Aud the Deep-Minded: The Woman Who Steered Her Own Ship

Aud the Deep-Minded (Old Norse Auðr djúpúðga, also Unnr) was the daughter of the Norwegian chieftain Ketill Flatnose, who settled in the Hebrides. She married Olaf the White, the Viking king of Dublin, and became the mother of Thorstein the Red. Her byname "the Deep-Minded" (djúpúðga) means something like "the deep-thinking, the wise".

Setting out after loss

When first her husband and then her son Thorstein fell, Aud could have fallen into dependence. Instead she acted: the Laxdæla saga tells that she had a ship built secretly in the forest, gathered her grandchildren and followers and set out across the sea – first to Orkney and the Faroes (where she married off granddaughters), finally to Iceland.

Land-taking and dignity

In Iceland Aud took possession of a great deal of land and distributed it generously to her followers – a prerogative that otherwise belonged to men. She was also a Christian and, according to the saga, prayed at a cross hill (Krosshólar). Her death was marked like that of a great chieftain. Aud counts as one of the four most important first settlers of Iceland – and as an example that women in the Viking Age could win power and standing.

"Wits must he have who wanders wide, but all is easy at home."Hávamál 5, after Henry A. Bellows 1923 (public domain)

Aud the Deep-Minded shows that the Viking Age also knew strong, self-determined women – leaders whose wisdom carried whole kindreds across the sea. Back to her son Thorstein the Red.

Read more with us

Thorstein the Red · Olaf the White · Erik the Red · Leif Erikson · Hedeby.

Sources & literature

Landnámabók; Laxdæla saga; Eiríks saga rauða; quote public domain (Bellows 1923).

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