Vanherpen, Sofie

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Ghent University Academic Bibliography

1  Violence-motivated far-travel - The case of Auðr djúpúðga1 Sofie Vanherpen, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Ghent University   Abstract Medieval Old Norse-Icelandic literature recounts numerous stories of men travelling far and wide to all the geographical corners of the world for various reasons. It is very rare that these accounts narrate about travel by female characters. As in Old Norse-Icelandic literature women are often confined to innan stokks (i.e. indoors; the household sphere), whereas men venture utan stokks (i.e. outdoors; the worldly sphere). Even so, there are exceptions to this rule like for example Guðriðr Þorbjarnardóttir who in Eiríks saga rauða leads an expedition to Greenland and later on undertakes a pilgrimage to Rome.2 Most of the travel-accounts that feature women deal with similar pilgrimages to the south or with violence-motivated travel to the west. The latter in particular illustrate how travel/migration caused by violence or violent conflicts can empower people, more specifically empower women. These accounts are rarely extensive and as such are often excluded from studies on this particular subject.  This paper will therefore focus on one of these stories, namely that of Auðr/Unnr djúpúðga Ketilsdóttir. Hers illustrates that exceptional circumstances call for extreme and exceptional measures in which women can travel and even play a significant role. Her travels are transmitted through Landnámabók and several Íslendingasögur (namely Laxdœla saga, Eiríks saga rauða and Eyrbyggja saga). According to these sources she makes three journeys during her lifetime: she travels from Norway to somewhere on the Hebrides, from Ireland to Scotland, and from Scotland she sets sail to Iceland via the Orkneys and the Faroe Islands. In this paper I examine violence-motivated travel with a focus on the role of women, in particular Auðr‟s role. I hope to show that journeys motivated by violence or violent conflicts can have a positive outcome and are not always depicted in a negative light. Far-travel motivated by violence has the potential of empowering women. Auðr‟s role transformed from a passive role – a young woman who was used as a pawn by her father – into an active role – a widow who carved out a distinctive role for herself. The hostile environments and the  tumultuous times during the Settlement Age meant that many fathers, husbands, sons and brothers were either away or slain. In the absence of  these male relatives, women had to assume heavier responsibilities as heads of family. One of them, Auðr, could rise to the                                                           1 I‟ve taken my inspiration from John Shafer who has written a lot on the subject of travel and the different motivations to travel in the sagas. See „Bibliography‟ for more extensive list of references.   2 Nancy Marie Brown has written a book on Guðríðr and her voyages: The far traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman. 2  occasion and stand her ground as an independent woman being remembered in our memory as one of the most prominent and powerful settlers of  Iceland.  Þessir landnámsmenn eru gǫfgastir í Vestfirðingafjórðungi: Hroskell, Skalla-Grímr, Sel-Þórir, Bjǫrn enn austrœni, Þórólfr Mostrarskegg, Auðr djúpauðga, […]. (Landnámabók 1986 : 209)  These were the leading settlers of the West Quarter: Hrosskel, Skalla-Grim, Sel-Thorir, Bjorn the Eastener, Thorolf Mostur-Beard, Aud the Deep-Minded, […]. (Pálsson 1972: 80)    3  Bibliography  Primary literature: Landnámabók and the family sagas are cited from the series Íslenzk Fornrit published in Reykjavík by Hið Íslenska Fornritafélag. The English translation of these texts are cited from various translations. I refer to the following individual sagas:  Eiríks saga rauða. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson, Matthías Þórðarson (eds.). In: Eyrbyggja saga.  Íslenzk fornrit 4. Reykjavík: Hið Íslenska Fornritafélag, 1935. Pp. 195-237.  The Vinland sagas. Keneva Kunz (tr.). London, Penguin Classics: 2008.   Eyrbyggja saga. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson, Matthías Þórðarson (eds.). Íslenzk fornrit 4. Reykjavík: Hið Íslenska Fornritafélag, 1935. Pp. 3-184. Eyrbyggja saga. Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards (trs.). London, Penguin Books: 1989.   Landnámabók. Jakob Benediktsson (ed.). In: Íslendingabók, Landnámabók. Íslenzk fornrit 1. Reykjavík: Hið Íslenska Fornritafélag, 1986. Pp. 29-397.  The Book of settlements. Landnámabók. Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards (trans.). Manitoba: University of Manitoba Press, 1972.   Laxdœla saga. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson (ed.).  Íslenzk fornrit 5. Reykjavík: Hið Íslenska Fornritafélag, 1934.  The saga of the people of Laxardal and Bolli Bollason’s tale. Keneva Kunz (tr.). London, Penguin Classics: 2008.   Orkneyinga saga. F. Guðmundsson (ed.). In: Orkneyinga saga.  egenda de Sancto Magno. Magnúss saga skemmri. Magnúss saga lengri.  elga  áttr ok  lfs. Íslenzk fornrit 34. Reykjavík: Hið Íslenska Fornritafélag, 1965. Pp. 1-300.   Færeyinga saga.  lafur  alldórsson (ed. . In:   reyinga saga    lafs saga Tryggvasonar eptir Odd munk Snorrason. Íslenzk fornrit 25. Reykjavík: Hið Íslenska Fornritafélag, 2006. Pp. 1-121.    Secundary literature:  Brown, Nancy Marie, The far traveler: Voyages of a Viking women. Orlando: Harcourt Books, 2007.  Jamison, Carol Parrish, „Traffic of women in Germanic literature: the role of the peace pledge in marital exchanges‟, in Women in German Yearbook: Feminist studies in German literature & culture, 20(2004), pp. 13-36.   4  Shafer, John Douglas, „Journeys to Rome and Jerusalem in Old Norse-Icelandic Sagas‟, in Linguistica e filologia, 31(2011), pp. 7- 35. Retrieved from: http://hdl.handle.net/10446/25254.   _, Saga-Accounts of Norse Far-Travellers. Durham, Durham theses; Durham University, 2009. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/286/.   _ , „Saga accounts of violence-motivated far-travel‟, in Agneta Ney and others (eds. , Á austrvega. Saga and East Scandinavia. Preprint Papers of The 14th International Saga Conference Uppsala, 9th – 15th August 2009. Gävle: Gävle University Press, 2009. Vol. 2 , pp. 867-874.   _ , „Viking travellers of the sagas‟, in Judith Mills and Marjolein Stern (eds.), North and South, East and West: Movements in the Medieval World. Proceedings of the 2nd Postgraduate Conference of the Institute for Medieval Research, University of Nottingham, 30-31 May 2009. Available online at: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/medieval/documents/pgconf2009proceedings/shafer.pdf.   Reference works:  Cleasby, Richard, and Gudbrand Vigfusson. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1874.  Finnur Jónsson. Tilnavne i den islandske oldlitteratur. Kjøbenhavn: H.H. Thiele, 1907  (reprinted in 1908).   _. “Islandske k lenavne.” Namn och bygd 1920, pp. 40-42.   _. “Oversigt over det norsk (-islandsk) navneforråd för o. år 900. Med tillæg: De norsk  (-islandske  tilnavne fra samme tid.” Aarbøger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie. III Række. 16 (1926), pp. 175-244.   _. Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske  skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd ed. København: Møller, 1931.  Lind, Erik Henrik. Norsk-isländska dopnamn ock fingerade namn från medeltiden,  samlade och utgivna med förklaringar. Uppsala & Leipzig: Lundequistska bokhandeln, 1905-1915, sup. Oslo, Uppsala, and København: 1931.   _. Norsk-isländska personbinamn från medeltiden. Uppsala: Lundequistska  bokhandeln, 1920-1921.   

Violence-motivated far-travel: the case of Auðr djúpúðga

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Violence-motivated far-travel: the case of Auðr djúpúðga

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