| Thyri | |
|---|---|
| |
| Thyri | |
| Queen of Álengiamark | |
| Reign | 14th July, 1422 - 26th March, 1459 |
| Predecessor | Brynja I |
| Successor | Adalbjorg II |
| Born | 29th November, 1396 Skelflóbae, Álengiamark |
| Died | 26th March, 1459 St. Hafdiss, Álengiamark |
| Spouse | Peter of Leon, Peter Thouarsson |
| Issue | Peter Petersson Sigurlaug Petersdottír |
| Full name | |
| Thyri Hilmarsdottír | |
| House | Eiriksdottír |
| Father | Hilmar Haukursson |
| Mother | Halla Reynirsdottír |
Thyri was Queen of Álengiamark from 1422 to 1459. She was the first dynastically 'spotless' Eiriksdottír queen since Adalbjorg I (i.e. genealogists have been able to prove her direct descent from Eirik the Red).
Whereas the previous elected queens had been chosen more due to their families' political machinations Thyri's father Hilmar Haukursson was ambitious and wanted nothing left to chance. Wanting Thyri to be the only natural choice in an election he arranged a marriage between the young Thyri and Peter of Leon, an illegitimate son of King Henry I of Leon. That this helped develop Langaejyar's cross-Atlantic trade was almost incidental; the union instantly elevated the couple to Álengiamark's premier nobility and virtually guaranteed her election as queen in 1422 as Brynia had her burial.
With the royal couple installed in the modest palace in St. Hafdiss they, and the Althing soon became the centre of political life, beginning a mini-renaissance in the fortunes of the Althing which had lately been neglected. Peter's familial connections to Leon helped both Langaeyjarsk and Leonese merchants and in turn the Leonese, with their access to French and Dutch markets, soon began to rival the Portuguese in terms of Trans-Atlantic cargo tonnage. Other Álengsk merchants outside Langaeyjar required royal licenses to carry out trade and hence the couple soon built up a powerful list of clients. This enabled Thyri and her ministers to grasp several issues with modest success.
There was, for instance, the problem of the Bishop of St. Hafdiss. Due to the jealously inflexible nature of landowning in Álengiamark, and indeed the relative lateness of the See's creation, the bishop was only endowed with a small parcel of land which could not hope to support the normal outgoings of a 'prince of the church'. The independent abbeys, tending to be jealous of 'the interloper' refused to submit any of their income to him and the cities were intractable as always. Thyri therefore sought to ease his plight and granted a parcel of the Royal Domain to him. However she did this only on the express promise that all of the other earls did the same. It took almost two years of bargaining but eventually the bishop received his full share of lands. This not only placed the bishop firmly into the crown's hands but Thyri received praise from the papacy too.
The Althing waxed and waned but maintained slightly more relevance to everyday affairs than before. Increasingly legal matters were deferred to its judgment and while its remit was barely accepted outside of the royal domains it was regarded as the country's highest court. The 'Great Althing' of 1439 sat for four months during the summer and under the direction of Thyri attempted a modicum of reform. Though it would eventually disband without deciding anything concrete it had at least drawn its membership from virtually all of the country, a feat not repeated until the 1700s.
In 1434 after pressure from Vinland Thyri signed a pledge of allegiance to the newly created Kalmar Union however her ministers privately doubted what they could do for Scandinavia, or indeed vice-versa. Although Thyri sent delegates to a diplomatic conference in Oslo that same year, they returned bearing the news that the union was to 'protect Denmark's lands only'. All others would have to wait on Denmark's indulgences. Indeed, three letters to Copenhagen in which Thyri complains of invasion from Aniyunwiya were answered only to ask for men to fight Denmark's wars in Germany.
Whilst Thyri's armies (drawn from a wider pool of earls and cities than her predecessors) campaigned effectively abroad, a potentially more damaging war was brewing at home; over religion. The students University of St. Hafdiss, established at the same time as the Bishopric, had by the 1440s begun to started to take a more questioning tone. Some like one Jón Irronsson had clearly read Hussite tracts and were seriously challenging established thought. Whereas the tutors saw this as heresy Thryi tended to see this line of questioning as 'mere discussion' but she was criticized for protecting potential heretics. Eventually to save her own influence she would exile almost all of the accused including Irronsson from St. Hafdiss and the Royal Domain.
Thyri died in 1459 and would be succeeded by the Adalbjorg II whose short reign would see many of Thryi's advances unravel and is chiefly only remembered for the trial and execution of Jón Irronsson.
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