Bjǫrn Ásbrandsson
Bjǫrn Breiðvíkingakappi Ásbrandsson (* around 960; † after 1030) was a person from the Viking Age . He appears in the Icelandic sagas , particularly the Eyrbyggja saga . He was a farmer, warrior, exile, Yom Viking and Viking Age immigrant from North America ( Vinlands ). Breiðvíkingakappi is not a first name , but an epithet ("broad Viking warrior"), Ásbrandsson is a patronymic .
Life
Youth and Exile
Bjǫrn Ásbrandsson was born around 960 on the Kambr farm near Mount Helgafell on the Snæfellsnes peninsula in Iceland . His father, Ásbrandr, was a farmer who lived in modest circumstances. Bjǫrn was of a strong nature, had an impetuous and heated character and showed fighting skills early on. As a young man he fell in love with Þuríðr Barkardóttir from the neighboring farm Fróðá , the young, widowed and wealthy sister of Goden Snorri Þorgrímsson (963-1031). Although coveted as a wife by influential men who were also agreeable to the god Snorri, Þuríðr, widow of the skipper and warrior Þorbjǫrn digri, chose Bjǫrn Ásbrandsson. A scorned applicant by the name of Þóroddr and his friends therefore sought retribution and planned a devious attack. Even the honor-conscious Gode Snorri, who headed the Þórsnes-Thing on the Snæfellsnes peninsula, saw his power and influence in godhood endangered in the inappropriate relationship between Bjdetrn and Þuríðr. When Bjǫrn was on his way home from Fróðá one day, five men attacked him under the leadership of Þóroddr. Bjǫrn was warned, armed accordingly, and doggedly defended himself. Despite being wounded, he was able to kill two attackers while the other three fled. Snorri learned of the incident, which was negotiated on the Þórsnes-Thing (around 985). “The outcome of the trial was that Asbrand undertook to pay for two manslaughters for his son Bjorn Buse. Björn himself was ostracized for three years, and that same summer (985) he left Iceland. That summer Thurid also had a son at Frodey on the Breitfjord. That was called Kjartan ... "
As a Jomswikinger in Pomerania and Sweden
In the same Nordic source, further details of his life were handed down: “But when Björn set sail, he drove south to Denmark and from there on to Jomsburg . At that time, Palnatoki ruled the Vikings there. Björn joined their association there and received the title `Kämpe` (fighter)” . The exiled Icelander came to the Pomeranian coast when power struggles broke out in Denmark between King Harald Blauzahn and his son Sven Gabelbart , who was striving for kingdom and royal crown, and led to a civil war that also affected the Jomswikings' warriors. Furthermore, the Jomswikings got involved in armed conflicts with the Swedes . As a sea warrior, Bjǫrn soon enjoyed the trust of the aged Jarls Palnatoki of Funen and in particular of the young Styrbjörn the Strong, who at that time was the second most powerful chief of the Jomswikings after Palnatoki. Styrbjörn was also a candidate for the Swedish royal throne and was therefore in a feud with his uncle Erik Segersäll von Alt-Uppsala , who had ousted his father, King Olof II Björnsson , in 975 and deprived him of his father's throne. King Erik had also become the son-in-law of the Polish ruler through his marriage to Princess Świętosława , known as Sigríðr stórráða in the Nordic sagas and daughter of Duke Mieszko I , who had once transferred the Gau Jom to the Danish Vikings for settlement. This created a dangerous group of powers that Styrbjörn wanted to break up with the Jomswikings.
When the Danish King Harald Blauzahn fled to Pomerania, severely wounded in the sea battle that took place with Sven Gabelbart near Bornholm in October 986 , and died there on All Saints Day , the Jomswikings opened the war against Sweden. The invaders' armed forces and fleet apparently penetrated deep into the hinterland as far as Lake Mälaren near later Stockholm and plundered and destroyed the trading center of Birka on the island of Björkö . Then Styrbjörn's armed force wanted to advance against the Swedish royal seat of Alt-Uppsala and overthrow King Erik. On the river Fyris , however, the invaders were brought to a standstill by the King of Sweden and engaged in a battle in the Fyris plain, in which the Jom Vikings, considered to be insurmountable, were defeated. Many Yomswikings lost their lives, including the leader Styrbjörn. Few managed to escape across the sea to the Pomeranian base Jomsburg, including Bjǫrn Ásbrandsson. The same source refers to this battle, which is also attested on Swedish and Danish rune stones : “Björn Asbrandsson also went to Sweden when the sea warriors of Jomsburg supported the Styrbjörn. He also took part in the battle in the Fyris lowlands, where Styrbjörn fell, and was able to take refuge in the forest with other Vikings. As long as Palnatoki lived, Björn was with him and showed himself to be the most capable warrior… “ When Palnatoki, the lord of the Jomswikings and founder of the Jomsburg, died during this time, his Icelandic confidante left the Gau Jom for home, especially since he was with him Palantoki's successor in Pomerania, the Scanian nobleman Sigvaldi Haraldsson , did not get along and the period of his three-year exile had expired.
New dispute in Iceland and emigration
When Bjǫrn Ásbrandsson returned to Iceland, he first took over his late father's farm in Kambr and ran it successfully. He also renewed the relationship with his lover Þuríðr, to whom his adversary Þóroddr wooed with the approval of Goden Snorri. Thus, spurred on by Þóroddr, Bjǫrn had a new quarrel with the god Snorri. A fight between Snorri and Bjǫrn was prevented by intermediaries. After a meeting between the Goden and Bjǫrn, the hostilities were settled when Bjǫrn left his homeland Iceland in about 998 for an unknown destination.
In "Hvítramannaland" or "Vinland"
At that time Icelanders made a name for themselves as seafarers and explorers. At the same time, before the turn of the millennium, there was much talk in Iceland of a country called “Greater Ireland” or “ Hvitramannaland ”, that is to say “Land of White Men”, which is said to have been an Irish colony founded in the far west, apparently on the coast of Northeast America. The Norwegian Viking Bjarni Herjólfsson sighted new land three times far to the west during an odyssey between Iceland and Greenland in 987, but did not go ashore. Rumors circulated that an Icelander named Ari Másson from Reykhólar was being held captive in Hvítramannaland.
In 986 the Viking Erik the Red discovered the southern "Green Land" (Greenland), which he settled with about 300 Icelandic emigrants. More explorers emerged from Erik's family. In the footsteps of Bjarni Herjólfsson, his son Leif Eriksson discovered North American (Canadian) shores from South Greenland, which he found in 1000/01 and examined more closely: Helluland , Markland and Vinland. In Vinland, Leif founded Leifsbudir, the first Viking settlement on American soil. Thorvald Eriksson , Leif's brother, went shortly afterwards, apparently in the years 1002 to 1004, on another "Vinland expedition". In contrast to Leif, he met the people of the country for the first time, the Skrälingers , as the Vikings called the Inuit there , and probably fell in battle with them on the coast of Labrador . But neither the men of Leif nor the Thorvalds had come across a “Hvitramannaland” or the lost Icelanders Ari Másson or Bjǫrn Ásbrandsson in the New World.
Under the leadership of Thorfinn Karlsefni (around 980 – around 935), the most important Icelandic seafarer and merchant of that time, three or four ships with around 160 Icelandic and Greenlandic emigrants on board, including several women, came from the Greenlandic eastern settlement in 1007 Eystribygð with a course for Vinland, who wanted to settle there permanently. Thorfinn and his colonists must have come much further south on the North American east coast than Leif or Thorvald Eriksson, apparently as far as the area of what would later become Boston , New York or even Virginia , i.e. fertile coastal regions with a mild climate, which the Icelanders and Greenlanders as " í hópi “(in / on the lagoon). Thorfinn's expedition wintered three times on North American soil. In Hóp , after initially peaceful barter between Vikings and Skrälingians, probably Algonquian Indians, fighting with dead and injured on both sides broke out. Karlsefni and his people realized that they could not hold out against the overwhelming power of the locals in the long run and, heavily laden with products from the New World, especially fur and wood, prepared for the journey home to Greenland and Iceland.
There was a strange incident on Thorfinn's return from Vinland. On the coast of Markland, probably today's Canadian peninsula Labrador, his people surprised a group of Skrälinger, in this case probably Labrador Eskimos, and were able to capture two young Skrälinger who, after being able to communicate in the language of the northerners, Thorfinn reported, "... that kings rule the Skrälinger, one of whom was called Avaldamon ... (and) across from their country there is another country inhabited by people wearing white clothes and carrying poles to which flags are attached ... (You ) thought it was Hvitramannaland or Greater Ireland ” . When Thorfinn's fleet with most of the emigrants returned to the East Greenland settlement around the year 1010, this news spread and found written evidence among learned circles in medieval Iceland.
Bjǫrn Ásbrandsson's last signs
After the unsuccessful Vinland voyage under the leadership of Freydís Eiríksdóttir , the daughter of Erik the Red, in 1011/12, which caused a clan feud between Iceland and Greenland Vikings in Leifsbúðir with a bloody outcome, we strangely hear nothing more for the next 15 years Trips by the Icelanders or Greenlanders to Vinland or Hvitramannaland. But around the year 1027 the Icelandic merchant Guðleifr Guðlaugsson , a relative of Thorfinn, was thrown far west in a storm on his way back from Ireland to Iceland to unknown, certainly Northeast American shores. The Nordic sources reported it as follows: “They were able to enter a sheltered harbor there ... (and) people came up to them ... who spoke Irish. They all seized them (Gudleif and his companions), tied them and led them inland. Then they were taken to a thing and judged over there. While the negotiations were taking place, Gudleif and his people saw how a crowd of men rode up, in front of whom an army mark was carried ... (They) saw how a strong and warlike man rode under the army banner, but he was already in the highest age and white on hair. All the men bowed to this man and greeted him like their master. (He) sent to Gudleif and his companions (and) addressed them in the Nordic language ... "
During the conversation, Guðleifr thought he recognized the old chieftain as the warrior and former Jomsviking Bjǫrn Àsbrandsson, who was once outlawed in Iceland, especially since he knew very well about Iceland. The unknown chief released the Icelanders from captivity after detailed consultation with his followers and gave the skipper gifts for old friends in Iceland, his childhood sweetheart Þuríðr at Breiðafjörður and their son Kjartan. At the same time he sent the following warning advice to the northerners: “... that he would not allow anyone to visit him, because that is extremely dangerous if the people are not as lucky as you when landing, because this is a vast country without good ones Port places. And foreigners have to reckon with hostilities everywhere here, except when things go the way it has been here ” . Guðleifr and his crew set sail, headed for Ireland, wintered in Dublin and drove back to Iceland in the summer of 1028. Guðleifr handed over the gifts as promised, and everyone at Breiðafjörður in western Iceland and in Snæfellsnes was sure that they could only have come from Bjǫrn Ásbrandsson. Since then, the sources have been silent about the Icelandic Jomswikinger who has traveled far around the world and is known by name. The Viking Age discoveries of America by the Icelanders and Greenlanders, even known to the Curia in Rome, faded in the course of time, as did the deeds of the warlike Yom Vikings among the peoples of the Baltic and North Sea region.
Literature (selection)
- The saga of the people of Eyr. (Eyrbyggja saga ). Edited and translated from Old Icelandic by Klaus Böldl . Munich: Eugen Diederichs Verlag 1999. ISBN 3-424-01480-X
- Bernhard Gottschling: The Vinland Sagas . Translated from Old Icelandic. Old Norse Library, Vol. 2, Hattingen: Verlag Bernd Kretschmer 1982.
- Paul Herrmann : 7 over and 8 blown away. The adventure of the early discoveries. Hamburg: Hoffmann and Campe 1978, part VI .: America - Das Hvitramannaland - The land of pale faces , in it more details on Björn Asbrandsson and Gudleif Gudlaugson , pp. 195-254.
- Lutz Mohr : An Icelandic Jomswiking in Pomerania, Sweden and the New World . In: Author collective, Maritimes von der Waterkant. Peenemünde: Axel Dietrich Verlag 1994, pp. 5–12. ISBN 3-930066-21-1
- Lutz Mohr: The Jomswikinger, myth or truth . Nordic sagas compiled, commented and ed. Elmenhorst: Edition Pommern 2009. ISBN 978-3-939680-03-1
- Lutz Mohr: Dragon ships in the Pomeranian Bay. The Jomswikinger, their Jomsburg and the Gau Jom . Edited by Robert Rosentreter . (edition rostock maritime). Rostock: Ingo Koch Verlag 2013. ISBN 978-3-86436-069-5
- Felix Niedner : The story of Goden Snorri (Eyrbyggja saga) . Thule. First series, vol. 7. Ed. And trans. by Felix Niedner. Jena: Eugen Diederichs Verlag 1920.
- Greenlander and Faroese stories . Thule. Volume 13. Ed. And trans. by Felix Niedner. New edition with afterwards by Siegfried Beyschlag . Düsseldorf-Cologne: Eugen Diederichs Verlag 1965.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The story of Goden Snorri (Eyrbyggja saga), THULE, Vol. VII, 1920, p. 74
- ↑ Ibid
- ↑ Thule. Vol. VII, pp. 74f
- ↑ Vinland Sagas 1982, pp. 53f.
- ↑ Thule, Vol. VII, 1920, pp. 159f
- ↑ Eyrbyggja saga, new edition 1999. p. 146.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bjǫrn Ásbrandsson |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bjǫrn Breiðvíkingakappi Ásbrandsson (nicknamed); Björn Breiðvíkingakappi Ásbrandsson (Icelandic) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Yom Vikings and Viking Age immigrants from North America |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 960 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Iceland |
| DATE OF DEATH | 11th century |