Tormod Kark (Old Norse: Þormóðr Karkr [ˈθorˌmoːðz̠ ˈkɑrkz̠]; Modern Icelandic: Þormóður Karkur [ˈθɔrˌmouːðʏr ˈkʰar̥kʏr̥]) was a slave in Viking Age Norway.
Hoping for a reward, Tormod Kark killed Haakon and brought his head to Olaf who would become king of Norway.
Tormod is a strange case, in which a slave was important enough to have been named within Icelandic sagas but not enough of an exception to get his own writing.
There are a few sagas that refer to his death, and none about how he lived, meaning all evidence about Tormod’s life as a slave is evidenced from secondary sources and arguments about Scandinavian slavery.
[9] The debate of authorship stems from the lack of written source within the saga, but based on Snorri’s expertise in history and as a politician in Iceland, he was the prime candidate.
[9] It seems likely based on the estimated dates of writing that the Heimskringla used Oddr’s Saga of Olaf Tryggvason as a basis for his text.
The consensus as mentioned above, regarding Snorri’s saga, is that it took inspiration from Oddr but explores the full events of Olaf’s life in a more thorough manner.
The law, that affected Trondelag and central Norway, states that a blind man who owns a farm is entitled to three thralls.
[11] A first consensus used this number as a basis for all of Scandinavia, and it could mean that during the Middle Ages upward of 20%-30% of Scandinavian’s were unfree people.
[11] The provincial Younger Västgöta Law likewise, shows that Fostra could be entitled to their master’s keys to oversee their properties.
[11] On one specific account, a slave woman was forced to have intercourse with an entire chieftains’ band after his passing, before she was disemboweled for sacrifice.
[11] Another source from an Arabic-Persian trader, Ibn Rusta, details that the Scandinavian Vikings waged war against the Saqaliba, meaning to sell the people they captured on Khazan and Bulgar markets.
[11] These two sources both suggest that Scandinavians were not transporting the slaves they captured from Eastern Europe back to Scandinavia, but instead were trading them and keeping them as concubines.
[12] Older consensus largely disregards Vikings and Scandinavians and the extent of their influence in trading slaves in Eastern Europe.
[12] This is an indicator that the increasing raids on the British Isles and Northern Europe were driven by Scandinavians and that Tormod existed within that slave system.
Tormod is an exceptional case, existing inside of a hotly contested 10th century, where historians have argued over how influential and expansive the Scandinavian slave trade was.
The use of provincial laws, linguistics, and accounts from the traders show that slavery in Scandinavia was complex, and although the sourcing can be questionable, it's clear that Tormod existed in an under-explored but very important period for Europe moving into the 11th and 12th centuries.
The comparison of the two deaths is helpful when comparing a source with many fantastical elements and hagiographic motifs, that of Oddr, and the collection of sagas generally deemed to be more grounded, by Snorri.
Tormod was one of few slaves in Scandinavia whose name is known, while simultaneously sitting at a turning point in Scandinavian slavery and conversion to Christianity.
[5] Soon after embarking, Hakon, Tormod, and a few other men turned back toward shore to avoid the inbound ships of Olaf Tryggvasonar.
[5] Tormod was the only slave remaining with Hakon when he made it to a local farm called Rimull,[5] where they would hide from Olaf’s hunting party.
[9] Tormod and Hakon then traveled to Rimull, hiding inside of a pigsty to evade Olaf Tryggvason’s hunting party.