Thorgerd Brak
File:Minnismerki um Þorgerði brák - 4.jpg
Þorgerðr brák (anglicised as Thorgerd Brak) is a character in Egils saga. Skilled in magic, she is the foster-mother of the tenth-century poet and saga hero Egill Skallagrímsson, and she sacrifices her life to save him by intervening when his father, Skalla-Grímr, is about to kill him.
''Egils saga''
File:Egill, Þorgerði brák og Skallagrímur Kveldúlfsson.jpg
Þorgerðr is a servant or slave of tenth-century Icelandic warrior and farmer Skalla-Grímr. She foster his young son Egill.Egil's saga (trans. Bernard Scudder), [https://books.google.com/books?id=vdfxwlfIBJsC&dq=thorgerd+brak&pg=PT159 The Sagas of the Icelanders] (2007), p. 63.{{Cite book |last1=Looze |first1=Laurence de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eIZ6CwAAQBAJ&dq=thorgerd+brak&pg=PA99 |title=Egil, the Viking Poet: New Approaches to 'Egil's Saga' |last2=Helgason |first2=Jon Karl |last3=Poole |first3=Russell |last4=Tulinius |first4=Torfi H. |date=2016-01-28 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1-4426-2124-4 |pages=100 |language=en}} The saga narrator describes her as 'an imposing woman, as strong as a man and well-versed in the magic arts.'{{Cite book |last=Classen |first=Albrecht |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pVFKDwAAQBAJ&dq=thorgerd+brak&pg=PT33 |title=Magic and Magicians in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Time: The Occult in Pre-Modern Sciences, Medicine, Literature, Religion, and Astrology |date=2017-10-23 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-055652-0 |language=en}} Her nickname might come from Old Norse brák, a leatherworking tool.{{Cite book |last=Brink |first=Stefan |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197532355.001.0001 |title=Thraldom |date=2021-09-23 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-753235-5 |pages=216|doi=10.1093/oso/9780197532355.001.0001 }} The nickname has also been thought to be Gaelic.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ECFeEAAAQBAJ&dq=%C3%9Eorger%C3%B0r+br%C3%A1k&pg=PA171 |title=Iceland – Ireland: Memory, Literature, Culture on the Atlantic Periphery |date=2022-02-07 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-50533-9 |pages=171 |language=en}}
When Egill is twelve, Skalla-Grímr grows enraged while playing a ball game with Egill and his teammate Þorðr. Skalla-Grímr kills Þorðr and then seizes Egill. Þorgerðr accuses him of behaving like a shapeshifter (Skalla-Grímr and his father Kveld-Ulfr are rumoured to be able to take on the shape of wolves).{{Cite book |last=Lewis-Simpson |first=Shannon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6wewCQAAQBAJ&dq=%C3%9Eorger%C3%B0r+br%C3%A1k+play&pg=PA162 |title=Youth and Age in the Medieval North |date=2008-11-30 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-474-2404-8 |pages=156 |language=en}} When Skalla-Grímr leaves Egill to pursue her, she tries to escape by swimming, but Skalla-Grímr throws a boulder at her, killing her.{{Citation |last=McManamon |first=John M. |title=Conclusion |date=2021-02-22 |work="Neither Letters nor Swimming": The Rebirth of Swimming and Free-diving |pages=333–371 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004446199/BP000026.xml |access-date=2024-07-11 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-44619-9}}{{Cite journal |last=Hall |first=Edith |author-link=Edith Hall |date=2006 |title=Drowning Act: The Greeks, Swimming, and Timotheus' Persians |journal=Theatrical Cast of Athens |pages=255–287 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199298891.003.0009|isbn=978-0-19-929889-1 }} Egill retaliates by killing Skalla-Grímr's farmhand.{{Cite book |last=Smiley |first=Jane |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vdfxwlfIBJsC&dq=thorgerd+brak&pg=PT159 |title=The Sagas of the Icelanders |date=2005-02-24 |publisher=Penguin UK |isbn=978-0-14-193326-9 |language=en}}
Her namesake, Egill’s daughter Þorgerðr, also saves his life later in the saga when he is pining after the death of his sons.Egil's saga (trans. Scudder), p. 151.
Legacy
Þorgerðr brák gave her name to Brákarsund and Brákarey in Iceland, which supposedly mark the spot where she died. In 1997 a sculpture by Bjarni Þór Bjarnason depicting a brák (leatherworking tool) was installed at Borgarnes to commemorate her.{{Cite web |date=2018-08-07 |title=From Iceland — Miss Vanjie Of The North: A Borgarnes Monument To An Insignificant Saga Character |url=https://grapevine.is/icelandic-culture/literature-and-poetry/saga-spots/2018/08/07/miss-vanjie-of-the-north-a-borgarnes-monument-to-an-insignificant-saga-character/ |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=The Reykjavik Grapevine |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=The Icelandic Sagas {{!}} Travel Guide {{!}} Iceland Travel |url=https://www.icelandtravel.is/exploring-the-icelandic-sagas/ |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=www.icelandtravel.is}}{{Cite web |title=Brákarsund – Iceland Road Guide |url=https://icelandroadguide.com/items/brakarsund/ |access-date=2024-07-11 |language=en-US}}
In 2008, Icelandic playwright Brynhildur Guðjonsdóttir produced a play, Brák, about Þorgerðr brák.{{Cite web |title=Leikhús - BRÁK eftir Brynhildi Guðjónsdóttur |url=https://www.mbl.is/folk/leikhus/event/351908/ |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=www.mbl.is |language=is}}