Ketil Thorkelsson (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...

: ), better known by his nickname Ketil Trout or Ketil Salmon (O.N.: ;

Modern Icelandic Icelandic ( ; , ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Since it is a West Scandinavian language, it ...

: ) was a Norwegian military commander (''

hersir A hersir was a local Viking military commander of a ''hundred'' (a county subdivision), of about 100 men, and owed allegiance to a jarl or king. They were also aspiring landowners, and, like the middle class in many feudal societies, supported th ...

'') of the late ninth century who settled in

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 ...

around 900 CE. He appears in ''

Egils saga ''Egill's Saga'' or ''Egil's saga'' ( ; ) is an Icelandic saga (family saga) on the lives of the clan of Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicised as Egill Skallagrimsson), an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. The saga spans the years c. 850–1000 ...

'', the ''

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 ...

'', and other Icelandic sources.

Biography

Ketil was the son of Hrafnhild (daughter of

Ketil Trout Ketil Trout, known in Old Norse as ''Ketill hængr'' (Modern Icelandic Ketil Hæng), is the name of several figures from Norse folklore. Two are especially prominent: * Ketil Trout of Hranista, or Ketil Trout of Halogaland, the hero of the legendar ...

of Hrafnista) and

Thorkel Thorkel or Thorkell (Þórkæll / Þorkell) is an Old Norse masculine personal name. Among the more famous holders of the name are: * Thorkel of Namdalen, ninth-century jarl and father of Ketil Trout. *Thorkell Súrsson, tenth-century Icelander an ...

jarl Jarl was a rank of the nobility in Scandinavia during the Viking Age and Early Middle Ages. The institution evolved over time and varied by region. In Old Norse, it meant "chieftain", specifically one appointed to rule a territory in a king's stea ...

Namdalen Namdalen () is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the central part of Norway, consisting of the municipalities of Namsos Municipality, Namsos, Grong Municipality, Grong, Overhalla Municipality, Overhalla, Røyrvik Municipality, Røyr ...

. Ketil was a man of great wealth and a close friend and kinsman of

Thorolf Kveldulfsson Thorolf Kveldulfsson was the oldest son of Kveldulf Bjalfasson and brother of the Norwegian/Icelandic goði and skald Skalla-Grimr. His ancestor ( great uncle) Hallbjorn was nicknamed "halftroll", possibly indicating Norwegian-Sami ancestry. H ...

and his brother Skallagrim., ''Egil's Saga'', Chapter XXIII, pp. 62–63 With his wife Ingunn, Ketil had several children, including Storolf, Herjolf, Helgi, Vestar, and Hrafn Hængsson, the last of whom was one of the first

lawspeaker A lawspeaker or lawman ( Swedish: ''lagman'', Old Swedish: ''laghmaþer'' or ''laghman'', Danish: ''lovsigemand'', Norwegian: ''lagmann'', Icelandic: , Faroese: '' løgmaður'', Finnish: ''laamanni'', ) is a unique Scandinavian legal offic ...

s. A place pivotal in the life of Ketil was an estate named Torgar,. The estate had passed from Ketil's uncle by marriage, Brynjolf,) to his son Bard "the White" Brynjolfsson (Ketil's first cousin). Bard, in turn, bequeathed the estate to Thorolf Kveldulfsson and gave no share to his half-brothers, Harek and Hrærek (sons of Hildirid), whom he considered bastards. The sycophantic brothers, who were favorites of King Harald of Norway (Harald Fairhair; ''Harald hårfagre''), had prevailed on Harald and persuaded him to confiscate Torgar from Thorolf and give it to them., ''Egil's Saga'', Chapter XVI-XVII, p. 49 Despite this, the brothers had continued to malign Thorolf's character and induced Harald to attack Thorolf. When Ketil heard of the campaign against Thorolf, he was among a group of Thorolf's allies who set out to support him. However, the expedition arrived too late, and Thorolf had been killed. In retaliation for Thorolf's death, Ketil gathered 60 warriors to raid Torgar and attack Harek and Hrærek. The brothers were killed and their property looted. Following the events at Torgar, Ketil decided to emigrate to

. His family and allies set sail on two large

longship Longships, a type of specialised Viking ship, Scandinavian warships, have a long history in Scandinavia, with their existence being archaeologically proven and documented from at least the fourth century BC. Originally invented and used by th ...

s. For their first winter in Iceland, they settled on the eastern bank of the river

Ytri-Rangá Ytri-Rangá () is a river in Iceland popular for salmon fishing. It is over long, rising north of Hekla Hekla (), or Hecla, is an active stratovolcano in the south of Iceland with a height of . Hekla is one of Iceland's most active volcano ...

, but later moved eastwards and took land between "

Þjórsá Þjórsá () is Iceland's longest river at . It is in the south of the island. Þjórsá is a glacier river and has its source on the glacier Hofsjökull. It flows out through narrow gorges in the highlands of Iceland. Further downstream, a ...

and

Markarfljót Markarfljót () is a river in the south of Iceland. It is approximately long and has had in pre-history jökulhlaups which would be potentially catastrophic, if a similar sized one was to happen in the future. Geography The Markarfljót rises ...

from fell to firth, and made his home at Hof (''Hofi'') ".

Explanatory notes

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * *{{Cite book , last=Scudder , first=Bernard , title=Egil's Saga , work=The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection , publisher=Viking , others=Smiley, Jane (preface), Kellogg, Robert (Introduction) , year=2000 , isbn=9979929308 , editor-last=Örnólfur Thorsson , location=New York , pages=3–184 , chapter=XXIII , orig-year=1997

External links

''Landnámabók'', p. 28, on Ketil Salmon's settlement
Viking warriors 9th-century Icelandic people 10th-century Icelandic people 9th-century Vikings

Biography

See also

Explanatory notes

References

External links