You know the Sagas. They’re about Icelanders, right? Well, there’s also the Grænlendinga saga (the Saga of the Greenlanders), which tells the tales of the Viking settlement of — you guessed it — Greenland. Let’s see what that’s all about.
After the Vinland Sagas, the next great story of Greenland is Fóstbræðra Saga, a merry tale of mass murder featuring weird characters with even weirder names, some of which would turn up a millennium later in the Icelandic-language Star Wars.
A generation after Leifur Eriksson’s discovery of Vinland, a man called Þorgrímur Einarsson Trölli (the Troll) has come to power in Einarsfjörður, the second most important settlement in Greenland. Not only the bearer of an imposing name, in the year 1022 he goes on a trading voyage to Norway, Denmark and England and comes into great wealth. On his way back he has a stop-over in Iceland and kills a man named Þorgeir who has made himself a nuisance by partaking of a little murder of his own. The bloodshed doesn’t end there, though, as Þorgeir’s blood brother, Þormóður Kolbrúnarskáld (the poet of Kolbrún), is honour-bound to avenge him.
Þormóður arrives in Brattahlíð, Leifur’s family home and the leading farm in Greenland, where he presents his recommendation letter from King Olaf the Fat of Norway and is welcomed. As we remember from the Vinland Sagas, one of Leifur’s brother’s was killed in North America and the other died of plague. Leifur’s sister Freydis and her offspring were ostracized. The chieftain now is Þorkell Leifsson, son of Leifur Eiríksson, whom we can presume has now died of old age, probably in his early fifties like his dad.
Everybody Loves an Axe Murderer
Þorkell and his guests sleep in a house separate from the rest of the farm. Þormóður has something of a reputation as a ladies’ man and a certain Sigríður seems to visit him often. This greatly angers her husband who is one of Þorkell’s huscarls. The husband’s name is Loðinn, which means “furry,” but is probably a reference to the sealskin clothes he wore rather than a commentary on either his body hair or his affinity for anthropomorphic animals.
Interestingly, in the subtitles to the first Star Wars films and the accompanying 1978 picture book, Chewbacca’s name is translated as Loðinn. Darth Vader was known by the imposing name of Svarthöfði, which means Black Head, and is also the name of a character in the 13th Century Sturlunga saga. To round out the Viking connections, the Jedi are known as Væringjar, or Varangians, which is what the Vikings in the East were called.
For Christmas, the Chieftain Þorkell has ale brewed for a big soirée, inviting the neighbours to partake in some merriment. Loðinn collects everyone’s weapons before the festivities to prevent things from getting out of hand. While everyone is unarmed, Loðinn drags Þormóður out of bed but the latter is saved by other guests. As everyone gets ready to leave on their ships, Þormóður takes out an axe he has hidden in his clothes and kills Loðinn.
Þorkell orders him seized but Þormóður makes it on to a ship and sails away to another fjord. The following summer the people of the Eastern Settlement in Greenland gather at the annual Thing, or Parliament. Þorgrímur the Troll shows up with retinue, which impresses everyone. He sits down and starts telling tales to the gathering, but when it begins to rain, everyone retreats to their respective tents.
Þormóður, who has overslept during the former events, sees an opportunity. He takes his axe and fur skin coat which is black on one side and white on the other. Wearing the black outwards, he goes into Þorgrímur’s tent. When asked to identity himself, Þormóður not only lies about his name, calling himself Ótryggur (unreliable), but proceeds to cleave Þorgrímur’s head in two down to his shoulders.
Killing as Comedy
Not only is the killing rather unheroic, more of a murder really, but Þormóður calls for help and tells everyone Þorgrímur has been killed, rather than owning up to it which was the custom at the time. The others ask him if he knows who did it, and Þormóður says he saw the culprit leaving but himself was busy supporting Þorgrímur by the shoulders. The hapless neighbours now take over supporting Þorgrímur by the shoulders while Þormóður leaves.
Perhaps Halldór Laxness, who rewrote Fóstbræðra Saga as Gerpla (The Happy Warriors), was right in his estimation of the older work. This story only makes sense as high comedy. People supporting Þorgrímur by holding up his shoulders with his head cleaved in two was no doubt seen as the height of hilarity to 13th century Icelanders when the story was written.
Þormóður goes on to murder most of Trölli’s nephews in revenge for the death of his blood-brother, but after being speared in the leg decides enough is enough. He goes back to Norway and enters the service of Olaf the Fat, who is later killed at the Battle of Stiklestad in the name of Christianity and will thereafter be known in Norway as Olaf the Saint, although most Icelanders still prefer the original moniker.
Þormóður presumably died in that same battle, his death is unrecorded but his brave exploits in Greenland are still recounted. One might spare a thought for poor Loðinn, though, whose only crime was dragging the man who cuckolded him across the floor and is forever known for his silly name. Still, he had the last laugh, of sorts. It was precisely sealskin attire that made the Inuit more cold-resistant than the Norse. Perhaps the Greenland Norse would have survived if they acted more like Loðinn.
Keep up with Valur Gunnarsson’s Greenland Ho! series and tune in to the podcast series over on YouTube.
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