The Arctic in the middle ages

• Published in: Journal of Medieval History
• Main Author: Vaughan, Richard
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 1982
• Subjects: Arctic; Bergen; Greenland; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11370/6639331c-77fe-4543-a062-081736d7f9ce; https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/the-arctic-in-the-middle-ages(6639331c-77fe-4543-a062-081736d7f9ce).html; https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-4181(82)90014-8

The rather sparse and dubious data about Arctic regions known to Antiquity were taken over, mostly via Pliny, by the middle ages and reinforced and expanded in significant ways. This paper, which was delivered as an Inaugural Lecture at the University of Groningen in November 1982, reviews the activities and reports of medieval explorers, colonists and traders in or about the Arctic and considers the handful of medieval writers who display some real knowledge about Arctic regions. The generality of medieval writers on history and geography knew little or nothing. Even so, it is shown that here and there references are made to many of the features which are thought of as typically Arctic in the modern popular consciousness, with the exception of igloos and muskoxen. Commercial connections with the Arctic through Novgorod and Bergen are examined, and some account given of contacts with Iceland and the disappearance of the Norse settlement in Greenland. Polar bears and white falcons in western Europe, both of nearly indisputable Arctic origin, are discussed, attention is drawn to the very inadequate portrayal of the Arctic on medieval maps, and the paper closes with a glance at Olaus Magnus's account of northern peoples published in 1555.