Settler of Hvammur in Dalir
We are in Dalasýsla, continuing along the Westfjords road from Middalur through Haukadalur and Laxárdalur to Búdardalur, a beautiful merchant town and the capital of Dalir area. Everywhere, the farm and place names evoke memories of Laxdæla Saga, making it true to say that in these parts, the saga lives on in the land. From Búdardalur, we continue through the lush Hvammssveit, which takes its name from the ancient estate Hvammur, the settlement site of Audur the Deep-Minded. Soon, we leave the main road, which continues through Svínadalur, and instead take a side road that leads toward Fellsströnd. Shortly thereafter, we arrive in the fertile and weather-sheltered Skeggjadalur and stop at the church site and parsonage of Hvammur. This is where Audur the Deep-Minded settled and lived in grandeur. Her descendants resided on the site for centuries, making a lasting mark. In the settlement age, it was generally men who led the colonization, but women occasionally did as well. The most famous of these female settlers was Audur, and her story is indeed remarkable.
Audur was born around 850 in Norway, but she moved at a young age to the Hebrides, where her father, Ketill Flatnose Bjarnarson, had taken on the governance of the land on behalf of King Harald Fairhair. However, Ketill sent no taxes to the king and became himself an independent chieftain on the islands. Ketill and his wife, Yngveldur, had five children, and circumstances led all of them to settle in Iceland. They were Björn the Easterner in Bjarnarhöfn on Snæfellsnes, Helgi Bjóla at Hof in Kjalarnes, Audur the Deep-Minded at Hvammur, Thorunn Hyrna, who was married to Helgi the Lean at Kristsnes in Eyjafjördur, and Jórunn Manvitsbrekka, the mother of Ketill the Foolish in Kirkjubær at Sída.
Audur married Ólafur the White, who was a king of the Viking kingdom in Dublin, Ireland, and they had a son, Thorsteinn the Red. However, life in Ireland was precarious, and eventually, King Ólafur fell in battle. Queen Audur then took her son, Thorsteinn, to the Hebrides. There, Thorsteinn later married Thurídur, the sister of Helgi the Lean. Their parents were Eyvindur the Easterner from Gautland and Rafarta, daughter of Kjarval, the King of Ireland. Thorsteinn and Thurídur had seven children: their son, Ólafur Feilan, and their daughters, Gróa, Ólöf, Ósk, Thórhildur, Thorgerdur, and Vigdís. Thorsteinn the Red became a warlord in Scotland, in alliance with Sigurdur, the Earl of Orkney, and he conquered Caithness and more than half of the land. However, life in Scotland was also unstable, as the Scots rebelled against Thorsteinn and killed him in battle.
Audur was in Caithness when her son, Thorsteinn, was killed, and she then took charge of his children. Her father, Ketill, had passed away in the Hebrides, so she had few options in a hostile environment. Ever the resourceful one, she secretly arranged for a ship to be built in the forest. Once the ship was finished, she outfitted it with plenty of wealth and a large group of kin before setting sail from Scotland. It is considered extraordinary in the sagas that a woman could escape from such conflict in the country, with so much wealth and a large entourage. This illustrates what an exceptional woman Audur was.
She first sailed to the Orkneys, where, during her stay, she married off her granddaughter Gróa to a good man. From her came the lineage of all the Earls of Orkney. Next, she stopped in the Faroe Islands, where she married off Ólöf, another of Thorsteinn’s daughters, and from her came the lineage known as Götuskeggjar. From there, she sailed to Iceland and wrecked her ship on the coast west of the mouth of the Ölfusá river, but all her people and wealth were saved. Audur then travelled with her entourage to meet her brother, Helgi Bjóla, at Hof in Kjalarnes. He invited her to stay with him, along with half of her party. She took offense at this and continued west to Snæfellsnes to meet her brother Björn the Easterner in Bjarnarhöfn. Knowing his sister’s temperament, he welcomed her with a large group and invited her to stay with all her people. They spent the winter in Bjarnarhöfn in great comfort, with plenty of resources at hand.
In the spring of 890, Audur sailed with her people on an exploratory journey into Breidafjördur. They landed and had breakfast on a cape that has since been called Dagverdarnes (Breakfast Cape), located on the southern part of Fellsströnd. From there, they sailed further into Hvammsfjördur and landed again on another cape. There, Audur lost her comb, and the place has since been called Kambsnes (Comb Cape), a short distance south of Búdardalur. Finally, she sailed to the innermost part of the fjord and found her high-seat pillars washed ashore in front of a beautiful, forested valley. She decided to settle there and built a farm, which she named Hvammur. She claimed all the land in Dalir from the fjord and gave land to her shipmates and freedmen. Her steward, Kollur, who had long served Audur faithfully, married Thorgerdur, the daughter of Thorsteinn the Red. Audur granted them the whole of Laxárdalur, and Kollur became known as Dala-Kollur because of this. Their son was Höskuldur, the father of Hallgerdur Langbrók, Ólafur Pái, and their siblings. After Dala-Kollur’s death, Thorgerdur married Herjólfur, and they had a son named Hrútur. These half-brothers, Höskuldur and Hrútur, play a prominent role in Laxdæla Saga and, especially, in Njáls Saga.
When Audur became very old and frail with age, she held a great feast for her descendants, other relatives, and friends. During the feast, she declared that Ólafur Feilan, her grandson, would inherit her estate at Hvammur as well as her other possessions after her passing. With her counsel, Ólafur married Álfdís of Barra and became a prominent chieftain at Hvammur. Their son was Thórdur Gellir, who played an important role in the 10th century and was involved when the country was divided into quarters in the year 965. It is estimated that Audur the Deep-Minded passed away around 930.
Audur was a Christian woman and practiced her faith with great devotion. She had crosses erected on certain hills near the sea, where she held her prayers. These places have since been called Krosshólar (Cross Hills). In memory of this remarkable settler woman, a large stone cross was erected on Krosshólaborg in 1965, a short distance from where the national road now runs.
Text: Jón R. Hjálmarsson
