Tróndur í Gøtu

Tróndur defends himself with the Mjolnir against the Christianization of his country coming from Norway . Allegorical depiction on a Faroese postage stamp from 2000 by Faroese graphic artist Anker Eli Petersen .

Tróndur í Gøtu [ ˈtɹœndʊɹ ʊi ˈgøːtʊ ], Old Norse Þrandr æ Gǫtu (* around 945 in Gøta , Faroe Islands ; † 1035 there ; in literature often Trond ) was one of the most powerful Viking chiefs in the Faroe Islands.

Life

Tróndur is next to Sigmundur Brestisson the main character in the Faroese saga . He was the son of the wealthy head of the family of Gøta ( Gøtuskeggjar ), Torbjørn Gøtuskegg († before 970 ), and his wife Guðrun, a sister of Svínoyar-Bjarni (Bjarne). His older brother was Tollakur (Torlak).

The Faroese saga paints a very gloomy picture of him:

“Tróndur was a tall man with red hair and a red beard, freckled and grim in appearance, with a sinister train of thought, sly and devious in all his plans, unsociable and angry with normal people, but honeyed to all those who stood above him , and always silent in his heart. "

After his father's death, Tróndur inherited the farm in Gøta. But he soon lacked money, so he went to Denmark to improve his finances with dubious business. Back in the Faroe Islands, he was approached in the spring of 970 by Goden Havgrímur von Hov whether he would not participate in his planned revenge against Brestir and Beinir , who were superior in the dispute between Einar and Eldjarn . In return, Tróndur demanded a kind of lifelong pension from Havgrímur and a promise to remain in the background.

In the murder of Brestir and Beinir , Tróndur was "innocent", while his uncle Svínoyar-Bjarni went into battle for an even higher reward. When Brestir and Beinir were dead, Tróndur demanded that their two sons, Sigmundur Brestisson and Tóri Beinirsson , also be killed. His uncle refused (after he had already killed their fathers) and so the two boys came into Tróndur's care.

In the summer of 970 the merchant Ravnur Hólmgarðsfari came to Tórshavn . Shortly before his departure, Tróndur offered the two boys for sale as slaves. But Ravnur learned that they were the two sons of Brestir and Beinir and refused. Thereupon Tróndur offered a sum of money so that Ravnur might still get them away from the Faroe Islands to Norway . So these potential avengers of their fathers initially came out of his field of vision, because Ravnur agreed.

Historical summary

During the "Faroese Viking Age" - the period lasted on the archipelago from 825 to 1035 AD - the huge clan feuds for more power and influence reached the North Atlantic islands influenced by Norway and the struggle between the old-established paganism and the introduction of the new Religion of Christianity peaked at the end of the 10th century. Trondur i Götu, Thrand von Gata in German , and Sigmundur Brestisson , both later national heroes of the Faroe Islands, stepped into the light of history as leading figures and adversaries . Trondur on Eysturoy , the "East Island", felt superior to all other clan chiefs of the Faroe Islands due to its noble origins and claimed rule over all the islands, as he, as the richest landowner and trader in the Faroe Islands, had close ties to the Norwegian King Harald Graumantel (around 940– 986) as well as the Danish King Harald Blue Tooth. Apparently he was also the most influential Thor priest on the islands.

In contrast to Trondur, however, Sigmundur Brestisson and his cousin Tori Beinirsson approached the motherland of Norway under his regent Jarl Hakon and made themselves available to him as followers in the Battle of Hjörenavag around 995 against the invasion of the Danes and Jomswikings . After the victory over the invaders and the death of the Norwegian Jarl, Sigmundur won the favor of the new Christian Norwegian king Olav I. Tryggvason , who obliged him to return as a missionary to the Faroe Islands and to introduce Christianity there. After his return to the Faroe Islands 998 but Sigmundur was led Trondurs the adoption of only after overcoming the pagan opposition Christianity one year later (999) on the Tinganes - Thing prevail. The Faroese, regardless of their clan, officially converted to Christianity on the Thing. The Christianization of the Faroe Islands as a purely political act took place a year earlier than in Iceland and Greenland . The island chief, sea hero and missionary Sigmundur Brestisson was defenselessly slain and robbed by the pagan island farmer from Suduroy , the "South Island", Thorgrim den Argen , (fär: Thorgrimur Illi ), and his sons in the course of 1005 . Trondur i Götu, who had meanwhile risen to be the most powerful Faroe chief, condemned this crime and, in his authority as judge, had Thorgrimur's property searched for evidence. Sigmundur Brestisson's murderers were finally hanged after conviction and confession by Thing resolution in Tórshavn , today's capital (cf. Thule XIII 1965, p. 328ff).

The relationship between the two influential Faroe chiefs Trondur and Sigmundur was characterized as follows: "In contrast to the down-to-earth Thrand, Sigmund is Norwegian because of his parentage, and because of his father Brestir, who was in the service of Jarl Haakon the Mighty, closer than his main opponent (Thrand) on the Faroe Islands is connected to Norway [...] In contrast to Thrand, Sigmund always feels like a king's man [...] Sigmund did not become a royal servant under Jarl Haakon or under King Olaf Tryggvisson of the political commissions given for the Faroe Islands, he felt himself to be a free chief " (F. Niedner, Introduction, Thule XIII 1965, p. 17).

Spellings

The first name Tróndur [ trœndʊr ] is still a common Faroese male name , which bends as follows: Tróndur ( N. ), Trónd ( A. ), Tróndi ( D. ), Tróndar ( G. ). Here Trónd is the stem of the word without the nominative ending -ur. This results in spellings like Trónd or Trond in other languages, analogous to Ólavur → Ólav → Olav (Olaf) . In Icelandic and the Old Norse original of the Faroese saga, the name Þrándur is written, also here with the root Þránd. This results in spellings such as English Thrand.

The surname í Gøtu is the dative from the place name Gøta (also means street ) after the preposition í (= "in"). Tróndur í Gøtu literally means “Trond in Göta” in the sense of “Trond from Göta” or “Trond von Göta”. In English literature it is called "Thrand of Gate", where gate (= "Tor") is not a correct translation of gøta , although there is an etymological relationship between the words.

Today's reception

Even though Tróndur is the “bad guy” in the Faroese saga, he has been revered as an early freedom hero since the 19th century at the latest, who defended the independence of the Faroe Islands from the grip of the Norwegian king and his follower Sigmundur.

Tróndur is the subject of many stories and songs, for example the Gandkvæði Tróndar by Janus Djurhuus , which was written in 2008, and the song Tróndur í Gøtu , which was set to music by the Faroese Viking metal band Týr , or the popular mockery Í Gøtu a dag by Tróndur Olsen (1879–1961), published in Tingakrossur in 1915 and set to music in 2000 by Eivør Pálsdóttir .

On July 12, 2008, a monument to Tróndur was unveiled in Gøta, created by the Faroese sculptor Hans Pauli Olsen . This happened as part of the one-week Tróndardagarnir ("Tróndur Days"), in which Eivør Pálsdóttir and Rúni Brattaberg also performed a composition by Gavin Bryars . At the same time a book about Tróndur by Sigfríður Joensen was published ; the celebrations ended with the G! Festival at which only local musicians performed this time. In addition, a modern Faroe Islands fishing ship bears his name.

literature

• Carl Küchler: The Faroe Islands. Study and hiking trips. G. Müller, Munich 1913.

• 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. ("Austernfischer"), newsletter of the German-Faroese Circle of Friends e. V., Issue 7, Düsseldorf 1991, pp. 9-19.

• 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, 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 13: Greenlandic and Faroese stories . Ed. U. transfer by Felix Niedner. New edition with afterword by Siegfried Beyschlag . Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Düsseldorf-Cologne 1965.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.gota.fo/dokumentir/Tróndardagar.pdf  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Program in Faroese)