The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.2008, Blaðsíða 33

Vol. 61 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
171
The roots lie deep
by Dr. W. Kristjanson
Excerpted from The Icelandic Canadian Spring, 1972
Mr. Ivan C. Robison of Calgary (for-
merly of Winnipeg) writes of research he
has made into his genealogical background.
He finds that far back he is of Norse
descent. “The Robison’s come of Viking
stock—the name was Robisson, and they
are a sept of the Gunn (Gunnar) clan!”
The Norwegian settlement in
Northern England and Scotland dates back
to the ninth century. The first Norse settler
on the banks of the Humber was one
Grimur, who arrived about 875 A.D., and
after whom Grimsby was named. (Grims’
is the possessive of Grimur, and baer means
a residence or a hamlet). Norwegians estab-
lished themselves in Western Ireland earli-
er, about 836 A.D. from there they moved
in large numbers to Northwestern
England. Sigtryggur, a king of Dublin, fled
thence in 926 A.D. and made himself tem-
porarily ruler of Northumbria. Eric
Bloodaxe (Eirikur blodexi), a son of
Harold Fairhair of Norway, likewise ruled
Northumbria temporarily, but as a vassal
of King Athelstan, about the middle of the
tenth century. Northmen harried the coasts
of Scotland for centuries and at one time
ruled a large part of the country, as well as
the Western Isles.
Numerous place names of Norse ori-
gin have been perpetuated on both sides of
the border, some with only a slight change
in spelling. Kirggy, in northwest England,
obviously stems from “kirkjubaer,” the
farmstead or the village of the church. In
Gil North’s Sergeant Cluff mystery stories
such names as Egilsby and Gunnarshaw
occur. The “haw” may derive from “hau-
gur,” meaning heap, or barrow. Scottish
place names of Norse origin in Scotland
include Argyle (argyl—river gully) Bruar
(bru-bridge, the possessive of bruar)
Dunara (dunar—a husing, thundering
noise; a—river); Inverness (innranes—
inner cape or headland); Selkirk (sel kirk-
ja—the Church of the mountain pasture
shed).
Some Icelanders and people about to
become Icelanders enter into the picture.
Audur djupudga—Aud the Wise, or deep-
minded was the wife of Olaf the White,
king of Dublin, about the mid-ninth cen-
ture. A son of theirs, Thorsteinn the Red,
in the company of Sigurd the Mighty, con-
quered the northern half of Scotland,
Caithness, Rose, Sutherland and Murray.
After her husband’s demise, Aud lived with
her son in Scotland. Thorsteinn was slain
by the natives, about 888 A.D. In 890, Aud
moved with her retinue to Iceland where
her father Ketill Flat Nose, had settled.
Two Icelandic brothers, Thorolf and
Egill, sons of Skallagrimur of Borg, in
Western Iceland, entered the service f King
Athelstan of England. They fought with
the king’s forces against Scots and Vikings.
The two brothers were physically strong
and doughty warriors and according to the
Icelandic Sagas they contributed in consid-
erable measure to the king’s famous victo-
ry at Winheath, or Brunanburh, in 937
A.D.
Leif Ericson—Leifr Eiriksson—the
Lucky was blown off course at one time
and made port in the Hebrides. There he
fell in love with a noblewoman of high
rank, but with a long delayed favorable
wind, he sailed away.
The roots lie deep.