By Bryndís Víglundsdóttir
Many of those who settled in Iceland during the settlement period did so because they didn't get along with a king or the most powerful chief of the district or even their neighbor. More often than not they practised peace once they had settled in Iceland. A few, however, were of such character that they always chose skirmishes and killings rather than negotiating and keeping the peace. The aggressive and those who never chose peace over fighting were the ones who got a story written about them and have been identified as heroes. It will suffice to mention Egill Skallagrímsson, Gunnar of Hlíðarendi and Gísli Súrsson. Helgi “magri” (The Lean) Eyvindarson (IR# I136864) was a peaceful man and there is no story written about him.
In the Book of the Settlements Helgi “magri” is mentioned and said to be a Nordic man, the son of Eyvind, the Easterner. It also says that Helgi settled in Eyjafjörður and the Eyjafjorders are of his clan. (eyja, eyjar: island, islands)
Helgi's story begins of course with his parents. He was the son of Eyvindur Bjarnason, nicknamed “Easterner” because he came from Sweden which lies east of Norway. He went Vikinging to Ireland and there he was married to Rafarta, daughter of Kjarval, king of Dublin. Helgi, their son was born in Dublin but, for reasons not known, his parents put him in foster on the Hebrides. Two years later when they came to fetch him, he was so thin that they didn't recognize him. He had been badly treated and starved. They of course rescued him and gave him the nickname “the lean one.”

When Helgi was a grown man, he married Þórunn hyrna (Thorunn the horned one) of a very prominent family in Norway.
Helgi was Christian but he also trusted the god Þór (Thor) when sailing the seas or facing some difficulties. When he saw the land (Iceland) he asked Þór for advice where to anchor. Þór advised him to sail north and he did. He landed quite far north in a fjord that he named Eyjafjörður as he saw some islands on the fjord. The winter was very harsh and in the spring he moved south in the long fjord and settled there. Helgi and Þórunn built and owned a stately farm that they named for Christ, Kristnes ( nes: a peninsula).
During the summer Helgi claimed a huge territory as his, going by the accepted method and custom used by settlers when claiming land.
Helgi gave land to people who were looking to settle and there is information on thirty families who settled and built homes on the land he had lawfully claimed. His many children were among those who built their homes and farmed within his claimed land.
Peace was practised in Helgi's claimed territory, Eyjafjörður, while he and his family were alive. All of this changed 200 years later when a chief from a warring family moved north and settled on Grund in Eyjafjörður. His name was Sighvatur Sturluson (IR# I136446) and there was no peace ever around him or the other sons of Sturla from Hvammur in the Dales.
In the Book of the Settlements Helgi is mentioned along with eight settlers said to have been the “most excellent settlers” in the Northern part of Iceland. Clearly Helgi “magri” was considered one of the outstanding chiefs of the settlement period.