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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 do Karlsefni and his natives do with the natives the second time they get visited?

2. How old was Karlsefni's son when they left Vinland?

3. Where do Karlsefni and his men spend the next winter?

4. How does Thorvald know they have found rich country just before he dies?

5. Who was Thorhall?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the interchange between Bjarni and the young Icelander. What are the circumstances and what is the result?

2. How and why does Einar pursue Gudrid in marriage?

3. How do Leif's parents, Eirik the Red and Thjodhild, take to Christianity?

4. How does Freydis drive away the natives giving chase?

5. Describe Thorhall and explain why he is on the expedition to Vinland.

6. What kind of place to Karlsefni and his men settle in for their stay in Vinland?

7. What does the corpse of Thorstein Eriksson say about the dead? What do the people do after hearing it?

8. How does a fight break out between Karlsefni's men and the natives? Describe the sequence of events leading up to Karlsefni and his men fleeing.

9. Describe the first two encounters that Karlsefni and his men have with the natives.

10. What happens to those that stay in Bjarni's ship and those that leave in the small boat?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Eirik the Red is sentenced to outlawry by the Thorsness Assembly. Write an essay about the concept of outlawry.

Part 1. What does the legal sentence of outlawry mean?

Part 2. What places practiced the sentence of outlawry? When did they stop?

Part 3. What are the good and bad consequences of the practice of outlawry? Why do you think it is no longer practiced?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Write an essay about the Hebrides and the role of the Vikings in their history.

Part 1. Where are the Hebrides? What is their geology like? Give an introduction to the Hebrides.

Part 2. Why might have the Hebrides been so aptly suited to Viking settlements? Explain the safety and accessibility of the Hebrides.

Part 3. When did Vikings first arrive on the Hebrides? How long did they stay? Give examples and cite particulars.

Part 4. What evidence remains, archeological and otherwise, of the Viking occupation of the Hebrides?

(see the answer keys)

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