Thorstein the Red or Thorstein Olafsson was a viking chieftain who flourished in late ninth-century Scotland.
Biography He was born around 845 AD and was the son of Olaf the White, King of Dublin, and Aud the Deep-minded, who was the daughter of Ketil Flatnose.Eirik the Red's Saga § 1 (Jones 126); Laxdaela Saga § 4 (Magnusson 51). After the death of Olaf, Aud and Thorstein went to live in the Hebrides, then under Ketil's rule.According to some, Olaf repudiated Aud and sent her back to her father's court c. 857. Forte 86. Thorstein eventually became a warlord and allied with the Jarl of Orkney, Sigurd Eysteinsson. Together Thorstein and Sigurd waged a series of campaigns in Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, Moray, and a number of other regions, eventually receiving tribute from half of Scotland.Id.; Harald Finehair's Saga § 22 (Snorri 22); Orkneyinga Saga § 9 (Palsson 27). However, the Scottish chieftains plotted against Thorstein, and he was killed; the exact nature of his death is unknown but it probably took place around 880 or 890. After Thorstein's death Aud left Caithness, sojourning for a while in Orkney before settling with other members of her clan in Iceland.Laxdaela Saga § 4 (Magnusson 51-52).
Thorstein married Thurid, the daughter of Eyvind the Easterner. Thorstein and Thurid had a son, Olaf Feilan, and a number of daughters, including Groa, Thorgerd, Olof, Osk, Thorhild, and Vigdis.Eirik the Red's Saga § 1 (Jones 127); Laxdaela Saga § 4 (Magnusson 52); Njal's Saga § 1 (Cook 3); Grettir's Saga § 26 (Thorsson 62); Landnámabók passim.
A woman named Unn, wife of Thorolf Mostur-beard, claimed to be the daughter of Thorstein, but this claim was viewed by other Icelanders with scepticism.Eyrbyggja Saga § 7 (Palsson 32).
Ancestry
See also Jaun Zuria supposed founder of the Lords of Biscay and speculatively linked with Thorstein's father Olafr hinn Hviti.
Notes
References Ari the Learned. The Book of the Settlement of Iceland (Landnámabók). Ellwood, T., transl. Kendal: T. Wilson, Printer and Publisher, 1898. Cook, Robert, transl. Njal's Saga. Penguin Classics, 2002. Forte, Angelo, Richard Oram and Frederik Pedersen. Viking Empires. Cambridge University Press, 2005 . Jones, Gwyn, transl. Eirik the Red and other Icelandic Sagas. Oxford Univ. Press, USA, 1999. Magnusson, Magnus and Hermann Palsson, transl. Laxdaela Saga. Penguin Classics, 1969. Palsson, Hermann, et al., transl. Eyrbyggja Saga. Penguin Classics, 1989. Palsson, Hermann, et al., transl. Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney. Penguin Classics, 1981. Snorri Sturluson. Heimskringla, or the Chronicle of the Kings of Norway. Hard Press, 2006. Thorsson, Ornolfur, et al., transl. The Saga of Grettir the Strong. Penguin Classics, 2005.
External links Stirnet: Viking03 (mentions Thorstein (as "Thorstun 'the Red'"))