Olaf the White
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Olaf the White was a viking sea-king who lived in the latter half of the ninth century CE. He was born around 840, possibly in Ireland. His father was the Hiberno-Norse warlord Ingjald Helgasson; Olaf is described in some sources as a descendent of Ragnar Lodbrok (according to the Eyrbyggja Saga, his father's mother Thora was the daughter of Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, one of Ragnar's sons); this is problematic given that Ragnar likely lived until the 860s.
Olaf was named King of Dublin around 853; during part of his reign he may have ruled together with his kinsman Ivar the Boneless(according to Irish sources only). Olaf married Aud the Deep-minded, daughter of the ruler of the Hebrides, Ketil Flatnoseaccording to Icelandic traditions only (Landnámabók, Laxdæla Saga). Irish fragments provide a different genealogy (Godfred, Ragnall, Godfred, Godfred, Fragm. 127, 195), and his wife was the daughter of king Aedh.[1]
Auðr & Olaf had a son, Þorsteinn rauðr or (Engl. Thorstein "the Red"), who attempted to conquer Scotland in the 870s. At some point Olaf had a falling-out with the clan of Ketil and sent Auðr and their son back to her father's house. According to Landnámabók Olaf and Þorsteinn rauðr were both killed in the British Isles.
Þorsteinn rauðr was married to Þuriðr Eyvindardóttir austmann, and they had several children: Gróa, Álof, Þorgerðr, Þórhildr, Vigdís, Ósk, Ólafr feilan (ancestor of Ari Fróði, author of Landnámabók, see ÍF, 1, genealogy IXa). The family was related to the Vinland explorers and the Sturlung family.[2]
Olaf may be identical with the viking warlord Amlaíb Conung, who according to Irish sources was killed in 866 by Causantín mac Cináeda, king of Alba. Gwyn Jones and Peter Hunter Blair dispute this identification.
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Steenstrup, Johannes C.H.R. Normannerne, vol. 2. Kjøbenhavn, 1878: Vikingetogene mod Vest. pp. 119 ff.
- Forte, Angelo, Richard Oram and Frederik Pedersen. Viking Empires. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
- Jones, Gwyn. A History of the Vikings. 2nd ed. London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1984.
Gísli Sigurðsson. The Medieval Icelandic Saga and Oral Tradition: A Discourse on Method. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U.P., 2004.
