Snorri Thorfinnsson

Guðríður in a boat carrying Snorri on her shoulder. Statue located in the graveyard of Glaumbær, August 1997.

This is an Icelandic name. The last name is a patronymic, not a family name; this person is properly referred to by the given name Snorri.

Snorri Thorfinnsson (Old Norse and Icelandic: Snorri Þorfinnsson or Snorri Karlsefnisson, probably born between 1004 and 1013, and died c. 1090) was the son of the explorer Þorfinnur Karlsefni and Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir. He is considered to be the first white child to be born in the Americas, apart from Greenland. He became an important figure in the Christianisation of Iceland.

Name

Snorri is an Old Norse name derived from the word snerra, meaning "a fight." Þorfinnsson is a patronymic, meaning "son of Þorfinnr", (see Icelandic naming conventions). Snorri was named for his great-grandfather, Snorri Þórðarson, or after Snorri Þorbrandsson who was not a kinsman but a participant in Karsefni's expedition

Family

There is speculation about the birth date of Snorri Thorfinnsson. Birth years such as 1005, 1009, and 1012 have been postulated, but all sources agree that he was born between 1005 and 1013. According to the Vinland sagas, when Snorri was 3 years old, his family left Vinland because of hostilities with indigenous peoples (called Skrælings by the settlers, meaning "barbarians"). The family returned to the Glaumbær farm in Seyluhreppur.

Snorri Thorfinnsson had two children; a daughter named Hallfrid, and a son named Thorgeir. Hallfrid was the mother of Thorlak Runolfsson, bishop of Skálholt in the south of Iceland. One of the descendants of Snorri's brother Thorbjorn, Bjorn Gilsson, was also a bishop of Hólar. Thorgeir was the father of Yngvild who was the mother of Brand Sæmundarsson, bishop of Hólar. The sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen claimed descent from Snorri Thorfinnsson in the 19th century.

Christianisation of Iceland

In the 13th century texts Snorri Thorfinnsson and Snorri Thorrgrimsson are considered the two main figures responsible for the early Christianisation of Iceland. Consequently they were portrayed by various writers of the 13th and 14th century as "Christian chieftain models". According to Grœnlendinga saga, Snorri had built the first church of Glaumbaer, which would later increase Christian influence in the area. His descendants became the first Bishops of Iceland, and published the first Christian Code of Iceland.

Legacy

• Snorri Thorfinnsson was purported to be born in Vinland, (Newfoundland), making him the first European known to be born in the Americas, provided that Greenland is defined as being outside the Americas. About 560 years would pass until the next birth of a child of European descent in America, Martín de Argüelles, who was born in the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine, Florida.
• In 2002 American archaeologists discovered the remains of a thousand-year-old longhouse located on Iceland's northern coast. It is believed that it was Snorri Thorfinnsson's farmhouse. The longhouse was found near the Glaumbaer Folk Museum, outside the coastal village of Sauðárkrókur. The museum was once thought to have been built on the site of Snorri's farmhouse. According to archaeologists it was "a classic German fortress longhouse like the Great Hall of Beowulf".

Genealogy

Below is the genealogy of descendants of Snorri, as given in the close of each saga, Grœnlendinga saga ch. 9 and Eiríks saga ch. 14. It is supplemented with further ancestral information from (Eiríks saga ch. 7 and Landnámabók), a more complete family tree for which, see Thorfinn Karlsefni.

References

Texts

• . For Eiríks saga rauða A=Hauksbók, B=AM 557=Skálholtsbók.

Translations

Studies

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Snorri Thorfinnsson
• Guðríðr Eiríksdóttir