Paramount chieftain
Ancient Norse rulers of Greenland
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The rulers of the ancient Norse settlements in Greenland were called paramount chieftains.[1][2] The first chieftain was Erik the Red, the founder of these settlements.[1][2] The seat of the chieftainship was Brattahlid, his family estate.[2]
Norse settlement of Greenland, and along with it the system of paramount chieftainship, began with Erik the Red in 985 or 986.[1] The settlements were abandoned around the 1400s, after declining throughout the 1300s, for disputed reasons.[1]
The first three of the island nation's chieftains were:
- Erik the Red, or Erik Thorvaldsson, the nation's first chieftain and its first settler, began rule in 985 or 986.[1]
- Leif Ericson, son of Erik the Red, beginning about 1000, after his father's death.[3]
- Thorkell Leifsson succeeded his father, Leif, by 1025.[3]
It is unknown whether Leiffson's descendants continued to be the paramount chiefs of Greenland, although it is known that the seat of the paramount chieftainship continued to be at Brattahlid.[2]
