Sagas of Iceland · Part 6 · Voyages west · A2–B1
Gudrid the Far-Traveller
Part 6 of the Sagas of Iceland: Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir, perhaps the most travelled woman of the Middle Ages. Born in Iceland, she sailed to Greenland and Vinland, gave birth to the first European child born in America, and in her old age walked to Rome. The present perfect for experiences (She has been to Rome. Have you ever…?), been to / gone to, and travel words, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
Last time we met Leif Erikson. Tonight we meet a woman who travelled even further than Leif: Gudrid. She was born in Iceland, lived in Greenland, sailed to Vinland, and in her old age she walked all the way to Rome.
Sailed to Norway, Demetria, and then walked across Europe, like the pilgrims. A woman who has been to Iceland, Greenland, America and Rome, a thousand years ago. Tonight you’ll learn the grammar of a life full of journeys.
Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir was born in the west of Iceland around 980. Her father sailed to Greenland with her, and their ship was nearly lost in storms. In Greenland, during a famine, a wise woman (a völva) came to tell the farmers’ futures, and she needed someone who knew the old spell-songs. Gudrid, who was a Christian, did not want to sing them, but she sang them so beautifully that the völva was delighted, and she foretold a great future for…
Gudrid married Thorstein, a son of Erik the Red, who died within a year. Then she married Thorfinn Karlsefni, a rich merchant, and sailed with him to Vinland. There, around 1005–1010, she gave birth to a son, Snorri: as far as we know, the first child of European parents born in the Americas.
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