland's location are given in chapter XIV: Finmark

10192-501: Was often assumed by critics, but answers a question of King Alfred's court (see D. Whitelock above) about distances, "how long is the North Way?", or "how long is it from your home to the south?". Korhammer claims that Ohthere here uses the worst-case scenario of a theoretical sailing voyage lasting longer than one month for a description of the very great length of the Norwegian coast-line to his Anglo-Saxon audience. This interpretation

10296-631: Was previously in existence and incorporated from the outset, or if it was written down later and incorporated into a subsequent copy. The events that Ohthere described may have taken place at any time from the 870s to the late 890s, and Ohthere's account is given in the form of a third-person report of what he said to King Alfred, rather than as reported speech, as exemplified by the opening sentence: "Ohthere sæde his hlaforde Ælfrede kynincge þæt he ealra Norðmanna norðmest bude." ("Ohthere told his lord Alfred king that he lived northmost of all Norwegians.") Dorothy Whitelock wrote that "Ohthere's account reads like

10400-434: Was rich and populous. Ohthere did not know their language but he said that it resembled the language of the Sami people . The Bjarmians told Ohthere about their country and other countries that bordered it. Later, several expeditions were undertaken from Norway to Bjarmaland. In 920, Eric Bloodaxe made a Viking expedition, as well as Harald II of Norway and Haakon Magnusson of Norway , in 1090. The best known expedition

10504-457: Was that of Tore Hund , who, together with some friends, arrived in Bjarmaland in 1026. They started to trade with the inhabitants and bought a great many pelts, whereupon they pretended to leave. Later, they made shore in secret, and plundered the burial site, where the Bjarmians had erected an idol of their god Jómali . This god had a bowl containing silver on his knees, and a valuable chain around his neck. Tore and his men managed to escape from

10608-400: Was the hunting of whales and walrus . He is reported as saying that his own land was best for whale-hunting, with walrus up to 7 ells long and whales mostly 50 ells long, and that with five men he had killed sixty of them in two days. While the killing of this number of whales in two days seems unlikely, historian Kjell-Olav Masdalen suggests that, rather than whales, Ohthere intended

10712-419: Was the work of King Alfred himself, but scholarly scrutiny of the text since the mid-20th century, including by the historians Dorothy Whitelock and Janet Bately , has led to this view being refuted on lexical and syntactic grounds. Janet Bately believes that the Old English version of Orosius was created between 889 and 899, probably in the early 890s, but there is no way of knowing whether Ohthere's account

10816-488: Was written sometime between 1160 and 1175 CE in an unknown location. It contains a list of peoples in the North: But towards north many pagan tribes—alas!—stretch from the east behind Norway, namely Karelians ( Kiriali ) and Kvens ( Kwæni ), Horned Finns ( cornuti Finni ) and both peoples of Bjarmia ( utrique Biarmones ). But what tribes dwell behind them, have we no certainty. The Icelandic Annals have

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