Leivur Øssursson

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Leivur Øssursson (* around 980 in Gøta , Hov or Skúvoy , Faroe Islands ; † before 1047 in Skúvoy ?; also Leif ) is a figure in the Faroese saga and was ruler of the Faroe Islands from 1035.

The beginning of Leivur's rule is considered to be the end of the Viking Age in the Faroe Islands , at the same time the end of the Faroe Islands as a free settler republic, and thus the beginning of the rule of Norway.

Leivur is the son of Øssur Havgrímsson and the daughter of “the best farmer in the Faroe Islands”, whose name has not been passed down.

His place and year of birth are unclear, but can be narrowed down: Leivur's father Øssur died in 983 at the age of 23 and grew up near Tróndur in Gøta , got the farm in Hov (perhaps for his wedding) , Øssur's father (Leivur's grandfather) Havgrímur owned, and at the same time the estate on Skúvoy , where Brestir and Beinir once lived. Hence, one of these three places is likely Leivur's birthplace.

Leivur was married to Tóra Sigmundsdóttir , the daughter of Sigmundur Brestisson and Turið Torkilsdóttir .

In 1024 Olav the Saint called three important Faroese to Norway : Løgmaður Gilli , Tórolvur Sigmundsson and Leivur Øssursson, who then became his followers. But as long as Tróndur í Gøtu was still alive, Olav could not get control of the Faroe Islands. Two ships that were sent to collect taxes disappeared without a trace on the way to the Faroe Islands, and a third ship reached the Faroe Islands, but the ambassador Karl hin mørske was murdered after Tróndur was able to successfully demand this on the Thing on Tinganes .

The situation changed after Tróndur's death in 1035. Leivur, who was a Christian, took over Tróndur's sole rule and got the Faroe Islands as a fiefdom from Magnus the Good in the same year . Formally, the Faroe Islands remained a Norwegian crown land until the Peace of Kiel in 1814, when it left the personal union with Denmark, and the Faroe Islands remained with Denmark along with Iceland and Greenland .