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Thorstein the Red

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Thorstein the RedorThorstein Olafssonwas avikingchieftain who flourished in late ninth-centuryScotland.

Biography[edit]

He was born around 850 AD and was the son ofOlaf the White,King of Dublin,andAud the Deep-minded,who was the daughter ofKetil Flatnose.[1]After the death of Olaf, Aud and Thorstein went to live in theHebrides,then under Ketil's rule.[2] Thorstein eventually became a warlord and allied with theJarl of Orkney,Sigurd Eysteinsson.[1]Together Thorstein and Sigurd waged a series of campaigns inCaithness,Sutherland,Ross,Moray,and a number of other regions, eventually receiving tribute from half ofScotland.[3]However, the Scottish chieftains plotted against Thorstein, and he was killed; the exact nature of his death is unknown but it probably took place around 880 or 890. After Thorstein's death Aud left Caithness, sojourning for a while inOrkneybefore settling with other members of her clan inIceland.[4]

Thorstein marriedThurid,the daughter ofEyvind the Easterner.Thorstein and Thurid had a son,Olaf Feilan,and a number of daughters, including Groa, Thorgerd, Olof, Osk, Thorhild, and Vigdis.[5]

A woman named Unn, wife ofThorolf Mostur-beard,claimed to be the daughter of Thorstein, but this claim was viewed by other Icelanders with scepticism.[6]

Ancestry[edit]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^abEirik the Red's Saga§ 1 (Jones 126); Laxdaela Saga § 4 (Magnusson 51).
  2. ^According to some, Olaf repudiated Aud and sent her back to her father's court c. 857. Forte 86.
  3. ^Id.;Harald Finehair's Saga§ 22 (Snorri 22);Orkneyinga Saga§ 9 (Palsson 27).
  4. ^Laxdaela Saga § 4 (Magnusson 51-52).
  5. ^Eirik the Red's Saga§ 1 (Jones 127); Laxdaela Saga § 4 (Magnusson 52); Njal's Saga § 1 (Cook 3);Grettir's Saga § 26 (Thorsson 62);Landnámabókpassim.
  6. ^Eyrbyggja Saga § 7 (Palsson 32).

References[edit]

  • Ari the Learned.The Book of the Settlement of Iceland(Landnámabók).Ellwood, T., transl. Kendal: T. Wilson, Printer and Publisher, 1898.
  • Cook, Robert, transl.Njal's Saga.Penguin Classics, 2002.
  • Forte, Angelo, Richard Oram and Frederik Pedersen.Viking Empires.Cambridge University Press, 2005ISBN0-521-82992-5.
  • Jones, Gwyn, transl.Eirik the Redand other Icelandic Sagas.Oxford Univ. Press, USA, 1999.
  • Magnusson, Magnus and Hermann Palsson, transl.Laxdaela Saga.Penguin Classics, 1969.
  • Palsson, Hermann, et al., transl.Eyrbyggja Saga.Penguin Classics, 1989.
  • Palsson, Hermann, et al., transl.Orkneyinga Saga:The History of the Earls of Orkney.Penguin Classics, 1981.
  • Snorri Sturluson.Heimskringla,or the Chronicle of the Kings of Norway.Hard Press, 2006.
  • Thorsson, Ornolfur, et al., transl.The Saga ofGrettir the Strong.Penguin Classics, 2005.

External links[edit]

  • Stirnet: Viking03(subscription required)(mentions Thorstein (as "Thorstun 'the Red'" ))
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