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Hvalsey Church ((デンマーク語:Hvalsø Kirke)) was a church in the abandoned Greenlandic Norse settlement of Hvalsey (now modern-day Qaqortoq). The best preserved Norse ruins in Greenland, the Church was also the location of the last written record of the Greenlandic Norse, a wedding in September 1408.〔"Hvalsey Church" Blue Ice Explorer〕 ==History== According to the sagas, the land around Hvalsey was claimed by Thorkell Farserk, a cousin or uncle of Erik the Red. Christianity arrived in Greenland around the year 1000 and churches began to be built in the country.〔 It is thought that Hvalsey Church was built in the early 14th century,〔Kirsten A. Seaver (1996) ''The Frozen Echo: Greenland and the Exploration of North America, Ca. A.D. 1000-1500'', Stanford University Press, p154〕 but archaeological finds hint that this was not the first church in this site.〔 The church is mentioned in several late medieval documents as one of the 10-14 parish churches in the Eastern Settlement. The Church hosted the wedding of Thorstein Olafsson and Sigrid Björnsdóttir on either 14 or 16 September 1408. The wedding was mentioned in letters from a priest at Garðar and by several Icelanders, and is the last written record of the Greenlandic Norse. The married couple later settled in Olafsson's native Iceland.〔 In the Eskimo tradition, there is a legend about Hvalsey. According this legend, there was open war between the Norse chief Ungortoq and the Eskimo leader K'aissape. The Eskimos made a massive attack on Hvalsey and burned down the Norse inside their houses, but Ungortoq escaped with his family. K'aissape conquered him after a long pursuit, which ended near Kap Farvel. However, according to archaeological studies, there is no sign of a conflagration. The site is now part of a sheep farm. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hvalsey Church」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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