Wonder Woman of the Week: Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir
- Oct 6, 2021
- 2 min read
Once again, folks we are spotlighting a famous Nordic explorer for this week's Wonder Woman in celebration of the upcoming Leif Erikson Day on 9 October. Our Wonder Woman this week was an Icelandic explorer whose work in exploring lands west of Greenland later paved the way for other Nordic explorers (and Europeans as a whole) to explore and settle the region. Gudrid's story began as a child during the Christianization of Iceland during which Icelanders struggled with embracing a new religions and practicing pre-Christian traditions. The young Gudrid- hesitant to shame her new god- carefully found a solution according to some stories and found a balance for the changing Icelanders between old and new cultural beliefs and traditions.
As a young woman, Gudrid married one of the sons of Erik the Red and a brother of Leif Erikson. Leif's new sister-in-law traveled with her husband and Leif as well as other faithful companions from Greenland west to what is today the east coast of Canada to establish a colony in search of prosperous trade goods. Gudrid gave birth there to a son who was the first recorded European child born in the Americas- sometime between 1005-1013 CE. Gudrid's husband fell ill however, and told his wife about his vision from his deathbed- giving her permission to marry again after his death and to return to Iceland, to explore more lands, and to return to Iceland where she'll find a church built from her home.
Following her husband's death, Gudrid returned to Iceland with her son and remarried an honorable Icelandic merchant. When her son grew old enough to get married, Gudrid left on a pilgrimage to travel all the way from Iceland to Rome in order to visit the Papacy. According to some sources, Gudrid even met with the pope (though it's hard to trust the validity of the sources). Regardless, Gudrid returned to Iceland after exploring Italy and even other regions of Norway. Upon her return, she found a church her son had built for her where she lived out the rest of her days. It's hard to know how much of Gudrid' story is true as the "sagas" that mention her often weave history with mythology. It's possible that her story is a metaphor for Nordic explorers finding North America, attempting to start a new life there, then ultimately leaving due to low profits from the colony. Gudrid likely was real however, and her life likely even more adventurous than what the record holds. She was a daring explorer, a dedicated mother, a faithful wife, and a reverent woman- making her one wonderful woman.
Comments