A concise history of Thule
The coming of the Papes
The first mention of Thule in written documents was written by an irish geographer in the carolingian court. Irish monks and scholars were very popular in european courts at the time due to their knowledge and skills. Liber de mensura orbis terrae by Dilcuil was written in 825 and mentions Thule or Thile briefly.
"North of Scotland on the island of Thile there is a nation whose skin is red and lives in cave. They eat only fish for earth is poisonous, worship mountains for they know not of our lord and make boats of skins. During summer the light is so bright all night long that one can pick lice from one´s shirt at midnight. For hundred years there have been monks living on the island who have tried to teach the people of Thile the worship of our lord but the islanders remain ignorant of the good word for the most part."
Since the 5th century irish missionaries had been preaching all across Europe. The conversion of England and Scotland was their work and some they had some successes in Scandinavia as well. There were "papar" as the norse called these missionaries living in small settlement in the Orkneys and Faero islands and most notably Thule. We do not know excactly when they arrived to Thule but a twelfth century manuscript written in Thule by monks in the Colomban monastery claim that the monastery was founded in 712.
"The thulites approached St. Aidan´s vessel on their small boats. The other monks feared that these strange men would surely take their lives but Aidan said:
"Be calm, for these men fear us as much as we fear them. Be thankful, we came here in search of solitude but god has given us a flock to tend"
When they stopped on St. Brendan´s island the men wanted to touch the monks for they could not believe they were truly living. The strongest of them touch Aidan´s hand and than ran screaming away.
The other men followed him to their boats and sailed away. When they were gone the monks came to Aidan and asked him what they should do.
"We should go back, the men will come again and kill us in our sleep I fear" one of them said.
Then Aidan answered:
"If they come back we shall receive them with open arms for these poor men know not of Christ and the good word."
The end of Sadlermiut culture
The Sadlermiut did not disappear of course since their descendants are still living on the island. But what we call the Sadlermiut culture named after the settlement digged up in Sadlermiutfjord came to an abrupt end in the seventh century.
It is very likely that the contact with irish missionaries brought these colossal changes in lifestyle and culture. The first major change were the plagues that killed of more than half of the population. The colomban manuscript mention that the men who helped St.Aidan to settle and found his monastery disappeared after living close to them for one year. It is possible that the white men frightened them so much that they didn´t want to live nearby. But that is unlikely since they helped these very same men survive their first winter. Aidan and his company had no plans for staying in Thule more than one summer and would have surely perished if the natives had not shared some of their food with them. When they returned from Ireland with more people, cattle and grainseeds they were surprised to find no people living there.
According to the manuscript five years passed before Aidan again encountered the "Thulites." Why did such a long time pass?
Of course it is pure speculation that Aidan´s company transmitted european diseases to them. But it is not unprecedented. Research has indicated that between 700-730 Sadlermiut people were dying in droves, and relatively densely settled fjords became empty. It may have been a mixed blessing. According to maritime biologists at the university of Bergen this in fact saved Thule from an environmental disaster:
"Seals, walrusses and auks were all becoming scarce and in some cases people resorted to eating even dogmeat. But after 730 the seals and auk population seemed to have recovered enough for them to again become a part of their diet."
Part of the colomban monastery on St.Brendan´s island.
St. Brendan´s island, photo taken after the 70s eruption.