The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.2000, Side 21

Vol. 56 #1
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
19
GuSridur Porbjarnardottir - A
Woman of Destiny
by Kristiana Magnusson Clark
She was a beautiful and gracious woman
of the Viking age, a courageous and brave
explorer who was assuredly the most traveled
woman of her time and centuries later. She
was the first Christian to visit both Rome and
America. This remarkable woman was
GudriSur Torbjarnardottir, who carved a dis-
tinguished name for herself in the Annals of
History.
GuSriSur f’orbjarnardottir was born in
the early 980's A.D. to Lorbjorn Vifilsson and
his wife Hallveig Einarsdottir of
Laugarbrekka. Torbjom was a proud and
respected man, a godi who valued the esteem
with which he was regarded by his retainers,
friends and neighbours. His generosity was
evidenced by the annual fall feasts to which
he invited all his friends and neighbours.
GuSriSur grew up at Laugarbrekka but
spent much time at the home of her foster par-
ents Ormur and Halldis, both of whom she
loved dearly. One day when GudriSur was at
Arnarstapi, the home of her foster parents, a
handsome and prosperous young trader by the
name of Einar Porgeirsson came to visit his
friends, Ormur and Halldis. When he saw
Gu(3ri5ur, who had grown into a beautiful
young girl, he asked Ormur for her hand in
marriage. Ormur told him that she was Torb-
jorn Vifilsson's daughter and permission to
marry her must come from Torbjom. This
permission was never granted.
There had been a strong bond of friend-
ship between iPorbjom and Eirik the Red for
some time before Eirik was banished from
Iceland. When Eirik the Red left Iceland in
986 A.D. with a flotilla of twenty- five ships
of colonists bound for Greenland, he had
promised Torbjorn land if he should decide to
move to Greenland.
More than a decade after Eirik The Red
left Iceland Porbjom held a special spring
feast to which he invited his friends and
neighbours. As he presented gifts to each of
his guests he told them that he would be dis-
posing of his property and buying a ship to
sail to Greenland and settle there for the rest
of his life. Thirty people decided to move
with him to Greenland, among them his wife
and daughter, as well as Ormur and Halldis.
As the ship set off for Greenland the
favourable wind soon died down and they lost
their direction. Their ship became shrouded in
fog. This was followed by storm weather that
drove them off course. Sickness and malnutri-
tion decimated their numbers by half. During
that terrible journey Ormur and Halldis died
at sea, much to GuSriSur's great sorrow.
Finally, at the start of winter they reached
Herjolfsness, the southernmost tip of
Greenland. This was a port of entry for ships
arriving from Iceland and Europe, and had
been named after Bjarni Herjolfsson's father,
who had settled there. At this port of entry
Torbjorn, Hallveig and GuSriSur, as well as
the remaining crew members, were welcomed
into the home of a prosperous farmer named
Thorkell and neighbouring farms. They were
invited to spend the winter there as further
travel into Greenland would be impossible
until the following spring.
During the winter at Herjolfsness a
prophetess (mystical maiden, seeress) named
Torbjorg arrived at Thorkell's home. She had
been invited to come and foretell the future of
individuals and the community, which at that
time was in dire straits with sickness and food
shortage. A prophetess was very highly
regarded and was treated royally wherever
she went.
In order for Forbjbrg to prophesy she
needed someone in the group to sing the
VarSlokur or spirit chant. No one in the group
that had gathered at Thorkell's home knew the
words or how to chant it except for GuSridur
who had learned it from Halldis. At first