The Saga of Aud the Deepminded
by Vilborg Davidsdottir
|
|
|
Iceland was the last country in Europe to be discovered and settled by man and certainly the only one in the world to have its settlement saga chronicled on parchment in the Middle Ages. In the early Viking Age, thousands of people from Scandinavia and the British Isles set to sea in their longships to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to find a new life for themselves on this faraway island on Worldʼs End, where the mountains were said to breathe fire, glaciers adorn the skyline, and rivers and lakes swarm with fish.
In the vast medieval literature of the Icelanders, sagas are told of battles and blood feud, tragedies and loss but also of heroic deeds and amazing adventures of the people who braved the journey to the island of fire and ice. Almost all the stories are centered around men: Norwegian vikings who had harried wide and far in the Western Seas, as the Icelandic sagas put it, often settling for a time in the British Isles before heading off north. But not all.
In these turbulent times, dominated by men and war, one woman is said to have built a ship and lead her own expedition to Iceland, taking with her from the British Isles those who survived of her kin. This was Aud the Deep-Minded (Icelandic: Auður djúpúðga), widow of Olaf the White, king of Dublin, “the greatest warrior of the Western Seas”, and daughter of Ketil Flatnose, Lord of the Western Isles of Scotland. The medieval Laxdaela Saga claims: “Men deem that scarce may an example be found that any woman has ever escaped such a state of war with such great wealth and such great a following. From this it may be seen how truly unique she was among women.”
After settling, Aud freed all her Celtic slaves and gave them land; the Dales in West-Iceland still bear their names and witness to her story. This also sets her wide apart from other settlers, as well as being a baptised Christian in the Norse world of the pantheon of Asgard: the gods Thor, Odin and Freyr, and goddesses Freyja and Frigg, worshipped with blood-sacrifices of animals and men.
In the vast medieval literature of the Icelanders, sagas are told of battles and blood feud, tragedies and loss but also of heroic deeds and amazing adventures of the people who braved the journey to the island of fire and ice. Almost all the stories are centered around men: Norwegian vikings who had harried wide and far in the Western Seas, as the Icelandic sagas put it, often settling for a time in the British Isles before heading off north. But not all.
In these turbulent times, dominated by men and war, one woman is said to have built a ship and lead her own expedition to Iceland, taking with her from the British Isles those who survived of her kin. This was Aud the Deep-Minded (Icelandic: Auður djúpúðga), widow of Olaf the White, king of Dublin, “the greatest warrior of the Western Seas”, and daughter of Ketil Flatnose, Lord of the Western Isles of Scotland. The medieval Laxdaela Saga claims: “Men deem that scarce may an example be found that any woman has ever escaped such a state of war with such great wealth and such great a following. From this it may be seen how truly unique she was among women.”
After settling, Aud freed all her Celtic slaves and gave them land; the Dales in West-Iceland still bear their names and witness to her story. This also sets her wide apart from other settlers, as well as being a baptised Christian in the Norse world of the pantheon of Asgard: the gods Thor, Odin and Freyr, and goddesses Freyja and Frigg, worshipped with blood-sacrifices of animals and men.
Vilborg Davíðsdóttir, an Icelandic writer with background in journalism and ethnology, is the author of a trilogy of novels
about the life of this amazing woman. The books, titled
Aud the Deep-minded (Auður), Crimson Skies (Vígroði) and
Ocean Road (Blóðug jörð), have been tremendously popular,
especially as they throw a new and unexpected light on the
fate and conditions of women in the Viking Age.
Davíðsdóttir has published ten novels, as well as a compelling memoir, critically acclaimed for her thorough research of historical sources, crisp and clear language, a flowing narrative style and fast-paced and intricately woven plots.
|
For synopsis of the trilogy and a proof copy of the novel AUD the Deep-Minded in English, contact Reykjavík Literary Agency or vilborg.davids(at)gmail.com, translated from the Icelandic by Julian Meldon D'Arcy, Professor Emeritus of English Literature at the University of Iceland. Publisher: Forlagið, Bræðraborgarstíg 7, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland. Filming rights to The Raven (Hrafninn / Die Winterfrau) sold to Köggull kvikmyndagerð, Reykjavík, Iceland. |
Translated works
|
|
|
|
Novels by Vilborg Davíðsdóttir have been translated into Faroese, German, English and Arabic.
على السواحل الباردة (Galdur). Publisher: Animar, Egypt.
On the Cold Coasts (Galdur). Publisher: Amazon Crossing, U.S.A. (Over 130 reviews on Amazon.com)
Die Winterfrau (Hrafninn). Publisher: btb Verlag, Germany. (Buchbesprechungen auf Deutsch bei Amazon.de)
Der Liebeszauber (Galdur). Publisher: btb Verlag, Germany.
Das Feueropfer (Eldfórnin). Publisher: btb Verlag, Germany.
Nornadómur (Nornadómur) Publisher: Bókadeild Føroyja Lærarafelags. Faroe Islands.
Við Urðarbrunn (Við Urðarbrunn). Publisher: Bókadeild Føroyja Lærarafelags. Faroe Islands.