Ingólfr Arnarson, in some sources named Bjǫrnólfsson, ( – )
is commonly recognized as the first permanent
Norse settler of Iceland, together with his wife and foster brother
Hjörleifr Hróðmarsson
Hjǫrleifr Hróðmarsson (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; Modern Norwegian: ) was an early settler in Iceland. The story of the early settlement of Iceland is told in the compilation known as ''Landnámabók.''
Hjörleifr was the blood brother o ...
. According to tradition, they settled in
Reykjavík in 874.
Biography
Ingólfr Arnarson was from the valley of Rivedal in
Sunnfjord
Sunnfjord ( en, the southern fjord - in contrast to Nordfjord) is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in Western Norway located in Vestland counties of Norway, county. It includes the List of municipalities of Norway, municipalities of As ...
in western Norway. According to the Icelandic
Book of Settlements, he built his homestead in and gave name to Reykjavík in 874. However,
archaeological finds in Iceland suggest settlement may have started somewhat earlier. The medieval chronicler
Ari Þorgilsson
Ari Þorgilsson (1067–1148 AD; Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; also anglicized Ari Thorgilsson) was Iceland's most prominent medieval chronicler. He was the author of ''Íslendingabók'', which details the histories of the various famili ...
said Ingólfr was the first Nordic settler in Iceland, but mentioned that
Irish monks
The Hiberno-Scottish mission was a series of expeditions in the 6th and 7th centuries by Gaelic missionaries originating from Ireland that spread Celtic Christianity in Scotland, Wales, England and Merovingian France. Celtic Christianity spr ...
had been in the country before the Norsemen. He wrote that they left because they did not want to live among the newly arrived
Norse pagans.
The Book of Settlements (written two to three centuries after the settlement) contains a story about Ingólfr's arrival. The book claims he left Norway after becoming involved in a
blood feud. He had heard about a new island which
Garðar Svavarsson
Garðarr Svavarsson ( Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; Modern Swedish: ) was a Swede who briefly resided in Iceland, according to the Sagas. He is said to be the second Scandinavian to reach the island of Iceland after Naddod. He and his family ...
,
Hrafna-Flóki and others had found in the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
. With his
blood brother Hjörleifr Hróðmarsson
Hjǫrleifr Hróðmarsson (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; Modern Norwegian: ) was an early settler in Iceland. The story of the early settlement of Iceland is told in the compilation known as ''Landnámabók.''
Hjörleifr was the blood brother o ...
, he sailed for Iceland. When land was in sight, he threw his
high seat pillars overboard and promised to settle where the gods decided to bring them ashore. Two of his slaves then searched the coasts for three years before finding the pillars in the small bay which eventually became the site of
Reykjavík.
In the meantime, Hjörleifr had been murdered by his Irish slaves. Ingólfr hunted them down and killed them in the
Westman Islands. The islands got their name from that event, with ''westmen'' (Old Norse: ''vestmenn'') being a name that the Norsemen used for the Irish. Ingólfr was said to have settled a large part of southwestern Iceland, although after his settlement nothing more was known of him. His son, Þorsteinn Ingólfsson, was a major chieftain and was said to have founded the , the first
thing, or parliament, in Iceland. It was a forerunner of the
Althingi
The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ("thing fields" or "assembl ...
.
Legacy
In 1924, a statue of Ingólfr Arnarson, designed by Icelandic sculptor
Einar Jónsson (1874–1954), was erected in Reykjavík. A copy of the statue was erected at Rivedal in 1961.
[
]
See also
*
Settlement of Iceland
The settlement of Iceland ( is, landnámsöld ) is generally believed to have begun in the second half of the ninth century, when Norse settlers migrated across the North Atlantic. The reasons for the migration are uncertain: later in the Middle ...
*
Viking expansion
Notes
References
External links
Statue of Ingolfur Arnarson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ingolfr Arnarson
Viking explorers
9th-century Norwegian people
9th-century Icelandic people
9th-century explorers
910 deaths
9th-century Vikings