Þurið Þorkilsdóttir

Þurið Þorkilsdóttir (Faroese Turið Torkilsdóttir, Icelandic Þuríður, Norwegian/Danish Turid, sometimes anglicized as Thurid), born ca. 960 in Ulfdal in Dovrefjell, Norway, died ca. 1047 in Skúvoy. During the Viking Age in the Faroe Islands, she was a powerful influential woman. After her husband's death in 1005, she was generally called Þurið Megineinkja, "chieftain's widow".^[1]

Þurið was the daughter of Ragnhild Þoralfsdóttir and Þorkil Barfrost. Around 986, she married Sigmundur Brestisson, on his third visit to Norway. According to the Færeyinga saga, the wedding took place at Håkon Jarl’s farm near Trondheim and lasted for seven days. She had already borne him a daughter, Þóra. That autumn, the couple and their daughter moved to the Faroes, where Þurið lived out the rest of her life.

Þurið and Sigmundur later had four sons, Þórálfr, Steingrímr, Brandr and Heri Sigmundsson, who all lived on the farm in Skúvoy.

References

^ Translated as "Thurid the Mighty Widow" by F. York Powell in The Tale of Thrond of Gate: Commonly Called Faereyinga Saga, London: Nutt, 1896 "Thuride the Principal Widow" in G.V.C. Young and Cynthia R. Clewer, The Faroese Saga: Freely Translated with Maps and Genealogical Tables, Belfast: Century Services, 1973, ISBN 978-0-903152-05-1; "Thurid the Great Widow" in George Johnston, The Faroe Islanders' Saga, Ottawa: Oberon, 1975, ISBN 978-0-88750-135-7.

[1] Translated as "Thurid the Mighty Widow" by F. York Powell in The Tale of Thrond of Gate: Commonly Called Faereyinga Saga, London: Nutt, 1896 "Thuride the Principal Widow" in G.V.C. Young and Cynthia R. Clewer, The Faroese Saga: Freely Translated with Maps and Genealogical Tables, Belfast: Century Services, 1973, ISBN 978-0-903152-05-1; "Thurid the Great Widow" in George Johnston, The Faroe Islanders' Saga, Ottawa: Oberon, 1975, ISBN 978-0-88750-135-7.

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