Freydís Eiríksdóttir

Freydís Eiríksdóttir was a Viking woman who sailed to Vínland in the early 11th century. She was an illegitimate daughter of Erik the Red and half sister to Leifur Eiríksson. She was married to a man named Þorvarður. Note: the following is from the sagas, and is therefore questionable Freydís was a member of the expedition led by Þorfinnur Karlsefni Þórðarson which, after the discovery of Vínland, attempted to make the first European colony there. A year after this expedition she and her husband traveled there again, with Icelanders Helgi and Finnbogi. Upon arrival in Vínland, the alliance dissolved, and Helgi and Finnbogi built their own separate settlement there. Following a meeting in their camp, Freydís told her husband that she had been raped there, and asked him to avenge her. þorvarður took his men to the camp and killed the men there; five women survived. Freydís, however, was not satisfied, and killed the women with an axe. Following the incident Þorvarður and Freydís returned to Greenland, and were exiled on account of their actions in Vínland. Freydis was said to have worn men's clothes because she wanted to show courage. \nCategory:History of Iceland