Snorri Thorfinnsson (
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
and
Icelandic: Snorri Þorfinnsson or Snorri Karlsefnisson) probably born between 1004 and 1013, and died ''c.'' 1090) was the son of explorers
Þorfinnur Karlsefni and
Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir. He is considered to be the first child of European descent to be born in
the Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...
, apart from
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
. He became an important figure in the
Christianisation of Iceland
Iceland was Christianized in the year 1000 CE, when Christianity became the religion by law. In Icelandic, this event is known as the ''kristnitaka'' (literally, "the taking of Christianity").
The vast majority of the initial settlers of Icel ...
.
[
]
Name
''Snorri'' is an
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
name derived from the word ''
snerra'', meaning "a fight." ''Þorfinnsson'' is a
patronymic
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor.
Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...
, meaning "son of Þorfinnr", (see ''
Icelandic naming conventions
Icelandic names are names used by people from Iceland. Icelandic surnames are different from most other naming systems in the modern Western world by being patronymic or occasionally matronymic: they indicate the father (or mother) of the child ...
''). Snorri was named for his great-grandfather,
Snorri Þórðarson, or after
Snorri Þorbrandsson
Snorri Þorbrandsson (also Snorri Thorbrandsson) was a 10th-century Icelandic warrior. The main sources of Snorri's life are the semi-historical Icelandic sagas.
Snorri appears as a character in the Icelandic '' Eyrbyggja saga''. He was from the ...
who was not a kinsman but a participant in
Karsefni's expedition
Family
There is speculation about the birth date of Snorri Thorfinnsson. Birth years such as 1005, 1009, and 1012 have been postulated, but all sources agree that he was born between 1004 and 1013. According to the
Vinland sagas, when Snorri was 3 years old, his family left
Vinland
Vinland, Vineland, or Winland ( non, Vínland ᚠᛁᚾᛚᛅᚾᛏ) was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John ...
because of hostilities with
indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
(called
''Skrælingar'' by the settlers, meaning "barbarians"). The family returned to the Glaumbær farm in
Seyluhreppur.
Snorri Thorfinnsson had two children; a daughter named Hallfrid, and a son named Thorgeir. Hallfrid was the mother of Thorlak Runolfsson, bishop of
Skálholt
Skálholt (Modern Icelandic: ; non, Skálaholt ) is a historical site in the south of Iceland, at the river Hvítá.
History
Skálholt was, through eight centuries, one of the most important places in Iceland. A bishopric was established in Sk ...
in the south of Iceland. One of the descendants of Snorri's brother Thorbjorn, Bjorn Gilsson, was also a bishop of
Hólar
Hólar (; also Hólar í Hjaltadal ) is a small community in the Skagafjörður district of northern Iceland.
Location
Hólar is in the Hjaltadalur valley, some from the national capital of Reykjavík. It has a population of around 100. It is th ...
. Thorgeir was the father of Yngvild who was the mother of Brand Sæmundarsson, bishop of Hólar.
[ (1983 ed., p.71)] The sculptor
Bertel Thorvaldsen
Bertel Thorvaldsen (; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danes, Danish and Icelanders, Icelandic Sculpture, sculptor medallist, medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–1838) in Italy. Thorvaldsen was born in ...
claimed descent from Snorri Thorfinnsson in the 19th century.
[
]
Christianisation of Iceland
In the 13th century texts Snorri Thorfinnsson and Snorri Thorrgrimsson are considered the two main figures responsible for the early
Christianisation of Iceland
Iceland was Christianized in the year 1000 CE, when Christianity became the religion by law. In Icelandic, this event is known as the ''kristnitaka'' (literally, "the taking of Christianity").
The vast majority of the initial settlers of Icel ...
. Consequently, they were portrayed by various writers of the 13th and 14th century as "Christian chieftain models".
According to ''
Grœnlendinga saga
''Grœnlendinga saga'' () (spelled ''Grænlendinga saga'' in modern Icelandic and translated into English as the Saga of the Greenlanders) is one of the sagas of Icelanders. Like the '' Saga of Erik the Red'', it is one of the two main sources on ...
'', Snorri had built the first church of Glaumbaer, which would later increase Christian influence in the area. His descendants became the first Bishops of Iceland, and published the first Christian Code of Iceland.
Legacy
*Snorri Thorfinnsson was purported to be born in
Vinland
Vinland, Vineland, or Winland ( non, Vínland ᚠᛁᚾᛚᛅᚾᛏ) was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John ...
(America), making him the first European child known to be born in the Americas, provided that
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
is defined as being outside the Americas.
*In 2002, American archaeologists discovered the remains of a thousand-year-old
longhouse
A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America.
Many were built from timber and often rep ...
located on Iceland's northern coast. It is believed that it was Snorri Thorfinnsson's farmhouse. The longhouse was found near the Glaumbær Folk Museum, at the Skagafjörður Heritage Museum outside the coastal village of
Sauðárkrókur
Sauðárkrókur () is a town on the Skagafjörður in northern Iceland. It is the seat of both the Sveitarfélagið Skagafjörður ('Municipality of Skagafjörður') and the Northwestern Region.
Sauðárkrókur is the largest town in Northw ...
. The museum was once thought to have been built on the site of Snorri's farmhouse. According to archaeologists it was "a classic Germanic fortress longhouse like the
Great Hall
A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great ...
of
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
".
*There is a non-profit organisation called The Snorri Program that focuses on the history of Icelandic settlers in North America and regularly runs exchange programs for youth and adults.
Genealogy
Below is the genealogy of descendants of Snorri, as given in the close of each saga, ''Grœnlendinga saga'' ch. 9 and ''Eiríks saga'' ch. 14.
[The saga texts obviously do not bother to reiterate the patronymic form in nominative case at every instance. For the English forms of the patronymics, is consulted.] It is supplemented with further ancestral information from (''Eiríks saga'' ch. 7 and ''
Landnámabók
(, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE.
is divided into five parts and over ...
''), a more complete family tree for which, see
Thorfinn Karlsefni
Thorfinn Karlsefni Thórdarson was an Icelandic explorer. Around the year 1010, he followed Leif Eriksson's route to Vinland in a short-lived attempt to establish a permanent settlement there with his wife Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir and their fol ...
.
Family tree
The following stemma is drawn from the genealogy appended to the last chapter of ''
Eiríks saga rauða
The ''Saga of Erik the Red'', in non, Eiríks saga rauða (), is an Icelandic saga on the Norse exploration of North America. The original saga is thought to have been written in the 13th century. It is preserved in somewhat different versions ...
'' in Hauk's own recension (in the ''Hauksbók'', supplemented with additional information from the ''Landnámabók'').
Footnotes
References
;Texts
*. For ''Eiríks saga rauða'' A=Hauksbók, B=AM 557=Skálholtsbók.
*
;Translations
*
*
*
*
;Studies
*
External links
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''Snorri ThorfinnssonGuðríðr Eiríksdóttir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snorri Thorfinnsson
11th-century births
11th-century deaths
Viking Age in Canada
11th-century Icelandic people
11th-century North American people
Year of death unknown
History of Christianity in Iceland
Scandinavian Canadian
Icelandic Canadian