The Tamed Bull: Vinland Survives

Please keep this going. Vinland TLs are quite a rarity, and this one looks to be quite a gem. Keep it up!

Could I ask, though, will Vinland have any contact with Basque sailors when they come along? Could this kick-start an earlier European colonisation?
 
Could I ask, though, will Vinland have any contact with Basque sailors when they come along? Could this kick-start an earlier European colonisation?

In the 1200s the end of the Medieval Warm Period will result in a freeze over of most traditional routes between the Norse holdings in the north. What will follow, until the 1400s, is a period of utter non-contact between America and Europe.

As you may note from the timeline of rulers, European contact causes an utter collapse in order in Vinland as disease and pestilence breaks things down until well into the 1450s.

That said, events in Europe will preclude the Basques from making major ventures - access to the western parts of Hispania may be difficult. People of another cloth, though, may find themselves in green jungle and swampland should they head west. Perhaps they'll even found great cities with spiraling minarets, for good measure?
 
General notes. Your grammar is awful!! And your spelling is ... unusual, to say the least. In particular, names in Norse '-r', Icelandic '-ur' you have as '-ir', which is a very different sound. Specifically, it would cause the internal mutations of the names to be quite different.

Quick overview of grammar. Words ending in '-i' take a genitive in '-a', those ending in '-a' go to '-u', those in '-(u)r' go to ... usually '-s', but sometimes '-ar' (THorvaldr -> THorvalds, but Sigmundr -> Sigmunds).

The Rulers of Vinland (1070-1600)

Ulfir I Snorrisson, King of Vinland (1070-1104)
Ulfr Snorrason

Tarr I Ulfirsson, King of Vinland (1104-1138)
Tarr Ulfsson (Tarr? ??? where did you get that?)

Ulfir II Tarrsson, Called the Viking, King of Vinland & Greenland (1138-1150)
Ulfr Tarsson (probably, depends on what the root of 'Tarr' is)

Snorri I Ulfirsson, King of Vinland & Greenland (1150-1174)
Snorri Ulfsson

Ulfir III Snorrisson, Called the Savior, King of Vinland (1174-1203)
Ulfr Snorrason

Tarr II Ulfirsson, Called the Killer, King of Vinland & Harvior (1203-1236)

The War of the Three Kings (1236-1244): Heimir Ulfirsson, Ulfir Ulfirsson, Tarr Ulfirsson, none succeed to the throne - Heimir's son Snorri succeeds for lack of population.

Snorri II Heimirsson, Called the New Blood, King of Vinland & Harvior (1244-1261)

Ulfir IV Snorrisson, King of Vinland & Harvior (1261-1285)

Ulfir V Ulfirsson, Called the Second, King of Vinland & Harvior (1285-1299)

Snorri III Ulfirsson, Called the Conciliator, King of Vinland (1299-1330)

Anna I Snorrisdottir, called the Skraeling, Queen of Vinland & Mother of the Tribes (1330-1375)
Anna? ??? A Christian name in the middle of all these Norse names?

Heimir I Syvursson, King of Vinland & Chief of the Tribes (1375-1388)
Heimir?? Syvur??

Syvur I Heimirsson, Called the Teacher, King of Vinland & Chief of the Tribes (1388-1407)

Ulfir VI Syvursson, King of Vinland & Chief of the Tribes (1407-1415)

The Black Years (1415-1451): Plague ruins the kingdom and savages North America. Decades pass without a ruling authority before the accession of Ulfir VII of the Tarr Branch, long removed from the main line since the 1240s.

Ulfir VII, Called the Destined, Emperor of Vinland (1451-1499)

Heimir II Ulfirsson, Emperor of Vinland (1499-1523)

Ulfir VIII, Called the Fool, Emperor of Vinland (1523-1529)

Dotta I Ulfirsdottir, called the She-Wolf, Empress of Vinland (1529-1552)
Dotta??

Ulfir VIII Bjallsson, Emperor of Vinland (1552-1583)
Bjallsson??? If he's "Dotta"s son, he'd be called that.

Syvur II Ulfirsson, Called the Patron, Emperor of Vinland (1583-1600)
specific notes in green


Also, why are they suddenly kings? Neither Iceland nor Greenland had kings or even jarls. "godhi" (chieftain/priest) was the highest rank that existed in Iceland or Greenland. After some time, I suppose that kings might arise, but it seems odd.
 
Understand I have neither a command of the Nordic languages themselves nor the time available to learn them - please accept that there's going to be awful grammar and syntax, especially since readily available guides on Old Norse aren't exactly prevalent.

That said, to address a few things - Anna was a tiny nod to Frozen, but if it's too Christian it can be changed, that list was by no means final.

Syvurr and associated names come from here, or are pulled from the random name gen that comes with CK2 The Old Gods.

I assumed that, in the case of Heimir (whose name is a nod to a character in a fic I wrote - not that his name makes any sense) and in the case of Ulfir/Ulfr VII, that the patronymic stays in place even as a woman is on the throne. Bjall is thus Empress Dotta's husband, Syvur the son of Anna (I'll rename her, maybe Arnleif or Aldis).

Of course - Objective #1 is to keep content rolling and things moving, the more proofreading required to keep Norse proper, instead of just Norse-sounding for the benefit of the readers, ultimately puts a dent in that.

Why Kings? Because 'High Chief of All Chiefs' and 'Chief of the Chiefs' are long words to write. I mean I could really write them that way, but King is a word people understand, and has more proper connotations. If written from the perspective of the here and now, what the King was actually called and what the people of the future call him can be two different things.
 
The Century of Good Feeling (1104-1203)

The era in the immediate aftermath of Ulfr I’s reign is known as the Century of Good Feeling, the prelude to the time of ending and the wars of rebellion and ultimately the succession crisis of 1236-1244. It was a period of rapid population growth - unheard of peace amongst the Norse - and the growth of arts and culture in the era of plenty. It began, most commonly, with the death of Ulfr I. While a great king, Ulfr’s concerns were very short-sighted. He focused on increasing Norse power in Vinland proper, to the expense of those on adventures outside his holdings. While this was positive - and created an utterly beautiful network of infrastructure on Vinland proper - it also created a weak authority for the Kingship he’d so dutifully created.

His heir, Tarr, was not that sort of king. A smart man and a scholarly one, they called him a battle poet - and it was a title well-earned. Wearing hardest ringmail and bearing a bow in his mailled mittens, he lead his men during the wars with the Dorsets and brought peace to the warring west - who’d encountered a series of quite vicious tribes. Upon his father’s death, he was unanimously made King - the only to be so before the election of Snorri II in the wake of the wars of kingship. His first acts were to crush the violent tribes - Norsemen taking wives and adopting children as was their way. Next was to expand his father’s projects.

A single great stoneway was laid between the southern colonies and the middle colonies - the locations of Eriksborg and Thorvaldsland. It was a task that took many months, with help from many a chieftain - but resulted in the most-used roadway in all of Vinland. Villages made their own paths off of it, and chiefs had men patrolling to guard it many days of the week. What was once a collection of tribes began to look as a nation - and three more towns sprung along this roadway.

The rest of Tarr’s reign focused on the past - and on the future. He commissioned stronger longships - which were used to push further south than ever before - to places too hot to wear furs and where skin turned red and then a crisp brown, as if seared alive. Trees of pine gave way to bright leaves, and then to open fields and later grassy trees- and it seemed further south one headed, the calmer the waves got. While Tarr would not officially sanction such, his daughter Eilif - herself a noble shieldmaiden whose tales are some of the most dramatic from Tarr’s reign - was one to take journeys to this calmest sea.

With her five Huscarls, their great families, and her husband, Vigfuss, Eilif took ship with a boatload of goods to explore and document these lands. This was in 1117 - and no ship returned until two years before Tarr’s death, 1136. In the intervening nearly 21 years, Eilif had lost her husband, taken a native man for hers, and sired six children with him. The five families had built a great village called Lognfit (Tranquil Shore, OTL Havana), and proceeded to make contact with the natives. Trading horses and iron where needed, they intermingled and quickly found common ground - fighting against a massive storm that destroyed their longships and much of the native village.

It was only then, after twenty years of rebuilding and peace, they finally returned. Tarr, who had been distraught at his daughters’ death, was suddenly a hundred times happier. He died two years later, his kingdom at peace and expanding apace. Where others had fled outward - Tarr’s kingdom had filled inward - and cut trees turned to great fields of strange plants and familiar ones. Next to wheat and fruit came Maize - a strange crop that crew in massive amounts in both the wild and in the fields. A staple, it was practically the primary food for the Norse after meats and breads - and every farmer could proffer some if it was requested. With a half-dozen children per family and the population growing without end, it seemed as if prosperity in the sea of plenty was to have no bounds.

Of course - not all could be as notable.

Of the remaining monarchs, there is only so much to be said. Ulfr II, son of Tarr, acceded to the throne with some dissent in 1138. His next-closest opponent, his brother, fled north and east to Greenland. Erik the Red’s lineage had descended through Leif to several increasingly despoting chieftains, who’d gone so far as to raid both northeast Vinland and Greenland itself. Though small in number, the isle was both rich and semi-bountiful, and trade was commonplace.

Hoping to head east and find his fortunes in the legends of Europe, Ulfr’s brother Geirsteinn landed with a dozen huscarls in Greenland. Chief Halli of Greenland saw it as a raid - Geirsteinn’s calm and ignorant demeanor to his reign causing a row that ended with the latter in chains. After further insolence, Geirsteinn’s huscarls rescued him from imprisonment - only for them to be overwhelmed and killed by two dozen locals. Halli had Geirsteinn’s head cut off, and shipped back to Vinland.

Ulfr, to his credit, kept composure as his brothers’ head was rolled onto the floor. Competitors though they were, their love for one another was well known to the people - and they chose separation over jealousy ruining their greatest kinship. As his namesake had done decades before, Ulfr smashed his axe of office into a nice spot next to where the original axe mark had been made.

Muster of the Isle of Vinland turned up nearly 1,300 warriors, piled into three and a half-score longships. Greenland, home to nearly 6,000 Norsefolk, fell within two days of landing in the dead of summer 1139. Halli was killed, his line made extinct, and the locals forced to accept Vinland as hegemon.

Ulfr’s reign continued his fathers’ policies, expanding roadways to new towns in the west, including Gramrfrest (Kingsrest, OTL Montreal).

He was succeeded by his son Snorri, first of his name as king, in the year 1150. He reigned until his death in 1174, a year shy of 25 years as monarch. As most good kings are known, Snorri has little to add to the history books as a king.

Ulfr III was much the same, serving from 1174 to 1203 - a year shy of thirty years’ reign. He was a scholarly man, as many of the crown were wont to be, and commissioned the first holy book of the Old Gods - crafted entirely in inked runic script. Drawn by his Gothi at his court, soon it was copied and spread to every city in the realm - and it quickly took great notice. Some even began to preach from it - converting many of the pagan Skraelings and Mi’iqmaks to the ways of Odin and Thor. By 1200, the Old Gods were true - even as tensions between Catholic and Norse in Greenland seemed to mount.

It was the man that followed these in 1203, though, that would send all of Vinland into a spiral of doom...

==

A question for my readers. Do you consider it breaking your immersion to name places in English? I feel it’ll be easier to remember place/location names if I give them as words people can understand. Only major places, such as North/South America, alongside people, would get Norse names. Makes it easier to keep things straight over here in the writers’ shack, for certain.

Nyrliggja would become Newcoast. Eriksborg would remain, perhaps as Eriksburg anglicized. Thorvaldsland would be Thorvald’s Landing, etc.

As there will be no English equivalent ITTL (Oops, spoilers), Vinlander Norse shall become quite the equivalent as time passes.

Next update will detail a few happenings in the year 1066...
 
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Greenland or Iceland?

was Geirsteinn killed on Iceland or Greenland because you say Ulfr II killed Halli on greenland.
 
I would like to keep Norse names (I know it's pain in the arse for native Norse to see their language being abused, I have the same with Dutch, but doing the names in English.... Meh).
I really like this TL. Is Vinland going to have trouble with European colonizers?
 
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