Draft:House of Torgar

The House of Torgar (Torgarætten) is the name of two aristocratic dynasties in Norway. Emerging in the 9th century, the older line were chieftains in Hålogaland, that is, Northern Norway. The younger line was established in 1067 by Ketil Hook, a son of the Earl of Northumbria. The family is named after Torget, formerly spelled Torgar, in Brønnøy, Nordland.

Older line


Known through the Viking sagas, the older House of Torgar begins with Bjørgúlfr, the father of Brynjolfr, semi-sovereign chieftains who also had the privilege to tax the Sámi (cf. King of the Sámi) on behalf of the King of Norway. Brynjolfr's son Bárðr Brynjúlfsson was killed in the Battle of Hafrsfjord, an event traditionally dated to 872 AD.

Before the battle, Bárðr had bequeathed his wife Sigrid of Sandnes and the Torgar estate to his friend Þórólfur Kveldúlfsson, a son of Kveldúlfr Bjálfason and Salbjørg Kåradóttir of Berle, likewise a brother of Skalla-Grímr. 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, Þórólfur 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. With him, the older House of Torgar died out. Sigrid then married Eyvind Lambi Karason of Berle, who founded the House of Tjøtta, and among whose descendants we find Hárekr of Tjøtta.

Younger line


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. 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.

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). 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). 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 Ketil's son was Lendman William I of Torgar, named in honour of King William the Conqueror. He was killed in c. 1139 by Sigurd Slembe. His grandson Lendman William II of Torgar was killed in the Battle of Fimreite in 1184. William II's grandson Lendman William III of Torgar was an ally of Duke Skule Bårdsson of Rein. Ultimately, William III's grandson Lord William IV of Torgar was a knight and a royal envoy to England and Scotland during the Scottish succession crisis. 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. 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.

Torgar estate


The House of Torgar possessed the farm and estate of Torgar. The estate must have been rather big, most likely a combination of royal grants and inheritance from wives. The farm was an ancient chieftain seat. It'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.

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 rulers. 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, 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.’

Literature

 * Berglund, Birgitta (ed.) 1994. Helgeland historie : Fra middelalderens begynnelse ca. 1030 til reformasjonen 1537 Mosjøen: Helgeland Historielag. https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2014082107099
 * Coldevin, Axel 1943. Jordegods og storgårder i Nord-Norge : historie, arbeidsliv, kultur Trondheim: F. Bruns Bokhandels Forlag. https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2007011800088
 * Høgsæt, Ragnhild 1986. ‘The Torgar Estate. The Economic Decline of an Ancient Landowning Family of Helgeland in the Late Middle Ages’. Acta Boreala, 3 (2): 41-59. https://doi.org/10.1080/08003838608580334
 * Høvding, Einar 1959. Torghatten via Brønnøysund https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2012011708070
 * Martinsen, Andre VII 2024. But the Godwins Weren't Dead : Supported by Historical and DNA Evidence, this Book Explores How England’s Royal House Came to Norway in 1067 and Has Thousands of Members Living Today

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