Þangbrandr was a missionary sent to Iceland by king of Norway Óláfr Tryggvason to convert the inhabitants to Christianity.

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ...

described him as follows:

Origins

Þangbrandr's origins are uncertain. According to some sources, he was the son of an otherwise unknown Vilbaldus, count of Saxony or of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

.'' Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta''. But he is also said to be Flemish. He may have been a clerk to the bishop of Bremen. However that may be, his name seems to be of German origin, and may come from Old High German ''*Dankbrant''.

Encounter with Óláfr

The Bishop of Bremen was invited to England by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

, and Þangbrandr went with him. In England, Þangbrandr was offered a shield with a crucified Christ drawn on it. When they returned to Saxony they met Óláfr, who saw Þangbrandr's shield and was pleased with it. The Þangbrandr gave Óláfr the shield and, in return, the king promised to help and protect him in case he would need it.

Mission in Norway

After fighting over a woman with one of the Emperor's men and killing him, Þangbrandr was forced to flee from the land. He joined Óláfr in England, who took him into his service. When Óláfr came back in Norway, Þangbrandr was put in charge of baptizing the people in Hordaland. But he soon fell short of money and began to rob those who were still pagans.

Mission in Iceland

As a penance, Óláfr sent him to Iceland, where Þorvaldr Kodránsson and Stefnir Þórgilsson's missions had failed. Þangbrandr's mission began in 997. He first succeeded in converting Sídu-Hallr Þorsteinsson. He travelled around the country and several other prominent Icelanders agreed to be baptized or at least to receive '' prima signatio''. But he had more opponents than followers. The difficulties he came up against are especially described in ''Brennu-Njáls saga'' in a "lively, although probably exaggerated" manner. He was challenged to a duel by Þorkell whom he defeated, although he carried a crucifix rather than a shield. Some of his enemies paid a sorcerer to get rid of him. The sorcerer made a sacrifice and the ground opened up under Þangbrandr. His horse was swallowed up but he escaped. The priest killed the

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionally ...

Vetrliði Sumarliðason who had composed defamatory verses ('' níð'') about him. He also killed another skald, Þorvaldr veili, who had gathered a troop to slay him. Steinunn, Hofgarða-Refr's mother, preached the old faith to him, trying to demonstrate the superiority of Thor over Christ ("Hast thou heard," she said, "how Thor challenged Christ to single combat, and how he did not dare to fight with Thor?"). Þangbrandr then caused the death of a

berserker In the Old Norse written corpus, berserker were those who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English word '' berserk'' (meaning "furiously violent or out of control"). Berserkers ...

. He was eventually outlawed because of the men he had killed. After two years in Iceland, he went back to Norway and explained he had failed: When Óláfr learned that, he got angry and threatened to hurt or kill all the pagan Icelanders who were in town at that time. But Gizurr the White Teitsson and Hjalti Skeggjason, who had been converted by Þangbrandr, talked him out of it. They explained that Þangbrandr had failed because he had proceeded with violence and murdersAccording to Snorri's ''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar'' and to the ''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta''. But in the ''Kristni saga'', they lay the emphasis on the fact that Þangbrandr was a foreigner. and they committed themselves to preaching Christian faith in Iceland. The conversion of Iceland was eventually decided at the next '' Alþing'' (in 999 or 1000—see Christianisation of Iceland).

Notes

Sources

Primary sources

* '' Brennu-Njáls saga'' * Ari Þorgilsson's '' Íslendingabók'' * ''

Kristni saga ''Kristni saga'' (; ; "the book of Christianity") is an Old Norse account of the Christianization of Iceland in the 10th century and of some later church history. It was probably written in the early or mid-13th century, as it is dependent on the L ...

'' * '' Landnámabók'' * '' Laxdœla saga'' * '' Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta'' * Laing, Samuel (trans.). Anderson, Rasmus B. (revision and notes). '' Snorre Sturlason
The Heimskringla: A History of the Norse Kings
'. London:

Norrœna Society The Norrœna Society was an organization dedicated to Northern European culture, that published sets of reprints of classic 19th-century editions, mostly translations, of Old Norse literary and historical works, Northern European folklore, and medi ...

, 1906. * McDougall, David and Ian (trans. and notes). Foote, Peter (intro.). 1998. '' Theodoricus monachus: Historia de antiquitate regum Norwagiensium. An Account of the Ancient History of the Norwegian Kings''. London: Viking Society for Northern Research. .

Secondary sources

* Byock, Jesse L. ''Viking Age Iceland''. London: Penguin books, 2001. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Thankbrandr Thangbrandr Thangbrandr Thangbrandr Thangbrandr 10th-century Christian clergy 10th-century Norwegian people