By Sverrir Sigurdsson
This article is based on the accounts in Íslendingasögur (the Sagas of Icelanders), Volume II, edited by Guðni Jónsson and published in 1981.
Skalla-Grímur Kveldúlfsson (IR# I135565), one of the first settlers in Iceland, is my forefather on both sides of the family twenty-six generations ago. He was born around AD 863 in Norway, moved to Iceland in midlife, and died there in 934, seventy-one years old. Skalla, which means bald (sköllóttur), was added to his given name, Grimur, when he lost his hair at age twenty-five. After delving into his history, I regret having to conclude that my ancestor was an ugly, nasty lout, who had passed his genes to his equally ugly and nasty son, Egill (IR# I135557). However, his great granddaughter Helga Þorsteinsdóttir (IR# I136260) is known in the Sagas as Helga Fagra, or Helga the Beautiful. Perhaps there’s hope for the family then, that our gene pool isn’t all terrible.
Skallagrímur’s father, Kveldúlfur (IR# I136254), was originally named Úlfur (Wolf). The Sagas paint him as very strong physically, a great farmer and entrepreneur, and was known to give good advice to others. In all likelihood he was also a nasty drunk because of his habit to get unmanageable in the evening. Hence, he got the name Kveld (evening) úlfur (wolf). Today the name Kveldúlfur is very uncommon in Iceland but is frequently used to describe unruly children when they throw tantrums and refuse to go to bed in the evening. We have the following children's ditty on the subject:
Fuglinn syngur Bí bí bí | The bird is singing bee bee bee |
Bí Bí singur Stína | Bee bee sings my Stína |
Kveldúlfur er kominn í | Evening nastiness has invaded her |
kerlinguna mína | My little old lady. |
The two sons of Kveldúlfur, Þórólfur (IR# I136256) and Grímur, were like night and day. Both are described as large and strong, but there the similarity ends. Þórólfur was fair, fun and liked by everyone. At age twenty, he obtained a ship from his father and went “viking.” After he returned to Norway, he wound up in the service of King Harald the Beautiful Hair, but was eventually betrayed and killed by other court members. His death sowed the seeds of his family’s self-exile to Iceland.
The younger son, Grímur and later nicknamed Skallagrímur, is described in the Sagas as “a black man and ugly, and resembled his father in every way.” The inherited traits included his success as an entrepreneur, physical strength, and issues in anger management. He is also described as a great smith, working equally well at carpentry and in the iron smithy.
In his mid-twenties, Skallagrímur wed Bera Ingvarsdóttir (IR# I135566). She was the only child of a rich man and presumed heiress to his wealth. Based on the famous poem penned by her son Egill at age six or so, it is tempting to conclude that she was the main source of the family´s wealth.
Það mælti mín móðir | My mother once told me |
Að mér skildi kaupa | She would buy me |
Fley og fagrar árar | A ship with beautiful oars |
Fara á brott með víkingum Standa upp í stafni Stýra dýrum knerri Halda svo til hafnar | Sail away with Vikings Standing in the bow Steering a costly ship Turning it towards harbor |
Drepa mann og annan | To kill a man and another. |
After Þórólfur's death, Skallagrímur sought revenge on the king's men who killed his brother. But he was also open to negotiating a compensation from the king. He went with twelve men to meet the king. Towering a head taller than his companions, he rejected the king’s offer of a position in court. The king was furious and ordered his men to kill Skallagrímur.
As a result, Skallagrímur and his father decided to leave Norway for Iceland. They sailed on two ships with thirty men, women, and children on board, plus livestock and money. Nobody dared buy their land for fear of the king's wrath. But before they sailed, they killed fifty of the men involved in Þórólfur's death, and hijacked their ships. Then they sent a poetic tease-message to the king. Beside himself with anger, the king expropriated all of Skallagrímur's land.
After the murderous frenzy against the king’s men, Kveldúlfur became so weakened that he got sick enroute to Iceland and died. He instructed his men to put his body in a chest, throw it overboard, and settle in the area where the box floated to.
On arrival in Iceland Skallagrímur found the box in Borgarfjörður and settled there, claiming ownership of the entire Borgarfjörður area. The first child of Skallagrímur and Bera was named Þórólfur (IR# I135563) after his uncle. Later they had two daughters and a son, Egill. Egill looked like his father, “black and ugly.” He was also a poet, but extremely bad-tempered and vicious. That should be no surprise, given the upbringing the boy had, as illustrated below.
When Egill was twelve, he and another man played against Skallagrímur in a ball game. Skallagrímur lost, and in a rage hoisted Egill’s partner in the air and smashed the man to the ground, killing him. He then seized his boy. Egill’s nursemaid intervened and met the mortal fate of all those who angered Skallagrímur. Egill escaped and slipped home later that night. He went into the kitchen and hacked to pieces his father’s beloved foreman who was indispensable to the smooth running of the estate. According to the Sagas, father and son did not speak a word to each other for the rest of the winter.
Soon after, Egill harassed his brother Þórólfur into taking him to Norway. Upon landing, Þórólfur made peace with King Harald by presenting him with a ship that Þórólfur claimed was a gift from his father. Egill stayed in Norway for twelve years, making a fortune for himself but sowing murder and mayhem wherever he went. When his crimes caught up with him, he stole one of the king’s ships and sailed back to Iceland.
At Borgarfjörður he found Skallagrímur an old man. There he stayed the winter. Egill did not give his father the money that King Harald had forked out as settlement. At the brink of death, Skallagrímur rode from his home at night with a chest full of his fortune and hid it in a bog. The next morning, he was found sitting upright, stiff and stone dead in his bed. Egill buried Skallagrímur along with his horse, weapons, and smithy tools in a burial mound. Skallagrímur's money has never been found.