The Settlement
Sigmund & Thrond of the Faroes
Orphans of the Faroes
The saga opens in blood and the wind-scoured islands of the Faroes. The brothers Brestir and Beinir, good men, are killed in a feud, and their young sons Sigmundr and Þórir are sold off and carried away — orphaned, dispossessed, at the mercy of their fathers' enemies.[1]
The boys come at length to Norway, grow up there, and Sigmundr makes himself into a formidable man, winning the favour of the great. It is a classic saga opening — the wronged orphan who must come back for what is his — but set, unusually, in the remote Atlantic archipelago between Norway and Iceland, a corner of the Norse world the other sagas barely touch. Sigmundr will return to the Faroes to claim his birthright and his vengeance, and there meet the man who is his lifelong opposite.
The source text · 1
The summer the two brothers, Breste and Beine, were slain, there was a change of kings in Norway. Harold Grayfell was slain off the land and Earl Hacon came in his stead, and at first he was tributary Earl to King Harold Gormsson, and held the realm of him. And with this the rule of the sons of Gundhild was clean ended; some were slain and some were driven out of the land.— faereyinga saga
Sigmundr and Þórir orphaned and carried from the Faroes (Powell 1896).
Thrond of Gate
His adversary is one of the great characters of the sagas: Þrándr of Gata — Thrond of Gate — the cunning, grasping, deep-scheming pagan chief who has made himself master of much of the islands.[1] Þrándr is no open warrior; he is a manipulator, a man of guile and (the saga hints) sorcery, who works by money, intrigue and patience, and who answers to no king.
He had a hand in the killing of Sigmundr's father, and he embodies everything Sigmundr is set against: where Sigmundr is upright, loyal, and (later) Christian and the king's man, Þrándr is slippery, independent, and stubbornly heathen. The whole saga is their long opposition — the straight hero and the crooked survivor — and one of its quiet lessons is that, in this world, crookedness and patience often outlast honour and strength.
The source text · 1
Thorbeorn was the name of a man who was nicknamed Gatebeard. He dwelt in Eastrey in the Færeys; Gudrun was the name of his wife. They had two sons. The elder was named Thorlac, but the younger Thrond. They were likely men. Thorlac was both tall and strong; so far Thrond was like him when he was full grown, but there was a great unlikeness between the two brothers. Thorbeorn was a wealthy man, and was already old when these things came to pass. Thorlac took him a wife there in the islands, but he dwelt at home with his father at Gate. Now, soon after Thorlac was married, Thorbeorn Gate-beard died, and he was laid in the barrow and buried after the old way; for in those days all the Færey-folk were heathens. His sons shared the heritage between them, and each of them wanted to have the homestead at Gate, for that was the greatest treasure. So they cast lots for it, and the lot fell to Thrond. After the lot fell, Thorlac begged Thrond to let him have the homestead, and himself take the more part of the chattels; but Thrond would not do that. Then Thorlac went abroad, and gat him another dwelling there in the islands. Thrond let out the land at Gate to many men, and took the highest rent; and in the summer he took ship, albeit he had little merchandise, and fared to Norway, and there he had his dwelling through the winter, seeming always moody of mind.— faereyinga saga
Þrándr of Gata, the cunning pagan chief (Powell 1896).
The king's man
In Norway, Sigmundr entered the service of King Óláfr Tryggvason — the same driven, converting king who looms over so much of the corpus, sending Leif to Greenland in the Vínland saga and baptising Kjartan in Laxdæla.[1] Óláfr took to Sigmundr, tested his prowess (the saga delights in a swimming-and-feats contest between them), and made him his man.
And he gave him a charge: go back to the Faroes, take rule of the islands in the king's name — and bring them to Christianity. Sigmundr returned home no longer a dispossessed orphan but the king's appointed chief and the agent of the new faith, with the authority of Norway behind him. It set him on a collision course with Þrándr, who wanted neither a Norwegian overlord nor a foreign god.
The source text · 1
One day in the spring King Olave said to Sigmund, "We will amuse ourselves today, and prove our feats of skill. ""I am not the man for that, lord," said Sigmund, "but thou shalt have thy way in this as in all other things that are in my hands. "Then they tried their might in swimming and shooting and other feats or skill and strength, and men say that Sigmund came very nigh King Olave in many feats, albeit he came short of him in all, as did every other man that was then living in Norway.— faereyinga saga
Sigmundr in King Óláfr's favour; the feats-contest (Powell 1896).
The faith at sword-point
Sigmundr set about the conversion as Óláfr's harder kings did — by force where persuasion failed. He brought the islands to Christianity, and when he came against Þrándr himself, he did it at the sword's edge: he surprised Þrándr, and gave him the stark choice of baptism or death.[1]
Þrándr, cornered, took the baptism. But it was the submission of a man biding his time, not a change of heart — exactly the kind of feigned yielding the wily old chief specialised in. Sigmundr had won the islands for the faith and the king on the surface, but he had not broken Þrándr, only humiliated and deferred him. In the saga's cold arithmetic, forcing a man like Þrándr to his knees without finishing him is the same fatal mistake Sámr made with Hrafnkell — and it would cost Sigmundr his life.
The source text · 1
It must now be told that when King Olave had been two winters in Norway, and had christened all Throndham that winter, he sent a message out to the Færeys to Sigmund Brestesson bidding him come and see him, and he had it put in the message that Sigmund should win worship and become the greatest man in the Færeys if he would become his man.— faereyinga saga
Sigmundr forces Christianity on the Faroes and on Þrándr (Powell 1896).
The last swim
Þrándr waited, and then struck. He gathered men and fell on Sigmundr, who was forced to flee by sea — and with two companions took to the cold water, swimming for the nearest land through the North Atlantic dark.[1]
It is one of the most harrowing scenes in the sagas. Sigmundr was the strongest swimmer, and he bore one failing companion as long as he could before letting him sink, and swam on. He reached the shore at last — utterly spent, half-dead with cold and exhaustion, crawling up onto land with nothing left.[2] He had survived the sea and Þrándr's men both. But the saga has one last cruelty waiting for him on the beach.
The source text · 2
It came to pass that one day, as the winter was drawing nigh, Thrond gathered men to him, and there came to him sixty men, and he told them they should go to seek Sigmund, for he said that he had dreamed they would get very near him this time. They had two ships and a picked crew. There were with Thrond on this raid Laf Ossursson, Sigurd Thorlacsson, Thord the Low, Geat the Red, an Eastrey franklin named Stangrim, and Eldearn Combhood, who had been long with Thrond. Swiney-Bearne took no part in these things ever since he and Sigmund were set at one. Thrond and his men set out and got to Scufey, and drew up their ships, and went up altogether till they came to the path on to the island. Scufey is such good vantage-ground that they say the island could never be won if there were but ten men to keep the path; came there never so many, they should never win it. Eldearn Combhood went up first, and met Sigmund's warder by the path; they made at each other at once, and the end of their struggle was that they fell over the cliff together and got their death there both of them. Then Thrond went up and they all, and came to the homestead and made a ring round it: and their coming was so unawares that they within knew nought of it till they broke down the doors. Sigmund and his men ran quickly to their weapons, and all those that were in the house did likewise. Yea, Thurið the goodwife took weapon in hand, and did as well as any man of them. Thrond and his fellows set fire to the houses, and set on the homestead with fire and weapons, and made a hard onslaught; but when they had been fighting for some time, goodwife Thurið went out to the doors and called out, "How long are you going to fight with the headless men, Thrond?"said she. Thrond answered, "As true as day," said he, "Sigmund must have got away. "Then he went round the houses withershins whistling after them, till he came to the mouth of an earth-house a little way off the homestead. There he stopped and put his other hand down on the ground, and then brought it up to his nose once or twice. At last he said, "Three men have gone this way---Sigmund, Thore, and Einar. "Then he went about for a little snuffling as if he were tracking their slot like a hound; then bidding none follow him, he went on till he came to a rift. Now this rift runs across the island of Scufey. Then he said, "They have gone this way, and Sigmund must have leapt over here, whatever they have done with themselves. Now we will deal out our company," says Thrond; "Laf Ossursson and Sigurd Thorlacsson shall go to the other end of the rift and some of the men with them, but I will go to the other end, and we will meet on the other side of the rift. "They did so. Then Thrond called out, "Now is the time, Sigmund, to show thyself if thou hast as brave a heart and wouldst be thought as bold a man as thou hast long been held. "It was then as dark as it could be. Soon after this a man leapt over the rift to where Thrond and his men were, and hewed at Stangrim Thrond's neighbour with his sword, and clove him down to the shoulders. It was Sigmund. Then he leapt swiftly backward over the rift again. "There goes Sigmund," says Thrond; "let us keep after them to the end of the rift. "They did so, and there Laf and Thrond and all their men met. Sigmund and his fellows had now got to a rock that jutted over the sea, and could hear men's voices all round them. Then Thore said, "Let us stand at bay here, as fate will have it. ""I am not fit for fighting," said Sigmund, "for I lost my sword when I leapt backward over the rift; let us therefore leap off the rock and betake us to swimming. ""We will do as it pleases thee," said Thore. They took that counsel, and leapt off the cliff into the sea. And when Thrond heard the splash he said, "There they go!Let us take boat as we can and follow them, some on sea and some on land. "And so did they, but found them not.— faereyinga saga
Þrándr gathers men against Sigmundr (Powell 1896).
Now it must be told of Sigmund and his friends that they swam for a while, heading for Southrey, for that was the nearest land. But it was a long sea-mile, and when they had swum halfway Einar said, "We must part here. "Sigmund said that should never be. "And do thou, Einar, lean on my shoulders!"And he did so. So Sigmund swam on for a while. Then Thore said, as he swam behind him, "Kinsman Sigmund, how long wilt thou flit a dead man on thy back?""I don't see that I need," said Sigmund. They swam on till they had only a fourth of the way to go, when Thore said, "All our lives long we have been together, kinsman Sigmund, and great love have we twain had towards each other; but now it looks as if our life together was come to an end. I have pushed on as far as I can, and now I would have thee look to thyself and thine own life and give no heed to me, for thou wilt risk thine own life, kinsman, if thou art cumbered with me. "But Sigmund said, "It shall never be that we two part so, kinsman Thore. We will both of us come to land or neither. "Then Sigmund took him on his shoulders, but Thore was so worn out that he could do hardly anything to help himself. Then Sigmund swam on till he got to Southrey. There was a surf running on the island, and Sigmund was so worn out by this time that he was now driven from the land, and another time borne towards it. And Thore slipped off his shoulders there and was drowned, but Sigmund got to land at last, and he was so worn out that he could not walk, but he crawled up the shore and lay down on a heap of seaweed. This was at daybreak, and he lay there till it was quite light. There was a farmstead called Sandwick on the island a little way up, where dwelt a man named Thorgrim the Wicked, a big strong man, who held under Thrond of Gate. He had two sons, Ormstan and Thorstan, both hopeful men. Thorgrim the Wicked went down to the shore that morning, and he had a pole-axe in his hand. As he went by he saw red clothes sticking out of the seaweed heap; he pushed away the wrack and saw a man lying there. He asked him who he was. Sigmund told him his name. "Low lies our lord," said he, "but what hath wrought this?"Sigmund told him all that had happened. With that his sons came up. Then Sigmund prayed them to help him. Thorgrim did not answer at once, but began to talk to his sons in a low voice. "Sigmund has so much gear on him as it seems to me we have never owned the worth of, and his gold ring is mighty thick. The best thing we can do, it seems to me, is to slay him and then hide his body; it will never be known. "His sons spake against it for a while, but at last they were of the same mind. Then they went up to where Sigmund lay and caught hold of his hair, while Thorgrim the Wicked hewed off his head with the pole-axe. In this way Sigmund, that was so good a man in all ways, lost his life. They stripped off his clothes and gear, and then dragged him up under an earth-bank and buried him there. Thore's dead body was cast ashore, and they buried it beside Sigmund, and hid them both.— faereyinga saga
Sigmundr's desperate swim to shore.
Murdered for a ring
A yeoman found Sigmundr lying spent and helpless on the shore — and saw the gold ring on his arm. For that ring, the man killed the half-drowned hero in his weakness and hid the body.[1] So Sigmundr Brestisson, who had survived feud, exile, the king's wars and the open sea, died not in battle but murdered for a trinket while he lay too exhausted to lift a hand: a grim, ignoble end for an upright man, and a bitter comment on a world where gold outweighs worth.
And his great enemy Þrándr outlived him. The wily old pagan was implicated in the death, and was eventually made to answer for it after a fashion — the ring and the deed were traced — but Þrándr endured, dominating the islands long after, scheming to the end. The saga gives the victory, such as it is, not to the Christian hero but to the crooked survivor: Þrándr of Gate, the man who would not be ruled, who feigned, waited, and outlasted everyone. It is the Faroes' own saga — the Norse world at its farthest windswept edge — and one of the sharpest portraits in the corpus of cunning triumphing over straightness.[2]
The source text · 2
Now it must be told of Sigmund and his friends that they swam for a while, heading for Southrey, for that was the nearest land. But it was a long sea-mile, and when they had swum halfway Einar said, "We must part here. "Sigmund said that should never be. "And do thou, Einar, lean on my shoulders!"And he did so. So Sigmund swam on for a while. Then Thore said, as he swam behind him, "Kinsman Sigmund, how long wilt thou flit a dead man on thy back?""I don't see that I need," said Sigmund. They swam on till they had only a fourth of the way to go, when Thore said, "All our lives long we have been together, kinsman Sigmund, and great love have we twain had towards each other; but now it looks as if our life together was come to an end. I have pushed on as far as I can, and now I would have thee look to thyself and thine own life and give no heed to me, for thou wilt risk thine own life, kinsman, if thou art cumbered with me. "But Sigmund said, "It shall never be that we two part so, kinsman Thore. We will both of us come to land or neither. "Then Sigmund took him on his shoulders, but Thore was so worn out that he could do hardly anything to help himself. Then Sigmund swam on till he got to Southrey. There was a surf running on the island, and Sigmund was so worn out by this time that he was now driven from the land, and another time borne towards it. And Thore slipped off his shoulders there and was drowned, but Sigmund got to land at last, and he was so worn out that he could not walk, but he crawled up the shore and lay down on a heap of seaweed. This was at daybreak, and he lay there till it was quite light. There was a farmstead called Sandwick on the island a little way up, where dwelt a man named Thorgrim the Wicked, a big strong man, who held under Thrond of Gate. He had two sons, Ormstan and Thorstan, both hopeful men. Thorgrim the Wicked went down to the shore that morning, and he had a pole-axe in his hand. As he went by he saw red clothes sticking out of the seaweed heap; he pushed away the wrack and saw a man lying there. He asked him who he was. Sigmund told him his name. "Low lies our lord," said he, "but what hath wrought this?"Sigmund told him all that had happened. With that his sons came up. Then Sigmund prayed them to help him. Thorgrim did not answer at once, but began to talk to his sons in a low voice. "Sigmund has so much gear on him as it seems to me we have never owned the worth of, and his gold ring is mighty thick. The best thing we can do, it seems to me, is to slay him and then hide his body; it will never be known. "His sons spake against it for a while, but at last they were of the same mind. Then they went up to where Sigmund lay and caught hold of his hair, while Thorgrim the Wicked hewed off his head with the pole-axe. In this way Sigmund, that was so good a man in all ways, lost his life. They stripped off his clothes and gear, and then dragged him up under an earth-bank and buried him there. Thore's dead body was cast ashore, and they buried it beside Sigmund, and hid them both.— faereyinga saga
Sigmundr murdered on the shore for his gold ring (Powell 1896).
After these things Thrond had a full moot gathered at Thorshavn in Streamsey, where the Færey folks' moot-stead is, and there Thorgrim the Wicked and his sons told the slaying and death of Sigmund, so that all men at the moot heard them tell how they had slain him and afterwards murdered him. And when they had told their story, they were hanged there at the moot, and so ended their lives. Then Laf and his foster-father Thrond took up the matter of Thora's wooing, offering her folk such a settlement withal as they should be pleased with: and the matter ended so that Laf took Thora Sigmund's daughter to wife, and they were set at one with a full settlement. Laf took up his abode on his father's heritage at Temple in Southrey, and there was peace in the Færeys for some time. Thoralf Sigmund's son likewise took unto himself a wife, and set up his homestead in Dimun, and became a good franklin.— faereyinga saga
Þrándr endures and dominates the islands (Powell 1896).
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