THE KENSINGTON RUNESTONE: Commentary and Speculation by Bob Voyles

  (From back-cover copy of Alice Kehoe's book, "The Kensington Runestone." ) I see that the question of Norse fur traders possibly arriving in Minnesota in 1362 may have much to do with the difference of the men being able to get more, not fewer, furs.  The Russian fur trade had been pretty much cut-off to them by the Hanse.  An annual ship brought Greenland furs back to Norway, but any other furs would likely need to come from America, traded from natives, instead of through Russians.  Here, then, according to Kehoe, seems to be a plausible reason for the 1362 KRS-party's expedition to Minnesota. So, the Hanse basically invaded Bergen and took over the city and the port and cut the Scandinavians off from their centuries-old, very lucrative trade which had entailed obtaining furs from Northern Russian natives and then taking them to Constantinople.  It also entailed both hazardous and lengthy trips but was very profitable when successful. The Hanse took advantage of t

             (2005, by Geir Atle Ersland, Historian at the University of Bergen)   From page 21,  "German merchants arrived in Bergen in increasingly larger numbers following the 1250 peace treaty with Lubeck.  What was once short term stays during the summer months, became more permanent year round residences.  Initially the merchants rented housing and storage rooms on Bryggen from the locals, but eventually they bought gards of their own.  The Hanseatic population grew rapidly throughout the 14th century.  By the middle of the 14th century the German merchants in Bergen organised themselves."   From page 63, "As early as the 13th century, the Norwegian King declared that all goods were to be exported through Bergen, even those originating from Iceland and Greenland.  This is one of the reasons why the Hanseats were so successful in gaining control of the export from Bergen." In other words, control of trade was pretty much in place by the mid-1300s, and I think t

For comparing and contrasting purposes, here are offered several Kensington Runestone inscription translations, some popular over the years.  For example, the translation seen just below from Hjalmar Holand had stood the test of time for several decades of his own life--and it remains as one of my own favorites for what I believe to be general overall accuracy. There continues to be notable differences of opinions about some of the more modern translations, and who is right or wrong over specific points of "accuracy" is sometimes hard to say.  Zeroing in on several specific runes and words can be, in the end, very difficult, and I therefore humbly advise anyone from thinking that there is only one truly accurate version of events.  Actually, there is still so much uncertainty that question marks are sometimes offered instead of words in some translations. Holand's book is from 1940; Kehoe's book is from 2005; Wolter's book is from 2009; Reiersgord's book is fr

  https://www.academia.edu/44661729/The_Kensington_Rune_Stone_A_Study_Guide Happily engaged with winter researching, I came upon this study guide of the Kensington Runestone I had not yet seen, and I wanted to share it with others who are serious about the KRS. In my own opinion, I believe the author, Bengtson, has done an admirable job of offering a brief history of the KRS in a fair manner.  He has also done a good job of giving his take on the various players in the on-going drama, and he seems to have been quite neutral in his approach...though he does end up coming out on the side of authenticity. There seems to be something for everyone in this essay...plenty of opportunities to agree or disagree on individual topics.  One of my own biggest disagreements with others is still over the issue of how the ten Norsemen died: https://americanrunestone.blogspot.com/2021/06/one-days-journey-north-of-runestone.html   Anyway, I recommend Bengtson's study guide as a means for understandi

Pages 141 and 142 of this great book by my friend, Alice Beck Kehoe, are presented here to hopefully help researchers and readers who may be trying to understand just WHY Norsemen would come to Minnesota in 1362 .   In these selected two pages, climate, disease and various powers of the times are looked at by Kehoe as factors influencing the flow of Norse travel and trade, to Vinland and beyond. In the 1350s, Hanseatic merchants went about setting up a kontor, or trading office, in Bryggen (now Bergen).  These German merchants established themselves as a permanent colony attached to this new German office.  In short order, the Hanseatic League supplanted the Norwegians in the most important markets. Would this be cause enough for wanting to come to the interior of future America...that is, to perhaps prospect for new fur-trading opportunities?