Lögberg-Heimskringla - 04.06.1970, Page 9

LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 4. JÚNÍ 1970
9
voyage. Hjorleif loaded his
ship with the loot he’d won,
an4 in his ship Ingolf carried
what they held in common.
As soon as they were ready
they put out to sea.
8. In Iceland
The summer Ingolf and
Hjorleif went to settle in Ice-
land, Harald Fine-Hair had
been king of Norway for
twelve years. It was then 6073
years from the Beginning of
the World, and 874 years from
the Incarnation of our Lord13.
They sailed close to one
another until they made land-
fall, and then they got separa-
ted. As soon as Ingolf caught
his first glimpse of Iceland,
he threw his highseat pillars
overboard, hoping for a good
omen, and declared he’d settle
wherever the pillars happen-
ed to be washed ashore. Now-
adays the place where he
landed is called Ingolfshofdi.
Hjorleif drifted west along
the coast. He ran short of
drinking water, and what the
Irish slaves did was to knead
together flour and butter,
saying it was good for thirst.
They c a 11 e d the mixture
minthak14, but by the time the
mixture was ready it started
raining heavily, so they were
able to collect rainwater from
the sails. When the minthak
grew musty they threw it
overboard, and it was washed
ashore at a place now called
Minthakseyr. Hjorleif made
land at Hjorleifshofdi. In
those days there was a fjord
there stretching right up to
the headland. Hjorleif had
two houses built there; the
ruins of one of them measures
eighteen fathoms across, and
the other nineteen. Hjorleif
spent the winter there. In the
spring he wanted to sow. He
had only one ox and told his
slaves to pull the plough. One
day when Hjorleif and his
men w e r e at the houses,
Dufthak put it to his fellow-
slaves that they should
sláughter the ox and say a
brown bear had killed it; then
they. could attack Hjorleif
should he go looking for the
bear. So they went along and
told Herjolf, and when he and
his men spread out in the
woods looking for the bear,
the slaves set on them, and
murdered them all, one after
another, just as many men as
there were slaves. Then the
slaves ran away with the dead
men’s boat, and their wives
and goods. They rowed over
to the islands they’d seen to
the southwest and prepared
themselves for a longish stay.
Ingolf had two slaves called
Vifil and Karli, and he sent
them west along the shore to
look for his highseat pillars.
When they came to Herjolfs-
hofdi, they found Hjorleif
dead there, so they turned
back to tell Ingolf what had
happened. He took the death
of Hjorleif and his men badly.
He set out west to Hjorleifs-
hofdi, and when he saw Hjor-
leif he said, “it’s a sorry end
for a warrior, to be killed by
slaves, but, in my experience,
this is what always happens
to people who won’t hold
sacrifices.”
Ingolf had Hjorleif and his
men buried, and took over his
ship and various other of his
things. Then he climbed to
the top of the headland and
saw some islands lying to the
southwest, and it occurred to
him that, since the boa-t was
missing, the s 1 a v e s might
have fled there. They set out
in search of the slaves and
found them in the islands at
a place called Eid. They were
eating a meal when Ingolf
and his men surprised them,
and the slavas were so fright-
ened they scattered in all di-
rections. Ingolf killed every
one of them. The place where
Dufthak met his death is
called Dufthaksskor. Many of
the slaves jumped over a cliff
that’s been called after them
ever since. The islands where
the slaves were killed have
been called Westmanna Is-
lands ever since, as the men
came from the west. Ingolf
and his men took the widows
of the murdered men with
them and went back to Hjor-
leifshofdi, where he spent the
following winter. Next spring
he sailed along the coast west-
wards, and stayed the third
winter at Ingolfsfell, west of
Olfus River. In that year,
Vifil and Karli f o u n d his
highseat pillars at Arnarhill,
west of the moor.
9. Ingolf's settlement
In the spring Ingolf travel-
led west across the moor. He
made his home at the spot
where his highseat pillars had
been washed ashore, and hved
at Reykjavik. The highseat
pillars can still be seen in the
hall there. Ingolf claimed
possession of the whole region
b e t w e e n Olfus River and
Hvalfjord, south of Brynju-
dale and Oxar Rivers, includ-
ing all the Nesses.
Then Karli said “It’s not
much use our travelling
across good country, if we’re
going to live on this out, of-
the-way headland”. After that
he disappeared, taking a slave
girl with him.
Ingolf gave Vifil his free-
dom, and he settled down at
Vifilstoft; Vifilsfell also takes
its name from him. He lived
there for a long time and be-
came a man of some impor-
tance. Ingolf had a house built
at Skalafell. From there he
noticed some smoke at Olfus-
water, and that’s where he
found Karli.
Ingolf was the most famous
of all the settlers, because he
came to this country when it
was still uninhabited and he
was the first man to settle
there permanently. After that,
other settlers came and fol-
lowed his example.
I n g o 1 f married Hallveig
Frodi's-daughter, sister of
Loft the Old, and their son
was Thorstein who founded
the Kjalamess Assembly be
fore the Althing wals establ-
ished15. Thorstein was the
father of Thorkel Moon the
Lawspeaker16, who as far as
people can tell was one of the
noblest heathen ever.
When he was lying on his
death-bed, Thorkel Moon had
himself carried out to a shaft
of sunlight, and gave himself
to the god who created the
sun. He had led a life as
blameless as the best of Chris-
tians. His son was Thormod,
who held the principal chief-
taincy at the time when
Christianity c a m e to Ice-
land17, Thormod was the fath-
er of Hamal, father of Mar,
Thormod and Torfi.
10. Bjorn Buna's descendanís
There was an outstanding
chieftain in Norway, called
Bjorn Buna, son of the chief
tain Wether-Grim of Sogn.
Grim’s mother was Hervor,
daughter of Thorgerd,
daughter of chieftain Eylaug
of Sogn. Almost all the pro-
minent Icelanders are des-
cended from Bjorn Buna. He
married a woman called Ve-
laug, and they had three sons:
one was Ketil Flat Nose, the
next was Hrapp, amd the third
Helgi. They were all remark-
able men, and a great deal
will be said about their des
cendants in this book.
11. Thord Skeggi
There was a man called
Thord Skeggi, the son of
Hrapp, Bjorn Buna’s son.
Thord married Vilborg Os-
vald’s-daughter. They had a
daughter called Helga who
was married to Ketilbjorn the
Old. Thord went to Iceland,
and with Ingolf’s approval
settled upon land claimed by
Inigolf between Ulfars River
and Leira Brook. He made his
home at Skeggjastead, and
many important Icelanders
trace their descent from him.
12. Hall ihe Godless
There was a man called
Hall the Godless, the son of
Helgi the Godless. Father and
son believed in their own
strength and refused to hold
sacrifices. Hall went to Ice-
land and with Ingolf’s ap-
proval took possession of the
area between Leira Creek and
Mogils River, making his
home at Muli. Hall was the
father of Helgi who married
Thurid Ketilbjorn’s-daughter.
Their son was Thord of Alfta
ness, who married Gudny
Hrafnkel’s-daughter.
FOOTNOTES
1. Aldarfarsbók. It is not certain
whether this refers to Bede’s
De temporibus or his De tem-
porum ratione. There are re-
ferences to Tliule in both
books.
2. Thule (MSS Thyle, Tyle, etc.)
3. This reference to Papar agrees
with Ari Thorgilsson (Book of
the Icelanders, Ch. I). The
word papi (pl. papar) is bor-
rowed from Irish papa (itself
a Latin loanword) which oc-
curs in early texts in the
sense ‘an Irish anchorite’.
Place n a m e s compounded
with the word papi as the
first element are known in
the Isle of Man, Cumberland,
the Hebrides, Shetland, Orkn-
ey, The Faroes, and Iceland.
4. This could be an allusion to
Bede’s On the Books of the
Kings, where he mentions
people from Thule having
visited Britain in his lifetime,
but there are other references
in early English writings.
5. Adrian II was Pope 867-72,
succeeded by John VIII, 872-
82 Louis (the Gerrnan), son
of Louis, was king of Ger-
many 643-76. Leo VI was Em-
peror 886-912, and his brother
(not son) Alexander 912-913.
King Eirik of Sweden died,
according to The Icelandic
Annals, in 671. King Alfred
of England ruled from 871-
899 and his son Edward (the
Elder) 899-924. King Kjarval
has been identified with’ King
Cerball of Ossory who died
in 888, but he never ruled
over Dublin. For Earl Sigprd
(the Mighty) of Orkney, see
The Lives of ihe Earls of
Orkney (or Orkneyinga Saga).
King Harald Fine-Hair of
Norway is supposed to have
ruled for a period of seventy
years and died in 931. Gorm
the Old ruled Denmark c. 900-
935.
6. Jölduhlaup. The indentifica-
tion with Slyne Head in Con-
nemara was made by Eamonn
Ó Tuathaii, in Eigse VI, 155-
56.
7. Svalbarði (Discovered, ac-
cording to The Icelandic An-
nals, in 1194) There is some
doubt as to the identification
of this place name. Jan Mayen
has been suggested, but con-
sidering the distance from
Iceland given here, Spitzberg-
en seems more likely.
8. Saemund Sigfusson “the
Learned” (1056-1133) was Ice-
land’s first historian, but all
his works, including the one
referred to here, are now lost.
9. The story of Floki’s ravens
has been compared with the
account of Noah’s raven and
dove, Genesis VIII.
10. Now Faxaflói (Faxa Bay).
11. A legendary hero. The ori-
ginal (12th century?) Hro-
mund's Saga is no longer ex-
tant, but a 14th century me-
trical version of it survives,
on which a still later prose
saga was based.
12. The first element in the name
(hjör-) means a sword.
13. In his Book of the Icelanders
(c. 1125) Ari Thorgilsson says
that Ingolf went to Iceland
about the time St. Edmund
of East Anglia was killed by
the vikings, in 870.
14. A loan-word from the Irish,
menadach meaning “gruel
made of meal and water, or
of meal and butter”.
15. The Althing was instituted
in 930.
16. T h o r k e 1 Moon was Law-
speaker of the Althing 970-
984.
17. According to early Icelandic
reckoning this was in A.D.
1000, but it may in fact have
been in 999.
THE 1294 ERUPTION
OF HEKLA
“The fifth fire in Mount
Hekla appeared with such
great force and earthquakes
that in mainy places in Fljóts -
hlíð a n d Rangarvellir and
also beyond T h j ó r s á the
ground was split and many
buildings fell because of the
quaking and people perished.
Oddver j aannáll.
(From Dr. Sigurdur Thór-
arinson’s book The Eruptions
of Hekla in Historical Times,
Reykjavík 1967).
ACTION
by ROBERT JOHANNSON
In a warm well furnished apartment
In a soft chair sitting comfortably
With a full stomach
With cigarettes and coffee,
I read of suffering
And the need to endure pain,
And I say “How true.”
When I am thrown into prison
Tortured and bombarded
Denounced by all who see me,
I will be prepared
With quotations.
A settler with his highseal pillars