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Draft:House of Torgar

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"House of William" redirects here. For other uses, see William.
House of Torgar
Noble house
Parent familyHouse of Godwin
CountryNorway
Place of originEngland
Founded1067 (1067)
FounderKetil Hook

The House of Torgar (Norwegian: Torgarætten) is the name of two aristocratic dynasties in Norway. Emerging in the 9th century, the older line were chieftains at Torget in Hålogaland, that is, Northern Norway. Also known as the House of William (Norwegian: Viljalmsætten), ultimately named after William the Conqueror, the younger line was established in 1067 by Ketil Hook, a son of the Earl of Northumbria.

Older line

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The most important aristocratic estates in early medieval Hålogaland, with Torgar being the southernmost

Extensively described in Egil's Saga,[1] the older House of Torgar begins with Bjǫrgúlfr, the father of Brynjúlfr, semi-sovereign chieftains who also had the privilege to tax the Sámi (cf. King of the Sámi) on behalf of the King of Norway. Brynjúlfr's son Bárðr Brynjúlfsson was killed in the Battle of Hafrsfjord, an event traditionally dated to 872 AD.[2]

Before the battle, Bárðr had bequeathed his wife Sigrid of Sandnes and the Torgar estate to his friend Þórúlfr Kveldúlfsson, a son of Kveldúlfr Bjálfason and Salbjǫrg Káradóttir of Berle, likewise a brother of Skalla-Grímr.[3] He settled at Torgar, and with the king's consent, the hereditary privilege to tax the Sámi was transferred to him.

After some time, however, Þórúlfr fell from grace with King Harald I of Norway, who first expelled him from Torgar and confiscated the estate, and whose men eventually killed him at his wife's ancestral seat of Sandnes.[4] With him, the older House of Torgar disappears from the historical sources; the destiny of his son, who is mentioned by the sagas, is unknown. Sigrid then married Eyvindr Lambi Kárason of Berle, who founded the House of Tjøtta, and among whose descendants we find Hárekr of Tjøtta.[5]

Younger line

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The younger House of Torgar is also known as the House of William, ultimately named in honour of William the Conqueror, here depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry

In the summer of 1067, following the Battle of Stamford Bridge on 25 September 1066, Ketil Hook (Norwegian: Kjetil Krok) and his half-brother Skúli Kongsfostre immigrated to Norway under King Olaf III of Norway.[6] Ketil was the son of Tostig Godwinson, Earl of Northumbria from 1055 to 1065, and thus a grandson of Godwin, Earl of Wessex and Kent.[7]

King Olaf III installed Skúli on the Rein estate in Trøndelag, that is, Central Norway. Skúli's descendants were to be known as the House of Rein (Norwegian: Reinsætten).[8] Ketil, on his hand, was given the Torgar estate, and married a granddaughter of Hárekr of Tjøtta, thus establishing the younger House of Torgar, also known as the House of William (Norwegian: Viljalmsætten).[9] A second cousin of King Canute IV of Denmark, Ketil ordered the construction of Saint Canute's Church in Brønnøy in the late 11th or early 12th century.

Lendman[10] Ketil's son was William I of Torgar, named in honour of King William the Conqueror, lendman under King Harald IV and his sons.[11] He was killed in c. 1139 by Sigurd Slembe. His grandson William II of Torgar, military commander (sveithøvding) under King Magnus V, was killed in the Battle of Fimreite in 1184, according to Sverris Saga.[12]

William II's grandson William III of Torgar may have been a skutilsvein or a regular hirdman, and eventually became a lendman, under King Haakon IV.[13] In c. 1222, William III was the tenth of twelve witnesses when Haakon IV issued minting rights to the Archbishop (cf. Regesta Norvegica, vol. I, no. 452). In 1239, William III joined Duke Skule Bårdsson of Rein as a military commander in the latter's unsuccessful riot against Haakon IV. He is mentioned several places in Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar, which claims that in the 1239 Battle of Oslo, the wounded William III refused Ivar Dyre's offer to accept grið (mercy).[14]

Ultimately, William III's grandson Lord William IV of Torgar, also known as William of Stiklestad, was a knight, a royal envoy to England and Scotland during the Scottish succession crisis, and finally a baron.[15] His wife Lady Brynhild was a daughter of Olav Ragnridson of Steine, a granddaughter of Ragnrid Skulesdotter of Rein and Olav Ingason of Steine, and ultimately a great-granddaughter of Inga of Varteig. (Both ‘Ragnridson’ and ‘Ingason’ were matronyms. With their royal ancestry, Ragnrid and Inga outranked their husbands, stipulating a deviation from the common custom of patronyms.)

Agnatically, the House of Torgar has produced several cadet branches, including the House of Grøva.[16] Through female links, they have several descendants, including the House of Kusse, Aspa, and Hallandsfar. At the Council of the Realm at Bud in 1533, Jens Hallandsfar, acting on behalf of his wife and son, renounced their hereditary claims to the Torgar estate.[17]

Torgar estate

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Torget, formerly spelled Torgar, in Brønnøy, Nordland. The farm was the centre of an estate in Central and Northern Norway

The House of Torgar possessed the manor of Torgar. An ancient chieftain seat, the manor's size and importance in the Viking Age is not least demonstrated by the place names Trellnes (‘Thrallness’) and Trellvik (‘Thrallwick’), that is, the parts of Torgar to which thralls were confined.[18]

Having been one of Norway's leading aristocratic dynasties for around 250 years, the House of Torgar's political influence started to decline in the early 14th century, as the Norwegian throne was inherited by foreign princes.[19] In response, the House of Torgar increasingly affiliated with the Archbishop, gradually selling and donating the Torgar estate to the Archdiocese of Nidaros as well as the Benedictine Nidarholm Abbey in return for positions in the archbishopric administration.

This transaction is known as the Torgar deal (Norwegian: Torgarkjøpet, formerly Torga kaupit etc.). The details of an alleged agreement remain obscure for the aftertime, but according to Ragnhild Høgsæt of the University of Tromsø, it seems to have intended to create some sort of enfeoffment. Høgsæt (1986) writes: ‘It is possible that one of the conditions for the transference of Torgar to the Archbishop some time between 1404 and 1428, may have been an agreement that the former owners and their descendants were to keep the Torgar estate as a fief from the Archbishop.’[20]

Origins

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Ketil Hook, the founder of the House of Torgar, was a son of the Earl of Northumbria and an unknown woman, thus also a paternal grandson of Earl Godwin and Gytha Thorkelsdóttir.

Ketil Hook's wife belonged to the House of Tjøtta. Her father, Einarr Háreksson Fluga of Tjøtta, was a son of Hárekr of Tjøtta and Ragnhildr Arnadóttir of the House of Giske.

References

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  1. ^ Heggstad 1927: 9-65.
  2. ^ Bratberg, Terje 2020. ‘Torgarætten’. Store norske leksikon, 11 Jun. Retrieved 16 Jul 2024. https://snl.no/Torgar%C3%A6tten
  3. ^ Heggstad 1927: 23-24.
  4. ^ Heggstad 1927: 49.
  5. ^ Bratberg, Terje 2019. ‘Tjøtta-ætten’. Store norske leksikon, 13 May. Retrieved 9 Aug 2024. URL: https://snl.no/Tj%C3%B8tta-%C3%A6tten
  6. ^ Bratberg, Terje 2019. ‘Krok’. Store norske leksikon, 24 May. Retrieved 9 Aug 2024. URL: https://snl.no/Krok
  7. ^ Barlow 2002.
  8. ^ Bratberg, Terje 2020. ‘Reinsætten’. Store norske leksikon, 11 Jun. Retrieved 16 Jul 2024. URL: https://snl.no/Torgar%C3%A6tten
  9. ^ Bratberg, Terje 2020. ‘Viljalmsætten’. Store norske leksikon, 11 Jun. Retrieved 16 Jul 2024. URL: https://snl.no/Viljalms%C3%A6tten
  10. ^ Storm 1884: 142.
  11. ^ Storm 1884: 148.
  12. ^ Storm 1884: 178.
  13. ^ Storm 1884: 177-178.
  14. ^ Þórðarson 1964: 198, 207, 212-213.
  15. ^ Storm 1884: 183.
  16. ^ Martinsen 2024.
  17. ^ Høgsæt 1986: 44.
  18. ^ Høvding 1959: 8.
  19. ^ Høgsæt 1986: 41-59.
  20. ^ Høgsæt 1986: 46.

Literature

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Category:House of Godwin Category:Norwegian noble families Category:Norwegian people of English descent

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