| Thorey I the Exile | |
|---|---|
| |
| Thorey I | |
| Queen of Álengiamark | |
| Reign | July 1183 - 3rd November, 1184 |
| Coronation | n/a |
| Predecessor | Elin II |
| Successor | Asthurdur I |
| Born | February, 1175 Skelflóbae, Langaeyjar, Álengiamark |
| Died | 8th August, 1205 Orleans, France |
| Spouse | n/a |
| Issue | n/a |
| Full name | |
| Thorey Bjarkisdottír | |
| House | Eriksdottír |
| Father | Bjarki Svendsson |
| Mother | Sigrídur Eiriksdottír |
Thorey I was an unfortunate pawn in the Álengsk Civil War, used by her father the Earl of Langaeyjar as a front so he could rule and dominate his fellow Álengsk earls.
Reign[]
After the death of Elin I the Althing had petitioned Vinland over who should inherit the throne with the issue potentially spilling over into violence. Their answer was Elin II but her delayed arrival had left the Álengsk earls with plenty of room to continue their feuding. Thorgeir, earl of Margirhaedeyja was in a virtual state of war with Bjarki, earl of Langaeyjar and Vilhjálmur, earl of Sudervik. Elin I could, in the end, only manage a few short months of unsteady rule before her supporters took her to safety in Passamaquoddia. With support, Langaeyjar placed his own 8-year old daughter Thorey on the throne and used her as a cypher through which he could secure effective control of the country.
War with Margirhaedeyja continued however and in late 1184, to secure more troops and support, Langaeyjar gave important rights away to the towns severely impinging on the fiefs of his allies. Sudervik broke their alliance and attacked his army at St. Hafdiss. Losing, Langaeyjar abandoned the mainland. Thorey was still in St. Hafdiss however and would eventually be deposed on 3rd November with Sudervik placing his own daughter, Asthurdur I on the throne.
Exile[]
After being usurped by Sudervik and his daughter Asthudur I, Thorey went into exile. As Langaeyjar's fortunes had been drastically reversed by the defeat at the Battle of St. Hafdiss Thorey was cut more or less adrift and ended up at the court of her cousin, the Earl of Kyreyja. He in turn sent her to Iceland. His intentions with regards to his cousin are frustratingly unclear at this point. It is possible he was going to use her a marriage pawn to secure more links outside of Leifia where his room for maneuver was limited by his aunt Iofridr. Nevertheless in early 1188 as part of a delegation to Scandinavia, he visited Iceland and then took Thorey with him as he travelled onward. He said he was taking her to Denmark to argue her case but by the very act of taking Thorey from Leifia to Europe he was effectively removing any chance of her ever regaining the throne. When Elin II died in 1197 ending her second reign Thorey's name did briefly crop up as a potential candidate, but as she was thousands of miles away it was quickly rejected. As a result Yrsa I was elected causing Vinland to invade Álengiamark to restore an Eiriksdottír to the throne. What would have happened had she been closer to home is a matter of speculation.
As it was, Thorey was recorded in Iceland in November 1184, Denmark in 1188 and finally in Anglian run Flanders in 1200. It appears she had taken holy orders in the mid-1190s. She would die in a French nunnery in 1205.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
