Thorvald Asvaldsson (Old Norse: Þōrvaldr Āsvaldsson) was the father of the colonizer of Greenland, Erik the Red, and grandfather of Leif Ericson, who visited North America centuries before Christopher Columbus. Thorvald's father was Asvald Ulfsson, whose father was Ulf Oxen-Thorisson, whose father was Oxen-Thorir, brother of Naddodd, discoverer of Iceland.
Thorvald Asvaldsson was born in Norway. He was exiled from Norway c. 960, during the reign of King Harald Fairhair, because he had committed murder. He fled with his son Erik to northwest Iceland, where he died before 980.
References
- Thrapp, Dan L. Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography: In Three Volumes. University of Nebraska Press. 1991. p 456.
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