Ketil Flatnose

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ketil, nicknamed Flatnose, was a Norwegian hersir of the mid 800s, son of Bjorn (or Bjarni) Buna. His holdings were in the northern part of the country. Some scholars have speculated that, based on his location, nickname and his father's non-Norse cognomen, Ketil was at least partially Sami in descent.

In the 850s Ketil was a prominent viking chieftain. He conquered the Hebrides and the Isle of Man. Some sources refer to him as "King of the Sudreys" but there is little evidence that he himself claimed that title. The Norwegian king appointed him the ruler of these islands, but he failed to pay tribute to Harald Fairhair and was outlawed. Most of his family eventually emigrated to Iceland.

Ketil's wife was Yngvild Ketilsdattir, daughter of Ketil Wether, a hersir from Ringarike. They had a number of children, including Bjorn the Easterner, Helgi Bjola; Aud the Deep-Minded, and Thorunn the Horned.

Ketil's daughter Aud married Olaf the White, King of Dublin. Their son, Thorstein the Red, briefly conquered much of northern Scotland during the 870s and 880s before he was killed in battle. Aud and many members of her clan settled in the Laxdael region of Iceland.

Ketil may have been the Caittil Find, who appears in Irish sources, in 857, as a leader of a contingent of Gall-Gaedhil.

[edit] In literature

Ketil is a character in such works as Laxdaela saga, Eyrbyggja saga, and Eirik the Red's Saga. His genealogy is described in detail in the Landnamabok.