Atlantica - 01.06.2011, Side 52

50 a t l a n t i c a
Born in Iceland in the late 900s, her life was filled with both adventure and tragedy. She
was the first Christian woman to bear a child in America; she walked across Europe
to meet the Pope in Rome. And now, a thousand years later, the extraordinary
explorer Gudrídur Thorbjarnardóttir has returned to the Vatican.
By Gudrun G. BerGmann Photo By Páll STefánSSon
REfEREnCES: thE SAgA of ERIC thE REd, thE gREEnlAndERS SAgA
Viking Woman Explorer
pelts, returning to Iceland as rich people. They
finally settled in Skagafjördur, in north Iceland,
at Glaumbaer, where Thorfinnur owned land.
Gudrídur was not welcomed by her mother-in-
law, and had to show off her skills as a healer
and herbalist once the old lady became ill in
order to gain her approval. Gudrídur gave birth
to more sons, and then she lost a husband once
again.
Being widowed a third time, Gudrídur seems
to have turned to her faith for consolation.
During this time, missionary monks were staying
in Iceland, teaching people about Christianity. In
the year 1000, Iceland converted to the new
faith. Gudrídur and her son Snorri decided to
build a church at Glaumbaer, and during its con-
struction, she set off to Rome to meet the Pope.
She sailed to Norway, and then to Denmark,
from where she embarked on a journey by foot
across Europe south to Rome, accompanied by
monks. She is believed to have spent a winter in
Rome and then, via Britain, returned to Iceland
where she isolated herself from worldly affairs
and lived as a nun for the rest of her life.
On June 25, 2000, the President of Iceland
unveiled a statue of Gudrídur near her birth-
place, the old homestead of Laugarbrekka.
Portraying Gudrídur and her son Snorri, it is a
replica of a sculpture by Ásmundur Sveinsson
presented at the 1938 New York World Fair. At
the unveiling, it was commented that a statue
of Gudrídur should be in the Vatican. A decade
later, on March 4, 2011, board members of
the Gudrídur Foundation were present in the
private library of Pope Benedict XVI, as the
President of Iceland presented to the Vatican
on their behalf a replica of Gudrídur’s statue.
The gift’s acceptance is a great acknowledge-
ment on behalf of the Catholic Church, giving
Gudrídur Thorbjarnardóttir her rightful place
alongside other great women of the early days
of Christianity in the Northern Hemisphere. a

In 2000, Iceland commemorated the 1,000-
year anniversary of discovering North-
America. While every male explorer and
settler was hailed, there was no mention of
Gudrídur Thorbjarnardóttir. Therefore, a group
of people from her home region decided to
form the Gudrídur Foundation, honoring this
inspirational woman, who was a pioneer in vari-
ous ways.
Gudrídur Thorbjarnardóttir was born at
Laugarbrekka, on the south side of Snaefellsnes
Peninsula in the minuscule village of Hellnar.
Her grandfather had been brought to Iceland
as a slave from Scotland or Ireland by Audur
Djúpúdga (Audur the Wise) but was granted
freedom once Audur had settled and claimed
land in the Dalir region.
Gudrídur appears to have been a headstrong
young woman, not willing to accept all suitors
who came to ask for her hand in marriage.
Her first love was Einar from Thorgeirsfell
(in Stadarsveit), but in spite of her feelings,
Gudrídur’s father refused his proposal on the
ironic grounds that Einar was the son of a freed
slave—just like Thorbjörn himself was.
Thorbjörn was friends with Eric the Red,
who was exiled from Iceland after having killed
a man. Eric fled to Greenland, but he must have
missed his friends, because he returned a few
years later and settled with the family of the
deceased man, thus gaining his freedom again.
A clever marketer, he praised the land he had
moved to and named it Greenland, in spite of
the huge icecap covering it, and thereby inspired
his friends to move there with him. A little
over 20 families decided to do so, among them
Thorbjörn and his family.
However, Thorbjörn was at this time almost
broke and had little means to go buy a ship. He
therefore married Gudrídur off to Thórdur the
Eastman, who owned a ship beached at Búdir
on Snaefellsnes. An entire fleet of ships had
disembarked from Rif, on the northern side of
the peninsula. They had run into bad weather,
and Thórdur’s ship was lost at sea for weeks,
during which time some of the crew members
died. The ship finally stranded at Snaefellsnes
and the surviving members of the crew were
rescued by Leif, son of Eric the Red, who was
returning from his discovery tour of Vinland.
From then on, Leif was called “the Lucky”, as it
was considered great luck in those days to save
a person’s life.
Shortly after reaching Greenland, Thórdur,
Gudrídur’s husband, passed away. But as life
will have it, she soon remarried; this time to
Thorsteinn, son of Eric the Red. They made
a failed attempt to sail to America and upon
their return, Thorsteinn died, again widowing
Gudrídur. However, within a year she married
Thorfinnur Karlsefni, who had recently come
to Greenland to trade. Christianity was prosper-
ing in this part of the world, and Gudrídur had
converted to the new faith.
She and Thorfinnur decided to explore
Vinland and the riches it promised to hold. In
spring, they set sail along with friends sailing
two other ships. They spent three winters in
America; it is believed that they traveled as far
south as where New York is today. During the
journey, Gudrídur gave birth to a son, Snorri,
thus becoming the first Christian woman that
we know of to give birth to a baby on the
American continent.
Towards the end of their stay, the Icelandic
settlers had a clash with the Native Americans,
which contributed to their decision to return to
Greenland. Most of the men had also become
restless as there were only five women in the
entire group; my theory is that this attempt at
settlement in America failed because of a lack
of women.
Thorfinnur and Gudrídur sailed back to
Greenland and from there to Norway to sell