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Norumbega | Jacob Signorovitch |
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In Weston, Massachusetts, across the Charles River from Brandeis University, an unusual structure rises between the trees; a forty foot stone tower, complete with spiral staircase and ramparts, weathered and stained with time, looking distinctly out of place within earshot of I-95. The story of how it came to be involves Vikings, a baking soda magnate, the discovery of America, and at the center of it all is the myth of Norumbega. As one explores the area, the name comes up again and again; a map will tell you the structure's name is Norumbega Tower, and running alongside is Norumbega Road. Further south, one finds a Norumbega Park, and another road called Norumbega Court. This paper will explore how one man in the late 19th century, Eben Norton Horsford, brought together two seemingly disconnected ideas into a theory for the original discovery of America, what motivated him to do so, and what he left behind.
The myth of Norumbega originated during the Age of Exploration. It was variously a town, city, or country, somewhere along the coast of New England, inhabited by amiable and civilized natives. First given the name Nurumberg by Giacomo Gastaldi in a 1548 edition of Ptolemy's Geography,[@KirsNor98, 34] the myth can be traced back to a conflation of two separate accounts. The first is that of Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer under King Francis I of France.[@GreeneLife37, 4-7] He was one of the first Europeans to explore the area around Narragansett Bay in 1524[@KirsNor98, 36, 39], far distant from where Norumbega would eventual be described. However, due to geographical ambiguity at the time, his account would later become "at the heard of the Norumbega legend."[@KirsNor98, 39] He recounted his experiences in a letter to the king, where he described a pleasant harbor inhabited by friendly and civil natives.[@KirsNor98, 39] They practiced "more systematic cultivation [of crops] than the other tribes," and were "very like the manner of the ancients."[@KirsNor98, 39] In the letter, Giovanni names the place refugio, "on account of its beauty."[@KirsNor98, 39] Civilized inhabitants became one of the core aspects of the myth, present throughout its evolution even as its exact location and size varied. The second account is that of Jean Alfonce de Saintonge, pilot on Jacques Cartier's exploration of the Penobscot Bay area [KirsNor98, 41]. Sailing up the Penobscot River, which he called the Norenbègue, he described "a city called Norombegue with clever inhabitants [...] The people use many words which sound like Latin and worship the sun, and they are fair people and tall."[KirsNor98, 41] These two accounts, Giovanni s refugio and Saintonge's Norombegue, eventually merged into a single myth, canonized by Gastaldi, of an advanced Native American city whose manners were closer to those of Europe than their neighbors.[@KirsNor98, 41]
Eben Norton Horsford was a chemist working in Cambridge, best known for his invention of modern baking powder.[@JackHors92, 343] In addition to his work, he showed some interest in history and archaeology throughout his life. He would collect fossils around his father's farm in Moscow (now Leister), New York where he grew up,[@JackHors92, 340] and expressed interest in learning the language of the Seneca Indians[@JackHors92, 340], to which his father worked as a missionary.[@JackHors92, 103] Later, he would often visit his wife's family estate on Shelter Island, New York.[@AdamsMemBiog08, 104] There, he became interested in the island's history and "erected a monument to the Quakers, who found shelter there from Puritan persecution."[@AdamsMemBiog08, 104] He would later repeat this pattern of investigation and monument building in Massachusetts.
While in Cambridge, Horsford became very interested in the Vikings. This was part of a widespread movement; rising anti-irish and anti-catholic sentiment had put Columbus in an unfavorable light, and many casting around for some non-catholic discoverer of America settled on Leif Erickson as suitable, albeit pagan, predecessor NEED SOURCES FOR ALL THIS. When New England area newspapers at the time mentioned Erickson, they often made a comparison of his achievements to those of Columbus, who never fared well. In 1887,[@HorsDisc87, 10] Horsford wrote the dedication for a large bronze statue of Erickson,[@GuttVal18, 86] commending him for his early discovery of America. He doesn't stop just there, though; he additionally asserts Leif sailed south after making the continent, all the way to Cape Cod. He explains his reasoning:
...if you will be kind enough to hold up to your mind's eye, now for a moment, any familiar map of North America. Look at the east coast. From Greenland, along the line to the southwest, you will notice three projections into the sea. They are Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Cape Cod.[@HorsDisc87, 9]
He disregards Newfoundland as an option, saying "[it] is bold, rocky, mountainous, of meagre vegetation, and with few beaches."[@HorsDisc87, 10] Ironically, the best evidence archaeologists have now for the location of Vinland is L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. Horsford
-- How horsford disproves Nova Scotia -- How Horsford uses etymology
How his views were received in the moment, if those around him were surprised by this theory, is unclear. But his theories would see much criticism once published. One author, Justin Winsor, found issue with Horsford's theory that Vikings had left a noticeable imprint on Native American language:
Nothing could be slenderer than the alleged correspondences of languages, and we can see in Horsford's Discovery of America by Northmen to what a fanciful extent a confident enthusiasm can carry it.[@WinsNar89, 98-99]
Horsford begins his next book on the Vikings, The Problem of the Northmen, by directly addressing Winsor's comment,[@HorsProb89, 1] demonstrating that he was willing to openly spar with historians to defend his theory. Horsford's belief and confidence that there were Nordic elements present in Native American language may have been informed by his early years with the Seneca in New York. Horsford then continues to present evidence for the location of Leif Erickson's houses: "If anyone interested will walk from the junction of Elmwood Avenue with Mt. Auburn Street [...] he will be at the site of the objects of interest which had once been there, and which I had predicted might there be found."[@HorsProb89, 14] Horsford is remarkably confident in his claims, inviting his audience to see the evidence for themselves. He claims there are "inequalities of the surface," which are "the remains of two long log houses, and huts, or cots."[@HorsProb89, 14] He states they are arranged "'some nearer, some farther from the water,' as the sagas say,"[@HorsProb89, 14] again using the sagas as a primary source of proof for his theory.
Include part by that historian who wrote about how wrong he was[@HorsProb89, 1]
Summary of Horsford's defense, letter to judge Daly source[@HorsProb89]
Write about Horsford's "archaeology," what he says he found, his methods
Write about the dedication of the Norumbega Tower
Write about how Horsford connected his interest in Vikings and Leif Ericsson to the myth of Norumbega -- his interest in Native American language and how that let him make the connection.
Horsford read about how Alafonce described the natives of Norumbega speaking something closer to Latin; he interpreted that as being influenced by Norse.
The city of Norumbega was the last vestige of viking occupation
It is unclear when or how Horsford first heard about the myth of Norumbega, but it is possible it was widely known at the time. A newspaper (((TIME AND PAPER HERE))) mentions the myth in passing, well before Horsford
made it regionally famous.
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References
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