Zealots of christian piety in medieval Scandinavia: the case of Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir

Abstract

This article studies the characteristics of one of the main female characters presented in the Vinland sagas – Gudrid Torbjarnardóttir, who was the personification of an ideal pious Christian. Such an image was characteristic of the so-called exemplum – a variety of artistic narration, which is characterized by moralistic narratives, real or illusory, that were used as typical models to visualize events and facts. Contemporary scientists consider the image of Gudrid Torbjarnardóttir as the keeper of the pagan tradition and the intermediary between the old and new worlds (Paganism and Christianity). Gudrid’s sharing of a pagan ritual is interpreted as the result of the saga scribe’s interest in the past, who wishes to depict a magnificent image of the past. Consequently, Greenland is depicted in the texts of the sagas as a kind of «wild land», where Christianity slowly spread among the settlers. The profound attention of the saga compilers to the image of Gudrid is explained by the fact that in the last part of both sagas she is recognized as the progenitor of three Icelandic bishops of the 12th century. It is apparent that these sagas were written in order to compile glorious nobility for the future Icelandic saint – the bishop of Iceland, Björn Gilsson. According to scientists, the author (transcriber) of the Saga of the Greenlanders was close to Bishop Brand Semundsson (1163–1201), one of the great-grandsons of Gudrid Torbjarnardóttir, or the hierarch himself wrote down the text of the story. Hence, the history and deeds of the foremother of the first Icelandic bishops were used to preach to the congregation what virtuous Christian women should be.

Keywords

• medieval Scandinavia
• Vinland sagas
• female characters
• Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir