Olaf the Peacock
Olaf the Peacock or Olaf Hoskuldsson (Old Norse: Óláfr "pái" Hǫskuldsson [ˈoːˌlɑːvz̠ ˈpʰɑːe ˈhɔˌskuldsˌson]; Modern Icelandic: Ólafur "pái" Höskuldsson [ˈouːˌlaːvʏr ˈpʰauːɪ ˈhœˌskʏl(t)sˌsɔːn]; c. 938–1006)[1] was a merchant and chieftain of the early Icelandic Commonwealth, who was nicknamed "the Peacock" because of his proud bearing and magnificent wardrobe.
The son of a slave woman, Olaf became one of the wealthiest landowners in Iceland and played a major role in its politics and society during the latter half of the tenth century.
[2] According to Laxdæla Saga, Hoskuld purchased a mute thrall-woman named Melkorka from a Rus' merchant on Brännö while on a trading expedition to Norway, and made her his concubine while away from his wife Jorunn Bjarnadottir.
[8] At the age of seven, over his mother's objections, Olaf became the foster son and heir of a wealthy but childless goði named Thord, who was at the time engaged in complex litigation with the kinsmen of his ex-wife Vigdis Ingjaldsdottir (another descendant of Thorstein the Red).
Olaf's adoption complicated the issues in the suit and threatened to lead to a blood feud, but Hoskuld arranged a settlement and compensated Vigdis' kinsmen with gifts.
[10] Olaf accompanied Thord to the Althing when he was twelve years old, and his fancy clothing earned him the admiring nickname "the Peacock.
Hoskuld was opposed and would not provide trade wares, and the property of Olaf's foster-father Thord was mostly in immobile goods and land.
In part to arrange financing for his expedition, his mother Melkorka married Thorbjorn the Feeble, a farmer who had previously assisted her in the management of Melkorkustead.
He gained great honor at Harald's court, and was a favorite of the king's mother Gunnhild, who had, according to Icelandic sources, been the lover of Olaf's uncle Hrut Herjolfsson.
[14] Olaf set sail for Ireland with Orn to find his mother's people, taking with him tokens and gifts from Melkorka to her father and her nursemaid.
When asked if the decision should be put to a vote of the majority, Olaf is supposed to have said, "I want only the shrewdest to decide; in my opinion the counsel of fools is all the more dangerous the more of them there are."
[23] Hjardarholt was renowned for its rich decorations; some two decades later, the skald Úlfr Uggason composed the famous poem Húsdrápa, about certain mythological scenes illustrated on the walls of Olaf's hall.
[24] Olaf's half-sister Hallgerd Hoskuldsdottir married Gunnar Hámundarson, a chieftain who lived at Hlíðarendi in southern Iceland, during this period.
There he stayed with a Viking named Geirmund the Noisy and visited Haakon Jarl, the latter of whom gave him a cargo of timber to take home as a gift.
[30] During the closing years of the tenth century, Olaf's kinsman and friend Gunnar became embroiled in a blood feud with several neighboring landowners.
Whereas Olaf wants to maintain the solidarity of the larger family, keeping workable relations with his siblings and their children, Thorgerd's concerns are different.
