In the summer of 1006, an Icelander by the name of Thorfin Karlsefne came to Greenland, and, in the winter, married Gudrid, the widow of Thorstein, third brother of Leif Erikson. By her advice he resolved to undertake an expedition to Vinland and establish a colony there. In the spring (1007) they set out with three ships, 160 men, and all kinds of live stock, and sailed to Vinland. Some time after their arrival there Gudrid bore a son, who was named Snorre. The colonists occasionally traded with the _Skrælings_, giving them pieces of cloth and dairy products for their skins; but when they refused to sell them weapons, the _Skrælings_ became hostile to the settlers and attacked them repeatedly. These constant hostilities so disheartened the settlers that they resolved to leave the country, and, after three years' sojourn in Vinland, Thorfin Karlsefne and his party returned to Greenland. Another expedition to Vinland was undertaken, shortly after their return, by Freydis, the illegitimate daughter of Erik the Red, her husband Thorvald, and two Norwegians named Helge and Finboge. This party quarrelled among themselves, and Freydis, who is described as a very bad woman, caused a great number of them to be murdered. The survivors returned to Greenland in the spring of 1013. The next summer, Thorfin Karlsefne went to Norway with his Vinland cargo and sold it to great advantage. He returned to Iceland and bought land there, and, according to the saga, many men of distinction are descended from him and his son Snorre, who was born in Vinland.[4] [4] Accounts of these journeys to Vinland are contained in the _Flateyar-bok_, or Flatey Codex, an Icelandic manuscript, which takes its name from the island Flatey, Iceland, where it was preserved. It was written by two priests between the years 1387 and 1395. The work is a collection of sagas transcribed from older manuscripts and arranged chronologically. The book is written on parchment, and is one of the most beautiful works of penmanship from that time in Europe. It is known that Christopher Columbus came to Iceland in 1477, on purpose to gain nautical information, and it would seem next to impossible that he should not have heard of the written accounts of the discoveries recorded in the Flatey Codex. CHAPTER XIII _The Earls Erik and Svein, Sons of Haakon (1000-1015)_