Þangbrandr
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Þangbrandr was a
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...
sent to
Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
by king of
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
Óláfr Tryggvason Olaf Tryggvason (960s – 9 September 1000) was King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken ( Vingulmark, and Rånrike), and, according to later sagas, the great-grandson of Harald Fairhair, first King ...
to convert the inhabitants to
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
.
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 th ...
described him as follows:


Origins

Þangbrandr's origins are uncertain. In no less than two Icelandic sagas, he is the son of an otherwise unknown Vilbaldus, count of
Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
or of
Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...
.''
Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta ''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta'' or ''The Greatest Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason'' is generically a hybrid of different types of sagas and compiled from various sources in the fourteenth century, but is most akin to one of the kings' sagas. It ...
''.
In contrast, 12th century Norwegian historian Theodoric the Monk presents him as 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 Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...
''*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 Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
, 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 Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...
. 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 Prima may refer to: Media * ''Prima'' (magazine), a French women's magazine * Prima (news agency), a human rights news agency in Moscow * Astro Prima Malaysian pay-TV channel * Prima Games, an American publishing company of video game strateg ...
''. 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: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...
Vetrliði Sumarliðason Vetrliði Sumarliðason (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ) was a 10th-century Icelandic skald. He was the great-grandson of Ketill hængr ("salmon"), one of the settlers of Iceland. He lived in Fljótshlíð, in the south of the island. Vetrli ...
who had composed defamatory verses (''
níð In historical Germanic peoples, Germanic society, (Old Norse, in runic: , ; ) was a term for a social stigma implying the loss of honour and the status of a villain. A person affected with the stigma is considered a nithing (, , , or ). Middle ...
'') about him. He also killed another skald,
Þorvaldr veili Þorvaldr (inn) veili ("the Ailing") was an Icelandic skald who lived in the last part of the 10th century. The ''Brennu-Njáls saga'' relates the circumstances of his death. Þorvaldr was pagan and opposed the conversion to Christianity. According ...
, 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 Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
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, berserkers () were Scandinavian warriors who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English adjective ''wikt:berserk#Adjective, berserk'' . 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 Gissur Teitsson (Modern Icelandic: ) or Gissur the White was a chieftain or '' goði'' in Iceland at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries. He played a preeminent role in the Christianisation of Iceland Iceland was Christianized in the y ...
Teitsson and
Hjalti Skeggjason Hjalti Skeggiason (Old Norse and Modern Icelandic: ; O.N. pronunciation: ; M.I. pron.: ) was an Icelandic chieftain who supported Gizurr the White for the introduction of Christianity in Iceland, on the Althing in 1000. Later he spent time with ...
, 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 The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (' thing fields' or 'assembly fields'), about east of what la ...
'' (in 999 or 1000—see
Christianisation of Iceland Iceland was Christianized in the year 1000 AD, when Christianity was legally adopted as the official religion by decision of the Althing. In Icelandic, this event is known as the (literally, "the taking of Christianity"). The vast majority of ...
).


Notes


Sources


Primary sources

* '' Brennu-Njáls saga'' *
Ari Þorgilsson Ari Þorgilsson (1067/1068 – 9 November 1148; Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; also anglicized Ari Thorgilsson) was Iceland's most prominent medieval chronicler. He was the author of '' Íslendingabók'', which details the histories of the ...
's ''
Íslendingabók (, , ; ) is a historical work dealing with early history of Iceland, Icelandic history. The author was an Icelandic priest, Ari Þorgilsson, working in the early 12th century. The work originally existed in two different versions but only the y ...
'' * ''
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 (, "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 ...
'' * '' Laxdœla saga'' * ''
Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta ''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta'' or ''The Greatest Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason'' is generically a hybrid of different types of sagas and compiled from various sources in the fourteenth century, but is most akin to one of the kings' sagas. It ...
'' * Laing, Samuel (trans.). Anderson, Rasmus B. (revision and notes). ''
Snorre Sturlason 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 th ...

The Heimskringla: A History of the Norse Kings
'. London: Norrœna Society, 1906. * McDougall, David and Ian (trans. and notes). Foote, Peter (intro.). 1998. ''
Theodoricus monachus Theodoric the Monk (; also ''Tjodrik munk''; in Old Norse his name was most likely ''Þórir'') was a 12th-century Norwegian Benedictine monk, perhaps at the Nidarholm Abbey. He may be identical with either Bishop Tore of the Diocese of Hamar ...
: 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 Christian missionaries in Iceland History of Christianity in Iceland Norwegian Christian missionaries 10th-century Christian clergy 10th-century Norwegian people