Tora Mosterstong ( non, Þóra Morstrstǫng)—also known as Thora Mostaff—was one of

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair no, Harald hårfagre Modern Icelandic: ( – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from 872 to 930 and was the first King of Nor ...

concubines Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

and the mother of

Håkon the Good Haakon Haraldsson (c. 920–961), also Haakon the Good (Old Norse: ''Hákon góði'', Norwegian: ''Håkon den gode'') and Haakon Adalsteinfostre (Old Norse: ''Hákon Aðalsteinsfóstri'', Norwegian: ''Håkon Adalsteinsfostre''), was the king of ...

; Harald Fairhair's youngest son and the third King of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

(c. 935–961). According to Snorri Sturluson's

Saga of Harald Fairhair The Saga of Harald Fairhair (''Haralds saga hárfagra'') is the third of the sagas in Snorri Sturluson's ''Heimskringla'', after ''Ynglinga saga'' and the saga of Halfdan the Black. Snorri sagas were written in Iceland in the 1220s. This saga i ...

(''Soga om Harald Hårfagre''), Tora was from the island of

Moster Moster is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1916 until 1963, when it was merged into the new, larger municipality of Bømlo. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village o ...

and was descended from the clan (''ætt'') of Horda-Kåre (''Hǫrða-Kára'') :

«When king Harald was nigh on 70 years old, he had a son with a woman named Tora and was called Mosterstang, her clan was from Moster, and she had good friends, she was related to Horda-Kåre. She was a steady woman and very beautiful; she was counted the king's servant. There were many then who served the king, though they were of good lineage, both men and women. As concerns the children of goodfolk, it was custom to mind well who would ladle water over them and give them their name. When the time approached that Tora expected to give birth to the child, she wanted to travel to king Harald, he was north on Seim, and she was on Moster. She sailed north on Sigurd jarl's ship. They put ashore for the night, and there Tora gave birth to her child up on the slate by the gangplank; it was a boy. Sigurd jarl ladled water over the boy and named him for his own father Håkon Ladejarl; the boy soon grew beautiful and large of body and looked much like his father. Harald let the boy follow his mother, and the two were at the king's farms while the boy was small.»

Snorri consistently speaks of Tora as concubine and maidservant, which tends to produce the wrong connotations. Horda-Kåre was one of Harald Fairhair's old allies, and held high office at the

Battle of Hafrsfjord The Battle of Hafrsfjord ( no, Slaget i Hafrsfjord) was a great naval battle fought in Hafrsfjord sometime between 872 and 900 that resulted in the unification of Norway, later known as the Kingdom of Norway. After the battle, the victorious Vikin ...

. When Tora had a place with the king, it must have been part of a conscious policy to keep the two clans close.

References

Primary Source

*Snorri Sturluson ''Soga om Harald Hårfagre'' (Det Norske Samlaget. 1979) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mosterstong, Tora Mistresses of Norwegian royalty Fairhair dynasty 9th-century Norwegian women 10th-century Norwegian women Concubines