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Great Ireland, known originally in Old Norse as Hvítramannaland ("White Men's Land") and Irland it mikla ("Ireland the Great") and in Latin as Hibernia Major or Albania (possibly in reference to the people Albani said to have "hair and skin as white as snow"^[1]), was a land said by various Norsemen to be located near Vinland.^[2]

Encounters

Ari Marsson, c. 983

According to the Landnámabók, Ari Marsson discovered the land six days' sailing west of Ireland: "...their son was Ari, who was drifted over the ocean to Whitemans'-land, which some call Ireland the Great, and lies west in the ocean near Vineland the Good; thither men hold that there is six days' sailing from Ireland due west."^{[n 1]} and further, "Thorkel, the son of Gellir said that Icelanders, who had heard Earl Thorfin of Orkney tell the tale, avowed that Ari had been recognised in Whitemens' land, and that he had not been able to get away from there, and was held there in much honour."^{[n 2]}

Thorfinn Karlsefni, c. 1007

White Men's Land is also mentioned in The Saga of Eric the Red, where it is related that the inhabitants of Markland speak of it to Thorfinn Karlsefni: "They [two captured children] said that kings ruled over the land of the Skrælingar, one of whom was called Avalldamon, and the other Valldidida. They said also that there were no houses, and the people lived in caves or holes. They said, moreover, that there was a land on the other side over against their land, and the people there were dressed in white garments, uttered loud cries, bare long poles, and wore fringes. This was supposed to be White Men's land or Great Ireland^{[n 3]}."

Gudleif Gudlaugson, c. 1029

In Eyrbyggja saga, Gudleif Gudlaugson and his crew are said to have visited the land, whose inhabitants spoke Irish. These Irishmen wanted to kill or enslave the Norsemen, but they were saved by the intervention of an Icelander who lived among them. They took this man to be Bjorn Asbrandson, who had been exiled from Iceland some thirty years earlier.

Later references

In a 16th century Icelandic writing a chart seemingly had been made of the land: "Sir Erlend Thordson had obtained from abroad the geographical chart of that Albania, or land of the White men, which is situated opposite Vinland the good, of which mention has been before made in this little book, and which the merchants formerly called Hibernia Major or Great Ireland, and lies, as has been said, to the west of Ireland proper. This chart had held accurately all those tracts of land, and the boundaries of Markland, Einfœtingjaland, and little Helluland, together with Greenland, to the west of it, where apparently begins the good Terra Florida."^[3]

Notes

References

Sources

• Landnámabók (English: [1], Old Norse: [2])
• Saga of Erik the Red (English: [3], Old Norse: [4])
• Library Ireland - The Legend of "Great Ireland" and of Saint Brandan