I've always tried to promote the idea of medieval colonization, as popularized in Empty America, but have been thwarted by LSCatilina at every turn.
Today my Wiki travels have revealed this thing:
Okay, that's just silly, but my two takeaways:
1. Medievals Icelandics thought that Anglos were capable of fleeing William the Conqueror in great numbers
2. Icelandics, you say?
What if this great host actually happened, and instead of doing some weird reenactment of the Varangian Guard, they went west (like I always insist they should), but instead of ahistoricallly discovering America, they go to Iceland, instead. Or Greenland.
I mean, why would they flee all of the way to Constantinople? They might as well sail west.
Today my Wiki travels have revealed this thing:
New England (Latin: Nova Anglia) was a colony allegedly founded in the mid-to-late 11th century by English refugees fleeing William the Conqueror. Its existence is only attested in two sources, dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, the French Chronicon Universale Anonymi Laudunensis and the Icelandic Játvarðar Saga. They tell the story of a journey from England through the Mediterranean Sea that led to Constantinople, where the English refugees fought off a siege by heathens and were rewarded by the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus.
Okay, that's just silly, but my two takeaways:
1. Medievals Icelandics thought that Anglos were capable of fleeing William the Conqueror in great numbers
Játvarðar Saga relates that when the Anglo-Saxon & Anglo-Danish rebels, fighting against William the Conqueror, became sure that the Danish king Sveinn Ástríðarson would not help them any more, they agreed to leave England for Constantinople (Miklagarðr).[5] The English force consisted of 350 ships, a "great host" and "three earls and eight barons", all led by one "Siward earl of Gloucester" (Sigurðr jarl af Glocestr).
2. Icelandics, you say?
What if this great host actually happened, and instead of doing some weird reenactment of the Varangian Guard, they went west (like I always insist they should), but instead of ahistoricallly discovering America, they go to Iceland, instead. Or Greenland.
I mean, why would they flee all of the way to Constantinople? They might as well sail west.