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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What arrangement does Freydis have with the brothers Helgi and Finnbogi?

2. What is Eirik sentenced with by the Thorsness Assembly?

3. What causes the Bjarni to lose his bearings at sea?

4. What is different about the trip Karlsefni makes to Vinland from the previous ones?

5. Which of the following best characterizes the natural resources and weather on the land that Leif and his men explore?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the entire affair of Eirik and the bench-boards.

2. What happens between the natives and Thorvald and his crew? Describe the encounter.

3. Describe the events surrounding Thorstein's death.

4. How do Leif and his men find grapes? Describe the incident.

5. Where do Karlsefni and Gudrid travel? What becomes of them?

6. Explain who Aud brings to Iceland with her, who they were, and what happened once they arrived in Iceland.

7. Describe the circumstances of Bjarni's discovery of new lands to the west.

8. What does the saga of Gudrid's Ancestry tell us about Aud's faith and what she does to practice it?

9. Who is Thorir and what happens to him?

10. What response does Bjarni receive when he shares his sighting of the new land?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The historical novel "The Thrall's Tale" takes place during the sagas. Read the novel and then analyze the novel's connections to the sagas.

Part 1. Introduce and summarize the novel.

Part 2. During which saga does the action of the novel take place? What events happen in both?

Part 3. Which characters from the novel are also characters from the sagas? Are they consistent with their portrayal in the sagas? Does the fiction created surrounding the characters seem likely or plausible? Why or why not?

Part 4. According to you, how well did the author of "The Thrall's Tale" weave her fiction into the sagas? What did she do well and what could she have done better?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about Norway

Part 1. Describe the location and geography of Norway.

Part 2. What is Norway currently like? Describe what it is today.

Part 3. Describe Norway during the Viking era. Who were some prominent people of the time and what did they do?

Part 4. What remnants of the Vikings still exist in Norway?

Essay Topic 3

The Vinland Sagas are about the Vikings. Write an essay about Vikings.

Part 1. Who were the Vikings? When and where did they live?

Part 2. What were the Vikings famous and feared for? What were they like as a people and how did they survive? What did they accomplish?

Part 3.What records do we have about the Vikings? Discuss both the sagas and the archeological record.

Part 4. How did the Vikings leave their mark on the world?

(see the answer keys)

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