Álof árbót (‘Improvement of Prosperity’) Haraldsdottir was a daughter of King
Harald Fairhair
Harald Fairhair (; – ) 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 Monarchy of Norway, King of Norway. Supposedly, two ...
and member of the ninth-century ruling family of
Møre.
According to ''
Heimskringla
() is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland. While authorship of ''Heimskringla'' is nowhere attributed, some scholars assume it is written by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (117 ...
'', Álof was the first child of Harald Fairhair and
Gyða Eiriksdottir.
She was given in marriage to
Thórir þegjandi (‘the Silent’) of Møre after two of Harald’s sons killed Thórir’s father
Rǫgnvaldr. They had a daughter, Bergljót.
''
Orkneyinga saga
The ''Orkneyinga saga'' (Old Norse: ; ; also called the ''History of the Earls of Orkney'' and ''Jarls' Saga'') is a narrative of the history of the Orkney and Shetland islands and their relationship with other local polities, particularly No ...
'' also includes this episode, specifying that Álof was given to Thórir ''i fǫðurbœtr'' (in compensation for his father’s death).
Álof is mentioned as the daughter of Harald, wife of Thórir, and mother of Bergljót in ''
Ágrip'' and in ''
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 ov ...
''. Bergljót married
Sigurðr Hákonsson, Jarl of Lade and was mother of
Hákon Sigurðsson.
Snorri's other work, the ''Separate Óláfs saga helga'', gives Álof's mother as Álfhild, daughter of Hringr Dagsson, instead of Gyða.
Her nickname, ''árbót'', has been translated as ‘Improvement of Prosperity,’
‘Season’s Blessing,’
and ‘Who-Makes-the-Harvests-Better.’
Jan Rüdiger notes, "the compound...is reminiscent of the agrarian aspect of sacred kinship (the set phrase ár ok fríðr '
ood harvestyear and peace' sums up ‘good’ kingship), in which the princess—or the hypothetical narrative figure who became Harald and Gyða’s daughter during the textualizations of the saga—had a share."
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alof Haraldsdottir
9th-century Norwegian people
9th-century Norwegian women
Norwegian royalty