The viking age on the Faroe Islands

Written sources describing the earliest history of the Faroe Islands are few and far between. According to Færeyingasaga (Saga of the Faroe Islands), which was written by an Icelandic author in ca. 1215, the Norse settlement in the Faroe Islands took place in the 9th century in two stages. The saga tells that Grímur Kamban was the first, but that he was later joined by people fleeing King Harald Fairhair in Norway. Also, people who had a past in the Norse settlements in Ireland and the islands off Scotland came to the Faroe Islands. In this connection, the saga mentions the Icelandic landnam woman Auð the Deep-Minded, who had been married to a Viking king in the Norse settlement in Dublin. Studies of the genetic make-up of the Faroese population have shown that while the male settlers were predominantly of Scandinavian origin, the female settlers were predominantly from the British Isles. These studies therefore confirm the migration pattern described by Færeyingasaga.

Færeyingasaga also tells about the struggle for power between the two most powerful Faroese chieftain families in the period from around 960 to 1040, the Gøtuskeggja clan led by brothers Brestir and Beinir and the Hov clan, whose chieftain was Havgrímur í Hovi. The saga tells that Sigmundur, who was the son of Brestir and inherited the chieftainship of the two brothers, was a housecarl of King Olav Tryggvason of Norway, on whose behalf he introduced Christianity at the Faroese althing in 999. The saga also tells of the efforts of the Norwegian kings to incorporate the Faroe Islands into a Norwegian network kingdom in the North Atlantic, where the chieftains owed taxes to the Norwegian rulers, and that this succeeded under King Magnus the Good, when the heir to the two chieftainships, Leivur Øssursson, held the Faroe Islands in fief to the king.

The Icelandic saga’s account of the Faroes seems to be partly based on oral tradition from the Faroe Islands ca. year 1200, partly to be a literary creation with anachronisms. It should therefore be perceived rather as a representation of the society at that time in terms of legal relations and the relationship with the Norwegian Crown than as the historical reality of the Viking Age.

The archaeological remains from the Viking Age show that the population lived in longhouses of the type also seen in other North Atlantic societies of Norse origin during the Viking Age. The first archaeological investigations of a longhouse from the Viking Age was carried out in Kvívík in the 1940s and later also in Fuglafjørður and other villages. The first farms were typically built close to streams or by a beach with good access to the sea. Later in the Viking Age and in the Middle Ages, scattered farms (býlingar) were built on the edge of the infield of the original farm. These can still be seen in some villages, for example on the island of Koltur.

The most extensive archaeological investigation of a farm from the Viking Age was carried out at Toftanes in Leirvík in the years 1982‑87. The farm, which is dated to the 10th century, consisted of an approx. 20 m long longhouse and three smaller buildings. The longhouse was built of thick curved walls of stone and peat around a wooden structure with benches along the walls inside the house and pairs of parallel roof-supporting posts. In the middle of the floor was a 5 m long stone hearth. The eastern part of the house was presumably a barn. Before the house was built, a system of stone-set drains or gutters were laid to keep the living area dry and perhaps also to supply the residents and livestock with running water indoors.

During the excavation of a burial ground in Tjørnuvík in 1957, a ringheaded pin was found placed at the chest of an adult woman. Carbon 14 dating of the skeleton and from another grave in the burial ground dated these to the 10th century. The location of the burial ground, the shape and orientation of the graves, as well as the grave goods and the motif on the ring-headed pin, a so-called valknut, link the burials to a pagan environment.

So far, no burial mounds from the Viking Age have been found, but names of certain localities are associated with graves and burial mounds such as Tormansgrøv in Vági, Havgrimsgrøv in Hovi and Øttisheyggur in Giljanes.

Objects bearing Christian symbols have been found from the time before Christianity was formally introduced in the Faroe Islands. Two small Christian wooden crosses from the 10th century have been found on the farm at Toftanes in Leirvík. There are small church ruins with surrounding circular cemetery walls, where the name element prayer house or cemetery is included in the place name, and which are reminiscent of similar church ruins and cemeteries from the Viking Age in Iceland and Greenland.

During recent investigations in the village of Velbastaður, a small church ruin was uncovered in a round cemetery from the Viking Age. Among the finds was a gilded finger ring, which is silver decorated with a cross and grapes. It can therefore be linked to a Christian environment in the late Viking Age or early Middle Ages. A rare English silver coin dated 910‑15 was also found in this cemetery. Carbon 14 dating of charred barley grains from the site has documented activity between 765 and 905. Remains of habitation can be seen on the slope facing the sea, indicating that some of the oldest buildings have been washed into the sea.

At Bønhúsfløta in Nes in Hvalba, parts of a presumed cemetery have been preserved, while the rest has been washed into the sea. On the slope within the cemetery wall, human bones have been found, which have been dated to the 11th century. A few meters from the cemetery wall are the ruins of a farm.

According to Færeyingasaga, the first church in the Faroe Islands was built on the island of Skúvoy. In connection with the reuse of an abandoned cemetery on Skúvoy, the workers came across coffin timber and some tombstones with carved wheel crosses and Latin crosses. Carbon 14 dating of the coffin timber shows that the cemetery was already in use in the 9th and 10th centuries and in the early Middle Ages. However, the origin and dating of the tombstones is much debated. Some researchers believe that the stones are Irish from the 7th-8th centuries, while others point out that similar crosses can be found in Norway and in the cemetery on Herjolfsnæs in Greenland where they date to the 13th century, and that the stones are therefore most likely from the early Christian Middle Ages. Other parallels can be found in the Hebrides. A fragment of a similar stone was later found on the beach on Skúvoy. It has a runic inscription interpreted as the names Gísli and Ísleifr and has been dated to around year 1000/1050‑1150.

On several of the islands, there are small ruins of vakhús (lookout houses), where watch was regularly kept for pirates. They served as part of a warning system so that the population could take shelter in the mountains when there were pirates in the waters.

In the outfield, there are several traces of human activities from different periods. The most visible are varðar (cairns or stacked cone-shaped dolmen) that still stand as signposts in a network of paths that connected farms and villages and led out to important places in the outfield. In addition, there are old fences or stone walls and smaller ruins as well as other traces of older land-use systems. Together with place names, these provide an understanding of past farming practices, such as sheep milking and pig farming.

Hoards, five churches and an insight into the daily life of the viking age in Sandur

The flat and open landscape of the village of Sandur on Sandoy with its fertile farmland has been an attractive area for the first farmers to arrive on the islands. Here, many years of archaeological investigations have uncovered rich and diverse ancient monuments.

In 1863, the, until now, only known Faroese hoard was found in the village’s cemetery. The local gravedigger came across a silver hoard lying in a rolled-up bundle containing a piece of a silver bracelet and 98 silver coins from Europe and Scandinavia from the period around 1000‑1100. Further investigations in 1972 showed that the hoard had been hidden under a floor made of large stone slabs in a large building that stood south of the church before the cemetery was established.

The current church dates from 1836 and is one of ten preserved traditional Faroese village churches made of wood. In 1969‑70, archaeological investigations under the church floor revealed that there had been five churches before. The first was a typical Scandinavian stave church from the 11th century with posts dug into the ground. In the later churches, the staves were set on foundation stones, and the interior woodwork was surrounded by protective stone and peat walls. The first two churches had a Romanesque floor plan with a square nave and a narrower choir to the east, while the later ones were rectangular and had a Gothic design.

In 1989, a burial ground with 11 graves was found just outside the cemetery wall. The dead had been given grave goods: rings of bronze and silver, necklaces with glass, amber and bone beads as well as jewellery, iron knives with handles wound with thin silver wire and a comb, presumably of bone. One of those buried had a wallet with lead weights at his belt, indicating that he was a merchant. A cut Kufic silver coin was also found, which has been dated to the 9th century.

In the 3,000 m² area, traces of buildings, extensive stone channels with large stone lids, ash, charred grain, slag and mounds of fire-brittled stones have also been found, which according to carbon 14 dating are from the early Viking Age. Traces of smithy activities and other craft activities from the Viking Age or the early Middle Ages have also been found in the area.

The related residential area is found in Junkarinsfløttur, which is approx. 100 m north of the church. Here, meter-thick culture layers and constructions from a settlement close to the eroding cliff have been uncovered. The settlement, which dates from the early Viking Age, was abandoned around the 13th century, and the move was apparently due to movements of the sand masses in the 13th-14th centuries. Studies provide an insight into the daily life and economy of the Faroese from the Viking Age to the High Middle Ages. Large amounts of well-preserved animal bones, fish bones and shells were found in the household waste. These came from mainly seabirds such as puffins, razorbills, common guillemots and black guillemots as well as many remains of cod, flatfish and shellfish. In addition, remains of sheep, cattle and pigs were found. Between Junkarinsfløttur and the church, the remains of a 33-m long and 5-m wide longhouse and other structures in the form of a paved street, etc. have been found, which have been dated to 1020 and 1145.

Sigmundur Brestisson

Sigmundur Brestisson was a chieftain mentioned in the Færeyingasaga. The chieftain Tróndur í Gøtu, who killed his father, Brestir Sigmundason, raised Sigmundur and then sent him to Norway. As an adult, Sigmundur returned with his kinsman Tóri to the Faroe Islands, where, according to the saga, he introduced Christianity in 999. However, this did not go smoothly, and Tróndur í Gøtu was both forced to get baptised and accept Sigmundur’s rule over the Faroe Islands.

Tróndur í Gøtu later took revenge by attacking Sigmundur, who lived on Skúvoy. Sigmundur, Tóri and the farmhand Einar escaped by jumping into the sea where Tóri and Einar drowned, while Sigmundur managed to swim to Sandvík on Suðuroy. However, while laying exhausted on the beach, he was killed by the farmer Torgrímur Illi. Since then, Sigmundur and Tróndur have stood as opposites, where especially those who are in favour of independence have taken Tróndur to heart.

A statue of Sigmundur has been erected in front of Vesturkirkjan.

Further reading

• 1536-1850 on the Faroe Islands
• 1850-1920 on the Faroe Islands
• 1920-1970 on the Faroe Islands
• 1970-2007 on the Faroe Islands
• Ancient times on the Faroe Islands
• Argisbrekka
• Population trends on the Faroe Islands from 1327-2022
• The middle ages on the Faroe Islands

Read more about History on the Faroe Islands