Aud the Deep-Minded (Old Norse:Auðr djúpúðga Ketilsdóttir[ˈɔuðz̠ˈdjuːpˌuːðɣɑˈketelsˌdoːtːez̠];Modern Icelandic:Auður djúpúðga Ketilsdóttir[ˈœyːðʏrˈtjuːpˌuðɣaˈcʰɛːtɪlsˌtouhtɪr̥];Norwegian:Aud den djuptenkte), also known as Unn, Aud Ketilsdatter or Unnur Ketilsdottir, was a 9th-century settler during the age ofSettlement of Iceland. The main source of information about her life in Iceland isSturla Þórðarson'sLandnámabók;Laxdæla saga, which calls her Unn, gives a varying account but has more on her background, and she also figures in several other sagas, includingNjáls saga,Eyrbyggja saga,Eiríks saga rauða andGrettis saga.
Aud the Deep-Minded was the second daughter ofKetill Flatnose, a Norwegianhersir, and Yngvid Ketilsdóttir, daughter of Ketill Wether, a hersir fromRingerike. She marriedOlaf the White (Oleif), son of King Ingjald, who had named himselfKing of Dublin after going on voyages toBritain and then conquering the shire ofDublin. They had a son namedThorstein the Red. After Oleif was killed in battle in Ireland, Aud the Deep-Minded and Thorstein journeyed to theHebrides. Thorstein married there and had six daughters and one son. He also became a great warrior king, conquering in northern Scotland; however, he was killed in battle after being betrayed by his people.[1][2]
Upon learning of the death of Thorstein, Aud the Deep-Minded, who was then atCaithness, commissioned the construction of aknarr, a type of ship used in the Viking Age for Atlantic voyages. For unknown reasons, she had it built secretly in the forest. With several surviving kin aboard, she captained the ship toOrkney, where she married off one of her granddaughters, Gróa, then to theFaroes, where she married off another granddaughter, Ólöf, and she then finally to the area ofBreiðafjörður in Iceland, where her brother Björn lived. She brought her grandson,Olaf Feilan, with her to Iceland.[3][4] The ship had a crew of twenty men under her command and also carriedthralls, men who had been taken prisoner in Viking raids near and around the British Isles. When Aud the Deep-Minded arrived in thewestern region of Iceland, she claimed all the land inDalasýsla between the rivers Dögurðará and Skraumuhlaupsá for her family, and gave the thralls their freedom (making themfreedmen, with a status between slave and free). She gave both the crewmen and the freedmen land to farm and make a living. One of the freedmen, Vifil, was given Vifilsdal, part ofHvammur í Dölum [is], the area in which Aud the Deep-Minded settled.[5][6]
Unlike most early Icelandic settlers, Aud the Deep-Minded was a baptizedChristian. She erected crosses in a hilly area where she often went to pray, which became known asKrosshólar [is] ('cross hills').[7][8] According toLandnámabók, which calls her Aud the Deeply Wealthy (Auðr in djúpauðga), she died on the third night of a feast which she hosted as a farewell and which she asked those present to continue for three more nights as her wake, and she was buried in thetidal zone because there was no consecrated cemetery in which to bury her.[9]Laxdæla saga, however, calls her Unn the Deep-Minded (Unnr in djúpúðga) and depicts her as aheathen woman renowned for her wisdom; according to its account, she died during the wedding feast for her grandson and was given aship burial.[10][11]
Aud the Deep-Minded had unusual power and authority for a woman, and successfully saved herself, her grandchildren and considerable wealth from a catastrophic situation,[12] although examination of various accounts of warrior rulers named Olaf suggests that Olaf the White may not have been killed in Ireland, but returned to Norway in 871 to regain control of his father's kingdom.[13] Her story also demonstrates that Iceland was not settled only by Norwegians of noble birth, but also by people from Scotland and the northern isles, including Vikings. TheNational Museum of Iceland contains a collection of somewhat debasedpenannular brooches and pins of undoubted Celtic provenance from the ninth and tenth centuries which would fit well in the context of the HebrideanNorse–Gael.[14]
Many prominent Icelanders of the Middle Ages were descended from Aud through her grandson and several granddaughters, in particular theSturlungs, whose family estate was at her former residence of Hvammur.[11] In the 18th and 19th centuries, she became known as a national foremother; in the 18th century she was praised in works based onLaxdæla saga such as Tyrfingur Finnsson's poem "Laxdælakappakvæði", and in 1828, Jón Jónssonlangur recorded a prayer ascribed to her.[15] On August 8, 1965, a cross was erected at Krosshólaborg as a monument to her, inscribed with a passage fromLandnámabók.[8][11]
Aud is the main character in a trilogy of novels by Icelandic authorVilborg Davíðsdóttir:Auður (2009),Vígroði (2010), andBlóðug jörð (2017).[15][16] A loosely-based Aud, also daughter of Ketill Flatnose and involved with thesettlement of Iceland, is portrayed byLeah McNamara in the5th season of the historical drama television seriesVikings (2013).[17] A chamber opera 'Aud the Deep Minded' by Joanna Nicholson (2024) addresses Aud's earlier life up to settling in Iceland and freeing her thralls[18].