Thorsten Eiriksson (Þorstein Eiríksson)

Like Leif, Thorsten, a third son of Eirik’s, must have been born in Iceland as he was a grown man at the time of the Vinland voyages. Thorsten married Gudrid Thjorbjarnardaughter, and the two may have lived in Lysufjord in the West Settlement.

After Thorvald’s death in Vinland (or more likely Markland), Thorsten, and possibly Gudrid, launched an expedition to retrieve his body for burial in Greenland. The expedition was unsuccessful. The ship got caught in storms and was tossed around on the open ocean until the end of the summer (Norse summer ended around October 15) when they managed to return home. Thorsten died in an epidemic the following winter, perhaps the same epidemic which killed Eirik.

Chapters in Books

• Keneva Kunz, trans., [Thorsten Eriksson in] Eirik the Red's Saga, The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection, preface by Jane Smiley, introduction by Robert Kellogg, 2000
• Keneva Kunz, trans., [Thorsten Eriksson in] The Saga of the Greenlanders, The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection, preface by Jane Smiley, introduction by Robert Kellogg, 2000