Product Description
SYNOPSIS
This is a tale of survival, strife, love, and the quest for a new home in the face
of hostile opposition. Conditions of manifest destiny propel a large contingent of
Norse Greenlanders from relative security into an odyssey of exploration and
settlement out over the unknown waters of the North Atlantic, to a North America
of one thousand years ago; to a land, they called Vinland.
The chieftain, Halfdan Ingolfsson and his second-in-command, Gudbjartur
Einarsson, spend a winter gathering 315 men, women, and children from the two
Norse settlements on the southwestern coast of Greenland. Early in the spring of AD
1008, the company sets sail aboard six large cargo ships. Five days into the voyage,
in the strait between Helluland and Markland—present day Hudson Strait—a gale
holds the flotilla in its grip for four long and arduous days. Halfdan decides to seek
shelter in a protected bay, so they can rest, repair the storm damage, and replenish
food stores lost in the storm.
During the following weeks, the settlers reap a harvest of fish and game that
is the best in living memory. When hunters discover a sheltered fjord, Halfdan
orders a move. Tornit hunters from far to the north venture south to hunt, and the
Northmen strike up a friendship with them. The Tornit tell the newcomers much
about the local area and describe coastal waters far to the south.
It is this thought–provoking insight into the geography of this new land and
the dawning realization that the storm god, Njord, seems to have led his people to
this place, that cause Halfdan to revise his thinking and propose a new plan to
Gudbjartur and the council of ship’s captains: sail south before choosing where to
build their settlement.
They make their way to the south along the coast of Hudson Bay to a river
fjord near the southern extremity of present–day James Bay, where they find
everything that they sought. Soon the longhouses and palisades of a permanent
settlement mark their new home.
The Naskapi, a hostile tribe whose land the Northmen have preempted,
resent the intruders. After the rape of two Naskapi women by renegade Northmen,
the trouble between the factions escalates.
Gudbjartur senses the rapes will somehow determine the survival of the
settlement. Only later will Halfdan and the others realize how prophetic his
misgivings are.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Axe of Iron–The Settlers, the first book of a five book series on the Northmen from Greenland, is a tale of survival, strife, love, and the quest for a new home in the face of hostile opposition. Six ships with 315 men, women, and children, set sail on an odyssey into the unknown waters of North America, to Vinland.
What happened to the Northmen who lived on the island of Greenland for almost five hundred years? Between 1350 and 1425 they abandoned both of the known Greenland settlements and simply disappeared. Nobody knows where they went.
Several people think they had been gradually moving to Vinland—North America, over the years.
During the late 14th or early 15th centuries, a Catholic Prelate voyaged to Greenland, ostensibly to check on his flock. Although a few domestic animals grazed the hillsides, he found no people, living or dead; no ships, supplies, or tools remained. The people and their possessions had simply vanished.
The Icelandic bishop Gisli Oddsson, quoting church records, stated in the 16th or 17th century (the exact date is unknown) that the Norse Greenlanders joined the natives of America in 1342, giving up Christianity in the process. The record notes a firm date, not sometime in the 14th century. Ingstad, Helge & Anne Stine, "The Viking Discovery of America,"(Checkmark Books, New York, NY, 2001) iv.
My Axe of Iron series speaks to what I believe happened to them. Come along with me as the story unfolds with the first novel of the series: The Settlers.
This is a tale of survival, strife, love, and the quest for a new home in the face
of hostile opposition. Conditions of manifest destiny propel a large contingent of
Norse Greenlanders from relative security into an odyssey of exploration and
settlement out over the unknown waters of the North Atlantic, to a North America
of one thousand years ago; to a land, they called Vinland.
The chieftain, Halfdan Ingolfsson and his second-in-command, Gudbjartur
Einarsson, spend a winter gathering 315 men, women, and children from the two
Norse settlements on the southwestern coast of Greenland. Early in the spring of AD
1008, the company sets sail aboard six large cargo ships. Five days into the voyage,
in the strait between Helluland and Markland—present day Hudson Strait—a gale
holds the flotilla in its grip for four long and arduous days. Halfdan decides to seek
shelter in a protected bay, so they can rest, repair the storm damage, and replenish
food stores lost in the storm.
During the following weeks, the settlers reap a harvest of fish and game that
is the best in living memory. When hunters discover a sheltered fjord, Halfdan
orders a move. Tornit hunters from far to the north venture south to hunt, and the
Northmen strike up a friendship with them. The Tornit tell the newcomers much
about the local area and describe coastal waters far to the south.
It is this thought–provoking insight into the geography of this new land and
the dawning realization that the storm god, Njord, seems to have led his people to
this place, that cause Halfdan to revise his thinking and propose a new plan to
Gudbjartur and the council of ship’s captains: sail south before choosing where to
build their settlement.
They make their way to the south along the coast of Hudson Bay to a river
fjord near the southern extremity of present–day James Bay, where they find
everything that they sought. Soon the longhouses and palisades of a permanent
settlement mark their new home.
The Naskapi, a hostile tribe whose land the Northmen have preempted,
resent the intruders. After the rape of two Naskapi women by renegade Northmen,
the trouble between the factions escalates.
Gudbjartur senses the rapes will somehow determine the survival of the
settlement. Only later will Halfdan and the others realize how prophetic his
misgivings are.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Axe of Iron–The Settlers, the first book of a five book series on the Northmen from Greenland, is a tale of survival, strife, love, and the quest for a new home in the face of hostile opposition. Six ships with 315 men, women, and children, set sail on an odyssey into the unknown waters of North America, to Vinland.
What happened to the Northmen who lived on the island of Greenland for almost five hundred years? Between 1350 and 1425 they abandoned both of the known Greenland settlements and simply disappeared. Nobody knows where they went.
Several people think they had been gradually moving to Vinland—North America, over the years.
During the late 14th or early 15th centuries, a Catholic Prelate voyaged to Greenland, ostensibly to check on his flock. Although a few domestic animals grazed the hillsides, he found no people, living or dead; no ships, supplies, or tools remained. The people and their possessions had simply vanished.
The Icelandic bishop Gisli Oddsson, quoting church records, stated in the 16th or 17th century (the exact date is unknown) that the Norse Greenlanders joined the natives of America in 1342, giving up Christianity in the process. The record notes a firm date, not sometime in the 14th century. Ingstad, Helge & Anne Stine, "The Viking Discovery of America,"(Checkmark Books, New York, NY, 2001) iv.
My Axe of Iron series speaks to what I believe happened to them. Come along with me as the story unfolds with the first novel of the series: The Settlers.
About the Author
J. A. Hunsinger lives in Colorado, with his wife Phyllis. His Axe of Iron series represents his first serious effort to craft the story of a lifelong interest in the Viking Age, especially as it pertains to Norse exploration west of Iceland and extensive research and archaeological site visitations as an amateur historian. He has tied the discovery of many of the Norse artifacts found on this continent to places and events portrayed in his novels. Much of his adult life has been associated with commercial aviation, both in and out of the cockpit. As an engineering technical writer for Honeywell Commercial Flight Systems Group in Phoenix, Arizona, he authored two comprehensive pilots' manuals on aircraft computer guidance systems and several supplemental aircraft radar manuals. His manuals were published and distributed worldwide to airline operators by Honeywell Engineering. He also published an article, "Flight Into Danger," in Flying Magazine, (August 2002).
