Oldal 222 [222]
MIKLÓS VASSÁNYI
Danish sailors had not frequented them for a long time.“ It is clear also from
earlier royal documents that the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway, as we have
seen above, was eager to secure Greenland for itself, to reincorporate this once
Normann-settled territory into the empire before some other political power
would do so. This incorporation was here represented as a re-integration into
the political order which Greenland had originally belonged to: Greenland
had always been part of the Danish crown."
By August the same year, the ship commanded by Admiral Lindenov had
successfully visited Greenland, and returned to Copenhagen, carrying with
it several kidnapped Aboriginals, while Hall’s ship arrived separately in the
same month, also carrying three abducted Kalaallit.” Kidnapping on voyages
of exploration in early modern times was common practice throughout the
Americas, generally with a threefold aim: 1. to obtain slave-guides in unknown
territories (see for example Hernando de Soto’s above-mentioned expedition to
Florida and further in 1539-1541);* 2. to train basic-level interpreters (see for
instance Jacques Cartier’s voyages to Canada, of 1533 and 15354 or Francisco
Pizarro’s second voyage to Perti*’); 3. to demonstrate, after re-entry at the
home port, the reality of the discoveries made. A letter by King Christian IV,
then, dated in Copenhagen, 11 August 1605, and addressed to the caretaker
of Dragsholm Castle reveals that the King ordered the instruction in Danish,
4% “Cum navigatio ultro citroque ad terram nostram Grvnlandiam inde iam extet obscurior et
incertior, quod a nostris hominibus, longo temporis spatio, non sit frequentata.” (Ibid.)
Vivian Etting, The Rediscovery of Greenland during the Reign of Christian IV, Journal of
the North Atlantic, Special Volume 2, Norse Greenland — Selected Papers from the Hvalsey
Conference 2008 (2009), 151-160.
“in the time of our absence, the People (= the Kalaallit) did very much villanie to them in
the ship, so that the Captaine (= John Cunningham) tooke three of them; other of them also
he slew; but the three which he tooke, he vsed with all kindnesse, giving them Mandillions
(= a loose garment without sleeves) and Breeches of very good cloth, also Hose, Shoes,
and Shirts of his own backe.” (A report to King Christian IV of Denmark on the Danish
Expedition to Greenland, under the Command of captain John Cunningham, in 1605, by
James Hall, Chief Pilot, Appendix to the report, entitled A Topographicall Description of
the Land as I did discouer the same, in Christian Carl August Gosch [ed.], Danish Arctic
Expeditions, 1605 to 1620, 2 vols., London, The Hakluyt Society, 1897, Vol. 1, 1-16 [Report]
and 43-53 [Appendix], citation from page 48.)
“Estando neste pouo de Ucita os indios que naquella costa Joam Danhusco auia tomado & ho
gouernador trazia pera guia & lingoa por mao recado d’ dous homés que os guardaua hiia noite
fugirä: o que ho gouernador & todos muito sentiram, porque se auiam ja feito algiias entradas
& nam se podia tomar indios por ser a terra dalagadicos & em muitas partes de muy alto &
espesso aruoredo.” (Gentleman of Elvas, Relagam verdadeira, Chapter 7, 21 recto—verso.)
Jacques Cartier: Brief recit, & succincte narration, de la nauigation faicte es ysles de
Canada, Hochelaga & Saguenay & autres, auec particulieres meurs, langaige, & cerimonies
des habitans d’icelles: fort delectable a veoir, Paris, Ponce Roffet, 1545, 8 verso and 41 verso
(Cartier is willing to take to France “deux ou trois petis enfans pour apprendre le langaige”).
See relevant documents in G. Lohmann Villena (ed.): Francisco Pizarro. Testimonio:
documentos oficiales, cartas y escritos varios, Madrid, Consejo superior de Investigaciones
Cientificas, 1986.
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