Åsta Gudbrandsdatter OF THE UPPLANDS (aft975-bef1030)

Individual Events and Attributes

Marriage

	A medieval representation of Saint Olaf.

Individual Note

Åsta Gudbrandsdatter (c. 975/980 – c. 1020/1030) was the mother of two Norwegian kings, King Olaf II of Norway and King Harald III of Norway.[1]

According to the sagas, Åsta Gudbrandsdatter was from Vestfold. Åsta's father was Gudbrand Kula from Oppland. Åsta may have been baptised at Ringerike by Olav Tryggvason, circa 998.[2]

Åsta Gudbrandsdatter was married to Harald Grenske (Grenski). Their son was King Olaf II , renowned as St. Olaf, who reigned as King of Norway from 1015 to 1028.[3]

From her second marriage to Sigurd Syr, she became the mother King Harald III, famous in the Heimskringla as Harald Hardrada, who reigned from 1047 to 1066.

According to the sagas, Åsta and Sigurd Syr had the following children:

Guttorm

Gunnhild - married Ketil Kalv of Ringnes in Stange

Halfdan

Ingerid - married Nevstein, mother of Tore, foster-father of King Magnus Barefoot

Harald- future King of Norway

NOTES:

1 Åsta Gudbrandsdatter (Store norske leksikon)

2 Gudbrand Kula (Wikipedia for Norge)

3 Åsta Gudbrandsdatter – utdypning (Store norske leksikon)

SOURCES:

Weis, Frederick Lewis Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 (Genealogical Publishing Company. 1992)

Koht, Halvdan The Old Norse Sagas (Periodicals Service Co. 1931)²

Sources