Lögberg-Heimskringla - 05.02.1993, Blaðsíða 4

4 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 5. febrúar 1993
Woman of the
New World:
ByAnna Yates
IUustrations by Kjartan Gudjónsson
Apioneering heroine is rediscov-
ered in Guðríður Þorb-
jarnardóttir, Vínland settler
and mother of the first European bom
in America
A woman steps out of the shadows:
noble, beautiful and devout. Hidden
from history for a thousand years,
Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir takes, at
last, centre stage alongside other Saga-
Age pioneers.
Bom in Iceland in the lOth centu-
ry, Guðríður shows us that courage
and a spirit of adventure are no male
prerogatives. She may have been the
most widely-travelled woman of her
time, undertaking one perilous ocean
crossing after another.
She emigrated with her father to
Greenland, and later settled with her
husband in Vínland, where she gave
birth to the first European child bom
in the New World. Once the
Icelanders in Vínland had given up on
the attempt at settlement, Guðríður
and her family sailed via Greenland to
Norway and then home to Iceland.
Guðríður’s travelling days might have
been over, but in later Iife she made
one last joumey — a solitary pilgrim-
age to Rome — and ended her days as
a nun and anchoress.
Probably the most widely-
travelled woman ofher time,
she walked from northem
Europe to Rome and back
V///////////////////////////////////////////M
As the Nordic world commemo-
rates the Icelandic discovery and set-
tlement of North America by Leifur
Eiríksson around AD1000, an all-
party committee of the Icelandic par-
liament, Alþing, has presented a bill
whose aim is to restore Guðríður
Þorbjarnardóttir to her rightful place
as one of Iceland’s most interesting
and important historical personages,
alongside such colourful figures as her
father-in-law Eiríkur the Red, her
brother-in-law Leifur Eiríksson and
her husband Þorfinnur Karlsefni. Her
history is to be taught in schools, and
also publicized in tourist literature.
While our knowledge of Guðríður
is tantalizingly limited, the two sagas
in which she makes an appearance are
indisputably marked by her presence
and her strong character.
Guðríður makes an appearance in
the Saga of Eiríkur the Red and the
Saga of Greenlanders, although her
life and character are more fully
depicted in the latter. Both saga writ-
ers give Guðríður what may be called
“rave reviews.” She is introduced in
the saga of Eiríkur as “the most beau-
tiful of women and an exceptional
character in every respect.” She is
described with approbation as a kven-
skörungur — a “woman of substance”
in our terms.
In the saga of Greenlanders she is
introduced as “a woman of striking
appearance, a wise woman, who knew
how to conduct herself among
strangers,” into which we may read
social skills, tact, charm, gregarious-
ness — all desirable qualities.
She is one of a handful of strong,
memorable female characters in saga
literature, from pious and powerful
Audur the Deep-minded at the Age of
the Settlement to tragic Gudrún Osvi-
fursdóttir of Laxdæla saga and the
vengeful Hallgerður Long-legs in Njáls
saga.
Guðríður was not only a beauty of
strong character: she was also a pious
Christian. When asked to assist at a
seance with a prophetess, she asked to
be excused, on the grounds that she
was a Christian. She was, however,
the only person present who knew the
magical verses of Varðlokur which
would call up the spirits. Eventually
she was prevailed upon to chant the
verses, “so well and beautifully that
nobody present had ever heard a love-
lier voice.”
The prophetess, Þorbjörg, rewarded
her with a prophecy: “You will make a
most distinguished marriage here in
Greenland, but it will not last long, for
all your paths lead to Iceland. There
you will start a great and eminent fam-
ily line and over your progeny there
shall shine a bright light.”
Whatever future glory awaited her,
Guðríður experienced her share of
hardship and tragedy. On the first of
her many perilous ocean voyages, she
saw half her shipmates, including her
own foster-parents, die of a fever. The
saga of Greenlanders says that her first
marriage was to a certain Þórir, who
died of a fever in Greenland. She mar-
ried Þorsteinn, son of Eiríkur the Red,
and set off with him for Vínland, only
to be caught in bad weather for weeks
on end. Eventually they took refuge in
western Greenland at the home of
Þorsteinn the Black, and within the
year Guðríður was a widow. Þorsteinn
too had fallen prey to the deadly fever.
The loss of Þorsteinn, dashing all
their high hopes for a new life in the
New World, was a heavy blow. In
both sagas Þorsteinn, when dead, will
not lie down. His body rises up from
the bier to address his terrified widow.
Whether due to supematural causes or
simple shock, Guðríður was unnerved.
Þorsteinn the Black took her in
chaige, offered what comfort he could,
and took her home to Brattahlíð, to
her father-in-law Eiríkur the Red. She
made her home with Eiríkur until her
marriage to Þorfinnur Karlsefni, a
wealthy Icelander recently arrived
from Norway.
“There was still the same talk of
Vínland voyages, and Karlsefni’s com-
pany, including Guðríður, were keen
to make the joumey,” says the saga of
Greenlanders. Guðríður had clearly
regained her spirits and her zest for
adventure.
Þorfinnur and Guðríður set sail for
Vínland with a company of sixty men
and five women (according to the saga
of Greenlanders) or 140 men (accord-
ing to the saga of Eiríkur). They went
to Leifur Eiríksson’s existing settle-
ment, abandoned a couple of years
earlier. They had brought livestock
with them, and the country abounded
in game and fruits. They felled trees to
take back to Greenland, and also
began trading with the indigenous
people.
Like the later settlers, the Norse-
men bought furs and skins from the
natives in return for paltry gifts: not
beads, but a bellyful of milk, a strip of
cloth. Sensibly enough, the Norsemen
refused to part with any weapons in
exchange for goods. In spite of these
initial friendly relations, soon the set-
tlers were besieged within their pal-
isade. The saga of Greenlanders draws
up a poignant image of Guðríður, sit-
ting by the cradle of her new-bom son,
Snorri, as Norsemen and Native
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