Sigmundur Brestisson

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Sigmundur Brestisson (* 961 in Skúvoy / Faroe Islands ; † 1005 in Sandvík ibid; in literature and in the Faroese accusative: Sigmund ) was a Faroese Viking chief who initiated the Christianization of the Faroese around 999 .

Live and act

The Faroese saga reports about him and is to be regarded as an uncertain source. Nevertheless, no researcher doubts that Sigmundur lived and that the story could have happened in a way similar to the one described there.

Sigmundur is the son of Brestir . His mother's name was Cæcilia . He was married to Turið Torkilsdóttir . Together they had the daughter Tóra Sigmundsdóttir and the sons Tórálvur , Steingrímur , Brandur and Heri .

Sigmund's adversary Tróndur í Gøtu defends himself with Thor's hammer Mjölnir against the cross that appears on the horizon of the North Atlantic. Faroese postage stamp from 2000 marking the 1000th anniversary of the Christianization of the Faroe Islands.

After the murder of his father Brestir, who was murdered in front of Sigmundur's eyes on Stóra Dímun in the spring of 970 when he was 9 years old ( see: Murder of Brestir and Beinir ), Sigmundur came together with his cousin Tóri Beinirsson , the son of Beinir , under the care of Tróndur í Gøtu . In the summer of that year Tróndur tried to get rid of his two foster sons by offering them as slaves to the Norwegian trader Ravnur Hólmgarðsfari , who was visiting Tórshavn . Ravnur found out who the two boys were and refused. In return, he wanted to bring Sigmundur and his cousin Tóri to Norway for a fee , which Tróndur agreed to, because he wanted them both far away from the Faroe Islands so that they could never take revenge for the murder of their fathers. When Sigmundur and Tóri were in Norway , they prepared their return in 983 with the help of the Norwegian King Håkon Jarl .

The Christianization of the Faroe Islands was initiated in 997 by the Norwegian King Olav Tryggvason when he asked Sigmundur to come to him. First Sigmundur wanted to introduce Christianity by stepping in front of the Althing on Tinganes in 998 , but there he was almost killed by the angry mob. Thereupon he changed his tactics and drove 999 with 30 armed men to the chief Tróndur í Gøtu, broke into his house at night and gave him the choice: "Christianity or head off".

In 1005 Sigmundur was attacked by Tróndur at night and had to swim across the Suðuroyarfjørður to Sandvík on Suðuroy . He sought refuge in Sigmundargjógv, which was later named after him, in Sandvík, but the local farmer Torgrímur Illi killed the exhausted Sigmundur and stole his golden armring.

Monuments

Sigmund's tombstone, the so-called Sigmundarsteinur ("Sigmundsstein"), stands in the Skúvoy cemetery and is one of the most important medieval monuments in the Faroe Islands. It does not contain any runic inscription , just a carved cross.

On Whit Monday 2006 three monuments to Sigmundur were unveiled in the Faroe Islands: In front of Vesturkirkjan in Tórshavn, the capital, where he wanted to introduce Christianity on the Thing; on his home island Skúvoy, where he built the first church, and in Sandvík, where he was killed. All three statues were made by the sculptor Hans Pauli Olsen , who was commissioned to do this on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the Christianization of the Faroe Islands in 2001.

The life-size bronze statue in Tórshavn stands on a granite column (granite is not a rock that occurs in the Faroe Islands) and shows a Sigmundur as the artist imagined: With outstretched arms he forms a cross. The upper body is free, he has a full beard and long hair and the head is tilted slightly downwards towards the viewer. A long sword hangs on his left.

On the coast of Sandvík there is now a two meter high cross made of two wide stone slabs. On one side, Sigmundur is embedded as a small bronze figure of how he saves himself by swimming over the Suðoroyarfjørður. Only his head and arms can be seen, and the size ratio to the stone is intended to illustrate its tiny size in the great sea. On the other side is a small Viking ship, the one with which he returned to the Faroe Islands. The internet newspaper portal.fo wrote that this was the new landmark of the village - until now it was the uninhabited island of Lítla Dímun on the horizon.

Today's view of Sigmundur

The honor of Sigmundur 2006 did not meet with unanimous approval from the Faroese . Young Faroese in particular regard him as a kind of “traitor” who led the Faroe Islands in “1000 Years of Darkness” as the crown colony of Norway and later Denmark. On the other hand, his adversary Tróndur í Gøtu is seen as the real hero of the Faroese saga - one who advocated statehood for the islands even then. Theses are even raised that Sigmundur already found a Christian country, and that Tróndur himself should already have been a Christian. Due to the poor sources, however, this is more a question of politically motivated speculation. Conversely, it is acknowledged that he was one of the most important figures in the history of the Faroe Islands .

literature

  • Lutz Mohr: On the early history of the Faroe Islands with special consideration of the "Celtic" and "Viking times" from the 7th to 11th centuries . In: TJALDUR. ("Oystercatcher"). Bulletin of the German-Faroese Circle of Friends e. V., Düsseldorf / Kiel, vol. 4, issue 7-1991, pp. 8-19.
  • Lutz Mohr: Faroese history of the Viking Age in the "Heimskringla" in connection with the life and work of the Icelandic Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241) . In: TJALDUR. ibid, issue 16-1996, pp. 42-47. With excerpts from THULE, notes
  • Thrand von Gata versus Sigmundur Brestisson: Clan feuds in the Faroe Islands. In: Lutz Mohr , Robert Liese: Vikings between Pomerania and the Arctic Circle. Truth or sagas . Leo-Verlag Robert Liese, Horn-Bad Meinberg 1997, ISBN 3-9805594-0-8 , pp. 127-140.
  • Viking poetry. From the Norse Skald treasure . Re-seals by Anton Riesel. Selection, remarks and comments by Lutz Mohr. Anniversary publication on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the introduction of Christianity in the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland (999-1999) . Leo-Verlag Robert Liese, Horn-Bad Meinberg 1999, ISBN 9805594-1-9 .
  • THULE: Old Norse Poetry and Prose, Volume XIII: Greenlandic and Faroese Stories . Ed. And trans. by Felix Niedner . New edition with afterword by Siegfried Beyschlag. Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Düsseldorf / Cologne 1965.

Web links

Commons : Sigmundur Brestisson Memorial  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Sigmundur Brestisson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brestisson, Sigmundur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Faroese Viking chief
DATE OF BIRTH 961
PLACE OF BIRTH Skúvoy , Faroe Islands
DATE OF DEATH 1005
Place of death Sandvík