Thorkill Sprakalaeg

- Abt 1009

• Name	Thorkill Sprakalaeg  [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	Abt 1009  [2]
  Person ID	I8663	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of AP, Ancestor of DGH, Ancestor of JTS, Ancestor of LD, Ancestor of LMW, Ancestor of TSW, Ancestor of TWK, Ancestor of WPF
  Last Modified	4 Jun 2017

  
  

  Children	+ 1. Ulf Thorgilsson   d. 25 Dec 1026, Trinity Church, Roskilde, Zealand, Denmark + 2. Gytha Thorsgilsdottir,   b. Abt 997   d. Abt 1069 (Age ~ 72 years)
  Family ID	F4567	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	18 Mar 2017

  
  

• Notes

  From Wikipedia: Little is recorded about Thorgil in historical texts. Most of what was recorded is in reference to his children, two of whom were parents of royalty. Thorgil's cognomen Sprakalägg can be translated into English as "Strut-leg". In the Icelandic Knýtlinga saga he is also called "the fast". In the 11th century, English historian John of Worcester provided a pedigree for earl Beorn Estrithson that made his grandfather 'Spraclingus' a son of 'Ursius' (i.e. urso, Latin for bear or Bjørn in Danish, Björn in Swedish). Two 13th-century writers relate folklore that derives Thorgil from the mating of a bear with a noblewoman. Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus recorded that the son born to such a union was 'named after his father' (i.e. called 'bear' - Ursius/Björn) and in turn became father of 'Thrugillus, called Sprageleg'. The Gesta Antecessorum Comitis Waldevi copies John of Worcester's pedigree but makes the Ursius, father of 'Spratlingus', an actual white bear. The 14th-century chronicle sometimes attributed to John Brompton tells a very similar tale relating to the birth of Björn, called Boresune (bear's-son), father of Siward, Earl of Northumbria, and this may represent the original form of the longer, chronologically impossible pedigree of Siward found in the Gesta that erroneously identifies Björn Boresune with Thorgil's grandson, Beorn Estrithson. It has been suggested that the role of a bear in their immediate ancestry may represent a tradition shared by relatives rather than that two independent families at about the same time both co-opted the same ancient Norwegian legend for their immediate ancestry, that Björn Boresune and Thorgil may have been brothers. In the 18th century, Danish historian Jakob Langebek suggested this bear story was allegorical, and that the brutish 'Wild' Björn, father of Thorgil, was a reference to Jomsviking brigand leader Styrbjörn the Strong (Styrbjörn Starke), depicted by sagas as the son of Olaf Björnsson, king of Sweden. Styrbjörn's wife in the sagas is stated to have been Tyra of Denmark, the daughter of Harold Bluetooth, king of Denmark and Norway. No primary source supports this royal ancestry for Thorgil, a connection almost impossible to maintain because of the chronological inconsistencies.

  
  

• Sources

  [S145] Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis and Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. 8th edition, William R. Beall & Kaleen E. Beall, eds. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004, 2006, 2008. [S160] Wikipedia.