Ingolfr Arnarson, in some sources named Bjǫrnolfsson, ( – )
is commonly recognized as the first permanent
Norse settler of Iceland, together with his wife
Hallveig Fróðadóttir and foster brother
Hjǫrleifr Hróðmarsson. According to tradition, they settled in
ReykjavÃk
ReykjavÃk is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
in 874.
Biography
Ingolfr Arnarson was from the valley of Rivedal in
Sunnfjord
Sunnfjord ( - in contrast to Nordfjord) is a traditional district in Western Norway located in Vestland county. It includes the municipalities of Askvoll, Fjaler, the southernmost parts of Kinn, Sunnfjord, and the southernmost parts of Brem ...
in western Norway. According to the Icelandic
Book of Settlements, he built his homestead in and gave name to ReykjavÃk in 874. However,
archaeological finds in Iceland suggest settlement may have started somewhat earlier. The medieval chronicler
Ari Þorgilsson said Ingolfr was the first Nordic settler in Iceland, but mentioned that
Irish monks 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 Ingolfr's arrival. The book claims he left Norway after becoming involved in a
blood feud
A feud , also known in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, private war, or mob war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially family, families or clans. Feuds begin ...
. He had heard about a new island which
Garðar Svavarsson,
Hrafna-Flóki and others had found in the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
. With his
blood brother
Blood brother can refer to two or more people not related by birth who have sworn loyalty to each other. This is in modern times usually done in a ceremony, known as a blood oath, where each person makes a small cut, usually on a finger, han ...
Hjörleifr Hróðmarsson, 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
ReykjavÃk
ReykjavÃk is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
.
In the meantime, Hjǫrleifr had been murdered by his Irish slaves. Ingolfr 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. Ingolfr was said to have settled a large part of southwestern Iceland, although after his settlement nothing more was known of him.
His son, Þorsteinn Ingolfsson, 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.
Legacy
In 1924, a statue of Ingolfr Arnarson, designed by Icelandic sculptor
Einar Jónsson (1874–1954), was erected in ReykjavÃk. A copy of the statue was erected at Rivedal in 1961.
[
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See also
*
Settlement of Iceland
The settlement of Iceland ( ) is generally believed to have begun in the second half of the ninth century, when Norsemen, Norse settlers migrated across the North Atlantic. The reasons for the migration are uncertain: later in the Middle Ages Icel ...
*
Viking expansion
Viking expansion was the historical movement which led Norsemen, Norse explorers, traders and warriors, the latter known in modern scholarship as Vikings, to sail most of the North Atlantic, reaching south as far as North Africa and east as fa ...
Notes
References
External links
Statue of Ingolfr Arnarson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ingolfr Arnarson
Viking explorers
9th-century Norwegian people
9th-century Icelandic people
9th-century explorers
910s deaths
9th-century Vikings
Settlers